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
Showing posts with label Shingle creek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shingle creek. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Sorry, Mom. I forgot your birthday.
Hello Everyone,
Are you surprised to get an email that's actually a Monday? haha Now you won't have to wonder in suspense over the next 48 hours waiting for something to come. Since I know that's what all of you do. Once Monday hit at 12:01 everyone turns their computers on and anxiously awaits to email to come. haha JK
Thank you for the emails and pictures from all of you! I know it must have taken some time to do that. Especially from Brady. From what I hear it seems like everyone is doing well. I'm glad to hear Mom's back from Idaho to fix whatever may have happened to the house haha. Only bad part about Mom not being in Idaho is not only that Camie's on her own with those kids now, but I sent your birthday present up there that Camie and Brock will probably get today or tomorrow haha. Sorry I thought you'd be there for at least this week. Just know that I didn't forget about you Mom. :)
This week in the Shingle Creek has been good. We haven't had too many things to report on, but all in all it was good. President Clements came to our District Meeting along with the Zone Leaders so it added a little bit more to our little band of missionaries. It was a great experience to be able to have him counsel with us and give good insight on what we should do to work with our investigators, and to also hear what he had to say on the training I gave on "The Role of the Book of Mormon" and how to use it more effectively in our teaching. President Clements is so great! He's always so loving, encouraging, and willing to help with anything. We also had an amazing answer to prayer come at church yesterday. I can't remember if I've mentioned to you before that we have two deaf investigators that we're working with. Russ, who I've talked about before, has just been so frustrated trying to understand, comprehend, and communicate about all he's been learning recently. Then JV is this awesome guy who's been meeting with missionaries for awhile. His sister, brother, and one of his "baby mommas" are all members of our church. He's been watching the Book of Mormon and knows a lot about what's in there. We haven't been able to meet with him as much recently because he's been gone and his phone has been off so we couldn't text him. This past couple of weeks we've been able to go over and see him. We reviewed the Restoration with him because he already knew all of it and has a testimony of it. We didn't have to teach him hardly anything about it. The Word of Wisdom has been his struggle for awhile that he's been working on (just like Russ. Anyone guess where I'm going with this?. . ) . So at church yesterday both JV and Russ came. We introduced them afterwards and it was like a train took off from there. They stood and talked (signed) for 15-20 minutes after sacrament meeting in the chapel. Once we were able to get them into Gospel Principles they just continued from there. They had their own conversation while Elder Haupt and I taught the class and the interpreter that was in there for them just watched them talk. After class they didn't even go into priesthood but rather just stood outside in the hall and talked the whole time. There's another less-active woman in our ward that has recently been coming back really strong who is also deaf that showed up yesterday and talked with them in the hall during priesthood too. After church we walked around before our coordination meeting to see where they went and they were still talking down at another part of the church. Sister Fish told us that Russ is really excited now to see the struggles that both she and JV have are just like his; that they're both deaf; and they've been able to overcome these challenges through prayer, scripture study, and coming to church just like we talked to him about . We have the Book of Mormon on ASL that we've been telling Russ about and after talking to JV and seeing how much it helped him he really wants to get it to start watching. He told us that he understands alot more now and the interpreter told us she'll have to talk to us later about the conversation that Russ and JV had in Gospel Principles. From what I could catch in between teaching and based on what few signs I do know I caught a general idea of Russ asking JV about the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity and without even knowing it JV was testifying of what it was, how it will help him, and how he can find strength to overcome. Sister Kirkham, who was the interpreter, said that JV was basically converting Russ right there at church! It was so amazing and like I said a miracle and answer to prayer that the Lord provided for us.
I hope to hear again from you all soon. Once again thanks for all the emails, pictures, love, and support you guys show to me. Keep praying for me because as that story goes to show the Lord provides miracles in all sorts of ways to accomplish his purposes. I love and miss you guys and am always praying for you.
