Sister Greer is SO AWESOME!

Querida Familia,

     Well people, I don't have much to say today because I was trying to finish my "going-home-letter" to President Wilson, which I will send to all of you.

     This week was super great! Hermana McRae and I did go to the mall (on P-day) and I did find a cute "going-home-shirt" so that was nice:) 

     We did a blitz/finding exchange with the YSA Sisters and I got to go on campus with Sister Fuhriman. I was a little nervous while in the car...and then we got on campus and it was awesome! I love talking to people and I love being bold:)

     On Wednesday we went to Panera Bread with the same Sisters to celebrate mine and Sister Greer's 18 month mark! Wow. I can't believe I haven't seen Mom in 18 months. I miss you Mommy:) and Hapa too. Also, Dad will you please stop having health scares while Amelia and I are in the mission field??? You're old, but not THAT old;)

     There's a less active YW we visit with, who's less active because she has to work on Sundays:( but she's really sweet and she wants to get into BYU! We went and watched a episode of the District with her and she loved it! And now she's thinking about going on a mission! Mission accomplished:)

     We also went to visit her at work once (5 Guys), and her co-worker fell in love with me...And told her that he wants to meet with missionaries now. So we went by on Saturday night to get his contact information. Then after collecting it, we informed him that he lives in the Elders' area;) haha! But then we invited him to church and he's interested in coming, so that's neat. He has no idea that I'll be out of here before he can get baptized;)

     We did a full exchange with Hermanas Draper and Lindo. Hermana Lindo came and served with me in our area. She and I served together over the summer in the Stafford Branch, so it was great to be with her again! She's a convert of about two years and has such an awesome testimony! Sometimes it's discouraging because none of her investigators are as "golden" as she was when she was an investigator, but I promised her that one day it will happen, as long as she talks to everyone:)

     Saturday night was the Womens' Meeting and I cried a bit during the first song, "How Firm a Foundation." When I was in the choir for the YW General Broadcast 5 years ago, we sang that song too. It's cool (and a little overwhelming) to see how much I've changed in 5 years! I also miss my Mommy and sisters. I thought Mom and Darci had tickets? Did Millie get to watch it?

     Earlier that day, I was praying about my General Conference questions...which are...what next??? What does God have in store for me next? And then the whole broadcast was about families. So that's neat. 

     Anyway, I had a great week of working hard, talking to everyone, and preaching the Gospel. Hermana McRae and I have been referring to this upcoming week as "party week" the whole transfer. Tomorrow we have Spanish Meeting in Richmond. Wednesday is MLC. (So we're going to stay the night.) Thursday is the temple trip. (Maybe Dad will show up since he'll be in Baltimore??) Friday is Zone Meeting, and we'll probably have to do weekly planning that day, too. Saturday and Sunday are General Conference, and Alejandro (part-member family) is getting baptized on Sunday between sessions. Monday is Zone P-day and I'll be packing. Tuesday is Transfer Meeting. On Wednesday...they're shipping me back home. 

     It should be a real party. Especially the temple trip:) But I promise to do my best to fill the crevices with as much work as possible:) I love you all lots. 

Hermanita Crandall

*PS... 

-Shout out to Sister Olsen for signing up for my classes at BYU for me:)

-Shout out to Millie for being the cutest missionary Japan has ever seen.

-Shout out to Dad for being the best hapa/trooper/dad ever! (and to Mom for being his best friend.)

-Shout out to my companera Hermana McRae for helping me through all of the emotional challenges that come with finishing a mission.

-Shout out to Sister Greer for being SO AWESOME! I didn't know what to put as my subject line. She suggested it so... ;)

Heliumburg

Querida Familia,

     So much happened this week and I wrote a list so that I could remember it all and then I lost the list. I will do what I can:)

