All going to Colorado Springs.L to R: Elder Thomas, Elder Hubbard, Elder Slade, Elder Cryer
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
IN COLORADO SPRINGS
Dear Family,
I arrived safely at the mission home here in Colorado. President and Sister Pfile are awesome. I could tell that I was going to love them right when I met them.
Well, we stepped off the plane, met them, went to get a bite to eat, and were out tracting within an hour! They get you out fast!
It was great hearing all your voices today...except for the fact that Sam was at work. Sorry I missed ya.
So, Elder Slade and I went to get something to eat at the airport before we flew out...right after I got off the phone with you...and the guy ahead of us insisted on buying us lunch!
"Get anything you want," he said. "I have a son on a mission so it would be my pleasure."
I thought that was so cool of him.
I have no more time to write. Just want you to know that I love you all!
Ben
P.S. My bike is here, and the Elders that are our temporary trainers are in charge of setting them up! Sweet!
More details from President and Sister Pfile:
Dear President and Sister Cryer,
We are so excited to have your son, Elder Cryer, here with us in the Colorado Colorado Springs Mission! We've enclosed a photograph taken shortly after his arrival to reassure you that he made it safely, that he has been greeted by people who love him, and that he's still smiling!
Upon arrival he enjoyed dinner at the Mission Office, went tracting and then went to the Mission Home for orientation, a testimony meeting and to spend the night. The next day after breakfast and companion study he went to the Mission Office for more orientation. After lunch he was then teamed up with an experienced training missionary who took him out tracting (which settles the butterflies and builds confidence). Three hours later everyone reconvened in the Mission Office and returned to the Mission Home for interviews, supper and a devotional. The next day they arose, had breakfast, companion study and went out to ITL again. After this he met his companion and immediately traveled to his new area of service.
We are so pleased to have him here, and we are dedicated to helping him succeed as a missionary. We ask you to encourage your son to follow the mission rules with exactness. This is a key to his safety and success. We have realized that some missionaries don't understand the direct correlation between obedience and revelation. Without the closeness of the Holy Ghost the missionaries experience discouragement and lack of confidence. And that closeness with the Holy Ghost only comes through obedience. The elders and sisters who are exactly obedient are the happiest and most successful. Thank you for your prayers and support in this important matter.
It was wonderful to get acquainted with your son, and we have confidence that he will be a valiant, devoted and inspired missionary.
Thank you for helping him prepare for this great calling.
Love,
President Brian L. Pfile
I arrived safely at the mission home here in Colorado. President and Sister Pfile are awesome. I could tell that I was going to love them right when I met them.
Well, we stepped off the plane, met them, went to get a bite to eat, and were out tracting within an hour! They get you out fast!
It was great hearing all your voices today...except for the fact that Sam was at work. Sorry I missed ya.
So, Elder Slade and I went to get something to eat at the airport before we flew out...right after I got off the phone with you...and the guy ahead of us insisted on buying us lunch!
"Get anything you want," he said. "I have a son on a mission so it would be my pleasure."
I thought that was so cool of him.
I have no more time to write. Just want you to know that I love you all!
Ben
P.S. My bike is here, and the Elders that are our temporary trainers are in charge of setting them up! Sweet!
More details from President and Sister Pfile:
Dear President and Sister Cryer,
We are so excited to have your son, Elder Cryer, here with us in the Colorado Colorado Springs Mission! We've enclosed a photograph taken shortly after his arrival to reassure you that he made it safely, that he has been greeted by people who love him, and that he's still smiling!
Upon arrival he enjoyed dinner at the Mission Office, went tracting and then went to the Mission Home for orientation, a testimony meeting and to spend the night. The next day after breakfast and companion study he went to the Mission Office for more orientation. After lunch he was then teamed up with an experienced training missionary who took him out tracting (which settles the butterflies and builds confidence). Three hours later everyone reconvened in the Mission Office and returned to the Mission Home for interviews, supper and a devotional. The next day they arose, had breakfast, companion study and went out to ITL again. After this he met his companion and immediately traveled to his new area of service.
