- -

March 19, 2012

Otra semana. Cada vez se va mas rapido y mas rapido. Espero que no siga asi porque voy a estar en la casa sin darme cuenta y eso significa muchas cosas bien estresantes-- trabajo, escuela, matrimonio (:/) y cosas asi. Pero trato de no pensar en eso. Im going to be honest--i started writing in spanish without even thinking. You have no idea how hard it is not to--well im sure mom and dad do but its hard. This week kinda just floated by. WE had a bunch of appts that fell through in this week and for that reason the numbers looked really bad and we really didn´t find anyone new. But i love that there´s always another week to improve and to work really--though there will be a time where there won´t be a next week but like i said in spanish, i try not to think about it. We did find an awesome woman to teach. Her name is Maria Luisa. She was a reference from a member who met her on a bus and she took us to her house. Shes like 70 and shes never really gone to any church and she doesnt understand much. But she feels the spirit so strong every time we are there that she cant help but tell us. She always tells us "i cant explain it but i feel so good right now." Shes a super cute old lady haha. Her story was awesome. She told us that her daughter was sick and she prayed for her. She was healed miraculously. After, she dreamed that she saw Jesus and he told her to follow him. A couple days later she met the member that gave us the reference and then we went. She told us she had always seen us pass by and she always wanted to talk to us but she was always too embarrassed to call out to us. But finally we arrived and she accepted a baptismal date, though it´ll probably be postponed because her son from Cabos San Lucas came and "kidnapped" her as a surprise vacation. So she couldn´t go to church and we dont know how long its gonna take but eventually we´ll get her in the water. Also, we are still teaching Yaneth, obviously, but we still haven´t been able to go to get her married. But this week we are going to take them to a little ranch cause its wayyyy easier there (i don´t know if i already told yall that). But we´ll do that this week and shell get baptized the next. Also we are teaching Miriam and her kids Angelica and Jose Luis. The problem with her is that her "husband" doesnt wanna get married and of course theyve been together like 15 years and have 5 kids together and he still doesn´t want to. But shes got a firmer testimony than many of the members here--i would say most of the members here. We are going to baptize the kids in the next week and then start working on her husband. Its been little by little. Before i got here, he didn´t even talk to the missionaries. Finally he greeted us. Then today, we got a text from Miriam and she asked us to give her little daughter a blessing cause she was sick and they didn´t know why (turns out she got bit by a spider which is always dangerous with little little kids). When we got there in the morning, he invited us to have breakfast and all that. He also lived in the US most of his life and he speaks english so we´re gonna take advantage of that haha. I have faith that he is going to open his heart and that all will be baptized and live happily ever after. But we gotta keep working. Wow this paragraph was super long. Sorry haha.

Here´s a scripture that i love to use with members. ITs says in the white bible that we should never talk bad about our wards or the members--so i´m not going to, but i will say that i have much reason to complain ALOT about them in this area. Its somes up with the word "Pride." But thats a different story. I like this scripture cause it explains our duty as members. Dice, "40 And again, I say unto you, I give unto you a commandment, that every man, both elder, priest, teacher, and also member, go to with his might, with the alabor of his bhands, to prepare and accomplish the things which I have commanded.41 And let your apreaching be the bwarning voice, every man to his neighbor, in mildness and in cmeekness.42 And go ye aout from among the bwicked. Save yourselves. Be ye cclean that bear the vessels of the Lord. Even so. Amen." I like where it says "every man to his neighbor" because it really illustrates our responsibility--we dont need ties and a nametag. we dont have to go out knocking doors and contacting people in the street. As members our duty is talk with our neighbors. Share what we have so that they can enjoy what we enjoy. That is our responsibility. And even though that doesn´t click well with some members here, it IS our duty and we must do it. As it says it is a commandment. Hopefully we all can keep this commandment.
Well i hope you all have an awesome week. I thought i would miss more the worldly stuff--like march madness, but turns out that i don´t (even though i am curious whos in it and still don´t know :/). all i care about--the only upsets that i care about are when the investigators triumph over Satan. Like a nobody beating Duke (who are the blue devils haha), it brings joy--but obviously way more joy than a basketball game. There aren´t many people in the La Paz who are having these types of upsets unfortunately. La Paz is a laid back city. Unfortunately it makes the people lazy--even members. Its kinda ridiculous that a ward of 300 members has 50 going every week. But that´s what happens. There aren´t many upsets like that here which is sad. But we keep working for those upsets. And eventually Satan will be completely upset--but we ALL have to keep working. Every member a missionary.

That´s all i got for this week. ¡Que tengan buena semana!

--Elder Crisp

Mom...Even though its expensive for here, the marriage license really is like 50 bucks in dollars. So it won´t be that big a deal. And i have already written a letter to Tucker--the problem is last week we couldn´t go send it and this week we went and it was closed cause its a holiday. So eventually he´ll get it--even though it´ll be like in two months. But eventually it´ll happen.

Amy...You´ll do the right thing--don´t stress it!

Dad...gracias por compartir ese parrafo de Presidente Monson. Creo que esta en Predicad mi evangelio tambien. Aunque es dificil de creer, no creo que haya cumplido suficiente bien con ese principio. Voy a mejorar mis oraciones. Espero poder lograrlo. Lo necesito. Tambien, espero que pudiera decir eso--"no tengo tiempo para enfermarme." Pero asi es la vida haha. Ya no hay pretextos. Solo hay trabajar--y es lo que voy a hacer.

Grandma...Sorry to hear about your hand! Hope you feel better! Have an awesome and happy week!