-Sister Nally, wife of the MTC President :)
First
of all, General Conference was AMAZING. I especially loved Elder
Holland's talk on dealing with depression and Elder Christofferson's
talk about the moral influence of women! Being in the MTC one year after
the age-change announcement was amazing!
On Wednesday
I flew to Virginia with about 30 other missionaries. Yes, I did place a
Book of Mormon to the man I sat next too! His name was Gary and he's
Lutheran. We talked about our beliefs, and I found that he had a hard
time explaining his acceptance of the Nicean Creed (sp?). A lot of what
he said contradicted itself. Gary seemed pretty interested in Mormon
Doctrine and accepted to read parts of the Book of Mormon. (I had marked
up certain chapters like 2 Nephi 2&31, 3 Nephi 11&17, and Alma
32.)
I met President and Sister Wilson at the airport. I
wish I could think of someone to compare them too. They are incomparably
amazing people. In fact, I'm surprised they haven't been translated yet.
God must need them here for some reason:)
The group was taken to a church for a dinner.
It felt so nice to be served a meal after a long day of travel. Then we
had interviews, took pictures, and wrote letters home. Pres. Wilson even
gave me a hug!!!!!!:) He said something in my interview that really
struck me. He said, "If there's any experience you want on your mission
that you're not having, then let me know and I'll make it happen." I
thought of two things: my desire to train, and my desire to speak
Spanish.
The sisters spent the night at the mission home in
Richmond. It was on about 4 acres of land and was designed like a large,
old southern home. When I stepped inside, I felt like I had entered a
temple. That was probably the most restful night I've had my entire
life. The following morning, we had a transfers meeting and were
assigned our areas and companions.
I have been assigned to serve in the Accokeek
Ward in Stafford, VA. (Accokeek sounds kind of like echo creek without
the r.) I'm living in the basement of the Van Buskirk's home! They are
an amazing couple! Sister Van Buskirk never had kids of her own, because
Brother Van Buskirk had kids from a previous marriage. She treats us
like we're her daughters:) Sister Van Buskirk is always making us
desserts and food. The decorations remind me a lot of home! I love it!
They also have three little dogs that are crazy. Here's my address for
at least until mid November:
Sister Crandall
110 Galway Ln
Stafford VA 22554
I'd
compare the area density to Provo and Lehi combined. Some places are
very densely populated, with town homes and apartments. Other parts are a
little more country-like. Lots of trees. Beautiful, amazing trees. Some
urban shopping areas. Stafford is perfect. I love it here! And we're
about 30 or so minutes south of DC. Apparently the government shut down?
Does anyone want to fill me in? About 1/3rd or more of the men in the
ward are out of work. The Bishop was teasing about himself being
"non-essential."
My companion is Sister Olsen from Oregon. She's also
a BYU student! This is her third transfer. She is amazing! And really
patient and kind. She's confident speaking and teaching, but said that
she prefers that I speak more so that I can be taught by experience.
It's great for me because I love talking!!:) She's actually a visa
waiter, and could leave for Brazil at any moment. Well, with two weeks'
notice. Sister Olsen wears an English badge and dislikes telling people
that she's a visa waiter because she wants to be taken more seriously.
She doesn't want the ward to view her as temporary.
Because of that, Sister Olsen has to study
Portuguese every morning for an hour. I use that time to study Spanish! I
knew I brought mi Libro de Mormon for a reason! Mommy will you please
send me more Spanish things? I should have a binder somewhere with my
105/106 materials. If not, there's a dictionary in my room. And I'd love
to have a Spanish PMG and Spanish copy of D&C 4, Joseph Smith's
first vision, Proclamation on the Family, etc. I've thought a lot about
what President Olsen said about requesting the experiences that I want. I
would love to spend a transfer or two speaking Spanish! I'd really need
to prepare:)
Here's one run-in I've had with Spanish: Sister
Olsen and I went to visit a less-active woman yesterday. She's out of
town, but her mom was home. Her mom, Esperanza, is an Aquino from Lima!
She knows Alonso's family! (Alonso's mom is an Aquino.) She didn't speak
any English, so I was able to communicate with her in Spanish. We went
inside, talked, prayed, and she fed us. Sister Olsen was able to
understand a little bit because of her Portuguese. Esperanza said she
was feeling very lonely until we came! We're going to go back in a week
when her daughter is home.
The field is white in Stafford. Sister Olsen and I
aren't white-washing, because Elders white-washed last transfer, but we
are pink-washing! The Elders are still here, so we started with nothing.
No one. No appointments. We've done a TON of tracting. And...I'm
pleased to announce...that...I LOVE TRACTING. I love it. Just like Mom
said, you never know what you'll find behind each door! Also, we find
someone who's interested almost every 5 doors! I think I've experienced
only one or two door slams. Most of the people are really kind and
respect what we're doing. We've received plenty of "glory hallelujahs"
and "yes Lords!" And lots of people want us to come back. Sister Olsen
said she's never seen success in tracting like this before.
The Elders also gave us a stack of former
investigators to go through. We go to their homes and pretend like we're
tracting...as if we don't know that they're former investigators;) We
can tell that they recognize us as missionaries, but they pretend like
they don't know that much about the church. So far, visiting former
investigators has been our most successful tool for finding! Yesterday
we got two new investigators this way!! (To be a new investigator means
we've already taught them a lesson.)
Last night we taught a man named Dean (yay!) about
the authority of Jesus Christ that was lost during the apostasy. We
testified that the authority has been restored to the earth and that his
life can be blessed by it. He seemed verrrry interested. We're going
back next week!
We also tracted into a woman named Nicole. She had
Mormon friends in high school and has even visited them in Utah a few
times. She was so excited that we found her! Nicole is recently divorced
and seems very prepared to accept the Gospel. I'm super excited to
begin teaching her!
I had my first ever Bible bash the other day!!!
YAYYY! It was really fun:) Don't worry, I kept my cool. And my companion
said I did a great job of answering the man's questions and using Bible
scriptures to back up our doctrine. It wasn't really a Bible bash, but
more of a discussion of doctrine with a Christian well-educated in Bible
verse. His name was Isaac. He very discreetly hinted that Mormons are
going to hell. We asked him about his beliefs on Heaven and Hell, and he
said that he believed that all those who accepted Jesus Christ as the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Trinity) would go to Heaven. Anyone who
has a differing view of Jesus Christ is accepting a false god. He also
rejected the idea that missionary work would exist after death and
before judgment. 1st Peter 4, anyone??? It was a cool experience to
recognize the Bible knowledge I do have, and to be able to keep the
Spirit throughout the discussion. I wish his heart would have been
softer, but "they who reject this glad message shall never such
happiness know."
I'm so grateful that I know who God is. I worship a
God who has a glorified, perfected body of flesh and bones. Jesus Christ
is His son. The Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit.
I love my family so dearly.
Love, Sister Crandall
*Also: Sister Olsen and I got a brand new car! A Toyota Corrolla!
Seriously when we started driving it, it had less than 50 MILES!!!!
AHHHH! She's the designated driver, which means I get to awkwardly stand
behind and help her back up ;)
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