More Holiness Give Me- email from 03-19-13

Boy is that my mantra. I have been extremely humbled this past week. It's never fun to realize that just when you thought you were humble, nope you have more pride than Boise fans during football season. So I have been taking some time to repent and figure out how to turn my Ego Titanic around. That's always a fun experience. 

This week has been wild. Now that the event is over I can tell the entire internet world what I was doing this past week. I got to see Mrs Gladys Knight McDowell (her husband won't let us forget her new last name) in person. To my (and many others') surprise, she is a mormon. And proud of it. Her husband is as well. So she has a choir called the Saints Unified Voices that she directs and tours around the country with. And no, they aren't concerts they do. They come and the night starts with an opening prayer. They sing a bunch of gospel songs and Gladys tells us some about herself. Then her husband shares how/why he became a Mormon, and to finish it off, Gladys shares her experience and why she joined the church. Holy Wow! Celebrity Mormons that are proud practicing members of the church. They are actually set apart as missionaries for the church because they are so amazing! But here is the fun role I got to play in all this. At the end they tell you that if you would like to receive a special gift of a sampler cd of the music, a Book of Mormon  and a restoration dvd all you have to do is fill out a card and hand it to an usher on the way out. Those ushers then came to me. :) I got put in charge of the request center. We took all those cards, sorted them, assigned them to the closest missionaries, put them into a database, and then sent the packages off to those missionaries. All of the people who requested a visit will have received their gift by tonight. :) How amazing is that?!?!?! I felt so lucky to be in charge of organizing and running that little department. Luckily my daddy passed down his computer genius skills to a point and made it a whole lot easier for me to do this. 

It was an amazing weekend! And I learned so much from their testimonies. We even got to pull late hours and not get in until 1230. But I learned that a missionary life is not conducive to late nights, because I am wiped out now! haha 

This week is transfer week! It got moved up a week because of the shortening of new missionaries MTC stays. It's a strange and bittersweet week for me. The sisters I came out with are headed home. I got to hear their final testimonies last night. I can't believe that is has already been a year and a half since this journey began. At first I never thought this day would come. Now it's here and I am lucky enough to be here for a few more months. Life is definitely an unexpected journey. 

Changity change...

hmm... I don't feel like I can really tell y'all much about change this week other than I became prideful for being the change and now I've got some back tracking to do. So I guess my thought for this week is that we must never think the race is finished and our change is accomplished, there is always more to go. 

love y'all,

Sister McCracken

oh how strange was the morning. . . email from 03-11-13

So I got to spend my morning in a Doctors office and blood lab. Yay me! They say it's possible that I have a thyroid problem and that may be contributing to my depression and tiredness. Let's hope they figure out the issue and I can stop falling asleep everywhere! 

But otherwise it has been a great week. There has been a huge policy change in emails. I am now allowed to email friends at home, all family, and priesthood leaders at home. So you can now give out my email if people would like to contact me that way. Email time has been extended to an hour and a half to accommodate that change. :) 

We had someone take us to Olive Garden last week, so that was basically the highlight of excitement for the week. haha 

Then I got to give a training in zone meeting on "Charity, Love everyone in the mission" I told the zone leaders they were being funny since I am the cranky one who is always stirring things up. haha But really, I just found it funny since Mom had been telling me I should study charity. It was a really big learning experience. WE have been getting pounded about having love for each other, but not falling in love with each other. So I researched a lot and discovered something. In the Bible Christ says "By this shall men know ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." So he straight up told 12 Galilean fisherman that if they didn't have love for each other that people wouldn't recognize them as his disciples! That struck me hard. If he expected them to have love for each other I am pretty sure that he is expecting that out of the 150 of us in this mission with no excuses. That taught me a lot about needed to respect and love everyone I serve around. Sister Neibaur came up with the phrase "respect them like disciples, treat them like apostles". And if we're doing that, then we can be sure that we are being appropriate in our relationships with each other. I think they are really driving this home with our mission right now because by the end of the year there will be a set of elders and a set of sisters sharing every ward. Which means two things, we have to play nicely, and not start "falling in love". I'm glad I won't be here for that! 

So my dear father sent me this amazing quote on change that is hanging up in now what I will jokingly call the "family gym" since we all have personal trainers there. (I'm just on hiatus till I come home. ;) ) I love it! 

"We need discomfort and challenge, and change.
Discomfort in the service of change is no accident.
It’s necessary and normal.
Without discomfort, we would stay the same..
Forever."

