Annecy 12:5

So, this week was good. But I am wondering I how many of my weekly

emails I've started by saying so. Probably way to many. And I know

missionaries when they get to the end, to their last weekly email they

are super nostalgic and talk about all the amazing things they have

learned, but sorry in advance, an hour is not long enough to get all

that out and I think it would make me start crying if I had to think about my mission as something that was already over, because it's

not!!!!!! Haha, one more week of miracles to go :)

So in the mission we had this goal to get all these new Amis by the

twelfth of June. So we had been given two weeks to accomplish the

goal. So that was our focus this last week, finding Amis, which is

defined as someone we teach a gospel lesson to and then fix a return

appointment with them. One of our new Amis stories is kind of funny,

well there are two that are. So the first story, we had decided to go

out contacting for an hour before lunch, and so we are going, we are

talking to people but no one is interested, so we are kind of

wandering one could say, we had a direction we had planned on going

the night before so we kept in that direction and we see this group of

4 talking and one kid in a stroller. So we walk over and as we start

the conversation 2 up and leave, they were not interested. But we talk

to a couple with their daughter (stroller) and the first thing they

say is that they are Christian too! Finally!!!!!! And so we talked

expressed our beliefs in God, and we were able to teach them about the

Book of Mormon and they said they would love to read it and come to

church! We read a few verses together and they liked it! The wife

didn't do much talking, but they were really nice! And we were able to

fix a rdv for the next day.  But the problem was that eh didn't have a

fixed address, and so they said they go over to a friends house every

day and they gave us his address. The street name sounded really

familiar, and when we looked it up we realized it sounded familial

because first off it is the street right behind our apartment and

second because the address was for some old Amis of ours! Haha! So we

went by to teach, and saw our old Amis... That was funny, but good

because he said he would love to have us back! So that was cool.

Story two. The ward wanted us to look up addresses from the ward list

and see if people still lived there. So Saturday we did that, which

meant a ton of driving!!!!! Hours!!! We went to check one and as we

walked up to the apartment building this guy and his mother were

standing outside talking. As we walk up he asked is something along

the lines of whether we were going to a party because of the clothes

we were wearing. (Is it really that weird to be outside in a skirt? I

didn't think so but the guy acted like we were dressed to head to the

queens for dinner). We started talking though and it was maybe one of

the most frustrating conversations I have ever had. The guy had zero

faith, well, no that is isn't accurate. Once we get to the missionary

bit, and it didn't take long because he was super curious and had 100

questions, he said he believed because he almost died and was sure God

had a hand in saving his life. But then he would say that he only

believed in things that he could see, that if there was no proof he

couldn't believe. So when he asked us about how we knew that God

exists he wouldn't accept our answers because he said none of it had

proof. Nothing had evidence. When we said our knowing came from our

faith and that that is what faith is, he disagreed completely.

Everything we said he contradicted. The conversation was kind of going

in circles. I have faith, no that isn't a real thing, I know God loves

me, no you can't know that, I feel it in my heart, the Holy Ghost has

testified to me, feelings aren't proof, I need proof... You see how it

was going. Finally we parted ways, left them with a card, he said he

wasn't interested, he wouldn't shake hands or anything, haha. But then

about 3 hours later we receive a phone call, and it was him, and he

asked if he could actually talk to us because he really did want to

learn more about God and had questions (that part wasn't a surprise

though). So we were able to fix a rdv, we will see how it is. Maybe

when we met it was just a bad day. But we were so surprised when he

called because they never call!!! Never!!! So that was cool.

Interesting, but cool. The address for the member we were looking for

was wrong though if you were following that part of the story, but it

led us to them. So still good.

Yesterday we had a special sisters conference. Which was awesome!!!!!!

They had all the departing soeurs bear their testimonies at the end,

which was good, but you know me... Kleenex was needed. But it was so

fun to see all the sisters and some of us stayed the night at the

mission home which was heaven!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All in all a super good week. Highlight, seeing Soeur Clancy! I

already miss her.  Why couldn't we be companions?????????? :)

À bientôt!

