Monday, May 25, 2015

This week was super fun, and uplifiting. We had Zone Conference and were able to really focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I was asked to give my talk that I had prepared, and I shared how every aspect of the Gospel is focused on Christ, and that the 5 steps are simply our way to anchor ourselves to our Savior. It was a really good day! It was really sad to say goodbye to President and Sister Mains. The Polynesian missionaries did a Haka for him, and then we sang "God be with you til we meet again" and I cried. I just am a crier! I can't help it! I have a good picture with them, and I think I will cherish it. Also, I am going to get an Asian nativity made out of cinnamon wood, so that will be really nice! I'm excited. Besides that at Zone Conference, we were able to do the Family History activity. Each missionary's parents sent in a story about their ancestors, and then we read them all at tables and had to guess whose ancestor was whose. You are correct mom, and I laughed when I read your e-mail, because yes, I had no idea. But, I really felt the spirit strongly that night, and I know that it is because of the Spirit of Elijah. There really is something special about Family History! I also feel a more special connection to my great-grandma since she seems to be very similar to me. I have her story sitting near me now, so I can reference it if I need to. Such a sweet, special experience that I will never forget.

On Monday for P-day we went to the beach and played volleyball! It was really fun, and we got to see ALL of my group from the MTC. I sent a picture home of us, and it's just really fun. I love my group! They are the best :). Also, we got Subway after the activity on Monday night and ate it during nightly planning on the roof of our apartment while looking at the city line and sharing family history stories. It was a really spiritual night that I loved! I think I may do more family history when I get home. The biggest takeaway from zone conference is that I am going to work on being more simple and powerful in my teaching. I am going to really study the doctrine more deeply, and I am going to rely on the spirit to testify of the truths I am teaching!

A couple miracles I want to share from the week...
We decided to go find a less active, and they had moved out, but the phillipina lady in the house said that she would be willing to meet us! It was cool, because we just felt like that might be a good use of our time to stop by!

We made taffy for a ward activity and it was really, really hard taffy. But it reminded me of the Lion House, and everyone in the ward was impressed that I had made taffy before. I need more practice though because lion house taffy at age 10 did me no help as I tried to pull the really hard taffy.

We met a spontaneous referral named L and it turns out she remembered me! She had met me on the bus two months ago, and was so happy to talk to me again. I didn't remember her, but it turns out she is the neighbor of a member. God really does prepare people and give them chances to hear the gospel when they are ready for it!

We got to take a YW out with us who wants to go on a mission, and we tried to help her overcome her fear of talking to strangers. She loved going with us and said she felt confident with us. We saw a miracle contact too. We both (Sister Lenhart and I) felt prompted to talk to a specific person at the bus stop, and it turns out he is meeting us this Sunday at 9am to search and find out if God is real!

J is our biggest miracle! He went to the Catholic church last week (that his dad attends), and he hated it! He told us that he had prayed for the Holy Ghost to guide him, and he just felt empty. He also had a heart to heart with his dad, and his dad told him he can make his own decisions, and that they trust him, and his dad even drove him to church yesterday. It was such a tender mercy, and I am awed at how many spiritual experiences J has had! He is truly prepared, and God is teaching him through this process. I love being able to be a part of it. He will most likely be baptized this week or next. Pray for that to work out :).

Overall, the church is true! I know it without a doubt, and I love that I have the ability to be here serving God. I love Him, and my Savior Jesus Christ. I have such an urgency to do all I can while I'm here, for it is only a short time. I know there are people that God has prepared for me, and that I am so blessed to be here serving.

Love you all! Thanks for your prayers, letters, and support. I wish I had more time to respond to everyone personally, but it is simply impossible.

Love,
Sister Crabb

Sister Crabb and Sister Lenhart at lunch with the Bishop (and his wife) of the ward she's serving in

Reunited with her MTC District 

Monday, May 18, 2015

This was a miracle I saw this week! We were sitting on the train, contacting this Indian family, and all of a sudden this man fell asleep on Sister Lenhart. It was super awkward and funny, and he apologized really fast, and then, he introduced himself, saw we were missionaries, and said "WHAT CHURCH DO YOU GO TO? I AM LOOKING FOR A CHURCH!". He scrambled to write down his contact information, and then, he got off at the same stop as us, and he said he will come to church. We passed him to 2nd ward, but that was really cool. Also, we ended up being able to sit on the bus for about 1 hr and talk to a less active family that randomly came to church. They stuck around long enough for us to finish ward council, and it was so amazing that we were able to just get to know and love them. It was really sweet, because this less active is friends with Sister S in our ward, and Sister S has been praying for them for a long time!

