Boxing Day!

(Christmas Day screenshot)

Family!

It was so wonderful to see and talk with all of you yesterday! I hope you all had a very merry Christmas together! It's so awesome that you're all together and doing fun things. :)

Thanks for all the Christmas gifts, including seeing all of you! I particularly love the bracelet. And I'm very glad for non-candy snacks! I also got that little Sadness charm from Sister Lamborn, and her mom sent us both a Joy and Sadness ornament. She said it fits the highs and lows of missionary work, particularly for a trainer and a greenie. She served her mission in Rome. :) We got coloring books from two different people. Tons of candy and other little things. It was fun to open everything after seeing it sit there for weeks. :)


This week~
I can never remember what I've written about Mondays. Mondays are the worst. Last Monday we did last minute Christmas shopping at one of the many sketchy "Disney discount" stores. All the knockoff things. :P

Tuesday I sent that lil package home and we discovered the second Poinciana post office. They're 3 streets away from each other. But this one is tiny and the workers are all from the UK (York, Samworth?, Scotland). I never want to go to another post office. :P

Susan and Patrick gave us Christmas presents. :) They're both so sweet; they call us family. They wanted to have us over for Christmas, but they're both in pretty bad health right now. :( They're gonna see if they're well enough for New Year's. She really wants to come to church, but has just felt like everything has been thrown at her to stop her from coming. She said she's not going to let anything stop her from coming in the new year.

We pitched in some money with the other Sisters to get dinner for the Mejia family. They just had a little baby girl, Sofia. They have another little girl under 2, Maya. They're both just gorgeous little girls. Their family has treated us like family too, and is always super welcoming.

Wednesday, Zone Conference! We had to leave essentially as soon as we woke up to get there on time, because it was at the Windermere chapel, across from the temple. As we got there, we saw the temple appear through the fog. So so pretty.

I led the music and discovered that I don't particularly enjoy leading music. :P Part of our District and our Zone leaders had a little musical presentation; we read some of the scriptures about Christ being born and sang the first verses of a few Christmas hymns between them. :) ZC was super focused on Christmas and Christ and Light the World. It was great. Lots of Christmas music and musical numbers. Everyone got a Christmas stocking.

There's a little LDS bookstore near the temple, and several people in our Zone went there for a while afterwards. I got a little wooden nativity. :)

Thursday was pretty great. There was a heavy focus in ZC on sharing Light the World, so we started stopping and talking with just about everyone about it. People LOVE that video. It conveys the Spirit to them, and softens hearts. There have been instances where we've seen that happen as they watch.

Got the front brake on my bike fixed, thanks to the Elders and a family in the Spanish branch. It was just rubbing a little bit. Now it's soooo much smoother to ride.

Had dinner with the other Cruz family in the ward. The mom and daughter are members and the grandma is not. She's the one that cooked for us. She loves cooking for people. They've got a super fat beagle and some kind of mutt that looks like Tramp in Lady and the Tramp. They also have a gorgeous piano. Jennie, who is 13, plays violin and is learning piano. She wants to play for me next time and have me play more. :) We taught the grandma the Restoration. She knows quite a bit about the church, but not a lot about the doctrine. She loves General Conference and books by President Hinckley. She also loves joking around and refers to herself as "that heathen woman". I've been working on teaching boldly and without hesitation (and "uh"s), and I definitely felt a difference in that lesson.

Friday we taught our investigator Michelle again! This was only the second time, but she's kept in pretty close contact with us since the first time. She didn't keep the commitment of reading from the Book of Mormon, because her life's been pretty hectic. So we promised her that reading it would bring peace and calm into her life, and then read a couple chapters with her instead of teaching a lesson. She said it definitely helped her right then, and she wants to read more now!

We haven't had a real, solid planning day the past couple of weeks. So much else to do. Fridays are just silly days.

We wrapped a ton of Christmas presents! One of the less actives we teach was worried that a couple of the kids that live in her house wouldn't have any Christmas presents. The ward got them a bunch of cool stuff and we got to deliver it. :)

Saturday was SO great! We taught 11 lessons. Just biked all over and talked to everyone that we saw. It felt like the hottest day since I've been here; we were so sweaty. Didn't put sunscreen on that day, oops.

