Novemember 23, 2013

      

Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, 메리 크리스마스, کریسمس مبارک, In whatever language you speak.

  
       
         This week has been really good like amazingly good. 

So last week you know how one of our investigators wanted to be baptized? Well this past week we had a lesson with him and he set the baptisimal dat of the 12th of January. In fact it was a very cool lesson. We went into his restaurant(that is where we are teaching them). We began teaching him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and about halfway through in walk some members from my old ward (specifically the boldest and most zealous and dedicated person i have ever met about sharing the gospel and she is the Relief Society President and who are currently serving a service mission for BYU-I). So we about to invite Sam when in walk the missionaries(whom the member was going to feed). So by the end of the lesson their was a very very powerful Spirit there with 6 set apart missionaries, there because they loved this one man. Oh yea previously we had contacted this same member about Sam for some help with local fellowshipping and she has been sending every person from the ward that she can their to wat at his little restaurant. We are pretty sure that she also had the YM/YW go caroling to them at the restaurant. Super cool.

Sam also came to church and he brought his son. Who lives in TEmecula which is like 2 hours away! they loved it and his son said he would search out Lds people there and try to go to church there. We also knew of a baptisim that Sunday and so we invited Sam to it and he said he would come. He cam a little late and missed the actual baptisim because the GPS told him wrong but  it was good anyway because he was able to see some of the confirmations which he loved. We were also able to use the powerful Spirit that was there to help us teach him the Word of Wisdom. Which he then committed to keep it.

Saturday we had an amazing Christmas party with Sister Larson. Who invited everyone she could along with our investigators. So the amazing thing was that when all was said and done everyone their was either a member and most being Recent Converts of 5 years to 2 months or at some level investigating the church. which was super incredible especially when our mission President stopped by because he was invited too. HE was able to see so much good work that has been done by the Lord for the Persians in  preparing them to receive the gospel. So cool until they had us give a talk in Persian. Which was super cool and super hard. So we read a scripture in Persian and bore our testimonies about Christ and the truthfulness of the season. Super cool. They also had us pray in Persian. So i did the opening prayer to bless the food and i forgot the word for food! I won't know that like 20 people have told me what  it is. It was awesome.

So on Friday we had our Christmas Devotional. It was so good. There was an incredible Spirit there as we sung and heard scriptures from all of the Standard works about the birth of Christ during the program. Then we also had an amazing testimony meeting about our Missionwide Book of Mormon reading. It was so amazing to see how it has changed the culture of out mission from when i first got here to now. This past year has been absolutely incredible. unexpressably so.

Elder Craner

Re-post from Novemember 11, 2013

I re-posted this letter so that as you read down you wont get too confused. Elder Craner is now speaking Farsi and working with the Persian people in Los Angeles.




Hey Mom, read this real quick and respond.

My call has been changed and i am no longer speaking Korean for the rest of my mission. Instead i will be starting a program in Farsi and be the District Leader of the new group we are 1 of two missions in the world with this program and one of 8 in the world proselyting to Iranians and other speakers of Persian.

Also my new companion did two years at Westpoint in NY do you know anything about that school? I'm pretty sure it is a military academy. Write more in longer letter.

Went to doctor and yes going to be sticking with what worked for ADD and yes i am planning on going back to running and or at least jump-roping.

Elder Caner

December 19,2013

       So it is 80 degrees and a week before Christmas. I'm not sure what to think about this. Great thing is it means we can play Volleyball in December. WOOO!

      Miracles are abounding all around us where ever we serve. and here in Babylon it is no exception. This past week was amazing. The matter of us just being in peoples hiomes with Spirit has been incredible just to see them start to progress and want to learn more even if they at first don't want to.

There are two families that we are working with to "learn" Persian. Where we go into the house with the Spirit and they help us learn how to speak read and converse in Persian. This past week one family has really opened up and asked us a couple questions about God and about us as missionaries. NOt only that we had the chance to serve the father (thanks Dad for giving me the small foundation of computer knowledge and teaching me to problem-solve) and this opened him up the tiniest bit and he now more actively engages with us when we are at their home. They are already Christian and we are going to be taking a few more steps this week with them and another man that we are working with to learn Persian told us as we invited him to the Visitor Center performances this month said that "you know Islam didn't work for me maybe Mormon will." HE is such a sincere and wonderful old man we love him.

       Another absolutely amazing and incredible miracle that happened last week was last night. There is this wonderful man Sam that we are working with and he came to the Visitor Center last night and he brought Eli (his wife)!! Which was awesome and we also had a member family with us at the Visitor Center who themselves are converts From Islam. That family is so strong and awesome. They helped us teach and testify so much about the restoration of the gospel. WE watched the Restoration video with them and the Spirit was so strong. Then we sat and listened to the Christus statue exhibit with them. She felt the Spirit and she believes Christ but she wants to know to really know that Jesus was the Son of God. All we could do was testify and she said she felt our words in her and we know it was the Holy ghost testifying to her. Before we closed with them Elder Larkin felt impressed to challenge them to close their store on Sunday and observe the Sabbath day. A commitment that we had been talking about extending to them. Sam was all for it as was Eli but she was a little hesitant. In a previous lesson we challenged Sam to read 2 Nephi 31 and before we could follow up with him he told us that he had read it and that he believed it and that he wanted to enter into the waters of baptism and that we needed to tell him when he could do it!!! So now we are going to sit down with him and figure that out. It was amazing and so was the prayer that was offered at the end of the lesson before they left. We truly love these people and we ant to serve them in any way we can.

