{Week Eleven}

Dear Family,

This week has been slow at times, fantastic at times, and phenomenal at other times! In all, it has been great :)

Easter was great :) We had a nice Sacrament Meeting with both wards and then had a nice afternoon with some families. It was a change from my normal family tradition, but it was a fantastic time to ponder about the Resurrection of Christ. I loved being able to focus completely on the Savior. We did enjoy decorating eggs with Elizabeth Hansen, Iris, and Michael. They LOVED IT!

We did lots of service for less-active and active members this week. We are trying to develop relationships with them and helping them understand why coming to church is important. Slowly but surely, they are progressing. 1 step backwards and 5 steps forwards is still progressing and we are working  with many less-active members. Although they know the truth of the gospel, having a testimony and knowing through faith is so important as we build our own testimonies!

Our baptism with MacKena was great! We had it early in the morning because Savior of the World has been overrunning the stake center... She was pretty excited and is such a cute 9 year old. She has been waiting to be baptized for so long; well, a year is long for a 9-year old. I spoke on the Gift of the Holy Ghost and Sis G played the piano. They had lots of friends and some family supporting them too, so that was good. Her parents are both converts, so neither family are members, but some came which was awesome! They are excited for their next step. Being sealed as a family for time and all eternity! We are excited for them as well :)

This week we had some wonderful lessons with Jane Goldberg! She has a friend in another ward and asked if she could go with her to that ward, (the building is closer than the one she is suppose to go to, so that is sometimes a hassle to explain...) but she said it wouldn't be a problem that she was suppose to come to our building and ward! We were so excited that she came to church on Sunday!

We have been teaching Jane about the Plan of Salvation. She is very concerned about seeing her parents and grandparents again. When we told her she would, she (65 years old or so) jumped for joy and had the biggest smile on her face ever! Jane has bi-polar disorder and we have noticed that she has become more stable and so much more happy the last few times we have seen her. She is so amazing and we love teaching her. A neighbor down the street is a member and comes with us, and I can say, member fellowshipping is SO important and vital to missionary work!

Another exciting story is about Mike. We tracted into him a few weeks ago and gave him a pamphlet about the Restoration. He said he would read it and we said we would return to follow up. Well, we stopped by and he did read it! He said it sounded very familiar, but he got to thinking why his church, the Lutheran faith, didn't have modern day prophets. We gave him more and he said we would read and look at Mormon.org. We are so excited! He wouldn't commit to reading the Book of Mormon, but he did say he would consider it. I am excited to follow up with him again! He also wouldn't commit to us teaching him, but little does he realize that he is being taught by the spirit.

I am loving the service of being a missionary. It is such a great time to share the gospel and the joy that I have in my life. I am so fortunate to have been taught the gospel at such a young age and to have examples to follow and learn from. I am surely loving the Book of Mormon reading we are doing as a mission and I love looking for the Doctrine of Christ in it. I am finding so much new that I have not before realized or remembered.

I love you all so much!

♥,

Sister Stephanie Crandall

ps. Des, I hope you liked Tangled ;) I am glad the Easter Bunny found you! I Love you and Clay lots! Along with everyone else! Continue to pray and read your scriptures daily and you too will be blessing in the trials and discouragements in your life. I love you all and am looking forward to calling home on Mother's Day afternoon!!! :)

{Week Ten}

Dear Family,

This past week has gone by so quickly and lots has happened!

We were able to catch Amy Martin this week and had a nice visit with her. She had read some parts of the Book of Mormon and we're excited about that. We had another appointment with her last night, but she wasn't at home, nor did she answer our text message. She is in-between helping her mom, her son, and home right now. We are excited to keep teaching her; now we just need to catch her at home.

