Tami Critchlow: welcome. you do not want to miss this episode. If you are a missionary, a missionary mom, missionary dad, or you are about to send someone off on a mission, this episode is for you. We are going to be talking with my missionary companion. Yeah, we were on a mission together like five years ago, or you know, you might have to add a few more fives to that. I think we figured it was almost 30 years ago, actually, that we were on our missions, which is crazy. But I want to introduce you to my missionary companion, and she has a fantastic company that makes it really easy to get packages to your missionaries. So, welcome, sister Christine. We're I'm gonna go with your last name. so we're just gonna go. With sister Logan and I'll hold up mine too. Woo woo.
Christine: Alright way back in the day we still have
Tami Critchlow: We we found our old missionary tags, right? And look at
Christine: Yeah.
Tami Critchlow: this. We both had done crazy stuff on the back of too.
Christine: That's what's funny. I love it.
Tami Critchlow: It it's I I think what's really funny is neither one of us can remember what any of the things on the back meant.
Christine: I know I don't even remember putting stickers on the back or I I don't even remember. But I love my glue gun. Like that is a very important to glue gun your sticker or your
Tami Critchlow: So obviously you guys get to go down memory lane with us a little bit today, but it is all definitely with a purpose because we want to talk about what you can do to make missionary life the very, very best if you're about to go on a mission or if you are a missionary mom or dad wanting to be able to support and care for your missionary. So sister Christine Logan Bailey. Welcome, welcome. Tell us a little bit about you. Like
Christine: Thank you.
Tami Critchlow: what's happened since your mission?
Christine: It's only been a couple of years. No, I've been married.
Tami Critchlow: Just a couple of
Christine: Yeah, been married for over 30 years. We were sealed in the temple when my our son was, I think about six. He's now 17. active in the church. I have a wonderful career. We all have we both have wonderful careers, but I have a wonderful career in the government defense, aerospace arena.
Tami Critchlow: Government defense. Like she's really important.
Christine: Yeah, no. I l absolutely
Tami Critchlow: Government defense.
Christine: love it. And then on my side, I always thought, you know, we gotta help the missionaries. There's gotta be something out there that I can do. I love missionaries. We love them coming over. And I thought, let's do care packages because everybody loves a present in a box. So I created and founded a company called I'm a Girl Friday, where we curate beautiful care packages, send them to missionaries. And it's just really fun. It has all a lot of essentials, so it's not just snacks and treats, it's shampoos and conditioners and all the fun things, and then lots of snacks and extra missionary swag that's really important to have because you know these stickers meant something, so I know swag is important to us. So it's really
Tami Critchlow: Top
Christine: that's really what I do on the side. So and I'm so excited
Tami Critchlow: I love that.
Christine: to talk.
Tami Critchlow: So fun to just be together. Now, okay, so tell us the name of your company again and like the best place for people to find you.
Christine: Sure. It's I'm a girlfriday dot com. No, I'm a girlfriday dot com or Instagram or Facebook or TikTok and it's still I'm a girlfriday.
Tami Critchlow: Okay, all the places. I'm a girl Friday. Now how did you come up with that name?
Christine: So I have always had that name because, well, at one point I thought, you know, I'm a girl, it was a 1950s movie where they were like the secretary or the helper and they did all the things that needed to be done for the boss. So I thought one day I'm like, I'm gonna do that. I wanna be a Girl Friday. That sounds like so much fun. And over time I've just always kept it, but I've never did anything because I was always really busy within my personal career. And then I finally had the opportunity to stand it up and we've been going strong. And I just love the name. I think it's really fun.
Tami Critchlow: is that is that package stuff behind you by chance? Like is that
Christine: Yeah. So these are just some of the products I love. Everything is very high-end. I love shopping. We don't send out just stuff. And then we have a package here, and then I have a couple more. I'll show you at the end if you'd like, or I can show them right now. there's
Tami Critchlow: Yeah.
Christine: boys and there's girls, and it's different themes. So each month it has a theme. So it's clean and fresh, which is body wash, shampoo, everything that you need for yourself and your body. And then the next is fresh smile, so all the things for your teeth, sham toothpaste and mouthwash, and then the last is sun and skin, so a face product and just making sure you have the right lotions, especially when you're out serving, you are in the sun a lot. So just taking care of yourself. And then that rotates again every three months, but it's always different in the package. And like I mentioned, Always the best swag. I love shopping for swag. This is one, this is an elders missionary package. Oops. See if I can hold it up. As you can see, lots of fun stuff. I know. And look at these.
Tami Critchlow: who wouldn't love yeah. I mean who wouldn't w love getting that?
Christine: It's a keyboard that hooks up
Tami Critchlow: Like connect.
Christine: to your phone. It's awesome. I tried out a couple. This is the best one. And so those come in some of the care packages as well. But it's not just the shampoo and the conditioner and the razors. It's and the dude wipes, of course. It's all the extra stuff that you get. And it's really fun. So every care package is put together with care, with love, just making sure it looks good. And I'm gonna show you real quick a girls' care package for the sisters. Again, everything pink.
Tami Critchlow: Missionary. Okay, and I have to say, as we've been talking, look at that. Look how cute. the
Christine: Yeah.
Tami Critchlow: other thing that Christine mentioned is you can do this so that it delivers two. So that every time your missionary gets one, their companion gets one too, right? Okay, tell us about this pink
Christine: Yeah absolutely.
Tami Critchlow: one.
