Closing Down Kasson . . . On to Brooklyn Center/Brooklyn Park

Crafts,

     Man that was so sweet yesterday!!  I was a little frustrated that the camera I was on wouldn't work that well, but it wasn't exactly the nicest camera either.  At least I got to use one though and see everyone.  I was very grateful for that!!  Maybe someday we can Skype each week Mom but I wouldn't get your hopes up haha.

     Well today has been a crazy pouring thunderstorm all morning!  It's pretty intense!  What did I tell you about the weather yesterday Kat?  haha The curse lives on.   But like I said yesterday it was transfer calls this morning.  Despite what I thought and said yesterday about this area apparently the Lord has other plans for it.  Elder Judkins and I are both leaving.  They're pulling missionaries out of Kasson for probably 9 months to a year is what President Howell said, but it won't be his decision by that time anyway.  We were both kind of sad because we've been trying so hard and the members are working to really try and build the kingdom in that area too.  President Howell told us that we were doing amazing things and was really proud of what we had accomplished there.  It just happens to smaller areas sometimes.  We'll have to see what happens in that area over the remainder of my mission and see if they do open it back up.  We are sad that we can't teach Eddy anymore or some of the potential investigators that we had been working with.  Oh well like I said it's in the Lord's hands and he will provide a way for them to receive and accept the gospel into their lives.  Now comes the fun part over the next couple days of not only packing up our luggage but cleaning out the whole apartment.  They're going to be taking our supplies and stuff to the a new area in the Rochester Zone that they're opening called Preston.  That area will probably get our car too.  In case you hadn't guessed unfortunately Elder Judkins and I are not staying together for this next transfer.  That makes 5 new companions for 5 transfers for me.  We'll see if this next companion is from Utah too. haha  Remember how we actually joked about me going to a bike area for the summer?  Well that's exactly what happened!  I'm headed up to the North Shingle Creek Ward.  That's where Elder Katoa came to Menomonie from.  It's North Minneapolis and the area covers the large cities of Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park.  So I'll be right next to downtown and everyone knows this area in the mission as "The Hood" haha.  So it's a good thing I grew up in the metropolis of Hooper, Utah.   I should fit right in ;).  I'm excited though.  I've been there once for a baptism that Elder Katoa had us go back to of a guy that he was teaching, so I've met some of the members there too.  It should be really good.  My companions name is Elder Hatch who's been out 3 months and has been trained that whole time in Brooklyn Center/Brooklyn Park.   As for Elder Judkins he's staying down in Southern Minnesota.  His new area is Albert Lea and should be really good for him.  He's a good missionary that I'm glad I was able to serve with and tell stories about our high school soccer games too haha.

     Sorry there's not much else to write.  Thanks for the love support and prayers from you guys though.  It's helped me out a lot!  I really loved being able to just see all you and talk to you yesterday.  I'm glad that I can keep you informed enough that not everyone had to ask a ton of questions.  I'm going to try and attach some pictures and get some other ones sent, Natalie haha.  I hope everyone's doing well still from yesterday.  I can't wait to hear from you guys again.

Love, Elder Alexander James Craft

Preparing for Mother's Day

Hello Crafts,

     All I have to say first is wow!  I couldn't believe the news about Osama Bin Laden when mom told it to me.  That's crazy!  On a happier note though I'm glad to see that there were no new accidents to report on this week.  That's always good!  Everyone just keep doing what we learned in drivers ed and it should be fine! haha jk ;)

     Well May is officially here now, so I'm just waiting, like it sounds like you guys are too, for the flowers that are promised from all the snow and thunder showers.  We're just barely starting to get the buds on most of the trees to come in.  When we woke up this morning we were going to go running, but we wussed out when we saw that the air temperature itself was only 23 degrees.  We're just building more character I guess. haha I can't believe it's still this cold and it's almost Mother's Day!

    Speaking of Mother's Day.  I know that you guys had some questions about this whole Skype call next week, and I've been thinking maybe I'll just make a regular phone call and not let you guys see my face haha.  I mean getting to see me already might just take away the whole surprise and suspense of seeing me for the first time at the end of 2 years haha. ;)  JK  So I'm going to be using Brother Josephson's account and webcam that they have at their house since it's already set up.  His account name is russjjo, and I think he should have that 5.0 software because he's pretty up to date with his computer and stuff like that.  If there is a problem for some reason and we can't get through I'll just give you a quick call to see what's going on since I'm allowed to.  I'm going to try and make the call around 3 pm here so it will be 2 pm there you guys out west and 4 pm for Nick I guess.  I hope that time works for everyone.  I thought it should give everyone enough time to get home from church and get everything done before. Hopefully. Thanks for the heads up about the package too.  I'll be looking for it.

     So it was a pretty good day at church here for us.  It'd was fast and testimony meeting like usual for the first Sunday of the month.  The awesome part about it is that our investigator Eddy that we' haven't really gotten to see much recently came to sacrament meeting with his 2 boys!  We were so excited when we got to visit him last week and invited him to church and he said he could come because he had the weekend off!  It was even better that he actually did make it there.  He was the first investigator the missionaries have had to church in over 6 months I think if not much longer.  So it was good for the members to see that we are working and teaching people.  We were kinda nervous to bring him to fast and testimony meeting though because you never know what the members might "have a testimony of".  haha Especially in the Kasson branch.  Luckily the testimonies were all good with nothing to scary, blasphemes, or deep doctrine brought up.  Probably cause we were just praying for the simple testimonies the whole time. haha  Either way we were just pumped that he was able to come.  It was kinda funny he asked if there was an offering plate they were going to pass around at the end because he's grown up Catholic.  I explained to him briefly about what tithing was that he'd heard a few people's testimonies of and he seemed to understand it.  He even grabbed a tithing envelope on his way out the door.  So like I said it was a good day at church!  Unfortunately later in the day it wasn't as good.  Wouldn't you know that after we'd seen that great miracle with Eddy that Satan has to throw us for a loop and we got a text from one of our other really solid investigators saying he wanted to just "sit tight where he's at" and he "doesn't want to waste our time".  Even though we were really sad and disappointed I know that the Lord will continue to bless us with people that are searching and need the gospel in their lives. We'll just have to keep tracting and looking a little harder to kind them that's all. haha

     It's crazy to think about the guys I know that will be coming home off their missions soon.  Like Mom had mentioned there's Jordan Bowden,  Landon Parker ina  couple weeks, KC John in June, Tyler Grange in July, and Jared Rose around that same time in the fall along with Tanner Wayment.  It's just weird to me now that I'm out here immersed in missionary work to think about them going home. haha

     Well that's all I really have to share that's new here in Kasson.  I'm just waiting for this myth of summer to show up that I keep hearing about just like you guys.  I hope everything's going well and good luck to Brady and Natalie finishing school and everyone else with finals or that are just starting.  I love you guys and can't wait to talk to you next week! 

