hello my Peeps!!

First off, I'm staying in Vandalia!

Second Jon did indeed not get baptized, mostly we think the Lord wanted to see if we were going to follow thru on what he wanted us to do.

Third this has been a busy week.

Alright on to the good stuff!

 Monday we had a few lessons, and we had a jolly good time.

  Tuesday we had a nice visit w/ Sister Landis.  She is so sweet I love her very much, I just wish I knew what to do to help her come back to church. Common theme of my life I assure you. :)  We had to run off to a lesson w/ Gaylene and we had a lovely time w/ her as well.  Sister Wilson came w/ us to visit Jon and we had a good time as always. She is honestly my very favorite person to take when we go visit Jon.  Basically she's all boldsauce and I love it! :)

  Wednesday we had District Meeting and then we headed off to lunch and had Spaghetti. yay :) haha gotta love it right? We went to visit Miss Gloria, and we were sorta shocked outta our minds when she actually invited us into her house. The only bummer about that being that afterwards we reeked of some serious cigarette smoke, but oh well, it comes w/ the calling eh?  However before we got into Sister Morales car I took off my coat b/c I didn't want to stink up her car or Jon's apartment and it was a beautiful day so it all worked out nicely. It was funny tho when we walked into Jon's he was like oh you've lost a few layers today.  Sister Anderson was just wearing a fleece jacket and I was wearing my 3/4 sweater, but hey it was a sacrifice I was willing to make in order to smell somewhat better.  Haha  We had a RS activity and it was really good, more for the parental ladies, but hey good stuff.

  Thursday we met some cool guys. I want to teach both of them, so that could be some potential info to share w/ you in later days to come.  We taught Jon the law of Chastity, he's all for it, so that's good.  We had dinner w/ Andy and Jessica, and tromped thru a ton of snow, so that was super duper exciting. I think we probably made lots of people think that we were very crazy but gotta love it right? We also had a lovely visit w/ Miss Jennifer, I love her tons :)

  Friday Happy Valentines. It was strange to do weekly planning and know that it really only applied to me, so that was fun stuff.  Sister Campbell came w/ us to visit Jon we went over tithing and fast offerings, once again he's cool w/ it, so really it just shows how prepared he is.  We had a good visit w/ Sister Weir, of course when aren't they good visits??......never.....I always have fun at her house.

  Saturday is a special day its the day we get ready for Sunday!!! :) We did some shoveling always a good time. We had lunch, frozen pizzas are some of my favs! :) We had a good visit w/ Sister Greathouse. Gloria invited us in again, twice in one week it was a shocker. :) We had a lesson w/ Sister Weir and Jon-boy.  We were going to do some things, but the spirit directed otherwise, so we followed that instead.  Good thing b/c it turned out super awesome.  It always does when we follow that instead of ourselves.  Sis. Weir took us out to dinner afterwards and we had a good time.  It was so good to have her come out w/ us, she loved him just as much as we have been telling her she would.  I just really don't know how someone couldn't love him to be honest. :)

 Sunday was church which was great. So it was funny I was sitting next to Jon and during the sacrament he leans over to me and points at the program where it talks about Temple clothing and asks me what does that mean. I said we wear all white in the Temple so we have special clothes.  He was like oh okay, sat back for a second and then leaned back over and asked what about the Bride and Groom, I said they wear all white too, so then he said ohh so its a really white wedding, nice and pure. Haha funny stuff.

  Gospel Principles was most excellent. I really enjoyed it this week, it was also super spiritual so that was a huge bonus.  We had a good visit w/ Sister Rivero and Stacey. Derek was not home so that was a bummer. We had a good talk w/ Jennifer last night too. 

Well tomorrow should be exciting tell you about it next week! 

Love,

        Sister Julie Ann :)

 

The Englewood Peeps!

Aren't we cute?

 

 

I GET TO GO TO THE TEMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh hey!! So I couldn't wait to tell you my exciting news!! President told us on Thursday that we have been authorized to go every 6 months, so it looks like you'll need to send me my clothes. Too bad I didn't just pack them around for a while huh? ;)

 

 Alright so now I'll be a bit more civilized. :)

 

Good Morning, and Happy Valentines this week!

  We have been busy as always and I have lots to say and a very, very limited time frame so this is going to be a quick one, sorry my dears!

