(So Sis. Crockett emailed today but was "too busy" to send a big email. "Sorry mom!" She said. Apparently she had too much planned today for p-day. She said she will tell me all about it in 17 days. Lol!
I did ask her for one story and this is what she shared. What more could a mom ask for?! Enjoy!)
Last Sunday we went to Lovely's surprise birthday party. It was actually a dinner and we went with Sister Machowiak. We surprised Lovely and everything was going well. Then her cousin walks out with 2 bottles of wine. Ummm awkward. We are talking around it as it gets passed around. Then Lovely sees it and says "HEY! We don't drink!" and gestures to me and Sister Sampson and Sister Machowiak. It was awesome to see her stand up for her beliefs amongst all her friends. Almost everyone there wasn't a member. We had an opportunity to speak with everyone about the gospel and a lot of them were interested. Now it's the waiting game! I love being a missionary (:
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Sunday, October 19, 2014
To be Continued...
....who on earth celebrates Columbus Day I ask you?! Geez. Just throws all of our plans out the window ahaha! But we had a good P-day yesterday. We played some super fun games with our district and the Pitt 2nd Elders. Mostly volleyball because it involves less running haha! We had a blast though! And silly us, we forgot to take pictures! d: Sorry!
But my week....
So Tuesday was long and pretty good. We picked up McKeesport REALLY early so that we wouldn't be late and we weren't!! We were 15 minutes early actually! Surprise, surprise. We had interviews and they were super good. I love the Johnsons. They are so sweet and loving. We had a training on using family history as a missionary tool. I am super bad at it. We tried to role play, but....man I am just no good at it hahaha! We couldn't stop laughing at our silly attempts and contacting people with family history approaches. Basically, we need more practice. We had lunch and then we got to watch.....
MEET THE MORMONS!!!!!
Twice. (:
It was SO good. Oh man. I just cried and cried during the missionary mom. Too real for me haha! And I don't think I thought it was so good because I haven't seen a real movie in over 17 months....just saying haha! But for real. If you get a chance. WATCH IT. By the time the movie was over and we took the Elders home, it was late and we still needed to study so that is what we did. Even if I did feel like death haha!
Wednesday we taught Doreen, the lady from last Saturday that called the church. It took a long time and she is definitely in McKeesport's area. But she really wanted Sisters to come and teach her so we are going to have to work that one out. She said that she was open to being baptized if that is what she was supposed to do. So that is something. We went to lunch with Sue and just talked. I love her so much. She is the greatest!!! Sue-per woman indeed. We went home and got cleaned up (so we didn't smell like cigarettes anymore) and then we went and saw Vi for a little bit. The poor lady needs lots of company!! We then went and saw Sister Hoffman for a little bit. She is a sweetheart. For dinner we went out with Brother Alton. Pretty much the coolest old guy ever. He is seriously amazing.
(Mom, I will finish this email next week but I just wanted you to get some of what we did)
But my week....
So Tuesday was long and pretty good. We picked up McKeesport REALLY early so that we wouldn't be late and we weren't!! We were 15 minutes early actually! Surprise, surprise. We had interviews and they were super good. I love the Johnsons. They are so sweet and loving. We had a training on using family history as a missionary tool. I am super bad at it. We tried to role play, but....man I am just no good at it hahaha! We couldn't stop laughing at our silly attempts and contacting people with family history approaches. Basically, we need more practice. We had lunch and then we got to watch.....
MEET THE MORMONS!!!!!
Twice. (:
It was SO good. Oh man. I just cried and cried during the missionary mom. Too real for me haha! And I don't think I thought it was so good because I haven't seen a real movie in over 17 months....just saying haha! But for real. If you get a chance. WATCH IT. By the time the movie was over and we took the Elders home, it was late and we still needed to study so that is what we did. Even if I did feel like death haha!
Wednesday we taught Doreen, the lady from last Saturday that called the church. It took a long time and she is definitely in McKeesport's area. But she really wanted Sisters to come and teach her so we are going to have to work that one out. She said that she was open to being baptized if that is what she was supposed to do. So that is something. We went to lunch with Sue and just talked. I love her so much. She is the greatest!!! Sue-per woman indeed. We went home and got cleaned up (so we didn't smell like cigarettes anymore) and then we went and saw Vi for a little bit. The poor lady needs lots of company!! We then went and saw Sister Hoffman for a little bit. She is a sweetheart. For dinner we went out with Brother Alton. Pretty much the coolest old guy ever. He is seriously amazing.
(Mom, I will finish this email next week but I just wanted you to get some of what we did)
Monday, October 6, 2014
Conference Talks are the Best!
Well, this work has been pretty crazy especially finding out that Sister Sampson used to babysit Daryl and Rhonda's kids when they all lived in Hawaii....umm SO STRANGE. haha!
Tuesday we went out with Sister Hollander and saw Vi. We almost got her son to sit in but he bolted as soon as the scriptures came out. Of course. So after praying that Sister Hollander's car would start (it doesn't start in the rain...), we went to pick up Marissa and on the way to see Eve, Marissa was talking about someone she knew and she said "Well, he's cute...for another girl." She has the most interesting sense of humor haha! and then we went to see Eve. Poor thing is still hanging on. We asked Eve what she had been doing all day and straight faced she said "Picking my nose." Literally, that is what she did all day. haha! Poor thing. We went and saw Laurie and we are still working on her reading. /: We left and tried to see Sister Fitch but she wasn't home so we went and talked with Dena and Marcus for a bit. It was good to see them. I love them a lot still and it breaks my heart that this isn't the time to teach them. ):
Wednesday we went to District Meeting as usual and yeah...ha. Sister Lang met us after lunch and we went to see Sister Fredrick so that Sister Lang could do her visiting teaching! We are so grateful for team-ups. We drove to our dinner appointment and made it back in time for our one member BOM class. Well, when you combine 4 slap happy missionaries who have had really long days with Marissa, you get hysterics. Basically, we'll be teaching the same lesson again next week d: Missionaries are human too.
