Videos and a haircut

Today Julianne sent her weekly update via video. She also sent a few pictures showing off her new haircut. (I'm wondering how many inches that was??)

Lots of rain and Jamaican advice

Hey my maravillosa mommy!

Wow! Muchas gracias for the email! I love all the missionary homecoming stories! Also, it was fun to reminisce with Bryson and Lance about Jr. High and High School through your descriptions. (The fact that I can feel like I was there reminiscing with them in person is really a tribute to your writing.) They are great guys. Really though, your entire email makes my heart sing! I love the photos of everyone (especially my sweet family. gah. I love them so much. Brandon is a muy guapo hombre joven.). 

Things that happened this week:

- Hermana J----, my favorite recent convert, gave an amazing talk in Sacrament meeting. I was so proud. #IFeelLikeAMom

- An ice cream man we befriended while contacting has taken to giving us free homemade ice cream. He is great.

- J----'s son is going to join the youth at stake youth conference this week. They are going to Kirtland, Ohio. Lucky! Wish I could go.

- We went to Ellis Island again. And we are headed back next Saturday. 

- We got soaked a couple times in the rain. It was fun though. 

Advice from the most positive Jamaican woman I know. "If your going through hell, just keep going. Don't stop, or you'll be stuck there!" This is coming from a woman who spent several days in the hospital this week. Far from the somber visit we expected, she couldn't keep from smiling and laughing when we went to visit her. She also promised to make us turkey neck and chicken foot stew. I'll keep you posted on that one. 

Con mucho amor,

 Hermana Croft 

I came across this post on the New Jersey Morristown Mission FB page on Sunday. Julianne rarely posts there herself, so I was happy to see this from Julianne's companion, Hermana Miller.

Good Morning!

Well, it is still morning for you, for me it's afternoon now, but only just barely. H. Miller and I just finished grocery shopping where I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Uptown Girl by Billy Joel on the store radio. :)  

It's July over here... it's hot. But that's okay. I am getting ever so slightly tanner from spending my days out in the sun. However the sun can only tan what skin is showing and seeing as I am a missionary, basically only my arms are getting darker. I just inspected my arms. The right one still has some marks from the bed bug bites and the left has a scar from Oscar. Make that the right AND left arms-- I have marks from him on both, the right one just happens to be more prominent. Dumb dog. (Sorry, I know you love him).

I am not the designated driver anymore! I have taken on the new role of designated navigator, which you would think would be easy, but even though I know the area, l have led us astray more than once. Perhaps I am just directionally challenged in general? T'was a shock for both of us when we found out. I am taking it as a sign that I will be leaving after this transfer and they want H. Miller to get to know the area faster.  

Speaking of H. Miller, let me tell you a little about her. She is from Idaho (a town of only 75 people), is a music education major (she wants to teach middle school band), and has been in the mission for almost 6 months. We are friends. :) 

I am forced to speak a lot more Spanish now. While I was technically the senior companion with H. Byron, her Spanish was better than mine (perks of already being fluent in French as well), so now that I am with H. Miller I actually feel like the older one.

I have had a couple cool experiences teaching in Spanish this week. Its just cool to realize I can do it, ya know? I can understand people, and they can understand me. 

Transfers on Tuesday were a lot of fun! There were a TON of people there and it was great to catch up a little. :) Also I knew one of the new missionaries coming in! He was in my same district in the CCM a year ago, but went home after the first week. It was great to see him again! I am so glad he is here! 

Wednesday H. Miller and I served at Ellis Island (we are scheduled for like a million times this transfer! Okay, not really. But I have never gone more than twice a transfer, usually just once, and they have us going four times.). As we were driving back, my navigation skills proved to be a less than adequate and amidst much confusion we ended up on the side of the fork destined for the Washington Bridge into NYC (!!!). Luckily, we were just barely past the fork and H. Miller was able to pull over to shoulder before we reached the point of no return, i.e. the toll booth. After quickly assessing the situation, I hopped out of the car and proceeded to back my companion down the shoulder of the road until she could turn the car to the other side of the fork. 

There was a baptism yesterday. A woman both the Elders and I taught. Just a super sweet little old lady from Trinidad. We got to help J------ in and out of the font. After, when we were helping her change out of her wet clothes, she was so happy! She literally started dancing and singing a song about Jesus, while completely in the nude. H. Miller seemed a little uncomfortable by the whole thing, but it didn't faze J------ at all! I love her. ❤ 

Love you!

Hermana Croft

Transfer news

¡Buenos días! 

