9 days

Hey Mommy!

I just sent you more pictures than I have sent this entire transfer! Sorry for the drought these last 4 weeks... H. Wahlquist doesn't really like photos and I am bad about remembering. But hey! Now you have a bunch! And each one is worth 1000 words so this email is going to be pretty short (really I just don't have much time, I was at Ellis and Liberty Islands most of the day).

The selfies with a wood room background are from a "lesson" we had with a woman we have been trying to get in contact with all transfer. She was a little high on drugs when we went over, so we didn't teach much.

The ones by the tree are from the ward/branch combined Christmas party. T'was a fun time. We sang and judged the Christmas sweater contest.

Thank you for going to Linda's baptism! It makes me so happy to think of her and Gil hugging in the font. Thank you for including that detail. It reminds me of Juana's baptism.

I love love love you!

Let me know if there is anything you need me to be thinking about this week in regards to coming home. 

XOXO

Hermana Croft

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Saturday I had the honor and privilege of attending the baptism of one of Julianne’s investigators. Linda and her husband Joe live in New York. Julianne and her previous companion H. Kim were Linda’s missionaries who taught her as she prepared for baptism over the past few months. Linda wanted a close family friend to baptize her but because he lived in Utah and health issues made traveling impossible, Linda and Joe flew to him. Julianne emailed me the details and asked if I could attend in her place. Needless to say, I was delighted! I met Sister Kim’s mother and the two of us sat together and bawled our eyes out through the whole service. What an incredible afternoon! To meet a couple who not only had seen my daughter recently, but who took care of her, fed her multiple times weekly and loved her. And then to witness this special baptism as proxy for my missionary daughter...my heart was so full!

Last Zone Conference

Hello!

Hermana Wahlquist and I had a busy week! We had exchanges with the  Middletown Sisters (I got to go back, it was fun) and then the next day had Zone Conference which we were heavily involved in. We did a Christmas musical number with the one other set of sisters in our Zone, then I gave my dying testimony, and then after lunch we gave a training in front of the whole zone. It all went really well. At one point in the training, the other sisters had to leave for some reason, so it was just us instructing a room full of 16 Elders. I felt very powerful. Haha!

We are going to Ellis Island for service on Wednesday and then I go again to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty with all the other dying missionaries on Monday. I also will go to the temple on Tuesday the 18th after transfers, then we will spend the rest of the day at the Mission Home, wake up at the crack of dawn and fly home on the 19th. :) 

See you soon!

Hermana Croft

My week in pictures

Hello! 

Selfie at the door: this is when I knocked into a girl I went to high school with out tracting the day before Thanksgiving. Yeah. That was a shock. Claudia and I did theatre together. H. Wahlquist was SUPER confused for a second when we started chatting. 😂 

Pickle picture: we actually took this photo for Sister Kim, who spent half of her training in Hackettstown. She was really excited I was headed here. She and Sister Wahlquist were actually also companions a couple months back. It was the only photo I had of us together, which is why I sent it to you last week. 

Dark blurry picture with someone who is not my companion: this is Sister Nelson. We went on exchange this week. We forgot to take a picture until right when we were switching back and it was actively raining. So yeah, bad quality. But the exchange was super fun! 

Other poor quality photos: making dinner this week super late at night because our dinner appointment never confirmed. I look all red faced from laughing at my own inability to take a nice selfie. We were struggling. 

Also, we don't have any photos from Thanksgiving. Well we do, but they really won't worth much and I am having a hard time getting them to transfer over from the phone.

After a lot of confusion and canceled/unconfirmed appointments we decided to come home and make ourselves a Thanksgiving feast. We made chicken fajitas. Why? Because that is what we were able to come up with given our limited ingredients. We were uber hungry by the time we got done making it at 9, so it probably tasted better than it actually was. But no complaints here. Honestly, it was all kind of funny. And the next day a woman fed us her Thanksgiving leftovers. 

Also, as you have probably been able to tell from these pictures as well as the multiple ones I have sent over the past few months, I really enjoy doormats.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Hermana Croft

Greetings from the Armpit ;)

Dear Mommy,

Here are the answers to your questions:

1) Where do you officially live, Hackettstown or Ledgewood?? Wi-fi? Washer and dryer? General posh-ness? Also, please send me your new address! 

I officially live in Stanhope, a little town about 10 minutes away from Ledgewood. We are staying in the old Spanish elders apartment, and it is absolutely lovely! Very posh. And very clean! With all the good things (namely, washer and dryer, and Wi-Fi). We are very grateful for our apartment. Especially after taking a trip to the other apartment to collect the English supplies we needed. The English elders apartment was a lot older and they didn't bother to clean it before they left. So we threw out their food that was going to rot and stole some kitchen appliances while we were at it. 

