February 27, 2012

Aloha!

 So today Sister Jackson left! And lots of the other elders that are off to Texas: (it is so sad to see my district leaving but so so so happy for them! This week has really felt like the end because we have had all these departing devotionals and stuff. We had what’s called “in field training” on Friday which I really liked! It got me so pumped to get out there! Oh just send me to Hawaii! (haha) Those are my feelings these days. But all is well because at least it will change up a little this week. I will get to go to Temple Square on Wed. for a couple hours and then again on Sat. so I am stoked for that! Pray that I will see Jan! I hope I hope I hope, that would bring so much joy to my soul haha.

Ok so it is so hard to try and sum up a whole week here in just a short email, so Mom I am going to write you a letter too k and I'll send home my SD card so you can post some pictures and then send it back so I can take more please : )

I would like to say Happy Birthday to Grandpa and Aunt Nicole and if there is anyone else having a birthday this week HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I love you all and I know we have a lot of family with birthdays in Feb. so “happy birthday” to anyone I missed. I'm really sorry if I did, but just know I love you all.

So this last week was a way fast and wonderful week! On Sat. we all took pictures and had a testimony meeting with just our district. I sure love them all! Sunday we had a member of the General Primary Presidency teach out RS, which was so great. Man am I blessed, right? I mean the people you meet here, wow, talk about amazing. And the fireside last night was so so great! He talked about how no matter what, you will be remembered for something on your mission. So we need to decide what we want to be remembered for. He gave some examples from his mission like the missionary that was most obedient, hard working, etc. I decided that I want to be remembered as being the most loving because that is a weakness I have. I don't feel like I love as deeply as others and I know that if I could, life would be richer. Not only would really being able to love and have charity bless me as a missionary to connect and teach my investigators but It will really help me be a better wife and mother. And I was thinking a lot about my weaknesses and the things I would need to change to be more loving and I think I need to be more humble, selfless, and patient. I knew those were my weakness but they become more apparent on the mission, so I am going to work really hard at them. I know it’s a big step to go from where I am now, to becoming one of the most loving missionaries in my mission, but he said it could be done. And I figure, if ever I am going to change my nature, it could be done on a mission where the spirit is so strong and you are growing so close to the Lord. I know he can help me. I hope when you see me next you will notice a change in me. That is one thing I have thought a lot about this week. I guess I kind of thought once I put on the name tag all of a sudden I would be all these things that I wanted to be. That magically I would be more spiritual and loving and all that but I have realized that I am still just me out here and if I want to change then I have to start doing things differently.

Really quick I want to respond to some of you. Caitlyn Graves haha I love saying that! - Thanks for your dear elder note. I am so happy for you and Devin! Congrats again! Ann- Thanks for the updates on the kids, it sounds like the teeth are coming in nicely and I hope all goes well with David's interview! Keep me updated. I love hearing your stories. Grandma C- Thanks for the email. How awesome that Uncle Steve is in Ireland! Wow so great! Also I hope the baby blessing went well! Grandma S- Thanks for the letter! It sounds like you had an adventure getting back from AZ! I am glad to hear you are home safe and sound! Rick- thanks for sharing some of your insights from Devo and stuff, those are always nice to hear! Holli- Thank you so much for your letter It meant a ton! I was screaming when I read a certain section haha keep me updated! Also if you haven't been able to see the blog, will you call my mom and let her know. Thanks! K well I love you all and I would really love some dear elders this week if that’s ok because all of my district will be leaving and I would love to hear from you all!

I want you to know I love you all so much and I am so so so happy to be here! This place is amazing I feel like I am one of the X-men. You know, haha, where they all get trained and instead of everyone using different powers all over the place, you have people bearing their testimonies in different languages and people getting ready to go all over the world. This place is so rad when you really think about it!

