tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2512075534137183372023-11-15T23:50:39.150-08:00Elder ChristianJessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.comBlogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-54052930496473573502013-04-08T10:52:00.000-07:002013-04-10T10:53:26.206-07:00Week 89<br />
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Thanks for all the emails and the pictures. Carter looks awesome in those sweet clothes. This past week has been great. We had president interviews on Tuesday and that was good, it just took all the way to dinner so was a lot of sitting. We had a lot of miracles on Tuesday, we got a text from a member and said that her friend wanted a Book of Mormon and that she wanted us to meet her after our dinner to meet her at this lady's house and give her it. We talked with the lady for a while and about the Book of Mormon and then later that night we got a text that the member forwarded and it said..." I read the introduction and the testimony's in the front and I have an overwhelming feeling that this is the path for me to take and for my family". That was one of the best texts I've ever got. We are going to start teaching her at the members next week so excited to teach her. We also found five other new investigators on Tuesday so was such a good day. On Wednesday we found two other new investigators and they are really interested so we are finding so many prepared people right now. We are struggling to go back and see all the people that we are meeting so things are good. On Thursday we went up to the mountains and taught the two girls that are going to be baptized, we moved the date to April 27th because the person that will baptize them can only do it that weekend so that's a little disappointing because I'll be gone but at least they are getting baptized. General Conference was great this past weekend, I really enjoyed Elder Christopherson's talk which was the last one of the conference. Oh, we got transfer calls on Saturday night and I'm staying here in Poterville with Elder Keys and we are getting another Elder also so we are going to be in a trio for two weeks. The new companion is Elder Melanson and he came in with me and we shared a room in the MTC so I'm super excited for that because he's one of my favorite elders. We also are getting a car so that was exciting to hear. Well, tomorrow is my departing day and I'm leaving at 7:00 for the mission home and doing all the departing missionary stuff and having dinner there and then my farewell is tomorrow night so that will be good to see everyone that I've met. Wednesday is transfer day and I'll be waiting in Fresno for Elder Melanson and then we are taking the new car down to Poterville. That's about it for this week, can't believe it's two weeks now until I see you guys. </div>
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I love you guys so much, only two more email days left, still not real but I think tomorrow might make it a little more real. Love ya guys! </div>
Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-69560854827548984572013-04-01T20:13:00.000-07:002013-04-02T20:25:49.428-07:00Week 88
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This has been a great past week for missionary work in our area. We were able to set five new baptismal dates and two of them are rock solid for the weekend after General Conference. We also found four new investigators and had three of them at church so we are starting to see some really good success. So we had an emergency zone conference yesterday so we just went to church just for the sacrament and then went to the meeting. The mission has been doing extremely poor the past three months and there were some changes made in the mission. We were so focused on finding new investigators that we forgot that the reason we were finding was to baptize them. Last year at this time we were baptizing 90-100 a month and now its 30-40 so now we are refocusing on baptisms. It's crazy how a change in focus can alter the mission so much. It was a great meeting but we had to cancel our Easter dinners so that was a little disappointing but we got back into town at like 8:15 and a member saved some for us so it all worked out. Thanks for the package of goodies, that was probably the last package that I'll get from you guys! It's all gone now though, I love those chocolate eggs! The rest of the week was good, the weather is heating up and it's fun to be outside and talking to everyone, I'm just glad that I don't have to deal with another one of these summers. So tomorrow we have President Interviews and then the Bishop is coming out with us for the night to see the two girls getting baptized next weekend. I'm just super excited for General Conference this weekend, it's like Christmas when it comes around. I think that's about it for this week, next week I have my departing stuff and also my farewell which should be a good experience. It hasn't even set in yet that I only have a couple weeks left, I remember two years ago I never thought this day would come, I thought I would be here forever but now here we are two years later, crazy! Thanks for all the letters and can't wait to see you guys in about three weeks! Love you tons. </div>
Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-55047454460188185032013-03-28T15:29:00.004-07:002013-03-28T15:31:14.433-07:00Release Date<br />
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We got Sams flight details and he will be coming home on April 25th!</div>
Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-81175534572919992342013-03-25T21:46:00.000-07:002013-03-27T21:46:59.312-07:00Week 87
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So we went up to sequoia national park this morning and we had a good time up there, I'm just super tired now that were back down the mountain. We had a good past week with finding new people to teach and we were finally able to get some investigators to church! The drought is over! We had 5 investigators at church which was a relief of going two weeks without anyone at church. At church on Sunday, a girl came up to me and asked if she could be baptized so that was amazing, no one has ever asked if they could be baptized, we normally have to invite them so we will be having a baptism next week or so. So I'm glad you got my invite, did you love it? My farewell is in two weeks and I still haven't heard about my flight so I might call tomorrow if I don't hear. I had an exchange with another elder this past week and was a lot of fun, we were able to find some new people to teach so was a good exchange. I can't think of too much more, sorry my letters are getting shorter, the weeks just blend in together now and I will see you in less than a month! It's scary now that it's less than a month til I'm home. I didn't know that Luke was in Vegas, that's cool that Laura met up with him and had a good time with him. I got an email saying that I have to send in the return missionary thing so I will do that and then fax it in this week. Well it's really hard to concentrate with all the elders and sisters here, just can't focus right now. Well I had some questions but I will write them down and ask you next week. I love you guys and miss you. Thanks for all of your love and support, you guys are the best! </div>
Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-47142808881914902062013-03-18T17:27:00.000-07:002013-03-19T17:27:40.980-07:00Week 86<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So this week has been great, we had a great zone conference and learned a lot of stuff. We have been doing the harvesting blessing and it invites the spirit so strongly and is a great feeling to bless their lives even if they are not interested in hearing the gospel. The one problem that we have been facing is that we are not getting many progressing investigators with it, we are doing a lot of the blessings but then we go back and they aren't interested or won't open the door so that has been discouraging but hopefully that will turn around this week. So at zone conference, we got the news that the church has changed the email policy and now missionaries can email anyone instead of just family and that we have 1 and a half hours to email so that was a big change, I'm glad that this rule just got changed because that would of been too distracting for me so that was a big change. Things are going well, time is just flying by and the weeks are like days. I got a bunch of stuff for departing missionaries in the mail last week so I've got to start doing all that stuff. We've been getting a lot of anti stuff recently which is weird, and the Jehovah's Witnesses have been flooding the city with their invitations to their celebration so I think that is making it more difficult on us. We have found a bunch of new people this week and a few less actives that were working on reactivating so we are defiantly busy. So this week we have district meeting and then going on an exchange so should be a pretty fun week.</span></span>Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-60146171538190946312013-03-11T17:26:00.000-07:002013-03-19T17:26:59.498-07:00Week 85<br />
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<span id="yiv1131441169yui_3_7_2_39_1363616505484_47">This past week has been great. We have found some really prepared people, on Monday night we knocked on some doors and we were welcomed in to leave a blessing on their home and the spirit was very strong. We then asked the 16 year old boy "if Jesus Christ were in this room right now, what one question would you ask him?" He then said he would ask where we came from, and we were a little stunned because it's as if he read Preach my Gospel or something. We then taught the Plan of Salvation and committed him to baptism for the 30th of this month. He had such great questions during the whole lesson and he said that it has cleared up a lot of things he was wondering about his whole life. We had so many great experiences this week, we gave over ten harvesting blessings and it is such a powerful tool, it is probably the most spiritual thing that has ever happened in their homes. We have been finding a lot of people through this, actually all of our investigators are from doing this as much as we can every day. Soon enough we will be so busy that we will be booked for every hour of the day. We are really seeing a lot of miracles in our area right now. A couple funny things happened this week, we were biking down a busy street and we went by an auto shop and I saw a Maserati so I told him to look and while he was looking back he nailed a telephone pole bad, it was so funny, was laughing for like 30 minutes. We also went to dinner that same day and while we were eating, Elder Keys stands up and runs to the bathroom and then we hear him puking for the next 10 minutes so that was interesting trying to eat while we could hear him puking. Also went on exchange with Elder Frost ( he is from the heaps ward) and that was so much fun. This upcoming week we have zone conference <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1363738907_0">on Friday</span> and then doing more exchanges this week. </span></div>
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<span id="yiv1131441169yui_3_7_2_39_1363616505484_871">Thanks for all the emails! It was great to hear from everyone. I didn't realize that I was coming home during the ward conference, I feel bad that Pres. Halsey won't be able to speak, I could do 10-15 minutes so that he could have time to speak also. I like the idea of being able to do the report and do it with the ward council so I can still do that. That's fantastic about the youth temple trip, there are so many youth now, wasn't like that a couple years ago, sounds like we have a really good ward. Thanks for everything! I love you and miss you.</span></div>
Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-85323568320009312552013-03-04T17:25:00.000-08:002013-03-19T17:26:28.779-07:00Week 84<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 16px;">So this has been a great past week. We have been able to go out and work every day and we have found a lot of new people to teach as we do three hours of knocking doors and talking to people in the streets. We have made ourselves quite busy the past couple days and we have found a lot of people that really need the gospel and are going through a really hard time. Elder Keys is my new companion and he is from Washington state and he is a really good missionary. He has been out about a year now and we've gotten along really well so I'm glad this is going to be a really good transfer. We are serving in a really ghetto area so most people are humble and willing to talk with us, we have been offering to have prayers with people and leave a blessing on their homes and it has been a really effective finding tool and a good way to bless people's lives. It softens people's hearts, there are many people who don't want to talk to us at first because they don't want to switch religions or not interested in our message but then we offer to have a prayer with them and they are receptive to that. We had a couple of investigators at church this past Sunday, I keep comparing everything to when I was in Exeter and we were getting 10 or so investigators to church and here we get less than half of that so I need to stop doing that because I feel disappointed every week. I can't think of anything else too exciting from this past week, we've just been doing a lot of finding. We are doing sports today, haven't played anything for a while so I feel out of shape.</span>Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-22458170798775980142013-02-25T11:13:00.000-08:002013-02-27T20:58:50.322-08:00Week 83<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Well we got transfer calls on Saturday night and I am staying here in Poterville but Elder Mueller is leaving but that is what we expected to happen so no big surprise there. My new companion is Elder Keys and I don't know him but I've seen him before and I know he is a short red head with freckles but that's all I know. I've heard good things about him so I'm excited to be with him. This past week has been a little frustrating as Elder Mueller has been going to the doctors every other day and then for the past four days we haven't been out to work so the area is struggling right now which is going to make things hard on us the next couple weeks. I've been able to study a lot though and I didn't think I would be able to start and finish Jesus the Christ for the third time but with all this study time I might be able to. Did you hear about the fifty-eight new missions being created? One of them is the Bakersfield mission and they will be taking parts of the Fresno mission from it and Fresno missionaries will be taken out and put in that mission in June so I'm glad that I won't be there for that although that is very exciting. The three southern zones of the mission will be in the Bakersfield mission so over 80% of my mission will no longer be the Fresno mission. We had a good showing yesterday at church so that was promising news. Well this week we have transfers on Wednesday and I will let you know how my new companion is. So I got an interesting call yesterday, it was a member from the ward I served in up in Turlock and he called to offer me a job which was super random but he wants to hire me. He owns a marketing company that is throughout the whole valley so he asked for our home phone number so that when I get home he will call me about it, so might have a job after the semester or after I'm done with school. