Querida Familia,
This little Auntie is so happy!:) I can't wait to meet my first sobrina! On Thursday,
I had to email something to a mission leader. I didn't read any emails
because I'm obedient, but I did happen to see an email from Dad titled
"Claire Eve Heidbrink," which gave me a hint that she had finally
arrived;) So while shopping this morning, I couldn't help but buy her
another onesie at Walmart. Claire is already super spoiled and super
loved by me:) It was also a neat experience, because Wednesday night while praying I received a pretty distinct prompting that she had been born.
A lot of wonderful things happened this week! We've
struggled to put anyone on date, or have anyone progress. But now we
have Robert on date! His grandma is a convert of about three years, but
his parents have been against his baptism. We felt like it was time to
ask his parents for permission again, and this time they agreed! Robert
has been attending primary for a few years now and knows quite a bit. I
really love this boy a lot:) We taught the restauracion and left the
video with him. We stopped by on Sunday to follow up, and he said that he learned that if he has enough faith, he can see Jesus and God. My heart just melted!
Absalon and Natalia went to the temple for the first
time to perform baptisms for their deceased family members! Absalon had
two brothers who were murdered. I helped them prepare the names, and
then called the temple and made the reservation. They went on Saturday! I haven't had a chance to follow up, but Absalon promised to take some pictures.
We also were able to visit Porfiria again. (I blessed
her home.) She did her reading assignment! And she wants to start
reading the Book of Mormon! We were also able to meet with her husband
Felipe, and he seems great too. I have a lot of love for Porfiria. She
always feeds her baby during the lesson;) A lot of Hispanic women feed
their babies in front of us. But last night we had a member with us, so
she used a blanket. And I helped her hold the blanket and held the Libro
de Mormon for her so she could read along with us. I told her that I
want to be a Mom and she said that I'll be a great one:)
Sorry I keep jumping around so much. Anyway, the member
we brought with us was Dan, who just finished his mission a month ago.
He served in CA Spanish speaking. Two cool things. At the end of the
lesson, he said to Hermana Clark, "based on your Spanish and your CCM
tag, I'm guessing you've been out about 6 months?" Tomorrow
is her 6 month mark. I then asked him how long he thinks I've been out.
He guessed 14 months! Sweet. I have 14 month Spanish when I've only
been doing it for 4.5;) Definitely studying it before my mission made a
huge difference. I can formulate sentences really well, and I know lots
of vocabulary. I love Spanish:)
The other cool thing he was talking about is what it's
like to come home. He said some people worry too much about it, because
they won't be missionaries anymore. He said that he just decided he
would always be a missionary, so coming home was like being transferred
to a new area. He can go out with his home ward missionaries, the
Spanish missionaries, and the YSA missionaries. His mission had
facebook, so he still keeps in touch with investigators from around the
world. And he can still do online member present lessons with
missionaries in his mission in California. I've decided that I want to
be a missionary FOREVER. There's nothing I love more than seeing people
change, and helping people come closer to Christ:) When Elder Bednar
came, he taught that there's a huge difference between doing missionary
things and being a missionary. I love being a missionary!
Also no we don't have iPads yet. We're supposed to get
them some time before the end of the year, but I'm pretty sure we're the
last mission in the United States to get them. I really want to have an
iPad, because it's probably helpful with planning, organizing, showing
videos, etc. But I don't think I want facebook yet;)
Okay. So yes, we heard about what happened in Oakton, Virginia. That's in the DC South Mission. This is what I think about it:
We did have one person mention it, kind of. We knocked into a white woman and chatted with her on her porch for a while. It was about 95 outside and there was sweat dripping down our faces, but she didn't invite us in, haha;) She asked if we were from Utah, and so we asked what she knew about the church. She said that her church has "tapes" about our church. We asked what the tapes taught about us, and she started going on about how we're polygamists and we do weird ceremonies in the temple and how we get excommunicated if we speak out or get divorced. So that's the only thing anyone's said about it. It made me pretty sad. I've heard people say that other churches preach bad things about us, but I never actually believed it to be true. (I like to seek the best in others.) But now a member of the other congregation herself told us that. I can't believe how blind some people are. The church has been persecuted since the very beginning, with the Old Testament Profetas.
On Wednesday night we stopped by a member's home to help her box up some things for her move. She surprised us with dinner at 7:30...yay.
I was going to tell her that we had already eaten, but she then went on
to say that she had made it specially for us and she had been waiting.
She piled SO MUCH ARROZ and some tilapia on our plates. I'm pretty sure
she gave me the biggest piece of fish. I was trying to eat it as fast as
I could, before I started feeling full. I looked up, and my companions
were already done. The member had left the room for a minute. I
whispered to Hermana Clark, "I can't do this!" And then Hermana Clark
put her plate out and whispered back, "don't worry! You can put some on
my plate!" At that moment I knew for sure that my companion loved me!:)
But I finished my plate on my own and felt like a champ.
Last night, we had dinner at a Peruvian home. The
Hermana made tallarines verdes, which is one of my favorite plates. But
this member is known for giving missionaries too much food. Even her
husband was making jokes about how much food she gave us. He said (in
Spanish), "It's a good thing you have a big stomach Hermana Clark! Just
like Hermana Crandall." Halfway through dinner, he asked Hermana Clark
if she was suffering in trying to finish the food. It was as if we all
knew it was way too much food, but none of us dare leave anything on the
plate for fear of offending the Hermana. I was in serious pain after
dinner.
After dinner, we did some knocking. We chatted a bit
with a former/potential to set up an appointment. We left and were half
way down the street when her husband came out and called to us. He was
inviting us to have dinner with them. We all looked at each other, and
knew what we needed to do. If you want to communicate love to a
Hispanic, you have to eat their food. We walked back, absolutely
terrified, to their home. We got inside and sat down at the dinner
table. He asked how much time we had, and we said only 10 minutes before
our next lesson. Then, God showed us a tender mercy! He wrapped up the
food and told us to take it home instead! Crisis averted :)
Sorry I'm almost out of time, but I realized I haven't
written about obedience yet, which is the Christlike attribute I studied
in June! (July is charity--I'm starting over again!)
-"The pain of discipline weights ounces, but the pain of regret
weighs tons." - A professor at BYU has this quote outside his office and
I just love it! It's difficult to be exactly obedient, but it
definitely pays off. I will NOT regret the way I served my mission.
-Alma 57 - Helaman's army. "Obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactiness."
-Obedience = blessings. Exact obedience = miracles!
-Obedience is the first law of Heaven. Cleave to my covenants!
-Ire y hare - I will go, I will do!
-D&C 130 - Certain blessings are predicated on obedience to certain laws.
-Mosiah 2:41 - obedience = happy!
-John 13:17 - "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them"
-Do it and do it willingly!
-I will not illegaly share music!
And
that last one has a story...a lot of missionaries have been sharing
music. I didn't really feel comfortable with it. One day this past month
I had a prompting that I needed to make a decision about it. I decided
that morning that I wouldn't allow anyone to copy my music. Later that
afternoon, a missionary asked to borrow a CD so they could make a copy
of it. I told them no. It was easier because I had already made the
decision! I felt weird about it for a while, or awkward at least, but
I'm so grateful that I received the prompting earlier!:)
I love you all so much! I hope you have a happy week:)
Love,
Hermanita Crandall
Auntie of Claire
*PS I taught a woman who we think is schizophrenic so don't let me forget to tell you about it next week!
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