August 21, 2012

This is going to be short and sweet.

Tuesday: We bought matching sweaters. We are very proud of our matching sweaters (see picture). Also we had district activity and went crazy with our huge district.

Wednesday: We had a long afternoon. And a long evening.

Thursday: We had zone conference. It was great. It was green for unity day. And we got a new investigator.

Friday: Was one of the top worst days in my mission. I am calling it my "mid mission crisis." My trainer, Madsen, got to come visit me (she went home in June) which was sad for her cause it was such a harsh day for me, and I really enjoyed seeing her, but whatev. It is what it is.

Saturday: Was much better than Friday. We kept busy and really focused on each thing we needed to do for the day.

Sunday: We taught Young Women's and had a lovely Sunday meal.

Monday: We survived. And found a new investigator.

And wa-la, that was my week in a very small nutshell. Missions are hard, don't cha know?

Pce.
S. Christensen

July 14, 2012

Has it only been a week? It was a long one.

On Tuesday Sister Andrus and I had a little adventure with a child-sized trampoline at the dumpster. The trampoline was a big ol' mess next to the dumpster and we decided it would be worth the trouble of cleaning it up, tying it to our roof with yarn, and bringing it on home. We have been enjoying our little gem ever since. It's a bit of a mess in our apt. with a trampoline taking up a fair amount of space in our living room, but it's worth it. Don't tell our mission president.

Wednesday we got a new district! Previously we only had two other sets of elders in our district, but we merged with another one and now we have four sets, so ten total! It's a lot of fun. It was "purple" for unity day so we all wore purple (those who forgot were not privileged to be in the picture). After the meeting we squandered away the afternoon trying to stay out of the heat. I am embarrassed to say that the heat I am referring to is in the low 80's...but in my defense, with the humidity and NO AC, it gets hot!! And muggy! We seriously search out the few people who have AC and try to visit their houses. And we are in the nicest area (in terms of weather) in our mission so I feel awful for all the other missionaries out there. Poor babies! The evening was a bust because a member dragged us along all night, telling us we could come teach a lesson, so we were dinking around waiting, and then at 8:15 she full out canceled. Very. Irritating.

Thursday was fun, but not super productive for missionary work. We pulled weeds for service, had a fun dinner appointment, and went to the Relief Society Pilates night. I am sooo out of shape. My cousin on his mission in Africa just emailed about how much he enjoys his weight gain. I am soo not on the same page. I cannot even fit into my jeans anymore (not that we wear them ever, but still). Gaining weight sucks and any fat jokes directed toward me will not be well received, just FYI.

Friday was a low day. Like really low. ALL our appointments canceled, it was hot, I felt like crap...basically I wanted to give up and die. Sometimes you get tunnel vision in missionary work, and you think that the day will never end, and you will never survive, and you lose all hope of life, and love, and happiness. I am serious. It's so bad. Like Bad. I wouldn't relive this day if you paid me. End of story.

Saturday was much better. We met this cute old man who kept kissing our hands. And we had appointments all day. And then some of our appointments fell through so we were driving and I just swerved over to the side of the road because I saw a lady gardening. We approached her and ended up talking for forty-five minutes about the gospel. Then on the way back to the car there were two guys on the side of the road and we talked to them for thirty minutes about the gospel. It was beautiful outside and it finished off the night wonderfully.

Sunday we ran around with our heads cut off. And taught Young Women's. And enjoyed getting to know more people in our ward.

Monday was wonderful. We found three new investigators! Heavenly Father seriously loves me. He always knows when I am at a breaking point and then sends a little lovin' my way. It's fabulous.

The church is still true and I am still happy to be partying here in So. Cali! Don't forget about me. This week should be a good one so look for some sweet updates comin' atya next week!

Luvies from CA
-Sister Christensen

August 7, 2012

Oh baby. What a week. Every time I looked out at the ocean, I may or may not have cursed my entire family for being on an Alaskan cruise for a family reunion. Somehow I managed to survive the homesickness and heartthrobs of not being there, and as always, my comp was a champ for helping me through it. We had many ups and downs so here it goes.

--Wednesday we hung out with one of our favorite families, the Cleveland's. Sister Cleveland is the biggest hippie I have ever met and I think Andrus and I are obsessed with her and her kids. We did service for her and learned all about her hippie ways. We can't get enough of them. It was the highlight of Wednesday.

