Sister Heather Crofts

October 3, 2018

Literal Leap of Faith lol.

Wow it has been forever since I have written and SO much happened. Brace yourselves, this might get a little long. I totally understand if the only people that read this are my parents and Grandma.

We had Spanish conference, which was awesome!! I helped plan and get everything ready and gave a couple of the trainings. Honestly, I was pretty stressed with everything else we had going on plus Spanish Conference. I was so stressed, in fact, that my eye was twitching all week. I was like ohhh great, now I'm going to look absolutely nuts. Don't worry, it's all chilled out and I am not scaring people away anymore. Spanish Conference ended up being awesome. I learned so much and it really had us focused in on our members. I am excited to try everything and go after our big goals.

Honestly the hurricane was straight from Satan. There was so much going on and things were going good in the ward, their families, & our work. It just threw everyone for a loop and we are finally back in full function.

The floods driving to Columbia weren't horrible, but traffic was bad. It took us 5 hours to get up there. At one point, we only went 13 miles in 2 HOURS!! After Spanish Conference was over President Innes didn't feel comfortable with us driving home that night so they asked us to stay in the mission home. I thought we could make it home okay, but for some reason he really felt like we should stay over. I love Presidente and Hermana Innes. I felt such a calm spirit in their home and just felt so good afterwards. We knelt and had family prayer, we talked, and it just felt so homey and I think we all 3 needed that.

Hey Dad guess what? I finally tried the famous South Carolina mustard BBQ. ;) You've been begging me to try it my whole mission. ✔ It was really good!!

God answers prayers y'all!!!!!!!! On Saturday, Esmeralda was baptized. Ahhh man. Thank goodness it did. Wow... That was cool. The flooding didn't really influence it. The hurricane just made it get pushed back. Baptism day always seems nuts, and this one ended up being a big miracle. lol. We had our baptism at 7pm and the sisters in the other ward had one scheduled at 6pm. All week, they told us that they would fill the font and that we didn't need to worry, they would take care of it. At 5:45pm, we texted them good luck, they told us it was cancelled....and that they hadn't filled the font. So now here's our dilemma... We have an empty font, it takes 2 hours to fill, no key, and a baptism in an hour. We immediately prayed for a miracle and left for the church. We called all the people that have keys to the font but they wouldn’t arrive until 6:30. Hermana Jones was so stressed I thought she was gonna have a stroke. We kept trying to fiddle with the curtain and open it. Hermana Jones was thinking her weight lifting would help her out and she could rip it open and I had a knife trying to pick the lock. As you can imagine neither of those things worked. The other sisters were setting up the other room and I just kept looking at it like... there has to be a way!!! We will have this baptism at 7!!!! I messed with it again and the holy ghost completely illuminated my mind. I realized I could probably climb under the accordion curtain!! I'm half way through and call to the Hermanas and yell that there has been a miracle. Not going to lie it was pretty scary. It's pitch black and I just literally took a leap of faith and jumped into the 4 foot font. Luckily it was empty and God was on our side. I felt around for the light, and we filled the font!!!! The font usually takes 2 hours, but it only took 30 minutes. I know God completely answered our prayers. The baptism started at 7 and it all went smoothly. Don't worry, I told bishop I broke into the font and he was okay with it.

The Baptism was one of the more spiritual experiences I have had on the mission. A little background on Esmeralda, her family is all members and they were sealed about 8 years ago. Esmeralda was 6 or 7 and cried in the sealing room talking about the spirit, "It doesn't fit, it doesn't fit." Just that the spirit filled her heart so much that she couldn't fit it all in her heart. They went less active before she was baptized. She's taken the discussions a couple of times and now FINALLY was baptized. The spirit she carries and her ability to believe is so powerful. She was glowing after her baptism and confirmation.

Bad news bears. I am getting transferred. The older I get in the mission the easier I think it is going to be, or the better I think I will be at it. But again and again transfers just break my heart, and this one hurt the worst. I am headed to the Woodfield Spanish Branch in Columbia. I have never served in a branch so I'm pretty stoked. I am staying really positive about it... Or trying. Honestly, I am so heartbroken to leave. My companion is Hermana Morgan. She's been out for about 5 months. This area is known for being the hardest Hermana area. I am ready to show it a piece of my mind. lol. JK I am mainly going to just pray.....A LOT. My 2 companions are staying in Myrtle together. Something I hate more than anything is goodbyes. Ahhh man. I said goodbye to the Bishop’s family last night and got a blessing. Their family is the closest thing I have ever felt to my own family. It truly feels like we are tied together by so much more. They will be part of my life forever; I am sure of it. I said goodbye to lots of others and cried about all day yesterday. Tonight, I am saying goodbye to all the Spanish members so send extra prayers.

Something cool, these last couple weeks I have felt like the spirit has just testified through me. My fear to speak and say what God needs is gone. I just have felt like I have been able to testify stronger than ever and truly feel it. I know that this is God's work. I am so sad to leave Myrtle because this feels like home to me now and I love the people. We have seen true miracles. I am so excited to see what God has in store for me in Columbia.

Los quiero

Con amor

Hermana Crofts