Poitiers 7:5 The end is coming in Poitiers!!! Maybe!

So, lots happened this week. As usual. So one of the things was that

as a mission we wanted to have 200 Amis at church, so double what we

had last week. It would round to about 2 Amis at church per missionary

Equipe. And.... We succeeded!!!!

Except Poitiers choked. We planned on having about ten Amis there, 5

is a normal and they are all solid, and then we had met new people who

said they would 100% come, and we called the, and saw them through out

the week and on Saturday night everyone was confirmed to come. And

guess what happened Sunday. Everyone was sick. Our 5 solid there every

week were super sick, or their kids were (I think a bug is going

around, a little girl threw up during the sacrament prayers, my eyes

were closed and all of a sudden I hear just wrenching and then

splashing... It was gross, there's a first time for every thing

though!) but Sunday was awesome none the less. Our one ami Nathalie

came, she lives in California most of the time, but she is half French

so she is often on France and her family has a home here (the most

beautiful home ever)! And she really liked it I think. We did the

lesson for gospel principles. It was supposed to be about how we are a

covenant people. But I didn't really like the manual, and so we

focused of what that means to have the Lord's promise of rest when we

take his yoke upon us, and how taking his yoke upon us is done through

making sacred covenants, it was awesome!! We started off with the

video about "dayton's legs" where the guy does a triathlon pulling the

whole time his friend with cerebral palsy. And then right after we did

the one called lifting your burdens. And we made the connection of how

much we need to be connected to Christ. There were 2 less actives

there that I had never met before, and it was awesome because everyone

participated, even Nathalie, sharing experiences where the Lord

strengthened us and how important our covenants are. The spirit was so

strong and when class ended and the relief society started coming in

one Soeur said, "oh la la, l'esprit est fort, on le ressent " it was

cool. And the relief society lesson was about missionary work and a

big part of it was focused on the Book of Mormon, and at the end

Nathalie said to us, "we'll I guess I really do need to read the Book

of Mormon." Yes!!!!! One other thing, Nathalie is as sensitive as me

and so the whole lesson she was crying, I was crying, and we would

just look at each other and laugh because we just couldn't handle it.

Haha. Kindred spirits. :)

And I bet you are all wondering about the attacks in Paris. So

basically, our mission president alerted us all and told us to stay in

our apartments due to the attacks in Paris. At 8 that was lifted and

we were able to leave, but we needed to be weary of public transport

and large crowds etc. So basically here in Poitiers all was fine, in

centre ville people put out candles and posters of names, because we

are actually only and hour and some outside of Paris. But anyways,

nothing really changed for us, but I know in some of the bigger cities

in our mission (Bordeaux) they have a 6 o clock curfew and metros and

trains are banned. But nothing here at least so far. Something

president had us do though was call everyone we had a number for and

invite them to church. It was cool because most of the people we

talked to were really thankful, some were weird, but the majority were

thankful for the call, even if they didn't want to come. We called one

of the recent converts that we had never met from a few years ago and

she came, and it was cool because she just barely moved back to

Poitiers maybe a week ago, and then we called and invited her to

church. It seemed like a little too perfect of timing.. :)

Zoé our one Chinese ami is getting baptised this coming week!!! I'm so

excited! She was so so so prepared! The Chinese elder in Limoges did

another lesson with them through Skype and he said that every question

about the gospel that they asked she just crushed and even though her

understanding isn't perfect she has the strongest desire to be

baptized! Nothing is getting in the way, the other day we texted her

to see how she was doing, she told us that everyone else was out

skating, but that she preferred to stay in and read the Book of

Mormon! She is so awesome!

Also this week, it was elder Leon's birthday the same day as district

meeting and he requested poutine... So that's what we had. It was

pretty good, but I don't know if eating it made me want it more or

less. I was satisfied because it was poutine but then not satisfied

because I just wanted the real deal even more.

Poitiers 7:4

So like every week this week flew by! I couldn't believe it!

This week we had an exchange, I was with Soeur Whatcott here in

Poitiers and Soeur Tauira went to Bayonne with my old companion Soeur

Staples! We all met up in Bordeaux and then switched, but there was a

big mix up with our tickets. Basically both our tickets leaving

Bordeaux left before we even got into Bordeaux... We realized this no

more than the evening before we had to leave. So we called the office

quickly, and they cancelled out tickets and sent new ones, the only

problem as that our new tickets went to La Rochelle which isn't in our

mission! So we called again and we had to be fast because we had a

lesson to go to, and so we got those tickets cancelled, only to learn

that the only train we could take, that would stay in the mission

boundaries and get us to Bordeaux on time was at noon, instead of

around 4. So then we had to cancel our rdvs for the next day :( and we

spent from noon till 3:30 in trains going all through the country, it

was really pretty, but frustrating at the same time.

