Letter #10 - November 30, 2009

Hello one and all!

Thanks for all the emails this week. It was great to hear from Katie, Vince, and Maddie. I also got a dearelder from Aunt Carolyn, Rachel Ilene, and Mama this week. Thank you, thank you. You are all wonderful and make my life better. Okay, this week I am going to try to answer your questions first before I run out of time and hopefully still have time to tell you about the fridge episode and the baptisms we had this week. The scripture I want on my plaque (there are way too many that apply so perfectly...) is Alma 26:12. I thought of a few things that I would love in a package at some point in time: crystal light packets, more tan no-show socks, a selection of your favorite classical pieces including Jupiter and Nimrod from the Elgar Variations, chocolate, good daily vitamins and maybe calcium supplements, and some pictures of Utah maybe of the different seasons. The members ask me what Utah is like sometimes and I wish I had more pictures to show them. There are only two seasons here. Wet and dry.

Okay, what else. Dad, you wanted missionary work details. Well, we pretty much have appointments all day and we street contact along the way everywhere we go. Nobody is usually inside their houses because it's too hot, so there are tons of people sitting in plastic chairs on the side walks or walking around. Everyone is so nice here that we stop and talk with every family that we see and usually make an appointment with them to come to their house and share our message. Everyone is willing to talk with us and listen, so it's a little hard to know who is really interested. It's been a little frustrating to teach and then see that clearly they didn't really understand what we have, or why we're different, or how this message can change their lives. I was grateful for the bit Paige wrote me about the council in heaven and foreordination vs. predestination. I miss intellectual conversation for two reasons, 1) there are not many people here who think very deeply about gospel things 2) I can't converse very deeply in Spanish yet... But yeah, mostly we talk to a ton of people on the street everyday and teach about 10 lessons a day. Understanding people is getting easier but I am still frustrated a lot of the time because I don't know fully what is going on and I can't express all that I want to. Also, Hna. Bustillos has such a particular way she likes to teach each principle that it's kind of hard to learn her way to do it. Anyway, I'm learning a lot. Mostly, how to be patient and humble. In my district, I think there are only 4 of us, but in the Zone there are maybe 12. We are the only hermanas.

Okay, the apartment really isn't that bad. I was going through "nice things" withdrawls I think for a while. We have a tile floor (which is way better than dirt) and our shower is actually inside the house (which is way better than outside) and we have two fans and two beds and two desks. And the fridge doesn't smell so bad anymore... The bathroom is the only thing that is scary. The door frame is coming apart so you have to push it back in place to close the door.

The whole room is cement (with tile floor) and the shower is cement with a little cement barrier about 8 inches high to divide the shower from the rest of the bathroom. The water pipe runs up the wall and comes out the showerhead. We bought a shower curtain last week so that has improved things a lot. Also the water is cold, kind of like pool water with no heater. I just take a quick breath in right when I jump in and after a few seconds it
feel okay. I take fast showers. Ah! I have to tell you stories.

The fridge, turns out, was chalk full of rotting food and GUSANOS (maggots). It's not like we couldn't locate the smell, we just didn't open it for a week. It was seriously the nastiest thing I have ever done to clean out that fridge. We put plastic bags on our hands and removed all the contents of the fridge, then we carried it to the bathroom and used bowls to throw water in it to try to flush out some of the maggots. I swear there were a million. And they are probably the nastiest of all of God's creations. They way their little white bodies ripple when they move... it makes my spine tingle just thinking about it. And the SMELL! I have never smelled anything like it before in my life. Needless to say, we had a big and disgusting job, but we did it. We still haven't put any food in it though. We were waiting for all the maggots to crawl out of their hidding places, but now I just don't think I can get over the mental block of how gross that fridge seems to me, even cleaned out.

Another good story: We have been teaching this cute little family, really poor, but so great and humble. After a lesson one night this week, little Kevin ran out after us on our way out and whispered something to me. I couldn't understand him, but soon found out he had asked for some money to buy food tomorrow. We aren't allowed to give any money to anyone, but it about broke my heart. So what did we teach the next day? The law of tithing! I kept thinking to myself, how can we ask these people to give money to the church when they don't have enough to eat. But then I remembered the blessing of tithing. When we pay a full tithing the Lord always provides for our needs. Well when we taught them about tithing, they accepted whole heartedly. Hna. B asked if 10% was a lot and they all said, No! Pequeño! Wow, the faith and humility of these people. Sure enough they brought their filled out tithing slip with their 10 cordobas to church yesterday.

