October 13th

Hello again! It's been another great week here in Cambridge 1st Ward. The cities of Somerville and Cambridge are still as fun as ever. Transfers are coming up, so I might only be here for another week! It's weird to think about- I want to get as much stuff done before I head out of here, if that's what is going to happen to me. Oh, and our companionship has three elders now, because one of our roommates who was here waiting for his VISA got it, so he left his companion behind and flew to Brazil. Now there's the three of us left, and we cover both wards and areas. Kinda crazy, but it will only be for 1 week so it won't be for very long.

We have had a great week. We set a baptismal date with someone that was on vacation for awhile, but we were able to meet up with them again. Hopefully we can help him prepare for baptism in 3 weeks!

We also went to an organ concert with our friend Mike at his church in Boston. Not only that, but he played the bells for us, too. I'll have to send home the pics and the videos so you know what I'm talking about hahaha.

We went on exchanges with the assistants yesterday, that was pretty fun. I was with Elder Fowlke, who leaves next week. He's a great missionary, it was a ton of fun. A bunch of missionary fun- I guess I should watch what I say, we didn't go to any movies or anything.

Hope everyone is doing excellent back at home. I'm having the time of my life here, because I've finally found something that has challenged me far greater than anything else, and it is the most rewarding as well. Love you all, and I'll write back next Wednesday about whether or not I got transferred.

Elder Crandell

Well... what a weird week. We had some very strange teaching opportunities. We met a guy who is a return missionary, and has fallen away from the Church. I mean "fallen away" as in "looks like a pirate, not a return missionary." He had a huge, straggly beard and was dressed literally as a pirate would, with a bandanna and ripped clothes. He seemed like someone that would be very difficult to have a conversation with, but we were wrong. Elder Ichi and I got his number down and met up with him another day, and once we sat down and talked to him we noticed that he really is a normal guy. He said that after his mission in Peru (Cedar, don't become like this guy) he came back and let himself relax a little too much once he didn't have so many rules. He said he learned the hard way that most of the commandments are real. He doesn't associate himself with the Church anymore, but he did love his mission and he respects us missionaries greatly. It was one of the most interesting lessons I have ever had. I would say it was 'the' most interesting, if not for another lesson/dinner that we had with Catholic missionaries.

Yes, that isn't a typo. Apparently there is such a thing as a Catholic missionary, but they are a different breed of missionary. They are called "Focus Missionaries", and they stay by the college campuses and target the youth their age. They don't really proselyte or contact people like we do, they mostly hold Bible study groups. We met them a couple of weeks ago and talked for a bit, then we gave each other our information to meet up another time. They called us earlier this week and invited us to dinner, and before we knew what was happening we were having dinner with 4 Catholic missionaries. It wasn't contentious, it was mostly us sharing our basic beliefs and experiences with each other and finding out more about the two churches. One thing that we did not get into was the Great Apostasy, which they asked about and challenged us to show them evidence of, but we felt it wasn't the right place to have that sort of detailed discussion and went back to basics to keep the discussion healthy. It was pretty sweet, I have to say.

We taught another guy who majored in religion, that was also interesting. He was pretty open about hearing our message, which was a surprise because most of the people who study religion in this area either don't believe in God or do not want to hear anything else about God. We'll hopefully meet up with him again this next week to share more.

Another cool experience- we taught an older woman who hadn't been active in the Church for over 20 years. We met her on the street and asked her if we could sit down and talk for a little bit. We found out that she had previously been the Relief Society President of the Spanish branch here in the Cambridge area. It didn't sound like she had been taught everything before being baptized. She had heard some misunderstandings about the temple and what their purpose was. It was such a great experience- she asked us, "Where in the Bible does it say anything about doing things for dead people?", and we were able to show and explain to her several different scriptures: 1 Corinthians 15:29; Malachi 4:5-6; 1 Peter 3:18-19; and 1 Peter 4:6. It was fantastic- she wrote down everything we shared and said she would look into it. The sad thing is that she is moving back to the Dominican Republic within the next week, so we might not be able to meet with her again.

Yes, awesome week. Conference was very uplifting, and I feel like I learned a ton of ways that I can improve. Hope that everyone is doing well, I love you all!

Elder Crandell

September 27th

Another busy week in the Cambridge 1st Ward. We got back into contact with an investigator that we haven't seen in a long time, and he came to church this Sunday. That was definitely a blessing to see him there! We will hopefully be able to meet up with him and a few other people this next week.

General conference is here! We are very excited to get people to come to that, and the members we have talked to said they would all work on bringing their friends to it. General conference is pretty much the Superbowl for missionaries; we are happy that it's here. We get to listen to the apostles, prophet, and other inspired leaders talk directly to us, that doesn't happen every day.

Gonna be a short email for this week, sorry, but time is short today. Everything is awesome, and I am glad that I have been given this opportunity to search for myself what I believe and who I am. I keep finding things I can do differently that will make me a better person, which I'm grateful for. It's really hard to change, though, so good thing it's 2 years!