Last Thursday we taught Wayne Toebe about the Priesthood. Or rather, that was our plan. We had an exchange with us (a lady to drive us and to be there because he is a single man) that loved to talk!  A lot. It was a little frustrating because he was getting confused by doctrine that was unnessessary to talk about, but we made it through. When we met with him last night, it went fantastic!  We helped clear up some things and we are excited to teach him next Monday night. He continues to study diligently from both the Bible and Book of Mormon. I love it when investigators study! And he is great at that :) He continues to have lots of questions and we love it!

Friday night all the missionaries went to watch the dress rehersal for our stake production of Savior of the World. Sarah Murray is doing a fantastic job of co-directing it and it is going to be amazing!  We have a handful of investigators that are going to it and we are so excited for this great missionary experience. Out of 5500 seats, over 2000 of them are non-members or less-active. It is exciting that our stake is doing this!

Saturday night we went to Stake Conference and I met Lyle and Sonja Sasser, from Reed's mission there! They recognized my name and Reed told them I was in this mission. They weren't expecting to meet me, but it was fun to get to meet them. The talks were amazing!

One couple team-spoke about family unity. They told about their family going on camping trips and listening to talks and speakers in the car... it reminded me about our family and how much I love you! We even sang hymn 260 for the opening song! :)

I also loved the Sunday session; Pres and Sis Greer spoke and It was great! They taught about how a testimony is knowing and feeling and conversion is doing. Something that Dallin H Oaks taught.

I wish that I could tell you more, but I am just about out of time.

Yesterday we had a marvelous zone conference! My first!!! The main topic was conversion through the Book of Mormon. It was fabulous! It helped me realize better how I can help investigators feel the need to read from the Book of Mormon and to apply it in their life. I have a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true and that it is the word and work of God.

I love you all so much!

♥

Sister Stephanie Crandall

{Week Nine}

Dear Family,

This week has gone by so quickly! And when I look back on all that has happened, there was a whole lot.

So I will start by telling you how much I enjoyed Conference! SURPRISE! I stayed awake for all 4 sessions! So if I was at home, the candy bars would have accumulated ;) haha... I don't think I could have fallen asleep if I had wanted to though. Each talk was specifically talking to me in some way or another. I loved Elder Oaks talk about desires.

This week, lots of people have been making excuses, and it all comes down to what are our priorities and our desires, and where are they in line with each other?. Each speaker was absolutely wonderful and I can't wait to get the May Ensign to re-read them and mark them all up again and compare my notes to them. I wont tell you all the details of my notes because we each receive different messages from each talk, but I do know how true each message is!

I feel like I have been missing out my entire life because my sleeping desires overcame other priorities that should have been first on my list. I just love the Ensign each month, and now have a greater love for Conference!

So last week I told you about Amy Martin! We are still excited about her! But... she had to cancel on us on Tuesday because her car quit that day and she was stranded at her sons home. But we will try to meet up with her this week for sure :) She is amazing! Now if we can just catch her at home. Her car is working now... It's funny how we find people who realize they need what we have to offer, and then they get blessed with a job or a working car and their time disappears. But Amy is actually working with us on us seeing her :) So that is wonderful!

Something amazing happened yesterday! Each Monday afternoon, we visit Cindy Killen. I think I've told you about her before. To refresh your memory, she is in her late 50's and wants to be baptized, but doesn't want to scare her husband away from the church before he is ready. She has been praying for a long time about baptism and also about the heart of her husband softening. Well, each Monday we read some of the Book of Mormon with her. Yesterday, we were just talking while she was finishing up her lunch, and then out of the blue she asks how we help prepare people for baptism. We also talked about prayer and how sometimes we pray and don't receive direct answers because we need to make decisions too. A bit after telling her, and us being aware that something is up, but not knowing what, she asks, "So when can I start taking lessons?" !!! We were so excited!! We told her we could start immediately if she would like! So next week we will! Well, we continued to read like we normally do, and last week we read 2 Ne 31.

