Staying in New City

Hey, hey, hey! 

So, transfers happened and as expected H. Byron and I will be staying together in New City. She has already been here for 4 transfers, but seeing as she is one of only two missionaries in the mission who can speak Creole, we weren't expecting her to leave. Most lessons we teach are in English or Creole (which I am getting better at understanding, particularly if they are talking about the gospel. I still can't speak more than a few phrases though). We do have one really solid Spanish investigator though and this week she came to church with her son and nephew who have also recently been investigating. We had a lesson with her earlier this morning and we finally got to meet her husband. They say they are going to try and bring the whole family to church next week! *fingers crossed* 

I am currently emailing you from the church. We do have wifi in casa but it is really spotty, so we tend to come to the church to do our emailing. We actually spend quiet a bit of time with the Elders assigned to this area because there is no boundary dividing our area from theirs, we share everything. The members will invite both of us over for dinner, we do service together, use the computers at the church at the same time, etc. 

I took more pictures for you this week, but not many of the ones from Ellis Island turned out super nice. I will take some more when we go again this Saturday. 

Picture explanations:

- Ellis Island pictures. Walking through the tunnels to get to our car after the meeting.

- The cleaning pictures are from TAC, the huge apartment deep clean we do once a transfer.

- I am in the back of the Salvation Army truck putting together the plates of food we hand out to the homeless.

- Table stands with the Elders (the snowy one is actually from my first day in New City, but it never sent it).

- At night, chilling in our PJ's (H. Byron didn't want to take pictures but I told her we had to for you).

We did service at the convent this week again. H. Byron and I had a lovely and informative conversation with some of the nuns, asking them all sorts of questions. One of the women we were talking to had become a nun at age 18, right after graduating from high school. We asked if that was common, to which she replied "Oh yes, back then it was. After high school, all the young women would either get married or become a sister! Of course times have changed quite a bit now." This made me laugh, because it sounded exactly like my experience! Times haven't changed that much, at least not in Utah. ;)

Love you!!!

Hermana Croft

Happy Spring

Hey Mommy, 

Happy Spring! I think it is finally done snowing here. I'm glad you liked the Easter pictures. Unfortunately I don't really have any more to send to you. H. Byron and I are really bad at taking photos. The pictures I sent you are the only ones we have taken together and we are now at the last week of the transfer! I'll make a goal of taking one photo a day this week. :)

Sounds like you had a lovely spring break. We also enjoyed the break kids have had from school because it allowed us to meet with the children of a woman we have been teaching. Now her two sons and nephew are investigators. We taught them the Plan of Salvation earlier today. :) 

Sounds like a fun vacation you have planned. But as fun as roller coasters are, I don't feel like I'll be missing out on too much. Now if you were going on a Caribbean cruise, it might be a different story. ;) I am excited by the prospect of going to Spanish speaking places when I get home. (We're planning to go to Cedar Point Roller Coaster park in Ohio this summer.)

Favorite conference talks: hmm, good question. I really liked "Pure Love" by Massimo De Feo, "Seventy Times Seven" by Lynn G. Robbins, President Eyring's talk, and anytime President Nelson would speak. 

I am super proud of Lilian. I am glad she was so excited to be reading. (Lilian just finished reading the Book of Mormon entirely on her own this past Sunday.)

I love love love love love love love love love love love love love love you! Te amo!

Siempre,

Hermana Croft

P.S. thank you for sharing your playlist with me. I always think it is kind of fun when you do that. H. Byron and I sing a lot together. We reminisce about Disney channel movies and then sing the songs from them together. I'm surprised by how well I remember them. (When I email Julianne, usually I'm listening to music and sometimes I'll list the songs throughout as I type...apparently she likes it, especially when I tell her why I'm listening to that particular song. For example, the song that I found while watching Jane the Virgin, a show Julianne enjoyed watching before her mission. See below...)

P.P.S. I do really like Guardians of the Galaxy and Jane the Virgin, it is true. They make me laugh. 

P.P.P.S Lilian's hair is getting really long. She is starting to look older. Also, you look super pretty in all the pictures you sent. H. Byron can't believe my parents are so young.