Love,

Elder Crandell

September 20th

Oh, hey there friends. It's Elder Crandell. I'm still on a mission, and still with the Cambridge 1st Ward. The work is going great- we had a weird week, it seemed like every day didn't go as planned, but they all went well at the same time. I feel like this really is my new home. There are members and nonmembers that have taken the role of being my mother and father for the time being, it's really interesting how that has happened.

Elder Ichi and I taught a guy a first lesson in Portuguese, although I'm pretty sure I had no idea what was being said the entire time. I don't understand anything in Portuguese. I'm assuming (and hoping) that Elder Ichi was teaching the man about Heavenly Father, prophets, and Jesus Christ, and not saying to the guy, "My companion here is a dumb, ugly fool". I wouldn't know either way, I just nodded and smiled most of the time. We are passing him off to the Portuguese missionaries this week.

We had an interesting talk that discussed agency during church yesterday. It made me think that while we always have the ability to make decisions for ourselves, sometimes if we make a "pre-decision", or choose to do something before another decision is made, that the previous decision will actually limit our agency in the second decision. The limitation on our agency seems like it could be both good and bad, depending on our previous decision. Not sure if that made sense, but for things like choice of friends, music, and daily routine, those things seem capable of shaping our choices that we make for the day, week, or year. Maybe even a lifetime. I kinda like the idea, and I do know that we all have the ability to choose for ourselves.

Love,

Elder Crandell

September 13th

Great, great week. Thanks for the emails and letters, give thanks to Kelley for the drawing, and thank you Dad for the email. It is nice to hear things are going well with the business/family/home and whatnot. Christmas/Thanksgiving/Birthday gift request for me- I really miss those audio tapes that talk about Jesus Christ's life as a story, Dad used to listen to them in the car. I keep thinking about those, ask him if he knows what I'm talking about!

(For friends and family)

Once again, great week here in the Cambridge 1st Ward! The work is going well; we were busy last week, and next week is lined up to be busy, too. The members are awesome, I love this ward. I would definitely be ok with coming back and going to Cambridge 1st. We are working to get members to set appointments with nonmembers so that we can work our schedules around theirs after they set up a visit, and that should make it easier on us to meet with people.

We had an interesting encounter a couple of days ago. A man approached us on the street, walked up close to us, and said right into our faces, "I just need to tell you guys that you are a racist organization. You look down on us blacks and treat us like dirt. A religious leader of mine said that black people are gods and white people are devils." So I asked him, "Are you saying that white people are devils, and that we are racist?" and he simply replied, "Yes." We started walking away from him and wished him a good day. Elder Ichi and I were greatly amused at how ironic that guy's claim was, and Elder Ichi informed me that he had wanted to say, "Sir, look at me. I don't know if you have noticed, but I'm not white!" It must have been funny for my trusty Brazilian companion to be called a "racist, white devil"! We had a really good laugh, that's about all you can do after experiences like that happen.

I have a testimony of missionary work and the blessings that come from it. I know that the commandments are given to us as an opportunity to receive blessings. I guess the saddest way to gain this testimony is to see countless people break the laws of God, and for even nonreligious people to say that the things they chose made them lose the ability to freely choose. Hopefully we can show people that there is a way to escape from those chains that they are in!

Love,

Elder Crandell

August 8th

Hello everyone! This week was awesome, we had a baptism! I was lucky enough to baptize Kentra, who is 8, and Elder Davies (my previous companion) came back to baptize Phillips, 11. There were a ton of people there, and the program was great. It was awesome to see the whole ward come together to make this a memorable experience for these kids.

Transfers are this week, that's why I'm emailing today and not Monday. We found out that both Elder Ichi and I will be staying here for at least one more transfer. It's crazy that I'm going to be in my first area for so long, but I'm grateful because I want to keep working with the people we have found. I can't believe I've already been out for 6 months! Time is flying by, and it's because we make sure every day is a busy one.

I am grateful for this church, as an organization. The role of each calling and position in the Church is inspired, and miracles happen when they all work together. The priesthood is a blessing and an opportunity. How lucky we are to be involved in the work of Heavenly Father, working to help others obtain eternal life! I will be eternally grateful for my mission, because I already have been blessed in ways that nobody besides myself would understand. One of the most comforting things about my faith is that I can know for myself, not faking it for others.

Well, time is short. Hope everything is going well back home! Stay strong!

Love,

Elder Crandell

August 30th

Hello nation. (Colbert fans, anyone?) This week have been fantastic, and I'm not just saying that, Tony Demattia. We were able to see great things happen- we found a bunch of people to teach, we had several people come to church, we have a baptism planned for this Sunday, September 5th, and the ward is doing a great job in helping us out with teaching and being examples to our non-members. This was a really busy week for us, and busy = fun here on the mission. It seems like every week I learn something that I can do better to help with my missionary work, and I'm grateful for that. It keeps the experience from becoming monotonous.

We challenged quite a few people to be baptized this week, and although none of the people accepted, they were definitely open to thinking about taking that step and praying about it. That was good to see- it can be hard to ask somebody, "Will you be baptized by the proper priesthood authority of God? Will you prepare to be baptized on (such and such) date?" when it seems that people would be put off by such a bold question. However, I have seen that if you say it lovingly and pray for the Spirit, the invitation becomes natural.

