District leader

As you all know, I got transferred last week. Where to? I got moved to Ramona, a little farming town just up to the north-east of San Diego. It's the furthest north in the mission. It's smaller than Brigham City, yet bigger than Willard. It has a lot of dirt roads, farms, fields, horses, cows, and tons of cats. We're surrounded by what the locals call "mountains", but they're really just hills with massive boulders all over them. Our area is pretty much just one street, (since the rest are dirt roads with farms, typically white-Americans), and we're walking. The English wards around here are booming with the member missionary work, and are having several baptisms. The Spanish branch makes up about 80 members total with about 50 active members. The branch Presidency and ward mission leader are white except for the second counselor in the Presidency. From what I've heard, the member missionary work isn't very strong in the ward, so I'm hoping to take an idea to the stake president to see if we can get things moving. Oh. Right. I've been called as district leader, by the way. Just thought you oughta know.

My companion is Elder V, and he's from Victoria Island up in Canada. It's right next to Vancouver. He's a great missionary, although he had a rough spot in the middle of his mission with an extremely disobedient companion. He's become extremely obedient since then, but he still feels bad about what happened in the past. He says that all of his cousins, uncles, aunts, and siblings are all less-active or inactive, and he says that he's got a lot of work to do when he gets home. The other two Elders are the Zone leaders, Elders I and N. All of the missionaries in the district have been out longer than I have, not to mention the other Elders are Zone leaders. So being a district leader here will be an interesting experience. All of the other Elders have been out for 20 months, so they're already talking trunky. They've been doing that for days.

Elder T is still down in Chula Vista with a trainee, and he's the new district leader. He's got a handful down there. But I think he'll do well.

For the last couple of days, we've been visiting all of the people in our area that we know, and so I've gotten to know a couple of people. Most of the people I've met are actually NOT from Tijuana, (for the first time in my mission). Most of them are actually from Guadalajara, where they have a lot of mariachi bands. And every morning for morning exercise, we go to this park in the city and play a little bit of rugby. It's been pretty fun.

I don't really have much else to talk about. We've been working and working, but there's really not much to be done here since it's all so small. Today, we were talking about going to see Potato-Chip rock, which is this giant rock that's really thin, and looks like a chip. Exciting, right? Since we're in the "mountains", we don't really have much to do on P-days except for sports and hikes.

I'm trying to think of stuff to write, but I'm coming up blank. I was reading in Alma, where Ammon goes to the Lamanites, and I noticed that he was with the Lamanitish servants for three days before the flocks were scattered. Now Ammon, being the missionary that he is, probably talked to those servants and tried to share the gospel with them for those three days. Yet they wouldn't listen. I think that he prayed to the Lord to give him a way to talk to them, and have them listen. Once the flocks were scattered, Ammon saw his opportunity to open up the missionary work. After that, he defended those servants and chopped some limbs, then got summoned to the King's presence. After that, the work started rolling. But I thought it interesting that it doesn't mention any big event in those three days before. But oh well. That's just a little tidbit that I noticed in my studies.

Let everyone know how much I love them.

-Love, Elder Crook

I'm getting transferred!

Baptism of C and J

I'm getting transferred! Where to? I'll find out tomorrow, and y'all will find out next Tuesday. And what's funny is this. For the last two or three transfers, not much has happened to our district. One missionary would leave. One would come. Not much change. This time around, Elder T is training, Elder Th is training, one of the sisters is training, and the other is getting a new companion. So four new missionaries in the ward, 3 of which will be greenies. That, and it looks like Elder T will be "death training", which means that he'll go home right after he finishes training. But I am really happy that he'll still be here to watch over J and C.

