3/23/2015 From Elder Gary Crye

Yeah, things are still going well. We just got transfer calls last night. Tomorrow, we'll be heading off to Brampton (~4hrs drive away) to drop off Elder Rodriguez and pick up Elder Smith. I'm staying here in Windsor for at least the next 6 weeks.

If things continue to go well, we should be looking at something like 3 baptisms in the upcoming few weeks. We're definitely looking forward to that.

I'm alive and well as usual. :)

It's been really warm here. They're doing construction on the parking lot outside our apartment, so they've relocated our parking spot. We now park right on the river, facing Detroit. You can see American flags off in the distance from where we park everyday now. It's pretty sweet.

I love you guys!

-Elder Crye

3/16/2015 From Elder Gary Crye

We haven't left the apartment very often these last few weeks, so there isn't a whole lot to report as far as our proselyting efforts go. Somehow, people still come to us though. We have 3 progressing investigators from member referrals that we see regularly. Apart from that, we don't see many people right now. I've been doing a whole lot of scripture study and prayer these last few weeks.

I'm alive and well. :)

Thank you for your thoughts and love. I love you too!

I've spent a lot of time on my knees this week. I listened to a talk wherein the speaker was talking about what makes "Mormons" different, and really what makes him different. He related an experience from his missionary days that he was reading in his handbook, back before the handbook was standardized around the world. In his mission's version of the handbook, under the section of morning prayer, it invited missionaries to pray *until* they feel the Spirit. Not just pray for it, but pray until you feel it, pleading with the Lord and humbling yourself. His handbook apparently quoted Wilford Woodruff, who gave that instruction. The speaker mentioned that he's been following that practice ever since. I put that into effect and wow, there was definitely a difference in the quality of my morning prayers. 

With love,
Elder Crye

3/2/2015 From Elder Gary Crye

I'm alive and well. This week, I spent a few hours writing a novel to the Mission President. . I testify that the power of prayer is real, though. :)

Thank you for all the love and support!

I'm personally doing quite well, investigators have found us. We haven't spent much time door-to-door contacting, talking with people on the streets, and so on, but people still manage to find us.

[Referring to the topic of family councils the previous week with branch and stake (congregations)]

From my experience, the key points are inviting the Spirit and sharing strengths. The hard part is getting everyone to contribute.

2/23/2015 From Elder Gary Crye

[Family letter mentioned the home branch and stake (congregations) were emphasizing the practice of having more family councils. - Caralee Crye]

[Gary's response]

Good stuff. Family councils? Interesting. Something that may be useful is the "companionship inventory" section from Preach My Gospel that goes as follows: 

At the end of your weekly planning session, share with your companion appropriate goals, and ask for his or her help to accomplish them. Discuss the strength of your relationship with your companion. Discuss any challenges that may be keeping your companionship from working in unity or from being obedient. Resolve conflicts. Share with your companion what you think his or her strengths are. Ask for suggestions on how you can improve. If needed, set goals that will improve your relationship. Conclude with prayer.

[Caralee's comments]

I head a definition of Faith yesterday.  I liked the way how it is described.  Faith = hope, believe, and do.  There is also discussion of a letter that Elder HInckley received while he was a missionary:  Five words saying:  Do not doubt; just believe.  That letter was also the theme that Elder Holland spoke at the Seminary and Institute devotional a few weeks ago.  I suppose with the way things are going in the world, we all could work on gaining as much faith as we can.

We could all work on that. Regarding the phrase "do not doubt; just believe", it's interesting. Some people interpret that to mean blindly believe and obey. That interpretation is incorrect. We seek learning out of the best [sources]. The thing is that when some people have questions, they interpret having a question as having doubt. There are some very clear answers out there to people's "doubts." You just need to continue having faith and to find the answer.

If your "doubt" is a concern with a specific person, just understand that the Atonement fixes everything. God's plan is perfect. He's not going to fail because that person failed.

So, I agree. Just believe. :)

 [more of Caralee's comments]

President Holland gave me a new calling (I still keep my current calling as primary teacher) to be a "Preparing for the Temple" teacher.  I'll be teaching those who plan on serving on a mission as well as others who desire going to the temple.  I have a question for you....  now that you've been on your mission the past six months, if you have one (or two) suggestions, what would you say would be most beneficial for members (both current and new) of the church in focusing their goals with the temple?  It doesn't have to be specific to our branch, but rather your observations in general.

Hopefully this is coherent. I'm just throwing out a few thoughts as I do a few other things.

A lot of members out here, particularly those that have never been to the temple, misunderstand sacredness for secrecy and mystery. Since people often refer to the temple in unnecessarily veiled language, it makes the temple seem like something unattainable for all those that aren't perfect. Sometimes it's perfectly necessary to speak in veiled language. Christ spoke in parables. People struggle to determine when they need to talk abstractly. See, there are things about the temple that you are allowed to talk about outside of the temple. You should be very respectful when discussing these things, and you should only discuss them in the right environment, but the church is very transparent regarding things that might surprise you. For example: http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-updates-temple-garment-video . There are unendowed church members that still refer to the garments as magic underwear. People who speak with clarity help out a lot.

