Dear Crafts,
This week was kind of a crazy one for us too. But that's kind of typical for missionary work. Talking to any random stranger you can, if you're lucky going into their house, and explaining to them how Christ loves them and has shown His love through a Prophet and modern revelation all with a book of scripture that they can just read to feel a difference in their life. It all sounds pretty nuts if I put it that way, but that's why I love it. Sometimes I find myself losing focus of what we really are here to do and how miraculous it really if that it ever works. The Lord definitely guides this work and it's so awesome being a part of it!
The weather sounds like good old typical Utah for us. haha Here in Minnesota it's been pretty nuts too. Last week like I mentioned we were planning for tranfers and getting all that finalized, but that's when we found out about the storm coming right for us. It was suppose to hit Tuesday afternoon and continue through Wednesday evening bringing 18 inches of snow and freezing ice with it. It would have been sweet with a ton of service opportunities as a missionary, but not so fun for everyone else. The bad part was the timing of it all too because our transfer day at the mission home is usually Wednesday morning into the afternoon and we go to take the departing missionaries and pick up the arriving ones at the airport all in that time. It's a crazy schedule with good weather, so this storm was going to throw a realy wrench in our plans. President decided to err on the safe side and postpone transfers until Thursday to avoid everyone trying to travel in that storm. It did come on Tuesday but it wasn't anything too bad. Wednesday morning when we woke up to take the 10 departing missionaries that'd spent the night in our apartment to breakfast at the mission home before the airport we saw the nice coat of nice on eveything that had formed with a couple new inches of snow. Needless to say I drove the big 12 passenger van full of missionaries with the cargo trailer full of their luggage to the airport as cautiously as I could. Good news is that I, as well as the 10 departing and 16 arriving missionaries, survived the roads and storm over those two days that only brought a few inches of snow and ice that has since melted down and mostly away. Despite moving the transfer to Thursday to avoid the problem with the storm we had another challenge come up Tuesday morning in the form of a funeral on Thursday at the chapel right next to the mission home and the family wanting to keep it private and dignified with no missionaries allowed during the 5-6 event. So we worked like crazy to move the transfer location now along with the time up to the Minneapolis Stake Center in Crystal so we could have the transfer and meetings for the trainers and trainees there as well. It seemed do go off without too many problems. It was an interesting experience for me and Elder Dalrymple taking those 10 missionaries to the airport to go home. They were all laughing and joking all on Tuesday and Wednesday morning even until we pulled up at the airport. Almost immediately you could see everyone's expression change. It got really quiet and all of them looked white and nervous. It was a crazy experience to see reality hit with them of actually going home, and when Elder Dalrymple and I were talking about it after it's definitely something I'm not looking forward to. haha Along with all the crazy coordination and logistics of transfers the Elders that used to cover the East Bloomington area, the other half of our ward, got transferred out so that we now cover the entire ward. It was funny at church yesterday to see people's reaction when the ward went from 5 missionaries last week to 2 this week. It's going to be a lot more work, but that also means a lot more teaching. We need to build a model area for the mission and that's what we're hoping to do with new and more people to teach and a larger area. When Elder Zwick of the 70 came on mission tour in October he changed up our exchanges so that we no longer do them with Zone Leaders, but now we bring all new missionaries and their trainers here to Bloomington for a day to work and train with us here. That's another reason we have to make a model area because of all the exchanges we'll be doing. We're going to have 8 new missionaries and their trainers coming on exchanges here within the next 6 weeks. It's going to be awesome! We got some really great missionaries that are going to build the mission so much.
We also have a cool experience this week of having two members from the missionary department Brother Lusvardi and Brother Woodruff come out to do some training with President to all the District Leaders and Zone Leaders on Thursday. We also get to have Brother Lusvardi come joint teaching with us all Tuesday night. I'm not going to lie I'm kind of nervous but pumped at the same time. It's going to be sweet I just hope that all our appointments we've been trying to stack for that night go through. haha
With all of that going on this week there hasn't been much else to report on. haha That's too bad to hear about some of the health struggles you guys are having, but I'll be praying for you. I appreciate all your love and support that you guys give to me! I look forward to talking to you all again soon!
Love, Elder Craft
Showing posts with label President Clement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label President Clement. Show all posts
Monday, March 5, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Mmmm, Chocolate!
Dear Everyone,
This week has been amazing! Sorry there won't be much time to report today in the midst of transfers. We've been doing calls this morning, so I'm finding some time to write in our shifts of calling the teams haha. We had some meetings with President Clements this week just about transfers and other things that we needed to get done. So this last week and the next few days are going to be a little hectic. No matter what happens though I know that my hand won't be cold because of the package of hand warmers you all sent me. Thank you so much for that package! It means a lot that you guys were thinking of me and my hands. I really appreciate all your love and support you constantly give to me! Beside the transfer stuff we had a really good proselyting week. We were able to pick up 5 new investigator. There's a couple new people that have family members that are members of the church we are working with now and are really excited about. We found an amazing new family of 3 tracting this last week that we were able to go back and teach. The night that we tracted into them the father was super nice to us and the son was actually watching a cartoon of the miracles of Christ's life on TV. They are basically members of the church already haha. They have Greg Olsen's painting of the Savior with the child on his lap and that one of Christ you told me about, Mom, and sent me those stamps of from when you were in primary framed and hanging on their walls. They were some of the nicest people I've met and been able to teach. They called us the 3 wise men when we showed up and had bought us each a package of Lindor chocolates! Something all you chocolate fans can appreciate and understand how awesome they are just for that fact alone. haha ;) We're really excited to teach them and expect some great things to happen here in our ward.
Transfers are today for the whole mission, but Elder Crepeau and Elder Lo got their transfer calls on Friday. Elder Crepeau is going back to central Minneapolis Spanish and Elder Lo is going to the Minneapolis Hmong area for the last 2 transfers of my mission. It's sad that they are leaving. We had such a great transfer together and were constantly laughing. It's hard to believe that it's already been a whole transfer almost here with them. We weren't sure who my new companion would be, but President called him on Friday and we picked him up last night. His name is Elder Dalrymple from Orem, Ut. He's been serving in Lakeville as a Zone Leader for the past few transfers. He played basketball for Snow College back in Utah so he's probably my only other companion that I've had that can dunk or touch the rim even. He's a great missionary that I'm really excited to work with! Even though we don't have Zone Conferences this transfer we have a bunch of specialized trainings we'll need to do. Normally in this ward we are the West missionaries that cover the West half of the ward, and there's a set of missionaries that cover the East part. Pretty self explanatory I know, but the reason I say that is because this transfer President has decided to close East Bloomington so Elder Dalrymple and I will cover the whole ward now. It's going to be a lot more to cover and a lot more work but that will bring a lot more success and a lot more of the miracles that we've seen. There's going to be a lot of exciting things happening here and I'm excited to be apart of it all. We have 10 missionaries going home and 17 coming in all on Wednesday that we get to pick up and drop off. In the group of 17 there's 8 new Sisters coming out. It should be a lot of fun haha.
Sorry there's not much more to say. I hope all is well. Just know that I love and pray for you always. Thanks for all that you do for me!
Love, Elder Craft
This week has been amazing! Sorry there won't be much time to report today in the midst of transfers. We've been doing calls this morning, so I'm finding some time to write in our shifts of calling the teams haha. We had some meetings with President Clements this week just about transfers and other things that we needed to get done. So this last week and the next few days are going to be a little hectic. No matter what happens though I know that my hand won't be cold because of the package of hand warmers you all sent me. Thank you so much for that package! It means a lot that you guys were thinking of me and my hands. I really appreciate all your love and support you constantly give to me! Beside the transfer stuff we had a really good proselyting week. We were able to pick up 5 new investigator. There's a couple new people that have family members that are members of the church we are working with now and are really excited about. We found an amazing new family of 3 tracting this last week that we were able to go back and teach. The night that we tracted into them the father was super nice to us and the son was actually watching a cartoon of the miracles of Christ's life on TV. They are basically members of the church already haha. They have Greg Olsen's painting of the Savior with the child on his lap and that one of Christ you told me about, Mom, and sent me those stamps of from when you were in primary framed and hanging on their walls. They were some of the nicest people I've met and been able to teach. They called us the 3 wise men when we showed up and had bought us each a package of Lindor chocolates! Something all you chocolate fans can appreciate and understand how awesome they are just for that fact alone. haha ;) We're really excited to teach them and expect some great things to happen here in our ward.
Transfers are today for the whole mission, but Elder Crepeau and Elder Lo got their transfer calls on Friday. Elder Crepeau is going back to central Minneapolis Spanish and Elder Lo is going to the Minneapolis Hmong area for the last 2 transfers of my mission. It's sad that they are leaving. We had such a great transfer together and were constantly laughing. It's hard to believe that it's already been a whole transfer almost here with them. We weren't sure who my new companion would be, but President called him on Friday and we picked him up last night. His name is Elder Dalrymple from Orem, Ut. He's been serving in Lakeville as a Zone Leader for the past few transfers. He played basketball for Snow College back in Utah so he's probably my only other companion that I've had that can dunk or touch the rim even. He's a great missionary that I'm really excited to work with! Even though we don't have Zone Conferences this transfer we have a bunch of specialized trainings we'll need to do. Normally in this ward we are the West missionaries that cover the West half of the ward, and there's a set of missionaries that cover the East part. Pretty self explanatory I know, but the reason I say that is because this transfer President has decided to close East Bloomington so Elder Dalrymple and I will cover the whole ward now. It's going to be a lot more to cover and a lot more work but that will bring a lot more success and a lot more of the miracles that we've seen. There's going to be a lot of exciting things happening here and I'm excited to be apart of it all. We have 10 missionaries going home and 17 coming in all on Wednesday that we get to pick up and drop off. In the group of 17 there's 8 new Sisters coming out. It should be a lot of fun haha.
Sorry there's not much more to say. I hope all is well. Just know that I love and pray for you always. Thanks for all that you do for me!
Love, Elder Craft
Monday, February 20, 2012
Hello, My Name is Muaj Hmoo
Dear Family,
Sorry this might not be very long today. It's fun to see that most of us got a P-Day today haha. Luckily for me we email in the office so it wasn't closed. The challenge is just doing it in between the other things that we have to get done.
This last week was the last of the Zone Conferences, and they all went really well. I got to see Elder Mead finally and he's doing well. He has a great companion that is really going to help him and they're both working hard. I didn't get to tell him about Brady because like I figured his parents had told him already. He was pretty excited though.
