Our trio's down to two

First order of business, I couldn't see what was happening, and I really had no clue. It happened fast, and here's the bottom line; our trio's down to two. Yesterday morning, we got a call from President S. A missionary out in El Centro, in the Imperial Valley, had to go home for some reasons that I still don't really know about, but he asked Elder N. to go fill the vacancy out in the valley in an English unit. So, he got packed up, and President took him out to the valley. So once again, I've been in a trio for just a little chunk of the transfer.

Last Wednesday, we went to see V. afterwards. She wasn't home, so we were volunteered by the Sisters to go do some service for this senior lady that needed some weeds and roots pulled out of her garden. We showed up, and at first, she said,"Oh great. They brought the guys with them." The Sisters had explained that this lady didn't want us to do ANY preaching in ANY way, and that we were just there to help her weed. She told us that she was sick, so she would show us what to do, and then she'd stay inside. So, that's what we did. I snagged some tools, and we went at it. Turns out that there was a bunch of spruce trees growing there, and the roots had fanned out under the dirt like a carpet, and as we pulled up more and more, there were just more and more roots underneath those. We had pulled out a larger root, and set it by the trashcans that we were using, and then E., turned to go get something, and tripped over the root. We dropped our tools and ran over to help her up. She hadn't hurt herself in any way, and thanked us for helping her up. She ended up staying outside with us the whole time we were there, and kept commenting on how amazing it was that we were actually getting the roots out. She told us all about her acting career as a director of plays and theatrical productions, and how she had retired because she can't see in the dark, and kept getting hit by the moving scenery during the shows. She told us about how she'd worked with Steven Spielburg and George Lucas. I was pretty excited about that, and she talked about some of the things that she'd done with them. After we left, we went and got some dinner, and went to see L., one of Elder N.'s new investigators. We sat down, and started off pretty shaky. I had the preconception that we were teaching the restoration, and Elder N. was going off on a completely different tangent than what I was prepared for. I kept getting the feeling to teach the restoration, and let both Elder V. and Elder N. know. We went right into it, and as we taught, L.'s 2 year old daughter kept fussing and fussing, and wreaking havoc, but the Spirit was still really strong. She payed close attention when we taught about the Book of Mormon. We then went to try some less actives, but they weren't home.

Thursday, Elder N. went to a special Mission Leadership Council with Elder H. and President D. from the missionary department. So Elder V. and I had the day to ourselves. We started off by going to Wal-Mart to look at bike tubes for Elder V.'s bike, and then went to see some less-actives. None were home, so we went and did our mormon.org time. We then walked around the library to try and find a guy that wanted to be taught there, but couldn't find him anywhere. So we walked back to the apartment, and biked over to the J's. They weren't home, and we continued on to see the C.'s. We sat and talked about how they were doing, and about whether or not Hno. C could make it to church this Sunday. We then went to see some other less-actives, and called it a night.

Friday, we had breakfast with the R.'s, and we showed Hno. R. how to give his wife a blessing, since she was sick with something that was affecting her inner ear, and she was feeling dizzy. We went from there to service with some less-active members, and trimmed up their big pine tree. We then had district meeting, which was focused on the things taught at the MLC, and from what I hear, President D. has a pretty great sense of humor, so I kinda felt jealous that I didn't get to go. But oh well. Maybe it wasn't intended for me to be there anyway. We then did a couple of practices, and went back to the apartment for dinner. After dinner, we got Elder V.'s bike tire fixed, and got rolling again. We then went looking to find V. at home, and as we rolled into the parking lot on our bikes, a guy called out for us to come talk to him. His name was J., and he told us that he's been feeling much angrier than normal. He said that about a year ago was when he started noticing that he kept getting angrier and angrier. He said that it felt like something was always there trying to make him irritated, and was trying to tear him down. We told him about Satan, and what he does to try and make us miserable, and from there, I told him about how I take care of my anger through reading the Book of Mormon and praying. We felt the Spirit really strongly, and after we said a prayer with him and gave him a Book of Mormon, he thanked us for helping him to calm down. We tried to get his information to give to the English Elders, but he's presently homeless. So we continued on to see if we could find some less actives at home, and found the V.'s home. In fact, the whole family was there, which is pretty rare. All three were sick, and Hno's hand was starting to hurt a lot from the lack of circulation due to the dialysis that he goes through. We gave all three of them blessings of health, and went home for the night.

