Well! Another week has come and gone! But lemme start with a joke from Bishop Weeks. We had a throw-down lesson yesterday in 3rd hour. He basically said that if Pittsburgh ever wanted a temple they better step up home teaching/visiting teaching and temple attendance. A brother raised his hand and said that people should set a date as to when to get to the temple next, whether it be NEXT week, NEXT month or NEXT year. Bishop stared at him and said "Well, that doesn't matter because all 3 of those things are the same. They are all next week." hahaha! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
So this is our week (:
Tuesday was Christmas Eve and frigid! And we spent the day trying to see some people. We saw Alice and shared a Christmas message. She might be able to come to church after the new year because she has to get permission from her doctor; her leg has been injured for a while. Next we went to Char's and had a lovely visit. We talked about the Priesthood and the organization of the church (which is AWESOME by the way). I know I know blonde moment, but I had NO idea that the Stake Presidency/High Council was modeled after the 1st Presidency/Quorum of the 12! How awesome! I love how organized the Lord's church truly is! Then we went to Susan's house. She has breast cancer and hasn't been able to come to church for a while but she really loved us stopping by and sharing a Christmas message. Finally it was time for our dinner appointment. We went to the Bishop's house and it was SO much fun. We just hung out for a while and they were so sweet! They got us some gifts (i.e. a terrible towel and Pittsburgh ornament). I am so astounded by how sweet this ward has been to us this Christmas. We finally left after reading the Christmas story.
Wednesday was SO much fun!! It was a crazy Christmas for us! I can't say that it truly felt like Christmas, but it was definitely a special day! We got up and opened presents (: That was really fun! Then we went to the McBride's for brunch. They got us these stockings with silly little things in them it was cute haha! But we were super anxious to get to the Green's. We left about one and started to skype home. Oh how sweet!!! I loved talking to you guys! I wanted to be with you so badly, yet I feel so drawn to be a missionary! It's a catch-22 and I know this will all be over too quickly. I only cried for 5 minutes after hanging up and then went on my merry little way. We stopped at the Burson's because she asked us too. We ate a quick dinner then headed back to the McBride's. We just talked and hung out for the remainder of our holiday. It was fun!
Thursday was back to work day! But I got sick-ish. At 7:30 am, Sister Larsen got in the shower and I was freezing so I hid under my new warm blanket and slept for 3 HOURS!!! It turned into a tender mercy because apparently we had District Meeting and no one told us d: So we high-tailed out to Cranberry and had District Meeting. Then Sister K Neeley took us to Midland to visit Rasheda. We had an awesome lesson with her just talking about covenants and things like that.By the time we got home it was time for dinner at the Wright's house. It was cool but we COULD NOT leave. It took forever and our day was over by the time we got home.
Friday was weekly planning and it didn't take us a year and a half to complete haha! We got to meet with Rasheda and talked about the things she should expect before and after her baptism. We dropped off her baptismal programs at Staples and then headed home. We ate dinner then went to Wendy's house. She is so sweet. We tried to have a good spiritual discussion but her husband wouldn't turn off the tv. And they have a huge tv. I hate how sucked in I got; I realize how pointless tv is now and how filthy as well. I didn't think I would get to this point but it is very real right now.
Saturday we had a pretty average day. Not much happened.
Except, you know, another child of God entering in "at the strait and narrow gate"!!
We went to Elsa's in the morning and talked with her and returned her book "Faith proceeds the Miracle" by Spencer W. Kimball. We tried to contact some referrals but then it was time to head to the church. We grabbed a quick lunch then headed over! We cleaned the font and began filling the font. It felt SO surreal! I watched the water fill up and read "The Infinite Atonement" *mind blown*. That book is AMAZING. I never realized how little I comprehended of the most important event in the history of the universe.
The time finally came. At 6 pm, there weren't a lot of people there, but you know how Mormon standard time works. We took pictures with Rasheda and when we came back there were a ton of people in the Relief Society room!! We were ecstatic! Then the time came and Rasheda was baptized! Rasheda got up and bore her testimony and I nearly cried I was so happy! I can only imagine how happy Heavenly Father is when we are obedient to His commandments and make correct choices. I truly felt the incomprehensible joy associated with missionary work! D&C 18:15!!
Sunday was weird and super stressful but cool at the same time. Rasheda literally walked in as it was being announced that she was being confirmed. Other than that it was smooth haha! Denise, Rasheda's mom, said that some day she'll join the church...maybe in February?? (; We visited Sister Smego and then went to our dinner appointment at the Schmucks. They had the Tame's and the DeBaker's over for dinner too so we talked to Shyanne and her friend Nicole the whole time because they are our age haha! After dinner, we felt like we should contact this referral we recieved. It turned out that Sara, the woman who requested the missionaries,is actually a member and her husband is interested in the gospel so we were able to pick him up as a new investigator last night! All because of a prompting from Heavenly Father! Goodness! He is too good to us!!!
So that was our week this week! Craziness, but I realize how sweet those tender mercies of the Lord actually are! Don't forget to write them down because they are answers to the silent prayers of the heart! I am so grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost and the things He teaches me from my Father in Heaven!
I hope you have a safe and fun New Year!! Here is to 2014!! See you next year! (;
Love,
Sister Kaitlyn Crockett
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Christmas Spirit
Well Merry Christmas ya'll!! I don't know if I'll even get a white Christmas here 0.o Sad day!! But it is supposed to be cold after this warm push we've had. Our week has been as weird as the weather. Good, but weird haha! Lemme sum up.
We had correlation but because lack of communication, it was pushed back an hour and we had no idea. So we sat in Brother Yovich's house for a good hour and a half with NOTHING to do. So we napped d: haha! We went to Grandma Neeley's and shoveled her walk way...in skirts...like a boss. We then helped her make some Christmas cookies which was difficult because she is VERY particular about it haha!
Wednesday was district meeting. The zone leaders came before to help us with our maps then stayed for the entire DM. Elder Waddoups was there too because he still didn't have a companion. So our district nearly doubled haha! It was a lot of fun until lunch when the Elders had a gross eating contest. Chicken feet and mussels GAG!!! boys. We had to race back to Chippewa to meet up with Sister Goettman so we could meet with Rasheda. We had an awesome lesson and she marked the Book of Mormon up!! She is better at studying it than I am!! haha! She is amazing. It was a long drive back to Midland then we high tailed it to Sister DeBaker's. Her daughter is home for Christmas and she is hilarious. It made it ten times less awkward with some one our age there haha!
Thursday we did some planning because we had team-ups on Friday morning. We got to plan for Rasheda's baptism and it was so weird! I never thought I would get this opportunity! After planning, we went to the Green's and did some baking. It was so much fun and helped us get in the Christmas season!
Friday we helped Sister L. Neeley with her Christmas decorating, which again helped with the Christmas spirit. Then we had a lesson with Rasheda and covered the "big" commandments: The law of tithing, the word of wisdom, and the law of chastity. It was good and she didn't have a problem with anything. Which is even better haha! Then we traded off and went to Sister K. Neeley's and baked some more cookies. She asked for our favorite recipes which ended up with her texting Mom and asking for Krinkle cookies 0.o that was a weird experience...so close and so far haha! We didn't finish so we made plans to come back the next day. And I got 2 awesome packages!! I was a really happy camper!! (:
Saturday Sister K. Neeley joked about not hearing from you, Mom, and said she was going to text you and tell you I was back but didn't want to send you into a frenzy haha! We spent the entire morning coordinating for Rasheda's baptismal interview then finally the time came for us to meet with her! We blitzed the commandments and Elder Vassallo showed up for the interview. She passed with flying colors!! We then went to the LaFond's for dinner and it was delicious. We finally got to meet the new Elder. He is from Gilbert and his name is Elder Cox.
Sunday was hectic as we were asked to participate in the ward choir by Sister K. Neeley 0.o so we did. We sang a song that really got me thinking. It's called "Were you there that Christmas Night?" and there is a line that Sister Neeley emphasized..."did you gaze upon Jesus' face or touch the infant hands?"
We went to the Neeley family party for dinner after visiting with Sister Smego. We visited some other peeps and finally called it a night. It's been a long week but so good.
I hope you remember the TRUE meaning of Christmas. Please, before unwrapping the wonderful gifts that have been lovingly wrapped and chosen, take time to remember the Gift that God lovingly chose and Mary wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manager. Remember our Savior and His birth in this wonderful season. Remember what the shepherds saw and heard that caused them to seek out the Child and to pay homage to Him. Remember that those infant hands would one day calm the sea and heal a blind man. Remember that those infant hands would one day write in the sand and lift a daughter to her parents. Remember that those infant hands would one day lift your burdens and carry the cross. Remember that those infant hands will one day greet you and will welcome you back home.
I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!
Love,
Kaitlyn
We had correlation but because lack of communication, it was pushed back an hour and we had no idea. So we sat in Brother Yovich's house for a good hour and a half with NOTHING to do. So we napped d: haha! We went to Grandma Neeley's and shoveled her walk way...in skirts...like a boss. We then helped her make some Christmas cookies which was difficult because she is VERY particular about it haha!
Wednesday was district meeting. The zone leaders came before to help us with our maps then stayed for the entire DM. Elder Waddoups was there too because he still didn't have a companion. So our district nearly doubled haha! It was a lot of fun until lunch when the Elders had a gross eating contest. Chicken feet and mussels GAG!!! boys. We had to race back to Chippewa to meet up with Sister Goettman so we could meet with Rasheda. We had an awesome lesson and she marked the Book of Mormon up!! She is better at studying it than I am!! haha! She is amazing. It was a long drive back to Midland then we high tailed it to Sister DeBaker's. Her daughter is home for Christmas and she is hilarious. It made it ten times less awkward with some one our age there haha!
Thursday we did some planning because we had team-ups on Friday morning. We got to plan for Rasheda's baptism and it was so weird! I never thought I would get this opportunity! After planning, we went to the Green's and did some baking. It was so much fun and helped us get in the Christmas season!
Friday we helped Sister L. Neeley with her Christmas decorating, which again helped with the Christmas spirit. Then we had a lesson with Rasheda and covered the "big" commandments: The law of tithing, the word of wisdom, and the law of chastity. It was good and she didn't have a problem with anything. Which is even better haha! Then we traded off and went to Sister K. Neeley's and baked some more cookies. She asked for our favorite recipes which ended up with her texting Mom and asking for Krinkle cookies 0.o that was a weird experience...so close and so far haha! We didn't finish so we made plans to come back the next day. And I got 2 awesome packages!! I was a really happy camper!! (:
Saturday Sister K. Neeley joked about not hearing from you, Mom, and said she was going to text you and tell you I was back but didn't want to send you into a frenzy haha! We spent the entire morning coordinating for Rasheda's baptismal interview then finally the time came for us to meet with her! We blitzed the commandments and Elder Vassallo showed up for the interview. She passed with flying colors!! We then went to the LaFond's for dinner and it was delicious. We finally got to meet the new Elder. He is from Gilbert and his name is Elder Cox.
Sunday was hectic as we were asked to participate in the ward choir by Sister K. Neeley 0.o so we did. We sang a song that really got me thinking. It's called "Were you there that Christmas Night?" and there is a line that Sister Neeley emphasized..."did you gaze upon Jesus' face or touch the infant hands?"
We went to the Neeley family party for dinner after visiting with Sister Smego. We visited some other peeps and finally called it a night. It's been a long week but so good.
I hope you remember the TRUE meaning of Christmas. Please, before unwrapping the wonderful gifts that have been lovingly wrapped and chosen, take time to remember the Gift that God lovingly chose and Mary wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manager. Remember our Savior and His birth in this wonderful season. Remember what the shepherds saw and heard that caused them to seek out the Child and to pay homage to Him. Remember that those infant hands would one day calm the sea and heal a blind man. Remember that those infant hands would one day write in the sand and lift a daughter to her parents. Remember that those infant hands would one day lift your burdens and carry the cross. Remember that those infant hands will one day greet you and will welcome you back home.
I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!
Love,
Kaitlyn
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
The Roller Coaster
Oh the joy of being a missionary!! Really nothing compares!!!! This week has been one big roller coaster and I can't wait to share it with you!!! (: Fasten your seat belts ladies and gents because this here is the wildest ride in the wilderness!!! (;
So Tuesday we had correlation which was normal. But it was weird when our zone leaders showed up to do exchanges with Elder Waddoups/Brother Allread/Brother Yovich...talk about being the minority. haha! We then went to Char's and talked about baptism and the Holy Ghost and got into a pretty deep and awesome discussion. You can always count on Char for that!! We then rushed out to Midland to see our AMAZING investigator Rasheda. Sister Goettman came with us and we talked about the plan of salvation. It's amazing because she kept saying "this is so familiar, I love it!" It was awesome! She really loved and explained that she wants to get baptized on her terms and make sure she gets baptized for her and for no one else. Which is totally fine haha! So we went home, packed our bags for Butler and then headed to our dinner appointment at Sister Rambo's. I was so stuffed it wasn't even funny haha! The ZL's were there and got the tour of the "Man Cave" with Brother Rambo's guns and Cobra. I think there was some drool on the front seat when we left d: Silly boys..I'll never understand. haha! We drove to Butler to stay the night and get ready for zone Conference!
Wednesday was zone conference and that was super weird! I saw some missionaries that I haven't seen in a while! Elder Coke from Pitt 2nd is up in Erie 1st ward with Bishop May *jealous!* But it was cool to talk with people and get some training on being a better missionary. We did an interesting Role Play on revelation through church attendance. As we were teaching, I really pondered why church is so important. I mean it is so rote and we do the same thing every week, but isn't that the beauty of it?? We get to partake of the sacrament EVERY week. We get to remember Christ EVERY week (although we should be doing that every day). As simple as it is, church is SO important. After Zone, we went with Sister Hays to try and see some people but no one was home. She kindly drove us to Sister Neeley's for dinner. We had a great dinner and then came home for some planning!
Thursday we played the role of bold missionary. We saw Alice and she kept giving us excuses why she couldn't attend church. So zone conference training kicked in and reminded her how important partaking of the sacrament is! I mean it's a commandment for goodness sake haha! She said she would try and we are going to continue being upfront with her. We went to the matriarch Sister Neeley's house for dinner and then on to our lesson with Julian!! We took Cindy with us because she is preparing to serve a mission. We shared the Restoration with Julian. He said he was afraid of water so I am not so sure about how baptism is going to work. But we both decided that it would be better if Elder Waddoups taught him and so we passed on our investigator ): but, it'll be best for him.
Friday was crazy!! We met with Rasheda again at the church! She asked if her mom could come and we wholeheartedly agreed to that! We gave them a church tour and I talked with Denise. She expressed her disappointment in other churches and we told her that ours was different but she would just have to come and see. She took us up on that challenge. We talked with Rasheda after the tour and asked if she was comfortable with her baptismal date of January 11th or if she wanted to push it back....or move it up. She told us that she wanted to be baptized as soon as possible.
Her baptismal date is December 28th!!!!!!!
Saturday it was NASTY outside. We couldn't get a whole lot done except try and arrange a ride for Rasheda and her mom to come to the Christmas party that night! We did our best and God filled in the rest! We got ready to go and it took us 45 minutes to get to the church. 0.o We don't have this problem in Arizona haha! So the Christmas party commenced and Rasheda and Denise and Aniyha showed up and the ward welcomed them with open arms!! It was amazing!! We had a great time!
Sunday was stressful because Denise said she didn't want to come to church and basically left Rasheda stranded. We called in some favors and arranged a ride for her. Much to our surprise, Rashseda, Aniyha, AND Denise all walked in to sacrament meeting. 0.o After an amazing meeting, several questions, awesome coloring pages *thanks mom!!* and amazing ward members, Church was over. Denise said it was the friendliest church she has ever been too!!!! Rasheda loved it and Aniyha is a ward favorite! (: Oh how merciful the God of Israel is!!!! After Church we visited with Claire and Sister LaFond and the Green's invited us over for some Christmas goodie making before the stake devotional. We visited Sister Smego then hightailed it to the Green's. I made toffee (: All by myself...ok with the help of an eleven-year-old but it was pretty good for a beginner!! haha! We ate dinner and then headed over to the devotional. It was really good and was a fantastic ending to a crazy week!!
I hope you know how awesome you are!! I really feel your prayers and they keep me going on a regular basis! Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and that should be our goal as well: help others be happy for this is when we forget our own trials and our happiness increases! Merry Christmas!! I love you all!!!
Love,
Sister Crockett
So Tuesday we had correlation which was normal. But it was weird when our zone leaders showed up to do exchanges with Elder Waddoups/Brother Allread/Brother Yovich...talk about being the minority. haha! We then went to Char's and talked about baptism and the Holy Ghost and got into a pretty deep and awesome discussion. You can always count on Char for that!! We then rushed out to Midland to see our AMAZING investigator Rasheda. Sister Goettman came with us and we talked about the plan of salvation. It's amazing because she kept saying "this is so familiar, I love it!" It was awesome! She really loved and explained that she wants to get baptized on her terms and make sure she gets baptized for her and for no one else. Which is totally fine haha! So we went home, packed our bags for Butler and then headed to our dinner appointment at Sister Rambo's. I was so stuffed it wasn't even funny haha! The ZL's were there and got the tour of the "Man Cave" with Brother Rambo's guns and Cobra. I think there was some drool on the front seat when we left d: Silly boys..I'll never understand. haha! We drove to Butler to stay the night and get ready for zone Conference!
