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.
9.27.2011
9.26.2011
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!
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!
9.19.2011
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.
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.
9.13.2011
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.
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.
9.05.2011
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.
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