They both were baptized on Saturday. Looking back to when Elder T got here, neither of us expected that they would get baptized. And their baptism was quite under par. Only three members other than Bishop C showed up, and when the zone leaders filled the baptismal font, they did it wrong, and the water was chilly. J had just had a bit of pneumonia, so we had to blast the font with hot water for a bit. Even then, it was still cold for him. We baptized C first, and both Elder T and I were in the font to make sure everything was safe. After that, we helped J into the font. He can get around, but he's just a bit off-balance. We got him in, baptized him, then quickly got him out and dry. They both were then given the chance to bear their testimonies, and they gave the most simple, yet powerful testimonies. J's words were, "I'm so thankful to finally be baptized." On Sunday morning, I called to confirm that they were ready to come to church, and C said that J had woken up a bit sick. Both Elder T and I were on edge about that, fearing that his pneumonia had come back. Luckily, they made it to church, were confirmed members of the church, and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then as we visited them yesterday, they seemed happier and more full of joy than I've ever seen them. I love them as though they were my grandparents. They truly have "become as [little children]", and their desire is to continue learning. I'm going to miss them.

Other than that, we went around to visit a lot of the members and recent converts that I've worked with, (since we were pretty certain that I was getting transferred). I feel that maybe I've done a bit of good here in Chula Vista, and I hope that Elder T and his trainee will be able to jumpstart this area.

And when Elder T and I got stuck in the rain, the reason that I was using my emergency poncho was because it was sunny and happy during the day, so I didn't grab my raincoat. Elder T had a windbreaker/rain jacket that he had stuffed in his backpack, so he was well prepared. So don't worry. I've still got my raincoat.

As far as emailing goes, it varies from week to week. For example, last week I had around 5 missionaries write me, and I wanted to be sure that I had gotten the chance to write them. Then, as I was finishing up your email last week, the computer's time was just about out, so I ended up running out of time. THIS week, however, I have barely any emails to write or respond to, so I'll have extra time to drool on the keyboard. BLEEEEHHHHH.

At the swap meet last Tuesday, we got there, and it was set up in a drive-in theater. My first comment, "These things still exist? Cool." Then we see the ocean of tents and canopies set up for the vendors. I only bought two things, and they were both Star Wars t-shirts. The best part is that both t-shirts together would have been $26 at wholesale price. The guy that was selling them gave them both to me for $6. SAY WHAAAAAT. I was so excited. BARGAINZ. Then the rest of it was practically a gigantic yard sale, minus the manicure/pedicure booths, shoe booths, and clothes booths. I was personally hoping to find a booth that was selling machete's or something, but to no avail.

Oh yeah, and yesterday, I just had the weirdest member present lesson of my life. Basically, our investigator's soon-to-be brother-in-law from Utah comes to visit. He brings his non-member cousin that lives here in Chula Vista. Our investigator and this guy from Utah (who happens to be the ward mission leader of his ward there) proceed to teach this guy's cousin about the church, missionary work, Joseph Smith, the apostasy, the Book of Mormon, and revelation. All the while, me and Elder T are just sitting there nodding our heads. Seriously. Our INVESTIGATOR taught the lesson. Blew my mind. She (the cousin) is now thinking about having missionaries over to teach her.

Anywho, that's about all that's happened in the last while. And I'll talk to you next Tuesday! I love you all!

-Love, Elder Crook

Visitors from home

Elder Nathan Crook, Ted Davis, Maggie Davis, and Kristen Pettingill Poulsen and son.

We were at Mormon Batallion with some investigators on Saturday. We had been planning it for a while, and we had just finished the tour, when Ted Davis, his wife, and his cousin walked out of the tour just after us. Ted and I made eye contact, and were both confused, and then Ted's cousin comes at me for a hug. Naturally, I reacted in the negative, and she stopped. "Right! No hugs." And Ted, just behind her, says "Well that was awkward." We talked for a bit, and we went and panned for gold. The odds that he and I would both be at MoBat were exponentially small. That was my first visit to MoBat with investigators. Mormon Batallion (Battalion?) is in Old Town San Diego, and was supposed to be the downtown district until someone sold the beach front for really cheap way back then.

And you remember that fast that we had for the rain? Well, me and Elder T prepared ourselves for the torrential rains that the Lord would send. I had an emergency poncho in my bag, and he had his rain coat. On the Monday right after the fast, it misted a bit. Last Friday, it POURED. And all of our appointments cancelled that night. So me and Elder T were stuck out in the rain. I looked like Elder T had wrapped me up in saran wrap. We managed to stay dry, though.

