Dear whoever cares,
I killed my companion yesterday. There was a bit of a struggle and some tears, but the deed is done. In fact, she's on the plane right now to Seattle. What an interesting experience.
Looking back on all that we went through, I wouldn't have changed a bit. It's cool to recognize how everything that we went through together had a purpose, and was for our good. Don't tell any of my other companions, but Hna. Walker is definitely the most memorable one, and I think the one I grew up the most with. And I love her dearly for it. Mom, I may or may not be deciding to move to Washington state . . . Lol. Or Victoria, Canada, for our district leader Elder Burstall. Somehow he's got the whole district wishing we were Canadians. He is pretty ridiculously cool though.
And I also found out I am NOT getting transferred, but my area now belongs to a different stake. So far as I know, I still cover the same area, but we answer to new leadership. Which also means a new district. As much as I have loved all of my districts, having to leave this one has been the most devastating. But, well, I'll probably just be still covering their areas in Spanish, so I'll still be able to see them. Plus one of the companionships is actually with me in the new stake--the neighboring stake just absorbed three of our wards, and the Spanish group, which brought them to 9 wards and us back down to ten. It's a good balance, but it still sucks.
But I already know who my companion is! There are only 6 Spanish Hermanas, and only one of them is getting transferred. . . . But I'll keep you in suspense til next week. A hint--I have lived with her before. (Yeah, like any of you are actually going to remember her. Lol.) We're going to have a blast, actually.
All right, I've gotta go. We're going to go to a Zone Activity and play volleyball. My last activity as part of this zone. . .
One last thing actually. The Lord has been so aware and mindful of me, and has made it pretty obvious. The two sisters I am with have been really great as I go through my period of mourning, and the member they live with is the sweetest old lady (reminds me of my own grandmas) even down to the dinner appointment we had last night, with a really sweet family who were completely warm and hilarious. The Lord knows what I need, exactly how I need it. And you know what? He knows that for you too.
I love you, hope everything is awesome. Bye!
Love, Hna. Crowley
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Wed, 16 Sep 2009
Today I'll keep it short--it's Hna. Walker's last P-Day, so I'm just going with the flow. If I get more of a chance to write, I will later. Just want to make sure I get a note out at least.
Diana's baptism was Saturday. It was really beautiful. Hna. Walker and I sang "Venid a Cristo," which is "Come Unto Jesus" in Spanish, and E. Barnes played for us--he has an awesome gift for playing by ear. Anyway, he did a sweet arrangement and we sang and it was really powerful.
All together, this weekend we had six baptisms in our district. Suffice it to say, it was an interesting time. Watching Hna. Walker come to a close in her mission life, it's interesting to see just how much Heavenly Father is teaching us out here. Literally, anything we need or want to work on, it's brought up and worked on. It's really cool, and really hard. But we're loving it. Hna. Walker has been a blessing to be with, and I'll really miss her when she goes. So, well, we're going to live it up this week!
All right, I'll write later if I can. Love you! Thank you for everything. There's nothing like a mission to make you appreciate your family. We were just hanging out this morning with a bunch of the Elders, and we started talking about our moms. There was a feeling that came into the room when we did, and it was a sweet one. Everyone was smiling. I love you mom.
Also, Dad, I forgot--HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Man you're old. I'm sending a package home for you that has been waiting a while. . . . . You'll get it when you're back in the states.
LOVE YOU ALL!!!
--Caryn
Diana's baptism was Saturday. It was really beautiful. Hna. Walker and I sang "Venid a Cristo," which is "Come Unto Jesus" in Spanish, and E. Barnes played for us--he has an awesome gift for playing by ear. Anyway, he did a sweet arrangement and we sang and it was really powerful.
All together, this weekend we had six baptisms in our district. Suffice it to say, it was an interesting time. Watching Hna. Walker come to a close in her mission life, it's interesting to see just how much Heavenly Father is teaching us out here. Literally, anything we need or want to work on, it's brought up and worked on. It's really cool, and really hard. But we're loving it. Hna. Walker has been a blessing to be with, and I'll really miss her when she goes. So, well, we're going to live it up this week!
All right, I'll write later if I can. Love you! Thank you for everything. There's nothing like a mission to make you appreciate your family. We were just hanging out this morning with a bunch of the Elders, and we started talking about our moms. There was a feeling that came into the room when we did, and it was a sweet one. Everyone was smiling. I love you mom.
Also, Dad, I forgot--HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Man you're old. I'm sending a package home for you that has been waiting a while. . . . . You'll get it when you're back in the states.
LOVE YOU ALL!!!
--Caryn
Wed, 9 Sep 2009
All right, I'm giving in and writing an email.
