Tess's First Days in the Field: Not what she expected!

Tess’s first letter from Ogden/Roy, Utah                                    March 26, 2013

I don't even know where to start with this letter.. I'm finally out of the MTC! We got up around 5 on Monday morning and took a bus ride to the train station. It was really weird to be in a car and not doing the things we had been doing every morning for 6 weeks straight. We felt pretty free though. We got to ride in a train called the frontrunner or something like that and H. Hales and I mostly just practiced some Spanish vocab until we got to the mission home in Ogden. The mission president and his wife as well as the other leaders were welcoming and just went over some basic rules with us after we ate breakfast (PS I'm sure you can imagine how ecstatic I am to be done eating that MTC "food").

After that we met our new trainers/moms. Mine is Hermana Marcum. She's been on her mission a bit over a year, she's really friendly, she's from Ohio, and she went to that small LDS school in Virginia where she majors in Opera. I'm not really sure exactly what to think of her so far, but I think she'll be able to teach me a lot and we'll be able to get along pretty well. After I talked to her a little she told me some of the greatest news ever which is that I'd be living with her, her old companion, and HERMANA HALES (who's being trained by her old companion, Hermana Kreutzer- I probably spelled that wrong). Obviously we're a little bit excited that we get to still see each other a lot and go on our morning jogs and what not. Hermana Hales' companion, Hermana Kreutzer is awesome too- she's also been here a bit over a year, she's from California (only like 30 minutes away from where H. Hales lives) and she's so cute and fun to be around.

We're serving in a town called Roy which is like 10 minutes outside of Ogden. I don't know much about it except that both our trainers have only been there like 3 weeks and are still trying to get a feel for the area, but their having problems because the Elders that were there before them didn't keep great records of who they taught and what not so we have a lot of work to do to figure that all out (I forgot to mention that we have a car too, but now we'll have to take turns using it because there's four of us). Also, apparently we're "pink-washing" the area which means that it's the first time that sister missionaries have been in this stake or something like that. I guess the members are really excited about that because something had happened in the past with some Elders where they offended some members in the area and it's been hard for the missionaries to regain their trust, so that's what we'll be trying to do.

A bit more about our house- we don't actually live in Roy but we live close by. The house is pretty nice and it's owned by a couple who are probably in their 50s. They have kids but they're out of the house and they have a bunch of really cute grand kids. We met the husband yesterday and he was quite the talker- I think he just really loves having us there and he and his wife apparently have been spoiling the hermanas because they insist that their food is our food, they bought brand new beds and comforters for each of us, and they're even building a bathroom in the basement for us. It's pretty crazy, but I can't complain. There's also goats and horses in their backyard.

We only stayed at the house for a few minutes to put our stuff down and eat lunch because then we had to go back to the mission home for a 4 hour lesson from Brother Donaldson- one of the leaders who was on the series the District 2. It was incredible and I learned a ton about how to be a better teacher (well, we're more guides than we are teachers as he put it) and how to use the pamphlets more effectively- those things are super useful and they didn't really teach us how to use them at the MTC. He also hinted that more things are about to change as far as missionary work goes, and we might be one of the missions chosen to pilot some new things they're trying out. Pretty crazy.

After that lesson, the day got a little weird. Maybe it's just because the MTC was super strict or something but I did not expect my first day as a missionary to be like it was. We went over to the President & his wife's house for a "sleepover" with all of the sisters in the mission- which is like 30 or 40ish sisters. We were told just to socialize and then we'd have dinner, which was fine. Herm. Hales and I tried to talk to some of the other hermanas/sisters (most were English speaking, not Spanish) but they were more focused on just socializing with the girls they already knew, so that was kind of annoying and relatively unsuccessful. Anyways after dinner we played get to know you jeopardy which wasn't really useful to us, the new visa waiters, in getting to know them or letting them get to know us because it was just trivia about the sisters that had been here longer. They basically just laughed about all their inside jokes and we didn't really know what to do. And then after that they just went crazy and started wrestling and stuff. It was kind of entertaining but it just didn't feel like I was really a missionary, and so Hermana Hales and I just went and did some personal study before we went to bed at our normal time, and then woke up at 6:30 to go on a run with one of the other visa waiters who is going to Argentina eventually too (just FYI they haven't told us anything else about the visas, we're just waiting to meet with the consulate still..).

