Monday, January 17, 2011

First week of my fourth transfer!

Mama, Daddy, and Chris!!!

How are y'all doing?! Last week was crazy!! We were snowed in Monday and Tuesday--Sister Fine and I were sooooo stir crazy!! We ended up shoveling driveways, just to get out of the house for a bit! Wednesday was the first day we were really able to get out of the house--we weren't allowed to drive yet, so we decided to try tracting on our street...it was freezing! We knocked on one door, and then we were like, "I can't feel my face...or my fingers...or my feet." So we texted our zone leaders to see if we could drive yet, and they said to pray about it and decide as a companionship. Sister Fine and I both looked at each other and said, "We're driving!" haha, Sister Fine's a good driver!

Anywho, transfers were moved to Friday instead of Wednesday! Sooo...I'm still here in the Hills of Mars! My new companion is Sister Pontius from Beaumont, Texas. I'm having to get adjusted to a new companion after being with Sister Fine for so long--we were super comfortable together. But she's really great, and she was actually Sister Fine's companion in the MTC! Sister Fine went to Powder Springs--not too far away!

So...I think last week I told y'all that we have three baptism dates! Natalie, Fred, and Joe! Natalie has still been coming to church pretty much every Sunday (she's only missed a couple of Sundays), and she's still hoping to be baptized on February 12, if she can get her parents' permission. Her dad has been coming to church with her most Sundays, as well! He's a really nice guy, and he has tons of questions! He's supportive of Natalie, but he's hoping Natalie will wait until she's 18 to be baptized, so that he and her mom wouldn't really be part of her decision...so we'll see how it goes. Please keep Natalie and her family in your prayers!

Fred also set a baptism date for January 29! Fred is 19 years old, and he has a friend who is serving a mission right now. (I want to say he's in Brazil, but I could be wrong?) Yesterday was his first time coming to church--it sounds like he enjoyed it! We're seeing him again on Tuesday night!

And I don't know if you remember Joe, but awhile back, he'd set a baptism date for October 31, but he went out of town pretty much right after we set a date with him. So we didn't see him for awhile, and when he came back home, we could never catch him at home, so we dropped him. But about a week after we dropped him, he called us asking if we could come by and teach him a lesson!! We came by to teach him, and he set a new baptism date, this time for February 26! We're excited for Natalie, Fred, and Joe!! Please keep them all in your prayers!!

The Atlanta Temple is supposed to be dedicated in April!! We don't have a specific date yet, but April's not too far away! And President Monson is going to dedicate it! Oh my goodness, I'm sooo excited for the temple to reopen!!! I hope we get to help out with the open house and dedication! We'll see what happens!

I think that's about it for now...how are y'all doing?! I haven't gotten a letter yet from last week, but it should be here tomorrow or Wednesday. Y'all can still send mail to Sister Cruse's home until about February 20-ish. Time is flying by...it's crazy!! I'm kinda ready for it to warm up, though, haha! People here say it starts warming up near the end of February...can't wait, haha!

Anywho, I sure love and miss you tons!!!!! I think of y'all allllll the time, but I'm staying busy and that helps! :)

Love you!!!!

Sister Crowe xoxoxoxo

Monday, January 10, 2011

Snow Day!!!!!

Hola mi familia!

Guess what?! We are having a snow day here in Georgia!!! It snowed six inches last night!!! Everything has pretty much stopped, so we are just hanging out at the house today, catching up on letters and sleep, yay! Sister Fine has been laughing at how I am with the snow, haha...I can't stop looking out the windows at it!

Sorry for not e-mailing last week! Our p-day was crazy!! We played volleyball with the rest of our district that morning, but then the elders wanted to do jujitsu (sp?) over in Dallas, so Sister Fine and I went to watch the elders...um, choke each other? It was pretty fun, though, haha! And then, the elders wanted to go out to lunch. We were planning on going home to do our normal p-day stuff, but then we realized that Sister Fine didn't have her GPS, and we didn't know how to get back home, haha...so we went to lunch with our elders! And then, we came home to change into our normal clothes ("normal" for a missionary, at least), and we went shopping with Hannah and Sister Collier...oops, I mean Kristen!!! Sooo yup, our p-day was pretty much eaten up. And now I get to catch y'all up on two weeks of stuff, yay!!

