The Missionary Calling Card

We contacted an awesome potential this week! Her name is Rosalia and she is so cool. When she met the other sisters at the deaf expo (through an invitation from a member friend), and they asked for her information, she flat out handed them her drivers license to get her information. If that doesn't start to describe how exited she is to learn, I don't know what does. We went up to contact her on Tuesday. She pulled up to her house right as we were and she excitedly waved as we got out of the car. She brought us through the gate to her backyard and we sat down. We came to learn that she knows Mexican sign language and English sign language, both very well. She taught us some of MSL. It was awesome. And then when we started talking about the church, she asked how long her member friend had been a member. We responded 5-6 years and she was so surprised! She was shocked and said her friend needs to share her testimony more! Ha! She asked if we had a Book of Mormon with us. We asked if she preferred English, ASL, or picture book. She said all! So we handed her the huge stack of book and she smiled and said she would start with the English and memorize it so she can help interpret it to MSL. And then she proceeded to commit herself to go to church. It was honestly the easiest thing I have ever had to do. She did all the committing herself. So that was fun.

Sister Munson and I went up to Covina to contact Keesha from the deaf expo, but she wasn't there. So we decided to contact someone close by. As we walked up to the house, we found that there was a gate at the entryway to go to the door, but it was locked. Then, we looked down and saw one of our ASL cards sitting wet in the plant. WHAT. WHY was that there?? It reminded us of Batman and the Joker's calling card haha. So we called the elders and turns out they had contacted that house the day before but no deaf people lived there.  That was our freaky moment of the week.

I love the members of the branch here. They teach me so much about love and charity. I love watching them all interact. Yesterday at church, I saw so many people from such different walks of life chatting away with each other. It didn't matter what language level, what income level, where they lived, what education level, family life, nothing. They all served ad loved each other. It brought me to tears so many times.This is why I love the branch so much., They are so full of love and kindness and patience... In fact, each of them encompass at least one Christ-like attribute. They teach me so much about love and long-suffering and endurance. I love them so much.

Love,

Sister Crawford

Skyping and Kitties

I don't have much to say, considering I just skyped with the family yesterday. So good to see ya'll!! Sorry I'm still sassy :)

So basically, the crazy story of the week is this: we rescued some kittens.

I will expound.

So Thursday night, the four of us north missionaries gathered at the church building to have a meeting to plan for that week's FHEs. Sister Munson and I were waiting, and waiting, until finally, we turn and look down the hall, and Elder Peck is standing there with the cutest kitten you ever saw and he said, "....I saved a cat." So we try to warm it up and give it some milk that just so happened to be in the fridge. It wasn't until we were a few minutes into this activity did the elders mention that there was another one outside! Well, why didn't you tell me earlier! It's about to rain and it's cold! So we all go outside to get it. It is in the far corner of the parking lot, in the structure surrounding the dumpster. We could hear it in there, but could not see it, as there was a ledge just behind the door. So we meowed and had the other kitten meow and eventually, after about a half hour, we caught this little kitten. I won't mention how beat up we were after all this, due to some irritated and angry kittens with sharp teeth and claws. I also won't mention how much I was dying from my cat allergy. But anyways, we finally got them to calm down and got them warm. We had the elders drop them off at our Branch President's house for the night. The next day we made sure to go and play with them as much as we could so they didn't go crazy. They are now at a member's house waiting to be transported to their new home at another member's house. Hopefully they can stay there together.

Let's see... Nothing else too crazy happened compared to that, with the exception of skyping the family. It was a typical skype session: Maxfield asked me embarrassing questions, Forrest brought out the horse head and sword, Mom tried to get the boys to behave, and Dad sat in the back laughing at the chaos. You know, the usual :)

Love you all! Have a GREAT week! :)

Sister Smyly Crawford

Time for another Expo!

Well, we had another expo! It was pretty much the highlight of the week, so I will dispense talking about anything else.

It was up in Pomona on Saturday. This is one of the biggest, if not the biggest deaf expos in the nation. We had gone to an expo back in November, but this one was better by far. The last expo we were desperately trying to pull people in to talk and teach. This one the people came to us, asking their own questions, sincerely wanting to know. We found so many new, solid investigators.

One miracle was a girl named Keesha. Our recent convert, Annette, knows many deaf people, but one of her friends was Keesha. Annette made sure to bring Keesha by the booth to say hi. Conveniently, Annette's testimony video showed up on the tv right as Keesha got there. She was so much more willing to listen to us after she saw her friend's testimony. Sister Munson got into a chat with her and Keesha ended up asking so many intelligent questions, such as, "When you get baptized, do you go completely under the water?" and "Do you wear white when you get baptized?" And other questions along with that. Annette will be bringing her to church this next week.

I am so grateful for this expo. Many, if not most, of our investigators were dropped in the past two weeks (whether of their own choice or ours) and I can count the number of people we teach on one hand, including less actives. So this expo has brought so many new investigators, who are actually wanting to learn, rather than learning because they don't want to be rude to us. To say that Satan tried everything he possibly could this past week to scare and dissuade us is an understatement. But we still overcame it all with the help of the Lord and we had a wonderful expo.

"No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."

~Sister Smyly Crawford