We are so pleased to have him here, and we are dedicated to helping him succeed as a missionary. We ask you to encourage your son to follow the mission rules with exactness. This is a key to his safety and success. We have realized that some missionaries don't understand the direct correlation between obedience and revelation. Without the closeness of the Holy Ghost the missionaries experience discouragement and lack of confidence. And that closeness with the Holy Ghost only comes through obedience. The elders and sisters who are exactly obedient are the happiest and most successful. Thank you for your prayers and support in this important matter.
It was wonderful to get acquainted with your son, and we have confidence that he will be a valiant, devoted and inspired missionary.
Thank you for helping him prepare for this great calling.
Love,
President Brian L. Pfile
Sunday, October 4, 2009
LEARNING SO MUCH SO FAST!
(Warning: Missionaries only have a small amount of time to e-mail so beware the typo's.)
Hi everyone!Everything is great here. Super busy, but super good. Like I've been saying...I'm learning so much here. I'm even learning how to learn! I have been teaching lots of lessons (to fake investigators) and so I'm really starting to get familiar with the principles and I also get to bear my testimony a TON!!!! Its so great here.Every day I have personal study and also companion study. I am actually really enjoying companion study. We mostly study, and practice giving, the lessons. But yeah we also discuss scriptures and stuff.Guess what?!?!?!?!? I got the picture with Spencer! yay! Its been so cool to see him here! It makes me feel a little less alone! and I've seen kacey figget.Well mom I'm glad to here that you are having a successful blogging experience! :) oh...and I happy to report that I have only gained like two pounds here at the MTC! hahaWell sam I'm glad that work is going well for you and hope that you don't get too overwhelmed when school starts! Your so crazy good at remembering things though that I bet you wont struggle hardly at all at school and stuff! ;)Um...yeah i think thats fine if you look through my "journal" (i dont know what made you think that that word was plural!) Its just on my blue and red shelf in my room. In that little center compartment area thing! :) get that? :)Um...well emma my companion is really fun. We laugh quite a bit together! I sent a picture with my last letter so you should get to see him them. I labled the back so just look for Elder Slade.Thats right...you started seminary. PAY ATTENTION to sister Hawes! lol She knows so much good stuff. she can teach you so much! I loved seminary....you will too! :)About your "lightbulb" thought. Your so right! We all do make mistakes and God knows we will. But by using the atonement we can be forgiven and show heavenly father that we love him and are willing to try again and so better! (Your so smart!)Thanks for the Twinkie reminder! Ill make sure to do that before I leave.I wanted to share something else I heard that I thought zou might like. I rememeber that you mentioned that you had a hard time distinguishing when ideas were your own thoughts or the holy ghost promting the thoughts. Well i heard something that Elder Bednar said. It was something along the lines of.......if zou aer living well and keeping the commadments then it wont matter whether its your thoughts or the Holy Ghost because your thoughts will be in line with truth.....I thought that was so cool cuz ive wondered about that same thing.Well the Provo temple was cool. I got to do an endowment session with my district. thez didn[t have the question answer session though. I wish thez would have. I[ll say hi to....um....whats his name if I see him today!well Im out of time.Love you all!!!!Ill write you soon.Ben
Hi everyone!Everything is great here. Super busy, but super good. Like I've been saying...I'm learning so much here. I'm even learning how to learn! I have been teaching lots of lessons (to fake investigators) and so I'm really starting to get familiar with the principles and I also get to bear my testimony a TON!!!! Its so great here.Every day I have personal study and also companion study. I am actually really enjoying companion study. We mostly study, and practice giving, the lessons. But yeah we also discuss scriptures and stuff.Guess what?!?!?!?!? I got the picture with Spencer! yay! Its been so cool to see him here! It makes me feel a little less alone! and I've seen kacey figget.Well mom I'm glad to here that you are having a successful blogging experience! :) oh...and I happy to report that I have only gained like two pounds here at the MTC! hahaWell sam I'm glad that work is going well for you and hope that you don't get too overwhelmed when school starts! Your so crazy good at remembering things though that I bet you wont struggle hardly at all at school and stuff! ;)Um...yeah i think thats fine if you look through my "journal" (i dont know what made you think that that word was plural!) Its just on my blue and red shelf in my room. In that little center compartment area thing! :) get that? :)Um...well emma my companion is really fun. We laugh quite a bit together! I sent a picture with my last letter so you should get to see him them. I labled the back so just look for Elder Slade.Thats right...you started seminary. PAY ATTENTION to sister Hawes! lol She knows so much good stuff. she can teach you so much! I loved seminary....you will too! :)About your "lightbulb" thought. Your so right! We all do make mistakes and God knows we will. But by using the atonement we can be forgiven and show heavenly father that we love him and are willing to try again and so better! (Your so smart!)Thanks for the Twinkie reminder! Ill make sure to do that before I leave.I wanted to share something else I heard that I thought zou might like. I rememeber that you mentioned that you had a hard time distinguishing when ideas were your own thoughts or the holy ghost promting the thoughts. Well i heard something that Elder Bednar said. It was something along the lines of.......if zou aer living well and keeping the commadments then it wont matter whether its your thoughts or the Holy Ghost because your thoughts will be in line with truth.....I thought that was so cool cuz ive wondered about that same thing.Well the Provo temple was cool. I got to do an endowment session with my district. thez didn[t have the question answer session though. I wish thez would have. I[ll say hi to....um....whats his name if I see him today!well Im out of time.Love you all!!!!Ill write you soon.Ben
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Busy at the MTC
Dear...Home,
Hey mom and dad and Sam and Emma! Sounds like you are all busy but good! Glad to hear it.
