August 25th

Hi everyone! Thank you for your continued prayers. You have no idea how amazing it is to have success and feel positive and to know that it's nothing from what I've done, that it could only be because of prayers offered on my behalf. This past week was so much better. Yes it's still hard, and there are days where I just don't want to work but then I do and I feel so much better. We've had a lot more success this week and it's been amazing. But first I forgot to tell about my companion sorry. Sister Peaden is her name. So nice. She's from Murray, Utah and I can't remember what else I said about her so sorry if I repeat. She is 1 of 4 kids and 2 of her siblings got married since she's been on her mission. I can't imagine how that must feel. She is so strong to be able to stay focused through all of it. She's been out 6 months. She is quiet and I love to talk, so it makes it interesting sometimes. But I find that if I get her talking then it all works out and I'm happy because it's not so quiet and she gets to tell me more about herself. So ya she's great and I'm learning to love and enjoy her more every day.

So the Canadian people, I haven't told you too much about them yet huh? So they say eh a bit but you know what they say even more? "Right" at the end of every sentence they say "right" like they're asking a question, except you don't answer, it's odd. But I'm getting used to not acknowledging it and looking stupid for it. Yesterday we were at Subway and I asked for American cheese. haha "we don't have AMERICAN cheese" was the reply. oops forgot I'm in Canada, apparently it's white cheddar here. One man we went to his door and he goes "you want some rum?" I said, "we'll pass" and he then says, "well you won't want to talk to me then" and slams the door in our face. we laughed, A LOT. seriously who says that to someone at the door? ahha Did I tell you about the 2 men who pretended to be gay? ya it was great. you could totally tell they were faking it and laughed at us when we laughed. I almost find those moments strengthening. and dissapointing for sure because they are God's children but still, it's hillarious to me that people will treat total strangers that way. For the most part the people are so nice though. Ok a quick story it's good! :

So we're knocking on a street and see a man named John. He says he has a friend whose Mormon and not only that but his daugther had recently received a priesthood blessing from a Mormon! we were like WHAT? ok...so he says she had corrective jaw surgery and his friend gave her a blessing of healing. He brings her out, her name is Cassandra, she's 17 and a little shy. He goes, "go ahead tell them about it!" She says well uh... and so I help her out and say "when I've had blessings I've felt really comforted and warm inside did you feel that way?" she said yes. and her dad says ya and she started crying in the middle of it. is that normal too? and Sister Peaden and I smiled really big and said "yes! we do every time we get one!" It was the neatest. Seriously the most prepared people ever to hear the gospel! we are so excited! ah! it made my whole week! I can just see the potential they have and it's so exciting to me! yay! we meet with them tomorrow. I'm really praying the Mom is accepting of it too!

Oh and I saw the bay of fundy yesterday! we went to see a less active who lives 45 minutes away and her house sits on the part where the highest of the highest tides come in of the bay of fundy and it's GORGEOUS! seriously beautiful! so green. Greenest place I've ever seen ever! It's amazing. The branch here is in need of a lot of help as far as unity, there are so many less active members and it's tempting to want to focus all of our time on them. but I know our focus is on finding!

I'm so grateful for the gospel. I feel that my testimony is growing stronger every day. It's been attacked and torn down by people we've met but each time I build it up, it becomes stronger. I am so grateful for my family and friends and I love you all. Thank you for your prayers and thank you for your letters. If I don't have time to e-mail you every week I'm sorry but I'll try to the week after. I love you!

Love,

Sister Crane

Sister Crane arrives in Canada!

August 18th

Hi! I'm in the city of Truro. I didn't realize until just a few days ago that Truro is pretty much the ghetto of Nova Scotia. When we go tracting which we do every day for hours, the people always say, "be safe" or "be careful on this street." Sister Peaden and would always look at each other and be like, "where are we?" why are people telling us to be safe? Then we drove around a bit and realized why. It's pretty poor and small townish. Our area is huge though. We doubled in which in mission terms means that there were Elders here and they left so this area is new not only to me but my companion too so it's like starting from scratch. This means finding people to teach, which means going door to door hour after hour every day. It's hard but once you start doing it, it gets better and you meet some interesting people.

We always seem to meet the oddest people right before it's time to go in for the night and we talk to them for an hour before we say "we're going to be late we've got to go." One of them was a conversation we had with 3 people in their 40's through a trailer window. They were smoking and drinking and we basicly told them all about Joseph Smith and the Plan of Salvation. At one point 1 lady looked at me and said, "Do you really believe what your saying?" before I could respond the man in the group said, "She does, I can see it in her eyes." As we kept talking I bore my testimony of the Holy Ghost and the Spirit was so strong I can't even describe it, I almost had tears in my eyes as I bore my testimony to them with conviction and power. It was amazing.

Yesterday we met some people in their 20's who wanted us to come to a "worship Jesus" party where they dance and play on drums, we declined seeing as they were going to have it after our curfew. Shucks.

The people are really nice here. They will talk to you, invite you in. Ya you get some weirdies, and ya you get some rude people who shut the door in your face, but for the most part they've been nice and said they respect what we're doing. We've got a lot of people these past 2 days who want us to come back and teach them more which is awesome.

