Well, this week was just awesome. As i said in the last letter (i
think?), we have been teaching an awesome woman named Miriam. However,
she cant get baptized because shes not married and right now her
"husband" doesnt want to. But she has 5 kids, two of which, at the
beginning of this week, wanted to get baptized. One of them hadnt gone
to church, but the other had gone 2 times, which is the requirement. So
we went Wed to tell her. Shes super shy so she kept saying no. But
finally the spirit told her that she should get baptized this week. We
went back Fri and she was super sad. She never told us why, but at that
point she didnt want to get baptized anymore. But we had the interview
with one of the zone leaders, E. Rabe, and he (with the spirit)
convinced her to do it. So she said yes. So Saturday at 8 oclock we
baptized Angelica and she was confirmed sunday member of the true church
of Jesus Christ. As we thought about the impact of this decision, we
realized that if she keeps doing things right, itll completely change
her family. She got baptized and now her brother is more excited to
follow. Finally, their dad is going to at least feel that he should get
married wit his wife so that she can get baptized, and finally her
husband will be baptized also. We have called it the Great Plan of
Redemption for this family. Its gonna be awesome. It was an awesome
service and there were a bunch of members there to support her and her
mom and to encourage them to stay active. And i think they will.
Other than that we couldnt do much this week. Im noth gong to
complain, but its tough to do certain things here that are super
important in missionary work. But thats not an excuse at all--it
just means we have to work harder in other areas. Like a person who is
blind--the senses or the other important areas need to improve. We didnt
find many newbies this week, but we have committed ourselves to contact
more people in the streets--at least 60 in this week. I know that as we
work and apply the counsels of our mission president, we will see the
fruits of our labors and we will find the people who are really ready at
this time. Other than that i have a cool story. We were gong to have
the baptism at 7 but they called and said we couldnt because af¨ter the
young womens transmission, there was going to be a training given to
ward counsils by Elder Mario Carlos, an Area Seventy. When they
finished, we scrambled around to get the baptism going. I was standing
outside the door greeting people, when Elder Carlos passed by, shook my
hand and told me "Elder Crisp, Congratulations on the baptism." That was
pretty cool. I havent washed my hand since that time haha. (I really
have washed it.) But finding newbies will be our focus in this week.
This week i started in Mosiah, reading in the first General
Conference of King Benjamin. There is a verse in chap 2 that i LOVE that
talks about obedience and the consequences of obeying. Dice " 41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and ahappy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are bblessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out cfaithful to the end they are received into dheaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness.
O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath
spoken it." I hadnt really read this scripture before and so never
apreciated the wording in the end until now--NEVER-ENDING HAPPINESS. If
we were obedient in this blink of an eye time that is life on this earth
we can have that state of NEVER ENDING HAPPINESS: Eternal Life. To live
with God, with Jesus, and with our families. Why not be obedient? Why
not pay tithing or keep the Word of Wisdom or go to church or do the
small amount of things that God asks of us? Why not? (see also 2 Nephi
2:27-28)
To answer your questions....No, i felt nothing of the earthquake.
It was as far away (or farther) than from California to Utah. Here we
were safe and soudn but i did hear about it and heard that the Pope came
to visit. Even the catholics here hate the pope. Its all just silly.
But thats a different story....I havent gotten the package--i wont get
it until at least next week, maybe later i dont know. But ill get it
eventually....just so you know i hate when the "classic" teams make it.
It just takes the fun out of it. So im rooting for Louisville. Just so
you know. And i didnt get the bracket--maybe he wrote the adress wrong
our something. Who knows....thanks for sending the pics. Congrats Ben!
The next one will be a 1st place finish!....How wierd that theres an
elder from Utah. Even the mexicans who arent members realize that most
of the gringos are from Utah. Its the factory. By the way, we do go to
conference at least in the morning on Sunday but we can go to all of em
if we bring investigators. So we are going to try to get investigators
to go...and to finish, i am writing in my journal, but i have plenty of
pages, and yes you can start counting if you want because we are going
to be talking on Mothers Day.
Well thats all i got. I included some pics from this transfer that i
havent been able to send because i left the charger to my camera in the
other area, but they put it in the box to come so ill have it. Enjoy.
And have an awesome week.
¡Que tengan buena semana!
See New Pictures