     First and foremost, I almost got attacked by a mangy dog in that one trailer park I wrote about last week. Hermana McRae and I were knocking doors and we got into a lesson. After we left the lesson, this little dog started barking at and bothering my companion. This dog has likely never had a bath and is potentially feral. I saw Hispanic lady standing outside a few trailers down and started to head that direction. I told Hermana McRae to kick at the dog and he would run away. She's a cat person so I think she might have been a little scared. So I stepped in the way and started kicking at the dog to get him to leave. I was also walking towards the lady and the dog kept following me. He wasn't scared of me! I kicked some dirt and rocks in his face and he kept jumping at my leg. I didn't think it was that big of a deal until Hermana McRae asked what I was doing. Then I realized that the dog was truly trying to bite me and he was probably going to draw blood because my legs were bare. It was at that moment that I got pretty scared. Then out of nowhere, the Hispanic lady I was trying to contact came running at the dog with a giant stick! The dog went running and crying down the street! Then she threw some little pebbles at him, haha:) The lady was sooo cute! She may have been shorter than Clarissa Miller. Her name is Maria and she's from Mexico, but she speaks practically no Spanish, just dialect. We thanked her and gave her a picture of Jesus:)

     Okay now I can write about all the other stuff that happened. I just had to make sure you all knew that I got attacked by a mangy, little perrito in a trailer park.

     On Monday we had Sisters' P-day which was fun and I will hopefully be sending pictures from Hermana McRae's camera! We had a birthday celebration to celebrate all of our birthdays!

     Tuesday was when the dog attacked me. And we also had interviews with President Wilson! We mostly talked about me finishing my mission and what I still hope to accomplish before going home. Afterwards we went with Him and Sister Wilson to eat dinner at the super expensive steak house again. It was a lot less awkward with Sister Wilson;) It was fun because their daughter is serving in San Diego and she has her P-days on Tuesdays. They received her email while we were eating and we got to hear about how she's doing.

     On Wednesday we had a crazy miracle! So we meet these two sisters, Marixa and Sonia, from Olancho (Honduras) and start to teach them. Sonia recently moved here two weeks ago from Alexandria and said that she was receiving the Hermanas over there! And that she never got to say goodbye to them before leaving! So I bet those Hermanas are mourning over her loss and they have no idea that we found her here! I guess we'll find out all of that stuff when our Savior comes again. Anyway, at the end of the lesson, we invited them to come to church. We told them where it was, and they said that their sister-in-law Ana was attending that church. That's Ana our investigator! We're hoping that if we can get her in-laws to progress that Ana will have a greater desire to get baptized! 

     It was also a miracle because Marixa lives in Massanetta Springs, a little Presbyterian community/town south of Harrisonburg. Hermana McRae and I went there once because from the map it looked like there was a trailer park there. (Long thin streets stacked on top of each other.) We drove around a bit and it seemed like a very affluent area so we never returned. It ends up that she lives on one of the streets that we had passed! We had felt prompted to go and check, and there was a Hispanic living there! We're hoping we can find more!

     Oh, back to Tuesday. We met with the Cedeno family and taught Alejandro about the Plan of Salvation. It was really great and he accepted the date April 5th! He's going to get baptized at 10 before Conference! (Conference starts at 12 and 4 here for EST.) He's technically a child-of-record baptism because his mom is a member and he's 8, but they haven't been active for years and their records are still in Puerto Rico. They came to church again on Sunday and stayed all 3 hours and really enjoyed it:) estoy muy contenta!

     Speaking of child-of-record baptisms, there's a recently returning family and their son Denis was baptized on Saturday. We went by Friday to make sure everything was ready and to see if they needed any help. They fed us this shrimp soup stuff with a fish tail in it. I don't really like seafood, but I can eat it if I need to. It was just a little icky having to pull of the eyes, the skin, the antennae and all. 

     Anyway, so this is a pretty dramatic story. (But not as scary as the dog story, so you can sit down Mom.) We asked if they needed help with decorations or set up, and they said that the RS President was in charge of all the decorations and set up and take down and that she had promised them that she'd take care of it. We asked them what they were expecting, and they said balloons on the walls, and helium balloons on the tables. (It was also the kid's birthday party.) And of course, lots of food.

     So afterwards we called the RS President to make sure she was in on all of this and when she wanted us to arrive. We planned to be there two hours before to fill the font and set up. We asked her about the balloons and she said that the RS couldn't afford them so she wasn't going to get them. Now, I know what you're thinking...not a big deal. But in the Hispanic world, this is a HUGE DEAL. If the Hermana has an expectation, especially for a party, and the expectation is not met, it is just NOT GOOD. This Hermana in particular hasn't always like Hermanas and we were doing everything we could to win back our reputation. We couldn't just call her back and tell her no balloons. She would have been so angry. 

