Poitiers 5:6

Transfer calls: we are both staying in poitiers :) and i am REALLY EXCITED!

Sr.jacobsen and i get along really well and we work well together and

im just excited for the work we are going to do.

So this week was alot alot ALOT of tombez-vous. So that kind of

sucked, but it meant we had a lot of time to contact and meet people.

I feel like this week I invited so many people to church and gave our

number out a ton, we met some people who were interested  and got

their numbers but mostly it was giving ours out and so I really really

hope we get some surprise people at church or some unknown number

calls from people who are interested. We shall see.

This week I read a talk anout becoming a consecrated missionary and my

life is changed. It's by tadd r callister, becoming a consecrated

missionary, he gave it when he was a mission president in toronto.

Anyways. Pretty much i feel like a different person, a different

missionary after that and im really excited about the changes im going

to make and the new things i want to implement. Basically my whole

vision of the future is changed. Read the talk, i don't  know where

you can find it, my comp had it in print, but read it. It is so good.

I cant even talk about it reallh because it would take me forever to

explain everything i learned, or relearned. Basically its the best

thing that has happened to me. :) so read it.

Allez-vous le lire???

OUI!!!!!!!!

Merci. :)

So, basically here in poitiers the branch has about 40 that come and

there is maybe 2 primary kids and ome young women... And thrn a few

older who are all from the same family. So pretty small. But it's

growing!

We have 2 amis with a baptismal date. One is for sure, Aimé, an

african father of 2 kids who prett much thinks church is the best

thing ever :) And then Sandra, who has a date, but needs to understand

what that really means a bit better. But she is really nice about 45

with kids. So ill try and keep you updated on their progress. Then

another ami that we have is chinese! His name is Tong. We contacted

him in the street and got his number, and he said he would like to fix

a rdv. So He texted us a bit  later saying when he was free and then

finished it saying "que Dieu vous benisse" so pretty much this young

guy that has very little knowledge of God says to us and may God bless

you. I died, i thought it was the cutest thing in the world. We had a

rdv with him and he said he would bring his dictionary because he

didnt know french that well. Just adorable. And for thr rdv he asked

all these questions and it was really great, and then he came to

church this last sunday!!!  It was his first time ever being invited

to church and he said he had been really worried because the night

before he had gone out with his friends and i guess they did karaoke

ALL NIGHT and so he was really really tired, and so he was worried

that being tired at church would be really disrespectful. And while we

were at church he sang along to all the hymns and everytime he made a

mistake he aplogized. It was so funny :) but he's going back to china

for a few months, but he said he would come back and that he would

like to continue meeting with us.

Somethings funny:

Aids guy, taurus. We were stopped by this guy working for an aids

organization and so we stopped to talk to him, he soon realized we

didnt have any money to give him, but he had talked with missionaries

before and so we talked abit about that and then suddenly in the

middle of a different sentence he just ask us, "what's your

astrological sign?" Amd so we told him, taurus and leo, and he says oh

that's good they go well together and then he patted  our arms and

them walked away with out saying anything else. It was pretty funny.

Sandra on the phone: tomorrow maybe, okay baby tomorrow. Our ami

sandra called. She speaks english and she needed some help with her

computer, but we didnt have time so we said "tomorrow maybe" but she

heard tomorrow baby. So she said "okay baby, tomorrow" hahahahaha, it

was really funny. Oh man

Porting, dancing and singing. So because of all our tombez vous we did

some porting and no one was answering, we were in a big apartment

building. And so do change things up we decided to just sing in the

hall, and we have a video of two sisters singing i love to see the

temple in french and so we played that and just kind of danced in the

hall way hoping some one would hear and open their door... Didnt work,

but it was a good break from endless shut doors.