Elder Lo, Elder Crepeau and I have been working really hard trying to teach people and find new ones to teach. We had the chance to go teach a less active Hmong family that Elder Lo knows from when they lived in his first area in St. Paul going to the Hmong Branch over there. It was great. The wife, T., but she just goes by her American name T., made us some great food, and she along with her husband, T. X., aka B. haha, gave me a Hmong name. All the missionaries here that are American but speak Hmong get a Hmong name. It's tradition for their culture I guess, so they gave me the name Muaj Hmoo. I would type how to pronounce it but I don't really know how haha it means Lucky or to have luck I guess and is a really great name that people really. B. and T. said that if they have a son that's what they're going to name him. So that was a really cool experience, but the spirit of the lesson in there was amazing! These two were super strong in the branch while they were going, but gave into the family pressure and conformed to go to their Dad's church now even though they still know the Church is true. Elder Crepeau and I basically did the most talking because Elder Lo has been over and taught them so much he wasn't sure what the next step was for them. Elder Crepeau and I got to talk about the pioneers in our families that were converts like them and how we are here now because of them. Elder Crepeau talked about his dad who joined the church when he was 22 and I talked about Grandma and Grandpa Craft specifically with them. There was such a powerful experience with an amazing spirit as we testified about the blessings of their faith and diligence and that even though it's not easy for them it wasn't easy for our relatives either, but that the blessings of it have effected us even until now. It was so cool and something that I think really blessed them. They committed to come to church next week and Elder Lo said that's the most progress they've made in a long time. It was so amazing and I really grew to love them just from the spirit that we felt there.
Tonight for the last two hours of P-Day we have a cool dinner scheduled with the Clements where Elder Lo is going to teach all of us to make egg rolls. We're pretty excited and so are the Clements. It should be pretty good haha.
I'm excited to hear how the temple prep class is going to go for Brady tonight. He's lucky to have Brother C. so close by and such a great friend that he's willing to do that. It's going to be great for him, but even with my time in a temple prep type class with Brother J. it still didn't really prepare me fully for what it would be like because I don't think anything really can haha. He's going to love it and I'm sure he'll learn all he needs to tonight.
Well I hope that all is well for everyone else! Thanks for all the pictures Dad. I really appreciate it. Thanks for all your love and support. I love you all and can't wait to hear from you again! Sorry no pictures this week.
Love, Elder Craft
Sorry this might not be very long today. It's fun to see that most of us got a P-Day today haha. Luckily for me we email in the office so it wasn't closed. The challenge is just doing it in between the other things that we have to get done.
This last week was the last of the Zone Conferences, and they all went really well. I got to see Elder Mead finally and he's doing well. He has a great companion that is really going to help him and they're both working hard. I didn't get to tell him about Brady because like I figured his parents had told him already. He was pretty excited though.
Elder Lo, Elder Crepeau and I have been working really hard trying to teach people and find new ones to teach. We had the chance to go teach a less active Hmong family that Elder Lo knows from when they lived in his first area in St. Paul going to the Hmong Branch over there. It was great. The wife, T., but she just goes by her American name T., made us some great food, and she along with her husband, T. X., aka B. haha, gave me a Hmong name. All the missionaries here that are American but speak Hmong get a Hmong name. It's tradition for their culture I guess, so they gave me the name Muaj Hmoo. I would type how to pronounce it but I don't really know how haha it means Lucky or to have luck I guess and is a really great name that people really. B. and T. said that if they have a son that's what they're going to name him. So that was a really cool experience, but the spirit of the lesson in there was amazing! These two were super strong in the branch while they were going, but gave into the family pressure and conformed to go to their Dad's church now even though they still know the Church is true. Elder Crepeau and I basically did the most talking because Elder Lo has been over and taught them so much he wasn't sure what the next step was for them. Elder Crepeau and I got to talk about the pioneers in our families that were converts like them and how we are here now because of them. Elder Crepeau talked about his dad who joined the church when he was 22 and I talked about Grandma and Grandpa Craft specifically with them. There was such a powerful experience with an amazing spirit as we testified about the blessings of their faith and diligence and that even though it's not easy for them it wasn't easy for our relatives either, but that the blessings of it have effected us even until now. It was so cool and something that I think really blessed them. They committed to come to church next week and Elder Lo said that's the most progress they've made in a long time. It was so amazing and I really grew to love them just from the spirit that we felt there.
Tonight for the last two hours of P-Day we have a cool dinner scheduled with the Clements where Elder Lo is going to teach all of us to make egg rolls. We're pretty excited and so are the Clements. It should be pretty good haha.
I'm excited to hear how the temple prep class is going to go for Brady tonight. He's lucky to have Brother C. so close by and such a great friend that he's willing to do that. It's going to be great for him, but even with my time in a temple prep type class with Brother J. it still didn't really prepare me fully for what it would be like because I don't think anything really can haha. He's going to love it and I'm sure he'll learn all he needs to tonight.
Well I hope that all is well for everyone else! Thanks for all the pictures Dad. I really appreciate it. Thanks for all your love and support. I love you all and can't wait to hear from you again! Sorry no pictures this week.
Love, Elder Craft
Monday, January 2, 2012
Happy New Year!
Happy 2012 Craft Family!!
Luckily for all of us even though the libraries are closed we have awesome members here in the Garden of Eden and are emailing from the Neilson's right now. So you know who to thank for your timely email this week Mom haha ;).
Well just like Mom, and I'm sure a few others, guessed it ushering in the New Year was not anything too eventful for me. Elder Pope and I got home and to bed by the normal time of 10:30 and were pretty tired. I still asked him if he wanted to get up at 12 and we could celebrate the New Year by singing a rendition of "Happy Birthday" with just the phrase "Happy New Year to you" instead, but we both decided it really wasn't worth it haha. It is kind of weird to think that it is already 2012 now. This next year is going to fly. We've been talking a little bit about some New Year's resolutions for us and what we want to try and do better in for the next 365 days. Basically just trying to memorize scriptures and be more consecrated are about the craziest new goals I have haha. Do any of you have any fun resolutions?
This year for the MMM we have alot of goals that we're hoping to accomplish. President Clements writes a letter to the mission each week and sends it to all of us. With the new year comes new goals, new desires, and new accomplishments for all of us. President talked a lot about this year being the year of "MMMMMMM"! haha Nothing like the year of Campbell's slogan though. I'm sure you're all used to me saying and referring the my mission as the MMM. With President it's going to be a little more this year haha. It's going to be the year of "The Mormon Moment of Miracles for Members in the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission". We're really trying to work with members on becoming missionaries themselves this year and bringing about all the miracles that are in store in this area from the Lord for members and missionaries as part of all of our missionary efforts. We've seen a lot of that here in Eden Prairie as we've been trying to work with the members through different lessons to inspire and motivate them to fulfill whatever commitments and invitations we leave them. We've also been trying to work on teaching more lessons with members present and just this week alone we were able to see the fruits of that labor. We had 4 investigators to sacrament meeting yesterday! Even though that may not sound all that exciting or amazing and it was such a blessing and was the most that either one of us have seen to church in our 3 transfers here. The teaching pool is really strong and growing. The investigator we have scheduled to be baptized is on the 14th and he's still super pumped and excited for that just like we are! We're going to continue to work hard because we know the blessings that can come from it. Especially those blessings that come in the cold weather like we're having now. It snowed a couple inches here on New Year's Eve that was long overdue. Now it's starting to look and seem more like I remember my last Minnesotan winter being haha. Today as we were doing our shopping and stuff the windchill dropped the temperature to 3 degrees and last night it was a familiar feeling tracting down at 0. haha We're just out building the Kingdom and some great character is how we like to look at it.
I'm glad to hear that everyone's talks went so well out in Hooper and that my letter helped add some material to speak on. I wish I could have been there to hear because they all sounded like they were so great. Is the Park Ward meeting at 9 a.m. now? We switched from 11 to 9 here and it's the first time in my entire mission that I haven't been at 11. All my other areas have been at 10 or 11 to start. I've been pretty lucky I guess. That's exciting news from Kat and Tom too! I'm anxious now to hear if I'll have 2 nephews and a niece that don't know me or 2 nieces and a nephew like Kat said haha. Congratulations to Brady on becoming an Elder too. Now if we could only get your papers in to find out where you'll be serving as Elder Craft 2.0 at we'll be good. :) As far as Elder Musaka's emails go Mom it would probably be best to print them and send them to me with your letters. That way I can have a little more time to read them.
Sorry that there's not much to report on today. I'm so glad to hear that you are all doing so well and loving life. 2012 seems to have started off right for all of us. I love and miss you all. I can't wait to talk to you again.
Love, Elder Craft
P.S. President Clements also sent us all an article the the Wall Street Journal did on Mormon missionaries this last week because of David Archuleta announcing that he'll be going on a mission. I would just attach it to this but I'm not exactly sure how to do that. haha It's titled "From American Idol to Mormon Missionary" http://newsroom.lds.org/article/david-archuleta-mormon-mission and that link should get you right to it.
Luckily for all of us even though the libraries are closed we have awesome members here in the Garden of Eden and are emailing from the Neilson's right now. So you know who to thank for your timely email this week Mom haha ;).
Well just like Mom, and I'm sure a few others, guessed it ushering in the New Year was not anything too eventful for me. Elder Pope and I got home and to bed by the normal time of 10:30 and were pretty tired. I still asked him if he wanted to get up at 12 and we could celebrate the New Year by singing a rendition of "Happy Birthday" with just the phrase "Happy New Year to you" instead, but we both decided it really wasn't worth it haha. It is kind of weird to think that it is already 2012 now. This next year is going to fly. We've been talking a little bit about some New Year's resolutions for us and what we want to try and do better in for the next 365 days. Basically just trying to memorize scriptures and be more consecrated are about the craziest new goals I have haha. Do any of you have any fun resolutions?
This year for the MMM we have alot of goals that we're hoping to accomplish. President Clements writes a letter to the mission each week and sends it to all of us. With the new year comes new goals, new desires, and new accomplishments for all of us. President talked a lot about this year being the year of "MMMMMMM"! haha Nothing like the year of Campbell's slogan though. I'm sure you're all used to me saying and referring the my mission as the MMM. With President it's going to be a little more this year haha. It's going to be the year of "The Mormon Moment of Miracles for Members in the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission". We're really trying to work with members on becoming missionaries themselves this year and bringing about all the miracles that are in store in this area from the Lord for members and missionaries as part of all of our missionary efforts. We've seen a lot of that here in Eden Prairie as we've been trying to work with the members through different lessons to inspire and motivate them to fulfill whatever commitments and invitations we leave them. We've also been trying to work on teaching more lessons with members present and just this week alone we were able to see the fruits of that labor. We had 4 investigators to sacrament meeting yesterday! Even though that may not sound all that exciting or amazing and it was such a blessing and was the most that either one of us have seen to church in our 3 transfers here. The teaching pool is really strong and growing. The investigator we have scheduled to be baptized is on the 14th and he's still super pumped and excited for that just like we are! We're going to continue to work hard because we know the blessings that can come from it. Especially those blessings that come in the cold weather like we're having now. It snowed a couple inches here on New Year's Eve that was long overdue. Now it's starting to look and seem more like I remember my last Minnesotan winter being haha. Today as we were doing our shopping and stuff the windchill dropped the temperature to 3 degrees and last night it was a familiar feeling tracting down at 0. haha We're just out building the Kingdom and some great character is how we like to look at it.
I'm glad to hear that everyone's talks went so well out in Hooper and that my letter helped add some material to speak on. I wish I could have been there to hear because they all sounded like they were so great. Is the Park Ward meeting at 9 a.m. now? We switched from 11 to 9 here and it's the first time in my entire mission that I haven't been at 11. All my other areas have been at 10 or 11 to start. I've been pretty lucky I guess. That's exciting news from Kat and Tom too! I'm anxious now to hear if I'll have 2 nephews and a niece that don't know me or 2 nieces and a nephew like Kat said haha. Congratulations to Brady on becoming an Elder too. Now if we could only get your papers in to find out where you'll be serving as Elder Craft 2.0 at we'll be good. :) As far as Elder Musaka's emails go Mom it would probably be best to print them and send them to me with your letters. That way I can have a little more time to read them.