Thursday we went with Sister Paul to see the Hoffmans but because of a miscommunication we scheduled the appointment for later. We ended up seeing Sister Braddy and reading from Elder Holland's conference talk in April, "The Cost--and Blessings-- of Discipleship". It was super good. We then went to the Senior Center and because of another miscommunication, we had to make 15 meals stretch to 26. Fun stuff. Living the exciting life! We saw the Humberts after lunch and I am having a really hard time trying to help them understand the gospel the way that it is meant. I feel like I am not teaching clearly. We saw Sister Hoffman after that and we had a super good discussion with her about Elder Rasband's conference talk. Conference talks are the best (: We got a deeper appreciation for Sister Hoffman and the challenges that she is facing. If it weren't for the Atonement of Jesus Christ, there is no way I would be able to feel that much love for people. We had an awesome church history lesson at the Kerry's house when we went for dinner. It was pretty crazy. This area has so much history and all in one very small 96 year old lady. SO incredible. Sister Kerry's mom was here when the church was started in this area so we got to hear a lot of stories. We went to see Sister Fitch after dinner and the Elders wanted to meet her (they are jealous of how cool she is and that we are her favorites (; ) so they came with us. She is a riot.
Friday we saw Sue after weekly planning and caught up with her since she left this week to go help some family near Ridgeway, PA. Well, that woman is one incredible fighter. She is so strong and such a rock. I don't know what I would do without her. She is such a good example of enduring to the end. I am so inspired whenever I am with her and hear of her different experiences. We tried to see Menolly but Sister Braddy was at work and so we only got to talk to her outside in the rain. Poor thing was having a rough day but she was seemed happy to see us. We went to see Tim and Tonja and it went pretty good. They are really looking forward to the temple. (:
Saturday was just wow. General Conference was AWESOME. I love it as a missionary so much!! it's seriously the best thing in the world! We even got a call in between sessions from a lady that wanted us to meet with her so she could learn more about what we believe. We set up an appointment to visit with her on Wednesday morning! (: After the sessions we got invited to have dinner with the priesthood (they were having a chili cook off) so we ate and then sat in the family history center with the computer on listening to the priesthood session. We didn't hear it all, but it was super good. I have so much respect for the priesthood. Props to all worthy priesthood holders. Thank you for striving to live up to your call! (:
Sunday we went to the Ader's for breakfast and then watched conference with them. They are really sweet. We then went to the Mosser's to finish conference. As we were getting ready to sit down and watch it, one of the kids ran in screaming and holding his finger. He had cut it on a huge clay pot that he was trying to empty. It was super deep and so they took him to the emergency room. Turns out, he may have cut the tendon and nerve but he should be okay. It was so intense. We helped out around the house so they didn't have to worry so much when they got back but we can only do so much.
It was a pretty crazy week, but it was super good. I am really excited to continue serving for my remaining time. I pray for you each night and hope that you are doing super well!! Have a wonderful week.
Love,
Sister Kaitlyn Crockett
Friday, October 3, 2014
Can Life Get Better? I Submit that it Cannot.
Well, this has been one heck of a week that is for sure!! Everything has been up in the air and back and forth and running around like chickens with our heads cut off. I am sure you are SO stoked to hear all about my craziness hahaha!
Tuesday was transfers. We found out early that Sister Jones would be going to Gettysburg so we celebrated a little. We drove to Greentree by ourselves which was super nice it turned out. I love that girl so much. We took some last minute picks and partied it up with some frozen hot chocolate and tried not to cry on the way there ha! Ya do what ya gotta do. We tried to meet up with Sister Rock and Sister Toupin for lunch but there is a reason they are walk sisters haha! No parking. So we dropped them off in a super sketchy area and booked it to the transfer meeting. I got my new companion, Sister Sampson. She has been out 7.5 months and is super sweet. Her dad was in the military so she has pretty much lived everywhere. It's going to be an interesting transfer that is for sure! We dropped off Sister Sampson's luggage then went to our dinner appointment. We also had a family home evening set up with the Kerry's to watch 17 Miracles with some widows in the ward. Instead, only their non-member neighbor showed up. Hey, ya win some. (:
Wednesday we had district meeting and we got Uniontown back in our district. Elder Coke, who was my district leader once in Pitt 2nd, is now in my district again. SO weird to see people you have previously served with. But it's kinda fun. Well, after lunch, we had to try some formers and ended up tracting when we found out that they all had moved. Awesome. haha! But the 2nd to last door we knocked on asked us to come back at a specific time the next day. SCORE. I was so pumped. The last door we knocked was a little less nice haha! We saw Vi and read the Book of Mormon with her and gave her a challenge to study from the BOM every day until we come back in a specific chapter. We'll see. We also saw Lovely and talked about the Plan of Salvation. She is such a rock star. We also saw Menolly and taught her about the Priesthood, temples and family history as well as eternal marriage. She was super hyper. We went over her baptismal program and then I asked her if she wanted Brother Tolliver to confirm her the following day. She blinked and said "No. Elder Martin. Can he do it??" I about fell over laughing. "Yeah, he can do it..."Then she started giggling. I think we might have a situation on our hands haha! She is just mildly obbsessed with him hahaha! We went to dinner at the Halsels. I love them so much. They are SO great! (: But Kajhia was pretty upset when she found out Elder Jackson had been transferred. She yelled "Why didn't you stop him?!" cuz we have that much control hahaha! Oh man. I love that family.
