emaiI for 8/29/2011

Dear Dad and Mom,

So this past week for me was a little bit stressful and tiring and sad all at the same time. We started off the week pretty good. We had quite a few people to contact and visit, but as the days went on and the visits went by, one by one our investigators told us that they either weren't interested in our message anymore, they were comfortable with their religion and didn't want to change or just told us to stop coming by and by Friday we were without investigators to visit or people to teach.
I had a baptism on Saturday that I performed for Elder Daniel because the guy chose me to baptize him so that was a highlight of the week.
I had my last English class on Saturday also and I made them pancakes with maple syrup that I had promised them and I actually ended up making pancakes for almost everyone in the institute because as they smelled them cooking they came to find out what it was and wanted some. A lot of them were returned missionaries and remembered their American companions that would make pancakes for them on the mission, it was pretty funny.
So that was my week. What really left me feeling sad and worried was when Francisco and Iracema called us on Tuesday and simply thanked us for the visits and loved our lessons but they told us not to come back and visit anymore, without any type of explanation. That was like a punch in the gut to me because Irma Iracema was progressing so well. She wanted to be married in the Temple with Francisco and basically marked her baptism date for herself and was just that type of person that is an elect and then they called us and told us not to come back. I was really sad and tried to mark a visit just to talk and try and figure out what had happened but they just said no.
I don't know yet what the Lord is trying to do with me here in this area yet or what trials he is proving me with but whatever it is I will just keep going and let the Lord do the guiding.
I did get my package already and I loved everything that was in there THANK YOU very much Mom and Dad.
So to talk about my itinerary. I haven't heard anything else yet but I emailed President about it and I should know next week and I will let you all know as soon as possible.
I don't really have much else to say in this letter. Today I will be going to the zoo with 6 other Elders so that should be fun. I am out of things to say, but I love you all please keep praying for me so that this week is hopefully better than last, I will pray for you all and I love you.

Love your Son,

Elder Crittenden

email of 8/22/2011

Dear Dad and Mom,

This week a was a pretty busy week too, we have been teaching a new family, Irma Iracema, Irmao Francisco e euma their daughter. Francisco is a less active member but is really smart and has a strong testimony of the church. Iracema is also really interested in the church and basically invited herself to be baptized this past week it was amazing. Her husband Francisco told her a little bit about the temples and eternal marriage and she really wants to be married for eternity so we got to teach them about that. The only problem is that she has quite a few health problems and hasn't been able to visit the church yet. They were supposed to be there yesterday but couldn't make it for some reason unexplained, but they are an incredible family. I feel like they are going to be a really strong family here in the church once they get baptized.
It was really interesting also was that this week we had a lot of people come up and talk to us and wanted to know more about our church which is incredible because we are needing lots of new investigators to teach.
This past week we didn't really have anything extraordinary happen, it was a really relaxed week. I don't really have much to say. I can say that my package is in the office here and I will pick it up this week. I have a guy here in the ward that would like a little hymn book in English so if you all could see how much that is and let me know then I can buy it and send it to him when I get home.
I also am in need of a little bit of money, if you could put like 20 dollars into my account, in this area I have been saving quite a bit but we catch a lot of buses and sometimes it just doesn't cut it and I have been using my personal money so if you could put like 20 dollars in that should be enough.
I really don't have a lot to say. I am sorry. Send my love to Aunt Karen and I will always be praying for you all. I love you all very much.

Love your Son,

Elder Crittenden

e-mail of August 15th.

Dear Dad and Mom,

So like Danielly said, (from a conversation on a facebook chat) we had stake conference yesterday but I didn't see her. She saw me but she had to leave early so it didn't work out. But from what she has told me and the Elders from Satelite have told me, her mom still hasn't said anything and it seems like she won't change her mind, so Danielly will just have to wait until she turns 18 I guess. Her mom doesn't not allow her to go to the meetings, but she is wanting Danielly to go to the Catholic church and do, I don't know what it is in English but Primeiro comunhao (First Communion) at her cousins church and Danielly doesn't want to at all. So it will be interesting to see what happens. Just keep praying for her and her mom.
At stake conference yesterday I also got to see Armando and Rita, the family that Elder Moraes and I reactivated and baptized and some others that I helped reactivate and baptize. It was so good to see them and know that they are still strong in the church. I had tons of people from Satelite who talked with me and it was just good to meet up with them again.
Other than the conference, it was also Father's Day here in Brasil, so Dad "Happy Fathers Day". I wanted to call you and tell you that in person but here in a little bit I will be able to do that.
This past week was a really difficult one. Almost every single one of our appointments fell through and we had basically no luck in finding new investigators, until Saturday.
Saturday was a really fun day, for my English class I taught them the parts of the body and I taught them the song, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, and it was a blast to see all of them singing and dancing to that.
Then as we were heading back to our house after the English class we were stopped by a man and a women and the man is less active and the women wanted to know about the church. We invited them to go to Stake Conference but it didn't work out. We went and taught them last night and it was an amazing lesson. If you could think of an elect, it was this lady. She had gone to a Catholic church and school when she was a little girl and was baptized there because her parents are Catholic but she doesn't like the Catholic church because of the hypocrisy. She has investigated lots of other churches and was just looking for the right one. As we got done teaching her about Joseph Smith and the Restoration, we invited her to pray to know if it was true, and she just told us, I already know that its true, it's impossible to believe that the restoration didn't happen. It was an answer to my prayers, that the Lord blessed us with this miracle because a lot of our investigators are not progressing at all. I have been praying for a long time to have a miracle like this happen and the Lord answered.
I haven't got my package yet but I will try and pass by the mission office this week and see if it has arrived.
Send my love to Uncle Kevin and Aunt Karen and let them know that we are praying for them.
I don't really have much else to write about for this week, I love you all very much.