Love, Alex

Easter

Hello Craft Family,

     Sorry that this might be a little short but there isn't a whole lot to report on form here in food old Kasson or to respond to.

     Thank you so much for the letters and package from everyone!  Elder Judkins didn't get his "Easter" package until this morning so we shared mine for Easter to make it kinda traditional for both of us.  All the candy in there was great!  I really like the pictures I got and your letter that Dad supposedly his Mom. :) haha You guys really are the best!  Easter really did seem to have a lot more meaning this year for me.  We gave lessons to a couple families this week and one to some members yesterday about Easter and the Atonement.  It's such a powerful, incomprehensible, infinite sacrifice that I am so eternally grateful for and only just beginning to try and understand and appreciate the true magnitude of it.  Mom had asked about Easter and Christmas being much more powerful and spiritual while I'm on my mission, and that is so true!  I tried to focus on the true meaning of Christ's birth and the Atonement at those times of year when I was home, but all of you that have served missions, and as Brady will soon find out, know and have seen that it's much different when you are set apart from the world and the other things that can distract from those true meanings.  Not only trying to teach people about the power of what Christ's Earthly ministry really means for all of us as God's Children and have them accept it, but trying to accept that and relying wholly on Him for myself at this time in my life is what really helps me try, as I had mentioned, to understand and appreciate the gravity of it all.  It's just amazing to me!

     It's sounds like you all had a pretty good time for Easter too I'm assuming.  That's good!  Our Easterlike I said was really good and we even got to eat at some members house and have a traditional Easter Dinner complete with ham.  She let us take a bunch of the stuff home too so we can complete the tradition with left over ham sandwiches for the next couple days.  Sadly however, we didn't color eggs this year so that will just have to wait a little while until I get home. :)  Even though i did mention that Easter and Christmas are more powerful and spiritual on a mission I still think that Christmas and Mother's Day are my favorite ones because I get to make long distance phone calls!  I'm pretty excited for this Skype call!  Who all is going to be able to get on it?  That way I know who I need to talk to separately.  I'm going to get my account set up hopefully this week or next.   I have to talk to the Josephson's, the people that let us stay in their basement, because they have  a web cam and had the missionaries do it at their house for Christmas.  They've just been kind of busy recently or else I'd have it done to give you the account.  Their son Steven, our Branch Mission leader, had been packing and getting ready to go back to college for the past couple weeks.  He left this morning to make the long drive back out to Colorado.  So some news to come might be who our new Branch Mission leader is if we get one haha.

     Man what's with you guys and car accidents all the sudden though?  That's pretty crazy to hear about and see the pictures of!  I'm so glad that everyone's doing fine and no one got hurt in either one of those.  I will say this though at least now all evidence of any piece a certain Rodeo took out of the Sentra bumper will now be erased.  The bad part is that we're just having to pay and replace it haha.

   
     As for the weather it sounds like you're not doing much better then we are here.  I'm not going to mention any more predictions about it getting warm though because the past 2 times I've done that it's snowed the next day.  And that's what happened here Tuesday and Wednesday!  So I'm just as sick and tired of the cold and wet as you guys probably are.  I'm hoping since it is almost MAY we might get a change and start to have some leaves or flowers growing here.  Hopefully. haha

     Well I don't have much else to report on here from the land of Perma Frost. haha I hope that besides the craziness I've already mentioned that everyone's doing great!  I'm going to respond to all your letters today and hopefully get some pictures sent if the stupid machine at Wal-Mart cooperates.  Thanks so much for all the continued love, support, and prayers fron you guys!  It means alot and i know that they help!  I love you all and can't wait to talk to you again!

Love, Alex

Crazy Spring Weather

Dear Family,

     I think Mom was right when she said that I got a taste of the crazy Utah weather from a couple of weeks ago.  Last Sunday it actually got up to 72 and blew my mind!  I didn't think that it was possible but it happened.  So right when I'm getting exicted to put away my big winter stuff and hammock I wore around my neck [JK Mom ;)] and start to believe in the sun produsing heat again we get hit with 30 degree temperatures and blowing rain and snow!  I was so ticked to wake up and see everything covered in snow again.  Luckily it started to warm up and is back in the 50's again today so most of the snow's gone but it sure wasn't fun to have to got out and tract in that crappy weather again on Saturday. haha

     It sounds like from what I get to read from everyone that you are all super busy too!  I hope everyone's doing well in all that they have going on.  I pray for you all to get the blessings and support from our Heavenly Father in all your different endevours that I know He's just waiting to give.

     I'm really excited to get this Easter Package from you guys!  Thank you so much for the package I already got from you Nick and Tati!  I know all the work and effort it takes on your part to send those to me.

     So like Mom said I haven't really mentioned much about Kasson but these are just some answers to the questions she had, so anything anyone else is wondering about feel free to ask next week or on Mother's Day.  The members here are really great.  Serving in 2 branches now especially after coming from Utah growing up in and around Wards my whole life it's made me realize just how diligent and faithful these members have to be.  There's not other kids at school for these kids or people at work really that the members can lean on for support.  They have to be strong in their faith with a great testimony to be the examples to those around them that I know the Lord expects them to be.  There's limited numbers of active members and even more limited on the amount of worthy Melchezedik Priesthood holders.  Which means they rely on us as missionaries too.  We have to prepare and bless the sacrament each week and yesterday we had the privelage of helping to set a woman apart for her new calling bacause we were some of teh only priesthood holders there.  That was a cool experience.  As a result  of their small numbers a lot of the members "wear several hats" as they call it. haha There's many of them that have 3-4 callings and serve in those diligently.  It's shown me a lot about how I want to be as a member when I have to serve in certain positions later on.  I think I've mentioned before that we average 30-40 members here in the building we meet in.  There's the one branch here where the building is in Kasson itself but the members come from all over Dodge and part of Olmstead Counties.  We are part of the Rochester Minnesota stake so that's where they have to travel for stake conference.  It's only about 20 mintues from us in Kasson but some of the members from the southern parts of our area travel about 45 minutes at least to get there.  That's where we had to go for General Conference too because our little rented building doesn't have a satelite to receive that.  We are very fortunate to have the good members that we do here.  Some have us over each week to eat with them and others a few times a month.  It's great because usually we have plenty of meals and only have to live off Ramen for 4/7 days. hahah :) jk it really is great so there's nothing to worry about (Mom). haha This area, just from what I've seen and other missionaries have talked about, is one of the hardest areas I'll have to serve in because of the amount of work it takes to find anyone to teach, but it's helping me, my testimony, and work ethic to grow so much!  All the trials we face are just to help build us up for something better that's to come!

