The Art of Tortilla Making

This week has been super interesting.  I love all of the people I meet, I just wish Hispanic people were more straight forward with us.  I wish they would tell us that they aren't interested, instead of saying that they are and then standing us up at our return appointment.  But oh well.

The branch I'm serving in here is super small, and so it's really hard to get the members interested/participating in member-missionary work.  There just aren't enough of them.  I think we could go through every family in just a week and a half if one of the members came out with us every day.  If not less.  But they are all fantastic people.  There would be lots more if all of the less-active members were more active.  But lots of them work on Sunday.  Because they need to.  I don't know how many people I have met that I wonder why they don't come to church.  And almost always it is because they work.

¿Adivinen qué?  (Or something like that...  It is supposed to say "Guess what.")

I learned how to make tortillas!!!!!  I have two pictures to share.  The first one is all the tortillas we made.

And the second one is of me and Hermana Sanchez, who taught us how to make them.

The tortilla I'm holding was, most likely, not made by me because it is perfect.  It is the right size and not torn or deformed in any way.  But hey, I'm not that bad considering it was my first time.

We have been teaching an investigator whose name is Sulema.  On our last visit, her husband/boyfriend wasn't there (they aren't married but they live together and have two kids) but another man who sometimes lives there with them was there for the appointment.  And he was very drunk.  (My companion says that he was drunk the other time he was there, too.)  In any case, he was super creepy.  He kept interrupting the lesson and asking if I was married or single.  And then he kept saying:  Me gusta tu, me gusta tu.  Which more or less means:  I lust after you.  GEHHHH.  And that's not the only thing.  When my companion and I are walking down the street, looking for the right house, sometimes there are  men drinking outside.  (Usually, they are already drunk.)  And they wolf-whistle  at us aaalllll the time.

I think there must be something wrong with drunk people's eyesight.  Or maybe they are all desperate.  Because, really...

Everybody thinks I'm the senior companion and that Hermana Newman is the newbie.  It was really funny because we met a boy who we all thought was at least 17 or 18 but was really only 15.  He guessed that Hermana Newman had 17 years (she has 21).  And then he guessed that I had 30, probably saw my face and dropped it to 25.

I will e-mail you more pictures next week.  These photos were taken by my companion.  There's something wrong with my card reader.  It will read my companion's card, but not mine.  So, next week, when I have bought a new card reader, the cheapest I can find, I will send more pictures.

Con amor,

Hermana Crotzer

I Made It!

I'm in Maryland now and I'm serving in the Columbia 3rd Spanish-speaking branch.  As always, time for e-mail is short, but I have the awesome-est experience to tell y'all.

Yesterday (Sunday) my companion Hermana Newman and I went to visit an investigator family.  They weren't home but another family was there waiting for them also.  So we waited for the investigator family for a little while and talked with this other family (in Spanish) and we got a return appointment!  As we were leaving, we saw one of our other investigators across the street so we went to talk with him.  While we were giving him a short little message, he would stop the people coming in and out of the apartment and the people walking by and tell them to listen to us.  Eventually we were teaching about five people at one time and we have return appointments with two of them.  It was soooo cool!

The people here are all really nice and they always offer us food or something to drink, even if they aren't interested in hearing from us.

I woke up in the middle of the night last night and I thought it was past the time we were supposed to get up.  I must have said something because my companion woke up and asked what was going on.  She told me that it was midnight and that I could go back to sleep.  Apparently I was sleep talking later and I was introducing myself to someone in Spanish...  I'm sorry Hermana Newman for waking you up TWICE last night!!!!!

It's been great here.  Church can be kind of overwhelming, because I don't understand a lot of what is going on.  When we are in appointments, I can say that I am learning Spanish and people will speak to us really, really slowly.  Like, really slowly.  And most of the people we have spoken to actually know at least a little English.  So if I really don't understand something, they will explain it in English.  Or at least try to.  But they don't do that in church.  It would be like:  "Hey everybody, I didn't understand that last word.  Can you pause your talk and explain it to me?"  Yeah... I don't think a lot of people would like that.  Just sayin'.

