El Cajon!

Just to let all the nerves and anxiety relax over where I am, I have been moved to El Cajon, a.k.a. "Little Baghdad" to the Santee 5th branch. I'm back in a walking/biking area! I'm so flippin' excited to not have a car anymore. It's been really refreshing be able to walk around and talk to people right as we walk out of the door. That was the problem, I feel, with the last area. The area was 10 miles away, so we'd have to be rushing all the time to get to all of the appointments and had hardly any time to talk to people. Now we live in our area, and we have several members that live very close by. In fact, the area we have has a complex called "Mormon town" because of the high concentration of members in that one complex alone. The reason that El Cajon is called Little Baghdad is because the city is one of the highest concentration cities for the Arabic population. So lately, I've been trying to street-contact Arabics. It's not the easiest thing ever, but I've found it to be quite entertaining! Plus the Chaldeans, (as they prefer to be called), do quite the double-take when they hear a white guy like me talking to them in Arabic. I've only learned a few phrases, but it's just enough to keep them on their toes.
 

On Wednesday, I got put with Elder Y., who is from St. George. He's 100% Navajo Native-American, and he's super chill! Oh yeah, and we have another companionship of Elders in the district! AAAAH. It makes me so happy to be with normal Elders again. We got to our apartment, got everything unloaded, and started the day. As we went and visited people, I found that there are several people in the branch that are relatives of people that I've served with in my previous areas! Not to mention that there are a ton of missionaries that I've served with that are in our zone! This whole week has been a big week of surprises and pretty improvised everything. We went and taught a couple of active members, and got to know them, one of which was the son of a family that I was with in Penasquitos. We then went around the area, getting me familiarized with it, and set some appointments with a couple of less-active members. We then turned in for the night.

On Thursday, we got weekly planning done, and I got brought up to speed by Elder Y. on our current investigators, our members, and our less-actives. Turns out that our current area used to be covered by two sets of Elders, but that one set had been moved out at transfers, so we were covering two areas. We got out and went to Peach St. to start contacting people that Elder Y. knew, and we were able to talk with several people, English, Arabic, and Spanish alike. We were knocking on a door when this little old man walks up the stairs with his bicycle. He says hi to us in Spanish, and asks if we'd like to come into his apartment to talk with him. His name is R., and as we walk in and start talking with him, he proceeds to tell us that he knows several members, said he really likes the church, and that has had the discussions from the missionaries before, but that he can't come to church because he has to work all day every day to pay rent, since he lives alone. We talked with him a bit about his life, and after a bit, shared a message and set up a return appointment. We then went and contacted some referrals, visited a few less-actives, and went to dinner with M. and R., a couple of members in the other area. We walk in, and instantly, I recognize M. I have no idea why, though, since I've never seen her before in my life. Oh well, says I. We sit down and start talking, when M. tells me that she's L. L.'s sister. Then the light clicked. THAT'S why she looked so familiar. She cooked us some birria with frijoles and arroz, and it was splendidly scrumptious. My mouth was watering pretty darn good as we sat there waiting to eat.

Friday, we had district meeting, and I forgot to tell y'all, I'm not a district leader any more. Elder Najera is the district leader. He talked to us about faith and the principle of power in faith. We then went to visit several less-actives, and were able to share some really good messages with all of them. We went out contacting, and I started talking to this black lady on the street. She had never really known much about Mormons, so Elder Y. and I started to share some things about the restoration. As we talked, she had a lot of questions that were really honest and good! By the end of it, she said that she would read the Book of Mormon, and that the sister missionaries could meet with her. Her name was S. That made me so happy inside. We then visited R. again, and shared another message with him. Turns out he wants to learn English so that he can move up in his job and get a better pay with fewer hours to be able to come to church. So we set up an agreement to come by and teach him English when we can. We said a prayer with him that was really powerful, and right after we said amen, he started his own prayer, thanking the Lord for sending us to visit him. It was a really awesome visit. We then went and taught our currently progressing investigator L. with the S. family, who are members. We sat down and started talking with her, and she opened up to me pretty quickly. That means that I'm getting better at talking to people, or she's just a naturally cheery person. My bet's on the latter. BUT, we started out teaching her about the 10 commandments, the law of tithing, and the law of the fast. It appears that she was formerly in a good Christian church, because she already understood the concept of tithing perfectly and had no problem with obeying it after baptism. I was quite shocked. We usually have a good amount of resistance with that commandment. She accepted the others just as willingly, and after a bit, told us a painful story about her life. I won't go into detail, but I'll say that the words from the Book of Mormon that we shared sure hit her right where she needed it. She seems pretty darn solid. Right now we're working with her on getting a baptismal date.

Saturday, we went to meet some members of ours named M. and R. Both were raised in the church, and they're a pretty young couple. M. is 23 and R. is 21. It's pretty weird to see people that are just barely older than I am that have kids already. It's weird. BUT, we started out just getting to know them, and randomly, M.'s dad, who is our branch mission leader, walks in and asks us to come help him give a blessing to a less-active member whose eyesight is failing because of diabetes. We went and gave the blessing, and then went back to share a message with M. and R. since we just upped and left to give the blessing. We then walked way out into the other area to find some members, but they were busy, so I chased down a paletero man and bought some ice cream. I got a chamoy freezer bar, and let me tell you, Mexicans come up with some of the weirdest flavors. Chamoy is one of those flavors that I can't quite get used to. I like it! But it catches me off guard. We then went to the S.'s house again, since they were throwing a party for their son, and ate with them and several other members. We then went and tried to find a potential investigator family, couldn't find them, and went to coordination. Our branch mission leader is a bit flaky, from what it sounds like, because he hasn't been to any of the coordination meetings for quite awhile. Luckily, there are faithful branch missionaries that were there. (Fancy that! I feel like this branch is just one big miracle in my mind!)

