A back and forth email conversation between Julianne and her mother...

*Julianne:

Dear Mother, 

My companion is in a pickle. She can't remember some historical fact and it is killing her that she can't Google it. We were wondering if you could assist. 

She wants to know the name for the place where scholars have determined that civilization started. Between the Tigeris and Euphrates rivers. She thinks it's called the "something cradle" but she can't remember. If you would be willing to look that up really quick, I know it would ease her mind tremendously. 

XOXO 💕💕

*Mother: {Various long-ish answers relating to the "Cradle of Civilization" and info on early civilizations in river valleys such as Sumer (Mesopotamia), Egypt (Nile), China (Yangtze) and India (Ganges), etc.}

*Julianne: 
She says thank you. 

Also I say thank you too. 

Also I love you. 

*Mother: Did that answer her question then? Or do I need to google more specifically for something else? 

I love you too. 

*Julianne: 

No, that was perfect. 

When you send me the wedding photos can you just upload them to the google shared account? I want to have them forever, and sometimes my tablet deletes the photos I download from emails. I can still go re-download them, but it is a hassle to try and find them. 

*Mother: {Uploading oodles of formal bridal shots to Julianne's google account...}

*Julianne: 

Thank you. 

I like Rebekah's necklace.

Also, could you please spend me the itinerary for the wedding day? I would like to be aware of what y'all are doing throughout the day. Especially the time of the sealing. 

I will try to send a picture of me in my blue maid of honor dress.

*Mother: The necklace matches her ring almost exactly! She and Tanner went shopping a couple days before pictures and were delighted to find it. When Rebekah told Tanner that she wanted a small necklace to wear with her wedding dress, he decided that would be his Valentines Day present to her. 

-Rebekah and Tanner arrive at the Bountiful Temple at 12:15 (2:15 Eastern Time)

-Guests start arriving at 1:00

-The sealing begins at 1:30 (3:30 ET)

-We’re assuming we’ll be out taking pictures by 2:30 (4:30 ET)

-Dinner is at 4:00 (6:00 ET)

-5:30-6:30 we will be switching over from dinner to reception. Rebekah will likely be sprucing up her hair and make-up with Morgan. The rest of us (me, Dad, Brandon, Lilian, bridesmaids, Tanner’s parents, etc) will be putting up personalized decor around the room.

-Reception is 6:30-8:30 (8:30-10:30 ET)

-Then around 8:30 we’ll start doing things like cutting the cake, bouquet toss (no garter toss), first dance, Tanner might sing his proposal song he wrote for Rebekah.

-And then whenever we finish up all of that we’ll do sparklers as they leave.

-Then the rest of us clean up like crazy and get home late and fall into bed and hopefully sleep very soundly. ;) (And then get up early because I have to be at stake conference in Bountiful on Sunday morning by 9:00.) 

*Julianne:

Sorry I didn't write a weekly this week. The picture of me slumped over is because the restaurant I wanted to eat at is closed on Monday's. 

-----

And so ends the back and forth which was the extent of Julianne's email this week.

What a LOVEly week!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!! 

To celebrate el día de amistad y amor I sneakily decorated H. Hopson's desk with hearts while she was in the shower. Then we went out to Chipotle for a late birthday lunch with a member of the English ward. 

    Later we went to the nursing home as usual to offer service, but since it was Valentine's Day we got to participate in their party! We ran around wheeling people down from all different floors to join in the festivities. They had an entertainer come in and sing old love songs (which were definitely not mission appropriate, but not nearly as bad as the songs we hear at Dunkin Donuts while using their WiFi to do online proselyting) and passed out juice and cookies to the residents.

    That night we ran around heart attacking members of the ward and leaving cookies on their doorsteps on our way to the chapel for the ward family home evening. Bishop taught a lesson about charity, ending by explaining that the greatest love we can share is that of the Savior and inviting everyone to get involved with missionary work (we seriously have the best bishop, what a homie). 

Fun fact: throughout the course of this week, I have had 4 different companions. Scratch that, on Thursday alone I had 4 different companions. I started out the day with my cute little Hermana Hopson, then spent the afternoon in a trio with the English sisters (while H. Hopson was at a doctor's appointment with a senior couple), and then spent the night (and all of Friday) on exchanges with the STL's. 

Saturday night we had the ward Valentine's Day party combined with the Portuguese branch. What was suppose to be a low key affair turned into an all out Valentine dance! Bountiful portions of Latin food, Karaoke, Salsa dancing, and decorations galore. We had an English class student/potential investigator attend who was very distraught when we had to turn down his invitation to dance. Truth be told I was very distraught as well. Latin dancing is contagious! Everyone was up spinning around! Pero esta bien. Yo puedo hacerlo después de la misión.

Have a lovely week everyone! 

XOXO 

Hermana Croft  

I have twenty years!

Well, well, well.

I'm not a teenager anymore. Huh. Weird. 

Thank you for the birthday wishes!

We started out my birthday with a scare from a skunk on the track. And then had a nice long run. (Okay, not that long, but longer than usual. We woke up early to have more time, which is big for me because I don't like mornings or running. But I do love my companion, and it was her hump day.) During which I pondered my life and mentally jammed out to "Fifteen" by Five for Fighting, before heading home to get ready and enjoy a green smoothie for breakfast. I officially turned 20 during studies while reading the Book of Mormon, so that's cool. 

