A letter from our other missionary!

Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006

Well hello my family. How is everyone doing? It sounds like mom and dad had a good trip up to Utah and Im glad that the BYU teams are doing good. It would be fun to watch them play, with Beck passing for over 400 yards and scoring a lot. Hopefully they will keep it up for a couple of years so I can see them when I get back. Anyways, dad mentioned something about Thanksgiving and I was thinking, Its already almost time for Thanksgiving? And then I got to thinking what day is it and I guess Thanksgiving is tomorrow! I would have totally forgot if dad wouldn’t have said anything. Anyway, eat some turkey and ham and rolls and stuffing and all that other wonderful thanksgiving food for me. Eu tenho saudades da comida la nos Estados Unidos. Feijao e arroz sao bons, mas as vezes eu quero comer comida de minha mae. Well theres a little portuguese, I dont know if you understood but I Said that I miss moms cooking. The food here is good though and I actually think I am gaining weight.
Anyway, about the work, its going good and We are working hard. Im not going to lie though, this past week wasn’t very good at all. We had a lot of our appointments fall and then our backup plans didn’t work out either so we walked a lot and didn’t teach all that much. It was a
frustrating week, but it had a few bright spots. One of which was District (stake) conference. It was so good. President Geschwandtner talked and other people. Elder Gonzalez of the first quorum of the seventy and his wife that are from Uruguay talked to us. It was so good and I got a lot out of it. We learned also that the zone of Caico is going to be turned into a stake, Our branch is going to be made a ward, but also here in Sousa is going to be a district along with Cajazeiras, an area that will open up in the next couple of months for missionary work. Its exciting to see the growth here. Another bright spot was Jackson and Paloma. Jackson is just a golden investigator and is so ready for the Gospel. He and his wife went to Caico with us and Jackson and I talked the whole 2 hours there and 2 hours back. He likes to practice his English with me too so I speak a little English with him. But on the way into the Chapel in Caico he told me, “I want to be part of this church. I need the Church in my life.” He knows a lot of members and has talked to the missionaries many times but only now was his first time to visit the
church with his wife and I think we might baptize them in the next couple of weeks and I am really excited about teaching them. Another thing that happened this past week is that I had to give a little 15 minute training in District Meeting. It was only me and 3 other missionaries, but I was nervous to talk for 15 minutes to 3 older, more experienced missionaries. I talked about what is a disciple of Christ and read some scriptures to them. I also told the story about when Jesus Christ called Simon and Andrew to be Fishers of men, and they left their nets and followed Christ. I asked, “What nets do we have that we give up to follow Christ?” There is also the story about King of the Lamanites that said he would give upall of his sins to know Christ. What will we give up to know Christ. Its not easy to be a disciple of Christ, but the Lord has promised a hundred fold of all our blessings. (Mark 3 20 I believe) That went pretty good I think. I have to give a talk on Sunday so Im a little nervous to talk in front of everybody but It will be a good
experience for me.
Well things here are good and I am learning a lot every day. I am grateful for all your prayers and all that you do for me. I am well taken care of. I have many “Mãenhas” (little moms) here in Sousa that take care of me. They make suco (Juice) for us when we go to their house to teach, they offer to wash our clothes, and they feed us lunch and many times bring food to us at night. I am well taken care of and I having a good time here. Elder Matos, Souza, and Orides are great and always help me with my Protuguese, and I am teaching them a little English so we have a good time. Well I love you all. I am so greatful for the gospel
in my life and the opportunity I have to tell my brothers and sisters about it.

Your son and Brother
Elder Crosby