Slippin and Slidin

Hahaha Oh my goodness Mom, that is so funny, that Sister is the hermana that you were talking about a long time ago, me and her are SUPER good friends, i love talking to her so much! Actually little known fact, remember how last week i told you i hoped i had to go to Osorno so i could say goodbye to the sisters from my group who were going home, but to say it a little more honestly i dont really care about any of the other sisters that came to chile with me, i really just wanted to say bye to her because we were really good friends hahaha. But even though i couldnt get to go to Osorno to say bye, and to get her email address or anything because the missionaries that i lead down to Punta Arenas would have been completely lost without me, but ill talk about that in a second. If you want to facebook stalk her she is from California.

Dad i laughed so hard when i read ´´Chewiecabra´´ I am assuming that you were making a reference to the chupacabra from Mexico. And i know its not a bad word there in Mexico haha. But iin one of my district i had a missionary that is from Peru, and cabra/cabro is a word that is pretty normally used here in Chile, but it Peru it is a super offensive swear word, well i guess its not really nice here but its commonly used to call someone a immature little kid, but in Peru its super bad and so i pictured dad calling the dog that and i just busted up laughing

So I LOVE PUNTA ARENAS!!!!!!!!!!!! It is so incredible here! I love it, i love it, i love it, I LOVE IT! The people her are just super awesome, the members are awesome, and it doesnt rain!!!!!! hahaha Its kind of crazy being a zone leader though because i am constantly running around working for different mission needs, and then when i am not i am working like crazy with my companion to be an example for all of the other missionaries down here. But i love it so so much! 

But talking about getting down here. I was the only missionary out of the whole group who had flown down south, so i was really the only one who knew what they were doing, and actually almost every single missionary that came with me was brand new, and didnt speak spanish, and so i had to help them out a lot. But there was one sister that i had to help though whos luggage was SUPEr OVER Weight! It was almost 30 pounds over weight, i have no idea what she had in that thing, but they wouldnt let her onto the airplane unless she payed a giant fee, but naturally she didt have money. 

 

And so i was in security because another missionary got pulled aside and was getting searched, and all of his bags searched, and so i was over there helping the missionary, when she comes over to me to tell me what happened, and so i left the other missionary for a second to help her, and there was a fee of 45,000 pesos. that like $90. And i actually reacted really good instead of freaking out i just instantly pulled out my credit card and paid for her with my personal money, i am sure i would have freaked out a little more had i not been so busy, i then rushed back to security, after a quick check up on all of the other missionaries who were all good. But speaking of that i need to write the office and ask for a reimbursement, because that was a ton of money, freakin hermana haha.

But finally we get into the airplane, and my seat was in front of a bunch of the missionaries but not next to any, but i was sitting next to a girl who was like 20 years old, and she was awesome, i spent like the first 30 mins of the flight just talking to her becoming her friend, and then the next hour teaching her about the book of mormon, and reading it with her, she was actually super receptive, and she had a million questions about it. ANd it was really good that all of the missionaries were behind me because they noticed that i was teaching her, and so they all turned onto missionary mode too, and i noticed how a bunch of them started to talk to people that they were sitting next to.

My Skype Conference with President went really good, but the other zone leaders seemed a little stressed out about it, because the new mission president gave A LOT more responsibilities to Zone Leaders than they had initially had. I am totally fine with it, everything from having interviews with sister missionaries if they are fighting with their companions to weekly meeting with district leaders to analyze the weakness that there are in the districts and make plans to overcome them, and just a ton of other things, i have like 8 pages on notes from the conference of stuff we need to do. 

 

I was talking to my companion about it and he said that the way of leadership here in the mission is going to change alot now, because before almost all of the responsibility was on the mission president, and the ZLs were really just there to filter the information so only the import stuff got through to president ( they still had more responsibilities but you get the idea) but now the only time that president gets involved is with his normally scheduled interview and meetings, And he said to us ´´Elders, i chose you all to be the new Leaders of this mission because i see each one of you as Superman, you are all unstoppable missionaries who have an infinite possibility to change the lives of the missionaries in your zones, and to effect the work were you are at.´´ 

Working with Elder Parson is awesome he is from Washington, actually from a city on the border of Oregon, and was a city that i am pretty sure i remember dad talking about before, when he would tell me about his mission, i like to imagine that dad baptized his family. i get along super well with him, better than probably any other comp that i have had. And i love teaching with him, he has more time in the mission than i do, and so he has had alot of time to perfect his teaching, and the two of us teach really really good together. I dont think i have ever seen more miracles while i have been teaching in my whole mission that i am seeing working with him, there is not a single doubt in my mind that since both of us are super dedicated missionaries doing everything possible to follow the spirit, the spirit is obviously guiding us, its super obvious to me, and i love it so much.

