May 25th 2015

Hello everyone!!! Hope everyone is doing great. Sounds like the boys continued the annual overnighter at the cabin. Makes me proud!!! Nobody even had to go to the hospital this time! Good work! I hope you are all having fun at the cabin and saved me a cinnamon role!:)

Yesterday was one of the best sacrament meetings I have ever been to since I have been here! The Lago family came and all the members were super nice. They know their situation and after church a couple of them came up to me feeling so proud saying they challenged them to get baptized even though their family problems. So we are getting some support. They are awesome and so strong! The lessons are always very very emotional. I LOVE IT!

Yesterday was kinda cool. The story of how I met the Mayor is kinda long anyway I ended up in the same room with the Mayor who is HUGE here in Roxas. He was going around talking to lots of different people and I decided to try and place a Book of Mormon with the Mayor. So we went up to him and introduced ourselves and he wasn't super pumped about it and kinda went on talking to other people. But then I tried again and told him that my dad was the Mayor in our city back home. Ha ha like I said being a Mayor over here in a big big deal they are similar in status to a Governor.  So as soon as I said that he totally changed and he told his body guard guy to grab a chair and some food for me and the rest of the time he was there for about 20 min we talked about our purpose here and it turned out he has been to Utah before. So we gave him a Book of Mormon and he told us we can go to his office and ask for some money if we need help. So ya that was really cool.

Ha ha o ya last Monday we planned a family home evening with a part member family. We didn't really know if they remembered that we were going there but when we got to their house there were so many people who prepared so much food and even the girls spent all day preparing a dance performance for us. They had a microphone and tons of speakers. it was a wonderful opportunity and we took full advantage and really built relationships with the people in that neighborhood and it paid off come Sunday and 4 of them came to church! So that was awesome! 

Its been a great week like always! Great things are happening here! i love it. I love the church! I love the mission! I love the Philippines! Thanks for all of your letters. I got a package from Neal and Suzanne! Thank you so much for thinking of me like that! Thanks to all of you! You are always sending letters and sending some love from home! It may seem small but it means a lot to me!

I love you all so much and wish the best!

Love,

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

May 18th 2015

WHAT A WEEK!!!! It is for sure up there at the top! Awesome! So first of all skyping you all was great! I loved it! Having a family prayer kahit magkabilang mundo tayo was awesome!!! Even though I was in a computer shop I just felt so happy hearing my dad pray over our family again. That was very special....thank you! 

Alright so this week as busy busy busy! We went finding one Tuesday like mad men and was very successful. Now we just need to find who are the listeners and who are the actual investigators!!! The gospel is for everyone though its not only for a few special people. Time is the only difference.

Wedneday we finnally got the Lago family to open up!!! They are so converted on the Book of Mormon. The oldest kid who is 19 was praying so hard to know if the Book of Mormon was true and she said she couldn't go to sleep she read all night and when she finally got to sleep she woke up and without thinking she reached for the Book of Mormon. She is awesome! The mom was a very emotional and told us she knows its true but the concern is if they join the church her sister will stop supporting her kids in school. So its a very real concern but one that we can work through. There is something I have learned here and its Satan really really doesn't want any one to join the church. There are always obstacles but going through those are what makes a convert strong. Its all part of the plan and I know it! Well they came to church except the dad. We are slowly getting his trust he has a Word of Wisdom problem and is not home very often. But its coming! They are also inviting a lot of other people to come with them! This family is huge in their community and so ready!

Wednesday night we got a call from the mission president and he wanted to take us out to dinner!!! So that was an awesome surprise! He took me and my companion and four of the sisters to one of the nicest places in the city to eat. It was amazing food and they even had a band playing outside. It was that nice of a place! So that was a little different!

Thursday we got an assignment from the mission president to go to the youth conference and do a mission prep activity for the youth in the stake! The youth conference here was at a beach resort and there were over 100 kids 14-17 that came! So it was an awesome opportunity and a lot of fun!

We had a successful baptism this week. Adriana who her mom is a less active who is now back going to church was baptized and Sister Bandillion her kids are all members she just took a little more time to pull the trigger!

I love this area so much! There are some great things happening especially in the neighborhood of the Lago family! So ya it was a blast this week we had a lot of fun and felt like we had a lot of help this week. Thank you all for your prayers and support! I can feel it!

Alright so I better wrap this up but I just want you to know how happy I am here. Even though I might have got something stuck in my eye after the family prayer over skype but I am just so blessed to be here! I am so thankful for a mom goes above and beyond her calling as a mother and a rock solid priesthood holder as my dad and my best friend who does everything with only his family in mind! I love you all!!!

