Dear Family,
It's great to hear from all of you and to see that everyone, especially Brady, is surviving. I'm so glad each week when I get to hear about all the great things going on. That's so crazy about Alec Stimpson and his mission call! Three FHS guys all from the soccer team out half a world away from home staying together. I think that that's so cool. September is going to come up quick on him. He's probably going to get there the same transfer that Scott goes home. Depending on when he goes in the MTC it would be pretty crazy to have them pass each other like that.
This week has been a really great week for us here. It was pretty wet but good. We have had it rain with some pretty heavy storms just about everyday this past week. The moisture is definitely a good thing for the state after such a mild winter. We've been meeting with some of those same investigators that I mentioned before and are starting to see good progress in some and continuing progress in others. We are excited for the things that are going to happen here. There are a couple new investigators that we have found and are trying to work closely with the ward in getting them to come to church. Our Ward Mission Leader is trying to plan a BBQ this weekend with some other young couples and families in their part of the ward to invite some of these investigators to, so they get more of an association with the church outside of us coming over to teach them. So things here are looking great as always! Is Brady's p-day on Tuesday in the MTC? I think that's when he wrote home last right?
Stake Conference for us was yesterday and it was a very good meeting. I got to see a bunch of the members from the Eden Prairie Ward and talk to them again about why I was all the sudden gone from the ward without a phone call or anything. It was really great to see and talk to them. It made me realize how amazing it is that you can grow so close to people in such a short amount of time. It was nice to have them wave and come over to talk to me. It always feels good when you can leave an impression on people to where you're not just another missionary from Utah haha.
I can not believe that this week is Mother's Day! That is so crazy! I'll try to call about 3 pm Minnesota time to hopefully catch all you in Utah at home and be able to get Nick and Tati. If that time doesn't work for you guys just email me what time will be best before Sunday and I'll check my email later this week and adjust the time to what works for you. Our day is looking pretty open and flexible for that day, so just let me know. I am excited to talk to you and President said that we can use they mission office to Skype from so we'll hook up our web cam and computer in here to the TV we have like we do for our meetings. So this should be the best set up I've had for a call yet. haha You'll get to see Elder Dalrymple too because his family has church until 4 and with only one camera we'll just have to wait and talk to his until after our dinner appointment at 5 that day. The mission Skype account username is ------------- that I'll be using, but if that name doesn't work it could be --------------- as the screen name. I think your is --------- if I remember correctly. Let me know if it's any different but I figure if all else fails I'll just call to confirm the name before we Skype that day. I'm excited to talk to you guys and hopefully it's a little less hectic and chaotic this time for you. It's too bad I won't get to talk to all of you, but just know I appreciate all the love and support that you guys give to me! I look forward to talking to you and hope that all is well.
Love, Elder Alex Craft
Showing posts with label Mother's Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mother's Day. Show all posts
Monday, May 7, 2012
Monday, April 30, 2012
T-Wolves
Hey Everyone,
It's good to hear that you all made it through the challenges of the week. I hope that Brady can get this email or if I could just get his email address from you I could just send it to him. I'm guessing it's just ------------------ so if you could confirm or deny that for me so I could write him that'd be great. I don't think we're allowed to get on dearelder.com otherwise I would just write him that way. I'll bet it is pretty quiet around the house now. That's so exciting to think that Brady's out at the MTC now. I'm excited to hear all about his experiences and the great things that the Lord has in store for him, for me, and for our family.
It sounds everything has been busy still back at home and it has been the same for us here. We had a really busy week and a lot of great things that happened for us. The Lord has blessed us here with a lot is great people and we found some more new investigators that we are really excited to start working with. We got to do exchanges with the elders out in Eden Prairie and that helped contribute to some of the miracles that we've seen. It was great because they are great Elders serving out there and what makes it unique to some of the other exchanges we've had is that Elder Looye is from the Netherlands and Elder Leppanen, who's only been here a couple of weeks, is from Finland. It was really cool to talk to them about their experiences growing up and see the great excitement they have to be here serving in Minnesota. That's been one of the most fun things for me recent. Getting to go on exchanges at least every week with all these new missionaries and their trainers getting to see all the great, hard working Elders here. I'm sure all the sisters are phenomenal too we just don't do the exchanges with them so I don't have any cool experiences to share with them like the Elders haha.
So with Mother's Day in a couple weeks next week will be the last time we get to finalize times and stuff. I can't believe it's come to that time again already! The last 5 months went by quick! We meet at 11 am here for sacrament meeting and could try to call or Skype almost any time that day that works best for you. Just let me know and if I could get your account name for Skype if you want to do that that's be great too.
