There and Back Again

Monday, July 13, 2015

We are the missionaries South of the Ribble

This week has been busy and difficult but full of miracles and tender mercies. We had a wonderful Zone Meeting and I had the on-the-spot opportunity to play the piano. Needless to say, I could have done a lot worse.

We had a lesson with our investigator, M, who is going to get baptised. She has been facing a lot of opposition. She received a blessing and we've been texting her uplifting scriptures to help her. We went to see her yesterday and had a powerful lessons on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, emphasizing the atonement and repentance. She is so sweet. When she feels the Spirit, she lights up and smiles and you can tell that it completely fills her up! I'm so excited for her to be baptised and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Preston Zone

We saw J and her family twice this week and I just love her so much! She is one of God's elect, I am confident in that. Her husband came and sat in for the last bit of the lesson and he said the closing prayer! We had never told him how to pray but he had sat in enough lessons and had observed and then he did! He picked himself to say the prayer and it brought the Spirit into my heart so strongly, I haven't felt that way for a really long time. I know that he will be baptised. J thinks he is stubborn and won't change from catholic but I see a great change in him and think he will join sooner rather than later.

E and P from the Rhyl, Wales Ward visiting in church today

We also taught S this week. We taught the Word of Wisdom and Follow the Prophet. We showed him a video of President Monson and he absolutely loves him and connects with him. When we taught the Word of Wisdom, he told us that he drinks two large glasses of coffee an hour but that he's not addicted so he can stop, no problem. We got a text from him yesterday that said that he hasn't had any tea or coffee since we last met with him! He is so good.

We saw a great miracle on Saturday. We were tracting by a former investigator and we didn't even knock the door, the little girl just came out then went and got her dad. He is so open minded and is looking for the truth. We gave him a Book of Mormon and are seeing him and his wife tomorrow with our Ward Mission Leader, who has offered to come fellowship with us! A family!

Street sign

Similarly, we went by some less actives before tea yesterday and we met a family that is living in the home of where a less active member used to live and we're seeing them today! The Lord is blessing us. He is guiding this work, I have no doubt about it! He truly answers prayers because we have been praying to find families and he has blessed us with two in just two days!

Be careful with your car in Liverpool, it might end up like this one

We also had a powerful lesson with a member family yesterday on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and at the end we invited them to invite a family to their home to learn more. The father is coming teaching with us later this week and asked if they can invite the family he is fellowshipping or any other investigators we are teaching. It is hard for the members to give us referrals so this was lovely that they see that we are teaching lots of good people and want to help us!

It has been a great week and I love the people here so much! I love you all and thank you so much for all your love, support, and encouragement! Have a brilliant week! :)

Love, Sister Christensen

Pre-haircut

Post haircut

Challenge by office missionaries to cry in a corner...

for funnies:

We went to teach R twice this week, and he is a little chatterbox! so the first time we were running a bit late, and our fellowshipper, is a little chatterbox too. And we had another appointment with J that we were refusing to be late for, so the first time we went to R's we didn't get very far. We kept telling them we had to get going and we're really sorry, but they'd just keep talking about fluff. So, in the end, sis M and I are standing up and leaving, I am physically walking down the stairs, and K (the fellowshipper) is just starting all these difference conversations with R, haha. Sis M says I'm a little champion, trying to make us be on time.... I looks at her at the bottom of the stairs, and she's just shaking with laughter cause I'm like, "we are never getting out of here!" and I look at K who's down the hallway just chatting away... "K! you can come next time!" I clapped my hands and gestered to the stairs... sis M loved it! (don't worry our next lesson was much better-- still hard to get out of but better, and yes, K did come again lol)

When we were teaching C, her little sister just adores sis M and I. But it was so cute, she's 6 and would call sis M Sister Maddison, and me sister Christine. ;) and C lives right by a member, who is the YW pres, who's first name is Christine. So A (the little sister) was just outside one day, and thought about how sis M and I went to Christine's house a lot. So she goes to Christine's house and knocks on the door and asks, "does sister Christine live here?" Christine: "I'm sister Christine." and A looked so confused and disbelieving! it took about 10 minutes for Christine to realize A was talking about me!... haha