Love,

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

May 4th 2015

Maayong hapon kamo tanan!!! Awesome awesome week. Yesterday we had the first sacrament in Sigma. It was a huge deal and I sent some pictures to show you how many people came to witness it and of course it was the first Sunday of the month and you can probably imagine how spiritual of a testimony meeting it was being the first one in that area. Its not its own unit yet. Its kinda like what we used to do with the people who are sick and cant go to church and take the sacrament so we used to take it to there house back at home. Its like but they have speakers and Bishop attends. Just a sacrament meeting in another place to help the church grown even though its not a branch yet. Its really close though!!! The spirit of that meeting was indescribable and just the people are so excited!!!! I love it!

This week was awesome when it came to investigators' Book of Mormon reading. Sometimes its a challenge to get them to REALLY read the book of Mormon. They need to really know how important it is in order to get really converted and not leave as soon as they join the church. The Lago family and the Uball family didn't just read the book of Mormon but really searched and they know how important of a book it is! So I was very happy about that.

I am sure you heard of the Mayweather and Pacquaio fight and that happened to be during our church... So our church attendance at the Ward was not the greatest. Pacquaio is HUGE here the whole city like shut down during his fight. No tricycles no jeepneys. They all support their fellow Filipino. We did have a surprisingly amount of strong members who still came despite Pacquaio. He has done a lot of good here and is an inspiration to this country!

Its kinda funny here in Roxas there are two missionaries from West Point and one from Hopper. No other Americans just 3 of us less than 5min from each other back home!!! Pretty crazy!

I cannot believe its almost Mothers day and I get to see my awesome family again. You guys sounds amazing in your emails and I am so excited to hear your voices!!!! I love you all so much and just so lucky to be a missionary and I am here to make the most of this opportunity! 

Love,

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

April 27th 2015

April 2015 is almost in the books! And another transfer as well. Right now I am in my 7th transfer on the mission. Time is crazy! This week was wonderful. Like I said last week our area got split in half. So now there are 6 missionaries here. So this week we started over and found people in a new place. So we found a lot of old investigators from other missionaries in the past and they seemed excited to have us back! The three families we are focusing on are the Portillio, Uball, and Lago family! All of them are great and have huge potential.

I love the people we are working with. They are solid and are investigating the gospel for the right reasons and that's what I love! We got I new apartment mate. Elder Crihton from Australia and he is Samoan. He actually stayed in the MTC for 12 days. So very fresh! He is a lot of fun tho! For pictures this week! I was able to get one downloaded. But it is taking a very long time to get the others. I know I am struggling at sending pictures. 

But we had a stake wide service project this week where we cleaned up a part of the town that was destroyed by the Typhoon and made it look really nice to make it a symbol of the church in Roxas! It was a great idea and looks great there were a lot of people that helped and was very successful! 

This week I studied a lot about the Atonement and was amazed how many times the Book of Mormon talks about the Atonement. It really does but it in detail the magnitude of the Atonement or in Tagalog Pagbayad-sala. Which bayad means pay and sala means sin! So literally the payment of sin.I am so grateful for the knowledge of the Pagbayad-sala ni Jesu Cristo. Through the atonement he really understands our pain and trails. So we can never say that no one understands what we are going though because that just isn't true! He knows! I am so grateful for that!

Again I am just loving my mission. And all of the things I have learned and still have to learn! There is nothing like being on a mission and talking to people who are so surprised and so happy that you can speak their language. its special and I get a lot of joy out of serving!

I love you all so much and know all is well at home!

Love,

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

April 20th 2015

Musta na kamo???? We just received a lot of pesos and I get to go buy an apartment for the new area and fill it up with the things they need today! So I will just send a quick little letter. Another great week here in the Pines. We were very successful with the group this week but after this week we might lose the group and give it to a new set of missionaries. So our area is going to shrink and change a lot. We were able to contact a lot of new people this week because we lost most of our investigators to the new Elders! 

The Cortillio family is still in our area. And they went on vacation this week so I have no news for them! give it another good shot this week! 

Something that was very different this week was the missionaries got invited to sing in a choir for a HUGE festival in Capiz. There were tons and tons of people. Did not know I would do something like that on my mission. But it was pretty crazy. Very big stage and lots of people. Its cool our church was 1st and we represented well!

The mission is doing great its the best thing in the World!

I love you all so much and love hearing about your weeks. I took pictures of all your letters so I can read them tonight when I have time! 

Pallanga ko kamo tanan!!!

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

April 13, 2015

Today has been one of those bad internet days! I don't know whats going on anyway I only have a few min. to write. So I will share a few things I learned this week!