Sunday, we had to go to branch council at 7:30 am since church starts at 9:00. We got in there around 7:35, and the branch president chastised us for arriving late. I was quite surprised. This is the first unit that I've served in where people have actually been punctual. Huh! It was a really effective branch council, and several orders of business were taken care of very quickly. The branch president then told me and Elder N. that we'd probably be bearing our testimonies in sacrament meeting if the speakers didn't take much time. I was cool with that. So we walked into the chapel, and I ran into even more people that I already knew from my past areas! One of which is this girl named T., whose family I visited a lot up in Ramona. There were so many members in the sacrament meeting! I was blown away by how many people there were! The meeting started, and I was asked to help with the sacrament. The sacrament table was down in front of the pulpit, so that was a new one for me, not to mention the fact that there were actually deacons and teachers there to pass the sacrament! We finished up the sacrament, and sat down. Then they gave me and Elder N. some time to give our testimonies after the first speaker, who was Sister H., with whom I served in Poway. She finished, Elder N. went up first, and then I went up. I bore my testimony about Joseph Smith, (I don't really know why), and talked about his life, and the many things that he did and suffered. I then connected it with my own life, and then with the Savior. I sat down, and the meeting went on. Afterwards, we went to the classes, and I had been asked earlier that morning to teach gospel principles because the teacher wasn't able to make it. The class was on agency, and there were so many people there! I was amazed! The class finished, and we went to Elders Quorum, and had a fantastic lesson on Elder Bednar's conference talk about his son, the ointment, and the band-aids in relation to the atonement and missionary work. We filled the afternoon with studies, and got ready to go out. We then had dinner with some members that live 18 miles away from where we live, and the other Elders gave us a ride and ate with us. They're the O. family, and they were a hoot! They're one of the most interesting families I think I've met in my life. The food was good, the company was good, and the spiritual message was good, too. We then came home for the night.

Yesterday, we got some Arabic contacting phrases to help the Arabic Elders out with their work, and went to what's called the "Old Ladies Luncheon", where a group of the elderly made the missionaries lunch. They were so nice, and the food was fantastic. There was even a tray of chicken wings! HA! They knew just what would make me happy. It started raining all of a sudden, so we went and did mormon.org time. We then went out and started our evening visiting a blind member and his wife. After, we went and taught a 15-year old investigator girl the plan of salvation. She seemed to like it quite a bit. We then went and set up some appointments with more less-active members, and went to dinner with Hna. G., a member in our area. We had U. C. come with us, who is a recently returned missionary from Colombia. She also made us birria, but with a different recipe. We talked a bit, and she said that my testimony in church was spot on because of a missionary that had returned early from his mission, gone less-active, and then renounced the church. She said that this guy started saying that Joseph wasn't a prophet on his facebook profile and all sorts of other anti things, and that many of the members had seen those things. So I guess that's why I felt impressed to bear testimony about Joseph Smith. I'm really glad that I was ready for that. Now I just have to make sure that I'm ready for future things.

Well, that's just about all for this week! Talk to you all next week!

-Love, Elder Crook

Getting transferred

We got the call, and I'm getting transferred, and it'll probably be my last area before coming home. Fancy that. And the English Elders that live in our complex that whitewashed in two transfers ago are getting whitewashed out. Pretty crazy. 

So. Forgive me if this week's email is a bit shorter than normal. I'm trying to remember everything without my planner from last transfer. Okay. So on Wednesday, we had a lesson with I., and we taught him about the spirit world and vicarious work for the dead. He had tons of questions about what qualified one to go to the celestial kingdom, and what the scriptures meant by "hell". We explained everything, explaining all of the points in a really simple manner, and that "hell" is merely the state of fear and anguish of the souls of the wicked as they await the time where they'll be brought to stand before the judgment bar of God. We then taught that through the vicarious work for the dead, these people may accept the ordinances of the Gospel, and be freed from their torments and pains, and receive a state of paradise and rest. We shared that everyone will be brought before God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost to be judged of their deeds, whether they were good or evil. We then went and taught L., who has been having a bit of a hard time because of how much work he's had all of a sudden. We mentioned that it was possible that I would be transferred the coming week, and he got pretty sad. I let him know that if I got transferred, that all would turn out alright. We then went and visited some potentials and finished up the night.

