8 years ago
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Parade
We were in the Truro Christmas parade on Saturday. Our branch decided that we wanted to get our church name out into the community so they built a float for us to ride on and sing Christmas carols.The parade is SUPER long and it was snowing. But we got a trailer full of people from the branch and we sang Christmas Carols the whole time. Too bad we were the last float before Santa Claus so no one really cared about us. And we were right next too some floats that were blaring music from their trucks, so we practically had to yell instead of sing. It was so much fun! I laughed so hard. Verna came and she LOVED it. She waved like no buddys business. It was awesome. For sure it was a highlight of my mission. We ended up singing "here comes Santa Claus" the majority of the time, we thought that would be more appropriate :) And people on the streets were singing with us! It was so fun to laugh and sing with the members!
November 24th
Steven and Verna are now members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!
The baptisms went PERFECT. Seriously I was amazed at how many branch members showed up and how smooth everything went! We met in the Relief Society room and there wasn't enough room for everyone! We were so packed in there. Casey came and Matt too, we were so happy that they came to see a baptism for the first time. Verna's nieces sang the "I like to look for rainbows" song and I played for them, by the end of the song I was balling. I'm surprised I could even see the notes :) I sat down with Sister Peaden and as we listened to Verna's sister and Steven's wife give talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost, I felt the Spirit so strong. It was incredible. I've never felt this way before. This kind of happiness.
Steven was first to get baptized. He totally hit his head on the side of the font as he went down. haha I laugh because later we talked to him about it and he said he didn't even know he hit his head! he said all he could remember was he went down in the water and as he came up he felt a "ahhh" like a sigh of relief. He is so funny. In fact he asked his brother in law if while he was in the water if the man baptizing him, Pres. Bezansen, said anything. haha His brother in law explained that Pres. Bezansen couldn't have said anything, Steven was only under for like 2 seconds. Apparently it felt longer for him. He cracks me up.
Verna did an awesome job, she was in a bad factory accident a long time ago and so she has really bad back problems and walks with a cane. We were a bit nervous because her nephew was baptizing her and he's 17 and this was his first one. As they stood in the water, before he spoke the words he heaved a big sigh, like a "oh boy I hope I can do this" haha I tried to laugh to myself reverently when he did that. But he did great and her only complaint was the water was too cold :) Sorry Verna, we're in Nova Scotia and the water heater wasn't working properly.
So there you go! It was amazing! And after they received the Holy Ghost on Sunday, Verna said she was on cloud 9 and Steven said it was like Christmas morning. They truly are worth every cold night that we are out knocking, every time my feet hurt, and every rejection. I'd do it all over again for them.
In other news, Casey is doing awesome. Matt said that he is going to come to church this week! yay! Oh and we had this awesome experience yesterday! So we had been knocking a lot yesterday, and we were in this really nice neighborhood where every person we have met thus far was very nice but also very content with what they have in their life. So we knock on this one door and a man named Ralph opens the door and immediately invites us in, it was snowing/raining outside,so we were very grateful to be in a warm home. He finds out we're Mormon and sits us down and his wife made hot chocolate for us. He's a retired dentist and his wife is a dental hygienist and so is his daughter. Their teeth were in excellent shape by the way :) And so Ralph starts telling us about all of the Mormon people he has known in his life and the impact they have had on them. Something so simple like when he was in the military and his friend who was LDS didn't drink even though everyone around them was. This happened years ago yet it had left such a great impression on him. He also was puzzled because his dog apparently barks at everyone and goes crazy and he didn't bark once at us. It seriously made him think and he said, "Now why isn't my dog barking?" I replied with, "he knows our message is true" He got a kick out of that one. And we concluded that the dog must be Mormon. He also later was saying what good people the Mormon people are and it makes him wonder, " Maybe everyone should be Mormon" I said, "ya you're right! that's why we're here!" He laughed pretty hard at that one too. We stayed for almost an hour with him and his family and they were just the nicest people. Too bad he's set in his ways but we left him with a pass a long card for the finding faith in Christ video. Hopefully he'll call the number.
