Happy Birthday to Craig (2 days ago)

Good afternoon!!!!

haha well no longer a teenager means no longer keeping old habits..... This transfer I’ve changed and continue to change. I’ve been prepared and seen how vital being exactly obedient is and i need that to help me change. I will not go back to old habits and my Patriarchal Blessing helps me out a lot too.

Well my birthday was pretty good. Quite interesting actually but that’s something written down in my journal to share when i go home. Sorry!! pretty much half of the day was shot b/c of a meeting my comp had so as i was waiting with the other 2 elders in my apt. a member came in from another area and started talking to us. We ended up giving her a blessing and she decided to order pizza and soda for us for lunch. That was a cool gift! And that reminds me, what oil do i need to buy for blessings? Is it pure olive or extra virgin? If you wanted you could send me a clear plastic bottle filled or whatever is smartest to do.... I’ve ran out once and my vile is half full. We worked like normal for the rest of the night though on my birthday. Another day in the mission!!!

I’m glad the guys were able to have fun at monster jam! Has that become a tradition in the family? haha

Thank you for the address. Don’t worry about the catwalk things for now. Winter will be ending pretty soon and ice hasn’t been a problem. We had some more snow and it keeps piling up. I’ll take some pictures and send them home. Some walls are almost as tall as me!!! It’s fun!! And as for the cds.... i know i have some I’ve already bought that i packed away.... those would be nice to have for now. I’m not in a rush, rather following up.

haha ya the internet makes sense as you described it. it’s something that is happening worldwide i think... as for the dvd players and tvs there are dvds that only the missions and missionaries are allowed access to as of right now and we've been told to watch one of the dvds during no proselyting time so meal times, before studies in the morning and after planning at night. I don’t know for how long this will go on but i heard the church will purchase the DVD players; I’m not sure about TVs. i'm working on obtaining a copy of the dvds onlly the missions and missionarys have access to for myself.

Things are well with Kathy. She’s living at her member friend’s home and going to church, nochesde hogar and we even had a talent show and she participated in it as if she was a member! It was awesome to see the change in her. She has a date for feb 13.
So your answer is what i wanted to know. Its motivation for me and will help me as i continue to stretch and grow. I’m working on becoming consecrated and really giving everything up to the Lord so i can be the most effective i can be. The people out there really need the gospel and it’s through the members that the elect are found. We can go out and tract all day everyday but 3/4s of those people fall of the face of the earth after the 1st visit and we never see or get in contact with them again. It’s sad but we are doing our best. president bahr almost made it a rule for the mission of no street contacting what so ever. No exceptions. He hasn’t yet but i know he's thinking about it.

so i needed and wanted that answer. Thank you for that. It goes in line with my patriarchal blessing as well. Time’s up for writing. I love you all and thank you for everything!! I’m sure I’ll get your package today and enjoy all that is in it!! I know the church is true. Our brothers and sisters are waiting to hear the message we share and as we are actively looking for missionary opportunities we will be able to bring souls unto Christ!! It’s crazy here in Newark and the people of the world need it. Take it to them; don’t wait for them to come to you!! It is the best blessing anyone can and will receive in their life.

I love you all. Thank you for your love and support. I keep you all in my prayers. You are the best in the west! Have a great week! Stay warm and safe.

Love Craig

Good morning!!!

So Monday was a holiday..... Libraries were closed so Wednesday was
the day we emailed. We didn’t have much time either. I forgot this
was the week for Emily and Julie to go up to Idaho. I’m glad they're
safe and all is going well. I’m glad you've been able to spend time
with the kids too. It’s always nice when the dad is around to hang out.

I’m sorry mason - you learn from making mistakes (i guess that was more
dad than you).... i remember when i had pine wood derby one other kid
made a car that wasn’t cool looking or anything. He said he wanted to
cut the block at an angle/slant of a sort where the back end was fatter
than the front end. He ended up with first place i think every time.
We drilled small holes in the bottom of the block and melted some
fishing weights in a spoon and put the weight in the whole then glued
the weight in and also weighed the cars before the race to make sure
the car would make weight without needing too much adjustment. It was
fun.

Wow Morgan is already home! That is crazy. Time is just flying by and
i don’t know where it’s going. And Ana Whitney decided to serve!! ha-ha
that'll be fun for her. Is she speaking English? And that’s how i felt
when i was in the primary..... It felt like i was cut off from
everyone/thing even though i really wasn’t.

