Elder Todd Cronin: April 7, 2011

Family,

I find out this weekend whether I am staying or going! EEEEEKKKK! It's like Christmas every 6 weeks. We anxiously await, in this assignment, for the Assistants to finalize the transfer board with President and for the time around 10:00pm on Saturday night when the board is revealed to us and we first look to our names then gander at the rest of the changes in the mission. I am hoping to stay but if I go I am hoping not go to a Spanish area. I have not had much opportunity to teach in Spanish since coming out. However, we recently had Spanish conference. This conference is held for all the Spanish speaking missionaries in the Mission. President addressed, in particularly, those missionaries who had been called Spanish speaking but are currently serving in English areas. He encouraged us to not shy away from opportunities to teach in the language. This was an answer to a prayer that I had in my heart.

Three weeks before this conference we had street contacted a young lady named Lucy. She is Hispanic and didn't speak a lick of English. Elder Holt does not speak Spanish, so I approached her and initiated the conversation. I asked her if she knew that her family could be together forever. She responded by telling me that was impossible because we all have to die. I explained to her that, yes, we all must die but that there is life beyond the grave where we can live with our families forever. Her eyes went wide and a curious smile came to her face. We asked when we could come by to share more with her and she gave us a date and time. We went back for our appointment, however, she was not there. Surprise! Okay not really, this happens on a daily basis. Her boyfriend, however, was home. His name is Toni. We spoke to him briefly about what we share as missionaries and gave him 2 Books of Mormon however, it did not seem he was to interested. We left their apartment a little disappointed. Time passed, a few weeks or so, and we had forgotten about Toni and Lucy. Then with President's remarks at Spanish Conference Lucy popped into my head. We made plans that night to visit her the next day. We went over on Friday night around 6 and knocked on the door. This time Lucy and Toni were home. They asked us to come in. This was a surprise!

I asked them why they had let us into their home. Toni said it was because the word of God is always welcomed and Lucy said it was because she enjoyed learning new things. Be built off their responses and taught the 1st lesson about the Restoration. About 5 minutes into it I realized I was at a huge disadvantage because I was the only one teaching seeing as how Elder Holt doesn't speak Spanish. The Spirit told me to invite my companion to teach in English and I would translate for Toni and Lucy. It worked perfectly. The Spirit was intensely strong in there as we taught about the Restoration. The most intense part came as Elder Holt shared the First Vision and I translated it into Spanish. Lucy was wide eyed again and Toni was not blinking he was so intrigued. We finished the lesson and asked if there were any questions. Toni paused for a moment and said he had a question but before he asked the question he wanted to tell us something. I began to translate for Elder Holt. I could hardly keep up because of what I was hearing. Toni began to relate to us that not but 40 minutes ago he was fairly depressed because of certain events that had recently occurred in his life. In his emotional state he sat at his computer and looked for Christian music, thinking it would uplift him. He said it inspired him to pray. He said he looked out of his window and asked God for direction, for a way to take his life to find happiness and peace. He said that once he ended his prayer we knocked on his door and he let us in. We have since had 2 lessons with Toni. He is preparing himself to be baptized in three weeks.

This is why I am on my mission! To find people like Toni, Violet, Julian, Peggy, Ashley, Eric, all people who have been prepared by the Lord in a way special to themselves to receive the Restored Gospel. I love my mission.

I know this is the true church of our Heavenly Father. Always remember that He loves you. even when it feels like no one else might, He does. Truth has been restored and I am blessed to be able to spread that message.

Love,

Elder Cronin