IN CONCLUSION to this long e-mail what I've learned is that as members of the church we will never fully know the amazing impact we can have on other people! Something small to you like abstaining from drinking, or not swearing can have and has had an influence on someone like Ralph. And because of that family, we were let in and showed some kindness. That is incredible. Never underestimate the power of an example. I am so grateful for the standards of the church. What an amazing blessing! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I can't believe it's already been 4 months since I left home. Time flys by and I have to start appreciating each moment more before it goes by any faster :) Thank you for your prayers and letters!
love,
Sister Crane
The baptisms went PERFECT. Seriously I was amazed at how many branch members showed up and how smooth everything went! We met in the Relief Society room and there wasn't enough room for everyone! We were so packed in there. Casey came and Matt too, we were so happy that they came to see a baptism for the first time. Verna's nieces sang the "I like to look for rainbows" song and I played for them, by the end of the song I was balling. I'm surprised I could even see the notes :) I sat down with Sister Peaden and as we listened to Verna's sister and Steven's wife give talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost, I felt the Spirit so strong. It was incredible. I've never felt this way before. This kind of happiness.
Steven was first to get baptized. He totally hit his head on the side of the font as he went down. haha I laugh because later we talked to him about it and he said he didn't even know he hit his head! he said all he could remember was he went down in the water and as he came up he felt a "ahhh" like a sigh of relief. He is so funny. In fact he asked his brother in law if while he was in the water if the man baptizing him, Pres. Bezansen, said anything. haha His brother in law explained that Pres. Bezansen couldn't have said anything, Steven was only under for like 2 seconds. Apparently it felt longer for him. He cracks me up.
Verna did an awesome job, she was in a bad factory accident a long time ago and so she has really bad back problems and walks with a cane. We were a bit nervous because her nephew was baptizing her and he's 17 and this was his first one. As they stood in the water, before he spoke the words he heaved a big sigh, like a "oh boy I hope I can do this" haha I tried to laugh to myself reverently when he did that. But he did great and her only complaint was the water was too cold :) Sorry Verna, we're in Nova Scotia and the water heater wasn't working properly.
So there you go! It was amazing! And after they received the Holy Ghost on Sunday, Verna said she was on cloud 9 and Steven said it was like Christmas morning. They truly are worth every cold night that we are out knocking, every time my feet hurt, and every rejection. I'd do it all over again for them.
In other news, Casey is doing awesome. Matt said that he is going to come to church this week! yay! Oh and we had this awesome experience yesterday! So we had been knocking a lot yesterday, and we were in this really nice neighborhood where every person we have met thus far was very nice but also very content with what they have in their life. So we knock on this one door and a man named Ralph opens the door and immediately invites us in, it was snowing/raining outside,so we were very grateful to be in a warm home. He finds out we're Mormon and sits us down and his wife made hot chocolate for us. He's a retired dentist and his wife is a dental hygienist and so is his daughter. Their teeth were in excellent shape by the way :) And so Ralph starts telling us about all of the Mormon people he has known in his life and the impact they have had on them. Something so simple like when he was in the military and his friend who was LDS didn't drink even though everyone around them was. This happened years ago yet it had left such a great impression on him. He also was puzzled because his dog apparently barks at everyone and goes crazy and he didn't bark once at us. It seriously made him think and he said, "Now why isn't my dog barking?" I replied with, "he knows our message is true" He got a kick out of that one. And we concluded that the dog must be Mormon. He also later was saying what good people the Mormon people are and it makes him wonder, " Maybe everyone should be Mormon" I said, "ya you're right! that's why we're here!" He laughed pretty hard at that one too. We stayed for almost an hour with him and his family and they were just the nicest people. Too bad he's set in his ways but we left him with a pass a long card for the finding faith in Christ video. Hopefully he'll call the number.
IN CONCLUSION to this long e-mail what I've learned is that as members of the church we will never fully know the amazing impact we can have on other people! Something small to you like abstaining from drinking, or not swearing can have and has had an influence on someone like Ralph. And because of that family, we were let in and showed some kindness. That is incredible. Never underestimate the power of an example. I am so grateful for the standards of the church. What an amazing blessing! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I can't believe it's already been 4 months since I left home. Time flys by and I have to start appreciating each moment more before it goes by any faster :) Thank you for your prayers and letters!
