Pick Pocketed

Hey everyone!!

I'm gonna start off with last Monday. There is a golf course in Spanish town, and the Elders there did service for them, so they got an invite to golf for free and they invited us!! So Monday morning, we got ready early and left out to go golfing. :) The bus we were on was way crowded and we were standing in the aisles packed like sardines... The guy behind me, asked me if i could turn sideways so he could get off, and he got off the bus.. Our stop was a few minutes later, and when we got off the bus, i reached in my pocket to feel for my wallet and ... ya, it wasn't there anymore.. The guy picked me when he was getting off. :( I didn't feel a thing either!! I'm way impressed with his pick pocket skills, cuz i seriously didn't feel a thing.. the bus was way crowded though and everyone was really pressed up against each other, so that prolly helped him, but ya, it was a great start to the day haha.. I had my license, temple recommend, mission credit card, and $9000 Jamaican cash in it... cuz i was planning on buying the next two weeks worth of groceries... so it was a little rough.. but its only money i guess.. so no worries. So it go i guess. The rest of the day was ok.. we got to golf, and the course was way nice!! It was super fun, and I only lost 2 balls!! haha.. I'm not so good on the golfing, but it was coming along towards the end.. when we were almost finished President Hendricks surprised us, and showed up to talk to Elder Knowlton about some stuff, and it worked out great because he gave us a ride back to May Pen (I don't know how we would have gotten back otherwise because I had 0 dollars on me lol) ... So ya, it was an up and down day... started bad... got good. :)

Tuesday, went well, We met with Novia, who possibly might be moving out of her boyfriend Michael's yard to live in St Thomas with her family there so that she can be baptized... She was there over the weekend and visited the church in St. Thomas and really liked it, so she is still working on making a final decision on whether she wants to get married or move out. Wednesday was sweet!! I am the district leader now, so I taught district meeting and then went on a trade off in Old Harbor with Elder Mackay (my mtc companion).. it was so sweet to serve with him!! I would love to serve a whole transfer with him sometime.. he's a great guy! Oh, and the house in Old Harbor had hot water!! so I got to take a hot shower for the first time since being to Jamaica.. I forgot how nice it was to be able to hop in the shower and not get a big shock from icy water. :) Basically the house there is way stush. The rest of the week was pretty normal.. We had a lot of good lessons with people, and Saturday we did service for a guy who's house burnt down. It was really fun, we spent the morning on the roof ripping burnt boards out of the concrete and helping him basically tear all the burnt stuff down. In the evening, I taught Jonathan piano again, and he's actually doing really well despite me having to teach him without any books.. but i've written him a couple songs to practice and he's getting it down. :) Sunday was pretty good, and I'm really coming to enjoy how relaxing church is. :) Its really nice to sit back and listen to other people teach and talk and just relax...

So ya, things here are going well.. I'm way excited for Christmas coming up... mostly I'm excited to get to talk to my family... But time is short... Everyone have an amazing Christmas!!!

Love

Elder Kraus

Love Tang & B.B. Jersey's

Hey everyone!! This week went pretty well... I don't have much time.. cuz today was packed, but here's a little update.. Tuesday, we finally met with Queenie's husband Carlos and he opened up a ton, because we found his passion... food!! (the size of his belly should have given that away.. but we didn't notice til now haha).. When we started talking about food, his face lit up, and i guess he loves cooking!! We talked for a while and before we left he gave me a bunch of herbs and stuff to make tea in the morning and made us a meal... that was the interesting part.. It was good flavor.. except the main course was ... fish head!! only the head, nothing else.. so ya, i choked it down and then when i thought i was finished, i told him i loved it, and he said, "you didn't finish the best part...." so yes, i also ate the eyes.. basically it was...... an adventure haha definately dining gourmet out here :) Weednesday morning, i made the herb tea (which has a name i can't put on here... lol).. and it was... gross!! but it cleaned me out for sure.. just like it was supposed to haha.... gotta love it.. the whole house smelled terrible the rest of the day from the tea... oh and i have found my newest love.... TANG!! they have so many different flavors out here and its amazing!! One more funny thing, an investigator asked us what latter day saints meant... and when we explained she said, "oh, so its just saying... The Church of Jesus Christ.. nowadays" :) it made us funny, but its right.. the church on the earth today is the same church that Jesus Christ established when he was on the earth and anciently in the old testament.. its nothing new. Thursday I taught piano again, and finished my jersey at lunch (since we are the friay night activity basketball champions, we decided to make jerseys... :) so ya, here they are... basically, its my best work yet... :)... Friday, we fulfilled our jersey's purpose and rocked the court 4 games to 1 :) shooter was there with her original squad and they were impressed because we keep getting better and better... hopefully we'll start teaching them soon.. ...Oh, and I got a call from President Hendricks on Friday and he told me that I am the new district leader... I'm way nervous, but hopefully with the Lord's help, I'll be able to do a good job..... Elder Mackay and Kartchner from my MTC group are in our district so now, i'll get to do trade off's with them.. so that should be way fun!! :) Saturday we also had a pretty good day... :) We are still teaching Mobrey, and she was kinda getting bored with the BOok of Mormon, she said that it was just pure good.. nothing exciting.. so we read the story of ammon chopping the arms off with her, and she loved it!! :) she said she's gonna read all of Alma now haha.. but i wish i had more time,. but its run out.. so til next week. :) Elder Kraus

Service for Sister Sterling

Hey Everyone!! Life here is going pretty good. This week went well for us. Monday was a pretty normal day, nothing too eventful, I've definately come to love Mondays though.. The family home evenings rock!! :) Tuesday was pretty good for us (I had Elder Walker cut my hair in the morning before studies... it actually doesn't look to bad haha), but a rough day for the other Elders. We woke up in the morning and after studies went to get our bikes.. and both their helmets were on the ground, minus their bikes.... So ya, both their bikes got stolen. :( Thats the second one for Elder Poulsen!! Someone must not like him.. cuz our bikes haven't been touched and they were nicer than theirs.. But on the bright side.... we found the lock kinda by the fence!!! sawed in half haha... so it was definately planned... so sadly they'll never see their bikes again and are walking now.. they reported it to the police, but they don't do squat here... Basically, its gonna be a way long transfer for them. Walking here would be rough!! Oh, also Tuesday morning we did some service for sister sterling (we weeded and created her a flower bed haha)... It was .. very hot, and i got some new tanlines!! :) woooo!! Wednesday was pretty good... nothing too eventful.. I got proposed to a few times, and asked some other stuff... but nothing too out of the ordinary. :) Basically the rest of the week was a pretty normal week. I'm out of time for now, sorry.. next weeks will be longer.. Love Everyone!! Elder Kraus

I Have Never Been More Thankful On a Thanksgiving!

