Feliz Dia Papa

Dear Family and Friends,

This week we had our last multi zone with President McGinn and his wife. It was really good and super fun I will see if I can get some pictures sent to you guys from that. My favorite part was Sister McGinn's life hacks slash tips of which I will try to do a brief summary. It wasn't really necessarily anything new that I had not heard but it was a good reminder.

...Don't go to sleep and miss everything and she shard the story from Rip Van Winkle that some of you will remember from General Conference a couple years back.

...Avoid the phrase "I will be happy when..." that one hit really close to home. It goes a long with what President Nelson taught the youth about not comparing which just so happens to be the next point.

...Don't compare. Work with your strengths and strengthen your weaknesses. She shared a quote from Pat Holland who explained how it was to be married to the popular Jeff Holland.

...Be modest.

...Be kind, be kind, be kind.

...Be careful. Do not take that first enticing step to somewhere you should not go or in doing something you should not do. (Summarized quote from President Nelson).

...Don't do dumb things. Then she showed us a picture of her and President's wedding and all the men had on bright orange suits and she regrettably told us that was her idea. Conservative will always be fashionable.

...Live a life of service. Quote from Marjorie Hinkley where she said she doesn't want to show up to the pearly gates in a fancy car or nice clothes. FIND QUOTE.

...Be grateful. Grateful people are happy, not the other way around. Be grateful and express gratitude.

I also read a really good talk by Elder Uchtdorf about what matters most. He quotes Ghandi and says "There is more to life than going faster" or something like that also someone said something like "Simplicity will always be sophistication". Trees understand that when they are going through rough seasons they focus more of their efforts on what matters most so you can tell the history of the seasons based on the rings of a tree. Sure, maybe it didn't grow as much but it continued living.

My study of the Book of Mormon has lead me to more than a few examples of ministering usually Lehi to his sons or Nephi to his brothers. Unlike his brothers Nephi had looked for the reasons as why to be obedient. I imagine that Laman and Lemuel were not too much into reading books and when their dad told them to go back to get one from Laban it didn't sound too flattering. Yet, they go back and everyone knows that story. A short time later their father sends them back to find wives... I imagine there was less murmuring with that last task.

Being so close to the ocean with winter closing in has forced me to bare the cold, and its getting colder. The climate is super humid so the cold is so much worse. At home you could put on hoodie and be fine, here you'd need three.

This week Friday came around and we had zero things going for us when out of no where 5 miracles popped out. When an appointment had fallen through we went to visit Kelly Gil (hill) who we always joke around about visiting because she is never home or if she is we set an appointment for another day and she isn't there. So we passed by and the same thing happened, said she was busy which she really was I don't accuse her of always giving us excuses. So as we started walking away her son who had just pulled into the driveway said he was interested in listening. Raul! It was such a good lesson but a little weird because he knows almost perfect English. So 50% of the time I was talking in English and 50% Spanish. He had spent 8 months in Wisconsin and North Dakota as a life guard. Fast forward to Saturday afternoon and we had an appointment with the mother of one of the recent converts Marjory a 14 year old who has just about as much excitement to share the gospel as a full time missionary. We had been trying to teach her mom forever but her schedule makes it almost impossible. The only time she had was our lunch time so we ate super fast and ran over. Oh it was the perfect lesson. We basically taught 4 lessons in one because after hearing about the Restoration she asked what we believed about tithing and why the Word of Wisdom and the Sabbath Day. She was asking all the right questions. Almost perfect.. But she works on Sunday and she isn't married. But I have no doubt those problems will be solved.

I love my mission, I love everything about it. And I love you all.

Elder Craythorne

Busy Week

Dear Family and Friends,

We had a really busy week this week as you will be able to see from the pictures. On Thursday we went to the temple which ended with a good old Subway foot long Chicken Bacon Ranch melt. It was really refreshing to go back. That was by far the spiritual highlight.

AND IF THAT WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH. We also got to listen to Elder Stevenson twice this week. Saturday and Sunday. It was really cool because on Saturday that was the first time I have seen or heard of the entire mission getting together. Missionaries traveled 12 hours in a bus or by plane to come to Lima. I will send the picture of that too.

The other set of pictures are from this morning when we went to the beach. Instead of saying "it was too cold to get in and swim" I will just blame it on the mission rules. But we did play dodge ball. I also got my typical name tag pic, mostly just so mom could post it on instagram.

I learned a lot from Elder Stevenson. He told us that the way we teach repentance is by extending commitments. He focused on the importance of promising blessings. That makes two general authorities in the last month telling us the same thing.

Other than that I think our biggest need/goal is contacting like locos. I hope we can get something good cooking up here.

I love my mission and I love all of you.