My new address is

Hermana Catherine Crotzer
Maryland Baltimore Mission
4785 Dorsey Hall Dr Ste 105
Ellicott City, MD 21042

'Til next week --
Hermana Crotzer

Change of Plans

Catherine has received her re-assignment while she awaits her visa to Argentina.  She leaves the MTC July 16th for the Maryland Baltimore mission.  Her brief e-mail says that there were so many missionaries receiving re-assignments this week and only four phones, so she was unable to call.

She did not include any additional info (such as an address), but here is the address for the Maryland Baltimore mission home, which can get letters and packages to her until we know more:

Hermana Catherine Crotzer

Maryland Baltimore Mission

4785 Dorsey Hall Dr Ste 105

Ellicott City, MD 21042

The Blog Editors

One More Week at MTC, Then ???

I can't believe that this is my last week in the MTC!  I'm supposed to get my travel plans tomorrow.  Hopefully.  And because I don't have my visa yet, I will get reassigned state-side for a little while.  I'll tell you all where when I know.  But you will either have to wait a whole week or find out from my parents.  I get to call them and tell them where I'm going.  (You hear that, Mama and Papa?  Somebody had better be home and answer the phone because I only get one call.)

My companion and I got to Skype chat a lesson with someone in Spain who only (for the most part) spoke Spanish.  She definitely made fun of our Spanish and prayed for help for us to learn the language.  But she was really awesome -- I really liked her.  She actually has a mission call to Argentina but it's in a different mission than me.

I get a haircut later today and I'm super stoked.  I guess it's just because it's a change in my schedule.  I know that some people don't advise the MTC haircuts but...  I need one to leave and I kinda want to leave someday.

I've noticed that people laugh at me and the things I say a lot.  I don't think that I am particularly funny so I must just sound stupid a lot of the time.  In English and in Spanish.  But the rest of the people in my district are really funny and are all great.  I'm totally going to miss them when I get my reassignment.  And we aren't all going to the same mission so I might not see any of them after I leave the MTC.  Awww...  :(

So it turns out that things made in the USA are quality.  My stain stick from 1988, made here in 'Merica still works.  It's like a giant glue stick of stain removing awesomeness.

To all you who have sent me letters, I LOVE YOU.  Thank you so much.  If you don't want to hear from me about the Gospel, it's all good.  I can tell you about the lunch wrap bar here at the MTC.  Or something else a tad more interesting.  Like how the mice and birds here are really fat.  Just please write to me!  It's like Christmas when I get a letter.  And  then there are packages.  Those are like Christmas, Easter, my birthday and Halloween all wrapped in one.  When I got my sweater from home it was like:  I GOT MY SWEATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So Sister Jones, I love you.  Thank you so much for the treat.  :) X 10 or so.  But don't send me stuff just 'cuz I said that.  It would make me feel bad.

Some Elders don't know how to do laundry.  I've already had three elders ask me today how to use the dryer/washer.  It was funny.  One of them asked if people came and cleaned the lint thingies in the dryer each morning or if he was supposed to do it before each load.  Another asked where he was supposed to put the soap in the washer.  And the last one asked if you even need to use soap.  Thank goodness for sister missionaries.

Added to the above paragraph, they don't know how to add photos to e-mails either.  I feel like I've explained it a million times.  Meh...

I don't really have much else to say.  I realize looking back on this letter that it isn't terribly spiritual compared to some others.  We've just been teaching our investigators, studying Spanish and learning more about the Gospel.  Both of our investigators are at the same place now.

Talk to y'all later.

Love,
Hermana Crotzer

Editor's note:  We will post Catherine's new address as soon as we hear anything.

And, yes, that stain remover stick is older than Catherine, which is what happens when you raid other people's cupboards -- in this case Grandpa's -- to save money on missionary supplies.  :)

The Cream Soda Tree at the MTC

The past week was pretty good but Tuesday in particular was fantastic. 

One of our investigators, Jorge, was having a hard time with prayer.  I don't know if he was uncomfortable with it or what.  He was happy to let other people say his prayers for him but he didn't want to say them himself.  Anyway, we planned a lesson about how prayer was super important after he told us in our last lesson that he wasn't ready.  We hoped, "Please let this not be too pushy, please."  But it felt right. 

