Here in Harrisonburg!

Querida Familia,

     My whole mission I have always wanted to serve in Harrisonburg and here I am! It has been a crazy week and also probably one of the slowest of my mission trying to adjust to all of the changes. But things are going really well:)

     On Monday night I had my last lesson with Juan the Cuban. I'm going to really miss him, but he said he'll be baptized before I go back to visit in May! And then on Tuesday morning the Hermana Escoto really wanted to feed me one last time, so we went over for breakfast. She asked if I had any requests, and I said french toast! Yum:) she made it with french bread and everything! She put out syrup, caramel, honey, peaches, strawberry jam, cream, cinnamon tea, and tons of other toppings. She went alllll out for one little breakfast and it made me feel so special:) She and her daughters also picked out a cute bracelet from me. I'm really going to miss that family!! And all of the other wonderful people in Henrico. There were four missionaries serving in one branch, and somehow they managed to feed all of us at least 5 times a week. It was quite the feat! 

     Transfer meeting was basically transfer party because of how many people were there. Hermana Quinones is Hermana Sprunt's new companion in Henrico! I never would have guessed that one!  There were about 14 Sisters/Hermanas that went home including my trainer, Sister Olsen. She is such a great missionary and I already miss her a lot!! The new AP didn't know he was going to be AP until President Wilson announced it, so that was exciting. And I found out that I'd be going to Harrisonburg! So I was really stoked about that:)

     Harrisonburg is WAYYYY different than anywhere else I've served. It's super country! It's about a 2.5 hour car ride from Richmond. And there are mountains here! (Which are actually just large hills.) We're situated in the Shenandoah Valley and we get to drive through the pass on the way. It's really beautiful here, and I can't wait until the Spring when everything turns green again! There's also a huge Mennonite population here. They're kind of like the Amish, but they go to the store and use electricity. Some drive cars, but a few still use a horse-and-buggy. 

     There's also James Madison University here, and we drive past it a few times a day. There are lots of frat houses, where 10 or so college students live together. We saw one last night that's named "Neverland," haha. Hopefully there won't be too many crazy parties because it's almost finals week. Harrisonburg reminds me a lot of Ephraim or Manti in the size of the town and the style of the homes.

     There are lots of Hispanics here, but no construction jobs!!! Most of them work at either the turkey or chicken plant. (One of the chicken plants is "Tyson." So you'll think of me the next time you eat Tyson Chicken!!) There's also a dog food factory! That you can smell :P This is great though, because most of the factories are closed on Sunday.

     My companion is Hermana McRae, and she's from Tooele! She goes home in May. I've already accidentally introduced myself as Hermana McRandall like 3 times. We live with the English YSA sisters too--Sister Edwards and Sister Lampinen. Sister Lampinen is from Finland and she's here on her T-Square outbound mission! Sister Edwards goes home the transfer before me. She and I are both planning on finishing our missions here:) I really enjoy living with other sisters so I'm glad I get to do it again! We go running outside in the morning so it's easier with four of us encouraging each other.

*Anyway...I'll tell you more about my week.

     I arrived Tuesday evening. We realized that President Wilson put together two Sisters that didn't have permission to drive in the mission in Broadway, which is a little town about 20 minutes away. We called an office Elder and he said we should do an exchange for the night and he'd work it out in the morning with President Wilson. So I carried my stuff inside and pulled together a quick over night bag and went to Broadway with Sister Burgess. We visited a less active that night and then didn't have time to do much else. The next morning, we found out that her companion, Sister Bailey, was given temporary permission to drive for this transfer. That was a huge relief because we didn't want to deal with an emergency transfer. So we finally switched back and I was able to go to my new area:) It was a pretty stressful first night in the zone, but I managed it and had a great time:)

     On Wednesday I got more settled in. Then on Thursday, we were on our way to Richmond for the day for a Spanish Meeting! In order to get to a 9:30 am meeting on time, Hermana McRae and I had to get up at 5:30 and be on the road by 6:30. Spanish Meeting was great, especially a training given about language study. I feel like my studies are pretty effective, but they're not going to get my language skills where I want them. Hermana McRae and I set a goal to do companionship study in Spanish and to do language study together! It will take more effort, but I know that will help us reach our goal--which is, we want to have such great Spanish that we could live comfortably and confidently in Ecuador next summer. (We picked Ecuador because we figure there will be less of an English influence, unlike Mexico.) 

