Tuesday, February 23, 2010

IT'S COOOOOLD IN CALHAN!

Hey Guys!
So this email is really late I know....we tried to go email earlier but we have to get the keys to the geneology center at the church from the bishop and I guess he was out of town today and so I am emailing from the Barks...have I told you about them? I think I have.....anyways they're awesome and we got approval to email from
their house today.
So that hike looks super fun. (Spencers Butte) Man its so pretty and green. I miss the green and the trees! Its so brown here in Colorado. Actually its really white at the moment. Its been snowing alot here. It starts to all melt off but then it just snows again. So we haven't ever got more than about three inches but its always here!
Its been pretty cold lately. Down to about 5 degrees and then with the wind chill it gets down to like -10 or so. So did I tell you about the family of five that me and Elder Torres found in Falcon? They seem pretty solid. We are going to go over again
soon to teach them again.
We are also teaching a little girl named "E" in Calhan. She is nine and is super excited to be baptized. The rest of her family are members. We were teaching her the other day and we asked her what the tree was that Adam and Eve were commanded not to eat and one of her sisters raised her hand and said "OH..I know I know". We asked her
what it was and she said "Brocolli!" We also asked "E" who the prophet is....another one of her sisters said "Oh thats easy....its Obama." It was funny. Both girls who gave those answers are pretty young just so you know! :)
So the other night I got to shake hands with Elder L. Tom Perry! He came to the mission and spoke to us all. Elder Hallstrom(from the seventy) and Elder Funk (From the seventy) also came and spoke to us. It was a super good meeting. I'll have to send you some of the notes I took in my letter.
Well most of todays P-day was taken up by going and getting a HUGE desk that a member didn't want and we moved it to our apartment because I didn't have a desk. It took about 4 hours to move! Yeah it was big! :) But now I have a desk!
Well....I gotta go now. Love you!
Thanks for all the prayers...I apprerciate it!
I'm doing great!
Love you all....
Love Ben