       Then literally right after they left while we were still at the Visitor's Center another couple walked in and desired to know more about the church. HE told us that they are going to move to America soon and that they were here visiting their son who is at UCLA so that they could buy a home here and eventually move and become a resident. However because he is going back to Iran soon we can teach him and help him come unto Christ but we aren't sure if we can baptize him until he can come back. However he wants to die a christian. Good thing we teach people about Christ. So our next official appointment with him is Christmas night back at the Visitor Center for a sing-along program! What a wonderful Christmas we are super excited for it.

Elder Craner

December 9, 2013

        This week has been a very good one. We were able to have a lesson on Sunday with Sam at the Visitor Center and it was incredible. All though there were times he couldn't express himself because of his lack of English and our lack of Persian. He felt the Spirit so strongly and well it was simply incredible to see him just desire that change of life that the Book of Mormon gives. He wants to learn so much. He describes it as him being thirsty for knowledge. We are so excited to be teaching him.

We have also been working with the Ganjineh family and they are awesome and they came to the Ward Christmas party. Super cool. They also asked questions at the party about us being volunteers which surprised them and they were wondering if we got payed and such which is awesome and we hope to be able to talk to them more about it as we continue to meet with them.

This past week i had the opportunity to go on splits with both Elder Cockriel and Elder Fry and they both pointed out something that i hadn't seen before. A characteristic trait that we all (the Persian program) share. We like to lead and be in charge and we realized how much of a benefit because it will drive us all to improve and be better. it is but it is funny and interesting to see how that can also cause small problems. 

On the personal side i think that sometimes i am too serious and i am working on lightening up. I know i am a tough companion. Anyway. i have just been trying to learn the skills necessary for this new program and trust in the Lord and put him first more so than ever. Because of this i have begun a new reading of the Standard Works with a very specific question.

Elder Craner

December 2, 2013

   Hello y'all,

        This week we have worked with another Persian family again this week and we encouraged them to invite some of their Persian friends to dinner with us next time. They started naming people and they really want too and they said that they would after we learned how to testify because they how important and powerful it would be for their friends to feel the sweet spirit in their own language. So we are going to learn that this week and visit them again on Friday so that way we can continue to build our relationship with them. 

Tuesday we met with some referrals from Sister Larson. It is a family of three and they are awesome and we are really excited to be working with them. They are excited to teach us Farsi and we are excited to learn how to talk to them about the gospel. The wife and daughter seem open and the husband has come to church before. So we are going to see if we can get them to the ward Christmas party and to the VC for a performance and to church of course.

        We've done lots of contacting on Westwood and we are going to try Pico this week. That has been an experience as funnily enough i haven't ever had to street contact because there weren't places to do that in Korean C and when i was in Malaga Cove no one walked outside when we were tracting. So it has been a very humbling experience in which i have learned a lot from Elder Larkin and continue to learn from him. Funny thing i realized is that in his last transfer (which was his first in the field) he probably gained the same amount of teaching experience i have over the past year. Such a good Elder.

Friday was amazing. We followed up with the 'point in the right direction' from Sis. Atkinson and we went to Longburger, (which for 3$ you get 12 inches of really good burger that is healthier than other fast food joints just ) Anyway we went and we ate there and we began talking to the woman at the cash register and she was semi-interested but not really. However, as soon as we started talking to the chef, the owner of the restaurant, the conversation got so much better and he was very excited to find out who we were and what we do. He gladly accepted the Book of Mormon in Farsi and the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith and we are planning on going back on Friday to follow-up. The amazing thing is he volunteered to be accountable to us about the reading! 

        Saturday we met with another man who is teaching us Farsi. He love us but he himself isn't to religious. So we are having him teach us the Articles of Faith in Persian. It is pretty cool. He really seemed to be enjoying them. After that we will hopefully be able to move to the testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith and slowly teach him as he is teaching us and we talk about it. 

       Thanksgiving was good we ate with a member of our ward. Since the only times we can are if they have a referral for us. A YM ( there has been a problem with getting them on missions. They are hoping that having Elders in the ward will help. They have had Sisters there for a long time because they are a Visitor Center Area.)  and or if it is a holiday.

Elder Craner

November 25, 2013

This week was good.
        Monday we met a member who taught us how to pray in Farsi and that was super cool and fun. WE are trying to pray as much as we can in the language but we have to switch back a lot so that we can still express ourselves adequately. However lately it has been such  a wonderful time praying.  Something that was put into words for me by someone else "is that we should all be jumping at the chance to talk to our God and Father"  and lately i feel that my prayers have been more meanngful than ever and this something that our mission president is stressing is that we should be praying as if our lives depend on it and then acting. We should be expressing deep faith. Faith that we show in our prayers that is very heartfelt and sincere and specific.
Wednesday we went to the temple and it was so good. i just love the feeling of peace and love of God that pervades there and i would that everyone should come and feel that spirit. If not inside then at least walk the grounds and feel and know God's love for you. After that we went and attempted to find a Less Active member, we ended up getting lost but we did find it we think but noone was home. 
Thursday we had zone conference where we were trained mainly on trying to use our time effectively and realizing that we need to pray with deeper faith and work with more diligence. Our president declared that the Lord is giving us miracles  but the floodgates are not yet open and the Lod wants to be pouring them out on us. Also this quote was given to us as well "the devil is the master of complexity. The Lord is the master of simplicity." This was given in connection to the emphasis the church is putting on teaching simply because the gospel is simple and trying to do away with analogies and other gimmicks.
Friday we had District meeting with our Mission President and that was super nice because we were able to cover a lot of subjects in a very short amount of time and do it efficiently. Our presidenti s very excited on the progress that we are making. After that we got permission to move part of our Preperation day to Friday so that we would be able to go and visit a museum that is currently hosting a Persian Empire treasure the Cyrus Cylinder. It was very interesting and cool and a great peice of histiry and culture. While there Sister LArson ( the member who is teahing us Farsi and is our host into this new culture) brought her brother (member) and two more non-members with her and we began to build really good relationships with them. 
Sunday was good. The talks were really good and so uplifitng. and this ward is good and it will get better.
The language is coming along well. We are working on memorizing the Joseph Smith story right now and tons and tons of vocab. 
Love y'all