Love your Son,

Elder Crittenden

August 8 e-mail

Dear Dad and Mom,

Just to start off I am so excited for Kesha and Doug and the fact that there is going to be another Crittenden goober running around and I will be able to be there for his birth. In my English class on Saturday I had them talk about their families and like always I talked about mine and everyone was surprised at how many nieces and nephews and sisters and brothers that I have but it was a fun activity.
This past week we had a lot of miracles happen with us. We went and taught Jucienne that has the son with self esteem issues and is suicidal and she told us that she wanted to be baptized in our church. She went to church yesterday and unfortunately had to leave early, but we will get her baptized here in the next two weeks, hopefully with her husband and son too. We also started teaching another family in Campestre Leste and they are all really interested. Unfortunately they couldn't go to church, but this next week they should be there. It was really amazing. We just started teaching this one lady and more and more of her family started showing up and listened to our message and were asking really good questions and it was just amazing. They all were invited to pray and we will see this Wednesday how everything went and hopefully we will have some more baptisms.
Then yesterday at church we had another miracle happen, Irma Conceicao, Junior and Gabrielle, who is the entire family of Ismaeli went to church yesterday and all of them liked it. It was a really good testimony meeting at our chapel with lots of people wanting to bear their testimonies. It went past 7 o clock.
Tomorrow we have zone conference and it should be interesting because it will be my last one, which means that I will give my last testimony and the last time that I see some of my friends here from the mission. I am excited but at the same time sad. It's hard to explain but Dad or Anna or anyone who has already served a mission I think knows what I am feeling.
We got a letter today from President saying that the mission is going to open up two new cities for work that have never had missionaries, Caixias, Maranhao, and Araguaina, Tocantins. I don't think that I will be one of the Elders chosen to go there but that's alright. I feel like this is going to be my last area here in the mission.
I don't think that I have anything else to write about from this past week, other than I love you all and keep praying for my success. I am praying for you all.

Love your Son, and soon to be uncle AGAIN!!!

Elder Crittenden

August 1 e-mail, the assualt

Dear Dad and Mom,

This past week was really quite eventful, last Pday we went to the mall and we ate an Arabian food that was really good called esfihas, which is like a flat bread but it has some kind of meat inside of it and the meat looks like cat food but it was really good. We did that with Elder Sousa that I lived with in Acailandia and his companion that I didn't really know. After that we just headed home and got our stuff ready for the day.
We did a family home evening at Irma Conceicao´s house, who still hasn't got baptized but we are working with her. Then on Tuesday we had our district meeting and a division with the Zone Leaders. I stayed here in our area with Elder Pimentel, and he didn't really like how big our area was. He was complaining about having to walk so much, kinda funny. So as we got done that night with our visits we were heading to the bus stop to catch our bus home and a guy tried to assault us. Don't worry, the Lord protected us. Within 30 seconds the Rone (slang for police, I think) was there and arrested the guy. But my comp Elder Pimentel was in a state of shock. I will have to tell you all the story when I get home here pretty soon. Also my last companion Elder Gessel was assaulted on Friday night and lost his mission bag but some of our friends helped him get it back.
Then I found out that the first counselor in the bishopric of my last area, Satelite, ran away from his wife and kids or was kidnapped. Nobody really knows exactly what happened but that is the story and he has been missing for about a week now.
On Friday I did an interview for Elder Daniel and he baptized a guy that is 22 and is the most elect I have ever seen in my entire mission. His interview was the easiest that I have ever done and it was such a strong spirit there with him.
In sacrament meeting we had a lady that we invited to go to church without teaching her anything and she went to church. We will start to teach her and her family this week and hopefully it all works out. We are needing some new investigators in this area to teach.
The members down here also don't celebrate the 24th of July. A lot of them don't even know that it exists.
So just to let you all know about the flight plans that you all received last week it is for October but they have changed a little bit now and I don't know when I will receive the new ones but as soon as I get them I will send them to you.
My English class is going pretty well and I am getting more people to come. Well I don't really have much else to tell you all about this past week.

Love your Son,

Elder Crittenden