February 28

To All:

Hello! So I found a spider in my house, you would think that would mean that Spring is coming, but I just don't think that's ever going to happen. It snowed, it rained, and then it all turned into ice and then it snowed some more. I think I've almost fallen about 50 times, I don't know how I haven't fallen flat on my face yet. Yesterday Sister Glenn and I walked up a really steep driveway covered in ice only to knock and find no one was home and on the way down I was so close to falling, I really like this whole being a missionary thing I think it's keeping me safe some how.
So announcement: go check out Mormon.org. It's so cool. I don't know if I wrote this in my last e-mail but President is having us go and check it out twice a week and just watch all of the videos on it. It's so cool. I made a profile so you can search my name and see if you find me too, although it says it's still pending so maybe give it a week. I think it is going to be a really great missionary tool. They even gave us these cool pass along cards for it. I love that the church is so hip.
Ok so I have another really cool story for you. It's kind of insane. You'll love it. It goes like this: so we decided that we were going to set specific goals of finding 2 new investigators this week. We set a goal to find the first one by Wednesday at 5:00pm. So come Wednesday morning we still did not have a new investigator. We planned and worked and before we knew it, it was 4:30pm and no new investigator. So we prayed and planned and picked a street. We go to the first house on the street and think, "here it is our new investigator!" nope...not interested. We knock the whole street and it's 4:55pm, and we're at the last house. Sister Glenn and I look and each other and say, "ok here it is! our new investigator, it's going to happen!" A woman opens the door and immediately invites us in. I kept thinking, "no way, I'm not getting my hopes up, lets sit down and see if we can teach a lesson." She says she would love to hear our message and we start with a prayer and as I start the restoration I hear her clock ring that it's 5 o'clock. We got a return appointment and BAM we got a new investigator. Isn't that insane?! We walked out of there in shock. I guess we shouldn't be surprised, we had the faith, we planned with the Spirit and worked, but still it's crazy that it worked! And right at 5. It is just another reminder to me that Heavenly Father is so mindful of us. He is involved in every phase of the work. And sometimes He just answers our prayers to show us that He is there and that He will answer us and knows us and our needs. So cool. I love the gospel.
So our investigators. They are awesome. Yet a lot of them aren't progressing (meaning they aren't keeping all of their commitments like reading, praying, or CHURCH!) It's so disappointing when they don't keep their commitments and sometimes I feel like I've tried everything and they still won't follow through. But I love them, and maybe it's just patience that is needed on my part. Casey is doing awesome. She is so excited about her baptismal date and she has told her friends and family and explained to them the commitment she's making and they are all so supportive. It's so exciting to see her be in it 100%. She's such a great example for me to follow. Greg is doing awesome too. He finished Helaman! This week he says he wants to finish 3rd Nephi. At this rate he'll be done in another few weeks and then he'll finally come to church! He's so funny. He and I joke quite a bit, because he thinks I just want to get him baptized right now. (which I do) but it's not like I'm going to push him in. Every lesson when I bring up baptism he says, "I was wondering when you were going to bring that up" same with any of our commitments he always cuts us off because he sees us building up to it and he answers our question without us even asking. He's hilarious. Last lesson he was chatting for a bit with the members we brought with us, before the lesson started, and then I said, "well should we start with a word of prayer" He starred me down smiling and then said something like, "took you long enough." One day I'll surprise him and he won't know what's hit him....too bad I'm way too predictable, all I want is for him to get baptized :) What's so great about Greg is that he loves to test his knowledge. We talked about Alma the younger and he rehearsed to me all of the details before I could even begin telling him the story. It's great to see him love the Book of Mormon.
I know I've said this before but I just love the members here. They just have become like family to me. We went to an appointment with Sister MacInnis and the investigator wasn't home so we went to leave a note. We couldn't find a good spot to stick it and Sister MacInnis asked if we had tape. I said some sort of joke like, "no I never thought to carry scotch tape around with me." We laughed. Next morning in church she walks up and hands me a brand new roll of scotch tape to stick in my purse. It was so cute. Now I'll never leave home without it :) The Reyes family has been so great as well. Sister Reyes is a single mom of 5 kids. Her kids are adorable and loud and her house is always an adventure. We love going over there and spending time with them. We were at her house for supper last night and she asked if I would say a prayer. You could tell it had a been a long day and the kids were being restless and crazy. As I went to say the prayer Zac( 7) said "but she said it last night!" I don't even know what was so funny about that statement except for the fact that I wasn't at their house last night, but maybe we had been there so much that week he thought I said their family prayer too. I couldn't help myself but I started to laugh and it created a chain effect and the whole table was giggling. It was so funny and I still don't know why. It's moments like that where I can't wait to be a parent. I am so grateful for the lasting relationships I have built with the members here.
Well that's all folks. I am so grateful for the gospel. I am so grateful that it has always been apart of my life. I love sharing it. I love getting immersed in the work. Truly we should be the happiest people because we have the fullness of the gospel on the earth. What a huge blessing. Thank you for your support and love!

