Merry Christmas!

Here is Kaylyn's latest email :)

Sorry I don't have for pictures. I would much rather get to email you all back and forth! Anyways...

I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to the best family and friends in the entire world! This season really is my favorite and I am so grateful that I have so many amazing people in my life. I hope you can all take the time to reflect on the life and birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the reason for this season and He has given us the gift of eternal life. I am so grateful for Him and His atoning sacrifice. This season is really so much more than giving and getting presents but it is about giving ourselves to the Savior. I hope you all can feel of His love for each of your during this time and know that I love and pray for you all daily. Thank you again for all the support. Merry Christmas! I love you all!

Until next time, Sister Crawford

Power of Prayer

Hi everyone! Sorry I've slacked again! This is from Kaylyn from December 9th!

Hello Family and Friends!

What a week! My goodness I have learned so much! Before I get into all that I want to thank everyone for the love, support and for the PRAYERS! I can literally feel them all the way on the Island! I don't know what I would do without you all. Thank you so much!

First I want to share a few funny experiences.. This week I have began to realize that I HAVE to laugh at al the funny things that happen throughout the day if I want to stay sane and happy. So here it goes.

1. My milk froze! We went shopping last week and I got some milk, right? You all know how much I LOVE my milk. I put it in the fridge thinking everything was good. The next day I went to go use my milk and BOOM! It was FROZEN like a popsicle! Great. Now what am I supposed to drink? It took about a day and a half to thaw out and now the milk is gone but dang it was crazy pulling frozen milk out of the fridge!

2. The amazing people that pretend they are NOT inside their homes when we knock on their door but we KNOW they are inside their home. Yes. People actually do this. We will knock on a door and dogs will go crazy and we will literally hear people telling their dogs to be quiet but they will never come to the door. Yes. People actually do this. It is great! Even better is when we will see them look our their windows and then they never come to the door. Again. People actually do this. It's so wonderful! Like really. Our favorite thing to do when this happens is to wait for a really really long time at their door. We like to make it awkward. It's great! Oh, and NO MATTER WHAT, we ALWAYS knock on the door twice. Just in case. :)

3. The ward choir. I am a part of the ward choir. We sang at the ward Christmas party on Saturday and we will be doing some fancy musical numbers for the Christmas sacrament. It's great fun. The choir director is a convert. A black convert. A black convert who is my age. Yes. It is so great. I love her so much and am so grateful she puts up with my terrible singing and poor dance moves. She is really into gospel music and really tries to get all the white people into it. Does it work? We try. We try really hard. We sang Joy to the World at the Christmas party. We swayed and all. It was great ya'll.

Alright. That is enough funny. You all probably don't think that was funny but I thought they were all funny. Got to find the joy in life, right?

Now for the good stuff.

Something else that I have learned this week is about the power of prayer. The first five days of my mission were incredible hard. Harder than I thought they were going to be. But, I learned something really important from them. I learned that prayer is real and that it is powerful. I don't know why it took me so long to realize that I could pray for help to endure those first five days but it didn't really occur to me. Rookie move I guess?

On Monday of last week I was reminded that I can pray to our loving Heavenly Father whenever I need Him. I remembered that He is just waiting to help me. And I remembered that I have to just ask for help. How grateful I am for Him and His love. I would not have made it another week without the comfort He gave me. As soon as I turned my struggles over to Him in prayer, they started to be washed away. He helped change my perspective and my attitude towards my struggles. As soon as I asked, He was there to help and pull me through. How grateful I am for that! That alone helped me in so many ways. So many ways.

I know that Heavenly Father loves each of us. I know that He wants to help us. And I know that we can do anything if we will rely on Him. He has giving us the ability to pray and He wants us to pray to Him frequently. I know it, I know it, I know it. I love you all so very much and am so grateful for the love, support and all the prayers. Always remember that God loves you! I love you all and will talk to you soon.

Until Next Time,

Sister Crawford

Finally in Florida... Life on the Island

Hey everyone sorry for slacking so much with updates from Kaylyn! She left the MTC last Tuesday and has now been in Flordia for her first week! Her P-Days are on Mondays and she usually can email from 8am to 10am Utah time. I got the chance to email with her a little bit this Monday. She says she will eventually be able to use Facebook but not for a few months. I gave her the news of Paul Walker death and her response was "oh no!! not paul walker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Lol my reaction was pretty much the same! She seems to be doing well though! Here's an email from her!

Hello Family and Friends!

I have been called to serve in the St. Simons Island of Georgia! That's right, I LIVE ON AN ISLAND. It is so fantastic here. Beautiful scenery, beautiful homes, beautiful pier and beautiful people!

