Querida Flia

Hey guys how's it going! 

It's good to hear that you all had a good week and that everything's going well over there. We're thinking that on Mother's Day we're going to try skyping at like 8 here so around 4pm there, would that be alright? If you want everyone to be there (koskis, wilsons) that's fine with me. We're gonna see if the mission nurse Hna Ashby will let us do it in her apt. and use her iPad! I'll let you know, though. I think they're giving us an hour this time! Haha I'm glad the kids are doing well. Congrats to Chloe for being elected as historian and for going on two dates in one weekend haha! Nice. And thanks for the pictures, Grandpa´s face was classic. I can't believe Madi Barazoto got called to Rome, I remember her being obsessed with Italy and wanting to go there! That's awesome, but it sucks that I won't be able to tell her goodbye because I'll be flying from Buenos Aires to the US that day!! Woohoo. That's cool that Nate Woods is going to Iowa too! He'll be a great missionary.

Thanks for setting the record straight on what Zutaro told us, I figured most of it was a bit off haha... I'm going to attach a pic of her so you can see what she looks like. She's great though. 

Oh yeah, and before I forget: ¡FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS MAMÁ! I've already got a few gifts that you'll get in about 3 months, and your biggest present is the Mothers' Day call of course! I hope you have an awesome day and that you do something fun! 42 isn't too bad, I actually thought you were turning 43.... haha oops.

It was the Elder Smith from Gilbert (Chelsea and Tanner's cousin) that went back to Ogden, and the story is that they went to contact a referral and I guess the guy that they were contacting had probs with some other guys and right as they were in front of his house the guys came to fight with the referral or something and there were about 6 shots fired but not necessarily at the Elders. I'm not sure on the details but I'm sure Smith was shaken up and is glad to be back in the US.

So things are going well over here in Mendoza with Hna Schiess. I discover new things everyday that she doesn't know about, and she's always quoting Disney movies and saying things like "I was so befuddled" and "the whole caboodle". And not only do I translate Spanish for her but I also have to translate Sarcasm because I guess it's another language that they use a ton here that she doesn't really get in English or Spanish haha, but she's like doing great! (:

As usual we're having a rough time finding people to teach that are there for the appointments we set up but I've already talked enough about that over the past 14 months so I won't go into much detail, I'll just explain using a scripture reference: D&C 43:23-25, 34-35. Yep.

Yes, we still get cat calls 24/7 and you're right about the fact that I haven't really filled you in on how bad it actually is, but it's fine I'm sick of it but used to it by now. We halso had a first when a lady on the street quoted the Pope when we tried to talk to her, I think he said "we're all brothers and sisters of the same faith" or something like that. I've never had anyone actually quote him before. They talk about him a lot though.

I had my first exchange as a leader this Friday! It was just with Hna Sanford and I've already had at least 3 with her before when she was comps with Schiess, but it was fun. She's a little scared about running the area when her comp leaves so I just tried to help her see that she can do fine without her and that the ward's not going to rebel against her or anything. We had fun talking and we had some great lessons so it was a good day and wasn't too stressful. Basically I just had to fill out a paper and check whether her planner was ok and how their area book was doing. Ha and I also had to check and mark off whether my own pench is clean or not.... Being a leader isn't too bad though. Tomorrow we have my first "consejo" or Mission Leadership Counsel meeting and I'm a little freaked out but I'm sure it will be fine. I've heard they usually get fed tacos so I'm at least excited for lunch.

Nothing else too exciting happened this week. We're just doing the best we can to help less active, converts, and to find investigators of course. We celebrated Miriam's (the lady who got baptized in early March) birthday yesterday. She invited us over and had the table all set up with a bunch of kinds of cookies (including some we made for her) and mate cocido. It was cute. And we had a mini birthday party, well I guess it was more like a tea party, with her and her kids. I read the kids fairytales in English and we just talked and tried make it a good birthday for her because she deserves it and has a ton of difficulties that she's dealing with. It was a good sunday though.

Well, thanks for the emails and I can't wait to talk in a couple weeks! You're the best. Have a great week!! I'll have pics next time!

