Sept 29, 2019

Hi family and friends. This update is long overdue so I'll just try giving a brief review of it all. Since my last update I've transferred to Santiago, killed a missionary (I was her last companion), and got a new companion that will also be going home this cycle. I think my mission President is trying to make me trunky. Some of the highlights 

- Our apartment flooded. It ruined 2 mattresses and my little scripture set. I had no choice but to continue to use the tiny scriptures and so they've since grown mold. Don't be frightened it’s not bad enough to throw them away, and their condition has since improved. The mattresses, though, we thought were good after having left them outside to dry for two days. This last week though we had missionaries stay the night (because of traveling reasons) and to make a long story short, a sister slept on one of these mattresses. The next morning she woke up wet and when we put up the mattress water came out of it like a waterfall. We died laughing!

- I got cheese ice cream for my birthday 

- Sat at the palengke (public market) for 9 hours while my companion got her hair rebonded by the bishops wife. The wife got us lunch which I was grateful for. It was super good. I’m not sure if there’s a correlation but a short while later I was making runs for the bathroom. Plural. It passed.

- My companion had a farewell party and we set up the self-timer. The time ran out before I made it to my chair and I slipped/ tripped and it was all captured on camera.

- Missionaries and some recent converts celebrated my birthday. I'm so grateful for kind people. S/o (shout out) to those who sent me birthday wishes. I love you!

- Saw a dead rat the size of king kong.

Here’s the ying to that yang though. The spiritual side of my mission.

We're teaching a sister named Eva and she's having a hard time right now with life's challenges. She's been reading the Book of Mormon and doing everything she needs to but she wouldn't come to church. We promised her that if she came she would find the answer to her problems. She came to church and sure enough the talks were specific to her and her needs. She started crying and said this talk is for me, and said the same thing when the next speaker got up. This is not a coincidence. We've all been to church and thought that was a good talk but not a topic I can relate to. I know that Heavenly Father hears our prayers and that he's mindful of every person. If we are to do our part by going to church or reading the scriptures or praying every night he too will do His part. He's not the flaky one. We are. 

We also had the baptism of Brothers Jhun and Bjay. Two men from different walks of life but two people that I've seen the gospel make a great change in their lives. Their families have been made closer and blessings have been obvious in their lives as they've accepted the message of our Father in Heaven. 

Well I'm getting down to it. 5 months left and I'm grateful to be here and to be serving Him.

 Love you all and hope you’re doing well. 

Sister Crawford 

July 28,2019

Family and friends! We're quickly approaching transfer week here in the Philippines Cauayan Mission and my gut is not giving me any clue as to what's going to happen to me - but no worries hymn 270 (I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go) is my answer to that one.

Anyway, it's been a good transfer cycle. I really do love Cabatuan or being close to the bukid (farm). The people here are awesome. I'll share some of my favorite stories with the people here.

We have the Angco family. They're just awesome and they're related to members! We found them while we were contacting. They welcomed us in and want to come to church, but they have a handicapped child. That makes them shy but they're sweet and really understand the lessons. At our last lesson with them they gave us a free pomelo!

We have Sister Lamorena and the Betori family. I say Brother and Sister, but they aren't members yet. I love this family. We also found them contacting. Sister  Lamorena is the daughter of Brother and Sister Betori. They were all taught in the past - and they even went to church before there was an actual meeting house built. The crazy thing is Sister Lamorena is the toughest person ever! Her child and husband died in a car accident where she was the only survivor. In spite of that hardship, she's super sweet. She even gave me soap for my face. 

Then two weeks ago while walking to a lesson a little girl ran up to me and handed me a flower. haha! It really made me so happy and I think the other kids could tell so they all ran up to my companion and I and just gave us a bunch of flowers. haha! It was a cool experience and gave us a little boost.

I really am grateful to be serving a mission and count myself lucky to get to meet people of all backgrounds and walks of life. Spiritual thought: this week I finally took a picture with a sign that I love. The sign says "Say no to drugs yes to God". Initially, I thought it was a true and awesome sign but just not a sign you'd expect to see. Then I thought about this sign some more. Whats the reason people do drugs? To be cool or to be happy, maybe? But true happiness doesn't come through such physical or worldly things. In fact, my mission President said, "Joy is a gift of the spirit that comes from aligning your will with God's will and from knowing that you are on the path that He wants for you". So that addresses one of the reasons people do drugs. But what about being cool? Well, simply how far will being cool get you when your standing face to face with God? My mom once told me that our self worth should come from our relationship with our Father in Heaven. No matter what your drug is, say no to that and yes to God. 

