Meetings.....

Hello everyone,

This week has been splendid and one packed full of spiritual revelation and long hours! But hey it's all good and it has been great and I can't complain.

  

Just like Hunter we also had a zone meeting on Tuesday of this week. It was great, we kinda talked about the same things that Hunter explained. Pres. Clements is a wonderful man and one who I look up to so much. We talked about burying our weapons of rebellion and be converted to the Lord. We focused on Elder Bednar's conference address in Oct 2012 conference. It talks allot about conversion and how we obtain conversion,because all of us are not converted. We may think if we have a testimony we are converted but our testimony is just a pre- requisite to our conversion. One of my favorite scriptures I have come to love on my mission is in Omni 1:26 which tells us "offer our whole souls as an offering unto him" meaning Jesus Christ. It seems easy to offer our whole souls to Christ but it is challenging for us because we are natural. But how do we offer our whole souls? I found as we take the advice from the anti-nephi-lehi's and burying our weapons of rebellion that's how we become converted to the Lord.... you bury them deep and you never look back. Our weapons of rebellion, I feel all lead back to that one great sin of pride. I know it is hard to do this but like Hunter said as we do this WE CAN FIND REST IN THE LORD.

On Wednesday we went to Bloomington and had a new missionary training meeting where the new missionaries get a special training that lasted all day. It was good, but I was just ready to get out and do something as I had been sitting around for two days in training's.

This weekend was Stake Conference here. It was great, we had two days that we went to and I don't remember much.... sorry....because I was translating the whole thing but it was great. 

Well the week has been great! The weather has cooled way down, it's kinda chilly now. I thought to myself and said "I swear I just got thawed out from the snow!!" but now its right around the corner. haha!!

Love you all and stay cool why your away from school!  

     love always

             Elder Crandall  

Check out these Wild Animals

Spent Pday at the Zoo

Check this out......a McDonald's sign in Hmong....so legit!

  

Is it really September?

Hey Family,

Wow I can't believe it's really September, man time is just flying by. I seriously wonder if I'm even alive because time goes by so fast. We weekly plan every Friday and every time we have too weekly plan I'm like, "dude I swear I just did this like yesterday", its crazy!

So this week we were on exchanges pretty much all week long. It was really fun but also you just have that feeling that you just want to go back home and work in your own area ha ha. So at the first of the week we stayed in our area we just did some great work and taught "Bill" (name has been changed) He is from Laos and such an amazing guy! I'm so glad I have had the chance to meet this guy towards the end of my mission. He just astounds me every time I talk to him. He really wants to teach me Laotian, or Thai so that's kinda cool haha!! I really want to learn one too but we will see. But just the faith and the desire he has to learn more about God is amazing!! He grew up Buddhist and then went to church after that. He is just amazing and he really wants me to come visit him in Laos. So we have set a baptismal date with him for October 26th, so we are excited for that! 

The work has progressed allot and its going really good and we are picking up allot of new people.

 

So this weekend we got to go on exchanges with the Ap's and they're a bunch of good Elders! I will be going home with both of them and they are such good guys. We are good friends. I went with an Elder from Vegas and he is a track star. He is really cool and we had a great time. We had a crazy experience, we were talking to this guy.... he was so drunk and he was like "come here" so we went over and I guess the Elders knew him so we just started talking to him. He was like, "come check out my little friends" and so we go by an old rusted truck and there are hundreds of wasps in there and he is like, "they're my friends" and sticks his hand in a hole and pulls out like 4 wasps on his finger and he is like, "they don't hurt me they're my friends!" and we were freaking out because there were like 50 or so wasps just flying around our heads..... it was pretty funny and scary ha ha!

The next crazy thing that happened was on Sunday there was a funeral for an older lady in the Branch. Her family decided to do it through their church so another church was doing the funeral service and Pres. Hawton the Branch President was suppose to go and speak there but he couldn't. So he was like last minute, "hey Elder Crandall I want you to go take my place and speak and share the Plan of Salvation with them". I was like...." uhh..... okay." So we go there and there is honestly like 100 to 200 people there. I was like, "oh my gosh, I'm the only white guy here and I have to share a message to them about our church in hmong"!!.. Man I was scared.... mostly because of how many people there were. But the ward came and sang so some people where there and the 2 councilor in the Branch Presidency was there. I was like, "why didn't he just ask you to speak? You're Hmong and you know all the culture things and all that".... but I ended up doing it and it wasn't scary. Before the people were kinda talking and then they see this white kid go up and start speaking hmong and it went silent immediately. They were like mesmerized that a white guy was speaking such good Hmong to them ha ha!! But after my 30 min sermon ( yeah I felt like Jesus then) a ton of people came up to me and was just like,  so glad you know Hmong and everything and it was just a cool experience that was for sure! But yeah that was the week here in the 651 or in Minnesota ha. Well I love you all and hope you all have an amazing week!

