Zone Traingiving and other various happenings!‏

Hi! Hello! Wassup!

This week, to put it shortly, was INCREDIBLE!!!!

And here. we. go.

Monday: Typical P-Day; helped a family get some moving done; prepared for the week. Life is good :)

Tuesday: FLEW BY. Great lesson with our investigator Mike. We've been studying the Book of Mormon with him and he understands it like nobody's business! It's been giving him quite a bit of additional strength to get over some things... Also had an incredible lesson with Jill; committed her and her daughter to go over the Restoration Pamphlet and answer the questions at the back.

Wednesday: Ever wonder why Mormons are so good at moving people? We get a lot of practice on our missions. Did that for a significant chunk of the day, then had an interesting lesson with a less active of ours named Alfred--he says he's in a constant fight with the devil. Aren't we all... Here's an excerpt from the journal regarding thoughts on Zone Traingiving:

"Anywho, tomorrow is Zone Traingiving! Dang! I'm feeling pretty trpidatious, to be honest... there is a LOT of information we need to cover with the new Christmas Initiative: #ASaviorisBorn (look it up! It's incredible)--- and a lot of trainings and role plays and oh my lanta tomorrow is going to crazy busy... but it's all good! This is the best place I could be. There's not too many times in your life where you can be sure you're where Heavenly Father wants and needs you to be. Now, the thing to work on is always doing what Heavenly Father would have me do--that's where following the spirit comes in...I'm still working on that one...but anywho, what's important is that I (we) keep. moving. forward. Onward. Upward. Becoming better today than I was yesterday and better tomorrow than I am today. That is why we're here. To help others do the same by Coming closer to Christ and receiving His Gospel. How awesome is that?"

Thursday: Thanksgiving!!!! And Zone Traingiving!!! Both went awesome possum. Got to have dinner with the Witte's--an incredible family--and some great Thanksgiving messages with various people we met. My LANTA there is so much to be grateful for out here. 

Friday-Sunday (Sorry, I'm running out of time): Incredible lessons, incredible people; I'm going to have to do a solo in church in a few weeks (yikes), annnd yeah, other crazy stuff happened too. I love this work and this gospel. He lives! Share what you know!

Love you all, have an incredible week!

Elder Kraus

Annd here's the sunset!

Stoners and Meetings and JW's (oh my!)‏

Ya'at'eeh! Hola! Hello! Oye! So, as I'm sure you've been able to tell, I attempt to make the subject line kinda punny. My creative juices are pretty dry this week, so bear with me XD 

Anywho, time is short and this week was ACTION PACKED. So here we goo! 

Monday (the 16): Supah great P-Day; got an incredible package of parallettes (forgive the spelling) and other niceties from the fambam (shoutout to the parents! Couldn't ask for better ones :)), sooo now I'm actually consistently working on getting back into shape! Haha! Take that, winter chubb! It's going to be a bit of an uphill battle... Members feed us so much and so well here! Helped an incredible part member family with a family home evening on the power of language; all in all, just an incredible day.

Tuesday: Got a lot of the prep work done for Stake Vitality; went out and met a lot of people, and in general just did a lot of general missionary work; not a supah noteworthy day...

Wednesday: Finished plans for Zone Traingiving (held on the 26th, it's going to be AWESOME), then went out and worked--today, we tried to have an entire day of just following the spirit, and it went pretty well! Got in with an 86 year old Jehovah's Witness who didn't look a day over 70! That was crazy... Had a spirit filled lesson of the Restoration, then challenged him to find out if the message was true by reading the Book of Mormon and asking God through prayer, annnnnnd he flat turned us down. That's ok though, he might not be ready just yet, but someday he will be. When that time comes, we just pray he'll let the missionaries in. Then we had a little bit of time before the stake vitality meeting, so we went out contacting, when we were approached by a modern day Korihor! (For my non-Mormon friends reading this, please ask your nearest Mormon friend and they'll explain alll about who that guy is). He kept trying to convince us to drop what we were doing and "come and smoke a bowl with him." Man I love Colorado XD Needless to say, that lesson didn't go too far. We bore strong testimony, buutt it might be a little bit more time before this guy is ready. Stake Vitality was grand, and we're super excited to implement a lot of different things in the coming weeks :)

Thursday-Sunday: Again, I'm almost out of time, so here's a brief overview:

We've been working and praying a lot for the chance to find people who are ready to receive the message of the gospel, and it finally came to fruit this week!!! We found an incredible family and many other people who are ready to receive the message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! I'll have more to tell about them in the coming weeks. 

Ok, last crazy happening of the week: We got the opportunity to give a little 2 year old a blessing; he was in the O.R. for like 7 or 8 hours after complications occurred and fluid started to buildup in his lungs... he's doing ok now, but just having the opportunity to be there as a servant and representative of Jesus Christ for that family... wow. This gospel is true. Jesus Christ lives, and His Gospel, in its fulness, is on the earth today. Families can be together forever. Life doesn't end at death, and, because of Him, we can experience a fulness of joy here in mortality as well. I'm so very grateful for that. 

Alright, if you got that far into the letter, here's a challenge for you!!!

So, Thanksgiving is coming up. What are you most thankful for? Think about it. Ponder. Ok, got it? Now write it down, and share it with those you love! And, if you feel so inclined, send a copy to me. I love reading that stuff :)

And if you've already forgotten my address (shame on you! ;)), here it is again:

Elder Garrett Kraus

P.O. Box 4252

Durango, CO 81302

Have an incredible week! Happy Thanksgiving! Love you all!

