FOUR MONTHS WHAT

(Note from the Mom: It's actually almost 5! Sister Stevenson is talking about Florida)

Hello there family!

Transfers are happening this week! I'm staying here for a fourth transfer, with Sister Petty! Sister Angelo is going to Palm Bay (after being here for 5 transfers). Gonna miss her. Sister Lamborn is also staying in in the north side of this area and training again, haha.

I also didn't manage to write in my journal as much as I should have this past week... Gotta catch up later. And it's late. So this email might be a bit sparse. Sorry!

Tuesday we had a super happy day. Just felt really good. Went out and did some referral finding, talked to a less active we'd never met...

The North Sisters delivered us food from Sister Afu, since we can't all eat together anymore (apparently that's a rule. :( ). And we all just hung around and talked. Sister Petty and Sister Angelo sang hymns for quite a while. They both have great voices. Sister Angelo is generally really quiet, but when she sings, it's gorgeous. Sister Petty said she was hoping the whole time that I'd come out and harmonize, haha. But I was enjoying just talking.

At Give Kids the World on Wednesday, we were all extra hands; they didn't really need us. So we did what they wouldn't have gotten to. Folded rags. Cut and wrapped over a thousand brownies. Their TVs were playing "San Diego Zoo Kids" and it was just informative things on cute animals. So I was fairly disobedient and watched that while we worked. :P

The Champions took us for an early dinner and then drove us home. They're awesome. They served a mission together and gave a talk last Sunday on helping the missionaries. They recently decided to sell their house and be full-time RV-ers. So they travel a ton and only settle for a few months.

We visited with Sister Jones, and her 3 year old prayed with us. :) It was so cute and she was so proud. His mom even thought it was cool.

Thursday at District meeting we split into two groups and discussed scenarios from Preach My Gospel. We were given the scenario of opening a new area. Sister Lamborn and I looked at each other and simultaneously said, "DONE." Haha. Then we basically just shared with the group what worked and what we wished we had done.

The Brancels took us for lunch at Golden Corral. Oh my goodness they are so sweet. I think they're also kind of transient. They told us their conversion stories and he gave us hugs. Just an adorable old southern couple.

And we had dinner with the Palominos, which is always an adventure! Their kids are SO fun. And loud. The 4 year old prayed at the end that we wouldn't choke in the night, haha. Then she wanted to share her own message after ours.                    

                                                                                                   

THEN. We dropped by the house of someone that Sister Lamborn and I were going to teach a couple months ago. Just trying to follow up and see if she was still interested. And she totally is. Yeshie is 17, and was basically a referral from her mother. She was excited when we told her we could give her an English Bible. Then she asked if she could have a Book of Mormon after we read out of it, and was super happy that we gave it to her. She remembered what we'd prayed with her about last time. And when we texted her later she said she was reading. :)

Friday we went visiting teaching with Sister Kober! Saw a less active we've never met, and another that I hadn't visited since my first week here. 

Did some planning. 

Met with Yeshie again! She had read the pamphlet, the intro and testimonies in the Book of Mormon, the first part of Genesis... She's so golden. We just talked with her for a while. At the end she asked if she could call us her sisters. We're so excited to keep teaching her.

Saturday we mostly stressed out about getting transfer calls. Tracted some. Had a few interesting conversations. Also hit my four months in the field mark.

Then we went to Sister Fritz's house for dinner! One of her dogs finally let me pet her. :D She's awesome and loves having us over.

After that, we went up to the North Sisters' apartment. Just to be together and support each other. Had some cookie dough. Got to bed way too late.

Sunday was ward conference, so we heard from the Stake President. Sister Palomino was released as Relief Society president. She was only there 2 months. Apparently someone realized that she shouldn't be a Bishop's wife AND RS pres AND have 4 kids. She was the busiest woman of all time, and something of a superhero. She did so much good. Sister Kober is the new RS president! :D

We finally were able to see Susan again. Talked to her for a long time. She was in an awful car accident and we've been super worried about her. We're going to go help her out this week.

And then we saw Kiara, the other super solid high school student we've been seeing. :) Aaaaand we put her on date for baptism! She had some awesome questions about what it means to be baptized, and said she really thinks she needs to work towards that. Oh my goodness we're so excited.

So that's been the week! Today's been crazy and busy. We're all going to the Eggs' house later tonight. Yay! :)

Challenge for the week: take some time to pray and have a notebook with you. Any time during that prayer that you get an impression, stop and write it down. :)

Hope you all have a fantastic week! I love you!

Love,

Christine

                                                 A photo from last week's letter. 

Green dogs 🦎

Why hello!