  

If y'all have time check out Helamen 3:28....I really love that scripture!  

Love always,

      Hlub

                           Elder Crandall

Hmong Elders after Church!

Tender Mercies

So its kinda ironic that my last letter was about the tender mercies of the Lord.. because I have definitely seen them this week. 

First things first, this week we had many wonderful and great people that we went and taught. We taught these two young kids who's father is an inactive member and he wants them to be baptized but he doesn't want to come back to church due to family opposition and cultural practices. It is hard, the kids really want to but it is a little risky baptizing them because they come to church by themselves. There is a boy who is 11 and a girl who is 10 so it's sad they have no family support at church. But the branch does well with it, its just a bit risky but there doing very well.

So the miracle which we have experienced this week was this Saturday there was a baptism for a young man in the branch, and we have been trying to teach a recent converts mom and so we asked her to invite or bring her mom to the baptism, but her mom said that she couldn't because she had to help out one of her daughters do a service project and so we were invited to do it with them and we accepted and planned to do service with them after the baptism. So about 10 minutes past after that conversation and she texted back and said, "hey I have a co-worker that really wants to know about the church, he has only been in America for 1 month. He is from Laos and he will only be here until January", so we were like yeah totally bring him to the baptism and we will meet him there. So they came to the baptism and we met him and the first thing he says to me was "wow, this is really weird having a white man speak hmong to me"..... haha, I just laughed. We got to know him more and he is 30 and has a wife and kids back in Laos and he is very educated. He knows hmong, Laotian, Thai, and now is working on English! He is an amazing person. I invited him to come to church to see the young man receive the Holy Ghost and he was so excited to come. He ended up coming to church and after church he was like, I have so many question! I want to learn more. I told him we would love to come and answer your questions. He told me the reason for coming to America was to learn more of the American culture and to go back and apply it. He wanted to learn more about Christianity.... he is already a christian but here are selected churches back in Laos, I then told him that the reason why he came was to meet us and to take the church and gospel back to Laos!!! So we are super excited to see what happens with him. I don't know yet because he will be leaving and I don't think the church is in Laos yet. But it was definitely a tender mercy of the Lord. 

I'm grateful for all your prayers and love that you have given me thus far and I wish the same for you all!

Love you so very much.

       Love 

             Elder Crandall

Lessons in the Park

Getting home after Church

Hello from Minnesota

Hello everyone!

Well this week has been so good. It has been hot here and it's going to get hotter!! I think the summer is actually here now in Minnesota. We had a really cold winter and now it's summer time!!! It is supposed to be in the upper 90's all week with humidity, which is never fun but it's fun to be a missionary and that is all that counts!

Well it sure was good to see all the pictures and stories from the family meeting Elder Lor and Elder Abbott and also Hunter's trainer. It sure is a blessing to have them in my life and now also our families life...they really are my brothers and heroes and I look up to them so much.

This week has been really good. We have had a super good week in finding people and we met this kid that is going to bring his friends next time we meet. It is really cool to see Gods hand in the work.

I think this week on Sunday I felt kinda like Alma when all his brothers leave to preach the gospel.... it gets kinda lonely now that Elder Abbott left! I have felt a little bit alone but I know that this time is to gain more relationships with other missionaries and its been really good to gain those relationships.

This week I had been thinking about that in Alma 30 he talks about his afflictions.... but that they were swallowed up in the joy of Chirst. Ii felt like I have truly felt that on my mission. It is not that the afflictions go away but that you can bear them and they seem light through the joy of Christ. 

Well its a bit short this week but I love you all and keep it all up. love you all!

       Elder Crandall

Hey, Hey, Hey!

Hello everyone,

Wow this was a great week and one to remember, it has been very eventful that's for sure! So on Monday night I got a call from President telling me that I will be training Elder Her, he told us we would be picking him up at 8:30 at night on Wednesday at the Mission Home, so that was exciting news. 

So on Wednesday we all went to the Twins game it was really fun. It went into extra innings...I think 12 but they ended up loosing by one! its always good have some fun once in a while but it was good to get back to work that's for sure. So we got back at about 6:30 and we had to be in Bloomington at 8:30 that same day to pick Elder Her up. So we had a crazy day on Wednesday. He is a great Elder! He is from Sacramento, California, he is 18 and he really is a very special kid although he reminds me allot of Bubba ha ha!! But anyway he is the youngest of 19!! ha ha yeah crazy right! But when he was 1 years old he was put into foster care and so he grew up in a Caucasian family, so he doesn't know a lick of Hmong but he is a super hard worker and has a strong desire to serve! I will be spending my last two transfers training which I'm really excited for! 

