Week 71

Helllooooo. This week has been good, I copied my presidents letter on here, not too much to report really, we are finding a lot in as many ways as humanly possible. It was a spiritual explosion with conference and a special sisters conference that we had. Super randomly after lunch President Becerra said he had a surprise for us and David Archeleta walked in and sang the hymn 'Be still my soul' then bore his testimony then left! haha randommm. President Becerra has so many weird connections- he is so cool. There are about 25 sisters in the mission, the elders were all mad that they dont get celebrities at their trainings haha. Sisters are the obvious favorites haha.
Sooo on Monday we played soccer, first in Chino then in El Monte so we racked up some miles cuz the directions we got had us lost for a good hour haha opps- we took a little tour of the mission! Wednesday was the sisters conference then Friday was my favorite because they had a stake activity at the covina stake center and I got to see so many of my hooomies. I told them all to come to my farewell this next Sunday (they do it for all departing groups of missionaries) I guess its like a testimony meeting then everyone comes and says bye to you after and takes pictures... apparently theres no food so it cant be too awesome but it'll be nice to say bye to ppl! So thatll be sunday at 6:30 in arcadia. Then of course General conference was a highlight, loveeeddd it. All my favorite missionaries were there in the same room as me so we had a good time. Eating fun dip and cookies and getting spiritually smaked in the face! Loved it.
So next week I heard that I get to call home on Monday (I guess some parents forget to pick up their missionaries haha). I only have dads cell number and the home number so just be aware that Ill be calling probably at some point. I am pretty sure that next week I dont get to email but Im not 100% sure. The whole day I will be with the Becerras and the other missionaries that are leaving (not sure how many of us there are, I will guess around 10). So I report to the office Monday at 9am then its a day full of who knows what (word on the street is- paper work, lunch and dinner with president, exiting interview and marriage prep pump up talk- yikes!). Then Tuesday we roll out to the airport in the AM and Ill wait around for my flight at 11 then I get home at 8:30. Prepare yourselves! haha. Ahh- life is about to come at me super fast I can feel it! Too many changes at once! haha. Itll be fine though... right!? haha. Ok I best be offff, today we are having a big get together and it should be fun cuz lots of ppl are gunna come- I have a bunch of stuff to give to ppl- so my legacy will live onnn! haha. Hugs and kisssses. Laura.

President, Hello! This has been a great week! In both our area and in life in general! Conference was obviously a huge highlight, my favorite talk was by Elder Tadd R. Callister because that blew our investigators minds! haha, I loved the way he so clearly explained the purpose of the Book of Mormon, it testifies of itself- it truly is a book from God and no other source. Also the sisters conference was a highlight, my companion and I both came out of there feeling excited to get to work. The following day we had one of our most successful days together, we were able to find some really awesome new people and felt good about dedicating time to finding and being able to have some awesome contacts and testify of the truths we hold so dear to our hearts. I love knocking and street contacting, I know the importance of working with members etc but at the end of the day I feel so satisfied if I got to talk to as many people as possible. We feel that the area is pretty much on its feet, we have been able to consistently find new people to teach, the retention is now the issue but we will keep working to make this as frutiful as possible. Its been so fun to whitewash, thank you for that privilege, I have been too busy to really think about anything else and that has been a blessing. Sister Taylor continues to progress, still not feeling overly confident with Spanish but is pushing herself and always looking for ways to help and contribute. I am anxious to see what will happen with the Spanish sisters at transfers! Thanks for all that you do, Hermana Christian. P.S. I am about to email my family about David Archeleta's random appearance at our sisters conference and Im pretty sure my 16 year old sister will be jealous! Thanks for that!

Stewardship Report

Hermana Laura Christian
California Arcadia Mission
May 2010-October 2011
Stewardship Report

Various experiences throughout my life led to my discovery that God exists, that Christ is my Savior, and that this is their church. That knowledge has been solidified over the course of my missionary service and is now deeply embedded in my heart and fully encompasses who I am. It has been a time of learning and internalizing truths that I’ve been taught since childhood. It has also been a time in which I have come to better know my Father in heaven, and my Savior, Jesus Christ.
Throughout the ups and downs that this experience has presented I have come to recognize and appreciate divine help. My Heavenly Father has listened, comforted, and sustained me; He knows me and I know Him. My Savior, Jesus Christ, truly did come to this earth to pay the price for me, and all of God’s children. His Atonement has become real to me as I have watched its enabling power change my life and the lives of those around me. It is only through reliance and trust in Christ’s vicarious act that I can be found worthy at the last day.
There are no coincidences with God. While on His errand we were frequently placed exactly where he needed us. One of such times led to the finding, teaching, and baptizing of Alexi Cuevas. While heading to our car at the end of the night we stopped to talk to her husband, Oscar. He soon told us that he has been baptized four years prior in Guatemala but has not attended for a few years. Upon later meeting Alexi she was surprised to find out that her husband was a Mormon! Throughout the conversion and reactivation of this young couple the spirit was poured out on all those involved. Alexi was baptized in December of 2010. She and her husband are currently taking the temple preparation classes and plan to be sealed to each other and to their new born baby by the end of this year. This miracle, along with many others that I have witnessed, have added to my personal conviction and appreciation for the gospel.
I took the leap of faith to come on a mission because I received a strong spiritual witness that this was where God wanted me. How grateful I am that I chose to be obedient. This has changed my life. Pre-mission the gospel was another bullet point on the long list of things that made me who I am; I have now learned how to make it the focal point of my life. I feel that all mission experiences are specifically catered to the needs of that individual- and I am no exception. I have many more improvements to make but this allowed me to make necessary changes that have, and will continue to bless my life. I know, now more than ever, that I am a daughter of God, and must live accordingly.
We are often instructed on the importance of a consecrated life. Being a missionary has started me on the path to a life full of service, faith, and obedience. I plan to dedicate my time, efforts, and means to build God’s kingdom in whatever way I am able. I want to make a difference. I will live in a way that will allow me to become who God needs me to be so that I can reach my full potential. My goal is to live worthily to make it to my Father’s kingdom.

Week 70

Sooo another week has passed and here I am again at the library writing you guys! This week had its ups and downs haha, but overall is was pretty good. The highlights were a special training that we had on Friday about working with members, it was awesome, I literally am so stoked because it helped me to know how to help our area and got me pumped to be the best member missionary ever. Also Thursday Sister Becerra came out on a lesson with us! We are the first sisters she's gone out with so it was nerve wracking but the lesson went so awesome and she was openly complimentary so Then Saturday President Uchtdorf's talk at Relief Society conference was awesome. I knew I was a goner because I was crying in the opening song of the conference haha, not sure why, Im not even on my period haha. No but the spirit was strong and I loved it, mom can you get me a copy of that new RS book? Por favor! Down side is that I havent felt great- having some issues, its hard because I am sad to be ending my mission but at the same time I am so done haha, my body is sooo over it haha. I am going to have some serious identity problems when I get back though. This past Monday me and sister Taylor went shopping- I was a lost cause. hahaha. I actually got a little despressed because I was all confused looking at clothes and I realized maybe I have become weirder then I think haha. So that will be fun to deal with 2 weeks from now. It is so weird to think that I am coming home so soon, I dont have too much time to think about it but I have had a harder time falling asleep at night because my mind races! Not really thinking of anything of substance- just randomness.
Anyways, thats enough about my issues! haha.The work is coming along, found some cool new people this week and have been focusing our efforts on having lessons with members to get them more actively involved in missionary work. We did a serious weeding job that almost killed us. haha, these were not friendly weeds- the roots were like a foot down into the earth so we were going wild with the shovels- I think that experience is what brought on me not feeling well.
This coming week is going to be awesome! GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! Conference is like Christmas for missionaries! I am so excited! Today we are meeting up with a bunch of people to play soccer then going to get tacos, Wednesday we are having a sisters conference in Arcadia- should be cool, then the wkd is conference. Loveee it.
Emily you are so evil writing me that you talked to Cameron for 2 hours and that it was "awesome" then failing to mention any details. geeeez. haha. I guess you are all worried about "distracting" me haha. He is home... how weird!!!
Well not too much to report, I love you guys a ton! I am so excited to see you all. In the mean time Imma workkkkk hard and go out with a bang!