So yes, this week was great. I may not know everything, and I might not be right on certain things, but I'm glad that I have found a faith and a God that can provide ways and means to bring me to an understanding. If we are here on this earth preparing ourselves to be like our Heavenly Father, then shouldn't we try to do as He does- be the answer to other's prayers, work for the immortality and eternal life of other people, and learn to be creators ourselves? It seems like learning to create a beautiful experience out of a negative beginning, or turning the weak into something strong, is exactly what our Heavenly Father wants us to learn. We aren't on this earth to do things like our Father, we are here to become like our Father. And that transformation should not (or maybe can't) happen after we die. I'm grateful that I can be a missionary, and be working with the Lord in His vineyard to bring out good fruit.

Love you all,

Elder Crandell

August 23rd

Hello everyone! It's been another great week in the Cambridge 1st Ward, and Cambridge and Somerville are still (arguably) the best cities to cover in the mission. Good news- we have a baptismal date set for September 5th, and it looks very promising! We have been working with this family for awhile, and the two kids are definitely ready! Elder Ichi and I are happy, and Elder Davies (my last companion) is excited to see them go through, too.

The ward is really stepping up to help us with the work- we have had members teaching with us in lessons, helping us schedule appointments with people, and helping those that we bring to church feel welcome. We have had awesome experiences the past couple of weeks at church, and this next week should be even better because we have a couple of lessons planned with non-members that members have said they will go to.

I've thought about the mission experience lately, and have been surprised at the things that I will do on a routine basis. So many times I have gotten myself into situations where all I can think of is, "Why the heck am I doing this?" The good thing about it is that these moments are all of "good report". Whenever I feel like the work has become drudgery- something that I just have to get done- I have found that the best thing to do is to figure out why I'm feeling that way about a certain part of missionary work. Even if I can't figure it out, I think just giving my all to make the work fun has been the best solution. Laughter really is the best medicine, both for yourself and for those around you!

Love,

Elder Crandell

August 9th

Hello everyone! Cambridge 1st Ward is the place to be, the work is going great and the members are really stepping up. We have a dinner planned with a member for every night this week! We've also had members coming to our lessons, which really helps those we are teaching to be able to understand what a regular member of our church is like.

Elder Ichi and I have been doing well together. We've been teaching a bunch, and our lessons are going smoothly. He's a really spiritual guy and easy to be around, which I'm grateful for.

We probably had the best Sunday since I have been here. We had 5 people we are teaching come to church, and that's not counting a couple of people we aren't teaching who also came to church. To make it even better, there were a bunch of less-active members who came! It was fantastic to see people make it to sacrament meeting, and I felt like all the efforts this past 5 months were worth it just to witness what happened at church. Sometimes the work might be going at a different pace than you would like, but no effort is wasted. The funny part about sacrament meeting was that the talks were all centered on patience. I guess it was something that I needed to hear!

I've thought about my decision to serve a mission, and I've also thought about why I believe the things that I go out and teach. I struggle with different obstacles week to week, but the mission seems to be designed to bring out your biggest weaknesses and give you an opportunity to make them strengths. Sometimes I wonder what the line is between taking on hardships and just being an idiot, giving myself trials. There are so many things that I don't know, but my testimony is as strong today as the day that I chose to serve a mission. I believe in Jesus Christ, and the Book of Mormon really is another testament of Jesus Christ. While some may say that scriptural accounts are embellished to enhance teaching, I believe that the events within the scriptures hold truth at the core, and that Jesus Christ was literally the Son of God. He was a real Person, and did all that He said He did. I am grateful for Him and for His example to us all!

We are only as strong as the promises we keep.

Elder Crandell

August 2nd

Hello everyone! It has been a very busy week. We had transfers, and my new companion is Elder Ichi (pronounced ee-shee). He's a beast! Actually he is smaller than me, but he works like a beast. He was born in Brazil, has lived in Utah for 7 years, speaks Portuguese fluently, and a little bit of Spanish. We get along great, and he is an awesome missionary already. This week has been packed with buying him stuff and getting stuff packed away. He has officially been in the mission field for four days now, and he hasn't gone home yet, which is amazing considering he is stuck with me! He is a very good-natured guy and ready to work, so this should be the best transfer yet of the mission.

We are working with three baptismal dates, and still have the same obstacles as before: we need the mother of kids we are teaching to be more active in the Church, another lady to quit smoking, and for the permission from the parents of a teenager we are teaching. Hopefully with Elder Ichi coming in, we'll be able to get through these troubles.

Mission is going great, and I'm still learning a ton. I'm excited for the summer to be over, but at the same time I am fearful for my life when the winter gets here. Cold weather and I don't get along very well.

Love you all, stay strong. Jesus Christ is Our Savior and Redeemer, and He is able to succor us according to our infirmities. (To avoid "plagiarism", I'll refer you all to Alma 7: 11-13 as my source.) He knows what we go through- we are never alone!

Elder Crandell

July 28th

Hello everyone! Things are going great here in the Cambridge 1st Ward! This week has been a little hectic, so I'll start from the previous week.

