Dear Crafts,
I almost feel like after that story Dad sent me and what I heard about the game from members at church yesterday that we all need to take a moment of silence for all those grieving cougar fans out there. . . . HAHA!!! That's so funny! I was glad to hear about that. Especially since Elder White's a BYU fan haha.
Back on the subject of missionary work. Things in Eden Prairie are going well. Elder White and I get along great and are working really hard to try and build up the teaching pool here. It's taking a little time but there's amazing potential and people here. We just have to get and work to find them. This ward is great and really missionary minded. We're blessed to be serving in a ward like this. Hopefully we will have more exciting things to report on for next week.
The Bishop gave us the opportunity to bare our testimonies and for me to stand
and introduce myself yesterday. It was good to kind of make an appearance and share our testimonies with the whole ward and show them we're here to work. There an uncanny amount of people that came up to me after with question about people I know that live in Hooper. One member, Sister Ward, is the great aunt of Braxton Willie and then as Mom got to find out Sister Neilson, who we had dinner with last Sunday, grew up right across the street from Blakeley Charlesworth's mom. So that was weird when they asked where I was from and said they knew someone out near Hooper. The world within the church really is very small. Especially here where everyone seems to be from Utah or knows someone from there haha.
That's great Kevin did so well yesterday. That is kind of early to have his farewell but with Stacie coming home now too it makes sense. Lots of crazy things going on back in Hooper. It's too bad that Brady make it and then that you missed Elder Dillon Pilcher speak on the amazing MMM. Hopefully you'll get to talk to him soon about it. Maybe they'll have him speak again haha. The Assistants were asking me about "this Elder coming out from Hooper next transfer". It's so cool to think about where he'll be trained and who will train him. I'm excited to find out! He's going to love it. Especially since the temperature just dropped like 20 degrees this last week. Winter's just around the corner. Time to build some character haha.
That's so exciting for you Kat and Tom! I wish I could be there to support you, but I'm just glad to know that it's still going through. I know we weren't sure if all the documentation would be ready for awhile so I've just been praying for you, and those prayers were answered. Just know that I'll be thinking about you guys tomorrow! I can't wait to see the pictures. I'm sure it's going to be great with what I've heard about it!
So I'm hoping today to attach some pictures from Shingle Creek for you and I'll probably print some to send as well. There's only a couple from here that I could put on and one is of the Temple of Ekenkar! The people at this church are completely insane!! The one and only "Temple of Ek" is here in Chanhassen and it's their world headquarters. These people in the simplest terms I can describe it are just nuts! They believe in basically everything which means they believe in nothing. They're not Christian and they read from a book that their leaders wrote in 1965 as their scripture known as the Seriyat. They're know for their spiritual exercises that they do. They chant to word "HU" over and over and over. They call it a spiritual exercise that each member does everyday for up to 20 minutes. They do it to soothe and they chant to word "HU" because "it's the sacred, ancient name for God and the vibrations you feel on your throat as you do it are because it's sacred". I want you guys to try it just take a nice deep breathe. . and chant "HU" in a nice soothing voice for 20 seconds while touching your index and middle finger to the side of your throat and repeat as need for up to 20 minutes. Their claim is that it's a "love song to God that will soothe both of you and bring you closer to Him". When they meet to "worship" they all do this chant as a group and it's called a "HU Song" . They're led by their "Temple Masters" and their "prophet" as they referred to him is "The Ek Master". The best part is that I'm not even having to make up any of these names or titles and I was told all of this by one of the followers when we tracted into him. You could probably Google it to find out more. I can't even tell it all that well over an email. There were plenty of things we came up with after talking to him about the Grinch hating the "HU"s and their "HU song" that's why he stole Christmas. We're just waiting for a rapper to now come out with the name "Master EK". I can totally see it haha. They're really nice people just a little on the blasphemous, apostasy side of things haha. I'll just have to remember to tell that story in person. haha
Well I hope that everyone is doing well and I can't wait to hear from you all again. I love and appreciate all that you do for me and I hope to have more stories about investigators and the true Gospel of our Heavenly Father and maybe not so much about the Ekites next week haha.