Thursday, we did our weekly planning, and then went out to find people to teach. We had some appointments later in the night, so during the afternoon, it was mostly trying to find people to teach, or find people at home so that we could set up an appointment with them. We spent quite a bit of time contacting, and had some pretty good contacts, I must say. We were able to have some really good conversations with people. We then had a predicament where I really needed to use the bathroom, so we went to McDonald's, and ran into F. He offered to buy us dinner, so we ate with him, and talked with him about how he'd been doing, and how his work was going. He said that he'd been extremely busy lately, and that he was going to come to church Sunday. We shared a thought with him, and he went back to work. Then, L. called and asked if we wanted to come by and share the Joseph Smith movie with him, since he had some free time. We had been planning to show the movie to him, so we figured that it would be perfect. So, we swung by and put the DVD into his player, and it didn't work. Bummer. So we ended up just sharing a message with him, and he then offered to feed us. We were like,"Well, we already ate today." and he insisted that we eat. Okay then. So he heated up some ribs that his sister had made for him, and we ate that and some black bean soup. Then, my stomach had had enough. We went home for the night.

Friday, we had district meeting outside, since it was a nice 80 degrees outside with a cool breeze blowing. I shared a message on how the account in Joseph Smith History followed the points of the Gospel quite closely. First Joseph exercised faith in Christ, and prayed expecting that God would answer him. The First Vision was then opened unto him. Three years later, he was feeling particularly guilty for having kept jovial company with some who weren't the best company, and felt unworthy before God, and desired forgiveness. He then retired to his bedroom on Sep. 21 of 1823 and asked the Lord for forgiveness of sins, in other words, he exercised faith unto repentance. A heavenly messenger named Moroni then appeared and told Joseph that God had a work for him to do. Later, during the translation process, Joseph and Oliver retired to a place close by, and as they prayed about the topic of baptism, John the Baptist appeared and conferred the Aaronic Priesthood, and gave them authority to baptize. They then baptized each other. Soon after, Joseph and Oliver then received the Melchizedek Priesthood from Peter, James, and John, and, I'm assuming, received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. The Church was then restored upon the very principles of the Gospel that would cause it to function.

We then went out and got to work, and tried to visit several people, who, alas, were not home. We then got onto our phone, and found several names of former investigators, and began calling a few of them to see if we could visit them, since there weren't any teaching records with their names. We then went and visited J. and B. to show them the 20 minute Restoration video, and when we got there, we found out that even though they had a DVD player, and a PS3, they weren't connected and didn't have remotes. So we just watched it on their tablet. (Thank goodness for technology.) Their daughter, B., and her husband came in for the first time ever, and watched the video with us. The Spirit was amazingly strong, and I was quite impressed with how well everything fell into place after that.

Saturday, I really can't remember half of what we did. I feel like we went and did mormon.org time, got some Golden Spoon frozen yogurt with the English missionaries, and then went contacting for the rest of the afternoon. OH. Got it. We went to the Family History Center down in Mission Valley, which is pretty darn huge, and we got some orientation on how to do family history in order to help our less-actives and recent converts. I ended up finding several people that needed their records updated and clarified, so I logged into Ancestry.com and got some knots and tangles fixed. Then I found a few ancestors that hadn't had their temple work done, and I wished that I could have reserved their work, but since I'm a missionary, I can't really do that, so I left them to be found by family members. THAT'S when we went and got frozen yogurt and stuff. Then we spent the afternoon contacting. We then went and visited several families so that I could say goodbye to them. I'd been having a pretty solid feeling that I was getting moved, so I wanted to be sure and get some good pictures with everyone that I've really gotten close to.

Sunday, about 10 minutes before Gospel Principles, I was told that I was teaching the class. Whoop-dee-doo. So I snagged one of the books really quick and read through it at the speed of speed. Right as we were about to start the class, all of these women started walking in that I'd never seen before. Turns out they were all investigators, so I was pretty happy. I taught the class, we had Priesthood, and went to sacrament meeting. They had me bless the sacrament with A., and Elder G. sat down by a less-active. L's mom hadn't returned his calls that morning, so he went to make sure that she was alright. Turns out her phone had kicked the bucket, so he was trying to get her a phone set up the whole day so that he could keep in contact with her in case something happened. Hence, he wasn't at church, so he'll have to wait until next week to get his temple recommend. Looks like I won't be able to do baptisms for the dead with him. But oh well. We didn't see F. there either, since Hno. Z. skipped out on church this week for some reason. We then had dinner, and went to visit several families to take pictures and the like. We visited the H. at the end of it all, and they refused to take pictures just so that they could make me come back Tuesday to take pictures. So we'll be doing that tonight.

Then yesterday, we helped out shoveling some more goat poo, and went to have some burritos from this Mexican place called Oscar's. My burrito wasn't too bad for the price, but I don't think I'll go back. We then went and re-added a former investigator that we thought had moved away, and proceeded to watch as every single appointment of ours for that night fell through. It was quite dramatic, really. We had an appointment every hour from 5 to 8, and every single one fell through in succession. Then we were able to go visit the B. and take pictures with them. They're a really solid family. I really hope they do well. So yeah. Yesterday was pretty....slow.

I'll be sure to let you all know where the heck I'm going next week, because I'll have already been there for a week! HAHA. Just remember to see what you can get done on my freshman registration, and once you've done all you can, just let me know, and I'll talk to President to get the rest done. Plus they'll have some senior missionaries there to help me out if I need it.

I hope you all have a great week!

-Love, Elder Crook

Staying healthy

Thankfully, I've avoided contracting the flu bug this winter season, so I've been able to give quite a few blessings to a lot of people, and I haven't gotten sick. *knocks on wood* Okay. Figured I'd cover that base.

