Monday, December 28, 2015

December 28th, 2015

First off, it super sick talking to you guys on Christmas. It felt really wierd but it was really nice to see everyone. After though it was a little cuz itll be another 5 monthes before we talk again but its not really that long. Ive been gone for about 4 months so just a little longer than ive been out well be talking again.

Christmas night after the other Elders talked with their families, the 4 of us ordered Papa Johns and watched 17 Miracles so it was a pretty chill day. Saturday we had the baptism and it was super cool. There was a lot of people from the ward there which was good because most members dont have any idea who the recient converts are here and its kind of sad. That family is super cool and im glad theyre coming back to church. Another cool thing is that the dads sister and her family are super inactive and havnt gone to church in years. But they were at the baptism and then came to church on yesterday and said they were going to start coming every week. I hope they do cuz theyre super cool too.
Thats it for this week. I hope you all had a good Christmas and hope you have a Happy New Year. Ill send the pictures from the baptim in a another email
Elder Crisp


Tuesday, December 22, 2015

December 21st, 2015

So this week was little bit of a downer. We barely had any lessons and it was a little bit frustrating. But we did have did have a cool experience yesterday. All the missionaries went to a park in the middle of santa cruz and all sang hymns. It was pretty cool. All the different zones had their own song. We didnt have to much time to prepare but it still went really well and all the people there loved it. And i got to see all the people from my group for the first time since the CCM so it was really fun. And tonight all the missionaries are having a huge diinner so im looking forward to that.

Christmas here is pretty weird, in south America everbody celebrates Christmas the 24th, so we have a bunch of place to go and eat and all that stuff the 24th, but not the 25th. Its a little bit different but its cool. The cool thing is we have a baptism the 26th with the family we're Skyping with. They have a son thats 9 and another that just turned 8 and theyre both getting baptized on Saturday. So that will be a cool. That family is super cool. When we asked if we could Skype at their house he got super excited and didn't even hesitate to say yes. He's funny because he always tries to speak English to us. Thats really all i have for this week cuz not much happened. Im super excited to talk to you all on Friday. Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!



Love Elder Crisp

Monday, December 14, 2015

December 14th, 2015

So this week was pretty chill. We didn't have to many lessons again. We had a cita with Jose but that fell, but we are going to get a cita for this week. We talked with Claudia this week and that went really well. Every time we talk with her i can feel the spirit so strong. We can tell that she wants to keep learning and reading the Book of Mormon and she really has a desire to learn. We found out that the place where her son lives and where she travels every sunday is super small and doesnt have a church there. She told us that she is attending another church there. We had an intercambio this week and we went over to Iris' and talked with her. She told us the only reason she doesnt want to get baptized is because she scared her mom wont support her. The only person in her family that is a member is her brother who is on a mission so hopefully talking to him on Christmas will help with that.

That's basically it for the lessons we had this week. We really don't have much to do. We try and ask for references from the members and try and find new people to teach but nothing really happens. Everyone we have citas with are ALWAYS working. We did have a meeting with the Bishop and Ward Mission Leader about the plan for 2016 which was really good. We are going to start focusing more on retention because only about a third of the recent converts from this ward are active. I'm excited to kind of have a new plan.
I'm starting to love this place more and more everyday. The people are so nice even if they don't like us they're still nice to us which is pretty funny. I feel like my spanish is getting better and better everyday too. That's all i have for this week. Sorry i don't have any pictures. There's really nothing to take pictures of here.

Love Elder Crisp

Monday, December 7, 2015

December 7th, 2015

This week was pretty slow. We got our tranfers this week but nothing is changing. Im staying Elder Carver is still my companion and were in the same area. He'll finish his time in this area with 9 months. Even though the work in this area isnt very good, im excited to stay. It also means that si o si ill be skyping home on Christmas. We already set up the famisly we are going to be with. The Illanes family. They are super cool. They have to kids that are going to be baptized next week and theyre just are really cool family.

