December!!!

Hey guess what?

  It was 61 degrees yesterday at 7:23 and I didn't even have to wear my jacket!!!!!!!!!  It was a November Miracle!!!! Fun stuff huh? I'll tell you what I sure enjoyed it :)

  We had a good week, it was super excitingly interesting and just yep, another week!  It'll be interesting to see what comes out in this email, so stay tuned, there will be about 6 episodes!

  Tuesday: I fixed my scripture case!!! I also left a momento of my finger upon my scripture case! It was quite funny! Also I have the best story of shopping in a Christian store to tell you all when I see you. We helped a member make Tuna casserole. I had one of the most spiritual lessons ever!! Probably the best I have ever had on my mission. We had an awesome training on Monday by the Assistants, did I ever tell you how much I love them? Because I really truly do, they are fabulous! :) But anyways back to the story President was also a part of the training and it was all about how to use Inspired questions more in our lessons, and how to teach by questions, so we did our very best to apply it on Tuesday evening and bam!! It worked, Follow the Keys friends, follow the keys!! We were at a PM family and 2 of them are LA, but boy did the spirit work on one of my new favorite people in Muncie!!! He felt the spirit so strong and said that he was going to come to church on Sunday. Then we went and dropped 2 investigators....

  Wednesday: Zone Meeting, it was good times. My first training was super boring so I did much better the 2 and 3 groups. We had some good lessons. Sang some songs for Miss Hazel. Then some of our investigators had us over for dinner and it was sooooo good!! We had chili, but it is not the chili you are thinking of, she is from Puerto Rico and it was great. Also the husband made the richest hot cocoa you could ever dream of drinking, it was good, but sooo much chocolate. We had a lesson w/ a lady who used to live in Cornish back in the day, and we talked about the McKnights, and Creechs, and that was about the extent of my Cornish knowledge, pretty sad eh? But it was a good time.

  Thursday: Weekly Planning as a zone at the church. But hey good news, we got our planning done.  We also cemented our love to the zone by bringing them breakfast.  We sent out a mass text text to a billion people in our phone and got lots of responses back so that is fun. Claudia and Amy had us over for Thanksgiving and that was so much fun!! I just love them, they are great!  We also went and visited this poor lady at Ball Memorial Hospital, she was so grateful for a visit. I just love when we are at the right places at the right time. Also I just want to mention how grateful I am to all of you lovely people!

  Friday: We had exchanges w/ Dunkirk. Sister Ribeira and I were in Muncie. We had quite the day. We were spreading "He is the Gift" joy all day long, and that was just magnificent.  So many people let us into their homes it was just great.  I met one of the nicest ladies ever, I just love her, and want to teach her the gospel. Her husband is actually a resident w/ a few of our members, so they have that contact w/ the church. She loved the movie, and said she was going to share it w/ her husband, also she wants to come to the Nativity so that is exciting.  We had dinner w/ Johannes, and I just love that man. He is a great guy, so full of the spirit, it is incredible.  Also I have decided if I never eat at a Chinese Buffet in my life, I think I will survive quite well. I don't know what it is about Muncie and Chinese, but its there........We went to Hazel's so we could see Tym and Jackie and what do you know mission accomplished. I love those people, they are just great :)  Ohhh man we had the most hilarious phone call w/ Brother Kirk, I was just dying!! He is soo great, favorite WML that is for sure.

  Saturday: We met some nice people. We had Brother and Sister Kirk help us out in teaching. They are so great!!! The Solomon's had us over for dinner, and we had legit taquitos, as in homemade and delicious!!!!! I surely enjoyed that meal. We also saw Brother Ellsworth, I love that guy he is great.  We told him to come to church to hear us speak and he wouldn't make any promises.

  Sunday: We spent some time freaking out about our talks, I'll tell you what writing them is still no fun as a missionary. Then we took breakfast to Miss Buddie, I love her too, she is so great. :) Everyone is just great!!!!! Then at church we were socializing w/ people, and I looked up and I saw Billy and Mark, I almost died w/ happiness.  It was so great. Then we had Brother Ellsworth walk in, and Buddie was there, and then midway thru the meeting one of the inv we dropped on Tuesday walked in. He biked to church, and has been 2 days free of smoking!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Miracles definitely happen! We had a good lesson w/ a new inv, and surprised her b/c she had no idea there were "Mormon Women" as it turns out she loves us.  Then Brother Reed had us over for dinner, and he made Lasagna, and it was sooo great. I just love lasagna sooo much!! We also sang in the choir, we're not sure if we will actually participate in the performance, but we are all practiced up.

  Coming up this week we have Zone Conference in Huntington tomorrow!!! Then we have social media day on Saturday, and the Nativity on Friday and Saturday, so it'll be a good week!

  I got the package on Wednesday and I shared some of the goodies w/ the Zone Leaders. It made us and them so happy!! Mom you won all of our hearts, don't worry, you had mine already, but it was just so stinking delicious!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

I love you! ohhh and I almost forgot to mention, Sister Jacobson beat me at Ping-Pong in President and Sister Porter's house so apparently I need to brush up on those skills. Haha also I learned how important brownies are to some people..... haha :)

I love you!!!!

Love, 

        Sister Christiansen

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Tuesday!!!!!

  Just in case you missed me on Monday, I'm here on Tuesday!! So never fear you will still learn all about the happenings in my week! I just have an extra day to report and tons of exciting stuff to tell you about. 

  Monday: We stayed inside as much as possible, neither one of us like the cold, and snow. Later that night we met up w/ the Ball State Sisters for exchanges on Tuesday.

  Tuesday: I was w/ Sister Keil all day long!!!!!!!!!! Ohhhh man I love that girl so much!! She is just so super great. I got to spend the day w/ her on frigid Ball State Campus!!!!! I love campus, it was sooo fun to be there, it was just sooo stinking cold that no one wanted to talk w/ us, sorta unfortunate but hey such is life. We walked back and forth from the Institute to Bracken (the library) 3 different times. But it was all good.  We spent some time w/ Seth one of their RC's, and I got to go to institute which was soo fun!! It was all about repentance which is always a good topic!! I just love it. This time I did not eat anything exotic like Octopus w/ her....but I did eat one of those breakfast sausage and pancake things, and it was surprisingly delicious.

  Wednesday: I got to be w/ my favorite Sister Jacobson!! We had a really good District Meeting. We dropped one of my funny investigators, but I refused to drop him until I got a picture w/ him, and once I got my picture I was good w/ it. He was always good for a laugh that is for certain. We visited w/ some pretty awesome people. I got to see the cute baby bunnies, and Sister Kirk came out teaching w/ us, so that was fun. I love her she is great!!!!