We went on a tour around Boston with our friend Mike, and the tour guide was actually Steve, the man who played the organ for us a couple of weeks ago. It was insightful and interesting to see all of the stuff that as a kid you learn about, and also funny to hear how much of the history that we are taught is either exaggerated or made up completely to make a better story. For someone interested in political science, it was refreshing to hear that the founders of our country were just as opinionated, stubborn, and willing to propagandize to get their way as politicians are today.

We have a couple of baptismal dates we are working with, but there are some things that need to happen before they are ready to be baptized. We need to help one lady quit smoking, get the mother of two kids that we are working with to be more active in the church (she is a member), find out where the parents of a 16-yr-old kid we're teaching live (and get their permission for his baptism), and for another man to understand that our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, are two distinct beings.

Things are going well with everyone though, and we are still busy teaching! It's awesome to have the opportunity to teach those people that we have been blessed to find. Oh, and I'm going to be training next transfer, so this will be a unique experience training someone in the same place as I was previously trained. It will be challenging.

Crazy stuff! It's going to be a completely different transfer, but I'm excited for it. The ward is doing well, and the members have been helping us out a whole bunch with getting involved in the work. Seriously, missionary work is incredible when the members and missionaries work together!

Hope all is going well, love you all.

Elder Crandell

Hello everyone!

Another great week here in the Cambridge 1st Ward. This was our second week in the new stake center, and it is still awesome. Members are doing well and helping us out by giving some of our investigators rides to church, and coming with us on lessons. Sunday was sweet too, because we were able to walk to church with an 18 yr old named Steve that had promised us that if we came by his house at 12:30 on Sunday, he would go with us to church... So naturally, we were prepared to be disappointed, but a miracle happened. He was actually at his house, and all dressed up to go to church! Even with our foolish lack of faith, this guy was responsible enough to keep his promise. That may have been the miracle of the week.

We also met with a guy from China (he was a media referral who had visited the Salt Lake Temple) that says he has no background in religion, never thought about if there was a higher power, and never thought there was any special or grand purpose to life. Needless to say, we taught a very simplified lesson! He asked some incredible questions during the lesson: "Why are there so many churches here? That is something that troubles me about America- how can anyone know which church is really the right one?" We opened to Joseph Smith History and read some of the things that Joseph Smith himself had felt about his own experience; it was so cool to hear this man explain the same exact concern that a prophet of God had. We taught about the importance of having the priesthood authority, and challenged him to read and ask God for himself. He said he would read from the Book of Mormon and pray about the things we had taught. And he wants to hear more!

Miracles do happen, faith leads to those miracles, and the tender mercies of the Lord are all around us if we take the time to look for them. Love you all!

Elder Crandell

July 7th

Happy 4th of July! We had an awesome week. We were able to set two baptismal dates with people that we have been teaching. One is set for July 18th, and the other is July 25th. The July 18th one might need to get pushed back a couple of weeks, but the 25th date should be pretty solid if we work well with the members. The work is going great! We have been teaching quite a bit, and we are excited that we have a baptismal font in our own church building!

We celebrated the 4th by going over to Herbie Kenney's house, a blind member of our ward. He has been feeling pretty weak, and we haven't been able to visit him for a long time. It was great that we were finally able to see him again on Saturday, and we went and did his shopping so that we could have food to party with him on Sunday night. We watched the fireworks together on the balcony of his building; even though he couldn't see them, he had a great time with us. Two other Elders that used to be in the area before came as well, so we all had a great time with Herbie. Hopefully he keeps feeling better. Herbie is an incredibly generous man.

Another awesome experience after church on Sunday- we went with our friend Mike to his church, and got to see their organ that they have there. It is one of the biggest in the world! His friend Steve played a couple of songs for us, and he "opened up" the organ for some of the songs and used some of the louder pipes. The building was shaking, it was really cool. Steve also played "Come, Come Ye Saints" which was awesome to hear! Mike and Steve also took us on a little tour around their church grounds- they have a bunch of stained glass paintings that were pretty cool. We recorded some songs and took pictures, so you should get them the next time I send the memory card home.

We taught another guy this week that disagreed with what we do as missionaries. He said that it doesn't matter what church you go to, because most churches teach the same principles anyways, so we shouldn't try to teach anyone that has their own religion because it leads to people being "ripped from their communities and families". It was a very interesting view that he had, and while I won't write all of my thoughts or reactions to his views, I do have to say that I am ever more grateful for the Restoration of the gospel and the priesthood, because that is what keeps the teachings of Christ pure and correct, and separates us from other churches. In Preach My Gospel, it says something like "The message of the Restoration is either true or it is not." I love that sentence! It is very bold and clear. To me, it says that without the Restoration, all of the things that we teach won't last or endure, because they aren't built on the rock that Christ built His church on- apostles and prophets.

Things are going well, and we (Elder Davies and I) are still having fun serving here in the Cambridge 1st Ward. I've been out on the mission for 4 months now! Time is flying by. I have a testimony that this work that we are involved in is true in itself, and that the blessings of it are innumerable. Oh, and I'll also throw in that the Demattia family is awesome. And some crazy guy named Tony makes church fun every week hahaha, hope he reads that.