We didnt get very many appointments with new people but we did have one with our investigator Jose. It was pretty cool. We went over yesterday to give him a blessing for his back but we ended up teaching a lesson. We taught about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. After we talked about the first vision he kind of stopped for a second. After about 15 seconds he basically told us that it make sense to him that the church was restored and that there are profets today. Its really cool because when the missionaries first started teaching his wife he wanted nothing to do with them. When they came over he would just leave. But once he saw that his wife was happier with the gospel he started to listen. And next visit with him were going to ask him to be baptized. Its cool how much the gospel can change someone like that. We didnt get a chance to teach Iris and her family this week, but we have an appointment set for wednesday. We taught Claudia again this week and it went really well. She works at a little shop that sells bread and empeñadas and stuff like that, and last time we taught, her "co-worker" asked if she could listen the next time we came by, and obviously we said yes so we got to teach her too. They were both kind of crying during the lesson so thats exciting.
Besides all that this week was pretty chill. We're trying really hard to get the members involved and helping but its kind of sad how many people say they can come with us to lessons and then last minute flake out. Im pretty sure the only thing our investigators need is friends in the church. But noone is ever willing to help. But were gunna keep trying.
Thats about it for this week. Hope you all have a good week.
Love Elder Crisp

Monday, November 30, 2015

November 30th, 2015

This week was super weird. Elder Carver and i had to do a bunch of legal stuff and it was pretty boring. But despite only really having 3 days to work this week, we still got in some good citas.
On tuesday we had another Intercambio and i stayed in my area with the Elder i replaced. That was good because all the families were super excited to see hime and we got a bunch a lessons in cuz of him.

Thursday we had to wake up at 3:30 to get to the Immigrations place at 4 so we could wait till the place opened at 630. That was really fun. I got to go to the mission office while Elder Carver was doing all that stuff. That was actually pretty cool. We helped put up their Christmas tree and other decorations so it wasnt a complete waste of time. After all that we got back to our area at like 5 and didnt really get anything after that. We were able to make some smashed potatoes and gravy and stuffing that Elder Carvers mom sent and we also watched Meet the Mormons so it was still a pretty good thanksgiving.
Friday it was my turn to do all the immigrations stuff so we left the house at 530 and finshed everything at like 1230. And On saturday we had interviews and stuff so we were at the offices again till like 6.
We did get a chance though to meet with Iris this week on Monday. We basically just went to see how they were doing and taught them about Ponderizing and it was pretty chill. We didnt get to meet with our other investigators though because of the immigrations stuff but we have citas with them setup for this week so its good.
The second picture was a FHE with our pension and during the intercambio so thats why im not with Elder Carver. Thats it for this week hope you all have a good week.

Love Elder Crisp





Monday, November 23, 2015

November 23rd, 2015

This week was really different but it was really good. On tuesday we had a Multi-Zone conference with President Zambrano. They made us split into groups and make little skits about a section in the PMG, which was really weird but it was a good experience. After all those President talked to us about how to teach people and it was super powerful. He was talking about how we need to teach from the heart and not give reahearsed lessons to people. Its a little bit harder to do that when you only know a little spanish. But The people wont believe was were telling them if it doesnt seem sincere. That was another thing he said is if youre teaching from the heart, youre teaching by the Spirit, and that is the most important thing we can do.

We didnt get to teach Claudia this week becaus she wasnt here but we have an appointment with her on tuesday so well see how that goes. We also got a reference this week from a member for a lady that took the lessons a 6-7 monthes ago but she never really progressed. We taught her last week and we have another appointment with her on thursday. She seems to know a lot about the bible and stuff but she doesnt like going to church for some reason.
Thats about its for this week. Hope you all have a good week.



