First off.... GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) We are still gonna celebrate here even though its minus America, and minus fireworks haha... we're going to mandeville to eat at BK with the missionaries there (there aren't really any resturaunts in Santa that are American).... and then play some basketball, and then a member there is having a barbeque for the missionaries, and we're invited!! :) So it should be way good!! haha...
This week was epic!! But I'm gonna save the best for last... We did a trade off with Hopeton, and I was in Hopeton with a new missionary (Elder Hefner) He's a way cool elder, and it was a blast serving with him. We walked super far.... Hopeton has tons of hills, so it was a riot!! We must have hiked 10 miles minimum lol .... My legs are a little sore, and one pair of my shoes is now retired... there are literally no bottoms on them anymore.... its amazing how much shoe bottoms keep you from feeling rocks.. and how the lack of them means feeling every single pebble haha... They were struggling already, and then the hiking finished them off. lol... While I was there, we had dinner with Sister Powell again, and it was great!! She had me play piano for her again, and I think both of us really enjoyed it. There aren't any piano's in Santa Cruz, so any chance I get to play is pretty sweet... I played some hymns for her, and All of Me by Jon Schmidt.. :) I'm amazed I can still kinda remember it haha..
Oh, and I heard the most epic conversion story of my life while I was there from a recent convert named Arlene (I got to do the baptism interview for her daughter Tavia who was baptized a couple weeks ago :).... She said that one day, she was going out the gate, and down the road to walk her daughter to school and saw a piece of paper on the ground in the road... She didn't think anything of it though and went on her way. The next day, she was walking the ame route, and saw the paper in the same place.. haha she said that this time she talked to it as if it had life, "If you are still there when I pass tomorrow if the wind hasn't blown you away, I'll pick you up and read you." The next day, when she got up, the wind had blown it away... but right onto her gate at her house!! So she picked it up and read it. She said that it really uplifted her, and brightended her day, so she taped it on the wall in her house and read it every morning for couple months until Elder Trumpet and another elder came to her door. She said she was going to run them off, but something told her to invite them in.... When they came in and saw the paper taped to the wall, she said they freaked out and took pictures and stuff and when she told them that she read it every morning, they explained that it was a fragment of a page from The Book of Mormom, a book we use with the Bible. A few months later, after overcoming a lot of things, she was baptized, and her daughter too. :) The tiny piece of paper was a piece of a page from the Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 22:13-17), and it changed her life. :) so cool!!!! All her children are now being taught of the Lord, so it really applied to her too.. :) By small and simple means are great things brought to pass.
K... now for the most epic part of the week..... When I first got to Santa, there were about 35 people coming to chruch every week.... As we've been working really hard, and with the help of the Spirit, its been slowly growing each week... and this week, we encountered a serious problem.... There wasn't enough room for everyone!! haha!! :) So awesome!! there were 50 people there!!!! There just wasn't enough room in the sacrament room in the house for everyone, not even enough chairs (we were 2 short).... Some people had to sit outside, and me and President Durrant stood up for the whole meeting... hahaa... IT was awesome!! We had like 6 of our investigators that we've been working with there, and a lot of less active members we have been working with came back.... :) and the best part for me... was... BARRINGTON CAME TO CHURCH!!! It was amazing!!!! He received such a warm welcome back too, and it really was just the perfect Sunday. :)
THings here are going awesome, and I'm loving the missionarywork... :) I know that this is Jesus Christ's kingdom again on the earth...
Read the Book of Mormon!!
One Love
Elder Kraus
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