6 MONTHS???? ALREADY????

Hey hey family and friends!! 

This week was SOO crazy!! 

So I have realized that sometimes on our missions people think we are marriage councilors. Oh boy was that fun trying to talk to (name with held). I really feel bad for them. But they aren't doing anything to fix the situation, they have stopped reading the Book of Mormon, they have stopped praying, and they aren't coming to church. It's really sad to see them not progress. Hopefully we can help them but they need to be willing to do their part as well.

Tuesday night we got back to our apartment and we kneel to pray before we start planning and I look up and there is a GIANT Cockroach on our wall. I SCREAMED!!! It was so scary!!! we tried to kill it but as we would get close to it, it WOULD FLY!! yes, they fly!!! Scariest thing of my life.... So what did we do?? We called the Elders to come and kill it! :) How do you think they killed it? Well of course by torching it with fire. I didn't mind as long as it was DEAD. I am happy.....Texas and its Giant bugs!!!

So this week we did TONS of service! Painting and building a house... not big deal! it was really nice to get out of my dress and work hard :) yes I got my hands dirty.. but this doesn't mean I will pull weeds! (so mom don't get any crazy ideas)

Friday night we had a lesson with Valentine after the lesson we were all chatting and talking. I got a really strong impression to share a quote by Elder Holland with Christina. She loved it and told me to write it down. Well the next day she calls me like screaming and said she put that quote on facebook and a man has been talking to her about the gospel. (she is all about missionary work right now) anyways she told us she shared the Plan of Salvation with him and he wants to learn more. So I ask her were he lives and we can send the missionaries in his area the referral.. she said, Accra GHANA!!!!!!! I about died. She got all his information phone # and all that and he wants to meet missionaries. So umm... Huntie I have got a Referral for you! :) Crazy how the Lord works.....hopefully we can send it into the referral hot line and they can find out who his missionaries are. Christina was so excited to find someone and teach them about the church. I'm pretty sure this could be an Ensign story....... you know, siblings working together to baptize the world!!! haha.... no but It was a really cool miracle for me and Christina. 

Saturday afternoon we went to hunt down one of our less actives.. He is 17 and doesn't really like us.....he  lies to us all the time about his age.. and says he can't understand us.. umm,I'm sorry I have only been speaking Spanish for 6 months, but everyone else can understand me!!! Oh and he said he doesn't know English.... but always texts us in English?? Teenage boys...ugh! 

Well we know if his bike is home, he is home! So Saturday we knocked for like 15 minutes because his bike was home....no answer..... so I got a brilliant idea to steal his bike.....I mean we do have a bike rack on the back of our car!! :) But then I was like.... ummm probably not a good idea!!! So instead I got lots of Mormon.org cards and Jesus Cards and tapped them all over his bike and on the back I wrote CALL US!! Well it's Monday and still no call... maybe he is very sick or umm on vacation??? :) 

You don't answer your door for the Hermana's??? Take that!

We NEVER give up!

Saturday night we had a ward activity La Noche De Hispanidad. Hispanics know how to party that for sure!! Dang! We had so much fun! Lots of our investigators came and had a blast as well. We were celebrating all the Latino countries so everyone brought food from their country. Lots of people did cultural dances and all that fun stuff! 

Our Bishop's little girl

It has been a crazy but awesome week!! I can't even believe how fast it's going. I'm in love with my area and all the people I get to serve! Our ward is SO awesome!!  Shout out to Paola Casco!! She got her braces off! She is one of the Young Women in my ward! SUPER amazing girl! She has got so much going for her!! I can't wait until she serves a mission in Utah! so I can take care of her just like her family takes care of me! Her sister in law Naysel is From SPANISH FORK!! so she is my little piece of home! I totally love this family!!  

Check out that smile!!! She got her braces off.....I LOVE this girl!! My friend Paola!

Well have a GREAT WEEKKKKKKKK!!! GOOOOO BBBBBYYYYUUUUU!!!!  ALL my family and friends better cheer loud Saturday for me!

Thanks for all your support and love! 

Les Quiero Mucho! 

Texas Forever! 

Hermana Crandall 

Faith is POWER!

My Dearest FAMILY!!!

HOW ARE WE THIS WEEK!? Man Its crazy how fast this week went! I had a really awesome week!! SUPER HAPPY BYU WON!! WOOHOOO!!!!

Well where to begin.. probably at the sad part of my week, We have been teaching a girl She is SOOO prepared it amazes me. She is ready to accept the Gospel.. One problem.. Her husband.