Love you all,

Elder Crandel

June 28th

Hello everybody! Things are going great in the Cambridge 1st Ward, we just dedicated our new stake center which is just one street over from where we used to meet for church. Our ward will meet in the new building, along with 5 other wards! There are two chapels, one of them smaller and on a different floor as the other, so two congregations can meet at the same time. The Portuguese branch will be meeting at the same time as us at 1pm, and our youth programs will all be combined because all of the youth know English. This will help out a ton because we don't have very many youth, so this will be very helpful.

We have had a pretty slow week because we were giving tours of the new building for many of the days. Even though we didn't have very much time to teach people because of the tours, our lessons were pretty high quality. Quality over quantity, right?

Since I don't want to bore anybody who reads this, I guess I will mostly write every week about something that I have learned, instead of rambling on about people that most of you will never meet. The interesting thing I thought about this week was what I actually believe for myself, and why (or how) my testimony is different from that of other people. It is interesting to me that so many people can be so devoted to defending creeds that I honestly don't think they can truly believe. It seems like some people try to serve God and mammon at the same time, and I often check myself to see if I am doing the same. Since the creeds and beliefs that I hold dear have thus far directed me toward serving God, I feel like I can trust the things that I have put effort into finding out their truth for myself. Love you all!

Elder Crandell

Pictures!

June 21st

Hello everyone! What a great week to be a missionary! We are still teaching quite a bit, and had a good week even though it was transfer week and blazing hot these past couple of days. Since Elder Davies and I are going to be together again for another six weeks, we definitely have a grasp of the area and people. With summer here and school getting out tomorrow, we should be able to get some things done with our younger investigators!

I think the hardest thing to do is to try to find ways to uplift and inspire others without looking self-righteous or appearing to "check things off of our list" when we do them. We have had some interesting discussions in church about serving and fellowshipping others out of love, and not because you want to meet a quota. This is interesting to think about; because missionaries use goals to increase our productivity and effectiveness, there might be some who take it the wrong way and only work towards meeting those goals. I think it's important to always remember why we do things, because our actions will change based off of our reasoning behind them. Teaching people becomes enjoyable when you view it as sharing light with your fellow brothers and sisters here on earth, for example. Alma expresses this same sort of view in the Book of Mormon, in Alma 8:14. Even though he had just been rejected and spit upon by the people of Ammonihah, he sorrowed for the people because of their wicked ways, not because he himself was rejected or that he wasn't "successful". Reading about how much Alma cared about these people helps me to remember what my mindset should be when I work as a missionary.

I'm working on teaching with more purpose, and using my goals to increase my effectiveness while still maintaining my purpose. We have some baptismal dates set for July 11th, so hopefully we can help prepare them to make that a reality! Love you all, hope all is going well. Stay strong.

Elder Crandell

June 16th

Hello! We got the transfer results, and Elder Davies and I are going to stay together again in the Cambridge 1st Ward! This will be our third transfer together, and Elder Davies has been here since December 31st, so that's pretty crazy that we are both still here. It's awesome at the same time though- we have been privileged to see a bunch of blessings in the missionary work here with our ward! We are both hoping we can continue to improve, and we have a bunch of people that we are teaching or have found to teach lately. Hopefully we can find those opportunities to serve people and better the community here. Sometimes it's hard to remember that success isn't necessarily determined by a spectacular number of positive results we see, when there are so many steps that must be taken before fruit can be produced. Planting seeds of faith can be tough when you don't think anyone wants to listen to what you say, or that your efforts might be wasted, but those seeds can stick with people and continue to grow- until they grow into a tree that produces amazing fruit. I have usually applied this analogy to only myself (from Alma Ch. 32 in the Book of Mormon), but now it helps me realize that other people may be in the middle of this same process, and that something I have said may have planted that seed. It is comforting because even when we don't see someone enjoying the "fruit" that we have found and tasted of, the planting of the seeds becomes more meaningful if we look at it as a growth process. This brings me comfort! Love you all, hope everything is going well. Patience is a Godly attribute!

Elder Crandell

June 7th

Great week to be a missionary! We had a bunch of cool experiences this week:

-Met with Victoria, a 23-yr-old that we met while street contacting. When we went over to teach with her family, we also met Ralph, an 18-yr-old who is just graduating from high school. The whole family was there, but they didn't really want to stay in the room for the lesson, so we taught Victoria and Ralph the Restoration and talked about baptism. They said that they would think about it, and we are meeting them in a couple of days.

-Taught Jude again at church, the 16-yr-old that we started teaching after playing him in basketball. We talked about the Plan of Salvation, and the young men's leader that was with us teaching basically gave Jude another baptismal invitation, and committed him to read the Book of Mormon everyday with his member friend. Jude said he had some concerns about baptism, but after we talked about baptism for a little bit, he said that his questions were answered. He says he will read and pray before deciding.

- Taught a less active family for the second time, finished teaching about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon, and we set a baptismal date for their 10-yr-old and 8-yr-old! Hopefully we can start getting the family to church! They are awesome, and the kids love hearing the lessons.