Well the mom, Emelda and her second son Devin got baptized yesterday, but it was sort of a fiasco. I swear Hna. B leaves everything to the last second. She is so preoccupied with teaching a finding that she sometimes doesn't plan for things very well. Anyway, at about 8:30 Saturday night we went to look at the font which is in back of the church in the little patio area. It is just a big plastic tub and it was full of dirt and leaves. We cleaned it out the best we could and then started filling it because apparently there was no one who could fill it in the morning. Pretty soon I realized it was going to take over an hour to fill and it was already close to 9:30. Then we realized we had a bigger problem. The font was leaking near the exit hole. So the baptism is scheduled for 8:00am the next morning, right before church, we were supposed to be back in our casa 30 minutes ago, and we had a leaking font. We ended up finishing cleaning up, going home to plan for the next day and praying for the font. Well yesterday morning I had the idea to roll up my plastic exercise strap that I got in the Provo MTC and make a sort of plug. That didn't fix the problem completely, but enough to slow the leaking to where we could fill the font. But it filled so slow that we had to postpone the baptisms until after church. But it was nice because some of the members stayed for the service and it ended up being okay. Not quite the spiritual experience I was hoping for but, through a series of miracles it happened. Wow, things sure are different here.

I've started dreaming in Spanish. Last night I dreamed about teaching about obedience in Spanish using 1 Ne 3:7 and Heleman 10. Both great obedience scriptures. Haha. That's cool I guess. So it's Christmas time and there are some Christmas lights around and a few trees in some houses. But it's blazing hot and sunny and, oh! Mom, you should see the bouganvillia (sp?) here. It's beautiful and everywhere. The flowers and the trees are so pretty. And mostly it doesn't fell like Christmas at all, but when we sing Christmas hymns I always tear up because they make me think of singing with all of you at home. I've been a little teary this week. Things are so hard. I'm happy and ever grateful to be a missionary. But being in Nicaragua I feel homesick for the first time on my mission. I really miss the holidays with the family. I didn't find out that last thursday was thanksgiving until it was almost friday, and I was grateful because it made me feel weird to think of all of you together doing thanksgiving things. I miss that a lot. I feel very far from home and I can't talk to anyone here in English. It's very isolating at times. Sorry to be a downer for a second. I have had lots of good days. Anyway, I have to go.

Being a missionary is the best thing in the world - even with a fridge full of maggots.

I love you all SO much it brings tears to my eyes. Like mom said, I love you so much it hurts sometimes. But I'm so grateful for this opportunity to learn and grow and bring people to the knowledge of the gospel. How cool is that?

Love, Hna. Crosland

Letter #9 - November 23, 2009

Familia!

It feels like an eternity since I've written or heard from you. I spent last P-day traveling and being oriented a bit. President Fraatz and his wife picked us up at the airport and we went straight to the main chapel in Managua where they always meet for changes. There, our suitcases were loaded onto a truck and we sat down with the 7 north american elders that arrived the night befoe fom the Provo MTC. I felt cool because I came with all the Latinos from the Guatemala CCM and we were all friends. I was speaking Spanish with them and the MA elders kind of stayed to themselves. I thanked my lucky stars for the chance I had to go to the Guat CCM. I certainly understood more and felt more comfortable speaking Sanish than they did.

No one ever told us the schedule for the day so I just took things one at a time, wondering when I would meet my new companion and find out whre I would be serving for the next 6 weeks at the least... But we pretty much just talked all day until about 6pm and then we went on something like divisions with some missionaries in the area and proselyted until about 9. That night I stayed with the two latina hermanas that came in a little "hotel" that, when I look back at it, was really nice though under construction. However, for whatever reason, the truck with our suitcases was very far away and the AP's finally arrived with them around 12:30am with MacDonalds. It was a weird night. Actually a weird day altogether.

We had the change conference in the morning where I found out that Hna Bustillos from Panama was going to be my new companion and we would be serving in the Nagarote area in the Sandino zone. It was an hour

and a half long bus ride south of Managua and near the ocean (so it's super hot) but not near enough that I ever see or hear the waves. Once we got to our little casa, right next to the church building, we set our stuff down long enough to grab a couple of Libros de Mormon and some pamphlets and then we hit the streets and talked to EVERYONE. That's pretty much how it's been all week. We seriously don't stop.

