This needs to be a quicker e-mail, so sorry about that! Anyways, pictures WILL come next week as I am working hard to get technology figured out in Singapore by myself. Just wait though, it will be nice.
So, TRANSFERS!!! I am lucky enough to be staying in Woodlands :). I am very happy because I realized this week just how much I love and care about my investigators and I want so badly to stay with them and work with them. But, I got a new companion! The wonderful Sister Simon!!! We actually are all staying in the same house still...Sister Simon, Sister Reach, Sister Krivanec and I, but we switched companions. It will be fun, but slightly strange to still live with Sister Krivanec and not be her companion! I'm super excited though, because Sister Simon is super loving, and from Indonesia. I think we will have a lot of fun together, and do good missionary work!
Let me give you some highlights of the week...
First, just like you said that you were able to enjoy some tropical weather and rain, so did we! It's getting slightly cooler here, if you can call Singapore cool, and there's been a little bit more rain. On Thursday, it started POURING. Sister Krivanec and Sister Simon are pranksters, and told us that we needed to go outside because something fell off our 11th floor balcony. They were all changing into pants, but I was pretty content in my dress, figuring I would just use an umbrella, and feel the rain and enjoy it! However, I got down and as I was taking a picture, Sister Simon grabbed my umbrella! Within seconds, I realized that this was a scheme to play in the rain, and I was drenched within seconds. It was pretty fun, but it was also very, very wet. The rain was warm though, so that was fun! I'll send some 'wet pictures' next week.
Next, I got to have Phillipino food 3 times this week! I realized that I really, really like Phillipino food, especially dessert. I ate something that had mangos, lychees, and peaches in sweetened condensed milk. It was heaven in a bowl.
So, Sister Krivanec and I had this genius idea to be involved in community service - working at the garden club at the hospital! We are waiting for them to call us to let us come, but basically we would plant flowers every week, and get to talk to hospital patients. I hope it will work out, because it would be such a fun way to spend our afternoons every once in a while!
I realized that not speaking Chinese is sometimes really hard. I tried to contact all Monday night, and didn't get to talk to anyone really because they all only spoke Chinese! Maybe I'll figure out by the end of my mission how to bear my testimony in Mandarin. That would be nice!
We had a member give us referrals this week! We were able to go to his house for lunch (He's 24, and the EQ President, and in law school, and SUPER smart - if you can send me a really hard riddle, I want to give it to him. My goal in life is to find one he can't solve!) and met two of his friends. We taught them about the Book of Mormon which I loved, and I hope we can meet with them again! We'll need to follow-up :).
In other news, I met with R for FHE with the C family. It was so fun, and R is so excited to be a forever-family. I hope her husband can get referred, and that they can both become members. She is an investigator I want to be friends with for life! I want her and her husband to get baptized, and then I want to go see them get sealed. I love her so, so, so, so much! She is trying desperately to get her job figured out, so hopefully we'll be able to get that done soon. Her baptism is right around the corner....
We also met with Y P, and she is another investigator that I love. She is married to a less active and she is the sweetest, nicest person ever. She is Japanese, so she has a hard time believing in a God, but she has a little girl that I love. Her little girl is what inspires her to want to believe in God, so I hope we can play off of that and get her to feel the spirit of the gospel! She just needs to FEEL something, so hopefully we can figure that out.
My thought for this week is about small and simple. As I've studied and prayed, I've learned that the gospel is about taking small and simple steps in the right direction. It's about focusing on the now, and how you can be better today. It's not supposed to be overwhelming! Also, perfection is supposed to be achieved after a lifetime! I read a really great article that I would suggest to anyone who feels overwhelmed, or feels like they are 'forever falling short.' It's in the July Ensign and it's called 'Becoming Perfect through Christ' by Elder Gong. It is all about how if we think about being perfect all the time, we are not trusting in the Atonement and the love of God enough. It's been a nice twist on repentance and change that's made me feel really good about myself. I love knowing that it doesn't matter how I compare to other missionaries, what matters is that I am striving everyday to be closer to God, and if I do that everyday, eventually I will have a testimony that has the power to change the world. Honestly, that's how we come to know everything, in small and simple ways. I'm seeing that as I look back on my last 3 months of training (I MADE IT!!!), and I've realized that I've grown and changed in ways I can't imagine, and all of them were almost imperceptible, small and simple. However, they've given me a strong testimony of principles that I couldn't have gained in any other way except by being a missionary. Small and Simple truly leads to miracles!! That's how you become a person like Alma, or Abiniadi, or Nephi; by doing the simple, small things consistently.
Anyways, time to go!
Love you all,
Love, Sister Crabb
This is Alyssa's response to her dad's email:
Everything is going well as a missionary right now, I'm getting the hang of it! Keep praying for me to have success, and peace, and joy in the work. Sometimes it can be hard when you don't see a lot of success and when the work is slow. It's hard in Singapore when everyone is so busy. Also, I've decided the two biggest issues that we have with people and talking about religion is that people will say, "I'm Buddhist", which means they're saying they can't accept the gospel or learn about it at all because they're Buddhist. I try and explain that our message is for everyone, but they don't really like that. Also, Hindu people want to learn about religion because they believe all religion is good, and that every religion can get you back to God. They believe what you're saying, but they don't understand that there is literally one way back to God.
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