Sister Heather Crofts

April 30, 2018

"iiiMAMA. Las Gringas Estan Aqui Otra Vez!!!"

BUENOS TARDES!

This was quite the funny week.

Monday night we did a noche de hogar with the Garcia family from the group. It was so much fun. We had Leo put on the armor of God and then his sisters were sin and trials and shot him with nerf guns. He got shot in the eye... His Dad said "He put down the sword (the spirit), without that how do you expect to defend yourself?" Amen. We saw the girls from the family a couple of other times at activities this week and they just talked and talked about it.

We had a cute activity with the activity days girls. We talked to them all about what missionaries do and how they can be missionaries. They all talked about how one day they wanted to go on a mission. We did a relay race after and they all had to dress up in their Missionary outfits and then run and deliver a Book of Mormon. It was so funny and they loved it!!

We found this cute lady named Carmen last week. We went to visit her Tuesday Night and her 7-year-old daughter looks through the door and yells "MAMA! Las Gringas estan aqui otra vez!" We were dying at the door. Carmen told us her story and we found out that the 2 of them are just here all alone, her husband has been gone since her daughter was 2 and so they're just figuring life out together. I was just talking to them and thinking; they need the church. Not only the spiritual things but also the family they can find within it.

After leaving Carmen’s, we were walking around a trailer park, we didn't want to walk on the busy street so we decided to cut through the last yard at the end of the street. Suddenly I hear the chain, see the dog, grab Hermana Jensen, run as fast as we can to the street, in the meantime, the dog is sprinting towards us and is caught in the air by his chain as he almost kills Hermana Jensen. I think Satan has control of the dogs. (Except the puppies.. Lots of cute puppies around here.)

Good news! Javier is still cool. We met up with him in Duncan and he just had so many questions which we were stoked to answer. He kept saying "Hey I believe that too!!" He is going to pray and read the Book of Mormon so prayers for Javier.

Ahhhhh... Well this week we were doing some Facebook finding and said "OH NO!!!!!! HERMANA... you've gotta see this." One of our best investigators posted a video that said "Mi primera predicación gracias al señor Jesus." Essentially, His first sermon... at his church. We watch the video and he is preaching all about the Bible, the preacher then gives him a blessing and blesses him with the gift of tongues. It was all very dramatic. We both were so confused because he was someone who asked us how to be "born of God." We were alarmed at first and thought we got punked. We went over to talk to him and found out he's just superrrrrrr confused about what's true and is exploring it all right now. But he has been reading and praying about the Book of Mormon and a baptismal date so hopefully he'll come around.

Abelina and her family are also very sweet. She's one of the only active Catholic people I have met on my mission. She is willing to listen to our message though! During our lesson the TV was on, we'd shared the #graciasael video and then she points to the TV and tell us about how her Mexican novelas (Spanish soap operas) are about the Bible and help her feel the spirit.. At the same time, I see a rat run across the living room. Not just any rat, this thing is like the size of a big guinea pig. After that I kept trying to recover the lesson but mentally I was just lost.

MILAGROS. When we first got here we tried to visit all of the members. There have been several that just will not see us, were not happy to have us on their porch, and whenever we did have appointments with them they would always not be home. This week we finally got to see 2 of them!!!!! One of the Hermanas we had visited our first week and she did not like that we were there and was pretty rude to us, we tried again and she was so excited to see us and she let us in and wanted to feed us and talk to us. It was just cool to know that if you stick with it you really can see miracles with people.

Jose and Jorge from Charleston came to visit and we got lunch. It was so fun to see them and made my heart miss Charleston and all the amigos there. Jose just got back from Mexico a couple weeks ago and insisted that we went and got "hamburguesas de pollo" (Chickfila).

We got to visit with a lot of the members this week and then we had a stake activity on Saturday. It's been fun to be here for so long because the members love and trust us. Tonight, we have a noche de hogar with a Hispanic family in a different ward that wants to introduce their primos to us. Members really are just better missionaries.

Funny story. We were calling the Spanish Elders to ask them about someone. Elder Mar says "ahhhhh Jar Jar Binx" as if to say like "ahhh dang." I was super confused and so I asked him about it. He said "Well Elder Clark taught me that today!!" "Elder Mar.. What context would you use Jar Jar Binx??" "I don't know... Elder Clark.. When would someone say Jar Jar Binx?" You could just hear Elder Clark dying in the background. Poor Elder Mar just trying to learn the English Slang and Elder Clark teaches him to say Jar Jar Binx.

I am so glad to be a missionary. This really is the Lord’s work and he is guiding all that we do and leading us to the people who need us at this moment. I know the Church is true. I love the Book of Mormon and learn so much about the Gospel of Jesus Christ as I read. I hope y'all have a blessed week and feel lots of love.

Con mucho

Hermana Crofts