     We've been doing lots of finding and we found a ton of new investigators! We also do a lot more less active work here than in Henrico. When I was in Henrico, only one or two less actives lived in my area. Here, we have 12 member families in our area, 3 of which are really active. At the beginning of 2014, church attendance was at about 12 or 15 people. Now it's up to 30 or 40! We decided that we're responsible for making sure that our 12 member families are coming to church. And if they aren't coming, we should know why. They should know who we are, and we should be in contact with them at least once a week.

     Right now we're doing "Canastas Navidenas" which are Christmas baskets. Every family in the branch will have at least 3 baskets to give to their friends. There will be some treats and the "Joy to the World" video. Then, the following week, the family will invite their friends to a meeting with the missionaries. We're hoping that the baskets will help prepare them to receive us! So we've been able to visit with a lot of the families this week to explain the activity and to help them set goals.

     Saturday and Sunday we had Stake Conference. I really enjoyed the Saturday night session, where they discussed family history. One of the promises I received in my setting apart blessing is that my family would feel the Spirit of Elijah while I served my mission! I can see how that's truly come to pass! Except Dad and Lindsay haven't shared any family history stories with me.........

     Anyway, I felt this really strong desire to interview my grandparents when I get home. (You can now upload recordings and videos to familysearch!) I think it would also be great to have a video of Grandma Kelsey dancing with Jean's Golden Girls!:)

     My favorite part was when the Stake President spoke at the end. His son just returned from a mission in Brazil and they had their Stake Conference right before he finished his mission. So the President asked his son about what they did and if he had any advice. The son said that everyone calls the Stake President in Brazil "the man" because at the end of his talk, he made a promise that he would have a missionary experience with the missionaries every week until the next Stake Conference. Then the President said, "you're probably all wondering if I'm going to do it now!" He paused for a moment, and the Spirit was SO STRONG! It was dead quiet in the chapel. He then made a promise that he would have a missionary experience with the missionaries every week until the next Stake Conference. My heart was touched because I've come to truly love missionary work! There are lots of great ways to do missionary work, but nothing is more powerful than members finding people for the missionaries to teach.

     So yup. I had a great week, and I'm in a great area! I only have three transfers left, so I'm pretty sure I'll be finishing up here. I'm really excited to be serving as Hermana Training Leader! We're starting exchanges this week so I'm sure I'll have lots to tell:)

I love you all a ton!

Hermanita Crandall

*P.S. New address in case you didn't get my other email

1378 Central Ave. Apt. D

Harrisonburg, VA 22801

#hastaluegoHenrico #HeistheGift #EleslaDadiva

Querida Familia,

     Como estan todos??:) Espero que tuvieran feliz dia de accion de gracias!

     I would like to invite everyone to watch the new video from the church called "He is the Gift!" You can find it on youtube or atChristmas.Mormon.org. This video is going to be the only advertisement on the front page of youtube on December 7th! The Church is predicting that more than 220 million people will watch it that day!! It will also be on a jumbotron in Times Square for the entire month of December! This includes New Year's Eve, so millions of people will see it there too! It's really beautiful and I've seen already how powerfully it can bring the Spirit!

     We found a few new investigators this week. One of them was Veronica, who is a single mom with three kids. She seemed pretty stressed for our second appointment and I was surprised she even let us in. We invited her kids to come into the room, sang "Noche de Paz" (Silent Night), and watched the video. Her daughter seemed really touched by it. We talked a little bit more and then kneeled and prayed with them as a family. It was great to see how this video brought peace to their home.

     Last night was decided to contact a potential, Soyla. (I don't know how to spell it...) When we went by, she wasn't home, but another family that lives there was home and they let us in. There names are Sabino and Loyda. They said they didn't have a lot of time, but agreed to watching the video. After the video, they opened up a lot and wanted us to come back! It softened their hearts. They talked a lot about how the Christmas culture here is way different from what they grew up with in Mexico. They seemed open to baptism too!

*Our other investigators are doing well.

