August 30, 2011

I sit at the same computer at the same library each week so it's weird that I am back again, writing another letter about another very long, but yet very short week. I feel like I have nothing to report on. Unfortunately, the work has slowed down considerably and we find ourselves needing stuff to fill the long (and very hot) hours of the afternoons. The evenings are awesome but the afternoons are an eternity. We had a mini zone conference on Thursday with the stake mission leader, Brother Andre. He is seriously so funny. He is such a live wire and so pumped about missionary work and getting people baptized. He was talking about all the creative strategies we need to use, and being me, I totally ran with it and want to start trying more creative approaches in getting people to listen/get involved.

I am becoming more comfortable with the members and showing my personality. There is a ward talent show coming up and Sister Madsen and I are planning on doing a missionary rap. It's going to be beyond dumb and weird but we want the members to see we are fun and crazy AND awesome missionaries. I'll let you all know how it plays out. We won't do it if we can't do a legit rap so I'll be working on that throughout the week.

Here is my "die laughing" story of the week. So my companion and I were helping the cutest family move this week (The Saguhans, they have triplets, twins, a single and a baby on the way. I love them. The twins are girls and are the oldest and both want to serve missions and they love the missionaries! They are so fun! And Sister Sahagun is seriously a saint. I don't know how she does it all and still looks gorgeous in the process). ANYWAY, so first Sister Madsen climbed the laundry shoot and couldn't make it all the way out so she had to go back down. THEN, she decided to slide down their wooden banister. I looked at the banister and remembered when I was younger - I slid down a white metal one and when I hit the bottom, I smashed my crotch and it REALLY hurt. Like I burst out crying immediately and ran to my room and just cried. So I am thinking in my head, "Oh man, this is going to hurt her", but I didn't say anything. So she slides down, hits the bottom and her whole body distorts as she comes off of it and she just screamed and fell to the ground, holding her crotch. It sounds awful but oh my gosh, I was laughing so hard. I am crying as I write it. A big reason I didn't tell her it was going to hurt was because we are both "know-it-alls" so I knew if I told her she would be like "Oh please, I used to do this all the time." She got a huge bruise. No matter how many times I tell the story I still laugh so hard. Only because I know how it feels and it sucks so bad, but you don't think about it until you do it.

Anyway, on Friday, a lady got us Cafe Rio for dinner. I was in heaven. I love Cafe Rio!!!! Also this week, I am trying to finish the Book of Mormon so I can start fresh at the next transfer with a new one and mark all the places that talk about Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. It's going to be one marked up Book of Mormon. I love reading fresh copies because then different verses stand out to me and mean different things. I think it's funny how stoked we get to read the Book of Mormon as missionaries. I also LOVE reading the Ensign. It's like my "Us Weekly" magazine fix. The August one had a great talk about being committed. It talked about how we can't be partially committed to the gospel. We need to be in it 100%. If we are only sort of committed to the gospel we can only expect to sort of receive blessings and sort of be with our families forever and sort of be saved. I def need all the blessing I can get so I am trying to be beyond fully committed.

Fact: I cry a ton. It's ridiculous. Every little thing causes me to cry. I hate crying. My poor companion has had to deal with lots of crying. I don't even bother with tissues, I just grab a washcloth and cry - haha. But yesterday, I had a mini-meltdown because I was worried about the kind of example I am being. My name tag no longer just says my name. I represent my Savior Jesus Christ, and anything I say and do, is a reflection on what we believe and how we carry ourselves as members of the Church. It was eye opening. Not that I am doing anything terribly wrong, but I just want to work on refining my language. Anyone who know me knows I am a little rough around the edges and like to say anything that comes into my head. I know it will be hard, but I am going to try and temper that to be a little better. But I am also scared of losing myself and becoming this robotic sister missionary with no personality. It's going to be interesting trying to balance the two.

Anyway, life is good. I learn so much each week, it's hard to remember it all and try and share it with you. But the basic principle that is drilled into my head every day is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is simple. Have faith (check). Be baptized (check). Repent of your sins (something I do every single day, check). Receive and use the gift of the Holy Ghost (check). And endure to the end...still working on it. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in really deep doctrine that doesn't make sense or is hard to comprehend, but when it comes down to it, having faith and doing those steps is all we need to know and we are golden. haha, now if only the whole world could learn that....hmmm....ok, the Church is true! Now go do some missionary work :)

Love,
Sister Christensen