Hey everyone!! This week was pretty good. Mondays have become my favorite day of the week because we spend the evening after p-day doing family home evenings with people. :) They are always way fun, and we play tons of fun games. This week was filled with more bike trouble, as Elder Knowlton's back axle broke in half!! haha It was really funny. When we took the tire off, the axle just fell out both sides. SO Tuesday consisted of a lot of walking. But it wasn't too bad. Wednesday was sweet!! The assistants payed us a surprise visit for district meeting and brought mail!! So I ended up getting my Thanksgiving package in time and was able to make pumpkin pie. :) it was so good!! The crust was really mashed up, and the pie tin was folded way bad, but we bent it back into shape and patched up the holes. Then poured the crumbled crust back into it haha.. It ended up being really good though :) We have still been meeting with Michael and Novia regularly, and this week was Novia's birthday, so we brought her some chocolate chip cookies, which she really enjoyed. Michael made us some potatoe pudding too!! Its like banana bread kinda... can't really explain it in words.. you just have to try it, but ya, it was way good. After our lesson with them one day, Michael brought us to some of his friends he wanted us to talk to and introduced us as his church brothers :) haha He likes us a lot, and they are making some really good progress. Novia (his baby mother) asked us what it takes to be baptized, so we taught her all the commandments, the law of chastity, the word of wisdom, tithing, .... everything.. in one night, and she was like, "cool, i'm ready to be baptized, i just gotta come to church first and make sure i like it" haha she's awesome. Thursday was pretty good. A really poor member fed us rice and beans for thanksgiving dinner, and even though it wasn't much, and i left still hungry, i have never been more thankful on a thanksgiving. It really meant a lot to me. My belly wasn't really full, but my heart definately was. Saturday and Sunday were district conference, (its like branch conference).. and it was great!! There were some amazing talks. The talk that stood out to me the most was President Hendricks talk on faith. He started it out by explaining that in the scriptures it talks about having the faith of a mustard seed. I always just thought that this meant that even if we just have a little faith, we'll be able to do miracles. But he explained that a mustard seeds grows into one of the tallest, greatest herbs. So even if we barely have any faith, it can grow into a giant herb! haha.. so i thought that was cool. He also told a story of a hiker that was walking along a trail that got narrower and narrower... eventually he was pressed up against a cliff wall with just enough room on the trail for his toes. He slipped and fell, but on the way down caught a branch. He yelled out, "Help!! Is anyone up there!?" A booming voice replied, "yes, let go of the branch" He thought about it for a minute, but it didn't seem rational, and responded, "Is anyone else up there?" ... I really liked how this applied to our lives. A lot of times, the inspiration we receive from God doesn't seem rational, or its not what we wanna hear, but if we heed it, miracles happen, and our faith really can grow into what its supposed to. It was a really good conference and i left inspired to do better. but time is short, it was a really good week. :) Love Elder Kraus ps.. keep writing. i love the mail :)

oh and i forgot

friday was sweet!! we played basketball again and me, Elder Knowlton, and Elder Paulsen swept the court!! 5 games to 0. The girl who plays every week (we call her shooter cuz she never misses lol) was like, "next week i'm bringing my crew, and its going down!!" It should be exciting. It was way fun.

Jamaican meal/ laundry day!

Caterpillar graveyard!

Hey everyone! This week was good. Fairly uneventful, but good. :) We had a lot of good lessons with people, and time went pretty fast. Friday was probably the best day. For like the first or second time since my mission started, all of our plans worked out!! All of the people we had planned to meet with were home, and it was really nice. We went up to visit Michael and Novia (some really cool investigators we met a while ago) again, and helped michael de-caterpillar his tomatoe plants.. haha we had a massive caterpillar graveyard by the time we were done, and he gave us some cherry tomatoes. :) it was sweet!! Then we had a really good plan of salvation lesson. THey understand really well, and are pretty excited about it. After meeting with them, we went to Friday Night Activity. There was a basketball tournament, and me, Elder Paulson, and Elder Knowlton made a team, and we are now the court champions. :) It was a lot of fun.. We're gonna have to hold our title next week.. so that should be an adventure, because we barely scraped by with a victory this week. haha.. But ya, it was a really good week, and things are going really well here. I'm gonna send more pictures this week so i'm gonna wrap this up, cuz pictures take a while. :) enjoy! Elder Kraus ps keep writing me!! I love the letters :)

Queenie's Baptism!

This week was great!!

