June 8, 2015

Hola Queridos,

We had a great this week.  Two souls were saved: one was the soul of a man; the other was the soul of a cat.  haha we were climbing up a GIANT set of stairs when we heard a cat crying and crying from a tree.  The genius had gotten into a spot where it couldn’t get down.  We had hoped to see it jump the 9 feet that it needed to land on the ground but unfortunately it didn’t.  We visited a few houses and on the way down it was still there so we got a plank of wood to help it down.  Well scouts taught me well.... do a good turn daily.

The other soul that was saved was CRISTIAN.  He got baptized yesterday and it was awesome.  I baptized him and right after we came out of the water he said it was just an overwhelming feeling that came over him.  He was really happy and we were really happy for him.  Just like with Sebastian’s baptism in April we had a lot of drama to make this baptism happen as well.  Everything worked out and now we are going to try and help Cristian progress with the ward’s help.  

We now have basically no one that is progressing.  So this week, we are going to talk with EVERYONE. It isn´t always easy but I always feel good when I feel I have done my part to talk with every single person that the Lord has put in my path.  The other day, we went to contact a 60 year old man.  I stuck out my hand to greet him and he didn’t even flinch and walked right through it.  It must be the sun screen that you and mom sent me for my birthday because I am convinced that I turned 100 percent invisible. haha poor guy, probably has a bruise in his gut.

I am in 3rd Nephi in the BOM.  I love learning from the teachings of the Savior and thinking about the things I need to do to improve.  I loved what I read today.  We can serve God or we can serve Satan there is no in between.  And,  in all things we need to remember to look to serve God and build His kingdom and all other things shall be added unto us.  We may not understand why things happen, but we can always trust in Him, knowing that everything that happens in our lives will work together for our good if we let Him guide us. 

This week was a little better but it is just tough at times feeling like you're still not doing it just how it should be.  I am sure you understand.  But thanks for all of the advice.  I am trying to really get things going.  This could be my last full week in the Chamiza Ward but we will have to see.  I am trying to really organize my time because I feel like part of what stresses me out is that I have NO time to do all of the things I feel I need to do with all of the responsibilities as a DL.  But I am working hard and hopefully we can see some miracles this week.  I Love you all.

Con MUCHO Amor. 

Elder Crofts

Cristian's baptism was awesome!

Cristian and his parents

Waiting for the font to fill up

Waiting during Cristian's interview

The cat we saved

Hellooo kitty

My salmon breakfast from the other day

Mission blog pictures from Achupallas Zone Conference

June 1, 2015

We had a good week.  We have been trying to talk with everyone but there is just not a lot of interest among a lot of people.  But we are looking for the people that the Lord has prepared.  We activated a woman named Rosa Farfan that is from Spain and she is so awesome.  We have had a lot of less actives that have started coming and we are super happy about that! This week, really flew by and I don’t have a whole lot to say.  Cristian hasn´t been smoking for 1 week and he should be baptized this Sunday.  He really knows it is what he should do.  Yesterday, he didn’t come to church but we stopped by later that day and he told us that he just didn’t have a good weekend and fought against the feeling he had.  Out of nowhere our 1st and 2nd counselor of the bishopric showed up and we had a super powerful lesson.  He knows he is in the right path and hopefully he keeps his commitments so he can be baptized this Sunday.  It was a tough week but we are going to work hard and try to make this week a better one! 

I just wanted to thank you for all you do.  Your letters and emails really mean a ton and I am super grateful for everything.  I am glad to see that you guys had fun in San Fran and it sounds like everything was awesome! That Tony´s pizza looked even better than I remembered. Have mercy..... I would swim all of the west coast to get my hands on that puppy!  ha-ha The pizza here in Chile is NOTHING like the stuff we have back home. Well, I am doing well.  I am trying to work hard and be obedient but like it says in the "His Grace is Sufficient" talk by Brad Wilcox, I always feel like I come up just a little short.  There are days where I feel super good about everything and others where I feel not to great.  I think what is the hardest for me is to feel like I am an efficient missionary.  The other day we stopped by a member’s house to see if he could come with us to an appointment we had and he invited us in to his house and told us that he couldn’t but kept talking and talking and TALKING and one hour later we left.  The other day we had lunch and we got there and it wasn’t ready and we ended up having a two our lunch.  I try but things just don’t turn out always how I would like them to (such is life right).  Or some days we try to talk with everyone and the majority don’t even shake our hands. Haha, we just laugh it off most of the time but what bugs me is that I feel I have such high expectations for myself and for my mission and I want to learn as much as I can from these two years so I can become the best me I can.  I know I will never live up fully to the expectations God has for me but it just sucks sometimes to feel so far from where you want to be.  I try not to compare myself to others but it happens at times.  I am starting to realize that the 1 year mark is just a few weeks away and I feel like I still have a TON to improve.  What were some things that have helped you to have constant and persistent personal growth and to feel like you are working effectively every day?

