Reed's first week in Paradise

Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006
Well I am finally here. I´m sorry I didn´t send a letter last week
but I didn´t have a chance to use the internet. I flew out of Sao Paulo
at 8:00 in the morning so I had to be at the front desk with all my
stuff and the other guys going to Joao pessoa at 5:30 in the morning so I
had to get up at about 4:45 and you all know how much I like getting up
early. So we flew out, me and 6 other guys. Luckily we had a brasilian
with us so that we didn´t get lost. I was sitting in the airport and
the guy would come over the speaker and say something in Portuguese and I
had no idea what he was saying, and then he would repeat it in English
and I still had no idea what he was saying. That was kinda the first
time that I realized that from then on it was all Portuguese and that I
better learn it and learn it fast.
So we flew out of Sao Paulo to Brasilia which was a 1 1\2 hour
flight. We had about a 45 minute layover and then flew to Joao Pessoa which
took about 2 1\2 hrs. We were all just wondering what it would be like.
When we were getting close to Joao Pessoa it started to get more green
the closer we got and then I finally could see the city and the ocean.
It was a pretty cool site. So we landed were walking toward the airport
we could see our mission President and his wife waving at us. So we got
our bags and went to meet them. We didn´t get much of a chance to talk
at the airport but we just packed up our stuff in a van and headed for
the mission office. We then had some cake and they told us abut the
mission and some of the stuff that we needed to know about the mission.
They went over rules and other stuff like that too. We had interviews
with Presidente Geschwandtner. After that we went to their house for
dinner and it was just amazing. It was the best meal I had had in 2 months.
after dinner we had a little testimony meeting where all the new guys
bore their testimony in Portuguese and that was really good. So by this
time it was about 8:30 and we were all wondering when we would find out
where we were going to be sent the next day. Finally Presidente
Geschwandtner pulled out the envelopes that had all the info in them. So he
started reading them and finally he got to mine. He read (in Portuguese)
Elder Crosby, your new zone will be Caico, your new area will be Sousa,
and your trainor will be Elder Matos. At the time this all meant
nothing to me and I just wanted to find a map. He then talked to us a little
bit more and then we took pictures and I thing they ar sending some of
those to you. The whole time I was just wondering, "where the heck is
Sousa?" So finally we got to talk to some of the missionaries that had
been there for a while and they explained that Sousa is the furthest
area away from Joao Pessoa. It was also the hottest part of the misison
and almost never rained there but they said it had the best ice cream,
the best salgados, and had a lot of Baptisms.
So that night we stayed in a hotel, right on the beach. The next
morning we got our stuff and headed to the bus station but they told me
that I was going to wait because my companion was actually in joao
Pessoa for some training. So Everyone else left and I went to the Misisonary
office with the older missionaries. I sat ther until noon, just reading
the letters I got (14!!!) and opening the packages (2!!! One from Kari
and one from Katelyn) so that was pretty exciting. Finally I got to
meet Elder Matos. He´s a Brazilian and knows about 20 words in english so
Its pretty interesting but I will havew to learn Portugues that much
faster. And then we went to lunch. We went to a place like Tucanos where
they bring the meet out on the swords and that was great. While we were
eating it started to rain and it was just perfect. So at about 3:00 we
went to catch our bus to Sousa but we ended upmissing it and having to
wait untill 5:00 that night to catch the bus. I was just glad Elder
Matos was there because I would have been so lost with out him. We finally
got on the bus and headed to Sousa. 7 1\2 hours later, at 12:30
Thursday morning we arrived at our Apartment. that first night was pretty bad,
both me and Elder Matos had the runs (I think from the lunch) . It
wasn´t a pleasent experience. So the next day we got up and went out on the
town. Sousa is a little town with about 40,000? people in the middile
of nowhere. It is in the easter part of Paraiba if you want to look at a
map.
Things are good here. We live with another companionship and the
living isn´t too bad. It is really hot here and so I average about 2
showers a day and sometimes three. The apartment isn´t too bad. We have all
that you need. The people here are extrordanarily nice. It´s amazing
how open they are and everyone will invite you in to their house and
offer you water or something to drink. We are teaching about 10 people
right now and 2 are getting baptized onWednesday and another one maybe
Sunday. At church yesturday we had I think 105 people so that was pretty
impressive. we had 6 of our investigators show up to church. I still have
no idea what people are saying here because the dialect here is a lot
different. It would be like learning english and the going to one of the
southern statees like alabama and trying to understand them. The first
couple of days I didn´t understand anything but I am beginning to be
able to pick out words and Phrases now. Elder Matos is a great companion
and has taught me alot. President Geschwandtner came here on Sunday
becuase we just got married misisonary couple to be the new branch
President because the old one got excommunicated I think.
Anyway, things are good and I love it here even though it is really
really hot. I love being able to actually go around and teach the
lessons to people with real problems and real desires. Every lesson Elder
Matos lets me teach a part of it and I am trying to learn how to teach
mor effectively and be able to explain things in Portuguese. The food
here is good. It´s kind of different because at home the big meal is
dinner, but here it is lunch. We always go to a members house for lunch and
Sometimes that is the only meal we eat all day unless we make something
for breakfast. We never take time for dinner but teach lessons. Some
times we stop and get a little bite on the run at night but usually we
don´t eat until we get back to the apartment at 9 or 9:30. I eat so much
at lunch I don´t even notice though. Well I can´t beleive that I am
actually in the field. I didn´t even tell you about my last week in the
CTM or when Elder Uchtdorf spoke to us but I don´t have time. I love you
all. I know that Christ lives and that we are sons and daughters of
God. I know that God knows us each personally and will help us if we ask
him, even if it´s just a little thing. I know that this church is true
and that it brings happiness and hope to our lives. I know that only
through the Atonement of Jesus Christis the Plan of Salvation possible. I
know that Jesus Christ rose from the grave and that he overcame both
physical and spiritual death. I know that he lives today and that only
through Him can we be saved. I want you all to know that I love you all
and aprreciate all that you have done and still do for me. I challenge
you all to share the gospel with someone. Pick a date that you want to
have someone go to church with you and then pray about it and TALK WITH
EVERYONE. just open your mouth. I know that If you have the faith that
you will be able to find someone to share the gospel with. If everyone
would do this in the church just think how much faster the church would
grow. Misisonary work is 10x more effective when they have a friend
there when they are taught the lessons. I know it will bless their lives
and your lives. I hope you all have a good week.