Wednesday was zone conference and that was super weird! I saw some missionaries that I haven't seen in a while! Elder Coke from Pitt 2nd is up in Erie 1st ward with Bishop May *jealous!* But it was cool to talk with people and get some training on being a better missionary. We did an interesting Role Play on revelation through church attendance. As we were teaching, I really pondered why church is so important. I mean it is so rote and we do the same thing every week, but isn't that the beauty of it?? We get to partake of the sacrament EVERY week. We get to remember Christ EVERY week (although we should be doing that every day). As simple as it is, church is SO important. After Zone, we went with Sister Hays to try and see some people but no one was home. She kindly drove us to Sister Neeley's for dinner. We had a great dinner and then came home for some planning!
Thursday we played the role of bold missionary. We saw Alice and she kept giving us excuses why she couldn't attend church. So zone conference training kicked in and reminded her how important partaking of the sacrament is! I mean it's a commandment for goodness sake haha! She said she would try and we are going to continue being upfront with her. We went to the matriarch Sister Neeley's house for dinner and then on to our lesson with Julian!! We took Cindy with us because she is preparing to serve a mission. We shared the Restoration with Julian. He said he was afraid of water so I am not so sure about how baptism is going to work. But we both decided that it would be better if Elder Waddoups taught him and so we passed on our investigator ): but, it'll be best for him.
Friday was crazy!! We met with Rasheda again at the church! She asked if her mom could come and we wholeheartedly agreed to that! We gave them a church tour and I talked with Denise. She expressed her disappointment in other churches and we told her that ours was different but she would just have to come and see. She took us up on that challenge. We talked with Rasheda after the tour and asked if she was comfortable with her baptismal date of January 11th or if she wanted to push it back....or move it up. She told us that she wanted to be baptized as soon as possible.
Her baptismal date is December 28th!!!!!!!
Saturday it was NASTY outside. We couldn't get a whole lot done except try and arrange a ride for Rasheda and her mom to come to the Christmas party that night! We did our best and God filled in the rest! We got ready to go and it took us 45 minutes to get to the church. 0.o We don't have this problem in Arizona haha! So the Christmas party commenced and Rasheda and Denise and Aniyha showed up and the ward welcomed them with open arms!! It was amazing!! We had a great time!
Sunday was stressful because Denise said she didn't want to come to church and basically left Rasheda stranded. We called in some favors and arranged a ride for her. Much to our surprise, Rashseda, Aniyha, AND Denise all walked in to sacrament meeting. 0.o After an amazing meeting, several questions, awesome coloring pages *thanks mom!!* and amazing ward members, Church was over. Denise said it was the friendliest church she has ever been too!!!! Rasheda loved it and Aniyha is a ward favorite! (: Oh how merciful the God of Israel is!!!! After Church we visited with Claire and Sister LaFond and the Green's invited us over for some Christmas goodie making before the stake devotional. We visited Sister Smego then hightailed it to the Green's. I made toffee (: All by myself...ok with the help of an eleven-year-old but it was pretty good for a beginner!! haha! We ate dinner and then headed over to the devotional. It was really good and was a fantastic ending to a crazy week!!
I hope you know how awesome you are!! I really feel your prayers and they keep me going on a regular basis! Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and that should be our goal as well: help others be happy for this is when we forget our own trials and our happiness increases! Merry Christmas!! I love you all!!!
Love,
Sister Crockett
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Hola! Hello!
Dear familia!!
What a wonderful week this has been in Beaver!! Man it was absolutely insanely amazing! We had so many ups and downs and laugh-out-loud-moments, I can't even begin to write them all. But I'll try! (;
Monday, to celebrate Gracie's birthday we went out to Texas Roadhouse. (; The McBride's wanted to thank us for helping out while they were moving, so they took us out to Texas Roadhouse. Well, they have teenage sons and Elder Waddoups has been here as long as I've been on my mission so some interesting things happened. The boys were throwing peanuts and one of the boys went and told the waiter that it wasn't Elder Waddoups' birthday but he needed to be embarrassed. (Dad style - "oh, Bishop is calling, I'll be right back"). So outcame the saddle and plastic cowboy hat. BLACKMAIL. haha! It was hilarious!! We couldn't let it die.
Tuesday we had to fill out our accident report from the hit and run before correlation. I have decided I don't like paperwork. We had stuff like that to do all day then went to the Green's for dinner. We told Brother Green that he should pretend it was Elder Waddoups' birthday. So out came the cupcakes and candles haha! There kids were so excited it was his birthday, I don't think he could tell them it wasn't haha!
Wednesday I was so tired I could barely see straight. I was so ready to just go out and work though, so we did! We had DM and met the new sister. She is really nice and perfect for Sister Morphy. After DM, Sister Neeley went and picked us up for our lesson with Mary. Their histories are so similar but the reactions are so different. Sister Neeley turned to the Lord and is stronger than ever, where as Mary is struggling to know how to pray and study her scriptures. It's heartbreaking but I know how I want to react to adversity. We played mediator for the Priesthood the rest of the night because a member called us asking us to ask the Elders for a blessing but the Elders didn't answer so we called the Bishop who called the Elders' Quorum President who, in turn, called us, then called the High Priest Group Leader and then called us again to see what we had heard. It was a mess. I guess their phones only connected to ours! (;
Thursday I wasn't feeling super good so I slept a lot to try and get me over it. It helped to a certain extent. We tried to see a gazillion people but turns out you don't have enough time in the day to see a gazillion people...or the miles for our car. I went on splits with Sister Green and we saw Lorraine. She was in an interesting state but we had a good conversation about the gospel so that is all that matters. We did pick up her grandson, Julian as a new investigator! He is 9 and so wants the gospel in his life! We can't wait to teach him more!! (:
Friday was weekly planning as usual. Blah. We had an amazing lesson with Char. I love that lady so much. She is amazing. She sent us away with some Christmas stuff because our sad little apt is so bare of Christmas you would think the Grinch hit it already! haha! We then talked with a member's mom. The member had passed away this summer and we were following up with how she was doing. She was really nice and tried to give us money for the Church, but we said that she had to go through Bishop and she said she respected that. She might be interested in learning more. We aren't sure yet /: It was snowing really bad so we had to go home and you know...eat dinner. Being mortal is no fun. haha!
Saturday was so chaotic. Sister Larsen starts the day with this statement: "I didn't want you to stress last night but...Elder Mellor went home and Elder Waddoups can't get another companion because all of the areas are in pairs...no trios. He is going to live in Ambridge and we are going to absorb his area." I about fell off my bed. WHAAAT?!? Back up, back up. I was really surprised but calmed down when I realized we didn't really know anything. So, on with the day. We went to help Micheal and Vicki move but they were done when we go there. So we came home and re-evaluated our plans. Meanwhile, we get a call from the mission office asking if we had ever talked with a woman named Rasheda (Rah-she-da). I said we hadn't and Sister Buehner said that Rasheda called the office saying she was meeting the sister missionaries down in Midland at 3. We didn't know anything about it. Later we get a call from the Elders O.o and then Bishop asking about Rasheda. And still we didn't know anything about this lady. ELder Waddoups volunteered to go meet her to save our miles if we could start the water for a baptism they were having that night for their investigator Sarah (man these pronouns are all wrong sorry haha!). We agreed and then went to contact some people; one of which was a less active and his non-member wife who I had met on exchanges...or so I thought. We went to Brendan's (the less active) house and knocked on the door. A man answered and I asked if he was Brendan. He said he wasn't and that they rent from him. I was thrown for a loop. I asked who I had talked to and he said his girlfriend, Francis. He asked if we had anything to give her and I said we didn't at that time but we would love to come back and talk with both of them and he agreed to let us come back this coming week. 2 potentials. wow. Heavenly Father is definitely preparing people! So we went to Sarah's baptism and Elder Waddoups raved about this Rasheda girl. He said the first thing out of her mouth was "When can I get baptized?" 0.o He set her with a baptismal date and agreed to go with Brother Allread (his temp comp) and pick her up for church the following day. We were so stoked.
So Sunday came and we were on pins and needles. We stared at the door for a good 20 minutes. In Rasheda comes with her beautiful 2 year old daughter Aniyha. We rushed to greet her and invited her to sit with us and Char. The ward was so amazing and welcomed her with open arms. Everyone wanted to talk to her and meet her. We scheduled an appointment with her and she is so excited about the gospel! After she stayed all 3 hours for church, we went to Sister Smego's and talked with her until our dinner appointment. We had dinner at the Goettman's and then went back to Char's for the Christmas Devotional. It was way good! Very different, but very good! (:
So this week has been insane but I have loved it! Not every minute, but I definitely appreciate the good moments more now. I have learned so much I can hardly write it down. The gospel is amazing and miracles do come with diligence and patience. Oh the virtues I lack the most haha! I hope you have an amazing week! Merry Christmas!! (:
Love,
Kaitlyn
What a wonderful week this has been in Beaver!! Man it was absolutely insanely amazing! We had so many ups and downs and laugh-out-loud-moments, I can't even begin to write them all. But I'll try! (;
Monday, to celebrate Gracie's birthday we went out to Texas Roadhouse. (; The McBride's wanted to thank us for helping out while they were moving, so they took us out to Texas Roadhouse. Well, they have teenage sons and Elder Waddoups has been here as long as I've been on my mission so some interesting things happened. The boys were throwing peanuts and one of the boys went and told the waiter that it wasn't Elder Waddoups' birthday but he needed to be embarrassed. (Dad style - "oh, Bishop is calling, I'll be right back"). So outcame the saddle and plastic cowboy hat. BLACKMAIL. haha! It was hilarious!! We couldn't let it die.
Tuesday we had to fill out our accident report from the hit and run before correlation. I have decided I don't like paperwork. We had stuff like that to do all day then went to the Green's for dinner. We told Brother Green that he should pretend it was Elder Waddoups' birthday. So out came the cupcakes and candles haha! There kids were so excited it was his birthday, I don't think he could tell them it wasn't haha!
Wednesday I was so tired I could barely see straight. I was so ready to just go out and work though, so we did! We had DM and met the new sister. She is really nice and perfect for Sister Morphy. After DM, Sister Neeley went and picked us up for our lesson with Mary. Their histories are so similar but the reactions are so different. Sister Neeley turned to the Lord and is stronger than ever, where as Mary is struggling to know how to pray and study her scriptures. It's heartbreaking but I know how I want to react to adversity. We played mediator for the Priesthood the rest of the night because a member called us asking us to ask the Elders for a blessing but the Elders didn't answer so we called the Bishop who called the Elders' Quorum President who, in turn, called us, then called the High Priest Group Leader and then called us again to see what we had heard. It was a mess. I guess their phones only connected to ours! (;
Thursday I wasn't feeling super good so I slept a lot to try and get me over it. It helped to a certain extent. We tried to see a gazillion people but turns out you don't have enough time in the day to see a gazillion people...or the miles for our car. I went on splits with Sister Green and we saw Lorraine. She was in an interesting state but we had a good conversation about the gospel so that is all that matters. We did pick up her grandson, Julian as a new investigator! He is 9 and so wants the gospel in his life! We can't wait to teach him more!! (:
Friday was weekly planning as usual. Blah. We had an amazing lesson with Char. I love that lady so much. She is amazing. She sent us away with some Christmas stuff because our sad little apt is so bare of Christmas you would think the Grinch hit it already! haha! We then talked with a member's mom. The member had passed away this summer and we were following up with how she was doing. She was really nice and tried to give us money for the Church, but we said that she had to go through Bishop and she said she respected that. She might be interested in learning more. We aren't sure yet /: It was snowing really bad so we had to go home and you know...eat dinner. Being mortal is no fun. haha!
Saturday was so chaotic. Sister Larsen starts the day with this statement: "I didn't want you to stress last night but...Elder Mellor went home and Elder Waddoups can't get another companion because all of the areas are in pairs...no trios. He is going to live in Ambridge and we are going to absorb his area." I about fell off my bed. WHAAAT?!? Back up, back up. I was really surprised but calmed down when I realized we didn't really know anything. So, on with the day. We went to help Micheal and Vicki move but they were done when we go there. So we came home and re-evaluated our plans. Meanwhile, we get a call from the mission office asking if we had ever talked with a woman named Rasheda (Rah-she-da). I said we hadn't and Sister Buehner said that Rasheda called the office saying she was meeting the sister missionaries down in Midland at 3. We didn't know anything about it. Later we get a call from the Elders O.o and then Bishop asking about Rasheda. And still we didn't know anything about this lady. ELder Waddoups volunteered to go meet her to save our miles if we could start the water for a baptism they were having that night for their investigator Sarah (man these pronouns are all wrong sorry haha!). We agreed and then went to contact some people; one of which was a less active and his non-member wife who I had met on exchanges...or so I thought. We went to Brendan's (the less active) house and knocked on the door. A man answered and I asked if he was Brendan. He said he wasn't and that they rent from him. I was thrown for a loop. I asked who I had talked to and he said his girlfriend, Francis. He asked if we had anything to give her and I said we didn't at that time but we would love to come back and talk with both of them and he agreed to let us come back this coming week. 2 potentials. wow. Heavenly Father is definitely preparing people! So we went to Sarah's baptism and Elder Waddoups raved about this Rasheda girl. He said the first thing out of her mouth was "When can I get baptized?" 0.o He set her with a baptismal date and agreed to go with Brother Allread (his temp comp) and pick her up for church the following day. We were so stoked.
So Sunday came and we were on pins and needles. We stared at the door for a good 20 minutes. In Rasheda comes with her beautiful 2 year old daughter Aniyha. We rushed to greet her and invited her to sit with us and Char. The ward was so amazing and welcomed her with open arms. Everyone wanted to talk to her and meet her. We scheduled an appointment with her and she is so excited about the gospel! After she stayed all 3 hours for church, we went to Sister Smego's and talked with her until our dinner appointment. We had dinner at the Goettman's and then went back to Char's for the Christmas Devotional. It was way good! Very different, but very good! (:
So this week has been insane but I have loved it! Not every minute, but I definitely appreciate the good moments more now. I have learned so much I can hardly write it down. The gospel is amazing and miracles do come with diligence and patience. Oh the virtues I lack the most haha! I hope you have an amazing week! Merry Christmas!! (:
Love,
Kaitlyn
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Halfway?!
Another transfer has come and gone!! I am in my 6th transfer 0.o this is my halfway point and I can hardly believe it! Time has gone by so fast and we are loving it here in Beaver! There is an amazing family here who is doing a superb job at taking care of the Sisters. The Elders are well established here so Sisters are falling in the cracks if it weren't for the Green's!!
On Tuesday it snowed ALL DAY LONG. Talk about weird haha! Everything was getting cancelled because of the ice on the road! Our Relief Society President, Sister Neeley, asked us to come and help her get ready for Thanksgiving by painting her guest bedroom. She was worried about us driving in it so she came and picked us up, we talked about how to better organize Visiting Teaching and then painted her room. It was a lot of fun because the room was tiny and we blasted some Motab Christmas music!! (: tis the season!! We ate dinner with her and then headed in for the night.
Wednesday we went to District Meeting and well....someone hit our car. AND drove away. We have a nice dent on the passenger side behind the front tire. Such a pain. But no one was hurt and we got a nice cop so it all worked out. We just have to get our car fixed now -__- Happy holidays! We ate lunch with our district at a Chinese Buffet (not my choice d: ) and the fortune cookie said "A beautiful person is with you, confide your problems." Sister Morphy read it and we both started smiling because of last week. She is an amazing missionary and has really helped me deal with the challenges that we have been facing since getting to this area. After DM, we had an awesome lesson with Char! She is such a doll! I wish you could meet her! We had a dinner appointment at the Bishop's house and they got pizza. The boys just talked basketball the whole time *gag* and so Sister Larsen and I made faces at each other. Mature, I know haha! Anyway, we went and saw Elsa afterwards and she showed us the illustrated copy of "The Infinite Atonement" by Tad R. Callister. It was amazing and I thumbed through it for a bit. Another book I need to read!! (:
Thursday was Turkey Day!! WHOO!!! We visited a member in the nursing home for a little bit and then took a nap before we had to go to the McBride's. We got to the McBride's at 2 and stayed the entire night there. Brother McBride was a cop, a body guard for the General Authorities (like ya know, President Monson, no big deal) and even worked on Death Row. We talked all night about the experiences he has had and how he has seen the Atonement work in the people he has worked with. It was an amazing discussion. We had a good Thanksgiving, even if it did seem off. Family is so important!