Elder Crook at Mission Trails park clean-up

Saturday, we went and helped to clean the chapel for a bit, and as we cleaned, more people showed up, so we were able to go to the next service project for the day. We were sent to help out at Mission Trails park, and the park rangers took us out into the woods and had us take out a bunch of wood and lumber and garbage that had piled up in the riverbeds. We got a conveyor belt system set up, and handed the pieces down the line. Some of the logs were pretty heavy, but it was pretty fun as we got things going. I got ants all over me as they were hiding inside the decaying wood, so when we finished and went home, I had some nice little buddies that I had to wash out of my hair. After we got cleaned up, we went to try and find a referral from M. L., a guy who lives in our area. So we tried to find him, but couldn't. We went back to the apartment and did our weekly planning, and I was so flippin' tired. We got it all taken care of, after a lot of sidetracking, and went to see the C.'s for dinner. They made ham/cheese/tomato sandwiches and bought a Little Caesar's Pizza. We set up a lesson for a family home evening with them, and went off to coordination. The branch mission leader cancelled last second, and we talked about what was needed. We then went and tried to find some investigators at home.

Sunday, the Sisters had been asked to give the gospel principles class as the teacher simply didn't want to do it, and they tried to dump it on me. I taught last week's, so I suggested that they take it since they have never done it since I've been here. They complained and said that they had an investigator coming, so to fix the problem, Elder N. volunteered to teach the class. He was stressed out of his mind, and was struggling to form his thoughts as to what he should teach. So I helped him out by giving him some pointers and giving him options to choose from. We then had Sacrament meeting, and we split up to sit with several members and people that were sitting alone. Elder N. then taught the gospel principles class, and did a really good job. We then had Elder's quorum, and had a great lesson by a member that recently moved in. We then, (to our delight and dismay), that there were four families that wanted to feed us that night. How that happened, I have no idea. We ended up having to cancel three of them, and went to eat with the O.'s, who we had scheduled dinner with in advance. After dinner, we came back and visited the O., who have been a bit less-active because of the fact that the wife can't speak English and they've been in an English ward for the last few years. So we stopped by and shared a message with them, and read from the Book of Mormon with them and their kids. One of their sons kept piling all of the toys that he could find on top of Elder V. until he was completely buried. We then called it a night.

Yesterday morning was stressful after we got the call from President S. Elder N. spent the whole time packing up all of his stuff, calling people, and stressing out. He had no time to visit any members to say goodbye since he was leaving with President at 2:30. We went to a luncheon thrown by the members for the missionaries, and he said goodbye to all of the missionaries. We then went and finished up the packing, and he got shipped out with President to the valley. We went and did some service for a less-active member by digging an 18-inch deep trench from their kitchen water outlet in their front yard over to the water main that they needed to connect to. We got it done in about an hour, and bounced over to dinner with the G.'s. We then went and had a family home evening with the C.'s, and shared a message about service and the blessings that we receive, and that others receive through our service. It was a really good family home evening, and we called it a night.

And that's just about the whole flippin' cake for the week. All of the members for some reason just love to remind me about how little time I have left, and the other missionaries are more trunky than I am. Elder V. is the new district leader, and the sisters are the only ones in our district, so we make the joke that now, instead of district meetings, they'll be district "datings", because that's pretty much what it'll look like to anyone else. Ugh. I want some Elders in the district. I hate it when it's just sisters. Oh well. I guess that's what happens when the mission runs out of missionaries.

Have a great week! But don't have too much fun without me.

-Love, Elder Crook

Companionship of three

No, M. L.'s daughter and her family were members, and she was introduced to us through them. She got baptized, and soon after, went with her family to the temple to do the work for her husband. From there, we waited a year, and I kept writing letters to M. L. and her family. I received a card from them around the time of Valentine's day that said that she would be going through the temple in the first weeks of April, so I quick-like-a-bunny got her number and called her to congratulate her and ask her if she would be willing if I came with. So on the week of the endowment, I got permission from President to go with her and her family. And I am very much ready and willing to go to the Ogden and Brigham City temples. ALSO, the new companion was just Elder N. They took his companion out and moved him to another area, and put Elder N. with Elder V. and me. We've been biking, driving, (because we now have a car as well), and walking because last night Elder V.'s tire exploded. BUT, we'll get to that in a few paragraphs.

Last Wednesday, after transfer meeting, we waited and went to the district/zone leader training meeting because Elder N. is still the district leader, (with just us and the Sisters.) We then went and got our apartment situation resolved and were moved from one apartment to another in the same complex, except the new apartment has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. We moved our beds out into the main room, and put our study desks in one of the bedrooms, with the laundry and dressers in the other bedroom. The whole move from one apartment to the other took pretty much the whole day. I ended up ripping my pants right up the middle seam when I squatted down to pick up our sofa. Yuuuupppp. Either the pants were just done, or I've gained weight. My bet is that the pants were just old, because I really haven't gained weight. Darn.

