May 30, 2016

Wow the month of May is done!!!! My last full month as a full time missionary. Its all going so so so fast! I still feel like I have so much to do here! This is honestly where the meat of the Gospel is! This is so good! We are always running around trying our best to get everything to work. Sometimes it does get stressful. On Tuesday good old Chris LeDoux came out of no where and got stuck in my head. "Slow Down" Slow down...man in the mirror slow down the best times are here and now...slow down. It made me so happy for 2 reasons: 1 I remembered how much I love my country music and 2 it really helped me focus on enjoying the joy that is right in front of me. I will be honest. I am so so so excited to come home and see you guys again. The backpacking trip the boys had this last week got me super excited. But like Chris says I am trying to slow down and just enjoy the amazing people, beautiful place, and the opportunity to be a full time servant of My Heavenly Father. I love it I know I am going to miss this I'm gonna want this back. I know I'm gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast... So three weeks left..... I'm gonna take it all in and enjoy it while its here!!!!

Alright I gotta tell you a story about two youth who live on Boracay. I will send you a picture of their family. So our plan last Monday was to all meet up together so they can take the 2 hour trip to the Stake Center together for their youth conference. Half of our youth live on one island and the other have on another island...ha ya crazy. So everyone met at 3 but we couldn't find 2 of them. They didn't have a cell phone so we couldn't get a hold of them. We sent the rest and decided to wait cuz they said they would come and they were so excited. So they showed up at 6pm. 3 hours late. They apologized and said they didn't have any money for the bus fare to get to the stake center so they took a 1 peso coin....used a hammer and other tools and made a couple of rings that they then went and sold on the front beach so they could attend the youth conference. Crazy. So we sent them off and it was all good. But when they got back here 3 days later their parents called at like 9pm wondering why they weren't home yet. Everyone else made it home but these two boys. Finally they made it home and it turned out that when they got here in Caticlan they were out of money. They still had to take a boat to their island and then take a bus to the other side of the island but they were out. So they somehow got on the boat then when they got on their island they walked 2 and a half ours to their home!!!!! BOOM what studs!!!! So we visited them a few days ago and they were just saying how they were like the pioneers and then they told us how many girls they danced with at the dance and showed me how many numbers they got...Ahh I love these two kids!!! They asked for a bible so that in October when the stake has a scripture mastery competition they will win it for Caticlan!!! I will send you a picture of them but man it was so cool! We fought for them hard to get a spot and it was so worth it. They will both be made priest and teachers in June!!!

We had another really cool miracle happen this week! So I was assinged in Roxas for 7 months and got to know a lot of people there from other wards. I saw one of the families in our area one day on vacation and went up to talk to them. It turned out that they had a nephew (named James who is 23) that just got baptized in April and they were getting his stuff from Caticlan to take him to Roxas so he can still stay active in church. Because they didn't know there was a church here. But as soon as they found out there is a church here they changed their plans right then and there and now he is staying here in Caticlan. Boom another priesthood!!! ITS GROWING!!!! I know that wasn't a coincidence but planned out for sure!!! Way cool!!!

Things are going way good. We got some awesome goals and plans for June. Lots of priesthood ordinations, starting home teaching, starting seminary!!! So so so cool. This is turning out to be really solid. Again this is where the meat of the gospel is! I am so glad to end my mission here.

Alright 3 weeks na lang!!!!! I will see you guys very soon! I love you so much!!!!

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

May 16, 2016

HEY!!!! Wow was it soooo good to see all of you last week! It was all just so happy because we are going to see each other in just over a month!!! AHHHH SO EXCITED!!! So out of all of the skypes this one was by far the best. Not cuz I was on one of the nicest beaches in Asia but cuz I am going to be wrestling with all on you very very soon:) 

Last week was mothers day so I didn't get to give her a shout out but since you all know my mom I don't have to say too much. Mom I love you so so so much. You are my hero. I will be trying everyday to be as strong, fast, and dedicated as you! I am so excited to show you around my 2nd home here in the Philippines and go running with you:) I love you! You are the BEST!!!

So ya I was pretty confident that Elder Palzario would be my last companion......that didn't turn out to be true. Man I loved every second with him. We had a  really special time together trying to get some sort of church established here. We seriously became so so so close! He helped me out so much and I hope I was able to help him as well. We both have progressed so much here and he was needed to be a ZL in another zone and he will do so well! So the night before we left we went out and got a special dinner on the beach! SUPER AWESOME! We went to a Mongolian Grill which is like the one we have in Ogden. All you can eat!!!! AHHHHH Turned out it was all part of the plan because the chef is a MEMBER!!!! THEY ARE EVERYWHERE HERE!!! He has been less active for about 10 years now and he is ready to come back with his family!!! WOOOOOO!!! But ya we had a super nice dinner to celebrate all that has happened to us and the area. All the miracles and even the stupid mistakes we made. It really was cool! While we were eating on the beach people would come around and play songs by request on the guitar!!! SO AWESOME!!! Don't tell anyone but I requested Home by Michael Buble :) He he

But its alright because now I am companions with Elder Ramos...So just so you know a little bit about him. Out of the whole mission if you asked the missionaries and had them each vote on who is the nicest, most hardworking missionary on the mission I bet about 80% would vote for Elder Ramos!!!! He is Ramos for being super smart and super awesome. So ya he just adds to my super stacked list of companions. He is awesome and a fantastic teacher!

So ya this week our Branch President came to our church.We have been here for about 3 months now and this is his 2nd time....Imagine that. He does live 2 hours away. So we finally got him to sign the baptismal records, give him the members ship record numbers we collected, and collect the tithing so next time people can be given the priesthood and start exercising their priesthood! So its been a slow process because of that but its all good cuz seriously we have about 60 members now about 8 full families. We got tons more progressing investigators. Two families are ready to get baptized as soon as they get their problems on their birth certificate fixed....only in the Philippines.

Yup things are going SUPER SUPER well here. I love it so much! This is the best way to end a mission. I feel like a missionary of old. Its fulfilling. It feels good! I love you all so much have a great week!!!!

Love,

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

Mango Season!!!

I eat about 10 every day. When we are just walking around they will just be all over on the road and you just pick them up and BOOM heaven.