I have learned here in the mission that it really is tough to turn everything over and to be 100 percent consecrated to the work.  It is tough to "humble yourself to the dust" and to put off the natural man.  I feel like there are so many things and people that I need to pray for but at night I am exhausted and don’t fight to give the quality of prayer that I need and the other people need.  I love you and I really am doing well.  I am just bugged at times that I can´t seem to take 100 percent control of my growth and the success in the areas I am in and in my district.

I hope you have a great week of work.  Thanks for all you do 

Love you all, 

Elder Crofts

Achupallos Zone Conference. Our last conference with President Kahnlein.

Elder Brown & I on our way back from Vina

Interchange with Elder Veloso

Ain't nothing like condensed milk to tame the beast within

We decided to make some homemade beans....yummy, yummy!

Hey, lets make a roof

Hey, lets make a fence. Hope the one at home looks better when finished

Looks like a nice position for a nap

May 25, 2015

Buenos tardes mi querido familia!!!

Well this was another good week.  On Friday, we had our last zone conference with President Kähnlein and it was awesome.  He talked of the need for us to have works of righteousness.  We should try every day to perfect our works and follow exactly the path that Christ taught.  If we are righteous, we will always be happier.  He shared a video in the end of a man who talked about the things that really are the most important in life. In this video he shared a story of when he had bought a nice new convertible.  He would frequently take his niece and nephew on a ride.  One day, his niece and nephews mom said to them "be careful with your shoes not to scuff up the nice new seats that your uncle has!"  He then took a freshly opened can of orange soda and poored it all over the back seats and said "It is a THING!"  He then went on to say that the next week he was taking his nephew for a ride when suddenly he threw up all over the back seat because he had gotten the flu a day or two before.  He said "I felt so good knowing that I made it so a little 8 year old boy didn’t feel so bad about ruining a THING!".  Something that was also said was "the game is short.... so play hard."  I am trying to "leave it all out on the field" every day.

Oh Juanito.... so I am sure you remember Jaunito.... well it was his turn to give us lunch again.  After a GIANT bowl of noodles and clams,  he gave us both 2 GIANT plates with two pieces of fish that were bigger than any piece of fish I had ever eaten.  I really ate like two fist sized pieces of fish.  He then brought out a GIANT desert and cut it into 4 pieces.  He said that the person that finished 1st would have to eat the last piece.  I ate nice and slow so that Elder Brown would have to eat it haha.  But.... as soon as I finished... "Elder Crofts! You didn’t get another piece! Should I give you something else?" "No Juanito, I really am stuffed don’t worry about it!"  "Oh but it is not fair" he responded.  He then left the room and came back with a box that had a dessert that was the size of my fist.  I just started to laugh uncontrollably.  I have started to get a little bit of a stomach and have lost a lot of muscle mass so I have been trying to eat healthier and he wasn’t helping me out. haha as I continued laughing I moved in my chair a little bit and it made a big screeching noise like it was about to burst into little pieces. That killed me. haha I started laughing so hard that I burst into tears and instead of sounding like a laugh it sounded like more of a girly cry leaving my mouth.  Embarrassing.... but well..,. it happened.  I have meditated about going to a pure water diet. haha

So yesterday, I learned a lesson about not judging people.  A young woman with flaming pink hair was walking in front of us.  I thought to myself "how on earth could someone come to the conclusion that dying their hair flaming pink would be a good idea?"  We passed her and as I looked over she had a lot of different piercings and tear filled eyes.  For some reason, we kept walking and contacted another old man that wanted absolutely nothing.  After the contact, we kept walking when we passed the park where we always run in the morning. We saw this same girl sitting on a bench bawling.  We felt we should go talk to her.  Her name was Fernanda and she was only 16 years old.  Her mom’s boyfriend had arrived at the house drunk and had threatened to kill her.  She has been an atheist for a few years but I think she really felt the spirit as we talked with her.  Tomorrow we have an appointment and hopefully we can help her come closer to God by being baptized.  It made me realize that I don’t know what circumstances people are in so I should not judge them.  Not all people have had the privilege of being raised in a gospel centered home.  I love my Savior and I know he and our Heavenly Father love us so much.  I know this church is true.  Time to keep “playing hard.”

