Pages

Sunday, December 22, 2013

December 16, 2013 - Worn shoes

(My new companion)
 

Buenas tardes!
I found out that today is a normal prep day but the next two prep days will be on Tuesday :)
I received my new companion. His name is Elder Vega and he is from Vera Cruz. And he is a big fella with a big heart to be honest. He is trying really hard to be a good missionary and what you inspire to become, you eventually become :)

I was trying to work hard and to have a lot of lessons this week, a lot fell through, but that is okay, gotta stay positive.

We had our Christmas activities this week in our 2 zones here in Durango. President came and we did a gift exchange, we ate a yummy comida, we watched Despicable Me 2 (So funny), and then there was a small talent show. But the best part was what we did as a district in the morning. We visited some of our investigators or less actives and we caroled to them so that was really special. And I still don't know the Christmas plans yet because I have to find some members with internet and a camera to skype. We have only 2 members on our side so I have to do some investigating for sure.

Ryan grats on the green belt! Your training looks like Billy Mays!

Vanessa grats on eating the most food in world history!

Keep up the good work being a missionary family! Love you

(My destroyed shoes)

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

December 9, 2013

Buenas Noches,

Sorry that I am writing super late. It is because I had to come back to Torreon to get my new Elder for the mission to train him so we had to take a 3 hour bus and now we are going to sleep here in the mission home and receive capacitation and then tomorrow 3 hours back to our area. But I did receive my birthday present and I loved it! Here is a photo with my ex companion and I (Elder Marquez, but i was only with him for 2 weeks and now I am training the new Elder named Elder Vega) But it was a lot of fun and I know I have the best family! Last week I showed our bishop the page on lds.org de apresurar la obra. I hope that it helps him have a little bit bigger view on the work and how we need to work together! But that is what I want more than anything dad. To have some converts that make it to the temple.. That is the best feeling! And I don't have plans yet to talk (on skype) but I will work on that this week to try and obtain where and when and what time to do all of that! But just a little reminder that this next Monday will not be our preparation day, but it will be next Tuesday for a few reasons. that will happen for 2 weeks so expect to receive my emails on Tuesday for 2 weeks only! and I will try to get all of the information for Christmas and all of that jazz. How did Ryan play his trombone? Did he sound like a dead cow when he first started playing? Thanks again for the birthday gifts and keep preparing Kolten for his mission!  DO you guys as a family have a list of loved ones you want to help? Do it for family home evening and talk about what you can do each week to help them prepare to be taught by the missionaries (Inviting, planting seeds, giving them things to read...)

Pictures of birthday package with his ex companion and with his new companion.  Missionaries are not supposed to have mustaches!! (they are fake)  ha ha

Lo haran?

Elder Cramer

December 2, 2013

Hey family!

Wendi is an investigator that we had so special (along with her mom Claudia, her sister Yareli) they will be baptized this saturday that is coming up in my last area.. I am sad that I will not be there for it but I know they will be wonderful converts to the Lord! And yes call them because I already told them that you would give them a ring. They are so sweet and before I left I gave them a hymn book and the principles of the gospel book :) They are the best. But this week here in the Guadelupe ward of Durango, Durango was really good and there are a lot of good people that we are teaching. The only hard part is that they live a little far away from the church so it basically is a sacrifice to go to the church every Sunday for the members and the investigators. We had 5 in the church this week but we are trying to work with a few families that we have just found to go and find out if the church is true! :) 

And tell Breanna to be friends with Wendi because she is a sweetheart! she is like 16 years old also and is such a delight. The conversion of this family is amazing. :) It will be a story to tell. But I bet Nessers is getting bigger and that will be so much fun to see her baby in April! I think I will just barely beat the baby to the USA haha :) Next week I will be getting my new missionary to train supposedly so that will be fun to train again :) Right now I am with Elder Marquiz and he is way cool as well. We are having a lot of fun :) and no I have not receeved any packages or letters and I will not receive them until President comes or something like that because the offices are in Torreon not in Durango :O But they will come! :)

I miss you all and know that I love you :)

Here is a picture of me one of these days of the week because I got sick because of the cold weather. It looks like I was a drug addict :O
 
 

November 25, 2013 letter

Hey family!
The news that I have for you is first.. I'm old and the second is that I had transfers today and I got sent close to my first area! I am in Durango Durango again living in a Colonia named La Victoria if you want to look it up. I am with an Elder named Elder Marquez and I will be with him for 2 weeks to learn the area and then I will be training a new missionary here. I am no longer zone leader after 6 months of doing that.  It feels odd just looking after 2 missionaries and not having to do a lot of reports. How odd :) But this last week I did 4 intercambios (interviews) with the missionaries to try and get them excited because 2 of them in 2 weeks are going to their house and the others we just had to visit because they were our district leaders. But I really enjoyed the area of San Luis for 6 months. I am not going to be able to see my 3 converts get baptized on the 7th but I got to spend my birthday with them as they got me a cake and it was wonderful! I love them. It is funny how much the Lord blesses me here on the mission. This last Saturday we had a conference with President Flores and our Seventy about the interviews that the members should be doing and that he wants them to start over and do it again. And then the Stake Conference on Sunday and we as missionaries sang as President Flores gave an outstanding talk. He always has so much spirit Ibet you 700 pesos that he will be a Seventy in the near future. He will end his mission in July so his time is also coming to an end. I learned so much from him. I love the mission and I thank you guys so much as my family for being there to support me. I hope Ryan and Carli are still preparing to go out and pronounce this grand gospel!
I love you all a ton and I will let you know how this week went for me here in Durango, Durango :)
Elder Cramer

Birthday photos


November 18, 2013 letter

Thanks for the birthday wishes!!!

I feel old haha. (21 this year)

And I did not have transfers yet because they are this next Monday that is coming up. So who knows:)  I kind of hope they don't change me for 2 more weeks because then I will be here for the baptism of cCaudia and her 2 daughters. They are super special :D But if not well at least I could see the conversion of them and feel Gods love for them! :) I will attach a photo of them and my companion. I saw the vid of the YMCA. What a treat to have Ryan and his friend there. Actually I knew every child there except one because of swim lessons. :) It made me miss working with the swim kids! But we had intercambios (meetings) with the assistants last week and it was nice to get another perspective on things. He showed me a talk that really helped me understand what is grace. It is called "His Grace is Sufficient." I bet dad will like that a lot. It changed my mind set a little bit :) 

How is the YMCA fundraising going? How is Ness and Curt doing as they prepare to be parents!! :) They are so ready and the baby can ride Macy like a horse to the church and things like that :) But I am glad you are all okay with the tornado! I bet the work out there is just zooming. I am excited to get involved when I get back. Just a few more weeks and then we will be skyping! I don't know where I will be so I cannot make arrangements yet, but as soon as I know I will let you guys know! Here is a photo! 

Elder Cramer

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Nov. 4 and Nov. 11, 2013

Hey hey my growing family!