Horrible bus conversation old man and group. Also this week i had two

very unfortunate bus conversations. So the first one, we get on the

bus and its pretty full but theres one area to stand open, so i go

there and i soon realized why no one was standing there. The guy

sitting in the seat by it was kind of crazy. He was muttering to

himself and he had a really raspy smokers voice and just sounded very

angry and kept talking to no one in particular. So there I am smiling

at this guy who was not happy and honestly i got a but scared because

i said hello, and then he didn't really respond, but just kept kind of

muttering, i could not understand him, so i kind of just looked in

another direction, but then every so often i would hear something

like, "so you don't want to talk to me" and things like that so then i

would smile at him, but he wouldn't actually address me, he would just

mutter angrily. And then as i was getting off the buss he muttered

angrily again, something like "dont say goos by then" it was very odd,

kind of scary. Then conversation number two, i went and sat in one of

the empty 4 seaters. And then this big group of around twenties aged

people get on. One girl 5 guys. And they all sit around me. So i

started talking to them.... So embarrassing, so so embarrassing. I

asked them what they were doing in poitiers because they looked a

little nomad like. Anyways they conversation was just really awkward

and then i said what i was doing in france, they looked at me like i

was crazy, and then they looked at each other like i was crazy, and

then i thought to myself, hey they probably have a lot of friends, I

should ask the, if they have any friends that would want to learn

about God.... If they looked at me like i was crazy before then once i

asked that i must have become a talking donkey wearing a dress, at

least thats what their faces suggested. It was horrible and then i had

to climb over them to get off the bus. Oh the life...

So it was a good week.

This is the district, but everyone got changed at transfer calls except us.

Love sister christensen!!!!

Poitiers 5:4

On the train ride back to perpignan. Huge fire!!!! It looked like a
crazy storm cloud, but blacker

Poitiers 5:4

So surprise, I'm in Poitiers now. It's really funny because the whole

week I kept saying to myself, "I should be taking pictures of this"

but I didn't! And now I know why!! I thought I was supposed to be

getting better at the whole listening and following promptings thing,

but serioisly, it was only week 4 so I figured I still had  2 weeks to

take pictures... But, the nice thing was that i was able to see quite

a few people.

So after getting the call on sunday i started packing because I had

less then 24 hours to pack my WHOLE LIFE back into my two suitcases. I

did a good amount and then we went and said goodbye to a few people,

(all the pictures are on my camera so i cant really send any sorry)

then we got home ate i continued packing and we went to bed. Got up in

the morning and i had one suitcase done, completely filled with

clothes and not much left to pack... Or so I thought.

That was a stressful morning. My things were NOT fittimg, it was

terrifying because the clock was ticking, I only had a few hours to

pack and clean and have everything ready, and nothing was fitting! I'm

a pretty calm person but that morning had me going crazy! I had to

repack, then repack, then finally with the clock on its last few

minutes I took pretty mich everything out, got rid of a ton (how i

acquired all that stuff i have no idea, i've only bought a few things)

and finally got them shut and finished. In the end i grabbed a

shopping bag and put my coat and shoes in it, they just were not

fitting...

But it got done!

Jean brousse and lucie picked us up and then laurent and julien and a

random friend of theirs surprised us at the gare, and then this is

sad, frere boltor got the time wrong and a few hours into the train

ride called asking where we were. :( he had gone to the gare at 3

thinking he would catch us, but the train left at 1. I was sad.

So monday we spent all day on the train going to lyon, slept there,

then my new companion and I left tuesday morning and spent the whole

day on trains going to poitier. I'm not kiddimg we left the apartment

at 10 and got to the apartment in Poitiers at 8:45 ish. Such a long

day. And my suitcases though durable are monster, they are really

difficult to roll around. Or maybe it was just that they were so

freaking heavy this time...

So Poitiers. It reminds me of montauban but is alot whiter and has

more trees and is kindof on a hill side. But i like it. And my new

companion is sister jacobsen from california, i met her once before.

She is super nice, and likes the same sorts of things so we've done

alot of talking amd getting to know each other. I'm excited to serve

with her, but i'm wondering how long we will have together. She has

been in Poitiers for 3 so far, but if she lea es at transfer calls i

would of only had a week and a few days in the ville, so that would be

kind of crazy, and if i have to leave that would be crazy awful too.

So im curious as to what is going to happen at the end of next week.

This last week we had a bug conference in aix-en-provence. It was fun,

sister Brown had us play this "allez-vous" game (will you game about

giving commitments) it was fun, the assistance showed us carda with

commitments written on them and we had to act it out and have our zone

guess the "allez-vous" it was fun ill send some pics.

I got to see soeur hurd! And a few others that i came in with it was

super fun! And we talked more about bringing the temple into all

aspects of what we do as missionaries. I loved it.

It was a pretty crazy week, but I'm really excited to be serving here.

Poitiers is only a few hours from paris so its pretty north for the

mission. Which also means its a bit cooler. FINALLY! :)

Avec beaucoup d'amour!!!

Sister C

Perpignan 5:3 More Pictures

Our stl, Sister Stapley, me, my comp, sister Holmes

Our Distric plus Zone Leaders

Perry, MacArthur, shaw, bleak, Roberts, Bryce, me, comp, Duncan, Clark or Dwight from the office :)

Perpignan 5:3

This week was a bit slow, in the sense of how much work we got done.

But still, little miracle by little miracle the work progresses.