Week 69

This week has flew by! We have been crazy busy and loving life. Hermana Taylor and I basically just laugh our heads off all the day- it helps that we are basically the same person. In my president letter are most of the updates regarding the work. I have been a bit emotional recently, I didnt really realize that my time was ending until yesterday when I was preparing my talk for sacrament meeting, then on the way to the church in the car we were listening to a song about missionary work and I got a bit emotional. I guess its just a crazy new cross road in life thats coming at me faster then I thought it would! I am just so used to my life here and I love how it feels to be a missionary, I've never done anything so rewarding so I am trying to figure out how I'm going to keep my life rich and rewarding, I know it will be good and I am excited to come home, but at the same time I'll be leaving behind an experience dear to my heart. On to the next chapter of life... bills and school and all that fun stuff! haha. yikes.
Emily your last email was fun because you gave me updates on everyone- I loved it. Thanks for the constant support I have had throughout my entire mission, I am so grateful for you guys and every night I am on my knees thanking my Father in heaven for blessing me with such a wonderful family and asking him to take care of you all! I am so proud of Sam on his mission in Fresno- I tell everyone and it just makes me happy to know that all of us are living the gospel and doing the right thing. There is nothing more important.
So today will be a fabulous p-day because we are going shopppping. haha. No. We are meeting up with other missionaries and going to the buddhist temple, Ive been before but none of them have so it should be good.
Presidents letter...
This has been a really good week, we are really excited as we have met everyone on our ward list that belongs to our area except for 4 names. We were able to have dinner with the bishop and we were very pleased with the outcome because he asked about families that we had already met and had lessons with so we felt like we showed him that we were on the ball. On Sunday we were able to speak in sacrament meeting which was a great success, everyone did really well, there is a great spirit here in the Rimgrove ward. A miracle happened, there is a couple in our ward and they are both 20 and have been dating for 6 years, she joined the church when she started dating him and she recently came out with us on a lesson. We talked to her after the lesson and she expressed the desire she suddenly had to serve a mission. Her boyfriend was at the point of going over a year ago but felt too pressured and decided not to go. Well she came out with us again this week and we invited her boyfriend to come on the lesson too. When they got in the car Carolina said she had talked to bishop and had started her papers and that after talking to Robert he has decided that he is also going to serve! It is a miracle and that was one of the main things that bishop was really excited about. We feel so extremely blessed. Hermana Borrayo is a wonderful active member of the ward and she wants us to periodically stop by her house as her husband is not a member and a little anti missionaries. We stopped by yesterday and when we came in he ran off and hid in the TV room, that was too bad as we have been praying for him but everything has its time and we will continue to try to catch him! Edgar, our new investigator is the husband of Hermana Maryinez, he came to church on Sunday, we were able to identify his doubt as 'word of wisdom' issues so we have planned a really good lesson for him tonight. Also Hermana Gutierrez has been trying to share the gospel with her daughters for years and we were able to meet one of her daughters and we will be going to her house this coming Saturday to help weed her garden- hopefully we can get our foot in the door that way- fingers crossed! We are working hard and have been really blessed to have met all these wonderful members. My companion continues to amaze me with her diligence and commitment to get the job done. Now that we have familiarizedc ourselves with the area we are going to be able to focus a lot more time on finding, which both of us are very excited about! Overall life is great! Thanks for everything, Hermana Christian.

Week 68

Helllllo. Greetings from SO CALLLL!!!! My life is whizzing by me right now it is absolutely crazy! Sister Taylor and I have had a great week- we are finding lots of new people to teach, visiting everyone from the ward and have found some promising part member families. It has been so fun to work from the ground up, I wish I could have whitewashed every transfer because there is just so much to do! Obviously there was in all the other areas too but here we are just running from place to place, getting fried by the sun and sweating like crazy- but of course still looking super glamorous! haha. This week I think that we ate our weight in food, the members are a little too excited to have sister missionaries and are trying to fatten us up! Yikes- not ideal timing but hey!
So some highlights of the week- Nery and Estela are the couple that are waiting for the divorce papers, his ex wife has refused to sign the papers for years- he even offered her $15000 and she said no, then at a baptismal service before we came one of the counselors to president becerra felt impressed to talk to him, he found out the situation as to why they hadnt been baptized and promised them a miracle- that same week the ex wife that he hadnt talked to in forever called him and said, dont ask why but I will sign the divorce papers! MIRACLE! Then last week my comp and I were fasting that the papers work out quickly and in a lesson with them the spirit was screaming at me, commit them to be baptized on the 25th- I hesitated, not wanting to promise something I wasnt sure would happen, knowing their situation, but I said it and we are now just waiting for a miracle that the papers come within the next week, very exciting and crazy. They are so special, I feel so blessed to be in this area, we are seeing so much good and meeting people with such great faith, such good examples.
So today we went to the temple- hence pday being changed to today instead of yesterday. To sum it up- it was perfect. I love it there. I am going to get my haircut today- ahhh haha, might regret it, time will tell!?
Thats crazy that you got my flight plans- yeah I got them in the mail this week too- yikes! Sooo Ill see you guys the 11th at 8:30pm... wow. There are no words for what I feel. Deff a mixture of emotions. Obviously I still have a month yet so I have time to figure out how to put into words my mission experience.

President, This week has been great! We are running around like chickens with our heads chopped off! haha. We have been so blessed this week to have been able to accomplish a lot of good things, I feel that our numbers dont accurately reflect all that we were able to accomplish because we have been focusing a lot of our time on visiting all the members in our area and getting to know them and figuring out who we have jurisdiction over. It has been amazing as we have identified multiple part member families that we are beginning to work with. We met a lady named Hermana Martinez whose husband is not a member, she called us the following day and said, my husband will be home in 10 minutes- I want you to come over and act like it was por casualidad that you came by. Luckily we were free and headed over, we were able to identify his doubts (word of wisdom) and he accepted to have us come back. Adilene and Jonas are the coolest investigators but they slept in so didnt make it to church which was a big let down, but this week we know they will be there! She has tried to get him to church before and he was never interested and she said that with us he feels something different! She came to an FHE last night at a members home, our members are amazing and are so helpful. This ward really has got some string amazing people and they are extremely missionary minded. We are so lucky. Nery and Estela are patiently waiting for their divorce papers, I know that it will pull through and they will be baptized on the 25th- they are a miracle and deserve miracles in return for their awesomeness! Hermana Taylor is doing great, takes everything in and diligently being the best missionary ever. Thank you for everything! -Hermana Christian.

