A dog bit me!

Hello familia and friends!

How was your week? Mine was great! It was an action packed week with exploding cars, kidnapped girls, biting dogs....ok, most of that was a joke, but the dog thing wasn’t....I’ll explain that a little later.

So, this week was a little rough for us at the beginning, because we didn’t have any lessons on Tuesday or Wednesday(ok, just like one or two, but that’s nothing for two days). So, we were really a little worried that we wouldn’t reach the goals that we set for the week. So, we buckled down and decided that we were going to reach our goals and finish the week strong. And man, did we do that! We worked our butts off everyday to try and reach our goals.

So, there’s this less-active girl that we’ve been visiting two or three times a week that we recently stopped visiting. It’s always tough to decide to stop visiting people, especially when they are non-actives or less-actives because they really know about these things, they know that these things are true, but when they don’t want to go back, it really sucks.... But, we’ve done all that we can for our part, and if she doesn’t want to, well, she has her agency. But it makes me sad still...

This week we finally have baptisms again! We are so excited to be baptizing people. Early on, my companion and I decided that we wouldn’t baptize anyone who wasn’t 100% ready, and we finally have some ready! They are two “jovenes”(as we say down here). I have been mentioning them in my past letters, one had the boyfriend living with her(they now live apart), and the other one really hadn’t received her answer yet, but has now recognized that God has responded her prayers. So, they have a set baptism for this Saturday! Expect pictures next week!

Ok, so the dog bit thing. My companion and I were entering into a house to teach new investigators, and their dog bit my leg as I entered. Luckily, the teeth didn’t pass though my pant leg, but still left a nasty scratch. But, I am totally fine, so don’t worry!

I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving!!!

Dad- Well, pray in the mountains for me! And summer here isn’t going fast enough!

Mom- I hope the move goes quickly...I want to see the new HQ for CommGap!

Aly- Don’t stress, it’ll all be over quickly! I know you’ll have fun too! ;)

Emi- Sounds like you had a good time. Yes, we as missionaries plan EVERYTHING out before we do it....I hope this skill sticks. ;P¨

Have an amazing Thanksgiving, and EAT LOTS OF PIE ¡!!!!!

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AEA

Elder Craig

Muy-bien-hecho-Elderes!

Hey everyone back home!!! I hope that everyone had a fantastic week! This week was good on our part here in Bolivia!

Ok, so first thing , we are finally making progress with one of our investigators here with a baptismal date. Her name is Luz Maria, adn we've been teaching her for a while, and she has a date for this next weekend, but we've felt that she hadn't really been open to us, and so this past week we've been kinda rough on her. She's the kind of person that gives answers just because that she thinks that 's what we want to hear, which really is the worst thing that she couls do, becase that stops us from  able to help her. So, we started being real direct with her to try and get the real answers out of her- and it worked! She really opened up to us about all the things that she really feels and understands, and now we are going to be able to help her reach her goal for the 26th of this month to be baptized. It's really good to finally be able to help her, because we could tell that she wasn't being completely open with us.

We also have an investigator, Yeni, who is now progessing well. She received her answer about the church and everything and feels really strongly that she needs to be baptized, but she had something hindering her from being baptized- the law of chastity. She has been living with her boyfriend for 3 years now and she felt that it would be really tough for her to keep the commandment. So, we decided to talk to her AND her boyfriend. Well, we did it, and they later decided that they would seperate until they could get married, which means that she can also reach her goal of baptizing on the 26th! We are super excited because she needs the Gospel desperately in her life(she has a ton of problems with her family).

That's really all that's going on right now with me right now...this week we have a special conference with one of the Presidents of the Seventy, so that'll be interesting.

Dad- I'm super jealous that you're skiing...I miss the snow. It's super hot here right now. Hope you have an amazing week!

Mom- I amhappy that you are having success in your business, it really makes me happy. Have an amazing week!

Aly- Don't stress out this week! Just put on some awesome music and enjoy the ride! Have fun in Idaho(no, you da ho! ;) )

Emi- Have fun this weekend! DOn't do anything too dumb... ;)

That's all for now!

-- 

AEA

Elder Craig

There ain't no rest for the wicked...or missionaries!

Hey everyone back home!

Hope that everyone had great week!  Well, this week was awesome for me here in Tarija! Much better than the past two weeks….

Ok, so this week we’ve been super chuck full of appointments- like literally an appointment every hour of the day for four days. Which means that we’ve been running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Our area is really big, and we as missionaries don’t have a car or even bikes, so that means that we do a TON of walking. It’s normal for us to have to walk 15 or twenty minutes in between our appointments. This means that if we aren’t really careful, we can be late to ALL of our appointments.

Also this has been the week of finding problems with our investigators…literally. We’ve had a ton of our investigators come out with problems with the Law of Chastity, Word of Wisdom, keeping the Sabbath Day holy, etc. We’ve also had two of our investigators tell us that they had dreams with dead girls in them after they prayed to the Lord asking about the things that we’ve taught them. That has been creepily coincidental. But, all in all, it’s a really good thing, because now we know how to help our investigators (except for the dream….don’t have anything for that.).

We also found a new investigator who asked us in the first lesson what he had to do to be baptized. That was really cool for us, because that means that he’s going to progress well and reach baptism easily.

Dad- That was an awesome picture….I guess. Kinda creepy, but good to see you still have a good sense of humor. Pretty cool about that skiing movie. Have an amazing week and enjoy the snow!

Mom- Glad work is going well for you… and don’t worry about that Death Road…it’s not in my mission.

Aly- Just keep pushing forward, show ‘em whose boss. YOU DA BOSS! ;) Have a great week.

Emi-Well, well, well, have fun at that dance! Just be safe, ¿yeah? 

That’s all for now folks!

-- 
AEA

Elder Craig

Happy Halloween!!! And one year down....one to go!

Hello family and friends!!!  

                Well, I hope everyone at home had a fantastic week! This past week was well, good.  In reality it started off pretty rough for us. We literally went three days straight with our appointments falling through. That’s never fun, and really a bit disheartening, but my companion and I are a bit tougher than that. It takes more than a bunch of appointments falling through to get us down and to stop us from working.

                But, we have found some good new investigators this week, including a single mom and one of her kids. Her name’s Rosa and she’s super cool. We found her by knocking doors, and she’s one of those types that accepts all religious proselytes and so she accepted our visit. Well, we started to teach her and her daughter, and she was surprised because we taught so differently than the rest that had previously passed by, so she wanted to hear more. So we went back a different day and committed them to go to church on Sunday. Well, they both did(and seven more investigators!)! They are progressing really well, so we’re super excited for them.

                Remember about our investigator Herlan, whom I mentioned last week? Well, he’s come to church twice now, and is going to all the Single Young Adults activities. And we’ve only taught him once! So, things are looking good with him, and we have a bunch of stuff planned for him this week in our appointment.

                And that’s just some of the stuff going on here in Tarija!

                Well, I can’t believe it, but this week I complete a year on the mission….time goes by too fast. And they say that the second year goes even faster, but I hope they’re wrong.  It’s been such a privilege for me to be a missionary here in Bolivia, and I plan to work hard and enjoy every minute until the end.

Dad- Well, I will do a snow dance here in Bolivia just for you! Have an amazing week!

Mom- That is so exciting about the office! I know that things are going to get even better for you with your work.

Aly- Way to go on the job. You are an inspiration! I hope your first week of work goes amazing!

Emi- Sounds like things are going very well for you. Have tons of fun with that music…I’m jealous!  ;)

Have an amazing week everyone!

-- 

AEA

Elder Craig