My Life is a Gift

After hearing the news of Lexy Hipwell's accident, I called the Mission President to ask what the best way to let Grace know of the news.  He said he would go tell her himself. I wasn't sure how well she knew Lexy, nor how she would take it. True to her nature, she is mostly concerned about everyone else. (And being obedient.) 

Hey mom,

I did get the news about Lexy this morning. President and Sister Clark gave us a wonderful little visit this morning at our apartment. Sister Clark gave us both little music boxes, and called me Grace and gave me a long hug. My first thought was of her family and friends,  I didn't know her too well but I was in classes and musicals with her and she is such a wonderful girl. Its a little weird, having known her that is. I do think its a good idea that I say something about it to everyone though.

Tell them this:

I've never really been very good with words or expressing my feelings from the outside. But I would like to say something that might be of comfort and meaning to each of you at this time. I would like you to each read this as if I were talking directly to you individually, because I am.

 I Love you. I Truly do. But more importantly, I know your Heavenly Father loves you. He made a plan each of us and that plan is only through Jesus Christ. Listen to this primary song:

My life is a gift

my life has a plan,

my life has a purpose

in heaven it began

my choice was to come

to this lovely home on earth

and seek for Gods light to

direct me from birth

I will follow Gods Plan For me

Holding Fast to his word and his love

I will work and I will pray

I will always walk in his way

then I will be happy on earth and in my home above.

" I lived in Heaven" is also a really good one.

well mom I spent all my time doing this and I just really don't know what to say. I just want people to feel loved and comforted right now. I know that they can have that through reading the Book of Mormon and continuing to pray and have faith. I want to be sensitive to peoples feelings also. 

People on my mind right now are Derek, Savannah Lund, Jocelyn Fox, and The Hipwell family.

I wish I could share more about my week but my time is up. I think this was the most important though. 

Love,

Sister Crossett

There are also more pictures added to the pictures page!

I need thee every hour

 

I received a text at 10 o'clock last night from an unknown number telling me to watch my email for a link to this youtube video that has "your beautiful missionary daughter singing at my house".  With the power outage at our house, I was not able to access it until this morning.  But, isn't it fantastic?  She's wearing her glasses because of the eye problem still healing.  (see previous post)

When I lose myself...

Hey mom, 

So I need to give you our apartment address because if you have been sending me things I only get it once a week on pday when my zone leader picks it up. So I haven't heard anything from you yet. An email would be good too. My address is 

30 Via Amistosa

Apt. G

Traduco Canyon, CA

( you might have to look up the zip)

 I don't know. I will get my mail today in a bit but I have been kind of needing my glasses. I just have the best luck. Last Thursday I got a red blotch in my eye and by Friday it had spread and I was sure it was pink eye. We had to get a hold of the mission nurse and she told us to go get it checked out and get a prescription and that I would have to stay in until it was better. Sister Bambas was super patient and accepting of that, So I took my first trip to an urgent care. It was really nice and easy though. Sister Bambas helped me and I got to fill out electronic forms which was way nice. Then we waited a while. The doctor said that I needed to take out my contacts asap because it was just irritating my eye even more. My eye was hurting a lot. Then we went and picked up my prescription at CVS and went home. So I have been blind since Friday night. 

typing this is really hard too. Saturday we stayed home and tried to be productive. It got a little frustrating that I couldn't see peoples faces but I'm coping.

I was able to go to church because I had been taking the drops for long enough that it wasn't contagious anymore. Sunday was amazing because it was my first actual sacrament meeting in the ward... sort of. It was the young women's program Sunday. The yw and leaders gave talks and sang and then they presented the medallions and awards. It was pretty cool. We were also invited to sing the final song the efy medley with them ( I've learned to just love it :). going to our ward finally helped me feel like I belong here. Everyone was super accepting and loving despite my scary eye.  We sanitized every five minutes just to make sure. We got to sit in for a bit of primary in case they needed help and then we went to gospel principals class.

( I'm really sorry I don"t know how to organize my emails)

Dad asked how food is going. Mostly we have to make our own but we get a lot of member dinners too. Its hard shopping for only a week and knowing what I need or want. I'm trying to be healthy and cheap and smart. Its hard. 

Tell Derek to keep holding out strong.  

