Querida Familia,
I have begun praying frequently that Lindsay will have her baby on June 17th.
I could think of no better birthday present! I was born three weeks
early and Mommy's labor only lasted 45 minutes. (My personality hasn't
changed much since.) It could happen, Ninny:)
Speaking of my birthday...Last Monday I went to the
Spotsylvania Mall with my companions and the Fred Hermanas to do a
little bit of birthday shopping! Because I started my mission in the
fall, I brought mostly sweaters and long-sleeved shirts, and I'm in
desperate need of cooler clothes. It's been very hot and humid and it
rains a lot too!
On Tuesday
we were able to help paint in a part-member home. It was my first time
painting, and I think I did a really good job!:) We're working really
slowly with this family, but we're hoping to see some miracles.
President Wilson has been encouraging working with
the members more. We've started having two or more Noches de Hogar every
week (FHE). Last week we had two -- the first was with la familia
Santiago (baptized in January), and an active family. Hermana Santiago
prepared the agenda and everything. It was a great experience for them
to learn how to have a Noche in their home! Hermana Santiago is also
trying to read through the entire Libro de Mormon before September and
she's already in 1 Nefi 19! We also had a Noche with a less active
family. Apparently missionaries haven't been able to get in for over a
year! We read the story of the truck, snow, and wood from Elder Bednar's
recent conference address. We didn't tell them Elder Bednar's
explanation, but asked them to tell us what they learned from the story.
They came to a completely different conclusion than he did! It was
really neat to see how the Spirit was able to reveal to them what they
needed to know. They know the church is true, they have pictures of the
temple all over their home, it's just a matter now of getting them into
the church building. We have high hopes for this family!
District Meeting this week was wonderful! The Zone
Leaders attended, so there were 9 of us. (Us, Fred Hermanas, Fred
Spanish Elders, Zone Leaders.) We did the Christlike Attribute activity
in PMG and each of us prepared a 5 minute spiritual thought on an
assigned attribute. Surprisingly enough, I was assigned hope--which is
what I studied last month!
Our District Leader was talking about humility, and
how Christ showed humility without retaliating to the Roman Soldiers,
even though he (and probably they) knew he was innocent. I started
pondering about why, and I learned that Pilate or any of those other
guys are not our judge. Our only judge is God! Sometimes I get so caught
up in worrying what other people are thinking, when it just doesn't
matter. Only God has the power to judge me because this is His plan and I
am His daughter.
One of the other Elders talked about virtue and he
said that he learned virtue can also mean excellence. He read the
scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 121 and replaced "virtue" with
"excellence." As missionaries, having excellent thoughts means we are
focused on our purpose.
So back to the back drama. I started physical therapy on Thursday.
The whole awkward wearing garments thing happened when the doctor gave
me the most painful back massage of my life....so that was probably the
most embarrassing moment of my mission thus far. He tried to untuck it
and was really confused and I'll just stop with the details there :(
Mommy, you give much better back massages and you don't make me feel
uncomfortable. BUT, he taught me some good exercises that I have to do
3x a day and I'm still taking the medicine from the other doctor. I've
felt more flexible and I've been able to hula dance again! (Which I did
with my companions and the Accokeek Sisters last night in our
apartment.) I'm going back this week and then hopefully never again:)
Last week I wrote briefly about la familia Gomez. We
were able to teach Hermano Gomez again this past week, and he is
golden! He was really honest about not knowing the Bible very well, but
said that he believes it's true and based on everything we've said, he
thinks the Book of Mormon is true too! He has a wayward son, so he just
loves us and thinks we're the greatest "jovenes" in the world.
One of the women in the ward, Hermana Messinger,
helped plan a big triathlon, and all of the missionaries in the zone
were able to help out. We spent a few hours at a park on Saturday
morning. (Don't worry Mommy, I wore sunscreen! Don't worry Dad, I'm
getting a little more tan!) Afterwards, I went home with the Fred
Hermanas to do an exchange so that Hermana Penaloza could train Hermana
Clark alone. It was really neat to see how the area has changed since I
left!
We were able to visit and teach Tony. I don't think
I've talked about him before, but he is the cutest 10 year old around.
His parents aren't very interested, and their relationship with Tony
seems a little off. They're rarely home because they work so much and
Tony is often locked out of the house. I'm not sure what all is going
on, but Tony craves missionary attention. He loves to be loved. (And I
think he might be mildly autistic because some of his behavioral
patterns are strange.) The Elders said that when they're in the
apartment complex, Tony will accompany them in lessons and follow them
around as they tract. Anyway, we were able to teach him the law of
chastity and the word of wisdom. He promised to not have children until
after he's married in the temple!:)
The best part was right at the end, when we started
to lose his attention. He kept doing these cute "tricks" on the ground
like cartwheels and spins. Then he lifted the corner off the couch to
show off his strength. The other two Hermanas (Lindo and Dangerfield)
were sitting on one couch, and he said he wanted to lift it. They both
scooted to the front of the couch and put their weight on their feet so
it looked like they were sitting down. Tony felt so cool:) He should be
getting baptized pretty soon! Hermana Agurcia and I put him on date a
couple weeks ago.
Yesterday we had Branch Conference. All of the Stake
Leaders and the Mission Presidency attended. Hermano Manriquez taught
the second hour in Spanglish (for the benefit of the Stake Leaders) and
it was such a great lesson! He talked about the scripture in Doctrine
and Covenants 88 that says to have our sight only on God's glory. I've
never thought a lot about what that means before then. God's glory is
our immortality and eternal life! This is achieved in temples. We need
to have our sights on the temple--whether it's for our own salvation, or
the salvation of our dead.
After church, my back was hurting a lot and we
didn't have a lesson. Just a lot of knocking. Finally, after 1.5 hours
of knocking, we found a lesson in the most Hispanic home I've yet to
witness. They had three flags out front - America, Virginia, and
Honduras. There were also 15 cars (I counted). Approximately 10 people
live there. And there were chickens and children running around on the
property. We taught the message of the Restoration and I invited them to
be baptized. One of the men said, "well that was pretty fast...but
sure, if I know it's true!" And then they basically invited themselves
to church. It was such a miracle!
Oh, and one of them asked me where I was from.
Before I could answer, another said "Del Salvador!" I explained that I
was from Utah, not El Salvador, but then he said it was a joke because
I'm a representative of the Savior! How cool is that?:) All of the
studying, preparing, applying, sacrament-taking, door-knocking,
praying...everything that we do as missionaries is to help others
recognize us as representatives of our Lord Jesus Christ so that we can
help them accept His Gospel. I can't even put into words how privileged I
feel to wear the name of Jesucristo next to the name of my family. I
love this Gospel. I love testifying of Jesus Christ! I love telling
others about Joseph Smith. I really understand the song "Praise to the
Man" now. I'm so grateful for all that he went through to bring to light
the knowledge of all that our Savior went through. I love my mission!
I hope you all have a great week! I love you all so much:)
Hermanita Crandall
*PS - Transfer calls are on Saturday! And transfers are next Tuesday, which also happens to be my birthday :P If you're going to send anything, send it today or tomorrow
or I might not get it! I have no idea whether or not I'll be
transferred. I've spent 8 months of my mission in the same zone, but
I've only been in this area for one transfer and Hermana Penaloza goes
home next month. We'll see:)
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