April 26, 2012Aloha Family!

I love you all so so so much! I hope you know that! Alrighty well this has been a very interesting week. Sister Yau was supposed to go out full pros. to Waipahu but her companion (a minnie missionary) bailed so she has been with S. Looney and I. It has been a little crazy but I have learned a lot from her and I can see why I needed her to be my comp. She really knows the language of the spirit. She acts on every thought that comes into her head. It's amazing she just trusts it's from the spirit and doesn't question it at all. And she has seen so many miracles come of that. Even just this week serving with her we have seen lots of miracles come because she doesn't hesitate at all. For example on Friday night we were eating dinner and she said we should visit Julia at Kahuku grill because we hadn't heard from her all last week and she was supposed to be getting confirmed on Sunday and we were worried about how everything was going to work out. So we drove over there and first off it was a miracle she was working because she only works the night shift one day a week so that was awesome. Then when we got there she told us that President Hannemen helped enroll her in classes at BYUH which is also awesome! And because she is now a student she can be in the BYU 4th ward so that solves a lot of problems. She has lots of friends in that ward plus he is the stake Pres. over that ward and Pres. Hannemen's son is the second counselor in the Bishopric of the BYU 4th ward too so she will really be able to get involved with the ward and stay active. And the big miracle about this whole thing was it just so happened that Bishop Wagner (Bishop of the 4th ward) was eating dinner at the grill that night! So we were able to introduce her to him and talk to him about all this. And he was so so nice and so excited to have Julia in his ward! So yes that was awesome and the confirmation was the happiest day ever! Everything just felt so right! She was glowing and she had so many friends in the ward so they totally welcomed her in and she will be just so great in that ward! Oh and Dave Bortchure (sorry don't know how to spell his last name) is in that ward too so that was fun to see him haha. So that was miracle number 1.

Then another miracle we saw was we had 80 oym's in one day! OYM stands for open your mouth, and basically to count an OYM you have to invite a nonmember to do something. The most we have ever had in one day was 12 but we had 80 in one day!! It was so awesome! We had lots of non members come into the VC and it was really cool!

 The next miracle was also way bomb! We had a member call us with a referral for a guy he works with. His name is A… he is 27 and he said he really wants to date a Mormon girl (haha) so his friend said he needs to start going to church. So now we are trying to contact him so that we can teach him and who knows maybe he will find the love of his life in the YSA 2nd ward haha. It's just so nice to have a new investigator because it’s really like finding gold here. It's so hard to find anyone that isn't already a member so we are so so so excited to start teaching him! Oh and another cool story: so we planned in our nightly planning to take A… to FHE on Monday night but we weren't able to get a hold of him so we were thinking maybe we will just change our plans right? But then S. Yau said “hey the spirit doesn't change his mind so we should stick to the plan”. So we went over there anyway but when we were leaving we ran into Sapi (she is the RS pres.) and we talked to her for a little but no big deal right. Well when we got home all of a sudden S. Yau said Sapi should be my minnie! Which would be perfect because she is preparing to go on a mission and she isn't working or going to school right now. She is just waiting to get her call! So we were totally inspired to go to FHE so that we could run into her! So hopeful that will all work out and she will be able to do it.

 And the last miracle I would like to mention was a sweet tender mercy from the Lord. So on Sunday I straightened my hair because I wanted to look nice for the confirmation (haha) but when I got outside I saw that it was raining : ( But I decided to exercise all my faith and so I prayed and asked Heavenly Father if He would please stop the rain for just a min. so that we could run into the building without getting all wet. And guess what! The rain stopped!! Just for the amount of time it took us to run inside : ) Heavenly Father loves us so much!

Well I hope those stories made sense-it would be a whole lot easier to explain them if we were talking because it’s hard to write all the details you know-but no need to fret because I shall be calling you soon!!! Yea for Mother's day! And Holli dear I got your email, thank you so much for emailing me I have been missing you so bad I have even been dreaming about you haha. It was so good to hear how you're doing and don't even worry I understand how it gets with finals. But I am so excited for you to speak and thanks for letting me know what time. I will let you all know when I will be calling. I'm not sure yet about that but it will be soon so that will be wonderful! And Cami K. WOW you are serving in IDAHO!!!!! I couldn't even believe it when I read your letter! I just kept saying “no she's not, no she's not!” WOW that is too crazy! Mom look out for Sister Cami Kuhns and ps she is vegetarian and loves stir fry so could you please feed her one night for me ; ) Thanks mom! And Cami I will be home while you are still serving so maybe you will be in Blackfoot when I get home in July 2013 haha. How awesome would that be! And Logan congrats on going to the temple! When I read your letter, mom, about all of you getting together I was so jealous haha that sounded so great! And I am so happy to hear how often you are all able to make it to Twin Falls to see Ann. Just about every letter I feel like you guys were able to see each other! That is so so nice. Man I just love family time!

