July 30, 2012

Leave it to the white guy to be on the wrong foot!!

Elder Thao, Elder Crandall, Elder Lor

Tired??

Marty Mcfly!! Nerdy McNerd Nerd!!

This view must be very close to his home and area (Elder Crandall & Elder Thao)

This "3 on 3" looks a little different than Kelby's "3 on 3" last summer!!

Now that's tired!!

Madison, Markel, and Cami.... look close to the picture on the deck and see if you can see the subliminal message he is sending to you..... :)

Hey family,

Wow, this week has been a weird week, but its been good! 

Last P-day we got a call from President and he told Elder Lor that he was being emergency transferred to English work because there was an Elder that extended his mission for 3 weeks so his three weeks were up and he went home and the other Elder needed a companion so now it's just me and Elder Thao. It's kinda scary but good! I have been in the area the longest now so I am the one that is taking the area over and everything, I guess senior companion..... so its been a good experience. I thought I knew everything about the area but..... nope ha ha!! It's a learning process though, so its been good this week!

On Friday we had Zone Conference, it was really good...but really long!! It went from 9 in the morning till 5 at night. The zone I am in is the St. Paul zone and there are 5 different languages spoken in the zone.... its cool!!... English, Hmong, Spanish, Karen, and Napali.... pretty cool!!!

We had interviews with President as well. It was good to just talk to President and receive advice, so that was good!! 

This week we have met two new families that we are super excited to work with, we have alot of potential with both families!!

It looks like the Hunt family reunion was a blast and that you all had fun!! I'm jealous you all were there without me. ....I mean its not a party without Kelby! JK!!

I'm glad it went well and you all had a great time. 

It's a bit stressful taking an area over but it teaches you responsibility and leadership. It has been a good experience. President told me that we won't be getting another Hmong Elder until January..... so that's a really long time! I will be the youngest for a while, I will already be a year out by then!! crazy huh? We are excited for when he does come!

 

Lets see... this upcoming week looks like it should be a good one. We are trying to hit our numbers and trying to bring those people in the water! We have allot of potential here in St Paul. There are so many people we are responsible for, all the hmong people here in St. Paul! 

That's about it from me, I hope you all have a great week and you enjoy the pictures.

Love,

Elder Crandall  

July 23, 2012

Wow this week was such a great week, we had allot of up and downs but it was great and that's how a mission is right!! Anyways.... we have taken some really cool pictures that i'll send next week.

I'm really jealous for the Hunt Family Reunion that I'm missing out on.... but that's okay there are plenty of those to come right!!! Oh and the rodeo....I really miss the rodeo and just the festival it's really been a great part of my life! The new fair grounds look really nice and looks like it was worth the money!! :)

So just a little about my week. It started out great, we went fishing all day that p day and then we had some great lessons with some investigators. On Wednesday I went on exchanges with my Zone Leader, his area is the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.... that was an eye opening experience! There are about 50,000 students at U of M so it was crazy!! The contacting is crazy. You have to talk so fast and all your trying to do is just pass out a card, but it was a great time to learn and to become better at talking with people because we talked to everyone and it took us 30 min to walk 1 block! ha ha it was a very fun experience. The University of Minnesota campus is huge and a very lively campus. There was a concert that night and it was the bands THE CAB AND PARACHUTE.....we saw them walking in the back door to the concert and me and Elder Clancy were like should be go contact them? They're famous and so I was like sure why not it will be fun!! So we went and talked to the band and gave them a Mormon.org card and told them to check out the website. They were really nice and enjoyed talking with us, it was a really cool experience..... just cause I contacted a famous band ha ha. That night we taught the President of the Muslim club at the University of Minnesota. He is from India and his wife was from Pakistan so it was a crazy experience. It didn't go anywhere really but the guy was really nice and really respectful to our believes and things. I learned allot about the Muslim faith. The next morning we taught a Chinese girl from China, she just came over for school. She has never heard of God or Jesus Christ so it was a cool experience and I got to use some of my Chinese that I still remembered!! ha She was impressed! :) It was cool though and they have allot of Chinese investigators that are really looking and interested in the gospel. So this week has been full of experiences that were awesome and I would have never experienced them if I didn't choose to serve a mission. I am so grateful for that choice and the way it is going to benefit me forever!