This week started off pretty well with zone meeting. (Shocker, right?) We actually had a pretty good zone meeting, and I think it was because people just didn't care about arguing their points on the goal setting, so it went relatively quickly. We then got some training from the Poway Stake President, President C. He got up, and touched on several points that I very much enjoyed. From all of this emphasis on goals, I've really been trying to find the gospel connection. I really feel like I understand and love a concept once I can connect it to the scriptures. So I sat and pondered and pondered until finally, I got it. I connected goal setting with the Mosaic Law, and the Law of the Gospel. They are goals that have been set by our Heavenly Father for us to achieve, Him knowing already the capacities of us all. We first obey the Lower Law, or the lower goal, and once we've achieved that, we then obey the Higher Law, or the higher goal, the ultimate goal being exaltation in the family unit. So once that connection had been made by the Spirit in my head, it all made sense. We then went and visited with I, and he was so happy to see us! He had just returned from Honduras last month, and he said that he'd gotten sick there and had lost quite a bit of weight, which was why he didn't want to meet with us for those few weeks. He had read the Book of Mormon some more, and had several questions, which we answered. One of which was about the Law of Chastity, and once we'd taught it, he just nodded and said that he'd live it. Not too shabby! We then went and tried several potentials, none of which were able to meet with us. So, we went to meet L. to go to dinner with the P. family, but he had to cancel because of a work emergency. We went to eat with the P's, and were able to share some good thoughts with them about the New Year, and goals that we set, that they shouldn't be unrealistic, nor unattainable. Rather, they should be things that we can meet quickly, and set a slightly higher goal, thus augmenting ourselves and achieving our goals.

Thursday, we had weekly planning and stuff, so we got that out of the way quick. We then went and taught a creeper investigator of the Sisters', and added him. He's a bit strange, and I think that he's a bit hard of hearing, but we'll see how far we can get with him. We then went and visited with Hna. G., and she told us another of her dreams that she's had. I flat out asked her if she was from the tribe of Manasseh, and she said,"Why, yes! How'd you know?" And I said that dreams were one of the blessings of that tribe. It's pretty cool to hear her dreams, because they're always related to the gospel. We then met with L., and added her as well. She's actually been wanting to be baptized for the last 2 years, but hasn't made the decision to, for some odd reason. We're going to try and get her concerns resolved so that she can be baptized. She's planning on coming to the Spanish branch. We then went to coordination with Hno. H. for the last time, since he was released from his calling last week. I'm going to miss him a lot.

For Friday, we had to go down to the Mission Valley building to the Family History Center to receive some training in Family History. We sat down at some computers, and they showed us some cool tips and tricks about doing family history work, and how we can help our recent converts and less-active members. We then did some mormon.org time, in the which I studied some talks and scriptures and watched several videos on mormon.org and lds.org. We then spent the day contacting, and trying to find some less-actives in our area that we didn't know about. We then had dinner with L., and were able to share with him some of the responsibilities of the priesthood, and how he'd be able to participate in the sacrament on Sundays once he had the Aaronic Priesthood. It was a really awesome lesson, because he told us that he could feel that something had changed. He said he felt much more calm, and that he was happier all the time. We told him that it was the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and that with prayer, scripture study, and church attendance, he could have that become even stronger.

Saturday, we finally made the decision to drop F. He hadn't kept any of the commitments we'd left with him, so we said that we couldn't come back, but that he could still attend church. We spent the day trying to find people to teach by contacting, calling, and looking at some papers that Hno. H. had from about a year ago. We then had dinner with B. and N., and N. told us that he's going up to LA, but not willingly. He couldn't tell us anything, but he said that he had to go. So, we spent the time we had with him on helping him trust in the Lord in the hard times, like Joseph of Egypt, and that the Lord would lift him up and make him great in many ways. We said our goodbyes, and headed home.

On Sunday, we had an appointment with a potential investigator right before church, and it was raining. We got down there, and he wasn't home, so we offered to help this guy move some things into his uHaul since he was all alone. (We figured that an act of service on a Sunday was fine.) He said no, but thanked us for the offer. We then went to church, and L. was sustained to receive the priesthood. He had to leave to take a work call right before the sustaining, but luckily, came back in just in time. He asked me to give him the priesthood, so we went into the branch president's office and conferred the priesthood. We then had a branch dinner to welcome several families that have been asked to help strengthen the branch. We then visited some less-active members, and shared a message with them, and went to visit an active family. The mother had invited her friend to church, and she said that her friend was loving it all up until a woman came up to her and started asking her all of these probing questions. The woman worked on the school district board for our member's friend's autistic son. The member's friend then asked if she and her family could leave, because she just didn't feel comfortable there. They returned the copies of the Book of Mormon that they'd received, and it crushed her. We talked to her about perhaps talking to the bishop of her ward to see what she could do to help remedy the situation, and that she should continue to be an amazing example of the believers.