Sorry that there's not much to report on today. I'm so glad to hear that you are all doing so well and loving life. 2012 seems to have started off right for all of us. I love and miss you all. I can't wait to talk to you again.
Love, Elder Craft
P.S. President Clements also sent us all an article the the Wall Street Journal did on Mormon missionaries this last week because of David Archuleta announcing that he'll be going on a mission. I would just attach it to this but I'm not exactly sure how to do that. haha It's titled "From American Idol to Mormon Missionary" http://newsroom.lds.org/article/david-archuleta-mormon-mission and that link should get you right to it.
Monday, December 19, 2011
What a Difference a Week Makes!
Hey Crafts!
It sounds like I don't even need to talk to you this week or send any sort of updates. You've already heard from two families from two different wards out here and gotten all the exciting news from them. haha jk So as you may have heard or guessed it was kind of a crazy week for me here. Unfortunately, Elder Parry did end up going home on Wednesday morning. He had some medical issues he had been battling since he came out on his mission. Last Monday after our appointment with his Dr. he and President Clements talked about Elder Parry's situation and decided he would be best to be medically released and try to fix what it was at home. There's little likely hood of him coming back, so it is kind of sad but he has something else he can accomplish and do back home. It was tough to see him go, but it's what was best and will help him the most. That is the reason I was with the Assistants from Wednesday through Saturday and thought I might possibly be there the next 5 weeks of the transfer. President wasn't sure where I would go and because our area borders the Assistants we were going to see how managing both of them together would go. We had a Christmas miracle come through for us in the Eden Prairie ward though. I'm not sure if I told you originally that I came to Eden Prairie to replace a missionary who had gone home due to medical complications and was having surgery to try and fix it. Through his communication the past couple months to President Clements and what he had told some members he kept in contact with here he wasn't going to come back. Even if he did get medical clearance it was just going to be way to hard to say good-bye again. Everyone loved him here in the ward and most of the missionaries did too. We actually came out together. He was in a different district but it was still hard to see him come home and not come back. That is until Elder Pope called President on Tuesday and said he knows he needs to come back. HE had the ok from the Dr. and wanted to be out here. So on Saturday that's why the Neilsons saw me at the airport with the Assistants picking up my new companion Elder Pope who would be coming back to the ward I'm currently in and that he left almost 4 months ago. It was nothing short of a Christmas miracle to have things work out like the way that they did! Everyone at church was pretty confused not to see Elder Parry, but once they saw Elder Pope he was welcomed like some sort of conquering hero. Everyone was way excited to see him and he's way excited to be here again. We get along really well and now with both of us having the same sort of drive and desire there are going to be even more miracles this transfer! I'm way excited to see what's going to happen. The whole ward is too. As far as the Cardons go that was pretty crazy! While I was in Bloomington we decided to stop by some members and teach them Friday night. The Cardons were one we decide to try and see. Right when we walked in Sister Cardon didn't really think anything of it with the two normal missionaries Elder Crepeau and Elder Lo walking in front of me. Then she told me later she saw this tall blonde missionary bringing up the rear. She was told by Tara Manning that she was to look for a tall blonde missionary from Hooper with the name Elder Craft. "You can't miss him" is what she was told. Right when I got through the door and started to take off my shoes she looked right at my name tag and said, "Elder Craft I've been looking for you!" That's the one and only time I think that's going to happen on my mission haha. Any investigator or person I would talk to tracting have tell me that would be phenomenal. haha She then told me she was originally from Hooper and talked about how she grew up on 5500 in the 2nd Ward. We connected a few ties like that I went to High School and have hung out with her younger brother Bo, before finding out the reason she knew I was there and to "look for me". Her husband in the other room told me< "wait a minute you're from Hooper? I'm from West Warren. Craft? Do you have any siblings?" So the conversation turned to him knowing Nick and saying they had a lot of classes together and he remembered Nick was on the soccer team and he even brought up the story of the fight he got into in one of the games when "Sugar went sour" haha. It was pretty awesome! And all of this took place in the first 5-10 minutes of being there leaving the Assistants stunned and kind of left in the dust haha. It was very unexpected but really funny. I still can't believe all the connections that have all the sudden come out of the wood work since I've been here in Eden Prairie. All the emails, pictures, and videos you guys get sent it feels like I'm not even really on a mission haha JK. That's my abbreviated story to answer a few questions people had. The best part is that what ever doesn't make sense we can talk about on Sunday and clear it all up. haha
Now for the Skype on Sunday like I told you before we'll be doing it at Brother Murray's but I think it will be sometime after dinner. Sorry to totally throw a wrench in your operation of doing it and scheduling it for 2, but Elder Pope's parents have late church and won't be able to do it until like 3:30 or 4 Idaho time. So I think what would work best for us is doing it after dinner at about 6 p.m. here so 5 p.m. for you guys. Sorry again to mess it all up. I hope that that can work for you guys. If not you could contact Brother Murray and he'll relate the message I'm sure. His Skype account it: ------------- and his email is -----------@-------.com. I hope it all works out and his computer's good enough to where you all can see me and not the still images like last time haha.
Thanks also for the packages! I got them from the Neilson's after dinner last nigh. I had no idea and neither did they that the little one was for them until I opened it haha. I'll give it to them the next time I see them. I really liked the Christmas card that you guys sent too. We all look so good! haha JK I was surprised that was the picture you picked for me, but it was a good one. I do have Christmas cards I was going to send last week but Target was having some problems to where I could only get them this week. Sorry you'll be getting them like right before Christmas. Just kind of as a disclaimer as well they were to best Target had to offer so don't be too critical haha.
Well I hope that helps to answer all your questions and clear up some confusion. Just know I'm doing great back in Eden Prairie! We got our Christmas Presents for the ward yesterday at church. All I have to say is that I was amazed by the amount of stuff the ward gave to us. I'll attach some pictures so you can see. I love you all and can't wait to talk to you Sunday!!
Love, Elder Craft
It sounds like I don't even need to talk to you this week or send any sort of updates. You've already heard from two families from two different wards out here and gotten all the exciting news from them. haha jk So as you may have heard or guessed it was kind of a crazy week for me here. Unfortunately, Elder Parry did end up going home on Wednesday morning. He had some medical issues he had been battling since he came out on his mission. Last Monday after our appointment with his Dr. he and President Clements talked about Elder Parry's situation and decided he would be best to be medically released and try to fix what it was at home. There's little likely hood of him coming back, so it is kind of sad but he has something else he can accomplish and do back home. It was tough to see him go, but it's what was best and will help him the most. That is the reason I was with the Assistants from Wednesday through Saturday and thought I might possibly be there the next 5 weeks of the transfer. President wasn't sure where I would go and because our area borders the Assistants we were going to see how managing both of them together would go. We had a Christmas miracle come through for us in the Eden Prairie ward though. I'm not sure if I told you originally that I came to Eden Prairie to replace a missionary who had gone home due to medical complications and was having surgery to try and fix it. Through his communication the past couple months to President Clements and what he had told some members he kept in contact with here he wasn't going to come back. Even if he did get medical clearance it was just going to be way to hard to say good-bye again. Everyone loved him here in the ward and most of the missionaries did too. We actually came out together. He was in a different district but it was still hard to see him come home and not come back. That is until Elder Pope called President on Tuesday and said he knows he needs to come back. HE had the ok from the Dr. and wanted to be out here. So on Saturday that's why the Neilsons saw me at the airport with the Assistants picking up my new companion Elder Pope who would be coming back to the ward I'm currently in and that he left almost 4 months ago. It was nothing short of a Christmas miracle to have things work out like the way that they did! Everyone at church was pretty confused not to see Elder Parry, but once they saw Elder Pope he was welcomed like some sort of conquering hero. Everyone was way excited to see him and he's way excited to be here again. We get along really well and now with both of us having the same sort of drive and desire there are going to be even more miracles this transfer! I'm way excited to see what's going to happen. The whole ward is too. As far as the Cardons go that was pretty crazy! While I was in Bloomington we decided to stop by some members and teach them Friday night. The Cardons were one we decide to try and see. Right when we walked in Sister Cardon didn't really think anything of it with the two normal missionaries Elder Crepeau and Elder Lo walking in front of me. Then she told me later she saw this tall blonde missionary bringing up the rear. She was told by Tara Manning that she was to look for a tall blonde missionary from Hooper with the name Elder Craft. "You can't miss him" is what she was told. Right when I got through the door and started to take off my shoes she looked right at my name tag and said, "Elder Craft I've been looking for you!" That's the one and only time I think that's going to happen on my mission haha. Any investigator or person I would talk to tracting have tell me that would be phenomenal. haha She then told me she was originally from Hooper and talked about how she grew up on 5500 in the 2nd Ward. We connected a few ties like that I went to High School and have hung out with her younger brother Bo, before finding out the reason she knew I was there and to "look for me". Her husband in the other room told me< "wait a minute you're from Hooper? I'm from West Warren. Craft? Do you have any siblings?" So the conversation turned to him knowing Nick and saying they had a lot of classes together and he remembered Nick was on the soccer team and he even brought up the story of the fight he got into in one of the games when "Sugar went sour" haha. It was pretty awesome! And all of this took place in the first 5-10 minutes of being there leaving the Assistants stunned and kind of left in the dust haha. It was very unexpected but really funny. I still can't believe all the connections that have all the sudden come out of the wood work since I've been here in Eden Prairie. All the emails, pictures, and videos you guys get sent it feels like I'm not even really on a mission haha JK. That's my abbreviated story to answer a few questions people had. The best part is that what ever doesn't make sense we can talk about on Sunday and clear it all up. haha
Now for the Skype on Sunday like I told you before we'll be doing it at Brother Murray's but I think it will be sometime after dinner. Sorry to totally throw a wrench in your operation of doing it and scheduling it for 2, but Elder Pope's parents have late church and won't be able to do it until like 3:30 or 4 Idaho time. So I think what would work best for us is doing it after dinner at about 6 p.m. here so 5 p.m. for you guys. Sorry again to mess it all up. I hope that that can work for you guys. If not you could contact Brother Murray and he'll relate the message I'm sure. His Skype account it: ------------- and his email is -----------@-------.com. I hope it all works out and his computer's good enough to where you all can see me and not the still images like last time haha.
Thanks also for the packages! I got them from the Neilson's after dinner last nigh. I had no idea and neither did they that the little one was for them until I opened it haha. I'll give it to them the next time I see them. I really liked the Christmas card that you guys sent too. We all look so good! haha JK I was surprised that was the picture you picked for me, but it was a good one. I do have Christmas cards I was going to send last week but Target was having some problems to where I could only get them this week. Sorry you'll be getting them like right before Christmas. Just kind of as a disclaimer as well they were to best Target had to offer so don't be too critical haha.
Well I hope that helps to answer all your questions and clear up some confusion. Just know I'm doing great back in Eden Prairie! We got our Christmas Presents for the ward yesterday at church. All I have to say is that I was amazed by the amount of stuff the ward gave to us. I'll attach some pictures so you can see. I love you all and can't wait to talk to you Sunday!!