Your son and brother,
Elder Crosby

Come inside our home...

We finally got our house in order so we posted some pictures on our blog so you can go check it out if you want to.

Kari enters the MTC

Here's Kari, won't she make a great missisonary? She was so excited to get there. They will love her in the Los Angeles Temple Visitors Center.

Reed writes a Poem

I didn't get a letter from Reed this week since he's probably on a plane headed to his new area. He sent a letter home this week and included was a poem he wrote so I thought I'd post that. He also said that he and 4 other guys got to sing a special number and he also got to lead the music, something he's never done. He said it also rained alot and actually woke him up one morning. It was kind of funny, he said that he received a letter from Elder Burkholders Dad, he thought that was weird. Then he was shocked when he got one from his mom and his girlfriend a couple of days later.
It was then he remembered that he'd mentioned to him that he hadn't received any mail. (He has now).So if you can, write real letters to him. I bet he sends a new address from where he's at now. Here's the POEM:

When I'm down or life is rough
When I feel I have bad luck.
When things get bad, get hard, get tough
When I hear "just give up".
I close my eyes and see His face.

If I'm sick and life's no fun.
If I feel I can't go on.
If life goes south, goes bad, goes wrong.
If I want to say, "I'm done".
I close my eyes and see His face.

His loving eyes that say "I'm here".
His look that says "Have no fear".
His lips that whisper in my ear.
His love that makes my purpose clear.

I'm here for Him and not for me,
To bring His sheep that will believe.
He suffered all for you and me
That we may live eternally.

Two years I'll serve with all my might.
With all my heart, mind, strength I'll fight.
I'll stand for what is true and right
And guide His flock unto the light.