Yesterday, we had some service, and got to dig some trenches. The rain made the dirt really soft, so it went quickly. We then did some contacting throughout the afternoon, and went to meet with a man who wanted us to share the Plan of Salvation with him. We showed up, waited for them to get there, (since they'd been held up by traffic), and shared the Plan. The Spirit was really strong, and I could tell that it was influencing him, but at the end, he said that he had a little problem with the plan. He then went on for about 30 minutes to try and convince us that God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are all one being, and yet they're three, but only one, and so forth. We just sat there and listened, and I felt prompted to give him a Book of Mormon. He accepted it really willingly, and said that if it teaches the same doctrines of the Bible, it must be true. We just smiled, and said that we'd visit him later. We then had dinner with the B., and they made eggplant lasagna. It was sooooooo gooooooood. I really liked it. We then shared a message on having family scripture study, family prayer, and family home evening, and that those things wouldn't yield much fruit right now, but that once their kids were teenagers, that the habits of doing those things would help them a ton.

And that's just about all that's happened this week! I hope that everyone gets feeling better, and that you all have a great week!

-Love, Elder Crook

And we found a shopping cart.

A baptism!

To finish off the anxiety and excitement, L. did indeed get baptized last Saturday! The program fell apart, seeing as the two speakers and the person giving the closing prayer didn't even show up, but I think that it panned out that way for a reason, and I'll explain in the Saturday recount paragraph.

On Wednesday, being New Year's Eve, we had to be in by 6:00. So, we went and tried to visit several people before the day was through. Unfortunately, almost every person that we went to see was unavailable or otherwise occupied with family celebration and stuff like that. We managed to visit a less-active member who was going to be alone for the New Year's, and we sat and listened as he told us all of these crazy stories about the many adventures that he's had in his lifetime. It was really cool to listen to some of the stories, one of which was while he was in Africa. An African chief gave him some arrows as an honorary gift to his visitor, and when the member got back to camp, he started showing them to all of the other people there, and started tapping the tips of the arrows saying, “Look! Look at that! Look how sharp it is!", and his guide started yelling at him to stop, and got really pale. "Why?" he asked. "Those arrows are tipped with poison!" Then he said that his eyes just about popped out of his head. So that was pretty fun. We then spent the night in the apartment setting goals and eating tasties.

Then, on Thursday, we went around to visit people, and saw the aftermath of the night before. Half the people that we talked to were either still hungover from the night before, or were still coming off of the drugs. It was pretty amusing with some of the people that we spoke with. We did some quality contacting, visited a member that gave us some socks and scarves for a late Christmas gift, and went to visit with L. We had dinner with him, and shared a message about the value of reading, praying, and attending church to dispel all problems and worries that we might have in our personal lives. It was a really powerful lesson, and every time that we visited with L. this week, the Spirit was always strong. He's really progressed in what he's believed and felt while we've been with him. We spoke a bit with him about how his baptism would go, and then about how the confirmation would go on Sunday, and how he would then have the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

Friday rolled around, and we had district meeting. I decided to share a lesson on eternal truth, and how that influences the people we teach. I shared the concept that "light cleaveth unto light" and "truth cleaveth unto truth", and how the people with whom we spoke would recognize the truths that we stated in our lessons if they were truly searching for those things. Otherwise, we were merely planting the seeds that would one day draw them unto the light and truth of the gospel, if those people were to let those seeds grow. I used several scriptural accounts, such as that of Zeezrom recognizing the things that he had done wrong as Alma and Amulek taught, and Ammon and Aaron with their prospective King converts. We then gave a blessing to one of the sisters who was feeling a bit ill, and went to finish up some errands. We then got out and about to visit some potential investigators, and were able to talk with several people. We then had dinner with L. again that night, and he pulled one of the coolest moves ever. We sat down, and he asked if we'd eaten yet, and we said no. He then picks up his phone, calls someone, says, "Hey. I want a Hawaiian pizza. How soon will it be ready? Cool. Thanks, Juan.", and hung up. "Pizza will be here in 10 minutes." My jaw just about dropped. That was ALL that he said. Nothing more. He was so cool about it, too. Just...casual. "Yeah. I know a guy that makes pizza." Then he went out and got it, and it was probably one of the best Hawaiian pizzas I've had in San Diego. (They don't have Papa Murphy's down here, and I've wept inside many times because of that.) We read from the Book of Mormon with him, and talked about the Gift of the Holy Ghost, following the Spirit, and how those promptings will feel when we receive them, (in relation to Nephi following the Spirit through the streets of Jerusalem.) We then told him everything that he needed to bring with him to the baptism.

 

Saturday morning came along, and we got everything ready, got the baptismal font keys, and went on down to the Stake Center to get everything ready. We set up the chairs, filled the font, prepped the programs and presentation table with pass-along cards and copies of the Book of Mormon, and then waited for everyone to show up. We had been inviting people since two weeks ago, asking them if they would come. As time wore on, L. showed up before anyone else, and we got him changed into his baptismal suit. We then sat and waited for a few more minutes, and then Hno. H. showed up with his family. (Because of the branch presidency change, he'll be released from his calling soon. I'm pretty sad to see him go.) Then Presidente V. and his wife showed up. Yet the people on the program had still not shown up, so we started making phone calls to see where they were. Nothing. Only the sister giving the opening prayer showed up, and even then she was 20 minutes late. Some other people came in, and we asked a few of them if they would be able to share their testimonies of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. One of them was the man who referred us to L., and he bore a simple, but very powerful testimony on baptism. Then another brother shared his testimony of the gift of the Holy Ghost, and again, the Spirit was very present. We then proceeded with the baptism, and when L. came up out of the water, he had a huge smile on his face. We got changed, and the sister missionaries shared the Restoration while we changed. J. and B. showed up just a minute after the ordinance, and heard the Restoration bit. We then came out, and L. bore a simple, but very moving testimony on how he knew that he'd found the right path. We then went out and had some refreshments. Then we found out that there was another baptism that was about to happen right after us, so we got out of there quick. (Turns out that Hno. H. hadn't reserved the font like we asked him to, so the people that were showing up for the next baptism were quite surprised to see us there.) But all in all, the baptism went much better than I had expected. I was really happy with the way things turned out. We then visited with L. that night again, just to see how he was feeling, and explained the blessings of the priesthood, and the Gift of the Holy Ghost again.

