¡Buenas Tardes!

This week was a little different from most, so that was fun. We had lots of lessons in the mornings, which was unusual. We are meeting with several different people to teach them, and a couple seem interested in learning about the gospel as well.

The natural disasters have had a big impact on the work here. A lot of the people I talk to everyday are from Mexico and still have family back there. So far all of the relatives of the members in our branch have been fine, but one of our new investigators hasn't been able to contact her family since the earthquake. She has no idea what happened to them. I can't imagine how hard that would be. Just keep the people of Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Caribbean islands, and the parts of America that were hit in your prayers. There was a lot of damage done. Another one of our investigators is actually down in Florida right now helping to rebuild as rapidly as possible. 

Also, General Conference! I am sooo excited! We watched Women's Conference with the sisters this week in the church. I didn't understand a ton at the time, because it was all in Spanish, but I could still feel the spirit. And happiest day: we had an investigator come watch with us, and she loved it! I am excited get answers to my own questions this weekend, but just as excited to share the messages with my investigators and watch as the spirit teaches them. Yay! 

Well, I've got to go now, but remember to smile and be happy this week. Why? Because we have a living prophet who is going to give us revelation from God. It doesn't get better than that.

XOXO 

Hermana Croft 

Questions and Answers:

* You mentioned doing service at the library. What do you do there? And do you do it every week? 

     We do service every week in the library in a neighboring town. We re-shelve books and help put together little craft kits that the kids can do in the after school programs. It is very small, only one room (Grandma Dalton could probably double the size of the library just by herself) but I've grown to appreciate its charm. And discovered many interesting children's book authors including: Julie Andrews, Weird Al, and Jimmy Fallon. 

* Who is the less active that came to the branch activity? Was it the one that you met with at the Soul Kitchen?

     The less active who came to the activity is not the man we meet with once a week in the Soul Kitchen. It is this spunky old women from El Salvador who refuses to speak entirely English, or Spanish, opting instead for constant Spanglish. This throws off Hermana McCoy but is perfect for me! We are meeting with her tomorrow night and she promised to provide Pupusas. Yum! The man we meet at the Soul Kitchen is from Oaxaca, Mexico and is super confusing because he doesn't really want to talk about gospel things, but loves meeting with us every week. He always asks me to sing for him, so we are going to try and get him to come to church by telling him I will be singing. 

* Since you are now in your second transfer, do you get to start driving? 

     Hermana McCoy is still the designated driver. 

* Do you say a prayer every time you get in the car to drive anywhere like Aunt Rachel did when we visited her on her mission? And anytime you back up, does one of you have to guide the driver out of the parking spot? I just remember thinking that was kind of hilarious. And yet, now it makes a whole lot of sense. 

     I am the designated backer-upper. Sometimes people give me super weird looks when I do this. We pray every time we leave our house and before and after every lesson. And if we just haven't prayed in a while and we are about to do some finding in a different area. Basically, we just pray a lot. 

* How do transfers work in your mission? Do you get calls the night before or morning of? If things were changing up, would you all meet somewhere local and then trade companions and areas? 

     Transfers are via a group call with the whole mission. President puts all on mute and then goes through area by area, only reading out the changes. Then the people who are transferred go to Morristown Tuesday morning and have a quick meeting before heading off to their new areas. This is also where all the new missionaries meet their trainers, and all the old missionaries gather to spend a night in the mission home before getting on a plane. 

* Did you get any extra wind and rain from Hurricane Jose as it passed by you on Tuesday/Wednesday? Did you even notice anything different or did it just feel like a normal storm? 

     We got a little rain and wind, but it wasn't bad.

* Did you sing in Sacrament Meeting yet?

     I have not sung yet, it will probably be after General and Stake Conferences. 

Feasting...on the Word and Latin American food

Things that happened: 

* We discovered a very large bug in our supply closet. We tried to catch said bug, and ended up losing it in the process (which was even scarier than finding it in the first place!) But our prayers were answered, and we were able to find and kill him the next day. (By the way, bleach makes a great bug killer. Especially if you don't want to get close enough to actually squish it. I have utilized this cleaning spray method twice now in this apartment). When we were explaining this all to the ladies at the library where we do service, they informed us that this specific cricket eats paper and fabric. So, it makes sense he was hanging out in the supply closet with all the pamphlets and Books of Mormon (Book of Mormons?). He was literally feasting on the words of Christ! 

* The branch activity on Friday went great! Elder Langi (my former Zone Leader, as he was transferred out just today) played the guitar and sang along with me. The members in the audience joined in for the last chorus. And now they want me to sing in church next week. 

* Also about the activity. It was a culture night with our branch, celebrating all the different Latin American countries they come from. Literally every person who came brought some sort of traditional dish from their país. We had food from Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Bolivia, and of course Mexico. It was delicious! The walls were all decorated with flags and streamers. And at the end, 5 couples in the branch performed a traditional Mexican dance. All in all, a really fun night. We even had a less active we have been working with come! 

* Transfers! As a baby, I stay where I am for another 6 weeks with Sister McCoy. 

Love, Me

Adventures

Thank you as always for your email! I love hearing about what everyone is up to. And I was endlessly jealous of your adventure down in Provo with Melissa!* Hermana McCoy was interested to discover that it was merely reading about a concert that caused a multitude of oohs, ahhs, sighs, giggles, and squeaks to escape me. But if I'm honest, that happens every time I read an email from home. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a good adventure...living it is preferable, but I'll settle for reading the adventures of others if need be. And you all have been very adventurous as of late, what with your hammocks, soccer tournaments, and crepes. 

