Teaching and Serving

I will be staying in Ramona for another transfer, and I've got to say, that was a relief for mainly two reasons. First, I hate packing. I hate it. Second, I get to have another transfer with Elder M. He really has been a blessing lately, mainly because we get each others' humor. Seriously. I don't think there's been one nightly planning in the which we haven't died laughing, been resuscitated, and died laughing again. It's been tons of fun to have him as a companion. We'll for sure be doing stuff after the mission.

Right now, we have Elder W with us in a trio since we dropped his companion off at the airport this morning. Tomorrow, we'll be driving him down to the Mission Valley building to get his new companion. I have some high hopes for this new transfer. It's going to be a really good one.

As for lessons we taught, we were actually able to get a really good number of lessons in even though we had tons of service and stuff that took up a lot of our time. We had a good lesson with K about the Restoration of the Gospel. We taught it very simply, and the Spirit was very strong. She was quite interested in Joseph Smith's story as well as the way that we can know if the Book of Mormon is true. I feel like that was a really good lesson. On the other hand, we had a really rough lesson with V. At first, we thought that he would be very eager to hear what we had, and to be able to find it out for himself. Turns out, he's actually just quite curious. The last two lessons that we had with him, we taught everything very simply. Then, after teaching it, Victor would ask us questions, such as "What happens to the anti-Christ in the second coming? What does the number 666 mean? Will there be people on the earth after Christ comes? What's the difference between prophecy and revelation? What is the difference between a soul, a spirit, and a body?" We explained the meaning of a soul, how it's the spirit and body united, and he didn't believe us. And several times, he commented that what we believed sounded a lot like Catholic doctrine. We got pretty bold when he said that, and denied that our doctrine was anything like the Catholics. Yes, there are similarities, but the difference is in who has revelation, and who has the priesthood. I feel like we taught how one can know through prayer if the Book of Mormon is true in a very simple way, yet he has had no desire to read. He said he did, yet he hasn't. We're hoping to get a much better lesson this coming Monday, as we'll be taking a member with us.

 

As for D, he's doing really well. In fact, we'll be going with him and his mom to the Mormon Battalion tomorrow after transfers. The Zone Leaders will be dropping us off at the Mormon Battalion, and from there, a member will be going with us to give us a ride back to Ramona. We're really hoping that D's mom will feel something special at the MoBat (Mormon Battalion), and hopefully allow D to get baptized.

 

With the members, J V has really been preparing himself to enter the temple and receive his endowments. Ever since Elder V touched him with his testimony, J's been on fire in trying to get prepared to go to the temple. It's been a huge blessing to be present and see the complete changes that he's made in his life in such a short time. His family has been much happier ever since he started doing better.

 

We actually were able to help some members by changing out a door on their car. The door had been hit and dented pretty badly, so they got a door from a junk yard, and we had to move the window motor and stuff over to the new door. That was quite the endeavor. And now, they feel like the new door isn't the right color, so we'll be fixing that this week.

As for my ear, the doctor said that the granulated polyp that I had in my ear had completely disappeared, (which means that the outlandishly expensive ear drops worked, hallelujah.) He said to just taper off the drops until they're gone, just to prevent any possibility of the infection coming back. Let's just say, I'm really glad, REALLY glad, to be able to hear perfectly once again. I swear. I've had more non-life-threatening medical conditions on my mission than I ever did before it. It's pretty annoying, actually. But oh well. What can I do? Not much.

The C's are leaving this Saturday, and so the new mission president, President S, will be arriving soon with his wife and two kids. He sounds pretty young to me, like President Monson when he was called to preside over the Canada, Toronto mission. We'll be meeting with him next week, I do believe, and I'm really hoping that he's as excited as we are for him to be here.

I love you, Mom. I love you, Dad. I'm really glad that you had a great time in Nauvoo! It sounds like a place that I'd really like to visit after the mission. Maybe on my way over to Wisconsin to visit Matt and Leann...who knows?

 

Let my sisters and bother of a brother know how much I love them. A round of tickles and hugs for the nieces and nephew while you're at it. Have a great week! Talk to you next week!

 

-Love, Elder Crook