Hello Everyone!!
Well, the news finally arrived! After nearly 22 months, we finally received Elder Cronin's travel itinerary for his trip home!! His official travel date is August 7th!!! We are all very excited and happy for him! Thanks for being part of this journey with us!! Let the official countdown begin!
Mom (Kristel)
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
May 28, 2012 Elko!!!
Family!
Oh My Lollipops!!! I got to go back to Elko!!!! Pictures attatched!
We went up there Wed, Thur, and Fri. I was able to go and see some of the people we baptized there. The first stop was Peggy, my first baptism! And guess what?!?!?!? She just went to the temple and took out her endowments in Salt Lake!!! I wish you could have seen the smile on my face when I found out. Her family is super happy. She lives with her daughter and her family who are all active members. When we were teaching Peggy we tried to involve a less active member of the ward. This member is now part of the Relief Society presidency! If I had no other success than with her on my mission I would still be able to come home knowing I served God faithfully.
The next visit was to the Zimmerman home. This was the first family I had the opportunity to teach. They were baptized just after I left. I am very close with their family and it is amazing to see them over a year and a half later and see the effects the gospel has had on them. Their oldest, Katie, who is 14 and a freshman is attending seminary and young womens regularly. Their 12 yr old, Asa, just received the Aaronic Priesthood, so when I was there I told them about Samuel and how proud I am of him. Ben is 10 now and their youngest, Sophia, is 9 and was just baptized last year! She is the spitting image of Olivia when she was that age! It is the most rewarding experience to return to an old area.
In the rest of our visits I was able to eat dinner with the Pasketts. Sister Paskett is an amazing cook!!!! They are a young couple who moved to Elko about a year before I started my mission and when I arrived in Elko they took good care of us. Then we saw Carrie! She was our pregnant neighbor who moved in when I was serving there. She had her baby boy after I left so I never got to see him. She is no longer pregnant and Zach is 16 months old! He is so adorable and is walking and talking already!
One of the craziest things was to see how much some of the kids had grown up in just 16 months! I can only imagine what it will be like to come home and see how everyone has matured! It's crazy! Truthfully I felt at home in Elko! I love that place. I will go back there in the next couple of weeks for the last time and will visit some other people I missed seeing this go around.
Things are still going great here in our area. I had dinner with a family from the Tri-cities area the other day and they helped draw out memories I had from there. As I described where we lived and went to school they knew exactly what I was talking about except where I went to school in Kennewick. We deduced Lewis & Clark was the school I went to in Richland and we lived just down the street from a Fred Myers and a 7-11 across from the ACME rock plant. Kennewick was a little more vague. I can remember riding my bike to school and we lived just down the street from a new Toys-R-Us. Other than that I couldn't describe much else. It was a mental trip back in time.
We have a baptism tonight! This is an investigator that was found before I got here. He is taking a big leap of faith. His father is inactive and against the church and this decision. It is sad to see but our investigator is sure that this will help him make the right decisions. His life is quite interesting. He is 20 years old, a union pipe-fitter, races modifieds, owns two cars and his own house, and is well off. Yet what started this whole thing was the lack of happiness in his life. He said he felt life was good for him and he thought by establishing himself he would be happy just as everyone else seems to be who lives in the cookie cutter suburbs of Las Vegas. Even still he did not feel happy but he is sure now that making this decision to follow Christ will bring him happiness.
Well, I've talked your ears off and typed my fingers numb. I love you all! I cannot wait to return home and apply all the things I am learning here. Please pray for me that I can stay motivated, focused, pure, and willing to follow the Spirit as my mission draws to a close. The Lord deserves my best and that is what I am aiming to provide for him.
Love,
Elder Cronin
May 21, 2012 Out with the Old, In with the New
Family,
Things are going well here. We went to the temple on Thursday with all the new missionaries and President and his wife. I have been to the temple more than a dozen times here in Las Vegas, but this was a different experience from all the rest. The presence of new missionaries brought back a freshness to missionary work I once knew. They have such great enthusiasm, some. Others show they are still trying to figure out why they should be here. And for the majority of them, you can see their eager faces looking for answers they came to the temple to receive. As our session progressed it was easy to see the fulfillment they received and the confidence it gave each one of them.
I feel I have been looking at my mission so selfishly. Missionary work began for me August 25th 2010. What I failed to realize and notice was that missionary work here and everywhere had been occurring for a long time before I finally got off my tush to join the ranks. I was oblivious to the details of missionary work other than the white shirt and ties and the occasional dinner at my house. The only real fact I knew about missionary work was that it changes the person who enlists in it. That fact alone is what drove me to finally serve. As my service draws to a close as a full-time missionary I see the other part of my selfish perceptive. For the past 20 months I have been fearing the day that missionary work as I know it will cease; my release date. But I have just recently realized that missionary work will not end when I leave. The Nevada Las Vegas Mission has no release date. I love new missionaries. They remind me that my mission is not for me. It is for the lives that are changed and the work the Lord needs done.
Equally, I love the departing missionaries. They have taught me so many valuable things. Two years ago I struggled to take correction, advice, or counsel from those who were younger than me. In fact, knowing this was a weakness I avoided asking my Cadet Training Assistant during Field Training his age for fear that I might become insubordinate and ruin my hopes and dreams. So I asked him afterwards. He was 20, I was 22. I'm glad I waited. But not glad I had such a selfish outlook. I have learned in the mission field that those with more experience than I have great insights for me to apply. I have also learned that it is impossible to make someone else think the same way you do. Oh how I wish I could change the way people think. It would make my life much easier. Having companions who take the lead who are 3-4 years my junior is frustrating at times. But their maturity in many ways amazes me. I don't think I was half the caliber human being as they are now when I was their age. I admire them, love them, and learn from them.
