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

This schedule change is the best!

Hello there family!

So, yes. The schedule change. Best thing ever. Now when we get home we can just get ready for bed (not that that's actually happened yet.. but it will). Also TWO EXTRA HOURS on p-days. Best thing. I swept the house today while Sister Petty had a nap because EXTRA TIME.

The key indicators change is a little harder to get used to. We now have only 4: investigators baptized and confirmed, on date, at Sacrament, and new investigators. It gives us a lot more agency to choose how to spend our time, I suppose, and keeps us focused on the MOST important things... But the other things are still important as well. It's a little confusing.

Also Sister Petty is pretty great and we're incredibly similar. We have similar tastes in music and shows. She enjoys coloring. She adores animals, especially cats... She appreciates when I point out random animals on the side of the road, which is nice, haha. She's from Pleasant Grove. So all of my companions thus far have been from Utah. (Interestingly, 3 out of 4 of hers have been from California.)

Mom, it's super cool that you got to go visit San Francisco! I hope that was awesome, even if you didn't do all the touristy stuff. Sometimes it's more fun to do non-touristy things anyway. :)


This week! Not a lot of teaching happened this week unfortunately. But we did a lot of contacting and finding. So hopefully this week we'll see all those people!

Last Monday we visited Brian and Angie and Alex and Olivia. Alex has been reading in the Book of Mormon! They want her to understand and take the gospel more seriously before she's baptized. Sister Petty brought that Beanboozled game, akin to Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, except you can't tell the difference between the good and bad ones. Alex thought it was super fun. And at the end we told her that she could either take the chance, or she could ask for a good one, and get one from a bag of only good beans. We related it to the fact that we can ask Heavenly Father for help, but we first have to know how, and that help is available. I had the taste of a rotten egg bean in my mouth the rest of the night. We're not sure how to top that this week.

Tuesday.... hm. Heard one of the less actives we've been visiting pray in Haitian Creole. So pretty. Her 9 year old daughter Claire made her pray. She said she couldn't pray in English, and Claire said, "It doesn't matter what language!" :) They're interesting to teach because they're so quiet and Sister B is not as comfortable with English. But they're super cute and always glad to have us over.

Wednesday we had the broadcast announcing the schedule change and new key indicators. But before that announcement we essentially just watched the council that meets to discuss missionaries. Elders Oaks, Bednar, and Andersen, Bonnie L. Oscarson, the presiding Bishop (?) and a couple others. They just discussed some common missionary concerns and how we can address those.

Elder Bednar (I believe) talked about how the elements of what we teach, the principles of the gospel, are all tied together and influence and support each other. There is no spiritual power in separating them and treating them as different elements. Putting them all in context with each other gives it power. They said if we're teaching the commandments properly, people will ask to be baptized, haha.

"No matter how much we speak of Him, it is never too much. No matter how much we love Him, our adoration is just beginning." -Elder Andersen

"This is something of the heart, not the mouth." -Elder Bednar

Thursday we had a lesson with Jaquelynn, the Burtons' daughter! She's just really fun to talk to and we love visiting with her. I don't remember what I've told y'all about her in the past... But basically we're just refreshing her on the lessons and the gospel because she wants to introduce her boyfriend to the church. We talked about baptism and read from the Book of Mormon with her. She loves that she's feeling the Spirit more in her life again, and that things are kind of falling into place. We told her to start reading the Book of Mormon again and keep strengthening her testimony, because it'll definitely help her feel the Spirit more and know when and how to share the gospel! :)

Had dinner with the North Sisters at the Registre's house. It was so fun, haha. We talked to the kids about serving missions and shared some of our experiences (spiritual, fun, crazy). And we laughed a lot. I hadn't really talked with them much up to that point, but they're really fun to be around.

Oh, and the North Sisters put fake snow all over our bathroom counters. :P Was quite a surprise once they'd left.

We went to Give Kids the World on Friday instead of Wednesday, because of the broadcast. Worked in the Cafe. And met the cutest little British kids. They were so happy and bouncy and friendly, and I just talked with them for a bit while their parents got food. Their little accents and mannerisms were so stinking cute.

Then the Fronks drove us up to Belleview, Sister Petty's last area, for a baptism! Her recent convert's 9 year old daughter got baptized. It was super cool to see. Everyone, especially the girl and her sister, was super excited to see Sister Petty there.