The members are awesome here, they leave to work with us every time we call them to ask for their help, and wow they help a ton, i havent had members that were willing to work with us pretty much my whole mission and its super obvious the difference in the work from here in Punta Arenas than any other part of the mission, just this week we had 3 baptisms, which were super awesome, and my companion told me he had been here for a little less than 3 months, and there has been baptisms sense he´s got here, and there was a  bunch more that there was this year before he got here, and then looked at what its like up north, and i was in a couple of ward that there had not been any baptisms in more than a year, and the missionaries would have to work their butt off just to get someone to come to church, and then the investigators would never want to come back because the members didnt sit with them or anything and just felt like an awkward outsider, and then never wanted to come back. 

 

But here the members are awesome, they leave to work with each with us, and so the investigators are already making friends with them, and they sit with the investigators at church, and in ward council meeting my companion and i talked about how every member should have their own copy of preach my gospel so they could be even more effective, and they jumped right on it, the assigned a sister to buy a ton of copies for the ward so that they can start reading the manual to learn. They are just incredible, i have never been happier with the members in my entire life hahaha. I have gotten a bunch of references from them too. Its just like a missionary dream land. I really hope that the work is like that back in Mesa, that would make me SO SO happy. If its not i am going to start working so it can be.

I have a bazillion other things that i want to talk about, like funny walking on ice stuff, and proselyting in the snow, other stories that looking back just make me want to cry because they were so precious and humbling. But i am super happy here in Punta Areana, i really hope that i get to spend the rest of my mission here. I doubt it, but i want so bad to be here a really, really long time.

Welp i love you all! Keep me Posted!

From Endless rain to Endless Snow‏

Half stories.., A DONDE LO VISTE! i never do that hahahaha

 

So speaking of rabies shots, i have been regularly getting them (not in the stomach) and my last one is supposed to be this wednesday. The problem is i am supposed to be flying down to punta arenas this tuesday.....

 

I got a call this week from my mission president this week, and he said ``Elder Crockett, a few weeks ago, i was praying about you, to know where the Lord needs you most. And Elder Crockett, the Lord has called you to serve as a  Zone Leader in Punta Arenas.´´

 

I responded how i was going to do everything possible to help the missionaries down there And my mission president replied, ``I know you will, thats why the Lord is sending you there.´´

 

I decided to look up the forecasts of this week down there. There is a High if 1 degree. and a low of -3. It is literally the farthest south city in the entire world, and is just separated by antartica by a short boat ride. They tell me that there is literally wild penguins down there, and there are winds so strong that they literally have handrails in the sidewalk so that the wind wont blow you over.

 

the forecast shows that it should be snowing when i get there.

 

I am actually SUPER Excited to go down there. I have literally wanted to go down to Punta Arenas ever since my first day here in chile. And i am finally going down there! All the missionaries are jealous of me, there are very very few missionaries who get to be in Coyhaique, or Punta Arenas, even less who get to be in BOTH.

 

I dont know know how many missionaries i will be in charge of. I am assuming that the minimum that it could be  3 districts, or about 15 missionaries-

 

Im not going to lie i think i am going to miss being a district leader, i have been one for about 6 months now, and i will probably be a zone leader for the next 6.

 

I actually just got a email from the secretary of the mission, telling me that the mission president is going to have a meeting this friday will all of the Zone leaders in the mission, and he sent me an email specifically saying that he is gong to try to change my flight to a different day so i can be at the meeting, if not i am going to have to attend via Skype, which i hope i can be there, this week all of the sister missionaries that started the mission with me are going home, and i would like to be there in Osorno to say goodbye to them. But if not its cool.