     So I decided that I would just buy the balloons. The RS President said she had purchased balloons for an activity a few weeks ago and spent over $40 on 15 balloons. We were going to have 8 tables, so for 3/table would be 24 balloons, so I was looking at spending $60 or $70 for balloons. 

     This is going to sound super dumb...but we have this unofficial tradition among the Sisters in the VRM called the "going home outfit." The week or two before you go home, you get to go to the mall and buy yourself something nice as a reward for serving an awesome mission. All the Sisters in the Zone that went home last transfer did it. Hermana Penaloza did it, Sister Nelson, Sister Walker, etc. It's a thing. Anyway, Mom said she's put a little bit of money on my account and I was hoping to buy a new sweater or blouse to wear home. I wasn't going to go crazy, but I did want something new. Especially since I've been really good and haven't purchased new clothes since arriving in Harrisonburg. But I knew that buying these balloons would mean no "going home outfit."

     I was praying Friday night for more patience with these Hermanas. And I told Heavenly Father that I'm not trying to be vain, I just want a nice new shirt to wear home. And so I asked him to prepare a way for me to buy something new as well as buy the balloons.

     We went to Walmart Saturday morning and....they only cost $.50 per balloon!!! :D :D :D

     I don't know where the RS President spent $40+ on 15 balloons, but I got 27 for under $15! I felt so blessed for being willing to sacrifice, and then I didn't even have to sacrifice! I know it was something silly and simple, but I know that Heavenly Father is so desirous for us to be happy! Especially on our missions!

     We showed up two hours early and decorated and everything. We didn't exceed expectations, but we did meet them. Which was a much better alternative to disappointment;) And the baptism was nice, the food was delicious, and there was a pinata. Watching kids hit pinatas is like my new favorite hobby.

*Okay other stuff...

     We met this sweet Puertoriquena named America. She's a widow and lives on her own. We visited her a few times, but her son who's from another religion convinced her to not get baptized. On Saturday she broke the news to us but was very sweet about it. We offered to do some service for her and helped her do a few cleaning projects and then she fed us some really delicious food. Two of her grandsons were there too and one of them is deaf. I practiced my sign language (I only know the alphabet, haha) and that was neat. Lindsay would have been so proud:) It was sad that she doesn't want to learn more, but she's very old and confused a lot and we're not really sure how accountable she is. 

     Ana came to the baptism, but couldn't come to church because she has family in town. She's sad that I'm leaving, but I don't know if that will convince her to get baptized;)

That's all for this week. See you soon?;)

Love you all lots:)

Hermanita Crandall

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

Hoping Hapa's Okay from Harrisonburg

Querida Familia,

     I am just so stoked to finally hear from Crandall Shimai:) What a cute little missionary she is! I am so proud :') and I will miss the days of us watching the district together and me taking naps on her bed before she got home from school. Hopefully the district 3 will be out by August 2016!;)

     ALSO...so I guess Dad was in the emergency room with kidney stones. Sounds like you all had a nice week. I hope you're feeling better. I'll miss my Hapa mail <3

*Hermana McRae and I likewise had a pretty eventful week.

     We spent alllll day Tuesday knocking. We found this cute little pocket of Hispanics where half of the street is student housing and the other half is Hispanic. We haven't taught anyone there yet, but we met some neat people.

MLC - Mission Leadership Council

     On Wednesday we made the trip to Richmond for MLC! It was really great and we focused on having faith, having the faith to baptize, and having the faith to endure to the end. I also made it pretty far in our lightning game during lunch, which never happens. (If you don't know what lightning is, ask Hapa. I'm pretty sure he played left bench on the basketball team and might be familiar with it;)

     We spent the night in the mission home because we had another meeting, just for the Sister Training Leaders, on Thursday. We got to do an exchange with the Hermanas in Midlothian which was really fun because I never got to serve there. President Wilson is super funny because he made us stay up until 10:30 singing songs and so we didn't get to bed until after 11. And then we got up at 5:30 to play oompa at the church. By the time we started the meeting at 9:30, we were exhausted! Some Sisters even fell asleep;) 

