Sister Alyssa Crabb: December 2014

Monday, December 29, 2014

Wow! I wish I could tell you more about my Christmas week, but I just don't have time.
Just know, I was happier this week than I have been in any Christmases in the past! I can't believe that you can feel so good sharing the gospel.

I got to share a really special message on Christmas Eve, and enjoyed being with members and investigators on Christmas. It was so great! We made little notes to give to people that had candy canes on them.

My thought for the week is to remember to keep this feeling all through the year! The reason we feel so good at this time of year is because we are seeking Christ. As President Uchtdorf says, as we unclutter our lives, we can find the gentle Christ all throughout the year, not just at Christmas time.

Lots of love!!! Thanks for being so great!!

Love,
Sister Crabb

Friday, December 26, 2014

Monday, December 22, 2014

SO, there's not much to tell this week since I will be Skyping you this week!!

But, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! I'm so excited for this week!!! It's going to be great :)

Just know, I LOVE my new area! We were able to go do a service project this week at a daycare for adults with disabilities. It was so fun! They made reindeer headbands and it totally reminded me of being an Elementary School teacher. I am so excited to do that in my future! I also get to help Sister Reach with English every day, so that also makes me feel like I'm a teacher. I can't wait!! It's going to be one of the most fulfilling things I feel like I will do with my life.

This week I spent a lot of time planning, planning, and planning some more. CCK has a lot of things going on, and it was fun to be able to try and dissect the area book, and figure out what this area needs.

The members are wonderful, and they gave us so many Christmas presents on Sunday! They are so loving, and I'm so excited to be around so many incredible people. I have been blessed with that my whole life, and I'm not really sure why :). I just count my blessings all the time for everyone around me.

I feel like when you white wash, you get the wonderful chance to really seek inspiration because you don't really know anyone. You trust God more than ever before, because you know that He knows His Children more than you do.

Although change and transfers are difficult for me, I feel myself growing and stretching again, which is good. The beginning of this week was really hard because I had to say goodbye to so many people. I wanted to say goodbye to Rashmi, but wasn't able to. It was really, really tough and I thought, "why don't they make time for me, just for 5 minutes? I poured my whole soul into them, and then other things are more important than saying goodbye! I may never see them again." I know it was selfish to think that way, but it gave me a new perspective on how God and Christ must feel about us sometimes. I get to be a representative of Jesus Christ, and it hurt that people didn't make time for me, just for a little bit, when they have all day, the whole rest of their lives honestly, without me!
It made me then think, how many times am I the person saying, "I don't have time" to the real Christ and God. They pour their entire souls into us, and our happiness, and our salvation. How many times do we say, "I don't have time to pray this morning..., I don't have time to read the Book of Mormon...". I got a really great perspective this week on how Christ must feel to an extent, and how sad it must make Him when we don't make time for the things that really matter. It made me have a much greater appreciation for their love for me :)

Please remember this week what truly is important about Christmas! Remember to Share the Gift!!!
I love you so much! Have a fabulous Christmas.

Love,
Sister Crabb

Responses to our email:
The new ward is fantastic!! I felt so much love yesterday as we went to church. We got SO many Christmas packages. Chocolates, shortbread cookies (I thought of you, dad!) and I even got 20 sing from someone! It was great. The Ward Mission Leader is AMAZING, and I hope we can really get some good member missionary work going in this area. It is close to Woodlands, but the area is really more of Jurong East - look up Jurong East, Bukit Batok, Bukit Gombak, etc. That will give you a better idea of where I'm at. I'm staying at Chinese Garden house now with Sister Alfrey and Sister Schriever. They are really nice. Also, the Skype call should be fine. There is a SUPER awesome member who will do anything for the missionaries. I will be able to skype there at that time. :)

Yah, it's so painful to not proselyte. It's really awkward actually. I just want to invite everyone to learn about the gospel, but the government won't let me. SO, the members are going to have to really help us out! Malaysia is fine. You just can't contact Muslims which is about 80 percent of Malaysia - so, let's just say, finding good, quality investigators is basically the struggle of our mission.

