Hello All!

So Maine is a fun place.  I actually really like it here.  I don't have any pictures yet but I have a lot of things to talk about so I will do my best to deliver.

first story was transfers.  so we had like three days and my old companion decided that we had to visit half the cole harbour ward, all of our 8 investigators, go to the temple, re write the area book, clean our appartment and pack in three days.  and apparently she has issues with obsessiveness with her stuff and ended up taking ten hours over those three days to pack, so I ended up doing all of the cleaning and most of the area book work by myself.  plus she kept me up past one both nights and made us late to the mission office on thursday and pretended like she was the only one who had to sign out supplies. needless to say I was ready for eight hours in separate cars.  (we both drove our own vehicles to the new areas.) I am getting over it, but geese, some people.  I still love her.

we picked up our new companions in Moncton and then parted ways.

Elder thatcher our vehicle coordinator, gave us a letter to give to the customs people when we crossed the boarder.  that was fun.  they didn't know what to do with us, and we waited for thirty minutes scrambling a little bit because they didn't like the letter and we couldn't get ahold of anybody at the mission office. eventually we found elder thatcher and he talked them through it.  the problem ended up being that the car is licensed and registered in Canada but we're both American, so bringing it across the boarder is technically legal, but it just looks weird.  so fun times.

funny story.  a guy in the library just called me a nun, and when I told him I was a missionary he started talking about the publicity with FLDS garbage in Texas.  sometimes I hate the news.

so then there was the time that the ward we were working with hadn't had sister missionaries for more than thirty years.  needless to say they were SUPER EXCITED to see us.  which is good, because we've only been here four days and will have had two member present lessons with people already.  we could have had three but one of our investigators said he was shy so we are waiting to ask him if we could bring someone to his lessons.

but cool thing!  he started the Stop Smoking program, and has been following it to the letter.  he even used some of the breathing techniques and mouthwash during a distracting and tempting party yesterday.  Sie is super cool, and really ready to listen to and apply the things we talk about, which is really refreshing. 

the elders we work with have been super helpful, and gave us some maps. 

one of our investigators gave us a GPS, so that is really cool. we weren't sure if we could take it but he wouldn't take no for an answer so there you go. 

we went knocking yesterday and found one of the members friends, and a less active member.  out of like 12 people too.  it seems like it's a fairly small community.

speaking of, it is really beautiful and picturesque here.  so I really like it, It kind of looks like mattawa, but things are closer together and there are more big red barns and trees.  I will have to send pictures.  it is also freezing here.  I don't think it's been above freezing for the four days that I've been here, but from stories I've heard from members and investigators it sounds like it doesn't really get above freezing for the next four months.  and sometimes it gets like 30 below.  so it is solidly cold, and I have no idea how I am going to survive this winter because i am cold all the time, and I wear practically every article of clothing I own.

fun times.

the river is frozen.

I can't remember if there was anything else I wanted to say,

My address is 555 main street, presque isle ME 04769.  feel free to send me mail.

I love you all! 

Sister Christensen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Lisa Christensen
  lisa.c@kiaorafitness.com
• Lisa Christensen
  lisaka.c@hotmail.com

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Hello everyone!

so crazy news.

not really actually it's really just crazy for me, especially because it's like the last thing I wanted to happen or was expecting before Christmas, I'm being transferred to Presque Isle, Maine!  I'll be able to use my US stamps again :) I bought those things in the MTC and haven't been able to use them since.

I'll post the new mailing address as soon as I know it, which may not be until next week.

this week has been fun, if the most non traditional of thanksgiving weeks there ever has been in a place that acts and looks like america.  I think we had pizza for thanksgiving?  weird.  but the non member uncle of one of our recent converts did stop and say happy thanksgiving in wall mart on his own.  so that was fun.  the seniors made us turkey on Monday and we taught the lesson on why we're thankful for the gospel and missionary work, since most of them are converts.  it was cool to see their testimonies and hear some of their conversion stories.

We bought Marina the now sober lady some groceries because she's too sick to drive and none of her friends would do it for her.

We spent a lot of time knocking on peoples doors who didn't want to talk to us in the -7 Celsius cold

we also taught an air force guy who turned out to be schizophrenic and is being discharged. that is an interesting story.  he seems interested in the gospel though so I hope the elders can make something happen with that.

we are in the process of sending home a Christmas project.  it's a secret!

and beyond that I am just keeping on. 

sometimes things are hard like the sky is dark at 430 already and nobody ever seems that happy to see us, but when all we're really trying to do is bring people greater happiness stuff like that is okay.  it isn't super fun, but when taken in perspective we can deal with it.  and hopefully do so joyfully and cheerfully.

anyway,

so I love you all and I'll talk to ya on the other side of the boarder!

Hey everybody!

I'm really tired.  it's just one of those days I guess.  The ones where you feel more like getting a giant mug of hot cocoa and curling up on the couch to watch whatever's available, in this case probably the district or the testaments, and shutting out the rest of the world.  it's a good thing it's P-day I guess, but the desire for complete selfishness is probably not okay with the whole "giving your whole heart might mind and strength" thing. so the cocoa is probably out. bummer.

this week was pretty crazy.  the drunk lady called us on monday and she was completely sobor!  apparently after we helped her out on friday ( we had basically done all we could, went and found all her pictures of her kids in the basement for support, told her we can't help her come closer to God until she makes some decisions and left. ) she had loved being able to see her kids and think about how much she loved them, but crazy story--when we were with her she didn't know if she could physically quit.  been to rehab twice right?  wanted divine help, found it hard to feel anything.  she tried to pray and ended up getting extremely sick, to the point that she couldn't eat or drink anything for three days, and by the time she was sobor was too afraid to drink.  we had a really good lesson with her on thursday after she had gotten her hair done and gone to the doctor where she prayed clear headed with us for the first time and the spirit was strong.  but she is still struggling really bad.  after that it has been really hard to find her off the couch, she's been eating so little and the meds the doctors gave her put her to sleep really well. sowe've just been praying for her.

