Well, not us specifically, but it was a
combined effort between the Elders and us. Kevin Rico is getting
baptized in two weeks! He is as ready as an eight year old can possibly
get. But hopefully, the blessings he and his family receive will show
the rest of the family how wonderful this ordinance really is. To be
honest, at this point in time, all I want out of life is to get to see
this family have a happily ever after. It will be hard; they definitely
have their challenges. But despite it all, I know they can achieve that
happiness.
This
week has been an interesting one. The pressure is really on now. I have
quite a bit to do while I am here and it all seems pretty intimidating,
and quite frankly impossible. But that is the greatest thing about
being a missionary: this is not our work. This is the Lord's work and it
is His time. We are just one of the means to the end. Yes, it requires a
tremendous load of patience, and we all know how hard that is for me.
But I have already seen how much more patient I have become. This work
here with these deafies really requires that extreme patience. And the
work I have with these crazy teenagers requires it too. But I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me.
Now
for the weekly "Deaf Excuses". These are the excuses I hear from Deaf
people about why they can't to different things for whatever reason they
give. Take them as you will.
-I can't walk, my shoulder is bruised.
-I can't pray, my hand itches.
-I didn't come to church "cuz ima thug."
I
gave my first talk on the mission yesterday. Of course the person
before me only spoke for two minutes leaving me with 35 minutes to talk.
And of course I didn't prepare, like usual (in my defense I had no time
to do so this week). So that was fun. But everyone said I did well, so
yay me!
Now
to confess my moment of weakness. Here is how it went down. We as an
ASL district are going over to President and Sister Olsen's house for
Thanksgiving and they assigned the missionaries to bring pie. So we went
out and bought a frozen pumpkin pie. Sister Pendleton really wanted to eat
the pie. "Sister Crawford, can I eat the pie?" "No." "Pleeeeeaaassee???"
"No." "But it looks really good..." "No." So that went on for about five
or six days. Then one night she wakes me and Sister Stucki up at
midnight, forces us out of bed, and there on the floor was the thawed
out pie and three forks. We ended up eating about two-thirds of the pie.
In my defense, I was half asleep. Let's just say that the next day I
couldn't eat anything because my stomach hated me. I was weak. Sister Pendleton is
very proud of herself.
Now for a few questions I have gotten to be answered:
Yes,
I spend 3-4 hours in the car most days, because we cover four missions
and deaf people don't tend to live all on the same street like we would
want them to.
I am not getting car sick. Thankfully.
The number of people at church on a normal basis: 40-50
The
ASL is coming along. It can be a little frustrating, but I am
definitely getting it. We don't use a lot of pure ASL, which is my
latest frustration, but we use the signs... I don't use MSL myself, but
mainly because I don't know it yet. I know a few signs though. Mostly
what I do is "Pidgin" which a combination of English and American Sign Language. Basically that means ASL with really bad grammar.
We
cover 4 missions and have one deaf branch, yes. But there is also a
branch up in the LA mission and one over in Riverside. We lose a lot of
people to Riverside because people move over there for whatever reason.
Okey dokey! I think that's all! Love you all!
Sister Crawford
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