Happy Easter

Hello and Happy Easter!

Conference was absolutely inspired. I found myself on the edge of my seat, completely enraptured by the words of these modern day prophets and apostles of the Lord. We are so blessed to receive guidance through these men from a loving a God. I am thankful for their willingness and sacrifices to serve. I am thankful for their inspired messages. 

I'm sure the Jordan River Temple open house was beautiful. Can't wait to go through the Layton temple when is completed...!!! Don't know if I will have time to send a long email today because I am 💩

But I sure do love you sooooo much!!! 

Thank you thank you thank you for the package and the emails every week. I really do appreciate it so much. 

XOXO

Hermana Croft 

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There were two pairs of bunny ears in the Easter package I sent to Julianne. I told her that I was expecting an Easter bunny selfie of her and Hermana Byron. And then reiterated a few times afterwards in other emails that I was indeed serious about that request. ;) I'm glad she took me seriously, because how cute are these two???

Short email

Happy almost Conference!!!! Ah! I am so excited! I need General Conference man. I don't think I have ever needed Conference as much as I have for these ones on my mission. They always come just at the right time when I am worn down and need a spiritual boost. 

* Thank you for the package! It did appear today, and my companion thought it was super funny. I am saving it to open closer to the actually holiday, probs Saturday. 

I don't really have time to write much, but this week was pretty normal. We did get a couple new Haitian investigators though, so that's cool. And they all speak a little English as well, so I can talk to them! 

I love you! 

Hermana Croft 

---------------
Julianne sent an email to Brandon for his birthday yesterday. She sent some funny pics that I thought I'd post here:

Fotos:

1) how I feel because I am missing your birthday

2) how I feel because it is Spring..ish

3) what I wish I could do, but super can't because I'm a missionary 

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

* Sending these huge eggs is the popular thing to do for missionary momma's this Easter. Which is why I purposely was NOT going to do it. ha! But I did want to send a package, and was running low on time...and realized it would be a pretty easy way to get some Easter goodies to Julianne and Hermana Byron. Plus, I figured it might make them laugh...  ;) 

¡Buenas días!

It has been quite the week here in New City, N.Y. 

We've had some interesting opportunities for service here during the past two weeks. On Saturdays we team up with the Salavtion Army to hand out food to the homeless. We help prepare the meals, and then all pile into their big food truck and ride around for a couple hours handing out meals and hot chocolate. It's a lovely time. You know what else is lovely? Hanging out with the Sisters of Sparkhill. We spent an evening last week at the Dominican Convent putting care kits together to send to places in Africa. The nuns were so sweet! Sister Pat was particularly delightful, and very interested to hear all about the church's missionary efforts. We also got to serve at Ellis Island this week. This was my first time going as the designated driver, which made for a more stressful trip than usual. Two hours there and back fighting through the traffic headed in and out of NYC. 

Speaking of the city, we had a chance to visit this week... for about 5 minutes. In the past two weeks of driving a car again I have taken a lot of wrong turns. Thursday morning we had a long drive into Zone Conference. Not unexpectedly, I got confused while looking at the GPS and ended up taking a wrong turn. This forced us into a busy toll road, which was rather unfortunate seeing as we didn't have the money to pay the toll. However after explaining the situation to the lady in the booth we were let through, with instructions on how to pay it online. *stress relieved*

After making it through the toll road we were absorbed by a mass of merging lanes in an already heavily trafficked area that also happened to be under construction. *and the stress returns* 

As I watched the precious minutes tick by on the clock signaling we would probably be late for car check before the conference, I realized a startling truth: we were headed for a bridge. Bridges themselves aren't inherently bad. But when you are confined to a specific area and crossing a bridge would cause you to leave those boundaries, you try to avoid them. 

With no way out, we crossed the Washington Bridge into NYC... and then promptly turned around and re-entered the New Jersey Morristown Mission. :) We were fashionably late to Zone Conference, my one wrong turn having effectively added an hour driving time on to our trip.

