Hello once again, I know you have been dying to hear from me.
This email will be written oddly, fyi, because this keyboard sticks and I cannot use the apostraphe button.
This last week was good. I cannot remember if it was eventful, because honestly it was kind of a blur. We tracted some, taught a lot of lessons to less-active and part-member families. English people are so touchy, I am learning. With Hispanics you could go to a non-member husband and just be like, Hey, why are you not baptized yet? And he would say such and such and I drink or whatever. Then you could straight up say, listen, we love you and we want your family to have eternal happiness. Will you let us teach you? And he would either say yes or no and be done with it. And we could still come back and it would not be awkward. With all these--ok, lets just be honest--with all these white people it is like--oh, you are pushing me too hard, I cannot progress like that. You offended me, I cannot believe you want me to get baptized. You are just counting numbers, huh?
Ok, so maybe it is not that bad.. . Actually, it is. I feel like we are constantly walking on eggshells around these people. But that is ok--I am going to change that. I have already teased a guy about going to church, so it is a good start. I am too blunt for this kind of work, but maybe the Lord just needed somebody a little more straight-forward in this area to make up for all the beating-around-the-bush that went on before.
Anyway, so that is what we have been up to. Oh, and I met my very first bull mastiff--that is a BIG DOG. But he was also one of the sweetest I have met. So I am thinking that maybe I want a big dog when I grow up. I kind of love them.
Ok, I am going to sign off now, because I cannot think of anything else to tell you and I am getting tired of this crappy keyboard.
I think you guys are awesome. And I really love this work. I can honestly testify of the scriptures in the Doctrine and Covenants:
D&C 130: 20-21
20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—
21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.
My obedience directly affects the amount of success I have out here. Success out here is the blessing--success as a missionary is joy.
D&C 18: 15-16
15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!
16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!
I am laboring to bring souls unto Christ. And let me tell you--there really is no greater joy.
I hope you all are safe. You are in my little missionary prayers.
Love,
Hna. Crowley.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Tue, 20 Jan 2009
Fam and Friends,
Once again, it is time to update you on my life as a missionary. I know you all appreciate this opportunity to catch a glimpse of this exciting undertaking in the great area of Avondale and west Phoenix. I hope you are all intrigued.
So last week, I got transferred. And, as always in this mission, none of us had any idea where we were going, though my good friend Elder Soto went home (finally, that kids has been out forever!) and his companion got transferred too, which means that their area (the north half of the Spanish ward that I worked in the south half of) was then open for "flushing" aka putting in a completely new pair of missionaries. That's always a fun game.
So I packed everything up, put my food in bags, and loaded it all up in Katy John's car (a member who helps us) and we headed off to the transfer building half an hour away. We all go in, go through the meeting, then they announce our new companions. I was assigned to work with Hna. Martinez, an Hna. from New York (but she was born in El Salvador. She's a native. She rocks.) And then they assigned our area. See, we were the two sisters who got to flush a new area--turns out to be the north half of the ward I was already working in, and they gave us an English ward to work with as well. Which also meant that we would be living in the same apartment that I had just packed all my things in. So I went back and put all my food back in the refrigerator that I had just pulled them from. It was awesome.
I did move rooms though.
So now we're all put back together, we got the extra desk and bed that we needed, and Hna. Martinez and I spent most of last week organizing the Area Books (big binders where missionaries keep records of all the people they're teaching, have taught, might possibly teach, and information about the ward that we serve in.) The Elders who had been working in the areas before us had done a lot of work, and left us with a lot of people to follow up on and meet, which was awesome, so we had a lot of meeting to do. We still haven't met everyone that they were teaching yet.
Anyway, that was mostly my week. Biggest event probably for the rest of my mission was that I, with Hna. Martinez, was able to have lunch with my dad. He's down here for some training before he heads out to Iraq, so the President gave us special permission to have some time together. It was great. I mean, the food and all, but mostly the company.
I better get going, I've got a few other emails to write. Espero que Dios les cuide y que tengan todo necesario para perseverar en este mundo con mucho tribulacion. De hecho, solo va a empeorar. Pero, esto es exactamente porque no vivimos en el mundo. Tratamos siempre acercarnos a Dios--entonces, arriba del mundo. Eso es lo que trato mi mismo cada dia, y creo que estoy progresando. ?Quien sabe?
Anyway, gotta go. I'm going to go call a lady back because she just left a message to give us a referral of one of her friends. I'm pretty stoked.
Sister Rosser, no worries--the letter I'm sending you will make up for its tardiness. :D
Paz fuera, gente.
Love,
Hna. Crowley.
Once again, it is time to update you on my life as a missionary. I know you all appreciate this opportunity to catch a glimpse of this exciting undertaking in the great area of Avondale and west Phoenix. I hope you are all intrigued.
So last week, I got transferred. And, as always in this mission, none of us had any idea where we were going, though my good friend Elder Soto went home (finally, that kids has been out forever!) and his companion got transferred too, which means that their area (the north half of the Spanish ward that I worked in the south half of) was then open for "flushing" aka putting in a completely new pair of missionaries. That's always a fun game.
So I packed everything up, put my food in bags, and loaded it all up in Katy John's car (a member who helps us) and we headed off to the transfer building half an hour away. We all go in, go through the meeting, then they announce our new companions. I was assigned to work with Hna. Martinez, an Hna. from New York (but she was born in El Salvador. She's a native. She rocks.) And then they assigned our area. See, we were the two sisters who got to flush a new area--turns out to be the north half of the ward I was already working in, and they gave us an English ward to work with as well. Which also meant that we would be living in the same apartment that I had just packed all my things in. So I went back and put all my food back in the refrigerator that I had just pulled them from. It was awesome.
I did move rooms though.
So now we're all put back together, we got the extra desk and bed that we needed, and Hna. Martinez and I spent most of last week organizing the Area Books (big binders where missionaries keep records of all the people they're teaching, have taught, might possibly teach, and information about the ward that we serve in.) The Elders who had been working in the areas before us had done a lot of work, and left us with a lot of people to follow up on and meet, which was awesome, so we had a lot of meeting to do. We still haven't met everyone that they were teaching yet.
Anyway, that was mostly my week. Biggest event probably for the rest of my mission was that I, with Hna. Martinez, was able to have lunch with my dad. He's down here for some training before he heads out to Iraq, so the President gave us special permission to have some time together. It was great. I mean, the food and all, but mostly the company.
I better get going, I've got a few other emails to write. Espero que Dios les cuide y que tengan todo necesario para perseverar en este mundo con mucho tribulacion. De hecho, solo va a empeorar. Pero, esto es exactamente porque no vivimos en el mundo. Tratamos siempre acercarnos a Dios--entonces, arriba del mundo. Eso es lo que trato mi mismo cada dia, y creo que estoy progresando. ?Quien sabe?
Anyway, gotta go. I'm going to go call a lady back because she just left a message to give us a referral of one of her friends. I'm pretty stoked.
Sister Rosser, no worries--the letter I'm sending you will make up for its tardiness. :D
Paz fuera, gente.
Love,
Hna. Crowley.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Mon, 12 Jan 2009
Dear Fam and Friends,
First of all, thank you to all who have sent me stuff. You have no idea how much it makes my day. I do feel the support from home, and I'm sure that, some days, the only thing that keeps me going are your prayres. This mission stuff is hard. I'm going to try to attach some fotos today as requested, but I don't have too much time.
You see, I'm getting transferred.
Hooray! My first transfer! I'm pretty excited about it, though I'm sad to be finally separated from my "mom." Hna. Corless and I have been together since I got here--three transfers, which equals 18 weeks. Hna. Little has been with us for 4 weeks, and we were really having a blast. That's probably why Hna. Corless and I are both getting transferred--we were getting too comfortable. That can really be a problem as a missionary.
And it's an exciting transfer--5 out of the 8 Hnas. are being transferred, and they're also closing an area, so two of us get to open something new! I'm pretty stoked. Wednesday is going to be fun. Packing, though, probably not.
This last week was really good, though Hna. Little got sick on Sunday which is NOT fun, but then we got to stay home after church and actually get some studies done and such. We had three investigators at church, and one who has a baptismal date--Gustavo. Sweetest little man ever. He's probably around 40, but with the simplistic mind of a 7-yr-old. Not unintelligent, just very simple and humble and sweet. When we were trying to teach him how to pray, Hna. Corless wrote him out an outline:
1. Padre Celestial
2. Te doy gracias por. . .
3. Te pido por. . .
4. En el nombre de Jesucristo, amen.
He asked us three times if he should just read that, and we said no--you need to fill it in with your own words and feelings. So we all bow our heads, and Gustavo says, "Padre Celestial, te doy gracias por, te pido por, en el nombre de Jesucristo amen." It was the cutest thing ever. His sister, Maria, a less-active member coming back, told him to just listen this time and she'll say it for him. It was cute because he got a little grumpy. He's so funny. And Maria--she was going to some Christian church, and I think that's where she picked this up--she prays outloud with you. I was saying a prayer one time and she was sitting next to me and I almost couldn't keep going because she was practically praying louder than me! I had to cover the laughing with a cough. Then I was grinning afterwards and I told her it was because I was embarrassed for coughing in the middle of the prayer. They're both so dang cute.
Raul came to church with his boys and nephew Isaac. He's the one with cancer. In our Gospel Principles class, he basically told everyone his testimony of prayer--how since he has started praying and reading the scriptures, he has had very special experiences, and he knows that Someone is listening. He feels the Spirit when he prays, and he's learning for himself that it's true. It's awesome.
Then our young investigator, Maria, had a birthday on Friday. So we remembered last minute and decided to head over at 8:30pm to give her a gift--I gave her envelopes and stamps and my address so we can keep in contact because I promised to take her to Vegas when I go home. Anyway, we got there and found out that her mom hadn't even remembered that it was her birthday, and she was grounded so she couldn't go to the surprise party her friends had planned for her. She was pretty dang upset. So we asked her mom if we could take her out for a "lesson", and we took her to Sonic for a smoothie. Which was a good thing, since she hadn't eaten in two days because she was so upset. The worst thing is--she's an awesome girl. Yeah, she's angry, but she's had a crappy childhood. All of her siblings are really awesome kids--helpful and relatively respectful--at least, they like us. That's good enough for me. Their mom is just overwhelmed and kind of ignorant. The gospel will be good for them.
Anyway, I'm going to go now. I'll put up some fotos too, promise.
I love you all, and I really appreciate what you do for me from home. I'll write you again next week, from my new area. Man, this is exciting!
Love,
Hna. Crowley
Fotos:
Elder Soto's goodbye lunch at Olive Garden
The day all three of us came out wearing green shirts, white undershirts, and brown skirts--on accident
The day we borrowed bikes from the Bishop (one got flat before we even left the house)
Elder Soto and I as nijas, beating evil Elder Jepsen
Us Hnas dressed as Muslims--literally. We've been teaching this woman from Iraq, and we were all wearing that type of scarf that day, so she wrapped them around for us the way she does it. So we took a picture. It's radical. She's very cool, but doesn't speak English. Her oldest daughter reminds me of Bethany. :)
First of all, thank you to all who have sent me stuff. You have no idea how much it makes my day. I do feel the support from home, and I'm sure that, some days, the only thing that keeps me going are your prayres. This mission stuff is hard. I'm going to try to attach some fotos today as requested, but I don't have too much time.
You see, I'm getting transferred.
Hooray! My first transfer! I'm pretty excited about it, though I'm sad to be finally separated from my "mom." Hna. Corless and I have been together since I got here--three transfers, which equals 18 weeks. Hna. Little has been with us for 4 weeks, and we were really having a blast. That's probably why Hna. Corless and I are both getting transferred--we were getting too comfortable. That can really be a problem as a missionary.
And it's an exciting transfer--5 out of the 8 Hnas. are being transferred, and they're also closing an area, so two of us get to open something new! I'm pretty stoked. Wednesday is going to be fun. Packing, though, probably not.
This last week was really good, though Hna. Little got sick on Sunday which is NOT fun, but then we got to stay home after church and actually get some studies done and such. We had three investigators at church, and one who has a baptismal date--Gustavo. Sweetest little man ever. He's probably around 40, but with the simplistic mind of a 7-yr-old. Not unintelligent, just very simple and humble and sweet. When we were trying to teach him how to pray, Hna. Corless wrote him out an outline:
1. Padre Celestial
2. Te doy gracias por. . .
3. Te pido por. . .
4. En el nombre de Jesucristo, amen.
He asked us three times if he should just read that, and we said no--you need to fill it in with your own words and feelings. So we all bow our heads, and Gustavo says, "Padre Celestial, te doy gracias por, te pido por, en el nombre de Jesucristo amen." It was the cutest thing ever. His sister, Maria, a less-active member coming back, told him to just listen this time and she'll say it for him. It was cute because he got a little grumpy. He's so funny. And Maria--she was going to some Christian church, and I think that's where she picked this up--she prays outloud with you. I was saying a prayer one time and she was sitting next to me and I almost couldn't keep going because she was practically praying louder than me! I had to cover the laughing with a cough. Then I was grinning afterwards and I told her it was because I was embarrassed for coughing in the middle of the prayer. They're both so dang cute.
Raul came to church with his boys and nephew Isaac. He's the one with cancer. In our Gospel Principles class, he basically told everyone his testimony of prayer--how since he has started praying and reading the scriptures, he has had very special experiences, and he knows that Someone is listening. He feels the Spirit when he prays, and he's learning for himself that it's true. It's awesome.
