Keith's baptism!‏

HEy hey hEy!

This week was awesome!

Here are some of the highlights:

Tuesday: I went on an exchange with one of our Spanish sisters and attempted to learn Spanish in a day. I got down some key phrases to use in street contacts, (though I had to keep my eyes pretty glued to my cheat sheet..) but by the end of the day, I was able to understand quite a bit of what was being said! The gift of tongues is real!! We found 2 families of 4 to teach and it was incredible to see how even though I didn't really understand everything, the spirit still felt the same and testified of the truth in such a powerful way! 

Wednesday: Had some powerful lessons, especially one with an older man whose wife is a member. We started going through the Articles of Faith to see if he had an concerns about those. We only had time to talk about the first three, but he is really starting to understand how the atonement works, and why baptism is so important. He even said tha he knew he would be baptized in our church eventually, he just wants to be completely sure that he knows it's all true. But he comes to church every week and loves it! After the lessons, his wife turned to us and said she wanted to badly for them to be able to be sealed in the temple for time and all eternity some day. We were able to testify that that day would come! The spirit was so strong!

We also go to talk to three girls in the ward (for Young Womens) who are wanting to go on missions about how to prepare now and what kinds of things to expect on a mission. It was super cool and they all left so excited to serve! Thank goodness, because Sisters are much better then Elders.. we need all we can get! haha. JK. but not really....;)

Thursday: We had interviews with President Snow and his lovely wife. Man I love them so much! And after talking to them, I want to be so much better. We also had dinner with the coolest family ever: The Montandons! 

Friday: Got to go to the temple with Sister Herman and her recent convert who was going through for the first time! It was one of the coolest experiences I've had at the temple and I was able to receive so many answers to questions I've been having. It was amazing! The Spirit in the temple is unlike anything else. I can't wait to get to go more then once every 3 month!

Saturday: Keith got baptized!!!! Wooohooo!! He is seriously going to be a bishop some day. He was so excited and was practically glowing. He has progressed so much and said he looking forward to continually progressing and serving in the church. 

We also got to listen to the Women's broadcast! Wowww it was amazing. Our leaders are so inspired and I know the messages shared were exactly what God wanted the women of the church to know. I particularly loved President Eyring's talk about how we must have love and compassion for all of our brothers and sisters all over the world. This is what it means to fulfill our baptismal covenants :)

Sister Herman and I got the opportunity to bear our testimonies on sunday when our mission president and his wife spoke. It was so neat and they brought an incredible spirit :) I love them!

Welp, i'm out of time. Have an amazing week!

sister Kraus

"Instruments in His hands"‏

Alright, this has to be super short, because I've got to figure out what classes to sign up for school in the Fall. Yikes. Talk about freaky.

But this week was great!!

We found 10 new people to teach, and 5 of them are the coolest kids ever.

We went to talk to Kaleeah's dad (who has been coming to church with her friend and wants to be baptized) and ask him if he was ok with us teaching her and her brother Josh. He said yes of course, though he may have been a bit under the influence of a green plant. Anyways, we went inside to find Kaleeah and Josh and they were in the middle of a jam session! Kaleeah is 12 and Josh is 9 (seriously looks like a miniature Bob Marley..  long dreads and all). I happened to have my violin in the car, so we decided to turn it into a teaching moment....andddd I really wanted to play with these little kid prodigys. So I started playing "Nearer My God to Thee" and Kaleeah immediately threw down a sick beat on the drums, Josh started improving on the keyboard, and their friend Todd followed us with the bass. It was sooooo cool!  Afterwards, we went in their kitchen where 3 other kids were, and taught them about Jesus Christ and His gospel. They had some of the most sincere, and brilliant questions I've ever heard, and they all want to learn more and be baptized. Now we just have to get their dads on board..... that'll be the tricky part. 

Also, our investigator Keith is doing super great!! He loves church and he is so excited for his baptismal date on March 28th. We taught him about the word of wisdom this week and he was like, "yeahh, that all makes sense. I already live that right now!" Talk about elect. 

And lastly, Sister Herman and I were asked to speak in church in our Mountain Shadows ward, and my topic was on What I do when I gain faith in Christ. It was so neat to study and prepare for. So I invite you all to think about what you do when you gain faith in Christ this week. :) My thoughts ended up turning to Moroni 7:41-45. Such incredible scriptures!! 

Love you all and have a sweet week!

Sister Kraus

pics. Being an "instrument" in His hands is such a blessing :)

New everything!‏

hey hey!

Ok, new area, new companion, 2 new wards makes for a pretty crazy week!

Saying good bye to all my favorite people ever in Anthem was pretty hard, but it's amazing how Heavenly Father always helps me open my heart again and love the people here as well. It usually just takes about a week or two.. 

I'm here with Sister Herman now (who came out with me) in North Las Vegas and WOW is it a little different then Anthem. But it's great :) Lots of people outside to talk to, and lots of people looking for relief  in their lives. Good thing the gospel can literally fix ALL of their problems! The tricky part is getting them to believe that. 

