Sister Lewis!

This week has been crazy. We had transfers on Thursday and it kind of threw me for a loop that day! I am now with Sister Lewis. She is from Mesa, Arizona, and is amazing! She is so perky and awesome. I am excited to work with her. We had a great lesson with our investigator, Josh, on Thursday. I was so nervous for that lesson because Sister Ford was leaving and Sister Lewis didn't know him. I was also nervous that he would close up immediately when meeting her because she is new. But no, it went really well!  She is such an awesome teacher. I have already learned so much from her during the past four days. I feel bad because I got sick Thursday night/Friday morning, but she has been so good to me.

Yesterday was an awesome day! We had our third meeting as a branch and it was spectacular. A lady in our branch was talking to me after Sacrament meeting and said that she thinks there is an extra measure of the spirit in our little branch because we need it to help the members get out and spread the word to help our branch grow. I totally agree. Every meeting we have had the spirit has been very powerful. We had President and Sister Monson (from the stake presidency) come speak to us. They spoke on revelation. It was such a perfect meeting to have 2 investigators, 2 less actives, and 2 non members there! It was incredible. President Monson told of an experience he had when he was bishop in the Narragansett ward some years ago. He said that he saw a vision of 3 units in southern Rhode Island not just one (being Narragansett). Now there are two! Isn't that amazing! We really have our work cut out for us so that we can get the third one soon! I am so excited about this work. It is such an amazing work! I don't know why people have such a hard time with it because it is so incredibly amazing and has so many blessings!

It is weird without Sister Ford here. She and I got really close this past transfer and it went by too quickly. But I am so excited to be with Sister Lewis. She is simply amazing. I adore her.

I miss you all so much. I am so excited to talk to you in 2 weeks!! I cannot wait. I need some lovin' from my family. I love you and hope you are all doing ok and enjoying this wonderful spring time!

Love,

Sister Christensen

The Fort Griswold in Groton, CT

Random Package from Andrea Godfrey..Just a note saying "I Love you"

Our wall, my stuff is the small section on the right

STAYING IN WESTERLY & SENDING LOTS OF PICTURES

Hello!! I am not being transferred!! Sister Ford is being transferred up to Boston. She is going from a small branch of maybe 50 members to 4 wards (YSA and single adult wards) with over 400 members each! Isn't that crazy! I do not envy her at this moment.. It would be so scary!

So last week I had an interview with President Packard, it was short and sweet. He asked me if I thought it would be good for Sister Ford to have a change and I hesitantly said yes, because I knew if I said yes she would leave. And he then said that she will most likely be moved and I would have to take lead on the Westerly area. Well, Saturday t-text came along and half of my district was changed where last transfer everyone stayed the same. My new companion, Sister Lewis, is from Arizona, she came out at the same time as me! They don't usually do that. but apparently we are needed together in this area, and I have a feeling it will be a really good change. I am a bit nervous though because she was trained one transfer and then turned around and trained the next transfer! Crazy.

We have transfers tomorrow so today is Sister Ford's and my last day together! It is so sad. We have become so close and I really love her so much! I have learned so much from her and she is simply amazing.

                             

We had an amazing spiritual lesson with our investigator, Josh, who has been "investigating" the church for the past 7 or so years. His wife is very active and he goes to church every week and in the Narragansett ward he held callings. Hopefully, being in the branch will make him finally take the step and be baptized because we NEED him so badly! we only have 7 priesthood holders! But our lesson went so well! We made him shed a few tears! He does not admit to the feeling of the spirit but I KNOW he felt it and that he has felt it multiple times with us. I really think he is so close! But I am afraid for this change with sister Ford because he just barely has started to open up to us and I am afraid that he will close back up with my new companion. Hopefully not since I will be staying!! 

                             

Sunday was an amazing day. We have such a beautiful place to go to church! It is right on the water and is huge! and we have such a beautiful view from our "chapel". After church we had a linger longer and we went out to the shore with the kids and looked for crabs. We found a ton! A cute little girl put quite a few in a cup of water and came inside to show her mom and then dropped them all over the floor. It was really funny to watch the crabs go everywhere really fast. But we cleaned it up quickly. 

                        

                               This is our current Sunday church meeting house

                         

                               The Mitchell's:  the first members I met in Westerly

                         

It has been such an amazing week. It has been hard because Sister Ford and I are being split up but I am so excited for this amazing new experience! It will be awesome. There are now five of us who came out at the same time in our zone and 3 of us in our district. Crazy! but it is so awesome. I love being able to see these wonderful missionaries all the time!

love you all and hope you are having a wonderful week!

love, Sister Christensen

                                      

                                     

                                The Newport bridge was built  large enough so aircraft could fly under it

Home where the first Great Gatsby was filmed

                                                            Small Summer House :)

                                                 Our transfer predictions and I was right!