Shelby wrote me once and told me about her friend that was
baptized.... i didn't know her family was anti or anything like that.
with what we had here I’ve learned, if everyone involved for the
better is living and being righteous crazy blessings can be called
upon and received because the Lord is bound when we do what He says
(D&C 82:10). I’m happy to hear that the adairs are doing their part
though. Tell them i say hi! It is the exact same situation here now.

Kathy’s mom gave custody i believe to her aunt (not positive) and
said Kathy can come home when she's ready. Kathy’s decided to stay
with her friend though, Kelly, who is our super strong active member
trying to get her dad baptized who's being going to church for 21
years. We’re working with him too. It’s fun confusing him so he can
re-learn some things! :) Satan knows what's happening in the world and
he knows the power the gospel has and what we, as members, can do with
it. He knows the younger members (kids/youth/single adults) are going
to be so strong if they join, if they continue faithful after baptism,
that his kingdom is going to fail, immensely when they are older and
wiser. There will not be one person who has at least had the chance to
hear and accept the gospel. It’s going to be some crazy times ahead of
us! All the more fun. :)

I’m glad you received my tithing. Thank you for doing that. Yes i turn
20 this week.... another day for me!! haha we might go out for lunch
or something and other than that, we'll be working like crazy! I don’t
know the name of what I’m going to ask for but when there is ice on
the roads or sidewalks it's kind of hard to keep balance. My comp has
some rubber "band" things with chains on them and they stretch to
cover the bottom of shoes. I think he said they're called "catwalks"
but i have no idea. All hand and feet warmers (if they are different
things) would be nice b/c the weather will soon be single digits,
almost guaranteed, and the high will be between 12-20 degrees......
crazy right!? Also have you been able to work on the cds and talks? my
comp and i found a cd burner so we are going to have lots of fun
burning cds from other missionaries etc. and my last question is who is
the relief society president now and what is her address? I think its
sister Meacham but i don’t remember for sure.....

This past week was great! We had some success and some tristeza but
everything worked out. We have new pass along cards that are for
mormon.org and its super exciting! we've been commanded to find and
put a TV and dvd player in our apartment as well as get on the
internet more than on pday to check out mormon.org. We’ve been told to
familiarize ourselves with the website and learn anything and everything
about it! haha even more crazy..... They want us doing things that we
know there will be some disobedience but that’s not my worry. We also
have some "special guests" coming to our mission in Feb so that'll be
fun! Ill fill you in later.

I love you and thank you for everything!!! I’m glad everyone is doing
well and enjoying life! I got to go! Have a great week!

Love Craig

So I’m sorry this is sooo late and i don’t have much time so in a
nutshell here’s what’s gone on.

I wasn’t transferred nor was my companion, however my companion was
made district leader so I’m going to have more challenges this
transfer than last. I’m going to grow a ton. I really want to be in
Newark for 6 months. If i stay in Newark for another transfer (after
this one that just started) then I’ll hit 6 months in Newark. After
that i don’t care how much i move around or where to.

It snowed recently and we had some freezing rain. It was all at night
though so we shoveled it all away in the morning and drove away again
later that day.

So we now have 2 examples of Satan not wanting the work to progress
(both major situations that could be bad if we don’t exercise faith and
do our part) and the investigator who was taught all 3 lessons in 3
days is a golden contact. Her name is Ginny and speaks fluent ingles
and Spanish. most of the lessons are in ingles and she comes to church
in Spanish b/c its morning time and she's willing to bring family
members to the English branch at 1pm. there was a baptism on Sunday
for the Portuguese elders and Ginny, being at church early asked to see
the font so we showed her and she said she’d do all in her power to be
at the church to see the baptism. She didn’t make it but she is super
excited and outgoing and wants to learn. she reads and prays (she
takes the train to new york every morning and the train goes under
ground - no service to phones - so she reads and prays on the train.
It’s awesome!!

as for the 2 situations - we're asking a mom to quit working on sun to
come to church - she picked up another job for the week days working
at night and still works weekends so she doesn’t get much sleep and
doesn't see her kids that often anymore. She has a son in Ecuador that
wants to come to the u.s. to visit. It’s a hard one but our other is
worse.

