TRIALS ARE A BLESSING

August 10, 2010 Letter
Dear Family,
So I had more in my e-mail that I wanted to write but didn't have the time. I'll see if I can write about all of it now.
I'll start on Saturday August 7th. We were in Hugoton and we were tracting Polk St. Well, as we were tracting we came to the Hugoton Retirement/Assisted Living Home where CG works. We thought we'd stop in and see how she was doing. We went in and went to the desk so we could ask where she was. A lady saw us and said, "Oh, are you looking for Margaret?" We said yes assuming that was the name of the lady who worked at the desk. Then the lady said, "Wonderful. She's right over there." She pointed over to a little old lady who was eating lunch. Instead of backing out at this point we figured we'd just go visit with her since it seemed she was expecting visitors anyway. Well it turns out (to make a long story short) that she was a deaf Jehovah's Witness! I guess she was expecting a visit...but not from us. We would have taught her but she was deaf so that would have been somewhat less-effective! We got up to leave after we waved goodbye and we headed for the door when an older couple stopped us. Those two people were so funny! The wife asked us where we were from. Then her husband hand motioned like he pulled two pistols out of his pockets and pointed one at each of us and said, "Bang! Bang!" Then after blowing his fingertips to get rid of the smoke he said, "I'm from Texas."
We came back to that introduction about five or six times before we left because they both had Alzheimer. We really only had a five minute conversation but it took us about thirty minutes to leave because 1) They were so funny we didn't want to leave and 2) We had that five minute conversation about six times! They had us laughing pretty hard.
Let's see. What else was I going to tell you? Oh yes. Last Sunday during the second hour of church a Baptist family walked in! I guess the mom is friends with one of the members. Anyways...there was a 14 year old boy and a 16 year old girl and that class had no teacher and so the branch president asked us to teach it. I bet you know already what we taught. Yes!...you're right! We taught them all about polygamy! O.K. Maybe not. We actually taught the first lesson. The Restoration. But we did answer the question about polygamy. We spent a lot of time talking about how the church and the prophet are connected. The church doesn't exist without a prophet to guide it. We also answered their questions about the Book of Mormon. It was a great lesson because the spirit was there and they both committed to read the Book of Mormon. Sadly they live in Liberal and so we can't work with them but the Elders in Liberal can.
Then guess what we got to do during the third hour?...We got to go to PRIMARY! Man, I love Primary! It is the best place to be! We got to go because we had three kids that the Zone Leaders have been teaching and they came to our ward (because of boundaries). We sang songs...including Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. I'm pretty sure that I was the grand champion for the fastest performance! Then we got out a ton of sound makers and made a racket while we sang Follow the Prophet. Then at the end we got to draw. We could draw anything we wanted as long as it had something to do with miracles or causing the blind to see. I drew a picture of a hand reaching out and up (it wasn't too shabby for being drawn in five minutes!) One of the member girls loved it and said, "Elder Cryer, will you give that to me?" After some deep thought I agreed. Then she said, "I want you to sign it." I figured that I'd better get used to it because within a couple years everyone will be dying to get a signature from me! (or not!) Anyway, I signed it and then I said, "Now I need a picture from you." She drew me a picture of an eye. Then another girl, one of the investigators said, "Can I draw you a picture too?" Of course I agreed to that! So I got two pictures drawn just for me!
Then there was this little boy who thought it was so awesome that the missionaries came to Primary. He made us get an extra chair and put it between us so that he could sit by both of us. He took one of our name badges and put it on and said, "Now I'm a missionary!" After church they had the Linger Longer and so we got to eat and this little boy insisted that we sit next to him. It was neat. I've not been so popular in a while!
Well, thanks for your letter mom! Man, you would love the sunsets here. They're awesome! That's what makes up for the lack of landscape...the sky is always holding surprises. I thought there was a twister in the distance the other day but it was just a storm with a super dense rainfall. It looked cool. I would have taken a picture but I was driving.
So, you've been canning. Blackberry jelly...I mean syrup sounds good. I'm glad that your garden is doing good. Well, it's funny that you've been thinking how lucky I am to have all these trials to face. This last Zone Conference really opened my eyes and helped me see how lucky I really am! Trials really are a great blessing to us if we let them be. I liked what you said about how opposition and trials motivate us to turn to God. I agree with what you said. Trials and adversity allow God to hold us close.
In Zone Conference we got a full page of quotes that Sister Pfile compiled for us and there was one that hit me so strong. It's from the talk Spiritual Revival by Elder Glenn L. Pace in the 1992 November Ensign. It says this: "Into each of our lives come golden moments of adversity. This painful friend breaks our hearts, drops us to our knees, and makes us realize we are nothing without our Lord and Savior. This friend makes us plead all the night long for reassurance and into the next day and sometimes for weeks and months. But ultimately, just as surely as the day follows the night, as we remain true and faithful, this strange friend, adversity, leads us straight into the outstretched arms of the Savior."
I loved that quote. It is so true. Adversity is meant to direct us to the Savior if we only seek him during those dark times rather than turning our backs on the only person who can help us escape these troubling moments. Sadly, there are so many people who get angry at God and shut him out when they need him the most.
No, I haven't grown taller, I don't think. People are just short! Elder Moser isn't too short at all though. We're pretty equal. He doesn't eat Mexican food but he does eat Vermont food. He loves sweet! He's always eating chocolate or candy. He even ate straight hot chocolate powder out of the packet! No water, just the mix. He loves sugar! He is crazy! We still buy and cook our food seperate.
My Book of Mormon reading is going good. From the time I entered the MTC until now I've read it completely three times through and I'm on my fourth time now. I have found that I have to push through on some days and not 'study' as much as I'd like to so I may start slowing down a little bit. But I've been learning a lot from my reading. I've also started reading the Doctrine and Covenants and the New Testament. I want to have read each of those once before I end my mission. We'll see how I do. The most important thing is to make sure I'm studying for my investigators concerns.
That's neat that you and Sam got to go to the temple the other day. I can't wait till I get to go! I only have about one month or so to wait and then I'll get to go up to the Denver Temple. I can't wait. It's been too long!
Well, I guess I'd better let you go now. It's time for me to get back to work!
Have a great week.....love you tons!
Love Ben