November 20, 2012 w/ 6 pictures!!

It was a legit week in the world of missionary work. Not so much in terms of teaching investigators, but more so in just feeling good about the area, the ward, and the work we are doing.

Tuesday was great. We had a lovely district lunch party thing where we all sat on the steps of the church and ate lunch. I love some good old district unity. Then I gave one of the elders a haircut! I am learning so much on my mission! (I have previously given haircuts to my dad and cousins, but I had no idea what I was doing, so this time I actually learned how to do it properly). Later that night we had dinner with a cute young couple and their adorable Spanish-speaking two-year-old. Loved it!

Wednesday and Thursday were both long days full of missionary work.

Friday we had a mission wide zone conference. Elder Gregory A. Schwitzer of the Seventy came to our mission and spoke. It was wonderful. I took four pages of notes and enjoyed seeing all my favorite people, including my baby, Sister Andrus, my old ZL [Zone Leader], Elder Martin, and my favies, Elder Hemmelgarn. Also got to see my favorite APs! (see pictures!) We are a little gang and always hang out together when we see each other. Love them all! The conference ended at 2:30, but Sister Tua'one got invited to a baptism in Escondido, so instead of driving home we drove more south and hung out in Escondido for the baptism. The girl getting baptized didn't show up because her mom got busy and couldn't make it and she didn't want to get baptized without her mom! At first we were a little panicked, but we ended up going out to Golden Spoon for some frozen yogurt and then had the baptism later that night at 8pm. It seemed like a true Friday night! We didn't even get home until 11pm! It was an adventure and was way fun!

Saturday we did what we were supposed to do on Friday, which was weekly planning. We went out to dinner at Chili's and I had the most amazing grilled chicken sandwich with bacon and honey mustard. I have only come to love bacon on my mission, and it really does make everything so much better!

Sunday and Monday were both great days. On Sunday we did a ward service project and delivered Thanksgiving meals to ten families in need. That was rewarding! And then Monday I got to see my "cousin" Tiersha who is going to my house for Thanksgiving! I got to meet her new baby, Charlotte, and catch up! So much fun! Also, the weather here is ridiculously beautiful and I just really enjoyed the day!

This morning we started off the day with a trip to the Newport Beach temple. Everything went so smoothly and it felt so good to be there! I feel so happy. Life is just good. I am stoked for Thanksgiving and the week we have ahead! I hope everyone enjoys the holidays--party hard, don't get too crazy. The Church is true!

Loveee, Sister Christensen

November 13, 2012

I can hardly believe it's only been a week since my last email! I swear, time slows down the closer you get to the finish line!

Last week was great. We were a little bummed about the elections, but my testimony is strong enough and I honestly believe that things happen how they are supposed to, so keep it real, live right, and it will all work out!

On Tuesday we had district activity. There is nothing quite like being holed up in a gym with 8 19- to 20-yr olds. It was a good time haha. We played frisbee, insane kickball, and basketball. Holla. Also, I think I mentioned this last week, but we have started working with some young women in our ward on their Personal Progress projects and I love it. Two girls in particular are the same age as my little sister and I cannot believe how mature they are! Is Amber that mature now too?! They both shared with us how they are setting examples to their friends and doing missionary work and I just love it. These kids are stellar!

On Wednesday my companion and I had a sweet companion inventory that helped us set our goals and standards for what we expect out of this transfer. I love goal setting! Afterward we promptly went out and picked up a new investigator! Her name is Vivian, she is 24 with a 5 yr old son. In her own words she is "just trying to find out how to worship God the right way." We were both stoked on life to have found her and truly hope that she will find the answer she is looking for! It was such a beautiful, perfect day--love it!

Thursday we had a zone meeting and a couple great appointments that kept us fresh and happy! Friday we had a second appointment with Vivian and that went really well. We weekly planned and had dinner with a return sister missionary who I adore. She is so spicy and hilarious! Saturday was great, Sunday was great, and Monday was great! We are just rockin' out and doing missionary work. Seriously, I would tell you all about it, but it was all just doing what we got called out here to do, and that just makes me happy! I love my ward, I love my companion, and we have a fabulous week ahead, which I am stoked about!

Hope all is well wherever you may be!

Love, Sista Christensen

November 6, 2012

Big week!

Tuesday was the long awaited transfers! I got to see my baby Andrus, so that was fabulous, and then, I got the companion that I was hoping for......Sister Brook Tua'one, from Fort Lauderdale, FL. She is Tongan and is one of 10 children in her family. She is the 8th to serve a mission in her family! She was in the MTC with Sister Andrus and I had heard great things about her, so I was happy when she got called to serve with me in Laguna Niguel. It was a long day of goodbyes (to Sister Farmer and Sister Rokobuli) and hellos to all my friends and my new companion!

Wednesday was Halloween. I. Love. Halloween. Naturally, I made the entire district dress up for district meeting. They were all good sports about it. See photo. We had a couple appointments and then enjoyed a Halloween-themed meal at the Bell's. We had to be home by 630, which wasn't so bad because we got to relax and get to know each other better.

Thursday and Friday were lame days so I am jumping straight to Saturday. On Saturday we got to participate in a mini-MTC experience for all the 16-18 yr old prospective elders in four surrounding stakes. It was so fun! We conducted a district meeting and had them practice different skills that they will one day need to use in the field. President Cook was in my group, which made me nervous, but we rocked it so well that I was happy he got to see us in action.

Immediately following the mini MTC we got to drive down to Vista so I could speak at Mike Mieure's baptism! It was such a blast. I loved Vista soo much. I was way nervous about my talk and had re-written it like 3x, and finally I just kinda went up and winged it. I got a lot of compliments so I think it went well! I was so happy to see Dani and Mike and baby Kami again. I really love them. And I got to see S. Andrus and S. Allred. It was a little reunion! It was hard to leave!

