November 16, 2010 Letter
Dear Family,
How is life treating you? It is great for me. Although time is just flying by so fast! It feels like I've been writing home every other day! Not that that's bad but I just can't believe how fast a week goes by!
Emma, I was glad to hear that you're in the habit of writing me every Sunday! I do know Hugoton and Ulysses pretty well now! In fact, I know it better than some people who have lived here a while.
Thanks for your letter Sam. You are welcome for your b-day letter. I'm glad you enjoyed the confetti! Don't even ask how I got the m&m's into your jar from Kansas. Just know that I am that good! Congrats on the drivers license! I had to read that over a few times before it sunk in! That is awesome!
Thank you for your letter mom. It was interesting as I read the pattern that you found as you studied about Ruth. That same pattern has been covered quite a bit in my recent meetings. I've been working on making that pattern a part of who I am too!
I liked that phase you shared, "Fear not, fret not." I may put that on the front of one of my planners!
Man, that's cool about Derric. Not my cup of tea but I think he'll do great. That's neat. So how long will he be gone before he can communicate with home?
Well, you wanted to hear about what I got out of all my meetings I've had recently. Zone Conference was great. President spent quite a bit of time talking to those of us that go home after July...which is when the Pfiles go home and we get a new Mission President. He told us we need to step it up because we are the future leaders of this mission.
The assistants (AP's) talked about how our mind set and attitude affect others. We both need to be positive or they will cancel each other out.
Elder Nelsons meeting was really good. That was the second time that I got to listen to him and shake his hand on my mission. The first time was at a Pueblo Stake Conference. Elder Jensen and Elder Hilliard also came on Sunday. It was awesome. Elder Nelson walks very fast! That's one thing I noticed!
Sister Pfile spoke first. She focused on the fact that it's the small choices that we make that determine the great outcome of who we are. Something else that she said that I liked was, "The Atonement makes the world make sense." It's true. Without the Atonement none of this would make sense at all.
President Pfile talked about how we need to step outside of our comfort zone a little more. We should never be comfortable or content. Those feelings don't promote gorwth.
Elder Hilliard spoke about how because of our setting apart as missionaries we have the right and responsibility to represent Jesus Christ. He also talked to us about how the scriptures have a depth, height and width that we don't realize. That is why we get something new every time we read them.
Something he suggested we do to appreciate the "word" better is to read Alma 31-34 and completely ignore the verses. Treat it like a conference talk. Also replace the word seed with word. I'm excited to see what I get out of it.
Elder Nelson spoke on a few things. He also spoke about how prayer and hymns are an important combination. He said, "We forfeit strength when we doubt."
And, " When you get direction from your leaders don't put a question mark behind it, put an exclamation point behind it and the go get to work."
Also, "If you love the Lord first then your capacity to love increases. Love is vertical first."
He also told us not to be homesick. He said that he knew our parents love and miss us but he said, "Trust me, the last place they want you right now is home." Then he read D&C 31. Don't worry. I'm not homesick. I love my mission!
So no for leadership training. It was good as well. One of the first things President said was, "You haven't seen anything yet." He was referring to our missions. He said that this mission is going to see greater things than it's ever seen.
We talked about a lot of things but we seemed to talk about the word 'believe' alot. President kept asking, "Do you believe?" He said we limit ourselves too often by our unbelief.
Here are a few President Pfile quotes:
1) If we love the Lord then we will conform to His will. We will not seek to conform His will to ours.
2) I don't care how tough it gets. Dog on it...don't give up.
3) All the blessings of the Atonement can only come when we are living all of the principles of the gospel.
4) Give the Holy Ghost time to speak.
5) Be grateful for hard things...they cause you to call upon God.
6) Where there is no challenge there is no backbone.
7) There's nothing that makes you happier than work.
Those are just a few. He told us that the time is coming in this mission when we will be so busy we won't be able to keep up! He said that we'll have to ask God to magnify our time. That will be exciting!
The coolest thing about the Leadership Training was the fact that Kurtis Pugh was there! (That young man that Elder Oakes and I baptized my first transfer.) He is getting ready to go on his mission around the first of the year so he got permission to come to the training. He was answering questions, doing role plays, teaching people, and other stuff. It was so awesome. I got to talk with him for a little bit. He is doing so good.
Well, we tracted into a couple the other day in Hugoton. They are Baptists, both really nice. We taught them the Restoration and they agreed to read a pray about the Book of Mormon. We're going back to see them this Friday. I hope all goes well.
We had dinner with a less active family a couple days ago. It was a crazy dinner. The husband is anti-Mormon and the wife and daughter are Mormon. When we showed up the husband was watching Transformers and he didn't turn it off when they asked us to sit down on the couch. Luckily the daughter had two friends over so we talked to them instead of watching the movie. One of the friends was pretty quiet but the other was crazy! She was only about 12 or 13 but she could speak English, Spanish, German, Vietnamese and Cherokee! She could also very accurately mimik the sound of a dog, cat, elephant, monkey and newborn baby. She can also play the cell, piano, flute and she can sing very well. She was so smart! And very funny as well.
So one of the young women in the Hugoton ward gave us a referral. Her boyfriend. We're going to meet with him this Friday. We're super excited. She can't wait for us to talk to her boyfriend. Should be good.
Well, I better get this in the mail to you all.
Love you!
Love Elder Cryer
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
REVELATION FLOWS
2 November 2010 Letter
Dear Family,
Whew! I don't even know where to start! I'm in the middle of a very busy few days. We just had our Zone Conference and on Sunday we'll be traveling to Colorado Springs for a mission wide fireside (200+ missionaries) and then on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I have a leadership training meeting to go to in Pueblo Colorado. Very busy! I'm really enjoying it all though.
I wanted to tell you about an experience I had the other day. We went to see some potential investigators who belong to the Church of Christ. We ended up talking with them for an hour and a half. We finally left because they both refused to pray. The part that was interesting was that he threw a ton of questions at us and we were somehow able to answer, or 'confound' him in all of his questions. The spirit gave us the words we needed. It reminded me of the promise in D&C where it tells us we won't be confounded before men.
So Ulysses ward had their ward Halloween party on Friday. We got to go in p-day clothes which was nice. They refused to let us come in a shirt and tie. They brought a fire pit and hot dogs and marshmallows. Lot's of people came in costume. They did a trunk or treat for the kids. About an hour into the party we walked up the block to invite a family to the party. Well, they were busy but they had two costumes that they told us we had to wear over there. So...we did! The kids at the party started to run away when they first saw us coming but then they changed their minds. They came running at us and attacked us! Their mission was to get the masks off of our faces. So I had to 'fight' with pirates, police, princesses, construction workers, horses, cowboys, lady bugs, vampires, skeletons and lot's more! I was wore out after about ten minutes but I kept running and 'fighting' for about thirty to forty minutes. Finally the kids tackled me and I fell down. They jumped on me and started punching me and they tore off my mask. It was pretty fun. I hate to brag but we basically made that party! The Stake President (who is in our ward) came over to us the next day and said, "You guys get enough exercise last night?!"
We all laughed. The bishops mother in law took some pictures so I'll try to send some of those if I can get a few copies.
They Ulysses ward also just had their Primary Program. It was so good. Those kids are so dang cute! I have really grown to love this ward. It feels like home! The kids were all waving at us and smiling at us during the program. It was neat.
Thanks for your letters mom and Emma. And for your e-mail dad. I did get that talk by Elder Maxwell mom but I haven't even had a chance to read it yet. I'm really looking forward to it though. I may have a little time today to do that.
I'm glad Chris is doing well. She is in my prayers! Let her know I'm thinking about her and praying for her.
Don't worry about writing about food! It doesn't bother me at all.
So, is Jackson still messing up the bark or does he stay under the porch now that it's raining? I assume it's raining a lot back home. We still haven't had rain here. It's 70 degrees and sunny right now!
So Zone Conference was awesome. The whole focus was on baptism. We talked about how we need an increased confidence and capacity to baptize. It all comes down to our mind set and our attitude.
We talked a lot about how we need to plan to baptize. President said, "If you don't plan you might as well sit at home. You'd be more productive that way because at least you won't be in the way of the Lord." That drove it home pretty well.
