Greg
Eliza R. Snow
8 years ago
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
March 28th
Another year older another year wiser! I said that in relief society and everyone laughed...I don't know why, these people just don't take me seriously anymore! My birthday was so good! Sister Glenn made me a birthday banner, it was awesome. We got to go to a members house for dinner, the Swaine's. Then they came out of nowhere with a birthday cake and candles! I was so excited because I wasn't expecting that at all. It was so nice of them. We had an appointment with Casey and she got me a present! She gave me the nicest card and some really cute headbands. I loved them! I started tearing up as I read the card too. I seriously was not expecting to get a present from anyone here so that was so nice. Throughout that day members called and wished me a happy birthday and two of them sang to me and played the guitar. Little things like that totally make a birthday I think. Then that night the young men and young women sang really loudly happy birthday and dropped off a treat at our door. I was so grateful to have been thought of so much. I felt so blessed that everyone took the time to even just make a phone call. It just makes me not want to leave Truro even more and I possibly only have 3 weeks left. I hope not.
So I didn't mention the best birthday present of all......drum roll please....GREG CAME TO CHURCH! wowzer! Ok you have to hear the whole story first because it was insane....: Ok so we've been teaching Greg for a few months now and he wanted to finish reading the Book of Mormon before coming to church. Well, he finished 2 weeks ago and still hadn't come and every time we bring it up he gives us such a hard time. In order to explain this story I also need to tell you what Greg looks like: He's in his 60's and has this massive beard and glasses and usually he's wearing sweats when we see him. Ok so fast forward to Sunday, I see this man walk in with a nice white shirt and tie, completely bald and clean shavin. I assume this man must be a member visiting from another branch but I don't introduce myself. We walk right past him and talk to some other people. Then I see the man sit down in the chapel. We walk past him again and a member says, "Sister Crane, you have a visitor!" Oh, I thought, I forgot to introduce myself to this member. I walk right over to him and say, "Hi I'm Sister Crane...What the! GREG?!" I was freaking out. It wasn't until I looked into his eyes that I saw that it was Greg. Sister Glenn and I were floored. It took me the whole day to get over the shock. He looks COMPLETELY different! No joke. He quickly told us that he wanted to surprise us and he wanted to surprise brother and sister Mingo, his friends,too, and that we shouldn't tell them. Just then Sister Mingo walks in and looks around, she looks at us and says, "any sign of Greg? I thought for sure he'd come today!" All I could get out was something like, "nope" before I had to quickly walk down the hall to recover from shock. At the end of sacrament meeting I had to physically turn sister Mingo to face Greg. She starred right at him for a long time then shock took over her face. It was so funny. We all laughed so hard. I have to say that was the best trick ever. It was insane. I'll try to get a picture to send of a before and after but he doesn't like his picture taken, I'll do my best, it's so worth it.
We also had a fun activity on Friday night. Sister Reyes had this genius idea of doing a picture scavenger hunt, so Sister Glenn and I went out and put it together because no one had planned an activity in March. We went around and took pictures of items in the church and then people had to figure out what the picture was of and find the item. It turned out really well. There were 40 people there and most of them weren't members of the church. It was a really great way to have our investigators and other non members get to know the church building. Of course we didn't do pictures of the sacrament meeting room but we did stuff in the kitchen, or primary, or relief society, etc. I think they all had a lot of fun and it was a really good experience.
In other news we have a new investigator! Hooray! Casey's sister, Sabrina. Sabrina came to the baptism and afterwards decided she wanted to learn more. We're really excited to keep teaching her. It sounds like she has a lot of good questions so far. Heather, Jolene, and Wanda are doing awesome. They come to all of the activities and love it. It's so fun to see them learn.
Our friend and former investigator, Vera is in the hospital. Vera is this lady who is, well she's hilarious. She's so bubbly and she's a die-hard Catholic, but she loves coming to our church because she says the feeling just hits ya. She says every time she sees a member or we come over she feels that good feeling, the Spirit. We've worked with Vera but it's hard to get her to understand that we are the only one's with the authority to baptize. She believes in Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon too. Anyways we had even gone to see her a few times this month to tell her that we had done her mom's work for her in the temple, but Vera wasn't home. We'll we get a call Friday night from a nurse at the hospital telling us that Vera wanted us to come see her. We went to see her the next day and found out she had been there for a month! And she was going to be in there for 3 or so more weeks. She said that the night before we got the calling she was laying in her bed feeling so sick and so miserable and she closed her eyes and then a thought came to her mind, "call the missionaries!" and so she did and we came and read scriptures with her, and knelt down by her bed and prayed. As I prayed I felt the Spirit so strongly, this poor woman, who is so vibrant and so full of life was laying there weeping. I had never seen her cry before. We told her about the priesthood and asked her if she would like a blessing. She said she would but as long as they didn't come at the same time that her Catholic priest was there. haha. awesome. So President Mahoney went over there yesterday and we're going to go see her today and see how she's feeling. I'm so grateful for the gospel. It is a solution to all of life's problems! As we left she told us that she felt better and we had brought that good feeling with us. I'm so grateful for the Spirit, what an amazing gift.