Love, Elder Craft
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Monday, September 19, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Sorry, Mom. I forgot your birthday.
Hello Everyone,
Are you surprised to get an email that's actually a Monday? haha Now you won't have to wonder in suspense over the next 48 hours waiting for something to come. Since I know that's what all of you do. Once Monday hit at 12:01 everyone turns their computers on and anxiously awaits to email to come. haha JK
Thank you for the emails and pictures from all of you! I know it must have taken some time to do that. Especially from Brady. From what I hear it seems like everyone is doing well. I'm glad to hear Mom's back from Idaho to fix whatever may have happened to the house haha. Only bad part about Mom not being in Idaho is not only that Camie's on her own with those kids now, but I sent your birthday present up there that Camie and Brock will probably get today or tomorrow haha. Sorry I thought you'd be there for at least this week. Just know that I didn't forget about you Mom. :)
This week in the Shingle Creek has been good. We haven't had too many things to report on, but all in all it was good. President Clements came to our District Meeting along with the Zone Leaders so it added a little bit more to our little band of missionaries. It was a great experience to be able to have him counsel with us and give good insight on what we should do to work with our investigators, and to also hear what he had to say on the training I gave on "The Role of the Book of Mormon" and how to use it more effectively in our teaching. President Clements is so great! He's always so loving, encouraging, and willing to help with anything. We also had an amazing answer to prayer come at church yesterday. I can't remember if I've mentioned to you before that we have two deaf investigators that we're working with. Russ, who I've talked about before, has just been so frustrated trying to understand, comprehend, and communicate about all he's been learning recently. Then JV is this awesome guy who's been meeting with missionaries for awhile. His sister, brother, and one of his "baby mommas" are all members of our church. He's been watching the Book of Mormon and knows a lot about what's in there. We haven't been able to meet with him as much recently because he's been gone and his phone has been off so we couldn't text him. This past couple of weeks we've been able to go over and see him. We reviewed the Restoration with him because he already knew all of it and has a testimony of it. We didn't have to teach him hardly anything about it. The Word of Wisdom has been his struggle for awhile that he's been working on (just like Russ. Anyone guess where I'm going with this?. . ) . So at church yesterday both JV and Russ came. We introduced them afterwards and it was like a train took off from there. They stood and talked (signed) for 15-20 minutes after sacrament meeting in the chapel. Once we were able to get them into Gospel Principles they just continued from there. They had their own conversation while Elder Haupt and I taught the class and the interpreter that was in there for them just watched them talk. After class they didn't even go into priesthood but rather just stood outside in the hall and talked the whole time. There's another less-active woman in our ward that has recently been coming back really strong who is also deaf that showed up yesterday and talked with them in the hall during priesthood too. After church we walked around before our coordination meeting to see where they went and they were still talking down at another part of the church. Sister Fish told us that Russ is really excited now to see the struggles that both she and JV have are just like his; that they're both deaf; and they've been able to overcome these challenges through prayer, scripture study, and coming to church just like we talked to him about . We have the Book of Mormon on ASL that we've been telling Russ about and after talking to JV and seeing how much it helped him he really wants to get it to start watching. He told us that he understands alot more now and the interpreter told us she'll have to talk to us later about the conversation that Russ and JV had in Gospel Principles. From what I could catch in between teaching and based on what few signs I do know I caught a general idea of Russ asking JV about the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity and without even knowing it JV was testifying of what it was, how it will help him, and how he can find strength to overcome. Sister Kirkham, who was the interpreter, said that JV was basically converting Russ right there at church! It was so amazing and like I said a miracle and answer to prayer that the Lord provided for us.
I hope to hear again from you all soon. Once again thanks for all the emails, pictures, love, and support you guys show to me. Keep praying for me because as that story goes to show the Lord provides miracles in all sorts of ways to accomplish his purposes. I love and miss you guys and am always praying for you.
