Do your best and let what happens happen...

Hola Familia! So we had interviews with President Swain this week. He is legit. He is a humble spirit giant! So in the interviews he told me that he forwarded the email I sent to him last week to a General Authority and they talked about it and liked it. It was about my thoughts about how the mission is going to move forward and some ideas that I thought would help us be successful. Apparently they (the ideas) came from the Spirit because they loved it haha. It is kind of weird having them looking at my numbers though, I try not to think about it and just do my best. Kind of like you can't worry about everyone in the crowd during a basketball game, you just gotta play and do your best and let what happens happen. So that is my plan for now. Soo....superman returns...lol...Idk what the heck is the deal but I wrecked again...we were just coming down a small hill. It wasn't even that big at all but when I was turning my tire slid on the road got caught on a crack in the road and I went flying off my bike and landed in a push up position somehow haha. So I just did the pushup and stood up. My companion was just shaking his head haha. I don’t know why I keep crashing but I am trying not to and it shouldn't be a problem this week because both of our bikes our broken so we are walking haha. So we have a family of 4 that is going to get baptized next Saturday. They are super solid. They are the ones that we took to Temple Square and had the crazy spiritual experience after the family videos. The mom is super funny and doesn't speak much English but always copies what her kids say and she has a super strong accent so it is super funny haha. The kids are pretty shy but they are starting to be a little more outgoing and laugh a little more. The dad is super quiet and we are still trying to break his shell haha. They are a great family and super prepared to receive the gospel so it has been a great blessing to be a part of their conversion. I will let ya know how their baptism goes next week. Well I hope all is going well and that your trip to Utah was fun! Jessie make sure you keep practicing! Love ya! Siempre Crean, Elder Creer

To help me see people as God sees them...

Hola Familia! So this was another tough week. I have been thinking a lot about us as members of the church and how we have responsibilities to really follow Jesus Christ. Do what He would do if He were here. I was studying charity this week to help me see people as God sees them. We were at zone conference and President Swain told us to think of a question that we had at this time. So I invite you to do that right now too. My question was, "How can I have more charity for people?" so then President Swain told us to flip open the Book of Mormon to a chapter and read it and we would find our answer to our questions. So I flipped it open to 2 Nephi 9 and read verse 39 and it says "to be spiritually minded is life eternal" This was my answer. To really be spiritually minded to see people for their positive qualities because that is how God would view them. And...if we smile more we will have more charity! S - spiritually M - minded I - is L - life E - eternal So I want to invite you to do the same thing right now. Think of a question that you have right now and then flip open the Book of Mormon and as you read the chapter with whatever question you have in your mind I promise that you will get your answer! God loves us and he wants to help us. As we pray and study the scriptures he can answer our prayers. "Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." So that is the attitude that I am going to have moving forward because I know it is the only way that I can learn what I need to learn from these experiences! We had a crazy miracle last night at Temple Square. So last week we had put a mother and daughter on date (for baptism). The dad was still Catholic and the son didn't want to upset the dad. So the dad and the son actually didn't come to church yesterday but we took the whole family to Temple Square last night. We talked about the priesthood and how families can live together. They have these awesome family videos at the temple that bring the Spirit like crazy. We watched the videos and after them when the Spirit was it its strongest point we invited the dad and the son to be baptized and they both accepted and then we finished kneeling in the room and the dad offered a prayer from his heart and now they are completely solid! This will be the first family baptized in this branch in over 1 year so we are hoping this will spark the excitement for doing missionary work in the branch. I know that this was a miracle and I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to be able to witness it and be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. It is also interesting to see the progress we are making with bringing less actives back to church. Yesterday our zone got 40 less actives to come back to church which was really cool. Basically what I have been finding throughout my mission and especially recently is that you get what you want. If it is a righteous desire and we ask God for it, then we will get it. I saw a little video clip on mormon.org that had the message of why not you? Someone else is going to do it if you don't, so if you want it, why not you? Right now in our lives where are our desires and priorities? Are we pursuing things that are worthwhile that will help us progress spiritually? If we want something we need to go for it. Right now the Lord has asked me to feed His sheep. Non members and less actives. If that is something I really want, I am going to get it. So I am trying to pump up our zone to get them excited and ready for this new mission, so here is my scripture chain. Get yo popcorn ready. 1. D & C 136:1 - The Word and Will of the Lord concerning the Camp of Israel in their journeyings to the West: 2. D&C 45:64 - Wherefore I, the Lord, have said, gather ye out from the eastern lands, assemble ye yourselves together ye elders of my church; go ye forth into the western countries, call upon the inhabitants to repent, and inasmuch as they do repent, build up churches unto me. 3. Luke 12:54 - And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. 4. Deuteronomy 32:2 - My doctrine shall drop as the rain 5. 3 Nephi 11:26 - And then shall ye immerse them in the water, and come forth again out of the water. MAKE IT RAIN BABY!! What do ya think?? lol Anyways I hope all is going well with you! Love Ya! Siempre Cree, Elder Creer

I know that it is because God knows more than me...