The exchange was really good though.

Also this week, the Chinese elders were able to do a Skype lesson with

one of our Chinese amis Zoé, after the lesson the texted us and said

"your girl is so ready, I've never seen a Chinese ami with that much

faith!" Apparently she cried because she wants to get baptized so

badly, and knows that she doesn't understand everything. Ah, it made

me almost cry with joy, to know that it isn't just me that knows how

ready she is. So basically she is super ready, we just have to finish

the lessons. Her friend the other Chinese ami Anastasia isn't quite as

ready, she wants to but she needs to understand more, and her family

isn't very supportive, so she needs a bit more time, but as we talked

she still said that she wants to get baptized! So cool!!! I love

them!!

And our other ami, Aurech, right now he is searching for a witness of

the restoration, he understands everything, and is ready to take the

step and be baptized, he just doesn't yet have that sure witness of

the restoration. But he wants to, so during our lesson with him, he

says, "can't I fast about this?" !!! It was awesome, we all said we

would fast together on Saturday to sunday. And so, I'll keep you

updated on that :)

So basically, Poitiers is awesome, we are still seeing so many

miracles and the family I talked about last week, the son of a member,

they came again and we were able to have a family home evening with

them :) the kids are so cute, each one said a prayer. It was adorable.

I love them!

This week we met a guy named Philippe, he is super cool! We were on

the bus and he said next to my companion, and I was facing them a few

seats away, he looked really nice, and when we met eyes he smiled and

I thought, ah my companion needs to talk to him, he seems really nice

and open, and then 2 seconds later they started talking, and one thing

led to another, he took our card and said he would (normally they

don't), we had a lesson and then after the lesson we checked the

phone, missed call! It was him! We fixed a rdv for the next day. And

then during the rdv he talked and talked and talked about how the

family is so important to him but how family values are lost in the

world right now, and then he talked about the Holy Ghost and how

important that is, and he asked us all these questions! It was really

cool. And at the end he said, well we are going to have to have a lot

more rdv s because there's so much more I need to know. Basically he

seems to live all the commandments all ready and he has great faith in

God and Christ! Super cool!

So good things continue to happen. One day we woke up and we could see

absolutely nothing out of our window it was that foggy. And at zone

conference president brown brought his bow and arrow, he is a big

hunter, and shot at some pop bottles. The theme was take the shot, be

bold, don't miss the chance. It was cool. I love president and sister

brown!

Thank you for prayers, thoughts, everything! I love you all!

Love sis Christensen :)

Poitiers 7:3

Okay, I don't know how, somebody has been praying to much or something

because such wonderful things are happening here! I don't know who to

thank, probably everyone but I am so overcome with gratitude for the

wonderful things that me and my companion are being apart of!

So I don't know if I mentioned last week in my email, but we met a

super cool couple contacting. This is us right after meeting them :)

Poitiers 7:2

Aimé got baptised! I was kind of stressing about it because we had to

go all the way to angoulême because here in Poitiers we don't have a

baptismal font or any sort of thing to do a baptism, so transport was

crazy, and we took the train to get there. But the main reason I was

stressing was because the missionary that found him lives in Paris and

to surprise him she was going to come, she played a little prank on

him and said she couldn't come, but because she couldn't come he asked

me to do the talk on baptism. It wasn't for sure that she was going to

be able to make it to the baptism, so I prepared a talk, but didn't

finish it because Friday night it was set that she would be there. But

of course I worried about it, and so the whole morning when we were at

angoulême getting things sorted out I was kind of sick to my

stomaching thinking about all the things that could possibly go wrong.

But NOTHING WENT WRONG!! It was awesome, out Amis were able to come,

all the ward members were there practically and the old missionary

came so I didn't have to do the talk and Aimé loved it and gave an

awesome testimony at the end. And our Amis loved it. I don't know why

I let my self stress out.

Poitiers 7:1

Hello family, And friends and just everyone :)

I love you!

OK, so this week was really crazy. So he left Sunday night to head to
Lyon. We went to Bordeaux, spend the night with our sister training
leaders and then Monday morning we all headed off to the gare. Sister
Castagno and I had our train together going to Lyon, and so we said
goodbye to our companions at the gare.

