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!!!

Guess what?!?!

Hey Familia!!!

  I'm being transferred. After a billion years in Englewood, I'm heading out.  Good news is that Sister Colton has everything under control and is going to take super good care of everything.

  But I'll run thru this last week for you!

Monday: Cincinnati Reds game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was sooooo fabulous. I had the time of my life w/ all the other missionaries in our mission. It was so great, and I didn't pay any attn to the game, but just in case you were wondering they lost.  We also didn't get home until midnight, and that made the next morning super hard to get up....but no worries I made it thru.

  Tuesday: We found a new investigator, and taught a few lessons. Then we went and visited Brad and Sister Mobley, which was the highlight of our day! He is the best ever. We also cleaned all the doors at church since they were in desperate need of some help.....and Sister Jenkins fed us dinner.

  Wednesday: We had District meeting in D-town and it was super fun.  We made gold chains and took pictures in our d-town hats.....it was super great.  I love my District, I'm super sad we are being seperated, b/c one from each companionship is leaving.  But oh well we had fun while it lasted.  The Cappelli's had us over for dinner, and it was tons of fun! They are the coolest family and I want to be just like them when I grow up.  Then Brother Cappelli came out w/ us and and we visited the Blantons, and had one of the most spiritual lessons I have ever had w/ them, and following that lesson we went and taught one of the most spiritual Restoration lessons ever! I'm telling you Bro. Cappelli is a spiritual powerhouse and the spirit just radiates from him. that is how I want to be one day.............But the investigators we were teaching are super awesome, they think it is so awesome that there is a prophet on the earth again.....talk about awesome!

  Thursday: We were supposed to have a lesson w/ Jeremy, Brother Terry, and the Elders but Jeremy didn't really participate....as in he was really busy....But oh well.  We had the Mormon dog out w/ us and that was fun....he almost got attacked by another dog.  The Morales had us over for dinner and it was a good time as always. When we walked out of their house we saw Patrick, and Sam b/c it turns out their friends are the Morales' neighbors.  Who knew?

  Friday: Friday the highlight was visiting w/ Tiffanie, and having Dinner w/ the Dupre's.  We had white chicken chili and it was divine!!! It was fun to be w/ that cute family that helps us out so much, they are quite simply rockstars.  Then we saw Sister Spencer and we attempted to sing to her, but seeing as we are both tone deaf, it didn't quite work out. I don't think we even made it thru one song w/out laughing.....whoops!

  Saturday: Social media day. Sister Dunn came and studied w/ us which was fun.  Then we did some baking at the Stucki's. Walked across the street and had lunch w/ the Haas. Brother Dupre met us at Jeremy's, and we had a lesson there, and then we took a trip out of the mission to do some service at Lindsay and Andrew's house, and embarrassingly enough I am still sore......I have no muscle left in the least......bummer eh?  Sister Mobley took us out to dinner w/ Brad and I got to hang out w/ my favorite little buddy. Then we had a quick visit w/ the Eyongs, to round out our day.

  Sunday: We went and visited Sister Mosier, and had another visit w/ Sister Spencer.  Sister Mosier loves us, and we found the perfect commitment to help her out.... Poor Sister Spencer is still struggling lots, but we had a good open lesson w/ her last night.

Today is going to be an intense day of packing!! Expect to see at least one package in the near future.  I love you lots, and the good news is God is always in control, and the church is true no matter where you are.

I love you!!!!

Love,

            Sister Christiansen

Reds!!!

Hey you!!!

  So guess what?  We get to go to a MLB game tonight :)  Cool stuff right?  Who knew my first MLB experience would be in Cinci and not San Fran :)  too bad they aren't playing the Giants that would be simply spectacular!!!

  In other news it hasn't been that long since I emailed you last, but surprisingly lots has happened so here goes!

  Wed: We took another fabulous nap, who knew that being a Missionary was so draining?? Not I  that is for certain.  We had a pretty good lesson w/ the Blantons, and then the Cappelli's invited us and Dan over to their house for a lesson.  It was super duper fabulous!! Then we had scripture study w/ their family which was fun.  It was just a good reminder that no matter the age of your familia members scripture study should always be one of the biggest priorities in life.

  Thursday: Zone Meeting. It was good stuff.  We had a pretty spiritual testimony meeting there as well, most everyone in the Zone bore their testimony.  We took the Eaton Sisters out to lunch b/c they won the finding challenge on Monday.  Then we had a lesson w/ Jeremy and Brother Dupre.  We were soooooo, soooo, sooooo happy to have him back out w/ us again :) We also visited Dani w/ him, and the poor lady had a few more unfortunate things happen to her. Namely two of her kittens died. The one was my favorite. The little blind one, conveniently named, No See.  That was a bummer.  We had dinner w/ the Helis' and ate pretty healthy once again.  I even ate fish mahee-mahee, or something like that.  Then we made some ooey-gooey brownies to  take to the Dupres. We had a lesson w/ our favorite little Brad.  He is cute as ever, and just has such a desire to learn its soo fun!  Visiting the Dupre's was soo fun.  The baby is so stinking cute!!!  It was good times.

