January 5, 2015

Wow it is 2015!!! I am so excited to this whole  year that I can dedicate to our Savior! I am going to make it great!!! We all know the importance of making goals. So that we never stop improving! Always having something to work at and stretch. That is how we become something great! Probably the same as everyone else. I refuse to get fat even though the food is so amazing. So I have decided I am going to eat a lot. I am not going to waste this opportunity to eat Filipino food. I just have to wake up early and exercise. We will see how that goes. But I have written down a lot of goals in order to improve my "Christlike Attributes" So that I can be a better teacher and the Spirit can lead me during my mission! 

Well this New Years was great we had an activity with a bunch of members. Where they prepared a lot of games for us. One of them we had to use our mouths to dig for coins in a bowl full of flour. So that explains the picture. It was a lot of fun. Of course we got fed great food! After that I was completely exhausted and went to sleep. So there was not a countdown for me!!! Usually they say that this place goes crazy with fireworks but this time it was kind of stormy so there was none.

So the next day Jan 1 was our Barangays fiesta!! Every little neighborhood has a day set apart where they just throw a huge party with loud music and everyone just goes out and dances!!!! Then pretty much every family cooks giant meals and they invite everyone to come eat! So us as missionaries of course got invited to about everyone houses! HA! They really enjoy feeding people here more than back home! I don't know why but they enjoy it and you can't really say no to them!!! No matter how much you try! So that was a good day:)

 We really wanted to find whole families to teach this week and set it as our goal! And guess what? We found a great family to teach. And we are way excited for them!! Well I wish I could explain more about that but we just got a text from Bishop and he wants me to go to the sementario to go dedicate a grave! Wow how great it is to be a missionary in the Philippines?!!! I love it! I love you all so much! I have got to run!

Love,

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

In a letter he wrote to us yesterday he explained a little bit about the family he found.  Here is what he had to say.

"We found and invited a whole family of 6 to get baptized this week and they accepted and went to church!!! The Fernando Family. A 16 year old daughter came to the Christmas Party and invited us over to her family! And they are all so great!!! They gave us all sorts of fruits from their trees when we came! It was just a great lesson!!!" 

December 29th

Perlas Family

Ward Christmas Party

Sister Nora's house (The ward mom)

Food fight

#sharethegift

Wow what a week! I will not be able to write all the cool things that have happened this week. First it was great to see you guys on Christmas over skype!!! I loved talking to you all. And what is the deal with the ugly sweaters contest??? HAHA that is awesome!! Who picked out Grandpas sweater??? That is something that we need to continue! The picture was hilarious!!! It sounds like Christmas was a success!!!

So we had a Ward Christmas party on Wednesday! It started at 9 in the morning and didn't end until 3! It was a long long party but everyone loved it! We invited all of our investigators to it and it turns out its a lot easier to come to a Christmas party than church! Haha there was a ton of them. We underestimated the rice we needed to bring for them! But it all worked out. It helped a ton with the people we are teaching to talk to the members and to see how fun the party was! They were really prepared and it was a success. There were so many different games and skits! It was a huge success!!! And way cool to see everyone have such a good time!!!!

Christmas was great! We spent a lot of time with the members and we had a lot of fun with them. On one of them we had a chocolate cake and it turned into a chocolate cake fight!!! It was great!!! We also worked quite a bit on Christmas. And taught some great lessons!!! It didn't feel like the Christmas at home but that doesn't mean it wasn't amazing!! I loved it!

The last few days have been quite productive O ya here is a little story for ya! So remember Alfredo had a hard time getting baptized because his family would be way mad if he did. So he ended up going to Manila and brought with him two Book of Mormons. And he told them what we have been telling him and to just read the Book of Mormon! So he said that they read quite a bit of it and now they are way cool with him being baptized and want the missionaries in Manila to come to there house!! Crazy Right??? So he now knows that this is what he is supposed to do. Kinda cool huh???

Well It was a great Christmas and it was amazing to talk to you and to talk to Talon in Tagalog ha oh yeah another cool side note. The place that we ate at lunch on Christmas was the same exactly family that fed Talon on Christmas 3 years ago!! How crazy is that??? I am still just way happy to be here and have this opportunity to grow!!! I love love love being a missionary! I hope you all have fun at the cabin over New Years!!! Take care and keep up the good work!!!  No body says it better than the Jacob in the Book of Mormon Jacob 6:12!!!

I love you all so much!!!!!