Monday, we had a lesson w/ Jon and Tiffanie and it went pretty well, but he made us think about our approach w/ him a bit, we decided to change the way our lessons w/ him work.

  Tuesday we had Zone Meeting, and we learned how imp. it is to not be murmurers.  For you see, murmuring stops progression, and is not good, nope not at all.  We also learned it is better to ask "why not" rather than "why" b/c Nephi would ask "w. n." while the not so happy peeps aka his brothers asked "why" so I want to be more like Nephi and ask his q.  We had someone who cancelled on us to go to Jon's so we had to emergency transfer his lesson to later so we could get a member to come w/ us. Thankfully Sister Campbell bailed us out and came to our aid! It was super duper helpful. We went to go visit Derek but he was not home, and on the way to his door I almost died 5 times, but as you can see I didn't and am still among the living, but the slippery, slickery stuff is there, so it pays to be aware :)  Oh and since he wasn't there we went and visited Stacey, I still love her in case you are wondering.

  Wednesday We shoveled Sister Weirs driveway and we had dinner w/ the Helis'. I also still love them incase you are wondering. :) haha ohh and I don't know how I could forget this but we had a lesson w/ darling Gaylene....aka Sister Russell, It's one of my goals to get her to progress towards baptism!!

  Thursday was specialized training down in Middletown. It was a fabulous drive. We got to have interviews w/ President and I adore him as you well know, but we also got to have interviews w/ Sister Porter so that was lovely.  I told you some stuff in the recordings and for the sake of time I'mma move on. We went straight to the Dotson's for our lesson w/ Jon and he committed to live the WoW so that was awesome, it was alot easier than we were expecting, you can see the spirit working lots and lots on him, too bad he still doesn't see it.

  Friday we extended baptism to him for Feb. 15 he tentatively accepted, but as of now...he's not really planning on it, so we are going to get him a blessing, and maybe that'll do the trick!! Power of the priesthood I'm telling you.

 

So hopefully I'll be able to tell you all about a baptism next week!! Love you lots

 

Love, Sister Julie Ann

Yay for Madison!!

Hello Utah and various other places People :) haha

  So the highlight of my week was most definitely Madison!! Sister Porter text us Friday night and told me that I was about to become an aunt b/c my sister was on the way to the hospital, and that was awesome. Unfortunately my patience was tried a bit, since I had to wait until Saturday after study to find out everything else.  But I found out and today I got to see the beautiful little girlie so that is all that matters :) (But I do want to throw out a disclaimer that I get to be the favorite Aunt....in Ohio) haha gotta make that claim since I'm the only one here.

  So Monday was a good day and reminded me once again that sacrifices bring forth blessings, I guess that still hasn't sunk in quite as deep as it should b/c sometimes I don't really want to make sacrifices even tho I always see blessings, but its a work in progress so that is a for sure rest of my life deal. We were able to do 3 lessons so that was exciting.

  Tuesday we went for a trip out of our mission, don't worry this one was okayed. Haha :) but really it was.  We went to visit Sister Morten and she was happy to see us, so that was fun.  Alright b/c I'm lazy I'm going to do some cut and pasting  here to tell you some other things that happened. This week was a really good one, not that they all aren't, I just feel like there were some awesome experiences that just reaffirmed how important it is to stay close to the spirit and follow all the promptings we receive.
  We had a few lessons with Jon again this week and I loved every single one of them, however one does stand out in my mind a little bit.  We called one member in the ward to see if she could come with us and she kind of reluctantly agreed, but when we got in the lesson the things that she said were so amazing! She was very blunt and bold with Jon, and her testimony was exactly what Jon needed to hear that day.  Afterwards we thanked her very much and she told us that that day had been terrible, and she really hadn't wanted to come out with us.  I really think that that lesson ended up being as much for her as it was for Jon.  It is absolutely amazing to see how the spirit works, and how if we follow our promptings we can make more of a difference than we truly anticipated. 
  The lesson was really good, and we ended up talking about agency and choice. I loved it!!! We had dinner w/ Sister Helis that evening and that was lovely as always. I love her and she loves us, so its a wonderful time for all involved :)

  Funny story so last Friday we had spaghetti, Monday we had it again and then Tuesday the trend continuted.  Plus we got leftovers from Mon, and Tues, dinners.....luckily we have Jon, so we pawned some of it off on him, because we did not want to eat all that spaghetti.  Thank goodness for that huh?