Christine: Well, it's just everything pink, all the good fun things. I love shopping everywhere. I make sure it has really good products. It's not just, I got it at the dollar store. I don't really shop there. I love the dollar store, but I don't shop there for my packages. and as you can see, just like the best stickers, I found a company online that makes the very best LDS stickers. So CTRs and the Temples and Really nice sayings for the missionary because they all love missionary swag is what I've been told. these are just super I wish we had these on our mission. Remember we made our own. This is the plan of salvation, but it comes in a little kit. Remember ours? We had it like and remember we did the cups for the apostasy? Do you remember? So
Tami Critchlow: Yes, yes, yes. my goodness.
Christine: yeah. And then, you know, little hand wipes because These are little soaps and everybody's always walking around tracking. So when you need it, you just put a little water and you have soap. So they're packaged with care. I love making sure it's the best products. And that's just a sister's package, and they're always different. And I ship them to the missionary home just because missionaries transfer. So we always make sure it goes to the missionaries home. And when you do sign up. it is a subscription, so you can every month you'll get the missionary will get a new package. You're always aware of what's going out and when it's going to be received. And
Tami Critchlow: Okay. Now can I just say I love that it's every month because I know as busy moms and dads, to us, like their mission is just flying by, right? Like time goes so fast. But I also remember as a missionary, like it you know, we're young and so time is not flying as fast. And it's just a whole lot of serving and doing different things. I mean, a month seems like a very long time on a mission.
Christine: Right. Yeah.
Tami Critchlow: Time flies in a slow way. so I really
Christine: Absolutely.
Tami Critchlow: love that it's once a month because, you know, I mean it's not that much money and yet your missionary can feel that love and support every single month. And moms, it's easy because it's on subscription, you have it done, right? You don't you know, it's just a good way to make sure your missionary always feels loved. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Christine: Yeah. Absolutely. And I get comments back from missionaries or even the moms and dads of like, Thank you so much. This is just what they needed. One of the sisters was so excited she had just run out of shampoo. They had sample size when she was in the MTC. So her first area, she got
Tami Critchlow: Yeah.
Christine: one of these packages and she's like, my gosh, I got what I needed. It's a miracle. So it's a miracle. They're miracles in a box.
Tami Critchlow: Yeah. Love it. I love it. I'm so glad you're putting this. And and the I'm a girl Friday is so, so cute.
Christine: Yeah, yeah.
Tami Critchlow: Just like you're saying, like the secretary would like, you know it's your anniversary? Would you want pink roses or red scent? Right?
Christine: care of it. Exactly. Let me take care of it for you. So I take care of it. So you the moms and dads get their time back. They don't have to worry about shopping and finding a box to put it in and shipping it. And it always looks beautiful.
Tami Critchlow: Yeah. Yes. The aesthetics of it, you know, that just takes it to the next level and the quality of the product. So love it, love it.
Christine: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
Tami Critchlow: Yeah. Okay. We get to share some fun missionary stories today because you can't have two companions back together again from three years ago without sharing some fun
Christine: Ha ha.
Tami Critchlow: missionary stories. We wanted to maybe touch a little bit on As you all know, I'm a marriage and family therapist for the last 20 years and a life coach. And, you know, mental health has become such a huge important thing. You know, I think our culture has just woken up to how important it is to focus on mental health and physical health, all of the above. And and we the the church does that so well for their missionaries now. It's something that they really do make a priority. okay. Did we exercise together? I'm trying to remember. Do you remember if we ever exercised? We didn't.
Christine: We danced. I I believe we danced. I know we danced because we would have like little dance parties and we didn't listen to music because we didn't have music back then. You just didn't. Or if you did, you had the cassette
Tami Critchlow: That's right.
Christine: tapes. So we did dance a lot.
Tami Critchlow: When were together, we were like you could reach your hand out practically and touch the the train. We were so close to the railroad tracks. And
Christine: Yeah. that's right. Right.
Tami Critchlow: this old, old house. by the way, we served in Tacoma, Washington. So if anybody sees this episode that is back from like the early nineties, you know, you figured out you were there from ninety what? When were you there?
Christine: Ninety three to n I was October ninety three to April ninety five.
Tami Critchlow: yeah, show us your plaque. That is a fun thing. You guys, you're gonna have to go watch this episode on YouTube because we are gonna show you such fun nineties photos. look at that.
Christine: I know. And I'm wearing pink. Did you notice? I've loved pink my whole life. So this was my missionary f yeah. Yep, ninety-three
Tami Critchlow: Yay! Of course. that is so great. Finally. Yes.
Christine: to ninety-five.
Tami Critchlow: I know. Okay, and I was there just a little bit before, Sister Logan. but we we I'm gonna show you guys some fun pictures just for a minute, okay? okay? You guys look at this very top one. That we're all standing on exercise bikes. I mean, I have to tell you you guys, missions are so much fun in addition. So go on a mission. It is the best thing you can do to prepare for life. But every sister that would come to my area, I would make her put her toe print on the ceiling. So that's some missionary sisters with wax on their big toes.
Christine: Remember
Tami Critchlow: Trying to put their toe print in the wax on the ceiling.
Christine: goodness.
Tami Critchlow: isn't that fun? Okay. how many times did we collect people's coffee bags? Right? That's what this one is here. Taking their coffee bag,
Christine: that's right.
Tami Critchlow: helping them live the word of wisdom. okay. Now this is us. This is our place right here. I'm tearing my nylons off my leg because they had were they were so bad that I just tore them off that night, ripped them off.
Christine: We wore nylons with our dresses. Do they and they rip right up.