So we started at 2 Ne 32. It was phenomenal! It says: "I suppose that ye ponder somewhat in your hearts concerning that which ye should do after ye have entered in by the way. But behold, why do ye ponder these things in your hearts? Do ye not remember...?"  It talked about prayer and how we know our answers in our hearts! She was in tears and said that the scripture answered her question and she wants to be baptized! That chapter was perfect for Cindy and she is so excited now. It was an amazing moment where the scriptures really do answer our questions.

Well family, I love you all so much and appreciate your prayers and confidence that you have in me. I also have confidence in you and pray for you each day. I know that we will surely be blessed when we keep the commandments given to us in the scriptures. It is truly a blessing that we are part of such a great Plan. I know that as sure as I know that the Prophet is called of God and that the scriptures are written for our days.

I love you all!

♥,  Sister Stephanie Crandall

{Week Eight}

Dear Family,

Sounds like quite the weather you have been having this week at home. With all that mud and muck and snow... It shows that although winter is long, spring is coming!

It keeps raining here in Richland and so we are getting into Spring. It will start out all sunny outside and then after lunch get stormy. But it makes tracting not so hot, so I am grateful. I guess it gets up to about 100 in the summer... so I am for sure grateful for the nice 'cool' weather right now.

This week has been good though. Some days seem long and like we have no appointments, but really, after I look back, I can see how blessed I really am.

Last Tuesday night we decided to try getting a hold of a lady that we have tried before and it just never was a good time for us to come in. But last Tuesday, we went to her door and she let us right in.

It was amazing! Amy Martin had been having a rough week, well, a rough month and year. She has been out of work for a month, no money because of a past devorce, and her boyfriend just left her (that part was good though, she may not know or realize that yet, but it was good), and she has been praying for someone to come and help her.

She was watching TV one night and saw a commercial about some church, she wasn't sure which, but it said something about starting to go to church. She broke down that night and just prayed for help, and then waited. So when we came, she was practically in tears and grateful to have someone there.

She was going to make it to church, but was unable to because her car wasn't working and she hadn't slept all night. We were sad because she didn't come, but she said she will come next week. We get to explain what General Conference is, and I am hoping she will come with us to the Stake Center to watch it! I think she will :) We have been hepling her find work as well, and she has been able to apply at more places now too!  She is very interested about learning more and we are teaching her more tonight! I am so excited!!

So another exciting event is that Austin Edler was baptised on Saturday! The entire ward, well just about, came to support him. We should have moved it to the Chapel, but we squeezed into the RS room. He was completely excited to be getting baptized and can't wait to be able to pass the sacrament! Sad thing is that we have General Conference, then Stake Conference. So he has to wait a few weeks. But it will come soon for him :) It was precious to watch him be baptized because he (I think I told you he has autism and is 14 in a past email) had to ask his mom to be able to do it. His parents are divorced but have joint custody and he lives with his dad. His mom asked him why he wanted to do it, and so purely he said he wanted to have the Holy Ghost with him and he wanted to pass the sacrament. He is a sweet boy that truly is Christ-like.

So for us, this past Sunday was Fast Sunday and I was thinking about geting up and bearing my testimony, but we didn't have enough time. And I didn't want to take up the member's time either because so many people were getting up too. But then I thought about how lucky I am that I get to bear my testimony every single day to multiple people! It is so fun to share the knowledge I have and I continue to learn more each and every day!

I have set a goal to re-memorize the Articles of Faith, the Proclamation to the Family, and to continue my progress in memorizing D&C 121:34-46. I am getting better at remembering, but it takes lots of repitition and practice. I know that as I accomplish this goal, that I will be blessed with the knowledge. 

I am so excited to get to watch Conference this weekend! We will most likely watch the morning sessions at our home and then go to the Stake Center for the Afternoon sessions. I have just started reading the April Ensign and it is geting me excited about the real meaning of the Easter Season. It truly should be focused on the Resurrection of Christ and the Atonement that we have been given. 