We are teaching many people right now. Yet, none of them seem to be the 'elect.' The 'elect' are those who are prepared to receive the restored gospel. These are they that have open minds and soft hearts who are willing to lay aside whatever negative thoughts or comments they have been exposed to and empty their cup, if you will. They take our message and pray about its validity. They search for understanding and most importantly the Holy Ghost. The 'elect' desire to come closer to Christ. It seems that those we are teaching do not feel it is convenient right now. Coming to Christ is uncomfortable for them. We are struggling to help them see how comfortable it really is. But there is this thing called agency that they have and I cannot control it. So we pray and teach and invite.
I am so happy I came on my mission. There is no other place I would rather be.
Love,
EC
May 14, 2012 A Memorable Mother's Day
Family,
You all were such a wonderful sight yesterday!!! I cannot believe you have grown up so much!!! Coming home will be like unwrapping a present and finding my family inside!! I am excited for that moment. But until then I still have much work to do here.
My mission had been full of wonderful experiences. I have been tried and tested, blessed and uplifted. Rinsed. Repeated.
I am learning so much right now about being a missionary. I am realizing now more than ever that this is pure service. For these two years we serve others. Everything we do is for other people. To be quite honest there have been times where I think too much about myself and what I need. It is at those moments when I feel less effective as a missionary. The best feeling in the world is helping someone else. Sometimes these helpful acts are small, like explaining to an 8 year old the meaning of a certain scripture. Other times these acts are rather large, like spending time with an individual on a daily basis, bearing testimony of Christ, and helping them resolve what concerns and reasons for hesitation they might have as they lead themselves to baptism. There is no greater act of service I have witnessed on my mission than helping another person express their faith, determination, and commitment to Christ by baptizing them. Their lives change.
It is all becoming more of a reality to me now that eventually, soon, I will have to leave this place. This is home for me right now. These people are my family. My friends. My inspiration. It is a bitter-sweet thought.
I am serving God. I am numbered among men such as the apostles who Christ Himself ordained to preach the gospel. I am a representative of Jesus Christ. Yesterday a family member mentioned how she had seen my goals in life change in the past 2 years. Oh how they have! I aim to act as His representative in every way. It is difficult and I am imperfect but with each effort He refines me.
Some awesome things are happening here in the mission. In June we will receive 18 new missionaries followed by another 33 in July! The summer months are always packed with new missionaries. Along with that, our mission will split on 1 July as a result of the success in this part of the Lord's vineyard. Nevada will then be divided into 3 different missions: Reno Nevada, Las Vegas Nevada, and Las Vegas West Missions.
I think the greatest part of what I am doing now in the mission is the opportunity to get to know all the other missionaries and their stories of why they are here and what they are doing to fulfill their mission. Truth be told, the missionaries I meet inspire me to be better each day. I feel the Lord has to send his best missionaries here to Las Vegas. Anyone less could not survive. This is the best mission in the world!
I love all of you,
Elder Cronin
May 7, 2012 Fountains of Blessings
Family,
This was an exciting week! The climax of it all was a baptism in my old ward, Fountains, in Green Valley from back when I was an office elder. Elder Holt and I found a lady named Justine. She is in her 60s and was a referral from her neighbors. When we began teaching her she was very open and receptive but skeptical at the same time. She liked to talk a lot so we never really went far in our lessons each time. I taught her once or twice I believe then I was transferred. Now, almost 1 year later she finally made the commitment and was baptized! There were many missionaries in attendance and family too. I didn't know this as we taught her but her sister joined the church many years ago and half the congregation at her baptism were close relatives!
In that same ward is a convert of mine named Julian. He was baptized when I served there and he just got his mission call!!!!! He's going to the Philippines and leaves next month!!! I will go through the temple with him in the next few weeks!
Another really neat experience happened yesterday. Every Sunday our Singles Ward feeds us. Usually a group of friends signs up to have us over. Well, just as we were leaving the chapel yesterday I heard someone say the name Kirschbaum. That may sound foreign to you but to me that name reminds me of my service in the Mission Office and the wards I covered then. Brother Kirschbaum was the Ward Mission Leader in the Fountains Ward when I served there. He was a very good friend to me and an amazing Ward Mission Leader. Just after I was transferred out he moved to Pleasant Grove Utah. On his way out with truck and trailer and all loaded up, he stopped by the mission office during transfer conference to say good-bye. I was touched that he went out of his way to do that. I have not heard from him since so when I heard his name yesterday I stopped everything and asked the guy who was speaking in the hallway who he was talking about. Well as it turns out, Brother Kirschbaum's sister is in the singles ward I cover now! I told this guy that he had to introduce me to her some day so I could send my regards to her brother. Well, we left the chapel and headed to dinner and guess who was there!?!?!? Leah Kirschbaum! I was blown away at the coincidence of it all. She called her brother up and I talked to him for a few minutes. It was great to talk to him again and tell him about Justine's baptism and all that was taking place in the mission. My world is so small!!
We are working hard right now! We have 4 people set for baptism and many more we are trying to work with right now. I love the thrill of finding people as we talk to them in the streets and with the members of the ward. The elect are out there!
Also we went up to Mesquite, which is soon to be part of the Nevada Las Vegas Mission. All the missionaries up there including my companion and I walked in the Mesquite Days parade Saturday morning. It is a small town with many members and they love the missionaries. We decided to enter the Parade the night before and as a result our slot was just in front of the Fire Truck. Note to Self: never walk in front of a firetruck during a parade. Needless to say I was deaf afterwards from all of its honking and wailing. Does anyone else hear an awful ringing?
Well family I will talk to you on Sunday!!!!!!
Lots 'O love,
EC
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