Hermana Tess Crawford: 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!