                                                    Zone Leaders attacked our Car

TRAGEDY IN BOSTON

So I am sure you have heard about the crazy events in Boston on Monday.  Because of that we were told to email home yesterday but we didn't have time so I am emailing you today!  All the missionaries are safe. Monday was a special opening for the temple and we were hoping to go but we weren't invited, so I guess it was a good thing we didn't get to go up to Boston that day. There were missionaries near the scene but they are all fine. Sister Ford and I were lucky to be at a members home when we got the text for all the missionaries in the Boston and Cambridge zones to go home immediately. It freaked us out so we asked if we could use the computer to see if something happened in Boston. I got really scared, I knew some people going up to the Marathon from the Narragansett Ward but luckily they weren't near the explosions. Last I heard there were 3 deaths and over 150 hospitalized. Scary!

On a brighter note: We had interviews with President yesterday. He likes to give us hints on what is coming for transfers. So I was talking to him and he asked me if I was ready to lead the area. I am so scared. I can hardly teach!! How am I supposed to lead an area!  There is still a slight possibility that it won't happen. President is like that, he changes things last minute a lot. But I felt pretty assured that what he told me is going to happen. Though I am terrified, I did not want to leave this area yet, and I told president I would figure it out. So hopefully I will be able to help the branch grow quickly and make it into a ward in a year!!

Love you all and hope you are doing well. I will email you next Wednesday and let you know what is happening at transfers!

Love, Eliza

GROWTH!

I have grown so much while being here. There have been ups and downs but so many growing experiences. I am starting to see some growth here in Westerly. Probably because we had our first Branch meeting yesterday!! Woot woot! It was absolutely amazing. The spirit was so strong. The stake president of the Providence, Rhode Island Stake was there with his second counselor and President Clayton Christensen and his wife came as well. It was a bit intimidating to have all those high up leaders there. But we finally found out our priesthood leaders, the sister leadership has not been assigned yet. It was also amazing because we had TWO investigators there!!! (one comes every week though, so I don't know if I can count him. and he has been "investigating" for nearly 7 years). When the stake president came up to us and asked who the lady was sitting next to us we were so proud to say "an investigator”!

This lady referred herself on mormon.org. She takes dance lessons from a Mormon and he had given her a Book of Mormon. She had questions so requested missionary visits! We called her and met with her on Friday.  She had wanted to go to church last week but got a little nervous going by herself. Personally I think it was good she didn’t go because it was general conference and no one would have been there at 10 am. (here, we don't watch conference until 12..) So she came to the branch yesterday and is planning on coming next week too!! So amazing!

Our program for church had a typo. I think everyone was excited about the branch because it said the Westerly Branch of the Westerly Rhode Island Stake, instead of the Providence Stake. After church our zone leaders texted us to see how it went (we took half their ward boundaries for the branch, but most of their ward lives on the other side of the river) they asked how the "Groton branch" went (most of the people in the branch come from their ward) and I wish I asked them why they were asking us because they were the ones there!   Our “Westerly Stake” went amazingly well.  Instead of being a branch we became a stake!  Pretty awesome. So another thing that is awesome about our branch. Is that we are meeting in our branch president’s home. Luckily they have a large enough home to fit us all. The room where we have sacrament meeting is right next to the kitchen and has huge open windows all around looking out to the OCEAN! It was such a beautiful view (slightly distracting..). But church was incredible! I cannot wait to go next week.

I love the people here. I do not want to leave. Transfers are next week (so I won't be emailing until Wednesday, just fyi) and we find out if we are going to be transfered on Saturday. Sister Packard visited us last Tuesday and she told me at that moment I was on the transfer board in Presidents office L  I told her I didn't want to leave quite yet but if I was needed somewhere else that I would go. I was talking with Sister Ford about it yesterday and said that in my interview with President this Tuesday, I am going to tell him that I don't love the people here so I think I need to stay and learn to love them. (I love and ADORE the people here! They are amazing and I don't want to leave them!  Plus I don't think it is fair to move me right when the branch just started!!). But you will all know soon enough if I will be staying or not.

I love being here. Things are starting to look up in this small Westerly area. Many stubborn Catholics but we will get to them! I am very hopeful. My testimony has grown incredibly fast while being here. I have had to learn how to totally rely on the Lord. It has changed my view on nearly everything!!  I love the people. I love my companion, my district (though they make fun of me and call me a turtle), my zone, my mission, my mission president and his wonderful family, and the beautiful east coast! Though it is not quite at its beauty yet, the leaves have not come out.  I love the gospel and the mission. I love my Savior and His love for me and for every one of the Lord's children. I love that I can rely on my Father in Heaven and that I know He will supply my strength as long as I put forth my effort. Heavenly Father loves us so so so much and wants to best for each and every one of us!! I cannot say all that I am feeling and all that I have felt in the past 3 months! Crazy how time flies and how much you learn in that time! I love love love being here and I am growing in so many ways that I did not know I could grow! Thank you for all your love and support and for your prayers, I have felt them. I love each and every one of you and hope you are all doing well. Remember the Lord loves us and cares for us deeply, more than we will ever understand.