Saturday, February 20, 2010

A TIME OF GROWTH AND A CHALLENGE TO EVERYONE

Dear Fams~
Hey, so we had a baptism last Saturday. I told you that story I think. It was awesome.
Thanks for the pics too. I do like getting pictures.
Have you heard about The Incline here in Colorado. I guess it's a trail up this really steep part of a hill and it's exactly one mile long. If you're really good you can do it in about 15-25 minutes. I want to do it but you have to be serving in the Mountain Shadows area. I hope I get to serve there and see what my time is.
Wow, thanks for that quote by Parley P. Pratt. That is an awesome quote. I'm already making copies of it for other Elders. They all love it. It's crazy how the spirit can even affect our physical selves. It's pretty amazing. It's an awesome gift that we've been given.
"The gift of the Holy Spirit adapts itself to all these organs or attributes. It quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections; and adapts them, by the gift of wisdom, to their lawful use. It inspires, develops, cultivates and matures all the fine-toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred feelings and affections of our nature. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness and charity. It develops beauty of person, form and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation and social feeling. It develops and invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. It strengthens, invigorates, and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being." Parley P Pratt
So, guess what! A few days ago I went on team-ups with Elder Halladay. As we were talking and getting to know each other I found out that he is 19 years old [me too]
(he came out one transfer after me) and he was born in Chico California [me too] AND he knows the Keables! [me too] He said he used to play violin with Jordan. [me too, play the violin] Isn't that crazy? Such a small world. It was awesome!
Elder Torres and I were out tracting in Falcon the other day and we found this one guy who said that we could come back. So today we sacrificed some of our P-day to go and teach him. He is awesome! We taught him the first lesson and asked him, when he came to know that this church is true, through prayer, if he would be baptized on the 25th of February. He said he would, if he knew it is true. We promised him that if he really wanted to know then he would receive an answer.
He told us that he didn't like how a lot of churches baptized babies. He said that he thought that people should wait until they're old enough to choose for themselves. We said, "Hey! Us too!"
We're going back over there on Thursday and he's going to try and get his wife and three sons to sit in too! I'm really looking forward to it.
Also, today we cleaned our apartment. I know, fun huh! I swept and mopped and Elder Torres vacuumed. Now our apartment is all nice and clean.
I've had some challenging times lately and your right mom, they really do help to make us grow stronger and to put our trust with the Lord. Missions really do give us plenty of opportunities to learn and I am doing everything I can to be humble and learn from these experiences. But I'm still loving my mission...Don't mistake that!
So, Emma, in your last letter you asked me about how to remember your goals as you go throughout the day. To be honest, that is one of the hardest things for me. I'm still trying to work on it. There are a couple of things you can try though.
The first, of course, is prayer. Ask Heavenly Father to help you remember the goals you have set as you go through the day. Another thing that you could try is setting an alarm on your watch to go off about halfway through the day to remind you to look at your goals and see how you're doing so far. It can be hard though...I know what you mean!
That's cool what you learned about testimonies in seminary. It's true. When you have a true testimony you can't help but share it, whether it be in word or deeed, because it's not just something you have...it's who you are. It's pretty amazing. But yeah, I know what you mean about Fast Sunday. In fact, looking back, I was a horrible example of bearing my testimony. I was always to chicken to get up and share it. But being a missionary I have to do it every month (well, alot more than that, but once a month in Fast and Testimony meeting) and guess what?! It's not that bad at all! In fact, I have a great idea! We get a lot of practice committing people as missionaries and so what do you think about this...(And this goes for everyone who wants to take the challenge)...Will you bear your testimony every Fast Sunday until I get home? That comes out to be 19 times. Let me know what you think in your next letter.
So that's crazy about that pizza place downtown. Twenty-four bucks for four people to eat and leave a tip. What's it called? That sounds tastey. And yes, I do remember those Costco Ice-cream bars! That was funny how we switched driving right on the side of Beltline Hwy, or was it the on ramp? Either way, good times!
That's neat about Enoch and Cain. Goes to show you how important it is to pay attention to and follow the words of Christ. We'll be safe if we do.
Well, I'm so glad to hear that you are all doing well and seeing such great blessings. Thanks again for your prayers for me. I can sure see the results of your faith and prayers here in Calhan Colorado right now! We have so much work to do! It's awesome. I feel blessed to be a part of it.
Well, I guess I'll stop blabbing now! I'll keep you posted on the person we are teaching.
Love you all a ton~
Ben

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!