     Juan still works a lot, but said he just worked his last weekend in Lynchburg. He's trying to find work closer to home so that he can be here for the weekends. He's been really diligent with quitting coffee. He's gone from 5 cups a day to 2! He said he wants to come with us to church and it makes him feel bad to have to miss it every week. I can see how is faith is growing and he's working hard to repent. It makes me so happy :)

     Elena. Every week she says she'll come to church and she never comes! And every week we push her baptismal date back another week. But she loves the Book of Mormon, she knows it's true, and she's working on quitting coffee as well. There are always a billion distractions at her house with kids, a few other families that live there, people cooking in the kitchen, people watching TV, etc. We're hoping to get her to a church tour so that she can feel the Spirit and feel more confident coming to church.

*Okay so now I'll talk about Thanksgiving:)

     We had breakfast with the Lowden family which was so much fun!! I think I talked about them a bit last week or two weeks ago. Hermana Lowden made us yummy pancakes and sausage and desserts. She even gave us some extra desserts to share with Juan. Afterwards we watched the "He is the Gift" video and talked about Christmas and Thanksgiving traditions. They have two really cute puppies too, so that was fun:) I love being with the members because it makes me feel right at home!

     Later Hermana Sprunt and I returned home, did our studies, and did weekly planning. We also made some cookies to pass out to our investigators that night!

     We had Thanksgiving dinner with the Diaz family. Now this was probably the craziest experience of my entire mission!!! So back when I was dating Alonso, I remember him telling me that he had a cousin named Shelton that was his age. (Or at least, their families were really close so he considered him a cousin.) Alonso's on his mission right now, and I wrote him a little over a year ago when I received my call to let him know where I was serving. He wrote back and mentioned that he had family that lived in Virginia. When I met the Diaz family, I knew that Hermano y Hermana Diaz were his aunt and uncle because they have a son named Shelton on a mission and they're Peruvian. I didn't really think that much of it because they knew I was from Lehi and had never asked if I knew the Lopez family. Hermana Diaz is also in charge of our dinner calendar so she invited us over for Thanksgiving. 

     Anyway, we show up and we walk into the kitchen and I was speechless! Alonso's oldest brother Alfredo was there! We both freaked out a bit and my companion was super confused, haha. And he called me "Sarah" the entire night. He joined the Marines and is in boot camp in North Carolina. He decided to come up to Richmond to be with some family for Thanksgiving. It was super crazy and definitely the last thing that I thought would happen! 

     But we had a nice dinner and the food was very yummy! We watched the "He is the Gift" video as well and had a great time:) It also lasted for a reallllly long time so finally we got out and were able to deliver some treats to some investigators.

     So yep, that was my Thanksgiving:) I think I enjoyed this year more than last year. Last year, we were with a group of like 5 families and we only knew the host family so we were kind of in-and-out. This year we got to spend some quality time with the family and actually talk about the Gospel. I'm really grateful for all of the wonderful families here:) I love my mission!

     Speaking of loving all of the people here.....I'm out! I'm being transferred tomorrow and I've been given the opportunity to be an Hermana Training Leader!!! I really wanted it 6 weeks ago, but I know that I'm so much more ready now. I feel very humbled by this calling and I'm really excited to move on to the next part of my mission! Though I really did love training and I'm going to miss it. I don't know where I'm going yet, but it will likely be Harrisonburg or Chesterfield, which is where the HTL areas are. (Unless President Wilson opens up a new area.)

Love you all so much!:)

con amor,  Hermanita Crandall

Notita de Henriquito

Querida Familia,

     Hi everyone I love you so much! I hope you all have a happy thanksgiving!:) I'm really grateful for all of the support that you give me--your letters, prayers, emails, love. I'm so grateful for my mission, everything that I'm learning, and for the restored Gospel! We've been offered thanksgiving dinner about a billion times, but we're eating with the Diaz family from Peru. (They have some Peruvian family in Lehi that you might be familiar with.)

     We had a great week of getting members out with us! It's quite the feat in this branch because there are four sets of missionaries and it's a branch--so there are fewer members. We had at least one member with us every day except Sunday. It was really great and I really love our members!

     Hermana Pina is one of my favorites. Her last name means pinneapple, so we got her a pinneapple for her birthday yesterday! We got to help her do some service last week in a member's home from a different ward. The member is super rich and has a really huge house. And they are a hoarder, so it was really interesting just digging and digging through stuff.