Monday, November 16, 2015

November 16th, 2015

So this week was a little bit more normal. The weather was just super hot and humid. And The teaching was a lot better this week. Our investigsator Claudia came back from her trip and we had a lesson this week. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and told her to read it and pray about it and she said she would. She hasnt not kept her commitments since we started teaching her so im pretty sure shell get an answer. There is another lady here that got baptized a few monthes before i got here but her husband didnt. They started  teaching him a few weeks before i got here. Hes super cool he goes to church every week he basically just needs to be baptized. We have a lesson with him tonight so well see how that goes.
     I also had my first intercambio (i honestly cant remeber what its called in english) and it was pretty sweet. I went with one of the Zone Leaders, Elder Escobar. It went really well because we taught like 6 lessons. Me and Elder Carver have never had more than 4 lessons in a day so it was a good experience. That was on Tuesday and the rest of the week was pretty chill. 
    Thats all I have for this week. Hope you all have a good week. 
Love Elder Crisp (the only one now :( 

Monday, November 9, 2015

November 9th, 2015

Hola,
This week was a little bit insane. First off, the rain here is so weird. On Tuesday we were sitting eating lunch and it was blazing hot and there were no clouds. But then like literally 10 seconds later it just started pouring. Its was crazy. I was in the rain for like 5 seconds and i was completly soaked. But the rest off the week was nice because It didnt rain too much. Last Pday we all went to Papa Johns and it was pretty sweet ill send a picture of it.

Also this week was a little sad because the grandma of our investigator Iris passed away so her and her family were really sad and we didnt get to have a lesson this week. Also, our other investigator Claudia was gone all week on vacation or something so we didnt get to teach her either. Her situation is pretty hard because she only gets to see her son on Saturdays and Sundays and he lives like 6 hours away so she can never go to church, but she is trying to figure out a way she can. We teach a lot of less actives and recent converts. There is like 25 recent converts in our ward so it get pretty busy. The good thing is there is 4 of us in the ward so theyre not all ours.
This week i felt like i was understanding almost everything the people were saying. It was nice to actually understand and be able to respond to them.Thats all i got for this week. I do have some pictures this time though.. I hope you all have a good week. 

Love Elder Crisp



Monday, November 2, 2015

November 2nd, 2015

Hola,

This week was good, but it was a bit hard. We had a bunch of lessons and that was pretty cool. We basically only have 2 investigators. One of them is a lady named Claudia, shes pretty cool and she is progressing really well. The other is a girl named Iris. She has been taking the lessons for like 8 months and she had a baptismal date set up for the 21st of November but she told us she had to push it pack to like december or january, so that ws a little disappointing. I got my first taste of the rain here. Its been raining for the past 3 days basically non-stop`so its a lot harder to find people cuz no one wants to come to the door when it rains. But the rain is crazy. It just keeps raining and raining and raining.
Its still really hard to understand the language though. I can understand certain words that people say and try and guess what they were trying to say, that works little bit. But when people ask me a question i have to ask them to repeat it a couple times to understand it. The one thing everyone here tells me to do is just say anything. So im trying to do that as much as i can.This week was pretty chill though. Nothing really exciting happened besides the rain. So thats all i have for the week. Unfortunatley the computer isnt reading my SD card so i cant send any pictures, sorry.
I hope you all have a good week.
Love Elder Crisp

Monday, October 26, 2015

October 26th, 2015

Hola,
My first week was pretty crazy, but it was good. First off my companion is Elder Craver from Clinton Utah. Hes really cool. Hes a really good trainer. Hes been in this same area for 6 monthes so he knows his way around. This area is called Centanario. It is directly in the middle of the city. Elder Carver sadi this is the "richest" area ill serve in, and also that our house is the only one with hot water so thats pretty cool. But agin this week was crazy.