Christmas dinner at Bishop's house

Sister Crabb and her companion, Sister Reach

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Monday, December 15, 2014

Transfers are...still coming.....

Well, let me tell you a bit about my week! I feel like I am doing really well, I always love the work! I want to be better at following the spirit and sharing the gift of the Savior. Guess what?? We are a non contacting mission. The government received complaints about us spreading the gospel on the MRT so now we can't do it. So, I can't proselyte anywhere. MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK!! Here we go!! The spiritual highlight of the week is that the announcement came the day after Zone Conference, which was all about Member Missionary Work. President Mains is inspired. Literally, and I love him more than I can express.

We had a fantastic Christmas Party! It was a night in Bethlehem. It was super fun, and I felt super old fashioned. We all dressed up :). And, had a great turnout! We had so many miracles; a lady who has been less active for 15 years came to the party! We told her we needed help cooking, and she came through with two delicious dishes, and brought her non member husband! Thanks Heavenly Father for the inspiration :). She loves me too. She talked with me for 15 minutes on the phone one time about curry, and her family, etc. She's a sweetie. Plus, a lot of investigators also came. The members are so nice right now too. They tell us that they are happy we are a great companionship of sister missionaries that are working hard. I hope we have their trust!

Zone Conference was super great! I felt uplifted greatly, and loved that I was able to be there and feel the spirit. It was also about Christmas, and I was able to see the Christmas Devotional! And, do a nativity, and carol. It was seriously the best. Also, a member took us to a nice hotel breakfast, which was so good! It was nice to not eat cereal for a change.

Also, Y P IS ON DATE (for baptism)!! I love their family and cried as I said goodbye to them last night. It was really hard. They were really sad too. (not sure why they were saying goodbye, she didn't have transfer news yet....).

I'm trying to love people more, listen to the spirit better, and follow in the footsteps of the person that means the most to me. I need to go, but just know I love you, and that as we focus on the Savior at this magical time of the year, we will have the best Christmas. Keep working hard to share His love with others!

Love,
Sister Crabb

Transfer news just came in! Well, I moved areas!! I'm with Sister Reach in Singapore, in CCK. Choa Chu Kang!!! Wow. I'm excited. I'm whitewashing. It should be fun :). Time to work hard here!

"And Singlish is real. Look! Shiok means really good. This is an ad by the bus stop."

Ward Christmas party - a night in Bethlehem

Christmas party

"Sister N, and her friends that she brought to the party! She is amazing, she is a member and comes by herself. Her family aren't members."

Christmas party

Y P with her husband and daughter, M

Relief Society sisters

Ward missionary

"The ward after church...They all just sit around here and talk and wait for meetings to finish"

Bishop's wife

ward members

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Monday, December 8, 2014

Dear Family!

Merry Christmas! I can't believe it's coming so fast. It's here in about 2 1/2 weeks! It's going to be a great day when I get to really spread some Christmas cheer. I just sent off your Christmas package! It was highly exciting for me to spend last p-day wrapping presents. In fact, I loved it. Also, skyping time is coming!!! Or maybe phone call if I'm in Malaysia and it doesn't work well.

Anyways, this week was so good! We were able to have a lot of lessons, and I think the members can see that we are giving it our best. They really trust us - like really. It's amazing, and it makes me really ask myself what I'm doing to qualify myself for the trust they're giving me. I have the salvation of their friends and colleagues in my hands, and that's a very serious matter! Anyways, let me give you some highlights.

First of all, I had a couple of cute experiences these past couple weeks! First, I was able to go over to a less active's house for dinner, and she has two little kids that are twins! They are so cute. I had so much fun playing with them, and then during dinner, the little girl came up to me and pointed to my face. She got really close, and then touched my eyelashes. She was so intrigued by how long they were! I don't even really have great eyelashes, but it was so cute to enjoy a simple moment where something as simple as eyelashes intrigued her. Also, we were at a mall at Yishun, and a little Chinese girl kept looking at me, and then hiding behind her mom. I passed by her on my way out, and enjoyed taking a moment to talk to her, ask her name, and give her a high five. I think it honestly made her day, and it made me feel so happy to be able to spend a simple moment making her smile. It's little things like that, or the people that wave to me out of their windows as I walk through our blocks to get to the MRT, that make me realize that I am touching lives, even in simple ways.

