I want to begin by responding to a question that Hapa sent me--what are my responsibilities as an Hermana Training Leader and what kind of problems we run in to.
Every transfer we do a regular 24 hour exchange with each set of Sisters. There are three other sets of Sisters here-- Sisters in Broadway, YSA Sisters in Harrisonburg (for James Madison University), and another set of Hermanas in our Branch. (The Sisters area in Waynesboro was closed because the mission is seeing a decrease in Sisters...over the next transfer or two, many more areas for Sisters will be closed.) We also try to do a "power exchange," where we spend a few hours tracting in their area with them and discussing key indicators.
We have Mission Leadership Council (MLC) at the end of every month, normally on a Wednesday (and in Richmond). The following Friday we have Zone Meeting, where the Zone Leaders and the Sister Training Leaders each give a training.
We also have Zone Conference (which is two or more zones combined) every other transfer. (During the opposite transfer we have an interview with President Wilson.) President will pick from among the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders to give trainings. I was asked to speak at Zone Conference in Charlottesville tomorrow. It's also my last Zone Conference in the mission :(
We have Zone P-Day once a transfer, and we plan the activity with the Zone Leaders. We also have a Sisters' P-Day that we plan once a transfer. We had Zone P-Day last week and it was a lot of fun! We played on-the-altar, some minute-to-win-it games, and OOMPA. Oompa is the greatest sport ever invented. It's like ultimate frisbee played with a football and you have to get the football into the basketball hoop. As missionaries we're not allowed to play full court basketball, so I think someone created oompa to get around the rules a little. Last week my team went undefeated :) It's more fun when the Elders actually pass the ball to the Sisters. In my last zone, they didn't really let us play. This zone is a lot better!
Every Thursday and Sunday night (9:45 pm) we have a conference call with President Wilson and all of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders. On Thursdays, the Zone Leaders report mid-week numbers for the zone as well as who's on date to be baptized the upcoming weekend. Then President selects someone to pray for all of the names. On Sunday the end-of-week numbers/key indicators are reported and then President Wilson talks about anything going on in the upcoming week. We normally just put the phone on mute and chill in our room during the call :)
I'll be very brief about the difficulties I've seen in other missionaries throughout my mission: Finding excuses to sleep in, stay in the apartment, or be disobedient.
So I guess what I want Millie to understand is...WORK HARD. The time on the mission is not your own. Be exactly obedient. Get up every single morning no matter what you feel like! Your back will hurt and probably your feet and your neck and you'll get a lot of headaches. But get up anyway! LEAVE THE APARTMENT. That's always the hardest thing every day, but once you get out, the Spirit will help you. Make sure to do all of your studies every morning, but then get out the door and be effective. Don't plan just to fill time. When you're in a lesson, make sure you're there for a selfless reason, and not a selfish reason. It would be really easy to spend all day visiting members and less-actives, but that won't help you fulfill your purpose. If your investigator isn't progressing or doesn't want to be baptized, drop them. It seems hard at first because visiting them will add another lesson to your key indicators, or it will fill the time. However, there are other people out there who are already prepared! I remember a mission prep teacher saying to my class that trying to justify ourselves will lead us to hell. Millie, don't sleep through your mission. Missions are physically, emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually demanding. But if you do your very best, God will bless you immensely. I can't describe how blessed I feel to have been given the opportunity to serve a mission. My life is so different than what it would have been. Just serve hard and really ENJOY your mission:) I'm so exhausted that I could take a 5 hour nap and I am just loving life:) I really understand what Elder Moreno was saying in that one episode of the District 2. I am worn out beyond belief and I am the happiest I have ever been:) You are going to be an excellent missionary.
Well I don't have a ton of time left, but we had a pretty nice week of dropping and finding. We had transfers on Tuesday and two new Sisters came in! Both of them, as well as their companions, are going home at the end of this transfer. So that means 4 Sisters will be out in 5 weeks! Both of our Hermanas stayed. Elder Steiner (District Leader) is training again (Elder VanMaren) which is fun because there's always something great about new missionaries:)
Elder Steiner took our car down to Richmond to trade it for a new one, so we got to use their car for a day....which is a Jeep!!! Hermana McRae and I had a ball driving that Jeep. It originally belonged to the Elders in Franklin, WV, and they do more driving on back roads. The Elders left their music behind too so we felt awesome driving to Tarzan in a Jeep. It made me miss my Blazer.
We get an hour every week to update our mormon.org profiles/ do family history. They have this new app where you can look at all of your pioneer ancestors. I tried it and it came up with 37 names! So I've been reading lots of their stories and really enjoying that:)
*We got a new Chevy Cruze...2016. It is SO NICE!!!!!!
Ana's doing okay except she doesn't want to live the Palabra de Sabiduria because she likes her coffee. We took hot chocolate by her house the next day and then she showed us all of her family pictures from back home in Honduras:) I really hope I get the opportunity to travel to Central America some day! She and her husband got married, had Fabian, and then Nino came to the States. They were separated for over 8 years! Then he was finally able to bring them over last spring and now they're together again. She showed us all the love letters they used to write because there wasn't a telephone line in her pueblo for many years. It was really sweet:)
Well I love you all lots. Things are going really great here! This week we have Zone Conference, a few exchanges, and then MLC and Zone Meeting the following week. Time just flies.
Con amor, Hermanita Crandall
*PS - Today my companion and I get to set up a new apartment for a new senior couple that should be arriving today or tomorrow! I guess that's another one of our responsibilities:) The mission office gave us some money to buy food and housing supplies. We're really excited to help our new "grandparents" feel at home! :)
*PPS - I love you Mom and I will try to be better about taking more pictures.
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