Then our young investigator, Maria, had a birthday on Friday. So we remembered last minute and decided to head over at 8:30pm to give her a gift--I gave her envelopes and stamps and my address so we can keep in contact because I promised to take her to Vegas when I go home. Anyway, we got there and found out that her mom hadn't even remembered that it was her birthday, and she was grounded so she couldn't go to the surprise party her friends had planned for her. She was pretty dang upset. So we asked her mom if we could take her out for a "lesson", and we took her to Sonic for a smoothie. Which was a good thing, since she hadn't eaten in two days because she was so upset. The worst thing is--she's an awesome girl. Yeah, she's angry, but she's had a crappy childhood. All of her siblings are really awesome kids--helpful and relatively respectful--at least, they like us. That's good enough for me. Their mom is just overwhelmed and kind of ignorant. The gospel will be good for them.
Anyway, I'm going to go now. I'll put up some fotos too, promise.
I love you all, and I really appreciate what you do for me from home. I'll write you again next week, from my new area. Man, this is exciting!
Love,
Hna. Crowley
Fotos:
Elder Soto's goodbye lunch at Olive Garden
The day all three of us came out wearing green shirts, white undershirts, and brown skirts--on accident
The day we borrowed bikes from the Bishop (one got flat before we even left the house)
Elder Soto and I as nijas, beating evil Elder Jepsen
Us Hnas dressed as Muslims--literally. We've been teaching this woman from Iraq, and we were all wearing that type of scarf that day, so she wrapped them around for us the way she does it. So we took a picture. It's radical. She's very cool, but doesn't speak English. Her oldest daughter reminds me of Bethany. :)
Mon, 5 Jan 2009
Hi everyone!
Hey mom, you're cool.
The letter sounds like you guys have been having a good time.
I'm all out of time now--I've been organizing all my emails because the email account thingy says I'm sunning out of space. So I've been spending a lot of time forwarding emails to my other account and deleting them off of this one, which is taking out a lot of my email time. It's annoying, I'd rather just use my other email, but this is what I was told to do, so I'm doing it. Therefore, I have no time.
We had a good week though. New Years we spent proselyting at the Mesa Temple, which was cold. The Mesa missionaries sang as the choral number for the night, so we took over their job of getting contacts anda refferals. It was fine, but I would have rather been at home sleeping.
No, actually, I made a few really swell contacts. Talked to a couple people who were about to get baptized--one was a man on parole (he had been in jail for 30 years because he robbed a bank!) and another was this woman with four kids, and she gave me the phone number for her mom and sister so that the missionaries could give them a visit. She was an awesome person to talk to.
I heard a cool story about the Native American Geronimo too.
That's all I got for now, I'm about to get kicked off. I love you all, my sincerest apologies for not sending out letters to a few of you I'm sure have been waiting. I'll try to get them out either today or next week.
Paz Fuera,
Hna. Crowley
Hey mom, you're cool.
The letter sounds like you guys have been having a good time.
I'm all out of time now--I've been organizing all my emails because the email account thingy says I'm sunning out of space. So I've been spending a lot of time forwarding emails to my other account and deleting them off of this one, which is taking out a lot of my email time. It's annoying, I'd rather just use my other email, but this is what I was told to do, so I'm doing it. Therefore, I have no time.
We had a good week though. New Years we spent proselyting at the Mesa Temple, which was cold. The Mesa missionaries sang as the choral number for the night, so we took over their job of getting contacts anda refferals. It was fine, but I would have rather been at home sleeping.
No, actually, I made a few really swell contacts. Talked to a couple people who were about to get baptized--one was a man on parole (he had been in jail for 30 years because he robbed a bank!) and another was this woman with four kids, and she gave me the phone number for her mom and sister so that the missionaries could give them a visit. She was an awesome person to talk to.
I heard a cool story about the Native American Geronimo too.
That's all I got for now, I'm about to get kicked off. I love you all, my sincerest apologies for not sending out letters to a few of you I'm sure have been waiting. I'll try to get them out either today or next week.
Paz Fuera,
Hna. Crowley
Mon, 29 Dec 2008
Dear You Guys,
Christmas was nice. We had two dinners Christmas Eve (which, in the Hispanic culture, is the more important holiday) and one really nice one on Christmas Day, with Home Alone playing in the background. I love that movie.
Family, it was nice to talk to you. You guys are crazy. :D Dad, I'll be asking Pres Beck about lunch on Wednesday, because that's when we have interviews.
We'll also be going to the temple again on New Year's Eve--just a few of us Spanish missionaries--to proselyte at the Nativity and Christmas lights display they've got going. Normally that's just the Mesa missionaries, but I guess they're giving us a chance. It'll be fun, but I'm sad because if I wasn't doing that, we'd have to be in our apartments at 5:00 (because it's New Years Eve) and I'd get to sleep. No sleep for me this year. . .
So we ran out of miles to use our car--we have a certain allotment of miles per month, and we're down to about 30 miles until the new year. So the other day we walked 6 1/2 miles and I realized something--missionaries outside fo the states probably make fun of us state-side ones. We're wimps. Well, at least I am. I hurt my foot by walking. I'm pathetic. We realized that the Lord gave us this chance to walk and this certain amount of mileage to keep us humble, and to help us appreciate the good things we have. He does stuff like that a lot. We walked to the Library today too, which took about 45 minutes because we were wearing nicer shoes and pants.
Aunt STOW (Rosser)--your email was wonderful! Thank you so much for the photos. It made my day. I love Frenchman covered with snow! It actually looks like a mountain, instead of an oversized dirt clod. :D Lol. Billy has gotten SO BIG!!! And that's sad about Rudolph. But, well, Ms. Palin looks sharp! Lol!
That's it for today guys--I can't remember anything else. Besides, my eyes are tired because I've been staring at the screen a long time. (I've been forwarding all my emails to my other email because I'm running out of space on this one. . .)
Gotta go! I hope you know the Gospel is true, and it will bless your life. I know it, and it has blessed mine. The only way I can do what I do is because the Lord supports me in it. I love being a missionary. It's so cool.
Paz fuera.
Love,
Hna. Crowley
Christmas was nice. We had two dinners Christmas Eve (which, in the Hispanic culture, is the more important holiday) and one really nice one on Christmas Day, with Home Alone playing in the background. I love that movie.
Family, it was nice to talk to you. You guys are crazy. :D Dad, I'll be asking Pres Beck about lunch on Wednesday, because that's when we have interviews.
We'll also be going to the temple again on New Year's Eve--just a few of us Spanish missionaries--to proselyte at the Nativity and Christmas lights display they've got going. Normally that's just the Mesa missionaries, but I guess they're giving us a chance. It'll be fun, but I'm sad because if I wasn't doing that, we'd have to be in our apartments at 5:00 (because it's New Years Eve) and I'd get to sleep. No sleep for me this year. . .
So we ran out of miles to use our car--we have a certain allotment of miles per month, and we're down to about 30 miles until the new year. So the other day we walked 6 1/2 miles and I realized something--missionaries outside fo the states probably make fun of us state-side ones. We're wimps. Well, at least I am. I hurt my foot by walking. I'm pathetic. We realized that the Lord gave us this chance to walk and this certain amount of mileage to keep us humble, and to help us appreciate the good things we have. He does stuff like that a lot. We walked to the Library today too, which took about 45 minutes because we were wearing nicer shoes and pants.
Aunt STOW (Rosser)--your email was wonderful! Thank you so much for the photos. It made my day. I love Frenchman covered with snow! It actually looks like a mountain, instead of an oversized dirt clod. :D Lol. Billy has gotten SO BIG!!! And that's sad about Rudolph. But, well, Ms. Palin looks sharp! Lol!
That's it for today guys--I can't remember anything else. Besides, my eyes are tired because I've been staring at the screen a long time. (I've been forwarding all my emails to my other email because I'm running out of space on this one. . .)
Gotta go! I hope you know the Gospel is true, and it will bless your life. I know it, and it has blessed mine. The only way I can do what I do is because the Lord supports me in it. I love being a missionary. It's so cool.
Paz fuera.
Love,
Hna. Crowley
Mon, 22 Dec 2008: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Dear Fam and Friends,
The last week was crappy--a bunch of bad stuff, but with some really great good stuff to make up for it. I'll just talk about the good stuff--we got a new companion!!! That makes three of us. Yep, just like in the MTC I am now in a trio, and it's fun. Hermana Little is a quiet person--kind of opposite of me--but will randomly and quietly be really funny. She's great. We've had a hard time going to bed on time lately because it has been like a sleepover every night! Don't worry, I'm still getting up on time.
Also, we had our mission Christmas party this week! We all got together at the building by the mission home and had like a devotional with some musical numbers and sweet talks by President and Sister Beck. Then we had an amazing Christmas lunch provided by the stakes. After that, we all went to the temple for a special missionary endowment session! It was amazing. Really calming and strengthening. It was like I had been holding my breath since I got to Phoenix, and going to the temple I was finally able to breath. I love the temple.
We also were able to do something really cool with our ward this week--one of the members--Miriam Segura (remind me to introduce you to her when we visit, fam)--organized a choir and Christmas program to put on at the nearby hospital. It turned out amazing. We were the last group in a series to perform at the hospital over a week, I think, and the lady in charge was blown away by what Miriam had put together. Hna. Corless and I sang a duet. If I can get a copy I'll send it home. :)
The rest of the week was either normal or really bad. For instance, I know I told you all last week that we were going to have a baptism for Patty this week--it didn't happen. She backed out because she was scared. We had a pretty hard time with that. But then we realized that, in the end, after all the testimonies are born and the scripture study and feeling the Spirit and receiving a powerful priesthood blessing, it's up to her to overcome her doubts and fears, and the Lord leaves her to it. I know He gave her the strength to do so--I saw it. But still, sometimes we take our fear and pride over our faith. But hopefully she'll continue letting us come over--we're going over to see her today--because she told us she wants to wait until her whole family is ready so they can be baptized together. Which was weird, because before she told us she wanted to get baptized first when we asked her if we could teach her daughters. Whatever happens, we love her a million, which makes this even harder. But through this dissappointment, we've learned a lot about what is actually expected from us missinoaries to do. We did all that we could, and we did well. But the Lord has taught us a lot about agency, and our role as missionaries to invite, and that we can't push anyone into the truth. They have to accept it themselves. So, well, it was a good learning experience. Looking back is a lot easier than being in the moment. Saturday was stressfull.
So that's my story. Christmas is going to be great. We're going caroling on Christmas Eve as a whole district, and we've got fun families to visit and an investigator or two. I'm excited to open my presents and to see what my companions got too.
I really love this gospel. I could see with this last week the way that sometimes we go through hell a little bit, but the Lord always throws in things around us to sustain us and give us the peace we need to make it through the hard stuff. It's cool, it always works that was when we look for it.
Brian--those fotos are AWESOME!!! That's so cool. I actually only heard abou that the other day, from a member of our ward who drives a truck to Vegas sometimes told me about it. I haven't heard from anybody else in a while. . . Lol.
Esteleen--It's so nice to hear from you. :D I'll send pictures next time, I forgot my card reader today. Merry Christmas!! Tell everybody I love them.
Aunt Mom--I'm excited to use all those recipes. . . someday. . . Lol. That was awesome. And Wendy, sounds like your having a blast really. I owe you a letter, and I'll work on that this week. :D
Please tell President Reed that his email came at a perfect time, and I really appreciated it. And it makes a lot of sense now. We're going to go carolling, so maybe I'll have as good of stories as he did. . .
I love you all, and I really hope you have a merry Christmas!!! I know I will. YESS!!! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
Love,
Hna. Crowley
The last week was crappy--a bunch of bad stuff, but with some really great good stuff to make up for it. I'll just talk about the good stuff--we got a new companion!!! That makes three of us. Yep, just like in the MTC I am now in a trio, and it's fun. Hermana Little is a quiet person--kind of opposite of me--but will randomly and quietly be really funny. She's great. We've had a hard time going to bed on time lately because it has been like a sleepover every night! Don't worry, I'm still getting up on time.
Also, we had our mission Christmas party this week! We all got together at the building by the mission home and had like a devotional with some musical numbers and sweet talks by President and Sister Beck. Then we had an amazing Christmas lunch provided by the stakes. After that, we all went to the temple for a special missionary endowment session! It was amazing. Really calming and strengthening. It was like I had been holding my breath since I got to Phoenix, and going to the temple I was finally able to breath. I love the temple.
We also were able to do something really cool with our ward this week--one of the members--Miriam Segura (remind me to introduce you to her when we visit, fam)--organized a choir and Christmas program to put on at the nearby hospital. It turned out amazing. We were the last group in a series to perform at the hospital over a week, I think, and the lady in charge was blown away by what Miriam had put together. Hna. Corless and I sang a duet. If I can get a copy I'll send it home. :)
The rest of the week was either normal or really bad. For instance, I know I told you all last week that we were going to have a baptism for Patty this week--it didn't happen. She backed out because she was scared. We had a pretty hard time with that. But then we realized that, in the end, after all the testimonies are born and the scripture study and feeling the Spirit and receiving a powerful priesthood blessing, it's up to her to overcome her doubts and fears, and the Lord leaves her to it. I know He gave her the strength to do so--I saw it. But still, sometimes we take our fear and pride over our faith. But hopefully she'll continue letting us come over--we're going over to see her today--because she told us she wants to wait until her whole family is ready so they can be baptized together. Which was weird, because before she told us she wanted to get baptized first when we asked her if we could teach her daughters. Whatever happens, we love her a million, which makes this even harder. But through this dissappointment, we've learned a lot about what is actually expected from us missinoaries to do. We did all that we could, and we did well. But the Lord has taught us a lot about agency, and our role as missionaries to invite, and that we can't push anyone into the truth. They have to accept it themselves. So, well, it was a good learning experience. Looking back is a lot easier than being in the moment. Saturday was stressfull.
