Elder Holt and I survived the transfer!! We will be in the office another 6 weeks! I have a feeling I might be here in the office until President goes home in July. I can't imagine they would put new office Elders in right before a new President comes. But it's all up to the Lord. I have never heard of this MTC documentary? I didn't know they could do something like that seeing as how that whole facility is dedicated. Regardless, I hope you were able to feel the Spirit as you watched. The Spirit of the MTC is immense and infinite. I wish to go back there and just live! Ha ha. Actually, on days when I am distracted from the Spirit I always think back to the MTC and remember the strength of the Spirit and remind myself that it is attainable here in the field as well. And it works!! The Spirit of the Field and the MTC are two different feelings. The MTC is more of the Spirit of Learning and confirmation of truths. The field is a Spirit of strength and encouragement, courage, and faith. The Spirit is especially strong in lessons as we open our mouths to be filled with what our investigators need to hear.
I'm sorry to hear about Sister Dean. She is in a better place though. In fact we are going today to a funeral one of Elder Holt's recent converts. She was baptized about one year ago but has struggled her whole life with a plethora of illnesses. She was out of the hospital 3.5 weeks last year. The longest she had ever been out in many years. In this short window of time her husband happened to run into the missionaries and during those three weeks Elder Holt and his companion were able to teach and baptize them. The next day she went back into the hospital. Just a few weeks ago she had a minor heart attack followed by a serious stroke. She coded several times before she reached the ICU. They froze her body and put her into a coma to preserve what few brain cells might have remained after the incident. However, her brain activity never came back. They took her off of life support Monday and she moved on to a better world. They had plans to go to the temple soon but the amazing miracle of the Restored Gospel is that we can be sealed to our families whether we are here or in the Spirit World!
I think I told you all about Julian. He is the one who called us a few weeks ago and asked how to set up a lesson with the missionaries. Well we took him up to the temple last Thursday night and taught him the plan of salvation. He had some really great questions which we did our best to answer. He came to church on Sunday and I sat next to him. Because of Conference it was fast Sunday. It was the top of the hour, time for Sunday school, and I look over at Julian and he is sitting on the edge of his seat looking at the clock. I ignorantly asked him if he needed to go anywhere. He responded with an almost nervous grin and said he wanted to go up there, nodding his head towards the podium. I asked him what he was waiting for and he asked if it was to late. I said no, let's both go up there. So we did! I bore a very short testimony and then Julian bore his. It was so sincere!! We asked him to be baptized last week and he bore his testimony of his excitement to be baptized on May 14th. Then he shocked us all when he mentioned how excited he was to serve a mission so that he could share what he had learned with others who are looking for answers just like him. I was ecstatic! I couldn't tell whether to cry or laugh from my joy so I did a combination of the two. I thought to myself how I wish that that was why I had left on my mission. It's why i am here now but that wasn't the reason I left in the first place. He will make a great missionary!
The new office is great! Now that it is in a chapel we play a ton of basketball! I love it. I'm so excited to here about Mom training for a triathlon. Go get 'em! The work is going great. We are always busy. I love serving the Lord. It is so rewarding. As I remain obedient and diligent to His commandments I see the blessings come in 10 fold. I am so grateful to be serving Him and sharing with others the message of the Restoration.
Love,
Elder Cronin
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| Elder Dabazinskas - a friend from SVU days! |
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| The Fountains Ward 5K |
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