Something awesome happened. Our Zone Leaders had set a month of November baptism goal of 38. President said, "Elders, would you like to see something cool? I will show you how revelation works." And he did. We had the tables set up in a U shape in the gym. He started at one end and worked his way around. He asked each of us who we would baptize that month. We gave him a name and a date. The ZL's kept track of how many people we had. When President came to the end we had 38 people on the board! Then President said, "Oh, we're not done yet!" Then he went around again and again and again. New names kept coming to our minds. We were receiving revelation! After an hour or so President stopped. We had 326 names of people our Zone would baptize in this month! Just our Zone...the Garden city Stake. That's enough people for a ward! It was amazing! The spirit was flowing through that room like nothing I've ever felt. Me and Elder Moser alone have 30 people. It was a very humbling event. We have a ton of work to do this month!
Well, I better go. I love you all so much.
Love Elder Cryer
Dear Family,
Whew! I don't even know where to start! I'm in the middle of a very busy few days. We just had our Zone Conference and on Sunday we'll be traveling to Colorado Springs for a mission wide fireside (200+ missionaries) and then on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I have a leadership training meeting to go to in Pueblo Colorado. Very busy! I'm really enjoying it all though.
I wanted to tell you about an experience I had the other day. We went to see some potential investigators who belong to the Church of Christ. We ended up talking with them for an hour and a half. We finally left because they both refused to pray. The part that was interesting was that he threw a ton of questions at us and we were somehow able to answer, or 'confound' him in all of his questions. The spirit gave us the words we needed. It reminded me of the promise in D&C where it tells us we won't be confounded before men.
So Ulysses ward had their ward Halloween party on Friday. We got to go in p-day clothes which was nice. They refused to let us come in a shirt and tie. They brought a fire pit and hot dogs and marshmallows. Lot's of people came in costume. They did a trunk or treat for the kids. About an hour into the party we walked up the block to invite a family to the party. Well, they were busy but they had two costumes that they told us we had to wear over there. So...we did! The kids at the party started to run away when they first saw us coming but then they changed their minds. They came running at us and attacked us! Their mission was to get the masks off of our faces. So I had to 'fight' with pirates, police, princesses, construction workers, horses, cowboys, lady bugs, vampires, skeletons and lot's more! I was wore out after about ten minutes but I kept running and 'fighting' for about thirty to forty minutes. Finally the kids tackled me and I fell down. They jumped on me and started punching me and they tore off my mask. It was pretty fun. I hate to brag but we basically made that party! The Stake President (who is in our ward) came over to us the next day and said, "You guys get enough exercise last night?!"
We all laughed. The bishops mother in law took some pictures so I'll try to send some of those if I can get a few copies.
They Ulysses ward also just had their Primary Program. It was so good. Those kids are so dang cute! I have really grown to love this ward. It feels like home! The kids were all waving at us and smiling at us during the program. It was neat.
Thanks for your letters mom and Emma. And for your e-mail dad. I did get that talk by Elder Maxwell mom but I haven't even had a chance to read it yet. I'm really looking forward to it though. I may have a little time today to do that.
I'm glad Chris is doing well. She is in my prayers! Let her know I'm thinking about her and praying for her.
Don't worry about writing about food! It doesn't bother me at all.
So, is Jackson still messing up the bark or does he stay under the porch now that it's raining? I assume it's raining a lot back home. We still haven't had rain here. It's 70 degrees and sunny right now!
So Zone Conference was awesome. The whole focus was on baptism. We talked about how we need an increased confidence and capacity to baptize. It all comes down to our mind set and our attitude.
We talked a lot about how we need to plan to baptize. President said, "If you don't plan you might as well sit at home. You'd be more productive that way because at least you won't be in the way of the Lord." That drove it home pretty well.
Something awesome happened. Our Zone Leaders had set a month of November baptism goal of 38. President said, "Elders, would you like to see something cool? I will show you how revelation works." And he did. We had the tables set up in a U shape in the gym. He started at one end and worked his way around. He asked each of us who we would baptize that month. We gave him a name and a date. The ZL's kept track of how many people we had. When President came to the end we had 38 people on the board! Then President said, "Oh, we're not done yet!" Then he went around again and again and again. New names kept coming to our minds. We were receiving revelation! After an hour or so President stopped. We had 326 names of people our Zone would baptize in this month! Just our Zone...the Garden city Stake. That's enough people for a ward! It was amazing! The spirit was flowing through that room like nothing I've ever felt. Me and Elder Moser alone have 30 people. It was a very humbling event. We have a ton of work to do this month!