Besides that, we had some great lessons. We've been working so hard all year to be able to have 545 baptisms as a mission, and we have been repenting, developing faith, and consecrating ourselves all year so we can see the miracles now! It's amazing what Heavenly Father is accomplishing, and it's more incredible that I realize that everything good is happening from Heavenly Father. I feel like I'm doing absolutely nothing. I'm realizing that this truly is Heavenly Father's work, and He can do it in His own way and in His own time. Our only job is to be worthy so He is able to do His work through us, and then trust Him and follow His counsel so we can accomplish His will. A lot of it is related to agency though, a wonderful principle of the gospel. It can be hard when people choose to not meet with us, or drop us, etc. However, if we weren't able to choose, we wouldn't be able to Become. And, since Heavenly Father knew we would mess up, He gave us a Savior, which allows Him to give us mercy, and endless second chances as long as we do our part.

This week, I had a couple experiences that I wanted to share!
First of all, our two member referrals are doing really well! They are both reading the Book of Mormon. One of them is named M and she is from China. She has more than a strong desire to know if God is there, and she really enjoys us being able to come over and chat about God. We taught her the Restoration this week, and were able to put her on date to be baptized by the end of the year (before she heads to New Jersey for work), if she can find an answer by then. We hope to be able to meet with her more frequently so we can help her find her answer. We had an incredible lesson, where I feel like I prepared really well, and then followed the promptings of the spirit better than I ever have before. When we did that, as a companionship, we were able to really see the spirit working through her, and I felt it stronger than I almost ever have felt it before. It's amazing - desire and trust are powerful principles in life. If we turn to God, and ask, and desire to do righteously, or desire to have our weaknesses shown unto us (see Ether 12:27 - COME and ASK for your weaknesses), then Heavenly Father can mold us into what He needs us to become.

The other lesson was also good, a simple Restoration, and the T couple are now reading the Book of Mormon and coming to the Christmas party! We have so much member support with these two, that hopefully good things are in store for them.

Besides that, we met with R, and she still has a lot of issues, although her testimony sounds really solid.

We were able to pick up 2 new investigators this week, which was a miracle in and of itself. One was a great experience. We were standing on the bus and I was praying, thinking who I needed to talk to, and I felt like I needed to talk to this man sitting to my right. We had a nice conversation about God, but before I had a chance to ask for his number, he had to alight the bus. I quickly asked Sister Fuglistaler for a card, because I was out, and we were barely able to get it to him before he got off. Miraculously, he texted us later that night to say "thank you" for sharing. We told him you're welcome, and were actually able to meet him in 2 days and share more. He really is curious about Jesus Christ. He is busy with work, but said if we're fast, we can meet him every week. Hopefully we can get him praying, and reading, and ready for baptism. Man, baptism invitations are so crucial right at the beginning as a missionary! Not only do they set expectations, but they give us a goal to work with people on. It's vital. Anyways, moral of the story, Heavenly Father is always putting people in our path, if we just listen and ask for who we need to talk to, He will tell us. Follow the spirit :). Sometimes simple thoughts seem unimportant, but I'm learning that even those simple thoughts are the spirit working with me. I've had a couple experiences where I think it's not important, but later in the day, I realize that if I had listened to that random thought, life would be much easier right now.

Finally, I put a coin in my shoe to remind me more of Christ, which was the absolute best! I loved remembering better who I represent, and how I should act. I am sometimes people's vision of Him, especially in a country where there is not a lot of Christian belief.

Also, we picked up an investigator who may be able to get baptized in 2 weeks. It was a complete miracle. We've been thinking and planning about her for weeks, because she comes to church all the time, and we finally had a lesson yesterday. She is so prepared. She wants to be baptized. I have a testimony of planning, because if we hadn't been thinking about her as a potential 'new investigator', we would probably not have been able to meet her this week. Pray that she can get her husband to let her be baptized! It's literally the only thing holding her back. She has a testimony, she knows this church is true.

