One a Week and a Half Left!

Terve!!

 

Well I only have about a week and a half left in the MTC and it's very exciting!! This week is Consecration Week where we choose things to give up so we can really focus on the Lord. We're (the Finns) all giving up English, which means I haven't said a word of English in about 2 days and right now it's pretty weird writing in English as well. It's teaching me a lot about how much more I need to learn, but also showing me how much I know and it's a really great experience to completely rely on the Lord to get by on a daily basis. So I won't speak English until next Wednesday! Finnish is coming along slowly, but steadily. We're still learning new things (like entirely new tenses/grammar principles) every day and it's kinda frustrating that we haven't even been exposed to all of Finnish yet, but I'm so excited to get to Finland and just learn exponentially!!

 

Other than that nothing is too exciting here in the MTC. We got a new investigator this week named Emma who's excited to come to church but her boyfriend doesn't want her too... Oh well, I can work with that:) We also had another investigator get baptized last Saturday which means we get to teach all the post baptism lessons now and I'm excited for that!

 

Mom, I'm glad you were able to meet the other moms, sounds fun! I should also get my travel plans this week so I'll send them to you as soon as I know!! 2 weeks from today I'll be teaching lessons in Finnish in Finland!! It's crazy but I absolutely can not wait!!

 

The reunion sounds awesome! All the kids told me about their favorite parts and I sure do miss Uncle Chris' silly songs! I also heard multiple times how adorable Matthew and Hailey's kids were so I'm glad you guys love your cousins so much :) I also heard about Grandpa and Grandmas testimonies and Matthew's lesson and Heber's baptism and I'm just so glad I have such an awesome family :)

 

Thank you so much for the wonderful letters and Dear Elders this week! I'm way too spoiled! I got some very cute ones from Allyson and Justin's family and I'm excited to write them back!!

Also, Shout out to Camille for starting school this week, let me know how it goes!! And shout out to Rhett for writing me a letter completely in Finnish!! The grammar was perfect as well and I could totally understand it!! Way to go bud!! I also get to go to the temple next week for the first time in about 6 weeks and I'm very excited!! And pretty soon I get to go to the Helsinki temple!!

 

Well I have a lot of pictures to send home today (I ran into Sister Bailey, my roommate, and it was awesome!) So today's letter is a little shorter, but I'm just so excited to be on a mission! I've had some wonderful and happy times in my life, but I don't think I've ever been as happy as I am when i'm in the MTC preparing to serve the Lord! And I'm sure it'll only get better in Finland! It really is awesome to always have the spirit with me. Not because I want it, but because I NEED it.. There's no way I could teach 3 Finnish lessons a day without it.

 

This week my challenge is to all of you to look up your favorite scripture and send it to me. I'm always looking for new good ones!! I know you all have one so please let me know what they are!!

 

I love you all so much!! Minä rakastan teitä tosi paljon!! Thanks for all the love and support! I couldn't do it without you! Til next week!

 

Sisar Crandall

Favorite Chileans

Another District Pic . . . I love these gals!

Sister Evans and Elder Bailey (BYU Roomate and Friend)

Week 6

Terve!

Well I've now been in the MTC for over 6 weeks now, which is a pretty long time in mission time. This week a lot of fun and exciting things happened so this email might be all over the place but I gotta type fast so here goes.

So on Thursday we taught TRC where we teach other people who play themselves (not investigators) We taught about how the scriptures can be so inspiring and so we all shared our favorite scriptures (In Finnish of course) and then they shared theirs and it was just a really cool lesson. One of the ones I shared was Romans 8:31. Very inspiring. Go look it up.