     I don't really have much for everyone personally besides Dad who I figure will be the one to set up the Skype account thing haha.  I still have to figure it out for me here, but judging from what Mom wrote it sounds like you guys can do that.  So we'll just try to coordinate and set that up over the next couple of weeks.

     Well I hope everyone's doing great and that we all get to see some better weather for this Easter Weekend.  I won't get to talk to you again but I hope it's good for all of you and that we can really feel the great spirit and power of what we're celebrating.  I hope to hear from you all again soon!  I love you, miss you, and I'm praying for you each and every day!

Love, Alex

Oh the humidity!

To My Adoring Fans:

     HAHA jk  Well i decided to listen to Dad and email this back to Mom because he's kinda incapacitated.  This week hasn't had too much that's exciting happen.  We actually did get into the 70's yesterday!!  I couldn't believe it!  I didn't think the thermometer could even reach that high here.  I figured they all had a range of -60 to 40, but I guess I was wrong haha.  The problem now with it getting hot is the humidity.  I thought everyone that would say, "oh man the humidity is what kills you during the summer"  or different things like that were just being wusses and that I wouldn't even notice the "extreme humidity" because I hadn't yet.  Yesterday with those high temperatures showed me just how wrong I might be.  It showed me just how much of a desert Utah is. haha It was 90% humidity at 65-70 degrees and that made it feel like 80-85.  The only thing Elder Judkins kept saying was that, "it's so muggy".  That's basically the best way to describe it too for all you desert dwellers in the promised land of Utah.  So this summer is going to be an experience that's for sure.

     It sounds like everyone's been super busy yourselves though.  I don't even know if I'll be able to recognize the house with all these changes and updates it sounds like that are being added.  I'll bet it looks way good.  I hope that everyone got my letters last week preferably before Saturday haha.  If not oh well you'll see why once you read them.

     So Mother's Day is on the 8th this year just a couple weeks after Easter, and is my new favorite holiday for the next couple years.  Not that I didn' t like it before, but now I get to call home and talk to you guys that day!!  I know it's still a few weeks away, but in this mission we're allowed to use Skype to talk to our families on the days we can call home.  So I figured I'd let you know a few weeks early so that we can try to figure out if we could do that because that would be way sweet!!  I don't know if there's a web cam or computer we could do that on.  I don't know exactly how we'd set that up, but I guess if you guys could just look into it in the next week or so and see if that's possible to do and will be easy enough I can try to talk to some members here to arrange where we can use it at here.  I just thought that it was way cool when I heard that and would be something you'd want to do too.

     Well that's about it not too much exciting like I said, but it sounds like it's pretty exciting home.

Kat and Tom:  Thank you for the email.  I know you've been way busy.  Just whenever you have time or can write is fine with me.  Don't stress about it :).

Camie and Brock:  Man that's so exicitng!  A niece!  Maybe now you can name her Crew or Group or whatever name it was that you wanted!  HAHA JK!  I just had to give you some crap.  That really is way exciting.  I'll definitely pray for you guys to not have the placent prevaila (however you spell it) be a complication.

Brady:  Soccer sounds pretty intense and I'm glad that you had so much fun at Prom.  I'll let Elder JUdkinds know about N-Ridge for sure. haha Thaty's hillarious that you counted Corey's Um's inhis talk too.

    SOrry I'm otu of time everyone but I love you and miss you guys!! TAlk to you soon!

LOve ALex

Conference Weekend!

Hello Craft Family,

     I would have to agree with all of you that Conference was just incredible!!  We got to watch all 5 sessions!  We had to go to Rochester to do it at the Stake Center there because the Kasson Building doesn't have a satellite.  I think I'm with Mom on what she said, "not being able to pick one favorite because they were all so good".  I really liked The underlying theme of serving one another and healing that can come through the Savior's Atonement.  It's so true!  One thing we always try to share with people as missionaries and something my testimony's gotten even stronger of is the redemptive love and compassion that the Savior has for all of us.  His arms are always outstretched reaching for us, calling us to Him.  We just have to be the ones to see the path that leads up there.  I wish we could just convey that to everyone and let them see how true it is!  Elder Judkins and I were talking about how we just can't wait for the next session!  I was so disappointed when it was over and kept thinking about how many notes I took and how much more I learned from this session than any other in my life, and how much faster each 2 hour session seemed to go by.  I was thinking, "Man this General Conference is great!  The best one I've ever watched". Then I realized that this was probably to first Conference of my life that I'd been conscious and paying attention to all the talks in each session. haha
It's a good lesson learned that I should have paid closer attention to Conference at home.  The funny thing for us was not only that it started at 11, which was really weird to think about, but that for the Saturday Sessions we heard the speakers talk about the beautiful spring weather and the flowers.  We just sat here think about how the snow's just barely all leaving and how brown and dead everything here is.  It made Utah really seem like the promised land and Zion I tell everyone here that it is.  Then we got to see the shots of Temple Square and the Conference Center for yesterdays sessions with a couple inches of snow outside!!  I pointed that out to Elder Judkins and said, "now that's the Utah we know and love".  haha That's so crazy!  Even though that is a pretty bad deal for you I can't say that I'm really feeling too bad haha.