One lady that we talked to was suuuper skeptical about us talking to her. And then she LOVED the video and asked where the church is.

We also met the coolest less active member. He knows the gospel is true, and just has some issues with the church. But he invited us in, joked around with us, gave us cookies and milk... He's got a really fun personality. (He also has two GIANT dogs. Akitas. Gorgeous. "You can leave your bikes out here. Most people in the neighborhood know that I WILL let my dogs eat them.")

Had dinner with the Quispes and her nonmember parents. We shared the Plan of Salvation with them and involved the kids. We've just got so many cool families in the ward that have treated all four of us like family.

I also had Muppet Christmas Carol stuck in my head all day. I'm glad you guys watched it. :)

Didn't write in my journal for yesterday; it was so busy and crazy and great! We left to the North Sisters' house as soon as we woke up, and we all opened presents together! Made a big ol mess in their apartment.

Church was awesome! The organist must have been from Kissimmee ward, and he was really good. He made the organ sound like bells before and during the last verse of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day". The Kissimmee ward bishop talked about the symbolism of different Christmas things, and it honestly felt rather forced/made up, haha. Bishop Palomino, our bishop, talked about the "Spirit of Awesomeness" in Christmas, relating it to his 6 year old son who always has a fantastic attitude and outlook.

The North Sisters got their own car! We're not sure how it's going to work with miles, but they were very excited for that Christmas present, haha.

Hung out at the Creamers' house and Skyped. :)

Taught a few lessons.

Had dinner at the Wilsons' house. They also say hello. :) We had traditional Christmas dinner, if you still wanted to know. Ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, glazed carrots... It was so good. We also had chocolate pie and my new favorite apple pie ever.

Went home and looked at our plies of presents and collapsed into bed. I'm so tired.

Hope y'all have a great week this week and a fantastic new year! Any plans for New Year's Eve? We have to be in an hour earlier because people be crazy.

Love you all. Loved seeing you all. Happy Boxing Day.

Love,

Christine

This duck had so many ducklings. SO MANY. I hope they're not all hers.

Bentley the dog likes cuddles.

Sister Lamborn's aunt sent her a snowman kit. It's melting.

It melted.

She's silly and I take pictures of her sometimes when she's not paying
attention, hah.

Christmas! Everyone absorbed in their gifts.

Sister Angelo opening something from her family.

It's so hard to get normal pictures of Sister Lamborn, haha. So hard.

Silly Sister Parish.

Sisters Angelo and Parish~

Sister Lamborn got a GIANT skirt and she's not sure what to do with it.

Christmas carnage. I didn't think to take a picture until I had

already started packing stuff. 

I managed to fit it all into that box.

:D

allll the wrapping paper and stuff.

MORE Christmas Pictures sent by a member:

'Tis the season to be jolly and joyous. Falala.

Dear Family,

Merry Christmas, almost! I'm so excited. We're all so excited.

So Skyping on Sunday!!! We were told that we can Skype for as long as we want to. 

By the way, I'm writing this email in our fancy magical shiny new car. It's a 2017 Chevy Malibu and it has all the technological doodads that no missionary needs. It has wifi. WIFI. IN THE CAR. It's the greatest, at least until it runs out.

I got a MASSIVE mystery package in the mail this week. Looked up the address in LDS Tools; it came from the Gallahers' house. :) (Off the blog records: $50 shipping. Wow.) In it is a Sister missionary stocking, filled with things. Looks like ward Christmas letters at the top. I've got people around me who think it's bad luck and would kill me if I opened it early (I had that quite literally beaten into me this week by Sister Parish, haha), so I have no idea what's in it other than that. I'm excited to see. :) Please thank the Gallahers for me. [The package is from Sister Stevenson's ward.]
I love love LOVE all the pictures of Leni! Cathy sent me George pictures this week too! I'm glad you all (or most of you) are getting together for Christmas. Please take lots of pictures! Those kids are so stinking cute, and I can't believe how big they're getting! Leni doesn't even look like a baby anymore! Have fun for Christmas! Watch Muppet Christmas Carol!

Also it's currently blazing hot. It doesn't feel like Christmas today. :P

This week!