     Another sweet member is Hermana Reyes. She's from Guatemala and has been taking English classes forever! But she's a little up there in years so it's difficult for her to learn the language. She came out with us to a lesson, and then afterwards we ate lunch in her home and helped her do her English homework. 

     Hermana Juanita is also really great. She feeds us dinner every Tuesday and then comes out with us at least once a week. She came with us to meet Juan! Juan is doing really well and he likes telling stories from when he was a fisherman. He said he fell into the sea once during a storm and thought he was going to die! And he's seen a few deaths, some of which he described in detail :P And then I had to describe in detail to my companion afterwards. 

     Elena is still doing really well! She missed church for a dumb reason so that makes us a little nervous. But we taught her the word of wisdom and she's willing to live it! (Juan too! But he's a little stuck on coffee like all Hispanics.) 

     We had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders! Sister Wilson came and stayed with me while Hermana Sprunt went with Sister Walked to Glen Allen. It was hard having to teach without a companion, and it made me realize how grateful I am for Hermana Sprunt and her progress! She understands and speaks very well! She's just finishing up her second transfer, but she speaks more as if she's in her third or fourth. I'm really proud of her :)

     We had a zone workshop this week with President Wilson. We broke off into little groups and took turns practicing while being filmed. Then we watched ourselves and critiqued the videos. It was really weird to watch myself teach! I think I have better posture than I did before my mission, but I need to smile more! However, everyone commented that Hermana Sprunt and I teach in unity well. 

     We had a little scare with our CO detector. It went off and the reading said "280" and the instructions say that "400" is dangerous. We're still not sure what it all means, so we've spent the past two days with our windows open just in case. It's been pretty chilly at night! Hopefully we can get that worked out with the office today. 

     Sorry I didn't have a ton of time to write.  But I love you all so much! Have a great week:)

Love,  Hermanita Crandall

Hope and Happiness in Henrico!

Querida Familia,

     So we ended up not going to the science museum last Monday because President Wilson said we need a member ride :/ But we stopped by Lifeway Christian Store and got some new music! Which was a relief because I'm so sick of listening to the same music over and over again. And our car doesn't have a USB device so we can't listen to the music you sent us in the car. So that was fun:) Today we have Sisters' P-day and we're going to the Short Pump Mall to eat and shop. Yay:)

     This was a sssllllooooooooooooooooowwwww week. As was last week. We dropped a ton of investigators that weren't progressing and didn't want to be baptized. We spent about 3 or 4 hours each day just tracting. We've pretty much tracted out all of the Hispanic complexes in our area. It was very exhausting, but Heavenly Father blessed us for our diligence because we were able to put someone on date!

     Her name is Elena! We were thinking about dropping her because she didn't seem genuinely interested. We stopped by for our appointment and she said she was busy. She asked us to come back the next day, because she had been reading from the Book of Mormon and she believes it's true! She said it while smiling! She was so happy!!! Hermana Sprunt and I walked away from the door dumbfounded. Heavenly Father definitely knows His children better than we do:) The next day we went by for our appointment and put her on date! It was a huge miracle in the middle of some pretty difficult days. 

     To help with the finding efforts in the Branch, we did a tracting "blitz" in each area this week. On Tuesday we knocked in Henrico A, Wednesday in Henrico B, Thursday in our area, and Friday in Henrico D. Each companionship selected a complex or a few streets and we took turns knocking in each others' areas. We got a lot of referrals so we have some more work to do for this week!

     Because we're now four companionships in the Branch, we have an all Spanish District! We had District Meeting on Wednesday completely in Spanish! I love speaking Spanish! At the end we talked about language study and how to improve. I bore my testimony about how it's such a blessing to be a Spanish missionary! I tried really hard before my mission to qualify for this blessing, and I feel very privileged to have been given this assignment when I didn't originally receive it. Because of that, language study hour is very precious to me. I hope I can continue to use the language after my mission to bless the lives of others!

     We're still teaching Juan, the Cuban, but he took a 3-week construction job in Lynchburg. He'll be staying there for a while. But he took his Libro de Mormon with him and he's going to keep reading! We talked about baptism with him and he said he's planning on it happening eventually, but when he feels right about it. When he said that I was filled with so much peace and hope:) He wants to be baptized and he told our member present all about how he loves us, loves our visits, and loves the Book of Mormon!