With Him I can do anything
To Him I'll pray and I will sing.
Because of Him, death has no sting.
He is my Lord, my God, my King.

So when you're down or life is rough
And when you feel you have bad luck.
When things get bad, get hard, get tough.
When you hear, "Just give up".

Just close your eyes and see His face.

by Reed Crosby (D&C 122:7-8)

Honeymoon Update!

Hi every one! We are back from the Honeymoon of course and if you haven't heard yet it was 100% perfect from start to finish.

Because there is so much to tell about our trip we put it on our blog so we could just email the link to people so they can read more about it at their own leisure. Thanks again to every one for your awesome attitudes and support. We love you!

Her is the link: http://mr-mrs-crosby.blogspot.com/

Reed's last week in the MTC

Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2006

Well this will be my last letter while I am here at the CTM. It´s
amazing how time flies. By this time next week I will probably be on a
plane to Joao Pessoa. It sounds like getting Kari off was a great
experience. I will always remember when we took Bret up to the MTC, riding up in the Dynasty, Tami, Bret and I in the back and then singing Called to Serve with all the missionaries and the spirit there was so strong. I´ve always been so blessed to have brothers and sisters who have always set the best examples for me and also two awesome parents always urging and encouraging me to do what is right.
This past week was great. I´ve been getting really excited to go out
to the field especially after going proselyting on Friday. It was an
amazing experience. It started out a little slow but we ended up passing out 14 cards but the best part about it all is that instead of just walking around and talking to a few people, giving our message, then leaving, this time we did a lot less walking (we probably walked 10 - 15 steps between each person) and more talking. We could actually have conversations. We had a couple of hard ones but 2 of the three spoke english so we could explain things in english. Of the two that spoke english, one said he had his own way of worship by hugging and crying to trees so that was kind of weird and we mainly just bore testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel, and the other tough one that spoke english asked us why the church doesn´t like gays. We gave him a condensed law of chastity lesson and tried to bear our testimonies that God loves us all but sexual relations outside of legal marriage between a man and wife, homosexual, or lesbian activities are all abominations to the Lord. The best experience of the day though was when we were talking ot the "tree hugger" guy I kept seeing these two men that were probably in their early 20´s just keep looking over at us while they sat on the next bench and I knew that we needed to talk to them. So as soon as we ended our conversation with the other guy we went to talk to them and ended up talking to them for over 20 minutes. It was amazing because I could understand almost everything they said, but they others I talked to I could only understand about 1/2. They had both heard of the church and even had heard about Néfi. They seemed really enthusiastic about being able to talk to other missionaries and receive the Book of Mormon. I have a really good feeling about them and it just got me really excited to finally be able to go out into the field.
The rest of the week was great. Sunday I got to bless the bread in
Portuguese which was a good experience. I don´t remember if I told you
or not but tonight we get to hear from Elder Uchtdorf!!! I don´t know
why I got so lucky to hear 2 apostles becuase before Elder Nelson came,
an apostle hadn´t come to the CTM in over a year and I get to hear from
2 of them. I´m really excited and am hoping to get some answers to a couple questions that I have. This morning we went to the Sao Paulo
temple which will probably be my last time in 22 months so that is pretty sad. I love the temple. I am planning on sending a cd of pictures today along with a tape so I hope it gets there. It´s amazing that I have already been gone for 8 weeks already!
I love you all and hope everyone is doing great. don´t worry about
me because the Lord will watch over me. A pretty good quote I heard the
other day was "there are no sacrifices, only great opportunities." That
is how I feel about my misison. I´ve been reading about the SOns of
Mosiah and I just think it is amazing how much they were willing to give up. It never really hit me before but they all had the chance to be the King, THE KING, of the Nephites and they gave that up to serve people that hated them. they didn´t know how long they would serve and were willing to serve until the day they died. It´s amazing. I know i didn´t give up as much as them and I know it will all be back when I go home in 2 years. I love being able to put on the black name tag everyday and be a representative of Jesus Christ. I love you all.

Your brother and son
Elder Crosby

Handsome boy!