Love,

Sister Christensen

GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING!

I absolutely LOVED conference. It was amazing. Many, many prayers were answered this weekend. One that really touched me was President Uchtdorf's talk. It really hit the spot for me.

Another prayer was answered yesterday at our ward linger longer between sessions. It was the last time we met together as a ward before the branch was made official (today). Sister Ford and I have been praying to have a specific high councilman from our ward in our new branch. and guess what?!? He was made our high councilman!! it was pretty amazing. I could not stop smiling after we found out. We absolutely adore their family and have been so sad to leave them behind and last week we spent Easter with them and his wife said that she hoped he would be our high councilman so that he could keep an eye on us and we can stay in touch. What wonderful news it was to all of us when he was made our high councilman!

We technically "don't know" our branch president but we really do. Everyone guessed it would be who it is but last Tuesday we helped out with the Groton young women and he pulled us aside to talk about some things he wants us to do. Plus, we are meeting at his house for church because the building they were going to get was not approved by Salt Lake so we have to find another building. We don't know how long we will have to meet at our Branch Presidents house yet for church. But it is pretty exciting!!

I can't believe that this transfer is already almost over.. Well, we still have two weeks but it has gone by so fast. Today in our weekly letter from President Packard he told us that in June we are scheduled to have 19 missionaries coming in, and guess how many sisters are in that group..? 18!! Isn't that crazy!! Only one Elder is coming out in June. weird.

I am so excited to be apart of this work in Westerly! I know I will be staying here for a while. At least through the next transfer. But this is such an amazing time to be a missionary. I loved conference so much because it made me want to be so much better and work so much harder. There are so many people who are dwindling in unbelief! We have to go out and help them come back to our Father in Heaven. It is amazing how much we can do for others and not even know it as well. I have a hard time opening my mouth and preaching because I am afraid of saying something wrong or someone will ask me a question I cannot answer. But I know that as I trust in the Lord He will help me know what to say and how to answer. I know He will be there for me at all times. I am so grateful for living prophets to lead and guide us today. What an amazing opportunity we have to hear from them twice a year!! I am so grateful for the guidance we have received this past weekend and I cannot wait for the next ensign so I can study their words even more!!

I am so grateful for all of your support and love. You all are such a major blessing to me and help me keep going forward. You have no idea how much of a difference you ALL have made on me. I love you!!

Hope you have a wonderful week :)

Love,
Sister Christensen

Cool round house on our way to church

Downtown Mystic, Connecticut

Castle Park

Open space...we never see this!

                    P-day activity with members to Jamestown Island, RI 

                                  and Newport Island, RI

Sisters helping out at the Spears' house to prepare for the Narragansett Ward Annual Easter Egg Hunt.

                                                  Happy Easter

This week has been a really awesome week! We had the Ellington Sisters come and do "exchanges" with us (they are 2 hours away) so we all just stayed in Westerly. I learned a lot from them and was so grateful for their presence for 24 hours! One of them is a sister who came out with me and I just adore her.  She is a two year convert and is just so sweet and fun, she has such a strong testimony too! She is awesome. We were lucky to be invited to watch the young woman meeting on Saturday.  It was amazing! We saw it with the Groton ward because we are stealing their young women’s president and secretary and one of their young woman for our branch. I am excited to work with them.  They seem like pretty strong members.

Yesterday, Easter, was an amazing day. We sang in the choir and helped in a primary class which was probably my favorite part. The kids are so cute! After church we went over to this wonderful member family's house to help them prepare for their Easter dinner with two other families. We couldn’t stay because we were having lunch/dinner with another member and her family.  We were also helping out at a soup kitchen at 5. But I love both of these members. After we served at the soup kitchen we went back to the first family. Sister Ford made me bring my violin along because one the of the boys plays and the mom plays ( I think). So I played for just their family because the other families left pretty soon after we got there. We love this family so much. They are so amazing and they seem pretty sad that we will not be in their ward anymore. They are going to try to see us again soon. They are absolutely amazing. We wanted to stay there all night!

Sorry this week’s letter is not so long but I will try to write more. It is just hard because I barely have any time to write hand written letters. BUT I AM TRYING! I love you all. I will do my best to catch up on my letter writing!

l Love you all,   Sister Christensen

Sister Ford & Sister Christensen

Easter Decorations