Transferred

I always forget that the Lord has a sense of humor and that i need to be very specific in my prayers, because if i don't he really likes to pull one on me. Well I told you all to pray for Sister missionaries well I guess I wasn't specific enough because instead of sending them here they are sending me there.

I have been transferred to Holt, which is just south of Lansing in the Lansing Stake, I haven't heard really anything about Holt yet. But i do know that down south you can possibly see tornadoes! I only assume there is sisters down there really though, and if they aren't in my area they will be in my district and zone. 

So this week I realized another way I have been prepared for my mission. "Elder how the heck can you even write my fingers are numb!" Apparently The way I write doesn't use my finger tips at all so it doesn't matter how cold it is I can still write peoples information down with gloves and -10. PSH! and my teachers hated the way I wrote.

It was really funny during church yesterday because my theory which I learned from Hamilton was when you get transferred leave like a thief in the night. I am super glad that I did, the only people I told was Elder and Sister W because Sister W would have shot me if I didn't tell her, She basically has tried to step into to the role of our mother and it's hilarious because If we are late or she doesn't know where we are at she will call as many people as it will take... ha ha. 

 

But anyways the only people who found out was people that Sister W told, which was basically every one she saw ha ha. But because we didn't tell really any one We had a super busy week! We had 20 investigator lessons this week (both with members and not) when I first got here we were having like 3 =p. For numbers this is the best Week I have ever had so far. And Church really reflected that, I don't even know how many less actives and investigators where there I wish I counted but basically every chair was filled. At church when they announced that I am getting transferred it was hilarious, every one moaned and turned to look at me. But for realizes every one moaned ha ha. they had me bear my testimony and I bore it about faith which was perfect because it turned out every other talk was on faith too, it's like I was inspired or something.=p

This week we are having a baptism though, well I won't be there but it will still happen. V is the type of investigator every missionary dreams of getting but never gets. So she goes on pintrest and she kept seeing things about temples and the Book of mormon and she would look at them. It was weird because she never really met a mormon before so she didn't know anything about it. But because she was following some one on pinterest who was she kept seeing really cool quotes and what not. 

 

She drove past our church every day because her work is right next door and one day she felt like she needed to turn into the parking lot. She did and she noticed there was cars there so she went inside on this tuesday. Turns out the Relief Society was having their presidency meeting or somethin and she knocked on their door and asked about the church and if she could have a Book of Mormon. Sister G got her information and would then call her a few time to follow up (she remembered the talk I gave in church a week prior that had a talk in it that talked about follow up) So she did and got V to agree to have us come over and teach her. 

 

We got a call saying "you have a new investigator, we are meeting at her house on friday at 6"=p. We went over taught her the message of the Restoration and was really touched by it. that week she came to church without us inviting her. and every week since even the week they tried to cancel church she has been to church. On the Third lesson she was committed to be baptized and she accepted and has been making plans for the 28th ever since. 

 

She has read every single pamphlet we have given her and she actually has asked us for more, she passed the baptismal interview flawlessly, she started at the beginning of the book of mormon 3.5 weeks later she is breezing through the Isaiah chapters in 2 nephi, she ordered a triple combination right after the first lesson, she talks with sister G regularly, she has only had member present lessons since a member referred her to us she was already there when we came, She brought her daughter and grandson to church this week, She has a car, has a job, has kept every commitment, has felt the spirit and recognized it, doesn't have Word of wisdom issues, For realzies though she is the like dream investigator. And it doesn't bother me at all that I won't see her get baptized, because I really haven't done anything at all, I mean she found us and she did everything according to her own free will and is super excited to be baptized, All we really did was just show up and talk about what we believe. Talk about prepared! But the W's are trying to coax President Jacobsen to come up to Lansing to be at the Baptism and to bring me =p.

I have learned alot about life on earth here on the mission, I have gotten to see alot of other peoples trials and hardships and great joys as well, it strengthens my testimony about the plan of salvation every time. 

We have a investigator who is basically impossible to get to meet with but she KNOWS the church is true, but she is so busy she doesn't have time to prepare for baptism and go to church. We meet with her and her boyfriend a while back and we for the first time got to teach them a lesson. The spirit was very strong! But for like the next month we couldn't see them at all. We finally got in this week and ever since that time we went over the straight up gates of hell opened up basically. 

 

Sewage filling basements all 4 tires on her car blew up, her mom got super sick (hospital) his mom got super sick, and I can list 84.5 other things but i don't have time. And she traced it all back to that time we came over and she felt the spirit and wanted to be baptized and changed and she recognized that all of those things were happening around the time we were going to meet with them. Straight up Satan was full of rage trying to stop her, it is a little scary actually but we left there and she had me give her a blessing and she was committed to endure and to change even though Satan was trying to derail her and her family.

