Hearing the music!!‏

Wow. What. A. Week.

Seriously the most spiritual of my mission. Well, at least that I can remember. 

We had MLC and received some of the most powerful, spirit packed trainings ever. One of them was all on the atonement and how we as missionaries MUST be accessing it everyday in order to be qualified to teach the gospel with the spirit. It also brings the power and joy into this work, and also into our individual lives! What an incredible gift our Savior has given us.

After MLC we turn around and give the same trainings at ZTC to the rest of our zones. I got to give the training on the power of the atonement in missionary work, and it was so neat to be able to receive revelation on how to present it, and specifically on who Heavenly Father wanted me to choose to bear their testimonies about this magnificent gift. I felt very strongly to pick a certain Elder and a certain Sister. After I asked them to share their testimonies, each of them came up to me and said that they knew Heavenly Father had inspired me to pick them, and that it was a sign to them as well that God is very aware of them. I KNOW that revelation is real, and that we must receive it everyday in order to do exactly what God wants us to do here. What a privilege it is to communicate with our supreme creator and to receive guidance in our day to day lives in order to reach our divine potential. I LOVE IT!

We also had a super neat experience on Thursday. We had planned a district blitz, and our whole district, along with 8 members, came together to work in our ward areas to visit as many people as possible. We had written up a bunch of lists of names that we had selected for each companionship to visit. Just a couple hours before the blitz we looked in the binder to pull out the lists to make sure  everything was ready. However, 3 of the lists seemed to be missing! We went into panic mode. After we had searched the car, we decided to drive back home and retrace our steps. As we walked up the side walk to our apartment, I looked on the ground to my right and found the 3 lists rolled up at the base of a small bush. They must have fallen out of the binder as we were walking to our car. They had been sprinkled on by the sprinkler, but we could still read them perfectly! The blitz was amazing and we found 5 new people to teach and got around 15 return appointments, from the combined efforts of the missionaries and ward members. It. was. amazing. I know Heavenly Father protected those papers so we could visit His sons and daughters who were ready to hear the message of the restored gospel!! 

And lastly, GENERAL CONFERENCE! Man. It was amazing. I left on such a spiritual high, and it's still with me :) I loved how much the prophet and apostles talked about families, and Heavenly Father's great plan of happiness, that is of course centered on our beloved Savior JEsus Christ and His atonement. However, to feel the true joy from the gospel, and to have the desire to live the teachings, we must hear the music! Then dance to the beat :) Otherwise, it's awkward, and no fun! 

This gospel=joy. Because God loves each of us. So go. Be happy this week! And LIVE what you  LOVE. Then SHARE it with others :)

Sister Kraus

pics. matching Easter shirts!

we love to match! MLC=revelation station

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 

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..

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! :)