Friday we weekly planned...gross. haha! It just takes us a long time. We try and schedule everything and it's really hard haha! But afterwards we went back to the McBride's and cleaned their apartment so they could finish moving. Sister Larsen and I used a lot of cleaning supplies and you could smell it when you walked in apparently. One of the Elders asked how on earth we could breath in there. You gotta do what you gotta do. (: it really wasn't that bad, they were just being dramatic.
Saturday we did exchanges again. The Green's invited us to Ultimate Frisbee and we could really tell that the nonmembers were starting to warm up to us! (: We played in the snow so it was even MORE Ultimate! It was so much fun! Afterwards, Sister Walbourn and I tried a lot of less actives and had some deep conversations. It was amazing! Leadership roles are so inspired! I am so grateful for the missionaries who serve as leaders; they are so prepared and are exactly who I need to help me in my life and times of need. By the way, thanks for the fuzzy socks and Christmas CD Mom!!!! BEST THING EVER!!! (: I was so happy!! It even came early!!! (and yes, the M&M's are still there, if Sister Larsen's sweet tooth doesn't get to em!!) Then we went to the Green's for dinner while they watched the BYU game haha! They are awesome. Brother Green is going around the ward asking people to sign up to go out on team-ups with us!! Of course his wife is getting volunteered a lot, but she is awesome so we are excited!
Sunday wasn't so great. I didn't feel good when I woke up so that was just rough. We went to church and yeah. We visited Sister Smego after church then went to the Biernesser's for dinner then tried to visit some more people! Such is life. (:
I hope you all had a marvelous Thanksgiving! I really enjoyed mine as I got to contemplate how grateful I am to be a missionary! I also read up on some scriptures that really impacted me. I chose the theme "Still" and looked up everything I could on that. I realized how fast paced this world is and how little time I take to "be still and know that [He is] God." I encourage you to take 15 minutes this week and be still. Turn off all distractions and contemplate your relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Enjoy the moments that we have been given and cherish the gospel we have. I love you all! Stay strong and Carry on!!
Love,
Kaitlyn
On Tuesday it snowed ALL DAY LONG. Talk about weird haha! Everything was getting cancelled because of the ice on the road! Our Relief Society President, Sister Neeley, asked us to come and help her get ready for Thanksgiving by painting her guest bedroom. She was worried about us driving in it so she came and picked us up, we talked about how to better organize Visiting Teaching and then painted her room. It was a lot of fun because the room was tiny and we blasted some Motab Christmas music!! (: tis the season!! We ate dinner with her and then headed in for the night.
Wednesday we went to District Meeting and well....someone hit our car. AND drove away. We have a nice dent on the passenger side behind the front tire. Such a pain. But no one was hurt and we got a nice cop so it all worked out. We just have to get our car fixed now -__- Happy holidays! We ate lunch with our district at a Chinese Buffet (not my choice d: ) and the fortune cookie said "A beautiful person is with you, confide your problems." Sister Morphy read it and we both started smiling because of last week. She is an amazing missionary and has really helped me deal with the challenges that we have been facing since getting to this area. After DM, we had an awesome lesson with Char! She is such a doll! I wish you could meet her! We had a dinner appointment at the Bishop's house and they got pizza. The boys just talked basketball the whole time *gag* and so Sister Larsen and I made faces at each other. Mature, I know haha! Anyway, we went and saw Elsa afterwards and she showed us the illustrated copy of "The Infinite Atonement" by Tad R. Callister. It was amazing and I thumbed through it for a bit. Another book I need to read!! (:
Thursday was Turkey Day!! WHOO!!! We visited a member in the nursing home for a little bit and then took a nap before we had to go to the McBride's. We got to the McBride's at 2 and stayed the entire night there. Brother McBride was a cop, a body guard for the General Authorities (like ya know, President Monson, no big deal) and even worked on Death Row. We talked all night about the experiences he has had and how he has seen the Atonement work in the people he has worked with. It was an amazing discussion. We had a good Thanksgiving, even if it did seem off. Family is so important!
Friday we weekly planned...gross. haha! It just takes us a long time. We try and schedule everything and it's really hard haha! But afterwards we went back to the McBride's and cleaned their apartment so they could finish moving. Sister Larsen and I used a lot of cleaning supplies and you could smell it when you walked in apparently. One of the Elders asked how on earth we could breath in there. You gotta do what you gotta do. (: it really wasn't that bad, they were just being dramatic.
Saturday we did exchanges again. The Green's invited us to Ultimate Frisbee and we could really tell that the nonmembers were starting to warm up to us! (: We played in the snow so it was even MORE Ultimate! It was so much fun! Afterwards, Sister Walbourn and I tried a lot of less actives and had some deep conversations. It was amazing! Leadership roles are so inspired! I am so grateful for the missionaries who serve as leaders; they are so prepared and are exactly who I need to help me in my life and times of need. By the way, thanks for the fuzzy socks and Christmas CD Mom!!!! BEST THING EVER!!! (: I was so happy!! It even came early!!! (and yes, the M&M's are still there, if Sister Larsen's sweet tooth doesn't get to em!!) Then we went to the Green's for dinner while they watched the BYU game haha! They are awesome. Brother Green is going around the ward asking people to sign up to go out on team-ups with us!! Of course his wife is getting volunteered a lot, but she is awesome so we are excited!
Sunday wasn't so great. I didn't feel good when I woke up so that was just rough. We went to church and yeah. We visited Sister Smego after church then went to the Biernesser's for dinner then tried to visit some more people! Such is life. (:
I hope you all had a marvelous Thanksgiving! I really enjoyed mine as I got to contemplate how grateful I am to be a missionary! I also read up on some scriptures that really impacted me. I chose the theme "Still" and looked up everything I could on that. I realized how fast paced this world is and how little time I take to "be still and know that [He is] God." I encourage you to take 15 minutes this week and be still. Turn off all distractions and contemplate your relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Enjoy the moments that we have been given and cherish the gospel we have. I love you all! Stay strong and Carry on!!
Love,
Kaitlyn
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
My Thin Arizona Blood
Well Happy TURKEY day ya'll!!! (:
What a crazy week this has been! Unfortunately, not too much to report on but I will still give you the run down!!
We helped unpack a lady's kitchen with the Relief Society President! She is so sweet! We talked about traditions which turned to Christmas (obviously!) and she watches Claymation Christmas every year!! No one else knows what this is haha! We joked about the camel song and the carol of the bells and so on haha! It was funny. In the evening we went to a Genealogical Society meeting. Why? Because our ward mission leader wanted us to "flash our tags but don't proselyte!" Basically to him, we are Sister Missionary Dolls who are good for placing and not much else. haha! It's alright. We work hard despite this.
We did visit Char again this week and she is doing stellar! We talked about prophets and how vital they are to give us a check point, especially with General Conference. I mean how many people can honestly say, "Yeah, I listen to God every 6 months because that is when His mouthpiece talks to us. It helps me know how close I am to the Iron Rod. No big." Well, it certainly IS a big deal. I am afraid I really take General Conference for granted. We are so privileged to have a prophet who guides us and allows us to check ourselves with God if we prepare right and listen closely to the messages that are given.
We had to do some tracting and it was so cold. I tried to maintain a good attitude throughout the entire thing. Our zone leaders had explained this interesting concept to us. They call it "The Mango Theory". Basically, you talk about a mango like someone has never tried it before. You tell them how sweet and delicious it is and how much you want them to taste it and try it and all for free. Now flip it. The mango is now the Book of Mormon. You are presenting them with something they have never read before and it is the best thing they could ever do with their lives. You tell them how sweet and delicious it is and how much you want them to taste it and try it and all for free. So I tried this at a lady's door. At first when we pulled out the Book of Mormon she was not interested. I started talking about it as if it was the best thing she would ever read. She said "well, I do like to read. Sure. I'll give it a shot." BAM!! And it happened. Twice! (: the other lady was a Presbyterian who taught at a Catholic school. Who now has her own copy of the Book of Mormon! (:
Saturday was FREEZING. But we played Ultimate Frisbee anyway! It was cool because there were more nonmembers than members. It was all fine and dandy until Brother Green got me in the face with a frisbee d: It was so cold and I was so numb I didn't even feel it for a good 5 minutes. No damage and now the nonmembers think I am a champ haha! We did visit Barb and had a good discussion on the 11th article of faith. It was super good and her sons even participated...sorta. Haha! Boys...
It has been really cold here the last few days. I guess Fall is finished! Here comes the cold and wet winter. I am not going to lie, I miss the AZ winter already!! haha! No snow, but that is ALRIGHT with me!! Only got live through one season of members mocking my Mesa blood haha!
This week has been one of trial for me. A lot of things happened that I didn't expect. I got down on my knees at the end of every day pleading with Heavenly Father for some sort of answer. And I did get them in the most unusual way. I struggled trying to fight to get my way and Heavenly Father patiently waited for me to stop fighting Him and let the answer be what He intended it to be. I was feeling particularly alone this week and a sister in my district, Sister Morphy, asked me very point blankly " How are you doing Sister Crockett?" At that moment, The Spirit testified to me again that God hears and answers our prayers and usually through other people. Never give up on Him. He has a much better view than we do!
I love you so much!! You are such good examples to me!! Carry on and be strong!!
Love,
Sister Kaitlyn Crockett
What a crazy week this has been! Unfortunately, not too much to report on but I will still give you the run down!!
We helped unpack a lady's kitchen with the Relief Society President! She is so sweet! We talked about traditions which turned to Christmas (obviously!) and she watches Claymation Christmas every year!! No one else knows what this is haha! We joked about the camel song and the carol of the bells and so on haha! It was funny. In the evening we went to a Genealogical Society meeting. Why? Because our ward mission leader wanted us to "flash our tags but don't proselyte!" Basically to him, we are Sister Missionary Dolls who are good for placing and not much else. haha! It's alright. We work hard despite this.
We did visit Char again this week and she is doing stellar! We talked about prophets and how vital they are to give us a check point, especially with General Conference. I mean how many people can honestly say, "Yeah, I listen to God every 6 months because that is when His mouthpiece talks to us. It helps me know how close I am to the Iron Rod. No big." Well, it certainly IS a big deal. I am afraid I really take General Conference for granted. We are so privileged to have a prophet who guides us and allows us to check ourselves with God if we prepare right and listen closely to the messages that are given.
We had to do some tracting and it was so cold. I tried to maintain a good attitude throughout the entire thing. Our zone leaders had explained this interesting concept to us. They call it "The Mango Theory". Basically, you talk about a mango like someone has never tried it before. You tell them how sweet and delicious it is and how much you want them to taste it and try it and all for free. Now flip it. The mango is now the Book of Mormon. You are presenting them with something they have never read before and it is the best thing they could ever do with their lives. You tell them how sweet and delicious it is and how much you want them to taste it and try it and all for free. So I tried this at a lady's door. At first when we pulled out the Book of Mormon she was not interested. I started talking about it as if it was the best thing she would ever read. She said "well, I do like to read. Sure. I'll give it a shot." BAM!! And it happened. Twice! (: the other lady was a Presbyterian who taught at a Catholic school. Who now has her own copy of the Book of Mormon! (:
Saturday was FREEZING. But we played Ultimate Frisbee anyway! It was cool because there were more nonmembers than members. It was all fine and dandy until Brother Green got me in the face with a frisbee d: It was so cold and I was so numb I didn't even feel it for a good 5 minutes. No damage and now the nonmembers think I am a champ haha! We did visit Barb and had a good discussion on the 11th article of faith. It was super good and her sons even participated...sorta. Haha! Boys...
It has been really cold here the last few days. I guess Fall is finished! Here comes the cold and wet winter. I am not going to lie, I miss the AZ winter already!! haha! No snow, but that is ALRIGHT with me!! Only got live through one season of members mocking my Mesa blood haha!
This week has been one of trial for me. A lot of things happened that I didn't expect. I got down on my knees at the end of every day pleading with Heavenly Father for some sort of answer. And I did get them in the most unusual way. I struggled trying to fight to get my way and Heavenly Father patiently waited for me to stop fighting Him and let the answer be what He intended it to be. I was feeling particularly alone this week and a sister in my district, Sister Morphy, asked me very point blankly " How are you doing Sister Crockett?" At that moment, The Spirit testified to me again that God hears and answers our prayers and usually through other people. Never give up on Him. He has a much better view than we do!
I love you so much!! You are such good examples to me!! Carry on and be strong!!
Love,
Sister Kaitlyn Crockett
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Peace, Love and a High-Five
WHOOOO!! This week has been SUPER crazy for us! In an awesome way!! I'm so happy!!
Tuesday, we went to a funeral. I never thought I would go to SO many funerals on my mission! We never actually met the lady, but that's ok. Her family weren't members and they did things really different. The air just seemed so depressed. I mean all funerals are sad, but it was just heavy. Mortality is so fragile, but it allows to treasure the gift we've been given and the knowledge we have. After the funeral, we emailed home and then rushed to correlation. After a long meeting, we had a GRAND lesson with the wonderful Char. We talked about the Word Of Wisdom and she is a nurse so she totally gets it haha! Which is nice! Next was our dinner appointment and then went to the Bishop's house to meet with him. He helped us out a ton! It was a really good meeting.
Wednesday was Zone Training. I really miss my old Zone!! They were so cool and I knew them. But it is nice to meet some more missionaries. We then met with the RS president. She is going to come out with us on team-ups this week!! So exciting! We raced to Barb's house, but she had scheduled a dentist appointment during our appointment so we had to reschedule for the next day. We then saw Sister Philippi. Her granddaughter wasn't there. Right as we were praying, her friend burst in and interrupted. We didn't really get to teach a lesson, so we just shared a quick spiritual thought and went to our next appointment at the church. Sister Neely, the RS president, met us there and we taught Claryssa, a recent convert. She is the sweetest thing in the world!! It was an awesome lesson!
Thursday, we met with Alice again. And surprise surprise, we talked about blessings. She just isn't understanding that money does NOT equal blessings. It's heart breaking. We were able to meet with Barb though. 3 of her 4 sons were there and REALLY crazy. They are all young adults, but don't have any sense of respect or responsibility. At the end of the thought, we asked Barb who she wanted to pray and she picked her son, Simeon. He didn't want to say it so his older brother, Trent, was like "I'll say it". It was a great prayer and Trent actually came to church and stayed all 3 hours! But that's later. We went to our dinner appointment with a Less Active/Part-member (LAPM) home for dinner. Wendy made homemade chicken noodle soup, bread, pumpkin roll and carrot cake. I ate WAY too much haha! It was SO good. We had an awesome lesson, and hopefully, we'll be able to teach her husband, Mel! He's basically a member, but he drinks and smokes, so that's kind of an obstacle.
Friday was just another weekly planning monster. I don't know why it takes us SO long to plan!
Saturday, we helped the McBride's move. All. DAY. LONG. I packed books, an entire kitchen and some china. 8 hours later...I was just a little tired haha!
Sunday was AMAZING!!! After Sacrament meeting EVERYONE came up and talked to us for some reason. It was cool. And the Goettman's from Pitt 2nd were there because his entire family is in Beaver. So we talked with them for a little bit. It was kinda strange but cool at the same time. After church we went with Sister Owen to Ashley and Eli's (LAPM). We have been trying to meet with them since we got here, but we finally got in! We had an awesome lesson. Ashley made us lunch and Eli chitchatted with us while we ate. Oh, Eli is the non-member. So when we finished he said "So are we gonna do these discussions??" We laughed and started teaching lesson one which is the Restoration. As we were teaching, I'd turn to Sister Owens and ask her a question to involve her in the lesson. I felt prompted every time to ask Ashley the same question. The Spirit has never been so strong in a lesson before. It was amazing. We asked Eli to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and Joseph Smith and he agreed to do that. We then asked him if he would "follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority". AND HE ACCEPTED!!! More than that!! He said "Well, isn't that the goal?? I mean, I want to be sealed to Ashley and this is the first step." I was SO HAPPY!!! The Spirit was key to this lesson. I'm sure he would have accepted but to have his wife and friend testify was simply amazing. It really strengthened the power of the lesson. We then went to our dinner appointment at the Tame's and we were just so happy the entire time! It's a great time to be a missionary!! (:
I love you all!! Thank you so much for your support! There are times when I get discouraged, but knowing that Heavenly Father is aware of what I'm going through and Jesus Christ has promised to never let me struggle alone, allows me to move forward. This is the work of salvation and it is too precious to be won without a struggle. We are learning how to be comfortable in God's presence and the natural man is not happy with that. But we find joy in knowing that God can make us infinitely better that what we could make of ourselves!! Stay strong and Carry on!! (:
Love, Sister Crockett
Sorry, it was a busy week. No pictures )
Tuesday, we went to a funeral. I never thought I would go to SO many funerals on my mission! We never actually met the lady, but that's ok. Her family weren't members and they did things really different. The air just seemed so depressed. I mean all funerals are sad, but it was just heavy. Mortality is so fragile, but it allows to treasure the gift we've been given and the knowledge we have. After the funeral, we emailed home and then rushed to correlation. After a long meeting, we had a GRAND lesson with the wonderful Char. We talked about the Word Of Wisdom and she is a nurse so she totally gets it haha! Which is nice! Next was our dinner appointment and then went to the Bishop's house to meet with him. He helped us out a ton! It was a really good meeting.