  Thursday: We had this conference that we got to be apart of. However it was different than other conferences. It was by video and phone. So we watched it on the computer and then we listened to it via our phone. Crazy what you can do w/ technology right? It was for all the District, Zone and Sister Training Leaders, as well as others who were invited to it. Don't worry that meeting only went over by an hour, we were back to our typical meeting schedule :) haha. The Kirk's were kind enough to let us invade their home for the meeting. And Sister Kirk fed us an awesome breakfast!!! Then we played car hop from appointment to appointment w/ different members. It was kind of like being back in Englewood, going from place to place w/ different people.  We had a delicious dinner and Sister Inman was going to send a pic home of me and Sister J, but idk if I gave the right email addy, so theres that. We had some other good appointments that night and then we were off, to meet up for exchanges for Friday.

  Friday: I was w/ Sister Stokes in Muncie 2.2. Ohh man she is a cutie too! We have such great Sisters in our Zone, we are sooo blessed. But we had so much fun that day. We had some great things happen that day. It was fun to be w/ her, she is just so genuinely happy, and soooo nice to everyone, it showed me how I should treat others.  I also grew in my appreciation for my weekly coordination meetings, b/c once again, I really do love Brother Kirk, he is great!!!!!

  Saturday: We went to the Sisters (Ball State) Baptism, did some paperwork, and taught some lessons. We also text President and Sister Porter to see if we could spend Sunday night at their place. We had dinner w/ a super cute family that I love. I am going to do something for her when I go home, so that will be fun :) We saw Buddy, it turns out their family has been having a really rough week, so it was good to be able to see her. Oh and no worries we got the confirmation that we could spend Sunday night in Cinci!!!! I was ecstatic, and so super happy!

  Sunday: President called while I was in the shower and said that we were supposed to be doing a special musical number in 2nd ward. Sister Jacobson did some quick phone calls and worked things out so that she played the fiddle, and Sister Hefner played the piano of Come Thou Fount. It was sooo beautiful!!! It was a bit of a stressful morning for her. We had dinner w/ a really cool new family. They fed us legit Indian food, as in spicy and good. Then we drove to Cinci!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best way to end the day! In Cincinnati, it made me feel like I am part of the mission and not just out there. I just love President and Sister Porter sooo much! My life would not be the same if they were not in it. I am soo thankful for all that they do for me. I will forever be one of their biggest fans! :)

  Monday: We did our workout and then Sister J and I played some quick ping-pong before our meeting started, we had to do it before everyone got there too. I am sad to say I have lost most of my skills. Yesterday was sooo inspiring! I learned a million things, and I am sad to say I don't have time to tell you all now, but some other day!!!

  This week we have been invited to a few Thanksgivings, so don't worry I will be eating some wonderful dinners. We have Zone Meeting tomorrow, we are doing a Zone weekly planning as well. You should all make sure you check out the church's new video that launches on my favorite Jon boy's birthday!! Nov 28, He is the Gift is coming out and it is awesome. We got a sneak preview!!!!!!!!!! You'll love it :)

  Austin and Kellie Happy Birthday this week. TJ Congrats on receiving the Priesthood. Sara I am soooo sorry for your loss. I hope you know how much I love you, and that you are in my prayers!

I love you all! Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,

            Sister Christiansen

Amazing Revelation​!

Good Cold Morning!!!!

  It seems as though it is the norm to be freezing, but hey at least we're all in the cold together :) So much happened this week so I really want to get it all in, here we go!!!

  Monday:We did a sweet activity w/ almost all of the Muncie missionaries. We had a nerf dart war, it was sooo fun. We all had a blast. We found another random PM family, and she invited us back the next day so that was cool. I also met a super nice LA, and he gave us a ton of candy. He is one of the most conspiracy theorist people I have ever met, but it was all good. My mind got blown a billion times, but it was super fun. In the Conference Call President touched on the importance of Daily repentance again, ohhh man it is always great to get those reminders, about being able to do our part to qualify for grace.

  Tuesday: Exchanges w/ Muncie 2 Sisters. I was w/ Sister Driesel, and we had a good day. We did some volunteer work, taught a few lessons. We went to go try a potential, but I forgot the binder and couldn't rem. what house was their's so we went and said hi to a mem. to see what house it was, and she let us come in and do some service which was much appreciated on our part, b/c it was freezing cold outside. We had a good lesson w/ Sister Solomon and Jim.  He still isn't reading the BoM, but I received some revelation for him, so hopefully it'll help. Oh one funny story about this day, so we passed off some of our inv, to the Elders, b/c they weren't going anywhere w/ us, and we get a call from Elder Stoddard, he is one of the Assistants, and he starts off the conversation all nice and asking us random questions and talking to us about dinner, and bam he changes the subject to these inv, that we passed off, naturally neither one of us wanted to talk about it, so Sis. J, just walked over and handed the phone to the Muncie 2 Sisters and let them talk to him for a bit, then you hear this confused voice, "Where did Sister Jacobson go?" haha it was pretty great

  Wednesday: We did a zone fast, so that was great. We also spent some time in a heartless place.....jk, it was just freezing cold and no one was interested so we did some heart-attacking and peaced out! We had a good visit w/ a widowed Sister, had our monthly meeting w/ the Bishop. Borrowed our WML's rake, and awkwardly stood outside their house....hahaha it was pretty great.

  Thursday: Exchanges w/ Dunkirk. I was w/ Sister Ribeira, but the four of us were together in the morning b/c we did some service. Taught some lessons. Sang some songs, and everyone loved, loved, loved hearing Sister Ribeira sing, b/c she is great!!!! Saw Jackie and Tim again, that made me so excited.  Funny story of the day, I have been craving breadsticks, a lot, random I know! But at dinner Jama had given Sister J some breadsticks to bring home, and so I was laying on the ground against the mattresses, and on the phone w/ Elder Cheng reporting midweeks, when all of a sudden this bag of breadsticks lands on my chest, I kinda shrieked/screamed a little in the phone and threw it, and then all 4 of us were laughing sooooo hard, it made the rest of the conversation a little difficult, but no worries, Elder Chenge told us that he would pray for our mental health. :) haha

  Friday: So we had to be at the church early for a meeting, and then that meeting was delayed, about an hour I think, so we just kind of chilled at the church. The leadership meeting was super great though. We got to hear from Sister Porter, Sister Andersen, President Porter, and Elder Andersen. President talked about the difference btw leaders in Alma 48, and that was pretty cool to see. Elder Andersen talked about how we can become like President and Sister Porter, and then he talked about good leaders as well, doing things the way the Savior did. We also talked about how every relationship needs to have 3 members. You, the other person and God!  It was super powerful.  Then our mission conference meeting was super great. It was all of the missionaries in Indiana, so the Muncie and Fort Wayne stake. Sister Porter talked about how we all need to continue increasing our faith, President talked about the calling of a 70, (actually I heard 4 different versions of this, all from this weekend), he talked about the gifts of the spirit, preparation and other amazing things. Sister Andersen talked about keeping to the schedule, God has missionaries have a routine for a reason, and doing Godly things. Elder Andersen talked about covenants, Alma the Younger, (twice this weekend) I learned some cool things about sealings, how when we are consecrated we are happier people, and so on. Super big surprise the meeting got over a little after 3, and it was supposed to go to after 5......it was a bit of a shock. Our meetings never get over early. But it did, and so Sister Jacobson and I got to take Sister Denison for a while, it was sooo fun!!!! Then we went back for the fireside, but we hadn't had dinner so the Assistants were nice enough to give us the keys to their truck so that we could have their leftover food. We left them a bunch of sticky notes and a bucket of candy as thanks. It was a party. The fireside was super great, and I learned a ton there as well.

