How deep the Father's love is for us‏!

Man oh man, the mission is such a roller coaster sometimes! 

You know those times where you just sit and think and ponder on a bunch of things you already knew, but you come to understand and realize them in a completely different way that seems to blow your mind? Well today is one of those days. Heavenly Father's love for us is always there, and I've always known it was there, but I've had some really neat "ah ha" moments lately when I've really come to understand and realize how deep it is for each of us. Sorry if that doesn't make sense, I'm struggling putting my thoughts into words right now.. but yeah. Basically, if you're struggling with something, or you're confused about what to do, or where your life is taking you, just take a minute to breathe, look around at God's creations, say a prayer, and just ponder. Feel the peace that the knowledge of the Plan of Happiness brings to each of us. Feel the peace that comes from a simple line in the scriptures, and feel the peace that comes as you talk with your Father in Heaven through a sincere, heart felt prayer. These are the things that matter most in life. 

Welp, now that I got that off my chest.. I will do my best to touch on the highlights of the week!

Our investigators are doing so good!!! They truly are the elect. 

We've started teaching a 17 year old boy named Tyler who is just on fire with the gospel. He is already to 3 Nephi in the Book of Mormon and said his favorite passage is chapter 11 verse 14. He really understands the scriptures and is so excited to be baptized on March 14th! He came to the Why I Believe fireside last night and loved it! What a special kid who has prepared himself throughout his life to accept the fullness of the gospel at such a crucial time in his life. It's a blessing getting to teach him :)

Roger is still doing great as well and came to church for the second time! He is also excited to be baptized here in a couple weeks! 

Man, I hate having time restrictions, but I about out of time for the week! But pretty much this area has been exploding lately and it's so exciting to be a part of it! Heavenly Father never ceases to amaze me. I know He lives. I know He is intimately aware of each and everything one of us, and every thing that we go through. I know that my Savior lives and wants us to enjoy life! The way we do this is by following His example and accessing His atonement every chance we get. We are so blessed :)

Have an incredible week!

Sis Kraus

ps. We rode bikes this week and got to talk to 33 people in 1 day! Man is the weather beautiful out here...Bracing myself for the summer though.

pic. Taught Tawny and her 2 boys with the Bradshaw kids (4 boys in total) and Tawny is pregnant with a boy... 8 future missionaries in the making! :)

Christmas everyday!‏

Hello! 

My mind just feels like mush today. The past week feels like a month of events have happened, but it feels like it only lasted 2 days. The mission does weird things to your brain...

But, it was a great week like always!

I really gained an even firmer testimony of prayer and fasting. Over the past couple weeks Sister Hill and I weren't having much luck in finding new people to teach. When you don't find new people to teach, missionary work pretty much comes to a stand still. We decided to fast on Thursday night, and also had the opportunity to go to the temple with a recent convert in our ward named Bernie. We broke our fast on Friday and found 4 new people to teach that night! This is after a week and a half of finding no one. Saturday we found 2 more, and found another on Sunday. Heavenly Father is way too good to us! I know He is aware of each of our circumstances and is just waiting to pour out blessings upon us, as we make an effort to ask for them. 

On Saturday I also got to go on an exchange with Sister Hirsch! My MTC companion!!! It was such neat experience, especially since we have both been out for about a year now... shoot dang time flies. We found the cutest little family to teach as well! They invited us in to share a scripture and prayer with them, but it turned into a 45 minute lesson about the Restoration of Christ's gospel. Their eyes lit up several times as we explained where the Book of Mormon came from, and how the church has grown and truly is the Lord's kingdom here on the earth, preparing us for the Second Coming. Oh wow, they're elect! We also taught Roger that evening about the Plan of Salvation, as well as the importance of keeping the Sabbath Day holy.. (he's a little hesitant to come to church). We read Exodus 31 with him... probably a bit intense.. but it got the point across and he finally came to church! He loved it :)

Speaking of church miracles, Mais and her 2 kids came to church as well, though Mais's little 6 year old girl threw up in the car on the way over :/ They had already driven 20 minutes over though, and Mais was determined to check it out, so we cleaned her up a bit, and they ended up staying for about an hour and also loved it. Now that's dedication! Poor Nicolette was such a trooper.

We've also been teaching Tawny's two boys and wow are they incredible. Aaron is 10 and Zion is 8, and their prayers and comments during lessons are unlike anything I've ever heard. When they pray, they know that they are speaking to God. They know that they can get an answer as well, and they know what the spirit feels like to them. Zion said as he was reading in the Book of Mormon, he found an answer in a simple verse that talks about increasing faith in Christ and repenting when we do. He knows that baptism is the next step for him. He also asked if he could bring his Book of Mormon to school because it's getting to a really interesting part! Aaron is having similar experiences and they are both so excited to be baptized and promise to Heavenly Father that they will follow in Christ's footsteps. Teaching them is like Christmas morning every day!

