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