The tiny fridge in our room (our house is only one room with a pint sized and pretty scary looking bathroom that's all cement) is not working for whatever reason but we haven't stopped long enough to investigate and it smells like the worst thing ever. Every night when we come in I want to throw-up but we sit right down and start planning and by the time we're done, I've usually fallen asleep once or twice and only have enough energ

y to pray, wash my face, and fall in bed. It is so exhausting to try to understand what's going on all the time. People here are speaking french or something. They never say the last half of the words and drop most of the s's. But I understand more and more everyday. It's been a culture shock.

I wish I could send pictures, but it is taking so long to load that I decided to just write this week. I'll try again next week to send pics. The village of Nagarote is pretty small. Lots of dirt roads and houses made of plastic, cardboard, metal siding. There are a few nicer looking houses, but most have dirt floors. I've been surprized at how many people don't know how to read. That makes asking people to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon a bit difficult. We have to explain the gospel like we're teaching primary most of the time. It's a bit overwhelming how much work there is to do here. But I am determined to really learn Spanish and do all I can. The Spanish is coming. It's by far the hardest and most frustrating and tiring thing I've ever done to be here serving a mission. But being a missionary is the greatest thing in the world - even when I'm so worn out I can't think straight anymore. I have to go. I wish I could write more... but I love and miss you all "un monton".

Love , Hna Crosland

Letter #8 - November 10, 2009

Buenas!

We are down to the last week here in the CCM and I couldn't be more excited to finally get to Nicaragua. It seems like I've already been on my mission forever, and yet I can't believe it's been nearly two months. Time flies. It makes me even more anxious to make the most of every minute. Thanks for the emails fam, and for the letter mom. Real mail is by far the coolest thing ever, but I love hearing from you all in any form.

Dad- way to be Santa. That is so funny.
Paige - please send pictures. I miss seeing your art. Thanks for telling me about crazy BYU... it makes me really glad I'm not in school right now! ;)
Mike - happy birthday, sorry it's late... I think you are wonderful.}
Will - Way to cry all through your first bandimony. That's awesome. Now practice your cello! :D
Ali - I still miss you and think about you the most. I hope that doesn't make anyone else feel bad... Way to be such a good girl. I wish I could be there watching you grow in the next year and a half because these are such changing years. You are amazing. Keep studying your scriptures and praying everyday and you will be a winner. One thing I keep wishing is that I had really memorized all my scripture mastery scrips... maybe I should tell that to Will. Don't waste your oppotunities. I love you.
Mom - I miss you a close second. Thanks for the lovely cyber-hug. Hna. Fuka gave me a hand massage today to keep her awake and I thought of you rubbing my fingers in church. Mmmm, I love you so much. Have so much fun in DC with Dad and tell Mike and Kimber and the kids hi.

Okay, so we had a pretty normal week this week except that it keeps raining which is weird for this time of year here. This morning we had Elder Costa of the presidency of the seventy here to speak to us. I got a double trio together and sang El Cristo Es! (This is the Christ) and it turned out really nice. I love listening to the devotionals in Spanish and being able to understand almost everything. It makes me feel so good. Tomorrow we have divisions again so I get to spend the day as a "real missionary" one more time before hitting the streets (dirt roads?) of Nicaragua. Then Thursday we have meetings with Pres. Christensen all day. Friday is our last day of classes. Saturday is info meetings and packing. Sunday is Sunday. And Monday we go to Las Colinas to play the day away again. This week is going to fly. Wow. I can't wait to get out of here. I have loved it but I want to get to work.

As far as a package goes, send it to the mission office I think. Don't send anything else here, because I won't be here by the time they come. Oh, I got the letter you sent on the 29 today mom. Along with the dear elders. I'm not sure of the day that they arrived at the CCM though because they keep everything and wait until P-day to give it to us. A bit different from the MTC in Provo, where the mail was delivered and we checked our boxes twice a day. I'll try to think of things that would be nice during the week. I'm pretty content though. Things are good.