My companion and I are opening or "white washing" this area. Basically that means that missionaries haven't or have never been lived in this area so we are the first. We are the trail blazers! We are assigned to the Brunswick 2nd Ward and live about 20 minutes from church. There are 2 1/2 other sets of missionaries assigned to that ward (One are part time Spanish Elders) and so we get to work along side with them. The others live in Brunswick and they didn't get to venture into the Island very much so they added us! We live and serve the people solely on the Island. It is pretty wealthy area for the most part so I have seen a lot of beautiful homes and a lot of really rich people. The area itself its gorgeous! The streets are lined with big trees covered in Spanish moss and the homes are all so different and just amazingly beautiful!

We got here pretty late on Wednesday night and we didn't have ANYTHING to help us start working when we got here. NOTHING! No supplies, pamphlets, Book of Mormons or anything. Not even a list of members on the Island. Hahah, so that was great. We have sense gotten that worked out now though :)

Thursday was Thanksgiving! At first we didn't think that we were going to have anyway to go but we ended up getting invited to a members house, Brother and Sister Thomas's house, and we got to eat there. Sister Thomas as was out of town so it was just Brother Thomas but he did really well on the cooking! Also on Thursday we visited members and also did some tracting.Jumping right into the work! :)

Friday was a good day. More contacting and tracting. We have done a lot of that! Opening an area is a lot of work! We have a few handfuls of members that live on the Island but a lot of them are inactive so we have been trying to get ahold of them the best we can and get that excited about coming back to church! We have got to meet with quite a few of them now so that has been great! Also the members are simply amazing and have treated us SO well! Seriously don't know what I would do without them! They are all so nice and willing to help. They are super ready to be a missionary ward so I am excited to jump in on that and get it going!

Also, we have 3 new investigators! We found them all will tracting and they all promised to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We will be following up with them all this week so we are excited about that! I can't wait to see how their experiences have gone and see what else the Lord has in store for them.

We have also had doors slammed in our faces a lot, too.

It's cool.

The work here is going well. It's coming along nicely and I think we have a really good base to start with. We have some really strong families and I'm super excited to work with them and get them involved!

Overall, the people on the Island are so nice! Like really. Very few people have been mean to us. Haha, so that is great. Most people around here are religious and are comfortable with where they are at in life so that is a struggle but it is good. Also, it is a struggle that our church meetinghouse is up over the causeway in Brunswick... Island people don't like to drive. Island life is super relaxed. All the time we see people walking their dogs and riding their bikes and just like chillaxing. Haha, it is crazy! But really cool. I admire it a lot. They just have this slower pace of life. Something I have NEVER lived with.

Buttttttttt, good news about never having a slower paced life..... Missionary life is NOT SLOW PACED AT ALL. So my experience with a fast paced life is helping me immensely! Like no joke. So thank you mom and dad and everyone who has contributed to me having a freaking crazy busy life! It has helped me cope so much!

Anyways, I love you all so much and miss you all more than words can describe! I want everyone to know that God loves you and He will NEVER leave you! He is SO aware of us and our needs. I have seen His hand in my life SO much over the past 5 days, it is incredible! I hope everyone is doing well and that everyone remembers who they are as children of God! I love you all! Peace!

Until next time,

Sister Crawford

Ps: Write me letters and send them to: 850 Mallery St Unit P14 St. Simons Island, GA 31522

1 week at the MTC!

Hey everyone! I'm Kaylyn's older sister Kristen and I will be blogging on behalf of Sister Crawford while she serves her mission! Sorry i've been slacking with Sister Crawford's blog! I'm new to all this so bear with me! We received our first email on Saturday from Sister Crawford! We were all so excited to hear from her so soon! Here is what she had to say!

Family and Friends!
The MTC is AMAZING! I love it so much here. The Holy Spirit is SO strong and I have met some of the most amazing people of my life. I feel like I have known them FOREVER even though it has only been a few days. My companions name is Sister Waldron and she is absolutely the sweetest thing ever! She is 19 and from West Jordan Utah. She is very caring and likes to give hugs! She is a lot quieter than I am but it's good, she balances me out. We work really well together and I am learning so much from her!
The District I am in is so incredible! There are 2 Sister companionship's and 2 Elder companionship's. Everyone is so prepared and our teachers are great too. I feel like we are super united by the Spirit. I am among the oldest in the District. Everyone else is either 18, 19, or 20. There is one other Elder who is 21 too.
I am in a dorm room with one other companionship and it's really fun. They are the other set of Sister missionaries that are in my District. They help me out so much and are so sweet to me! Awesome examples of true disciples of Christ.
The food is amazing and I haven't gotten sick from it yet so I am glad about that.I am doing a lot better at waking up at 6:30 than I thought I would, too. YAY ME!
We are in class most of the day, we do a lot of personal study and companion study, which I love, and we eat three great meals a day. Yesterday we got to go to the gym and we played volleyball with our entire zone. I was a lot of fun! I love it here and have already learned so much about how I can better help those I will teach about the Restoration of the Gospel and the true doctrine of Christ. I am so happy here and am doing well! I hope everything is well with everyone at home. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Remember that God loves you and is ALWAYS there for you!
Until next time,
Sister Crawford

