Hermana Croft, People Prepared for the Gospel

"Haha, it's awesome, the Croft family now has two missionaries out at the same time, Hermana Croft, and Elder Croft! There truly is nothing greater than the mission, and it is the biggest blessing that any of us could receive from our Father in Heaven. To our parents, don't worry too much about Jessica, she'll be in Provo for awhile, and then after that you can trust in her mission president, it's incredible how much they really care for us out here, they become a type of parents, never quite the same, but they'll be taking care of Jessica, and the Lord gives them an extra abundance of Love to make up for the fact that we're away from the family. I imagine it's been a rollercoaster of emotions for everyone, but I am confident in the Lord's promise that our families will be protected on the mission, especially spiritually.

I'm proud Jessica has also decided to serve a mission, it's a super cool blessing, and there is honestly nothing better than serving the Lord and bearing testimony so frequently each day! I hope all goes well, and I think you guys just barely dropped off Jessica, crazy stuff, it's going to be one wild ride! And no worries Mom and Dad, I'll be home in something like 14 months, so you'll be seeing me soon! :)

For us over here the week has been pretty interesting! I'll keep it brief, but we have seen a ton of miracles! We've had some incredible finding miracles where the Lord is placing prepared people in our paths in the exact moment when we have to be there! We were knocking this one guys house looking for a referral we had received, and when we knocked the guy told us he had some Mormon friends (he wasn't the guy we were looking for by the way) and that just two days ago they had given him a Book of Mormon and he had been reading it and had some questions for us!!! Yeah, it was an awesome miracle!

[A woman we've been teaching] continues to progress, she was reading in the Book of Mormon one night because she had gotten scared by some ghost stories and it was late at night and such, and as she started to read the Book of Mormon she said she felt "protected". It's awesome, she is slowly coming to develop a relationship with our Father in Heaven. It's been a blessing to see her progress and just eat up all that we're teaching her. She is extremely willing to learn, and it's been cool to see the spirit come more and more into her life.

Oh, this Sunday we also had an incredible fireside by one of the Seventy. Elder Alfonso, his talk was extremely powerful and he spoke on not hesitating to be baptized and how we must be grateful in all things. He told this story of how on his mission he was at an investigators house and they had no food, nothing but two eggs, and they gave these missionaries the two eggs. They of course tried to refuse but the family insisted, and said that they would instead fast. The missionaries ate the eggs, and the children, who didn't quite understand what was going on began to cry because they had no food... Later that day the Father returned to the house laden with food and money. He'd been out all day selling some things, and at first nothing was happening, but then at some point in the day he began to sell everything, and he returned home with food for his family. He began to sell at exactly the same time that the missionaries were in the home with the family and they made the sacrifice for the missionaries. It was a confirmation of my faith that God truly does watch over the people we are here to serve. He cares for each of his children so deeply and is just waiting to open up the windows of Heaven.

So much of the world doesn't seem to understand that God does not want to punish us, he wants to bless us, lift us higher, and help us to become incredible. He is not just to be feared, but to be trusted as a close friend. I feel that so many people that we speak with just see him as the great punisher, or the one thing you pray to when you have problems. They fail to realize the true relationship we have with our Father. If we could all understand that, I feel like a lot of problems with the world would be solved.

Well with that fireside we had an investigator there that was really impacted by the Seventy's words. The next day we taught him at a members house and he committed to baptism! It was incredible, he is so ready,... and he can already feel the truthfulness of the Gospel all through the testimony of this one man.

In short, God is pouring out the blessings of heaven upon this area and we are able to see the fruits of it! I have gained a powerful testimony of the fact that God truly does pour out his spirit to prepare the people of the earth to hear his message. People are drawn to us as representatives of Jesus Christ, both the Good and the Bad, and we have the opportunity to serve them both. There is truly nothing greater than wearing the name of the Savior on my chest every day!

Other than that it's continued to be a good week of hard work, and I love it!"