     We also have a really great new investigator named Araceli. We've been trying to teach her for a few weeks, but her dad in Mexico passed away and so she was really busy for a while. We went by on Sunday (yesterday) to teach her for the first time and she loved the Plan of Salvation! We gave her a Libro de Mormon a few weeks ago and she's already read some of it and really likes it. She's planning on going back to Mexico in the Spring to be with her kids again. A lot of the Hispanics come to the States to work for a while so they can send money or things home, like shoes or toys that they can't afford over there. Apparently there's been a lot of violence in Mexico recently, with a school shooting or something. Araceli said it happened within an hour of where her kids live. Anyway, she said there's a Mormon chapel really close to where she lives. She said she and her husband want to join the church and stick with it. We almost put her on date, but her husband was upstairs sleeping and she wants to talk about it with him first!

     Our Saturday night dinner with the Lowden family was the best because I found out that Hermano Lowden served in Dad's homeward when Dad was a teenager! He loves Grandma and Grandpa and still remembered their address! He said he served in Santa Maria for about 6 months and that he spent a lot of time with the Crandalls! He said that one time he and his companion took Dad and David tracting, and they were planning on tracting for a couple of hours, but the boys left after one hour exactly. He also said Grandpa Crandall helped him out once with some dentist thing. So I believe he gave both Dad and Grandma a call. The world is a really small place if you're a Mormon!

     This morning I was pondering a statement that's included in both my mission call and Preach my Gospel. It says that more happiness than I've ever experienced awaits me as I serve my mission. Up to this point, I feel like I've had a really happy mission. It's been difficult, especially weeks like this one, but I'm very happy. It's not the so-happy-I'm-going-to-die kind of happy, but I feel so much more peace with who I am. I don't know how else to explain it but that my quality of life has more than tripled because I chose to serve a mission. I know how to face challenges, I know who I am, my testimony is much stronger, I have meaningful goals for my life, and I feel like I'm making a difference. 

     I used to think that this statement meant that I'd be super happy on my mission and then go back to being less happy after I finished. Now I understand that the happiness I've found on my mission will carry on with me after my mission because I've become a happy person. It's impossible to describe, but I've learned HOW to be happy! Hermana Sprunt said her MTC teacher said, "Life before my mission was horrible. Mission life was awesome! Post-mission life IS awesome!" So I guess what I'm trying to say is... I love my mission. Like Mommy wrote in her email, my mission is glorious! Now that I'm here, I can't imagine having not served. I'm excited about all the cool post-mission experiences I'll have, but right now I'm content to just keep knocking:)

Con todo mi corazon, Hermanita Crandall

Hey Hey Hey Henrico

Querida Familia,

*Lots of things happened this week. A few were pretty disappointing... 

     So we changed up the areas a bit and now we have a few more apartment complexes! Which is great, because before we were spending all day every day in the same complex. The Elders passed a potential over to us named Gladys. She is so golden! She told us in the first visit that she wants to get baptized! She already believes the church is true, and she said she loves members. She first met missionaries a few years ago on a night she was planning to commit suicide. The only problem is that she's living with her boyfriend who is married to a woman in El Salvador. They've been separated for 6 years, and he has a lawyer in El Salvador working on the divorce, but they can't find his wife. They originally separated because she ran off with another man. And Gladys doesn't want to separate from her boyfriend because they just had a baby girl a few months ago. This isn't the first time I've come across this problem. It's so frustrating because she wants to get baptized but can't unless she's willing to separate from the father of her children. And they're also super poor. So we'll keep working with that and pray for a miracle! There's really nothing that we can do except trust that God will make it happen if the timing is right.