love,
Sister Crane
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Nov. 18th
To All:
I can't believe another week has gone by! Monday through Friday we had Leadership Training. It was right here in Truro and there were about 20 other missionaries who came and we had President train us. It was AWESOME. Seriously I learned so much. On the first day it was kind of awkward because Sister Peaden and I were the only Sisters there and I don't think the Elders knew how to talk to us. By the 3rd day they got over their shyness and we finally had a conversation with some of them :) So on the first day I was extremely humbled, because in leadership we do role plays. It's basically like acting so I don't mind it. One missionary pretends to be one of your investigators and then you extend a specific commitment to them like read the Book of Mormon, or pray to know it's true or come to church. So all the Elders paired up with other Elders and Sister Peaden and I got President and Sister Simpson. A bit intimidating but I thought I'd be fine. After we are done President critques it a lot. I knew I hadn't done a very good job and in fact he asks if he can use me as an example of what NOT to do. Can you imagine standing in front of your peers and having your mission president say "here's what not to do just look at Sister Crane" you see, I was trying to fix my investigators problems instead of letting them fix it. They would say I can't come to church and I would say, "oh yes you can just do this and this and this" and really you're supposed to say, "what do you think you can do to come to church and recieve the blessings from coming?"
So after that day I decided I was going to stopping fixing problems. And that night we went and saw the Meissner family. They are less active and they refuse to pray. I took all that I had learned that day in leadership and guess what? It worked! It was amazing! They committed to pray as a couple and pray on their own and as a family every night this week and we're going back next week. The next day at leadership I stood up and told everyone how it had worked and so of course this time, as if the day before hadn't been enough, President brings Sister Peaden and I up infront of everyone to role play with the Meissners. Luckily that time President played us and I played Brother Meissner, and boy oh boy did I give him a hard time. He would ask me to pray and I would pause for a really long time and then say no. haha But the thing is I wasn't doing it to give him a hard time I was just trying to respond like Bro. Meissner would have and the Spirit was so strong, President even got a bit emotional over it. I got to be in the shoes of Bro. Meissner and feel what he felt when we talk to him and it opened my eyes to things that we should do next lesson. Also later that day Sister Peaden and I were paired up with some Elders roleplaying the Book of Mormon commitment and who comes over but President. I was actually really nervous because we were teaching this investigator Peter that day and so I wanted to make the role play as real as possible. I prayed really hard that I would know what to say and it just came to me. It was amazing. Sister Peaden did awesome too and afterward President said that was the best he's ever seen us teach. YAY! I did something right!
It's amazing how when you are humble or (humbled I should say) you learn a lot! And if you really try to implement what you learn it works! Anyways leadership training was awesome and I'm sad it's over but now we get to look forward to Steven and Verna's baptisms! oh Oh OH! I almost forgot! In my last e-mail I said how Verna's husband wasn't supportive and so Sister Peaden and I fasted and prayed about it and you know what?! He said that he's fine with it! After one of our appointments, she got really upset about it and he saw how much it meant to her and said I'll do whatever it takes and now he's going to come on Saturday! yay! We are so thrilled! And Steven has grown so much! His friends at work have been making fun of him and he's just stayed so strong and been focusing on forgiving them and trying to not let it affect him. They seriously are so stalwart and such great examples to us all. After our appointment with Verna yesterday she said, "I'm really going to miss you guys coming over so often" And I realized what a special relationship we have with her. I hope it's one that lasts my whole life.
I feel so grateful to have come on a mission. Because if I had stayed home, I never would have met Verna, or Steven, or all of the wonderful people here. Yes it is hard, but you know what? I would do all of the pain, all of the work, and all of the sadness all over again for Verna or Steven in a heartbeat. I just love them so much and I can't wait for Saturday. I really hope we make it as special as we can for them on Saturday. Thank you for all of your prayers. The church is true! I know it!
love,
Sister Crane
I can't believe another week has gone by! Monday through Friday we had Leadership Training. It was right here in Truro and there were about 20 other missionaries who came and we had President train us. It was AWESOME. Seriously I learned so much. On the first day it was kind of awkward because Sister Peaden and I were the only Sisters there and I don't think the Elders knew how to talk to us. By the 3rd day they got over their shyness and we finally had a conversation with some of them :) So on the first day I was extremely humbled, because in leadership we do role plays. It's basically like acting so I don't mind it. One missionary pretends to be one of your investigators and then you extend a specific commitment to them like read the Book of Mormon, or pray to know it's true or come to church. So all the Elders paired up with other Elders and Sister Peaden and I got President and Sister Simpson. A bit intimidating but I thought I'd be fine. After we are done President critques it a lot. I knew I hadn't done a very good job and in fact he asks if he can use me as an example of what NOT to do. Can you imagine standing in front of your peers and having your mission president say "here's what not to do just look at Sister Crane" you see, I was trying to fix my investigators problems instead of letting them fix it. They would say I can't come to church and I would say, "oh yes you can just do this and this and this" and really you're supposed to say, "what do you think you can do to come to church and recieve the blessings from coming?"
