June 27, 2016

GANÓ LA ROJA!!!

Yesterday Chile won the COPA AMERICA for the 2nd year straight against Argentina.  I am very happy for Chile but it definitely made it hard to find people to teach. haha Yesterday, we passed by quite a few people but all were busy watching the game and all the people we contacted in the street quickly told us "can’t talk!!! I have to get to the game!" When Chile won, people started honking their horns, screaming and going crazy.  From our apartment window, we could see various people going down the main avenue in a truck waving a giant Chilean flag behind them.  It was pretty cool but it may have kept me from sleeping for an hour or two. haha

Bad news, the Rodriguez family didn’t come to church yesterday.  Nicolas called us at 9:10 (right as we were on our way to their house) to let us know that they wouldn’t make it.  I HATE receiving texts or calls Sunday morning.  They almost always mean someone is not coming to church. haha.  He has had a lot of problems with plumbing in his house and had a bunch of workers coming over and his wife was really sick.  They said they are going to do everything they can to come next week.  Julieta, the 8 year old, REALLY wanted to go and really loves it when we come over.  The good news is that we are fighting to get members involved and we feel that it will make all the difference.  There is a young family in the ward that has offered to do a family night so we will see what happens.  We will be praying for them! 

ALSO!!! I called Elder Barlow last night to get some information on converts and he let me know some things about Miguel Aguilar.  Yesterday, he passed the sacrament, he gave a talk in sacrament, he taught a class AND he baptized someone! I was so happy to receive that news! 

I can’t believe I am coming to the end of the mission.  I think I always thought it would feel different.  I just feel like I am a normal missionary and that the work is going to keep on going.  I have really come to appreciate the learning "line upon line, precept upon precept.”  I still feel I have much to learn (which is true) but I am so grateful for the lessons that the Lord has taught me up until this point.  

Que tengan una buena semana! les quiero!

Elder Crofts 

Chile wins the Copa America!

Family night with a recent convert

Zone Conference

It was so nice to eat a good old hamburger... Gridelis don't worry sweety, I will be home soon :)

Some pics of the place we run to in the morning

Still a Laker :)

Here in Valparaiso, they have elevators that go up into the mountain.  This one is in Cerro Polanco.

This sister is a recent convert from Peru.  She made us a famous plate called "aji de gallina" and lets just say I almost fell in love with this sister.

It is like Hawaiian haystacks with a nice kick.

Sushi with Elder Gibson

My companion ate 6 hot dogs on sandwich bread right before going to sleep. Haha

June 20, 2016

Miracles

Being a missionary never gets old! 

We had an awesome week! I think last week I mentioned a family we miraculously found Sunday night (the Rodriguez family).  Well, we were able to teach them two times this week and we are getting the members involved. They weren’t able to come to church because a few of them were sick and they had a lot of projects to do at home. Last night, we read 3 Nephi 11 with them because they had not read with all of the things they had to do.  At the end of the lesson, we extended the invitation to be baptized the 10th of July....and they ACCEPTED it!!! They said if they feel they receive an answer and feel that it is right they will totally do it.  We sang "families can be forever together" at the end of the lesson and explained our belief about it.  We were just about to leave when Nicolas, the father, said "Wait! I know you need to go but I have one more question.... so let’s say we get baptized and join your church.  We become an eternal family..... but what happens with our ancestors who haven´t been  introduced to the church?¨ Elder Vail and I were left speechless. haha The Spirit was so strong and we told him that in the next lesson we are going to teach them about that.  We are going to have a family night this Tuesday with them.  We don’t have any investigators with church attendances so if I hope to see a baptism before I leave Chile. This week is do or die.

Yesterday, we had ward conference and can I say, our stake president is a spiritual giant.  His talk about faith really moved me and helped me see things I can do better.  Faith is trusting in God enough to do all we can, and know that God is powerful enough to do the rest.  It is knowing that He has all power to do all things, but working to deserve the desired results.  As I come to the end of my mission, I just want to exercise my faith as often as I can.  If we work at our faith, we will receive spiritual power and we will see miracles. I hope you have a miracle filled week.

Les quiero!

Elder Crofts

A nice churrasco with Elder Puefua during an interchange

Stairs and weird art

Yeah, so these elephant dogs poop all over in the street.  I was writing in my agenda and definitely didn't see that sucker.  My whole shoe was COVERED.  Elder Vail thought it was hilarious.

 

Bobby and his comp wishing a Happy Father's Day. 

June 13, 2016

What an amazing week! 

We walked A LOT.  We have been trying to find new people to teach.  The people that we were teaching have not been home so getting into houses was kind of a struggle this week.  There were a few lessons that we taught standing in the street but we had various days where we didn’t enter in a single house! haha my legs were pretty tired by the end of the week.  

These past few days, Elder Vail has been a little sick so we have had to fight to keep our enthusiasm high.  Yesterday was a particularly difficult day.  Our appointments fell through and the people that we talked with in the street weren’t all that receptive.  At about 7:30, we decided that we needed to offer a prayer. We prayed and then continued with the plans we had.  They fell through as well.  On our way to one of our last backup plans for the day, we decided to knock on a door of a house that had quite a few lights turned on at about 8:40pm.  After waiting a minute or two, a woman stuck her head out of the second story window and said that she would be right down.  She came out and then invited us to come in.  We sang a hymn, prayed and then started talking with her and her husband.  They have two little daughters that both came down to listen (one is 8 and the other is 5.  They also have a small little boy that is 3 years old). They then told us that both of them believe in God but Nicolas, the husband, feels that his faith has been diminishing lately.  Just an hour before, they were talking about how they need to have God more in their lives and they want to rely more upon faith.  They are SO receptive and we are praying a lot for them.  Our next appointment is this Wednesday.  We are going to try to get members involved immediately.  So pray for Nicolas and Ximena!   We left that lesson so grateful and really just amazed.  

It is so cool how willing God is to hear and answer our prayers if we will just be sincere.  So like mom always says "pray always".  I love being a missionary and I am trying to enjoy every moment.  

Les quiero! Mando mis amor a ustedes! 

Elder Crofts

Ps.... a tragedy happened..... our waffle iron died the other day.... so I was only able to take advantage of the waffle recipe you sent me last week once..... haha

Lunch last week!

The amazingly beautiful VALAPARAISO

Elder Gabaglio from Paraguay

Elder Puefua and Elder Guttierrez had to stay the night in our pension to go to a meeting they had the next morning. We decided sushi would be appropriate.

Our lunch fell through yesterday... so we made do with what we had in our pension... haha

We went to MCDONALDS today... yeah it is really expensive here... don't go.

 Videos from the week! 

                                                       The morning run

                                                        MCDONALDS(overrated)