In the same lesson we had with S, we brought Rachel who is a nurse fellowshipping with us. It is great, Rachel is the perfect fellowshipper for S, she just resolves all his concerns for us and has really helped him move forward. S was talking about a type of beer that boxers drink cause it's supposed to be good for you, and how S sometimes has it, and even the hospitals used to give it out cause it's "good" for you. and Rachel just pipes up, "yeah, they did, until they found out it was bad for you". haha... Rachel's the best. so cheeky. S takes it in good stride.

At M's baptsimal interview this week, sis M and I were waiting in the lounge of the chapel, and she came through the double doors and comes over, and says, "I don't know why you have such big smiles on your faces... I failed." ....."you what?" "I failed the interview". Then our District Leader came through and heard M and just started to nod his head. "Well, okay M... what did you struggle with?" we asked. she responds with Joseph Smith. We look at District Leader and he's like, "yeah, if you can just build her testimony that he was a prophet..." M reaches out and touches sis M's shoulder-- "it's okay, we'll work on it, right?" "yeah, of course we will!".... "Just kidding! I passed! ha!" that was just cruel. what a wicked sense of humor M!!!!! and District Leader played along too! come on!

We had tea at WML's home, and I love his wife Sylvia. they are in their seventies. they are so funny-- I love being extra cheeky there cause Sylvia just has this cute little laugh. We were talking about the tennis (I know nothing about the tennis) and Sylvia was saying that this one woman won again, then added, "but I don't like her cause she's ugly." hahah what? sylvia, do you like me?.... ;)

Later, we had our coordination meeting at WML home. the Elder's Quorum Pres (Ben, who is married and 26) joined in for it. Sylvia said, "you can always tell when there's a young man around cause the girls just keep giggling." Ben's jaw dropped, "Sylvia, you can't say that-- they're missionaries!" "yes I can-- I'm old." haha Sylvia haha

We were at Zone Meeting, which was super fun. Afterwards we were all telling some jokes. Not gonna name names, but someone started telling racist jokes. (wasn't me btw) and an elder turned to me and said, "we've got to stop this... it's getting too dark". ha!

one of our Zone Leader's Elder Hollingsworth (who is a goliath) went up to Elder Curtis (who is short) and told him to do something and he ended it with, "you have to do this because I'm a zone leader and I said so." Elder Curtis won't be bullied though and didn't even miss a beat when he just said, "what was that? I couldn't hear you-- all I hear was amen to the priesthood." (don't worry, Elder Hollingsworth was just kidding).

Sis M was trying to quote a scripture to me this morning: alma 34:9, which says "all are fallen, yea, all are hardened...", and she got a little tongue-tied, and just ended up saying "all are farted" cause she mixed the two together. It was hilarious. Very inspirational Sis M.

Monday, July 6, 2015

MORMONS & STUFF

This week has been full of miracles. The Elders have been transferred out of South Ribble so we've been covering their area as well. It has been really busy but so fun and amazing. We had a lot of first appointments with their investigators and it was funny because they didn't know that sister missionaries even existed so they were all really excited to meet us. It made me feel pretty good ;)

We saw J twice this week but the second appointment was hilarious. She had researched the Word of Wisdom last January on Mormon.org and found out that you can't drink coffee so she stopped and switched to green tea. She knows now that that's not okay either and she is working on stopping. But we taught her the Word of Wisdom properly on thursday and we brought a young mum from the ward to fellowship. I was trying to get the point across that we should eat all things in moderation and I used the example of not eating loads and loads of carrots (just as an example) and the member turns to me and says, "Did I tell you about that?" she then went on to tell us that she had formed a crazy addiction to carrots, that she would go through the McDonalds drive through just to get a pack of carrots. She is so cute and it was so funny. It was really nice though, because it helped J make a friend and then she knew someone when she came to church!