Like I said before things here have been going really well. It's exciting to hear that the family is all doing well and got to spend some time down here for Brady's farewell. That's so cool to hear about Tyler Cole and his mission over to North Carolina. I'll bet he's going to love it there! He might have to hook me up with some sweet UNC stuff ;). If you get a chance tell him I'm really excited and happy for him to go out and serve the people there. He's going to love it! It's cool to hear about all these guys going all over the world. I got a letter from Alic Taylor telling me about his call to the Dominican Republic, and when I got to see Elder Mead at the interview training meeting that we had last week we talked about some of these guys and their calls. It's cool to see the literal spreading of the gospel through all these guys around the globe.
We did get to go to the T-Wolves game like I had talked about last week and it was a lot of fun! It was also kind of weird to go and be in our p-day clothes around all those people at the same time. The game wasn't that great the wolves got destroyed by like 30 but it was great to see our investigator there and talk to him. He's such a great man that wasn't able to make it to church yesterday unfortunately because his PCA that went with him last week was in California. He's planning on coming next week and from our lesson we had with him this week things seemed to be going really well. We are very blessed here and are looking forward to another great week that we have planned ahead. It's going to be pretty busy with the 3 meetings we have scheduled this week but their shouldn't be too much for us as far as traveling goes. We have a Zone Leader Council Meeting tomorrow, New Missionary Training Meeting Wednesday, and then we'll be going up to the Anoka Stake Center for their interviews and training Thursday. It should be another great week and one that will most likely fly by as well. It's crazy to me how often it seems like I get a chance to talk to you because the weeks just go so quick!
I hope that everything goes great for all of you the rest of the week. I look forward to hearing from you again. Thanks for all the love and support!
Love, Elder Minnesota Craft
It's good to hear that you all made it through the challenges of the week. I hope that Brady can get this email or if I could just get his email address from you I could just send it to him. I'm guessing it's just ------------------ so if you could confirm or deny that for me so I could write him that'd be great. I don't think we're allowed to get on dearelder.com otherwise I would just write him that way. I'll bet it is pretty quiet around the house now. That's so exciting to think that Brady's out at the MTC now. I'm excited to hear all about his experiences and the great things that the Lord has in store for him, for me, and for our family.
It sounds everything has been busy still back at home and it has been the same for us here. We had a really busy week and a lot of great things that happened for us. The Lord has blessed us here with a lot is great people and we found some more new investigators that we are really excited to start working with. We got to do exchanges with the elders out in Eden Prairie and that helped contribute to some of the miracles that we've seen. It was great because they are great Elders serving out there and what makes it unique to some of the other exchanges we've had is that Elder Looye is from the Netherlands and Elder Leppanen, who's only been here a couple of weeks, is from Finland. It was really cool to talk to them about their experiences growing up and see the great excitement they have to be here serving in Minnesota. That's been one of the most fun things for me recent. Getting to go on exchanges at least every week with all these new missionaries and their trainers getting to see all the great, hard working Elders here. I'm sure all the sisters are phenomenal too we just don't do the exchanges with them so I don't have any cool experiences to share with them like the Elders haha.
So with Mother's Day in a couple weeks next week will be the last time we get to finalize times and stuff. I can't believe it's come to that time again already! The last 5 months went by quick! We meet at 11 am here for sacrament meeting and could try to call or Skype almost any time that day that works best for you. Just let me know and if I could get your account name for Skype if you want to do that that's be great too.
Like I said before things here have been going really well. It's exciting to hear that the family is all doing well and got to spend some time down here for Brady's farewell. That's so cool to hear about Tyler Cole and his mission over to North Carolina. I'll bet he's going to love it there! He might have to hook me up with some sweet UNC stuff ;). If you get a chance tell him I'm really excited and happy for him to go out and serve the people there. He's going to love it! It's cool to hear about all these guys going all over the world. I got a letter from Alic Taylor telling me about his call to the Dominican Republic, and when I got to see Elder Mead at the interview training meeting that we had last week we talked about some of these guys and their calls. It's cool to see the literal spreading of the gospel through all these guys around the globe.