New address: 134 Ashland Court. Stanhope, NJ 07874

2) First impressions of your new areas? Bigger town or smaller country? Did the Elders leave you a list of any investigators they were already working with? Have you met any of the members yet? 

Our Spanish area is huge! It stretches all the way up to the New York border and touches my old area in Middletown. It  completely encompasses our English area, which is much smaller. We have lots of people to teach in English, and just picked up two new people in Spanish. :) Also the members of both wards are REALLY excited to have sister missionaries. We walked away from church on Sunday with a meal appointment set everyday for the next month straight. 

3) How do two wards/branches work? Do you go to both each Sunday or trade off weeks? 

Sunday was busy, but fun. The two wards (technically, it is an English ward and a Spanish branch, but it is far too much work to type out "wards/branches" all the time. Therefore, going forward, when speaking of both units, I will either refer to them as "wards" or "units". Not that I really needed to type that all out for your benefit, because I'm sure you would have figured it out anyway, but now that it IS all typed out, it seems a shame to just delete it, ya know?) meet in the same building at the same time. We have decided to go to Sacrament Meeting in one ward, and then attend the classes in the other, and then switch the following week. That way we get to see both sets of members and anyone else who comes every week. This Sunday we had people we are teaching come to both wards, so the members really had to step up and help out when we weren't there. We think it will be good for them. :) 

4) What do you think of Sister Wahlquist? How long has she been out on her mission? I’m assuming she an STL also?

Sister Wahlquist is an STL, yes. She actually used to be companions with H. Kim, so that is kind of fun. She only has one more transfer after I leave. She is a VERY good missionary, and speaks Spanish VERY well. So that's nice, cause no hablo muy bien el español. This whole Spanglish thing is really weird for her, but she is used to being doubled into new areas. So we balance each other out. 

5) How much snow did you get this past week? I heard it was quite the storm! 

We got enough snow to convert our 20 minute commute home Thursday night, into an over 2 hour adventure through alternate routes to get back to Stanhope. But with H. Wahlquist and Jesus at the wheel, and H. Croft occasionally getting out of the car to back her up down snow-covered highways, we made it back safe and sound. It also didn't hurt that we were driving on all brand new tires, just replaced Wednesday morning to fix the flat we got Tuesday night. Divine design. Little did we know God was protecting us when H. Wahlquist hit that curb our first night together, or why the auto shop insisted on replacing all four tires instead of just the one, but we sure were grateful come the snow on Thursday.

Side note: the first members we met were the deacons the bishop sent to come rescue us Tuesday night when we told him why we were going to be late to the meeting we had set up with him. Fixing our tire became their mutual activity! And when all was said and done, we were still able to meet not only the Bishop, but also the Branch President. Success!

I love you!! Happy Thanksgiving! I am very thankful for you. Tell everyone I love them! 

Hermana/Sister Croft 

Heading back to Jersey

Hello!

Halloween was fun, no carved pumpkins though. We had a lot of appointments, and then got dropped by a woman from Honduras. She invited us in, sat us down and told us she couldn't keep meeting with us. It was kind of sad because the last lesson we had with her was really spiritual. But then she got sick and we couldn't see her for two weeks, and she had some pressure from friends in Honduras to stop seeing us.

That night we had to stay in the apartment, so we did some online proselyting and handed out candy to the few treat-or-treaters who stopped by. Funny enough, we had a cute little boy and his older brother who we had contacted the week before drop by. This time they were the ones knocking on OUR door! They remembered us, and even gave us some candy in return. Super sweet. 

When I mentioned scary contacts a coupe weeks ago, it just involved drunk/high/mentally unstable men being creepy and not wanting anything to do with religion. I could give you details, but it would be easier to just tell you in person later. And it's not like I haven't dealt with people like that my whole mission, it was just a lot in a short period of time. 

This week was busy, as the last week of a transfer always is. Lots of appointments and district counsel on Tuesday. Wednesday we headed down to New City and did a finding blitz with the Sisters down there. I got to spend the day with H. Miller so that was a lot of fun. And we found a BUNCH of cool people for them to teach, I got to whip out my Creyol/French contacting, and we ran into some members while knocking which was fun for me.  

Thursday was busy because of weekly planning and deep cleaning the apartment for the new transfer. We also had a really sad lesson with F---, a woman we have been teaching. She has a strong desire to be baptized, but unfortunately is not currently living in accordance with the Law of Chastity. She has had some really bad experiences with marriages in the past, and has no intention of ever being married again. So it broke her heart when we explained that she wouldn't be able to be baptized unless something about the situation changed. For right now, she is just praying for guidance and peace. She is also really upset we are both leaving, but we are meeting with her again tonight, so hopefully we will be able to help her find some peace. 

