Sites we saw on Vacation

Well, I'm finally getting around to posting pictures from our trip to West Virginia. I was glad that Mark posted his graduation pictures, that was the most important thing that we got to do. Its pretty awesome having a Dr. in the family now! These pictures are out of order, but these are some the the things we were able to see and do. Not posted are Stonewall Jackson's home, our carriage ride around Lexington, VMI, (Virginia Military Institution), and Williamsburg, where we spent a whole day walking through a completly restored town. It is SO beautiful back there! Green, green! When you drive on the highways, you can't see anything but huge trees along both sides! Of course the weather was still nice, not to hot or humid yet!!

This is at the Virginia Marine Aquarium, they have alot about all kinds of turtles and I learned that crabs shed their shell when they out grow of it and then take in salt water that expands their body 25%, then they grow a new shell in 24 hours.
I've always wanted to say that I've swam in the Atlantic Ocean, maybe because I grew up next to the Pacific Ocean. It was way to cold and windy to do that!! This is Virginia Beach, right where Bret served 6 mos. of his mission waiting for his Visa to Peru!
What a neat statue, you can see how huge it is!! Virginia Beach has a boardwalk that people can walk for miles along in front of all the big, tall hotels, then another path next to it for bicycles and joggers. They rent alot of 4 and 2 people bikes, which looked like fun!

This is in Lewisburg at Lost World Caverns. They have alot of these neat water wheels back East! This one was just for looks, but some others we saw were real, functioning water wheels.
Here we are down in the Caverns, they were really quite spectacular! Lots of neat formations! I just love caves! So did Kaemon!!
This is a side view (my memory card was full before we got around to the front!) of "Monticello" (the c makes the ch sound,) Thomas Jefferson's Mansion. It's the building that's on the back side of the nickel, (he's on the front!) This was probably our favorite site. We learned so much about him and his accomplishments. He said that "the sun never caught him in bed"! Maybe that's why he was able to accomplish so much in his life. We had a great time!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

I can't believe I'm 23 stinkin years old! AAA! I was absolutely freaking out this whole week! I ended up having a great birthday though. ps- Thank you all for the phone calls! I began the day by going out to breakfast at IHOP with Chaddy. he was so thoughtful to take me. The employees brought me out a hot fudge sundae afterwards and sang to me- ice cream for breakfast- hooray! After I went to class, Lisa and I went and got pedicures. I've decided that is one of my favorite things to do- there's nothing quite like an hour of feet rubbing! The sweet little Korean people didn't speak much english so I didn't get quite what I wanted on my toes, but they're still cute! I than rushed off to work at the MTC and my elders were so adorable. They sang and gave me a card and some candy and were on their best behavior all night. I topped the day off by going out with my cute boyfriend Kirk... Sorry, the details are just too juicy to write... I'll have to tell you all later:) He's so adorable. Anyways, I guess birthdays aren't so bad after all!

Graduation Pics

My beautiful wife deserves a lot of credit for this degree for all her patience and support. After graduation I was commissioned to an O-3, which is a Lieutenant in the United States Military. I start work at the Navy Medical Center San Diego on the 12th of June, where we'll be for one year.

Graduation from Osteopathic Medical School

So, we flew back East, I graduated, and we had a great time seeing lots of our friends from West Virginia. Both Grandmas (and grandpas) were able to make it...Thanks for your support!!

It's a great day to be a tape-woman!

So I think most all of you know about me sweet summer job of selling Living Scriptures. I am living right by the lake in White Mountain Lakes. I work over in Snowflake everyday, basically just knocking doors all day. My muscles are pretty much getting huge from the big bags we carry around. I have met so many great people and really enjoy what I do! I love LIving Scriptures! Yeah there are a few down days that people yell, but for the most part people are nice. Well better goh start knocking those doors! Much love!

One more month to go!!