Tami Critchlow: the real joy of missions, you guys, is like being able to see a whole family, right? Like this whole family here. Of course the little ones, you know, weren't old enough to be baptized. But the couple, they both were baptized and the joy of the gospel missions, they're fun, they teach our young kids independence and they help them just learn life skills in such a beautiful way and of course the biggest convert that they bring is themselves right but
Christine: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Tami Critchlow: being able to touch touch these other lives it's just it's it's such a beautiful beautiful experience go on a mission if you've got an opportunity go go go okay the one other one I wanted to share here was this sweet family the Davises and the whole family got baptized. The little boy was old enough now, and this is him over here. He was so worried about going under the water that we practiced with snorkel mask. And we told him,
Christine: I love it. That's so cute.
Tami Critchlow: if you have to, you could even wear your mask, right? and
Christine: I love it.
Tami Critchlow: and it the way the Lord works, it wasn't even very long after they were baptized that his job transferred him. And so we helped them move. And it was just, you know, we just hoped and hoped that wherever they went off to that the Lord would, you know, the Lord would send good people to keep them, you know, going to church. And I have this other picture I have to send of the show you of the boys.
Christine: my goodness, how adorable.
Tami Critchlow: Look at this. We put our missionary tags on them. And remember how
Christine: Cute.
Tami Critchlow: I I hope we're not boring everybody. I've got one more fun story and and this one is in the mission, there's things called w in our mission they were called the traveling sister. So the traveling sisters were going to come and visit us. You guys, this is the fun part of missions, like I told you, okay. And so it was April Fools or really close. I think it was April Fool's Day. and we just wanted to play the best joke of all. And so we had this super fun lady. I can't even read my writing to remember what her name is. Sister Sickle! Sister Sickle. And she
Christine: I love it.
Tami Critchlow: she started, she played like she was a non member. We went and knocked on her door in the rain and she played like she she went and bought cigars. So that she could play this part really, really good. And she's got that cigar hanging out of her mouth, right? And she got she got some bottles that looked like beer bottles, right? And of course she had dumped them out and they just had water or root beer. I don't really even remember. But she had something in them, right? And so she invites us into the house and she's like, guys, sit down, you know. Come tell me all about, you know, what is it you want to talk about? Religion? You know, just she just played it up so, so good. And then she just started passing out these bottles that looked like alcohol to each one of us, right? And so we just took it and acted like, okay, so we held it and the traveling sisters are like, What are you doing? How can you even hold that? my goodness.
Christine: Put it down.
Tami Critchlow: And then we we all took a drink, right? And that's when the traveling sisters couldn't hold it back anymore and they're like, Sister Conover. And it was
Christine: Ha ha ha
Tami Critchlow: so great. You know, and of course then we let know that it was all a huge April Fool's joke. But
Christine: my goodness.
Tami Critchlow: yeah, I if you're thinking of going on a mission, do it, do it. You'll just have experiences that are that can be so fun. And then
Christine: Yeah.
Tami Critchlow: experiences that are gonna grow your testimony. if you're a girl, It's the absolute best thing you can do in preparation for marriage and the family. go for it. It will just prepare you for life,
Christine: So those are amazing pictures and I wanted to just share some that I found today in a box. one thing about miss
Tami Critchlow: boy, boy.
Christine: I know one thing about when we're on our mission is you really become friends with your companion, but you become friends with your zone and they become your family. So here's one, just our zone. I'm sure we were either doing service or on P Day. We did a lot of service. We all the I know.
Tami Critchlow: Look at us right there in front. I love it. We're so cute.
Christine: And we look so happy. And all the all the elders, we just always had such a good time. And I want to share another one. It's blurry. Okay, so back when we were on a mission, we did not have digital cameras. You had a snap, and then you went and had them developed and hoped for the best. So it is fuzzy,
Tami Critchlow: That's
Christine: but you can tell this is, I'm sure we were tracting on our bikes, and it started raining because welcome to Washington. It rains. So we are soaking wet. I'm sure someone was giving us a ride. and then just one more. Well, actually, maybe two more. when we were in Winlock, the big thing was the apple. So here is me in the apple. And of course, if you're in Winlock or if you're on a mission in the area, you have to go see the Winlock apple. So definitely such a fun time. I just remember being on the mission and just loving every moment of it. absolutely. And you can always have fun on your mission. These poor elders. I broke people into doing the weirdest things. Come on, we're doing face, we're gonna do facial.
Tami Critchlow: They got face masks.
Christine: Yep, because you know what? That's what you do on a mission. Elder Watson, Elder Butterfield, I know you guys are on social media, so you're welcome.
Tami Critchlow: That is that's so great. Yeah.
Christine: Yeah. Yeah. So just just always so much fun. There we are in that picture. I don't think at this point we were serving, but we knew each other because we were both in the picture. So it must have been like
Tami Critchlow: Yeah.
Christine: some sort of a conference of some sort. So yeah. Yep. Yep.
Tami Critchlow: Yes, because we have different companions then, but we're you know, we're still there together. Yeah.
Christine: Yep.
Tami Critchlow: that's so much fun. If you're
Christine: Yeah.
Tami Critchlow: thinking about going on a mission, do it, do it, do it. I don't think people talk enough
Christine: Absolutely.
Tami Critchlow: about how much fun you will have. There's so much fun. You'll learn so much, you'll grow spiritually. I mean, it it's just the best preparation.
Christine: Absolutely.
