HEY!! It's JULY!! (:

I made it to July!! And let me tell you, that is no small feat. It has been simply insane around here the past week. Not necessarily as busy as we would like, but ya know, just insane.

Tuesday was Zone Conference and so we got to sit in the chapel for 8 hours. Whooo. Haha! But Sister Topham does these things to keep us awake. We have to recite scriptures that are in our lessons in Preach My Gospel and also she has a list of things we SHOULD be doing and who ever is left standing at the end wins.

So the scripture thing: I'm HORRIBLE at reciting things even if they are memorized. But Sister Montgomery and Elder Nelson are not. Between the two of them whispering every scripture to me, I was a little confused to say the least (mostly because it sounds like "but asjhdf dsfa hearts euwirkn me jfdiwok preach lsdkj" you get the idea...). On the standing game we were out on the first one: had a member present lesson this week. -__-  We highly objected to this one because we had member present lessons planned and they all canceled. Not our fault they used their agency!

So yeah. After Zone conference, Sister Montgomery and I went on exchanges! Freak-y. Sister Baltazar came here and she has been out a grand total of 2 weeks. I was stuck driving in CRAZY Pittsburgh and making sure we had enough to do during the day.

I've decided I can't train. Yup, too stressful haha! But she was sweet and just went with my crazy ideas, even after it down-poured for a good, solid hour. We also got to meet with a referral from a different area (finally!!) named Laurie. The first time we were talking with her she was saying she didn't know when she wanted to get baptized because her work schedule was a little hectic. Oh, ok. haha!

Wednesday, Sister Baltazar and I went and street contacted and yeah that didn't work so well. Sister B was so upset that people weren't listening. All I could say is "Welcome to Pittsburgh." We went to visit Mercedes next and she kept asking if we were the Jehovah's Witness girls. And again, no. Not even close. We taught her the 1st lesson and she kept interrupting us with nonsensical things as Sister B was trying to relate the 1st Vision. I'm not really sure what Heavenly Father has planned for her but she is obviously very special.

So we kept teaching. I finally got Sister M back in the afternoon, had dinner with Sister Getty and her very intimidating, non-member, husband. It was nice haha! He had never let the missionaries come over for dinner before so this was a big deal. He started to warm up to us after a while. Then we went to our BOM discussion group and had 3 people there again. Awesome.

Thursdays are just not our days apparently. Sister M napped all morning, she is simply exhausted all the time. We tried to visit people from 12 on but no one was home. We came home around 4:30 and she passed out again. Until quarter 'til 9. I called President and said I was concerned about her and he said that if she woke up before 10 to call him. She did and he said essentially that if she couldn't stay awake, she would need to go home. This terrified her because this week is the week she had to leave to the Philippines. So we are working hard on keeping her awake. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. (: We are running and eating way healthy. (We still don't oppose chocolate being sent though haha!)

Friday, we weekly planned which was a little difficult because we have 1 investigator. Mercedes is no longer investigating the Church. We felt that she wasn't progressing to the benefit of herself. We said she could call us and we would come back to teach her but we won't meet with her regularly. We went to Sister Rosa's for dinner and she showed us her cats and her piano music. Haha! What an interesting night that was.

 We visited Laurie again but she seemed a lot less receptive and when we asked her to be baptized on July 27th she declined. We were a little frustrated but we will keep working with her.

Saturday was funky. We got a call from Elder Nelson and he asked us to help move a less active family from their ward to ours. (The Elders in our area were in NY moving a missionary apartment). So we did. But being girls, we weren't much help. Haha! But we were happy to being wearing t-shirts and pants. (Let the sisters serve!! We like pants a lot!!!!!)

We were having lunch back at our apartment. I was making a smoothie and Sister M was in the living room, sitting on the back of a chair looking at a map we have taped to the wall. I hear "La la la la ––AHHHHHHH!!!!" (she was singing something.) I about died laughing! The chair had tipped over and she freaked out. Holy girl scream–it was hilarious! haha! (: She is the comic relief most the time. We tried to contact some more people, no luck, went to dinner at the Katchmark's house and then came home and wrote thank you cards to all the people who fed us this week. Thank you cards make you feel better. (:

Sunday. Day of rest my eye! The ward members keep getting offended because the dinner appointment sheet keeps getting mixed up. They get mad at us for canceling and it is a huge nightmare.

We also had a LA ask us to not stop by because she didn't want anything to do with the Church anymore. Don't be offended. No one is perfect and the missionaries are just trying their best. Despite the stigma, we are people too. We like to be appreciated and told that we are doing a decent job.

It has been a rough week and as I was going to bed last night, I was thinking about how I didn't know how I was going to survive the next 15 and a half months. I kept thinking that I couldn't take the heartbreak of people rejecting Christ. As I was laying down, our phone goes off. Our district leader texted saying we were doing a good job and that we shouldn't be so hard on ourselves. Ummmmm yeah I would say that was a tender mercy.

I have realized that my testimony is made up of miracles or visions of beyond the veil. My testimony is made up of all the tender mercies that the Lord has shown me. I know this gospel is true and that my Savior lives. I know Heavenly Father hears and answers even our quiet thoughts. I know He loves me as His daughter.

Here is to a new month and a new week! Happy 4th of July!! (:

Love,

Sister Crockett

This was the weather yesterday...simply insane here haha! and like 85 degrees all the time d: