July 18, 2011

Dear Mom and family,

This week has been kind of crazy. I've had to deal with a few elders in the district and am still trying to finish with some of the details, but in the end, two elders have been taken out of the district and what has happened or is going to happen to them I don't know. All I know is that they are no longer under my jurisdiction. That took the majority of my time this last half of my week.

I don't know what to tell you this week. I've kind of lost focus of my area. This week they released our ward mission leader and they haven't called a new one yet. I'm working on a plan for the district this next change to help us work more with the members. The idea is that we help the members know what to do to help teach the references they give us. I thought of explaining it with an illustration.

We as missionaries are in a long hall with a bunch of doors to rooms that represent the hearts of the people. Some are members some are not. There are some rooms where the door from the hall (us missionaries) is locked but the door from neighboring rooms (family and friends) are not. The problem that we have is when we ask for references, the members give them to us and then expect us to go to their house and contact them. This is the equivalent of us going to the locked door in the hall and trying to get in when we can't. Instead, we need the members to go a little further in making the invitation and preparing them so that they can unlock that door to the hall and let us in. It's a really basic illustration but it makes the idea clear.

Luis didn't come to church yesterday which means that his baptism on the 30th might not happen if he doesn't come next week. He seems really positive but he hasn't come to church once since we got here. So... It doen't seem like I've got a lot to do right now. We're just kind of starting over and trying to find new investigators this next week, working with the members and all. Thank you so much for sending me a letter every week though. I really appreciate it.

Love,

Elder Landon James Crapo