First of all wasn't conference great? My favorite was President Uchtdorf where he talked about not being a fake member of the church. Where you go to church and look like your doing everything right when really you don't get the full meaning! He really just challenges us to evaluate ourselves even when we think we are good. We can always do better and always grow closer to our Savior!

The lesson that I learned this week is really what my purpose is here! So last week we met a few people who were investigating the Jehovah Witness church. So they told us that the next lesson they wanted to tell them why our church was right and the other was wrong! So that night I did a little bit of studying and got my case ready for our next appointment with them. I was very excited and confident going into this lesson. When we started the lesson and I told them what I studied the night before to tell them why they should stop investigating one church and to come to ours. But man I will tell you what it was very different from the other lessons that we have taught. And not in a good way. Its not like what we said was wrong but it was lacking the most important tool......the spirit. We thought that we could teach without the spirit just to prove that our church was right. There is a huge difference between a lesson with the spirit and a lesson without the spirit. So half way through the lesson we decided to change our tactic and go back to what our purpose is. Which is not to prove us right and prove others wrong but to teach and testify of the truth! That is when the spirit comes and teaches! So to end the story after we realized we needed the spirit those investigators committed themselves to come to church before we even invited them! 

The church didn't get started here in the Philippines because a bunch of 19 to 21 years old came over and proved their church right. But that God actually is guiding and anxiously engaged in this work. Its though the spirit that people learn of spiritual truths! I hope that makes sense. I don't have a lot of time to think and make sure what I am typing sounds good. I'm just going!

I have a lot more to say especially about the Cotrillio family. The mom is very very Catholic and so it will be a process for here but we have see positive progress with her. Since we have taught about Joseph Smith and the First Vision she has been very different in a good way.  I will hopefully have good news about them next week!

So thank you so much for all the support. Got to give a shout out to Ben for making Junior Class Vice President, going on his first date, getting his license and just for being a great kid. So proud of him!!! I love you family more than anything!

Love,

Elder Craythorne!

April 6, 2015

Sorry I didn't send a group email last week I actually don't know what happened! But I am very excited to send this off this week! A great week!

 Well the Magno family came to church!!!!! YA! We tracked them a while ago and they finally came to church! There are 5 of them in their family. So that was awesome! We have been teaching them for a few weeks but one of their daughters was going to school in Bacolod so this week was the first time that she was there and boy! She was just what we needed! We taught her one time and the spirit was very present where she couldn't hold back her tears. After that the family agreed to go to church! Its funny we have been teaching them for a while and this week it finally got to them!!!

So we actually had 8 at church this week and it was an amazing fast and testimony meeting to have them all attend. I wish you could see our ward. If you want to see how the Gospel changes lives you just look at all the members and you can see a difference in them its crazy. I love just sitting on the Piano bench and looking at all the families and listen to their testimonies. There is something special in those fast and testimony meetings which shows my how powerful my calling is and how important the message I get to share!!!! 

I also have to tell you about one more family which I just have to tell you are one of the most peculiar family I have ever met! In such a good way! I am going to have a hard time explaining them but they just shine!!! there are 3 girls and 1 boy who is 18! We met them for the first time this week and have taught them twice now! The first lesson we left a Book of Mormon and when we came back they ready all about the introduction and the 3 witnesses and the Testimony of Joseph Smith. All of them! Even the little 9 year old. They are all little geniuses! They are going to progress really fast! Watch out for them in the coming weeks.:) The Cortillio family!!!

So this week was holy week here in the Philippines. If you remember Elder Adams letters they have some crazy traditions. Where they actually crucify people and other things. Its more of a culture thing than anything! I love explaining to people about the significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and why we don't have a cross on our church! Because Jesus Christ is alive and leading his church today and is there when we are experiencing a trial. Because he felt everything and know how to help us because he know what if feels like. (Alma 7:11-12) I like the last sentence of verse 12!

This was one of the best weeks of my mission! Felt the spirit more than ever! Its funny I have been sharing the same message for 8 months now and you would think that eventually you would stop feeling the spirit sometimes when you teach because you are so used to saying the same thing over and over. But this week I realized its pretty crazy that even though you say the same thing over and over if you are worthy the spirit will testify again and again that your words are true! 

I am jealous that you have already watched conference that will be this Saturday and Sunday for me. So hopefully there are no spoilers in your letters!!! I love you all so so so much. I love my family more than anything. Mom Dad Ben Ryker Brooklyn Easton, and Lexi! You are all very special to me and I just want to thank you for all you have done for me and our wonderful relationship! I love my mission and I love this work. It may be small but when you see the lives that have been blessed from this work you can see how powerful it is!