Hey everyone!! This week was great!! Monday we had family home evening with a family here, and me and Elder Knowlton were in charge of the lesson and activity; for the activity we played the flour game. :) Its where you put a mound of flour on a plate (well packed) and set a coin or candy or something on top. Then everybody takes turn cutting away the sides, and whoever makes the coin or candy fall, has to get it out with their mouth!! It was a blast! and they loved it. :) If you've never played the flour game, definately do it.. it gets a lot of laughs.. just don't plan on staying clean. haha.. On Tuesday, we biked like a billion miles due to some bad directions and we ended up nowhere near where we were supposed to be.. we made it to the top of this huge hill though and it had a sweet view. haha Eventually though we found the guy who was very frustrated with us.. because we can't follow directions.. really it was his fault though cuz the directions were terrible!! But we apologized, and it was good from there. :) Wednesday, we had district meeting in the morning, and Elder Mackey did a trade off with Elder Jones, so he was here. It was awesome to get to see him again. Him and Elder Kartchner from my mtc district are both in my district right now.. Its sweet!! I get to see them every Wednesday. ... Thursday, we had a lesson with Queenie to go over the baptism interview questions and teach her the word of wisdom. She is so amazing!! We were reading from Doctrine and Covenants section 89 and the part where it says "neither meet in the sight of your Father" kinda confused her.. she said, "well, I really love meat, but if I'm not supposed to eat it, I'll stop." haha we cleared it up for her and explained that it was just saying those other things aren't ok in the sight of God.. but it was awesome to me that she would just stop eating meat, just like that. She has a really solid testimony of the gospel. Friday was basically flawless!!! Everything went perfectly, and Queenie got baptized. It was a really great service and the spirit was really strong. I gave the talk on baptism, and Elder Knowlton talked on the Holy Ghost. She was really nervous, and Satan started putting doubts into her head last second, but she prayed, and felt comforted and said it was a really great experience. I'm still in awe at the change that she went through. Her countenance is completely changed from when we first met her. The Book of Mormon has so much power!! Also, Friday was Elder Jones' two year mark. The tradition here is that at 6 months, you burn a tie, 1 year a shirt, 1 year and 6 months a pair of pants, and 2 years a whole outfit (shirt pants and tie).. So Friday night Elder Jones burned the whole outfit.. it was sweet!! :) I'm stoked for when I get to burn something. haha Saturday, I taught Johnathan piano, and then we did service for Mama-P.. we sanded, cleaned and started to paint the windows.. basically.. we're champion painters now :).. We didn't get to finish though so we had to put all the stuff away and clean it.. its gonna be a pain to get it all out again.. I now understand why once my mom would start painting, she'd work til it was finished.. even if it took all night!! Its much easier just to do it and then put it away.. ya.. but after that.. we fixed our bikes so we could ride to our appointments, and my bike looks awesome now!! Last P-day I sanded it down and cleaned it, then took it apart and sprayed the frame silver cuz it was super rusty and has to last two years.. then Saturday I put some new brakes on and basically its my pride and joy now haha.. I figure if I take good care of it, it'll last for two years. So, we'll see. :) Sunday Queenie received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and was confirmed a member of the church, and in Sacrament meeting, since it was Elder Jones' last Sunday, Me, Elder Knowlton, and him, sang pg. 334 "I need thee every hour" (we'd practiced throughout the week to get the harmonies right).. I sang the baritone part, Elder Knowlton sang the melody, and Elder Jones did the tenor.. it was really fun.. and I think it sounded pretty good. :) Transfer calls came today, and to my relief, I'm staying in May Pen.... Elder Jones is the only one leaving.. and Elder Walker is coming to take his place.. I haven't met him yet. This next transfer has thanksgiving and Christmas!! Its gonna be sweet, and I'm really happy that I get to spend it here. I'm really lovin it. :) But, my time is short.. so til next week. Elder Kraus

It was really a Faith building week!

Hey everyone!! Life in Jamaica is rockin along. :) haha we had quite the week. On Tuesday, we were riding our bikes out to a dinner appointment like a 20 min ride from our house, and I got a flat tire like 3/4 of the way there, so we walked to the appointment, and then afterwords made the walk back.. but since we were walking instead of biking, it took us an hour instead of 20 min.... so that was pretty exciting. haha, and a crazy rasta rode by us most of the way and talked to us about things that made absolutely no sense at all.. it was a riot!... When we got back to the house, i took the tire off, patched it up, and put it back on the bike, but when i started to pump it up, i found out that it was still going flat for some reason.. so i took it off, and found that the hole was a little bigger than i thought it was, so i took the old patch off, and redid the whole process with a bigger patch.. and stuck the tire back on the bike to pump it up again.. and.... it still went flat.. by now i was ticked!! lol so i took the tire off again (the back tire.. so its not a super easy process and i was getting really greasy) and took the tube out, and found that the whole was so big that the patch wasn't strong enough to hold back all the air rushing out... it blew a bubble in the patch which popped... so ya.. after all that, i just ended up having to get another tube.. haha it was an exciting night.. Wednesday wasn't too eventful, except we did a trade off with all the Elders in the house. I served a bit with Elder Jones, and a bit with Elder Poulsen.. they're both really cool guys.. it was nice to get to know them a little better. Nothing to report Thursday.. except the axle and two baskets (the stuff on the inside of the wheel) on my back tire broke so i took that in and had to get that fixed... Friday, we started to ride, and my back wheel was wobblin all over again, so i took it back to the bike man (we're pretty much regular's with him haha) and he looked at it and the axle and baskets were all messed up again so he fixed it up again.. i have a good rep with him though so he did it for free this time cuz he said it shouldn't have broken.. .. so once we got that fixed, we rode out to mineral heights (a place like a 20 min ride from our house) to see a new investigator, and when we got there he told us he had some work to do so we were gonna have to reschedule haha a phone call woulda been nice... but whatev... no worries.. so made the ride back .. and taught some other people in May Pen town.. Saturday, Elder Knowltons shoes finally broke, so we took them to the market to get some new bottoms put on, oh and i started teaching a kid named Johnathan piano, so thats exciting :) Its kinda tough with no books, but i'm becoming a master at drawing notes and staffs and stuff haha.. .. but after a tough week, everything came together Sunday. :) We talked with Queenie, and she decided to get baptized this Friday!! She's super excited! and I'm way stoked for her. Even though it was a pretty tough week, I am super happy.... Its amazing how just the tiniest bit of success brings so much joy. :)

It was really a faith building week. I feel like Heavenly Father was testing us to see if we would keep working hard when it seemed like everything was going wrong, and he blessed us because we did. :) Sometimes being a missionary blows, but when things come together it makes everything worth it :) but my time is short.. so keep writing me, and i'll talk to ya next week

Nuff Love

Elder Kraus

The Book of Mormon has so much power!

Hey everyone!!

