(Craig's New Companion)

buenas tardes!

so things are going good. haha oh Disneyland... what happened to six flags?? that's cool and sounds like fun. i thought Tate would be home already.... oh well he's on his way and Wednesday will be a crazy day.

so what all did you do to your parents' room? that's crazy.... Elizabeth, Amy, and Susan..... wow. How are they all doing health wise? dont' tell me anything else other than health for susan - I'll hear it all at Christmas. :) haha 3 new family members. that's crazy. is Julie pregnant???? haha

hahahahahhaahhaahha oh wow. a squirrel in the house. here we have squirrels all over - i've seen them on the telephone wires and yesterday we were visiting with a member and i watched one jump from a hand rail on a porch to the wall and climb up to the roof and run away. those things have claws and can jump like crazy and are pretty fast. i could see julie being frantic like that.... i would've laughed. :)

so its good it rained. we had a good storm yesterday too and i got to enjoy riding my bike/walking in it. haha oh it rains hard and for a long time here and sometimes its like a mist instead of rain. it's different but i love it even though it's harder to work.

ya my new comp is great. he is kinda trunky but does have a lot of exp. to give me and he wants to so i have to figure out how to learn it all in 1 week and 2 days. - we have transfers on the 4 of august; its likely that id be transferred but i could stay, i don't know. please send anything to the office for now and if I'm transferred, i should know on Sunday so i can tell you in a week.

well for the package I'm almost out of envelopes. if i could get another box of 80 (just the small envelopes) that would be nice. I'm good with paper. tal vez a calender with birthdays etc written in for me so i remember when birthdays are etc. it doesn't have to be a big one. and maybe black thread - I've sewn up my pants and am working on all of my socks. :) i think I'll be pretty good when i get home. and as far as goodies or sweets, i don't really need junk food even though it tastes so good but maybe protein or fiber bars or more healthy things that taste sweet.... i don't want anything to be expensive..... i have a goal to eat as little sweet/junk food as possible while I'm out but i know i need some so I'm not cutting it out and I'm trying to make myself eat less or more in moderation. do i need to worry about taking multi-vitamins? if so you could send some to me or i can buy some here.

short story - you should buy a avocado tree and plant it in the backyard and in a few years it will be producing avocado like crazy.... it'd be heaven. :)

so pdays - we do laundry in the morning ( we have to use quarters to wash and dry - kinda a pain) then play basketball then email then shop and pady should end by 5 pm. pretty simple but goes by way too quick, like all the other days.

so I'm still on my bike. we fixed the main problem so we're good. we found some new really good investigators and members are becoming more involved in the work. it's great! as far as progress well some are better than others and some are kinda stubborn but in the time of the Lord. all is going well though.

with lunch we'll either eat at home or just skip lunch and almost always dinner. we come home soaked in sweat and take too long to plan for the next day but all is good. saturday night we came home around 915 and the power was out so we had to wait until the power comp came and fixed it. glad i had my flashlight (i asked you why i would need a flashlight and you said in case the power goes out)

so thats life here - always rain, well should always be rain but hasn't been so it's been worse, grass dying etc. things are going good and if i stay in red bank, I'll be here to winter, almost. i think at least 3 more months if im not transferred so it'll be fun to see what happens.

i gotta go but i love you all and thank you for the love and support you give me. i say hi to the ward and all friends. i hope everyone has a great week and we'll write again in a week.

love craig

email recieved 7/19/2010

haha I thought I wasn’t going to get a letter but i was wrong, and a good thing too. so you did get the letter sent off in time so no worries there. I’m sorry they haven't been feeling good. I’ll keep them 'special' in my prayers. Well I’m glad you got rain. haha we've had a lot of it lately too. \

we’ve been walking almost everyday but the bikes are fixed so we're riding those now. I miss the kids, i miss everyone and in 2 years (or what will seem like 1 year) I’ll see everyone again. :) How do your parents feel with the traveling? they just went to get Brian and now tate... it's a lot but its fun and I’d do it any day. It’d be tiring though.

haha john and Erin are home!!! yay that makes me happy. I’m glad all went well with their travels and that everyone is safe. Have fun when everyone hangs out! Yes i got the debit card on Friday. Thank you for that. I used it and it does work so no more worries. Again thank you for your help with that.