  We had a very interesting encounter with this very unique individual on Tuesday night.  I think I told you about it in the recordings, if I didn't let me know and I will b/c I don't have time to write about it today :) But she was a very nice, unique individual.

  We had district meeting that was lovely, plus its always fun to make it somewhere where the scenery is a tad bit different.  We had lunch w/ the Sisters and off we went to visit Derek.  He was there so we were able to have a visit w/ him, but just wish I knew what to do to help him more. Karen I showed him the stack of stuff you sent, but then I said "I'm only going to give you 2," he was like no it's okay you can give all of them to me, but b/c I'm selfish I said "no, I want to read them first" But the ones I've read so far are sooooo awesome!! My favorite one is by President Lee, I'm working my way thru it.  I feel like it is a subject most people should study!!!!! I think it would solve a lot of problems in this world if people did :)

  We had a lesson w/ Sis. Holland, Christian and Jon it was pretty good, but it took a turn off topic and then steering it back was a definite need.  But it was cool b/c I'd had a good study that I was totally able to apply much of what I'd learned. We had him reread part of Enos to see abt real intent in prayers.

  We had an oil change on Thursday that took forever and a day.......plus they were super over-priced, and one more complaint and then I'll move on, they didn't wipe the grease off of the steering wheel, the gear thing or the door.  Don't think I'll suggest them to anyone.  One of our investigators had taken a literal tumble down her stairs not this week but last I guess, and we went over w/ the Elders and Bro. Crafton so that she could have a blessing.  It was awesome!! The spirit was so strong, and she loved having the Elders over at her place.  We had a lesson w/ Jon right after, and it was so, so, so awesome.  We watched "Lord I Believe", and he loved it, and Elder Holland.  He was like wow, that is a man w/ a lot of conviction.  He said abt wanting to rewatch it, so I hope he does, b/c it would help him. But I loved listening to that talk again it was such a great experience. I totally suggest you all take 15 minutes and go watch it, it will definetely build your faith and inspire you.

  We had another Lesson w/ Jon on Friday it did not turn out as we had expected, but it was still really good. We were planning on watching Elder Hollands talk on the BoM, but we ended up talking about families and how the gospel blesses them, and how w/ our families and our faith in Jesus Christ we can get thru anything! Sister Terry's testimony was super powerful, and Jon totally felt that.  We visited Sister Weir and convinced her that we should shovel her driveway the next day.

  We did some 2 2 5ing so I felt productive, even tho nothing happened.  We dediced to just go buy shovels and then we did Sister Weir's driveway, and that snow was heavy....it is a different experience out here, I'll tell you what.  Jon cancelled on us......b/c his brother needed some help for a test he had coming up in calculus.  We had a good visit w/ Jennifer.  Oh and we had a good talk w/ this guy who is sick of religion b/c everyone is in it for the money.....enter our awesome lay ministry :)

  Sunday was good.  Testimony meeting was super powerful.  We had an awesome visit w/ the Greathouses too.

 

I am so super excited about the Seahawks!! I love them, but how disappointing that it wasn't a real game.  Have an awesome week!! I know I'm going to, we have zone meeting tomorrow, exchanges on wed, and then Interviews on Thursday....I'm soooo excited!!

 

Love you all!!!

 

Love,

         Aunt Sister Julie Ann :)

 

 

And here is cutie little Madison....

 

 

Well Hello February....where'd you come from? :)

Good Morning!!!

  So today I got this really fun package, that was exciting!!! Thank you guys, I love all you awesome champs :)

  I was lucky enough to get 2 packages this week, so talk about fun :) Grandma Donna thank you so much I loved it! I have already put much of it to use :)

  Alright so I told you a teensy bit about Zone Conference but not much so I'm going to do a short overview. My favorite quote from President was "You should not be surprised to see miracles. You should be shocked if there isn't one."  Ummm hello talk about awesome right? Because it is so true I see miracles everyday and I'm always like Ohhh my gosh what an awesome miracle, and it is, I'm not trying to diminish them at all, I'm just saying I shouldn't be nearly so surprised when they do, b/c this is the Lords work and so long as we/I do our/my part He will be able to step in and w/ the  enabling power of Grace!