I have been slightly adventurous as well. This week we met with a less active member at the restaurant he works at to eat lunch and then teach him a small lesson. Coolest of all cool things, he works at the Soul Kitchen, a little restaurant owned by Bon Jovi to give back to the community. All the proceeds go to charity and nobody is ever turned away. If they can't pay, they just do an hour of service in the gardens for their meal. And boy do they have beautiful gardens, because everything they cook is 100% organic. I never knew Bon Jovi was such a cool dude. 

Today has also been very exciting! We went to the beach! It is only 20 minutes away from our house. I practiced an old Spanish folk song I will be singing with one of the elders at an activity with the branch on Friday, and Hermana McCoy tossed around a football with the other elder. We also explored a little shop in Red Bank while we waited for our Dominos pizza to be finished. Yeah, it's been a good day. 

 I love love love you all! Just yesterday I pondered on how very blessed I am to have the family and friends I do. I have lived a wonderful life, and had countless great experiences. 

XOXO 

Hermana Croft 

P.S. Also, I love the care package! I got it Tuesday at district meeting and I have already eaten all the lifesavers... :) The socks have been very cozy in the mornings while we plan. Hermana McCoy appreciated a box of the cereal this morning for breakfast. But my favorite part was the letter. Everybody sounded just like themselves in my head as I read it. I love letters! And I love y'all! 

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* My sister Melissa and I went to Provo to see Tony award winner Renee Elise Goldsberry (aka Angelica Schuyler in Broadway's "Hamilton") in concert at BYU. And then afterwards, crepes for dessert at the Roll Up where Julianne used to work. And if you know Julianne, she is a big fan of any and all things theatre and music...especially if it's "Hamilton related. She and I saw Leslie Odom Jr (aka Aaron Burr, also from "Hamilton") last year at the same BYU concert series. Hammocks have to do with Rebekah and Brandon, and soccer is to do with Lilian

A snippet of a funny email conversation between Brandon and Julianne...
Brandon: Hopefully your mission starts going by faster than it is right now because right now, it's going about at fast as a speeding microorganism on the shell of a snail on a salted snowed in street. So, pretty dang slow.

Julianne: Brother my favorite brother! I don't know how you can say time is going by as slowly a microorganism on the shell of a snail on a salted snowed in street, because for me time is speeding away with the swiftness of a _______ (insert your favorite jungle cat here. I usually go for a puma or panther, but I like to switch it up now and then. Of course, cheetahs are the fastest, but where is the fun in that? Everyone always uses cheetahs to denote speed. And the other jungle cats are pretty speedy too, where is their recognition?)

Applying the deodorant

Hola! ¿Cómo está? 

Well things are moving right along here in the Armpit of America. We have been encouraging family history with our members lately. This week we had a senior couple who are family history specialists come to our chapel and work with the members. Everyone who came left with a family name they could take to the temple, and the ward family history specialist was super excited to see so many people there! Since Hermana McCoy has served around the senior couple before, they offered to take us out to dinner before the event. 

Fun fact: whilst at dinner, we discovered that we actually know each other. Mila and Chris Cutler are part of the Culter clan in Centerville, and they remembered dad. Sister Cutler even commented that I look a lot like him. Anyway, they say hi. 

Altogether dinner was delightful, especially because I was able to get me some Asian cuisine. Needless to say, I eat a lot of Hispanic food here, so it was fun to go out and get something a little different. Hermana McCoy was brave and even tried a little bit of my Sushi. However, she was horrified to discover that she had just eaten eel. But she did say that given a choice between sushi, and the cow foot we ate at a members house this week, she would pick the sushi. 

Yes, you did read that correctly. This week I had the opportunity to try cow foot soup. The soup part wasn't bad, sort of a spicy tomato based broth with onions and cilantro. However, I can't say I was a fan of the chunks of cow foot swimming in it. It doesn't have a strong flavor, just a really weird texture. Very fatty, basically all the parts of meat you would cut off were served as the main course. 

We found a really cool lady this week from El Salvador who seems really interested in learning more about the gospel. She even asked us to text her and remind her to read the Book of Mormon at night because she knows it is important and she doesn't want to forget. Unfortunately, other than her and a couple others, we don't have a ton of investigators. We live in a really rich white area, so it is tricky to find people to teach. (Speaking of rich white people: we drove by Bon Jovi's house today. It is really hard to see from the road because of the trees, but he has a really nice, long driveway). 

Spanish is a constant battle, and I'm not really sure who has the upper hand right now. But that's okay, I know it will come with time. And when I take a step back and really think about how well I am able to communicate having only studied this language for 2 months, it is clear the Lord is helping me. 

I have had lots of experiences this week where I have been able to learn a little better how the Lord answers my prayers. For me, it is usually through the Book of Mormon that I receive His counsel. I really love that book. 

Have a good week! 

Hermana Croft 

 A car I found when we were knocking at an apartment complex, looking for a house that didn't actually end up existing. 

(An inside joke that will make a whole lot more sense to Rebekah, Tanner and Jordan...) ;)   

We found these pills when cleaning out the apartment. Missionaries in the Spanish program take care of each other.