So i'll just touch real quickly on the highlights of the week. There were ALOT! First off, we had a baptism on Saturday of a super sweet girl named Kineesha. It was so neat to hear about how much the gospel has changed her life and how happy she is now compared to a year ago. She was walking on the street one day when a member of our congregation (sister Gubler) saw her and felt like she needed to pull over and help her. She did, and got to know Kineesha a little bit and felt like she should offer up a room in her home to her. So she did! And Kineesha started coming to church with her, loved it, wanted to take missionary lessons, and as of Saturday, is a member of Christ's true church on the earth. How amazing is that??

Sunday was a bit mind blowing as I tried to meet and remember as many names/faces of the two new wards as I could. I think about 5 of them stuck.. but anyways, the most incredible family in our Craig Ranch ward (the Montandons) offered to give me a ride to a baptism in Kingman Sunday night! Helen and her son Gavin were getting baptized, after about a 2 year journey with the church. Helen and Gary were married on last Sunday, Gavin turned 8 on Friday, and they were both baptized together. Talk about an amazing experience. The spirit was soo strong and the whole chapel was full of friends and ward members to support their family. Brother Kahananui also asked me to bring my fiddle to accompany him as he sang "Savior, Redeemer." His voice is absolutely beautiful and once again the spirit was just overpowering. I love this gospel. It is just ridiculously true. 

We also had some fun street contacting experiences this week. We ran into a whole mariachi band that was going to perform for a party. One of the band members had a violin with her and said I could play it. Woot woot. Best street contact ever.

We also met this big Polynesian man with the cutest little baby girl ever. The man's name is Big Baby, and as we talked with him a bit more, he opened up and said he was actually a member of the church, had fallen a way a bit, but now was wanting to come back and be a good father to his kids. We shared a scripture with him and offered to say a prayer in his home with him as well. He started to get emotional as the spirit touched his heart, so it was a bit awkward for me as I was praying to say, and please bless this.....big baby......and his family..etc. haha. it was neat experience though and I know Heavenly Father definitely guided us to him!

And we also found 4 super solid new people to teach. One is a super cool lady named Sherry who totally wants to join the church, once she knows it's true of course. But she felt the spirit so strong and is pretty much already convinced. Wow. I love the spirit. It is evidence of Heavenly Father's love for us! It's everywhere :)

Try to do something every day that helps you feel the spirit more strongly! It's what brings us joy :)

Love you all and have a great week!

Sis Kraus

Temple and a baptism!‏

Hello!

Yet another amazing week has gone by. And when I say amazing, I really mean AMAZING. 

I'm short on time so i'll just hit the highlights!

First. We got to go to the temple with Tawny! She was just baptized 6 weeks ago, but was so excited about everything that she jumped right into family history. She prepared her mother in laws named, as well as her two grandmas! We carpooled up to the temple with 2 other ladies from our ward and we all got to go down around the baptismal font with her. She was overcome with emotion and the spirit was seriously tangible as she did that first baptism for her mother in law. Her husband Aaron isn't too interested in the church right now, but we all got an undeniable feeling that she was there with us and was going to be working on Aaron from the other side of the veil. Tawny was seriously glowing when we left. I love the temple and the work that we can do for our ancestors to give them the opportunity to accept the gospel! 

When we were walking around the temple we saw a guy walking up the sidewalk to the temple with his bike. It was pretty clear that he wasn't familiar with the church or the temple, so we went over to talk with him. He was just 18 years old, but had seen the temple several times before and wanted to see what it was like up close. We told him a little bit about it, and told him he could walk around and just sit and feel the spirit. He was so excited to be there, and eagerly accepted our invitation to have missionaries come by and share more with him! He has been looking for a church since he moved there. What a miracle!! The two members with us were so blown away at how easy and fun missionary work is! :)

Also, Roger got baptized on Saturday!!! He is incredible. Oh man. what a blessing it was to teach him! He's a handy man for his profession, and he had been up painting from 5 am-2pm and his baptism was 4. He was a bit overwhelmed, but once he got his baptism jumpsuit on and sat down and listened to the prelude music, he said he felt so at peace. His baptism went soo smoothly and the spirit was so strong. Sunday when he was called to go up to the front of the congregation, he buttoned his suit, stood up so proudly and had a big grin on his face. My heart could have exploded with joy. What a special guy who had been prepared 45 years ago to receive the gospel! And what a privilege it was to be a part of it :)

Lots of other great things happened this week, but nothing to measure up to the first 2 experiences! Also, I've got some packing to do. I've been transferred to North Las Vegas with Sister Herman!! It'll be quite the change from Henderson.. but I can not wait!! Though, i'm definitely going to miss the Inspirada ward. These people seriously are the salt of the earth. 

Love you all! Hope you're getting lots of beautiful, white, fluffy snow. 

Sister Kraus

pics. self explanatory