Elder Tesolin, Elder Da Costa, Reed, Elder Motta
(Reed thinks Elder Motta looks like cousin Jesse!)

Hey hey hey! Here I am again writing from good ol Joao Pessoa! Well, it is still raining a lot here, it is still really hot, and I am still here and just cant believe that time passes soo fast. Well, this week was good. We had conference with President Fernandes on Thursday and I always get pumped to go out and do the Lord’s work after every conference. Then on Sunday we got to watch the dedication of the Curitiba Brasil temple. It was awesome. Presidente Monson was there and Russel M Nelson too. It is great to see that the church is growing in the whole world. It was good to hear the prophet speak and feel the spirit there. As far as the people that we are teaching, things are going good. I really want to baptize a few families before I go home and we have a couple good families that have a lot of potential. First off there is Rodolfo and Graca. They are the family that is letting the ward use a room they have on the side of their house for activities because the chapel is really far away. They are really special and already know a majority of the members. They met the bishop, his counselors and a lot of other members and all the members always ask about them. But the problem is that every Sunday something comes up. This Sunday there was an anniversary and so they couldn’t go but they PROMISED that next Sunday they will go. They tell me almost every day that I visit them that they need a religion to follow, and need time for the spiritual things. The bishop here said that when he met Rodolfo, he saw a future leader in the church. Well, I do too but they just need a little help. Having the church activities there will help a lot too. The other family that I am pretty excited about we found on Friday. I had made a contact with a man named Carlos and he seemed interested and was really open. Well, Friday we passed by his house and I thought, lets see if he’s home. Turns out that he was home. He was going to work late on Friday but for some reason he came home early. Well, we taught the first lesson and it was great. Him and his wife and 2 daughters were paying a lot of attention and they accepted everything. They had a few questions but good questions that we responded. He likes to read and I am excited to go back and see how it went. They don’t have a religion but are awesome people. Carlos had already read part of the book “Our legacy” and knew a little about Joseph Smith. I am excited to see these 2 families progress and be baptized. They are both MARRIED which is really rare here. Anyways, I am doing good. I just cant believe how fast every day passes. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to do all the things that I need to do. The days pass by soo fast. But, that’s life and we have to make the most of it while we can.

I love you all and hope all is well.Elder Crosby

My Funny Friends: Music Hour and LAKE TIME

 
Me wake surfing!

My girlfriend Erin
Shiloh and his nice boat. FUN I LOVE LOVE LOVE SUMMER

his is Shiloh and Corey in a JAM session at a chill evening at the cabin  last weekend--Roosevelt! so Stink'n funny and very entertaining. Enjoy.

Memorial Day Camping Trip!

This weekend I went camping with my friend Rhett. I didn't know anyone else who was going so I also invited my ex-companion, Amelia. She had never been overnight camping, so you can imagine the excitement! We went up to the Sand Dunes and found us a nice cozy spot for Friday night.  We set up one great big tent and spent the night roasting stuff and playing games. I froze to death with my one little sleeping bag, but besides that it was great!  

Amelia and I attempting to set up the tent! Be sure to note the camping outfit of Amelia- love it! 

The other girls

Amelia and I brushing our teeth around the campfire- aren't you proud Lisa?!

Saturday morning all the girls left and I got stuck with all the boys! They're crazy, but lots of fun!

Anyways, I haven't posted forever so just thought I'd fill everyone in a tad on what I've been up to! 

Don't forget about me!!

