Radiate Sunshine!

Hey Everyone!!

Quote of the week: "Go about radiating sunshine, developing happiness, lifting up those who get discouraged, and bring joy and comfort to those who are in distress." - George Albert Smith And with that.. I'm just gonna jump right into it... because a lot of things happened this week.. :)

Highlights of the week

There is this lady named Jackie that's been coming to church for a while and that we've been working with along with her grand daughter Tatiana... .. Jackie's eyes aren't too good, and she can't see the print in the Book of Mormon because its too fine ... We told her that we were gonna get her a ginormous Book of Mormon the next time we came... but left her and Tatiana to read the testimony of Joseph Smith together... ... When we went back to see them again... they both said they had read... and showed us that Tatiana (who is 10)... had written out most of the testimony of Joseph Smith on a piece of paper so that her grandma could read it as well!! It was amazing!! :) We gave her the ginormous Book of Mormon so she would have to do that anymore.. but it was really cool to me that it meant enough to them to read that Tatiana wrote it out... :)

Ah man... and started teaching a lady named Venice who is GOLDEN!!! On January 1st... we were invited to have dinner with a family in the branch who lives a 35 minute drive away... and we weren't sure if we were gonna be able to make it, because our schedule was pretty tight... but we both felt that we should go, so we made it work... While we were there... we met the fathers sister, Venice, who was being super fresh (feisty) with us, but we talked to her for a while, and after pleading (she didn't want to have anything to do with us, because she was convinced that she'd already looked into religion enough and wasn't finding what she was looking for...but we pled with her to just let us share our message).. with her (and promising that she would learn something that could change her life) for 30 minutes... she finally reluctantly gave us her number, and accepted a book of mormon and all the pamplets... ... Well... on the 20th... we finally were able to get out there to see her again.. (she lives way up in the mountains).. and she was excited out of her mind!! :) She had read 20 chapters into Alma, and was just firing questions... Where are these prophets from.. what is this book? It was aweosme!! She was so excited that we believed in a God that still calls prophets and apostles and that he answers prayers... :) She shared something really cool with us as well... She said that for the past 13 years, she has met with people from different churches, but there was always something that didn't seem right in each of them.... and at the end of 2011.. she was praying that in 2012 she would find the true church, and be able to join it.... We met her on January 1, 2012.... Coincidence??? I think not!! :) It was just amazing!! We are seeing her again this week, and hopefully everything will continue to do awesome... THere are so many people out there looking for the truth... but just don't know where to find it... We all need to be very bold and persistent in sharing our message with people... We have the most important message anyone could ever hear in this life...Even if we need to plead with someone to listen... We should... :) Its worth it!! On the way back down the hill there was a semi in the middle of the road sideways that had broken down... and there was no way to pass... So we pulled over, and got out.... and with 4 other Jamaicans.... We pushed the semi up the hill enough to clear the road and let him pull alongside the road so evryone could pass... :) I'm sure it was quite the sight... 6 guys pushin a semi up a hill haha...

We've been working with another guy, Bro Brown, who is a members husband... and have been working with him on preparing to be baptized and sealed to his wife for time and all eternity in the temple...not just "until death do you part"... He's been struggling to overcome smoking.... and we had a miracle lesson with him Sunday night... :) We taught the word of wisdom, and he gave us his last cigarette and committed never to touch another one... :) We gave him a priesthood blessing and some amazing promises from our Heavenly Father... :) It was awesome!!!!

Last highlight of the week... Elder Vinas of the quorum of the seventy, was here for district conference (its like stake conference), gave some amazing talks!! He taught some amazing doctrine about keeping covenants with our Heavenly Father... and at one point, put up his hands and said...and remember, I'm just the messenger.... don't kill the messenger... look what they did to Abinidi!! haha it was pretty funny... I love how plain and straitforeward he was in his teaching.. :) One cool thing though... is that President Hendricks and Elder Vinas had to be there a little early on Saturday... so we were able to give Sister Hendricks and Sister Vinas a ride.. :) It was cool!! Elder and Sister Vinas are amazing! :)

All in all... it was a pretty stellar week... On top of all the amazing people we're working with, we did two zone conferences (one in Sav and one in Ochi) and made an airport run to do some switches with some off island elders... :)

Oh and as for the pictures... we were walking down a zinc ghetto back to the truck after a lesson, and this guy named "bamboo bill" came up to us, and had these bamboo piggy banks he had just made for us... :) He carved our names in them too.. So we bought them from him (for super cheap... like $5 american.... )... and took a picture... :) haha it was pretty awesome...

Oh and the person we rent from has a dog... who tipped over the garbage can in the driveway while we were gone.... It was a not so pleasant surprise to come home to at 9:00.. haha... So.... ya.... thats the pictures....

Pretty much I'm lovin life!!! We're working with tons of amazing people, travelling all over doing zone conferences, and staying super busy.... Workin our tails off!!! I love my life!!

Til next week!

One Love!

Elder Kraus