So you know how I e-mailed just a few weeks ago about how Sister Curtis left and I got a new companion, Sister Martin? Well, after being with her for about a month now, we just got move calls last night and I will be staying in West Point, but she will be leaving! It was so unexpected and I am so so sad to see her go after such a short amount of time here, but that’s just how it goes sometimes I guess! We don’t know where she’s going yet and I don’t know who my new companion will be, but I’ll let you know next week!

We’ve been teaching this new investigator, Henry, and he’s doing so well! He has a real desire to know what his purpose here on earth is and told us in our lesson with him that one of the things that he wants most out of life is to help others be happier. Luckily, we know exactly how to help him figure out both of those things! The only problem is that he doesn’t live in our area so we will have to turn him over to some elders this week. When we went to go see him, we accidentally got out at the wrong exit of the subway and rushed to the chapel so that we could meet him on time. Right as we got there, he called us saying that he was waiting for us at the MTR exit because he didn’t know how to get to the church. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen two white girls in dresses running down the streets of Hong Kong at night, but it makes for a pretty funny scene! I was sweating so much when we saw him that he pulled out a tissue for me to wipe my face haha! Things turned out well though and he should be all set to be turned over to the elders next week!

There is a former investigator that I have been trying to get ahold of for the past month or so and we finally got to see her for the first time this week! We just met her at HKU and got to know her and taught a short lesson, and she was so cute! She seemed really happy to meet with us and remembered the missionaries from before, the only problem is that she is super busy with classes and tests right now, so we don’t know how much we’ll be able to see her. One of the biggest problems that we face here is that people are just always so busy that it’s hard to even see them once a week sometimes. That means that seeing them enough to actually help them progress is very difficult. But luckily we are very persistent missionaries and we try to keep in touch with them!

Lately I’ve kind of been going through a crisis. I’ve realized that there are so many foods here that I still haven’t tried! So last week was my fruit kick and I bought a whole bunch of random fruits from the grocery store. Probably the most adventurous one that I tried was one simply labeled “Chinese fruit” which didn’t really have any flavor and really wasn’t that enjoyable. But I also figured out that guava is delicious!! It was money well spent. We’ll see what I end up buying this week…

This week we also got to go to the temple and I know that I say this every time, but it was so great!! It really does help you to just kind of set aside any care that has been weighing you down and puts things into a more eternal perspective. It is hard to feel stressed or worried when you are sitting in the house of the Lord. It was also a cool experience because our session was actually in Indonesian, so we were in a room surround by people from Indonesia who had sacrificed so much to be able to come to the temple. It really helped me to feel more of an appreciation for the temple and realize what a sacred gift it is. There are people who sacrifice so much to be able to go there! Do I myself realize what a unique opportunity it is to be able to attend?

For the past 2 months, we missionaries and our ward correlators have been working really hard to put on a Halloween activity for the ward. We have spent countless hours planning, and calling, and trying to put things together so that it is a success. Shout out to the awesome people in our ward who worked so hard and did an amazing job with it! We ended up having SO MANY people there–it was so great! I think that the church was more crowded than it usually is on Sundays! There were so many ward members’ friends that came to the activity and we were able to get so many numbers of potential investigators. And the best part is that a lot of people that came were families which is so exciting because it’s so hard to find families to teach! Oh man, it really was just so good! Halloween really isn’t a big thing here, but it was still a fun activity and turned out so well!

Matthew 16

24 ¶Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

I just loved these scripture when I read them the other day. It just really made me think about what it is that I value in life and the way that I am spending my time. It is
so crucial that we just get to work and lose ourselves in the service of others. It’s kind of contradictory, but the only way that we can actually improve ourselves and become better is by forgetting about ourselves and focusing on the needs of others. I am grateful for the ultimate example that our Savior gave us of how to selflessly serve others and truly live a full and rewarding life. I know that as we serve others, not only does it help others around us, but it also strengthens us and helps us to align our will with the Lord’s. If you just get lost in the work of the Lord, you will get back so much more than you ever sacrificed. In the end when we are able to see all of the blessings that God has set aside for us, we will ask, “is that all that was required of me?”

I love you all! Thanks for your support!

Love,
Sister Crockett

Pictures:
1) our district at the temple

2) part of the Halloween activity
3) one of our members went to Korea and bought us back some shirts, so we wore them to church on Sunday!
4) some super good fungus that I ate. Seriously though, it was really good.
5) some kids at the activity!