  Saturday: We had a fabulous lesson w/ Jake, and Buck, the spirit was so strong. A quality ward coorelation meeting, I really, really love my WML, he is great! Taught some lessons, had 2 YW out w/ us for a few hours and it was soooo fun!!!!! Had a pizza casserole and went to Stake Conference. It was soooo fabulous as well. I learned a lot about love, and what to do in future family and so forth.  Also a fun thing, day 2 of President and Sister Porter. Fun story of the day, we did a super intense work-out that they had given us at the conference on Friday and man, I thought I was going to die, so I text Sister Porter, and she laughed and said we had asked for it :)

  Sunday: Can you believe it, day 3 in a row of President and Sister Porter!!!! My life is just so fabulously great!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love them soooo much! I learned a lot yesterday too, but the thing that stuck out most was what Elder Andersen talked about. Repentance. He taught a lot about it, and I feel like I understand it so much more clearly now, so inf you want to learn more check out D&C 58:42-43.  It definitely simplifies things. Its a 2 step process :)  Dinner w/ the Kirks, and that was soooo great!!!

I love being a missionary, I am 100 percent convinced there is nothing better in the world than to be doing this.  Yesterday as part of her talk Sister Porter had all of us missionaries come up and recite the Standard of Truth and it was just a good reminder to me of what I need to do, not just now, but always.

 

I love you all!!! Have a great week :)

Love,

         Sister Christiansen

 

Btw I totally forget to tell you how awesome my Zone Leaders are now. I used to be so good at talking about them, but just know that Elder Barfuss, and Elder Boden are top notch :)

 

 

 

 

Pass the Tissues Please!!

First off Our new Stake Presidency sounds awesome!!

Secondly bummer it wasn't President Porter's dad....

Thirdly I got the package and it made my whole day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was one happy camper! :)

Fourthly I get to have my Stake Conference this week, and since Elder Anderson is also doing a mission tour we get to have a special meeting w/ him alllllllllllll day on Friday, pretty cool huh?

Fifthly....I'm gonna get started now............!

  Monday: We had voice lessons again, and it was super fun! I just love Sister Hagopian she is a killer cool lady. We also had a mini chapel tour w/ this LA husband and his wife who is not a member and the spirit was awesome. OHHHH we went to the institute and learned a few new fun games to play, I'll have to teach you all when I get back b/c they are hilarious!! At least Sister Jacobson and I enjoyed them!

  Tuesday: Zone Meeting, it went pretty well. I learned some things, and the rest of the zone learned some things as well, the challenge now is just applying it, and making sure we are each making those changes. Being Consecrated!!! Its a hard task, but hey something we all have to do. We were kinda sick.....esp. Sister Jacobson so it was a little rough. No worries, I think btw the 2 of us we made it thru a good 75 tissues this week! Nyquil and Dayquil are my favorite friends. My quote of the day comes from Sis J, "You rock my Bacon! Idk what that means, hopefully nothing inappropriate." hahaha too funny.

  Wednesday: We painted, it was fun! We also ate a Chick-fil-a, always a good choice. Did you know that they have mouthwash in their bathrooms, and that it is pretty good? Talk about a legit place!

  Thursday: Weekly planning, Sister Jacobson made pumpkin rice crispies, and pumpkin muffins, both of which were super fab.  When we came back for dinner we decided to check the mail and my whole day took an extreme upswing! I got my glorious, wonderous package!!!!!!!!!! I almost cried when I saw the pumpkin bread and granola!!!!!! It was seriously the best thing ever. I ate some pumpkin bread, and oatmeal for dinner, good thing too b/c I had no idea what to eat, so it saved my dinner life :) haha but really thank you soooooo, sooooo much!!!! The Ball State Sisters came to do our exchange and I just love those 2. They are so cute, and so happy, and just fun, fun, fun to be around!

  Friday: I was w/ Sister Hefner, and we got to do some service w/ The Ball State Elders, and the Muncie 1 Elders. Then we ate lunch w/ Sister Stevens and had the best chocolate chip cookies ever!! Oh man it was great. We saw some great people. I was told that I was an evangelist.... I'm really not sure about that one. It was funny tho, let me explain the situation so you know what is even going on. We were on a street corner and were talking to this kid, and this guy who we had walked past b/c he was sitting in his car listening to ridiculously loud music gets out of his car and says, "why are you in my area?" We had a quick chat w/ him and he wasn't too impressed w/ us, but hey whatever works....I'm not an evangelist, I'm a Missionary. We saw Jim and rebuked him for not reading the BOM.....It was a good day, super fun.

  Saturday: We did our paper work right off the bat, ate our delicious potatoes.....They were great! Did some things found out some people have moved, met a nice lady in our ward that we didn't know at all. Paul and Irene made us dinner. It was taco salad, and super delish. We had a good visit w/ Sister Herrick she put together these really nice Halloween buckets for us. Visited Sister Hagopian and she fed us some cake and ice cream. Ohh so I started reading the Ensign and found this sweet quote, "In this church, what we know will always trump what we do not know." Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. Sooo true and I really liked it. Oh we also get to play around on lds.org a little and I read some sweet articles, I think my favorite was the one on church discipline.  I also found out I share my birthday w/ a famous Mormon, Brandon Flowers....also fyi I changed my Mormon.org profile a bit, so that was fun.

  Sunday:We took breakfast to this awesome family, they didn't end up coming to church b/c the dad was sick but  it was a good visit. We watched the B/c of Him video, which I seriously love sooooo much!!  We had a VT Conference in RS yesterday and it was really nice they fed us a legit lunch....yum! The Bar has been set tho if I go to any other VT Conferences.....just saying :)  The Horowitz's had us over for dinner yesterday, and I must say I love them they are just great.

  Monday:  today is my email you day!!! Woot woot. We are going to play a nerf war so that will be fun. 

  Coming up this week, Exchanges on Tuesday, and Thursday, Elder Anderson on Friday, Stake Conference on Saturday and Sunday. Yep yep it'll be a busy week so that'll be fun.

  Personal Insights: So as I have been reading thru Helaman it is showing me the importance of not being prideful! My goodness I really hope that God does not have to humble me, that I can choose for myself to be a meek person, b/c the flipside is not so fun.  Follow the Prophet, don't question the things he teaches us thru our Prophet....seriously seek for what God wants you to change everyday, it makes a big difference in what happens in our day.

I love you lots!!!

​This is how we Exchange!

​I have no idea what we were doing, but just know we were having fun!!