Love,

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

December 22nd

Christmas in the Philippines

Wow it is the week of the Christmas and there is still no snow here! I am still waiting!!! The spirit of Christmas is pretty much the same here. There is a giant Christmas tree made out of Bamboo here in the plaza! People who don't usually go to church went to church and tons of Investigators made it to church! It was sweet it was a packed house and it was great!!! Now if only it stays like that after Christmas!!!

Well this week we traveled down to Iloilo again! So the few days we had to work we hit hard! We had some sweet lessons. People received answers to their prayers that The Book of Mormon is true and we also saw the strength of Satan. He is pretty strong and he really has quite the weapon with Alcohol. I  just love the Word of Wisdom its my favorite commandment for sure!!! So with Mika she wants to get baptized but her husband and her husbands family which she lives with will pretty much kick her out if she does. She is so so so so sweet but its just way sad to see. I know that there will be a way for her to get baptized. We just have to trust Heavenly Father!!!

Our apartment changed again and I am with Elder Cruz my comp still and Elder Layugin and Elder Gan so all Filipinos!!! So that's way sweet! Elder Layugin is a great cook and makes some amazing Filipino food. I have just accepted the fact that I am going to gain weight here!! The food is just so good!!!

Well I just love this Christmas season. It is a bit different when you are far away from the people you love the most but man am I excited to have it here in the Philippines! How many times are you going to have Christmas in 80 degree weather and wearing the name tag?!!! I am just enjoying the joy here and loving everyday! I am so stoked to talk to you all on Friday!!! I hope you all have a mMerry Christmas. And really remember why we have the great Holiday! Its really tough to not get tied up in all the other traditions but it is just nice to slow down and really really think how great of a gift our Savior is and really ponder the meaning of his birth!!!

I love you all so much!

Maligayang Pasko!!!

Love,

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

December 15th

Eating Bugs

Beautiful New Washington

Wow 10 days til Christmas!! Really?? Well it sounds like you are having about the same weather as me! Its really nice though when its Christmas time. Everyone wants to feed you and the last few days we have been fed amazing food!!! I really think each week gets better and better and that's because as your language gets better the better you can connect and build relationships with the people here. It makes missionary work so much fun!

I have really enjoyed teaching Meacha and Third. Or what I call them. Brooklyn and Easton! They are just like them. Meacha acts like she is 18 and Third is just a stud! They made you all Christmas presents which are with Elder Christensen in Tremonton! So look out for those:) They are so nice and I just love them so much! Mika is another sweet investigator who is progressing way well! She is different than another investigator. We don't really have a planned lesson. We just give her assignments which she always completes. So that when we come back we just answer her question and expound of her reading assignments. Its perfect. She is the perfect investigator. We can't wait till we get to go back to her!!!

We have a sweet Christmas party on Wednesday in Iloilo where half the mission went and did skits and swapped gifts and had a huge feast. It was way fun to talk to all the missionaries we all have some crazy stories to share.

So right now we are in a tri some with Elder Layugin. He is a way way smart Filipino and super sweet. He will get his new companion on Thursday but I am way excited for him to be in our apartment. I have been way lucky to be surrounded with way sweet missionaries. Alright well I have loved reading all your emails and way excited to talk to you on Christmas. I can't believe its already Christmas that is insane!!!! Well I still love being a missionary. I can't belive how lucky I am to be here and to do missionary work! There is nothing like this in the world!!! Thanks for all of your love and support! I love you all so so so much especially Ben, Ryker, Easton, Brooklyn, and Lexi! How did I get so lucky with super sweet brothers and sisters? Well Have a good week!!!

Love,

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

Preparing the bugs

Meacha and Third

December 8th

Good morning everyone. So most of you have heard of a Typhoon. Here the Typhoon is named Ruby. So that caused our week to be a little different than usual. Well for some background. Last November this place got hit really hard with a Super Typhoon. And they are still recovering from that. So when news came that another super Typhoon was coming everybody was really scared because they remember how bad the one was just last year. So there was a lot of people getting prepared for it to come. But news travels slow so no body really knew what was going on. So we were told to stay in our apartment all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Except we were able to go to church on Sunday. That was something really cool to see too. So this city really shut down. All the people evacuated into the School or concrete buildings. But a text went out to all the members saying that we would still have church. I didn't think anyone would be there because the wind and rain was pretty strong. But I was wrong. And our church was packed! I was proud of the members here.