Where to start?! Okay, the big news for this week is...we have to find a ride to transfers. Yuppers, we got the call Saturday night. It was pretty hilarious, though. I'd been freaking out pretty much all night waiting for the call from our district leader, and Sister Fine was saying the prayer after we'd planned for the next day, when our phone went off. She finished the prayer and let me answer the phone. It was Elder Howard, our district leader's companion, and the first thing I asked him was if we needed to find a ride. He said, "Congratulations, sisters, y'all get to stay together for another transfer!!" I was freaking out!! But then, Elder Howard was like, "Just kidding, you do need a ride to transfers." Sister Fine says that is the only time she has not seen me laugh at a joke, haha! I was pretty upset, haha! So yeah, one of us is getting transferred...sad day! Sister Fine and I have been together for four months now, and we've gotten super close, especially this last transfer. She's like my big sister! Our predictions for this transfer...we both think that she is staying here in Mars Hill and I'll be going to Buchanan with Sister Nansen...we'll see what happens!!!

It would be neat if I did get transferred to Buchanan, seeing as how I've already been there! We did an exchange New Year's weekend, so I was down there in Buchanan with Sister Nansen, and Sister Mosimane came up here to Mars Hill with Sister Fine. I loooved Buchanan!!! It is sooooo country and redneck, haha! Everyone is related to one another, and there are 101 less-actives in the branch because they're all fighting over a cemetery. Yup! Weird, I know! There is a lot of neat church history there, too! The first Mormon chapel in the Southeastern states was built in Buchanan. They tore it down a while ago, and all that's left is the foundation (I got to see it--it's right across the street from the cemetery that everyone's fighting about). We're all sad they tore it down...I guess there were still bullets in the wall from when the persecution was really bad. Anywho, I definitely made some memories in Buchanan! I got to hold a baby bunny while I was there! There is a family there that raises rabbits...um, to eat them. Yup. I didn't eat any rabbit, but I did eat deer meat--I was nervous, but it was actually really good! Oh, and on my last day there, we went to a funeral for someone's grandmother who had passed away. It had a real Southern preacher! Oh my goodness, I was scared he was going to start speaking in tongues or something, but he didn't...phew, haha! But then, it turned out to be an open-casket funeral...definitely wasn't expecting that! haha, I had a blast in Buchanan, though, and I looove Sister Nansen!!! We're both hoping we get to serve a transfer or two together!

Sister Collier is home!!!!! It was so funny...the surprise was kinda ruined. She found out I was still here (I forget how), but then Sister Fine and I decided that we would try to surprise the whole family. So she called early Wednesday morning (the day we were supposed to have dinner with them) and told them that I'd been emergency transferred to Buchanan, haha! It was pretty fun! We don't know how much they were really surprised to see me that night, but oh well...we tried, haha! It was sooo fun seeing Kristen again, though, especially as she's in jeans now and I'm the one in the skirt and cardigan, baha! Crazy! She gave her "homecoming" talk yesterday--it was so good! She talked about how we need to exercise faith, and she told some stories from her mission (she talked about you, Mom!). Her family's driving to Utah right now...she and Hannah are moving there to go to school. I'm going to miss them sooooo much!!!

Well, shoot! I've spent all this time telling stories, and I need to tell y'all about our investigators! I'm just about out of time, but we have three baptism dates, yay! Natalie, Fred, and Joe! I can't give details now, but I will tell y'all about them next week! I hope I remembered to tell y'all everything else, though! But I sure love and miss y'all tons!!!! I'm happy, though--I love being a missionary! As I'm loving and serving the people here, I am growing closer to my Savior. I love being a missionary!!! :)

Love y'all bunches!!!

Sister Crowe
xoxoxoxo