December 29th

Can you believe Christmas is over?! I feel like I look forward to it all year and then all of the sudden it's over. Crazy. Christmas was a lot of fun this year, although it didn't feel like Christmas. Sister Peaden and I drove down to Halifax where the mission home is and got to hang out with some other missionaries and President and Sister Simpson. We ate a lot of goodies, played games and watched While You Were Sleeping!!!! Apparently it's President and Sister Simpson's favorite movie ( that and Return to Me) I totally have the best mission President ever! It was so fun to watch it all together, and weird to be watching a movie. I love movies, but as I was watching it I realized how much I didn't miss it. I've found so many other ways to fill my time that it was nice to come that realization :) While in Halifax we got to go see the live nativity that the church puts on over by the Temple. It was a lot of fun and I think that made it feel like Christmas more than anything.
That night we slept over at Sister Hudson's place (my MTC comp.) in a place called Eastern Passage. It was so fun to be with other sisters. We read The Night Before Christmas together and in the morning we made french toast and opened up all of our presents. We then headed off to a member familys home in Eastern Passage and we ate lunch and watched Dispicable Me. What was crazy is the member, Brother Meisner, served in the Clayton Valley 3rd ward! Pretty crazy connections. Then we headed back to Truro, made some phone calls :) and ate at the Laliberte's for Christmas Supper. Sister Laliberte is the best cook ever (besides you Mom) and I left their house barely able to walk I was so full. And there you have it! It was so fun I loved Christmas on the mission, mostly because of the members. The members just showered us with love, and were so understanding of us being away from home. I am so grateful I got to spend Christmas in Truro!
The rest of the week has been....well...COLD. It snowed, and snowed and snowed and we knocked and knocked and knocked. awesome. It's really not too bad except for the wind! It cuts you like a knife. Seriously, I got a headache it was blowing at my face so hard. I asked some of the locals, as we knocked, and got some ideas of how to protect my face. My favorite though, is when people ask us if we're cold and we of course say yes, and they respond with..."just wait till Febuary! This isn't cold"....awesome...looking forward to it :) It's also been pretty funny, because it's so cold that people won't even open their doors to say no to us, they instead just wave out their window and shake their head. Haha I laugh every time.
Jerry is still doing awesome! His Mom now wants to join in on the lessons! Seriously he's finding more people for us to teach than we are! Michelle, his girlfriend, came to church on Sunday and really liked it. They say that their kids are just a lot happier since we've been talking with them. I love that they are seeing the immediate blessings from learning about the gospel.
I love being out here, despite the weather. It's so fun to share my testimony with everyone I meet. I love being bold and feeling confident in what I'm doing! It's exciting to be out sharing what I know! The church is true and the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Thomas S Monson is a true prophet of God. Have a wonderful New Year! Thank you for your prayers and letters!

love,
Sister Crane

Presents from the members

December 22nd 2010

Wow this has been the week that has beaten ALL other weeks ever!!! We have 4 MORE PEOPLE ON DATE TO BE BAPTIZED! That's 5 in total! This is nuts. Seriously. It's the craziest thing ever! Ok let me explain, because this week has been AMAZING!