On Sunday we heard from Elder/Pres.? Amado and he spoke just to our little group of North Americans so it was in English which was nice. He gave us a pattern for being good missionaries (good disciples, really) from the story of Nephi the prophet in Helaman 10. It's a short chapter but one I have come to love. I discovered it a few weeks ago and was really excited when he started talking about it. Nephi is left alone by all the people he is trying to teach and as he's walking home a bit dejected, the Lord speaks to him. I love the words of the Lord to Nephi and you can just feel how much the Lord trusts him. He knows that Nephi will do exactly what the Lord would have him do, so he gives Nephi immense power. Then the Lord commands him to go back and preach to the people again, and Nephi stops right where he is at and goes back. He obeys immediately. What a great example. I want to be the kind of missionary the Lord can trust like that. It seems easy to do if the Lord spoke right to you and asked you to do something. Who wouldn't do obey? The hard part is recognizing that the missionary handbook and the silly Guat CCM rules and little impressions are the same as the Lord speaking. I am recommited to being more obedient in every way I can be.

Being a missionary is the best thing in the world - I'm learning to recognize the Lord's voice.

I love you all so much and The next letter I write you will be from Nicaragua which is SO COOL! (P.S. we had a little culture night where our teachers who went to our different missions came in and told us about our missions and it was so cool. Also one of the teachers named Hna. Vasquez said she talked to Pres. Fraatz last week and told him about me. The first question he asked was "How's her Spanish" and I got a thumbs up from Hna. Vasquez.)

Love, Hna. Crosland

Week #7 - November 3, 2009

Hey everyone,

I got a boat load of dearelders today, mostly forwards from the cousins and thorntons, but a nice one from Grandma Donna to her missionaries and a great one from Aunt Ruth.   Mom, Larry sends me the forwards of the Ray's emails so you don't need to send those as well.

This week Hna. Fuka had an allergic reaction to something and her face ballooned!  It started below her right eye and went down through her upper lip. It was huge.  I wish we could have taken pictures.  She was a champ though, and even though she was embarrased, did all she had to do, even going to the temple Saturday morning to do contacts.  I am having my share of interesting problems as well...  I'm covered in bug bites that I'm pretty sure I receive while I sleep.  Sis. Christensen gave me some promethryn (sp?) to spray on my bed and on my clothes so hopefully that will take care of the problem.  For now I will try not to scratch.

It's starting to get kind of chilly here and the teachers tell me that the months of november and december are actually pretty "cold"  We'll see.  I think I'll be able to survive two more weeks before I get to some warmer weather.  It's only nippy in the mornings and also when the Elders crank the AC in our classroom...  Yesterday it was pouring rain during our gym time so we ran out and played soccer in our bare feet, slipping and sliding around in the puddles.  I only went down twice.  Haha.  Not hard enough to do any damage, but I sure got wet.  It was a blast, but probably not the smartest thing we've ever done.  Our feet were pretty beat up, not to mention all the crazy parasites we probably got.  It was sure a day I'll remember though.

Well, I only have ten minutes left, not enough time to go into any details really, but I want to let you know how grateful I am for this experience.  This week I think the thing that stood out most to me was that I have a LOT to work on and to learn.  There were some hard and frustrating days and I realize new weaknesses of mine everyday.  It's very humbling to be a missionary.  But I also recognize more and more how much the Lord is with me, answering my prayers, helping me minute by minute to improve and do better next time.  My testimony of the gospel is deeping and expanding, becoming richer through the knowledge and testimonies of so many around me.  I see the restoration with new eyes and I'm beginning to see how everything fits together so perfectly.  I love making new connections that I've never seen before.  I love studying my scriptures.  I've been reading in Moses, chapter 6 this morning, and I'm just amazed at the things I've never thought of before.  Enoch was born about 622 years after Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden and at that time, Adam was still alive, probably still having children.  The human family grew SO fast in those first 1000 years and the great patriarchs of the earth starting with Adam down til Enoch were all on the earth together.  Wow!  How did so many people fall away so quickly, with their one common ancestor still on the earth, able to tell them how it all started.  And Enoch preaching the gospel to people who seemed so astounded at his words, the fulness of the gospel that they had already forgotten.  How important we each are, to teach our children the gospel so that a whole branch of people, our descendants are not lost to the truths that will save them... Anyway, it is pretty cool to study the scriptures and really think about what I'm reading and where these words came from.

I have to go, but I love and miss you all.  I think you might still be working on the family email for this week but we had early email time today I'll just have to read it next week.

Also, if anyone ever sees Rachel Ilene, tell that girl to send me an email.  I want to know how she's doing and Ashton and Jocelyn.  I haven't heard anything about them since I left.

