Monday, September 21, 2015

This week has been really great! There have been some good, and some hard, but I love the hard because it helps me learn and grow and become converted, which is my ultimate goal - to be converted so I can receive exaltation. Sorry this may be a crazy train of thoughts...but bear with me!!!

Let me give you a little bit of a run down of what is so awesome about this week! Sister L is a fantastic recent convert. She ended up helping a Toa Payoh (a district within Singapore) investigator want to continue learning about the gospel. The investigator comes to church for the spirit, but we may need some help with fellowship, as the YSA that are in 1st ward are dropping like flies.

I seriously loved going to JB this week! It was one of the highlights of my mission. I prayed and prayed for a week or two to be able to know what I could share with the girls there, and my ultimate idea came down to coming unto Christ. I was able to share some things from home, and really bare powerful testimony. It was one of my favorite experiences I've had. It was such a tender mercy as well because I lost my voice that morning from the haze, but I was able to get it back in enough time to be able to speak. Heavenly Father really does bless his servants, and I'm so grateful for it! I love the idea too that as missionaries, we come and may be speaking to numerous people, but we get to minister to the 'one'. Elder Bednar said that apostles usually go on errands to speak to many people, but are sent to specific areas for one person and one experience - he does it all the time! I've noticed that theme as well throughout my mission, and I don't know if we touched all the girls on Saturday, but I know at least one girl E now wants to serve a mission, and is so excited about it. If we only came for her, then mission accomplished.

This week I increased my faith by spiritually preparing for exchanges. I've been studying Christlike leadership, and something that came to my attention was that spiritually preparing is more than praying and thinking about the sisters; it is studying hard, pondering, and fasting, as well as preparing to enter an exchange with a humble attitude. So, this week I did a special fast the day before my exchange so I would be the most spiritually prepared I could be - so I could be close to the Holy Ghost to know how to handle the situations I would be put it. I'm so grateful because Heavenly Father really answered my prayers, and the exchange I went on was one of the best of my mission. I felt much more confident, and I know I was really able to help and bless Sister Tu, because I was prepared. Besides that, I've been listening to the spirit during the sacrament, and studies, and have a couple good little things to work on so I can become more Christlike - I want to continue to work on comparing myself less to others and put a picture of Christ above my bed so I can more easily "remember Him".

The miracle we saw this week was P Q! After praying really hard to be able to find someone to get baptized, it turns out there is an investigator who wants to be baptized on the 3rd of October. We aren't sure if he's completely ready yet, but we do know that he has a desire, and if we can build off of that, we can have a baptism this transfer, which would be such a miracle. Prayer really, really works! I've been praying for Heavenly Father to send us not only prepared people, but people who can be baptized! I seriously don't know why I haven't prayed for that more throughout my mission.

Also, we now have 7 people who are Japanese and want to learn English from us! English class really is an inspired idea. I've been working also on being more bold after Zone Meeting, and I have been working on being more creative in contacting - it's been helping! We are slowly getting more people who have potential to be taught.

I worked with members this week by doing really good follow up on their potential referrals, and keeping records of it. It would be so nice if the area book had a spot for member missionary work, because sometimes I feel it's hard to keep track of things that happen with members transfer after transfer, and sometimes the poor members get the same lessons, and work with a potential referral begins at scratch dinner appointment after dinner appointment :)

Here's my spiritual thought for the week :)
I loved reading in Mosiah this week about Alma's people's burdens being lightened off their backs, and the people of Limhi going out to find a way out of bondage. The people of Limhi, as they went to find Zarahemla, and only found the ruins of the Jaredites must have been disappointed and felt discouraged and like they had failed. However, the 24 Jaredite plates are now the Book of Ether, and a few days (it says in the scriptures) after they returned, Ammon helped free the people of Limhi. Although their expedition wasn't what they expected, they were still able to accomplish a great work! Also, the people of Alma were righteous, but God gave them burdens to bless them - and their faith and story ultimately was meant to help other people in the future, as well as themselves. I guess the moral is, as we trust God, no matter what happens, we can have faith that it's all for our good! However, we must be consistently trying to make our lives like Christ's, or else it simply won't work out. Strive your best to be like Christ, and then leave it to God - put it in His hands. Love you! Have a great week!!!

Love,
Sister Crabb

Speaking at JB Young Women's Conference

We are the Knights of SG! We got fake swords at our zone meeting. It was pretty epic :0

The B family - they took us to Din Tai Fung restaurant - yummy!

The night I got punched in the face....so, we ended up at a dinner appointment this week hosted by some kids - and only kids. There was a helper there so it was legal, but man! It was crazy!! One little 7 year old boy said, "high five, outer space (he puts his hands way high) so I reach to get them, and while I do, he legitimately hits me square in the face and says, "in your face!" Best dinner I've ever been too!