The gospel is amazing and I am enjoying my time as a missionary :) This morning we helped some RS sisters tie some quilts for the humanitarian project and one of them, Patty Squire- not a member, but our investigator, asked if it was a difficult transition to be without a computer, my phone, internet access, tv, pretty much without any technology or "fun stuff" and all I could do was smile and tell her it was a relief! I really don't miss all the extra stuff and I am much too busy to focus on any of it. 

I am loving studying out of the Ensign, my scriptures, Jesus The Christ, Our Heritage, and all the other missionary library books. It is so fun to learn more on my own and also from others around me! 

I love you all and challenge you to listen to Conference this weekend with open hearts and open minds, taking in the wonderful inspired messsages!

Love,

Sister Stephanie Crandall

{Week Seven}

Dear Family,

It has been quite the week. It seems like lots of people have just opened up with us; whether for good or for bad... but we still love them and work with them.

Before I forget! Cause I have for the last 4 weeks, Katelyn, My companion knows David Archuletta... he sang at her birthday party once because he was there and her mom asked him too ;) haha... kinda funny...

This week we tracted a ton! We had some successful people too that we are going to try back with! We knocked on this one guys house and he said, "My grandma was a Mormon from Idaho and her last name was Garrett and I use to move pipe for her in the summer times!" I told him I was from Idaho and that I was sorry he had to move pipe and then he asked us if we wanted to come in. We took him up on the offer! Turns out she was from Idaho and this guy, Martin Hausser has family in Rexburg, the Killpatricks, the ones that do Cedar Badge! haha... so Clay, next time you go to a CB meeting... I can't remember their names, but remembered the last name and that he did CB. :) We had a great time visiting with him and he said he would like to have us come back. He and his wife aren't very religious any more and they send their son to a baptist church on Wednesday nights only because a bus comes and picks him up. He was playing legos and reminded me a bit of Clay ;) So that was one good door that was opened up to us.

Down the next few doors no one was interested. Then we got invited in to another house by a man and his wife. They started by wanting to bible bash, but we left our scriptures in the car since they are heavy. He offered us his "New Age Bible" and said it was the same, but since it is completely different, we didn't use it. So he started to church bash us with really random questions. I guess they weren't that random, but they weren't ones that people usually ask. He grew up with a Best friend that was Mormon, and he knew a lot. He kept asking us questions and trying to prove us wrong on stuff, but when we testify and say that we know something is... it hard to have something to say back to that. We probably wont go back for a while since he isn't interested in the church, but more about bashing religions. It was just intresting.

We also tracted into an interesting fellow. He was completely racist and wierd. Even though he claimed he has a phd, he was not all that smart... but then this morning I read from the March Ensign (i finished an dloved it!) about "The Healer's Art" By Elder Yoshihiko Kikuchi... It was fantastic! It made complete sense!

So I want to tell you of an experience of visiting with a family. The Mom and kids just got baptized so we still visit them everynow and then to check up and see how they are doing. It was my turn to give the dinner thought and so I was trying to find a scripture to share with them. I couldn't find one that I wnted, nor did one ever pop into mind during dinner, but Katelyn's last week letter came to mind. In Katelyn's letter to me, she told me about the missionaries challenging everyone to make personal study better. And she asked how I make my study good. I thought about how to answer and told her it was finding a purpose. So I decided to share with this family the importance of making our personal study better and decided to ask them to make theirs better. As I started telling them about Katelyn, I was all of a sudden asking them how they could make their family scripture study more spiritual. Giving hem time to answer, Rocky and Jewlz said that it didn't exist and that starting woul be a good place to start. Their Children, Judy and Dacota agreed and they are now doing this each night as a fmaily! I am so excited for them! They are excited about it as well!

Well, more happened this week, but I guess most of all, my testimony was strengthed that the gospel is true no matter what questions come my way. Sometimes we don't know all the answers because God has not reviled everything to us. But he knows all and I know that he loves me and has given me an opportunity to share his message with his children!

I love you all so much!