Elder Hardy and me

Hmong Elders at the game

Picking Up Elder Her 

   

So now we will fast forward to Saturday.... there was two people getting baptized on Saturday. It was a really good baptism and glad to see them progress and enter into baptism, on Saturday we saw so many cops!! it was crazy ha ha but we got fed like all day! I swear every house we entered into they fed us... it was sweet, that's one thing I love about the hmong culture. Its impossible to leave a hmong house without them giving you something, they're the nicest people ever!! I really love there culture and they way they have love for there families.

So on Sunday we had a busy day! This whole week has been packed with things and appointments so it's really good for Elder Her to see how missionary work is. Sunday morning was two more baptisms they were so awesome! One of them was very special to me because I had been working really hard for it to happen and now it finally did so it was probably one of the most happiest moments on my mission! Right after the baptism I got to confirm and give the Holy Ghost to her! It was a day I won't forget. I love being a missionary!!! The people I teach the gospel to, I see them as more than just a random person or more than just an investigator but as a brother and sister. For any missionary that is struggling I encourage you to see the people you teach as your brother or sister as you change your mind set and see them through our Heavenly Fathers eyes the course of your mission will change drastically I promise you that, I'm glad I learned that principal pretty early on in my mission. I have such love to share the message of hope and peace to them and most important a message that will save them! I have great love for the people I serve and I am so privileged to come and teach them.

Elder Her, Charlie, and I after her baptism.

 I love all of you so much and I'm so grateful for the support and love, I'm most grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord. 

I have pondered that phrase allot this past week and I still don't really know what to think about it, I'm still pondering it and finding my meaning to that phrase that is so often said in the Book of Mormon. I invite you all to ponder the tender mercies the Lord has shown you in your life or even the past few months because no matter what trail or challenge comes our way we know God is a tender and loving one, he is there to lift our burdens and even to carry them for us. I love the phrase "pick up your cross" that the apostle Paul says, it tells me to never give up life is not meant to be easy but it is meant to be fulfilling with God. Everytime I have a trial I think of Jesus Christ and how great of a trial the atonement was for him, and after I think of him my testimony is reconfirmed with the Holy Spirit that Jesus is the Christ and he over came the world, he can help us as we use his atonement. I invite you to use that atonement, pray fervently, and grow closer to him. 

Love you all,

Elder Crandall

Our Hmong Pose haha!

Gardening Hmong Style

Hmong Family :)

Nyob Zoo!

Hello dear family,

Well this week has been great and full of fun and hard work! One thing I have come to know on my mission is that I'm really a calm person who doesn't really stress that much, there have been a couple Elders that are really hard working....but they have no fun in the work! They work and work and work and that's it. I tell them, "hey you have to have fun once in a while or you're going to hate it down the road". I think I'm really good at helping people be able to work hard but have fun at the same time. We took some great pictures and just had a great time as we did missionary work.

 

So this week I had the coolest experience, one that I will never forget. I had the privilege of interviewing Charlie for baptism and one other person. It was just such a spiritual experience that i will never forget. She has so much integrity and courage.... her parents do not agree with her baptism, her father is really mad because he wants her to not go to church and to just stay shaman, but she knows it is true and has such great faith. We had a very spiritual conversation, one that has left footprints upon my heart.  I have the privilege of conferring the Holy Ghost upon her after she is baptized so I'm grateful to have had this time to know Charlie and to help her come unto Christ, even though I'm not the Elders that are teaching her at the moment I feel so happy for her.

  

The other interview was a young man who has been learning for 8 or 9 months and has had a hard time overcoming some Word of Wisdom issues, but the interview I had with him really opened my eyes to the Spirit as we were interviewing and asking him questions and testifying all he could say is..."I'm so happy, I feel the Spirit so strong right now... look I have goosebumps"! he had goosebumps the whole time :) I just was so grateful to know that the Spirit was working through me, through both of the interviews, but also working through them to teach me.

  

We have 4 people preparing for baptism at the moment... the mother and her two daughters came to church 3 times in a row now so we are super pumped for them and also Hailea, he is 21 and I have been teaching him my whole mission but he is doing so well! He is going to be baptized in October. It's awesome to see people who I have been working with my whole mission finally come unto Christ.

This Wednesday we are going to the Twins game and we are all excited for that because a new hmong Elder comes that same day! So he will have a good first day in the mission!! :) He comes a week before transfers because transfer dates here are off from the MTC? Next week is transfers and then I'm down to only 2 left..... its crazy! I don't know whats going to happen next transfer but I hope I stay in Frogtown the rest of my mission.....I love it here.