Tami Critchlow: Okay, there's one story. We I know maybe we've told too many, but I wanna share it's it anyway, this is this is this is an experience that Sister Logan and I had together that's a the big part of our missions. Now, as you know, our silly driving stories, we we w were always trying to save the miles. And so we had a s sister that was driving us around, right? She was a young lady and she would drive her car so that we wouldn't have to use our miles. And she was driving us down one of those freeways. We're going like 55, 60 miles an hour. I'm in the passenger seat and Sister Logan's in the backseat. And there's a spider that she sees, the driver sees in the car, and she says, Don't let that spider get on me or I'll freak. And at 55, 60 miles an hour, she like, let's go with the steering wheel. And she's freaking out because the spider came down on her. And the car at you know 60 miles an hour. goes off into this ditch and we're on our side skidding along in this cement ditch until it came to a cement ending. And in my mind, what I recall is it launched us up in the air. And I remember just kind of like being at level with the top of those Washington super tall pine trees. And that I remember that like it
Christine: Okay,
Tami Critchlow: was yesterday. And then of course we landed and flipped, rolled the car a few times. And we we all w were blacked out. But as as I came to, I then recall the sister who was with us driving, starting to come to. I kinda remember looking back at Sister Logan and like, you know, you had you could come to and you know, we're like, Are you okay? Are you okay? And then the sister who was driving
Christine: Just happen.
Tami Critchlow: Yeah she she starts to kind of freak out and I just so vividly remember sliding my hand across like you know the middle console in between the two seats and I remember sliding across the glass and gently grabbing her hand and we all started singing primary songs. And remind you, we're out in the middle of nowhere. I don't know how long it was. We were really blessed. Someone stopped and helped us before very long. But I I just remember because it wasn't like we could just get out of the car. It was completely it was so smashed up. And we were just
Christine: Crumple. They were crumpled.
Tami Critchlow: singing country songs. Yeah. What do you remember about that moment?
Christine: I just remember when we were moving everything slow because you it's just slow motion. And then I just remember thinking, my gosh, what is happening? And after thinking back to that, and then I don't really remember much. I remember singing. after the fact I just kept thinking, How how blessed were we? We were on a mission, our angels were working overtime and they were like, You've got to be kidding me. Now they're gonna go and flip a car. You know, they were hugging us and just making sure that we were staying safe because ultimately, luckily, we were not hurt as bad as we really should have been. That car was destroyed. All three of us, we were we were able to walk away. and so I know the Heavenly Father was blessing us and we were so lucky. We were so blessed. And our angels were like, dog on it. What are you guys doing?
Tami Critchlow: Yes, and I know that I just I remember the presence of my grandfather Roy Wilson during the middle of it. And and I remember that we held it together so good, like we didn't go hysterical until after someone got there to help us. Yes. But that is one
Christine: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then we kinda were like, I don't know what I don't know what's happening. Yeah. And we didn't hurt probably until later that night.
Tami Critchlow: boy, and I remembered your seatbelt burn. I still remember that. You had this terrible, terrible seatbelt burn in the back seat. But you know, it was
Christine: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Tami Critchlow: a crazy experience, but it was just the angels were so there with us. And they're with you over time on your mission so much. And if if you are in even thinking about going on a mission, especially if you're a girl, just do it. You will be so glad that you did. It is such an incredible, incredible experience. Never in your life will you have that opportunity again to dedicate to the Lord in that way, to study the scriptures in that way, to prophesy of Him, to preach of Him, and to testify of Christ. And it's just such an incredible experience. So if you're on the fence at all, go for it, go for it. And every mission counts, whether, you know, a service mission, whether you only end up serving for a few months. You served a mission. So everyone counts.
Christine: Right. Absolutely. And I just I loved learning so much about myself, learning learning what I could do, learning who I needed to rely on. Also learning the type of personalities that I clicked with. And you know, knowing in the in in future me, in career me, learning those values and those the building the relationship of trust, being able to talk to anybody. Like really has helped me through my life. And I absolutely loved my mission. There was some highs and there was the deepest lows, but we made it through and I have such good memories. And it definitely, if you're thinking about it, if you're on the fence, take a leap, take take that faith and run with it, and you will be so happy you did. just such an amazing experience.
Tami Critchlow: Yes. thank you so much. Okay. Now, Christine ha is so gracious and she's going to give us a discount code. So if you're interested in these care packages, which if you've got a missionary out, this you wanna get one of these to them. We will have a discount code in the show notes. So just go to the show notes on Instagram, especially on YouTube. you'll be able to see, you know, on all the, you know, on all your podcast platforms. There's always show notes as well. So you can go there and get this discount code. So tell us about the packages one more time.
Christine: Okay. So they're beautifully curated. They're wonderful packages. They're just that little extra for your missionary. So think of it as a hug and love from home. You as parents get a little time back in your day because we are all so busy. And definitely make sure you go sign up. It's super easy. You just go to www.imagirlfriday.com. And in there you'll see how you sign up very quick and easy. There is a section where you can put what your missionary loves. So if we have it, we'll make sure we put it in their package. And it goes out every month. It will be sent to their mission home. So they will always get it on the very next zone conference. And look for the code below. It will be missionary. And I can't wait to help give a care package to your missionary debt serving. I know they're gonna love it.
Tami Critchlow: that and one more thing that I like is in her business Christine makes sure that there's different options so if if you're a little bit more on a
Christine: yeah.
Tami Critchlow: budget there's still a package that will work for you right and a little bit more high-end ones so that it so don't think it's gonna be too expensive. Go check it out and especially with our code you will be able to get the perfect you know package to your missionary and maybe even put you know do two so they'll be one for their companion too. So
Christine: Yeah, exactly.
