January 18th, 2016

So this week we got cambios (transfers). Im going to stay in the same area but with a new comp. Elder Vallejo from Ecuador. He is super cool and he works super hard. But the weird thing his dad is going to be our new Mission President in 5 monthes. Im not sure how that happened but his dad was called to serve in the same mission as his son at the same time. Its a lot of pressure haha.

We did get a lot of lessons this week compared to my first 2 cambios. We contacted this kid named Fernando. Hes really cool. He knows a lot about the bible and all that good stuff and weve had to lessons wityh him and theyve gone really well. We taught another guy David. We also taught him twice this week and he too seems to really like the lessons. Well see where they go this week.

Besides thats stuff nothing super exciting happened. And now in my house there are 3 latinos and me. And none of them really speak any English at all. Its been pretty weird to not be able to speak any englkish this week, but its definitely going to help my Spanish. But in this cambio theres a holiday called Carnaval. Its like the craziest holiday for latinos. But were not allowed to leave the house for 3 days which would be cool but i live with 3 latinos. haha.

So that was my week. Hope you all have a good week.

Love Elder Crisp

January 11th, 2016

This week was pretty sweet. First off we had the baptism, and that was great.I got to baptize Yudith and Elder Carver baptized Iker. I honestly wasnt expecting to much support from the ward, because no too many people knew who they were. And like 10 minutes before the baptism started they was literally no one there. But in that 10 minutes like 25-30 members of the ward showed up. The Relief Society Pres made refreshments and it was super cool. And the Primary Pres gave a talk and a few other missionaries came too, so it was great to have so much support for them. Yesterday at church they got confirmed and all that good stuff.

Also at church a super in active family came to church . It was suprising because everytime we pass by their house the parents always say that their kids dont want to go, but 3 of 5 of their kids came and that was super sweet too. Besides that we didnt have to much in terms of lessons but it was still a great week.

It was also the last week of the cambio (transfer) but we haven't found out where we are going yet. Well find out tomorrow or wednesday. Ill probably be staying in this area is what everyone is telling me. And Elder carve is going to be leaving basically no matter what because he has 9 monthes in this area.

January 4th, 2016

This week was pretty sweet again. It was one of our best weeks for lessons. We also have a baptism for this saturday. Its for a lady Judith and her son Iker. They were taking the lessons a few monthes before I got here but they randomly dropped it, but we started teaching them again and they said they wanted to get baptized. Im super excited for this one because she asked me to baptize her. So it will be my first chance to actually baptize someone. Theyre are super cool and Im glad they decided to make that step. The rest of our lessons were with some less actives that almost "never have time", but we taught them and some of them went to church on Sunday so im excited for them.

New Years here is basically the same at home. At midnight people just light off a bunch of fireworks. I didnt really fall asleep until like 2 because it was so loud. Our ward here had a party too which started at 930 pm, but our Mission President said all the missionaries had to be in their house at 8 so we didnt get to go. We spent a few hours helping them set it all up but we didnt get to do anything haha. I also had the sweet experience of getting an ingrown toenail removed( ill attach pictures hahaha). It was pretty cool, they just numbed my whole foot and yanked it out.

Thats it for this week. Hopè you all had a fun New Years. Love you all.

Love Elder Crisp

(Sorry this picture does look pretty gross but i want you all to see it hahahaha. The second picture is the main plaza here.)

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

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

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

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