Love and miss you all!

July 19, 2019

Hi family and friends! 

Life here in the Philippines is good. It's still super hot but if people have lived here for decades, I can do it for 18 months. Speaking of which I'm quickly approaching my 1-year mark - but who's counting? 

I had a good week here in Cabatuan. This week I got a new mission president. It was sad to see President Hiatt go but President Craig is awesome! I've felt a renewed sense of commitment to serve. And it's been fun as I've become more comfortable talking to people, which I think is due to the time I've spent here. And even though it’s not the easiest or most enjoyable thing, there is a great sense of happiness that I've received from doing Heavenly Father's work. Which is something I learned on the mission. What is the purpose of our Father in Heaven? In Moses 1:39 it states: This is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men. 

That, too, is currently my purpose and it’s awesome! Another thing I've learned as a missionary is that religion, or the gospel of Jesus Christ, is more than a belief. I've started asking the people I teach why they go to church. I think a lot of people don't realize or understand the purpose of church. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we believe that the gospel is the plan that God has had for us before the world was created. And the gospel isn't a huge thing, or process. It’s not a hard thing to live. It comes down to the things we are willing to do because of our belief in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. So, simply put, in the gospel of Jesus Christ there are 5 principles, or things, we need to do in order to return to our father in Heaven: have faith in Jesus Christ, repent, be baptized by someone holding the authority of God, receive the gift of the holy ghost and endure to the end. And central to this plan is Jesus Christ. He is the way the truth and the light. When we say our prayers, Jesus Christ has told us to pray to the Father in his name. Again, He is the way the truth and the light. Alma 7:11-12 teaches that Jesus suffered the pains and sickness and infirmities of the world. We call Jesus's suffering the atonement. The atonement is all encompassing - Jesus did not just suffer and die for our sins but he suffered and died for all of our pains, our suffering, our trials, lahat (everything). And in Alma it says he did this so that he may know how to succor us. This next part I’ve stolen from my new mission president, but what does succor mean? The closest word in English is to suckle. When a mom suckles her new born child the child receives warmth, nourishment, protection, and love. 

Are any of those things of negative connotation? No. So we should all seek the blessings of the atonement. There are many ways we can receive those blessings. But we know that we are saved by the grace of God after all we can do. My mission president asked what are you willing to do to receive the grace of God? 

Finally, the purpose of church is to remember this great atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And is that what’s in our mind as we go to church? As we partake of the sacrament is the role that you played in the suffering of Jesus Christ centered in your mind as you partake of His blood and His flesh? 

This life is so much more with the knowledge of God's plan for us. This life is so much more when we do the will of our Father in Heaven. I'm not close to understanding it all, or following with exactness, but I'm grateful for the knowledge that I do have of it. And I'm glad I chose to serve a mission. 

Thanks for the support! Hope all is well!

Sister Crawford 

May 26, 2019

Another awesome week here in the mission. 

This Monday we took the normal mode of transportation here in Cauayan: a “jeep-me” home. In Tuguegarao it was mainly “tricys”, but here it’s Jeep-mes. Jeep-mes are crazy! Because I've noticed the driver can turn the wheel almost a whole 360 degrees without the vehicle itself turning. Don't ask me to explain the physics of that because I'm still working it out myself. And they PACK the people in on Jeepmes! Like there’s negative space by the time the jeep-me will get going. So, anyway, we sit on this jeep-me with all of our groceries. Super claustrophobic! And then a member gets on with us. We start talking to him and then he tells us, in front of everyone, that almost everyone on the jeep-me were less active members! ha-ha! It was awkward but very eye opening. The retention rate here is really not great. I start talking to some of these people and they’re super nice. One was even planning to serve a mission but hadn't been to church in a long time. Super interesting. 

Tuesday: There was the prettiest sunset ever! And a drunk man approached us and tried confronting us about the Book of Mormon. Asking, Who’s Nephi?” and if we call the laws of Mormon the laws of God. Misconceptions are super frustrating - so let’s all try to help enlighten our friends and neighbors. Because I'm sure we have friends just like this man who has no idea of the truth. 

Wednesday: 1/2 WAY MARK! I'm half way there and I'm living on a prayer for sure.

Thursday: Splits with the STLS

Friday: Stepped in dog poop in front of a bunch of kids. Hahaha! - they point and yelled "YUCKS". I was slightly embarrassed. 