So we asked Jorge how church went.  (He went with his family.)  And his answer was PERFECT!  In priesthood meeting he learned about how he was an example to his children.  Then we asked him how he defined himself.  (In a less pretty, less articulate way, because we didn't know those words in espanol.)  He told us all these wonderful great things and then we had him read the scripture in Abraham 3:22-23.  We explained to him, "YOU are a child of God.  You were chosen like Abraham was."  AHHHH!  It was perfect!  We also had him read the Bible dictionary entry on prayer.  (Y'all should read it some time.)  Then we asked him to pray.  AND HE DID!  And he agreed to be baptized, too! 

All I know is that this lesson was soooo good because the Spirit was there and because of Jorge.  It wasn't us. 

Our Tuesday devotional was really good, too.  The speaker was in the Primary presidency, I think.  His talk centered around the quote, "Whate'er thou art, act well thy part." 

After devotionals, we have a district devotional review where we talk about what we learned.  The man who was in charge made a phone call chat thing for us.  It's hard for me to explain.  But we got to see a phone and one of the Elders got to hold it.  (Just kidding.  It's not that big of a deal.  It's kind of a joke for us.)  Anyway, the guy on the other end answers his phone and asks:  "Ya got a roomful of missionaries right now?"  It was really funny.  I'm sorry I can't tell it better. 

This is a picture of my district.  We are all going to Argentina.  It goes:  Rowley, Graves, Parks, Cullimore, Oakey, Chandler, Wyeth, and me. 

Did you know that the Church doesn't use a King James Version of the Bible translated into Spanish for the Spanish-language scriptures?  Instead, the LDS Spanish-language Bible that we use is a revision of the 1909 Reina-Valera translation.  And the Bible dictionary is combined with the topical guide in the back of El Libro de Mormon (Book of Mormon).  Neat, huh?

On a less spiritual note:  This is a picture of me smelling the cream soda tree at the MTC.  It really does smell like cream soda!  :) 

At first we all thought it was the older missionaries playing pranks on the newbies to get them to smell a tree.  Well yeah, it is kinda that.  But honest, it really does smell like cream soda. 

I wish y'all could have seen Elder Rowley.  He looked around to make sure nobody was watching and then took a quick whiff.  He was all, "Wow... It really does smell like cream soda."  And we all said, "Told you so."  It was a riot. 

I have to do my laundry now.  Sooo... till next week I guess. 

Love, 

Hermana Crotzer

Editor's note:  Church services on Sundays at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints commonly consist of three blocks of time, each about one hour long.  The first hour is Sacrament meeting, which is a worship service that includes opening and closing prayers, the bread and water portion of the service (called the Sacrament), two or three talks (akin to short sermons), and the singing of hymns.  The talks are given by members of the congregation, as there is no paid clergy.

During the second and third hours, children meet separately from adults for their own age-appropriate Sunday school lessons.  For adults during the second hour, men and women meet together and a Sunday school lesson on gospel doctrine is usually taught.  During the third hour, the men and women meet separately, the men in what is commonly referred to as priesthood meeting and the women in what is commonly referred to as Relief Society.

The Halfway Mark at the MTC

Can you believe I'm already half way through my MTC experience?!  Because I can't!

Honestly, life here really isn't that interesting.  We study.  A lot.  But every once in a while, something super awesome happens.  Like the missionary broadcast on Sunday, and this last Tuesday's devotional.

Starting with the Sunday broadcast:  I sang in the choir and I was right up in the front.  I was literally in the first full row behind the speaker.  The General Authorities were soooo close.  Elder Holland and Elder Bednar WAVED at me.  (Well... the choir really.  But I was front and center!)  I'm amazed so many people have found me but apparently I'm famous.  (I'm in the broadcast cover picture or something.)

Moving on to this last Tuesday's devotional:  All of us missionaries were really excited because we thought that a general authority would be giving the devotional.  They are all still here on campus so it never crossed our minds that they might not.  In any case, it wasn't a general authority, it was the lady that wrote most of the children hymns in the Children's Hymn Book.  She's famous in the church.  Apparently.  Her husband was there with her and he started off the devotional with a short talk and then it was her turn.  When she told us all how they had met, he got up and kissed her!  In front of, ohhh... 2700 missionaries.  It was awesome.  Something the lady said that night:  "I can read him like a book.  I just don't know what page he's on today."  I loved it.

