Hello Family and Friends!
There was a definite theme the past week of my life. It was centered on the importance of GOALS and PREPARING. This is a lesson that I am sure Heavenly Father is going to teach me throughout my entire mission/life but I now see WHY it is so important.
This past week in Zone Meeting, our Zone Leader gave a training about living up to our potential as missionaries AND as children of God. It was incredible! Setting goals and preparing are two CRITICAL ways that we are able to live up to our potential. By settings goals we are working towards becoming better and by becoming better, we are preparing for the future!
Elder M. Russell Ballard has said, "I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don't set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life"
How true that statement is! We were created to become like our Father in Heaven and by setting and reaching our goals, we can do that, and not only that, but He has given us the tools to become like Him. There is an awesome Mormon Message about doing so. You can watch it here: www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2081541444001 What can YOU do to live up to your potential?
Thank you so much for all the love and support that I get from everyone. Always remember that God loves you and is just waiting to help you live up to YOUR divine potential as His beloved child!
Until Next Time,
Sister Crawford
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Only Gain (From March 3rd)
Hello Family and Friends!
It was a beautiful week here on St. Simon's Island! We had an investigator at church with us yesterday and also two less active members! Wahooo! Heavenly Father is so good! We were also able to make some really good progress with some of the members here on the Island and getting them FIRED UP about missionary work! Great things are happening! :)
Some might ask why we need to be FIRED UP about missionary work... Well, I'll tell you why! First, I want you to think about what you want the most out of life..Maybe it is a strong family, maybe it is a loving spouse, maybe it is to feel true happiness or to feel at peace. Whatever it is, I just want you to focus on that for a minute. Then I want you to think about HOW you can obtain that OR how you have already obtained that... Got that in your mind? Alright! Hopefully you are working towards whatever that thing is that you want most out of life.. If not, it is not too late! You can start now. So now that you have thought about how you will obtain that, ask yourself, "Do I have the means or tools to obtain that?!" Some might answer yes, some might answer no. It doesn't matter what you answered right now because I'm going to give you a solution or answer to both..So just hold on for a minute...The point is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ helps us obtain the things that we want most out of life. It provides us with the necessary tools to obtain those things.
So if you answered yes to the above question, my response to you comes directly from the scriptures...."When thou art strengthened, strengthen thy brethren" We are commanded to help our friends and our neighbors and everyone in between and the VESY BEST way to do that is to SHARE THE GOSPEL! Share the Gospel that has so readily changed your life and given you the means to obtain all that you want from this life. This is priceless information we have my friends, so share it! And remember that when you are in the service of your fellow being, you are in the service of your God!
If you answered no to the above question then I want to let you know there is a way to obtain all that you are looking for in this life. It is through the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I encourage you to reach out to your friends or family members who can help you learn more about the Gospel. What do you have to lose? Nothing! There is only things to gain from the Gospel!
I love you all and am so grateful for all your love and support!
Until Next Time,
Sister Crawford
It was a beautiful week here on St. Simon's Island! We had an investigator at church with us yesterday and also two less active members! Wahooo! Heavenly Father is so good! We were also able to make some really good progress with some of the members here on the Island and getting them FIRED UP about missionary work! Great things are happening! :)
Some might ask why we need to be FIRED UP about missionary work... Well, I'll tell you why! First, I want you to think about what you want the most out of life..Maybe it is a strong family, maybe it is a loving spouse, maybe it is to feel true happiness or to feel at peace. Whatever it is, I just want you to focus on that for a minute. Then I want you to think about HOW you can obtain that OR how you have already obtained that... Got that in your mind? Alright! Hopefully you are working towards whatever that thing is that you want most out of life.. If not, it is not too late! You can start now. So now that you have thought about how you will obtain that, ask yourself, "Do I have the means or tools to obtain that?!" Some might answer yes, some might answer no. It doesn't matter what you answered right now because I'm going to give you a solution or answer to both..So just hold on for a minute...The point is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ helps us obtain the things that we want most out of life. It provides us with the necessary tools to obtain those things.
