Hey Everyone!!

Short one this week.. but everything is going great!! I found out some great news!! Kadine's (who i baptized in Old Harbour) mom got baptized!! :) So cool!! So now the whole family is in the gospel!! I love it.. :)

As for missionarywork for us this week.. things went pretty well.. We didn't get to teach as much as we would have liked to because we ended up having to schedule and change some flights and things for zone conference, so that took a while... Waiting on hold for orbitz customer service takes forever!!!!. but we did have some great teaching experiences... Anita and Sabrina came teaching with us this week and did great!! Their testimonies are so strong and immediately invite the spirit as they share them in lessons.. :) It is so cool to see that for me..

We did a trade off in Santa Cruz on Wednesday, so it was pretty cool to see some people I know again.. and work with the elders there..

Oh and Monday we had our P-day and the branch had a fun day... so it was perfect.. :) We spent the day at the church playing soccer and volleyball with the members.. :) So much fun!! I love sports!! There have to be sports in the celestial kingdom haha

Well... thats about it for this week.. super busy.. and lovin life!! :) I know that living the gospel is the happiest way of life because its the way that our Heavenly Father asks us to live... Live long and prosper!!

One love!

Elder Kraus

Goodbye ELder Hoffman!

Hey Everyone!!

This week was crazy!!! Monday we had P-day... We deep cleaned the house and Elder Hoffman wrapped up any loose ends he needed to before going home...

Tuesday we had Elder Hoffman's last teaching day, and had some great lessons.. :) It was a great way to finish off his mission.. I still can't believe he's home!! Holy cow!! At one point during the night.. We were coming down off Red Hills from a teaching appointment, and stopped for 5 minutes at the lookout (it overlooks all of Kingston and the harbour).... I can't imagine how Elder Hoffman was feeling during that time.. because as we were standing there and just reflecting... I had a lot of emotions go through me.. I can't believe that I only have 2 and a half months left... I felt excited.. but a little bit sick about it... There is so much work to be done.. and I felt for a minute like the 3 Nephites... I just want to stay and continue to build the church in Jamaica for much longer because of how much work there is to do... There are still so many people who haven't heard the gospel!! And it needs to be shared with them... but.. I'm also really excited to go home and start school again and do all the things that come with that... and see my family.. :) It was really weird... a LOT of mixed emotions.. and I still have time left!! I can't imagine how its gonna feel when its my last day... But as for now.. I'm just gonna keep workin my tail off til its finished...

Wednesday, we drove to transfers... got everyone switched and headed to their new areas... and came back to the mission home for the last night with Elder Hoffman and Roberts..for their interviews, dinner, and final devotional and everything.. . My new companions name is Elder Randle.. He's a really cool guy from California.. We're both going back to BYU in the fall.. So that should be fun.. :) haha... One funny thing at transfers.. thats kinda a tradition.. is before Elder Hoffman gave Elder Randle the phone.. he made him get down on one knee and "dubbsed" him with it.. Like when a knight is dubbed..haha it was way funny.. ... uh.. ya.. you prolly just had to be there..

Thusday we had a full teaching day (other than scheduling our flights for zone conferences coming up at the end of the month)... and after thursday is when the week got crazy!!

So, the new missionaries usually fly in on Tuesday night.. and we bring them to the mission home where President Hendricks interviews them and we help him assign them which trainer they're gonna go with.. and they'll just come to transfers with us on Wednesday... Well.. There was a tornado in Texas, so their flight wasn't allowed to leave the ground.. They got stuck in texas for 3 days.. and didn't end up getting here til Friday afternoon.... Well.. funny thing bout that, is that President Hendricks had to fly to the Dominican Republic early Friday morning for a mission presidents seminar, and didn't get back til Sunday... So he had us play the role of mission president for a few days.. We were way nervous!! So.. Friday, we went and picked up the new missionaries (there are 7), brought them back to the mission home, ate dinner together.. and me and elder Randle had "get to know you" interviews with all of them... We were way nervous.. but it went well... and after the interviews, we had the task of assigning them which trainer they would go with.. and honestly, it was a really cool experience.. After discussing it. and praying, we felt the quiet assurance of the Holy Ghost that we had each new missionary paired up with the trainer that the Lord wanted them to have... .. :) I definitely am grateful for the experience.. I have such a strong testimony that every missionary is called to the area that they're in by inspiration... ... Well.. after discovering which companion each missionary was gonna have, we brought out the map.. showed each of them where they were gonna be going.. and called it a night...