Love you all!

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

March 31st Letter

Did not get a group email from Elder Craythorne this week.  Who knows what happened.  Here are a few lines from the letter he wrote to me as well as some pictures.

Erik

So I spent another two days in Iloilo for Zone Leader meetings. Not a big fan of that but nothing I can do about it!  Then went on splits one other day. I will be honest I don't work in my area as much as I would like. I am doing my best to keep my area going and it is doing really good. There are some sweet sweet investigators. Just cant go back to them as much as I want or I need. It's not because of lack of effort that's for sure. My area should change next transfer because the group is doing so good.  Lots of investigators coming to church there!  And we sealed the deal with an apartment and meeting house!!! So cool! So that's the challenge in this area. More than just teaching.

Just have gotten so lucky with companions and areas. Very very blessed. O ya totally caught some fish and cooked them this morning. Had to scratch the itch I guess!!!!

Love,

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

March 23 2015

Hello everyone!!!! Just got done reading all the amazing emails from all my brothers and sisters and wow are they amazing. How in the world did I get so lucky. Every single one of them are doing great things and couldn't be more proud of them!!!

Of course I had another great week. There is no such thing as a bad week. There might be some bad minuets or hours but never a whole week;) Haha. This week was special because we went to a place that has never had missionaries before and looked for a house where the missionaries could live and also hold church on Sundays! They are called groups and I have only heard about that here. Its just a place where members can go to church and so investigators can attend church so its not so far away. In order to strengthen the members so we can start a branch pretty cool. So here the Bishop is over everything there. He runs both meetings. The group is like 45 min away so that is a huge sacrifice for the bishop but he is as solid as they come and is really a huge part in the progression of the church here!  So cool! The story of how we found the perfect apartment is a story of its own that I will tell when I get back;)

So remember that couple that I met at the bakery and was super excited for. It turns out their family is not super excited about what they are doing. And here a 24 year old man needs his signature of his parents in order to get married. So that's their update and our challenge with them. They are still great and we can overcome that:) We actually didn't go to our ward this week so we are not sure who came to church:/ So I don't have an update on that. We went with the bishop to make sure the meetinghouse we found is OK! We had some great success trackting this week. My comp is just a loving loving guy. Super easy to be his companion. I have got so lucky when it comes to companions!

So this morning we went through some crazy caves and I found my first monkey! So I will send those pictures next week! You will be jealous:) So ya still just loving this. My friend sent me this quote this week for just some reason I really liked. "Just keep on keeping on everyday matters!" Not really sure why I like it but just keep on doing whats right and some day that will be who you are!

love you all so so much!

love,

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne

Well I picked the wrong computer this week and can't send any pictures.......but boy do I have cool pictures for you next week:)

March 16th Letter

Kamusta kamo sa Utah???

namit gid ang linggo namon diri kag namit namit gid ang lugar namon diri sa Roxas! Another week in Roxas! LOVE IT! Well for the announcements this week. I got 3 new missionaries in our Apartment and I got a new Companion. Elder Dacutan,  he is from Bacolod so Ilongo is actually his Native Language! So I am very lucky to be with him. I can learn a lot from him. Another missionary in our Apartment is Elder Kellerstrass from..... Hooper, Utah. He actually lives in Carol Craythorne's ward! So that's a lot of fun! I have never met him before but he lives very close to us!

Well its March Madness and I hope all your brackets are surviving. But here in the mission its a lot like March Madness. There are always those sleepers and there are always those big let down and upsets. Just all part of missionary work! MARCH MADNESS!!!! Always on your toes. That couple that lives far away that I talked about a few weeks ago. They haven't been coming to church and we are not sure why. This week we will find out!

Blandina Alajandro got Baptized this week! She is a very sweet lady who has such a strong testimony! She actually texted us the morning of her baptism and told her she was sick and couldn't come today! She lives 1 hour away from the church so its pretty far. We told her it was her choice. She said she was wondering why on her special day of her baptism she would feel sick like this. So she just prayed and asked God if this is something that she really needed to do and that if this church is really true that she would feel better. And guess what she called us and tears and said she is set and ready to go and her baptism was a great spiritual day!!!

Another transfer down and I am so excited to be with this companion. I have got so so so lucky with awesome companions. And having natives as your companions is such an advantage. So everything is just working out and I have learned a lot from them. Their testimonies are so strong. Less than a month to General Conference! So excited!

Thanks again for all of your emails. Never once has any of you missed a week. That means a lot! You guys are so awesome! Well I am still loving everyday of my mission! This is such an amazing opportunity and I am just want to take advantage of all of it!

Love,

Elder Jackson Erik Craythorne