Tami Critchlow: Well, this has just been such a blast. Of course, you know, to go through, you know, memory lane with all of you. Thank you for putting up with our stories. And we hope you enjoyed the episode today. And go to I'm a Girl Friday, get your missionary all set up. And at the end of all of our episodes here at Christ Centered Coaches, we always like to say, go out and be a blessing.
Christine: Alright way back in the day we still have
Tami Critchlow: We we found our old missionary tags, right? And look at
Christine: Yeah.
Tami Critchlow: this. We both had done crazy stuff on the back of too.
Christine: That's what's funny. I love it.
Tami Critchlow: It it's I I think what's really funny is neither one of us can remember what any of the things on the back meant.
Christine: I know I don't even remember putting stickers on the back or I I don't even remember. But I love my glue gun. Like that is a very important to glue gun your sticker or your
Tami Critchlow: So obviously you guys get to go down memory lane with us a little bit today, but it is all definitely with a purpose because we want to talk about what you can do to make missionary life the very, very best if you're about to go on a mission or if you are a missionary mom or dad wanting to be able to support and care for your missionary. So sister Christine Logan Bailey. Welcome, welcome. Tell us a little bit about you. Like
Christine: Thank you.
Tami Critchlow: what's happened since your mission?
Christine: It's only been a couple of years. No, I've been married.
Tami Critchlow: Just a couple of
Christine: Yeah, been married for over 30 years. We were sealed in the temple when my our son was, I think about six. He's now 17. active in the church. I have a wonderful career. We all have we both have wonderful careers, but I have a wonderful career in the government defense, aerospace arena.
Tami Critchlow: Government defense. Like she's really important.
Christine: Yeah, no. I l absolutely
Tami Critchlow: Government defense.
Christine: love it. And then on my side, I always thought, you know, we gotta help the missionaries. There's gotta be something out there that I can do. I love missionaries. We love them coming over. And I thought, let's do care packages because everybody loves a present in a box. So I created and founded a company called I'm a Girl Friday, where we curate beautiful care packages, send them to missionaries. And it's just really fun. It has all a lot of essentials, so it's not just snacks and treats, it's shampoos and conditioners and all the fun things, and then lots of snacks and extra missionary swag that's really important to have because you know these stickers meant something, so I know swag is important to us. So it's really
Tami Critchlow: Top
Christine: that's really what I do on the side. So and I'm so excited
Tami Critchlow: I love that.
Christine: to talk.
Tami Critchlow: So fun to just be together. Now, okay, so tell us the name of your company again and like the best place for people to find you.
Christine: Sure. It's I'm a girlfriday dot com. No, I'm a girlfriday dot com or Instagram or Facebook or TikTok and it's still I'm a girlfriday.
Tami Critchlow: Okay, all the places. I'm a girl Friday. Now how did you come up with that name?
Christine: So I have always had that name because, well, at one point I thought, you know, I'm a girl, it was a 1950s movie where they were like the secretary or the helper and they did all the things that needed to be done for the boss. So I thought one day I'm like, I'm gonna do that. I wanna be a Girl Friday. That sounds like so much fun. And over time I've just always kept it, but I've never did anything because I was always really busy within my personal career. And then I finally had the opportunity to stand it up and we've been going strong. And I just love the name. I think it's really fun.
Tami Critchlow: is that is that package stuff behind you by chance? Like is that
Christine: Yeah. So these are just some of the products I love. Everything is very high-end. I love shopping. We don't send out just stuff. And then we have a package here, and then I have a couple more. I'll show you at the end if you'd like, or I can show them right now. there's
Tami Critchlow: Yeah.
Christine: boys and there's girls, and it's different themes. So each month it has a theme. So it's clean and fresh, which is body wash, shampoo, everything that you need for yourself and your body. And then the next is fresh smile, so all the things for your teeth, sham toothpaste and mouthwash, and then the last is sun and skin, so a face product and just making sure you have the right lotions, especially when you're out serving, you are in the sun a lot. So just taking care of yourself. And then that rotates again every three months, but it's always different in the package. And like I mentioned, Always the best swag. I love shopping for swag. This is one, this is an elders missionary package. Oops. See if I can hold it up. As you can see, lots of fun stuff. I know. And look at these.
Tami Critchlow: who wouldn't love yeah. I mean who wouldn't w love getting that?
Christine: It's a keyboard that hooks up
Tami Critchlow: Like connect.
Christine: to your phone. It's awesome. I tried out a couple. This is the best one. And so those come in some of the care packages as well. But it's not just the shampoo and the conditioner and the razors. It's and the dude wipes, of course. It's all the extra stuff that you get. And it's really fun. So every care package is put together with care, with love, just making sure it looks good. And I'm gonna show you real quick a girls' care package for the sisters. Again, everything pink.
Tami Critchlow: Missionary. Okay, and I have to say, as we've been talking, look at that. Look how cute. the
Christine: Yeah.
Tami Critchlow: other thing that Christine mentioned is you can do this so that it delivers two. So that every time your missionary gets one, their companion gets one too, right? Okay, tell us about this pink
Christine: Yeah absolutely.
Tami Critchlow: one.
Christine: Well, it's just everything pink, all the good fun things. I love shopping everywhere. I make sure it has really good products. It's not just, I got it at the dollar store. I don't really shop there. I love the dollar store, but I don't shop there for my packages. and as you can see, just like the best stickers, I found a company online that makes the very best LDS stickers. So CTRs and the Temples and Really nice sayings for the missionary because they all love missionary swag is what I've been told. these are just super I wish we had these on our mission. Remember we made our own. This is the plan of salvation, but it comes in a little kit. Remember ours? We had it like and remember we did the cups for the apostasy? Do you remember? So
Tami Critchlow: Yes, yes, yes. my goodness.