- We taught Carlita and her son, Shahime, again on Saturday. We set a baptismal date with both of them, and they said they would read and pray together. Carlita listens to Book of Mormon tapes, so she is working on reading and coming to church with her son. It's going great!

Those are the big stories from the week! Hopefully we can work on getting them over some of the stumbling blocks that are in their way towards baptism. It's so hard to see people say that they know the Book of Mormon is true, or that they feel a connection to us missionaries, but then can't make it through some of the commitments.

I hope I can continue to become a better teacher, too! There's so much I have to learn, and I'm excited about that. Love you all, stay strong. Reading for this week is Alma 60:36. Don't mess with Moroni!

Love you all,

Elder Crandell

May 25th

Hello everyone! The mission is going awesome here in Massachusetts, and the Cambridge 1st Ward is thriving. We have had an awesome week, there have been so many opportunities and blessings that it's almost impossible to write them all.

-Taught a woman named Carlita, a member referral. She has three boys, who are 18, 15, and 4. We taught her about the Restoration, and everything went amazing. She had been listening to some Book of Mormon tapes that she had gotten from the member who referred her to us, and she said that her life became peaceful when she started listening to them. We taught her that those feelings were the fruits of the Spirit, and she also said that she felt that the things that we taught felt right. We also extended a baptismal invitation, and she accepted it almost before we had finished asking her! We even extended a date for her to prepare to be baptized on, which turned out to be her birthday. Very weird coincidence... Anyways, she said that she wants her sons to be baptized as well. Great experience, she had definitely been prepared by the Lord before we came to teach her!

- We visited a man named Ken, who I had talked to on a bus the previous week. He is a very intellectual guy, and also very atheist, which definitely changed the pace of our lesson. But he is a very nice man, and said that he desires to know truth. We taught him that we can learn the truth of all things by the Spirit. He is wanting us to come back, so that's definitely good. He's so awesome, I hope things go well on our next visit.

- Taught Sandra and her daughters last week, and her husband, Isidro, came as well. He seemed interested, but he can't understand too much English because he speaks Portuguese. He even came to church with the rest of the family! We are working with the Portuguese elders to schedule a time that we can all come to teach them so that they can teach Isidro.

- We were able to play some basketball with Jude, one of our investigators, and his two member friends. That was pretty cool, because we got a chance to talk about the things we had taught the week before. He said that he had thought about it, but hadn't prayed yet. We told him that we didn't want him to feel pressured into listening to our message, but at the same time we testified of how important it was for us to know these truths for ourselves. He said that he understood and would find time to read and pray.

- Interesting experience: We were walking to one of our appointments, and I stopped to talk to a man on the street. He had a big, straggly beard, and looked pretty awful. You could tell that he was homeless, and he also had difficulty speaking - whether self-induced or not, it was nice to talk with him. I told him that no matter where we are in our lives or what stage we are in, God loves and cares for every single one of His children. He looked at me and said, "You may have saved my life today." That was probably one of the sweetest experiences I have had. I was reminded of Matthew 25:40, and the look in his eyes when he said that will forever change my perspective when viewing others.

Not enough time to say everything I want, but I am so glad that Elder Davies and I have been able to see miracles here in the Cambridge 1st Ward. I have a testimony that if you are making sure that you are an able instrument in the Lord's hands, he will find ways to utilize your skills to the fullest. All you have to do is be there waiting for those moments to come. And they will come, I know this for a fact.

Take care everyone, and stay true to the faith.

May 18th

Hello everyone! The mission is going great, and we are seeing many amazing things. I'll give a quick "highlight reel" of the top moments from this week:

- Met an 80 year old woman who said she is angry at the Catholic pope, and doesn't want to be associated with the Catholic church anymore. She accepted a Book of Mormon, and when we called a couple of days later she said she had read what we had left her, including more than we gave her!

- Met Isidro, the husband of a woman we are preparing for baptism. It was the first time we had met him, and he seemed very friendly but doesn't speak very much English. We are going to bring some Portuguese Elders to come teach with us so we can teach the whole family!

- Taught a man named Ken on the bus the other day, who says he is an atheist. He really enjoyed what we were saying though, and said he wanted to hear more. He gave me his address to stop by sometime and talk more.

- Attended a Catholic wake, and gave a prayer there for a member of our ward whose mother had just passed away. The only LDS people in there were the member and my companion and I- everyone else was Catholic. That was pretty interesting!

- Attended a Catholic funeral, the day after the wake. Again, felt very out of place, being missionaries from another church surrounded by Catholics! But everyone was friendly, and although the service was definitely not what I am used to, it went alright. It was such a weird experience.

There's always more, but never enough time. Hope everything is going great back in Arizona! The Book of Mormon is true, and it is an actual record of God's dealing with prophets and people from the ancient Americas. I have no doubt that this is true, or I wouldn't be out here serving my mission. I am grateful for the spiritual confirmation that I have received as I have put in the effort and taken the steps to find it to be true for myself.

Love,

Elder Crandell

May 5th

The first transfer period of my mission is complete. Six weeks already! I've learned so much already, it's crazy. Everything's coming naturally now, and the area and ward already feel like home.

