April 7, 2014

                     This week was crazy. so much happened! so I shall start at the beginning.

      Monday we were supposed to teach Marjan and Ali. they ended up cancelling our appointment. sad but because of them we were at the Visitor's Center for the temple and in walked a Persian man. Who was visiting for two weeks and didn't really speak English. So what brought him to the Temple was that he is travelling around looking for a religion and he saw the temple and he kept wanting to come in but every time he just felt to tired to come until that day that we were there. So we gave him a tour of the Visitor Center (it is a good thing we are there all of the time and know a lot of the things they have there as well as we are jokingly referred to as 'Visitor Center Elders'. Not our fault that it is such a good place to meet investigators since they are kinda a little paranoid about other Persians seeing them convert)  and watched the Joseph Smith video. to which we had to pause and translate. we just did super simple summaries of what was happening because well our Persian is still improving. That was incredible God wanted him to find out about our church and so we did our best that night.

     Tuesday another miracle with some visitors to America but these were Japanese. They walked into our English class and they really enjoyed hearing about prophets as well as the idea they could hear him in Japanese and so we pointed them to lds.org. We also gave them a church tour and asked them to learn more from missionaries in Japan that actually speak their language. So we gathered what information we could and then we passed it off to friends in the Tokyo Japan Mission. Gotta love the work of the Lord happening everywhere and what a blessing it is to live in a world with missionaries that speak so many languages!

     Wednesday we had lunch with Hessam and Nahid. two of our investigators and we read the Book of Mormon with them afterwards. Alma 34 and it was super good with them. Nahid came to theSaturday morning session of conference and Hessam came to the priesthood session. although they didn't broadcast the talks in Persian. we focused a lot on how they felt as they watched it and hopefully as we meet them in the future we will take conference to them and show them how to watch it themselves. After our lesson with them we went down to see Sam and while we were there Eli came in! She is out of the hospital! She is still super weak and struggling but she is getting better under the protection and care of her sister. So to help cheer and lighten the mood we sang the 1 verse of I am a Child of God that we know in Persian. they loved it and we also gave them a testimony of Joseph Smith pamphlet in Persian.

      Thursday we were able to meet with Marjan and Ali and commit them to come to General Conference and she is helping us learn persian and us her english. so we showed them the new exhibit at the visitor Center. The teachings of Christ through the eyes of a child. super cool it is drawings from children in our stake and at the near-by catholic school. it is super cool.  they loved it and we talked about temples with them. They came to the Saturday afternoon conference.

     Friday We went and saw Sam again and this time we were able to teach a lesson to two people in his restaurant. It was super awesome to see Sam bear his testimony and although the two really enjoyed the talk they didn't really commit to more although they said that they would come to the Visitor Center. also the man was like 20 but he totally looked 30. Persians are so unfair when it comes to age, worse than Asians. when they are older they totally look younger than they actually are and when they are younger they look older than they are. It isn't fair.

      Funny story- so we were on our way home and we were stuck in traffic when this motorcycle come up real close to the driver side and glares at Elder Fry and then he falls back and then he comes up and does it again, so Elder Fry kind of waves unsuredly. He then falls behind us again and then come up on my side looks at and glares at me. by this time we were starting to kind of freak out and wonder what was this guy trying to tell us. So he falls back and floors his bike and then smack the mirror on my side of the car with his hand and then drives off. The back casing of mirror popped off but that is all that happened. We were so shocked that all we could do was laugh and we laugh we did. 

That is it for the week.

Elder Craner

March 13, 2014

    
3 week update

      I apologize for my laziness in emailing everyone. Life has been good. So does everyone know that transfers has happened in the Persian program? well it has we have switched companions! that is all that has happened and really can happen with us. I am with Elder Fry now.