Thursday we tried to see the potential that said we could come back but she wasn't home ): Just our luck. Maybe she will be home some other time! We went to the senior center and helped out there for a little bit. We got some groceries and came home and took a nap. Lunch is the best haha! We saw Sue and ended up talking to Bella, Dena and Marcus' little girl (remember them?!) I miss those kids a lot. Dena wanted us to come over but our schedules didn't work so well. We saw Eve for a bit then tried to catch Menolly. It was a hit and miss kind of day. We tried to find Tonja so that she could get a ride to the Relief Society dinner, but it didn't happen. The dinner was awesome. Lovely's sister in law, Christian, and her sister came. The sisters were super friendly and they said that they wanted to come to church so hopefully next week!! (:
Friday we did Weekly Planning which is always super challenging when you are the only one that knows the area. It went okay but we ended up going back to the senior center to help out with their pizza party. Pizza, coke, and oldies. Can life get better? I submit that it cannot! Living in a senior's paradise right there haha! Sister Paroda asked us to come with her to see Sabrina but she had to work so we didn't get to. It was a huge bummer and Sister Paroda said we weren't allowed to drive there at night /: Oh well. We gotta listen I guess. We did get to see the Hoffmans and Brother Hoffman was happy to see us. So it was a really good visit. When we were getting ready to go he told us "Don't go. You are the only peace we really get all day." I am 98.7% sure he was being sincere haha! I am going to take it that way (: We went to the Boni's and got stuck waiting for the Elders to show up for 30 minutes. It made us late to our appointment with Laurie and so that was super disappointing. But Laurie wasn't too bugged. She was really glad we came and we committed her to be baptized on November 8, 2014. Unfortunately, that is only 3 days after I go home, but it is more important for her to be solid in her testimony and coming to church consistently than for me to see her baptized. Whatcha gonna do? It's God's work, not mine.
Saturday was HECTIC. We had so much to do. We updated records in the morning then picked up the baptismal programs from Sister Fredrick. We taught Jackie about the law of chastity. She is married and has grandkids so that was fun....ha. We finished up Menolly's lessons and gave her a hug for good luck. We went to the church house and cleaned and filled the font. We got everything together and somehow it came together. It's super good to know that Heavenly Father is so involved in our every action, especially as missionaries. Cuz that would have been a total flop had we not had Divine Intervention haha! After the baptism we got to watch the General Women's broadcast and it was SWEET. I loved it a lot! There were so many good things from it! Oh, I loved it. "God knows more than we do."
Sunday Menolly was there bright and early and she got confirmed. Thank goodness! She is so goofy in public but she really does have a testimony. I know she does. She has shared it with us before! (: We ended up teaching Gospel Principles because the teacher was gone and the Elders had to give a blessing. Seriously, I have never been so grateful for the Spirit in my entire life. We came home and I just crashed hard core. I love sleep hahaha! We tried to see the Braddy's to see how they thought things went, but no one was home. We met the Elders at the church and drove to the Hollanders who are from AZ!!! Represent! (: We got to see Tim and Tonja after dinner and talk with them. They are doing so well!!! (:
SO as you can see, this week has been a tad crazy. A lot of adjustments and change. Not necessarily bad, just different. It is good to know that God is in charge. I know that He makes changes so that we can grow. This time will be one of growing and learning and stretching and adapting, but I know that I will be a better person for it.
I love you so much and want to thank you as you continue to support me out here! I couldn't do it without you!
Love,
Sister Kaitlyn Crockett
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Good news and bad news
This week was SOOO long. Like SO long. The days went by fast, but it took us a long time to get to this point. I am not sure why. But I have some bad news (well bad for me ha) I'll share it in my Saturday section...
Tuesday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!) we went to exercise class and one of the Elders' less actives dropped off her baby so that Sister Martin could watch him for a bit. So afterwards we had to drop him off and since we got a ride with Sister Martin it ate away at our day unfortunately. After we got through with our studies and looked less like the walking dead, we saw Eve and she informed us that she was told that she might have a clot in her leg and so she needed to go to the hospital. Well, she couldn't do that until her meals were delivered (obviously!) so we helped her pay some bills, packed up her overnight bag and made her promise to call us when she got to the hospital because we were running late for our dinner appointment. We went to the Machowiaks and had our UBER trunky zone leader with Elder Martin on exchanges. Elder Leavitt goes home on the 23rd so he was pretty excited about that. haha! After dinner, we went to visit Menolly and confirm her baptismal date. We talked about how she wouldn't be able to be confirmed until AFTER General Conference if she got baptized on the 28th. That made me SUPER nervous....and so we talked about alternatives. But so far she is doing awesome and ALMOST ready to be baptized!! (: We also visited with Sister Honick who is active, but she needs a lot of support so we do what we can!
Wednesday we made muddy buddies for district meeting as a good bye for the people who may get transferred in this next transfer meeting. We didn't really think too much about it but we had to use a whole box of cereal because there would be 6 Elders coming haha! During DM we had an interesting activity where we prayed about where the Lord wanted us to be and who He wanted us to talk to. So we prayed and got a few leads. Sister Cook came out with us to go visit Aja and so we got to talk with her about the gospel for a bit. Turns out, her husband Greg is becoming more and more open. We aren't going to push it, but he had a really good talk about it. We had a little bit of a mix up in our team-up times and so our next team-up had to cancel. We were left with a good solid hour and a half and that doesn't really fly, so we figured we would give our new finding leads a try and contact those people. Well, we seem to be SUPER out of tune haha! We did talk with more people though. That was a pretty good thing! I think those type of activities are cool, but it's mainly just to increase my faith and help me get out of my comfort zone. If I have an objective, then I know that it is something I can accomplish verses just aimlessly knocking on doors. I don't know, I am a weird missionary haha! We also saw Lovely and got to talk with her for a little bit. She said some really interesting things that I have been thinking a lot about lately. They meant a lot to me. Members are so inspiried; especially recent converts. We then went back to the church and, as instructed by President Johnson, we worked on our family history. We are supposed to catch the Spirit of Elijah and also collect stories from our ancestors. Sooo any help that I could get with stories about people from my 4 generation pedigree chart would be awesome (Mom, Dad, Grandpa and Grandmas and their parents! (: ) We had Book of Mormon class and it went alright. Tim teased me because we were talking about Captain Moroni and I love him. haha! We were writing down attributes and Tim said "I believe, he was faithful...to his wife." and the jokes continued. I just rolled my eyes. Some people like celebrities, missionaries like scripture heroes. haha!