We did get to go to the T-Wolves game like I had talked about last week and it was a lot of fun! It was also kind of weird to go and be in our p-day clothes around all those people at the same time. The game wasn't that great the wolves got destroyed by like 30 but it was great to see our investigator there and talk to him. He's such a great man that wasn't able to make it to church yesterday unfortunately because his PCA that went with him last week was in California. He's planning on coming next week and from our lesson we had with him this week things seemed to be going really well. We are very blessed here and are looking forward to another great week that we have planned ahead. It's going to be pretty busy with the 3 meetings we have scheduled this week but their shouldn't be too much for us as far as traveling goes. We have a Zone Leader Council Meeting tomorrow, New Missionary Training Meeting Wednesday, and then we'll be going up to the Anoka Stake Center for their interviews and training Thursday. It should be another great week and one that will most likely fly by as well. It's crazy to me how often it seems like I get a chance to talk to you because the weeks just go so quick!
I hope that everything goes great for all of you the rest of the week. I look forward to hearing from you again. Thanks for all the love and support!
Love, Elder Minnesota Craft
Monday, April 23, 2012
Welcome, Brady!
Dear Craft Family,
It is so great to hear that things went so well with Brady! I knew he would do great. I hope that the scriptures and advice that he asked for really helped in giving him a little more material to speak on. It sounds like he really didn't need it though. haha I can not believe it's actually time for him to go into the MTC! Time is flying by and I am just so excited for him! I wish I could have heard from him this morning to see how everything's going but I remember how chaotic those last few days can be haha. Brady is going to love it! The people, the language, and even more the Gospel and Our Father in Heaven and Savior who presented it to us. It is amazing to me thinking about what I thought I knew and appreciated before my mission about Jesus Christ and that His Gospel and Church meant to me. I know now that I really hadn't even begun to understand and feel the true magnitude of what I've been apart of my entire life. Now even though I try to immerse myself in it each and every day I still don't quite comprehend all there is about God's infinite love for us and the eternal sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, outlined and made manifest by the Plan of Salvation to all of mankind. I'm not entirely sure that I will ever understand and comprehend it all, but what I do know is that I don't have to know it all. As long as I continue to strengthen myself spiritually through the cleansing and enabling power of Christ's Atonement that comes from renewing and fulfilling my covenants that I can do better. That there is hope in a world that doesn't offer much of it. There are going to be times and there have been times that I have felt overwhelmed like there isn't much help for me or much more that I think I can do, but it's when we continue to press forward with faith through those times when we aren't certain how things will turn out that we can look back and see the Lord strengthen us and ease our burdens just like Alma and his people or with Lehi and Nephi when they were thrown into prison. That's why I have loved being able to learn from The Book of Mormon just how applicable those teachings are and the real perception check that the experiences of other people can give to me about my own problems and challenges. You will come to love the Book of Mormon, Brady, and the teachings of enabling power that Christ will give to us. You are going to need that throughout your whole mission in every phase of the work. Learn to love what you're going to do and realize that you have been anxiously waiting for the past few months to go to Germany but you have talked about and anticipated going on a mission to serve the Lord for the last probably 11 or so years. I say that because I know for me I didn't keep that vision and understanding when I first came out. I wasn't look forward to what I could learn and experience and what the Lord was trying to teach me. Once I realized that I had talked about and waited for 19 years to be out here and that I'd only have 2 years to be on this mission with rest of eternity to think about it I knew that I needed to live up every moment because it would never come again. The things that you learn Brady will be such an amazing blessing for you that I can't even begin to describe! I'm sure you've gotten a lot of advice along the same lines as this, but I know that if you go into this looking forward to every chance and take every opportunity placed before you you will be happy and return home with honor. It's hard work serving a mission and is unlike anything you have ever or will ever do and that's by design. If there wasn't and stretching and testing there ultimately could be no growth. Work hard but look for chance to laugh and have fun. That's one thing Elder Dalrymple and I do a lot of and it's the only way to survive. There is a positive to it all but sometimes it takes a little work and searching to find it. Obedience will be the key to you receiving these blessings and being happy, and just know that the Lord is going to bless you, just as he does all of us, for our best most earnest efforts. You success comes from your own inward effort and commitment and sometimes not so much of the outward results that are a consequence of it! I want you all to know how much and I love and appreciate all of you. I know that the family is ordained of God and that His marvelous plan enables us to return to live in His presence forever and to do it together. I know that The Book of Mormon is true. That the teachings in their will and do draw us closer to the Savior as we read from and apply it's teachings. I know that Joseph Smith was the Prophet to translate that and restore Christ's original church and kingdom to the Earth again. I know that this Church is headed by and lead by Jesus Christ through chosen prophets and apostles today and that their counsel will lead us to Christ even more. I love sharing this with other people each and everyday and know you will too Brady. Be excited about what's ahead for you. It's a big step but one that you will be forever grateful that you took. I love you Brady and I'm going to miss not seeing you for a little while but I know that there's not better place for us to be and no better time for us to be there than now! Good luck and I look forward to hearing from you as you enter the MTC this week. You are going to love it there! Once you get to good old Deutschland find Elder Chambers and give him a nice hello for me and my address so that guy can write me back haha. Let me know anything that I can do for you!
