Barnegat NJ.....new address

Let me begin first with my new address: 900 Barnegat Blvd N Apt 1401 Barnegat NJ 08005 Well well well.....luckily we now have two hours for email because I'm pretty sure this one is going to be so long. So much has happened...my goodness. Lets just begin with answering mom and dads questions. My brithday last week was good. Not what I was typically thinking but oh well. I'm on a mission. I spent most of the time in a car driving from zone meeting back and forth. I'm now serving in the Barnegat area and boy is it DOWN SOUTH! Like in the boonies. So it takes about an hour in a half just to get to any meetings. But oh well. We did our studies and then went out and found a less active lady and talked to her...that was my birthday. I'll tell you more about the area in just a sec.

To answer your questions mom: I haven't recieved the package yet. Now that I'm so far down south it'll take a little bit longer to get packages but just send all my packages to the mission office. It's safer there.

Sister Ward is still up in New City and she is training. It's crazy to think my trainee is now training. But she's doing such an incredible job. Honestly. I didn't even need to train her. She's amazing and I miss her a whole lot! :( If you see her mom, tell her there's no need to worry, she's gonna do great.

And yes, there was a trio up in New City and they are all amazing. Luckily Elder Benson got transferred down south here so he's still my district leader. I'll send pictures of them....that's another thing...there's going to be a ton of pictures!

Not everyone can email me I don't think. We'll just keep it to the people that have my address. I don't know why they changed the time but I ain't complainin' haha.

Skyping on Sunday...I'm really hoping we'll be able to skype. The branch mission leader might be home and might not but we're going to try a few other people, because I'd really like to see everyone rather than hear. I'm thinking I'll be calling around 5 your time so 7 here. Hope that works. I'm writing Kimber right now so we can def plan it out.

I've been to all the fear busters since I've gotten here and now I'm way down south I wish I woulda recorded it last time but if I go again I'll def record it for you. It's pretty cool. And downtown Newark is crazy. A LOT of people waiting for the buses and a lot of traffic. Like no where I've ever been haha.

That's exciting for Elyse Christiansen. It's so cool to see all these younger ones get their calls.

Now for dads questions: The past week was good. I'm now training two new sisters. Sister Page from Dayton Idaho and Sister Waddoups from Moore Idaho. I call her Sister Wad-up. :) We're serving in Barnegat, which is the most south part of the mission. I went from the most North part of the mission all the way down to the most Southern. And it's definintely southern..... :/ I'll tell you more later.

I don't know about the Sister leader trainer position. They called three for this new transfer and they'll probs be getting more soon. There's probs about 60 sisters now. That's a rough estimate...

Now onto this past week..

We went to the fear buster on Monday night and it was the biggest group of missionaries this mission has ever had. 30 total came out. So if you could imagine about 60 missionaries in a circle singing called to serve. Totes legit! I was fear busting a sister from Fruit Heights...Sister Clark, she's in Elder Benson's ward and also a sister from the Philippines, Sister Trias. It was a really good experience we were able to talk to a man and he was really appreciative about our message. We got back to New City and went right over to Tivynna's and she surprised us with dinner. The elders came over as well and we had a good time. It was really bitter sweet thinking back on it. I miss New City. We went and said goodbye to Elder and Sister Kay, like my grandparents out here and they gave us cinnamon rolls. I'll send pictures of everything. It was Sister Ward and I's last night and it was hard. I miss her so much. Goobs.

Tuesday we went to a trainers meeting with all the new missionaries and that was really good. We ate lunch and got to know the new missionaries better. We got paired up and like I mentioned before my new companions are Sister Page and Sister Waddoups both from Idaho. They're pretty cool. Transfer conference began and we found out we were going to Barnegat...There were so many new areas opened up to Sisters. I'm not in zone 6 and there's so many new sisters in zone 6 its great. Zone conference ended and we got all of our stuff situated and tried to find our car and all that jazz. We tried to stuff all our possessions in our car and had Sister Page buried in all our stuff. It was pretty great. We started our way down to Barnegat and didn't get down there and situated until 10 pm. It was a crazy drive down there.

Wednesday we woke up and did our studies and then went and got food because we had none. We got a little more aquainted with our area. We went to a less-actives house and got to know her. We then went to Young Womens and met them. They are so awesome. I love em already. The young womens president reminds me of Janine Brown. Haha.

So thursday...was my birthday, also Liz Dicou's wedding! Congrats! and like I mentioned before it was driving most of the day. We had a great zone meeting in Eatontown, our zone leaders our Elder Miguel and Elder T. Smith from Bountiful, Sadie Love's brother! Holla! We talked about prayer and repentance and it was a really good meeting. We got to go to pizza after (my choice because it was my brithday) and it was some of the best pizza I've ever had. We drove back did our studies and then went and met another less-active lady. That's all we've met so far. There's a LOT of work to be done here.

Friday we went to our Branch Missionary leaders house and they are so great! The Roberson's, hopefully we can skype at their house. He cooked us breakfast and it was delicious. We talked about the branch and what we can do. There's going to be a lot of less-active work done here and I'm so excited! That's the type of missionary I feel I am...one to help the less actives more.. :) We went and met a member of the branch. Wanda Romero. Crazy awesome member. The people we've met so far have been crazy but really cool. I'll tell stories when I get home. Definitely. hahaa

Saturday we were trying to get weekly planning done because our week got messed up. We were really trying to get to know the area better so we took quite a bit of time on that. We went to go help another less active member...I helped her move a lot of rocks. Kinda pointless but whatevs. She's was crazy too..but great. We planned the rest of the night.

Sunday was interesting...I've been having a difficult time down here so far. Not really knowing why I'm down here. But church completely hit home for me. We had a PEC meeting and then church began. I counted the people in the chapel...19 total people there. Including us missionaries. We began by singing Now Let Us Rejoice and the spirit in the room was the strongest I've ever felt at church. I looked up while singing the song and had deja vu. No lie. I'd been there before. It was a confirmation to me that this is where I'm supposed to be. We partook of the sacrament and then testimony meeting. I got up and bore my testimony and teared up. It was really spiritual and I've never felt the spirit that long and that strong in my life. The rest of church was great. Now I have to tell you about our Relief Society President. She's such a fireball. I love her so much. Sister Jackson. When she saw us for the first time we jumped up and down and practically screamed because sisters are here. SHe's quite old but still got spunk. She's hilairous. We went over for dinner and had such a great time. She's the best and sooooo funny! I'm sure I'll have a quote book from her by the end of my time here in Barnegat.

Well. I hope this answers your questions and gives you a little bit more information about where I'm at and such. This area down here is gorgeous. Pictures to come. It's still a tough transition to be down here. I'm grateful for this gospel and the direction I have in my life from living it. I love all of you so much. Happy Birthday to Elly this Wednesday! I hope she has a great day. You're always in my prayers. God Bless. I'll SEE you next week hopefully. If I can't skype just be ready for a call. But hopefully it'll be around 5 your time. Loves! Peace!

Love, Sister Christine Taylor