Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 11:40 AM
This past week has been a good one. OUt with the old and in with the new including some amazing new investigators! We wre able to go tracting with a member on Friday and we met a pastor of a non-denom. church up in cleveland TN, we shared our testimonies of the church and of the Book of Mormon and we were able to give he and his wife one! We are going to be seeing them tonight! Pray that all goes well! We also went to go see a less active woman who just moved here from Shelley, Id actually! She is really great. Her name is Roxanne Suggs.. Mom, do you know her by chance? Anywho... we went to just meet her and her kids and we ended up meeting her boyfriend too! We were able to teach him again today and he is so prepared! We are meeting him again on wednesday and we are hopin that he will be able to be baptized this month! Pray for us!!!
Wow! Can you believe that it's already a new year? This past year has been the best year of my life!! It has also been the hardest year of my life! I thought it would be kinda fun to do a recap of where I have been this last year and all the cool people I have been able to meet. So let's get started!
January started out in Johnson City, TN with Sister Stapleton. We were able to teach Sylvia McCraney and we had a lot of adventures together. Side Note: Sister Stapleton is engaged!! She just told me! I am so excited for her! She said she is waiting for me to get home so that I can be there! I just love that girl and I am so grateful for everything that she taught me. She taught me how to be myself but to be a missionary. To use the personality that God has given me and the experiences that I have had to bless and strengthen others. I have used that advice everyday since. I will forever be grateful for her and she will be a forever friend to me.
February I was serving in Dayton, TN with Sister Yarrington. We had a hard time finding people to teach as Dayton has been the toughest area that I have served in.. other than Signal Mountain. But somehow we kept going. I learned that no matter what, God expects us to do our best and know that that is enough. I learned that if you have a strong relationship with Him, you can come through anything. I learned from Sister Yarrington how to love. She is such a sweet person with a huge heart. She taught me how to love those that I struggle to love. Side Note: Sister Yarrington is now happily married to her High School sweetheart and they are going to Utah State!
March Brought more challenges as I stayed in Dayton and became the Sr. Comp. It was hard to take over such a difficult area, but I still learned to trust in God and to work with the members. Sister Shumway taught me that you can have fun no matter what you are doing and that you can take something as simple as a cupcake wrapper and make it into a super hero mask! Sister Shumway taught me how to be patient and to love my companion and to support and encourage her even when I am the one struggling because when you lift someone else, you are really lifting yourself.
April brought my Birthday and another change.. Signal Mountain. As hard a Dayton was, I think that it prepared me for Signal Mountain. I am grateful for all of the things that I learned there. I know that I was supposed to serve there and that Sister Shumway and I needed to experience that together. April also brought some tornadoes to our mission. We were able to do a lot of service in GA. It taught me to be grateful for what I do have and not to put too much value into the material things because they could be gone in a second. In April, Adam Siegel was baptized and received the priesthood. He is still doing well and really growing in the gospel.
May was fun. I got transferred to South Knoxville with Sister Harmon. I hit my hump day mark and I was able to see Sara be baptized. Even though we didn't teach her, she was such an inspiration to me.. accepting the gospel and living it no matter what. I learned a lot from South Knox. I learned that you have to just work. I learned how to serve my compaion and that my companions are forever going to be a part of my life. I love Sister Harmon and I am so grateful for her friendship! Josh Weaver was baptized in May and unfortunately he has fallen away.
June and July were just plain hot! I served with Sister Wood! I love that girl so much! I learned that you have to love yourself in order to love others the way that they need to be loved. The five love languages helped me a lot in helping SIster wood feel loved. We were able to teach and baptize Angie Dishmond. She is also less active.. which breaks my heart!
August brought tears as I said goodbye to a lot of good friends. I got transferred to Chatsworth which at the time I thought was the WORST thing that could have ever happened.. but now I LOVE it here with all of my heart! Dalton will forever hold a special place in my heart. I served with Sister Laulea again and we were able to become really good friends. It has been amazing to see her change and grow so much! She is a great missionary! I learned to laugh and have so much fun!
Septemeber Sister Laulea and I were able to baptize Elias Lopez. He is now in Florida and doing pretty well. I also got a new companion, Sister Miner! She has been such a wonderful friend and companion. She will forever be one of my favorites.
Oct-Dec I have loved being here in Dalton/ Chatsworth and we have loved seeing families come into the gospel. With Jerry Scriver and Kris and Brandy, we are so grateful to have been a part of that whole process. I just love them all so much! My family has grown by 100+ people and I am so grateful and left in awe to see how God has shaped me this past year! I have learned so much about the gospel and about the atonement and that I can do this! I know now that I can do hard things.
I love this gospel! I love this work and I love you! I can't wait to see y'all in 66 days! I can't believe that we are in the home stretch. I can officially say that I will be home for Christmas! Haha!
Love Sister Christiansen