<3, 

Hna Crawford

Felices Pascuas!

Felices Pascuas a todos! 

I'm glad you guys had an amazing Easter out there in Nueva York. Those giant eggs looked awesome. I seriously loved all the pictures you sent... and yes, I do hate you haha but it's all good I'll have my chance someday to travel without being expected to talk to people on the street all day (: I'm glad Chloe and Madi had the time of their lives, they deserve it! It sounds like it was an awesome trip for the 4 of you.

So this week was rough at first but the last couple days were awesome! You wanna know more about Schiess, huh? Well... she's very.. sweet, and definitely sheltered but I still love her haha! She has never heard of Beyonce, the rapist in Lincoln park (the youtube video), she never had cable, she has never eaten brown rice?, she also didn't know who Jack Johnson or Jason Mraz or Rihanna were either.In fact I made her a list the other day of videos she needs to see and music she needs to listen too when she gets back haha. But it's been fun to be with her, she's a hard worker. Her spanish is still pretty rough. She has a hard time with el vs la and with conjucations, and she always says the word "like" in english while speaking in spanish. The other day she was talking to a lady and the lady said she couldn't understand her because she speaks Castellano and not English.. Ouch. But she doesn't give up and she's studying hard, and I'm helping her out too and she's been improving little by little. She's a great cook and she has a lot of patience and a good heart. Haha it's been an adventure! The down side is that now that I'm with a gringa who's super tall, blonde, and has blue eyes and a very distinct face, the quantity of guys that yell at us and make kissing noises, etc. has gone way up. I'm honestly sick of men. When I get back if anyone tells me I'm "hermosa" (beautiful) and whistles or blows me a kiss I'll probably punch them in the face. The way that someone's going to get me to fall in love with them will be by ignoring me and avoiding eye contact. Just FYI. But yeah I'm still a missionary so pretend like I didn't just say that- I love everyone!!...

As I was saying, this week was a little rough at first. We still didn't have much luck the first few days and we were getting really exhausted, but we kept working and being obedient of course. We had a fun lunch on Friday with Hna Zutaro who is a little cray but is hilarious. She served in the Argentina South mission like 40 years ago. She always talks about the craziest things during lunch and tells us some pretty interesting stories that she reads on the internet. For example, this week she told us the following (I have no idea if any of it is true): Bill Gates died last year and ever since then Facebook has been a lot less secure, Russia is in a war agains Croatia, some kid named Sneider? found spy info in the CIA and the gov. found out and chased him all the way to Russia, the US wants to take over S. America, but countries are joining up with Argentina to fight us, there's been big fires in Chile and Australia, everyone is against the US, and apparently she has some Iraqi friends that she skypes all the time that she was going to help sneak in to Argentina??? Hahaha but she's a great lady she's just very gullible and wants to help everybody. So that made our week a little more interesting. Then slowly we started finding people who were willing to listen to us! We ended up finding 3 new investigators this week. First we found Teresa who's an old investigator and she's an older lady who can't open one of her eyes, but she has a lot of faith in Christ and is waiting for the moment when he'll explain everything to us in the next life, but we told her we're His representatives and have the answers she's looking for, and she accepted the invitation to listen to us! We also found Antonella who's a super tall and skinny 19 yr old who's studying to be a chef. She's really sweet and her fam is Catholic but she doesn't really believe in it and is searching for the truth. Then yesterday we found Alejandro who at first I thought just wanted to tell us his philosophies and not really listen because he didn't really let us teach, but then he did a 180 and told us he let come over because he wants to choose a religion because he wants his baby daughter to grow up with good values. He's got a ways to go but he can get there, and hopefully his wife will listen next week too!

We've been really excited about these people we met, and then also easter was awesome! It was quite interesting to see the Catholics walk around in a big group at night with a cross and candles chanting prayers to Mary. But yeah, I opened my package and got all of my favorite candy and snacks, and letters from you crazies! Then it was hilarious watching the hnas search for their eggs. Church was also awesome of course and there were some great talks! The spirit was extremely strong. It was the best to be able to think about the Resurrection and the moment when we'll all have our immortal bodies because of our Savior's sacrifice, and after reading Alma 40 & 41 I thought a lot about what we each need to do to be ready for that moment. I hope we'll all be prepared! (:

I love you guys, and I'll skype you in a couple weeks! What the heck. Have an awesome week! 

