He loveth our souls (Alma 24:14)

Dear Family,

I am laughing just thinking about this last week! It was so crazy busy! I am so happy because I thought for sure me leaving Halifax I would be exiled some where in the middle of no where which is partially true, but there are so many amazing people here! I have such a vision for this area and we are doing all we can to achieve that goal! We are doing all we can to strengthen the ward here, because in doing so we will be able to bring new people into in. Its slow hard work, but its going to be amazing! I love working in a family ward. To be honest at first I was really nervous because I thought, O man am I going to be able to teach people older than me, and I going to be able to relate to these people...etc...etc.....But no its so much fun! It may sound funny, but I am learning a lot about being a good wife and mother. The mission is teaching me so much!
Last night I was as I was getting ready for bed I just started thinking about everything that I have experience thus far and it's amazing! I was thinking how in the world can I put what I have learned in to words so here it goes: Ive never felt so much pain, I've never felt so much love.....Ive never had the time go so slow, Ive never had it go so fast.....Ive never been so tired, Ive never been more alive.......Ive never been so weak, Ive never been so strong.....Ive never felt so alone, Ive never felt closer to God.....A mission is hard to explain, but its the best thing ever! I am so grateful to God that he has given me this opportunity to serve Him! This morning as I was reading my scriptures I am came across some verse that just rand to true to me and it's really just how I feel!
Alma 24:7-17
7Now, these are the words which he said unto the people concerning the matter: I thank my God, my beloved people, that our great God has in goodness sent these our brethren, the Nephites, unto us to preach unto us, and to convince us of the atraditions of our wicked fathers.

8And behold, I thank my great God that he has given us a portion of his Spirit to soften our hearts, that we have aopened a correspondence with these brethren, the Nephites.
9And behold, I also thank my God, that by opening this correspondence we have been convinced of our asins, and of the many murders which we have committed.
10And I also thank my God, yea, my great God, that he hath granted unto us that we might repent of these things, and also that he hath aforgiven us of those our many sins and murders which we have committed, and taken away the bguilt from our hearts, through the merits of his Son.
11And now behold, my brethren, since it has been all that we could do (as we were the most lost of all mankind) to repent of all our sins and the many murders which we have committed, and to get God to atake them away from our hearts, for it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God that he would take away our stain—
12Now, my best beloved brethren, since God hath taken away our stains, and our swords have become bright, then let us stain our swords no more with the blood of our brethren.
13Behold, I say unto you, Nay, let us retain our swords that they be not stained with the blood of our brethren; for perhaps, if we should stain our swords aagain they can no more be bwashed bright through the blood of the Son of our great God, which shall be shed for the atonement of our sins.
14And the great God has had mercy on us, and made these things known unto us that we might not perish; yea, and he has made these things known unto us beforehand, because he loveth our asouls as well as he loveth our children; therefore, in his mercy he doth visit us by his angels, that the bplan of salvation might be made known unto us as well as unto future generations.
15Oh, how merciful is our God! And now behold, since it has been as much as we could do to get our stains taken away from us, and our swords are made bright, let us ahide them away that they may be kept bright, as a testimony to our God at the last day, or at the day that we shall be brought to stand before him to be judged, that we have not stained our swords in the blood of our brethren since he imparted his word unto us and has made us bclean thereby.
16And now, my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold, we will hide away our swords, yea, even we will bury them deep in the earth, that they may be kept bright, as a testimony that we have never used them, at the last day; and if our brethren destroy us, behold, we shall ago to our God and shall be saved.
17And now it came to pass that when the king had made an end of these sayings, and all the people were assembled together, they took their swords, and all the weapons which were used for the shedding of man’s blood, and they did abury them up deep in the earth.

I love the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's they are so amazing! This story just helps me understand even more how the Atonement of Jesus Christ works. It changes our hearts and we don't want to sin anymore. I have felt this in my life and I am so happy that I have been an instrument in the hands of God to help his precious children also understand this. Jesus Christ is the way, this is no other name given whereby man can be saved. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that through him I can live with my Heavenly Father again!

So of course like always a lot happened this week. Last night we went to a dinner appointment with the Lopez family. They are from Mexico and they made the most amazing Mexican food ever! it reminded me of home! It awesome! So its been snowing on and off all week and one day I think it was last Tuesday we went knocking out in a place called Lincoln. We decided to take our snow shovels and while two people knocked on the door the other one would shovel their porch and drive way. That day we softened a lot of people's hearts, got a good workout, and have some sweet potentials! It was so much fun and it really made the time go by so fast! I love serving!!
So we have this investigator named Joan. She is from Trinidad and she is awesome! They only problem is that she hasn't really been taking this seriously so we were thinking of "dropping" her. But I will tell you what we had one of the most amazing lessons of my mission with her. The spirit was so strong and I loved it! She had just been flipping through the Book of Mormon and she came across a verse in Moroni 8 where it talks about infant baptism. She read it to us and then told us she has a desire to get baptized! After the lesson I was so happy! It was awesome. It just goes to show that persistence pays off!
Yesterday we had a lesson with new investigator named Bo. He is from china, he is here going to school. We gave him a tour of the church and had a very powerful lesson. He has no belief in God, but he wants to know if he is there. It was super sweet!
Also I must say I love my companions I was super nervous to be in a trio, but we are a really great team together! I wish you could see us work. This place it awesome. I am doing well! By the way happy Valentine's Day!! I love you all!

Love,

Sister Crofts