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">That's great news about all the missionary work happening in the ward, no work more important than it so that's good your having success. President Gelwix always says that the most important person in missionary work is the Bishop and the two highest wards in our missions have the two best bishops he says, so no pressure or anything. That's good that I will be able to speak in Sacrament as I would like to and I'm not too worried about not going to the high council but what does that normally include?. I love you guys and hope that you have a great week. </span>Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-55326395310573629632013-02-19T07:02:00.000-08:002013-02-27T20:58:57.004-08:00Week 82<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Sounds like things are going well back home and everyone is doing good. Had a pretty good week and was a lot of fun. Yesterday we had a tri-zone activity and we just played sports all afternoon and it was a beautiful day out for sports as it was in the 70's, that's the good thing about the winters out here, only about 2 months and sounds like your not in tshirt and shorts weather quite yet with the snow. Had a family home evening last night with a family in the ward and we played apples to apples, haven't played that one since I was home so forgot how to play. On Sunday we had a couple investigators at church so that was good but we can do so much better, we are reaching our potential. Church here starts at 1:00 and by the time church is done we got straight to dinner so doesn't give us much time to work on Sundays and no one likes meeting that late, hope I never have 1:00 church, your days are just shot. Our project this past week has been to contact every person on the ward list so we went to the zoning office and got this huge map of the east side of Poterville and we are marking where every person is and trying to make the ward list more organized as it is 6 pages of the abbreviated directory and about a page and a half is active so there is a lot of work to be done. My companion always seems to be struggling with something, if it's not his anxiety, it's a migraine, or his back or stomach and I really want to believe him but it's starting to get a little old. I keep telling him that if he doesn't get over it that he's going to be sent home. We get along, it's just hard to work with him. We have transfer calls on Saturday and then transfers on Wednesday so looking forward to that, I really am hoping for a good companion and someone that wants to work hard. I am pretty certain that I'll be staying and Elder Mueller will be going so this is probably my last area which I'm ok with. The work is slower than in previous areas but were working on improving that and our lessons have doubled so our teaching pool is increasing also. Well I love you all and thanks for your love and support. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span>Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-36110057802119826402013-02-11T06:49:00.000-08:002013-02-27T20:59:06.936-08:00Week 81<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">So another week has flown by, felt like I just emailed you guys yesterday. So we are starting to see a lot of success in our area, the area was getting 0 to 1 investigators at church and we had 4 yesterday and have a lot more for next week as we have found some solid investigators. I got three packages on Saturday, one from you guys and then one from the Desmarais family which was nice to get something from them, I didn't know Emily D. had another one. Thanks for the Valentines Day gift. I also got my Jesus the Christ which I used my American Express to buy it so just so your aware. My companion has been struggling recently and we are very concerned about him as he has had three anxiety attacks and is not mentally stable. He is going to Stockton which is 4 hours from here and outside of the mission to see someone to evaluate his mental health on Thursday. We get along well though, he just has flare ups of anger over little things and may be bi polar also so will good to get him checked up. It has been a good transfer and should be a good next two weeks of the transfer with some baptisms coming up. I'm doing really well right now, I got a little down a couple weeks ago because I have felt like I've been given a lot of difficult companions and I thought this transfer would be one with no set backs but difficult companions really make it tough but I am finally able to find success and be happy with myself even though it's not the ideal situation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> I just checked my letter from President and he said that my release date is April 25 and that everything is set.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It became very real that I don't have long left after I read my email from President as everything is set in stone now and he is ordering my plane ticket which he will send to you so you will get there in a couple weeks. Thanks for booking the flight to school, I think that it's going to work perfectly leaving on Monday, gives a little extra time instead of leaving on Sunday. So will I be able to report to the High Council and also give a talk? Yea, quite a few people came up after I gave the talk and said it was good, so not too bad for not knowing and just getting up there. That is something the mission has really helped me at, being able to have no notice and give a talk without notes, I'm still not the best at public speaking but better than I was. Sounds like a lot of people went to the Ravens Homecoming and that it was a good time. Hope that you have a great week and look forward to hear from you next week. Love you and see you soon!<span style="font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-22094509884441849762013-02-04T10:22:00.000-08:002013-02-27T20:59:17.811-08:00Week 80<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Thanks for the letters! I'm so happy that the Ravens won! I can't believe they won the year that I'm not there but I will have to watch it once I get home. It sounds like it was a crazy game and that it was fun to watch. Everyone here is a 49'ers fan so I couldn't celebrate at all or else I would of got shot. We taught someone right after the game and she was a 49'ers fan and she was super bummed but she said that she wants to be baptized on February 23.