The baby blues...

So yeah, I guess there's some new holiday today called memories day and the cibers were closed all afternoon.. Anyways it's pretty much time for us to be working right now so I guess I don't really have time to write much :/ 

This week was pretty good. We met some awesome people who are super prepared so hopefully we'll have some success pretty soon here. My comp and I are doing alright. We don't have conflicts or anything and we work hard, but I wouldn't say that we click super well. It's all good though, we're together for a reason and we have a lot to learn from each other. We had Stake Conference this Saturday and Sunday and it was a little strange because the attendance was about the same (maybe a tiny bit more) that what we have in the Val Vista Ward on a normal Sunday, but there were some great talks/testimonies and the Stake Pres got changed. Pres Avila came with his wife and it was good to be able to see them. 

The halfway point is a little rough as I'm sure you've probably heard from other missionaries/ex-missionaries. I'm pretty exhausted mentally and physically, but the spiritual blessings are constant. Thanks for being an awesome family- we get to talk in ONE MONTH! I hope everything's going well and you're having fun with all the cousins, aunts, and uncles! Feliz Thanksgiving!! Eat lots of turkey and pie for me, but not bread.. I'm sick of bread.. I love you guys! I'll send pictures next week!

<3, Hermana Crawford

PS- Tell the Stewarts thanks for the letter! I loved Eliza and Charlotte's messages (;

PSS- Ah I just barely got your letter and I read it but I don't have time to comment!! Chloe's b-day looked awesome!! Oh, and I attached a pic that I thought I had sent that was supposed to follow the prego pic! I think I accidentally sent the one of me in my River jersey instead that I had made with my district in San Rafael but didn't get until last week because I got transfered (it has my name and fave # on the back)!

Me holding my hija (Hermana Martinez)

Sick and No Electricity!

Nov. 18, 2013 La Punta

How's it going? So I guess it wasn't the most exciting week for you guys, but this one should be a little better because CHLOE'S TURNING SIXTEEN- woohoooo!! That's so crazy!! Feliz cumple hermanita!!! Have a ton of fun, I wish I could be there to party with you :/ Next year we'll do something crazy! But anyways, I loved all of the pics with you guys throwing up my signature ASL sign and Jasper's hilarious photobomb. You guys can almost pull it off as well as I do.. Almost. I'm glad you finally found a way to calm Jasper down too, poor guy. Olivia's paint fight looked epic, and so did the Wilson's halloween costumes! I was DYING when I read the story of how Peter is apparently engaged?!?! Haha so cute! Thanks for including that in the email!

So my week was a little crazy again! On Tuesday we had exchanges and I got to be with Hna Sanford in her area while Hna Scheiss was with my comp in ours. Hna Sanford just recently got to Argentina after visa-waiting in Pennsylvania (in the English program) and she didn't know any Spanish beforehand, so my Castellano definitely got put to the test. It was super fun though, she's from AZ and went to BYU so we definitely clicked right away and I was able to help her a lot with the language. We also had interviews as you can tell from the pics which, as usual, lasted waaay longer than they were supposed to and so we were there just about all day. It helped my comp a lot though to be able to get some advice from pres because she's still struggling a bit, and my interview was good too- he told me to prepare myself to be here in la punta for a long time.. we'll see what happens!

We had some awesome lessons too with new investigators. One was with this 15 year old girl Lucia who's super cool and interested in learning and finding the true church. She prayed twice in our lesson and the spirit was really strong when she prayed to ask whether Joseph Smith was a true prophet. Hna Scheiss and Martinez also met this lady named Rosa during exchanges who's awesome and came to Sacrament meeting!! We have a few other people we're working with too and we're pretty excited about how things are starting to pick up in our area. The crazier part of the week was when we came home on Friday to a house without electricity.. Apparently they hadn't paid in 3 months so they cut us off! We only had a few little candles that burned out the first day, and we're still without power today even though they paid on Saturday.

I also got sick for the 2nd time on my mission after eating a really heavy lunch of this soup thing with chorrizo, sketchy beef, lentils, rice, and a ton of oil.. I threw up like 3 times later that night and couldn't make it to church in the morning, which sucked. On top of that I had been starting to get a sore throat and congestion a few days earlier. It was really cute though because after church as a surprise the Videla fam with their 4 adorable little kids and the husband who's our ward mission leader and also another 20 year old kid in the branch came over and gave us the sacrament as well as a Priesthood blessing. The members here really are amazing! I'm so excited to be able to spend Christmas and my birthday here with them and the other hnas. Oh yeah, so Hna Hatch is the funniest. She describes herself, and it's pretty accurate, as the female (and a lot less inappropriate) Michael Scott. She literally makes us laugh for hours with her Spanglish, dancing, and just being Hna Hatch. And now that her fam lives in Gilbert (3962 E Stanford Ave 85234 is their address), I'll be able to see her for sure after the mission!