I'm really not trying to be negative here, I'm just being honest. I guess every mission president does things differently, but they had drilled this "exact obedience" thing into us so much at the MTC and then it kind of felt like a lot of those rules that aren't a huge deal or anything were ignored for a night. Also, today is P-Day too so it'll be another day of relaxing and not doing much missionary work. We do have a lesson tonight which I'm excited/nervous for, but I think all four of us are going to be teaching together which is kind of cool. The couple whose house we live in wants to take us out to dinner afterwards. I just want to be able to do what I'm here to do which is to help people learn and grow, and if I'm going to do that I have to be learning and growing too. I'm sure once we start working everything will be fine though, and that was the last "sleepover" they're doing.

Anyways that's about all I can think of to say right now. I just need some time to adjust and then I'm sure I'll be able to enjoy the time that I'll be here in Ogden/Roy. It's was great to get to talk to you on the phone even though like you said, the conversation was a little jumbled! Hearing about where all the Lax-bros are going is awesome too. I can't believe Gary is going to Argentina! I hope they fix all this visa stuff so that he can actually get there on time. Just keep me posted on what's going on with everyone- I love you guys.

Love,

HermCrawf

PS- I can email anyone now- not just family, and I have longer than just 30 minutes (even though I'll probably have a lot to say so I won't have time to email

a ton of people)!

PPS-  I forgot to mention that yes, it is strictly Spanish speaking and we're emailing from the Family History Center in Ogden. I guess our P-Days are Tuesdays then too?

Que Pasa? (Tess's last letter from the MTC)

I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to call yesterday, we didn't actually get our travel plans but we did find out where we're reassigned yesterday morning because we all checked our online missionary portals and it had changed on there. So here it is: I (along with everyone else but 3 in our district) am going to Ogden, Utah. For real. We pretty much expected it and had been joking around about how we'd be stuck in Utah for a while so it's not like it was too shocking or anything. H. Page & H. Fairbanks are going to St. George, Utah and E. Connolly somehow ended up getting reassigned to Vegas. We were all a bit disappointed at first, but we've been hearing that there are a lot of Spanish speakers in Ogden and there's a lot of work to there so it's going to be fine. I'm sure there are some people there that need us just as much as the people in Argentina need us. 

I'll still probably call you this afternoon when I get my actual travel plans (we don't know what day or when we're leaving yet- probs Wednesday) even though I'm already telling you right now where I'm going, so be ready for that! {Tess told us on the phone she is leaving for Ogden on Monday morning at 5:30 am on a train} Other than the reassignment thing it's been a long week. Not that the MTC is a horrible place or anything but once you've been here for a while it gets really old even though you're learning and growing a lot because you're just stuck in the same places all day every day... and the food is gross. 

My companion and I get along fine (even thought we literally have 0 things in common) but it's still hard because she is having a really difficult time with the language- It's hard because I have to take charge of the lessons even though I really don't know what I'm doing either. Anyways I know I talk about H. Hales a lot already but I really don't know what I'll do without her. We go running most days during gym time and it's usually one of the best parts of my day because we talk about our struggles and it's just awesome to have someone to talk to that thinks like I do. We already have a bunch of plans for when we're going to visit each other after our missions. I really do love every single person in my district though and I'll miss them all too. The elders and I have become great friends, and according to them, I'm their favorite Hermana in the district- haha don't tell the others. They just really like my sense of humor and I think they're hilarious too. Also, it's kind of funny but I've noticed that H. Fairbanks personality-wise reminds me a lot of madre and H. Page reminds me so much of Chloe with her personality and just little things she does and says. I don't really know how to put it into words but it's true! 

