Why do I have to come home?!?!?!

J** M** was baptized and confirmed!  She is one of the sweetest ladies I've been able to teach on my whole mission.  She has known about the church for over 20 years but has finally put in the effort and made up her mind that this is what she wants!  Earlier in the week she was about to come over to the church to have her baptismal interview.  On her phone she has a contact named "My Love" which is her nickname for her husband who passed away 2 years previous.  The contact doesn't have a number connected to it... so whenever she misses him or wants to let him know what she is doing in her life she will text that contact.  Well, right before she left to come to the church she decided to text that contact and let him know that she was really excited to get baptized and hoped he was proud of her.  A couple of seconds after she hit send... in which it wouldn't send to anywhere... her phone spoke out loud as if she was getting a text message and it said, "Message from.. My Love"  She told us about this as soon as she got to the church! She was sooo happy to KNOW that not only is Heavenly Father Watching out for her but, her husband is cheering her on from the other side of the veil so they can be sealed!  Why do I have to come home?!?!?!

We had Mission Leadership Council again this week.  I think this was the 11th one I have done and sadly the last.  We talked a lot about turning our finding into baptisms.  We fasted today to see the fruits of our finding.  Now comes the hard work and the plethora of miracles!:) I was able to share my testimony at the very end and got a little emotional as it hit me how amazing my mission has been and how much I love being a missionary.  Nothing brings the spirit stronger than testifying of something you know to be true.  Why do I have to come home?!?!?!

Wednesday night was so awesome! We went to a returning less-actives home to try and share a message with some of the non-members in his home.  We were able to teach his 20 year old niece T**.  We shared the restoration with her and right in the middle of it she started crying.  She could feel the truth and it spoke straight to her heart.  We invited her to the Book of Mormon class that night and she came!  We met with her the next day and commited her to read and pray about the book of mormon that night.  We texted her the next day to see if she read the chapter we left her with.  She read it.  We asked if she prayed about it.  She said she did and already received an answer and she knew these things were true.  She sent another text that said I have found my new church home and I want to thank you both.  She literally met us 2 days before and hadn't even been to church yet!!! She is a spiritual giant!:) It gets better people!! She came to church and afterward we asked her 1-10 how much did she like it... and she gave it a solid 10!:)  She reminds me so much of Tray T**.  Why do I have to come home?!?!?! 

The E** family is becoming even more like family.  They came to the book of mormon class as well and their kids went to mutual.  They had a blast:)  We also went over on Friday night and watched part of the prophet of the restoration movie.  E** (mom) was sharing how in just 1 week of listening to the Book of Mormon in the car as she commutes and having us come over she can feel the difference in the peace she has.  I wish you could see how cold she was when we first met her at the door.  Now she wants to hug us everytime she sees us but gives us a handshake with both hands instead:) haha I love them!!!!  Why do I have to come home?!?!?!

Friday Elder Houghton and I had the coolest privilege ever!  We were able to take President Wilson out with us for 3 hours in our area!  We had some really powerful lessons all in members homes!  When he teaches you can just feel the warmth from the Holy Ghost.  That was my first time ever teaching with President and all i'm gonna say is we make a pretty great Trio! We even took him knocking for 30 minutes before one of our lessons and we found a new investigator together!  Why do I have to come home?!?!?!

I wish I could remember all of the details of this week because it was honestly one of the best ones of my mission.  We had at least 2 lessons everyday that were action packed with the spirit:)

Shout out to my mom.... I know I have to come home... but I will only do it because I love you:)

Love Elder Crandall the Vandal

Photos at Mammoth Lakes California

Studying in front of the fireplace.  So sureal.

Beautiful view of the sunset.

Perfect setting for studying.

The streets of Mammoth Lakes.  Watch out.  Here he comes.

Book of Mormon class at the Mammoth Lakes Branch.

Probably travels up to Mammoth.  It looks like Bryce National Park in Utah.

Another week in Paradise!

This week couldn't have started off better! We drove up to Mammoth Lakes (5.5 hours) on tuesday.  We got there earlier than expected so we were able to wander around and check out a few cool places!  We got some incredible Thai food and some sweet Mammoth T-Shirts.

My whole mission I've heard rumors about Mammoth and how it is near impossible to find and even harder to baptize.  It reminds me a lot of Park City because it is a tourist town and everyone is all about skiing.  My goal for the exchange was to treat this area just like any other area I've been in.  Wow. It was such an awesome exchange! We found lots of new investigators including 2 families!  We also taught several lessons and had a book of mormon class at the church.  It is a small but powerful branch.  I felt such strong feeling of love and acceptance.  It felt like a family home evening but with the whole branch. I would love to live in a place like this one day and go crazy with member missionary work!  This exchange reminded me that it doesn't matter where you are, the Lord is and always will be preparing people to come unto Him.

We didn't get back to Palmdale until Thursday afternoon so it was a shorter week in our area.  We were able to find a super awesome Part-Member Family that wasn't on the ward list.  The E** family. He is the only member, and when we first met his wife she was pretty closed off. She wasn't rude but just did not seem interested at all. Luckily, we had an absolutely incredible member (who was baptized less than a year ago) with us to bear some awesome testimony. They got along really well and by the end of the conversation the Spirit had completely changed the situation, and she invited us to come back on Sunday to talk with her when her husband was there. We went back on Sunday and had an absolutely incredible experience. The Spirit was so strong and I am so excited to work with them! The dad works on Sundays so it's hard for him to make it to church right now, but we are praying for a miracle and know the Lord will provide. He always does:) The Gospel is awesome!

J** is doing so well. She is so awesome:) I love her to death. She has gone without a cigarette and coffee for 8 days straight now! Her baptism is scheduled for this Saturday so we are super excited. Please keep her in your prayers as she prepares for her baptism this week!

Shout out to Cassi! Congratulations on having your new Baby! I can't wait to meet him!

Elder Crandall the Vandal