Love, Elder Craft
Are you surprised to get an email that's actually a Monday? haha Now you won't have to wonder in suspense over the next 48 hours waiting for something to come. Since I know that's what all of you do. Once Monday hit at 12:01 everyone turns their computers on and anxiously awaits to email to come. haha JK
Thank you for the emails and pictures from all of you! I know it must have taken some time to do that. Especially from Brady. From what I hear it seems like everyone is doing well. I'm glad to hear Mom's back from Idaho to fix whatever may have happened to the house haha. Only bad part about Mom not being in Idaho is not only that Camie's on her own with those kids now, but I sent your birthday present up there that Camie and Brock will probably get today or tomorrow haha. Sorry I thought you'd be there for at least this week. Just know that I didn't forget about you Mom. :)
This week in the Shingle Creek has been good. We haven't had too many things to report on, but all in all it was good. President Clements came to our District Meeting along with the Zone Leaders so it added a little bit more to our little band of missionaries. It was a great experience to be able to have him counsel with us and give good insight on what we should do to work with our investigators, and to also hear what he had to say on the training I gave on "The Role of the Book of Mormon" and how to use it more effectively in our teaching. President Clements is so great! He's always so loving, encouraging, and willing to help with anything. We also had an amazing answer to prayer come at church yesterday. I can't remember if I've mentioned to you before that we have two deaf investigators that we're working with. Russ, who I've talked about before, has just been so frustrated trying to understand, comprehend, and communicate about all he's been learning recently. Then JV is this awesome guy who's been meeting with missionaries for awhile. His sister, brother, and one of his "baby mommas" are all members of our church. He's been watching the Book of Mormon and knows a lot about what's in there. We haven't been able to meet with him as much recently because he's been gone and his phone has been off so we couldn't text him. This past couple of weeks we've been able to go over and see him. We reviewed the Restoration with him because he already knew all of it and has a testimony of it. We didn't have to teach him hardly anything about it. The Word of Wisdom has been his struggle for awhile that he's been working on (just like Russ. Anyone guess where I'm going with this?. . ) . So at church yesterday both JV and Russ came. We introduced them afterwards and it was like a train took off from there. They stood and talked (signed) for 15-20 minutes after sacrament meeting in the chapel. Once we were able to get them into Gospel Principles they just continued from there. They had their own conversation while Elder Haupt and I taught the class and the interpreter that was in there for them just watched them talk. After class they didn't even go into priesthood but rather just stood outside in the hall and talked the whole time. There's another less-active woman in our ward that has recently been coming back really strong who is also deaf that showed up yesterday and talked with them in the hall during priesthood too. After church we walked around before our coordination meeting to see where they went and they were still talking down at another part of the church. Sister Fish told us that Russ is really excited now to see the struggles that both she and JV have are just like his; that they're both deaf; and they've been able to overcome these challenges through prayer, scripture study, and coming to church just like we talked to him about . We have the Book of Mormon on ASL that we've been telling Russ about and after talking to JV and seeing how much it helped him he really wants to get it to start watching. He told us that he understands alot more now and the interpreter told us she'll have to talk to us later about the conversation that Russ and JV had in Gospel Principles. From what I could catch in between teaching and based on what few signs I do know I caught a general idea of Russ asking JV about the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity and without even knowing it JV was testifying of what it was, how it will help him, and how he can find strength to overcome. Sister Kirkham, who was the interpreter, said that JV was basically converting Russ right there at church! It was so amazing and like I said a miracle and answer to prayer that the Lord provided for us.
I hope to hear again from you all soon. Once again thanks for all the emails, pictures, love, and support you guys show to me. Keep praying for me because as that story goes to show the Lord provides miracles in all sorts of ways to accomplish his purposes. I love and miss you guys and am always praying for you.
Love, Elder Craft
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Temple Trip
Hey Family!
I will just apologize now for this email being not on a Monday like usual, and for possibly being a little shorter too. We went to the temple as a zone this morning, so that's why P-Day has been moved to today. It was amazing to be able to go with a group of about 18 Elders and Sisters and spend that time together in the House of the Lord. It felt like the MTC all over again because our session was full of missionaries. I think that's due in part to the fact that the St. Paul temple here is about 1/3 the size of the Ogden temple, so it can fill up with people really fast haha. I love it though! A temple is a temple and I'm so thankful to be as close as I am and to have one in my mission for that matter. I know some of my friends in other missions aren't that lucky and I really feel blessed to have one I can go to. Every time I have gone it makes me feel so blessed and lucky to have all of you as the family that I do! I love and appreciate all of you and the knowledge we have of restored priesthood power and a plan that our Heavenly Father has for us to all be together for eternity! That's the greatest peace, joy, and knowledge that I have in this life!
As for this week here in the big "S Creezy" it hasn't been anything to insane. We're still working with Russ and trying to help him progress. He's doing well and taking baby steps. He just gets so frustrated because he can't communicate with anyone at church or even at his house. He told the interpreter in our last lesson that they are way to slow for him and he can't even understand most of what happens at church. I'm just glad that we do have as many people in our ward that know ASL as we do because the lessons would go a lot more slowly if we had to write everything out . We've only had to do that once when we stopped by to see just how things were going and he wanted to talk more. It's crazy though how real the gifts of the spirit are. There's times that he doesn't even sign to us and just talks and we can understand him. No one else can even the interpreters sometimes but Elder Haupt and I can. We're just hoping that he doesn't get so frustrated that he just gives up completely. Not much to report on Micheal this week. Slowly but surely we'll get him to the font haha. One of our other investigators that I might have talked about John Mays up and moved without any warning in typical North Minneapolis fashion. We had a lesson Saturday and when we went to stop by a few days later his sister told us he'd moved out after our appointment Saturday back to his dad's but they don't know what that address is and he has no phone number now. We've had a few investigators move on us like this and it's tough to try and track them down again. We at least have a one block area that it's narrowed down to, so we're confident that with the spirit we can find him.
That sounds like a crazy week for everyone back home! Little Raylee's officially here! That's so exciting and less than one year after Brandt too. That's crazy! Good luck Camie and Brock haha. No i'm jk. I'm excited to hear that she's doing well and to see the pictures of her that I did. She sure looks cute. It looks like Brandt had a good birthday party Monday too. That picture that Mom sent of him eating his panda bear cake was hilarious! He looks just zoned out totally in love with the chocolate he's eating. I liked the Boston hat on the bear too haha.
Well sorry that I have to cut this so short today. Because we went to the temple we don't have much time to finish all the other P-Day stuff that we have to. From what I've heard everyone seems happy and healthy and I'm happy to hear it. I love and miss you all and look forward to talking to you again on the first normal P-Day in a while on Monday. I'll keep you in my prayers and talk to you in 4 days haha.