So after that day I decided I was going to stopping fixing problems. And that night we went and saw the Meissner family. They are less active and they refuse to pray. I took all that I had learned that day in leadership and guess what? It worked! It was amazing! They committed to pray as a couple and pray on their own and as a family every night this week and we're going back next week. The next day at leadership I stood up and told everyone how it had worked and so of course this time, as if the day before hadn't been enough, President brings Sister Peaden and I up infront of everyone to role play with the Meissners. Luckily that time President played us and I played Brother Meissner, and boy oh boy did I give him a hard time. He would ask me to pray and I would pause for a really long time and then say no. haha But the thing is I wasn't doing it to give him a hard time I was just trying to respond like Bro. Meissner would have and the Spirit was so strong, President even got a bit emotional over it. I got to be in the shoes of Bro. Meissner and feel what he felt when we talk to him and it opened my eyes to things that we should do next lesson. Also later that day Sister Peaden and I were paired up with some Elders roleplaying the Book of Mormon commitment and who comes over but President. I was actually really nervous because we were teaching this investigator Peter that day and so I wanted to make the role play as real as possible. I prayed really hard that I would know what to say and it just came to me. It was amazing. Sister Peaden did awesome too and afterward President said that was the best he's ever seen us teach. YAY! I did something right!
It's amazing how when you are humble or (humbled I should say) you learn a lot! And if you really try to implement what you learn it works! Anyways leadership training was awesome and I'm sad it's over but now we get to look forward to Steven and Verna's baptisms! oh Oh OH! I almost forgot! In my last e-mail I said how Verna's husband wasn't supportive and so Sister Peaden and I fasted and prayed about it and you know what?! He said that he's fine with it! After one of our appointments, she got really upset about it and he saw how much it meant to her and said I'll do whatever it takes and now he's going to come on Saturday! yay! We are so thrilled! And Steven has grown so much! His friends at work have been making fun of him and he's just stayed so strong and been focusing on forgiving them and trying to not let it affect him. They seriously are so stalwart and such great examples to us all. After our appointment with Verna yesterday she said, "I'm really going to miss you guys coming over so often" And I realized what a special relationship we have with her. I hope it's one that lasts my whole life.
I feel so grateful to have come on a mission. Because if I had stayed home, I never would have met Verna, or Steven, or all of the wonderful people here. Yes it is hard, but you know what? I would do all of the pain, all of the work, and all of the sadness all over again for Verna or Steven in a heartbeat. I just love them so much and I can't wait for Saturday. I really hope we make it as special as we can for them on Saturday. Thank you for all of your prayers. The church is true! I know it!
love,
Sister Crane
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
November 10th
I'm finally feeling better! Being sick was so not any fun and so I'm so glad that finally I'm feeling back to normal and able to work hard. This week it rained A TON. The river that goes through town and feeds into the bay of Fundy was totally flooded. I'm just glad it's not snow :)
Steven is officially SMOKE FREE! yay! He passed the first week! We gave him his certificate and celebrated with apple pie and ice cream yesterday. Speaking of which we had an amazing lesson with him on Monday. It was crazy because on Monday morning durning companionship study I became really overwhelmed, I felt like Verna and Stevens baptismal date is coming up really fast and we haven't prepared them enough and are they even ready? I got really worried that they would be one of those converts who gets baptized and then falls away, and I got really scared. So we decided that with each of them that day we would go over the baptismal interview questions and follow the Spirit in discerning whether they felt ready and were doing this for the right reasons. So that night as we talked with Steven the Spirit was so strong. It was amazing. He has a testimony and shared it with us. As we talked to him about how he'll receive the priesthood and how they get to go to the temple as a family next year, it was just amazing. Sister Peaden gave the closing prayer, and as we knelt and prayed together I just felt so much love for them and their family. This is why I'm here! For them! As we left and shook Steven's hand he tried to hug us both, oops forgot to explain that rule. But I thought it was so sweet that Sister Peaden and I have developed this relationship with the Caldwells. And when they are sealed as a family next November I will still be here so I can go to the temple and be there with them!
