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| 36 Bags of Leaves... 2 Hours of Service! |
My back is much better! I've begun exercising regularly in the
morning and I can perform missionary work as normal. I strained it a
bit while raking leaves, so I just need to be careful
about the activities I'm involved in. I'm a happy little sister! :)
*To the family I love more than anything:
For
P-day last week, Sister Olsen and I visited the Aquia church! It was
formed in 1680, and the building was completed in the 1750's. There was a
huge cemetery out back with graves over 250 years old! Stafford County
itself celebrates 350 years in 2014. I learned a few more things about
Stafford this past week. George Washington's childhood home was in
Stafford, and this is where Pocahontas lived! So when you watch
Pocahontas and she's running through the woods, that's where I live! I
love this place :)
On Wednesday
we had a seven hour Zone Conference in Fredericksburg. I loved a
comment made by Sister Wilson, the President's wife. She said that even
though we were excited to begin our missions, we knew it was going to be
hard. She said that submitting papers is almost like signing up for an
18-month or 2-year trial. My mission is difficult every single day. It's
the most rewarding thing I've ever done, and it's also hard work. If I
can learn to endure cheerfully, then I'll be prepared to face any
challenge in the future. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to spend
18 months in the refiner's fire! Can you believe it's been 2 1/2
already??
A new rule from Salt Lake is that Elders and Sisters
can't drive each other. The Elders took our car to the Zone Conference
and we got a ride with Sister Van Buskirk. The Zone Leaders, our
District Leader, and one of the Garrisonville Elders dropped off our car
at Aquia's Table, where we serve at the Episcopalian Church each week.
They came inside to give us the keys and the parishioners offered them
dinner. The women of the Episcopalian Church are so fun! They really
like us, and it's one of my favorite activities we do each week. They
teased the Elders non-stop. Panera Bread donates food to the Aquia
Church and so the parishioners gave all of the extra bread and desserts
to the Elders. It was really funny :) Also...when we got our car back,
they had eaten Sister Olsen's granola bar and left crumbs on her seat!
Elders...
This past week, the Young Women in the ward took
cookies to our investigators! It was so thoughtful! When we called Kayla
the next day (she's the 18 year old), she was so excited! And because
of it she decided to go to the Christmas party. I love the Young Women
of this ward.
We had 5 investigators come to the Christmas party
yesterday! Kayla was stolen by the Young Women and spent most of it with
them. I'm so happy she's made friends in the church :) Two other
couples came. They served finger foods, had a music program, and then we
watched Mr. Kruger's Christmas. Which is my new favorite movie besides
Tangled and Pride & Prejudice.
*Here's a story from the week that will make Dad roll his eyes and say "that's great..." :
Penny
is the Van Buskirk's dachshund that pees a lot. She was sitting on my
bed during morning studies. Then Sister Olsen called to Penny and she
jumped over to her bed. Then I called her back. Then Sister Olsen called
her. We decided to do this over and over again, as fast as we could.
Whoever's bed she peed on lost. Penny probably jumped across the divide
at least 10 times before peeing on my bed. Sister Olsen and I started
crying from laughing so hard:)
We had a great experience with an investigator this
past week. We started talking a little bit about Mormon culture. She
said that when she was growing up, her neighbors were Mormon and they
didn't eat chocolate or any desserts or drink soda. She said that when
she started meeting with us, she knew she was going to need to throw out
a lot of the treats in her kitchen. We explained that she could still
eat chocolate and drink Coke. I love that she's already decided that
she's going to be a member!! I haven't written that much about her
because she's taking the lessons pretty slowly, but she's progressing
and I really think she'll be baptized in the future! So happy.
Alex? Not so happy :( Lindsay called it "divine
discontent." He came across some anti and has decided that he will not
be baptized. He still came to church and we're going to continue meeting
with him until he leaves. (Alex is going to his home country for 30
days right before Christmas.) He believes in the Book of Mormon, but is
struggling with his testimony of Joseph Smith. Needless to say, there
was some weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth on my part at home
that night. I love Alex so much and pray that he will someday
understand.
As you likely saw in the leaves picture, it was very warm Thursday! Over 70 degrees outside! It always gets really warm before a storm comes. In Ward Council on Sunday,
the Bishop announced that church was going to be canceled after
Sacrament Meeting. The only reason he wasn't canceling Sacrament was
because it was too late to notify the ward and Sister Olsen and I were
speaking. I thought he was kidding. It was a little windy outside, and
it looked like rain, but it was nothing like a Utah blizzard.
Sister Olsen and I spoke, of course, on missionary
work. I focused on having courage to share the message. Most people
don't share the Gospel because of fear. In 2 Timothy 1:7 (Sister
Miller's favorite verse!) we learn that feelings of fear don't come from
God. Our ward was about 2/3rds normal size because of the weather, but
at least Alex made it! And a less active family we've been meeting with.
After Sacrament Meeting, our Bishop told us that we
needed to park our car at home and not drive for the rest of the day.
Then we got a text from our Zone Leaders with the same advice. The snow
in Virginia is different from snow in Utah. It was more like ice rain
than powder. It wasn't sticking to the ground and the roads weren't too
bad. I've lived in Utah almost all my life. I've seen snow to my waist
and blizzards where you can't see more than two yards ahead. I have
never seen school or church canceled because of weather! We spent the
afternoon studying and setting up the Christmas tree. (Sister Van
Buskirk bought a live tree for us!!!)
Today, there's some power outage in North Stafford
and all the schools are closed. Fortunately the Van Buskirks have power!
Sister Van Buskirk offered to take us on to base today (Marines -
Quantico) to do some grocery shopping. The temperatures aren't too bad,
and I heard they won't go much lower than 30 for the entire winter. I do
miss Utah powder, though, and I never thought I'd ever feel that way!
I love my family so much! Love, Sister Crandall
*P.S. This is Esperanza! A woman from the ward we would visit often. She spoke very
little English but refused to go to the Spanish Branch. We taught her
how to pray in English. She kept saying things like, "Dear Gosh" or
"Gosh bless you!" So cute :) She's from Lima, Peru and has since moved
to Florida with her daughter and son-in-law.
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