In the Latino culture the women have no say in ANYTHING! Seriously it is the saddest thing on earth!! We went over to her house on Tuesday and she started telling us that this would be the last time we could come over. she handed me all the pamphlets and Book of Mormon back. My heart broke. As she was telling us this she was sobbing. I couldn't help not crying as well. I asked her if we could as least share one last scripture, she said of course she wouldn't want anything else for her last lesson. We ended up sharing proverbs 3 and talked about putting our trust in God. She says she prays everyday for her husband to have a soft heart. One day I know it will happen and she will be able to accept the Gospel.

 

Back to happy stuff.. so Last Sunday we set goals. How many new investigators we want to get, how many lessons ect. Well we had set to get 5 New Investigators so all week we had NO LUCK contacting or anything. After Zone Meeting we had no set plans so we decided to go to these apartments. We started walking around and talked to 2 Ladies. They were super excited to talk with us, we taught them how to pray and they wanted to learn more. We were so excited and then about 30 mins later, I see this window close and I tell Hermana Auten lets go try that apartment. So we go over knock and she answers and LETS US IN!!! like super huge miracle!!! We sang a hymn and told her our purpose. She set up another appointment with us for tomorrow!!!

Then after, we are in total shock and we are driving and find this random street. neither of us had ever noticed it before so we turned and found tons of trailers (JACKPOT). We start knocking but no one was home. The next house we tried RUTH was home. We started talking to her and she wasn't very interested but out of NO WHERE it begins to POUR RAIN like Hurricane Sandy Style! So guess who got invited in :) yup you guessed it! we did!! the power goes off and we are just chillin in a random Ladies house.... so what do we do....we start singing hymns. SHE LOVED it! She began talking us about all the pictures in her house, showing us her kids and grand kids. She really opened up with us! We were able to share a message and she said please come next week! We didn't even have to ask for a return appointment!!! SO many miracles it was awesome!! As we set our numbers through Faith and do our best to complete them God blesses us!!

 

So Sunday was super awesome! We tried so hard allllll WEEEEK to invite our investigators to church. We get to church and President and Sister Pingree are speaking in our ward! I was so happy to hear and be with them! I love them so much! Anyways we are greeting the members and talking to people before Sacrament and 4 of our investigators WALK IN THE DOOR!!!! Seriously it is the happiest moment when you see your friends walk into church. I wanted to cry, so we are introducing them to people in the Ward and to President and Sister Pingree and we all sit down and start singing and VALENTINE AND CHRISTINA WALK IN!! ahhhhh HUGE MIRACLE because they can never make sacrament meeting because Valentine has to work until 4 everyday!! So they were able to come and see Sacrament meeting! I was so happy!! I was sitting looking around and just felts so excited to have them there!!  6 investigators at church!!!  

 

This week I was reading in the end of Alma and beginning of Helaman. Can y'all just imagine Moroni.. Dang like this guys is AWESOME!! I love how through all this trials and afflictions he goes to the Lord first. He also is so patriotic He loves is Country His Freedom his Family. He never once fights for anything besides that. I love in Alma 48:17...

"Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto ^aMoroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the ^bdevil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men".

 

I heard this quote this week and I LOVE IT!!!!!  Sorry I don't know who its by.

OBEDIENCE is the  PRICE,

FAITH is the POWER,

LOVE is the  MOTIVE ,

THE SPIRIT is the  KEY,

 CHRIST IS THE REASON

 

I hope you all have a great week! Thank you for your prayers they are being felt!

P.S Shout out to the Packer Family!! Aunt Sandy, Courtnie, and Madison!! I loved getting your letters!! and Emily Otterstrom!!! Don't have to much fun in NYC with out me! I accept I <3 Ny shirts ;)

Love ya'll!!!

TEXAS FOREVER!!!

Hermana Crandall

When you pass cleaning checks you get Blue Bell Ice Cream....HOLLA!

Hey look who we found!

We saw this cookie....a sign BYU Football is missing me!! :)

It's September!!

Hey Hey Family!

I hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!!

 

Well First off all of you know I'M STILL IN OAKCREST!!! YAY!! I'm super happy I stayed here! The ward feels like my family ward. I love all the people here so I was super happy to be staying here in Oakcrest.

Second..... all of our investigators are doing really good!!

Last week we were able to talk to Fransisco and commit him to baptism for Sept. 28! He needs to come to church so we are praying that he will be able to. He works EVERY DAY!! yes.... every latino works everyday of the week.. so it makes it really hard to get our peeps to come to church. I honestly have never met people who work harder in my life. They do the hardest jobs for next to nothing and it breaks my heart. Fransisco wants to be baptized so bad! He is always saying Hermanita I want to go to church so I can get baptized, but if I don't work i'll be fired.. what do you say to that?? I'm not really sure.