Elder Craner

November 18, 2013

سلام

 In Farsi they read from right to left. this means peace. It is used to say hello. Click on the link below to haer the word.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85
       

      This past week. has been very stressful as we do our best to figure out how to start a new program in the mission and to learn a new language. We have a lot of support though both from our new ward and other missionaries and our president. For now we have been allowed 3 hours of language study a day and we are working with some members (who are from Iran) to learn Farsi. to the point that we have classes with them several times a week. Our area is the mission. So far no geographical divisions between the two companionship but that may come with time. Mainly one will take Member work and the other will work through referrals and some members as well. We are doing our best to find ways to fill  our time well and have it be effective. mainly right now it is striving to learn the language and develop the gospel terms and forms in it as we work with our teacher and meeting members.  Our teacher who by the way cool fact is working on the translation of the Farsi book of Mormon and is on fire about the Gospel and helping as many as she can come into the gospel. She herself being a convert from Islam.  We did get a new apartment and it is ok and i really can't complain because i know there are a lot worse apartments that missionaries sleep in around the world so i won't other than i was spoiled in the my last apartment. My companion is good we get along but i think we will be even better once all of our stress wears off and we can actually start to find work. He is good. The other Elders as well we all seem to get along and work well together and i think that the next year together will allow us to become a formidable team and district.

Sunday was good and our ward is excited to have us not only to have us speak Farsi but also to have Elders in there ward. They haven't had Elders in a long time just Sisters. which i thought at first was weird because everyone else begs and wants sisters really bad. I guess the grass is just greener on the other side and a missionary is a missionary.

Thank you for all of the prayers i love you all.

Elder Craner

Novemember 11, 2013 New Mission Call

Hey Mom, read this real quick and respond.

     My call has been changed and i am no longer speaking Korean for the rest of my mission. Instead i will be strarting a program in Farsi and be the District Leader of the new group we are 1 of two missions in the world with this program and one of 8 in the world prosylyting to Iranians and other speakers of persian.

Also my new companion did two years at Westpoint in NY do you know anything about that school? i'm pretty sure it is a military academy. Write more in longer letter.

.

Elder Craner

November 4,2013 Less than a year left on his mission!

     Tuesday we had our first lesson with someone who checked yes to learn more from Los Angeles English (LAE). Unfortunately, we were unable to give her a church tour because of the BSA 100 year anniversary broadcast. So we taught her the restoration instead and that was a bit more difficult than we anticipated and we had an okay lesson. There are mixed feelings about the lesson the spirit was there and then there were other time where it was just awkward and we struggled to get thoughts out and we stepped on each others toes, However, the Spirit had it's moments where it was powerful and could be felt. However afterwords Elder Jenkins and i talked for a while. We came to the conclusion that like with everything in the world our stumbling block is pride whomever's it was was hindering our ability to teach as a companionship and progress together. We have set goals to be work better together and rely Mir on the Lord so we can do it His way and not ours.
Saturday we were expecting our first student at our new LAE location. However she didn't show. We are wondering if part of the reason that we aren't getting very many calls for the new location is because 1) they assume that it is Korean town because that is what old adds said and they already looked and/or 2) They don't recognize the new location as being super close to where they are. So we are going to do what we can to change that we are not sure how but we will.
Sunday Elder Jenkins and I had a good lesson with our investigator Meg and we were able to clear up any problems about previous lessons that we had taught and teach her the Gospel of Jesus Christ clearly and well. She her self brought up her concerns about baptism when we re-invited her. 1)She is living with her boyfriend 2) She wants to be financially stable before she starts to pay tithing and 3) she wants to be more sure before she commits to a date. Now the great thing is we have yet to teach any of the commandments but she wants to eventually be baptised and so we will continue to teach her to help her progress. Our goal is to get her to an English Ward in the near future we are working out logistics. She is planning on bringing more people to church with her in the future. 1) An actual Korean(who grew up in Ecuador and speaks Spanish fluently) and 2) another Mongolian friend who has conversational Korean.

 We also had a really good role play with some members about teaching the restoration. We learned many things about using the pamphlets and teaching simply. It was awesome to see us be able to explain things with pamphlets because we don't get the practice with natives a lot we many times aren't sure how to construct things and of the vocab but the pamphlets help with that because they have it all already. Our goal is to not let them become a crutch and to teach with our own words as well simply and powerfully and with the Spirit.
Elder Craner

P.S. Transfers are next week

화이팅!!!!!! (Again no idea what it says) 10/28/13

This week was crazy and I'm so grateful for it but also glad it is over so many splits!
Tuesday i went on splits with Elder Yoon of Korean A it went well. Unfortunately their appointment canceled and we weren't able to teach together. However, recently they told me that she has begun to read the Book of Mormon and i am super excited for them and the small steps that this lady is taking. I love Elder Yoon and i know he cares just in his own different way. 
Wednesday i went on splits with Elder Lee. Splits were great and i really enjoyed my time with him. We were able to do some member visits and teach a lesson. I watched Elder Lee teach simply and testify to an investigator and it was good.  We even had a good dinner with members. In which I was given the opportunity to be able to push myself linguistically and speak Korean and participate in the dinner conversation that was a huge step in my Korean progression. I also spoke some Russian with someone on splits that was a pleasant surprise and i forgot and remembered more than i thought i would. 
Thursday i was back in my area where Elder Jenkins and i were able to have a good weekly planning and discussion.
Friday we had a good district meeting in which with the little extra time we had we discussed what it is that everyone would like to get out of district meeting. The responses were surprisingly varied and good.
Saturday was a good day. We had interviews with our President and it was really good. We talked and discussed things and my future in the mission as well as answer some of my own questions. We also had Dinner with a member in which we were able to serve her by helping her cook the meal and talk about the gospel. I learned how to make Korean sushi(not actually sushi but still the easiest way to describe it to people) called 김법(Kimbop)