Saturday morning, we went back up to the mission home, and held an orientation meeting to let them know the expectations and everything.. ... and drove them off to their new areas... We had the office elders help us out.. but we still ended up driving to Spanish Town, then through Highgate to Port Antonio, to Montego Bay and back to Kingston... it was a LONG day driving the windy roads..... It took all day...and made road trips back home look easy!! I'm definitely excited to see long strait highways again.. though, it won't be nearly as exciting..

Church on Sunday was great!! :) Anita was confirmed a member of the church and given the gift of the Holy Ghost.. and is super excited to continue to learn and grow... Oh, and Sabrina gave a talk in church!! It was incredible!! :) It's really cool to see how much she's grown...

So... ya.. it was a really busy week.... and P-day today is gonna be great!! The branch is having an activity at the church.. so we're gonna go check that out.. It should be fun!!..

Well... Everyone have a great week!!

One Love!

Elder Kraus

Blessing Kylie Rose & Anita's baptism

Hey Everyone!!

This week was incredible!! Starting with last Sunday....:) We've been working with a member here who's been inactive for quite a while.. and she's been coming back for about a month and a half now.. :) and last Sunday she had her baby Kylie Rose blessed.. and asked me and Elder Hoffman to participate in the baby blessing... It was such a neat experience.. I'm pretty sure I wanna name my first daughter Kylie Rose haha.. such a pretty name!!

Second highlight: We did a trade off with the Kingston zone leaders this week, and I was with Elder Forde in their area...and honestly, the day started off pretty rocky... We had 2 appointments in a zinc ghetto (August Town) and both of them fell through, so there we were with 2 hours to go street contacting.. and it was raining haha.. well.. we went to work and started talking to people.. and the second guy we talked to ended up being awesome!! He was working on fixing a computer, so we went up and started talking to him about it, and eventualy tied it into religion and he asked a perfect question.. He said, "I have one question when it comes to religion that nobody has been able to answer yet..... " He read to us John 10:16 where Jesus says that he has other sheep which are not of this fold and that He'd bring them also and they'd hear His voice... and then asked.. "what is he talking about here?" We both got very excited and taught him about the Book of Mormon and how it was a another testament of Jesus Christ from the people who lived on this side of the world.. We taught him that Christ came and visited them after his resurrection and we read 3 Nephi 15:21 with him.. where Christ tells the Nephites that they are they of whom he said "other sheep I have which are not of this fold" .. :) It was an incredible experience.. The restored gospel of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon fill the gaps that typical Christianity and the Bible leave.. Jesus Christ full gospel is here.. 100% truth... And I love testifying of that...

Highlight 3: Sister Segree gave me a jackfruit.. which is like an alien pod that is amazing!!! look up pics of it on google.. haha.. It looks weird but tastes incredible!!

Fourth Highlight: General Conference was incredible!! I know that those who spoke really are called of God to be leaders in His kingdom.... I felt the spirit testify so to me during the whole conference... :) There were so many incredible talks.. Many which applied directly to those we're teaching... One thing that I'm excited to try from now on... was in the April Liahona.. It said that the most recent conference ensign should be right next to our standard works and we should study it accordingly... I'm excited to get the most out of all the talks.. ::)

Last but certainly not least.. ANITA GOT BAPTIZED!! :) Originally, we had set a baptism date of March 31st with her... but she wanted a little more time, and moved it to April 30th... .. She's been coming to church every week for about a month and a half now.. and knows its true, but just wanted a bit more time to learn everything... well.. recently the branch started holding family home evening on Tuesday nights, and Anita came on Tuesday and played a big role in it... There was so much fun and love there from all the members, and it was really cool to see her being so involved and loved.. :) Wednesday we got a text from her saying that she wanted to do it this Sunday.. :) She passed her baptism interview and the baptism was incredible!! She asked me to baptize her and we had the service Sunday morning at 9.... (we told everyone 9 so that they'd be there by 9:30 haha.. they're running on JST (Jamaican Standard time.... about 30 min late ha)....)... Well, we showed up at 8:35 to prepare everything and saw the most wonderful sight... Anita was already standing at the gate in her dress eagerly waiting for us... :).. The service was great. and there was a lot of member support... Members came with us to almost every lesson we had with her as we were teaching her, and Honestly I think that made the biggest difference.... Feeling the love of the members..... This is Jesus Christ's church and as members we all need to show and feel the love He would feel for each of God's children... :) Never underestimate the power of simply loving someone. At the baptism, Anita bore her testimony, and i wish everyone could be there to see the joy.. She simply exclaimed, "I'm So HAPPY!!" It was an incredible weekend richly filled with the Spirit of the Lord... I love this gospel and I love playing a part in the Lord's work..

Everyone have an amazing weekend and don't forget to be reviewing and studying the conference talks over the next 6 months.. and don't forget.. this gospel is about LOVE!!

One Love!!