Sunday was fabulous as well. It was Fast and Testimony meeting. So many youth in our ward went up and bore powerful testimonies of the gospel. These kids are truly the elect. I don't remember being so brave and having such a strong testimony of the gospel when I was a teenager. It was so fun to listen to and be a part of. Also, we taught YW [Young Women's] in third hour and got to know more of the girls. The youth in the ward are so awesome.

Yesterday it was 90 degrees! It was kinda a long and hot day and we did a lot but didn't accomplish much--such is the life of a missionary. I am still enjoying getting to know Sister Tua'one and trying to rock out this area. We are on the hunt for new investigators so wish us luck.

Love you all!
-Sister Christensen

Goodbye Farmer!

Happy Halloween!

Mike's baptism

October 30, 2012

Long long long week! I feel like things that happened last week, happened like six weeks ago, but I guess I'll still tell you about them...

On Tuesday we had dinner with a woman who is exactly the type of wife and mother that I want to be when I am married with five children. And she's not even a member! (which makes the fact that the is so amazingly awesome, even more impressive). She cooked us a delicious, fancy meal, and her house looks like it's straight out of a Pottery Barn magazine, her kids are adorable and she is super selfless and giving. Everyone who meets her, loves her and wants to be her. I am serious, she is fabulous. Needless to say, I really enjoyed spending time with her.

On Wednesday we visited a bunch of wonderful families. One woman has a two-week-old baby who I love and adore. I love babies, therefore babies make me happy. We had a fun dinner appointment and finished the evening in a very spiritual lesson with our surfer dude slash airline pilot friend, Sandy.

Thursday we did service for the elders. And it was fun. And got done way quick. District unity for life.

Friday was weekly planning, which I did all alone because my companion is going home and didn't care to help. So that wasn't very fun. But we did teach early morning seminary, which brought back a flood of memories. Those kids are seriously troopers. I don't know how I ever even passed Seminary! Getting up before 6am should not be legal, no kidding. Ahh! That night we had souplantation for dinner, which was a first for me.

The weekend was good. And Monday was busy! Farmer said goodbye to all her favorite families, which was fun but exhausting. Oh, also we found out that our mission is going from 178 missionaries to 250 by January!! And in Salt Lake City, mission applications jumped from about 700 a week to 4500 in a week!! It's insane!

The Church is true. That's my testimony.
-Sister Christensen

My idol! She has Wonder Woman socks and I had my Halloween socks, so naturally we needed a picture.

October 23, 2012

The highlight of my week was that my former investigator, Jennifer, from San Clemente, decided to be baptized! I got permission and went down on Saturday night. It was so awesome! I got to see Sister Andrus and Jennie (my RS President), Shauna and Breanna (from the Vista YSA ward)! And all my old peeps from San Clemente! It was so fun and such a boost for the week. I am so glad Jennifer made the decision to be baptized. There is such a special spirit present at baptisms that I love, love, love to feel!

The Church is true and is such a blessing. We had a RS activity this week, that was centered on scripture study and getting the most out of reading. There were five mini-lessons, each with a different emphasis. It made me so excited for my future family and implementing the scriptures as a daily part of our lives. My parents set a great example for me because I would randomly see them studying the scriptures each day and I knew that it was important. Although family scripture study was a disaster 5 out of 7 days of the week, it still made the difference because it stuck with me and was important to our family!

Hope everyone is doing well. Loves!
-Sister Christensen

Jennifer's baptism!

My homies

October 16, 2012

Tuesday we had zone activity. We split into team blue and team white and played a bunch of games. It was fun, to say the least.

Wednesday and Thursday we had sister exchanges. Sister Semones came into Laguna with me and Farmer went to Mission Viejo with Sister Somers. It was fun and keeps missionary work interesting.

Friday we had weekly planning and met some awesome people who I really liked. That's always a plus.

On Sunday I met the sweetest dog ever that I really, really wanted to take home with me. He reminded me of my Tessy from home. It made me slightly homesick, ahh, I loved him so much!

Monday was full of lessons and keeping busy. I signed the mission dresser yearbook...and overall it was a good week.

Today during studies, I studied repentance. Did you know in the dictionary the word "repent" is a verb? When I was younger there was this big campaign for kids called "Verb: it's what you do" and so when I saw that "repent" was a verb, I thought "it's what you do." I tied it into Holland's talk from Conference last week, "The first greatest commandment", in that if we truly love our Heavenly Father, then we should all be repenting regularly and showing God that we do love him above all. And that love should manifest itself in our actions. Repentance in my mind also means change...I am far from perfect so I should be striving to change each and every day. This might have been jumbled, but I enjoyed my studies and thought I would share.

So repent cause the Church is true.
Love, Sister Christensen

October 9, 2012

We did a lot of service this week. I really love to organize because it helps me de-stress, and I got to organize one of the messiest rooms I've encountered on my mission. It took about six hours over the period of two days, but it was so beautiful by the end! I was very proud.

We also got a handful of potential investigators who will hopefully bloom into for-real investigators asap. Over the weekend, Conference was wonderful. I especially loved the Saturday morning and Sunday morning sessions. I took lots of notes and cannot wait for the Ensign issue! On Saturday we had a zone lunch which was fun, and yesterday we were super busy, I was exhausted by the end of the day.

I didn't take too many photos this week, but here is what I got - 

1. Zone lunch--this was only half the group

2. My district

3. Me and my companion....JK.

End testimony, "I'm a Mormon. I know it. I live it. I love it." The Church is true.

-Sister Christensen