I pray for you all everynight by name, just as I know you are praying for me.  I sometimes wonder if we are kneeling down saying each others names at the same time.  :)  I love you lots.

Love, Hna. Crosland

Week #6 - October 27, 2009

Hey hey a todo!

Gosh, I'm just so excited to write you right now. Today just feels like a lovely day and I just want to laugh. It's pouring rain outside and I love it. Okay, anyway... we had a great week.

Wednesday was divisions which were awesome. We loaded the buses early in the morning and I went to the Guatamala Central mission. I was paired up in a trio with another hermana in the MTC and Hna. Buterbaugh who has been out for about 8 months. We walked out of the chapel and down the street and got on a bus to her area. Hna. Romero and I sat together and Hna. Buterbaugh sat next to a lady right in front of us. We watched as she started talking to her, pulled out her planner a few minutes later to write down her contact info and then pulled out a pamphlet for her a few minutes after that. We were so impressed. And that's how it's done... Our first appointment was dropping by the tortilla shack of a couple of investigators to teach them a lesson about obedience. Their place was about 15 sq ft but there was a huge flat stone with a fire underneath to cook the tortillas, a table and things stacked around so it felt even smaller. We squished onto a couple of crates in the corner and Hna. B gave most of the short lesson. I got to bear my testimony about obedience and then customers started coming for tortillas so the ladies got to work. There was a huge ball of dough on the wood table and a cloudy bowl of water next to it. Hna. B jumped up and started helping so we did too! One of the ladies got the right size dough ball and handed it over to one of us and then we tried to follow
her example and pat it into a little round corn tortilla about 6 inches in diameter. Needless to say it was a blast but we weren't very good at it. Sometimes they would just fix them a little and then throw them on the stone to cook but other times, they just put our little dough balls
(trying to be tortillas) back into the big pile of dough on the table. Haha. They were so nice and patient with us.

After that we contacted some people on our way to the next appointment. The appointment was with Carlos (14) who has a baptismal date next month. We watched Finding Faith in Christ with him and then bore our testimonies about the Savior. I love talking about the Savior! I also got to talk to him a little bit and get to know him. I told him I had a brother who was 14 too and then he liked to play the piano and cello and drums. :) Then we headed back to Hna. B's place for lunch and met up with a few other Hermanas. One of them was Aunt Gaye's neice (I can't think of her name at the moment) but she cooked for us and it was fun that we ran into each other. We had to be back to the bus pretty soon after lunch but we stopped to talk to a few more people on the way. I was a bit frustrated because I wish I understood more of what people were saying. Sometimes I get most of it, sometimes just a word here and there. But I know I'm getting better and I just need to be patient. Anyway, divisions were great and although I think the Hermanas we were with were great, it gave me a clearer picture of what I would do differently and how I want my mission to be.

On friday night we had Salon General (meeting with Pres. Christensen) and it was so good. That man is seriously inspired. I always leave the meetings with him feeling uplifted, excited about missionary work, and with a whole lot of things I want to improve on. What a good combination. Friday, the topic revolved around having a vision for your mission and setting goals to achieve that vision. He said a lot of good things about getting out of our comfort zones, entropy and how things will naturally become disordered if we don't visit them often, and how to set effective goals. Basically it inspired me so much. I want to be a much more goal oriented person for the rest of my life. Goals, written down and looked at daily, are SO important for all of us. But first we need to have a vision of who we want to be, what we want to accomplish. I want my mission to be effective, I want to be constantly striving to be more in line with PMG and the missionary handbook, I want to find new and better ways to bring people to Christ. I want to be the kind of companion who lifts by positive example, service and love. I am so grateful to be a missionary because I am learning new ways to grow and improve myself. There is an amazing transformation taking place in me and I already can't imagine my life without this experience. I am being confronted with my faults daily, and although that is tough sometimes, I keep from being discouraged because I know that I've been given this time to really work on the things I lack. Okay, there are a lot of other things I want to tell you so enough of that.