Thursday we went to the senior center. oh man. Gotta love it there. They are crazy people. Afterwards, we went to lunch with the Scotts. They are so AWESOME. They are both converts but have been members for over 40 years....so basically I was trying to get around saying this but.....they are old. haha! But you wouldn't have guessed that by the way they were talking haha! I love them. Sister Scott was being sassy to Brother Scott about the tip and so Brother Scott folded his arm and started wiping his mouth...with his middle finger. We were laughing so hard! You just don't expect an 80 year old man who has served a mission with his wife and works in the temple to do that! But it was SUPER funny. And bad. Don't do that kids...so after that fiasco, we went to visit Vi because she has been MIA for so long. We had a good little chat with her and then went and taught Menolly again. Last week when we taught her the law of chastity, we talked about modesty and doing head, shoulders, knees, and toes to check to make sure your clothes are modest. Well, she wasn't wearing a modest shirt and when we showed up to do a review she told us right up front " I don't pass the modesty test!!!" She laughed and said that she would pick out a better shirt next time. I legitimately love this little girl. She is so smart! We talked about tithing with her. She just gets it. She is awesome. So then we had dinner with the Machowiaks again. Then it was time for us to go with Meg and see Laurie. I love both of these ladies to death!! I just wish that Laurie got it a little bit better. We are going to have to teach her more effectively in the future. When we showed Meg where Laurie lived, she said "If you had told me we were going to Monessen at night, I would have been packing!!" She was serious too! hahaha! I love this ward a lot.
Friday was weekly planning and we felt pretty confident neither of us were leaving. It went fairly quickly and we both planned on seeing our plans through for the week. Done and done. We went to the Kerry's to drop off some brownies to thank them for all that they do and Sister Matthews (Sister Kerry's mom). She is 96 years old and thinks she can still drive her car. No. way. haha! I like the Kerry's a lot. They are super cool. So after that we decided to do some mormon.org time at the Charleroi library. Well, it was closed, so Sister Jones started texting people and I looked down the street. Walking towards us were 6 HUGE guys and none of them were wearing shirts. I said "Sister Jones, let's...go make plans in the car." So she looks up and sees them walking towards us and agrees. By then, they had seen us and we booked it to our car. They started hollering at us and walking in our direction. We got in the car as they started waving at us to come down. No freaking way. I locked the doors and drove toward Tim and Tonja's house. And that is about as scary as it gets in my mission hahaha! No big deal. We talked to Tim about it and he said not to worry about it, we are always welcome to come to their house if anything like that happens again. We talked about Kianna a little bit. She is in some hot water. Not good stuff, for her at least. Sister Jones and I were relieved to hear it. We went to dinner after visiting with them for a bit. Then we went to the Aders and had a lesson with Tanner by a fire. Yup, a legitimate fireside haha! It was sweet. Tanner's parents are starting to ask more questions and look into what he is doing. Leading by example is the way to go! (:
Saturday we did some work on the computer to get everything up to date. It took a few hours but it was totally worth it. Then we went to Tim and Tonja's and talked about missionary work. We took Tonja with us and saw Marissa. She is as funny as ever haha! Love that girl. Our next appointment fell through and so we went and got ice cream with Tonja and just talked about life with her. I think she needed it. Sometimes it is the little things that matter most. Then we went and talked to Brother Ader about Menolly's baptism and some concerns we had. He really helped us get back on the right track. Only by members and missionaries working together is the work going to hasten. Truly, it is just us trying to keep up with the work. The Lord is going to move His work forward whether or not we are involved. But wouldn't it be better to be involved?? now, the bad news. Late Saturday night, we had finished planning and were getting ready for bed. I kept in touch with a few sisters to see when transfer calls would be coming. They came at 9:45....it was really bittersweet. Sister Jones is getting transferred. I am finishing my last transfer in Monongahela with the ward that I love, but without one of my favorite companions. I am really nervous about getting a new one, but I know that it is for a reason. My mission president is inspired.
Sunday was bitter sweet as well. We came early to get a picture with Bisodent (Bishop/President) Paul and well, we ended up cleaning the floor in the girls bathroom because the toilet overflowed. What a disaster. Well, after choir practice, Menolly got her baptismal interview and she passed with flying colors!! She also said that Elder Martin was a goofball...just like her! Haha! well, she's not wrong...haha! So we took lots of pictures and stayed after for a baptism of a little girl. Both Menolly and Tanner stayed for the baptism! It was super good! We went to the Aders and had lunch with them and Sister Jones and Elder Jackson said good bye. Then we had to go to the Mosser's for dinner. SOO MUCH FOOD. It was good, but I was SO full. Well, in between the two meal appointments, the Elders locked their keys in the car...so an hour and a half later...we finally made it to the Mosser's. It was a mad house there but it was a lot of fun. I like them a lot.
SO that was our week! A lot of ups and downs but good things happened. It will be a trying week but good things are to come I am sure!! Wish me luck!!
So, this is an awesome quote in PMG by then Elder Henry B. Eyring. I read it in my studies and I hope that you enjoy it!! "The Lord sets His standards so that He can bless us. Think about those blessings: He promises those who meet the standards the help of the Holy Ghost. He promises personal peace. He promises the chance to receive holy ordinances in His house. And He promises those who endure in living His standards that they will have eternal life....Because we love the people we serve, all of us want to do better in lifting our Heavenly Father's children to the faithfulness and purity they need to have all the blessings of the Lord....You begin by holding up the Lord's standards clearly and without apology. And the more the world drifts from them and mocks them, the bolder we must be in doing that".
I love you!! Have a great week! You are in my thoughts and prayers!!
Love,
Sister Kaitlyn Crockett
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Departing Testimonies
This week has been a little bitter sweet I have to say. There were lots of ups and downs, but luckily not too emotional. It was just very dramatic in our work and experiences. Overall, it just went really really, really fast.
