The things that can help my investigators I can apply to my own life...

Hola familia!

This week went pretty good except for the fact that I got news that my Broncos got destroyed by the Patriots, haha. A member who is a Patriots fan rubbed it in my face.

This week we had Zone Conference, which is the second one that I have been too. We got trainings from the Mission Presidency and the AP's. The focus of the trainings was the Book of Mormon. Something that I learned in the training that has already been helping me out a lot is how to use the Book of Mormon when teaching. I have gotten pretty good at using specific scriptures to help people and have been somewhat successful with that but after Zone Conference I found a different way to start using it which is helping me to read the Book of Mormon in a different way.

Before training, when I would read I would just look for good scriptures that would help our investigators with what they were going through. After the training I have been reading the Book of Mormon more. Trying to really understand what is happening and not just looking for scriptures. They taught us that it would be good for investigators to have a person or a story in the Book of Mormon that they could relate too. I think this is perfect because instead of just using a scripture to help the people we are teaching, we can teach them a story of a person who had a similar experience and then show them how they dealt with that experience. President Winn promised us that they (the investigators) would get a testimony of the Book of Mormon if they did this and I can already see it working. It is also helping me learn a lot more from my personal study because the things that I can apply to help my investigators I can also apply to my own life.

We got snow twice this week, which was kind of a surprise because it got up to 50 something earlier this week and then we woke up one morning and there was snow. Then the next day it was like 50 something again so it all melted and started getting warmer and warmer and then we woke up this morning and there was snow again, haha.  So the weather here is definitely unpredictable.

We had two baptisms this week. They were for a single mom and her daughter. It was kind of crazy how we found her at first. There was a returned missionary from Mexico who decided to pray one day before he went into the store to buy some food that he would find someone that the missionaries could teach. So he prayed and went into the store and found this mother. Then she and her daughter were baptized 3 weeks later. Cool story huh! They are a really nice family, we are still teaching the teenage son to try and help get him prepared too.

Hope all is going well there and love ya much!

Siempre Crean,

Elder Creer

He will only give them to us if we are prepared...

Hola Familia!

I really like this area. There are some pretty cool recent converts that are younger.  The miracle baptism that we had last week is doing great. He told us this week that we were the best thing that the Lord had ever given to him in his life. So if I wouldn't have come on my mission there is no way that I could've been an instrument in the Lord's hands and help His children come back to Him. It makes me want to continue to be exactly obedient and work as hard as I can because I really don't know where I am supposed to be going or who we are supposed to find. But the Lord knows and He puts them in our paths just like this man who was baptized last week. He puts them in our paths if we are ready for them. He has prepared people but He will only give them to us if we are prepared.

Every day I am trying to become more like Jesus Christ. I was called by a prophet of God to represent Jesus Christ. I was thinking a little about that this week too. I thought what does it mean to represent Him? So far I think that if I was called to represent Jesus Christ it is because He can't be here. If He could be here teaching these people and performing miracles He would be, but He's not. He can't be here so I was called to represent Him. That means that I should try my best to be like Him and represent Him, do the things that He would do if He was here.

I also think that being senior companion is helping me become a better leader.  I am learning how to positively motivate my comp and others and I think it is helping me out a lot.

 That is pretty much it for this week; we spent most of the week contacting referrals without much luck.

Hope all is going well. Love ya!

Siempre Crean,

Elder Creer

I knew without a doubt that God was there...

Hola Famila!

So transfers were this Wednesday which involved a couple new changes.  I got to go over to the Hernandez’s house for dinner on Tuesday for my requested last time, haha.  We had the best tacos ever. So Wednesday came around and we drove to the transfer building. We got talked to a little from President Winn about the goals for 2012 and then we found out where we were going. I got shipped to Rose Park which is the farthest north in the mission. My new companion is Elder Lopez.   He has only been out for one transfer and I am supposed to help him with training still. I was a little surprised that I was chosen to help train him because that is pretty important but maybe since I trust in the Lord, He is going to trust in me now too…

 The first night in my new area was kind of no bueno. All I could think about was my last area and the people and I wanted to go back. I think it's kind of funny now because sometimes missionaries feel homesick and want to go home and I felt area sick and wanted to go back. Guess that means I am loving the people! So after the first night things got a little better.

Thursday and Friday we did work. We put people on date to be baptized and added a lot of new investigators and had a really sweet miracle!

