Nov. 18th

To All:
I can't believe another week has gone by! Monday through Friday we had Leadership Training. It was right here in Truro and there were about 20 other missionaries who came and we had President train us. It was AWESOME. Seriously I learned so much. On the first day it was kind of awkward because Sister Peaden and I were the only Sisters there and I don't think the Elders knew how to talk to us. By the 3rd day they got over their shyness and we finally had a conversation with some of them :) So on the first day I was extremely humbled, because in leadership we do role plays. It's basically like acting so I don't mind it. One missionary pretends to be one of your investigators and then you extend a specific commitment to them like read the Book of Mormon, or pray to know it's true or come to church. So all the Elders paired up with other Elders and Sister Peaden and I got President and Sister Simpson. A bit intimidating but I thought I'd be fine. After we are done President critques it a lot. I knew I hadn't done a very good job and in fact he asks if he can use me as an example of what NOT to do. Can you imagine standing in front of your peers and having your mission president say "here's what not to do just look at Sister Crane" you see, I was trying to fix my investigators problems instead of letting them fix it. They would say I can't come to church and I would say, "oh yes you can just do this and this and this" and really you're supposed to say, "what do you think you can do to come to church and recieve the blessings from coming?"

So after that day I decided I was going to stopping fixing problems. And that night we went and saw the Meissner family. They are less active and they refuse to pray. I took all that I had learned that day in leadership and guess what? It worked! It was amazing! They committed to pray as a couple and pray on their own and as a family every night this week and we're going back next week. The next day at leadership I stood up and told everyone how it had worked and so of course this time, as if the day before hadn't been enough, President brings Sister Peaden and I up infront of everyone to role play with the Meissners. Luckily that time President played us and I played Brother Meissner, and boy oh boy did I give him a hard time. He would ask me to pray and I would pause for a really long time and then say no. haha But the thing is I wasn't doing it to give him a hard time I was just trying to respond like Bro. Meissner would have and the Spirit was so strong, President even got a bit emotional over it. I got to be in the shoes of Bro. Meissner and feel what he felt when we talk to him and it opened my eyes to things that we should do next lesson. Also later that day Sister Peaden and I were paired up with some Elders roleplaying the Book of Mormon commitment and who comes over but President. I was actually really nervous because we were teaching this investigator Peter that day and so I wanted to make the role play as real as possible. I prayed really hard that I would know what to say and it just came to me. It was amazing. Sister Peaden did awesome too and afterward President said that was the best he's ever seen us teach. YAY! I did something right!

It's amazing how when you are humble or (humbled I should say) you learn a lot! And if you really try to implement what you learn it works! Anyways leadership training was awesome and I'm sad it's over but now we get to look forward to Steven and Verna's baptisms! oh Oh OH! I almost forgot! In my last e-mail I said how Verna's husband wasn't supportive and so Sister Peaden and I fasted and prayed about it and you know what?! He said that he's fine with it! After one of our appointments, she got really upset about it and he saw how much it meant to her and said I'll do whatever it takes and now he's going to come on Saturday! yay! We are so thrilled! And Steven has grown so much! His friends at work have been making fun of him and he's just stayed so strong and been focusing on forgiving them and trying to not let it affect him. They seriously are so stalwart and such great examples to us all. After our appointment with Verna yesterday she said, "I'm really going to miss you guys coming over so often" And I realized what a special relationship we have with her. I hope it's one that lasts my whole life.

I feel so grateful to have come on a mission. Because if I had stayed home, I never would have met Verna, or Steven, or all of the wonderful people here. Yes it is hard, but you know what? I would do all of the pain, all of the work, and all of the sadness all over again for Verna or Steven in a heartbeat. I just love them so much and I can't wait for Saturday. I really hope we make it as special as we can for them on Saturday. Thank you for all of your prayers. The church is true! I know it!

love,
Sister Crane