K, so last thing, in our district we have become so deprived of entertainment that one day we were just sitting there telling Chuck Norris jokes and I decided I am going to send home an "Elder Norris" joke every week : ) haha. You guys will probably think they are lame but I love them. hehe

Elder Norris joke #1: Lord Voldamort refers to Elder Norris as He Who Shall Not Be Named. hehe I know that is so dumb, but you know me and Harry Potter so I was cracking up at this one! Ok well stay tuned for next week’s joke!

Love you all!

Sister Christiansen

Hello family and friends!!

Thank you so much for your letters and emails! I will try to respond to some of them real quick! Ann- thanks for your letter I miss you all so much and wish I could see those little guys again. I love them so much! Cami K- thanks for the note and the dear elder. I hope your Valentines party went well! Ben- Youre right, if youre not having fun you are doing something wrong! I am loving it here! Rick- Happy Birthday! Thanks so much for the dear elders and I hope you had fun in California! Holli- Thank you for the valentines package, that made my day, and the dear elder from "Manuel".     haha I really did wonder at first if I had been given someone elses mail because I was like wait, what, who is this? haha You are so rad I just love you! Julie- thanks for your letter, I can't wait to see you this week!! You will love it! It sounds like you are already having missionary experiences. That is amazing, you are such an example to me! I hope all goes well with that guy you and the missionaries are teaching! My young women back home- I love you all and I am glad to hear you are putting my clothes to good use! haha It sounds like you are doing awesome in volleyball too! Keep up the good work. You are all simply wonderful! Becky- thanks for the note. I just want to say you are a champ for learning a language. I can't even imagine being here for that long and not only learning everything you need to know to be a missionary, but also learning FINISH!! You amaze me! Ethan- you have no idea how much your little note of encouragement meant to me! You were truly inspired because I was having a tough day that day and you said exactly what I needed to hear! Grandma C- Thank you for the update on the family! They all sound like they are doing great and it brought a smile to my face to hear about everyone!!

Ok and now real quick, I will try to fill you in on how life has been going in the great MTC. haha Wow are we busy! I feel like I am running arround all day, every day, trying to learn so much and do so much, but it is so great! P-days are so great, let me just say that! I took some pictures from last Pday and I'll send them home so you can see the people in my district. I love my district so so so much! I will miss them all so much when they leave next week! We have become a little family and its so great! It was a little weird this week when I ran into the district that just got here that is going to Hawaii, it made me a little sad because I know they will all be way tight and I will be the outsider. haha But at least I have people to fly with. Just to clarify, they aren't even in our zone, so I don't really see them much. But, speaking of our zone, we got all those new sisters that I just adore!! They are wonderful. I even have one from Hawaii and for Zone Teaching I acted as her Missionary and she was the investigator and it was by far the best lesson so far because It felt so real. The spirit was so strong she started crying and even committed to BAPTISIM! I was stoked! Another amazing experience I had this week was on Sunday we all gathered for devo and they had all 2,000 of us sing called to serve. They had us pretend we were Helaman's army and start out really quiet like we were coming over a hill and then grow louder and lourder and then stand up. It was so powerful! By far the coolest thing I have done here, I had chills all over!

Oh mom, real quick before I forget, thanks so much for sending the robe I know its here, I just haven't been able to pick it up yet because the place was closed, but I'll get it tomorrow. Speaking of packages, I was wondering if I could box some stuff up and leave it at the front desk and have either Holli or Logan pick it up before I go to Hawaii, if that's ok? And ok, I found out that I get to call you at the airport before I leave!!! I didn't know that! Glorious day right! So I think I will buy a calling card at the bookstore and then write you and tell you when I'll be at the airport because I should get that this week! It is crazy how fast it is going now. It's so true when they say the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. I think it just feels so long because you really learn so much every day!

Also quick update, S. Saal has been getting a few more letters so all is well there and the Elders are doing great now. All the homesickness has been better. Oh, and mom, did I tell you we had Sis. Cook from the General YW come teach our RS lesson? Cool huh!

