Dear Family,
I'm glad to hear that Papa's funeral went well. Thank you all for taking such good care of him. I'm sorry to hear that some of you are currently sick. It's been going around quite a bit in Alamosa also, but it's amazing how the Lord takes care of us missionaries--we've been very blessed with good health. I hope and pray that all of you will receive the same blessing. Until then, take the opportunity to come closer to the Savior. Just like physical exercise, the more spiritual resistance or adversity we experience, the stronger we can get. Trials really are blessings in disguise, if we turn to the Lord. I love you all so much and am so grateful for your righteous examples!
For me, it's been a good week. We had transfers and our zone leader council, which is always a treat. I asked President Pfile again if there was any possibility of extending, and he said that it's getting harder and harder to do that. The Church is getting strict about missionaries serving the 24 months and then going home and moving on. So now I know for sure that I won't be extending and will be flying home on May 13, sometime probably in the morning. That will be Friday the 13th, which is kind of a scary time to enter the real world, but I guess that's what the Lord wants. I get to call on Mother's day (May 8th) and then see you 5 days later. :) Anyways, it's a very weird feeling being so close to the end. Elder Barzee lovingly pointed out that I only have 10 more Sundays in the mission field! After that I'll be back with all of you! I've never been so sad and excited at the same time. I'm going to miss my mission terribly, but at the same time, I know that there are better things yet to come. I look forward to spending time with all of you, and I promise that I'll finish my mission strong!
Love,
Elder Craft
Monday, February 28, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Passing of our Dear Papa
Dear Family,
I am very sorry to hear about the passing of our dear Papa. I wish I could be there to offer more comfort and support, but I do offer my testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel. I know that the Lord is watching over him, and he is in a better place. His spirit is now free from physical pain and affliction. He is where he can find rest, peace, and happiness, while he continues to do the Lord's work. God is using his talents and abilities to build of the kingdom on the other side of the veil. I testify with all my heart that one day, through the power of the Atonement, his body will be resurrected in a perfect, painless state, and that we will live with him again. How grateful I am for our Savior Jesus Christ! How blessed we are to have a knowledge of the fulness of the Gospel! Times like these are certainly sad, and we will miss him greatly, but my heart really goes out to those people who don't have a testimony of the Plan of Salvation. How wonderful it is to know that this life is only a brief time of mortal experience and testing, and that through obedience, we may be privileged to live with God forever in a state of never-ending happiness!! It almost seems too good to be true, but I testify again, by the divine witness of the Holy Ghost, I know that it is true! I hope and pray that Papa's legacy will live on in our hearts; that we will remember his great life, counsel, and example. May we be like Nephi and Lehi of old and when we remember our names, also remember our ancestors and their good works, then go and do likewise. I strongly believe that they are watching over us, so let us pick up our heads and live to make them proud. I love you all!
Love,
Spencer
I am very sorry to hear about the passing of our dear Papa. I wish I could be there to offer more comfort and support, but I do offer my testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel. I know that the Lord is watching over him, and he is in a better place. His spirit is now free from physical pain and affliction. He is where he can find rest, peace, and happiness, while he continues to do the Lord's work. God is using his talents and abilities to build of the kingdom on the other side of the veil. I testify with all my heart that one day, through the power of the Atonement, his body will be resurrected in a perfect, painless state, and that we will live with him again. How grateful I am for our Savior Jesus Christ! How blessed we are to have a knowledge of the fulness of the Gospel! Times like these are certainly sad, and we will miss him greatly, but my heart really goes out to those people who don't have a testimony of the Plan of Salvation. How wonderful it is to know that this life is only a brief time of mortal experience and testing, and that through obedience, we may be privileged to live with God forever in a state of never-ending happiness!! It almost seems too good to be true, but I testify again, by the divine witness of the Holy Ghost, I know that it is true! I hope and pray that Papa's legacy will live on in our hearts; that we will remember his great life, counsel, and example. May we be like Nephi and Lehi of old and when we remember our names, also remember our ancestors and their good works, then go and do likewise. I strongly believe that they are watching over us, so let us pick up our heads and live to make them proud. I love you all!