Hey family. Well, how are things there? I am great. The week was good and things are going good. It is weird writing every week because it is always the same thing every week; teach the people in the group, the people that go to church and keep the commitments we continue teaching them and prepare them for baptism, those that don’t go to church or don’t keep the commitments we cut; find new people to teach. This is really annoying, doing contacts, asking the members for referrals and all that good stuff. And that is pretty much all we do, teach and do contacts. The only things that change are the people and the excuses that we hear. But doing the same thing every week for 2 years is soo great that I wouldn’t trade anything for it. It is interesting to see how things work. We work and do contacts and teach and keep the rules and do all that good stuff, but it seems that nothing that we do goes right, but then a door opens that we never saw and we are blessed. I think the Lord does this so I can be humble and so I can’t say that I did anything. Anyway, this week was a busy week. We received a few referrals and taught a bunch of people but only 1 person went to church, Filipe. He is 18 and is really excited about everything and liked church a lot. Elder Da Costa talked to him on the street and he accepted. I remember the first time I made a contact and that person went to church. I felt like I actually did something, so I was pretty happy for Elder da Costa. Filipe is really open and accepts everything we teach and is preparing to be baptized. He watched the baptisms that we had yesterday and during the meetings he payed attention to everything. This next week I am pretty excited because the temple in Curitiba will be dedicated and we get to watch. It is only the 5th temple in Brasil. So everyone is pretty excited here. Things are great and I am really loving it here. I am taking advantage of all the time I have, because it isn’t much. I think the most important part of the mission is the end. If we don’t endure to the end, we didn’t do anything. I have already seen a lot of missionaries that slacked off at the end. If I slack off at the end of my mission, I will probably slack off at the end of my life, and in everything that I do. I want to finish better than I started and I know it is possible. I really do love this work and I can tbeleive that my 2 years is already coming to an end. It is something I don’t even want to think about. Well I love you all and KEEP ME UPDATED. I know you will be able to see me shortly but don’t forget about me these last 2 months!!!Love Elder Crosby

Get together

Hey Fam!

Hey family! Well time just flies by so fast, Its crazy! This morning we invited a bunch of members to play soccer with us at this gymnasium (mom said that my spelling is horrible and I have no clue how to spell gymnasium).It was good. We played for 2 hours. Its great to do something physical every once in a while. Soccer here with the members is like church ball in the US. Everyone gets really competitive and every once in a while tempers get going. Sometimes it is hard not to get involved, especially because I am so competitive. But anyways, it was good. This week was good. Bishop Flavio hás been talking to us about doing some activities during the week, but the hard part about it is taht the chapel is so far away from the members that nobody góes at night because it is a little dangerous tôo to walk at night after the activities, so I was thinking, “If we could find a place to have these activities close to the members, it would be perfect.” Well, Tuesday my prayers were answered. We were walking one day and we went to a street that I had never walked down before and I told my companion, “Pay attention because I’m gonna do the “contacto of the elect”. So I knocked on the door (well clapped at the door), and a lady answered and I asked “Does an elect live her? We want to share a message with na elect!” Well, she wasnt elect and was from another church and didnt want to here anything, but I asked her if she knew another person on the street that would like to here a message, and being the good neighbor that all of us should be she sent us away to talk to here neighbors. Well we got there and talked to a lady named Maria das Graças. Well, we talked and she had already had the missionaries over about a year ago but never went to churhc because they were sôo busy. Well now things are better and she said that she will go to church. We talked a little more and she said they had a big room that they donated to organizations to do activites. It is just perfect. So we talked and this Friday we will have na activity there in the big room that they have beside their house. I am excited because it will be a way to get this family involved in the church and with the members tôo. They didnt go to church this week because she went and visited her parents but this Sunday everything is a go. Another thing taht happened this week was we taught a girl named Dayse. Well, she is 14 and she is friends with a member of the church. She hás already gone to church but her dad prohibited here to go to church. Well, one day I thought, “I gotta try, if I dont try I wil never know.” So we went and talked to her dad. We talked a while and we got his confidence. The we invited the family to hear a message and the dad was a little reuctant but accepted. The mom was really busy but was listening. Well, WE taught the lesson and this Dad that wouldnt let his daghter go to church, that didnt want to talk to the Mórmon missionaries, now offers us juice and and food and cookies and all sorts of stuff. Sunday the bus broke and so everyone was going to go to church walking and her parents wouldnt let her go walkng because it is far. Well, we talked to a member and hecame with his truck and took a bunch of people to church. Well, her mom said taht she still couldnt go, but her dad said “just go!” The holy ghost really can soften peoples hearts. Well I could sit here all day telling stories of just this week. IT was a good week. Elder Da Costa is learning fast and is a great guy. He wants to learn and do whats right. Its good to see good misisonaries like this coming here because these next 2 transfers here, 30 missionaries are going home and 10 are coming. Of these 30, 14 or 15 are or were zone leaders, 4 assistants, and pretty much all the leaders of the mission are in these next 2 groups to go home so it is good to see good missionares coming here. Well fam, I love you and hope all is well. Keep me updated on everything and write me about whats going on there.
I love you all. Elder Crosby