Soeur Christensen

Annecy 12:4

This week was odd... We started off with exchange in annemasse, then

had 2 days home, and then we were in Geneva for the day to do a big

zone finding day, then we had Saturday and Sunday home. It didn't

really feel like we were at home at all, and in the days we were at

home we did a lot of service. Which was awesome! But made it hard

because we weren't able to be out seeing Amis or anything like that.

But Saturday we had a fun but then really sad thing. Our Romanian Amis

invited us to a party because half of the family is Catholic and so

they had a baptism and invited us to the "after party" we thought it

would be a good chance to meet the rest of the family and show our

love. It was interesting... This family friend kept coming up to us

and trying to get us to dance, so we just shoved bread into our mouths

as an excuse because he did not get the "we can not dance". Finally

our Amis husband told him to stop. We were going to leave but then the

mother of the family came in and she pulled us to the side. She is a

member, and we start talking and she told us that there was a fire in

there house, they just found it and the whole inside is completely

black. There wasn't to  much actually burnt, but the whole house is

covered in soot. They have nothing and then this happened. It hurts so

much realizing how relatively easy my life has been compared to

theirs, and how these things just happen to them. And it makes me

really sad realizing that I won't be here much longer and I can't help

them! The gospel would help them it is just so hard because of all

these things in their lives. And I just wish they could see it better.

This week we had a relief society activity about emergency

preparedness... And I feel slightly freaked out. I'm not ready! I

don't have a seventy two hour kit, I don't have food storage! I am not

prepared!

Some finding day in Geneva, these statues are all religious reformers

like Calvin! Really cool!

Annecy 12:3

This week went by fast, and I don't even remember what we did really,

it's all a blur, but here are some of the great things we did.

We saw our amie Christy, and she is still awesome. We taught the plan

of salvation and she already knew everything. One of our members came

and she was such a help because she was able to reply to the questions

that I have never been asked before because no one even knows what a

temple is here. Basically she loves everything and is so ready.

Teaching her was like a member, and the best thing is she has so many

good questions so it is really easy to teach to her needs because she

just goes out and says what her need is. She wasn't able to come to

church though because her son was up all night with an ear infection.

But she is so awesome!

Also, we were able to see our other ami family and they fed us. They

have next to nothing, they live in an abandoned school, no water,

nothing. And yet they invited us over to feed us!

We had zone conference and it was good, but we had interviews and I

was just not ready, because we do our going home testimonies and I had

forgotten and I just was not ready, and en plus it was the middle of

week three, I'm not even close to being some, so it was really weird

to do a finishing testimony. But it was good. And I love president and

sister Brown.

These weeks go by fast, and I'm just soaking it all in and loving it.

Love Soeur Christensen

Envoyé de mon iPad

Annecy 12:2

miracle week! Miracle Week!! MIRACLE WEEK!!!

This week was so filled with miracles! I don't even think I have time

to get to all of them.

First one: Monday night we left for Lyon because president had invited

all the people I go home with to the mission leadership conference on

Tuesday. When I heard about that all I could think was Jean Luc. He

has had a ton of hard things come into his life since being baptised

and I have been worried and praying a lot for him. So someone had to

see him. I just knew it. Half way through the conference we went out

contacting, nothing really interesting happened for me and Soeur Nef,

but when we came back in everyone was saying miracles, and one of the

elders shared this story. He had gone to hotel de ville and saw

someone sitting on a bench. Started talking to him.. IT WAS JEAN

LUC!!!!!!! Basically the elder was able to talk to him about some hard

things he was going through. And for me that was such a huge miracle

because I have been praying for weeks that someone would run into him,

and remind him that God still cared and would send help.