Even though a large majority of that if not almost all of it was directed to Brady I just want everyone else to know how much I love being out here! It's so good to hear that everyone had such a great time last week and that Dad took it easy on everyone Saturday ;) haha. I'm glad you made it through Minneapolis safely Nick. I was think of that Friday as we were over by the airport maybe 10 minutes away going to see some people. I don't know what you were talking about with cold though we've been in short sleeves all week haha. I'm hoping that means I'm somewhat acclimating to the colder weather. We'll see I guess.
We had a great week here with a couple investigators coming to church yesterday and the one we sat by really enjoyed it. He's an amazing man that is such a blessing to be able to know and work with. We are really excited about the progress he's making, along with most of our other investigators, and the amazing work going on here. That same guy we sat by is also taking us to a Timberwolves game this week. Their last one of the season, so we're pretty excited about that. We never thought it would get approved so we didn't even try asking President Clements if we could go. We were just talking to him about this guy a couple weeks ago and said he'd mentioned taking us to a game possibly and before we even finished the sentence President said, "well that'd be fine", so we were nonetheless shocked but super excited to go. Hopefully we get some good pictures that I can send to you.
With those people we did have come to church we are working really hard with them and like I said they are growing a lot in their testimonies. It's not going to be quick by any means but we are hoping to have some baptisms coming in the next month or so we're hopeful for what is happening here! The Lord is really blessing us and the ward is getting more and more excited so good things are happening and will be increasing here in Bloomington.
I can't believe that it's almost Mother's Day too! Man time really is just screaming by. I'm trying to figure out if Elder Dalrymple and I can just Skype at the mission office with the webcams that we have or if we'd need to do a member's house. I'm guessing a member's house but either way I'll need to get your username for sure. I think it was --------- but I can't remember for sure. That is if everyone wants to Skype. Just let me know next week.
Well I hope all goes well this next few days. Just know I love and appreciate all that you do for me. I pray for you always and feel your love and prayers with me. i can't wait to talk to you again!
Love, Elder (Minnesota) Craft-- I figure that's going to have to be me new signature with there being two Elder Crafts now haha :)
It is so great to hear that things went so well with Brady! I knew he would do great. I hope that the scriptures and advice that he asked for really helped in giving him a little more material to speak on. It sounds like he really didn't need it though. haha I can not believe it's actually time for him to go into the MTC! Time is flying by and I am just so excited for him! I wish I could have heard from him this morning to see how everything's going but I remember how chaotic those last few days can be haha. Brady is going to love it! The people, the language, and even more the Gospel and Our Father in Heaven and Savior who presented it to us. It is amazing to me thinking about what I thought I knew and appreciated before my mission about Jesus Christ and that His Gospel and Church meant to me. I know now that I really hadn't even begun to understand and feel the true magnitude of what I've been apart of my entire life. Now even though I try to immerse myself in it each and every day I still don't quite comprehend all there is about God's infinite love for us and the eternal sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, outlined and made manifest by the Plan of Salvation to all of mankind. I'm not entirely sure that I will ever understand and comprehend it all, but what I do know is that I don't have to know it all. As long as I continue to strengthen myself spiritually through the cleansing and enabling power of Christ's Atonement that comes from renewing and fulfilling my covenants that I can do better. That there is hope in a world that doesn't offer much of it. There are going to be times and there have been times that I have felt overwhelmed like there isn't much help for me or much more that I think I can do, but it's when we continue to press forward with faith through those times when we aren't certain how things will turn out that we can look back and see the Lord strengthen us and ease our burdens just like Alma and his people or with Lehi and Nephi when they were thrown into prison. That's why I have loved being able to learn from The Book of Mormon just how applicable those teachings are and the real perception check that the experiences of other people can give to me about my own problems and challenges. You will come to love the Book of Mormon, Brady, and the teachings of enabling power that Christ will give to us. You are going to need that throughout your whole mission in every phase of the work. Learn to love what you're going to do and realize that you have been anxiously waiting for the past few months to go to Germany but you have talked about and anticipated going on a mission to serve the Lord for the last probably 11 or so years. I say that because I know for me I didn't keep that vision and understanding when I first came out. I wasn't look forward to what I could learn and experience and what the Lord was trying to teach me. Once I realized that I had talked about and waited for 19 years to be out here and that I'd only have 2 years to be on this mission with