Wednesday was Zone Training. I really miss my old Zone!! They were so cool and I knew them. But it is nice to meet some more missionaries. We then met with the RS president. She is going to come out with us on team-ups this week!! So exciting! We raced to Barb's house, but she had scheduled a dentist appointment during our appointment so we had to reschedule for the next day. We then saw Sister Philippi. Her granddaughter wasn't there. Right as we were praying, her friend burst in and interrupted. We didn't really get to teach a lesson, so we just shared a quick spiritual thought and went to our next appointment at the church. Sister Neely, the RS president, met us there and we taught Claryssa, a recent convert. She is the sweetest thing in the world!! It was an awesome lesson!
Thursday, we met with Alice again. And surprise surprise, we talked about blessings. She just isn't understanding that money does NOT equal blessings. It's heart breaking. We were able to meet with Barb though. 3 of her 4 sons were there and REALLY crazy. They are all young adults, but don't have any sense of respect or responsibility. At the end of the thought, we asked Barb who she wanted to pray and she picked her son, Simeon. He didn't want to say it so his older brother, Trent, was like "I'll say it". It was a great prayer and Trent actually came to church and stayed all 3 hours! But that's later. We went to our dinner appointment with a Less Active/Part-member (LAPM) home for dinner. Wendy made homemade chicken noodle soup, bread, pumpkin roll and carrot cake. I ate WAY too much haha! It was SO good. We had an awesome lesson, and hopefully, we'll be able to teach her husband, Mel! He's basically a member, but he drinks and smokes, so that's kind of an obstacle.
Friday was just another weekly planning monster. I don't know why it takes us SO long to plan!
Saturday, we helped the McBride's move. All. DAY. LONG. I packed books, an entire kitchen and some china. 8 hours later...I was just a little tired haha!
Sunday was AMAZING!!! After Sacrament meeting EVERYONE came up and talked to us for some reason. It was cool. And the Goettman's from Pitt 2nd were there because his entire family is in Beaver. So we talked with them for a little bit. It was kinda strange but cool at the same time. After church we went with Sister Owen to Ashley and Eli's (LAPM). We have been trying to meet with them since we got here, but we finally got in! We had an awesome lesson. Ashley made us lunch and Eli chitchatted with us while we ate. Oh, Eli is the non-member. So when we finished he said "So are we gonna do these discussions??" We laughed and started teaching lesson one which is the Restoration. As we were teaching, I'd turn to Sister Owens and ask her a question to involve her in the lesson. I felt prompted every time to ask Ashley the same question. The Spirit has never been so strong in a lesson before. It was amazing. We asked Eli to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and Joseph Smith and he agreed to do that. We then asked him if he would "follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority". AND HE ACCEPTED!!! More than that!! He said "Well, isn't that the goal?? I mean, I want to be sealed to Ashley and this is the first step." I was SO HAPPY!!! The Spirit was key to this lesson. I'm sure he would have accepted but to have his wife and friend testify was simply amazing. It really strengthened the power of the lesson. We then went to our dinner appointment at the Tame's and we were just so happy the entire time! It's a great time to be a missionary!! (:
I love you all!! Thank you so much for your support! There are times when I get discouraged, but knowing that Heavenly Father is aware of what I'm going through and Jesus Christ has promised to never let me struggle alone, allows me to move forward. This is the work of salvation and it is too precious to be won without a struggle. We are learning how to be comfortable in God's presence and the natural man is not happy with that. But we find joy in knowing that God can make us infinitely better that what we could make of ourselves!! Stay strong and Carry on!! (:
Love, Sister Crockett
Sorry, it was a busy week. No pictures )
Settling in, Snow and Science
Hey there!! Guess what?!? It snowed last night!
Yup. Real snow! It's so cold! But it's melting slowly and supposed to "warm up" again this week. We'll seen! It's been a wild week for us! I don't have a ton of time because we have correlation in an hour and it takes half an hour to get there! Anyway! My week!
We won't talk about what happened on Tuesday...
Wednesday we had district meeting and our district tried to single-handedly fix our area...it was a nice thought haha! We went to lunch and then to a Less Active's house, RaeAnn. We tried our darnedest to help her out but I don't think she thought she needed help. We then went over to Mary's house and taught her and her grand-daughter, Kim. Kim wasn't super engaged so we might not be teaching her directly. She is only 16 so it might take some time. Afterwards we had dinner at the Rambo's. It was a tad awkward until after dinner. Dad, I hope you are sitting down (; We went down into the "Man Cave" and there were guns on every single wall. And not just guns, but old ones with a lot of history. One was used by the Indian Police. Brother Rambo got it when he went hunting in the Dakotas. Two Indian Prospectors came up to him and "bargained" with him. The gun for the remaining of his provisions (he was going home the next day). He agreed because his provisions was 5 gallons of water, 5 gallons of gasoline, and some Spam. The gun is worth over $3,000. I think he won. Haha! But the rest of his guns were super cool, if you are in to that sort of thing haha! We left and went to our Ward mission leader's house for a FHE night but we were kinda late because of our dinner appointment. It was a crazy day.
Thursday, we had to get our oil changed and that took 2 hours! Goodness gracious. We then went to teach Vicki. When she asked us what we would be talking about, she didn't want to talk about the Restoration. So I basically had to pick a random scripture to please her. She ended up liking what we shared. Which was a plus haha! We then visited Lorraine, another less active. She talked and talked and talked. People from Pennsylvania like to chit chat a lot haha! Her grandson, Julian, isn't a member so we may start teaching him. He's 8 and really sweet and smart. We had dinner at the Green's. They are a SUPER cool family!! Their 2nd oldest is deaf and she is so smart! We had a great time with them. After dinner we went to an active members house and tried to get to know her a little bit.
Friday was weekly planning. For some reason it takes EONS here! Goodness gracious. We did go and visit Char to kinda break it up. She is amazing! She has an awesome dog, Sheba. She is part Pitt bull. I'm not a huge dog person, but Sheba is cool haha! We talked with her about tithes and offering and it went super well. Friday night we had another dinner appointment and then had to run home for exchanges. (turns out..I don't like brussel sprouts haha!)
Saturday was a CRAZY day for us! The Green's invited us to come play Ultimate Frisbee with them and some non-member friends to build a foundation. It was SO much fun! It's been a really long time and I'm still super sore haha! After that, Sister Walborn (a sister Training Leader) and I went and tried some Less Actives. We met a guy named Steve. He told us that he was actually in Pitt 2nd ward and they had offended him about 4 years ago. He had decided to leave the church and only believe in science. But as he did that he said, "Science will never disprove God. Only confirm Him". Everywhere he turned, it pointed him back to the church. We are going to meet with him this Saturday and hopefully get him back to church! After we tracted for a little bit, we went to the Biernesser's for dinner and then to the Adult Session of Stake Conference (again). It was pretty good, but I still don't know anyone.
Sunday was Stake Conference. We ended up sitting next to one of the counselors in the Mission Presidency, President Nobbs. It was kinda weird haha! I've never met him before d: After the conference, we studied then tried some less actives then headed to our dinner appointment. The Elders were there too and the family made us feel super uncomfortable because Sister Larsen had to sit by the Elders...not ok haha! We had perrogies again! SUPER DELICIOUS!!!!! (: basically pasta, mashed potatoes and onions and cheese. SO GOOD. We then got to meet with another active member Lisa. She is a sweet heart and says she wants to have us over for dinner so we can watch the "Living Scriptures" cartoons. Remember those?? haha! SO excited.
So that was our week! Pretty mundane and average but it was good! We are already in week 4 and I can hardly believe it! I hope you all are doing well!! Stay strong PLEASE!!! Trust God. He knows what He is doing. Better than any of us! Until next week! (:
Sister Crockett
Yup. Real snow! It's so cold! But it's melting slowly and supposed to "warm up" again this week. We'll seen! It's been a wild week for us! I don't have a ton of time because we have correlation in an hour and it takes half an hour to get there! Anyway! My week!
We won't talk about what happened on Tuesday...
Wednesday we had district meeting and our district tried to single-handedly fix our area...it was a nice thought haha! We went to lunch and then to a Less Active's house, RaeAnn. We tried our darnedest to help her out but I don't think she thought she needed help. We then went over to Mary's house and taught her and her grand-daughter, Kim. Kim wasn't super engaged so we might not be teaching her directly. She is only 16 so it might take some time. Afterwards we had dinner at the Rambo's. It was a tad awkward until after dinner. Dad, I hope you are sitting down (; We went down into the "Man Cave" and there were guns on every single wall. And not just guns, but old ones with a lot of history. One was used by the Indian Police. Brother Rambo got it when he went hunting in the Dakotas. Two Indian Prospectors came up to him and "bargained" with him. The gun for the remaining of his provisions (he was going home the next day). He agreed because his provisions was 5 gallons of water, 5 gallons of gasoline, and some Spam. The gun is worth over $3,000. I think he won. Haha! But the rest of his guns were super cool, if you are in to that sort of thing haha! We left and went to our Ward mission leader's house for a FHE night but we were kinda late because of our dinner appointment. It was a crazy day.
Thursday, we had to get our oil changed and that took 2 hours! Goodness gracious. We then went to teach Vicki. When she asked us what we would be talking about, she didn't want to talk about the Restoration. So I basically had to pick a random scripture to please her. She ended up liking what we shared. Which was a plus haha! We then visited Lorraine, another less active. She talked and talked and talked. People from Pennsylvania like to chit chat a lot haha! Her grandson, Julian, isn't a member so we may start teaching him. He's 8 and really sweet and smart. We had dinner at the Green's. They are a SUPER cool family!! Their 2nd oldest is deaf and she is so smart! We had a great time with them. After dinner we went to an active members house and tried to get to know her a little bit.
Friday was weekly planning. For some reason it takes EONS here! Goodness gracious. We did go and visit Char to kinda break it up. She is amazing! She has an awesome dog, Sheba. She is part Pitt bull. I'm not a huge dog person, but Sheba is cool haha! We talked with her about tithes and offering and it went super well. Friday night we had another dinner appointment and then had to run home for exchanges. (turns out..I don't like brussel sprouts haha!)
Saturday was a CRAZY day for us! The Green's invited us to come play Ultimate Frisbee with them and some non-member friends to build a foundation. It was SO much fun! It's been a really long time and I'm still super sore haha! After that, Sister Walborn (a sister Training Leader) and I went and tried some Less Actives. We met a guy named Steve. He told us that he was actually in Pitt 2nd ward and they had offended him about 4 years ago. He had decided to leave the church and only believe in science. But as he did that he said, "Science will never disprove God. Only confirm Him". Everywhere he turned, it pointed him back to the church. We are going to meet with him this Saturday and hopefully get him back to church! After we tracted for a little bit, we went to the Biernesser's for dinner and then to the Adult Session of Stake Conference (again). It was pretty good, but I still don't know anyone.
Sunday was Stake Conference. We ended up sitting next to one of the counselors in the Mission Presidency, President Nobbs. It was kinda weird haha! I've never met him before d: After the conference, we studied then tried some less actives then headed to our dinner appointment. The Elders were there too and the family made us feel super uncomfortable because Sister Larsen had to sit by the Elders...not ok haha! We had perrogies again! SUPER DELICIOUS!!!!! (: basically pasta, mashed potatoes and onions and cheese. SO GOOD. We then got to meet with another active member Lisa. She is a sweet heart and says she wants to have us over for dinner so we can watch the "Living Scriptures" cartoons. Remember those?? haha! SO excited.
So that was our week! Pretty mundane and average but it was good! We are already in week 4 and I can hardly believe it! I hope you all are doing well!! Stay strong PLEASE!!! Trust God. He knows what He is doing. Better than any of us! Until next week! (:
Sister Crockett
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Creepy Libraries & Lock-outs!
Dear Family,
Happy Daylight Savings time!! Basically the best/worst thing in the world! Hope Halloween was super fun!! (: We enjoyed being in and being girls, but that'll come later.
Tuesday was Ward Correlation. Brother Yovich is our Ward Mission Leader and he thinks we may be related...so I'm gonna need some family history sheets hahaha! Grandma and Grandpa?? (; Afterwards we ate lunch in the car after that and listened to some John Bytheway because we are super limited on miles and our area is HUGE!!! So after lunch we went and visited the sweetest lady in the world, Char. She has been less active for about 20 years and wants some help getting back into the Church. We read Ether 12 and she shared some awesome thoughts as we read. I seriously feel like I'm getting taught more than I am teaching. We had to do some tracting afterwards because all of our plans fell through ): We did some Mormon.org time in the creepiest library I have ever seen. It has a basement that belongs in horror films. And of course that's where they keep the bathrooms d: awesome.
Wednesday we had district meeting and were running a little late, which was AWFUL because it was interview time with President Topham. But our District Leader misunderstood. Instead of District Meeting at 9, it was at 10:30. So we did studies with the other sisters in our district and then our phone rang. We had some awesome plans for the day, but our ride cancelled which made our day nearly impossible, We had to re-arrange everything and it was miserable. District Meeting commenced and Sister Topham told us that they had learned that 7 missions in the area were getting ipads in January. We aren't one of them, BUT we are getting them early next year!! (: It's gonna be big. (; Interviews came and went. Nothing really to report there. Afterwards, we visited a less active named Vicki. She has had some rough situations in her life, but she said she would read the Book of Mormon and get to church...eventually. It's an interesting story with her. Then we went and saw another less active, Barb. We ended up tracting again because we ran out of things to do. *shrug* that's life I guess.
Thursday was Halloween!! (: We tried some less actives and former investigators, but it didn't result in much unfortunately. We had 4.3 miles to work with, so we couldn't go very far. We walked to a member's house and visited with them for a bit. She drove us home when it started raining and we were in for the night. The entire apartment is spotless now haha! We decided to have a little "spa night"...yup! pictures to come!! haha! we painted nails and all that good stuff. We turned in early to try and get a little extra sleep.
Friday was the dreaded weekly planning haha! After planning we went to the McBride's and painted her house and planted blueberry bushes. I raked leaves...never moving to a place that has fall, no matter how pretty it is haha! That was our day!
Saturday we tried some less actives and potentials but no one was home. Then the Elders and Brother Allread drove us around our area to show us where people lived and where was not ok for us to go...3 hours later. Our area is HUGE!!!
Sunday was a little rough. We got locked out of our apartment. mmmm. Not ok. We were 5 minutes late to church and EVERYONE seemed to notice. Oh well. Missionaries are people too. After church we met with Claire and she is the sweetest thing. We saw Sister Smego too and then went to our dinner appointment. We had fajitas...sorta. Pennsylvania fajitas...haha! We tried some less actives in the area afterwards and decided to visit our neighbors after that. The Watt's are an older couple who wave at us as we leave. We introduced ourselves and they talked about their lives. They shared some CRAZY stories with us. It was a great way to end the night. Except, they wanted us to meet a family friend's sons...to teach??? no. To date. I think I'm still on the "Un-dateable" list for another year! Thanks though!! d:
Life is pretty crazy around here. Still getting settled in! But what's been fantastic is studying the Atonement. I was thinking this morning about it and about my Savior and His sacrifice. He took on my sins, sure, everyone knows that. But the fact that He went above and beyond that. He took on my infirmities, my heartaches, my sorrows. Everything. Just so that He could understand what I am going through! Isn't it wonderful to know that you are literally NEVER alone in the things you face. Jesus Christ lives and knows us perfectly. He stands by us so that WE can make it back. The Atonement is real. Apply this gift!!
Here is to another week!! Love ya!
Sister Crockett
Happy Daylight Savings time!! Basically the best/worst thing in the world! Hope Halloween was super fun!! (: We enjoyed being in and being girls, but that'll come later.
Tuesday was Ward Correlation. Brother Yovich is our Ward Mission Leader and he thinks we may be related...so I'm gonna need some family history sheets hahaha! Grandma and Grandpa?? (; Afterwards we ate lunch in the car after that and listened to some John Bytheway because we are super limited on miles and our area is HUGE!!! So after lunch we went and visited the sweetest lady in the world, Char. She has been less active for about 20 years and wants some help getting back into the Church. We read Ether 12 and she shared some awesome thoughts as we read. I seriously feel like I'm getting taught more than I am teaching. We had to do some tracting afterwards because all of our plans fell through ): We did some Mormon.org time in the creepiest library I have ever seen. It has a basement that belongs in horror films. And of course that's where they keep the bathrooms d: awesome.
