Soo... it's been a while. Update: I am still a missionary serving in New York. I love it here and I'm pretty sure I will get to stay for one more transfer, so that's good. :)
This week we went down into the city twice. Saturday, to offer service at Ellis Island helping people find their ancestors who came through in the family history section. And Thursday to go to the Manhattan Temple! Yay! The temple was amazing! I feel spiritually recharged and learned more about who I am in God's eyes and how He feels about me. After the session, the members who drove us took us down the street to buy gyros from a street cart. NYC, temple, my favorite members, greek food, basically it was the best day ever.
Our sweet investigator J---- put herself on date to be baptized next month! She is a gem. A couple Sundays ago, she was going through a lot, and asked us if she could speak with the Bishop. He ended up giving her a blessing, after which she bore her testimony and said she already considers herself a member. I love her.
I spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday. The first time I have been able to do so in English during my mission, which was kind of nice. It was a little distracting to hear Elder Nielsen translating everything I said into Spanish right behind me through.
Lots of rain lately. But that's okay, because I like rain.
Hermana Croft
P.s. in case you were wondering, I love my Savior Jesus Christ.
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I got this email this past Thursday:
¡Buenos días mamá!
¿Cómo le vas?
Right now I am sitting in the church parking lot waiting for the Elders to get here so we can all go to the temple! I had a little freak out this morning when I thought my recommend was expired, but then I realized the full use recommends last for two years. #CrisisAverted
I am super excited!
Talk to you later!
Love,
Tu hija
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And then, we got to talk to Julianne a week ago on Mothers Day. She "called" us on Facebook Messenger from the ward house where her companion, Hermana Byron and two other elders were also chatting with their families. It was SO good to see her face and hear her voice! Here's a few odds and ends from our conversation:
* She says President Hess (the mission president) has recently learned she can sing and has been insisting she sing more, even going so far as to set up musical numbers in district meetings. (She keeps trying to remind him that just because her singing voice is new to him, that doesn't mean she's been hiding it the past 10 months and that in fact she did sing in her last area quite a bit...)
* Being in an area with so many Haitians, and having a companion from Haiti means she is learning quite a lot about the the differences in culture and food, but also hair! Weaves and wigs and extensions, etc. She says its rather fascinating. Hermana Byron lived in Haiti until she was 11 years old. She moved to Miami right after that catastrophic earthquake in 2010 and has told Julianne stories of the horrifying things she saw and experienced.
* Julianne's face when we asked her how she felt about living so close to her favorite city on the planet:
She says it's absolutely wonderful living in New York and knowing she is a hop, skip and jump away. Or a quick drive across the bridge...which isn't recommended really, because that means she's in a different mission at that point, but something she has done accidentally a couple of times now. Apparently many missionaries have made similar mistakes in navigation and found themselves in a one-way situation that they can't get out of until after crossing the bridge. ;)
* Her companion teases her about being "curve challenged"...or something like that. She's the designated driver of the companionship and apparently misses turns a lot. Thank heavens for GPS that re-routes for her.
* She says her area of New City and Nanuet, New York are absolutely beautiful and she loves the trees that line all the streets. She also enjoys seeing the Hudson River pretty much every day.
*She's thrilled that it looks like she and Hermana Byron will be able to spend another transfer together in this area. (It'll be Julianne's 3rd transfer in New City, and Hermana Byron's 6th. I asked how H. Byron felt about that, but Julianne says she requested it. Apparently President Hess takes their requests into consideration, but made H. Byron promise that after this next 6 weeks, she'll let him send her elsewhere. She's spent her entire mission in New City so far. But she's been incredibly helpful there, being one of the only missionaries that speaks Creole in this heavily Haitian area.
* Julianne says she has been learning a bit of Creole herself and even shared a few phrases with us...mostly things like introductions and small talk. She and her companion teach a lot more lessons in Creole and English in New City. She says she really only sees the Spanish members on Sundays and misses speaking Spanish more.
* Of all her areas so far, she has loved Kearny/Newark the most. Go figure? Maybe because she was so much more immersed in the Spanish language there? Or maybe she just loved the adventure of living in the actual "armpit of America".... ;)
* At a dinner appointment with a member a couple of weeks ago, Julianne was delighted when she was served roasted potatoes, made in the exact same way that I make them at home (with Lipton soup mix). On Mothers Day they were invited to this home again for dinner and this member made the same potatoes specifically for her. "Hermana Croft gets the potatoes first because they are her special potatoes." And then made a comment about though she couldn't be with her own mother on Mothers Day, at least she could eat her mother's potatoes. And then gave her a big hug. How kind!
* She compared daily mission schedules with Rebekah and Tanner. Mission schedules/routines have changed a bit recently and they were very envious of the different ways Julianne gets to use her time in the evenings.
After chatting with the whole family for about 50 minutes, everyone else left he room so that Julianne and I could have some one-on-one time. The two of us talked for another 30 minutes or so. More personal and sweet mother/daughter conversation. She talked about daily adventures, joy and laughter...but also the discouragement, tears and struggles. A mission truly is a roller coaster of emotions. The best two years, but also the hardest. (Or 18 months in Julianne's case.) It was so good to have the opportunity to really talk in a way that's hard to do over email. Ultimately, Julianne is so happy and so grateful to be serving a mission. She loves all the people she is meeting and getting to know so many different cultures. And she loves how much she is learning about herself and the gospel, the ways in which she has grown and strengthened her testimony.
This was our last skype with Julianne...she comes home in 7 months, just a few days before the next skype is scheduled for Christmas, which means we only get two skypes total. But so much better to have her in my arms than chat over the computer, yes?
Outtakes:
We told her she should back up a bit so we could see her whole body and what she was wearing, but she was struggling a bit to get out of her jacket.
Every single one of us look bad in this picture, except maybe Bryan and Oscar? hahaha!
