Staying in Ramona

It was really nice to be able to see and hear you all for the first time in 11 months. It was pretty surprising to see how much, as well as how little, everything has changed since I've been gone. And don't worry about me. I only had a homesick problem at the very beginning of my mission. I didn't feel homesick at all after we finished the call. And it was really great to be able to talk to Grandma, (even though I couldn't see her). I really hope that the other missionaries in the mission didn't abuse the Skyping privileges, because if they did, we won't be able to do that again for Christmas. OH. Right. I'm staying in Ramona with Elder M this transfer. It'll be nice to have a companion for a while, rather than fly through three in 7 weeks. That was a hectic transfer.

And today is the day when my previous companions start to disappear. Elder T went home today, Elder V goes home in 6 weeks, and Elder W goes home in 12 weeks. So I'll have a previous companion going home for the next two transfers.

The power was out in Ramona, so we're down in Poway emailing right now. The Zone Leaders want to cut our emailing time short, so this email might be a bit brief.

This last week, we've really had a rough time doing the work, and not for the reason you'd think. We've been doing tons of service in the last week, ranging from yard work to car work. We managed to get our gospel doctrine teacher's yard ready to put down sod, and we've been repairing the car of a member for the last couple of days. Their car is really old, and so it has a lot of problems. Just yesterday, they bought a radiator, and we traded out the old and broken one for the new one. This morning, all of the coolant came flooding out of the car, so we had to go over and do some early-morning p-day service. Elder M still doesn't know why it's still leaking coolant, seeing as we changed the hose clamps and hoses. We'll probably be working on that tomorrow. Other than that, we'll be doing a Sushi night for the Branch this Friday in an effort to get the members into the missionary work game. If they don't have a non-member with them, they can't come. We're hoping that the members don't just flake out and not come. I mean, we're at the point where the members come to our missionary focused activities, and they don't bring anyone with them. So we're struggling with that problem.

I had an insight about the Tree of Life and the Garden of Eden. Elder M asked me about what the Cherubim and the flaming sword was. (It's actually kind of serendipitous since Dad mentioned this in his email.) We sat there and talked about it for a few minutes, and we came up with this answer. In Alma, he explains the reason that the Cherubim was placed. If Adam and Eve, having sinned, had eaten the fruit of the Tree of Life, they would have been immortal in their sin, thus making God a liar, and making the word void. Thus, because Jesus Christ was without sin, He was able to walk past the Cherubim and partake of the fruit, in other words, immortality and eternal life. Through His sacrifice, He offers us the chance to be clean of our sins, and by being clean, we are able to walk past the Cherubim and receive the fruit from Christ's hand. Just a thought that popped into my head while we were talking about it.

I hope you all have a great week!

-Love, Elder Crook