July 25th, 2016

Hola everyone,

This week was really good. We had a little Conference with Presidente Cabezas this week so we got to meet him this week. He didn't really teach anything, its was basically just to get to know him. But he is really cool and they are super funny so I'm pumped to be able to get to know them more.
Again we were able to teach just about everyone. First with the Sosa Flia. We taught them a few times this week about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the whole family understood pretty well. We talked a lot about repentance and baptism. They accepted to be baptized but not a date. We have an FHE with them tonight and we are going to try to put a date. 

The we taught the Campero Family too this week about the Sabbath Day. It was really cool because we passed by their house on friday and they were all painting and cleaning the house. He told us that he was rushing to finish because Saturday he had to work and so that they could be ready for church on Sunday. In the 3-4 months we have been teaching them, the only thing they lacked was going to church, and now that they went once they told us they were going to go every week. Im super excited for them because they are progressing a lot.

Over all this week was really good. I saw this week a bunch of our investigators progressing. They all seem to listen and learn more every time we teach them. Im glad that they are starting to understand the importance of what were teaching. 

I had a pretty weird experience this morning. We got on the bus to come to the internet place and there was a member there. We started to talk and he told me that he served a mission in Guayaquil Norte. And i asked him if he knew Elder Crisp and he told me "Yeah, he was super loco" Thats the 2nd person ive met that has told me that Stephen was crazy hahaha.
Thats about it for this week. Hope you all have a good week. 

Love Elder Crisp

-Me with Pres Cabezas(im such a scrub with my tie hanging out hahaha

-the second picture is Elder Lazarta, the member that knows stephen,

July 18th, 2016

Hola,

This week was really good. It was a little weird because it was Elder Flores´first week here so he was getting used to the area. We did visit basically everyone that we've been teaching though. We visited the Sosas, christian, Campero, Joana and emo, and we are finding a bunch too. They are all doing really well and they are all progressing. We also went again to pick up the Campero Flia for church and they finally went. The whole fam went and they all loved it and said that next week they will be there for sure again. Im glad that they finally had the chance to meet the members and the church here. Thats definitely been the hardest thing in this ward is the attendance. But now that they have gone to church i feel like they are going to progress even more. The flia sosa are doing really well too. We finished the Plan of Salvation with them and we taught in the last visit about the Faith and Repentance and they seem to understand well everything.

Today i was reading in D&C 18:10

10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;

I love this scripture because gives missionary work a lot more importance because the people that we are teaching and visiting are so important to God, and that we too should see them with the same importance that God does. We talk a lot in the mission about loving the people and i feel like if we really love the people that we can have that same view that God has for the people. There's really no point in being a missionary if you dont love and care about the people.

Anyway that's about it for this week. I love you all and hope you all have a sick week. 

Elder Crisp

July 11th, 2016

Hola Everybody,

This week was great but it ended a little weird. First we had another cita with the Sosa Flia.. It was really good. We talked with them about the Plan of Salvacion. It was the first time that their whole family was there so its was a lot better. We talked a lot about the purpose of this life and the Atonement. They are super cool and they also started to have questions about why Catholics beleive certain things. They were ging to go to church but like always had to travel. But we have another cita with them this tuesday.

We also taught we have been teaching a guy named Christian. Hes super cool. He 23 years old and he super receptive, yesterday we taught him aboout the restauracion. We focused on prophets and why they are so important and he understood everything. He was answering all the questions we had and is reading too. He really doesnt have any difficulties apart from the fact that he lives in the area really far from the church so its hard for him to get there but were trying to work with the members to get him to church.

On saturday after we got home we decided to buy Papa Johns just becasue. And then we got a call from the ZLs that we had a emergancy transfer. Luckily i stayed here but elder bricher left to open an new area for the mission. Its an area that was part of another mission but was changed to ours. Its a little bit sad becasue we were finding a lot of people here but my new comp is Elder Flores from Peru.

Last Monday our pension threw a little party for the 4th of July. She made tacos and we had rootbeer floats. Its was pretty sweet to have some real american tacos hahaha.

Other than that this week was really good and im super excited for the families weve been teaching. I love you guys. Have a good week.

July 4th, 2016

Hola everyone,

This week was pretty sweet again. We are starting see a bunch a miracles in this area. We've been having a lot of trouble finding people that want to listen, but in this week we found a few people that are super cool. We were contacting in an area that we had already contacted before but we decided to do it again. We contacted a guy that basically let us in right away. We were talking and he told us that a few days before he woke up and his hand started to hurt him and he couldn't really move and for that he wasn't working. We taught him the Restoration and gave him a BofM and then visited him again on Thursday and his wife was there too. She told us that the Sister missionaries had been teaching her about a year ago. We talked about baptism with them and they accepted to be baptized.
We taught Javier again this week about the Plan of Salvation. we didnt have much time so we just read a little paragraph from the pamphlet about Pre earth life. He told us that of all the religions he had studied that that little paragraph was the best principal he had heard. That he lived with God before this life and that we knew about this plan before made him happy. Hes super cool and he knows and works with a lot of members so that helps a lot too.

