Monday, August 18, 2014

Spanish Fun in Stafford!

Querida Familia,

Hi everyone,

     Funny story, our APs are Elders Unga and Collie! I'm pretty sure Elder Collie is the brother of Austin Collie...not sure about Elder Unga and Harvey. Anyway, we had a half-day Zone Conference on Wednesday and the APs gave a training on how we need to have the faith to set people on date three weeks in advanced. In order to get baptized, they have to attend church three times. It's a tendency to want to set them 5 or 6 weeks in advance so that they have some wiggle room. They encouraged us to increase our faith to find those who are truly searching for the truth by inviting people to be baptized in 3 weeks.

     After Zone Conference, we had a little comp study and decided that we were going to put Enrique on date for September 6th! Last minute, our member present canceled. When we went for the lesson, he wasn't there. We decided to go to the trailer park (which we lovingly refer to as "Hispanic Heaven") and do some knocking. The very first door we knocked, a woman named Pamela answered and let us in. We did some "how to begin teaching" and helped her understand our purpose as missionaries. She talked about her beliefs and how she wants to better understand the Bible. We talked about baptism and how it's the beginning of our camino. We then invited her to be baptized on September 6th and she accepted!!! Her next door neighbor is a member, and she said that he's invited her to meet with missionaries before and she's always been kind of interested. It was definitely a miracle!:)

     Also, Enrique went on to drop us this week. It was really sad because he came to church, loved it, loved the Book of Mormon, but was talked out of it by his parents. It's interesting how we as missionaries spend so much trying to prepare someone, and then God will place someone in our paths who is already prepared.

     Our weekly planning date was switched to Thursday which is much superior to Friday. Hermana Quinones and I have begun doing our weekly planning at the church building to help us stay more focused and to bring the Spirit. This past week, the weather was super nice so we brought a table outside. While we were there, a car pulled up with a man and two kids. He walked over to us and asked if we had seen two young men who were supposed to give him a tour of the church building. We chatted with him a bit until the Elders showed up. This man was golden! He talked about how excited he was to come to church on Sunday, and he had only met the Elders the night before! Miracles are happening in this zone:)

     On Tuesday, President Wilson called the Sisters that we live with (Accokeek) and asked if he could do companionship study with them on Friday. I had a strong feeling that when he showed up, he was going to ask to have an interview with me. Then he called me on Thursday and said that he would like to have an interview with me after he studied with the other Sisters. I was really nervous for the interview, just like I was for the one before. But, it ended up being a really great and spiritual experience. He asked about how training was going and about the miracles we've been seeing. And then I'm not sure how it came up, but he asked me pretty directly if I had good self-esteem. I haven't thought about that in a while because I've been trying really hard not to think about myself. When he asked me that, I started crying :P

     He then described a video that he had recently seen, and maybe you've seen it too? I'm not sure if it's a commercial, youtube video, or something by the church. He said it shows adults/teens and the moderator tells them to "run like a girl." Then they do something spastic or weird that mocks girls. The moderator goes on to tell them to "hit like a girl" and "throw like a girl." Then they do the same thing with 5 and 6 year old girls. They run and hit and throw as hard as they can. President Wilson then said, "I'm not sure what it is, but something happens to girls between the ages of 6 and 16 that tells them they're not good enough." I just started crying harder because I thought about how confident and happy I was when I was little Rahrah. And I feel confident and happy today, but there were some pretty rough years between then and now. The self esteem question is a hard one. I love my mission, my family, the Gospel, but I don't know if I love myself. I've definitely changed a whole lot on my mission, and I hope by the end that I'll have great self esteem.

     Anyway, sorry to get all emotional again. It was a really great interview and I feel like I have a much closer relationship with President Wilson now. He said that in the future, we'll be working together more. I'm really excited for the opportunity to be Hermana Training Leader, but right now I'm really loving being a trainer:) He asked if I had any questions, and I did mention the fact that I've been in Stafford for 8 transfers. He said to pray about it and let him know if I want to stay or leave next transfer. I have no idea what I want because I'm really stuck on this place, but I also want new experiences. We'll see:)

     On Friday, we also did exchanges. After Hermana Penaloza went home, there aren't any Hermana Training Leaders here anymore, so we exchanged with the English Sister Training Leaders, who are our roommates! Sister Nelson came with me to Stafford Spanish, and Hermana Quinones went to Accokeek with Sister Redd. It was a lot of fun because I got to do some translating during the lessons and Sister Nelson was able to learn more about Spanish work. We got offered food in every lesson;) We also saw a lot of miracles!

     We visited a family that lives on the very edge of the area. We asked for referrals, and they pointed to a street and said there was a Hispanic family at the second door on the right of the second building (really confusing directions). We drove over there, unsure if we were going to be able to find them. After we prayed and got out of the car, there was a man at the mailbox, and I thought he looked black. We decided to contact him and then ask where the Hispanic family lived. It ended up that he was the man we were looking for! He wasn't black, just darker than most Hispanics;) That was definitely a miracle.


     On Saturday night we had the long awaited Festival Latino! I will be sending a billion pictures. I apologize in advance that I purchased the cheapest camera at Walmart before my mission. Most of the pictures turned out horrible, but hopefully you can see how much fun it was:) The Mexicans wore fake mustaches, the Peruvians had the best food, the Bolivians had the neatest costumes, etc. I really love my Branch so much:) There were a couple other smaller tables for El Salvador, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Honduras, but most members are from Mexico, Peru, or Bolivia.


Okay that is all:)

con amor, Hermanita Crandall

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