Hola Familia!

This week went pretty good. Our new mission President is legit! I think I will be able to learn a lot from him. This is his second mission so he just came in last Sunday rolling. In our meeting we had with him he looked very confident with what he was planning on doing but at the same time he was relaxed and very easy to get along with. It was kind of crazy to be on a council to discuss making a new mission. We have a lot of different rules and the way we are going to be doing things is completely different. We are one of 2 missions out of the 347 that are going to start the new church's program that will eventually be in all the missions in the world. I am going a little crazy because there will be General Authorities looking at my numbers and President Swain said there are a lot of eyes on us....ahhhh haha. Right now we only have 76 missionaries but the number is going to double before the year is over so it is going to be very interesting and exciting to see what is going to happen with our mission. We also have new key indicators which are going to make the normal routine a bit different. We also lost Guapo so we will not be able to get couples married very easily anymore. Something else that is going to change is that he is focusing on how to be good leaders. He said that we need to help people become accountable not be held accountable because if they are held accountable their whole missions then they won't have that progression they would have had if they had learned to become accountable. When they become accountable that is something that will help them for the rest of their lives. There is a bunch of other stuff that will change but I just can't remember it all right now haha. We are going to have a zone conference this week and we will be learning a bit more so I will keep you informed on anything that learn.

This week was another tough one. We are trying to get more people to teach but it is really hard. The branch hasn't seen success for so long that their faith of the ability to have success has decreased. The branch has only had 2 baptisms in the last year. We are doing everything we can to get the members excited about doing some missionary work...I just want to get them all together and be like Ray Lewis and get them fired up, get them all yelling and shouting and saying "Arrrrriba" haha...But that is probably not the way the Lord wants his members fired up so we will go with plan B...
This is one of the toughest times of the mission so far. Our area is the hardest it has ever been for me...I haven't had a baptism in 4 weeks...and I am supposed to be a leader starting a new mission..life is hard..but that's to be expected right? That is how we can grow...so even though the mission is super hard and stressful right now I know that it is because God knows more than me and that I will learn and grow from the experiences I am having now. I’m still reading Alma 38:5 and putting my name in it and that helps every time. I’m also still singing A Child's Prayer just so I can feel God's love and know He is by my side.
So that is the update for the week.

Siempre Crean,
eLdEr CrEeR

It is the 4th quarter and we are down 20 and we have the ball...love it!