So the first 2 people are Jerry and Michelle. They are living together and they both have 1 son each. (Dillon (7) and Cameron (12) ) We knocked into Jerry 2 Saturdays ago and talked about the Book of Mormon. He had read it when he was 13 and had this amazing experience with it and invited us back. We have met with him every day since. He came to church on Sunday and it was so awesome! It was the Christmas program, and Sister Peaden and I played a medley of hymns (Sister Peaden rocked it on the recorder, yes the $2 recorder I bought her for her birthday, you betcha) And I accompanied Taylor this cute 8 year old girl as she sang "He Sent His Son." Surprisingly there is a lot of musical talent in our little branch! It went perfect and then after they broadcasted the 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional and followed it with a little linger longer, lunchin. Michelle had to work but Jerry came with Dillon and Cameron and he loved it! The branch was amazing, they all welcomed him in, we barely got a word in, everyone else was so busy talking to him. :) He afterward said he felt more at home there than at his own family reunions. He said it didn't even feel like church, it just felt like a bunch of selfless people coming together to help others. Sister Putnam has been coming to every lesson with us too. She is a recent convert of 2 years and she says it's been helping her so much too. She's reading along with them and she has come to love them I dare say even more than we do. She is the kindest person I have ever met. I hope to one day be like her. When I read about how Christ tells us in the scriptures to become as a little child, I picture Sister Putnam. She's incredible.
The other 2 that are on date this week are Chad and Darleen. Darleen is Chad's mom and Chad is 15, he has a brother Bradley who is 12. Chad has been coming to Young Men's and seminary a ton and loves it. We didn't even have to bring up baptism, Darleen just said at the end of the lesson, "so Chad wants to get baptized, how do we make this happen?" I responded, after I finally shut my mouth in surprise, with, "well lets set a date!" Darleen was sick and didn't get to come to church but Chad did and he brought a friend too. I'm so excited for them both. We have Brother Mahoney coming with us and like Sister Putnam with Jerry and Michelle, Bro. Mahoney is so invested in them, I love it! It's just wonderful to think that our investigators are building such great relationships with the members here.
Speaking of the members, on Sunday at the lunch- in they brought in this huge box full of Christmas presents, cookies, pie, juice, candy, and food for us! For Sister Peaden and I! President Bezanson had us stand up and he presented it to us and said that he wanted to thank us for our hard work and that we brought a lot of enthusiasm to the branch and then had everyone clap. I was overcome with gratitude. I basically sobbed the whole way over to get the presents. Sister Peaden and I went home and opened up the presents one by one, all of the branch members had planned this out and each had gotten us a little something. I don't think I have ever felt so loved in my whole life. It was the sweetest thing. I think what meant so much is that I truly feel that I've given my heart to these people, I love the members like my own family and for them to show their appreciation is overwhelming. Christmas hasn't even happened yet, and I think that was the best present I have ever been given.
Well I hope you each have a very Merry Christmas. I am especially thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ and for his great Atonening Sacrifice. I am grateful to be able to represent Him and to serve God's children. I know that He lives, and I know that God knows us each personally. He leads us by the hand, and prepares us for our future trials, and blessings. Thank you for your letters and prayers! Have a wonderful Christmas!

Love,
Sister Crane

December 15th

To all:
Congrats Truro you did it! Out of the 170 places to live in Canada (#1 being the best) Truro came in at 169! Haha! This man at a door told us that when we knocked into him. He said we should tell our families so that they understand how hard our missions are. I laughed pretty hard. Especially since I'M STAYING for another 6 weeks! yay! We found out about transfers yesterday and both Sister Peaden and I are staying. I honestly am relieved. I wanted to stay some where familiar for Christmas. I was scared of going somewhere far away, because staying here means that we're close enough that we get to go to the mission home Christmas Eve! I can't wait. We'll get to see other Sisters and hopefully go caroling or something fun.
So this week....so much has happened and nothing at all at the same time. We've been visiting a lot of members and trying to get more referrals as of late. I love being with the members. The only problem is trying to leave on time. They love to talk and so do I. Sometimes I want to just stay and chat with them forever, but then I remember I'm not Ashley right now, I'm Sister Crane and my purpose is missionary work! I just love the members here, they really are the best. Sister Putnam in particular has helped us a lot this
week. She has parkinsons and is always so crazy busy but she still found time to feed us, and come to 2 lessons with us this week. She's incredible. We go to her house for a meal and she makes us put our feet up and before leaving always trys to give us something to take home. We had an appointment with a man named Jerry this week. We had knocked into him on Saturday and he told us about how he had read the Book of Mormon when he was 13 ( he's 37 now) and he had this incredible experience while reading it which I told him was the Holy Ghost, and he said after reading it, he was happy, really happy for a year. So we set up an appointment to meet with him on Monday and asked Sister Putnam to go with us. We were running late from another appointment and we were nervous that Sister Putnam would see that we weren't there and she would go home. We called her cell phone and explained and she said, "oh ya I'm fine, I'm just right here sitting in Jerry's kitchen talking to him about his herb garden." She is so personable, she had just gone up to his apartment and saw that he was outside waiting for us and started talking with him, it was like they were old friends by the time we got there. We've taught Jerry twice already and can't wait to teach him more, he really wants to know for himself and he sounds like he's really in tune with the Spirit so far with the experiences he's shared with us.
Casey is having some trouble. She may choose not to be baptized on January 15th. We're really praying for her and hope that she makes the right decision. She knows it's true, it's just hard for her to make changes in her life to be baptized. We love her, and she loves this gospel. I hope she makes the right choice. It's so hard to feel that you can teach someone it all, they can gain a testimony, but in the end it's still their agency, they still get to choose whether or not to act on it. That darn agency.
Matt is still on date and he's successfully completed the stop smoking program! hooray! He's doing great and we're really excited for him and the changes he's already made in his life.
It's a busy time of year, and that means it's sometimes hard to get ahold of our investigators, but I'm really excited when we meet more people to teach, like Jerry. Verna and Steven are doing awesome. Verna has been coming to appointments with us weekly and we just love it! I think she does too, she was really excited that we're staying here in Truro. We've also been able to talk more with her husband Dale. They fed us last Thursday and Dale actually sat in on our lesson afterward! We talked about Eternal marriage, which I thought was perfect! They both expressed their gratitude for things that we've done to help Verna, it was so nice. I sometimes wonder if I'm doing enough or how much I've really helped these people, and it's so nice to know that we've done something good.
Well another week down, and another to go till Christmas! It almost doesn't feel like Christmas right now because the snow got washed away with a lot of rain. Power outages and flooding have been happening because we've had some crazy wind and rain. Walking around I feel like Mary Poppins, ready to get blown away with my red coat and umbrella, (now if only I had her cool hat...) I feel so grateful for our Savior and for a Father in Heaven who is so mindful of His children. I am so grateful that when I don't know the answers to our investigators concerns and questions, or when I don't feel like I can do this great work, that I know that God can do anything. And if I will just trust in Him, he will help my weaknesses to become strengths. Thank you for your prayers and letters! And have a wonderful week!