Christine: yeah. And then, you know, little hand wipes because These are little soaps and everybody's always walking around tracking. So when you need it, you just put a little water and you have soap. So they're packaged with care. I love making sure it's the best products. And that's just a sister's package, and they're always different. And I ship them to the missionary home just because missionaries transfer. So we always make sure it goes to the missionaries home. And when you do sign up. it is a subscription, so you can every month you'll get the missionary will get a new package. You're always aware of what's going out and when it's going to be received. And
Tami Critchlow: Okay. Now can I just say I love that it's every month because I know as busy moms and dads, to us, like their mission is just flying by, right? Like time goes so fast. But I also remember as a missionary, like it you know, we're young and so time is not flying as fast. And it's just a whole lot of serving and doing different things. I mean, a month seems like a very long time on a mission.
Christine: Right. Yeah.
Tami Critchlow: Time flies in a slow way. so I really
Christine: Absolutely.
Tami Critchlow: love that it's once a month because, you know, I mean it's not that much money and yet your missionary can feel that love and support every single month. And moms, it's easy because it's on subscription, you have it done, right? You don't you know, it's just a good way to make sure your missionary always feels loved. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Christine: Yeah. Absolutely. And I get comments back from missionaries or even the moms and dads of like, Thank you so much. This is just what they needed. One of the sisters was so excited she had just run out of shampoo. They had sample size when she was in the MTC. So her first area, she got
Tami Critchlow: Yeah.
Christine: one of these packages and she's like, my gosh, I got what I needed. It's a miracle. So it's a miracle. They're miracles in a box.
Tami Critchlow: Yeah. Love it. I love it. I'm so glad you're putting this. And and the I'm a girl Friday is so, so cute.
Christine: Yeah, yeah.
Tami Critchlow: Just like you're saying, like the secretary would like, you know it's your anniversary? Would you want pink roses or red scent? Right?
Christine: care of it. Exactly. Let me take care of it for you. So I take care of it. So you the moms and dads get their time back. They don't have to worry about shopping and finding a box to put it in and shipping it. And it always looks beautiful.
Tami Critchlow: Yeah. Yes. The aesthetics of it, you know, that just takes it to the next level and the quality of the product. So love it, love it.
Christine: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
Tami Critchlow: Yeah. Okay. We get to share some fun missionary stories today because you can't have two companions back together again from three years ago without sharing some fun
Christine: Ha ha.
Tami Critchlow: missionary stories. We wanted to maybe touch a little bit on As you all know, I'm a marriage and family therapist for the last 20 years and a life coach. And, you know, mental health has become such a huge important thing. You know, I think our culture has just woken up to how important it is to focus on mental health and physical health, all of the above. And and we the the church does that so well for their missionaries now. It's something that they really do make a priority. okay. Did we exercise together? I'm trying to remember. Do you remember if we ever exercised? We didn't.
Christine: We danced. I I believe we danced. I know we danced because we would have like little dance parties and we didn't listen to music because we didn't have music back then. You just didn't. Or if you did, you had the cassette
Tami Critchlow: That's right.
Christine: tapes. So we did dance a lot.
Tami Critchlow: When were together, we were like you could reach your hand out practically and touch the the train. We were so close to the railroad tracks. And
Christine: Yeah. that's right. Right.
Tami Critchlow: this old, old house. by the way, we served in Tacoma, Washington. So if anybody sees this episode that is back from like the early nineties, you know, you figured out you were there from ninety what? When were you there?
Christine: Ninety three to n I was October ninety three to April ninety five.
Tami Critchlow: yeah, show us your plaque. That is a fun thing. You guys, you're gonna have to go watch this episode on YouTube because we are gonna show you such fun nineties photos. look at that.
Christine: I know. And I'm wearing pink. Did you notice? I've loved pink my whole life. So this was my missionary f yeah. Yep, ninety-three
Tami Critchlow: Yay! Of course. that is so great. Finally. Yes.
Christine: to ninety-five.
Tami Critchlow: I know. Okay, and I was there just a little bit before, Sister Logan. but we we I'm gonna show you guys some fun pictures just for a minute, okay? okay? You guys look at this very top one. That we're all standing on exercise bikes. I mean, I have to tell you you guys, missions are so much fun in addition. So go on a mission. It is the best thing you can do to prepare for life. But every sister that would come to my area, I would make her put her toe print on the ceiling. So that's some missionary sisters with wax on their big toes.
Christine: Remember
Tami Critchlow: Trying to put their toe print in the wax on the ceiling.
Christine: goodness.
Tami Critchlow: isn't that fun? Okay. how many times did we collect people's coffee bags? Right? That's what this one is here. Taking their coffee bag,
Christine: that's right.
Tami Critchlow: helping them live the word of wisdom. okay. Now this is us. This is our place right here. I'm tearing my nylons off my leg because they had were they were so bad that I just tore them off that night, ripped them off.
Christine: We wore nylons with our dresses. Do they and they rip right up.
Tami Critchlow: the real joy of missions, you guys, is like being able to see a whole family, right? Like this whole family here. Of course the little ones, you know, weren't old enough to be baptized. But the couple, they both were baptized and the joy of the gospel missions, they're fun, they teach our young kids independence and they help them just learn life skills in such a beautiful way and of course the biggest convert that they bring is themselves right but
Christine: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Tami Critchlow: being able to touch touch these other lives it's just it's it's such a beautiful beautiful experience go on a mission if you've got an opportunity go go go okay the one other one I wanted to share here was this sweet family the Davises and the whole family got baptized. The little boy was old enough now, and this is him over here. He was so worried about going under the water that we practiced with snorkel mask. And we told him,
Christine: I love it. That's so cute.