Wednesday we had district meeting and were running a little late, which was AWFUL because it was interview time with President Topham. But our District Leader misunderstood. Instead of District Meeting at 9, it was at 10:30. So we did studies with the other sisters in our district and then our phone rang. We had some awesome plans for the day, but our ride cancelled which made our day nearly impossible, We had to re-arrange everything and it was miserable. District Meeting commenced and Sister Topham told us that they had learned that 7 missions in the area were getting ipads in January. We aren't one of them, BUT we are getting them early next year!! (: It's gonna be big. (; Interviews came and went. Nothing really to report there. Afterwards, we visited a less active named Vicki. She has had some rough situations in her life, but she said she would read the Book of Mormon and get to church...eventually. It's an interesting story with her. Then we went and saw another less active, Barb. We ended up tracting again because we ran out of things to do. *shrug* that's life I guess.
Thursday was Halloween!! (: We tried some less actives and former investigators, but it didn't result in much unfortunately. We had 4.3 miles to work with, so we couldn't go very far. We walked to a member's house and visited with them for a bit. She drove us home when it started raining and we were in for the night. The entire apartment is spotless now haha! We decided to have a little "spa night"...yup! pictures to come!! haha! we painted nails and all that good stuff. We turned in early to try and get a little extra sleep.
Friday was the dreaded weekly planning haha! After planning we went to the McBride's and painted her house and planted blueberry bushes. I raked leaves...never moving to a place that has fall, no matter how pretty it is haha! That was our day!
Saturday we tried some less actives and potentials but no one was home. Then the Elders and Brother Allread drove us around our area to show us where people lived and where was not ok for us to go...3 hours later. Our area is HUGE!!!
Sunday was a little rough. We got locked out of our apartment. mmmm. Not ok. We were 5 minutes late to church and EVERYONE seemed to notice. Oh well. Missionaries are people too. After church we met with Claire and she is the sweetest thing. We saw Sister Smego too and then went to our dinner appointment. We had fajitas...sorta. Pennsylvania fajitas...haha! We tried some less actives in the area afterwards and decided to visit our neighbors after that. The Watt's are an older couple who wave at us as we leave. We introduced ourselves and they talked about their lives. They shared some CRAZY stories with us. It was a great way to end the night. Except, they wanted us to meet a family friend's sons...to teach??? no. To date. I think I'm still on the "Un-dateable" list for another year! Thanks though!! d:
Life is pretty crazy around here. Still getting settled in! But what's been fantastic is studying the Atonement. I was thinking this morning about it and about my Savior and His sacrifice. He took on my sins, sure, everyone knows that. But the fact that He went above and beyond that. He took on my infirmities, my heartaches, my sorrows. Everything. Just so that He could understand what I am going through! Isn't it wonderful to know that you are literally NEVER alone in the things you face. Jesus Christ lives and knows us perfectly. He stands by us so that WE can make it back. The Atonement is real. Apply this gift!!
Here is to another week!! Love ya!
Sister Crockett
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
My New Area
MAN! What a crazy week! It was extremely long so I am SO glad for p-day! here is how it went.
Tuesday was pretty rough for me. We met with Faith and Agnes for the last time. They thanked me for all that I did but I honestly feel like they did more for me than I did for them! Agnes teared up as we said goodbye...course I was crying like a baby. We came back to our apartment and picked up the last of my bags and said goodbye to Pitt 2nd. Transfers were weird. I was the last one to get my companion (out of the sisters). But I kinda knew her because she had stayed at our apartment LAST transfers. I knew that she was in a tri-panionship and that she was in Carlisle. So I didn't know where we were going. That was because we were getting doubled in. One sister was finished and the other got sick. So up to Beaver Valley Sister Larsen and I headed. It's an hour north of Pittsburgh so I'm still pretty close. We got a call from a member on our way up. Sister Smego (smee-go) invited us to dinner because she knew we were doubling in and didn't have anything planned. We found our apartment and headed out to her place. She had ordered us pizza and yeah. It was cool but weird haha!
Wednesday was district meeting (I like it better on Thursday's...). This district is TINY compared to my last one. 6 people; and 4 of us are sisters! haha! Plus our district is made up of the Cranberry missionaries so we are SUPER disconnected. Oh well. We tracted a little afterwards then headed to our dinner appointment with the Burson's and our Elders. It was weird, not gonna lie. haha! Just this whole transition thing. After dinner, we went to a senior center for the GREATEST service project I've ever seen. It was AWESOME! Families had decorated refrigerator boxes (like one was tall buildings with the Bat signal a the top and the family was all super heroes) and we wheeled in the patients so they could trick or treat. The kids passed out the candy. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen.
Thursday we had ward correlation. It is the 1st one I have ever been to, and I was super overloaded with names and stories of people. I honestly can't tell you who we are working with if you asked haha! Afterwards we saw a less active named Carol. She was super sweet and said she knew she needed to get back to church. That makes it so much easier! We got a call from a member needing help painting her new house. We did that for the rest of the day. She bought us pizza and cookies so it was pretty chill. haha!
Friday we attempted weekly planning. It's super hard when you don't know anyone or who you are supposed to visit haha! It took all day. We had ANOTHER dinner appointment with one of the Nelson families (everyone is either a Neely, Nelson, or Goettman (and yes it is the relatives of Brother Goettman back in Pitt 2nd *weird*). So that was Friday.
Saturday, was a lot of tracting. Yucky. The 1st door we knocked on, he let us in. Great, right? Wrong. He said "The one thing you Mormons got right? More than one wife." Uhhh... "We don't practice that anymore...." *launches into a huge long monologue about what I don't even know what haha! 20 minutes later.....*
We tried a less active named Alice and had an awesome lesson with her. We talked to her about "small and simple things". She said she had been reading the Book of Mormon every day but didn't see the point. I committed her to write down the blessings that she did recognize. By the end of the lesson, she was already pointing out how Heavenly Father had blessed her instead of all the things going wrong in her life. We tracted afterwards and nothing happened. Go. figure. haha! We had a dinner appointment at the Biernessers'. After that we went to the ward trunk or treat. It was FREEZING! Everyone was all bundled up and then went and hid in the church building.
Sunday was usual. Church ran smoothly, had a nice primary program and yeah. It is WAY bigger than Pitt 2nd that's for sure! It was like being in a ward out west. They welcomed us sort of, but I think they just assume missionaries will always be there. In Sunday School, the RS president, Sister Neely came and pulled us out to meet a recent convert, Claryssa. She is super sweet and is excited about the gospel. We are meeting with her on Wednesday. After Church we watched The Testaments during lunch...well, the first part of it. Then we went to meet with another recent convert Claire. She is from China and the sweetest thing. She is so smart and loves the gospel. She is VERY smart. After her lesson, we had dinner at the Petrosky's. They have a boy and 3 younger girls. It was like looking in a mirror. haha! They were cool.
So this was my chaotic week. I don't know what's going to happen this coming week, but whatever it is, it's gonna be AWESOME! haha!
Write me!! (: Love ya'll! Stay Strong and Carry On!!
Love,
Sister Crockett
Tuesday was pretty rough for me. We met with Faith and Agnes for the last time. They thanked me for all that I did but I honestly feel like they did more for me than I did for them! Agnes teared up as we said goodbye...course I was crying like a baby. We came back to our apartment and picked up the last of my bags and said goodbye to Pitt 2nd. Transfers were weird. I was the last one to get my companion (out of the sisters). But I kinda knew her because she had stayed at our apartment LAST transfers. I knew that she was in a tri-panionship and that she was in Carlisle. So I didn't know where we were going. That was because we were getting doubled in. One sister was finished and the other got sick. So up to Beaver Valley Sister Larsen and I headed. It's an hour north of Pittsburgh so I'm still pretty close. We got a call from a member on our way up. Sister Smego (smee-go) invited us to dinner because she knew we were doubling in and didn't have anything planned. We found our apartment and headed out to her place. She had ordered us pizza and yeah. It was cool but weird haha!
Wednesday was district meeting (I like it better on Thursday's...). This district is TINY compared to my last one. 6 people; and 4 of us are sisters! haha! Plus our district is made up of the Cranberry missionaries so we are SUPER disconnected. Oh well. We tracted a little afterwards then headed to our dinner appointment with the Burson's and our Elders. It was weird, not gonna lie. haha! Just this whole transition thing. After dinner, we went to a senior center for the GREATEST service project I've ever seen. It was AWESOME! Families had decorated refrigerator boxes (like one was tall buildings with the Bat signal a the top and the family was all super heroes) and we wheeled in the patients so they could trick or treat. The kids passed out the candy. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen.
Thursday we had ward correlation. It is the 1st one I have ever been to, and I was super overloaded with names and stories of people. I honestly can't tell you who we are working with if you asked haha! Afterwards we saw a less active named Carol. She was super sweet and said she knew she needed to get back to church. That makes it so much easier! We got a call from a member needing help painting her new house. We did that for the rest of the day. She bought us pizza and cookies so it was pretty chill. haha!
Friday we attempted weekly planning. It's super hard when you don't know anyone or who you are supposed to visit haha! It took all day. We had ANOTHER dinner appointment with one of the Nelson families (everyone is either a Neely, Nelson, or Goettman (and yes it is the relatives of Brother Goettman back in Pitt 2nd *weird*). So that was Friday.
Saturday, was a lot of tracting. Yucky. The 1st door we knocked on, he let us in. Great, right? Wrong. He said "The one thing you Mormons got right? More than one wife." Uhhh... "We don't practice that anymore...." *launches into a huge long monologue about what I don't even know what haha! 20 minutes later.....*
We tried a less active named Alice and had an awesome lesson with her. We talked to her about "small and simple things". She said she had been reading the Book of Mormon every day but didn't see the point. I committed her to write down the blessings that she did recognize. By the end of the lesson, she was already pointing out how Heavenly Father had blessed her instead of all the things going wrong in her life. We tracted afterwards and nothing happened. Go. figure. haha! We had a dinner appointment at the Biernessers'. After that we went to the ward trunk or treat. It was FREEZING! Everyone was all bundled up and then went and hid in the church building.
Sunday was usual. Church ran smoothly, had a nice primary program and yeah. It is WAY bigger than Pitt 2nd that's for sure! It was like being in a ward out west. They welcomed us sort of, but I think they just assume missionaries will always be there. In Sunday School, the RS president, Sister Neely came and pulled us out to meet a recent convert, Claryssa. She is super sweet and is excited about the gospel. We are meeting with her on Wednesday. After Church we watched The Testaments during lunch...well, the first part of it. Then we went to meet with another recent convert Claire. She is from China and the sweetest thing. She is so smart and loves the gospel. She is VERY smart. After her lesson, we had dinner at the Petrosky's. They have a boy and 3 younger girls. It was like looking in a mirror. haha! They were cool.
So this was my chaotic week. I don't know what's going to happen this coming week, but whatever it is, it's gonna be AWESOME! haha!
Write me!! (: Love ya'll! Stay Strong and Carry On!!
Love,
Sister Crockett
Monday, October 21, 2013
An area farewell
Sooo...I left my journal at the apartment, so I can't give you a day by day! Sorry!
No, I still don't know where I am going. And yes, the weather has been dreadful. This coming week it is going to be in the low 50's during the day! WHAAT?!?
So I am just going to give you some highlights and some low lights...
Wednesday was pretty rough. A lady in our ward, Dawn, had a baby girl about 4 months ago. Last Sunday they announced that the baby passed away. We were asked to go to the funeral. Isabella's (the baby) grandma, Bernadette, came up to us as we walked in. We expressed our condolences and gave her a hug. She stayed by me before the funeral. We got shuffled into the viewing. It nearly broke my heart; she was SO tiny. Bernadette turned to me as we stood by the casket and asked where her granddaughter was. I don't really remember what I said or how I said it, but she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "I thought so. She is too perfect."
We helped with the luncheon afterwards and Sister Garvin asked us to come over afterwards to recover from the funeral. Sister Garvin, Sister Winsor, and Sister Stocking made little ribbon owl clips. I helped Bella (Sister Garvin's daughter; about 3) put every single one of her ribbon Disney clips in her hair. Which Bella, in turn, put in my hair! Sister Garvin took a picture -__- she promised to send it sometime haha!
Thursday was my last district meeting with this district!! And the topic?? "Lock your hearts" by Spencer W. Kimball. Awesome. Sister Stocking and I are the only Sisters in the district, so it was SUPER awkward. Whatevs. We survived haha!
Afterwards, we went and visited Agnes. She is progressing SO well. We have been reading the introduction of The Book of Mormon with her because she wants to be able to explain it better to people she meets. 0.o oh alright! haha! One of her friends is a minister and he hated Mormons because he thought we were a cult. She explained we weren't but he wouldn't listen. So when she watched General Conference, she sent him a part of her favorite talk without telling him it was from us. He wrote back and told her it was very good and obviously inspired. She told him it was from the LDS church. He was shocked but has acknowledged that we ARE good people haha!
We spent the weekend baking to say thank you to our ward council. I wrote some thank you notes to the members that I got close with. There is a girl named Lexi here that is 15 but you swear she would be older. I just encouraged her, in my note, to stay strong. But she wasn't at church yesterday! I gave it to her mom who thanked me profusely. Apparently, Lexi has been struggling with feeling loved and accepted. We ended up dropping off some cookies at their house after our dinner appointment at the Machan's. Lexi came and gave me a hug. She started crying, saying that it meant a lot to her. She then found out that I was getting transferred which made her cry even more. She begged me to stay, but I can't really do anything about it.
I may not be here to baptize anyone. I may only convert myself. But it is people like her, people like Faith, people like Agnes, like Sister Garvin, and so many others that I am here for! It makes it worth it when the ward members that did find out that I was getting transferred begged me to stay; asked me not to go because I had "just gotten" here. Life goes on, friends move, families grow up and time passes, all too fast sometimes. But the one thing that remains constant and steady is our Savior Jesus Christ. He lives and knows us perfectly. He helps us when we cannot help ourselves. I found an awesome scripture that illustrates this: Romans 8: 35, 37-39.
We are MORE than conquerors with Christ on our side. Miracles happen everyday, you just have to see them!
I love you all and look forward to my next adventure; wherever that may be! Stay Strong and Carry on!! (:
Kaitlyn
No, I still don't know where I am going. And yes, the weather has been dreadful. This coming week it is going to be in the low 50's during the day! WHAAT?!?
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| Sister Crockett's district |
Wednesday was pretty rough. A lady in our ward, Dawn, had a baby girl about 4 months ago. Last Sunday they announced that the baby passed away. We were asked to go to the funeral. Isabella's (the baby) grandma, Bernadette, came up to us as we walked in. We expressed our condolences and gave her a hug. She stayed by me before the funeral. We got shuffled into the viewing. It nearly broke my heart; she was SO tiny. Bernadette turned to me as we stood by the casket and asked where her granddaughter was. I don't really remember what I said or how I said it, but she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "I thought so. She is too perfect."
We helped with the luncheon afterwards and Sister Garvin asked us to come over afterwards to recover from the funeral. Sister Garvin, Sister Winsor, and Sister Stocking made little ribbon owl clips. I helped Bella (Sister Garvin's daughter; about 3) put every single one of her ribbon Disney clips in her hair. Which Bella, in turn, put in my hair! Sister Garvin took a picture -__- she promised to send it sometime haha!
Thursday was my last district meeting with this district!! And the topic?? "Lock your hearts" by Spencer W. Kimball. Awesome. Sister Stocking and I are the only Sisters in the district, so it was SUPER awkward. Whatevs. We survived haha!
Afterwards, we went and visited Agnes. She is progressing SO well. We have been reading the introduction of The Book of Mormon with her because she wants to be able to explain it better to people she meets. 0.o oh alright! haha! One of her friends is a minister and he hated Mormons because he thought we were a cult. She explained we weren't but he wouldn't listen. So when she watched General Conference, she sent him a part of her favorite talk without telling him it was from us. He wrote back and told her it was very good and obviously inspired. She told him it was from the LDS church. He was shocked but has acknowledged that we ARE good people haha!
We spent the weekend baking to say thank you to our ward council. I wrote some thank you notes to the members that I got close with. There is a girl named Lexi here that is 15 but you swear she would be older. I just encouraged her, in my note, to stay strong. But she wasn't at church yesterday! I gave it to her mom who thanked me profusely. Apparently, Lexi has been struggling with feeling loved and accepted. We ended up dropping off some cookies at their house after our dinner appointment at the Machan's. Lexi came and gave me a hug. She started crying, saying that it meant a lot to her. She then found out that I was getting transferred which made her cry even more. She begged me to stay, but I can't really do anything about it.
I may not be here to baptize anyone. I may only convert myself. But it is people like her, people like Faith, people like Agnes, like Sister Garvin, and so many others that I am here for! It makes it worth it when the ward members that did find out that I was getting transferred begged me to stay; asked me not to go because I had "just gotten" here. Life goes on, friends move, families grow up and time passes, all too fast sometimes. But the one thing that remains constant and steady is our Savior Jesus Christ. He lives and knows us perfectly. He helps us when we cannot help ourselves. I found an awesome scripture that illustrates this: Romans 8: 35, 37-39.
 |
| Agnes and Sister Crockett |
We are MORE than conquerors with Christ on our side. Miracles happen everyday, you just have to see them!