So, this week was pretty sweet. Tuesday, we were walking along looking for a less active members house, and couldn't find it so we stopped to ask this guy working in his yard if he knew her, and he was a little hard of hearing, so i don't really think he understood what i was saying at first, but he invited us in, and called his wife in, and asked us what we are all about haha... so we taught them the restoration and ya, it was pretty cool, people don't usually just invite us in and call their families in without us saying anything haha.. if thats how it always was, missionarywork would be cake! Wednesday we had Zone Conference, and it was amazing!! President Hendricks is the coolest guy and everytime he teaches I leave convinced that I can be the best missionary ever... He is really inspiring and I'm committed to work just a little harder than i think i can every day. On the way to Kingston for the Zone conference i learned a very good lesson too. We caught a bus there, and there were so many people on there that we all were standing in the isles packed like sardines with everyone else haha.. it was pretty funny, cuz usually when you are standing on a normal bus, you have to like hold on to something so you don't fall over when the bus takes corners fast, but on this bus, there were so many people you didn't have to hold on to anything... nobody could move at all, so tipping over was out of the question haha.. but anyway... this bus had a very nice speaker system (i came out with very muffled hearing... kinda like coming out of a concert) and was blasting super loud dancehall.... at first when i was on the island, i couldn't understand what they were saying in the songs, but now i can understand just about every word... and what was being said made it impossible to keep good thoughts in my head.. It really wasn't possible to think of Christ with that music blasting... it taught me that music really is a very powerful influence in our lives.. and if we always listen to music in which it is still possible to think about Christ without being embarressed, we really will be blessed with the abilitly to receive more revelation more often.. just a thought I had.. Oh, and this week, I saw something that I hadn't seen before in my life. We have been teaching a lady named Queenie, and at first she just seemed really depressed all the time, and she wasn't really understanding what we were teaching.. (we taught the restoration like 3 times)... she was starting to get frustrated with herself, because she just wasn't grasping it.. especially what the Book of Mormon was. then we decided to take a different route and just have her start reading the Book of Mormon from the front instead of leaving her chapters out of the middle to read... so we left her 1 Nephi 1 to read, and when we came back two days later, she had a massive smile on her face, and was stoked out of her mind to see us.. we asked her if she had read 1 Nephi 1, and she exclaimed, "I read chapters 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, and 10!!.. This Book is Amazing!!!!!"... Her countenance was completely changed, and she really is like a different person now.. I wouldn't have even recognized her... she practically glows she's so happy.. The Book of Mormon has so much power! I have seen it in my life, and now in others. I know that when I consistently read out of it, I am always happier and more converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know with all my heart that it is true, and if anyone reading this hasn't read or heard of the Book of Mormon, get a copy, and read it!! It really will change your life. I promise. :) ..................... On Sunday, since it was the fifth Sunday, the Branch President decided that he would give all of the missionaries a chance to speak in church. My topic was Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. It amazes me that i can teach this every single day... and still get nervous to speak about it in church haha... some things never change. But I think I did an ok job... I only had ten minutes to speak.. and only got through about a third of my talk.. that is something that has changed.. I never thought i'd be able to give a 15 minute talk haha.. now, if i have any less, i struggle to figure out what not to say.. After church, we had lunch with the Sterlings and dinner with the Weirs.. they are both amazing families.. I love them so much!.. haha, last week i can't remember if i wrote this, but we had cowfoot at the sterlings for lunch.. it was quite the adventure.. it literally is cow foot, the hoof haha.. ... oh, and we celebrated haloween by making chocolate chip cookies at night.. really though, haloween here was lame! cuz it isn't a holiday.. but we celebrated kinda.. nothing like the States, but it wasn't too bad... SO.... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!! :) I guess they don't celebrate thanksgiving here either :(.. but maybe we can get some people to feed us haha.. but life is going good here... doin our thing.... til next week!

Love

Elder Kraus...

ps... keep writing me!! I love the letters even though we only get mail like once a month . :)

My new wrestling shirt!

The Power of Prayer, /Gotta Love wrestling!

Hey everyone! This week went pretty well. :) First off, we cooked and are still cooking Jamaican style this week. :) It is so much cheaper and better than how i have been eating up to this point.. I skinned 5 pounds of chicken at the start of the week, and we made Brown Stew Cicken and Curry chicken, and had it with dumpling and some other stuff throughout the week.. It was amazing!! We're doing it again for sure this week. I'm gonna be able to live super cheap easily when i go to college haha.. This week it rained a lot and we had some pretty intense lighting and thunder storms... at one point a canal flooded the streets and me and Elder Knowlton found ourselves biking through basically a river down the street. The water covered our shoes as we were pedaling... definately an adventure. :)

On Friday, Elder Knowlton needed to go to the doctor for something, so we had to travel to Mandeville. We got on a bus (big van), and it took 45 minutes to get enough passengers to leave!! but we finally got going around like 3.... The doctor closed at 4:30 and we thought that it was only gonna be a 45 min drive, but... halfway there, the bus's front tire popped, so they unloaded us all off the bus so that they could change the tire. But when they went to get the spare... it was also flat haha great planning on their part. So we ended up stranded in the middle of nowhere for like 30 min. while the driver hitched a ride back to the nearest gas station to fill the spare up with air. This big rasta man with some huge dreds entertained us by conducting traffic and smoking a spliff haha By the time he got back it was 4:15, and we ended up missing the doctor. So we had to taxi strait back to May Pen.. what a waste of time!! But it happens So the next day we had to go again... and everything went smoothly. :) But it was quite the adventure.

Oh also, the Friday night activity this week was amazing!!.. So, last week, one of guys in the branch about my age asked me if he could borrow 500 Jamaican so i made him a bet that if he could take me down in wrestling, (I'd give him 3 two minute tries), then i'd give him 500 Jamaican.. but if he couldn't he had to make me a CD of his favorite music... so, all his friends heard about it, and wanted in too.. so i agreed. This week it went down. :).. I wrestled 7 of them.. one at a time in my church clothes haha... by the end, i was so exhausted that I couldn't lift my arms.. but they all owe me a CD (which i can't listen to until i get home :(... but thats life)... so ya, that was a blast!!! My clothes got so dirty!.. but i figure that i can just keep that shirt as my wrestling shirt if i can't get the stains out.. .. They were all pretty impressed with me by the end because they couldn't take me down, and hopefully we can start teaching some of them (only some of them were members) because we are all pretty tight now, and they don't think we're stuck up white boys any more lol... This computer's usb ports are all broken, so i'll send a picture of me after all the wrestling along with our sweet map next week when i use a computer with good usb ports.