Love, Elder Craft
Are you surprised to get an email that's actually a Monday? haha Now you won't have to wonder in suspense over the next 48 hours waiting for something to come. Since I know that's what all of you do. Once Monday hit at 12:01 everyone turns their computers on and anxiously awaits to email to come. haha JK
Thank you for the emails and pictures from all of you! I know it must have taken some time to do that. Especially from Brady. From what I hear it seems like everyone is doing well. I'm glad to hear Mom's back from Idaho to fix whatever may have happened to the house haha. Only bad part about Mom not being in Idaho is not only that Camie's on her own with those kids now, but I sent your birthday present up there that Camie and Brock will probably get today or tomorrow haha. Sorry I thought you'd be there for at least this week. Just know that I didn't forget about you Mom. :)
This week in the Shingle Creek has been good. We haven't had too many things to report on, but all in all it was good. President Clements came to our District Meeting along with the Zone Leaders so it added a little bit more to our little band of missionaries. It was a great experience to be able to have him counsel with us and give good insight on what we should do to work with our investigators, and to also hear what he had to say on the training I gave on "The Role of the Book of Mormon" and how to use it more effectively in our teaching. President Clements is so great! He's always so loving, encouraging, and willing to help with anything. We also had an amazing answer to prayer come at church yesterday. I can't remember if I've mentioned to you before that we have two deaf investigators that we're working with. Russ, who I've talked about before, has just been so frustrated trying to understand, comprehend, and communicate about all he's been learning recently. Then JV is this awesome guy who's been meeting with missionaries for awhile. His sister, brother, and one of his "baby mommas" are all members of our church. He's been watching the Book of Mormon and knows a lot about what's in there. We haven't been able to meet with him as much recently because he's been gone and his phone has been off so we couldn't text him. This past couple of weeks we've been able to go over and see him. We reviewed the Restoration with him because he already knew all of it and has a testimony of it. We didn't have to teach him hardly anything about it. The Word of Wisdom has been his struggle for awhile that he's been working on (just like Russ. Anyone guess where I'm going with this?. . ) . So at church yesterday both JV and Russ came. We introduced them afterwards and it was like a train took off from there. They stood and talked (signed) for 15-20 minutes after sacrament meeting in the chapel. Once we were able to get them into Gospel Principles they just continued from there. They had their own conversation while Elder Haupt and I taught the class and the interpreter that was in there for them just watched them talk. After class they didn't even go into priesthood but rather just stood outside in the hall and talked the whole time. There's another less-active woman in our ward that has recently been coming back really strong who is also deaf that showed up yesterday and talked with them in the hall during priesthood too. After church we walked around before our coordination meeting to see where they went and they were still talking down at another part of the church. Sister Fish told us that Russ is really excited now to see the struggles that both she and JV have are just like his; that they're both deaf; and they've been able to overcome these challenges through prayer, scripture study, and coming to church just like we talked to him about . We have the Book of Mormon on ASL that we've been telling Russ about and after talking to JV and seeing how much it helped him he really wants to get it to start watching. He told us that he understands alot more now and the interpreter told us she'll have to talk to us later about the conversation that Russ and JV had in Gospel Principles. From what I could catch in between teaching and based on what few signs I do know I caught a general idea of Russ asking JV about the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity and without even knowing it JV was testifying of what it was, how it will help him, and how he can find strength to overcome. Sister Kirkham, who was the interpreter, said that JV was basically converting Russ right there at church! It was so amazing and like I said a miracle and answer to prayer that the Lord provided for us.
I hope to hear again from you all soon. Once again thanks for all the emails, pictures, love, and support you guys show to me. Keep praying for me because as that story goes to show the Lord provides miracles in all sorts of ways to accomplish his purposes. I love and miss you guys and am always praying for you.
Love, Elder Craft
Monday, June 20, 2011
It's a Boy!
