Week 5 Awesome 4 days since last PDay and yet quite a bit happened. This is probably my last update before I head to McAllen on monday! I am so nervous and yet so excited. The people that I get to teach are in for a treat, hopefully they like me - more importantly hopefully my companion likes me. No time to stress about it now though so heres an overview of the most eventful things from these last few days... AUG. 22 - This was last PDay so I gave a quick update on the morning but that night we threw a little party for Scheffler that night and had an ice cream party at the tienda in the afternoon. While in the store waiting to buy my ice cream I met a group of native speaker boys. We were standing in line together for 20 min and I think a real bond was formed. I was laughing and they were laughing because I couldnt understand and yet we were still communicating. My whole district and teacher, Meastro Cayetano, were in line in front of me and they were dying as they watched the whole conversation unfold. My teacher said to some of the other elders in line, "They like her because she is happy and funny." I love that! I know that my spanish is nowhere near perfect here and it will only be worse there but I think Ill be able to make a difference just by being funny and happy. Not to mention today one of the same natives bought me ice cream from la tienda just to be nice - wonderful! Anyway lesson learned, Ive decided Ill just always be happy and the language barrier wont be an issue. AUG. 23 - Embadazado, my fake investigator profile "Sophie" found out she is 3 months along pregnant and our missionaries had to teach us about the law of chastity. That was rough for them but they did so good! The whole situation was a surprise attack on them and not what they had prepared for but they handled it with ease. I was so proud of them and they expressed so much genuine love and care, I know that we are learning how to really help people. AUG. 24 - (2 months since my birthday) Sundays are always a good wake-up call to how I am doing on personal goals and what needs to improve. I went to work hard on finishing my spanish scripture marking system particuarly in the bible - it looks awesome! They are colored by lesson and the tabs are broken down by topic within each lesson. AUG. 25 - We took our "goodbye CCM" picture today, heartbreaking but we looked adorable all day since we were matching in red-white-blue coordination. Some of the otra hermanas decided that they wanted to re.write lyrics to a particular song - John Denvers "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and make the words about saying goodbye to our elders (so awkward). Anyway 3 of us are not super keen on the idea of singing it or being apart of it at all so we are going to be doing interpretive dancing or make a funny speech to go along with it to be hopefully more funny and less just weird. _Also I finally talked to this boy who looks exactly like Craig Ballard, we took a picture and Ill send it home but not gonna lie he was pretty cute. After we took the picture he asked if I would send it to him and he gave me his email - he was walking towards the bus to leave for Chile when we took the picture. Elder Scheffler took the picture and said that he was making a move and though I didnt originally think of it like that I got excited at the idea that he definetly was; guilty._ AUG. 26 - Saw a moth the size of my head this morning. I got moms package of letters and stamps with some pictures which was a happy surprise. It got me a little sad at the idea of leaving the CCM now that I am comfortable just like it was difficult leaving home when I was so comfortable there. My biggest fear is feeling completely alone and not being able to relate to the people around me but I know that fear isnt what I need to be focused on right now. Phil. 4:11; we need to be content in any state that were in without focusing on our own wants, I shared it as a devotional scripture and I replaced the word content with happy and I know as we just decide to be happy in whatever challenges we face, well be happy. Thanks for the continued support. I feel so lucky to be here right now and to be going to texas on monday and to have all of you in my life! Keep being good and strive to always get better!! Te todos amo, mucho! XOXO H Boo Crawford

