Marks SUPRISE Mexican fiesta

Mark turns 30!! SURPRIZE!!

Concert!

the rocketeer revived..

I don't know how to explain how happy I am about how good my car looks... I'm sure i'm the only one who truly appreciates it.

I didn't take a before and I should have

the poor thing was filthy!! and faded and.... it was bad!

the roof and trunk were white from being so faded. it has a custom paint job but you wouldn't have know it...

so...hot dog for shiny cars

GO DANNY's family car care-wax and detail!

look, my refection!!

Reed's adventures in Brazil

Hey Fam! Wow, it was good to hear from you all and mom sent some PICTURES!!! It was great to see a few pics. Kari looks like shes doing great and doesn't seem like that greasy Mexican food did anything to her. The Hearts Tournament looks like it was a success. I cant believe Kingston is already 4 months old! And Kaemon and Milea are big too! Kaemon is 3 and Milea already 1!!! Holy Cow man, time flies. I'm glad Lisa is doing better and that nothing is broken. Careful sis! I also saw in the picture that Mom and Dad FINALLY got a new refrigerator. That old thing reminds me of the freezers we have here on the mission. Haha. Well anyway, it is always good to hear news from home. The work here is going good. Ill tell you a little about my area. It is pretty much the farthest part away from downtown Joao Pessoa. I am over 2 wards so one ward is called Valentina. It is a place where the people are a little more well off we could say. Bigger houses, and it is a little bit hard to work because nobody is on the street. It is a big area but will grow once the members start giving referrals. Until then I am spending more of my time in Paratibe, that has the more humble people. All dirt roads and just to get there it is a 30 minute walk everyday from our house Thank goodness there is a bus on Sunday. There are mostly new members in this ward but everyone is excited. Almost everybody was baptized in the past 3 years. Well, we are spending more time in this area and we have some really good investigators. We talked to this man the other day that was breaking a big thing of concrete in front of his house and we offered to help him We talked a little bit and said that we would come back one day to teach about Jesus Christ. He said that the doors were always open. The other day we decided to go there because we had about 20 minutes before our next appointment. We ended up talking and he showed us his place. It reminded me a little of hiome and he reminded me a little bit of Dad, because they have a place and he is always doing some kind of project there He showed us his chickens and ducks, his trees and the other projects he had going on. Then his wife came and she made us a tea of some plant they had in their garden It was really good buit we didn't have time to teach that day But the next day we went back and we taught the 1st lesson. It was really good and the spirit was there. They are about 60 years old but the man, Valdemar has gone to every church but he says that every one of the churches is false and he is just waiting to find the true church Well, 2 days later we went back and we taught a little more and answered a few doubts that they had. Well, he said, "By what we can see, by your examples, This is how the true church should work." So the said they would come to church. Well on Sunday just Ana, his wife came because his son and nephew called and said they had to come and talk. Well, Ana went and brought 2 friends with her. They are really good people and a really special family.We are also teaching a lady named Adriana. We baptized her 2 kids, Darlan and Daniele. They are way smart, but she has a few doubts She says that she is Baptist, but never was baptized there and doesn't go any more. Well, we had a family night there with a movie (The Restoration) and games and she loved it, but this Sunday something came up and she wasn't able to go to church. But she has a lot of support from the members there. Almost all of her neighbors are members and they help her a lot. The work is going good and the Lord always prepares a way to accomplish His work here. This area is really ready for the gospel and I am excited to work here. It is weird to think that I could be in my last area but I would love to stay here until the end. Things are going really great.Oh, one more thing, the other night we had an unexpected visitor in our house! We were there preparing something to eat in the kitchen, my comp was sitting down, when all of a sudden, he screams, "What is this!?"I looked and a huge tarantula had walked between his legs and he didn't even see it. I hate spiders and I jumped on top of the chair… O man, we sat there for 10 minutes just thinking what we could do so we got a dustpan and put it on the end of a broomstick and we got another broom and we put the spider into a box thing that we have in our house but that's not all. This morning I was cleaning outside the place where we wash our clothes and I was washing where the water drains and all of a sudden, another visitor, but this visitor was different. A scorpion. I put him in another container and continued washing, now we have in our box 1 tarantula and 6 scorpions. Its great. I made a little home for them with sand and rocks and even little trees. Don't worry, I wont die mom. There are 2 big scorpions and 4 littler ones. I haven't named them yet but there is still a lot of timeWell I love you all and really, don't worry about me. I am still keeping the rules, I don't kiss girls, but I have held a few girls hands if you count those that are 5 or 6 years old! But really, I love you all and hope you all are doing wonderful. Thanks mom for the pictures. I love to be able to see my family and keep updated.Love Elder Crosby

