The Book of Mormon is true!

Hey Everyone!!!

This was a pretty hectic week... I'll start with the crazy stuff, and that go on to the awesome stuff :) haha

We showed up for my doctor appointment on time on Thursday in Kingston, only to find out that the doctor had forgotten to check his schedule, so he was nowhere near Kingston, and said it would have to be on Friday instead... It was pretty frustrating, because we had missed a half day of teaching to go in and get it done... (get my ingrown toe taken out)... I was pretty frustrated... and was for the most part able to stay cool about it and hold my tongue.... (though I'll admit... I did let a sarcastic, "well that was responsible of him.." slip out.. haha)... So ya, we had to go back in to Kingston on Friday night and get it fixed... and everything went good... no worries... I had 4 of these done in America before my mission ( I guess I'm a slow learner haha).. and the only difference in the procedure here is that the toe only stays numb for about 5 min. after the operation.... That was definitely a surprise...

Oh and this guy from BYU-TV was in Old Harbour for like an hour and filmed me and Elder Gayle riding our bicycle... :) He said that they were making a missionary movie that is coming out in spring or something.... and that we'd be on it... :) pretty sweet!!

So ya, on to the teaching things.. :)... It seems like the theme of our teaching this week, was answering the question, "so what you're saying is that this is the only true church... no other church is true?..." I don't know if all our investigators finally realized that that was what we are saying at the same time or what, but we answered that question a lot this week... and I thought about it a lot... It's not a very politically correct thing to say... But if our message is true.... then yes, this is the only church in the world that is led by Jesus Christ and has his power and authority to baptise.... and I know that it is true.... Its a pretty bold thing to say, but anything less wouldn't be entirely truthful.... My favorite thing about that though, is that, nobody has to take our word for it... The Lord has provided a book, the Book of Mormon, that anyone can read, and pray about to find out for themselves.... Anyone who won't do that is not an honest seeker of truth... because when a person reads the Book of Mormon, they will either find that its true... and all that we have shared is true... or its false.. and all that we have shared is a lie... There really is no middle ground.... It reminds me of Jesus Christ... Either he was the Savior of the world, or he wasn't... and many didn't ever take the time to consider the evidence that he was, jumped to rash conclusions and crucified their Savior... ... We see the same thing happening today... Either the Book of Mormon is true... and this is Jesus Christ's church, or it isn't... and as missionaries... we plead with people each day to just consider the evidence.... READ THE BOOK!! If nothing else... read the book, come to a conclusion about it, and take your conclusion to God.... Its so simple! :).. and our Salvation depends on it.... I love the part in 2 Nephi 33 where Nephi is writing his final things down, and he makes a similar challenge... believe in Christ.. and find out if these are his words!! :) I have such a strong testimony, that anybody who will honest read the Book of Mormon, and pray about it... will find out that it is true... :) and really that is our job as missionaries... Get people to read and seek answers from God.. :)

We went to a lesson on Saturday and when we got there, the lady and her mom, said that they hadn't gotten any time to read because they were so busy... (they were hard at work carrying a big pile of concrete blocks one by one from up the hill down to their house... )... and said that they wouldn't be able to meet with us... Instead of saying ok.. and leaving, I asked her to go get her Book of Mormon and we'd clear up some time for them... We set our scriptures down and spent about an hour running up and down the hill moving the pile of blocks.... :) and what she said to me when we were done really stood out... She said, "dang... you guys really want us to read this book!"... haha... I'm so happy she got the message.... The Book of Mormon is true, and we need to do everything we can to help people read it and find out for themselves... :)

I love this work... and I love being a missionary!! Its way hard, but I've never been happier or felt my testimony grow more than on my mission... If you ever want to know if something is good or not... sacrifice to live it, and you'll find out if its worth it..... :)

Everyone have a sweet week!

ONe love,

Elder Kraus

Trade offs in May Pen

Hey Everyone!!

Life here is bumpin as usual... Things are going great! This week was pretty crazy.. Tuesday we had planned to do a trade off with May Pen, and everything was going good... We caught a coaster to May Pen in the evening (which was so packed that everyone was standing up packed in like sardines.... literally haha.. no matter how hard the driver took a corner or hit the brakes, we were kept standing strait up without even having to hold on to anything haha... movement was nigh impossible :).. and by the time we reached May Pen, it was raining so hard that all transportation back to Old Harbour had ceased.... After meeting the May Pen Elders at the church, we found that we were all just gonna have to spend the night in May Pen... so Elder Gayle and Nelson taxied back to the house, while me and Elder Romney rode our bicycles back and got drenched!!! Like I'm pretty sure my bones are still soggy from how wet we were haha.. It was fun though, because it was just like when I was serving in May Pen and we used to race home from Friday night activity... We were flyin!! :) It was a pretty solid night... They have guitars, so we were able to play guitar and sing a hymn to start out the night, and we all did our 2nd companionship study together... It was sweet! :) Wednesday we started the trade off (me with Elder Nelson in May Pen and Elder Romney and Gayle went back to Old Harbour)... and it was a pretty solid day..... We had some good lessons and got some way good jelly's (green coconuts) from a recent convert (Rushane)...... But my great bicycle luck prevailed as Elder Romney's back axle broke (I didn't think I was that fat haha)...and we had to walk a bit... but I was able to jimmy rig it so we could make it back to the church and catch a coaster back to Old Harbour to end the trade off... It was a pretty fun day. :)