Dear Family,
I'm glad to hear from what Mom was able to tell me that everyone's doing well. I'm a little confused as to what this award scarf thing is that Brady got but I guess when you're out of the loop that's what happens haha. I hope that everyone was able to have a good Father's Day. I'm glad that you like the card Dad. I hope all goes well with you traveling and everything this week. The Father's Day for us was just the same as everyday in case anyone was wondering haha. We did get transfer calls last night which was a little different because those usually come on the Monday morning before transfers, but President Howell's leaving so he kind of does what he wants. Unfortunately for us our phone has really been acting up recently. It turns itself off and won't let us turn it back on until it decides. It's really frustrating and was even more so yesterday. It shut off as we were leaving to bike to church and we couldn't get it back on until we got home after church and our coordination meeting. When we did finally get it to work we had a missed call from President Howell for me to call him back. Only problem is that he didn't answer when I did. I wish that I could express the amount of stress that that dumb phone put us under yesterday. I was ready to throw it down the street and make it "give up the ghost" haha. We just had to leave for a couple appointments we had from the day before when we were tracting. Elder Hatch and I started praying in our hearts that it would turn back on just to call President Howell and our dinner appointment who'd also called earlier. All I have to say is that the Lord provides those tender mercies and answers prayers. Even the small seemingly insignificant ones because we got it turned back on. We had another missed call from President Howell but because our phone was running on the spirit this time I called him back and got to talk with him. He asked me how my obedience and companionship study was going. I told him pretty good and his exact response was, "well we're going to have to try and make it even better. I want you to train one of those new missionaries coming in Elder". I'm now going to be training for the next 2 transfers (3 months) with this new missionary that comes in on Wednesday. He'll be my companion that I'll have had the longest and Shingle Creek will be the longest area I'll be in. I'm excited to be able to help this new missionary with the start of his mission. Sorry that was kind of a long story just about a malfunctioning phone but like I said it was alot of added stress and problems for us at the most inconvenient of times. Isn't that how it always is though? haha Like you've probably already all figured out Elder Hatch by default is now leaving and being transferred for the first time in his 4 1/2 months out. He's going to North Branch which is only about 40 miles north and a little East of here. From what I've heard it's a great area he's really going to love. I'm really glad I got the opportunity to learn and grow with him through all the different experiences we've had the past 6 weeks. It's a little sad the our district couldn't stay together because we all really like each other but the Lord knows what he's doing. Elder Kingston is moving North of Elder hatch a ways up to a place called Askov for the last 6 weeks of his mission. He's going to the U right when he gets home and said he wants to go up to Hooper to visit my family. So if you have an Elder Joey Kingston from LA who's going to the University of Utah show up on the front step one day to say hi you'll know why. haha Elder Bennett is still going to be here with me from our district for the next 2 transfers too because he's training also. It's going to be interesting now being the "oldest" missionary in our district . We'll have to 2 new Greenies and Elder Bennett who just finished his 3 months of being trained by Elder Kingston. President Clements will be coming in this week I think with the new missionaries. I hope you were able to get the forward of when and where President and Sister Howell will be speaking. It's weird to have them go but I'm excited to get to know and help President Clements any way I can now.
As for any new news here on the work Micheal is still working towards being baptized. We met with him a couple times last week. He's been taught everything, interviewed, and read The Book of Mormon. He's so ready but like he told us last week he's the only one holding himself back. He's nervous to mess up again once he is baptized, so it's a legitimate concern. We are just trying to encourage and assure him that he is ready without him feeling pushed or unsure about getting baptized at all. I have faith that he will be baptized in the next few weeks it's just a matter of him feeling ready and confident.
That's about all for the exciting and new information here. I have one more question that Brady might be able to answer. KC John should be either home or coming home this month and I was just curious when his homecoming was or will be? I'm glad to hear that all is well and I hope that everyone will continue to be blessed and watch over. I pray for you all always. I love and miss you and can't wait to hear from you again!
