Real Life Minecraft

So this week we went over to a member's house and helped him break up
this giant rock in his crawl space. Elder Burila and I went at it for
4 hours with pickaxes, shovels, and hammers trying to make a path
through this rock to his water heater. It was way fun but the next day
my hands were super sore.

We also cleaned Lucas's room this week, it was awful. We took a video
but it was legit so gross I've decided not to send it haha. There was
probably 5 years worth of dog hair in there, tons of spider webs, and
food that was no longer recognizable. The entire house is the same way
though, so now Lucas's room is this little corner of cleanliness,
hopefully he can keep it that way.

Hmmm what else. Elder Burila and I made some sweet ties that we are
wearing in the district pics. We call our district The Sistrict (I
stole it from Emily Henry) because Elder Burila and I are the only
Elders ✌🏻. Also in the picture is a drawing of the Plan of Salvation
that Elder Burila and I use that spells out love.

We had a ward party Saturday evening and it was pretty fun, there was
tons of food and lots of games. I honestly love this ward so much, all
the members are super chill and the youth are cool as well. Transfers
are in two weeks so pray that I get to stay here in Staunton!!

I've been thinking a lot this week about the phrase "people don't care
how much you know until they know how much you care" I can honestly
say this is SO true. Unless I truly love people it's impossible for me
to teach them. Example: We met this guy last week who was a total
weirdo, he had a crazy haircut, shaved eyebrows, and his apartment was
covered in little kids toys and legos, and this is like a 27 year old
dude. The first lesson went well but I didn't feel the spirit super
strong because I was just judging him hardcore. The next lesson though
I tried really hard to love him and it was awesome!! I felt the spirit
enter the lesson and it turns out he's actually really cool!! I know
that as we strive to love people and see them as God does then we can
help them come closer to the Savior.

Well that about wraps up this week, love you guys!

Elder Critchfield 🙏🏻
107 Community Way
Apt. 522
Staunton, VA 24401

Pics
1. The Sistrict
2. The Sistrict 2

Happy Easter!

Hey y'all, happy late Easter!! This week has been kind of slow because Elder Burila hurt his back really bad but we were still able to get a decent amount of stuff done.

So on Tuesday this week we had Zone Conference in Charlottesville which is about an hour away and it was awesome! I learned a lot and left feeling super pumped to go out and work. On the drive home we started hearing this weird flapping noise so we pulled over at a rest area. Turns out the front wheel wells on both sides of the car weren't screwed in or something so they were rubbing against the tires. By the time we had pulled over they were destroyed, so our Vehicle Coordinator told us to take them out. We didn't have any tools though, thankfully Elder Burila had his handy dandy pocket knife so we just cut part of them out. We had to stop a second time though after that right on the highway because we didn't cut enough out and it kept rubbing.

Okay so there's this place in Charlottesville called Raising Canes and they literally have THE BEST chicken fingers ever, no joke. Totally random but I thought I'd let y'all know.

Alright what else...Cheyla is doing super well, we meet with her twice a week and we can tell a difference in her every time we come by. It's cool to see how eager she is to learn more. We brought her a copy of Meet the Mormons and she loved it! I've literally never seen anyone so excited about a movie, it's probably because all she does is sit inside the hospital and read the Book of Mormon all day haha.

Y'all remember our recent convert Lucas?? Well we had a long sit down talk with him and his mom who's not a member. We would take him out with us and she would call us an hour later freaking out about where Lucas was and stuff. He told us he had let her know where he was going but it turns out he was lying, he hadn't even told her he was baptized yet. So we sat down with both of them sorted all that out. At first I thought his mom was just being controlling but as we talked I realized that she really just loved him a lot and was worried about him. It also made me realize that I was the exact same way Lucas was and that most of the time I thought my parents were being controlling they were actually just looking out for me. I also realize that when my parents told me they knew what was best they were actually right, who would have thought?

We also went and gave a less active member a hair cut this week, he wouldn't come to church because he didn't like his hair cut so I told him I'd cut it for him, it doesn't look half bad! Anyways, that's about it for this week, I'll include a video of Elder Burila and I eating raw egg so y'all can laugh at me ✌🏻(my yolk broke so it was extra nasty).

I'm grateful for this amazing opportunity I have to be a missionary and there's nowhere else I'd rather be right now, love you guys!!

Oh also, the quote of the week comes from an inactive Sister we called the other day-

"I saw you in Walmart but I avoided you, I may be inactive but at least I'm honest"

Elder Critchfield 🙏🏻
107 Community Way
Apt. 522
Staunton, VA 24401

Pics
1. Waynesboro West Zone
2. Before
3. After
4. Me and Burila
5. A member caught us tracting
6. Happy Easter Video

Western State

Hey y'all, this week has been pretty sweet, we've shown the Easter
video to about 30 people, so we really have to pick up the pace if we
are going to hit 100 before Easter.

