San Juan Solidaridad 8

Dear Family and Friends,

Whether it is easier to say thy sins are forgiven thee or arise and walk we are so blessed to have a Savior who can do both. This week at zone conference we watched the new video for #LighttheWorld and wow am I ecstatic for Christmas, don{t worry I have not forgotten about Thanksgiving and I am not going to forget to give it its fair share of stage time. Nevertheless, today is just as good as any to remember Jesus Christ and speaking of Light the World I particularly want to highlight the similarities betwixt the acts the Savior did and what we can do today. No man, save our God Himself has the power to say [thy sins be forgiven thee[ and have some meat or proof to back it up. But, we fellow members of the human family can be the force that reaches out a happy hand that invites [arise and walk[. No matter physically, emotionally, or spiritually someone around you is metaphorically bedridden or paralyzed and everyone of us the capacity and responsibility to lift and alleviate others. To wrap it all up and put a bow on it, the Savior invites us to be good people.

We had an amazing week, obviously not everyday is good but right now I am feeling good because Sunday was amazing. It felt good to see all of our hard work pay off and be proven through church attendance.

The culture is very different down here but I am pretty much used to it by now, to get around we drive combis, motos, and buses, well we don't drive but you get me. Driving is crazy because there is not stop lights only speed bumps and every second you feel like you are going to crash, (reference: scene in the Bee Movie) but I have actually never seen a crash here so that makes me feel better. The people here have pretty good houses, not very many have phones or Internet actually but they have super nice cars. Not immensely fancy but like new Honda's. Here are some pictures of a recent convert family that is really fun but a little hard to keep under control, and pollo a la braza oooh it is so good. 

I am having the time of my life out here. 

I love all you guys.

Elder Ben Craythorne

San Juan Solidaridad 7

Family and Friends,

It is a good day and a good week and a good time to be a missionary here in Solidaridad. We set a lot of appointments and if you hear my voice recording then you will know that we struggle to set an hour when they are going to be there. We have a lot of investigators and they are all really good. We put into practice the teaching of Ammon who changed his teaching down to a level that the king Lamoni would understand and from the kids to the very learned we have a lot of different levels to work with. Even though the goal is the same for everyone, at the same time every lesson is so different. People ask us if we get bored of this work and I just laugh because everyday is a surprise there is no way to plan for everything that is going to happen.

 I hope you all can listen to my voice recording, I shared some of my thoughts from the talk from Elder John C. Pingree which was a really good talk. The goal in this life is to always be better than yesterday. My favorite word in the English and religious language is: optimize. What a blessing. 

I love all you guys and pray super hard for you. This Church is true. 

Elder Ben Craythorne

Sorry no pictures.......next week!!

San Juan Solidaridad 6

Dear Friends and Family,

It is a good week to be a missionary, like always. The work is progressing and so am I (hopefully). A little bit more news about my area you already know we are in the hills of Lima and I can see the ocean and it is really humid so the cold is colder and the heat is hotter. Everyday I will be sweating and at night wearing my sweaters. My area is fairly big I think, I don't have anything to compare it by but it takes us a good 30 to 45 minutes to walk from border to border. It takes 30 minutes driving in an overstuffed combi to get to the stake center. The work here is good as always, we contact people on the streets more than anything. We have a lot of lessons planned for each day and we can remember them because we have a planner, but the Peruvians do not have this same planner so they forget. So yeah as expect we have appointments that fail and that is mainly when we contact. We probably knock on average two doors a day. 

My first transfer came and went just like that. Everything here is staying the same except Elder Limao is the new district leader, he is still comparably fresh on his mission just like me. I have said that directly after his training (2 transfers) he started training me and now he is district leader. And he feels the mantel is too big to be his but I know that he will do a good job and I will to my best to help him and not be a burden. I still have yet to find a problem with him we get along super well. 

This church is true and we are lucky to have it, and I am lucky to be a missionary. I love all you guys, have a great week.

Love you,

Elder Ben Craythorne

San Juan Solidaridad 5

Dear Family and Friends,

Back into the battle this week after the rest we got through general conference. Every day out here is different but the same, we really just put our heads down and go to work smiling all day and talking to everybody. The progress with investigators is always slower than we would like it to be but little by little people are progressing and the only thing I can do for them is teach and tell them what they need to do to be baptized and it is there job to do it. This week we changed one of our rules for the mission before we had to contact 25 people a day 5 of those 25 families and 5 men but now we have to contact 25 people 5 families and receive 2 referrals, in the 5 weeks in my mission I have only received one reference and now we had to get 2 a day. But with every thing we are asked to do the Lord provides a way to achieve it. And we did and are doing it. A small miracle that hopeful will bring a big change to peoples lives. 

I am closing in on my halfway mark of being trained and I am thoroughly enjoying it and trying to apply everything I have learned. Elder Limao leads by example and strong encouragement I don't feel like I am being bossed around but rather guided and he is walking right there with me. What I was trying to explain in my voice recording about the fish climbing a tree or whatever that was is that during General Conference it talked about our divine purpose like I said last week, that means that we cannot compare ourselves and where we are to other peoples photo shopped and well edited lives. I can only try to be the best missionary possible for me to be and still there will be things that I can't do that only the best Elder Limao can do. I love all you guys and hope my words bring somewhat of a spirit into your lives. 

Love,

Elder Ben Craythorne

San Juan Solidaridad 4

Dear Family and Friends,

First of all before I forget right now I am learning 3 languages, Spanish, Portuguese, and Kechuan (and the language of the spirit if you want to count that) Next week I will send a recording of me attempting to speak something not English. The other two languages are harder for me to learn because I have no books or ways to read the language it is just solely off of sound. 

I really am so blessed to have started my mission in this ward, 9 o'clock every Sunday Fortaleza por la 14. We are the only missionaries that meet at our ward but it is pretty small. The stake center is where our district leaders are and it is pretty big. A little about my everyday life: we have bunk beds and I have the top bunk it reminds me of when I was little sleeping in the bunk bed. I AM SO BLESSED We have hot water to take showers, we have a little fridge and a microwave and stove what more could we need?

Elder Dieter F Uchtdorf shared a story about Bobby the Wonder Dog and the natural ability some animals have to remember the path home. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. As a missionary I am constantly asking which way I should go, I want my paths to be directed but something else that he shared is that we have to take the initiative in order to be the tool in his hands that we need to be. So when I am thinking which way I need to go I just need to pick some direction and go that way. A lot of the apostles talked about our divine destiny and the path that we are on. I recommend a good re watching of all the talks at least sometime in between now and the next one in spring. General Conference was so good I cant describe how much it felt like a feast of the spirit.

Hope you all have a great week.

Love,

Elder Ben Craythorne