So I am still not sure what happened but either it missed us or it got really weak because we just has wind and rain. Nothing too bad at all. Maybe somewhere else got it a lot worse. But we were way lucky! Which is good because these people can't take another Typhoon. So I am way happy that nothing bad happened here.

Well I am all rested up now and got some much needed extra study this week. It was nice to help tie a bunch of tin roofs down in preparation for the storm. They really learned from the last storm and was well prepared for this one. 

So yeah all is still good here. I am so ready to get back to work again. It has been way to long. I really missed going out and working. It got really cold this week. I needed to use a blanket to sleep last night. Our thermometer said it got down to 76 degrees! Haha well it sounds like the weather is really nice at home and everyone is in the Christmas spirit. I got to run. I love you all so much!!!

Love,

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

Some of the food I ate at our Thanksgiving feast!!

December 1st

Christmas came early this year!!

Well it is December!!! Christmas season! How crazy is that? I got a sweet surprise one day when I came home. Elder Christensen and Elder Swan put my packages that my parents sent under our Christmas tree. So when I got home and I was exhausted it was way sweet to open some early Christmas presents! Thank you family!!!!

Well this week was great we got more new investigators going to church so we have a good pool of all new investigators. We were really busy because the sisters had to move apartments so we got to help them with that. I was also able to baptize Helen. She lives in Kalibo so that was really cool. She is awesome and was way way excited.

Something pretty sweet happened yesterday. It will be a little hard to explain but I will try my best! Well anyway we decided to go visit a girl named Unna. She was an investigator before and the members said it would be good to visit her. Anyway when we asked around for her people took us in to a house which was so so dark and nothing in it but a suitcase. And then we saw this 30 year old girl in the corner crying. I am not going to lie. It was really scary at first. Anyway we tried talking to her and told her we were missionaries. She still was crying pretty bad but we got her up and she was like how did you know it was my birthday??? This is a true story. She was way way sad and depressed. We had no idea it was her birthday. But Heavenly Father knew and I believe he sent us to her because he cares for each one of his children. He loves every one and does special things for all of us to show his love. I was hit so hard with the feeling that wow He cares about a 30 year old girl who was having a rough time. I felt the love that He had for her. It was an amazing experience. The girl was feeling pretty hopeless but she felt like Heavenly Father knew her and knew her situation. Wow ......it was amazing. I hope i explained it OK. But I know that Heavenly Father cares about even the little thing in our lives and does little things that some might not notice as miracles but they are just to let them know. Hey I am here, I know you, and I care about you. I felt that so strong yesterday!

Well I got to roll out. We are going to have a sweet feast tonight with all the missionaries in the zone! So I am way excited about that. Its going to be way fun. Well I feel great here. I am staying healthy and trying everyday to get better at the language and teaching. I still have a lot to learn but I don't really feel new anymore so that's great! But thanks for all of your letters I love you all so much. My family is amazing that's all I can say. It sounds like you took full advantage of the Cabin and snow! Keep it up!!!! I love you all! And hope you have a great week:)

Love,

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

Live crabs some lady gave us

Helen Escolada

November 24th

Hello!!! Wow I cant believe it has been a week since the last time I emailed you guys! Every day is way fast and every week is even faster! Its been a great one full of great experiences. I have been really really healthy this week and ate more vegetables than I ever have in my life. I also ate dog this week! Ya I am still not sure what to think about that. And I am not sure what to think about how good it tasted. Well I had to do it for the experience. Eating dog isn't very popular here. So ya that was last week for a family home evening at a members house! So ya that happened.

Yesterday was really cool we met a nice lady Betty Ramos and a member told us we should meet her friend that is less active. and that she would meet us to go to her house. I felt like we should teach one more lesson and be a little late to meet the member. I am not sure why I was kinda regretting the decision because I didn't want to make the member wait but I had about 20 min and I didn't want to waste 20 min to wait for the member. So anyway after a great lesson we met the member about a half an hour late and she was a little mad. But anyway we met this girl who knew the missionaries where she lived before and was so happy that we came to her house. She just barley got home and said you are way lucky because I came home a little late today and if you guys would have came a couple of min earlier she wouldn't have been here. So she was so excited and kept saying this is perfect timing for her!!! So I just felt like we were in the right place at the right time which is a good feeling and makes me feel like I am doing something right. Anyway we are having a few people come to church now. We had Maracel, Alfredo, Harvey and Jean. So its way cool to see. We are getting more busy every day its great. Everyday just goes by so fast we don't have enough time in a day really!!! And the houses are so far away from each other it kinda takes a while to go from appointment to appointment. But is so sweet i didn't know how much I would love walking in the sun. But after it rains for a while I love those long walks in the hot sun. I just soak it in. It is not as hot here as I thought either. Its pretty nice. I thinks its different because I am on the beach and we have a nice breeze. But the weather is so nice!