Thursday, we had our trio weekly planning, and since both Elder N. and Elder V. are from Texas, I had the premonition or apprehension that they would have a bit of a hard time getting along. So, after going through our investigators and stuff, we got to the companionship inventory part of the planning session. I mentioned that I just wanted to have a really relaxed atmosphere and not worry about the little things too much. Thankfully, both Elder V. and N. voiced their agreement and said some things that I feel have set up this transfer really well. We then went out and tried to get a few people contacted, and were able to find a few potential people to teach. We then went to find some referrals, and none were home, so we moseyed on over to dinner. After that, we went to see Hna. C., and asked her if she could fix my pants. She said it would be done lickety split. And so it was.

On Friday, we had breakfast with the R.'s, and they bought us some breakfast and California burritos. We ate, and then we taught Hno. R. about how to perform a priesthood blessing of health and one of comfort/counsel. We showed him how to consecrate oil, and went over the other ordinances as well. We then went to give a blessing to a friend of a member, who has been suffering the side-effects of chemotherapy treatment from years ago. Apparently she's been suffering internal damage for years, and it's been very painful, all because of the chemo treatments. She told us that the cancer has returned, and that the doctors want to put her on the same chemo treatments as before, and that she's afraid of the same damage occurring. We explained the power of the priesthood to her, and told her that what we would say under the influence of the Spirit would be the Lord's will concerning her. We then went and had district meeting, which was a bit awkward since it was just us and the Sisters. We went from there to pick up a bike from the zone leaders so that we could bike in our area. Driving is pointless, since there's never any parking. We then went and tried to contact the referrals again. No luck. We then picked up dinner from a member, and ate at our apartment. We got some flaws fixed up on Elder N.'s bike, and went back out to see some investigators that were in his old area that's been picked up by all three of us. We then tried to see some other potential investigators, but ended up only finding the V.'s at home. We then called it a night.

Saturday rolled up, and we started out by going to see some other people in the new parts of our area. We then visited the F.'s, and for the first time ever, got to sit down and talk to J., the son of Hna. F. We talked to him about all sorts of things, from soccer, to football, to other sports. We shared a message, and asked if we could stop by more often, and he agreed. We then stopped by several people to see them, but they weren't home. We visited Hna. M., who had been sick all week, and we gave her a blessing. After the blessing, we went to the birthday dinner for the C.'s mother-in-law. We had some good birria with some crazy hot salsa made from tiny little ball-shaped chili peppers. MAN WAS IT HOT. We went and talked with Hno. I. after that to see if we would be having coordination, which ended up not happening. We biked around for awhile, and talked with a lot of people, and called it a day.

Sunday, I was asked to give the gospel principles lesson on Priesthood Organization. While Elder N. was in Branch Council, Elder V. and I went to the classroom, and I got the whiteboard set up with a list of priesthood offices and specific stewardships and responsibilities, or keys in the priesthood. We then had sacrament meeting, and we ended up splitting up to sit with several families. The talks were good, and we went to gospel principles. I taught the class the best that I could, and tried to make it as simple and understandable as possible. We then had Elders Quorum, and had a good lesson taught by Hno. L. about how to have the Spirit more strongly in our homes and families. After doing our studies at the apartment, we went to the Mission President's Fireside, where President M. and his wife bore their final testimonies as they will be going to serve as Mission President and wife of the Santiago, Chile East Mission. The meeting was powerful, and President M.'s testimony was filled with the Spirit, and his wife's was amazing. She went right to the point, and didn't beat around the bush about the things that she knew to be true. I saw G., a guy that I visited while I was in Chula Vista, and we freaked out when we saw each other. He said that he proposed to his girlfriend in front of the temple. (Sly dog.) We then went back home.

Yesterday, we had a lot of success in contacting people in the streets. Like A LOT. I was really surprised. Most of the people that I made contact with actually stopped and listened, even if they were rushed or in a hurry. We taught a couple of lessons, biked around a lot, and by the end of the day, we had mostly just had street contacts where we shared the Because He Lives video. We were also able to share it with I., a less active member, and she agreed to share it with her friend down the street. Then, as we were just about to turn back towards home, (mind you we were about a mile and a half from home), we sat still on our bikes and discussed where to go before turning in for the night, when Elder V.'s front tire exploded. Well. There went our plans to see anyone before going home. We walked our bikes all the way home, and there wasn't really anyone on the streets to talk with.

Well, that's just about it! I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing well, and that you're still getting snow? That surprised me. Have a great week!