We were going to have a lesson with this guy on Thursday but he canceled and then we planned it for Friday. So the lesson came around on Friday and we brought a member with us which ended up being perfect. The guy we were teaching went on to tell us that he was having a hard time in his life right now. We had planned a lesson but the Spirit said “no” to that and the member shared his testimony of God's love. He shared a personal experience of a tragedy in his life.  He talked about how he was really lonely and that is when he found and felt God's love in his life. He said that even after that horrible experience he knew without a doubt that God loved him and whenever he felt lonely he knew he could talk to God. So right after that I shared with him my experience when I was diagnosed with a tumor and how I felt with that and even though it was a really hard experience not knowing if I was going to die or not, I knew without a doubt that God was there and He was always ready to talk to me. We promised him that God loved him too and knew exactly what he was going through and knew exactly how he felt. We testified of the Atonement and how Christ literally felt every ounce of pain that he was feeling. We promised that he wasn't alone and God was ready to help him. The Spirit was suuuuuuper strong and we asked him to be baptized and he said yes and guess what?   He was baptized yesterday!! Pretty crazy huh!

I think that this was definitely a miracle and just added to my testimony that God is really there and he really loves us. Hope you all are looking for God's love everyday in your lives, we can always recognize His hand in our lives. God loves you, and I love you too!

Siempre Crean,

Elder Creer

She must have noticed his determination...

Hola Familia!

It was nice talking to you yesterday. So pretty much there isn't much to say because we talked yesterday, haha. Tell everyone thanks for the presents!

So transfers are Wednesday so that is probably going to mean a new home and a new comp for me. I will make sure to keep ya posted next week on the changes that will be happening. Yesterday after I called you we went to church for an hour and a half.  Then we went to an investigators house.  She fed us tostadas which were really good.  She had a neat experience this week.  We first began teaching her son.  She made it clear she wasn’t interested, but must have noticed his determination to pursue the path to baptism because he received an answer from God. 

We had the thought to take them to Temple Square this week so we did.

 Every time that we take investigators to Temple Square we get two sister missionaries from the Temple Square mission to help us. Long story short is that we had a two hour lesson with her and the Temple Square Sisters.  They were great!! The Lord was able to change the heart of this mom.   That was the big miracle of the week. Things are going good here!

I would email some pics home that we took for Christmas but I am using a Mac right now in the apple store in the mall because the library is closed. So I will have to wait till next week. Hope all is well there and try not to party too hard during New Years. Love ya!

Siempre Crean,

Elder Creer

We are just waiting for the miracles to happen...

Hola Familia!

This was another tough week for us. Our baptisms fell through again and it is getting harder and harder to find people. We are still trying to be exactly obedient and trying to do everything possible to find people and help them progress so at this point we are just waiting for the miracles to happen.  We have people that are ready we just need to have some more miracles to get them in the water.

My Spanish is improving a lot but my accent is kind of weird because I was learning from an Elder from Mexico and now one from Spain J   So this week we got to go to a Christmas devotional for the mission and Elder Oakes was there and gave us a really good message. We got to meet him and everything. So far I have met the prophet, Eyring, and Bednar in Hawaii and then Elder Holland in Costco and then Elder Oaks at the devotional, pretty good huh! Also a bit of a surprise was I saw Grant or Elder Gallinger at the Christmas devotional, haha.  He is apparently a visa waiter in our mission now so that was kind of crazy. I also got to meet back up with Elder Yancy and my MTC district which was cool. 

I gave a lesson to the youth yesterday and it was about trusting in the Lord.   Everyone in my class is a convert so I had them all share how they were converted and everyone one of them said they really didn't know a whole lot about the church before they joined but they knew that was what they were supposed to do so I took that and helped them realize that in those experiences they were trusting in the Lord. I think it was a good lesson and I shared a good scripture with them in 3 Nephi 19:29.  So read that one! 

 I spent the rest of my money on my mission card last week so I could have stuff to make treats to take to people so I am living off Uncle Steve and Aunt Malia’s present so tell them thanks for me!!

The thing that I have taken from these last couple hard weeks is that I need to continue to put my trust in the Lord. He knows when his children need to get baptized and how they will get to that point, so when sometimes we get upset that things are not going the way we want them to-- then that is for a reason that we obviously don't know. The Lord has his timeline for things to happen and we are the instruments to make it happen.   We need to trust in Him and I know the miracles will come. I am loving how the spirit guides the lessons and how I say things that always seem to be the perfect words. I truly have a testimony of the Spirit and without it we cannot succeed in anything. 

Love you guys and make sure you serve lots! Watch the Mormon message video “Lessons I Learned as a Boy” by Gordon B Hinckley. It’s a good one and is an excellent example of what we need to be doing to be Christlike. I will call you on Sunday but I don’t know when -so be ready!

Siempre Crean,

Elder Creer

We either become slothful or great missionaries...

Hola Familia!

This week was probably one of the harder weeks on my mission so far. Everyone that we had with a baptismal date fell off so for the first time in my mission we don't have anyone that is ready to get baptized which is sad. We had some investigators who were progressing really well but for different reasons they couldn't get baptized yet. The one we had lined up for last Saturday had to get postponed so we are still waiting to hear on that.