This week was nice because we have found a few new families and that is making me excited. And the ward is in a moment of transition. It is because a lot of people are used to the way of the work of the Lord where the missionaries do everything but these times are changing and when we get to work together there will be so many that come to the knowledge of the truth. But until then we are trying to put down the building blocks for this ward and zone. We baptized this week also Nacho! He and his family have to wait a year and then they can be sealed in the temple! That will be a wonderful event for sure. :) I confirmed him a member this last Sunday and it was my first time doing that as well. I have done so many things for the first time in the gospel but only in Spanish. It will be odd doing them in English. I will attach a few photos. My companion is named Elder Arvizu and we get along really well. And I have been in this ward for 5 months now. I think in a month or less they will send me to a new area to know it and then maybe I will train for the last 3 months of my mission. And if not that is okay also. I have been in the ZL council for 5 months now. Wow time goes fast. and no I have not received the package yet but when it gets here it gets here :) And let Jacci and her husband know I love them and I am so happy that they got baptized! How is Grandma Kay holding up? I got a birthday card from Debster so that was so nice to here from them! Gotta love those guys. And Vanessa looks like she is doing a professional photo shoot there. What a nice job I bet she did. 19 baptisms is a ton. What are you guys doing to find people to teach? How many missionaries do you have?

I really like a lot of scriptures. I really like in Chapter 14 of John. verse 21.. I know that God loves all of his sons and daughters but this scripture says that there is a special love for those that obey God.. and He will manifest himself to them... that is remarkable to me. At least that is one of the scriptures that has really hit me lately. Tell me what you guys think about it. Tonight you should watch the Gorbon B. Hinckley movie... it made me cry.. I love that man.

But here are a few photos of the baptism and my companion :)




 
Nov. 11, 2013
 
Hey family! (Including Grandpa Paul and Grandma Nancy)

I am stoked for that news ness gave me. I have been pondering when the time will come that I can teach some little dudes or dudets in our family the ways of life :) And it sounds like this week has been a delight with Applebees and Pink Walruses and baby announcements and photo parties. The fam is a hoot! But tomorrow we have to give a zone capacitation and then we have a special meeting with our zone and president on Thursday followed by another meeting with Presidente Flores and our Stake President in the night time. So this week will be fun again. It is neat to see how the work changes so much like it seems now we are focusing all of our efforts on the members again as we now have instructiones to visit and teach all of the lessons to our 12 members of ward council so it will be nice to get to know the members more here in San Luis. I am going on 5 months in this area. Time flies for sure. My companion is Elder Arvizu and he is from Mexico City as well. It is neat to see him again because he started his mission a year ago and we were in the same ward as I was in La Rosa 1 and he opened La Rosa 2. So we get along really well. The members are starting to kick things into gear and are beginning to work again. Which is a good sign for us. And that is awesome that our ward is baptizing like machines! What a blessing to have a lot of fruits in our ward. If all goes well we will be baptizing again this Thursday with a young man of 11 years in hopes to prepare his family to be sealed in a year. I will send photos.. And the photos that you sent me won't display so if you can send them again that would be great. And the video that ness sent me doesn't work either so that was a bummer but I am still super happy. We found a new family this last week and yesterday She went to the church with her 6 year old daughter. She said she liked the church and has a lot of questions and that is great to hear as a missionary because it means she wants to know the answers. 

But I am doing great here and know that I am working hard to return with honor!

1. In Zone leader council we bought presidente sone cakes for his birthday
2. Helping a sister in the ward with Tamarindos covered in sugar to sell
3. Same...
4. Enjoying the end product
5. I found a tumbleweed haha
 



 
 


Friday, October 25, 2013

Oct. 14 & 21, 2013 Letter



Oct. 21, 2013

Hey family!

I cant believe little beanie baby is 16 years old haha. I never saw a bill to pass in order to give her permission to do this. I veto'edd that! >:) haha but I am proud to be a member of such a good looking family. Everyone seems to be falling in the right places in the Cramer family puzzle. And yes if I can I think it would be better to be on the fall/winter track as well. And I promise you mom I will spend less time under the bed and more time in the library hitting the books haha. Like I mentioned to mom we have a baptism this week for a less active family that reactived and we are going to baptize her 13 year old son and his 8 year old brother. They are basically pros and Jose acts alot like Ryan I think in many ways haha. Today we had  zone activities and President came so I had to guard him in basketball. Not really but he is good at basketball for an old guy ha. His power doesn't only come from the gospel. So that was really fun and now I am pretty wiped out haha. We had interviews this last week as well and afterwards President bought us tacos and it was nice to get to know him more on a personal level.. This Sunday we are going to do something that I have never done before.. Our Stake President asked us to teach all of the bishops in our stake. So President Flores, my companion, and I will be teaching all of the bishops this sunday about obedience and that when God commands we obey. So that will be a once in a lifetime experience I think haha. I have never taught with President Flores so I am stoked. But thanks very much for the fitness stuff. I am starting to lose weight again like I hoped I would :) Gotta be fit like the rest of the fam. But good job mom with the job! You will do great! And wow I will be seeing you guys in 8 weeks and one month from today (skyping for Christmas) I will be an old man of 21 years old.. Weird. :( 

Oh well haha

Have a wonderful week and remember the challenge Ballard gave us. A friend or family before christmas!


Elder Cramer

October 14, 2013
Hey hey!

The zone is doing good right now. We have 2 ex zone leaders that are training and they had to talk to us yesterday because they want help to stay focused on the mission. It is such a weird period when someone will be leaving the mission it seems because you are in the middle of thinking about yourself again and focusing on the mission. But they can call us whenever they need to. This week we will have interviews with President and that will be fun to be close to him. I thought I was going to get transferred today but another 2 weeks at least here in San Luis with Elder Nuñez. So I am going to try and find some new investigators this week! That is the goal. :) We have a family that was less active and in 2 weeks we are going to baptize Jose because he has not been baptized yet so for that I am grateful! That is the goals for right now. We are trying to stay focused and also we will be opening another area in 2 weeks. Valle Verde 3 so they will have 6 missionaries. We will see how that turns out ha :) That is great that you could go out and spend time with the fam dad! Did my tape come for Jackie yet? I miss you guys and I want you to know that I love you all.. :) Lots of hugs and make sure to let Kolten. Jackie. Scott know that I miss them all too.

Love elder cramer

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Wow... Conference was a blessing :)

I got to see every meeting of conference except the one for the women obviously.. which I will download later on to hear. My two favorite talks were about the African 70 Dube or something like that about not looking back and that we need to take our covenants seriously and that it is not enough to say that we have accomplished this or that but what is important is what are we doing right now. Also the other talk with Elder Uchtdorf about joining us and that the church requires so much of the members but it is the only way because God requires our hearts. I loved that he said the church is perfect but the membrs are not and never will be because I was thinking that in Ephisians it says that we have a church function to be perfected in Christ so that is the whole reason we have a church. Really I loved every talk because I took 13 pages of notes and a lot of their messages struck me. When Elder Eyring talked about the boy in prison and the mother questioning God, it made me cry. God loves us so much sometimes we don't even realize it.. What blessings. I was sad that conference ended because now I have to wait 6 more months for the next one. 
This week we had exchanges with the assistants and I learned a lot from Elder Tarrega. We also had our zone leader council and we learned lots in regard to studying for our investigators to transfer the spirit to them. Did my tape for Jackie arrive? How is the family? I am so jealous of Carli because I want to go to conference! Actually I have a goal for our family that we can all go together, and if that is impossible at least Ryan, dad and I together like a priesthood party. I bet it was great to go to priesthood with Ryan for the first time! What a blessing to have a dad that honors his priesthood. Ryan be grateful because I now know a ton of people that do not have that blessing :) I liked that it talked about how much the women in our lives also play such an important role for the priesthood. Really a priesthood holder is nothing without his wife and support like Thomas S Monson was telling us. What a grand testimony our prophet has about the plan of salvation. Je knows he will be with his wife again. This is the church of God there is no doubt! (EXCLAMATION MARK) I will doubt my doubts before I doubt my faith :D Thanks for being such an excellent family and I will be so happy when the day comes that we can do the work for Aunt Inez. she will accept the truth lickity split! Keep working in the truth and do what Elder Ballard invited us to do. EVERY MEMBER has to invite someone before Christmas... Keep it in your mind that those 10 investigators can be 20 and 10 baptismal dates. Don't conform yourselves :)