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a great zone conference and we have started something called the harvesting blessing where we have to tract for three hours a day and instead of doing a normal door contact we offer to have a prayer with them and their family in their home and it has been a great tool. On Friday we gave the eulogy at a funeral and it was mostly non members so it turned out that a few of them wanted us to stop by so it actually was a good finding activity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">I love you guys so much and look forward to hear from you next week. I can't believe that I will see you guys in less than three months! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-16181135036456453892013-01-28T09:54:00.000-08:002013-02-27T20:59:24.608-08:00Week 79<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">So I got transferred on Wednesday and now I'm down here in Poterville which is the most south part of the mission. It is an all bike area which is good because I really wanted to get in good shape and this will defiantly help out. We have a pretty nice apartment with a washer and dryer so that saves a lot of time and money each transfer. This is the most ghetto city I've served in so far, an extremely poor town and most of the people are low income which can also be a good thing as they are more willing to hear the gospel. The ward is pretty small, probably about 70-80 people there but they seem nice and willing to help out. The work in the area is very slow and we only have 2 investigators here so pretty slim compared to the 20+ in Exeter. We are going to be working on getting our teaching pool up so we will be doing a lot of finding the next couple weeks. My companion is Elder Mueller and he is from Philadelphia so another east coast companion. We went biking the other day and we saw a shortcut through a field so we decided to go through it because it looked pretty dry but we got about 50 feet and then we got stuck in the mud so we had to walk to the other side and we were covered in mud and our bikes wouldn't go because of all the mud so we spent the next hour cleaning them and then finally got on our way. Tomorrow we have a zone conference and then the rest of the week we don't have anything planned so we will just be finding new people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Everyone here is talking about the Superbowl and whenever I mention that I'm from Baltimore they bring it up but everyone here is going for the 49ers so hopefully the Ravens win this Sunday. That's crazy that Luke is home, that picture of him doesn't even look like him, he's really changed. </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-28213804044469164012013-01-22T11:41:00.000-08:002013-02-27T20:59:37.831-08:00Week 78<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Thanks for all the emails and to hear how all of you are doing. It's been a good past week here in Exeter but it is my final day here as I found out <span class="yshortcuts"><span id="lw_1358957324_0">on Saturday</span></span> that I am getting transferred to Porterville which is about 30 minutes south of where I am at right now. I was a little surprised that I am leaving because the work has improved so much since I've been here and we have a lot of people going to be baptized so bummed I won't be here to see them get baptized but I feel good about going to a new area because there are more people I need to meet there. It will probably be my last area as I only have this transfer and then one more after that and this transfer is only a month long as the MTC has changed how long missionaries are there. My new companion is Elder Mueller and I don't know him yet so not too sure where he is from or how long he has been out. I have been feeling good the past week and I think it has just been a very hard couple months as I have had some tough companions and after a while it takes a toll on you. I have been re energized the past couple days as I have been saying goodbye to everyone and how great it is to be a missionary. We did some tiling this morning for a member and moved some stuff into his house and it was a lot of fun. Well tomorrow I am off to Porterville and I will let you know next week how it goes. </div>
Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-37072341694956085632013-01-15T06:54:00.000-08:002013-02-27T20:59:45.686-08:00Week 77<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Thanks for all the letters this week, was good to hear how all of you are doing. Another week has flown by and I'm trying to remember all that has happened. I need to start remembering so I can include things in my email. Yesterday for preparation day we went to the stake center and played indoor soccer and it was the first time I've played on my mission and it was so much fun and I was surprisingly good so that made it all the better. I'm trying to organize it again for <span class="yshortcuts"><span id="lw_1358347257_0">this Monday</span></span> because it was awesome. On Sunday we had a lot of investigators at church again and we are going to have a good upcoming months as we have quite a few dates set. I've been feeling kind of depressed recently, I'm not sure what it is but I'm in a funk. We are having a lot of success and I really like my companion so not sure what it is but it's bothering me. I'm trying to figure out what it is and hopefully will figure it out sooner than later. I'm happy most of the time and its only sometimes I feel down and it's odd because I've never had this before, especially because I am normally always happy. So this upcoming week we have transfer calls and I'm really hoping that I don't leave because we have improved the work so much and I don't want to leave because I have a really good relationship with the ward. I'm a little nervous for transfer calls but I will be fine with whatever happens as every area so far has been a new experience. <br />Well, I better get going but I love you guys and hope that you have a great week. </span>Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-32925926049007792922013-01-08T12:36:00.000-08:002013-01-15T12:07:20.848-08:00Week 76<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt;">
It was great to get your letters and see what is happening back home. It was a great week for us. Bree was baptized <span class="yshortcuts"><span id="lw_1357935661_0">on Saturday</span></span> and then confirmed on Sunday and it was a quick 25 minute baptism but the spirit was strong and no one was antsy to get out of there when its that quick. And then on Sunday we had eleven investigators at church and that is the most I've ever had so that was awesome to have that many people there and they all have been more than three times already so they need to take the next step and be baptized, so these next two months we could have over ten baptisms plus new people we meet so that would be a great way to end the mission. My companion doesn't believe in going out and knocking doors and talking to people in the street so I kind of have to drag him behind and when we contact he doesn't say anything because he thinks its weird so that has been a struggle but I just do all the talking which is alright with me but not ideal. Members are treating us like Kings, we now our starting to get lunches<br />