On the way home Brother Fronk got a call that someone in the ward had been in a car accident and needed a blessing. So we went with them to the hospital. He was absolutely, definitely protected. The accident sounded pretty bad, and he didn't have any broken bones or bleeds, he was just confused. So we stayed there for a while. Didn't get home until 11-ish.

Saturday we had dinner with the Creamers! :D They're fantastic. Elder Creamer grilled us these MASSIVE steaks. And we just sat and talked with them for quite a while. They're so funny and they love their missionaries so much. She talked about how simple of a thing it was to have Sister Lamborn and me come over for Christmas, and how awesome it was for them to see and hear our joy. :) We love them a lot.

Sunday after church we just hung around the North Sisters' apartment for a bit, since our dinner appointment was in their area, at 3. Sister Lamborn was diligent and studied. Sister Petty had a nap. Sister Angelo and I just talked for a little while. :)

And I was ready for bed a little after 8 o'clock last night. ;-; But our District leader didn't call to account until after 9. But hey. Got to bed on time at least.

This week has certainly been interesting. But I know that I have so, so much support from all around me! I've got these awesome Sisters that love me a ton, I've got great leaders, I've got prayers from family and from around the world (which is so cool!) and I've got Jesus and Heavenly Father on my side! With all of that, everything is awesome and anything is possible. :)

Love,

Christine

Squad then.

Squad now.

Sister Smith and squad.

Sisters Powell and Crabb sneaking a selfie on my camera.

We're cute. :P

I am not a fan of selfies. Other people are fans of selfies. So whatever. :P

The sky was SO PRETTY.

Three Months in Florida!

Family!

Tomorrow marks three months since I flew to Florida. This week started
my third transfer. Crazy.

New companion

I'm glad it's raining so much there! That's awesome! It rained here
last night and it's been super windy. We had tornado warnings
apparently. Just reminds me of home, haha.

We haven't heard anything about the inauguration yet. We'll have to
ask Sister Fritz; she keeps us updated on stuff like that, haha.

I've had horchata once down here. It was made in the restaurant and it
was SOOOO good. So good.

Uhmmm.
This week!

Last Monday we found some cool people for Sister Lamborn's last day in
the area. (We haven't managed to contact them again but it'll happen.)
The husband is just a really awesome guy and really wants to learn
about religion and God so that he's more motivated to fully commit
himself to God. And the wife has taken lessons before! She loves how
dedicated missionaries are.

Sister Lamborn told me a date story every night that we were
companions. She's been on a lot of dates, haha. Heard my last one
Monday night. (Sister Petty is now continuing the tradition of bedtime
date stories, hah.)

Tuesday Sister Lamborn cleaned as much as possible so the house would
be nice for Sister Petty. Sister Kober is a saint and drove us up to
the North Sisters' where we traded stuff, left Sister Lamborn, and
took Sister Parish and me up to the stake center. And then traded
stuff one more time to take back down to our area.

We just talked and shared pictures and got to know one another for a
bit, and then went out so she could meet people! Angie and Brian
challenged Sister Petty to involve Alex, something that Sister Lamborn
had done great at.

Sister Petty is also great at engaging kids though so that shouldn't
be a problem. We've got a less active family who mostly speak Haitian
Creole. The daughter, C, is 9 and speaks more English, but is
just very shy and quiet. And she spoke up more than I've ever heard
with Sister Petty using cute little cards to teach about the Plan of
Salvation.

I did okay at coming up with on the spot lessons and commitments,
haha. I'm not great at planning things out in advance, so it's good
that I've built a little pool of random teaching resources.

Also Sister Petty is awesome and she loves film and lots of the stuff
I do. Loves Hamilton. Loves Doctor Who. And other more obscure things
that other people don't get. Loooves animals which I'm super happy
about. Now when I point out squirrels and stuff someone will get
excited about it, haha.

She had some struggles with getting out on a mission too. And her
attitude is so fantastic. "We MADE it! We're on MISSIONS! LOOK AT US!"

First Give Kids the World day for Sister Petty on Wednesday, and we
got to do CASTLE. YESSS. We had several families come to see their
stars, which is always fun. One alumni family came in that had been
there in 2012, and the kid was a teenager and thought it was awesome.
The next family was grandparents, and the child had since passed. The
parents didn't want to come and see it. I was able to pinpoint his
specific star for them. I love when I can find the exact spot.

Had to go up to the mission office for Sister Petty to take a
defensive driving test, hahaha. She apparently wasn't cleared to be
driving in her old area, and got stuck in sand a couple times... So
that had to be fixed. And we neeeed a car in our area. Elder Creamer
has fought so hard for that.