I finally was able to see Kendal and Caleb too. Don't worry, they gave me the hug & the high five that you sent me. It seems like he's getting along with the elders in his district pretty well. And it was great to see Kendal! 

Anyways I don't really know what else to write besides that I'm a little anxious and excited to get out of the MTC and start doing some real missionary work in Ogden, even though I don't feel like I'm super prepared language-wise. I'll have cooler things to write you about when I'm out of this place. Oh, also tell the Stewarts thanks for the letters! They were adorable, and thanks to Katie I remember my first name now :) 

I love you guys and I'll probs talk to you on the phone for a minute or so around noon- I'll call mom's cell. Nos vemos!

Missing Visa Clearances and Gray Hairs!

 Tess's email and pictures home from the Provo, Utah MTC on March 15, 2013

Me with the BIG map!

Big news... Everyone in my district got notifications yesterday that said the following: "We have not received your visa clearance and you will be unable to travel to Argentina on your scheduled departure date. Your name will be turned in for a temporary reassignment. We will have that reassignment Thursday." So it's official now. We haven't heard anything about the consulate yet so hopefully he comes before Thursday so we're not stuck in Utah, but I guess we'll find out soon. I think I might get to call you when I get my reassignment, so be ready for that too! Don't worry about me though, I really don't care that I'll have to be in the States for a little while- it's not the end of the world.

Anyways, so that's probably the most eventful thing that happened this week. It was just another week of studying and teaching. Our "investigator" is doing pretty well, she accepted the invite to be baptized but we still have a lot to teach her. Thanks for your letters! I'm really excited that Kendal and Caleb are here and I've been looking for them but so far I haven't had any luck :/ It's fun to hear about your adventures in Cali/Texas though too! It's too bad that it was a little chilly at the beach though. Here in Provo we finally got some sun and it was pretty much the best thing ever. We're usually locked up inside pretty much all day but the past couple of days "el sol" has been out and we did all of our studying at the tables outside so we could soak it all in. Some got sunburned (not me, of course), but I think it was something we all needed because it made us feel alive again in a way.

Something else that's kind of funny- but also not funny- that happened was that while we were sitting down at the devotional this week Herm. Hales found two literally WHITE hairs on my head. She pulled them out and showed me and they really were grayish white, not blond. Haha I think that demonstrates how much work we do at the MTC and as missionaries more than anything. It's worth it though. Also, don't be too surprised if I come back as gray as madre is.

One final thing that I wanted to tell you about that's kind of a cool thing we get to do here is the TRC. Once a week we get to go and give two 20 min. "lessons" to volunteers who speak Spanish. They don't role play or anything, they're just themselves (usually members who are RM's living in Provo/Orem) and we just get to know them and give a spiritual thought kind of thing. It's awesome because it's a lot less stressful than our other lessons and they give us feedback afterwards. We also hear some pretty amazing stories when we're in there.

Anyways that's about all I can think of to write about at the moment. I'm excited to get my 2nd "mission call"/reassignment and hopefully I'll be able to talk to you guys a little bit! Have fun in Cali. and be safe! I love you all!

Studying in the sun

 Watching The Drop-off!

More of The Drop-off

Adios!

I'm over half-way done...?!

So apparently it's P-Day again even though I'm pretty sure P-Day was yesterday... that's how it feels at least. Also, apparently I've been here for over 3 weeks and I only have a few more before it's show-time.. what the? Speaking of leaving the MTC though, I'm almost 100% sure I'm going to be reassigned temporarily because my Visa won't come in time. Some other hermanas were telling us that if we were going to get our Visas we would have already met with the consulate (which we haven't). If we're able to meet with him/her within the next couple weeks and our fingerprints are accepted then we'll be able to get reassigned to anywhere in the U.S., but if we don't meet before our time's up here then we'll get reassigned to somewhere in Utah until we can meet with the consulate and get our Visa papers in :/ I'm not too upset or anything though because at least now I'm expecting it, and I don't think it would be too horrible to get used to being a real missionary somewhere in the U.S. for a few weeks where at least the culture isn't too different before I head out to a foreign country. Anyways, I'll keep you updated on that whole situation. 