a couple days a week so the members really like us, I feel bad for the elders who only get dinner a couple times a week. We have a busy week this week with a lot of people to teach and then hit the streets and do some finding.<br />That's cool about Emily and Don being called as ward missionaries, they will do a good job with that. Last thing is about my release date and I just checked my email from President Gelwix and he said that it will be in April and he will know the exact date when he emails me next week so I do know it's April for sure but now just need to get the exact day so I'll let you know for sure next week. Well I got to get going but I love you so much and miss you. Look forward to<br />your emails next week, Talk to you next week!<br />
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Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-77771662267501814102013-01-03T12:53:00.000-08:002013-01-15T12:07:33.476-08:00Week 75<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Thanks for all the emails, I am so happy that Kirk got baptized. Tell him that I love him and am excited and proud of him. His plan is to go to BYU-Idaho? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">So this past week was great. Played basketball on Tuesday night and didn't get hurt so that was a success. We taught Christina four times in the past week and last night she said she wants to be baptized and now she is just trying to figure out a date that everyone in her family can be there. Had a really spiritual experience and I would say it but I wrote it in my journal so will save it to share later. Christina is defiantly one of those people that was prepared to receive the gospel as we have only known her a week and she is ready to be baptized and is super solid, she is actually planning on going to BYU-Idaho with her cousin, it feels good to baptize these people that you know are going to be in a good spiritual place and stick with the gospel and not leaving the church because some people I see getting baptized, stick with it a couple months but it they have the fellowship they stick with it. We had an excellent day at church yesterday as we had five investigators there and a couple new ones for the first time. We are doing really well on getting people to church right now but I'm scared of what is going to be said in sacrament meeting and yesterday was no different. We had a lady get up and she lives by herself and has no kids and never been married and she started talking about how her pets have strengthened her testimony and went on for 10 minutes about pets so that was interesting, normally it would just be funny but with investigators there you are worrying about what they think about it. I went on exchange on Saturday and it was the first exchange in a couple months so it felt weird to be with a different companion. This week we are meeting with Christina to finish the lessons and hopefully getting the rest of them with a solid baptismal date. This week is transfer calls and I'm hoping that I stay here in Exeter with Elder Leavitt another transfer but I think that he's leaving and I will stay so good that I'm staying. I am really hoping that I will stay here for the rest of my mission as I really am doing well here and love the members. Well that's about it for this week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Thanks for the picture of Kirk and Ethan mom and thanks em for all the pictures of Carter, he is looking good, who do you think he looks more like? you or don? Well I better get going but I love you all so very much and thankful for all your love and prayers and support. I am so happy right now, this is easily the best part of my mission so far, just happy all the time. Love you all so much.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span>Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-43067415243471931932012-12-26T12:40:00.000-08:002013-02-27T21:01:33.335-08:00Week 74<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
It was awesome to talk to all of you yesterday and hear all of your voices. I totally forgot about Carter and it hasn't really sunken in that I have nephew so that will be cool to finally meet him. This past week was great with getting new investigators and setting dates for baptism. I forgot to mention that Tina, the girl I was teaching that moved back to LA is getting baptized on the <span class="yshortcuts"><span id="lw_1357936663_0">12th of January</span></span> and she is easily the most solid person I've ever taught on my mission so I'm really happy for her and she is planning on going to BYU-I so she will do well there. We also have two more baptisms next week that are solid too so the work is really good right now. Christmas was fun and we got treated well by the ward but nothing beats Christmas at home, next Christmas I will be able to join in on the fun. Sounds like it was a good Christmas on your side of things though. This upcoming week were just going to do the regular finding and teaching so should be a good week. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well that is pretty much it for this week, it was great talking to you yesterday and look forward to your emails next week. Love you and miss you all.</div>
Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-36378062203855814832012-12-19T12:45:00.000-08:002013-01-15T12:07:46.733-08:00Week 73<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Thanks for the emails, sounds like everything is going well for home and by now I think everyone is in Baltimore and hopefully in the Christmas spirit. This has been a great past week, we have five people with a baptismal date and they are all super solid, we have one on the 29th so that is the perfect birthday present. The new investigators are coming out of the woodworks and members have so many people for us to teach and they are all super prepared. We also went to Temple on Tuesday and it was great. My new companion is Elder Wilson and he is from Provo, Utah and he is a lot different than my previous companion but I have realized that my happiness depends not on what my companion does but whether I want to be happy or not and it really makes me look inward before I look outward. We have seen so many miracles recently and I feel so blessed to be in this area right now and I'm glad that I'm here for Christmas. I Tomorrow is our Christmas Zone Conference so that's where we will get most of our packages. The Christmas Zone Conference is always the best one so I'm excited about that. So last Wednesday, we had a wedding for two of our investigators and it was crazy because we find out the day before and then we had to put the whole wedding together that night but it all worked out and the ward helped out so much. We even were able to get a member who does wedding cakes to make a cake that night so that was awesome because it turned out so well. So I'm excited to talk to all of you on Christmas, so I will call you on Christmas Day and I have 40 minutes to talk just to let you know. On Monday we get our one movie and we are going to watch Brave, I've heard mixed reviews so we will see if its any good. That's great that Kirk got the Priesthood, that