Well lets see.... ooh I need pictures of our family and friends and all that jazz so a photo album or similar? I don't have any pictures of our family or kids nada. And if you wanted to send some more scripture marking crayons that'd be nice. I made a key so that when I mark my scriptures I know what colors mean what. And I’m trying to read the bible right now and I’ve heard of a manual called the life and teaching of Jesus and the Apostles or something like that. It’s a thick orange book though. I’m not sure how expensive it is and i don't want you to pay a huge amount if it's expensive.

if you wanted to send cookies or hard candy you could. I’ll just leave that up to you. it's nice to have sweets every once in awhile but they aren't vital to me so it's not a big deal and I would send the package to the mission office instead of my apartment just so that if I’m not home when the package comes, it won't get stolen. this transfer ends in 2 weeks (it was another mini) so I might still be in red bank or I might be transferred and I’ll get the package from the office within 2 weeks or if I’m transferred, I’ll get it at transfers. So that’s all I can think of.

Well the work is good. we're starting to change things with leaders and get the members more involved etc. we've ran into at least 2 members who we didn't know and were trying to visit all the members (who live in our area) at least once during the month and gain a better relationship with them so that’s fun and we have a set finding time 5-7 pm. its called "sacred finding time" b/c its the prime time to find. kind of messes with dinner appointments but we might be skipping our dinner a lot anyways since were not home until 9 930.

we've found some good new investigators and were working a lot with the recent converts/less actives (at least trying) so all is well. my comp goes home in sep so he has a transfer left. he's from California. taller than me. his name is elder secrist. I’ll send a picture. his Spanish is great and he'll help me get better too. he's saying my Spanish is exactly where i should be for 2 transfers out or better so I guess that’s good. the members/investigators too say that I’m getting better so i won't get too excited.

I know I’m able to understand a whole lot more but speaking still comes down to vocab but that'll come soon. that’s about all I got. time is going by and summer will be over soon. we had a good 10 minute rainfall of whiteness this morning. it was raining so much so fast it looked white.

president bahr is great and so is his wife. Will you ask bishop whitney if he remembers or ever knew an elder a lee bahr when he was on his mission? I think he and pres bahr might have been in the same mission.... anyways I need to go.

I’ll send more pictures next week, I promise. I love you all so much and thank you for everything you've ever done for me. everything is going good. I love you all. Let me know if I can do anything to help with anything.

Love Criag

email recieved July 13th

Hola!!! Sigh oh I'm glad to be writing you right now. I almost thought i wasn't' going to be able to today b/c the computer i was on wasn't letting me sign into my email but i switched computers and it works great!! :)

so yes brain emailed me. Thanks for that Brian - definitely there are experiences I've already had that i will remember forever. i don't have much time so I'm just responding to you in this letter - by the way, there is a lady from Brazil who plays the piano for our branch. it's pretty cool.

haha ya time is flying. i just keep thinking this time next year I'll have about 8 months (i only think that b/c my trainer goes home in July). we finally go rain here too! its funny b/c the grass is going brown and it's never that way. its always green so it was fun that we had rain.

thats crazy that tates home in a week or 2 now as well. i hope all goes well with that. that's great that even though Joseph has been taught for so long he finally came. as you said all in the Lords time. (Joseph is an investigator in our ward I was telling Craig about)

I remember Jason smith well. he's a great guy. its cool to know he's home now too.

i thought they were sending a letter to us in the field about the mission change but yes that's cool that its' His actual signature - definitely keep it for me, please and thank you! :) (I was telling Craig we got a letter from Pres. Monson about being officially re-assigned to the Morristown mission)

haah i completely forgot about masons birthday..... Happy Birthday Mason!!! I'm sorry about that (the calender will come in handy...) :) sounds like a blast what you did with him. and its funny that tanner did draw a picture of the wii.... you should take a picture with him in it and send it to me. :)

so last week we had a mini pday on Wednesday then a full pday on Monday after July 1. that's why i wrote 2 times. everything is going good. i stayed in red bank so if you haven't sent out the debit card, please do that this week. :) my companion left and my new companion has 2 months left then goes home. i might end up staying in red bank for a long time (4 transfers, at least, maybe)..... that would be great though. oh and my pdays will always be on Monday. changes well send all mail to my apartment except for packages..... the mission office address i gave you is the right address.