Like I said before, this week went by so quickly I can't even remember what happened during it but I'll tell you a few of the things I remember. Once again I got some awesome letters & packages which are the best. I loved Tomee & Bree's cute little letters that Dave translated into Spanish, and I actually was able to understand them without looking anything up! Thanks for the package with all the trail mix and stuff- it was delicious. Also thanks so much for the other package with the almonds, the letters from you guys, and the "other things" haha. 

My Spanish is progressing (one would hope) but we don't just study Spanish all day- we also study our scriptures in English during personal study time and we study things like the doctrine of Christ or teaching with the Spirit in class too. Also we have really great devotionals/firesides a couple times a week that always boost up our spiritual energy when we're running out because of all the studying. I forgot to tell you guys that we had an apostle, M. Russel Ballard, speak to us a couple weeks ago and it was exactly what we needed because he just reminded us that we should have more confidence in our knowledge of the gospel because most of us have been taught it all our lives. He also talked about Christ and how he knows we can do this if we have enough faith in the enabling power of the Atonement and are willing to work our hardest in order to receive the blessings that He has in store for us. 

I've been able to see a lot of friends again this week and it always makes my day. I saw Ray Torres, Seth Bloomfield, Bry Creer, Troy Hicks, and I also saw Dean & Kelley M. again! This week I also got to hear H. Hales play the harp! She's a harp major at BYU (she's transferring to USC though) and she was finally able to get a harp here because she wanted to audition to play at one of the meetings here. She played one of her classical pieces for us the other day and it was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen/heard.. I'm jealous! I really am going through music withdrawals and it sounds dumb but I look forward to the times when we get to sing Himnos (Hymns) in class. I've had fun trying to harmonize with H. Hales & H. Fairbanks randomly throughout the days though. 

We've been having tons of fun still as a district and just at our residences before bed. We entertain ourselves by having pillow fights, hiding old V-Day candy in each other's stuff, and "watching" the Drop-Off (of course). I know I've said this before but laughter really does make all the difference. Luckily I'm hilarious and also luckily most of my hermana's and the elders in my district & zone have good senses of humor so there's always a good supply of jokes to go around. My times up so I've got to go but I love you guys, I loved all the letters (I'm trying to write some back but at the MTC ain't no body got time fo dat) and thanks for keeping me in your prayers! I'll try and take some pics this week so my email will be more exciting next P-Day. Paz.

Con amor,
H. Crawford (I'd use my first name too but I'm having a hard time remembering it at the moment...)

The Drop-off: Curb Side Edition

Tess’s hand written letter from March 1^st 2013

Buenas dias ustedes!

Yeah, So I just finished sending you those emails and since no one told us how the card reader works or anything I didn’t really have much time to tell you about the other things that are going on around here. First, just wanted to tell you about what most of our time is spent on, which is our “investigators.” We taught our first, Fernando, who claimed to be a Mexican living in Provo who was interested in the church but had a past of drinking a lot and partying with his friends, on our 2^nd day here. Since we knew no Spanish we pretty much had a staring contest for 20 min. and the whole district laughed with us for like ten minutes about it because we were the first to teach and it was obvious we all had a long way to go! We taught Fernando a few more times and improved a bit, but honestly we were a bit relieved when we were done teaching him after the fourth time because we weren’t sure what to do next. We were sitting in class the next day and all of the sudden he walks in and tells us he’s now our teacher and will share half of the teaching time with our teacher from the beginning, Hermana Haglund. It was a little weird at first because he went from being Fernando to being Hermano Brown and Fernando wasn’t very friendly, but I like him a lot as a teacher because he’s a little more my style than Hermana Haglund is. The other weird thing is that as of a couple of days ago, Hermana Haglund is now our new investigator Amelia and it’s hard not to see her as our teacher rather than a “married mother of one who wants to know more about God so she can teach her son and raise him well,” but it’s cool!