  Friday: We were on exchanges w/ Eaton.  I spent the day w/ Sister Hall.  We went and visited a LA, and afterwards we met the nicest guy from Kenya! It was good times talking w/ him.  He moved to Colorado to go to school, and when I said I was from Utah he asked me are you from Ogden?  I said no, I live close to there tho.  He told me people from Ogden are so nice.  It was fun.  Then we met 3 other new investigators, they are pretty cool people. I'm excited to meet new people all the time.  We had a good lesson w/ the Spencers, and Arnold even prayed for me, so that was super exciting.  We had dinner w/ members and not going to lie I enjoyed the ice cream the most! It has been so humid as of late, it  is killer. I sweat buckets, and so I'm pretty sure I smell super fresh :) haha  We had a super quick lesson w/ Dan b/c he really didn't want to meet w/ us.  We had an impromptu lesson w/ the Eyongs, it was good times. I really had no idea what to share w/ them and it ended up being one of the most random scriptures ever, but the Spirit totally helped me turn it into something that actually applied to them so it was good stuff.

  Saturday: Nothing of importance happened, except Sister Colton made me German pancakes.  They were super delish in case you were wondering :)

  Sunday: We had church, and we had a crisis, but we dealt w/ it so its all good. We are just super grateful the Cappelli's moved into our ward.  We did some drop bys of food to people.  We had a really good visit w/ Sister Cappelli. We also had a lesson w/ the Eyong's for the first time in forever!!!

The best part of today is the fact we are going to Cinci w/ our BFF Sister Morales.  Oh and in other news we have another Social Media Split on Saturday. Pray that things work out :)

Love you lots!!

Go to the Temple for me!!

Love,

          Sister Christiansen

September?.....Weird!

Time flies.....at an extraordinary pace!

  This past week I felt like we were crazy busy, and yet not that busy.....here goes the weekly report.

  Monday:  I took a glorious 3 hour nap, it was straight bliss!! Definitely the high of my day.

  Tuesday: We were on exchanges, and I was in our area with Sister Rose.  We had a pretty productive day, which was nice, b/c I'll tell you what not many exchanges actually work out that way.  We were even fed lunch and dinner! What a treat.  My lazy streak could continue on.  

  Wednesday: We had district meeting, and b/c I have the best district leader ever we made microwave brownies.  It was really fun, and we went over the baptismal quadrant and I was reminded of those things that I need to do better on.  I am learning more and more the importance of changing who we are every day.  That is what the Atonement truly is about, changing us daily to be more like Christ.  We had a good visit w/ the Blantons, and we changed our usual time to earlier, and he was sooo lively it was great.  We taught the WoW, and it was soo funny to see his reactions...apparently we need to keep building faith before that one is going to work for us.  We had this prompting to go visit a LA and it was sooo great, b/c she was soo happy to see us. Her phone has been off, and so we haven't had any interaction w/ her.  It was a good visit.

  Thursday: Weekly planning, and we made those delicious brownies.....they were really, really good. I could have eaten the whole pan myself.  The Dupre's had their baby girl too. So that was exciting.

  Friday:  I left Englewood and spent the day w/ Sister Hall in Eaton.  It was a bit of a rough day, w/ all these appointments cancelling on Sister Hall, I felt bad for her, b/c usually that is what happens for me, when I am in charge of planning the exchange day.  As I was studying I was reminded of the importance of families, and how important FHE, fam prayer, and fam scripture study is.  

  Saturday: we did some service and then we made cookies for the baptism, but we had to be inventive about what to put them in, b/c we were making "to go bags" we cut the top off of sandwich bags, and cut electrical tape in half, and bagged 3 cookies. Inventiveness right?  Brother Dupre thought so, how do I know this, b/c he and I had a good chat.  Basically it was a crazy day. But good news Dan got baptized and is now a member.  It was a little unique but hey thats what makes it interesting and hopping right? :)

  Sunday: Brother Henderson spoke in church and had the whole audience captivated.  He has a fabulous way of rolling all of these stories together that seem to have no correlation and it was sooo wonderful. We had a good visit w/ Sister Spencer and Jennifer was there as well, b/c she knew we were coming so that was fun to see her again.  No worries she still loves me lots :)

  Monday: We had a few lessons w/ some peeps.  Brother Rhoudebush gave us a whole box of donuts, don't worry we didn't eat the whole thing, I probably could have tho....b/c you know me and sweets.

  Tuesday: Blessed day of Mission Leadership Council!!! I loved it sooo, soo, much!! It always inspires me to be a much better person.  The spirit was soo strong and it taught me sooo many things.  We spent a lot of time talking about where we were a year ago, and where we are now.  I know that I personally have made a lot of progress, but there are so many more things I need to do to become even more.  We talked about all the things that our mission does differently than other missions and how we have all of these tools, but we need to make sure that we are doing the basics.  It was sooo great. Also President taught me a lot about Church and made me never want to miss Sacrament ever in my life. It was very amazing.  We did the first half of the day at their house and then we ate lunch and migrated to the church for the second half. It was phenomenal tho!! After President spoke we did a testimony meeting, and then we ended up going an hour over. The spirit was so strong it was one of the best experiences.  

  Wednesday: Preperation day!!! I am soo grateful b/c I almost ran out of clothes!!!  I hope that your week is super fabulous!!!

I love you lots!!

  Love,

           Sister Christiansen