Hermana Sarah Crandall
7168 Hunter Circle
Mechanicsville, VA 23111
It has been a CRAZY week. Transfers were supposed to be on Thursday, but there was a "huge snow storm" in Virginia so it was postponed to Saturday.
The incoming missionaries had to spend two extra days in the MTC
because their flight was delayed! I was grateful for the extra time in
the 'Keek to pack and say goodbye.
I'm so grateful for Accokeek and everything that I was able to learn and experience there!
My
new area is Mechanicsville, in Hanover County. I'm about 15 minutes NE
of Richmond. I was able to drive by Richmond for the first time, and the
city is really cool looking! My new companion, Hermana Emily Pratt, is
from Orem. She went to Timpanogos High School and we graduated the same
year! She's planning on attending BYU-I after her mission. (She's about
half-way finished...she came out with Sister Olsen.)
This is the weird thing about the area: We are
attending an English ward. We're still teaching in Spanish, but our
investigators attend the Henrico (hen-RYE-co) Spanish Branch which is in
the county next to us. So we never go to church with our investigators.
We're fed and taken care of by the Mechanicsville Ward, but they
already have an English set of Elders and Sisters that work with less
actives. The Henrico Branch also has two sets of Spanish missionaries,
and they help support the less actives and other needs of the branch.
We cover the Spanish needs of four English wards:
Mechanicsville, Chickahominy, Tappahannock, and Scotchtown. (We live in
the boundaries of Chickahominy.) And we cover the towns of
Mechanicsville, Sandston, Ashland, and Tappahannock, and maybe more.
Basically we have no idea where our boundaries are, and it's difficult
to get member present lessons and referrals. (There's almost
no communication between us and the Presidente of the Branch.) We don't
have a map of the area yet, but I'm going to talk to the Zone Leaders
about it. Hermana Pratt has only been in this area for 6 weeks, so she's
still trying to figure it out. And of course, I'm super lost;)
Also, Mechanicsville kind of reminds me of Nephi,
except with more townhomes. The houses are spaced and sized similarly.
It's not as affluent as Stafford, and it feels more like a southern town
than Stafford did.
Oh, and exciting news! In two weeks we're going to
become a trio! An Hermana from Temple Square will be joining us!
Apparently she's a native speaker. I hope I have things a little more
under control before she gets here:)
*Cool story from Sister Olsen:
Her
grandpa was a mission president in San Diego. He had an interview with a
missionary one day, and the Elder said that he wanted to be switched to
a foreign language. (In San Diego, they have missionaries for English,
Spanish, Hmong, Mandarin, Vietnamese, etc.) The Elder said that his
Patriarchal Blessing promised him that he would learn a foreign language
for his mission. He insisted that he could learn it while in the field.
Her grandpa reviewed his records--he had never taken a foreign language
class and he received average grades in school. He turned the Elder
down. Just because something is promised to us in our Patriarchal
Blessing doesn't mean that it's going to happen. We have to qualify and
prepare for it. This applies to lots of things--missionary service,
marriage, having children, etc.
I used to feel frustrated when people were called to
Spanish speaking missions and I was not. I took three semesters of it,
and I felt like I was pretty good at it. After reading more about
spiritual gifts in the scriptures, I learned that it is literally a GIFT
given to us to be given the opportunity to learn a language! If there
are gifts that we want that aren't given to us, there are things we can
do to qualify for it. I feel like that's something that I've done.
The reason why I said all of that is that I feel pretty frustrated with my new area.
I
LOVE MECHANICSVILLE. I remember seeing it on the mission map, and
thinking it sounded cool. I wanted the opportunity to serve here. But
it's going to be difficult to learn Spanish while attending an English
ward. I asked Hermana Pratt how she learned Spanish...she said that the
things that helped most were attending a Spanish branch, having meals
with families in Spanish, and the resources she received at the MTC. I
don't have any of those right now:/
My frustration right now is that I feel like I was
given the gift to learn Spanish, but then it was wrapped up in 50
billion layers of wrapping paper.
Last night I was
praying about why I was here--there must be a really good reason. I'm
pretty sure this is the only Spanish area in the mission where the
missionaries attend an English ward. I remembered a scripture in Alma
(chapter 13, I believe) that says "be it sooner or later, in it I will
rejoice." Whether or not I learn Spanish in this area or the next, I'm
really happy! When President extended this assignment to me, he asked if
I would be willing to serve as an Hermana for the remainder of my
mission. I know that I will have other areas and other opportunities to
learn the language. For now, I'll do the best that I can to learn here!
Anyway, I also received a pretty big prompting as to
why I'm here. Which is super comforting:) It's kind of personal, but I
have a good idea of what talents and gifts I can use to accomplish my
purpose. (And I'm not talking about hula dancing...)
*SO MECHANICSVILLE...
I haven't
been here for very long, but I've already been through two lessons in
Spanish! The first was with Veronica, who has been investigating for a
long time. (Most Hispanics investigate for forever. They love to talk
about God, so all of them let us in.) Her friend Emma was present, so we
have a new investigator! We also taught a recent convert lesson to
Filiberto, who was baptized a month ago. He's preparing to speak next Sunday about caridad y la expiacion (charity and the Atonement).
I can understand pretty much everything that goes on
during the lesson. I can understand Spanish really well, especially if
they're Mexican. (My 102 teacher was Mexican, and my 105 teacher was
white, but served a mission in Texas speaking Spanish Mexicano.) It's
more difficult to say what I want to say. I can bear my testimony, and
Hermana Pratt says my Spanish is better than hers was when she left the
MTC. Hopefully I'll pick up on it soon!
On Sunday
afternoon, we went "Hispanic Hunting." It's sort of like tracting,
except a lot more racist. We target homes that look Hispanic. I would
tell you what indications we look for, but it's incredibly
stereotypical. Unfortunately, we found two white families and a black
family to refer to the Mechanicsville Sisters. What??? It's going to be
hard to find new investigators;)
My final story is about the Word of Wisdom. My
Patriarchal Blessing specifically states that I need to be living the
WOW in order to receive certain blessings. So of course, it's an
important commandment to me. Sister Olsen and I ate and exercised very
similarly, but Hermana Pratt has different eating habits from me.
Yesterday I ate three cookies and I spent the whole
night sick. I threw up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep for
two hours. Then during personal study this morning, I spent half of it
on the floor of the bathroom waiting for my stomach to make up its mind.
When I wasn't doing that, I was reading D&C 89 to repent. I hurt
still, but at least I was able to make it out of the house. Yay. I had a
lot of Hispanic food in Stafford, so I feel like I'll adjust to that
well. It's just sugar. Sugar KILLS me. I have a really weak stomach.
Anyway.........that was a super long email.
I'm
happy to be here:) I love being close to Richmond! I love Hermana
Pratt! And I love Filiberto. And the members here are amazing, and so
willing to help! I love my new home and the trees, etc. And the library
here is less busy;)
Don't forget to send me mail!:) Con amor, Hermana Crandall
*PPS
- There's a poster of Aqua Man in our apartment. Apparently the Zone
Leaders put it up there when the area was opened (August 2013) and no
one has taken it down yet.
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