 

I have told very few members that i am leaving. But i told one and they said ``ALREADY! I was just getting excited to do missionary work. The work was exploding here, it was so awesome!´´ The work s still going to do just fine here, Elder MArsden (my last companion) is coming in in my place, and i know that he will be able to do an awesome job here.

 

Other random fact. This week a group of criminals broke into our house and robbed a bunch of stuff. We werent home it was while we were out working. It was literally the 5th time that this house has been robbed just this year. Granted its because the missionaries before us were idiots, and even though they got robbed they didn't do anything about it. But they didnt steal anything that was mine, just a couple of things that were from the mission. But we came home to find the front gate open, and i knew instantly that they broke in because i never leave that open.

 

But imitatively after getting robbed i talked to the mission leaders, and made arrangements to buy all of the things that were stolen, i then replaced locks, and got a member that is a carpenter to come in and make the house a safer place. I doubt that the house will be robbed again. Its like a fortress now haha.

 

But this week was super awesome for us. We dedicated a ton of time knocking doors, and we immediately started teaching anyone who would listen to us. And wow we found a ton of people. There was one family who just moved in from Argentina last week and they said ´``as a family the other day we really wanted to get started god here in chile, and we decided that we wanted to start attending church as a family, but we didnt know which one to go too´´ (the very next day after the family had this conversation) ``KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK´´ They were very excited to see us and let us come in right away, and when we invited them to be baptized they immediately said Yes.

 

But it was about time for me to get transferred, the sector was starting to get going strong so there was no more need to have me here hahahahaha. But i am happy we found a ton of awesome people. We baptized one of our investigators, his name is Jerson, Dudes a boss. Ill send you pics of his baptism next week.

 

Welp i am going to bounce i have a bunch of things i need to do to get ready for my flight. (whether its tomorrow or saturday i  dont know yet, but we shall see.)

 

Love you all!

Temptation

 ok time for cool quotes of the week:

``If we weren´t there, those criminals would have gotten away. But thanks to us they will have to face both earthly and heavenly justice´´

(on a different day a conversation in between me and my comp.)

``Elder Crockett, you just saved my life...´´

``YOU´RE AN IDIOT!!!!!!!WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING´´

``Elder you dont understand, they would have literally killed me had you hadnt done something.

``I KNOW, IT´S BECAUSE YOU WERE ACTING LIKE AN IDIOT! DON´T EVER MAKE ME HAVE TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT AGAIN! (after calming down my breathing) Alright, well it past now, so lets get back to work.´´

haha i wasnt actually mad at my companion i think it was just the same yelling that parents do when their kid does something stupid and gets hurt.

So this sunday was actually really awesome, because in sacrament meeting i was sitting on the stand because i direct the hymns, but i was up there and i was looking at all of the congregation and i realized something.

the first week that i was here there was about 20 people who came to sacrament meeting. The room was practically empty haha. But yesterday as i was sitting there on the stand i decided to count all the people who came to church and there was like 40 persons! And i was thinking about them, and almost every single one of them (that wasnt there my first couple of weeks here) were less active members who i have searched for and taught and helped them come back. I was so happy, this may seem kind of bad to say but i think i was happier about having all of those lost sheep coming back to church then i was when i saw my investigators come in haha. Well thats only half true, i was also super happy when i saw that, but i was equally as happy for each less active member who has started to come but there was just alot more of them and so my happiness what just added up haha

But believe it or not even though i was (am) super happy with the progress that i am seeing here, i realize that i can be doing alot better, because even though we have been finding new people to teach i want to find even more, so this week my companion and i set the goal that we are going to do alot more contacts, yes the things that we have been doing have been working, and we are seeing a nice and steady progress here, i just  want to see a nice and steady progress that goes alot faster hahahahaha and so we are dedicating this week that is coming up on just contacting everyone, and teaching everyone in the street, and then ask every single one of those people for references. And i know that when we do this that we are going to have more people to teach.

So i wanted to share something funny with you guys. So i am really good friends with all of the missionaries that i am in charge of, they are awesome, but oh my gosh they are little tempters haha So little known fact, sense i have gotten to Chile i have become an addict to Soccer, i love it. in fact i bought a soccer ball a little while ago, and every day for my exercises i wake up early just to practice soccer with my companion. (actually thats only half true, because every other day we wake up at 5:45 to run a half hour to play basketball with a couple of other elders for an hour) 

 

But when we dont do that i am practicing futbol. But the thing is in my mission there is a rule that we can only play soccer in between us and our companion, no one else, because a ton of people have gotten injured playing, and they decided its better if we just cant play it, so for those who really care we can play between us and our companion. But anyways 2 of the Elders in my district came over to my house one p day and saw my soccerball and they wanted to play it, so i told them that we cant because of the rules.