Here is a random suggestion for Holli, Cami, Logan and anyone else that reads this blog that is planning to go on a mission: (My trainer gave me this idea) Before your mission you should all make a vision board. You can just get a piece of paper and cut out pictures from the ensign or whatever you want and you paste it on the paper and then laminate it. You just put pictures of goals and things you hope to see on your mission. I put pictures of all my goals. Like a picture of someone being baptized and then the number of baptisms I hope to see and then a picture of a couple being sealed in the temple because I hope to see someone I teach sealed. And then a picture of a family, because I hope to help a whole family get baptized, and I even put a picture of Pres. Uchtdorf (haha) because I really hope to listen to him speak or meet him while I am out here on my mission! And just some other goals I have set for my mission. But ya I think it will be good because then you are able to see your goals every day and make them a reality right! (Holli you know all about this kind of stuff-remember when we went to St. George haha) Well you visualize it, look at it every day, and make it happen! You guys don't have to do that though, I just liked the Idea. I think I am going to put it in my Preach My Gospel too so then I can look at it often.

Alright well I love you all dearly and I love love love getting letters and hearing from you so please keep up the good work and keep the letters coming! It really does make my whole day! I am sorry for the randomness of my emails but I just kinda start typing and there you have it. PS these pics are of us on the tram tours that we take from the PCC to the VC so you can get a little taste of what that’s like haha. And Mom I sent another SD card home so after you load them onto the file at home or whatever could you just erase them and then take some of you guys again before you send it back I really liked that! It was so good to see all your smiling faces again : ) And Ann thanks for the adorable pics of the kids too!

Ok for real this is the end just know I love being a missionary and I love you!

Sure love ya!!!

Sister Christiansen

April 19, 2012

Aloha to the best Family ever!!  

Well, Julia is BAPTIZED!!!! YEA! Best news ever right! But man oh man was it the most stressful day of our lives! I thought it was going to be this beautiful, spiritual, peaceful day haha no way. It was the craziest weekend ever. We learned some really good lessons though about planning a baptism. Also, of course the day of Julia's baptism there is a huge Polynesian celebration going on in the gym and so right until it started there was loud music and dancing. As it got closer and closer to three we were really starting to worry. There was no way we were going to be able to have the baptism with all that noise in the background. Luckily it stopped right in time but the next stressful thing was the fact that Pres. Dalton was going to be at our Baptism. That was way way intimidating! Especially because while Julia was changing it was our responsibility to teach the restoration. So I was really nervous to do that-let’s just say it was the most humbling day of my mission so far and I have had many humbling days. Plus we had forgotten to ask someone to be the second witness but we had Devin do it last min. And then because Sun. was stake Conference she isn't going to be confirmed until this Sun. so let’s just hope that happens right? 

Ok I need to breathe. Yes that was a stressful weekend but all is well. She has been baptized. We made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot of lessons. But it’s all good. 

Next order of business: We finally met _____! Do you remember her? Lacy Crout's friend- the member who gave us the referral? Ya well Monday night we had dinner with Lacy, her husband, and her friend and she is such a sweetheart! I love her already! She said that the Book of Mormon has brought a lot of peace to her and she even teared up a little when we showed her the Mormon message, “Lifting Burdens." So that was awesome, the only thing is she said she gets really nervous about meeting people and so the idea of going to church with us next Sunday freaked her out. But we want to see if maybe she would want to go hiking with us and two girls from the ward on our next pday (which is Wed, now by the way. We just started a new transfer so our Pday was switched to Wednesdays.) So we are hoping that will help her feel more comfortable and that way she can get to know the ward right away. I'll let you know how that goes. 

