Little time

Sorry, I don´t have very much time today! But we had our first cambios (transfers)! I get to stay with my Hermana H.!  But Hermana W. from our ward is off to a new city. 

I found out something really cool though. We went to help Hermana W. to pack, and she had the painting Reflections by Carol P Harding. I don´t know if you know the story, but she was trying to paint this lily pad and water scene, but couldn't quite get the water right. So she kind of smudged it up and walked away. But when she came back, she realize what the smudge had turned in to. It caught her off guard, and she hid the painting for a while. And then later she brought it out and showed it to one of her daughters, who saw the same thing. This artist is Hermana W.´s grandmother. Its really a very cool story, but take a look at the image yourself and see what you can see.



How often do we not realize what is right in front of us? I´ve been trying to take the time a bit more this week to count my blessings, and realized how very, very much I have. The gospel really does make a difference in our lives. Having an eternal perspective really is mind blowing sometimes. People always react interestingly when they find out we serve for a year and a half. But really, a year and a half of my eternity is so very little to give. Sometimes we really do need to wake up and do something more!

Hermana Crawford

The land that was flat

So México really is beautiful, in its own special way. I know there are areas that are more tropical, and areas along the shore. There are mountains and trees and crawling creatures. But my part, is very much so a desert. We had a lot of wonderful rain and monsoons last week, but they have not made it any more green! It isn´t bad, its just different. Basically its rather brown. And we do have mountains, but really they aren´t any bigger then Blue mountain back home. (Collingwood) So really, we have some big hills. But aside from our randomly potruding big hills, it is very flat. I mean, I don´t mind, it means we don´t have to go hiking up and down hills all the time! But I am so used to having the shape of the land back home, that here I never know where we are. All of the streets run north-south and east-west, and are as straight as can be! 

We managed to mostly stay out of the rain this past week. Although, not going to lie, sometimes it was completely intentional that we got wet! And at some points, the humidity this week almost made me feel as though I was at home. At other points it was just, well, humid. The rain really didnt affect the wildlife too much, but it did some pretty good damage to some of the streets. Most are paved, but we dont have any sort of drainage, so it just turns into rivers. And then when the rivers come across unpaved parts, it washes away a lot of the sand. Theres some areas that can only be driven on by trucks right now, but half of the people here seem to have trucks anways.

It isnt a problem for us though, because this is a walking mission.  Honestly though, cars would be too much trouble. They would get way too hot and we wouldn't be able to meet so many people! Oh, and whenever we have to travel any distance, we have the busses. They are pretty decent, and some of them even have air! But the best part is, ALL of the busses are standard.

We got to go in to the offices this week for the 6 week meeting thing. Honestly, Im not exactly sure why we had it, I believe it is part of the first 12 week program that all missionaries do. But I got to me my whole generation- all 11 sisters and 2 elders! I finally got to meet the Hermana who I found with the same call before my mission. She and other Americans were sent to the Mexico MTC because they got their visas earlier. Anways, I was actually able to understand fairly well what was going on, and the missionaries gave a lot of good talks... or presentations. (English is getting harder all the time. Good and bad!) 

My favourite was a demonstration an Hermana gave about the Book of Mormon. She was speaking about how its so very important in our lessons, and for the investigators. Her example, was 2 book of Mormons. First she grabbed two books and put some chunks of pages into the other book. It took almost no effort to seperate. She had taken them and interwoven every single page. (She brought it pre.woven) Kind of how Myth Busters did with two phone books once. Then, a few people try to pull them apart, and werent able to. 

This is how we need to treat the Book of Mormon. If we simply read a peice here, or a verse there, we arent really doing anything with it. But as we take the time every day to read and ponder and pray about every verse and every story, every parable and every piece of doctrine and apply it to our lives, we can have that bond. I know that it really is the word of God and can help us even in the hardest of times. Remember to not just hold the Iron Rod, but to cling to it. As we interweave our lives with the Book of Mormon, we can have great strength.

Hermana Crawford

A Canadian in Mexico eating Chinese Food

So last week, I really wanted to share this oddity with you all, but the computer just would not have it. I ate some version of Asian food three or so times last week and thought it was pretty entertaining. It is very similar to our Canadian Chinese food, but with more of a spicy sauce. Next time anyone orders some, try putting some lime and sraracha sauce on top. It actually is not all that bad!

 We also had a Mexican version of Sushi. Now that is.. well something very different then what I would consider to be sushi. It basically was some sort of meat, as in cooked chicken or beef, with avocado and philly cream cheese, wrapped in sticky rice and fried on the edges. Very very different.