     Sunday we had an awkward success with Marjan and Ali. so they didn't come to church. So we were going to stop by with a note because we had just reconnected with them the day before by dropping in on them and we have an appointment tonight with them as well. however we were sitting outside of there apartment writing the note and we had just finished when Marjan come walking along and sees us in the car. we were caught red-handed. she laughed at us and we talked for a little bit and then she said that they would see us tonight at the temple for us to walk around and talk to them about the church. Super sweet but super awkward being caught red-handed. They are awesome

      On Saturday a man from the translation department came to our mission to get a feeling for how the Persian book of Mormon would be accepted by members and non-members. So we drummed up as many people as we could on short notice and then we went. He shared with us 2 Nephi 31-33. It was super cool and we got to hear news on a projected release date.....early next year:( sad i won't be on my mission for it but i am still super excited. Also can say we helped in the smallest way possible by sitting in a room as a man gathered info from our investigators. However the power in those translated words that the church is so careful about was incredible.       You could almost see it sometimes as we were reading it and discussing it. 

we also learned somethings about translations of the book of Mormon. they try to stay as close word for word to the original English text and they try to keep as much of the awkwardness of the English text as well. syntax and word order can change but everything else there are quite some stringent rules on the translations.

      Hessam and Nahiid are amazing. Nacer (the husband) is still in Iran but he is safe and well and working to support his family. however we have been meeting with Hessam and NAhiid every week and this past week we started seeing them at English class as well. So we are able to help them much more readily now. especially  since they are both seeking to receive that testimony of the restored gospel. This week we asked them if they wanted to be baptized and Hessam said yes! Nahiid said not yet she still hasn't received her answer yet. We are super excited for them and our prayer and hope is that Nacer will be able to baptise Hessam and Nahiid when he gets back home.

       We also had temple service this week and it felt so good just to go and work in the son physically as we shoveled and raked and killed slugs. which note by the way  slugs are weird and fascinating. never saw them in Arizona so still newish to me.

      We have been doing our best to contact all the people possible but we only have one and a half streets in the entire mission that Persians come to for shopping and such. So we are seen there a lot and we are becoming part of the backdrop. so we are trying to find new ways to contact and find. It is super fun all the time just to talk to people and meet new people everyday.

       My new companion is a super boss like all of the time because well he just is. I totally look up to him. he is super personable and open and funny as well as buff. i am really looking forward to the next few transfers with him.

      So the Persian new year started and we threw a huge party for it. I'll send pictures soon. Anyway it was so cool we had more Persians there than members and white people. We totally were able to see some Persian dancing and singing. super fun and awesome to see our investigators totally kind of relax and enjoy themselves so عید شما مبارک just because it lasts 13 days the party so this is still valid.

I love you all and wish the best and God is great!

Elder Craner

March 17, 2014

khanevaadeye azizam (romanization is hard)

So it is transfers and there is actually a switch-up in the Persian Program. I am staying but i am going to be companions with Elder Fry now from Idaho now. Super excited. Fun thing is that we totally all know each other pretty well by now because we all work together and see each other 5 out of 7 days of the week. So it will be fun to work with him more this week.

Definite miracles this week are:

The miracle of the garden.

 So we taught a lesson to Mr. Sigari and we were totally able to introduce the Book of Mormon and just teach him about that and he said that he would read. Then on our way out we asked if he would like help planting all of the roses and stuff he had just sitting in pots. HE said sure but he didn't take us seriously as we assured him we finally set up an appointment. I still don't think that he believed us because when we showed up he was surprised that we showed up. So we spent the next few hours just building our relationship with him as we planted roses and flowers for him. it looked pretty good when we were done. It also felt good to just buckle down and work physically. To turn the dead space into a flowering oasis. I've realized i am a heavily visual person and so to help me accomplish my goals and projects i will need to design them in a way i can see constant change and improvement. 

Miracle #2 

We were leaving English class with nothing to do because we had a last minute change of plans when we decided to go and visit some investigators who we can never find home and that they have been avoiding our calls. It has been several weeks since we were able to meet with them as well. Guess what......They were both home and we were able to invite them to come to our Persian New Years Party and to teach them a little. Turns out they were avoiding us because they love us so much they don't want to waste our time and then in the end decide not to convert. So we told them back it will only be a waste of time if they aren't willing to do the little things that we ask them to do and they said that they were. They are planning on coming to church next week as well.

Miracle of the lazy 20 yr-old

So we went to visit Nahid and Hessam (wife and son of Nacer, recently baptized) We lately have been focusing on both of them but a little more on Hessam than Nahiid. well, Hessam decided to sleep the whole day through (our appt was at 4pm). So we had the wonderful opportunity to really focus on the restoration and the Book of Mormon with just nahid and it was a really good lesson. She knows so much. especially when she comes to church and will answer just like any other member and sometimes even testifying and then she turns to us or Sister Larson and asks "is that right?" Super awesome lady. she also went to some relief society activity. She is totally slowly becoming part of the ward. Thanks to Hessam we were able to see a miracle with Nahid. 