love,
Sister Crane

December 8th

Christmas time is here! yay! We had our Zone conference Christmas party on Monday and it was a blast! President and Sister Simpson were there and we had a white elephant gift exchange and a talent show. I did 2 talents. One was Sis. Peaden and I playing a medley of Christmas songs. I played the piano and she played the recorder. And then our district did a mini play. One of the Elders wrote up this spoof of a Christmas Carol. He played scrooge and I played the narrator. Which I have to say was the best role ever. It turned out pretty well, especially considering that we had never practiced it before hand and it was a musical so we all sang this song he had made up and that none of us knew the tune to. You could say it was a hit. :) Our white elephant gift exchange was pretty fun too. Sister Peaden and I found a bunch of junk that Elders had left in the apartment before us. We gave away a hockey skate and some half burned out lights. We were happy to get them off our hands. The assistants dressed up like Santa Claus and his elf and handed out letters that the office had kept for like a month that were from our families. I thought it was a good idea so that everyone had a letter to open.
We also got to see the 1st Presidency Christmas devotional! It was actually pretty funny because their not going to play it for the whole branch till the 19th but Sister Peaden and I really wanted to see it on Sunday. We had a meeting with 2 of the women in our branch (Sister Macinnis and Sister Wentzell) that night to discuss the Christmas program for sacrament meeting. They found out we wanted to watch it and so we found a way to do it by watching it in the mini library they have on the small TV that hooks up to the satelite. So here we were the 4 of us crammed into this closet of a library eating pringles and watching the devo. It was a blast. I loved it. Sister Macinnis at one point was talking about all of the musical talent that there must be in our wards and then she looked at us and said, "you must feel bad for our branch some times" I said " oh no! I don't! you get so many opportunities here to be leaders and serve in so many callings" And I meant it. Yes more musical talent would be nice. But it's better this way, people who wouldn't normally get the chance to shine in a big ward get the chance to in the small branch here.
Matt is still doing good. He's smoke free and we're having a small celebration for him on Friday. He has come a long way and we are so excited for him and the changes he is making. Casey is still on date, she was on vacation so haven't seen her for over a week, which is eternity in the mission world. We're excited to see her and see how she's doing. We have a few other investigators but they are all so busy at this holiday season that it's hard to see them on a regular basis. Which totally stinks. We are constantly setting up appointments with people that we meet knocking but they have literally ALL fallen through this week. It can be frustrating. But you just keep trying. I think it's just a true testimony builder for me that when missionary work is through members it's successful, and when it's through knocking...well it's just harder to see the success right away. So we've been doing more member visits and finally got a referral yesterday! yahoo! I love referrals. Seriously they are the best because they are pretty much an automatic open door.
Well transfers are next week and who knows what will happen. My guess is we are both staying. And if we do we get to go to the mission home for Christmas Eve and I'll get to spend the night over at Sister Hudson's place because she's serving near there. I really hope it doesn't change for that reason...but change is also welcomed. I love Sister Peaden and Truro and we both want to stay here, but we both like change too. :) It's weird you can love something so much but also want a bit of change to make things exciting. I know that no matter what happens, it is exactly what the Lord wants and that is what matters most. I feel so grateful for a Loving Father in Heaven who answers prayers. And in particularly this week I am very grateful for the guidance of the Holy Ghost. I don't ever want to take for granted that special gift again. This week the Holy Ghost has warned me of danger, has comforted me, and has prompted me to do things that have led to us having success. I feel so grateful for that special gift we each can have. What a huge blessing. I know the gospel is true with all of my heart. It is, and it is a priviledge to wear this name tag and share the message of the restoration with the people of Truro. I am so grateful for the adundance of things that we have, so many are in need and do not have what we have. I don't know why I've been so blessed, but I am so grateful for it. Thank you for your prayers and letters!