 

They said ``But Elder Crockett, you´re the district leader, you have the authority to give us permission to play, Plus nothing bad is going to happen, and the Zone Leaders arent going to find out because they live really far away. And i know you want to play too´´ i responded ``Get thee hence Satan!" And then reenforced that i wasnt going to let them break the rules. But they tried for a super long time to get me to let them play inbetween the 4 of us. But i told them no. But i just thought that it was super funny that how hard they tried to tempt me to play soccer. And i thought about the kind of temptations that i had before the mission in comparison to what i have now. And i just thought was funny and wanted to share that with you. 

Well i got to go. But i love you all. I didnt read you emails yet i just printed them out, but i will respond to and questions that you had next week, Presuming there was any haha. Love you!!!

What a difference

So this week, was pretty dang awesome if i say so myself. So the biggest battle that i have had here in this sector, was finding new people to teach. That is one of the side effects of having lazy missionaries in there before you, they leave you with nothing. So literally i have been spending every single day the past month, just knocking doors, and asking references. But it is FINALLY WORKING. 

 

These last couple weeks we have been finding so many people super awesome! And throughout the week, after teaching someone we set up an appointment. And Sunday comes along, and our agenda for the next week (now this week) was just filled with a ton of appointments with these new people we have. And so in priesthood we started to tell the members about the new people we had so we could get them to come leave with us. And literally every single one of the people we had found, was a friend of the members! 

 

And so they got super excited to work with us, because they realized that all the people we were teaching was their friends. So they all wanted to leave with us! And they even offered to change some of the appointments so that the person could come over to their home so that we could teach them there! And it was super awesome! And i remember after church i reflected back on just a couple of weeks ago, and i couldnt help but think about how most of the people who were now super willing to go working with me, just a couple weeks earlier were all mad and yelling at me for a a bunch of stupid stuff. Blessing of being a hard worker hahaha

So i actually dont have too much to tell you guys about this week. It was good, but  hasta alli nada mas hahaha

So i am going to include a part for specifically Truman. the rest of you can read it if you want. But Truman, one of the things that i do in my personal study time that you can do will help you a ton to really absorb all of preach my gospel into your head, (and heart).

What i do, is when i read Preach my gospel i have a study journal, and i write down all of the key points in a paragraph, and i will write down all of the quotes that stand out to me. And then i will put i reference next to the quote to know what page it was found if (Chptr 1, page 3, paragraph 4)

For example ( i am going to do this by memory to show give you a rough idea of what i do, but i dont have my PMG with me so it may only be half accurate what i say, and all the quotes i know are in spanish, so it will probably be translated differently)

Chapter 1: Your purpose

Section: The gospel blesses the Families

``families who live the gospel will be united in this life, and in the eternities´´ (page, paragraph)

But i do that with every chapter, and every section, and it really helps me because when i am teaching i remember the things that i am writing down and i can use it while i am teaching.

And when you are a leader in your mission you will be surprised how often you are going to have to quote parts of preach my gospel, and pull out different parts of PMG in district meeting or something.

But i will make you a promise that if you master Preach my gospel before you start your mission that you will have no fear of teaching because the lord will bring back to your memory any part of the book that is necessary to be able to teach it.

And just going with my thoughts right now, the only time that you are going to feel comfortable with what you are saying is if the spirit is telling it you to say it. You´ll be able to recognize the difference between your own thought and the thoughts that the spirit puts in your head.

And there is a quote from PMG that i really like that says (more or less) 

``The message of the restoration has to be taught by divine power´´ That is in chapter one, under a section that i believe is called teaching by the spirit, so you an look it up to find the actual quote

If there is anything that i wish i did earlier on in my mission was master PMG, i started too late. I focused most of my studies on the normal scriptures, which is super awesome, i learned a ton, but i feel i could have been a much more effective teacher in the beginning of my mission had i given more of a priority to PMG.