I love you all and look forward to my next adventure; wherever that may be! Stay Strong and Carry on!! (:
Kaitlyn
Saturday, October 19, 2013
A Special Visitor
Soooo I don't really want to give a huge long email today (plus they are kinda boring to read.) So I'll skip to the good stuff.
We taught Faith this week and talked about the temple and family history work. She is SO excited to work towards that goal!! She really wants to go into the house of the Lord and to experience all of the blessings you can receive there! We are gonna get her some temple prep stuff to help her out.
We met with a media referral named John. Now. There is a VERY important lesson to be learned from this story. We met at a restaurant with some members, Brother and Sister B. We find out that John is recovering from an addiction and doing well. Brother B also recovered from that same addiction. PERFECT right? Wrong. We didn't get the opportunity to teach at all because Brother B taught for us. We couldn't get a word in edge wise. Brother B cut everyone off, including his wife, John, and the waitress. Although we appreciated them coming, when he turned to us and said "Would you teach the Restoration now?" We felt deeply humiliated. As missionaries, we are instructed to teach simply and concisely. Give 'em milk before meat. The lesson was extremely deep and at times theological; leaning on the wisdom of man and not of God. Doctrine is what we teach and that is all. When we left, we asked John when we could meet with him again and he said "No thanks girls. I've got him." We were extremely taken aback. We left disheartened and confused as to what had just taken place. If the missionaries ask you to help in a lesson, keep it simple, let them teach, bear your testimony. That is all there is to it.
On Friday we participated in a mission tour. It was up in Cranberry so it is about an hour drive AND we had to pick up Swissvale sisters (about 30-45 minutes away) AND be there at 7:45....AM. mmmm. I got up at 4:45 so that we could get ready, and leave by 5:45. We left 20 minutes late, forgot something, got lost, and arrived 10 minutes late. Sweeeeet. Sister Arnold (Elder Arnold is in the 70) was teaching the sisters about stress, go figure. I got to see Sister Montgomery and she was super sweet and checked in with how I was doing. Then we went in to the big meeting with Elder Arnold. It was super intense! He was telling us that as a mission, we are doing really well and have the potential to do even better. Lunch time rolled around and Elder Arnold excused the sisters first so he could address the Elders. He had them shut the door after we left. We were SUPER curious about what was being said, and we found out that he told them to Lock. Their. Hearts. I regret to say that a LOT of missionaries are having issues staying focused. We are having a whole training on it for District Meeting. It happens I guess. We came back from lunch and had another long meeting. When we got ready to leave, Elder Arnold told us to be gone in 5 minutes....uhhh ok? So we were. It took us a good solid 2 HOURS to get home with it being a Friday and rush hour. We came home, slammed some dinner and ran to Steven's house with Sister Scheiffer. It was a pretty good lesson and he came to church! So that was pretty sweet.
Sunday we had 7 Less actives at church! 7!!! I can't believe it!! It was AMAZING!!! Steven and Dana and Claire and the Mancuso's and the Killens!! It was awesome! The Lord really works miracles for you when you try and exercise your faith.
So this week was pretty crazy and P-day was super weird with Columbus Day being observed apparently. Thank you for all your love and support! I can't wait to hear from you all!
Oh and I was talking with the Assistants yesterday and they said I was getting transferred so my address will change in a week! On to a new adventure! Stay strong and Carry on!!
Love,
Sister Crockett
We taught Faith this week and talked about the temple and family history work. She is SO excited to work towards that goal!! She really wants to go into the house of the Lord and to experience all of the blessings you can receive there! We are gonna get her some temple prep stuff to help her out.
We met with a media referral named John. Now. There is a VERY important lesson to be learned from this story. We met at a restaurant with some members, Brother and Sister B. We find out that John is recovering from an addiction and doing well. Brother B also recovered from that same addiction. PERFECT right? Wrong. We didn't get the opportunity to teach at all because Brother B taught for us. We couldn't get a word in edge wise. Brother B cut everyone off, including his wife, John, and the waitress. Although we appreciated them coming, when he turned to us and said "Would you teach the Restoration now?" We felt deeply humiliated. As missionaries, we are instructed to teach simply and concisely. Give 'em milk before meat. The lesson was extremely deep and at times theological; leaning on the wisdom of man and not of God. Doctrine is what we teach and that is all. When we left, we asked John when we could meet with him again and he said "No thanks girls. I've got him." We were extremely taken aback. We left disheartened and confused as to what had just taken place. If the missionaries ask you to help in a lesson, keep it simple, let them teach, bear your testimony. That is all there is to it.
On Friday we participated in a mission tour. It was up in Cranberry so it is about an hour drive AND we had to pick up Swissvale sisters (about 30-45 minutes away) AND be there at 7:45....AM. mmmm. I got up at 4:45 so that we could get ready, and leave by 5:45. We left 20 minutes late, forgot something, got lost, and arrived 10 minutes late. Sweeeeet. Sister Arnold (Elder Arnold is in the 70) was teaching the sisters about stress, go figure. I got to see Sister Montgomery and she was super sweet and checked in with how I was doing. Then we went in to the big meeting with Elder Arnold. It was super intense! He was telling us that as a mission, we are doing really well and have the potential to do even better. Lunch time rolled around and Elder Arnold excused the sisters first so he could address the Elders. He had them shut the door after we left. We were SUPER curious about what was being said, and we found out that he told them to Lock. Their. Hearts. I regret to say that a LOT of missionaries are having issues staying focused. We are having a whole training on it for District Meeting. It happens I guess. We came back from lunch and had another long meeting. When we got ready to leave, Elder Arnold told us to be gone in 5 minutes....uhhh ok? So we were. It took us a good solid 2 HOURS to get home with it being a Friday and rush hour. We came home, slammed some dinner and ran to Steven's house with Sister Scheiffer. It was a pretty good lesson and he came to church! So that was pretty sweet.
Sunday we had 7 Less actives at church! 7!!! I can't believe it!! It was AMAZING!!! Steven and Dana and Claire and the Mancuso's and the Killens!! It was awesome! The Lord really works miracles for you when you try and exercise your faith.
So this week was pretty crazy and P-day was super weird with Columbus Day being observed apparently. Thank you for all your love and support! I can't wait to hear from you all!
Oh and I was talking with the Assistants yesterday and they said I was getting transferred so my address will change in a week! On to a new adventure! Stay strong and Carry on!!
Love,
Sister Crockett
Thursday, October 10, 2013
'Twas the Week Before General Conference
Dear Family!!
Another week has come and gone in Pittsburgh!! It has been unusually warm and humid here, but Mother Nature is seeing to it that I freeze. It has been rainy ALL morning and sitting at the comfortable temperature of 52 degrees. -__- Hello FALL!!!
Tuesday, we went the Baldwin Health Center to see a less active named Ron. He had a stroke and can only say "Okay" but we like to visit him anyway. We took the Diffendafer's with us so that we could get more members involved. We shared President Monson's story from last conference about obedience and Ron started laughing. He understands a lot! Brother Diffendafer related his conversion story and it was wonderful! The Spirit was so strong as he talked about searching for the truth. After this wonderful appointment we headed over to a random street to tract. It didn't work, go figure! We then went to Faith's apartment and talked with her about General Conference and how she could watch the Relief Society broadcast. She was really excited because she had missed it. We tried to meet with Mark and Heather after dinner, but Mark forgot and was gone. We will have to reschedule that one. /:
Wednesday we cleaned a member's refrigerator out with the Elders. Well...with 5 people and one refrigerator....I held the trash bags and let the Elders do the work. Elder Palmer ended us stepping on a ketchup packet they had missed and covered the wall...so we got to clean that too haha! We went to the Fidler's for dinner. They are a new family in the ward and expecting their first baby at the end of this month! They are awesome and super nice! We went to Book of Mormon class and got into the Isaiah chapters. It went alright for the most part!
Thursday I took the time to count a few of my many blessings and blessed I am! It was great to see how much the Lord loves and cares about even the smallest things! We went to district meeting and it was the same old same old. We tried a whole bunch of people who weren't home or wouldn't answer the door.
Friday we did weekly planning and then went and visited with Agnes because she was feeling upset about things in her family. She is the sweetest thing. She said that since her family is so far away from her, we are like her family. She said that she knew she could find comfort in visiting with us. Oh the faith of these women! It is a humbling experience to meet with her! When we left, it was in an outright downpour. I ran up to get the car and was drenched from head to toe! It was AWESOME!!!!! After dinner we tried Justin, a less active that we have been trying to see for a long time, and we got a semi-return appointment!! Woohoo!! We then prepped for the Missionary Superbowl!! (;
Saturday we watched General Conference at 12 and 4! How weird is that!?! It was getting dark when we finished the last session! In between we went to lunch....yeah...Buffalo Wild Wings was NOT my idea d: We came back and finished up the last session. After Conference we went to a less active's house, Steve, who had a pretty rough background but is determined to remain faithful, despite his circumstances. He actually served his mission here! It was really neat to talk with him and to see his faith.
Sunday we finished the morning session of Conference and then went to the luncheon that they were having (mostly we went from the Relief Society room to the culture hall). We cleaned up then went to the Kimber's for the last session. We watched with them and then had dinner. They are so dedicated to the gospel. They want to have a "Mormon Night" with their neighbors so that their neighbors can understand what they believe. Not to force their neighbors to convert, but to help them understand why they do what they do! It was a great night!!
General Conference was awesome! I really loved how much they emphasized The Commandments and having God as our priority and motive! Heavenly Father is here help us, but we have to be obedient and give our whole heart, strength, and mind. I am so excited to go back and study the words of the prophets and leaders of the Church! I encourage you to do the same!!
Love you all! Hope you are doing well! Stay Strong and Carry On!
Love,
Kaitlyn
Another week has come and gone in Pittsburgh!! It has been unusually warm and humid here, but Mother Nature is seeing to it that I freeze. It has been rainy ALL morning and sitting at the comfortable temperature of 52 degrees. -__- Hello FALL!!!
Tuesday, we went the Baldwin Health Center to see a less active named Ron. He had a stroke and can only say "Okay" but we like to visit him anyway. We took the Diffendafer's with us so that we could get more members involved. We shared President Monson's story from last conference about obedience and Ron started laughing. He understands a lot! Brother Diffendafer related his conversion story and it was wonderful! The Spirit was so strong as he talked about searching for the truth. After this wonderful appointment we headed over to a random street to tract. It didn't work, go figure! We then went to Faith's apartment and talked with her about General Conference and how she could watch the Relief Society broadcast. She was really excited because she had missed it. We tried to meet with Mark and Heather after dinner, but Mark forgot and was gone. We will have to reschedule that one. /:
Wednesday we cleaned a member's refrigerator out with the Elders. Well...with 5 people and one refrigerator....I held the trash bags and let the Elders do the work. Elder Palmer ended us stepping on a ketchup packet they had missed and covered the wall...so we got to clean that too haha! We went to the Fidler's for dinner. They are a new family in the ward and expecting their first baby at the end of this month! They are awesome and super nice! We went to Book of Mormon class and got into the Isaiah chapters. It went alright for the most part!
Thursday I took the time to count a few of my many blessings and blessed I am! It was great to see how much the Lord loves and cares about even the smallest things! We went to district meeting and it was the same old same old. We tried a whole bunch of people who weren't home or wouldn't answer the door.
Friday we did weekly planning and then went and visited with Agnes because she was feeling upset about things in her family. She is the sweetest thing. She said that since her family is so far away from her, we are like her family. She said that she knew she could find comfort in visiting with us. Oh the faith of these women! It is a humbling experience to meet with her! When we left, it was in an outright downpour. I ran up to get the car and was drenched from head to toe! It was AWESOME!!!!! After dinner we tried Justin, a less active that we have been trying to see for a long time, and we got a semi-return appointment!! Woohoo!! We then prepped for the Missionary Superbowl!! (;
Saturday we watched General Conference at 12 and 4! How weird is that!?! It was getting dark when we finished the last session! In between we went to lunch....yeah...Buffalo Wild Wings was NOT my idea d: We came back and finished up the last session. After Conference we went to a less active's house, Steve, who had a pretty rough background but is determined to remain faithful, despite his circumstances. He actually served his mission here! It was really neat to talk with him and to see his faith.
Sunday we finished the morning session of Conference and then went to the luncheon that they were having (mostly we went from the Relief Society room to the culture hall). We cleaned up then went to the Kimber's for the last session. We watched with them and then had dinner. They are so dedicated to the gospel. They want to have a "Mormon Night" with their neighbors so that their neighbors can understand what they believe. Not to force their neighbors to convert, but to help them understand why they do what they do! It was a great night!!
General Conference was awesome! I really loved how much they emphasized The Commandments and having God as our priority and motive! Heavenly Father is here help us, but we have to be obedient and give our whole heart, strength, and mind. I am so excited to go back and study the words of the prophets and leaders of the Church! I encourage you to do the same!!
Love you all! Hope you are doing well! Stay Strong and Carry On!
Love,
Kaitlyn
Saturday, October 5, 2013
You are too pretty to be Mormons!
Hey there familia!!
How's it going?? This week wasn't SUPER fantastic but it started out pretty unbelievable!
Tuesday, we met with Faith again and Agnes wants to start learning again!! So, we picked her up as a new investigator! She wants help understanding the Book of Mormon and we are happy to oblige! The next big thing was dinner at the Katchmark's. Brother Katchmark isn't a member but he is a hoot and a half. Sister Katchmark makes lasagna you could DIE for! Oh man. It is SO good. Then we went to visit with Bailee, the 1st counselor in the YW presidency. She is so sweet and bought us pizza because she didn't know if we would be hungry. She made us take some and it was super delicious!
Wednesday was probably the strangest and BEST day of the week for us. During companionship study, Sister Stocking decides she REALLY wants Taco Bell for lunch. I figured, hey, why not? So we went and on the way out a lady holds the door for us and says "Hey sister, where are you from?" I answered and she said "It's good to see somebody wearing Jesus Christ on their lapel. Have a great day!" I was smiling so big because we usually just get blank stares. Then we went to a park after picking up some froyo (frozen yogurt). There was a guy with his two grand kids there and he waved to us. We walked up the hill to the swings and he comes over to introduce himself. Dave ends up talking to us for over an hour about the gospel and what we believe and he commends us on being so young and coming out on a mission. We answered his questions and he said he would be at the park a lot with the kiddos and told us to stop by again. Oh, don't worry. We will. (;
We then tried to contact some people we hadn't met with before. As we start to go into these apartment buildings there is a girl sitting outside in a wheelchair. We said "Hi" as we walked past. The guy didn't end up being home and so we walked out again and the girl still was there. We said "goodbye" and hadn't even made it down the sidewalk when we hear "Yinz Mormons?" oh the universal question! So we talked to her for a bit and gave her a Book of Mormon, a Restoration pamphlet, and our number. As we were getting ready to leave she said "Yinz should think about changing religions. You are too pretty to be Mormons!" Well, thank you! I didn't know unattractive was a requirement to be Mormon! They didn't teach us THAT in the MTC....*awk.ward.* ANNNYWAY. We had a dinner appointment with the Bishop. I realized he reminds me a LOT of Mr. Brooks....(Band director at Mesa High School) ...you get the idea.We went to Book of Mormon Class and the Elders decided they wanted to teach so, we didn't object. Martha and Dave came so that was AWESOME!!
Thursday was District Meeting. Just the same ol' same ol! Afterwards we saw Dana and gave her an Illustrated copy of the Book of Mormon to help her teach her kiddos! She was so excited about it. We invited her to the broadcast, but she didn't make it ): Then we had dinner at the O'Connor's and it was pretty good. No one can make chili like Mom can though... (;
Friday was Weekly Planning and that was that.
Saturday was a little disappointing because everyone we planned to see wasn't home. Saturdays are hard days for us. We got ready for the awesome broadcast and went to the "light dinner" before hand. It was "light" because people would be fasting....ummm ok? haha! The Relief Society Broadcast was pretty great! Just the pre-game show for the Missionary Superbowl this weekend! (; It was a little weird watching it at 8. We didn't leave until 9:45! Wowser. It was late for us!
Sunday was awesome because I got to take the sacrament!! (; (Relief Society broadcast). But really. IT was awesome! The sacrament is so important and I love having the time to think about my Savior and His Atonement on my behalf. We came home and did studies. I have been studying the New Testament and it is AWESOME!! I am in Luke and I love reading about the Savior's life. I am so grateful for a prophet on the earth today and for Joesph Smith and his translation of the Bible because it makes so much more sense. The Bible and the Book of Mormon truly go hand in hand when we use them together to understand the fullness of the gospel! Gotta love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints where we can KNOW these things. Heavenly Father never intended for us to dwell in darkness--spiritually or intellectually either! I don't know how I studied the scriptures for less than an hour a day! Crazy! There is so much to learn and so much to find comfort in! (: The gospel is true!! Learn it. Live it. LOVE IT!!
Hope all is well on the home front! One more week down! (: Love you all!