We worked with the members to encourage them to do missionary work by making cookies for our ward council and ward choir members! I made 250 no-bake cookies, and it was so fun. I know that by doing so, they are now more open to letting us come over to their houses for dinner, and refer their friends to us. We also have contacted member referrals, and encourage members whenever we can!

I learned about church with the doctrine of Christ! I think one of the reasons that we are asked to come to church every week (this hit me as I was reading the scriptures - after I asked to have my mind enlightened!) is that the sacrament allows us to feel the spirit in full force once again. We mess up all the time! And, repentance is a "cleansing process" but baptism is a "cleansing ordinance" that lets us once again have the spirit in full force to guide us, to testify to us that Jesus is the Christ, to strengthen us in our times of need. The spirit is essential, thus, going to church every week is also essential!

Our investigators are doing pretty well! We had N unexpectedly drop us, as he got called to an emergency project in Jakarta for the next 4-6 months, J is still searching for answers - and I feel he knows it's true, he just has a lot of social pressure. He told us when we met with him that he knows there is something present when we meet that he can't explain (aka - the spirit) - and he prayed that the Holy Ghost would guide him as he went to the Catholic church with his father the other day. P is on date! And, Sa our less active is reading the scriptures now. These people are so close!! I feel honored that I get to try and help them Come unto Christ. I know they can do it. I love teaching! I love being able to have the right scripture pop into my mind, as well as experiences, it's just really nice to have the spirit guiding lessons and studies. It means I can just be there for the ride :).

Love you all!
Love,
Sister Crabb

These are her responses to our questions to her and some cute random comments she made:

I take good care of myself :). I exercise really well, I actually play basketball a lot in the morning for exercise. It is one of the best cardio exercises for me :).  I try and eat 5 fruits and veggies and I get to bed on time. My companion's knee is doing okay! We went to the chiropractor this week, and it was really interesting actually. I feel like they don't really do anything, at the same time  I know I couldn't replicate what they are doing!  And YES! Zone conference is today/tomorrow :). I'm so excited! It's President Mains last one, so there will be a lot of departing testimonies!

I'm so excited to see the Payson temple! My companion is from Nephi, Utah, and her mom is the stake YW president, so she is working non stop on the cultural celebration there. So, I hear a lot about how pretty the temple is! It sounds nice, and I can't wait to do a session there when I'm home!

Our ward is super sweet! And, a little girl made me a necklace last night when I went to their house for dinner.

I love the clouds in SG.

THE CHURCH IS TRUE THE BOOK IS BLUE!!

The Atonement is very, very real! 

And....I love the gospel! 

I love being able to feel so much love for people, and being able to enjoy so much of Asia!

I say "lah" (Singlish) all the time now...

I love that the spirit is really in control! Without it, no one would know that Jesus is the Christ, and no one would feel the same level of comfort. I'm grateful for the special and sacred gift of the Holy Ghost that I get to have :)

Haha! You are such a missionary mom! I love it!! It's hard to say goodbye at first, but there's just something special about missionary work. There's nothing like it in the entire world! 

I'm so grateful to have such a supportive family! Some missionaries are literally on their own out here, and it's easy for me to do the things I need to when I think about Heavenly Father and the support and love I have at home.

Monday, May 11, 2015

What a week it has been! I loved our Skype call and celebrating Mother's day. This Mother's day, I am so grateful for your diligence, mom in teaching us the gospel of Jesus Christ, and for your unfailing love toward me. I am so blessed to call you Mother. We also had a WONDERFUL zone meeting!  It was one of the best I have been to! I am so motivated to go and share the gospel with everyone around me.

As far as the work goes...we are dropping, and sifting, and sorting people. We only really want to teach people who are prepared now. So, we dropped Z and a couple others. However, we know that we are going to open our funnel to fill it with less actives - which are coming up like crazy!  I have prayed for a couple transfers to be able to teach less actives, because I know it's so important! I've shown forth my faith by going to people's houses to try to find out if they are interested, we talk to the ward, and after a lot of patience, we have a less active teaching pool of about 6 or 7 different people. I'm so grateful that God answers prayers, even if it takes some time.

