The Office

Dear Family,

Again, another week flown by.

 I just got permission from President Richey to be able to call when Ryker gets his call.

I will check my email at around 3 or 4 pm my time every day to see if he's got it make sure you let me know as soon as you know.

We had a good week this week, yesterday was our most productive day. On Wednesday we talked with Lazaro again, I can't remember if I mentioned that he got a new job that will allow him to go to church a wopping 6 times in a year. We tried to give off the vibe that its going to be impossible to progress and keep the commandments with such a job but he has been without a job for 11 months so I think he was more hungry for satisfying his temporal needs than spiritual.

Yesterday we found a less active family who has family in Sandy Utah so that was pretty cool. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Sacrament and how those relate and the importance of it, it was a top notch lesson the spirit was really strong and you could tell it was what they needed to hear.

Our Heavenly Father expects the best from each of us. We must believe in ourselves. Don’t give in when the going gets rough.

Difficulty is one excuse history has never accepted.

There is no education like adversity. Benjamin Disraeli

We receive our inspiration from the mountaintops but receive our maturity from the valleys of life. Winston Churchill

Then I realized that we are not commanded to have faith in blessings but in the Giver of blessings.

Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. . . . But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods Daniel 3:17–18

In the midst of their fiery trial, these three men—who leaned for repose on Jesus, not on outcomes—communed with the Son of God.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design . . . Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

The gospel is still true in the foyer. He talks about his daughter who has disabilities and how every Sunday she gets noisy so someone takes her out to the foyer. In the foyer he sees people who show up a little late, people with fussy newborns or people who just like the softer seats. He compares his daughter’s disabilities with others infirmities and imperfections things like mental/physical illness or imperfect faith and even though those stages may feel like a foyer instead of the ideal chapel situation, the gospel is still true.

That is why His grace is called amazing. It includes all people, which means you. It includes all time, which means now. It includes all pain, which means yours.

 I think my emails are becoming more like telling you guys what I studied this week but I gotta share it.

I love all of you.

Elder Craythorne

The Office and Modern Revelation

Dear Family,

This week was pretty normal until yesterday when we got the news about the new communication methods for missionaries.

I was able to talk with President Richey about it and he says that it makes sense. "They always say its supposed to be the best years of your life until this point, but until this point in your life the best thing that has happened to you is your family and then you are 99% cut off from them"

This week we are still housing a missionary with a bad leg so we haven't left much but we did go share a talk with Lazaro the one by Russell M Nelson "What would your life be like without the Book of Mormon?"

I wanted to share what I learned in my studies this week

Perfection can sometimes be the enemy of righteousness.

And if we humble ourselves, His grace is sufficient to make those weaknesses become strengths (see Ether 12:27) but not perfections.

When you’re sitting there wondering if you can stand back up again, remember that sometimes the test is not about overcoming but about whether we will keep trying no matter how hard things seem to be. 

We will feel more joy and hope in this world when we do our best to seek and obtain Christ’s and God’s approval.

Being in the office I have been super blessed, one of the missionaries commented that the office is the most united zone in the mission and we really are best friends its so fun.

I love every one of you and I have a testimony your prayers are being answered because I see the blessings.

Elder Craythorne

The Office and Jose

Family,

We had a really good week here in the office, I have gotten so much work done its incredible but no one really notices because they are all small tasks, oh well.
This week our proselyting was limited as well but we had intercambios with the Zone Leaders yesterday and we found 4 news.

Our miracle this week was Jose. On Wednesday we were walking with not exactly set appointments but we passed a kid who was playing guitar on the curb. Elder Mortimer is super musically inclined so I asked if he wanted to play the guy's guitar while I contacted him. We taught him yesterday and he was super prepared. He paid so much attention and you could tell it was important to him.
President Richey is a quiet guy but he has undoubtedly changed my life, he'll never sit you down and teach you an important life lesson he does it when you least expect it and then he walks away without saying another word. I can't describe it but I really like him.

I pray for all of you.

Elder Craythorne

The Office and Inspector Gadget

Dear Family,

One of my responsibilities as housing coordinator is to do inspections and make sure everyone is taking care of their houses, Thursday I did 6 and yesterday I did 10. It is pretty fun, I don't go to burn the missionaries for what their doing wrong but it is fun to be able to talk and get to know everyone even if its only a few minutes.

In other news, basketball got approved this week so we played this morning and you'd think it would be quite different after a year and a half but those who know how good I am know that nothing can stop my game.

Got some extra study time in this week and I read a few BYU speeches I really liked one was recent called Knowing who you are and this are some quotes I got from it.

You may have the vain hope that by acting in a telestial or a terrestial manner somehow you will become celestial. Or you may decide in the first place to be celestial and then really reach that goal.