So that's my story. Christmas is going to be great. We're going caroling on Christmas Eve as a whole district, and we've got fun families to visit and an investigator or two. I'm excited to open my presents and to see what my companions got too.
I really love this gospel. I could see with this last week the way that sometimes we go through hell a little bit, but the Lord always throws in things around us to sustain us and give us the peace we need to make it through the hard stuff. It's cool, it always works that was when we look for it.
Brian--those fotos are AWESOME!!! That's so cool. I actually only heard abou that the other day, from a member of our ward who drives a truck to Vegas sometimes told me about it. I haven't heard from anybody else in a while. . . Lol.
Esteleen--It's so nice to hear from you. :D I'll send pictures next time, I forgot my card reader today. Merry Christmas!! Tell everybody I love them.
Aunt Mom--I'm excited to use all those recipes. . . someday. . . Lol. That was awesome. And Wendy, sounds like your having a blast really. I owe you a letter, and I'll work on that this week. :D
Please tell President Reed that his email came at a perfect time, and I really appreciated it. And it makes a lot of sense now. We're going to go carolling, so maybe I'll have as good of stories as he did. . .
I love you all, and I really hope you have a merry Christmas!!! I know I will. YESS!!! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
Love,
Hna. Crowley
Mon, 15 Dec 2008: MERRY CHRISTMAS almost. . . .
Dear Fam and Friends,
This is an awesome Christmas season. You know what I get to do for Christmas? Help a woman get baptized. Her name is Patty, and I've told you about her before, and she's finally getting baptized this Saturday. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! We are SO excited. She loves the gospel, and she loves the Book of Mormon, and we left her with a Liahona with the conference talk so she could learn from and love the Prophet. She's awesome, and her 10-yr-old daughter loves us. It's a little bit awesome. I honestly think part of the reason I was called on a mission was to teach kids. There's another little girl named Denise, the daughter of the man who has cancer, and she's three. We were over at there house last night, and her mom was telling us how last time we were there, Denise wanted to go with us. So last night her mom was like, ok go ahead! And so we walked out the door with Denise holding our hands, and her mom closed the door and everything! She's three! She was just like, ok, lets go tracting. Then her mom came out and was saying, oh, but I'll miss you if you go with them. Why don't you go with them tomorrow. She was all, nah. Then her mom asked, who am I going to get kisses from tonight at bedtime? And Denise says, "Papi." And turns around to go with us again. Finally, Angelica (the mom) picked her up and said, you can go with them tomorrow, and we said, yeah, tomorrow, we'll keep you all week. She cried! She loves us so much! YAY!!! Heeheehee.
They're going to get baptized too, but right now he can't even leave the house because of some medical stuff, so we're just waiting for that to clear up and just going over all the time and teaching all the doctrine in great detail. It's wonderful.
We had a Christmas party this Saturday with the ward, and the Primary did an awesomely cute Nativity thing. I took a little video so I could show y'all.
So yesterday we were out tracting and we saw someone's thermometer--I took a picture of this too because it was momentous--it was 52 degrees outside! We were chilly. It rocked. First time since I've been here that we were chilly.
I also have a cold, and I'm mildy miserable. But that's ok, being sick made it possible for me to sleep in this morning, so that was nice.
I love you all and I hope you're having a good Christmas. Being a missionary at Christmas time is kind of awesome, because I have never been able to so completely appreciate the true meaning of Christmas. I have never loved my family, friends, or people in general as much as I do now. Not only that, I love my Savior more than ever. We have an awesome Christmas video we share with people--Joy to the World--and it really helps me appreciate what this is all about. Christ, in reality, was born on this earth--the King of Kings was so humble that He was born in a stable at the lowest point in the world. His earthly parents were of no worldly consequence--they didn't have high standing with kings and rulers, they weren't wealthy, they were humble and kind and his birth was such a miraculous thing that the whole world should have been aware. He was born so the He could live and teach and serve His brothers and sisters who many hated Him and eventually killed Him. He was born so He could die for us. And that incredible act of love--His birth and death--is why we celebrate this time of year by giving, serving, loving more. None of us are perfect, but we have at least this time of year to remind us what it's all about.
That's my letter for today. I hope you're all safe and well. Until next week--
--Hna. Crowley
This is an awesome Christmas season. You know what I get to do for Christmas? Help a woman get baptized. Her name is Patty, and I've told you about her before, and she's finally getting baptized this Saturday. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! We are SO excited. She loves the gospel, and she loves the Book of Mormon, and we left her with a Liahona with the conference talk so she could learn from and love the Prophet. She's awesome, and her 10-yr-old daughter loves us. It's a little bit awesome. I honestly think part of the reason I was called on a mission was to teach kids. There's another little girl named Denise, the daughter of the man who has cancer, and she's three. We were over at there house last night, and her mom was telling us how last time we were there, Denise wanted to go with us. So last night her mom was like, ok go ahead! And so we walked out the door with Denise holding our hands, and her mom closed the door and everything! She's three! She was just like, ok, lets go tracting. Then her mom came out and was saying, oh, but I'll miss you if you go with them. Why don't you go with them tomorrow. She was all, nah. Then her mom asked, who am I going to get kisses from tonight at bedtime? And Denise says, "Papi." And turns around to go with us again. Finally, Angelica (the mom) picked her up and said, you can go with them tomorrow, and we said, yeah, tomorrow, we'll keep you all week. She cried! She loves us so much! YAY!!! Heeheehee.
They're going to get baptized too, but right now he can't even leave the house because of some medical stuff, so we're just waiting for that to clear up and just going over all the time and teaching all the doctrine in great detail. It's wonderful.
We had a Christmas party this Saturday with the ward, and the Primary did an awesomely cute Nativity thing. I took a little video so I could show y'all.
So yesterday we were out tracting and we saw someone's thermometer--I took a picture of this too because it was momentous--it was 52 degrees outside! We were chilly. It rocked. First time since I've been here that we were chilly.
I also have a cold, and I'm mildy miserable. But that's ok, being sick made it possible for me to sleep in this morning, so that was nice.
I love you all and I hope you're having a good Christmas. Being a missionary at Christmas time is kind of awesome, because I have never been able to so completely appreciate the true meaning of Christmas. I have never loved my family, friends, or people in general as much as I do now. Not only that, I love my Savior more than ever. We have an awesome Christmas video we share with people--Joy to the World--and it really helps me appreciate what this is all about. Christ, in reality, was born on this earth--the King of Kings was so humble that He was born in a stable at the lowest point in the world. His earthly parents were of no worldly consequence--they didn't have high standing with kings and rulers, they weren't wealthy, they were humble and kind and his birth was such a miraculous thing that the whole world should have been aware. He was born so the He could live and teach and serve His brothers and sisters who many hated Him and eventually killed Him. He was born so He could die for us. And that incredible act of love--His birth and death--is why we celebrate this time of year by giving, serving, loving more. None of us are perfect, but we have at least this time of year to remind us what it's all about.
That's my letter for today. I hope you're all safe and well. Until next week--
--Hna. Crowley
Mon, 15 Dec 2008: Just some photos
Here is our ward mission leader and his wife. They remind me of G&G Scovill in their personalities, and a little bit in looks. So they're my Mexican grandparents.
My first menudo! Menudo is a special soup made with pig intestines. Yummy!
Gas is really cheap now. Is it that cheap where you are? What's going on?!?!
Also, the thermometer of the amazing 52 degrees.
And our Christmas tree. Enjoy!
Mon, 08 Dec 2008
Hey guys!
Another week down. Actually, another MONTH down! I officially have 5 months out as of tomorrow. Which means, me falta 13. (I have 13 left.) Good times.
As always, not a lot of time to email, just because I'm a missionary and that's the nature of this life.
This last week was pretty powerful. We worked our tails off, reached our goals, and ent up with 9 new investigators--two of whom are referrals from a counselor in our Mission Presidency, Presidente Lopez. So here's the story.
Saturday morning Hna. Corless and I slept in til 8:00--there's a story for that too that I'll tell you next. Anyway, but we didn't mind because we were doing service that morning cleaning up this woman's huge lot of a yard that was full of random junk and weeds. She's sweet, and maybe she'll think about taking lessons, who knows? Anyway, so we got the Elders from our ward and did that all morning--9:45 til 11:00, and then we all went home and we were about to eat lunch--I hadn't eaten yet that morning--when we get this phone call from Presidente Lopez. He asked us to meet him right away at this neighborhood because his friend--one of his tenants--needed our help. So we really fast slipped into proselyting clothes, did our hair, and left. Turns out this friend of his has colon cancer, and he's only 35. His beautiful wife and kids were there too, and P. Lopez just blew them out of the water with the Spirit, testifying and teaching about the Book of Mormon, and how now was definitely the time to come closer to God. Raul, the friend, was so humble and accepting, and his wife too, and they have this adorable little 3-yr-old. Anyway, so P. Lopez gave them a BofM with his testimony and said that we missionaries will be there for them to teach them and give them whatever help they need. So that was amazing. He also gave Raul a blessing, and he and his wife were crying and feeling the peace that they've been missing for a while. . . It was awesome. We went back yesterday to teach them, and we'll go again today, and tomorrow, and the next day. . . They're wonderful. The coolest thing about that was that we have been praying very specifically about being able to find those people who have been prepared to receive the gospel and make the covenant of baptism, and then came Raul and his family. It was just pretty obvious, especially after we worked really hard last week, and it ended on that awesome note.
Now, the story of why we woke up so late on Saturday. See, I don't know how much I've told you about our upstairs neighbors, but they're something of a. . . pain. . . We call this guy our good friend Joe and his crazy girlfriend. Anyway, every week or two we get woken up in the middle of the night--around 2 or 2:30--to them screaming the F word and throwing things and what have you. Pretty awesome. So Friday night, Hna. Corless wakes up to something that sounded like they were nailing stuff to the floor right about her head. Fun, right? It took me a little bit longer, but I woke up as well, and Hna. Corless says, "Let's go talk to them." And I say, "Ok." And she says, "But, well, better let me do the talking." I said, "Ok." See, cuz she knew that if *I* did the talking, it wouldn't turn out so peaceful. Some of you know how well I turn out when I'm woken up from a good sleep in a rude way. . .
Anyway, so we put on jackets and slippers and go up. Hna. Corless knocks on the door police-style, and everything gets quiet. We wait a minute, then he slowly opens the door. He sees that it's us, and he starts saying "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," and Hna. Corless is all, "It's ok, but you're keeping us awake, and we have to wake up at 6:30 in the morning." [it's about 3:30am] And so he apologizes, and she comes out there too, and Hna. Corless asks, "Is there anything we can do to help you guys?" And girlfriend goes, "Not at this time, no." By the way, she looks insane. Turns out she had been jumping on the door that she just broke. So they're both a little crazy. Anyway, we also say hi to the roommate, poor guy. He pokes his head out to see who was there, and he's like, "Oh, hey."
Then we're there and Joe starts crying--because you see, he thought he was going to jail because he thought we were the cops. He thanked us over and over for coming to talk to him first, and he was crying because he was so relieved. And he is a big guy too, real muscley and kinda pretty-boy. Anyway, so then he asks, "Hey, I never asked--what are your names?" And Hna. Corless goes, "Well, they call me Sister Corless." Heeheehee.
Anyway, so we didn't get back to bed til around 4, and they started yelling again--I think they don't know we can hear them yelling. So, in all, we were kept awake for a couple hours, so we slept in an extra 1 1/2 hours to make up for it, because we both felt kinda sick at 6:30 from not enough sleep.
And we've been quoting Hna. Corless's brilliant line ever since. "They call me Sister Corless." Pretty awesome.
That's it for today folks, I've got some snail mail letters to respond to and yeah, that's all.
Aunt Mom STOW, thanks for the updates. Keep them coming! I am SO excited to see that scarf. It's actually almost chilly enough to need one now, and my hands are always cold. :D
Nitwhit--I GOT THE INVITE!!!!!!!!!!! I was pretty stoked about that--ask Hna. Corless. I almost peed my pants. You're so CUTE!!!!!!! And you guys need to send me some photos, cuz I miss you and want to see what's going on. Keep me in the loop! Please? (imagine a puppy-dog look here.)
Katy, I got your amazing letter, but it really just inspired more questions--there is a lot you haven't told me, that maybe you told Wendy about and forgot I didn't know, cuz you acted like I should. Like, for instance, Disneyland. WHA-?!?! I had no idea. And that' just the beginning. I'll send you a letter though, so we'll get that worked out.
I love you all, please be safe, and send me letters!
The end.
Sincerely,
Hna. Crowley
Another week down. Actually, another MONTH down! I officially have 5 months out as of tomorrow. Which means, me falta 13. (I have 13 left.) Good times.
As always, not a lot of time to email, just because I'm a missionary and that's the nature of this life.
This last week was pretty powerful. We worked our tails off, reached our goals, and ent up with 9 new investigators--two of whom are referrals from a counselor in our Mission Presidency, Presidente Lopez. So here's the story.