Tuesday we had zone conference so we picked up McKeesport FREAKING early because there was NO way we were going to be late again. Well, Pittsburgh traffic disagrees, so even with 30 minutes extra, we were still 10 minutes late. Tell me how that works haha! We were instructed by President Johnson to wear proselyting clothes (aka white shirts and ties for the Elders and skirts for the Sisters) at ALL plausible times. SO you would expect with a softball tournament this weekend for the Pittsburgh stake, plausible to not wear pros. Nope. Supposed to wear a skirt. But I'll get to that in a bit. We couldn't help but laugh and be obedient. After lunch we had departing testimonies...yup. I was one of them. I felt SO sick (not because Sister Jones and I caught a cold this week) but with the thought that that was my last zone conference and I am going home. I hugged Sister Cook so tight and asked her where on earth our time went. She shrugged. It's gone too fast. We eventually left on the long rush hour traffic back to McKeesport and then to our dinner appointment at the Langs.
Wednesday was a weird day all the way around. We went to Sue's to check up on her and it turned out to be inspired. Who knew right? Her family is going through a lot right now so we focused on what we do best: talk about the gospel! It was a really good visit. Then we had a lunch appointment with Sister Machowiak and the Braddy's. Sister Braddy is doing amazing!! We are so happy with the progress that she is making! Brother Braddy on the otherhand....well, he told us that he believes in the possibility of a higher power...but for all he knows he made us all up in his head. Needless to say, it was an interesting conversation.....When we couldn't explain things to him, I felt prompted to just bear testimony to him. I looked him in the eyes, with little kids running around and the door bell ringing, and said "I know without a shadow of a doubt that God is real and so is His Son, Jesus Christ. Without the Atoning grace of my Savior I would not be here right now telling you this." And that was that. I am so grateful for the Spirit and promptings from our Heavenly Father. There is no way we could even function as 20 year old kids/missionaries and still manage to help people find the truth. No way. Next we went to Eve's. Silly silly Eve. I love this lady a lot. We then went to the church and met Rachel for a team up. We then went and talked to Aja for a bit! She is expecting a baby!! (: We were really excited for her! After catching up with her we went to BOM class. It was pretty good....I just wish that more people came!
Thursday we went with Sister Martin the Relief Society President, and saw Sherry. We asked her what was new and she said that she was moving. We asked her when and she said tomorrow. Oh. Okay. It was super awkward. We read from the Book of Mormon and then said goodbye to her. Next we went to the Hoffman's and talked with Sister Hoffman for a bit. She is really sweet and wants to come back to church but Brother Hoffman's health is so poor. It's a sad situation. After dinner we went to see Laurie. And Laurie wasn't there. We talked with Lovely for a bit about the changes that happened at stake conference. WE explained that because Bishop was called to be the 1st counselor that there will need to be a new Bishop. She volunteered for the job haha! We explained that it didn't quite work like that...haha! Laurie finally showed up and we talked for a bit. We need to get reading the Book of Mormon with her, but she is so busy that it is hard to catch her in general!
Friday after weekly planning we went with Sue and saw Jackie. She is doing pretty well. But with her grandkids over it was a little harder to get a good lesson in. But it was still pretty good. We talked about baptism and confirmation. We also saw Vi finally! She has been up in Erie for a month and we had no idea! d: So strange! And she'll be leaving again pretty soon, but she is doing pretty well. The Elders had a scare with bed bugs...our whole mission is having an issue and we told them that if they gave us bed bugs that they would be the ones to come and clean our apartment. They weren't too fond of that idea haha! The scare turned out to just be a flea, but still disgusting! We went and taught Menolly about the 10 commandments. She is keeping ALL of her commitments and is doing SO well! It looks like she will be able to be baptized at the end of this month! We got to work on reading the Book of Mormon but as long as her mom is progressing in the gospel, it looks like Menolly will as well!
Saturday was WAY fun! The stake softball tournament!! We of course had to have correlation so we texted Brother Wood the night before and moved it to 7 am. Well, the Elders didn't really know that. But we had the same amount of time to get ready and we beat the Elders to the church by 10 minutes and Elder Martin was still tying his tie when he walked in...Pretty sad that 2 sisters had time to straighten our hair, put on make-up AND pick out an outfit in the same time it took one to shower, shave and put a tie on....we had correlation and the Elders were SO out of it. haha! Then the Hoffman's (different ones) had us over for pancakes and deer sausage. Pretty good. Then we went to Washington to play softball...in our skirts. haha! Oh man. We looked RIDICULOUS. All these missionaries were running around all dressed up playing softball or whatever and we couldn't help but wonder what non-members would be thinking when they saw us haha! I played catcher for a bit and the skirt came in handy when the ball bounced off and I could just pick it up and throw it back. But try playing outfield haha! Sister Jones and I were on the left and right side of the field and Elder Hebdon (a zone leader in Pittsburgh) was playing center. Mainly it sounded like..."Hey! Elder Hebdon can you get that one?! k thanks!" "Elder Hebdon, you run raster than us in skirts will you get that one? Thanks!" you get the idea....haha! The Elders were laughing at us but I'd love to see them trying to run and play softball in a skirt! d: President Johnson showed up after lunch and after seeing the state of the white shirts and ties....he regretted his decision haha! We even went ice blocking in pros! We are pro's haha! We ended up playing Ultimate Frisbee and having a BLAST!!! It was a LOT of fun! (: We talked to Tim and Tonja afterwards and got an update on Kianna. Not good, well, for her...but for everyone else, it's a definite answer to our prayers. We came home after our dinner appointment to a La-la Loopsy infestation. Dumb Elders got into our house haha! Those dolls are SO creepy. haha!
Sunday was pretty good. I missed the sacrament last week a lot! We had lunch with the Aders and we were helping cook lunch. Sister Jones and I were making comments about how much we have learned about life on our missions, especially how useful cooking will be (woman jokes aside) even if we don't get married. Well, Preston pipes up and says "Well, I don't think you'll have to worry about that Sister Jones." I about fell over I was laughing so hard. He didn't seem to catch it at all. Oh man. Got to love awkward moments. We did studies then went to Sister Fitch's and had a mini dance party to get her attention...it didn't work. So we just looked like fools. No big deal haha! But we did have fun! (: haha!
