Pamplona and Recreation

Dear Family,

To give some background to this story about 2 years ago my companion tore his ACL or something like that and they just barely operated on it this last December. He walks fine and he doesn't complain about the pain but he has got one of those things you slip around your knee and he proselytes like that. I am not sure what he feels but his shoes probably aren't helping at all just because they are dress shoes and not so much walking shoes so it was decided that we buy him black tennis slash running shoes to proselyte in. Let's just say that this week we were scraping the bottom of the bucket financially waiting for our reimbursement. Don't worry mom, miracles still happen with our without money (like members buying us pizza haha).

After walking home from English class with Luis his dad basically told us "not yet" as far as baptism and that includes Luis' baptism. We are still going to continue teaching him and I am sure he will be baptized just not now.

We also decided that it would be a million times better that Jordan gets baptized with his mom and dad, which is just around the corner because they have plans to get married in May. Everybody wins because Jordan will still be able to go to boys camp. They have been taking lessons since last July! 

What is even better is that an investigator who has been taking lessons for more than 2 years waiting for his papers to get married will finally get married the 6th of April. That is a free baptism that we did little to deserve.

My one and only invitation to the reader of this email is to watch General Conference this week. I don't care who you are or if you're just reading this to clear it off your inbox WATCH GENERAL CONFERENCE. It will be the best decision of this week and I promise you won't regret it. Any primary kid can tell you to follow the prophet but that will be pretty hard to do if you don't know what he is saying.

I personally testify that there are prophets who walk on this earth today. Modern day Peter, James and John exist, their names just might appear to be Russell, Dallin and Henry but the office is the same. I love that there is a God who is so caring that he sends us these messengers. You will know that God speaks, yes I mean the present verb. I love this church and I know its true. I am also really excited to see who the new apostles will be, my money is on Elder Clayton and slash or Elder Pingree but that might only be something interesting to a missionary. 

Have the best week don't forget to read the Book of Mormon.

Love you all,

Elder Craythorne

Pamplona City

Family and Friends,

I don't know where all these miracles are coming from. The presidents wife just told me that we can work hard and not get anything done or we can work hard and "get lucky" you could say but the key is to keep working hard. To recap this week I will just talk about our baptisms and Santiago.

It was a long process but we finished off the week with two baptisms, Alexander and Alfredo. 2 points for heaven someone give me a high five. Two very good men who are a lot better now.

Santiago is the most humble man and not because he is obligated to be but because he chose to be. He actually has a pretty good job but he gives all that he makes to his family to their houses and studies, his own house is very simple. The gospel and the Book of Mormon are things that he decisively made a part of his life and he is happier because of it.

Today is only half a P-day because on Friday we are going to the temple woo hoo so that will be more of a full P-day. The temple is great and I can't wait to eat at Subway again ha ha. Also, my companion has had problems with his meniscus in the past so president wants us to buy new "proselyting" shoes but they are just all black Nike running shoes to help out with walking all day everyday. Then it will be back to the grind.

Something that is normal here but I had to get used to was that every so often at random they will just shut off the water or electricity, that's what happened last week so we had to drive 30 minutes to find another Internet cafe.

Last P day we watched the movie Coco and I am not going to lie I think it was better in Spanish than in English. And boy does that movie tug a few chords and make you want to remember a little more. Of course everybody ties this into temple work and family history.

I read something in the Liahona this week that I really liked. It was by Elder Cook called something like "When the bad seems good and the good seems bad" it reminded me a lot of the quote shared by Elder Holland that "somehow Satan has made covenants and commandments feel more like condemnation". Growing up and especially in High School I felt like that was very true in certain cases, fortunately I wasn't exposed to many major things but one thing that stared me in the face wanting to fight was language. It didn't matter who, if I heard garbage I would offer a word they could have said instead and often times it happened when I was good friends with someone in class and then they would cuss suddenly I felt like I was the one who looked ridiculous because I wouldn't say things like that. If you haven't read it already I would encourage you to, it talks about all the commandments or values of the church that the world doesn't agree with like modesty, chastity, Word of Wisdom, and families.

Our mission started a study of the Book of Mormon from the start to the end marking with 4 colors all the names of Christ, His attributes, His teachings and the prophesies completed in the Book of Mormon. We will read 20 minutes everyday or 6 to 7 pages to be able to finish in 3 months or so. I started in English but apparently that was cheating so I started over in Spanish. I don't know where you all are in your own studies but for those of you who haven't read in awhile I fervently invite you to do the same.

I love all you guys have the best week, don't forget to read your scriptures.

Love,

Elder Craythorne

Pamlona and Pure Miracles

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, let me tell you about last Monday. For lunch we went to the mall and another zone was there all together and so as the caption hints we had a family reunion. Elder Halliday, Elder Limao, Elder Me, and Elder Huanca. What is crazier is that Elder Halliday's trainer is still in the mission so we have 5 generations. That was really fun pics below. We also went shopping and I was in a good mood so I bought Elder Huanca and I some Star Wars shirts, pics also below.