And a less active girl that we've been reactivating has just gone off the deep end. For the last 3 months, we've been helping her to see her self worth, rely on the Lord, and come to church. She's done well with all three, and has made plans to go to the temple. She also made plans to move to Utah with her aunt, (because she couldn't pay rent, nor go to school, nor get around well because of a lack of transportation), and was going to attend Dixie State. She even got to the point of getting rid of her couch and other furniture items. Then, last Tuesday, she gets a text from this guy who just got baptized, and he says that he thinks she's pretty and that he likes her. She was a bit weirded out by that, so we didn't worry about it. Thursday, we stop by, and the guy is there with her. Okay. Weird. We decide to go visit her Friday night because of the rain, and he's there again. Then we find out that they're officially together and dating. They held hands for the closing prayer. Keep in mind, she was living with her boyfriend before we started teaching her, and he caused her to go less active. He also did many disrespectful things, and she was quite dramatically open about it. Yesterday, we found out that she's moving in with this guy that she's known for less than 5 days. I'm a little perturbed, to say the least.

But oh well. Other than that, we've prepared J and C to be baptized this Saturday. They're ready for it, and to answer Melissa's question, J just can't get around well because of his legs. They're fine as far as being sick 'n stuff like that.

Not much more has happened. Today we get to hear a general authority speak, and tomorrow, we get a couple extra hours of P-day, so we're going to the swap meet. HECK YES.

Tell everyone how much I love them.

Love, Elder Crook

A good week

Dear Mom, and everyone who reads, (that's a lot of people)

We had a pretty good week. The sick bug has passed over me and Elder T so far, and we're still trying to avoid catching it. There are still a lot of members that are ill and incapacitated, and there are still a few that are in the hospital still. Brother P is in an induced coma, and we haven't been able to visit J and M C for the last 3 weeks since they got moved out of our area.

Our investigators could be doing better. We only have 4 investigators that we regularly see. 2 are R and A, who are waiting for R's divorce papers to go through from his previous marriage. Once the papers go through, they can get married and baptized. The other 2 are J and C, and their only obstacle to baptism now, is health. They don't know if they'll be well enough to be baptized.

We haven't really done much this last week except for trying to find former investigators, to see if they've been prepared, and walking around on the streets trying to find investigators. We haven't had any luck with the finding formers, since all of them are quite content with their current religion. And something Elder T mentioned has stuck with me. He pointed out that every person that has been taught by missionaries is changed in a noticeable way. If they're baptized, their lives get so much better. If they deny the message of the Restored Gospel, their lives become worse in two ways. One is in a spiritual way, in the which they just go downhill spiritually. The other is their lives become much harder temporally. As we've visited these formers, I've noticed the change in their lives. They're not as happy. None of them truly appear content with their religion. And on top of that, we haven't seen ANY of the investigators that Elder B and Elder T found. We've tried to find them several times in the last week, but we haven't found any of them.

A cool story, though. We were walking down towards the southern edge of our area, trying to find a former investigator. We didn't find them, and we started walking towards an appointment. After a little ways, this guy pulls up to the curb and parks, and he's dressed in a white shirt and tie, so we think he's a member. After a moment, we realize that he's a Jehovah's Witness. He gets out of the car, pops the trunk, and hands us two bottles of water. After a moment, a group of people, dressed quite nicely, come walking up. The man we were with asks if they had any luck with the "sheep". The youngest of the group, a little 5 year-old boy, pipes up and says "No. Nobody was home today." And then he sat there and looked sad. The little boy then gestured to us, and asked the man we were with about where we had been working. The man smiled at us, and motioned in the direction that we had come. From the many impressions that I've received about JW's from previous experiences, they are people that are quite genial and kind. The bit that I wanted to get across with the JW boy, was that he's had some pretty good missionary experiences at 5 years old. Just a thought.

I hope you all have a great week! Talk to you next Tuesday!

-Love, Elder Crook