progress with investigators.... well we taught our part member ayer despues testigos de jehova les ensenaron. it was a good spiritual exp for me. that was prob the 2 or 3 lesson i've had with that family.... my trainer and other elders in district were kinda lazy...... :/ haha you know me, I'm kinda quiet, unless i have something i want to talk about or i jump into a conversation between you and Julie or someone else.... it's something I'm working on is opening my mouth and don't worry about what to say.

thank you for everything. the only thing i can think of is should i be taking a multi vitamin everyday??? i have been feeling healthy except for a runny/stuffy nose in the mornings.... i think allergies but i take a claritan when i feel like the allergies hit me and i don't think the claritan does anything for me..... other than that, i might be running every morning and start exercising more often...... a goal i have set is to give testimony to every contact we make whether in a lesson or on the street or knocking doors, i want to give testimony at every contact. i know the Lord will bless me as i do so.

i gotta go pero yo les amo muchisimo y si no por ustedes, yo no estaria aqui sirviendo el Senor y ayudando a la gente aca venir mas cerca al Senor. yo se que estoy en la area con el companero que necessito y con mi companero podemos cumplir la voluntad del Senor para traer nuestros miembros, investigadores etc. a saber que nuestra iglesia es la verdadera iglesia.
(I love you all very much, if it were not for you guys, I would not be serving the Lord and helping the people here come closer to the Lord. I know that I am in the area, with the companion that I need, and that with my companion we can fulfill the will of the Lord to bring our Members, investigators, ect. to know that our church is the true church.)

I love you guys and thanks for everything.

love elder roberts

Happy 4th!

Hello

So it was a very interesting weekend but fun at the same time. We heard Red Bank did the best firework show so we decided to stay in Red Bank for fireworks. It was saturday night around 9 when they started and went on for about 1/2 an hour. it was cool the way they set it up - they played music and had the fireworks/music synchronyzed. i have almost the whole firework show on my camera but my camera doesn't pick up sound, and if it does, i can't figure it out. besides that everything was good. it was interesting because of the crowd of teenagers that were out - the streets were filled with people, tons of high school students (most likely) and they were all smoking and had been/were drinking.... it was a crazy sight. i think i have a video of it. that was my weekend. i forgot that the ward does a pancake breakfast every year. thats good everyone had fun there. i can make bishops pancakes now just the proportions aren't exactly right yet but they are still good.

haha that sounds like fun. here they launched the fireworks off the water (navesink river is the name) which was cool. sunday we were at a members house for their sons birthday party. he turned 4 and they had a pinata and 3 of us elders were choosen to hit the pinata - they say i was the funniest. elder hannah has a video i'll have him send me and hopefully i can send it to you.

sorry i don't have time to answer the rest of the questions. my time is up. i love you all and thank you for everything. i'm staying in red bank so you can send whatever to my apartment. i might email home wednesday. have a great week.

love craig

(P-Day will be moving to Monday's for Craig, so anytime anyone wants to email him, try to do it Sunday night so he will get it on his P-day.)

Just a couple of photos from the last mission conference before he gets transferred to the Morriston NJ Mission

Emily,

Well well well..... 7 days and transfers!! haha oh its exciting. tomorrow we become a part of the Morristown NJ mission then Saturday we have been given permission to watch fireworks then Monday is pday then Tuesday night we find out who is being transferred and Wednesday is a mini transfer and an all mission conference!!!! haha meetings meetings meetings. that's all the past 3 weeks have been and they've been great. so i get to email home again on Monday so be sure to email atras soon. :)

I'm sorry Shelby isn't moving in - i don't know if that's what you told me or not but it was a thought i had. enjoy your week with Shelby. i hope you're both able to do what you want. I'm glad you're staying busy and enjoying time with friends. honestly i wish i would've done more of that instead of just staying home as much as i felt i needed to. that is one of the biggest things I'd say to stay busy. go home at night tired and with a feeling of i accomplished something today. and continue to exercise. i sometimes feel like i want to do more exercise than what Ive done but can't and i love that feeling - and eating healthy. continue to do that too. :) my exercise the past week or 2 has been playing soccer - actually Monday night elder Hannah and i went and played in our church clothes with a member and nonmembers. when we got home, my shirts were soaked with sweat and my pants had sweat marks -

i took pictures that i hope i can send home today or Monday. anyway i have a question - is it possible for you to send me a calender (you or whoever) with birthdays (whatever else you want to add in) written in so i can send cards or at least email that person? i would appreciate it. i love you and thank you for everything you've done for me. i keep you in my prayers always.