Dancing and Prancing..

So these were from quite a while ago, Valentines Day to��
be exact, but I just got the pictures back from my high tech disposable camera:) It was a nice ball that the ballroom dance company put on, with a fancy diner and all. I went with this guy Jonny, he's real nice. I had given him a tour last semester when he was thinking about coming here. It was a good time. Sorry I don't have more details. Kinda in a hurry. Love you all.

I love the temple!

I was writing someone from my mission this morning about temples and the blessings that come from going and this quote came to my head that my stake president shared with me right before I entered for my first time. I love it and thought I'd share...

A powerful promise from Elder John A. Widtsoe (1920)
“I believe that the busy person on the farm, in the shop, in the office, or in the household, who has his worries and troubles, can solve his problems better and more quickly in the house of the Lord than anywhere else.
If he will leave his problems behind and do the temple work for himself and for his dead, he will confer a mighty blessing upon those who have gone before and quite as large a blessing will come to him; for at the most unexpected moments, in or out of the temple, will come to him, as a revelation, the solutions to the problems that vex his life.
That is the gift that comes to those who enter the temple properly, because it is a place where revelations may be expected. I bear you my personal testimony that this is so…
I urge upon you that we teach those who go into the temples to do so with a strong desire to have God’s will revealed to them for comfort, peace, and success in our daily lives… for the satisfying of our hearts.” (Genealogical Convention in the assembly hall)

I go to the temple and do a session every week if anyone ever wants to join me! It is so wonderful!

Calling all Crosby's-its a "HEARTS' Tournament!

And the winner is------ Mitch Crosby! (sorry about the sideways picture, I forgot
to edit it first!) Anyway, Mitch pretty well
beat up on everyone and took the trophy from
last years winner, Mark Crosby!

Here we have the 3 top place winners--

1st place: Mitch Crosby

2nd place: Dave Crosby

3rd place: Kristina Crosby

(All in the same family, what's up with that??)

All the players, Nathan, Mitch, Mark Bret, LaVerl

Dave and Kristina, where is Rick hiding??

Playing the game of hearts, this was one team.
Here is another game being played, the winner

was awarded points according to how he placed

in the game.

Kristina's little Tyler is getting to know his
little 2nd cousin, Kingston!

We had fun eating and spending time together!
We all got to relax and kick back a little!

Uncle Bryan resting up for the next round of hearts!

The young kids had fun playing together! Tami
brought her friend Jon McNaughtan, they came
from Cedar City!

More games being played by Holly, Lisa,

Kari, Shelley and Paula!

Even the old girls had fun playing Rummy!

It was just a really fun time getting together for this Hearts Tournament

in Mesquite. The guys had to go into Las Vegas to watch BYU in the basketball

tournaments going on, while we stayed and went to movies, bowling, and having

fun together. Thanks Mark for planning such a fun weekend together!

attack of the killer geese

Victory... IN PRESCOTT

so Kari and I randomly decided to take a day trip up to Prescott Az. We had a blast! I LOVE having my sister here to do fun things with. Watch the bottom video first and then this one. and I'm posting one more that I think is hilarious. We went to Goldwater lake (pond) and ate the little lunch we packed, watched the ducks and tried to watch the sunset....the video will tell the rest. We didn't get the see the sun set because this cranky ole' park ranger kicked us out. it was funny too... We were sitting on the edge of the pond on benches (the only ones in the park) and he drives up right behind us in his park ranger truck opens his door and proceeded to use a megaphone thing and yell "Park is closing! please return to your vehicles." like we were criminals--grouch! It was sooo stink'n funnny. Prescott is beautiful and I recommend a fun day trip to anyone. We only went to one place and it took all day. There are other places with waterfalls and great hiking. OH and it not even as pretty as normal cuz its winter. There will be MORE ADVENTURES of kari and lisa to come....