Monday we had a zone pday at the beach in Montpellier. It was sooooo

hot, and I made a huge mistake in wearing black, but it was fun. We

played ultimate frisbee in the hot sand. It reminded me of going to

the beach in New Jersey.

But Monday ended up being a wasted day because our train got delayed

over an hour home, so we didn't get home with anytime to do

proselyting... So that sucked. We had to cancel the rdv that we had

planned.

Anyways, some cool things this week, we had a blitz in Perpignan (that

means for the exchange both sisters came to Perpignan and we both

stayed and spent the day there) so I was with sister Holmes, and we

had some really cool conversations. We were walking to a rdv and this

girl and her boyfriend stopped us asking if we were témoigne Jehovah (

this happened a lot. Jehovah witnesses, there are a lot here and

people on average don't really liked them) we said no, and the weird

thing this time is she asked "Mormon?" Usually we have to say who we

actually are and they say they have never heard of us, or that they

heard lots of not so good things.. Thanks to lying TV shows. Anyways

we said yes, and she asked us a few questions. Mainly if fornication

was a thing that our church worried about.. Haha. But we answered

their questions and then got their numbers and hopefully will see them

soon, they don't live in Perpignan so we'll have to see. But that was

cool, and then later on in the day we started talking to this lady and

her daughter. We asked about the family and the importance and then

got onto what we were doing here, and the lady says to us, my whole

family is Muslim, but I'm christian and I know I need to get baptized.

SO COOL! And as we talked she started crying and she took off her

glasses and she showed her black eyed because her boyfriend of

something hit her. So sad. We said we could meet again and talk, so we

asked for her number but she said she didn't have one right then

because it had been broken by her boyfriend or something,  so sad

again, but the her daughter says, give them my number, give them my

number! So we got her number and when I called a few days later she

was soooo happy to hear from us, right now is hard though because she

has a lot of things, so we weren't able to fix a rdv, but we'll call

again :)

And then the cherry on top this week was that one of the less actives

that we have been working with texted us Saturday night asking when

church was and saying she was going to come! We hadn't even been

pushing church, it was so cool! And she actually came!!!!!!!!!!

And then today was fun because we did a picnic with her and lucie and

another member. It was fun. I'm so happy because she is making friends

in the church and that is what she needs. Missionaries are great and

all, but she needs people in the church to support her and help her to

come back fully.

In this pic Myriam is laughing at us for sneaking photos

I love Lucie! she is the one that has us over every Saturday night.

I just really love the people here. No one is perfect, well Jean

brousse is pretty close :) but they have so much good and I just want

them all to understand the gospel and really live it because I know

that is how they will be the most happy.

This week was cooler than the past while which was so nice, it even

rained once! It's scary to think that summer is almost over. It's

almost OVER! Ahhhhhh. This is too fast.

Also, this week we tried to make a tarte aux pommes for the first

time. And it was sort of good. Haha, I really need to work on learning

this whole French cuisine thing.

And I can't believe I almost forgot. One of the elders Amis was

baptized this week! His name is Jean idris. He is super cool! He came

to the missionaries wanting to get baptized because he had done his

own research and had pretty much gained a testimony of the restoration

without even being taught it. We had to do the baptism in a members

pool because of the renovations at the church, but when I walked into

the room I was really touched by the spirit because I could really

feel what this day meant to him, he knew what he was doing and when he

came out from the water I could just see the change it was really cool

for me.

Everyone needs the gospel! It changes hearts, it heals broken hearts,

and it is the way for us to really become the son or daughter of God

that he sees us becoming. The gospel helps us reach our divine

potential! Everyone needs this!

Love cam, sister Christensen!

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Perpignan 5:2

I will start by saying that this week was the nicest week weather

wise. It was AWESOME! It rained, it was glorious, we didn't have

umbrellas so we got all wet and I loved it, for once I felt close to

being cold. Best day ever. And then for the rest of the week it stayed

cooler. In the night it cooled down enough that I woke up and turned

the fan off because I was cold.

But then it got hot again to day, but it's summer, in the south of

France, what else could I expect?

This week we went to an outer vile called Canet, it's by the beach. We

had no idea what bus stop to get off at, so we just got off where we

saw some houses and hoped hat we had picked the middle of the ville.

