Hot Kool-Aid

Joke:  I don't want to Knock a door...I want to Boot it!

I am a good Samaritan

Weeding for P-day

 

Our Ancestors Home...Croston

 

 

Cool Car

A blonde, brunette and a red head walk down he road...to preach the Gospel!

Transfer week, but not for us!

                                             

This week has been amazing! Unfortunately we've not done too well with finding but we have a solid teaching pool. We had many members join us in teaching this week and a mini ward council yesterday and they are all so willing to help us with missionary work! It is a relief because it has been a lot of work losing the elders and we need the support of the ward. We are very loved by them here, I love them all! We had a tea appointment pretty much every night.

We got our Ipads

Also, I am really grateful that we weren't at transfer meeting because Wednesday was one of the most jam-packed successful days of my mission! We contacted some of our solid potentials and we met a man named S on Tuesday and set up an appointment to teach him Wednesday-which we thought would fall through- but it didn't! We taught him the Restoration and he is so on board with it! He is so solid, I can't wait to continue working with him. We had a member there and everything. It was spot on. 

                                            

We've seen huge growth with our investigator J since we've started taking members to her. She is really wants to be baptized but wants her family to join as well but they're not as interested. When we brought a member, she just unleashed all her questions and concerns and the member was in the same boat as J! The member's husband hadn't joined and neither did her daughter but eventually they came to accept it and were supportive of her decision to be baptized because they could see it made her happy. James, J's husband, is really supportive of it because he has seen how much it has helped J. He has curiosities about it but he supports her 100%. I think he will be baptized one day. His heart is really softening to the gospel. He sits in on the lessons, as he hadn't before. And now we see J twice a week when before she'd only been seen twice in six months!

                                     

We started seeing M again. She is doing incredible. She has cut down so much with the word of wisdom and she should be completely off of those substances in a little more than a week. We gave her a date for baptism but there was opposition of course! and she wasn't able to come to church. She can still keep her date because she's come to church the week before. We just need to keep an eye on her and making sure we're doing all that we can to help her reach her goals.

                                        
Sister Madsen and I just started re-reading the White Handbook and at the beginning it tells us to live the higher law as taught by Jesus Christ (see Matthew 5 and 3 Nephi 12). I did a study on living the higher law the other day and it lifted me out of a rut. I had the Spirit teach and testify to me of the things I need to change personally to be more obedient and to live this higher law. 

                                         

Sister Madsen and I set up a work-out routine that we do together everyday to make sure that we are getting the most out of morning exercise. We went for a run this morning! "Monday Run day" Our obedience in general has just typified with the new transfer. We have communicated out goals to Heavenly Father and I can feel him pushing us and helping us to reach them.
I love you all and I hope you are all doing well and getting used to MDT again :)
Love, Sister Christensen

                                          

for funnies:

we were on our way to meet our district for the big Street Contacting displays, and we got lost, because we were in Preston (not our area). So we called the Preston sisters to ask where we were and where we needed to go, and cute French sister Fewou answered the phone and was talking to me, and was trying to give directions... haha I couldn't understand her accent! "Go past the chinese buff-ett." I turned to Sister Madsen, "what is a buff-ett?!" haha, she said, "buffet! this isn't her first language lol." "go past the stop-les". stop-les? stop-les... staples!!! gotchya! 

We were driving and a driver let us in and it was awkward for me to wave and say thank you because I was still turning, so Sister Madsen waved at him, and I said, "thanks for waving for me". She then continued on to give him the queens wave and I looked at her and see that she's still waving, and I said, "you flippin weirdo, let me do the waving". haha we quote that all the time ;)

since the elders left south ribble all the members and missionaries have been asking us how we feel about it. our response is we lean our heads together and tap our fingers together and say, "it's all going according to plan". haha the peoples faces are priceless! (it seriously is a big responsibility though, and trust me, we feel it!)

We taught recent convert Rachel over ice cream on Saturday, and she put pics of us on facebook, and then said, "you're always eating!" then she scrolled through the pics of members who've put pics of us on facebook and yes. they are all of us eating. ha. first world problems. It's okay, because this is a transfer of new beginnings.

We were teaching A, and he LOVEs nature. so much that he walks to Preston to church and he enjoys it. he was talking about gardening and he said, "see those out there? some call 'em weeds, I call 'em plants...." haha. he is an interesting character. 

We were going to pray, and Sister M asked who's turn it was, and she made fun of me because I had my head tilted back and I raised my hand kind of slow. She said I looked like Napolean Dynamite's face it was so funny. the more amusing bit was it wasnt' on purpose. but I was tired! 