Love, Elder Craft
I will just apologize now for this email being not on a Monday like usual, and for possibly being a little shorter too. We went to the temple as a zone this morning, so that's why P-Day has been moved to today. It was amazing to be able to go with a group of about 18 Elders and Sisters and spend that time together in the House of the Lord. It felt like the MTC all over again because our session was full of missionaries. I think that's due in part to the fact that the St. Paul temple here is about 1/3 the size of the Ogden temple, so it can fill up with people really fast haha. I love it though! A temple is a temple and I'm so thankful to be as close as I am and to have one in my mission for that matter. I know some of my friends in other missions aren't that lucky and I really feel blessed to have one I can go to. Every time I have gone it makes me feel so blessed and lucky to have all of you as the family that I do! I love and appreciate all of you and the knowledge we have of restored priesthood power and a plan that our Heavenly Father has for us to all be together for eternity! That's the greatest peace, joy, and knowledge that I have in this life!
As for this week here in the big "S Creezy" it hasn't been anything to insane. We're still working with Russ and trying to help him progress. He's doing well and taking baby steps. He just gets so frustrated because he can't communicate with anyone at church or even at his house. He told the interpreter in our last lesson that they are way to slow for him and he can't even understand most of what happens at church. I'm just glad that we do have as many people in our ward that know ASL as we do because the lessons would go a lot more slowly if we had to write everything out . We've only had to do that once when we stopped by to see just how things were going and he wanted to talk more. It's crazy though how real the gifts of the spirit are. There's times that he doesn't even sign to us and just talks and we can understand him. No one else can even the interpreters sometimes but Elder Haupt and I can. We're just hoping that he doesn't get so frustrated that he just gives up completely. Not much to report on Micheal this week. Slowly but surely we'll get him to the font haha. One of our other investigators that I might have talked about John Mays up and moved without any warning in typical North Minneapolis fashion. We had a lesson Saturday and when we went to stop by a few days later his sister told us he'd moved out after our appointment Saturday back to his dad's but they don't know what that address is and he has no phone number now. We've had a few investigators move on us like this and it's tough to try and track them down again. We at least have a one block area that it's narrowed down to, so we're confident that with the spirit we can find him.
That sounds like a crazy week for everyone back home! Little Raylee's officially here! That's so exciting and less than one year after Brandt too. That's crazy! Good luck Camie and Brock haha. No i'm jk. I'm excited to hear that she's doing well and to see the pictures of her that I did. She sure looks cute. It looks like Brandt had a good birthday party Monday too. That picture that Mom sent of him eating his panda bear cake was hilarious! He looks just zoned out totally in love with the chocolate he's eating. I liked the Boston hat on the bear too haha.
Well sorry that I have to cut this so short today. Because we went to the temple we don't have much time to finish all the other P-Day stuff that we have to. From what I've heard everyone seems happy and healthy and I'm happy to hear it. I love and miss you all and look forward to talking to you again on the first normal P-Day in a while on Monday. I'll keep you in my prayers and talk to you in 4 days haha.
Love, Elder Craft
Monday, August 8, 2011
Learning to Interpret the Signs
Dear Crafts,
I hope that everything is going well for all you there. Elder Haupt and I had a good week. We were able to meet with Russ, our deaf investigator, again last week and he came to church. He wants to learn so bad but feels overwhelmed that he can't take it all in at once. We had a lesson in Gospel Principles yesterday all about Family Responsibilities and how the family unit is suppose to work and function together. He got a little upset. Not so much at the teacher or any of us just more so with trying to understand how that could work. It just made him think about his own childhood and the situation he was in with all the trials and things he went through. He got up and left in the middle of class and went outside to calm down. We found him after class a few minutes later coming back in from outside for priesthood. He told us in the easiest sign language possible that he just need a cigarette to calm down haha. I just kind of thought to myself, "well I know what lesson we need to teach next" and that "I guess it's not the worst thing he could do at church" haha. It's just interesting working with these sort of situations. Like I said he's a great guy he just has some things to learn, but I have faith he will overcome these struggles. Sorry that was kind of a random story but I get a lot of those in a week haha. This lesson this week and the one last week on the blessings of Eternal Families made me really think about you guys back home. I really am just so thankful for the blessing that you all are in my life. Mom and Dad have done an amazing job of making our family the way that it is. I really appreciate and am grateful for the opportunity I've had to grow up with loving parents and siblings I can trust with a foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for me to build my own life upon. It makes me realize how great this work we are doing is in helping others realize the same blessings they can have in their own lives. That firm foundation they can have. One that if they build upon " they cannot fall". So I just thought I would tell you all how thankful I am for each one of you and the blessings of peace, comfort, joy, and love that you've brought into my life.
As far as anything new there's not too much to report on. Micheal is still doing well. Unfortunately he didn't come to church yesterday, but because he has been to church about 13 times now he is still scheduled to be baptized on the 20th if he comes to church next week. We'll keep praying and definitely keep our fingers crossed for him.