I wasn't going to.
I'm boring.
Anyway, it's all good--we have a baptism this Saturday for Diana, that one really really golden contact we've been teaching. I've seen some pretty prepared people but she definitely takes the cake.
Also, I'm almost finished with Jesus the Christ. By "almost finished" I mean I only have about 200 pages left. I'm actually to the most exciting, and spiritual, part of the book--the last week of the Savior's mortal life.
This has been a pretty powerful read, I gotta admit. A lot of things about the Savior's life that I had questions about have been answered, and my understanding has deepened. I also have developed a stronger testimony in Christ as a living Being, as in the reality of what He did. If you're in for a long read, I would suggest you give it a try.
One of the biggest things I have been learning about lately is the importance of prayer. When you pray, it draws you closer to God. When you don't. you slip away. The only way to understand the relationship you can have with Him through prayer, is by praying.
Diana, before she started meeting with us, hadn't prayed in over 30 years. But she has been praying consistently, and she bore a witness of her own yesterday that she knows He is there, and she knows prayer is powerful.
If you would like to learn more, get on your knees. God is the best reference system in the Universe.
I'm going to sign out now, so I'll talk to you again next week. Have an awesome day.
Love,
Hna. Crowley
I wasn't going to.
I'm boring.
Anyway, it's all good--we have a baptism this Saturday for Diana, that one really really golden contact we've been teaching. I've seen some pretty prepared people but she definitely takes the cake.
Also, I'm almost finished with Jesus the Christ. By "almost finished" I mean I only have about 200 pages left. I'm actually to the most exciting, and spiritual, part of the book--the last week of the Savior's mortal life.
This has been a pretty powerful read, I gotta admit. A lot of things about the Savior's life that I had questions about have been answered, and my understanding has deepened. I also have developed a stronger testimony in Christ as a living Being, as in the reality of what He did. If you're in for a long read, I would suggest you give it a try.
One of the biggest things I have been learning about lately is the importance of prayer. When you pray, it draws you closer to God. When you don't. you slip away. The only way to understand the relationship you can have with Him through prayer, is by praying.
Diana, before she started meeting with us, hadn't prayed in over 30 years. But she has been praying consistently, and she bore a witness of her own yesterday that she knows He is there, and she knows prayer is powerful.
If you would like to learn more, get on your knees. God is the best reference system in the Universe.
I'm going to sign out now, so I'll talk to you again next week. Have an awesome day.
Love,
Hna. Crowley
Wed, 2 Sep 2009
Dear folks back home,
This week has been interesting. We had two baptisms--one of them I don't think I told you about because I don't think we started planning it until Tuesday night. Yeah, three-day baptism. Because they had to move to California, and we wouldn't have had another chance. Anyway, that was Sylvia Twigg. She and her husband were found by the Elders knocking on their door, and it was exactly what they needed! Brother Twigg was baptized in July but Sylvia couldn't because she actually left for Iowa for a month and a half, before they could do it. So when she came back, we just finished up and her husband was able to baptize her. They're awesome.
Then there was Travis. He's a special guy. Divorced with two kids, his ex-wife is an ex-Mormon. He invited his ex-father-in-law, who is active in the church, to his baptism. That was pretty cool. Anyway, it was a really powerful baptism. Travis felt a lot of opposition before he "took the plunge," but he stayed really strong, and I have a lot of respect for him and how he held on.
Now we have three more baptisms planned. One for this Saturday (which we may have to change if we can't get to his house and finish the lessons. . .) for a 9-yr-old son of a less-active family. Next Saturday is Diana, the miracle investigator who is as golden as I've ever heard of, and then the Saturday after that we should have Larry, the eternal investigator who Hna. Walker finally got to commit to a date. He might not do it then--but I know he'll do it soon. He knows it's all true, goes to church regularly, and reads the Book of Mormon regularly. His prayers are really sweet too--he just talks to Heavenly Father as if He were there in front of him. It's awesome.
Anyway, besides all that good stuff me and Hna. Walker have been fighting off illness. I'm coming out of a cold that's lasted since Sunday, and before that was the stomach bug that nearly ruined my visit to the Mesa Temple. Hna. Walker then caught my stomach bug and is fighting that AND trunkyness. . . Lol. She's actually not bad, considering she leaves three weeks from yesterday.
I'm going to sign out now, my head hurts. But you know what? The Gospel is true. And it has changed my life. And my heart has changed so much since I've been out here, serving Him. I am SO far from perfect--and if you ask the Elders around here, they'll tell you I'm nothing like other Sisters--but I know what I'm here to do, and I love doing it. And I love loving the people. If I can do nothing else, I'll work on convincing everybody that God loves them more than they know, because of or in spite of who we are and what we do. NOTHING can separate us from the love of God. See Romans 8, 36 or something. Read the scriptures, they'll tell you. Better yet, ask Him. He'll tell you Himself.
