June 27th

I feel like so much happened this week, I don't even know if I'll be able to write about it all! First let me say that we had an amazing baptism on Saturday! Ja-Mychal got baptized and it was perfect! Well...almost. Sister Glenn and I were in charge of filling up the font and we forgot to check the temperature of the water so the person baptizing Ja-Mychal almost burned his foot. We all stood around the closed doors of the font for 5 or 10 minutes while they put cool water into the font to try to get it bareable enough to baptize in. Oops. Seriously, there is a first time for everything. Usually it's too cold, so I never even thought about it being too hot! The program was beautiful though. His mom sang "I heard him come," that's the song she always sang to him when he was a baby and so she balled through the whole thing. Sister Glenn sang the rainbow song (classic, can't have a baptism w/out it) and the talks were perfect. The best was his grandpa, the former branch president, brother Bezanson. After the baptism he came up to us and shook our hands and said, "I just wanted to say thank you, I didn't think this day would come." He said it through his tears and I just felt his gratitude. I really don't think we did much, but perhaps helping them set a date was the motivation that family needed. Afterwards they had a BBQ at their house with close friends and family and we got an invite! ya! I love this name tag, it gets you into the best parties.
SISTER'S CONFERENCE! It was the best. We had sister's conference on Tuesday and went home on Thursday. We got to the mission home Tuesday night, had a DE-O-LICIOUS meal provided by Sister Simpson, and then had a training with president. He said we could ask him any question we wanted. So of course we went into deep doctrine since we normally can't do that. :) It was the best. We stayed up late talking to President and Sister Simpson and then with the other sisters. I was so excited to see Sister Hudson! Time has flown by since we were in the MTC together and so it was a blast to just see her and chat. We woke up the next morning and went to the TEMPLE! *sigh* it was the best. seriously. the best. It had been forever since I had gone and I felt like I learned so much. I loved being there with all of the sisters! so cool. We ate lunch and then headed off to Peggy's cove! woop woop! In the pictures you'll see that all of the Sister's are wearing headbands. It's because we had a secret sister headband exchange. Elder's swap ties, we swap headbands. You were assigned a sister and had to buy her a headband and wear the one you get on Wednesday and then you find out who gave you yours that night. I got 2. The first one was this CRAZY one that had canadian flags on it and silver streamers. classic. They knew me well. Later that night I got the REAL one with a note saying it was a joke and thanks for being a good sport. The only problem was I actually liked the Canadian one! haha So I wore both. It was awesome.
Peggy's cove is GORGEOUS. It's like every picture you take could be a postcard. Speaking of which mail has been on strike but it's supposed to be off strike tomorrow! Finally I can get and write letters! ah! Ok anyways, we hung out at Peggy's cove and headed over to Lunenburg and Mahone Bay. They are both right by the water and it's just beautiful. They have these cute little shops all around and you can just sit by the water and watch the sail boats. President bought us ice cream I made the mistake of getting Moon Mist. Nasty. But pretty looking. It tasted like plato. After seeing the sights we got back late that night and we were EXHAUSTED. (man I'm really capitolizing a lot of words lately, I hope you can feel the excitement :) ) This time President and Sister Simpson went to bed right away and all of the sisters stayed up talking. It was so much fun. We woke up had a wonderful breakfast and then said our sad goodbyes. awww. It was great. The Elder's have no idea what they're missing out on.
So our investigators! They are doing great! We have 3 new investigators this week! yahoo! and one of them, Nathan is on date for baptism for August 13th! another yahoo! Nathan loves God, but doesn't like church. He thinks that church is full of hypocrites....which is true..we're all hypocrites....but we're trying to help him see that the church is perfect and that's what matters, not the people. Nathan's girlfriend recently died in December. She drank a lot and I think that's what killed her. He has strong faith and has read a lot from the Book of Mormon already. I really hope we can help him overcome his fears and come to church.
Our other 2 new investigators are Cheryl and Mike. Cheryl is a former investigator that I had taught with Sister Peaden. Cheryl and Mike are living together and actually they are originally a referral from a member. We had dropped them because they were difficult to get ahold of and would reschedule appointments a lot. The member, Brother Urquhart asked us to go visit them again. We went yesterday and one of the first things Cheryl asked was, "can we pray?" She began to cry as she told us she lost her job and how her kids are really lost right now. I said a prayer for her and then we taught them about God and the Atonement. She said that we came at the exact time that we needed her. The both agreed that they need to get their lives back in order and start going to church. I'm really excited for them and hope we can help them get back on track.
Amber is doing well, her and her mom Sheila came to church on Sunday and Amber came to Ja-Mychal's baptism. She said she really liked it, but requested that her font water be a little bit cooler than his. We assured her it would be :) Casey gave her first ever talk in church! AH! she was so good! I sat there like a proud mother cheering her on. I was afraid she wasn't going to remember to end it with, "In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." but she did! And she bore testimony and it was perfect. I loved it! Steve is doing well, he came to church on Sunday too. He totally has a crush on Sister Glenn, but we try not to think about it and be very serious with him so he doesn't get any ideas. He kept making comments on how we're inseperable. Ya, Steve, we're companions! ugh. Oh get this. Steve's dad is Mike! you know mike and cheryl that i just talked about. So we're teaching a family! sweet!
Transfers are coming up again. It feels like they come so quickly. If I leave I'll only have 2 weeks left in Truro. How strange. I guess I thought I'd be gone long before this, but I feel so grateful to be here. I love the members. They are a huge source of strength for me. They make us feel loved and taken care of. I really appreciate that. I'll miss them for sure. I'm grateful for every minute that I get to be here in Truro and I'll stay longer if that's what Heavenly Father wants for me. The church is true. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I'm grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who know's us personally and takes care of us. Thank you for your love and support!
Love,
Sister Crane