Love,

         Sister Christiansen

Be prepared for teradactile!! It's great!

It's me again!!!!

First off, I would like to apologize for the lame excuse of an email I sent home last week. Let's just say the church was a bit of a zoo, w/ everyone and all of the transfer calls, and so on and so forth. I am repenting and moving forward and in order to truly complete the repentance steps I am making restitution by writing a better email today!

Alrighty Roo!!!!!!!

  Monday: We had FHE w/ Claudia, Amy and Chris which was super fun.  Also I tried my first taste of Culver's Ice Cream which was pretty fab!  Creamy and delish, you can't get better than that.

  Tuesday: We were dying all morning to get transfer news!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even tell you how badly I wanted to be there.  I wanted to be there soooooo bad!!!!!!!!!!! It sounds like it was super huge, and everybody who is anybody besides us was there!!! I caved and text everyone in the zone who went so I could get some info. Elder Boden is our new ZL, who was partially trained by Elder Barfuss, they are so happy to be back together, Sister Hefner is here, Sister Stokes, Elder Thompson, and Elder Crawford!!! Crazy stuff, I am sooo excited about our zone it is spectacular. The biggest news was that Elders got doubled onto Ball State, so now there are 7 sets of missionaries, in Muncie. 6 are proselyting. It was the craziest info day of my life. Also Elder Stoddard sealed his place as our favorite Elder of the transfer on that day as well, OHHHHH and I almost forgot to say that Elder Barnett became our new Assistant. I was soo happy about that one that I almost cried, I love him!

  Jama came out teaching w/ us and that was super fun. Also I worked on my door-bell ditching skills.....I think they are kind of lacking.........

  Wednesday: We did some service for Kelly and Chris. It was super fun, we were helping w/ taping so that she could paint some things.  We also had a super spiritual lesson w/ Sis Ellis. Wrote our testimonies so we could start giving them to peeps so we can learn them in Spanish.

  Thursday: Did our thing w/ the ZL's. Had Sister Brimhall out w/ us. Went  to the ward trunk or treat, and participated in the cake walk so I could get a cupcake. Had our apartment invaded by 4 other Sisters. I learned how much I love living w/ just my companion.....we get along so well, its lovely.

  Friday: We had to get up at 4:15 and leave our apartment at 5ish. I found out that 5 is too early to eat berry crunch cereal, its too much sugar that early in the morning.  We went on a 3 hour adventure in the car. We were driving on the most random roads, and it was a party!!!  All worth it tho, b/c MLC was sooo intense and super fabulous and revelatory. President pretty much told us that He has taught us everything and now it is up to us as to whether or not we hit the goals that the Stake Presidents set. There is no revolutionary thing he will teach us that will help us hit it, we have to each individually make the choice to do it. I already knew how imp it was to be accountable, and everything, but that drove it home for me. Esp since time is so short. We discussed this great talk on being a Consecrated Missionary that I loved so much, I am trying to make those sacrifices everyday so I can be the consecrated missionary He sent me to be.  Following the keys is one of the most important lessons I have learned on my mission! I am so grateful for President and Sister Porter and the change they have helped me make. OHh man so for lunch we did a pizza taste testing it was sooo fun!

  Saturday: We had to get going b/c we had only taught 9 lessons so we got ourselves going and taught 9 lessons that day. We had the funniest Ward Coorelation ever, I was dying!! Brother Kirk is fabulous! We had a serious miracle tho. We need to find families, that is our big focus now, and we went to go visit this investigator, and she had her aid there.  Her family was there w/ her as well, and one of her boys sat in the room w/ us while we were in w/ the inv, we loved him so much!! Afterwards we were talking w/ the aid and she is great, then her husband came back from dropping off the kids. We asked if they had ever talked w/ missionaries before, and she said no, and he said yes. He said that he is a member!! Say what say what!! They are great tho, we are super excited about them. We have a lesson set up for tonight. God has seriously been blessing us w/ random PM families tho and we love it so much.

  Sunday: A LA randomly decided to come to church. It was so great to see him walk in, and w/ no prompting from us. He has decided that he is ready to come back, and wants us to work w/ his wife more.  We are really excited about that!!!

  Miracles are simply everywhere, we just have to be willing to work a little for them, and recognize them when they do come.  I love this gospel and I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to share it w/ others.  It truly is a gospel of change, and if we aren't changing everyday we are living it wrong!  

  Colton I am praying that the surgery goes well!!!

  Roger Happy Birthday this week!

I hope you all enjoy November!!

Love you lots!!

Love,

           Sister Christiansen

 

So I received some sweet revelation this week that I am totally not following right now b/c I wanted to share this w/ you. Friday was one of my longest days awake as a missionary. We didn't get home till 10....and so we were up for a little more than 18 hours..........crazy long right?!?

OH man I also made it thru Alma in my BOM so here I come Helaman!!

Also here are some Pics.

 

 Part of our Zone....from last transfer

 From the Temple

 SOOOOOO GOOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Our poor pumpkins.....don't worry they look even worse now!!!! I don't even want to touch them!!! Talk about gross...........!

 

Guess who matches....EVERYDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

WE DOOO

 

 

No way!!!

So it is so surreal to know that this is my last transfer!!!

I am staying in Muncie, w/ Sister Jacobson, and I am so excited we will be staying together.

Our zone is going to be half different, and from the sounds of it, most other zones are the same situation as us. It is going to be a huge transfer!!

Monday: We carved pumpkins as a zone and then had fire w/ some people, so I got to have a s'more or 2. It was great!

  Tuesday:I was on exchanges in Elwood it was a good day. We had District meeting and I was able to go to see Elder Hampton's District meeting which was great. They have some sweet investigators.

  Wednesday: Temple day!!!!!!! It was soooo great, it was a revelatory day and I loved it. We ate in Columbus and it was fun.

  Thursday: I was in Dunkirk w/ Sister Ellis and we had a good time.  I almost passed out, don't ever eat Cream of Mushroom Soup plain it is gross!!!!!!!!!!

  Friday: We had a good day. Weekly planning and our new investigator invited us to go out to the bar when we were finished. Haha he liked Sister Jacobson lots :) We worked on our singing abilities and it was great.

  Saturday: We did some service and I realized the difference btw free labor and service. A new appreciation has been found for that :) We had a sweet last minute lesson w/ a LA and it was good. She needed it and it was good stuff.

  Sunday: Church we had dinner w/ the Brimhall's and it was delicious.

Monday: Crazy transfer day!!!!!

Happy Halloween this week!! I'll be spending mine in Cinci :) Fun stuff huh?

Love you lots!!!

Love, Sister Christiansen

Also those poor Aggies what is w/ that? 

Go Giants!!!!

Happy Belated Birthday TJ

Here we go again!

Happy Monday!

  Considering that I just emailed you all on Tuesday you wouldn't think that I would have too much to say, but I feel like this has been one of the longest weeks of my life!!!!!!!!!! No joke friends, it was incredibly long, but looking back I wonder what made it seem so long, and quite frankly I'm not sure.