I love that you told me how ofter you notice when you are being guided by the spirit, getting used to following these impressions is going to help you alot in Michigan.

Alright i have to bounce. But i love you keep. Keep me Posted!

Miracle

I have a super awesome story that i want to tell you guys this week. And just so you dont get lost in it i am going to be telling it from two different points of view, mine, and from the way a sister in the church told the story.

Starting with her.

A sister gets up in sacrament meeting to bear her testimony. And she starts.

``One time i remember in a general conference that the Lord will put angels in our lives to tell us what He wants us to know. And i have learned that the missionaries are some of these angels´´

She then started to say 

```There was one day a little while ago, when my husband was very sick, and so we called the missionaries to come over to our house to give him a blessing. And they came over right away. And after we spoke for a little while to get to now each other, because we didnt know either of the missionaries because they were both new to the ward, we asked one of them to give my husband a blessing.

``The Elder then put his hands on my husbands head and started to give him a blessing, and the spirit was very strong in the room as he was giving it. But then in the middle of the blessing the Elder Stopped, and he was silent for a couple of mins not saying a word....´´

this is where i am jumping into what was happening on my end.

The revelation never stopped, the spirit was very strong, and there was never a second that i didnt know exactly what the Lord wanted me to say. The thing was, there was something that i felt i needed to say, but i did not have enough faith to say the words that came into my mind, i was too scared. I knew that the power was real, i have seen an uncountable number of miracles, but i did not have the faith necessary to say the words that i felt like i needed to say. And i fought with myself for a min deciding if i was going to say the phrase that was in my head, or if i was going to ignore it, i was starting to lean towards not saying the things i felt like i needed to say when i heard a voice say to me ``You are my servant, you say the things i tell you to say´´ That was enough for me. there was no way that i was going to do something that was contrary to what i know had a perfect knowledge of what the Lord wanted me to say.

(back to the woman)

``After a little more than a min in silence the Elder started speaking again and he said the words ``The Lord is sending you the child that you have been waiting, and praying for, for such a long time.

``And i was shocked, know all of you know this, but the Elder didnt, that i have had a couple of really hard miscarriages, and that my husband and I have been wanting to have a child for a long, long time, but seeing how im now almost 40 years old, we figured that it would be impossible. 

``The Elder then finished the blessing, and my husband and i were both crying. The Elder then very quickly said ``I know that the power of the priesthood is real, and if you are faithful, the promise will be completed.´´ He then quickly left. Leaving my husband and i  alone to talk. And i said `Can you imagine that, that we will have another child´ `It is possible that when the Elder Said that it might mean in the millennium, or further ahead in the future´ ´´

Back to me.

I literally left that house shaking. I didnt doubt for a second that the blessing would happen, i didnt know when but i knew it would, because i have seen the sick be healed, badly injured people walk again, dying people both be healed, and others die faster. But i just promised a 40 year old woman in the name of Jesus Christ that she was going to have a child. I was freaking out man! But then the Lord calmed me down, and showed me the prophet Abraham, and so i realized, ok so it does happen. I then prayed so hard that the blessing would happen.

Back to the Woman 

``A few days later i started to feel a little sick, and immediately the words which the Elder Said popped into my mind. I rushed to the store, and bought a pregnancy test, and it turned out Positive. I`m Pregnant´´

Me.

When she says that i think to myself ``WHAT!!!!!!´´ There was such a stupid huge smile on my face that in that moment literally every one in church looked at me, and realized that it was me that gave the blessing (i was directing the music that day so i was sitting on the stand)

The sister then bore testimony of how she knew that God can and will speak to us through his chosen servants, and that the power of the priesthood was real.

When i got home that day, as soon as i get home, (my companion went straight to the bathroom so i didn't  get embarrassed) I had the biggest happy dance moment ever. And  i shouted out ``LEGIT! I said that it would happen...BUT THEN IT ACTUALLY DID!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE CHURCH IS TRUE; THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!´´ And i happy danced all over my house. 

But thats my story for this week. I think its kind of cool. Possible even cooler than that time when i prayed and that house burnt down hahahahaha I have such cool stories. the mission is the best.

Also I had to go to the hosital again this week. Dont get scared. I got bit by a dog and had to get a bunch of rabies shots. I still have 3 more appointments to get more. I hate dogs so much hahahahahahaha  Love you mom! hahaha Dont be freaked about about Dogs