Love, Elder Craft
Monday, December 5, 2011
Where's My Raise?
Hello Crafts,
This week as you know is transfers and just like I did not expect to happen we got a call from President Clements this morning to inform us that we would both be staying in Eden Prairie. It was kind of strange because you usually do not get a call unless you are transferring. After he informed us we were staying he cleared up some confusion on the purpose behind his call. He told me that I will now be responsible of one of the largest districts in the mission as the new District Leader here. It was a surprise to me to find out that we had one of the largest districts and to be called as the District Leader again. Elder Caldwell the old district leader is going down to Rochester to be a Zone Leader down there. I'm excited about the new responsibility again. What makes it even better is that Elder Bennett and Sister Daniel were in the last district I was District Leader over, so they get a little bit of Elder Craft round 2. haha I'm really excited to still be here in Eden Prairie and to continue to serve with Elder Parry. We have some good things going on and are excited for the next few weeks the following transfer will bring.
This past week we found 2 new investigators from tracting. The woman we talked to told us we could come back in a couple days only because her daughter met and had this best friend when she went out to college who was a member from Wyoming that is now on his mission in Russia. When we went for the lesson though her son who's a sophomore at Chaska High wanted to sit in and listen because he knew a couple of the youth from the ward here. The lesson went really well and the spirit was really strong as we taught and testified about Christ's church anciently and the restoration of it now. The power of the Book of Mormon was evident as we read through the introduction and testified to them about the truthfulness of it and how it would bless their lives. They both committed to read before we come back later this next week, and she even said hopefully her husband will be sitting in joining us this next week. We're pretty excited to be working with them and know that these are who we are here in Eden Prairie to find. Thanks for all you prayers because the blessings have really been pouring out upon us! We are also going to start teaching the son of a recent convert in the ward and are really excited to be working with him. The work as you all know has been a little slow going but because of the hard work of the spirit within people and the Lord because of the prayers in our behalf we are starting to reap the benefits of it. The other investigator that I had mentioned a couple weeks ago working toward being baptized on the 17th might not make it on that day because there are a couple other changes and commitments that need to be made and met so that it is all according to the standards and qualifications that the Lord has commanded of His children. We're still working hard and the ward is a great support to him. He's encountered a couple bumps along the way already with the short road he's traveled in a couple weeks, but the spirit is helping to strengthen his testimony and help him to see the truth of what he's learning and feeling. It's always an incredible and humbling experience to watch and be a part of.
I'm glad that you got the pictures from Sister Neilson. She was such a great blessing to us to not only drive 4 of us missionaries to the temple but then want to go through with us and take us back home. It made coordinating rides much easier. When she was taking pictures on all our cameras too she told us to wait there as she took a couple on her iPhone. She said she was going to send them to my mom because she would love that. I agreed and told here she also got a sweet new wallpaper for her phone from that one picture. It was a win win for everyone even though I'm not too sure she wanted a picture of us as her back round haha. ;) They are a great family who we have dinner with again this next Sunday. This ward is just great though and like I said earlier I'm just glad to still be working here for the next 6 weeks. Especially since Elder Parry told me that when he talked with President this morning he said that he was initially going to move me, but was strongly corrected by the Lord saying that I needed to be in Eden Prairie. That in and of itself puts enough pressure on knowing that there's something the Lord knows I specifically need to to be here for and accomplish this next 6 weeks. We'll be working hard to find out what that is in the short time that we have to do it in.
Well I'm glad to hear that Brady seems to be surviving and recovering from his ordeal with the oral surgeon fairly well. Thanks for sending the fairly gruesome pictures along with your email haha. I can't wait to hear how it goes these next few weeks as you finalize everything to send in so you can find out where in South America you'll be headed. I'm going to just go ahead and call that right now. haha
I'm also glad to hear that everyone else seems to be doing fairly well or at least recovering towards that. Thanks for all the support and prayers again! I know the Lord listens to prayers and grants us those worthy desires of our hearts! I love you and can't wait to hear from you again.
Love, Elder Craft
This week as you know is transfers and just like I did not expect to happen we got a call from President Clements this morning to inform us that we would both be staying in Eden Prairie. It was kind of strange because you usually do not get a call unless you are transferring. After he informed us we were staying he cleared up some confusion on the purpose behind his call. He told me that I will now be responsible of one of the largest districts in the mission as the new District Leader here. It was a surprise to me to find out that we had one of the largest districts and to be called as the District Leader again. Elder Caldwell the old district leader is going down to Rochester to be a Zone Leader down there. I'm excited about the new responsibility again. What makes it even better is that Elder Bennett and Sister Daniel were in the last district I was District Leader over, so they get a little bit of Elder Craft round 2. haha I'm really excited to still be here in Eden Prairie and to continue to serve with Elder Parry. We have some good things going on and are excited for the next few weeks the following transfer will bring.
This past week we found 2 new investigators from tracting. The woman we talked to told us we could come back in a couple days only because her daughter met and had this best friend when she went out to college who was a member from Wyoming that is now on his mission in Russia. When we went for the lesson though her son who's a sophomore at Chaska High wanted to sit in and listen because he knew a couple of the youth from the ward here. The lesson went really well and the spirit was really strong as we taught and testified about Christ's church anciently and the restoration of it now. The power of the Book of Mormon was evident as we read through the introduction and testified to them about the truthfulness of it and how it would bless their lives. They both committed to read before we come back later this next week, and she even said hopefully her husband will be sitting in joining us this next week. We're pretty excited to be working with them and know that these are who we are here in Eden Prairie to find. Thanks for all you prayers because the blessings have really been pouring out upon us! We are also going to start teaching the son of a recent convert in the ward and are really excited to be working with him. The work as you all know has been a little slow going but because of the hard work of the spirit within people and the Lord because of the prayers in our behalf we are starting to reap the benefits of it. The other investigator that I had mentioned a couple weeks ago working toward being baptized on the 17th might not make it on that day because there are a couple other changes and commitments that need to be made and met so that it is all according to the standards and qualifications that the Lord has commanded of His children. We're still working hard and the ward is a great support to him. He's encountered a couple bumps along the way already with the short road he's traveled in a couple weeks, but the spirit is helping to strengthen his testimony and help him to see the truth of what he's learning and feeling. It's always an incredible and humbling experience to watch and be a part of.
I'm glad that you got the pictures from Sister Neilson. She was such a great blessing to us to not only drive 4 of us missionaries to the temple but then want to go through with us and take us back home. It made coordinating rides much easier. When she was taking pictures on all our cameras too she told us to wait there as she took a couple on her iPhone. She said she was going to send them to my mom because she would love that. I agreed and told here she also got a sweet new wallpaper for her phone from that one picture. It was a win win for everyone even though I'm not too sure she wanted a picture of us as her back round haha. ;) They are a great family who we have dinner with again this next Sunday. This ward is just great though and like I said earlier I'm just glad to still be working here for the next 6 weeks. Especially since Elder Parry told me that when he talked with President this morning he said that he was initially going to move me, but was strongly corrected by the Lord saying that I needed to be in Eden Prairie. That in and of itself puts enough pressure on knowing that there's something the Lord knows I specifically need to to be here for and accomplish this next 6 weeks. We'll be working hard to find out what that is in the short time that we have to do it in.
Well I'm glad to hear that Brady seems to be surviving and recovering from his ordeal with the oral surgeon fairly well. Thanks for sending the fairly gruesome pictures along with your email haha. I can't wait to hear how it goes these next few weeks as you finalize everything to send in so you can find out where in South America you'll be headed. I'm going to just go ahead and call that right now. haha
I'm also glad to hear that everyone else seems to be doing fairly well or at least recovering towards that. Thanks for all the support and prayers again! I know the Lord listens to prayers and grants us those worthy desires of our hearts! I love you and can't wait to hear from you again.
Love, Elder Craft
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving Craft Family!
Sorry that you had to wait until today to get my weekly update. The Murrays' house ,our Ward Mission Leader and his family, to email and sending this from his office. It's weird to think that this is now my second Thanksgiving away from all you guys. Much like the weather you are all having the blessing of we are having 60 degree weather today too. It's a little different than the about 10 degrees I had last year spending it in Colfax, Wisconsin.
I can't remember if I mentioned it last week that our ward was having a big "Turkey Bowl" this year, but somehow Kat knew about it haha. It is true though we had a huge gathering of our Priesthood members in the ward at Cloverfield Elementary to play. They had 4 games of about 7-8 players per team going. That's how many showed up. I don't know what the guys in charge were thinking but they decided to put a few priests, a couple members of the Elders Quorum, and us on a team, and stacked a couple of the other teams with almost all High Priests. Needless to say my team went undefeated in our quest to 2 Hand Touch Football glory haha. We didn't have anyone to really play quarterback, so I ended up playing because the priest who originally was decided it would be a good idea to try and run it almost every time. That doesn't exactly work in 2 Hand Touch. I was also designated kicker after the first touch back I kicked. Some of the members came up afterwards and asked if I'd played football in High School. When I said soccer that explained the kicking for them. A couple of the Boise State fans in the ward said I need to go play for the Broncos and I'd do better than the kicker they have now haha. I think that just goes to show the caliber of players we had out here I think haha. Regardless it was a lot of fun and the weather like I talked about earlier was perfect for it.
We had "dinner" at 1 this afternoon for a couple hours haha. I think that's just how Thanksgiving Dinner also goes. We ate at the Payne's, or I guess the clubhouse of their townhome complex. There were a lot of people there including President and Sister Clements because Elder Payne is the area authority for the Seventy here. Our ward has a few people like him that are a pretty big deal. What can I say? It was a pretty fun be able to eat and really just talk with President and Sister Clements at our table. They got to know us a little better and the food was great! I probably gained a few good pounds today haha.
From what I hear from everyone else it seems relatively quiet for Thanksgiving this year. Except for the no internet dilemma in Idaho it sounds like it was pretty good too. I'm assuming that everyone else in Idaho (minus Camie and Brock) went to Grandma's too? I just figured with our family heading up they might be over there. It's too bad that you and Tom have to work Kat, but I agree with what you said next Thanksgiving will be even better to have work off. Thanks for the happy Turkey and Football wishes haha.