There were some pretty exciting stories from yesterday that I could tell. They both were last night and the one happened when Elder Haupt and I were going down an overpass sidewalk. We were picking up speed going down and about half way down his feet slipped off his pedals or something to that effect happened and caused his bike to turn right in front of mine. He went over the bike on the sidewalk and slid about 20 feet. Luckily I had swerved just out of the way of his bike and past him, but by the time I'd hit my brakes and come to a stop, after my 20 foot skid, he was getting up out of the gutter on the side walk to pick up his bike. He got some nasty road rash on the back of his left hand and shoulder. His shirt and slacks got shredded up pretty good, and his helmets cracked on the side where he hit. For how bad it could have been though he's pretty lucky. I felt bad that he was hurt but I just told him I'm so glad he didn't some how take me out on his way down and make it a 2 man bike pile up, or that I didn't hit him and make things worse for both of us. He's a little sore today but doing fine. We have to go to the doctor as a rule of the mission to get him checked out today, but all in all we know the Lord knows, loves, and protects His missionaries. The next story is better haha. After his wreck we got his bike up and just walked the short half mile to the Elm Creek Elder's apartment. Luckily we were just on the edge of our area down the street from their apartment, and even better they were home so we could clean up his cuts. After we were finished and going to head home we went down to our bikes that were locked on the fence right next to theirs and Elder Turner's seat was gone haha. All 4 of our bikes were there locked up, but only his seat was gone. We could not believe that someone honestly stole a bike seat haha. We laughed pretty hard at that, so it helped add a little humor to the night at Elder Turner's expense. It made me realize too why we do lock up our helmets down in North Minne. Sometimes I wonder about people and the reasons they do things that they do.
Well I think that that's all as for the update from here in "The Hood" haha. I love and miss all of you and can't wait to hear from you again. Hopefully there's more stories and things to report on next week.
Love, Elder Craft
I hope that everything is going well for all you there. Elder Haupt and I had a good week. We were able to meet with Russ, our deaf investigator, again last week and he came to church. He wants to learn so bad but feels overwhelmed that he can't take it all in at once. We had a lesson in Gospel Principles yesterday all about Family Responsibilities and how the family unit is suppose to work and function together. He got a little upset. Not so much at the teacher or any of us just more so with trying to understand how that could work. It just made him think about his own childhood and the situation he was in with all the trials and things he went through. He got up and left in the middle of class and went outside to calm down. We found him after class a few minutes later coming back in from outside for priesthood. He told us in the easiest sign language possible that he just need a cigarette to calm down haha. I just kind of thought to myself, "well I know what lesson we need to teach next" and that "I guess it's not the worst thing he could do at church" haha. It's just interesting working with these sort of situations. Like I said he's a great guy he just has some things to learn, but I have faith he will overcome these struggles. Sorry that was kind of a random story but I get a lot of those in a week haha. This lesson this week and the one last week on the blessings of Eternal Families made me really think about you guys back home. I really am just so thankful for the blessing that you all are in my life. Mom and Dad have done an amazing job of making our family the way that it is. I really appreciate and am grateful for the opportunity I've had to grow up with loving parents and siblings I can trust with a foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for me to build my own life upon. It makes me realize how great this work we are doing is in helping others realize the same blessings they can have in their own lives. That firm foundation they can have. One that if they build upon " they cannot fall". So I just thought I would tell you all how thankful I am for each one of you and the blessings of peace, comfort, joy, and love that you've brought into my life.
As far as anything new there's not too much to report on. Micheal is still doing well. Unfortunately he didn't come to church yesterday, but because he has been to church about 13 times now he is still scheduled to be baptized on the 20th if he comes to church next week. We'll keep praying and definitely keep our fingers crossed for him.
There were some pretty exciting stories from yesterday that I could tell. They both were last night and the one happened when Elder Haupt and I were going down an overpass sidewalk. We were picking up speed going down and about half way down his feet slipped off his pedals or something to that effect happened and caused his bike to turn right in front of mine. He went over the bike on the sidewalk and slid about 20 feet. Luckily I had swerved just out of the way of his bike and past him, but by the time I'd hit my brakes and come to a stop, after my 20 foot skid, he was getting up out of the gutter on the side walk to pick up his bike. He got some nasty road rash on the back of his left hand and shoulder. His shirt and slacks got shredded up pretty good, and his helmets cracked on the side where he hit. For how bad it could have been though he's pretty lucky. I felt bad that he was hurt but I just told him I'm so glad he didn't some how take me out on his way down and make it a 2 man bike pile up, or that I didn't hit him and make things worse for both of us. He's a little sore today but doing fine. We have to go to the doctor as a rule of the mission to get him checked out today, but all in all we know the Lord knows, loves, and protects His missionaries. The next story is better haha. After his wreck we got his bike up and just walked the short half mile to the Elm Creek Elder's apartment. Luckily we were just on the edge of our area down the street from their apartment, and even better they were home so we could clean up his cuts. After we were finished and going to head home we went down to our bikes that were locked on the fence right next to theirs and Elder Turner's seat was gone haha. All 4 of our bikes were there locked up, but only his seat was gone. We could not believe that someone honestly stole a bike seat haha. We laughed pretty hard at that, so it helped add a little humor to the night at Elder Turner's expense. It made me realize too why we do lock up our helmets down in North Minne. Sometimes I wonder about people and the reasons they do things that they do.
Well I think that that's all as for the update from here in "The Hood" haha. I love and miss all of you and can't wait to hear from you again. Hopefully there's more stories and things to report on next week.