-Love, Elder Crook

Special Day at the Temple

I guess as news to the world for my last transfer, I'm going to be in a trio with Elder V. and our new companion that we're picking up tomorrow! AH MAN, I was so excited when we got the call last night. It was weird. I guess that President wanted us to have better studies on Transfer Tuesday, so he had all of the zone leaders do the transfer calls on Monday night. So we got a call from them last night, and they told us that we'd be in a trio. At first, I was laughing it off, like, "Naaaaahhhh, stop pullin' mah leg. You guys are funny!" And they were completely serious about it. So we went downstairs and asked the El Cajon zone leaders if they had done calls for their zone, and they said that they had. So we knew that it was true. YUP yup Yup. Puy

SO. Last Wednesday was rough. Let me tell ya, it was a rough day. We started off the day with zone meeting. We then had lunch, and went to start contacting referrals. And that's when everything started going downhill. We started contacting, and all of the referrals contacted said no, all of the street contacts said no, and all of our investigators dropped us. In one single day. So we had nobody to teach. We then went to find some less-actives to teach, and they were either busy, or not home. So we spent the whole day riding our bikes in search of someone to teach.

Thursday, we shifted our focus from finding to helping our members to do their family history work. We figured that as long as we couldn't find people to teach, that we could at least provide some people on the other side of the veil the ordinances of salvation through their family members. So we got a plan set to help so many families to progress towards the temple through doing their family history work. After getting our plans set, we went to do some mormon.org time, and I got some good quotes set up to share with people. I also watched some of the conference talks over again. Just because. :3 We then went out and began to contact some people in the streets, and went on to contact a referral. The first few times that we'd stopped by to try and find the apartment, my navigational skills were off, so we were at the wrong complex. I then realized my blunder, and we went to the correct complex, and easily found the person we were looking for. Her name is V., and she had seen the Because He Lives video in English, but didn't understand it. So we gave her a card in Spanish, and talked with her about what we do. We shared some things about the restoration and eternal families, and asked if we could come back and share more with her. She said not really because she was Catholic, and that was when I pulled out the Book of Mormon. It was the hard copy that Melissa sent me, and I'd had a prompting to grab it and take it with us before we left the apartment. So I whipped it out, and asked if she'd seen this book. Her eyes got big, and she asked what it was. We explained that the people in the Americas knew that Christ would come, and that they testified of Him as the Savior of mankind. She started flipping through the pages, and all of a sudden, she was super interested. We asked if we could come back and explain more about the Book, and she quickly accepted. So we added a new investigator! YEEEAAAAHHHH. Yup. We then had dinner, and went to visit a few other less-actives, who ended up not being home. So we turned in for the night.

The next day, on Friday, we went to see K., and started helping him to set up his family history. At first, he was a bit "meh" about it, but as he kept inputting information, he said,"Man. Now I can't stop. Look what you guys did." Heheh. Spirit of Elijah, baby. He was missing his membership record number, so we got him set up to get it from the branch president. We then went and contacted for a bit. We then had some service, and were able to use one of the mission Jeep Compasses to get there. We got assigned to water all of the member's plants, which I was happy to do, since it reminded me of Willard Bay Gardens. I got to water some tomato plants that were looking pretty healthy and happy. We then got cleaned up, and biked over to a taco shop to meet up with L., from my last area in Poway. He was in El Cajon, so we set up a place and time to meet up. He bought us some burritos, and we sat and talked about how he'd been. He's been progressing towards receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood, and told us that since everything had gotten changed up that the classes back in the Poway branch have been boring. I told him that it's usually like that, but that we can still feel the Spirit and learn the things that we need, and that we can always feel the Spirit during the sacrament. We then parted ways, and we went on to visit a family that we had planned an FHE with. When we got to the complex, we found out that the mother had gone to the hospital for some health complications, so we went back down to our bikes. A bunch of Arabic kids were running around playing, and the son of one of the Arabic converts to the Church came and talked to us. Then ALL of the kids came over. They spotted the cards in our pockets, and asked if they could have one. We gave them some pictures of Christ, and THAT'S when all heck broke loose. All of a sudden, I had a bunch of kids mugging me, trying to get my attention, asking me if I was married over and over and over again, and I kept repeating, "No. NO. no. nO. NO!! GO AWAY SMALLISH PEOPLE." A couple of the guys took Elder V's bike and started riding around, some of the other kids took my planner and pen, and all around just MUGGED us. I finally gathered my things, made sure that I had everything, and when the moment came to escape, I pointed behind them and really excitedly yelled "OH MY GOSH WHAT'S THAT?!" and right when they all turned and looked, I made my escape, with Elder V right on my heels. Then they started chasing us in a maddened mob of bloodthirsty children. We then told the Arabic Elders about our traumatic experience, and they got excited when we mentioned their recent convert F. We were then interrupted by a little old Arabic guy that wanted to talk to the Elders. He even came and shook our hands. Turns out that the first time they contacted him, he got down and started doing push-ups to show them how strong he was. And this guy's like 70. We then finished the night with a visit to a less-active.