Saturday morning Hna. Corless and I slept in til 8:00--there's a story for that too that I'll tell you next. Anyway, but we didn't mind because we were doing service that morning cleaning up this woman's huge lot of a yard that was full of random junk and weeds. She's sweet, and maybe she'll think about taking lessons, who knows? Anyway, so we got the Elders from our ward and did that all morning--9:45 til 11:00, and then we all went home and we were about to eat lunch--I hadn't eaten yet that morning--when we get this phone call from Presidente Lopez. He asked us to meet him right away at this neighborhood because his friend--one of his tenants--needed our help. So we really fast slipped into proselyting clothes, did our hair, and left. Turns out this friend of his has colon cancer, and he's only 35. His beautiful wife and kids were there too, and P. Lopez just blew them out of the water with the Spirit, testifying and teaching about the Book of Mormon, and how now was definitely the time to come closer to God. Raul, the friend, was so humble and accepting, and his wife too, and they have this adorable little 3-yr-old. Anyway, so P. Lopez gave them a BofM with his testimony and said that we missionaries will be there for them to teach them and give them whatever help they need. So that was amazing. He also gave Raul a blessing, and he and his wife were crying and feeling the peace that they've been missing for a while. . . It was awesome. We went back yesterday to teach them, and we'll go again today, and tomorrow, and the next day. . . They're wonderful. The coolest thing about that was that we have been praying very specifically about being able to find those people who have been prepared to receive the gospel and make the covenant of baptism, and then came Raul and his family. It was just pretty obvious, especially after we worked really hard last week, and it ended on that awesome note.
Now, the story of why we woke up so late on Saturday. See, I don't know how much I've told you about our upstairs neighbors, but they're something of a. . . pain. . . We call this guy our good friend Joe and his crazy girlfriend. Anyway, every week or two we get woken up in the middle of the night--around 2 or 2:30--to them screaming the F word and throwing things and what have you. Pretty awesome. So Friday night, Hna. Corless wakes up to something that sounded like they were nailing stuff to the floor right about her head. Fun, right? It took me a little bit longer, but I woke up as well, and Hna. Corless says, "Let's go talk to them." And I say, "Ok." And she says, "But, well, better let me do the talking." I said, "Ok." See, cuz she knew that if *I* did the talking, it wouldn't turn out so peaceful. Some of you know how well I turn out when I'm woken up from a good sleep in a rude way. . .
Anyway, so we put on jackets and slippers and go up. Hna. Corless knocks on the door police-style, and everything gets quiet. We wait a minute, then he slowly opens the door. He sees that it's us, and he starts saying "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," and Hna. Corless is all, "It's ok, but you're keeping us awake, and we have to wake up at 6:30 in the morning." [it's about 3:30am] And so he apologizes, and she comes out there too, and Hna. Corless asks, "Is there anything we can do to help you guys?" And girlfriend goes, "Not at this time, no." By the way, she looks insane. Turns out she had been jumping on the door that she just broke. So they're both a little crazy. Anyway, we also say hi to the roommate, poor guy. He pokes his head out to see who was there, and he's like, "Oh, hey."
Then we're there and Joe starts crying--because you see, he thought he was going to jail because he thought we were the cops. He thanked us over and over for coming to talk to him first, and he was crying because he was so relieved. And he is a big guy too, real muscley and kinda pretty-boy. Anyway, so then he asks, "Hey, I never asked--what are your names?" And Hna. Corless goes, "Well, they call me Sister Corless." Heeheehee.
Anyway, so we didn't get back to bed til around 4, and they started yelling again--I think they don't know we can hear them yelling. So, in all, we were kept awake for a couple hours, so we slept in an extra 1 1/2 hours to make up for it, because we both felt kinda sick at 6:30 from not enough sleep.
And we've been quoting Hna. Corless's brilliant line ever since. "They call me Sister Corless." Pretty awesome.
That's it for today folks, I've got some snail mail letters to respond to and yeah, that's all.
Aunt Mom STOW, thanks for the updates. Keep them coming! I am SO excited to see that scarf. It's actually almost chilly enough to need one now, and my hands are always cold. :D
Nitwhit--I GOT THE INVITE!!!!!!!!!!! I was pretty stoked about that--ask Hna. Corless. I almost peed my pants. You're so CUTE!!!!!!! And you guys need to send me some photos, cuz I miss you and want to see what's going on. Keep me in the loop! Please? (imagine a puppy-dog look here.)
Katy, I got your amazing letter, but it really just inspired more questions--there is a lot you haven't told me, that maybe you told Wendy about and forgot I didn't know, cuz you acted like I should. Like, for instance, Disneyland. WHA-?!?! I had no idea. And that' just the beginning. I'll send you a letter though, so we'll get that worked out.
I love you all, please be safe, and send me letters!
The end.
Sincerely,
Hna. Crowley
Mon, 01 Dec 2008
Hey Guys!
No time this week, but an awesome story:
Remember Patty? The other night we had a lesson with her, and her husband finally sat in on it! Not only that, SHE taught part of the lesson! She was whipping out scriptures about faith that she had found in her own studies! It was amazing. Patty is SO cool, and so strong. We set her baptism date for Dec 14. Hopefully her daughter too.
It's stuff like that that really keeps me going out here. This last week was hard in other aspects, but Thanksgiving dinner with the Seguras was wonderful and that lesson was powerful.
Guys, the gospel is true. I see it CHANGE people. Literally. Once you CHOOSE to apply it, it's all uphill from there.
I love you all, and I'll talk to you again next week.
Love,
Hna. Crowley.
No time this week, but an awesome story:
Remember Patty? The other night we had a lesson with her, and her husband finally sat in on it! Not only that, SHE taught part of the lesson! She was whipping out scriptures about faith that she had found in her own studies! It was amazing. Patty is SO cool, and so strong. We set her baptism date for Dec 14. Hopefully her daughter too.
It's stuff like that that really keeps me going out here. This last week was hard in other aspects, but Thanksgiving dinner with the Seguras was wonderful and that lesson was powerful.
Guys, the gospel is true. I see it CHANGE people. Literally. Once you CHOOSE to apply it, it's all uphill from there.
I love you all, and I'll talk to you again next week.
Love,
Hna. Crowley.
Mon, 17 Nov 2008
Hey guys!
So this last week was good. We're working with Patty and her daughter to set a baptismal date for the 30 of November. Cross you fingers! What else happened this week. . . ?
We went on splits with another companionship on Tuesday--our zone leader asked Hna. Corless to go on splits with one Hna who just started training and she has only one transfer more than me in the field, so he asked my companion to help her out. That meant that I got the greenie! Whoohoo! Actually, she only has two weeks less than me in Phoenix. She's six weeks behind me as a missionary, but that's because she is a native Spanish speaker and only had three weeks in the MTC. She's serving here because she's waiting for her visa to Bolivia. Anyway, so I got to work with her, and we had this cool experience where we were looking for somewhere to tract, and--long story short--we followed impressions until we got to this street, and the first house we knocked on was the home of a recent convert who I've never met because she has cancer and is too sick to come to church, and she had just moved into this house two days ago and Hna. Corless and I were worried about getting her address. Yeah. It was intense. Pretty much awesome. And we "soft-committed" one of our investigators to baptism, which was cool because I was worried that she wasn't that interested. All it took was a little nudge, and she's doing great.
Cool thing of the week--we got to go to the broadcast of the rededication of the Mexico City Temple. You had to have tickets from you bishop and be a member--so eight or older--to attend. I've noticed that when the Spirit is there, I can understand a whole lot more Spanish. So that was cool. President Monson is a cutey.
We're teaching this one family--their mom's a member and she wants to get her children baptised. There's three old enough, so we've been teaching them. One of them--the 13-yr-old--is just like I was at her age--really grumpy and mean to her brothers and sisters. And she thinks Vegas is the coolest place on earth. So basically, we've bonded for life. She just can't believe that a Church girl like me came out of Vegas. She asks me every time--so are you really from Vegas? Lol.
I have high hopes for these kids--they all have a little bit of anger problems and we can tell they've had a rough life--their dad was a drinker and now is in jail. Maria seems especially affected, and she used to say she didn't even believe in God. So we taught them who Heavenly Father is in our last lesson and at first everything we said, she said something to argue with it. After a little while, though, she started running out of stuff and listening to our answers. Then, some kind of miracle happened. She was telling us about her friend who didn't believe in God and Maria said that was sad that she didn't believe. Maria now knows God is there. We told them that if they prayed to know if He loves them, they would get an answer. So she asked, what happens if He doesn't answer? I told her, He will. And she believed me. It was pretty awesome.
Otherwise. . . We work hard, we have fun, we get really really tired, and that's about it. I love being a missionary! Especially because I get to eat Mexican food pretty much every day. It's awesome.
I will talk to you again soon. I hope you know the church is true, and that you treasure that knowledge and be worthy of it. I'm learning how to do that myself.
Love,
Hna. Crowley.
So this last week was good. We're working with Patty and her daughter to set a baptismal date for the 30 of November. Cross you fingers! What else happened this week. . . ?
We went on splits with another companionship on Tuesday--our zone leader asked Hna. Corless to go on splits with one Hna who just started training and she has only one transfer more than me in the field, so he asked my companion to help her out. That meant that I got the greenie! Whoohoo! Actually, she only has two weeks less than me in Phoenix. She's six weeks behind me as a missionary, but that's because she is a native Spanish speaker and only had three weeks in the MTC. She's serving here because she's waiting for her visa to Bolivia. Anyway, so I got to work with her, and we had this cool experience where we were looking for somewhere to tract, and--long story short--we followed impressions until we got to this street, and the first house we knocked on was the home of a recent convert who I've never met because she has cancer and is too sick to come to church, and she had just moved into this house two days ago and Hna. Corless and I were worried about getting her address. Yeah. It was intense. Pretty much awesome. And we "soft-committed" one of our investigators to baptism, which was cool because I was worried that she wasn't that interested. All it took was a little nudge, and she's doing great.
Cool thing of the week--we got to go to the broadcast of the rededication of the Mexico City Temple. You had to have tickets from you bishop and be a member--so eight or older--to attend. I've noticed that when the Spirit is there, I can understand a whole lot more Spanish. So that was cool. President Monson is a cutey.
We're teaching this one family--their mom's a member and she wants to get her children baptised. There's three old enough, so we've been teaching them. One of them--the 13-yr-old--is just like I was at her age--really grumpy and mean to her brothers and sisters. And she thinks Vegas is the coolest place on earth. So basically, we've bonded for life. She just can't believe that a Church girl like me came out of Vegas. She asks me every time--so are you really from Vegas? Lol.
I have high hopes for these kids--they all have a little bit of anger problems and we can tell they've had a rough life--their dad was a drinker and now is in jail. Maria seems especially affected, and she used to say she didn't even believe in God. So we taught them who Heavenly Father is in our last lesson and at first everything we said, she said something to argue with it. After a little while, though, she started running out of stuff and listening to our answers. Then, some kind of miracle happened. She was telling us about her friend who didn't believe in God and Maria said that was sad that she didn't believe. Maria now knows God is there. We told them that if they prayed to know if He loves them, they would get an answer. So she asked, what happens if He doesn't answer? I told her, He will. And she believed me. It was pretty awesome.
Otherwise. . . We work hard, we have fun, we get really really tired, and that's about it. I love being a missionary! Especially because I get to eat Mexican food pretty much every day. It's awesome.
I will talk to you again soon. I hope you know the church is true, and that you treasure that knowledge and be worthy of it. I'm learning how to do that myself.
Love,
Hna. Crowley.
Mon, 10 Nov 2008: Beginning of MONTH FOUR!
HI FAMILY!!! And friends who are kinda like family. . .
A few of you, I just got your emails from Wendy, others of you I snuck onto my gmail account to pilfer some addresses. . . (don't tell President Beck. ^.~) I wanted to send this out to you just to let you know how it's going, that I'm still alive out here in the field. . .
Today is the second day of my FOURTH MONTH in the mission! Times flies when you're having fun. . . Everything is pretty much awesome. I'm finally learning why it is that people say you work the hardest you ever had as a missionary. On the other hand, it's really easy to do it because it's so well organized, and you really want to do it. I've seen enough miracles for that.
I've already participated in two baptisms, and we're looking forward to sheduling two more for the end of this month. Who knows, maybe more than that. . . We're hoping.
I've been learning Spanish as well--and yesterday in church was kind of like a break through for me. When it comes to talking about the gospel, I can actually understand it pretty well! Which is pretty dang exciting for me. I try to study it every day like they tell us--which I'm learning it's pretty important to do what you're told. Especially since on the days that I do study for an hour in the morning, my ability to understand the language is tons better than days that I don't. Something about the Spirit of God and the Gift of Tongues. . . I don't know.
Umm, what else do you need to know? Well, I love it here. Oh, I figured you'd get a kick out of this email I just sent to my mission president--kinda sums up the week:
"Dear President Beck,
We got goal again! [[FYI: The weekly "goal" here in Phoenix is 20 lessons, 10 hours of tracting, and 2 lessons with less active or recent convert members]] I was pretty excited about that. And we worked so hard this week--which was evident in the fact that we had SEVEN people in church on Sunday! It was the most stressful Sunday of my life, but incredibly rewarding. :D
I'm glad you enjoy these emails--I enjoy writing them, because there's always something good to say! We now have 7 progressing investigators--building up to 9 or 10 by next week, we hope. The ward is good--but we're still working on getting more member-missionary effort together. If we can just get that going, the work here will explode. We need more referrals from the ward members, because I know that it will increase the chance of the investigator making it to baptism by a ton.
So that's where we're at right now. Slowly improving ourselves--purifying the messenger I guess--and seeing the blessings that are coming from working as hard as we can. The thing about working as hard as you can is, well, you get stronger, and can work harder! What we need now is to work more effectively. It's looking pretty good so far.
That's my report for today, I really hope you and Sister Beck are well. Did you tell everybody hi for me? Well, hi again to everyone in the office! This is going to be a good week.
Sincerely,
Hna. Crowley"
That's pretty much it--being a missionary is AWESOME! I love my companion too--Hermana Corless is my trainer, and I couldn't ask for better. Last night, we gave ourselves French manicures. Very fashionable, I must say. We get along really well, and have a lot of fun. We laugh a lot. It's awesome.