We have been praying pretty hard this week for some of our investigators, and the other day, we saw the results of our prayer. We have been teaching a lady named Novia (she's about 20 years old)... and really her hang ups were that she didn't want to take out her piercings (she had a lip one, and multiple in her ears).. and she didn't want to get married (her and her boyfriend are living together for 4 years now and have a really cute baby girl).. but she had prayed and knew that what we shared was true, she just didnt' really feel ready to make the change... So we prayed really hard that she would be strengthened and inspired by God to do whats right, and this week, we went to have a lesson with her, and her piercings were gone and she told us she wants to get married so she can be baptized!! It was awesome! :) I know with all my heart that God answered our prayer. I am starting to recognize his hand in everything we do more and more often, as I slowly learn to be a better missionary. I'm so happy that i am here serving a mission, because I really can recognize the change that it's making in my life. I know the power and change that this gospel can bring in peoples lives and i'm so grateful that I have had the opportunity to serve a mission. It really is shaping the rest of my life. But, the time soon finish.. so til next week, :)

Love

Elder Kraus

ps.. keep writing!! I love the letters :)

Cooking Jamaican style

Hey everyone!

It is raining super hard right now.. I'm drenched emailing this. Today we had a zone P-day. We all met up in Portmore and played basketball for a few hours. It was sweet, and i got some new sun burn lines :) my arms now look like neopolitan ice cream. :) from my elbows down are brown, between my elbows and where my t-shirt ends is red, and the rest of me never see the sun so ... very white :).. I have the same effect on the back of my neck too. :) Its pretty goofy lookin. But basketball was a lot of fun, there were two zones there (Kingston zone and Spanish Town zone (thats us))..... We played zone on zone quite a few times, and we lost. But it was still fun. Some of the other Elders I met are pretty cool. Oh, and then we ate at burger king afterwords... that was a treat. :) I love Jamaican food, but getting an american hamburger rarely happens so i was lovin it. :).. I have fallen in love with the new steakhouse burger... I had my first one, and now I think i can't ever turn back. You gotta try it if you haven't. haha. After that we went to a store called Mega Mart because Elder Knowlton said I had to see it. When i walked in, I almost went into shock.. it had AC and it was basically a Cosco or Sams club.. I thought i was back in the US.. so we walked around and looked at all the cool things we couldn't buy... and then left haha Oh and on the bus ride home, I got stuck between this fat guy who was chugging a bottle of alcohol the whole way back, and the window... it was an interesting ride... i had a really weird conversation with the drunk guy.. he seemed to think that i was there to hear his whole life story and started to like confess crazy things to me.. so i just kinda pretended i was asleep when there was a break in the conversation and he slowly stopped talking to me. haha

But other than that, this week hasn't been too eventful. Me and Elder Knowlton have kinda been having a hard time finding places from peoples directions, so we made a giant map!! It covers the whole wall in our study room.. I don't have my camera, this week, but next week I'll send a picture. It was so satisfying to finish it. :) I think we'll have an easier way finding our way around now. Our area is huge! and is a really intricate complicated maze. But we're getting there.. We have still been doing a lot of tracting to find people who are willing to act on our message. At times its really frustrating, because what we can share really changes peoples lives, and makes it possible to make it to heaven, yet its so hard to find people who are willing to sacrifice to find out if its true and follow it... But we do have a lot of fun meeting people, and its even fun (more funny i guess) the ways we get rejected sometimes.. But the work progresses, slowly, but surely.

This week is going to be a cooking adventure.. Me, Elder Knowlton, and Elder Jones are pooling our money together to buy Jamaican foods, and we are going to be cooking Jamaican style for the week. :) I'm really excited. I love the food here. Especially rice and peas (rice and kidney beans cooked in a very special way) with curry chicken. Or chicken with cornmeal dumpling. :).. Basically, we should be eating well this week.. Its cheaper too.. We'll see how it goes

This week in my scripture reading, I read the Book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. I really love it, the story and the way that everything connects amazes me! Oh, also, here one of the major beliefs in a lot of the churches is what is called getting in the spirit. Basically its where someone stands up and starts to yell things in a "language" that nobody can understand and their eyes roll back and they start twitching and things, and sometimes they evey take off their clothes (no worries though, the priests and pastors always have a sheet ready to throw on people when this happens).. Its really creepy and looks like posession.. we were really curious where the belief that this is what the spirit does comes from, so we asked one of the ladies we are teaching that goes to one of these churches. She says that thats what happened on the day of Pentacost in the Bible, so we went home that night and studied it, and basically, they read like the first few verses of the chapter and stop there.. and if you read further it explains everything and what really happened.. It just amazes me though how people really can twist the scriptures and use it in whatever way they want... and nobody ever says anything... even if it doesn't go along with anything else in the scriptures. I am really grateful we have a living prophet to lead and guide us. I know with all my heart that the things we are teaching every day are true. My testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ grows every day as I study and teach. The blessings it brings to my life and the life of others is so apparent and amazing. I love it.

But my time soon finish so I have to go...
Likkle more

Love
Elder Kraus

Mud..... Rugby!!

Hey everyone!! Life this week was quite the adventure. Right now, we are struggling to find people that are really interested in the gospel, so we have been doing a lot of tracting to find new people to teach, but tracting here is a little different than in most places. haha.. here we don't knock doors... everyone here has gates that they keep locked around there house.. so what we do is stand at the gates and yell... if someone is home.. they'll either come out and talk to us.. or think we're CIA and tell us that nobody is home haha.. It's quite the experience.. Or.. we ride around and look for people that need help doing things and stop and see if we can help them. We found one lady pushing a shopping cart up a big hill, so we stopped, and i pushed the cart up the hill for her, and talked to her.. and now we are teaching her... so little things like that.. little acts of service have been a great way to find people that are interested in the gospel.. Here, they are usually just interested to see why two white men are in Jamaica helping them do things haha.. The reason its been tough lately though, is because its been raining a lot since i've been here (every day), and when its raining, people will not come out and talk to you...So that makes talking to people pretty much non existant... but, the rain did lead to one good thing.