Oh my goodness, Crafton Hills is SO GREEN! Is it that green everywhere? It's gorgeous! I'm glad you've gotten rain! Though I've heard that there's also been some flooding in California?

I also have a cold, and it's a nasty one. xP I have to cough all the time, which hurts, and it's affecting my sinuses enough that my teeth hurt because of it. Fun. I had to leave during meetings a couple of times yesterday to cough and die a little. :P Hope you start feeling better soon.

Found out this week that we can't have dinners with other companionships, which is a bummer. Glad we didn't know about that rule over the holidays. :P It's been nice to have that time with the other Sisters.

Don't worry about boring me. I like reading letters regardless of the content, haha. It's a nice diversion for a little while. It's crazy to me that George is 9 months! Cathy sends me pictures and I share them with everyone. :)

THIS WEEK.
It was interesting.

Last Monday we four just partied together. Sister Lamborn made scones and cookies for us. It was a good day.

Tuesday we had interviews with President, so we also had early District meeting. Elder Bone likes having us just go around and bear testimony, so this week we all bore our testimonies of Jesus Christ. We also were all told to prepare a thought on a Christlike attribute. I spoke about humility. Preach My Gospel says that pride is the opposite of humility. I talked about how self-criticism and doubt are also opposed to humility and prevent us from receiving blessings. I was once told that self-criticism (specifically for a missionary) is a lack of faith in those who have called you.

President gave everyone little Orlando temple pins. :) He reminded me of the support I have around me, and told me I need to be friends with both Sisters and Elders. And to ask for blessings. 

Went to Woodsby's, a cute lil diner. There was a guy there that talked to us the whole time. About how missions work, about the church ranch (did you know the church owns 2 percent of Florida?)... He prayed for our meal, haha.

We also caught a frog that was on our window. Bothered him until he hopped out of reach. Didn't manage to get a picture though.

Wednesday we did Castle at GKTW!! :D It's Sister Petty's favorite. She likes to sit and color. They had some great pillows there this week.

We went and tracted a little pocket of our area that I'd never been to. It had really cute neighborhoods and some really kind people.

Visited Tati; she's planning on staying in Puerto Rico for a while so her mom can take care of her. :( Her baby, was showing off for us, haha. Spinning around and laughing and talking. I've gotten to watch him grow so much.

Thursday we met the most golden investigator and we're super excited about it. Kerryann was a Bible/Book of Mormon referral, and had gone to church before in Jamaica. She said she'd gone to other churches and felt like a visitor, but our church just felt right. She kept saying, "I believe that."

Met with Siteria again! She'd been super busy and hadn't read from the Book of Mormon, but asked us when we got there if we could read together. So we read the introduction and the testimonies of the three and eight witnesses. She had some awesome questions. We helped her understand and also talked about our lives as missionaries.

Friday I took a sick day. I just felt gross from this cold and needed to sleep. We both slept for a couple extra hours and took it slow the rest of the day.

We met the Lealaitafeas (I still don't know how to pronounce their name), a less active family that I've never met, because they have a camera to see who's at the door. :P He's super sweet though and fed us... puligi? Some kind of Samoan fruitcake. Sister Petty played on his ukulele. He said he'd been praying about coming back to church, and that he was kind of expecting to see us. :)

Saturday we went to another baptism! The North Sisters have been teaching Ulysses for quite a while, and he's been coming to church at least since I've been here. He's a cool guy. It was awesome. :) I got to play piano for it last minute.

We went to the end of the Young Women's fundraiser dinner for camp. In the end we mostly just helped clean up and vacuumed the mess.

We all four went to the Egg's house and visited for a while. Held their chameleon (or as Sister Parish calls it apparently, their green dog) Jazz. That was awesome. Sister Petty made me rap Hamilton for everyone. :P Definitely missionary appropriate.

Christian spoke in church on Sunday! He's only been a member for a week and he's already giving fantastic talks on missionary work. He's going to be such a great missionary.

Instead of having Gospel Principles (because Ulysses is now going to Gospel Doctrine and there were no investigators or others to attend), Brother Wilson asked Sister Petty and I to roleplay teaching the Restoration to the few who were there, so they could see how we teach. *shrug* Roleplays are always a little weird.

Taught Kiara, someone we were kind of led to a couple weeks ago! She had some good questions about whether God wants the separation and contention that exists in different religions, or if He would want everyone to unite and respect and share their faith. She thinks that some of what we teach is super cool, which is awesome. :)

All in all, it's been a pretty great week. There have been ups and downs. But there has also just been that confirmation from the Spirit that I'm where I need to be and who I need to be with. Florida is awesome. Pleasant Hill is awesome. Sister Petty is fantastic. :D

Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Christine

A tree I liked against a sky I liked.

