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