The church here in Port Antonio!

Hey Everyone!!

I got into Jamaica just fine on Tuesday evening and was picked up by the mission president at the airport. He is a really cool guy. We chilled at his house, had interviews and then we got assigned to our mission areas and companions. I am serving in Port Antonio. It is a beautiful place!! But for the record, Jamaica is nothing like cool runnings haha. Driving to Porty (thats what the Jamaicans call it) was an adventure. I literally was scared we were going to die a couple times, but we got here safe. I would try to explain the driving, but it would be impossible to explain how crazy it really is. But the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, and you drive on the left side of the road (there aren't really lanes or road signs anywhere). You just kinda have to know where to go. That is another interesting thing about here. Nobody has addresses. You just have to know where to go. Like if we ask someone where they live a typical answer would be: over the bridge, take a left after you hit the fifth pothole, and then take the trail up through "the bush" to my house. It's crazy!! But anyway, when we got here (me and Elder Ashton, my first companion), we went to the house, dropped off my bags, and then left and started teaching people. It was a busy day. I unpacked when we got back for the night. The apartment is...interesting. There isn't any AC, so its usually like 90 degrees haha (I haven't stopped sweating since I've gotten here) i'm kinda getting used to being damp all the time, and its a pretty normal place except it would be hard to find a place as run down in the states, but i am honestly thankful that we have it, especially when i see where other people here live. People here usually live in places they have made out of scrap metal and sometimes if they are lucky, they have plywood, and the occasional person has a house built out of cement. But I am very happy that we have a place as nice as we do. They literally have nothing here, and they get by. It is really humbling. I feel really bad when people ask me for money, because we barely have enough to get our food and stuff for each month, so we don't have any to spare.

I haven't had a problem waking up in the mornings because there is no hot water here. My usual morning routine is: i roll out of bed at 6:30, work out til 7, and then go to the shower and turn the water on and watch it run for like five min while I get the guts to get in. It takes my breath away every morning haha. Definately wakes me up. Then I cook my heart healthy daily bowl of oatmeal (cereal is a little too expensive for me) with a banana in it. Then we do personal study for 8 til 9 and companion study from 9 to 10. Then the proselyting day starts. Thats usually when the day gets interesting.

My first day I had a really hard time teaching well because I couldn't understand what most people were saying. They speak a mixture of patwa (kinda a weird dialect thingy), and broken English. I'm starting to get the hang of it now (at least understanding it). I can't really speak it. Some patwa words are whagwan (whats going on), Madea (i've just been chillin), oh and they say me instead of I, so like they would say me soon come instead of i'll come soon. Its interesting. OH and we have a car til this wed. After that, we are biking and walking everywhere. Oh one more random thing... here there is music everywhere!! i love it!! THey have these big speaker walls in the street and basically everywhere you go there is music playing. But here are some of the weeks interesting stories.

We were walking to a meeting with an investigator, and these three ladies stopped us, and we somehow got on the topic of girlfriends and sex and stuff. They asked us all sorts of...... interesting questions and they totally didn't believe us that we hadn't and didn't have sex til we were married. They are very up front about that kind of stuff here. The mindset here is that if you kiss someone, it is impossible to not do anything else. When we teach the law of chastity, it is always one of the most interesting discussions haha.... Another time, we were having a discussion with an investigator and committed her to be baptized. It was a great lesson!! but we started talking about going to church and she showed us that she had a dogbite on her ankle and couldn't walk. So we told her we would pray for her and she would get better by next Sunday. And she said, bless me now. So we were gonna start to explain to her about priesthood blessings and then she just stopped us and said no, you have to hold my foot and say a prayer. We tried to explain that it wouldn't make a difference if we just said a normal prayer or held her foot while we said a prayer, but she was so stubborn, so finally we were just caved. We held her foot and said a prayer. haha It was hilarious!! Oh and another person we were meeting with (Reid) showed us that he had been shot twice, cut open from his belly button to his chest, and then buried alive, and he lived!!!! Lots of interesting stories. On a little more of a sad note, we were teaching one member and her family about the temple because she asked, and I felt so bad, because if they want to go to the temple here they literally have to sacrifice everything. They want to go so bad, but to them, it seems more like a dream than anything. Most of them will never have the chance. So, I encourage everyone that can go to a temple to do so as often as possible, because we are so blessed to have a temple that we can make it to.