rest of eternity to think about it I knew that I needed to live up every moment because it would never come again. The things that you learn Brady will be such an amazing blessing for you that I can't even begin to describe! I'm sure you've gotten a lot of advice along the same lines as this, but I know that if you go into this looking forward to every chance and take every opportunity placed before you you will be happy and return home with honor. It's hard work serving a mission and is unlike anything you have ever or will ever do and that's by design. If there wasn't and stretching and testing there ultimately could be no growth. Work hard but look for chance to laugh and have fun. That's one thing Elder Dalrymple and I do a lot of and it's the only way to survive. There is a positive to it all but sometimes it takes a little work and searching to find it. Obedience will be the key to you receiving these blessings and being happy, and just know that the Lord is going to bless you, just as he does all of us, for our best most earnest efforts. You success comes from your own inward effort and commitment and sometimes not so much of the outward results that are a consequence of it! I want you all to know how much and I love and appreciate all of you. I know that the family is ordained of God and that His marvelous plan enables us to return to live in His presence forever and to do it together. I know that The Book of Mormon is true. That the teachings in their will and do draw us closer to the Savior as we read from and apply it's teachings. I know that Joseph Smith was the Prophet to translate that and restore Christ's original church and kingdom to the Earth again. I know that this Church is headed by and lead by Jesus Christ through chosen prophets and apostles today and that their counsel will lead us to Christ even more. I love sharing this with other people each and everyday and know you will too Brady. Be excited about what's ahead for you. It's a big step but one that you will be forever grateful that you took. I love you Brady and I'm going to miss not seeing you for a little while but I know that there's not better place for us to be and no better time for us to be there than now! Good luck and I look forward to hearing from you as you enter the MTC this week. You are going to love it there! Once you get to good old Deutschland find Elder Chambers and give him a nice hello for me and my address so that guy can write me back haha. Let me know anything that I can do for you!
Even though a large majority of that if not almost all of it was directed to Brady I just want everyone else to know how much I love being out here! It's so good to hear that everyone had such a great time last week and that Dad took it easy on everyone Saturday ;) haha. I'm glad you made it through Minneapolis safely Nick. I was think of that Friday as we were over by the airport maybe 10 minutes away going to see some people. I don't know what you were talking about with cold though we've been in short sleeves all week haha. I'm hoping that means I'm somewhat acclimating to the colder weather. We'll see I guess.
We had a great week here with a couple investigators coming to church yesterday and the one we sat by really enjoyed it. He's an amazing man that is such a blessing to be able to know and work with. We are really excited about the progress he's making, along with most of our other investigators, and the amazing work going on here. That same guy we sat by is also taking us to a Timberwolves game this week. Their last one of the season, so we're pretty excited about that. We never thought it would get approved so we didn't even try asking President Clements if we could go. We were just talking to him about this guy a couple weeks ago and said he'd mentioned taking us to a game possibly and before we even finished the sentence President said, "well that'd be fine", so we were nonetheless shocked but super excited to go. Hopefully we get some good pictures that I can send to you.
With those people we did have come to church we are working really hard with them and like I said they are growing a lot in their testimonies. It's not going to be quick by any means but we are hoping to have some baptisms coming in the next month or so we're hopeful for what is happening here! The Lord is really blessing us and the ward is getting more and more excited so good things are happening and will be increasing here in Bloomington.
I can't believe that it's almost Mother's Day too! Man time really is just screaming by. I'm trying to figure out if Elder Dalrymple and I can just Skype at the mission office with the webcams that we have or if we'd need to do a member's house. I'm guessing a member's house but either way I'll need to get your username for sure. I think it was --------- but I can't remember for sure. That is if everyone wants to Skype. Just let me know next week.
Well I hope all goes well this next few days. Just know I love and appreciate all that you do for me. I pray for you always and feel your love and prayers with me. i can't wait to talk to you again!
Love, Elder (Minnesota) Craft-- I figure that's going to have to be me new signature with there being two Elder Crafts now haha :)
Monday, May 9, 2011
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
Monday, May 2, 2011
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
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
Monday, April 25, 2011
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
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
Monday, April 18, 2011
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
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
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