Hey Guys,
So, I bought a card and a card reader, that's all taken care of. As you have probably noticed I sent the full xd card in this letter...which letter was sent in the padded envelope! I'll buy a padded envelope everytime I'm sending home a picture card!
Wow, Aaron Farrier is back already?! Didn't I just sell him my car last month?! Man, those two years flew by. Speaking of flying by...this transfer I will hit both my five month mark and six month mark! Six months will be March 16th!
So I didn't know that the Brasher's moved! How long ago was that? I guess it makes sense though. I mean since I left there really wasn't any other reason for them to stay around! lol O.K. So that was a joke! Well, I guess that's good cause now they'll be closer to family.
Well what news do I have for you? Elder Torres and I get to serve a full transfer together! It's kind of funny because since the beginning of my mission I have heard horror stories about Elder Torres. Not that he's a bad missionary but just that he is super blunt with people and stuff and really hard to be friends with. But the past few weeks we've been serving together we've been getting along great. Then last night we were talking and he said, "You know what Elder Cryer. You're my favorite companion I've had so far on my mission."
He only has six months left so he's had a lot of companions.
I said, "Really?"
I asked him why and he said it was because I was...or am...real with him. I don't try to fake who I am. I thought that was cool and it made me feel good. I think Elder Torres is awesome....I was really excited when I found out that we were serving together this transfer. And I'm excited that I don't have to pack again for at least another six weeks.
So, last Saturday (Feb 6th) Elder Torres and I biked/tracted 30 miles! The houses in Calhan are a ways apart so we have to ride our bikes to make good use of our time. But I think I'm getting used to the altitude because I really wasn't tired at all by the time we got back. And I haven't gotten sore from the ride and it's been three days. I hope my last area is a bike area because then when I come home I'll be able to bike forever without a problem because I'll be going from 8,000 feet to 350 feet! I'll have so much air!
Anyway, we got done biking and still no one was interested. We were thinking, "Man, there must be a really good miracle on it's way." And it was. The next day...Sunday the 7th...this lady who we'd only seen twice before but hadn't had a chance to talk to comes up to us and says, "Are you the Elders?"
We said, "Yes, what can we do for you?"
Now, here's the miracle. She says, "Well, I want to be baptized but I don't know how to go about it."
Elder Torres and I were thrilled! We explained how she'd already been to church twice so now all she needed was for us to teach her and then she'd be good to go. We've taught her the first two lessons so far (The Restoration and The Plan of Salvation) and she is amazing! She just soaks it all up. We found out that she smoked and we said, "You know you'll have to give up smoking right?"
She said, "Oh yeah, I know. I've already started to quit."
We are both just so amazed at how sincere she is about getting baptized. She is getting baptized this Saturday (February 13). Pretty awesome miracle huh?!
It's been snowing all day and we have about three or four inches on the ground. Pretty fun stuff. Actually....it's not so fun when your a missionary....but, Oh well!
So Sam, that's awesome about those 2nd graders at school! I bet it never crosses their tiny brains that their teachers have homework! That's really funny. You finished Charlie Pool! (Draft one) That's awesome! Yeah, I'd love to read it but when I looked over my approved reading list I didn't see Charlie Pool. Can you believe that?! Maybe you'll have the finished, published product when I get back.
That is hillarious about waking up at 10:30PM for seminary Emma! You may want to set 3 or 4 alarms just so you can be sure it's really time to go to seminary! Man, that story made me laugh! And then the other story about sleeping through your alarm! Oh, Emma, you crack me up!
This evening the Barks picked Elder Torres and I up and took us out to La Mission for dinner because it's Elder Torres birthday today. It was a super fun evening. We ate dinner there and then they took us back to their house and we ate cake and icecream and played a few rounds of ERS with Kynzee. Their son, played guetar and we all sang along. The Barks are my favorite family here in Calhan. They Rock!
So, tomorrow the Calhan youth are having a talent show. It should be fun to go see if there really is any talent! Because usually talent shows consist more of the lack of talent! Although, sometimes the lack of talent is more entertaining than talent itself!
Well, I better let you go before my pen runs out of ink! Hope all is well back home! Love you all a bunch.
Love Ben

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

SEEING MIRACLES

Dear Family,
Hey! How's your week going so far? Is everyone staying caught up on work and homework? I'm doing my best to stay caught up on mine!
Well, I told you about the baptism we had on the 31st of January. That was such a cool baptism because he had to make a 180 degree turn in his life and he did. It's hard to explain, but I know...I KNOW that ONLY the spirit can make a change in a person as huge as the change we saw in this young man. And it was an overnight change too! It wasn't even just a change of mind but it was an actual physical change. I don't know how to explain it...he was just different that morning after he had received his answer compared to the night before. I love helping people find joy in their life!
The story of the girl we're baptizing on the 6th is a cool story too. Elder Torres and I were on teamups with one of our Zone Leaders and we went over to her house to have dinner and, unbeknownst to her, teach, or rather just find out why she wasn't getting baptized! I guess she already had had a date and had showed up to her baptism and got changed and then something came up and she backed out! (I thought that only happened at weddings!) Anyway, so after dinner we started asking her some questions. At first she was super defensive and didn't want to cooperate. We were asking what made her come to church if she wasn't a member and why she paid a full tithe even though she wasn't a member! She told us that she was just super busy right now. She told us to calm down and that she would probably get baptized within six months! Now it was time to rely on the spirit because she wasn't listening to us. So we promised her blessings that she would see after she was baptized. Long story short, the spirits awesome! Within a few minutes we had her committed to be baptized in two weeks on the 6th!
We talked to her last Sunday and both her and her husband (who is already a member) are super excited...they have family coming in and everything! It was a miracle...the spirit rocks! I don't know how it does it, but it does it! Now we just have to hope that she doesn't back out again!
Well, transfers are coming up again. They are on the 10th of February. I have no clue if I'm going or staying her in Calhan. I guess we'll see soon!
Well, today for P-day we decided to go to seminary! It was fun. Brought back some memories! lol It was fun to hang out with the kids and get some gospel study in at the same time! Then when seminary was over we asked if we could play a few rounds of pool downstairs before we left. (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that seminary is at a members house.) She said that it would be fine. So we played some pool...I was one ball away from winning once but then I lost...again! I think it was just too early to play well and show my true hidden talent!
Then we went shopping, then we e-mailed, then we played dodgeball and now I'm writing you!
Later tonight we are going to the Barks for dinner and Elder Miller and I are going to play some cards with Kynzee. She's 13 and super fun. We we're over there about a week ago and she made us promise that we would play cards with her again next time we came over. So that should be fun.
Well, that's about all that's new with me. I've been seeing a lot of miracles lately. Hope you're all doing great back home. Remember Heavenly Father loves you and that He lives and answers sincere prayers. I've learned and seen that a lot lately. He personally cares about each of us.
I wanted to share this one quick quote with you before I wrap up. I read this in the January 2010 Ensign. It's in the talk "Hold on a little longer" by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. He says, "You have a celestial pedigree and therefore have all the necessary talents to make your life an eternal success story."
The trick, I guess, is to use the talents we've been given and to use them for the right reasons!
Well, remember, I love you and pray for you each. Have a great week!
Love Ben

