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