Sister Alyssa Crabb: Monday, August 3, 2015

Hopp Schwitz!!!

(These first few paragraphs are more casual comments to us)
Exchanges for the first time were really stressful! I don't know why they intimidated me so much, but they totally did. I think I did an okay job, but I'm really grateful I get to go on exchanges again next week so that I can try again! Besides that, it was Swiss National Day on Saturday! (Her companion is from Switzerland). We celebrated by going to an authentic restaurant, and it was so yummy. I got this hash brown pancake thing, and I got a sausage, and it was just delicious! Besides that, I got asked to accompany the choir, and have taken a few hours to try and pull together the accompaniment, which is pretty difficult! Please pray for me to do well with that :). Also I had steak last week, and a lady literally fainted in my arms (she got too dehydrated, and it was CRAZY!!) She was like, I'm fine!, but then she just fell into my arms, and then all these Chinese aunties came over when they saw her fall, and put all these essential oils on her. Some lady literally pulled over in her car, and asked if she could drive the fainting lady to the hospital. Anyway, some nice Indian man called the hospital and all was well.

I love laughing with Sister Fuglistaler! We taught Gospel Principles this week, and we taught a lesson with French translation, and I met someone who served his mission with Dallin Hatch! I decided I really like French people and expats and I just have so much to say and no time to say it!

We also bought a watermelon last week, and carried it all the way home (SOOO heavy) and then, it turned out to be rotten. SO disappointing after we spent a long time trying to choose a good one! Anyways, life is good. I'm so happy!!! LOVE YOU!!!

This is her more formal letter...
This week has been another good one! I really love this area and my companion and the opportunity that I have to serve here right now. I don't think there's been a time on my mission that I've been happier, and I love that feeling right now!

We worked with the ward this week by meeting numerous members and helping them set personal mission visions - which is what our Bishop invited us to do with our members. As we did this, we had such a sweet experience with the B family. We were there, and our dinner talk really set the tone for our message as it involved questions of the soul, and our investigators, and how their family mission vision is going. They told us that they really want to see someone baptized by the end of their time in Singapore, so their vision is them around a baptismal font with someone dressed in white. Our message then revolved around how as they trusted God, they could get there. We shared "The Touch of the Master's Hands" and invited them to pray daily for the baptism. We ended with Sister Fuglistaler praying in German. Sister B broke down into tears at the end of the appointment and the spirit was so strong, and we left while the spirit was still there. It was the perfect dinner appointment, as we were in and out fast, and had the spirit there really strong. I wish all dinner appointments could be like that! One of the best moments of the week for me happened after our gospel principles lesson. One member came up to us after we taught, and said "wow, you two sisters are really good teachers - there was a really sweet spirit during your lesson." It was so encouraging to know that we are making progress, and that all my hard work to improve as a teacher over my mission and this transfer is paying off as we rely on God and the spirit.

As far as our investigators go, the three main ones we need to talk about are La, O and his family, and J.
La is doing really well! We met her this week, and she brought us Latvian chocolate because she is so grateful for us being able to teach her. We taught her the Sabbath Day, and she readily accepted. She even requested some readings on the Sabbath Day to figure out more fully if she should take a taxi to church on Sunday. She did come to church, and she even stayed after for choir because she loves to sing! She is so good, and so prepared. The ward LOVES her, and she has been so good at dodging the bullets of Satan - something I've been really praying to have happen. She has said that she has a lot of coworkers that try to tear her down, but she just doesn't listen. Also, her friend from Latvia came to visit for a couple weeks, and is really supportive of her decision to be baptized. Things are looking really good right now!
O and his family were able to meet us a couple times this week - and I guess this is my miracle for the week. That they told us they no longer need to be invited to church because they have intentions to come every week. Also, we taught C (O's wife) with a member translating into French, and that helped a lot - because she apparently does not remember the Restoration at all. Now we can resolve that concern!
J was sick this week, so we weren't able to meet, but she came to church, and we were able to talk about her in ward council and how we can help her take that leap of faith to be baptized.

We have a really big focus on referrals, and are trying to make a nice member book so we can track members' missionary work better, and help them with their concerns. We also are still trying to find less actives - being in an expat ward means there are just not a lot of them, but we have faith there is someone out there who will let us help them come back to church!

A couple other highlights of the week included us being inspired to go down to set up mattresses for Zone Conference, and while we were there, we were really able to serve Sister R. She said, "thanks so much for coming down! I'm really worried - I feel like we need to drop our investigators." She said she sometimes gets scared being the Senior companion, and needed advice. So, we role played what a drop would feel like, and she said she felt the spirit, and I think she knows what she needs to do. She is so good, and that was such a little miracle of the week.

I increased my faith this week by really praying for charity! I really tried to reach out this week to the Sisters in small and simple ways, and talking to Sister R really capped that off. I also am learning the value of praying for charity for yourself - as I pray to love myself, I'm able to be more gentle with myself, and more fully accept my weaknesses. I think it's an interesting concept, but I really like it!

Besides that, I also increased my ability to be a leader. I went on my first exchange this week, and it was a little bit of a rough one for me! I prayed and tried to figure out what she needed to learn in the exchange, and I wanted her to just feel loved and like she could do things. I tried to do that throughout the exchange, and I hope this week to improve on being better at training throughout the day. On the exchange, we successfully got locked out of our apartment in the morning, got lost 3 times (whitewashing can be hard!) and we met 3 people that I hadn't really taught before. So, it was a really stretching day! Although it didn't go how I planned it, I prayed about it, and realized that it really was the exchange that that companionship needed at that time. I'm so grateful that I have that assurance.

Love,
Sister Crabb