  

Just a shout out to Gma Hunt for her birthday last Thursday! Happy Birthday Grandma.... oh hey you have the same birthday as Charlie as well ha ha cool! 

I'm so grateful for all your support and love. I love you all and keep on pressing forward.

              Love,

                      Elder Crandall

Hello!

Hello Family,

Wow this week has been a great one! We set 3 baptismal dates with this family we just picked up. They have came to church twice now and are really doing good it is a mother and her two daughters. Her family was a member referral so it sure does help us when the members get involved. 

Today was a funeral service for an older man in our Branch. He had allot of family come from Laos and everywhere else but it was good. His family is not members of the church so they where amazed when they could see us missionaries speak Hmong so well. I think there were about 5 of them that wanted to get our numbers ha ha!! and an a lady who is about 25 or so who is married asked us if we had girlfriends it was funny. 

The work is progressing really well. Our district has 7 date sets which is really good. Oh and yes Charlie is still good for the 18th so we are really excited for that one! I have done allot of interviews and I have 7 more to go.... it gets kinda exhausting but it is always such a spiritual experience.

  

This week we talked to allot of different people.... i took some video but y'all have to see it in a couple months... but its been very rewarding that's for sure.

This week we went to the Temple with all the leadership in the mission so that includes District Leaders, Zone Leaders, the AP's and President Clements and Sister Clements. It was such a spiritual time and just every time I go to the temple I am so motivated to be more Christlike. I love the temple. The best part was President Hugh and Sister Hugh.... as soon as Sister Hugh saw me she just threw her arms around me and said Elder Crandall! We have missed you! Tell Burnell and Velma hi for us! so she says hi G-pa And G-ma oh and so does President Hugh. :)

 

This week I have been thinking allot about the Principal of Remembrance and I love as we look in the Book of Mormon we see the first thing that the Nephites do before they turn wicked....is they are slow to remember the Lord their God. If we always remember the Lord and his atonement it impels us to be humble and have humility it is what fuels the spirit in each of our lives. I encourage you all to remember that all the time. My quote of the day is by  Richard G. Scott "We become what we think about most." Think of the Savior so you can be like him.

Love always 

Elder Crandall

-p.s next wednesday we are going to the Twins game again as a mission...super excited! 

Nyob zoo cov phooj ywg

Hello family!

Well this week has been a very great week.  We started off with p-day last week, we didn't do anything really just went to the hmong market and hung out. So it was a pretty boring p-day but anyway the rest of the week was great! We had allot of success this week, we met some new people they are really awesome and amazing! One is a single mom with 4 daughters and they came to church this past Sunday and loved it. We are so excited to be working with them and getting them in the water! :) They are currently going to a different church but that's okay!

 

This Saturday the Minneapolis Elder's had a baptism. It was a single mom with her 3 daughters. It was a great day to see them all get baptized as well. They are a funny group of people. 

It was exhausting to do all their baptismal interviews....I did about 6 of them in one week so it was a crazy week haha! I just can't believe how much trust God puts in us missionaries.... interviewing people to enter into his fold and to make sure they are worthy, that's allot of trust to a 20 year old kid. But it is amazing to feel the Spirit work through you and to lead and guide you through that process!

That has been the best thing and the thing I love most about my mission.....feeling the Spirit or Gods power work through me. It has brought me so much joy even when I have the worst of worst days the thing that keeps me going is feeling the Spirit and knowing I'm doing the will of my Father in Heaven.

I have often thought, how we know the will of the Father? I always asked to know it but I always felt like it wasn't clear to me or that God just didn't want me to know, but I have come to know now that it is living the gospel of Jesus Christ that is what our Father in Heaven wants for us, it's why we are here....to live his will. The greatest peace and joy is when the Spirit directs our paths because that is God telling us we are doing his will. I know that as we lay hold of every good thing and as we take every prompting of the Holy Spirit and act upon them, then we have accomplished our purpose here in life.

 

I also have thought a great deal about the prophet Mormon, as we read in Moroni we hear about a couple letters that he sends to his son Moroni, he says that he is yet alive and he writes these letters to Moroni which are prolific and inspiring. I often thought of that phrase that he says "i am yet Alive"   I am so grateful to be alive and doing the will of my Father, I often time forget in my morning prayers to thank God for giving me another day to do his work. But most important to partake of the blessing of the atonement of Jesus Christ. I relate the phrase "I am yet alive" from Mormon to what the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15: 22 " For as in ^aAdam all ^bdie, even so in ^cChrist shall all be made ^dalive."

 It is through our Savior Jesus Christ we are made alive. We shall overcome everything through him. I'm grateful for these words and for Mormon to endure to the end by writing one last thing for his son. It must have been hard seeing his people parish but he endured and wrote one last Epistle which has impacted my life!  I encourage you all to be gratful that you are yet alive! and to partake of those blessing that come from the Saviors suffering.

