My companion Hermana Tycksen is the best. She has the most
beautiful voice so when she braids my hair she sings and i feel like rapunzel.
jaajaj i love her:)
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Press Forward Saints!!!!! email dated 5/19/2015
Hello Family!!!
That hymn has been my favorite this week--it's always stuck
in my head :) This week flew by! It honestly feels like it was Tuesday
YESTERDAY. WHAT is this???? My Spanish is coming along really well--we have
solo Español days almost every day now! I'm learning so much :)
We still have three investigators, but we are also starting
this thing where each one of us is an investigator and we teach each other!
It's pretty fun, although when they first introduced it, I started to feel the
stress and anxiety come back (that I haven't felt for like 2 weeks) BUT later
that night I talked with one of the hermanas in my branch and I also got a
priesthood blessing from the elders in my branch and both things helped me
soooooo much. I realized that all I need to do is shift my perspective--this
new thing isn't a stress, it's a challenge, a FUN challenge, and also an
opportunity to grow!
Something that I've learned this week is the importance of
the Book of Mormon. I've realized that I need, I need to read it every
day, or else nothing really feels right.
One other thing, on Saturday, Elder David A. Bednar was
here!! I don't know if I told you beforehand, but he gave a devotional Saturday
night and I was in the front row and he called on me!!! ( It was kind of a
Q & A type thing) It was amazing to be that close to an apostle of
the Lord.
Wow! Family! You are amazing!! I HAVE THE BEST FAMILY
EVERRRR!!!!! I am amazed every week at your accomplishments and I am so, so proud
of all of you. I wish I could give you all just a big hug right now!! (and you
know how I am about hugs ;) )
Something funny this week is that I'm starting to replace English
words with Spanish words--automatically. Like, this morning I was saying a
prayer in English and I went to say ''please'' and ''por favor'' came out! I'm
completely immersed and becoming one of the locals! ;) haha just kidding.
Our district is so amazing. We have really become like a
family. I have become so close to the other hermanas and it makes me devastated
to think of leaving each other in two weeks! :'( The other district in our
branch is amazing too, I love each one of them too! This whole experience has
been amazing! And I still have 17 months to go!
When I was reading this morning, I was in Moses 1 and in
verses 3, 4, & 6, it really hit me.
Those verses talk about God and how he is everlasting and
his power has no end, but in verse 4 he says ''Moses, thou are my son'' or
something like that, and I just replace it with my name so instead I read
''Kristina, thou are my daughter'' and it is sooo much more impactful. In verse
6, it says ''I have a work for thee to do'' and it made me think--What am I
doing?? I have a work to do!! Why am I not studying this doctrine 24/7?? It was
a really cool experience for me.
Okay, funny story time-- Hermana Russell is absolutely
hilarious. She gets words mixed up sometimes in Spanish and so our teachers
think it's hilarious, and we're all not sure what's going on,, but that
something just happened :) Today she called Elder Bednar, ''Bernard'' because
she couldn't remember his name!! XD we were laughing so hard!!
Thank you so much everyone for your emails! I really really
love em!! They make my day!
MUCHO AMOR!!!!!
XOXOXOXOXOXOX
Hermana Tycksen
 |
| Notice the statue in the background |
 |
| The AMAZING Trio! |
 |
| Elders in their branch |
 |
| Sisters in their branch |
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Hello Hello!! Week Three!! Email dated 5/12/15
Hello Family!!!
Wow, is it already week three??? I swear, the days here turn
in to weeks, but the weeks are actually feeling like days. I'll be home before
I know it! ;) It makes me so happy to read all of your emails and to hear how
everyone is doing :3 I love Tuesdays!!
This week has been one of extreme growth on my
part, mentally and spiritually, and also lingually (?). I have learned the
importance of personal study and how amazing prayer actually is. I had a couple
of experiences this week where we were studying for our lessons that we were
going to be teaching, but I had no idea where to start! SO, I got down on my
knees and prayed fervently, and specifically for the word and
phrases to come to my mind. And they did! The Lord works in mysterious ways,
but immediately after my prayer, a line of scripture popped into my head and so
I looked it up and it was exactly what our investigator needed! So
amazing!
This last Thursday was a ''Solo Español'' day--where we only
spoke Spanish! It was so hard!! BUT by the end of the day, it was coming really
naturally to me and
I was actually having a LOT of fun.
I am learning so much about myself, about the gospel and
most importantly, about my Savior. Every Sunday we watch a video that's made by
the church and this week we watched one called ''To This End Was I Born''. It
was so powerful. It uncovered a deep yearning inside of me to know my
Savior. So, that's what I am trying to do in my study time. To know my
Savior deeper. I realized that there is a big difference between knowing the
Savior and knowing of the Savior. It's like in Alma when Alma the
Younger is describing his experience with the angel and he calls him ''one
Jesus Christ''. He didn't know Him yet! The video that we watched also made me
realize how much I love my Savior and how excited I am for Him to come again!!