Love,
Spencer
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Zone Conference
Dear Family,
It's beautiful weather here in Alamosa! We had zone conference yesterday, which went wonderfully. A large part of it we rotated the districts through different workshops:
1. Pres. Pfile and Elder Barzee- role playing the end of a 1st lesson: commitment to baptism, read and pray about BOM, and attend church. They focused on 1. Inspired Questions, 2. Promised Blessings, 3. Commitment Invitations.
2. Sis. Pfile- training on effective planning.
3. AP's and Me- roleplaying teaching current investigators, focusing on: 1. "Will you....?" Commitments, 2. Simple and Direct Teaching, 3. Focus on Baptism, 4. Effective Questions
It was a great learning experience for everyone. Another theme that President talked about a lot was "Hold the Line!" (relating to football, the battlefield, etc...) He applied it to missionary work in a lot of ways and was pretty inspiring. It also applies to the Church as a whole, to families, relationships, fishing, etc... :)
Also, Elder Barzee and I did a presentation about faith. The valley is kind of its own little world. There's a lot of members and everyone's related. Sometimes in the smaller towns it can be tough for the missionaries to find new investigators, so we felt impressed to address the importance of always having faith. We broke it down into showing our faith through our thoughts, words, and actions (Mosiah 4:30). We also referenced Moroni 7:33, Ether 12: 14-15, and Pres. Packer's quote: "There are two kinds of faith." We had a pretty good discussion with everybody, and I'm excited to see miracles continue.
Dad, the area is great. I wouldn't say there's more Hispanics than the other area's I've served in. The members are wonderful; they feed us very well. Elder Barzee is awesome. He's a really good companion for me. I hope I've answered all your questions. :)
Dear Papa Craft,
I know I've said it before, but I want to say it again: You're my buddy, my pal, my friend!!! I love you so very much, and I am so very grateful for the wonderful grandpa that you have been for me and for the outstanding person that you are. Please don't ever forget that. I hope you're doing well and are finding peace and happiness, even during this hard time of your life. I wish I could be there to spend more time with you, but I know that you understand. I do want to again leave you with my firm testimony that I know the gospel is true. I testify that God does live and love us. He is very aware of everything we're going through and has provided a perfect plan for us to return to Him. I testify that Jesus is the Christ and our Savior and Redeemer. He paid the price so that we can live together as families for all eternity. The blessings of the Atonement are real; I know that without a doubt. I testify as well that the Church of Jesus Christ with priesthood authority has been restored on the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. How blessed we are to have these truths in our lives! I love you so much more than I could ever express Papa. Again, I hope and pray for God's choicest blessings to be upon you at this time in your life.
Love your grandson,
Spencer
It's beautiful weather here in Alamosa! We had zone conference yesterday, which went wonderfully. A large part of it we rotated the districts through different workshops:
1. Pres. Pfile and Elder Barzee- role playing the end of a 1st lesson: commitment to baptism, read and pray about BOM, and attend church. They focused on 1. Inspired Questions, 2. Promised Blessings, 3. Commitment Invitations.
2. Sis. Pfile- training on effective planning.
3. AP's and Me- roleplaying teaching current investigators, focusing on: 1. "Will you....?" Commitments, 2. Simple and Direct Teaching, 3. Focus on Baptism, 4. Effective Questions
It was a great learning experience for everyone. Another theme that President talked about a lot was "Hold the Line!" (relating to football, the battlefield, etc...) He applied it to missionary work in a lot of ways and was pretty inspiring. It also applies to the Church as a whole, to families, relationships, fishing, etc... :)
Also, Elder Barzee and I did a presentation about faith. The valley is kind of its own little world. There's a lot of members and everyone's related. Sometimes in the smaller towns it can be tough for the missionaries to find new investigators, so we felt impressed to address the importance of always having faith. We broke it down into showing our faith through our thoughts, words, and actions (Mosiah 4:30). We also referenced Moroni 7:33, Ether 12: 14-15, and Pres. Packer's quote: "There are two kinds of faith." We had a pretty good discussion with everybody, and I'm excited to see miracles continue.