Otherwise I really enjoy the food here. We eat refried beans basically every day, which I rather enjoy. We also almost always have tortillas, corn and flour. Generally though we eat a lot of soups, and a lot of pasta. Whether pasta in our soup, or spaghetti like, or a pasta salad. And the members feed us every lunch.  I´ve been sharing a scripture with them afterwards a fair bit this week. I feel as though I am able to somewhat explain and share in Spanish. And sometimes they even understand me ;)

This week in general has been very wet. We got RAIN. It was probably one of the best moments. My trainer has been here for 8 months now, and this was the first storm she saw. That was a little depressing to hear, because I love a good storm. But it helped to cool things off rather nicely so we are greatly enjoying the weather at the moment!

I feel as though I am able to speak a lot more spanish every day. As Hermana H. keeps telling me, poco a poco. But I also felt like I wasn´t able to understand very well this week. I really want to be able to communicate with people more, but it´s hard. Generally I can pick a few words out, but then I am left to basically guess the rest of the sentence or question. Or sometimes, they talk so fast or there accent is so thick that I don´t catch a single thing. Hermana H. is great at helping me out though, and people are generally very patient.

We had another Junta de Zona  (Zone Conference - a missionary training conference for all the missionaries in an area) this past Friday, and we all got this months Liahonas! I really really enjoyed the article Becoming Perfect In Christ by Elder Gerrit W. Gong. I really recommend that everyone reads it, You can find it.... 

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2014/07/young-adults/becoming-perfect-in-christ?lang=eng

....It talks a lot about the pressures we put on ourselves to do things, and how we really should define what is perfect. I found one part very applicable to myself, as it spoke of how we should not solely measure our successes by our ability to do what it is we seek to accomplish, but more so by our desires and commitment to doing it.

The reality is, serving a mission is hard. I knew that coming in, as I had many missionary and return missionaries tell me that. And I really do not speak much Spanish. And yes, it really is pretty hot, especially for someone who has never lived in a desert. I have a lot of people ask me if I am sick when they shake my hand, because they think I have a fever! But as much as those things can be difficult, they don´t really matter. I heard a story in the MTC of a family motto which said I Am A (insert family name here), And I Can Do Hard Things. 

So as much as those things are hard, I know the experiences I am having, and will have here, and all that I can learn are more than worth the effort. And the reason I am here is because I have a message to share that I know is true, and can help peoples in their lives more then anything else. It truly is the gospel of Jesus Christ restored on the earth, and we really do have a Saviour who knows all of our sorrows and worries and struggles. I hope whatever thing it is that you are finding hard, you can find whatever it is that is worth it. Because we really have so much more good then we realize. As said in 2 Timothy, I have fought a good fight, I have finished (this) course, I have kept the faith.

Or as Meet the Robinsons puts it: Keep Moving Forward

Happy Belated Canada Day!

Hermana Crawford

NB: Hermana Crawford has requested written letters "The mail actually works decently well here! Missionaries get letters fairly regularly, and Dear Elders all arrive pretty well too!"

Moving Day!

I'm feeling much better and we were able to work a lot! We taught over 20 lessons, and were able to talk to a lot of people. I feel as though I am learning a lot and able to speak more everyday. I need to learn to speak less in English, because it's just too easy to do so when you have an American companion and are trying to communicate! But nevertheless I do feel as though I am able to apply what I know and learn more constantly. And I love trying to communicate with native speakers. They are all more than willing to help me improve and learn more, and are patient and general able to get the gist of what I say. Not that I say much yet! There was this wonderful family we visited with this week with 3 little boys and a little girl. She is 4 years old and speaks WAY more spanish then I do. It was great being able to be with their family nonetheless, all of the kids were more then excited to try and help me learn new words, and the 8 year old was very bright. He answered essentially all of the questions throughout our lesson!

We also moved from our rather large and smelly house to a smaller and newer house. We had a small second story to our first house, which had a bedroom and a washroom, and it smelt something awful. Luckily the entrance to the upstairs was arranged just so that we could block that part off. But, some days this smell would leek through the door. It was fairly central in our area, and the new house is more along a border, but our area isn't that large so it really dosn't make that much of a difference. Anyways, when a member offered us to rent her house, we jumped at the chance! So we spent most of the day moving and are running a little late.

I learned that sister missionaries only serve in just a few cities here in the mission.  Sadly, these areas do not include the one part of Hermosillo that gets snow! But apparently it does get down to about 15 celsius here during the night in the winter, so I have some cooler weather to look forward too. All in all, the heat was a lot better this week. It wasn't so shocking when we left air conditioned areas. Actually, I am starting to find air conditioning a little chilly sometimes, instead of just almost being relieving. I still run hotter then basically everyone here, but I have hope that I can continue to adjust to a desert climate!

Hermana Crawford