Stay Strong and Carry On!!! Alma 17:2
Sister Kaitlyn Crockett
How's it going?? This week wasn't SUPER fantastic but it started out pretty unbelievable!
Tuesday, we met with Faith again and Agnes wants to start learning again!! So, we picked her up as a new investigator! She wants help understanding the Book of Mormon and we are happy to oblige! The next big thing was dinner at the Katchmark's. Brother Katchmark isn't a member but he is a hoot and a half. Sister Katchmark makes lasagna you could DIE for! Oh man. It is SO good. Then we went to visit with Bailee, the 1st counselor in the YW presidency. She is so sweet and bought us pizza because she didn't know if we would be hungry. She made us take some and it was super delicious!
Wednesday was probably the strangest and BEST day of the week for us. During companionship study, Sister Stocking decides she REALLY wants Taco Bell for lunch. I figured, hey, why not? So we went and on the way out a lady holds the door for us and says "Hey sister, where are you from?" I answered and she said "It's good to see somebody wearing Jesus Christ on their lapel. Have a great day!" I was smiling so big because we usually just get blank stares. Then we went to a park after picking up some froyo (frozen yogurt). There was a guy with his two grand kids there and he waved to us. We walked up the hill to the swings and he comes over to introduce himself. Dave ends up talking to us for over an hour about the gospel and what we believe and he commends us on being so young and coming out on a mission. We answered his questions and he said he would be at the park a lot with the kiddos and told us to stop by again. Oh, don't worry. We will. (;
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| A caterpillar we found. |
Thursday was District Meeting. Just the same ol' same ol! Afterwards we saw Dana and gave her an Illustrated copy of the Book of Mormon to help her teach her kiddos! She was so excited about it. We invited her to the broadcast, but she didn't make it ): Then we had dinner at the O'Connor's and it was pretty good. No one can make chili like Mom can though... (;
Friday was Weekly Planning and that was that.
Saturday was a little disappointing because everyone we planned to see wasn't home. Saturdays are hard days for us. We got ready for the awesome broadcast and went to the "light dinner" before hand. It was "light" because people would be fasting....ummm ok? haha! The Relief Society Broadcast was pretty great! Just the pre-game show for the Missionary Superbowl this weekend! (; It was a little weird watching it at 8. We didn't leave until 9:45! Wowser. It was late for us!
Sunday was awesome because I got to take the sacrament!! (; (Relief Society broadcast). But really. IT was awesome! The sacrament is so important and I love having the time to think about my Savior and His Atonement on my behalf. We came home and did studies. I have been studying the New Testament and it is AWESOME!! I am in Luke and I love reading about the Savior's life. I am so grateful for a prophet on the earth today and for Joesph Smith and his translation of the Bible because it makes so much more sense. The Bible and the Book of Mormon truly go hand in hand when we use them together to understand the fullness of the gospel! Gotta love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints where we can KNOW these things. Heavenly Father never intended for us to dwell in darkness--spiritually or intellectually either! I don't know how I studied the scriptures for less than an hour a day! Crazy! There is so much to learn and so much to find comfort in! (: The gospel is true!! Learn it. Live it. LOVE IT!!
Hope all is well on the home front! One more week down! (: Love you all!
Stay Strong and Carry On!!! Alma 17:2
Sister Kaitlyn Crockett
Friday, September 27, 2013
I am an Investment!
Hola Familia!!
Another COLD day in Pennsylvania for ya! It's been a crazy week and so wonderful all at the same time!! We unfortunately didn't get to much teaching because Sister Stocking caught a super nasty cold with the change of the weather! But we did do awesome work when she was feeling up to it. (: So here is how this week went!
Tuesday, we got up at 6 so that we could pick up some sisters and make it to Zone Conference by 8:30. Pittsburgh traffic is CRAZY!! Zone Conference was from 9-3:30 and was super good! We talked about grace and mercy. We prepared for it by reading "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox and "In the Strength of the Lord" by Elder Bednar. It was awesome to read and think about. A part of Brother Wilcox's speech says that Christ made a huge investment in us. I had never thought as the Atonement as an investment before. As I was pondering some scriptures, I felt "You don't invest in something you know is going to fail." Now, I'm not super brilliant in investments and things like that but as far as my limited knowledge goes, this hold true. You invest in things you KNOW are going to grow and progress.
I am an investment.
I am of worth because Christ paid the cost for me.
I am not perfect but I will become so with some hard work and a lot of grace.
Isn't the gospel simply wonderful?!?
We went on exchanges after Zone. I finally left my area for once!! I went all the was to Washington d: It's about 45 minutes away. It was really cool to see what else is out there besides Pitt 2nd! I was with Sister Cohen and we talked a lot about charity and improving our relationship with Christ.
Wednesday, I was still in Washington and we taught their investigator, Mary. We even committed her to baptism! It was remarkable! It is so amazing to see how people can progress in the gospel and you can totally see a change in their countenance! The Light of Christ truly shines through everyone. We went with a member to go and visit some other Less Actives and it was a great exchange. When I got back, we saw Merrilyn and opened my package from Mom. THE JAM SURVIVED!!!! MMMMMMMM (: so yummy!! Then we went to Book Of Mormon. Pretty typical I'd say d:
Thursday was when Sister Stocking got sick. I made her rest and she slept the day away, poor thing. I woke her up and asked her if she wanted me to cancel our dinner appointment with the Machan's, but she wanted to keep it. So we went out and had a great dinner. They are an awesome family! (: We came home after that so that she could get some more rest.
Friday was weekly planning but Sister S was still feeling under the weather...we tried to see Brooke (OUR NEW INVESTIGATOR!!!!!) but she wasn't home d: ha. yeeeah. better luck next time. I came home to a sweet package from Gramma Asay! I feel SO loved this week!! (: you guys are awesome!! We met with Martha and Dave (some less actives) and had a great discussion about the line of authority. The only thing keeping them from church is their crazy work schedules! /: oh well! we keep trying anyway!
Saturday, we updated our progress records and tried to keep it slow paced for Sister Stocking. We had dinner with the Caslers and found out that Sister Stocking is kinda related to them (her uncle by marriage is Sister Casler's cousin--it's a connection not a relation I suppose haha!). We went and tried to contact a referral but....uh he wasn't happy to see us. So we commented about the rain that we had all day and tried to keep it light and friendly. One good experience at a time. Then we went to the Killens. Sister Killen really wants us to work with her less active daughter, so we get to make an appointment to see her!
Sunday was your typical Sabbath day! Our ward mission leader, Brother Capizzi, was on fire. He made an awesome ward mission plan and had some great ideas! Hopefully this won't just be talk but will turn into something else!! *fingers crossed* Agnes, Faith's friend, came to church!! Our investigators won't come to church but someone we aren't teaching any more will?? ha! We were SO glad to see her AND the Mancuso's came again!! Mandee really wants us to start teaching them so they can get back in the swing of things! Gladly!! So it was pretty awesome! I am hoping that Sister Stocking will get to feeling better this week so we can have another splendid week!!
No matter how rocky things are, being built on the foundation of the Savior is the only thing that will keep us grounded. I read Matthew 7:24-27 this week and I couldn't help but notice that either way, the rain is coming, the floods will rage and the house will take a beating. The only difference is that the foundation of one is stronger than the other. Have hope for the future. "All things will work together for your good."
I love you all!! Thanks so much for all you do!! I wouldn't be out here if it wasn't for your examples to me!!
Love,
Sister Kaitlyn Crockett
Another COLD day in Pennsylvania for ya! It's been a crazy week and so wonderful all at the same time!! We unfortunately didn't get to much teaching because Sister Stocking caught a super nasty cold with the change of the weather! But we did do awesome work when she was feeling up to it. (: So here is how this week went!
Tuesday, we got up at 6 so that we could pick up some sisters and make it to Zone Conference by 8:30. Pittsburgh traffic is CRAZY!! Zone Conference was from 9-3:30 and was super good! We talked about grace and mercy. We prepared for it by reading "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox and "In the Strength of the Lord" by Elder Bednar. It was awesome to read and think about. A part of Brother Wilcox's speech says that Christ made a huge investment in us. I had never thought as the Atonement as an investment before. As I was pondering some scriptures, I felt "You don't invest in something you know is going to fail." Now, I'm not super brilliant in investments and things like that but as far as my limited knowledge goes, this hold true. You invest in things you KNOW are going to grow and progress.
I am an investment.
I am of worth because Christ paid the cost for me.
I am not perfect but I will become so with some hard work and a lot of grace.
Isn't the gospel simply wonderful?!?
We went on exchanges after Zone. I finally left my area for once!! I went all the was to Washington d: It's about 45 minutes away. It was really cool to see what else is out there besides Pitt 2nd! I was with Sister Cohen and we talked a lot about charity and improving our relationship with Christ.
Wednesday, I was still in Washington and we taught their investigator, Mary. We even committed her to baptism! It was remarkable! It is so amazing to see how people can progress in the gospel and you can totally see a change in their countenance! The Light of Christ truly shines through everyone. We went with a member to go and visit some other Less Actives and it was a great exchange. When I got back, we saw Merrilyn and opened my package from Mom. THE JAM SURVIVED!!!! MMMMMMMM (: so yummy!! Then we went to Book Of Mormon. Pretty typical I'd say d:
Thursday was when Sister Stocking got sick. I made her rest and she slept the day away, poor thing. I woke her up and asked her if she wanted me to cancel our dinner appointment with the Machan's, but she wanted to keep it. So we went out and had a great dinner. They are an awesome family! (: We came home after that so that she could get some more rest.
Friday was weekly planning but Sister S was still feeling under the weather...we tried to see Brooke (OUR NEW INVESTIGATOR!!!!!) but she wasn't home d: ha. yeeeah. better luck next time. I came home to a sweet package from Gramma Asay! I feel SO loved this week!! (: you guys are awesome!! We met with Martha and Dave (some less actives) and had a great discussion about the line of authority. The only thing keeping them from church is their crazy work schedules! /: oh well! we keep trying anyway!
Saturday, we updated our progress records and tried to keep it slow paced for Sister Stocking. We had dinner with the Caslers and found out that Sister Stocking is kinda related to them (her uncle by marriage is Sister Casler's cousin--it's a connection not a relation I suppose haha!). We went and tried to contact a referral but....uh he wasn't happy to see us. So we commented about the rain that we had all day and tried to keep it light and friendly. One good experience at a time. Then we went to the Killens. Sister Killen really wants us to work with her less active daughter, so we get to make an appointment to see her!
Sunday was your typical Sabbath day! Our ward mission leader, Brother Capizzi, was on fire. He made an awesome ward mission plan and had some great ideas! Hopefully this won't just be talk but will turn into something else!! *fingers crossed* Agnes, Faith's friend, came to church!! Our investigators won't come to church but someone we aren't teaching any more will?? ha! We were SO glad to see her AND the Mancuso's came again!! Mandee really wants us to start teaching them so they can get back in the swing of things! Gladly!! So it was pretty awesome! I am hoping that Sister Stocking will get to feeling better this week so we can have another splendid week!!
No matter how rocky things are, being built on the foundation of the Savior is the only thing that will keep us grounded. I read Matthew 7:24-27 this week and I couldn't help but notice that either way, the rain is coming, the floods will rage and the house will take a beating. The only difference is that the foundation of one is stronger than the other. Have hope for the future. "All things will work together for your good."
I love you all!! Thanks so much for all you do!! I wouldn't be out here if it wasn't for your examples to me!!
Love,
Sister Kaitlyn Crockett
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Focusing on the Positives
Hola dear familia!! Start of a new transfer and lemme tell you. It was a GREAT way to start it off! (:
Tuesday was transfer day so Monday we had to say goodbye to our Elders. Elder Davidson went home on Wednesday and Elder Thomas got transferred to Sommerset. We went to Faith's with Sister Christensen (the Relief Society president) and Bishop Haroldsen. Faith's friend Agnes told us that she had been reading the Lorenzo Snow book. For fun. Who does that?? haha! She is happy being Catholic, but she likes what we teach...it's only a matter of time! (: We taught about faith in Jesus Christ and priesthood blessings because Faith wanted one for herself and also for Makayla, her 9 month old daughter. So we got to meet the new Elders when they came to give Faith and Makayla a blessing. There is Elder Coke (our new District Leader) and he's been out 9 months, and Elder Whipple has been out 3. After the blessing we went to Mark and Heather's for dinner and a lesson. We tried to commit Heather to baptism....she said she'd think about it. Oh dear. They also promised to come to church....but it was a good lesson. We talked about the Restoration and Heather was talking about getting sealed as a family. Hopefully we can help her get there!!!!!
Wednesday, we dropped off some banana bread to Sister Machan, thanking her for all the meals she gives us. And she gave us some homemade chicken noodle soup. haha! She is so funny. We took out her trash to thank her; hey service is service! (; Then we went to Sister Garvin's to see how she was doing and we ended us talking to her for a long time. She kept saying how much she loved having us over. We have some AWESOME ward members here. I just love them. We went to Book of Mormon class after dinner and tried to keep it gospel focused...some people get a little distracted ha.
Thursday was District Meeting. It was different. Nothing bad, just different. We are just trying to get used to a new district again. We keep changing so much! But I guess that is for the best. Then after lunch with the district, we went and taught Sister Lisica's neighbor Lillian who is 93 years old. Probably wouldn't have guessed that. She is super spry for 93 haha! We taught the Plan of Salvation and Sister Stocking did an awesome job illustrating that this is a Plan of Happiness, and not a plan of "you get to stay with your family and you don't." It was a pretty good lesson and we ALMOST got a return appointment but Lillian was super busy for the next two weeks appa rently. haha! We had dinner with the Winsor's and they had a tree fall down in their back yard on Monday. We offered to come on Wednesday and help remove it along with the Elders. They were glad for some help. And we were glad to have some service!
Friday was weekly planning. Blah. After weekly planning, we talked with Sister Newsome. Yeah. Friday was rough haha!
Saturday we hacked up a fallen tree, and none other than Brother Mancuso was there!! We have been trying to see them for over 3 months and then voila! He is there!! He came because Brother Olsen was helping out the Winsor's too and knew they were looking for a chainsaw. (FOREVER ago, we watched Brother Mancuso open up his brand new chainsaw and show Frankie (his son) what REAL toys were). So we talked to him a little bit while breaking down a HUGE tree. It was a lot of fun! As he was leaving, Brother Mancuso said that they were coming to church on Sunday and I stopped dead in my tracks. WHAAAAAT!?!?!?! I couldn't stop smiling. I was so happy!! After all these prayers and trying to meet with the Mancuso's, THEY decide to come to church. Heavenly Father answers prayers when we act in faith and keep trying our hardest. He makes weak things become strong. He makes miracles happen when we trust Him with all of our heart and will.
Sunday, the Mancuso's came. :D BEST. DAY. EVER. I talked to Mandee a little bit and Sister Kimber. It was so good to hear from her!! They stayed the entire block too! The Elders and Brother Olsen cornered Brian and talked with him during Gospel Principles. Mark and Heather didn't come, which was extremely sad, but we don't believe in giving up around here! haha! After Church we tried to see a potential investigator named Madeline, but she is NEVER home /: So we went to dinner at the Kimbers and it was awesome!!
I can't help but notice the tender mercies that the Lord has given me to help me make it through the difficult trials. The wonderful Ensign article by Elder Holland, studying grace for Zone Conference, being able to meet with our investigator finally and ALMOST committing her to be baptized (so close!), serving some ward members and making contact with a Less Active member we have been trying to meet with for 3 months, and then them coming to church!! Overall, it has been a GREAT week. When I have been focusing on the positives, everything feels better. It doesn't necessarily go according to plan, but I feel better prepared to handle the situations that do arise.
Love you all!! Here is to another week full of potential!!!
Love Sister Crockett
Keep Smilin'
Tuesday was transfer day so Monday we had to say goodbye to our Elders. Elder Davidson went home on Wednesday and Elder Thomas got transferred to Sommerset. We went to Faith's with Sister Christensen (the Relief Society president) and Bishop Haroldsen. Faith's friend Agnes told us that she had been reading the Lorenzo Snow book. For fun. Who does that?? haha! She is happy being Catholic, but she likes what we teach...it's only a matter of time! (: We taught about faith in Jesus Christ and priesthood blessings because Faith wanted one for herself and also for Makayla, her 9 month old daughter. So we got to meet the new Elders when they came to give Faith and Makayla a blessing. There is Elder Coke (our new District Leader) and he's been out 9 months, and Elder Whipple has been out 3. After the blessing we went to Mark and Heather's for dinner and a lesson. We tried to commit Heather to baptism....she said she'd think about it. Oh dear. They also promised to come to church....but it was a good lesson. We talked about the Restoration and Heather was talking about getting sealed as a family. Hopefully we can help her get there!!!!!