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 25, 2011
What? Nothing to say about the weather this week? :)
Hey Family,
This week was a really great week for us here. We found some more new investigators and talked to alot of people. Unfortunately, we didn't make our teaching goal . . .yet. haha We're continuing to work hard this week and are hoping to get it off to a great start and just keep the stone cut from the mountain rolling all week. haha
The miracles we have been experiencing here are so amazing! The Lord has provided new people each week for us to add to our teaching pool and now the challenge is just to know what each of them needs to hear and keep helping them progressing down the path to our Heavenly Father. You all have heard about Micheal before in some of my emails and this week it's the same story with him. He knows getting baptized is something he should do, but until he has a change of heart he can't go much further. We are probably going to have to have a "Do or Die" lesson, as I've heard it called, with him to tell him how we want to help him but that will only come if he helps himself. I don't want to have to drop him, but sometimes that's what it takes for people to realize and recognize the change that has come in their lives so far and make them want to continue changing. It's a tough call but with the Lord helping I know we'll be able to do what's right.
This past week some of those amazing miracles I had mentioned was that we picked up some great new investigators. Two in particular that we are so excited to work with! They both came because we just stopped and talked to them on the street. Russ is a guy that is deaf, so our original street contact was very interesting, but luckily for us he's good at reading lips and texted our number we gave him on the pass-along card later so we could talk to him little better. We had a lesson with him Friday that was such an amazingly spiritual experience. We have a certified ASL interpreter in our ward and a couple other members that know sign language, so the lesson went alot better with the interpreter there. He doesn't really have any religious background or understanding of who Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ really are, but he has such a desire to learn and build that relationship with Them. It's so cool to be able to participate in sign language lessons and even more cool to watch them pray. He prayed at the end of our lesson with such a sincere heart we could all feel the spirit fill the room. He even came to church yesterday and sat right up front with us so he could watch the interpreter and tried to sing the hymns with her too. He seemed to be enjoying and understanding it and would look over occasionally at us and just smile with a big thumbs up. haha It was a rough day for Sister Neilson because it was Ward Conference and she had to interpret all the sustainings and spell out all the prophet, apostles, general authorities, and other leaders names for him. haha She made it through and afterwards he came up to us with a big smile and tried to talk to us. We're excited to continue to help teach him and help him understand that he is the son of an Eternal Father in Heaven that loves and wants to help him. The other new investigator is Pierre. Pierre is a living testament of the Lord preparing people all around us. On the original street contact he talked with us on the sidewalk for 30-40 minutes asking all sorts of questions and with every response we'd give he'd bring up one or two more questions. haha We had a lesson with him last night at the church and got to hear his whole life story and change he's made. Pierre is a living Alma the younger in these days. His line he kept repeating was, "I hate the things of the world I used to love and love the things of God I used to hate". He's been going to all sorts of churches searching for truth and not being able to find it. He talked about being "spiritually hungry" and that the other churches aren't feeding him. He kept saying, "I just want to be fed". So we gave him The Book Of Mormon and said, "try this feast and see how you feel" haha JK. He is excited to not just read but he told us "study" the Book of Mormon. Normally lessons should be between 45 minutes and an hour, but Pierre talked to us for 2 1/2 hours just about questions he has a answers he's searching for! He had us get some chalk and eraser just so he could write these things down and filled the chalkboard with it. It was so intense but the spirit was so strong as he talked about these sincere desires that he had and wanted to learn for himself. We were so excited and so thankful to be able to find someone like Pierre. I just hope we can answer all those questions for him now haha. He's very very smart and knows the Bible, so with each answer he wants to know where he can find that in the Bible or most of the time he knows a reference that supports it. Personal study time this week is going to be pretty intense for us, but I know the Lord will help us to help him the best way that we can.
That's just a little bit about the things here in "The Hood". haha Elder Haupt and I are still working hard and doing all we can to measure up to the success the Lord had prepared this area for. There haven't been any crazy events this week. Or at least nothing crazier than normal haha. It sounds like everyone's busy and doing well. I can't wait to hear from you all again soon. Thanks for the love, support, and prayers! I love and miss you all!
Love, Elder Craft
This week was a really great week for us here. We found some more new investigators and talked to alot of people. Unfortunately, we didn't make our teaching goal . . .yet. haha We're continuing to work hard this week and are hoping to get it off to a great start and just keep the stone cut from the mountain rolling all week. haha
The miracles we have been experiencing here are so amazing! The Lord has provided new people each week for us to add to our teaching pool and now the challenge is just to know what each of them needs to hear and keep helping them progressing down the path to our Heavenly Father. You all have heard about Micheal before in some of my emails and this week it's the same story with him. He knows getting baptized is something he should do, but until he has a change of heart he can't go much further. We are probably going to have to have a "Do or Die" lesson, as I've heard it called, with him to tell him how we want to help him but that will only come if he helps himself. I don't want to have to drop him, but sometimes that's what it takes for people to realize and recognize the change that has come in their lives so far and make them want to continue changing. It's a tough call but with the Lord helping I know we'll be able to do what's right.