Well, I better go. I love you all so much.
Love Elder Cryer
CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE
November 2, 2010 e-mail
Dear Family!!!
How is everything going? Man....it sounds like there's not nearly enough going on in your lives! Mine is so packed right now its not even funny!!! We just had an amazing Zone Conference and I learned so much and realized how much there really is to do. I received a ton of revelation. I'll have to tell you all about it in my letter.
Only two trick-or-treater's came by huh? Man....that's more than us! We didn't have any....of course I don't blame anyone for not daring to come up to our trailer!
We went over to an investigators house on Saturday evening.
Both towns decided to do trick or treating on Saturday instead of Sunday (A lot of Christian influence I guess) which was nice I thought. I have so much candy right now. I'll probably get sick if I don't budget out how much I'll eat. That has never been much of a problem with me though! (As you all know!)
Hey Sam!!!! I'm glad you had a good birthday! It took a lot of effort on my part to get that candy to you! ;) O.K...maybe not......but that letter did take some effort!
I got a letter from Jeff Rowberry the other day telling me about Jay. That is way exciting! He doesn't have much time. The only suggestions I would have is 1) KNOW Preach My Gospel!!!! (There is still new stuff that I'm finding in it!) 2) Go out with the missionaries and pick their brains 3) Teach the lessons to friends or family 4) Read the Book of Mormon.
Those are some basic things that I wish I had done prior to leaving.
What!?!?!?! You shared my temple experience!?!?!?! How dare you!!! No, that's fine. I hope it was able to help.
Well...I know that this is a short e-mail but I'm out of time. I'll fill you in more in my letter!
Have a great week!!!
Love you all
Love Elder Cryer
Dear Family!!!
How is everything going? Man....it sounds like there's not nearly enough going on in your lives! Mine is so packed right now its not even funny!!! We just had an amazing Zone Conference and I learned so much and realized how much there really is to do. I received a ton of revelation. I'll have to tell you all about it in my letter.
Only two trick-or-treater's came by huh? Man....that's more than us! We didn't have any....of course I don't blame anyone for not daring to come up to our trailer!
We went over to an investigators house on Saturday evening.
Both towns decided to do trick or treating on Saturday instead of Sunday (A lot of Christian influence I guess) which was nice I thought. I have so much candy right now. I'll probably get sick if I don't budget out how much I'll eat. That has never been much of a problem with me though! (As you all know!)
Hey Sam!!!! I'm glad you had a good birthday! It took a lot of effort on my part to get that candy to you! ;) O.K...maybe not......but that letter did take some effort!
I got a letter from Jeff Rowberry the other day telling me about Jay. That is way exciting! He doesn't have much time. The only suggestions I would have is 1) KNOW Preach My Gospel!!!! (There is still new stuff that I'm finding in it!) 2) Go out with the missionaries and pick their brains 3) Teach the lessons to friends or family 4) Read the Book of Mormon.
Those are some basic things that I wish I had done prior to leaving.
What!?!?!?! You shared my temple experience!?!?!?! How dare you!!! No, that's fine. I hope it was able to help.
Well...I know that this is a short e-mail but I'm out of time. I'll fill you in more in my letter!
Have a great week!!!
Love you all
Love Elder Cryer
A COOL CONVERSION STORY
October 25, 2010 Letter
Dear Family,
I think I have a few minutes to sit down and write to you. I'm not quite sure where to begin. Ah....I guess I'll start by replying to your letters. I got one from Emma and one from mom. Oh wait...whoops. I replied to those last week! So I guess I don't have any to reply to.
Well, we met the coolest less active guy ever! We went over for the first time earlier this week and his wife and daughter were gone on a trip so we just talked with him. We talked with him for about an hour and a half and I never got bored. He is such a good story teller. I told him that I was from Oregon and then he told us about a road trip he took as a teen which took him to Oregon for the first time. He told us about his trip to the Redwoods, his first concert, his first time surfing, his first trip to San Francisco, and lots more. He is such a neat guy! He's seen a lot. He also told us about his conversion story. He said that a friend gave him a Book of Mormon to read. He told his friend that he didn't want it. His friend said, "I know you don't. Just read it and we'll talk later." So he took it and his friend said, "Read the book and then come to me and disprove it with your Bible."