Me and Fransisco

We are teaching a family who we met a couple weeks ago. Last Thursday we taught the Restoration. She was asking so many questions about Prophets and the Book of Mormon, she asked about the Word of Wisdom and was ready to stop drinking coffee.. It was so crazy! She was so excited to learn more. We are hoping we can get her family to church. She is nervous to come to church because in the pamphlet it shows a picture of a church and everyone is all dressed up and she doesn't have nice clothes.

 

Yesterday was a REALLY fun day! Hermana Auten and I and the other Oakcrest Hermana's went to Old town Spring with Christina.. ( our investigator) It was SOO fun. Old Town Spring has tons of cute little stores and boutiques. We walked around and window shopped :) We met some members who live in the East mission and the Hermana comes up to me and is like " Do I know you?"  umm no, I don't think so.. Anyways long story short. we are pretty much best friends. I was a little homesick that weekend and she totally made me feel like I was with family! "Tender Mercy"

The Friend I met from the Houston East mission

Old Town Spring

Texas Forever!

Window Shopping

Later we took one of the young women Michelle with us to a lesson. we were going to see Miguel he is 15 and Michelle and him know each other.. so we go and knock on his door and no answer.. I was like oh HECK no. We are not getting ditched so we sat on his porch for a second and he friend comes up and grabs Miguel's soccer cleats... Yes, from now on we are going to start collecting soccer balls and cleats, they will definitely want to listen to us then ;) So we walk up the street and see tons of latinos playing soccer.. PERFECT! We walk over and look who is there..... Miguel!.... so we start talking to him and then his friends come over and by the end we were teaching the whole soccer team the 10 commandment (with actions) :) It was super funny. Michelle was like Miguel don't mess with the Hermana's they will find you"!! We asked them all to come to the church Thursday night only 6 of them said they would but whateves it was an awesome lesson!  

 

Anyways, I'm sorry this is kinda a random, short letter! I hope you all have a great week!! THANK YOU TO THE BEST MOM IN THE WORLD FOR SENDING MY VERY OWN BYU PACKAGE! When I got it and opened it I seriously started crying.. I'm a baby.. Oh well..

 

Les Quiero Mucho!

Texas Forever

Hermana Crandall

Transfer #4

Hello Hello my dear family!

How are we all doing ?

This week was super crazy!! It was a really awesome week!

First off we had exchanges. I went up to Conroe with Hermana Heath! It was so fun! I loved Conroe. I met this family up there who is AMAZING! I want to serve up there so bad. Conroe is a cute little town by Huntsville.. (YES I'm getting closer to where BYU plays ;) ) I felt like I was in Friday Night Lights, because the high school stadium was HUGE!! like college status.. ok not that big but it was super big!! and every where we went everyone had posters and signs and paints about the football team! It was super awesome! oh and the stadium is named after a guy named Buddy... Maybe it is Buddy Garitie :)

On exchanges with Hermana Heath

We were able to see alot of our investigators this week, which was nice. You can tell school is about to start, everyone is HOME!! ahhh school.... What a blessing :)

We saw Orlando this guy is on fire. He really wants to know if the church is true. He is going through a hard time right now and says that what we are teaching him is the only thing giving him peace!

He is a VERY humble man who works so hard for his family and wants to do what God wants him to do!

Frank!! Do y'all remember Frank from Africa?? Well we saw him Saturday!! He had been in New York City for like a month. We don't really teach him because the English Elders teach him but we always stop and talk to him! He is awesome! I know if he converted he would make the best Gospel Principles teacher! He was sad when I told him that I "MIGHT" get transferred.. He grabbed my planner and started writing down his address, number, and email EVERYTHING! He said I better hear from you after you are done on your mission. I want to come to Utah and visit all the Mountains.

Hermana Auten and I with the English Elders

Me and Frank

Celestino.. ok I don't even know where to begin. Ever since I met Celestino he has answered lots of my prayers.. Well Saturday we went to his house and were talking about different things. I opened my Book of Mormon and asked him if I could share a scripture.. well you all know me and when I start laughing do I ever stop?? no I don't.....well I started to laugh..... In my mind, as i was laughing I kept saying " ahhh this is suppose to be spiritual why are you laughing???" "SHUT UP!!! STOP LAUGHING" well after a minute he started laughing and we all just laughed for a while.. I finally controlled myself and start explaining the scripture that we had just read. Before I could get out 1 sentence he cut me off and said, "After 6 years of missionaries coming and teaching me you come and start teaching me and for some reason I always remember what you say. You are so Happy and positive and I know it is because your love for God and Jesus Christ. I have never had a connection with any other missionary. HE went off for like 20 minutes about it.. so after that..... I extended the Baptism Commitment!!!.. And he......... ACCEPTED!!!!!!! He is going to be baptized Sept. 21!!!!! I was so so happy!! All day I was on cloud nine. I definitely believe that certain people need you and you need them. I am really scared I might get transferred.. But I know that whatever happens..... Happens.