We also taught S this week and that lesson was a miracle. We walked in, sat down, started following up with reading the Book of Mormon and praying and he just stopped us and said, "I don't want to waste your time, I am interested in what you are sharing but I couldn't give up that I have to join!" We had a member with us that joined the church just last november and she told him about her process of joining the church and how it wasn't easy but she stuck with it and it has changed her life. There were a couple of things he didn't understand that we were able to clear up after that and he still wants to meet with us and learn more. I just have a strong testimony of having members come to lessons and also teaching to peoples needs, not just going with a strict lesson plan.

We received some assignments from the ward council to follow up with some less active members. We went by one family and it turns out that the less active family had moved 13 years ago. It was incredible though because just last week there was a terrible car crash on a country road and two young men were killed. This family who lived in the home we called by were one of the boys family. We talked to the step mum and a couple of her children. We had a nice lesson and she invited us back. I just think it is so lovely that Heavenly Father is so aware of his children and that he sent us to this family that has just faced this devastating tragedy. I always feel blessed when I can have even a simple conversation with someone who needs the gospel. I feel privileged that God trusts me enough to send me to those who are in need.

I know this church is true and I am thankful for the gospel! I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!

Love, Sister Christensen xx

for funnies:

J's 3 kids just are adorable. her youngest, G (4 years old) is always taking off our badges and putting them on himself. so, J told us that this week, they got a pretend credit card in the mail, and she saved it for her kids to play with. And James was driving, and he looked in the back seat, and saw G just holding this credit card against his shirt. So James is all, "what's that G?" and G says, "It's my magnet name!"...... Magnet name? what's a magnet name? thinks James. then G says, "My mormon magnet name!" He was pretending it was a badge! so cute. so a member made the kids laminated badges and they wore them at church and were saying, "look! I'm a mormon now!" It was the cutest ever.

In the lesson that we taught J the Word of Wisdom, the member was explaining what fast and testimony meeting was like, and how some people don't give the greatest testimonies, but we still love them, and how other testimonies make up for it. "I'll sit by you and just look at you and wink if we get an interesting one" the member told J. J said, "no no, I'll avoid you like the plague at church or else I'll laugh!"

At the end of the lesson: J was showing us a costume she made for G, who was going to be an Indian. The head dress had real raccoon tails on it. Whilst showing us, we were talking about how the american indians are descendants of the Lamanites. J looked super confused and said, "the raccoon's?" what? no! raccoon's aren't descended from Lamanites J! haha

When you are in a missionary leadership possition, you have the pictures of everyone in your stewardship. so on our wall we have all our sisters pics. on the Zone Leader's wall, they have all the zone's pictures. and sis M told me, "Man, my picture isn't good.... but that's okay... yours isn't either!" "you can't just say that about someone else's picture!" rude.

we were driving to a meeting and something happened where we accidentally gave each other a fist bump and then screamed cause they're banned.

we did service this week, and had to call the assistants to the president for permission for something else. Elder Wilcox is our pal, so we were talking to him for a bit, and told him about our day. I said, "I weeded by a tree...", but my retainer was in, so E. wilcox said, "wait, you did what by a tree?!" It was so embarrassing!

This was a while ago but sometimes sis M and I dare each other into awkward finding situations and she dared me into one and I walked up to this lady, got really frazzled and just gave her a website card telling her it talked about Mormons and stuff then I just waved and walked away. Really awkward. :/

There was a carnival in Lostock Hall (the little town we live in) with a parade and everything. we were driving and ignored the closed road signs, and got stuck at the end of the parade. haha, so we were in the parade, listening to primary songs and had our badges. Sis M gave the people the queen's wave. it was great. ;)

we were driving and sis M was on the phone with some sisters, and we were rushing cause we were running a bit late, and I was really concentrating on driving, and we went to a round a bout, and on it was a duck. Sis M loves ducks. So she just points and shouts, "a duck!" "AHHHH! not when I'm driving!" haha, I thought that I was going to hit it or a person or something.

Luff ya!