So if you answered yes to the above question, my response to you comes directly from the scriptures...."When thou art strengthened, strengthen thy brethren" We are commanded to help our friends and our neighbors and everyone in between and the VESY BEST way to do that is to SHARE THE GOSPEL! Share the Gospel that has so readily changed your life and given you the means to obtain all that you want from this life. This is priceless information we have my friends, so share it! And remember that when you are in the service of your fellow being, you are in the service of your God!
If you answered no to the above question then I want to let you know there is a way to obtain all that you are looking for in this life. It is through the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I encourage you to reach out to your friends or family members who can help you learn more about the Gospel. What do you have to lose? Nothing! There is only things to gain from the Gospel!
I love you all and am so grateful for all your love and support!
Until Next Time,
Sister Crawford
He Is Real (From Feb 24th)
Hello Family and Friends!
Another fantastic week here on St. Simons Island! The weather has been wonderful and the food is as good as ever! My companion and I somehow forgot to go to the store last week so our food rations were a little short....Don't fret though! We have been getting fed by members like CRAZYYYYY these past few weeks! So much that we decided to go on a diet...Yes, it has come to this! Typical sister missionary life.
This past week we saw a lot of mighty miracles and were able to make a lot of progress through our members! On the Island, working with members truly is key! We have been working with a lot of part-member families and have seen a lot of progress in such a short amount of time! One of the families we are working with are a husband and wife. The wife was baptized a member of the church about 16 years ago and has encouraged her husband to do the same ever since. He is finally stepping onto this path and is seeing the hand of God in His life. It has been amazing to see it all unfold before our eyes!
I know that God is our literal Father in Heaven. I know that He is real. I know that He loves us. I know that He wants us to return to live with Him someday and I know that He has provided a way for us to do that. Nothing brings me more peace than that knowledge. I hope you can all come to know for yourself that is true. I love you all and am so grateful for all the support you offer me! Thank you!
Until Next Time,
Sister Crawford
Another fantastic week here on St. Simons Island! The weather has been wonderful and the food is as good as ever! My companion and I somehow forgot to go to the store last week so our food rations were a little short....Don't fret though! We have been getting fed by members like CRAZYYYYY these past few weeks! So much that we decided to go on a diet...Yes, it has come to this! Typical sister missionary life.
This past week we saw a lot of mighty miracles and were able to make a lot of progress through our members! On the Island, working with members truly is key! We have been working with a lot of part-member families and have seen a lot of progress in such a short amount of time! One of the families we are working with are a husband and wife. The wife was baptized a member of the church about 16 years ago and has encouraged her husband to do the same ever since. He is finally stepping onto this path and is seeing the hand of God in His life. It has been amazing to see it all unfold before our eyes!
I know that God is our literal Father in Heaven. I know that He is real. I know that He loves us. I know that He wants us to return to live with Him someday and I know that He has provided a way for us to do that. Nothing brings me more peace than that knowledge. I hope you can all come to know for yourself that is true. I love you all and am so grateful for all the support you offer me! Thank you!
Until Next Time,
Sister Crawford
Spiritual Crocodiles (From Feb 18th)
Hello Family and Friends!
Oh my goodness gracious what a week! It was busy as ever and full of action packed madness! I will start with transfers... Sister Conley and I will be staying on the beautiful Island of St. Simon's! Wahhoooo! How glad I am to be staying here with her. We saw a lot of progress this past week and I was getting really nervous that I was going to be transferred right in the middle of it.. Luckily, we are both staying :) We are both extremely excited to see what we can accomplish in the next 6 weeks! BIG THINGS are happening! :) The next thing that I want to address is Satan. The Devil. He who shall not be named. That nobody that we all despise!
This past week I have seen the influence of Satan stronger than any other time on my mission thus far.. Maybe it is because I am becoming more aware of his influence in regards to missionary work, but nonetheless, I have seen it in a different light this past week.
