Letter (with a Surprise Inside)!!

Como anda mi familia?                                                         Sept. 23, 2012 San Rafael

Che, I loved the emails and pics! I can't

believe that Bro Blaser lived with SANTOS?!?! Oh my gosh, he told us

so many stories about the missionaries that used to live in his house

and all the crazy things that they did........ interesting.. haha. I

also can't believe that you were in the Gilbert newspaper as Abigail

Adams hahaha you look great even though your wearing "the dress" (:

You finally got the recognition you deserve! We had a similar

experience here when our service project got printed in the newspaper!

The patriarch is gonna make photocopies and so I'll have to send a pic

of it next week and you'll have to get a translater to read it. It

sounds like it was a little bit crazy trying to get the new iphone

haha, but I hope it was all worth it and that the phone's awesome! I

also love that you guys got to have an amazing missionary experience

last week! I'm so proud of you and the fam for being a part of the

work and helping out the missionaries. You have no idea how much it

means to us when the members help teach and bear their testimonies

like you were able to do! Que genial familia que tengo!

So anyways my week was pretty awesome too as you can tell by the pictures.

We had intercambios (exchanges) and - OH MY GOSH WHAT THE HECK the

zone leaders just called right now and told us that we have to go to

Mendoza this Thursday to receive our NEW COMPANIONS that just got

their VISAS from the US. My comp is going to San Juan and I'm staying

here in San Rafael... AHHHHH. Dang it, now I can't remember what I was

going to write you about!! What the heck..!!!! Ok, ok. As I was

saying- we had exchanges and I got to go to the other hermanas' area

with Hna Medrano (she's from Salta but she lives in Cordoba and she's

about to finish her mission this transfer). She's such an incredible

missionary and fun person in general, I learned a ton when I was with

her for a day! The coolest thing that happened was that I met one of

her recent converts who was SO prepared by the Lord. Her name's

Alicia, she's 63, and she had recently lost her husband. She had a

friend who talked to her about the church a while back but she never

looked into it much, and then her husband passed away and she was

looking for something that could bring her peace and comfort. She had

smoked for years and had wanted to stop but couldn't, and the day that

the hermanas showed up at her door (on accident) she had decided to

quit smoking for good and she let them in her house to chat. Two weeks

later she was baptized. She hasn't had the slightest urge to smoke

again and soon she'll be able to do the work for her husband! She's

amazing and has the strongest testimony ever. Hna Medrano helped me

realize that there are more people like Alicia out there but we just

have to pray with faith and work hard to be able to find them! 

We also had the meeting with Elder Nuñez of the 70 this week and it was

amazing too. He talked about how being obedient is important, but it's

not enough just to be obedient to all the rules- we have to also have

our hearts in it and pray for the same desire that Alma had when he

wished that he was an angel so that he could preach the Gospel with

the voice of a trumpet. There was a lot more that was talked and that

I learned, but thanks to the surprise phonecall I can't think of them

at the moment.. 

Oh my gosh.. 

Ok so we also had another activity with

the ward this week where we cleaned the chapel, ate pizza, and

prepared a song for the ward conference that we had this Sunday. The

secret's out that I can sing thanks to an hermano that discovered my

secret ability at lunch during exchanges. He made me sing hymns with

him and his wife after lunch after I told him that I liked to sing-

and he then proceeded to inform our ward about it and also ask

permission for me to come to the stake choir (which I did yesterday)

because they need more contra altos. He came to the activity and

helped a few of the members and missionaries put together a rendition

of "Jeovah mi Pastor es".. They're not the greatest singers ever, but

they were really excited to be able to have a choir for when the stake

pres came, and yesterday when we sang it wasn't the most beautiful

thing I've ever heard but it brought almost everyone in the room to

tears (this Sunday a lot more people showed up- yayy!). 

Sorry if this letter doesn't make a ton of sense- I'm trying to throw in all the

most interesting parts without thinking about the news we just got.

After that we had a relatively normal week and did a lot of door

knocking. Luciana is doing well even though she couldn't come to

church. She is super open, always listens, and has great questions

(not the kind that some people have who just want to fight). We had a

few difficulties with technology during the lessons, but in the end we

were able to get the message across and the spirit was there. That's

about all I've got at this point. There were some pictures of the

activity that I didn't have time to send- we'll see if I have time

next week (I doubt it though, given the fact that things are about to

get pretty crazy.......). I'm excited that I'm going to be with

another gringa for the first time in my mission here, but also a

little scared. I'm going to have to study the map hard and learn as

much Spanish as I can in the next 4 days!! Ahhh. Pray for us! Thanks

for being the coolest! Love you!

<3, Hna Crawford

PS- I got an email today that I recieved a package!!! And I'll be able

to pick it up on Thursday! (: Yayy!

Another pic of what San Rafael looks like- there's actually green!

Another look at the inside of our little pench

my 7th comp (including MTC) and I on our way back from the painting
service project last week

Hna Medrano and I during our exchange with an American flag that we
gave to one of their investigators because he had been searching for
one

So if you thought the weather in Gilbert was bipolar, try living in San Rafael..
The day I got here it was perfect- sunny and like 75 degrees. The next
two days it was cold and snowy. It got a little bit warmer but was
still cloudy the next few days. Then there was one day this week that
was super warm (1st pic). *one day later* (voice from Spongebob)....

Snow... but wait.. 

two hours later* (same voice) .... sunny again..? So confused. In case you were wondering, yesterday it rained and was cold, but today it's sunny again.

Pics of the different areas with Elder Nuñez of the 70.  I'm in the bottom one right next to him in the turquoise blazer and pink skirt aka the only gringa in the pic.. haha.

 Hna Hales is in yellow.

The first thing I saw from the bus entering San Rafael was this cool grape sign