Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Amor from Mana Crandall

Querida Familia,

     Well today is an exciting day because Dad just emailed me and said that the other Sister Crandall is on a plane to Japan:) I hope her layover is in Richmond--just so we can say we've been in the same state for an hour--but, I'm guessing she'll be crossing the world going the other direction. I love my little sister and know that the Japanese people are so blessed to have her! :')

*We had a great week full of exchanges and lots of knocking!

     We did an exchange with one of the sets of Hermanas and I got to go with Hermana Wilson to her area. We spent pretty much the whole day in the same trailer park. I've learned the importance of making every conversation worthwhile, whether at the door or on the street. We focused on using inspired questions to help people feel the Spirit. We only knocked about 10 doors the whole day, but had 3 lessons and found a few referrals for the English missionaries. Also Hermana Wilson is a really great missionary and I love her a whole lot now:) I love doing exchanges and getting to know the Sisters better.

     Sister Greer, the one from Wyoming, also came and worked with me in my area on Friday. Sometimes I get nervous doing exchanges in my area because I'm worried that every thing will fall through...but we had some really great lessons and even got surprise fed at two homes! Sister Greer goes home with me and it was really nice to chat with her about it. I just have a lot of feelings;) She's moving to Provo this summer and will most likely be at BYU next fall, so I'm excited about that! She said we're going to do Insanity this summer so we'll see how that goes.

     Anyway, I'm really excited to see you all again, but it just feels so weird that this thing one day comes to an end. I'll be tracting one night and the next day I'll be on a plane going home. I got to spend two weeks in the MTC and then 12 weeks with a trainer, but there's nothing to prepare me for this next step! I'm still working really hard and am exactly obedient, but it is harder to concentrate. Especially after P-days, when I feel like I'm bombarded with reminders that my time is coming to an end. I have to worry about classes and an apartment and a job and my homecoming and suddenly people want to write me again because they want to remind me that I have to spend time with them when I get home and I can't just hide in my room and read the scriptures all day. P-days are kind of the worst. Then I remember I only have like 3 left... :( It's pretty overwhelming. So that's kind of how I feel. Oh, and I'm super excited to go to the temple :) I'm going on April 2nd.

*Sorry, back to my week.

     Hermana McRae and I met this lady named Maria like a month or two ago who wasn't interested. She said she didn't understand a lot of Spanish because her first language is a dialect language of Mexico. We never went back, but we saw her outside on Saturday and so we decided to talk to her again. She didn't remember us, but when we showed her the picture of Jesus that we have on our pass-along cards, she recognized it. She let us in, which was weird because the first time she wasn't interested at all. We tried to teach her but realized that she didn't understand most of what we were saying. I asked her how she knew that God loved her, and she said, "Porque Jesucristo mataste." Which means (not even with correct grammar), "Because Jesus Christ you killed." Which she said looking directly at me! She also kept calling her son "she," and seemed confused by everything we said. It was really hard to communicate with her when Spanish is both of our second language. But she was super nice and wants us to go back! I'm not sure how far we'll get, but maybe we can do some service for her.

     While Hermana McRae was on exchanges with Hermana Thompson, they found a new trailer park!!!!!!! We asked a random lady for referrals, and she said that she knew a lot of Hispanics lived on Ferguson. It wasn't on our map, but we asked the Elders. They said someone had drawn it in on their map and that it was in our area! So the Hermanas went there and found it and I got to go on Saturday. It was seriously a huge miracle!!! We drove through the middle of no where for a couple miles. Then suddenly we come around this bend and....hallelujah we were in a trailer park! There are about 5 rows of 15 trailers each! Almost all Hispanic! We have no former records for this area, and no evidence of missionary work being done there for the past year. 

     This is the kind of trailer park that you would find in Chester, UT. You know--that little town we hold our breath in when we drive to Manti through the Nephi canyon. There were mangy, old dogs (probably wild) that have never had baths running through the park. There were some goats, a make shift soccer field, and lots of Christmas lights. I was in heaven. We knocked a bit and found some cool people and I am just so content to have been able to find this cute little park :)

     Yesterday, Sunday, was wonderful because Ana and Fabian came to church as well as the part member family we've been working with! Alejandro is the unbaptized kid, and he seemed to like it. The dad, who's also a non-member, loved sacrament meeting! And he asked for a Book of Mormon in Spanish! The mom, who's been less-active for years, was crying a lot and really enjoyed it. They said that they already have plans to come for the next two weeks to make sure that Alejandro can get baptized before I go home. I'm just so happy and that was a HUGE answer to my prayers! I'm hoping that the dad will also want to be baptized:)

Anyway...love you all a lot! And I miss you. Especially you, Millie. I hope everyone has a great week!:)

Con amor, Hermanita Crandall

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