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!

March 29th

Hello family and friends! I'm here in Boston, serving in the city. My companion is Elder Davies, a great guy from Orem, Utah. It's has been a huge change from Arizona. The people aren't as kind as they are in Arizona- not even close. I have gotten some very rude responses to my street contacting, it's pretty crazy. One old woman told me "We aren't having this conversation", which was pretty messed up. Another man told me that if I gave him anything, he would "Burn that %$@&"... you can guess what he said there. And there are a ton of people out here who say they are atheist, but I'm pretty sure that's just to shut us up... one guy said he was atheist, even though he was wearing a cross around his neck. Gotta love these people!

But in all honesty, there are awesome people here. I've talked to hundreds of people already, one of the benefits to living in the city. You see every type of person where I'm serving. I've had some great street contacting experiences that have definitely overshadowed the negative experiences.

Our ward, Cambridge 1st Ward, meets in an old boiler factory that was turned into a chapel. It's the craziest thing, but it's one of the coolest churches I have ever been to! I loved meeting with the members, and I honestly felt like I was spiritually recharged after going through so much negativity the first couple of days.

I love you all, and hope to hear from you. Please write letters to:

Elder Crandell

1 Oak Terrace Apt 106

Somerville MA 02143

Love,

Elder Crandell

Mason's in Boston!

Mason is now in Boston! He got there on March 24th. Here is his new address if you want to send him letters:

Elder Mason Rhett Crandell
Massachusetts Boston Mission
182 W. Central St.
STE 203
Natick, MA 01760

March 27, 2010

I love the MTC. My district is way good, my zone is fantastic, and the teachers have really helped me. I just want to get to Boston. Only 5 days left! I love you all. Thanks for the hilarious package and scriptures, you know I love doing that! Brooks, I haven't eaten very much cereal, but I have almost always gotten 3 glasses of milk/chocolate milk at every meal. I'm also influencing others to do the same now that I have zone leader status. Unrighteous dominion- it's the beyst! ("best" in Nacho voice)

Donelle, your letter was amazing. Content, art, length, everything was good. I'll look for your friend on the plane cause that will probably be my flight!

Well, love you all. Write me back quick, or write when I'm in Boston! 5 more days....

I love the gospel, and I love serving other missionaries. We are in a war with a cunning foe, so let's help those who are a little behind in preparation to put on the pieces of the Armor of God that they are missing. And yes, Satan comes after missionaries, I can definitely see that. But we have a whole arm of angels behind us, and Christ walking beside us. So don't worry about me; my testimony has been strengthened, even though I have had some doubts. I love you all!

-Elder Crandell
Mason Rhett Crandell #3

March 17, 2010

The MTC is crazy. I eat/sleep/study/teach, day after day... with no end. I'm still loving it though, and I'm very glad that I came out here for the right reasons. Three days in, I was honestly considering running off to In-N-Out and never going back, but it's been ok overall. I love what I'm doing, and I only have one more week left! Boston on March 24th baby! I love all of you, take care. Send me some letters, I'm sure my parents will put my Boston address on facebook or add it to this email it after I send it to them to send to the list of people... Love you all!

First Letter! March 10, 2010

Hey everybody!

Made it to the MTC, and I've live through a whole week. I've been crazy busy, mostly learning about ways to teach. I keep testing myself and asking Heavenly Father if the things that I am doing and learning are what He wants of me. Every single time, I have been answered if I ask with real intent.

MTC is great, food is awesome (unlimited meals and chocolate milk!), and I am extremely busy.

I want all of you to know that I have had a very difficult time with coming here, but I know for myself that this is what I am supposed to be doing. I could write dumb, funny stuff about things that I want to do to people up here, but because I am your friends I want to invite you to come unto Christ rather than act like a fool. I'm on the Lord's time.

I would write more, but I'm crazy busy. I gotta go. Please write me if you need some wisdom :)

I love you all!

Elder Crandell