so going to emily - emily you should just write me on your email account..... it might be easlier to reply.

so i remember stacie peterson saying she wants to go to BYU Idaho - you could posibly go with her..... i'm sorry about the scar from the beecher's dog; i'm glad everything healed up alright. sara behrman is also at eac - you could live with paul and blanca or with sara and still be instate, have an "in" to the music program there, and visit your fav aunt and uncle (i think)..... i'll pray for you as you figure out where you want to go and you do the same.

congrats with the tutoring! good luck with it as well. what happens when the kid has straight a's every week; do you still get the bonus? haha

i'm glad to hear everything else is going good too. keep up your great work and love for what you do! it'll take you places you've never imagined before.

do the kids still miss me, or does Gemma only love Brian? hehe remember her comment in the car about loving me after you asked her if she loved brian??

and my last question - do you like pink or green better? tell me in the next letter.

good luck with getting license and school and work and family. i love you and thank you for your love and support. time is going by quicker than it seems. have a great week! love craig

so Rob - i try not to think about the time, yet i always remember how fast everyone says it goes and it has gone fast but i'm not on the downhill slope yet.... will it be faster then??? ha

i'm glad to hear there was a good amount of support for cory at his farewell thing, whatever they call them now a days. when does cory report again?

and the dbacks game - thats awesome that you were able to enjoy those seats. not very often something like that happens is it?

so ya i'll need some patience and some love and kindness but more than anything, i need to adjust. all is going well though and we're in a 3-man which helps alot and this transfer is already on the 3rd week so time is going fast. the other companion with us has his own area that we work as well so we are in 2 areas, 3 elders. its great. i'm learning alot from them and i feel more like speaking spanish more often becasue they are closer to my age in the mission and they speak spanish here and there. it's wierd at first because we all speak english but i love it.

so i guess the vans are still in our ward? i'm glad keith is home now and all is well - did he change in pesa o algo asi? i was told last night by an invest. who we haven't seen for a few weeks that i am getting taller..... i don't know what to think about that.

haha i'm sorry for the temperatures there..... its raining right now, last night, and probably will rain all day today while the temps are in the 60/70s with a good wind..... it's awesome. i can hear the rain right now on the roof as i type. its great!

haha ya if there are any miracles happening with me, i'm not noticing them very well... i know i've seen some changes but not much. i'm sure i've changed more than i think though. so in the east there are bed bugs, and this morning i woke up and saw a bug on some shorts. it was dead but we still decided to spray the room with pemerithian (however you spell it) which kills insects on contact, or should. also on the wall i've noticed some black spots appear and wasn't sure what it was. we sprayed those as well as the whole room and more bugs appeared.... it's wierd b/c we've been told the bugs we've seen are not bed bugs - i'll let you know next week what happened. we called the senior couple over our area and they're going to come to our apartment and check things out.

we went to the hospital to give a convert member a blessing and she told us her whole life story - i cant share what she told us b/c its not my place to do so but from what she shared, and as we were talking, i really felt the spirit and a scripture came to my mind as clear as the sun at mid-day. i've never had that happen and it was cool to have that experience.

nothing real exciting happened this week, except we have 2 baptismal dates, one for october (our polish invest.) and one for november (a friend of a member). i hope i'm here for them both. other than that, we're seeing succes is finding people and being able to teach the investigators we have.

times up so i have to go out into the nice pouring rain with cloudy skys and wind and green trees everywhere you look!

i love you guys and thank you for everything! i feel your love and support everyday and am glad i'm here to learn what life is really like away from the comforts of home and family and friends. i love you all so much and i know if it wasn't for your love and support, serving a mission would be so much harder to cope with. i hope you all have a great week and that all goes well. i hope to send the books for mason and tanner. i also have something for gemma and a picture i found in my apartment that i want to keep in the best condition possible - if the picture is sent, i'll tell you about it after you get it. it's a sweet picture and you'd love it! i love you and thank you for everything. let me knwo if i can do anything for anyone.

love craig

haha wow - you wrote a long letter. it's all good.

so i have a feeling this will be my last transfer in Red Bank but i have no idea. i guess it'll depend on how well my new comp and i get along and how well the work goes this trans. my new comp is from Murray Utah and is very missionary minded. it will take me some time to get used to him and let that which would bother me just fly away but i know the Lord will bless us, and already has. we have a baptismal date for October so we'll see what happens.