WEEK 4

Okay this week was overrall really good and this week went by crazy fast! I just feel like I am doing so much and yet so little. I dont know how I feel about my spanish, the end of the CCM, or the start of McAllen in just over a week! CRAZY! Anyway this week was full of funny moments and things have just gotten more entertaining as our district has continued to get more comfortable. That is probably what I am currently most stressed about, just re-adjusting to a new group of people since I love the people I am with right now, however I like to think of myself as a happy and easy going person so I know I will be alright! This week: AUG. 16 - Not much happened throughout the day but night class got very entertaining and overwhelming. I love my maestro en la noche perro he thinks Im an idiot in the most kind way possible. I get really nervous when he watches me so anyway we had to do computer language time and we type out phrases that apply to the lessons and for one such phrase I kept getting the spelling or accents or word order wrong and he noticed so he parked himself behind my chair and watched as I got this one sentence wrong, and each time I got it wrong he said, "Boom & you did it again, Boom & you did it again. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom & you did it again. They just gave you the answer but no....Boom & you did it again." I was crying/sweating/laughing so hard, it was rough. Since then he has greeted me each night with, "Boom, como esta?" AUG. 17 - Domingo was bonita. I just really felt like the most important part of the gospel continued to hit home and that is that families can be together forever! Friends who arent members that are reading this- I love you guys and you need to become members solely because your families can be sealed for eternity and its awesome and then after this life you can meet your great and great, great and great, great, great grandparents and just chill with them forever in heaven, LOVE IT! AUG. 18 - Today we started to be the investigators as well as the missionaries so we are now teaching twice a day and being investigators twice a day. We got to make up investigator profiles and I am Tori and Sophie, both have their own back story but do you like who I named them after. Being a fake investigator is awesome, and its good practice for spanish. Also I started to create my own scripture marking system. I have all these different tabs for topics and then the tabs are colored by lessons (Ill send a picture soon when I am finished). Tambien I started an english fast for 48 hours but that ended up being very difficult. Heavenly Father blesses us when we do what we can and even though I sorta failed overrall at the english fast I could tell I was still receiving some extra language help for my efforts. AUG. 19 - I saw a baby!!! In the middle of class i was looking out the door window and saw another teacher walk by with his baby and I ran out after them and was able to say hi to his cute 5 month old baby, SO HAPPY! Now everytime I see that maestro I say, "Como esta su bebe?" and he replies, "Bien gracias hermana. Mi bebe es bien siempre." Love it. This afternoon I burned my left eye and it has been rojo ever since (like up until today and it is friday) possibly the most painful experience ever and definetly the most painful eye injury Ive ever had. Moral of the story dont put a puddle of hydrogen peroxide contact cleaner straight into your eye. No bueno. AUG. 20 - Woke up to a sweet note from mi companera this morning and my favorite cinnamon crackers from la tienda. I continued to go through this day with an eye in more pain than the day previous and it continually was leaking yellow puss, DISGUSTING! I seriously felt like an animal at the zoo the way some people were looking at me. My teachers laughed when I told them the story and master chan told me to keep my dirty eye shut because it was going to give him nightmares (when I type out the things he says they sound really mean but in reality he is hilarious and super sarcastic just so were clear). Mi companera wanted me to go to the enfermeria but I said absolutely not and it was going to get better on its own - and it has slowly but surely. AUG. 21 - In our service project, I learned how to fold fitted sheets - the proper way! Isnt that so cool? And whenever we work with the laundry they play music and I love it so that was awesome. I just was dancing around in this mini warehouse folding some fitted sheets to my hearts content. They mexican workers were dying and one kept taking pictures of me. Also casually got asked out on a date for after the mission by another random elder (who do these elders think they are) I laughed and was like maybe if we ever see each other again after this moment....and walked away. AUG. 22 (today) - Started off on a 6am run with Hermana Johnston and some of the elders. its Elder Scheffs birthday today so were throwing a mini surprise party for him later. Overrall a good week and in four days from now I will be having my next Pday so thats happy too. Be prepared for a final CCM update on wednesday! One more thing overrall about being here in the middle of mexico city - I have grown very fond of the constant sound of fireworks (people light them off daily in remembrance of different catholic saints) and car alarms (I dont understand why this is always a thing but seriously the car alarm sounds never end) both have become part of life here during lessons, study time, meals and bed time. I low-key love it. You guys are awesome and all the support means everything. I dont have a lot of email time but send me physical addresses for some fantastic cards and letters. XOXO ALL MY LOVE Boo o H. Crawford