Sometimes we let ourselves think that Satan works through these great, big, huge plans of destruction that we will never fall into, when in reality, he works in very subtle ways. He works at us little by little. Almost unseeingly. I think President Packet sums it up nicely in this Mormon Message,
http://www.lds.org/video/mormon-messages/spiritual-crocodiles?lang=eng
The reality is that we all have "Spiritual Crocodiles". None of us are immune to Satan and his workings. BUT, the beauty of the Gospel is that we do not have to fall prey to those crocs. We have our Heavenly Father and Savior on our side! Through the Gospel of Jesus Christ we are able to overcome those "spiritual crocodiles" and live a life of real happiness. I know that Satan is real and that he is against us, but I also know that Heavenly Father is real and that He is for us, and because of that, it does not matter who is against us. Through Him, we have the power to overcome. I hope you all will look to Heavenly Father in your times of need and temptation and that you will kick those "spiritual crocodiles" to the curb! I love you all and thank you for all the love, support and prayers!
Until Next Time,
Sister Crawford
Oh my goodness gracious what a week! It was busy as ever and full of action packed madness! I will start with transfers... Sister Conley and I will be staying on the beautiful Island of St. Simon's! Wahhoooo! How glad I am to be staying here with her. We saw a lot of progress this past week and I was getting really nervous that I was going to be transferred right in the middle of it.. Luckily, we are both staying :) We are both extremely excited to see what we can accomplish in the next 6 weeks! BIG THINGS are happening! :) The next thing that I want to address is Satan. The Devil. He who shall not be named. That nobody that we all despise!
This past week I have seen the influence of Satan stronger than any other time on my mission thus far.. Maybe it is because I am becoming more aware of his influence in regards to missionary work, but nonetheless, I have seen it in a different light this past week.
Sometimes we let ourselves think that Satan works through these great, big, huge plans of destruction that we will never fall into, when in reality, he works in very subtle ways. He works at us little by little. Almost unseeingly. I think President Packet sums it up nicely in this Mormon Message,
http://www.lds.org/video/mormon-messages/spiritual-crocodiles?lang=eng
The reality is that we all have "Spiritual Crocodiles". None of us are immune to Satan and his workings. BUT, the beauty of the Gospel is that we do not have to fall prey to those crocs. We have our Heavenly Father and Savior on our side! Through the Gospel of Jesus Christ we are able to overcome those "spiritual crocodiles" and live a life of real happiness. I know that Satan is real and that he is against us, but I also know that Heavenly Father is real and that He is for us, and because of that, it does not matter who is against us. Through Him, we have the power to overcome. I hope you all will look to Heavenly Father in your times of need and temptation and that you will kick those "spiritual crocodiles" to the curb! I love you all and thank you for all the love, support and prayers!
Until Next Time,
Sister Crawford
The Plan (From Feb 10th)
Hello Family and Friends!
This past week was exciting! And full of many great times! One, my entire mission got iPads. Crazy right? Missionary work is being revolutionized! Another cool thing that happened was a movie night with our ward. We watch Ephraim's Rescue! Love that movie! It makes me so grateful for all that the early saints endured so that we could have the Gospel!
The highlight of the week was definitely Sister Baileys funeral. Not because it was a funeral, but because of the strong Spirit that was felt throughout her entire service. I barely knew her, but she has made an impression on me. She was old and in very bad health, but she never complained. She always thought of others first and was always seen smiling! What an inspiration! She suffered much physical pain in the later part of her life and when asked how we dealt with it, she responded, "The Savior has suffered much more than I will ever have to suffer. So I just grit my teeth and remember Him." What a sweet lesson we can learn from her.
Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price. He suffered all that we suffer and more. Way more. He knows what we are going through. He knows what we are faced with. He knows what we struggle with on a daily basis. And because He knows, we don't have to suffer these things alone. He is there. He is waiting to succor us. He is there to support us. What a beautiful thing that is my friends! I hope that you can all learn a lesson from Sister Bailey as I have. Jesus Christ suffered for each of us and all He ask in return is what we remember Him. And how great are the blessings when we do so! I love you all. Thank you for all you do for me!