A Love of Correction

I had the opportunity to have a conversation with my YSA Stake President at a training I recently attended. He was telling me about a recent conversation he had with the Mission President of the Utah Ogden Mission. He asked the Mission President, “If you could give one piece of advice to soon-to-be-missionaries, what would it be?” His reply was not at all what I was expecting. He said, “I would tell them to gain a love of correction.” I was floored. I would have never guessed that would be his answer. “A love of correction.” Wow. President went on to explain, “You need to love being corrected. Whether by your companion, your district or zone leaders, your mission president, or by the Spirit, you need to love being corrected.” Again. I was floored. I have never thought of that before and probably never would have thought of it in all my life! My President could tell I was in total awe about what he had just told me and he quietly slipped away to help out the next person in need.

Upon thinking about it more, I realized how much this should, and already does, in ways, apply to my life. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is about progress, and in order to progress, we must correct, or change, things in our lives. To change things in our lives, we must be willing and meek and humble enough to change. The Spirit helps us to know when we need to make changes and the Atonement of Jesus Christ enables us to make those changes. We are ultimately trying to progress to become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. “A love of correction” is something we all must gain in order to continue progressing so we can return to live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in eternal happiness.





So, how can we gain “a love of correction”? Here’s a few things I thought of;

1. Continually Praying. Asking our Heavenly Father to help us be more willing, meek and humble so that we can know what changes need to be made and how we can make them through the Holy Spirit. Asking for help not only in our morning and night prayers, but also throughout the day when we might be faced with difficulties. Asking for help to gain a real desire to really, truly love being corrected.

2. Pattern our lives after Jesus Christ. By studying His life and teachings in the Scriptures, we can gain a better understanding and knowledge of Him. He is the Master Teacher. He is our perfect example and we should look to His example in all things and think, “What would the Savior do?”.

3. Use the Atonement. Not only it’s redeeming power, but also it’s enabling power. It’s redeeming power helps us be forgiven for our mistakes, no matter how small they might be, and it’s enabling power helps us carry on and keep going. Use the Atonement in all its forms and it will help soften our hearts when needed and help us to better understand the reasons we need to continually change.

We aren’t going to get it right the first time. I know I won’t even get it right on the fifth, sixth, or seventh time! Perhaps never in this life, but I truly believe by fervently praying for help, earnestly seeking Christ and using the Atonement, we can begin to gain “a love of correction” and ultimately become more like our Savior so we can return to live with Him and our Heavenly Father again.

How grateful I am for the inspired leaders of the Church, Stakes and Wards to give us guidance. I look up to them so much and someday hope to be even half the disciple of Christ that they are. I am so excited to try my best to gain “a love of correction” so that I can more fully progress into the person that Heavenly Father created me to be! I know that it is through the gift of the Holy Ghost that we can know what in our lives we need to change and through the power of the Atonement it is possible to change.

What are some ways you think we can gain “a love of correction”?

Until next time,

A Series of Very Fortunate Events

A friend once told me the reason we sometimes can't fall asleep at night is because we still have something to learn. I have no doubt that is why I laid awake for so long last night;

At 2:21 AM I was laying wide awake in bed annoyed that I still had not fallen asleep. By 2:23 AM I found myself thinking about Elder Edward Dube’s talk from General Conference and how perfectly it relates to my life, "Never look back. Look at what we still have to do." I LOVE that! At 2:24 AM I was reminded that two days prior (Sunday) marked one whole year since I received my very first Temple recommend and my Patriarchal Blessing recommend. By 2:24:04 AM I was frantically checking my calendar to see if my mind was playing tricks on me. It wasn't. It has been an entire year! Woah. The next 60 seconds I "laid all amazed". Haha get it? Seriously though- I just laid all amazed. After that, I knew I had to document the moment so I wrote down a few thoughts and feelings...Only to realize at 2:34 AM I forgot to do the most important thing I could in a situation like this; Give thanks to my Heavenly Father. I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't think to do that first, but now I can remember for next time, right? So I took a moment to thank Heavenly Father for the experiences I have had in the last year and to reflect on how far I have come since then. Yes, I did exactly what 15 minutes earlier I was thinking about not doing-I was looking back at how far I have come. But as I looked back on the last year of my life, I recalled a few things I have learned:


1. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are always by our side.