Love, Elder Alex Craft
I'm glad to hear from what Mom was able to tell me that everyone's doing well. I'm a little confused as to what this award scarf thing is that Brady got but I guess when you're out of the loop that's what happens haha. I hope that everyone was able to have a good Father's Day. I'm glad that you like the card Dad. I hope all goes well with you traveling and everything this week. The Father's Day for us was just the same as everyday in case anyone was wondering haha. We did get transfer calls last night which was a little different because those usually come on the Monday morning before transfers, but President Howell's leaving so he kind of does what he wants. Unfortunately for us our phone has really been acting up recently. It turns itself off and won't let us turn it back on until it decides. It's really frustrating and was even more so yesterday. It shut off as we were leaving to bike to church and we couldn't get it back on until we got home after church and our coordination meeting. When we did finally get it to work we had a missed call from President Howell for me to call him back. Only problem is that he didn't answer when I did. I wish that I could express the amount of stress that that dumb phone put us under yesterday. I was ready to throw it down the street and make it "give up the ghost" haha. We just had to leave for a couple appointments we had from the day before when we were tracting. Elder Hatch and I started praying in our hearts that it would turn back on just to call President Howell and our dinner appointment who'd also called earlier. All I have to say is that the Lord provides those tender mercies and answers prayers. Even the small seemingly insignificant ones because we got it turned back on. We had another missed call from President Howell but because our phone was running on the spirit this time I called him back and got to talk with him. He asked me how my obedience and companionship study was going. I told him pretty good and his exact response was, "well we're going to have to try and make it even better. I want you to train one of those new missionaries coming in Elder". I'm now going to be training for the next 2 transfers (3 months) with this new missionary that comes in on Wednesday. He'll be my companion that I'll have had the longest and Shingle Creek will be the longest area I'll be in. I'm excited to be able to help this new missionary with the start of his mission. Sorry that was kind of a long story just about a malfunctioning phone but like I said it was alot of added stress and problems for us at the most inconvenient of times. Isn't that how it always is though? haha Like you've probably already all figured out Elder Hatch by default is now leaving and being transferred for the first time in his 4 1/2 months out. He's going to North Branch which is only about 40 miles north and a little East of here. From what I've heard it's a great area he's really going to love. I'm really glad I got the opportunity to learn and grow with him through all the different experiences we've had the past 6 weeks. It's a little sad the our district couldn't stay together because we all really like each other but the Lord knows what he's doing. Elder Kingston is moving North of Elder hatch a ways up to a place called Askov for the last 6 weeks of his mission. He's going to the U right when he gets home and said he wants to go up to Hooper to visit my family. So if you have an Elder Joey Kingston from LA who's going to the University of Utah show up on the front step one day to say hi you'll know why. haha Elder Bennett is still going to be here with me from our district for the next 2 transfers too because he's training also. It's going to be interesting now being the "oldest" missionary in our district . We'll have to 2 new Greenies and Elder Bennett who just finished his 3 months of being trained by Elder Kingston. President Clements will be coming in this week I think with the new missionaries. I hope you were able to get the forward of when and where President and Sister Howell will be speaking. It's weird to have them go but I'm excited to get to know and help President Clements any way I can now.
As for any new news here on the work Micheal is still working towards being baptized. We met with him a couple times last week. He's been taught everything, interviewed, and read The Book of Mormon. He's so ready but like he told us last week he's the only one holding himself back. He's nervous to mess up again once he is baptized, so it's a legitimate concern. We are just trying to encourage and assure him that he is ready without him feeling pushed or unsure about getting baptized at all. I have faith that he will be baptized in the next few weeks it's just a matter of him feeling ready and confident.
That's about all for the exciting and new information here. I have one more question that Brady might be able to answer. KC John should be either home or coming home this month and I was just curious when his homecoming was or will be? I'm glad to hear that all is well and I hope that everyone will continue to be blessed and watch over. I pray for you all always. I love and miss you and can't wait to hear from you again!
Love, Elder Alex Craft
Monday, June 6, 2011
Eating, Sleeping and Dreaming Missionary Work
Dear Family,
Thanks for all the emails and support this week. I'm glad to know that everyone's doing much better as far as sicknesses go. It sounds like it was pretty intense for a little while.