And last but not least, we had a zone conference on Thursday and President Snow gave us an incredible training about our own personal growth and eternal progression. Sometimes as humans, we get so focused on the little ups and downs of life, the trials and tribulations, that we forget why were are here and who we are striving to become like. We came to earth to be tested! We understood our purpose before we came, and we accepted the fact that it would be terribly hard at times. I have seen people go through some of the hardest trials I've ever heard of out here on my mission. The only thing to bring them some sort of peace and relief is the knowledge of who we are, WHOSE we are, and where we are going after this life. We are here to become like our Savior, to gain experiences that will help us recognize the divinity inside of each of us. Once we know this, and understand this, we can make it through anything. And not just make it through, but ENJOY every minute of this life. 2 Nephi 2:25. Men are that they might have JOY :)

So go and have a joyful week! And help others do the same :) 

ps. Apparently I sleep talk every night about the importance of being an instrument in God's hands.. my poor companion..

Sister Kraus

pic1. Our little friend Boe wanted to come be a missionary with his momma.. he soon realized that missionary work is exhausting!

pic.2. Exchange with Sister Hirsch! Sorry it's upside down..computer wouldn't let me rotate it..

I don't know what to put here this week.‏

Hello!

And I can hardly believe another week has gone by. Make it stop! I love this work more than words can describe.

We had another sweet week! I'm short on time, so I'll do my best to hit the highlights!

First off... SETH AND SKYLAR ARE ENGAGED! Didn't see that one coming... Seth proposed to her a few days ago and they want to be married in the temple when that time comes! He's super excited to be baptized so he can prepared to enter into the temple! He just gets it. We taught him the word of wisdom/law of chastity last lesson and he was like, "yeah i'll live it.. I already have been my whole life." Woooot woot! What a blessing. Him and Skylar are my favorite :)

We also had a mission leadership training and Zone training council this week, with 2 exchanges in the middle of those.. so it's been a bit of a hectic week to say the least. But I learned a ton about how to be a better missionary! And how to help the sisters and people we're teaching. I like to call the meetings REVELATION STATION. 

Ok the computer is beeping at me like it's about to explode. Soo this is super short.. sorry!

Have a sweet week and talk with people at the gas station about the gospel! Its super fun!

Love ya!

Sister Kraus

ps. Our investigator Tiffany finished the Book of Mormon!! 

pics. best text message ever.

My new comp Sister Hill and I. 

hastening the work!‏

Woohoo, yet another marvelous week has gone by. 

Sister Hill and I are working great together and she is such a fireball missionary! She also speaks fluent Spanish so I've been working on my Spanish street contacting skills as of lately. 

Anddd as I mentioned last week.. Tawny got baptized on Monday night! It was one of the most beautiful, spirit filled baptisms I've ever been to. Before she entered into the font she just hugged us and cried. She was so excited to finally be able to fully follow the Savior as she had been preparing to do over the last 14 months. She is such an incredibly strong woman and definitely had to make a huge leap of faith, but she is doing great and has really noticed a difference this past week having the spirit with her constantly! Her family was all there and is very supportive! Her boys both want to go on missions some day as well :) 

Tiffany and James are also doing great and are getting closer and closer to being able to be baptized! Tiffany is in 3 Nephi now and has only been reading the Book of Mormon for 2 months. I'm taking notes from her!

Seth is also doing great! We had a lesson with him this Sunday and taught him and the Buchannon family about the Plan of Salvation. There is nothing as cool as seeing someone's face light up as they feel the spirit testify that this really is Heavenly Father's plan for the happiness of all of His children. Seth is also reading the Book of Mormon like a champ and is almost in Jacob! He started like a week ago.. these people are so prepared!! I love being a missionary because we get to learn from those we teach just as much as those we teach learn from us. What a blessing :)

We have still been teaching Mais (from Pakistan) and she is really starting to progress! Her two kids run to the door and get all excited anytime we come over :) She is loving learning more about the gospel and said she really feels satisfied after our visits. She mentioned that nothing in life can bring us as much satisfaction as learning about the Savior and His teachings. She is so right! 

We also were able to see 2 people accept a baptismal date this week! Rodger, who had been taught by missionaries about a year ago, who is now super excited to get back into it and come to church! He's in Alma in his reading in the Book of Mormon. These people seriously blow my mind. Also, Sophie, a little 9 year old whose mom has been starting to come back to church. She has a Catholic father, but decided she really loves church with her mom and wants to pray and know if "Heavenly Father is Mormon." Little kids are so cute and so fun to teach! 