Baptism Day October 2013

Temple Day April 2015

Saturday, we got to go to the temple with M L, a recent convert from my area in Chula Vista. She went to receive her endowments and be sealed to her family, and we were able to go with her. We got to the temple right as they were getting their clothes from the rental place. M L's daughter then gave us some names to take through of their ancestors. We went and got ready for the session in Spanish. And let me tell you, it was WEIRD. We all got sat down, and it turns out that L, M L's granddaughter got her call to serve in the Provo, East mission. HA! Man. Tons of people from San Diego end up serving in Utah. Anywho, we got into the session, and they used the really REALLY old one. And surprisingly, I was able to understand everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. I thought that I was going to have trouble with it being in Spanish, but I really only had trouble once I had gotten to the end of the session, when you have to remember everything. We visited in the Celestial room for a bit, and went up to the sealing rooms. We sat down, got all of the papers signed, and the sealer came in. He started out by talking about the importance of the temple in the lives of every human, and how the power of the priesthood is necessary for making families eternal. He then mentioned that we become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints through baptism, we become members of the Church of the Firstborn through the endowment, and we become members of the Eternal Family of God through the sealing. I had never realized that before! He then pronounced the sealing, and man was the Spirit strong. I don't think I've ever felt it that strongly in the temple before. Everything just seemed right, and it felt right. We then went outside after getting changed, and took some pictures, after which, we went and ate at TGI Fridays with M L and her family. We then drove back to El Cajon, and biked over to the church for coordination. We then went to see Hna. C., and got some service planned with her.

Sunday, we went to branch council, and practically everybody was sick with a cold. Every couple of minutes, everyone would break out in a synchronized coughing fit. I've somehow managed to avoid it, so I've been pretty happy. (Knock on wood.) I then ended up translating for the English speakers in sacrament meeting, and afterwards, we went to the classes. After Church ended, we went back to our apartment, had a light lunch, and went to a meeting with the ward mission leaders of the stake and the mission presidency. We had some follow-up training on the Because He Lives initiative, and of course, our branch mission leader wasn't there. He's usually never there, so Presidente H. showed up to represent the branch. We talked about the many things that can be done to help the branch to progress in their missionary work. We got some plans set, and went to eat way out in the boonies with the O. family. We had some good chicken chipotle burritos, and had a good message with them about the Because He Lives initiative. We then did some work back in our area.

Yesterday, we had some service with Hna. C. and weeding her back yard. Once again, Willard Bay Gardens memories. We got everything cleaned up and weeded out, and her yard looked nice and pretty. We then got changed, and biked over to Hna. G.'s for an early dinner, since Elder G. and Elder C. were visiting, and she planned it just right for us to end up together at the same time. So we ate with them and visited for a bit, and we then shared a message with her, since the other Elders had to leave to drive back to Calexico. We left, and went on to visit some members that we had hoped would be home, but weren't. After a bit, we went and visited a family that for the longest time, I had thought that they were active. After having a family home evening and sharing the Because He Lives video, the hermano opened up and said that they had been pretty less-active because of some tough circumstances. We didn't pry, but offered our support and help. We have another appointment with them this Saturday.

Well, that's just about it for this week. I'll have to let you know who the number 3 companion is. Until next week!

-Love, Elder Crook

The bitter and the sweet

Well SWEET NOPALES ASADAS I'm happy you're alright after that accident! I'd say that it gave me a bit of a scare for a minute, but I'm really happy that neither you nor Melissa were hurt too badly. Why I oughta find that 17-year-old and give him a piece of my pie. Then I'll smash it in his face. BAHAHAHAHAH. Nah. Not really.

This last week was a pretty...eh...bipolar?...no...contrasted?...yeah. Contrasted. That's a good adjective. We had a lot of ups and downs this week, so we've been tasting the bitter and sweet all at once. But I think that General Conference trumped the bitters of the week, and swamped them with sweet. I mean really. That Conference was amazing. I absolutely loved it. And I felt like I got more personal revelation that didn't pertain to what was being said, yet was more applicable to me and what I could work on that connected to the subject at hand. Okay. Back to last Wednesday. WOOOOOSH.

So. As you know, I emailed last Wednesday. Fancy that. After the emailing, we had dinner with ourselves, and went to try and find M. She wasn't home, so we went to visit Hna. C. to see what we could do for her. We visited for a bit, and we mostly talked about her desires to go to the temple and be the example for her family. Her husband and children have been less than active, and she's been praying to know what to do. She resolved to go to the temple, and see what she could receive as far as revelation goes. She mostly vented to us, and seemed to answer her own questions as we listened. I love it when that happens.

