Hello

so i forgot that melanies wedding was this past week but i did get her announcement. thats good that family was able to visit and get to see eachother again. i'm glad to hear brian talked about the importance of members helping the missionaries because it is so true and they become the missionaires after the invest. are baptized. elder jensen, when he was here told us that the invest. don't need God because we (the elders/sisters) are their God - we give them love, comfort, answers to questions etc and thats what we need to break off and let the members take that control so when the elders/sisters leave, the invest. have a strong connection with the members and they are able to build their own testimony better than going off of someone elses.

we are trying to get activities started where the recent converts and invest. can come and hang out and meet members etc where we are the spotlight, but the rc's/invest. are. anyway members are vital and it doesnt matter what country/state you're in.

haha at the ranch again. thats fun. im sure julie is enjoying the peace and quietness in the home and i remember emily saying shelby was going to move in - has that happened already or is it going to happen? what does gemma do while the boys are gone? mark went through the temple. haha wow. the last friend out of our group to go (our group is brian and all of his friends and mark and i). all of brians friends should be coming home soon and then i'll be home then mark will be home. haha its crazy to think about.

thanks for washing it. did you ever find a sim card for the phone? if you do put a new grill/bumper on, would jonny (i'm not sure how you spell his name) be able to get them cheap as he did for your dads truck? i can help pay if need be since i was the one who wrecked it.

the only thing i know is my pdays will be changing to monday and actually today is our last full pday - i would say if possible, email sunday nights or earlier now just so you get in the habit... - next wednesday will be a mini pday, the 1st the missions change, then that following monday will be my first full pday in the morristown mission. president barr will do a mini transfer on july 7 so we know hes intergrating us already (all of the missionaries arent very happy with the change except for a few and i'm one of them since i've only been out for a transfer and am not used to any rules etc) but we don't know who is going where and we don't know until the night before (supposedly) that we are being transferred. i may need a bike but i'm not positive - i've decided though if i stay or go to a bike area, i'll just buy a new bike. i'll send you a picture of the one i have now next week showing the problems with the bike.

the only thing i can think of would be recipes that are quickly prepared and cooked, if its hot food, and if it doesn't take much ingredients and i know thats picky, pretty picky so i dont' worry about it - i live with what i have and i'll over time come up with ideas to change the flavor/taste of food like pancakes or french toast etc. my only goal is not to eat ramen noodles while i'm out, at least not buy them for myself. :)

the work is good. theres been some problems within our district (6 elders) so thats affected many things but from saturday on, i think, the problems have started to be taken care of and it feels like things are getting better. we got 20 lessons last night which is good. its a commandment for us to be teaching at least 20 lessons a week but it doesn't always work out. whats funny though is this transfer is a mini transfer and its the only time i can think of that we've hit 20 lessons. we're still teaching irma and now have a member coming with us to every one of our lessons with her

And we knocked into a family (wife - pregnant - husband, son like 2-3 yrs old) and have a return appt with them. we have a invest, luis, who is like a priest in his church and is very very smart - elder hannah went to the temple last week or 2 weeks ago and bought a triple for luis b/c he wanted one and we are going to study from it with him - he's married but his wife i think no longer wants to learn from us - she loves the bible and only wants it, nothing else.

we eat with members almost everyday, if not it is everyday but i don't keep track and sometimes i feel bad eating with them becasuse they don't have much money but they offer it and don't worry about anything else. there are probably 80-100 members that are active, maybe - there isn't many but enough to make a branch. i've heard a rumor that i'm staying in red bank when the mission changes so we'll see what happens - i might just get to use my comps bike, depending, if i stay. and its always humid, jsut some days are worse than others and there is always wind and almost everyday there are clouds so its not horrible but it is hot.

ya and that is one thing i try to always remember is we are here to INVITE, not force or threaten etc people to join the church. if we did that, they wouldn't have the testimony they need to stay strong and active in the church and it'd be pointless to even be here and i've been told that the mission is for the missionary and helping others on their way to Heavenly Father is one thing that affects us. so yes everyone has their agency and when they say no, the only real thing we can do is be disappointed adn sad etc and continue to be there for them. i have only been out for 8 weeks and i don't know too much about anyone invest. or memebers so i'm not frustrated very often or angry especially since i am trying to learn spanish and i'm still working on understanding everyone with their different accents etc.