For those of you I owe letters, I was going to write Friday, but then I got violently ill so I went to the temple then came home and slept the rest of the day. So I'll try to get through them today. No promises.
I love you all, have an awesome day.
Love,
Hna. Crowley
This week has been interesting. We had two baptisms--one of them I don't think I told you about because I don't think we started planning it until Tuesday night. Yeah, three-day baptism. Because they had to move to California, and we wouldn't have had another chance. Anyway, that was Sylvia Twigg. She and her husband were found by the Elders knocking on their door, and it was exactly what they needed! Brother Twigg was baptized in July but Sylvia couldn't because she actually left for Iowa for a month and a half, before they could do it. So when she came back, we just finished up and her husband was able to baptize her. They're awesome.
Then there was Travis. He's a special guy. Divorced with two kids, his ex-wife is an ex-Mormon. He invited his ex-father-in-law, who is active in the church, to his baptism. That was pretty cool. Anyway, it was a really powerful baptism. Travis felt a lot of opposition before he "took the plunge," but he stayed really strong, and I have a lot of respect for him and how he held on.
Now we have three more baptisms planned. One for this Saturday (which we may have to change if we can't get to his house and finish the lessons. . .) for a 9-yr-old son of a less-active family. Next Saturday is Diana, the miracle investigator who is as golden as I've ever heard of, and then the Saturday after that we should have Larry, the eternal investigator who Hna. Walker finally got to commit to a date. He might not do it then--but I know he'll do it soon. He knows it's all true, goes to church regularly, and reads the Book of Mormon regularly. His prayers are really sweet too--he just talks to Heavenly Father as if He were there in front of him. It's awesome.
Anyway, besides all that good stuff me and Hna. Walker have been fighting off illness. I'm coming out of a cold that's lasted since Sunday, and before that was the stomach bug that nearly ruined my visit to the Mesa Temple. Hna. Walker then caught my stomach bug and is fighting that AND trunkyness. . . Lol. She's actually not bad, considering she leaves three weeks from yesterday.
I'm going to sign out now, my head hurts. But you know what? The Gospel is true. And it has changed my life. And my heart has changed so much since I've been out here, serving Him. I am SO far from perfect--and if you ask the Elders around here, they'll tell you I'm nothing like other Sisters--but I know what I'm here to do, and I love doing it. And I love loving the people. If I can do nothing else, I'll work on convincing everybody that God loves them more than they know, because of or in spite of who we are and what we do. NOTHING can separate us from the love of God. See Romans 8, 36 or something. Read the scriptures, they'll tell you. Better yet, ask Him. He'll tell you Himself.
For those of you I owe letters, I was going to write Friday, but then I got violently ill so I went to the temple then came home and slept the rest of the day. So I'll try to get through them today. No promises.
I love you all, have an awesome day.
Love,
Hna. Crowley
Tue, 25 Aug 2009: Week 2 in Moon Valley
Hey Guys!
So things are coming together in the Moon Valley ward. We have no Spanish work, but we have people literally walking in off the streets wanting to get baptized! (Literally, that happened once.) The work is booming. We have another baptism this Saturday, possibly one on Sunday, then one next Saturday, and there are others just waiting to set a date! It's insane. I have never felt more like a missionary.
You know what else happened last week? I got my trunky call. That's what we call the first phone call you get about going home--the one where the sister asks which airport is closest to home. Yep, I am definitely on the downhill.
My companion also got her itinerary for her last two days in the mission. Yeah, we talk about home a lot. Surprisingly enough, I don't fell "trunky" and neither does my companion. We're excited about all the work we have.
But let's not lie here, we're both excited about going home too.
Anyway, back to business--the people we are teaching here we have already really connected with. There's Diana (she's the one who just walked in one Sunday and now we're getting ready to baptize her) and Olin (a referral from a member who met him in a hospital after a surgery--he was totally prepared) Spencer (he's 9 and the son of less-active members, but he goes with his grandma) Carol (she's possibly too nutty to actually baptize, but we're working with her to see how much she can retain) Sylvia, and her daughter Lisa and son Donny (her husband was baptized a couple months ago, but they couldn't be because they were in Iowa, so we're just finishing what they started. Donny has autism, really high-functioning and one of the funniest kids I've met here) and then there's Travis--he's getting baptized Saturday. His is an interesting case--we had a baptism on Saturday and he came to that with the member family who he's friends with--and he has been having a rough time, we don't know what but it has really shaken him. But he is clinging to his decision to be baptized, and there is so much support in the ward for him. He's very strong, and we really think Satan's working really hard on him because he has something big in his future.