Yesterday we got to go to a youth camp for the church here called Las Colinas. It was a whole day of recreation basically and it was awesome. We were let loose (within the camp) and got to choose whatever we wanted to do. The two hermanas that were here three weeks before us, told us of a great hike so I took off with them and soon some others joined us. The hike was beautiful and turned out to be more of an obstacle course with ropes to swing on and climb, a big rope net, stumps to jump over and all sorts of things. I wish I could send pictures, but you'll just have to wait until I get into the field. After the hike, I played soccer for the rest of the time. We actually played on a big grass field today so it was really fun but tiring. I have gotten so much better at soccer. I play almost everday on the cement basketball sized courts at the CCM. It's actually a standard court here and the balls are smaller and heavier so they stay on the cement pretty well. It's all about foot skills. Anyway, I am getting better and having fun playing with all the Latinos. Both Hna. Kochevar and Hna. Story are soccer players (they are my other North American roommates and I love them) so they play too and we have a blast. Also, my shins are covered in bruises... ouch. I'll send a pic when I can.

Another funny thing. We (my companion, Hna. Kochevar, Hna. Story and I) decided that we eat like pigs here. We just pound our food every meal, I swear. Here in Central America, everyone says "provecho" to tell someone "bon apetite". The ladies who serve us always say it and the Latinos always say it as they walk by. But we've noticed (as we're stuffing our faces) that the Elders say it to us a lot more often, and we kind of look up for two seconds and smile with mouths full... It's kind of like "PRO-VE-CHO Hermanas! Holy cow, slow down chicas" Haha. We just laugh at ourselves and joke about how we're all a little bit gordita after just three weeks of being here.

We were a little bit sad this week because all the Latinos that we've come to know and love left last night. Cute Hna. Flores and her sweet companion Hna. España along with the Elders that we've grown attached to (in a strictly platonic way... :)) are all gone. We had a great time at Las Colinas with them and we all sang God be with you til we meet again together. But we're excited because the 20 of us North Americans that came together three weeks ago are now going to be the only NA's in the MTC! We are getting about 65 Latinos tomorrow. There are so many Latinos that there is no room for the NA's going to central american missions to come right now so they all get to stay in the Provo MTC instead. And we will be a vast minority. It will be so awesome.

Okay, just enough time for an abreviated experience Hna. Fuka and I had teaching at CRE this week. We went to teach the Plan of Salvation (lesson 2) to one of our "investigators", Hna. Vasquez. As we started into the lesson we asked her some good questions about her reading last time and how she was feeling about things. She shared some of the scriptures that she liked and we were able to add our testimonies of the Savior. Then we started teaching about the pre-mortal life and had her read another scripture. After some more questions, she told us that her
grandma had died a few years ago and she still didn't know where her spirit was. Well we skipped over most of our lesson and tried to teach to her needs and as we spoke in our broken Spanish, real tears came to her eyes and she cried as we taught her for the next 15 minutes. After the closing prayer she cried for a probably 30 seconds without saying anything and then told us how important it is to ask those good questions and to teach with that kind of love for our investigators. She bore her testimony of the Plan of Salvation. The spirit was so strong, and it hit me that even though we are practicing here we are still teaching REAL people and we are teaching TRUE principles that touch our hearts and change our lives constantly. There is so much power in the message of the gospel, in the fact that our Loving Father has a plan for our lives and the lives of our family members, in fact the whole human family. It's amazing to me how perfect the gospel is and the incredible power it has to transform. And the biggest transformation is in myself.

Side note to anyone thinking about serving a mission: PLEASE DO IT! It will be the best thing you ever do.

I love being a missionary, it's the best thing in the wold - I'm learning to be a disciple of Christ.

Well, I love you and miss you all. Thank you so much for your emails and letters. It makes such a difference. Hey, I'm curious to know which is faster, regular mail or pouch. So maybe you could conduct an experiment... :) Take care, thank you for everything. The gospel is true. Set some goals and look at them everyday. Much love.

Con amor,
Hna. Crosland

Letter #5 - October 20, 2009

Hello everyone!

Thanks for the letters and emails! I liked the all in one email, but since we don't have a printer here, I have to read it during my alotted 45 min. I don't know the best way for you to communicate with me. I love getting dearelders and I got a bunch today (the ones from around Oct 10) so I think it takes about a week and a half for them to get here. But the emails are nice because they are so recent... so I don't know. Maybe keep doing both? I really love hearing about all you're doing and your funny stories (Mike had me laughing out loud and everyone was looking at me, and I just thought "haha, my family is funnier than yours...") Anyway, so seriously thank you for writing.