And who wants to stay the same forever?! That sounds like the worst life ever!
Well, gots to go buy some groceries so we don't starve!
love y'all,
Sister McCracken

Brrrrrrr IT’S SO COLD! email from 03-04-13

So it has been ridiculously cold here the past weekish. And neither of us have coats. So we have not been enjoying it too much. People are really funny though. They still just make us stand on their porch and tell us how cold it is and we shouldn't be out in the cold so they should let us go so we can go home and get warm...oh if only it were that easy. So I may be making the investment of buying a jacket to keep me warm.

It has been a busy busy week. I started my blog. Bethechangeflorida.blogspot.com. This will be completely me teaching and bearing my testimony based off of experiences I have here as I do the work. I hope y'all will read that one too. Share it with people! That can be your way of spreading the message that Jesus loves us! :)

I have gotten really busy over the weekend with a few added responsibilities. But I am excited to have them. It's a sign that I am doing well enough mentally and emotionally that people are willing to add to my load in the mission. I think the Lord is just trying to add a little bit at a time so that I can adjust to the load and not overwhelm myself. 

And Change. First of all, my blog post last week was about it. So if you didn't read it, go read it. And second I wanted to tell you all about a goal I set. I decided to start running. Out of the blue last Thursday morning I decided to jog a little bit on the treadmill at our gym. After going a half mile I suddenly decided I should do a full mile. and I did! That is the first full mile I have ran in 10 years! I was so proud of myself. It was painful a bit. But I did it! I was using it for a lesson about enduring to the end later that day and the mom said to the kids "And tomorrow when she runs a mile again it will get a bit easier, enduring to the end gets better with practice" That stopped me in my tracks. I had no intention of running another mile the next morning. I hate running! That was just a once in a blue moon experience. But then I decided I needed to make a change. So I made a deal with the girls that we were teaching that if they worked on enduring to the end in following Jesus' commandments, that I would continue working on running. So I have now ran a mile every morning since then, except Sunday. I feel a little less dead afterward every morning and think I will step it up to 1.5 miles later this week. I had a thought that it would be really exciting if I could run a 5k when I got off my mission. So that is now the goal I am working toward. I am becoming a runner. And now that I have told the internet, I have no choice but to give it my best. I may fall short quite a few times. So encouragement is welcome. :) But that is my change that I have decided to work on. I am excited to see what it will do for my mental and physical health. 

love y'all,

Sister McCracken

Happy Days! email from 02-25-13

We got a special announcement on Friday. We are getting our new mission President, President Craig in July. He just so happens to be from Bountiful, Utah and is Amy Surtees Bishop! How crazy is that! Part two to the announcement is that The Georgia Macon Mission will be reestablished this summer which means we will have boundaries changes and losing some of our mission! AAAAHHH!!!! Yes, there are 58 new missions being created this year by boundary changes, you can see the list on the lds.org home page. Or at least you could over the weekend. Idaho is getting TWO new missions. Idaho Nampa and Idaho Twin Falls! Oh wow! This is a crazy year for the missionary department! 

In other news, the work is still going forward. We have had a great week finding new people to teach in places that we don't normally go. We had a tracting miracle even! I never did believe I would find someone through tracting. But if this sister stays committed it I will have found someone through knocking on doors! Up until now it's been all through referrals or families that already have a member of the church. 

I have gotten sick a few times this last week. I have a cold that is constantly on the verge of happening, but won't seem to just get on with it and be over with. So that has been a pain. I also think I had my first experience with getting sick from food. There was someone that fed us, and I think the milk was spoiled. All I know is that my stomach was not happy that night or the day after. haha It didn't catch up to Sister Neibaur until a couple days later. 

So I just about died of joy at Zone Conference. President Barry's opening remarks were all about change!!!! Oh I was just writing as fast as my little hand would let me so that I could get it all down. My favorite statement was "This is the Gospel of Change!" I almost squealed out loud with joy when he said it! Change, change, change. Change is wonderful thing!  There was so much that just hit home and filled my soul with joy as people talked about different subjects.

Now here's the amusing part, we are assigned a topic to write a talk on and then three missionaries are randomly chosen the day of to give their talk. I had been naughty and put it off until the day before. I didn't get it done during my morning studies, but figured I'd finish it right before bed. Well, that evening I got a crushing migraine! We had to go home early so that I could get some medicine and lay down. So as I lay there I pondered how to finish my talk, and thought to myself, "the irony of all of this is that I'm going to get picked tomorrow to give a talk that I wrote while dying of a migraine..." And guess what! Sure enough, I got selected to speak. But WOW! The Spirit works really well through me when I'm dying of a migraine, because the talk was just what needed to be said. It was amazing. And I felt very relieved that I had taken the time to still ponder and write it when I felt so crummy. 

Well, all I have to say is. This is the Gospel of Change!!! 

love y'all! 

