Another Week in Paradise—email from 03-26-12

So I recorded a lot of my week last week with the voice recorder. It
has just been a hilarious and miraculous week. So I told you all about
it on there. Listen to then in number order and that will be a
chronological following of my week.
This week was a crazy week. We lost essentially all of the people we
were teaching the first of the week. Either they dropped us or we
dropped them. It was very disappointing. But we knew we would be
blessed and we just needed to keep working. Well we found 5 new people
to teach this week! That is an amazing number!!!! And some of them
really seem like they are just going to latch on to all of this. So we
are really excited for them.
We had to say goodbye to Elder and Sister Barrus last week. That was
really hard. For a bit we didn't think we were actually going to get
to say goodbye before they left. We called them Wednesday, but they
had already turned in their mission phone so we had no way of reaching
them. I knew they had a personal phone too, so I finally broke down
and asked a member who knew it if they would tell them we wanted to
say bye if they have a chance. She texted us back with their number.
So we called them Friday morning and the first thing Elder Barrus said
was "It's my granddaughters!!! I was wondering if you'd get our
Wyoming number and call us!" It made my day! So they came and said
goodbye to us that afternoon. It was hard! I sure do love them!
We had two trade-offs this week, so we spent a lot of time out of our
area again. But it was really fun working with the other sisters and I
learned a lot from them. I love getting the opportunity to work with
so many different sisters. Having my companion be a Sister Leader was
definitely a blessing. This week we are sticking to our area so that
will be exciting.
Oh so the voice recordings are all pretty hilarious. The last one is
more to Dad, but it's so amazing you all have to listen to it to!
Heavenly Father blesses me with so many tender mercies!

One is just us being goofy companions...and the other is when Elder
and Sister Barrus came to say goodbye to us.

They were officially no
longer missionaries so he immediately jumped back into his old
clothes. Silly old cowboy. :) I love them so much. I told them I'm
going to come live with them and learn how to ranch when I get
home...and I'm pretty serious about that!

It's springtime here! I love how everything is so fresh and new! It's
all green and sprouting here! It makes me think of how we can be the
change! ;) And Sister Surtees and I realized this week that sometimes
you need to step back and allow the change to happen in your life. So
there's my thought on that!
I love y'all!
love,
Sister McCracken

CRAZINESS!!!—email from 03-19-12

Our day has been insane! And I didn't even think I was going to get a chance to write this week. So this is going to be a short one.

We have had a busy crazy week this week. A lot of issues came with trying to get bikes. A....lot... But end of the story is, that a member took them yesterday and fixed them up for us today so we should be fine from here on out to bike when we need to. The hilarious part is we have been super frugal with miles, and working so hard to get bikes. And we got a letter on Friday that said we got an increase in our miles so now we have way more than we need for the last week and a half of the month. YAY!

So I'm just gonna send the audio and the describe the pics.

Pic one...we were both sick last week. blah

she's eating my name tag!!

our "beautiful" feet!

my new hair!!!

SISTER GILBERT!!!!!!! She just came out this transfer! And she and I were friends at the LDSBC and had a bunch of classes together!!! I'm so excited to have her in the mission. And I get to see her this weekend when we go on tradeoffs with them. YAY!

Well, sorry for not a lot of info! LOVE YA!

be the change!

love,

Sister McCracken

Time flies when you’re fighting Satan-email from 03-12-12

That's how the saying goes right? ....ohhh....it's not? oh well!

Anyway, it's been a good week here. It's been another one of those weeks that I don't even remember what happened because it went by so fast! And we were even in area the whole week this time! Crazy! We walked a lot more last week to do some contacting and that was an adventure. My poor feet are sore. So when I was reading in Mosiah about "how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who publish" this message (or something close to that). I thought of how not beautiful my feet were and that he must have been trying to be funny 'cause I doubt their feet were any prettier than mine! haha

Have I told you by chance that gnats bite here? Yeah, that was a surprise for me too. Oh, and did you know that their bites itch ten times more than mosquito bites and actually turn to purplish black bruises varying from dime sized to quarter sized to one that was about half the length of a dollar bill on my shin? Yeah...they do...It's fun! It scared me the first time and I called the mission doctor. Then I found out that it's normal and to buy some hydrocortisone cream. Pretty crazy! And they have no qualms with flying under my skirt and biting all around my knees too...Super fun!!!