For some reason, we were allowed to go back to the dorms early last night after devotional.  So I was in bed, asleep, by 9:30.  It was fantastic.  I feel so refreshed!

We have another new investigator.  His name is Jorge and I love him.  I love all of the other investigators but I LOVE Jorge.  He's just awesome and he's so fun!  His family aren't members but they have been going to the 'Mormon' church for two years and Jorge just wants to know what they are being taught.  He loves getting taught by us and he helps us with our Spanish.  I know that some of the other sisters in my district hate it [when they are corrected].  They say it makes them feel stupid but I love it.  It means that he is actually listening and I never feel stupid when he corrects me.  Because he does it in such a nice way.  Ahhhh...  It's fantastic.

I attached pictures.  This first one is my companion, Hermana Wyeth. 



 

Another is outside of our window.  I don't trust sheets to get me down four stories if I plan on running away.  Just kidding. 



 

And the last one is the back of my name tag.  My dork-dot is the orange thing and the blue smiley face is to remind me to smile all the time.

Love,
Hermana Crotzer

Editor's notes:  We've had some questions about some of the terms Catherine uses, so we want to add some more info for those not familiar with "Mormon-speak."  :)

An investigator is simply someone who is interested in learning more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

A devotional is a weekly gathering of all the missionaries to hear an inspirational talk.  Usually one speaker is featured, such as the author of the children's hymns that Catherine speaks about above.

A general authority is a term for any of the senior leaders of the Church.  The First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the First and Second Quorums of the Seventy and the Presiding Bishopric are all known as General Authorities. 

Catherine's Surprise Revealed!

Look at all these singing missionaries!!!  We know one of them!  :)  


A 3,000-member choir of full-time missionaries and other Latter-day Saints
provided the music for the Work of Salvation worldwide leadership broadcast
in the Marriott Center on the campus of Brigham Young University
on Sunday, 23 June 2013. 
© 2013 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc.  All rights reserved.

Catherine can just barely be seen in the lower left corner of this news release photo.  She is the first young woman shown in the bottom row and is wearing a light peach short-sleeved blouse.  As a member of the MTC choir, she sang with a LOT of other missionaries in a special broadcast about the future of missionary work.

During the broadcast, it was announced that missionaries will begin using innovative approaches to missionary work, including the use of the internet and the opening of local meetinghouses to guided tours.

One news article explains that the number of full-time missionaries worldwide has dramatically increased from some 52,000 to an unprecedented 70,274 after the October 2012 announcement that the age of eligibility for service would be lowered from 19 to 18 for men and from 21 to 19 for women.  Fifty-eight new missions were created to accommodate the increase, bringing the total number of missions worldwide to 405.

The article goes on to quote Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve:

“We have asked, ‘What will all these missionaries do?’” said Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve in his address during the broadcast.  “Our answer is that they will do the same thing that missionaries have always done; they will follow the Savior Jesus Christ and preach His restored gospel.”

In this digital age, he said, the use of the internet will be an important method of contact, because for people today, online media are often their main point of contact with others, even close friends.

“During less-productive times of the day—chiefly in the mornings—missionaries will use computers in meetinghouses and other Church facilities to contact investigators and members, work with local priesthood leaders and missionary leaders, receive and contact referrals, follow up on commitments, confirm appointments, and teach principles from [the missionary guide] Preach My Gospel using Mormon.org, Facebook, blogs, email, and text messages,” Elder Perry said.

Internet access and use of digital devices by missionaries will be introduced in phases over the next several months and into next year.

We look forward to hearing from Catherine on her next P-day.  We're guessing the news that she will begin using the internet and digital technologies as part of her work will be welcome news!  :) 

A second news article about the broadcast points out that female missionaries comprise more than 20 percent of the total number of missionaries, which translates to 14,650 young women now serving missions.  (Go girls!)  The Church announced in April 2013 that the increasing number of female missionaries has led to the creation of a mission leadership council that will include both men and women as missionary leaders.  Yay!

If you'd like to view the entire broadcast, it is available here:

http://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/special-broadcast?lang=eng

The Blog Editors