On Saturday I kinda got dumped on with a lot of new Finnish grammar. And they told us we'd be learning new grammar concepts up until the day we left so I felt a little bit overwhelmed. So I sat down and made a goal to not be overwhelmed by this and take it one baby grammar principle at a time. I study the little vocab book I carry around with my constantlly and we're now up to 4 All Finnish days a week. (Our last week here we have concecration week where there's no english so we're practicing for that) It's hard when I see my friends and have to have my companion translate everything I say, but it's way fun! I also literally have to sit down and just read from this huge grammar book as often as I can to try to grasp the concepts, but I must say it's still coming along great. Obviously very difficult, but never impossible when I keep in mind that I'm doing the Lord's work. My English is getting a little messed up though. Like in Finnish you have to ask questions from people, so in English I sometimes catch myself saying "Yeah I'll just go ask from my teacher" And It sounds weird, but my brain is being rewired so there's bound to be some mistakes! Oh and in Finnish every adjective just adds er or est to the end so in english i've started saying beautifuller (Instead of more beautiful) and making up words all the time but I love it!

Well on Sunday we had our typical Sunday night devo and guess who spoke?? Uncle John and Aunt Cheryl!! Pretty cool huh?? They gave some awesome and inspiring talks and I really wanted to go up and hug them but I'm at West Campus so I only see it broadcasted... But it was really nice seeing some family, even if it was just extended. Every Sunday night we get to watch movies but since I'm at west, there aren't very many options so I've seen Legacy, the testaments, and Bednar's talk "The Character of Christ" multiple times. But I still love them all every time!

Tuesday nights we get to go to a devotional at the Marriot Center and here's where I get to see most of my friends from main campus. I sing in the choir at the devo, but that's not saying mucch since the choir literally has more people in it than the rest of the audience does, and I love it!

This week a lot of my dear friends who I've been with constantly at every meal and gym time left (they were 6 weekers) so that's what a lot of the pictures are.

So since I'm at West campus, our cafeteria has been a make shirt pool house cafeteria and its kinda funny i think. I've had cereal every day for breakfast since I've been on a mission because there is no other option. but I love it! (Mom, they even have Blueberry Muffin Cereal!) I also grab a banana and throw some peanut butter on it or something so don't worry, i'm eating plenty. The new cafeteria opened today though actually, but its still the same food until next week (Yep cereal again this morning) The head cafeteria manager guy is our best friend and sneaks us nutella to put on our bagels or rolls or whatever and gives us food and sends our family pictures. His name is Chris Justice (We all call him Chief Justice) and he's awesome. Those little things make a big difference on a mission.

Well on Monday we had gym, like usual, but it just poured! And since there's no indoor gym option at west and there wasn't any lighting, all of us got to keep playing in it! Basketball in the rain is awesome! That's seriously been one of the funnest days at the MTC so far.

Well life is great and I absolutely can't wait to get out into the field in about 3 and a half weeks! Mission life is awesome and I'm so thankful for all the love and support I constantly feel from home and from my awesome friends on missions! I love you all!

Sisar Crandall

Finnish Sisters and Zone Leaders

Zone with Estonians, Hungarians, and Finns

Sister Trainees leaving to Hungary
Chilean Friends

Jessie Washburn (long-time friends)
Pink Wednesdays

Week 5 has Flown By!

Terve! Hei! Moi!

Yep, there are a billion ways to say hello and I just love it! So now I've been here over 5 weeks. Which means that in 3 weeks from Monday I'll be on a plane to Finland! Its super crazy to think about! I speak to a Finnish sister here (like she's actually from Finland) and sometimes it freaks me out and other times it motivates be, so I'm just excited to see what it'll be like to get into the field!

This week was pretty much the same. We got to teach TRC on Thursday and it was great just talking in Finnish with some RMs and sharing a scripture or something and really working on our small talk Finnish instead of our gospel lesson Finnish. Sometimes I don't know simple phrases like "How are you?" But I can teach all about the resurrection. So yeah, I've been working on non-religious Finnish this week and it's been coming along pretty well. On Monday I did kinda what's called a concentration day where I didn't say a single word of English the entire day. And you know what? Somehow, I got along just fine! My companion had to translate sometimes when I would speak to MTC workers or other non Finnish missionaries, but you really are surprised with how much you know when your limited vocabulary is all you're allowed to say! So the language is coming slowly but steadily and I'm very greatful for that. I'm now at the point where things like Thank you and You're Welcome and Hello only come out of my mouth in Finnish and then I sit there confused for a sec as to why the person I said it to didn't know what I said. I mean come on, doesn't everybody speak Finnish?? Well they will in about 3 weeks when I'm in Finland!!