And last but not least, we had stake conference this weekend! Elder FROST of the quorum of the 70 came with his sweet wife, and our mission president and his wife (Elder and Sister SNOW), so that was kind of fun! They talked a lot about member missionary work and having a family mission plan! Missionary work is changing from only 88,000 missionaries in the world, to 15 million missionaries! Can you imagine??? We can literally change the world if everyone invited/helped 1 friend come closer to Christ each month. So that is my challenge for you :) Prayerfully select someone you know and invite them to either take lessons from the missionaries, come to church, or simply just share your testimony with them! The work of Salvation is hastening and we ALL must be a part of it!

Love ya lots! 

Have a great week.

Sister Kraus

pic 1. Tawny and her family at her baptism!

pic 2. Sister Robbinson and I! I met her in the Nauvoo temple before my mission.. crazy small world!

Tawny's getting baptized!‏

Woohoo. Annnd it's Monday again. I feel like my whole week is just one really long day.. it's super crazy. Welp this week was ridiculously amazing..We had transfer though, which is super sad... I'm staying in Anthem and I'll have Sister Hill, and Sister Mayfield is leaving me and going to Lake Havasu!.. crazy. I'm going to miss that girl like nobodies business!

We had 2 super huge miracles I wanted to start with!

First off.... TAWNY IS GETTING BAPTIZED TONIGHT! She decided on Thursday that she knew it's what she needs to do to show her faith and be obedient to her Heavenly Father, so she set herself to be baptized on Monday...today! We were seriously speechless. She's been taking lessons for over a year and has had tons of good questions and a sincere desire to know the truth. As she found out the Book of Mormon was true about a month ago, she decided that she couldn't wait any longer and needed to be the good example to her husband and family. She is such an incredible lady and it has been an absolute honor getting to teach her and help her recognize the spirit and come to know the truth. Pics to come next week :) Also.. in her Book of Mormon reading, she is on track to read Mosiah 18 today!!! Where it specifically tells us we promise to do when we are baptized and the huge blessings that we receive as we take action on our faith. What a miracle! She was in amazement when she discovered that a couple days ago (when she was in Mosiah 16). Heavenly Father truly does know us and gives us answers to our prayers. 

Second miracle.. At the "Why I Believe" fireside last night, some sister missionaries came up to me and told me there was someone at the fireside who wanted to talk to me. They brought me over to meet a man named Chris who I had taught 1 lesson to in my first area in Paradise! If you remember the experience I wrote about 6 months ago when we taught a group of 6 guys who had just recently got of jail/were on probation.... well Chris was one of those guys! We thought that they just met with us to meet girls/flirt (which we later found out that was the motive of the other 5 guys) but Chris had felt something during our lesson and helped him know that he should investigate further. He never told us, and he ended up moving to Boulder City, where he met other missionaries, and eventually moved back to Vegas and met with missionaries again! Well long story short, he'll be getting baptized in March! I could hardly believe it. It was a testimony builder to me that we should give everyone a chance to learn about the gospel.. even people we think aren't ready or are scary felons! ha. But seriously, it was an incredible experience. The Church is so true!!!

And last but not least, Sister Mayfield got a slight concussion from morning sports on Tuesday so we ended up having to go to the ER that night to check it out. No worries, she was completely fine! BUT, I know we were in that ER room for a reason.. we ended up talking to this Hispanic guy who had dried blood all over his hands (minor detail) for a few minutes and told him that we're missionaries and what not. He talked with us for a minute in broken English, then all of a sudden whipped out his temple recommend! He was a member just trying to trick us! haha, but his friend next to him was not, so we gave him the Restoration pamphlet to read through and talked to him a little about it. He read it, then about an hour later, they sat back down and we gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet to read. He was super excited and loved learning about the gospel! Ha it was definitely a miracle. People are searching for the truth all over the place! Especially in the ER waiting room.

And last thing for realsies, we taught Skylar's boyfriend Seth yesterday and he loved it!! He's already been reading the Book of Mormon and wants to be baptized when he knows it's true! We're super excited for him :)

And spiritual thought for the week:

Charity is 3-D!

The pure love for Christ.

The pure love from Christ.

The pure love like Christ.

have a great week!

Sister Kraus

pic 1: Chris, his son and I at the Why I Believe! His son wants to go on a mission some day!

pic 2: we went to the whirly mines last P-day! It was sweet.. and we wore.. jeans.. 

Exchanges upon exchanges!‏

Hello!

Another great week has gone by! And it's already week 6 of the transfer.. which means transfers are next week.. dun dun dun. Definitely one of the scariest parts of being a missionary..

I went on 3 exchanges this week and saw SO many miracles. i'm short on time unfortunately (we're going to the whirly mine today for a tour! Should be pretty fun) so i'll summarize as best as I can.