I also wanted to tell you a little bit about the elders in our district. We’re with them all the time (in class and at meals rather than just seeing them around like it seems like you were thinking when I told you E. Dallin Smith was in my district). There’s Elder Smith, Elder Magdalugo, Elder Fullmer, Elder Connolloy. Elder Smith is probably the most spiritual as well as one of the funniest. He likes to entertain us with his “Spanglish” and is just a fun guy to be around. Elder Magdalugo is from Vegas and he’s also one of the funniest. We make weird faces at each other a lot during class and we have fun teasing each other. Elder Fullmer is very smart and responsible as well as funny in a nerdy kind of way. He went to BYU too and seems to know a million people at the MTC. Elder Connolly is our district leader and I don’t talk to him much because he’s even quieter than I am, especially around the hermanas, but the Elders laugh at everything he says so apparently he’s a pretty funny guy. We’re pretty close as a district and I’m glad I have such a fun yet still very spiritual group. 

Another funny thing is that I wanted to tell you was that each week when the newbies come in on Wed. we look out our window and can see them getting dropped off by their parents/families. We’ve turned this event into a makeshift TV show (since we’re TV deprived) called,

 “The Drop-off: Curbside Edition." 

We crowd around our window and Hermana Hales narrates as the newbies part ways with their families. We’ve come up with a sort of point system to figure out who the winner is.

20 points for a crying mom

5 points for hugs with siblings

10 points for a matching suitcase set

30 points if your car is a van full of people

20 points if you get it all done under 2 minutes

10 points per picture

It’s highly entertaining. Also, I’m getting back into pretty good shape because I don’t eat a lot of the “food” and then we work out like 5 days a week and I usually run or do some kind of strength training, so that’s been kind of nice!

Tell Kendal not to worry about having both PMG’s because they have them and a lot of stuff at the bookstore. Also, tell her not to worry about the language too much because there are a lot of people dumber than her who have gone on missions speaking harder languages and have been just fine! Haha, but really.

I <3 you all,

<3 H. Crawford/Tess

Hermana Crawford...exhausted but happy!

Letter from Tess in MTC                                                                   March 1, 2013

Sorry these emails are confusing! I'm trying to get you all of the pictures I can and I won't have much time to write because I don't really know how to work this but just to keep you updated- My Spanish is doing alright, this week flew  by and I can't believe it's P-Day again already! Hermana Hales and I were already freaking out about how we're pretty much the same person so when we heard that we're "related" we freaked out even more! I honestly wouldn't survive this without her being here- she's the best. Also I got a lot of letters this week from the fam and from a bunch of other people so tell them thank you so much, I loved all of them (especially the little care package from Sista P). Nothing really eventful happened I've just been studying and laughing a ton.

Valentines from the family

Home sweet home

My BYU roomies love me!

Our zone (except Elder Pyne left us cuz he's too good for us)

 My little companera & I

(Hermana Smith)

At the Provo "conveyor belt" temple

 Thought this one was kinda entertaining

My hermanas

Here is a better picture of Hermana Hales and I

Yeah, we couldn't really see the family resemblance until we took this beautiful pic. 

(Hermana Hales's dad and Tess's aunt are first cousins).

H. Hales and I

Alright this is the last one because I'm out of time (I'm using the program TALL on the computer which helps us learn Spanish by recording ourselves and listening to native speakers), but I love you guys and I hope you're having having a great week! The church is true and I'm really happy right now even though I'm exhausted beyond belief. 

Adios until next Friday!