Tue, 30 Jun 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Yes, I am emailing early. I forgot to tell you again--this week is transfers. So, well, that means P-Day is on Tuesday. . . normally. . . No, today isn't P-Day. Today is just emailing day. P-Day is the 4th of July. Can you imagine why?

So let's update you all on the events of this past week. We did actually have four baptisms this weekend. It was amazing! Three were in the Spanish branch--Gisela and Lineth Vargas and Jose Beltran. Gisela and Lineth are a mom and daughter, and Gisela has gone through the missionary lessons three times BEFORE us. Her husband is a member and he was less active for a while, and she was pretty Catholic. It actually caused some problems in their marriage. I guess one Fast Sunday meeting, when members were going up and bearing their own testimonies of their experiences, Hna. Vargas heard something that finally just clicked. I think it had to do with--your testimony has nothing to do with other people. As in, it doesn't matter who offends you or pushes you to do something or whatever--your testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is completely just between you and Him. So we got a phone call from our ward mission leader that she wanted to be baptized, and three weeks later it was done.

The Elder who served in this area for a year (before I got here) worked with them a lot too, so when we called him to tell him they were getting baptized, he was like-- "WHAT?! Awesome!" It was pretty cool.

Jose, the Hnas here found him while out knocking doors in a trailer park. He went to church the day after he met them and hasn't missed a Sunday since. But he didn't want to be baptized, until a lesson in the Gospel Principles class helped him understand why baptism is even important. I think he just didn't get it before, thinking he didn't need it or he wasn't worthy, wasn't ready to give up the ladies or something like that. Anyway, he finally decided, and it was pretty much BAM, you're baptized. I kinda feel like I'm in Brazil or something. ^.~

And the fourth baptism was a 9-year-old girl Ashley, whose grandma takes her to church because her dad is less-active and her mom isn't a member. This girl is really smart. There were quite a few of her family members there not members, and the Spirit was really strong. Hopefully it had a good influence on them. . .

What else? I spoke with a high councilman in the Rio Vista (Spanish) branch on Sunday. It was Brother Maxwell, who was in our stake in Vegas. When he got up to speak after me he told the congregation how we were in the same stake for years back in Vegas and everybody was looking at me all surprised. It was pretty funny. And his son, my friend Kellen, played a musical number on the piano. It was pretty funny. Hey Sister Rosser, Kellen says hey.

I gave the talk, but the whole week I couldn't think of how to put one together so I just brought a lot of materials and just went with the flow. To be honest, I don't even remember what I ent up saying. People said it was good though, and that my Spanish was really clear, so I'm happy. Hopefully it was by the Spirit and it was what they needed to hear.

I spoke about the family, and how the Gospel unites our families. I want you all to know that I really have a testimony of that. I know that the Gospel really does bring us together in a way that nothing else in the world can. And this last week I actually learned a lot about how it does that. If you think about the individual changes that come from living the Gospel--more charity and patience, more ability to love and be kind--it kind of makes sense that it unifies our families.

And now for transfer news--I'm staying, and Hna. Walker is staying. Hna. Reyes is out. If you all knew what kind of drama that is, you would feel for me. It's funny because Hna. Walker has been here since last November, and now I'm her third companion in this area. She never gets transferred, she just sends Hnas through. It was pretty funny, but not, because it really threw her off. Now she's ok though--she just really thought she was leaving. I think we'll have a good time.

Oh yeah, and I had my very first real scorpion interaction this week--actually, my first two. One in the morning, one in the afternoon. Same day. I'm sending you photos. The first one (Hna. Walker found when she moved some binders on top of the bookshelf and there it was, just hanging out on the wall. She almost swore.) we had the Elders come get it, and they took it away. The second one (which Hna. Walker also found, lying on it's side in the kitchen so we thought it was dead--until I poked at it with the broom handle and it just jumped back to life--I have never shaken so much from a bug in my life) Hna. Reyes squished it with the broom handle (I was still shaking) and so that's the aftermath. We left it on the floor for a while (like, a full day or two) because we were all to chicken to clean it up. Plus we wanted to make sure it was dead. Well, the ants got to it. It was pretty satisfying to watch.

Well, I'm going to go now. This email is huge.

Sammy--I sent you a letter last Thursday, but the Post office just sent it back to me yesterday for some reason. I'm going to look up the address you sent me and try again. . .

I hope you all have an awesome 4th of July, because I love it. I didn't realize how patriotic I was until I realized I was mad because two of our three wards didn't play patriotic hymns in Sacrament meeting. (Well, it makes sense in the Spanish ward, those ones aren't translated into Spanish). And then in the YSA branch I told Kellen (because he's also the organist in that branch) to play patriotic hymns, but then the chorister didn't have us stand to sing the Star Spangled Banner. I was kinda of ticked. I guess I could have stood up on my own, but we were in the back so no one would have gotten the hint to all stand. . . Anyway, I love this country. I know the Lord prepared this place to be a land of freedom where the Gospel could be restored and the Church could flourish. We are far from perfect, but I still love my country and I am dang proud to be an American. (I feel a country song coming on.)

I hope you are all safe and you know that the Lord is blessing you. Peace out.

Con carino,
Hna. Crowley