As missionaries, we have the opportunity to be very clear and often a bit blunt with people. Temples are something that existed in the primitive church, but they were lost after about 70AD in the Middle East. This is the very same church and very same gospel that existed when Christ was on the earth. He truly is our savior. He truly restored this truth again to the earth, and it's important. If you believe in the Restoration, then you should know that to qualify for the highest blessings, you need to attend the temple regularly. To do so, you need to live the commandments and qualify to enter. Don't put off acquiring blessings. Do the things that will bring you the most happiness. Go to the temple.

Probably the biggest thing that helped me prepare for the temple was knowing that the power of the Atonement is made manifest when we make covenants with God. That's a very simple truth, much like the law of obedience that states:

 "20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—
"21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated."

That's part of why taking the sacrament each week is vital to the repentance process. Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. Be where you should be, when you should be there. Do something good of your own free will and reap the reward. There's a talk I really like listening to while I'm out here. It's a bit old, but it's a great one: https://www.lds.org/ensign/1979/05/following-christ-to-victory?lang=eng

Somehow I got from the temple to sacrifice. They really are related. It takes a bit of time to go to the temple. Okay, then. What's the reward?

Some people just need clear instructions. They also need to know that it's not this mystical thing that they'll never understand. Like the gospel, you practice at it. You work at it. You can understand it, but there's always more to learn.

The weather's been relatively very pleasant here in Windsor. Still pretty cold, but there were several days this week without snow or much wind. The members say it's worse this year than usual here in Windsor. Not sure what I think of that. Not sure if I mentioned this in my last email, but I heard the latitude here is equivalent to the northern tip of California.

We had a baptism and confirmation just this last week. No pictures were taken, since the family (mother and daughter) is very shy. Very few people were there, but the Spirit was definitely present. I confirmed the daughter just yesterday. 

Here in Windsor, we're receiving tons of referrals. In most areas here in the mission, missionaries are full-time finders, and we do as much teaching as we can. Here, the pendulum is starting to swing in the other direction. We're mostly full-time teachers. It's great. Perhaps that's why I've said the weather is mild. We haven't been out much.

2/17/2015 From Elder Gary Crye; Got transferred to Windsor

Hey! I'm alive and well. Now on the US/Canada border. You can see over the river to the US from our apartment building.

Since you sent me more than I was expecting, I bought a new GPS unit and still have enough to be comfortable and not really have any looming expenses. All my clothes/shoes/etc. are holding up just fine.

This week's been a bit slow. My new companion's super laid-back. Very patient. From Hawaii. Not a whole lot of urgency. Great teacher though. Super loving. His name is Elder Rodriguez.

I'll be sure to send pictures. :)

2/9/2015 From Elder Gary Crye: Transfer News, and some pictures from the last transfer

Plenty of pictures today, and after all this, I'll announce my transfer location.

And the transfer news...

I'm being transferred to Windsor, Ontario. Right next to the US/Canada Border at Detroit, Michigan.

2/2/2015 From Elder Gary Crye

In my last area, since we rode buses, our day was always packed. It was just difficult to finish everything we needed to. 

This area, it just seems like there's always another missionary that wants to go and do something. Today, it's one of the Zone Leader's birthday. That, and it's the second-to-last week before a few sister missionaries "die" (read: conclude their mission) in our district. So, the district has made lunch plans at The Mandarin, and we have some sort of activity at the mall planned. That leaves me with just about an hour to do everything I need to on the computer. 

This week's been pretty slow. All 4 progressing investigators (those that are actually moving forward, acting upon what we teach, and so on) went out of town this week. There was a day off of school for most of the kids, so a lot of families just took an extra long vacation. So, we've been visiting a lot of ward members and knocking on doors out in the cold weather. I'm staying nice and warm, though, so no worries there.

Next week, I'll let you know if I'm getting transferred or not. We get phone calls with the news this upcoming Sunday night (and every 6 weeks thereafter). It's pretty likely that at least one of us is leaving the area, since we're a trio right now.

Love,

Elder Crye

 

2/2/2015 From Elder Gary Crye "Hey, look. It's a picture!"

Hey, I took a picture this last week!

This is one of my companions and I being goofballs after playing around on preparation day. The car on the left is the one I drive.  About a day after this picture was taken, we got quite a bit more snow here. :)

1/26/2015 from Elder Gary Crye

Something the Mission President has been pushing lately is the faith involved in doing rather than just trying. Trying means you're relying on yourself. In this work, we're joining arms with the Lord and doing His work.  