  Tuesday: We took a nap and it was glorious....! I have such a profound appreciation for sleep it is ridiculous. I think of all the time I did not utilize for sleeping when I was home and I just realize how crazy that was.  So we went out teaching w/ Sister Solomon this week and after our last appointment w/ her we were going to meet up w/ the Muncie 2 Sisters for exchanges. We were late getting out of the appointment so I was going to text them to let them know that tidbit of info, I think this also goes w/out saying but it was really, really dark at this point in the evening. We were parked by a tree stump and I knew it was coming up, so I was being somewhat cautious, when all of a sudden my foot hit the stump, much sooner than I was expecting and down I went!!! Graceful, it was not!! I was walking one moment, and in the next moment I unexpectedly found myself on the tree stump. The worst of the whole experience is that I held onto the phone, but my scriptures were launched into the air. Like they literally took flight and landed a good few feet from me!! Nothing like abusing scriptures eh??? Anyways when I went to pick up my case, disaster struck, both of my straps broke, it was so sad. Don't worry I have lamented their demise all week long!!!!!! Sister Jacobson came and gave me a hug she was all worried about me, and I was just sad about the fact that I am back to not being able to hold my scriptures by their straps! Don't worry today I plan on finding some crazy/super glue and making everything right in my world again. :)

   Wednesday: I was w/ Sister Brown. I still got to see Sister Jacobson b/c we had District Meeting. We had a good time there, and afterwards, we went out to lunch all together, which was also a good time.  One word of advice tho, if you go to Fazoli's don't gorge on breadsticks..........their lasagna is pretty a-okay. We met some super nice widows, who are quite lonely but fun to visit.  Really nothing too exciting to say from this day except it was good.

  Thursday: Back w/ my compadre, and it was great!  We had our regular meeting w/ the Elders, and then did some weekly planning, but we had rearranged our living room, so our chairs were in the middle of the floor so that is where we did our planning. We had a Sister in the ward come out w/ us that I had never really spent time around, she was great.  We kinda ran out of things to do, and didn't want to drive somewhere else b/c we needed to be in the area, in for our exchanges so we went and visited some referrals that this lady had given us a while back. That my friends turned into a favorable experience. We had 2 new investigators out of it, so I would call it a smashing success! :) Sister Jacobson and I used our singing abilities on this lady who used to be a preacher. She loved the Primary songs, and Hymns that we sang to her. 

  Friday: I was w/ Sister Keil all day long and we had soooooooooooooooo much fun!! No joke that has been the funnest exchange I have ever had. She is so great, and it was so much fun.  We bagged frozen hot dogs, watched a member bake cookies, drove around the same areas, like 3 different times, (which showed me I really don't rem. this area as well as I should), gave a super spiritual chapel tour, she convinced me to eat OCTOPUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Eww huh? All I have to say is been there, done that! Never again my friends. I got some good advice before I ate it, just focus on the mechanics, don't think about the taste, it still wasn't great, but at least the advice helped. No but really we had a blast, all day long!!!!

  Saturday: We ate some pretty good homemade Salsa, from a hilarious investigator.  It was a pretty gray day which was not so fun. Ohh I found out our WML is from Blanding, funny huh? Ohh so we went to go visit an inv, and were waiting for the member to join us so we were sitting in the car, in front of this house for like 20 minutes when this lady comes out and asks us why we were sitting in front of her house.  We said we were waiting for a friend so we could go visit our other friend, and she looks at us and said are you Mormons? We responded yes, and she invited us into her house while we were waiting. Turns out she is a LA, but she said that she is looking for a church but is not interested in coming back to our church. We invited her to a fireside at the church on Sunday. (As it turns out she actually went to the fireside, we weren't there, but she was, crazy huh?)

  Sunday: We had dinner w/ the LaTour's and they are just great. I really enjoyed being there w/ them it was fun. Oh man one quick thing, church was a zoo!! It was a restless day for a bunch of kiddos.  We met Nick's girlfriend, and hopefully helped her to see that we are pretty normal people.  We met some crazies who are very nice. They were trying to help us find our way to an address, but in the end we gave up and decided to search it out in the day light. Ohh it turns out those really nice crazies are some of the Elders investigators. Funny!!  Oh and if you are looking for a good scripture on brethren Psalms 133 is just what you are looking for.  Apparently Sister Jacobson and I have been drafted into the "brethren" club.

This week I am sooo looking forward to being able to go to the Temple!! I know that it is a place of peace and serenity from the world, and I am so excited about that. We will have a bit of a crazy week, b/c we are doing exchanges on Tuesday, and Thursday. Got to love the last week of the transfer!!

I just pray that Sister Jacobson and I stay companions she is awesome and I love her lots!!

I hope you have a splendid week and remember "God doesn't care where you go, He just wants you to work!"

That was one of my favorite quotes of the week :)

Love,

         Sister Christiansen

Whataweek!!

Hey everyone!

  So there has been sooo much that has gone on this week, and I want to try and fit as much in as possible, so there is a big chance it will just turn into a big word vomit of......everything important as it comes to my brain.

  First off: I am emailing today b/c we had a Sisters Conference yesterday, please stay tuned for more details.

  Monday: We had voice lessons. It was great, and happy day!!! I was able to actually touch my toes. Who knew that the only way for me to be able to finally touch my toes was going to be by going to voice lessons. I even sang a little something something in Italian.... We heard some real life music when we were out and about and we both missed hearing it on a regular basis...but no worries we love ourlds.org stuff too......

  Tuesday:We saw 10:30, and we taught Mitch, who I love a lot. Sister Kleeburg fed us dinner, and I ate some super delicious cheesecake!!! Then we visited a few other peeps. Exciting story of that day is that Sister Jacobson made chocolate cupcakes all the way from scratch......as in w/ flour, cocoa, and extra baking soda.....! We did not have any baking powder so we called a member and she was a little worried about how our cupcakes were going to turn out. Turns out baking soda is 4xs more powerful than baking soda. She even called and left us a voicemail to find out how they turned out. No worries, they were delicious!!! We even gave her some to taste as well.

  Wednesday: Interviews day!!! We were at the church from 10:30-6 minus the time that we left to go get some Papa Murphy's pizza for the Porter's and the Assistants....... Lets just say we are their favorites..... :) We got to sit in and listen to the other missionaries teaching, which was good. Kind of monotonous, b/c we would watch them teach and then we would re-watch it w/ them.....I kept hearing Sister Jacobson out in the hall, and I missed being w/ her so much....Lets just say we are kinda attached to each other :) But no worries we did see each other occasionally. Isn't it weird how you can be such great friends w/ some people so fast??? I love it!!!! Poor Brian was sooooo sick of being the investigator "Woody Forrest" But hey guess what? He leaves for his mission the day that I get to go to the temple. Cool story huh?  I had a great interview w/ President and he just made me feel like a bajillion bucks as always. We had a good little chat :) We met a super cute dog named Lucy. Sister Jacobson got attacked by mosquito's. My favorite quote of the day, "Stupidity. Ohhh yes, there's lots of that going around in the human race." haha day made right there.