Welp i love you all! BYE!

Week 2

Oh my gosh, that is so awesome that Truman was ordained to an Elder This week. I was doing the count down in my head, and he should be just leaving his training when i come home from my mission. Which is good for you mom because that means you are only going to have to go like 3-4 months from when he leaves to when i get home, but that kind of stinks for me because i wont be able to see him for like 4 years (in total) Lame Sauce, but i am super excited for him. Make sure to make him go through the temple all the time, i wish that i had done it more than i did before i headed out here.

So speaking of being trunky haha, could you find out for me the day that classes start at MCC, because i am going to see my new mission president in a couple days, and i am going to have to talk to him about setting up an official end day, because the mission wants to buy my plane tickets within the next month or so, so that they can get them alot cheaper.

So this week, things have started to get alot better. Granted there is still a couple of combative members here, but as to the bishopric, and other ward and stake leaders, they are trusting me alot more now than they did last week. There was one member who got really mad at me this sunday, because the elders that were here before me would meet up with them every single day, and spend a couple of hours together, and on sunday they had a big freak out on me about how i am not doing my job like i should be because i havent been visiting them. And man they were yelling for like a half hour about that. And i am not going to lie, i didnt get mad at the bishop, or the ward mission leader, but i got mad with that person, up to the point where i just refused to open my mouth because i knew that something not nice was going to leave, so i just shut up, and let my companion talk. 

 

But there was a really bright spot about that, when they where done ``telling me how to be a missionary¨¨ the 1st counselor called me into his office and apologized for what happened and talked about how he knew that i didnt have to put up with all the garbage that the ward has been throwing at me lately, and thanked me for all of the hard work that i am doing, and for the example that i am giving the ward. He also told me about an activity that we are going to have this week, and he asked me to talk in it so that i can get the members more pumped up to do missionary work, and to work with us. He also gave us a reference.

But man i havent found myself praying for so much patience since i was with that companion that punched me hahahahaha (P.s. i dont remember if i told you that story. Maybe when i get home i will.)

This week was actually a really awesome one for me and my companion, we spent pretty much all week long looking for new people to teach, asking for references from the members, and contacting the ones we receive right away. And wow we have been finding some awesome people.

There was one person who we contacted that was super awesome. (the 1st councilor gave us the reference)(P.s. i freaking love that man, he is one of the few members who didnt start out against me haha) But anyway we went to this womans house, and we started talking to her, and she told me ``You know i did really like the mormon church, until i started to read to book of mormon, i read it almost all the way through, and i realized that it doesnt talk about anything except for Joseph smith´´ And wow i was blunt with her, i responded ``Let me get this straight, you dont like the Book of Mormon, because it just talks about Jose Smith`` 

``Yes. that is correct´´

``Do you still have a copy of the Book, here in your house, i want to show you something´´ 

she then went and brought her book of mormon.

We then taught her that the book didnt even talk about Joseph Smith at all except for in the introduction, and that it only talked about Christ, but she didnt believe us.

So i then said ``Ok so lets play a little game, open up the Book of Mormon to any random page. And lets count  how many time the name Joseph Smith comes up´´

She then opened a page, and noticed that it didnt show up even once. And said ´´Well i just picked a bad page´´

I then responded ´´Then pick another one`` 

Once again she was disappointed to see that his name didnt come up even once.

We then said ´´Ok now open up the book, and see how many times you see the word Jesus Christ, Lord,  Savior, Redeemer,  God, or any other word related with him.

she then opened a page and started counting ´´1,2,3,4,5,6,7...´´ (She picked a real good page hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha)

My companion then shared an awesome scripture but i dont remember what the reference is, or what it is like in spanish but it says something like ´´We talk about Christ, we rejoice about Christ, and we write about Christ....´´

And we both bore super strong testimonies about how the Book of Mormon is another Testament of Jesus Christ. And how if we base our lives in the teaching that are found in that book, that we will never fall away from the path that leads to eternal life.

Welp. I gots to go. I love you all. Keep me posted!

whitewash, the sequel‏

oh my gosh. i have so much to tell to you guys today