Week 67

Soooo my life has been completely flipped upside down this past week! haha... in a good way! I am training the coolest cutest hard working missionary ever named Hermana Taylor, she is sooo on the ball and is constantly impressing me with her natural ability and willingness to work. I feel like I have been pulling my comps along with me for the majority of my mission so this is a very weird experience for me. So basically I am super blessed. Rimgrove is the area we are whitewashing (well they say pink washing cuz we are sisters haha). We got the area book and it hadnt been updated since the beginning of June! They left us with no investigators except for one couple who is waiting for divorce papers to be married. But already in the week we have had in our area we have seen miracles! Nery and Estella are the ones that are waiting for the divorce papers and we have had some amazing things already happen with them. We have found some really awesome new investigators knocking and we are just being guided and blessed all day every day, it is amazing. We are trying to find out what members and less actives live in our area, the elders left us NOTHING... no lists, no directory... zippp. As we have met people we have also found out that the elder that was there before us has offended a lot of people... very tragic. Some elders I just want to scold for being so stupid. President gave me permission to call him to tell him off hahaha, but I didnt do it. Sisters are always getting hated on- dont wanna give the elders a reason to gossip. I was thinking about staying an extra transfer till November because of how much I am loving it but Ive been praying about it and October just feels right for some reason. I am more than willing to stay but I guess Heavenly Father knows best sooo Ill be seeing you guys really soon! I didnt realize how quickly that was coming up... yikes. I am gunna freak out probably when the time comes closer. I cant believe how the time passes! I attached some pics. The other sisters in the pictures is my home girl Sister Olson (the blonde) with her trainee sister Danielson. Yesterday for pday we went to swap meet and met up with a bunch of elders from my Covina days, then we went to zone activity and played ultimate dodgeball- they were laughing because I would scream every time some one would throw it at me haha, I wasnt scared I just get excited slash nervous! I suck though, every time I throw it they would catch it so I decided that the best game plan would be to stay as far away from the ball as possible- that worked out better haha. I had a doctors appt. last week, blood work came back exactly the same ANA 1:1280- it should be below 40... still have lupus haha. Kinda funny in a weird way. Everything is going great though.

Week 66

This has been the most action packed week ever. Lots of fun things going on- I always love the last week of the transfer! So I forgot to mention that last weekend we had a wedding of a less active and we helped with all the decorations and it was fun. This week on pday we went to swap meet where I bought some earrings then went to play volleyball at the church with a bunch of missionaries- super fun. This week the big event was Alexis baby shower!!! It was a ultimate successss. Ive never thrown a baby shower before and I didnt think the first time would be on my mission, but hey! I loved it. We used our lunch and dinner times Tuesday through Thursday to do all the decorations and cake etc. We picked her up Friday night and she thought she was coming on a lesson with us. When she walked in the door she was shocked then hugged me and just started crying. It was precious. Saturday night was transfer calls- we ended up singing karaoke cuz a member threw a good bye party for Elder Rust and there were a ton of missionaries there, it was pretty crazy but super fun. Then we headed home and got our transfer call at 10:25- so I guesss we were like the last ones called- typical! I thought I would stay in chino, but... drum rollll.... I am whitewashing an area called Rimgrove South and training again! woot woooot. Sooo basically we are going to laugh at how lost and confused I am like this whole week bahaha. Im super stoked though. Today I get to spend the day with Sister Olson who is suppper legit and we are gunna go find my new area tonight. I am taking over from elders... I dont think anything bad happened there I just think that they needed more sisters Spanish areas. I will find out when I get there. Im ready to do work though, I am feeling super pumped! I am gunna send pics, I just wrote my presidents letter and I pressed send and it deleted it all haha not cool.

Week 65

So this week flewwwww by! Its crazy! I dont even know what we did! haha. So Monday we went to Chinatown and Little Mexico, I was pleased just because I bought some cool stuff in China town! That night we had FHE with the Ramirez family which was awesome because they ordered Churchs chicken (comparable to KFC but a lot more delicious). On Wednesdays we always volunteer at the local adults school and help with the English class, since it was the end of the semester they surprised us and all brought food and we had a pot luck, its so diverse here so you can imagine that there were all types of different things- some looking more appetizing then others! I have become good friends with a lady named Debra and she is from China, I mentioned to her that I would love to go and teach English there and she got so excited and wrote down all of her information for me and told me that she would take me everywhere (she is moving back to mainland china at the end of the year). So thats cool! Another thing came up- there is a Mormon grade school down in Mexico City and I got talking to a member about it who went there for school and she was saying that you can go there and you are assigned as the mom of a group of kids and its a job that apparently pays pretty well, the catch is you have to be married haha, but yeah, lots of cool things catching my attention, making me think that I just want to be a gypsy for the rest of my life! How does that sound!? So Elder Rust leaves at the end of this week, so that will be tragic, he is my district leader. He keeps being like, Sister Christian- what am I going to do with myself after the mission!? haha apparently he is having some kind of inner crisis, I am not much help obviously because I dont even know what I am going to do with myself, let alone give someone else advice! haha. This week I have planned a surprise baby shower for Alexi, she is my favorite person of my whole mission, its cool because Ive been with her foreverrrr. So yesterday we were sitting in Relief society and she is now 7 months along and her baby started kicking in her belly and she grabbed my hand and put it on her stomach and it like karate chopped me, not sure why but it was the coolest thing ever and I may have shed a tear or two haha. Alexi is super emotional and her excitement about being pregnant is contagious and thats why I am so happy and excited for her. Soooo this email is random because missionaries keep coming over and talking to me ahhh- distracted! I wrote my presidents letter in Spanish so I am not copying it on here haha, this week we have a language conference- first time Ive ever heard of such a thing so I wrote it in Spanish. Learning a language in the states is tough, only the diligent missionaries reallllly speak it. Sam is diligent luckily so he will have it under control in no time. Life is good, Im feeling healthy, happy and anxious for transfers! Saturday night is the call. Today we are going to swap meet and then playing volleyball at the church. I tried to instill in my companion that P-day is a holy sacred day... but she is now taking it further than me and when I planned to eat lunch today around 1 she said, we cant waste valuable pday time eating! hahahah. I am excited for a change because home girl Mulitalo is fattening me up! Too much food!!!! haha. I didnt think that statement would ever come from my lips but yeaaah Imma be starting the 6 week weight loss plan next Monday hahaha. jk, I look the same, blessed with a fast metabolism! haha.

Week 64

This week I am gunna send a bunch of pix because those are more exciting than my explanations on the week! haha. It was a good week though. The Buddhist temple on Monday was fun, then we went to the driving range where I got my golfff on hahaha. not really- I found out that the skills I once had from the 'discovery canyon' days are long gone hahah. Not surprising though since that was so long ago! After that my comp and I had to wait for the elders to play basketball and luckily someone brought a volleyball and she played in high school so we got super into it and I dont think Ive ever sweat so much hahaha. We loved it and are planning on buying a ball for morning exercises since running is suppper not fun haha. So today was interesting as we went with other sisters downtown to plazita olvera and china town- we just got back to our area and p-day is supposed to be over at 6 and we have done nothing. I dont want to be rude but sisters are soooo hard to be with sometimes haha. They all want to do different things and all catty. There were some really contentious remarks made today (there were some sisters there that were in a trio and did not get along) so that made it a lot less fun. Patience is something I always thought I lacked but in comparison to what I saw today I guess I am doing great! haha. That MUST be something acquired in the mission because I am aware that I was not so patient before haha. But dont expect too much of a difference when I come home! haha I dont want you to have any expectations!!!

President Becerra, The most exciting thing in our area is that Lucy and Claudia came to church, they are our most exciting investigators right now! We gave them tour and we could not set them for a baptismal date but I just know that they will be in the water some time in the very near future. Especially with a son on the mission- its just a miracle waiting to happen as they told us they have been pretty anti church right un till the week he reported to the MTC a few weeks ago. They drove him to the MTC and felt a peaceful spirit about everything and now want to find out more about the church. So cool! We found a less active knocking doors this week and we had a really great lesson with her, she said she is ready to come back to church and has been praying that someone would come and help her! Yayyy for being an answer to someones prayers! We gave a tour to 3 formers (all from same house) this week and they really liked it but then didnt come to church on Sunday when they said they would so that was quite a let down. Our turn over rate seems exceptionally high, I feel that we are doing everything we can and we are finding new people to teach but they dont seem to be ready because we have had a lot of people come and go. Interesting, but we are working with what we've got and we are having a great time doing it. My companion and I just crack each other up and we are loving our time spent together. Overall great week, excited for these next 2 weeks of the transfer! Thanks for all you do. -Sister Christian.