On Saturday, it started raining really hard when we got in for dinner, and i wasn't really hungry, so i was looking out the window and saw 4 kids about our age playing rugby in this mud field haha... so i decided to go and play with them.. It was so fun!! They were pretty excited for me to come play, because they think that white boys are pretty worthless at everything.. so they put me on a team with three people and we played the other two kids... ... after one goal they switched up the teams and it was me and one of them verse the other three.. :) we dominated!! THey couldn't tackle me haha.. and at the end, it turned into like a wrestling match kinda... it was still rugby but it was like throw the ball.. then a huge free for all.. then whoever was left standing would run and get it and score.. my wrestling experience came in handy.. and we had a blast!.. Right before i left, one of the kids was like "well next time you have to come when i'm not worn out already haha"... But it was a lot of fun... none of them were really interested in the gospel.. but now we have some respect built up, so they won't chat us anymore..

One of my favorite things about May Pen though so far is the members. They're awesome!! I am already starting to love some of them. :) We have dinner with members on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday.. and we have a lunch appointment on Sunday too. :) Its great!! Jamaican food is so good.. rice and peas is amazing!! I love it :).. On Sunday, we went to lunch at the Sterlings, and then right when we were about to leave, it started rainging so hard!! So we were trapped there.. but we passed the hour by singing all our favorite songs. haha.. we had a lot of fun together. then we rode to the Weirs and had dinner with them.. It was nice.. Usually what people here do is make us plates of food and then give it to us and leave us to eat alone.. But at the Weir's they made a bunch of food, put it all in the middle and sat down and ate with us.. It was great! :) I loved sitting down and talking with them. They are amazing people. Oh and our Monday (pday) tradition here is to go to Juicy patties, and get lunch, then to play a game of pool.. Its been fun :) but time is short.. so til next week.. :)... keep writing me as usual, I appreciate it!!

With love Elder KRaus

A Juicy Patty

This is Jamaican fast food haha.. i can't really describe it in words.. you just have to try it.. Its nice though :)

Goodbye Port Antonio, Hello May Pen

Rain & Candlelight

Hey everyone! Dang, well this week has been all over the place. We started out the week really well, and met with some awesome people! :) Then it started raining on Tuesday morning, and rained all day (by the time we came in at night we were soaked to the bone (but still not cold haha)) and the power and water shut off at about 10 oclock. So, we just went to bed. We woke up the next morning, and it was still raining!! and still no power or water. (so we took bucket showers again haha :)) gotta love those, and then at ten in the morning we got a call from the assistants saying that there were flash flood warnings everywhere, so they told us to stay in for the day. I never realized how little we have to do if we don't go teaching until that day. haha.. I read all of 2nd Nephi and some of Jacob from the book of mormon and then got pretty tired, so i took a nap, when i woke up it was only like 3!! So me and Elder Ashton were trying to think of something to do, when we found an old chess set lying around:). so we played like 6 games of chess, but we soon discovered that chess wasn't really one of his many skills, so he got bored of that pretty fast, and we were stuck with nothing to do again..so i took another nap, and when i woke up it was dark out (only like 7 oclock though) so i got a candle and studied from the book of mormon until like 10 by candle light (it was fun, no matter how old i get, i think using a candle will always make things more exciting)... and then crashed.. keep in mind, its still raining and still no power or water.

The next day, it was still raining, and we heard that a flash flood had wiped out a bridge and like 7 houses in the mountains by Porty, and the assistants called us and told us to stay in again. So we had another day very similar to Wednesday... and then in the evening, the power finally turned back on!!! Still no water, but we had stored a lot in these five gallon barrels, so we were doing fine... but long story short, it finally stopped raining sometime during the night, and the water came back on, and we got to go teaching again on Friday, which is also the day we got transfer calls. We both thought that Elder Ashton would be getting transferred and that i would be staying, but the opposite ended up being true. I was being transferred to May Pen, and Elder Ashton was training again. I had really mixed feelings about it, because the past few weeks, we had really been struggling with investigators and finding good people, and then last week, everything finally started to come together and we had like 6 really solid people we were teaching, so i was really sad to find out that right when everything was finally coming together, i was getting moved, but i know the people there are in good hands. Elder Ashton's a champion. OH and i was also sad to leave, because i really just started to love everyone in Porty. It was feeling like home.... but i'm also very excited to be serving here in May Pen and meet new people :)... I love and hate change :)..

Saturday and Sunday, we watched conference all day, which was amazing!!! If you didn't see or hear all of it, i would highly recommend doing so. And then after conference, The Highgate missionaries, who watched conference with us in Porty, drove us to highgate where we spent the night.... to describe that night, i'm just gonna write my journal entry from Monday morning haha....

"Well right now, its 1:16 in the morning. I can't sleep. its freezing here!! (it was actually only like 65 degrees.. but i was freezing!!). Me and Elder Ashton are sleeping on the hard cold tile floor (actually he laid down the ironing board and is sleeping on that haha i wish i would have though of it first, cuz it looked much more comfortable)... But i think there is a huge party going on right outside the apartment because there is music blaring!! Ya, its gonna be a long night. Oh, and i woke up with a cockroach on my leg! Gross!! but no worries, he didn't live to see tomorrow. It took me 10 minutes, but i finally found and destroyed him.

Wooo!! ITs finally 6:30. :).... glad that night is over."

haha yup.. it was quite the adventure... but monday was transfer days, and now i'm in May Pen. I'm serving with Elder Knowlton. He seems like he's going to be really fun to serve with. We are in a 4 man house.. so thats also really fun :)... but my time is short... so i have to go... oh, one cool thing about here.. is that juicy patties has a pool table!! P-day just got better haha... But all is well in Jamaica... Keep the faith... and keep writing me :)

Elder Kraus

Bug Bites & A Farmers Tan!!

It's Conference Time!!!!!!

Hey everyone!!

This week has been pretty interesting and crazy!!...

On Tuesday, we went to do service for a lady that we are teaching. :) She asked us to chop her yard (mowing it with machetes).. and it was quite the experience. haha.. It took me about thirty minutes to get the angle and how to swing the machete to get the grass (and weeds) to cut right, but once I got it down, I rolled through that yard haha.. It was so exhausting though! My jeans changed color from sweat and I couldn't see through my stinging sweaty eyes by the end. Oh, and the next day i was sooooo sore. My right arm, back, and leg muscles were just done for. It was crazy hard. But i am now a yard chopping master, and i have the blisters to prove it :) Thats definately why Jamaican guys are in such good shape... they don't have lawn mowers!! Maybe thats the secret to the obeisity problem in the States haha.. blow up all the lawn mowers and give people machetes.