Elder Craythorne

Las Lomas and Los Perros

Dear Family and Friends,

I mentioned awhile ago about the study of the Book of Mormon that we started as a mission. Well the purpose of that was to be able to read the Book of Mormon in 3 months and I am proud to say I will finish this week. We are marking it with 4 colors to identify all references of Christ, His attributes, Doctrine, and prophecies. One thing I have noticed is how much power Satan has right before Christ comes. The people begin to be prideful and war again and again and it explains that is due to their hearts having been turned to Satan as soon as they started getting prideful. There is a talk by Jeffrey R Holland, I can't remember what it is called but he talks about in Joseph Smith's First Vision right before he saw God and Jesus Christ he was seized. He goes on to explain that before a spiritual experience in any one of our lives Satan will be present in one form or another.

Elder Streber and I are working super hard here. It makes the bad days a little less bad when you got someone to talk to about Star Wars, Avengers, world history, and the buckets of other things we have in common.

Yesterday was stake conference here in Pachacamac and President McGinn spoke along with his wife. Sister McGinn shared how her family were all members but not 100% active but that all changed when her mom gave birth to a little brother Gwayne, and he only lived for 60 seconds. In her poor Spanish she tenderly spoke of how this tragedy is what re sparked a testimony inside of her mother. Her mother remembered and felt connected with the divine plan and promise that families are forever. Shortly thereafter the family went to the temple and were sealed. This baby with the lifespan of a minute was a ministering angel who came and planted in his family a love for the Gospel. If it were not for him, Sister McGinn said that she would not be here in Peru. In one way or another I have to thank Gwayne for what he did.

This week is going to be fun filled. Thursday we are going to the Temple so that's awesome. And turns out we are going back to the MTC on Saturday to listen to a devotional from Elder Stevenson, yeah they let us know about that 3 days ago. Then next Monday we are going to the beach for a zone pday. (Lots of pictures coming)

I love the gospel and I know its true. The truths that it offers to us are eternal and only for our benefit.

I love you all,

Elder Craythorne

Las Lomas Week 2

Dear Family,

We had a really good week as always here in Las Lomas. Little by little I am getting used to the area. This week we had exchanges so I was able to lead a little in my new area. Usually it takes 2 to 3 weeks for me to get really familiar with an area. One thing I thought was really cool was that Elder Styler's companion, Elder Patiño, is 27 years old! He was baptized 2 and a half years ago and he is the only member in his family. Talk about motivation.

The pictures from this week are from the service that we did on Thursday, the same thing we did last week where we took out a mountain. Yes, we already made the joke that faith can move mountains.

For those of you who only read my emails I am sorry because most of the content is on the voice recording.

Love you all, I pray for you all the way from Peru.

Love,

Elder Craythorne

May 21st Letter

Family and Friends,

Well to start off just thought I would write something I learned about my companion this week. We were walking and talking and he told me that he had some medical problems so obviously big Spanish words I didn't understand but I pretended I understood. One time I just said "Yeah I don't know how to say that in English" and he goes "um hypertension"... Then I just sat there for a second. Yeah, he knows English almost perfectly.

The only picture I have of us is eating the bread.

Another interesting thing that happened this week, we were sitting in sacrament waiting for it to start and in walks Daniel, a Venezuelan member who was assisting Solidaridad when I was there. If any of you can remember back far enough to when we starting teaching Richard, well that was a referral we got from Daniel, he moved here a couple of months ago.

I also met Kevin finally. Kevin. He is hard to describe. He is a 14 year old member, and he is crazy. He is very very VERY energetic and a huge fan of gringos. Every time we see him he always runs up and gives me a hug and kisses my arm and then he tries to steal my wallet, so you gotta be careful with him. If I can ever sit him down long enough to take a picture you guys will be the first to receive it.

We had another Family Home Evening last night where we sort of roasted the 2 less active families who were there, no fault of our own. The bishop had told us to give a message by Ronald A. Rasband November 2016 called "So you don't forget" or something like that again I am translating. We had talked about the difficulties we as humans have to remember and how easy it is to forget. Of course the topic was directed to tell the less actives that they needed to come to take the sacrament to be able to remember the sacrifice for our sins. Apparently, we were not to sly in how we went about teaching it and the less actives had caught on to what we were trying to teach.

In other news, it took me 5 hours to eat lunch on Saturday.  That bread is from Cuzco and no we did not eat all of it.  

Hope you all have a great week.

Love,

Elder Craythorne

Pamplona to Las Lomas

Dear Family,

This letter might be short because I just barely talked to my family on Sunday but I guess I still have a lot to share considering transfers came and went. Both Elder Huanca and I got the boot out of Pamplona and a new Elder will train in that area. I hope my investigators and recent converts still get visited (haha nervous laugh).

Now I am in Las Lomas Pachacamac and it is huge. Actually that was my second impression my first impression of the area was that my area is on the beach. I can hear the waves and I smell the salt and fish of the ocean. That also means there is so much more sand and dirt. In my old area it was desert and mountains and this area is just desert and beach, very little difference. The houses are all the same but you will see that from the pictures.