  Thursday: We had Zone Meeting, it turned out lovely.  Which is a good thing, we always like when the things we put some effort into turn out well. We went to a yoga studio and I videoed a Sister in our ward teaching us our cardio-kickboxing routine. Sister Jacobson learned it so that she could teach it to me, and everyone else as well.... :)  Good thing she picks up on things quickly.

  Friday: We began the day by doing the kick-boxing routine so we could teach it to others. Had a meeting w/ the Elders. Talked w/ Nick at Christian Ministries, and he decided to meet w/ us and start to legit learn about the church.....happy day!!! Sister Denison and Sister Jacobson had been working on him for awhile but now he has decided to learn so we are super excited. I used my sweet knife skills on some veggies for service, and thats about it for that day.

  Saturday: I couldn't hardly get out of bed.....I was soooo stinking sore!!!! We had a good lesson w/ Nick and Brother Kirk at the church. Our cute family that speaks Spanish are sooooooooo cute I love them. We had a bilingual lesson w/ them b/c of our sweet member. It was such a cool lesson. Sooo spiritual. We saw Jake after having not seen him for sooo long we were so happy to build bridges w/ him again. It was also Ball State's Homecoming and traffic was soooo ridiculous!! I have never seen tailgating as such. Talk about a whole new world.

  Sunday: I fasted for our special cause.....it was good. We went to part of a baptism, and I met someone who reminds me so much of Kent it is crazy!! In looks, mannerisms, and soo forth.

  Monday: We went to OHIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was sooo happy I almost cried! No joke there is no place like Ohio to me. It was weird tho, b/c we did the conference in Englewood. I never thought I'd be back so that was interesting. Sister Jacobson and I did the routine and it went pretty well.....but only b/c Sister Jacobson had it down so well. Our day was super revelatory and I loved it soooo much!!! I just wish you could all hear President and Sister Porter speak b/c they change my life......w/out fail every time!!!!

  Tuesday: It is raining and Sister Jacobson and I have matching hair....life is good!! 

I love you all! Hope your week is super fab :)

Love,

         Sister Christiansen

PS We are Sister Montrose's fan club :)

Revelatory Week!

First off I have a humongo apology to make!!!!

  Dad I hope that your Birthday was simply spectacular!!! So sorry that I forgot to say anything last week! But Happy One day late Birthday! If its any consolation your day was much more beautiful and warm than ours was. Whenever they showed Salt Lake Sister Jacobson and I were like...."Oh look how beautiful and warm it is"

  Also as long as I'm doing late Birthday's Brianne I hope that your day was super as well! Happy Late Birthday to you as well! It sounds like you had a good time going to the Temple!!!! 

  Monday we taught a lesson to my favorite named investigator 10:30. There was a bit of drama going on as we were teaching him, so I don't think much sunk in. Problems of other people fighting.  I must say I have learned quite well the importance of marrying the right sort of person.....there are simply some interesting couples in this world.  We also set up voice lessons w/ a professional singer in our ward. We are doing those today so hopefully I will be a new and somewhat improved singer by time I come home.......I'll let you know how it goes. (its okay if you want to pray all goes well for me, :)  I'm somewhat terrified to sing in front of her....hahaha)

  Tuesday we were on exchanges w/ Dunkirk and I got to be w/ Sister Ribeira, she is a Sister from my MTC district and this is the first time in my mission that I have served around her so that is fun.  We got to go to Christian Ministry and do some volunteer work there which is a nice change of pace. Some of the other volunteers were curious about us, and asked lots of questions as we worked to fill the orders. I think being out in the community volunteering is definitely something I want to keep up.  It is good times. Then I got to be w/ Sister Jacobson for a few minutes before we were off to go do exchanges w/ the Muncie 2.2 Sisters.  We had a grand time in the car, and then off our separate ways we went.  That night I got to plan a day.....all by myself, and that was a bit interesting. I was looking around for my scriptures and couldn't figure out where in the hannah banana I had put them, so I moved on to doing other things, and then inspiration hit me..........and it was not good inspiration. I had left them in Dunkirk's car!! Holy moly how unfortunate. So I called them and the first thing Sister Riberia says is, Yes we have them. I asked her if she would give them to Ball State the next day at District meeting and then I would get them from them. She said yes, and I was much relieved.

  Wednesday I was w/ Sister Driesel and we went to District Meeting and our whole district was there, so that was exciting. We talked about promising blessings to our investigators thru the scriptures. Good idea eh? I had to use these regular scriptures, and it was significantly harder to figure out where things are, w/out my markings. We  had a sweet chapel tour w/ 10:30 and Brother Inman. Brother Kirk came w/ us to teach April. Cool side story his Mission President was Tad R. Callister. How awesome is that. I am pretty sure that one day President Porter is going to be a general authority of some sort.....my guess is an Apostle tho!!!!!!!!!! He is seriously the most inspired man I personally know. We got to decorate some Halloween cookies and I was put in memory of our pumpkin parties that Gina does, so that was fun. Then we met back up to exchange back to our regular comp. but we had some fro-yo to celebrate Sister Brown's 6 month mark.  Boy oh boy I was sooo excited to be back w/ my comp. Not that I don't love the Sisters but there is nothing like spending time w/ your own comp.

  Thursday Weekly planning. Service at an older mem house, and then she gave us floats for helping her. Diet Cherry 7 Up is not nearly as good as reg. Cherry 7 Up, but no worries the vanilla bean ice cream was top notch. I had to go this whole day along w/ the previous w/out my scriptures b/c Ball State never got back to me about meeting up to get them back. They dropped them off at the Institute and so Sister Jacobson and I went to get them for the last stop of our night. Man ohhhh man was I excited to see them again.  It was no fun to miss them. I am very, very attached to them! It was such a joyful reunion!! I also got to see the new iPhone 6 plus. That thing is ginormous!!!! But super cool how it is opened w/ your fingertip. 

  Friday We were supposed to get up at 5 b/c we had to be out the door at 5:30 to meet up to drive down to Cinci. Sister Jacobson woke up at 5:29 we got up, she had a shower and we walked out the door at 5:40. Pretty darn impressive eh? Then we spent 3 hours all in all on the way down, it was sort of unfortunate that we had to go meet up w/ another Sister b/c it gave us a whole extra hour both ways in the car, but the good news was I got to see Sister Hall b/c of that. Mission Leadership Council was super-de-duper! I would suggest that you all read "The Answer is the Doctrine" by Elder Bednar, it will change your life. I took sooooo many notes down there. I also got to see some of my favorite people again.  Such as President and Sister Porter, Elder Tavake, Sister Rolfe, Sister Summers, Sister Colton and Elder Campbell!!! That was super fun!! Elder Campbell was invited to give all of us a special training that was fabulous!!! But hearing from President was spectacular, and changed my life once again.  We didn't get home until 9:30 so our whole day was taken up by super revelatory experiences and then 6 hours in a car. We about both went insane.....!