Other than the language, nothing much changes from week to week here at the MTC. All of my 6 week friends who came when I did leave on Monday and so we're all super sad to say good bye to them. But after Monday we'll officially be the oldest people at the MTC! Oh and this week I jammed my finger pretty bad playing basketball. And since there's no doctor here at west campus, I wore this dumb make shift splint for a couple days until it stopped hurting and the swelling went down. And of course it was on my middle finger so I spent those days trying not to flip people off since that's not very missionary like... But this is nothing compared to mom's injury! Is that your first time getting stitches?? I want a picture! Dang our family gets hurt way too much.

(Kathryn with Elder Heiner)

Well the house and the ward sound awesome. All of the kids told me about how much they all love the creek and playing outside and just enjoying Utah's not hot summers. All of the little girls have also asked me how many boyfriends I have here at the MTC... Yeah I'm not sure they quite understand what a mission is yet...But it makes me and my district all laugh so that's okay :)

Well this week our district has really been focusing on patience, which is not an easy thing let me tell you... Our district is only 6 sisters in a classroom together for like 10 hours a day and sometimes tensions can get pretty high. But we have 2 amazing teachers who always remind us why we're there and why we're on missions and with our goal of patience, we all get along great :)

On P-days (Today) We get to go to main campus and eat and we absolutely love it. We all think that food is heavenly! So if any of my friends at Main Campus ever complain about the food just send them to West Campus where our cafeteria is a pool house. I'm fine with the food here, but we only get to go through the line once. Which means that all the Elders and all the Sisters here get the same amount of food. And I eat my entire plate so I can only imagine how some of the Elders feel, but hey, at least they won't gain weight here in the MTC!

Also shout out to my Companion's mom, Sister Howell, who sent me brownies this week (Of course my companion ate them too). I've loved getting all the letters and Dear Elders and I just feel so much love and support from everyone it's amazing :) I also forgot to mention that I did get the family pictures a while ago and I absolutely loved them! Ya'll are so good at keeping me updated on everything its great :) Minä Rakastan Teitä tosi paljon! (I love you all so much!)

Sisar Crandall

Pictures from Week 4

More of my companion, Sister Howell . . .

Elder Gaebler, Elder Schoefield, and Elder Smith . . .

My awesome district . . .

I'm the Map . . .

July 18, 2013 -- One Whole Month!

Hello there!

 

Well I've now officially been on a mission for one whole month! And that's just a crazy thought to me! Seriously though. In just 17 short months I'll be flying home to SLC and probably crying the whole way. Just thinking about it makes me try and work harder becuase I realize that time here flies by when youre immersed in the work! And I just love it!

 

Well this week was a pretty typical one at the MTC. The Finnish is coming along surprsingly well (Okay not that surprisingly well considering the gift of tongues is real). I've come to learn that Finnish is such a cool language! Tons of words in the language are compound words and it's so cool putting them together! Almost like a puzzle! Like the word for schedule is time board and the word for missionary is sent preacher and everything is just awesome! Also the word for charity and love are the same! How cool is that! Were now up to teaching two finnish lessons a day! One to our teachers and one to another sister missionary who plays as an investigator (theres not many people to practice finnish on). This means that I also get to play the investigator which is pretty cool sometimes! funny story. While I was in the room waiting for the missionaries to come teach me, they knocked on the door., And since I was so used to being the missionary and not the investigator I just knocked back! It took us a couple seconds just sitting there until we both busted out laughing and figured we were better missionaries than investigators. We also get to teach a lesson to a member every Thursday in TRC. usually its RMs who come in and we teach them and can practice giving lessons like we would after a dinner appointment or something. It's pretty cool but kinda intimidating because we cant just teach the basics like we can with the investigators but it's still fun and I love it!

 

Every Friday here we get Papa Johns pizza and it's like the best thing in the world. Everyone goes around shouting PIZZA PERJANTAI (Pizza friday) and its awesome. The little things mean a lot on a mission. Speaking of, Thanks so much for all the letters and the package! Shout out to my mom for sending my homemade bread and homemade jam! I ate it for literally every meal for a couple days and all my district had some as well and it was delicious!