As for the other 10 days since the last time that I wrote you it's been pretty good for us here in E. P.. We had what's known as Mission Tour last week on Friday. A General Authority will come and have an all day conference with us and give some training and stuff. We had Elder Zwick from the First Quorum of the Seventy come with his wife and speak to us. It was just amazing the training and advice that we were given to help apply to our missionary efforts. I wish I could put all the events and feelings from that day into writing but there's just not enough time with only an hour of P-Day left haha. There were 4 zones that were at our meeting with him down in Lakeville, Minnesota. As I was standing in the chapel talking to a couple of other missionaries waiting for the meeting to start in a few minutes I heard someone walk up behind me and say in a strangely familiar somewhat monotone voice, "Elder Craft". That when I turned around to look at the name badge entitled Elder Mead! It was so crazy and so cool to see him! We sat and talked for the rest of the time before the meeting, and then we even got to sit at the same table during lunch. It was great to see and hear from him about how he's doing. We talked a little bit about Brady and going to lunch with him. He told me the story of the desperate attempt to make it to his farewell on time and being late to work after. He just said, "Brady's a good friend". I told him the Brady was just working on his medical stuff for his papers now and that he would be sending those in soon. He was really excited and I'm really looking forward to an update on that or maybe someone's wisdom teeth here soon. I heard there's a story behind that and that it needs to come from you Brady, so if you could get on that that would be great. haha
Other than that there isn't much else exciting that is happening here at this moment. We are teaching a man that we're trying to work with towards baptism. He came to church last week and loved it. He told us he's looking forward to coming again. He's committed to be baptized on December 17th, so we're working hard for that. There's still alot we need to teach and that he needs to do so that we can be ready when the 17th comes. I can't believe that now since it's basically after Thanksgiving I can say it's almost Christmas! Crazy stuff. In the Spirit of Thanksgiving I just want to end by saying how thankful I am for a loving Heavenly Father who gives us trials and allows us to learn and grow on our own to become His children with the potential that he knows we can be. I'm thankful for His amazing plan of happiness that He has blessed us with a knowledge of, and for His son Jesus Christ who came and suffered the greatest and infinite sacrifice that He did to be our Lord and Savior, the Redeemer of all mankind and the way that we can return home once again. I'm thankful for the scriptures and the wealth of knowledge that is given to us within them. I'm thankful for the power of prayer and the true communication and effect that it can be in our lives. I'm thankful for a loving family that I have here to spend this life and the next with. I'm truly thankful for all of you who help inspire and uplift me to be the person that I am today. I'm thankful for your love, support, and prayers on my behalf that I get to feel everyday. I'm thankful for my mission and the opportunity that I have to serve at this time and be a representative of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I better end there so we can get a few other things that we have planned done tonight and get onto tracting to find more people to teach. I love and miss all of you. I'm grateful for all that you do for me and look forward to hearing from you again next week. I hope for everyone traveling that you do so safely!
Love, Elder Craft
Sorry that you had to wait until today to get my weekly update. The Murrays' house ,our Ward Mission Leader and his family, to email and sending this from his office. It's weird to think that this is now my second Thanksgiving away from all you guys. Much like the weather you are all having the blessing of we are having 60 degree weather today too. It's a little different than the about 10 degrees I had last year spending it in Colfax, Wisconsin.
I can't remember if I mentioned it last week that our ward was having a big "Turkey Bowl" this year, but somehow Kat knew about it haha. It is true though we had a huge gathering of our Priesthood members in the ward at Cloverfield Elementary to play. They had 4 games of about 7-8 players per team going. That's how many showed up. I don't know what the guys in charge were thinking but they decided to put a few priests, a couple members of the Elders Quorum, and us on a team, and stacked a couple of the other teams with almost all High Priests. Needless to say my team went undefeated in our quest to 2 Hand Touch Football glory haha. We didn't have anyone to really play quarterback, so I ended up playing because the priest who originally was decided it would be a good idea to try and run it almost every time. That doesn't exactly work in 2 Hand Touch. I was also designated kicker after the first touch back I kicked. Some of the members came up afterwards and asked if I'd played football in High School. When I said soccer that explained the kicking for them. A couple of the Boise State fans in the ward said I need to go play for the Broncos and I'd do better than the kicker they have now haha. I think that just goes to show the caliber of players we had out here I think haha. Regardless it was a lot of fun and the weather like I talked about earlier was perfect for it.
We had "dinner" at 1 this afternoon for a couple hours haha. I think that's just how Thanksgiving Dinner also goes. We ate at the Payne's, or I guess the clubhouse of their townhome complex. There were a lot of people there including President and Sister Clements because Elder Payne is the area authority for the Seventy here. Our ward has a few people like him that are a pretty big deal. What can I say? It was a pretty fun be able to eat and really just talk with President and Sister Clements at our table. They got to know us a little better and the food was great! I probably gained a few good pounds today haha.
From what I hear from everyone else it seems relatively quiet for Thanksgiving this year. Except for the no internet dilemma in Idaho it sounds like it was pretty good too. I'm assuming that everyone else in Idaho (minus Camie and Brock) went to Grandma's too? I just figured with our family heading up they might be over there. It's too bad that you and Tom have to work Kat, but I agree with what you said next Thanksgiving will be even better to have work off. Thanks for the happy Turkey and Football wishes haha.
As for the other 10 days since the last time that I wrote you it's been pretty good for us here in E. P.. We had what's known as Mission Tour last week on Friday. A General Authority will come and have an all day conference with us and give some training and stuff. We had Elder Zwick from the First Quorum of the Seventy come with his wife and speak to us. It was just amazing the training and advice that we were given to help apply to our missionary efforts. I wish I could put all the events and feelings from that day into writing but there's just not enough time with only an hour of P-Day left haha. There were 4 zones that were at our meeting with him down in Lakeville, Minnesota. As I was standing in the chapel talking to a couple of other missionaries waiting for the meeting to start in a few minutes I heard someone walk up behind me and say in a strangely familiar somewhat monotone voice, "Elder Craft". That when I turned around to look at the name badge entitled Elder Mead! It was so crazy and so cool to see him! We sat and talked for the rest of the time before the meeting, and then we even got to sit at the same table during lunch. It was great to see and hear from him about how he's doing. We talked a little bit about Brady and going to lunch with him. He told me the story of the desperate attempt to make it to his farewell on time and being late to work after. He just said, "Brady's a good friend". I told him the Brady was just working on his medical stuff for his papers now and that he would be sending those in soon. He was really excited and I'm really looking forward to an update on that or maybe someone's wisdom teeth here soon. I heard there's a story behind that and that it needs to come from you Brady, so if you could get on that that would be great. haha
Other than that there isn't much else exciting that is happening here at this moment. We are teaching a man that we're trying to work with towards baptism. He came to church last week and loved it. He told us he's looking forward to coming again. He's committed to be baptized on December 17th, so we're working hard for that. There's still alot we need to teach and that he needs to do so that we can be ready when the 17th comes. I can't believe that now since it's basically after Thanksgiving I can say it's almost Christmas! Crazy stuff. In the Spirit of Thanksgiving I just want to end by saying how thankful I am for a loving Heavenly Father who gives us trials and allows us to learn and grow on our own to become His children with the potential that he knows we can be. I'm thankful for His amazing plan of happiness that He has blessed us with a knowledge of, and for His son Jesus Christ who came and suffered the greatest and infinite sacrifice that He did to be our Lord and Savior, the Redeemer of all mankind and the way that we can return home once again. I'm thankful for the scriptures and the wealth of knowledge that is given to us within them. I'm thankful for the power of prayer and the true communication and effect that it can be in our lives. I'm thankful for a loving family that I have here to spend this life and the next with. I'm truly thankful for all of you who help inspire and uplift me to be the person that I am today. I'm thankful for your love, support, and prayers on my behalf that I get to feel everyday. I'm thankful for my mission and the opportunity that I have to serve at this time and be a representative of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I better end there so we can get a few other things that we have planned done tonight and get onto tracting to find more people to teach. I love and miss all of you. I'm grateful for all that you do for me and look forward to hearing from you again next week. I hope for everyone traveling that you do so safely!
Love, Elder Craft
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
You can take the missionary out of the hood, but . . .
Hey Craft Family,
I'm glad to hear that everyone had a good somewhat boring Labor Day, or as it's more importantly known Hooper Tomato Days! haha Yesterday for me was good. I got all the other P-Day stuff done except for the emailing of course. We were allowed to email at a member's home, so even though we live with the Paynters we ran out of time before we could come write to you.
Not only was yesterday Labor Day but it was also Transfer Calls. We got a call at about 7:45. It was a little earlier than expected. Elder Haupt had to come knock on the bathroom door and tell me we were getting a call. Luckily I had just gotten out of the shower so I could hear and talk to President. They ended up splitting the ward into Shingle Creek North and Shingle Creek South again just like it was before I got here. Elder Haupt and I thought that we were going to stay together and go to the South part of the ward or that one would stay North and the other go South. We were both wrong kind of. Elder Haupt is going to the South part with another Elder being transferred in and they're going to bring 2 new missionaries in here to the North. One of the missionaries coming here is the one whose dad works with President Christensen and who I played soccer against in high school and then played on the same team with down in Las Vegas that last time I went, Elder Tate Baxter. He's coming here and going to be District Leader too. As for me I am leaving "The Hood" and headed south to a suburb of Minneapolis called Eden Prairie. Apparently it's the biggest and one of the strongest wards in the mission, so I'm excited. It's going to be a little difficult trying to learn who everyone is, but I usually do pretty good with names so we'll see. I'm sad to leave the Paynters and this area. I wish Elder Haupt and I could have stayed together to finish helping all the investigators we're working with, but I know the ward and investigators here are in good hands. The work only going to increase and I can't wait to hear about all these people I know now getting baptized in the near future. It's been great to serve here for the time that I have. Shingle Creek is amazing and it's own kind of unique. There's never going to be another area like it that's for sure haha.
Along with transfer calls yesterday we also had the chance to go to "the great Minnesota get together" (a.k.a. the state fair). The fair here is huge! I've never seen people go so crazy or get so excited over a fair before. People started talking about it back on the Fourth of July and how they couldn't wait for the fair. It's 10 days long and yesterday was the last day. Elm Creek Elders got 3 free tickets from someone in their ward. We got permission to go because it was over in St. Paul and decided we'd all just split the cost of the fourth ticket. There's an express bus station they set up for it in our area, so we all just met up, rode our bikes to the station, and hopped on the bus to go. It was insane how many people were there! I was talking to a lady on the bus who said that on average all the other days the fair had 120,000+ people and because of the no school no work holiday yesterday there was even more than that. It wasn't really surprising with the amount of people that were there that we ran into about a dozen or so members that were from wards all over the metro and up metro area. A couple came running over to us and gave us $20 to split because they said we needed to have fun and buy some of the food there. It was cool to see all the members go crazy to see us. We were all trying to imagine what it would have been like to have the same scenario in Utah and decided that we probably wouldn't have been able to even walk around having to stop and talk to members the whole time. On the other hand we probably wouldn't have paid for anything either haha. We did get a lot of funny looks from people because we were in proselyting clothes at the state fair. We heard a few nicknames amid the stares. "Geek Squad", "Jesus People", and "Israelites" were some of the best ones that I heard haha. The thing that the fair is know for is the crazy food that is all either on a stick or deep fried. We had some deep fried Wisconsin Cheese Curds, some terriyaki ostrich, a deep fried twinkie, and this small container of warm, fresh-baked, chocolate chip cookies that we each ate with the never ending milk bar that they had. It was so cool and definitely an experience. I think in my container I had 15 cookies and probably a third gallon of milk haha. So between all of that we sure got our fat and sugars for the week. Just in case any of you are wondering the ostrich was very very lean but really good, the twinkie was amazing and filled with cholesterol, and the cookies were very fresh and very rich haha. There were a couple other things we thought about trying but knew that if we did diabetes would be setting in shortly after. They had chocolate covered bacon, deep fried snickers, and deep fried alligator that were all on the list to try but didn't quite make it. It was really fun to just kind of get out and experience that all together since our district's being disbanded with transfers. I took some pictures that hopefully I can attach to this so you can see what it was like and who these other Elders I've been serving with are.
