Thursday, June 27, 2013

Time to Go To Work—email from 06-24-2013

Dearest Fans, :)

Glad to hear that so many of you watched the broadcast last night. It was exciting and inspiring. Something that was slightly surprising to us though is that there is no real changes for us. The goal last night was a training to teach us all how to apply what is already written in the Handbook. We are most excited to help members live up to the expectations that were given them. A lot is riding on you regular folk now. :)

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(Pictures from St. Mary’s, Georgia)

Oh I am just so happy for Karen and Pamela and that they were able to attend the temple. I cannot wait to see them and congratulate them in person.

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We have had a great week. We have been doing a lot of service here to try and soften up people's hearts. Mostly it's been for members of the church, but on Tuesday we got to go help an older couple that is lifelong friends with a member family that we work with. It was basically simple housework of dusting, sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming. But they appreciated it so much and she had a big spaghetti dinner to reward us at the end. :) I've learned the value of service though because it gave us opportunities to talk about our work and why we do it. Step by step hearts are being softened and people are getting more open to talking to us.

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The ward is short on people who can play the piano and luckily Sister Divis plays!!! So we spent yesterday in primary with her playing the songs so the chorister could actually be the chorister. They called one person to be both the pianist and chorister for the primary here. Try wrapping your brain around how that is supposed to work. :) It was a fun change of pace to be there listening to the kids sing.

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well, I'm still slowly working on my change of becoming a runner... and believe me progress is slow...I envy people who can just decide to pick up running and after a month can run miles on end. My limited time and weak body just aren't working with me on that goal. But that's ok. Change is slow, and as long as we are improving we will get where we want to go.

love y'all,

Sister McCracken

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

It's the Final Countdown


How many of you just had that song go through your head? I did...Too many years of pep band...haha

So, wow! Last week just flew by!!! I got Sister Divis early Wednesday morning and then we headed off to Girls Camp to teach. It was really fun. The most hilarious part was at the end. We were leaving and the director offered to show us the whole camp since we had just seen the one building we were in. Well, the had this giant inflatable that was a water slide. We went and stood at the bottom to watch the girls come down it, (feeling very envious) and not noticing the ground we were on was very wet....Then suddenly as one girl hit the small pool of water at the bottom, we understood. We were both soaked head to toe. It was hilarious, and I thought the girl who splashed us was going to die. She was so apologetic and thought somone was going to tan her hide. Instead we just stood there laughing and said "Do it again!!!!" You have to realize that with the heat index it was over 100 degrees and the water felt quite nice. :) 

The rest of the week just flew by. We ended up going back to Girls Camp Thursday evening for testimony night and it was so wonderful. I couldn't believe the difference we made with those girls. The leaders just kept saying "you have NO idea what you are doing for these girls." I hope they can make it a yearly tradition. I also said I wouldn't be opposed to being a leader here next year. ;) 

We did more service for Brother and Sister Crawford. Saturday we helped put up a fen next to the chicken coop so that the chickens can come out and wander but not worry about being eaten. 

I also got to save the most adorable little baby quail in their barn wendesday night. I named him Johnny. He was probably only a day or so old. We put him in a box outside hoping his mom would save him. He was gone the next morning. So I'm praying that it was his mom that saved him. haha

Yesterday was a fun Father's Day. Sister Divis and I got to really put our confidence to the test. Here's how. Sister Beazer was asked a few weeks ago to sing in sacrament meeting because she has the most amazing soprano voice. Well...she got transferred Wednesday. And Wednesday evening the person coordinating called to ask if everything was sorted out...well...umm...no?!?!?! And she then said? Well, how are you going to fill that spot?! I wanted to say "that's your job!!!" But instead I turned Sister Divis and said "Do you sing?" She gave me the gesture of "sort of" and I said  "We will be doing a duet!" So with only a handful of days to practice and learn the piece while being missionaries we got to sing in sacrament meeting. AAAAHHH!!!! Luckily the Lord made it sound better than I thought it would be. Happy Day! Now let's hope I never do anything like that again....

We are gearing up for an exciting 6 weeks and Sister Divis has lots of amazing ideas for us to find me to teach and work with. I am so excited!!! 

Sometimes, we want someone to just change and do it now!!! But with this human experience we are taught to take things a bit slower and that change comes with time and patience. So give yourself and everyone else and break! Change will come with time!!!


love y'all,
Sister McCracken

On the road again!--email from 06-11-03


Hi all! I'm on the road as well! We are headed to st Mary's Georgia to a submarine museum. We had transfer calls last night and I had reached the point that I figured we were both staying. And then surprise! Sister Beazer is getting transferred! We are in shock. She is headed to palatka Florida. I am getting a sister that came out with sister Beazer. There wasn't enough sisters to train, so she was training herself along with another sister. So I will be second half training her. How wild is that? When I didn't get called to train again I didn't expect to have any big changes. But here we go! I am real excited to be staying here in blackshear for my last month. I love it too much. 

Tomorrow we have a fun adventure ahead of us. We were asked to attend girls camp for the day and teach a workshop tomorrow. And even better they said we could teach on whatever we want. As I've studied and pondered I have had lots of different ideas but came to this. Esther! The youth theme this year is Stand in Holy Places. So we are going to discuss the example of standing firm that Esther gave us. It was a really amazing example. I am excited to spend a day in the wilderness of Georgia with a bunch of wild teenage girls.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

So close to my first black eye—email from 06-03-2013

Dear Familia,

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Well, last week was a fun adventure. St Augustine wasn't nearly as historic as we had expected. So we ended up just trying some food at the eateries and then went to Jacksonville to shop. :)

DSCN0255(Me eating key lime pie dipped in white chocolate on a stick. it's a southern thing.)

This week has been a great one. We have had a lot of turn arounds with things and I just feel like things are about to get really good here. We have found our very first person to teach finally so that was a huge milestone. She is a real sweet woman and I am excited to help her come closer to Christ.

I think the biggest excitement though was yesterday morning. It was during personal studies and I decided I needed a drink so I was standing in the doorway of our study room and realized I didn't need the Ensign Magazine I was holding. So I squatted to put it down and keep it on the page I wanted. I then started to stand up, turn, and walk all at once and was brought to an immediate halt when I felt and heard a crushing of my nose. I was on the floor, holding my faces and tears streaming immediately. I have never had tears just come on there own because of an instant of pain but it happened this time!!! I sat there holding my face trying to decide if my nose was broken. I wasn't bleeding, it wasn't swelling really fast, and it felt straight. I finally got up the courage to check in a mirror and Hallelujah! My nose didn't look broken, it just felt like had been hit with a bat. So I ended up calling Sister Barry just in case and turns out all is ok. Everyone expects me to get a gnarly black eye, but nothing has happened so far, so I don't expect it. I just have a really nice scrape across my nose and a lot of pain. yay for ibuprofen. :)

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Oh, and tell Karen and Pamela I am so excited! There is a girl that just got her mission call Saturday and is hoping to go through the temple that same day. So I definitely will have the Temple on my mind that day.

And to Mom and Dad, have fun in Kansas, and please don't go to Oz. I would prefer to have parents to come home to in July. :)

Oh and Dad, it's more rural than you think. We spend half of our time on dirt roads searching for peoples houses. :)

well, change comes in a lot of different packages, but as long as we have our eye on improvement, change is happening.

love y'all!

Sister McCracken

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(me and Sister Barry)