Church here was also quite the adventure. Me and Elder Ashton were the only speakers this Sunday for sacrament. We spoke on temples. We only had like an hour to prepare our talks and we had to take up the whole meeting!! But it went surprisingly well. After sacrament meeting, me and Elder Ashton are the gospel principle teachers too haha. But the most interesting was priesthood. Brother James was the teacher, and he spoke on the priesthood and keys of the priesthood, and it broke into a big argument. Its a good thing me and Elder Ashton were there to clarify the doctrine, or it would have broke into a fullscale riot!! haha I can see how all the different churches there are today might have formed.

Oh, we did service once this week too. We helped the Davis family tear down their old house and build a new one. It was awesome!! IT was raining the whole time, and the Davis's have some younger boys. There was a small muddy trail between the two houses through the jungle that is very steep at parts, and after carrying a load of stuff up to the new house, I was "racing" the ten year old boy back, and i totally wiped out and got all muddy. He couldn't stop laughing haha... They say i "dropped" and got all muddy. But they all really like the "new one". Sister Davis said, "I like the new one, he knows how to work" haha... It was a good day. I am loving it here. We have four people with baptism dates right now, so i'm super stoked for them. :)... But ya, the work is going great here. I was going to send some pictures this week, but i left my camera in the car, and we don't have long, so i'll just have to send them next week. Get excited Oh and i'm still a little unsure about the mail situation, but i know that i will only be getting it like once ever month to month and a half, but keep sending it. :) i'd love to have a big stack to read, so if you don't get a response from me for a while don't worry, thats why. I'll write as often as i can :)

Less then a week and off to Jamaica!!!

This week has been great!! I am seriously loving it here. The food is still not the best... Its kinda hard not to get an upset stomach haha. I eat a lot of fruits. Cuz thats about all that doesn't give you gas haha..

The fourth of July was awesome!! We had a fireside about how the restoration came to be. The reformers like Martin LUther and JOhn Calvin along with the founding fathers of this nation truly were inspired men. Without them, the restoration wouldn't have been possible. They definately paved the way for the restoration. After the fireside, we got to watch the fireworks. IT was great!! We got to stay up til 11:30!! Except we still had to get up at six thirty the next day. haha.

The more time I spend here the more I love being a missionary. I feel so good!! Its awesome. :) I'm amazed to see how much I am growing and its only been a week. I guess doing church things 24/7 will work wonders for you. This week we have been teaching and learning the plan of salvation. It has been a really good experience. I have really gained a testimony of it. It is really great to know where we came from, why we're here, and where we're going. It's also so nice to know that this life is just a step on our way to living with our Father in Heaven again. It makes the small things we go through like worrying about money and small things like that seem very trivial. The only things that matters is coming to know our savior and having faith in him and striving to be the best we can be. I know if we do this that everything will work out for us. I have been having some great experiences with Elder Mackey learning and teaching the plan of salvation. We really teach well together, and have been able to teach some powerful lessons. I love all the guys in my district. :)

Another cool thing we had was the devotional last night. There is no way the Book of Mormon isn't true. They have 60-70 pages of the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon in the Church archives. The ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT. Handwritten by Oliver Cowdry as dictated by Joseph SMith. The Gettysberg address was revised 5 times and it is only two paragraphs, and was written by an educated man (Lincoln). The Book of MOrmon is 531 pages long, and had no revisions made. THis can be seen in the original manuscript mentioned above. There is no way that an uneducated man could produce a book 531 pages long, strait through in 70-80 days, and not revise it at all with out the power of God. The Book of Mormon was translated by the power of God and is revelation from God. I know its true.