Soon I'll send pictures of what we did for Halloween, which was pretty intense as well. Imagine a sister missionary in a Jody dress and dredlocks. . .
Gotta go--I'm out of time! I love you all, and hope you enjoyed this little update. If you have any questions, just email me: caryn.d.crowley.apm@myldsmail.net Or snail mail (which is better)
Hermana Caryn Delayn Crowley
Arizona Phoenix Mission
18001 N 79th Ave. Bldg. C Ste. 50
Glendale, AZ 85308
And, if you want my mom to add you to the group that she forwards to every week, just send her a little note--origional@hotmail.com--
A few of you, I just got your emails from Wendy, others of you I snuck onto my gmail account to pilfer some addresses. . . (don't tell President Beck. ^.~) I wanted to send this out to you just to let you know how it's going, that I'm still alive out here in the field. . .
Today is the second day of my FOURTH MONTH in the mission! Times flies when you're having fun. . . Everything is pretty much awesome. I'm finally learning why it is that people say you work the hardest you ever had as a missionary. On the other hand, it's really easy to do it because it's so well organized, and you really want to do it. I've seen enough miracles for that.
I've already participated in two baptisms, and we're looking forward to sheduling two more for the end of this month. Who knows, maybe more than that. . . We're hoping.
I've been learning Spanish as well--and yesterday in church was kind of like a break through for me. When it comes to talking about the gospel, I can actually understand it pretty well! Which is pretty dang exciting for me. I try to study it every day like they tell us--which I'm learning it's pretty important to do what you're told. Especially since on the days that I do study for an hour in the morning, my ability to understand the language is tons better than days that I don't. Something about the Spirit of God and the Gift of Tongues. . . I don't know.
Umm, what else do you need to know? Well, I love it here. Oh, I figured you'd get a kick out of this email I just sent to my mission president--kinda sums up the week:
"Dear President Beck,
We got goal again! [[FYI: The weekly "goal" here in Phoenix is 20 lessons, 10 hours of tracting, and 2 lessons with less active or recent convert members]] I was pretty excited about that. And we worked so hard this week--which was evident in the fact that we had SEVEN people in church on Sunday! It was the most stressful Sunday of my life, but incredibly rewarding. :D
I'm glad you enjoy these emails--I enjoy writing them, because there's always something good to say! We now have 7 progressing investigators--building up to 9 or 10 by next week, we hope. The ward is good--but we're still working on getting more member-missionary effort together. If we can just get that going, the work here will explode. We need more referrals from the ward members, because I know that it will increase the chance of the investigator making it to baptism by a ton.
So that's where we're at right now. Slowly improving ourselves--purifying the messenger I guess--and seeing the blessings that are coming from working as hard as we can. The thing about working as hard as you can is, well, you get stronger, and can work harder! What we need now is to work more effectively. It's looking pretty good so far.
That's my report for today, I really hope you and Sister Beck are well. Did you tell everybody hi for me? Well, hi again to everyone in the office! This is going to be a good week.
Sincerely,
Hna. Crowley"
That's pretty much it--being a missionary is AWESOME! I love my companion too--Hermana Corless is my trainer, and I couldn't ask for better. Last night, we gave ourselves French manicures. Very fashionable, I must say. We get along really well, and have a lot of fun. We laugh a lot. It's awesome.
Soon I'll send pictures of what we did for Halloween, which was pretty intense as well. Imagine a sister missionary in a Jody dress and dredlocks. . .
Gotta go--I'm out of time! I love you all, and hope you enjoyed this little update. If you have any questions, just email me: caryn.d.crowley.apm@myldsmail.
Hermana Caryn Delayn Crowley
Arizona Phoenix Mission
18001 N 79th Ave. Bldg. C Ste. 50
Glendale, AZ 85308
And, if you want my mom to add you to the group that she forwards to every week, just send her a little note--origional@hotmail.com--
and she'll put you on the list. :D Otherwise, just know that I love you and I'm excited to see you again! God be with you.
Love,
Hna. Crowley
Mon, 03 Nov 2008
Hey mom, I was just wondering--who do you forward all these emails to? I'm just curious. They can email me back too, if they want. . . Lol.
So this week was really good, work wise, especially considering we had two Zone meetings--well, one was Zone Conference--and they take half the day, and then Halloween we were stuck inside the house after 5:00. We found 7 new investigators and a bunch of potentials! But our two progressing investigators--Patty and her daughter Sarahi--we couldn't go visit because Patty had the flu. So we brought her a box of tissues and some lozenges and left them on her porch. I hope she got them. . . :D
Halloween was really awesome--I'll send pictures. We had a pretty good time practicing for our career as a punk-rock-LDS group. We're pretty excited about that. When I come home, I just want to learn how to play the drums. Then I can be the drummer/lead singer of our punk/folk/rock/LDS band. It'll be awesome. We're thinking of calling it Return Sister Missionaries Rock as Hard as the Next Guy, or something like that.
Also, Sister Corless almost got eaten by a pitbull yesterday. I'll have to send you the picture--this thing is nasty. We were walking up to a door--they didn't have a fence or anything, and I saw a big black dog in the back, so I'm like--Hermana, there's a dog--and I started backing up--so she was closer to the door. Neither of us saw the OTHER dog--he ran at her so fast, we both thought she was a gonner. Luckily, he was on a chain. We came up with a good song title for one of our next cds--Thank the Lord for Dogs on Chains. Pretty awesome title for a Return Sister Missionary rock combo, don't you think?
We did do work too, but this week was a little rough--we've realized that we need to work more with the members--because we really don't much. We have dinner with a family every night, which rocks because they make awesome mexican food, but we don't really have a lot of member-missionary work going on. So we've got a really cool plan to vamp things up this week. I'll tell you how it goes.
Being a missinoary, I've decided, is the coolest thing I have ever done. And I've never felt like more of a dork. Lol. My companion rocks, and we really have a ton of fun--even though it can be hard. This week was a lot better than the last--we both have been feeling better health-wise, and we worked really hard, so we were happier. It's kinda cool how that's tied together--hard work=happiness. And I know it's true.
Another thing I've learned is Satan does not want this work to go forth--and we do have a lot of work here. But God is stronger than Satan. If we're leaning on Heavenly Father, it doesn't matter what Satan wants--He can get it done. The only thing is, it's predicated on our ability to keep His commandments, be faithful, and teach with the power of the Spirit. There's this really cool story about this with the Prophet Nephi, son of Helaman, that I came across in my studies the other day. I learned that if I follow this guidline to be a good missionary, I'm going to see miracles. I already have, and I'm not even that good yet. Helaman 10: 4-5
4 Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.
5 And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.
This promise has struck me hard. Expect to hear about some miracles, guys, because I'm ready to go. I'm not as good as Nephi--by a long stretch--but I know that the Lord perfects His saints through our willingness to change and act. And well, if nothing else, I'm willing. So I'm excited for what the Lord has in store for us.
I'm going to go now, because I'm tired and I want to write some snail mail letters. I think you are all very awesome, and I am excited to hear from you again. Paz fuera.
Love,
Hermana Crowley.
So this week was really good, work wise, especially considering we had two Zone meetings--well, one was Zone Conference--and they take half the day, and then Halloween we were stuck inside the house after 5:00. We found 7 new investigators and a bunch of potentials! But our two progressing investigators--Patty and her daughter Sarahi--we couldn't go visit because Patty had the flu. So we brought her a box of tissues and some lozenges and left them on her porch. I hope she got them. . . :D
Halloween was really awesome--I'll send pictures. We had a pretty good time practicing for our career as a punk-rock-LDS group. We're pretty excited about that. When I come home, I just want to learn how to play the drums. Then I can be the drummer/lead singer of our punk/folk/rock/LDS band. It'll be awesome. We're thinking of calling it Return Sister Missionaries Rock as Hard as the Next Guy, or something like that.
Also, Sister Corless almost got eaten by a pitbull yesterday. I'll have to send you the picture--this thing is nasty. We were walking up to a door--they didn't have a fence or anything, and I saw a big black dog in the back, so I'm like--Hermana, there's a dog--and I started backing up--so she was closer to the door. Neither of us saw the OTHER dog--he ran at her so fast, we both thought she was a gonner. Luckily, he was on a chain. We came up with a good song title for one of our next cds--Thank the Lord for Dogs on Chains. Pretty awesome title for a Return Sister Missionary rock combo, don't you think?
We did do work too, but this week was a little rough--we've realized that we need to work more with the members--because we really don't much. We have dinner with a family every night, which rocks because they make awesome mexican food, but we don't really have a lot of member-missionary work going on. So we've got a really cool plan to vamp things up this week. I'll tell you how it goes.
Being a missinoary, I've decided, is the coolest thing I have ever done. And I've never felt like more of a dork. Lol. My companion rocks, and we really have a ton of fun--even though it can be hard. This week was a lot better than the last--we both have been feeling better health-wise, and we worked really hard, so we were happier. It's kinda cool how that's tied together--hard work=happiness. And I know it's true.
Another thing I've learned is Satan does not want this work to go forth--and we do have a lot of work here. But God is stronger than Satan. If we're leaning on Heavenly Father, it doesn't matter what Satan wants--He can get it done. The only thing is, it's predicated on our ability to keep His commandments, be faithful, and teach with the power of the Spirit. There's this really cool story about this with the Prophet Nephi, son of Helaman, that I came across in my studies the other day. I learned that if I follow this guidline to be a good missionary, I'm going to see miracles. I already have, and I'm not even that good yet. Helaman 10: 4-5
4 Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.
5 And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.
This promise has struck me hard. Expect to hear about some miracles, guys, because I'm ready to go. I'm not as good as Nephi--by a long stretch--but I know that the Lord perfects His saints through our willingness to change and act. And well, if nothing else, I'm willing. So I'm excited for what the Lord has in store for us.
I'm going to go now, because I'm tired and I want to write some snail mail letters. I think you are all very awesome, and I am excited to hear from you again. Paz fuera.
Love,
Hermana Crowley.
Tue, 14 Oct 2008
Sorry I didn't email you yesterday--the library was closed because it was Columbus Day. We didn't get mail because of that too.
I'm going to make this email short and sweet, because I feel weird writing emails on a Tuesday. (Our Zone Leader told us to do it. He's here right now, writing too. Lol.)
Yesterday, we helped a woman paint her mom's room. She sounds really interested in coming to church, and she has an 18-yr-old son who lives with her that I think might come too. We haven't met him yet though. And she swears like a sailor, as they say. I honestly haven't heard the F-word since before I entered the MTC, so that was kind of funny.
We met our mission goal this last week! First time for me! The weekly goal is 20-10-2 which means 20 lessons, 10 hours of tracting, and 2 lessons taught with a member present. And Apostle promised that if 66% of the mission got that goal every week, convert baptismsm would double. Well, we're at about 18%. But my whole district got goal this week, and our district goal is to get it every week for the rest of October. Our DL promised to buy us all carne asada if we can make it. And we're all working together and it's pretty cool. And we had the most success this week ever--getting potential investigators and all. It was pretty awesome. I love being a missionary!
Knocking on doors is my favorite. It doesn't matter how many doors refuse us--the people who accept us make up for it. And most of all, even when people don't want the message, we can still leave them smiling. Most doors we do--which is just as important as anything. In the Joseph Smith movie that they show in the Visitors Centers there's this part where Joseph and other men of the church are helping fix up this old woman's home. She goes to him and says--"I don't believe in your religion, Mr. Smith, but I do appreciate what you're doing." Joseph replies, "Well, Ma'am, I guess you could say that IS our religion." That's an awesome scene. And that is it--it doesn't matter if they choose to accept the message--that's their ichoice. We still have the duty as members of Christ's Church to serve others, love them, and leave good feelings. I think it's awesome. I've made some pretty good friends here too.
As for the baptisms--Gabriel didn't get baptized. We were bummed, to say the least. We did all we could to convince him it WAS the right t ime, but he still felt strongly that he should wait til he's settled somewhere. But he promised that he will get baptized--he knows it's true, and he wants it bad. Well, it's between him and God too. I was just kinda sad.
But Melissa and Arlem got baptized! These two are sooooo sweet! And their families were there and a lot of members. . .It was awesome. I'll tell you about them more when I send the pictures I took.
I love you all so dang much, and I'm going to go now. Please tell Jordan to heal, ok? And that I'm praying for her. And tell me how her operation went! Anyone else going through something traumatic?
Please tell the whole family that I love them very much, and I'm praying for them. And I love this mission, and my companion, and my district, and this amazing work. I can't even believe how happy I get here, even though I am a happy person already, sometimes I can't even contain it! My companion thinks I'm a spaz cuz sometimes I just get the wiggles because I get so excited. That's all. Missionary work is cool.
And Spanish is awesome too. I love Mexicans.
Ok, I'll talk to you again next week. Love you, so much. Bye!
Love,
Hna. Crowley.
P.S. Familia, I sent you a pretty good-size snail mail letter today, so that should be getting there soon. Sorry for not sending more snail mail! But I love your letters so much, so keep them coming! They keep me going.
You guys are pretty cool.
I'm going to make this email short and sweet, because I feel weird writing emails on a Tuesday. (Our Zone Leader told us to do it. He's here right now, writing too. Lol.)
Yesterday, we helped a woman paint her mom's room. She sounds really interested in coming to church, and she has an 18-yr-old son who lives with her that I think might come too. We haven't met him yet though. And she swears like a sailor, as they say. I honestly haven't heard the F-word since before I entered the MTC, so that was kind of funny.
