Let Him In!

(Feb. 4th)

Well, life is rough life is tough, but God loves us and we can do it. Faith, Work, Enduring. Miracles and answers still come, we just need to look for them and have faith. 

We had a cool miracle with a sister who is not a member of our faith this week. She contacted a number for the family history center who contacted us and we arranged for her to get a priesthood blessing and for us to go visit her. Her sister is a member and she said it would be good for her to get one with her heath challenges right now. We were able to visit with our Ward Mission Leader and another brother in the ward. She told her story and then she got a blessing. Afterwards she said she just felt such a warmth and a calmness come over her. It is so cool to see people recognize the power of God and the spirit and for us to teach them more about it. 

I was able to sing at my final temple music devotional last night. Duet with sister Moosman of I am a Child of God. It was good. The Spirit was there. 

I'm taking the ACT test on Saturday because its what God wants me to do. We'll see how it Goes. The spirit will help so I'm going to try to pack as much of it in as I can while studying as well. 

2 Timothy 1:7 will be my focus this week and It can be yours too if you like. 
I think I need to just wait till I get home to clearly think things through with future Goals and things. It will most likely be Weber for the fall.

Have a Great week!!
love,
Sister Crossett

(Feb. 13th)

The Lord has fulfilled his promises to me. As I have been obedient and faithful on my mission, I have been able to change and grow and prepare myself for what God has planned for me later in life. He has also allowed me to be answers to peoples prayers in so many ways. Sister Faith said that I was an answer to hers. She was praying for a companion exactly like me.

I asked my district leader if, for the next 3 weeks, I can be the designated music coordinator for our district meetings. It's not really a real thing but I felt that I could be a help to invite the spirit into our meetings by praying about and selecting meaningful hymns.

I did the best I could on the ACT. I don't know how well that is but I know it's in the Lords hands. We were able to arrange for a girl from our stake who was taking it as well, to be my companion for the morning, though we didn't know if we would be in the same room. When we checked the room listings it just so happened that we were in the same room as well as a few other members who reached out and said "Hi Sister". It helped me be calm. I got lots of support and help from the senior office missionaries and President Clark as well and I feel this relief and sense of accomplishment now that its over. Though It was a big trial preparing, I know that It was needed even if to just teach me to rely on God, but hopefully for more. 

We had a sweet recent convert who moved into our ward and stopped coming, come back to church Sunday and we are meeting with her tonight with her visiting teacher. She is slowly learning and strengthening her relationships with the members and her testimony. I feel so happy and filled to be living to serve others and do more than just help myself. 

Something from our recent stake conference that I don't know if I mentioned is "God Gathers, Satan Separates." We are all Gods family, his Children, sent here to gather together to strengthen each other. Satan knows there is strength in numbers and he will try to isolate us from them and from God. I think about this often when I've made a mistake and don't feel like praying. God wants us to reach out. Satan is the one who tells us that its no use, that our Heavenly Father wouldn't want to hear from us. That is NOT true. Repentance is the very thing that will relieve us of the gilt, frustration, and pain, we feel when we are caught in our sins. 
Something else spoken in sacrament meeting is this " Unifying Zion, is not about looking perfect, but being PERFECTLY USED." 
 
I love you. I love the Lord. I love serving people and I know that families can be together forever through Jesus Christ. 

Hymn # 169 
Don't worry, Be happy.
love,
Sister Crossett

(Feb. 20th)

We had our departing dinner last night for all the departing missionaries (quite a few sisters and just 2 Elders) and our companions. It was at the mission home and we all got to bear our testimonies. I didn't really know what I was going to say but I ended up sharing the plan of Salvation as the spirit directed. The Plan of Salvation is something I've really come to gain a better testimony about on my mission. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and it works for all of us. Let Him In. 