So that's pretty much our week. Not too bad, but it was a struggle losing some investigators. But it's all part of the job. I love being a missionary and sharing the gospel with everyone and seeing the Atonement change bad men to good men and good men to better men. I'm pretty sure that is a GA quote from someone, but I don't know who or when it was said. But I do like it. I love the gospel because it brings peace where the world lacks it. The gospel is true and Jesus Christ lives and loves us.
I love you a lot! Thanks for the support!! (: Have a great week!!
Love,
Sister Kaitlyn Crockett
Tuesday we had zone conference so we picked up McKeesport FREAKING early because there was NO way we were going to be late again. Well, Pittsburgh traffic disagrees, so even with 30 minutes extra, we were still 10 minutes late. Tell me how that works haha! We were instructed by President Johnson to wear proselyting clothes (aka white shirts and ties for the Elders and skirts for the Sisters) at ALL plausible times. SO you would expect with a softball tournament this weekend for the Pittsburgh stake, plausible to not wear pros. Nope. Supposed to wear a skirt. But I'll get to that in a bit. We couldn't help but laugh and be obedient. After lunch we had departing testimonies...yup. I was one of them. I felt SO sick (not because Sister Jones and I caught a cold this week) but with the thought that that was my last zone conference and I am going home. I hugged Sister Cook so tight and asked her where on earth our time went. She shrugged. It's gone too fast. We eventually left on the long rush hour traffic back to McKeesport and then to our dinner appointment at the Langs.
Wednesday was a weird day all the way around. We went to Sue's to check up on her and it turned out to be inspired. Who knew right? Her family is going through a lot right now so we focused on what we do best: talk about the gospel! It was a really good visit. Then we had a lunch appointment with Sister Machowiak and the Braddy's. Sister Braddy is doing amazing!! We are so happy with the progress that she is making! Brother Braddy on the otherhand....well, he told us that he believes in the possibility of a higher power...but for all he knows he made us all up in his head. Needless to say, it was an interesting conversation.....When we couldn't explain things to him, I felt prompted to just bear testimony to him. I looked him in the eyes, with little kids running around and the door bell ringing, and said "I know without a shadow of a doubt that God is real and so is His Son, Jesus Christ. Without the Atoning grace of my Savior I would not be here right now telling you this." And that was that. I am so grateful for the Spirit and promptings from our Heavenly Father. There is no way we could even function as 20 year old kids/missionaries and still manage to help people find the truth. No way. Next we went to Eve's. Silly silly Eve. I love this lady a lot. We then went to the church and met Rachel for a team up. We then went and talked to Aja for a bit! She is expecting a baby!! (: We were really excited for her! After catching up with her we went to BOM class. It was pretty good....I just wish that more people came!
Thursday we went with Sister Martin the Relief Society President, and saw Sherry. We asked her what was new and she said that she was moving. We asked her when and she said tomorrow. Oh. Okay. It was super awkward. We read from the Book of Mormon and then said goodbye to her. Next we went to the Hoffman's and talked with Sister Hoffman for a bit. She is really sweet and wants to come back to church but Brother Hoffman's health is so poor. It's a sad situation. After dinner we went to see Laurie. And Laurie wasn't there. We talked with Lovely for a bit about the changes that happened at stake conference. WE explained that because Bishop was called to be the 1st counselor that there will need to be a new Bishop. She volunteered for the job haha! We explained that it didn't quite work like that...haha! Laurie finally showed up and we talked for a bit. We need to get reading the Book of Mormon with her, but she is so busy that it is hard to catch her in general!
Friday after weekly planning we went with Sue and saw Jackie. She is doing pretty well. But with her grandkids over it was a little harder to get a good lesson in. But it was still pretty good. We talked about baptism and confirmation. We also saw Vi finally! She has been up in Erie for a month and we had no idea! d: So strange! And she'll be leaving again pretty soon, but she is doing pretty well. The Elders had a scare with bed bugs...our whole mission is having an issue and we told them that if they gave us bed bugs that they would be the ones to come and clean our apartment. They weren't too fond of that idea haha! The scare turned out to just be a flea, but still disgusting! We went and taught Menolly about the 10 commandments. She is keeping ALL of her commitments and is doing SO well! It looks like she will be able to be baptized at the end of this month! We got to work on reading the Book of Mormon but as long as her mom is progressing in the gospel, it looks like Menolly will as well!
Saturday was WAY fun! The stake softball tournament!! We of course had to have correlation so we texted Brother Wood the night before and moved it to 7 am. Well, the Elders didn't really know that. But we had the same amount of time to get ready and we beat the Elders to the church by 10 minutes and Elder Martin was still tying his tie when he walked in...Pretty sad that 2 sisters had time to straighten our hair, put on make-up AND pick out an outfit in the same time it took one to shower, shave and put a tie on....we had correlation and the Elders were SO out of it. haha! Then the Hoffman's (different ones) had us over for pancakes and deer sausage. Pretty good. Then we went to Washington to play softball...in our skirts. haha! Oh man. We looked RIDICULOUS. All these missionaries were running around all dressed up playing softball or whatever and we couldn't help but wonder what non-members would be thinking when they saw us haha! I played catcher for a bit and the skirt came in handy when the ball bounced off and I could just pick it up and throw it back. But try playing outfield haha! Sister Jones and I were on the left and right side of the field and Elder Hebdon (a zone leader in Pittsburgh) was playing center. Mainly it sounded like..."Hey! Elder Hebdon can you get that one?! k thanks!" "Elder Hebdon, you run raster than us in skirts will you get that one? Thanks!" you get the idea....haha! The Elders were laughing at us but I'd love to see them trying to run and play softball in a skirt! d: President Johnson showed up after lunch and after seeing the state of the white shirts and ties....he regretted his decision haha! We even went ice blocking in pros! We are pro's haha! We ended up playing Ultimate Frisbee and having a BLAST!!! It was a LOT of fun! (: We talked to Tim and Tonja afterwards and got an update on Kianna. Not good, well, for her...but for everyone else, it's a definite answer to our prayers. We came home after our dinner appointment to a La-la Loopsy infestation. Dumb Elders got into our house haha! Those dolls are SO creepy. haha!
