June 10, 2013

     So this week we had a baptism!  I did the baptismal interview!!!  It was my first one so that was pretty cool.  We started working in the richest neighborhood in the city and we had a little success.  We were able to make a few return visits so that was really good.  We have some great people we are teaching.  I taught the lesson the other day about gifts of the spirit and I said that receiving personal revelation is a gift of the spirit.  We explained that revelation can be received by anyone but warned that people do not receive revelation for those that they do not preside over.  Mere (a woman we have been teaching for months) asked if missionaries can receive revelation for those they are teaching.  I said, "yes, sometimes".  And she proceeded to tell me and the class how one day when me and Elder DSilva were teaching her the Plan of Salvation she felt touched and understood everything.  She said she has always remembered that moment and that she felt the spirit say to her that the Plan of Salvation is true.  I almost started crying in front of the whole class.  It was an incredible inspiration to know that I had been an instrument in God's hands in bringing the truth and joy of the Plan of Salvation into someone's life!  And that she had felt the truth of it made manifest by the power of the Holy Ghost.  I am very grateful for moments like that.  
    I got Grandma's box the other day and was soooo excited.  I was eating lunch on Saturday and it wasn't very good but then I put the Chipotle Tabasco on it and devoured it!!!  You might have to send me more of that!!!

June 3, 2013

Hello everyone!
     I am doing good!  We had a good week.  We knocked on some good doors and taught some really good lessons.  And we had some new people come to church!  Also, it was fast and testimony meeting on Sunday and the usuals got up there but then Mere (the wife of one of the couples that we are teaching) and she bore her testimony!  She bares her testimony of how a person at work came up and started to talk to her about church.  This lady goes to another church so she started telling Mere that we have to keep Saturday holy and that our church is wrong and of the devil and all this crazy stuff.  Mere said she stopped listening and just let her talk but to her it didn't really matter because she knew the truth inside of her and she is very happy to know about the true church on the earth today!!!  I about wanted to cry it was so powerful for someone who is not even baptized yet to have such a strong testimony!  And Maora (another couple we are teaching) went up and bore her testimony about the Word of Wisdom!  She knew it was a commandment of God and said she never had a craving to drink ceveda until she started keeping the Word of Wisdom!  But she is still going strong.  It was a great meeting and I was very happy!!!
     Last night we had a family night and I taught the lesson.  It was how to juggle!!!  Both with my juggle balls and in your life.  People really liked it and I used the new balls that you had sent me!  I taught about how with perspective, faith and diligence we can juggle our lives successfully.  It was such a great night and it was at this couples house that is going to get married and baptized soon and there was like 15 people there and 7 investigators!  It was so cool!
   And I found a substitute for tortillas so I made some tacos and they were soooooo good!

May 20, 2013

This is my good buddy Elder Vaterlaus. 

This is my companion in front of a burger place we like to go to.

So this is the family that came to church for the first time last sunday and they loved it!!! They came to say goodbye to us when we were going to Salvador, and they came to church this Sunday again. We had taught them about the law of chastity this week, and about temples and stuff and they totally accepted to get married and baptized so this week we are going to start the paper work with them. There is going to be a caravan for the temple this  September and they were asking all the details like how much was it and how could they go, its soooo exciting. I seriously love this family they are so awesome. They also fed us lunch on saturday, like invited us over!!!! They told us to teach His sister too, which she is super cool and liked our message and ya its just great!!!!!!! 

This is me drinking my favorite drink in Brazil!!!

This is a catholic church in my city. 

See the ring in the picture...that's my attitude towards everything.  I want to spend my life "choosing the right"!

The trip to Salvador was miserable!  18 hours on a freezing cold bus all night.  I didn't really sleep at all but I got my new companion and he is AWESOME!  He is from Vitoria Espirito Santo, Brazil.  He is 19 and very, very happy and excited.  We had a great first week and I am very grateful to have the privilege of teaching him how to be a missionary.  It seems kinda weird at times cause I still feel like I don't know how to do some things but the Lord has blessed us with some great families that we are teaching.  He doesn't really speak any English so I am teaching him some.