Last Monday was probably the best P-day I've had so far. I kind of just told myself that I wasn't allowed to be stressed out. :P I also managed to take some time for playing piano and sketching. We wrapped presents when we got home. :) I love wrapping presents. We wrapped up the packages we've gotten too.

Tuesday we got our beautiful lil car. The mission office was crazy busy and full of missionaries getting new cars. The North Sisters might be getting their own car at some point, but we're not sure yet. We like sharing with them.
We delivered some of the things that we baked last Saturday, as a "thanks for all you do, Merry Christmas!" The Cruzes gave us banana and zucchini bread. They're so sweet; we adore them.

We tracted around the apartment complex in our area again. We've got a referral somewhere in there. We know the building but not the apartment number. And we've met some cool people just knocking around. We heard a car not starting, and went to see if we could help/talk to the person. We had a great conversation with the woman, who was super interested in how similar our doctrine was to what she grew up with. After a few minutes and a prayer, her car started up. Not sure if anything's going to happen there; we didn't get her info... But we were definitely supposed to talk to her.

Went to Enrichment, which was super fun. We made popsicle stick nativities. They're adorable. Mine is slightly falling apart. We also got to know some of the sisters better. :) Including Sister Egg. Brother Egg is in the bishopric, and he is the happiest, kindest person ever. Sister Egg, on the other hand, is the most sarcastic and sassy person in existence. We love her. She's hilarious.

Wednesday apparently we weren't supposed to go to GKTW, because they had a large group of volunteers come in. None of us got that info/listened though. And they were grateful we were there. We were in the Cafe again, serving food. I wrapped a ton of brownies and chocolate chip cookies. Also found out that Sister Powell loves Hamilton and the other musicals I was listening to at home. :D

That evening we went on a temple tour!!! We took Sister J___ (can't remember if I've talked about her before; she's a less-active/fairly recent convert that we visit pretty often because she lives a short walk/very short bike ride away). They talked to us in the stake center for about an hour about what happens in the temple and the importance of them. Then we went over to the temple and walked around. It's gorgeous. (I'll send a couple of the pictures, but I think I'm just gonna send home the SD card tomorrow. Merry Christmas, pictures!) It was late at night, so it was all lit up. We could just see the chandeliers sparkling in the windows. Sister J___ loved it. She was so happy and grateful to be there.

There we met 3 people from Brazil who drive past the temple regularly, and came in to ask about our church. One of them speaks decent English, one of them understands a bit, and the other doesn't speak much. We've got a couple Portuguese Elders, so I hope they're able to get in contact with them again! There was someone in the temple who is from Sao Paolo, and he talked to them for a while about the church and temple.

We got in bed SO LATE.

Thursday we had Zone Training Meeting. Sister Lamborn and I gave a recap/follow up on the last ZTM, and took probably too much time doing so.

We didn't drive back home in an attempt to save on miles. We've used so many miles this week. So many meetings and parties. We went to the North Sisters' service and helped there for a bit. They do service at Community Hope Center, which helps homeless people find jobs, homes, etc. We sorted out Christmas gifts for kids (based on age/gender). It was super cool, I felt a little bit like Santa. :) The people there are amazing too, and so fun.

Our Zone was all invited to the church to learn self defense from a couple of black belts (one of them is in the Kissimmee ward). They taught us what to do if someone grabs us or tries to stab or swing at us.

Friday we did not plan much at all. We met with the Relief Society president to talk about visiting teaching and how we can help support the sisters in the ward. (And then this Sunday ALL of the women's presidencies were released, haha.)

That night we went to the Quispe's for a little Christmas party. It was just a few people and cookies. They wanted us 4 Sisters to sing. The other 3 like me singing alto, and I think it's fun too. 

Saturday we went to Sister Afu's house. Hah. She is interesting. We thought we were going to help her cook, but she wouldn't let us. Instead, she fed us. Tons of things. And we sang and played piano for her.

And then the ward Christmas party! We helped serve food. There was a talent show and they wanted us to sing again. :P Two of the youth sang the duet from Waitress, which was GREAT. And Sister Jones and her grandkids made it too! They're not members but they had SO much fun, and danced for the show. The Burtons gave us Christmas gifts; coloring books, cookies, and little airplanes to put on our bikes from their granddaughter.

Sunday was great as ever. Dunno what to write about it though. :P

We went to the Munoz family's house for a pre-Christmas dinner. You might get pictures or something from them; they asked for our parents' info.