Honestly, apart from the day or two I've been sick, I don't think I've had a "down" day out here. Some days are really amazing, and others are also pretty good, though perhaps not quite as notable. Often the difference is how fervently I've been trying to follow the Spirit. Really though, I've been doing pretty well out here. Thank you for all the love!

Culture, eh? Not really. (See what I did there? :P ) I now instinctively take off my shoes when entering a home. The accent is not very different. People say "washroom" instead of "bathroom" and drink milk out of bags rather than plastic jugs. That's about it. We meet quite a few people from around the world though. Here, it's not quite as diverse as Brampton, but you still get your occasional Danish brogue or French accent.

New experiences? Lots of new food. Nothing weird yet though, but I've heard quite a bit about missionaries eating balut (not really sure how to spell that), which is an egg with the hatchling partially formed.

Struggles? Not really. There are some people that just aren't ready for the gospel, but they don't understand what they're turning down. Waking up in the morning is much easier than it was at the start of my mission.

Inspiring experiences or miracles? Plenty. The mission is full of them. Just last night, we just had some finding (tracting) planned for after dinner, but while praying as we left the residence, it just didn't feel right to go finding. Instead, we started praying about who we should visit. We ended up deciding to visit this active member, after deciding that it felt right. When we got there, he graciously let us in. We started to talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he just started bawling as we went on. We had a super spiritual lesson. It turns out, he had been feeling very lonely since he and his wife recently separated. He only sees the kids every other weekend or something. He had been praying for some comfort. That's exactly what we shared with him - a message of God's love for him and his purpose in life. We gave him a blessing. That was a special night that went in my journal.

I know a few more details from when I was in Brampton. The Mission Office is where we get our proselytizing materials from. It's where some of the service missionaries work, namely, the mission nurse, our financial coordinator, the mission secretary, and our vehicle coordinator. It's also the location President Clayton and the two Assistants are at when they determine transfers. Concerning mail, Zone Leaders generally visit the mission office about twice a month, usually while they're in town for leadership meetings. When they're there, they pick up letters and packages for the missionaries in their zone. Zones meet together at least once a month for Zone Conferences, but usually see each other more often than that for other meetings or to just play sports together. Here in the Oshawa Zone, we usually see everyone from our zone each week. That's when Zone Leaders distribute mail.

The Church has been renting out a place in a commercial building. Since there were some renovations already planned for a chapel at Creditview and Wanlass (the address listed), it was decided to move the mission office into the Creditview chapel at the same time. That chapel is still pretty close to the mission home, mission office, and Ontario Temple. The renovated chapel is about the size of a stake center, but instead of having offices for a stake presidency like a stake center might, it will house the mission office.

It's suggested that we don't make our residential addresses publicly known (so don't stick it on the blog), but I can tell you that I'll be at the following address for at least the next 14 days. We're beginning week 5 of 6 of the transfer. The last day I know I'll be in Bowmanville is Feb. 9, but I could stay here for another transfer. I'll let you all know of course. :)  We live in the basement below some members here.

Hmmm... The last time I was able to do a session through the temple was just before October's General Conference. However, I hear that's an opportunity just for those that are pretty close to the temple. Perhaps for April's I can try to have a name prepared.

I love you too!

-Elder Crye

Transfer 4, Week 2 - In which we had a great time as a trio

This week was pretty sweet.

We had a great week bringing souls to Christ. Talking to everyone and dedicating time to finding new, interested people to teach brings blessings. I want to relate an interesting experience we had.

We were knocking the door of this lady, A, who had expressed interested in learning more about the Restored Gospel. Suddenly, out comes this 25-year old lady, L. She tells us that A isn't home - she's just the dog walker. We shook her hand, introduced ourselves, and explained that we're missionaries. She initially responded something like, "Oh, cool," and started to keep going. We then briefly taught a bit about our Father in Heaven and bore testimony of Jesus Christ. Something changed. She then mentioned that we could swing by when she got home at 5. We did, and we were welcomed in graciously. Then, suddenly, out came her mother, B. B briefly asked us who we were. "Missionaries from the Church of" - she cut us off and said one word, "OUT." Honestly, it was practically a home invasion. 4 unknown men in her house. The situation got pretty awkward, especially for the member we brought with us. L pleaded for us to stay. Silence. After about 5 seconds, one of my companions mentioned that we'd only be there for about 10 minutes. B reluctantly pulled out some chairs, and sat in. We went through a solid "How to Begin Teaching" - explain our purpose, etc., and their expressions changed dramatically. We then taught about the Restoration. B explained that she'd never been baptized and said she'd like that. Both accepted baptism. Right before we could invite them to church, they asked if they could attend church with us. They attended and loved it.

On an unrelated noted, I think it's funny how some dogs here are covered in coats that make them look like marshmallows.

-Elder Crye