Had Enrichment night at Bishop's house! And we invited and
investigator, and SHE CAME. IT WAS SO GREAT. It was a hot cocoa and
get to know you night (Sister Palomino cranked up the AC so that
people would want cocoa, haha), which was PERFECT. She had such a good
time and said it was a great diversion from the crazy that had been
happening in her life. It was also great for Sister Petty to get to
know everyone. There wasn't enough room, so the other two Sisters and
I sat on the side and talked. :) I'm so, so glad they're still so
close.

Thursday, District meeting. Elder James went home, so our District got
a little bit realigned and we got a new District Leader. We all just
kind of got to know each other and bore testimony. It was different
from other DMs.

Sister Petty and I got to know each other a lot better that evening.
And just quoted things back and forth and laughed really hard. It's
been a party.

Friday. Planning day. Gross. Especially since I'm the one who knows
all the people. ahhh. Responsibility. Next week will be better.
Had dinner with the Bonalbas and the other Sisters. They had to leave
early for a lesson and apparently a Bible study at another church. And
we stayed there an extra hour helping Sister Bonalba set up her
tablet, haha. They had no clue what to do with it. It was
entertaining.

SATURDAY WE BIKED. We haven't biked much recently. And Sister Petty
hasn't biked much on her mission. So I made her. And we met some
really cool people that we wouldn't have seen otherwise. I love biking
for that. Sister Petty was beat by the end and I was pretty tired too.
It's been too long.

We had a Bible referral come in that we dropped by while on bikes;
someone else answered the door and said he wasn't home from work yet.
Dropped by again after dinner and the guy was just super cool. He's
talked to missionaries before. Talked about attending church as if he
were already a member. Unfortunately, he's on call on Sundays. His
Bible and Book of Mormon were taken from his work truck, and his
attitude was just, "I guess someone else needed them more." And he
requested more. Pretty cool.

We had to get up early on Sunday for ward council, which only happens
about once a month. It's at 7:30 now which is gross. And then we
didn't even really participate because they were running late. :P
Angie and Brian spoke in Sacrament meeting! They did so great! And we
were sitting in the pew behind them, so we got to watch Alex holding
Olivia, which was just so stinking cute.

Please pray for our investigator Susan and her less active father
Patrick right now. He doesn't want people to know the situation, but
she told us a bit... They're just having some really rough health
struggles right now, and I'm worried. :(

Had dinner with the Mejias! They're so fun. M (16 months) and S
(like 2 months?) are so cute. Maya loves all four of us. She's just a
super happy baby. And Brother Mejia is hilarious and loves joking
around... But last night we got to hear his sincere testimony about
the Sacrament, and it was incredible and powerful.

This week has certainly been an adjustment, but it's been pretty
amazing too! I've learned a lot about what I'm capable of; how much I
actually CAN do. Leading out is rough but it's also been pretty fun. I
love the gospel and I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father, for
prayer, for the Atonement. I love sharing that with people. This week
was bumpy just because it was new. Next week is going to be amazing.
:) There's always new things and progression that can happen! :D

Love,
Christine

On the throne in the castle

A toad we found and named him Maurice

Sister Petty and me!

No longer a baby

 
Hello!

Sorry again if I don't respond to like anything that you've written. My mind is super scattered today; it's been crazy. :P I do love reading about what's happening in your lives.

Our mission office still forwards mail, just not packages. They bring packages to Zone conferences or have someone in the district deliver it to us, generally. Mail takes ages to get to us when forwarded, though.

I think it's hilarious that you're using the burrito picture for my plaque, haha. I'm not even in proselyting clothes. I am always open to being given snakes and burritos. Always.

So, transfer news. I am going to be staying here, and my new companion will be Sister Petty. She's been out a transfer longer than I have, and she's from Utah. That's mostly what I know so far. Sister Lamborn is just moving up to the north side with Sister Angelo, haha. So she's still in the ward and I'll see her multiple times a week. That's not a usual thing, I guess. :P And Sister Parish is going to the Disney singles' ward.

And I found out that Sister Sorensen is training right out of training! Crazy!

This week!

Tuesday we had to go get a hitch put on our car and then go to the mission office to get a bike rack. So we got to visit with the senior missionaries for a while, which is always fun! Elder Creamer really didn't want either of us to leave his ward.

Had a little movie night with my Christmas popcorn to watch training videos. (I'm pretty sure we didn't finish training for the week, but there was SO MUCH.)