Miracle two: we had a return rdv with our new Amis Dorina and her 2

kids Marie and Sergio, and when the walked up they had brought with

them a family, husband wife and their son Isus!! We take them into the

church and as soon as they are inside they are saying how beautiful it

is and the kids were being hushed to be quiet because they were in a

special place. And when we took them into the chapel they all just

went quiet. The spirit was so strong, and as we sat down to teach them

the husband said to us that he was looking to change his life and

wanted to know how, and that he wanted to be baptised, and his whole

family. So we said we were there to help people prepare by teaching

them and helping them make those changes to live in harmony with

Christ's teachings. We told them that kids starting at age eight could

also be baptised and the two kids excitedly said that the were nine

and that they wanted to be baptised too. So we said we could teach the

whole family and they were all so so excited. We talked about Christ

and what that meant to follow him. They speak Romanian better than

French so looked to find the il vit video in Romanian, realized I

couldn't read Romanian... And just picked one of the videos hoping it

was the right one... And it was perfect. It was the Easter video

follow him, and as soon as it started the spirit filled the room, and

at the end the mothers were crying and even the little nine year old

boy had tears in his eyes. We asked them how the felt, and no one

really wanted to answer, but the nine year old boy did, he helped out

"bien!" Haha. We taught the, about the spirit and that they needed to

pray because the spirit would tell them that they needed to follow

Christ. When we picked a baptismal date everyone in the room started

giggling in excitement! It was amazing!!! And what was cool was that

the husband said that he would take the Book of Mormon and read and

pray because once he is baptised he said he knew he couldn't go back

on it, it was something for the rest of his life and his family and so

he would take is seriously and make sure he knew. It was cool. And I

was so touched by the desire they had to follow Christ. They don't

have a huge understanding, but they felt the spirit testify to them

that they needed to follow Christ and in so doing be baptised. So so

cool! Such a blessing for us.

And there is still more :)

Miracle three: we received a referral from the church website on

Thursday. The description was a mother of 4 kids, who had lived in the

states for four years. She had never been to church, but in her

community there were many lds families and she was impressed by their

family values and would like to come to church to learn more. So we

planned on going to her house on Saturday because we weren't able to

reach her by phone. Saturday comes and we ring her bell...nothing. So

we went contacting a bit and before leaving decided to try one more

time. And she was there! She comes out and brings chairs in to the

garden calls her kids and then tells us that ever since moving back

she has wanted to have her kids in church to bring those good values

in but she didn't like it at any of the churches she had tried. So she

kept feeling pushed to go on the church site and sign her self up, so

she talked with her husband and they decided to do it. She said she

was ready to just jump in, when was church, what do you wear, what do

the kids do, etc etc. As we talked she said how she just felt pushed

to find our church, and how as soon as she did she felt so good, and

she said that the idea of temples is beautiful and the most important

thing for her and her family. We didn't get into a ton of teaching,

but we were able to testify of the blessing of the church in our lives

and she seemed really touched and was just ready to come. At the end

of the lesson we prayed, and she had all the kids sit and she said to

them, " okay guys, we are going to learn how to pray" and so I start

explaining it. We all folded our eyes, closed our eyes, and then k

said his we start with dear Heavenly Father , and then the mom and

kids started repeating me, and so I just went with it, and we said a

prayer together. It was really cute and reminded me of our family

prayers as kids when we would repeat. It was fun and cute. And she is

so ready for the gospel, and her kids too!!!!!! It was so

cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There were so many amazing things this week. Heavenly Father is

blessing us so much! I feel incredibly thankful to see these miracles

happening.

Love Soeur Christensen

31 days left...

Lyon 8:3 It was really hard to remember what week I was on...

This week was interesting, we discovered on if the funniest church

videos I have ever seen. "Joseph the man" it's on the church history

set of 3 dvd's. "These are the hands that touched the hands that

touched the hands..." It's really funny, look for it, watch it, you

won't be disappointed :)

So the reason we discovered the video is because Soeur Castagno has

been sick and so we had some days and afternoons in the apartment. It

was good though because I got to serve her which is my favourite!! So

we watched some movies, I read some things, she got some rest and has

been doing better.