So yesterday was a REALLY long day! We had Stake Conference and a bunch of different things. We had an appointment with Christina and Valentine that night. We wanted to show them the Jose Smith movie so they could get an idea of the kind of person Jose Smith was. Well Hermana Auten and I were sooo tired and hungry and just ready for the day to be over. We hadn't eaten anything that entire day because we didn't have miles to go to members houses or to our apartment. So we walked into Christina's house and started talking to her and Valentine and she looked at us and said,  "I made extra food because I had a feeling you guys would be hungry". "Are you guys hungry"?? umm we both almost cried because we were so hungry. It reminded me of D&C 84 where the Lord promises us that we will be taken care of. I have seen that so many times on my mission.... little and big miracles! The Lord is always protecting us and providing for us as long as we are doing what we should be doing!

Hermana Auten, Valentine, Christine, and me

Well I'm sorry this week is kinda short.. I'm sure y'all will find out if I end up getting transferred . :) I hope you all have a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!

Les Quiero Mucho!

Texas Forever!

Hermana Crandall

PS. Connor won best letter this week!!!... thanks for the encouarging words connor! :) "keep smiling with those cavity filled choppers and press through each day" LOVED IT!! 

Us! :)

Hermana Moffitt and I (she got her visa to Argentina!)

Houston West 2nd Zone Temple trip 8-15-2013

Where is August going???

My Dear Dear Family!!

How are we all doing?? This week was really good! Transfers are next week.. so we will see what happens to me... maybe I'll stay or maybe i'll go!

 

On Tuesday Christina (our investigator) came with us to see Eddie. It was an amazing spiritual lesson. Christina talked about how she found out this church was true and the things she did to gain that relationship with God.

I have never seen Eddie so seriously engaged in the lesson before. I really think he liked hearing from some one who is in his shoes. It was a powerful experience for Christina as well. It was so funny Eddie asked Christina why she wasn't baptized. She looked at him and in the most serious voice and face says "I'm living in sin." I about fell off my chair. then she started laughing and said she was waiting for her divorce to go through so she could get married and not live in sin anymore. I laughed for 10 min straight, man it was so funny. She has a killer sense of humor!

Eddie and I

Eddie, his daughter, and nieces and nephews

Maria and Felipe.. ahhhh last week we extended a baptism date... wait let me start at the beginning. We taught them the 10 commandments and obedience.. it went wonderful then we just started talking and Hermano Felipe was like yeah I already know this church is true. SAY WHAT?!?!?  so then I asked him if he knew the Book of Mormon was true, he said yeah its true and I know Jose Smith was a prophet! I was shocked, Hermana Auten was shock, and Maria his wife was super shocked... so then Hermana Auten extended the baptism date for Sept. 14. They were a little hesitant about it but they said they would pray about this date! ( we have lesson with them tonight) I really hope that they have prayed and received that answer!

 

Micheal the English peep we met a while back....well random story but we had some time between appointments and were in the same Apt. complex that he lives in. So we decided to stop by to see how he was doing. We knocked on the door like 5 times and then he answered the door... at first he looked super mad, then when he saw it was us he looked super confused. The first thing he told was, I was just thinking about you girls like 10 mins ago. I was wondering when I would see you again. (these are the best words you can ever hear) We talked to him for a while about the Book of Mormon and the restoration. He seemed like he wanted to learn more. He is having a really hard time making friends so he mention that 20 times. All of his friends are married.... (welcome to my life) so we told him about the singles ward and all the activities. We are going to pass him off to the English sisters :) 

 

This week we were able to attend the Temple!! Oh MY!!!! AMAZING! if y'all haven't been in a bit GO!!!!! The week of the Temple is always so crazy and stressful. I usually feel really stressed, homesick, sad, and all those crazy feelings . Then I go to the Temple and I remember my purpose and all my homesickness, sadness,fears, doubts all leave. I'm so happy that we get to go to the Temple every transfer! HUGE blessing!!! HUGE!