Sorry there's not too much that I have to write this week. Not too much exciting or note worthy happened. I did have that leadership training in Bloomington from President and Sister Howell that was very edifiying, uplifting, and spritiual as always. It really opened my eyes to ways that I can improve myself as a missionary and help the other Elders in my district to do the same. I'm excited to be able to share what I learned for our next district meeting. Hopefully this time I won't be as nervous because it's not my first one and I have a lot more material to teach on this time. That always helps. haha The funny part is that now I have all this that I want to teach and I'm excited for we won't be having district meeting this week. Go figure right? Last week we didn't have it because of the training and now this week we're having another specialized training from President Howell. I think he's trying to do all of these trainings because he has less than a month left! That's so crazy! It's going to be weird to see the changes and experience the transition between President Howell and President Clemens. President Howell keeps making the analogy of relay racing and handing off the baton. Not slowing down at all. I don't think that we will. The one problem I can see is that President Howell's a U of U grad and President Clemens BYU so there's one obstacle that we'll have to get around, but I think it shouldn't be too difficult ;). haha It was really cool at the training because I got to end the 7 month search that I've had my whole mission. . . I found Elder Dillon Pilcher haha. He's the other missionary out here from good old H-Town and he was at the training last week. He saw me and once he figured out who I was he came over to say hi and we talked for awhile during lunch. The funny part was that he kept saying how different I looked and I had to remind him that's becasue #1 the last time he saw me and I saw him I was a sophomore and #2 i also had longer hair back then that was never parted. haha It was way cool to get to see and talk to him though about his mission so far as one of the few Caran (?) Elders. Too bad I found him and now he goes home at the beginning of August. haha We did get to take a picture though so I'll be attaching that for those of you who have no idea what or who I'm talking about you can at least put a name to the confusion now. hahaha
We did have Micheal and Tony's baptismal interviews Friday and they passed! So we're super excited and looking forward to their baptisms here soon. It would have been this Saturday but Tony has to work in the morning when the bishopbric wanted to schedule it and has to work the Sunday after so he wouldn't be confirmed even if we did do it that day. It's nothing too major but those are just some of the obstacles that Satan's trying to throw our way to do all that he can to stop this amazing step they're taking. Too bad for him we've got the better power on our side :).
The weather has been heating up here too. At least in the high 80's for the most part, and I fell for you with the humidity Nick! Just this morning as we were going out to bike here to the library we walked out side into what felt like some blanket of water I guess is the best way I could describe it. It wasn't as bad as walking out into a wall but close.
Oh here's a funny story for you guys. So as most of you know I talk in my sleep, among other weird subconscious things that I do. Well Elder Hatch found that out this past week too. He said I woke him up a few nights ago in the middle of the night from it. Now that would be normal and what I expected to hear, but then he said that i rolled up into like a fetal postition on the bed and said, "Alright lets pray. . . . I'll say it. . . " and I went on from there. he said that I offered a pretty good prayer about Tony, Micheal, and Joe some of our investigators and even closed with Amen and everything. haha Now I not only have dreams about missionary work I guess I do it while I sleep haha. Lets just hope it's only prayers and I don't start "sleep tracting". I don't think that's be good for anyone involved.
Now to answer some questions/make some comments.
Tom: Well was surprised to hear both of the stories you told me. I think you're one of the only people I know that's ever been sucker punched by a mission president. Or I guess ex-mission president but still. You do know that President Howell comes home soon and probably has some built up stress from the past 3 years so I'd stay clear of him ;) hahahaha JK. I'm glad to hear that you're both doing ok and recovering and that you're working toward that great day on August 20th!! That's way exciting! I look forward to the news and pictures from that.
Well as for the rest of you I hope that everything's going well and that I can hear from you soon. Thanks again for all the love support and prayers! I love and miss you guys and will continue to pray that things continue to go well in Utah and Virginia. . .and Idaho too I guess ;) haha.
Love,
Alex (Elder Craft)
Thanks for all the emails and support this week. I'm glad to know that everyone's doing much better as far as sicknesses go. It sounds like it was pretty intense for a little while.