STAYING IN CALHAN!

Hey guys!
First I just have to say that I love emailing from the new gmail email! Its way nicer! Anyways....that doesn't really mean much to you I guess!
So to answer your question dad....yes we do have a Wal-mart here (well its in Falcon but we cover that too and that's where we go to get our food and other necessaries) so I'll go ahead and pick up a card and card reader here. I'll just use my debit card to pick those up.
Yeah I'll send my card home....probably today actually! And yes I'll send it in a padded envelope....(dont want to lose another one!)
As for the the caramel popcorn and tie...I haven't gotten it yet but that could just be because they like to hold off on sending mail when it gets close to transfers (which was today....I'm staying in Calhan with Elder Torres) so I'll hopefully get it soon. If not I will track down the missionary who stole it and clobber them! Thanks so much for it! (even though I haven't gotten it yet!) lol I can't wait to get it now! You guys ROCK! :)
So I am really short on time today. I'll write more today and send that card!
Sorry this emails so short.....we have a teaching appointment though and so I have to run.
Love you all....hope your having a great day! (Because I am!!!)

Love Ben

Thursday, February 4, 2010

SERVING IN CALHAN


Hi everyone,
Don't worry about not getting the e-mail off....just don't let it happen again! lol No...I understand that things get busy.
Yeah....it was super sad to see Elder _____ go. Like you said...it was really hard to see him go home because I can only imagine that he'll regret it someday down the road. He said he still loves the church and will still stay faithful so I hope that that's true.
So I haven't ridden a bike since my first transfer and we went bike riding here the other day and I thought I was going to die! We had to climb this hill that shoots up about 800 feet in a little less than a half mile I'd say. It was killer! So here I am trying to ride a bike at about 8,000 feet above sea level! I'd better get used to it though because here in Calhan we do a lot of biking. We usually do bike tracting and the houses are like half mile apart! We'll see how I do.
So we had a baptism yesterday! We baptized a young man who we've been teaching for a couple weeks. It was super cool! We had everything set up and then it turned into a huge mess where his grandma said that they had talked with him and he actually wasn't anywhere near ready to be baptized and that he needed way more time. So we went over to the young mans house and talked with him. We found out that there was something that we weren't aware of and so we talked to him for a while and finally it came down to him. We asked him if he would pray to God and ask for an answer. He said he would. So we went back the next morning and he told us that he had prayed and that God had actually talked to him. He said that he literally heard a voice tell him that he needed to be baptized! And so he was baptized last night by his grandpa. It was super neat. A real testimony builder for me that God really....really does hear and answer everyone who askes with real intent. (The attached photo is from the baptism last night!......enjoy!!!)
We have another baptism set up for the 6th of this month too. Its really exciting.
Well....Sounds like LC and Jackson are doing great! Still have the Volvo huh?...lol....yeah that would be a hard one to get rid of!
Well.....I gotta go. I'll look forward to the next letter which may be sitting in the mailbox as we speak!
I'm out of time...I'll get a letter off soon. I'm gonna go play a little dodge ball now!
Love you all
Love Ben