We aren't even to the good part yet. While proselyting at night we were in the house of one of our ,as the kids say, "eternal investigators" but really we are just waiting so they can get married so they can be as the kids say "an eternal family" which will probably happen in June, they already act like members though but you know, you gotta live the commandments. Anyway, so we were teaching them and we are sort of running out of ideas of what to do because they have already listened to every lesson more than 100 times, let me remind you they started investigating last June. Well there we were in the middle of the lesson and the mom stopped us and asked how easy it would be for her kid to be a member of the church so he could go to boys camp. It about threw me out of my chair I just assumed they wanted to get baptized all together. Long confusing story short Jordan, the 12 year old, is going to get baptized here shortly. Along with Alexander and Alfredo who will be baptized this week.

This week we revisited Sara who was an old investigator from Elder Infante and his old companion. She had been taught everything and actually had a baptismal interview but the week leading up to her baptism she saw anti Mormon propaganda and lost it all. She became cold and began contending with us very quickly. We stopped passing by a while ago but we always awkwardly walked by her massage salon because it is on one of the busier streets in our area. This last Wednesday she sought us out said she wanted to talk. Long spiritual story short she said that while she was listening to the missionaries she felt happiness and peace but while she was looking stuff up on the Internet she felt sick, irritable, and miserable. We started from 0 with her with the very basics of prayer and we will go from there.

Yesterday we had a very powerful lesson. We were teaching a man who had assisted a church before but had left it because he stopped believing in God after the death of his 23 year old son. He asked us "In your church do you guys believe in miracles?" we replied of course we do, then he said "I cannot tell you how hard I prayed for my son to live. I had spent hours praying. Why did he die?" Obviously a very delicate and scary situation and he was already in tears before we the account in Alma when the women and children are suffering. Even though we have the spirit with us as we teach doesn't mean we will be able to have an answer to every question and I couldn't tell this man exactly why his son died, but I could tell him that God did know and that God loves him. I left his house feeling pretty good.

I guess one thing I don't talk about a lot but I should is the food here. I eat really good food here and the Peruvians really like to talk about their food, they have all got weird names like Lomo Saltado, Papa la Huancaina, Arroz con pollo (flashback to my farewell) they eat that a lot, they have a dish called noodles with 7 sauces. Let's just say there are a lot of condiments on everything so I wouldn't say I eat the healthiest of things but they are very flavorful. Personally, my favorite would be either Lomo Saltado or Green Noodles. Ok now the negative part about the food, they have something that has a nickname Matagringo (Gringo Killer) it is an olive which I know doesn't sound menacing but it is so different and it doesn't get along with my taste buds at all but the pensionista here gives it to us all the time because she knows we don't like it and wants to teach us to like it. So yes I do willfully eat it and I don't complain even though everyone knows that on the inside I'd rather eat a snail again. So compared to that the tomatoes and onions which I didn't liked before, now don't seem anyway near as bad.

Those of you who read this and remember the cookies that Adrian Porras used to bring to school we also eat those a lot. As far as deserts go I would say my favorite is a simple sweet bread with Manjar Blanco on the inside.

Well now that I think about it I probably should have started out talking about the food and ending off with the spiritual stuff but oh well.  Hope you all have a great week.  

Love,

Elder Craythorne

Pamplona (Rogue) One

Dear Family and Friends,

I hear a good quote this week where the stake president was in a meeting with the area 70 and other general authorities and the area 70 said "we have all been called out of the mercy of God because if it were out of justice we would not be here". I have been called as a missionary out of God's mercy.

I hope you guys had as good a week as we had. Working hard and progressing is sweeter than any tres leches cake I have been offered (that's a lie but you catch the analogy I am trying to make). This week we had a lesson with Santiago who is 57 years old and is so excited to be baptized. He lives alone with his son in a very humble house and the rest of his family lives in another city but he visits them often. He told us that he liked the folletos so much that he started teaching his family the things we were teaching him. He lives at the top of the hill but he is 10 minutes early to church every week. I can't explain how fun it is to teach him.

I cannot tell you exactly the number about how many baptisms come from member references but its a lot more than that of regular tracting. Members know who is ready for the gospel more than we do the only problem is that it costs an arm and a leg to get a referral out of the members but I can't say too much because I was never generous either before my mission. If every member gave referrals the world would be a better place, in an ideal world.

The service we do here is so fun, well not fun but I like it a lot. I think I have already explained a little of what we do but I will go into a little more detail. Juan Leon is the father of one of recent converts and he is such a good guy. He has his own humble little workshop where he makes shopping carts but not the kind you are thinking of. So we help bending iron, making measurements and drilling holes, smoothing off the poles with something that makes a lot of sparks. The end result is a lot of noise and grease slash grime. I would try take pictures but everyone's hands are dirty. 

I am going to buy a new suit today. Cross your fingers everything goes smoothly. 

I know this church is true I love sharing it.