Elder Kraus

(ps.. the last picture is me with Nardia and Kylie Rose)..

Hiking up in Holywell & Searching in Wicky Wacky!

Hey Everyone!!

Dang.. so last P-day.. we went hiking up in Holywell again.. and it was incredible!! We hiked a ton!! It's so beautiful up there.. one track trails through the jungle and mountains.. :) I love it... and it was cold!!!! like low 60's!! :) it was great!! kinda chilly though... especially cuz we don't have much tempurature swing here... its always in the 80's or 90's... so i've adjusted to that... haha.. thankfully i'm coming home in the summer.. or i'd surely die.. :)

Honestly.. this week was just solid!! We've been working with lots of cool people.. :) Anita is doing incredible, as is Jackie.. and the recent converts here are doing great as well!! We've been taking members teaching with us almost every day.. and its been a lot of fun... We're really good friends with a lot of them now.. :) Especially Sister Segree who fed us dinner on Thursday... :) Some dang good chicken alfredo!! :) Members really are the secret to the misionarywork going forward quickly... as soon as someone learning about the gospel has a friend in church, they progress much quicker and when they do get baptized.. they stay active.. because they have friends in the gospel... So... make sure and be good friends with the recent

converts!! :)

Story of the week from my journal: " we had a cool experience looking for a less active member in "Wicky Wacky" today... Its a huge neighborhood with basically no house numbering and we were looking for a guy whom we knew nothing about except his name and that he lived somewhere in the neighborhood.... like looking for a needle in a haystack!!! except... the Lord knows exactly where the needle is... :) we happened to run into a couple walking and as we started talking to them, we found that they lived in the same house as the guy!! :) He wasn't home at the time, but now we know where he is.. The Lord knows each one of us personally and will do what it takes to help us return to Him... we just have to do our part... We are the Lord's hands here.."

I love being a missionary, and I love the people here.... I love the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and how much happiness it brings everyone... :)

Last but not least.. i'll leave ya with my favorite definition of faith: Trusting in the Lord enough to do things His way and trusting that everything will work out for your good if you do....

So.. continue to do things the Lords way, and be happy.. :) like McDonalds says.... I'm lovin it!! ;)

One Love

Elder Kraus

Trade offs in Ocho Rios & Old Harbor

Hey Everyone!!

Short one this week... Things are going great!!

Highlights of the week: we did a trade off with the Ocho Rios Elders on wednesday... So that was amazing... And on Friday we did a trade off with Old Harbour.... So cool!! We had lessons with 3 of the people who got baptized when I was there (Demetry-Ann, Jeromey, and Atanya).. and they're all doing incredible!! :) Jeromey still has his sights set on a mission... :) So cool... oh and they had a baptism w/ us there... :) Her name is Stacy, and me and Elder Gayle found and started teaching her when we were both serving there, and taught her for about 3 months.. Well.. they've been teaching her ever since, and she got baptized on Saturday.. :) I was able to be one of the witnesses.. So cool.. :) Oh and Elder Barker (one of the elders in old harbour) is from England... so after the trade off, I was stuck in a fake English accent for a couple days haha..

But ya... Life is good!! I'm lovin it.. Lots of people to teach, lots of good times, and lots of love.... Everyone have an incredible week!!

One Love!

Elder Kraus

Kadian and Emmy / Be an Example

Hey Everyone!!!

Well... I don't have too much time today at all.. But this week was incredible!! I honestly hate sending these emails because so much stuff happens every week, that I never can decide what stuff to write! haha.. especially when I have limited time.. ..

Well, as for people we're working with... things are going amazing!!! Anita has a baptism date for March 31st and is working really hard to be prepared by that day (She's a girl that we just invited as we passed her in a lane, and turns out she's good friends with a member and was super prepared for the gospel.. ) The power of just opening your mouth... :) It's awesome.. Like Elder Holland said.. Satan can succeed if he can simply bind the tongues of the faithful... So.. open your mouths and invite your friends!! :) Everyone else is coming along great as well!!.... It would be imossible to keep you updated on everyone.... so I shant try haha... but everyone's doing great!! We've got so many people to work with right now... We've been really focusing on helping members fulfill their missionary responsibilities and taking lots of them teaching with us... and lots of success has been following.. Like for example.. today's just Monday, and we're already booked til Saturday!! :) It's awesome!!

Two cool things that happened this week... .. First we went and worked with the Santa Cruz elders for a day, and while there, we went and saw Kadian.. a girl that me and elder Hoffman found when we were serving there... we were still teaching her when I got transferred.. and she's doing great!!! She has a baptism date for sometime in the coming 2 weeks.. :) so thats way exciting!! and Second.. Emmy (Demetry-Ann's sister) from Old Harbour called me yesterday.. (me and Elder Gayle taught her the whole 3 months I was there).. and told me that she had decided to be baptized finally and wanted to specailly inivite me to her baptism on Saturday.. :) I'm so excited!! It's soo cool seeing that even if we don't see immediate success at whatever we do, seeds are planted that can/will continue to grow.. :) I love it..

