Durango for another 6!‏

Hello family, friends, loved ones!!

This week was pretty great!! It also flew by.... 6 investigators came to sacrament meeting! Twas a miracle!! 

We also got the opportunity to have a Zone Training this week. It went so well! Meetings with the missionaries always are a testament in and of themselves that Christ is at the head of this Church. What other place in the world could you have about 20 young adults, meeting together and training each other on how to better represent Jesus Christ as they find those prepared to receive His gospel, then teach them how to change and make promises with Him? It's phenomenal. 

In other news, we got transfer news this Saturday!! (drum roll please)..... I'm staying in Durango for another 6 weeks! So is Elder Waite. Elder Longino is getting transferred to my first Zone, Tuba City. It's going to be a little surreal serving here without him; we've been together 6 months, and we've just about become each other's counterparts. We literally finish each other's sentences much of the time. Regardless, I know that this transfer is what the Lord wants and needs for both of us at this time, and I couldn't be more excited to be here. Elder Gray will be coming in on Tuesday, so next week I'll have an update on that :)

This Saturday Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles will be coming and speaking to all of the missionaries this Saturday morning!!! Along with Elder EchoHawk of the 70! And then they'll both be coming to speak to the Durango Stake on Sunday Morning! This is most definitely going to be a spiritually enriching week. I know these men are called of God to lead His church.

I've been thinking a lot about sanctification recently--laying it all on the line in the service of God. In learning about it and in trying to live that law more fully, I've discovered 2 things. In Christ's service, it's really not about you. The only effective way to serve is to turn completely outwards, to direct your heart, might, mind, and strength to helping all those who are around you (even and especially your companions and family members). In doing so, Christ will change us. This change is so much greater than anything that could be accomplished by focusing inward, on ourselves. It's easier to find ourselves as we lose ourselves in the service of God and man because there's so much more of us to find. 

I love this Gospel. It is true. God lives, as does His son, Jesus Christ. Follow Him, find new life through His Gospel. That's our invitation to all.

I love you all!!!  Have a wonderful week!

Elder Kraus

Bautismo y cosas que estan impresionante!!‏

Hello loved ones!!

No, I didn't get transferred to a Spanish speaking mission; we just had the opportunity to have a spanish baptism!! We've been teaching Fransisco through his friend (master translator), Brother Ramos, and this week he was finally able to be baptized!! The service was entirely in Spanish, which was an awesome opportunity for those in the ward who had served Spanish missions to participate. Elder Longino and I were asked to give the prayers (in spanish), which was quite the experience... apparently, neither of us did too badly though, so all is well! The spirit there was palpable :) 

Incredibly, there was another miracle this week as well. Friday night, we went up to Fort Lewis College to do service running microphones between different drum groups for the Durango Hozhoni Days Pow Wow. That was quite the experience. Those drums are LOUD! While doing so, there was an intoxicated gentleman giving us a pretty hard time. The time came for us to leave, so we let him know we were on our way out, when he tells us that he was an asssistant to the president on his mission to Italy, about a decade ago. We got to talking a little more with him outside, and found out he was telling the truth as he started talking to us in perfect italian (and not many non-missionaries know of the term "trunky", which he used while talking to usXD)! We had to go, but we got his name and number, promising we'd contact him soon. We left that night pretty shaken up that something like that could happen to a missionary. We talked to the mission president, asking him how, when he told us how easy it is. Stop reading your scriptures regularly (ideally daily), stop saying prayers regularly, stop attending church every week; the devil will plant a seed, and we'll take care of the rest. Let that be a lesson to us all. By small and simple things, great things are brought to pass, but that road goes both ways. By small and simple things, we can lose the light and the joy and the knowledge of the gospel that we have. This story does end on a positive note though!! Sunday, we were able to bring Brother Chee over to see him. Brother Chee is one of the greatest member misisonaries in the ward, and he knows exactly what this RM, Josh, is going through, because he's traveled that same path not too long ago. They connected instantly, and we were able to have an incredibly spiritual lesson with Josh. He opened up to us, and expressed his desire to feel the spirit in his life. It'll be a long road back, but he's willing and we'll be there every step of the way to help him, our brother, to make it back to where God wants and needs him to be. It's never too late to begin anew, learning and taking part in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Learn of Him. Experience the power of His Atonement. "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."

I love you all!!!

Have an incredible week! Do the small and simple things that will bring you and your families closer to Him!!

Oh and congrats to Taylor and Bryson!!!! This is what it's all about :) 

Annnd here's a pic or two from last week; we had the opportunity to drive to Silverton to contact a referral, and the drive there is BEAUTIFUL!

Mission Tour!!‏

Hello loved ones!!!

Once again, I must apologize for the length of the email. Time has a tendency to fly away....

Anywho.

This week was amazing. Spiritual feast? Most definitely. 

One of the highlights of the week was Thursday: Elder Corbridge (of the 70) came and spoke to the mission. One of the large things that I took away from it was the difference between above the line and below the line thinking. Above the line thinking creates accountability. You recognize a problem, accept responsibility for it, council with the lord (there's the tie-in to the general conference talk by Elder Ballard; ahhhmazing!) about what to do, and then you act. Annnd repeat. This is the way progress is made. This is the way people progress. This is the way family ties are strengthened and we come closer to Heavenly Father. At the opposite end of the spectrum is under the line thinking. This shifts all accountability to someone else. If I fail, it's a result of the circumstances which I was in. I'll do whatever the Lord wants, but if I don't get clear direction, it's His fault if I fail. May we all strive to be more above the line in the way we approach our challenges, and our relationships :)

In other news, we finally got in with the McKnight family!! We got the opportunity to share the message of the restoration and the Book of Mormon with them. Twas great :)

Annnnnd (drum roll please) Fransisco is getting baptized this Saturday!!! He's the investigator that only speaks spanish. The only slightly stressful thing is that my companion and I have been asked to say the prayers at the Spanish Baptismal service. If you didn't know, I don't really speak all that much Spanish. This will be great though; gift of tongues, here we come!!!

Anywho, have an excellent week everyone! I know God lives and that this is His Church. Follow Him, and discover new life!!!

Love you all!!

Elder Kraus

Zone and General Conference‏

Hello hello hello!!!

This week was a wee bit slower than is typical, due to some unforseen circumstances. Nevertheless, we had the opportunity to have an incredible Zone Conference and General Conference!!! So, here are some of my thoughts on those:

First, in Zone Conference, there was an INCREDIBLE training on Selfishness. There was incredible quote presented there that I'd like to share with you all:

"I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate, it is my daily mood that makes the weather. i possess the tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can Humiliate or Humor, Hurt or Heal. In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming." ~John Wolfgang Van Goethe

This statement is true. God has given us agency, the ability to choose. Decisions determine destiny. I know that this life wasn't meant to be easy, but the hard times we encounter have the potential to shape us into who Heavenly Father would have us become, even as He is. I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can change. We can become better. We can choose to follow Him more fully, in thought, word, and deed. I love this Gospel. My prayer is that we can choose to rise above selfishness, that we can rise above the natural man. In the words of Thomas S. Monson, the prophet of God on the earth today, "may we ever choose the harder right, instead of the easier wrong."

Have a phenomenal week.

Elder Kraus