I hope everything is going so well at home! It looks like it is. I'm so sorry I can't send pictures again, but the place I'm at apparently gives viruses to cameras if I put them in. So, cannot. Also, I am getting transfer news next week! Crazy!! So, look forward to that. This week was actually pretty slow and hard, but that's alright. These weeks happen, and you just look forward to next week. I can't wait to share mission stories with Ashley! It will be so fun to talk to her because she gets so much food and so many investigators!
Monday: For P-Day, I was able to go to a HUGE BBQ with an American in our ward. It was so fun, and good, and I loved it! I got apple pie, and green jello (without cottage cheese) and chips, and baked beans, and potato salad, and burgers. We went outside because the member told us you can't be American and not have a BBQ during summer. So, I enjoyed! I ate more food than I should have, but it tasted so, so, so good. It was nice to eat something I recognized. That night, we hunted down some less actives in our ward. We have a lot of less active people, and the Relief Society wants us to figure out if people still stay where the ward list says they stay. So, we went to a few houses. We got the door slammed in our face, we got lied to, and people literally would peek out their door, and we would know they were there, and then they wouldn't open the door! So sad! I just laughed. Wearing a black tag makes you really intimidating apparently. I love that I get to have so many experiences like this as a missionary. You really get the strangest people talking to you, and have the strangest experiences as well as the incredible ones.
Tuesday: Tuesday I was able to experience a miracle! This will answer all your questions mom about the Book of Mormon. So the Book of Mormon was supposed to go to a lady named K who the American man, B, had interacted with while he was here in Singapore. We were finally able to contact her on Tuesday night! I'm convinced Satan didn't want us to meet with her, because it was still really hard to get to her house. We hopped on the wrong MRT a couple times, which usually doesn't happen. We had a couple random things happen that Sister Krivanec and I usually don't forget - like leaving our planner at home, or getting lost. After we finally got to her house, we gave her the Book of Mormon that had B's testimony in it. It was such a good testimony, and it made her literally break down in tears. She sat there crying, and Sister Krivanec and I just sat and listened. She opened up about how hard her life has been, and how she really could use some help right now. She moved to Singapore for a boy, and then the boy dumped her. Now, she's roped into a job she hates. She told us that she has had a special place for the Mormon church, and has been wanting to get a Bible, but hasn't because her friends keep telling her that she needs to get one as a gift! It was such a sweet experience, and I have never felt the spirit more during a contact. I know that she is prepared for the gospel, and that it's her time to accept it. We won't be able to meet with her because she isn't in our area, but I know the other missionaries will do a great job with her. This experience was such a testimony builder that Heavenly Father is preparing people, we just have to find them. Also, Satan may work hard to stop the work, but Heavenly Father is also working hard to keep it going.
Wednesday: We ended up having a really strange service experience! We went to a lady's house, and she fed us on the lid of a pot and a plastic Tupperware. Then, we moved literally 5 bags all the way across town. I'm glad I was able to help her out, although it was not exactly what I was expecting going into the experience.
Thursday: We met with a less active named W M and were able to strengthen her. She is the sweetest, and can't come to church simply because of work. I felt so happy today and love how great you feel when you are in the service of God. There's a joy that's indescribable that you can't get in any other way. You feel like everything is worth it when you are doing God's will and changing people's lives by giving them the gospel!
Saturday: We had the Ward MTC!! It was such a success. Sister Krivanec and I talked about making ourselves a championship team, and the ward seemed to really like it. It was hard to teach, because we wanted to inspire them without making them feel condemned. Asian culture doesn't like to be embarrassed, so it was a fine line between getting them to want to do more, and not making them feel like we don't appreciate them - because we honestly do. They are the sweetest people, and give up so much for the gospel. They truly are an inspiration to me of what it means to make the gospel priority in our lives. I love meeting members here, they are the nicest! Also, our ward mission leader has been a little stressed, so we bought him pop tarts because he's never had them. Actually, a lot of people here haven't tried them. So, we went around and gave them to people and it was fun to see their reaction as they ate pop tarts for the first time!
Sunday:I went to church and enjoyed it! I always love being a member and just listening to talks. We also got some yummy Indian food from a member - she's been so nice feeding us after church. A lot of people here put food in the kitchen during church, and that's what she does. She cooks at home, and leaves it for us at the church to eat when we're done with meetings. Random thought, I want you to know mom, you taught me how to clean well! I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, and one of the members there said I'm good at housework and that I clean up well. I said I learned from my mom!! So, way to teach me how to clean mama!
I have to go, but I love the gospel! I love studying it every morning, and know that by studying and applying what I learn, I grow closer to the Savior. I also love the line in Preach my Gospel that says when we truly understand the Atonement, we want to share it with everyone else. So, as I study the Savior, His life, His character, and all He does, I truly learn to love the work more. I love what I get to give people, and the ways I get to change their life!
Thanks for all your support and prayers, I know that they work, and that they help strengthen me here as I serve. Love you all!!
Love,
Sister Crabb
I asked Alyssa about the announcement from last week that they can only teach with members and about the ex-pats she mentioned and this is her response:
It came from our Zone Leaders, and apparently they have permission to do that. Our Stake President was really worried about it too, and so we can have other lessons, we just basically have to exhaust every option before then. We tried it here because in KL (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) it has been working, and working well. It also is probably the push that we need to get the work rolling here in Singapore. It's on the verge of something great, and we as missionaries all feel it, and if the members can catch that fire, then we will be teaching a lot of people:). Ex-Pat Ward is a ward for ex-patriots. So, they are people that come to Singapore for work and don't have Permanent Residency (PR). It is basically an American ward. So, I can get the whole mission experience here in Singapore! An American Ward, a Singaporean Ward (which feels slightly like what a European Mission might be like) as well as a more poor mission in Malaysia. The church in East Malaysia is literally in the 1800s. The missionaries run the church over there! Plus, in West Malaysia, 80 percent of the people you can't teach because they are Malay, and the government won't let them learn about Christianity. If I even talk about what I believe to them, I and they could go to jail. What a fun mission I have! I probably have one of the most exciting ones in the entire world!
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