I would like to start off this email
by talking about cui. No, I have never eaten cui and I hope I never
have to. It's a very fine dish from Ecuador, and I heard that Hermanas
serving in Henrico were offered it last week. Hermana Penaloza, who's
from Ecuador, said it's called cui because that's the sound the guinea
pig makes when you break it's neck :( I ate the panzita and hormigas,
but I don't think I could eat cui :(
Okay I would also like to start off this email by
wishing a super happy feliz cumpleanos to my Dad, Hapa. I love you so
much Daddy! I hope you had a wonderful birthday yesterday! I love my Dad
so much because he taught me who my REAL Father is, and that's my
Heavenly Father. About a year ago, I was going through some difficult
times. I contacted my Dad. Instead of giving me counsel about what to
do, he said "Be still and know that He is God." At a time when I was
struggling, my Dad reminded me who I really needed to be turning to. I love
you Haps:) Be fun!
This week I've been reflecting a lot on how grateful
I am to be a missionary. I truly love my calling. I love my mission so
much! There's been a big emphasis the last few weeks on getting the
members involved. President Wilson gave us a case study to read through
before Zone Conference, which is this Wednesday.
We met as a District last week and talked about how we want to
implement the ideas from the case study. I realized that I don't know
the members as well as I should. I have an advantage because I've served
in both Fred and Stafford! I've begun studying the ward list and area
book to learn more about who our less actives are. We're going to
start having FHE every week with recent converts and investigators and
active families. Tonight it's with las familias Santiago (converts) and
Balboa! We're also trying to up the amount of member-present lessons
each week. We're also going to work with the Sociedad de Socorro to
increase Visiting Teaching percentages.
President Wilson said that VT/HT are divinely
inspired programs to help us become more Celestial. If we're at 50% VT,
how can we expect to love and care for our eternal increase in the
Celestial Kingdom? VT/HT are to help us learn to love each other so that
we can feel more comfortable and prepared to live like that for
eternity.
One great member we've been working with is Brenda.
She lives in a closed community, so it's impossible for missionaries to
tract there. She invited us over for a luncheon with her and a neighbor!
THIS is what missionary work it supposed to be! The neighbor was really
friendly and sincerely interested in learning! We gave her a Book of
Mormon and she said she wants to read it. Because she's American, we
passed her over to the Aquia Sisters. Brenda said she wants to keep
doing this and invite some of her Hispanic neighbors too!:)
This past week we also had a Spanish Conference in
Richmond for all of the Spanish missionaries! The trainings were on
things like finding, adjusting to the culture, language study, etc. I
enjoyed this one more than the last one...probably because I was still a
Sister (i.e. not a Hermana) at the last one and I didn't have a companion with me and I felt
out of place. Marco drove us and the Fredericksburg Hermanas
(Dangerfield and Lindo) to the meeting and then we went to a Mexican
Restaurant after. (YUM)
I don't think I've talked about Marco yet, but he is
awesome! He was baptized early last year and he just received his
temple endowment in April. He doesn't speak a ton of English, but he
attends the YSA branch now. He uses lots of Spanglish and goes on about
whether or not things are "cool" or "swag." In Spanish, people use the
word "bien" for LOTS of things. It's used to emphasize adjectives. "Bien
dificil" means really difficult, or "Bien Catolico" means really
Catholic. Last week he was talking about how "bien swag" he is. It was
super funny! I love listening to Hispanics try to speak English:) I gave
him a "how to pray in English" handout and he was really excited!
Hermana Amanda and I are still at the genealogy
stuff! Yesterday, we helped a sister prepare the names of her two
cousins. Both were murdered in Guatemala at ages 19 and 17. Many of the
countries where the members come from are very dangerous. Absalon had
two brothers who were murdered in Colombia, too. The doctrine of proxy
temple work and eternal families means so much to them! I was able to
testify to her of the importance of temple and family history work and
how we have help from the other side of the veil. She and I were both
bawling our eyes out and I can't wait to hear about her experience after
she performs the work:)
We had two creepy guy stories so I will share those now:
*1) I
street contacted this awesome black guy named Derrell. I wanted to ask
him if he had any Hispanic neighbors, but of course, I also was going to
invite him to learn more. I asked for his number, and he said he would
only give it to Hermana Clark if she promised to call him. Haha:) We
asked more about his relationship with God and he had some pretty neat
stories and he said he's interested in attending church! I hope
something good comes of it!
*2) We were walking to an appointment, and these men
parked in front of the stairwell while we were knocking the door. They
kept yelling "mujer" (woman) at us and some other word that I can't
remember but means "blondie." (I think they were talking to me because I
have the lightest hair?) Anyway, we forgot something in the car, so we
ran back to grab it. While we were doing that, they started getting out
of their car and coming towards us. We were really scared so we knocked
on a less active's door who lives in the same complex. She opened the
door 2 seconds later and immediately invited us in when she saw us! It
was definitely a miracle:)
Okay that's enough with the creepy.
Here's
an update on my back...We were lifting boxes for Hermana Santiago to
help her move some things into the garage. I was in a lot of pain the
following day. I felt like all of my ribs were bruised, which is weird
because I had a back injury. I finally called the mission nurse and I
think I might be seeing another doctor this week. She said I probably
have some muscle/tissue damage and it pulls on the cartilage in my ribs,
which is why they felt sore. I think my hips are misaligned again. I'm
really frustrated about all of this. I had one bad fall 6 months ago and
now I'm worried I'll have back pain for the rest of my life :( My
biggest fear is that I won't be able to hula dance anymore for fear of
injuring my hips.
And now I'll share some things about hope because I
really hope that I can keep dancing after my mission!:) Romans 5 is one
of my favorite chapters in the New Testament! When we have trials, it
helps us become more patient, which helps us build experience. Relying
on these experiences helps us have hope for the future. Because I've
endured certain things, I know that I can endure others.
The past few days I've been studying grace and
repentance and how those are related to hope. I was feeling very
frustrated with all of my imperfections. I'm no where near the kind of
missionary I want to be, let alone the kind of person I hope to become.
I feel like I keep saying or doing things wrong. However, I think
sometimes I demand too much of myself. (Mommy is probably nodding her
head right now and Grandma Crandall is probably getting ready to tell me
that I'm eating the elephant too fast.) I LOVED "His Grace is
Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. I understand better now that repentance is a
process of change, not a punishment or a payment for my sins. I can't
pay for my sins because I'm not perfect! If the Atonement solves
everything that's imperfect about life, then repentance and the Doctrine
of Christ is how we apply the atonement to make those changes. This
includes even physical or emotional imperfections! I need to stop trying
to earn my own salvation because I can't. I need to rely more on the
Savior and His perfect grace.
I love how simply Moroni explains it, that all we
need to do is "come unto Christ." If I deny myself of all ungodliness,
and demonstrate a desire to change through my thoughts and actions, then
I can be sanctified in Christ. Hope and desires and thoughts and
actions and faith and patience and diligence and charity and humility
and experience and more faith! I feel like I'm finally beginning to
understand the character of Christ.
I love you all so much! You are so very dear to me:)
I appreciate your love and support and prayers. Keep being good and
keep being happy:)
Love, Hermanita Crandall
*PS - This is my last month of teenagehood...any
suggestions on how to celebrate it? Maybe from Sister Miller, who gave
up teenagehood last September?
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