Love,

 Sister Stephanie Crandall

P.S. Des, we don't get much snow here ;)

{Week Six}

Dear Family,

I was excited to get all of your emails this week! It is fun reading how everyone is doing :) I remember very well the feeling of not being completely ready for festival when the time had come for the recital! But then the next week I was somehow ready! While I was playing the piano at District Meeting last week, an elder asked me how I learned to play and if I could read music. I smiled and told him lots and lots of practice. And that my mother was persistent that we learn how to play. I miss the piano and violin and play the piano every chance I get!

It has been extremely windy here, just like at home. The rain has started to pick up, but not too bad...

We tracted a lot but stayed warm with gloves, coat, and scarf. It is decieving when I look outside because there is no snow! Just cold wind and rain :) Nothing I can't handle though~ We gave out lots of Mormon.org pass along cards and shared lots, but no one is really interested, YET. We have some follow up appointments that hopefully will go well!

Although our week was slow and difficult, as I am looking back, it had some good times too.

We do have 2 people set with baptism dates! So that is a big plus. One is Iris who is 9 years old, and the other is Austin who is 14 year old. Austin has autism, but he know what we are talking about in the lessons. He has such pure answers and is so sincere and loving. He a great dad and wonderful grandparents that are great examples to him.  Iris is also so sweet. Her step-dad is a member and her mom is an investigator. She has a more difficult time learning, but is also coming right along! It's fun teaching younger people the gospel! They are so honest in their answers.

We did some service for a lady in the ward. It has convinced me that cleanliness is next to godliness :) Mom, thank you for teaching me how to keep a clean house! This sister is confined to a wheelchair as is unable to take care of her home. We cleaned her kitchen and her bedroom. She had a hard time letting us throw away anything though... so we more or less just moved things around. We sorted through hudreds of magazines and her son took them out, probably without her realizing it. It is sad to see how many people can live in a dirty environment. She is a sweet lady with good intentions, but just needs help cleaning things up.

We also visited with one of our bishops (Desert Hills Ward). Bishop Volmer is 6'7", or like he would say 4' 31". He is pretty funny too... he likes to joke around and have fun. Ends up he is a big time hunter. He showed us his elk heads and convinced Sister Garrett that jack-o-lopes are real (he had one of them too). He even said if you, Dad, would let him hunt in Chesterfield, I wouldn't have to talk in church and that he would do it for me :) I laughed and told him it was unlikely and that I didn't mind talking... So I get to talk in 2 weeks.

Last night we had dinner at Bishop Damsteadt's home. (Cottonwood Ward) He asked where I was from and he has been ice fishing on Chesterfield Reservior! haha... he also knows people from Pingree, but not the Carters... We shared the Plan of Salvation with them for their FHE lesson. They have 6 children and 3 adopted children from China... they loved the lesson with all the little cut outs that we used. I am in the process of making some for me to use while teaching :)

I also meet a lady in the ward that know the Creers, that recognized they were somewhere near what I described as Chesterfield :) It is still fun to meet people that can pinpoint where I am from.

The highlight of our week was that 4 investigators were at church on Sunday! We were so excited to see them! We taught in Primary about the Priesthood too. So that was fun!

The other highlight has been my studying. Dad, I loved the Atonement Scripture Chain. I read and studied it Wednesday morning and then shared it for some of our dinner thoughts this week! I have also started reading the Book of Mormon over again and marking each time the Lord speaks. It is amazing to apply the scriptures to our lives and see how similar we really are to the people from the scriptures. The only real difference is technology... When we have faith, the same experiences can happen, and when we are wicked, the same distructions can happen. More or less so, but we are so similar.

The work in WA is progressing and we are keeping our heads up each time the door is closed because they are "not interested" in the message we have yet to share with them. This week is looking up though! And I am excited to continue in the work!

I love you all and wish you the best week! Best wishes with Festival, work, school, play, and with everything!