We made Brother Turner feed us. I dunno if I've written about him. He's this really entertaining member who loves to talk. He's got two giant, gorgeous akitas. And a ball python they let me hold after dinner! It was a little hard to get a spiritual message in, but we did our best, haha.

Had a sort-of visit with Sister Jones. Sister Lamborn gave her a message and I sat with Sofia, the 4 (?) year old, and she "magically" made my ring disappear over and over, haha. Jonathon, the 3 year old, has decided that he REALLY loves us, and locked us in the house so we couldn't leave.

Wednesday the Hamiltons drove us to Give Kids the World. He was the first Branch President in Jamaica! They told us basically how to get through to Jamaicans if we ever teach any.

The people at GKTW gave Elder James a little party. He's been in this area (and thus at GKTW) for EIGHT MONTHS, and he's going home this week. We got to work in Amberville for the first time, which is essentially a little arcade for the kids, plus a MASSIVE train station/town with like 30 buttons to push and turn things on in the town.

Thursday, last District meeting of the transfer. Soooo spiritual. Elder James has been an incredible District leader. He's gonna do great things in the real world.

We also held a funeral for him.

We wandered around a part of our area that we've never seen before, and it was fairly pointless, but pretty.

We've met SO many cool people in the southern part of our area this past couple of weeks! We weren't able to go down there much before we had our own car. The people there are amazing, humble, and so prepared. That day I tried to just testify with more confidence and boldness, and immediately noticed a difference in the Spirit I felt and the promptings I received.

That evening Sister Lamborn and I just sat and decided which Doctor Who and Harry Potter characters some of the people we know would be, haha.


Friday we anxiously waited and hoped that we wouldn't get a phone call telling us we would be training.

We went to Twistee Treat, an ice cream place that's everywhere down here. We've been meaning to go, and decided the end of the transfer was a great time to go. :)

And then planning.


Saturday we taught the COOLEST lady named Freddie. She was a Bible referral who was interested in learning more. And she just kind of absorbed the Restoration and asked really good questions. We asked, if she came to know that what we taught was true, if she'd be baptized. And she said "yes?" like it was an obvious answer.

Bishop called us with a referral for Elsa and Nelson, and it turned out that we'd delivered a Bible to them earlier in the transfer! It was such a cool connection that got us in to teach them. They're really trying to find God in their lives right now. Elsa interrupted us with questions the whole time, which was amazing. Questions are great.

Sister Lamborn finally made French toast with cinnamon for us, after we got transfer calls. She had been talking about it since the first week.


Sacrament meeting was great on Sunday! There were supposed to be 3 speakers, but the returned missionary took most of the time, and then the next speaker didn't really cut her talk any shorter. The high councilor basically told them it was fine. So we didn't sing the rest hymn and he didn't speak, haha.

We met this guy who started out super combative and would probably have bashed... But we just answered his questions and testified, and he opened up to us so much. We have met SO many cool people recently.

Went around for Sister Lamborn to say goodbye to some of her favorite people. They can still see her if they decide to come to church. So we're sort of using it as a bribe.

We just sat and talked for a while that night.

So much has happened in this transfer, and I have learned so much! About myself, about the people, about the Lord! Putting our trust in Him is so, so necessary. He loves us so much and wants to help us. And all we have to do is ask for that help and then act in faith. Everything is possible with His help!

Love,

Christine

A couple pictures from that time Elder James pulled me around in a handcart.

 My district!

 Elder James's funeral.

A really pretty part of our area we'd never been in.

Me and Jonathon! :D

This really grumpy cold bird that I loved.

ICE CREAM

And a flower.

Almost graduated 🎓

Hello!

I've been gone THREE MONTHS. I only have ONE MORE WEEK of training! AHH.
Sounds like you had an awesome week, even with being sick! Sister
Lamborn lost her voice for part of this week. :P
I wish I could go to the temple and the beach, haha. Both are within
close driving distance, but alas.
Oh, turns out I can charge the iPod in the car! So that's a little
weird, but it works.

THIS WEEK. I didn't write as much in my journal this week. Oops.

Tuesday we had District meeting/interviews with President Clark. He
gave me a really cool insight on feeling inadequate... That inadequacy
is awesome! Nephi was totally not qualified to build a ship. But with
the Lord's help and guidance, he was able.

Wednesday we got to work at the Castle in GKTW again! There were way
more families in there that day than the last time. :) It's so fun to
interact with all the little kids and see them light up. Also when
nobody's in there, coloring is great.