Well here we are at the end of March. Where did this month go? I have no clue. But I'm so excited for General conference! Greg, Sabrina, Heather, Jolene, and Wanda all said they will come. I really hope they do and I know they'll love it. You can't go wrong with General Conference! Thank you for your prayers, and your letters, and support! Have a wonderful week!
love,
Sister Crane
So I didn't mention the best birthday present of all......drum roll please....GREG CAME TO CHURCH! wowzer! Ok you have to hear the whole story first because it was insane....: Ok so we've been teaching Greg for a few months now and he wanted to finish reading the Book of Mormon before coming to church. Well, he finished 2 weeks ago and still hadn't come and every time we bring it up he gives us such a hard time. In order to explain this story I also need to tell you what Greg looks like: He's in his 60's and has this massive beard and glasses and usually he's wearing sweats when we see him. Ok so fast forward to Sunday, I see this man walk in with a nice white shirt and tie, completely bald and clean shavin. I assume this man must be a member visiting from another branch but I don't introduce myself. We walk right past him and talk to some other people. Then I see the man sit down in the chapel. We walk past him again and a member says, "Sister Crane, you have a visitor!" Oh, I thought, I forgot to introduce myself to this member. I walk right over to him and say, "Hi I'm Sister Crane...What the! GREG?!" I was freaking out. It wasn't until I looked into his eyes that I saw that it was Greg. Sister Glenn and I were floored. It took me the whole day to get over the shock. He looks COMPLETELY different! No joke. He quickly told us that he wanted to surprise us and he wanted to surprise brother and sister Mingo, his friends,too, and that we shouldn't tell them. Just then Sister Mingo walks in and looks around, she looks at us and says, "any sign of Greg? I thought for sure he'd come today!" All I could get out was something like, "nope" before I had to quickly walk down the hall to recover from shock. At the end of sacrament meeting I had to physically turn sister Mingo to face Greg. She starred right at him for a long time then shock took over her face. It was so funny. We all laughed so hard. I have to say that was the best trick ever. It was insane. I'll try to get a picture to send of a before and after but he doesn't like his picture taken, I'll do my best, it's so worth it.
We also had a fun activity on Friday night. Sister Reyes had this genius idea of doing a picture scavenger hunt, so Sister Glenn and I went out and put it together because no one had planned an activity in March. We went around and took pictures of items in the church and then people had to figure out what the picture was of and find the item. It turned out really well. There were 40 people there and most of them weren't members of the church. It was a really great way to have our investigators and other non members get to know the church building. Of course we didn't do pictures of the sacrament meeting room but we did stuff in the kitchen, or primary, or relief society, etc. I think they all had a lot of fun and it was a really good experience.
In other news we have a new investigator! Hooray! Casey's sister, Sabrina. Sabrina came to the baptism and afterwards decided she wanted to learn more. We're really excited to keep teaching her. It sounds like she has a lot of good questions so far. Heather, Jolene, and Wanda are doing awesome. They come to all of the activities and love it. It's so fun to see them learn.
