What's new in Fredericton?

China, Bahamas, Japan, Columbia, Lebanon, Africa, Phillipines, and Canada. What do all of these countries have in common? All of our investigators are from one of those countries. INSANE?! or what?! I know, it's nuts. So many accents, so little time. But seriously. In Truro we had 10 investigators, 4 of which were solid. Here in Fredericton they have 17 investigators and I'd say 80% are solid. It's insane people! We spent 12 hours planning this week! It normally takes 3 hours to plan and you betcha it took us 12. Sister Davis was constantly giving me the run down on our investigators and it was so confusing because they all come from such diverse backgrounds that keeping them straight was nuts. We taught 6 member present lessons on Saturday which is the most I've ever taught in one day. This area is on fire. For REALS! Ok so now that I've explained to you my shock factor, let me walk you through this crazy hard week:
So I found out I was leaving Truro and telling the members was so hard. Sister Mingo cried, Sister Priest cried, Sister Criss cried, Sister Putnam cried, Sister Reyes cried,and I cried over and over. Seesh. It was like a cry fest, I was on the verge of tears like 3 days straight and so stressed out because I had so many people to say good-bye to. We went from house to house to house saying, "sign my book, take a picture, see ya later." gah. It was annoying to say the least, because I hate good-byes. It was like leaving my family all over again. So I finally some how was able to pack throughout that whole process and then Sister Glenn dropped me off. That was so hard to say good-bye to her. We both balled our eyes out. I feel like we are the same person sometimes, we just clicked so well it was hard to say good-bye and think that our adventures together in Truro were over. So I got in the transfer van and rode with another sister, Sister Tolliver who was going to PEI and some other Elders headed for New Brunswick, and we left my safety net of Nova Scotia. So sad. I met up with Sister Davis and it's been so great!
We drove the 4 1/2 hours to get here and Sister Davis was so excited to tell me about all 17 investigators and where they are from and yada yada yada. Of course it all went over my head until I actually met half of them. wowzer, it was a LOT to take in. Sister Davis has been really great through all of it, she is really sensitive to the fact that I've been in one area for a year and that it's hard for me to change. She's been really flexible about our routine and wants to change things up, like how we plan, and work with members and all that jazz. The bikes, however are a whole other story!
So we live at the top of this GI-normous hill! who the hay decided to give us bikes to ride up a huge hill! This hill seriously reminds me of a San Francisco hill. I might be exagerating. It's not as steep as one of those but it's worse because it's so tall and is a gradual incline all the way up. How in the world am I supposed to bike up a hill, in a skirt, with this insane helmet they've got for me?! I'm totally sending pictures so you all can get a visual of how ridiculous my helmet is. It's like a military helmet. I feel like bombs are going to go off everytime I strap it on. Luckily we don't live too far from the church, but biking from the church to our apartment stinks because it's all up hill. After our very first bikeride just from the church to our apartment my legs were on FIRE. I felt like jello for the rest of the day. I'm so out of shape it's not even funny. Ok it is kind of funny and one day I'll laugh, but this whole not having a car bites sometimes. All the sisters who served here kept telling me what a blessing it was to have a bike because they used to just have to walk and take the bus and the bus doesn't come too often. I'm really trying to be grateful, I just don't want to die on a bike. I'm so clumsy and with my massive helmet I look even clumsier. I'll adjust but for now I'll take pictures so I can remember these ridiculous moments.
What I love about transfers is I get to come to this new area and as an onlooker see what changes need to be made. We only have 2 people on date right now. And with 17 investigators we should have WAY more. This week our goal is to get 3 more on date. I'm ready and pumped to do it. We gotta start baptizing these people or we'll never get anywhere. On Saturday already we got someone on date, Jerome, he's from the Phillipines, nicest guy ever. Most of these people are college students, it's a college town. On saturday we picked out baptismal dates for 4 people and just went down the line picking a date and then praying, felt good, next date, pray about it, feel good, next... and so on. I loved it. I think one big reason I'm here is to help this area catch the vision of baptism. Another reason I think I'm here is to get the members on board. The sisters before were seeing the same members week after week. That's changing this week. We are going to start with 4 member visits per week. We had one on Sunday and it was so good. This family that we taught really opened up about problems they were having and thanked us for our care and concern and asked us to pray for them. Members need that spiritual uplift ment just like less-actives, and investigators. And if we show sincere and genuine love for the members, they will trust us and help us with our work! Members are the key. Oh did I mention we have Elders in our ward?! so weird. I'm used to being 45 minutes away from the closest missionaries. Now we see missionaries multiple times a week! It's awesome. We're also working on being in unison with the Elders here, making it a team effort instead of "you go off and do your thing and we'll go off here."
IN CONCLUSION! I'm sad to be out of Nova Scotia. Do I miss Truro? yes. I think about it all the time, but do I love Fredericton? Totally! It was hard at first not knowing anyone, but the more people we see and teach the better I feel and the easier it is to move on and be where I'm at. I'm grateful that God knows us so well. He knows our strengths and weaknesses. He knows what we need better than we do. I'm excited to help this area grow and develop. I'm excited to be apart of this area that is growing and developing! :) The church is true!
Love,
Sister Crane