Verna is doing really well, she is so ready and excited for baptism. One problem. We need her spouses verbal permission. We finally met her husband Dale on Monday and he is super against it. It was a huge step for him to meet us though because he's been saying he didn't even want to talk to us. We're meeting with him on Friday and we are really praying that he will consent so that Verna can be baptized. She deserves this and she wants it! She has a testimony and knows it's true!
Casey is doing awesome, still sticking with her date for January 12th. She has made awesome progress and we just love her. Alain, the student from Africa called us yesterday and said that his host family that he's staying with says that we can't come over anymore because they are "100% against Mormons." It was so hard to hear that. It's hard not to take it personal and think that it was something that I've done. I just feel really bad. Luckily Alain said he still wants to learn! So we're going to meet him at the church building instead. whew. I almost thought we had lost him there. And he's stellar. Seriously the elect right there, so sincere and I can't wait to see him progress.
We've also been teaching Alexandre from Brazil, he's staying with a member in the branch ( speak of which this member that he's staying with his name is Brother Bruce and my stake President at BYU, President Child, who served in my mission, he baptized Brother Bruce and his family when they were kids! nuts!) Anyways we're teaching Alexandre, he's 17 and so awesome. In fact after our lesson yesterday he told us in his teenage way that it was awesome. He's so sincere and really strives to understand everything that we teach him.
On Sunday we had district conference. It was really cool to see all of the missionaries serving in the surrounding areas. President and Sister Simpson were each there and spoke. It was so good! AND Casey, Steven and Verna all came and they loved it! They all said that they were so happy they came, and they each applied the things they learned to themselves. That was pretty cool, because the conference was 45 minutes away, so to get them all there was so cool! I led the music so we had to sit on the front row and we sat with Casey and Steven (Verna sat with her sister) and President and Sister Simpson just looked at us and smiled. I was so happy. I can't believe they all came! It was awesome.
So there you go another great week! This week is leadership training and we're really excited for it and tomorrow our District leader and his companion are coming to our area to do a "blitz" it's where they come to our area and work in our area for the day. They are going to come to appointments with us and knock and try to find potentials. We're really excited, it'll be something different for sure, and it'll help our area out.
Thank you for the continued support and the prayers on mybehalf, I do feel them, and I know that my investigators have as well. I know it's only through prayer that I'm seeing such amazing miracles.
love,
Sister Crane
Steven is officially SMOKE FREE! yay! He passed the first week! We gave him his certificate and celebrated with apple pie and ice cream yesterday. Speaking of which we had an amazing lesson with him on Monday. It was crazy because on Monday morning durning companionship study I became really overwhelmed, I felt like Verna and Stevens baptismal date is coming up really fast and we haven't prepared them enough and are they even ready? I got really worried that they would be one of those converts who gets baptized and then falls away, and I got really scared. So we decided that with each of them that day we would go over the baptismal interview questions and follow the Spirit in discerning whether they felt ready and were doing this for the right reasons. So that night as we talked with Steven the Spirit was so strong. It was amazing. He has a testimony and shared it with us. As we talked to him about how he'll receive the priesthood and how they get to go to the temple as a family next year, it was just amazing. Sister Peaden gave the closing prayer, and as we knelt and prayed together I just felt so much love for them and their family. This is why I'm here! For them! As we left and shook Steven's hand he tried to hug us both, oops forgot to explain that rule. But I thought it was so sweet that Sister Peaden and I have developed this relationship with the Caldwells. And when they are sealed as a family next November I will still be here so I can go to the temple and be there with them!
Verna is doing really well, she is so ready and excited for baptism. One problem. We need her spouses verbal permission. We finally met her husband Dale on Monday and he is super against it. It was a huge step for him to meet us though because he's been saying he didn't even want to talk to us. We're meeting with him on Friday and we are really praying that he will consent so that Verna can be baptized. She deserves this and she wants it! She has a testimony and knows it's true!