Our friend and former investigator, Vera is in the hospital. Vera is this lady who is, well she's hilarious. She's so bubbly and she's a die-hard Catholic, but she loves coming to our church because she says the feeling just hits ya. She says every time she sees a member or we come over she feels that good feeling, the Spirit. We've worked with Vera but it's hard to get her to understand that we are the only one's with the authority to baptize. She believes in Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon too. Anyways we had even gone to see her a few times this month to tell her that we had done her mom's work for her in the temple, but Vera wasn't home. We'll we get a call Friday night from a nurse at the hospital telling us that Vera wanted us to come see her. We went to see her the next day and found out she had been there for a month! And she was going to be in there for 3 or so more weeks. She said that the night before we got the calling she was laying in her bed feeling so sick and so miserable and she closed her eyes and then a thought came to her mind, "call the missionaries!" and so she did and we came and read scriptures with her, and knelt down by her bed and prayed. As I prayed I felt the Spirit so strongly, this poor woman, who is so vibrant and so full of life was laying there weeping. I had never seen her cry before. We told her about the priesthood and asked her if she would like a blessing. She said she would but as long as they didn't come at the same time that her Catholic priest was there. haha. awesome. So President Mahoney went over there yesterday and we're going to go see her today and see how she's feeling. I'm so grateful for the gospel. It is a solution to all of life's problems! As we left she told us that she felt better and we had brought that good feeling with us. I'm so grateful for the Spirit, what an amazing gift.
Well here we are at the end of March. Where did this month go? I have no clue. But I'm so excited for General conference! Greg, Sabrina, Heather, Jolene, and Wanda all said they will come. I really hope they do and I know they'll love it. You can't go wrong with General Conference! Thank you for your prayers, and your letters, and support! Have a wonderful week!
love,
Sister Crane
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
March 21st
To All:
8 months! guess who has been out for 8 months? That seems like such a short amount of time, yet I'm almost to the half way point of my mission. It is going by so fast. This past week was good, we didn't accomplish everything I wanted to, but knowing that we did our best was satisfaction enough. We had zone conference this week and it was awesome. I love the trainings and the motivation to do the work that comes from the trainings. We now have sisters in our zone! hooray! The PEI sisters came and spent the night before zone conference the next day and it was so much fun. They are opening an area and just moved into an apartment with absolutely nothing, and no investigators or anything. It made me think of when I first came to Truro and I was opposite, our apartment was cluttered with Junk, mold, and dust, but like them we didn't really have any investigators. But I wouldn't have had it any other way. I grew so much in that period of time and it helped me be a better person. I think they'll be great, their branch has about 22 active people in it. I'm excited for them to see it grow just like I've been able to see Truro grow.
Our investigators are doing great. A neat experience happened with Greg. On Wednesday night we had an appointment with him and we were trying to get an answer from him whether he was going to come to church or not. We only have 2 lessons left to teach him, he's done with the Book of Mormon but he still won't come. We joke a lot with Greg, well he jokes a lot with us, but we told him we were serious about this yet he still wouldn't give an answer. He told us it was time to pray so he got on his knees, we didn't. We stayed where we were, I just felt like I shouldn't let him get off of the hook so easily. It was so frustrating, we finally just got on our knees prayed and left. The next day he called and said he had done some praying and that his answer was he was being too hard of heart and should be easier on us.That was a miracle right there! He was sick this Sunday and didn't come to church, but hopefully this means he'll come this week. He's stubborn, but so are we :) And he knows it, so hopefully he'll just give up his fears and come.
Heather, Jolene, and Wanda all came to church on Sunday. It was Jolene's first time at young women's and I think she liked it. I love seeing them learn. We go slower with them, because of some learning dissabilities, but I love seeing them understand and really grasp a concept. The other day we came in and Wanda said, "I was just reading here and I was thinking how cool it would have been to see the gold plates! I just wish I could have been there." It was something so small, but she really is enjoying reading from the Book of Mormon, I love it!
We had our relief society dinner on St. Patrick's day. That was a lot of fun. I love it because #1 there is always a lot of good food and #2 I love talking with the women of the branch. Wanda, Heather, and Jolene all came to that as well and they had a really good time. We each were assigned a General Relief Society president of the past and were given a brief biography to recite to the rest of the group. I was Eliza R. Snow. I was so excited because I learned a bit about her in my LDS history class with Sister Black. I have such respect for these women, they really did a lot and their lives were not easy.It was neat to learn more about them.
Yesterday we took a member out tracting with us. It was so fun. We took her to an appointment but it fell through and so instead she just came out knocking doors with us for 2 hours. She loved it. We kept knocking into people she knew too. Although we didn't get into a door, it was really neat to see her like it. We met one lady, Tammy, and Sister Mingo kept saying, "I felt something about her, maybe she'll check out the website and then get baptized!" It's so fun to see members enjoy missionary work. We also had branch council this week and I'm so excited for our new branch president, President Mahoney. He really has the vision of missionary work, we talked about less actives, our investigators, and recent converts and talked about how we can help them. It's nice to see the branch even more on board with helping us in the work.
Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! Thank you for all of the birthday wishes too! The gospel is true and we do have a living prophet on the earth today!
Love,
Sister Crane
8 months! guess who has been out for 8 months? That seems like such a short amount of time, yet I'm almost to the half way point of my mission. It is going by so fast. This past week was good, we didn't accomplish everything I wanted to, but knowing that we did our best was satisfaction enough. We had zone conference this week and it was awesome. I love the trainings and the motivation to do the work that comes from the trainings. We now have sisters in our zone! hooray! The PEI sisters came and spent the night before zone conference the next day and it was so much fun. They are opening an area and just moved into an apartment with absolutely nothing, and no investigators or anything. It made me think of when I first came to Truro and I was opposite, our apartment was cluttered with Junk, mold, and dust, but like them we didn't really have any investigators. But I wouldn't have had it any other way. I grew so much in that period of time and it helped me be a better person. I think they'll be great, their branch has about 22 active people in it. I'm excited for them to see it grow just like I've been able to see Truro grow.
Our investigators are doing great. A neat experience happened with Greg. On Wednesday night we had an appointment with him and we were trying to get an answer from him whether he was going to come to church or not. We only have 2 lessons left to teach him, he's done with the Book of Mormon but he still won't come. We joke a lot with Greg, well he jokes a lot with us, but we told him we were serious about this yet he still wouldn't give an answer. He told us it was time to pray so he got on his knees, we didn't. We stayed where we were, I just felt like I shouldn't let him get off of the hook so easily. It was so frustrating, we finally just got on our knees prayed and left. The next day he called and said he had done some praying and that his answer was he was being too hard of heart and should be easier on us.That was a miracle right there! He was sick this Sunday and didn't come to church, but hopefully this means he'll come this week. He's stubborn, but so are we :) And he knows it, so hopefully he'll just give up his fears and come.
Heather, Jolene, and Wanda all came to church on Sunday. It was Jolene's first time at young women's and I think she liked it. I love seeing them learn. We go slower with them, because of some learning dissabilities, but I love seeing them understand and really grasp a concept. The other day we came in and Wanda said, "I was just reading here and I was thinking how cool it would have been to see the gold plates! I just wish I could have been there." It was something so small, but she really is enjoying reading from the Book of Mormon, I love it!
We had our relief society dinner on St. Patrick's day. That was a lot of fun. I love it because #1 there is always a lot of good food and #2 I love talking with the women of the branch. Wanda, Heather, and Jolene all came to that as well and they had a really good time. We each were assigned a General Relief Society president of the past and were given a brief biography to recite to the rest of the group. I was Eliza R. Snow. I was so excited because I learned a bit about her in my LDS history class with Sister Black. I have such respect for these women, they really did a lot and their lives were not easy.It was neat to learn more about them.
Yesterday we took a member out tracting with us. It was so fun. We took her to an appointment but it fell through and so instead she just came out knocking doors with us for 2 hours. She loved it. We kept knocking into people she knew too. Although we didn't get into a door, it was really neat to see her like it. We met one lady, Tammy, and Sister Mingo kept saying, "I felt something about her, maybe she'll check out the website and then get baptized!" It's so fun to see members enjoy missionary work. We also had branch council this week and I'm so excited for our new branch president, President Mahoney. He really has the vision of missionary work, we talked about less actives, our investigators, and recent converts and talked about how we can help them. It's nice to see the branch even more on board with helping us in the work.
Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! Thank you for all of the birthday wishes too! The gospel is true and we do have a living prophet on the earth today!
Love,
Sister Crane
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Casey's baptism
Casey is now a baptized member of the church! It was the best day ever! Seriously! And it went by so fast. From start to finish it was just perfect and she was beaming the whole day. She had a ton of her family there and her boyfriend too. I think they all enjoyed it and her mom cried a lot. I love it when I see their parents cry because you know they are just so proud of them. Even if they don't understand the church fully, by being there at the baptism they get to really feel proud of their child and see how everyone loves them. At the end Sister Glenn and I were cleaning up in the kitchen and we thought Casey had already left but all the sudden she came back in and gave us both a hug and thanked us. It was such a sweet moment and I am so grateful that I got to be apart of the baptism. That day I thought about all of the missionaries she's gone through in a year and how I was fortunate enough to see the end goal of it all. I felt so grateful for missionaries who had helped prepare her for this day. After the baptism she bore her testimony and she said, "I don't believe the church is true, I know it." Ah! She's amazing. I hope to always stay in contact with her, I've learned so much from her.