Last thing before I have to go, as I was laying in my bed sick I was calculated random things and I figured out that I've lived with 37 different girls in the past year (for at least 24 hours aka I'm counting exchanges too). THIRTY SEVEN. Just think about that for a minute..

Love you guys! Have an awesome week! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHLOEEEEEEEEEEE!!

Some pics of last p-day with my (ex) district!

More P-day pics!

Hna Sanford from Tucson holding Pres. Avila's new pet turtle that he found while he was in San Rafael.

me with the Pres' tortuga 

all of us hanging out waiting hours for our entrevistas

our new Christmas tree- we started celebrating a little early, don't judge.

the signature 9 month pregnant pic

First Full Week in La Punta

Hola familia-

How's it going out there in Gilbert? The temple looks so amazing, I can't wait to see it in person! Sounds like you had a pretty good week. Chloe's going to FIJI?! That's going to be so awesome!! And that's so cool that Rustin got his blessing! It's going to help him out a ton. Also, tell Sara G. congrats!! Haha I remember when she told me a long time ago (while Jared was on his mission) that they were dating and I didn't believe her at all.. well, now I guess I have to believe it! That's crazy!

So my first full week in La Punta was pretty good. We had a zone meeting last Tuesday and the ZL's talked a lot about faith and how God is a God of miracles and even when it feels like too much is being asked of us, the Lord will qualify us for whatever calling we're given as long as we have faith. That was good for my comp and I to hear because we both have been feeling like a lot is being asked of us- given the fact that we're opening the area, she's brand new, and I've never trained before (in fact I was never really trained in the first place!). We've been working hard though, trusting in the Lord, and doing our best. To clear up the confusion, Hna Martinez, my comp, is from Honduras and just got out of the MTC in Guatemala. She has 10 siblings and she's the second youngest. ALL of her older siblings are return missionaries- 7 girls and 2 boys, and her younger sister just sent in her papers. She's very sweet and a little bit sensitive. We get along pretty well but she gets frustrated sometimes because the people here are a lot different than the people in her country, and she came in with a lot of expectations about the mission from her siblings who all served in central america and it's not exactly the same over here in Argentina. She misses her family a lot too. Her oldest brother was just mugged and killed a year or so ago and so I think that's been on her mind a bit too. She'll be alright pretty soon though. The first few months are always a little rough.

I really love La Punta though! It's so nice here and the people are friendly. The branch is small but the members are so pumped up about missionary work, and are excited to help us out with lessons and by inviting their friends and family to church. All of our leaders are awesome- it's one of the coolest branches I've been in! This week we had a great lesson with 2 friends of this 18 year old girl in the ward named Brenda who got baptized 3 years ago but has been inactive for 2 years and just recently started coming again. She's one of the branch missionaries and last week she came out to go tracting with us and two friends, Angie and Belén were hanging out with her and decided to come with us too. It was a little strange, but we started talking to them and they became pretty interested in why two girls their age would leave their countries and families to do what we do. A few days later we had an appointment with them and watched the movie "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" in the house of the Varela family (Brenda's house). The spirit was really strong as the movie ended and the mom (who's also recently re-activating) bore her testimony as well as Brenda. Belén asked us for a copy of the book that she saw in the movie aka the book of mormon, and wants to read it. Unfortunately they both live in the other hermanas' area so we're going to have to give them over to them, but it was a great experience for my comp and I.

Speaking of the other hermanas, they're both awesome and we all have a ton of fun together. It's really nice living in a pension with other hermanas again, it gets a little boring with just two. Hna Martinez 2 from Nicaragua is super cool and was the hija de Hna Hales (she came to Argentina 1 day after my ex comp Hna Tzorin), and Hna Hatch is insane but hilarious. We're hoping that none of us get transfered because we all want to spend Christmas together here in La Punta.

It really is so crazy that I'm about to be HALF-WAY done.... Some days it feels like I've been a missionary for my entire life and the life I had before was just a dream, but other days I feel like I was just in the MTC yesterday and there's no way that I've really been here for 9 months. It's weird and impossible to explain. I'm turning 20 in a month though too, which is also super weird! I'm so excited for Navidad and to get to talk to you guys a little bit. It's going to come really fast, I can already feel it! I've got to go now, I think we're going to go on a hike as a district! I love you guys!! Enjoy the pics!