Love Elder Cramer 
P.S. I got to watch it in English hehe :)
September 30, 2013 letter
hey hey hey hey :)

Wow how fantastic that you were able to baptize someone dad. I bet it reminded you of your mission a tad huh? Are all of his kids baptized already as well? If not you have some more work to do for sure. And how many missionaries will you have in the ward then? Is the Spanish branch also increasing a little bit? What are the stake goals that you have put with President? Thanks for sending those things as I want come home a spiritual and physical giant :) At least something to start out with. I am trying to prepare a lot of people for the gospel. I am talking to like 10 friends every Monday and trying to fit in small reminders of God every time. Graham really needs some help these days. He moved back in with his mom because she had a heart attack and I think it would be worth it to try and teach him again.  He would make a great person to be baptized because there are a lot of things he would like to change about himself and he doesn't know how. He needs the plan of salvation. se le encargo :)  How is Jackie doing anyways. I have emailed her like 3 times and she doesn't have time for me apparently. No I bet she is busy. Let Kolten know I am stoked to help him prepare for the mission along with Carli. We can go out with the missionaries and teach a bunch of our friends. It'll help him a lot I think. And our zone capacitation was really good I think we are always focusing on practices now and President really focused about getting along with our latino companions because sometimes the culture differences don't help us have the spirit with us but I don't have a problem with that at all. I have loved all of my companions. The trick that I try to use is what dad told me like a year ago, trying to find out why God put with him and what can I learn from him and I try thinking.. if he were my wife (this is really hilarious, oh Logi) what would I do to serve him? so that is what has helped me haha. Tomorrow we have exchanges with the assistants and then this Thursday we have zone leader council. Then 2 weeks from today we have changes so who knows what will happen. You should also give a calling to your new member there because I feel bad for alot of new converts here because our ward council doesn't do anything and we have 6 recently baptized priesthood holders and each without callings... :( Sometimes I feel this ward doesn't want to grow. But we are trying to help them. At the meeting we had with President Flores and our Stake President Jasso, we set some goals for him and to try and get the work going.  I felt like I was helping a lot of people in that meeting and it is fun working with the big hot shots haha :) I hope you are all doing wonderful and I am looking forward so much to seeing the prophet. Today we have a family home evening and a less active that we are teaching,  is going to invite 2 friends that went to church yesterday! So we are excited :)


Elder Cramer

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

September 23, 2013

hey family!

This week was a good week and we are excited because we received sisters in our zone and now we have 18 missionaries in our zone. Almost everyone is training except 3 pairs in our zone so there are a lot of new missionaries and it is fun to be a part of such a wonderful army of God. This week was a pretty hard week because this last Friday my companion woke me up because he was in a ton of pain and I didn't know why he had so much pain... I gave him a blessing and we called the President's wife for medical help. She didn't know what it was either so we rushed to the hospital at 1:00 in the morning and they hooked him up to a bunch of machines and it turned out that he had a kidney stone that was causing him so many problems! So they had to do an ultrasound like if he would have been pregnant and a few other tests. So we slept in the hospital that night and in the morning they did more tests and he started to get better. I slept 3 hours that night. And we could finally leave the doctors office at 5 pm the next day. We ate and then we slept the entire day of Saturday until Sunday morning. We slept like 2 bears for 13 hours. It was an odd situation I can assure you. But it made me realize how much I appreciate my companion and it made me think someday I will be in the hospital taking care of my family and all that. 
 
Because of all of the chaos we didn't have many investigators in the church so this week we are going to be focusing on getting them to go to church. If they don't ever go to church they can never get baptized! Also this Thursday we have a zone conference with President so we have to plan for 3 hours with our zone and then our President will take over. and then in the afternoon we have a meeting with President Flores and the Stake President and us and we are going to talk about the stake and how we can work better with the ward councils and what we can do as missionaries to help President Jasso with his stake... really I am looking forward to that because our wards are slacking a tad so I wanna help us all work together!! I know this work is true and I am so blessed to be able to be an instrument however small I might be in the Lord's hands because he makes us bigger than we could ever be without him!!

Love Elder Cramer

September 16, 2013

hey paps and family!

I didn't get transfered so I am still in San Luis with Elder Nuñez and I am a little bit glad because I want to help this ward more. I am starting your tape for the family right now. Today I am sending the tape for Jackie but it will arrive at our house. So if you can lend her the tape recorder so she can listen to it at her house that would be great. I was stoked to hear that you talked to Gil I could see that he really enjoyed that a lot! I am excited to see General Conference with him in 2 weeks. What a blessing, to be honest! We are trying to baptize before they change me in 4 weeks. We have to give a zone conference with President in like 2 weeks and today we had alot of changes in our zone so now including us we have 18 missionaries because we opened an area in Matamoros! We are also going to recieve Hermanas in our zone that is a new twist. I am really enjoying my time as zone leader! This week I am going to go to a first cash and by a small dvd player and I am going to put the small dvds that the church gives us about working with the members and we are going to ask for references in this way hoping to help them get excited about the missionary work here in San Luis. I hope to bring new things to this ward! :D That is all that is really going on right now! So look for the tape for Jackie and hand it over to her and next week I will send the tape for you guys :) I love you all and keep me in your prayers please because you all are in mine!

Love Elder Cramer

September 9, 2013

hey hey hey

I really liked those 10 steps that you sent me. Really the ward hasn't started the interviews yet and for that reason we are still struggling to find good people to teach because we don't have any references.. But we are doing the best we can. We can only pressure the Ward Counsil and hope for the best.. We cannot force them to do their calling. I would like to but I can't ;) That is crazy that Ryan passed  the sacrament! I am so proud of him exercising the priesthood like a champ! Yeah I am not sure where I will be going next but there is a good chance that they might change me to a different area because I already have 3 months here.  We will have to see for this Sunday what President will do with me. 
I would like to be here for General Conference which I am stoked for because I could go with Hermano Gil. He just got the priesthood this past week and this Sunday that is coming, he is going to bless the sacrament and so for that I am so stoked. But right now my concern is helping our investigators. We have a lot right now but many are not progressing like I would like. For that reason we are trying to get those references started so that this ward can baptize :) I really like that worldwide conference with Elder Holland and President Monson and all of those apostles because they were focusing a ton on working together as missionaries and members. I hope that the work in our ward is going smoothly. I already wanna help all of the investigators that are in our home ward :) But for now I am trying my best right here. We gave a zone conference yesterday for 3 hours about the Holy Ghost and the importance of studying not for our own account but for our investigators. I love you and all and I hope that you can help bring others to Christ!

Elder Cramer

David O. McKay’s 10 Rules For Happiness
1. Develop yourself by self discipline.
2. Joy comes through creation—sorrow through destruction. Every living thing can grow; use the world wisely to realize soul growth.
3. Do things that are hard to do.
4. Entertain up building thoughts. What you think about when you do not have to think about shows what you really are.
5. Do your best this hour, and you will do better the next.
6. Be true to those who trust you.
7. Pray for wisdom, courage, and a kind heart.
8. Give heed to God’s messages through inspiration. If self-indulgence, jealousy, avarice, or worry have deadened your response, pray to the Lord to wipe out these impediments.
9. True friends enrich life. If you would have a friend, be one.
10. Faith is the foundation of all things—including happiness.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Aug 26 and Sept 2 letters

September 2, 2013




Happy Labor day! I didnt even know it was labor day!