This week we didn't teach much... but we served and we planned for Christmas. Sister Lamborn and I are going up to spend Christmas morning with Sisters Parish and Angelo. :) Church is at 9, combined with the Kissimmee ward for just sacrament meeting. We're planning out proselyting for Christmas day. We're so excited.

I love how much I learn about the gospel and about myself every week, even weeks that are rough or when we haven't done much. I've just learned and grown so much the 8 weeks that I've been out here, plus the time in the MTC. I love it here.

Dunno what else. I'm excited to see and talk to you. Love you all.

Love,

Christine

Birds we see all the time. What are they? Who knows.

Some temple pics! Woo!

 

Second: Sisters Lamborn and Parish goofing around at service. :) And

me chasing Sis Parish.

One of the people that taught us with his cool sword.

Sister Lamborn with the sword.

Sister Angelo lookin real cool with the sword.

 Third: Sister Angelo again.

My DL, Elder James.

Me!

 Me!

 My popsicle nativity.

My PILE of presents!

Crafting and Christmassy Things

Hello~

Thanks for all the pictures, I love getting them (once they actually
load). I got 5 packages on Sunday, haha. The ornaments are wonderful.
:) The other 4 are under the tree. I'm excited for Christmas. 

I'm glad you had a good time at the zoo! I meant to grab Misty's email
this week, but forgot when we were rushing out of the house. Tell them
I say hello! Daniel is so cute!

I broke my favorite necklace this week. :( :( That labradorite stone
from old town San Diego. Our house is entirely tile. And I knocked it
off of the counter.

I napped more than once this week. I don't know why I've been so
tired, bleh. I've felt mostly fine physically. Just somewhat stressed.
I'm working on it.

I don't know what to write this week other than what happened,
honestly. It's been crazy.

Tuesday was the best day. The best. It really, properly rained for the
first time since I've been here. It's drizzled a bit a couple times,
and that's how it started off on Tuesday... But then it kept going.
The drops were small, but it was really fast. We were both soaked
within minutes. I had even thought about putting my poncho in my bag
that day, hah. We just biked in the rain for a few hours. It was
fantastic.

While in our lesson with S---, it thundered and lightninged a bit.
Luckily it cleared up a bit before we left, or they wouldn't have let
us bike away. She is amazing. She wants so much to understand what we
teach, and has great questions. Her father's input is always awesome
too. She told us that her entire life, she'd hated and feared God. She
never thought of Him as a loving being, until we started teaching her.
And she'd talked with missionaries before, because her dad is a
member... but she'd never connected with any until us. She said she
can see God in both of us. It was such a cool thing to hear.
We taught 8 lessons that day, which is a record for us. :)

We worked in the Cafe at Give Kids the World for the first time on
Wednesday. Basically that involves helping people carry their trays of
food, getting drinks, cleaning tables, and just interacting with the
kids. :) It's great too because there are other missionaries around to
talk to. We may not see the difference we make there, but we do make a
difference. Elder James said he had someone come up to him and
apologize, because earlier in the week she had been rude to some
missionaries. Then she remembered that missionaries work at GKTW, and
that we're actually pretty great. She promised that she'd listen to
the next LDS missionaries she saw. :)

Thursday we saw kittens in our yard. There's so many feral cats here,
which is sad. But we enjoyed watching around 5 little fuzzballs
traipse around our backyard. :)

It was the first District meeting of the new transfer, and we have 3
brand new missionaries in our District. They seemed a lot more put
together than I felt my first DM (and they were wearing shoes).
We celebrated T---'s birthday and brought her a cake. :D (Have I
talked about T--- yet? She drove up next to us at a stop sign one
day, told us she was a member and gave us her address. She was
baptized earlier this year. She's one of our absolute favorites to
visit, along with her sons F--- and Y---, and her husband R---
who is sort of investigating. Y--- now loves us and wants us to pick
him up when we go. And we can't. :( ) Sister Lamborn taught F--- and
the two other littles in the house about Nephi getting the plates, and
it was fun to listen to her teach it in a way that a 2, 4, and 9 year
old could understand.