Sister McCracken

Happy Happy Day!- email from 02-18-13

It has been a chilly week in Florida. But it has been great! I got my new companion, Sister Neibaur! (nigh-bar) She is amazing. She is the brunette in the pictures I sent. She is a lot of fun. I love her.

It's been a busy week, but really good. I have had a lot of fun getting to know her. She wants to be an occupational therapist too! She is going to go the U for it. She and I joke that we will open up our own clinic together someday. :)

We are working really hard to find more people to teach. Our teaching pool kind of just dropped off to nothing last week. But we had an activity in the zone on Saturday that changed that. 11 companionships came to our area/ward to blitz it for us. Sister Neibaur and I came up with lists of less-active members that we don't know anything about. The missionaries would go to those addresses and talk to the people there to find out if they were still there, why they aren't coming, if they want to come back, and do they know anyone we could teach. We have 8 potential people to teach now! And a whole bunch of referrals! YAY! It's going to be amazing! 

I've been having a week of humbling where I have realized many of my shortcomings and my need to improve myself. It's definitely an uncomfortable experience to realize faults that you never knew you had. But that's ok, because we all need to be working to improve and grow. right? 

Hmmm...change... I am training one of the first 19 year old sisters in the mission. Talk about change! She is part of a new generation of missionaries. She is bringing change to the mission in the simple way of being able to better connect with the Young Women in the ward. I'm getting a little old for them to listen to me. :/ She is being the change just by being her. So often in life we are effecting change in others lives by just being ourselves. Just watch out that it's a good change. :) GO BE THAT CHANGE! 

love y'all,

Sister McCracken

WOW! email from 2-11-2013

So I got so many fantastic emails from my wonderful family that I spent my whole time reading emails. Which was great! I needed that little boost up! 

That means this email is going to be really short. 

Here goes. We have had a slow week.Sister Gilbert got sick. :( So we were having to take it slow much to her disappointment. haha And I'm super sad because it's her last week here and she is leaving me. But it will be ok. I hope I get as great as companion as her! I'll find out tomorrow! 

Yeah, I'm just ready for a new transfer and some miracles! I also know I'm going to be here until at least May, so no worries on having to pack my bags again soon. Yay! 

Gotta go! 

sometimes, in missionary life, things don't go exactly how we want. You all know that. And that is when it's most important to find out what change God is wanting you to make. So I'm working on a lot of change right now. Hope y'all still are too!

love,

Sister McCracken

Oh Happy Days! email from 02-04-13

Well, surprise! Another Baptism!

Dewarn got baptized on Friday night! Our plan was for Saturday afternoon. But he wanted it before his Church Ball game on Saturday so that he could have Jesus more on his side. :) He was baptized by Troy, the Bishop's son who will be leaving on his mission to Ogden, Utah in May! Sister Gilbert lives inside his mission, so she just may even get to see him out there. How crazy is that? 

We have had a crazy week. Throwing together a baptism at the last minute can make for some wild days. But it was so worth it. Dewarn is such a great young man and has so much potential. He makes me so proud. I am so lucky I got to teach him. We are going to try to start working with his little brother soon. :) 

So transfers is coming up on the 13th of February. Missionaries don't really observe Valentine's Day, so it don't matter much to us. haha And I know that I am staying. Becaaaause... I am getting a new missionary!!! I am so excited! She just went into the MTC this past Wednesday and will be arriving a week from tomorrow. It is going to be an exciting and crazy two transfers ahead of me. It was a weird realization that I am going to be here until at least the first of May now, and that I will only have 12 weeks left at that point. So I may not ever move while I'm back out. How crazy would that be? I don't mind though, because we basically have a penthouse for an apartment here. LOVE IT! I will never live this high class again in my life. haha 

I also got made an online missionary this week! Which means I have a facebook account as a missionary and I will be writing a blog! It is definitely weird to have a facebook again. So for anyone who asks, yes, my regular profile has been disabled. It has to disappear while I am a facebook missionary. And my account is strictly for missionary work here in Florida. I can't talk to people outside of the mission. But you can comment and help me teach the gospel when I post and such. And sharing my new blog with people is perfectly acceptable as well. I will just be discussing different points of the gospel somehow. I'm not sure what exactly I'll be doing on that blog yet. But I'll keep you updated. 

I have got a crazy week ahead of me. But I am excited. 

This week has been a bit humbling because I have been planning on being transferred out of here, so I have not really worked as hard as I could have to learn the area and such. So I have had a wake up call and have a lot of work ahead of me.

Change is in the air. And I am legitimately scared of what the future holds for me. But I know it can only be good. So I have just got to pull myself up by the boot straps and be the change that I want to see. :)

love y'all

Sister McCracken