Week 63

This week has been a blasttt. The time is just flying by, I love it! I cant even think of what happened... urr, oh yeah, so Monday we went to Covina to play soccer and I have been soar for like the rest of the week because I ran until I was physically exhausted haha, so that was dumb of me, but it was super fun cuz all my homies were there. Tuesday I got to catch up with Elder Smith and Kohler because we had a pass off lesson with them because our golden family turned out to live in Covina- soo tragic! But it was fun to see them, they are like my best friends in the mission so its hilarious when the three of us get together because we just laugh. I feel so blessed to be here and loving life as a missionary, Sunday morning we met up with our district for breakfast at the church where we made crapes... yummm. Loved them! I am addicted! Then Sunday night we had a really exciting awesome lesson with a new family we are gunna teach- I talked about them in my president letter.

Today is going to be awesome, we are going to this big buddhist temple then going golfing. I guess we are going to a driving range bahaha should be funny. This week we have zone conference which should be fun, president Becerra is a super dynamic teacher so it will be awesome. and free lucnh! hollla. Jessica thanks for your letter this week. Thanks for all the love- everyone is amazzzzed at how long my emails are, they all get a paragraph and I always roll out of the library with like 5 pages on emails to read ahaha, I feel so lovvvveddd! I love you guys a lottttt.- Hermana Christian.
President, This week we got dropped by multiple investigators which was really tragic, but the Lord answers prayers and something really cool happened! There was a name from our ward list that I have had in my agenda since the beginning of last transfer but we never got around to going. Saturday I felt like it was a good time to go figure out who this less active, Mauricio was. When we knocked on the door a lady answered and said, "hermanas, we just dropped off my son for his mission this week!" I was confused but we soon found out that this lady, Lucy, is not a member and nor is her daughter, Mauricio is the daughters husband (he was the one we were looking for) and that her son had joined the church a little over a year ago and they had just drove up to Utah to drop him off at the MTC. We had a lesson with her and the daughter and they appear to know literally nothing about the church but were very open and curious now that their son/brother has left to be a missionary! We are soooo excited! We had a member with us who was spectacular as she knows the son that has left for a mission and they got along so well. yayyyy! Either than that this week has been full of finding, the field really is white and ready to harvest! We havent had much success thusfar this transfer but I am determined to get some people in the water before the transfer ends! I am feeling great health wise and my companion is doing really well. She is a pleasure to be around and always making me laugh and being positive. Thanks for all you do! -Hermana Christian.

Week 62

So this week has been super fun. We celebrated Elder Rusts birthday and gave him a bunch of random junk we found in our apartment for a birthday present hahaha, it was pretty funny. We gave him a water gun which was a bad idea because I ended up getting soaaaaked, haha. On Saturday the elders told us that we were gunna go do service for the Sazo family so we go thinking that we were going to help them do yard work... we soon found out that it was not for service at all. So hermano sazo has this tradition of getting missionaries "baptized by the Sazo-docio" (sacerdocio in spanish is Priesthood)... so basically what that means is... he pushed us all into the pool! Not good! The work is really coming along, we have a GOLDEN new family that we are teaching... oh my gosh they are so cool! I wrote about them in my presidents letter. Sadly this week I found out that Miguel, 26, that we have been teaching for a while, has like a major crush on me... he called at like 10 the other night and hermana mulitalo answered and he asked to talk to me and he was like, "urr... I want to tell you something but I dont think I should" and I said, "well them probably you shouldn't" (not really knowing what he might say) and then he talked for like 10 minutes about how he has been praying for a good woman to come into his life etc etc... I had to nicely shut him down.. I was so sad though, you really become invested in your investigators and it just really took me by surprise.. gaaaa. Boys are so dumb. Then he came to church yesterday and I had to give a talk so I felt all weird up on the stand and after he gave me a present... oh deary me. Its all good though, obviously we are done teaching him. weirdddd. We had interviews with president, me and president Becerra talked for about 10 minutes, the more time I spend with him the more I like him. And guess what!? He goes, I promise I dont say this to everyone.. you are Sister Becerra and I's favorite! But dont tell anyone because I dont think we are supposed to have favorites! haha. Maybe he does say that to other people too but regardless it was nice. So life is good, sending some pix your way. Me and my comp are good, a few quirks are taking some patience. haha, she is super nice and cool but really slow moving, and she is always talking about what we are going to eat, its cute because she wants to make us meals but not cool because a lot of the time I dont want such big thought-out meals... not trying to put on weight right before I come home! haha. She is great though, I just like when people do things by their own initiative not just because I am making them/asking them to do stuff. But its hard to be a new missionary so its all good and I am happy with her. Today we are going to go play soccer in Covina with my crewwww. haha. We have kind of a click in the mission hahaha. It will be super fun though because I get to see Elder Kohler and Smith de Covina, they are still together so we will playyyy. Presidents letter... President! This was a really great week for us because we were able to have some really promising new investigators. After visiting the Nestor family sooo many times (part member family) we finally got to meet and teach their 2 sons that are not baptized. We were so sure they were going to come to church, we even took them bagels on Saturday night so they could have a quick breakfast, but they didnt come, disappointing because it is just the mom who needs to decide to get them up and off to church and she says they will come then they dont. We also received an awesome member referral, Hermano Montanez called us and said, "I have an awesome family for you to give tour to!" We were excited and now that we have met them we are even more stoked, they are golden! We set them for the 21st of August for their baptismal date and I am excited to see them progress towards that goal. They couldnt come to church because they had a family obligation but we were able to meet with them last night and watch the restoration DVD and I asked them if they thought Joseph Smith was a prophet and they both said yes but that they need to study more, they are awesome! They have 2 young kids, ages 6 and 5 you have to come to their baptism! Sadly this week our investigator Miguel that we have been teaching for about 2 months confessed his love to me! yikes! So he came to church on Sunday but I didnt make it awkward but we are dropping him or possibly passing him over to the elders depending on whether or not he gets a hold of us this week. I was pretty upset but it will all blow over. Overall I am loving my area, excited to see what comes of these new investigators and to continue to find new people this week, we have some promising potentials. Hermano Mulitalo is doing really well, she struggles with being self-motivated which is a little bit of a trial, I am trying to help her love tracting but I am not really succeeding. It will all come with time though and we are in high spirits and excited for the new week. Thank you for interviews this week, thanks for all you do! Hermana Christian

Week 61

Helllllllllo. So my new companion is Hermana Mulitalo, my lovely new samoan compppyyy. She is from West Valley UT and she brings out the ghetto side in me hahah. We have a lot in common but are very different at the same time. I dont think this transfer will be a breeze but I think we will have a good time and do work- so thats all that matters. Right now we are findddding all da timeee. Its good because I am training so she doesnt know any different hahaha. I guess I get to train next transfer too so that will be cool to get to do it multiple times! Tuesday she arrived, Wednesday was new missionary orientation. It really hasnt been too eventful around here, I am feeling great and enjoying missionary life. Really excited for Sam to be heading out tomorrow for the field!!!! He is gunna be sooo awesome. Hopefully he trainer is legit, and if not he will get very well acquainted with the Christlife attributes section in preach my gospel!!! haha. Welp I sent a pic of me and my trainee and the other one is from last pday where we met with some other missionaries to play soccer.. I forgot shoes but actually played pretty well! And thats my custom made shirt that Im wearing that says Arcadia mission on the front and hermana christian on the back! legggggittttt. Welp this week we have interviews with president, should be good!? Ill keep you informed!