Until Next Time,
Sister Crawford
This past week was exciting! And full of many great times! One, my entire mission got iPads. Crazy right? Missionary work is being revolutionized! Another cool thing that happened was a movie night with our ward. We watch Ephraim's Rescue! Love that movie! It makes me so grateful for all that the early saints endured so that we could have the Gospel!
The highlight of the week was definitely Sister Baileys funeral. Not because it was a funeral, but because of the strong Spirit that was felt throughout her entire service. I barely knew her, but she has made an impression on me. She was old and in very bad health, but she never complained. She always thought of others first and was always seen smiling! What an inspiration! She suffered much physical pain in the later part of her life and when asked how we dealt with it, she responded, "The Savior has suffered much more than I will ever have to suffer. So I just grit my teeth and remember Him." What a sweet lesson we can learn from her.
Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price. He suffered all that we suffer and more. Way more. He knows what we are going through. He knows what we are faced with. He knows what we struggle with on a daily basis. And because He knows, we don't have to suffer these things alone. He is there. He is waiting to succor us. He is there to support us. What a beautiful thing that is my friends! I hope that you can all learn a lesson from Sister Bailey as I have. Jesus Christ suffered for each of us and all He ask in return is what we remember Him. And how great are the blessings when we do so! I love you all. Thank you for all you do for me!
Until Next Time,
Sister Crawford
Wise Words (From Feb 3rd)
Hello Family and Friends!
This past week was great for a few reasons. We saw some pretty incredible things, but one thing became very apparent to me...This is truly our time to prepare to meet God again. In Mormon 9:28 we read, "Be wise in the days of your probation; strip yourselves of all uncleanness; ask not, that ye may consume it on your lusts, but ask with a firmness unshaken, that ye will yield to no temptation, but that ye will serve the true and living God." Oh how I love that scripture! I love that the words "wise", "firmness", "unshaken", "serve", "true", and "living" are used. They truly speak volumes!
So one might ask, how do we prepare to meet God? Well, we serve Him. When we are in the service of our God, we are growing and progressing. We are improving and becoming the person that He created us to be. And another might ask, how do we serve Him? Well, we serve others. We serve others by giving of our time and energy to help out. We turn outward instead of inward. We remember that each person around us is a child of the same God and that He loves them JUST AS MUCH as He loves you. Those are just a few ways that we can serve others... Not to mention a million more to go along with them..
This is something my mind is still trying to wrap itself around, but I know that it is true. I know that the time we have been given here is our time to prepare to meet God and that we prepare by serving Him and we serve Him by serving His children. I hope that we can all keep that in mind through our day to day life and we can truly use this time wisely. I love you all!
Until Next Time,
Sister Crawford
This past week was great for a few reasons. We saw some pretty incredible things, but one thing became very apparent to me...This is truly our time to prepare to meet God again. In Mormon 9:28 we read, "Be wise in the days of your probation; strip yourselves of all uncleanness; ask not, that ye may consume it on your lusts, but ask with a firmness unshaken, that ye will yield to no temptation, but that ye will serve the true and living God." Oh how I love that scripture! I love that the words "wise", "firmness", "unshaken", "serve", "true", and "living" are used. They truly speak volumes!
So one might ask, how do we prepare to meet God? Well, we serve Him. When we are in the service of our God, we are growing and progressing. We are improving and becoming the person that He created us to be. And another might ask, how do we serve Him? Well, we serve others. We serve others by giving of our time and energy to help out. We turn outward instead of inward. We remember that each person around us is a child of the same God and that He loves them JUST AS MUCH as He loves you. Those are just a few ways that we can serve others... Not to mention a million more to go along with them..
This is something my mind is still trying to wrap itself around, but I know that it is true. I know that the time we have been given here is our time to prepare to meet God and that we prepare by serving Him and we serve Him by serving His children. I hope that we can all keep that in mind through our day to day life and we can truly use this time wisely. I love you all!
Until Next Time,
Sister Crawford
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