So, here is a little miracle for this week. Our engagé Jean Luc is so

cool! We had a lesson with him and our dmp (ward mission leader) and

we taught about the temple and how the temple is a blessing through

the story of Lehi's vision in the Book of Mormon, it went really well

and it was cool because our dmp, frère Girard, said, after we told him

the subject that it was perfect because he brought a little picture of

the temple to give to him! The lesson went well and at the end we

talked about how Lehi wanted his whole family to be able to have all

the joy that he had from the fruit, and we talked about genealogy and

being able to do baptisms for the dead for his ancestors who did not

have the chance to learn of Christ and follow him. He was wonderfully

shocked! He couldn't believe it, he was so happy, and I swear he was

tearing up, it was awesome! There was a baptism the next day in

another ward and he came and he loved it! And so here's another cool

thing, so after the program was finished the stake president said a

few words and guess what story he told!! Yes! Lehi's vision! It was

super cool! Before he started talking he said, "now I'm going to talk

about a story you all know" and I thought, nope, not Jean Luc, and

then he started talking Lehi's vision and I thought, YES!!!! He knows

this!!! After we talked to him and he said that he was super excited

because he knew the story, and then he said, "that's how I know I'm

making the right choice, God is leading." It was super awesome, and so

many people talked to him and he's friends with other missionaries. It

was sweet! Also, he brought a friend to church on Sunday! We weren't

there, sick, but still, super cool!

Okay, here's a funny story. So we planned a surprise for the office

senior couples. We decided to decorate the office all Christmassy as a

surprise; we were hoping to bring a little more holiday cheer into the

office. So Saturday after the baptism we go with the other sisters to

decorate. We had gotten keys to the office and snuck in. About 15

minutes in guess what happened. The door started to get unlocked!! I

see Soeur Castagno run the other way, so I dive under a desk,

literally dive and almost pull my skirt off because it isn't easy to

dive in a skirt,  but while we are doing this, no one came in, the

door opened but no one came in so the other sisters didn't notice and

we're really confused, "sister Christensen why are you under a

desk??!!" And then 2 seconds later she realizes and says, "oh is some

one here??" And then they dive under with me right before we hear

voices... But don't worry, it was only the assistants! They were a

little less surprised than we expected, you know, seeing 3 sisters

crawl out from under a desk... But it was funny. So we continue

decorating, it's looking good, when guess what sound we heard again.!

Yes, once again the door opens, we dive again under the desks, my

skirt almost gets pulled off again! And this time the sweeneys walked

in :( obviously they knew something was up, we were almost done

everything. And then he sees the other soeurs... "Les soeurs se

cachent." It was funny. And still fun even though it wasn't a perfect

surprise.

Also, we went out for dinner with president and sister brown!!! I love

them, we have a picture but I need sister brown to email it to me. We

went to the 'hippopotamus', president and me and my comp got fish. It

was really really good:)

Oh and we sang at the baptism...

Lyon 8:2

So another week. What have I done? Hmmmmm... My brain has stopped

working and I can't think of anything. Probably because white washing

is hard and we still have no idea about anything here, and he have a

list of errands that we have to do that just keeps getting bigger, so

kind of not a lot has happened. But, still we've seen some super cool

things. Let me start off with Jean-luc. So basically he is the coolest

person ever, our zone leaders contacted a friend of his and Jean Luc

came to the rdv. He ended up being super interested and came to the

thanksgiving activity we did. He came to church with us the next day

and loved the Amis class lesson on obedience, and it just so happened

that it was the fifth Sunday, so we had a combined relief society

priesthood lesson. Guess what is was on... Becoming spiritually self

reliant. I'm pretty sure he started falling asleep and the whole time

all we could think of was, why today, he probably is hating this and

doesn't even think we are a church because all we are doing is talking

about some weird booklet that the church made to help everyone become

"autonome" but when the lesson finished and we were all going to leave

Jean Luc leans over and says, can I have one of those booklets and he

ended up loving it! So he came again this last week and it just so

happens that he lives in our sector so we get to teach him and he is

so cool. The elders fixed a baptismal date and as we were doing a

lesson we asked about it, and we asked if he had prayed about Joseph

smith and the Book of Mormon, and he said almost like I was stupid for

asking that he had and that was why he was there, he knows it is true.

So cool. So that's awesome and we are super excited.