Also decided that day that I can definitely improve upon working with
all my heart, might, mind, and strength. Gotta forget myself, trust in
the Lord, and go to work. :)

So I tried that on Thursday, and saw a huge difference. It was SUCH a
great day! Our first lesson, I just felt the Spirit SO strongly and
was able to give input more and testify more powerfully.

We met a less active we've been meaning to see since the first week,
Jessica. She's awesome. Her testimony of the gospel is so, so amazing.
And she was just really fun to talk to. (She also has 3 6-month old
kittens who wanted to cuddle, and they brightened my day a ton. Didn't
even have any allergic reactions. :P )

Aaaand we finally met a potential investigator we've been trying to
see since really early on! He was super sweet and interested in what
we were teaching, and the lesson went so smoothly. When he read
Moroni's promise, it made him wonder if his prayers were sincere
enough. He hesitated to pray in front of us, but it was so great. :)

Friday, instead of planning, all four of us went to Sister Palomino's
house to discuss the Relief Society sisters. She just got called as
president (and her husband is Bishop, and she has 4 kids... this woman
is a superhero) and wanted our insight on the sisters, since we know
some of them best. We just went through A-Z and talked about what we
knew, who had moved, and who we hadn't met yet. Took like 6 hours. She
fed us and her kids entertained us. It was fun. :)

Dunno if I mentioned that Brian and Angie had their baby! Olivia! We
went to meet her and took dinner. She's tiny and cute. Alex loves
being a big sister. :)

Sister Jones has decided that she wants to work on getting her
patriarchal blessing, and so she's been reading the Book of Mormon
daily! We read some with her and talked about it. And then we asked
one of the people she lives with if she wants to learn more about the
church, and she agreed! We've been coming around long enough that she
trusts us, I guess. :)

Saturday was a little different. Since we're full car now, we're able
to go to the south part of our area more often (if we're careful with
miles, which we haven't been. Oops). Tried to bring Sister Howse with
us to a lesson, but he wasn't home. She thinks she's bad luck, haha.
But we took her to visit a less active family she wanted to see
anyway, to invite their daughter to Young Women's activities. (Sister
Howse just got called as the YW president. All the women's
organizations were released at once.)

Visited with Sister Fritz for a while! She keeps us updated on what's
happening in the world. Sister Lamborn loves keeping up with politics,
so she tells us about that craziness. And she told us what happened
with the shooting. :( She's got 7 dogs and a few cats, though only one
is comfortable with people.

And then we visited and got to know Sister Matee! She told some really
cool stories. Once an African prince kissed her, haha.

Sunday, church! We were a little late because Sister Fritz drove us
and her gas pedal froze. Froze. In Florida. It was SO COLD on Sunday.
We had fast and testimony meeting this week instead of on New Year's.
Dunno why. But some super sweet people bore their testimonies about
us. We love them. Love this ward.

The Kobers had us over for dinner! They're just so stinking awesome.
They would do absolutely anything for the missionaries, for the ward,
for God. He told us about some of his crazy mission experiences in
Colombia.

Then we went and read from the Book of Mormon with Brother Wilson and
his kids. They were super excited and wanted to read more, which he
was shocked at, haha.

Transfers are happening next week. We find out on Saturday.  I know that
Heavenly Father will send me where I need to be, with people I need to meet,
and where I can learnand grow the most! I'm excited and interested to see what happens!
I won't be a missionary baby anymore! :P

Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Christine

Yikes, I'm really slacking on pictures this week. This is the one I
have. I can kind of put my hair in a ponytail. A pirate ponytail, as
Sister Lamborn would call it. :P

🎉🎉HAPPY NEW YEAR 🎉🎉

Hi mom and dad!

2017 is here! So crazy! I've been in Florida over 2 months! Also crazy! Been gone nearly 3 months! CRAZY. Do you all have any resolutions? I'm no good at resolutions. Goal setting is a struggle sometimes. :P

I've also had a cold, and passed it on to Sister Lamborn. :( Coughing and raspy voices all the days. My lungs felt pretty gross on Thursday, but it's definitely getting better. Hope y'all are starting to feel better. Holiday sicknesses are no fun.

Something that's kinda funny to me... When you talk about stuff at home in your emails, it just makes me happy. I love thinking about snow on the mountains and all the fun stuff you're doing. :) But when you talk about the food places you go, that makes me a little homesick, haha. I want El Pollo Loco. But not the food poisoning.