We've just continued working with Joy and her boys this week and they are progressing so well! I can't remember much anything else of note from the week.

Oh yeah! We did service on Saturday. We went to this one sister's house to help with a yard cleanup job. I figured it would be the normal yard cleanup. Nope!!! The whole back yard was an overgrown jungle of plants. WOW!!! So the high priest group leader gave each of us big trimmers and said "Cut a path and clean it up!" So we did! It was hard labor too fighting with the vines running everywhere! But we had a lot of fun. I don't have pictures this week, but I will send some next week. If you want to see one of me in the jungle you can read my comp's blog at almondsofjoy.blogspot.com. Part of her being an online missionary is that she writes a blog. And she wrote a really good post about our yard project. My shoulder still hurts from yanking the vine system out of trees and out of the ground. It's the craziest yard work I've ever done. At one point Sister Surtees said she wanted to be a landscaper maybe after this project. I laughed at her.

Well, I've got to go!

I'm just gonna be simple and say be the change! (I even saw it decaled on a car window the other day :) )

love,

Sister McCracken

SUCCESS! --email from 03-05-12

TIFANNI WAS BAPTIZED!!!!! You have no idea how much of a miracle this was. Elder and Sister Barrus, the senior couple in our ward, found their family about this time last year. And yesterday, Elder Barrus was able to baptize her. Just weeks before he and his wife go home. It was so amazing! Even the mission president came. Tiffani looked so beautiful and they're family just felt so much more complete afterwards. I love them so much! I love those kids like their my own nieces and nephews. And I love her like a sister. I am so happy to see her make this choice for her life. And her husband has gotten active in the last year and will baptize their children in April. How amazing is that?!?! This is what missionary work is about! Bringing families together. :)

I can't even remember the rest of the week...oh yea. I got to play with a monkey!!! Two of them actually. A lady had two little marmosets. One kept grabbing my nose and pulling me in close to the cage. Then the sister that I was on trade-offs with read the health guide the next day and text our phone and told me to read that page. I read it...I'm supposed to avoid monkeys... oops... and dogs! Which I already try to! But every house in Florida has at least one dog. So I'm failing at avoiding dogs thus far. haha

I got to ride a tandem bike last week! In a dress!!! hahaha it was hilarious. The sister's area that we traded off in last week has a tandem bike. And Sister Capua and I were on bike while I was there. It was so obvious that when we got back to the parking lot at the apartment and were putting it on the bike rack of the car a man walked up and asked if we were Mormon missionaries. We laughed and said yes. He said "I knew it! I told my friend when I saw you in dresses on that bike that you were missionaries!" It turns out he's a member in the Singles Ward in the stake and his friend is a nonmember he wants the sisters to teach! Miracle!!! That's what you get when you ride a tandem bike in a dress!

Sister Surtees and I had another miracle last week. We set baptism dates with a single mom and her two boys!!! And they came to church yesterday and loved it! After church last night they told us "I'm a Mormon" It was so cute. I love them!

Basically a lot happened in a really short amount of time. Which I love! Sorry, my time is short so I've got to go!

The pictures are from the baptism

And the other is a roach that I killed. It kind of exploded... We have a bit of a bug problem in our apartment. And we've gone on some killing raids recently.

Remember I came out here because I wanted to BE THE CHANGE! Now you do it too! A revolution starts with one person, right? So be a revolution in your part of the world!

love y'all!

Sister McCracken

ps. sorry I was late emailing. We went to zone p-day so sister surtees could play sports with the elders.