Sunday we had a very good day. We had two successful member visits. One in which we were able to strengthen and uplift them as well as invite them to read the scriptures everyday together. It was kind of weird because this guys is really really wealthy and from a different culture and here we are two middle class white guys inviting him to repent and become better. The other the great thing to come of it is that we received the permission to visit their LA(less active) son who lives near them. Which is really good because earlier in an effort to get to know everyone in the branch we already met him and had a meeting him.
The big miracle of the past week is that we were able to set up two appointments with a couple of our English class lessons. This is so exciting. The work is picking up! The branch is excited about the fireside (or at least we are going to do everything we can to help them be so). Good flyer's are going to be designed as well as effective referral cards for it. WE are going to take this thing and make it big!!!
On the personal side I'm doing good.I love the work and the people and can't wait to make God proud everyday

여러분 안녕하세오? (I have no idea what this says) 10/21/13

     This week has been good.Tuesday I had splits with Elder Kempton. It was really good and I'm excited for them.It was fun because we all lived together and at one time were even companions as a trio. It also seems that they have been trying hard hard to come up with ideas that would help spur there area into action Elder Kempton is a very dedicated missionary who desires to be 100% obedient. I admire this Elder a lot.

     Wednesday Elder Jenkins and i had a long talk about ideas and what else we could do for our area. It helped prepare us for Thursday where we realized some other things that we need to do such as figuring out how we can get everyone's information and help those of all interest levels. We realized that Olivia Prochazka a member of out branch served her mission on temple square and she will know exactly what to do and how to do it. So we had dinner with her and discussed things. She suggested we make a card and give it to everyone as they walk in just like at the LA Visitor Center. So now we are off to dry and draw some stuff up. (President Hong said on        Sunday that he wants this big and that he wants to make a splash and that he won't disappoint and our BML (Branch Mission Leader) is all behind it as well)

     Friday i watched something awesome. We carpool with the Chinese B to District Meeting and on our way to PVRO (Palos Verdes Regional Orchestra) after DM we stopped by Taco Bell to get some lunch and i watched Elder Burr, who is constantly studying Chinese and trying to learn it say something loudly to me (i don't speak any Chinese but sometimes i think that he thinks i do) and a lady across the aisle look up startled. He noticed this and started speaking his Chinese with her. It was awesome to see him kick off the conversation and then Elder Bowman and Elder Yang come in and help him have a really good conversation with this lady. Although she didn't take a book of Mormon (because she didn't want to set it to the side and disrespect it) she did leave away with a commitment to go to Mormon.org. Elder Burr is an inspiration to me and all because of his enthusiasm and love both for the language and ALL people around him. I've seen him make contacts with all sorts of people. That fire is something i need and have begun to seek after.

     Saturday Elder Jenkins and i went and checked out our new English Class location. We liked the way some things are done there and we are excited to be working there. We know that it will be huge resource for us as we expand and talk to the Koreans in Gardena to find the elect. As for our other English class we have several returning students but we are struggling to turn them into investigators. We have some ideas but so far nothing is turning out. However we will get them because these people are awesome and i love them. Saturday night we had a wonderful ward activity in witch a member brought a friend to and we had great language practice learned a few new words and understood a little more. The friend although he is strong catholic has a greater appreciation of our church now and we hope that he will keep coming to our activities and we will work with him there.

     Sunday we had a good church meeting. However the two important things is that a family offered to have us come over and role play lessons with us so we can get the practice and have them correct our Korean. To which their was a lot of correction but it was fun and strengthening for all of us. We will improve and use this time wisely as in all things. The other great thing is that we were able to eat dinner with a wonderful Korean family that we have been trying to eat dinner with since forever. It was amazing and boosted our relationship with them. We are slowly little by little becoming part of this branch and they love us for it. Missionary work is on the up and up as well and with this fireside on the 17th of November We are going to blow them out of the water with how fast the branch will grow.

     On the personal end of things. Life is good. These past couple nights before i pray. i have started to meditate and just let go off my fears and frustrations and other things by offering them to God and putting them upon my altar of sacrifice for him and i have noticed a difference in me. Both in my nightly prayers and in the following day. It is wonderful it is like a super personal talk with God in which i am doing some spiritual spring cleaning.

Elder Craner

 LOBSTER! It was kind of weird but good. Chinese cook things weird but it was still good and I love  the mission

Us at my birthday dinner with My companion the blond. Elder Bergeson (the one who looks Mexican but is actually half Taiwanese  and the other white guy is Elder Bowman They are Chinese B or at least they were until Elder Burr came and he made them a trio.

Our traditional Korean tea party. It was only flowers and tasted weird.