<3,

Hna Tess Crawford

SURPRISE: I got my Easter package!!! It got here on Wednesday and I almost died because I had to wait until sunday morning to open it! It's an easter miracle! Haha

I even had my comp hide it on saturday night so that it could be as authentic of a Crawford Easter as possible- here's where I found it

since marshmallows don't exist here I decided to get the most out of the peeps I got from you guys and roast them over our stove. best idea I've had in a while.

we also hid eggs/ chocolates around the pench for the other Hnas and Hna Aguilar (from Peru) had her first Easter egg hunt hahaha

Easter lunch at the pench- we made empanadas and they're definitely some of the best I've ever tried

Another easter miracle is that we have 5 lunches this week! A few months ago they were getting 5 per month

my comp & I- people on the street call us the Alemanas aka Germans... uhh.

mmmm, anyone want some ketchup and mayo flavored fake pringles?

hey but I did find Snickers

Elder Smith the night before he flew out to Ogden

worst thing I've made so far. there's no shortening here so I replaced it with what I that was shortening but it was actually cow fat and so the cookies turned out disgusting. We took them all and fed them to stray dogs.

Gringa Power!

Hey guys! 

So I have to start off by asking what the heck have you done with my siblings?? The pictures you sent of Olivia and Rustin are freaking me out, they do not look at all like the teenagers I left behind 14 months ago.. what is going on? Haha seriously I'm tripping out. I don't look that different, do I? Anyways sorry, thanks for the emails! It's great to hear that you had a good week (besides the dogs destroying your fave Book of Mormon) and that Olivia's..friend.. is doing ok. That's crazy, poor kid. And I'm sorry work for both of you has been crazy busy, but at the same time that's a good thing, right? Haha I miss sunday dinners with the Koskis/Wilsons! They were always entertaining. Luckily we'll be able to have a few when I get back before I start school. It sounds like the lax season has been crazy too. I'm glad Alec's not out for the season though and that Liv has 3 more games and so hopefully she'll be able to get a bit more playing time. Bleachers are the best!

So this week, my first as a leader, was interesting. Hna Schiess and I get along well, it's the weirdest thing ever being with a gringa again though.. Now when I talk about things that I like to do for fun like hike, dirtbike, wakeboard, run, etc. I don't get looked at like I'm a weirdo. It's definitely hard not to speak english too and I'm worried my spanish is going to be affected, but it's all good. Also, we talk about food a lot and so that's why I've asked for a few recipes because we're craving the desserts we used to eat at home. We haven't really had to do anything leadership wise besides go to a meeting (yay meetings..) with the zone & district leaders yesterday that started an hour and a half late. It was alright. We have the leadership meeting with Pres the 30th which should be a good one though, kind of intimidating. It's been a rough week as far as investigators go. All of the people I've told you about (Marcela, Salome, Cristina, etc.) have been cancelling and haven't been there for the appts. we've set up, so it's definitely been a test of patience for both of us. We've been trying to visit some old investigators and we were able to meet a few cool ones so this week hopefully we'll be able to have some lessons. We're also going to go through the ward directory and visit the people that don't come and try to see if they have any referrals for us. Things can only get better from here. As a mission we're reading the book of mormon in 66 days (not sure if I've mentioned this already) and a few days ago I read about Alma and Amulek who got hit in the face, spit on, and had to watch innocent people burn to death but they still stayed strong and kept preaching in another city after they were freed from prison, and so that's helped me realize that what we go through things like being avoided (or other things that I'll what till I get home to tell you) that it's really not that bad compared to what other missionaries have to deal with, let alone what Christ had to go through. So it's all good! Have an awesome time in New York and tell Madi I said hi & I miss her! Also tell Sis Hall happy late birthday!