By the way that Trinity letter is amazing! I call it the tippman letter, because of the guys last name, but oh man it straight up throws down! =p I love it.

Well Im off to Holt! Bye! I love you don't get shot, Don't freeze

I miss my mom, I miss my dad, and I don't miss skim milk!

- Elder Truman Rex Crockett

Trinity Busting!

We have this one investigator who has done nothing but Bible bash with us (which is pretty easy when you are with the true church) but we hate doing it so much! We really tried to not do it at all last time but he still went in trying to prove us wrong reading out of his Lutheran pages or what not. We tried to come back but he decided that the only way he would meet with us is if we prove him wrong about the trinity and how they are all 3 separate beings using only the bible in a letter to him... OH MAN! CHECK MATE!

I started finding scriptures for this guys letter and I got some really good ammo from the .50 cal. And yesterday some one else really wanted us to explain the Godhead to us and then some one else, but since i never wrote those scriptures in the .50 cal I said we'd come back and help them understand and show them examples. But as of today the .50 cal is locked and loaded!

I saw a snowplow hit a stop sign =p

You know things are real when your Broken thermostat out side (which is normally 15-20 degrees higher that what it really is) is at 0 degrees... In fact it was -33 with windchill, who knew it was even legal to cancel church. We had a sacrament meeting but all members of the branch who live far out were told  to not try to make the trip, we had 13 people at church not including missionaries and more than half were investigators and less actives we'd worked with =p. None of the speakers even came to church so we had like a testimony meeting where every one talked about their favorite hymns and then we would sing that hymn.

On thursday I was on trade offs in Gaylord and you know it's bad when it's the heat of the day at -10 with out wind and that was killer! We door knocked for like 2 hours in that stuff. we Then had a sleep over with the Elders from The Sault Ste. Marie, because we were all car pooling to the training.

On friday we went down to Mt. Pleasant to hear Elder Nash of the 70 give us some training. Turns out there was the Lansing zone there as well which I really enjoyed. That was really cool, and i think i mentioned it before that they asked me and Elder Adams to sing our song for it so we did. 

 

It was really really good I was a little shaky though and didn't hold my notes as long as I should have at times but we still had people in tears. that training was so much fun! It was super healthy talking to you know the like 4 missionaries I actually know in this mission that aren't from my MTC district But Sister Thor was there so that was good.

On saturday it was so cold that they made they whole mission stay in the houses until 12 and then we were told not to door knock and were given permission to drive cars after 12 O'clock But of course it didn't even matter to us because when you do weekly planning for 21 people it takes ages! Our day was basically done for after that.

Back on the subject of Sunday, HOLY! that day was just so weird, actually these past 4 days have been really far out! We picked up 7 new investigators just yesterday... And only one of them did we do ourselves. And we also taught 6 lessons back to back to back. Does any one else miss their mom? No. Ok. 

 

But there is really nothing to complain about at all other than the fact that i don't get to go door knocking, which is always super weird and exciting at times. But now our predicament is we some how need to be able to meet up with all of these people regularly so they progress. For realizes I don't even want A P-day today I just want to Teach. We went shopping today and I literally had no need to buy anything at all (except a super bright hunters orange tie for a comp. tie) We are so pack full of food and juice and all this other non perishable foods that it's unbelievable. I still have my frozen gallon of milk I got last week in the freezer.

Basically we need another set of missionaries up here because we have already been giving the W's teaching appointments so we can tackle several places at once. (Pray for sisters! Jk who said that) We are getting transfer calls this week as well and I really don't want to leave here, there are several other potentials that need to become investigators  who only know me and it would be weirder for other missionaries to get their trust. I had a dream last week that I'd be training here, maybe it's just wishful thinking though.  But we are teaching 20 different households, and the investigator number is not including children or teenagers unless the investigator is a teenager. 

We met with one of our investigators this week and she had a million questions for us and she asked us " so where can i buy Mormon Garments"... ha ha, her friend that was over at the time asked "why do you both wear rings on you pointer finger?" she thought it was a Mormon thing i guess.

I have a strong testimony about Llama sweaters, putting names in the temple prayer roll, being able to spend time with other missionaries (minus alot of the Elders can't really hold a real conversation with out having to use scripture or quote a prophet or try to teach you like a investigator)  

 I must be getting acclimated to the cold or something because really this even isn't that bad I was in 3 gloves and what not just a few months ago.  Hamilton, there must be a disturbance in the force or something because I have cut back my layers alot! really the only time I am really cold is when i get in the car in the morning.