Con amor,

Elder Crofts

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY!

In this picture, I was in mid blink. I was about to erase it but Elder Brown said "but if she served in Japan it's perfect." So there you go. Haha Hope you had a great day!

We made Mom's BBQ chicken pizza.

Yes, I do recognize that almost all the pictures have food in them. You can shave a tiger but that doesn't change the fact that he is going to have stripes.

First plate with Juanito

Hey there big guy.

The fish is as big as my fist.

Dessert #1

Dessert #2

My reaction to Dessert #2. Don't mind the rolls in the chin...it comes with the dessert...the tears also come with the dessert.

Looks like the poor guy ran out of lives

Almost all of the photos we get from Bobby involve pictures of food, we hope this is an exception!

May 18, 2015

Buenos Tardes!

Well every week seems so go a little faster than the last.  This last week, we had a meeting for all of the DLs in the mission and it was super uplifting.  Some themes that stuck out in my mind were the need to be masters of daily repentance, the importance of being a good example, and the importance of mastering the mission language.  President said that if a gringo doesn’t master Spanish and if a Latino doesn’t master English in the mission it is a sin! So I am trying my best not to be a sinner! haha   President shared a video named "Lift" that the church made not too long ago.  It talked about a woman who got Parkinson’s and was stuck in a wheelchair being only about 60 years old.  She couldn’t lift herself up into bed and was widowed and didn’t have much help from just about anyone.  The ward came together and 40 priesthood holders made a schedule and passed by every night to help her get into bed and to give her company.  This was a process that continued for 7 years.  One man talked about how at first it was a burden and that he and others didn’t want to keep doing it.  One man in the ward said "well.... if you guys don’t want to do it that is fine.  I will do it every night if that is what it takes."  The attitude of the ward started to change and it became a delight for them.  One man talked about how he sometimes had to do it alone and how it was his dedicated training in the gym that allowed him to be able to do it.  When he did exercises, he thought of her. (You can just watch it to get a better idea) but the point is that it made me think of papa the night that he fell up at the cabin.  He couldn’t get up and Mom, Heather and Nana couldn’t help him up either.  Heather came running to me out on the snowmobiles and I had to come back to help him up.  It was hard but I was able to lift him up into the car so that we could take him to the hospital.  It made me think of the importance of always being ready for the trials that come.  If we aren’t prepared spiritually, physically or temporally,  at some point a trial will come and it will get the best of us.  It gave me a stronger desire to prepare myself everyday so I can be ready for the people the Lord has prepared.

So Cristian didn’t get baptized.  He smoked a cigarette Thursday morning so we had to postpone his interview and change it to today.  BUT he didn’t come to church yesterday and we haven’t had time to stop by his house.  I am a little bugged but I don’t feel too down.  I feel like we have done almost all we can to prepare him it just depends on him now.  I really don’t have a desire to baptize someone who is just going to go inactive a week later so we are going to talk with him and see if he really is committed. Hopefully all goes well.

So Elder Brown and I have made a new key indicator. GREETINGS.  We have a goal to have 20 contacts every day so we try and talk with everyone.  It happens A LOT where we go to talk with someone and they just keep walking as if they didn’t see us or they will shake our hand and just keep walking. haha so as we are walking I will ask Elder Brown "How many contacts do we have?" "ummm.... one second.... well it looks like we have 4 contacts and 16 greetings!" haha we are doing a super good job about having lots of greetings.  A lot of people want absolutely nothing to do with us but we are looking for the chosen!

Sorry.... super long but one last thing... yesterday we didn’t plan to go to a certain area but Elder Brown felt we should go there.  While we were on the way, we contacted a woman named Alejandra.  I don’t know why but I felt as soon as we contacted her that she had a son who was about our age and that they were passing through some trials.  Without knowing her situation, we started to testify to her of the plan of salvation and eternal families.  She told us that she has a son who is 20 years old that has had brain damage since birth.  She said that it is a matter of weeks or days for him to move on from this life.  We have an appointment tomorrow and hopefully it goes well.  I love being a missionary and I love the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Love,

Elder Crofts

 

May District Leader training

A member of the ward fixed our cold water problem. Yes!

I decided to repay them by introducing his son to PB & J. He loved it (of course he did).

I had an interchange with Elder Horton to be able to go to the meeting with the DLs

Doing the nightly district calls

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Nah we have just had some crazy fog these past few days

A ton of fog

That fog time fun

Two in one banana. Alright!!!