We almost have all the scenes in Legacy down.(film from the Doctine and Covenants DVD) it's great. ;) we act them out whilst tracting usually. sometimes we use lines in conversations with other people but they don't notice. It is like we have a secret code but we're just quoting church movies :)

Exchanges with Sister Fetuani & Sister Ranku

Tea

..To the Great Lakes of Cumbria from the High Peaks of Wales!

Lake Windemere

To sum up from last week, our investigators are incredible. They are all really progressing and the members are getting involved, which is a miracle to see them become more involved with us as missionaries and in this great work.

We went up to the Lakes last Monday, so beautiful and so fun! 

Preston District

We went on exchange with the Workington sisters and that was the craziest, busiest exchange I've ever had and it was over two days instead of just one! We literally had a 15 minute lunch break wednesday because a lesson went over :/ But I love it, I love being busy :) 

Something Sister Madsen does with her emails is send funny things that have happened in the week and I thought it was a good idea so here are just a few ;) :

We were street contacting and we walked up to this man who was waiting at a railway crossing, and he told us, "I'm in a rush, I'm gonna jump on this train." of course, Sister Madsen took it literally, and her mouth popped open, thinking this man was waiting to jump onto a moving train. haha, I likes to remind her of that one. 

When we go to see members, they often comment on Sister M's red hair and finally one member said, "why does everyone keep mentioning the ginger hair?" and one member told us it's cause prince harry has ginger hair. It makes no sense. We're still trying to figure this one out.

We called by a Potential Investigator and I said the prayer at the end of a short lesson on the doorsteop and I accidentally said, "...we're really grateful we were able to speak to Paul," and she was all, "his names Joe!" and my voice, "(dramatic and awkward pause)... I'm really sorry, I'm just gonna start over."

We went over to bishops last week, and helped them paint their daughters room. cute little Toby, his son, for the past couple of weeks has just been talking to his family about how he still wants to marry sister madsen. so now, they bring up "the backup plan" for if Toby doesn't find anyone who wants to marry him, he'll just marry sister m, and he blushes a bit and looks up at me... haha cute little kid.

Sister M likes talking with her hands and we were teaching a recent convert family on the first of June and sister m says, "happy june, everyone!" and the little girl copies her hand motions and says real slow and dramatic, "happy june...everyone" it was hilarious!

We were tracting, and I spoke first. haha, I got a bit tongue tied, and instead of saying, "this is my friend, and we're missionaries," I said, gesturing to sister m, "this is my missionary". she had to bite my tongue so she didn't start laughing! ;) 

We had a full mission conference, which was so wonderful. This makes 2 I've had on my entire mission, which is rare. super lucky. but, Sis M and I are just silly on our own, and when you put us together, it's even worse. so president stands up at the beginning, and he's like, "wow, you look so good!" (speaking to all of us). and then there's sister m, on the front row, and she says, "thank you", and president just starts laughing his head off. I love that man. he said, "she thinks I'm only talking to her!" we always joke about how vain we are ;) the Assistants to the President also were giving a training, and they said excellent, so sis M and I put our heads close together and started taping our fingers together with creepy expressions on our faces, and the APs gave a "what the heck?" startled kind of face. It was loads of fun. I loved it. 

After a tea appointment where we were fed a 3 course meal, and hated ourselves, I turned to sister M and said, "I am the fatted calf". (really hope you get this reference). 

We promised a RC that we'd make her cookies. when we called by to drop them off, she wasn't in, so we didnt' know what to do with them. so we tied them to the door knocker.

Hope something brought a smile to your face! love you loads and hope you have a stellar week in Sweden!

Love, Sister Christensen xx

So this week has been pretty good. I am not getting transferred! I'm staying in South Ribble with Sister Madsen! I am really glad we get to stay together for another transfer. I love this girl. We are starting to see amazing things in this area. We told the ward that we are staying together and the Bishop texted back and said, "I'm a Prophet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" because he guessed that we would both stay haha! I love the friendships we are building with the ward. They are changing so much and their attitudes toward the missionaries are more positive. I absolutely love it here. 

But here are some funny things that happened this week to kind of highlight what we did from day to day :) 

So, Sister McDonnell is going home so we had her companion, Sister Arias (from Spain), and we were in a trio for a couple of hours, and she was a brunette. I am blonde, and Sister Madsen is a redhead. We were a living joke walking down the street!!!!!

We found a couple that we're hopefully going to start teaching, and their names are Pauline and John. haha, I love them. We asked them about their religious backround, and John told us he isn't religious at all, but he was christened as a baptist, so sometimes he calls himself John the Baptist. 

