Updates

I have many exciting updates about Craig and his wonderful (and some not so wonderful) experiences in the mission field.

First and foremost was our wonderful Christmas day phone call. Well actually we received a nice surprise on Christmas eve morning at 4AM our time, the phone rang and out of a deep sleep all I could read on the caller ID was "out of area". How pleasantly surprised I was to hear Craig on the other end of the phone. It was out "test" phone call to assure that we had his number for the next day and to be sure that we could call him. We did a call back to him to be sure things worked from our end, and even though the call only lasted a few minutes, it was so wonderful to hear his voice. Our plan was to call him around 9AM our time on Christmas morning and about 5 minutes till 9 the phone rang. Renee answered and she was so excited that it was Craig. He had an international calling card and was calling from the church instead of on his cell phone. I am sure the connection was quite a bit better, and there was not quite the delay that there had been on the cell phone. We had grandparents and other extended family that dropped in during the phone and said "hi" to him. Needless to say, it was the best Christmas present we received. Just hearing his voice, it was just the best!!

As you know, he is now serving in Athens, in the Halandri area of the city. Since arriving they have had good days and not such good days in their proselytising. The week before last they felt that they had several interested people that they had made follow up appointments with, but when they returned for their appointments later in the week, they were either told to leave or the people were not there to keep the appointment. I felt so badly for him. I could hear the disappointment in his words when he wrote of those situations and the "really long days" when that happens. However, prayer and perseverance resulted in meeting and teaching a young doctor and his family, as well as meeting another family who are also interested in learning more. Here is what he wrote: "It just goes to show how the Lord makes you learn the bitter to see how good the sweet tastes. Just after a whole week of rejection it feels so good to sit down with someone who wants to listen and because of that you can see this little light in them come on when you tell them how they have a relationship with God to have more happiness for them in their family. So this week turned out to be absolutely great." That last sentence made my heart feel so much better!

Some other exciting, but not so great things have also happened in recent weeks. First, he was bitten by a dog. Now the funny part of this is that he told his dad and his brother in his e-mails to them, but told them not to tell me. David let me in on the news of course, because I generally end up reading his e-mail anyway. Blessing in this is that the dog was a pet, so no risk of disease, and Craig had received an updated tetanus shot before leaving on his mission, and dog bites rarely get infected, so I felt pretty confident that everything would be fine. He apologized in last week's letter for not telling me but he said that he wanted to be sure everything was fine before he let me know or worried me. Second, they also had an earthquake in Greece. It happened two weeks ago. It measured a 6.5, however there was minimal damage and no injuries to anyone. He said he had been reading his scriptures and he got up to go get something for breakfast and he couldn't figure out briefly why the floor felt funny as he walked. I keep wondering, we are only 5 months in, what stories he will have to tell after 2 years in the mission field.

Finally, I wanted to update all of you on the Lenten Scripture Book that I am putting together for Craig. For those of you who may not know, I am putting together a book of "favorite scriptures" to send to Craig to read during the Lenten season. One "favorite" for each day from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday. I appealed to the many people who are so supportive and special in Craig's life to send me their favorites to be included in the book. I have had a wonderful time typing them and printing the pages for the book. I was going to have the book bound, but I found a smaller sized canvas covered scrap book that I am placing the pages in once they are finished. It has turned out better than I could have imagined. I believe he is going to love and treasure this collection of scriptures. Thank you so much to all who participated in this project and made it so special.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. We are so proud of our Elder Meister and the awesome work he does in the mission field. He is truly an inspiration to all of us to be the best we can be each and every day!

Love from here,
Craig's Mom