My first day here we were able to teach Dionicio who is just a very simple and broken man. He feels super alone and well he is. He has no family, he has a house but he never goes inside because he thinks someone will steal his motor taxi so that's where he sleeps and everything. He is kind of crazy but I like him. I can see his eagerness to become closer to God.

We also had a Family Home Evening where a sister shared with us this letter as if it were from Heavenly Father. I know its not what he said or anywhere close to sufficiently accurate but I think it can help our humanly understanding of our parting. And bear (bare?) with me because I am translating. And you can change it to say "daughter" if you want.

"I remember very well the day that we walked together to cross the veil to send you on this new adventure on your earthly mission. The tears that surfaced in my eyes when I dressed you with your spirit with your coat of love and I sent you off to school.

I assure you, my son, that my thoughts are with you in this moment and will be with you because I love you with all my heart. I know your life, the good and the bad, your strengths and weaknesses even your most minuscule stressors and temptations. Remember that forever everything that I have will one day be yours if you only return home. Please son, complete your goal. In you I have put a little piece of heaven and also my hopes. You have gifts and talents, and almost more important is that you don't keep them to yourself. Share with your earthly family and put them in practice to serve others. Search for me in yourself because a little part of me is deep inside of you. If you love me, help others understand their purpose of this life and show them the path that leads to me. Don't forget that service is love and love is the base of my kingdom. Come to me, repent and be humble, be patient and strive every day to be better. You have weaknesses inside of you, I know them because I am He who placed them. Don't be upset, they are there because I love you without end and in this way you will be humble. There should be joy and hope in your life. Don't let the chains of the enemy win, in your hardest times look towards me, don't leave me.

Dear son, avoid contentions and reap peace wherever you go. It pains me to think that in your heart there might be anger or wrath. If you could see what I have prepared for you with all my love you would readily do that which would bring you closer to me. You, my son, are my hope, through you I will advance my work along. You don't have much time but you have much to do, I beg you not to waste your time. Start now. Complete your mission I gave you when you were in my presence. I will help you! Know that I am never too busy or never too far away. You don't know how anxious I am to be able to converse with you.

I have so much to tell you but I can't tell you. Talk with me son. Call me your friend. If you laugh I will laugh with you, if you cry I will dry your tears and in me you will find peace and comfort. Be diligent in the work and you will be heir to my kingdom. I give you my peace, love and blessing and the surety that I will never abandon you because I love and miss you. I trust you will return.

With all my love,

Heavenly Father."

The bishop had this idea that to unite the ward he would split it up into different groups based on the neighborhood and the separate groups could have Family Home Evenings all together. The idea is to get all the less actives reactive but until now it doesn't appear to have worked out so well.

I am super ready to work hard. It feels good to be able to look back at my efforts in my old area and see what I need to work on. I will let you know on how well I implement it.

Love,

Elder Craythorne

Dear Jason

Dear Family,

Ah I am at a lose for words. I almost started crying, almost. I don't even know what to say. That is so awesome. I have a nephew! 

Congrats to Emily and Jackson!!  Take good care of Jason for me.  To Ryker and Easton, enjoy it while you can the next 14 or so months until Jason finally gets to meet his favorite Uncle.

Similar to how it was last October and November, the people are getting really excited for the World Cup. Almost every conversation we have here it gets directed to that. They always ask me "Are you sad that the United States didn't get in?" And instead of saying "I didn't even know the United States believed in soccer" I have to pretend to know what I am talking about as I say "Yeah, I don't know what happened I think it was because we didn't have our star player (insert English name) when we played against Panama". Based off of what I have heard the first game should be the end of this month or the start of the next. I will let you know how that goes down, but based off my last experience it is bad news for missionary work.

We are working super hard out here. In my voice recoding I talked a little bit about Santiago who I still can't understand how we got that blessing.

We are still struggling a little bit with overcoming alcoholism and not just with Diomedez. We had a really good lesson with the Leon family. They are super good and we have a really good relationship with them to the point where we have some of our most spiritual lessons with them because they are so open to our counsel. They yearn to learn more about the scriptures, we focused a little more on how we(the missionaries) won't always be around and our main goal, now that they are baptized, is to teach them to fish in place of fishing for them. 5 months ago this family was way different and I am so grateful to have been here to help them.

Something else that is coming up is a probable baptism this Saturday for Katherine (also a door contact). I only say probable because I am not that sure. She has come to church plenty of times, she has friends, she passed the interview I just don't know how converted she is to the doctrine. No fault on our part nor hers but she has 2 kids who make it almost impossible to teach an entire lesson. I think the only lesson where we had 100% of her attention was when we taught the 10 commandments, every other lesson we had to either cut it short or pretend she was listening because her kids were screaming. We asked her how she feels about her baptism and she told us she felt prepared awhile ago. 

I love all you guys, I hope you enjoy the voice recording (I laugh every time I here it).

Elder Uncle Ben Craythorne

That baptismal photo is from the member family we helped out last week.

Exchanges with Elder Moreno and Elder Correa