  Saturday we had a miracle of having 2 investigators at church. We watched it at the church, all four sessions. Sister Jacobson and I were only able to sit by each other for 2 of the sessions. My goodness we were taught some fabulous things. I liked that everyone stressed the basic things that so often get overlooked. I feel like there is something very big coming in the next few years and they are trying to help us all have a very firm foundation so that we cannot be shaken. It made me question how strong my testimony truly is in all the important things. Do I do all I can to make sure that I am changing each and every day? Am I doing the very best I possibly can?  That night we went and taught this super cute family that speaks Spanish. COLIO!!!!!! I wish you had taught me some Spanish! Sister Jacobson and I want to bear our testimonies to them in Spanish sooo bad, but neither one of us know how to. Also there are no Spanish missionaries here in Muncie. Oh also they are both Professors at Ball State.

  Sunday happy Birthday Daddy!!! We did a planning session w/ the Elders for Zone Meeting and then took breakfast to 10:30. Watched Conference w/ 2 more investigators. It was once again super fabulous. I was soooo ready for President Monson to get up and tell us this big new thing w/ how much every single speaker was focusing on our Prophet. I thought we were going to get some new revelation. But then he got up and talked on Christ, yep building on our foundation is sooooooo important.  I cannot tell you how glad I was that we got to hear from Elder Bednar, he did sooooo fabulous, and his story was simply the best. It was cool that people got to speak in their native tongues, I don't know what it was like for you but we didn't get to listen to them and have subtitles we had a voice over in English....I was somewhat disappointed. We decided to skip having dinner b/c we really needed a new investigator and guess what? God blessed us that is for sure. A few weeks ago this guy referred himself to us, and we went back once and he wasn't there, and then we went back yesterday and he was there, and we taught this sweet lesson. Sister Jacobson and I are sooo excited to be able to teach him. He knows a little about the church, but not much so we are helping him rediscover his connection to God.

  Random sidenote: Our heater does not work so last night we went to bed in an icecube and woke up to still being in an icecube. We should be getting it fixed tho, b/c I'll tell you what I cannot live my life in that freezing abyss. Haha but really!

In closing I know that this is the true church on the earth. I know that Jesus Christ truly is at the head of this church and that he guides us thru our living Prophet President Thomas S. Monson. We each have the right of personal revelation and it is the only way we will be able to truly strengthen our testimony.

One last thing: We almost got sprayed by a skunk this week. I have never accelerated so fast!!!

Love you,

  Love Sister Christiansen

Last week of September?

Hey, Hey! I can't believe its Monday again,

  I have tons to say so lets see what actually makes it into the email.

First off the Women's meeting was fabulous!!! As they were talking about preparing to go to the Temple I couldn't help but think of how well it applies to me as well, because we are going in October! Happy day!! I am so stinking excited, I love the peace that it brings to our lives and the serenity that comes even from the sight of it. As they were all talking about how we are all Temples too, it really did hit me, especially being out here where the actual edifices are few and far between, but members are around, so everytime I see one of them, I get to see a part of the Temple. Cool thought they gave to me.

  Monday: We had a Zone day, Funday, Monday. It was great we got to play volleyball, chair soccer, and never have I ever.  

  Tuesday: We were on exchanges w/ Ball State and I got to be w/ Sister Krueger.  So off the two of us ventured into the unknown land of Munice 1. No worries, we did not get lost. Thank Goodness for GPS's ;) We did get to go over to a members house and make pumpkin scones, which were super delicious and turned out to be our way into several peoples homes. Super great eh? Also in my ward there resides this super awesome painter. I even got to go into his work studio, his paintings are fabulous. I don't know if his stuff is online or anything, but his name is Bill Inman.

  Wednesday:Back w/ my companion! Happy day. We had District Meeting, and then we went and put balloons and heart outlines on a set of our Sisters Door. We even gave them a plate of the scones, we were going to just leave them on the ground, but then we thought "emm....better not!" and we taped them up on the door. Hahaha it was soooo great looking. Ohhh I almost forgot Wednesday is "onenessday" so our zone all dresses in the same color, and then Sister Jacobson and I took it a step further and did our hair the same....humongo buns on top of our heads. It looked great incase you were wondering.

  Thursday: We went on a goose chase looking for a member. We didn't find her, but we found a gold mind of a good area to find people in. A member took us out to eat at a Chinese restaurant, and I discovered the most wonderful things ever......sweet rolls!!! They were my very favorite part of the day....oh and we had a ward coordination meeting w/ our WML and some ward missionaries. I love our WML, he is so great. He is from Utah and is a resident here....there are a lot of those, I can't remember if I told you that already or not.  

  Friday: Exchanges w/ Elwood.  We (all 4 of us) got to go do some volunteering at Christian Ministries which was great. While we were there we even got a self-referral! Talk about exciting, b/c that doesn't happen everyday. Then we were all helping a lady in our ward move, and I was once again reminded of how important it is to not just accumulate a ton of stuff. This is so ironic considering that it is coming from the Sister Missionary who has a boatload of things....but seriously we helped w/ 2 loads, and I don't even feel like we made a dent. We had Sister Hills come out teaching w/ us, and come to find out it was her first time ever going out w/ missionaries. She did so great tho, she shared this sweet personal experience w/ the investigator and it was lovely. Then we were out and about trying to find this former inv. When we went to the house it was vacant so we went and knocked on a neighbor's door, she was pretty nice.....until I said we were from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints..... Then we decided to stay on the street and find our purpose, and went towards this house w/ some serious blasting music. It was kinda late, so it was pretty dark, and there were about 8-9 porch monkeys outside. I waved at them, but they just kind of ignored me, so I walked right up to them and we had a bit of conversation amidst the super loud music, and we found the craziest named investigator I have ever had. His name is 10:30. Don't worry, I checked like 3 times, and it really is his name. 

  Saturday: We went to the church to do our bishop email, and we found the Elders car. We decided to leave them a sticky note, and then just b/c we tried their car door, and guess what friends.....? It was unlocked!!! We had lots of fun....I feel like we were instrumental in teaching them a very valuable lesson in life. Lock your car doors :) haha! We also had lunch w/ my new favorite person in Muncie. He is a member of the YSA Branch, and is super awesome! We watched the Women's Meeting and it was phenomenal, as mentioned above. I took a page of notes from everyone but President Uchtdorf....he got 2 and 1/4 :) The thing that impressed me from him was the importance of Joyfully living the gospel. I mean we really should be the happiest people, we do have the Good news of Jesus Christ, and we have a living Prophet who we get to hear from this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am sooooo excited :)

  Sunday: I got this good quote from SS. "Happiness that comes easy is fleeting." Truth my friends, that is pure truth. We made tater tot casserole for our lunch/dinner, and...................no surprise here...........I burnt myself. I got an immediate blister, so Sister Jacobson was so kind as to finish making it while I sat there w/ an otter pop on my finger. It is sooooo small, but it hurt so bad. Also I found a connection to home. One of the ward members here is cousins w/ Jed Woodward. Small world eh?