Sister Petty with Ol' Elmer the tree at GKTW.

Inside Mayor Clayton's house (he's a bunny) at GKTW.

Cute Baby Girl of Woman we're teaching. 

We got Slurpees and Sister Petty demanded selfies.

                                                                 THE EGG'S GREEN DOG.

Still Alive!

Hello!

I managed to catch up on my journal today, so I'll actually have an idea of what to write. :P I haven't written every day, but I've written for every day. Almost done with this first journal. :)

So last Monday I got a keyboard which some missionary had left behind for general use. It's mine, I get to take it with me everywhere I go here. :) :) I just need to find some appropriate sheet music.

We also hung out with the North Sisters for a little bit, which is always good. I love just sitting and talking with these people. They're my family down here, and I love them all a ton.

Tuesday we were trying to contact a referral that we've been trying to see for ages, and the neighbors across the street drove up. I was kind of hesitant to talk to them but it turned out to be great (which is often how missionary work goes; you can't prejudge people based on how they look. Sometimes the situations that seem least likely lead to great teaching situations). The woman feels like she's fallen away from her faith and really wants to go back to church and teach her children about God, but she knows her husband won't want to go to church, which is hard for her.

We worked pizza at Give Kids the World on Wednesday, which means we hang out behind the counter and give people pizza for lunch. The time we're there every week is generally pretty slow, because people are at the theme parks, so there's not usually a lot of people to help. So we cut and wrapped brownies too. :P

We talked with B and A, because Al was sick and needed to get ready for bed. It was great because they asked us some good doctrinal questions. He told us that he's now told his mom that he's a member of the church, which he was scared to do, and she took it better than he expected. :)

Thursday we finally had District meeting again. We all bore testimony of the Atonement. Sister Petty and I gave a training on faith, and two other companionships talked about diligence and love. Elder Bone said that those were something like the three legs of missionary work.

We were going to see one of our investigators on her birthday, but she got called in to work. :( So we did some finding in the area. We were finally able to have a lesson with Siteria, the investigator that came to Enrichment the other week. She says she appreciates our efforts to check up on and contact her every week, haha.

Sister Jones called us and sounded a little worried, so we went there... their cat has a wound on his leg. And she basically said, "You're the vet, what do we do?" :P (It's not pretty but it should heal on its own.) That cat is so patient.

Friday we had dinner with someone whose name I'd never seen before. But we got there and I definitely recognized them. Turns out their records are in a branch, but they've been attending a different ward, but they got kicked out and are now trying to transfer to our ward. Hah. They were fun to be with and to talk to. And they're going to give us and the North Sisters referrals sometime. :)

Saturday we went to a baptism! The North Sisters have been teaching Christian, who has been living with the Eggs, and the Buena Ventura Elders have been teaching his parents and younger sister. And they all got baptized! It was awesome. :)

We finally managed to see Susan again. She was in an awful accident but came out mostly unscathed, just sore and shaken. She believes that God saved her. She wants to start seeing us again. We love her.

The North Sisters had made cupcakes, and we delivered them to Sister Fritz, because she's awesome and always helps us out a bunch. We stayed there for a bit to talk and cuddle her animals. She told us we can go there any time for an "animal fix". :)

Sunday was also great. Had ward council at an absurd hour. Christian got confirmed! (And we weren't there for this, but he was given the priesthood and was able to give it to his dad, which is so cool.)

Um. Tried to find referrals.

We finally managed to lure the mother cat close enough to us to touch her, and it turns out she's super sweet.

Today we're just hanging out at home. The North Sisters came down, so we have company. And we're all just writing emails on the couch. :)

...Yep, that was the week. My journal's much more scattered because of having to catch up. But it's been a pretty great week! I've definitely noticed that even when I don't feel motivated sometimes, once I'm actually out and working, it's so much easier to forget myself and just do. Which is so great. The Spirit kinda takes over and we're able to do so much. :)

Hope you all have a fantastic week. I love you.

Love,

Christine

P.S. Grandpa Sommerfeld sent me a super sweet email. 

I'm glad you got to go to the mission conference! You got to hear Elder Oaks? Awesome!

Thank you for your letters, your prayers, and your love. Have a good Valentine's Day! We have interviews with President on Valentine's Day. :P

Love you. Have a great day.

Pics from exchanges! 

Sister Yance and I got free Girl Scout cookies. :)

Sister Reid, Sister Petty, me, and Sister Yance after exchanges.

All of us at the self defense thing.

Sister Lamborn was in a silly mood and climbed on the car. :P

Sister Petty and Sister Lamborn being adorable. :)

Silly selfies.

