Zone Conference! (Amid other happenings)‏

Allrigiigghhgthy! So you know how sometimes you blink and suddenly an hour goes by? Picture that, but for an entire week. Geez. Annnnd here are the weekly highlights!

Monday: Found out that a decrepit vent in our ceiling had been a hideout for ~10000000000000 flies. (Cue Lord of the Flies joke, ba dum tissss). One broken fly swatter later, they are now all gone. What a rush. Also got to do an incredible church tour with Eric and his son today!!!! They weren't able to come to church Sunday, but hopefully this coming week that'll change. They rock so much.

Tuesday: Incredible Zone Conference in Tuba City!!! Learned so many great things, and gave a training on teaching simply! Went much better than expected :) Also found out my foot's been a wee bit too heavy on the gas pedal from the vehicle coordinator. So, now I'm the safest driver on the Rez. My goal is not to have a single "check your speed" from the little tiiwii box (like an electronic backseat driver) for an entire week. Should be good, even if the old shumas are passing me :)

Thursday-Saturday: Got a lot of great work done, nothing too noteworthy, except for a dlaanii (drunk) named Looking Glass stopping us on the side of the road and chatting us up for half an hour. We left him with a good message, and away he went! That's one of the saddest things we deal with out here... it's terrible knowing there's really not much we can do for them other than love them until they're sober, because nothing we say gets through when they're intoxicated... geez...

Sunday: Flew by! As usual. Didn't get a single 'check your speed today :)' Unfortunately had to drop an investigator, as she wasn't keeping any commitments... That's the second saddest thing ever. We KNOW she could feel the spirit, and we were teaching with the spirit, but no matter what we taught her, she wasn't willing to put forth any effort to change on her own. Agh!!! Agency is an incredible gift, but I think I'm beginning to understand, at least in part, how sad Heavenly Father must be when we use it foolishly.... this was cause for some introspection as to how I'm using my agency--are we doing all we can to become the men and women Heavenly Father needs us to be? This week is a great opportunity to ask, "What lack I yet?" As we do, we will get customized counsel from the Holy Ghost as to how we can do and BECOME better. Because that's a major purpose of this life: who we become. 

Anywho, I'm about out of time for this week! Hope you all have a great one! And if you're having a rough week, remember, God created us to have JOY! (Men are that they might have joy) So change what you need to, focus on what's most important, and look for the good that's all around you! I love this Gospel! Christ lives, and His gospel is on the earth today! How fantabulous is that?

Nizhoni na'ash!

Elder Kraus

5 Months! (and other happenings of sorts)‏

Ya'at'eeh everyboooddyyyy!!!

Hopefully your week has been just awesome. Because mine was. :) Allriiighhty, here we go with some of the highlights!

Monday: One of da chillest P-Days ever; sent half of the district to Page to shop at Walmart (aka rez missionary heaven, there is SO MUCH cheap foods there), recovered from the nastiness of being sick, attempted to play some guitar, and a gnarly board-game. That night, I was feeling much better, so we got to teach Eric again!!! Hopefully we'll be doing a church tour with him today, and help him to continue to progress! He's just doing awesome. Then that night it was raining a TON when we got a call to go and give a blessing at the clinic, so that was interesting. Awesome spirit during the blessing, which was great!

Tuesday/Wednesday: Went on an exchange to Monument Valley with Elder Searle!!! He's one of the greatest missionaries I know, and I learned a lot from him. Got to teach some great people out there (MV is my second favorite area in the mission, right behind K-town ;)), put Peggy on date! :D Chopped a tonnn of chizh (firewood), and did some yardwork. Also went tracting out in the actual Valley; pictures to follow. 

Thursday: Zone Training in Tuba City! Learned some fantastic things with carryover from MLC. Extremely pumped for the direction of the mission in the coming months. Typical rest of the day, finally got to teach Norman and Eilene1! That just rocked. They're an incredible family.

Friday/Saturday: Exchange with the Zone Leaders! Two of the most rockinest missionaries and leaders I know, I was able to learn so much from spending time with Elder Thompson. Saturday was an interesting one...