No here I don't think there is such a thing as labor day, at least I have not heard anything at all. First off happy birthday to Curt and to Ryan because I didnt wish them a happy birthday yet! :( LO Siento mucho. You all know I love you. This last week was like super wierd because President called us like a week ago that we have one week to have a house prepared with all of the things in it so that another pair of missionaries can come in our zone in Matamoros. So for 3 days we were contacting in the streets of Matamoros and finding houses for rent and trying to get things ready. I know all of Matamoros right now as well as San Luis where I currently am stationed. But like a day before the missionaries were going to come, the secretary to the President called us telling us to cancel everything because a few missionaries got sent home or something and the location that got canceled was us so that was a bummer but sometimes things happen so oh well. We some amazing baptisms this week. Antonia in our area and Alfredo in the area of San Luis 2. So it was so great to see both sides of a young baptism and and elderly baptism. We had to have 2 people lower sister antonia in the water. Her son-in-law baptized her this Saturday and it was marvelous. The only thing that worries me is that we basically didn't have any time to work in our area this week so we don't have many more investigators that are progressing so we have to start the quest to find those who want to follow Christ. But also this Saturday we had a special conference with 3 zones and a district and I had to direct the meeting because it was in our Stake Center so I felt like a Bishop and it was nerve racking at first but it all was okay afterwards. :) So many new experiences being a leader but I think it is all for the best. And then this Sunday my companion and I gave the Holy Ghost to Hna Antonia and then it was the day to give our testimonies! And Alfredo gave an astounding testimony and I think in a few years he will be a Bishop or something. It is great to see his faith and he goes to institute every day and makes friends in the church. And the best part was when 89 year old Antonia made her way slowly to the pulpit and bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon and the blessings she has had in her life. She didn't know how to read but she gradually started to read the HUGE Book of Mormon that her daughter bought her in the temple and she loved it and she wanted to know more. That is when we came and taught her about the rest and she is just such a cute woman and I love her like my own grandma as well :) I will attach some photos! and I got my backpack and I am also doing a recording for Jackie right now and for some of the friends she put on my recording. I am stoked for Jackie and Scott because I know God has something really special in store for them! And I am still here in San Luis with Elder Nuñez and I think I might get transferred in 2 weeks but who knows. I will have our zone leader council tomorrow in the morning super early. I am eager to see what President has in store for us! And Cooper looks like a boss! He is mine :) He can live with me in the garage. Tell Ryan the art of music comes line upon line as well. Like me and my trumpet. I was the best ;P  Here is a picture of Antonia and Alfredo. And also a family that we are teaching with Hno Gil and Hna Delia. I hope they can go to the church soon because htey have not gone yet.. :(

But soon enough!

Elder Cramer :)

August 26, 2013






Wow that email made me so happy haha. Mas que nada porque Dios esta poniendo los medios por scott.. :)  It is neat to see how all of the places that we have lived are progressing and making their decisions. Each one of us has choices to make and paths to take but it is hard when we do not know where we want to go. Like Chesirre the cat in Alice in wonderland.. she asked which path she should take and he responded that depends where you want to go. I know it is the same with us. I want to return with honor with our Heavenly Father as a family and that is what I desire for all of my friends as well. I know that if we really love our friends or family we will invite them to come to Christ and not be scared. I invite you and mom and the kids to invite your friends to listen to the missionaries without being scared of the response :) And thanks for helping Scott. he is an awesome guy for sure and I want to take a mini trip to visit him and a few other friends that I have planned. But this week was awesome because we baptized Gil Lopez Salas. He is an incredible person and always wants to go with us to visit new families and he wore is white shirt for the first time in the church to be confirmed a member of the church. It was so neat to see his conversion as he left his Ex girlfriend to follow of the law of chastity and to see him go to family home evening with our families. I hope he can always stay in the church and progress. I can see him being a good leader someday. Dad if you want to or when you have time give him a call and talk to him. Here is his number! 8712424301.
Here are a few photos of the baptism! This Saturday we have another baptism that I am excited for because it is such a wonderful and precious women named Antonia. She is 90 years old and reminds me a ton of Aunt Inez when she was 90. She still walks all over and is super smart! She is reading her Book of Mormon the huge version so she can read it and her biggest challenge was that before her mother died she told her to never change religions from Catholic. But we explained that her mother has already accepted these teachings and that the daughter of Antonia already did the work for her in the temple. She knows Joseph Smith is a prophet and loves to read the Book of Mormon. The first lesson we had with her we asked her what is a prophet. She exclaimed! Joseph Smith!

She is such a cutie and I will send photos of her baptism the next week. I received the package from Curt and Ness and my companion and I thank you because I shared with him. Also I received the tapes and I will work on sending those back as well. I want to send one to the family and also one for Jackie because she worked so hard on the other tape I sent her. Make sure to look after her as well.

Hno Gil es el Chaparito el la pila. El otro es Hno Bracamonte. Son amigos alli en la iglesia! :) Voy a regalar Hno Gil un triple con una foto con su bautismo y mi testimonio

Como dije a Nessa que tambien este Domingo un hno me va a hacer un forro por mis nuevas escrituras que a penas vinieron para mi entonces estoy super animado! Tenemos que enfoquar mucho en encontrando nuevos y poniendo fechas porque ya nuestros investigadores empezando ya tienen que ir a la capilla 5 veces para poder bautizar para que sean conversos reales! :D

Elder Cramer

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

3 letters from Logan - they seem to be getting smaller, but we feel his desire to do his best!!

August 19, 2013

Hey hey hey!

Thanks for the updates for the week haha. Sometimes what we all need is a small break to recharge the batteries. Something that I have noticed since I have been out on the mission. when I started I only wanted it to talk to the family and to basically have a break but now I just feel like I wanna work and go visit people hah. Actually I only have like 3 more minutes to write this but the most special part about this week was when we visited 2 investigators and the lady was super nice until we said Joseph Smith and she turned into a different person saying that he is a false prophet and that he committed a ton of sins and she saw it in an encyclopedia and this and that. She said the Book of Mormon is false and all these things. my companion and I were trying super hard to listen to the spirit and we testified like I literally think I never did without getting mad or anything because the atmosphere was really intense. She said she would read the Book of Mormon again to see if it is true and her daughter as well. We have plans to visit her this week with another sister from the ward that had similar thoughts about Joseph Smith before and she is a rock solid sister in the church now with the biggest testimony!  Also we will be baptizing Hno Gil so we are stoked for that and we want to keep up the baptism streak! He is such a great guy and already goes with us to lessons and testifies. The ward has planned that he will be called as a ward missionary to help us out in the work. We had a meeting to coordinate better with our leaders and us because really there is 0 communication right now and we want to work hand in hand like you said. I love you all and know I am giving my all!! 