Casey is doing awesome, still sticking with her date for January 12th. She has made awesome progress and we just love her. Alain, the student from Africa called us yesterday and said that his host family that he's staying with says that we can't come over anymore because they are "100% against Mormons." It was so hard to hear that. It's hard not to take it personal and think that it was something that I've done. I just feel really bad. Luckily Alain said he still wants to learn! So we're going to meet him at the church building instead. whew. I almost thought we had lost him there. And he's stellar. Seriously the elect right there, so sincere and I can't wait to see him progress.
We've also been teaching Alexandre from Brazil, he's staying with a member in the branch ( speak of which this member that he's staying with his name is Brother Bruce and my stake President at BYU, President Child, who served in my mission, he baptized Brother Bruce and his family when they were kids! nuts!) Anyways we're teaching Alexandre, he's 17 and so awesome. In fact after our lesson yesterday he told us in his teenage way that it was awesome. He's so sincere and really strives to understand everything that we teach him.
On Sunday we had district conference. It was really cool to see all of the missionaries serving in the surrounding areas. President and Sister Simpson were each there and spoke. It was so good! AND Casey, Steven and Verna all came and they loved it! They all said that they were so happy they came, and they each applied the things they learned to themselves. That was pretty cool, because the conference was 45 minutes away, so to get them all there was so cool! I led the music so we had to sit on the front row and we sat with Casey and Steven (Verna sat with her sister) and President and Sister Simpson just looked at us and smiled. I was so happy. I can't believe they all came! It was awesome.
So there you go another great week! This week is leadership training and we're really excited for it and tomorrow our District leader and his companion are coming to our area to do a "blitz" it's where they come to our area and work in our area for the day. They are going to come to appointments with us and knock and try to find potentials. We're really excited, it'll be something different for sure, and it'll help our area out.
Thank you for the continued support and the prayers on mybehalf, I do feel them, and I know that my investigators have as well. I know it's only through prayer that I'm seeing such amazing miracles.
love,
Sister Crane
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
November 3rd
Congrats Jeff and Jackie! I am so happy for you both and can't wait until I get to see my new niece Sofia! So this week I've been sick. It's awful. I hate being sick on a mission. Seriously the worst thing ever. It was just a cold at first, so we would work part of the day until I felt awful and then come in and rest. Yesterday I thought I would be ok, but it was so cold out side, it started to hail a bit, it was freezing, not the brightest idea for me to be out working. So because of that I woke up feeling even worse. I'm amazed that I got out of bed today, I just feel awful. The worst thing about being sick on your mission is that hard work is what makes you happy, so when you're in your apartment and can't work hard you just don't feel happy.
Anyways despite all of that we still had a successful week for not being able to work as much as I would like. It's FREEZING here. But that's sometimes nice because people are more likely to invite us in. Yesterday we had 2 awesome lessons with Stephen and Verna. Verna is the cutest ever. We've been calling her Sister Priest and so she has now started referring to herself as Sister Priest. She'll call us on the phone and say "hi this is Sister Priest" and as she does she laughs every time, probably b/c it sounds so foreign to her. Yesterday after the lesson she brought her camera so we could take a picture with her. She is just so happy, and you can tell. She's so ready for baptism it's amazing.
Stephen has been having difficulty. He's still working on the stop-smoking program. It's really hard for him because to not smoke and drink is a TOTAL life change. That means he can't hang out with all of the people that he used to. We thought he was doing pretty well, but turns out he's having a harder time than we thought. We gave a lesson on repentance and read about Alma the younger and his conversion story and what it meant to repent, the Spirit was really strong and I hope it helped. To keep his date for the 20th he has to keep the Word of Wisdom fully by this Saturday. We're praying for him really fervently lately. I know he can do it, I just don't know if he knows that he can do it.