and i don't care if i get one baptism in the next 2 years because it's the Lord's will, not mine and i don't know what He needs me to do, just that i need to be here to do it. and i wish we had a better list of inactives that we can visit and teach and maybe that'll happen this next transfer, if i stay here in red bank but like you said, a reactivated member is just as important as a new member.

thank you for the love and support and for everything else you and julie and everyone else have done for me. everyone has helped me gain a stronger desire to serve and stregthen my testimony tremendously. sorry i don't have time to send pictures today so i hope next week i can, if the day isn't crazy, mixed up like today is. remember my pdays will be changing to mondays so start emailing sundays and next wednesday is a mini pday so i may or may not email home, if the pres. tells us we can or cant and the monday after that wednesday will be a full pday. so lots of excitement, speculation and changes in the next weeks and friday is an all mission conf. should be fun and i'll have pics from that too, i hope. gotta go. love you all and again, thank you for everything.

love craig

A few more pictures

A food kitchen, where Craig and his companion do service every Monday and Friday

A view from his apartment of a rainy day. He says it poured rain the entire day.

A picture of Craig's desk where he does his daily studies.


This is Craig's companion (the front center one) with Craig and all the other companions he has served with that are still in the mission.

June 16, 2010

Hey

wow - Brians home; I almost forgot about that. ha-ha ya 20 hours on a plane would tire me out too. i thought you were going to say he fell asleep by the time you got to your parents home. how did all of the kids react when they saw him? it sounds like everyone had a great day. I wonder how he'll do being back home for the first 2 or 3 weeks. Im glad all of the family and friends were able to make it to watch him come home.

ha-ha ya before his mission he didn't care about girls or anything really involving them so that is surprising to hear that he's excited to start dating. good luck.

that's good that girls camp was fun for Emily. mason I'm sorry you got stung by a scorpion. and I forgot that your parents were putting a playhouse in the backyard. that'll be fun for the kids and anyone else who can play on it.

well the past week has been kinda crazy. Saturday was the "conference" in cherry hill -unfortunately irma wasn't able to make it. elder jay e Jensen was the one who spoke to us (it was only Spanish - i think he did something with English before the Spanish). it was really good even though i didn't understand everything. he spoke for an hour then everyone split up like they would the 3rd hour of sacrament meeting (even primary kids were there) then everyone met up again for the last hour where we talked a little bit and he opened the time for questions more from sisters but brothers could ask if sisters weren't.

after the 3 hours we all ate dinner in the cultural hall - it was pretty good. we have district meetings every Tuesday and the zone meetings are on the 1st Tuesday after transfers - there are 6 elders in my district and my comp is the district leader. - as far as the zone goes, there is probably 30 elders/ sisters and the whole zone is going north to the morristown mission. president winegar set it up so there are only 2 zones now, one going north and one going south. and with Spanish missionaries we have no more hermanas so its only elders and i would say maybe half of the 30 in the zone are Spanish.

with the English people we find we normally just refer them to the english missionaries however i wouldn't mind teaching some in English if it was allowed and if we did do that we would eventually refer them to the English missionaries at some point.

so with my week - we met president and sister barr yesterday (my new pres and his wife over morristown miss.) i shouldn't have any trouble getting used to them but i hope i get transferred sooner than later so that i can be with elders who are used to him. they told us that most of their rules etc come straight from the handbook and preach my gospel so it's pretty straight forward and i think there is a chance i might still need a bike - i just have to wait until I'm transferred.

my comp is in the Washington temple right now so I'm on an "exchange" with some other elders who had comps who went to the temple today too. it's been fun. pres barr said that they go to the temple in June (maybe July, don't remember for sure) and i believe December and the departing missionaries go one more time right before they go home so 3 times will be fun and i think there will be about 175 missionaries all together when the missions combine but it will be downsizing over time.