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| Sister Stocking making cookies. |
Thursday was District Meeting. It was different. Nothing bad, just different. We are just trying to get used to a new district again. We keep changing so much! But I guess that is for the best. Then after lunch with the district, we went and taught Sister Lisica's neighbor Lillian who is 93 years old. Probably wouldn't have guessed that. She is super spry for 93 haha! We taught the Plan of Salvation and Sister Stocking did an awesome job illustrating that this is a Plan of Happiness, and not a plan of "you get to stay with your family and you don't." It was a pretty good lesson and we ALMOST got a return appointment but Lillian was super busy for the next two weeks appa rently. haha! We had dinner with the Winsor's and they had a tree fall down in their back yard on Monday. We offered to come on Wednesday and help remove it along with the Elders. They were glad for some help. And we were glad to have some service!
Friday was weekly planning. Blah. After weekly planning, we talked with Sister Newsome. Yeah. Friday was rough haha!
Saturday we hacked up a fallen tree, and none other than Brother Mancuso was there!! We have been trying to see them for over 3 months and then voila! He is there!! He came because Brother Olsen was helping out the Winsor's too and knew they were looking for a chainsaw. (FOREVER ago, we watched Brother Mancuso open up his brand new chainsaw and show Frankie (his son) what REAL toys were). So we talked to him a little bit while breaking down a HUGE tree. It was a lot of fun! As he was leaving, Brother Mancuso said that they were coming to church on Sunday and I stopped dead in my tracks. WHAAAAAT!?!?!?! I couldn't stop smiling. I was so happy!! After all these prayers and trying to meet with the Mancuso's, THEY decide to come to church. Heavenly Father answers prayers when we act in faith and keep trying our hardest. He makes weak things become strong. He makes miracles happen when we trust Him with all of our heart and will.
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| Some goofy pictures of us. |
I can't help but notice the tender mercies that the Lord has given me to help me make it through the difficult trials. The wonderful Ensign article by Elder Holland, studying grace for Zone Conference, being able to meet with our investigator finally and ALMOST committing her to be baptized (so close!), serving some ward members and making contact with a Less Active member we have been trying to meet with for 3 months, and then them coming to church!! Overall, it has been a GREAT week. When I have been focusing on the positives, everything feels better. It doesn't necessarily go according to plan, but I feel better prepared to handle the situations that do arise.
Love you all!! Here is to another week full of potential!!!
Love Sister Crockett
Keep Smilin'
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| Dude, I'm in Pittsburgh! :D |
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Patience and Humility are NOT "Doormat" Attributes
Hey there family!!
How's it going?? I'm doing well in Pittsburgh! Another transfer has ended!! (: Still kicking it in Brentwood, but I have a feeling it may be my last! 6 months in this area is a LOOOONG time! haha!
Nothing has gone according to plan this week. We had all these wonderful plans and they fell through! /: oh well! Such is life.
Tuesday, we didn't get to email last Monday with it being Labor Day and all, so Tuesday was our emailing day! We had lunch then headed to some appointments. We had dinner with Sister Scheiffer and then headed over to our meeting with Faith. She is so sweet! Makayla, her daughter hasn't been feeling well and she was wondering if there was anything we could do. Well, as sisters, probably not, but we know some swell Elders that hold the Priesthood. (: So we are gonna have the Elders give her and Makayla a blessing. Faith is wonderful, she didn't know about Priesthood blessings and when we told her about them she was so happy! These moments make it easy to serve. Then we went to a meeting with Sister Olsen because she is the Meetings Coordinator for the Relief Society. We uncovered some drama, but also some of her GREAT ideas to help us get people to come! (: It was a great day!
Wednesday, we had District Meeting because the Elders had a move on Thursday. We played Jeopardy (sisters schooled--not that that matters d: ) and then roasted some hot dogs for lunch! It was a lot of fun! Afterwards, we went to visit Sister Lisica and her mom, Sister Bugher. Sister Lisica originally planned to have us teach her neighbor, but that didn't work. So we just talked with them for a little while, then went to Book of Mormon class! Some Less Actives we found a while ago, Martha and Dave, came too! It was awesome! The Smith's came as usual and were great fellow-shippers! It was fantastic!
Thursday, we tried to see Dana but she said she was still sick, so we haven't seen her in a while. /: After lunch, we tried to see some more less actives and then tried a potential. Well, her address was wrong, but we saw her drive away, so we are gonna have to stalk the building. (: That's what we do best!! (: We made contact with a less active named Hal. We've been trying to see him for WEEKS. Turns out he turned Presbyterian when he joined the army, tried to visit the ward (when it was still a branch) in the 60's and has never been back. He goes to the church literally .5 miles away from our building. He is a pilot and is gone a lot but he was happy to see us. We are gonna try and see him next week. After that we had dinner at the Burnett's and then updated some records.
Friday, was weekly planning. Half-way through we got a call from Hal. He was taking one of his students flying and wanted to know if we wanted to tag along....ummm maybe not so much haha! In the white handbook for missionaries it specifically says no private planes. d: So we had to decline and continued the oh so wonderful planning session.
Saturday was transfer calls. Obviously we didn't get one haha! Elder Thomas did however. And Elder Davidson is going home in 2 days so the Elders in our ward are getting all shuffled around! We went and did some service at Sister Lisica's and then went to the Adult Session of Stake conference. They talked about temple work in every single talk. Oh goodness haha! I saw Sister Montgomery there so I got to talk to her for a little bit! That was super weird haha! But it was nice to see her again.
Sunday we went to Stake Conference and everything was about Missionary work! President Topham even spoke which was super cool. He said that while everyone was supposed to be catching the wave of missionary work, we were getting hit by the wave haha! There are over 250 missionaries in our mission right now. And of those, 2/3 have been out less than 8 months. Once we all finish training, it'll be fine, but it is pretty fresh around here haha! That was our week!
I've been studying patience and humility this week (advisement from our District Leader, Elder Davidson) and the conclusion I have reached is that these aren't "doormat" attributes in the sense of being patient and humble doesn't mean that you let everyone run over you. It's about hope. I can acknowledge that I am coming up short as a missionary. I am not a perfect teacher and I don't know that answer to every question, but I KNOW I have been called by a prophet of God to share the message of the Restoration and I know that that message is true. I find hope that as I am weak now, I will be made stronger in Christ. Elder Hansen (a friend from home) wrote me and said too often people take their problems to God and complain about how big they are. What God wants is for us to take Him to our problems and tell them how big He is. Patience and humility are hard attributes to have, but as we hope for a better world (Ether 12:4), all things will be made right in Christ.
I love you all! I hope you are doing well! Carry on and keep the faith!
Sister K Crockett
How's it going?? I'm doing well in Pittsburgh! Another transfer has ended!! (: Still kicking it in Brentwood, but I have a feeling it may be my last! 6 months in this area is a LOOOONG time! haha!
Nothing has gone according to plan this week. We had all these wonderful plans and they fell through! /: oh well! Such is life.
Tuesday, we didn't get to email last Monday with it being Labor Day and all, so Tuesday was our emailing day! We had lunch then headed to some appointments. We had dinner with Sister Scheiffer and then headed over to our meeting with Faith. She is so sweet! Makayla, her daughter hasn't been feeling well and she was wondering if there was anything we could do. Well, as sisters, probably not, but we know some swell Elders that hold the Priesthood. (: So we are gonna have the Elders give her and Makayla a blessing. Faith is wonderful, she didn't know about Priesthood blessings and when we told her about them she was so happy! These moments make it easy to serve. Then we went to a meeting with Sister Olsen because she is the Meetings Coordinator for the Relief Society. We uncovered some drama, but also some of her GREAT ideas to help us get people to come! (: It was a great day!
Wednesday, we had District Meeting because the Elders had a move on Thursday. We played Jeopardy (sisters schooled--not that that matters d: ) and then roasted some hot dogs for lunch! It was a lot of fun! Afterwards, we went to visit Sister Lisica and her mom, Sister Bugher. Sister Lisica originally planned to have us teach her neighbor, but that didn't work. So we just talked with them for a little while, then went to Book of Mormon class! Some Less Actives we found a while ago, Martha and Dave, came too! It was awesome! The Smith's came as usual and were great fellow-shippers! It was fantastic!
Thursday, we tried to see Dana but she said she was still sick, so we haven't seen her in a while. /: After lunch, we tried to see some more less actives and then tried a potential. Well, her address was wrong, but we saw her drive away, so we are gonna have to stalk the building. (: That's what we do best!! (: We made contact with a less active named Hal. We've been trying to see him for WEEKS. Turns out he turned Presbyterian when he joined the army, tried to visit the ward (when it was still a branch) in the 60's and has never been back. He goes to the church literally .5 miles away from our building. He is a pilot and is gone a lot but he was happy to see us. We are gonna try and see him next week. After that we had dinner at the Burnett's and then updated some records.
Friday, was weekly planning. Half-way through we got a call from Hal. He was taking one of his students flying and wanted to know if we wanted to tag along....ummm maybe not so much haha! In the white handbook for missionaries it specifically says no private planes. d: So we had to decline and continued the oh so wonderful planning session.
Saturday was transfer calls. Obviously we didn't get one haha! Elder Thomas did however. And Elder Davidson is going home in 2 days so the Elders in our ward are getting all shuffled around! We went and did some service at Sister Lisica's and then went to the Adult Session of Stake conference. They talked about temple work in every single talk. Oh goodness haha! I saw Sister Montgomery there so I got to talk to her for a little bit! That was super weird haha! But it was nice to see her again.
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| Who ever said girls can't "hold" the priesthood?! ;) |
Sunday we went to Stake Conference and everything was about Missionary work! President Topham even spoke which was super cool. He said that while everyone was supposed to be catching the wave of missionary work, we were getting hit by the wave haha! There are over 250 missionaries in our mission right now. And of those, 2/3 have been out less than 8 months. Once we all finish training, it'll be fine, but it is pretty fresh around here haha! That was our week!
I've been studying patience and humility this week (advisement from our District Leader, Elder Davidson) and the conclusion I have reached is that these aren't "doormat" attributes in the sense of being patient and humble doesn't mean that you let everyone run over you. It's about hope. I can acknowledge that I am coming up short as a missionary. I am not a perfect teacher and I don't know that answer to every question, but I KNOW I have been called by a prophet of God to share the message of the Restoration and I know that that message is true. I find hope that as I am weak now, I will be made stronger in Christ. Elder Hansen (a friend from home) wrote me and said too often people take their problems to God and complain about how big they are. What God wants is for us to take Him to our problems and tell them how big He is. Patience and humility are hard attributes to have, but as we hope for a better world (Ether 12:4), all things will be made right in Christ.
I love you all! I hope you are doing well! Carry on and keep the faith!
Sister K Crockett
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| The flippin sweet praying mantis we found at our apartment. |
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Joyful, Rainy Days
Can you believe it's September already?!? My oh my how time has flown! We are definitely looking forward to the fall weather out here! The leaves are starting to change and it is simply gorgeous! Plus a huge rainstorm yesterday helped!
This week hasn't been super great for us. But here it is.....
Tuesday, we just tried to find some people we hadn't met with yet/in a while. A sweet old lady named Mareta was so happy to see us. She has been working Sundays and misses the gospel in her life so she asked us to come back on Saturday. Jennifer was the complete opposite. She was not too thrilled to see us and when we asked if we could practice teaching, she quickly declined and said she wasn't interested. Agency is such an interesting thing when it comes down to it.
Wednesday we were out trying to find less-actives again. No one was home (or if they were, they didn't answer the door). We had dinner with the Bishop and his wife and he didn't know who would be good for us to visit, so we are just gonna try everyone. We had our Book of Mormon class. It went pretty well and we got another member to come and she is trying to bring her non-member friend this week! (:
Thursday, I got sick. We went to District Meeting and I was fighting a headache all through it. When we came home, I talked to Sister Topham and she said I should just sleep so that I can get better. So I did and when I woke up, it was time to go see the Relief Society President. So we went and met with her and then had dinner.
Friday, we had a bomb weekly planning session! It took all day, but we made some GREAT plans for this week. We tried to contact some potential investigators but the Pirates game was on apparently and no one answers the door when their sports games are on. Mareta called and cancelled our appointment for Saturday because she had to work.
Saturday, we played softball with our ward in a stake softball tournament. It was a lot of fun (even if I did terribly). That took basically all day by the time we got cleaned up. Then we went to Sister Katchmark's for dinner and she made her fabulous lasagna for us! It was so good. Elder Palmer asked Elder Davidson to serve him seconds...so he did. TWO of the largest pieces of lasagna ended up on his plate. It is a good thing fast Sunday was the next day...haha!
Sunday, there was a girl named Hanna visiting from Kentucky and we were the first people she saw when she walked into the building and she asked if she could sit with us. We agreed but the whole ward thought we got a 3rd companion and so we had to explain to everyone. After Church we had a SUPER awesome lesson with Sister Shoup. Sister Kimber came with us and was totally perfect for her. They related to each other really well and it was so neat to see how important members are in lessons. Sister Shoup teared up the whole lesson saying that she was grateful someone else was feeling and dealing with the same things she was–that she wasn't alone.
Monday was Labor Day (as you well know) and so we couldn't email. We went to the ward picnic and helped set up the primary activity. Then we went clothes shopping and played football with the Elders. There was a HUGE rainstorm that started to blow in when we got home and cleaned up. We went to see Dave and Martha (some less actives we finally saw last week) and get their phone numbers and set up an appointment with them. As soon as Martha shut the door, and we started to walk away we heard her shout "YAY!!" :D Incomprehensible joy right there.
And it only got better:
There is a lady in our building named Madeline and she had started to learn a little bit about the church when she moved. We kept running into her on our way to our apartment. Sister Stocking suggested that we try and visit her after we tried to see some other less actives. So we knocked on her door. No answer. We waited, knocked again, still no answer. Then the handle rattled. Madeline opened the door and looked so happy to see us. She hadn't heard the door but her 85 year old mother did and both were thrilled we were there. We set an appointment for this Sunday to visit with her again. As the door shut behind us as we turned to leave, we heard Madeline say, "Momma, I am SO glad you heard them knocking on that door!" Oh what a wonderful day yesterday was!!! (: I am so excited for this coming week! It is going to be great!!
I love you all and hope to hear from you!!!
Love,
Sister Kaitlyn Crockett
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| Rainy Day Yesterday |
Tuesday, we just tried to find some people we hadn't met with yet/in a while. A sweet old lady named Mareta was so happy to see us. She has been working Sundays and misses the gospel in her life so she asked us to come back on Saturday. Jennifer was the complete opposite. She was not too thrilled to see us and when we asked if we could practice teaching, she quickly declined and said she wasn't interested. Agency is such an interesting thing when it comes down to it.
Wednesday we were out trying to find less-actives again. No one was home (or if they were, they didn't answer the door). We had dinner with the Bishop and his wife and he didn't know who would be good for us to visit, so we are just gonna try everyone. We had our Book of Mormon class. It went pretty well and we got another member to come and she is trying to bring her non-member friend this week! (:
Thursday, I got sick. We went to District Meeting and I was fighting a headache all through it. When we came home, I talked to Sister Topham and she said I should just sleep so that I can get better. So I did and when I woke up, it was time to go see the Relief Society President. So we went and met with her and then had dinner.
Friday, we had a bomb weekly planning session! It took all day, but we made some GREAT plans for this week. We tried to contact some potential investigators but the Pirates game was on apparently and no one answers the door when their sports games are on. Mareta called and cancelled our appointment for Saturday because she had to work.
Saturday, we played softball with our ward in a stake softball tournament. It was a lot of fun (even if I did terribly). That took basically all day by the time we got cleaned up. Then we went to Sister Katchmark's for dinner and she made her fabulous lasagna for us! It was so good. Elder Palmer asked Elder Davidson to serve him seconds...so he did. TWO of the largest pieces of lasagna ended up on his plate. It is a good thing fast Sunday was the next day...haha!
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| Us being goofy. |
Monday was Labor Day (as you well know) and so we couldn't email. We went to the ward picnic and helped set up the primary activity. Then we went clothes shopping and played football with the Elders. There was a HUGE rainstorm that started to blow in when we got home and cleaned up. We went to see Dave and Martha (some less actives we finally saw last week) and get their phone numbers and set up an appointment with them. As soon as Martha shut the door, and we started to walk away we heard her shout "YAY!!" :D Incomprehensible joy right there.
And it only got better:
There is a lady in our building named Madeline and she had started to learn a little bit about the church when she moved. We kept running into her on our way to our apartment. Sister Stocking suggested that we try and visit her after we tried to see some other less actives. So we knocked on her door. No answer. We waited, knocked again, still no answer. Then the handle rattled. Madeline opened the door and looked so happy to see us. She hadn't heard the door but her 85 year old mother did and both were thrilled we were there. We set an appointment for this Sunday to visit with her again. As the door shut behind us as we turned to leave, we heard Madeline say, "Momma, I am SO glad you heard them knocking on that door!" Oh what a wonderful day yesterday was!!! (: I am so excited for this coming week! It is going to be great!!
I love you all and hope to hear from you!!!
Love,
Sister Kaitlyn Crockett
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