Recently we have been teaching this lady named Cheyla (pronounced
Sayla) at Western State Hospital, which is a mental hospital. To teach
her we can't have our iPads or any metal on us. We give the people at
the front desk our drivers license and they give us a keycard in
return. Then we have to get scanned by a security officer. Once we get
through all that we use the keycard to get through a couple of doors
until we reach the ward that Cheyla is in. It's always fun going there
haha. But Cheyla is so cool!! Her brother joined the church and is the
only member in the family, he recently returned home from his mission
and told Cheyla to check out the missionaries. So she called us up and
asked to meet with us. Since she can't leave the hospital she pretty
much reads all day, it's been about a week since we first met her and
she's in 2 Nephi 31!!  We don't really know why she's stuck at the
hospital because she seems pretty normal but maybe we'll find out
soon.

On Saturday we walked around downtown Staunton and showed the video to
people on the street, it was pretty fun. We met a homeless guy named
Wade and as we showed him the video he started crying! At first I was
super excited and I thought he was feeling the spirit for sure, but
upon further conversation I realized he was just super drunk and would
cry at pretty much anything we said. He did take a copy of the Book of
Mormon though so there is hope!

That same Saturday we went over to one of the recent converts here,
Lucas Simmons, and told him we were giving him a haircut. At first he
resisted but I told him I was a pro hair cutter and that I'd make him
look good. In my mind I figured that anything I did would look better
than what his hair was to start with, plus I've watched people cut my
hair a million times so it can't be that hard right? Well it
definitely wasn't as easy as I thought but I did a pretty good job. At
first I tried to give him a flop top but then I decided to just take
it all off. At church the next day all the members were complimenting
him. I'll include some before and after pictures and a time lapse.

Well I think that's about all the interesting stuff that happened this
week folks, I'm loving it here in Staunton. I hope everybody has a
great Easter weekend and that we can all remember the reason for the
season!!

Pics
1. Before
2. After
3. Time Lapse
4. Random picture
5. Cool building downtown

Mansions to Mountains

Well I got transferred to Staunton!! (Pronounced Stanton, I have no
idea why they spell it like that)  It's the largest area in the
mission and is 2 hours away from where we met for transfer meeting so
it was a fun drive. As you can probably tell from the subject,
Staunton is the exact opposite of Midlothian. As soon as we got to the
apartment we dropped off my bags, changed into regular clothes, and
went to our Bishop's house to help him unload a giant chicken coop,
then he gave us a tour of his 12 acre property. He has a bunch of
pigs, 3 goats, 2 cows, and a donkey named Pedro. Staunton is super
open and there are actually mountains here!!! They aren't as big as
the ones back home but it's nice to have them around. I'll include
some of the pictures I have so far, I'm honestly in love with this
place. I feel like I'm back on the ranch in Montana!

Besides the chicken coop this week hasn't been super eventful though.
We have been trying to share the new Easter video, Prince of Peace,
100 times before Easter. So far we are at 8... but we'll get there!

My new companion is Elder Burila, he's pretty cool. He's from Tooele,
Utah and plays rugby. We get along pretty well so I'm excited to work
with him. We set a goal for 2 baptisms this transfer, this ward has a
lot of unbaptized youth and part member families so we are going to
work pretty hard in those areas.

Okay so that pretty much sums up all the transfer news so now I can
talk about General Conference, it was awesome!! I don't know what it
is but General Conference as a missionary is amazing. I'm so grateful
that we have the privilege to hear from Prophets and Apostles who
represent Jesus Christ and teach us his doctrine!! I've thought a lot
about what a blessing it is that members around the entire world are
able to watch General Conference, technology is pretty amazing. As I
listened closely and took notes (15 pages total) I could feel the Holy
Ghost teaching me new things and I'm amazed at much I learned from
each talk.

One of my favorite talks was given by Yoon Hwan Choi, and while I
can't pronounce his name I definitely enjoyed his message! He stated
that we shouldn't let other people diminish our faith, instead of
looking around, we should look up! We often can't recognize God's love
when we look around with temporal eyes, but as we look up, with eyes
toward eternity, God's love and influence becomes very apparent.

Well I hope y'all enjoyed General Conference as much as I did! As we
approach Easter I would encourage everyone to study the Saviors last
week and strive to gain a greater appreciation for what he did for us.
Love you guys!!!

Pics
1. The view from our apartment in Staunton
2. Elder Burila and I at the top of the hike
3. The Zone at the hike
4. The bishop in Midlothian and his family
5. Saying goodbye to Eli
6. Last pic with Elder Wolverton 🐺
7. Elder Perkins