Watch US! Prescott wonders

the adventures of lisa and kari

Video from Reed!

Ok. this is my first try at posting a video, hope it

works! Isn't it great to actually see and hear Reed!!

Letter from Reed

Family of mine! Well its been another week and there is so much to write and so little time. I sent a video so I hope that works out so you can hear my sweet voice and see my beautiful face! So, It sounds like everyone is doing good! I cant believe its March already! And that means MARCH MADNESS! Oh man, this is one thing that I miss, BUT its all good and here we are having some march madness of our own here. So anyway, things here are good, the week could have been better but it was good. Sunday is always a day of great excitement and many times big disappointments. So this week we had an awesome activity, and we called it 'All-you-can-eat chocolate'! Yep, Mom would have loved it. But it was really good and three were about 70 or 80 people there at church. SO we made this big die and on one side we wrote 'All you can eat chocolate' and if it landed on that side that person had to run to the table, put on a hat, sunglasses, a tie, socks on the hands, and then they had to try to eat the chocolate with a fork and a knife. We left the chocolate in the freezer just to make it a little harder too! Well it went great and everyone ate chocolate. It also got the ward excited and a lot of people brought friends so we taught a few of these friends and a few came to church too. Well, this week we started a new idea that Elder Donega had. We choose a word and we have to use that word during the contact with the person we talk with. Its pretty funny at times. Elder Donega is really creative so it is funny to pick a word and see what he makes up to talk to people on the street. We also had to go to the hospital because he his having back problems and he woke up one day and couldn't hardly move his head. So he has to wear a neck brace for 5 days and it makes it all that more funny, him talking to people on the streets with a neck brace, making up some story to talk to the people to use the word that I chose. Its good times. Anyway, We are still working with those families and they are pregressing. Carlos and Silvia are having a few doubts but they are doing good. They just don't have much time now so they use it as an excuse for not reading or praying but we had a good lesson yesturday. They didn't go to church because he had to work. Its sad the things satan uses to try to stop the people from gaining a testimony. But we will work with them and they'll be baptized, I know it. Well I gotta go, but I know the church is true and that Jesus lives. I love you all.Elder Crosby!

Murder Mystery

Last friday night we had an Honors Mysery Party We all got assigned characters with clues the week before then we had to dress and act the part. It was way cool because it was in the library and we were all book characters. I was Cindrella if you cannot tell.. This picture is just Juniper but there were quite a few others as well Some of the costumes were so neat. I won't go into detail, but I ended up being the murderer! I didnt even know it! Yeah I killed King Henry.. actually just burned all the books he was in, making him disappear. So thatsm That.

"Well Done thou Good and Faithful Servant"

Well, I'm a little late posting the news that our beautiful daughter/missionary for the Lord, is now home. She arrived at the Phoenix airport on Wed. Feb 20th about noon. We all had our signs and were anxiously awaiting her arrival. She served a wonderful mission for 18 months in the Los Angeles California Mission, spanish speaking. She loved her mission and her spanish is great! We are so very happy to have her home! Here's Pompa & Nanna, Lisa and Dad waiting at the airport!
Mom gets the first hug, we were all crying, we're so happy!
Bret taking videos of the big event!
Bret & Becki came with baby Kingston, Lisa and
Uncle Rick came and Pomp and Nanna!

College....

Hellooo! Lisa inspired me to post some pictures. The first one is from Halloween when I was a gum ball machine, I don;t think I ever put a picture besides the banana ones up. Yeah, I look like I weigh 300lbs... I don;t know whats up with that.
The second one is the side effects of too much vigorous studying, it is quite dangerous. We eventually recovered with large doses of ice cream and laughter.

Grand Cayon Conquered!!