So we all went to San Antonio Tx for my last student rotation. Among other things, we went to the Alamo, saw the state capitol building in Austin, went to the zoo and the temple and walked the Riverwalk.

WE LOVE OUR MOMMY!!

Mother I love you, mother I do. Father in heaven has sent me to you!

 Mom, hope you know what a special person you are! I am blessed to have you in my life! Thanks for being a MOM!!  

Reeds Mission Pics & letter

At the beach in Manaira, Joao Pessoa. It was pretty sweet but this is as close as we can get to the ocean! At the beach we ate ACAI!! It is sooo good and big and delicious! You guys will have to try some when you come to Brazil!
Me, Elder Tesolin, Elder Motta, & Elder Da Costa after our fireside on Sat. nite.

Pictures at Adilson's baptism!

Hey family! Well I got to talk to Tami and Lisa and Mom and Dad yesturday and that was pretty nice. I wish I could have talked to everybody but it wont be too long. But anyways, I will just tell a quick story that I tried to tell dad yesterday but because of my horrible English skills I think I told it a little wrong. But anyways, Ill start from the beginning. It all started 11 years ago when Edione was baptized, her and her 8 year old son. The dad, Adilson, was always drinking ans smoking and so didn’t ever go to church with Edione. Well, 5 years later, their other son was baptized but the dad never went to church, just every once in a while for a ward party or potluck. Well, here we are today, 11 years after the baptism of Edione. 3 years ago they almost got divorced but never went through with the process. Adilson continued drinking and smoking and Edione thought she would never see him be baptized. Well, Their oldest son turned 19 and he got his call to go to Curitiba Brasil. I got here 2 months ago and I ate lunch at their house with all 4 of them, Dad, Mom and 2 kids. 2 weeks later the son left for Curitiba. That week, Adilson started going to church and he stopped drinking. I started visiting him and leaving short messages because he had already heard all the lessons about 15 times or more. Well, for 2 months he has been going to church and he is always the first one to show up. Then about 2 weeks ago I went to his house and I talked with him and told him about the importance of being baptized and keeping the commandments. The only thing that held him back was the cigarettes. He told me that day that he already decided that he would be baptized and that before I went home I would baptize him. So I made goals with him to stop smoking. At that time I was taking care of 2 wards, but I talked to president and president sent another companionship that week to take care of the ward the Adilson went to. I was a little bummed but still I saw him at church. Then this past week I planned a “Missionary Fireside” to help the members give referrals and stuff and I went by and invited Adilson. He went and it was really good. I talked 20 minutes about Faith and not judging people. Then we watched a little film about a girl that gave a book of mormon to her friend. Then Elder Tesolin talked about 30 minutes about the process of repentance. It was really good. Sunday Adilson went to church and talked to Elder Tesolin and Elder Motta (the 2 misisonaries that are responsible for his ward) and he told them that he decided to be baptized. They went to his house to mark a date and his wife said, “Why not today? Why not right now?” so they called me up and I ran to the chapel and we had his baptism. I don’t know why he chose me, or why I was blessed to take part in his baptism. I really didn’t do anything. I talked to him and he said that when I was talking at the fireside he saw a light around me and he felt that he needed to be baptized. It was a really special baptism and a lot of people went to watch. His son is having a hard time on the mission in Curitiba and was thinking about coming home but he talked to his parents yesterday and they told him that his dad was baptized and he got really happy and didn’t feel that need to come home anymore. The Lord works in mysterious ways but he always knows more than we do.This was the highlight of the week. The rest of the week was good. We worked a lot. Elder Costa is doing good and is a good missionary. I am excited to be here still and I made a new goal for me. I want to talk to the pastors of the other churches. I talked to one from the Baptist church Saturday and he was really receptive and even told me that he had curiosity to know more about the “Mormons”. I know that my time is running out so these past few months I will do all that I always wanted to do as a missionary.I Love you all. Keep me updated on everything.