Exchanges:)

Monday, September 14, 2015

Dear Family :)

This week overall was just a little rough. Things just didn't happen the way we expected, and investigators are just being hard and frustrating. However, we had a good talk (Sister Fuglistaler and I) and we decided we needed to drop people this week - which is an act of faith that will hopefully open up our teaching pool for people who want to progress and people who are willing to make time to meet with us! It's difficult when your investigators want to meet you, but just not for "a few weeks" because they don't have time right now. Clearly they don't quite understand the urgency of the gospel, but maybe they just need some time to think and ponder and sometime in the future, other missionaries will find them when they are prepared. However, S and R have been doing pretty good. They read the Book of Mormon this week, and prayed, and had a very heated discussion on 3 Nephi 11 and being damned if they are not baptized. Anyways, they said they haven't received an answer, but we still need to work with them on making this a really spiritual journey instead of an intellectual one which they signed up for. Teaching them the plan of Salvation and importance of prayer really helped with that. The B's are doing okay, they enjoy having us come over, but are very busy with exams right now. They do like listening to what we say, and I know that if they just take the time to read the Book of Mormon, they will know that this church is true!!

Our small miracles of the week were these...we now have 3 English students, so that is cool, and we had a lot of great things happen with less actives this week since our investigators didn't want to meet us. The biggest less active we are working with is N M! She is super cute, and has read the Book of Mormon every day since we invited her to do so, and she came to the stake talent night. God is allowing us to strengthen His church in other ways while we wait for the right investigators to come along, and keep showing faith. But, the lesson with N M was incredible! The spirit was so strong as we watched the Restoration video - and I enjoyed that twice this week. I was able to receive very strong spiritual impressions during lessons of things to say, that I know blessed S and R and N M.

I progressed this week by increasing my faith by working hard to be in bed falling asleep by 11. I also worked really hard to say something during MLC (mission leadership council).  I had a goal to do it for an entire week, and it was really scary for me to say something, but I felt like it was what I was supposed to share, and hopefully it helped someone in the room.

Okay, another cool miracle, after MLC, I was re inspired to use movies on the phone while contacting. We started talking to this girl from South Korea this week, and we showed her the video "Because of Him" and it changed everything. She really wanted our number so she could keep in touch with us.

Best part of the week? Seeing a skit of "a whole new world" by Woodlands ward at a talent night, remind me to send the lyrics next week…but ask Kaylie about it! It was very funny! Jafar sang a song about how we need to attend institute in the church, etc. and it's all for free! Super funny, sorry this probably makes no sense though.

Okay, so I don't have a lot of time for a thought, but MLC this week was awesome! There was a great thought that I wanted to share, about a scripture in Matthew. I can't remember the exact reference, but it says we need to build ourselves upon a rock - and the rock Jesus is referring to in the exact scripture is revelation. I know that without revelation, our church is nothing. It is absolutely crucial that we are worthy of the spirit, seek it diligently, and then courageously follow the promptings we receive. Also, a great talk is "The Challenge to Become' -Dallin H. Oaks, Oct. 2000 General Conference.

Love you!
Love,
Sister Crabb

Taking a boat to Pulau Ubin Island to bike

We assume this is Singlish...

Biking on Pulau Ubin Island

Biking on Pulau Ubin Island

My house! The Rising Suites Relief Society!

The haze!!! Indonesia burns the jungle every year, and this is the result! It's caused a couple blood red moons, and I can't help but think that's what the scripture means...that there will be blood red moons when Christ comes because of all the pollution! 

Korean BBQ. The member just put that on my plate (we assume she means the shrimp)...haha. When they put it on, you must eat it! Anyways, the lettuce wraps are really yummy!

Indian Food - yum! My favorite!!!

Monday, September 7, 2015

A Week of Miracles!

Dear Family and Friends :) What a great week it's been!!!

Also, mom, just know, I've got a few "interim moms" here in the expat ward...they really are looking out for us!! Also, we were asked this week to speak at a Young Women conference in JB (a city in Malaysia that is just across the Singapore border) in a couple weeks - so our purpose is to be the keynote speakers and to inspire the YW to have hope in their future and in the gospel. It will be very exciting - it'll just be me and Sister Fuglistaler!

Let me give you some highlights!
Some fun things that happened - learned how to play legitimate Rugby last P-day from some Australian misisonaries! I had no idea what I was doing, but apparently I was pretty good at it! I was much faster than they anticipated, and I kicked off very well. It was a great experience.

Also, I don't think I've mentioned this before, but for service, we are teaching some Japanese people English! So, we are teaching Japanese expats here in Singapore about how they can improve their language skills. We just go to their house, and talk with them, and teach them some grammar and things. It's actuallly really, really fun! I'm really excited about it! And, our teaching pool is slowly growing :).