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring—email from 02-27-12

posted for Christine by Jana

Dear Home,

Today it is rainy and cold. And we had plans to go to the zoo until about ten minutes ago. But with the cold and rain we are cancelling that plan and going to the mall instead. Sister Surtees needs new tennis shoes badly. So if I don't get a chance to write any of y'all this week I promise I love you and I'm sorry I couldn't write. But we are having fun. :)

This week was really fast and really miraculous. We found 6 new people to teach. So things are starting to pick up to a pace that I don't know if I can keep up with. But I am so happy with that!!! We also finally got our bike rack after much drama. So we will probably be getting our bikes this week and starting that up! I'm really excited for that. We are doing it to save on miles on our car since our budget gets mostly used up in driving to trade offs.

I had an interesting experience with a pastor this week. We were contacting in an apartment complex and he came out of nowhere and asked to see my Book of Mormon. He then proceeded to tell me everything that was false about it and our church. He just kept going and going for about a half hour telling us different things that were false or how I was uneducated in the word of God and so forth. I was talking to the other sisters about it later and made a profound realization. In all of that, he told me everything that was wrong or false (in his eyes), but he never taught me truth. And I realized how different of an experience it was being on the receiving end of that. It is not good to merely attack someone's beliefs and tell them how they are wrong. We need to instead share what truth we know and share the knowledge we have and let them decide for themselves. That is Heavenly Father's plan. It always has been. Present us with simple truths and then let us decide for ourselves whether we will believe and follow the necessary course of action. I love that about Him! And it made me so happy that as a missionary I instead just present people with information and then leave it up to them to act and decide. It is such a better way for the person sharing and the person receiving.

Sunday we had a baptism!!!!! :D He is 9 years old and his mom and older brother are converts for a few years. She just started coming back to church in January and the 9 year old wanted to be taught and baptized!!! He is such a smart, funny, and spiritual kid. It was so fun teaching him for the past month. He has made it the most hilarious experience. One of the lessons that really cracked me up is when we taught him about tithing. His brother asked us. "Well if you're poor and homeless and you find a penny, then what?" And his nonmember dad incredulously replied "How do you tithe on a penny?!" I was so glad that dad took that question. We were laughing so hard we couldn't answer...

This coming Sunday we have another baptism! This one is a miracle found by Elder and Sister Barrus. They serve military families and there was a less active member that was deploying last spring. They promised they would take care of his wife and kids while he was gone. Well, their love and service reactivated him, and made her curious about the church. So she began learning with the missionaries last fall and is getting baptized this Sunday!!! I am so excited for her. She is so amazing. I love her.

So ummm....can I tell you I almost screamed and cried all at once when I read that Gerry went to the temple last week?!!?!?! I am soooooo sad I couldn't be there. But I am even happier for him!!!! Oh my goodness! My heart is full! I love him so much! And I am so happy that he was able to do that! What a miracle! I bet he is just on cloud nine. And to have so many friends there supporting him! That had to be just so amazing! Was Ruth able to make it? I hope so!

Wow...this letter is getting really really long. I better start wrapping this up here.

The pictures are from the baptism yesterday. 

On the left is Grandma and us. Then the baptism boy. Then Mom and Dad and all the brothers. 4 boys...their house is always crazy when we go over!

The second is Sister Surtees and I with the lucky baptism boy! YAY!

Remember...be the change!

love y'all!

Sister McCracken

Happy Presidents Day- email from 2-20-12

posted for Christine by Jana

BRRRR!!!! It was in the 80s yesterday and windy like you wouldn't believe. But now today it's below 50 and I'm freezing! Florida is turning me into a sissy.

This week was another light speed week. We spent two days in Savannah again and then another Sister Leader came to our area to trade off with me and see how I was doing. So Sister Surtees and I are really only companions about 50% of the time. It's weird.

We have had so many miracles this week though. Even though we were out of our area a lot of this week we found a lot of new people to teach and still were able to work with our usual people. We had a super miracle yesterday. This woman came to church yesterday that I didn't recognize, so Sister Surtees went and introduced herself as the new sister (it's our trick just in case I have met the person before and don't remember :D ) And it turns out this woman has been inactive for the last 10 years and decided yesterday morning that she was going to try it again. After church both the Bishop and the Relief Society president talked to us and told us to go visit her as soon as possible. The problem was that our entire day was scheduled out with appointments. But quickly every one of them called and cancelled. So now our evening was completely open. We decided to go see this sister. It turns out her husband isn't a member and they are both going through a lot of hard times. We visited for a while and talked it was amazing. The Spirit was so strong. We set up a return appointment for tonight. And as we were leaving she said she had been hoping we'd come over after church. It's amazing how Heavenly Father works. He is very open and says maybe this is the peace he is looking for. When we left Sister Surtees and I talked about how we both felt we already knew them and that was the most comfortable lesson we had ever had. I know that Heavenly Father planned all of us meeting specifically when He did for a purpose. I'm so excited to see them again tonight.