Sister Deloye(Dallas,TX), Sister Gibson (Elko, NV) and I

Our District

Sister Auten and I

This week we received a new Investigator from the English Elders. His name is Juan and is 17. He family only speaks Spanish and Juan reads in Spanish so they passed him over to us. He is golden, we met with him on Saturday and he has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying everyday. He said God answered his prayer about if this church is true and if the Book of Mormon is true. HE WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED!! He is working 2 jobs right now so coming to church is kinda hard, but I KNOW he will make a way to be there. I'm super excited to start teaching him. We taught him Word of Wisdom on Saturday and I asked him if he would follow the Word of Wisdom. He paused and said.. "I really love junk food" (best answer EVER!!!) so we explained it a little bit better, but he told us he would follow the Word of Wisdom and read and pray. I have only met him once but I already love him! :)

 

This week I finished the New Testament.. CRAZY! Before the mission I probably wouldn't have read it. But I'm so happy I did. I learned sooo so much about Jesus Christ and his apostles. As I read it my testimony for the Book of Mormon grew as well. Now I'm trying to read the Old Testament.. not as easy... I'm in Leviticus and man......super confusing!! The scriptures are so important as you read you receive Revelation. Its crazy to me how these books were written so long ago but still help me in all parts of my life. TRUE WORD OF GOD!

 

So I'm in Texas and its football season.....Can you say FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS?? I'm trying to find Tim Riggins.. :)

 

I hope Y'all have a great day/week!!!! Thanks for all your support!

Texas Forever,

Hermana Crandall

 

Miracles happen everyday

hola hola familia..

Another week has come and gone. We are on week 5 of the transfer. I have no IDEA where this transfer went.. seriously (as I'm scratching my head?) This week was filled with Miracles, well every week is but THIS week we saw some BIG one take place.

 

Miracle #1: Christina and Valentine. Her divorce will be final at the beginning of September. When they told me on Friday I screamed! yes I really screamed. I think I'm more excited than they are :) We taught Valentine about the Word of Wisdom this week, this man is a Saint. He told us after the lesson, "Hermana's that was a really great lesson but I read everything about the Word of Wisdom in the pamphlet 3 weeks ago. I stopped drinking coffee then."...... umm... YAY! Valentine hasn't had coffee for 3 weeks and we didn't even teach him. He just finished reading 2 Nephi and LOVES El Libro de Mormon. We teach an English class every Thursday and he comes. It makes my day because he TRIES SOOO hard to speak English but can't say the words very well. He is so diligent in taking notes and practicing. 

 

Miracle #2. Orlando WOW.... this week has been kinda slow for us. People are getting ready for school to start or taking their last Vacation. So one evening we had NO WHERE to go. Seriously we went to EVERY single person we had ever met during that day.. (ok that's stretching the truth,) but we tried tons of people. Anyways, we are randomly driving in the car and I see this road coming up and I say "Hermana Auten turn right here". So we turn and drive for a bit and she turns down the other street..... we drive to the VERY end of the street and park.  We both looked at each other and said.. Well lets start knocking. We get out of the car and I hear the radio or TV coming from this house by me. So I say lets start here.. as we get closer the TV was in Spanish so as we are walking we get super happy.. YAY LATINOS!!! (super good day when you find Spanish peeps) so we turn the corner and see this old man sitting on his porch. He stands up and we start getting to know him. He is probably 60ish. we start giving our purpose as missionaries and ask him if we can share a message. He says Si!!! Luckily we had Restoration pamphlets and a extra Book of Mormon. We jump right in to the Restoration. the entire time he says, "oh yeah, I believe that. WAIT Y'ALL BELIEVE THAT? ME TO! THAT MAKES SENSE." so he was super open. Then we get to Jose Smith... (this is the make it or break it part) he was a little confused about the priesthood he thought everyone could have it. We told him no only men that are Worthy and a part of this Church. He then says, "Oh yeah, well of course not every church can have the power of God. only Gods true church"... ( at this point I wanted to cry. Authority is the hardest thing for people to understand and he understood it with in minutes of us talking about it) we go on to talk about the Book of Mormon and read with him the introduction. He accepts our commitment to read it and pray to know if it's true. As we are getting ready to leave he says, "so I'm going to read this book and i'll know that Jose smith was a Profeta and that this is the only true church" and we say Yes. He says, "well I think this is my sign". Sign??? apparently for the last 2 days he had been fasting and praying to God to find the church he needed  to join. He said that this was the only thing in his life that made sense to him. WOW!!! Miracle.. we were lead to Orlando for a reason.... all of our peeps cancelled on us so that we could find Orlando. God Answers our prayers! We now have a very amazing Investigator.

 

Miracle 3. Saturday we had service planned. It was for this family who wasn't members but the were friends with some English members. They had called us to see if we could get some people from the Spanish Ward to help Drywall their house.. so 2 hermano's and us go as well as the English Elders. 