The confirmation was wonderful as well! She just couldn't wipe the smile off her face. Her boyfriend Devin even came to church which was so awesome! She didn't think he would want to come, and her family couldn't so it was nice that someone came to the confirmation as well. At church I felt like I had a million different things to do. I got asked to play the piano because the organist was out of town. Then I played for our special musical number, while Sister Glenn sang "There is a green hill far away." It went really well it's the EFY 2009 version and it's a really neat rendition. Then from the pulpit one of the counselors asked me to give the closing prayer. I played in relief society and then gave the opening prayer there too. I love that in a small branch I get to serve so much, even as exhausting as it is :)
Greg, Heather, Joleen, and theif friend Wanda came to the baptism and they all loved it. Heather and Wanda came to church too and I think they enjoyed that as well. Wanda is Heather's friend who she invited to one of our lessons and now Wanda is on date to be baptized for May 14th! It's so exciting!
Greg loved the baptism. We had an appointment with him later on after the baptism and he began to cry just talking about Casey's baptism. He said what made him so emotional about it was that she was just so happy and to see how she felt before and after being baptized I think got him really excited for his own baptism. If only we could get him to set a date. He just doesn't want to be pushed or pressured. Too late :) He thinks since I've been here so long that I'll get transferred next and so he jokes that once I leave he'll be ready for baptism. He just wants to torture me. He knows that I want him to get baptized and I know he wants me there but he teases so much sometimes I wonder :)
oh Oh OH and guess what? They opened up a sisters area on PEI! yahoo! Maybe I'll get to serve there then! I've been dying this whole time because they closed the sisters area in PEI right before I got here, but because we got 2 more sisters this past week, they opened up one in Montigue. So here's hoping! I do have 6 weeks for sure left in Truro because transfers were last week. I'm trying to enjoy every minute of it since I know I might not have much time left, and if I do I'll be so happy!
We also have a new investigator from China. Her american name is Jessica and I have no clue how to spell her chinese name. She's so nice. When I was explaining prayer she asked me to share a time that I felt prayer help me in my life. I was so taken off guard by the question that it took me forever to think of an experience. I think I have a weird memory while being on a mission because I can't remember anything before my mission and I can't picture anything after. I guess that's why they call it a "mini life." Anyways I'm excited to teach her more.
This week has just flown by, I feel like I did so much more but I can't seem to write it all down. The weather has gotten better! Well until today...it snowed...again. But this past week we got as high as 11 degrees Celcius. It was so nice! I loved just walking around and talking to people in the nice sun! I hope it comes back!
So I had this really interesting experience with this guy at a door. Let me give the background to the story first. So we're out knocking and for like 6 doors in a row I felt like I wasn't getting out my words right. People would say the weirdest things or just not what I was expecting and I was stumbling over my words and just wanted to get out what I really wanted to say. I was telling Sister Glenn this and then we knocked on another door. The guy answers and seems nice but then flat out says he thinks we're brainwashed. He goes on and on and finally I said, "can I just say something?" surprisingly he said yes and I went on to tell him that I would not have left my family and friends to come out for a year and a half to some other country to serve as a missionary if I did not know that it was true. I told him how I went to college and lived on my own and if I didn't want to go to church I could have stopped. Anyways I ended up bearing my testimony and we talked for a while. During part of the conversation he said, "why would anyone want to be religious it makes you unhappy." I looked at sister glenn and said jokingly, "am I smiling? sorry I thought I was smiling, don't I look happy to you?" He laughed at that. In the end we gave him a pass a long card and went on our way, but I felt like we both gained so much just from that conversation. He now knows more about our faith and I finally got to get all of my words out! I am so grateful for the Spirit. To have the guidance of the Holy Ghost is such a blessing. With out the Spirit I couldn't have said what I wanted to say to him and what the Lord wanted him to hear. I think if there is one thing I've learned on my mission thus far it's how the Holy Ghost speaks to me and what a precious gift it is.