my Spanish is coming - i know that if I'm asked to talk about something specific I'm pretty good (if i have the vocab for it). i know one elder was surprised when i was speaking with a member about our investigators and maybe my comp too but I'm not sure. i forgot my camera cable so i cant send home pics today but i think i will be emailing again tomorrow so if i do I'll send home pics and people can write back if they want.

i love you all and thank you so much for your love and support. i always keep everyone in my prayers. i hope everyone enjoys having Brian home and Brian I hope you enjoy dating (again). :) I'll write home again tomorrow, or just send pics, i hope.

love Craig

June 9th 2010

Hola!

Emily, thank you for the work out list. if you want, you can email me on your own email. either way works for me. its great that you were hired for the symphony and that all of the activities were fun and worked out great! its good that they are letting you drive more than me. :) get your license before your 18. :) haha thank you for gemmas answer. :) i love you too and tahnk you for everything. i'll send some pictures home next week.:) love craig

Hola.
la obra misional esta bien. la ultimo dia estaba en un intercambia (espero que eso es como lo deletrea - i'm not sure if i said that right) en red bank con un eldere que tiene sies meses aca y podemos encontrar siete personas y tenemos cinco citas de el siete. (Missionary work is going good, the other day I went on splits with an elder in Redbank that has been en the mission for 6 months and we were able to find 7 people, and have return vistits with 5 of the 7)

ya its almost summer here - i think school ends in june here so it could be over now but not sure. i wouldn't be worried to go to brazil and it would've been cool if emily went with them but it would've been more expensive. the days go by pretty quick here and will go by even quicker with all the changes. thats cool that brians blessing says that. the Lord has His ways of doings what best helps His children for sure and that is an example.

the meteor crater pictures are cool and it looks like everyone had fun. tanner is smiling in the picture with his teacher but gemma just looks upset or something. i don't know what the right word is to describe her look but they're both cute.

i know what mason is going through (I was explaining how Mason got really sunburned). i went to sunsplash one day during jr high for an end of the year thing and didn't have sunblock on and i was cherry red by the end of the day - i'm pretty sure i blistered and was that way for a week or two.

ya gerber guessed right. so i'm still in red bank and as of now i'm still spanish. i think i'll just be in a new mission and thats all but anything can happen. yes i got my blanket and card - thank you for that. irma is ready for baptism and i think we might be struggling to find something to teach her b/c she knows everything is true. this sat we have a 70 coming and speaking in spanish to only the spanish branches/wards here - i don't know if it's all of nj or just parts but we're going and invited irma - hopefully she can make it.

i will continue to say hi etc and i know something will come of it. thank you for everything. i'll let you know of any changes and by the way, you all forgot to give me your thoughts on when you want me to come home - february 1st or march 14th???? haha i don't want to choose until i hear your thoughts. :) i love you all and thank you for everything. today is nice because its raining. :)

love craig

Hello

So i'll go ahead and give the news first this time - so transfer week is next week. i'm staying in red bank. the mission is being dissolved on july 1. the news is i'll officially be in the morristown nj mission (gerber guessed right so he can be happy about that - i'll probably be in some of the areas he was in) and i get to choose between 2 release dates - february 1 2012 or march 14 2012 - i want to hear thoughts and choices from others before i make a final decision and i want to do that next weekend. so thats the most exciting part, oh and the thought that once the mission is dissolved, i will probably be transferred to a new area which means i probably won't be riding a bike (and i hope it stays that way - i really prefer a car/walking than a bike). have fun thinking about when you'd like me to come home! :)

So time is flying by and it will continue to do so, especially since at about my year mark i will have a new mission pres. (the pres for the morristown has about a year left so by the time i'm done i will have had 3 mission presidents). i did get heidis grad announcement and thats cool that everyone was able to go to that without rain.... the pool sounds good or just the idea of being in cold water playing with the kids or whoever. i'm glad the ranch was fun and that all went well. yes i've heard that the suns lost, especially when my comp loves the lakers - he's very passionate about basketball, even more when we play on p-days.