<3,

Hna Crawford

Walmart! This one's a lot more like the real thing- there's even Christmas decorations. I felt really weird shopping there last P-Day..

Mi hija eating her first alfajor!

Sometimes during the siesta (they sleep from 1-6 pm now that it's hot) we take 5 minute breaks from searching for open doors (if we knock a closed one, they'll get super mad)

Isiah 52:7 "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

Las hermanas de La Punta! 

Actividad en Ampya: "Un dia en el CCM" (a day in the MTC) 

Do-it-yourself Haircut and Surprise Transfer!

Well folks, they've done it again...

Another curveball has been thrown at Hna Crawford! I shouldn't be surprised by now I guess, but I have to admit that this was one of the bigger surprises I've gotten. Before I get to that though, thanks so much for both of your advice, even though it's obviously not an issue anymore given the changes that happened this week. Maybe it will come in handy in the future (I hope not, though). It looks like the fam had a pretty fun halloween! Loved all the costumes, especially the Hunger Games characters. It sounds like you had an awesome time at the Ellis Island Experience- how crazy that you found all of those people! The new dance coordinating assignment sounds really fun too- you'll do great!

So yeah, I guess I can tell you about what happened this week now then. We had a pretty normal Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday out in San Rafael. There were a few random tormentas (rainstorms) and we found a few cool new people, but other than that it was chill- up until Halloween, that is. At around 7 pm, right as we were starting our 2 & a half hour weekly planning session I look down at the phone and realize that we have 5 missed calls from the zone leaders. I also read one of the messages they sent which said (in Spanish) "there have been special transfers. call us right now. it's urgent." I for sure thought it had to be a joke, but we called them back and sure enough, there really were special transfers. They told me I was going to La Punta in San Luis, and that I was going to be opening La Punta "B" as well as training Hna Martinez from Honduras..

So when I heard that what immediately came into my head is that Hna Martinez is the name of the hermana that Hna Hales had been training for 4 weeks or so in La Punta, but when transfers came H. Hales got sent to San Rafael, leaving her "daughter" with Hna Hatch who was going to finish her training.. For whatever reason, I came to the conclusion that something had to have happened with Hna Hatch and Hna Martinez and I was going to go take Hna Hatch's spot and finish training Hna Martinez.. So with that conclusion being made, I was a little more relaxed because I had talked to Hna Hales over the phone and she told me that Hna Martinez was amazing and was basically training her. Anyways, so they told me I had to leave as early as possible the next morning, and so we went to the terminal to buy a bus ticket but there weren't any until 10:30.

I packed everything up that night and then headed out around 11 after missing my first collectivo, running down and stopping one that I thought was it but really wasn't, and then miraculously finding one that left 15 minutes later even though it came like 25 minutes late. The point is I got to the offices and as I start talking to the assistants I realize that I'm actually going to be with a DIFFERENT Hna Martinez who just barely got out of the MTC in Guatemala... What the?! I was freaked out at that point, especially because we were both going to be new in the area.. Ahh so I'm out of time already but my hija Hna Martinez is super cute and awesome! She comes from a fam of 11 (she's 2nd to youngest) and is 21. We found out a weird connection actually because her boyfriend's sister is an Hna that I met over in Ogden, Hna Peña! But yeah she has a ton of excitement for the work and is super sweet and cool. It's fun getting to help her out even though she's pretty much training me too.

The branch here is awesome, they're already helping a ton, and it's incredibly beautiful! Sometimes I feel like I'm in Provo or Gilbert, it's weird! We live with the other Hna Martinez from Nicaragua and Hna Hatch from Cali whose family actually recently moved to Gilbert! Maybe you know them? Anyways I'm sure I'll have a lot more to tell you guys next week. It'll definitely not be an easy next few transfers but it's going to be awesome and we'll see a lot of miracles. I was definitely bummed to be leaving my area literally the DAY BEFORE Hna Hales came and not being able to sing in the choir for stake conference, but everything happens for a very good reason! Love you all! Wish us luck!!

Hna Crawford

PS- I LOVED the Puerto Rico presents- I ate the snacks during my 6 hour ride and I'm wearing the necklace right now!

We couldn't get haircuts for the 2nd week in a row and I got sick of how gross the ends looked, so I cut them off myself..

Hna Tzorin and I

Saying goodbye to San Rafael..

Hna. Martinez and I

I got my Puerto Rico package!!

 Saying hello to San Luis

Hna. Martinez and I in the Terminal

Enjoying dinner that Hna. Martinez 2 made for us

New pension!

La Punta <3