So it's been a pretty crazy week.

because transfers landed on Newfoundland district conference, (stake conference), and for that event the mission was planning on having a musical fireside with all the musically talented missionaries, and a concert on Friday, a talent show Saturday and a fireside Sunday night along with zone training for missionaries and all the church meetings as well.  crazy.  and then I was supposed to miss it all and go on Friday, which didn't actually make sense, because my new companion was one of the violinists for the fireside, and wouldn't be in Cole harbor for three days.  So I petitioned president Leavitt and he realized the folly and booked my plane ticket for Monday with the rest, and I got to stay!  yaay. 

So I was there when on thursday the new missionary sister turner came to take my place, and we worked in a trio for the day.  We got to have jigs dinner with our investigators (a Newfoundland dish) and MOOSE which is actually pretty delicious.  I like it better than beef.  and then they gave me gifts and I felt awkward and undeserving, and we shared our testimonies during which I drew the connection between prayer and spiritual guidance and my being on a mission to meet them and be friends.  it was great.  and their cat finally came up and rubbed my leg.  yessssssss

then my companion came on friday, and we ran around in a quadpanionship for the weekend.  we had eight sisters staying in our appartment on saturday and sunday, good times.  there was lots of street contacting, lots of long car rides out to carbonear and the church, and lots of singing. 

and then we woke up this morning at four thirty on four hours of sleep and flew to cole harbour.  all I know about the place is the inside of the grocery store and the library.  which was cool because we met the bishops wife in the line at the store, and she is surprisingly young and talked about missionary work to her cashier.  the best. 

well, I can't think of anything more to say than I love you and wish you all the best.  I will try as always to write more letters,

love

Sister Christensen

Helllooooo everyone. 

this week has been fun.  and a little bit trying, for different reasons.  It's tough to go out and work when you just don't feel good,  I've definitely had some of those 'toughing it out' experiences this week.  but the good thing is that when we focus on doing the lord's work he helps us do the things he requires of us, and even if we don't feel great all the time we can still teach and testify.  just like nephi tells us,"for I know the lord giveth no commandments save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he has commanded them."

So sometimes your monthly makes you feel like garbage.  for some people every day is garbage, and it's my job to go try to make them feel like God loves them. 

and stuff. 

in Saint john's there has been lots of construction.  I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I have never been anywhere with so much construction going on all the time!  and it's bizarre because they painted new lines on the road at the beginning of the summer, only to make tons of random holes in the road, pull out weird square sections, and then repave everything.  now it's getting better, but there was one point in the summer when we had to plan ten or twenty minutes ahead of everything to get there on time, because all the main throughways were being torn up and repaved, with no real or effective detours.   good times.  

that and the busses.  we got bus passes last month to save on how much we drive everywhere, and to meet more people, and I have so many cool/weird bus stories.  like seeing two people have a long sign language conversation one day.  I couldn't take my eyes off of them.  they were so good at talking with their hands!  i'm pretty sure there must be accents in sign language, if not tone and inflection.  I also met someone on the bus like three times in different places.  he's still looking for an appartment sadly.  there was another guy like that from sri lanka I think, we met him on the street and we referred the elders to him because he lived in their area, but then I met him on the bus a week or two later and he was like "where did the elders go?" and i got really sad because he was sad and he needs the Gospel.  

then there are all the weird times. like when poor unfortunate souls come up to ya for a chat and you're too guilty to tell them not to smoke next to you and they tell you about all the bad people they see after you lend them a quarter for the bus.  he also told me to keep close hold of my purse, not to go to whore houses, and a weird story about his friend he knew in the army who left his wife and kids for crazy nights and he's been to jail three times. yikes.  or the person you sit next to on the bus and try to start a conversation by asking where they're going and they reply something like "I'm going to the avalon mall to me wmeo nce smh  eron c ehof sdj eons sln" and you're just like ....what?

good times.  

also knocking on doors.  if someone knocks on your door be polite.  I have had more bad experiences with doors in the last week than I ever want to have again for my entire life. 

We're not trying to suck out your soul.

or make you do anything. 

you always have the choice to be respectful and say you're not interested.

end of story.

but other than that things are good.  my companion and I are getting along well, and things seem to be going good.  I love newfoundland, and the people here, and will always and forever hold a yes b'y in my heart.

and I'll probably end up buying a newfie dictionary and sending it home at some point.

but anyway. 