Yes it is crazy he is home that soon and as i said earlier, i can come home earlier or later (my original release date was right in the middle of the 2 choices i have now so i will be staying longer or going home sooner). I haven't heard anything yet about the blanket/atm card and i'm not sure if i will when it gets here - i might be going to transfers next week so i can pick it up then (it should be here by then and if not, something went wrong....). I'll let you know next week if i got it or not. Ya the weather has been changing here. the past 2 days have been cloudy and rainy and today is sunny and hot/humid but there is almost always wind and for the summer time, i love the wind.

It seems like the work is getting harder, or maybe we've just been to excited and doing too much with other elders that we're not working hard enough.... whatever it is, it'll change quickly b/c changes are going to be made with the new mission pres so we'll see what happens. we get work done but we never really have set appointments,,,, we've given Irma 2 blessings now, and yesterday we took a sister from the branch with us to our appointment with Irma and went over the whole Restoration pamphlet.

it's going to be time with her so we just keep going back to visit and teach something. there was an experience we just had with her though that was hard, but good. we got a member to come with us to her house and as we turned the corner of her street to walk to her house she was outside with some of her neighbors and when we got there Irma wasn't in a very good mood. She found drugs in her sons room (i thinks he's in his 20s or 30s) and i guess he stole a lot of her jewlrey etc and sold it all so she kicked him out. i guess he was going to be violent too if he was able to get back Irmas home so it was a hard day for her. thats when we gave her the 2 blessing and she told us later that she was going to call us just as she saw us turn the corner to her street (she's always outside) and she felt that God had sent us to her. again, it'll only be time and we just have to wait. about the cakes - i don't know if i ever ate them, and if i did, i didn't know what it was.

i've don't remember seeing that statistic anywhere but its cool to know. i always think to myself that people know we're missionaries and the way i act gives them either a good or bad impression whether they like our church or not and so with that i try to always say hi to everyone we walk by etc but my comp doesn't believe in it as much anymore since no one cares if we say hi or not - as soon as they see the shirt and tie they decide to ignore us or avoid us, lo que sea but i still like to try. I think i've met jay before, but i never really knew him. i didn't know he wasn't a member neither but hopefully one day he will choose to be baptized.

Yes all is well and i'm staying healthy. I think there might be "bed bugs" on my bed b/c my comps bed had them and now he won't sleep on his bed for a long time and they might've moved to my bed but i'm going to check it today after i start laundry, if i have time. its nice that arizona you won't have to worry about that kind of thing. i'm still trying to understand and speak more spanish but its hard b/c we don't like having a "set" lesson plan b/c something a invest. says could lead us in a completely diff. direction and i still have difficulty recognizing those kind of clues/hints but the main thing is we want the spirit to guide us so we decide what we want to teach and go from there. it'll come with time though as i work my hardest at learning as much as possible everyday.

Haha ya the houses are huge a just covered by trees so no one can really see the front side. Supposedly Bon Jovi is supposed to live in a home on that same street as the homes in the pictures but we don't know for sure. It'd be cool to one day meet him, or even just know which house is his but oh well. Thanks for putting them on the blog and for getting the picture to Grandma Lloyd. I hope its a good one. Oh and by the way, i don't remember if i already said this but i don't want to know anything about Susans baby untill i call on Christmas - no names, gender, nothing. i want it to be a complete surprise for me. :) Of course, its nice to hear that all is well with Susan and her baby though so you can give me info about health but thats about all i want.

Thank you for John/Erins and Paul/Blancas emails. I love you all and thank you for the support. Have a great day/week and I hope that next week i'll have a cool story or something funny to share. Stay safe. I hope the store is continuing to do good and that buisness continues to come in. I keep you all in my prayers everyday. If there is anything i can do for any of you please let me know, I don't care that i'm on the other side of the country. How is the ward and stake doing? Again, enjoy thinking about when you want me to come home and i'll make a decision next weekend. I love you all. Thank you for everything.

Love Craig