On Sunday the ward decided to switch things up a little bit and conduct the meeting in Spanish, with the English and Creole members using the headsets. I was asked to give the opening prayer in Spanish. As I was headed back down to my seat the 2nd counselor called me back up and had me translate as he went through a bunch of changes in callings. I was not expecting this, was super thrown off my game and basically made fool of myself in front of the entire ward. But on the bright side, I don't think they will be requesting my translating services again any time soon. :)

I am still adjusting to not really being in the Spanish program anymore. During a meal appointment last night with the other missionaries at the house of some English speaking members of the ward, I looked around and realized I was the only one who had completely finished the large helping of spaghetti that had been put on my plate. It's no longer expected of me to eat everything I am given, but I have gotten so used to it I have to remind myself it's okay to stop when I feel full. 

At that same appointment I shared a spiritual thought, that I thought I would share with all of you as well. In 3 Nephi 11 we read about the Savior showing himself to the people in the Americas. I love in verses 14-15 where Christ invites each person in the multitude to come unto Him and feel the marks in His hands and feet. It talks about them going unto Him one by one, and receiving a personal witness that He was their Redeemer. That extremely personal invitation is still extended to us today. And although we can't feel the prints physically, we can have a witness just as strong as they did through the Holy Ghost that Jesus Christ atoned for our sins. He is our reason to hope. He is our Savior. 

Have a lovely week! 

XOXO

Hermana Croft 

New York!

Guess what? I live in New York! And my area is huge! Like the entire county huge. And there are only two companionships in the entire mission serving in NY, us and the Elders. We share the area with them and we are allowed to teach anyone. Doesn't matter if they speak English, Spanish, French, or Creole, because between each companionship all four languages are spoken. And this is definitely a driving area. 

Hermana Byron grew up in Haiti, and moved to Miami when she was 11 so she speaks fluent Creole, French, and English. And then, because three languages wasn't enough, they sent her Spanish speaking. I am currently feeling pretty pathetic with my 1.5 languages over here... But that's okay, because I am starting to learn a little French and Creole! Technically I don't have to, President Hess told me he isn't expecting me to learn another language, but he does want me to be an active part of lessons. I am going to focus on learning some important basic phrases and how to talk to people in the street, at least enough to stop them until H. Byron comes over. 

My ward is about 50% English, 35% Creole, and 15% Spanish. Every week the missionaries use headsets to translate sacrament meeting into Creole and Spanish. Luckily the Elder serving here has been out for 21 months, so he takes care of the Spanish translations. Otherwise that would fall on me! Why, because I am now officially the senior companion. H. Byron has only been out for 6 months. 

Got to go, but I will write more next week. 

xoxox

Hermana Croft

P.S. My address is: 249 N. Middletown Rd. Nanuet, N.Y. 10954

Here's a picture of me with all the snow outside of the New City Ward's bishops house. 26 inches!!! Needless to say, we stayed inside all day when it stormed. Except in the evening when we went out to clear the snow off the cars in the parking lot with the Elders. 

Mwen pa parle Kreyol...

Soooo transfers...

The beginning of the week all bets were on Hermana Hopson leaving Kearny with me staying here. Then Wednesday signs started pointing to H. Hopson staying for a 5th transfer, with H. Croft getting the boot... then Saturday night we got a call from the AP's letting us know we would be doubled out! Cue the crazy cleaning/packing/note writing/goodbye-ing! 

Sunday we got the results:

Hermana Hopson - Patterson, New Jersey as a new STL (for those of you keep track a home, now all of my previous companions have become my sister training leader after leaving me)

Hermana Croft - New City, wait for it, NEW YORK! That's right, I will be going to one of the few areas in the mission that are actually in New York. But that's not all, in New City the prominent languages are English, Spanish, and Creole. As well as teaching in Spanish, my companion and I will be teaching in Creole. Luckily Sister Bryon, my new companion, is from Haiti, so she can take the lead with that and help me learn what Creole I can. Ayudeme!! 

Wish I could write more! Have a wonderful week!

XOXO 

Sister/Hermana/Sè Croft 

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. 

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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.