Week of 9/17-24/2012

Well, I sure hope everything is well with you all and you enjoyed a tranquilo semana. I had some changes this week.

So I hope I mentioned last week that I was in Colina, Fontt with Elder Ariel Gallucci as senior companion, if not, let me apologize but don´t worry about remembering it because it has now changed. I am very excited for the present though, I have a new companion who is awesome. His name is Elder Kenric Glenn Gordon. I would send you pictures but this computer doesn´t let me. He is very tall, he is from Orem UT and very excited to be serving and wants to be 100% obedient. I should probably explain what happened.
It was a calm morning on a Thursday. I was studying the scriptures during personal study. We were down stairs (our house had two floors-super genial) and I heard my phone ring...
This is when my life changed. So I ran upstairs and answered the phone, it was President Essig. He called me to ask if I was willing to serve in a new assignment. There had been some changes in the mission and he needed me, as well as the Lord, to come to Los Andes, in San Felipe and that I would be training Elder Gordon. I was surprised to put it lightly but of course I accepted. I was told that I should start packing immediately and I would move that day or the next.
I went downstairs and told Elder Gallucci, and tried to help him with all the information that we had on the sector, tried to do the best we could to update the Area Book last minute and then I threw all of my stuff in my suitcases. We went out to work and I recieved another call that the Missionaries (A matrimonio (couple missionaries) the Eulitts) were on their way to pick me up. We then ran to lunch, I ate in 5 minutes and we went back to the house. About an hour or so later I was arriving in my new sector. Los Andes is the area farthest north in our mission and it is a lot more Campo, or country than the other areas. It is really awesome because we can see the Mountains, Los Andes. There is not very much smog at all, the area is gorgeous. But yeah, my companion is brand new, he has been here for a week and so we went to work, it was and still is a little difficult as we both are trying to get to know a new sector and there is little in the area book but we are working hard. We also had the opportunity to work with one of the assistants for a weekend, Elder Tanner Barlow. He is awesome. He helped us so much, he helped us clean out our area book and start doing what we need to with it. He also gave me a lot of advice on what I need to do as a trainer and how I can improve.
So here we are. I am amazed at how fast things change but at the same time I am glad to be doing it. I love getting to know new sectors and more missionaries. I am going to miss Elder Tavera, he was a lot of fun in the Colina house. But we also have a nice house here in San Felipe and it is going to be nice just to have Elder Gordon and I. Although a new house means a new total deep cleaning. But that was fun, and it should continue to improve. I am no longer scared of any gross thing. Bring it on I have no more problems be it puke, toilets, you name it. And I am grateful for this.

A more spiritual experience that I want to share with you also happened this week. We have one investigator. Her name is Alicia, she has 50 somewhat years and is seriously looking for the true church of God. She has been Catholic, Evangelic, and a Testigo de Jehova (Jehova´s Witness). She was a Testigo for something like 25 years but left because she didn´t like some of the doctrine. We are so excited for her. We shared with her the first lesson and part of the lesson two (The message of the Restauration of the Gospel and The Plan of Salvation). She wants to learn all she can, she is so awesome! And she went to Church, she is so precious, it is amazing to see her earnest desires to know and feel that this is the True Church of God. She has been reading in the Book of Mormon, in the book Gospel Principles, in the Bible (She wanted a Bible that we use because she only had a Bible that the Testigos use and it is falso. So we bought her one.) the pamphlets and in the Triple. She is so great. She has some really strange questions sometimes because of her great knowledge of the Bible, for example she asked us about our belief in Giants. And there have also been some things that we have just had to tell her to ask God for an answer but she is so great. I am so excited to help her and I know she is going to be a strong member.

But this was my week, I am praying fervently for guidance.  This is a great opportunity for me to learn and I am grateful to have such a great companion, Elder Gordon.

Sending all my love and Prayers,
Elder Crossley