We met our mission goal this last week! First time for me! The weekly goal is 20-10-2 which means 20 lessons, 10 hours of tracting, and 2 lessons taught with a member present. And Apostle promised that if 66% of the mission got that goal every week, convert baptismsm would double. Well, we're at about 18%. But my whole district got goal this week, and our district goal is to get it every week for the rest of October. Our DL promised to buy us all carne asada if we can make it. And we're all working together and it's pretty cool. And we had the most success this week ever--getting potential investigators and all. It was pretty awesome. I love being a missionary!
Knocking on doors is my favorite. It doesn't matter how many doors refuse us--the people who accept us make up for it. And most of all, even when people don't want the message, we can still leave them smiling. Most doors we do--which is just as important as anything. In the Joseph Smith movie that they show in the Visitors Centers there's this part where Joseph and other men of the church are helping fix up this old woman's home. She goes to him and says--"I don't believe in your religion, Mr. Smith, but I do appreciate what you're doing." Joseph replies, "Well, Ma'am, I guess you could say that IS our religion." That's an awesome scene. And that is it--it doesn't matter if they choose to accept the message--that's their ichoice. We still have the duty as members of Christ's Church to serve others, love them, and leave good feelings. I think it's awesome. I've made some pretty good friends here too.
As for the baptisms--Gabriel didn't get baptized. We were bummed, to say the least. We did all we could to convince him it WAS the right t ime, but he still felt strongly that he should wait til he's settled somewhere. But he promised that he will get baptized--he knows it's true, and he wants it bad. Well, it's between him and God too. I was just kinda sad.
But Melissa and Arlem got baptized! These two are sooooo sweet! And their families were there and a lot of members. . .It was awesome. I'll tell you about them more when I send the pictures I took.
I love you all so dang much, and I'm going to go now. Please tell Jordan to heal, ok? And that I'm praying for her. And tell me how her operation went! Anyone else going through something traumatic?
Please tell the whole family that I love them very much, and I'm praying for them. And I love this mission, and my companion, and my district, and this amazing work. I can't even believe how happy I get here, even though I am a happy person already, sometimes I can't even contain it! My companion thinks I'm a spaz cuz sometimes I just get the wiggles because I get so excited. That's all. Missionary work is cool.
And Spanish is awesome too. I love Mexicans.
Ok, I'll talk to you again next week. Love you, so much. Bye!
Love,
Hna. Crowley.
P.S. Familia, I sent you a pretty good-size snail mail letter today, so that should be getting there soon. Sorry for not sending more snail mail! But I love your letters so much, so keep them coming! They keep me going.
You guys are pretty cool.
Mon, 06 Oct 2008: Message from Phoenix
Dear Family,
Hi! First of all, THANK YOU for that letter! Ask my companion--I was so excited reading all those notes from everybody. That really made my mission. In case I don't get a chance later, please tell everyone I loved their notes, and I love them.
This week was good, except we were sick. Bleh. Sick stomach stuff that's been going around. Actually, last Tuesday we stayed home because I had the aches and sick stomach and I had to go to the bathroom every ten minutes. And we were out of mileage for our car.
Here's the story: Each month we can only drive 1075 miles (and we have a pretty big area, so we have to be careful) and last Monday we pulled into the parking spot at EXACTLY 1075.0. I'll send you the picture. So Tuesday was the last day of the month, and we couldn't drive but we had an appointment in the morning. I was feeling sick, but we really wanted to get over and talk to this woman--because we needed to drop her because she wasn't keeping her commitments. Anyway, so we decided to walk. 4 miles. In the Phoenix sun. Actually, it was pretty pleasant relatively because there was a nice breeze, but it was still 4 miles. We got there I was about ready to throw up (because I was sick, if you remember) and yeah, it was fun. After the lesson we called the English Elders in our area to come give us a ride, and then we called Sister Beck and stayed home the rest of the day. It was well needed.
We've had a slow week because of us both being sick, so not a lot of work done--but the work we did get to was pretty awesome. These Elders in our district handed us this AMAZING referral in our area--a woman they're teaching had a friend who was interested. Her name is Patti, and her husband is Daniel, and they have two daughters 10 and 15. They are so golden. We went over to their house, sat down with them, and "built a relationship of trust"--which is what the Church calls making friends--and then we taught a little. We read a paragraph from the Family Proclamation and Daniel says--you guys need to make copies of this and put them up everywhere, because no one seems to care about their duties as parents anymore. It was amazing. They're such a loving family--basically a bunch of dry Mormons it sounds like. Please pray for them--we REALLY are hoping for success with these guys. They're so sweet!
And it was Hna. Corless's birthday on Saturday--the big 25! This was so cute--we had dinner with a family that we've been teaching (the parents were less-active members and they're coming back and their 12-yr-old daughter wants to be baptized--her baptism is on Sunday). Anyway, we went there for dinner--they threw her a party! They are the SWEETEST family! Oh my gosh, we love them. It's grandma (active member) mom and dad (coming back as active members) and two daughters--Melissa (12) and Elissa (6). They made everything home-made--carne asada (like thinly cut steak) guacamole, salsa, and flour tortillas. It was AMAZING. And then the cake--holy cow. Tres Leches, which is basically cake that has milk stuff poured over afterwards to make it kinda juicy. It is SO GOOD, and they made that for her. Amazing. She had a good birthday. I bought her a dog book, because she loves dogs. I think her and Katy would get along very well.
What else? We have three baptisms planned for this weekend, so hopefully those will all go alright. Two of them think they might be moving this week. . . Pray for them too, ok?
I have seen some amazing things. Even with people who didn't want the gospel, but we still were able to share the love the Savior has for them. This man Ed we have been talking to flat out told us he wasn't interested in learning more. But, more important than that, we left his house as friends. Maybe we gave him an idea that Heavenly Father really does love him. If nothing else, we were able to be real Christians and invite without arguing, and leaving without any contention. It was pretty cool.
I'm going to go now, because I have a lot of letters to write back to. I pray for you guys every night, and I love you so much. Have you had the chance to study Preach My Gospel? It's pretty much amazing. This work is definitely the work of God, and I feel His presence around me.
I love you, and I'll talk to you again soon.
Love,
Hna. Crowley
Hi! First of all, THANK YOU for that letter! Ask my companion--I was so excited reading all those notes from everybody. That really made my mission. In case I don't get a chance later, please tell everyone I loved their notes, and I love them.
This week was good, except we were sick. Bleh. Sick stomach stuff that's been going around. Actually, last Tuesday we stayed home because I had the aches and sick stomach and I had to go to the bathroom every ten minutes. And we were out of mileage for our car.
Here's the story: Each month we can only drive 1075 miles (and we have a pretty big area, so we have to be careful) and last Monday we pulled into the parking spot at EXACTLY 1075.0. I'll send you the picture. So Tuesday was the last day of the month, and we couldn't drive but we had an appointment in the morning. I was feeling sick, but we really wanted to get over and talk to this woman--because we needed to drop her because she wasn't keeping her commitments. Anyway, so we decided to walk. 4 miles. In the Phoenix sun. Actually, it was pretty pleasant relatively because there was a nice breeze, but it was still 4 miles. We got there I was about ready to throw up (because I was sick, if you remember) and yeah, it was fun. After the lesson we called the English Elders in our area to come give us a ride, and then we called Sister Beck and stayed home the rest of the day. It was well needed.
We've had a slow week because of us both being sick, so not a lot of work done--but the work we did get to was pretty awesome. These Elders in our district handed us this AMAZING referral in our area--a woman they're teaching had a friend who was interested. Her name is Patti, and her husband is Daniel, and they have two daughters 10 and 15. They are so golden. We went over to their house, sat down with them, and "built a relationship of trust"--which is what the Church calls making friends--and then we taught a little. We read a paragraph from the Family Proclamation and Daniel says--you guys need to make copies of this and put them up everywhere, because no one seems to care about their duties as parents anymore. It was amazing. They're such a loving family--basically a bunch of dry Mormons it sounds like. Please pray for them--we REALLY are hoping for success with these guys. They're so sweet!
And it was Hna. Corless's birthday on Saturday--the big 25! This was so cute--we had dinner with a family that we've been teaching (the parents were less-active members and they're coming back and their 12-yr-old daughter wants to be baptized--her baptism is on Sunday). Anyway, we went there for dinner--they threw her a party! They are the SWEETEST family! Oh my gosh, we love them. It's grandma (active member) mom and dad (coming back as active members) and two daughters--Melissa (12) and Elissa (6). They made everything home-made--carne asada (like thinly cut steak) guacamole, salsa, and flour tortillas. It was AMAZING. And then the cake--holy cow. Tres Leches, which is basically cake that has milk stuff poured over afterwards to make it kinda juicy. It is SO GOOD, and they made that for her. Amazing. She had a good birthday. I bought her a dog book, because she loves dogs. I think her and Katy would get along very well.
What else? We have three baptisms planned for this weekend, so hopefully those will all go alright. Two of them think they might be moving this week. . . Pray for them too, ok?
I have seen some amazing things. Even with people who didn't want the gospel, but we still were able to share the love the Savior has for them. This man Ed we have been talking to flat out told us he wasn't interested in learning more. But, more important than that, we left his house as friends. Maybe we gave him an idea that Heavenly Father really does love him. If nothing else, we were able to be real Christians and invite without arguing, and leaving without any contention. It was pretty cool.
I'm going to go now, because I have a lot of letters to write back to. I pray for you guys every night, and I love you so much. Have you had the chance to study Preach My Gospel? It's pretty much amazing. This work is definitely the work of God, and I feel His presence around me.
I love you, and I'll talk to you again soon.
Love,
Hna. Crowley
Mon, 29 Sep 2008
Hey fam! How's it hanging?
Ugh. I got the achy sick today. No worries, I'm well taken care of, just something to complain about.
Otherwise, this last week has been really good--again. I honestly can't complain. We've had some success, and some dissapointment, but that just goes with the job.
Sad story--the woman Aurea, I'm not sure if I told you about her, decided she wants to keep going to her Presbyterian church. Well, that was disheartening, but her choice. I know we did our part to bring her to the gospel, but she still has her agency.
But we still have Gabriel, Estela, Arlim, and Melissa, who are all getting baptized in the next couple of weeks. Plus other progressing investigators we have a lot of hope for.
One story, and them I'm going to go because this computer is giving me a headache. Lol.
We had the opportunity to take Gabriel to the Visitor's Center up at the Mesa temple (we get to leave our mission to take our investigators there. Cool, huh?) The Mesa temple is beautiful. Kinda odd, because it doesn't have an Angel Moroni on top--I think some sort of building regulation--but it's awesome. So we went because we really wanted Gabriel to watch the Joseph Smith movie--Hna. Corless had been having that thought all week, and felt it was really important to get him there. So we call the ward mission leader in the ward he's getting baptized in--Bro. Bierman--and he said he and his wife would love to take us! Then we had some crazy stuff--Gabriel took work off, but the Biermans forgot that it was the Relief Society Broadcast that night, so Sis Bierman couldn't go, and blah blah blah--Saturday was stressful. I bet Satan just didn't want us to get Gabriel to the temple. Anyway, Hna. Corless was firm--Bro Bierman, turns out, was able to take us, just without his wife--so it was us in the back seats of the SUV, the Elders who work in that ward, and Bro Bierman and Gabriel in the front. They were talking the whole ride up there, and the whole way back--which is amazing. Gabriel has a friend! He's pretty shy. And when we got there, we had half an hour before the movie started and there was an exhibit of Book of Mormon art that we looked at--the prints that are in the older copies of B of M that illustrate the main stories. We walked around and told about all the stories, and he LOVED the Captain Moroni painting. . .It was amazing. There was also this guy there who was a Bible scholar, like Gabriel, who had JUST GOTTEN BAPTIZED THAT DAY. We talked a bit with him, and Gabriel got to hear this guys amazing testimony, fresh out of the water, and how excited he was to get confirmed the next day. It hit Gabriel pretty hard, and he was like, wow.
Then the movie--he cried a little bit, and he said he really like it. By the end of this trip, he was feeling overwhelmed, but happy. We even got to walk around the temple and talk about how he can do baptisms for the dead after he is confirmed, so he can go inside that amazing building. He seemed pretty excited. (Side note--the Elders told us that yesterday, when Bro. Bierman was giving Gabriel a ride home from church, Gabriel basically bore his testimony that he did believe the church, the book of mormon, all of it is true, and even he believes in the Prophet Joseph Smith--which is usually the hardest part for most people. He's so awesome.)
So that was amazing. And then, on the way back, there was this guy stalled just off the freeway exit. Bro Bierman goes--"Hey, you guys ready to do some service?" And then, "Hey Sisters, can you drive?" So all the guys hopped out, and they pushed that little pickup a couple of blocks to the next gas station, and Hna. Corless drove a big SUV for the first time, and I took pictures. I'll send you some. Turns out this guy only spoke Spanish (Bro. Bierman speaks Spanish too) and he had no money, no cell phone, and had no hope basically. While we were there--this guys battery was dead, so we were searching for a jumper cable or something--a tow-truck driver just happened to pull in to fill up right then, and he helped too. When they figured out the battery was completely dead, Bro. Bierman asked how much it would be to get this man a tow home--the tow truck guy did it for $20. Amazing.
That was our wonderful Saturday night, and we got home at about 10:45, and we were very tired, but happy.
Ok, I'm going to go now. I love you all so stinking much. I wrote you a letter last week, but I could not for the life of me find some place to drop it off, til last night. So it should get to you in a couple days. I got you letter last week too, and I'll write you again today. Man, I love you guys. And I love this work. Too much amazing stuff happens every day for me to not love this. We just have to be looking for the amazing stuff. Sometimes it's pretty discreet.