     You might have already guessed it just for what I've said about us both loving Utah but yep this is 4/4 on companions form Utah.  The craziest part though is that Elder Jake Judkins might be in a picture at our house!!  He grew up in South Weber and played defense on Northridge's soccer team for 3 years of high school!  Right when we picked him up for transfers Wednesday he asked me if I played any sports because I looked really familiar.  Once I told him he said, "Oh yeah!  I thought I recognized you.  You were the one who always wore that pink hair band around your head".  I kinda remembered him too and it's still crazy to me that a year ago we were playing against each other and now we're surving together not only in the same mission but in the same area as companions!  I think people underestimate the intensity of that when we tell the members here.  Do me a favor and look to see in my pictures from soccer that Mike Russell took and see if there's any with me and #25 on Northridge.  That's Elder Judkins.  If there are it'd be great if you could send me a copy too.  I'm so excited for this transfer.  We get along really really well and work well together.  He's really motivated too.  Since we've both been out almost the same amount of time too it makes it really cool to talk about things we've learned so far and trying to learn and grow together in the things we do everyday.  Plus, we can talk about soccer and other kids I played with that he also was on the same team as and knows.  The Lord works in mysterious ways.

     I hope that you guys don't think that I don't want you to make your emails long because I won't have time to read them.  I love long emails (and letters for anyone feeling diligent enough to write me haha).  Don't feel bad if your emails are long.  It just forces me to get better at my typing. If I don't have time to read it and respond I'll just print it off and write you back.  But here's some responses to you guys that had time this week:

Dad and Mom-  Sadly Eddy didn't watch conference, but hopefully I can update you on him next week.  Was that who I thought it was named to the First Quorum of the Seventy Saturday afternoon?  Carl B. Cook? Was that your guys old bishop from Riverdale that I met?  I thought that was his name and that it looked like him.  I feel bad about Ashley too like Sidne.  I write everyone back as soon as I can.  Writing only on P-days makes it hard, but I try to respond to everyone within a month at the latest.  I wrote her back back in January and didn't get anything back until couple weeks ago.  She said she'd written back to my one in Jan. but I guess I never got it.  I responded to her last week so tell her that I hope she gets it soon.  I guess this was kinda for Camie too haha.

Grandma Craft-  Thank you so much for the email!  Like I talked about I loved Confernce too!  I'm right with you and very thankful as well that we get to hear the words of the prophets.  I hope you get to find a temple group again too.  I'm hoping to make it to the temple for myself soon.  Especially after President Monson's talk.

Camie- I kinda wrote what I was going to say to you with Mom and Dad, but I have a random question too: when's Brock's birthday?  I think I know everyone's but his.  Haha I think it's in June maybe?  Sorry I was just curious to know.

     Well I hope all is well and everyone else I didn't get a chance to talk to is doing great!  I love you and miss you all!   I'm always praying and thinking about you.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Love,  Alex

New Companion. Again.

Hey Crafts,

     Well like I said before it was transfer calls today and all I've heard about the past little while is Elder Russell's idea and feeling that he's leaving.  He even got up in testimony meeting yesterday and told everyone it was transfers and he had a feeling he was going to leave and wanted to say thank you and good bye to everyone.  Luckily to save his embarrassment he was right.   We got the call about 9 this morning that Elder Russell's headed to Shore View.  It's kind of North St. Paul area I guess and he'll be with a really good missionary Elder Ronstrom.  He's one of the few missionaries that I know and he came out here from Sweden.  As fro me well obviously I'm staying here in Kasson and my new companion is coming down from Buffalo.  Where ever that is.  President Howell told me that he came out 2 transfers ago, so he just finished his 12 weeks of being trained.  I'm suppose to "make sure he's doing everything right like he should be" in the words of President Howell.  I'm suppose to reiterate the training.  It's going to be interesting to see how it goes because we are both young in the mission, but I'm really excited!  I'm sticking with my pattern so far though of only having companions 1 transfer which is kinda weird.

     Sorry about the confusion with Eddy our investigator coming to church.  He did have his schedule change 3 weeks ago so that he could amazingly enough make it to church.  However, his cousin went into labor that morning and he had to watch her other kids.  He told us when he said he was coming to church that he wanted to make sure and take advantage of that weekend he had off because his boss said it was going to be 7 days/week for awhile on their schedules.  That's why I said I was going to have to pray and fast for a miracle for him.  Then this last week when we saw him he started talking about coming to church yesterday because they were having the weekend off to get some new things installed at work.  So he committed and was excited to come, but wouldn't you know it he had to drive up to Lake City to get his step-daughter from her grandparents and wasn't able to make it.  We'll just have to keep trying and praying so that hopefully he can make it with us to conference this weekend.  I'm pretty excited about conference.  We're working hard to get a few investigators to come.  I know we got to the priesthood session for sure here at the Rochester Stake Center, and I think we get to go there for all the other sessions too.  Basically everyone calls Conference the "Super Bowl for Missionaries".  So it should be pretty cool.  Disappointing that we won't be going for ice cream or Artic Circle after, but still pretty good. ;)

     I got your letter Dad about President Howell finishing his mission.  I was actually going to mention to you and Mom that when he does go home you guys should go to his homecoming. haha That'd be pretty cool.  I forgot to tell you guys when I talked about Zone Conference that President Howell had actually talked to us all about the new President.  His name's president Clemens and he lives in Utah somewhere with his family.  I guess he and his wife are from San Fransisco, so maybe you can look him up and see what else  there is interesting to know about him.  It's is weird to think about changing mission presidents and all, but it's like President Howell and I had talked about in one of my interviews.  He said that President Clemens could be way better than he ever was and do things that I like way more, I told him i highly doubt that, but we just won't know until he gets here.  I do agree that it can be a good chance to try and get to know him and "help me grow" like I think this whole last transfer helped me to do. haha

     This last weekend they had the Dodge County Expo at the high school in Dodge Center, and because this area covers basically all of Dodge County we had a booth in it.  We'd been preparing and getting supplies this last week for it.  We had to set up on Friday night and the event was from 8-2 on Saturday.  It went really well and was a really good way for us to get our name out there and talk to people.  We talked to and handed pass-along cards to something like 120+ people.  We didn't see any immediate success from it like Elder Russell had somehow expected, but I thought it was a great opportunity and thing to be apart of.  It was funny to talk to the people that were like, "I talked to you guys on my porch last week" or "were you the same guys knocking on my door?"  haha The branch members that were there helping to man it thought those conversations and people were kinda funny too. haha  It made me think about how much fun the fair has to be for you each year Mom when you'd have the booths you'd have to sit at.  It made me appreciate how hard I know you had to work at that and to do it for a few days because we were pretty tired after the 7 hours wer spent there.