As far as the missionary work here goes JV came to church again Sunday and to the best of our knowledge has been smoke free for 7 days now! He's getting baptized hopefully sometime at the end of this month so that I can maybe come back to see that since I won't be too extremely far away. We talked to Joe, one of the other investigators that I may have mentioned before, the other day about going to seminary. We were in our coordination meeting on Sunday and trying to think about who would be a good fellowshipper for him. Then the thought came to me, "seminary". He's a senior this year and they had the kickoff meeting for seminary Sunday night and the seminary teacher was our joint teacher for the evening. We called and talked to him about going to the meeting bu the was baby sitting his cousins, so we went over with the joint teacher and talked to him about seminary ad how great it is. He wasn't sure at first but he said us coming over really convinced him. He's going to try it for the first day tomorrow. I hope he enjoys it and continues to go. The tough part is that it is early morning and starts at 6 a.m. at the church, but he has the faith that the blessings of it are true and willingness to go. I think he could end up being baptized this month too. Unfortunately I won't be around to know for sure, but we'll see what happens.
Sorry there's not too much more to add. It sounds like Mom and Dad ran into a lot of people at Tomato Days. Tell Cassie I said hi and congratulations. You can also mention a nice thanks for not sending her wedding announcement haha JK. As for Kevin and advice for him I'd say tell him to get that coat that I did from Mr. Mac. It works amazingly well. That's what I used all winter and just layered underneath it. I also had a nice home spun hammock to use around my entire neck and torso, but I think the coat works great by itself too ;) haha. Then he won't have to worry about having to buy one out here. This is also just some side advice that I'd give to both him and Brady or anyone else preparing and buying things for a mission. Buy black Nike tube socks and use those as your dress socks. They're a lot more comfortable and durable than the gold toe or any other thin dress socks. Plus with those you can use them for P-Day stuff too. I'm glad to hear that my pictures could help you with your talk on missionary work in primary mom. We went into primary in Sunday so the kids could all give us little cards saying thanks for being our missionaries. I'm happy to hear that you had enough to say that you went over time too. Instead of just something like, "missionaries are great. This is one that I think used to live in our house" haha ;).
I hope that all is going well and everyone's doing just fantastic! I can't wait to hear about Brady's trip and Kat and Tom's sealing in a few weeks. I love and miss you guys and can't wait to hear from you again!
Love, Elder Craft
I'm glad to hear that everyone had a good somewhat boring Labor Day, or as it's more importantly known Hooper Tomato Days! haha Yesterday for me was good. I got all the other P-Day stuff done except for the emailing of course. We were allowed to email at a member's home, so even though we live with the Paynters we ran out of time before we could come write to you.
Not only was yesterday Labor Day but it was also Transfer Calls. We got a call at about 7:45. It was a little earlier than expected. Elder Haupt had to come knock on the bathroom door and tell me we were getting a call. Luckily I had just gotten out of the shower so I could hear and talk to President. They ended up splitting the ward into Shingle Creek North and Shingle Creek South again just like it was before I got here. Elder Haupt and I thought that we were going to stay together and go to the South part of the ward or that one would stay North and the other go South. We were both wrong kind of. Elder Haupt is going to the South part with another Elder being transferred in and they're going to bring 2 new missionaries in here to the North. One of the missionaries coming here is the one whose dad works with President Christensen and who I played soccer against in high school and then played on the same team with down in Las Vegas that last time I went, Elder Tate Baxter. He's coming here and going to be District Leader too. As for me I am leaving "The Hood" and headed south to a suburb of Minneapolis called Eden Prairie. Apparently it's the biggest and one of the strongest wards in the mission, so I'm excited. It's going to be a little difficult trying to learn who everyone is, but I usually do pretty good with names so we'll see. I'm sad to leave the Paynters and this area. I wish Elder Haupt and I could have stayed together to finish helping all the investigators we're working with, but I know the ward and investigators here are in good hands. The work only going to increase and I can't wait to hear about all these people I know now getting baptized in the near future. It's been great to serve here for the time that I have. Shingle Creek is amazing and it's own kind of unique. There's never going to be another area like it that's for sure haha.
Along with transfer calls yesterday we also had the chance to go to "the great Minnesota get together" (a.k.a. the state fair). The fair here is huge! I've never seen people go so crazy or get so excited over a fair before. People started talking about it back on the Fourth of July and how they couldn't wait for the fair. It's 10 days long and yesterday was the last day. Elm Creek Elders got 3 free tickets from someone in their ward. We got permission to go because it was over in St. Paul and decided we'd all just split the cost of the fourth ticket. There's an express bus station they set up for it in our area, so we all just met up, rode our bikes to the station, and hopped on the bus to go. It was insane how many people were there! I was talking to a lady on the bus who said that on average all the other days the fair had 120,000+ people and because of the no school no work holiday yesterday there was even more than that. It wasn't really surprising with the amount of people that were there that we ran into about a dozen or so members that were from wards all over the metro and up metro area. A couple came running over to us and gave us $20 to split because they said we needed to have fun and buy some of the food there. It was cool to see all the members go crazy to see us. We were all trying to imagine what it would have been like to have the same scenario in Utah and decided that we probably wouldn't have been able to even walk around having to stop and talk to members the whole time. On the other hand we probably wouldn't have paid for anything either haha. We did get a lot of funny looks from people because we were in proselyting clothes at the state fair. We heard a few nicknames amid the stares. "Geek Squad", "Jesus People", and "Israelites" were some of the best ones that I heard haha. The thing that the fair is know for is the crazy food that is all either on a stick or deep fried. We had some deep fried Wisconsin Cheese Curds, some terriyaki ostrich, a deep fried twinkie, and this small container of warm, fresh-baked, chocolate chip cookies that we each ate with the never ending milk bar that they had. It was so cool and definitely an experience. I think in my container I had 15 cookies and probably a third gallon of milk haha. So between all of that we sure got our fat and sugars for the week. Just in case any of you are wondering the ostrich was very very lean but really good, the twinkie was amazing and filled with cholesterol, and the cookies were very fresh and very rich haha. There were a couple other things we thought about trying but knew that if we did diabetes would be setting in shortly after. They had chocolate covered bacon, deep fried snickers, and deep fried alligator that were all on the list to try but didn't quite make it. It was really fun to just kind of get out and experience that all together since our district's being disbanded with transfers. I took some pictures that hopefully I can attach to this so you can see what it was like and who these other Elders I've been serving with are.
As far as the missionary work here goes JV came to church again Sunday and to the best of our knowledge has been smoke free for 7 days now! He's getting baptized hopefully sometime at the end of this month so that I can maybe come back to see that since I won't be too extremely far away. We talked to Joe, one of the other investigators that I may have mentioned before, the other day about going to seminary. We were in our coordination meeting on Sunday and trying to think about who would be a good fellowshipper for him. Then the thought came to me, "seminary". He's a senior this year and they had the kickoff meeting for seminary Sunday night and the seminary teacher was our joint teacher for the evening. We called and talked to him about going to the meeting bu the was baby sitting his cousins, so we went over with the joint teacher and talked to him about seminary ad how great it is. He wasn't sure at first but he said us coming over really convinced him. He's going to try it for the first day tomorrow. I hope he enjoys it and continues to go. The tough part is that it is early morning and starts at 6 a.m. at the church, but he has the faith that the blessings of it are true and willingness to go. I think he could end up being baptized this month too. Unfortunately I won't be around to know for sure, but we'll see what happens.
Sorry there's not too much more to add. It sounds like Mom and Dad ran into a lot of people at Tomato Days. Tell Cassie I said hi and congratulations. You can also mention a nice thanks for not sending her wedding announcement haha JK. As for Kevin and advice for him I'd say tell him to get that coat that I did from Mr. Mac. It works amazingly well. That's what I used all winter and just layered underneath it. I also had a nice home spun hammock to use around my entire neck and torso, but I think the coat works great by itself too ;) haha. Then he won't have to worry about having to buy one out here. This is also just some side advice that I'd give to both him and Brady or anyone else preparing and buying things for a mission. Buy black Nike tube socks and use those as your dress socks. They're a lot more comfortable and durable than the gold toe or any other thin dress socks. Plus with those you can use them for P-Day stuff too. I'm glad to hear that my pictures could help you with your talk on missionary work in primary mom. We went into primary in Sunday so the kids could all give us little cards saying thanks for being our missionaries. I'm happy to hear that you had enough to say that you went over time too. Instead of just something like, "missionaries are great. This is one that I think used to live in our house" haha ;).
I hope that all is going well and everyone's doing just fantastic! I can't wait to hear about Brady's trip and Kat and Tom's sealing in a few weeks. I love and miss you guys and can't wait to hear from you again!
Love, Elder Craft
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, August 1, 2011
A Little Stability
Hey Everyone,
I'm glad to hear that everyone at home is doing well. This week for us was great. Transfer calls were this morning and for the first transfer of my mission I am keeping the same companion. Elder Haupt and I already knew that though because this new training out line is 12 weeks long. It wasn't any real surprise to us not getting a call this morning, but we are excited to keep up the hard work and seeing the blessings of the Lord here in The Hood haha. I did get one change this morning with transfers. There's now a set of Sister missionaries in our district. So now instead of just us four Elders we have two Sisters as well. It will be pretty cool I think. I haven't been in a district with Sisters yet on my mission. What's cool too is that all three of us companionships here consist of a trainer and trainee. Plus, Sister Daniel is the Sister that came out with me from my MTC district. That's basically all the news I have for now though at least about changes with transfers haha.
I told you all about a couple new investigators last week Russ and Pierre, so I figured I'd give you a little update on them from this week. Russ is still doing great and he came to church again yesterday. He has a lot of questions that we're trying hard to answer for him as he's trying to learn. He's great and always really excited to see us. He was asked a couple funny questions yesterday to the interpreter about us. One was if we were the prophets which really isn't too crazy for him to think because he's learning all about what a prophet even is. The next one that made us laugh was why we weren't married yet. haha He's just a funny guy. As for Pierre. . .man he was one interesting character. We met with him 4 times total last week that probably combined was 9 hrs total. What started last week as a lot of questions turned into a quiz on our scriptural references each time we went. He wanted answers and we'd give them to him, most with a Bible reference in fact, but nothing sufficed. He wanted firm evidence about our relationship with God and Jesus Christ, the origin of The Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith's First Vision. Things that can't all be provided and proved through just Bible reference. That makes the entire definition of Faith obsolete. We even had a lesson at the mission home with President Clements on Friday so that he could help teach and see what we were talking about first hand. We were so excited about Pierre, but by the end of the week we realized that it might not be the best investment of time to continue to work with him. I'm glad that I got to know and meet him. He's a great guy and it was a great experience both for my testimony and knowledge to grow in. Next time I run into another Evangelical type personality I'll know what to expect.
We had an amazing miracle on Wednesday. Micheal, who I've mentioned before, text us and said that he had decided on a date and wants to be baptized on the 20th of August! We were amazed because we haven't been pushing or really meeting with him to much, but the Lord and the Spirit can work wonders within people. We met with him Friday and his whole countenance has changed. He was so happy talking about being excited to be baptized! It was nothing short of a miracle that came as an answer to much fasting and many prayers. Thanks everyone for the prayers and support because we were able to see the fruits of that labor this past week.