I'm glad I've stayed for this long because, like you said, i really can get to know the members well and i like it b/c it's the same Spanish with the same people.

so today we went to a spot called twin lights in a city called highlands. twin lights is a pair of light houses from years and years ago. unfortunately i didn't have enough time to get as many pictures as i wanted but i did get some and some of the ocean. it was a fun day but now i don't have much time to write or respond to everything.

so ya the weather is crazy. windy everyday and always in the 70s, sometimes 80s and the past week we've had 2 crazy rainstorms - i have video of both on my camera. i loved it. i'm glad cory is still going on his mission! it's great that he really wants to serve. i know he'll love it and be glad he served in the end.

well the house (his families old house) is no longer memorable then, right? haha i guess that could be a good thing, but then a bad thing too.... a childhood full of memories changed and transformed into algo differente. just whenever you have a chance to send the pictures, don't rush to do it and ruin and schedules you might have to do send them.

so ya the book (Jesus the Christ) is written very scholarly and that is what makes the reading take forever. it's the last book i have to read then I'll be done with the miss. library. thank you for your help with the manuals etc.

ok. i was actually able to go back to that same investigator (im in a 3man right now in redbank. one elder was going to train but his greenie never came out of the mtc so he's with me and my comp until he comes so we work his area as well) and he wasn't going to let us in but i followed up with him on his praying and he let us in to talk. it wasn't' anything like last week but it was still a great lesson.

ya i am keeping a journal - i already went through one and bought another one and i haven't missed a day yet since the first night in the mtc. I'm surprised yet I know I'll want it in the future so I just do it and don't let my self go to bed until i do (sorry im rushing so the spacing of words will be off). and i make sure to write those kind of experiences in. haha we all should be keeping a journal and i wish i had been able to growing up.

so i might be giving a blessing tomorrow, my first one. we'll see what happens. everything is going good and I'm doing my best to be exactly obedient. that saying was part of the cherry hill mission motto - exactly obedient, endlessly diligent, spiritually led.

everything is well. I'm learning and growing and seeing many different walks of life. i love you all and thank you so much for everything you have and continue to do for me. if i didn't have your help and love and support i wouldn't be in NJ. thank you so much for everything! i know the church is true and the only way to know for ones self is through prayer. if you don't ask, you probably won't know. hence "ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you". i love you guys. have a great week!

love craig

wow wow wow. so with transfers, i am staying in red bank, once again. it was pretty obvious since my companion right now goes home Wednesday but there has been times where missionaries have been 'doubled out'.

so ya the weather right now almost feels like an arizona winter.... in the 70s, always with wind, we sleep with all our windows open, and mornings are probably in the 50s. in a couple weeks, I'll hopefully have some really good pictures of trees and what the roads, town looks like.

with the study manual, would there be any good ones for the old testament as well? i was told it'd be good to read the bible then Jesus the Christ and it'd just be a whole lot more effective..... what would you suggest? Im almost ready to read it - Im about finished with the 3rd book in the missionary library. Im saving Jesus the Christ for last.

well I'm glad work is picking up again. i always keep that in my prayers as well as the family and ward/stake.

oh wow..... i don't know what to think...... mark and scott both are gone on wednesday. wow. well i'm glad mark gave a good farewell talk, whereas i had no time. haha how is marks ward doing? ok so i have a question - my mom said the old house was finally being worked on and things were coming together nicely..... did you drive by it at all? I'd like a pic or two if possible, please and thank you.

thats cool that Bryce and Diana Denton are in our ward. that'll be fun to get to know them. how is the ward doing?, and sister Jansen too? my mom told me about the deck and what she did in the backyard. it sounds really cool and peaceful, and my dad hasn't emailed me in a while so i'm not sure if all is well with him or not....

so speaking of being a worthy vessel and the Spirit i had a crazy day on wednesday, very crazy.... so i was on an "exchange" (elder secrist went to the temple so i was with 2 other spanish elders in my district). so we were out walking and a english guy is out and asks us if we have something for him to read. one of the elders had some english pamphlets so we gave him one and we were talking then another guy came out. the 2nd guy, Eric, is what makes this crazy. to keep it short, he has many problems, disorders, addictions etc. and feels like he needs to get closer to God, and he's in a rough living situation right now.

at one point i thought he was going start yelling and screaming but he never did - we finished talking to Eric and he walked across the street to his home and called us over. his dog has a tumor on 1 of its legs and he asked us to pray for the dog, and his family (he has an aunt in the hospital) so i gave the prayer, and that was a prep for the last lesson we had that night. so i kinda felt the spirit during the prayer and later we knock a door to talk to this guy the other elders met before (remember i'm on an exchange) and we go in and start talking. it's super hard to hear what selso is saying. he has a very raspy voice, and pretty high pitched. i definitely did not understand everything but i had the Spirit.

so selso was stuck on moroni being resurrected (talks about it in the introduction to the BoM) and we weren't getting through to him. the topic started to change, or changed often and about 10 minutes before we were done, i took charge and just went off in spanish asking selso questions that he was thinking about. some how we arrive to the topic of prayer and selso praying. i felt like i ruined the chance to ever teach selso again because i felt like it became a heated conversation when it wasn't. the other 2 elders didn't say much but did say something when there was a pause.