 

Well I heard that Rhett and Savanna sang and played in church and I heard it was awesome! Good job guys! I'm so proud of you! And dad suggested that you guys do it again at my homecoming so keep practicing!

 

Well I hope you had a wonderful birthday mom! And that the move and everything went smoothly! Let me know how you like the ward and everything. I'm sending some pics now, but they take a while so sorry if I have to send them in like a billion emails. I'm also super jealous of the family all going to the reunion in VA without me! Send my love and hugs to everyone there!

 

Other than this, not much is new! I play speed at gym everyday and beat everyone as expected... There's this elder here who can sing all of the countries in the world in one song (kinda like 50 nifty untied states) and its pretty cool so he keeps us entertained. We practice our Finnish constantly and have days where we can only speak Finnish about 3 times a week now. Our last week here is going to be ONLY FINNISH So i getting ready for that!

 

Thank you so much for the wonderful Dear Elders and letters of support and love! I love all of you and I'm just excited to get to Finland! Only one more month left here in the MTC! I hope all is well and Im praying for you all! (In Finnish I might add). Stay awesome! Minä Rakastan Teitä!

 

Sisar Crandall

July 11 MTC Pictures

The Zone . . .

The District . . .

Elder Sellars and Sister Nielsen

Sister Hubner, Sister Dayton, and Sister Vincent

An Eternity and a Day!

Hello there!

Well I've now been at the mtc for three weeks and it seems like an eternity and a day all at the same time!

This week was great. For the 4th of July we got to watch 17 miracles (highly recommend) And then we got ice cream and sat on the lawn watching the Stadium of Fire fireworks. It's pretty cool that they let 3400 missionaries all do that. Then the rest of this week was pretty normal. We have a Finnish lesson basically every day and it's getting bumped up to twice a day soon. Its a lot of preparation but it's sure making the Finnish come fast! We now do SYL (Speak your language) days where we can only talk in Finnish the whole day. Everyone's a lot quieter, but then we are surprised how much we all really know!  I'm surprised how easy it is for me to remember vocab and how I accidentally say the Finnish words around the Spanish elders and then am confused as to why they dont understand because I dont even realize I do it! Dont get me wrong, Finnish is extremely difficult, but for some reason I'm not overwhelmed by it or anything and am progressing really well. its so nice when were in a lesson and the investigator answers one of our questions and I know I've never heard a single word he said before, but somehow I know exactly what he said.  It's pretty sweet.

Our investigators are really our teachers and sometimes they like to make us answer really difficult questions because they know the answers are really hard to say in Finnish. This week my teacher made me say 1820 in Finnish (Its like 50 letters long) and he just smirked as I struggled through it because I had been trying to say it all day and couldn't. So yeah they think they're funny, but really its a blessing that they push us. He also asked a very specific question about the fall of Adam because he knew I didn't know the word for fall. But I sure learned it after that lesson!

I also ran into an Elder Wright from Monticello who is friends with Kevin and Chris Webb so if you read this, he says hi!

We got a bunch of new Albanians and new Hungarians in our zone this week so now were up to 55 missionaries! I think that's a lot but I'm not sure compared to the other branches. We speak 4 different languages so all of our church meetings are in English but its cool being around each other. I can now say hello in Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, and Albanian! its crazy how all these missionaries are going to be all over the world in just a month or so!

Oh and congrats to Camille and her awesome AP scores! Following after her big sisters I see! Oh and I ran into Elder Sellers (Dylbot) A really good friend from BYU so that was super fun!

Well, on another random side note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! Of course I didn't forget! So everyone wish my dear mother a happy birthday on Monday okay? Okay good.

This letter is kinda shorter than normal, but I just wanna say thanks for all the wonderful love and support ive received! I think every member of my family writes me every week and its so awesome and i just love it! I also got some really nice notes from Suzanne, Aunt Roxanne, and Grandma Webb and lots of others so thank you so much! A mission is much more enjoyable when youre not doing it alone.