Tami Critchlow: if you have to, you could even wear your mask, right? and
Christine: I love it.
Tami Critchlow: and it the way the Lord works, it wasn't even very long after they were baptized that his job transferred him. And so we helped them move. And it was just, you know, we just hoped and hoped that wherever they went off to that the Lord would, you know, the Lord would send good people to keep them, you know, going to church. And I have this other picture I have to send of the show you of the boys.
Christine: my goodness, how adorable.
Tami Critchlow: Look at this. We put our missionary tags on them. And remember how
Christine: Cute.
Tami Critchlow: I I hope we're not boring everybody. I've got one more fun story and and this one is in the mission, there's things called w in our mission they were called the traveling sister. So the traveling sisters were going to come and visit us. You guys, this is the fun part of missions, like I told you, okay. And so it was April Fools or really close. I think it was April Fool's Day. and we just wanted to play the best joke of all. And so we had this super fun lady. I can't even read my writing to remember what her name is. Sister Sickle! Sister Sickle. And she
Christine: I love it.
Tami Critchlow: she started, she played like she was a non member. We went and knocked on her door in the rain and she played like she she went and bought cigars. So that she could play this part really, really good. And she's got that cigar hanging out of her mouth, right? And she got she got some bottles that looked like beer bottles, right? And of course she had dumped them out and they just had water or root beer. I don't really even remember. But she had something in them, right? And so she invites us into the house and she's like, guys, sit down, you know. Come tell me all about, you know, what is it you want to talk about? Religion? You know, just she just played it up so, so good. And then she just started passing out these bottles that looked like alcohol to each one of us, right? And so we just took it and acted like, okay, so we held it and the traveling sisters are like, What are you doing? How can you even hold that? my goodness.
Christine: Put it down.
Tami Critchlow: And then we we all took a drink, right? And that's when the traveling sisters couldn't hold it back anymore and they're like, Sister Conover. And it was
Christine: Ha ha ha
Tami Critchlow: so great. You know, and of course then we let know that it was all a huge April Fool's joke. But
Christine: my goodness.
Tami Critchlow: yeah, I if you're thinking of going on a mission, do it, do it. You'll just have experiences that are that can be so fun. And then
Christine: Yeah.
Tami Critchlow: experiences that are gonna grow your testimony. if you're a girl, It's the absolute best thing you can do in preparation for marriage and the family. go for it. It will just prepare you for life,
Christine: So those are amazing pictures and I wanted to just share some that I found today in a box. one thing about miss
Tami Critchlow: boy, boy.
Christine: I know one thing about when we're on our mission is you really become friends with your companion, but you become friends with your zone and they become your family. So here's one, just our zone. I'm sure we were either doing service or on P Day. We did a lot of service. We all the I know.
Tami Critchlow: Look at us right there in front. I love it. We're so cute.
Christine: And we look so happy. And all the all the elders, we just always had such a good time. And I want to share another one. It's blurry. Okay, so back when we were on a mission, we did not have digital cameras. You had a snap, and then you went and had them developed and hoped for the best. So it is fuzzy,
Tami Critchlow: That's
Christine: but you can tell this is, I'm sure we were tracting on our bikes, and it started raining because welcome to Washington. It rains. So we are soaking wet. I'm sure someone was giving us a ride. and then just one more. Well, actually, maybe two more. when we were in Winlock, the big thing was the apple. So here is me in the apple. And of course, if you're in Winlock or if you're on a mission in the area, you have to go see the Winlock apple. So definitely such a fun time. I just remember being on the mission and just loving every moment of it. absolutely. And you can always have fun on your mission. These poor elders. I broke people into doing the weirdest things. Come on, we're doing face, we're gonna do facial.
Tami Critchlow: They got face masks.
Christine: Yep, because you know what? That's what you do on a mission. Elder Watson, Elder Butterfield, I know you guys are on social media, so you're welcome.
Tami Critchlow: That is that's so great. Yeah.
Christine: Yeah. Yeah. So just just always so much fun. There we are in that picture. I don't think at this point we were serving, but we knew each other because we were both in the picture. So it must have been like
Tami Critchlow: Yeah.
Christine: some sort of a conference of some sort. So yeah. Yep. Yep.
Tami Critchlow: Yes, because we have different companions then, but we're you know, we're still there together. Yeah.
Christine: Yep.
Tami Critchlow: that's so much fun. If you're
Christine: Yeah.
Tami Critchlow: thinking about going on a mission, do it, do it, do it. I don't think people talk enough
Christine: Absolutely.
Tami Critchlow: about how much fun you will have. There's so much fun. You'll learn so much, you'll grow spiritually. I mean, it it's just the best preparation.
Christine: Absolutely.