     Well that's about it for the updates here from the good old Kasson kingdom. haha  Basically I don't have much for everyone individually except Camie and Brock.  I 'm glad that you got my package and that you like it.  I'm assuming that they fit pretty good(?).  That's funny about Brandt that everyone's comparing him to me I guess.  Not so much funny the names or titles he's been given because I know what that's like, but if he really is like me you can assure him it's all worth it in the end.  After he put up with all the crap for a few years he can be able to say he's part of an elite group in our family that not many are apart of.  It's called the "6 foot and Up Club".  So everyone might make fun of him or ridicule him for not liking shots now, but we'll just wait and see what they have to say when he's taller than them! ;)

    I hope everyone else is doing good with their jobs, school, and whatever else there might be.  I'm always praying for you guys and all your needs.  I love and miss you very much and look forward to talking to you again soon!

Love, Alex

Spring Thaw

Hey Crafts!

     I do have a home now, so everything's going much better! haha We live back in Kasson right on Main St. in an apartment that Missionaries used to live in before they were taken out of this area.  It's a pretty nice apartment.  I' hoping the computer won't be stupid and I'll have enough time to send the pictures that I keep promising.  One of the greatest blessings about  having our new apartment is that I got my mail sent to me!  I think it must have been a missionary record for mail because I got 11 letters and 1 package!!  I was so happy!!  Elder Russell not so much. haha I knew after that day that unlike Moroni "my kinsfolk had not forsaken me".   Thank you so much for everyone that sent me stuff!  I know I've said it before but it really does mean a lot to know that you guys are taking to time out of your busy schedules to remember me.

     It sounds like we might have close to the same weather as Utah now.  At least maybe we did for a few days.  Most of this past week it was 40+ degrees!  It was so nice!  It was almost like everyone came out of hibernating too.  Everyone and their dog (literally) were outside working or running, so as a result we were able to talk to a lot more people because we knew they were home.  They were already outside so they couldn't hide behind the door.  Sometimes I really can swear that we see people moving inside the houses we knock on, and as soon as we get there the people crouch down and hide behind the couch or something because then the house is silent and no one's moving around. haha  I find it really funny.

     So I don't know if I told you guys before, if I did that's too bad, but  funny fact here about the Kasson Branch is that there are an average of 30-40 members.  Which means that apparently we don't have enough people for all 3 hours of church.  I only go to church here from 10-12.  I just thought that was kinda different and funny.  One of those random facts of Kasson I get to tell you guys all about.

     I'm really happy to hear that Fremont's doing so good again!  That's awesome!  I really hope that they take it one step further than we did last year.  BYU sounds like they're doing pretty well too.  If there's one thing that we can relate to people with around here about the church it's BYU basketball.  Especially when we're tracting and the only thing that people have heard about the LDS Church is that recent controversy of that player who's not on the team anymore.  People seem to really respect that around here which is something that I find really good.

     It's crazy to think that transfer calls are a week away from today!  Elder Russell says he's pretty sure he's leaving, so we'll see who's prayers will be answered. ;) hahahaha jk It is going to be interesting though that's for sure.

Dad and Mom:  Thanks for the letters.  I'm hoping to write you back today.  Thanks for getting that delivered to Keaton too.  I had an interesting card delivered to our mailbox on Saturday.  It was from Todd and Brent Zaugg addressed to an Elder N. Craft. hahah I just started laughing.  I don't think he's had that title for awhile now.

Nick and Tati:  I hope that you interview went well Nick and that you guys are doing great out there.  One of the Sisters from my MTC district wrote me and told me that she went on exchanges in your guys' area and saw your names on the records, so that was kinda cool.  She said she'll probably serve there because it is a Sisters area,  I guess we'll find out.

Kat and Tommy Boy:  Thank you so much for the package and all the "Tommy Tricep Treats" or whatever you called them. haha I was laughing pretty hard with that email and your stories from your mission.  Speaking of which who was your mission president you were an assistant to when you were out there and the name of that island you served on?  Was it President  Miller?  Because there's a member in the branch here that said he and his wife served in the Canada Halifax Mission and served on the island of Newfoundland I think (?).  But he later went back and served as a counselor in the mission presidency, so when I told him about you he said that he would have been there with President Miller as President Baker the same time as you.  So I was just curious if you could know him.  I don't know how he'd forget someone like Tom "Lemon Fresh" Benincosa though. ;) haha

Camie and Brock:  I hope you had a really good birthday and that you got the package that I sent you.  If you really don't like it just send it back and I'll get something else for you.

Brady:  Congrats on the goal man!! That's so sweet!!  I had no idea that Clearfield could be THAT bad! ;) haha Really though that's way cool!  Keep it up.  I would tell you to keep up with Jex's favorite 3 letter acronym but it's not exactly missionary appropriate. haha

Natalie:  I hope you're still doing good.  I haven't heard from you in a little while little girl, so maybe if it's convenient for you and you're not too busy on my phone ;) you can write me a couple lines on here.  I won't even make it have to be hand-written. haha

     It sounds like everyone's doing great!!  I'm so happy!  I pray for you all each night and thank you so much for all your prayers.  Your support helps me out tremendously.  I love you all and miss you so much!

Love,
Your not so frozen Minnesota Missionary Popsicle Alex.