Fun stuff 10/14/13

     This week has been amazing. Yesterday (Sunday 10/13) We had the opportunity and we strive to set up with as members as we could for that day. However we only were able to set up with one family but that one family was awesome. We went and shared a message and we got to know them a lot more. Because of this experience he invited us over again next week so that we can practice Korean and learn to speak from natives and invite the Spirit into their homes! We are really excited to be working with this young family and our goal is to expand this to more of the branch. We feel that if we can use our time to strengthen the branch it will be a better use of time than some ineffective methods that we have been trying.
     Saturday afternoon after English class we had a very Korean experience with our class members. They brought traditional tea sets and layout which they spread out and begun to make tea for everyone in the class. We hesitantly and in broken Korean asked and talked to them about how we don't drink tea as members of the church. When they asked if it was like all tea like cinnamon tea and such we said no. Just things such as black and green tea and such that actually have the tea leaf in it. Is that correct information that we have? So they continued to make it and explained that the tea she brought was homemade tea which was just dried flowers. We looked through it and well it was pretty colorful and we didn't see any leafy greens  We felt okay with it and had some tea with them. Saturday we went to a dinner at a members' house and they invited their friends over. They are wonderful members. The wife was Korean and the husband was not. The husband did not speak Korean and we had a wonderful time getting to know him. When the time came after dinner to share a spiritual message we strived to teach simply and clearly to them. We testified and gave them each a Book of Mormon one in Korean and one in English. We felt the Spirit and we know they did too. We offered them a choice as well as we could. We can and will improve but the members loved it and they plan on following up and continuing to fellowship their new neighbors. Also side note, while we were focusing on the husband so he could be included the awesome Sister was on the other side of the room teaching the wife in Korean about the church. I love this branch.
     Friday I went on splits with Elder Moon. That was great and we both really enjoyed the training meeting. We also tried to do a couple new move-ins that night but noon seemed to be home, I guess it was Friday night. That is what you get when you have no solid back-ups to visit on a Friday night. However President this did leave plenty of time to talk in the car. His relationship with his companion seems strained to say the least. 
     Thursday Elder Jenkins and I planned. We have decided to do a huge fireside for all of the Koreans south of the 105. We realized that one of the biggest resources we have is President Hong himself. With an amazing conversion story and quite the influence in the Korean Community we are hoping to combine that into a colossal fireside from which we will turn the page in the history book of Korean work in LA! We are going to start a fire. Our branch mission leader is behind it and we are going to start double teaming the branch, him and us, to get the rest of the branch behind it. Because will only work if we get everyone. It'll be huge and at the end of November.
     President we thank you for the opportunity as well to expand our English Class to the Gardena area. We are looking forward to using this tool to find the elect and all those who desire to come unto Christ. We are planning to advertise the new location like crazy and hopefully push the older one as well.
On a personal note. I am doing well no complaints, I have learned a very deep secret about the universe: if you want to sleep well have meaningful prayers before you go to bed and when you wake up. Alma 37:36-37

      Elder Craner

October 7, 2013

This week has been wonderfully hard and great as well. We have tried some more things. We have sincerely begun to use the new move-in list and as it is a little old our approach is a little different. When they are actually Korean ( we knock a lot of american-Koreans who only speak English) they are amazed at how we speak Korean and such. So we plan on using this to our advantage and we are role playing to find different ways to invite ourselves in to their homes, in essence. Today we studied Preach My Gospel chapter 9 Find when you teach and teach when you find. We are going to try and apply this and study it a bit more over the next few days and see what kind of results we recieve.
AS for the service at the Palos Verdes Regional Orchestra (super cool finding tool for the Asians in the area. Run and sponsored by some wealthy members in the stake. Also the conductor is a world famous musician!) we believe and the people running the show as well the next step for us to step out of the shadows and take a more prominent role with the TA's and with the parents by becoming their friends.That is what we shall do. It is a scary prospect but i personally just need to remember that God is on our side and it is HIs love and message that we are carrying to the world!

Elder Craner

Sorry it is so short

Because I was at the computer when His email came through I was able to "chat" with him via emailing back and forth. i asked him about volunteering for the Orchestra and his area. Here are the responses.

 Me:  Didn't you volunteer at the orchestra last year too, like right after you got there? She sent a link so we got to see the kids you helped and pictures of you too.

Elder Craner: Yep, Mom I've been the same area my whole mission the biggest thing that has happened that the area split and one area went full Korean the other English. I went Korean. Funny thing both areas still live together in the same apartment. The Elders in Malaga Cove are funny. One is from New Zealand the other is from England.

October 1,2013

I'm alive

 Of course I'm alive, i emailed last week. Did you get it? sometimes my account is weird. Every time you ask if I'm still there usually i still am but i don't actually get the email until later or the next week. However this last week was great. This week is transfers! I'm staying with the same companion! This is great and super exciting because we are going to do so much together and be able to truly help this branch and help each other grow immensely.

This past week was my birthday and my lovely companion decided to make the cake that you sent me and cup cakes as well because we had some left over batter because we didn't have the right size pan in our apartment. That was fun. Wednesday a member also brought us a cake to her lunch appointment and we ate some of that cake and then on Saturday we also received another cake from one of the students in our English class. So it is safe to say that we are pretty sugared out in our apartment even with four elders in it. We have a lot of cake.

Other than that the same member treated us to gogi buffet or a Korean baroque in which all we did was stuff ourselves with meat and oil. Safe to say we felt pretty greasy after words and pretty full and i think my guts hate me still.

Anyway we had an amazing special Zone conference with Elder Richards of the seventy on Thursday and i learned something big or rather it was brought to remembrance. MY dad has always been trying to tell me to in essence just do it to be a go getter and do things and figure them out. the main memory that comes to my mind is when we were building a wall downstairs in an unfinished basement and it was me and Zach and we were getting really frustrated because we had thrown up this mental block (Dad was out shopping or doing something) saying we can't build a wall we don't know how"  Rather then just doing it it we got frustrated and called and Dad and had him walk us through it. We finally did it but not until he came home and helped us finish.  well it is safe to say that i was hit over the head by the Spirit to just go and do things and so i now have set into motion this master language plan that will help me master Korean! muhahahaha. Thanks Dad for teaching me to be a go-getter i finally understand ( a little at least) and i becoming that kind of person!

Love Elder Craner

A little something we learned from Elder Richards

SO this is something cool which we learned from Elder Richards. Which i feel you all already know  because i read your emails and i see you applying it all the time. However i want to share it anyway.