 

I love you all and wish you a very Fantastic week!

      Love always,

                       Elder Kelby Crandall

peace out!

Ambercrombie pose....

How many missionaries does it take to change a light bulb?

Being cool while away from school!

I loved his subject line this week!! Gpa Hunt always signs his letters to the kids...."Be cool while your away from school"....I just thought it was cute that it has become part of his vocabulary now! :)

Hello Family and Friends,

Well its been a pretty good week.... last Monday we went downtown St. Paul walked around the Mississippi River and took like 100 pictures that day, we also went to the Catholic Cathedral which is huge here and went in with our shirts, ties, and with the black name tags..... which probably wasn't the best idea ha ha! We first walked in and actually the priest was walking in with us and we started talking to him while he did something with the holy water. We thought he was going to  scolded us because there wer 4 Mormon kids in the Catholic Cathedral but he was really nice and I really liked the guy. He was a really nice guy! We just talked to him about missionaries and what we were doing, he knows about Mormons and stuff but he was amazed we could speak Hmong haha!! As we were in there, this lady came up to us and just started talking to us and just started freaking out at us! She said all this stuff about the Mother Mary and stuff like that and we were just like, "what heck is she talking about?!" and then she started scolding us and saying, "you are in my church now and you guys are wrong you need to step out of the fire and come to the light!!" we tried to tell her she was wrong but we didn't want to start a huge bash in the Catholic Church and prove her wrong :) but anyway thats, that! really exciting haha! We ate at a famous restaurant in downtown St.Paul.... it was good! Its in a train car so it was really cool!

Over looking the mighty Mississippi River

This is my face while being scolded by the crazy lady in the Cathedral! :)

This week I went on exchanges with Elder Meyer he was just in Lacrosse WI, and he returned back to the Branch this past transfer, it was good to hear how he did down there but did not have much success. I guess everyone in the mission hates Hmong Elders because we stay in the cities our whole mission and pretty much the cities is where everyone wants to be! So I'm counting my blessing. I think I will be the first Hmong Elder to stay in the Hmong branch their whole mission so it's pretty crazy..... but i love it!!! I have gained such strong relationships with the people here. That is one thing I realized this week. My time is winding down and it just finally hit me and I almost started to cry because I don't want to leave these people. I love them so much, it feels like home. I don't know what I'm going to do without these people? The Hmong culture and people are like part of me now.... so I just want to let you all know that I'm Asian and English is my second language! :)  So sorry for poor my poor English ha!

This week we have been working with allot of people. We have found some great people and it is never a boring day in the twin cities, we always have fun and excitement, we started to talk to this Cambodian lady and she would just not answer our questions... my companion asked the same question 20 times and she said the same thing back that made no sense to what his question was so he kept asking her and I just started to bust out laughing.... I couldn't take it anymore, it was really awkward though because then Elder Hardy started to laugh too! So we finally just had to leave.

I am so grateful for my faith in Jesus Christ, I know that whatever I am going through even though it may not be as bad as others, I can rely upon him to pull me through what ever it is. District leader is stressful but as you look at what you are doing as a leader it brings fulfilling happiness, I want everyone out there who is suffering to rely on Jesus Christ and to humbly submit to him and let him help you through his atonement. It is the only way to happiness and the only way to healing our spirits or our emotions. I know that I have come to know my Savior personally on my mission and know one can take that away from me, it is mine forever and it is my most prized possession, I know as we live the gospel of Jesus Christ we access the blessings of the atonement, family and friends please accept the atonement and use it. 

I love you all!

      -Elder Crandall 

Satan is working hard!!

 

HELLO! family,

 Well this week was a bitter sweet one that's for sure....I swear at the end of your mission Satan is just trying to get you, he is always trying to destroy you or get you discouraged. 

So the reason why is say this is because Friday our bikes were stolen. We came out of the place we were at and look and our bikes were gone. We were like "what the heck??" We just thought it was a joke that other missionaries did but we look down and our lock was cut and the bikes were gone. We were like "what the heck man??".. I mean it was on a busy street where allot of people are and we just don't understand how they did it without anyone seeing because it was in mid daylight. But we moved on and had a good week. On Saturday we had to walk around for a while because President Clements gave us a car to use for the transfer until we figure out how we are going to get bikes to use. So on Saturday we had an appointment at noon and so we had to leave our apartment at 10:30 just to get there on time. We walked there and got there and they were not home!! We were like "ahh man!!!" so we walked around to other investigators until 3 o'clock. We ended up walking about 7 miles in those hours.. but then we went to Bloomington and picked up our car. We got a brand new 2013 corolla, it's pretty nice....it has touch screen in it so that's one of the sweet parts about the week ha ha!!