Elder Craythorne

Pictures

Last week I had the best hamburger and milkshake that I have ever had in my mission.

Our zone leaders bought us pizza.

Pamplona, A Series of Fortunate Events

Dear Family,

Oh I love being a missionary.

We are having so much progress here in our program. Things were slowing down there for a little bit but I can't wait to get these people baptized and saved.

The ward here is good and there is a lot of people but the leaders are few and a lot are recent converts. We are trying to organize a mission team but the bad part is that we don't have ward missionaries. Right now our mission team consists of the recently released second counselor, YSA leader, a guy assigned to help baptisms and the crazy gospel principles teacher. Pray for us.

I am pretty sure I talked about Diomedez last week but I cannot explain how much this guys has changed. Every single day we would pass by him and he was drunk as all get out. This last Friday we passed by him and he is completely different and he gives us way too much credit than we deserve. The only thing we did was invite him to Alcoholics Anonymous.   Thought I could share a cool experience this week. After a regular day of teaching we came off the mountain down by a park to contact people at about 9 at night. We were thinking of where we should go and who we should visit and I was going over in my head the usual's and the thought just came as naturally as it usually does to visit Alexander.  So we went, knocked on the door and 30 seconds later we were giving a blessing of health and strength because Shasira had just gone into labor. Oh boy was she balling. I cannot explain it but the spirit was so strong even though everyone was so stressed including myself. 

I am lucky I got picked to be a trainer. It is such a good life its like having a little Elder Craythorne who teaches the same way I do except he is Peruvian. We get along super well and he fits really well into the mission work.

I wish you guys the best week. I read one of my favorite chapters in the scriptures this week in John 15. That's not necessarily a reading assignment but it is a strong suggestion.

Love, 

Elder Craythorne

Pamplona and I am training

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, not quite sure who thought it would be a good idea but I started training Elder Huanca yesterday. He is from Trujillo Peru and he is just as excited to work as excited can get. I remember exactly how it was for me my first days and I had no clue what was happening. I hope I can give him the training he deserves because I know he can be a good missionary.

Yesterday, was the training for the trainers while the new missionaries were upstairs being trained by the president. It was cool to see the Elders and Sisters who are training, I feel out of place but I sure like the company.  There are a lot of good missionaries and I am learning a lot from them.  I guess the Lord trusts us because I know that a big part of the mission is based off of your trainer.

I just hope I do a good job.

The good news is, is that I am not district leader anymore so I can focus a little more on Elder Huanca's training.

Elder Infante went home this week and we said goodbye to a lot of people. I have no doubt he was a good missionary, based off of the people's opinion of him I know he did a good job.

We have really good investigators who are progressing but once again we have found the problem that none of them are married. It is a little weird I have asked so many people to get married, and it is even more strange that I am 18 and they are 30 to 40. Take that as you will but the mission president says that we are changing the culture of these peoples lives. I can't tell you how many times my investigators have told me, "wow, marriage has never even been anything that crossed my mind". I love teaching the law of chastity because that is when you can see it click in their heads and they start to feel the need to repent and change. So good.

I love the chance that my mission gives me to study the gospel. I love the gospel and I strongly like sharing it with people. I know this church is true. I hope all you guys are doing well.

Elder Craythorne

Pictures

Elder Vergara ending his mission and Elder Huanca starting his mission.

Pamplona and Baptism

Family and friends,

"If you were accused in a court of law that you were a Latter Day Saint, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"

For those of you who don't have the opportunity or time to listen to the voice recording just know that our baptism on Saturday was amazing. Nickson and Pamela are true converts, and I can't exactly say that is thanks to our efforts, they were just prepared. The baptismal service went smoothly and we finished it off by singing "I like to look for rainbows" in English and Spanish.

Thanks to a miracle there was an opening in a spot to go to EFY next week and Nickson is going to go. I cannot tell you how good things are working out for him. I am 99 percent sure he is going to be the worlds best missionary.

We had multizone conference on Tuesday so I was able to see everyone from San Juan again, with all the changes that has happened a lot has changed but Elder Styler continues strong in Solidaridad.

I can't remember if I have said this before but we are focusing on always inviting people to be baptized. In the multizone we had 3 workshops about this same thing, I really liked one of the examples. They were passing out candy but they didn't give it to everybody because not everyone was invited. Also, a really good quote "Every time we don't invite someone to do something (not specifically baptism) we are denying them the opportunity to participate in the Atonement." I about fell out of my seat by the power packed into that statement.

A while ago during a period when seemingly all of our appointments were falling through we contacted higher up on the hill and found one person who opened the door. She was 16 but we set an appointment with her and found her brother and friend. One thing lead to another and now we are teaching 9 young single adults who are really solid. We want to do an activity with members in the ward. If anyone has an idea of what would be fun let me know.

I know this church is true. I love my Savior and I love this work. There is no doubt in my mind that this is what the Lord wants me to do.

I love and pray for you everyday. Have a good week and don't forget to read your scriptures.

Love you all,

Elder Craythorne