Bye


August 12, 2013

Wow what a sweet experience haha. It was worth all of the effort to go there because Jacci and her husband are following Christ! The missionary work is the best isn't it haha. I was just thinking like we can work for the Lord and it has eternal significance or we can do whatever looks appealing to us which just brings momentary pleasure. I feel like the eternal always is better than momentary! Right now just for an update well we are trying to get everything organized in our ward here because our ward mission leader doesn't really have that much time to help us out so we are going to have a meeting with bishop on Wednesday to talk about our goals and how we can help this new plan to get functioning! But we are trying the best we can right now meanwhile haha. In our 8 companionships in our zone, we have 5 that are training new missionaries and then there are the district leaders and us. So basically everyone that can be training in our zone is training so that is really neat to see! How is the work in our ward? Are we seeing progress? It sounds like everyone in our family is just doing dandy and is growing up a ton haha. I guess there are a lot of blessings when we all try to serve God to the fullest :) I hope you can feel my love from here and know that I  am trying my best. I have to run actually because I have to do a report of all the less actives that have been reactivated in the last 3 months so I am going to start that right now before we don't have any time left. Love you lots and these next few months will be the best I know it!!!

Returning with honor :)

Elder Cramer


August 5, 2013

Dear beloved family!

Thanks so much for ordering that backpack thing because I don't want to look like a tomato in his yellow tinted shirt from sweat hahaa. I actually just had to do all of the changes last night which was kind of hard to do because we had to plan how each missonary will arrive and Elder Ringer my companion got changed to another zone so I am senor companion and I hope I will be a good example for elder Nuñez as he is a new zone leader. We are going to work hard to put a great example for the zone as well so we can all have a lot of success. We also yesterday gave a zone conference and we taught about the importance of unity and we taught by using mirrors so they can see if they are united or if they are trying to teach by themselves. Also we talked about the love you need to have for your companion. Also in the church we gave a conference for the ward from preach my gospel about lesson 3 which is the Gospel of Christ and I think it went well. So I am all conferenced out hahah to say the truth, but I am ready to find some new families that are looking to change their lives! I am really enjoying my mission and I know if I can live my mission here obediently I can live the rest of my life in the same fashion. And reading about Bill makes me think how many people each of you know that would accept this gospel and are just waiting for that special invite. I hope your job and your calling are all going splendidly! I feel like the past 6 weeks here in San Luis has just flown by because I have never been more busy or happy in my whole life haha. We are going to baptize a man named Gil who has changed completely and is joining us in visits to other investigatos even before his baptism! He will be a rad convert for sure! Make sure you keep an eye on Breanna with all those boys chasing her like stray dogs on the street and Ryan because just a wink of his eye has all the ladies drooling. I give you all a lot of hugs and know that I am grateful to have such a great family. Dad tell me about when you were a leader on your mission. What did you think and do? Fill me in :) 


Love Elder Cramer



Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Logan and friends - July 29 letter

Hey Hey Hey,

I am in a constant battle with this sun here. I bathe in this sunscreen but it still burns me. Oh well at least the president knows that we are out working. This last week we have found new investigators some that are progressing but what made me sad is only 2 went to the church. I know that they cannot receive a full testimony of the gospel if they do not go to the church. It is a huge building block to see what we practice and teach within the walls of the chapel.  These last 8 months I really want to try and be the best.. I know God gives me a lot of impressions, it is just finding out if it is my own impressions or the spirit that sometimes is the hard part.  We are going to have a baptism the 24th of August with a man named Gil and he is such a good guy. He leaves work early on Sundays to go to the church, he left his girlfriend that he had for 10 years because he learned about the law of chastity. He is going to go with us to visit our new family that we met named Gerardo to help him go to church this week (I will attach a photo), and he just signed up for a year of the Liahona. He is what we call a golden investigator.  I am stoked for him and we are trying hard to find and help these new investigators progress. This Sunday we got like 6 references from the new program that we are doing so we are excited to contact them and work with these families!  Also I had to take out a tad more money this week because I lost something that made me super sad.. I did exchanges with an Elder and he was calling an investigator to be interviewed by me but meanwhile I was contacting a lady on the street so I placed my scriptures on the telephone booth.. and I forgot them there and my backpack was full with my clothes for the next day so I did not realize the weight difference. So I lost my year and 2 months of revelation and the little pictures in the scriptures.. I bought new ones and they should come to me when we have the next consejo con Presidente.. But right now I am just using a Book of Mormon that we give away and I am borrowing a bible from a brother in our war . I feel naked without my scriptures! :O But other than that I am loving my time here and Elder Ringer and I are trying to be a good example for our zone. :) I love you and serve the Lord because he will serve us 200% :)

Elder Cramer

The picture is with a new family that we have this week. Gerardo, Gerardo junior, and his daughter. They are super awesome but I think the dad is a little hesitant to go to church. So Gil is going to go with us and the son of the Bishop here to befriend Gerardo jr. and to go to the youth activity on Tuesday. We are stoked for them :) (They are reading the Book of Mormon and are in 2 Nephi)!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Logan is learning to be a real missionary - like Pinnochio and the Road Runner?

July 8, 2013

HelllLLoooo family! ;)

This week was super rewarding for all of the hard work we did. I learned probably more this week than 3 months in the mission because of all the new experiences lately. We had Leader Council last Friday so we ate breakfast with the President and all of the zone leaders and then he sent us on a huge scavenger hunt with objectives and they were super hard haha. But they were so hard because we made them hard because the answers were super easy. It just shows how smart President is, being a psychologist.. But then he told us that on the mission we are complicating things. Our job is to find, teach, and baptize. If they dont want to obey the commandments then we have to drop them and find those who are waiting for this covenant with God. He said we need to have faith that God is preparing his sons and daughters to be found. He then taught us about the importance of the Book of Mormon and that we need to use it better and give it more importance. So he gave us each a Book of Mormon and he sent us all outside and we had to give and contact someone using them. So that was awesome and we came back to our areas super excited! This week we had about 15 lessons with investigators and members so we were running from lesson to lesson. In the church yesterday we had the most investigators that we've have ever had. We had 9 and I was super excited to see that our hard work is paying off in fact. After church we ate super fast and we took a taxi to another church for our zone meeting with our zone. I taught about the importance of commitments and if they are not progressing, maybe it is because we need to focus on putting baptismal dates and help them with their needs to be prepared. So we did practices and they got a little better as they practiced. Then my companion talked about the Book of Mormon as well and we did the same activity contacting the people outside with the Book of Mormon. It was pretty successful for my first time I think! Today President told us that this Friday my companion and I have to give a presentation for all of the young men that are going to EFY here in Torreon. So we will talk in ront of a group of about 100 people and their counselors or something like that. And then we have interviews this Friday so we have to get that all ready for President and so everything is smooth. During the interviews we will have to review their mission binders for their houses to make sure they are updating it and always keeping it ready for the next missionaries. So that was my week and a small preview of the week to come. I am stoked and I know that this is the Lords work and we just play a small part in it all. Actually it is a blessing to just to see a bit of the power of God working in the lives of others!! I am having a party with my sun block everyday because if not I look like a red martian from mars. But I love you guys and I hope you are participating in the work of the Lord as well.. 

Suba a la ola! (I think this means catch the wave?)