Alright what else? So many things hmmm... Well stake conference was amazing! Pres. Dalton spoke and got everyone pumped up for missionary work! That was awesome! Elder Whiting’s talk was amazing too! He spoke about the scripture when the guy thinks he is living all the commandments and then asks Jesus Christ "What lackest I?" and then Christ asks him to give up all his worldly possessions but he isn't willing to do that. And it just made me think a lot about the weaknesses I have and why I am holding on to them and how I can turn them over to the Savior and make them into strengths. It was a great talk! All of the talks were awesome! I have so much to work on. That is something I am reminded of every day on my mission.

Ok well I have to go but I love you so so so much! And mom I am sending home a letter with my SD card so expect that! And this is a plea for letters haha I would love love love to hear from some of you. And Miss Holli that means you too! I have written you two letters sister! I would love an update on your life!

I hope everyone's finals went well! 

Love you!!!!

Sister Christiansen

April 10, 2012

ALOHA!! And Happy Easter!!! From your emails it sounds like you all had a great Easter!! Alright well: First I would like to thank BreAna for sending those cookies in the mail! Wow those were so beautiful! You really are so talented! That just made my day! Thanks so much!

Hmm... so this is going to be a really random and sporadic letter but I don't have a lot of time so I am just going to start spouting off information. So something really cool that happened this week was I met Sister Julie B. Beck! Sweet huh! She came into the VC and I took a picture with her haha. Also another bomb thing that happened this week was Sister Looney and I were planning one night about which members in our ward we could visit the next day to seek referrals from and S. Looney felt prompted to visit this guy  so the next day we were walking in Kahuku looking for his house and we walked past a group of about 5 guys all drinking and realized that that was his house so we turned around and started talking to them and it turns out they are all supposed to be in our ward but they are all inactive. And it was so cool because we were inviting them to come to church the next day especially because it was Easter Sunday and we were testifying of Christ and they all got really quiet and one of them even said "Wow I can feel the spirit so strong right now. I haven't felt this way in a long time." It was so cool and then when we asked if they knew any nonmembers in the area they gave us their friend’s name up the street! It was so great! And k here is the thing- Laie is 90% members so it’s so awesome when someone can actually think of a nonmember. We hardly ever get referrals so it was so exciting! We went to the house though and he wasn't home but we will go back again for sure!

Also another sweet story: on Monday we were working at the VC and I saw an 18 yr old guy sitting outside on the temple grounds by himself and I just really felt like we should go talk to him and so we went out there and it was so cool because he is here visiting his grandparents for two months and he is way lonely. He has no friends and his Uncle keeps tearing down his beliefs. None of the family members that he is staying with are members and so he has been coming to the temple grounds to think a lot about if what he has been taught about the church is really true and just to have a spiritual boost. So we had him come in and watch the Mormon Message by Elder Holland about Easter and it was so good! And then we invited him to come to the singles ward that we are over and he agreed to that, so that will really help him find friends. He even agreed to go to FHE that night.

Oh and we did have another awesome referral story! Seriously though this girl is going to be golden! I can't wait to meet her! She is 23 and single and she works with Sister Crout.

 (The member that gave us the referral.) One day S. Crout asked if she could cover her shift because she would be giving a talk on the Book of Mormon in church that Sunday and the young woman said yes and then started asking some questions about the Book of Mormon. So naturally S. Crout gave her a copy! And then the next day S. Crout found a note from her saying how grateful she was to have been given this book and that she had already started reading it and that it brought tears to her eyes because she has been going thru a really hard time and it was just what she needed!!! What a gem right! The coolest part is S. Looney and I were talking the other day about what kind of investigator we wanted and S. Looney described her to the T! I can't wait to meet her! When we visited S. Crout and she told us all this she also informed us that the young woman had agreed to attend Church with her on the 15th! So we are going to go to her ward and meet her!

 Hey there was another miracle this week too! So you remember our investigator with the little baby and the busy job? Well we haven't been able to get a hold of her for two weeks and all of a sudden she walks into the VC while we are on shift! She was waiting for her friend to get done taking wedding pictures and after we talked for a while she said “hey sorry I haven’t been able to meet with you guys - I have been so busy, but do you want to meet this week?!” YEA! So we are meeting with her tonight! I hope it goes well!

