September 15th

Hello!
So wow this week has been kind of crazy. We have 22 appointments just for this week alone! I don't know if you realize how insane that is! 22! That only happens in places like Mexico and the Phillipines not in Truro Nova Scotia Canada! And if half of them fall through (which unfortunatly that happens sometimes) we would have 11 lessons! Do you know how many we had 2 weeks ago? uhh...like 5 maybe and then if half fell through it was devastating. but 22! 22?! Sister Peaden and I are in shock seriously. So is our district leader. We have more investigators than any missionaries in our District I think. It's crazy. And I really am not trying to boast because I KNOW that it's only through the Lord that this is done. We went and visiting people for a little over an hour yesterday that we've been trying to get a hold of FOREVER it felt like and guess what? We made 5 appointments to return and teach in that time! We were in shock. A LOT of prayers of gratitude were said this week. The Lord is so incredibly merciful.
Sunday was a really hard day. We had made a poster and flyers for our activity and last week 8 appointments fell through which was such a bummer because we had been so excited to implement what we had been taught in leadership training. So at church we are juggling a million things. For one our investigator CAME TO CHURCH! Casey is her name the single Mom of 2 and we had not had ANY one come to church and she came! It was a miracle. So we're trying to help her, another member had her non-member sister there. We had planned to talk to like 8 members to ask to come with us to appointments, everyone we asked said no, and then the other ones we didnt' get a chance to talk to. So I'm freaking out inside feeling so stressed. Oh and 2 less active people who we have been teaching came to church! Which was amazing! The only thing is one of them has a son who was screaming at church! seriously loudest kid I've ever heard and I know how stressful it is to keep kids quiet at church, but the thing is the kid is being so loud and is sitting right next to Casey so I'm praying the whole time that she will hear the speakers and be able to focus and I'm stressing out inside. And to top it all off one of the members came up to me and said something at which I took offense. I won't rehash it because I'm moving on, but lets just say that after the stress of the week and of church alone I came home frustrated and angry. I don't get angry often. And for some reason the mission brings out strong emotions in me it seems. And I was mad. But I knew that we were leaving to go knock and so I knew I needed the Spirit with me or I couldn't teach. Lets just say I prayed a lot. and a lot. And we left and went to work and BAM we get a hold of a girl that we have been trying to get a hold of and we go to her house and teach her! And she even said the closing prayer! It was such a great lesson it was awesome!

....so moral of the story is, when we turn to the Lord we are blessed. The Lord will help us. I feel like I'm learning a lot about facing my problems. I used to love to avoid things, and at home if I had been feeling like I was feeling normally I would just watch TV or sleep it off or something, but here you can't do that. You have to turn to the Lord immediately or you don't have the Spirit with you and you can't teach. It's as simple as that. And it's teaching me a lot!

So anyways i've been learning a lot and we've had a lot of lessons! 4 so far this week and 3 tonight. I'm so excited. I need to work on my patience for sure, because lessons aren't cookie cutter recipes, they are each different, so I'm working on being patient with having the lesson not go exactly as I want it every time.

Good story though. So in Canada you go to the back door. Weird I know, and I feel intrusive everytime we do, but they hardly ever use their front doors. So we are going up this long drive way and it wraps around the back and I Sister Peaden and I are just chatting and all the sudden I see this face of a dog. Now that should be no surprise to me dogs are EVERYWHERE here. But then the dog stands up and well have any of you seen the dog on the movie "beetovhen"? Look it up. This dog was the BIGGEST dog I have ever seen. It could have been a horse. I thing i said something like "Holy SMACKAGE" or something that didn't make sense as I gasped and prepared to run as fast as I could down that hill. Luckily the owner popped out of no where and grabbed the dog. I was in such surprise that I could bearly tell the owner our message with out shaking. I laughed the whole rest of the walk down the street. It was crazy. That dog was a beast. So I guess moral from that story is the Lord protects his servants, big time.

Anyways the work is great. HARD, but great. And each day I still get up and pray to the Lord for help that I will make it through that day, not feel homesick and love the work. And each night as we come in from working I feel exhausted and I thank the Lord for helping me accomplish one more day and for finding joy in the work. The church is true! It really is! And it can change the lives of so many. I'm excited to see those changes. Thank you for your support and prayers. I love you all!

love,
Sister Crane