Tami Critchlow: Okay, there's one story. We I know maybe we've told too many, but I wanna share it's it anyway, this is this is this is an experience that Sister Logan and I had together that's a the big part of our missions. Now, as you know, our silly driving stories, we we w were always trying to save the miles. And so we had a s sister that was driving us around, right? She was a young lady and she would drive her car so that we wouldn't have to use our miles. And she was driving us down one of those freeways. We're going like 55, 60 miles an hour. I'm in the passenger seat and Sister Logan's in the backseat. And there's a spider that she sees, the driver sees in the car, and she says, Don't let that spider get on me or I'll freak. And at 55, 60 miles an hour, she like, let's go with the steering wheel. And she's freaking out because the spider came down on her. And the car at you know 60 miles an hour. goes off into this ditch and we're on our side skidding along in this cement ditch until it came to a cement ending. And in my mind, what I recall is it launched us up in the air. And I remember just kind of like being at level with the top of those Washington super tall pine trees. And that I remember that like it
Christine: Okay,
Tami Critchlow: was yesterday. And then of course we landed and flipped, rolled the car a few times. And we we all w were blacked out. But as as I came to, I then recall the sister who was with us driving, starting to come to. I kinda remember looking back at Sister Logan and like, you know, you had you could come to and you know, we're like, Are you okay? Are you okay? And then the sister who was driving
Christine: Just happen.
Tami Critchlow: Yeah she she starts to kind of freak out and I just so vividly remember sliding my hand across like you know the middle console in between the two seats and I remember sliding across the glass and gently grabbing her hand and we all started singing primary songs. And remind you, we're out in the middle of nowhere. I don't know how long it was. We were really blessed. Someone stopped and helped us before very long. But I I just remember because it wasn't like we could just get out of the car. It was completely it was so smashed up. And we were just
Christine: Crumple. They were crumpled.
Tami Critchlow: singing country songs. Yeah. What do you remember about that moment?
Christine: I just remember when we were moving everything slow because you it's just slow motion. And then I just remember thinking, my gosh, what is happening? And after thinking back to that, and then I don't really remember much. I remember singing. after the fact I just kept thinking, How how blessed were we? We were on a mission, our angels were working overtime and they were like, You've got to be kidding me. Now they're gonna go and flip a car. You know, they were hugging us and just making sure that we were staying safe because ultimately, luckily, we were not hurt as bad as we really should have been. That car was destroyed. All three of us, we were we were able to walk away. and so I know the Heavenly Father was blessing us and we were so lucky. We were so blessed. And our angels were like, dog on it. What are you guys doing?
Tami Critchlow: Yes, and I know that I just I remember the presence of my grandfather Roy Wilson during the middle of it. And and I remember that we held it together so good, like we didn't go hysterical until after someone got there to help us. Yes. But that is one
Christine: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then we kinda were like, I don't know what I don't know what's happening. Yeah. And we didn't hurt probably until later that night.
Tami Critchlow: boy, and I remembered your seatbelt burn. I still remember that. You had this terrible, terrible seatbelt burn in the back seat. But you know, it was
Christine: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Tami Critchlow: a crazy experience, but it was just the angels were so there with us. And they're with you over time on your mission so much. And if if you are in even thinking about going on a mission, especially if you're a girl, just do it. You will be so glad that you did. It is such an incredible, incredible experience. Never in your life will you have that opportunity again to dedicate to the Lord in that way, to study the scriptures in that way, to prophesy of Him, to preach of Him, and to testify of Christ. And it's just such an incredible experience. So if you're on the fence at all, go for it, go for it. And every mission counts, whether, you know, a service mission, whether you only end up serving for a few months. You served a mission. So everyone counts.
Christine: Right. Absolutely. And I just I loved learning so much about myself, learning learning what I could do, learning who I needed to rely on. Also learning the type of personalities that I clicked with. And you know, knowing in the in in future me, in career me, learning those values and those the building the relationship of trust, being able to talk to anybody. Like really has helped me through my life. And I absolutely loved my mission. There was some highs and there was the deepest lows, but we made it through and I have such good memories. And it definitely, if you're thinking about it, if you're on the fence, take a leap, take take that faith and run with it, and you will be so happy you did. just such an amazing experience.
Tami Critchlow: Yes. thank you so much. Okay. Now, Christine ha is so gracious and she's going to give us a discount code. So if you're interested in these care packages, which if you've got a missionary out, this you wanna get one of these to them. We will have a discount code in the show notes. So just go to the show notes on Instagram, especially on YouTube. you'll be able to see, you know, on all the, you know, on all your podcast platforms. There's always show notes as well. So you can go there and get this discount code. So tell us about the packages one more time.
Christine: Okay. So they're beautifully curated. They're wonderful packages. They're just that little extra for your missionary. So think of it as a hug and love from home. You as parents get a little time back in your day because we are all so busy. And definitely make sure you go sign up. It's super easy. You just go to www.imagirlfriday.com. And in there you'll see how you sign up very quick and easy. There is a section where you can put what your missionary loves. So if we have it, we'll make sure we put it in their package. And it goes out every month. It will be sent to their mission home. So they will always get it on the very next zone conference. And look for the code below. It will be missionary. And I can't wait to help give a care package to your missionary debt serving. I know they're gonna love it.
Tami Critchlow: that and one more thing that I like is in her business Christine makes sure that there's different options so if if you're a little bit more on a
Christine: yeah.
Tami Critchlow: budget there's still a package that will work for you right and a little bit more high-end ones so that it so don't think it's gonna be too expensive. Go check it out and especially with our code you will be able to get the perfect you know package to your missionary and maybe even put you know do two so they'll be one for their companion too. So
Christine: Yeah, exactly.
Tami Critchlow: Well, this has just been such a blast. Of course, you know, to go through, you know, memory lane with all of you. Thank you for putting up with our stories. And we hope you enjoyed the episode today. And go to I'm a Girl Friday, get your missionary all set up. And at the end of all of our episodes here at Christ Centered Coaches, we always like to say, go out and be a blessing.