Elder Cramer

July 1, 2013

HelllLLOooooOO :)

This week was way sweet to tell ya the truth because we worked our tookis' off and we were working with the members and we had like 5 investigators in the church and they seemed to like what they saw. (I hope haha) Our ward is super big -- I went from like a 50 or 60 branch to a 181 ward that is like super busy. It is hard to keep track of everyone, and on top of that I am trying to memorize this new area and Elder Ringer is teaching me the ropes of how to be zone leader. It is a lot to think about because we have to make sure the missionaries are working, are obedient, keep track of their numbers, make sure that they are sending reports and arrive on time for the meetings. I feel like a babysitter for 16 men that left their houses and are baking like a piece of pork in the street. That is because it is true hah. Now I see how you guys must have felt.  I am trying to  making sure that and all is well and I feel like a parent almost haha. Elder Ringer actually has less time than me like, a year and a week but his Spanish is really good and he has been zone leader for awhile now. He has good work ethic and loves the work of the Lord. We are a good team and I know God does not put missionaries together for casualty (?  I think he means God puts missionaries together for good reason). I hope to make you all proud and we just had a new meeting saying that we have a new form to work with the ward to get references and so we should never have to contact in the street like we have been doing lately to get new investigators. So our bishop will be calling Ward Missionaries to do interviews for all of the members which gives us like 20 references and they take all of those hundreds of references to ward counsel and they decide who will progress and we go with those that will progress. This form has been approved by Elder Holland when he was here so I think that is why he is keeping a close eye on Torreon. I hope to become a sweet missionary like Pinnochio wanted to be a real boy. But I know it is possible and that there is no other place that God would rather have me be. I am fortunate to be able to serve and actually I am happier as I work and work. I am like the Road Runner out here with the spirit because bit by bit I am learning to be what God would like me to be and that is why I am enjoying my time here.

Pictures: I had a confrontation with a mean character on the wall! I taught him the gospel

A less active that goes with us to lessons here!

Monday, July 1, 2013

Logan on the move back to Torreon!

June 23, 2013
Wow!

There is just so much activity in our family I think you need a missionary agenda to keep track of everything. We have a surplus here if you would like me to send you one haha. And yes we watched the broadcast and it was awesome but sometimes because of the internet connection I could not see everything. And yeah I saw the elder from Torreon and that Elder Holland said he visited us. And yeah when elder holland came you can feel in the room and the way that he talks that you are in the room with an apostle... It was a life changing experience for me for sure! And actually.. I was a district leader for 2 months and I was training for like.. 5 months in total.. but today I had transfers to Torreon again. And now I am a zone leader and my companion is Elder Ringer. I am junion companion so he is going to teach me the ropes and he is super cool so I think we can have alot of success here I hope. Everytime I finally get to know a city perfectly they change me haha, but I guess that is the will of the Lord. And it is so neat to keep in contact with my brothers of Mosiah.. Kaden in Africa, Shaye in Guatemala, Brenden and Brad in brazil, and Jake in Uraguay. I feel like we are all in this together. Maybe with different languages, companions, areas, but the same work under the same direction of the Lord. I am just starting to realize that time is flying by so fast I feel like I just arrived in San Pedro eating a bunch of sand because of the sand storm and now I am back in Torreon. New responsablilities and new ways to become what the lord wants me to be. And how is Jackie doing with the lessons? Have you ever seen Graham lately.. I know he is going through a rough time because he moved in with friends and they are not paying rent and he has to pay it all and it would be good to give him a jingle if you can. I have alot of work to do when I get home and I hope I get a calling right away like ward missionary or something awesome to do visits. I also want to take Ryan and Kolten with me to visit less actives and to visit with the missionaries. I have it all planned already haha. But right now the focus is the mission because I will never have this time again and that is what is starting to hit me. I love this gospel and the peace and true happiness that this work brings to those who try to do the Lords will. This I know because the spirit tells me. I love you all and keep being happy. Let Ryan know that he better be karate chopping open his scriptures as well somedays to prepare himself and that Breanna has to fight me for the car when she gets back. But not with fists... with church doctrine haha. Dad I have faith that you can help my friends because right now I can't.

Love you all.

Elder Cramer

June 17, 2013

This week was a really great week I think. We have found a few new people to teach and we had like 5 people in the church to feel the spirit there. I think my favorite part of the church is the second hour because Elder Munoz and I get to teach principles of the gospel to the investigators and I feel like that captures alot of new things and are enlightened by the spirit! That is the fun part when they understand something and you see it in their eyes! But this week went by so fast haha I don't know where it went.. Tomorrow we have a meeting with our zone and the mission president so I am eager to hear what revelation he has in store for us! Also I had 2 interviews for baptisms this week and I really love the chance I get to do them to see how much the people change from this gospel. I interviewed a woman named Juanita and she is so sweet and she told me of some miracles that she has had in her life one being that she has had many dreams of Thomas S. Monson before she even knew who he was and he was all dressed in white walking on a white beach of sand. That is really cool and how much she wants to be a member :) She has to have an interview with the president because she has experienced many things in her life but she looks so dedicated and ready to do anything the Lord asks of her and so that is the best part! Our goal this week is to find new people and to try and put baptismal dates with a few people. We have a family named La amilia Losa Sanchez and they are alot like jackie because they are gong to the church and are reading the Book of Mormon and are praying to find out if it is true. Sometimes I would really just love to speed up their answers because I know how much it could help and change their lives but everyone has to have their own moment and God works in his own time schedule even though many times we would like to tell him what to do he is the boss haha. So it is interesting to see how the spirit little by little is working in them to reveal the truth! I really want to try for baptism before I end training Elder Munoz so I am trying to find and to put dates and to prepare them for this special day. That is my goal and I am determined to get it. Te Encargo paps. :) I love you all and I hope you had a great fathers day dad. I love you all a ton and know dad that you are an amazing example for me in my life.


Elder Cramer

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

June 10, 2013


Hahah the family of blue! What a grand idea :) Right now I am the Elder of Red because exactly what dad said.. I forgot sunscreen when I did an exchange with my zone leader and then I got more burned than Clifford the big red dog. But I am getting better already. I bought spray sunscreen which helps a ton more. And I learned a lot from my zone leader Elder Starkey. We are going to have a meeting with them also as a zone tomorrow so that is something to look forward to. And we did have a lot of people that went to church, but this Sunday they did not go, but others came and are looking interested. We have problems with the word of wisdom and the law of chastity so we are trying to help them resolve their problems along with finding new investigators that are waiting for this gospel. I know that God prepares the people to accept this truth we just gotta buckle down and find them :) It is fun to hear from Brenden and Jake as they finally are out on their mission mettling with the languages and finding what is the spirit. I feel like I am one of the Strippling Warriors because all of my friends are out on missions in all different parts of the world. How great it is to serve the Lord. But sometimes all of a sudden I miss the family and that has not happened to me very often because we are so busy. But I feel like in no time I will be back so I have to try and take advantage of what God is giving me right now. And Elder Muñoz is doing good.  He is so prepared for a new missionary. It is cool because the other missionary that I trained is in Aguanuevas and so I am his district leader as well. My dos entrenados are here with me so I feel happy. Carli... know that I love you and I am so proud of you that you are graduating and you will love BYU. Keep your chin up and hit the books little missy. You will be rewarded for all that you do productive. And watch out for all of the sharks lurking or in other words guys that will be after ya haha.
I love you all a ton and keep doing what the Lord wants of you!

Elder Cramer

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

June 3, 2013 Elder Cramer in the House!

Hey hey hey :)

Elder Cramer adento la casa!