love,
Sister Crane

Seven month mark

What a great week! We had leadership training and it was awesome! It was a 2 day training where President and Sister Simpson come and our whole zone meets right here in Truro and President gives us as much of his wisdom as he can. I love it. Our zone saw so many miracles because of what we learned and Sister Glenn and I did too. Let me tell you about one of them. So after training ended we were totally fired up about finding a new investigator so we did everything he told us to and set a specific goal and prayed with faith and planned a TON. We were about to go out knocking and I thought that maybe there was somewhere else we needed to be besides where we had planned to knock. After praying about it we picked a different street. We got to the street and the 1st 2 doors didn't answer, then we knocked on the 3rd and not only did someone answer, but she immediately invited us in. Her name is Durga, she's from India and her 9 year old son Rajeesh sat in with us and we taught them both about the restoration and got a return appointment. It was so cool. Sister Glenn and I were in shock, we had practiced during training A LOT and planned a ton, and it actually worked! It was so exciting. The rest of Durga's street wasn't as pleased to see us but I didn't even care, I just felt so blessed. One man on the street interupted me with, "do you believe in the religious right to smoke marajuana?" ...."....uhhhhh" "It's a yes or no question!" He yelled out. "uhhh no?" "well go read your Bible! see ya!" haha I was so taken aback I had no idea what to say to him. Right before we went in that night we met a girl on the street, it was dark and as we started talking the rain just started to pore. I was bearing my testimony to her about a living prophet, it's cold, I'm now soaked, and it's dark, and all I could think was, "I am so happy!" I don't know why something like that would make me so happy but I just felt like a real missionary! It was so cool. It's so strange, I wish I could describe the happiness I feel when I'm out doing the work, but it's so hard. It's a different kind of happiness than I've ever felt and I just love it!
In other news, Casey moved her baptismal date to March 12th. We all feel really good about it and she seems so fired up about it. Sister Glenn experienced what it's like to get dropped. Poor girl, she was calling our investigators to invite them to our church activity and 2 calls in a row she gets a "you know what, I've decided I don't want you to come back." Luckily it was the same day that we got 2 new investigators, so it made it a lot better, but still it's so sad when people decide they don't want to talk with us anymore. Darn agency.
On Saturday Sister Glenn and I hosted the branch activity! We had a family games night and members invited their friends, it was awesome! I was so surprised at how well it turned out! It's so exciting to see members do missionary work. We played Bret's favorite game, the 3 rounds of charades, I didn't know the name of it so I told everyone it was called Crane Charades. They all really liked it, whew. And then we shared a message about Preach My Gospel. Sister Glenn and I are now going to go to each members home throughout the month and make sure they have a Preach My Gospel and show them how they can use it. They all come out to lessons with us all the time so we figure they should know what we're teaching so they can be prepared. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed just thinking about all the work that needs to be done in Truro. I have so much I want to do here. There are so many members who have children, or parents, or siblings, who are inactive and to think of the joy they could feel from having their family members come back! ah! I just want to help them so much!
Our other investigators are doing well. Greg is awesome. He jokes around with us a lot, but I think he really likes us and you can just tell he wants to be baptized and feel forgiveness. He will! He just is stubborn and wants to take things slower. yeesh. why wait?! Oh well we love him and we'll do whatever we can for him to get there. He said something to me at our last appointment that a few of our investigators have said to me. They all say, "oh well your life has been so easy! You didn't have to go through what I have." At first I used to disagree with them and say, "oh no my life has been hard and p.s. you don't even know me!" But now I have realized how easy my life has been. Truly, I have been so blessed and have been given every opportunity to be happy in my life, it is my absolute responsibility to help them have what I have. Greg specifically last time said that he can see the cleanliness we have and he wants what we have. You can have it greg! And he will have it, I just know it.
Alain is so awesome, he says he hasn't prayed so hard in his whole life till now, he just wants to know if it's true! Too bad he's crazy busy and it's hard to meet with him regularly, but I know he'll get his answer and we're going to help him every step. Amy and Alyssa are still on date for March 12th, but they haven't come to church yet. Soooo this week we are going to get them there! It's happening!
And there you go...that was my week. I am so grateful to be in the Lord's service. I feel so grateful for the training, sometimes I need those kind of reminders to remember the importance of my calling. Today is my 7 month mark. Can you believe it's been that long? I feel like it's been forever and just yesterday since I left, all at the same time. It's crazy to think that I have less than a year left. I almost want time to just stand still so I can soak it all in....maybe I should wait for time to stand still after it stops snowing though. :) Thank you for your letters and prayers!