They all said that I couldn't do it- that I was just a soft little missionary... Man, I love proving people wrong! Thursday Dad and I decided to go hike the Grand Canyon because I never have. Yup, we hiked all 18 miles in one day! We got the best replies when we told other hikers on the trail that we were going in and out in the same day- "aggressive" we were labled, "you're energizer bunnies" others said. One man told us we made him sick. Others, With looks of skeptism said "good luck on that", "I sure hope you can walk tommorrow", "wow, I've never met anyone who has done that" etc. etc. We left Eagar at 4am and started hiking at 9:30 am. We finished at 6pm, a bit tired but happy! You all would be proud of dear old dad. He only fell once and I thought we'd loose him that last mile, but he ate his salba seeds and popcorn balls and chugged right along! He took about 100 pictures (he won't admit it but I think it was his excuse to take a little breather!). We hiked in snow about 4 miles of the way, but had perfect weather the whole day. No wonder the Grand Canyon is one of the 7 wonders of the world- it truly is absolutly gorgeous and breath-taking. It was a spiritual experience for me and left me in awe at God's love and power. I propose that next family get together we meet at the G.C and show the world how us Crosby's roll! Before the hike began... fresh and full of energyAbout 1/2 way downAt the very bottom crossing the lovely, muddy brown riverWe had to share the trail with the smelly mulesThe way up we stomped thru a lot of mush and slush6pm- We made it! I was ready to go again but the old men weren't down with the idea! Next time... who's in?!

I think it is lame that no one posts any more

Well done thou good and faithfull servent

WE are SO proud of our SISTER CROSBY!! She is an AMAZING girl!! It has been a joy to have her serve and share her sweet testimony and life changing experiences with all of us. What a testimony builder my little sis has been to me in my life. She's been through a lot of struggles and hard times on her mission and has over come with a positive attitude and SMILE on her face!! Kari served her mission in the California L.A. Spanish speaking. WE LOVE YOU KARI!! I have missed my sis and, selfishly, am very glad to have her home!! WELCOME HOME!!

"Hey" from Reed!

"Esthefanya's baptism with her family!"
My new Companion, Elder Donega

Well hello everybody. I am glad to see that everybody is doing good. So as for me I am great. Yes I got a new companion and it is much better now. He is a good missionary and yes and ZL too. He was called zone leader right now and so he is full of energy. He has been out 1 year (his hump day is Friday) and so we will celebrate and burn a shirt or something like that, who knows. He is pretty crazy and talks to everybody. When he walks down the street his head is on a swivel trying to say hello to EVERYBODY. I get a kick out of it. We have fun together and it is good times. The work is going good. We had some teenagers come to church and they liked it a lot. There is Marcelo, 16 years old. Leandro, 16 years old. Larissa, (Leandros sister) 12 years old. Raquel, 17 years old. Carlos 16 years old. Also, Geraldo came to church all alone. He showed up way early. We had taught him at the beginning of the week and he said he would go and we didn't go by his house after but come Sunday morning he went to church all alone. He is 50 years old and really likes us and the lessons, but the problem is that he lives with a lady and he talks about her like he doesn't really like her but he doesn't want to move and they don't want to change the living situations right now. We'll see what happens. Well our house is still prettybad. We don't have a washing machine (well none of the houses have washing machines here, it is more of a water slosher) but it is broken. Our house if full of cockroaches ( we have found about 15 or 20 dead since we've got here). The sink doesn't work, The shower is just a pipe coming out of the wall, and water comes in the door when it rains, other than that, it is paradise. Its not too bad really. WE cleaned it up and it is a lot better now, but still needs improvement. I am greatful to have a bed and a fridge and stuff. Well gotta go. I love you all. Sorry this is short but I am great. We are trying to find families and men and I know there are elect here in this area.
Pray for us. I love you all, Elder Crosby "Tota and me with our sweet hats! He is a member'
that helps us out alot here!"

In case you're wondering......

To clear up any rumors or crazy ideas-- I am seriously involved and deeply committed. Its true. For the past 6 mo.s I have had a close relationship, a constant companion.......Let me introduce to you ........