Thursday was amazing!! We went to Kingston for zone conference and it was sweet!!! I always learn so much at zone conference.... One of my favorite things that was said this time was how necesarry personal revelation is in this work.. One of the 12 apostles receives revelation for what mission we should serve in, the mission president and the assistants receive revelation on what area we serve in, and its up to us to receive personal revelation on who is prepared to receive the gospel, and what to share with them... :) it was pretty sweet... everything is done so that we can meet those that we are supposed to, and it is so critical that we are always seeking guidance from Heavenly Father on who that is... ... It was just an awesome zone conference... After the conference... me and Elder Gayle went to the doctor to get my ingrown toenail fixed... (i've had it for a while but can usally handle them by myself... but this one got pretty nasty and was bleeding and oozing stuff and just gettting pretty painful.... so we went to the doctor)... but he told me that it was too infected for him to operate, so he gave me some antibiotics to get rid of the infection that i'm gonna be takin for a week til I go back on Thursday this week.... but the good news is that I was reading in Preach my Gospel about the importance of talking with everyone at all times.. , and I was able to talk with the nurse who was cleaning my toe and she seemed pretty interested so the missionaries in Portmore (where she's from) are gonna be able to start teaching her.. :) so... mayble i was meant to get an ingrown toenail?? haha

Oh, and another good thing that came out of the toe, was that President Hendricks gave us a truck to use til its better.... . :) and Saturday we had an intense adventure with the truck... It had been raining hard for about a day.. and we were driving out to an appointment, and suddenly the water on the road started getting deeper and deeper and before I realized how deep it had gotten, it was too late to turn back... so I just kept the accellorator floored (luckily we were in 1st gear).. and we were able to make it through... but at the deepest part...the water came over the hood and was about up to the window!!! It was so deep!! .. It was pretty awesome haha... I was tempted to go back for round 2 so I could get a picture, but I figured that I would have a hard time explaining that one... if it broke down haha... so I just kept going..

. So ya, it was a pretty sweet week.... I definately am so happy to be out here doing the Lord's work... I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that anybody who will honestly read it and ask Heavenly Father if its true will receive an answer.. I've seen that happen over and over.... and I also know that the secret to happiness is losing yourself in the Lords work.. . The more that we think of ourselves, the less happy we are, but the more we focus on doing what the Lord wants, the more happiness and joy enters our lives.... I love this work!!! :) Til next week!!
One Love

Elder Kraus
(pics are that I'm not supposed to wear shoes til the infection goes down... so i get to proselyte in sandals!! and also the tie is one that Lindsey Sell sent me... shout out to ya lindsey!! :) ... and the other one is just a pic by old harbour bay... :)

What can I do to best please the Lord?

(pics: me on the way up to get some coconuts, yes, i can climb like an islander... :) and a pretty sweet sunset..)

Hey everyone!!

This week has been pretty good!!... Definately some pretty crazy stuff haha...

So I'll start out with the crazy stuff first: #1. Tuesday, we had an interesting start to the morning.... We were riding to an appointment, and on the side of the road we saw a completely naked crazy woman dancing and some other stuff... haha... what an awesome way to start off the morning right? haha it was pretty funny though... #2... There is an awesome member in the branch here who does fitness stuff, and I was taking to him a little bit, and he told us we can come work out with him in the morning... so we met him and rode to what we thought was gonna be a normal gym, and .... turns out, its this outdoor gym in the dirt that this rasta man put together.... and it was SWEET!! Even though it was pretty ghetto, we got a way good workout.... I was a little out of place, because I am white... and they were all huge... like steroids huge haha... but it was sweet!! I got to bench again, and that was the funniest part... They are all these massive guys, and they were only benching 140... like 20 times... and seemed to be struggling... like grunting and everything.. haha... so when it was my turn to go... they were like..., "you wanna take some off... sure you can manage..." i'm pretty sure i put them to shame, cuz I'm this skinny little white boy, in comparison and I put it up like 15 times haha.... They are huge, but i guess they aren't that strong because they were struggling!! haha... cuz 140 isn't that much weight.... It was way fun though, and we are gonna be going there more regularly... :) So ya, that was pretty much all the crazy stuff..... oh, one more thing... i woke up the other morning with bumps all over that itched like crazy! not sure if they were bug bites or hives... but they are pretty much gone now... but that was kinda nuts....

Other than that though, it was a great week! We have been having lessons with tons of awesome people and seem to be finding more amazing people every day!! :) We are definately being blessed here in Old Harbour... I love sharing the gospel with people... It really is such an awesome experience, and my testimony grows every day.... One thing that I have definitely learned on my mission is the power of simple acts of service... THe other day, we went to have a lesson with a 19 year old girl who we had talked with on the road on the way to a lesson, and she warned us that her mom wasn't too fond of us... but Heavenly Father was watching out for us.. because when we showed up, her mom was sitting on the ground shelling peanuts to sell, and I walked in, cracked a joke and got here laughing and sat down in the dirt and started shelling peanuts with her... she was pretty surprised, but it really softened her heart, and we were able to have a great lesson with the whole family and help them overcome some misconceptions that they had about the church... :) It really was a great week... This week my testimony also really grew of having the attitude of, what can I do to best please the Lord, rather than what is allowed.... :) It has really helped me throughout my whole mission, and definitely helped me this week....

So, everyone have an awesome week, and always keep reading the book of mormon!!! :) It brings so much peace and purpose to life.. :)

One love

Elder Kraus

Come Listen to a Prophets voice

Hey everyone!

Time is way short due to a zone p-day today... so.... I would encourage everyone to watch conference and really study what the prophets and apostles have to say.... It is such a blessing to have modern revelation today, and we must take advantage of it.... Listening and acting on their words will strengthen your testimony if you already have one (mine grows each time of the beautiful simplicity of the plan of salvation and that there is a modern day prophet).... and if you don't have one, you will be able to gain one by hearing and acting on the words of the prophets.... ... so ya.. have an amazing week... and til next week!!

One Love!!

Elder Kraus