Hola Familia! I hope everything is going super great.... Well I am going to start out with this...I need new shirts...and superman ain’t got nothin’ on me! So here's the scoop. I have ruined 1 shirt and 1 pair of pants and shoes in the last week...because of a bike crash..so here is what happened... We have this big hill in our area and one night we were at the top of the hill and we decided to race down. So we started down the hill and I was riding on the purple rocket...my teenage girls bike that is purple.. :) So we were going down the hill and my pedal had already broken earlier during the day so I was riding with one pedal..But I am way too competitive so I had to win. Anyways to make a short story long- I was dominating and then about half way down the hill my chain broke off and got caught on the pedal, at the same time my seat broke off and I was flung from my bike (probably looked way cooler than superman) and I slid on the street going like 25 miles an hour..and no that is not an exaggeration because there are the speed thingys for the cops and so I slid first on my bike then rolled to my side and then popped up on my feet, it was nuts...when I popped up I looked and my bike was flipping in the street and finally stopped on the other side of where I was originally...The funniest part was that there was this lady who was backing up and I turned and looked and saw her and her mouth was open...astonished! haha And she just looked at me with her mouth open and then just asked if I was okay in a super worried voice and I smiled gave a thumbs up and just said "of course" haha. Then she just sat there with her mouth open and I was trying not to laugh at her because it looked like she saw a ghost haha. So I will send you some pics right now of my injuries of my huge bike crash. AS you can see...my little scratch on my arm and bloody knuckles was it, and a cut on my ankle. Not bad for a crazy crash at 25 mph. I’ll bet Superman woulda got hurt haha :)..So that's why I need some new shirts and yeah haha I already bought some new shoes at Ross. They didn't have any shirts or I would have bought some too. I think it was a crazy miracle that I wasn't even hurt. I was cruising! Haha. Even the kid on The Incredibles would have been impressed! Moral of the story: my bike sucks...and the Lord will protect us if we are doing what's right! So our area is kind of struggling right now...there hasn't been a baptism in this area for a very long time. But that is what has happened in the only two other areas I have been in so why expect something different right! I love it though because it is like every area -it is the 4th quarter and we are down 20 and we have the ball...love it! So this past week we had a good week and we are continuing to see miracles like crazy. We put a 17 year old girl and her mom on date this week and then the whole rest of their family came to church. We also found 2 other families that will be solid by the end of this week...the best part is we are teaching this other family now and they have a 4 year old daughter who fell in love with me...she punches my comp when we get there and gives me a hug haha :)...She always sits next to me in the lessons and everyday I ask her what color of tie she wants me to wear and then I wear it the next day. I need to find a purple tie because I don't have one and it was requested haha...Anyway- so the area should be booming here in little bit. So the mission officially began yesterday.. Elder Rasmussen is serving with Elder Blakey so I called them and talked to them from 9:30 to 10:30. It was kind of sad to say goodbye but we are going to try and stay in contact. Also Sister and Prez Winn came by to say goodbye and we had a lion piñata ready for them (an investigator makes them). We didn't have any candy to fill it since we are poor and so we filled it with popcorn and oatmeal cream pies and then other random stuff in the house. When they walked in the door we had the lion right in the doorway with a bat and then in the background we had the Mo-Tab Lion King Circle of Life song on because it was only fitting haha. So they broke open the piñata and then I gave Sister Winn the cookies I made her but as soon as I brought the cookies out, Prez said “Oh perfect! Elder Creer cookies!” And he took the plate and started eating them, haha. We got to hear what he tells the missionaries that are leaving in the interviews because Elder Homer is going to be gone soon and he talked a lot about the importance of reading scriptures and praying and going to the temple, so what Conner said in his farewell talk was right of course. And he was talking about how to find our wives and not to delay getting married when we get home. It should be our first priority. I am glad I am only a year out because I don't want to think about it at all, I am still a kid, haha and the "Madagascars" are my favorite movies! :) (By the way- have you seen the third one and if so is it any good?) So we still don't know a whole bunch about the new mission. Tomorrow we have a meeting with the other 4 zone leaders and the assistants and Prez Swain to make all of the mission rules and basically create the mission. The meeting is pretty much going to be all day so I am kind of excited about that! It is crazy though because our mission is going to be the first mission in the whole world to start the church's new plan and eventually every other mission in the world will be doing it like we will, I don’t know exactly how we will be doing things since we haven’t had the meeting yet but it sounds intense! Well I will let you know more about everything next week but keep trusting in the Lord and look for His tender mercies! LOVE YA! Siempre crean, Elder Creer

I was thrown from my bike superman style...