 To answer all of your questions the language is pretty good. I still have to pray for help everyday but I am way happy its the coolest things when you talk to them and they just respond with no problem and are way excited that you know Tagalog. Its the best feeling in the world. I am not fluent that's for sure there are always times in lessons where I would be like this would be perfect if I could say this in Tagalog. But my comp is way good and helps me a ton. We get along great too. So ya everything is great. I remember a song I think its off of some old show. But it goes like " O what a beautiful morning o what a beautiful day. I got a good kind of feeling everything is going my way" I love singing that every morning and just gets me ready for another great day where everything just goes my way even if it doesn't:)

Well gotta give a shout out to EASTY!!!! o man what a stud he is was sweet and I miss him a ton! I hope you had a great day! 10 years old that is way crazy! Well Family I love you all so so so much and hope you are having a great holiday season. Our apartment is all ready for Christmas and we have been listening to Christmas music for a month now!!! So I feel great and I love everyday. I am not just saying that either. I really am loving it here. There is nothing like this in the world. I love it just so much! Thanks for all of your letters its way nice to still feel close to you all. I have the best family in the world!!! I am so proud of all of you and so excited to hear from you every week! Even though I miss you I love it here and this is what I want to do!!!!

Love,

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

November 17th

Wow another week has gone by so so fast. Time is so different now. I don't know where it goes. Well before I start I got to give the best mom in the world a giant shout out and mix it in with spiritual thought for the week! Happy birthday momma!!!! I was thinking about how perfect my parents are this week and how they never really told me what I had to do but just gave me an example and then showed that they trusted me. I loved that feeling and always felt lucky to have great parents but now being on a mission I have really realized how amazing they were! So like our Heavenly Father he has given us an example to follow. Jesus Christ! And he too has shows us and puts tons of trust in us! This week I was trying to ask Him for what I should do. I wanted Him to show me what I needed to do. I didn't really receive anything but I just felt like he was saying. You know what Elder Craythorne? You know what you are doing. I trust you! It felt great. Not like he abandoned me but just a great feeling that he trusts me! It just made me think of how my parents were the same way! I love them so much. I hope you all spoiled mom to death cuz she deserves it!! I LOVE YOU MOM!!!

Alight well this week has been the most exhausting week of my mission. We have really done some searching for people kind of really far our there. So we did a lot walking and I mean a lot of walking. We found some really sweet places with some really sweet people. The only problem is they are so far away from the church!!! Well I paddled my way to Pinamukan this week! Ya just a little boat. We went for a service project and there were no other boats. So ya that was way sweet! We had a new investigator come to church this week. Arvey Tolintino! Its always way sweet when they show a leap of faith and come to church. We have only taught him once and just met him this week. So we are excited for him. He is a real thinker and really wants to learn more! Alfredo got really sick this week. But we went to his house and gave him a priesthood blessing. His wife who is blind. Had no food because her husband was really sick. It was so sad! But we were able to cook her some food. But yesterday Alfredo was feeling a lot better and felt like the Priesthood really helped him! So that's way cool!!!

Well the computer shop today is super super slow so I can't really go into a lot detail about my week. But hopefully you can get the gist of it and if you listen to the voice recordings you can get a better idea. This week I can say that we worked really hard and gave it our all!!! I am proud to say that. So ya I am still loving everyday! And can not believe how fast it is going by! I love being a missionary and has so much more to say but just can't type them! The mission is awesome! I love everyday! I love you all so so so much and hope everything is going well at home and you aren't getting too cold! It doesn't look like November here that is for sure! Well Thanks for all of your letters and examples!!! Until next week!!!

Love,

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

November 10th

What its November?? Where is the time going? I hear it is snowing at home!
I am not going to lie it is weird to not have much change is the weather.
It feels like perfect summer all the time! It does not feel like November!
I cannot believe how fast this has gone. It seems like I was just in high
school! Well I am getting forced to really grow fast here. I love it thechallenges just keep coming. And you know what?? Bring them on I am ready
for them.

So right now I am training a brand new missionary. His name isElder Cruz and he lives around Manilla! So he is perfect at Tagalog!!!

