Elder Ethan Crisp

Buenas tardes. I´m sure Mom was absolutely freaking out that my letter never arrived yesterday. But yesterday we had "concilio de lideres de zona." Its the council for zone leaders. It was super weird cause i was the youngest there (based on time in the mission)--me and another Elder from my generation. But it was absolutely amazing. It was an awesome opportunity to recieve revelation for me personally, for our area and for the zone. I learned sooooo much. My president, President Cantu is awesome--i´m sure he´ll be a Seventy and in a General Conference a few years in the future i´ll be able to say "that´s MY mission president." A bunch of apostles, especially E. Holland always talk about their mission presidents and their effect on their lives, and i think i´ll have a lot of things to say in the future about Pres. Cantu and the things he taught me. So we had the council yesterday and the zone meeting today. It was my first and before i was feeling a little bit of doubt that i could teach my comps from this zone the things that i learned. But as we were walking to the church and i felt a confiramation and a voice "Todo saldra bien" or "Everythings gonna turn out fine." And it did. Even though i still dont get why im here and why i´m zone leader, i know theres a reason. I just gotta do all i can to fulfill my purpsoe here. Other than that not much happened this week. We dont have very much here because there was some disobedience by the missionary that i replaced here. It wasnt super bad what he did but he´s already repented and is working with the people that i love in La Paz which is good. But for that reason we dont have much to work with. But we are going to work with what we have and find what we need to find. Villa Verde will be better!

I´m glad that the Dodgers won. I literally prayed that they would win haha--you can thank me later. I´m glad to hear that you enjoyed the game and all that and that the Dodgers keep on winning. I have to tell you that i woke up a little confused--i dreamed that Ethier got traded to the Braves (it was the first time that i dreamed about sports in a looooong time.). But its good that its not true. I have to say that Stephen looks way older in that picture--he looks more mature. I hope thats how it is :)

I was shocked to hear that Mom´s friend died. Thats super sad. But its not so sad when you understand the Plan of Salvation and how it works. Even less when you understand Temple Work and its purpose. Someone is going to give her the chance to accept the Gospel and i´m sure she´ll do it. The missionaries will probably be lead to arrive at their door--if they have been prepared (and i´m sure they have) they´ll be able to accept the restored gospel. And that is awesome. But something that i just remembered doesnt have anything to do with that--in the council President explained that in Mexico in 2011, 38000 people got baptized. Awesome right? But whats not awesome is that in 2011, there was an increase in people going to church of only 3000 people. 35000 people in Mexico are already inactive. Its something really surprising and super sad but it shows how hard Satan is working. He knows its almost over--his time is almost done. Its not gonna be December 21, 2012 but its soon maybe closer than we think. Hes working hard. But we all have to work harder. There are people being prepared--hopefully that woman´s family has been prepared or will be prepared by this experience to accept the gospel and make those changes. But theres a bunch of work to do. We have to have the courage to open our mouths and help the missionaries (hint hint) to find the people who are prepared. There are a TOOOON of people in Temecula--in the area of Chaparral. The missionaries search with all their heart but the members have the responsibility to help the missionaries find those prepared people. I hope you can help too :)

Well one piece of news. They told us about the phone call. It´ll be Mothers Day (in Mexico its always May 10th but they told us to call whenever is Mothers Day in our country). The thing is its going to be 1 hour and i can only talk to Mom. Thats something new--usually we can talk to everyone but this time i can only talk to mom. If you want, you can put it in speakerphone so everyone can hear my heavily accented voice but they cant talk to me nor i to them. We are going to find the phone that we are going to use and next Monday i´ll give it and that´ll be that. But thats the news on the call.

Well thats all i got for yall. Hope you have an awesome week and that the Dodgers keep winning haha. ¡Que tengan buena semana!

--Elder Crisp