Ok, so I know it is just role play but right now I am teaching 5 investigators and it is crazy how real it feels. I pray for them all the time and worry about them all the time! They all have different concerns and the hardest part about this whole thing is it is so easy to get down on yourself when you don't feel like you know how to get thru to them. We have one investigator named Linda that is just so closed in and bitter. I have learned a great lesson from her: you can't teach people without first loving them. I am learning so much about the importance of love. If you really want people to learn they must first feel loved by you and trust you. That is something I need to work on, being able to express my love better and remembering that we are teaching people not lessons.

I wish I could tell you all the things I am learniing but there is just not enough time, but I do real quick want to tell you a beautiful analogy that was given in sarcament yesterday. When our mom pays for piano lessons our practicing the piano doesn't pay her back it just shows our gratitude for the price that she has paid for us to learn and grow. This is the same as the atonement! We can never pay Christ back but we can show our grattitude to him for what he has done by applying that great gift everyday!

Ok, well, I am already out of time! Sad day! But just know that I love you all like crazy and miss you a ton!!!

Love Sister C.

 

On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 8:03 AM, Cami Christiansen wrote:

Family and Friends!! Ok, so first off I just want to say that I love Heavenly Father! I love my life! and I love, love, love being a missionary! This is so great! It reminds me a lot of EFY haha we are in classes all day but they are awesome and our district is way tight! Three districts make up a zone here and I have been called as a coordinating sister which is like a zone leader of the sisters but it just feels alot like RS president haha because you still have branch council on Sunday and you have meetings with the MTC Presidents' wives and the other CS's. I will have 5 new sisters coming in on Wed so that is exciting and I just lost 4 so that is kinda sad. But I am kinda scared to give them the tour and teach the incoming sisters how everything works here because I still don't really know and I always get lost haha good thing for my comp Sis. Saal. She is our navigator its crazy she is so good with directions. she is from Utah and going to Canada. I have another compe too because I am in a trio. Her name is Sis. Jackson she is from Arizona and going to Texas. I haven't met anyone going to Hawaii yet but I am sure one of the sisters coming in next week will be. I just love them both tho so much!  

Its crazy how close you can get to people in only a few days. They are simply wonderful! I think the hardest part so far is just watching the poor young elders in my District adjust to being away from home. Most of them are fresh out of HS and haven't ever lived away from home. We have one Elder who has been way homesick but as a district we have a lot of pow wows trying to help him out. It's hard though because I am not sure where the balance should be between being compassionate and listening without dwelling on home you know because we are on the Lords time and I just hate feeling like we aren't being productive or taking advantage of the time we have to study you know? So if anyone has any advice on that please let me know.  

Also I want to thank you all for the dear elder letters it has been so kind of you but I am thinking that if its ok with everyone it would probably be best to just write once or twice a week because one of the Sister's hasn't had any letters and I think it makes her feel bad when I get letters and she doesn't. I'm sure she will get letters but at least for this last week it made her more homesick when she didn't get any. Sorry is that ok? Don't feel like I don't love you all and want to hear from you all I just don't want to make it harder on her. Thanks so much! 

Ok so next hmm... Well I have amazing teachers! Sis Latoo IS Alyssa Woodhouse haha do you remember my RS Pres I told you about mom that was amazing! Well my teacher reminds me so much of her! She looks like her, talks like her, and is a spiritual giant just like her! I love her! And my Branch Pres. Is the greatest man ever! Just getting to listen to him in Branch council was like drinking from a fountain of knowledge haha he knows so much and has the best insights to share! Also our District leader reminds me so so so much of Ethan Hall! He is so great! He looks alot like Ethan and has similar manerisms. 

I want you to know I am so happy here and I love it so much. There is no other place I would rather be then right here right now! Its so fun to because I run into people I know all the time and everyone is so friendly it feels like BYUI again : )

Holli- there is an Irish Elder here and his accent is the coolest ever!! You will fall in love with the accent out there! Also I want you to know this place is a party! Its the bomb here and you will love it!

K I love you all and hope you are doing well!! Have a great week!