This week has been a lot of fun. I'm getting the hang of things a little more and we have had/watched some amazing devotionals that have really made me want to use every minute more effectively and focus on following the spirit. One of them was an MTC devotional by Elder Bednar about the Book of Mormon that he gave in May. It seems like we have been focusing a lot on the Book of Mormon lately and I love it. I have always had a testimony of the BoM I think, but I am seeing that book with new eyes and my testimony is growing so much. The BoM is such a priceless and precious gift that we have! I have been taking it for granted my whole life. My desire to study it as much as I can, to make connections and study themes and find ways to answer every question with the Book of Mormon has grown so much. What an amazing book. We had a few zone meetings where we took a step back and looked at an overview of the Book of Mormon. It really helped me put all the pieces together and see how everyone fits and the magnitude of all the work Mormon did. I wish I could share all the details.

Okay, so the most exciting right now is divisions tomorrow! We get paired up with a missionary in either the central or south guatamala missions and get to go out on splits for the whole day tomorrow (back here for dinner). I am so excited to actually get to see a little bit of Guatamala. So I will have to tell you how that goes next week.

It's been great to get to know the latino missionaries down here. The other night we had a little "fiesta" that turned into more of a testimony meeting with all the hermanas. Some of the latina hermanas have been having a bit of a hard time so we all got together (12 of us) in our room and had popcorn and each took turns sharing things we were grateful for (in Spanish of course) and it was awesome to listen and get to know some of these sweet sisters better. It felt like we were so unified and we have such a love for each other. We also had a big activitiy where we were divided up into tables of four (mixed elders and sisters) and we were supposed to find out the "stories behind the faces." It was amazing to me, first of all that we could communicate to each other, but mostly to hear some of the challenges and trials that these missionaries had to overcome to get here and how much their missions mean to them. Wow, it was inspiring. It is good to learn how to ask the right questions to get to know people's hearts and to listen and care for them.

Two more quick experiences and then I'll have to go. One of the funnest things is going to the Casa de Cre to practice teaching our teachers and on the way back a few days ago, Hna. Fuka and I saw this darling little family coming across the street from the temple towards us. This cute boy of about 12 with combed hair and a little suit came right over and hugged and kissed Hna. Fuka and I on our cheeks! I was a little surprized by it and started laughing. My first kiss in while, haha. We talked to his mom and little sister for a few minutes and she told us that she had been a member for 26 years now. She told us the names of the missionaries who found and taught her and called them her angels. She had such a love for the church and for missionaries. I love when I can understand people in Spanish!

Next experience.
One of our teachers (Hno. Cuque) took us out to the canchas (where we have gym) one night during class and just gave us 20 minutes to speak with and listen to the Lord. We spread out and I sat on the concrete in the middle of the basketball court and just looked up at the stars for a minute, breathing in the thick moist air and listening to all the sounds of the city around me. I started thinking about all the people I am going to have the chance to meet and teach in the next 17 months. I asked the Lord to let me feel the weight of the importance of what I am doing here, and pretty quickly the tears started to flow. It is completely overwhelming to think about the reality of a mission and what I have been called to do. Overwhelming in a good way! I can't take it all in, but when I get little glimpses like that, my heart is so full of gratitude I think it might burst.

Being a missionary is the best thing in the world - the gospel changes lives forever.

Sorry I couldn't respond more individually to you. I'll try to write a few letters this week. I love you all so much.

Oh, Dad. Hna. Fuka is from Tonga, she is going to the Honduras, Tegucigalpa mission and I still feel short. :)

Con amor,

Hna. Crosland

Letter #4 - October 13th, 2009

Dear family,

You are all in big trouble... I know I told you not to email me, but it takes letters about two weeks to get here and I didn´t have a single email to read!  Boo.  So, I´m revoking the email rule... please email me as much as you can because it will be the best way to communicate here.

Entonces, Guatamala is a lovely place!  At least what I´ve seen of it, which isn´t much.  We drove from the airport to the CCM in the dark and there is only a gas station between the CCM and the temple so this has been our little world for the last week.  But, it´s humid and there are pretty green plants and flowers around and it hasn´t been really that hot.  Also, it rains everyday... and rains is definitely an understatement.

But I need to back up and tell you about the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport experience.  After I got off the phone with Mom, I started writing my testimony in Spanish in the Libro de Mormon I brought with me to give away (I did the same in English but didn´t get the chance to give it away).  When I was done, I walked to our gate to find the rest of the missionaries and I saw Hna. Kochevar, one of the sisters going to Honduras who knows a bit more Spanish than most of us, talking to a man in Spanish.  I joined her and we had a great conversation with this man, Adolfo who is a doctor in Guatamala.  He said he was Christian and I think he had a daughter doing missionary work as well.  We told him that we were missionaries and he was helping us with our Spanish.  We stated talking more about missions and I pulled out my Libro de Mormon and asked him if he would like to have it.  He looked touched and had me write, in addition to my testimony which was already there, the date and the place that I gave it to him.  We also gave him  a restoration pamphlet before we had to board the plane.  It felt amazing to actually communicate in Spanish and to give away a Libro de Mormon! Unfortunately, I was in the back of the plane with no one sitting on my row so I didn´t have anyone to talk to from Dallas to Guatamala, but I used the time to get some much needed sleep.

El CCM here is small but nice.  It´s in an L shape and half of it is for the missionaries and the other half is for memebers to stay in when they come to the temple.  The church has also bought quite a few houses around in the area for memebers to stay in.  The food is really good. Usually it´s black beans and scrambled eggs for breakfast with this yummy cream of wheat stuff.  It´s a lot more runny than the cream of wheat mom makes, but it is delicious.  The lunch and dinner menus are really similiar.  We have had a lot of rice, different kinds of meat, veggies, salad, fruit, and soup.  We actually had hot dogs last night with sourkraut, onions, tomatos, and guacomole.  Yum.

The schedule here a a lot looser than the schedule in Provo.  Maybe it´s because there are not as many of us so eating doesn´t take as long but it seems we always have extra time after meals, and the routine is pretty much the same every day.  Personal study from 6:15 - 7:15,

breakfast at 8:00, class starts at 9:00, lunch at 12:15 and then a huge block of time from 1:00 to 3:50 for anything- companion study, language study, teaching practice at casa de CRE, preparing to teach... and then gym from 3:50 to 4:50, dinner at 5:30 and then class at 6:15 until planning starts at 9:00.  It´s been a lot harder for me here to figure out how to use my time most effectively.  Especially because if Hna. Fuka and I try to study in our classroom during study time from 1-4, we can never get anything done because the Elders are always in there talking or goofying around.  It´s frustrating.  But I´m learning to really plan every minute so that we really use our time.

I miss a lot of things about the Provo MTC.  I just started to feel like I had things figured out there when I was sent here, but I´m sure I´ll get into a good groove down here soon.  There are a few things that I really love here that we don´t get in Provo.  Mainly, all the Latinos!  We have two latina roomates and about half of the missionaries here are latino.  It is so fun to get to know them and talk with them and practice a lot of spanish.  Also our teachers are all from Guatamala and they teach totally in Spanish.  Sometimes things go really slow because we want everyone in the class to understand and we´re all at different levels but my ability to understand has improved SO much in just a week.

Our two cute roommates are called Hna. Flores and Hna. España.  They are so funny, especially Hna. Flores and we do our best to communicate and get to know each other.  Hna. Flores is about 4 ft 6 and a little bit rotund and she is the brightest, most animated little lady!  She said she would teach us to dance later today if we have time.  Haha. I can´t wait.

Last night we a fireside and Elder Farrabela (he prayed at conference) and his wife came to speak.  It was funny to be in the group that needed headphones for translation, although I didn´t use any last night.  We had a limited number and not all the North Americans could have them so I opted to give it a go en Epañol.  I actually understood probaby 70% of what was said and it was awesome.  It helped that he was talking about the gospel though.  :)  We got to go walk around the temple and do contacts with memebers who were there a few days ago.  It was fun to talk to real people and try to figure out what they were saying.  Haha. We talked to this one old man who just went on and on and I only picked up a few words here and there of what he was saying.  So crazy.  But, I have now taught the first lesson all in Spanish twice!  I really know more than I think I do and although I´m sure I make tons of mistakes, I really felt the spirit while teaching.  It was awesome.

Really quick, because my time is up... Again, I´ve been called as the music coordinator. Can´t anyone else to this job?  I taught a music conducting class (in English) yesterday and I got a quartet together to sing that version of Lord I would follow thee that I brought at the devotional. It sounded really good.  Well I love you all and there is a ton more I wanted to say but that will have to wait for next week... boo.  Also, I wanted mom to forward this to some friends in the Provo MTC but I forgot to grab their email addresses and not there is no time. Sad story.  Oh well.  Mucho, mucho amor.

Love,

Hna. Crosland