A baptism right in time for my one year mark!

Hey Mommy!

I am currently emailing you while eating fried plantains that H. Byron just made. She knows how to make really good Haitian food. 

Responses to your email:

*About that picture of Lady Liberty's old torch...we actually had to wait for a tour to pass before we could take that picture by the abandoned buildings at Ellis Island. The "hard hat" tours, as they call them, look really cool! Apparently a couple sister missionaries have actually been able to go on them for free during slow days in the family search center! 

*The Utah Arts Festival sounds amazing!!!! Do they put it on every year? Because this sounds like something I definitely want to see. I'm sure I would spend many blissful hours there getting lost in the culture of it all. 

*The ward walk-about sounds like a lovely time. I like the concept of it all. And I like that you and dad went out together to socialize. I love the people of the Willow Brook Ward!

*Did you ever do that Sunday night BBQ? H. Byron and I spent our Sunday evening contacting people on the street in Haverstraw NY. It's a cute little town right on the edge of the Hudson. We are probably going to be spending a lot more time there in the future. But more on that later...

*Brandon is quite the adventurous young man! It makes me want to go on road trips with friends and sleep in hammocks up in the trees. As of this week however, I have been spending my nights on the couch. But more on that later...

My week:

J---- got baptized! Wahoo! I'll tell you what though, yesterday was one of the most stressful Sundays I have had in a long time. So many things to think about. So many things to do! 

You start out the morning running around making sure everything is okay with the font, printing out the programs in both English and Spanish, helping the members bring in food for the potluck afterwards, setting up chairs and tables, etc. But you also want to be there for your investigators. Not only the one getting baptized, but all the others you invited as well to watch the baptism. Only once the meeting is actually about to begin and you have a moment to spare you can't even sit by them to explain what's going on because the Elder who usually translates isn't feeling well and you end up sitting on the stand to translate the meeting. And then when the actual baptism starts the children of the ward start running around and causing turmoil and you begin to wonder if the Spirit will even be present and able to testify through all this commotion. 

When surprisingly, they suddenly all heed your whispered pleas to settle down and fix their little eyes towards the front. And you realize the moment you have been anticipating for a year has finally come. Your investigator is in the water about to be baptized. And you can't see a thing! #problemsofbeingfivefeettall 

So you run around to the side and make it just in time. And then the Spirit is there. And everything is okay. And all the things you thought mattered before just don't anymore. Because J---- is crying as she hugs the man who just baptized her and you can see how happy she is. 

Other things that happened this week besides the baptism:

*N---- finally came to church and loved it! The members really welcomed her. 

*Our area got split, resulting in us losing our main proselyting area. But I am excited to switch things up and focus on some of the areas we didnt really spend a lot of time in before. Sadly, all of the Haitian members now live outside our area boundaries so we won't be visiting them anymore.

*I spent half the week sleeping on the couch after waking up at the beginning of the week with itchy red bites all over my arms. I'm still in the process of cleaning my mattress from all the bed bugs that have evidently made a home there. Luckily I fit really well on the couch, so it hasn't made a bad sleeping alternative. #perksofbeingfivefeettall

All in all, it was a good week. 

XOXO 

- Hermana Croft 

Week 51

Hello!

This week was cool. Very service-y. Here are some highlights:

- Monday night cooking, cleaning, watching the children and basically playing mom for a member while she rested upstairs with her newborn baby.

- Wednesday night coordination with the ward mission leader and his wife. They took us out for ice cream and then insisted on driving us around the area in their Masareti. We drove through neighborhoods filled with multimillion dollar houses and caught a glimpse of the New York skyline from the top of a hill. 

- Thursday J----'s baptism started to feel real as we scheduled the time of her interview next week and helped her get started on finding family names to take to the temple. She will be getting baptized next Sunday.

- Friday we spent the whole day at Ellis Island helping in the family search center. I spoke with visitors from Italy, France, Hungary, and Sweden this time. 

- Saturday we didn't even get into our proselyting clothes. We spent the whole day doing service starting at 8am and finishing at 9pm. Our agenda included handing out food to the poor with the Salvation Army, cleaning the chapel with a recent convert, helping a member family pack up to move to Arizona, helping our investigator N---- clean and organize her stuff from her recent move, and moving a full filing cabinet up two flights of stairs for a new potential investigator/referral. Super fun day! I loved it!