Presidents email...
Presidente Becerra,
This was an alright week. We didnt really get to work in our area and have a normal day until Thursday because of the trainings but I feel good that my companion has met everyone we work with and can now be more of a contributor in planning etc. We found one lady while street contacting who we found out had been taught in the past, we had a lesson with her and she says she knows the church is true but she feels very tied to her church that she is currently attending. Basically she is confused, the member we took with us was really awesome and said that God had sent her missionaries in the past and now He is sending them again so she should take that as a sign. We will see what happens with her. Miguel didnt come to church because he was embarrassed because he had gone out drinking the night before and feeling hung over. I feel somewhat confused by him because he has the desire to change and says that he knows something is missing but I think he is too scared to change his life style. We were able to dedicate quite a lot of time to finding which is what we really need to do right now. I want the Lord to see that we are doing out part so that He will put some new people to teach in our path. We did street contact a cute young family that we have an appointment tonight, they said they were being taught by missionaries when they lived in LA so it will be exciting to see what happens at our appointment.
As far as Hermana Mulitalo and her adjusting to the mission all seems to be going really well. I am excited to have this opportunity to serve with her and anxious to see how we can improve our area this transfer by bringing more people into the waters of baptism. The language is a struggle but all in due time she will become more capable and enjoy the mission more and more. Thank you for all your do. -Hermana Christian.

Week 60

This past week flewwww by! The mission has been flying before my eyes these past two transfers. So my prediction was correct! I get to train again this transfer! So today I am with the other 2 sisters that are training then tomorrow we will get our trainees! woot woooot. Hopefully mine is cool... its a gamble! Regardless I will love her. I saw Hermana Herrera today as she is leaving, I dont know how to explain it but I get so excited and happy to see her, we were catching up and Im happy for her. We had 6 sisters leave today (well they technically leave tomorrow) so that is pretty crazy. The mission is changing a lot. President Becerra is sooo cool. He called me to say that he had received a letter from my parents, he is very involved on an individual basis with his missionaries which is really nice. He dissolved senior and junior companions... you are now use companions, I think that is cool. Because really the title doesnt mean anything because its always just the dominant personality that gets their way anyway (yes- I am speaking from personal experience! haha). So tomorrow I get my new comp then Wednesday we have new missionary orientation all day which will be fun. Then to work!
This past week we had a big dinner at Jose's house where his mom taught us to make pupusas (de el salvador). She was impressed with how round and flat I could get mine, she kept saying that I must have some latina blood in me... Ironic since European is quite the opposite of latinos. haha. Friday we finally had our fathers day ward activity, it was a luau. It was postponed cuz an hermana died and we had her funeral when the activity was scheduled. So I wore a grass skirt hahaha, (over my missionary skirt obviously) and I loved it. Sunday Jose got confirmed. He is soooo cool, we called him in the morning and he had to have his mom talk to me on the phone because he had lost his voice so she said he was sick so I was like, "oh no so he isnt coming to church!?" and she said, "oh no he is still coming!"... he is so solid, he was looking pretty sick but there he was in his suit and tie. After church bishop told him he was going to be called as a ward missionary and told him to stay for the preach my gospel class, so he stayed for the class. We joked with him that this is a church that will "put you to work," he is quickly finding out the reality of that statement. I am so happy to be here, I am feeling great. I am having divine help and I feel deeply grateful for all the blessings I have received from serving a mission. This is the best decision of my life.

Week 59

I wish I could fix any doubt or concern that you may have! Out of this whole weird situation I am super happy because I feel very good about ending strong and finishing to the end. Enduring to the end.. its better this way so thank you for your support and awesomeness all around! So this week has been interesting. This week Tuesday was pday but I was not feeling good so I slept the whole day basically. Feeling like you are wasting the Lord's time is so not fun which was the main reason I was considering coming home, until that awesome talk I had with President Becerra on Thursday which obviously changed my mind since I am still a missionary! haha. He is great. President Pike told me that as soon as I am not out the door when I am supposed to be that I should be going home, which was a big factor in my decision, then on Thursday when I talked to President Becerra he was so set on having me stay and it gave me renewed desire to be here. Not that I wanted to leave but I didnt want to hinder the work. He said some really complimentary things, cool thing is when he came and asked me my name when he first arrived for the welcome meeting (cuz he went around and shook everyones hands and asked their names and where they were from) and of course, my hair was in front of my name tag and I moved it and he goes, "oh sister christian! I have seen your stats, you are a hard worker!" haha, so of course the quickest way to a womans heart is with a compliment soooo I thought he was fabulous from the get go, haha. After the meeting I asked to talk to him and basically we sat down and he said, "I know about you, you are not going home, I need you here!" haha, he might have just been trying to build me up because it was obvious that I was feeling broken down, but regardless it was nice and the rest of our conversation was equally beneficial for me. So basically he didnt really give me an option haha, but yeah I am happy to be here. I feel kind of stupid about causing unnecessary concern at home, I have been very hush hush about things because I dont want to bore you with the negative details, but I guess everything happens for a reason. Next subject...the remainder of the week was great! Jose got baptized yesterday!!!!! hooraryyyy! He is a miracle, he came to church in his new suit that he bought the day before, quite a transformation! He is so cool and I just love him! on Thursday I taught Alexi how to knit hahaa, I didnt even know that I remembered how but she had the needles and said she wanted to learn and I remembered from good ol' mutual! I love having her and Oscar in the ward, they are so cool. I keep talking to them about getting sealed in December and I will deff go for that! Especially because she will have her baby in November, that will be so cool! So this coming Saturday we have transfer calls! dun dun dunnnn. Im 98% sure that I will be training again so that will be super fun! Hopefully she is cool!? Ill keep you posted! Well life is good here! I am feeling good!

Presidents Email...President Becerra, Yesterday we were able to have the baptism of Jose and it turned out great! The spirit was so strong and he actually surprised us by crying before he went into the font, he is an ex-gang member and has made a huge turn around in the short amount of time that we have been teaching him, it has been a miracle as we only started teaching him a month ago. That has been the highlight of the week and the ward was very excited because he got up and bore his testimony afterwards and you could tell he really wants to do Gods will and will be a great contribution to the ward. Other than that, the beginning of the week was rough for me but the remainder of the week we have been trying to make up for lost time. We were able to teach some great lessons but very sad to have Martin leave our area as we were planning to set him with a baptismal date at our next lesson (as he has hesitated in the past to set a date). We need to find like crazy this week. Miguel is our other investigator who was out of town therefore missed church so we need to hit the street and find new investigators, we have some good potentials and excited to see the fruits! This week I have been studying a lot in chapter one, my purpose, why it is that I am here. I feel a renewed desire for the work after having my mind previously set that I should go home. I am excited to finish strong. I have thought about the altered schedule and have decided that it will not be necessary, just like anyone else, if I do not feel well I will call Sister Becerra and ask for permission to stay in, I am thinking that I will take advantage of lunch and dinner times by taking the full hour and Im sure that will be sufficient. I am grateful for the talk I was able to have with you, I love being a missionary and grateful for every minute I have here in the mission. I hope you and your family are feeling welcome here, we are happy to have you! Thanks, Hermana Christian.