Tuesday: We had a flight at like 730. We got to Bolivia at like 2 and it was blazing hot. I didnt think it would be as hot and ghumid as it was. While we were driving to the mission home I looked out the window and saw a bunch of ostriches running along side the bus which was pretty funny. We had lunch and stuff and got interviewed and stuff. We went to a hotel for the night and that was basically it.
Wednesday: We had to do all the migration stuff so we were sitting in an office for 4 or 5 hours. But after we went to a meeting and found out who our companions were. Just for wednesday and thurday we had a trio because the other missionary in our house didnt have a companion so it was a little weird. We had a lesson and it went well.
Thursday-Saturday: Thursday was a normal day here. We studied then went to lunch and after lunch we walked to th e people we were supposed to teach and they either werent there or didnt have to time so we didnt really teach much. It was the same Friday and Saturday.The lessons we did teach though were good. Its really hard understanding people though. My CCM techers said Bolivians are easier to understand but that is definitly false. People here dont pronounce the S´sat the end of words so they all just slur together. But it is getting a little bit easier.
Sunday: Since it was STake Conference we had to go to the stake center like 30 minutes away. It was so full there, the had to set up chairs in the hallway to fit everybody. We watched a recording of Elder Anderson and one of the ladies from the General PRimary Presidency. It was all in Spanish obviously so i couldnt understand most of it.
. In the Adjusting to missionary life book they give us, theres a story from elder Hinkley. When he went on his mission, at first it was a really bad experience. And he sent his dad a letter saying he was wasting his time and his fathers money. His Dad sent a letter back and it just said "Gordon, forget yourself and go to work." I really like that because even though Im not frustrated now, I know if i ever am, I just need to forget about my problems and go teach and work. My first week week was sweet. I know its gunna get even better once I can speak the language too. Sorry i dont any pictures this week. I didnt realy get a chance to take any. But ill have some next week.
I hope you all have a good week. I love you all.
Love Elder Crisp

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

October 14th, 2015

The last week is finally here. Im super excited to leave the CCM and go out to the field. But I know the first few months are going to be rough. But im still pumped. The spanish is still coming along. I dont think theres much more to learn except for like new words and being able to understand people when they talk.

Nothing really happened this week though. We didnt have any devotionals or anything, it was basically just class. We were supposed to have Elder Waddell come to speak to us too but he didnt end up coming. It was probably because he was in Ecuador. I was actually really excited to listen to him, but then like 10 minutes before we were supposed to be there, they told us that he wasn't gunna be there so it kinda sucked.

Today was good though, we went to the Temple again and that was good except the session took almost 3 hours cuz some old guy had to leave for like 30 minutes and the there was only one worker when it was over. It was fine though cuz its probably the last time ill go to the temple for a while. Sorry this letter sucks but theres literally nothing else to talk about. I dont really have any new pictures either but Im sure Ill have more to talk about my next pday. 

My next pday wont be till the 26th because we leave next tuesday. Hope you all have a solid week. I pray for you all e'ryday. I love you all. 

Love Elder Crips

Thursday, October 8, 2015

October 7th, 2015

Whats up everybody. The ccm is going really good. And spanish is
coming along really well. Peruvians talk super fast so its hard to
understand sometimes, but they tell me Bolivians talk really slow so
Im looking forward to that. This week was by far the best here.
Saturday and Sunday was only GC and a bunch of extra study time so it
was a nice break. One of my favorite talks was by Von G. Geetch, not
sure if thats spelled right but I liked his analogy about the barrier
and the sharks. The people were so quick to complain about the barrier
without knowing what it was for. I feel like I relate to the surfers
because Im always pretty quick to complain about everything, but Im
working on it. Its a lot like mission rules and escepcially the CCM
rules becuase some of the rules here seem useless but I know they are
there to help me and stuff. Today is someones birthday in my district,
and we started singing happy birhtday but the President came over and
told us,"... thers no singing in the CCM." I really wanted to say,
"yeah there is, we sing all the time," haha but that probably wouldnt
be a good idea. Geetch also talked about how if Jesus submitted
himself to the path God wanted for him, then we should submit
ourselves to God as well.My "ponderize" scripture is Alma 13:29. Its a
pretty self explanitory scripture. Today has been pretty solid too. We
went to the temple which is always sweet. I dont know if ive mentioned
it but there is this place called Metro, which is like a big market
place. Theres nothing really special about it except for the store
that sells jerseys. I bought a Neymar jersey today. When we got back
we had lunch with this guy that was Elder Martinez´s dad´s companion
when he served in Trujillo, so that was pretty sweet. Thats pretty
much it for this week besides all the classes and stuff.. Its pretty
hard to believe ive been gone for a month already and that in 2 weeks
ill been in Bolivia. Sorry this is all one big paragraph, the
connection is really slow so were on the super old version of Gmail
and you cant really do much. I got a couple pictures today. The first
one is of my whole district and the 2nd one is just a random picture
of the main road outsiide of Metro. I love and miss you all so much.
Love Elder Crisp