We didn't, so we walked a while to get to the people we were trying to

see. But it was nice, there people there were much more receptive to

and willing to talk to us, and we had a little miracle. We stopped to

contact this girl, about the same age as us, and it was awesome! So we

start off, ask her about her family, and she says that her dad was the

most influential for her, but then we find out that he died about 4

years ago. She said that when she was young she was very active in the

Catholic Church, but since her dad died she said that she found it

very hard to believe, and she had drifted away. We talked about how

are faith helps us, and how we know that even when life is hard God is

there to help us. She asked us a good question, she asked if we ever

had doubts. And it was wonderful because we were able to bear simple

testimony of how doubts come, but that when there are doubts going

back to the simple truths, or facts, keeps us true to our faith. For

example I can always turn to the truth that I am a child of God and

that he loves me, always. I know that is true, and so when hard this

in life come, the trials that could turn is from him, that can make us

question if he is really there, I remember the moments when I have

turned to him in prayer and have felt is love, and even though I may

not understand, I may have a doubt about something else, I never lose

faith because I KNOW he loves me. We were able to talk about that, and

as my companion was talking I had the impression that I should share

with her the Book of Mormon, but I was nervous because the

conversation was going so well and I was nervous that she would get

turned off by it, but the impression persisted, so I just went for it,

and it was really cool, because she said she was really touched and

really thankful. She said we were the nicest people she had ever met

in her life, and that we had helped her immensely. She said she felt

something in her heart :) we got her number and called and fixed a rdv

for next week. And on the phone she said that she had started reading

a bit. MIRACLE OF MIRACLES!!

and yes, I'm case you were wondering, my eyes watered a little, but

only a little. No large tears.

Then this week we had a surprise. Lucie, the recent convert who went

to the temple last month has us over every Saturday night for a little

dinner party with other members and recent converts, and sometimes

friends of hers. But this week, one of the other members that gets

invited often did it at her house. And so we go thinking it would be

the normal group, but as we walk in there are 3 people sitting on the

couch we had never met before. A man, a woman, and a nine year old

girl. (And then The normal group too) We go through the night, get to

know them, eat, and the. The time for the pensée spiritual, and it was

awesome! We really were inspired in what we had planned because we had

no idea they would be there, but it was awesome. We talked about the

family and why it was so important for us, and then for God. We showed

pictures of our families, I showed my family book, and as they were

looking through it when they got the picture of mummu they paused us

and said how beautiful she was and asked if she was an actress. That

was fun for me, but anyways, at the end, the woman said she was very

touched and that she admires us so much and what we are doing. We gave

our numbers and she said that she really wanted to come to church the

next day. Sister staples and I both felt like we really needed to ,eat

her. It was cool. She wasn't able to come to church though, she called

the member in the ironing saying that something came us and she wasn't

going to be able to come, but that she really wanted too. Hopefully

next week :)

Also one cute thing at church, there is this family with the cutest 2

girls, and they just have a new baby sister, they have cute curly

blonde hair and remind me a lot of maija and I because the younger one

just follows the older Around and does everything that she does :) but

anyways the older one came into my row at church and went down the row

kissing all the others on the cheek, and all I could think is, awe so

cute, but I had never really been around her, so when I was next I

thought, oh she'll stop, but she didn't she just looked at me add

leaned in to give me a cute little kiss in the cheek. It made me

really think about what it really means to love others and not deny

others of little acts of love and kindness, which is something little

children are really good at. If that had been an adult going by I

would have been skipped over or just give a hand shake, but with

children the thought was, I'm just going to show I love them,no matter

who. I think we can all do a bit better at doing little acts of love

and kindness, not because we necessarily love the others and are close

to them, but because we should always we striving to make others feel

better, feel loved, feel important.

It's funny at the beginning of my mission I knew exactly how long I

had been out, I knew what transfer I was in, it was easy, now... I

have no idea. I have to remind my self all the time because I just

have no idea. The time is going by too fast. I forget everything about

time.

This week we lost a few Amis, a few we passed to the elders, and a few

we just have not been able to contact. It's sad, but just in this week

we have seen miracles. Is really is the Lord's work.

Love love LOVE!!! Sister Christensen

Sorry I haven't write much about my companion, her name is Chanda

staples, she is from the states, she spent a lot of time in South

Carolina, but also lived in Virginia, Idaho, and Japan. She is a

student of OPERA, that's in caps because you need to imagine me saying

the word opera, in an operatic voice :) anyways, she sings like an

angel, but not a wimpy one, a really loud gusto-y one. She loves Harry

Potter too, and she has a nice accent. She's 3 transfers a head of me.

I love her. She makes me laugh because her goal is to be more

Day like, but already she's very proper so she will make a sound and

the. Say, I'm sorry that wasn't lady like of me. It's funny. And

whenever she is happy about something but doesn't want to say it she

just looks down but has this adorable little half smile that she tries

to hide. It's really funny. I love it.

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