This biggest miracle we saw this week was with S! She is a new investigator this week, and after assigning her to read the introduction to the Book of Mormon, we got a text from her saying that she had read all 9 chapters of the Book of Mormon (something absolutely very far from what we had assigned) and that she loved it! She said she wants to dive into Moroni next. She is very prepared, and we are so grateful to be teaching her.

We worked with the ward this week by helping encourage them to invite their friends to Meet the Mormons! Numerous people shared experiences of inviting, and one lady even told us that she was so scared, but she prayed and then just went and invited someone. She said it felt so good, and even though they didn't come to the movie, I'm really proud of her for inviting and opening her mouth.

I increased my faith this week by really studying Chapter 1 of PMG. I had a great study where the spirit reconfirmed to me that the Book of Mormon is true! I did an activity out of Chapter 1 with the tree of life, and as I did it, I felt so uplifted, and the feeling came to me that there is no way this account is false. I know that as we apply PMG like we have been invited to do, we will see miracles. I diligently applied Chapter 11, and I see my invitations being given differently, and received differently. I know that acting in faith to do what we have been invited to do brings miracles.

Love you all!

Love, 

Sister Crabb

Monday, May 4, 2015

Dancing, Elder Nelson (Asia Area Broadcast!) and....Bus travel...the story of my life :)

What a week it has been! It is definitely different living so far out of our area, but I love being able to see so much of Singapore all the time. I also really love thinking about the fact that I have been called to the Singapore mission, and that I have the chance to influence so many lives around me, even if they aren't in the specific area I am called to!

This week in the work, we had some really good things happen! We did struggle a lot with new investigators and less actives, and I think part of it is that we didn't get the planning time we needed. We teach a lot every night, and so it's hard to teach double lessons, and then get home by 9:30...so planning got less time probably than was needed this week. However, things look a lot better now, and this week should run much smoother.

As far as investigators go...
J is doing really well! He had a slight hiccup this week but he is really ready for baptism now. We met him on Saturday, and were so excited to set a really solid date, but he told us he has been having lots of doubts, and lots of people have been worried about everything with him. We had a good talk, and bore our testimonies of the Book of Mormon, and told him that if he fasted (that was our lesson!) he could get the answers he was looking for. We saw him at church the next day, and fasted with him. During the Asia Area Broadcast, I felt the spirit so strong, and knew that there was the absolute perfect information for J. Everything he was concerned about was being addressed. I have never been more grateful for inspired leaders as they speak to us! Anyways, after watching the WONDERFUL Asia Area broadcast he came over to us and said, "Sisters, I got all my questions answered." And then, he gave us a really big smile :). I am so happy that God answers prayers, and that as we fast, we truly do connect ourselves to heaven, and God is able to answer all the questions and concerns we may have. I know He loves us, and is always there for us. I felt His love overwhelmingly for J as we sat and talked about his questions being answered. I'm so blessed to be able to feel of God's love for His children! J tells us that he can't not come to church because he feels this pull to come. I'm so excited and proud of him.
Z is still needing some work, as he has a really, really hard time with the Book of Mormon. So, he is going to need some good help reading that before we can progress any further.
C J: Our cute little 9 year old told us he fasted on Sunday for 1 meal and that his dad said that he could be baptized! His dad comes to church every Sunday, so we will try and meet him and teach him through gospel principles.
N: This was such a fun miracle! We taught N how to pray on Wednesday, and while we were following up with him, he texted us back and said that he felt super peaceful while he was praying, and that he feels very peaceful about it, and that he is really excited to make prayer a part of his life. He feels content. I love that he feels so strongly about prayer, and I have a testimony that prayer and developing a relationship with God is so important for our investigators.

I've prayed for inspiration as how to help the area and I feel very strongly that I must teach more about the Savior, and include him more at the front of all of the lessons. I got those answers through the broadcast, and through study. I know that as I testify more of the Savior in everything, that people will become converted to Him and His gospel, and nothing else.

We worked with the members this week by having a really great talent show where we got 4 referrals! People brought their friends after we took the time to personally call them and ask them to invite people! We even got to teach one named S that came to church on Sunday. She opened up to us so much, and began to cry. She doesn't know if she is willing to meet again, but the spirit was easily there, and I know she felt something. She is so prepared for the gospel if she is willing to accept it :).

The talent show was so fun! Our ward set up giant DJ speakers in the chapel (probably not the best idea...) and then we had a nice talent show. Sister Lenhart and I sang and played the piano..and people said we made a great team! We were the finale so that was great. We did it impromptu as well which was so fun!

Love you!! Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Crabb