November 17, 2010

Family,
It might seem odd that I am e-mailing today but we are heading down to Vegas tomorrow for a conference with General Authority Elder Bowen, he is touring the mission. Its what we call a mission vacation. And because we are leaving tomorrow we have our P-day today.
   I'm so excited to hear of your progression. Things are progressing here in Elko including the weather. We have been into the 30's so far but nothing colder than that and it seems to be a bit bi-polar as well seeing as how its 58 today and sunny. Which, surprisingly seems warm.
   Thanks for all the supplies you are sending me.  My companion and I are really hoping we stay here for a while. With our next transfer only 3 weeks away there is a possibility that one of us will be transferred. It would be a shame if after all the winter stuff I have (which includes 4 pairs of gloves!) if I get sent into the valley. But I must go and do as the Lord commands and if I am needed elsewhere I will gladly accept.
   We get member dinners every night accept for on P-days.  In fact, we get member dinners/ lunches so much that Monday we had two dinners back to back. And of course we don't tell the families that because we don't want them to feel like they can't feed us and they receive many blessings for their service so we eat EVERYTHING. Needless to say I was incredibly full! But the food is very good. And the company just the same.
   My Spanish is improving slowly but its improving. We teach about an equal proportion of English and Spanish lessons. This is because we cover one English Ward which covers just a fourth or so of Elko and the Spanish branch which covers not only the entire city of Elko but 4 other cities as well. So we have a lot of area and some of which we haven't even touched yet. There is a lot of work to do here in Elko.
The English ward is about the size of Clinton ward and the Spanish branch had about 50 names on the roster but only about 15 show up each Sunday. The branch is only 2 years old though but some of its original members are inactive now. So we do a lot of less-active and part member family work around here. And so far we are seeing success. I can't say that we have had any failures.
Funny Event of the Week:
 So I told you all about Bro. & Sis. Sargeant. Well Sis. Sargeant stays at home all day because of her health mostly but Bro. Sargeant is a real busy bee. He reminds me of Doc. He is always doing something. So the "something" he is doing now is covering about 2 acres he has just outside of town with leaves. First he started taking his own leaves from his house out to his land. Then he started asking friends to drop their leaves at his house and he would haul them out to his property. So he was only taking about a load a day. He's been doing this since we first got here. All he has is a little 1993 Toyota and his cane. But he gets it done.
So the other morning we were studying in our apartment out back of their house and all the sudden we heard this big diesel driving down the ally behind our house. We looked out the window and backing into the Sargaents yard is this dump truck. It tilts it bed and out comes at least 30 bags filled with leaves! Bro. Sargeant had a smile on his face a mile wide when he told us he convinced the city to dump the leaves they were picking up from the neighborhoods in his backyard. Sis. Sargeants reaction was not as joyful however. She came out with a look on her face of utter confusing as she asked her husband, "What the heck is going on here?" He answered her with the same accomplished grin and she walked inside and called the city and told them to stop dumping! By the time they got word to stop they had already dumped 2 loads.  Those two loads took Bro. Sargeant 7 loads to get to his property! Funny old man! But the sweetest people I know.
  
A Clarification of Missionary Work:
   Some people think that as missionaries we harass and bug and probe. Well we do in a sense. But the important thing is why we do it. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the doctrine of our Heavenly Father, is once again restored on this Earth. While technology has grown more in the past 75 years than it has in the past 2000 years alone we still cannot reach everyone to share the message of the Restoration. But God can. He prepares each and every person who has yet to hear the message to receive it. Some of those he prepares accept his preperation but others reject it. Our harassing, bugging and probing comes as a result of our commitment to find those who have been prepared by the Lord to receive the message. To find those people we simply invite. We do not pressure or demand, we merely invite. We invite you to listen to our message. Then we invite you to pray to know if that message is true. Then we invite you to listen for the Holy Ghost to confirm its validity. Then if you accept those invitations we invite you to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone who holds the proper authority given to them through Jesus Christ himself. Then we invite you to continue to live by God's commandments and endure to the end. These are merely invitations. We are not on a mission to change, to demand, to argue, or to belittle. We are here to invite. So if there are any of you who are reading this and have not accepted or even been offered the invitation, I invite you to listen to what the missionaries have to say. And if you have heard the missionaries before I invite you to pray about their message. Will you do that? If you accept this invitation I promise you it will affect you for the better. And if you decide to take this challenge, this invitation, write me and let me know of your experience!
Family, I love you all and am so glad to hear of the blessings you all are receiving and I know that because of your support I am seeing blessings as well!
It gives me indescribable joy to know we are sealed together for the eternities. Sometimes that might seem unbearable but I promise it is the greatest gift we can receive!
Love,
Elder Cronin
P.S. I could use my Doc Martin work boots. We do alot of service :) Thanks!!!!