I want to tell you about a really cool experience we had this week with a part member family. Kevin is the nonmember and Cheryl is the member and they have a little girl named Harper. We have these things called windows of heaven during the week where we pray for a specific time and place to be and then we go there. This was during a window and we decided to stop by their house. Kevin works all the time but we caught him home playing with Harper in the driveway. Harper Called him at work and said she wanted to play with him and he took the rest of the day off and came home. He is such an amazing dad. Harper is super shy so she stayed by her dad but we talked to him a for a while. He is super friendly and as we talked the thought kept coming to me that he needs the priesthood. I could see that in him. We talked a little more and then headed to a house of less actives. As we were walking we met Cheryl around the back as she was putting her horses away. She really opened up and told us that she really wants her family to be sealed in the temple. She's had a hard life but I told her that we knew she would get that wish. I just love them so much and I hope that sometime soon we can start teaching Kevin and get the Smiths to the temple. 

I love this work. When I lose myself and just love, that is when I find myself and feel real joy and happiness. I know that Heavenly Father loves us and has a plan for us. I know that charity is the pure love of Christ and that serving others helps us have that pure love and become more like him. 

Love , 

Sister Crossett

I did send her a package last week, with a long letter and her glasses. She had broken them in the MTC and sent them home for me to get fixed. Her dad sent an email which hopefully she got.  

One week in Cali!

Hey Everyone!

(side note, My emails will probably be a bit jumbled for a while. I'm still figuring out my life :))

Well Its been one week in Cali. It pretty awesome. Very warm. Not too humid. My companions name is Sister Bambus and she's from Nashville Tennessee. Everyone Keeps telling me that I got the best trainer. She is awesome and I don't have anyone to compare her with so I guess she is the Best :) she is a singer too so I got really lucky.  My Mission president and his wife are amazing too. I feel so spoiled. I am well taken care of. They also keep telling me that I'm in the best ward. Live Oak Canyon. It will take a bit to get names and faces down but I'm working on it. I am In The Rancho Santa Margarita Zone/Stake and it is a very well off area. Most of the houses we visit are in gated communities. Everyone is really nice. 

The plane ride was like an hour. I though that was pretty funny. I forgot that I don't like flying. The air pressure change does weird things to my head. We pretty much booked out the flight with 30 missionaries all going to Southern California Areas. We Were picked up from the airport by President and Sister Clark then they took us to the New Port Beach Temple to take Pictures. Sooooooo Pretty!!! After that they overloaded us with a bunch of info that went right over our heads because we were running on 3 hours of sleep. We had dinner got our new companions and then I crashed when I got to our apartment. 

Wednesday was easier but I think I was experiencing jet lag. Anyway one of the first things we did was go out tracting. To make a long story short we ended up standing in the hot sun listening to this little old chinese lady talk about everything under the sun for about 45 minutes. We couldn't even get a word in. We just needed to get out of there. All of A sudden sister Bambas started holding her head and Backing away slowly. I followed her as I tried to say that we had to go. Turns out sister Bambas got heat exhaustion and about passed out. I didn't really know what to do but she told me to dump water on her. We went and took naps after that one

Ok I will tell you about two more experiences and then I have to go. I'm not very good at managing my time yet.

I was able to teach my first lesson on the door step to a lady who was very prepared. I know the spirit led us to her. This weekend was stake conference where we had Elder Cook an area seventy talk. Sister Bambus and I were also able sing in the stake choir. My favorite song we sang was mac wilburgs I Believe in Christ. It was amazing. The conductor was way serious about vowels and cut offs though. It made me so happy :) 

 

It has been so great so far. I have learned so much and I know that God answers prayers when we ask in faith. I know There is power in the book of mormon. I know that Jesus Christ can Help us through our individual struggles when we use the Atonement in our lives each day.

I love you all very much,

Love , 

Sister Crossett

. . . I don't believe I will be getting an ipad. I'm sorry. They said that sometime in the future maybe we will be but for now its just P-day emails. P-day is monday in case you didn't know.

She sent some pictures, which are on the pictures page of the blog.  No letter from the mission president yet, but she did send a note last week upon her arrival.

