Transfers!

I've had such a great learning experience these past 2 transfers.  I really love learning to learn.  The most useful things to learn a lot of the time aren't book smarts but rather learning to deal with different situations.  Missionaries live for awkward moments because we have so many of them! haha  I've always been a perfectionist so when I was taught in math to "guess and check" that drove me nuts! Here I am today though... guessing... and checking! Another way you could say it would be... trying... and repenting!  There aren't many other missionaries I can ask how to do the "assistant stuff"... and a lot of the time we are just trying to follow the spirit and do what feels right.  I know that Heavenly Father needed me to leave Sierra Leone so that I could develop certain skills and help specific people while I'm here.  Its tough and exhausting... but all a part of His plan for me:)

Funny moment for the week... Elder Matheny and I were walking up to a less-active families house and saw these two fake looking birds sitting on the window seal.  I thought out loud... That'd be cool if those were real.. Elder matheny looked at me and said... There is no way those are real!  We stared at them for a good 30 seconds and decided they must be fake... All the sudden one of them just disappeared! We kept looking back and forth at each other and at the one bird still there and just bust out laughing!  We decided we now have faith to turn a fake bird into a real bird! haha  We'll try moving a mountain this week and let you know how it goes;)

We taught a couple of really powerful lessons this week that reminded me how important the spirit is in conversion.  The first one, Elder Matheny and I felt really strongly to invite C** to pray about being baptized before she returns to work at the beginning of July.  She has already felt that this is where she needs to be and what she needs to be doing... but had not quite asked Heavenly Father directly if that was his plan for her.  So we text her the next morning to see how her prayer went and she sent back this, "I prayed early this morning.  It was very emotional for me. I definitely felt the spirit of the Holy Ghost with me."  We heard her tell several people at church how excited she was for her baptism on June 20th:)  God's timeline is now.  The longer we wait to take action... the longer we wait to receive blessings!  I love C** and love the change I've seen in her in these short 4 weeks that I've known her:)

The other lesson that was powerful was with P**.  She also has been scared to solidify a baptismal date.  We were planning on teaching one thing... and ended up teaching something completely different.  Elder Matheny shared a personal experience that connected perfectly with her.  I haven't teared up in awhile... but the spirit was so heavy in that room I couldn't hold them back.  We gave her a blessing to have the strength to overcome her fears.  She now has a baptismal date for June 27th!:) Baptism is the key to helping us leave the past in the past.  I know the best way to help anyone in this world is to baptize them.  Jesus Christ's atonement works miracles that no other coping strategy can.

Transfers are going to be this week and will be quite exciting.  We have over 40 missionaries leaving in the next two transfers!

Shout out to my brother! I hope you are having a blast and taking care of Africa for me while I'm gone;)

Elder Crandall the vandal

Los Angeles Temple with the Departing Missionaries.

I'm not quite sure what he is trying to do.  Maybe pretend he is a rabbit?

Minor car accident.  Not their fault and no one was injured.

The Work Goes On

We had such a great time this week and saw a lots of increase in faith... both in ourselves and with a lot of the missionaries we were able to go on exchanges with.  I think I spent about the same amount of time in my area as I did in other missionaries areas!  

I got in a car accident on one of the exchanges so that was real exciting.  Everyone was ok and the lady that hit us happened to be a less-active member!  So she was able to not only walk away from the crash... but walk away with a Book of Mormon in hand:)

We were able to go to the temple for the departing missionary temple trip!  It is weird being around a lot of missionaries who are a week away from being home... makes you think a lot about how well you've served your own mission and what you want to be like when you head home.  I've been changed by my mission more than I ever thought possible... I pray everyday that the lessons I've learned will stick with me and I will be an even better missionary when my full time service is up.

We had stake conference this weekend!  There was a lot of talk about the ward council!  Growing up I always knew my dad was away at meetings... but I had no clue what those meetings were for!  In the church we talk about the ideal a lot... I've realized that it is soo hard to accomplish the ideal!  I've sat in a lot of ward councils on my mission and the ones that are the most effective are always those that use the power of delegation.  When one person tries to do everything... they burn out and their area of influence is much smaller than it could be.  This is a lesson I'm trying to learn while being an assistant.  It is hard to trust others with "big jobs" but I can only imagine how Heavenly Father feels.  Trust is such an interesting topic.  There is nothing that brings more inner peace than knowing your Heavenly Father can trust you.

I'm thankful for my Savior this week.  It is so important to know that we can't work our way to Heaven but that it is only possible to return through His Grace.  We must constantly be begging for forgiveness rather than replaying our greatest hits of righteousness as Elder Uchtdorf put it.  His Grace is sufficient.

Love Elder Crandall the Vandal