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| Beautiful Sarah at Government Island |
I love you all so much:)
Sister Van Buskirk is going out of town for a week for a
wedding, and we can't stay in the home alone with Brother Van Buskirk.
We get to move out for a while! We'll be staying with the Rockhill Ward
Sisters, Rushton and Robinson. They're in our district and they are so
nice! They live in a little home (not even a townhome!) by themselves.
They said they have an extra room with two extra beds. It's kind of like
a missionary sleepover:) Sister Olsen and I will be there from this Tuesday until next Tuesday.
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| Beautiful Government Island |
Last week Monday, for P-day, Sister Olsen and I went
to Government Island with the Aquia Sisters (Bennett and Thuerer) and
the Stafford Spanish Branch Hermanas (Moon y Arce). It's an old quarry.
Stone from Stafford was used to build all of the old colonial buildings
in DC. Now it's just a walking path. It was really beautiful, even
though the trees here are beginning to look bare. I've attached some
pictures and I'll forward on some of Sister Olsen's pictures.
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| Sister Olsen & Sister Crandall |
On Tuesday,
we drove north to Woodbridge for a Zone Conference with Elder Sitati of
the First Quorum of the Seventy. The Accokeek Elders (Gambles and Ray)
came with us. Sister Olsen got into the carpool lane to avoid all of the
government worker traffic. The carpool lane ended up not letting us off
until we were all the way in Franconia! That's in the DC South Mission!
Oops:) We crossed mission boundaries. Elder Ray was originally in the
DC South Mission before the split, so he recognized some of the areas
where he had served. Stafford used to be in the DC South Mission too!
Remember how I guessed that I was going to serve in DC South? Well, I
sort of am!
Anyway, we made it to the conference on time. Elder
Sitati was amazing. He gave some great advice. He said "you will rarely
be given to equally good options." And he also talked about how humility
is a prerequisite to the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel.
Of course I wanted to hug him, which is against mission rules.
Fortunately, I was able to sit next to him during lunch and I hugged his
wife:) I love meeting General Authorities!!
Here's a little funny story: Sister Olsen and I had
an appointment fall through. On our way out of the apartment stairwell,
we saw a man moving things out of his car and into his apartment. We
offered to help. He almost accepted, and then said: "No, I couldn't make
you do that. You're too pretty. I wouldn't want you to get dirty." It
was so funny! Next time we'll send the Elders to take care of it.
Mommy. Sunday
was the Primary Program. I don't have much to say about it, but I just
wanted to make you aware. I only cried thrice:) I love kids and I think I
want six of them. Can you imagine? Six little people running around me
calling me Mom! (That means six little people running around you calling
you Grandma.) I can't think of anything better.
Sister Olsen and I also wore all black to church
yesterday. We were in mourning of the impending loss of our cute girlish
figures. Over the past week, we were fed dinner at least ten times.
People keep shoving food down our throats. Sister Olsen's Auntie sent a
package that was filled with candy, cake mix, and gingerbread cookie
mix. We ended up giving most of it to the Elders. There's no way I could
eat that much food! We wrote "no desserts, please!" on the meal
calendar. We've decided to cut out sweets and desserts completely. We
also follow the "one-roll-rule" at dinner to keep our carbs to a
minimum. Sister Olsen got a pic of our dark attire, and I will forward
that on when it comes:)
Here's an update on Tonya and Alex: Tonya is back in
town! We heart attacked her door and it was so much fun! We're going to
visit her today, and hopefully help her paint her living room next
week. She's been talking about how her conversion story is coming
together. I am so happy for her and I love her to death:) Alex is still
progressing, though we've pushed his baptismal date back a week.
We gave Alex the coolest assignment this past week! He's been getting into lds.org and he loves to watch conference addresses. We invited him to check out mormon.org,
and gave him the challenge to find our profiles. He didn't know our
first names, so he was going to have to sort through a lot of people.
Our hint was that we both have Bible names (Sister Olsen's name is
Esther). After about an hour, he texted us saying that he had found us!
My challenge for you is to find me on mormon.org!
It shouldn't be too hard:) After that, I challenge you to make your own
profile! It's really easy. If you need help, ask Dad because he already
has one. Then you can share it on facebook, through email, etc. We use
the computers on Friday to make electronic progress reports. We also get an hour to mess around on lds.org and mormon.org. I hope I can find some of you by then!
Alex and Tonya aren't the only people we are
teaching. We are teaching a ten year old boy. His parents are divorced.
(Mom is less-active, dad is Catholic.) The boy wants to be baptized, but
his dad won't let him. Another woman we're teaching has had significant
medical challenges. She is Clarissa-sized! She lost a son at 17
weeks...very sad. But she has a lot of faith and she loves our reading
assignments. Another woman always says "coolbeans." We told her about
prophets, and she responded with "coolbeans." This one man is in the
Marines (we are minutes away from Quantico Marine Base) and he just had
surgery, so he's staying at home for the next few weeks. That means we
have a few weeks to love him into the Gospel! Another Marine is trying
to drop us, but we asked him if we could visit with him one last time.
There's a woman who contacted the church because she wanted to be
taught. She is a former member, but requested to have her records
deleted over 35 years ago. She won't get baptized any time soon because
she's been living with her boyfriend for 20 years and they don't want to
get married until next fall.
The final thought I want to leave with you is about depression. The Relief Society is putting on a dinner program Thursday
night all about depression, titled "Like a Broken Vessel" after Elder
Holland's talk. The Bishop's wife will be speaking. We're hoping Tonya
and a few other investigators can make it! I've been thinking a lot
about depression and the influence it's had on my life. Depression makes
dreams and memories and hopes for the future very vivid. Because of
that, it's often difficult to live in the present. Days can seem dull
and colorless compared to the things I used to be doing, or the things
I'll be doing in the future. Sister Olsen and I always try to do fun
things to change it up. For example, wearing black to mourn the
impending weight-gain of the Christmas Season. It's simple, but it gives
me something to be excited about in the present. Writing in my journal
is also very therapeutic because it helps me realize how fulfilling my
life is right now.
Even though depression has been the biggest
challenge in my life so far, it has also been the greatest blessing.
Because of my depression, I have to be passionate and excited about
things. If I didn't have this perspective, I think I would take a lot of
things for granted. I am so happy to be here! Choosing to serve a
mission is the hardest decision I have ever made. It's the only hard
decision I've ever had to make! But I know that I made the right
decision:)
Quick shout out to my good friend Stella, who just
received her mission call! She'll be serving in Manchester, England,
speaking Mandarin, beginning in March. Stella and I used to work
together as custodians in the JFSB on BYU Campus. She also attends the
Asian Ward so she knows Dad:)
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| Text from a Member |
I love you all so much. Have a beautiful week:)
*And send me mail!
Sister Sarah Crandall
110 Galway Ln.
Stafford, VA 22554
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