Wednesday, September 30, 2015

September 30th, 2015

Hola,

This week was a really good week. Im starting to understand a lot more spanish which is pretty awesome. We also watched like 5 devos this week and they were all solid. Im just gunna write day by day.

Thursday was a pretty normal day up until night class. Our teacher told us we were teaching a lesson but she didnt tell us who. So we made a really short lesson plan. But She brought a bunch of her friends to teach and there was an actual investigator. And Martinez and I had to teach him. I got pretty nervous because we were actually teaching this guy that didnt know anything about the church. It was a intense but it was also really good practice. Also our teacher was telling us all this stuff about when she was a kid. And she told us she had a pet tiger for like 3 months which was pretty legit, just thought I would add that in.

Saturaday was pretty boring and since it was fast Sunday we started the fast after lunch. The rest of that night was hard cuz everyone was talking about food and making everyone more hungry. We didnt eat until lunch on Sunday and I dont think ive ever been more hungry in my life.

On Saturday night we watched a Devo by Holland from 2011 and it was probably the best talk Ive heard. He said 3 things to look out for on your mission. 1st was that missionaries dont study well. He said one of the most important things is companionship study and if we waste time throughout the day comp study is the first thing that gets left out. 2nd was that we need to prepare well. Not just to prepeare to teach a lesson but to teach the person and listen to their needs. #rd was to teach for commitments. He said we have to be able to teach them well enought to want to commit to things themselves. And that we need to teach with power and authority in order to do that. Those were just some notes I took on it but it was a really powerful talk because he was really direct about what we need to do.

Monday we got to watch Elder Scott´s funeral. It was really cool beacuse the talks were more about his life outside of being a member of the twelve. Cristofferson talked because Scott was his mission pres on his mission. He told a story about hos they were driving around and Elder Scott stopped at a winery and told them to wait in the car. Cristofferson was really confused why he would be buying wine. He walked out with a bottle that looked like wine, but Elder Scott said "This is the best grape juice youll ever have. I just thought that was a funny story.

Today we got to go to the Temple again and I tried doing it without a translater and I understood a lot of it. After the temple we went shopping and did all that stuff. We got our sick custom jerseys today so thats exciting. Thats all I have for this week.

Love Elder Crisp

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

September 23rd, 2015

Hola,

This week was almost exactly the same as last week. All we do is go to class all day. My spanish is getting a lot better though. I can actually have a good conversation with all the Latinos here. Sometimes i cant understand anything they say but most of the time I can understand them. The Latinos only stay here for 2 weeks so the ones that came in with us left this morning. All the new Elders and Sisters got here this morning at like 3:30 and now theres like 150 people here so its packed. Its kind of weird, it seems like everyone here knows someone because theyre all from Utah and Arizona. Im literally the only one here thats from California. But all the people from Utah in my district are really cool, like theyre not like normal Utah mormons.