  Anyways moving right a long.  I am sooooo jealous you all got to go to church yesterday. Ours was cancelled and it wasn't even bad, these Ohioans just need to get used to the snow, you think they would be sorta used to it by now, considering all that we've got this year, but ohhh well, I shouldn't complain, haha see I told you it was going to be a work in progress.......

  On to the weekly report:

Okay so Wednesday we tried to get a member out w/ us but it just didn't work out well, so we ended up doing our lesson w/ Jon at Arbys.  It was good and bad all at the same time. The background music was super hard for me to tune out, but we had a good discussion w/ him about how awesome Captain Moroni is, and Jon told us that he is his favorite person in the BoM, so we read that awesome scripture about Moroni w/ him.  I don't remember all that went on but just know that it was good.

  Thursday we had a good visit w/ Sister Landis and she babysits during the day and boy those babies are cute!!! I'm getting all super excited to be an aunt w/ seeing all these cute little kidies. :)  It was a good visit w/ her as well.  We also had a good quick visit w/ Brother Landis b/c it was very, very cold.  But it was a direct application of what we had learned on Tuesday, I was super bold w/ him in asking him a question, and he knows it is out of love, and he was totally cool w/ it.  We also took him some cookies b/c he has a serious sweet tooth :)  Then we were outta stuff to do and so we went to go visit a person in our complex, I really didn't want to, but we went and met the sweetest potential named Maria.  We had a prayer w/ her and I really like her.

  Alright one last thing to say about Thurs. and then I'll move on.  We went to visit Jon and take him a picture of Christ, but we didn't see his car, and we were still in our car said a prayer and saw a car come up the street. I was like I think that was Jon, but it didn't quite look like him, and we went and visited some other people, and then we decided to just go see if Jon was indeed home. We went up and gave him the pic. and he was excited about it, and then he showed us his hair cut. We were shocked all of his hair is GONE!!! It was a sad day in our life, we are still trying to get used to it.  His mom cut it and they were pressed for time so she used an 8, he was like I gotta rem. to have her use a 6.  My favorite part was when he said the world is 3 degrees colder now. haha too funny, I love him :)

  Friday we met this seriously awesome lady!!! One of my new favorite parts of West Milton that is for sure.  I loved, loved, loved our visit w/ her.  We had a a lesson w/ Jon and that was an awesome part of my day as well.  We ended up doing a partial lesson of the WoW and we were so not ready to do so. I've never taught that lesson before so that was exciting.  It was funny tho, b/c he still isn't sure why its coffee, and more importantly tea, he said but it just says hot drinks, couldn't that be a lot of things? We are probably just going to have him research it a bit for himself....b/c he's cool w/ that.

  Saturday was good, nothing is really standing out to me too much so I'll just move on to my sadness about not having church.  It was not a real Sunday to not have church.  So I am glad to hear you all enjoyed yours it sounds like it was fabulous.  President Porter would have definitely approved, b/c really the Temple is the goal, not baptism.

  Today we got a new investigator he is super cool....and is another single guy. haha funny huh? But I really, really, really like him, so I'm excited about that.

  This week is going to be awesome, I can feel it!! I hope yours is as well :)

Love you,

              Sister Julie Ann :)

 

Ohhh my goodness

 

I can't believe I forgot we did have something awesome happen on Saturday!!! We had a lesson w/ Jon :) haha I don't possibly know how I could forget to mention that!!! But it was good, we talked about repentance and I invited him to think about getting a blessing....we're going to have to check up and see what he's thinking about it :) But I couldn't let you think nothing awesome happened on Saturday when clearly it did :)

Love ya :)

The Polar Vortex Returns...

Hello From the Frozen Tundra that is Ohio!

  Haha this weather is crazy, it can't decide what it wants to do, but I think I should work on not complaining about being cold and such.....stay tuned, because it's going to be a work in progress. :)

  Monday we were able to do our Zone Fun day and I think I told you about it already so I'm going to skip right along.  We visited Sister Spencer and Tiffanie and then we met the Elders and Sisters at the church and had a quick meeting, and that was Monday.