Week 58

Soooo guess what!? My life has been flipped upside down this week! First I would like to reassure you guys: I am fine! But for this whole transfer I have been feeling progressively worse regarding those migraines and just feeling whipppped out, specifically the past few weeks. I am doing good, happy, etc but the demands of my mission and my health situation have been leaving me feeling unsure about my ability to continue. Crazy right? I know, I deff did not think that would be a consideration, but I have been feeling really unsettled about the whole thing then recently I was praying really hard to know what in the world I am supposed to do and I feel very strongly that for some weird reason the answer may be to come home. I want to stay here, but I feel that coming home is the right thing to do. I am fine, its just that since being on my mission I have allowed myself no breaks, I think that the stress of my not being able to stop ever has taken its toll. I like to do things 100%, I could stay but I dont feel like right this moment I have the capacity to do everything the way I would like to. So yeah!. So last Monday I went to the doctor and it turns out I do have lupus! Which I am completely fine with, 1. because God is in control and 2. because I really dont know much about it to worry over! haha. So yesterday I talked to president and he asked if I would wait till transfers I said yes but I have pasted my email with him below so you can see what I wrote him... So yes- my life is crazy! haha. Dont call the office or anything, I will call you when its appropriate. Sooo I am super sad (like emotional breakdown sad) at the prospect of leaving the mission, I really am not "ready" to be done, but if there is one thing I have learned on my mission is the importance of trusting in God. I am very happy to know that I will get to see my lovely parents so soon and that I will have some down time to slow down my life for a little bit. So be happy and dont be sad or worried! I am not worried about any of it, I just want to sleep for 5845983 years hahaha. just kidding.So this week had some really good parts, specifically Jose is progressing so well and has his baptism this Sunday! Hopefully I will be there for it!? He needs an interview with President because he has been to jail twice and recently got off probation- we are hoping he hasnt killed anyone so that there is no hold up on his baptism. Sister Love has been heaven sent throughout this whole thing, I keep reassuring her that I have cried more this transfer than all my other transfers put together hahaha. Hopefully she believes me. No one in the mission knows what going on besides her. I guess another sister went home this week for knee problems so I guess I feel better knowing Im not a total wuss!? So I havent met our new president yet, on Thursday we meet him. We all feel weird like we dont have a mission president right now cuz Pike left and now we are in limbo haha. He seems nice from the call I had with him. He is no Pike though! President Pike is unlike any other person I have ever met, I swear that he and his wife will be translated some time soon! I feel grateful his having been able to serve in this mission, he is a shining example to me and will always be someone I hold in the highest esteem. I cant believe this chapter of my life is coming to a close so quickly, not what I expected... life is full of surprises! Well I better go, I will be in touch Email to President:This week was a good week, we were able to have Sean and Christian confirmed and the ward was really happy that they were able to become members of the church because the grandma has been praying for a long time for that to happen. We were able to teach Jose, our investigator who will be baptized on Sunday, some really awesome lessons. He has successfully completely quit smoking and told us that the smell of cigarettes now offends him and he has no desire to do it again. He is such a shining example of obedience and we are excited for him to be baptized as he has invited his whole family and is hoping that he will set the example. Miguel and Martin also came to church, they are progressing but we found out yesterday that Martin moved out of our area so we need to pass him off to Pomona elders, sad for us but good for them! The area is progressing well but we are in need of new investigators, which will be the main focus of this area for the next few weeks.In my studies I have been focusing on lesson three and really have enjoyed furthering my understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am starting to understand more and more that repentance is the continual process of becoming more and more like our Heavenly Father.
I wanted to talk to you about my current health issue. I recently found out I have lupus, I have been feeling very poorly for quite a while but this transfer has become increasingly difficult for me as I get debilitating migraines . It has got to a point where I feel like it will be better for me to swallow my pride and head home 3 months earlier than expected. This is the opposite of what I want, but I have been praying about it and feel comforted to know that this is the right decision for me at this time. You asked if I could wait 2 weeks, I will do whatever is in the best interest of the mission . I am very grateful to be a missionary, I love this gospel with all my heart and feel grateful for the time I have spent here in the mission. I am sorry this is occurring right as you arrive but I am grateful for your time and excited for you and your family in this new chapter in your lives! Take care-Hermana Christian.

Week 57

Sooo this week has been super crazzzzy cool. Heres the summary... Monday we got hardcore pranked by the elders, they stole our key and went to our apartment and took our mattresses off our beds and some how got them into our bathroom then we called them and made them come and put them back (we had to bow down to them for them to be willing to fix it). Then when they did it they didnt put the planks underneath so I feel through it, and realized that they had changed my alarm clock to go off at 2:30... they are so evil. They are deff not allowed to go in our apartment Im pretty sure, but it was pretty classic, they want us to get them back but we are too scared of the repercussions. Tuesday Sister Love got stung by a bee during our lesson as we were sitting in our investigators backyard hahaha, it was hilarious because she was trying to be all calm and not wreck the moment but she looked at me with her eye balls all big... so funny. Wednesday we decided we wanted to be hardcore and find out how long it would take for us to walk from our apartment our area (we do not live in our area)... we found out it takes 50 mins speed walking.. we figured out why state side missionaries have cars haha. Based on the map we mathematically determined it would take us 16 hours to walk to the farthest part of our area hahaha, crazzzzy. Friday we got in a massive water fight with the elders... they are so evil haha, its our district leader and his comp that are always messing with us... but yeah I tried to "be neutral" but.... that didnt work. We were all soaked, pretty funny. Saturday was our investigator, Jose's, last day smoking, He is an ex-gang member and he had given up drugs and drinking, but he needed to give up smoking, that was all he lacked. So Sunday he came to church all excited that he was "done"... we will be praying for him, he is getting baptized July 10th so he cant mess up! He is super cool though and so smart, told us he doesnt want to wear baggy clothes anymore because if he is a member of the church he wants to set a good example haha, so cool! Sunday was Shawn and Christian's baptism, they are soooo cool cute awesome! As always, baptisms super stress me out, but it went well and the hermanas brought loads of cake and ice cream so it was a success! haha. So its been busy and fun and I cant believe how quickly this transfer is passing!

This morning in the store some random guy around 25 who was a member of the church gave us $15 (despite our initial rejection) so we will be going to in-n-out for lunch! yaaayyy. Wednesday we have a mini farewell for President (mini because they are going from zone to zone so the whole mission wont be getting together) and sister pike, they will be missed, I really love them, but at the same time it will be fun to see how things will go with a new president! His name is President Becerra (sp?), he is Latino and his wife is white and they are from Utah... so Im excited! Next week p-day is on Tuesday so you wont hear from me till then.

President Pike, This week we were blessed to have the baptism of Sean and Christian, they were so cute and the grandma was so happy and there was a great turn out for ward support. Everyone seemed really pleased that Hermana Guillen was able to baptize her grandkids as they are almost 10 years old, it turned out great. Jose is our other awesome progressing investigator who gave up smoking Saturday night, he is so prepared and so wanting to change his life. He is an ex-gang member and said that he is looking forward to his baptism on July.10th- he explained that it depended on his commitment to quit smoking, we are hoping that he will remain strong and that we will be able to help him with whatever he may need in battling this addiction. We were able to find a new investigator through a member referral and she seems really eager to get baptized, the problem is that she is looking to move because she is in an extremely abusive relationship with her husband, a lot of drama, we will see what happens. This week my studies have been in the Christlike attributes and Ive really been focusing on humility. I see a lot of room for improvement and am glad that there is always so much room for improvement. President, its your last week! Oh my goodness, we are excited to see you and Sister Pike on Wednesday and hope that everything is coming together smoothly for your departure. You will be so missed! Thanks for everything, Sister Christian.

Week 56

This was a great week! We were super busy knocking 48489 doors and talking to everyone we see, it was so great, not that I havent done that in the past but this week was way better because we turned it up a knotch and we loved it. Downside: I am exhausted haha. But its good. So today p-day has come back around! Today is going to be super fun because we are getting together with the elders and playing glow stick frisbee- its where you turn off the lights in the gym and we have glowsticks on the frisbee and our wrists anddd...play haha. Its the first time we are trying it so we will see how it goes- I have a feeling somone is going to get hurt haha. Im happy because Elder Kohler and Smith are coming from covina, they are like my best friends in the mission so I am stoked to see them, and its elder smiths bday so we are gunna go pick him up a cake or something. Ice cream cake maybe!? My favorite!!!! So last monday we played phase ten with our district and I dominated muahah. Yesterday was an awsome day cuz after church we went to celebrate fathers day (BTW HAPPY FATHERS DAY DADDDD!!!!! LOVE YOU) and we ate LOADS. And the hermano there talked to us and the elders for a super long time and we got into suppppper deep doctrine and its all me and my comp have been talking about since, hahah, I love it. I have a super long list of church books I need to read after the mission- so much info so little time! ahhh haha. Sooo to update you on the little funny things of life... edler kohler got me more intense on my health kick while in covina and got our whole district doing protein shakes every morning so then when I came here I peer pressued Sister Love into it so we are making protein jokes all the time. If we need to pick something up we say something like, "oh good thing I had my protein this morning" haha... I feel like maybe my sense of humor has kind of slipped since becoming a missionary but it truly is funny- take my word for it! Sister Love and I crack each other up, she is my favorite companion thusfar, she is just awesome! We are laughing 24/7, I secretly wish I would have been blessed with such easy comps my whole mission but obviously Heavenly Father knows what we need so I feel reassured and grateful for the course my mission has taken. Weird to think that I am on the tail end of my mish... wow. Not trunky though! Actually quite the opposite, Im feeling more and more involved with the work and just being where my feet are. Thats a new saying I have acquired, meaning not to be in the past or the future, just to be where you feet are, right now mine happen to be in chino california so thats where my head is too. Its good.