Sunday was pretty good. I missed the sacrament last week a lot! We had lunch with the Aders and we were helping cook lunch. Sister Jones and I were making comments about how much we have learned about life on our missions, especially how useful cooking will be (woman jokes aside) even if we don't get married. Well, Preston pipes up and says "Well, I don't think you'll have to worry about that Sister Jones." I about fell over I was laughing so hard. He didn't seem to catch it at all. Oh man. Got to love awkward moments. We did studies then went to Sister Fitch's and had a mini dance party to get her attention...it didn't work. So we just looked like fools. No big deal haha! But we did have fun! (: haha!
So that's pretty much our week. Not too bad, but it was a struggle losing some investigators. But it's all part of the job. I love being a missionary and sharing the gospel with everyone and seeing the Atonement change bad men to good men and good men to better men. I'm pretty sure that is a GA quote from someone, but I don't know who or when it was said. But I do like it. I love the gospel because it brings peace where the world lacks it. The gospel is true and Jesus Christ lives and loves us.
I love you a lot! Thanks for the support!! (: Have a great week!!
Love,
Sister Kaitlyn Crockett
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Go Bold or Go Home
So this week was CRAZY intense and I am SO glad it is p-day so we can finally breathe. It wasn't the good kind of "everyone wants to get baptized intense" but it was still good.
Tuesday we talked with Sister Braddy. She is doing SO good!! It's awesome because at the beginning of Sister Jones' and my companionship we didn't know what to do with her and now she is reading the BOM every night and praying with her kids!! We are so thrilled!! (: We talked with Tanja for a bit then met Kianna down at the library to help her get ready for her job interview. The things we do for that girl. We ate ice cream with her afterwards to congratulate her for getting a job interview. Then we to Giant Eagle and bought some stuff to make brownies for Sue with Sister Fitch. We had a really good time.
Wednesday we went to District Meeting in Mckeesport and then went to lunch afterward. Sometimes I love our district and then other times I wonder what goes through their heads haha! Boys...
Rita came and got us after lunch and we got to spend the entire day with her! I love her a lot! (: We saw Lovely and played with the kids. Then we went and taught Menolly. She is doing good minus the 3-minute attention span. But she is looking to get baptized on the 28th!! Maybe this one will actually stick ha! Then we got ready for dinner. We ate with Ian's parents. Ian is a missionary that was dating Rita's daughter. Ian's parents aren't members so this was a pretty big step. They aren't super interested either, but that's ok. We shared Elder Holland's testimony of the Book of Mormon. It's a little intense, but go bold or go home. haha! It was super good though. We had a nice visit.
Thursday was not according to plan at all. Slightly frustrating but what are you going to do? haha! We talked to Cheran for a bit. Next was the good ol' senior center. We got in and out pretty fast. Which was nice. haha! Luana called us and invited to lunch so that was fun. We got to see them and Juliana for a little bit. I love them a lot! (: We drove to Sue's house and made a cherry nut cake for her anniversary. I am learning SO much on my mission haha! Then we met with Laurie and she is trying to re-arrange her schedule to come to church but it isn't working that well. We will be working on studying the BOM more with her in the future. We then went to dinner at the Cooks.
Friday we did weekly planning then saw Sherry and read the BOM with her. We tried to see Eve, but she wasn't there strangely. So we then updated some teaching records and went to Sister Honich's house and had dinner with her. We left and went to read the BOM with Kianna. We finished the chapter and she got up and left. I asked her where she was going and she responded "Brea's" and walked out the door. Now you have to understand....she is on house arrest. So ya know, not supposed to leave. Then we got Brea's number to try and find Kianna and she barely knew who Kianna was or where she was. She straight up lied to my face. I wanted to cry myself to sleep. Sister Jones and I were so distraught. We found out where she really was and what she was doing. Basically, she did everything we committed her not to do. I don't understand how we invest so much into people and then they can just break your heart like that. It was a rough night for us.
Saturday Sister Jones and I both started to get sick, but we muscled through the day like champs haha! We did mormon.org time with Tanja. She spent the whole time looking up "historic prayers" on mormon channel because she was asked to give the opening prayer at stake conference with 2 General Authorities there. Silly Tanja. haha! We were laughing. She is so funny. So then we saw the Hoffmans. Brother Hoffman at least didn't yell us ha! We ran to Eve's and then were told we had to be at the Elders' apartment in 20 minutes. We had a quick scripture with Eve then went to dinner. We decided to mess with the Elders a little bit since they told us 20 minutes before we had to be at their apartment. Sister Jones and I pretended that we were mad at each other and the Elders squirmed pretty good haha! We got to the Mosser's for dinner and we acted like we were best friends. Then we get in the car to leave and we are fighting again. haha! Poor guys didn't know what to do haha! I know, we probably should be nice, but it was too hard to resist. We had a good laugh. We went to stake conference with Sue and her sister, Sherry. It was really good and all about missionary work. Elder Teh and Elder Kunz were there because they were going to SPLIT the Pittsburgh stake!! What the heck right?! We were SO pumped! One stake closer to a temple!!!!
Sunday we got to Greentree early and sat with Bishop Paul's family. It was a pretty big deal because they haven't added a new stake in the Pittsburgh area in over 30 years! They made the announcement shortly into the meeting. In the Pittsburgh Stake: Monongahela, Oakland YSA, 1st ward, 7th ward, Mckeesport Branch, Uniontown Branch, Greensburg ward, and 3rd ward. Those last 2 were previously in the North Stake. In the brand new Pittsburgh West Stake: 2nd, 5th, and 6th ward, Washington, Wheeling, and Wintersville wards. Then they announced the new stake presidency. For Pitt, a President Peterson (stake president) , President Cavalier (2nd counselor) and as 1st counselor Bishop Paul! ): Sister Jones and I just started crying. How could we lose our Bishop?!?! We learned a HUGE lesson in sacrifice yesterday. Bishop's wife was crying a lot. Poor family has gone through a lot this past year. The oldest Paul daughter left on a mission, the 2nd daughter went to BYU and now he is in the stake presidency. We went to lunch with the Aders then we went to dinner with the Bingers. We talked to Tanja for a little bit. We are trying to get her to see the importance of the temple. We also talked to Kajhia. Her mom doesn't want her to come to our church anymore. ): Week 4 is a beast.
