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