home for the moment

Christine came home recently - expecting that she'll take care of a few things at home, and then likely return to complete her mission.  We'll see how things go in about 6 months.

car crash and curly hair

Sister Kurt and Sister Chandler

Ew, sick! We've been pretty blessed. My last companion got pretty sick for awhile, but knock on wood, I haven't been seriously sick while I've been out here. Lots of water and lots of rest!

So I'm fine, but after the letters home last week, we got rearended pretty good. Our Nissan Frontier was more or less fine- the little Chevy Aveo got pretty crunched. She slid into us. Ice sucks. So we missed out on a lot of our Pday because of it(running around getting paperwork and stuff done.)... At least its all superficial damage, but it's still going to take a week to repair, and we're going to be walking for a week. The truck goes in the 18th. We get it back the day before transfers, a week later.

I've started kinda curling my hair in an attempt to use the flat iron a little less, and I think it looks interesting.

there's my companion, Sister Chandler.

Our blue truck, and her red 4banger.

We're still working with a mom and daughter, but their date got moved back because mom works the whole weekend. We're now shooting for the 28th. Pray for them- life's really hard right now, so we're just trying to keep them point so they can have the Holy Ghost to make some decisions that are coming up fast.

We're also working with Jackie still, but her date will also move back, as she hasn't been to church yet, and as she has been very sick, she won't be able to attend for awhile. But its a matter of time for her, so I'm not worried.

We've been given good direction from other missionaries and leaders, so hopefully we can get this ball moving a little faster. WE're in some serious need of new investigators right now. Pray for our courage to talk to everyone we come into contact with.

The church is true. The Atonement only stops being an abstract concept when you use it in your life. The spirit speaks to you all the time; you just need to recognize its there.

I don't think the Groundhog thing works here? We only recently got snow and its projected to only get colder right now. Crossing fingers. But I'm also told the summers are brutal too. I have mixed feelings.

I love you!

Christine

Much snow!

So we got like a foot of snow in the last 48 hours. I'm not pleased, because it meant that we were grounded Sunday. But we're allowed out today (Monday), as the snowing has STOPPED, but now there are ridiculously sized piles of snow everywhere. It also doesn't help that it rained just before it snowed, so we have ice under the snow. It’s a wonderful day to have 4-wheel drive on our little Nissan truck. The poor elders don't have a garage (apparently my having had one in two of my areas thus far is incredibly rare and I need to shut up), so they spent 45 minutes digging it out this morning. Oh the joys of Iowa.

So we have two investigators from before, and they're doing okay, and we just got a new investigator who more or less fell out of the sky into our laps. She was originally being taught by the missionaries here months ago, but they thought she was a less active (she had been in a bunch of foster homes and joined a bunch of different churches and had a bunch of different last names, so they couldn't find any record on her, but hey.) She disappeared, and we prayed to find her (since my companion knew her briefly), and we found out where she was the very next day. She was in another area, so they started working with her (and figured out she wasn't a member)... She moved back into our area just after they set a date with her. She's golden. Oppa.

Sad thing though, it sounds like they will be losing either one set of missionaries, or both sets, and this ward doesn't understand how good they have it with two sets of missionaries. So I don't know how long I'll be in this area. Sad day.

Ugh, pasta sounds delicious. Think Nick will make me some when I get home? (Of course he will!  Nick received a pasta maker for Christmas and he made WONDERFUL things for us to eat!)

I've been studying the Atonement lately. Good study. I've learned a lot, though a lot of it I knew, but now I guess on a mission it's in more focus now? It's interesting how you don't understand stuff until you start realizing how much you need it in your life.

Snow sucks, its cold, I don't like it. Madly grateful for a garage and for jackets and for fleece lined leggings.

My companion's great; she's super loving and supportive and even-keeled. Total blessing!

I'm really sad to hear about Frito... I hope he is in a better place. If all things were created spiritually before they are temporally, his spirit has got to go someplace.  Sad day. I'm heartbroken, but not surprised. Down to two. (Frito, our cat passed recently and we have two cats left)

I love La Brea! I miss the museums down that way. (we took our Cub scouts to the La Brea Tar Pits recently) I had gone in the last year or so, but I don't remember why... Glad the scouts had a good time! And mom embraced the tour guide thing, huh? It’s nice to be able to share what you know.

I love you!

The church is true, despite the imperfect people in it.

Christine