Well Sam, before I forget...The first letter you sent got to me on the 24th of September. Although I think the weekend slowed it down. I just got the second letter and the "Morning Toast" today (September 25th). I can't even tell you how fun it is to get mail! It's the one thing that adds variety to my day!
O.K. So Emma, you said you wanted "a day in the life of Elder Cryer" so here goes.
First I wake up at 6:30am and get all showered and dressed and ready for the day. Then...Oh by the way, getting dressed means slacks, white shirt, tie, jacket...yeah, you get the idea! It took me a few days to get used to it but now it's normal...anyway, then our district (there are 8 of us) meets in a classroom that's located about six buildings down from our dorm and. We study for 45 minutes and then at 7:45 we go to breakfast. I've found that cold cereal is my best option. I prefer that to rubber eggs and cold sausage and pancakes! But anyway, then we head back to the class and then we usually have a teacher and so we learn from Preach My Gospel for anywhere from 2 to 4 hours. I love both my teachers! They are both return missionaries, of course, about 23 to 26 years old.
Then we have gym. I usually either run or play basketball. But we do that for an hour and then we go to lunch and eat more cold rubber and then we have more class and after that we usually have either TEC (Teaching Evaluation Center) where we get to get help on teaching and knocking on doors and street contacting and all sorts of stuff. Or we go to TRC (Training Resource Center) where there are teachers who act as investigators and we get to go in and teach them and ask them questions and stuff. It's really cool. We can also do the RC (Referral Center) where we go and call people who have requested the Bible or Book of Mormon or Church DVD of some sort and ask them if they received it and how they have enjoyed it and we get to bear our testimony to them and ask them if they want the missionaries to come by their home and share a message with them. I love the RC! I haven't had much luck but every once in a while I get a ringback tone so I get to listen to music!...Just joking...that's not why I like it so much!
Then we have dinner, go to class at 6:30pm and have class until 9:00pm Then we plan for the next day and then at 9:30 we go back to the dorm and get ready for bed and lights out at 10:30 pm. And then guess what?! WE DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN!!! (Are you satisfied Emma?)
You got the job Sam! That's great! That's gotta feel good to have a steady source of income, not that you need it! (I'm just joking!) And last driving lesson...your on a roll! Your gonna be flyin around town in no time! Well...at least to the library and bookstore! (Keep me updated)
Hey mom and dad (and everyone I guess!) I am loving the MTC. We have had a ton of firesides and devotionals and meetings. I am learning SO much SO fast!
Today at lunch my district leader (Elder McCord) sprinkled a bunch of salt all over me, so after he left I got a bunch of pepper in my hand and just held it until I saw him again in the classroom. Then I walked up to him and said, "Hey, Elder McCord, your collar is all messed up...here I'll fix it for ya." So I messed with his collar and dumped all the pepper down his shirt! I told him we were even now but he thought otherwise!
So here I was just writing home when he sneaks up to me from behind and dumps a ton of the Goldbond powder all in my hair! Oh my goodness...let's just say that Goldbond powder , gel and water do not go well together. It turns into a very hard white compound! It took me 20 minutes to get it all out!