So he read it the first time to disprove it. The he read it again and learned a few things and saw that the Book of Mormon helps to clarify the Bible. Then the third time he read it he prayed before he read and he became converted. He went to his friend and his friend asked, "You ready to disprove it?"
He said, "No...I just need to be baptized."
It was such a neat conversion story. I wish that I could have recorded the whole thing!
We went back a few days later and his wife and daughter were back. We got to meet his daughter. She is thirteen. She's a neat girl...very friendly. She played a few songs on the piano.
We went by again last night and we finally got to meet his wife. She doesn't like Mormons but she gave us raspberry lemonade and popcorn. It was good. We are trying to reactivate him and hopefully teach his wife and daughter.
So we have a new district leader. His name is Elder Melville. He actually served here in Ulysses right before me. I'm the Elder that replaced him.
There is another less active family that we've been working with and the daughter just turned eight and was having a birthday party and she invited us so we told her we'd be there. I told her that I'd bring her present. That's a long story!...but basically she owed me a Twix and I owed her a present so I got her a King-size Twix and wrapped it up and put in in a box...then put that box in a bigger box...then put those boxes in a bigger box! Then I colored it and taped it shut and then wrote a note on it:
Joslyn,
Here's a birthday gift for the gift I never got
Either I have been forgotten or the gift has been forgot
I hope this sets things straight, I don't want to bear complaint
Happy birthday Joslyn, have fun being eight!
The I signed it. Her mom loved it. Joslyn thought it was funny. Then we all ate cake and ice-cream.
We also got to see a long-time potential investigator that we've been trying to see for a while. We had a very spiritual lesson with her. Her daughter was doing homework when we started teaching but by the end she was listening. She really wants to learn. I'm excited to teach them.
So I think I told you about our phone exploding...well, not working at least. Anyway...we got a new battery for it today. It's been really hard without it for the past week and a half. It's good to have a phone again.
Well, I think those are the up-dates from Kansas. Oh, wait...I just went out to check the mail and guess what I found!?!?! A letter from Emma and also a surprise letter from Sam inside!
Well Emma, I think your idea is a good one...you should all just move out here! Actually I'm excited to see all the changes that the house has gone through. It sounds like you've been kept pretty busy with all the different projects! So how are you enjoying Seminary? Are you in the Doctrine and Covenants this year?
How is Nimblerod doing? Has he moved or is he still 'hanging around'? (a spider outside our living room window)
So you've been learning how to dance huh! I remember when I did that at a youth activity. Let's just say I'm glad your enjoying it. I'll leave it at that!
And now for Sam! I suppose I can forgive you for not writing in a while. I'm glad that you were able to find a few minutes to write.
Man, National Safety week sounds pretty eventful! I wonder if any of those kids will actually need to ever use the information they learned! I bet they did enjoy the chance to run around for a little bit.
It sounds like you're on a roll with your college! How much longer until you get your Associates Degree? You'll be there way before me! You've left me in the dust!
I know what you mean about it being harder to have to do assignments with other people and having your grade affected by how well they do. I had to deal with that a lot in my film and lighting classes. Hopefully your groups are good ones.
As for the girls in Wal-mart...no, there was not a power outage, thank you very much! They could see my beautiful complexion perfectly well!
So did you end up going to the temple? I can't wait until I can go more than once a year! It is such a great place to be.
I thought I was coming down sick about a week ago but it only lasted a day. I think it may have been allergies or something.
So, my room is being used as storage huh? Well, I'm glad that it's being put to use!
Well, I had better head off. I want to make sure I have this in the mail to you on time and the mailman should be by in just a few minutes. Love you all. Have a great week!
Love Elder Cryer
Dear Family,
I think I have a few minutes to sit down and write to you. I'm not quite sure where to begin. Ah....I guess I'll start by replying to your letters. I got one from Emma and one from mom. Oh wait...whoops. I replied to those last week! So I guess I don't have any to reply to.