Presidents Letter

President Pike,
This was one of the best weeks of my mission because we worked suppper hard and were able to meet most of our goals. I am really excited about ths area, there is so much potential and lots of people are coming out of the wood works. We knocked into a guy named Miguel who came on tour and didnt commit to come to church but then there he was! Also Martin is a man that has some to church for 2 sundays but is never free to have lessons and we were able to teach him after church, the spirit was strong and he says he is excited to learn more as "this is all very new to him." That comment, among others, showed how well he understood the restoration and we are really axcited about him. Jose is a guy that the Diamond Bar sisters found and gave tour to but they soon realized that his spanish as better than his english, he liked the ward yesterday and he seems really ready for the gospel. Luckily at church he saw someone that he is friends with and they were surprised to see each other there- now we know who to call to come for lessons! We have been finding like crazyyyy, I have loved it, we are loving our time together and we are very excited for the baptism of Sean and Christian this coming weekend, they are cute twin boys who are sooo smart! Its so fun to teach them. This week I have been studying the restoration chapter in preach my gospel, this is our main focus as that should help us in contacting, I feel that I am becoming more and more bold in my contacting and it really allows the spirirt to testify to me and those we are talking to of the truth of our message. The gospel is perfect, I love it! Thanks for everything you do, I cant believe you guys are leaving soon! You and your family are going to be so missed! -Sister Christian

Week 55

Sooooo this week has been loco. But Ive liked it, everything here is really different, I am having a good time adjusting and seeing how its so different. The ward is a lot bigger and more active, and our area is HUGE- we have to fold the map like 10 times in order to make it a decent size... yikes. So Monday was pday and we just chilled pretty much the whole day. Friday night we had a ward talent show and I decided that we had to put ourselves out there so we did a RAP! yesss... we are so hardcore, in Spanish of course, I didnt know I had the ability to write a rap in Spanish but it turns out that I do! They were laughing, it was kind of a missionary joke rap so it was legit, they actually made us do it twice so I was glad that we took initiative and that it didnt end up being lame. So this wek we found 2 new investigators that we are really excited about, one is named consuelo and the other is named Frances. We also put these twins with baptismal dates- they are 10. There were zero investigators when I got here so I am feeling like it was a good week! The Sunday we had stake conference so I got to see everyone from covina- too bad it wasnt later in the transfer because they havent had time to miss me yet haha. Plus I want to see chino ward- apparently its packed on Sundays which will be a nice change!

So this coming week we are going to be doing a lot of finding! I was so excited because Alexi and Oscar (my racent convert) live in our area! We went to visit them and they were so surprised so it was awesome, weird that we moved the same week to the same place- there are no coincidences in life though so I am happy. She is pregnant and they are planning on getting sealed in the temple at the end of this year- how cool! Sister Love and I are getting along really well. I guess I didnt make a super good first impression because when I got to the apartment I went on a cleaning rampage- like crazy organized everything and went through the area book like a mad woman and she thought I was going to be super stiff... haha I later explained that I just have my overwhelmed moments where I go a little crazy. Also at the grocery store all I bought was veggies so she thought I was a health freak haha... she confessed all of these things to me late in the week so it was pretty funny. Note to self: I need to try to be more normal so I dont scare people! haha. Well life is great, the mission is really starting to pick up for me, I am loving it. Thanks for all the support you constantly give me.

President Pike, This was a great week! Chino is so weird but cool! The ward is super big and strong, it was great to be able to go to stake conference but I will have to wait till next week to see what it is like on Sundays. Friday night we had the ward talent show which was a great success, lots of people came, including our new investigator. This week we were able to give a tour to a lady named Consuelo who was a referral from one of the elders investigators. Then we also have a recent converts sister who moved in with her this week and we went to their house to meet her and she said, "I want to be baptized!"... so that was easy! haha. There are also some twin boys who are about to turn 10 and we were able to set them for a baptismal date for 2 weeks from now, so we have some promising things starting to occur. I am starting to understand the roads a little better and with time I will love it here almost as much as I love covina! Something cool is that my recent convert from covina moved last week to Pomona and we found out this week she moved into our area!!!! I was so excited! My studies this week I have really been focusing on the questions of the soul- one of the questions that really stuck out to me was what does Jesus expect of me, I was able to read the suggested chapter and was amazed with the list I had by the end of the activity. I am grateful to know what God and Christ expect from me and grateful for the Atonement when I fall short. Sister Love is really great, she is always happy and trying hard to be a good missionary. I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for this chance to serve here at this time with these people. Thanks for all you do. - Sister Christian

Week 54

So the crazzzzziest thing ever happened- I got transferred! This whole week I was aware that my time in covina was coming to a close but when I got the call Saturday it hit me pretty hard- then even worse the next day when I had to say bye to everyone and the tears started flowing...etc... very tough. BUT its all good because its time for me to be a missionary in CHINO! Thats the name of my new area. I am with Sister Love fromUtah who was comps with Sister Cruz in the MTC so this is her 2nd transfer. We took multiple wrong turns on our way here so she is pretty lost- so overall its going to be pretty funny trying to get around. This week was a good one, I was actually suppppper sad to leave behind my district too, we got super tight this last transfer. Its actually pretty funny- we emptied out this garage with so much junk and the lady let us take whatever we wanted so the elders found a black light and I was going on about how jealous I was, then on Sunday they gave it to me as a good bye present, Ill miss them. Sister Cruz and I had a black light party last night so I have already put it to good use haha. I saw that I got Sams email, I am really excited to see what he is up to and see how he is doing, Im sure he is doing great. So I am feeling a little excited about this "new chapter" in the mission, weird that I only have 3 transfers left- 4 months... wow. Time really does pass so quickly. This coming Sunday we have stake conference so I will be back in my covina building- home sweet home haha. Funny thing is Alexi and Oscar (my recent convert) moved to Chino ward 2 weeks ago and I was so sad to see them go and now I am following them! I am excited to surprise them! The saddest part of leaving was saying good bye to Hermana Ramirez, my Mexican mama, and her daughter Alejandra. Ahhh so many cool people, the mission has been the very best thing for me. I love that I went state side because its just a drive away! Or a cheap flight! Oh by the way, I am no longer taking methotrexate- it didnt make a big enough difference for me to feel the need to take it s I am just on plaquinil, its good, Im glad not to be taking the other one- too many scary sounding side effects! When I moved all the sisters were amazed with how little stuff I had- just my 2 suitcases and my bedding and I thought of dad making fun of my packing skills when I explained that the trick is to "roll the clothes" hahaha. I actually didnt roll them this time- I really just dont have that much stuff!