So one of our investigators, she is 15, her sister is 26 and is a member but they have different dads. So we have been teaching her for a while now and she asked her dad if she could be baptized on Saturday and her dad said no. We were really devastated because she has received witness that this is true and she really wants to be baptized. It was really hard for us to take in, we fasted for her, we prayed, we did everything we could but it just didn't happen. I learned that there is a time for everyone and that if it wasn't then then it would be later in her life. I know that she will be baptized because I have seen how our teachings and the gospel have changed her just in 1 month and how she has become a better person.

This week was great. Thanks for everything family!

Love you all!
Elder Crandall

July 16, 2012

Hello Dearest Family,
How has everyone's week gone? Thank you all for the letter you sent me here in Minnesota!
Things are going really great here. We have been seeing alot of success and we have had another big week this week! We made steam rolls this week with a members mom, it was really fun! We are pretty much professional cooks now!! :) The mom is not a member so we taught her it was great! We go see that family alot and I really love them and all the people here in Minnesota!! It has been a great experience seeing my views change and the experiences change me! The mom told me that when her daughter goes to college at BYU that I need to pick her up and take care of her for her.... it was really funny!! She wants me to marry her ha ha.... she always calls me handsome, its super funny but its been fun getting to the people here so well!

This week we had an investigator decide to got to girls camp and so were are really excited!! We know she will come back with a testimony. They're going to the University of Minnesota in Duluth which is like 3 hrs away from the Twin Cities. It's right on the shore of Lake Superior so I'm jealous!! I want to go see it!

Today we are going fishing so it should be fun. We woke up at 5am and went fishing too. We caught some white bass and some blue gill so it has been a fun day so far! Yesterday President Clements held a fireside at the Mission Home. If we got an investigator to go then we could go. We went with 2 investigators, it was such a great experience. They invite people that just recently got baptized and have them share there testimony and then he talks for a bit. It really was such a spiritual experience with alot of missionaries and investigators, probably over a 100 people in the Mission Home so it was really packed.

It has been so much fun though lately and really hot!!! 108 degree so that's not to much fun, but I'm kinda use to the humidity so its getting a little better! Elder Thao, Elder Lor and I get along really well, were like best friends! :) it has been such a great experience to work with these two Elders. The members are really great and we love being with them! We had a branch picnic and we played football. We played in our church clothes and it was so so hot but they all wanted me and Elder Abbott on their team because we are white and tall!! It was pretty funny they were amazed at how far I could throw the football.... it was really funny.

I'm learning how to cook Hmong food so all my aunts, mom and grandma don't worry I'm doing what you told me to do!! :)

Thanks for all your support and love you are the best! I'm looking forward to a great week with alot of success!!

Love always,

Elder Crandall

July 9, 2012

We had the priviledge of going to Elder Belliston's report on Sunday. What a sweet and humble kid. We enjoyed listening to some of his experiences. It was crazy for me to think he had just been with Kelby (they worked together on Monday)!! He had some very kind words for us about Kelby and even though they had not served together he knew the kind of missionary Kelby was trying to be......once again soooo blessed as a mother!! :)

Hello family!!
Wow this week has gone by so fast and it has been such a good week for us here in Minnesota! I don't even know where to start but I'll start on Monday.....Elder Lor and I went to stop by a former investigator that we had found in our area book, so we knock on the door and it wasn't the same guy that the teaching record said but the man let us in anyway! it was pretty funny the guy really liked me allot cause I was "Mika" (white) and I spoke Hmong.... he was really impressed and he shook my hand like 7 times I swear!!! ha ha but it was a very good experience. He has 5 kids and goes to church and really likes us. We are really excited to work with him more and get them in the water!

Tuesday we had to say goodbye to Elder Mearns and Elder Belliston. It was sad because Elder Mearns was my trainer and I really liked him allot!! They were such great missionaries and it was so good to get to know them and work with them!