Dad, the area is great. I wouldn't say there's more Hispanics than the other area's I've served in. The members are wonderful; they feed us very well. Elder Barzee is awesome. He's a really good companion for me. I hope I've answered all your questions. :)
Dear Papa Craft,
I know I've said it before, but I want to say it again: You're my buddy, my pal, my friend!!! I love you so very much, and I am so very grateful for the wonderful grandpa that you have been for me and for the outstanding person that you are. Please don't ever forget that. I hope you're doing well and are finding peace and happiness, even during this hard time of your life. I wish I could be there to spend more time with you, but I know that you understand. I do want to again leave you with my firm testimony that I know the gospel is true. I testify that God does live and love us. He is very aware of everything we're going through and has provided a perfect plan for us to return to Him. I testify that Jesus is the Christ and our Savior and Redeemer. He paid the price so that we can live together as families for all eternity. The blessings of the Atonement are real; I know that without a doubt. I testify as well that the Church of Jesus Christ with priesthood authority has been restored on the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. How blessed we are to have these truths in our lives! I love you so much more than I could ever express Papa. Again, I hope and pray for God's choicest blessings to be upon you at this time in your life.
Love your grandson,
Spencer
Monday, February 7, 2011
Brrrr....
Dear Family,
One day in Alamosa I went out with a short sleeve shirt, then a couple days later, we were bundling up for dear life! I'm sort of kidding, but it was pretty cold. We were long over-due for it though. The work is going well, the time is flying by, and I continue to learn a lot each day. Thank you all for living righteous lives. I love you so much!
Dad, I'm proud of you for doing missionary work this past week with your cousin. That's so exciting! Even in Utah, there's a ton of opportunities to share the gospel and invite others to come unto Christ. Since I've been a missionary it seems so much simpler to share the gospel than it was before. I've definitely developed more loving boldness and have realized many things I should've said to people before my mission. Oh well, I'm excited to be able to apply it when I get home. As I think about member-missionary work, the skill that I think makes the biggest difference is the ability to ask inspired questions. If one can master that, then teaching, testifying, and inviting will come naturally. I suggest that you role-play in FHE scenarios where you can share the gospel, ask questions, and make invitations. Role-playing is something that we do a lot of as missionaries and really makes everything a lot easier. I wish I would've done more role-playing (street contacts, teaching lessons, etc...) to prepare for a mission. Benson, Joshua, Jacob, Caleb, and Oliver, you better prepare yourselves for Spencer's Mission Prep 101! I'm going to make you role-play!
Mom, you're right! The life of a mission president's wife is very busy, but who the Lord calls, He qualifies. I haven't thought about it much before, but I could see it happening--get ready! Missionary work is growing, and the Lord needs many more prepared mission presidents. Congratulations on the new grandson. Keep up all the great work. I love you more than I could ever express!
I suggest all of you look up the talk "The Abundant Life" by Elder Wirthlin. It's great!
Love,
Elder Craft
One day in Alamosa I went out with a short sleeve shirt, then a couple days later, we were bundling up for dear life! I'm sort of kidding, but it was pretty cold. We were long over-due for it though. The work is going well, the time is flying by, and I continue to learn a lot each day. Thank you all for living righteous lives. I love you so much!
Dad, I'm proud of you for doing missionary work this past week with your cousin. That's so exciting! Even in Utah, there's a ton of opportunities to share the gospel and invite others to come unto Christ. Since I've been a missionary it seems so much simpler to share the gospel than it was before. I've definitely developed more loving boldness and have realized many things I should've said to people before my mission. Oh well, I'm excited to be able to apply it when I get home. As I think about member-missionary work, the skill that I think makes the biggest difference is the ability to ask inspired questions. If one can master that, then teaching, testifying, and inviting will come naturally. I suggest that you role-play in FHE scenarios where you can share the gospel, ask questions, and make invitations. Role-playing is something that we do a lot of as missionaries and really makes everything a lot easier. I wish I would've done more role-playing (street contacts, teaching lessons, etc...) to prepare for a mission. Benson, Joshua, Jacob, Caleb, and Oliver, you better prepare yourselves for Spencer's Mission Prep 101! I'm going to make you role-play!
Mom, you're right! The life of a mission president's wife is very busy, but who the Lord calls, He qualifies. I haven't thought about it much before, but I could see it happening--get ready! Missionary work is growing, and the Lord needs many more prepared mission presidents. Congratulations on the new grandson. Keep up all the great work. I love you more than I could ever express!
I suggest all of you look up the talk "The Abundant Life" by Elder Wirthlin. It's great!
Love,
Elder Craft
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