Remember Mom when you would always do highs and lows during your Sunday School class for the week? Well that’s my low and my high was with one of our new convert’s mom. She watched the restoration movie and said that she could feel the Spirit very strong and that she knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. It was crazy to see the change within her in just one week. I really believe that the Lord is going to do whatever it takes to get this family to the temple so they can be sealed.

Because we are starting to have a hard time again finding investigators it is really important that we are relying on the Spirit all of the time. I know that the Lord wanted us to go back and talk to this lady again because He had been preparing her and we had no idea. All we thought we knew was that we had tried the week before and she wasn't very interested. The Lord however had a different plan and was preparing her through experiences. It was really important that we were instruments in the hands of the Lord so that we could go where He wanted us to go, even when it didn't really make that much sense. It was another witness that things rarely happen when we think they should or happen the way we think they will. The Lord has a timeline and because we don't know what it is, we have to be led by the Spirit so we can do what the Lord would have us do.

 Even though this was a really tough week and we didn't have too much success I know that we are given tests to strengthen us and to test our faith. So I think that the Lord will bless our companionship with success because we kept up our faith during this hard week. Right when the time comes that we want to give up and say that we did everything and didn't really see results is the point that we either become slothful or great missionaries. And I want to be the kind of missionary that the Lord wants me to be and that is definitely not a slothful one!.  So I am going to keep working and keep being obedient and I know that the Lord will bless me. Hope all is going well there, it is absolutely freezing here. Love ya!

Siempre Crean,

Elder Creer

Focused on finding the one...

Hola Familia!

This week was full of miracles! We had two baptisms this week too. One was for a lady who has wanted to get baptized for some time now but the only thing that has been holding her back was that she needed to get married. Through the help of the Lord we were able to set up the wedding and reception and then the baptism for her. It was a cool experience to see her so happy.

Our other baptism this week was for a girl from Puerto Rico. The day of her baptism we got a call from her friend saying that she had changed her mind and she didn't want to get baptized. So Elder Flaquer and I prayed and studied in the scriptures for a little bit and then went over to her house to talk to her. She said that a whole bunch of people had been telling her all of these false things about the church and she said she wasn’t ready. We had a really spiritual lesson with her and she felt the Spirit testifying that she needed to get baptized. She followed through and was baptized. Everyone was happy! The Lord always will provide a way if we just trust in Him and I am continuing to see that over and over again.  Anything is possible with His help.

Another miracle this week was with a lady who was a referral from her friend.  We had searched and tried to find someone who was ready for baptism, but we couldn't find them. On Wednesday night I said a prayer and asked God to guide us to the person that He wanted to get baptized because we felt we had done all we could and couldn't find them. So the next day we got a phone call from a lady saying that she scheduled an appointment for us to visit her friend who wanted to speak with us. I remembered her name from my first transfer. She had been to church before in the past.  She told us that she wasn't ready for baptism yet.  So we told her that when she was ready to make this covenant with the Lord she should call us. She did last week and has decided to be baptized on the 10th of December!

It's crazy how the Lord has a plan for everything. Most of the times I have seen that at the time things happen I have no idea why, or I think I might have an idea and then I find out that the Lord has a totally different plan and that is when we need to be instruments in His hands. He knows what He is doing so we have to choose the right and then He can use us to complete His tasks.

The other miracle we had this week was yesterday at church. Every week we are challenged to bring five investigators to church. At the end of church we only had four. We had done all we could to get five investigators at church but we only knew of our four. I knew that if we did all we could, then the Lord would encourage five to come to church. We were walking around after church and we saw this lady whom we saw at Sacrament Meeting with her kids. (She was our fifth!)   She had come to church for two weeks in a row and isn't a member. We set up an appointment and she is progressing towards baptism. The way I look at it is maybe if some of our other investigators would have come, we wouldn't have been searching and found her at church, and we would not have been focused on finding the one.

It has been a big blessing to see how the Lord works. He always provides for us if we do what is right, we have to be willing to be instruments in His hands and do what He wants when He wants and then we will be blessed. So things are going really well with Elder Flaquer and me.

We ate the best tacos of my life again at the Hernandez family's house too so that's always nice.

Both of us are also getting a lot better with our singing, haha.  We only listen to Mormon Tab.  There is a Lion King song on one of the CDs so we sing that one a lot, and the Christmas ones too!...I would consider becoming a professional- buuut I am serving a mission so you'll have to miss out on that. :) 

I hope all is going well there and that you are all trusting in the Lord!

Love ya!

Siempre Crean,

Elder Creer

Elder Flaquer