On Wednesday Elder Lor and I had to got to the mission office and pick up Elder Thao, our new companion. He is so sweet and funny! He speaks hmong so good and usually speaks it instead of English. He was born in Thailand and came here when he was like 4 so he is really good at Hmong.

We have had so much fun this week together! This week for 4th we played sports at the church with all the YSA and some investigators. We went to one of the YSA house and had a BBQ it was allot of fun, I really enjoyed the 4th but we didn't get to watch fireworks:( but other than that it was great!

Lets see what else..... We went to this part member family and had dinner. We helped them catch chickens and then kill them!! It was crazy.... but cool! We ate them oh and we also ate pigeon! It was different but good. The mom is not a member but she was talking to me and told me I was handsome and that she wants me to marry a Hmong girl. I was like "I don't know, we will see"... it was funny she was like "I know allot of girls that you can marry. I will help you!", and I was like, "maybe after my mission" :) It was funny! We call her auntie because she is like an aunt. It's so cool!!! We have had so much success this week!! We taught about 26 lessons this week which is allot and we are excited to keep working together!!

Well that's about it from me here in Minnesota. Tell me how you guys are doing out there!

Love you all,
Elder crandall

                                                                          Chillin'

                                                                Cookin' up something!!

                                                         Elder Crandall & Elder Lor

                                                         Are those water balloons???

                                                     Hiding behind the patio garden!!

                                                   Minneapolis Minnestoa Hmong Elders

Elder Mearns ( kelbys trainer) Kelby and Elder Belliston (from Salem)

July 2, 2012

Well this week was a great week and a week where I have grown allot and had allot of great experiences. First off I'll tell you about this morning... it was transfers so me and Elder Lor will be staying the same and Elder Thao will be joining us in a three Elder companionship. I will be the only white guy now and I'll have two native hmong companions. I'm really excited! We will be taking over the Frogtown area to so we are gaining my old area back, so I'm really excited to see the people again back in Frogtown. It will be nice though because we have a car and I won't have to bike there ha ha! Elder Abbott will be going to Minneapolis. There is only two Hmong areas now that are open... we are in charge of all of St. Paul and the other Elders are in charge of Minneapolis. I am hoping to learn allot more hmong this transfer with two native companions. This will be my first time meeting Elder Thao. He has been in Wisconsin ever since I got to Minnesota so I'm excited to meet and work with him this next transfer. 

This week was really fun week and had allot of great experiences. Elder Lor went on exchanges to Minneapolis so I stayed in our area and Elder Belliston came and worked with me. He is a great missionary! He is going home on Wednesday and is from Salem so we knew allot of the same people. He played basketball there and he is really good at basketball too! It was fun talking with him and working with him once before he left. He is a great guy and missionary!! 

The next day we transferred back at District Meeting and then we went on another transfer with the zone leader and Elder Call one of the zone leaders came to the area again so I pretty much was doing everything for the week. I grew allot and really took charge of everything, so it was a great experience! I was the only one who could speak Hmong at our dinner appointment and I was really scared but it went great and I didn't understand everything but it went well!! Oh, Aunt Mandy I asked the old grandma to teach me how to make Pho which is my favorite now and so I learned how to make it so I can make it for you guys when I get home!! 

Saturday we went to this big Hmong sports tournament called J-4. Allot of Hmong people come from around the country. There were probably 10,000 people there. It was crazy.  We just went and contacted people.... kinda cool cause I was like the only white guy there and the rest were Hmong. It was cool experience!! They have booths like a flee market and they just sell Hmong stuff. It was cool.... it reminded me of Fiesta days back home but this was 3 times as big. It was such a cool experience and we meet allot of cool Hmong people and watched some sports ha ha!! That was probably the highlight of the week. I got videos of it and some pictures but I forgot my cord so I will send some next week! 

We have p day on Wednesday for the 4th of July so we just get to email today! That was my week. It was a great one. Let me know about all of you!! 

Love you all,
Elder Crandall