- Sunday the Relief Society lesson was taught by one of the Spanish speaking sisters, so I sat up front with her and translated it into English while Hermana Byron sat in the back next to the Haitian members and translated it into Creole. 

XOXO

- Hermana Croft

Pictures:

- me in the back of the Masareti

- H. Byron with the ward mission leader's dog sitting on her lap

- at Ellis Island. There were no spots in the parking lot, so we had to park back on the grass by the old abandoned buildings. We found a broken section of the the torch from the statue of liberty. Cool. 

Greetings from NY

Hey Mommy,

First of all, cutest sign off ever! I love that book.* And I love you! I am currently in IHOP eating unhealthy breakfast food. And you are currently in San Francisco some where. That's what, a three hour time difference? Is your body super confused? 

Okay. Done with IHOP. I feel sick now. I am waiting while H. Byron picks out a present for her previous companion's birthday. 

We did get to watch Pres. Nelson's devotional actually. And we will be doing the social media fast as a mission this week, with the exception of being able to use Facebook messenger to continue our conversations with the people we have already been messaging. 

The zone conference training went fine (we have zone conference once a transfer). And the lesson I taught the second hour of church yesterday to the youth of the ward turned out better than I thought it would. I am getting better at creating quick lesson plans/trainings/talks. This is a good thing, especially because I think the days of merely attending church are long gone for me. I have the feeling from now on I will always be preparing for some kind of responsibly on Sundays. Which I suppose actually started in college, but has been amplified on the mission.  

Home now. We found a present and got our groceries for the week. 

Sounds like you had an exciting week. Rather convenient that you still got to have even numbers because of Tanner. I enjoyed looking at the pictures of them together in the park. Rebekah's hair looks nice. I am now contemplating cutting my own. Also, I just love all of you guys. I'm glad you had fun.**  

This week was pretty normal... at least it must have been, because I don't really remember what we did... and we didn't take any pictures... sorry!

I'm sure we met a lot with our investigator N----, because we see her almost everyday. She had progressed a lot since we met her 3 weeks ago, so that's pretty cool. Yesterday we met/taught A----, a new potential investigator who reminds me a lot of N---- as well. Very knowledgeable about the bible and always open for discussion. Both of them really are seeking truth. We will be going back to see A---- later this week.  

J---- is actually our only Spanish speaking investigator right now. Everyone else we teach in English, something I probably won't do much of when I leave this area. The only reason I am allowed to do so now is because there aren't any English missionaries assigned to cover this area. 

Love love love love 

-Me

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* I signed off my email last weekend with "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." Also, the three hour time difference she mentions...she's referring to the fact that last week I was in Ohio on Eastern time and this week I am in San Francisco on Pacific time.

** We went on a family vacation last week to Cedar Point in Ohio where we rode lots and lots of roller coasters.

We're all on the east coast!

Hey Mommy! 

How is everything? Have y'all made it over closer to the east coast yet? It's fun over here. :) 

I am currently waiting for my oil to be changed in preparation for the car check tomorrow at Zone Conference. Usually I am very excited for Zone Conference. But alas, Hermana Byron and I have been asked to give a training to the zone about goals, and I find myself less enthusiastic than usual. So we will be planning that later today. 

I loved your email. The pictures of you with grandma and grandpa at the cemetery are sweet. And the soccer drama reminded me of auditioning for shows. I'm glad it all worked out and Lilian gets to be with her friends on the best team. I am so glad she has found something that she loves to do. 

That birthday party sounds like it was quite the endeavor. It would have been fun to be there to be a part of it, but I'm glad Rebekah and Tanner were able to help you out. Lilian may have a phone now, but don't let her get any social media. I am over it myself. Or I would be, but we are a social media mission. Apparently we will be authorized to use Instagram soon now too. 

The Ver Hoef's have adopted me into their family. We had dinner with them last night again. Seems to be turning into a Sunday night tradition, which is fine by me! Being with them reminds me of being with family. :) (They are the same family that took us to the temple and made your potatoes on Mother's Day). I will introduce you to them when we come back to visit. 

Love you. Ran out of time

Hermana Croft