I just completed 13 months yesterday.. I cannot believe how fast time is flying by haha it is like not even fair. It is weird because the less time I have the more I want to work, the more I work the faster the time flies by so it is like.. What is going on? Whos in charge? Who gave permission? - A little quote from Papa Cramer. But in San Pedro  we have seen a lot of results because normally we have like 50ish people in the branch. Yesterday we had 72 people in the church because we had a family of visitors from Texas of about 7 people and also we had a family of 5 that came for the first time to investigate and they really liked the church and all that has happened.. so that made me super happy becuase we are helping out this family. The mother has a tough situation with her husband because he beats her and the kids have to deal with all of that emotionally and they were not very close to God when we found them. But now they are reading, praying, and going to the church and it just shows me how much God helps us in our difficulties. I know he is there and he knows what is going on in each of our lives. But about the sun.. It is just baking me like a thin strip of bacon in a frying pan haha. I have never sweated so hard.. But it is worth it when we have a lot of lessons and when we are helping some people to go to the church :) And thanks so much for updating me about the family because I like to know all of the details so I can imagine that I am there with you in the family still. And yes right now Elder Muñoz is learning a lot and he is super prepared compared to when I came to the mission because I did not have a solid doctrine background but he already knows a ton for a new missionary. Also it is kind of funny to see that sometimes a lot of people do not understand him because the Spanish in Chili is a little bit different so I tell him that is exactly how I felt when I got here because literally nobody understood me and I did not understand anyone else haha. But I am happy here right now and this next week we are gong to put some baptismal dates and I will also have another exchanges with Our zone leaders this Thursday so I am looking forward to that to learn more and have more good experiences! Here is a picture with my new car on the mission! It makes alot of strange sounds at times though :) I love you all a lot and keep working in the work of the Lord.!!

Elder Cramer

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

May 13 and 20, 2013 letter

May 13, 2013

Hey family!

Long time no talk :) I am so glad you have been chosen to be my family. God knew that I needed a ton of support from you all :D  But my journal is still constant and I am always trying to put at least a few details of what happened and how I felt throughout the day in the mission. Because I know that I will love to see how the mission was later on and my future kids and things like that!  But this week like I told mom I am really going to try and help our investigators go to the church because it has been 2 weeks without any. It makes me sad. But that is why we need to try and try some more until we eventually have success! I know I am doing the right here on the mission!

I am going to leave this one short because I don't have that much time!


May 20, 2013

Dear family and my fans haha :)

This week was a good week because we finally had investigators in the chapel and there were 3! So we are really going to focus on them this week so that we can get them some baptismal dates and that they can recognize the spirit that this message can bring. It is so sweet to see all of the activities each of you are up to and my with her garden and dad is just shredding off the pounds like grated cheese is what the grapevine is telling me. Thank you for inviting Jackie and Kolten to skype with me as well, our family was extended a little bit. this week that is coming up looks promising as we are trying to invite more and more people to Christ here in San Pedro.. I think every area in our mission will receive a big boost of inspiration this Saturday when we will be in the presence of an apostle of God! that is the reason why I am mainly excited for this week! My stomach today has really been upset and I had to buy some pepto and all but I will recover today I know and will be ready to work in the night time! I had a good interexchange this week with our zone leaders and Elder Starkey helped me learn a lot. I like that each Elder has his own method of teaching and his own form. It is great to see how the people react to each style of teaching and each personality! This Friday I will have another baptismal interview so I am excited for that and I expect that he will be ready for the waters of baptism!! I am really enjoying all of my new responsibilities and they keep me in line and busy.

May 27, 2013 letter

Dear Family!

That temperature thing made me laugh because I would love to have your weather right now! And that is so great that everyone is doing so good right now. Carli is already leaving "noooooo." And breanna is gonna have a ton of scars on her legs from her new board or from ryans karate.. I am not sure which one. Dad is gonna be a fitness model when I see him next.. Mom will have a gardening show on the Oprah show. Curt and Vanessa will be professors at BYU Provo before I know it and I will come back and have no idea what in the world is going on. But I am happy that everything is so swell. I had the best week on my entire mission because Elder Holstrom and Elder Holland came and just blew me away with what they had to say to us. Elder Holstrom invited us to take this message and make changes to our lives and mission so he set up the playing field for Elder Holland. And then Elder Holland just came and he was the best. He cracked me up one second and the next he was humbling me and the next the spirit was there. he was basically begging us to bring a convert home with us.. Being ourselves.. they are not asking from us numbers they are asking that we convert ourselves and serve the Lord with everything we have so that we can have the spirit with us at all times and so we can have a lot of success here in the mission and then we can come back and have the lives that heavenly father would have liked. He told us about Moses 1:39... And he said "This is not Burger King.. You cannot have it your way.. Why? Because this is "MY WORK AND MY GLORY"  He told us that when we finally figure out that this is the work of the Lord and not our own that is when we will see miracles in the lives of others. He then was talking about in Helaman how they taught with authority and power. And how he wrote that 3 times in like 3 verses. And he asked us.. "Why does he say that 3 times.. He is writing this on plates of gold with a huge ice pick and he takes the time to write it 3 times that they had power and authority!" He explained that we need to have that power and that we need to make the ground shake like it did for Alma for our investigators that we have the salvation in our hands and if we do the work like the Lord wants they will be converts but we need to be those converts first. I loved it all and I made some new goals for myself on the mission. Because he also told us what dad always tells me. That this is the only time I can serve the Lord 24/7.. Take advantage of it!

I know this is the only true church. I want to represent it in a way that God would be pleased with me. God Lives and Christ directs this work.

Love Elder Cramer

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

May 6, 2013 Logan in enjoying his time as District Leader



hey hey mi familia bonita!
 
So this was my first week in San Pedro being District Leader and training and I had my first district meeting and I think it went really well! ActuallyIi was not nervous one bit and0 I like my new responsibilities to help and encourage the other missionaries. This week was a tad tough because my companion and I don't even know who the members are or where they live because he only has a few days more than me here. But that is the fun part to get familiar with the region and the new people we get to work with. This Sunday we had about 50 people in the chapel and it made me want to help this branch more than ever! This week we are focused to bring more people to the church of God and help them make this branch a ward someday! And the President here is really nice. He has been President for along time already but he is still serving with passion. We don't have a mission leader yet but I think we will be assigned one in these next coming days hopefully. I had my first baptismal interview this week and that was an extraordinary experience because I get to see the incredible changes in the people before they get baptized. I am happy that God has given me this blessing to be a district leader. My zone leaders are really easy to work with and we are trying to strengthen this region of the mission. Basically there are only 3 areas in my district. San Pedro, Aguanueva, and Parras. We are all really small but that is okay because God does great things in small ways. My companion and I (Elder Muñoz) already get along fantastic because we can joke around in the street and have fun while doing the work of the Lord. He is from Chili and he has a neat accent. I imagine that to be a little bit of the accent in Spain. But there are really rough sand storms here that blinds us and we are basically eating dirt. But it is an experience worth having. I will send a few pictures to you about that. This Sunday we are going to try to skype you all. I am not sure what time that is in USA or if it is the same time. And I am stoked to see and hear from all of you and Jackie and Kolten. I send my love and I hope you know that we are all being blessed for every small part of missionary work we do. So Get to it and share the word of our savior Jesus Christ. And dad my scripture that I want on my plaque is Philipians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. :)
 
 
Love Elder Cramer

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

April 29, 2013 moving to San Pedro and excited about new Leadership role




Hey family :)

(In response to dad's question about if his baptisms were going ahead on schedule.)  The family that I was talking about have baptismal dates for the 11th of May but last night they (the Mission) called me at 10:15 and said that I am transferring to San Pedro. And I will be training again. This time my companion is from Chile. His name is Elder Muñoz and so far from the 3 hours I've known him he is way cool and focused. He is a big fella haha. But also I am District Leader here and I already have to give my first district meeting tomorrow in the morning.  I am a little nervous and I will have to plan out in the night time what I am going to say and talk about. But apparently the Lord trusts me a lot to give me all of these leadership positions of a sudden . When I first got off the bus to San Pedro my companion forgot where we lived so we were there in the street with all of my suitcases and  a random lady gave us a ride and helped us find our house.  (Because my companion has only been here for a week.)  But we contacted the lady and we have a lesson with her later this week so within minutes of arriving I already had my first contact haha. But I hope I can make God proud here in this new area. It is a branch here with only like 50 people we I will try to leave this branch stronger than when I found it.  So I imagine that being missionaries here in a branch, we will have to give talks and do a lot of things because there is not much priesthood. But we already have a few baptismal dates here in this area so we have to get them prepared to make covenants with the Lord. I will also try to find a member so that we can do skype in like 2 weeks. And Elder Holland comes on the 25th of May so I am gettting stoked to see him in person for the 2nd time in my life. I hope I can feel the spirit and remember what he says so I can work really hard :) That is all for now and I hope you all have a fantastic week. Tell Curt candy cabeza :)

Love Elder Cramer

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

April 22, 2013


Hellllooo family and los demas!