Sunday: Typical Sunday, just awesome sacrament meeting, got to teach some people, etc. etc.

Annd that's my week! Conference was awesome! Challenge for you all: PONDERIZE. It'll change your life.

Love you all.

Hozho nana

Elder Kraus

Pursuit of Happyness‏

Oye! Ya'at'eeh!

Soooo this week was fantabulous. Yes, that's a word now. Also crazy. So. much. happened. Annnnd here we go:

Monday: Typical P-day, not a whole bunch happened, just helped the Elders who were getting transferred get ready for that. On the plus side, got to hang out with the cutest puppy of ALL time. Bar none. Also had an incredible lesson with Eric, we were able to bring out a member with us and the spirit was there and life was just awesome. Pictures of the puppy to come soon.

Tuesday: TRANSFER DAY!!!!! Got the Elders shipped out to where they need to be, got some trio lessons in with Elder Hill whilst we were waiting for his new comp. Went out to Dennehotso and got the Elders there all set up in their new place and ready to work! Got back to Kayenta just about the same time as all the new Elders to the District showed up. They all seem awesome! Then ZL's showed up with Elder Broadbent! They're in a trio now, and that rocks, because Elder Broadbent rocks. Dwayne had his interview with them, which went swimmingly, the ZL's loved him! Then a fantastic dinner with the McCarty family. They absolutely rock. Only blow of the day was finding out that Richard G. Scott was gone... Geez... 3 Apostles in a matter of months! This will be an interesting General Conference.

Wednesday: Highlights of the day: A couple of great lessons, bought a BMX bike at the flea market for $20--we go there instead of lunch to talk with as many people as possible, and it was a deal I couldn't pass up. Twill be great, except riding a BMX bike with a suit on (suit season starts with conference...) will be interesting... Also had a drag race with the bishop at a stoplight. If we didn't have the Tiiwii (essentially an onboard, electronic backseat driver), we totally would have won ;)

Thursday: Awesome District meeting! Especially considering I had no idea who half of the district was going to be... This transfer is going to be fantastic! Also brought Brother Chunn teaching with us tonight, and it went great! Northbear's family (with sons named East, West, and South Bear respectively--I love that family XD) is trying to prepare for the temple!!! There's no greater blessing IN THE WORLD than getting to be with those you love forever.

Friday: Every. Single. Lesson. Fell. Through. Did get to see some ancient pottery though, so that's cool. 

Saturday: DWAYNE GOT BAPTIZED TODAY!!!!!! More joy than I thought I could ever have--seeing him, surrounded with friends and family, making promises with God. Ahh! He and his wife are preparing to get sealed together as a family with their son in a year, and life is just great :)

Sunday: Dwayne got confirmed, had fire pizza at the McCurdies (habeneros and other peppers ground into the sauce), fantastic testimony meeting, and we got to have another lesson with Eric! All in all, just a great day.

Monday: Got to go to the temple!!!!!! :D It was kinda weird being 4 hours away from BYU to be honest, but such is life. Just an awesome, awesome day. It was like being in a foreign place with all the mormons being there and it not being on the Rez... Only not great part of the day was Elder Udy's being sick after coming out of the temple until late that night... Poor guy, I'm pretty sure he's gonna win the first to drop 10 lbs challenge--he lost like 7 in a matter of hours, if ya catch my drift. But, he's feeling much better now, so that's great :)

Tuesday: Annnnd now I'm here! Thought for the week: "True happiness comes only by making others happy." I know that's true. There's never been a happier, or a harder, time in my life. I feel like one of the main reasons for a mission is to help change why we do things: "Behold, this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Think of it: everything our Heavenly Father does is centered around bringing His children the most real, lasting joy. And that's what He gets His joy from! Every parent knows that the most happiness comes from seeing their children succeed and be happy. And that's where I feel I've begun to change the most: my motivation for doing, for being, for serving is shifting from being for me to being for them. My happiness, my joy, comes from seeing my brothers and sisters make changes in their life to bring them closer to their Heavenly Father, to their families, and to the people they have the potential to become. Life is awesome. 

Love you all! Have an incredible week!!! 