These past 2 months have been so crazy getting hit by a car and getting my bike stolen. I just see how hard Satan is trying to discourage me, but its not working I'm still happy as ever and love doing the work even if I have to walk everywhere. Being a missionary means so much to me, it has changed me and I will faithfully serve my Heavenly Father no matter what comes my way.

  

This week also brought great news as well, on Thursday we got back in contact with a former investigator from a couple of years ago and he was so awesome! We taught him the restoration and we invited him to be baptized and he was like "yeah, when can I be baptized and what day so I can put it in my phone". He is really prepared and as we were leaving he was like, "alright, I will see you Elders at church!" but unfortunately on Sunday morning his little brother passed away and it was a really random thing! but we thought this will be the perfect time for us to teach the family about the Plan of Salvation.

Another great thing this week was that Elder Abbott had called me and was like "guess what?" I was like, "what?" and he said that Charlie was getting baptized on the 17th of August....I was like, "what?? no way that is so cool!!" I was so happy and excited for that news. I had been teaching her when I was in Minneapolis for about 9 months. She is such an amazing person and when I was teaching her I just had the strongest desire for her to be baptized and feel the happiness that God gives us....but it never happened when I was there, but now she is being baptized!! So even though I am not the missionary that is baptizing her, I am just filled with joy she is being baptized! That was THE best part of the week!

Something I have come to know this week is that Satan is working so hard on all of us.. but we can overcome him as we have positive attitudes and like Elder Holland said a few conferences ago "we should not be asking why other people are being blessed and I'm not".... as I look back at all the blessing I do have and who I am, I feel happy and the other hard or bad things in life tend to go away and all I end up doing is focusing on God and how I can make my life better through the gospel. 

Well I love you all and keep it real! 

 Love,

              Elder Crandall

Just a cool picture!

Me and Elder Hardy

The biking gang!! We had a trio for one day. Me, Elder Hardy, and my last companion Elder Moss.

Sam...this ones for you! Hope you don't miss St. Paul too much! Love ya buddy!!

During the training program they make us watch alot of video segments
for new missionaries....so we had a marathon! :)
Thanks for the treats Dad!!

Reunion!

Hello family and friends.. 

Well this week has been great. It was the 4th of July obviously, and we had a great time.. Elder  Lor  (well I guess now it's Sam)... he came back for the big hmong sports festival they have here.. Him and all his family came and it was really good to see him again! He was the companion I had just a few month ago... and he is already back ha ha! but it was really weird seeing him as not a missionary. We spent the day with him playing sports and then some people came to the church and played volleyball with us, we also went to the hmong flee market and bought some boba tea's... they're really good. The sports festival wasn't  until Saturday, so we had a good week of work! We are working allot with less active and recent converts as well, we want to get them back to church and teach their non member family members. The work is progressing slowly but surely.

The return of Sam.....Elder Lor

 

"Playing" Basketball on the 4th

So I guess for me the highlight of the week was the sports tournament. I'll tell you a little bit about it... so it's a annual sports tournament they host in Minnesota every year. It is a hmong tournament so every hmong person in the Twin cities is there pretty much ha ha!! And then there are allot that come from Wisconsin, California, Oklahoma, Colorado, and everywhere else. There are literally hundreds of Hmong people! I met a man that just came over from Laos for it so that was cool talking to him. He didn't know a lick of English but he was really good at Hmong that's for sure ha ha! I bought some stuff from him and he took a little off the price because I could speak hmong and he liked that ha ha.. so there are blessing in speaking Hmong that's for sure. :)

  

Well my companion is white as well and so it was funny because we got allot of weird looks by people like.. "what are these two white guys doing here in shirts and ties?" ha ha but we were very popular because most people know that we can speak Hmong so allot of people just wanted to talk to us.. it was really funny that's for sure. I had a cool testimony builder there about the gift of tongues... we met a white person there and he asked us if we speak hmong and I was like "yeah, I do" and he was like "oh really how long have you been studying it?" I said, "about 1 year and 1/2"  and he said, "do you understand what they say and can you speak fluently?" I was like "yeah I guess you could say that.. i mean there are still things I don't understand, but for the most part I can!" and he told me he had been studying for about 8 months and all he could do is read it and write it. I mean, Elder Hardy knew more than him and he has only studied it for 4 months, if that.. so God does help us with the language or whatever it may be. Just look at how much you know of the language and compare it to someone who is just learning by themselves without God...... its crazy.