Yay!!! He has already taught me so much. Because he just speaks to me in

Tagalog all day and if I don't understand he is good enough at English to
explain what he means! Its way sweet and going to helped me a ton!!! He is
way prepared to be a missionary and is a dang good teacher. The best
teacher that I have had yet as a comp. And he is brand new!! Its awesome!
Now we can really clarify what we are teaching. Because last transfer it
was a really big challenge and we had a limit to the language but now we
don't!!! YESSSS!!! But he is just like me when it comes to Aklanon. So at
least he understands what I feel like!

Well this week was pretty crazy. I had to head down on Tuesday to the
mission home for a Trainers meeting. Which that is a pretty good bus ride
right down the middle of the island on a dirt road! It took a long time and
then I picked up my new Comp on Thursday and we did the bus ride to the
other side of the island again. A perk of being on of the farthest areas
from Iloilo!

Since now I am the District Leader I get to do interviews for the baptisms
of the missionaries in my district. So On Saturday I got to interview a
whole family of 6! The Marcelo family. It was so cool and they are amazing
and so ready to be baptized. Each one was such a spiritual experience. And
I just feel so good that I can communicate with them! I love it. So this
week I was not really home to much but I am way excited to spend all week
this week in my area and strengthening it! Alfredo is now done with coffee
and Cigarettes. Cool right? Its way sweet to see the difference in his life
and how happy he is now!

Yesterday we had about 10 members who wanted to go to all of our lessons
and help us it was way sweet but just a little overwhelming  cuz there was
so many and not a lot of houses are built for that many people but it was
still way cool and they are really helpful. That is why the Philipino
missionaries are so prepared because they work with the missionaries so
much at home!!! Well another crazy week has gone by and I am loving
everyday!!! This is such a sweet thing that we get to do! Missions are
awesome. I love it so much! I love you all and hope all is going well in
America!!!

Love,
Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

Elder Kei 

First Family I Interviewed for Baptism

November 3rd

Talon's Last Area

Wow another very fast week. I will start with kinda the bummer part of the week. So someone our house owner has been switching our water bill with another one. So we have been paying for someone else water. And I guess the other house hasn't been paying for ours. Because on Thursday during my shower. Our water got shut off. And it still has not been turned back on yet. I had no idea how much I rely on running water. We now just go to one of our neighbors to fill up buckets. I am way lucky to have running water. I remember just complaining all day Thursday and then when I went and talked to some people about how hard their lives are I felt terrible about feeling bad for myself because their lives are way tough and most of them have never had running water their whole life. It just smacked me in the face how much we have. And I feel bad for myself when we don't have water for a week. I still got it way easy compared to the people that I meet. They have taught me a huge lesson.

Well at the beginning of the week while my comp was in Iloilo I was in Banga which was Talons last area. Pretty sweet that we have worked in the same area. People always talk about how good he was at the language. I am way proud to say that si Elder Adams ay ang pinsan ko.

An update with Alfredo. Is he has been off cigarettes for two weeks now which is way fast. Pretty much ever since we taught him about the word of wisdom he dropped his habit. Its awesome. But for some reason coffee is way harder for him. He says he now knows why coffee is so bad. He is way more addicted to coffee than cigarettes. But he decided this week that he does want to get baptized. Which is AWESOME!!! And kinda crazy because we are so still really limited with our language there are times when he asks or says something and we have no idea what he is saying. But man this guy knows!! He has changed!!! Its so crazy and I know that he has been taught by the spirit and not me because there is no way that me with the very limited language I have can teach someone that good. I just always go out of that lessons just so amazed and I know that Heavenly Father has prepared him and the spirit is teaching him. That's how I know at least I am doing something right. That the spirit is working with me and I cannot describe it but man you should hear him pray!!! I am so excited for him!

So ya its way cool to be a part of this. I have learned that we really aren't the teacher. If you really want an effective lessons the spirit has to teach. That's all I rely on because I am so new and still learning the language. I  NEED the spirit. I still love where I am at and love the other missionaries. There is such a strong bond and everyone takes care of each other its way sweet!!! I love the opportunity that our Heavenly Father gives us to go and serve a mission!! There is nothing like this in the world!!!! I feel so lucky to be here and excited for all of the upcoming challenges that are ahead. I love you all so much and hope you are all doing so good. The Halloween picture this week was hilarious! You guys are awesome. Keep it up! I love you

Love,

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

On top of a Jeepny.  No room to ride inside the Jeepny.