I want to see Him in person!!
A kind of funny thing this week was that I was able to
relate Lord of the Rings to following Christ. Every Sunday we see a power point
of the zones who are leaving the next day and the very last slide says OUR
KING! with a picture of the Savior with Called To Serve playing in the
background. At the end of the Fellowship of the Ring, when Boromir dies,
he tells Aragorn (who was supposed to be the king but Boromir didn't want to
follow him) ''I would have followed you, my Brother, my King''. I realized, I
can do that!! But it's not 'would have' it's changed to say ''I will follow
you. My Brother. My KING.'' He is our Savior, Redeemer, Brother, and King and
we CAN FOLLOW HIM. It's really incredibly easy!!
The CCM is so amazing and I am learning so much!
I might send more pictures this week, but I'm not
sure...we'll see!
MUCHO AMOR!!!!
XOXOXOXOXOX
XOXOXOXOXOX
Hermana Tycksen
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Semana Segundo!!! - Email dated 5/5/2015
Dear Familia, :D
This week has been so amazing! It's been tough, but AMAZING!
It's only my second week, but I already feel like I'm being put through the
refiner's fire.
I am sooooo sorry for not answering questions from the last
emails, I was a little pressed for time last week :)
The CCM is great! Last week was, and sometimes it gets, a
little rough and tough, but I'm learning how to lean on the Lord and to give Him my
struggles. The food is good, really good sometimes. It's all Mexican though :I
I've never really been a big fan of Mexican food, as you all know :)
Okay, I just need to take a moment and say that receiving
and reading letters from everyone is really the highlight of my week! It makes
me so happy to hear how everyone is doing and I absolutely LOVED the pictures!
:D
Dad, my camera cord--the one that came in the package--works
great, so I probably don't need a card reader :)
I was so excited to hear about the puppies and everyone's
events! It amazes me every day how talented you all are. :D
So, this week!
We finished teaching our first investigators! In our second
to last lesson, we extended the invitation to be baptized and they accepted!
The spirit was so strong and I honestly felt SO much JOY that I felt like I
would burst!
The spanish is coming along, and I can already see so much
more progress than before :) It's starting to get a little tough though--gotta
put my back into it!
We have gym time every day, and the past few days we've been
playing volleyball :D It's so much fun, but I've learned that I can be pretty
competitive and also dramatic :3 For example: yesterday, we played volleyball,
and every single time I would hit the ball, it would go way out of
bounds! I was so frustrated that I didn't even remember the good parts of the
game. So, in reality, the ball only went out of bounds about 30% of the time
that I hit it :3 Case in point, I can be dramatic :)
My companions and I were called to be the sister training
leaders for our branch! I am so excited, but also so humbled, because I want to
be His hands, and I'm afraid to mess up an opportunity to touch someone's life.
We got three new sisters in our branch, along with four elders, and our casa is
now full! All five rooms have sisters in them! Speaking of new sisters, our
service activity every week is to help with the new missionary orientation. It
is sooo much fun! We were taking the new sisters to their houses last Wednesday
and talking and having fun, and they asked how long we had been here. One week.
:) We had been here for one week. They were so surprised, they thought we had
been here for much more than that!
We have classes all day long, and it can get rough and kind
of sleepy sometimes ;) but it really is amazing! We have amazing teachers and
they help us so much.
We went to the Mexico City Temple Visitor's Center today! It
was so beautiful and it reawakened my missionary desire to help and serve
others :) I'm sending pictures btw :)
Yesterday, it rained BUCKETS in the three hours between
dinner and the end of classes. We had to go to class, but we're not supposed to
run because it's really easy to slip and fall on the pavement. So, my
companions were kind of running/jogging, and I was calmly walking to class :) I
love the rain! I feel like it's a way that my Heavenly Father shows his love
for me :) But, we found out that the pollution in the city makes the rain
really dirty so we all had to wash that dirty-ness out of our hair. yuck.
Something else that I have learned this week is that how I
word my prayers is very important--not only for how I receive my answers, but
also how I feel about my prayer afterwards. It has helped me strengthen my
testimony about prayer and about prayers being answered. It's so funny, but
we're trying to learn how to teach investigators, and the Lord is teaching me
so much!
I can't believe we only have three and a half weeks left in
the CCM! It's surreal! I'm trying to savor every moment, but sometimes they
pass by so fast!
Until next time!
 |
| Our district |
Con mucho amor! <333
Hermana Tycksen
 |
| Such fun Hermanas! |
 |
| Mexico City Temple Visitors Center |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)