so  i got transferred right. I am in vadivia now ,calle calle, and so i get here to my new sector, and  meet my new companion, and he is freaking Legit, his name in elder A, and he is from El Salvador, he is a pretty new missionary, but man he is awesome. but so our first day together, i am his to take me around to meet the bishop, and other ward leaders, and he tells, ``Well, i would, but i just got here a couple of days ago so i dont actually know anyone yet´´ And he tells me that, how just a couple of days earlier he got a call from the mission president and was getting transferred there. and he arrived just a couple of days before i did. and he told me the story of what president told him of why there was the whitewash. one of the missionaries that was here before me, had fallen in love with a girl that lives in our sector, and when president found out about it, he took both of the missionaries out as soon as he could, first sending in Elder A, and then a couple of days latter me.

But anyways the next day i call of the missionaries that i am in charge of to get to know them, and right now i am in charge of 6 Elders. and i remember my initial thought was ``Legit! i dont have to worry about sister missionaries! SCORE!!!!!´´ (just so you know i totally love sister missionaries, but i was excited to get a break from them, because sometimes they arent that fun haha) But that first day i am calling my missionaries, and one of them (who was actually one of my complainants before) said ``Oh elder crockett, you called, at a perfect time. I was just fighting with my companion about....´´ and my first though was ``What the heck Elders, you have been together for one day, and your already fighting, this is going to be a super long transfer for you guys.´´ But i actually wasnt too surprised that they were fighting, because i was companions with the guy hahahahaha. And so i helped them resolve their fight,and then talked to my other missionaries, who are just awesome. but i remember there was at one point this week when i thought. ``oh my gosh, i miss working with the sisters!´´ Because looking back sister missionaries would call me all the time, pretty much about every problem they had, but there were all small problems, the elders only call me when there is something big. but i am still really excited to get to work with all of my missionaries. 

But me with so much experience getting white washed, having it already happen to me before, and having brought back to life so many dead sectors before (dont worry i got humbled pretty quick) decided that i was going to just study the area book like i  did last time i got whitewashed, to start finding a lead of who to teach. and so i open up to book. And realize that it is EMPTY. there was only 2 teaching records in the book, and not one single progress record, and so my first thought was ``What the heck happened to all of the teaching records that should be here´´ but decided that i was going to contact the two people that were in there, so i can try to help them get baptized, and so i called them to find out that one of them was baptized a couple of months ago, its just no one took the time to take him out of the Progressing investigators section of the book! 

so having the whole area book idea thrown out of the air, i tried another idea that worked really well for me earlier on in my mission. and long story short, that falls through on me too.

Well i realized after a couple of days, that i was not doing the work the way that i should have been. So i knelt down to pray to ask for help to get the guidance we needed to get to work here. 

Then sunday comes along, and i do not get a warm reception from the ward at first, i had the ward mission leader, and the bishop yell at me for something stupid that the missionaries before me did, but they were already gone so they took the heat out on me, seeing on how it was naturally my fault haha

But they still gave me an opportunity to speak on sunday, which is were the story gets good. I go and introduce myself to the little ward. And i talk to them about the importance of praying for the missionaries, and sharing the gospel with their friends. 

I cant remember much of what i said, but i remember that i felt good after wards.

immediately after sacrament meeting i guess the members noticed that i was there to work, and so they gave me a couple of references. Later in the priesthood meeting, i ask for a little bit of time to talk to the members, and they give me the time, but first gave time to my ward mission leader, who then proceeded to grill me and my companion again, just this time in front of everyone, and he then said that is all that we need to share. and he then sat down, and they were about to start the class, but then i say  Actually that isnt all we have to say. i then say to the members ``Look, we cant do this without you guys. I am brand new here, my companion is brand new here, we dont know anyone, or even how to get around the city. We really need your help.´´ i then passed out a notebook which i prepared that gave a space for members to write their name, address, phone number, and days available. And asked them to write in it. and then after talking to them for a couple of more mins i sit down. 

they were then silent for a min, and one members says ``You know what, i think we should organize when we can leave with the Elders.´´ and everyone agreed. and set up appointments with us to go leave with us to teach.

After church, a couple of members came up to us asking us to come over to their houses to teach people (family, friends) who werent members

We then received a bunch of more references.

that same day members started to leave with us. and even though we had a really hard start here. its starting to look better.

Love you all!