Saturday: Found a new investigator who gave us a bunch of mangos after the lesson.

Sunday: On the fourth Sunday of the month this branch eats lunch together to celebrate the birthdays of the members with birthdays that month. The food was great - I only struggled with one dish: chicken feet. I’ve had chicken feet before, and I didn’t love them. I was given two - needless to say I did not want to eat one yet alone two again! But I was worried they'd think I'm rude. Long story short, I forced myself to eat them - they tasted just as they did before. Like toe nail and bones with a soft slimy coat! Needless to say it triggered a gag reflex that I could not force back. One member saw and she busted up laughing. Good times. 

Spiritual thought: The world does a good job of painting things which are of no value as things that should be sought after. We learn in Corinthians that things of ETERNAL worth can not be seen and things of worldly worth can: money, phones, clothing, etc. Materialistic things. I think when people chose to seek after the things of the world wickedness creeps in so I have two verses to share: 3 Ne 13:33 and 1 Ne 20:22.

gift of mangos after teaching a lesson

birthday lunch celebration

beautiful sunset

I went to open my umbrella and it flew off the handle

Hope all is well love and miss everyone.

May 19, 2019

Hi family and friends from CABATUAN B CAUAYAN PHILIPPINES 

After 8 months in Tuguegarao I've been transferred to the middle of the mission and life is good!

Its more farm land here in Cauayan and its Beautiful! I really love it. It's insanely hot in the day but it pours rain at night/ late afternoon. Anyone from Washington knows that umbrellas are more of an option than a necessity. Or at least, so I thought. It's different when you're forced to walk far in the pouring rain. My poor companion tried sharing her umbrella with me only for us both to end up drenched hahaha.

I had recently washed a pair of my shoes that are a canvas material and I guess I didn't bother getting the soap out because as we walked in the rain, bubbles were just coming out of my shoes like crazy! To say I was embarrassed is an understatement.

To give a little more of an update: Its summer here - I've purchased a sweat rag. I frequently wipe my face and neck throughout the day because I'm dripping. I'm training again! and I love my companion. Sister Trinidad. She worked with missionaries a lot before her mission so she's maggaling (excellent). She's 19 and quiet - until she's on the phone with her family (haha). And we're opening an area.  Its awesome. I've been told I'm a little fluent in tagalog - I'm still not quiet sure what that means but I'm QUICKLY APPROACHING MY HALF WAY MARK so hopefully I'll become fluent.

This week we spent a lot of time learning the area and contacting a long the way. We made a deal with our kabahays (roommates) that if we reach our goal of 30+ contacts we'll go buy ice cream. I'm talking 15 peso chocolate vanilla swirl ice cream! And the colors are blue and pink!!!! MASARAP TALAGA (really delicious). Do we have that at 7/11 in the states? idk but we both reached our goal and the next day I decided I deserved another one (haha). We also ended up with 14 new investigators so all in all it was a good week 

To give some insight to the personality of the kids here in the Philippines - this 8 year old boy and his little sister were riding a bike with a side car attachment. He sees us moving into our house and offers to bike our luggage to our house!  He then lifts the suitcase (it's as big as he is!) onto his cart. Then leans against the luggage, looks at the other missionary moving in, and tells her with his hand on his hip, "That's just not gonna fit". And wipes his head (hahahahaha). So sweet!

I've also put on some weight and broke a chair

and found 5 pesos on the side of the road

Life is good. My spiritual thought has to do with the story I shared: There's a verse in the Bible that states what you've done to the least of these, you've done it unto me. (Or along those lines). Do we see everyone as we see ourselves? As our brother or sister? Do we have a strong enough testimony of the gospel that we want others to know of it? Or to simply provide little acts of service? Or are we too scared or to caught up in what we have to do to stop and do something for others? Sister Groo, my seminary teacher, emailed me about the restoration of the name of the church. Along those lines, she said the name restoration will make no difference if we ourselves don't take upon ourselves Christ's name. If we ourselves aren't true disciples of Christ. So simply, gang, let's all try to be truer disciples of Christ this week and all the weeks to come. 

Love and miss you all 

Sister Crawford 

April 27, 2019

Sorry and thank you to those who continue to want to stay in the know despite my inconsistent emails and lack of pictures! You guys are greatly appreciated.