Thursday, we did our weekly planning, and went on to visit M. We talked to him about some of his mission experiences, and he showed us some pictures of past companions and other things that he'd done. We then went to find some referrals and potential investigators, who ended up not being available or at home. Again, we visited Hna. C. at request, and we talked to her about her plans to get to the temple. She took us out back to her back patio, and I offered to help her weed her garden, (since I did lots o' that at Willard Bay Gardens). She accepted, so this week sometime, we'll be weeding her back yard. We then had dinner, and went off to visit the G.'s, who were busy, and from there, went to begin exchanges. Elder N. came with me, and Elder V. went with Elder S.

Friday, we woke up, and Elder N. decided to plan district meeting for his morning studies. We had some discussion about some past district meetings that I'd done, and I suggested some that I thought were good, but he selected one that I had done out of shortage of time to teach, and lack of time to plan. I was a little surprised, voiced my opinion, and we went off to breakfast. We taught the R. family, (after eating some California burritos), and shared with them many things about the temple, as they will soon be going to be sealed. Hno. R. has just barely received the Melchizedek Priesthood, and they are now working on the interview process to receive their recommends. After the lesson with them, we had some referrals to go contact, and whilst contacting, got called to go do some service. We showed up, and this member that we normally help on Fridays had purchased a full-sized backyard playground, and we missionaries were called on to put this thing together. So we did. I mostly tried to organize the thousand and one pieces that were scattered throughout several boxes, and then someone else organized the screws/bolts/washers/nuts/etc., and we got to work. We didn't work for long, and got a good portion done. We then went to see the J's, who weren't home. We went to see the V's, who weren't home. We got yelled at by some people. Had a conversation with this crazy lady who told us all about the spirits that haunt her and her family. Then we went to see the V., and they WERE home. We sat down and talked to Hno. about the resurrection as connected with the initiative, and we went from there back home.

Saturday was spent like a Superbowl Sunday for missionaries. I brought some snacks from the package that was sent for Easter, and we enjoyed some Starburst jellybeans as we watched. I kept noticing the recurring theme of family, marriage, fidelity, and faithfulness in relation to trial. I really felt that I was able to receive some very personal revelations that I was quite surprised to receive. After the first session, we got some lunch at Sonic, and went straight back to the church to have district meeting. Yup. District meeting between sessions. We then watched the second session. Again, recurring themes of marriage and family. But I really liked the talk about the music and the dance. I can really connect to that talk, because I feel that there came a time when I actually felt the music of the gospel, and that's when I understood the steps. Luckily I already knew the steps, so it was easy to get into the groove. I don't know what I'd do if my parents hadn't taught me the gospel when I was young. Again, I heard the recurring theme of marriage and family. I think that the Lord was trying to tell me something. And I saw Michelle Dean in the choir! I started flipping out and pointing, and all of the missionaries just looked at me like I was crazy. Oh well. Nothing new there. :3 After that session, we went and got a polish hot dog and a drink at Cosco, and came back to see the Priesthood session. I liked Elder Ballard's quote of "RM doesn't mean Retired Mormon." I really liked President Uchtdorf and Eyring's talks. We then had a lesson with the G.'s and their non-member friend to share the "Because He Lives" video. Would you believe me that it's the first time in my entire mission that a member has invited a friend to their home to meet with the missionaries? Yup. It was amazing! The Spirit was felt, the message was given, and the members bore powerful testimony. We weren't able to add him as an investigator, as he had to leave abruptly, but he was very grateful for the visit.

Sunday, we watched the first session, and hoped and prayed that L. would watch one of the sessions. We had collaborated with the S. family earlier in the week to get her to see at least one session. I really liked Elder Brent H. Nielson's talk about the prodigal son, Elder Holland's talk about the cliff, the leap, and the hands like lightning in a summer storm. I thought that it was very well presented. And Elder Uchtdorf's talk about the resurrection was awesome. A member provided us lunch, and after eating, we returned for the following session. I really liked Elder Nelson's talk about the sabbath. I felt that I could greatly improve my own efforts at making the sabbath a more special day. We then went home and went right out the door and into the streets to talk to people about the resurrection. We came across a couple of homeless people. Tiny Tumbleweed and J. (Tiny Tumbleweed's real name was J.) We talked to them about the resurrection, and promised them that everything is worth it because of the resurrection, and all of a sudden, they wanted to take a picture with us. Okay...? So we humored them, took a picture, and went on our way. They walked ahead of us for a bit, and turned off to go behind a small building. They asked if we'd like to see where J. lives. So we went and saw, and talked with them a bit more about the things that we do. They really opened up to us, and I think that it was a really great conversation. We even got to talk about how we had just gotten done with watching General Conference, and were able to talk a bit about the prophets and apostles. We then had dinner, and afterwards, went right back out to talk about the resurrection. We didn't have any success at finding people. I think that everyone was inside with their families for Easter. I guess that's a good thing. Just not for us.