3rd WEEK

Week three complete at the CCM! Lets go me! We all say this all the time but it is so true! "The days are like weeks here, yet the weeks are like days!" This week went by pretty fast and I am finally realizing that I am still in the [easy stage] I love the CCM! The food is good, the room is small but I love my roommates, like what am I gonna do when its go time? This saturday we are teaching our first real person - at least real in the sense that they are not a teacher! Exciting and yet very nerve racking for some reason. this weeks happenings: AUG. 9 - This day will go down in CCM history as the black plague flu or food poisoning but half our district was hit. We had 4 missionaries break down in the middle of class and run to the bathroom to deal with whatever they were dealing with. One of the elders proceeded to spend the next 36 hours in bed... it was the real deal. I wasnt sick though so happy day for me! AUG.10 - We were only partially at church thanks to the previous days illness madness and we had to rotate companions to make sure the people that werent sick were still able to attend things. I was one of the few at sacrament meeting and got spur of the moment called on to give my talk on baptism - all in spanish remind you. SCARY! I got a lot of compliments so thats good but I dont remember much of it - adrenaline blocked it out. AUG. 11 - Today we established a set time to go and get ice cream everyday, this sounds silly to include on the letter home but its one of my most treasured periods of the day - absolutely marallija! Spiritual note of the day I established my new personal goal of being more temperate - Alma 38:10-12. I just want to use more of myself to listen to others as opposed to be vocalizing my own thoughts. People here need alot of attention and I want to be better at giving it to them. AUG. 12 - This morning started off wonderful! I went on a 6am run with H. Johnston in the rain and that was so needed. It was freezing all day though and for whatever reason I could never warm up. AUG. 13 - Morning class started with exchanging tongue twisters with Maestro Cayatano, he is absolutely hilarious! heres a spanish one for you: {cuando cuentes cuentos cuenta cuantos cuentos porque si no sabes cuantos cuentos cuantas no sobras cuantos cuentos cuantas} We also started a fast for an elder in the branch suffering with anxiety hopefully he will feel more at peace. Tonight I gave the devotional of a missionary being like a watch! Everyone loved it so thanks grandpa hales! AUG. 14 - We fasted through breakfast so during the time we had for meal we went around and assigned each other colors - I was split yellow and tourquoise - love it. I also was able to hear music for the fist time today, it was all spanish jibberish but music none the less during our service project of folding laundry! Walking to class after dinner there were two elders behind us and I turned around and one of them was walking all weird, so I was like are you okay? Then he replied, "Id follow you anywhere, if your following the path of Christ." I said nothing turned back around and walked faster....so weird. Still not sure if it was a pickup line or a conversation starter. & this morning: I was reading in preperation for our next lesson with Jose Luis and I came across the story of Enoch {Moses 6: 21, 26-27, 31-34, 39; 7:1-2 y 69} Anyway Enoch was "slow of speech" and didnt feel capable but through Heavenly Father he was able to do amazing things and bring a whole city to Christ. I LOVE IT. Ether 12:27 through Heavenly Father weak things can become strong. I am definetly a weak thing and I cant wait to be made strong. Closing thought this week is, 99% of my favorite things about the gospel, I still dont understand yet - but hey Ive got the next 17 months to devote to learning about them and then the rest of my life so no worries. LOVE THIS GOSPEL AND ALL OF YOU! Thanks for the support XOXO H. Crawford o Boo

2nd Week -CCM, MEXICO CITY

HOLA Familia & Friends, Okay well this week went by much faster and easier than the first ten days! I have had weirdness with the companera but its getting so much better. She is no joke smart when it comes to spanish which is proving to be an asset. I am learning so much so fast and as I have began to feel more comfortable I am being way more myself with just everyone - for better or for worse. I think the best way for you to get a small idea of what Ive been doing I will share a brief experience from each day this last week from my journal... AUG 1 - Two hemanas in my district, H. Dupape and H. Johnston started crying more like sobbing mid lesson today because they feel like they dont know what i going on and there isnt enough time to do the homework and learn the language. Im sorry but I am just not that stressed out - though maybe I should be sorry and stressed out. I am proud of myself, I am proud that I am just here and continueing to choose to stay here. This is hard but I can do it. AUG. 2 - Today we wrote letters of encouragement to all of the elders in our districts because some of them were having a really hard time. I used some of the happy letter paper that we got from michaels - everyone loved it. It felt good to do something nice just for them - I seriously wouldnt be able to survive if it werent for my district they are by far the best. AUG. 3 - The most important thing is the spirit and the faith you gain through the spirit that leads to action. Today we heard a devotional about a man who left his wife at home after she broke multiple bones in her leg - he gave her a blessing and she still wasnt healed so he left her to wait at home while he went to work (He was saying that you have to have faith, even when you cant tell a blessing has come immediately) She wasnt allowed to go to the hospital - in my opinion that is silly. Faith requires action. AUG. 4 - Today was our fist day with a break from teaching annoying - marallija! Totally deserve it, teaching is exhausting! Still praying ther is some big secret to make it easier that they just havent told us yet AUG. 5 - Well today was our fist complete fail of an attempt at -solo espanol- where you dont talk any english for a set amount of time! MUY DIFICIL! Its just instinct to break into english when your excited... AUG. 6 - At cena tonight I talked to a native spanish missionary while waiting for my toast to cook... well yeah, he thought I was a complete idiot. His companion kept trying to help me and translate what he would say into english but the guy I was talking to him would say, stop she can do it, stop, stop and then he would just laugh as I would say, lo siento. He was talking like mucho rapido - no comprendo. I mustve answered some of his questions wrong because he just was dying laughing by the end of our convo...I laughed at myself and just walked away. AUG. 7 - Tonight I tried to have a {get to know you} convo with Master Chan, he is our teacher and is only 4 months off the mission which means he is incredibly awkward around the sisters and really tries to avoid most contact. I asked him what he liked to do and what his favorite style of dance was, he looked at me like I was a vampire than said, no se. I continued to coherse an answer by prompting that possibly he was good at the flamingo... for some reason that was really funny to him and I had never seen him laugh before so I started laughing and that ended in tears of laughter - boy did it feel good. AUG. 8 - This morning we got to venture to the MExico City temple and it was amazing! We watched a video about eternal families, and I just cried. I felt so grateful for my family - like seriously you guys are just the absolute best people ever! Also I have NEVER EVER NEVER missed you all more than I do here every night. However, I have also had a testimony strengthener that I know that the book of mormon is truly the words of god and his prophets! I know that families can be together through the temple and that is why I am here. I want to help people learn that the gospel is all about happiness! Side note: this week an elder bore his testimony about feeling sad that he wasnt living up to his own potential and how he is really concerned that he is going to ruin someones chance for salvation because of his lack of focus. Well I just cordially shared that I didnt think that was true in the slightest and we have an opportunity to grow and learn all through our missions. We were given special talents and personalities that will help particular people we meet but no single missionary is so important that the ultimate well being of another persons sole rests on them. ....Not all the missionaries in my district agreed but I shared what I believe to be true so oh well. Overall this week was good. I love all of you and am so grateful for the support and prayers that have been sent my way! LOVE LOVE LOVE Boo or H. Crawford