Have a good week all!  

I love you.

Sister Christensen

I am getting transferred. surprise!

it's actually really funny, because I kind of expected that it would happen soon, but I was hoping that I would have a full six months in Newfoundland.  but apparently the Lord has a different plan.  I will be going to Coal Harbor, part of the Halifax metro district.  so I can finally get my hair dye from the mission office and dye my hair!

the sad thing about it is that #1 I have to leave all these awesome people here just before things pick up.  there are four new families in the branch and all of them are stoked about missionary work.  and all of the wonderful people I won't see and friends I will miss.  I will truly miss Newfoundland.  #2 is that we just spent half a transfer planning for District conference and my plane leaves the day before.  It is ridiculous.  I am on the program for Saturday night.  I'm supposed to paint faces during our service project.  We invited all the less actives we could contact, and many many more people to the concerts that will be happening.  my new companion will be playing in the orchestra, but I won't be there!  It's like planning my own birthday party and finding out that I missed it somehow. good times.

I will write letters to those I've left behind.  and hopefully find time at the end of all this in fourteen months to return to visit. that and I promised a few key people that I would.  the good thing is that out of a weird loophole I have an extra six months on my visa, so I'll get there somehow.

Other than that this week has been the best I've ever had.  I am really sad that I am leaving but I have to go.

random thought of the week, the other day I saw this,

and just had to laugh to myself.  I'd hate to have that driveway.

I love you all, and wish you all well.

Hey Y'all,

we begin another whirlwind week!  every time I write it seems so much has happened and it is getting harder to separate the days.  I told someone this morning 'good night!' in parting, I am not actually sure what time of day it is anymore.

we had interviews with president leavitt this week, and he told us that we're supposed to be gaining twenty seven new sisters in the next six months, which is more sisters than there are in the mission as yet.  so, we'll be opening new areas, and everyone who's out now will train at least once in the next six months, perhaps more than that.  he also hinted that I may be transferred soon, so perhaps in the next three weeks I'll get a change of scenery!  Also he suggested that the likelyhood of me whitewashing and training are pretty high, that's the mission colloquialism for two missionaries being sent to an area they haven't been working in, which is fun when one of you has no experience yet at all.  should be a good time.  although that was pretty much what happened when I came out, so the tables have turned! 

last week we went to signal hill for our p-day, it was pretty fun but that meant that I didn't have any time to write letters.  D: so too bad.  we went with all the elders, because our car was in the shop (again) and we were riding in the elder's soccer mom van.  it's really interesting to spend time with them because for the most part they're still pretty immature.  especially the older ones.  daring each other to find the greasiest shack or laughing at a restaurant that sells hot dogs called long dicks, or betting who will or won't throw up when they eat a succor with a scorpion in it.  and then the conversation will randomly become gospel centered and we'll all talk about what we believe.  weirdest heel face turns ever. 

also elder deem won't stop teasing me to draw his face.  I'm really glad he's getting transferred. 

signal hill was really fun, it's a historical site that boarders the edge of the harbor, where there was a working light house at one time.  it functioned as the higher light, there is another lighthouse on the other side of the harbor that serves as a lower correcting light, so that ships don't crash into the sides of the rock's impenetrable shale face.  it was super windy up there though, you got a sweet view of saint john's and of my underwear.  it turns out wearing a dress in gale force wind isn't a good idea.  go figure.  after a couple of pictures we ran inside the house and stayed there.

this week we're supposed to go to cape spear, and this time I brought my pants.  I will not repeat last week, I refuse.  when elder amaya asked about it I told him I was bringing pants and he can just fight me about it.  he laughed and said that he was thinking p-day clothes would be best anyway.