The church is soooooooo true! Like Casey, I don't believe it, I know it. Christ does live. The Spirit testifies of Him and can speak to each one of us. God does hear our prayers. Families are eternal. I am so grateful to be a missionary and to be serving here. Thank you for your letters and prayers! Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Crane
The confirmation was wonderful as well! She just couldn't wipe the smile off her face. Her boyfriend Devin even came to church which was so awesome! She didn't think he would want to come, and her family couldn't so it was nice that someone came to the confirmation as well. At church I felt like I had a million different things to do. I got asked to play the piano because the organist was out of town. Then I played for our special musical number, while Sister Glenn sang "There is a green hill far away." It went really well it's the EFY 2009 version and it's a really neat rendition. Then from the pulpit one of the counselors asked me to give the closing prayer. I played in relief society and then gave the opening prayer there too. I love that in a small branch I get to serve so much, even as exhausting as it is :)
Greg, Heather, Joleen, and theif friend Wanda came to the baptism and they all loved it. Heather and Wanda came to church too and I think they enjoyed that as well. Wanda is Heather's friend who she invited to one of our lessons and now Wanda is on date to be baptized for May 14th! It's so exciting!
Greg loved the baptism. We had an appointment with him later on after the baptism and he began to cry just talking about Casey's baptism. He said what made him so emotional about it was that she was just so happy and to see how she felt before and after being baptized I think got him really excited for his own baptism. If only we could get him to set a date. He just doesn't want to be pushed or pressured. Too late :) He thinks since I've been here so long that I'll get transferred next and so he jokes that once I leave he'll be ready for baptism. He just wants to torture me. He knows that I want him to get baptized and I know he wants me there but he teases so much sometimes I wonder :)
oh Oh OH and guess what? They opened up a sisters area on PEI! yahoo! Maybe I'll get to serve there then! I've been dying this whole time because they closed the sisters area in PEI right before I got here, but because we got 2 more sisters this past week, they opened up one in Montigue. So here's hoping! I do have 6 weeks for sure left in Truro because transfers were last week. I'm trying to enjoy every minute of it since I know I might not have much time left, and if I do I'll be so happy!
We also have a new investigator from China. Her american name is Jessica and I have no clue how to spell her chinese name. She's so nice. When I was explaining prayer she asked me to share a time that I felt prayer help me in my life. I was so taken off guard by the question that it took me forever to think of an experience. I think I have a weird memory while being on a mission because I can't remember anything before my mission and I can't picture anything after. I guess that's why they call it a "mini life." Anyways I'm excited to teach her more.
This week has just flown by, I feel like I did so much more but I can't seem to write it all down. The weather has gotten better! Well until today...it snowed...again. But this past week we got as high as 11 degrees Celcius. It was so nice! I loved just walking around and talking to people in the nice sun! I hope it comes back!
So I had this really interesting experience with this guy at a door. Let me give the background to the story first. So we're out knocking and for like 6 doors in a row I felt like I wasn't getting out my words right. People would say the weirdest things or just not what I was expecting and I was stumbling over my words and just wanted to get out what I really wanted to say. I was telling Sister Glenn this and then we knocked on another door. The guy answers and seems nice but then flat out says he thinks we're brainwashed. He goes on and on and finally I said, "can I just say something?" surprisingly he said yes and I went on to tell him that I would not have left my family and friends to come out for a year and a half to some other country to serve as a missionary if I did not know that it was true. I told him how I went to college and lived on my own and if I didn't want to go to church I could have stopped. Anyways I ended up bearing my testimony and we talked for a while. During part of the conversation he said, "why would anyone want to be religious it makes you unhappy." I looked at sister glenn and said jokingly, "am I smiling? sorry I thought I was smiling, don't I look happy to you?" He laughed at that. In the end we gave him a pass a long card and went on our way, but I felt like we both gained so much just from that conversation. He now knows more about our faith and I finally got to get all of my words out! I am so grateful for the Spirit. To have the guidance of the Holy Ghost is such a blessing. With out the Spirit I couldn't have said what I wanted to say to him and what the Lord wanted him to hear. I think if there is one thing I've learned on my mission thus far it's how the Holy Ghost speaks to me and what a precious gift it is.
The church is soooooooo true! Like Casey, I don't believe it, I know it. Christ does live. The Spirit testifies of Him and can speak to each one of us. God does hear our prayers. Families are eternal. I am so grateful to be a missionary and to be serving here. Thank you for your letters and prayers! Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Crane
Monday, March 7, 2011
March 7, 2011
It's raining it's pouring and the snow is melting! Sorry that didn't rhyme, but I'm so excited to get rid of some of the massive amounts of snow that have come with February! Yesterday and today are rainy but warm days and I love it! It's supposed to go back to being cold soon so I shouldn't really get too excited, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts.