I'm going to go now. You're amazing. Write me again.
Love,
Hna. Crowley
P.S. How's the recipe/photo/cds package coming? ^.~ Can you tell I appreciate you? I do
Ugh. I got the achy sick today. No worries, I'm well taken care of, just something to complain about.
Otherwise, this last week has been really good--again. I honestly can't complain. We've had some success, and some dissapointment, but that just goes with the job.
Sad story--the woman Aurea, I'm not sure if I told you about her, decided she wants to keep going to her Presbyterian church. Well, that was disheartening, but her choice. I know we did our part to bring her to the gospel, but she still has her agency.
But we still have Gabriel, Estela, Arlim, and Melissa, who are all getting baptized in the next couple of weeks. Plus other progressing investigators we have a lot of hope for.
One story, and them I'm going to go because this computer is giving me a headache. Lol.
We had the opportunity to take Gabriel to the Visitor's Center up at the Mesa temple (we get to leave our mission to take our investigators there. Cool, huh?) The Mesa temple is beautiful. Kinda odd, because it doesn't have an Angel Moroni on top--I think some sort of building regulation--but it's awesome. So we went because we really wanted Gabriel to watch the Joseph Smith movie--Hna. Corless had been having that thought all week, and felt it was really important to get him there. So we call the ward mission leader in the ward he's getting baptized in--Bro. Bierman--and he said he and his wife would love to take us! Then we had some crazy stuff--Gabriel took work off, but the Biermans forgot that it was the Relief Society Broadcast that night, so Sis Bierman couldn't go, and blah blah blah--Saturday was stressful. I bet Satan just didn't want us to get Gabriel to the temple. Anyway, Hna. Corless was firm--Bro Bierman, turns out, was able to take us, just without his wife--so it was us in the back seats of the SUV, the Elders who work in that ward, and Bro Bierman and Gabriel in the front. They were talking the whole ride up there, and the whole way back--which is amazing. Gabriel has a friend! He's pretty shy. And when we got there, we had half an hour before the movie started and there was an exhibit of Book of Mormon art that we looked at--the prints that are in the older copies of B of M that illustrate the main stories. We walked around and told about all the stories, and he LOVED the Captain Moroni painting. . .It was amazing. There was also this guy there who was a Bible scholar, like Gabriel, who had JUST GOTTEN BAPTIZED THAT DAY. We talked a bit with him, and Gabriel got to hear this guys amazing testimony, fresh out of the water, and how excited he was to get confirmed the next day. It hit Gabriel pretty hard, and he was like, wow.
Then the movie--he cried a little bit, and he said he really like it. By the end of this trip, he was feeling overwhelmed, but happy. We even got to walk around the temple and talk about how he can do baptisms for the dead after he is confirmed, so he can go inside that amazing building. He seemed pretty excited. (Side note--the Elders told us that yesterday, when Bro. Bierman was giving Gabriel a ride home from church, Gabriel basically bore his testimony that he did believe the church, the book of mormon, all of it is true, and even he believes in the Prophet Joseph Smith--which is usually the hardest part for most people. He's so awesome.)
So that was amazing. And then, on the way back, there was this guy stalled just off the freeway exit. Bro Bierman goes--"Hey, you guys ready to do some service?" And then, "Hey Sisters, can you drive?" So all the guys hopped out, and they pushed that little pickup a couple of blocks to the next gas station, and Hna. Corless drove a big SUV for the first time, and I took pictures. I'll send you some. Turns out this guy only spoke Spanish (Bro. Bierman speaks Spanish too) and he had no money, no cell phone, and had no hope basically. While we were there--this guys battery was dead, so we were searching for a jumper cable or something--a tow-truck driver just happened to pull in to fill up right then, and he helped too. When they figured out the battery was completely dead, Bro. Bierman asked how much it would be to get this man a tow home--the tow truck guy did it for $20. Amazing.
That was our wonderful Saturday night, and we got home at about 10:45, and we were very tired, but happy.
Ok, I'm going to go now. I love you all so stinking much. I wrote you a letter last week, but I could not for the life of me find some place to drop it off, til last night. So it should get to you in a couple days. I got you letter last week too, and I'll write you again today. Man, I love you guys. And I love this work. Too much amazing stuff happens every day for me to not love this. We just have to be looking for the amazing stuff. Sometimes it's pretty discreet.
I'm going to go now. You're amazing. Write me again.
Love,
Hna. Crowley
P.S. How's the recipe/photo/cds package coming? ^.~ Can you tell I appreciate you? I do
Wed, 10 Sep 2008: LAST TIME FROM THE MTC!!!
You know, the nice thing about being delayed a day is that now I'm leaving on my P-day, so I have a chance to write to y'all again. I can't take too much time cuz I have to check in to the travel office in half an hour and I haven't had breakfast yet. . .
I'm so excited. I'm finally going out into the field, doing what I've been trained to do. Talking to people, finding people to teach, committing people, teaching lessons in Spanish. . .
Yikes. I'm so excited I can't even say it.
I'm sending home a box of a few things today that wouldn't and didn't need to fit in my luggage. Like that big coat, Mom. Yeah, I talked to a sister who served there and she told me that Spanish sisters stay in the valley, in really small hispanic areas. So I should be in Phoenix the whole time, so my one coat should be enough. I have to wear that one on the plane. You would not believe how much space my study stuff takes up! But no worries, everything is in the weight limit. . .I'm pretty sure. I forgot to do one last weigh, but I'm praying right now, so mo worries.
I love you all, I need to go. The Church is SO true, and I'm incredibly excited to get out there finally and do the work I was called to do. These last two months have been about me, but these next 16 are about everyone else. This is going to be fun!
Pray for me, I'm praying for you. I love you. I'll talk to you later. From Phoenix. Or the airport. Depends on who's reading this right now. :D
Love,
Hna. Crowley.
I'm so excited. I'm finally going out into the field, doing what I've been trained to do. Talking to people, finding people to teach, committing people, teaching lessons in Spanish. . .
Yikes. I'm so excited I can't even say it.
I'm sending home a box of a few things today that wouldn't and didn't need to fit in my luggage. Like that big coat, Mom. Yeah, I talked to a sister who served there and she told me that Spanish sisters stay in the valley, in really small hispanic areas. So I should be in Phoenix the whole time, so my one coat should be enough. I have to wear that one on the plane. You would not believe how much space my study stuff takes up! But no worries, everything is in the weight limit. . .I'm pretty sure. I forgot to do one last weigh, but I'm praying right now, so mo worries.
I love you all, I need to go. The Church is SO true, and I'm incredibly excited to get out there finally and do the work I was called to do. These last two months have been about me, but these next 16 are about everyone else. This is going to be fun!
Pray for me, I'm praying for you. I love you. I'll talk to you later. From Phoenix. Or the airport. Depends on who's reading this right now. :D
Love,
Hna. Crowley.
Wed, 27 Aug 2008: Week SEVEN!!!!
Crazy, right? Yeah, I leave the MTC in 12 days.
Ok, so let's get through this update. I want to get back to snail-mail writing. I'm almost completely caught up on my snail mail--the family is next. Sorry for not writing a snail-mail last week, I totally ran out of time. But I planned better today. And I got a hair-cut! I took off 4 inches. Slowly, I'm getting myself weaned off long hair. I'm thinking of getting it shorter too, but we'll see how I feel about it next week. This whole free hair-cut is addicting. . . Lol.
So what happened this week? Ummmmm. . . . Our speaker in Relief Society was Sister Elaine Dalton, from the old Young Women's General Presidency. She was awesome! And she reminded us of the YW theme, and how those first two sentences really apply to us--we are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will stand as witnesses of God. . .You know the rest. It was pretty awesome. And she extended a commitment to us as well--the 100% commitment. Goes like this: Pray every day, 100%. Read from the Book of Mormon (by yourself, family study doesn't count ^.~) at least 5 minutes every day, 100%. And last, smile every day (not necessarily ALL day, cuz then people might think you're weird) 100%. I think you guys should try that.
Ummm, what else? Just a normal week, really. We taught in Spanish, lesson 2, yesterday. It was pretty much amazing, because my companionship has been really working hard on being obedient and having the Spirit, and man it showed in our lesson! Hna. Lisiate has been behind with the Spanish because of how much time she's had to spend outside of class with physical therapy, doctor appointments, etc, but yesterday she didn't use any notes, made perfect sense, and man the Spirit was powerful. We were just going off each other, and saying things that each of us thought we should say. . .That probably didn't make sense. Anyway, it was awesome. Yeah, those of you who will be coming to the MTC, you'll love it. But I know how much you honestly enjoy it will depend on how well you follow the rules. Believe me, it makes a huge difference. And, surprise surprise, you can still have fun while keeping the rules. I think the First Presidency has got this whole missionary preparation thing down.
I gotta go, because my laundry's done and I really want time to write you all individually. Oh yeah, I think you should all get a Preach My Gospel manual. See, every speaker we've had here--including Elder Oaks--has talked about how amazing it is. And it is, when you realize the amazing stuff that they put in it! And yeah, it can totally be applied to regular members, not just full-time missionaries. Especially Kyle, since you'll probably be the next one serving. . . It's awesome, and the activities are so helpful, and it will change your life.
I love you all, and I miss you in a healthy way. I didn't get a letter from y'all yet today, but I'm pretty sure I will soon. You have no idea--well, a couple of you do--how much I appreciate the weekly letters. They really make my week.
Love,
Hna. Crowley.
P.S. Please tell Grandma Scovill thanks so much for the update, I'm praying for Alicia and her baby boy, and Amy and her little girl. And tell Grandma VanBuren that it's ok with me if she decides to move on, because I'll see her again, and we'll hang out. But I think Grandpa VanBuren has waited long enough. . . Lol.
Love you!
Ok, so let's get through this update. I want to get back to snail-mail writing. I'm almost completely caught up on my snail mail--the family is next. Sorry for not writing a snail-mail last week, I totally ran out of time. But I planned better today. And I got a hair-cut! I took off 4 inches. Slowly, I'm getting myself weaned off long hair. I'm thinking of getting it shorter too, but we'll see how I feel about it next week. This whole free hair-cut is addicting. . . Lol.
So what happened this week? Ummmmm. . . . Our speaker in Relief Society was Sister Elaine Dalton, from the old Young Women's General Presidency. She was awesome! And she reminded us of the YW theme, and how those first two sentences really apply to us--we are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will stand as witnesses of God. . .You know the rest. It was pretty awesome. And she extended a commitment to us as well--the 100% commitment. Goes like this: Pray every day, 100%. Read from the Book of Mormon (by yourself, family study doesn't count ^.~) at least 5 minutes every day, 100%. And last, smile every day (not necessarily ALL day, cuz then people might think you're weird) 100%. I think you guys should try that.
Ummm, what else? Just a normal week, really. We taught in Spanish, lesson 2, yesterday. It was pretty much amazing, because my companionship has been really working hard on being obedient and having the Spirit, and man it showed in our lesson! Hna. Lisiate has been behind with the Spanish because of how much time she's had to spend outside of class with physical therapy, doctor appointments, etc, but yesterday she didn't use any notes, made perfect sense, and man the Spirit was powerful. We were just going off each other, and saying things that each of us thought we should say. . .That probably didn't make sense. Anyway, it was awesome. Yeah, those of you who will be coming to the MTC, you'll love it. But I know how much you honestly enjoy it will depend on how well you follow the rules. Believe me, it makes a huge difference. And, surprise surprise, you can still have fun while keeping the rules. I think the First Presidency has got this whole missionary preparation thing down.
I gotta go, because my laundry's done and I really want time to write you all individually. Oh yeah, I think you should all get a Preach My Gospel manual. See, every speaker we've had here--including Elder Oaks--has talked about how amazing it is. And it is, when you realize the amazing stuff that they put in it! And yeah, it can totally be applied to regular members, not just full-time missionaries. Especially Kyle, since you'll probably be the next one serving. . . It's awesome, and the activities are so helpful, and it will change your life.
I love you all, and I miss you in a healthy way. I didn't get a letter from y'all yet today, but I'm pretty sure I will soon. You have no idea--well, a couple of you do--how much I appreciate the weekly letters. They really make my week.
Love,
Hna. Crowley.
P.S. Please tell Grandma Scovill thanks so much for the update, I'm praying for Alicia and her baby boy, and Amy and her little girl. And tell Grandma VanBuren that it's ok with me if she decides to move on, because I'll see her again, and we'll hang out. But I think Grandpa VanBuren has waited long enough. . . Lol.
Love you!
Wed, 13 Aug 2008
Hola mi familia! Como le va? (That means how's it going. :D)
So it's P-Day once again. I got your dearelder letter, mom, thanks. I'm going to go ahead and buy the jacket because you're right, it is starting to cool off in the mornings, and I'd really like to have it. Plus I really just wanted the excuse to get some MTC gear.
Sorry for not sending out a letter last week--please tell Brandon sorry I haven't written back yet too, but I WILL write today. I'm leaving today completely devoted to family--you, Sister Rosser, and Elder Sammy. So I'll have time for that all today.
So let me tell you about this week! Ummm. . . Hna Lisiate started physical therapy, so we get to leave the MTC three times a week. Actually, since there's three of us, one of us stays with our district as a "solo" and the other goes with her. So we just switch off. It's weird being "solo". But it's kinda fun, because it's so different. Anyway, so this physical therapy stuff will really help her ankle, so we're all rooting for her.
Hna. Baird got some stuff from her mom today--through a sneaky car drop-off. It was awesome. Her mom parked the car in the temple parking lot and left it unlocked, and then we walked up there with the stuff she knew she wouldn't be taking with her to Uruguay, and picked up the stuff her mom had left for her. Maybe something y'all should consider. . . ^.~ She got clothes and shoes and some really yummy minty divinity. Good stuff.