Other than that I am excited ti be working with Elder Fry for the next few months as well as the language is coming along well and I love it so much.

Elder Craner

P.S. Sisters in our ward are teaching a Syrian family and it was super cool to talk to them in what little Arabic that I remember and to remember how much I love that language!

February 24,2014

This week was crazy good. Naser was baptized this week and confirmed!

So Sunday we had his confirmation. It was awesome to stand in the circle. we also were allowed to teach Gospel principles. It was frustrating not because of our language skills but because there are so many dominant personalities in there that everyone wants to say and teach it there way until the horse was so dead that it stunk. but it was good none the less.  we then went to a member's house for dinner, that was fun. He then took us to his sister's house in which happened to be every other member of his family those that were members and non and he turned to us and said go! So we started teaching in probably the most chaotic lessons on my missions. WE ended up giving out some book of Mormons and inviting them to read and then we out of there. Crazy.

Saturday we saw Sara Bahrami and NAser Rajabi enter the water s of baptism. It was super cool to see them do that. Sad thing so i was asked last minute to conduct the music..... on the closing hymn i wasn't paying attention and i was helping some investigators find the right page when suddenly i heard them calling my name to come conduct and i looked up really confused-like. So to save me my Mission President jumped up and started to conduct the music. After that we went to Sam's Restaurant and it was really busy which is so good and happy for them. 

Friday we had a party for Sara and Naser at Sister Larson's house. There were so many Persians there and they all were our investigators. We were given the opportunity to testify and share a spiritual message. It was so cool and amazing to feel the Spirit there as four elders testified to these people in their own language and you see that they just relished in the spirit.

Thursday my tooth was all patched up and good to go till i get home as for me no other cavities.

Wednesday i got to go on temporary splits with the Chinese program!!! that was fun Elder Chun is super chill and a total boss. He actually is from Hong Kong and speaks Cantonese and is fairly proficient at Mandarin. Plus his English is like perfect with a slight Aussie accent super funny.

That was are awesome week this week.

Elder Craner

February 17,2014

So I'll start with the route canal. I think my tooth had been hurting for a long time, i think, but it was small enough that i ignored it and went on with life but on last Tuesday while in our little Persian class a part of my tooth came off but i didn't know from where so thought little of it but the pain kinda became noticeable over the next 24 hours. Then Wednesday night i decided to finally say something and so i told my companion that we would probably need to set up an appointment with the dentist for next week. Then i bit into a cucumber and my mouth caught fire. I bit in the wrong spot and suddenly this giant hole was filled with cucumber and so i turned and said to my companion hmmm. change that we need to set one up as soon as possible. So we contacted the mission nurse and she gave us a phone number and we had an appointment the next day. I thought it was just a filling having come undone. well, the dentist came in and said  we will need to do a route canal and so he numbed me up(i hate that stuff) and went to work.

Other than that from Tuesday on we were constantly busy and having to teach people lessons. Tuesday we taught the Ganjineh family and talked about life and read from the scriptures with them. Melody the little girl asked us a really good question about God and so we talked about that and we do as much as we can in Persian with them as possible. We also had to tell them that we could only meet once a week now with them. They were so sad but we are hoping that our absence on Tuesday will help them have the desire to actually progress. After that we went to our English Class and taught Homeira a little bit and we set up an appointment with her and her family the next day.

 Wednesday we taught Mr. Sigaarrii. His lesson was really good and we found out his major concerns as we do what we can to help him overcome them. Then we get a call from our later appointment and they asked if we can meet now like 5 minutes after the lesson with Mr. Sigaarii. So we teach Marjan and Ali the Plan of Salvation and they had such good questions such as "How can we follow Jesus?" Had they had their interview with President White (all investigators before they can be baptized and even invited must have an interview with a member of our mission presidency because if  they go back to Iran they could be killed) we would have invited them to be baptized. However the good news is that Ali is getting a new job and so they will be able to come to church now! There we will be able to have them talk with President White and then invite them to be baptized and they want to learn and progress a lot.  After that we went to Nacer and NAhiid's and we taught the plan of salvation to them as well. After that we had a dinner/lesson with Someira and Homeira and Sister Larson. I love dinner's with people because that is the best place to talk and connect with people because their  barriers are down and they want to talk and so we talked with them. We left them with a book of Mormon to read and study. They went out of town this weekend and so we haven't been able to see them yet but we will.