This week I've seen a lot of miracles, let me tell you about a few. Last Monday Sister Glenn and I decided to go see some potentials ( potentials are people who we have previously knocked into and they said come back another time) We went to one potential and she said something like, "oh well sorry I should have told you, but I didn't want to hurt your feelings, I'm just not interested" I think from the tone in her voice and the bow in my hair she probably thought I was 12. This was our 3rd time to her house, and she had gotten our hopes up and then totally dissapointed me. I felt like I was 12 and that no one was really taking me seriously, this is eternal salvation here people! So reluctently we went to see the next one. Her name is Mel, I didn't have high hopes, she had already bailed out on a previous meeting but surprisly she let us in and asked if we could share the message right then! It was awesome. I felt the Spirit so strongly. All we taught was the principle that God is our loving Heavenly Father. We got a return appointment and left. At our next visit she committed to be baptized on April 16th. I couldn't believe it! When we asked her she said, "uhh I don't think I have anything going on that day, sure." She has made some significant changes in her life, over coming addictions, and now it seems that this is just the right time for her. She has truly been prepared by a loving Father in Heaven and I'm so grateful to be teaching her!
Another amazing miracle happened with Heather and Joleen. I can't remember if I already talked about them or not. Heather is the mom and Joleen is her 15 year old daughter. On Saturday we had gone over to a members house for supper and she invited Heather and Joleen. We taught them the restoration and then set up another appointment to see them this past week. We talked with them more about the Book of Mormon and prayer and then invited them to be baptized and they immediately said yes! So Heather and Joleen are getting baptized on April 23rd! I couldn't believe it. I was smiling so big it hurt. It was to the point where I thought I was going to break out into laughter I was so thrilled and I didn't know how to express my emotions anyother way. Luckily I didn't laugh in the lesson. :) So we got 3 people on date in one day. When we called to tell President Simpson our exciting news he said something like, "so I bet you REALLY want to get transferred now!" "No!" I said. He assured me that I'm not going anywhere, at least not for this transfer. But that means I probably only have 6 weeks left in Truro. How sad. I can't even think about it.
Greg finished 3rd Nephi and we were for sure that he was going to come to church yesterday but didn't. He never commits, he says he has a date in mind of when he'll come to church and he wants to surprise us. We were so close to finding out last time I just know it, but we'll have to wait till our next appointment and then maybe he'll tell us. Crazy thing is one of his questions for us was about BYU. He said he saw on the news that a BYU basketball player was being cut from the team and possibly kicked out of BYU for law of chastity reasons. I couldn't believe that one of our investigators all the way over in Nova Scotia heard about that. Small world, seriously. So we explained to him about that as well as the Word of Wisdom. It's so exciting to see him really love the scriptures and apply what he learns.
Casey! Ah, I am so excited for her. So we have her baptism all planned for this Saturday. She requested that we sing a Christmas song as the opening hymn, so we'll be singing Joy to the World. She was born on Christmas, and she says it's one of the only one she knows in our hymn book. haha She also said there was this one song that was really upbeat and everytime she heard it she wanted to dance with her kids, turns out that hymn is "follow the prophet" so there you go. I'm so excited for her. Last lesson she said the closing prayer, normally when we have members come with us that she doesn't know that well she doesn't like to pray in front of them, but even though we had someone there she didn't know too well she still did. After the close of the prayer she looked up at us with a big grin on her face and I seriously felt like I was in one of those cheesy seminary videos where the person is so extatic that they found the gospel. It was the best. I am so excited for her big day on Saturday! ah! She is so ready and I think I'll be balling like crazy when it actually happens.
Also as of late I've had a few incounters with some drunk people. Some interesting journal entries for sure. It's so sad that addictions have such a hold on people. Almost everyone we meet has some sort of an addiction. It's insane. Satan has used this tactic far too long, it needs to end. It must be so hard to quit an addicition and I can't even imagine what some people go through to stop a bad habit. I am so grateful for the word of wisdom and the amazing blessing it is in my life. The restored gospel is a beautiful thing. I was reading in the margins of my scriptures the other day and saw a quote that says, "Satan frees us to bind us, God binds us to free us." I think that is so true. The commandments may seem restrictive until we obey them and we realize how much freedom we do have when we obey them. What a huge blessing to have a modern day prophet to give us that council. I know this church is true and the Book of Mormon truly is the word of God. I have felt it in my life and I am so grateful to be blessed to share that with the people here.
