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April 9, 2012

So another transfer under my belt. Now i enter my seventh transfer, third as senior companion and second as district leader. Im still here in Calafia, La Paz, but with a new companion. My prediction that E. Casimiro would train was wrong--he left this morning for CaboSanLucas still as junior comp and i recieved E. Dominguez. Hes from Colombia- He and his sister are the only members of the church in his family--he has less than 2 years as a member. So thats pretty cool. We are going to work super hard in this transfer--harder than i have ever worked before. Its SUPER hot right now; now starts the heat of summer. Its always tough the first couple days with a new comp--getting used to his personality, his style of teaching, and his sense of humor, but the awkwardness always leaves after a couple days--a week maximum. This week was tough. We found some good people including a really nice family but this week played with my emotions. We went to visit Yaneth on Mon and convinced her husband to get married and after that from Tues-Thurs, almost all of our attention was getting the stuff done--even though there wasnt much to be done we spent most of the time worrying about it. Then on Thurs night we called to see if we could go to the little ranch, Los Planes, and Yaneth answered the phone. She was absolutely bawling and said she was in a bunch of pain. We felt helpless because it was already time to go home and we couldnt visit her. So we went early Fri and her motherinlaw said she was already in the hospital--that she had a problem in her pancreas that was causing her so much pain. So we got permission to go visit her and we went and gave her a blessing. It was so extremely sad to see her in a hospital bed, suffering so much. She hasnt done anything wrong. All she wants to do is get baptized and be better but her stupid husband didnt let her for so long because of his actions. We left the hospital super sad, wondering why. But i remembered something that i had studied earlier this week about Hope. Hope is to have faith but to wait with patience and tranquility and calmess until the miracle occurs. We had the faith that she was going to get better but we lacked the hope. But even with htat realization we had trouble focusing on anything else this week. Shes still in the hospital and awaiting tests results and a weird operation so keep praying for her. We have people to teach and to baptize, including this week--Jose Luis (10) and Araceli (she turns 8 tomorrow), two more of Miriams kids are going to get baptized this week. There are a bunch of people that wanna change their lives--its just that it seems like theres a whole lot more opposition now and here than ever. But we are going to do all we possibly can to get these people baptized and keep em active. Thats some thing that has been failing big time in this ward--keeping converts active. But its our job too--so we are gonna do it.

Some answers...Mom, here the members dont do anything--they dont have Easter. Obviously the Catholics celebrate the whole week. I dont remember what its called in english but its the "semana santa" in spanish. EVERYONE goes to the beach. This week, especially Fri and Sat there was almost nobody in the street nor in their house for that reason. But whatev. Here, school got out starting last week and continues this week. So there will be another week of not a lot of people around my area. The ring really doesnt fit very well but i put a bunch of tape around the bottom side--it looks kinda ugly but i dont care. Sad to hear about the Jaramillos. Happy to hear about Mckenna and soon Emily. Really the sister missionaries are always better than the elders. Cause all of them want to be there and alot of the elders dont. They still try hard but not as much as they could. Here almost all of the men in the ward served missions--the problem is that almost all of them feel that they have fulfilled their duty and now dont have to do missionary work. Its kinda of frustrating but i realize that i have to focus on my part and the members theirs--theyll have their reward, and so will i if i keep on keeping on. (Worldly alert) Good to hear about the Dodgers--of course theyll probably win it all this year cause im not going to be there--but thats how it goes haha.

Well, I have run out of time--there will be a double spirtual thought next week. Stay tuned for that!

¡Que tengan buena semana!

--Elder Crisp :)

Also fotos will come next week--this computer doesnt let me. Also, i wont be able to use my camera until i get back to sinaloa and i have my charger--my camera doesnt want to recognize anything else. So sorry about that.