Well I hope that grandma and grandpa will be doing better soon. Tell them I love them and they're in my prayers.
So, I'm not sure if you know or not but I fly out on October 5th. We fly out of Salt Lake at 1:45 and arrive in Colorado Springs at about 3:17. So come October 2nd or so you may want to start sending letters to the mission home because letters that come to the MTC after I leave just get tossed I guess. Anyway...I hope I got you filled in pretty well! It's so hard to keep track of everything and I can't remember what I've told you and what I've written in my journal!
So, I love you all...your all in my prayers! Take care.
Ben
Hey mom and dad and Sam and Emma! Sounds like you are all busy but good! Glad to hear it.
Well Sam, before I forget...The first letter you sent got to me on the 24th of September. Although I think the weekend slowed it down. I just got the second letter and the "Morning Toast" today (September 25th). I can't even tell you how fun it is to get mail! It's the one thing that adds variety to my day!
O.K. So Emma, you said you wanted "a day in the life of Elder Cryer" so here goes.
First I wake up at 6:30am and get all showered and dressed and ready for the day. Then...Oh by the way, getting dressed means slacks, white shirt, tie, jacket...yeah, you get the idea! It took me a few days to get used to it but now it's normal...anyway, then our district (there are 8 of us) meets in a classroom that's located about six buildings down from our dorm and. We study for 45 minutes and then at 7:45 we go to breakfast. I've found that cold cereal is my best option. I prefer that to rubber eggs and cold sausage and pancakes! But anyway, then we head back to the class and then we usually have a teacher and so we learn from Preach My Gospel for anywhere from 2 to 4 hours. I love both my teachers! They are both return missionaries, of course, about 23 to 26 years old.
Then we have gym. I usually either run or play basketball. But we do that for an hour and then we go to lunch and eat more cold rubber and then we have more class and after that we usually have either TEC (Teaching Evaluation Center) where we get to get help on teaching and knocking on doors and street contacting and all sorts of stuff. Or we go to TRC (Training Resource Center) where there are teachers who act as investigators and we get to go in and teach them and ask them questions and stuff. It's really cool. We can also do the RC (Referral Center) where we go and call people who have requested the Bible or Book of Mormon or Church DVD of some sort and ask them if they received it and how they have enjoyed it and we get to bear our testimony to them and ask them if they want the missionaries to come by their home and share a message with them. I love the RC! I haven't had much luck but every once in a while I get a ringback tone so I get to listen to music!...Just joking...that's not why I like it so much!
Then we have dinner, go to class at 6:30pm and have class until 9:00pm Then we plan for the next day and then at 9:30 we go back to the dorm and get ready for bed and lights out at 10:30 pm. And then guess what?! WE DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN!!! (Are you satisfied Emma?)
You got the job Sam! That's great! That's gotta feel good to have a steady source of income, not that you need it! (I'm just joking!) And last driving lesson...your on a roll! Your gonna be flyin around town in no time! Well...at least to the library and bookstore! (Keep me updated)
Hey mom and dad (and everyone I guess!) I am loving the MTC. We have had a ton of firesides and devotionals and meetings. I am learning SO much SO fast!
Today at lunch my district leader (Elder McCord) sprinkled a bunch of salt all over me, so after he left I got a bunch of pepper in my hand and just held it until I saw him again in the classroom. Then I walked up to him and said, "Hey, Elder McCord, your collar is all messed up...here I'll fix it for ya." So I messed with his collar and dumped all the pepper down his shirt! I told him we were even now but he thought otherwise!
So here I was just writing home when he sneaks up to me from behind and dumps a ton of the Goldbond powder all in my hair! Oh my goodness...let's just say that Goldbond powder , gel and water do not go well together. It turns into a very hard white compound! It took me 20 minutes to get it all out!
Well I hope that grandma and grandpa will be doing better soon. Tell them I love them and they're in my prayers.
So, I'm not sure if you know or not but I fly out on October 5th. We fly out of Salt Lake at 1:45 and arrive in Colorado Springs at about 3:17. So come October 2nd or so you may want to start sending letters to the mission home because letters that come to the MTC after I leave just get tossed I guess. Anyway...I hope I got you filled in pretty well! It's so hard to keep track of everything and I can't remember what I've told you and what I've written in my journal!
So, I love you all...your all in my prayers! Take care.
Ben
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