Thursday was the root canal. and we also had a good lesson with GAnjinehs and correlation. 

Friday was our Zone Conference where a big part of the meeting was on training us to better prepare for our investigators and companionship study as well as teaching us to help our investigators and connect with them. It was really good and such a spiritual uplift for the day and then we went on splits with our Zone Leaders. I went to their area which is the UCLA campus and YSA's in our stake. So it was weird to work with people my own age and to try and talk to them about God but it was fun and enlightening the gospel is true no matter who you are.

Saturday was our English class and we had two new students come in and they totally only wanted to only learn English but after a powerful spiritual thought in which the spirit was strong they began to change their minds and they wanted to come to church so we told them they didn't make it but maybe on Tuesday at English Class we can talk to them about it. WE also went down and talked to Sam. It was good we able to teach him about Fasting and help him progress. That day was also the day that just felt absolutely incredible i had never felt so in tune with the Spirit and filled with the desire to sin no more. Really their aren't words for it but it was incredible.

Sunday was incredible as well we were able to go to a baptism of Natasha Williams. I don't if you remember her and her mom Marisol but Elder Kempton, Elder Yoon and I found them and taught them way back last June and because of living situations and evictions it has taken this long to have them be baptized. They are incredible those two. We didn't find them they found us when they walked into church and asked to be taught the gospel and the miracles and stories that we heard from them as they progressed were amazing. It was so cool to see the next stage and fulfillment of their journey and the Mom is set hopefully for June or July! We get home Sunday evening to start weekly planning and 20 minutes in we have this idea to call an investigator and see when we can meet this week and they tell us that they are on their way to the Visitor Center to a fireside that Sister Larson invited them too. So we set goals and we dashed off to meet them their as well and have a small impromptu lesson and daily contact with them. The fireside was really good. It was given by Peter Vidmar the Olympics gymnast. 

That was our week. The language is coming we as a program have set goals to do SYL everyday building up to 8 hours on the first day of next transfer.

Elder Craner

Feburary10

This past week was good and busy.

We got to go to mutual that was really fun. We helped them with their missionary Olympics. WE were able to sit on the other side and be people they were supposed to tract into and read a scripture to as well as we were judges for them in their various competitions. That was fun and we learned that of the 20 some odd youth only 4 of them go to the same high-school. Not only that this is a two ward combined program for YM/YW.

Wednesday was good we had an appointment named Ahmed Sigari and he totally surprised us by having us talk about Jesus and love and we talked about heaven as well with him. At the end of the lesson we invited him to actually start to hear the lessons and he was open to us sharing our messages with him. He did say that "He wasn't going to convert" but we will see, this gospel has a magical power of softening hearts and helping others come and learn about Christ no matter what they believe about already and where they are in their lives. I also learned about how i need to turn more outward and serve people this is something that i have always known but struggled to apply but now well at least i have made progress especially as i pray to become an instrument in the hands of the Lord to bring salvation to His children and my Brothers and Sisters.

Thursday we had a training and some of the things that were covered were on stress and future trainings to be held. These things are always good and needed. We also went to the Ganjineh family it was a good lesson with them as we talked about the miracles they have seen in their lives.

Friday was Awesome we had a lesson with an investigator we nailed down some dates with him and we were able to set a baptismal date for him as well as being able to meet three times a week to teach him and his family and so we are praying and hoping for the progress of his whole family as he does.

Saturday we had a big meeting with a bunch of people and we met two new investigators both of whom seemed really excited about the church. WE gave them a church tour and invited them to church and they came! Super cool. We are hoping to teach them more after our English class and to set up more set appointments with them.

Sunday was really good Sam and Eli came to dessert with us and an amazing member family who  just happens to own a restaurant as well. So we are hoping that they will be able to build lasting relationships and help each other. Because that is what Eli needs is a friend.

Well that is it for now Any questions?

 

Elder Craner

February 3, 2014

So it has now been like 3 weeks since i last sent a good solid email sorry. Well since i last talked so much crazy stuff has happened. So sure where to start...... How about Yesterday. So yesterday was really good we had several of our investigators at church and two Persians (Tina and Moein) were confirmed during sacrament meeting. It was super cool. They are awesome. Not married or even dating completely separate baptisms but there are plans from the ward to set them up. Super funny but we'll see. Other than that it was a good relaxing sunday for us as we were able to get all of our studies in and go out and work. Even though it was Superbowl Sunday and raining and none was on the streets. It felt good to just walk around and do what we could to invite people to come unto Christ. 