We went contacting in a park this week, and I came home with more bug bites than I've had on my ankles in my entire life! I think I had about 20 on each leg - or at least it felt like it! Needless to say, I was really grateful I had my anti-itch cream here with me.

A sweet moment for me this week was that we were able to go to Stake Conference! It was nice to feel the spirit there, and to be able to enjoy being with so many members whom I love. The power and organ actually went out for a moment, and it was so fun, because everyone just kept singing, and it was just super powerful. I looked around, and thought about how awesome these members are, and how much I truly love them. I almost cried when I thought about how hard it will be to leave!

There are a couple really sweet families - the W's and the P's - whom I really love! We got to go out to eat with both of them this week, and they just really care about us! Sister W, who just finished at UVU and is working for Doterra here, asks us all the time how we are doing, and how we are really feeling. I love that about her! She just cares about us so much! Plus, we had Num Num noodles - Vietnamese food - and it was so yummy! And, we are really enjoying these Yakult Japanese Yogurt drinks at home right now. Bascially, I love Asian food! I was craving Pad Thai the other day - never thought I would crave the local food - but I do :) I love Asia!!!

I'm pretty sure we told you about this the other week, but every time we ask for a referral, we get to do less pushups in the morning for exercise. We haven't seen a lot of success from it, but this week we were truly rewarded for our faith. We ended up getting 8 referrals, most of them being from HQ. And, they are really awesome expat families! I'm so grateful that even though we are not seeing success from our own personal contacting efforts, as we open our mouths everywhere we go in faith, Heavenly Father chooses to send us some of His precious children to teach the gospel to. One of the families we were able to actually teach this week - and their name is the M's. So, they have a member brother who lives in Colorado, and he said that they haven't been willing to take the discussions until now. I would venture to say it's because they have tried to have kids for 6 years, and haven't been successful until recently. They currently have a really beautiful baby girl, and they feel like they need some values to raise her with. They are so prepared for the gospel, and they have signed up to take every discussion.  The lesson we had with them on the Restoration was very sweet and powerful, and I could tell that they were really intrigued by the Book of Mormon, and how it can bless their lives.

Another miracle we saw this week was the W family! We had prayed really hard for a potential to come to church, and I have consistently prayed for a family to walk into church - because I know it can happen!  As we were walking down the stairs from Stake Conference, we saw a Caucasian family standing by the door - and the husband was wearing bright red shorts. I looked at my companion and said, "we need to talk to them, because I don't think a member would wear red shorts to church!" We ended up talking to them a little bit, and they are so warm and open. They are all from San Francisco, and the wife is a less active member, and the husband is a nonmember. They just moved here to Singapore, and they really want to come to church because they feel it will give them a "sense of home". She happily gave us her number and wants us to come and visit her family! They are the W family, and I'm so excited to hopefully be able to teach them - and - as a side note, both of these awesome families are in 4th ward area! I have no doubt that because we have a fabulous mission plan in that ward, and the ward members are supporting it, we are seeing success. We need investigators so we can have 2 member present lessons a week, and now we hopefully have 2 families!  I really want to baptize a family before I leave my mission, and now we have a few great potential families to work with.

Besides that, we had a great Restoration lesson with our investigator Sister C! We had it translated the entire time in French, which was definitely a new experience for me, but it was very exciting to be able to feel the spirit, no matter what the language was. Now, Sister C understands the need for the Book of Mormon, and is willing to find out if it's true.  We also met a new investigator, well, a former, who believes the church is true, but isn't willing to make the commitment necessary. We hope to help her understand how commitment can bless her life.

Our less active and recent convert pool is slowly improving! We cold called a less active, and she and her family were SO nice. They choose to not come to church here because they don't want to be alone? Not sure, but that was her reason... but they are SO nice, and I hope that we can start meeting them consistently. Also, Sister L got her temple recommend yesterday, and her patriarchal blessing recommend, and she is so ready to go to the temple! She is already getting names prepared - and is the most solid recent convert. She took work off on Saturday night so she could attend Saturday night stake conference. I love her, and am so honored that I get to be a part of her journey in the gospel.

Even though grandpa has passed away, I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who let me know before hand that it had happened. I woke up this morning with such a sense of peace and calm, and knew that everything was going to be okay. I know that God answers prayers - as all miracles this week came after a pleading petition to my Heavenly Father. I know He's there, and He listens to us, and our concerns and our problems. How great it is to know about the Plan of Salvation, an infinite Atonement, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that I will see my grandpa again, and that families really are forever. No pictures this week...sorry! Sometimes I forget to take them :). Next week, promise!

Love,
Sister Crabb