Elder Crosby

There are fish in Roosevelt Lake!!!

Dad wanted you all to see the proof that there are fish in Rooosevelt Lake! Here's the proud fisherman with all the wide-mouth bass! They caught their limit in about an hour!
They caught some "BIG ONES", of course the biggest one got away!! We had a fish fry and ate until we were stuffed!!

Dad's friend, Jim Rogers took him out and he got a kick out of how excited Dad got when they were pulling them out as fast as they could cast in! Roosevelt Lake is supposed to be the best fishing lake in the West due to the new 500 acres underwater! SO.... get your fishing licenses and lets go fishin' !!! YUM-YUM!!!

"CHUVA" (whatever that means!)

"Darlan & Daniele, Brother & Sister. They remind me
of me and Tami!
Netinho at his baptism!
Elder Crosby & Elder Ferreira

Hey fam! Well how is everyone? I am just great! Well today was transfers and so I was a little nervous that I would be tranferred because I want to stay here until the end so I was hoping that I would stay, and hoping I would get one more transfer with Elder Ferreira. Well, I got one of my wishes, i am staying here in Valentina Joao Pessoa, but Elder Ferreira was transfered to Natal. On Wednesday my companion will arrive fresh from the CTM! Yep, I will train again. His name is Elder Costa and I Dont know anything about him because I havent met him, but Wednesday at 9:00 Ill go pick him up on Wednesday. In the meantime Ill stay and work with Elder Brulher that will train too. These past 6 weeks have been great. Elder Ferreira is a funny guy and we had a good time here. It was good stuff. I was sad to see him leave this morning. He is an example to me; he is the only member in his family, he has less than 2 years as a member, and he still came on a mission and is just loving it. It was good to work with him. Now Im am excited to train yet again. I guess you get what you ask for. I asked to train and when it rains it pours! Talking about rain, yesturday it rained ALL DAY. It started at 9 am and went until 10 pm. It was crazy. We got wet 3 times (IM gonna buy an umbrella today), in the moring going by the investigators houses, going to lunch, and before the 2nd sacrament meeting going by the people houses again for the other ward. Luckily thought Im not sick. Other than this, things are great here. I got the package from mom which was great. I also got a package from Katie! Yay for b-days! Do you guys ever hear from Katie? From what I know shes doing good in Idaho. Have her parents sold their house yet? I still cant beleive that they are going to sell that house and move away. But I guess its good to be close to the kids. Anyway, I am good and excited about this next transfer. I love you all and hope all is well. Sorry its short today but Im gonna try to send a few pics. Love Elder Crosby

the 'Boys" hike the Grand Canyon!

Yep, your ol' Dad survived another 18 mile hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
(as seen here on the 'Black Bridge' that crosses the Colorado River) and then back up on the Bright Angel Trail. This time Mark and Bret wanted to go! Having never taken our kids when they were small, they'd never seen it!! A big hole really isn't very interesting for a bunch of little kids, so we never went there!!
'Spring had sprung' in the Canyon and it was beautiful with
all colors of wild flowers growing everywhere!!