Well we get there and I notice they live on the same street as a less active. No one has seen this less active for MONTHS. We stop by his house every week to see if he is home but he never is. Anyways, we show up to this Mobile home and walk in and the inside is a mess.. no carpet, walls, lights, water, NOTHING!!!!! and it was about 2000 degrees (ok another stretch of the truth) but seriously so hot. We ask them if they are living close by until they finish it and the dad said "no we have been living here for 6 months". My heart just broke. They had 3 twin mattresses on the floor and some chairs and outside a "homemade Shower" 4 walls and a hose. They had been trying to drywall and didn't have people to help them and they kept breaking boards because they were to heavy for him and his wife to do alone. They needed a ladder to do the ceiling so I was like, "ok we have a less active who lives down the street, we will go see if he has a ladder we can use". Hermana Auten, I and Hermano Cowen walk down to this house. The whole time I am praying please SOMEONE be home . We walk up and 2 guys are outside we ask to see Angel and they say oh he lives across the street. We had the wrong address for at least the last 5 months since I have been here! So we go across the street..and  GUESS WHAT, Angel was home!! he talked to us for a bit and we told him what we were doing and he was like, "do you guys need help"? "my dad and I drywall for a living".. ummm.... YES WE NEED help! So they came and helped along will all the tools.  

We were able to get in contacted with a less active, teach a new family about the Gospel, and give service with in a couple of hours. I can't even count how many miracles we saw that day!

 

Funny story really quick. Christina had been watching the D&C DVDS and taking notes on them.. Well the other day she says "Hermana Crandall, do you know what happen May 18th 1829"? umm....of course I had NOOO IDEA so I was like, "ummm the Book of Mormon was published"?? Christina- WRONG.. I guessed like 3 more times.. all wrong haha she was like "THE PRIESTHOOD OF AARON was giving to Jose Smith"!.. then she looks at the DVDs and says, "you should really watch these"... I looked at her and just said, "yes I should"... "yes yes yes I should". Then I told her, "see you don't need to know EVERYTHING to be baptized"!!! she just laughed..... Super embarrassing!!

 

I hope everyone has a good week!

If y'all want something to do.. you can write me letters :) Our mail box has been pretty empty this Transfer :)

Love you all!!!

TEXAS FOREVER!!!

Hermana Crandall

Texas Twister in Texas~

It's HOT in Texas!!

Divorce Stinks!

Buenos Dias Familia!

This week was one for the journal that's for sure!

Last Monday we had a dinner appointment with one of our investigators, Celestino. He is older and has been talking to the missionaries for 6 years! yes 6 YEARS!! We went to this El Salvadorian restaurant and as we were eating he was asking us about what we do. None of the missionaries before us had ever really told them what we do as missionaries. We started telling him we left our families, job, and school to come and help peoples faith in Jesus Christ grow. He couldn't believe that we don't get to call home or skype or anything for 18 months. I told him Hermano Celestino, I could not be here in Texas talking about the Book of Mormon or our Church if i didn't know it was true! I was kinda bold but told him everything I believe. After I was done talking all he said was, WOW.  I think it really touched him that I was honest with him and willing to say what I believe. We are planning on extending a date for him to be baptized this week.

 

Valentine and Christina..... Where do I even begin. These two are so amazing! Valentine is progressing SO SO well. He is reading the Book of Mormon and the Gospel Principles book. He has come to church 3 times so he can get baptized but yes, we are still waiting on a divorce to go through.. Man I hate DIVORCES. I keep fasting and praying that it will be solved soon. They are so ready to join the church. Last night the Elders were telling us that during priesthood Valentine was answering all the questions and Obispo was asking him things and talking to him about different things and Valentine knew the answers. I'm so happy to see what we are teaching he is actually remembering!! yay!!! The other day we went to go have a lesson and he says Hermana's next week we are having dinner with my friend from work who I have been talking about the gospel with. I need a El Libro de Mormon and for you guys to teach him about Jose Smith.. Me and Hermana Auten looked at each other and laughed! He and Christina are some of the best Missionaries out there! :) I'm excited to meet his friend and teach him! but I think Valentine is even more excited!

 

Last week we contacted this lady Catalina. She is golden. We talked to her about Jose Smith and the Restoration and she was like "oh yeah that makes sense" I was a little surprised when she said that! she has 4 kids under the age of 7 and her husband is in jail. (Migration problems I think) but she is really interested. She is very open and we have taught her how to pray. We have a lesson today with her and are going to teach the Plan of Salvation.

 

Felipe and Maria! Well good news Maria and her 2 kids came to church yesterday!!! I think she really enjoyed it! Christina grabbed her by the hand and showed her to all her classes. I LOVE WHEN PEOPLE FELLOWSHIP!!!! and Christina is an investigator!! We are extending a baptism date TONIGHT!!! I really think she will accept. She has seen the blessing of the Book of Mormon in her life!

 

Last Thursday we had Zone Conference! It was so good! Pres. Pingree is one of the most amazing people I have ever met! Every time he talks to us I learn so much. We talked alot about LOVE and charity and how we need to have charity in our companionship's, in our wards, and towards are investigators.