A member, 18 yr. old girl, Kelly brought a friend to church. Kathy,
Kelly’s friend, liked it so we invited her to come to a family night
with Kelly and her family and we'd be there and teach something. Kathy
was there and showed us she is super smart. At the end of the lesson
we gave her a book of Mormon. Kelly, the member, told us the next day
that Kathy was not allowed back into her house that night and had to
spend the night at her aunts. Kathy’s mom doesn’t like the church
(Satan workings again) and doesn’t want Kathy to have anything to do
with the church. Kathy is living with Kelly for 2 weeks and if it’s any
longer Kathy gets kicked out of the school (i don’t know why or the
rules for all of that but it's not a good rule to have - a student
cannot attend unless living with the legal guardian - i don’t know if
that’s the rule or not either). if Kathy goes home she’s is not going to
have the option to come back to church or even be around Kelly because
she’s Mormon...... crazy long explanation but again it comes down to
faith and us showing how much we love God.

So aside from the craziness that has just presented itself in the past
week, our area is going to explode and Satan is doing whatever he can
to stop it. However, he's weaker than we are and he won’t succeed. It’s
impossible.

I’m glad all went well with the trip and I’m glad mason is out riding
his bike now. It is better than watching TV all day. Definitely drill
the rules into his mind.

The leadership training is something all the missionaries are receiving at
different times, at least when i went that’s what it was for. It was
held at the Morristown chapel and it was just within the mission.
President Bahr presided and the aps conducted and missionaries gave
trainings on several topics (I’ll tell next week) and we did many role
plays after each training. It was fun and a good experience.

Thank you for the advice and the help. Did you receive my tithing
money in the mail??

I got to go but i love you all and thank you so much for everything!!!
Have a great week! Stay warm, safe and invite everyone to come to
church on Sunday!!!! It’s their salvation!!!

I love you all. Let me know if i can help with something.

Love Craig

More Snow

This first pic is of the outside of their building

somewhere under this pile of snow is the missionaries car

buenas tardes!!! pues la obra va bien. el trabajo que tenemos aqui es mas que nada mantener contacto con todos nuestros investigadores! a veces yo siento "que necesito hacer para que vengan a la iglesia o mas importante, para tener citas cada semana para que tengan deseos de venir"

(Good afternoo, well the work is going good. What we are doing more than anything is trying to maintain contact with our investigators. Some times I feel like "what do I need to do so that they come to church or more importantly, so that we have appointments each week so that they will want to come.)

that is what i say is holding us back the most is not getting contact with investigators everyday. it drives me nuts and when they don’t come to church, well we had a great lesson on it last night, well we taught the lesson but you know what i mean. a lesson on "things that act and things acted upon" 1 nefi 2 13-14, 26-29 and helaman 14;30. i believe that’s what we read. it was good.

this past week I lost 2 days of work and almost crashed. we had a leadership training, at least I did, my comp stayed behind b/c he's already been to it and it was a 2 day thing. the morning of the 2nd day we were driving (the other elders and i) and it was snowing and the driver almost "bumped" a guard rail.... i was not driving. I was in the back seat. the training was awesome and i learned a lot and received much revelation for an investigator. it was great.

So I’m glad everyone is doing better and that things have warmed up again. I think right now we are at 45 degrees but I’m not positive. I’m going off of what the car said.... i don’t remember what pictures I sent but I’m going to send one or 2 more to show how much it really was with more light. Shoveling the snow was fun and not hard at all. Just takes some time and depending on the shovel size it can be slower or quicker.

Mason I’m so glad you are riding your bike now!!!!! Have fun and be safe! I love you!

And for the record, we have an investigator that I’d say is afraid to act. I guess more being "antied" than afraid. We teach her one day and we leave happy and she’s happy and joyful and the next day we call and she tells us to stop calling and not to come back. Family influences are sometimes worse than anything i can think of...... i think you understand that statement and if not tell me and next week I’ll elaborate. We keep finding new investigators that are awesome then we lost contact.