This past week some of those amazing miracles I had mentioned was that we picked up some great new investigators. Two in particular that we are so excited to work with! They both came because we just stopped and talked to them on the street. Russ is a guy that is deaf, so our original street contact was very interesting, but luckily for us he's good at reading lips and texted our number we gave him on the pass-along card later so we could talk to him little better. We had a lesson with him Friday that was such an amazingly spiritual experience. We have a certified ASL interpreter in our ward and a couple other members that know sign language, so the lesson went alot better with the interpreter there. He doesn't really have any religious background or understanding of who Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ really are, but he has such a desire to learn and build that relationship with Them. It's so cool to be able to participate in sign language lessons and even more cool to watch them pray. He prayed at the end of our lesson with such a sincere heart we could all feel the spirit fill the room. He even came to church yesterday and sat right up front with us so he could watch the interpreter and tried to sing the hymns with her too. He seemed to be enjoying and understanding it and would look over occasionally at us and just smile with a big thumbs up. haha It was a rough day for Sister Neilson because it was Ward Conference and she had to interpret all the sustainings and spell out all the prophet, apostles, general authorities, and other leaders names for him. haha She made it through and afterwards he came up to us with a big smile and tried to talk to us. We're excited to continue to help teach him and help him understand that he is the son of an Eternal Father in Heaven that loves and wants to help him. The other new investigator is Pierre. Pierre is a living testament of the Lord preparing people all around us. On the original street contact he talked with us on the sidewalk for 30-40 minutes asking all sorts of questions and with every response we'd give he'd bring up one or two more questions. haha We had a lesson with him last night at the church and got to hear his whole life story and change he's made. Pierre is a living Alma the younger in these days. His line he kept repeating was, "I hate the things of the world I used to love and love the things of God I used to hate". He's been going to all sorts of churches searching for truth and not being able to find it. He talked about being "spiritually hungry" and that the other churches aren't feeding him. He kept saying, "I just want to be fed". So we gave him The Book Of Mormon and said, "try this feast and see how you feel" haha JK. He is excited to not just read but he told us "study" the Book of Mormon. Normally lessons should be between 45 minutes and an hour, but Pierre talked to us for 2 1/2 hours just about questions he has a answers he's searching for! He had us get some chalk and eraser just so he could write these things down and filled the chalkboard with it. It was so intense but the spirit was so strong as he talked about these sincere desires that he had and wanted to learn for himself. We were so excited and so thankful to be able to find someone like Pierre. I just hope we can answer all those questions for him now haha. He's very very smart and knows the Bible, so with each answer he wants to know where he can find that in the Bible or most of the time he knows a reference that supports it. Personal study time this week is going to be pretty intense for us, but I know the Lord will help us to help him the best way that we can.
That's just a little bit about the things here in "The Hood". haha Elder Haupt and I are still working hard and doing all we can to measure up to the success the Lord had prepared this area for. There haven't been any crazy events this week. Or at least nothing crazier than normal haha. It sounds like everyone's busy and doing well. I can't wait to hear from you all again soon. Thanks for the love, support, and prayers! I love and miss you all!
Love, Elder Craft
Monday, July 18, 2011
The basement runneth over
Dear Family,
That was so crazy to hear about Kevin Mead!!! Coming up here to the land of weather extremes and miracles! haha I got chills right when I read that. I told him I hope that I get to see him and maybe I'll get to train him when he comes out, or at least know who his trainer is. That's so awesome! It is crazy that he will be leaving a month before Mitch. Too bad so sad for him haha.
As far as the storms Mom yes there have been some crazy ones! Last week there was a storm on Friday that put some streets under a couple feet of water and shut down 252 one of the major freeways here because it flooded across 2 lanes that were impassable for cars. They even had a boat out on some streets to get some stranded motorists just a mile or so down the road from us. We woke up Saturday morning to a couple inches of water in part of the Paynter's basement. I woke up and went to empty the dehumidifier from that night (that should give you a clue to how humid it is haha) and when I walked down the hall towards the laundry room I was surprised to hear squish underneath my feet and see the water flooded in the laundry room. It was the worst in there and flooded the food storage room a little bit as well. Our room was fine except for the wall next to Elder Haupt's bed where it flooded a little underneath there. None of our stuff was ruined and thankfully none of the Paynter's stuff was either. The food storage room had water in it but only one box got really wet and because the food was in can inside it nothing was lost. It was amazing that the floor and carpet underneath and around all the boxes was saturated but only one of them really got wet. Apparently there was a pipe from outside, that we think is to filter the water our of the cinder blocks, that runs to a drain in the laundry room and that drain was clogged, so because there was so much water it just filled up and overflowed all night. It was lucky we caught it when we did and it only took 2 hours to basically get everything cleaned and most of the water vacuumed up with the Shopvac. We were definitely very blessed that it wasn't worse.
That was a fun little adventure and now for the past few days it's been extremely hot and humid. Yesterday it was 86 degrees with 97% humidity! The heat index put it up to 110! I've never sweat so much in my life I don't think and especially not in a shirt and tie haha. We were working really hard for that goal we had last week and came close. We're going to keep working for that this week even with the weather being hot and humid like that all week. It's going to be fun haha. It literally feels like walking around in the bathroom just after a really hot shower. Definitely something I'll never have in Utah haha. It sounds like that heat's pretty intense for all of you. Especially just relying on fans to cool the house. Looks like the days of sleeping under the swamp cooler in the hall are over. I hope you guys can get it fixed. That has to be tough. I can have sympathy for you because even though I'm out in the heat all day I get to come home to a central air conditioned basement. So I do feel bad for you guys Mom haha :).
Well sorry it's not very long this week. There's a ton of people at the library again and I'm running out of time. I hope that everyone's doing well and staying relatively cool haha. I love and miss you guys! I hope to hear from you soon.