Homeless

Dear Family,

    So there were alot of you that asked about the whole new apartment situation and I figured it would be best to start with that.  Good news is that yes we moved out of Larry's.  Bad news is that we don't actually have an apartment.  Larry kinda kicked us out last Tuesday, so technically I have been "homeless" the past week. haha The story is that just as I told all of you we'd been advised by the mission president to look for possible apartments in the area fro a couple weeks.  Elder Russell would always say that he wanted to tell Larry because he felt like we were going behind his back.  So Tuesday morning 5 minutes into our Personal study Larry came in our room and said that we needed to get ahold of President Howell because there was a "situation".  His step son, Greg, who lives in the house too was going to be having his 2 kids, a girl that's 14 and a boy who's 17, move in because there have been several problems at their Mom's.  So Larry said we need to ask President Howell to be out by the end of the month.  Well Elder Russell saw this chance and before thinking about how to present it or filtering responses in his head he tells him, "actually that's already in the process for the last couple weeks because the situation just doesn't work here".  Right as the words came out I was just thinking,"No!  Bring it back'  and since it had already been said and couldn't I tried desperately to think of a way to recover anything I could with the conversation.  By that point it was already too late.  The switch within Larry had been flipped and it was something I saw happen right before me on his face.  At that point he started yelling, "Oh well that's funny that the situation just doesn't work for you two!  Everyone else has seemed to love it here!  Nobody else ever had any problems here.  You're the only ones there's been any problems or conflicts with, and you know what you've never really meshed or fit in here anyway!  We try to make accommodations because you live away from home, but apparently neither one of you has had that situation before! (I'm not even entirely sure what he meant by that statement either) So maybe the problem is with you two and you need to ask yourselves what's wrong with you!"  and he just stormed out.  I was in shock.  Just left in a daze like what the heck just happened.  I tried to follow him into the front room and explain, "Brother Smith it's not that we haven't appreciated all you've done or anything like that.  We've enjoyed living here.  They just move missionaries.  There not meant to be in one place for a long time".  But as I'm trying to explain he just screams, "I don't need to hear any of this from you!  I've got things to do today" and he left.  Pretty crazy I know but that's what went down Tuesday.  So after that we called the Zone Leaders who told us to call President and once we explained it to him he just told us, "Elders pack your stuff".  And that's exactly what we did.  We packed everything and smashed all we could in the Toyota Corolla before having to call Steven, our Branch Mission Leader, to come help fit some boxes of supplies and our bikes in his car.  We had to then drive to Rochester to meet with President Howell because lucky enough for us he was there that day doing a training for the district leaders.  We both had to be interviewed and he was going to have us live with a couple other Elders in Rochester but Steven volunteered their basement.   It's kinda funny and crazy at the same time, but don't worry we've been staying in the basement of our Branch Mission Leaders parents home in Byron.  The city right next to the Kasson and it's been just fine.  The Josephsons have been great to stay with and have been really hospitable to us to let us come in at the last minute.  It's kinda funny that for 2 years I'm somewhat living out of suitcases and this week I literally have been.  I haven't gotten to unpack much because they don't have room and we didn't know how long we'd be there for sure.  The Hida bed (or however you spell it) that Elder Russell's been sleeping on and my air mattress I sleep on take up most of the room.  I'm sending some pictures hopefully if there's time at the end of this so you can see it.  If not I'll send them next week.  So I thought I should share this nice growing experience I've had this week with you all and let you hopefully get a laugh out of it like I have.  Along with this though is a disclaimer that I might not be writing people back for awhile because they've been holding all our mail at the mission home since Tuesday.  I was able to go by the house and get the letter from Dad talking about his new job and iPhone, but that's it.  I look forward to getting your letters sometime hopefully this week when we move in.  It's going to be the best mail day of the mission so far when they have to send it all and I get a boat full of it.  I'm pretty excited about that!  haha  
   
     Well that's about it and all I have to talk about this week  We have heard everyone talking about that earthquake and tsunami so we have been praying alot for those people.  It looks like I don't have time to attach the pictures this week, so hopefully I can next week with even more pictures of our 3rd apartment that we might have by then. haha I love you all and miss you so much!! Thank you for the support and prayers!  Sorry I can't write each of you individually again.  I guess you'll all just have to deal with hand written letters from me this week! :)

Love, Alex

"In the Rock We're a Little Boulder"

Hi Everybody! haha

     I hope everyone's doing great!   As for the missionary in South Eastern Minnesota, I'm doing great.  It's still a struggle but I think that that's just part of the territory.  Zone Conference that I talked about last week was so good.  Our Zone Leaders told us that this zone (The Rochester Zone) is known as "The Rock".  So they tried to institute that for us and get us all motivated about being in the Rock.  There were plenty of puns in their training and they even gave each companionship a rock that they painted "In the Rock we're a Little Boulder" on it.  It was kinda funny and a little over the top, but it was a good training that really got the message across to us to be a little more bold in our contacting and teaching.  As a result Elder Russell and I decided to try and be "A Little Boulder" this last week.  We have one investigator named Eddy that we've only really been teaching since I've been here.  He's a really cool guy and we decided we were going to be more bold with him, so we decided that we should invite him to be baptized last Tuesday when we met with him.  We did just that and invited him, and the best part is that he said, "yeah that'd be good".  It's was a great miracle that he said yes and is working toward that!  We were so pumped!  The only problem is that he can't really come to church because he works in shipping and receiving at a warehouse from 5 a.m.- 2 p.m. every day but Saturday.  We were praying hard to try and figure out how we could help to get him to church this past week, and man did the Lord pull through.  Yesterday when we went to see him we got to see an answer to that prayer first hand. He told us that he got a call Friday not to come into work and that they weren't going to need to schedule him to work anymore weekends.  I was so thankful and really had my testimony strengthened about the power and answers of prayer.  The Lord is so aware of all that we need and blesses us accordingly.  It was great for him too because he was telling us about how exhausted he's been working these long hours and not having time to do anything else around his house.  That was just a couple of the miracles that we saw this week.  We're just really hoping to continue to help Eddy progress and work at being baptized.

    Sorry I can't write anything to each of you like I usually do, but there's not much to say either. haha Like I said I hope that everyone's doing great and I hope to hear from you soon.  Sorry this ones so short, but that's what happens when the library only has 4 computers.  You don't get much time to spend on one. haha  I miss you and love you all!

Love, Alex

Working in Kasson

Craft Family!

     Hey everyone!  So first of all I'd just like to apologize for not getting to write you yesterday.  We actually had Zone Conference in Rochester and so our P-Day got moved to today.  I warned President Howell that the mission home might be getting a call because my family didn't hear from me and he just laughed and said, " I hope so because then at least we know they still care about you".  It kinda made me laugh too. haha

    So my first question I guess is did Brady get his present form me?  Nick wrote me and said that he did,but I haven't heard yet so I'm not sure with Brady.haha  The birthday party sounds like a normal Craft family gathering.  Full of laughing, sarcasm, and some comments from Brady. haha Jk I'm gald that you're at least trying to fill in for me there.  The funny part is that as I read the part that Kathleen wrote me with all the quotes and story about Natalie's phone I could totally picture that whole scenario in my head and it just made me laugh.  I'm surprised that Natalie let her phone out of site at all.  I thought that that thing would be completely attached to her by now haha.