What else has been going on..... OH, we have an hour of gym every day. Thats always a blast :)... BUt not a whole lot is new. This will be my last email until I am in Jamaica. We leave Tuesday the 13th at 3 a.m. And then we'll be in Jamaica at like 4 p.m. I am so stoked!!!!! :) :) So as of like Friday... Write to the Jamaica address rather than the MTC one. I love everyone!! Thanks for the letters :) Write me lots! and sorry if i don't have time to write you. JUst check on here to follow how i am doing and keep writing me. I'll try and write, but I'm very busy. Love Everyone

Elder Kraus

Hey family!! Our Preparation day is on Wednesday's here, and i've been busy all day.. These computers are terrible haha...... The keyboards do double periods and the enter key doesn't work.. So thats that...... Life is going great here.. The MTC is definately a busy place.. Our average daily routine is as follows.. Me and the other Elder's going to Jamaica get up thirty minutes early at six so that we can get our workout in (pushups, sit ups, and pull ups, and the occasional jump roping).. THen we get ready for the day, and breakfast is at 7.. Then we seriously spend all day learning and teaching out of preach my gospel.. Oh and we do have an hour for gym each day.. There is a huge field by the temple and a gym for us to use...... We play basically every sport.... We switch it up quite a bit.. Right now, Team Jamaica is the soccer champions (me and the three other Elders going to Jamaica).. :) There is an Elder from Alabama (Elder Mackey), and Elder from Canada (Elder Trumpet), and an Elder from Arizona (Elder Kartchner) I love them all.... They are great guys!! THe days here are really long, but we learn so much that it is totally worth being exhausted.. I'll admit that the first few days that I was here totally overwhelmed me.. I felt like I didn't know anything.. It was really an eye opener, but they said that is how every new Elder feels, and I am starting to get used to the routine.. I know that I truly am learning by the Spirit, because there is no way that I could learn this stuff this fast,and remember it on my own.. One thing we do here that helps a lot is to teach a ton!! We have "investigators" daily that we contact and teach the first lesson (that is what we are finishing up this week).. The first few times me and Elder Mackey (my companion) taught, we did terrible. We stuttered a lot, and it didn't go very well, then I was reading in preach my gospel at night and realized what we were doing wrong.. Preach My Gospel says that if you will really pay attention to the investigator, and not think of what you are going to say next, the Spirit will bring things to your mind to say.. The first few times teaching, we had totally just been thinking of what we were going to say, so we prayed and promised that we would try this promise, and asked God that he would bless us with his Spirit that we would know what to say.. It works.. THe lesson went amazing and what to say seriously popped into my mind when the investigator was talking to us.. It was great and really strengthened my confidence and testimony while teaching.. I am really starting to be able to teach by the Spirit.. I know that God hears and answers our prayers.. Oh also, we got to meet our new mission president.. We are getting a new one (President Hendricks).. Talking to him made me really excited to get to Jamaica and start to teach the people.. He's an awesome guy.. Well thats all I have time for now.. THe timers on this email time is intense.... It literally counts down.... Love everyone!! Dustan

First day in the MTC

Hey everyone, I don't have a lot of time to send an email today.. They are giving us a bit just to let you know we got here safe.. But ya, I got here safe and sound.... First day is almost over.. Things are going great.. Today we just did a bunch of new orientation things and practiced teaching.. It was actually really neat.. There are three other guys here going to Jamaica with me.. They are pretty cool.. I like them.. OH and the most random thing happened.. I sat down next to a guy at the airport in Salt Lake and we got to talking, and found out he was going to the MTC today too, and also going to the Jamaica Kingston mission.. It was pretty cool.. But ya, things are going great.. I'll email you more next week.. But love you guys.... write me!! :) Dustan.

Three days before the MTC

Hey everyone. This is the only post that i will actually be posting, because after Wednesday, my mom will be keeping this up for me. Today before church we took one last family picture, and I gave my farewell talk on Honoring the Priesthood in Sacrament meeting. And Wednesday, I report to the MTC at 1 p.m. My flight leaves St. Louis at 8 a.m. :) I get set apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints this Tuesday night. I am so excited and honored to be able to serve the Lord for two years. Well, keep following my blog, and I'll see everyone in two years. :) oh ya.... write me!!