We were talking with some missionaries after church and I was in the middle of a story and the elders just walked away because they hadn't heard me, so I just looked at Sister Madsen all confused because suddenly I was talking to no one and I just looked at her and she said, "will ye also go away?" haha I busted up laughing! but it was also kind of embarrassing. (John 6:67)

After planning, sis M and I like to watch either Legacy or the Bible videos, and then we quote them to each other during the day. our favourite bible video is "I am the light of the world, and the truth shall make you free". WATCH IT. But, we try and act it out sometimes in our flat. this week, we performed it for a member family ;) I was the pharisee's. It was great. 

Mission leadership told us at our big meeting the other week that fist bumps are no longer dignified. and so many missionaries looked at sis M, cause that's basically all she does. sis M and I have figured out this weird high-five-hand-shake thing but we were talking to a recent convert, and he had to go, so he just clapped sis M on the shoulder and then fist bumped me and walked off. Sis M looked at me and was like, "man, we just broke like, 2 rules!" 

when sis M and I were first put back together, we were talking to a Zone Leader, Elder Van Wagoner, who used to be our District Leader when we were in Rhyl. and sis M and I are just so sassy that after talking to us for about 30 seconds he gestured to the both of us and was all, "sick. this is sick. I can't believe they put Rhyl back together!" 

"We were at Bishops for tea last week, I forgot to write this! haha. and we were in their living room, and the tele was on with "Big Hero 6" which neither of us have seen. and we were eating ice cream cones. I look over at sis C and she was zoned out, staring at the tele, so instead of saying anything, I just raised my eyebrows and licked my ice cream and watched her, until she felt my stare and did a double take, haha and you should've seen the look of shame on her face!!! haha it was the best. We re-inact it all the time" -Sister Madsen. I felt bad though because I'm waiting to watch it with Andrew when I get home because he said he wanted to watch it together..

We like to mess with our Zone Leaders, Elder Hollingsworth and Elder Werner (German). they rang us yesterday and Sister M told Elder Werner we hadn't gone to church cause I was sick. but man, he is catching on cause we tell him stuff like this all the time, like how once we told him we weren't going to come to zone meeting. haha, in his little german accent, "no, you are lying, I don't believe you". how can you lie to that? haha 

Sister Madsen loves to throw my name into sentences randomly as well. Like we'll be teaching a lesson and they will tell us they can't see out of one of their eyes and Sis M will say, "Oh yeah, sis C struggles with that as well." haha she's too funny. I wasn't actually sick! She was just trying to be funny.

Speaking of my wonderful companion, she decided to serve me this week by making me hot koolade! (this is a reference to Julian Smith for those who are confused about the source of this service.) Bless her cotton socks.

We were tracting-some english people answer the door by just opening and talking through the window- so we're talking to this man out his window and he tells us that he is not interested. So we say, "Do you know anyone in the area that may be interested?" and he said, "No, we're just a bunch of heathens around here!" I think that is the funniest thing someone has told us when we've asked for a referral.

Some of the people we are teaching are Catholic and believe that God is a Spirit and they believe in the trinity, so we've taught them about the Godhead and drawn them a picture so they can visualize what the Godhead looks like. We were talking to one of them and following up with the Godhead and what they could remember. They replied by saying, "Yep! There is Big G, JC, and spooky!" Well, they're not wrong. 

I love you all! I know the church is true and that God loves us individually. He leads His church through living prophets and he wants us to live with him again and receive the many blessings he has waiting for us. Have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Christensen xx

Hi! we have been all over the place today. We went up to the lake district and it was beautiful! We have had a great week with teaching our investigators. We've been able to meet with practically all of them and two of them came to the broadcast with Elder Holland yesterday. I'm sorry I have zero time to email but I love you loads and I'll write a better email next week and send lots and lots of pictures!

Love you!

Love, Sister Christensen

Great Week!

This week has been really good! We are seeing so much growth in our area. We taught a man named Antony this week. He was a referral from the Preston missionaries. We took a member and taught him the first discussion. He already had a Book of Mormon and he came to church on Sunday! He said he really enjoyed it. We look forward to teaching him this week.

We taught a couple this week as well who were former investigators. They are both born again christian and they asked us lots of questions about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. We didn't ever have the opportunity to answer the questions but we thanked the wife for her strong testimony of Jesus Christ and we each bore our testimony of how much he means to each of us and how he is the head of our church today. We will hopefully see them again soon, their hearts have definitely been softened since the last missionaries have seen them. 

There is another man that we are teaching named Tony. He is really interested in learning about different religions but is hesitant about coming to church. He asks lots of really good questions and understands the lessons. He even prays and reads the Book of Mormon. We hope that the more he learns about the church and the more he feels the Spirit, that he and his family will have a desire to come to church together.

It has been a good week. Weather has been relatively good too. It is suppose to warm up this next week, so hopefully it will :)

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love, Sister Christensen