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