Happiness=Spirit=Act in Faith. All of these i are infinitely and directly proportional. When we are happy we have the Spirit and we act in faith. When we act in faith we have the spirit and are happy and so on. These three things are directly related if we want become happier then we act a little more in faith and we strive to have the spirit with us a little more as well. It is one eternal round. It is wonderful and i love it.

Elder Craner

Alma 7:24

September 23, 20013 Wonderful Week!

Wonderful Week

This week has been a wonderful week.
We were able to have a lunch appointment with a recent convert of the Korean branch. I realize that i never told you all about him, he has an interesting story. His name is Vincent Kim and he lives in Monterray Park in the China town there (outside of the mission). Our BRanch has tried to get him baptised for a very long time. However our previous mission kept saying no. So anyway We couldn't teach him and so President Hong went to the mission that he lives in and somehow got permission(not sure what he did) to baptise him there in MArch or April. and then had his records transferred. HOwever when we met with him this week for lunch that was the first time that he had ever met with missionaries and we made great strides in our relationship. We found out that he still drinks coffee and tea and all that he knows is that it is a good church and that he wants to be a part of it. . He comes to church and reads the Book of Mormon in church and learns the gospel there. Which is better than nothing but it worries us. SO we are going to try to see if we can start meeting with him weekly.
We have had several dinner appointments that have immensly strengthened our relationship with our branch along with our language goals. I love this branch and although the language is hard it is getting better.
Then staurday we had a miracle. We go to the library after studies to finish prepping English Class and take the stress test. When ELder JEnkins gets a call from a harmoni할머니 (Grandma aged women) and says that they are there at church building where we hold english class and that they were wondering where everyone is for class. It was 1230 two hours before class and Elder Jenkins was like uhh it starts at 230 and she is all okay we will wait. So they sat in the church for an hour and a half by themselves until we could get there at around 130. Then we had an awesome english class of 3 new people and 3 returning for there second or third time. So 6 people total in our class.! WOOO! We are talking with the Older couple after class and he asks if you can know i say that you can and he says that is a lie you can't know. Then Elder Jenkins continues to talk to him and they sincerely were asking if you could know and they wanted to know how. So we set up an appointment with them for the following Saturday before class. HOwever a little later they call and cancel because they forgot about a previous appointment. BUt She had forgotten her glasses and so SUnday we were near their house and we called them and asked if we could drop them off so we did. When we get there they invite us in and we begin to get to know them. THen we turn to gospel topics and they figure that we are mormon and they are slightly hesitant but not to much and she confronts us about Polygamy (because all Koreans still believe that Mormons still practice polygamy) So we tell her that we don't and that our fathers only have one wife each. We continue to teach a little about the restoration and the Book of Mormon and we leave them again with the promise that they can know God and He has again called a prophet to guide us these days. It seemed that they wanted to continue to meet with us but right now they are confused because they just started attending this other Presbyterian church and not sure if they could just switch again. They are lonely old grandparents who just want some friends. So we are going to do our best to get them out to church to meet our members! HOwever we are working on how fast we should work with while at the same time giving them there space so we dont run them off because that has happened before. We did leave them with a Book of mormon and a committment to read it. So we shall have to follow-up on that.

Elder Craner

September 16, 2013

Gotta love Missionary Life!

This past week has been one full of little miracles and tender mercies for us.
Tuesday was a little of alet down because of English Class and we only had 3 students show-up and that was all. Although the individual conversations that resulted helped build and strengthen these people were great. Especially between Tom (one of the advanced class students) and I, I was able to testify about keeping the law of chastity and obedience to him and their importance. It was very interesting seeing his arguments and such pitter away as we talked more and i prayed silently in my heart to be able to speak the truth to him.  It was still sad to see our numbers drop so low despite our best efforts. In response to this warning alarm. My companion and i decided to try something that our WML (Ward (Branch) Mission Leader) suggested to hand things out at Korean markets. So Wednesday afternoon we did that and not only were we able to ge tour face out there we talked to people and it was great. We had several people say that they wanted to come. We also realized tat we need to be able give directions in Korean. Pretty sure that we met the pastor of another church and that was an interesting exchange. He came over all innocent and asked us for a Book of Mormon in Korean since he had one in English. However the second he had it he kind of hid it in a newspaper and walked away. We should've testified more. Gratefully the Book of Mormon is it's own witness and we pray that its power and good spirit will work on this man so that he won't attack us (if he is a pastor of a local church) since that is all the local Churches do is hate on Mormons and their polygamy.  We also ran into a member of our branch who offered to take us out to dinner since we didn't have an appointment. So we took her up on it and it was a wonderful experience with her.That was another miracle and tender mercy. Us running into a member and speaking Korean with them and understanding and our relationship growing. Our branch relationship is growing exponentially right now and it is amazing.
Thursday i was able to go on splits with Elder Yoon my former compnaion and work in Korea town it was good. Interesting but good. It felt like last transfer only the location had changed. Weird.
Friday was our zone conference at the Orizaba building. Which was amazing and my expectations were met. I walked away feeling good and having some more direction in my mission. That night we went and taught Hamoud (An Arab from Saudi Arabia, Who has been studying English for the past two months can respond well and understand basic conversation. He also has ambitions to have a massive business empire all over the world. He also is planning to take the TOEFL and ILETS (Huge and hard English Proficiency Tests that universities use) in 4 months and pass it with flying colors) English and then he provided dinner for us. Mexican ingrediants Arabic style. It was pretty good actually. That was a tender mercy in the fact we hadn't eaten anything all day and we didn't have time until that night during planning to eat. We are moving slowly with him, mainly just working on English and doing our best to follow the guidance of the Holy  Ghost with. We know that the situation with Arabs is sensitive and so we shall press on carefully as the Spirit directs. Also during one of out visits we had a little book exchange. He came and gave us each a Quran and we in turn gave him a Book of Mormon in Arabic. So now we each have a Quran.
Sunday was a miracle day. So Saturday night we set some goals have 1 of everything (member present, other, refferral R and C, and 1 new investigator) We put our faith forward and we didnt know how it was going to happen but it did. One of President Hong's students came to church and we were able to teach her during Gospel principles and we gave her a Book of Mormon and she wants to come next week and we invited her to bring a friend, who is a Korean who speaks Spanish and is from Ecuador! Although as we work with her more since she is Mongolian (from Mongolia) we will have to hand her off but it was super cool to see the effects of faith and the miracles that resulted!
That was our week.
Elder Craner

September 2, 2013

HI MOM!

