February 7, 2011

Dear Family and Friends (and mummy),

Oh how happy and glad I am to be in the wonderful country of England. This mission thing is the greatest in the WORLD!! I am learning so many great things and I am thrilled that I have 18 months left to learn thousands of more things. This has been a great week where I have been able to stop and smell the roses. I was writing in my journal on Wednesday and realised that I was going to fast and not slowing down and thinking. I felt like I had my head down and was just walking straight ahead. I was missing the most important things. I kept thinking that we weren't having much success because everyone this week said no. 

BUT!!! Jackie passed her baptismal interview and everything is rolling. How grrrreat is that??? She gets to make a covenant to always have the spirit to be with her. She only has to remember Jesus Christ and keep His commandments. We get the better side of the deal. Having the spirit always with us is the best strength we could ever have. It is the Comforter that God gave to us when Jesus Christ was going to leave. "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever." (John 14:15-16) It is the thing that the Nephites prayed for most fervently in 3 Nephi 18 and 19. It is a key help that I believe is very underutilized. We should all be dependent on the Holy Ghost to show us where to go, what to do and what to say. We should always remember Him, and one of the best ways to do that is to read the Scriptures and to Pray. It seems so simple. As we read the Book of Mormon, we read about the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We remember Him, and we desire to keep the commandments He has given us. AND if we do that... we will always have the spirit to be with us. It will guide our life. 

How grateful I am to be a member of this church and to be able to offer people this wonderful gift. I have been thinking so much about being grateful. How important it truly is and how we must live with gratitude. I was thinking about prayer and how we do not pray to Jesus Christ, and why we don't pray to Jesus Christ. Everything that we do on this Earth seems to be through Christ... so why not prayer? We are forgiven through Christ, and redeemed through Christ. As I was praying and asking God about it... two thoughts came to my mind that answered what I had been studying and searching about. One, Prayer is through Jesus Christ. We do it in His name. How important that phrase truly is... I believe it is sometimes not truly understood. To do things in His name means to do it as He would do it. As we pray through Jesus Christ, he hears our prayer and through his atoning sacrifice we are forgiven, and understood. We are comforted and strengthened. 

The second was clear "quit worrying about it Elder Krebs and be thankful". That hit me like a load of bricks. I realised how ungrateful for prayer I was being. As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer should become natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11 and B.D.) As we understand that God truly is our Father and created us... then we would die to talk to Him. Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you. How much more grateful can we be? President Monson said "My brothers and sisters, to express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven." Let us all strive to touch heaven :)

There I go again... soap boxing it up again. No one here listens to us, and you kind of have to listen to me. You're stuck. Mwahahaha. Yesterday we went out tracking with Tasmin and her 7 year old little sister Danielle. It was the best hour of tracting ever. Danielle is the cheekiest little girl ever. She was starting to get angry at people for shutting the door and started quoting Homer Simpson. People would start shutting the door and she would stick her arm in the way and give them a card. She was so excited and kept telling us to hurry up :) During the Sacrament yesterday, she didn't take the bread but took the water. I asked her why she did that and she whispered in my ear... "I don't like brown bread". I love this family. We absolutely love going over there and talking and having a good time with them. It brings me complete joy. 

Please keep Jackie Southon in your prayers. She is being strong in not drinking tea, and we are very excited for Saturday at 11:00. She has asked me to baptise her and that is a great honour. I knocked on her door, taught her and will not help her enter into the gates of Heaven. I just pray and plead she stays on the straight and narrow. I love you all. More than going to the American Base and getting to do shopping and eat Taco Bell :)

 

Love,

Elder Krebs

January 31, 2011

Hello all,

I have received sad news today about the loss of my friend Nicholas Polus. It has hit me quite hard and shook me. It once again reminds me that life doesn't last forever and is not fair. It rarely goes according to our plans and takes us along for the ride. Nick was a valued friend that had many difficult challenges in his life. He bore them with a smile all the while. I have many vivid memories of him coming back with his mud covered jeep, happy as could be. Many times we were able to stop and talk in the front lawn about what most boys talk about. Cars and females. He was a dear friend that was always near. I always looked up to him, not only because he was taller than me, but because he was someone I could trust. It is hard when we are separated from the ones we love most dearly. It would be much more difficult if this separation lasted forever. I know that it does not. It is temporary, not permanent. 