We were made not primarily that we may love God . . . but that God may love us, that we may become objects in which the Divine love may rest “well pleased.”

There is kindness in Love: but Love and kindness are not coterminous. . . . Kindness, merely as such, cares not whether its object becomes good or bad, provided only that it escapes suffering.

“When you realize who you really are, you will be sorry that you didn’t try harder.”

we need to recognize and remember that we are not alone in our struggles. God has placed others in our lives to help sustain us. They may include parents, siblings, roommates, or friends who may be praying and rooting for your success. But they will also include others whom you can serve.

Something cool I did this week was I helped an Elder with some personal financial problems like fraud or what not and we got to go to the U.S Embassy! American soil baby.

The mission is such a blessing and being in the office helps me learn a lot more than I would have other wise I am learning words like audit, guarantee, year end, and rent.

God loves us so much.

Elder Craythorne

The Office and Transfers Pt 3

Hey family, buenas tardes.

While everything is getting cold up there it is getting blazing hot down here, like really really hot and the humidity makes it way worse.

This morning we had the blessing of going to the temple for the first time this year and as always a great experience. Elder Limao (recap: my trainer from Brazil who is now the AP) was saying that in some parts of Brazil people have to travel 3 hours to get to the nearest temple and it just made me think, if I put a pin in West Point Utah and had a 3-day travel radius in every direction how many temple could I hit, and I know we always talk about this but seriously.

This week in my study I learned a new word, stick-to-it-iveness which is self explanatory but he was saying its apart of the gospel of Christ. That is something I get to see first hand here in the mission. “Make the sacrifice and expect a miracle”.

This week after some plans fell through we decided to start knocking on some doors, which isn’t that common here but we do do it. And we knocked on a door of a lady and before we could finish “We are missionaries from the C-“ she told us to come in. We taught her and her son, she said she believes a lot in Christ but has yet to go to his church. So, though she may not know it, tomorrow she will do just that.

We also taught a crazy guy yesterday who was 75 years old and did 80% of his conversing with his facial expressions, not that he had a difficulty of speech he talks a ton but just that he was so dang funny sometimes he would just stop talking and look at us and throw his arms up like “what is going on”.

It's such a great blessing to be a missionary.

Elder Craythorne

Squad pic

The Office: The Season Finale

Dear Family,

Elder Kirby's and my reign has come to and end and I won't lie this one is going to take some getting used to, we got a long so well and he lives relatively close in Utah so it is most likely I will see him after.

MIRACLE WEEK

The science doesn't add up because we have less time and more work on week 6 of transfers but that is when we see the most success. This week we found 4 news and 2 in particular caught me off guard.

There was a sister who came to the office while we were working and she passed us a reference of her uncle. A couple of days later we just passed by as a back plan but we get there and the guy was waiting for us. His name is Juan Carlos and his wife's name is Ana, they are a little old but not so far that they can't understand the gospel.

We also found Esmeralda who went to church last week, she was really excited to read the Book of Mormon. She said one day everyone was fighting in the house about some feud so she went and read the Book of Mormon and felt that it was from God.

Another highlight of the week was definitely the surprise interview I had with President that was about 20 minutes, he is so smart and said what I needed to hear but in the craziest way. He said that when we put goals we try to emulate someone we want to become like and he goes "I wanna be like Elder Uchtdorf, silver hair 6 foot 3 public speaker" then he goes on a rant about man-caves and he pulled up google and showed me some man-caves he wants to have after the mission and it was weird but it all made so much sense to me and he is funny, he has dry humor like me so he doesn't laugh at his own jokes and always has a straight face. So good.

In BYU speeches I read a talk by Legrand Richards called Missionary Experiences and he says. "I tell our missionaries you never need to argue with anybody if you learn the sweetest story that has been told in this world since the resurrection of the Christ."

I really liked that, last year one of the APs, Elder Whitlock had a saying that went "The Gospel is so sweet there is no need to sugarcoat it."

Love you all,

Elder Craythorne

The Office and Elder Mortimer

I have a new companion and lets just say we were practicing card throwing because that is something missionaries do nowadays and he basically sliced me eye open, I am so grateful for eyelids.

This week we got our very first senior couple, the Micklesons from Manti Utah. It has been pretty crazy trying to get them a house and get them places but we are doing alright.

Worked our tails off like crazy this week, I can feel those blessings coming soon.

I really can't say too much other than that, we had our leadership council on Tuesday and we might have a problem because 7 Zone Leaders go home this week. The mission still is just super new but I am excited.

Being in the Office is like the front row seat of the best movie ever made, its awesome and you see everything but it still hurts your neck.

Love all you guys, thanks for you prayers.

Elder Craythorne