We had our trunk or treat on Saturday, there were more non-members there than members! It was so awesome! Sister Peaden and I decorated our trunk and handed out candy. We were over the station "the witches brew" where we blind folded little kids and made them touch gross stuff like "eye balls" or "brains" and help them mix it in their caldron. (kind of sounds torturous but it beats knocking) :)
On Saturday we got a call from the branch President right, before the trunk or treat started, to ask if we could teach the combined Relief Society/Elders Quorum lesson on Sunday. Awesome. Normally I would jump up and down at an opportunity to teach but I wasn't feeling so good, we had ZERO time to prepare and I was frustrated because we just gave talks last week and we are doing the young women’s activity today. So we came home after the trunk or treat frustrated and tired and tried to prepare a lesson. Obviously the Spirit couldn't be with us to help us prepare, so we made a random outline and hurriedly went to bed. We woke up the next day, I was feeling a bit better and we decided we were going to stop being frustrated about it and think about what they need to hear. It was amazing, as I prayed for clarity to know what to say, closed the pray and lifted my head up, immediately I knew what we should teach. "Why are we trying to make it so complicated, let’s teach something we know! Lets teach the restoration, the first lesson!" BAM immediately we made a lesson outline and within a 1/2 hour we had a lesson planned. We taught it and it went really well. The discussion was awesome and the Spirit was there. It's amazing how revelation can so easily come to us, but we have to prepare ourselves for it. I couldn't receive revelation while being frustrated and resenting the call to teach, but when I repented and humbled myself, the revelation came and because of that the Spirit could teach all who were there.
Well now I'm just trying to get better, Sister Peaden has been really patient with me, I just hope she doesn't get sick. I'm resting up today and hopefully I'll be feeling like myself again by the end of the week. The church is true! Thank you for your prayers and letters!
Love,
Sister Crane
Anyways despite all of that we still had a successful week for not being able to work as much as I would like. It's FREEZING here. But that's sometimes nice because people are more likely to invite us in. Yesterday we had 2 awesome lessons with Stephen and Verna. Verna is the cutest ever. We've been calling her Sister Priest and so she has now started referring to herself as Sister Priest. She'll call us on the phone and say "hi this is Sister Priest" and as she does she laughs every time, probably b/c it sounds so foreign to her. Yesterday after the lesson she brought her camera so we could take a picture with her. She is just so happy, and you can tell. She's so ready for baptism it's amazing.
Stephen has been having difficulty. He's still working on the stop-smoking program. It's really hard for him because to not smoke and drink is a TOTAL life change. That means he can't hang out with all of the people that he used to. We thought he was doing pretty well, but turns out he's having a harder time than we thought. We gave a lesson on repentance and read about Alma the younger and his conversion story and what it meant to repent, the Spirit was really strong and I hope it helped. To keep his date for the 20th he has to keep the Word of Wisdom fully by this Saturday. We're praying for him really fervently lately. I know he can do it, I just don't know if he knows that he can do it.
We had our trunk or treat on Saturday, there were more non-members there than members! It was so awesome! Sister Peaden and I decorated our trunk and handed out candy. We were over the station "the witches brew" where we blind folded little kids and made them touch gross stuff like "eye balls" or "brains" and help them mix it in their caldron. (kind of sounds torturous but it beats knocking) :)
On Saturday we got a call from the branch President right, before the trunk or treat started, to ask if we could teach the combined Relief Society/Elders Quorum lesson on Sunday. Awesome. Normally I would jump up and down at an opportunity to teach but I wasn't feeling so good, we had ZERO time to prepare and I was frustrated because we just gave talks last week and we are doing the young women’s activity today. So we came home after the trunk or treat frustrated and tired and tried to prepare a lesson. Obviously the Spirit couldn't be with us to help us prepare, so we made a random outline and hurriedly went to bed. We woke up the next day, I was feeling a bit better and we decided we were going to stop being frustrated about it and think about what they need to hear. It was amazing, as I prayed for clarity to know what to say, closed the pray and lifted my head up, immediately I knew what we should teach. "Why are we trying to make it so complicated, let’s teach something we know! Lets teach the restoration, the first lesson!" BAM immediately we made a lesson outline and within a 1/2 hour we had a lesson planned. We taught it and it went really well. The discussion was awesome and the Spirit was there. It's amazing how revelation can so easily come to us, but we have to prepare ourselves for it. I couldn't receive revelation while being frustrated and resenting the call to teach, but when I repented and humbled myself, the revelation came and because of that the Spirit could teach all who were there.
Well now I'm just trying to get better, Sister Peaden has been really patient with me, I just hope she doesn't get sick. I'm resting up today and hopefully I'll be feeling like myself again by the end of the week. The church is true! Thank you for your prayers and letters!
Love,
Sister Crane
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