 Also the young woman we have been teaching  is back in the picture and we have met with her three times since the last time I wrote so that’s good! We had a lesson with her on Sunday night at President Hanamans (he is the Stake President, and her boss at Kahuku grill, and way way intimidating) and because it was Easter Sunday he had all his family there so at first we were scared that there would be to many people and it would be hard for her to focus but it turned out being amazing! President Hanaman asked all his RM sons (he has 7 boys) to bear their testimonies and it was so so so great! After the lesson we were able to sit down and plan the baptism with her too so that felt really good to just have some of that figured out. We have it all set up for this Sat!!!! I am so excited! We are meeting with her a couple times this week too so I hope everything goes as planned!

 Oh one last little story- so last Sat when we were tracting in Kahuku we decided to stop by my favorite Polynesian’s house. Well he wasn't home so we left him some Easter cupcakes and a note and the next day he came and sat with us in Church and in the middle of sacrament he nudged me and said “check it out” and pointed at his scriptures and he had stuck our little note in his scriptures. Haha He is the sweetest little guy ever. haha Well he's not really little at all but he seems like a little teddy bear. haha Speaking of church I love that ward so much! I was just looking around and all of my favorite people in all of Hawaii were all in that little room! I feel bad because we cover some BYU wards but we haven't really worked much with them because they haven’t given us any ward council names and they don't have any non members. But the YSA 2nd ward (the one I was at) is where all the people that we have been teaching and working with are and I just love them! We stayed and had break-the-fast too with them and it was just really nice I hope I serve in their ward for a long time!

Alright well I'm sorry for all the rambling. I hope some of that made sense? I just kinda typed away so sorry if that was confusing and scattered. It probably was because that’s how I feel like I am every day of my life here! I use to be kinda organized right? Ya I don't know what happened. I feel like I am always the little chicken woman running around with her head cut off. K sorry.

Anyways Logan I just wanted to say I am stoked for you to go to the temple!!! Woot Woot! SO SO SO awesome! You are awesome! I love you so much! You will be so blessed for deciding to do that! Also Lucia I don't know if you read these emails but I really hope you do? I want to know how you are doing and what’s going on in your life? I was telling my comp about you the other day and it just made me miss you and really want to hear from you! Feel free to just write and email if that’s easier for you? And Mom thanks so much for forwarding Jan's emails! Wow they are on fire in SL! I can't even imagine have 130 referals!!! WOW! So cool!

Last thing I wanted to mention really fast is that today for Pday we went with Bro. and Sis. Lillywhite (sr. couple) around the Island and into town for groceries and stuff and man is Hawaii beautiful!!!! I have never seen anything so beautiful! It was so cool too because each side of the Island is so different! I can't wait for you to see the pics! If you want to go ahead and send the SD card I'll send you this one. K Well I love you so so so much! You are the best family I could ever ask for! I am so grateful for all your prayers and all that you do for me! Mahalo for everything!

Love ya like crazy!

Sister C.

April 3, 2012

 Aloha loved ones!

Let’s see where to begin... Well our investigator has once again has gone MIA. We don't really know what the deal is. We had a lesson with her on Wed and all went well we even had a recent convert that had been thru a similar situation as hers come to the lesson and share his conversion story. It was way powerful and we planned to meet with her on Friday and then to watch Gen. Conf. with her on Sunday but I don't know what happened. She just didn't show up and once again she isn't returning our calls : (

 I am just praying really really hard for her. I'm scared that maybe she is having problems with her RM boyfriend, but that would be so sad if that is what’s keeping her from wanting to meet with us and continuing to prepare herself for baptism, because it shouldn't have to do with him anyways you know. Anyways please keep praying hard for her-I love her so much and just want her to be baptized so bad!!

Next order of business... Let’s see-another young woman we have been teaching has been super busy with work, school, and taking care of her 7 month old baby so she wasn't able to meet with us either this week so that was a bummer. But we did have lots of lessons with our less active members and man oh man do I love them! K let me tell you about my favorite person in all of Hawaii! He is this huge Tongan 26 year old and he is HILARIOUS!! I love him so much! He left the church back in high school and left his family to go party and do drugs and stuff in California but he moved back here and decided he wants to change his life around and so the Bishop asked us to teach him and he wants so much to learn! He is just like a big old teddy bear! He doesn't understand a lot of what we teach so we have to teach really simply but it’s so cute because he is always seeking our approval and trying to say the right answers. And I just have the time of my life teaching him because he is just always making me laugh and I feel like even though he is older and twice as big as me I see him as a cute little boy trying so hard to be good and make his parents proud! Oh man I love him!