Our Heavenly Father has a plan for all of His children. It is a plan that always allows His children to come back and be happy. Our beloved Prophet shares his feelings on the topic quite well in this video. http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?autoplay=true&index=1&locale=0&sourceId=b63b822d7ecc8210VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=bd163ca6e9aa3210VgnVCM1000003a94610aRCRD

I know that we can live together as families. It is a knowledge that we can find for ourselves through prayer. God answers our questions and blesses us through the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost... "quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections; and adapts them, by the gift of wisdom, to their lawful use. It inspires, develops, cultivates and matures all the fine-toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred feelings, and affections of our nature. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness, and charity. It develops beauty of person, form and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation, and social feeling. It invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. It strengthens, and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being." Parley P. Pratt. I love that quote and its importance.

Jackie told us on Wednesday that she WILL be baptised on February 12th!!!!!!!! We are so happy! She has been making all the necessary steps to make that day. We are very happy for her and it is nice to once again see the efforts of our work. Sorry this letter is short. We need to go and work... too many things to do. Not enough time. Next week will be the longest email yet!! I promise. The church is true. I know it. It is perfect, beautiful and simple. Everyone can be blessed from it. It is our job to show them how :) I love you all. Thank you for your prayers.

 

Love,

Elder Krebs

January 24, 2011

Hiya mum,

This week has been GREAT!! I enjoyed it very very much. Elder Rallison is great and we are getting along quite well. He is constantly singing and making me laugh. He is way more of a hick than I am and he's not even from kentucky. He is not really a hick though... but kinda. He likes high school musical and fantasy... so basically he is a very well rounded individual. He is very very different than Elder Young and it keeps it quite interesting. Elder Young was very english reserve and Elder Rallison is not. He is from America and proud of it. We had 40 hours of accounted labour this week and that is by far the best of my mission. It made me very happy. I love working and being able to see the success that comes from it. 

We have had some great first appointment with potential investigators. Just before we emailed... we sat down with Andrew in the library. We talked to him in town center about a week ago and now he is a new investigator and we have a return appointment with him. He seemed very genuienly interested and we haven't even shared the Book of Mormon with him yet. He seems very solid to me and I can't wait to meet with him again on Wednesday and invite him to be baptised. We have been able to find more people to teach this week and hopefully our teaching pool will continue to grow. We dropped Stella for good this week and that makes me really sad. We spent so much time with her and she knows the Book of Mormon is true, but she doesn't think she needs it. She wants to sort out her life first, but its easier to have the gospel of Jesus Christ help you. Everyone we meet and you meet have concerns or problems, and the gospel of Jesus Christ can replace the fear and doubt with faith and hope. 

I have been gaining a stronger and stronger testimony of how we need Jesus Christ. His example, gospel and life is a cure all. The Church of Jesus Christ has the answer to all your questions and concerns. Each person we teach has personal challenges and concerns. No matter what their needs or concerns might be, the Savior and His teachings—the gospel—can help them. Our message will enable them to improve the quality of their lives. It will help them deal with the problems and challenges that we all face in life. I know that as we rely on it, that it can bless our lives for good. I have been thinking as well about the commandments and why God gives us commandments. Why do you think he does? Is it because as we follow them he recieves bonus points? More creative power? An A+? We all know that is not why. He gives us commandments for our benefit. We are the sole benefactors of the commandments. It is the best way in which we can live the happiest life. A blue print for success and joy. How lucky are we??? When we think of commandments as restrictions and rules... then we do not understand them. All commandments bless us directly. We are so blessed to have them restored in our day... to stay away from the sin that pollutes this world. 

The world is rarely this evil, all of God's commandments are being disregarded and all the things that we are commanded not to do are becoming normal in the world. Commandments protect and secure us. Most importantly out of all these reasons to keep the commandments is that when we keep them we are giving God the one thing we have to give him, our free agency. We show our humility to his plan. When we humbly trust Him and acknowledge His power and mercy, we can have the assurance that His commandments are for our good. We are confident that we can do whatever the Lord requires of us if we rely on Him. As we keep the commandments, we prove ourselves and our love. "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it." 

On Thursday night we went sheep teaching. On our Zone Calendar is said to Teach, Testify and Invite a sheep to come unto Christ. The attached picture proves our efforts. Life is wonderful. I enjoy every second of my mission. I do miss America though. I love you all very much. Have a wonderful week. Ta ta for now.

 

Love,

Elder Krebs

P.s. “The discipline contained in daily obedience and clean living and wholesome lives builds an armor around you of protection and safety from the temptations that beset you as you proceed through mortality.”

– ELDER L. TOM PERRY

“CALLED TO SERVE,” ENSIGN,