Week 16 - Inman/Boiling Springs, SC - 10/28/13

Is this really Week 16? That's crazy. Is the time going by as fast for y'all as it is for me? I can barely even believe it!

This week has been such a busy week! I went to my first Sisters Conference this week! It was actually pretty good! We talked a lot about how we can be better disciples of Jesus Christ which was awesome! But then there are some sisters... Oh boy. We seriously spent 5 minutes talking about what kinds of nail polish are appropriate to wear. That was quite the experience! Hahah. But we did get a posterity picture taken while we were there (I'll send that later because the good picture is on Sister Gardner's memory card). It's a pretty sweet looking picture. And get this. I actually went to 110 Oak Park Dr., Ste. B (Mission Office) while we were in Irmo for the conference. That was pretty eventful if you ask me!

Want to know something awesome? We got back in touch with J and K! It's been a long time since we've seen them. I think that Sister Craig was a little pushy with them and they really did not want a whole lot to do with us for a while. Then we went back last Sunday and their daughter, N invited us to her birthday party on Saturday. We decided to go especially since we heard that K had thrown her back out. That meant that we got to do service! It was super fun and we loved being around them. I think that it was a really good way to mend our relationship with them because before J would end our visits with "Remember you're always welcomed in our home," which sounded like "You can come by and we won't complain but no teaching us." Then when we left the party, both J and K said to us "Come back to visit us soon!" So. . . yeah. I'm pretty sure that was successful.

Well other than that, we've been doing a lot of knocking. We've been trying so hard to get investigators but it has been hard on us. Poor Sister Gardner probably thinks that this is all we do as missionaries because we haven't been able to teach too many official lessons other than lessons on the door step. But we found this pretty legit lead the other day. Her name is C and she's very open minded to different religions. She also loves the fact that we're younger because she's only 25. She told us a few different times to come back which is unusual. Typically when we find leads, the people will say something like "Y'all come back now, ya hear?" which is basically them being too nice to say we're not interested. But she gave us a date and time to come back so we're going to be visiting her tonight. I'm pretty excited to see where things go with her.

Anyway, that's all I've got for you this week! I hope y'all have a blessed week!

- Sister Amy Christensen

 

My Mission genealogy!

Me at the Mission Office!

Week 15 - Inman/Boiling Springs, SC - 10/21/13

Greetings :) Long time, no see! I had a lot happen to me this week and I'm so excited to tell y'all all about it!

First off, I'm training! It's so awesome to be senior companion! Mostly because I get to drive... That's pretty much the bomb. I didn't realize how much I missed driving until I started driving last Wednesday. But on to the more important stuff! My new companion is (Drum roll please!) Sister Kalee Gardner from Snowflake, AZ! She's 19 years old and just finished high school this past year so that's kind of crazy especially since I just graduated college! Supposedly we're Facebook friends? That's what Sis Gardner claims. She said that I added her from the "Many Are Called... Few Are Sisters" page so I could add her to the South Carolina Sister Missionary Page. I have no recollection of this fact but I guess I'll take her word for it. I'm very excited to work with her though! I think that I'll be able to learn a ton from her even though I'm the trainer! I really think that we'll finally be able to make a difference here in Boiling Springs!

We've been doing a ton of finding lately just because all of our investigators haven't been progressing, which is unfortunate. Speaking of investigators I need to tell you this story! Yesterday we went to go visit the C family and they didn't answer the door but I saw their kids were next door playing with some kids who are in our ward! I went over there and just talked with them and  N, their 8 year old daughter, came running out of the house to us. She said "I was wondering if you two wanted to come to my birthday party on Saturday?" How adorable is that? We'll definitely make an appearance! I just thought it was the cutest thing ever! Gotta love the C kids!

Other than that, we had stake conference this weekend which was THE BEST! I don't know if y'all have had stake conference yet but our stake president read what the First Presidency asked that the Saturday night session's topic be about missionary work. So for the first time, we had all 39 missionaries in our stake attend a stake conference together! It was so cool! It echoed the words of our prophet and apostles from this last conference about how important the members are in missionary work! Oh my yes! It was so awesome! It was the best spiritual energizer ever! And then Sunday's session was just as good as well! It was a lot focused on hastening the work! I loved it!

Right now is the best time to be a missionary! I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve! I know that especially with this last conference and this last stake conference, I would have regretted not serving a mission. I'm needed to help the Lord hasten this great work of His. I'm so excited to be apart of all this excitement!