No i have not bought myself one thank you so much for doing so for me. i will tell you how it is next Monday. I think i am good for now but some music would be nice like with all those blank music CD's dad has could you burn me some music. For the past 6 months i have had the same 2CD's playing over and over. Especially the Nashville tribute ones. I love those ones. Also some blank CD's would be great that i would be able to download songs from LDS.org would be great as well. I'm good though. I love my companion. The work is extremely hard and sometimes it seems desolate of progress but we work hard everyday and things are starting to show. We received 3 new students this week for our English class. One to our normal class. She loved Elder Jenkins (he teaches beginning and i teach advanced) and she offered to help us get a free ad in the local Korean newspaper!! It is absolutely amazing and guess what that was the second time someone offered to help us do that exact same thing. The first time it happened. We were out advertising and we ran into someone who seemed a little incredulous that we would be doing a free English class as a service to help people and she was impressed and she wanted to help us. She said that she would contact the person she knows and talk to him for us and then she told us to follow up with her. Now that was a miracle! 

Another miracle we picked up an Arab man to teach English to and we got permission to share with him the gospel and permission for me to study Arabic for an hour a day and pick it back up( we weren't expecting that last one when we talked to our president) Life is crazy and it's hard but i love every day of it.

Mom Budgeting is coming along great. Today is P-day because it was temple Preparation day is going to be our first day of putting into action and the day we go buy Kimchi and rice!!! Which is exciting.  The temple was amazing as well. Yes i got an email from Z but not J. 

Love you all and carry on! 

Elder Craner

Elder Craner with a Door

Wall of inspiration 

Elder Craner fell asleep saying his prayers

Hello,

Transfers are next week but for  yes i am still with the same companions....sort of. So Elder Yoon and i are official companions and are working a new area called Korean C and Elder Kempton when they split the area (Korean from English) remained in Malaga Cove and received a new missionary straight from the MTC to train. However we all still live in the same apartment and talk and see each other regularly. As For your questions Mom What am i currently studying in the scriptures well let me tell you that is big question so currently i have about 4 projects going and i rotate through them to study and it is great fun. Keeps me from getting to bored and not completing something.

1)The Atonement. TO read the entire standard works seeking to truly understand what is the atonement and HOw i can use it to become better and help others become better. Pretty interesting.

2)The Character of Christ. This study is done in the Book of Mormon where i read and seek examples of Christlike people and such. To better understand who Christ is and what it takes to become 'Christ-like'

3) Obedience. This one is to help me understand the Spirit of the Law and the Letter of the Law. I feel a lot of people are confused about what the Spirit of the LAw is because they use it as an excuse to be able to bend the rules and get away with something. SO i wanted clarification

4) This last one is titled becoming a Master Teacher and it is me reading through the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel in order to understand how i can improve and be better at teaching people. So far my favorite teaching moment is in 1 Nephi 11: 11-23 Talk about tag-teaming and showing and having the person draw their own correct conclusions and some wonderful questions were asked also.

What are you studying right now?

Not as much. However when we were still running like every day i was really beginning to enjoy it. It was awesome being propelled at a speed (probably a slow one) and feeling like i was just floating. Weird i know but that is how it felt and when President Weidman said that we didn't need to run anymore well my companions no longer wanted to as much but i did. So we compromised and so 2 days of the week we will go running. This is acceptable and the days for exercises stretches, pull-ups, push-ups and so-on.

I will send picture of me next week. Yes if you want you can have it sent to me. That would be fine. 

As far this past week We did a lot of translating, well my companion did and i did language study. We also have a new move in list and we have been trying to contact hese people. Recent move-ins have a greater desire to change and will listen or at least let us serve them. However The Koreans tend to all live behind Locked apartment complexes and the boxes never work or they never answer them. However we have had some fun experiences.

Elder Craner

I stole these pictures from my companion's camera. I need to better about taking pictures. Sorry they are blurry. The picture of a door i am touching is a member's door and well that is just their party house. They own like 3-4 huge houses all well decorated and such.

The pictures on the wall is our power wall to inspire us always.

The last one is when i had fallen asleep while doing study prayers. Whoops. Doesn't happen to often i promise.

Aug 5,2013

So this past week we got two more students for our English Class. WOOOO!!!!!!  We also have been advertising like crazy and we hope to be able to continue to do so. It has been a lot of fun teaching English to a bunch of Asians. However the best part is the gospel share during the last part. The spirit gets so strong and you can feel it so much, i just pray that they can too because it will change there lives if they do. As for speaking only Korean in the apartment, i wish. so far i am the one who speaks the most Korean and I'm not the native! However with my companion we did lay out a solid Language Study Plan. One of the goals is to memorize 40 new words a day and so far so good but it is difficult. a lot repetition and that is so boring. Diligence!!! at least that is what i keep telling myself as i stare at flashcards. So the language is coming along well and i cannot believe the amazing spirit i feel every day and the closeness i have been feeling with our Heavenly Father as i read the scriptures and pray everyday. I know that this is something we can all feel as we strive to listen to our God and Father. Whether through His Spirit or His words.

