Week 50 in the field!

Hi everybody! It's been an amazing week! Prepare for the highlights!

LEANNA GOT A JOB! Leanna is our 18 year old investigator who wants to get baptized but her dad told her she couldn't do any more church stuff until she found a job. Well, as you can see from the first sentence of this paragraph... SHE GOT A JOB! Hooray!!! Miracles happen!

All I can think about is the fact that we get to meet ELDER JEFFREY R. HOLLAND tomorrow! I am so nervous and excited. I can't wait! Here is one of my favorite quotes from him!

 

 

This week we went to Catholic mass! We know some people there and they invited us to check it out. It was cool, and we even got to see a baby get baptized! It was a very different experience but an important one, for sure. We should always be striving to better-understand the beliefs of those around us. 

This week was also MLC so I got to see Sister Brems who's a new Sister Training Leader! I love her so much! Those meetings are always the BEST and I learned so much from the other leaders in the mission. I love them all!

And I love YOU all!

Have a spectacular week!

<3 Sister Christiansen

P.S. My one-year mark is this week on the 22nd! I get to celebrate with all the missionaries in the zone by going to zone conference! Hooray!

Week 49 - It's springtime!

There are tulips and daffodils EVERYWHERE here! My two favorite flowers! It's incredibly beautiful and makes all the thunderstorms worth it.

Some awesome things happened this week!

#1 - WE GOT A WHALE BONE! A drunk man gave this whale bone to the elders in Bad Axe, MI, who then gave it to us! It's a vertebrae! Isn't it beautiful?

 This is my companion with the whale bone...

 

#2 - The people we're teaching are doing great! They are some of the most incredible people I've ever met. Seeing them apply the gospel into their lives, and then seeing their lives immediately improve is the most rewarding thing! God will never leave us "worse-off" for keeping His commandments. He will always bless us when we are striving to come closer to Him.

#3 - I got to talk to my family this week! It was so good to hear all of their voices! Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Happy early birthday, Dad! Happy early-early birthday, Amber! I love my family so much.

#4 - I love you all! I am having the time of my life out here on a mission! I love the people here SO MUCH! But don't worry, I also love all of YOU! In fact, if you feel extra bored this week and feel like writing a missionary who loves you a lot, feel free to write me! (1617 Flynn Ln. Apt. B 

Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858.) Haha I love you all so much.

#5 - Now for the moment you've all been waiting for. Last week, we took the Big Juan 4 lbs. burrito challenge and SUCCEEDED!!! Here is our t-shirt proof!

 

 

I hope you all have a lovely week!
​Today's spiritual thought is brought to you by: MOTHER'S! Check out this awesome new video<3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ4TPn8hjxI

http://motherhood.mormon.org/

I am so grateful for my mom and all she's done for me! 

<3 Sister Christiansen

 

Week 48 - OH NO I AM OUT OF TIME

I wish I could write a big long amazing email about this week but I am out of time! We have a lunch appointment in 15 minutes! In honor of Cinco de Mayo, we are tackling a four-pound burrito called the "Big Juan." It is a Mt. Pleasant legend and it comes with a free t-shirt!

Wow, my priorities look so messed up from that last paragraph. I promise I love you all more than I love 4 lbs. burritos. But we also just have to run! An investigator will be at the lunch appointment and I can't wait to figure out a metaphor comparing the gospel to a burrito (it encompasses all truth!).

We saw one trillion miracles in Mt. Pleasant this week. There were more visitors (investigators) at church than I'd ever seen in all of my days as a missionary! Thank you, Heavenly Father!

I will write more next week, I promise!

<3 Sister Christiansen

Week 47! CMU = Heaven!

This week was AWESOME.

I never know how much I can/should write about our investigators, since this is going online, but I just want to say that all of the people we are teaching are doing INCREDIBLY well! They all have been able to apply this gospel to their lives and they all are recognizing the blessings that have been flowing into their lives because of that. I LOVE THE PEOPLE HERE!!!

Yesterday we got permission to go to a choir concert because our investigators were participating in it, and ALSO, one of the songs sung was "I Love the Lord," which is based on the text from 2 Nephi Chapter 4! It was a great missionary opportunity. We got to talk to some people in the audience about where the words from the song came from. They loved it! 

The text comes from here: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/4?lang=eng

...Mainly verses 15-35. Isn't it beautiful? Very poetic.

Also this week, we were on bikes! Our motto was "Nobody looks cute in bike helmets and ponchos." That's right - bike helmets and ponchos. We're on a car rotation so we lose the car for a week, and that week just happened to be the week it started to rain again! But it was actually WAY fun. Mainly just hilarious. I mean, how can you NOT laugh when you look like this?

 

 

It's been a great week, mainly because of the first thing I talked about... the incredible people we get to teach! They are truly fascinating and wonderful people. I am so blessed to know them.

I love you all. Have a great week!

<3 Sister Christiansen

Week 46!

Hi friends and family! 

Happy Easter to all and happy belated birthday to my mom!!! What a great week!

We saw so many miracles! Investigators have been committing to baptism dates left and right! We have been so blessed to be able to witness God's hand moving this work along. Mt. Pleasant is exploding with wonderful, prepared people!

This week we had zone training which is where the zone leaders and sister training leaders instruct the other missionaries in the zone. That meant that I had to teach! Ahhhh! It was terrifying but it actually went pretty well. Missionary training meetings are always just so full of the Spirit that once you're there, it's impossible to feel scared or nervous. Woohoo!

I just feel so on top of the world. I can't even express the incredible joy that I feel! My testimony seems to get stronger and stronger each day. I am so grateful for that. I know without a doubt that this is the Church of Jesus Christ once again established on the earth. I know it! I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon. I know that book is true. As missionaries, we don't teach what we merely believe. We teach what we know. I am grateful that God has given me a knowledge of His plan and His gospel. I also KNOW that anybody who desires that knowledge can attain it as well. Moroni 10:4-5 says, "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." I know this is a foolproof formula.

As a final thought,if you haven't watched this yet, something needs to change. IT'S SO WELL DONE! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S3TI4bYerU

I love you all and miss you lots! Thank you for your prayers and support!

<3 Sister Christiansen