This upcoming week is going to be great!! We have 2 exchanges, that we are doing back to back, and then we have MLC on Friday down in Cinci, and then General Conference!!! Talk about fun stuff.

One last thing to say. If someone does something nice for you remember to thank them.....in any sort of way. Gratitude is mightily important!!!

Lots of love!

 Sister Christiansen :)

Just in case you were wondering today is my 16 month mark!! :) time sure flies :)

Muncie 1 is oh so fun!!!

Hey everyone!!

  I hope that your day is super fabulous and a little warmer than the 50 degrees we are rocking in................Muncie, IN. Yep its true folks, I have left OH for the first time of my whole mission.  I thought I'd never leave, and boy do I miss its warmer temperatures.  Every morning we go out running I feel like I am going to die of coldness......not really, but it really is quite chillier than Ohio is right now, but who knows since I left it might have gotten colder too.

  Moving right along, I am companions with Sister Jacobson, who is super great. I feel like I am already learning tons from her.  She extends baptism like a boss.......to everyone we talk to, its pretty great.  We get along really well, which is fabulous.  We are over 4 sets of Sisters, so that is a bit of a change for me, since I am used to only 2 sets.  But it will be good. We sat down and already planned out our exchanges for the whole transfer.  My Zone Leaders are Elder Chamberlain and Elder Barfuss, they are really nice too, so that is that info for you.  

  I think I'll do things a little differently this time round. I will still do the weekly round-up but I also have specific things that I want to share so I'm going to make sure I get to those things. But here goes:

  Monday: I said goodbye to some peeps in the hood of Englewood! Haha it was weird knowing that I was peacing out after such a long time there.  The hardest was saying goodbye to the Eyong family!! I love them sooo very much! They always made me feel tons better when I was having a hard day, even if Patrick would laugh at me and call me the baby :)

  Tuesday: I was a wreck, I was super nervous about who my new compadre would be, but no worries, I have a legit one so we are all good. We had a bit of a change up w/ the Assistants. One of them got released and is now in a trio of Zone Leaders, it was crazy!!  Then off I went to the land of Indiana. Our poor co-driver had kidney stones so the journey was a bit difficult for him.  I utilized the extra travel time for some sleeping. I figured I had nothing better to do so might as well enjoy the wonderful zzzzzzz time.  We visited a few people and it was all and all a good day.

  Wednesday: We had a meeting with the Zone Leaders......at the institute building. Because guess what!?! There is a college campus in the middle of my area!!! Isn't that exciting! I get to see regular people my own age every day of my life in Muncie.  We drive thru campus everyday, and I must say Ball State has a gorgeous campus.  But anyways back from that sidenote, the Institute building is in the midst of frat houses. Its this cute yellow house. Then we did some other things, went and took birthday cookies to a LA, and she gave us some delicious cupcakes. I learned a caboodle of things from this lady in our ward who is intense into gardening. She freezes a billion things, and cans and is super prepared with food so she doesn't have to buy spices and other such things, it was pretty cool. Then we had a meeting with the Bishop. He is super great!!! He is very missionary minded and is way into making sure that things are happening here, it is pretty awesome to see.  I almost forgot to add in this sweet miracle we had. We had an appointment, but the people weren't there, so I offered a card to this girl, and then another one came over to get one too. But she was pretty young, and we were talking w/ her for a bit, and then asked if her mom would be interested, so she takes us over to her apartment and says "Mom there are some people here to see you" Then she proceeds to beg her mom to let us in, it was so cool. Her mom is super fabulous by the way and we have been back once and have another appointment tonight.

  Thursday: We had dinner with the cutest family! They are super great, and there kids are quite simply dolls. Then we had a few lessons w/ Leigh. Sooo I have to super quick tell you a bit about Linda. First off she is awesome, second off, I think she has come out teaching with us 5 out of the 6 days I've been here.  We go and grab Miss Leigh and then she shares her testimony with people and it is fabulous.  It is so nice having people that are available to come w/ us. We met this kid named Kenneth, who reminds me soooo much of Kent, it is slightly crazy. It is so true that everyone has a double in the world.

  Friday: We had lunch w/ the nicest lady ever!! Unfortunately she lives just over the train tracks that separate Muncie 1 and Muncie 2 so we are going to have to pass her off, but she is fabulous.  Then we had a meeting w/ the RS Pres. who is also super grand. Dinner w/ the Single Adults (of our ward) They fed us quite the meal. It was good. Then we had a lesson and the guy that came out teaching w/ us is from Johannesburg South Africa.....isn't that the coolest thing you've ever heard? I have met more people from Africa than I ever imagined I would by coming to OH and IN. We had another lesson w/ our inv w/ a baptismal date of Oct 11.  

  Saturday: Our apartment was being reroofed and we had some watermelon in our fridge that Sister Jacobson cut up and put in a bowl and then we took it out to them, but she made me be the deliverer, so I walked over to this guy and said this is for you, gave it to him and walked away.  Then I backed her out and we headed away and they all gave us big smiles and waves. Lesson learned give workers treats and they'll be your best friends :)  We went and did some service of peeling and cutting apples which was pretty fun.  Had dinner w/ the cutest family. They both went to USU and were majoring in Exercise Science too. Connections are just grand. Actually there are a ton of people that are connected to USU funnily enough. 

  Sunday: Primary Program!! Too cute, it was simply fabulous ;) Also WC is divine. They sit and discuss things and are wonderful to watch at work. We had dinner w/ the Horowitz and some Ball Academy girls, and a foreign exchange student from China who is getting her masters at Ball. It was so fun, and delicious.  We taught a lady named Sunny who is the sweetest thing ever!! She is great and is coming to the Women's Broadcast on Saturday which I am very excited about. I can't wait to go and listen to that wonderful stuff!!!!  Last night I had an unfortunate encounter with some dog poo......it got all over my shoe, and our car mat, so luckily Sister Jacobson had some wipes and I went and put it down and she shined the car lights at me while I cleaned it off......however the smell did not dissipate, and we are still left with the remnants today!!!  Talk about bummer eh?  To end off our night we went chalking which was ooohhh so fun!!!

  This week we have bunches of stuff to do, like 2 exchanges and who knows what else. I hope that you all have a glorious day!!!

Love,

         Sister Christiansen

I almost forgot!

President Burdett is awesome!! I already got to shake his hand 3 times.....in one day! and he holds a call every week w/ the leaders of the Zones in the Stake so that is super cool. Also I went from a being the only set in a ward, to 4 other sets in the same city as me....weird!

I love you all, and think its fabulous you got to go to the Dedication of the Ogden temple!! That is sweet! I want to go to it when I go home :)

Lots of love!!!