We have had some awesome experiences this week!

- Sandra came to church with her two daughters, Korrina and Paula. As if that wasn't enough of a miracle, she also accepted a baptismal invitation, and agreed to work with us towards being baptized on June 5th! We have been very surprised by how much of a change we have already seen in her, it's crazy. Hopefully we can continue meeting with her twice a week.

- We taught Garth, the very intellectual guy with a strong background in ethics and philosophy. He said that he had been "in a funk" the week before, and then he had a "Christian kick" by praying and feeling better. He says that even though he did this, that it doesn't necessarily mean that there is a God. He believes that it is healthy for man to be humble and to confess their feelings to somebody, and that the feelings from prayer can be attributed to this healing effect from believing that someone out there is listening to us. He is a very difficult investigator, because he refuses to believe that the feelings that he has are the result of anything but his own self. He does see something different in us, so hopefully we can work with him.

- Jude came to church, and he has been coming to church activities during the week. He's a great kid; we have basketball scheduled on Saturday that the young men's leader is putting on to kind of bring Jude to us so we can teach him more. The ward is doing awesome in helping us to fellowship him!

- David, the Marine, comes back into town on Saturday. He says that he wants to keep learning more.

- We taught a man named Yusif, who is a Muslim from England. He was a media referral, and said he was interested in hearing about the Book of Mormon. Really funny guy with a funny accent! He was more interested in just learning about the LDS church, but I think he was impressed when we taught the Restoration to him. He might not call back, but at least we left him with a B.O.M. and a good impression.

- Met a man named Frank, and it was the best experience of the week! We were going door to door on Monday, and we knocked on his door. He was really, really unusual: not only was he polite to us, he also let us come into his home and share our message. (This was the first time that we have ever been invited into a person's home right off the bat.) He grew up in the Dominican Republic, and he had family members who were LDS growing up. After we had talked for a bit, he told us that his sister had died, and asked us if we knew whether or not he was going to see her again. The Spirit was so strong when we told him that he would see his sister again, and that he could live with his family forever. We are going back again this week!

The rest of the people we are teaching either have finals this week or are too busy to meet. Should be able to meet back up soon. We have seen miracles in our area, and we have so many people that we are teaching now. Things have definitely been picking up for us, and we are grateful that we have the opportunity to find so many people that have been prepared to hear the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm learning so much, nobody would recognize me anymore. The mission is awesome! I love you all, stay strong and be safe.

Love,

Elder Crandell

April 28th

Hello everyone!

It's been another great week here in the Cambridge 1st Ward. The city is still as crazy as ever, you kinda get used to having "unusual" people approach you as a missionary. It's part of the job.

- We taught Josh again last week. He had some problems with us calling our church the "true church", because he said that if there are other churches that allow us to grow closer to God, and we also agree that the members and leadership aren't perfect, then what makes us the "true church"? Do we just have less imperfections than others? The lessons are much more confusing, so it's hard to break them down into a short summary. He's doing well, though.

- Working with Erica still to get her off coffee. We are bringing a member that had to overcome coffee with us, so that should help out.

- We are teaching Sandra and her family, but there was a bunch of drama that kept them from coming to church. Hopefully she can get it all sorted out- it was really annoying that this happened because we had worked all week on getting them a ride to church because they don't have a car, but that's the story of a mission! There's always next week, though.

- Garth had some interesting questions. He first asked why the Book of Mormon chapters about Christ teaching were so similar to the Bible, which was good because that meant he had done some reading! He also asked why the doctrines of Jesus Christ are important, what new ethics are presented in the Book of Mormon, and why people were predisposed to believe a certain way depending on how they were raised. Very intellectual guy, but those questions aren't very difficult to answer: Jesus Christ allows us to become clean again, something that nothing else can take the place of. Should be a great lesson coming up; he gave us some pages of Aristotle to read, that was pretty funny. We are going to make that part of our lesson. Garth also said that even though his father was a pastor and his mother was a missionary for another church, we have a "fervent dedication" that impresses him. That was awesome to hear.

- David is back in town, so we are going to revisit the Restoration and see how much of it he remembers. He is awesome, but we will probably have to pass him off to the singles ward, same with Garth. :(

- We beat Jude in basketball, so we taught him a lesson about God's plan for us afterwards. That was pretty cool, he says that he wants to "do the right things in life". He also agreed to have us teach him at a members house once a week! Shazam!

- Taught Anna again, and after getting to know her a little better, she opened up and said that she did have some desire to have her questions about life answered. She is going to be busy for the next couple of weeks, but she was pretty amazed that we could be so sure that our church was true when there are so many other religions. She was impressed by our testimonies.

-Things have been going really well with the members, too! We keep committing them to do stuff, and follow up with them until they do it. It feels like home already, it's great.

There's more, but I don't have much time. Hope all is going well for you all! Something that everyone asks here is, "How can you be so sure that your church is the right one?"

I suggest reading Alma 31 and following Alma's example to better understand what to do in a situation like that, where something seems "astonishing beyond all measure" (Alma 31:19).

Love you all!