 

So about the reunion part of the letter Elder Lor came back and Elder Thao... two of my companions who I was really close to and it was just like a missionary reunion!! It was so awesome to see them. It really helps me... that's for sure because now I'm one of the oldest and I will be the oldest hmong missionary who is fluent in hmong really for my last two transfers so its a big burden and translating allot in church because the other Elders are not capable of it yet so it's hard sometimes. Well it was a great week I hope you all have a great next week as well I love you all!

         Elder Crandall 

Elder Thao and I

Elder Lor and I

Can you say change???

Hello all my Family and friends,

It sounds like its been pretty hot in your neck of the woods. Well here its about mid 80s so not to bad yet. We had a late winter and pretty much skipped spring and went to summer! But not to bad here just massive flooding I guess up north in Minnesota! But the weather is not to bad here!

Well this past week has been great! I was on exchanges again with Elder Washburn he is a New Elder that came out 6 weeks ago about but he is really a good missionary. He is quiet and to himself and reminded me of myself at the start of my mission but now I just talk and am annoying! ha ha.... but he came to Frogtown we had a great exchange. I love getting to work with all the Elders in the District but sometime I feel like I'm always gone or I never have a consistent companion but its okay I love doing it.

 

This week we helped a member move it was good to do some service and help her out! she insisted on taking us to dinner and so she took us to a buffet and I was so not hungry and I felt like puking after the buffet.... i felt so sick. 

Its been a great week we met this kid his name is Micheal he is about 21 and we taught him on his front door step and invited him to be baptized right there! he has no Christian background but before we left we gave him a Chapter to read in the Book of Mormon and he turned around and started reading it as he went inside. Then like 10 min later he texted us and asked if there was anything else that he could read in the Book so it was really awesome.

 

So something really cool is that we are getting inactive members that haven't been to church in like 6 or 7 years to come back it's so cool to see them come back! It is as much joy as a baptism that's for sure! I have so much joy as I see them coming back to church and be involved.

On Saturday President Hawton the Branch President called me and said they need 4 Elders to go help and do confirmations because the branch had a baptisms for the dead activity at the Temple on Saturday. So we got to go, it was really cool and I loved doing Temple work..... it was really cool, then we went and ate breakfast with the Branch President and his family.. They remind me allot of our family.... they're really cool and I have developed a great relationship with them. His oldest son is going on his mission in August to Salt Lake City East mission so I was like hey  I'll take you out to lunch when I get home! so its cool!

 

Well the change is this past Friday President Clements called me and Elder Moss and was like I'm going to interrupt the fun you two are having because I know your doing a great job together. He said that Elder Hardy was getting ET (emergency transferred) to Frogtown with Me and Elder Moss was going to Minneapolis because Elder Ly is going home a transfer early on July 10th.... we don't know why but it was approved by President and he has served an honorable full mission but we will miss him dearly as well!! So it's so crazy how fast things change. Elder Hardy is now with  me.... it's crazy. I'm finishing the second half of his training as well. One thing I have come to love on my mission is change.... its the best. President Clements always says when your comfortable you stop progressing and it's so true....I'm just gonna have to figure out a way to keep changing the rest of my life! Well I love you all and hope you have a great week.... stay cool! 

Oh also, we are all excited for the big Hmong tournament this Saturday. Its the j-4 tournament, its a Hmong sports tournament that allot of people go to from around the country. We are excited.... this will be my second time to that and I will send pictures of it next week.

 love you all.

       love,

               Elder Crandall

I got hit......‏too!

Well hello family,

It has been a very interesting week that's for sure...I don't really know where to start.. 

Well this Tuesday we had a specialized training in Oakdale that's when President comes and gives a special training to us. It was really good we talked about how the Book of Mormon gives us more of the doctrine of the atonement that the Bible does not have, so it was really great and I learned allot! It was cool because President started talking about some deep doctrine ha ha so were were all amused by that! 

This week I went on exchanges with Elder Hardy, the one Markel got to know pretty good in the MTC, so I went to Minneapolis with him and we had a great time. We are like brothers I swear! We are the same.... we do the same things and it just reminded me of all my friends back home! We had a great time though we taught allot of people and had allot of success and WE EVEN ATE CHICKEN and WAFFLES! It was my first time! :) We ate it at a park in Minneapolis on a big hill and you could see the skyline of Minneapolis it was really cool! So I was with him for three days but we had a great time. I really love being District Leader! I get to have close relationships with all the Elders and I just love serving them and helping them become better missionaries and men!

Having a little fun!

We found this park with an AMAZING view!

