"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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