Love, Elder Craft
That was so crazy to hear about Kevin Mead!!! Coming up here to the land of weather extremes and miracles! haha I got chills right when I read that. I told him I hope that I get to see him and maybe I'll get to train him when he comes out, or at least know who his trainer is. That's so awesome! It is crazy that he will be leaving a month before Mitch. Too bad so sad for him haha.
As far as the storms Mom yes there have been some crazy ones! Last week there was a storm on Friday that put some streets under a couple feet of water and shut down 252 one of the major freeways here because it flooded across 2 lanes that were impassable for cars. They even had a boat out on some streets to get some stranded motorists just a mile or so down the road from us. We woke up Saturday morning to a couple inches of water in part of the Paynter's basement. I woke up and went to empty the dehumidifier from that night (that should give you a clue to how humid it is haha) and when I walked down the hall towards the laundry room I was surprised to hear squish underneath my feet and see the water flooded in the laundry room. It was the worst in there and flooded the food storage room a little bit as well. Our room was fine except for the wall next to Elder Haupt's bed where it flooded a little underneath there. None of our stuff was ruined and thankfully none of the Paynter's stuff was either. The food storage room had water in it but only one box got really wet and because the food was in can inside it nothing was lost. It was amazing that the floor and carpet underneath and around all the boxes was saturated but only one of them really got wet. Apparently there was a pipe from outside, that we think is to filter the water our of the cinder blocks, that runs to a drain in the laundry room and that drain was clogged, so because there was so much water it just filled up and overflowed all night. It was lucky we caught it when we did and it only took 2 hours to basically get everything cleaned and most of the water vacuumed up with the Shopvac. We were definitely very blessed that it wasn't worse.
That was a fun little adventure and now for the past few days it's been extremely hot and humid. Yesterday it was 86 degrees with 97% humidity! The heat index put it up to 110! I've never sweat so much in my life I don't think and especially not in a shirt and tie haha. We were working really hard for that goal we had last week and came close. We're going to keep working for that this week even with the weather being hot and humid like that all week. It's going to be fun haha. It literally feels like walking around in the bathroom just after a really hot shower. Definitely something I'll never have in Utah haha. It sounds like that heat's pretty intense for all of you. Especially just relying on fans to cool the house. Looks like the days of sleeping under the swamp cooler in the hall are over. I hope you guys can get it fixed. That has to be tough. I can have sympathy for you because even though I'm out in the heat all day I get to come home to a central air conditioned basement. So I do feel bad for you guys Mom haha :).
Well sorry it's not very long this week. There's a ton of people at the library again and I'm running out of time. I hope that everyone's doing well and staying relatively cool haha. I love and miss you guys! I hope to hear from you soon.
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
Monday, June 20, 2011
It's a Boy!
Dear Family,
I'm glad to hear from what Mom was able to tell me that everyone's doing well. I'm a little confused as to what this award scarf thing is that Brady got but I guess when you're out of the loop that's what happens haha. I hope that everyone was able to have a good Father's Day. I'm glad that you like the card Dad. I hope all goes well with you traveling and everything this week. The Father's Day for us was just the same as everyday in case anyone was wondering haha. We did get transfer calls last night which was a little different because those usually come on the Monday morning before transfers, but President Howell's leaving so he kind of does what he wants. Unfortunately for us our phone has really been acting up recently. It turns itself off and won't let us turn it back on until it decides. It's really frustrating and was even more so yesterday. It shut off as we were leaving to bike to church and we couldn't get it back on until we got home after church and our coordination meeting. When we did finally get it to work we had a missed call from President Howell for me to call him back. Only problem is that he didn't answer when I did. I wish that I could express the amount of stress that that dumb phone put us under yesterday. I was ready to throw it down the street and make it "give up the ghost" haha. We just had to leave for a couple appointments we had from the day before when we were tracting. Elder Hatch and I started praying in our hearts that it would turn back on just to call President Howell and our dinner appointment who'd also called earlier. All I have to say is that the Lord provides those tender mercies and answers prayers. Even the small seemingly insignificant ones because we got it turned back on. We had another missed call from President Howell but because our phone was running on the spirit this time I called him back and got to talk with him. He asked me how my obedience and companionship study was going. I told him pretty good and his exact response was, "well we're going to have to try and make it even better. I want you to train one of those new missionaries coming in Elder". I'm now going to be training for the next 2 transfers (3 months) with this new missionary that comes in on Wednesday. He'll be my companion that I'll have had the longest and Shingle Creek will be the longest area I'll be in. I'm excited to be able to help this new missionary with the start of his mission. Sorry that was kind of a long story just about a malfunctioning phone but like I said it was alot of added stress and problems for us at the most inconvenient of times. Isn't that how it always is though? haha Like you've probably already all figured out Elder Hatch by default is now leaving and being transferred for the first time in his 4 1/2 months out. He's going to North Branch which is only about 40 miles north and a little East of here. From what I've heard it's a great area he's really going to love. I'm really glad I got the opportunity to learn and grow with him through all the different experiences we've had the past 6 weeks. It's a little sad the our district couldn't stay together because we all really like each other but the Lord knows what he's doing. Elder Kingston is moving North of Elder hatch a ways up to a place called Askov for the last 6 weeks of his mission. He's going to the U right when he gets home and said he wants to go up to Hooper to visit my family. So if you have an Elder Joey Kingston from LA who's going to the University of Utah show up on the front step one day to say hi you'll know why. haha Elder Bennett is still going to be here with me from our district for the next 2 transfers too because he's training also. It's going to be interesting now being the "oldest" missionary in our district . We'll have to 2 new Greenies and Elder Bennett who just finished his 3 months of being trained by Elder Kingston. President Clements will be coming in this week I think with the new missionaries. I hope you were able to get the forward of when and where President and Sister Howell will be speaking. It's weird to have them go but I'm excited to get to know and help President Clements any way I can now.