Funny Story for the week... So, we were at a members house eating dinner, and there was a lady there that we didn't know... so we started talking to her, and she told us that she wasn't a member but was interested in learning more about the church... So we had a great discussion with her.. and she kept asking these amazing questions and things... that showed she knew a ton about the church.... well... long story short.. the lady was actually a member that was visiting from America and she totally punked us haha... It was pretty funny.. :)

Words of exhortation for the week: This is the true church of Jesus Christ on the earth again... It's his Kingdom!! People look at how members act and judge the whole kingdom on it... So act at all times like you should...A lot of times here people will make general statements about Americans because of their experience with one American... Their view of America is totally based on their contact with one American... Its the same thing with this gospel... This isn't just a church.... we are citizens of Jesus Christ's Kingdom... Don't ever say or do anything that would make people think anything bad about the Kingdom.. The world's view of this kingdom is determined by how they see the members of the kingdom acting.. Be an example at all times!! If you aren't, your actions could keep somebody from becoming a part of the only kingdom in the world that will be successful in the long run.. and you don't want that on you.. It's so sad to have people say... "oh that church can't be true, I've seen how the members act.." Represent Jesus Christ like you promised at baptism!! :)

Everyone have an amazing week... and live it up!!! I love my life!!

One Love!

Elder Kraus

I Love Being a Missionary!!

Hey Everyone!!

This week was incredible!! Sabrina's baptism went great on Saturday!! There were over 50 people there and the service was great!! So much support from the branch! :) Her dad, President Singh, was able to baptize her, and both of them along with Sister Singh (her mom) were just glowing they were so happy.. :) It was a really sweet experience to be able to be a part of bringing so much happiness to a family.. Sunday was equally incredible as Sabrina was confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost in sacrament meeting, and as if that wasn't enough to make the day amazing.. Venice came to church along with 3 of our other investigators... :) and still the day continued to get better... Right after church, Brother Brown was baptized... We had a recent convert, who pretty recently received the priesthood do the baptism, and it was awesome!! :) Sister Brown was also really excited to finally see her husband getting baptized... :) It was an incredible weekend...

The rest of the week has been great as well... Tons of cool experiences, and great lessons... We're finding a lot of really cool people to teach, and the ones that we have been teaching are coming along great!! :) Oh and Sabrina came teaching with us this week with another cool guy in the branch.. :) It was amazing to hear her bear her testimony in lessons...She's doing great! :) On Wednesday, we went to district meeting in Port Antonio, and took some sweet pictures overlooking the ocean... :) but.. I don't have too much time left to email... so... I'll just jump to one of the cool experiences this week..

Each week, President Singh, gives us 5 less active people who he's never met to go find... Sometimes they've moved, or the address is too vague, so we can't find them... One of our names this week was a girl named Kadian, and her address was super vague.. (Sterling Castle Heights).. which is pretty much a whole mountainside... super spread out and tons of people... Finding her would be like finding a needle in a haystack.. .... So.. we drove up there and started walking around and asking people if they knew her... (which is sketchy because sometimes.. even if they do know who we're looking for, they'll lie to us because they think we're CIA)... After about an hour of talking to people and finding that nobody knew her or where she lived, we decided to leave... As I was driving out of the area, I saw a lady in the rear view mirror and felt prompted to talk to her before we left... So I pulled over and we walked the distance back to talk to her.. Wehn we asked if she knew Kadian, she smiled and said that it was her daughter!! :) and told us where she lived.. We went and Kadian was home.. and so surprised to see us!! It'd been 5 or 6 years since she had any contact with the church and when we tried to set up a return appointment she said that she'd love for us to come back, but she lived with her uncle who didn't really like religious visitors... and she didn't know if he would welcome us coming... We asked her if we could meet her uncle right then.. and she hesitatnly took us around back to meet him... He was back there working on building a house, and instead of talking about the gospel at all with him, we just asked if we could come back and help him work on the house.. :) He eagerly accepted the help and we're seeing them again Monday morning.. :) It was pretty cool how it all worked out... We may not be able to find a needle in a haystack... but Heavenly Father always knows right where we should go.. :)

I love being a missionary.. especially recognizing the times that the Spirit guides us through our thoughts and feelings.. and I love working with the Lord to prepare the world for the second coming...

Basically... I love my life! :)

Everyone have an incredible week!!

One Love!

Elder Kraus