Thanks for the New Year's Elf presents! I have loved sharing that tradition. I love the bird book! I guessed what it was! :D And we all love the necklaces.

This weeeek!
Monday one of our sort-of investigators gave us dinner. So much food. Their family would be suuuuuch cool members, they just need to put in the effort to find out if the Book of Mormon is true. We shared the Christmas story in the Book of Mormon with her, and she definitely felt the Spirit from that. She just needs to read more on her own. We love them a ton.

Tuesday we watched the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration film with Sister Jones. I love films about his life. They make me emotional every time. He was such a great man, and truly a prophet of God.

Had dinner/lesson/hung out with the Cruzes again. They're awesome. I recommended books to Jennie. The grandma flat-out told us that she hadn't read the Book of Mormon, and Jennie told us she'd just read to her this time. :)

Wednesday I woke up feeling kind of gross and blah. Sister Lamborn made me go back to sleep. I woke up again at 9, and it just felt so weird. Had breakfast at 9:30... it just felt really odd, haha. We didn't go to service; thought it was a pretty bad plan to be around sick kids when I was sick.

Instead we went out with Sister Fanny! We thought it was just going to be a couple of visiting teaching visits. We should have known better, hah. We cut out things and made cards and were with her the whole day. It was a really productive day, we visited a bunch of people and got to meet a few that we'd never seen before. She just visits everyone. :P



Thursday we had District Meeting, yay! I had jumbled together some notes so I could give a thought on what I learned in personal study. Then Elder James said something about learning by the Spirit, which is exactly what my thought was about. I talked about how sometimes we don't even know that we're being taught by the Spirit. Inspired.

We had lunch with all the Sisters in our District. :)

Then dinner with the Galeany family! Their son is probably around 10 and was so excited to share his Christmas gifts with us. He let us drive his little robots and showed us all the cool things on his Lego sets. :) The dad isn't a member, and he's the one that did all the cooking for us. He's a really cool guy. I attempted to solo the lesson at the end, with some input from the others. Not my favorite thing, heh.

Friday we did a bunch of service! And it was a gorgeous cool day, perfect for working. We helped the Burtons clear branches and vines off of their pool covering. It was actually super fun. Threw all the stuff in the lot behind their house, which apparently borders Disney property. :P And they took us to lunch; I got the most massive burrito.

Helped Sister Najera with some weeding. Also cuddled her dog, Koda. He's an American Eskimo dog, like Savannah. He loves me. :)

Planned a little bit for the week. Mostly I focused on just planning for Saturday. We were getting ready for exchanges, and I was to be the one to lead out the area. So I made the plans for that day.

Sister Lamborn went up to Lake Nona with Sister O'Hara, and I got Sister Yance. She's awesome. :) We stayed up a little too late talking and telling stories.

Saturday, my plans were mostly to find people that we hadn't met before. With the help of Sister Yance, we turned that into 9 lessons! It was such a great day! We got 3 new investigators! I learned a ton about what I'm capable of, especially in leading. I had to make the decisions (which I'm not fond of), had to make the plans, had to talk to people... And it was great! My goal for the exchange was to be more bold and talk more in contacts. I definitely did so. Sister Yance wants me to work on being more confident and assured in what I teach. She says I'm a good teacher.

Sunday was great! Woke up around 12 because people were screaming in the streets and setting off fireworks. It was hard to get to sleep after that. And I was kinda stressed because I'd put off writing a talk until that morning. All 4 of us gave talks on "Discipleship and Service in the Church". I spoke first and shortest, so luckily people probably forgot about mine. :P Sister Egg was making faces at us throughout the meeting. It was great.

We met a less active who had her baby blessed and talked with her for quite a while. She believes in the gospel but has some struggles with the church. Sister Lamborn relates to her so much and was able to address her concerns really well. :)

That evening I got a blessing from Elder James. It was just so cool. I love the priesthood. :)



Today I just woke up feeling so happy! It's been such a great day! I was able to focus on studies more than usual and learned a ton! There's so much happening and so much to look forward to! I'm excited to teach our new people! The gospel is true! God loves us!

Have a fantastic and happy new year! I love you all so much.

Love,

Christine

1. 
2. Bentley!
3 and 4. Fat, fat Rona.
5. LOOK HOW BIG THIS BURRITO IS

This is Koa street and it's ALWAYS beautiful. 

I love it any time of day. 

Biking down it is my favorite. 

It's also where Frollo the gator lives.

Bentley!

Fat, fat Rona.

LOOK HOW BIG THIS BURRITO IS