A dog at the Torres's house creeping at the dinner table.

 With the Fronks! They're moving. :(

It was foggy and gorgeous on Sunday.

There's a lizard that was in between 

one of the windows and the screen.

So we took it outside.

Sister Petty wanted to hold it.

Sister Lamborn and Sister Angelo are cute.

 Cute lil library box in the park. We left a BoM

  

Conference and Cats

Hello All,

So this email is going to be much more rushed than normal; I've got
less than 40 minutes to send it off, and I haven't written in my
journal much this week. D:

Tuesday we had Zone Conference! Heard lots of great thoughts and
advice. President Clark told us a story about his childhood. His
mother wanted him to take a nap, but he decided he'd be helpful and
bring in the milk bottles instead. He grabbed one to take it in... and
dropped and broke it. And then he tried twice more. And broke the
other two bottles of milk. He said his mother just didn't quite
understand his willingness to help! :P And then he told us that
sometimes we think we're doing missionary work when we're really not.
We need to evaluate what we're doing and if it's truly helping,
repent, and continue. Maybe our fourth floor, last door doesn't open.
We keep working anyway.

I saw Sister Sorensen and her new trainee. She's training right out of
training. Crazy. She's awesome though, looks like she's doing great. I
think they had a baptism last week. :) Also saw Sister Parish! We were
all super happy to see her bright happy self.

Later in the day we were doing some finding in the one apartment
complex in Poinciana, and we weren't sure what to do. It was too early
to go home but too late to go anywhere else. So we prayed and both
felt that we needed to go to the top floor. That was it. The first
door we knocked opened and the woman invited us in to pray! :)
Also we got horchata. It was a good day.

Wednesday we did Castle at GKTW again! Yayyyy. It was just such a good
day and I was super happy and energized. A very very slow day at GKTW,
but I still got to help find a couple of stars, which is always my
favorite. :)

When we got home, one of the feral cats in the neighborhood approached
us and let us pet her. She was absolutely skin and bones, and probably
had an upper respiratory infection or something. :( Sister Petty
adores cats. And so we both tried to get her to eat and figure out
what to do. A member gave us some food and the number for animal
control. So we kept her in the garage for a bit. :P She was picked up
the next day and was apparently doing much better. So that's good!
The STLs (Sister Training Leader) came over and we had to explain the
cat situation. :P "It's not a pet. Bagheera doesn't even have a name.
We promise." Luckily they like animals too and were understanding.
The STLs had told us to pray about who was going where for exchanges.
Sister Petty and I both assumed that I would stay here, simply because
I know the area. But we both felt, after praying, that she needed to
stay here and lead out. So I went up to Lake Nona with Sister Yance,
and Sister Reid stayed down in PHS with Sister Petty!

Exchanges are always super fun. I adore Sister Yance. She's such a
happy, enthusiastic person, and is always incredibly encouraging.
We had lunch with their investigators and a member, and the plan was
to teach the Plan of Salvation, or read from the Book of Mormon as a
backup. We didn't do either, we simply addressed concerns that they
had and testified a lot. The member was awesome and just took over and
gave great insight and testimony.

There's a new little community up there called Storey Park, and all
the streets are named after different literature genres. It's awesome.
They have a tiny little "library" box where you can take or leave a
book. We left a Book of Mormon. :)

We had another self defense class, which was super fun. This time the
missionaries were kind of just invited to tag along with the mutual
kids.

Friday was a day.
Planning.
Got juice.

Saturday we again had a cool prayer experience. We had only a few more
minutes before we had to drive to our dinner appointment, so we looked
at the names of a few potential investigators and both felt like
trying the same one. She's in high school and had apparently been
given a Bible before? She thought the premise of the Book of Mormon
was so cool, and we're going to see her next Saturday!

Had dinner with the Boodram/Scherers and the North Sisters. Which
means that we laughed quite a lot. :)

Fast and testimony meeting on Sunday was great. Sister Jones bore her
testimony; she hadn't been able to come to church the past couple of
weeks, and she said she was glad to be home. :)

Broke our fast early, because our dinner appointment was going to be
gone during dinner time, so we just had lunch with them. Which meant
that we could join the North Sisters at the Lasala's home for dinner.
They always have tons of people and tons of food. Sister Lasala says
it's the least she can do to try and feed us once or twice a month. :)

Not sure what else there is. P-day ends in 7 minutes. D: Today's been
kind of up and down, and I certainly don't like rushing letters. But
overall this week has been pretty great! There's some awesome stuff to
look forward to next week. :)

Hope you're all doing well. Have a fantastic week.

Love,

Christine