    As far as this the area of Kasson is concerned.  I'm still trying to motivate and keep looking at the positive each and everyday.  We've been trying to point out miracles everyday that we see.  Even if they may be small.  Things like the fact that that last house we knocked on didn't slam the door in our face even though they weren't interested.  I've talked to the mission president about the attitudes and situations there and we talked about the people of Ammon when they were enslaved with heavy burdens on their back the Lord didn't remove those burdens.  Instead he strengthened their backs to be able to carry them.  That's what President Howell said he's seen with me and has full confidence and faith in me.  That really helped me to feel good knowing that he called me to this area because he trusted in me to be able to be the catalyst to change the way things are.  That's something I talked with Elder Russell my first couple days out about.  I told him that this is a land of miracles just waiting to happen and we could be the ones to make it happen.  He told me that tracting was ineffective and that this area has never had a baptism from tracting.  My reply was, "then how amazing will it be when we are the first ones to do that?".  That's what my attitude about it here has been all along and I know it's from the strength that the Lord is giving me to carry my burdens.  Your prayers are such a blessing and they help so much each and every day. The great thing also is that we had a good exchange with our Zone Leader last week and Zone Conference yesterday so Elder Russell was able to talk to both of them about his concerns and I was able to talk to them too.  Ever since those his attitude has been improving incredibly.  We working on a couple that have some potential now that we're teaching and so I'm really hoping with his new attitude we  can see the success and changes I've been praying so hard for and that I know can happen here!  The only negative thing about this area so far isn't so much about the area as it is this climate.  I  am just getting so sick and tired of cold and snow now!   Over the couple weeks I've been here we've gotten a total of 8-10 new inches of snow. We've had a couple more days of below 0 tracting too.  Even though I tell myself these experience will help me and it builds character I'm pretty sure that I've built up enough of that character in the last 4 months. haha I'm looking forward to the experiences that come with the myth of warm weather I hear everyone talk about. haha

     I hope that everyone else is doing great!  It really is so good to get all your emails and letters.  Even if the letters might take almost a week to get here I appreciate them so much!  They really help me out.

Brady:  I hope you did get my present cause it was sweet!  haha I hope eveything's going great with school.  Good luck with tryouts.  Let me know how they go and how Fremont's doing in State.  I have one piece of advice that I want you to do sometime this week.  If you guys have the Ensign for March already I would HIGHLY suggest to you that you read the talk on page 22 about missionaries and preparing for a mission.  It has so much good information that could really help you.  So just read it and let me know what you think unless you already have.

Nick and Tati:  Happy Anniversary this week!  I know it's early but I can't remember if it's the 2nd or 3rd.  I'm glad you know all about XMI.  That makes me feel better like it's not just some junk tie from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. haha  Thank you so much for the long email and the advice.  It really did help and I'm trying to improve this area and Elder Russell as much as I can.

Kat and Tom:  I'm praying for you in school and it sounds like you need it with all the tests back to back to back!  That's crazy!  I'm glad you seem to be doing well though.  The way you described the party was awesome. It really made me look forward to when we can all be home again and have them together!  I agree with you Tom is pretty awesome!  I hope everything's going good with him and your guys' temple prep.  That's exciting!  I'm so happy for you guys!

Grandma Craft:  Thank you so much for the email and the write up.  I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures and letters.  I look forward to getting you letter this week!

Mom:  Thanks for the advice that you gave me!  It really helped me too.  I know that I can do all things with the Lord and like I said I feel the blessings I'm receiving from your prayers!  How long did my letter take to get to you?  It seems like mail takes a really long time to get here or that maybe I'm just not as loved as I think haha.  I'm hoping to get your letters soon.

Dad:  I'm praying for you with this new job, but I know that you can handle it with no problem.  I'm glad to hear the Tyler decided he didn't want to be gay and play for Davis.  He'll be a good addition for them along with Parker, Jordan's little brother.  They're both really good, so I'm interested to see how tryouts go.

Camie and Brock:  I liked to little faces on the email. It really helped to describe your emotions. haha That really is too bad about all those shots for 26 weeks!  But the only thing I have to say is. . . . .Karma. haha I'm just kidding.  That really is no fun,but then again neither is early labor and bed rest.  I guess you'll just have to take your pick. I'm glad to hear that Brandt's doing well and staying healthy, and that you're whole little family's just doing great! :)  God luck with school.  I'll be praying for you.

     Well I think that that's about it until next week.  Thanks again so much for all the love, prayer, and support you guys give me!  I miss you all a lot!  I love you and can't wait to hear about the new exciting adventures next week.

Love, Alex

Welcome to Kasson

Hello Everyone,

     I'll start off with the news about the new area first before I get to the difficult part.  Kasson, Minnesota is a smaller town with a Branch that has about 20-30 members I guess.  I wouldn't know because church was canceled yesterday due to the blizzard of 6 new inches on snow and the 1/4 inch of freezing rain that feel on top of that just yesterday morning.  There's about 5,000 people in Kasson but we cover a couple smaller towns in the surrounding area.  I was told last week before I transferred here that I'm cursed to be in "the sticks" all my mission because that's where I live back home. haha what people not from Hooper don't realize is that it's a smaller town but right next to civilization.  We have a Wal-Mart five minutes away.  Here in Kasson they have a Hardware Hank that has "most of what we need" haha.  At least that's what Elder Russell told me.  The nearest Wal-Mart is 20 miles away in Rochester, so we'll see if I can survive without it. ;)  M., the one I taught in Menomonie, said that, "[I was] moving from a branch about to become a ward to a twig about to become a branch".  I thought that was pretty funny!  This area's a lot different than Menomonie.  I would have never guessed when I first cam out that I would miss Menomonie like I have.  It was a great area!  The people there were awesome too!  Elder Russell's a little different than either of my other companions that I've had.    He's a good Elder we're just not as alike as Elder Katoa and I were.  It'll be interesting these next few weeks.  We'll just put it that way.  We live with another member but it's not our own apartment like at the G.s, so that's an adjustment too.  The guy we live with, L., is a member  but his wife isn't.  first thing he said to me the night I showed up was, "welcome to h***".  (I decided to edit that for all of you.)  So like I said it's just going to be interesting here in Kasson. haha