Poitiers 6:6 otherwise known as the craziest week ever

Ahhhhh, guess what!!! I'm training! I'm sitting in the Lyon institute

with all the other trainers and it's crazy!!! Ahhhhhhhhhh I'm so

excited! So there are four coming in and 3 are European and one

Tahitian. So I'm getting a foreign companion, obviously. I'm so

excited! Ahh, nervous to, but so excited!

So, now that I got my self all excited and my heart is racing with

slightly shaking hands I will try to write what else happened this

week.

First things first, our engagés are doing awesome! Aimé and Aurech

have there baptisms coming up in less than 2 weeks, the 24th of

October and then zoé and Anastasia are doing so well too!

So much happened this week I really have no idea where to start. We

had one day that was really cool. So I have been thinking about 3

things lately that I've been hoping for I guess. Number one, that we

really need to teachable family. Number two, that we run into these

two girls that were really cool, and number three that we have a

miracle lesson with someone we lost contact with. So all of these

things happened in the space of about 5 hours. Let me tell you about

it. We wake up Wednesday morning, do our workout, start are studies,

everything like normal. Before eating lunch we had decided to go out

and do some contacting for an hour. So we head out, not many people

were talking to us, but our wandering led us to walk by some one we

had met a while ago, but hadn't been able to see. She was sitting out

side her house and so we go say hi, and have a lesson with her :)

which went really really well and she seemed like she really needed it

in the moment because when we walked up she kind of looked like she

was crying... Miracle 3 fulfilled! So we went back, ate, and then

headed out so we were passing people and going through the city and as

we were walking guess who we walk in to, Amélie! Which is one of the

two girls we had met a few weeks ago, we had fixed a rdv, but they

didn't come, and so we were super bummed, but what she told us is her

phone fell in the toilet and she had to change her phone. Miracle 3

fulfilled! And now, miracle one. So this needs a bit of a back story.

So we had been calling these old potentials, people that had met

missionaries and given their numbers probably at least a year and a

half ago, and we fixed a rdv with one. He lives in an outer ville so

we got a member to drive us there. All we knew about him was his name.

So we go, we drive up, and guess who is driving up at the same time..

Him with his wife and two kids! Voilà! Miracle one done and done!

And in that day we met some one and fixed a rdv, and met someone else

who was interested and got their number :) such an amazing day!!!

There is so much more! One of them is that sister Jacobsen left her

bag with everything in it on a train going to Paris. iPad, journal,

camera, wallet, everything was in it. And guess what, we got it back!

A member just happened to be going to Paris for the day and was able

to pick it up!

Prayers get answered people, prayers get answered!

So much to say, not enough time.

Funny things: Zoé and Anastasia, new question, taught the plan of

salvation and she says, "why can't we just go to the spirit world

right now?" :)

We visited a part member family and their 7 year old sons said the

prayer, "Merci de nous sauver du moyen âge, parce que je pense que les

gens étaient très méchants." Aka, thank you for saving us from the

Middle Ages, because I think the people were really mean.. What did

thinks about that? He reminded me of Rhett and jake. They're the same

age too.

We also got called super fly sisters... Weird

Ah, there is so much more but I can't even gather my thoughts!

I'm training!

Love sister Christensen!

Poitiers 6:5

Another week gone to fast in Poitiers. This week was...

GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Obviously you know that, but it was

so amazing I just can't even get over it. I don't know why but just

looking at all the apostles and the prophet and their wives and such made me all sensitive and I burst into tears. Haha, I just love them

all so much it's embarrassing. But also how amazing was the last song

of the Sunday afternoon session? I loved how it started with just the

one voice and then slowly got louder and louder and louder! It was so

powerful.

I loved President Nelson's talk about women. Especially all the

adjectives that were used in it: serenity, virtue, light, love,

knowledge, character, faith, strong, courageous, converted, covenant

keeping, pure... So many! I just felt like everything he said was so

needed, the men and women of the church and everywhere cannot

duplicate each other, each brings a needed aspect to the table and all

our voices must be heard. I know I for one needed that boost of

confidence, so my goal now is to try and figure out how to step

foreword and take my place as a sister missionary, and become bedrock

firm in my faith and my convictions.