And then there is this big football player at UH with a long ponytail and beard on the outside but inside he is so sweet and gentle. He is really quiet but he is so good about keeping his commitments and reading his scriptures every day! He is the bomb! He started taking the lessons with us because his girlfriend is really active in the church and wants him to come back and learn. None of his family is active and we are starting from the beginning with him too but it’s so cool because you can really see the light in him as he is making changes in his life to get closer to the savior. I love him so much too! And my biggest wish (along with our earlier mentioned people getting baptized) is that he and his girlfriend will get married in the temple here in Hawaii and I will get to see it!! Oh I would just die! That would be the best ever! They are the cutest couple ever I just love them so much!

We are also teaching six others and I love love love all of them as well! I wish I had time to tell you about all of them but I will just have to write about them another time! They are all so great and have such unique situations so every lesson is different but it’s awesome to get to know so many great people. That is by far the best part of the mission! I love these people so much-they are all so cool!

Do you know who else is so cool! The General Authorities! WOW General Conference was the bomb!! I loved it so much! I especially loved when one of them (sorry I can't remember who said it) said "What thinks Christ of me?" That was so powerful and it just reminded me of my purpose and that it’s all about Jesus Christ! I love Him so much and I am so grateful for all he has done for me! The talks were just so amazing and the whole time I kept thinking man I hope my less active and investigators are watching this right now! So many talks were exactly what they needed! Oh and guess what time we watched it at! 6 am! haha We wanted to watch it live right so there we were up at 5 am to get ready and listen to the Prophets voice - totally worth it though! I hope you all loved it too! It did make me miss you like crazy though because everything was about family, and man I have never been so homesick in my life! Plus in between the sessions on Saturday morning we went to the Sr. couples pad and they made us breakfast and guess what they made! Grandma C's Christmas casserole. It was delicious but it sure wasn't Grandmas and it made me way homesick. But all is well, sorry I will stop being such a baby haha. I attached some pictures from that morning so I hope that works and I hope you got the ones from the last email too.

This week was a great week in the VC too because we had so many great people come in! One lady came in from Australia and made me want to move there so bad! (You are all going to have to move with me though because I can't do this long distance thing again after the mission! Knock on wood because now I will have to.) But she was telling me all about it there and she said that everyone eats salads all the time and they have exercise machines along the roads so people just run be the beach and then stop and exercise on an elliptical haha how sweet is that! Plus we showed her the "I'm a Mormon by the Osmotherly's and she said that all Australian people are like that. And they just look like such fun and happy people! I'll attach the link and you should watch it too! http://mormon.org/people/

But ya I just love getting to meet people from all over the world! I also met this amazing couple from India on our tram tour and after showing them pictures of the inside the temple and then bearing testimony they accepted the invitation to have missionaries come teach them more! It was so cool because they came in not really knowing anything about Jesus Christ because they are Hindus. We have experiences like that all the time and it is so neat!! One guy even came in and after he felt the spirit so strong he bought his parents tickets to fly all the way from Europe to come to the visitor center here and take a tour so they could experience what he experienced. It was so neat they came and self-referred too!

There are just so many miracles happening every day! And really quick I wanted to share a cool story about that boy named Scott that was talked about in General Conference. Do you remember he was the guy that has some mental disabilities but he was so bold about talking to those people on the plane. K well Elder Mcdanaugh (the VC director) knows him and he told us another story about Scott. Once Scott was on a plane and his brother asked him to go give those English speaking people a couple rows up a Book of Mormon, so he sat down next to them (ps he is about 6 something and 300 lbs) and he said to them “hey I don't know how to read but my parents read this book to me every day and I love it will you read it to me?’ They said yes and after the flight they agreed to read the Book of Mormon and were eventually baptized! How cool is that! It just reminds me that I need to be bolder!

Ok well that was pretty long so thanks for staying with me. But I just have so much to say you know so much happens in a week! Someday I will tell you everything! I love you so so so so so so so much! You have no idea! I mean I loved you all before my mission but man oh man do I love you now! It will be such a joyous day when I can see you all again-especially you Mom I think and miss you every day! But have a great week and God speed!

Love ya tons!

Sister Christiansen