Sunday, we went to branch council and reported everything, and made a huge emphasis on getting members to fellowship L. We got the counselors on the presidency to commit to help us out with that. We then went into the church meetings, and talked about the nature of God the Father and His love for us in gospel principles. In Elders Quorum, I'm not quite sure what the lesson was supposed to be on, but I think that it was on how we help others to partake of the atonement through gospel principles. Then, in sacrament meeting, L. was confirmed and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. When we sat down, I looked at him, and I could tell that there was something different about him. Nothing huge, but it was still noticeable. As it was testimony meeting, we sat and listened to several people bear their testimonies, and a lot of them were really powerful. After the meeting ended, we got L. squared away on his priesthood/temple recommend interview. We've received permission from President S. to do baptisms for the dead with our recent converts. So when L. gets his recommend, we'll be headed over to the temple to do baptisms! Then, Hno. B. P., our 1st counselor in the presidency, invited us and L. over for dinner this Wednesday, so we're seeing the fellowshipping happen!

And as for yesterday, we had exchanges with the zone leaders. I stayed and got Elder C., the Ecuadorian Elder. We spoke Spanish the entire time, and it was amazing. It felt so good to be free to speak however I wanted and have him understand perfectly. I have to dumb down what I say for Elder G. a lot of the time, because he's still learning a lot. We had District Leader Council, and then went to lunch. We then went out and got some good work done. We contacted a guy named I, and a lady named B. that both invited us to come back and share some of the lessons with them. Our appointment with the M. family cancelled because they weren't home, but we were able to fill the time with finding a potential investigator named L. After that, we had dinner with the B., and they gave us an authentic Guatemalan dish. We then sat and spoke with them a bit about how they were doing, and found out that A. has been going through some tests for his health, and one of their twin daughters was coming down with a fever. So we talked a bit about blessings, and we gave them both blessings of health and strength. Elder G. and Elder N. got out of their last lesson REALLY late, so we spent another night on the exchange.

Today, it sounds like we'll be going to Balboa park to see the Science and Natural History Museum, and then we'll be off to play some sports down in the park. And it seems that everyone down here is getting sick, so I'm guessing that the people who planned the flu vaccination missed one of the important strains to put in the vaccine, because it seems like EVERYONE is getting it.

Well, I'm glad that everyone had a great New Year, and that you all enjoyed the tex-mex dip without me. (I cried a bit inside about that.) I hope that you all have a very awesome week!

-Love, Elder Crook

Happy 2015!

It sure was a great Christmas present to me to be able to see everyone and to at least be able to hear Grandma and Grandpa! (And even Uncle Derek for a bit.) And it sure made me wish I could be there to see the snow. I realized that it'll be three years next December since the last time I saw snow. Well flippity doo. I'm glad that everyone enjoyed their gifts!

Last Wednesday was pretty much full of trying to visit people and carol to them, or at least share a nice message with them about Christmas and the meaning of Christ's coming to earth. We were able to visit a lot of people, (more than we expected), and were able to hand out a lot of "He is the Gift" cards to a lot of Spanish-speakers, which was quite the miracle, since we weren't expecting there to be any Hispanics out on the streets, seeing as it was la Noche Buena. We stopped by I's and left him a little Christmas gift, just to let him know that we're thinking about him. We're planning on contacting him this week to see if we can stop by and visit him again. He told us to give him a couple of weeks until the New Year, so we'll be trying to call him this week. We also ended up having dinner with L., and he made us some fantastic food. We then shared the "He is the Gift" video with him, and he said he'd share it with all of his friends. He had a friend, F., who was there visiting him, and we invited him to watch it with L. We also solidified L's baptismal service for this Saturday, so if you can, pray for him that he'll be able to meet the date, and that he'll be able to endure faithfully to the end after baptism! We then finished the night off with caroling.

Thursday, Elder G. was itching to open all of his presents right after we woke up, and the Twin Peaks Elders and myself were hoping to open them around lunch-time. But, we ended up opening all of the presents right after we woke up, and then we went through our studies. We then talked to all y'all, and had a great time doing so. After that, we went right out to work. We started some weekly planning, went out and contacted several people to wish them a Feliz Navidad and such, and were back at the H's house for dinner later that night. They made tamales, and they were pretty darn good! I wasn't expecting tamales from an American family, but they knew how to cook them well! We then went caroling after that to some non-members of some English missionaries.