Well, we met the coolest less active guy ever! We went over for the first time earlier this week and his wife and daughter were gone on a trip so we just talked with him. We talked with him for about an hour and a half and I never got bored. He is such a good story teller. I told him that I was from Oregon and then he told us about a road trip he took as a teen which took him to Oregon for the first time. He told us about his trip to the Redwoods, his first concert, his first time surfing, his first trip to San Francisco, and lots more. He is such a neat guy! He's seen a lot. He also told us about his conversion story. He said that a friend gave him a Book of Mormon to read. He told his friend that he didn't want it. His friend said, "I know you don't. Just read it and we'll talk later." So he took it and his friend said, "Read the book and then come to me and disprove it with your Bible."
So he read it the first time to disprove it. The he read it again and learned a few things and saw that the Book of Mormon helps to clarify the Bible. Then the third time he read it he prayed before he read and he became converted. He went to his friend and his friend asked, "You ready to disprove it?"
He said, "No...I just need to be baptized."
It was such a neat conversion story. I wish that I could have recorded the whole thing!
We went back a few days later and his wife and daughter were back. We got to meet his daughter. She is thirteen. She's a neat girl...very friendly. She played a few songs on the piano.
We went by again last night and we finally got to meet his wife. She doesn't like Mormons but she gave us raspberry lemonade and popcorn. It was good. We are trying to reactivate him and hopefully teach his wife and daughter.
So we have a new district leader. His name is Elder Melville. He actually served here in Ulysses right before me. I'm the Elder that replaced him.
There is another less active family that we've been working with and the daughter just turned eight and was having a birthday party and she invited us so we told her we'd be there. I told her that I'd bring her present. That's a long story!...but basically she owed me a Twix and I owed her a present so I got her a King-size Twix and wrapped it up and put in in a box...then put that box in a bigger box...then put those boxes in a bigger box! Then I colored it and taped it shut and then wrote a note on it:
Joslyn,
Here's a birthday gift for the gift I never got
Either I have been forgotten or the gift has been forgot
I hope this sets things straight, I don't want to bear complaint
Happy birthday Joslyn, have fun being eight!
The I signed it. Her mom loved it. Joslyn thought it was funny. Then we all ate cake and ice-cream.
We also got to see a long-time potential investigator that we've been trying to see for a while. We had a very spiritual lesson with her. Her daughter was doing homework when we started teaching but by the end she was listening. She really wants to learn. I'm excited to teach them.
So I think I told you about our phone exploding...well, not working at least. Anyway...we got a new battery for it today. It's been really hard without it for the past week and a half. It's good to have a phone again.
Well, I think those are the up-dates from Kansas. Oh, wait...I just went out to check the mail and guess what I found!?!?! A letter from Emma and also a surprise letter from Sam inside!
Well Emma, I think your idea is a good one...you should all just move out here! Actually I'm excited to see all the changes that the house has gone through. It sounds like you've been kept pretty busy with all the different projects! So how are you enjoying Seminary? Are you in the Doctrine and Covenants this year?
How is Nimblerod doing? Has he moved or is he still 'hanging around'? (a spider outside our living room window)
So you've been learning how to dance huh! I remember when I did that at a youth activity. Let's just say I'm glad your enjoying it. I'll leave it at that!
And now for Sam! I suppose I can forgive you for not writing in a while. I'm glad that you were able to find a few minutes to write.
Man, National Safety week sounds pretty eventful! I wonder if any of those kids will actually need to ever use the information they learned! I bet they did enjoy the chance to run around for a little bit.
It sounds like you're on a roll with your college! How much longer until you get your Associates Degree? You'll be there way before me! You've left me in the dust!
I know what you mean about it being harder to have to do assignments with other people and having your grade affected by how well they do. I had to deal with that a lot in my film and lighting classes. Hopefully your groups are good ones.
As for the girls in Wal-mart...no, there was not a power outage, thank you very much! They could see my beautiful complexion perfectly well!
So did you end up going to the temple? I can't wait until I can go more than once a year! It is such a great place to be.
I thought I was coming down sick about a week ago but it only lasted a day. I think it may have been allergies or something.
So, my room is being used as storage huh? Well, I'm glad that it's being put to use!
Well, I had better head off. I want to make sure I have this in the mail to you on time and the mailman should be by in just a few minutes. Love you all. Have a great week!
Love Elder Cryer
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