Wednesday was district meeting in the morning, and then we did a trade off with Ochi. I went to Ochi to serve with Elder More for a day. He's a really cool missionary, and i'd love to serve with him sometime in the future, but we'll see what happens. But while we were there, we taught this lady who was posessed by an evil spirit. It was really creepy/weird. Anytime we'd start teaching truth, she would just moan and scream and stuff. It was crazy!! but the rest of the trade off went normally, and we had some really good lessons.

I cooked my first rice and peas (rice and kidney beans jamaican style) this week too. :) it was amazing!! so good. but it takes forever.. so prolly not gonna do it too often.

ON the way up to Norwich (a 20 min bike ride) Elder Ashton's pedal broke off his bike about halfway up the S crank, so we started the long walk back to town and have been walking the rest of the week. Walking takes forever!! some of the places are like an hour walk away, so i'm super excited for when his bike gets fixed :). But til then, we're taking the two ankle express. haha.. So, since the bike broke, its been a pretty exhausting week. but, no complaints. :) thats life

I'm super excited for General Conference this Saturday and Sunday.. Definately watch all 4 sessions... thats my challenge for everyone for the week :).. Me and Elder Ashton spent about 3 hours hooking up this PC-to TV thingy at the church so that the people here could watch it and when we finally got it all hooked up, it wasn't working haha... we messed with it forever and finally called a guy, and he told us there was a remote, so we found it, pushed one button, and it was fixed... super awesome... haha.. the whole time i just wanted to call my dad cuz i knew he'd know what to do.. but we got it figured out :)

But my time is gone... So til next week

Elder Kraus

Exhausted!!!

HEy everyone!!

THe past two weeks have been pretty up and down. I can't remember how much i have written in the past couple weeks... so if some stuff is repeated... my bad...

A couple Mondays ago.. we had a zone P-day... it was pretty good..we got to play volleyball on the beach. :) it was a lot of fun... Some Jamaicans came and played with us too, and that made it a lot more fun, because it was a little more competitive. So that was a pretty fun day.

Oh haha... my bike broke again.. i had to get a new back gear block... the guy said that i was pedaling so hard that the metal parts on the inside broke off... but i think he was just trying to suck up to me so he could keep my business and also trying to cover for how crappy the parts they make in Jamaica are.. I swear sometimes they make them so that they will break and you'll have to buy more... but who knows.... I've started to notice something kinda weird too... i kinda have been smelling somthing that smelled kinda like yeast the last week or two.. and i couldn't figure out what it was.. and then i realized it was me!! My sweat is starting to smell like yeast... maybe its because... i'm damp all day... maybe i'm starting to rot haha... but if anyone has any clue why i would be smelling like yeast...lemme know :)

But nothing too eventful has been happening... We have been working super hard, and lately having quite a few really hard days... So, the last little while has been very slow... Time is crawling. I've just been exhausted all the time!! When i write in my journal at night, i fall asleep like two or three times just during the course of writing haha... But ya...nothing too eventful has been going on. Lots of hard work and biking.

We did meet this family that lives like a 20 min. bike ride away... and they told us to come visit them every day! :) I was way excited about that.. haha but the bike ride is just brutal!! I'm getting in better shape every day. But til next week...(i'm basically caught up now... so i will have more details and stuff starting again next week :))....but... everyone keep writing :)... I love the letters.

Elder Kraus

Linstead

k... well last week, i don't remember a whole lot, but i served for 3 days in linstead on a trade off with a really cool guy named elder montgomery. he has only been out for like a week. and i was way impressed with him for taking charge of his area after only a week. it was quite the adventure. we did find our way around an started to get to know the area pretty well by the end. but there are some way cool people in linstead. haha... i had fish for the first time in jamaica there, and it was rough.... lol.. they don't skin the fish or take the head off or anything here.. they just fry it up and give it to you.. so ya, that was an interesting dinner, oh, and then she gave us these mangos that were huge!! it was awesome!! they were so big!!! bigger than both my hands together... it was amazing!! best fruit i've had since i've been here. we met this guy named sheldon too.. he was really cool... he invited us over to teach him a lesson and he made me a sweet dancehall cd, but i won't be listening to that for two years. haha but he is a dj... so he made me one..i was pretty happy. oh and i got a machete to help people chop yard. i'll try to send pictures next week.

this week was awesome too... crap my time is up, but i'll email this week next week lol...

Beach Volleyball P-Day

Hey! It was great to hear from you all! :) I don't really have a lot of time today, cuz we are having a zone p-day in ochi (basically all the missionaries in the zone are meeting up here to play volley ball and stuff on the beach :)... it should be fun. We are emailing real fast before we go play, so this weeks email will come with next weeks. I'll explain then.

Sorry. :) Keep writing me.

Elder Kraus

Tommy!

Hey everyone!

THis week has been good. We are still meeting with TOmmy, and he doesn't cease to amaze me. :) He has been shot 9 times, and is now an ex drug dealer in Kingston! We tend to teach quite a few people who have at some point in their lives been shot or sold drugs. But Tommy is really awesome. He gets everything that we are teaching, and is super commited to do all of it. He is serioulsy the coolest guy. His house is between, ours and the church, and on Sunday, we walked to meet him at like 9. When we got there, he asked us to go get a bike for him, since his foot is still "all mash up" (he went in for x-rays today), so we were like ok, cool. BUt then when we got back he hopped on the bar between the seat and the handlebar sidesaddle, and was like lets go. haha so i biked him to church Jamaican style. (knees out with a passenger in the middle haha) ELder Ashton said it was quite the sight. BUt it was awesome.