love,
Sister Crane
This week I've seen a lot of miracles, let me tell you about a few. Last Monday Sister Glenn and I decided to go see some potentials ( potentials are people who we have previously knocked into and they said come back another time) We went to one potential and she said something like, "oh well sorry I should have told you, but I didn't want to hurt your feelings, I'm just not interested" I think from the tone in her voice and the bow in my hair she probably thought I was 12. This was our 3rd time to her house, and she had gotten our hopes up and then totally dissapointed me. I felt like I was 12 and that no one was really taking me seriously, this is eternal salvation here people! So reluctently we went to see the next one. Her name is Mel, I didn't have high hopes, she had already bailed out on a previous meeting but surprisly she let us in and asked if we could share the message right then! It was awesome. I felt the Spirit so strongly. All we taught was the principle that God is our loving Heavenly Father. We got a return appointment and left. At our next visit she committed to be baptized on April 16th. I couldn't believe it! When we asked her she said, "uhh I don't think I have anything going on that day, sure." She has made some significant changes in her life, over coming addictions, and now it seems that this is just the right time for her. She has truly been prepared by a loving Father in Heaven and I'm so grateful to be teaching her!
Another amazing miracle happened with Heather and Joleen. I can't remember if I already talked about them or not. Heather is the mom and Joleen is her 15 year old daughter. On Saturday we had gone over to a members house for supper and she invited Heather and Joleen. We taught them the restoration and then set up another appointment to see them this past week. We talked with them more about the Book of Mormon and prayer and then invited them to be baptized and they immediately said yes! So Heather and Joleen are getting baptized on April 23rd! I couldn't believe it. I was smiling so big it hurt. It was to the point where I thought I was going to break out into laughter I was so thrilled and I didn't know how to express my emotions anyother way. Luckily I didn't laugh in the lesson. :) So we got 3 people on date in one day. When we called to tell President Simpson our exciting news he said something like, "so I bet you REALLY want to get transferred now!" "No!" I said. He assured me that I'm not going anywhere, at least not for this transfer. But that means I probably only have 6 weeks left in Truro. How sad. I can't even think about it.
Greg finished 3rd Nephi and we were for sure that he was going to come to church yesterday but didn't. He never commits, he says he has a date in mind of when he'll come to church and he wants to surprise us. We were so close to finding out last time I just know it, but we'll have to wait till our next appointment and then maybe he'll tell us. Crazy thing is one of his questions for us was about BYU. He said he saw on the news that a BYU basketball player was being cut from the team and possibly kicked out of BYU for law of chastity reasons. I couldn't believe that one of our investigators all the way over in Nova Scotia heard about that. Small world, seriously. So we explained to him about that as well as the Word of Wisdom. It's so exciting to see him really love the scriptures and apply what he learns.
Casey! Ah, I am so excited for her. So we have her baptism all planned for this Saturday. She requested that we sing a Christmas song as the opening hymn, so we'll be singing Joy to the World. She was born on Christmas, and she says it's one of the only one she knows in our hymn book. haha She also said there was this one song that was really upbeat and everytime she heard it she wanted to dance with her kids, turns out that hymn is "follow the prophet" so there you go. I'm so excited for her. Last lesson she said the closing prayer, normally when we have members come with us that she doesn't know that well she doesn't like to pray in front of them, but even though we had someone there she didn't know too well she still did. After the close of the prayer she looked up at us with a big grin on her face and I seriously felt like I was in one of those cheesy seminary videos where the person is so extatic that they found the gospel. It was the best. I am so excited for her big day on Saturday! ah! She is so ready and I think I'll be balling like crazy when it actually happens.
Also as of late I've had a few incounters with some drunk people. Some interesting journal entries for sure. It's so sad that addictions have such a hold on people. Almost everyone we meet has some sort of an addiction. It's insane. Satan has used this tactic far too long, it needs to end. It must be so hard to quit an addicition and I can't even imagine what some people go through to stop a bad habit. I am so grateful for the word of wisdom and the amazing blessing it is in my life. The restored gospel is a beautiful thing. I was reading in the margins of my scriptures the other day and saw a quote that says, "Satan frees us to bind us, God binds us to free us." I think that is so true. The commandments may seem restrictive until we obey them and we realize how much freedom we do have when we obey them. What a huge blessing to have a modern day prophet to give us that council. I know this church is true and the Book of Mormon truly is the word of God. I have felt it in my life and I am so grateful to be blessed to share that with the people here.
love,
Sister Crane
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