Yesterday, we spent most of the day working on that same playground, and got it pretty much assembled. We then went and had dinner with the G.'s, and they had to leave suddenly to visit K. and his wife. So we talked to their daughter M., and talked about the talks from General Conference. We then went a-searching for people to teach, none of which did we get to teach. Believe me, we struggled last night. We asked several people if we could just give them a card. Almost every single one said no. We asked about how their Easter went. Fine. And they kept right on walking. So, we returned our bikes to the apartment, and decided to just walk. (And believe me, Mom, I think that I've made up for all of the years that I didn't bike just by biking in this area. So it's all good. :) ) We got picked up by Elder D. and Elder F. as they were driving by, and we went to their apartment and talked about the lines that we loved from Conference.

Devil's Punchbowl

And today, we just barely finished a hike to a place called the Devil's Punchbowl. It's an interesting hike, where you hike downward to a little oasis in the middle of the "mountains", and then hike back up to get out. It was pretty cool! I haven't been on a good hike like that in a while, so it was really refreshing for me. We saw tons of lizards. Some people jumped off the cliffs that are at the Punchbowl, and one of the girls did a bellyflop. When she hit the water, it made a pretty loud slap, and all of us watching cringed. We then hiked out, and came to email

Well, I really enjoyed Conference, even though it was the last that I'll enjoy in the mission. We're planning on going ham this week on finding people to teach. I'm glad that you and Melissa are alright, Mom! I hope that you have a great (and safe) week!

-Love, Elder Crook

Cesar Chavez Day

Look, Ma! No cavities!

Yesterday was Cesar Chavez day. Never heard of it? Neither had I. Apparently he was some human rights activist here in San Diego county, so there's a holiday set for him where all of the libraries in the history of existence are closed. And it just so happened to be on our p-day. So President said to go find somewhere to email if we could, but that if we couldn't, to just email on Wednesday, or today. So that's the reason for the which I am writing today. I'm sorry if it gave you any anxiety or worry, but we only found out about it on Sunday, and we had no way to tell our parents what was going on, so the mission office got A LOT of phone calls yesterday asking why their child had not written them.

 

Last Wednesday was quite the day. I was on exchanges with Elder S. We had several lessons that day, a few with some investigators, a few with some less-actives, and then some wonderful dinner at the end of the night. The whole day was spent on bike, and for some reason, 'twas hot indeed. We ended up giving Hna. C. a blessing that day because her daughter was about to be released from prison into her care "because the judge said so". So she was a bit frazzled and worried, and we gave her a blessing. She said that she wanted us to come back on Saturday to feed us arroz con pollo, (I know it's your absolute favorite, Dad. ;)  ) and we agreed that we would be back Saturday.

 

Thursday turned out to be a bit less fruitful than Wednesday, and we started off with weekly planning. I don't know what it is about weekly planning, but it always makes me sooper tired. So we finished up and went to find some former investigators. We went around searching for people at home, yet were unable to find anyone. We spent most of the day talking to people in the streets, and trying to talk to Arabics and English speakers. We didn't really find any one of our set appointments at home, so we spent most of the day looking for people to visit and teach. Finally, at the end of the day, we stopped by and visited K. For some reason, he stayed back in his bedroom, and we talked to U. for a bit. We then went home early as Elder V. wasn't feeling good from some Chinese food we ate.

On Friday, we had interviews with President, and the other Elders had just put their car in the shop to get fixed, so we had to scramble to find some way to get to the stake center. We had opted to just bike there, and wake up super early to get there on time, but we were able to use the El Cajon zone leaders' car to get there instead. My interview was probably 5 minutes, I think. Shortest interview I've ever had, and I think that it was my last one before departure interviews. Oh well. We came home, returned the zone leaders' car, and went to district meeting. It was LOOOOOOONNNNG. We did some role plays for using the "Because He Lives" initiative, and I got to be a professor reading Machiavelli in the library, and the other Elders had to contact me. It went pretty well, but then it just kept going. We finally went to lunch, ate some good California burritos, and went to do service. Hna. C. then called us and asked if we could come meet her daughter, so we did. She was interesting. You could tell that she'd been cooped up in a small room for quite some time. But she looked like she was getting a lot of support from her parents. Elder V. and I gave her a blessing. We then went to the R's, and shared a message with them, and after, we went to the branch movie night. We watched 17 Miracles with Spanish subtitles. Ah man. All the women were crying, as expected. We then went home.