I also got to work on the other side of the harbour this weekend, as there was a concert in saint john and my comp was gone. there is a lot of people over there, and it's really intimidating!  I'm used to tiny towns, trying to street contact and talk to people when there are litteraly thousands around is really weird. there are also a lot of cats, and I got to pet a few members' cats.  one looked an awful lot like sophia, and one looked almost exactly like blair!  good times. 

well I love you.  I know the book of Mormon is true, and that God loves all of his children.  I have read it, and I have prayed and received a witness that it is true.  Christ is our savior, and if we turn to him he will help us.

sister christensen

today I am writig this letter to a chorus of crying babies. 

I seriously should be recording this, it's phenomenal!  haha just kidding.  but it is funny when in a public library crazy things happen.  I always feel bad for the mothers who are caught in the awkward situation after they fall or pinch their fingers in doors.   at least there isn't a cranky person here today  like the one guy in newfoundland,  if he get's irritated about keyboards one can only assume the discord of an upset child in his midst.

anyway.

this letter is about missionary work isn't it?  well it certainly has been going this week I don't know if the adjective for it is good or well, or bad but it's going.  we have a few new investigators after a long time of searching, which is always satisfying, and leads to some good stories.

we have been meeting a girl who is catholic, and really actively catholic, goes to all the women's organizations, helps wtih the alpha course, voulenteers in the youth programs, and has a lot of friends that inspire her right now who are busy with evangelical persuits, serving in other areas of the country and in halifax.  She is involved! and sometimes really hard to get ahold of, but we really enjoy meeting with her because she genuinely has questions and sometimes our conversations are really interesting.  one time we were talking about prophets in the Bible, and how there are verses in acts and ephesians and other places that prophecy about there being modern prophets and we were talking about it, and she read a verse and said " so that basically said there will be prophets in our day, and they'll lead us." 

          "how do you feel about that idea?"

          "well, it makes sense.  i believe that's true.  I wonder why my (insert the name of apropriate church teacher here) doesn't teach us about that."

          "Kathy, it's because  they don't believe in modern prophets."

          "Huh! really?  that's weird, well i'm going to have to ask him about that!"

          And so on.  she really loves the Book of Mormon, and when she has read it and when she reads it with us she treats it like it's really the word of God but then also tells us all of the things she likes about catholicism!  she taught us how to pray the rosary and explained a few other things that I didn't really understand about catholicism before.  which is nice and interesting, but we're having a fun time noticing the differences in learning and liking something and spritiually feeling that it is true.  we know that it takes commitment and trying things out, praying about them and seeking to know from God that it is true.  it reminds me a little of the principle taught by Adrian Ochoa in his talk Look Up. we can know the truth from it's author, even God.

Another person we've been meeting with has been a really interesting find.  when we first met her she was acting a little funny, and after learning about her history of six concussions we couldn't decide if the weirdness was the invariably absent alcohol or brain injuries.  i was naive at first and wanted to believe she could make choices to learn and was just having problems, but we soon found that she is just drunk.  which is a bummer!  she really connects to a desire to be clean and free, but then you read a scripture from alma 36 about repentance and she gets caught on the words and randomly changes subjuect to eye color mid conversation.  it is almost comical, sometimes you could laugh if it wasn't so sad.  needless to say I have learned that addictions are real, and more than that they are really one of the tools that satan uses to bind us with chains of death.  when we are under the influence of something to the point that we cannot focus enough to make choices, and are too far from the influence of the spirit of God which tells us we can, we are indeed in a miserable state. without it she doesn't feel that there is a way out, because there is a constant stream of self doubt and physical addiction clogging the channel to communication with the Lord, and until she realizes that she needs divine help she cannot receive it.

so it is with us.  sometimes we do stupid things, not always as dumb as alcohol addiction, but that still require the assurance of a loving God, and the redeeming power of our Savior.  are we willing to face reality and come to the knowledge as Mormon taught that all things that are negative and distructive come from evil influence, and that all things that are good are from God? (Moroni 7: 11-15)  it doesn't mean everything we do is wrong, but if there is conflicting feelings in our hearts then it will require some self examination to see if we are willing to do what it takes to seek the right. myself included.

other than that I don't really have anything new or exciting to report, 

well I love you all and think of you all the time. 

enjoy your holidays and keep it classy!

Sister Christensen

so I don't have a ton of time this week but I will tell you that I have been learning about faith and that it is the first principle of the gospel for a reason!

 

moroni 10: 7 talks about how it is by faith that God works by power through the children of men, and that faith is something that can change not only our hearts but circumstances and conditions, and makes things better!  we can do it if we have faith. 

 

ether 12:6

Hebrews 11:1

Alma 32: 23-end'

 

are all good ones.

 

I love you all and really appreciate all that you do for me!

 

You're the best

 

Sister Christensen