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March 26, 2012

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!


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