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
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
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?!?
 |
| 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
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