Also, on Sunday, the whole mission presidency came to our branch and went to church here. Elder Ashton was super nervous cuz he was teaching combined relief society and priesthood. But he did well. It was a good Sunday. OH except for I crashed hard on my bike riding to an investigator after church. haha. We were riding to see this girl and I saw a member so i turned around to say hi, and right when i wasn't looking, i hit a pothole and went right over the handlebars... it was solid crash! haha i'll bet it was pretty funny to watch. but, i'm ok, not too banged up, my right hand is purple, but i think it is just bruised bad, i'll keep an eye on it, and just some scratches on my legs, but other than that i'm good. :)

Oh, and this week, we were 5 min late to seeing a car drive through a house!! We were coming back for dinner, and one of the houses close to ours had a car sized hole all the way through it. THe story is that someone got stuck in the ditch and was half in half out of the car pushing on the gas to try and get it out, and it finally got traction and just took off, right through the house and over a cliff.. The guy lived through the night, but sadly died this morning. :( But, my time is short. Everything in Jamaica is going good.. We are working super hard and even then at times it is like watching grass grow, but the work is moving foreward slowly, but surely. til next week..

Elder Kraus

My first Jamaican hair cut, in the power stance!

The path down Job's hill

Yum, Bite size fish!

Hey everyone!

This week has been kinda all over the place. We did a lot of trade offs, so the earlier part of this week was spent a lot in taxi's, but the later part of this week was sweet except for Saturday night. I wasn't feeling too good after lunch, but we went out and taught til dinner, and then i was feeling bad enough, that i couldn't go out any more, so i was up all night by the toilet. I'll spare you the details, but it was a rough night. Sunday we didn't want to miss church because of our investigators, and i'm the organist, so we got up and went and i started to feel better. By the time church was over I was basically all better :) So we went and saw a family up in a place called Fruitful vale. Its so sweet!! Its seriously a paradise on earth haha. The family up there is so cool. I love them so much! We had a really good lesson with them, and Caeser (the dad) got a little emotional at the end. The spirit was really strong. And Caesar seriously has some of the coolest ways at looking at things. I feel like we learned as much as he did. They are really awesome people. I'll send some pictures of them all next week (i don't have my cable now). But today was P-day and we went up there to chill with them for a while. They took us up this mountain called Job's peak (Caesar said it got its name because it takes the faith of Job to get to the top haha), and it was just gorgeous! It's the coolest place ever. There are springs all over to drink out of and really just everything about it is awesome! On the way up, i used his machete to chop myself a moses staff cuz me and Elder Ashton kept slipping haha.. it was pretty sweet, but it wouldn't fit in the taxi back, so i had to abandon it. Oh, while we were up there, Caesar caught these little mini fish. and brought them back down with us. I wasn't really sure what he was going to do with them, because they were tiny!! like smaller than my finger. and when we got back to his place, he fried them up.. didn't scale them, debone them or anything... and gave us a bowl of them haha... so i apprehensively just popped a whole fish (head and all) in my mouth and crunched it up. lol.. i wasn't too happy about it.. and they all were just dying at my face as i tried to choke it down. It was an adventure.. but the kids just ate them like popcorn!! lol... but it was a really good day, we had a great time with them.

Oh, and this week we also met this awesome guy named Tommy... When we were passing by him, he asked me for money (it happens a lot since we are white and look rich cuz of our church clothes), and i responded that i was gonna ask him the same question.. haha and then proceeded to explain we don't get paid to do this and basically bore my testimony. then we got into a realy good conversation with him about the church, and basically he was like.. i've been trying to stop smoking ganja (weed, marajuana.. ya), and want to change my life and get baptized.. we found out he lives really close to us, and he suggested that we just walk by and walk to church with him on Sunday haha.. He is awesome!!! I'm really excited to start teaching him.

But ya, it has been a great week :) Everyone keep writing me!! I'll do my best to keep writing also, but i have kinda limited time on P-days, and writing letters takes a long time, so don't get your hopes up too high. But i love to get mail. So write me lots!! :) But, its that time... I"ve got to get going Likklemore yeer? (i'll catch ya later in patwa haha)

I love you all

Elder Kraus

Natural Spring Water

Mind, Heart and Soul

Hey everyone!!

This week has been great!! First off, i gave my first blessing for the sick.. This member woman here was really sick, and was going to take the week off of work (which would really hurt financially in Jamaica), and had plans to go to the doctor then next morning to find out what was wrong. But we went up and visited her, and I gave her a blessing. I felt prompted to bless her that she would be healed, so i did, and then we left. The next day we were passing by her shop, and saw her inside! We stopped in and she said she had woken up that morning feeling completely better and went to the doctor anyway and he said nothing was wrong. So she was able to go to work. It was awesome!! A really neat experience. Oh and then also, this Sunday, me and Elder Ashton spoke in church (for the second time haha). We spoke on the sacrament, and i had prepared like a three page talk and went for 15 minutes and only got through half of it somehow haha. That was a new experience, so i was feeling pretty good, but then we got to priesthood meeting and we were sitting waiting for someone to get up and teach, and then the branch president came up to me and was like... "well, we have no one to teach, so Elder Kraus, can you teach on the Abrahamic covenant?" Wow.... that was an adventure for sure, i taught for an hour on something i didn't really know anything about... longest hour of my life. I think I learned more about it than they did, because i had to learn it while teaching it lol. It was interesting. Oh, and I am the branch "organist". They have a ghetto keyboard that has an organ setting that they have hooked up to some speakers, so i play for sacrament meeting every week. I am really wishing that i would have practiced my hymns more, but i'm getting better at sight reading. Its an adventure every week haha.

This monday, we travelled to Kingston for a mission conference!... Elder Anderson of the second quorum of the seventy spoke. It was way good!! He talked about a lot of things. But the thing he dwelled on the most was Mathew 22:37. He said that there was a specific reason that the words he used were mind heart and soul. There are different ways to love and serve God, and different types of knowledge. Mind knowledge, is like memorization, book learning. Heart knowledge is when we have a desire, and know in our hearts that it is true. and Soul knowledge is action, it is the actual changing and actions that come from the desire of heart knowledge. As we live the commandments, our soul knowledge will increase. He went a lot deeper into it, and sorry i wasn't able to explain it very well, but it was awesome!!

Oh and at the mission conference, i ran into a missionary named Elder Gardner. He is from Star Valley, Wyoming and said he was Lindsey Call's cousin!! I thought i recognized him, so that was way cool.. We talked for a while.

But, time is short... I've got to go... Til next week

Love Elder Kraus