     We also lost Osmin. I think I wrote about him before. He's the one that doesn't talk all that much and came to the states alone at 15. We weren't able to find him for a week, so we decided to take a week break. When we went back to his apartment, his roommate said that he went missing. They haven't seen Osmin since the last time we saw him, which was about 2.5 weeks ago. He left all of his stuff in the apartment and never came home one night. He has a drinking problem, so he's either in the hospital or in prison. I heard that they're not really deporting anyone right now, so he's probably still in the states. But he also told us that he wanted to return to his home country. Oh, and Osmin told us he was from Guatemala and his roommate said he's from Ecuador. We called a few hospitals and we have a member who works for the state and is going to look him up in the prison database. We have no idea what happened to him :(

     And we also dropped Elvira and her 5 kids. We really loved visiting with them, and they loved our visits, but they weren't progressing. Elvira told us flat out that she would not be baptized because she was born into her religion and didn't want to change. We've asked her over and over again to pray and read, but she won't. She was pretty sad when we dropped her because her kids were learning a lot. We told her to pray about it and call us if she changed her mind. It's really sad how people worry so much about what their earthly parents think instead of what our Heavenly Father thinks. Family traditions are super important, but not when they conflict with the truth.

     Saturday was Social Media Day in the mission! We had a YW who was going to come out with us in the morning and then a YSA who was going to come out with us in the evening/afternoon. They were supposed to take pictures of us all day and put them on twitter, instagram, and facebook. The YW called us at 10 PM the night before (we were already in bed) to cancel. She decided to go with the other Hermanas in our branch... I guess the other Hermanas didn't know that the YW was coming with us, so they called her and she decided to go with them instead. So that kind of hurt. Then the YSA didn't answer our calls or texts in the afternoon so she didn't go with us either. Buuut, we did do a service project in the morning which you can read about a little further below:)

*Some things that happened were kind of creepy...

     A creepy guy fell in love with me, which is the second time that's happened to me in Henrico. The first (a few weeks ago) was Diego. We street contacted him and he called a week later to let me know that he thinks it's really cool that I learned Spanish. Then he said he was at home and invited me over to visit him. He was using "tu" form which is singular and very personal, only to be used with family, close friends, or children. So I invited him to church. 

     The second guy, named David, was getting pretty creepy this week. He texted Hermana Sprunt and me and asked what God's name was. We called him back and talked a bit about God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He asked if Jehovah was the Father's name. I explained that Jehovah was Jesus Christ because He is the Creator. I told David that God's name is Heavenly Father, and that's how we should refer to Him. Later that night he texted us and said, "how would you respond to the person that likes the missionary?" In Spanish there are a lot of different ways to say the same thing, and basically the way he said it was very inappropriate. Needless to say we passed his info over to the Elders. I am so creeped out :P

*And some really great things happened!...

     So on Social Media Day we were pretty bummed to not have a member with us. But we did have a RS activity in the morning and the member (Hermana Ainsa) asked us to come by earlier to help set up. She's American and was going to teach how to make American desserts for Thanksgiving! She made us breakfast too:) And we got to help prepare some of the food. Only one of the RS Sisters showed up, so we decided to stay for the activity too and I learned how to make yummy homemade pie and cranberry relish! And she took a picture of us and posted it to facebook:) 

     And Hermana Ainsa gave us free tickets to the Science Museum in downtown Richmond so that's where we're going for P-day today! I am turning into you, Mommy! I love museums! Now I just need to get myself to some of the cemeteries downtown! And the holocaust museum.

     This week we tracted into a high school senior named Brian who said to come back later that night. When we came back, we taught him and his mom Teo. Brian knows one of the YM from the branch and he and his mom both really liked the message! They used to be catholic, but Teo stopped attending when her mom joined another church. They're both really open to learning and are going to pray about baptism.

     On Wednesday we had Zone Conference with 5 zones! I'm in Richmond West and we were with Ricmond East, Midlothian East and West, and Chesterfield. President Wilson gave a really great talk about how the restoration of the priesthood aligns with the four-fold mission of the church. And how the church departments are organized accordingly. It's so cool to be a part of the true restored Church of Jesus Christ!:) 

     Sunday was the Primary Program combined with the English ward, Gayton. It was really cute because a few of the kids shared their testimonies in English and then repeated them in Spanish. They also sang the first verse of "I Love to see the Temple" in English and then the first verse of it in Spanish! ("Me Encanta ver el Templo.") It was really sweet and now I want to be a Primary song leader some day. (I really am becoming more and more like Mom on my mission.)

     All in all, I had a really great week and I can't believe it's Monday already! The weeks just FLY BY! I still can't believe it's November. I love you all sooooooo much and I miss you lots. Have a happy week:)

Con amor, Hermanita Crandall