  Tuesday we went to try a few new potentials and we visited some people.  We had a lesson w/ Jon and it was awesome as always.  He was telling us how the Lamanites are God's hand in cleaning out the Nephites when they become all wicked.  I thought that was pretty cool because I had never thought of it like that but hello, its so true!!! I love learning from him :)  We visited Mike for a few minutes and talked about faith.  I'll tell you what I have never studied on faith so much in my life as I have the past few weeks.  It has been so fun to learn so much more about it and to see how you can never learn too much about it. :)  What an amazing subject.

  Wednesday we had an awesome Zone Meeting.  I learned a lot and don't you know I left my notebook at home, but just know it was good.  We went to Penn Station for lunch and it was delicious.....I just figure I haven't told you about any meals lately huh :) haha  We had a good quick visit with Derek, totally unplanned but it was fun.  We were knocking on his door as he got home from work, talk about inspired timing huh? :)  We had a lesson with Jon and Sister Holland and Christian.  That was good to actually introduce Jon to someone of his same gender since we always have the ladies of the ward with us. But he is so chill with it, it doesn't really matter.  We talked a lot about the spirit.  Also a good lesson.  We went to the Tiptons for dinner and got to see baby Shelby, (she was born on New Years Day) and is soooo cute.  We knocked on a few doors ya know, living the life :)

  Thursday we were on exchanges with the other Sisters.  I was with Sister Schmitt and we went to Early Morning Seminary, I still think Early Morning Graduates are champs.  I am ever  so grateful I never had to do it!!! We won the game so Sister Ware gave us cake pops that were super good and I'm convinced that it was worth the 5:00 wake up call :) It was Sister Schmitt's one year mark, so that was exciting.  We were meeting the other Sisters for dinner at Bob Evans, but we had a few minutes so we went to see one of their former investigators, but he wasn't home but there was a guy outside with his little kid so we went and talked w/ him.  It was funny b/c at first he was not interested in having a card but when one of his neighbors came out and was talking to us as well and we offered him a card the first guy came back over and took one as well....... They were both nice and it was a lovely time, but then we scadled off to dinner. We were at B.E. and looking around not seeing them so we gave them a call, turns out we went to the wrong one so we had to leave and go to the right one....how embarrasing huh? haha not really but it was funny

  Friday we had a lesson with Jon.....common theme huh? :)  It was wonderful, until the end when our member decided to talk about a bunch of random things like fast Sunday, fasting, Fast offerings and then the WoW. We wondered where in the heck all of that came from!!!!  Jon's face was absolutely priceless when he found out that tea is against the WoW.  We had an appointment we had to go to so we were like Jon it is okay we will talk about it later we promise.  Ohhh boy totally not the way we wanted him to learn about some of those things, but ohh well, what can you do.  Sometimes people forget that investigators don't need to know everything all at once, which can be super fun.  I just am sooo grateful that Jon is so cool with things, b/c if he wasn't we might have a bit of a problem w/ some of the way he has learned a bunch of random things....from our members.  I love them, but boy oh boy we need to do better at helping them know what things to say and not to say. :)  We had dinner w/ Tiffanie and I just love her :) She is so sweet and I love spending time w/ her.  My only problem is that her dog covers me in white hair everytime, but oh well, I'm over it.

  Saturday we had our social media day.  It turned out a slight bit different than we had hoped but it was still good. We had 3 different members come out with us, and they are all such sweet ladies.  Jon came to the baptism and that was good.  We also had a killer awesome lesson with Jennifer, Earl got a phone call so he was absent but oh well.  We also had a good visit w/ Sister Weir.  I love her so much! (She is who text you last night mom) I have thus adopted her to be my 3rd grandma :)

  Sunday Jon came to church.....happy dance that was super exciting!!! :)  Church was good I learned things....as always. Jon coming was definitely the highlight of that day.  Also Sister Anderson gave a lovely talk in case you were wondering.

  Monday we had a good day.  Tiffanie had told us to get a B-Vitamin complex so we did and I am trying them out.  We saw 2 that I wanted to try so I am switching off one every other day. I'll let you know how it goes :)  We just had a few short visits with people. I wrote you a letter but I haven't been able to send it yet, it should be on its way today however.