19 Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ.

I love this scripture because if we constantly search for that light of Christ we will always be led to do good. We can never be led astray by the light of Christ. And like it say a little bit before in this chapter, we all have that light. Its a free gift that God gave to all of us so that we good do good in this life.

That's about it for this week. Happy 4th of July to all of you. I'm super pumped because its the most exciting holiday here haha

Love Elder Crisp

June 27th, 2016

Hola,

This week was super awesome. First off cambios were this week but nothing changed. I'm in the same area with Elder Bricher again.

We were able to teach a lot of people and a bunch are starting to progress a lot. First the Sosa family is starting to progress. We passed by and the mom told us that they were reading and praying. We didn't get a visit with them but they told us that they were reading the whole week. We have a cita with them on Tuesday so I'm pretty excited.

We visited that old couple that we found last week, Joana y Emo. They are super cool. They too were reading and praying and they were going to go to church but again had to go to the hospital yesterday. The good thing is that they are really good friends with one of the members that lives by them and they absolutely love them. That always helps when the members actually help with that.

We also this week had a pretty weird experience. We passed by one of our old investigators that we have. Its a family of 5. The parents aren't married and the guy has a problem with alcohol. When we went by he was drunk out of his mind and he told us that he had signed some papers at work that made him lose his job. Its a little weird, but now we have all the time to teach them now cause he doesn't have a job. He decided that he didn't want to drink anymore and they are starting to listen again. We invited them to be baptized, but they didn't accept a date but they said they were going to pray about it. They too have been reading the BofM all week and praying too.

I was reading in Mormon this week and found this verse about the importance of faith. Its Mormon
3:12

12 Behold, I had led them, notwithstanding their wickedness I had led them many times to battle, and had loved them, according to the love of God which was in me,with all my heart; and my soul had been poured out in prayer unto my God all the day long for them;nevertheless, it was without faith, because of the hardness of their hearts.

It just shows how important faith is. We can love according to the love of God and pour out of hearts all day but the faith that our prayers will be answered is absolutely necessary. I feel like sometimes we just kind of say prayers to say them and not with the faith that God will respond. We need to have faith that God will answer them or we wont have the miracles in our lives that we ask for.

That's about it for this week. Have a good week everybody.

June 13th, 2016

Hola everybody,

This week was honestly one of the best weeks of the mish so far. First off we had a lot of good visits with investigators. One of them was with a new investigator named Javier. We taught him about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. He promised to read and pray and he told us that he wanted to go to church. He told us about his life a little and said that he wanted to change the way he was living. I'm super pumped to start teaching him. 

I don't remember if I've mentioned Blanca before, but we taught her again this week. It went really good. We taught about the Book of Mormon and she also promised to read and pray with her family this week. She too told us that there was something she has always been missing in her life. It sounds kind of crazy but she basically said that word for word.

We had a really cool experience this week. We had an investigator that we taught in my first week here that was progressing really well. The only problem was that she was living with her boyfriend (who's a less active member) and she knew that she couldn't get baptized unless she moved out. After the first week, they didn't answer their phones and they were never in there house. So we kind of though they just didn't want to listen anymore and we kind of just left them for a while. Then this past week we got a call from the missionaries that are in a different zone saying that she was getting baptized this Saturday. She had moved out of her house and was living with her mom so that she could get baptized. So we got permission to go to her baptism. It was a super cool experience. She lives in my old Zone so there were a few Elders from that i knew.

Last week i heard that in my old area there was a bunch of baptisms, but while i was there they told me there was 6 baptisms of people that I had taught while i was there, and that that family that we found my last week there are getting baptized too. That was super sick to hear.
Overall this week was pretty sick.

Hope you all have a good week. I love you all!!!!

Love Elder Crisp

June 6th, 2016

Hola Everbody, Hows its going?

This week was pretty good. We didn't get to many lessons but we were able to teach a couple for the first time in a while. Jose Carlos and Tatiana. I'm not sure if I've mentioned them but they are super cool. They are a young couple that are actually married. It is really rare to find a young couple here that are married. People here don't really think its important. But they are pretty prepared, they always read and they always pray together. They've accepted a baptismal date like 5 times but the only problem is that they wont come to church. They live pretty far away from the chapel but they've told us that they don't feel ready to go to our church. I'm not sure what that means but we've tried to explain to them importance and all that but they just don't seem to want to go. But we have a cita [appointment] with them on Tuesday so well see what happens. 

We also taught a lady that was receiving the lessons like a year and a half ago but then stopped. Her name is Blanca. She is a single mom with 2 kids. Shes read the BofM and she prays with her kids everyday, but she doesn't really want to go to church either. Her kids are going through classes for their 1st Communion and she has to go there but this week she said she would make time to go to Sacrament Meeting so that pretty cool. 

13 Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.

I read this scripture this week that i had never read before. But I love it. Because as disciples, missionaries and members of the church we are all called to declare His word and help others to come to Him, so that can also have everlasting life. 

That's all i have from this week. Hope you all have a good week.

Love Elder Crisp