So I got back to my area and my first full day was Friday. Friday was the craziest day of my mission by far! So we were teaching our last appointment that night and we just heard huge thunder and rain like crazy! We were like "oh man! we're 3 miles away from the apartment...dang!" but we got out and it stopped raining but the power was out everywhere! Trees fallen over.... it was just a crazy storm. Right before we got home I GOT HIT BY A CAR on my bike. So yeah I was crossing an intersection and the street light wasn't working, so I looked both ways and the car had stopped. So I was like "okay lets go, he stopped" so I started to go and he just started going and drilled me and I went flying off my bike like 10 feet and my helmet flew off. I did a helicopter spin in the air and landed on my stomach and I was just laying there like...."oh man my wrist kills!" and then I heard the guy freaking out, cussing, and he was so scared! So I thought to myself like "man this guy is freaking out"! so I just jumped up and went and gave him a hug and said "don't worry man, it's all good!" He was still freaking out and I was like "don't worry!! I'm good!" so we walked the rest of the way home and I was just like...."holy crap I just got hit by a car!" but we got home and I checked myself out and I got scraped up and bruises everywhere...my knee is pretty bad but I made it alive....so its all good! 

When we got home some people in the apartment were like "the garage is flooded from all the rain" and so we went down and it was like 3 feet deep everywhere, it was insane how much rain we got in just 2 hours.

That's my week for you all. Hope you had a good one and also I would like to give a shout out to Amy Huhtala for writing us!! It's great to read how the ward is doing! Thanks for everything. 

Oh and the Missionary Broadcast was crazy good!! Cool how the new rules are enhancements to missionary work!! We are excited and waiting to get the go ahead and apply those in the future!

           Love,

  Elder Crandall

I'm on Cloud 9!

Hey family!

Wow this week went so well!! It was full of spiritual experiences and full of excitement! I don't really know where to begin but I will try and find a place! 

So Tuesday all we really did was tract and go back to former investigators all day. We were talking to this former and right next door to their house is a member and she has 6 boys and they are crazy kids!!! I'm telling you! but the littlest boy is so funny and cute, I love him to death! His name is Kendrick and he is about 2 and he climbs on everything! He was climbing over the fence and his brothers are ruthless as well! His brother that is just older than him came up and punched him in the face and he didn't even cry it was crazy! But we stopped and played tag with them and some games. They always say "Goodbye my favorite Elder!" and then the little one always gives us a hug. It's funny! I will send pictures of our experience.

These 2 are so cute!

My little buddy Kendrick

My crazy friends!

So the next part of my week, I went on exchanges with Elder Abbott. It is always a great time with him. We are like brothers and so it's really fun. We taught allot of people and had a great time! We always stay up and we get talking about deep doctrine and things like that! So I was really tired the next day but oh well!

  

So the week progressed and we taught our friends that we teach in the halfway home. They just got out of prison but one of them is so set upon grace and he does not understand Justice and Mercy. We tried to relay it to him and explain it to him, but he just can't understand that concept! So we kinda bashed a little bit... but he is still doing good! He just needs to understand Justice and Mercy! He believes there should be no punishment if we break the laws of the land because there always has to be mercy just like Christ showed and if we are punished then that means Christ died for nothing.... so he has a different concept of it all.

Saturday........ the big day Elder Holland, Elder Callister, Bishop Stevenson and Elder Dube came. It was such a cool experience to meet them and have them speak to us. Elder Holland sat down with us and said that he never ever wants to see a return missionary less active!! He was yelling at the pulpit for about 5 min about that. It was crazy but he trained us on a really good principal he said, we have the same power as him. We ARE apostles...he just is an Apostle with a uppercase A! 

He said that we don't use our authority and we need to use it!  We have power to do anything, we have the same power that Moses had to split the Red Sea, all we need is to make sure that we our righteous. He wants us to be like the angel that came to Alma the Younger. When we read about it, it says that the angles voice was the sound of thunder and that it caused the earth to quake and as we teach our investigators we need them to have the earth quake when we speak to them! and that comes through the Spirit of the Lord and our authority. We need to give them their personal earthquakes.... it was cool! 

It was so amazing and an experience I will never forget in my life! I probably will never be instructed so personal by General Authority like I just was ever in my life again.

Grandpa Hunt..... Elder Holland says hello to you.. I told him you were my grandfather as I shook his hand and he gave me a hug and said, "you tell Burnell hello for me!"...... so yeah it was cool experience!

   

I'm still recovering from my personal earth quake from hearing them all speak!  Elder Holland is our Latter day Paul! He is bold in declaring the gospel. 

The MMM (minus the 4 Elders serving in Canada) and the visiting  General Authorities!

I love you all and hope you have had a great week and always remember you have power!

            Love,

                   Elder Crandall 

Our new Native Hmong Elder...he is from Milwaukee Wisconsin and is currently serving in Eau Clair Wisconsin. We met him for the first time at the conference. He is cool and we can't wait until he comes to the branch!