Oh, and we taught in Spanish yesterday! Well, not all three of us. Hna. Lisiate got really sick--I won't give you details--a couple hours before the teaching appointment. So Hna. Baird and I worked it out. And it went pretty well. Actually, it was the same sister from last week--remember the ones who couldn't speak English, so we taught in Spanish last week? Yeah, her. She's so sweet, and helps us with our Spanish when we mess up or ask ?Que significa ___? (What does ___ mean?) And we did pretty well. Our teacher gave us good comments too. And we got the BEST compiment you can get from a native--she said we didn't sound like Americans! She said we have great accents, even though we mess up our conjugations all the time. . . Lol. It was awesome.
Sunday was the departure devotional where I sang with Sister Rosser. Just before I sang, my throat was literally swelling up. There's this cough going around here, and I caught it a few days before. So I was freaking out a little because I just knew I was going to sound awful. So I prayed--I told Heavenly Father that He could take my voice clean away afterwards, I didn't care, but I honestly wanted to be able to sing this song. I love this song. When I sing it, I'm bearing my testimony--"I praise the love that makes me whole again. . ." It's a beautiful song, and I really wanted the people who were leaving that week to feel the Spirit and really get the meaning of it, and I told Heavenly Father that. Well, I got up there, and my voice was fine. And I felt the Spirit, and I bore my testimony, and it was awesome. And Sister Rosser played fantastically.
That was the coolest thing--that Sister Rosser and I got to be together her whole three weeks here. I mean, I don't remember if I told you this, but we had the same schedule. We were together as often as an English zone and a Spanish zone can be. And we got to do exchanges together and stuff to practice our song. And she was on my floor too. It was wonderful. I told her goodbye yesterday, and she left at 6:00 am. So she's in Baltimore now. :D
I'm running out of time, so I'll finish. I LOVE it here, still. I can't even tell you how much I've changed since I've been here. The Lord is giving me opportunities to see my weaknesses and He is making them stronger here. I know that without the incredible amount of the Spirit here I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing. I could honestly go to a South American country right now and survive. I'm not nearly fluent, but I speak much better than I ever could coming out of 4 years of Spanish. It's crazy. And I love the language, and I've decided Mexicans are my favorite. :D (Which is good, since that's pretty much who I'll be teaching down in Phoenix. . .) And I have such a love for Arizona, even though I've only been there once, and I know that the Lord is preparing people for me, right now. Actually, think about this--there are people there who He has been preparing their whole lives so that I can come and teach them. I think that's pretty dang cool.
The Lord is so aware of us. I can't even tell you how many times I've asked for help with something, and I have seen His response immediately. It's crazy. My testimony of prayer is just exploding,a dn I'm really learning how to pray in faith--I ask for something specific, then promise to act on His guidance. Or I plan something before, then ask for His help acting it out. It has been working amazingly.
I gotta go. I love you guys so freaking much.
Love,
Hna. Crowley
P.S. Meagan, HAPPY STINKING BIRTHDAY!!! Becci, I can NOT believe I didn't say it last week. Don't worry, I'll send you something to make up for it. Y'all are so cool. Trust me, you're the best family a missionary could ask for. I want pictures of the side yard!
Love you!
So it's P-Day once again. I got your dearelder letter, mom, thanks. I'm going to go ahead and buy the jacket because you're right, it is starting to cool off in the mornings, and I'd really like to have it. Plus I really just wanted the excuse to get some MTC gear.
Sorry for not sending out a letter last week--please tell Brandon sorry I haven't written back yet too, but I WILL write today. I'm leaving today completely devoted to family--you, Sister Rosser, and Elder Sammy. So I'll have time for that all today.
So let me tell you about this week! Ummm. . . Hna Lisiate started physical therapy, so we get to leave the MTC three times a week. Actually, since there's three of us, one of us stays with our district as a "solo" and the other goes with her. So we just switch off. It's weird being "solo". But it's kinda fun, because it's so different. Anyway, so this physical therapy stuff will really help her ankle, so we're all rooting for her.
Hna. Baird got some stuff from her mom today--through a sneaky car drop-off. It was awesome. Her mom parked the car in the temple parking lot and left it unlocked, and then we walked up there with the stuff she knew she wouldn't be taking with her to Uruguay, and picked up the stuff her mom had left for her. Maybe something y'all should consider. . . ^.~ She got clothes and shoes and some really yummy minty divinity. Good stuff.
Oh, and we taught in Spanish yesterday! Well, not all three of us. Hna. Lisiate got really sick--I won't give you details--a couple hours before the teaching appointment. So Hna. Baird and I worked it out. And it went pretty well. Actually, it was the same sister from last week--remember the ones who couldn't speak English, so we taught in Spanish last week? Yeah, her. She's so sweet, and helps us with our Spanish when we mess up or ask ?Que significa ___? (What does ___ mean?) And we did pretty well. Our teacher gave us good comments too. And we got the BEST compiment you can get from a native--she said we didn't sound like Americans! She said we have great accents, even though we mess up our conjugations all the time. . . Lol. It was awesome.
Sunday was the departure devotional where I sang with Sister Rosser. Just before I sang, my throat was literally swelling up. There's this cough going around here, and I caught it a few days before. So I was freaking out a little because I just knew I was going to sound awful. So I prayed--I told Heavenly Father that He could take my voice clean away afterwards, I didn't care, but I honestly wanted to be able to sing this song. I love this song. When I sing it, I'm bearing my testimony--"I praise the love that makes me whole again. . ." It's a beautiful song, and I really wanted the people who were leaving that week to feel the Spirit and really get the meaning of it, and I told Heavenly Father that. Well, I got up there, and my voice was fine. And I felt the Spirit, and I bore my testimony, and it was awesome. And Sister Rosser played fantastically.
That was the coolest thing--that Sister Rosser and I got to be together her whole three weeks here. I mean, I don't remember if I told you this, but we had the same schedule. We were together as often as an English zone and a Spanish zone can be. And we got to do exchanges together and stuff to practice our song. And she was on my floor too. It was wonderful. I told her goodbye yesterday, and she left at 6:00 am. So she's in Baltimore now. :D
I'm running out of time, so I'll finish. I LOVE it here, still. I can't even tell you how much I've changed since I've been here. The Lord is giving me opportunities to see my weaknesses and He is making them stronger here. I know that without the incredible amount of the Spirit here I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing. I could honestly go to a South American country right now and survive. I'm not nearly fluent, but I speak much better than I ever could coming out of 4 years of Spanish. It's crazy. And I love the language, and I've decided Mexicans are my favorite. :D (Which is good, since that's pretty much who I'll be teaching down in Phoenix. . .) And I have such a love for Arizona, even though I've only been there once, and I know that the Lord is preparing people for me, right now. Actually, think about this--there are people there who He has been preparing their whole lives so that I can come and teach them. I think that's pretty dang cool.
The Lord is so aware of us. I can't even tell you how many times I've asked for help with something, and I have seen His response immediately. It's crazy. My testimony of prayer is just exploding,a dn I'm really learning how to pray in faith--I ask for something specific, then promise to act on His guidance. Or I plan something before, then ask for His help acting it out. It has been working amazingly.
I gotta go. I love you guys so freaking much.
Love,
Hna. Crowley
P.S. Meagan, HAPPY STINKING BIRTHDAY!!! Becci, I can NOT believe I didn't say it last week. Don't worry, I'll send you something to make up for it. Y'all are so cool. Trust me, you're the best family a missionary could ask for. I want pictures of the side yard!
Love you!
Wed, 06 Aug 2008
From: "Caryn Crowley" <caryn.d.crowley.APM@myldsmail.net >
To: origional@hotmail.com
Subject: Hi!!!
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:46:01 +0000
Hey y'all! (that's Ustedes in espanol.)
I'm just going to make this a short update. I would rather go back to my room and write a snail mail letter because those are longer and better, but I'm short on time today because I had to get a hair-cut and get stuff at the bookstore. There's never enough time on P-Days. . .
Hopefully I'll have enough time later tonight to write the snail-mail--we can officially write letters til 10:30, but emails stop at 6, so I have to make sure I get this one out. :D
This week has gone well. Tired almost all of the time, but that's just kinda how it is, you know? Lol. Oh, funny story: So here at the MTC we get to teach "investigators"--members who volunteer to act as investigators. Anyway, we have a schedule and an "area book" that tells us the details about the family that the "last missionaries" left us. We're scheduled to teach the first lesson in English the first week, then teach it again the second week, the second lesson in English the third week, and again the fourth, then the fifth week we have to teach the first lesson again, but in Spanish. Did that make sense? So it's 1 in English twice, 2 in English twice, then 1 in Spanish twice, then 2 in Spanish twice. Anyway, so yesterday was the last time we were teaching the second lesson in Spanish--or at least, it was supposed to be. Our "investigators"--an old Mexican couple--actually didn't speak English. So, well, we graduated to the seventh week last night! Hna Baird and I know enough Spanish to teach it, and Hna. Lisiate bore really powerful testimony. Altogether you could tell the Spirit was there. There was no way we should have been able to teach that lesson in Spanish, but we did. Well, "Span-English" as the Mexican sister said. Lol. It was pretty cool.
The rest of this week has been pretty much normal. I'm working on developing charity, which is a lot harder than it may sound at first. I'm working on watching what I say--you all know how sarcastic I am. Anyway, that's something that I'm working on here. I was talking to Heavenly Father the other night and I'm pretty sure that's what He wants me to do. Just being careful to let my speech reflect The One whose name I bear. At least, I'm trying. . .
My companions are doing well. Hna. Lisiate went to the orthopedic doctor yesterday and found out it was a third degree sprain, not second degree, and she has to go to physical therapy. But she's getting better, and it's all good.
Oh, and I'm singing on Sunday with Sister Rosser! She's playing and I'm singing. It's called "Whole Again." Did we ever sing that one for you? Anyway, we're performing at her departure devotional. Pretty exciting, huh? She leaves next Tuesday! Weird. . . . I still have five weeks, and I'm loving it. I am so grateful that I still have time to get better. The Lord knew I would need this much time to get up to par. Hopefully I won't dissappoint Him. I think I'm doing ok so far. . . :D
Ok, I'm going to go. I'll answer your letters later tonight in snail mail, but this is just a quick update. I'm well, and happy, and almost ready for dinner. Heehee. The food is good here too, you'll like it Kyle. And Bethany. And who else was going? :D You'll all love the MTC, the atmosphere is amazing, and you make eternal friends. I know I have.
I love you, thank you for your letters. You have no idea how much I appreciate them.
Love,
Hermana Crowley
To: origional@hotmail.com
Subject: Hi!!!
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:46:01 +0000
Hey y'all! (that's Ustedes in espanol.)
I'm just going to make this a short update. I would rather go back to my room and write a snail mail letter because those are longer and better, but I'm short on time today because I had to get a hair-cut and get stuff at the bookstore. There's never enough time on P-Days. . .
Hopefully I'll have enough time later tonight to write the snail-mail--we can officially write letters til 10:30, but emails stop at 6, so I have to make sure I get this one out. :D
This week has gone well. Tired almost all of the time, but that's just kinda how it is, you know? Lol. Oh, funny story: So here at the MTC we get to teach "investigators"--members who volunteer to act as investigators. Anyway, we have a schedule and an "area book" that tells us the details about the family that the "last missionaries" left us. We're scheduled to teach the first lesson in English the first week, then teach it again the second week, the second lesson in English the third week, and again the fourth, then the fifth week we have to teach the first lesson again, but in Spanish. Did that make sense? So it's 1 in English twice, 2 in English twice, then 1 in Spanish twice, then 2 in Spanish twice. Anyway, so yesterday was the last time we were teaching the second lesson in Spanish--or at least, it was supposed to be. Our "investigators"--an old Mexican couple--actually didn't speak English. So, well, we graduated to the seventh week last night! Hna Baird and I know enough Spanish to teach it, and Hna. Lisiate bore really powerful testimony. Altogether you could tell the Spirit was there. There was no way we should have been able to teach that lesson in Spanish, but we did. Well, "Span-English" as the Mexican sister said. Lol. It was pretty cool.
The rest of this week has been pretty much normal. I'm working on developing charity, which is a lot harder than it may sound at first. I'm working on watching what I say--you all know how sarcastic I am. Anyway, that's something that I'm working on here. I was talking to Heavenly Father the other night and I'm pretty sure that's what He wants me to do. Just being careful to let my speech reflect The One whose name I bear. At least, I'm trying. . .
My companions are doing well. Hna. Lisiate went to the orthopedic doctor yesterday and found out it was a third degree sprain, not second degree, and she has to go to physical therapy. But she's getting better, and it's all good.
Oh, and I'm singing on Sunday with Sister Rosser! She's playing and I'm singing. It's called "Whole Again." Did we ever sing that one for you? Anyway, we're performing at her departure devotional. Pretty exciting, huh? She leaves next Tuesday! Weird. . . . I still have five weeks, and I'm loving it. I am so grateful that I still have time to get better. The Lord knew I would need this much time to get up to par. Hopefully I won't dissappoint Him. I think I'm doing ok so far. . . :D
Ok, I'm going to go. I'll answer your letters later tonight in snail mail, but this is just a quick update. I'm well, and happy, and almost ready for dinner. Heehee. The food is good here too, you'll like it Kyle. And Bethany. And who else was going? :D You'll all love the MTC, the atmosphere is amazing, and you make eternal friends. I know I have.
I love you, thank you for your letters. You have no idea how much I appreciate them.
Love,
Hermana Crowley
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