We're really excited to continue in the work and miracles that we've seen here. They're all around us and August is going to be ab amazing month! What is kind of weird for me is that this Wednesday Elder Blume, my trainer, will be going home. He's the first companion of mine to go home and it's weird to think that he'll be headed back to Utah. He's a great missionary that taught me alot. If you ever run into a Joshua Blume from American Fork that's him haha. Elder Pilcher is going home this Wednesday too so the MMM will only have one Hooperite for a little while. That is until Elder Mead comes on up to the land of 10,000 lakes, windchill, and extreme heat index haha.
I love you all so much and once again thank you for all the love, support, and prayers given on my behalf. You guys are great! I'm glad to hear about the good news for you Kat! Congratulations!! And I look forward to more good news from Camie and Brock here in a few weeks. I can't wait to hear from you all again. Sorry it's not too long, but there will be more miracles to report on next week :).
Love, Elder Craft
Monday, July 11, 2011
New President
Hello Everybody! haha
Thank you so much for all the support and letters from everyone this week! I really love and appreciate it.
That's so awesome that you were able to meet the Howells, Mom and Dad. They are amazing people! It's funny about Sister Howell how Mom had mentioned she was emotional but just kept on through it because that's exactly how her trainings would go. Tears or no tears she always had something great to say and teach us and it always came through haha. It was definitely sad to see them go, but after meeting President and Sister Clements this week I agree with what President Howell said, "things are only going to get better". President Clements is so great! He's so great and has that same genuine care and love that President Howell did. He has a good sense of humor as well. We have our interviews with him this week, so I'm excited to get to know him even better. Sister Clements is super nice too and I'm looking forward to the next little while that we have to spend here in this part of the Lord's vineyard working together.
That's so crazy about Mitch! I couldn't believe when I read the Philippines and then to have it be the exact same mission as Brady. That's incredible! That's so weird to think that Mitch will be leaving on his mission after I've been out for over a year! That's so crazy! He's probably hating the fact that his birthday's so late. Brady could in all reality have his call about the same time that Mitch leaves.
Sounds like things back home are as exciting as ever for everyone. Brady and Natalie sound like they're having fun on those adventures of theirs. Is Natalie going to be up in Idaho until the baby's born?
As far as here in the grand old MMM things are going to amazing!! Elder Haupt has faith like you wouldn't believe. Our faith and the hard work we're putting in have definitely been manifest in the miracles of the past week. Yesterday when we had to call in the numbers for the week we realized that we had almost doubled the amount of lessons from last week (that's not really so impressive because we didn't do so good at all last week haha). The real miracle was that we were able to pick up 7 new investigators because of those lessons we had been teaching! The Lord is preparing people all around us and this week we were priveleged enough to work hard, talk to everyone, and find them! We are always looking for those humble people to teach and they are either in humble circumstances or compelled to be humble by some other way, and down in "The Hood" is where the humble people are. I have a testimony of contacting and working down in North Minneapolis (just before 8:30-9 pm though jk haha). Those people down there are always wanting to hear about Jesus and willing and wanting to pray with us! It's great! That's where most of our new investigators came from. Even though it's the Southern part of our area the extra miles on the bike just build character haha. Being able to see these people grow in their faith of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice make it all worth it. Now we just have to figure out how to get all these humble people without cars to church and we'll be good haha. We can only carry so many on our handlebars jk ;). We've set a goal this week of teaching at least 20 lessons and I know the Lord will provide those people to teach and the appointments we have with all these new people to be solid. We got close last week and I've done it before in Menomonie so Elder Haupt and I are going to be working like it all depends on us and praying like it all depends on the Lord!
Kind of as a side note to answer your question Dad yes I am still the District Leader and Training at the same time. It's great! I love these Elders in my district. Elder Haupt and Elder Turner both came out together and Elder Bennett just finished as a trainee and moved into the position as trainer. It's pretty funny now being the "oldest" missionary in the district. If you take all the other Elders time out in the field and combine it I've still been out longer. I never thought I'd be able to say that haha. We joke about that all the time.
Well I hope that all of you are still doing well and having a great time wherever you're at haha. I love and miss you all! I'm praying for you always and can't wait to hear from you again!
Love, Elder Craft
Thank you so much for all the support and letters from everyone this week! I really love and appreciate it.
That's so awesome that you were able to meet the Howells, Mom and Dad. They are amazing people! It's funny about Sister Howell how Mom had mentioned she was emotional but just kept on through it because that's exactly how her trainings would go. Tears or no tears she always had something great to say and teach us and it always came through haha. It was definitely sad to see them go, but after meeting President and Sister Clements this week I agree with what President Howell said, "things are only going to get better". President Clements is so great! He's so great and has that same genuine care and love that President Howell did. He has a good sense of humor as well. We have our interviews with him this week, so I'm excited to get to know him even better. Sister Clements is super nice too and I'm looking forward to the next little while that we have to spend here in this part of the Lord's vineyard working together.
That's so crazy about Mitch! I couldn't believe when I read the Philippines and then to have it be the exact same mission as Brady. That's incredible! That's so weird to think that Mitch will be leaving on his mission after I've been out for over a year! That's so crazy! He's probably hating the fact that his birthday's so late. Brady could in all reality have his call about the same time that Mitch leaves.
Sounds like things back home are as exciting as ever for everyone. Brady and Natalie sound like they're having fun on those adventures of theirs. Is Natalie going to be up in Idaho until the baby's born?
As far as here in the grand old MMM things are going to amazing!! Elder Haupt has faith like you wouldn't believe. Our faith and the hard work we're putting in have definitely been manifest in the miracles of the past week. Yesterday when we had to call in the numbers for the week we realized that we had almost doubled the amount of lessons from last week (that's not really so impressive because we didn't do so good at all last week haha). The real miracle was that we were able to pick up 7 new investigators because of those lessons we had been teaching! The Lord is preparing people all around us and this week we were priveleged enough to work hard, talk to everyone, and find them! We are always looking for those humble people to teach and they are either in humble circumstances or compelled to be humble by some other way, and down in "The Hood" is where the humble people are. I have a testimony of contacting and working down in North Minneapolis (just before 8:30-9 pm though jk haha). Those people down there are always wanting to hear about Jesus and willing and wanting to pray with us! It's great! That's where most of our new investigators came from. Even though it's the Southern part of our area the extra miles on the bike just build character haha. Being able to see these people grow in their faith of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice make it all worth it. Now we just have to figure out how to get all these humble people without cars to church and we'll be good haha. We can only carry so many on our handlebars jk ;). We've set a goal this week of teaching at least 20 lessons and I know the Lord will provide those people to teach and the appointments we have with all these new people to be solid. We got close last week and I've done it before in Menomonie so Elder Haupt and I are going to be working like it all depends on us and praying like it all depends on the Lord!
Kind of as a side note to answer your question Dad yes I am still the District Leader and Training at the same time. It's great! I love these Elders in my district. Elder Haupt and Elder Turner both came out together and Elder Bennett just finished as a trainee and moved into the position as trainer. It's pretty funny now being the "oldest" missionary in the district. If you take all the other Elders time out in the field and combine it I've still been out longer. I never thought I'd be able to say that haha. We joke about that all the time.
Well I hope that all of you are still doing well and having a great time wherever you're at haha. I love and miss you all! I'm praying for you always and can't wait to hear from you again!
Love, Elder Craft
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
The 4th of July
Dear Family,
Most of you have been wondering about the 4th of July and the weather. Well I'll start with yesterday and tell you about the weather later.
The 4th of July was good we got to go to a huge free breakfast at the church with our ward, the Elm Creek Ward, and Maple Grove ward. All the wards that meet in our building. There was a bike ride before with the breakfast at 8:30 and a kids bike parade afterwards. Our ward was in charge of cooking, but Elder Haupt and I didn't get to do that. We had enough volunteers from Elders Quorum to survive. It was quite and event though. They started cooking at about 7 and were still going until 8:30. They made about 1200 pancakes with a ton of sausage, eggs, fruit and muffins. We we rode up there about 8 the other ward had already set up the tables and everything in the parking lot before the bike ride. It was crazy to see 8 griddles all going at once side by side in the gym flipping pancakes and sausage as fast as they could get them out. Because the Elm Creek ward was a little short on volunteers to serve Elder Haupt and I did get to do that. Once we got to eat though it was all worth it. That breakfast was alot better than the cold cereal I was planning on haha. Unfortunately here in the MMM we don't waste time or engage our selves in meaningless tasks like being in a parade like missionaries in other places ;) haha jk. It was kind of weird though not being in or at least going to a parade for the first time in like 8 years. We basically just tried to get all our other P-Day stuff done and went out tracting after dinner.
It sounds like from what Mom and Dad said about Idaho that it was a good time and everyone seems to be doing pretty good up there. I'm glad to hear it.
Now as for the weather here I will say I'm not to sure how sympathetic I can be to Brady for 100 degrees and no swamp cooler. Here last week it was up in the high 90's with humidity at about 80%. Yesterday it had a little less humidity but was still almost 100 degrees most of the day. Last Friday was crazy hot though. It got up to 107! And with the 78% humidity I got to learn about this neat little thing they have hear called the heat index. It combines the temperature and humidity to show what the temperature actually is and feels like. So basically the hot version of wind chill. So with the temperature being 107 and the humidity what it was the heat index put in up at 115 degrees! Lets just say that was not my favorite biking day so far. Later that night though the weather made a crazy change on us. Because of all the hot weather and moisture there was a crazy crazy thunderstorm that rolled in the night. So in one day of biking we went from sweating through my shirt and slacks to getting absolutely soaked on the ride home with crazy thunder and lightening! It was so crazy but made things really interesting too haha. Luckily for us living in the basement of the Paynters it's already cool down there and on top of the the have central air, so when we are home it's a nice relief from the sun, heat, and humidity. It's pretty funny that everyone here has a dehumidifier in their basements and it's crazy to see the gallons of water that we empty out of it everyday. That's Minnesota for you I guess haha.
To answer Dad's question yes we do get the Ensign and can read it but we only get them at Zone Conference, so we'll get them 3 months at a time. I don't have the July one yet but when we do get it I'll look for that article.
Sorry that this isn't very long and there's not too much exciting to report on other than the weather. The pictures I attached are of first this sign to show you I was lying about the temperature on Friday, and the other 3 are of what I found out is called a wall cloud because that's exactly what it looked like and was when it hit us. It's pretty intense and the pictures don't really do it justice. I hope that everyone enjoyed the 4th and is doing well. I can't wait to hear from you next week. I'll be able report on how it was to meet President Clements next week too. I love, miss, and pray for you all always!
Love, Elder Craft
Most of you have been wondering about the 4th of July and the weather. Well I'll start with yesterday and tell you about the weather later.
