SNOWWW..well almost.‏

Hello!

Man starting this email is like the hardest part of my week.. 

So much happens and it's impossible to summarize it into one email. 

I guess to start off, I'll mention the crazy weather we woke up to! SNOWW.....In the mountains...ha. But it's a whopping 40 degrees outside and it's been drizzling a bit. I'll take whatever winter weather I can get before summer comes around. I'm sure everywhere else in the country got dumped on with snow.. lucky ducks!

Well it's been another roller coaster week.. but i'm starting to realize this is the norm for the mission..kind of a constant whiplash effect. People we're teaching will be doing super great, reading the scriptures a lot, recognizing the spirit as they pray, coming to church, then BAM. Satan just hits them. the stupid guy never sleeps. BUT, neither does our Heavenly Father, or Savior Jesus Christ. We just need to know which voices to listen to. It's so hard in this world to know.. especially when we are constantly going from one thing to the next. Sometimes I think we just go throughout our day feeling a bit numb. I know I have. That's when we need to take a minute to sit back, think about the eternal perspective and consequences of what we're doing, and seek His guidance. We must do the seeking!

Many of our investigators are still doing great though! Roger is getting baptized this week! He has such a cool story, and was actually introduced to the church in the 70s! (he worked for the company that sold/worked on missionary cars). We've been officially teaching him for a couple months, and let me tell you.. this man has incredible faith!! We taught him about the Word of Wisdom and he immediately quit drinking iced tea.. which he has been drinking a gallon of every day for the past 40 years! It made  me think of the scripture "and they straightway left their nets, and followed Him." Roger's greatest desire is to follow his Savior, and it has been incredible seeing him make the changes in his life to do so, without even questioning. He knows the church is true, because he has read and prayed about the Book of Mormon. With that knowledge, he isn't letting anything get in his way. He is an incredible example to me!

Tiffany and James are also doing really great! Tiff has finished the Book of Mormon and they are reading the New Testament and Pearl of Great Price together. They are the cutest and most hilarious little couple ever. I love them like family! We actually got permission to go watch Meet the Mormons with them tonight for an FHE. Woohoo! They're just waiting on a few things until they can be baptized as well. They are also so excited to be sealed in the temple someday!

We've found 7 new people to teach this week as well, and one of them is in training to become a youth pastor. We had a neat little discussion out on his porch the other day (a quick prayer turned into 30 mins). He is very passionate about the gospel and the teachings in the bible, so we are excited to come back and talk to him more about the fullness of the gospel that is found in the Book of Mormon. He has the cutest little family as well :) I have a good feeling about them. 

And last but not least, we were out teaching with our new member Flora, and were walking around in the neighborhood where she used to live. She suggested we go knock on the door of her old house and see if they would be interested.. so we did! Andddd, a sweet young mom named Kari opens the door and invites us in to share a prayer and scripture with her family. She had lots of questions, and was eager to have us come back to teach them more. The spirit was so strong, and Flora was beaming as we left. She was so inspired! 

Overall, it was a great week! I'm just learning to love the really good things, and not get discouraged by the bad..I'm thinking it'll be a good lesson to take with me for my life! Also, I read Alma 26 today.. and shoot dang Ammon loved being a missionary! and he is so spot on! There really is nothing greater, and nothing that could bring as much happiness and joy into our lives. verses 35-36 specifically are quite amazing. I love this great work, I love my Savior and Heavenly Father, and I love being a missionary :)

Have a sweet week! Go invite someone random to church!

Sister Kraus

pic. 1. Snow

pic 2. We street contacted this random guy who is a garage sellologist...apparently thats a thing...so he had 2 american flags he had picked up that he was trying to get rid of. He gave them to us and said we had to walk the streets with the flag on our backs...super random! we did it to the car...then thought we looked too much like evil kinevil..