Elder Craner

July 29,2013

Hello all,

So this week the biggest miracle that I have seen so far is that our relationship with the branch has greatly increased. It happened when we decided to be bold and ask if we could share a message at the ward activity and we did. It went extremely well as we testified if the Book of Mormon we felt the Spirit and we know that they  did too. From that the following day on Sunday we were able to receive four dinner appointments WOOO!!!!! that is four times more than this month! The branch is small and in a language I barely understand but i am slowly learning to love it more and more. We are striving to obtain 3 more appointments with three other families in the branch. I love dinner appointments because it allows us to be able strengthen and uplift members all the while improving our relationship with them I pray that we will continually be able to do this under God and his direction through the Holy Ghost.

Elder Craner

Tell y'all more next week no time sorry.

I thought I would add this in his blog. It is from March. He and several other elders participated in a huge service project helping the young violinists. If you go to her website you will see pictures of the little children who Xander helped and see pictures of him as well.
Dawn





Dear families of missionaries serving in the Palos Verdes Stake,

I currently have the wonderful opportunity of rubbing shoulders with your good sons as they help with the Young Violinists of the Palos Verdes Regioinal Symphony Orchestra on Friday afternoons.  The orchestra and Young Violinists are programs offered by our stake as a community service.   Having your missionary sons at the stake center each week has brought a greater warmth and peace to the lessons we offer to the community.  These missionaries have been an incredible help to me in making friends with the many children and families that visit our church each week.  They are alert to filling any need that arises.  I am so happy to introduce these missionaries to all of my friends!

Last Saturday we held a recital for all of our Young Violinists.  A good man in our stake set up a photo booth during the recital.  I have attached his link to the photos.  You will find pictures of many of the families your sons are serving and at the end are some pictures of your wonderful missionaries!  I hope you enjoy seeing their smiling faces.

Last evening all of these good young men also arrived at a local auditorium to help with our Palos Verdes Regional Symphony Orchestra concert.  When they entered the auditorium, it was filled with a sweet, warm spirit.  They were a wonderful presence and help throughout the entire concert.  They were directing and seating families in the best seats, distributing programs, helping our Young Violinists on and off stage and anything else they could possibly do to bring the spirit to the evening.  You would have been so proud to see them!

I am grateful that you would share your sons with us!  

Wishing you a sweet Easter,

Sister Michelle Whitesides

On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 5:52 PM, Michael West <jmichaelwest@gmail.com> wrote:

http://www.jmichaelwest.com/2013/Young-Violinists/28466722_RCCQ2D#!i=2411644837&k=sdvfhr3

Above is a link to the Young Violinists Photos.  Also, I've attached a short video that explains how to download a photo from my photo website.

It was an amazing evening of talent and family, thank you for inviting me!

Mike West

I believe that this is the 9 year old little girl that they were able to teach.

View from his apartment

Taking pictures

July 23, 2013

Hello all!!!!!!!!!!!!

So this week well, not much that has happened this week. We are still doing are best to get a new area off the ground. Our goals include some heavy advertising for English class this week and attending and doing are best to participate in the up-coming ward activity. the hardest thing is not being able to speak the language. Many times because i can barely gist the conversation and by the time i think of something to respond with the conversation has moved on and then i am lost. However i have set some high goals to help learn and learn quickly. So that way i  don't feel like a third wheel who can't support his companions and help testify and teach(but very basically). Some of thee things include memorizing 25 words a day. ( for all of you who don't know vocabulary is probably my weakest subject when it comes to learning a language.) But through Christ weak things become strong, right? (Ether 12:27) Good news though we are beginning to have students in English class!. So far we have 1. He called yesterday and declared to us that he would come to Thursday and possibly Saturday! WOOOHOOO! The beggings are always tough but this part of the vineyard shall be the most fruitful and plentiful! The hard part is that it is like being given an open canvas to paint. A completely blank and whit canvas. and then the boss says make something beautiful and worthwhile here. Well, I don't even know where to begin. but the first lines have begun to be drawn.

Elder Craner

mom-he says he likes gummy worms. Also his birthday is on August 11th. That is this transfer, so if you could think of something good to send him that would be awesome. I'll do some digging this week to find out what else he like and what you could send him. All the things that i need are things like notebook and pull-up bar but i can get that here with the money from great grandma among some other things. but some stamps would be nice. writing letters to Taiwan and Korea you tend to burn through stamps pretty fast. Skittles would be good for me, if i think of anything I'll let you know. also check out our new mission blog!!!

 

californialosangelesmission.blogspot.com  

July 9, 2013

Thank you for the package Mom! THe pictures are great and thanks for sending me J's graduation announcement, maybe ill give one to a companion or friend and he can write her;) haha i have had people ask so far i have said no because not sure how J would respond and if that is something she would be nice about or she would be totally freaked out about it. I am super excited for you all and that  you are enjoying life and preparing to let another little birdie begin to fly away from the nest. Did you know Lauren Barney is getting married!?!?! I love you and have you read Dalian's letter yet super awesome.

I have big news!!!!!!! Transfers just happened and guess what?! i am staying and get to continue to work in this area and i am super excited to do so and we are staying as a trio. which is super weird but the Lord has his own plan and agenda for our personal growth and the growth of this area. It'll be fun.

Anyways the best thing to report is that we have been working heavily with members and that we are planning on doing so and so far actually we have seen some success and it has been amazing and we are super excited for it. From our dealings with the members we have received 3 promising referrals and we have seen the fire be lighted in many and so it is super exciting to see everyone begin to conquer their fears and be involved in the work of the Lord. Everyday we see miracles and the Lord's hand in our lives as we help God accomplish his purpose of bringing about the immortality and eternal life of man. This is a huge blessing and gifted opportunity available to all to help our neighbors receive His sustaining influence in their lives.

Well that is all for this week. Promise pictures next week.

Elder Craner.