Before I end my letter, I want to re-issue a challenge that Elder Ballard gave this past conference to anyone who reads this email! He said "We are simply asking all members to pray, knowing that if every member, young and old, will reach out to just 'one' between now and Christmas, millions will feel the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a wonderful gift to the Savior." What I love about this is Elder Ballard didn't say "Go and teach anyone in sight!" He just asks that we reach out to them to help them feel the love of our Savior! I know that opportunities for you to do this will come if you pray for them and our Heavenly Father will bless you for hastening the work! I love y'all! I'll talk to you next week!

- Sister Amy Christensen

Me by the Inman sign! My home for the past 3 months :)

Me and Sister Gardner. We're pretty good looking people, eh?

Week 14 - Inman/Boiling Springs, SC - 10/14/13

I'm sure y'all are dying to know who's staying in Boiling Springs, aren't you? Well... I'll save that for the very end! I gotta keep the suspense going!

Did you know that people here say "boil" like "bowl" so people will say "Bowling" Springs or "Go 'bowl' some water!" ... Weird.

So not a whole lot happened this week! We did a lot of tracting this week since all of our investigators are kind of not progressing... We got to meet a bunch of new people and got a ton of lessons! In fact, this week was the first week that Sister Craig and I talked to 100+ people about the church and had 20 lessons which is what our mission goal is for every week! Not too shabby, eh?

But Saturday was probably the most eventful day! We found out who's getting transferred and it was our ward fall festival! Sister Craig and I came up with the idea and were in charge of the "Tie a Doughnut to a String on a Pole and See Who Can Eat The Doughnut The Fastest Without Using Their Hands" game. I don't know if that game actually has a name... Anyway, it was actually a hit once people understood what the point of the game was. We even got our bishopric involved in the game which was kind of hilarious.

I really don't have much else to tell you... So it looks like the suspense is going to end. This week we got the transfers call and................................ I'M STAYING IN BOILING SPRINGS! Woo hoo! But not only that! Oh! There's more! President Holm called and............. I'M GOING TO BE TRAINING A NEW SISTER! Oh my gosh. I'm kind of freaking out here. I literally just finished my training yesterday. Literally. Now I'm picking up my new companion on Wednesday and I'm expected to train her now. This is some crazy stuff.

This upcoming week should be pretty eventful! Tomorrow, Sister Craig and I leave for Irmo so I can basically be trained on how to be a trainer. I don't know if you remember me talking about this when I first got to SC, but the new missionaries are here for about 2 1/2 days before they get to work. They get in today and tomorrow, I get to go out and start knocking some doors with one of the sisters for about an hour or two so they can get the hang of things. So that's what I'm going to be doing the next few days! Hopefully all will go well! I'll definitely let you know how my new companion is next week!

That's all I have for you this week! Sorry it was kind of an uneventful week but such is life. Oh well. I hope all is going well! Love you!

- Sister Amy Christensen

Bro. & Sis. Kitchen threw a "1/2 birthday" party for me and Sis. Craig (see Week 11).

This is our Mission Correlation Meeting with the ward missionaries of the Boiling Springs Ward.

Week 13 - Inman, SC - 10/7/13

This last week was incredible but extremely busy! I had two conferences to go to! The first one was a two day leadership conference in Irmo which was super awesome! I got a lot of really great ideas of how to become a better missionary and a great leader in the future. It was really cool because I got to meet a lot of new missionaries and see my old friends such as my MTC companion Sister Dent and Sister Smith from the MTC. I love those two girls so it was awesome to get to see them again. Also get this! In the conference, President Holm told us some pretty cool stuff! 1) As of this past transfer, there are more sister missionaries than English elders in the mission! That's kind of awesome considering that at the beginning of this year, they only had 20 sister missionaries! Now they have like 120ish! Crazy stuff! 2) An apostle is coming to my mission next month! Pres. Holm didn't tell us but I'm super pumped either way!

Then there was General Conference... HOLY COW! It was the best! I felt like so many of the talks applied to me so it was pretty awesome! We also got our investigator, D to come to the Saturday Afternoon session of Conference! (Apparently he did not move to North Carolina... We don't really know why but we're glad he's still in our area!) D really liked Conference! He told us at the end that he would be willing to sit through another 2 hours of it! He loves that they quoted the New Testament so much and he loved all of the speakers. I'm so glad that he was able to come and I really hope that those talks helped him understand the importance of a modern day prophet and apostles, which is one of his big concerns right now.

Well here we are! The last full week of the transfer! By the end of this week, Sister Craig and I will know who's being transferred and if we're training or not. I'll end this email with that and let the suspense build for the next week... I wish I had more to say but not a whole lot happened this week with 4 of the 7 days being taken up by conferences! Anyway, I hope y'all have a great week :)

- Sister Amy Christensen

Sister Smith, me and Sister Dent. I swear I'm not bald. My hair's just pulled back.