Fridays are also gross because we're stuck in the house. We go a
little bit crazy. Luckily towards the end of the day we seem to end up
in a goofy mood, and the silliness breaks through any frustrations of
the day. :P

Saturday we started biking to a member's house, but stopped to talk to
a woman who was trying to back her car out of her driveway. :P She was
pinned in by two of the other cars there, and was trying to maneuver
out diagonally. We helped her move one of the other cars to get out.
Everyone in our town is just super nice.

We ended up having the other Sisters pick us up to go the rest of the
way (they were headed there too). And then we spent about 7 hours at
Sister Fritz's house. We established a game plan to get the members
working more in unity with each other, and loving each other more. In
the hopes that eventually they'll be more receptive and willing to
help each other and to do missionary work. So she baked and we
crafted. It was super fun. I made a bunch of candy cane reindeer. :P

Sundays are always great. I didn't write in my journal last night so
I'm trying to remember specifics, haha. T--- and her kids came to
church for the first time in a while. :) We had another lesson with
Sister Burton and her daughter. The Burtons, can't remember if I've
mentioned, bring us food like once a week. And it's usually something
that lasts the entire week, like a huge casserole. They're fantastic.

I've still been dealing with some stress, but it seems like every time
I have a bad day, a great day follows. I know I'm where I need to be,
with the people I'm meant to be with. The gospel is amazing. And I'm
so happy and excited for Christmas!

Love you all.

Love,

Christine

Sister Lamborn, F---, T---, Y---, me and their puppy Hennessy.

Sister J---'s dog Rocky. He was in

the garage and wanted to cuddle with Sis Lamborn.

At Sister Fritz's house with all the things we made!

 Just junk on our street :P but it was foggy this morning.

I survived my first transfer!

Hello family~

Transfer calls came on Saturday, and, as expected, Sister Lamborn and I are staying in Pleasant Hill South! The North Sisters are staying, too, so we're all here for Christmas and New Years! :)

I got the iPod and the Shutterfly package! Thanks so much! I'm enjoying the music. The Shutterfly one is under our tree. I'm excited to get whatever else you've sent. :)

And I'm glad you like Light the World so much! I think it's awesome. We're sharing it with everyone. Everyone has time for a 30 second video a day. :P

I'm so glad Amanda liked her card! And that all the other kiddos are doing well.

This last week was SO MUCH BETTER than last week! Attitude really makes such a huge difference. I decided to have a better week, and I did. I had to consciously change what I was feeling once or twice, but it helped a ton. Nobody likes a mopey missionary. :P

Last Monday I had french fries for the first time in a month. That's not significant. I just really wanted fries.

We had District meeting on Tuesday last week instead of Thursday. We had a end-of-transfer party and our Zone Leaders wanted to be there. Hence the switch. All of the thoughts were on joy and Christmas. This District has been wonderful to be a part of. One of our Hermanas goes home tomorrow, and two of our Elders are being transferred.

We taught S_ _ (our miracle investigator) the Restoration, and she had some fantastic questions. She said she has never in her life wanted to step foot in a church, nor has she really felt God's love... until she met us. Her father is a less-active member, so she's seen missionaries in the past, but has never been interested, never had it click.

We built a bookshelf for her, which was so fun. They were super grateful, and I was just glad to have a project to do. I wish I could build one of those little models, but there would really be no time for that.

They bought us dinner, too! She's so incredibly grateful for everything, and just wants to give back whatever she can. Her dad is this cool old super deaf Canadian with great childhood stories.

Then we visited B_ _ and A_ _ and their daughter. They're recent converts and their daughter just barely turned 8. They're going to have another little girl in January. :) Other missionaries have had a hard time or haven't bothered trying involving the dad in lessons, and he made it a challenge. She and Sister Lamborn both like Pokémon, so she likes her because of that and it makes it easier for us both to engage her. We had her draw the Plan of Salvation (I'll send a pic). She is an amazing little artist! It's such a fun idea to get kids involved in the lesson and help them remember it too.

We were suuuuper late for service on Wednesday, but it was SO GREAT. I LOVE Give Kids the World. We worked in the castle for the first time!!! It's so amazing. They have a star on the ceiling for every child that's been there (well, nearly. They didn't start that right when the organization started). Over 145,000 stars. It's stunning. We had two main jobs in there.