The days here are going by so much faster now that Im getting used to everything. All the calsses even though theyre like 3 and half hours long, fly by which is good. I have 2 teachers throughout the day. My morning teacher, Hermano Luczano, Is really cool but since we dont have any sisters in our district, hes a pretty hard on us when we teach and he very direct about what he wants. My night teacher, Hermana Cepeda, is the complete opposite. She is super nice and always jokes around with us and shes helps with our Spanish a lot.

Today for P-day, we went to this supermarket place called Metros. Inside theres this place that sell soccer jerseys for like $8 and theyre pretty sweet. I got a Barca Messi jersey today and we ordered custom USA jerseys too. I chose # 66 and the name on the back is Coco. No one really knows who Coco Crisp is so they all think im weird but it doesnt matter. We also got to goto the temple today. The temple is so cool. And listening the sessions in spanish is pretty sweet too.

One funny thing about all the Latinos and teachers here is they pronouns Crisp. They all say Crips, so now all the people in my district call me Crips. Ive accidentally introduced myself as Crips a couple times too. This sunday we watched another devo. This time it was by Cristofferson. He answered a bunch of questions he gets asked a lot. It was really good. I dont have my notes unfortunently and cant rememeber any of the exact respones but Ill try and remeber my notes next week.

Thats pretty much it for this week. I love you all a lot and am really starting to miss you guys.
Love Elder Crisp




Wednesday, September 16, 2015

September 16th, 2015

My first week in the CCM has been pretty sick. I told you about the 2 other missionaries that came with me. But when we got here that night they had no idea why we came a day earlier then everyone else but it was all good. Me and the other Elder got to go to the Temple too so that was good way to start off. It was sweet to hear the session in Spanish and Im really glad I worked in the temple because the workers didnt have a card to read off in spanish so I had to say it in English and they didnt know it in english so they had to trust I would do it right.Wednesday was when we started all our training stuff and a bunch of different teachers talked to us. Im pretty disappointed though because the day before I got here Elder Bednar came here to speak so I missed by a day. The only thing we really do here is wake up go to class for like 9 hours a day and then go back to bed so its pretty boring. But My companion , Elder Martinez, is really cool. He reminds me so much of Stephen because hes super sarcastic and really funny. The other Elders in my district are cool too so it makes the classes a lot more fun. All the other Elders that have been here for 4 weeks say this place gets worse and worse the longer you´re here and talk about how its pretty much a low security prison and it kind of feels like that already. The food here is honestly a lot better then i thought it would be. Theres chicken and rice every luch and dinner but its really good and you dont really get sick of eating it cause its really good. Sunday was the best day of my week for sure because we got to go to church and take a break from spanish for a day. The CCM Presidency gave a bomb lesson about our purpose has missionaries and it was super spiritual. One of the counelors started the Sacrament meeting by say that BYU won again off a hail Mary so that got everyone pumped up. Yesterday a General Authority came and gave a devotional. It was in spanish so i literally didnt understand a single thing he said but the Elders that could said it was good. Today for p day we got to go to the Temple again which was awesome. And after we went shooping at this place called Tottus, which is like the Wal-Mart here. I felt good to get out of the CCM and see the city, which is crazy. There is so much traffic and crossing the street was a real life game of Frogger cause the people dont stop for anything. Im having a lot of fun here so far and Im so happy to finally be on a mission. I dont know if this is longenough for you mom but its all I got. I love you and miss you all so much already but I know this is where I nned to be.

Love, Elder Crisp

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

September 8th, 2015

Hola,
They told me i only had 3 minutes to write so this wont be long. Yesterday was a really long day. We got to Peru at like midnight and then had to drive like an hour and a half to get to the CCM and i finally got to sleep at like 3:30 so that was fun. I met up with 3 other missionaries at the airport so that made the trip more exciting. The CCM is really cool and all the other Elders and Sisters are really cool. They are rushing me to finish so i have to go. Send me everyones emails so i know who to send letters to.
Love Elder Crisp