  Tuesday.....Zone Conference. OHHHHHH my goodness!! I learned soooo many things. It went over by 2 hours, b/c there was so much for them to teach us.  We are trying to change lots of things to become better teachers, and as we implement the things they taught us we are going to constantly see miracles so I am excited.  One thing we are working on as a whole mission is our accountability.  We are going to all do better at that so stay tuned.

  Random side note, I couldn't wait to find out who won, and Derek was so kind as to let me know who won out of the 49ers and Seahawks, and boy oh boy I am so excited.  I told Nina forever ago that I wanted the Seahawks to win the Superbowl.....they are my team :)

  Whelp I love you all! Thanks for all your love and prayers

 

Love,

        Sister Julie Ann

Me Again!

Hey so I'm still in Englewood!

  I forgot my planner so I am going off of memory so sorry if this isn't too much.

  Monday it was freezing but we survived. We visited a less active and she wanted to know what we were doing out in this weather, but it was all good we survived. On the conference call President told us that the Toronto mission goes out until its 40 below.  Fun times for them huh?

  Tuesday we had a lesson w/ Jon. We tried to get Derek to come too, but he backed out so that was a bummer, but we had such a good spiritual experience w/ Jon. We talked about the Priesthood and a few other things but it was so super awesome.  I loved it.  I just never want to leave Jon's after we get there, b/c we have too many good experience w/ him.

  Wednesday I honestly can't remember, so I'm going to forget days and just go w/ what highlights I can remember.  Just kidding I do remember we visited the Hollands that night.  They are so super awesome and I really enjoyed getting to know them.  Plus their son Christian said he would like to meet Jon so we are trying to set up a lesson w/ Sister Holland and Christian this week.  I am excited, it would be good for Jon to meet Christian, plus Christian is a cool guy so it would be lovely to have that happen.

  We had a lesson w/ Jon at the Dotson's on Thursday.  It was awesome!!!!  Also Sister Dotson's brother Nate came too.  It was cool.  Jon is the coolest investigator I just love him.  Sorry I talk about him so much but, he is the best ever.

  We had a Relief Society meeting about goals and I decided I need to be better at goals.  

  Friday we saw Derek.  He makes me sad.  He really needs some serious love and outreach from others.  The environment he is in is not really super conducive to the Spirit and it is too easy for him to get distracted. So Karen if you could send me some positive and self-esteem building quotes that would be super appreciated.  Thanks darling :)  We found two potential investigators they said they would call us, but if they don't we know where they live so its all good.  Nothing like being a stalker right.  

  Oh I made the cake cookies this week and so far everyone has really liked them.  Good news huh?  I love how easy they are. That is my favorite part.

  Sister Weir is back from Cali. I am so happy.  I love her very very much.  I did a recording about our night w/ her and I hope you enjoy it as much as me Hahaha

  Yesterday was ward conference and I really enjoyed it.  It was fun to hear from President Valencia.  He seems like he will be good to work under.  We have Zone Conference next Tuesday.  We found a new investigator yesterday and it was awesome.  He is pretty chill too, but in a different way than Jon.  It is so funny that all of our investigators seem to be guys, good thing we have Gaylene.  She is so funny.  We weren't able to meet w/  her this week which was a bummer.  

But I gotta go so sorry this is so scattered, but this is what happens when I forget my planner.  Love you all!!

I hope your week is fabulous. Oh and by the way next week Sister Anderson will be speaking in church so far I haven't had to, besides bearing my testimony.  I don't know how I've lucked out so far.

Love, 

          Sister Christiansen

Its a FRIGID Day!!!!

Hey yall,

  I sincerely hope that you are all much warmer than me today!!! We had a bit of an adventure even making it to the library today to come email all of you wonderful people.  I took some videos of us trying to open our car doors.....they were frozen shut.....like in a super solid way, I was afraid I was going to break the handle trying to open up the door.......fun times eh???