Nizhoni na'ash

Elder Kraus

Awesome Week!‏

Hello everyone! So this week was really great! Only problem: all of the videos I had taken of the week are too big to send! (even when they're supah tiny.... so! I'll send pictures, even though they're not as fantastic.

Highlights of the week:

Monday-- absolutely fantastic! Went on a great hike through slot canyons and up to the flag in Monument Valley. Twas crazy. Got home, had an incredible lesson with Eric, really looking forward to the rest of the week.

Tuesday-- Interviews with President! It was great getting to talk about the progress of what's happening in Kayenta. Exchanges in Monument Valley with Elder Hill! Got to teach one of our favorites, Brother Fletcher. We always read and discuss the Book of Mormon with him, and it's incredible to see him as he grows to understand it.

Wednesday-- tracted out Oljeto! Met some really great people, helped stack some chizh (firewood), and practically got blown away with all of the wind. Went to Bob's Teepee village that night and had a great lesson with him. Stars out here like you wouldn't believe....

Thursday-- Awesome District Meeting on the importance of Becoming more like Christ. Hopefully, something learned will stick. Looking forward to the next transfer, and the chance to help the district progress. Also! Peaches came in. We have 3 boxes, soooo like literally hundreds of them. Since them, Elder Udy and I have eaten little else, with disastrous consequences. No need to go further into that.

Friday-- Bryant's Birthday! Woot woot! Happy birthday man, you rock! :) and Dwayne got married today! :D the best part of what we get to do out here is seeing people change and act on what they've come to know to be true. His baptism is coming up this Saturday, and we couldn't be more excited for him to be taking this step in his life.

Saturday-- wasn't sure how today would turn out; we had no scheduled lessons, but it actually went super well! Scary story of the day: We were hoghan hunting (when we're already out of the central part of town, we look for people to teach waayyy out in the boonies. So. We found a house! It looked promising, but for some reason, I parked the truck in a way so that we could get out of there quickly...so we start walking up to the house, when a pack of angry pit bulls comes out from around the corner... we picked up rocks to scare them away, buuuttt of course they weren't rock trained. So, we got out of there as fast as missionaries could go! Luckily, no bites, just a bit of adrenaline. Apart from that, a lot of great lessons with a lot of great people! :) And Elder Udy and I will be staying in Kayenta for the next 6 weeks! (P.O. Box 151, Kayenta AZ 86033 if 

Sunday-- Sundays always fly by! Fantastic day at church, fantastic lessons with a lot of fantastic people! :) 

Monday-- annnnd now I'm here! 

Another Day Another Destiny (on this endless road to calvary, etc. etc.)‏

Hello Everyone!

I can't believe how crazy fast this week went by! It's interesting how days seem to blend together out here... Alright. Highlights from the week: 

1) Another incredible lesson with Eric last Sunday!! I've never seen someone so prepared for this gospel. Excited to be teaching him more this week :)

2) Had a rocking day doing flips and such on the sand dunes again! haha my form is terrible, but it's getting there... slowly but surely!

3) We double hit the area with the Zone Leaders for a couple of days! Elder Thompson went with Elder Udy; I went with Elder Beuce. We went traveling down a dirt road I hadn't been on for a long while and had an interesting experience with someone we met.... The further out of K-town you get, the more primitive setting people live in. There's a fantastic member here; Sister Young, who lives in a little hogan, which she's lived in her whole life. It's incredible. It's completely waterproof, and they actually have a gas line built into the wall! Supah cool. Also got to teach Coleman again-one of the smartest people we've met since coming out here! He's progressing, just has some things he needs to take care of.... Hahahahaha we were teaching him Alma 47: The principle of never lowering your standards, or else there can be drastic consequences. This story uses Amalikiah as the main antagonist, and upon hearing how he secured command of the lamanite army, Coleman remarks: that clever b***** XD he's working on language, but it was the funniest comment I've ever heard for that story.

4) Actually had a rocking district meeting! Centered it around our calling, and the principle of exact obedience and how it can bless and change our missions. Hopefully there will be changes in the district; will be following up in this coming week. The elders in this district have so much potential! 