I know this church is true without a doubt. I'm grateful I get to share it with so many people through my words and actions. At this Christmas season, I would invite you to try and become a little more Christlike. That's what makes Christmas the best anyways :). Look in PMG Ch 6, and find a trait you want to develop this season! I promise that as you do, you will have one of the best Christmas seasons, because you will be focusing more on the "true gift" of Christmas - our Savior. I would also encourage you to #sharethegift of Christ- because it's the only gift that can bring true, eternal happiness. Look up the video on lds.org.

Love you all! Have a fantastic week!!!
No pics this week, I will send some next week. I just didn't take any this week :)

Love,
Sister Crabb

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Monday, December 1, 2014

So, I guess everyone is wondering how my presentation went?
Honestly, it went really, really well. There was a turn out of about 40 youth, and they all really enjoyed listening to us. They really enjoyed all the pictures of our family, and they really loved the call opening video. They were all actually super touched by it! We spent a good portion of the week working with the Zone Leaders to prepare for it! We were able to plan out a really nice presentation. We were going to show a lot about "I'm a Mormon" at the beginning, and then show that we are mormons as well as a lot of other famous people! We all got to talk about our lives, and then we got to show the Call Opening Video and explain to them what we do everyday here in Singapore. I guess the hook was "We are normal, and then we gave it all up to come here" (That's what the PR representative helped us do. You have no idea how many phone calls I made for this!) Anyways, the youth were amazed. We showed the Because of Him video next, which ended up being super powerful, and I loved being able to see people get emotional over it and really feel the spirit in the room. After testifying of why we are here, we were able to teach the Plan of Salvation. The life on earth part was really fun. We did an object lesson similar to the tree of life, and we tempted one of the youth by hitting him with a pillow and pulling him away with cash. It was super enjoyable! I pulled him off the rod a few times with my cash, which I felt pretty proud about. The part of the Plan I had to teach was the Atonement. It was a little bit intimidating to me because it is the most important part of the Plan of Salvation, and the gospel to be honest. I really spent a long time studying and praying to be able to have the spirit there, and have the spirit guide my words as I spoke so I could say what they needed to hear. Sister Fuglistaler said my testimony about it was powerful. Anyways, after that, we ended with our testimonies, and then they all got to ask us questions. The questions weren't really hard, so it was nice to be able to just talk to them a little bit about us! We were able to hand out personal copies of the Book of Mormon to every youth, and there will now be copies in their youth office for study. It was fun to see them receive the book, and then have some of them start reading it immediately. Wow! This was such a great experience that I will never forget as a missionary. I felt so much love from everyone there. They loved us. They taught us Singlish after and fed us waffles. I had so much fun! I can tell you more about it when we Skype if you want, but just know, I know that Heavenly Father helped us. The most powerful things that we accomplish as missionaries are definitely not us. They are all tender mercies and miracles from God. I'm not sure why Heavenly Father trusted us with this presentation at this time, but it was a really great opportunity.

Other highlights of the week...I ate a spoonful of chili sauce as a challenge, and then, I didn't die! I thought I would need so much water, but I actually didn't.

I had a pretty traditional Thanksgiving dinner after the presentation! A member did it for us on Saturday. It wasn't as good as home, but it was nice. It had some Asian food as well, so that was unique. And, there were non-members there that we got to contact! It was such a fun day. We rode in a lot of taxis and my name tag actually fell off in one, so I'm using a make-shift one right now....I am praying to get it back? Maybe someday. I like the stickers I have on the back of it!

R came to church!!! She surprised us by coming. We got two member referrals this week, and are finding families! The work is going well, and I know Heavenly Father is blessing us. More than anything, I know He knows me, and loves me personally. If that is true for me, I know it's true for others. He cares about each of us so personally, and knows our needs, desires and wants. If we simply turn to God and ask, that's when he can pour out all of his blessings upon us. Yes, I'm a little more homesick, but I'm also not as bad as I thought simply because it's easier to just be focused on the work. Thanks for your faith in me! I'm trying to do the best I can.
Love you!

Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Crabb