--Thursday is going down in history as "rejection day." First we visited with a lady who left the church because of gay rights. She claims she would still be in the church if the church hadn't taken a stand on the marriage thing, but frankly she was full of it and she really hit a nerve with me....blowing past that one, we went to a guy's house named Todd. He swung open the door, shirtless, saw who we were and then closing the door slowly, whispered, "I am not interested." I was already at my wit's end from previous rejections so I essentially yelled at my companion, "WHAT DID HE SAY?!" and then we just kind of stormed off. THEN we got to a lady's house whose name is Nettie--she didn't even bother to answer the door, she just came out on her roof. In the middle of the conversation, in a thick Russian accent she said, "vell, anyvays, goodfbye"..... Rejection stings in the moment, but it's always so much more fun afterwards. We quote Nettie regularly now.

--On Friday we may have stumbled upon a drug house. The lady was for sure a hoarder, but she also seemed drunk or high and kept telling us really weird things. And there was white powder on the floor. Needless to say, it was a little sketchy and we left ASAP. That night was Cheyanne's baptism!!! It went fabulously. The program was beautiful, we had a great turn out, and I really was happy with all of it! It was probably one of my favorite baptismal services.

--On Saturday, the enormity of what we signed up for crashed down on us. We are back to square one now that Cheyanne's baptized. We had a couple potentials and leads but nothing solid. Oh baby. We kept nice and busy though and enjoyed our Saturday.

--Sunday was wonderful. A bunch of our plans fell through, but then we met some really nice people who loved us and treated us so kindly. And Monday was long. And slightly stressful! But we made it. And we laughed pretty much the entire week. Did I mention we laugh a lot? We can go from being in a fight, to laughing to tears within two minutes. It's wonderful.

Something I have learned from this week (and my entire mission) is that the gospel of Jesus Christ really is simple. It's so stinking simple and people are always muddling it up with dumb things of the world. Just have faith, which leads to a desire to be better and become more like Christ which leads to wanting to promise God stuff so he promises you stuff in return and let the Holy Ghost guide you and do it over and over and over again. Ok? Done and done. The Church is true.

Party hard
-Sister A. Christensen

District activity. We found a wheelchair and as you can imagine, we had a little too much fun with it!

Cheyanne!

Cheyanne and her husband!

July 29, 2012 w/ pictures!

I love who I am as a missionary. Is that weird to say? I don't know, but I really do love my no-mess-around attitude. We had a lesson on Tuesday night with a potential investigator. I know she would have accepted the invitation to let us teach her, but she wasn't ready to change anything about her life. We could really use some more investigators, but I didn't want her. Not because I don't love her, (because Jesus told us to love everyone), but because I am on the Lord's errand and I will not waste my time. I keep seeing and hearing about missionaries who tip toe around the gospel to try and make it sound appealing to people. I hate that. We are who we are and we believe what we believe and I make no apologies for that. It has given me such an edge as a missionary. My trainer always makes comments about how she thinks I am well known throughout the mission, but it isn't because I am funny or crazy. It's because I am bold. And a little ruthless. And I kind of love it. I love it because I have a clear knowledge of my purpose and I don't mess around with that. Pretty much what I am saying is, when people ask about the polygamy thing, or the coffee thing, or whatever other thing that they have heard about the church, just go ahead and give them a firm (please excuse my French), "Hell yeah we did that, or believe that!!" because this is who we are! Feel free to explain it in more detail but don't be all "ummm.....ehhhh....hehe......" cause that's just not cool. The church is true. The end.

Moving on, on Wednesday we had sister exchanges. Sister exchanges are always kinda fun and kinda exhausting. Fun because it's a new person and exhausting because it's a new person. Needless to say, Andrus and I missed each other and we were very happy to be reunited on Thursday afternoon. Friday and Saturday were party central. Andrus and I were asked to speak in Church on Sunday, so we whipped up some invitations to give to non-members and less actives - to invite them to hear us speak! (see photo, and on the back we glued invites). We also had card game night on Friday night and did a bunch of service on Saturday. Also, Cheyanne passed her baptismal interview and is set for Aug 3rd! Wahoo! Usually our weekends are the hardest part of the week, but this one was great! On Sunday, both our talks went really well. I was a little nervous sitting on the stand, but as soon as I hit the pulpit, it was easy street. I talked about the principle of having one heart and one mind. It was fun!

On Monday we had a zone meeting for a couple hours and then had a ward FHE potluck. We are really getting to know this ward so much better. We have created some bonds with some great families, which always helps this feel more like home. This is a fairly short email, but I didn't feel like going into mindless details. These next couple weeks are going to be spent hitting the pavement to find new investigators. Pray for us? We could use it.

I grow to love Andrus more and more each day. She was a little gift-wrapped present sent from God. Seriously, she keeps me sane and laughing to tears. We constantly ask ourselves, "Is it okay to be having this much fun??" Probs not, but since when did I ever care about the rules. Ha.

Ok, party hard and get crazy!
-Lovies from CA
Sister Christensen

Invitation to Church pic (we had a whole variety, I just picked this one for your viewing pleasure).

My district. It was red for unity day, so we all wore red!