July 20th

Life is good, and getting better. We are learning so many new things in the office - I know how to take apart the outer interior of a car and put it back together again - as we learned how to install 'Tiwi Unit's' into the mission cars. They are little computer systems that track our driving. 

We are having a blast in the office and out when we are working. Our area got divided this last week but we only lost one city, Alton. The rest of the valley is still ours to roam.

This week we found our new favorite street vendor of watermelons - we got 3 for $2 and then gave the guy a Book of Mormon. It was awesome. We also found a place with cheap 64 oz glasses of Horchata....they may not have nearly as good Raspas here but we're finding our own happiness. 

I've learned the beauty of the reward system on my mission, and I will definitely be applying it to my future children. 

The difficult part is sometimes you have no control over the 'success' of the day. For example, one day this week we walked, biked and drove all around the city of mission - all day. Not a single one of the people we planned to visit were home or texted us back, and a couple of them we had planned the visits but they 'no-showed' us. We walked around aimlessly all day but then rewarded ourselves with watermelons. Also because we were aimlessly walking, Heavenly Father put some entertainment in our path. Including a stray horse, and then a german shepherd that almost killed us. 

Always be happy, is the biggest thing that I learned this week. Basically I learn this every week. But not every week is the same so I have to learn it over and over in every new situation, it's kinda a rough one to learn but I'll just keep learning it until we're all in heaven together...not perfect yet. But sadness kills all the faith and it is really just not fun. All we can do is be the best we can be. 

con mucho amor, 

la hermana m. crawford

July 27 th 

News of the week. 

A good portion of the week was preparing Joe for his baptism this Sunday; which went off without a hitch. We heart attacked his door with all of the commandments and laws (this included a life size chastity belt and portable key), one new law/lesson for each day of the week. 

Officially I am the worst trainer/mission mom ever. Alright, now the mission teaches alot about obedience and doing what your suppose to do. Well, one of the things that we are asked to do is take two bike days each week. Now this week I got S. Eggett all pumped up and ready to go and I made us take them even though it was like 104 degrees for both days that we chose to ride and our appointments weren't anywhere near each other. After about 2 hours of riding and one appointment, she says, "I don't know but I think that my tire may be flat." I look over and her back wheel is completely flat, she had been riding on it all day - after stopping by two members who weren't home we biked the 45 min back to our apartment for the pump...now she has a bruise on her bum. I felt horrible, also we are getting mini-missionaries for this whole next week so the cute girl will have to ride like 4 days next week with a bruised tail-bone and then sit on ice everyday for studies. 

On a spiritual note, I learned a lot about charity and what is means to have pure love for another person this last week. Now S. Eggett is easy enough to get along with but it's about more than that. We are expected to love everyone. Now the LOVE that Heavenly Father is talking about is perfect, we have to put them before we put ourselves - that is stinking hard. 

Christ was the perfect example of service so as I am working on making service plans for everyone down here in South Texas - all of you should make plans to serve at least one person out of the usual this week. 

Happiness is just a good deed away, so go do the good deed. 

con mucho amor; 

H. mckenna Crawford

We are so busy; and I am so grateful. The work down here is so much different than it was in the valley. We have appointments and lessons and we get to bike when we want and then are also hanging out with the cutest senior missionary couples ever for a couple hours a day - senior missionary couples know how to party, ease-dropping is a natural consequence in a little 20 ft. open office room and they are hilarious. 

Monday, we got to knock some doors and we basically don't know anyone in our area or how to go anywhere in our area so our lives revolve around a 1990s GPS. It often reboots itself and changes routes on us but we're surviving - getting lost can be fun. 

We have a couple of progressing investigators that are super fun, I've learned that I love teaching and I think I am getting better at it; definitely still don't want to be a teacher though. 

Tuesday we had interviews with President Maluenda, I feel like half of the mission is spent in meetings but its good. Lots of oportunities to hear new ways to improve and it will make the three hours of church when I get home for the rest of my life seem like nothing. 

President always gives us chapters to read/study and my chapters were: 

matthew 26, mark 14, luke 22

I got a lot out of them so I thought it would be good reading homework for all of you too; everything is about the atonement and how much we are willing to trust Heavenly Father with our lives.

Wednesday - Saturday, we just did missionary work. Knocked some doors, visited some people and had some good lessons.

Sunday, we got to teach Joe, and it was the best part of the whole week. Joe is working with Vivint down here for the summer, and is living with a bunch of returned missionaries who are also working with vivint for the summer. He is listening to the Book of Mormon on the hour long drive down to Rio Grande City everyday and is just overrall super cool. We taught the background of the Book of Mormon and all of the vivint workers and some of their wives just started telling different experiences that they had reading it. Such a cool experience. And just a great way to end the week.

my love for you, 

is as big as the state of texas,

and that is BIG.

H mckenna Crawford  

Transfers are in and I am in the craziest area in the whole mission, I like to think of our area as the 'sister assistants to the president' or the 'assistants to the assistants.' I am in an area called, 'McAllen Norte' we live right next to the mission home and office. Our apartment is acctually where I stayed my first night in the mission. It may also be the most disgusting apartment of my whole mission thus far, I've probably just lucked out for the last year but all is well. 

Also I am getting a second chance to finish training, and my cute new companion's name is S. Eggett. She is already one of my most 'dedicated' missionary companions, the cute girl studies note-cards and reads out loud in spanish before going to bed while I go get a night time snack and bring out the ukelele - I think we are going to have a lot of fun though.

Back to our area, we cover something called the 'Rio Grande Valley', like the whole valley. We work in the 'young single adult' branch down here so we get to visit people within like an hour radius - no joke my hands are already sore from driving and holding onto the wheel, the work is super different than Laredo. But the weather is a lot more manageable down here so that is a plus. 

Update on the work down here, I haven't been able to meet all of the investigators that they were teaching before I got here but I've met a couple. We have Daniel who only speaks spanish and we got to meet with him on thursday but he doesn't have a phone and his car is broken so we haven't been able to get a hold of him. We also have Jay and Julia, they are this adorable young couple who live with some members from another ward. Jay and Julia aren't married but they clearly love each other and want to get married and have just been pushing it off. Naturally at the end of the first lesson we had with them, I offered to plan their wedding - they loved the idea; unfortunately that will mean that we will have to pass them off to different missionaries because they will no longer be single but I am still excited. 

Basically everything over the last week has just been flying by the seed of our pants, and its been so much fun! I am going to church in my old church building in Edinburg and I get to see alot of the members from my old area in the hallway - so much happiness. 

Miracle from yesterday, we were sitting in sacrament and it was testimony meeting. One of the testimonies was a young man named Joe. Joe got up and bore his testimony about the Book of Mormon - his 'buddies' and him listen to it out-loud on their drive to and from work everyday, he then explained how he could feel and see a different balance in his life and called himself a new member. But we met him and yesterday was his first time inside a mormon church building - we set up a time and taught him about the gospel of Christ last night with his friends (they are all ex-missionaries who are working for vivint). 

Saying goodbyes in Laredo was one of the hardest things thus far on the mission but new areas, people and environments are super exciting and are making some seriously good memories; so life is good. 

Sorry the update is a long one this time, lots of love!

H mckenna Crawford