February 23, 2015

Well Hello!!!!!!

This week, I have been trying to get to know our area.  It is pretty big and at one time we had 2 different wards.  There are A TON of inactives.  Like really.... I can’t believe it.  There are a lot of people here that were baptized 20 years ago and then never came again.  So they are basically investigators that have already been baptized.  All they remember about the church is that Joseph Smith wrote some book. haha 

Well we are in the promised land of dogs and hills.  It has made me reflect back to when I was a kid and always asked and BEGGED Dad for a dog.  I have made a personal promise to NEVER have a dog through my whole life.  Chile has made my perspective of dogs change into: flees, no sleep, and RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.  So that is always fun..... 

So we have one investigator named Sebastian.  He is 13 years old and his Grandma is a member and supports him a lot.  The only problem is that his mom wants him to go to church for 4 months before he can be baptized.  His mom is inactive and wants NOTHING to do with the church.  He is really the only one we have.  We had a family of five that was SUPER good but they are going to be moving out of our area in the next week or so.... so that is a bummer.

Elder CONTRERAS. We get along super well and we haven’t had any problems.  He has not had ANY support from his family his whole mission. Not ONE card or letter or email.  I can’t imagine.  His family is made up of inactive Jehovah’s Witnesses and they weren’t fans of his decision to be baptized.  He has lost a little bit of hope for this area and feels like the Lord won’t bless us with baptisms because the ward can’t even retain the awesome people we bring in.  The mission is going to start closing some areas and he has suspicions that ours might be one of them.  So, I am doing my best to work hard and keep that from happening.  We are struggling finding people that are really interested.  I feel like my list of things to do is a lot bigger than my time but I am doing my best to juggle all of the responsibilities and make things happen in my area and district.

So two weeks ago, I had to come with Elder Garcia to Viña to get my visa only to find that there were some errors and I would have to come back another day.  So, I lost most of my P day there.  They gave me the stuff and told me I was good to go today but I got there and found out after waiting an hour that they didn’t give me one of the papers that I needed.  So we have to wait until after lunch our so that we can go and get it.  So I have lost two P days in the last month.... so that aint very cool. To top it off, I was looking for something in one of the local stores on the streets. Come to find out, the owner isn’t too fond of "Gringos".  He gave me a piece of his mind and I decided to take my business elsewhere.   

Friday we had a meeting for the district leaders in the mission and it was SWEET! I got to see Elder Dunn and a few other people that came in my group.  We watched the video "missionary work and the atonement".  I love the message.   It doesn’t matter if we are rejected in our attempts to share the gospel.  When we are rejected, we are just standing shoulder to shoulder with the greatest man that has ever stepped foot on the face of the earth.  I know that this church is true and I am doing my best to live up to the expectations that our Heavenly Father has for me.  I love you all and appreciate the prayers and support.

Love,

Elder Crofts

District Leader Meeting

Pictures from the mission blog at the District Leaders meeting

Elder Lundskog, my first DL

Elder Dunn, my first comp at the DL meeting

We numba 1

Elder Contreras walking up into the clouds

At the top of our biggest hill, you can see all of Vina, Valparaiso & Concon