makes me so happy, I hope that he enjoys school up at Idaho. Well I better be going and sorry for the couple day delay of writing but better late than never. I am loving missionary life so much right now, I am finding so much joy despite how hard things are and the challenges. I love you so much and miss you all. <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><span style="color: #666666;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span>Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-15664625027203421772012-12-10T10:40:00.002-08:002013-01-15T12:07:56.396-08:00Week 72<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">So it has been a great past week. We taught Tina three times this past week before she left for L.A. <span style="color: #366388;">on Saturday</span> and in our last lesson we watched Prophet of the Restoration and she said that she has never felt the spirit so strong in her life so we our glad that we watched that with her. She is getting baptized so that's super exciting, just wish it was here. We had ten investigators at church which is the most for over two years in this area so that was really amazing, the ward members really took notice as they kept saying how many investigators were at church and this month alone we should have twenty different people at church which I've never had before so I'm really excited about the work right now. We got transfer calls and I'm staying in Exeter again which I wanted as I want to finish here but Elder Leavitt is leaving and my new companion is Elder Wilson who is from Provo, UT so two straight Utah companions. He is new in the mission. The work is going really well and we are finding prepared people. This week we have transfers on Wednesday and next week I'll let you know about my companion. For the Christmas call I have 40 minutes, just so you know and that will be on Christmas Day but we can figure out the details later. We are also going to the temple <span style="color: #366388;">next Tuesday</span> so that will be when I email next week just so your not expecting anything <span style="color: #366388;">on Monday</span>. We are also going bowling today as it is $10 for unlimited bowling so should be awesome!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">So I got my first Christmas package of the year from Becky your sister and it was sent from California so I'm guessing that she's in the area. I opened the package and it's in wrapping paper so I put it under the Christmas tree. Tell her thanks and I'll send a email to her also if I have time. That's great that everyone is coming into town for Christmas again this year, I'm looking forward to talking to all of you. Crazy how Christmas is only in two weeks! That's cool that Doug confirmed Kirk, I'm so excited for Kirk and I know that by him going to BYU Idaho he will get that much stronger and learn so much more about the gospel. Well that is all I have for this week but I love you all and look forward to talking to you in two weeks!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span>Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-34374847010440468122012-12-03T11:50:00.000-08:002013-01-15T12:08:02.614-08:00Week 71<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Thanks for all the emails, I am so happy that Kirk got baptized. Tell him that I love him and am excited and proud of him. So this past week was great. Played basketball on Tuesday night and didn't get hurt so that was a success. We taught Christina four times in the past week and last night she said she wants to be baptized and now she is just trying to figure out a date that everyone in her family can be there. Had a really spiritual experience and I would say it but I wrote it in my journal so will save it to share later.. Christina is defiantly one of those people that was prepared to receive the gospel as we have only known her a week and she is ready to be baptized and is super solid, she is actually planning on going to BYU-Idaho with her cousin, it feels good to baptize these people that you know are going to be in a good spiritual place and stick with the gospel and not leaving the church because some people I see getting baptized, stick with it a couple months but if they have the fellowship they stick with it. We had an excellent day at church yesterday as we had five investigators there and a couple new ones for the first time. We are doing really well on getting people to church right now but I'm scared of what is going to be said in sacrament meeting and yesterday was no different. We had a lady get up and she lives by herself and has no kids and never been married and she started talking about how her pets have strengthened her testimony and went on for 10 minutes about pets so that was interesting, normally it would just be funny but with investigators there you are worrying about what they think about it. I went on exchange on Saturday and it was the first exchange in a couple months so it felt weird to be with a different companion. This week we are meeting with Christina to finish the lessons and hopefully getting the rest of them with a solid baptismal date. This week is transfer calls and I'm hoping that I stay here in Exeter with Elder Leavitt another transfer but I think that he's leaving and I will stay so good that I'm staying. I am really hoping that I will stay here for the rest of my mission as I really am doing well here and love the members. Well that's about it for this week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">I'm excited for the new pool table, I miss playing pool and ping pong but will have people to play when I get home as Don and Dad will be there. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well I better get going but I love you all so very much and thankful for all your love and prayers and support. I am so happy right now, this is easily the best part of my mission so far, just happy all the time. Love you all so much.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span>Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-9424680280216528052012-11-27T10:34:00.000-08:002012-11-28T10:34:34.949-08:00Week 70<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">This has been a great past couple days. Thanksgiving was a lot of fun but I'm still feeling the affects of the Turkey Bowl. I am very sore but it was worth it. After we played football we went to Visalia and went to this members house that was huge and we watched the movie 17 Miracles in their theater and they provided a bunch of food so we had it good. We then came back to Exeter and had Thanksgiving dinner with our ward mission leader and his family and it was all really good. <span class="yshortcuts1"><span data-action="calevent" fid="Inbox" id="lw_1354111503_0" mid="2_0_0_1_65792_APTWiGIAAWpoULVOagKIdGi/Zo0" title="Add an event at this date"><span style="color: #366388;">On Friday</span></span></span> my companions brother who is less active came to visit and he got permission for us to go out to eat with them. We went to this fancy restaurant and they paid for it so that was nice of them but it was super awkward as his brother is like twenty years older than him and they were struggling to make conversation so a lot of weird silences. The work is good here in Exeter, we have been really busy the past couple days