Love,
Sister Crane

February 14th

To All:

Will it ever stop snowing?! Seriously this needs to end. It's relentless. You shovel and then 2 seconds later there's more snow. Oh well, they say February is the worst month for snow, and we're half way through, one day it will end and it will be spring and all of the scary and big Nova Scotia spiders will be out again, yuck. Never mind I'll take snow over spiders. Oh and happy Valentine's day! We're going over to a members house for a really delicious meal and she's making this dessert just for us called "cherry berry in a cloud" she tried to describe it and I have no idea still what it will be like but it sounds delicious. I'm thinking Valentine's on my mission will be better than off of it with a dessert like that :)
So are you ready for some exciting news?! CASEY IS ON DATE! ....AND....ALYSSA IS ON DATE! yay! ok so let me explain. Casey has been taught for a year. She had a date for January 15th but couldn't do it. We then started to teach Eytan her boyfriend who was living with her. They broke up, and she says she feels really good about it, so unfortunatly we are not teaching Eytan anymore, but fortunatly Casey has now decided to be baptized. I really think that this time it will happen. When we asked her to be baptized for February 26th she said, "that's soon! will I be ready?" I replied with, "Casey you could get baptized today if you wanted to! You're so ready!" She then asked if I could baptize her. haha oops maybe she's not ready. So after explaining that I don't hold the Priesthood and only men do, I think she's ready. :) We are so excited for her and she knows it's true. She's borne her testimony to us many times and I know that this decision will help her as she continues to be a mother of her 2 boys.
Alyssa is Amy's daughter. She's 10, she and Amy are getting baptized on March 12th. Unfortunatly they didn't come to church on Sunday, and when that happens I always think, "How are they going to know that it's true if they don't come?" So this week we're really going to focus on Church and the importance of coming. I know this decision they've made will change their lives, I just hope they see that too and are willing to follow through on their commitment.
Greg is awesome, he just passed me in the Book of Mormon, he's already at Alma 29. He says he reads for 2 hours every day and prays 3 times a day. HOLY COW! he's awesome. His thing is he doesn't want to come to church until he's done with the Book of Mormon so that he knows what we're talking about at church. We spent a 1/2 hour with 2 members talking to him about church but he still doesn't want to yet. Patience is a virtue right? I just don't get this whole not coming to church thing. We're having leadership training this week with President Simpson, hopefully he'll shed some light on it for me.
We have 2 new investigators, Shelby and Clayton. They have met with the Elders before and seem really open, maybe too open. They accept everyone's religion, instead of seeing that there's "one Lord one faith one baptism." Their preacher at the baptist church preaches from the Book of Mormon and they already have a copy of it. weird. I've never heard of that one before, so hopefully he wasn't teaching false doctrine. Anyways they're really nice and I'm excited to help them understand the restoration.
We had district meeting which is always nice to actually talk with other missionaries. Sister Glenn is doing great. We laugh a lot together, which is good, until we can't stop laughing because we're laughing so hard. I'm still trying to figure out how to stop once we start. She's a lot of fun and we're working together on improving and setting goals. I really think she'll help me be a better missionary.
Oh and on Sunday it was fast and testimony meeting because we had branch conference last week and 2 members bore their testimony and mentioned how grateful they are for us. One said that since we committed her to read her scriptures daily she's been doing it and seen what a help it's been to her. It was such a simple thing but it impacted her and helped her. I feel so grateful for the members here, they are so kind to us and always show gratitude for our service. The church is true! I'm learning so much from the members here about being Christlike and I feel so grateful for their examples. Have a great week and wonderful Valentine's day! Thank you for your love and support!