FIRST WEEK -CCM, MEXICO CITY

Hola! Familia and Friends, Well to start out this email, I just went running and showered and ate lunch so I am in probably the best mood Ive been in here at the CCM - hopefully that will translate to a relatively positive email. Als the mexican keyboards are weird and confusing so there may not be any captial letters or alot of mispelling - oh well. Okay so already the last 10 days have been the most overwhelming and hardest days of my life, and Ive cried silently like a baby basically everyone of them. Its like Im looking up at an 18 month mountain and to say the least its discouraging not to mention all of the little quirks that are apart of life here. Aka my companero. Either way the biggest lesson Ive learned already is we have to live in faith with the decisions that we make, and I made this decision. Now all I can do is get to work and count the sundays until I am home again. SO SO SO much has already happened in these last 10 days - they schedule every second of every day, there is no messing around with time here. Last thursday I met my companion and was placed in district 19D. My district and my teacher are the only reasons I am not already home. My district is so wonderful! Its half girls and half boys and I love each one of them. We have like all types of opposites which is fun and entertaining. [Background on each person in my district: There is Hermana Johnston and Hermana DuPape who are the two that are struggling the most with the language classes but they micromanage everyone and are constanly trying to manipulate situations and say really passive agressive things. There is Hermana Northcott and Hermana Barton, Northcott is funny but she thinks she is good at everything and loves loves loves to tell stories about herself. Barton is probably the most chill sweetest girl ever, I love her and out of everyone sorta wish she was my companion. There is Elder Wagstaff, Scheffler, Anderson, Elison, Hall and Hughes who are all great in their own ways and its thanks to Elder Elison that I am learning the language. Elder Wagstaff, Scheffler and I quote Hot Rod alot which makes me homesick but also I just die laughing. My companion has now started to jump in on the quote game too but shes never seen Hot Rod so its just sorta awkward.] Anyway last night we finished our last lesson with our first fake investigator, Fernando. We got him to commit to baptism and at the end he bore his testimony in English which was super cool - since all our lessons have been in spanish thus far.My companion sorta takes over our lessons once we get in there, she has such a desire to teach in spanish that she gets like nervous excited and cuts me off, its whatever but sorta annoying. Im learning alot from hearing so much spanish though. More on my companero, well to start she absolutely loves loves loves being a sister missionary and I dont think there is anything in the world that she wants to do more. She believes the missionary rules and time schedule to be the word of God and will not tolerate anything to be askew. She is constantly bearing her testimony to me and wont let us take Preach my Gospel translations out of the spanish version - not gonna lie its a little frustrating. Oh also she has a full on opposite direction lazy eye and its most noticeable when she is trying really hard to explain something to you so I basically am looking at it 80% of my days here. She reallyl wants us to be best friends and is constantly trying to be on the same page as me by copying the little things I do like swinging my arms, snapping, dancing, humming whenever and wherever I start doing it. Also shes constantly looking for excuses to hug. I cant even. Now update on the living conditions: I am in a little casa which in theory is super nice but since I moved in last I am in the room with a single closet for 4 girls and I have half a drawer, and a foot of hanging space - so I am living out my suitcase... the 3 other girls fit their stuff in just fine though. I am on the top bunk above Hermana northcott and across from my companion. So hermana Northcott has been sick since saturday night and from sunday to wednesday had bad diahrea which has made for delicious farts wafting up to my nostrils as I am doing final preparations for bed, before I go to sleep and when I wake up in the morning...Horrifying. Somehow still though I am okay and would consider myself doing good. Being so busy helps with the homesickness. Overall its been a rollercoaster of emotions but these last couple days have been signficantly better. I LOVE YOU! TE AMO MI FAMILIA!!! - this has been the closing line to every single one of my journal entries each night. I CANT EXPLAIN HOW GRATEFUL I AM FOR YOU GUYS! xoxo Hermana Crawford