5) Elder Udy and I are starting anew our efforts to become spiritually and physically stronger: we're in a race to see who can drop 10 lbs fastest. (without pulling any tricks from wrestling season)

6) Got to have an incredible lesson with Dwayne; he's so ready for baptism! He gets excited every Saturday for what he'll be learning in church that Sunday! You don't meet many people who value the sabbath day like that... it's fantastic :)

7) Went on a transfer to Chilchinbeto with Elder Hunter again! It's one of the deepest rez areas in the mission; it's interesting to see how the work is out there. I'm convinced that there's not a place in the U.S. more poverty stricken than some areas in the deep rez... There's literally a family of 5 who live in a small, hollowed-out shell of a trailer. Regardless, they're a phenomenal, happy people. Goes to show that happiness in life doesn't come from owning things...

Thought for the week: when it comes down to it, everything important in life deals with relationships. This gospel is centered around building your relationship with yourself (learning who you are, where you came from, where you're going, why you're here, what your weaknesses are, how you can continually improve each day), others (the family: a proclamation to the world, your ward family, everyone is your brothers and sisters... One of the most fantastic things about this gospel is that it makes it so the relationships we form here, our families, etc. can be perpetuated beyond the grave! We can be with our families and loved ones FOREVER!), and God  ("this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true god, and jesus christ, whom thou hast sent.” We build our relationship with God and Christ through emulating them, through prayer, through scripture study, etc. One of the major purposes of this life is becoming like Christ, which we can more fully do as we get to know Him more, through His atonement).

So yeah! Pumped for this next week! 

Love you all!

Hozho nana

Elder Kraus

P.S. Apparently, I sound more and more like a navajo when I speak and tell stories during lessons.... not sure how to feel about that, but it's cool :)

Have an incredible week!

Wash - P DAY!!

And some more! And a pic from Chilchinbeto with Elder Allen..

Oh! Here are some pictures from the wash last P-Day!

Hello everyone!! 

  I figured I'd catch you all up on the last couple of weeks! Hmmm.... So transfer calls came in about 2 weeks ago; I found out I was staying in Kayenta, and that I'd be getting a trainee! Needless to say, I was scared out of my mind, but it's been alright :) The new guy's name is Elder Udy! He's from Tennessee, and came fresh out of high school... geez I feel old. Anywho, these past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of attempting to show him how to be a missionary, along with some domestic skills (how to do laundry, how to cook ramen and other foods, all that jazz ;)) He's been doing really great! We got a challenge from our ward mission leader for this upcoming week: sing to people we meet. So that'll be interesting... Udy's got a great voice though, so I'll rely on him! It's been a bit of a struggle teaching him the area, I'm preparing him to run it on his own for the next couple of days! I'll be going on transfers to Chilchinbeto to see how they're doing out there. It's a challenge for the Elders in deep Rez (read: abject poverty; people living in little shacks miles away from each other; not very many people there anyways), as there's not a whole lot of accountability for how they spend their time... So that's where I step in! Should be good :) And Elder Udy is definitely ready to run the area--he's a champ! In other news, this week hurt quite a bit, knowing that Tay was getting home and Jess was getting married and I couldn't be there for them, but I know that this is where I need to be! I've been learning the book of mormon--how it applies to us--more and more every day! The gospel of Jesus Christ, in its entirety, is on the earth today! How awesome is that?!? Families can be together forever! Who we are today isn't who we have to be tomorrow! All because of Him. It's great being able to share that message with everyone we meet :) hmmm..... other than that.... The first district meeting with the new district went super well! Zone leaders randomly showed up, but everything went smoothly, and we set some great goals as a district. Last Monday, I took the District out to the Diversion Dam wash... Literally got covered in mud from head to toe XD And today I took them to Black Mesa! Elder Udy and Elder Hill got a wee bit lost. But they lived, so that's always good :) Pumped for an awesome week this week! I'm starting exchanges with the District, and things are improving everywhere!

Love you all! 

Elder Kraus

Right before going and picking up the new guys, with the old district

And an old sheep camp shelter.