Reeds not lost afterall

Date:
Mon, 18 Dec 2006

Oi Familia! Well I know mom and dad have been worried about me, thinking that something happened because I haven’t wrote in 2 weeks but really I am just great. So 2 week ago I didn’t email, because everything went wrong that day, nothing big but I´ll just say that I had a letter all typed up and then my time ran out because we only get an hour, all I needed to do was send it, so that was a bummer an other things that just didnt work out. But I did send a letter, just a short note that says Im ok. Then last week was transfers and sure enough, I got transferred. I spent 11 hours on a bus for my p-day last Wednesday so you could say my p-day wasnt too great. I left Sousa at 7:40 in the morning and arrived here in my new area at 7:00 at night, waited until 9:30 all alone at the bus station for my comp to arrive so that was a really weir feeling to not have a companion there with me. I just kept looking around for my companion. Anyway, I´m sure youre all wondering where I got transferred to and the answer is.... Christmas!!! Im sure you are all a little confused but I am speaking english so you will understand. The real name of the city is Natal, which means Christmas, and the area is Natal. So I will be spending Christmas (Natal) in the area Natal in the city Natal. I had to travel through Joao Pessoa and then up to Natal so it took a long time. My companion is Elder Hallstrom, an American from California that has been out for 18 months. Natal is a lot different than Sousa. First off its a little bit bigger by about 500,000 people or so, so that´s a little different. And then the people here are a lot richer then those in Sousa. Just in our area we have 2 malls, and these arent just little malls with a couple of stores, but huge malls, 3 or 4 times bigger than Superstition Springs mall. Its also a lot harder to get into people houses and talk to them. There in Sousa we never did door to door tracting, but here we do it a lot but its really annoying tracting because most the people have intercoms. So we hit the call button, hear a voice, do a door approach, and usually get rejected without even seeing a real person, so that´s annoying. When I arrived here, we had 2 investigators, both under the age of 12. We have been trying to find some more investigators but this past week has been really difficult to find people. So we are doing a few things that hopefully will help boost our investigator numbers. First off, we are teaching english 2 times a week in the house of a recent convert so hopefully that will begin to bring more people. Then we are doing a living Christmas card this week where we asked members to write the name of family and friends they would like to share the spirit of Christmas with. We will go to their houses, sing a Christmas song, read a message, Sing another Christmas song, and hopefully bring the spirit into their homes. It is a lot different and a lot of times frustrating and I get discouraged because our Area is huge and we are the only missionaries here. There hasn’t been a baptism for almost 2 months so we are hoping to turn this ward into a missionary ward. Elder Hallstrom is a really good guy and we have some good ideas to turn the ward around. We dont have a Ward missionary leader yet so first we need to find a ward mission leader, find some ward missionaries, and get the members involved. These things are so important to missionary work. With the members, missionaries, and ward mission leader all working together in unity, it makes missionary work a lot eaier and enjoyable. Well, I still cant believe Christmas is coming up. Its still hot hot hot here. Here in Natal is a little bit cooler than Sousa, but there is a lot more Humidity so I dont know whats worse. As far as the phone call is concerned, We are going to be at the house of the bishop here. I have his number and it would be best for you to call here so that the bishop doesnt have to pay anything. I dont know if the 800 number will work or if it would be better if you bought a calling card but the number is 011-55-84-3206-0196. I will be at his house waiting at 2:30 or so. I think that it is 4 hours difference (if AZ is on the same time as Utah, its 4, if AZ is the same as California, its 5) so you would need to call at 10:30 AZ time and I will be there waiting. Well things are good here and I feel good about the area and the things we are trying to do to change the ward around here in Natal. Merry Christmas everyone!!! Happy Birthday Mom!!! I love you all and can´t wait to hear from you all (well those that will be at the house, I still dont know who). Your son and Brother Elder Crosby