As for any new news here on the work Micheal is still working towards being baptized. We met with him a couple times last week. He's been taught everything, interviewed, and read The Book of Mormon. He's so ready but like he told us last week he's the only one holding himself back. He's nervous to mess up again once he is baptized, so it's a legitimate concern. We are just trying to encourage and assure him that he is ready without him feeling pushed or unsure about getting baptized at all. I have faith that he will be baptized in the next few weeks it's just a matter of him feeling ready and confident.
That's about all for the exciting and new information here. I have one more question that Brady might be able to answer. KC John should be either home or coming home this month and I was just curious when his homecoming was or will be? I'm glad to hear that all is well and I hope that everyone will continue to be blessed and watch over. I pray for you all always. I love and miss you and can't wait to hear from you again!
Love, Elder Alex Craft
I'm glad to hear from what Mom was able to tell me that everyone's doing well. I'm a little confused as to what this award scarf thing is that Brady got but I guess when you're out of the loop that's what happens haha. I hope that everyone was able to have a good Father's Day. I'm glad that you like the card Dad. I hope all goes well with you traveling and everything this week. The Father's Day for us was just the same as everyday in case anyone was wondering haha. We did get transfer calls last night which was a little different because those usually come on the Monday morning before transfers, but President Howell's leaving so he kind of does what he wants. Unfortunately for us our phone has really been acting up recently. It turns itself off and won't let us turn it back on until it decides. It's really frustrating and was even more so yesterday. It shut off as we were leaving to bike to church and we couldn't get it back on until we got home after church and our coordination meeting. When we did finally get it to work we had a missed call from President Howell for me to call him back. Only problem is that he didn't answer when I did. I wish that I could express the amount of stress that that dumb phone put us under yesterday. I was ready to throw it down the street and make it "give up the ghost" haha. We just had to leave for a couple appointments we had from the day before when we were tracting. Elder Hatch and I started praying in our hearts that it would turn back on just to call President Howell and our dinner appointment who'd also called earlier. All I have to say is that the Lord provides those tender mercies and answers prayers. Even the small seemingly insignificant ones because we got it turned back on. We had another missed call from President Howell but because our phone was running on the spirit this time I called him back and got to talk with him. He asked me how my obedience and companionship study was going. I told him pretty good and his exact response was, "well we're going to have to try and make it even better. I want you to train one of those new missionaries coming in Elder". I'm now going to be training for the next 2 transfers (3 months) with this new missionary that comes in on Wednesday. He'll be my companion that I'll have had the longest and Shingle Creek will be the longest area I'll be in. I'm excited to be able to help this new missionary with the start of his mission. Sorry that was kind of a long story just about a malfunctioning phone but like I said it was alot of added stress and problems for us at the most inconvenient of times. Isn't that how it always is though? haha Like you've probably already all figured out Elder Hatch by default is now leaving and being transferred for the first time in his 4 1/2 months out. He's going to North Branch which is only about 40 miles north and a little East of here. From what I've heard it's a great area he's really going to love. I'm really glad I got the opportunity to learn and grow with him through all the different experiences we've had the past 6 weeks. It's a little sad the our district couldn't stay together because we all really like each other but the Lord knows what he's doing. Elder Kingston is moving North of Elder hatch a ways up to a place called Askov for the last 6 weeks of his mission. He's going to the U right when he gets home and said he wants to go up to Hooper to visit my family. So if you have an Elder Joey Kingston from LA who's going to the University of Utah show up on the front step one day to say hi you'll know why. haha Elder Bennett is still going to be here with me from our district for the next 2 transfers too because he's training also. It's going to be interesting now being the "oldest" missionary in our district . We'll have to 2 new Greenies and Elder Bennett who just finished his 3 months of being trained by Elder Kingston. President Clements will be coming in this week I think with the new missionaries. I hope you were able to get the forward of when and where President and Sister Howell will be speaking. It's weird to have them go but I'm excited to get to know and help President Clements any way I can now.
As for any new news here on the work Micheal is still working towards being baptized. We met with him a couple times last week. He's been taught everything, interviewed, and read The Book of Mormon. He's so ready but like he told us last week he's the only one holding himself back. He's nervous to mess up again once he is baptized, so it's a legitimate concern. We are just trying to encourage and assure him that he is ready without him feeling pushed or unsure about getting baptized at all. I have faith that he will be baptized in the next few weeks it's just a matter of him feeling ready and confident.
That's about all for the exciting and new information here. I have one more question that Brady might be able to answer. KC John should be either home or coming home this month and I was just curious when his homecoming was or will be? I'm glad to hear that all is well and I hope that everyone will continue to be blessed and watch over. I pray for you all always. I love and miss you and can't wait to hear from you again!
Love, Elder Alex Craft
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