Tuesday with Sister Stinnett we were able to find a little family of 4 and had a prayer in their home. They were so excited for us to be there and felt the spirit so strongly! It was amazing to see how the spirit touched their hearts and made them eager to learn more. We also taught another little family of 6 and they all agreed to be baptized! What a miracle!

On Thursday I went on an exchange with Sister Tu and we found a few new people to teach as well! Also, I held a huge snake and about peed my pants. 

Saturday I went on exchanges with Sister Defreitas in my area and we once again were able to find more people that area excited to learn more about the gospel! We felt prompted to knock on a potentials door named Ashley and Alex. They invited us in to share a scripture and a prayer with them and they invited us back to share more as well! Then right afterwards we talked with a guy named Chris who invited us in to talk with him and his wife a little more. Heavenly Father is preparing people to receive the message of the restoration of Christ's gospel everywhere we go! We just need to open our mouths and share it and allow the spirit to testify. 

Sunday we were able to talk with a 20 year member of our congregation who wants us to teach her boyfriend! And another girl in our ward also wants us to teach her boyfriend and friend! What a blessing :) 

Welp, i'm out of time, but I love love love being a missionary! Also, I love Mosiah 2-3. If you haven't read it lately.. read it! So amazing :) I know this is Christ's church here on the earth. We need to share it with everyone we know!

Love you all!

Sister Kraus

Pic: baptism from last week!

scary snake.

2015 say what?!?‏

Ok, I'm having a freak out moment.. It's the year 2015. We're closer to 2030 then we are to 2000! Also, I've officially been out on my mission for 11 months. Talk about freaky. And the time just keeps going faster and faster..i'm starting to sound like my mother, but apparently this is a true principle of adulthood. 

Sooo, I'm not sure where to begin. This whole week was epic! It started last Monday with an amazing lesson with the Price family! We then taught a new investigator named Michael about the restoration and he had tons of good questions! He's expressed that he's already very strong in his church but that he would love to learn more! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how curiosity killed the cat, or in this case, how the church continues to grow! Those who seek the truth, will find it! :) Sorry that was a stretch.. it made sense in my mind. 

Tuesday we had a great lesson with our little 9 year old investigator Logan! We talked about our bodies being a temple, on the inside and out. I felt quite rebuked during our lesson for eating all the holiday goodies...but our diets start tomorrow :) We also found a new investigator named Hugh Tuesday evening. He stood there at the door in his boxers for a few minutes while deciding whether or not he wanted us to come back.. he made the right choice in the end, but the spirit definitely was encouraging us to get a move on. ohh Las Vegasans..

Wednesday was New years eve! We had a really neat District meeting in the day where our investigator Liz actually came to the meeting and was taught by other missionaries so they could gain practice, as well as other members who came to roleplay as well. It was super cool and Liz loved it! We had to be in at 6 because of the crazy shenanigans that go on down on the strip..so we got some Panda Express and retired to our apartments to write letters and drink sparkling cider for the rest of the evening.. well more like until 9:30 when we retired to bed. Best new years gift ever. SLEEP.

Thursday was great. Unfortunately my memory is failing me, but we did have a super good lesson with Tawny and Aaron! (Price). They're gaining a stronger and stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon everyday. It is such an incredible experience to literally see people's faces light up as the spirit testifies of the truth! Logan also had his baptismal interview Thursday evening and passed with flying colors! He had his mom quiz him the whole car ride over.. he is so ready and excited to be baptized!

Friday was nuts.. we were supposed to have exchanges with some other sisters, but Thursday evening my ears caught on fire.. at least they felt like it. By the time we got home, my back was completely covered in hives, and they were quickly spreading to the rest of my body. Didn't get much sleep that night to say the least.. and friday morning we made a quick trip to urgent care. The nurse who came in thought he was pretty funny.. he goes "Well I've got some good news and some bad news. Bad news: you have to get a shot in your rear end..Good news: you get to choose which side you want it on!" Ohh man. I'm sure my face was priceless.. Long story short, and 24 hrs later.. I am allergic to either walnuts/pecans.. and also trying to do missionary work while taking benodryl every 4 hours is no bueno. I was pretty much dead to the world. But I'm much better today! Our sweet mission president came and gave me a blessing and all is well :)

Saturday: Logan's baptism! The spirit was so strong and Logan was practically glowing! Ahh, teaching little kids is the best :) We also saw tons of miracles on Saturday and were able to find 3 new people to teach. One of them named Roger told us that he had been wanting to start taking lesson again and would really love to come to church!

And the last miracle happened this morning. Tawny got to Mosiah in her reading and decided she wants to name her baby (she's 3 months pregnant) Mosiah Valor Price! MVP. We about died! Love this family to death!

Have an amazing week! Love you all.

Sister Kraus