We had a cool experience on Sunday when our ward mission leader brought a non-member to church. Its always cool to have Missionary Correlation Meeting cancel because the members are busy doing missionary work :) Anyway, Brother Storm brought Jake and he stayed for Gospel Principles class. The lesson was on Prayer and after a lot of people had shared their experiences with prayer, Sister faith boldly asked Jake if he prayed. It might have been a little awkward for him but he opened up and shared how he had prayed about 4 times in his life.  Sister Faith then boldly invited him to begin praying more, right there during class, and promised him that help and support and blessings would come into his life as he did. It was a cool experience.

I know of the power of sincere, heartfelt prayers of faith.


(Feb. 26th)

Dear mom, 

I will tell you all the things. It has been a week of Smiles. I told you about the departing dinner which was last Monday. Then on Wednesday was my departing interviews with President and sister Clark. They really have been my mission parents here and President has such confidence in me and in my future. All I remember from our interview together was the love that I could see from his face. It was comparable to the love that my Savior has for me and I can feel it now. My biggest struggle has been to believe it. You have to believe it in order to receive it. Sister Clark pleaded with me to love myself and to have a good last few weeks of my mission. She committed me to smiling non stop for the rest of my mission (hence the week of Smiles) my face muscles are getting stronger and I find myself having positive thoughts all the time because of it. There really is so much to smile about. 

I am happy to report that we had a Saturday full of opening our mouths and following the spirit. Though no one accepted our invitation to hear our message, I know that many seeds were planted and that Heavenly Father has promised that everything we sew, we shall also reap. We had a sweet sister we are helping come back to the church, come to Sacrament meeting yesterday and all the talks were exactly what she needed. I know that our heavenly Father answers our prayers as we humbly and submissively ask for them. It was a good Sunday and we were even able to sing in the ward Choir one last time. We sang an interesting but powerful arrangement of "Love One Another". 

I had one of the best personal study sessions I've had in a long time this morning and I was studying about obedience. I am so grateful for Nephi, King Solomon, and the Stripling warriors' examples of faith to obey. I am also going to be working on Diligence this week and its Going to be the best week of my mission because its the last. I've got to make it Count. My biggest goal for this week is to teach as the Savior taught, do as the Savior did, and love with His pure love. I want to have charity for myself, for sister Faith, and for My Father in Heaven and brother Jesus Christ. I know I can do It because I am praying for it, I have faith in it, and I know that is what Heavenly Father would have me to do. 

I haven't really told you much about sister Faith. She is amazing. She is the only member in her family and joined the church, after hearing the discussions from senior missionaries, when she was only 12. She had already been going to church with a friend for a long time because she always loved church and felt she needed to go. She is from Kansas City Missouri and she eats so healthy. She has a lot of allergies but has been so blessed with understanding ward members. We have salad with canned tuna all the time and she loves it! Its helped me feel better and loose some weight too so that's a plus. She is so patient, helpful, and caring and I will miss her heaps when I leave. Though I don't feel Like I've really taught or trained her how I could have, she says that she has learned so much from me. 

I wanted to share my testimony that I know that God is our Father in Heaven. Because of that He loves us and knows us. He hears and answers our Prayers. He Sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to provide a way back to him. Jesus Christ suffered, bled and died for you and me, and for every single person. God has a plan for us and for our families. It is the plan of happiness. As we use our agency, our ability to choose, to follow the path that Jesus showed us, we can experience that happiness. Just let Him in. Make obedience your Quest. We know the fullness of this plan because of a boy who, with a humble heart, asked in faith to know what he should do. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and answered his prayer. I had the opportunity, with sister faith, to share the first vision, as practice, with one of the senior missionaries this week. I feel the spirit each time I recite the first vision and I felt a confidence in teaching about it that I haven't felt for a while. Pepe ( the UPS guy that he was pretending to be) really felt the spirit and he accepted our invitation to learn more.
It has been a great year and a half and I am so grateful for the learning experiences Heavenly Father has given me. 

I hope you have a purposeful and spirit lead week and that you smile lots and lots.
Wish me luck with packing!

love,
Sister Crossett

P.S. I chopped my hair.  There is the pile.