Love,
Sister Crane

February 7th

To all:

Despite the weather obstacles we met our goals...well most! We got snowed in on Wednesday, which happened to be the day that we had 3 appointments, 2 of them were people on date for baptism. It was such a bummer because that was the only day we could see those people so we didn't see them all week. It was killing me! Sister Glenn was sick on Friday ( I think it was something she ate) so we were stuck inside that whole day too, and before we knew it, it was Saturday and we hadn't found a new investigator (it's our goal to find at least 1 new investigator each week). So on Thursday I decided to call a former investigator, Alain. He's from East Africa and he was so sincere in his desire to learn, but he got so busy that we lost contact with him. We get a hold of him FINALLY! yay! and set up an appointment for Saturday! It was so good! Seriously he's awesome. We taught him over at our Branch Mission leader's house, and it went really well. Alain prayed at the end and his prayer was so heartfelt and sincere. He even came to church on Sunday! In fact he was the only investigator who came and I was thrilled. We had 7 people who told us they were coming and we waited and waited. Finally we had to go sit down because the meeting was starting, but guess who walks in 15 minutes late?! Alain! I was so excited. He said he really liked the meeting. He couldn't stay for the rest of church because he got a back injury the night before and was in the ER for 4 hours Saturday night, yet he still came! He's awesome and I feel so priveledged to teach him.

We also have been teaching Greg. We've taught him for 3 weeks now and he's already in Mosiah 19. That just does not happen every day. On Saturday we gave him a tour of the chapel and taught a lesson. He told us that he feels that the Book of Mormon is true! Ah! It's awesome! He told us that when he read 2 Nephi ch's 30-33 it hit him like a ton of bricks, and he was shaking as he told us because he said he had such an amazing emotional experience with it. I'm so excited for him! He's still hesitant to come to church, I think he just doesn't like being around a lot of people and it's a big step for him but he set a goal of coming before Easter. I think Greg will do it and I already can see the difference it's making in his life. He says that his future looks hopeful now, and it didn't before we came. He said 2 years ago he was reading the New Testament all the way through and he just felt like there was something missing and he says he just had to wait 2 years for us to show up at his door for him to know!

On Sunday we had an appointment with a new investigator, Gail. We knocked into her and taught her too. She's a single Mom of 3 and a recent Grandma. It's so exciting to teach more people! So in the end we found 2 new investigators, not just one! The Lord truly blesses us when we pray and really strive for whats right. I'm so grateful that in His mercy, He allowed us to have so much success, even when I doubted that we would.

In other news we have a new branch presidency. President Mahoney. He's going to be awesome. His son is serving a mission in Ukraine. He pulled us aside on Sunday and told us how proud he is of us and how he wants to do everything he can to help us. He said that we've helped unify the branch by getting them involved in missionary work. It meant so much to hear him say that. For any of the members to acknowledge our hard work is amazing. I feel extremely grateful for the amazing members here. I love serving them and helping them, but I feel they always seem to be serving us. They really are such a blessing to us.

Well I think Sister Glenn is loving the work! She's a hard worker and now that her jet lag is gone we can really go for it! It's still cold and the mounds of snow seem like they'll never melt, it's a miracle we get in and out of our drive way every day, the piles of snow around it act as a barrier, at least I'm getting my work out every day shoveling! Thank you for your prayers and letters!

Love,
Sister Crane