Yeah just to start off I probably should not have starred the guy in the face like that but at least I restrained myself and did not do anything else. It was one of the times that at first I got mad but then the Savior flashed through my mind and I was not mad after that and I just let them have our cell phone. It was one of those moments like ¨What would Jesus do?¨ But this week was way good because we had two baptisms for Misael and also Marcos.  They were so happy and their family was supporting them a ton. I will add a photo of that at the end of the email. Their parents have not yet been baptized but that is because the dad is trying to divorce from his x wife so they can be married and then be baptized. I have faith that they will be a family for all time and eternity because I could feel it in the moment of their baptism! Also we are right now focusing on a family of 3. Pablito Juarez, Griselda Juarez, and Daniela Juarez. We found this family and we taught them to pray and they went to the church for the first time this week which I think went really well and I hope they learned a lot! They have a baptismal date for the 11th of May so we are preparing them for that moment and right now we are explaining the plan of salvation and we are really going to focus on how they can be with their family forever and eternity! We have our lesson tomorrow in the night time :) I am almost done training Elder Cuevas and I love that he is always thinking about the investigator and how the person thinks. That I think is his best attribute. He himself has a pretty rough family situation and he is hoping to receive many blessings for them as he serves the Lord. I think also that I will be transferred before mothers day because the first cambios are this next Monday so we will see what plans the Lord has for me. I have already been here in Gomez Palacio for 5 months now so who knows :) Elder Holland will be coming on the 25th of May so I am getting stoked for that! I complete a year on the 2nd, I get to talk to the fam, then the baptism of the family Juarez and then Holland. There is a lot to look forward to this month so I am stoked and ready :) And yes I am expecting to have another wonderful year and I am glad that Aunt Inez and the grandparents are doing so well. It will be great to hear from them as well on the tape to see how they are doing and all! I am glad that God has given me the chance to repent while serving him and for his sacrifice of his only son Jesus Christ. Families can be forever but we have to earn it. So Let´s as a family earn it :) 

Love your son and elder

Elder Cramer

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

April 8 and April 15. 2013 letters




This is a Hna (Sister) who is helping Logan get the spots out of his white shirts!
This is heartwarming!

April 8, 2013

Querido familia que amo muchísimo...

This week has been a little bit difficult because we don't have any progressing investigators right now but that is what we are going to try and fix this week. We are on a quest to find work to do for the Lord. I think the general conference really helped me because it helped me answer a few questions. There were so many talks about missionary work there is no doubt in my mind God is really pressing us to our limits by sharing the gospel. Which is the best because there is no other way we are going to grow if we do not try! :) And my favorite talk was with Elder Holland. Besides the fact he says the funniest things like "i hugged him until his eyes buldged out" and "that's like trying to stuff a turkey through the beak" he always has such a powerful authority with him! I can't wait until May 25 to hear him in person to see how he really acts and what he says to a small crowd of missionaries like us! But I liked how he said it starts with beliefs and as we nuture our testimony it becomes a knowing. It reminds me of the Brother of Jared a little bit when he believed in Christ until it became a knowledge and he actually saw for himself. The biggest goal I have on my mission and I can feel that it is becoming true is... That my testimony becomes sufficient to be the base of all of my decisions. I want to live a life that is based on the teachings of Christ and so that I can make God proud of me for the way I am and live :) And no I really can't believe that I almost have a year underneath my belt. And I am excited to see what God has in store for me because I love the experiences that I have already been given. My companion and I are doing good and I think we are building a strong bond by this point. Tomorrow we have interviews with the President so I will see what he expects and what guidance he can give me. Also I am so glad we have a Prophet today. I feel like he really knows  and loves us when he talks and gives us guidance. What a blessing :) And I loved the letter of Carli. It sounds like she had a "mess" of experiences and it will probably "stain" her life forever with all of the things she saw and lived (referring to how she was sick all the way home from Spain)! That poor boy that sat next to her on the plain :P Hahah Carli I am proud to say that you most likely experienced a little bit of what dad and I had to go through for like 3 months on the mission. No one understands us and we never understand them. But that is crazy with your monkeys (again referring to Carli's Spain trip when monkeys would come up to her and pull her hair). They were bananas for you it seems. And Ryan and Breanna look alot bigger and more mature. I hope Ryan is pushing dad with the p90x because I am still counting on that promise that he made me when he said I won't recognize him :) and I still have written in my journal every day. (I only missed one day in the MTC) So I have every day minus one. Dont judge me :) I love you all and keep me in your prayers! (And no i have not recieved any packages of Easter or still from the Ritcheys either.. I hope they got through!)

Love Elder Cramer!!


April 15, 2013

Dear my friends and family!

This week was full of lovely and interesting things! The first thing is that I am glad that my tapes made it safely to the states :) First off my main man Alejandro Cordonado finally got baptized with us after being an investigator for over 6 years. He is such a great young man and smart and I hope that in about a year he will serve the lord like I am right now :). With him being baptized they can be sealed in the temple as a family so that is so exciting. I will attach a few photos of that in the end (above). Also I recieved permission from the President to baptize two young boys that we have as investigators because their parents are trying to get married to be baptized but it is a lengthy process but the kids wanted to be baptized for 2 months now so this Saturday that is coming Misael and Marcos will be baptized and I will be baptizing little Misael of the age of 9 :) So that is really exciting! And Elder Holland will be coming 25 of May to visit us.

And also something that I will never forget that happened this week is that I got jumped. Three gangsters started tripping us and laughing and the third time I stopped and stared at the 5 foot 10 man. And he got scared but then his little gangster friends came so then they made us give them our cellphone and the cell of the member with us and then they snatched the ID of my companion but the good part is that they did not do any harm to us or anything. A member told me ¨well if you never got robbed you never lived in mexico¨and so I am just glad God keeps us safe and protected :). But I am glad you loved the tapes (Logan sent some voice recordings) and I am looking forward to recieving your end of them! Also I got your Easter present and I am really grateful for the scripture pictures :D Also I just bought a few piano and violin songs on itunes just to let you know for the studies! And yeah my shoes and all of that are holding up good! And the only thing I really need is sunblock of at least 80. Because I am becoming liquified here in Mexico and everyone tells me not to worry because the worst is still to come so I am like uh oh.

I think that  will be changed (locations) here in a few weeks because I have already been here in Filadelfia for like 5 months now. For some reason the Lord is having me stay in this area :))

I hope everyone knows that I am happy to be here and that I am trying to be a great disciple of Christ. I feel happy being able to invite others to come unto our Redeemer and to be able to do covenants with our Father in Heaven! That is the  best gift I and any other missionary can possibly give!

Love Your Elder Cramer :)