Transfer news:

I am staying in New City, my new companion will be Hermana Miller. And I can't tell you anything else about her, because I have never met her. Report to come next week. 

H. Byron, mi amor, is leaving New York and moving for the first time in her mission. She is off to Elizabeth, NJ. Hermana Byron has spend 6 transfers here in New City, half of her mission. She is not nervous to leave though. She is the most chill person I know. 

She has taught me the art of being chill. ;) Actually, not really. But I have gotten better about not freaking out about things while being with her. I'm going to miss her. I'm nervous for H. Miller to come. I think she is going to push me. But there is no growth in the comfort zone, right? 

Sister Hess (President Hess' wife) asks me every time I see her if I have done a musical number in the ward yet. Hasn't happened so far, but H. Miller plays the piano, so we will see about this next transfer.

I love the picture of Elle {Hampton} and Taylor {Fawcett} from Elle's homecoming! My heart swells with love when I think about all my wardie boys! I don't know if they are aware I hold them very dear to my heart or not, because I'm not sure if I ever really expressed it, but I love them all. **

❤❤❤❤❤

-Me 

----------------------

**Julianne had a huge group of kids her age who all graduated the same year, most of them boys...this isn't even all of them. But every single kid in this picture, including the girls, are all on missions or are just starting to return (minus one girl who got married). Which means they've all gone through the temple. They were all pretty good friends and as Julianne mentioned above, she's looked up to them and always held a special place in her heart for her wardies. 

Serving all across the globe: Argentina, Peru, Ohio, New York, Canada, Slovenia, Brazil, Tawian, Arizona, Australia, France, New Jersey and California.

Happy Fourth of July!

Hello!

I am currently laying on the couch of a potential investigator while she sews a weave into H. Byron's head. She is the nicest Jamaican woman! Super busy and hardworking, but still offered to help H. Byron out for free and made us a Jamaican breakfast of Festival (a fried dough, similar to scones) and BBQ fish. It was delicious! 

Transfer call are this next Sunday, and from everything President has been saying, H. Byron will most likely be moved and I will stay here. Because of this, she decided she'd better get a weave again because who knows if her new area will have people who know how to apply them or not (namely, Africans, Haitians, Jamaicans, or Dominicans). 

The 38 new missionaries from the New York, New York North Mission are now officially a part of the New Jersey Morristown Mission. Their normal transfers fell this last week, so they just get an extra week before transfers with their new mission. I think it is going to be a big transfer. From all President's emails, it sounds like he really wants to integrate the new missionaries into the NJMM as much as possible.

Fun fact: the NJMM in one of only two missions currently authorized to use Instagram as a proselyting medium. Because of how innovative we have been with Facebook, the church wants us to see if Instagram would be effective as well. Right now only the mission leaders have it (Zone Leaders and STLs), but if it goes well, everyone in the mission will have the choice to download it or not. I probably won't use it because I've never been the biggest fan of social media.

Things that happened this week:

*J---- became the newest member of the New City Ward! She was confirmed on Sunday and now, we are working on going to the temple. She is super excited! Here is a quote from her this week when we were discussing another investigator who was asking for proof: "Donde está la evidencia? Soy yo. El Evangelio restaurado restauró mi vida." Such a gem. 

*A bird had excellent aim, and pooped directly on the center of my head whilst out proselyting

*I can now say I was "discovered" by a producer in New York. On Wednesday we were walking around putting up English class flyers. Nobody was really outside because it was raining, so we were singing as we went. Apparently G----- heard a couple bars of our rendition of Whitney Houston's "I look to you" as we passed by his shop, because before we had gotten too far, he was out in the rain shouting for us to come back. I turned down the offer to record an album of gospel music, but left him with a card. :)

*I realized I'm a missionary, and that's pretty cool. This realization hit me while standing in the living room of a stranger who had just let us in to teach his family. I was talking to people I had never met before, testifying of Jesus Christ, in Spanish. 

I know this is the definition of a missionary, and I do this everyday, but sometimes it just hits me, you know? I have talked about serving a mission for years, and now I'm here. This is my life. 

Happy Fourth of July!

XOXO

- Hermana Croft

 Visiting C-----. She is one of the wisest women I know. I have learned a lot from her 

 Jamaican breakfast

 I saw this sign and it made me think of you, Mommy ❤

 Wednesday morning year mark selfie

 After singing in the rain Wednesday evening 

Blindfolded selfies from an activity during district meeting

When I accidentally locked us out of our apartment. The elders had just driven away in our car, with the keys (their car was in the shop). We thought the balcony door might be unlocked. It wasn't. The elders came back. 

Salvation Army