I have really tried to study Charity. Charity is the pure of Jesus Christ, as we serve those who we are around we have more love for them. As we look at each person as a Child of God we see them for what they become. I'm so grateful for an awesome Mission President who receives revelation for me personally. I'm so grateful for my family and the support they give me! 

 

I hope you all have a wonderful week. BE HAPPY AND PRESS ON!! 

LES QUIERO

 

TEXAS FOREVER! 

Hermana Crandall

My Companion Hermana Auten and I

Cheetah print and Houston

MI FAMILIA!!!!! HOLA HOLA!!!

 

Wow this week is umm... WOW! So many things to say..  This week was a very amazing week. We have been working soo soo hard. We are working with a lot of investigators right now which is awesome!

 

This week we met with la familia Moreno (aka Mormon.org) every time we see them I get so happy I just want to jump up and scream! This family is special! They are reading the Book of Mormon everyday as a family and praying together as well. We taught them the Gospel lesson and during the WHOLE lesson I just kept thinking "invite them to be baptized, invite them to be baptized" so at the end of the lesson I'm getting ready to invite them... and my heart just sank. I felt like I needed to ask them if they knew that this church was true and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. They all said "yes". They had prayed about it and they know it is true. I'm so excited for them. We are hoping to extend a baptism date this week!!!! ahh so exciting!

Valentine and Christina... where do I even begin with these people... they are the best example that this gospel changes people lives. They are so happy and LOVE the Book of Mormon. Christina and Valentine don't consider themselves investigators anymore.. she always says I'm not investigating... I'm WAITING.. Yes, she is waiting... for her divorce to go through so her and Valentine can get married. They are so funny!! We see them like 4 times a week because they want to learn more.. on Wednesday Christina sat us down and ask me, ok Hermana Crandall what do I need to know about polygamy? People are going to ask me about it and I need to know what happened so I can tell them and then teach them about the Gospel! I started laughing because she wants to know EVERYTHING so we talked about polygamy. After she was like seriously??? What man WANTS more than 1 wife.... woman are crazy!!  The only reason they would do it is if God commanded them. Super funny.. we love them. She told me when I go home her and Valentine are going to move to Utah.

 

We have done a TON of walking and contacting. I LOVE KNOCKING and CONTACTING. The Lord has put some amazing people in our paths this week.

1.) Christean a 20  year old who loves football and basketball. He is going to Sam Houston University. One day we thought we would go see Eddie.. we don't see him very often because he won't keep his commitments..... anyways that's a whole different story. So we were like ok lets just stop by and see how Eddie is doing.. well when we got there Eddie was outside talking to Christean. So we started talking to both of them. We told him about the Book of Mormon and a little preview of what we do as missionaries. He was LOVING IT!!! I asked him if he would ever want to go to the singles ward and he said yes. So then I asked him if he would ever read the Book of Mormon and he said yes. So by the end of the lesson he had a Book of Mormon, our phone number, and information about the singles ward. As we left he said I'm so happy I met you sisters..... yes that simple phrase made my entire week!

 

2.) We met this guy Michael, he is 26 and has a really hard life. We were walking in this Apartment complex and I saw him in the very back just sitting down so I thought what the heck lets go talk to this guy. So we started talking to him being friends and he told us his entire life story. By the end of the story I just wanted to hug him and tell him that everything was going to be ok..... but I can't hug people.. (well besides the old guys that randomly hug me) but I started talking about the Plan of Salvation and how God has a plan for all of us. He immediately looked at me and just started agreeing we told him about the Book of Mormon and he accepted it and started reading it right then and there! We gave him our number and as we were leaving he ask me if he could call us when he was depressed.. and I turned around and said MICHAEL IF YOU DON'T CALL US WHEN YOUR SAD..... We are not  true friends! He just laughed and said ok.
Man I didn't think I would truly love someone so fast! Michael speaks English so we can't teach him but I know that the Lord led us to him. We gave his info to the English Elders so I hope they can teach him!

 

3.) We have been working this this trailer park for a while now. We walk around, teach our investigators and so on so forth. Well Thursday night after English class we didn't have a set appointment but we still had time before it was time to go home for the night. So Hermana Auten and I agreed to go to this trailer park and see if we could get an appointment with Francisco (who we haven't seen for a week :( ) so we parked and as we parked we see this guy RUN grab his shoes and run towards us. At first I was like shoot where is my pepper spray when I need it! But then he was like I have been waiting for you girls. I was like Really? Can we help you with something. and he was like yeah. i see you guys walk around and talk with people everyday. What are you talking about? My face probably started to beam and I told him "somos missioniars de La Iglesia De Jesucristo De los Santos De los Ultimos Dias. "We help peoples faith in Jesucristo grow", He told us about his life and how he didn't really have a religion. We talked about The Book of Mormon and asked him if he would read it....he agreed, we talked to him for an hour or more about what we do as missionary's and our beliefs. He told us he notices how diligent we were to working everyday no matter how hot or rainy it was. He knew that we were doing something important.

