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.

(no subject)

Went out for lunch with the other sister :) soooo good and so fun. I

love Lyon :)

So this week not a ton happened, we did a thanksgiving dinner with

other missionaries and Amis. And I have no more time but I love you

all.

I got the letters from auntie Wendy. And thank you!

I love you all!

Poitiers 7:6

So, got calls and guess what, I'm now serving in Lyon!! I'm an stl
with Soeur Castagno!!!!!!!!! I love her and I'm really excited because
our apartment is where all the new missionaries come and stay when
they first get in, and all the sisters that are finishing their
missions come to our apartment too, so its a busy place. But I'm
excited to be in Lyon for Christmas :)

So this week Zoé or Ying Zhou got baptised!! It was so so so
beautiful. Not many members could come, but there were enough and it
was the best day of my life!! She was so nervous but so excited and
she had written out her testimony and got some help from elder Leon
(Chinese) but when she went up to do it she said she didn't even use
it, she just spoke from her heart and I just cried and she was crying
and the spirt was so strong. In her testimony she said that growing up
in China she would see the Buddhists who were very hypocritical and
not actually very good people, so she never liked religion and she
never cared about going. But then she moved to France, and school was
hard and French was hard, so school was even harder and she just was
not happy. Nothing made her happy, and then one day her neighbour
invited her to a church activity, and she came, and then she came to
church and then she said she couldn't wait to come back because for
the first time since moving to France she felt happy. And so we taught
her and she learned how to pray and started reading the scriptures
etc. She said how honoured she feels to be able to follow God and
Jesus Christ. She said how when she thinks about her future she isn't
worried anymore and the hard things, she can just let them go because
she know God will help her. Ahhh, she is so cute. The one hitch was
that the water was cold... No idea why, and so she was actually almost
shaking of cold, but then when she came out of the water she
immediately cried out, "je me sens bien!" It was cute! In the car on
the way home she said how good she felt and she kept touching her
heart because she had no other way of expressing her feelings.

Saying good bye was really hard. But it's okay because her and
Anastasia said I can go to China after the mission, or they will come
to Canada, so it's okay.

So that was the big thing from this week. Seriously, so cool.

So leaving Poitiers, I didn't do any packing until Sunday... Because
we had the baptism and church was busy and all these things, so I
basically just prayed and prayed and some how I was able to get the
suitcases closed. There was a slight panic at the end when I opened
the drier and saw my clothes in it, but it was okay because there
wasn't that much and I was able to stuff it all in my carry on bag
thing. It was weird leaving because I was the only sister traveling
with a big group of elders and then, just me and an elder ended up on
the train together. So that was weird, but the voyage was good, no
problems, so it was nice, just long.

So ya, crazy stuff, I'm kind of nervous to be in such a big city, and
not really knowing what I'm doing... But it's okay. :) like one of our
Amis told me, Christ is my compass, so I'll never get lost."

I love you all, this week feels likes it's going to be pretty crazy :)

Love you!!

Envoyé de mon iPad