May 6, 2013

     So this was a great week!  I used an idea from the book that the Hoopii's had given me.  We are helping really sweet old lady to stop smoking.  So I made her scripture cigarettes and put them in an empty smoke carton of hers.  I wrote a bunch of scriptures on pieces of paper and rolled them up like cigarettes!  When we gave them to her she laughed at first but then she opened one up and read it.  She's kinda shy but she does this thing where she gets quiet when she's really thinking and she did that. Then she said the really didn't want to smoke anymore and was so grateful for our help.  I'm so happy for her.
    So this morning we went to a waterfall with a couple that we are teaching that will get married and baptized soon!  She bore her testimony on my Birthday, the first day she went to church! And talked about how she knew that the Book of Mormon was true.  Then this last testimony meeting she got up and bore her testimony again and said that she wanted to get married for eternity and that "we" know that the church was true.  Her fiance was sitting in the front row and after she said "we believe" she looked down at her husband and said, "I can say that for you right?"  I was just super happy and laughing because her fiance is really cool but really shy too.  So I'm not sure what he was thinking about her talking to him in front of everyone like that but it was cool and it was all good.  They are a great couple and fed us lunch this week too!
   Another thing that's funny...I finally got some mail today!!!  I got lots of letters and 2 packages.  One from my mom and one from Hailey!  Moms was great with the CTR rings,  Liahona's in portuguese and some other stuff I needed like deoderent!!!  And Hailey's package was awesome and filled with healthy food for me!  Then Elder Morris opens his 2 packages and they are stuffed with soooo much junk food!  It was pretty funny and we decided to split up our stuff with each other so he could have some good stuff and I could have some junk! haha

 Sign from the waterfall

 This is the couple we are teaching. I really love them!

 Me in front of the waterfall.  I thought when they asked us to go it was going to be some little waterfall but it was actually quite big and really cool!

 And we had a picnic while we were there.

What a great day!

Oh and I bought myself this jersey for my birthday!!!  Pretty sweet right?!

April 29, 2013

    Something cool that happened this week is that I was studying the fall of Adam and Eve and I had never really understood exactly the logic from it.  And I discovered it.  2 Nephi 2 is the key and I can prove to people with the Bible that Adam did not sin.  Aw it's so awesome because a lot of people think that Adam was just terrible and sinned but that's not true.  Neither did Eve, she was very smart with things.  This is one of those mornings where my mind was enlightened by the spirit.  I can't explain it too well over email but it's little moments like those that really I love.  When everything comes together in perfect harmony.  Like I always tell people...there are answers for your questions you just need time and the desire to look for an answer.
     Tell Mason I'm so proud of him for getting his Eagle!  That's so awesome!!!
   Well we have an appointment in 20 minutes so I gotta go but I love you all and can't wait to talk to you on Mother's Day!
Love,
Elder Krause

April 22, 2013

     Well my week was pretty good!  It rained a lot so we walked around with umbrellas all week.  And this Sunday was a really good Sunday!  Jessica, the girl we baptized last Sunday, was confirmed. And I spoke in Sacrament meeting and then we had another baptism after church.  And we got this big family that's kids aren't baptized to come to church so we had 7 investigators at church this week!  And I teach the Gospel Principles class, which I really enjoy, so ya I had a full class and taught a great lesson!  
    Funny thing, so the family with all the kids, well they had been saying the would come for the past 3 Sundays and they always fell through.  So I went to their house with a member that has a car and we drove their whole family there.  It was pretty awesome!
     Well not much else exciting happened here this week.  I'm so proud of all my friends for going on missions!  Good luck to Shelby, Shannon and McKann!  They will be awesome missionaries!
Love you,
Elder Krause

April 15, 2013

Hello everyone!  
     Well we were having a family night at a member's house last night and teaching an investigator about temples.  (We had been teaching her a few times) My companion got a call from the assistant to the mission president and said that if we had anyone to baptize then we should baptize them.  So we did a baptismal interview with her and she accepted to be baptized that night!  So we called the branch president and went and baptized her in his pool at 9:30 at night!  A member took pictures so I'll send them as soon as I get them.  Anyway, it was so cool!  She had been reading the Book of Mormon and before we even challenged her she had bore her testimony to us that she had received an answer about everything we had been teaching her! 
     I am very grateful and love my work here!!!  I keep surprising myself...I thought I might struggle out here but now I've been here almost 1 year and I speak the language, I respond to people's questions in a way that they understand, I see the truth and feel the spirit daily and feel such peace in knowing that what I'm doing is right.  
     I love you all.
Elder Krause