Sunday, March 21, 2010

Letter #25 - March 15, 2010

Wow! Tomorrow is my 6th month mark. How crazy is that?

I hope everyone is happy and healthy and not suffering from insect bites. It's a miracle I don't have dengue. ;) All the members comment on my pock-marked legs and suggest solutions, but nothing seems to help. But even if you tried to send something, it wouldn't likely get to me until I'm in a different area and by then the problem will have passed. Plus I'm still not sure what is biting me. Maybe it's mosquitos in the streets but at night in the house it's either fleas or the mites that the pigeon's living in the roof have. If there was any time we could do something about it, but changes are next week. If I stay here I'll look into it more. But way too much about insect bites already... sorry.

How cool about Elder Oaks at stake conference. Wow, how spoiled you Utah folks are! I forgot how often I got to hear the apostles or the profet speak at home. Lucky, lucky, lucky. Thanks for sharing your experience of listening to the spirit mom. It amazes me all the time how the spirit prompts and directs us, even giving us specific instruction for our lives and the lives of the people we are responsible for. It really is the most important thing we can do to live worthly of the Holy Ghost's constant companionship.

This week was a bit of a downer because the family we had planned to baptize this weekend still wont commit to get married. Sheesh. But we'll keep working with them. Raul came to church again this week. Man, this old guy is pilas. He made a sweet cover for his Libro de Mormon with heavy cream-colored paper and he told us that he reads it for 30 min. in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon. How sweet is that. I wish we could get everyone to read the Book of Mormon like that. We taught him about the word of wisdom a couple days ago and he accepted it right off the bat and committed to quit drinking coffee and to quit smoking. Yay for Raul!

As I strive to keep improving and work hard, I seem to be bombarded with all my flaws and weaknesses. Serving a mission is like lifting up a big rock in the garden. Everything looks all pretty until you pick that rock up, and then all the critters underneath scatter and start running around in plain daylight. All of the weaknesses that I never confronted seem to highlight themselves to me here on the mission. And now that I've picked the rock up, I have to face them. It's discouraging at times to see all my flaws so clearly, but I know that the best way to diminish them is to lose myself in the work. Because as I lose myself in my Savior, he makes me so much more than I could make of myself. We can try to fix every little thing that's wrong with us and make very little progress, but if we focus on others and on serving the Lord in the way He desires, we will find that we are changing without even realizing it.

Being a missionary is the best thing in the world - I'll never regret picking up this rock.

I love you all a whole bunch and more.

Love, Hna. Crosland

P.S. No, I haven't received any packages yet, but hopefully this week or next at interview or the change conference. And speaking of packages, I sent one to mom my last week in Nagarote which would have been 5 or 6 weeks ago. Has it gotten to you? I sent it the same way I sent the first package home, so I'm sad it didn't arrive quickly like the other. Let me know when (if) you get it. Loves.

P.P.S. Just keep sending everthing to the mission address. It comes through the pouch fast enough. Just the packages take a while because we only get them when we go to Managua for multi-zonas, but that is the same as before. Loves.

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