June 25, 2012
Well,
I´m doing well. Life is good. Grams... I´m a missionary. I´m suppose to testify
of the Gospel. ha ha haha. I loved your letters! Skyler, you are my favorite
oldest brother! If you need a new tire, feel free to take my tires off of the
pink bike. And if you think your bike is bad... It´s amazing how these
wonderful people take anything and make it work. I have seen up to three people
riding on the same bike. The cars here are old. You definitely don´t want to
play the slug bug game, because there are a bazillion! I know how you feel
about being burned. We played volley the other day along with fut. My arms and
legs and face were burnt! And as for alovera... I thought mom´s plant was huge,
but no, it´s a baby compared to the alovera plants here!
Kaitlyn,
I´d hate to break it to you, but I´m not so sure if pioneer girls wore cowboy
hats. You want the full experience right? ha ha ha ha!
Mom,
you asked the right answer. So many members think that they need to go out and
teach a full out lesson or say "I would like to share my testimony,"
but no. Missionary work is SO simple for members. One, the people they share
with they already know. If they don´t accept it isn´t the members fault. If
they don´t get baptized it isn´t the members fault as well. We all have agency.
Anyways, members can invite people over to do a family home evening with them,
have dinner, share simple things, such as "The Family, a Proc...." Or
just testify of how a certain thing has helped them, such as pray, priesthood
blessing (actually last Sunday we went to the hospital and gave a non-member a
blessing). And another thing is the Missionaries are always there to help. They
have knowledge, and might be killing for the opportunity to teach ward members
how they can help them, and how the ward members can share the gospel (only
guessing because I want this to happen). Basically it doesn´t have to be a full
out thing. Just a simple sharing of the Book of Mormon and how it has helped
you in your life (I really like the Introduction to the BOM paragraphs 1, 8,
&9). There is SO much a member can do!!! And the best part is, the
investigator or friend, will listen because THEY ARE YOUR FRIENDS!! They aren´t
going to slam the door in your face. They may decline, but at least they know
you care. Also, there is a story of someone you saw that about 5 families in
here neighborhood had something, but she didn´t know what. Right before one of
her neighbors moved, this neighbor said to here, if you ever need
anything, I just want to let you know that my church is there for you." Or
something to that extent, and this woman, was converted. A simple sentence...
Can you tell that members are important? ha ha ha
Dad,
I bet New Fork looks barren after you and Donel were done with it. Sounds
like everyone is doing great up there. Make sure if New Fork ever gets rid of a
canoe that you claim it. I can fix it. That´ll be a lot easier than buying one.
Well,
let’s see. It is pretty hot down here. We walk in it all day long. Also, it has
been raining a lot as well. But when it rains it POURS! We get back soaking
wet. Let´s see. This past week. Well, Sunday I confirmed Fran. That was good...
My hands were shaking pretty bad, but now he has the Holy Ghost, which is one
of the greatest gifts ever! 1!! It is amazing to see the change in his life! I
love it!!! Here goes the missionary part for grams. Well, my day is spent
walking, teaching the people and testifying. Sometimes you get really, really
tired. Other times you are so happy. We have a bunch of investigators. We have
a family of four, Andrés, Esther, Antonio, y Enrique. They are great. The dad
is always working. It is a bit frustrating with them, because we challenged
them to be baptized, but they said they wanted to wait and make sure. We have
been trying to get them to pray for the answer from the beginning (we aren´t
the first missionaries to have taught them). Finally, la lección pasada, I had
us kneel down and pray. After the prayer she said she felt nervous. This is a
clue, and we are working on what it means. We think she is nervous about what
it means when she gets the answer. It means her life needs to change. I think
her sons would get baptized, but she wouldn´t let them until she knew. I don´t
know. But I gave them the task to pray as a family, and individually in the
morning and at night, and also to read as a family. My companion said I
was pretty direct with them. They are such great people. We actually stopped by
to see if they were coming to Church and the mom and dad did. They said we were
welcome at their house for anything. I guess they had some missionaries form
the Jehovah Witnesses visit them, and they didn´t really have the same thing to
say for them. That made me feel good. ha ha ha!
Also
we have Belen, who has a date to be baptized, which now she can´t because she
didn´t go to church. She is so amazing! But she hasn't been to church at all. This
is a problem. Also, whenever we have a meeting planned, she always drops it. We
talked with her mom yesterday. She might be a new investigator.
Then
we have Moíses y Lupita. They are amazing! They are a young couple with two
little kids. The other Elders had a baptism on Friday, and we invited them to
come to it. We gave them a tour of the church and when we got to the chapel,
the Spirit was SO strong! They really like the baptism and after the ward was
having a meal for Father´s Day. The members were so amazing! It made me feel
good to not have to worry. I also, played the prelude for the baptism and got
chewed out a little because I didn´t tell anyone I could play. Well, the young
women sang a number during the baptism and they asked if I could play for them.
I had to say no, because I had no idea how the tune went or any time to even play
it before. I felt a little bad, but I´m not Skyler... ha ha ha. Anyways, they
loved it and it was pretty amazing! They said they felt really comfortable.
We
have others, but you´ll have to wait to hear about them next week.
I
love being a missionary! It is the best!
Love
you!
Love,
Elder Michael Blake Crouch
Ps.
every member is a missionary