love,
Sister Crane

Relief Society Christmas, Bay of Fundy, Sister Hudson

December 1

To All:
Matt is getting baptized January 29th!!!!! AHHH! I can't even believe it! 2 people just baptized and 2 more on date to be baptized! Matt is Steven's ( the one who just got baptized) brother in law. So Loni (who was originally the member) now has a member husband and a brother who will be baptized next month! Seriously there has been such a transformation there like you wouldn't believe! First of all Matt smokes and when we gave him and Steven the stop smoking program Matt didn't want to do it. Now he says he's ready and we're giving it to him on Thursday! yay! And he prayed for the first time at the end of our lessons! We were thrilled! I can't wait to see him change even more!
In other news we went to the temple today and I got to see Sister Hudson, my old MTC companion! It was so good to see her and catch up with her, it was like seeing a friend from home! The temple was amazing, I always feel so uplifted coming away from the temple. I just love it!
On Saturday was the Relief Society Christmas dinner! It was so fun! They did a gift exchange and had a potluck supper. It was so fun to sit around and just talk with the women of the branch. Verna came and I love that she is just socializing and has just immersed herself in the church. As we were eating and talking, I thought about how I have a special relationship with each of the women there. All but 2 had gone to a lesson with us and the other 2 have fed us and helped us plan activities. It's amazing how in 4 months I have grown to love these women and get to know them and their struggles and try to help build them up. The dinner was wonderful!
So I hope your Thanksgiving holiday was fun and better than ours :) We had Thanksgiving at a members home and the wife is American so they celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving in October and then American Thanksgiving in November and every year she invites the missionaries over and makes a huge meal. This year she is crazy busy working and didn't have time so we got KFC. woop woop! It was still so sweet of them to invite us over so we didn't mind, we just thought it was so funny that the one year she does KFC, we're here. :)
We are knocking on doors a lot! And finding more and more NEW people to teach which I love! we have 5 appointments set up this week for people who we have never taught before! last week we met with a girl her name is Tanya, she's a young Mom and has 2 daughters Cici (7) and Bella (2). We actually originally met her street contacting and we had given her a pass a long card and she said she wasn't interested and then we knocked into her last week and she said her daughter Cici was really interested. So we taught Cici and Tanya and oh man was that hard to teach the restoration to a 7 year old! holy cow! That was a humbling experience. You can't use words like restore or Atonement, or Prophet, or Dispensation. No way jose! And her attention span is pretty long for a 7 year old but still not that long. I did love it though, because as hard as it was, it's good to be challenged so you can learn!
Anyways it's been another great week! We have zone conference next week which is also our Christmas party and talent show. Sister Peaden and I are going to play a duet. It'll be a melody of Christmas songs and Sister Peaden is going to play the rockin' awesome recorder I bought her at the dollar store for 2 bucks! It actually sounds really good. The dollar stores here are FABULOUS! Have a wonderful week! Yay it's December already! It's so exciting! Thank you for your prayers and letters!

love,
Sister Crane