I don't have any cool spiritual insights this week, read your scriptures, they're great.

hmm.  I've been spending some time reading and re reading the emails I've gotten this week.  It's fun that when I send out a letter after nobody writes suddenly I get a full inbox.  now I don't know what to do with myself.

also I was laughing at a few things this morning and one of the guys in the library got mad at me because I was being too loud apparently. then he stormed out. I'm pretty sure all of you know me and know that I don't make that much noise, even when giggling at funny stuff over email.  also it seemed like he was looking at my companion, but I can't actually tell if that was because he was talking to her or that his eyes were just crooked.  in Newfoundland you can never tell.

this week was pretty interesting.  there was a town event on Wednesday called regatta, which is basically like the boat races, but they do it with rowing boats and just as much booze.  we were given mixed directions about going to it, so we didn't actually end up going.  For some reason I don't think that we missed much, although it messed up our entire day.  nobody was home. all our appointments fell through.  the buses weren't running.  it was just all around an unproductive day.

oh, update on the random guy.  apparently it is rude to type next to people.  he just cursed at me and my companion over wait for it...  keyboards.  holy moly.

so then we had some regular days and some planning days and some working days, and one day we had a lot of cool experiences.  we were just out on the streets waving at cars and knocking doors, story of my life, when we passed a couple of nicer homes with long driveways and forests for yards so I was like 'yep' and we wandered to their doors.  the first wasn't interested but the second was a really nice woman that we began having a nice talk about genealogy.  we then asked if we could go in and she said sure!  so we walk in, and it's this mansion that was built in 1909, tons of antiques everywhere, cool fireplaces, crown molding, china sets, grand staircases, the works, and we sit down and have a conversation with this wonderful lady about her multi million dollar business and her children that have corporate careers and all this stuff, and I'm just like 'when do I get to talk about the book of Mormon?' and my companion didn't ever really start a lesson, so we didn't talk about it. really really anti-climatic. and also the first door we've gotten into in the last transfer.  oh well, you win some you loose some.

well, I'm running down on time, so I love you all and will be sending mail soon.

meowmeow.

this week has been a lesson in charity.

sometimes we get to a point where being nice and freely giving of our selves becomes no longer easy or doable but like hard work and even a struggle.  the thoughts of what I want to get done and where I want to go and what I want to teach sometimes take over and I loose sight of what is really important. 

yes there are many lessons that I can learn out here but approaching them from that perspective of looking into a mirror as to how everything reflects on me is not a productive way to look at things.  it leads to selfishness, self pity, and self centered ness.  I need to stop looking for that reward of doing a good deed, shouldn't the deed be reward in and of itself?  shouldn't I feel happy when other people feel happy? and rather than trying to do things that I think will make me happier I should just do things that make other people happier.

the days where I get upset that my companion is helpless without a gps or guide (me) to help her anywhere or the times I get frustrated when I don't get to finish a letter or the days when that stupid 5 BX workout program just won't go away are the days I struggle, those are the days when I cannot for some reason, by choice or by attitude look farther than the tip of my own nose to stop being so concerned by things that just shouldn't matter and yet do to some people! (including me) why do we struggle so much to let stupid little things go? why is it so much work to just choose to be happy? 

I know for myself that I struggle the most when I make this work my work.  because It isn't.  If I were to leave, the work of salvation would continue on, would hasten regardless, because "no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing."  including mine. the only way that anyone is to change their lives and themselves is by listening to the counsel of God himself.  in Mosiah chapter three verse 19 we learn it again " for the natural man is an enemy to god and has been since the fall of adam and will be forever and ever, unless he yields himself to the holy spirit and putteth off the natural man, and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the father seeth fit to inflict upon  him, even as a child doth submit to his father."

haha funny thought, once in my mission preparation class we were talking about humility and the professor said to the tune of a primary song I think most of us will naturally remember, "if you're humble and you know it then you're not." 

as in the book of mormon it is easy for us to fall into a cycle of pride. but, the way we brake it is through choosing to humble ourselves, alma taught 'blessed are they who humble themselves, without being compelled to be humble, or rather, blessed is he that believeth... without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know before they will believe.'  and as the people in helaman's day demonstrated in the face of severe persecution, even within the proverbial walls of the church,  'Nevertheless the did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility and firmer and firmer in their faith of christ, unto the filling of their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.'

so I just need to do that.

sorry for using this email as an extension of my personal study, I think I needed to do a little self examination.  and I feel better now!  the scriptures are great. I love them. so i'ma get off my soap box now and go be happy.

I'm going to seriously try to write some letters today, I know I've said it like a million times, but really I need to write you people!  D:

I love you all,

Kelsey

ps: some pictures from before the sisters in our district peaced out.