First, to help the kids write their names on/decorate their stars. We then take the star and give it to Stellar the Star Fairy. She puts it up overnight, and they can come back the next day to see where their star is.

The other main job is the Pillow Tree. Every kid that visits GKTW, along with every child in their group, gets a pillow. It's this cute little tree with an owl that talks to them. The tree grows the pillows with love. The kids make them grow by touching the tree and thinking of who they love. Then the pillows...magically appear in a little stump next to the tree. It's just all so cool. (And actually, people around the world make the pillows and send them to GKTW to be stuffed! It's awesome!)

There weren't many people that day, but we explored the castle and colored and just enjoyed the atmosphere. GKTW is the best.

Thursday was a busy day, we taught so much! One woman we delivered a Bible to was interesting. She invited us in and talked to us a ton, but when we started teaching the Restoration, she cut us off. She said she wanted to read the pamphlet and some of the Book of Mormon so she had some background in what we were teaching, and THEN she'd have us over. Kinda weird.
But then we had a lady who we taught the whole Restoration to... and she loved it. She accepted what we were saying and told us that she loved having us there.

Met the most interesting lady that day too. She waved at us as we were driving away and looked SO HAPPY, so we pulled over and walked with her for a bit. She was super sweet and a little crazy, haha.

Fridays are slow because most of what we do all day is planning. So we're stuck in the house all the day and we go a little crazy. We were joking and laughing so much towards the end, haha. Also contacted a ton of referrals. We have a bunch, and they're often hard to get a hold of.

Saturday was super interesting. We left about 7:15, and drove an hour and a half to a town called Christmas. We spent the day at Fort Christmas historical park? They have a festival/showcase/something once a year. Lots of little booths selling little things. The mission hosted a booth focused on Family Search, so we basically just sat there with Elder and Sister Kearl, wandered a bit, tried to talk to people... So many people said things like, "I already know too much about my family history." Haha. We also had a handcart, and Elders James and Zollinger pulled kids around in it. It was a fantastic conversation starter. (There are pictures of me in the handcart, but I'd have to get them from Elder James.) I really want to go there another year. There were so many cool things to see.

After that, we went to the tail end of Angie's baby shower. We get invited to all the parties, it's pretty great.

We were at church so long on Sunday. We had coordination with our ward mission leader at 12, then ward council. We didn't go to Relief Society, and instead talked to the less-active daughter of Sister Burton (they're fantastic and they like to give us food and other things). She wants to be more active and introduce her boyfriend to the church, and was asking us for how to approach the topic, where to find scriptures, etc.

After church they had Young Women in Excellence and dinner. Some of the YW in this ward are so amazingly talented. One girl loves theater, loves Hamilton, sang a song from Waitress... Her family is so cool.

And then it was the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. The Spanish branch was watching it, and technically we shouldn't have been there, because we're supposed to be home by 8 on Sundays... But our District leader is serving in the Spanish branch, so he was there and he gave us permission. :)

That was the week, and I'm not sure what else to write! I hope these letters aren't too long and boring. :P

Basically what I've learned from this week is that prayer and positivity are so important. Choosing to have a good week affected my entire week for the better. I got along with Sister Lamborn better, I taught better, I had more of a desire to teach... Attitude is important.


Last thought: people here take Christmas seriously. The moment Halloween was over, and especially after Thanksgiving was over, lights were EVERYWHERE. Not just a few lights. Lights ALL OVER. It's amazing. Christmas is the best. I hope you're all enjoying the holiday season. I love you all.

Love,

Christine

District "birthday" party.

 Our District, and then our Zone leaders too.

The Plan of Salvation as drawn by Alex. Left to right, but bottom to

top. Premortal existence, creation, Adam and Eve, Alex and her ability

to choose good or evil, Jesus, the spirit world, and the kingdoms of

glory.)

Give Kids the World Castle!!!

The thrones.

The wishing well.

The

Pillow Tree!

 The star tower

Those are all stars. STARS.

A little hollow in the castle.

Ibises.

The sky Saturday morning!

The handcart

Picture sent by a member. 

We built gingerbread houses today! Me, Sister Lamborn, Sister Angelo,

and Sister Parish with our houses. Sister Parish's broke, hah.

Gotta run, love you, bye!

MORE pictures arrived.