News from Reed

Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2006

Hey family! how is everyone? Things are still great here at the
CTM. Not much changes from week to week but it sounds like things are
still going on back home just like they were. Bret and Becki off on their honeymoon and Kari checking into the MTC tomorrow!!! It´s great. So we beat St. Johns finally Mom tells me. That is pretty neat. I heard that BYU lost the season opener to U of A from my inside source (Sister
Cardon, The CTM Presidents wife watched most the game over the internet). It´s alright Dad, BYU can bounce back. Don´t lose hope in them yet.
Anyway I met two people from St Johns this past week, Taryn Platt
said to tell Kari hi and congratulations and also Matt Greer that I
played basketball against (tall red head kid). It´s amazing that I actually know some people here. The world is very small, especially in the mormon world.
This past week we got the best rain since I arrived here. A storm
moved in at about 4:00 and it rained all night. It was nice because the
temperature dropped to where it actually gets cold at night now when we
leave the window open. The weather is about perfect right now and I´m
enjoying the cool while I can.
Other than the rain I´ve just been buckling down. Proselyting a
week and a half ago got me pretty scared that I might not be ready to go out into the field so I´ve been hitting hit hard and hopefully i can
keep it up until I leave. We get to go out again this Friday and I am
really looking forward to talking to everyone and having some good
experiences. I have heard of some pretty coool stories about people proselyting in the CTM.
This morning our two Brazilian roomates, Elder Carneiro and Elder
Fonseca. The Brazilians stay for only 3 weeks. i´m gonna miss them and
their help. It is so nice to be able to talk to real Brazilians every
single night. We should be getting new roomates tomorrow or Thursday so
I´m just keeping my fingers crossed that we get some more Brazilians.
Also Elder Oriente, Elder Da Silva, Elder Tosta, And another Elder Da
Silva all left. These guys were really cool and would always just come in our room at the end of the day and talk and joke with us. Elder Orinte is just a really cool guy and he´s from Joao Pessoa so I tried to talk with him all that I could. It was really sad to see them all go.
Thak you all for your prayers and support. I love you. Watch and
Pray always that Satan will have no power over you (Alma 13: 28).

Love Elder Crosby


ps - Tell people to send everything to the Mission address until I get
my new address. I will get all my mail that everyone has sent through
pouch and to the mission office once I get to the field. the stamps are
for you because I just go to the post office and use their stamps. As
far as the book, I saw it when Wes had it but I haven´t had a chance to
sign it. I don´t know where it is right now. Oh ya, tell Denver to get
a three ring binder with dividers and paper so that he can organize his
stuff nice. They give you some stuff here but I wish I would have brang
some because they don´t have just regular three ring binders down here.
Also tell him that peanut butter down here is like gold.
Is there any way that you could get some addresses for me? Just
every one in our town like BO, Nate, Jesse, and all the other missionaries and it would be best if you could just send those to the mission home not by email. Don´t feel rushed but I would like to have them so I could write them every once in a while. Thanks mom, you´re the best. I love you.

Kari's Mission Address

In case you didn't get my e-mail, here are my address'. I expect some sweet letters and stuff from every one of you! I cannot email until I get out of the MTC, so for the next 8 weeks please take the time to hand write me! I would greatly appreciate it and it would bring a lot of sunshine to my day! I would be so sad if none of my 6 siblings wrote me... that would be a tragedy! Anyways, this will be my last blogger post for awhile- kind of sad! I love all of you so very much and I will miss you all a lot. Thank you for your love and examples... you all have helped me to get where I am right now. I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for all of you. You are the best family in the world- I am so blessed to have you!


MTC: ( I will be there from September 6th until November 6th)
Sister Kari Lynn Crosby
California Los Angeles Mission
Provo Missionary Training Center
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604

Mission: (this is for both letters and packages)
Sister Kari Lynn Crosby
California Los Angeles Mission
1591 E. Temple Way
Los Angeles, CA 90024-5801

Our exciting walk to the park...

First we saw our friend the groundhog,
then we walked pass our neighbors the deer family and finally we ended up at the river feeding the ducks. Kaemon loves it.

Wedding FUN!!