President Pike!
I cant enter next weeks goals because I dont have them written down in my agenda because I did weekly planning on a separate piece of paper as I was sure that my time in covina was up! Sure enough, I was right! Despite my knowing beforehand that I would move- it was a blow! I am super sad to be leaving my area but happy that Sister Cruz and I could have such a nice transfer together and I will be staying in contact with the people I left behind so I suppose it really is time for me to move on. So this past week was a good one as we were able to set Agustine with a baptismal date and get him on tour. On Sunday we were really disappointed they didnt come to church but later found out its because his wife Eunice was really sick. Fingers crossed for this coming Sunday- might be a little different because we have stake conference. Juanita was really excited to learn more about temples and is planning on going with her son this coming Saturday afternoon to go to the visitors center- she is really tearing through the Book of Mormon, especially for someone with so little education. So guess what!? I am LOST! haha Chino is big, I am probably going to send tonight studying the maps and praying for Heavenly Father to help me figure this out fast! I am very grateful for every transfer I have had and every lesson learned, yay for being a missionary! This week in my studies I am really enjoying preach my gospel's teachings on helping people make commitments. There were some pointers that really stuck out to me- especially on following up that I need to improve on. Thanks for everything! Hermana Christian.

Week 53

Man I was really hoping to have an email off Sam but maybe he hasnt had his p-day yet!? Im sure he is doing great in the MTC. Its a cool place- 9 weeks is probably going to be pretty different than my 3 week experience but hopefully he has a cool companion. Excited to hear the details!

So this week was awesome. Wednesday was Alejandras bday and we made her the BOMB cake of oreos, pudding and cool whip- it was delicccccious. They then invited us to go with them to Hometown Buffet where we ate our weight in food, then felt sick for the rest of the night. We have been biking for a large portion of the week and are nice and tanned and feeling extremely soar! Like... sooooo soar. We are also running to a park to play soccer and I have never had such a deep burn in my shins than I do right now from kicking the ball... Sister Cruz kicks it so hard so I try to keep up... unfortunately I am suffering the consequences. We have so much fun together though, we are very alike and think the same things are funny and the same stuff is cool... it makes life so enjoyable. Sunday Juanita was confirmed which was great, she came all dressed up (she is very casual so it was really exciting to see her all fancy!) and it was a great day! Yesterday we had pday but we couldnt email cuz everything was closed for memorial day. We went to swap meet and bought some fun jewelry, we were looking for a clay pot to make beans but we didnt find one- better luck next time! We then almost DIED! Long story short, this tool in front of me while merging onto the freeway came to a complete stop while I was checking my blind spot and basically I did the craziest fast and furious stunt and somehow slipped perfectly between the tool and this huge semi... I cant really explain it but we were superrrr protected because we probably should have died. We said a sincere gratitude prayer when we made it to Arcadia, yikes. I have an interview that I requested with president. I have had different things that I have wanted to talk to him about and we ended up talking for about an hour and a half, he is the BOMB. He is such a spiritual giant, like a vault of knowledge, it was really cool to have that time to ask different things. He also gave me a health blessing which was really nice. One of the things we talked about was my release date because I have the option of coming home Oct.11th or Nov. 22nd... we talked about it and I told him that I wasnt sure what to do and he told me to go home in October... kind of crazy. He told me to think about it and let him know, I told him I would. I am leaning towards October after the convo I had with him.

This coming week we are celebrating Karlas birthday with her on Friday... she is my favorite person of all time. I just feel like Ive seen her faith grow and it has been such a blessing to have met her and gone through a lot of ups and downs with her. I have loved being left in this area so long, I feel so blessed. Transfer calls are this Saturday and I have no idea what will happen... I will be happy with whatever- ahhhhh!

Week 52

Hello again! So we just raced back from downtown LA where we went to Plazita Olvera, the sisters we went with insisted we stop for food and bleeeehhhh it took so long so I have like no time to write cuz the family history center is about to close. But! This week was goooooooooooood! Juanita got baptized yesterday and it turned out great! We found a new family that we are excited about, the mom is a less active ad has 5 kids that arent members... we will see what develops, thinking we might have to pass them off to english elders though... gaaa the down side of state side work! haha. Weird to think there are only 2 weeks left of the transfer- it has just flown by. I think me and Kunz are gunna switch spots and I will head to Azusa and greenie break... but we will see, Ill keep ou posted! Sorry its so short!!!!

Week 51

So heres the news with the doctor... so I tested positive for a second time for lupus antibodies, if you dont know what lupus is you can look it up haha. Its still not 100% that I have it but he kind of explained that my body hasnt decided what course its going to take yet so I am still undiagnosed. There is something pretty wrong though because he went on to explain that in my blood results that my ANA (which is a count of my antibodies, which is basically my immune system)- that it is supposed to be under 40 and mine was 1280 , yikes! So my body is like preparing itself for something, didnt really understand everything, maybe you could ask Russ Hales to explain it better for me because my doctor is too smart for his own good and cant explain things simply. So yeah, thats that! No worries though, time will tell as always!

This week we had zone conference and it was fun, they over air condition it cuz all the elders have to wear their jackets so I was freezing. This was a great week! I sent you my presidents letter so hopefully you enjoy that. We have zone activity playing soccer at the park today- should be fun!

Heres some random photossss!!!!! We randomly found a sidewalk that just ended and for some reason we thought it was pretty funny, then we did our version of the first vision, then I decided to dye a bunch of stuff pink haha... yikes.

Presidents Letter:
President Pike,
This was a great week! This highlight of the week was yesterday when checking formers we ended up finding an awesome new family, the wife is a less active and the husband is not a member, we taught them 1st lesson right there as they said they wouldnt be free until the following weekend to take tour. The spirit was strong and she bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and in her closing prayer she said, "se que es el tiempo a cercarnos a ti Padre." It was powerful and the husband was nodding throughout the whole lesson- just awesome! We have done a lottttt of knocking this week and have some promising potentials that we are excited about for this coming week. Also we reviewed the baptismal questions with Juanita and she is very excited to be baptized this coming Sunday! Hooray! Also yesterday I was able to teach Relief society and the topic was 'la obra misonal'... President it went so well! We talked about how they as members can be missionaries and at the end I handed out little colored papers where everyone wrote their name and the name of someone they are currently working with or should start to work with, we got about 20 names and we are excited to follow up with those members to help them share the gospel!
In my studies I have been focusing on chapter 9 and reading the first lesson from chapter three. I am trying to be more creative as we are doing a lot of knocking so we want to keep it fresh and exciting by keeping it a little more varied. I was very grateful for my notes from Zone conference and the different things that I thought of that we can apply.
My companion is doing great. Sister Cruz is very well adjusted and slowly talking more. Although her Spanish speaking is a struggle she is pretty ahead of the game with her comprehension. She is always asking how she can help more, what else she can do, I like the help and appreciate her desire to serve.
Thanks for everything! Hermana Christian.

Week 50

Blog for 5-9-11haha

How are you!? Long time no talk! Hope you like the random fotossss. Sooo not too much has happened since 20 hours ago haha. It was so nice to be able to talk to you guys, got a little teary eyed but luckily I was able to hold myself together! Glad that you are all doing so awesome, thats so cool that I got to say hi to gran and grandad! Hope you guys have a great few weeks with them around!
I'll let you know how the doctors goes today- lupus or no lupus... dun dun dunnn. Either way its whatevers. I gotta go. love you guys.

Testimony:
The church is true, the book is blue. The end.
just kidding, here it is for real...
I am so grateful to have a loving Heavenly Father that is so aware of each of his children. I am grateful that our Savior Jesus Christ atoned for our sins so that we can repent to be worthy to go back to our Father's presence. Through obedience and faith we are able to better ourselves and become more and more like the Savior and live happier lives. Service and a consecrated life are what bring true happiness, and as we overcome distractions we can feel that much closer to our Father in heaven. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored through Joseph Smith after so many years of spiritual darkness. The Book of Mormon is the convincing evidence of that restoration. I know that it is another testament of Jesus Christ, and have seen how it has increased my faith and touched the lives of the many different people I have been privileged to meet. The church is true and God's plan is perfect and we are so privileged to be members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints.