Sister Heather Crofts

July 2, 2018

Hola Hola amigos!!

This was a week through a lot of miracles.

We set our goals high and really wanted to find! We prioritized it and God literally just gave us people that were ready to receive the gospel. We met Gwendolyn who ordered a Bible and Book of Mormon and had the coolest time talking to her! She was awesome and just is fully prepared to jump in.

We were planning and honestly, I just got so antsy and so we decided we'd finish later and go do something and try and meet some people. We had an impulsive buy; both of us got Ukuleles. A less active member told us he'd teach us, we met a Hispanic guy named Israel and are meeting with him again next week!! Afterwards, we both felt prompted to visit the McCracken’s, they work every Sunday and haven't been able to come to church in a couple years. They've been sharing their testimony with their neighbors and they had been waiting for us to come by!!!! We met Sheila and Sandy. Sheila has such a strong testimony of the gospel just because of the people she knows. The McCracken’s have become her family and their love for the gospel and what they've told her just drove her to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We had another lesson with her this week and we finished by asking her to pray about our message and asking her to pray about the Book of Mormon. She and Sandy both just laughed and said "Don't you realize that's why you're here??" "We prayed for a new church, we prayed for what God wants for us... and you came right along!!!" It was so so cool. We were later saying goodbye and Sheila was so stoked about everything and we asked her to be baptized, she wouldn't settle on a date because they're in a process of a move but accepted the invitation to be baptized. She said "Wahoo. Raise the Roof. Dance party for Jesus." Then Sandy in our closing prayer thanked God for everything and then said "Wow.... You're an awesome God." AMEN. I love the gospel so much and really it makes me so stoked to share it. God is so good.

We also just saw lots of miracles with members. We had a couple meals in their homes and just got to challenge them to join the forces and help us in the missionary efforts. We had a ward fast yesterday for the missionary work and what each individual can do personally. People just shared their testimonies about their conversion and their love for missionary work. It was an awesome testimony meeting. Bishop Latham finished with his testimony and it was so powerful. He's got a vision for this ward and this area and really knows what it's capable of. This ward is awesome. They really are giving us lots of support and they love us and we love them. We had our first Spanish s Sunday school class!!!!! We had 8 people there. We are really just gathering up the ranks and hunting down the members and we are getting things rolling and it's making everyone excited. We started teaching a Spanish class for English members and had a lot of support as well. They want to make this work.

So we are working our very hardest to get a baptism. We are busting our butts, just can't change agency. We had a cool phone call with the bishop. He's sooooo cool and more motivated than anyone to get things GOING!!! He told us just how much the members loved us. There is this family called the Stalvey’s, they started the first branch here and everyone in this ward is related to them somehow. They were at dinner this week and one of them mentioned... "If you ever waited for a set of missionaries to give a friend to.... you will not get better than these sisters." HOW COOL!!!! THEY ARE ALL THE LEADERS AND PEEPS!!!!

So, on Saturday, it was the last day of the month and we were super out of miles so we just ditched the car and met so many people. We walked... a lot. We found this whole new area of Hispanics and got to meet so many new people and gave out so many Book of Mormons. We had a bunch in our bags, I don't know which was more motivating, the lighter my bag got or my love for the Book of Mormon. Probably both. It was 98 degrees and 90% humidity. We were both just drenched in sweat. It was gross.

We got to visit someone this week and she is very, very southern. She was not a fan of us being Spanish speaking and didn't really respect that at all. I got really defensive and really learned just how much I love the Hispanic people. I have just found such a family among them and really really love them. I love the culture and the people and just how much they embrace us. God knows us so perfectly. He really does help us out in every situation and knows what we need. He always provides a way and he's there if you just let him in.

Con Amor

Hermana Crofts