Love,

Sister Stephanie Crandall

{Week Five}

Dear Family,

It has been such a busy week! At some times it was very slow as it seemed like everyone was canceling appointments or no one was home. We kept going though. We did tract into some very potential investigators and hopefully something will come of our tracting efforts. Sister Garrett and I have a fun time tracting. That way, we keep from getting discouraged :)

We have a new investigator! Wayne. Wayne is very knowledgable about many many religions. We asked if he had ever read the Book of Mormon or if he knew what it was. Although he said he hadn't ever read the whole book, he discribed it well, knowing all the people's names and the stories, all through 3 Nephi. I am thinking he has read it before. But we are excited to teach him. We are also excited that he knows some members in our ward and they are going to invite him to be taught in their home! That makes missionary work so much better! Every member really is a missionary!

We also taugh a lady, Patty Squire. Please imagine Grandma Crandall driving a red Mustang. Well, that is Patty. She is so sweet and we are going to ask her to be baptized when we meet with her this week! When I asked if she had read the Book of Mormon, She said that she loved the cross-refrences and that the Book of Mormon was another translation of the bible... well, Sister Garrett and I explained that it was not another translation, but another testament of Jesus Christ. Her member friend, we meet in the member's home, helped explain more about the Book of Mormon, and Patty is excited to read it now from the beginning instead of just picking interesting verses and comparing them with the Bible. I am so excited for her!

Some more about Sister Garrett! She is absolutely amazing! As I already told, she is from the Ukraine and was addopted into a faimly in Murray Utah! I knew her Utah faimly was musical, but I didn't know that they had made CDs. Which we have one of them at home! Look up the "Songs of the Savior" by James and Morgan Garrett. It is absolutely one of my favorites! They have 3 cds out she gave me the first 2. I don't think the 3rd  is out yet... Some more about her: she become converted when she was 15 and has an amazing testimony! She is so pleasant to work with and loves to sew too :) Her little sister was adopted when she was 8, and when the family found out she had a 15 year old sister, they adopted her too. So all together, I think it is 8 brothers and 5 sisters. That's biological and adopted. She is great and I love her! She goes home July 26th...

On Thursday we had interviews with President and Sister Greer. Wonderful! President and I talked about baptism and helping little children learn the gospel. It really helped because we are teaching a few 9 year olds and their attention span is about 2 seconds long... So I know what you mean Dad :) It is getting better though! And Sister Greer shared a scripture from Doctrine and Covenants 50:24 (I think). It is about spiritual evolution. Our light and knowledge gets greater and greater when we keep the commandments and follow Jesus Christ's example. This is so true! I loved it!

Later that night, we had dinner with a young couple that are expecting their second. He is from IF and she is from Hansen ID. So she knew right were Bancroft was :) They both just graduated from BYU and we had a fun conversation with them :)

I also met my friend's (Michelle Ostler) uncle! He spoke at church on Sunday and the missionaries often go to their home for p-day. I have yet to go...

Yesterday morning I finished reading the General Conference Ensign! I was so excited! I especially loved Elder Mervyn B Arnold's "What have I Done with My Name?" Talk. I always love the talks about names. Partially because I am so greatful for my own name and the legacy that I get to live up to because of previous people that have gone before me to make my names so wonderful to have! Both Mom and Dad's faimlies included!

However, the most important name I have taken upon myself is the name of Jesus Christ when I was baptized. I know that as I take upon myself the name of Christ, always remember him, and keep his commandments, I will recieve the blessing of having His spirit with me always. In D&C 84:88 it states "For I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left hand, and my spirit shall be in your heart." The Lord really is there for us when we choose the right. I can testify that is true!

I love you all so much and think of you often!

I hope your week goes well and that you will continue to love the people that are around you. Love you all!

Love,

Sister Stephanie Crandall

P.S. Reed, I forgot to let you know that we recieved the "Lock your heart" talk the first night in the mission home. Loved re-reading it!