     Now onto the tough part about Bishop Randall.  I got a phone call from President Howell Thursday morning.  I'm already kinda struggling trying to get used to this new area.  He asked me how things were going and then said, "Elder. . .I've got some bad news for you. . .".  My heart sank.  I didn't know what to expect that he'd say next.  A million different thoughts involving all my family members went through my head.  What he did tell me that Mom had called and told him shocked me.  I would have never expected that.  I was outside while I was talking to him and I just started to cry.  It was definitely hard to deal with.  Especially in the given circumstances.  Bishop Randall was a great man that I felt very close to.  I'm going to miss him very much.  His influence will be missed in the ward and in Hooper.  I hope his family's doing well and it sounds like they are.  I know these trials are all to help me grow.  It may be tough but I know I can make it through the next little while.  Like Mom said he would want me to keep focused and work hard.  I'm trying to do just that for him.  It's such a blessing to know this AMAZING Plan of Salvation that our loving Heavenly Father has for us!!  The peace that come from this knowledge has been what's really helped at times like this.  He's involved in a much greater work now.

Camie:  Thanks for the info on everyone in Idaho.  It made me laugh haha.  Good luck with school!  I expect at least 1 letter per week now. ;)  Time is. . . not flying.  It feels basically just the same as you and Mom.  Hopefully it changes and I'm trying to do all I can to help that too. haha the picture of Brandt's face was great too.  Now I see that he does look a lot like you.  Maybe his face is like that and he looks so confused because of all the dives he's taken off the furniture.

Dad and Mom:  Thank you for telling me the news Mom.  It was hard but I'm glad to know.  As for now just keep the program and obituary for me please.  I don't want to lose it out here.  I liked your Elder Katoa humor Dad, and that story was hilarious.  I was actually laughing out  loud.  I can totally imagine and picture that!  Good luck at your old stomping grounds in Rexburg.  Tell Ashley I said hi  haha.  how long's it going to take for you to finish?

     Well I hope everything else is going well for everyone back home.  Tell Brady to let me know how his tournament went and Happy Birthday!  I hope he and Nick both got the packages I sent.  I love you and miss you all very much!  I can't wait to hear from you all again and just an fyi it's snowing again.  I think my new favorite hobby is going to be shoveling driveways.  Mostly because I do that so much. haha  In Ofa lahi atu!!

Love, Alex



p.s I'm going to email a bunch of pictures of Menomonie and some from here in Kasson.  Hope you like them.

Transfer News

Malo e lelei Craft Family,

     (I'm pretty fluent in Tongan now if you hadn't noticed. haha)  It was so good to hear form you all.

     Like I had mentioned to you all today is the day of transfer calls, and neither one of us thought we'd leave.  Especially because they usually call earlier in the morning and we didn't get a call until almost 10.  The phone call was pretty interesting.  Elder Katoa's getting a "special assignment" our mission president said.  He's going to be with a new Elder, Elder Veni, that's only been out for 1 transfer, and he came from straight off the island of Tongan.  That's going to be pretty cool for him, but weird for that elder to come here.  Talk about culture shock coming to little old Menomonie Wisconsin.  AS for me in case you couldn't already guess I am being transferred.  I'm going to the Rochester Zone south of the Twin Cities.  I'm going to the Kasson area which is another branch I guess.  Except this branch is even smaller and doesn't even have enough members to have their own building yet.  They rent a building and President Howell told me on the phone that the stake president has been praying for them to get a building, and that's what he wants me to help them to do.  We'll see how that goes.  I'm going to be serving with Elder Russell down there too, so I thought that was kinda cool.  I'm really excited to actually be serving in Minnesota in the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission, but I have really enjoyed this area and I'm going to miss the members here.  I'm sad Elder Katoa and I don't have another transfer together.  He's so cool and we've gotten along so well.  He's gonna so great here though.  I taught him well. ;)

     There's been some crazy weather here the past few days.  It's been up around 40!! I was like what the heck is this?  I forgot that the sun can produce heat and not just light.  It's crazy how warm even 32 feels now.  We were walking around yesterday tracting and I only had my suit jacket on because I have to between October General Conference and April General Conference.  Otherwise we would have been in just our white shirts.  That's how good it felt.  The only problem now is that with all this melting snow it's going to turn back to ice and then that's going to be a big problem in and of itself.  I guess we'll just deal with that as it comes, but as for now we're just counting our blessings of 35 degrees!!

     I did send my license papers in a couple weeks ago, and I just got the package from you guys as we were walking out the door.  Is that the paper copy that I got form before I left or a new one?  Thanks for the package though!! That new stationary and the cookies are gonna be great!   Thanks for the letters too!!  I really enjoyed reading them.  Even Brady's very thoughtful "letter because you hate writing". 

     Like I said thanks to everyone that was able to write me this week!  It really means alot.

Dad:  I thought I'd respond to you first because you "beat mom" haha.  That was really funny.  That's so awesome about your new job!  I can't wait to hear about it.  It means alot what Grandma said to because it really was a miracle being able to teach all those students.

Mom:  I'm just curious if we ever got those pictures of the family that Alicia took printed or what happened with those?  If there are prints of them I'd really like to see them if that'd be alright.  I'm glad you were so nice to Dad as to let him write me first.  Because you're right being the best and number 1 gets old after awhile I've learned that over these 19 years! ;) hahahaha

Nick and Tati:  Thanks for the advice about the missionaries.  That's really too bad that they looked so much like they hated life.  I'll keep that in mind.  About the blog password you can just take it off so anyone can see that's fine.  Who else of my friends has one?

Kat and Tom:  Thanks so much for the card!  That's awesome about your tests too.  Way to go!!  I am feeling better yes, and don't worry about me needing a coat.  Like I said I won't need one here pretty soon and look how long I've survived with that great one that I have. haha Thanks for the concern though.
     Well sorry my email wasn't too long this week either.  I'm including some pictures on of the lake out here so you can see what I was talking about with all the cars and people out there.  My email next week will probably be longer because I'll be in a new area with all new information to share.  I hope everyone's doing great and I can't wait to hear from you guys.  I love and miss you.