This past week though, we knocked a door. A 13 yr. old boy answered and said come back in a few hours and my mom will be home. We went back. The mom said come back in 2 days. I had the training that day and it was the 1st appointment - i didn’t make it home in time to go but my comp went with another elder from the apartment. It went so well the mom said come back tomorrow. So another appointment set the next day and again i was gone for the training and missed the appointment but my comp and the same other elder went. Again all went well and a 3rd was set for sat. I finally was able to go and meet the family who has already been taught twice and loves everything. The 3rd lesson was great! Very active and very attentive family who wants to learn. 3 lessons in 3 days AND they came to church!!! They’re awesome!

Well congrats on your new calling! Now you get to be with the kids and Julie all day Sunday!! Not just a few hours.

All is well. We have transfers in a week. I’ll know hopefully on Sunday night if i stay or if i go. I really want to stay; it’d be fun to have another 6-month area then i don’t care where i go or how often i move around. I’ll know Monday for sure. Driving has been great experience (by the way, I’m driving a Mazda). I’m learning and growing and i wanted to ask you a question... from the past years I’ve been living with you, what changes would you want to see in me from serving a mission? And do you think i have changed from talking on the phone etc.? Just a thought i had. Also, what was the way you best got to know the scriptures while you were serving or even now?

So I’m doing well. Staying healthy and I’ve learned to eat small portions of food; i have to eat slower and take more time and i don’t eat as much. That’ll be blessing when I’m not a missionary (and not just for me....) and I’m becoming consecrated.

Thank you for the news. It really doesn't affect me nor do i care that much even though that’s more or less the only thing i watched at home. A lady in Wal-Mart was talking to us and she told me about that story today too. Ironic? Julie and others have fun in cali!

I love you all and thank you so much for everything! I say hi to the ward! I hope all is well there with youth (of course everyone too) etc. thank you thank you thank you! I hope you have a great week and everyone stays safe!!

Love Craig

Happy New Year

( The first pictue is the walk way Craig has to shovel when it snows, the second is what the snow looked like when they opened up their front door)

Happy New Year!!!!

So I’m sorry to hear everyone is or was sick again. I’ll keep everyone in my prayers more specifically now.

What’s with the weather?? I mean we get 2 feet of snow then it’s in the 40-50s the entire week and in AZ it’s below freezing at night!! What happened there? hah so that’s cool you get to experience a dry cold and some snow.... go the opposite direction.... humid cold and tons of snow and that’s me. :) hah oh i love it yet it’s a pain for driving. At least the roads are clear, enough to drive on and finding parking is well almost impossible. We parked the wrong way and got a ticket for it so i guess the snow doesn’t give us reason to park wherever.

Is Idaho humid? If not Julie and Emily do not worry about being cold. You’ll be fine. I’m only wearing what i brought from AZ and it works out great, just layer up. haha

So I’m glad the EQ is official; enjoy your Sundays while you have them - The snacks are great. I need to learn to make stuff last longer so when i have a craving i have something to eat. its super bad for me but i don’t think I’ve gained any weight yet and i run almost 20 minutes every morning so it doesn't bother me that bad. I love fruit and vegetables (veggies probably aren’t very good dried right?) and the trail mix is great. I don’t know I’m not a picky eater and i love everything, you know that. :)

i don’t remember if i told you much about the temple but there isn't much i can talk about other than the surroundings outside and the architecture of the temple itself.... let me know what I’ve already told you.

The investigators are doing well. None came to church, unfortunately..... We had them set and ready to go but no one came. No one coming to church though was made up by having a baptism! I performed the baptism for Samuel, a 10 boy who has been waiting forever to be baptized. His family, minus his mom (parents divorced) has been baptized. I asked him many times how he felt and right before he left afterwards i asked him again and he said "great!" it was amazing to see his face full of joy and happiness. Unfortunately the baptism was very unorganized so no pictures were taken and i didn't feel like doing it but they wanted to and my comp was ok with it so we went on. Everything turned out good and Samuel will be confirmed next week! We also are going to start teaching his mom.

I’ll see if i can think of anything I’d need or want for my birthday.... we'll see what comes to mind. I sent my tithing money home today so look for that. I’ll send a picture or two of the snow so you'll be able to see how much we really got.

I love you all and thank you for everything. I am grateful to have such a wonderful family who is willing to do so much for me even though i can do so little. I hope everyone gets better soon and has a great week! Have fun with school mason, tanner, and Gemma, and Emily!! I love you all and have a great week!

Love Craig