and going from appointment to appointment, if only it was like this all the time! So we started teaching the best person I've met on my mission so far. Her name is Christina and she is 18 years old, and she is from the LA area but we are teaching her because she is staying with her Aunt and Uncle who are members here in Exeter and the reason she came up here was so that she could have the missionary lessons because the environment was not good back home. Her parents came up for Thanksgiving and she was thinking of going back with them but she said that she prayed what to do and she received a strong answer that she needed to stay to have the lessons. Shes been coming the past three weeks to church but we taught her for the first time this past Sunday and she is a true searcher, she knows the scriptures really well and already is a very spiritual person. She wants to meet every other day so that she can get all the lessons before she has to go back to LA in a couple weeks. We have a few other really cool investigators but she is the most promising of the bunch. Can't believe how fast time is going and each week flies by so fast, the days are long, but the weeks are short! Tonight, I'm going to play basketball at the church so that we can get a better relationship with the members and find some new investigators. In Kingsburg we did volleyball <span class="yshortcuts1"><span data-action="calevent" fid="Inbox" id="lw_1354111503_1" mid="2_0_0_1_65792_APTWiGIAAWpoULVOagKIdGi/Zo0" title="Add an event at this date"><span style="color: #366388;">every Thursday</span></span></span> and we got quite a bit of investigators from it so hopefully can do the same thing here. I know when I was back home I would bring non members to basketball each week and sometimes 15 or so at once and would of been a good for the missionaries but I wasn't too missionary minded back then, I was just thinking of playing basketball! The rest of the week, we just are going to try and find some new people and really work with the members and start teaching their friends and family. <br /><br />Sorry about the emails being on different days, we sometimes email <span class="yshortcuts1"><span data-action="calevent" fid="Inbox" id="lw_1354111503_2" mid="2_0_0_1_65792_APTWiGIAAWpoULVOagKIdGi/Zo0" title="Add an event at this date"><span style="color: #366388;">on Mondays</span></span></span> and then sometimes <span class="yshortcuts1"><span data-action="calevent" fid="Inbox" id="lw_1354111503_3" mid="2_0_0_1_65792_APTWiGIAAWpoULVOagKIdGi/Zo0" title="Add an event at this date"><span style="color: #366388;">on Tuesday</span></span></span> but next week it will be first thing Monday so about 10 my time or else I won't get your email. Thanks for all the emails this week, I was able to read all of them but sorry I don't have time to reply this week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wish I could respond to everything but I don't have time and I'm going to try and attach a picture real quick. Love ya guys and miss you.</span></div>
Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-53384271740819275882012-11-21T12:01:00.001-08:002013-01-15T12:08:08.544-08:00Week 69<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">So that's crazy that your getting married Laura!! It was inevitable but still I'm excited. I was excited when I heard cuz I thought the wedding would be in the summer...but it's next month and your stealing my thunder by doing it on my birthday! Although I won't be there I'm super excited for you guys and you will have to send me pictures and all that good stuff. So I'm guessing that you'll be getting married in the Washington D.C. temple? <br />So I'll give you a quick update on my week, we had four investigators at church and two new ones that have never come before so that was awesome but it wasn't the best Sunday...the first was a youth speaker and I didn't understand a single word because he mumbled the whole time and then the high councilmen speaker talked about scouting for the next thirty minutes and then to make it worse, our lesson in gospel principles was the law of chastity and that was interesting and then the other class was about tithing so not ideal for investigators. I don't know if Christ was mentioned once in all three hours besides in the sacrament prayers which needs to change because that happens all too often. We are having a lesson with them later this week so we will see if she wants to come back, hopefully the spirit touched her in some way. <span class="yshortcuts1"><span data-action="calevent" fid="Inbox" id="lw_1353527517_0" mid="2_0_0_1_105602_APLWiGIAAVO9UK0uhQ8MI0POqnI" title="Add an event at this date"><span style="color: #366388;">On Monday</span></span></span> we had president interviews and that took up our whole day practically but it was good to have a 10 or so minute sit down with President and then Sister Gelwix after that. They are so awesome, I feel really lucky to have them. Yesterday we had Zone Conference and it was amazing, it was all about finding and new methods to find people and they aren't your usual tactics. I found it interesting that the Bishop and the ward are the ones responsible for doing the missionary work in the ward and that the missionaries are only there to assist in finding and teaching but its up to them to accomplish their ward mission plan and goal and not many people know that, they think its the opposite that we are the ones who are supposed to be doing it all and that they help us but that's not true. This is something that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are going to have all the seventies teach in the next coming months to the Stake Presidents and bishops, because the Bishop is the one who holds the keys for finding in the ward area. I've noticed on my mission that members have the wrong perspective of missionary work and they think it is all us doing the work but this is something that we are going to teach the members in our ward. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving so we are going to the Turkey Bowl tomorrow morning and then going to watch a movie at a members who has a super nice house and movie room and then we have a couple meals to go to so it's going to be a great day. This time of year is so much fun and were always busy with something to do. Our investigators right now are still coming to church but they don't want to make that next step so we are going to have to really concentrate on finding these next two weeks so we can set up for December and see some baptisms. That's great news about Kirk, that makes me so happy that he is getting baptized, you'll have to send me a picture of when he gets baptized. Well I got to get going but I love you and miss you all. I'm so happy for you Laura! That's really exciting news. </span></span></div>
Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-20337700771233287882012-11-13T12:03:00.000-08:002012-11-21T12:03:54.866-08:00Week 68<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">I forgot to let you know that I was emailing today so sorry about that and next week I will be emailing on Wednesday just so ya know. This has been a different week as I got the flu last Monday and I dealt with it on Tuesday but Wednesday I was plastered to my bed and it was the first day on my mission that I couldn't go out and work so that was disappointing. I still am feeling the effects of it still but I'm pretty much over it now. It was also a little frustrating because we committed six people to baptism but we don't have any right now so we need to find some new people to teach. We were able to get a bunch of people to church again but none want to be baptized yet, they all want to wait a year but were trying to help them realize the blessings that they are withholding from themselves because they want to wait. Yesterday for preparation day we spent it all playing Risk. We started at 11 and didn't end til after 5 so it was awesome, I won so it was all worth the six hours, just don't think we will be playing that for a while. Today we had district meeting and gave some training on being unified through understanding one another and it went well. My companion is great, he is very easy going and a nice person, he just is not sure of himself and can't take charge so that is something I am going to try and help him with. We don't have too much happening this week, just trying to find people to teach and baptize. Next week I will be emailing on Wednesday because next Monday we have President Interviews and then on Tuesday we have Zone Conference so Preparation day will be Wednesday and then on Thursday we have Thanksgiving and we get to watch the movie 17 miracles, I saw it last year but it was good so that will be fun, have you seen that movie? I can't think of too much else that has happened. Well, thats about it, thanks for all the emails and your love and support. <br /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span></div>
Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-63847283539630884602012-11-05T09:25:00.000-08:002012-11-06T09:26:00.130-08:00Week 67<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It was good to get your emails and hear that Sandy didn't do too much damage in Baltimore and you weren't flooded and still have power. I'm really excited about Kirk getting baptized, Ethan told me that he is planning on getting baptized on November 25 and that the first lesson went well despite kirk being a little nervous and intimidated. There was no news better than to hear that. That's great that he is going to go to BYU I, it makes me want to go there now but I'm still going to submit the application for BYU so that I know if that's an option or not. Thats a good idea to have people over and have them invite their friends, too bad no one except Kirk showed up. So Exeter is awesome, it reminds me exactly of Reedley as we are out in the country by ourselves and its a small town of about 10,000 which I really like. Visalia is just 15 minutes away and thats a big city and has everything that I need like a Costco and Olive Garden and all the good shops. The weather is amazing right now as it's perfect to go out without a jacket and you won't sweat. The ward is a good size, everyone is related and three families make up like 75% of the ward so its a tight ward. We had seven investigators at church which was amazing and were teaching like four couples but all of them need to get married so we need to get them married and then baptized so a few hoops to jump through. The marriage license is only $100 and the high councilmen over missionary work who is in our ward is willing to pay for them and have the weddings at his house so that will help out. There is a lot of potential here and we should have a lot of success. My companion is Elder Leavitt and he is from Alpine, Ut, my first companion from Utah! Took a year and a half but I finally got one. I'm his second companion and he's already a good missionary, he is unsure of himself and is not very confident but we have got along so far and I think were going to work well together. I wanted Taco Bell for lunch today so we went through the Drive thru and it was the first time in his life ordering in a drive thru so that was funny. This ward is really friendly with the missionaries and we have team ups and our dinner calendar for this month is already completely full so thats awesome, I don't know if there's going to be a day on my mission where I don't get fed, crazy! Well were going to Visalia now and about to play some glow in the dark dodgeball. We have a lot of appointments this week so were going to be busy which is the best. Not much else is happening this week that I know of so will be a lot of time to find and teach. Well thanks for everything, I love you all and miss you guys. Couple weeks and will be able to talk to you over the phone! <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span>Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251207553413718337.post-83138365286138669122012-10-29T07:51:00.000-07:002013-01-15T12:08:18.240-08:00Week 66<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">So I'm excited right now! We got transfer calls on Saturday night and I'm going down to Exeter which is right below where I was trained. It's about two and half hours away so it's way south. I've been asking president to go down south because there is a whole different feel down there and I prefer it. Exeter is a Spanish area so I'm back in Spanish again which is what I wanted. I know quite a bit about the area and I know that it's a super awesome area. It's out in the country, very similar to Reedley so I will have a car which will be nice because I'm physically tired right now. My new companion is Elder Leavitt who is just coming off being trained, I will be his second companion so he is still pretty new in the mission which is nice because they are normally pretty humble and willing to learn. So this past Wednesday we had the Halloween party and we got thirteen people there, I just wish we could get that many to church. It was a great activity and it was even super fun for me. On Thursday we went and did service for 3 hours and they are always amazed how much we get done and they really appreciate us coming and helping. This past week we have had pretty much every meal dropped off because everyone is so busy so we have had a lot of pizzas. On Saturday we did a church tour with a guy named mark and he then came to church yesterday and we had our primary presentation so he didn't quite understand it's normally not like that so hopefully it was a good experience for him and that he will come again. Looking back on the past three months in Turlock I have really have learned that I am the only one who decides how happy I am and what attitude I have. If I didn't learn this I would not have had a good time and be able to work and see progress in the area. I haven't had the best companions which has made me really learn this lesson in not so ideal lessons but it makes me appreciate what I have at the present and enjoy it. I don't know Elder Leavitt yet but I know that there is little that he can do that will bother me, I have been desensitized to getting mad or frustrated which is a trait that I need to have. It really is just a matter of self control and biting my tongue and knowing the times when it is better to just say nothing. I will miss this area because I do love it but I'm just so excited to be going to Exeter. <span style="font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Jessica Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16632786094526370822noreply@blogger.com0