One theme I loved was testimony, and how important it is that we are

nurturing our faith and progressing so that testimonies may never

falter. And also, I just felt like so many of the talks were a call

for us to stand and take our place as believers, as the covenant

people of God. I felt a great call to be different, to stand as one

who will not bend to the influences of the world but will forever

stand tall and upright in keeping the commandments and in being an

example of Christ. It's funny because as missionaries we don't really

have a choice in standing out, we just do. With the way we dress

everyday, the badges we wear, going to talk to people all day. We

stand out, it can't be helped. I remember at the beginning of my

mission being annoyed at wearing the missionary badge because I felt

like so many people just disregarded us before we could even say

anything. People would see the name Jesus Christ and just shaking

their fingers at us and keep walking, and it bugged me. I thought we

would be able to do so much more with out these badges on because then

people would actually stop to talk to us before prejudging based on

looking at our badges. But now, I LOVE it. I love that I wear the name

of Christ unmistakeable visible each day. I love when people look at

it and ask me what I'm doing and I get to tell them, or people just

look at it and I get to smile because with out words I am saying to

them, to the world that I believe in Christ. And isn't that our great

call, to tell the world that we know he lives.

I know Jesus Christ lives, he is my best friend, he is the great

example for my life, and for what I want to be like. I love him and I

wish and want everyone to know that.

So, conference was wonderful and I have so many things I need to look

back on and act on, especially the ponderize. I love that.

This week we had a cool miracle happen. We were in Limoges for

district meeting, and someone called, but we were in the middle of the

meeting so we didn't answer. The person left a message and it ended up

being a less active member who got our number from a member he was

still in contact with and called us saying that he wants to come back

to church and he wants to start meeting with us. That has never

happened to us before, so we were pretty excited. We called back, set

up a rdv, and Saturday morning met with him. It was really cool, he

was baptized in his late twenties, and was very active, but about 8

years ago stopped coming. We had a really good get to know you lesson,

he asked for both of our favourite scriptures and chapters and said he

would read them. And as we were talking we found out he is a huge fan

of genealogy, and is week it just so happened that there was this big

conference thing in Poitiers about genealogy and the church had a

stand at it where the members were stationed to show people how to

sign up for the website etc. and he said he was going to it, so of

course we told him about our stand, and we told the members he would

be there. He spent a whole hour or so at the booth with his mom

(against the church but opened up a ton at the conference and spent a

ton of time looking at things with the members and telling stories).

He told the members there that he would come to some of the

conference, and he did and I think it was awesome. It was the Sunday

morning session and he loved in. It was cool to see all these things

kind of lining up to give him a good new start in the church.

And this week was cool for another reason. We were waiting for a

member at a bus stop to go and visit someone, and we were there a bit

early, so we walked down a street doing some contacting, no one, and

so we were turning back, and I just kind of said, hey let's porte this

house, and so we did, there were four doorbells, we did one, then the

other, then all, nothing. Just as we had turned on our heels to walk

away the door opened and this lady answered. We asked if we could do a

questionnaire, she said yes, then said a few words in English. So we

chatted about that and then she just says, "do you want to come in? I

don't bite!" No one ever invites us in! And so yes, of course we did.

So we go into to little entrance hall, and we start the questionnaire

with her and she says her mom has been the biggest example in her

life, then her eyes tested up and she said she hoped we didn't talk

about that anymore because she just died. We said about how we were

there to share the message, the truth with her that families are

forever and that she will be able to be with her mother again. She

said of course, that she believed that, then she invited us in to her

house house part. So we go, and we keep chatting, and she says, I

don't have a lot of time right now, but come back again and tell me

all about your church. ( She has actually been to Salt Lake City) she

was so funny, she said, that's my family, but I won't introduce them

to you because,( in a whisper) they aren't believing. Haha. We all had

a good laugh about it. I'm so excited to hopefully start teaching

her!!!!

Here are some questions our Chinese Amis asked us to week. I seriously

think they are the cutest people I have ever met, ahhh I just love

them!

1) Zoë, asking about the angels appearing to Joseph smith, why do they

wear white, and why don't they wear shoes?

I just said they live in the heavens, in the sky, they don't need

shoes and we all just laughed and she says, your right, that's a good

explanation! Haha so funny.

2) Anastasia, talking about the Buddhist gods asked if God and the

Buddhist gods were neighbours.  She's so funny! And don't worry, we

have answered their questions. :)

This week once again was wonderful and filled with so many blessings.

I'm so thankful for the wonderful things that God is letting me be

apart of.

Love Sister Christensen :)