Our celebratory lunch was spent at a local cafe. We ordered a breakfast burrito and chocolate chip pancakes to split; a rather symbolic choice if you really think about it. Pancakes because, I love pancakes and they have generally always been a part of my birthday breakfasts, and a burrito because I have changed since my 19th year; become more Hispanic, learned a little Spanish, etc. My plate was a visual representation of my life right now as a missionary. 

It was a super good week! Lots of rain, but that's good, because I like rain. My companion thought I was a little crazy, but I enjoyed singing and dancing and splashing my way through the puddles on the way to appointments.

The best parts of the week were our lessons with our investigator M----. On Tuesday we taught the Plan of Salvation with the Sunday School President Hermano Cruz as a team up. He was amazing! He befriended M---- easily, casually testifying of the Gospel as they got to know each other, and then helped to explain things during the actual lesson when we got lost in our Spanish. 

Then just last night we met at Hermano Cruz's house and taught M---- the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The entire family was there and they are all now good friends. At the end of the lesson we invited him to be baptized and he said YES! So now we will be working towards getting him prepared for baptism on March 25. Yay!  

Happy Valentine's day everyone! Show someone you love them this week. Here is a scripture for you about the greatest act of love of this world will ever know:

3 Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—

4 Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified;

5 Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life

- Doctrine and Covenants 45:3-5

Christ is love. 

XOXO

Hermana Croft 

P.S. Apparently I woke H. Hopson up several times Friday night because I was sleep teaching the Plan of Salvation... in Spanish..

Happy February!

¡Buenas tardes! 

Things that happened this week: 

*Tuesday was an awesome day of miracles! We met with an investigator and taught her the Word of Wisdom. She was very surprised to hear that we don't drink coffee, but said she would do without her morning cup if it meant she would be more receptive to the spirit. Yay! She is a cute little 80 year old Peruvian woman. 

Later that night we went to an apartment complex in search of a man I found on exchanges over a month ago. When we met him on the street he gave us his building number, but not the specific apartment. We decided to start on the top floor and knock all the doors. No one knew him, or cared to listen to our message till the very last door. There we found an adorable little Colombian lady named D---. She has talked with missionaries before, and was very willing to meet with us. We have an appointment set for this week!

As we were walking out of the apartment building we stopped to hold the door open for two men coming in with a bunch of suitcases. Because it was dark and they were in a hurry, it took me a second to realize who I had just seen. When my brain processed that it was the guy we had been looking for, he was already up a floor and a half. Naturally we raced up after him, gave him a Book of Mormon, and got his correct contact information. Yes! 

*We have been a part of multiple musical numbers this week, the most interesting being the one we were asked to perform as a part of a funeral. The Elders have been teaching a woman who's father passed away this week, and somehow they got put in charge of organizing the program for the viewing. None of the family were members, in fact many seemed to be Catholic, but they didn't have a problem with the LDS church coming in and taking care of things. Bishop directed the service, the Elders spoke about the Plan of Salvation, and Hermana Hopson and I sang "Nearer My God to Thee". We were the only ones dressed up. Everyone else was in a mixture of ripped jeans, t-shirts, and snap backs, including the corpse in the casket. It was really weird. 

*We frequently go into Dunkin Donuts to use their wifi, and we have encountered quite a few characters there. This week we got to know a new regular. His name is J-- and he is little crazy, but his heart is in the right place. Whenever he sees us he always tells us to be safe, that he knows God is protecting us, but it's Satan's domain out there and we best be watching ourselves, etc. This week he took it up a notch. As we sat putting in our lesson plans and contacting people through Facebook, he yelled over to the group of hooligans on their phones in the corner of the cafe. Far from telling them to respect us or leave us alone, as I was expecting due to previous experiences with J--, he charged the teenage boys with watching out for our well-being when he wasn't around. "I look out for you, so you best be looking out for these ladies. When I ain't around, you make sure nobody gives them no trouble" 

*We had six meal appointments this week. Not unusual, but the days got mixed up and so we ended up having a couple days with multiple appointments. I always feel a little sick after two dinners.

My favorite quote from a meal appointment came directly after the woman made me get another serving of potatoes drenched in a cheesy sauce: "Hermana, you better eat some more salad or you're going to get fat!". She started out the dinner by telling us how she always lets the missionaries serve themselves because she doesn't know how much they will want or even if they will like the food. Then throughout the meal she continued to demand that I get more of everything. 

*We had an investigator come to church this Sunday and stay for all three hours! M---- is super cool! We met him street contacting last Sunday and have since had two lessons. I am really excited to keep working with him. Fun fact: we asked him what our accents sounded like, if they were super American or not. He said we we sounded like we were from Spain, but I think he was just trying to be nice. 

*Feeling the spirit work through you is amazing! When you are being guided with what to say, you can see the message penetrate through the distractions of the world and reach their soul. The spirit becomes an almost tangible presence in the room/apartment hallway/street corner. 

XOXO

Hermana Croft 

Exploring the sketchy part of the area. This tree is more bundled up than I am. There was a whole row of them all wrapped up in blankets.  It looked like a forest of Dr Seuss Truffula trees. 

 The bishop and his wife. I love them so much! I strive to be like them!

Food I ate this week. This was the "little snack" our less-active promised us on Thursday because she felt bad when she didn't have any food prepared when we visited her on Tuesday. 

 More food. It's called Lomo Saltado, and it's one of my favorite Peruvian dishes. 

A selfie we took after lots of miracles on Tuesday.  

Also, we got a smartphone at zone conference this week! This is us saying goodbye to the dinosaur.