Oh, I almost forgot Larry! He has been learning from the missionaries for. . .well, our friend Elder Petrich found him when he was first in the mission, and he goes home this transfer. So about two years. But we really feel strongly that the Lord put us in this area for a specific purpose--and I think part of that is to get Larry to finally understand the importance of being baptized. Might as well anyway--he's been going to church for months.
So yeah, things are going good. The apartment isn't completely put together yet (I'm still unpacking, actually) but we'll be done soon. And the Laurels are coming to clean our apartment tomorrow as a service project. Heheh. I'm wondering if we should try to wipe some things down first to spare them, or if we should just leave it all. Well, we'll see if I have time tonight.
I've had a lot of times as I have been testifying to people lately where I have just really felt the Spirit about what I'm doing. It's true, FYI.
Something else to think about--I start this and stop a lot, but I started again and it's great--take a few minutes every day and write down the things you remember from that day that showed you Heavenly Father's hand in your life. It really changes the way you look at things, and it's a great way to change your attitude.
Well, today's not actually P-Day, so I've got to get going. Friday, we're going to the temple, so that has to be our P-Day. But we won't get a chance to email then, so we're just doing that today. Anyway, you guys rock, thanks for your support. I owe a few of you letters. . . . (Sister Rosser, I promise the letter I send will make up for the delay. Heheh.)
I love you! And I love this work. Being a missionary rocks.
Love,
Hna. Crowley
So things are coming together in the Moon Valley ward. We have no Spanish work, but we have people literally walking in off the streets wanting to get baptized! (Literally, that happened once.) The work is booming. We have another baptism this Saturday, possibly one on Sunday, then one next Saturday, and there are others just waiting to set a date! It's insane. I have never felt more like a missionary.
You know what else happened last week? I got my trunky call. That's what we call the first phone call you get about going home--the one where the sister asks which airport is closest to home. Yep, I am definitely on the downhill.
My companion also got her itinerary for her last two days in the mission. Yeah, we talk about home a lot. Surprisingly enough, I don't fell "trunky" and neither does my companion. We're excited about all the work we have.
But let's not lie here, we're both excited about going home too.
Anyway, back to business--the people we are teaching here we have already really connected with. There's Diana (she's the one who just walked in one Sunday and now we're getting ready to baptize her) and Olin (a referral from a member who met him in a hospital after a surgery--he was totally prepared) Spencer (he's 9 and the son of less-active members, but he goes with his grandma) Carol (she's possibly too nutty to actually baptize, but we're working with her to see how much she can retain) Sylvia, and her daughter Lisa and son Donny (her husband was baptized a couple months ago, but they couldn't be because they were in Iowa, so we're just finishing what they started. Donny has autism, really high-functioning and one of the funniest kids I've met here) and then there's Travis--he's getting baptized Saturday. His is an interesting case--we had a baptism on Saturday and he came to that with the member family who he's friends with--and he has been having a rough time, we don't know what but it has really shaken him. But he is clinging to his decision to be baptized, and there is so much support in the ward for him. He's very strong, and we really think Satan's working really hard on him because he has something big in his future.
Oh, I almost forgot Larry! He has been learning from the missionaries for. . .well, our friend Elder Petrich found him when he was first in the mission, and he goes home this transfer. So about two years. But we really feel strongly that the Lord put us in this area for a specific purpose--and I think part of that is to get Larry to finally understand the importance of being baptized. Might as well anyway--he's been going to church for months.
So yeah, things are going good. The apartment isn't completely put together yet (I'm still unpacking, actually) but we'll be done soon. And the Laurels are coming to clean our apartment tomorrow as a service project. Heheh. I'm wondering if we should try to wipe some things down first to spare them, or if we should just leave it all. Well, we'll see if I have time tonight.
I've had a lot of times as I have been testifying to people lately where I have just really felt the Spirit about what I'm doing. It's true, FYI.
Something else to think about--I start this and stop a lot, but I started again and it's great--take a few minutes every day and write down the things you remember from that day that showed you Heavenly Father's hand in your life. It really changes the way you look at things, and it's a great way to change your attitude.
Well, today's not actually P-Day, so I've got to get going. Friday, we're going to the temple, so that has to be our P-Day. But we won't get a chance to email then, so we're just doing that today. Anyway, you guys rock, thanks for your support. I owe a few of you letters. . . . (Sister Rosser, I promise the letter I send will make up for the delay. Heheh.)
I love you! And I love this work. Being a missionary rocks.
Love,
Hna. Crowley
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