At the end of the lesson, i not only didn't really know what i said because it all came out so quickly, but i felt something "flowing from my chest" almost as if my heart was pounding but it wasn't'. i was super calm and knew the feeling of something "flowing" out of me was the Spirit, something i haven't felt before. selso committed to pray about the BoM and that was the end. i felt really really weird walking out of that lesson.... sorry its so long.

with the 11th the flags, of course, were at half-mass but i don't remember seeing anything special going on but i was in a city called keansburg, on the more northern end, and in another city called keyport . we only have one chance a week to go to those cities with english elders and nothing special was going on in either of those two cities so surprisingly there were no memorials etc.

so as it gets colder i might want a long sleeved shirt or 2 to wear around the house (other than the pj ones - i might just wear those, we'll see) but I'll probably want wool socks for sure. I've been looking around here but i still haven't found any. don't worry about anything just yet and we'll see what happens.

it's 6 pm right now and it's practically dark. this past week was great, and I'm anticipating receiving a companion who is a transfer younger or older than me or who came into NJ when i came in so we'll see what happens.

a scripture i read this week is in alma chapter 43 verses 19-21. i have to give a quick explanation but it's about a war between the nephites and the lamanites, zoramites, army of zarahemnah - the nephites are prepared with armor for the body, and the enemies are not prepared with armor. the nephites are fewer in number but still win the war. it is like us - we are the nephites (members) and satan is our enemy. we are prepared with armor for our bodies (scriptures, prayer, families, leaders etc.) and satan has nothing but angels (can only tempt us through thoughts and others actions that are unrighteous). we are less in numbers (in a worldy aspect) yet we are continuing to grow stronger and stronger and eventually win the war. it was cool because i realized that is only through our self-control, our obedience etc. that we are victorious over satan. if we do not have desire to change, or do not act on our desire, we will not win because we are taking off our armor, the armor of God.

i love you all so much and really don't know how I'd be on my mission learning and growing, learning spanish etc. without your help and love and support. thank you so much for everything that you have done for me, and continue to do for me. i keep everyone in my prayers and always am thinking of how everyone is doing. i hope everyone has a great week! let me know if i can do anything to help.

love Craig

hello

so ya you emailed in time. Im glad all went well at the ranch and i'm glad you all arrived home safely. That zoo thing sounds pretty cool. i think yellowstone park is like that. i only know that from president nicols. you drive around and look at the animals. it'd be cool. how did the zip line turn out? what are the temps right now in mesa? its starting to get colder here. i think it'll be in the 70s soon and just drop from then on. and i've been told, the snow stays through march..... and the power in my apartment complex goes out very often, especially during the winter. we'll see what happens. next week is transfers and i might be doubled out (my comp goes home) meaning 2 completely new missionaries would take over (it'd actually be good for the area, i think).

so with power outages, there was a county wide outage 2 weeks ago. we had already emailed and were shopping, in line to check out and the power in the store went out. it was that way for about 2 hours then this past week i woke up one morning and the power was out, didn't come back on for 4 hours or so. we luckily, somehow, had power from one outlet so we plugged our fridge in to that outlet to save everything.

i'm sorry emily for what happened. i hope all is ok and that the swelling etc. is going away. I'll keep you in my prayers. thank you for your letter in the package too. i really appreciate it.

so yes the package arrived safely, and in a different way. it was about 1030 pm and someonee rings our door bell. it's our neighbor who we are teaching and he has this box that has my name on it but he knew it was me because it was addressed to #2, not #24 (he lives in # 24). so he gave me the package and i guess they had it since tuesday, possibly monday so i was thinking you might have sent 2 packages but it didn't make sense (you told me your ups acct said the package would be shipped on wednesday the 1st). everything was in perfect condition. thank you for the goodies and book and pictures and everything else. i really appreciate it! were you able to find the new testament manual study guide (the thick orange book i think is called the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and the Apostles)?

as i was thinking about it, what study manuals would be best to have as i study the bible? and i have one other question for mason and tanner - which 2 do they like the most; insects, rocks and minerals, birds, and stars and planets? (dont' tell them but i have 4 books that are about the above things and i want ot give 2 to mason, 2 to tanner. they are really interesting and very cool. they would love the books).

yesterday was our pday. today we're just emailing. so ya nothign was done differently.

we found 2 new investigadores, one of which we thought was going to be JEhovas witness but wasn't and one who has a member friend which was really cool - both were guided by the Spirit in finding them. and on sunday we werent having success. we were walkingn down a street and i stopped as if i hit a invisible brick wall. i turned my head to the left and asked my comp if we ever knocked the 2 houses ( ididn't even know houses were there). we knocked them and found one guy from nicaragua and he gave us his all his info. it was definately the spirit again. having the Spirit is vital in this work.

so ya with my camera, it doesn't pick up sound when i'm taking a video, at least it doesn't play back sound so i don't know if it's picking up sound and doesnt play it back or if it just isn't picking up sound. i'll put my card in another camera that does play back sound and see what happens. other than that it works fine.

so i read this morning in alma chapter 43:19-21 and related those verses to life. i don't have time ot explain them but what i got from them is satan is constantly attacking us, and won't give up untill he practically defeated and he realizes he can't do anything else. we are in a spiritual war and we have the upper hand in everything. if we aren't faithful, satans attacks will make us fall, and he'll continue to attack until we cannot get back up.

i need to go but i love you guys. thank you for everyhting. i keep you all in my prayers and the members love the pictures! thank you for everything. if i can do anything to help, please let me know! i hope everyone has a great week!

love craig