To give an update: I'm still living here in Tuguegarao. it's summer now and I've heard we've broken 40 degrees Celsius I'm not sure what that converts to in Fahrenheit but if I had to guess it's 1000 degrees! The heat sometimes makes it hard to sleep so I've bought myself an 80 peso hammock ($2). I'm now living the life. 

My Tagalog is better than before, but I'm still learning the language. 

My trainee is almost done with training.

We have a baptism this week for the Inay family. They're super awesome and I feel lucky to have been able  to finish they're teaching They're super ready for baptism.  So ready, in fact, they’ve passed the baptism interview twice now. Oops! And the ward loves them.

I'm not sure if I've talked about Sharon but she too was recently baptized. I remember there was one lesson where she told us that she was going to get baptized.  As in, she was going to follow all the commandments, go to church 4x's in a row, and basically do whatever she needs to. She really wanted it. She's pretty cool! She has a little baby and often times there’s no tricees by her house. But she doesn't let that stop her from going to church. I hope her husband will follow her example. I'm sure he will one day. 

This week we met a lady named Susan.  She was “decorning” (?) stocks of corn. So we started to help her. Filipinos get the kernels off so fast. This corn is dried out and stinking hard!  But I wanted to get on their level so I started trying harder and around the time my thumbs started to burn I noticed the correct technique. I needed to twist the corn first. I ended up with two giant blisters - but totally worth it.  We got into a lesson with her and were invited back.  That’s always a plus. 

This week was stake conference and we got to hear from a member of the 70: Elder Wakolo.  For my spiritual thought this week I'll share what he did. In Genesis 2 we learn about Adam and Eve and how they

were in paradise -> ate the fruit -> were ashamed -> cast out into the wilderness 

and in comparison the story of Lehi's dream in 1 Nephi: started in the wilderness -> ate the fruit -> desired his family to partake of it too -> paradise.  In order for us to return to paradise we too need to partake of the fruit. But that requires action on our part.  It requires us to remain steadfast on the path back to our father in heaven. I know that if we're to do this we too can partake of the sweetest and most desirable fruit above all other fruit.

Love and miss you all!

Sister Crawford 

hammock purchase

blister from decorning stocks of corn

Inay Family

Bishop's wife gave sister missionaries this bag

March 31, 2019

Long time no update! haha

Here in the Philippines food is love, so this week I was chastised for not eating more food. (haha, who knew?) We were invited to birthday parties to eat food and were given free watermelon and pineapple (from the farm that we work at almost every P-day). All I can say is that if missionaries visit give them merrienda (snacks) because it's the best thing ever.

Sister Caratao and I focused our efforts on Less Actives and Heavenly Father was listening, because we were out contacting and met a Less Active! What happened was, we saw an elderly lady and went to talk to her. She's super cute and sweet and after we talk,  she says we can teach her.  Then I notice her t-shirt and say, "I like your shirt", which said, "I love my family". She asks if  I recognize the shirt (this is a long time into our conversation) and I was like, "Um, no (haha)". And she's like, "It's from the Church and I'm a less active." Whaaaat!, and to add to the crazy of that coincidence is that we decided to take a different path to our investigators house and thats led us to her. We have other Less actives here, too, that just aren't receptive - even though they know the doctrine. And I just want to say that apostasy doesn't have to be a nation wide thing. It can literally be within a household or within an individual. And when it happens there's a difference in their happiness! This sweet old lady told us she felt that something was missing in her life. She had cried the night before ... and we happened to find her for the first time the very next day. Crazy odds. Sadly, she didn't go to church the next Sunday, but I'm sure that it would be intimidating if it's been a long time. Idk - people need to fear God more than man. 

Spiritual Thought: I've restarted the Book of Mormon and 1 Ne 3:31 stuck out to me. I've named this state of mind the "The Laman and Lemuel mindset". Even after seeing an angel they still doubted that they could really obtain the plates - because they have to get them from Laban ... what does this imply? That laban is greater than God? It's wild. Then there's Nephi's mindset in 1 Ne 4:1 - who has no doubt because God is all powerful. I fear sometimes on my mission. I've fallen into The laman and Lemuel mindset thinking, "Where are the people, theres none!" But KNOCK ON WOOD because I've had a lot more success finding people to teach, and I recognize that preaching the gospel is what I've been commanded to do. So, even though I meet people, and in person I'm rejected, if I remain faithful I'll reap the reward. I'm sure we've all doubted things of faith but I'd like to challenge us to remember the power of our God and Creator. We can't see Him but he's there. 

Love and miss you all!