Sorry there's not too much that I have to write this week. Not too much exciting or note worthy happened. I did have that leadership training in Bloomington from President and Sister Howell that was very edifiying, uplifting, and spritiual as always. It really opened my eyes to ways that I can improve myself as a missionary and help the other Elders in my district to do the same. I'm excited to be able to share what I learned for our next district meeting. Hopefully this time I won't be as nervous because it's not my first one and I have a lot more material to teach on this time. That always helps. haha The funny part is that now I have all this that I want to teach and I'm excited for we won't be having district meeting this week. Go figure right? Last week we didn't have it because of the training and now this week we're having another specialized training from President Howell. I think he's trying to do all of these trainings because he has less than a month left! That's so crazy! It's going to be weird to see the changes and experience the transition between President Howell and President Clemens. President Howell keeps making the analogy of relay racing and handing off the baton. Not slowing down at all. I don't think that we will. The one problem I can see is that President Howell's a U of U grad and President Clemens BYU so there's one obstacle that we'll have to get around, but I think it shouldn't be too difficult ;). haha It was really cool at the training because I got to end the 7 month search that I've had my whole mission. . . I found Elder Dillon Pilcher haha. He's the other missionary out here from good old H-Town and he was at the training last week. He saw me and once he figured out who I was he came over to say hi and we talked for awhile during lunch. The funny part was that he kept saying how different I looked and I had to remind him that's becasue #1 the last time he saw me and I saw him I was a sophomore and #2 i also had longer hair back then that was never parted. haha It was way cool to get to see and talk to him though about his mission so far as one of the few Caran (?) Elders. Too bad I found him and now he goes home at the beginning of August. haha We did get to take a picture though so I'll be attaching that for those of you who have no idea what or who I'm talking about you can at least put a name to the confusion now. hahaha
We did have Micheal and Tony's baptismal interviews Friday and they passed! So we're super excited and looking forward to their baptisms here soon. It would have been this Saturday but Tony has to work in the morning when the bishopbric wanted to schedule it and has to work the Sunday after so he wouldn't be confirmed even if we did do it that day. It's nothing too major but those are just some of the obstacles that Satan's trying to throw our way to do all that he can to stop this amazing step they're taking. Too bad for him we've got the better power on our side :).
The weather has been heating up here too. At least in the high 80's for the most part, and I fell for you with the humidity Nick! Just this morning as we were going out to bike here to the library we walked out side into what felt like some blanket of water I guess is the best way I could describe it. It wasn't as bad as walking out into a wall but close.
Oh here's a funny story for you guys. So as most of you know I talk in my sleep, among other weird subconscious things that I do. Well Elder Hatch found that out this past week too. He said I woke him up a few nights ago in the middle of the night from it. Now that would be normal and what I expected to hear, but then he said that i rolled up into like a fetal postition on the bed and said, "Alright lets pray. . . . I'll say it. . . " and I went on from there. he said that I offered a pretty good prayer about Tony, Micheal, and Joe some of our investigators and even closed with Amen and everything. haha Now I not only have dreams about missionary work I guess I do it while I sleep haha. Lets just hope it's only prayers and I don't start "sleep tracting". I don't think that's be good for anyone involved.
Now to answer some questions/make some comments.
Tom: Well was surprised to hear both of the stories you told me. I think you're one of the only people I know that's ever been sucker punched by a mission president. Or I guess ex-mission president but still. You do know that President Howell comes home soon and probably has some built up stress from the past 3 years so I'd stay clear of him ;) hahahaha JK. I'm glad to hear that you're both doing ok and recovering and that you're working toward that great day on August 20th!! That's way exciting! I look forward to the news and pictures from that.
Well as for the rest of you I hope that everything's going well and that I can hear from you soon. Thanks again for all the love support and prayers! I love and miss you guys and will continue to pray that things continue to go well in Utah and Virginia. . .and Idaho too I guess ;) haha.
Love,
Alex (Elder Craft)
Monday, March 7, 2011
"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
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
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