Smiling Faces, Beautiful Places: Week 76 - Florence, SC

Family and Friends!

Happy Tuesday! Sorry this is a day late! We literally had the most stressful P-Day of my mission yesterday and the computers at the library were not working at all so we got permission to email all y'all today!

It's been a pretty good week regardless though. We've been doing a lot of dropping and a lot of finding. There is a less-active in our ward that some previous sisters knocked into named John Owens. We could not locate his records for the life of us however! Finally we got the word from Bishop Keith that we are going to have to baptize him again since even the Church Headquarters can't find him. We were nervous to ask him if he would be baptized again but he said "Sure!" So John will be baptized on January 17th! Since he'll be out of town until January 10th, we've been teaching him the lessons over the phone to help get the ball rolling. We felt like we needed to hold his baptismal service soon since he's been going to church on a regular basis for a little bit now. We are so excited for him!

We had Christmas Zone Conference this week. It was really great! We had a lot of great trainings on how we can become the best missionaries we can be through finding, planning and obedience! After we finally got to watch "Meet The Mormons"! That was incredible! I may or may not have cried a few times. I loved it! I would definitely recommend that everyone watches it! It helps give a whole new light to Mormons.

I also went on my first exchange this week! I went to the Cheraw branch with Sister Jensen! It was cool to go to a different part of the stake to work in. I think it was nice for me to go with Sister Jensen because I knew how to work with branches instead of just wards and I've gone through a lot of experiences that I'm sure were able to help her out. But I will say this, it was great to come back to my companions and serve in Florence after that!

And of course, the big news is Faye was baptized! *Cue Victory Dance* It was amazing! John did great at baptizing her! Seeing them both in white was probably one of the coolest experiences on my mission. Man! I just love them and I'm so happy that I was able to go back for both of their baptisms. The Elders in Marion have been doing great at preparing them for baptism! I'm just happy that I was able to be a part of the process!

Well that's it for this week! I'm so happy to be serving the Lord again this Christmas season! There is no better time to serve! I'm grateful for Jesus Christ. I know that He came to the earth so that we all can live again with Him and our Heavenly Father! I hope we can all remember the reason for the season this Christmas! Go check out christmas.mormon.org :) Alright, I love y'all! Have a blessed week!

- Sister Amy Christensen