Each day is hard, but each day gets a little easier to love the people and to feel needed. President Simpson said that he really felt that Truro needed sisters right now and that's why we "doubled-in." I think I'm starting to see why. A lot of the less active people here who have stopped going to church have stopped because they are women who their husbands left them, or they have lots of kids and it's hard to keep them quiet at church, or they've been offended. We visited one member who that was the case about her kids, and we talked with her and played with her kids and sympathized with her, she then invited us over for dinner on Thursday. In moments like that I wonder if that's one of the reasons why sister are needed here.

All of these experiences have helped strengthen my testimony. Every time I bear my testimony I feel and know that the things I say are true. I love you all. Please keep me in your prayers! I need it right now. This first week has been hard, harder than I anticipated and I need the help to keep moving. Thank you for your letters and support. I love you!

Love,
Sister Crane

She's in Canada! August 11

Hi! I'm here and safe! I only have a few minutes to let you know about how I'm doing. My p-days are on Wednesdays so next Wednesday I'll be able to write more. My first area is in the Truro area. It's about an hour away from the mission home. My companion is Sister Peaden. I haven't met her yet but I will tomorrow. The mission president and his wife are so great. He keeps bringing up obiedience and obeying with exactness, I love it! I think I will love serving with them for the next year and a half. They also said that in the next few weeks we are going to have a sisters conference on Prince Edward Island! so I actually get to go and see it! yay! I'm so excited for that! The mission home is so wonderful. They feed us the most delicious food and it just feels like home. It's beautiful here. Really green and the ocean is like a mile away so you can see it in the distance. I haven't seen too much of Nova Scotia yet but I will soon so I can be more descriptive then. We also went to the temple today. It's the smallest temple I've ever seen but it was so neat to go our first day here. They have made us feel so welcome and I'm so excited to go out and work hard and to take all the advice I've been given and put it to work! I already got to hand out a few pass a long cards on the plane. It was so cool. I sat next to a 12 year old girl and chatted with her like she was Logan or Janai. (I told her all about them too) and she was a little bashful talking about religion and I thought I would be too but the words just came. I'm so excited to have the opportunity to do that all day tomorrow! I love you all and I'll write next week.

Love,
Sister Crane

August 5th MTC

Hi!
Thank you all so much for writing me! really it is so good to feel like I am apart of your lives and still informed. I love the e-mails and letters and they keep my spirits up. If you wrote me I'll have to write a hand written letter back because the e-mail time limit doesn't allow me to write as much as I would like to.

So what's up with me? I leave for Halifax on Tuesday! Pray I'll get there safely! I'm so excited but feel totally unprepared. I've learned so much here but I want to know Preach My Gospel more than I do and it's hard to feel like I know everything I will need to know. But I am so excited to serve! I went to the temple today and saw President Daines! He said Bret and Em got back safely which I was glad to hear and it was good to see him. The temple was amazing! Seriously I have been beaming ever since I left. It's rainy Utah weather which oddly I LOVE and the peace that I feel from being at the temple today is just amazing.

I have a cold, which is such a bummer. I wake up every morning not being able to breath but I'm glad it's only a cold and nothing more. I have to say that MTC food has taken a toll on my stomach though. We ate breakfast at the temple this morning and their cafeteria is WAY better than the MTC. Delicious!

So let's see we taught 2 more investigators. Last Friday I taught a woman who her sons best friend just died in a car accident at Springville high. (I think she was a real member but i know the story of the car accident is true) The whole time we taught her it was tangible that she needed something, and she needed to hear about the plan of salvation, and we didn't teach that. I felt frustrated afterward. She needed something and I didn't give it to her! We taught her the restoration which was fine but not what she needed. So that was def. a low point where I struggled but then we taught Janice (our 1st investigator she's old and so cute!) for the second time. We taught her the plan of salvation and she was so cute. She just nods the whole time and is obviously a member of the church because she eggs us on and hints stuff. So while we're teaching we notice that her eyes start to close as we talk to her. Sister Hudson and I are first worried thinking she's having a stroke but she does it again and I realize that she's falling asleep. In fact Sis. H is in the middle of a sentence and starts laughing because Janice is totally asleep. Janice opens her eyes and I take over trying to cover up Sis. H trying not to laugh. We end with prayer and we open our eyes and we look up and Janice still has her head down totally asleep. Sis. H and I look at eachother and start laughing it was hillarious. We tell Janice thanks and get up and she opens her eyes and we walk out run to our district and start busting up laughing. I was dying it was so funny. Oh Janice. She was so cute.

We had a member of the 70 come again L Lionel Kendrick. He was really great and motivating, we're all crossing fingers for an apostle but I think they only come on Tuesdays so we might have missed out, but we had Gene R. Cook so my life is complete! :)

I have been blessed with so many tender mercies from the Lord while I've been here. Everytime I get a letter or a package or feel your prayers I just feel so blessed. Thank you for your prayers. I am happy and Sister Hudson and I are sad we'll be split up soon but hopefully we'll get to serve together in the field again. Oh by the way they changed the dress code here! You can where color! and you don't have to wear nylons and your skirts just have to cover your knees when you sit down! it's insane and Mom I may ask for you to send me 2 of my dresses from home because they would be long enough, but i'll have to see if my mission pres. has the same rule or not.

Anyways I so wish I could write more. I love you and thank you for your letters! Next time I write I'll be in Canada! yay! The gospel is true and God is mindful of every one of His children. The temple is amazing! And the work we do in there is sacred and of God. Thank you for bouying me up!

Love,
Sister Crane