  But on to the meat of the email:  This week has been solid gold!!! I have had such a good week it has been great!!  The Lord has truly blessed me and Sister Anderson and we have just been so amazed at what He has done for us.  I am going to paste in my cliff notes version and then I'm going to pick and choose what I give you the full deets on because I am feeling mighty lazy today! haha

  This past week has been absolutely phenomenal for Sister Anderson and I.  We have truly seen that this is the Lords work and we are merely His instruments.  We have been able to meet with Jon three times this week and he is amazing.  His grasp of the scriptures is really good, and it is especially cool to see, because this is the first time he has ever read any scriptures.  He really wants to know and that is amazing to see someone with such a desire to know truth.  
  I absolutely loved the chance we had to read the Fourth Missionary and to go through our Patriachal Blessings.  It taught me a lot and I feel like it is truly going to change the way I approach the rest of my mission.  I am so grateful to be here in the Englewood Ward, but more especially to be serving in Vandalia.  I know that this is a mission of miracles because the start of this new year truly has been one for me.  
  There truly has been so much that has happened for us this week and I don't want to take too much more of your time, but I just want to tell you one last story.  We have an investigator named Mike that we  have been talking to at his door since Thanksgiving.  We were able to set up a legitimate appointment with him and get a member out with us.  We had a really great weekly planning session this week and we really felt like we needed to invite Mike to be baptized on a specific date.  So after we taught him the Plan of Salvation Sister Anderson invited Mike to be baptized.  He didn't really say yes, but he was excited and at the end of the lesson when he said the prayer he told the Lord that we had set a goal for  a day to be baptized.  It was so exciting!!! I can't believe the joy that comes with helping people truly progress toward the Lord, it is such a privilege to me to be a part of this work.  

  Alright so I just have to tell you all about Jon because he is AMAZING!!!!!!!  I love him.  We had a church tour with him on Tuesday and when we text him to confirm it he backed out of the tour, we were terrified that he was dropping us, but nope he just really didn't feel comfortable going to the church, so we were able to go to his apartment and teach him there.  He is cool.  I wish you could all meet my new bestie....I don't think he knows that I count him as one of my besties, but thats besides the point.  We had a good lesson with him and were able to answer some of his questions, encouraged him to keep reading and set up a return appointment for Friday.  Sister Dotson was kind enough to come out with us, and she was able to bear testimony to him and answer one of his questions that Sister Anderson and I really didn't know too much about....and then Jon gave us some random facts about the elite runners in Kenya and what makes them so good.....basically they have a very, very, very high tolerance for pain.  Anyways we went back on Sunday because why not keep going back to someone who welcomes you to come and is genuinely happy to see you?!?  I never turn down such awesome experiences thats for sure.  We were able to give him a Bible so he can look things up on his own....maybe it will help him.  He really is one of the coolest people I have met in Ohio. He is surely in my top ten, so it is so fun to be able to visit him.  I told him to watch the Joseph Smith movie on mormon.org and he liked it this was his quote about it: "It was a very touching movie"  haha I love him......When he texts us randomly it is my favorite.

  Alright I feel like I should probably move on to other things as well, I could probably write you a whole novel on Jon and still have more to say :)

  We finally were able to see Derek on Saturday!!! That was an accomplishment.  We have been trying to see him for eons, and it just never has worked.  He is so special to both of us, so it is so disapointing when it doesn't work out for us to go see him. He told us that even if he doesn't respond back to our texts he loves hearing from us everyday.  Haha I told him good because we were going to text him everyday regardless.  But we were able to give him the Atonement book and we are hoping that he lets it really work on him and help him through his trials right now.  I still can't believe how much Satan works on him, it really just affirms how spirtual he is to me, because if he wasn't destined to do such amazing things, Satan wouldn't work on him so hard.

  Church was good, I feel like the majority of the ward decided not to chance it, so it was sorta empty, but for those of us that were there it was grand. 

 

  I love you guys.....ohhhh and I just wanted to tell you this one more random thing.  So most of the people that Sister Anderson and I are working with are single guys so we have hereby decided that we need to be made a trio so we can just go and visit them and not worry about freezing since we can't go inside, and even better be able to take guys out with us so that they can build relationships with our awesome investigators.  But I've decided to start praying for it!!! Haha I know it really comes down to the Lord but I figure I can give Him my opinion on the matter :)

 

Love you soo much! Stay warm and have a fabulous week!!

 

Love,

        Sister Julie Ann!  aka Sister Christiansen

 

The inside of our door

Again

This is my freezing cold face!! Attractive huh? :P haha

My cheeks were cold

Aren't we cute?

The Dayton Church

 

Aren't the Elders Awesome?!?

This was from the way to the Christmas Conference!

 

They are pretty great shots huh?