Friday, I had planned on having some district meeting 'n stuff early on, but nobody wanted to, so we finished weekly planning. We then gave a blessing to one of the sisters, and from there, went out and got some good work done. We contacted a referral and set up a time to meet with him later. He actually doesn't have a house, so we had to teach him on the street that he works on. He speaks Mixteco, and knows just a bit of Spanish, so it was a little interesting trying to speak really dumbed-down Spanish. We then had dinner with some members, and they had family visiting from Layton, UT, and they are members of one of the Spanish wards up there. We then stopped by and wished J. and B. a Feliz Navidad, and shared a message with them. Then, coordination cancelled, so we floated around trying to find someone to visit at 8:00 at night, and couldn't find anyone. So we had a quick district meeting.

Then on Saturday, we had everything to get done, and only us to do it. It was the missionaries who were supposed to clean that chapel this time. So Elder G. and I showed up and started cleaning, and nobody showed up. Not even the Sisters. On top of that, Elder G. had forgotten the phone at the apartment, so we got as much done as we could, went back, got the phone, and asked Hno. H. if he could call some people to come finish for us, since we had an appointment with L. that morning. We had a great lesson with him, and talked about how his baptism would go, and went through the baptismal interview questions. He passed them all pretty easily. No problems. We then went and met with F., and finished teaching him all of the lessons. We then invited him to L's baptism, and asked him if he had picked a date for himself yet. "Not yet," he says, "but soon." Okie day then. We then did all of our studies, and went to contact some referrals. None of them really liked us, so we went and had dinner. We then visited Hno. L. to see how he was doing, and he was all by himself since his daughters were with their mom. He made us some chocolate/vegetable/gluten-free pancakes. And then he gave us some stalks of kale to eat with it. He's pretty fanatic about his health. We finished the night off with some contacting.

Then, on Sunday, we went to branch council to tell everyone about L's baptism. For some reason, all of the sisters showed up as well, which was quite inconvenient since the office is uber tiny. I fasted all day so that L. would be ready for this week, since Satan is going to try and stop him from being baptized. I ended up teaching Gospel Principles since Hno. H.'s whole family was sick. It was on exaltation, and the principle of becoming exactly like God. I was a little worried about how L. would take the lesson, but I feel like he was okay with it. Then, Hno. Z. wanted to make a point to the brethren, so he picked L. and F., (the only two non-members), to stand up and sing by themselves from the hymn book. His idea was to have us missionaries come in and sing with them, then leave, and have the brethren sing with them after we left. I was a little iffy on this idea since L. had only come to church for the third time, and he had to stand in front of people and sing. He took it like a champ, though. We're really hoping and working for some good member support for L. Then, in sacrament meeting, A. B. blessed the sacrament with Elder G., and he did an awesome job! After church, F.'s sister had made dinner for a bunch of people and the missionaries. So we went to Hno. Z.'s house and ate, and L. came with us. We ate and had a good time, and then we left with L. and went to visit some less-actives. None of them were available, or were asleep, so we mostly spent the night driving around to each appointment.

Yesterday, we helped Hno. L. out with painting a room in his house. We had hoped that there would've been sufficient tools, but there weren't, and on top of that, his daughters were getting in our way. We tried to get as much as we could done, but because of a lack of tools, we didn't finish and had to leave to go to a dinner appointment with the O.'s. They gave us chile relleno with some Colombian dumpling lookin' things. It was pretty darn good! They told us all about how their trip to San Francisco went. After that, we went and visited the Familia M. that we added last week. We got there, and when we sat down, there was just two of the four that we added. We started teaching them about the Plan of Salvation, explaining the need for a Savior, and the importance of following the Gospel in our lives. As the lesson progressed, another of the four joined us, and another brother walked in and listened. We gave them some more copies of the Book of Mormon, and invited them to read from 3 Nephi 11 about Christ's visit to the Americas. They agreed, and thanked us, and gave us a glass of milk right before we left. We then visited J. and B., and finished teaching them all of the lessons. We also invited them to come to L's baptism, just so that they could see what it was like. They'll be going to Riverside to take care of their sister-in-law right after, so we're hoping that it leaves an impression on them. We then visited L. to see how he was doing, and to share a scripture with him. His baptismal interview is tonight, and Elder G. and I are going on splits with the zone leaders so that they can get to an appointment of theirs.

Well, that's just about all that's happened this week. We're going to leave A. alone for awhile, and we'll check up on her in a little while. We'll text her to invite her to L's baptism, to see if she'd like to see what one is like. All I'd ask is that you remember L. in your prayers! He's really going to need some blessings this week. We have to be in by 6:00 on the 31st, so we'll probably call him that day to check up on him. I hope you all have a Happy New Year, and that you enjoy some good fireworks!

Talk to you next week!

-Love, Elder Crook

Merry Christmas!

This week has been quite the week of work, whimsical wishes, and Spiritual outpourings.