We've got two more exchanges this week. One of them will be other Sisters coming to us and the other will be us going just a little west in the stake to the other sisters in our zone. That one is going to be a little more exciting. The sister I'm going to be with is from South America and still struggling with her English. I'm going to have to remember to not talk fast and not use too many of my nerdy vocab words.

Sorry I'm remiss on voice recordings this week. The federal holiday threw me off a little. And then this morning we got a surprise visit from some people from Sister Surtees home ward that took us to breakfast. So I'm all sorts of jumbled up today.

But I have some funny pictures for you. Friday I was cooking lunch and Sister Surtees was making phone calls. At one point I turned around and looked at our patio door and see a squirrel spread eagle on our door!!! I'm staring in shock.

Sister Surtees was on the couch and saw my face, so she turned around to see what it was...And screamed like a little girl and ran back into the bedroom...while she was still on the phone. It was hilarious!!! Well we left and came back a few hours later and he was still there.

But when we got home that night he was gone. So that was a little disappointing. I named him Fred though for whenever he comes back.

So I'm loving hearing the stories of how y'all are making changes and trying to BE THE CHANGE!!! Keep it up! Let's keep this movement going!

all my love from Florida,
Sister McCracken

The Saints Went Up to Georgia- email from 02-13-12

posted for Christine by Jana

hehe...my wit is back! So as an explanation of my subject line. Sister
Surtees and I went on an exchange with the sisters in the Savannah,
Georgia area on Friday and Saturday. Sister Surtees is a Sister
Leader. So she has certain sisters that are under her stewardship and
that she goes and works with and trains them in areas they feel they
are lacking in. And I get to tag along and be the other missionary's
companion for those twenty four hours. So after we finally got back
Saturday night I was sitting there thinking and I asked Sister Surtees
"Isn't the name of that one song called The Devil Went Down to
Georgia?" She smiled, said "Yes. The SAINTS went UP to Georgia!!!!"
haha. For the first time in my life I went UP to Georgia. That's a
weird thought! It was great working up there and I got to teach so
many wonderful people. And we're going back again this week so she can
work with the other missionary. So I'm hoping I can see some of the
same people again and see how they are progressing!
Otherwise the week was pretty crazy! We basically only got to work as
a companionship in our area for 2 days this last week because of the
trade off and then Sister Surtees was at leadership training for two
days. But we had some amazing miracles in the couple days we did get
to work together. And she got some amazing training on how to better
work with members in getting them involved in missionary work so we
are really excited to get this going and see how this changes things!
It's been freezing cold the last few days!!! And by that I mean in the
50s...Florida is quickly turning me into a wussy. I'm a little nervous
about that!
Oh and tell Brother Gambrel I'm still not a Zone Leader... they said
something about priesthood authority or something...don't ask me! ;D
PICTURES!!!

That is the back of our car loaded up with all the stuff we needed to
sleep over in Georgia! They have bed in a bag kits with blankets and
air mattresses for us. Thank Heaven!

That's a giant bridge we went over! Like GIANT!!!! Ships fit under it
kind of giant...if you get my drift.

Is it just me or was that exit sign a little over-kill for how little
is on it? Or is that the exit to the middle of nowhere? hehe
Sorry the gps one is blurry, having my flash on made it glare and I
couldn't get a clear shot. But there's the proof it tried to get us to
board a ferry!
And proof that we almost boarded a ferry. Crazy!

I love y'all and I'm just gonna simply say in some good Southern terms
"I'm fixin' to be the change." How about you?

love ya!
Sister McCracken