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December 26, 2011

Happy Monday! It was fun talking with y´all on Saturday--it was the
first time in a while that i have talked in English for so long.
Normally when i talk in English its to answer the Mexicans´ questions
about what words mean and i have to use like a Spanish accent to
answer them so that they understand so yeah i have an accent. And i
can´t imagine what it´ll be like after two years. I always have the
fear that i am going to mess up the number like that so i like
cuadruple check it--that´s what i did with the number for this call.
One of my friends had to change his call too--he told his family it
was going to be Sunday but we had the choir so one of the elders in
the offices had to call his family to change it to later. By the way
the choir was really good. There are some pics from it but i forget to
bring the cord right now so it´ll have to wait. Also, i didn´t have
time to go to the offices today to get the package cause we had like a
zone christmas party. It was crazy, one member from one of the wards
in our stake fed all 16 of us in the Zone. Then we had a gift exchange
and i got some new ties--the thing was to give the ugliest tie we had
and a regular gift so i´ve got a cool looking tie and an ugly one. So
that´s fun. Some business--i had told dad that i could possibly open a
bank account here--but there aren´t any banks here that are there.
There´s HSBC, but I don´t think there´s one close to the house where
you are right? And either way all the banks are downtown and there
isn´t one in my area. Also, i have a question--do you get a cold just
from being cold? EVERYONE says that here and it didn´t sound right.
When it started to get cold i didn´t have anything--only longsleeved
shirts and everyone said, "you´re gonna get sick" especially me comp
who has a toasty sweater. I haven´t gotten sick and he has so i
wonder. I ask because i don´t remember haha.

So there are some investigators that we have that i haven´t told you
about yet. Theyare Marco and Paulina, a couple--they´ve got 3 little
kids too super funny. But they are just awesome. Marco loves to read
the BofM--he loves to read and follow the story. Paulina is really
awesome too. This week we have the two wards in our builing together
at 11 instead of 8 so they were already up and ready to go to churh,
all 5 of them. And it was just awesome to see them, in their own
little row, singing hymns and listening. The only problem with
them--well they each have their own. Marco smokes, but we set the goal
to smoke 1 a day instead of the 3 he had previously, and the last time
we went he hadn´t smoked at all. Paulina works almost all the time,
including Sunday, and it was super lucky that she was able to go this
week. But like all investigators, they have their challenges, but
they´re awesome and i think they´re gonna get it done. I jsut wanted
to share that with y´all.

A little thought about the Book of Mormon. I have met some people who
are absolutely in love with the Bible--they think its the beezneez and
won´t accept anything else. That´s why i love this scripture from
Nephi 296.8: "6 Thou fool, that shall say: A aBible, we have got a
Bible, and we need no more Bible. 8 Wherefore murmur ye, because that
ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the atestimony of
btwo nations is a cwitness unto you that I am God, that I remember one
dnation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one
nation like unto another. And when the two enations shall run together
the testimony of the two nations shall run together also." Many people
say--why doesn´t it talk about the Book of Mormon in the Bible? What
they don´t understand is that it really does, and that it wouldn´t
make any sense if it said in the Bible--"Wait for the Book of Mormon,
read it and get baptized." That´s not how God works. We have to put
forth our effort to read, ponder, and pray. And sometimes as members,
i think we think too much of the BofM like its the beezneez and we
forget about the Bible. REcently i have been reading a chapter or so a
day from the Bible and i have learned a ridiculously about of
stuff--the Bible and Book of Mormon TOGETHER are really the beezneez
along with D&C and Pear of Great Price. That´s why they´re are all
together--because they´re equally important. I have been reading a
chapter a day from the BofM, from D&C, and from the Bible and its been
enlightening. i suggest you do the same.

Have an awesome week and an awesome new year´s! I´ll be sleeping when
it the new year starts so enjoy it extra for me. ¡Qué tengan buen año
nuevo y buena semana!

--Elder Crisp