Sister Training Meeting

     After the meeting there was a big controversy because of a snow storm that was coming in. It rained a lot, then got colder and snowed on top of a sheet of ice. We called our Zone Leaders at around noon and they said cars were grounded in Harrisonburg and that there was already a foot of snow. SO...we were obligated to spend another night in the mission home;) It was fun, but it was also super hard to be out of our area for 2 whole days. We had to cancel some appointments. We did weekly planning in the mission home and then did exchanges with the Chesterfield Hermanas in the evening. There were 9 sisters that had to stay an extra night for the snow storm -- us, Charlottesville, Stafford, and Woodbridge.

     We got up the next morning and left right after 7 so we could make it on time to Zone Meeting at 10:30 on Friday. (It took extra long because we had to drop off the trio in Charlottesville.) We arrived in Harrisonburg right on time, but the Zone Leaders ended up canceling it and moving it to Saturday so that the Franklin (WV) Elders could make it. During lunch on Friday, I was so worn out that I just went up stairs and napped the entire hour.

     But now we're back on it and things are going really well:)

     I gave a training at Zone Meeting about involving the youth in missionary work! I shared the "Embark" video which is really great and makes me cry a whole bunch. You can find it on the front page of youth.lds.org. Just click on the youth theme resources.

     We had a RS Society activity on Saturday for the birthday celebration or something like that. Ana came! The Stake RS President came and sat at our table and we translated a conversation between her and Ana. It made me miss my favorite Stake RS President in Lehi <3 love you Mommy. Hermana McRae and I were super pleased because Ana seemed to have a great time! We played a pictionary/charades game. The best one was Hermana Lizet acting out Michael Jackson, haha:) 

     Ana came to church on Sunday, again, and seemed to especially enjoy it as well! She might not have a baptismal date (STILL) but she is really consistent about coming! And whenever she can't make it, all of the members ask where she is. All of the new Hermanas in the branch thought she was a member!

     We also have a wonderful new investigator named Geraldine. She speaks English, but would be a great addition to the branch. She's a young, single mom and has never been very religious. When we taught her the restauracion, it was so powerful! We had Mikelle with us, who's a recently returned Sister from Brazil. After we explained the first vision, Geraldine asked us to share our testimonies. I've never had an investigator do that!!! She's really open to being baptized and we're hoping she'll do it before the end of this transfer.

     We started teaching the boy from the part member family I wrote about last week, Alejandro. He is super cute! His mom, even though she's been less active for years, asked us to sing "Tal Como un Fuego," which is "The Spirit of God." She still knew all of the words! Then she said that Alejandro had watched the restoration movie and just cried and cried because he felt the Spirit so strongly. We asked him what he thought, and he said that he knows that if we want more faith, we can pray and God will give it to us. The mom was so great about sharing her testimony of modern day prophets and apostles. And then she fed us Puerto Rican food:) I just love this family so much.

     I know so powerfully that this is the true church of Jesus Christ! I feel so honored to be a missionary and to have the opportunity to share my testimony with everyone! And I'm so pleased that my little sister is doing the same thing:) I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Con amor,  Hermanita Crandall

"Hi" from Harrisonburg :)

Querida Familia,

     This past week has probably been one of the most stressful of my mission! There were a billion changes here (and a few surprises), Millie entered the MTC, I'm starting my last transfer, and my back pain is getting really bad--my arms and legs occasionally go numb in different spots now :P

     BUT, I've also seen a bajillion (that's more than a billion, btw) blessings too. And now that transfer week is over, I feel a little more settled down:)

     On Tuesday, Hermana McRae and I were out working while our former roommates were at transfer meeting sending us updates. We found out that even though Broadway was closed for Sisters, President Wilson decided to send another set of Hermanas!! It was a huge surprise, but it also meant we had to prepare a make-shift apartment space for them with the other Hermanas. The AP forgot to tell us and apparently forgot to tell one of the Hermanas that she was being transferred. They didn't arrive here until Tuesday at 9:45 PM! The Elders, fortunately, drive a jeep so they helped us move a mattress from our apartment to the other Hermanas' apartment. 