love Craig

Family,

Haha not bad huh? well it has been 90 degrees the past 2 days (i think - it's been above 85) and the humidity. it was hot those days. today though will be a nice day. it's probably in the 70s with a breeze. so is it more than 2% humidity all the time or 2% is the highest it gets? honestly it hasn't been horrible for me. its been hot here and there but even with the humidity it doesn't feel too bad.

haha yea!!!! I'm glad John and Erin are moving back and i hope they don't move again. and it'll be good for them to see Brian again. i never know what John is going to school for and since he's changing his major again, do you know what he's going to study?

haha that's great. Mason and Tanner i hope you love going to boredom busters! it's ironic because Lara Johnson works at boredom busters (I'm sure you already know that) and it takes up most of their day with fun. and gemma gets to be the little princess she is.

I'm glad business is going good now. let me know when you are fasting for times like that and i can fast with you as well. The Lord does bless us in different ways.

haha oh don't stress about it now. my main thing was being able to pay elder Hannah back without using my church card but i did that today. with the new mission we get $140 each month en vez de (instead of) $130 and i had some extra money from last month i didn't use so i just took out cash this morning and paid him back. with transfers this is all i know - one of us is going to be transferred and it's most likely going to be elder hannah because he's been here longer than i have and this transfer was a mini and the next transfer is a mini so pres. bahr (bar) wants to integrate his missionaries quickly.

i figure every companionship is going to be split next Wednesday and I've heard pres. wants to close either the red bank area or long branch area and combine the 2 areas together making it a car/walking area. as far as knowing who is being transferred, we don't find out until the night before (Tuesday night) and we don't know what area we're going to until we are assigned our new companion. i believe this is the address for the mission office

1719 Route 10 Ste 309

parsippany, NJ 07054

I'm not positive on that being the address but I'll let you know on Monday for sure. so you can hold onto the card for another week and a half until i know where I'm at.

the work is good. we had a great day on Sunday. one of our investigators (part member family, her husband is a member and they have 2 kids) came to church voluntarily in a skirt and all. that excited us so much! and then that night we went over for dinner and they gave us sopa with a type of i think beef on the bone (a small piece) and that was good then she said there was another kind of sopa.... haha oh little did i know i was about to eat menudo for the 2nd time in my life. the menudo had some cilantro and was a little spicy but of course it only had piel and it was hard to eat. i actually didn't even finish mine (i had 3 pieces left) but i gagged before i stopped.

so apart from that, we have a recent convert who really wants to help me pick up Spanish more so when we visit him he likes to talk to me or have read or talk so I'm practicing etc. its great. and actually I'm feeling like I'm able to understand pretty well but know that I'm not where i can be and i still have a lot to learn. I'm just glad that I'm able to be understanding more almost to a point where i can jump in at any point and say something (i almost did during a visit with a member and his cousins who aren't members). that's a quick update - we have prob 8-10 invest (well we've taught at least 2 times and have appointments to come back - some start falling through at this point) so we pray that our appointments work out and that we are able to teach our investigators what they need to hear/learn.

with the plaque - I'm good with having morristown showing and if it was possible, maybe put cherry hill in parenthesis underneath morristown etc just to show i was originally called to cherry hill. haha so yes please have Gerber put morristown. I'm not stressing about the changes rather I'm excited for a new comp and the changes that come there. new missionaries who i haven't met yet, new boundaries etc. its all exciting!

this weekend is July 4. we've been given permission to watch fireworks so I'll have my camera with me Saturday night and have some pictures maybe video of the fireworks here. :) next Monday is pday too so I'll email home then and hopefully be able to send pictures. this past week has been good and June is now over. it vanished out of thin air. i love you all and thank you for the love and support. I'll let you know how my weekend goes on Monday. :) again thank you for everything!

yo les amo muchisimo! (I love you all very much)