On Wednesday last week, we had the awesome opportunity to visit with Elder Brent H. Nielson of the Seventy, who is on the Missionary Board of Administration...I think that's what it's called. Anywho, he came to visit with the whole mission as part of a mission tour that he was doing here in the Southwestern missions of the USA. We prepared ourselves by reading some talks by David A. Bednar about the atonement. Both of the talks focused on the power of the grace of Christ in the atonement, how it influences us, and how it influences our investigators. I took notes as fast as I could the whole time he was talking. I had been having some tough times right before that with how much some of the leaders in the mission were operating as administrators, and less like ministers. Then, Elder Nielson started relating some personal experiences, and began to expound on the scriptures in a way that it was like everything he was saying was specifically for me, and his words gave me hope and peace regarding my less than Christlike emotions. It completely changed my outlook on things, and gave me a brighter perspective. I guess that I'd gotten so sick and tired of how some people were handling things, and I let the spirit of contention enter my heart. As Elder Nielson spoke and taught, I felt the Spirit teach me, not in a reprimanding way, but rather, in a loving way. I felt my thoughts turned to what I could do to influence the others, even though I wasn't a leader of great stature or rank, I could still influence others by one of the members of the Godhead. After all, if we all act and live like Apostles, then we surely will have an equal portion of the spirit as they receive. One of my favorite phrases of the day was "We have all been saved by grace, but have we been changed by grace?" As I studied Mosiah 1-4 this week, I've noticed that the whole purpose of the atonement is to reverse the effects of the fall of Adam. The carnal nature that we received when we were born, is one of the things that must be overcome by the atonement to be fully received back into Father's presence. He then shared personal experiences that hit the core of my being, and I felt that everything he said resonated within me. It was a really awesome experience. His wife even bore testimony of when he was presiding in the Philippines as an Area Seventy. When the huge typhoon hit, they were missing 240 missionaries. She testified that she saw the Spirit rest upon her husband, and that the Spirit showed him what to do to find those missionaries. Normally, whenever Sister members of the church bear testimony, I don't really feel it very strongly. This time, I think it was one of the strongest testimonies that I've ever felt out of any human being. That whole day was amazing. We then went and dropped off our packages to the H's, and shared a message with them about what we'd learned from Elder Nielson. Afterward, we visited a member family, and shared the "He is the Gift" message with them.

Thursday, we had weekly planning and the likes. We planned for all of our investigators, and tried to more effectively plan the use of "He is the Gift" in all of our contacting strategies and teaching appointments. We then visited with Hna. G., who won't be going anywhere for Christmas. We asked if we could come spend some time with her for Christmas, and she happily agreed. After, we went to visit with B., and talked to B. about receiving the priesthood. He's going to talk to Presidente V. tonight about receiving it. We then had coordination with Hno. H., and talked a bit about the things that we would be doing with the new Branch Presidency, and how we would be helping all of our less-actives. We even talked to Presidente V., and he knows the stake president over our area, and is planning on asking if the Spanish-speaking members can come to the branch. If he says yes, then we'll have several more members in our area to visit!

Friday rolled around, and we had district meeting. We planned to have district meeting and then help Presidente V. with distributing presents around the ward that had been given through the Secret Santa program. The Sisters arrived 20 minutes late, so we waited. And waited. Then we had district meeting on the importance of personal testimony vs. rote testimony, and went out to give out the gifts to all the members. We then went to try and find some less-active members from the wards in PQ, and returned home for dinner. We then visited the B., and talked to them about what they'd be doing for Christmas, and shared with them a lesson about what Elder Nielsen had shared. We also talked to A.about getting the priesthood, and he met wit Presidente V. on Sunday. We're visiting them tonight to see how it went! We then tried to contact some referrals.

Saturday, we had all of our appointments in the morning. We went to see F. at 9:00, but he wasn't there; we went to see L. at 10:00, and had an awesome lesson about reading, praying, and attending church. He's so ready to know everything, and we gave him some passages in the Book of Mormon to read. We then tried to contact a potential investigator. We then did some things around the area for the day, got our studies done, and went to visit with Hno. L. and his family. His ex-wife was there visiting, and while we were there, she was pretty not happy looking. She doesn't like the missionaries much, and so we kept our message to just the video of He is the Gift and the video "Angels from the Realms of Glory".

Sunday, L. and F. came to church. They enjoyed the lessons, and in sacrament meeting, L. asked us when and where we had baptisms. We were caught by surprise, and explained how things went. We then went to visit J. and B., and shared a short message with them. Their new baptismal date is for the 10th of January. We then visited a less-active member in a dialysis unit and shared the Plan of Salvation so that Elder G. could practice his Spanish.

Yesterday was the mission Christmas Devotional, and it was an awesome meeting. We got to have breakfast with everyone, and I got to see some missionaries that I haven't seen or talked to in a really long time. We then went out and started working in our area. We went to try some less-actives, but they weren't home. We then went and found one less-active that I haven't seen in a really long time. We got to share "He is the Gift" with him, and invited him to share it with as many people as he could. We then went and contacted a referral that we had received from the YSA sisters. We ended up sharing the "He is the Gift" video, and smoothly transitioned into the Restoration. The Spirit really influenced what we said, and the lesson went so well. The Spirit was strong, and we invited them to keep meeting with us. We ended up adding all four of them. A., J., D., and T. There are more there, and we're hoping to teach them as well. After that, we went to a Branch FHE, and it was a blast! They had some of the guys that were there who had brought instruments, and they played some music and sang.

All of our investigators are doing well. We'll be caroling for Christmas Eve, since we won't be able to get any appointments with people, and we've got some plans set up to go do things on Christmas.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

-Love, Elder Crook

Skyping with Elder Crook

Here is how Elder Crook looked when we Skyped with him! Looking good! We had a wonderful visit with him. The hour with him went way too fast. The best Christmas present ever!