Saturday, we went to a baptism for the sisters, and helped out with conducting the music and being witnesses. After all was said and done, we went to help a member move into his new apartment, and we Elders provided the heavy lifting. I was nominated for getting everything in the moving van pulled apart in a weird game of reverse Tetris, and everyone else carried it to the apartment. We then had some pizza, and went to visit some people. After biking around for a bit, we went to have dinner with Hna. C. and S., her daughter. For some reason, S. wasn't there, but we still had dinner with Hno. and Hna. C. It was some good arroz con pollo, and it was Costa Rican style, so it wasn't what I expected. We then went and saw R, had a good visit with him, and went to see if we could find K. He wasn't home, so we went and tried to find several other less-actives at home. We finished the night, and went to bed.

Sunday, our branch mission leader wanted to have coordination super early, right before branch council, and we had to get up early. Elder V. wanted to get up at 5:30 for some reason. I slept until 6:30 and got ready quick. We then got to the church for coordination, and we ended up not having it anyway. I didn't have to go to branch council, so I got put in charge of copying the program for sacrament meeting, and that was what we did. We then had a great fast and testimony meeting, and went to gospel principles. Hna. G. was giving the class, and asked if I could tell the story of the Mediator, as given by Elder Packer. The story in the Gospel Principles book is quite long, so I read over it, and summed it up when called upon. The lesson was very well taught by Hna. G. We then went to the 5th Sunday meeting, and Presidente H. showed a presentation for "Because He Lives". He explained it, and then showed the video, and right after that, he asked who they would share the message with. Everyone sort of mumbled the answer of "Our friends", but that wasn't enough for him. He said, "How much better would it be if you had the missionaries there helping you share it with your friends?" Then everybody got it. So we had a couple of appointments set with members to share the message with their friends by the end of 3rd hour. We then went to our apartment to do our studies, and then went to dinner with a member. After dinner, we FINALLY found K., and got to share the video with him. He really liked it, and we were able to get on a good conversation topic. We then went to see A., and he was actually just barely getting back from a hike at Yosemite. He drove for 8+ hours that day just to get back when he did. We talked about how it went, and because of time, gave him the card for "Because He Lives" and told him to see it and maybe even share it with his girlfriend.

Monday, we had quite the bit of service. We went with the El Cajon zone leaders, Elder D. and Elder F., (since they live right below us), and we went to help their ward mission leader to trim some trees. Now, mind you, this man is in his late 60's or so, and has this nice plot of land covered in orange, lemon, lime, and fig trees, and had some kumquat bushes growing around. He told us to help ourselves to the fruit, so I had my fair share of fresh oranges and kumquats. I just love fresh oranges. They're so sweet and juicy. We then got to the tree cutting, and the ward mission leader, Brother T., got up on this 15' ladder to cut these trees with a chainsaw. The ladder he was on was leaning against his neighbor's fence, and we were cutting the trees that hung over the fence. He cut a few branches off, and then, all of a sudden, the ladder twisted, and Brother T. went right over the fence and into the trees. We all dropped our tools and ran to jump the fence. He had somehow fallen with his back to the tree, and just so to have both arms pinned over some cut branch stubs, and his whole weight was on his arms. He wasn't even touching the ground. We lifted him out of his predicament, and his hand and face were a bit cut. But somehow, that was all that happened to him. The first thing out of his mouth was hilarious for some reason. "Oh. I'm bleeding. Where's my glove?" We all started laughing after a moment of tension and fear, and then we looked up, and his glove was still in the tree. He went into the house and got a few bandaids on, and came right back out to help. His wife came out and started chastising him for coming back out to help even after what had just happened. She told us,"He does this all the time!" in a bit of a frustrated vent. We then went to lunch with some of the senior members of the church, and then went to work. We started out trying to contact some referrals, and found a few, but were told to come back another day. We then went to see J. A., and right when we got there, he came out and said that he'd be going back to Tecate, but that he had read the vision of the tree of life. And then he explained the whole thing to us! It was crazy! We're pretty bummed out that he's going back to Tecate. We'll hopefully be able to get the missionaries there to find him. We then had dinner with the G., and had a good time talking to them about what we would to when we taught their friends that they were inviting over on Saturday after the Priesthood session. After getting the game-plan set, we went and saw Hna. C. again, as she's been having a hard time lately. Her family has been pretty less-active, and she really wants to help them. We talked about what she could do, and finally came to the conclusion to have her go to the temple to see what revelation she could receive pertaining to the situation.

Then, yesterday was just one big day of weird. It didn't feel right that we weren't writing home. We spent so much time just "puttering around" as Dad would put it. Every time I sat down to write a letter, I got mobbed by all the other missionaries telling me to quit writing and come play sports. I hardly got anything written. I'm going to get some letters sent next Tuesday to everyone, so be ready.

I hope you all enjoy Conference! I know that I will!

-Love, Elder Crook