Hey Mom!!
I made it to Cali!! I was up at 3 this morning. I got everything all packed up and ready to go by midnight last night. Then we took a bus then tracks to the airport. It wasn't as hard as I remembered it being in the airport. Not having rolling luggage is a real struggle ( but I got a lot of help from the elders) and my neck was aching from my shoulder bag. Then the air pressure on the plane made that worst. I dont like flying. But other than that everything Is absolutely wonderful. We were picked up from the airport and got to go see the newport Beach temple. It Is Gorgeous. Then we meet everyone and they gave us lots of info that I've already forgotten but thats ok. They let us take a power nap on the pews in the chapel of the mission office building. Then I got my new companion sister Bambas. She will be amazing. I just want to let you know that I'm in very good hands and in my opinion, Very spoiled. And yes I'm sorry I didn't call. I probably could have but it just didn't happen. I love you all and Ill write you on Monday!!


Love,
Sister Crossett

Status: In Field

Grace left the MTC early this morning, arriving in California around 9:45 with 6 other missionaries. I called missionary travel to get this information, because I hadn't heard from her as I hoped. It seemed other missionaries have called home from the airport. Well, I'm sure there just wasn't time. She is such a good example of Obedience and focus. Here are some of her words taken from a recent letter. 

Advice to a friend soon to enter the MTC -

1. Smell the tree :) Let me explain. There is a tree here on Campus that literally smells like Cream Soda. Ask someone about it. They will most likely know :) I love that tree to death!!
2. Wash your hands always. Sickness spreads like wildfire here.
3. BE IN THE CHOIR!!! :) I'm not just saying that because I loved it. Everyone loves it. Even people who say they don't sing.
4. Be humble. The MTC is not a walk in the park. It will be very hard and you can't do it alone. Ask for help. Use your resources.
5. Discover what MTC stands for, to you. Make The Change is one that I've kept with me throughout my stay here. There are so many others.
6. Take time to reflect upon your progress each day or each week. You will be surprised at how much you've grown.
7. Obedience brings blessings, Exact obedience brings miracles.

Having said these things I know they might not all apply to you personally. These are just things I've learned that might help.
I miss you all. Say hi to Sarah for me. I actually haven't emailed her yet. oops. There's just so little time here to do anything for myself. But that's the purpose I guess.

And her testimony...

The spirit of the MTC is so incredible. I have learned so much and built my testimony and conversion so much.  I am exposed to the spirit so much here that I can't have doubts or feel down for very long here. Something I've been learning about is that a testimony is great but it isn't enough.  We need to be truly converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ to never fall away and make it back to live with our Heavenly Father again.  I know this can be a discouraging task but I also know anything is possible through Jesus Christ.  He is the way, The Only Way. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and love us more than we can even imagine.  His Atoning Sacrifice is what make everything in life possible, retrievable and real and true.Don't ever forget that!

Love, Sister Crossett

Music Calling

From a letter in the mail

It's crazy. It already been 2 weeks in the MTC. This is my last week.  Something I guess I forgot to tell you is I was called as a music coordinator for our branch.  Big surprise right? I've also had some awesome experiences with the MTC choir. Tonight for Tuesday devotional we sang an awesome arrangement of "Faith of our Fathers."

Figuring it out

I did not get an email to give to everyone with cool events of the week this time.   She sent me two short ones that give an idea of how things are going along with some things just for the family, which I edited. 

Hey Mom, 

I did get your other email. It is a little frustrating when I can only reply to emails once a week. It can be overwhelming to answer so many in a short time period. I'm supposed to only email for about an hour on p-day which is today. I kinda didn't remember that rule last week. There are a lot (of rules ?)and I kind of slacked off about them last week but I am trying to do better. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I need. I don't have a lot of time to just breath and organize things all the time. ....

I don't know if it would be easier if I just email or send letters. ....

I know I sound like I'm really stressed out. It hasn't been like this the whole time.  This week has actually been really good. I'm just having a bad day.  

If you get this right now I may be able to respond to you again when we get back from lunch. I love you mom. Tell everyone else I love them too. 

And then later . . .

One more thing. here at the MTC we have the opportunity to teach possible investigators. Its called TRC. They never tell us if they are real investigators or not but some of them very well may be. Our first 2 that we met with went ok but didn't really go anywhere. Our last TRC though was named Erika. I love her to death!! She is so complex though. We didn't get very far with her either but I got her email address and told her we would stay in touch.

that is all :)

I'm sure Grace loves and needs to hear from all of you!  She is a deliberate reader and writer so it takes her a little more time than some to enjoy your words and respond.  Write her a paper letter and send it, that way she can have time on P-Day to send a general email of information and still follow the rules, exactly, like she wants to, and we will all get the news we want.  ;)