Elder Kraus

This email is almost as short as I am...‏

Oye everyone! 

Soooo I forgot my journal, which is how I include details. So this is a letter without details... here we go! 

Twas an incredible week. Had a goal of talking with EVERYONE we saw, annnd we just about did! This week should be even better. We've really been focusing on more faith-filled finding, and it's been working so well!!!  Here's a story: Remember Jacob, the big guy I told you all about last week? So, we were teaching him and his family, when we felt inspired to promise his wife that if she took Sundays off from work to come back to church (we think she's a less-active), then the Lord would bless her with more productivity and affluence than she had. She was skeptical, but not Jacob! He showed up to church, calling into his work to tell them that he wouldn't be coming in until two. He said he knew it would take faith, so he prayed and acted. Twas AWESOME! So yeah, the work is progressing, people are coming closer to Christ, life is incredible! And here's some pictures of Durango. I'm out of time. Love you all!

Elder Kraus

Durango Colordado!!!‏

Ya'at'eeh everyone! 

Actually.... scratch that... not many people speak Navajo here... soooo.....

Hello everyone!

This week was, to put it simply, INSANE. But in a good way, so that's nice :) Allriiiighhtty, and here. we. go.

Monday: Essentially a blur; spent the day packing and reminiscing... Left for Farmington that night, absolutely terrified for what lies ahead. Spending 3 months on the Rez without seeing normal civilization makes for quiiite a bit of a culture shock, ja feel?

Tuesday: Woke up uber early and helped peeps coordinate where they needed to be, transfers make for a crazy day. Got to meet my replacement in Kayenta, gave him the lowdown on the greatest area in the mission, hopefully he's rocking it :) Met Elder Longino and Elder Vineyard, headed back to Durango (actual trees and snow there!!!! Twas insane), and got right to work moving a lotta wood for a little old lady who lives up in the mountains with the bishop and some other great ward members. Experienced quite a bit more culture shock, having dinner with an upper class, active member family. It was awesome, just different. It's awesome to see the amount of member involvement in the missionary work here!

Wednesday: Woke up early, did insanity with Elder Longino (we will be in shape yet!), did a quick buzz of my hair, and went out and had an incredible day teaching citizens of Durango! The time flew, we taught with the spirit, annd yah! Just an awesome day. 

Thursday: Elder Longino and I went up to train the new Cortez District Leader, Elder Lethco, and to be at their District Meeting. Man, Elder Lethco is just an awesome guy :) Great District meeting, I'm excited to see where this Zone can go in the coming weeks! Taught a Jacob today... picture a 6 foot something linebacker with a supah deep voice... to be honest, I was a little intimidated at first, but during the lesson... wow. He's a spiritual giant! Excited to see where he'll go. We're hopefully seeing him tonight! (Monday)

Friday: Interesting day... switched out our truck in the morning (we now have a red tacoma, at least for a bit!) had a great weekly planning, planning out when we'll do exchanges, zone training, etc.. great day going out and seeing tons of people! Haha tracting out the college dorms was interesting... 

Ok, I'm actually just about out of time! Looks like I need to get better at the whole speed typing thingamajig.... geez. Sunday had an incredible Stake Conference about focusing on the most important things in our life and being careful about accumulation of stuff. It's an easy trap to slip into....

Alright! Have an incredible week! 

Love you all! 

Here's some pics of Durango

Nananana nananana hey hey hey, gooodbyye (Last week in Kayenta :'/)‏

Ya'at'eeh everyone!

Not a whole lot of time left this week, so I'll get right down to the nitty gritty...

I'm shipping out to Durango CO today. It's hard to believe how much you can come to love a people and a place in 6 months... I'm going to miss Kayenta and the people here like crazy. They're incredible. 

Mail now goes to:

Elder Garrett Kraus

P.O. Box 4252

Durango, CO 81302

Ok, highlights of the week... 

1) Got the other side of the duplex all set up for the new elders coming in! It looks great! Ahhh!!! Kayenta is getting 2 additional elders!!! The work here is going to EXPLODE (in the best possible way :))

2) Went on an exchange to Dennehotso again with Elder Vallejo; taught a couple of lessons, and did a lot of finding people... you aint never seen Rez until you've been in Dennehotso and Chilchinbeto ;)

3) Got to help Sally Singer out quite a bit this week... She lives out in this little converted Octagon with an add-on, heated by wood, cement floor, the works...  she was really sick Thursday, so we took Brother Nielson with us out to give her a blessing. I've gotta say, giving blessings is one of my favorite things to do. It always gives me a sense, at least in part, of the incredible love Heavenly Father has for His children. And while immediate healing doesn't always come, I've never left a blessing where the recipient hasn't been uplifted and helped by the love of their Heavenly Father. We went to chop chizh for her the next day and she felt so much better! And chopping chizh (firewood) was also really great :) 

4) Fantastic District meeting! Holy cow! Can't believe it was my last one with the district; I'm going to miss all of these guys... As it was the District Meeting before Halloween, we all wore staches. Thank you Sister Udy :)

5) The rest of the week was just a blur.... Stake Conference was great, got to see quite a few people for the last time.... my lanta I'm going to miss this place...

Ok, I'm just about out of time, but feel free to email or mail in questions about anything and everything! Here's some pictures of the week!

-Kayenta sunrises are da bomb.

-District Stache shot

-Heading out to chop lots of chizh for Sister Singer

-Elder Udy got a wee bit of facial hair at the Halloween party XD