Example: In the last year, I have come to realize that since I was baptized 13 years ago, They have been very quietly helping me find my way to Them. Through normal people, through ordinary experiences, through small decisions; They were there. Looking back, I can pinpoint seemingly insignificant times that now prove to be among the most significant times in my life. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have truly always been there.


2. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ can do more with our lives than we will ever be able to do.

Example: Even though I have been baptized for 13 years, active in the Church for three years, and active in the Gospel for one year, I feel that nine months ago was when I really turned my life over to Them. Nine months ago was when I really let go of everything that was holding me from Them. Nine months ago was when I really reached out to Them. Nine months ago was when I finally realized I needed Them. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have truly done more with my life in nine months than I did with it in almost 21 years.


3. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will carry you.

Example: The last year, by far, has been the hardest year of my life. I have been faced with doubts, temptations, “what-if’s”, insecurities, questions, and everything in between. Seven months ago, I was called to make a life-changing decision that interrupted every plan I had ever made, and as a result, hurt the people I love most. Because of that alone, this year has been the hardest year of my life. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have truly carried me through the last year, especially the last seven months, and They have not put me down once.



In essence, I have learned that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are real.
We just have to look for Them.


Until next time,

The "Farewell Talk"

Today, I gave my “farewell talk” and it was a very special day for multiple reasons.

One, I had originally planned to do a luncheon at my house after, but I changed my mind after a very wise man reminded me that the meeting I would be speaking in and the day I would be speaking on, should not be centered on me, but on the Savior. How grateful I am he reminded me of that! Opting out of the tradition and trying my absolute best to treat the day like any other Sabbath day was one of the best decisions I made leading up to my “farewell” and I will never regret that decision one bit.

Two, I felt an outpouring of the Spirit throughout the entire meeting. Not just while partaking of the Sacrament. Not just while singing the Hymns. Not just while listening to the speakers speak. Throughout the entire meeting, I felt the Spirit and I had an experience I will never, ever forget.

Three, I had the opportunity to teach the exact people who have been teaching me for all these years. That was an incredibly humbling experience. As I looked around, I was surrounded by people I have known for years and people I have known for just a month, but nonetheless, they were all people I have learned something from. They were all people I have looked up to. They were all people who have influenced me. And they were all people I love dearly. I felt an enormous responsibility to teach my teachers something that would have a lasting effect and I knew there was only one-way to do that.

Which leads me to my last reason, I relied on the Spirit more than I can ever recall doing. I was given a talk from General Conference to speak on; “The Moral Force of Women” by Elder Christofferson. As great as that talk is, I never actually used it in my own talk. Upon reading, pondering and praying, I felt prompted to take my talk in another direction. I did, however, find what direction Heavenly Father wanted me take my talk by listening to the assigned talk. Amazing how that works! In the talk, he says,



And that is what sparked it. So naturally, I spoke on the Plan of Salvation, but mainly focusing on the Pre-Mortal Life. Now, I really struggled with this. I won’t lie. I am the only active member in my immediate family and I knew there would be other people in attendance who are not active or are not members, and I felt an important need to break down the Pre-Mortal Life as if I was teaching it to a little child because that is the exact way I learned about the Pre-Mortal Life. And again, I struggled with this. So, as I approached the stand with my scriptures, a Hymn book (because of a last minute addition), and the little notes that I had purposely prepared, I prayed to my Heavenly Father just one last time for the Spirit to be with me. Almost everything after that is a blur. I am unsure of what I said, but I am fully aware of what I felt and I have been told that if I am feeling the Spirit, than those I am teaching are feeling the Spirit as well. And I call that a success.


Until next time,

The Facts

Helloooooooo! My name is Kaylyn Crawford! What's yours?!

This is most definitely the cliché “About Me” first blog post,
but I feel it is absolutely and completely necessary, so bare with me :)


THE BASICS:
As stated above, I am Kaylyn Crawford.
I am twenty-one and a half years old.
I was born, raised and still reside in Utah. (For now!)
I have two supportive parents and one older sister.



THE MINORS:
I adore the water and the human mind.
I love making things pretty.
I enjoy having fun and being outside.
I like to think I'm not your typical girl.



THE MAJORS:
I am a Mormon and I love everything about it.
I want others to know what I know.
I want others to feel what I feel.
And because of this, I am a future Missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.





Until next time,