 

I know that the Lord is using us as his tools. I'm so happy for the miracles I saw this week. My testimony of this work grows every second of everyday! I'm so happy to be apart of it!

i hope you all have a wonderful week! Look for people to share the gospel with!

TEXAS FOREVER!!

                           Hermana Crandall

 

A week of Miracles!

Hello hello!!

 What a crazy week it has been!! I don't really know where to begin, Hermana Rife left me. it was so sad! I'm still sad.. its been a rough week for me!  Its hard to say goodbye to someone you were with 24/7 for the last 12 weeks.

I guess everything good has to come to an end right? :)

I got a new companion Hermana Auten. She is from L.A., she is really nice but super quiet so that's kinda a struggle. I'm super excited to serve with her!

 

This week we had so many miracles!!!

We are teaching this family Maria and Felipe. They are the best EVER! seriously, I love them. They are progressing really well and they are loving the Book of Mormon and are studying the pamphlets that we use from our lessons. On Friday night we taught them about Plan of Salvation and you could see the light go on in their eyes. it made complete sense to them. We extended a soft baptismal date and they accepted. Our ward mission leader has been coming to our appointments with them and they love him. MEMBER PRESENTS ARE THE BOMB!

 

We have been teaching Valentine for about 1 month. His girl friend Christina is being taught by the English elders. so we are both teaching them right now. At first I didn't have any hope for Valentine. We felt like he wasn't listening to us at all. He does not like to be told what to do. :)  But this week we made some progress. We went to say goodbye to him and Christina and taught a lesson about obedience. I think he could understand a little bit more and then on Saturday we watched the restoration DVD. He loved it! He would not stop saying. " ayyy jose smith vio a dios y jesucristo. muy muy bontia!!"  I think something clicked in his little brain. It was really awesome then him and Christina came to church yesterday.. which that's a whole different story!!!

 

We had a baptism for Cassie Casco yesterday, it was so beautiful! Valentine and Christina were able to come with us! After the baptism I asked Valentine if he wanted to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He said, yes!!!!!!! so we are hoping to get him and Christina married so they both can get baptized!!

 

So about church....We got to church and our investigator Daniel came. He is so ready to be baptized but is NEVER home for us to teach him. This family we have been working with came to church as a family yesterday!! They have been members for 4 years but inactive for 3 1/2 years... I seriously about fell over when I saw them come into church!!!! My heart was so happy!! They have 2 kids who aren't baptized but are eligible so we are working with them!! I feel like Re-activation's are JUST as good as baptisms!! I'm  really excited for them to come to church! VALENTINE and CHRISTINA came to church as well!! Valentine enjoy meeting the members. He has a lot of questions about the church and Catholic church that we can't really answer, but there is a Hermano in the ward who use to be Catholic who is going to help us explain some things!!!

Yesterday was a really good day!! :)

 

My Spanish has improved SOO much this week.. I think it is because my companion is very shy so I do ALL the talking and teaching! Lucky me right?? I knew alot more than I thought I did that's for sure! The gift of tongues is REAL peeps!!

We have 3 new Hermana's in our Ward and only me and Elder Barney have been here for more than one transfer. ahh..... SO stressful! I took over my area and now have help the other Hermana's know what to do as they are all new. I have felt a bit over whelmed but I know that I am being helped!

 

I love you all so much! I can't even believe how fast this summer is going!! honestly! I'm super excited for this transfer. I know it is going to be SUPER difficult but I'm excited to learn so much and be molded. I'm really trying to have companionship unity but it is really hard when the other one is very shut off.  But, just like in the Book of Mormon I have seen God make weak things strong. These people that I am serving and meeting are so amazing and I can truly say that I love them all. I have been working so hard to be exactly obedient so that we can have miracles happen. If I'm not completely emotionally, spiritually, and physically exhausted by the end of the day, I know I didn't give my all.

Thank you for all your love and prayers it really means the world to me!

HUNTIE!!!!!! I SENT YOU A LETTER LAST WEEK.... A REAL HAND WRITTEN LETTER!!!!! TELL ME WHEN YOU GET IT!!

I hope you all have a fun 24th of July! I'll be thinking of Utah that day For SURE!

 

Les Quiero!

Hermana Crandall

This is Isabel....the Elders made her for us so we would never forget them! :)

TEXAS FOREVER!