Fall Harvest

Dear Family,

     This week was a crazy hectic one just like it sounds like Brady had (because every missionaries week is crazy and hectic in some fashion haha) but it was very good.  We had a great time with all 100+ of us missionaries at the Twins game and Zone Conference the next day was very uplifting and inspring.  We've focused a lot on the finding and planning aspects of missionary work and now President Clements has been training on how to improve our teaching.  That's what most of the training we were assigned to give at the conference and what he trained on as well.  It's going to be a great thing to help us all do a lot better and really help the mission as a whole to move in a upward direction.  We have set a goal to have a great "Fall Harvest" here in the mission by helping 100 souls come to Christ over the next 3 months of September, October, and November.  We are working hard to do our part to build up the people we have so that our efforts can help in bringing people to Christ for all of those months and not just what we have already set up in September.

     I can't believe September is already here!  And that means Tomatoe Days on Labor Day! haha.  September is looking good for us still.  Sister M is scheduled and had already been interviewed to be baptized on this upcoming Saturday.  We are really excited for her!  She's been battling smoking for a long time now and she has finally kicked the habit.  We all fasted this past Sunday together that she will be strengthened to overcome temptation and the devil this week and throughout the coming months and years.  She had grown an amazing amount and it's a great blessing to be a missionary in helping someone crawl over, under, and through the obstacles that they may have in their life and being apart of that evey step of the way.  It can get frustrating beause all you can do is encourage but when the changes are made it's almost like you yourself have overcome that obstacle too.  That's the way we feel with Sister M.  Her faith and knowledge have grown a lot and with the new hometeachers she has things should ciontinue to only improve for her.

     We had a couple lessons this week with Brother and Sister M again and they are still doing awesome!  The lesson we had on Saturday was at a member's house.  We had a bbq there and the Ms brought some more of the Kala, that we made at their house, to go along with the hotdogs and salads haha.  They told me because I know the Liberian handshake from my time in Shingle Creek and I now have eaten and knwo how to cook so much of their food I'm practically Liberian haha!  That lesson after the bbq at the M family home was so great.  We taught about the Word of Wisodom but what's funny is that Brother M has already been telling us how important it is to eat healthy and stay in shape, so literally everything we taught about keeping ourselves physically and spiritually in shape and healthy they agreed with and were already doing.  Now they just have some more doctrine to back up their beliefs.  It was funny when we extend the commitment to live it Brother M just looked at me and said, "Come on Craft you know I'm already doing that!" haha Sometimes they only call us by our last names and no matter who you are they are very honest straight forward people haha.  He did say yes after that but it was just funny to seee how different it can be when we teach one person something that they have a really hard time with doing and other people we teach the exactly same thing to can have such strong agreeances and no questions of doubts about doing it.  The Lord prepares each person in their own way to hear and come to know the message is true, but no matter their path and the curves they have to follow, sometimes very faithful and fearfully, they all come to the same witness and enter the same gate to the straight and narrow path that Nephi talks about.

     I love this work and I love all of you!  I can't believe that the time is going like it is!  Thanks for your continued support and love for your.  Your prayers are very much appreciated and heard!  Talk to you again soon.

Love, Elder A. Craft  ( The "A" is for African now ;) haha)