 

I miss my mom, I miss my dad, and I miss my hammer! ha ha (Will)

Love you all stay warm ;)

don't get shot, stay away from crazy cat ladies that want you to pray that their son goes to jail ( not a part of last weeks letter)

- Elder Truman Rex Crockett

Wampa Fodder.

I have gained a very strong testimony of several different things this week.

I have a strong testimony that when you see a bus fishtailing around the corner towards you, you need to get away.

My testimony of how gross cockroaches are has also gained immensely, when you end up crushing 10 one after another just by bouncing your leg to the music in your head... 

I have a testimony on having a really clean and orderly house, If you in order to move into a new house have to get out rakes from the back yard to pick every thing up...

I have a very strong testimony of people going to jail...=p VERY STRONG

One thing i have found very interesting about being up here is that every one and their dog asks us to pray for them or for some one. We get calls every other week asking for us to do that, and when we door knock too people will ask us to pray for them or their relatives after we offer if we can do anything for them, I can never remember the people who they ask me to pray for so I normally say ok "we'll do it right here right now wanna join" and normally if were door knocking I will say how grateful I am for a living prophet who has restored the gospel of Jesus Christ upon the earth, or knowing about how our families can live together throughout eternity, about the book of mormon. I seem to be really grateful in those  moments for those things when those people want to slam the door on us. =p 

 

We had a FHE last week and a less active member while playing UNO put down a draw 4 on Elder Adams and he only had one card left, I died when he said "OPE! Who did that!" I didn't even use that phrase in front of him yet.

So I was out in Gaylord this week on trade offs which I loved but the problem was i missed 6 lessons in that time and then they got out late from the last appointment so they couldn't make it back in time so I stayed in Gaylord another day. Because of that I feel like I haven't been here in a month so much happened in that little amount of time! But While I was out in Gaylord I was driving us down to Grayling it was about 4 degrees outside with out windchill and humidity which really means it was below 0 some where. Well we were driving down the road and this garbage truck comes and mud flies out from underneath the vehicle and goes straight into my windshield. Because it was so cold it froze immediately. I tried to squirt the windshield with water but part of the water froze coming out so i just spilled all over the hood of the jeep and froze. Windshield whippers took off all of the chunks after a while but in order to see I had to stick my head to the ceiling or to the wheel both of which were super uncomfortable for that long drive. I would have pulled over but all that was there was the ditch on the side of the road and trees all covered with snow so it wasn't worth it. after we got to Grayling i got the ice scraper out and cleaned the window and got the water squirting again. On the drive back it was a little scary to think of how close together the lanes are at several points with how little I could actually see.

This week on Friday we get to go down to Mt. Pleasant and Elder Nash from the 70 is coming to give us training, Me and Elder Adams were asked to preform our arrangement of " Savior Redeemer of My Soul" for it =p Only problem though is we need to be on the road by 4am, and we will be picking up several other Elders so I probably wont get to much sleep.

I love the straight up Gander trucks you see around here where it has rusted so much that you can see through the tailgate and the car door is 1/3 gone. I got to ride in one this week. It was a really big one with only 2 wheel drive and with all the snow that we had and was still coming down the roads were super slick and we fishtailed at every single corner and it would have to get to 40 mph before the car would actually get enough traction to gain speed. Watching it back up was so cool! only the right wheel was getting traction and the left one was spinning at 25mph freely. But it was very scary to ride in it.

We got another referral from Utah this week for a family that is ready to be baptized =p. the only catch is they are like 50 miles away from Alpena and only 20 away from Gaylord so even though it's our area it's so much more reasonable for them to go and teach them. That and some of the members who live out in their same city are going to the Gaylord branch.

Forgive me but I have so many notes that I wrote down that I do not remember at all so I don't know what I was going to tell you about the "Ipod in my feet" i don't even know what that refers to or means. 

Well I gotta go Bye I love you have a good day!!! Don't get shot or eaten by a Wampa!

- Elder Truman Rex Crockett

"It's like having Dinner with Jesus"‏

Oh man can i start by saying the church is so true!

This email is basically another chapter from the miracle chapters, because thats all I am seeing like all day every day, I love what is happening here I really hate that I have P-day today I just want to go and teach all of these people.