Which leads me to my biggest news this week:

President pulled a fast one and is transferring both me and H. Kim out of Middletown for our last couple weeks. 

H. Kim is going down south (close to Red Bank where I started) to open a new area. She will also be training a brand new missionary. She is stressed.

I am going Ledgewood/Hackettstown, NJ (that's s right, Armpit of America baby!). They are doubling out the two companionship of elders who have been there and putting in me and H. Wahlquist to cover both the Spanish branch, and the English ward. Plus, we are still serving as STLs. We will be busy taking over the teaching pools of two companionships and trying to figure out an area neither of us have ever been to before.

Also, may I just point out I have served more than half of my mission Spanglish? I will finally get a Spanish branch again (#NoMoreTranslatingOnSunday), but we are still Spanglish because of the English ward. I should have bought an English name tag 8 months ago. Now there is no point.

Honestly, I am kind of nervous about the Spanish branch. Because I have been so Spanglish, my Spanish really is not very good. Luckily my companion speaks amazing Spanish, so she can take care of the Spanish half, and I'll do the English. 

I don't really know H. Wahlquist very well yet. But we have met at a couple meetings. She was actually H. Kim's companion before she came to Middletown. She is from California.

- Sister Croft

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Hello my dearest mother! 

L----, a wonderful woman I have been teaching (whose picture you can see on my FB page), is going to be baptized December 8th. The catch is, she is being baptized in Utah. She and her husband J-- have some close family friends out there, and she wants one of them to perform the ordinance. He was going to fly up to New York, but he has cancer, and is too sick to travel. So they are going to him.

Since I can't attend the baptism, I was wondering if you would be willing to go? I know December is crazy busy and Highland is a bit of a drive, but it would mean a lot to me (and Linda) if at least someone from the family was able to make it. 

She and her husband are honestly just the sweetest. As a parting gift, they bought H. Kim and I matching robes, haha! They have been a big part of my time here in Middletown. I love them! 

Love, 

Hermana Croft (your long lost daughter) 

Happy Halloween!

Hello!

We had a Halloween trunk or treat on Friday night. It was fun to see everyone dressed up. Then on Sunday we had stake conference. H. Kim and I sang with the ward choir to do a special musical number. Seating up in the choir seats put me directly behind President and Sister Hess who were assigned to speak. It was funny to see the surprised expression on President's face when he turned around to find me sitting right there. Ha! I love him.

The Lord really protected us this week. He is always doing so, but this week He allowed me to SEE the ways in which He is blessing me with protection. We had a couple scary contacts. But hey, we made it out unscathed every time. Gracias a El. We just utilized the locks on our car doors more than usual this week. 

I Love love love love love love love you!
Hermana Croft

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 Julianne sent these pictures in an email to her little sister, Lilian...

I really don't like subject lines

We knocked doors this week!

But really. If you look at my week, the majority of the time would be divided up between knocking, studying, and sleeping. The good news is: knocking is one of Sister Kim's favorite things to do, and she is teaching me how to enjoy it more.

Also, we met some cool people. Ready for a story? We were on a street I really didn't want to knock. It was dark and cold and windy and poorly lit and creepy. Everyone has their halloween decorations up right now, and some of them can get decently disturbing. I prefer happy little pumpkins and scarecrows, but these particular houses were more into blood, guts, and gory.

But we knocked anyway! And I am sure glad we did. We had a lot of really great experiences, but my favorite was T----. She listened as we read Helaman 5:12 and afterwards teared up a bit as she shared with us a little about what is going on in her life. The spirit was definitely there and it was evident to all of us that God has orchestrated our meeting as an answer to her prayers, seeing as neither of us were originally supposed to be on that street that night. We will be meeting back up with her to give her a Book of Mormon.

Speaking of the Book of Mormon, I love it. Just thought I'd let you know. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it more lately to try and keep up with the challenge given by President Nelson. 

Not much else to report. It's getting cold up here, but that is to be expected, we are headed into winter after all.

I love you Mommy. We'll have a grand old time catching up when I get home in two months. And honestly, two months really isn't that long. I remember when Rebekah only had that much time left, and suddenly the thought of waiting didn't seem unbearable anymore. I knew it was only a matter of time and before I knew it she would be home.

I think that's where I'm at again. I am excited to see you all, but I am not anxious about finishing up my time here. We're in the home stretch, so I'm not spending my time longing to be there, I know I will be soon enough. But first I have 2 more months to enjoy here. 

XOXO

Hermana Croft