Here's the hikers with the Grand Canyon in the background! It was a great father son trip, they had some great bonding time together!
The last mile or so coming out got pretty tough! They were hiking at a pretty good pace! Bret said that he kept telling himself, " Kari did this, so can I!" LaVerl even said this time was a little harder, maybe because it was warmer and they hiked faster!
Hard to believe, but Mark hiked in sandals, no socks!

Reeds weekly letter

Hey everybody! So here I am in Joao Pessoa once again on a hot Monday afternoon thinking about where to start about the week. Well Ill start out with the bummers this week. The family that I thought was elect and just ready to hear the gospel and would help soo much in the church pretty much told us they didn't want to hear any more about any other book than the Bible. They are really smart but this si where they stumble because they want to understand it logically before they can believe in it. He said he read and thought about it a lot. He understood exactly what happened in the chapter. He summarized it almost better than I can summarize it. But When I asked if he had prayed about it he said that he hadn’t prayed and that he couldn't bring himself to pray because he cant believe in anything other than the bible. He said if the Bible said something about the Book Of Mormon or if it talked about another people he would be able to believe, so I showed him scriptures and he said that he interpreted those scriptures differently. Ya I was pretty bummed. Another bummer was that there was a big show Saturday night close to our house in Valentina. It went on until 3 or 4 AM but it was good because I didn't even hear anything. But the bummer of it was that lots of people we are teaching and lots of people that are members, recent converts went and then on Sunday morning for Stake Conference they couldn't get up in time to go to church. Satan knows exactly how to tempt people. Soooo many people, especially members say, "Oh next week Ill go. This week I'm just way toobusy. But next week, I promise I will go." If we make an exception today to do what's right, tomorrow won't be any easier. We always think that tomorrow will be better. The grass is always greener on the other side of the hill, or so we think. And then when the next week comes, when we get to the other side of the hill, there is only dirt and weeds, or our life just gets busier and busier. We show what is important in out live by how we spend our time doing, not just thinking about or talking about. I could have all the best intentions in the world but if I don't do anything, my good intentions won't take me anywhere. There were some good things about the week though. Like this 15 year old girl that we met and her mom. Her name is Gizeli. So at General Conference a lady gave us a referral to go to her house. Gizeli told her that the missionaries would never come because her cousin is a member and she had already gave her address to the missionaries and they didn't ever go. So, we showed up on Tuesday night and they were all surprised and excited. The mom, Roselene said that she always wanted to call the missionaries to her house but we they always pass so fast that she was a little scared. Anyway, so we taught them and during the lesson when I asked her to read and pray she said she had already read and prayed and knew that it was all true. Her mom did too, but they just weren't going because it was really far away. But we told them about a bus that takes the members to church and they got all excited. Roselene has a problem with her sight so we have to make copies of the parts we mark and enlarge it all so she can read. They are awesome and are way excited. Gizeli takes the Book of Mormon to school with her to read there. After the 1st lesson, she called her cousin that is a member and they were both way excited. Then we also found a 15 year old boy named Netinho. We are teaching him, his uncle and his Grandma, but there are many other people in that house we are going to teach. Netinho is way excited about everything and is always animated. His uncle is 21 and really interested. He already started the Book of Mormon from the beginning, but he went to the show so I was pretty bummed. Well, This was just a little bit of what happened this week. There is always sooo much that goes on and there is no way to write everything. But, I am doing great. Time is flying by this transfer. There are only 2 weeks left and then there will be transfers again. I think that I will "die" here in Valentina. Hopefully I will get to stay with Elder Ferreira one more transfer. Things are great and I am really excited. The work is progressing and There are always sooo many people to teach. The people here are way open and friendly that sometimes it is a little hard to tell who is really interested and who is just being nice but doesn't want anything to do with the gospel. I love you all and hope all is well. Keep me updated on everything! Oh and I love pictures!!!LoveElder Crosby