Love, Hermana Crawford

here's the pic you wanted of my old shoes..

just in case you were wondering how my feet are doing

they didn't mix the oreos into the mcflurry but it was still pretty good

(oh yeah, they also have burger king here too..?)

last p-day with my old comp eating McDonalds for the first time in Argentina

(here McDonalds is where all the rich/snobby people eat) and WalMart is where they shop..

Sister Training Leader!!

Hey how's it going everyone? First of all congrats Jake on the call to Canada speaking Spanish, that's sick!!! I can't believe Jarom guessed it! I wouldn't have survived the cold of Canada but I know he can handle it. 

Haha I'm glad you enjoyed the charity shoes story too and had something to tell people about. What the heck, 127 days??.... That's insane. Yeah I try not to think about it too much and focus on the mission but sometimes it's hard not to. I'm definitely going to make the most out of what I have left, don't worry! Ahh it's exciting to be getting closer to the end though. I'm tired.

I'm glad your conference weekend was a fun one and you got to hang out with the Wilsons! I miss Peter :( I loved all of the talks, but my fave was Bednar's! I loved the analogy he made with the story about his friend and his new truck that got stuck in the snow, and couldn't get out until he put the wood in the back and the heavy load gave him enough traction to get back on the road and back home to his family. I'll tell you why I liked it so much a little later on in the letter.

Way to beat Chaparral, Gilbert!!!! And way to be a beast, Rustin!! Wish I could've seen it with my own eyes, but I'm sure it was a sick game. And Olivia's team will beat Desert Vista next time I'm sure! I hope Chloe did well in the elections too <3 

Alright so this week was awesome! I got to see ALL my comps and friends at the Hnas' Conference, and we had time to hang out and have fun as well learn from a few talks. As you can tell from the pics, we started out by going to el Cerro de la Gloria just for fun and it was there that I got to catch up with Hales and Barney and freak out about how fast the mission has gone by. Then we ate dinner at Pres.' sweet house which was amazing! Then after hardly sleeping because the neighbors were listening to cumbia (Argentine rap) all night and then getting a call at 12 that the hnas from San Rafael were at the gate and needed to sleep in our pench, on Wednesday we did some yoga, played some games, and then got to hear talks by Hna Avila, the two other older sister missionaries Hnas Anders and Pelayo, and this psychologist lady who talked to us about how to communicate with our comps more successfully. It was the best conference ever. I talked to all my ex comps and everythings good between the two that I had a hard time with and I, which was a relief. I also got to meet some Hnas that I'd never seen before which was also fun.

Anyways General Conference was also a blast! On Saturday we watched it with Hna Ashby in her apartment on her iPad. She made us food and we got to sit on couches!! Hallelujah! Then on Sunday we watched it with the other gringos (we watched it with Ashby because it wasn't coming through in English in the chapel, but then by sunday it was fixed.. kind of) and had lunch that a couple from the US that lives here made for all the missionaries! It was fun and was almost like home.

So seeing as how I'm running short on time, I guess I'll fill you in on what happened with transfers.. My comp is leaving to Tunuyan, and my new comp will be..........................................................HERMANA SCHIESS!!! What the heck!!! My latina streak is over :( Oh, but even bigger news is that I'm now a SISTER TRAINING LEADER.. Uhhhhhh.. Schiess is too and we're in charge of the Hnas of Trapiche aka Hna Sanford and her comp. But as I was saying about the talk by Bednar, I think this extra load is going to help me get more spiritual traction so that I can keep making my way out of the snow and closer to the path to eternal life. That's all I've got.

Love you all!

<3, Hna Crawford

Vegetarian food <3

Gilbert, Arizona..?!

Dulce de Leche Frappuccino from Starbucks (w/o coffee of course)

cool pet display in WalMart

$$$$

We went to el Cerro de la Gloria for the Hermanas Conference this Tuesday/Wednesday

reunited w/ Hna Hales :)

The hnas of San Luis <3

sisters conference

dinner @ President's house

this is how the elders watched the Conference

this is how the gringas watched the Conference 

some stray dogs have more luck finding food that others..

more of the Conference

roomies

I'm gonna miss this crazy Peruana

way too many planners