Saturday was insanity for us we had an incredible meeting with our Mission President and others that are involved in the program and boy was it an eye-opener on how much more we have to push ourselves. in the Language and directing the program from our side and how much more logistics and behind-the-scenes need to be done. Then we dash over to the Visitor Center to meet with an investigator couple however, we get a calll saying that they won't be able to make it at 10 but instead 11. so we do that. Well only the Husband (NAcer) shows up at 11 because the wife (Nahiid) had to go and help someone. So we teach Nacer and we watch God's plan with him and we talk about how the restoration and the gospel blesses families. He told us of how since he has been coming to church his worries about his property and family back in Iran(2 kids 28 and 25) have ceased and that he feels peace with us and at the temple. So we have a super powerful and wonderful lesson  with him in which he probably said such a wonderful and sincere prayer, and then his wife shows up. So we turn around and start teaching her a tiny bit. We mainly watched the 20 minute restoration video with her and that is what she wanted and needed so they left. No sooner had they left and we were getting ready to go the next people we  were going to teach later in the afternoon. When they call us and say they have time and want to learn about Mormons as well as if we could cancel the English class and teach them instead. We said Sure! they asked where at and since we were already at the Visitor Center we asked if they would come there. They did and we had such a powerful lesson with them and we helped them resolve many concerns about priesthood authority. it was especially powerful because they aat the end asked why and who was pulling them to this church? We simply testified of the hand of the Lord and how he operates to bless and help peoples lives. so that was like from 10 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon and after doing all of that and a little more we were simply exhausted spiritually, emotionally and mentally

Friday was a really good day as well. We had an amazing ZTM (zone training Meeting) in which i realized some things that i need to work on to have more charity as well as we were able to have a good lesson with Sam. He is doing so well since his baptism in all aspects of his life. He also did me a big favor and let me record him reading some scriptures so that i can listen to him and practice my pronunciation. 

Thursday we were able to go and help this lady move for a while. So she had some overs come and help and guess what they were Russian Muslims! Would you believe that! Super cool so i had a chance to practice my Russian and realize that i have forgotten quite a lot and will have a lot to re-learn if i ever go home. We were also able to meet with the Ganjineh family and they are good. We were able to teach a little about priesthood authority and the pattern of gospel dispensations but it got a little contentious. So yea we have some things to go back and work on with them but that is why the Spirit of the Lord is so important because when he is with you lesson go so differently and the things you say and do have such a greater power.

Tuesday a miracle happened. So we woke up with a flat tire on our car. We changed it quickly and went on with our day. We had some time we thought that we would be able to have out tire fixed and a new one with time to continue on with our plans. So we drop it off at the mechanics. We start walking around and we suddenly realize that it is taking to long so we have to call and cancel an appointment. However, despite this as we are walking we have some great conversations with people about the gospel and although they weren't interested or shooed us away it was good. In our wanderings we realized that we were near the apartment of one of our investigators, Marjan and Ali. So we decided to stop by and say 'hi'. They were home and we were able to go and teach them a couple of things about God being our Heavenly Father as well as answer some questions.

our Persian is getting better slowly and we are able to teach more and more in it as well as understand more and more.

That is it for this week.

The big events of the past couple of weeks are that Tina and Moin were baptized and we had about 15 non-member Persians there! To which they said they loved and we were able to help them all a little move forward because it was such a beautiful program and the Spirit was so strong. 

Sam was confirmed in Sacrament meeting and it was very special for him.

We had interviews with our Mission President and they were very uplifting and great insights were found. Including me stop worrying about making things perfect and ways we can better serve everyone and do a little better today than yesterday.

We met MArjan and Ali at Los Angeles English and gave them a church tour and invited them to church and Tina and Moein's baptisim to which they came.

that is about all I remember. So yea it was good and i love the work and how wonderful the Lord is even in the worst of times.

Elder Craner

Remember BE HAPPY,

there is no reason to be in all honesty if you are doing what is right and keeping the commandments then even in the hard and sad times we can rejoice and be happy. Alma 8:14-15