     6 new missionaries joined us! 2 YSA Sisters, who are our roommates, and then 4 Hermanas. One of my roommates is Sister Greer who's from Sheridan, Wyoming! She said she's heard of the famous Sister Crandall of the SDRC Mission, and she also knew an RM I dated who served in her YSA Ward...weird;) haha. So we spent some time on Tuesday helping everyone move luggage and get settled. We're really excited to still have 6 Sisters to work with!

     We also did 2 blitzes this week for the 2 new Hermanas. Our whole district knocked in their areas and we got over 40 referrals for them! I just feel bad for our district leader, Elder Steiner, who's now in charge of 6 Hermanas and no Elders. (There are other Spanish Elders in our zone, but they serve in Waynesboro and are in a different district.)

     We saw a HUGE miracle this past week! We went to a not-so-Hispanic neighborhood to find a former investigators. We got there right when the school bus did, which is a great opportunity to find out if Hispanics live there. We saw one teen who looked Hispanic and contacted him. His name was Guillermo and he said he lived with his mom and step-dad, both Puertoriquenos and that we could visit them any weeknight after 6.

     Later that night, our district leader called to say that they had found a less-active who's records aren't in the branch. He's living with his auntie and uncle, but said that his family (mostly all members) lived on Merlin's Way, but he couldn't remember the house number. That was where we had met Guillermo! We told him we'd met a Puertorican named Guillermo, and he said that was a match! He said that they had a younger unbaptized brother. 

     So on Monday night we went to try and contact the family. We knew they were members, but they didn't know that we knew that they were members;) The Mom opened the door and immediately invited us in. And she fed us dinner! She told us that she was a member. (We pretended to be surprised.) Guillermo came down too and chatted with us. They stopped attending church when he was young, so he didn't even remember being baptized. She told us basically their whole life's story and invited us to come back.

     We were able to see them again last night and the entire family is interested in coming back to church! And the mom wants her youngest son to get baptized! The Dad isn't a member, but said he knows his family should be going to church. We are just so excited for them!!!:) It was a huge miracle for us!

     Speaking of church...it was canceled again on Sunday for the third week in a row! The weather wasn't even bad. It was about 35 degrees all day. It wasn't sunny, but nothing really fell out of the sky. Just a little bit of rain in the morning. Apparently there was supposed to be a huge ice storm. Today it's 45-50 degrees which is a huge blessing! I was getting fed up with 10 degree weather;) Anyway, I was pretty frustrated about the church cancellation for nothing, but it turned out to be a blessing because we were able to visit with a few less active families. The 2nd Ward still had their regular services in the afternoon (just the 1st Ward and the Branch cancelled) so we were able to attend their sacrament meeting.

     We told Ana that the regular services were cancelled but we were having sacrament meeting at 3. We didn't tell her it was in English...but she came:) And I got to translate it for her! I thought it would be super hard, but I think I prefer translating from English to Spanish than from Spanish to English. When I was in Henrico, I would translate every third Sunday, and it was hard because while I was translating, I would miss things they said. It was easier from English to Spanish because I could easily understand everything the speaker was saying and I only had to pay a little bit of attention to them and could focus more on translating. So that was a cool gift-of-tongues experience:) I also learned how to say surf - "surfear" and cheerleader - "porrista." 

     Ana is still doing really well...haha:) She's in Alma now. She's doing everything right and is completely ready, just won't accept a date. So we'll keep working with her:)

     We don't know what happened with Odalis. She was so pumped, accepted a date, and was keeping all of her commitments. And then she stopped answering calls/texts and won't answer her door. When we knocked there on Thursday, she turned the light off and didn't answer. We have no idea what happened and it's causing me a lot of stress! But I don't want to let my disappointment weaken my faith and I feel blessed to know that there are prepared people willing to accept dates! Hopefully the next one will follow through:)

     Well I love you all a whole bunch and hope you have a great week! I can't wait to hear from my cute favorite little sister Crandall Shimai. Welcome to the field <3 :)

     And happy birthday shout out to my only brother (in-law) (who is also my favorite) Robert! I don't know how old you are, but I'm sure it's a nice age to be:) I hope you have a great day!

I love you all lots,  Hermanita Crandall