So my budget that I talked about last time i stated it wrong, If i had been living on this budget from day 1 of my mission then over $1200 would go back to help other missionaries. At the place I am at At most I would be able to send just over $1000 back. But still this mission is more expensive than others so what is being payed for me to be here comes from other people and I feel wrong thinking about blowing this sacred money. (and thats if I don't get transferred to a area where I have to pay alot more for supplies, laundry, food, ect.) 

So that Less active member I played the ukulele for came to church. She told the branch President that every night she wakes up more than 5 times, because her son and his situation. But every night that we come by and leaving a blessing on her and her house she sleeps all the way through the night. =p And she feels really good in the morning and she recognized it's because of the spirit and the peace that she feels so she started going to church and her days have been a million times better and she is reading the book of mormon because it is helping her feel that peace and she loves it! And she has several less active friends who she has gotten to agree to sit next to her during sacrament meeting. She seems to be like the little kid in the Elder Bednar talk from this last conference. 

Speaking of church we had 39 members here yesterday! That was a miracle! I met a member my very first week here in Alpena at walmart who I asked some one about at church and they said they never met him before and no one knew who he was and yesterday he showed up to church and bore his testimony and he served a mission in Arizona and wants us to meet him =p. There was alot of less actives there and part of that I believe is because of our branch mission leader we told him about doing FHE groups and last week he organized 2 of them and every single less active that went to it was there at church.

So the past 4 weeks we have picked up alot of investigators! the past 3 weeks we picked up 3 per week and this last week we picked up 4. We have 20 investigators as of yesterday. And because of that things are getting crazy! we have  accidentally double scheduled a few appointments. But thats whats so Cool about having the W's up here because they know how to teach like none other and they volunteered to take those appointments from us so that way we don't have to call off any appointments and get several people to progress at once. 

 

We also are being forced to have no more than 45 minute lessons or else it is basically impossible to teach every one,  our members and investigators can really talk alot and it will be difficult. But what we are doing is we have been lining up several of these lessons at once and getting a member to come out with us for like 3 of these appointments at once, just back to back because if we don't do that we will never arrange enough members at all to meet with every one especially because the plan is to be teaching every one like twice to 3 times a week by the end of this week (depending on who it is). But we are really cracking down on teaching super simply and having only 30-45 minute lessons. We are using the "hot commodity concept" this is the name Elder A calls it, but it's basically the same concept that I used to get out of things I didn't want to do in Stuco, But it's all in the opposite manner to get more appointments instead of less.

So those 4 investigators we picked up was all member referrals the other 9 was from door knocking and what not. but one of the new investigators we got a appointment set up with them to meet up on saturday..... I happily agreed to that but i knew what that entailed.

 

The next day we walked 5 miles through 3 inches (at least in certain areas) of snow one way to get to her and her husbands house. When we showed up on the door they almost sent us away not knowing that we do a car fast on Saturdays. But they let us in and we had a KILLER! lesson they had a million questions about the church when we got them interested and we were able to answer all of them and they really questioned us on how weird is our church services. 

 

We then had them explain to us about tons of Pentecostal yelling in "tongues" and pushing people over and forcing them to "sleep" during services and..... They were shocked that Mormons aren't crazy at all. The Wife asked how we got there and when she found out that really struck her... She stayed up past 3 in the morning after she put her kids to bed reading the 2 pamphlets that we gave her and doing every single study questions in the back of it and then read from the book of mormon. She called us yesterday and said that she wrote down tons of questions and she is super excited to see us again.

Another Referral we got was a lady randomly walked into the church house when the relief society was having a meeting and she wanted a book of mormon. Turns out she was driving to work and felt like she needed to turn and then turn and walk into our church. She was at church yesterday and we have appointments with her this week. She automatically picked up a relief society member as a fellowshipper and she was PERFECT at fellowshipping and following up. she got her info and called to see if she'd like us to come over and she set it all up for us, and then at church she went and sat next to her and explained everything and went to all of her classes.

Another (i am running out of time) we picked up with out even receiving a referral. we just had dinner at a members house that lives far out and half way through the meal their nephew came and sat next to us and has heard about us missionaries and how we have given up our babygirls and what not and came on missions. It was really hard to get a lesson going but I strategically put a question in and then that led to him wanting me to share the restoration with him and he accepted my offer to read the book of mormon. (I heard him say something like "it was like having dinner with Jesus" =p) The next day he went back to his aunt and uncles house and asked for another book of mormon because his friend could really use one =p.

Ok well I gotta go there is so much more on those last 3 stories of the 4 investigators that i don't have time to tell, ill try to send a letter or somethin. Bye I love you have a good day!

Don't get shot!

- Elder Truman Rex Crockett

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