The 4th of July was good we got to go to a huge free breakfast at the church with our ward, the Elm Creek Ward, and Maple Grove ward. All the wards that meet in our building. There was a bike ride before with the breakfast at 8:30 and a kids bike parade afterwards. Our ward was in charge of cooking, but Elder Haupt and I didn't get to do that. We had enough volunteers from Elders Quorum to survive. It was quite and event though. They started cooking at about 7 and were still going until 8:30. They made about 1200 pancakes with a ton of sausage, eggs, fruit and muffins. We we rode up there about 8 the other ward had already set up the tables and everything in the parking lot before the bike ride. It was crazy to see 8 griddles all going at once side by side in the gym flipping pancakes and sausage as fast as they could get them out. Because the Elm Creek ward was a little short on volunteers to serve Elder Haupt and I did get to do that. Once we got to eat though it was all worth it. That breakfast was alot better than the cold cereal I was planning on haha. Unfortunately here in the MMM we don't waste time or engage our selves in meaningless tasks like being in a parade like missionaries in other places ;) haha jk. It was kind of weird though not being in or at least going to a parade for the first time in like 8 years. We basically just tried to get all our other P-Day stuff done and went out tracting after dinner.
It sounds like from what Mom and Dad said about Idaho that it was a good time and everyone seems to be doing pretty good up there. I'm glad to hear it.
Now as for the weather here I will say I'm not to sure how sympathetic I can be to Brady for 100 degrees and no swamp cooler. Here last week it was up in the high 90's with humidity at about 80%. Yesterday it had a little less humidity but was still almost 100 degrees most of the day. Last Friday was crazy hot though. It got up to 107! And with the 78% humidity I got to learn about this neat little thing they have hear called the heat index. It combines the temperature and humidity to show what the temperature actually is and feels like. So basically the hot version of wind chill. So with the temperature being 107 and the humidity what it was the heat index put in up at 115 degrees! Lets just say that was not my favorite biking day so far. Later that night though the weather made a crazy change on us. Because of all the hot weather and moisture there was a crazy crazy thunderstorm that rolled in the night. So in one day of biking we went from sweating through my shirt and slacks to getting absolutely soaked on the ride home with crazy thunder and lightening! It was so crazy but made things really interesting too haha. Luckily for us living in the basement of the Paynters it's already cool down there and on top of the the have central air, so when we are home it's a nice relief from the sun, heat, and humidity. It's pretty funny that everyone here has a dehumidifier in their basements and it's crazy to see the gallons of water that we empty out of it everyday. That's Minnesota for you I guess haha.
To answer Dad's question yes we do get the Ensign and can read it but we only get them at Zone Conference, so we'll get them 3 months at a time. I don't have the July one yet but when we do get it I'll look for that article.
Sorry that this isn't very long and there's not too much exciting to report on other than the weather. The pictures I attached are of first this sign to show you I was lying about the temperature on Friday, and the other 3 are of what I found out is called a wall cloud because that's exactly what it looked like and was when it hit us. It's pretty intense and the pictures don't really do it justice. I hope that everyone enjoyed the 4th and is doing well. I can't wait to hear from you next week. I'll be able report on how it was to meet President Clements next week too. I love, miss, and pray for you all always!
Love, Elder Craft
Monday, June 27, 2011
The New Arrival
Dear Craft Family,
It was so good to hear from all of you! I'm glad that the snow is finally starting to melt in Utah. Now you know what 6 months of snow is like and what I have to look forward to here. Only thing is there's no mountains that it stays in here. One of the members here told me that just last week they still had a snow pile in St. Paul in one of the parking lots from October when it first snowed. So I don't know how bad I can feel that there's still snow in the mountains back home haha. From what a couple of you have said it sounds like Utah's not so brown anymore. I just can't imagine a summer of all green and no worries of drought. That's crazy for me to think about!
So my new companion is Elder Haupt from Oregon. He lives in a town outside of Portland. I called him a "Greeny" last week but that term isn't correct here in the MMM anymore I guess. The new missionaries are now called "Goldies". I don't know where exactly President Howell came up with that from, but it might have something to do with the Golden Gophers I think. That's just my own personal speculation though hahaha. As you already know he's been out in the mission field for 5 days now and just transferred from Provo haha. It's been going really well so far and I'm excited to get to work with him. Like Kathleen pointed out to me he will be my longest companion and this my longest area. It's pretty cool though because just serving in Shingle Creek ups my street cred (or Cool Scale like Kat's) for the other missionaries. Plus, biking everywhere builds good character haha. Or at least I've been told that. We've had a lot of miracles and people let us talk to them and teach them while contacting on their door steps or in the park and stuff like that. It's been really cool to see. Elder Haupt's faith is through the roof and is awesome to feed off and work with. The one thing about training that's funny for me is how many questions he has about everything we do. It's not like they're overbearing or anything like that. I just forget that he doesn't already know that and how much we really have to learn at the beginning of our missions. He came out in a group of 20 new missionaries! There's a ton of us training. One of the missionaries he came out with is an Elder Checketts from Woods Cross, so I knew the name and went to talk to him after. Turns out he's the nephew of Dave Checketts, owner of RSL, and we played each other for preseason in high school and stuff. That was kinda cool.
President Howell had a final fireside last night and all the missionaries in the cities were invited with investigators and all less actives or recent converts in the mission. Lets just say that Bloomington Chapel was filled to capacity, but it was way cool to hear the powerful and heartfelt testimonies of President and Sister Howell. I'm really going to miss them but look forward to meeting President and Sister Clements. They fly in on Wednesday and the Howells will be flying out. I guess Elder Haupt was telling me that they shut down all of 1M (the main building in the MTC) except for the cafeteria part this whole last week because The First Presidency was there training the new mission presidents. 1/3 of all the worlds mission presidents are being changed this week. That's crazy! It would have been even more insane to be in the MTC during this last week, like Tavan, to maybe even see President Monson, Eyring, or Uchtdorf. I'm going to have to write him about that whole thing.
I'm glad that those of you in Hooper were able to see Cody an d KC. Man I miss those guys so much! But when we do get together again it's going to be just like the reunion of Alma and the Sons of Mosiah! It's so cool for me to be able to tell people here of the amazing friends that I have serving all around the world spreading the Gospel to all nations, kindred, tongues, and people.
Sorry this email is not super long but I think that the computer might be kicking me off sooner than usual because there's so many people here today. I'll conclude by the traditional response to those people haha.
Kat and Tom: I'm so glad to hear that you are recovering and doing so much better! That's so exciting about your trip to the big island and sealing. I wish that I could be there to support you guys, but just know I'll be there in spirit. haha Good luck with the nursing school application too. I've been praying for you. I'm glad that I was able to help your coolness go up a little bit. The Golden Gophers have the power to do that ;) haha.
Brock and Camie: I'm glad that you had a nice birthday and thank you so much for the advice and the story. I'll take any advice that you have ever. Thanks for all your guys' love and support of me. I'm glad to hear that little Raylee's doing well too.
Dad and Mom: Thanks for the letters last week and updates on the farewells and homecomings. haha I talked to Sister Howell and she said last night that they are very excited to meet you guys inparticular. It's good to hear that you're trip was a success and it went well.
Sorry once again that this isn't a very exciting email. Hopefully it will be more so next week. I'm so thankful for your letters, emails, and support. I hope you have a good time in Idaho. Try to not let all the wind get you down ;)! I miss you guys and look forward to talking to you again soon!
Love, Elder Alex Craft
It was so good to hear from all of you! I'm glad that the snow is finally starting to melt in Utah. Now you know what 6 months of snow is like and what I have to look forward to here. Only thing is there's no mountains that it stays in here. One of the members here told me that just last week they still had a snow pile in St. Paul in one of the parking lots from October when it first snowed. So I don't know how bad I can feel that there's still snow in the mountains back home haha. From what a couple of you have said it sounds like Utah's not so brown anymore. I just can't imagine a summer of all green and no worries of drought. That's crazy for me to think about!
So my new companion is Elder Haupt from Oregon. He lives in a town outside of Portland. I called him a "Greeny" last week but that term isn't correct here in the MMM anymore I guess. The new missionaries are now called "Goldies". I don't know where exactly President Howell came up with that from, but it might have something to do with the Golden Gophers I think. That's just my own personal speculation though hahaha. As you already know he's been out in the mission field for 5 days now and just transferred from Provo haha. It's been going really well so far and I'm excited to get to work with him. Like Kathleen pointed out to me he will be my longest companion and this my longest area. It's pretty cool though because just serving in Shingle Creek ups my street cred (or Cool Scale like Kat's) for the other missionaries. Plus, biking everywhere builds good character haha. Or at least I've been told that. We've had a lot of miracles and people let us talk to them and teach them while contacting on their door steps or in the park and stuff like that. It's been really cool to see. Elder Haupt's faith is through the roof and is awesome to feed off and work with. The one thing about training that's funny for me is how many questions he has about everything we do. It's not like they're overbearing or anything like that. I just forget that he doesn't already know that and how much we really have to learn at the beginning of our missions. He came out in a group of 20 new missionaries! There's a ton of us training. One of the missionaries he came out with is an Elder Checketts from Woods Cross, so I knew the name and went to talk to him after. Turns out he's the nephew of Dave Checketts, owner of RSL, and we played each other for preseason in high school and stuff. That was kinda cool.
President Howell had a final fireside last night and all the missionaries in the cities were invited with investigators and all less actives or recent converts in the mission. Lets just say that Bloomington Chapel was filled to capacity, but it was way cool to hear the powerful and heartfelt testimonies of President and Sister Howell. I'm really going to miss them but look forward to meeting President and Sister Clements. They fly in on Wednesday and the Howells will be flying out. I guess Elder Haupt was telling me that they shut down all of 1M (the main building in the MTC) except for the cafeteria part this whole last week because The First Presidency was there training the new mission presidents. 1/3 of all the worlds mission presidents are being changed this week. That's crazy! It would have been even more insane to be in the MTC during this last week, like Tavan, to maybe even see President Monson, Eyring, or Uchtdorf. I'm going to have to write him about that whole thing.
I'm glad that those of you in Hooper were able to see Cody an d KC. Man I miss those guys so much! But when we do get together again it's going to be just like the reunion of Alma and the Sons of Mosiah! It's so cool for me to be able to tell people here of the amazing friends that I have serving all around the world spreading the Gospel to all nations, kindred, tongues, and people.
Sorry this email is not super long but I think that the computer might be kicking me off sooner than usual because there's so many people here today. I'll conclude by the traditional response to those people haha.
Kat and Tom: I'm so glad to hear that you are recovering and doing so much better! That's so exciting about your trip to the big island and sealing. I wish that I could be there to support you guys, but just know I'll be there in spirit. haha Good luck with the nursing school application too. I've been praying for you. I'm glad that I was able to help your coolness go up a little bit. The Golden Gophers have the power to do that ;) haha.
Brock and Camie: I'm glad that you had a nice birthday and thank you so much for the advice and the story. I'll take any advice that you have ever. Thanks for all your guys' love and support of me. I'm glad to hear that little Raylee's doing well too.
Dad and Mom: Thanks for the letters last week and updates on the farewells and homecomings. haha I talked to Sister Howell and she said last night that they are very excited to meet you guys inparticular. It's good to hear that you're trip was a success and it went well.
Sorry once again that this isn't a very exciting email. Hopefully it will be more so next week. I'm so thankful for your letters, emails, and support. I hope you have a good time in Idaho. Try to not let all the wind get you down ;)! I miss you guys and look forward to talking to you again soon!
Love, Elder Alex Craft
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