So another week. What have I done? Hmmmmm... My brain has stopped

working and I can't think of anything. Probably because white washing

is hard and we still have no idea about anything here, and he have a

list of errands that we have to do that just keeps getting bigger, so

kind of not a lot has happened. But, still we've seen some super cool

things. Let me start off with Jean-luc. So basically he is the coolest

person ever, our zone leaders contacted a friend of his and Jean Luc

came to the rdv. He ended up being super interested and came to the

thanksgiving activity we did. He came to church with us the next day

and loved the Amis class lesson on obedience, and it just so happened

that it was the fifth Sunday, so we had a combined relief society

priesthood lesson. Guess what is was on... Becoming spiritually self

reliant. I'm pretty sure he started falling asleep and the whole time

all we could think of was, why today, he probably is hating this and

doesn't even think we are a church because all we are doing is talking

about some weird booklet that the church made to help everyone become

"autonome" but when the lesson finished and we were all going to leave

Jean Luc leans over and says, can I have one of those booklets and he

ended up loving it! So he came again this last week and it just so

happens that he lives in our sector so we get to teach him and he is

so cool. The elders fixed a baptismal date and as we were doing a

lesson we asked about it, and we asked if he had prayed about Joseph

smith and the Book of Mormon, and he said almost like I was stupid for

asking that he had and that was why he was there, he knows it is true.

So cool. So that's awesome and we are super excited.

That's the coolest greatest thing of the week, but also this week we

did some service! It was so fun! So Sister Brown wants videos of all

the missionaries doing a service activity, and so we had planned a

free hot chocolate Christmas thing. And it actually went really well.

The beginning was rough, really really rough. We thought it would be

cute to sing carols and hand out hot chocolate and show people the new

Christmas video, so we all are standing ready, we start singing, and

it was so so so horrible. It was probably the most awkward thing to

happen so far on my mission. Basically no one stopped and we didn't

even finish the song because we all started laughing because it was

just that bad. So we remade the game plan, and started just contacting

people like normal and giving out hot chocolate and that worked really

well, and we were able to talk to a lot of people. And it made us all

happy :) then for a second service thing we did, the recent convert

here, moved to the Czech Republic a week after his confirmation, and

his wife stayed here to continue studying. So since they were both

waaaay to busy to see us getting everything ready, we decided to make

them dinner, we did a lasagna and salad and a little dessert. And then

 the sweeney's took us over. But basically that was such a miracle too

because we could not get a hold of yilbert all day, neither could the

sweeney's and so we just went hoping he would be there with his wife

who we haven't met yet, and while we were stopped at a red light Soeur

Sweeney looks over and says, look, it's yilbert! He was on a bike

stopped right next to the car! So we pulled over were able to talk and

he said he was going to pick up his wife from school and then would

meet us at their house. So we were able to see them, his wife is so

cute and she told us how sad she was he was leaving and she said when

she finishes exams she will have us over :) so that was great.

That's the coolest greatest thing of the week, but also this week we

did some service! It was so fun! So Sister Brown wants videos of all

the missionaries doing a service activity, and so we had planned a

free hot chocolate Christmas thing. And it actually went really well.

The beginning was rough, really really rough. We thought it would be

cute to sing carols and hand out hot chocolate and show people the new

Christmas video, so we all are standing ready, we start singing, and

it was so so so horrible. It was probably the most awkward thing to

happen so far on my mission. Basically no one stopped and we didn't

even finish the song because we all started laughing because it was

just that bad. So we remade the game plan, and started just contacting

people like normal and giving out hot chocolate and that worked really

well, and we were able to talk to a lot of people. And it made us all

happy :) then for a second service thing we did, the recent convert

here, moved to the Czech Republic a week after his confirmation, and

his wife stayed here to continue studying. So since they were both

waaaay to busy to see us getting everything ready, we decided to make

them dinner, we did a lasagna and salad and a little dessert. And then

 the sweeney's took us over. But basically that was such a miracle too

because we could not get a hold of yilbert all day, neither could the

sweeney's and so we just went hoping he would be there with his wife

who we haven't met yet, and while we were stopped at a red light Soeur

Sweeney looks over and says, look, it's yilbert! He was on a bike

stopped right next to the car! So we pulled over were able to talk and

he said he was going to pick up his wife from school and then would

meet us at their house. So we were able to see them, his wife is so

cute and she told us how sad she was he was leaving and she said when

she finishes exams she will have us over :) so that was great.