So as I said, we learned a lot about sacrifice. When the Lord calls, you answer. Although I wish things had gone a little bit differently, it's not my opinion that matters. God calls who He needs. The same things goes for me though. I am sure some where shocked that I was going on a mission. But I received a call from the Lord. I am His servant. No one else's. "God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called." The gospel is true.
I hope you have a marvelous week! I love you!!
Love,
Sister Kaitlyn Crockett
Basically
Tuesday we talked with Sister Braddy. She is doing SO good!! It's awesome because at the beginning of Sister Jones' and my companionship we didn't know what to do with her and now she is reading the BOM every night and praying with her kids!! We are so thrilled!! (: We talked with Tanja for a bit then met Kianna down at the library to help her get ready for her job interview. The things we do for that girl. We ate ice cream with her afterwards to congratulate her for getting a job interview. Then we to Giant Eagle and bought some stuff to make brownies for Sue with Sister Fitch. We had a really good time.
Wednesday we went to District Meeting in Mckeesport and then went to lunch afterward. Sometimes I love our district and then other times I wonder what goes through their heads haha! Boys...
Rita came and got us after lunch and we got to spend the entire day with her! I love her a lot! (: We saw Lovely and played with the kids. Then we went and taught Menolly. She is doing good minus the 3-minute attention span. But she is looking to get baptized on the 28th!! Maybe this one will actually stick ha! Then we got ready for dinner. We ate with Ian's parents. Ian is a missionary that was dating Rita's daughter. Ian's parents aren't members so this was a pretty big step. They aren't super interested either, but that's ok. We shared Elder Holland's testimony of the Book of Mormon. It's a little intense, but go bold or go home. haha! It was super good though. We had a nice visit.
Thursday was not according to plan at all. Slightly frustrating but what are you going to do? haha! We talked to Cheran for a bit. Next was the good ol' senior center. We got in and out pretty fast. Which was nice. haha! Luana called us and invited to lunch so that was fun. We got to see them and Juliana for a little bit. I love them a lot! (: We drove to Sue's house and made a cherry nut cake for her anniversary. I am learning SO much on my mission haha! Then we met with Laurie and she is trying to re-arrange her schedule to come to church but it isn't working that well. We will be working on studying the BOM more with her in the future. We then went to dinner at the Cooks.
Friday we did weekly planning then saw Sherry and read the BOM with her. We tried to see Eve, but she wasn't there strangely. So we then updated some teaching records and went to Sister Honich's house and had dinner with her. We left and went to read the BOM with Kianna. We finished the chapter and she got up and left. I asked her where she was going and she responded "Brea's" and walked out the door. Now you have to understand....she is on house arrest. So ya know, not supposed to leave. Then we got Brea's number to try and find Kianna and she barely knew who Kianna was or where she was. She straight up lied to my face. I wanted to cry myself to sleep. Sister Jones and I were so distraught. We found out where she really was and what she was doing. Basically, she did everything we committed her not to do. I don't understand how we invest so much into people and then they can just break your heart like that. It was a rough night for us.
Saturday Sister Jones and I both started to get sick, but we muscled through the day like champs haha! We did mormon.org time with Tanja. She spent the whole time looking up "historic prayers" on mormon channel because she was asked to give the opening prayer at stake conference with 2 General Authorities there. Silly Tanja. haha! We were laughing. She is so funny. So then we saw the Hoffmans. Brother Hoffman at least didn't yell us ha! We ran to Eve's and then were told we had to be at the Elders' apartment in 20 minutes. We had a quick scripture with Eve then went to dinner. We decided to mess with the Elders a little bit since they told us 20 minutes before we had to be at their apartment. Sister Jones and I pretended that we were mad at each other and the Elders squirmed pretty good haha! We got to the Mosser's for dinner and we acted like we were best friends. Then we get in the car to leave and we are fighting again. haha! Poor guys didn't know what to do haha! I know, we probably should be nice, but it was too hard to resist. We had a good laugh. We went to stake conference with Sue and her sister, Sherry. It was really good and all about missionary work. Elder Teh and Elder Kunz were there because they were going to SPLIT the Pittsburgh stake!! What the heck right?! We were SO pumped! One stake closer to a temple!!!!
Sunday we got to Greentree early and sat with Bishop Paul's family. It was a pretty big deal because they haven't added a new stake in the Pittsburgh area in over 30 years! They made the announcement shortly into the meeting. In the Pittsburgh Stake: Monongahela, Oakland YSA, 1st ward, 7th ward, Mckeesport Branch, Uniontown Branch, Greensburg ward, and 3rd ward. Those last 2 were previously in the North Stake. In the brand new Pittsburgh West Stake: 2nd, 5th, and 6th ward, Washington, Wheeling, and Wintersville wards. Then they announced the new stake presidency. For Pitt, a President Peterson (stake president) , President Cavalier (2nd counselor) and as 1st counselor Bishop Paul! ): Sister Jones and I just started crying. How could we lose our Bishop?!?! We learned a HUGE lesson in sacrifice yesterday. Bishop's wife was crying a lot. Poor family has gone through a lot this past year. The oldest Paul daughter left on a mission, the 2nd daughter went to BYU and now he is in the stake presidency. We went to lunch with the Aders then we went to dinner with the Bingers. We talked to Tanja for a little bit. We are trying to get her to see the importance of the temple. We also talked to Kajhia. Her mom doesn't want her to come to our church anymore. ): Week 4 is a beast.
So as I said, we learned a lot about sacrifice. When the Lord calls, you answer. Although I wish things had gone a little bit differently, it's not my opinion that matters. God calls who He needs. The same things goes for me though. I am sure some where shocked that I was going on a mission. But I received a call from the Lord. I am His servant. No one else's. "God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called." The gospel is true.
I hope you have a marvelous week! I love you!!
Love,
Sister Kaitlyn Crockett
Basically
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