Elder Crandell

April 20th

What a crazy week. We met so many more people to teach, it's crazy. Even when we would take the effort to go to someones house, and get rejected or cancelled on over and over, we would find people who were willing to hear the message we share, close to that same area. It happened like 5 or 6 times, no joke. The Lord has blessed us more than we deserve! We might have lead the zone in teaching last week, and we should do even better this week if we just have faith in our goals and focus on those we are teaching.

-Josh, our intellectual guy, said his first prayer with us at the end of a long, confusing discussion that we had with him. But even though he said a very sincere prayer, he didn't end it in the name of Jesus Christ because he doesn't have faith in Christ yet. Very confusing, but we are making some progress!

-Set up an appointment to teach a man named Alfredo, and he said his friends are going to be there to. Don't know how many friends, but he said he is making chips and salsa! Should be fun, we are going to explain the Book of Mormon and its background with them.

-Met a nice younger woman named Margaret who we taught on her doorstep. Said she had heard some stories from missionaries when she was a little girl, so we gave her a Book of Mormon and said we would drop by sometime because she is really busy. That was an awesome tracting experience.

- Met another woman named Anna who we also taught on her doorstep. She has no belief in God, doesn't have any background of religion, and says she doesn't know why it would be important to know where we came from, why we are here on earth, or if there is anything after this life. But she agreed to have us back nonetheless! We are bringing a member so that we will be able to teach her, that should be an interesting lesson.

-We have another appointment with a man named Garth for this week, he seemed really interested in our beliefs from our last lesson. He said that he sees the Mormon way of life as one of the more successful ways to live, but we want him to clearly see that it is because we are blessed when we do what God would have us do.

- Erica, investigator with a coffee problem, says she will continue to work on it so that she can get baptized. That's the only thing holding her back! We will try to find a way to help her overcome it.

- We found a way to teach a kid named Jude, who is 16 and a friend of one of the ward members, Luc (pronounced "Luke"). We are playing the two of them in basketball today, and they agreed that if we win, we can teach a lesson. Missionaries have to be creative!

There are so many more, but these are the biggest things that have happened. The Lord has blessed us more than we deserve! Love you all, stay strong.

Elder Crandell

April 12th

Work in Boston is going really well! I've had a bunch of great teaching experiences:

We taught a young couple named Josh and Kara, who have been taking the missionary lessons for 9 weeks now. Very long time! Kara seems almost ready to accept it, but Josh is very intellectual and has to have everything explained to him even though he doesn't have faith in the smallest things. We teach him with another member that is also very smart, but honestly I think it's kind of a show that Josh puts on. We are working on getting him to the point where he will look to the scriptures on his own.

Taught a man named David Dixon (a different David than the one from Arizona). He is an ex- Marine, and pretty strong guy. He was curious about what he needs in his life, and how he can know truth for himself. We taught him about the restoration, and he kept asking "how can I know if something is true?" because he says he doesn't trust his feelings. So I told him that he can base his testimony on reason, feelings, and experiences from experimenting on the word. He liked that approach for some reason, and accepted a B.O.M. to read and pray about.

We have more people that we teach, but I don't have enough time. Love you all, and hope all is going well for you!

Love,

Elder Crandell

April 2nd

I'm officially a mishkimary, preachin' the gopsel! (inside joke with the fam). I'm here in Boston, Mass. More specifically in a city called Cambridge. It's just crazy exciting here; Elder Davies and I have an apartment all to ourselves. Our address is on the letter, but hopefully you already received that in the email I sent.

The weather here is terrible. I think they have declared a state of emergency for all of the New England area. It's raining constantly, flooding, cold, and miserable. But the work must go on! Tracting in the rain is fun.

This letter might have random topics/requests in it, I apologize. For example, the four temple names included were still in one of my suit pockets. Enjoy!

-We meet/visit/teach a blind member named Herby once a week. He is hilarious, has some edgy jokes, feeds us plenty of hot dogs, ad has unlimited ice cream. A;sp teaches us to put ice cream in hot cocoa- it's pretty good. So we'll visit, maybe have a meal, and share a lesson or principles from a lesson. I wish you could meet him; he's awesome.
-A black guy that's usually riding on the trains or standing in the stations calls us missionaries "white devils" in a not-so-friendly tone. We see him quite a bit. I wonder what he's say to a black missionary...
-The ward that I'm in is the same ward that had (some) members wearing a rainbow button to church in support of the gay marriage propositions. Perfect- I love controversy!
-I've had rice three times this week from members, no joke. But the rest of the food has usually made up for it. I miss not eating a ton of whatever I wanted at the MTC, but I'm gettin' by here.
-I always need to pee here for some reason
-Someone text Brooks and tell him I accidentally picked up a newspaper called Bay Windows; it's slogan is "Serving New England's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Communities." And it's free to pick up, so I can read it anytime! Haha JK
-Shower here has plenty of hot water. Yay!

I love you all, and I miss you terribly! Tell Toby and Tootsie that I miss them, too!

Love, Elder Crandell

P.S. Read Alma 26: 23-30. I am working on bearing my afflictions with patience as I teach people, so that I may experience this. Excellent chapter!