Hola Familia! So transfers were on Wednesday...the big one...to see who goes west and who stays...annnd as you know I am going to the new west mission! My companion is Elder Homer. He was my Zone Leader for 2 transfers when I was in Rose Park. I am a Zone Leader now too! It was super hard to be separated from the main mission. I was getting to be really good buds with Elder Rasmussen and Elder Owen too and they are both staying in the SLC mission. There were 76 missionaries that left the SLC mission to come from the new west mission and we will be getting more and more missionaries to our mission now that are actually called to the Utah Salt Lake City West Mission. I was totally fine with going to the west, I told you on Mother’s Day I was probably going -remember? haha...But it was hard to leave some of the missionaries and Prez and Sis. Winn. At transfers though I found out that Elder Shuster, Elder Morales and Elder Dreyling will be joining me in the west. Elder Shuster said once he had found out that he was going to be staying in the west mission he began praying that I would be moved out to the west with him which was kind of cool to hear. Right now we have 3 zones, so I feel blessed to have the opportunity to be one of the 6 leaders in the mission. It is going to be kind of stressful and hard I assume because we have to create a whole new mission and as leadership that is mostly going to fall on us. I think that it is going to be a great blessing to be able to be a part of this, not many people can say that they were able to start a whole new mission. I know I have a lot to learn and work on to help the mission be successful, especially as a young Zone Leader. I will have to learn as much as I can from my companion who has been a Zone Leader for awhile and also from President and Sister Swain! I am excited and ready to learn and start this adventure! For the third straight time I was just put in an area that hasn't had much success for a long time. I am kind of like “please give an area with people already on date to be baptized!” Still hasn't happened yet but I am hoping for it someday haha. But I actually kind of like the challenge as you would probably guess. The crazy thing is that this mission will have NO cars! So we are covering our zone on bikes! haha And the zones are pretty big. This past Thursday we had to go around to all of the district meetings in the whole zone, on bikes. It took foooooorever haha. I think I am going to lose some weight with this for the next year too :). So I have to tell you about my bike. My companion didn't have a bike last transfer because he was in a car too but he took one of the Sister’s bikes because it was a Trek road bike and she was going to the other mission where there are cars. So he is riding a women’s Trek bike haha. So we had to go to the office and see if there was an extra bike there that I could use. We found one. There was only one. Annnnd it wasn't even a women’s bike! It was a little girl bike haha like teenager size. It is purple. Brakes are terrible haha. The seat is like a metal rod. It is great. So let me tell you about my bike adventures. Two days ago we were riding down a big hill, since we are on bikes now I am going to enjoy it...so I was pedaling as fast as I could down the hill and then my right pedal fell off, haha. So I had to stop which took forever and we tried to fix my bike but it seemed unfix-able; luckily there was this member that saw us and he fixed it for us later that night. But for the meanwhile I was pedaling with only one pedal because we had lessons we had to get to, haha. Then yesterday I almost died! Well not really but in my crazy exaggerated imagination it seemed like it. The first time was when we were riding on the side walk and then this motorcycle drove by and he honked and pointed real cool with one finger right at us so then I decided to return the favor and I pointed back at him (in the same cool way he did to me of course) and I lost control of my bike and I got both hands on the handle bars and swerved into the grass and hit a big pothole and flew off my bike and I landed on a small store's sign and broke it and my bike went flying and the chain broke hahaha. So I had to fix the sign and then my bike. My comp said it looked hilarious. So then later that night we were on our way to our apartments and I was racing my companion...remember he has a road bike and I have the equivalent of a turtle with wheels haha. So we were racing and we were neck and neck and I decided to take a short cut so I could beat him and I went through the grass and was heading for the road again and there was a big curb. But this curb was angled up instead of a drop off...and remember my brakes are bad so I had one choice if I wanted to beat my comp in the race and that was to jump the curb. But my bike weighs as much as I do and so I lifted with all my might, still going full speed and the front wheel cleared the curb and the back wheel didn't quite make it and I am not too sure what happened but I was thrown from my bike superman style and barrel rolled in the air and had a graceful landing and the front of my white shirt was completely black because of the asphalt but luckily somehow my tie was not harmed. Just my shirt, haha. My chain broke off again during this crash too haha. So now all is well. Well that is all I have to share from the west adventures for now. I don't know anyone in my zone except for my companion but I am sure it will be a great experience so I will keep you posted on what is happening Love ya! Siempre Crean, Elder Creer

I am going to be in the Utah Salt Lake City West Mission

Hey! I am going to be in the Utah Salt Lake City West Mission so all the mail will be sent to our apartments. I will tell you more later, but don't send anything else to the old mission address. And tell everyone else too please. My address is: Elder Brennen James Creer 3693 South 4800 West West Valley City, Utah 84120 Love Ya! Siempre Crean, Elder Creer

Growling at me like a small lion...

Hola Familia! This week was like Man vs. Wild! So many different things tried to eat us alive this week! So to start things off, another snake tried to bite me this week. It was right in front of our investigator's house and she hates snakes! She told us to kill it but was like screaming and freaking out and it was super funny. So I decided to man up and take care of business haha. It tried to bite me and I punched it in the face and made it a little dizzy so I could give him the round house kick to the face to finish him off. I will attach a pic to show you my second victory in the last two weeks with the snake gang. Then a spider tried to attack me while I was driving... I HATE SPIDERS! So I pulled over the car and we bailed out of Elder Vital’s passenger door (because the spider was on my window) and I ran around the car and flipped off my shoe and then smashed the spider right on the car with my shoe right in the middle of the road..I am sure there were a million people watching wondering what was going on haha but once again...victory! Then yesterday we were driving and we parked the car and there was another fight...6 raccoons!! So I was feeling a little confident after my latest victories and maybe a little too cocky haha. So anyway one raccoon tried to get me and was growling at me like a small lion and I threw a cherry at it and it got scared and ran up a tree haha I will call that a victory haha. Yeah it was a pretty crazy week! Thanks for all the brownies. I took them to leadership meeting and then district meeting the next day and everyone loved them. I made a lot of money too, I was charging like a buck a piece...it was great haha. Thanks for all the b-day stuff it was great! Love you all, and mom I was just kidding about selling your treats lol :) Siempre Crean, eLdEr CrEeR