Dear Mom and Family,
The sun came out this week! My companion told my that it´s always foggy and cloudy, even when there´s not a hurricane passing through, but apparently the wet season has now ended and the cold and dry season has come and it´s been sunny since Tuesday.
This week has been a lot better. We´ve been able to work trying to find new investigators. We tried contacting a few people, but the majority could only speak k´iché. They´re rebuilding the chapel and are just about finished. It looks great and the bishop is really excited about it. They´re planning to do a cultural night to celebrate the new chapel and they´ve asked us to do an act on the part of the missionary work. We planned a little yesterday and I´m a bit worried about the crunch of time they want us to be able to prepare it in... I feel they´re starting extremely late, but we´ll do our best. We´re estimating dedicating the chapel in two weeks or three. We taught a member named Miguel and asked him for a reference and he told us he´d think about it and have someone for us yesterday. He followed through and so now we have someone to go teach.
That´s about all for this week. The family I was living with gave me their e-mail so I could give it to you so you could talk but I forgot it was on my old planner and I don´t have it with me. I´m sorry, I´ll try to get it to you next week. I´m not quite sure what I´m going to need to get me through the rest of my mission. A lot of my pants have a small hole between the legs from all the walking I´ve been doing. I´m down to my last pair of shoes. All my socks have holes in the toes that I have to repair daily. My garments are all stretched out... but I´m doing fine. I can find most of that stuff here if I need to. My name tag broke yesterday so I filed down the sharp edges and stuck a magnet to it so I could still use it. I can improvise. My backpack is being held up by climbing hooks... I could go on. I´ll look this week and see what I can think of that I might really need. I think the only thing is a pair of dark blue pinstriped pants to the suit I brought on the mission so I can go home nice and clean and new. Everything else I´ll just use up to the very end.
Thanks! I love you.
Elder Landon James Crapo
Counters
Monday, October 24, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
October 17, 2011 Hurricane for a birthday present!
Hey Mom,
I´m not quite sure what to tell you this week. It´s been another crazy adventure this whole week and there´s too much to tell and to be completely honest... I didn´t want to come write today because I don´t want you to stress over it all, especially since it´s already over, but I´m writing with the confidence that you already know how I´ve been able to deal with things thus far.
First of all... I am no longer in Las Rosas with Elder Chavez. That may be the biggest shock. I got a call at about noon to inform me that I actually did have changes, AFTER I wrote you all to tell you I didn´t. So... Where am I? I wonder the same thing myself. The area is called Xolcajá and it overlooks Nahualá, when you can see it that is. The things is, the area is extremely high and is covered in fog 24/7. What makes it worse this week is that there was the hurricane on my birthday. I haven´t seen the sun since last Monday. The good thing is that I AM in the mountains so the hurricane is only tons of water instead of high winds and all that fun stuff on the coast. The problem with the mountains and tons of rain is all the landslides that happen. We´re all fine but the area itself took a pretty big hit. Wednesday morning was the scariest part because I woke up to a loud but distant rumbling and crunching noise like glass and dirt rolling down a hill. We found out later that it was a huge landslide in Patzité (part of my area) that took out 8 houses. Because of that, more than half our area is inaccessible right now because of the walking path being taken out. The road near our house, the main one that goes to Guatemala City, is almost completely wiped out.
Being out here has been a bit of another culture shock to be completely honest but I´m sure when we begin to get some work done it won´t matter. I´m actually excited to have the chance to really learn K´iché. If I stay out here for the rest of my mission, I will be able to teach in K´iché my last change; at least I hope. I´ve been living off of oatmeal and beans this whole week since I didn´t get a chance to buy before the storm hit, but that´s a good thing. I´ve been trying to stay healthy and I´m taking the vitamins you sent me which probably have helped more this week than ever. My new companion got sick though so I´ve been using your propolis pills as well. I imagine right now that I probably weigh 165 now which is close to the ideal weight for me and to my goal. Don´t worry though, my companion has permission to go to Xela and buy healthy food because he's on a mission weight loss program and needs special food. So I´ll be able to do the same.
The reason I got changes is because I traded places with an elder who was having some health issues and altitude sickness and they wanted him to be closer to the doctor. My new companion, Elder Paz is from Honduras and has had some rough companions these paste few changes and at one point was about to give up and go home. The assistants told me I needed to take care of him and help boost his excitement and self esteem. He has many good goals. He is determined to learn English and exercise every day. The point is, there´s a lot of work for me to do. They haven´t baptized here since the first week of January. They´re building a new chapel and it will be finished and dedicated within the next month. After that, the bishop says the goal is to fill the chapel by the end of the year. The ward is split into two areas and we live across the street from the other Elders. Most of the week we´ve spent in their house waiting out the storm playing Uno.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
I´m not quite sure what to tell you this week. It´s been another crazy adventure this whole week and there´s too much to tell and to be completely honest... I didn´t want to come write today because I don´t want you to stress over it all, especially since it´s already over, but I´m writing with the confidence that you already know how I´ve been able to deal with things thus far.
First of all... I am no longer in Las Rosas with Elder Chavez. That may be the biggest shock. I got a call at about noon to inform me that I actually did have changes, AFTER I wrote you all to tell you I didn´t. So... Where am I? I wonder the same thing myself. The area is called Xolcajá and it overlooks Nahualá, when you can see it that is. The things is, the area is extremely high and is covered in fog 24/7. What makes it worse this week is that there was the hurricane on my birthday. I haven´t seen the sun since last Monday. The good thing is that I AM in the mountains so the hurricane is only tons of water instead of high winds and all that fun stuff on the coast. The problem with the mountains and tons of rain is all the landslides that happen. We´re all fine but the area itself took a pretty big hit. Wednesday morning was the scariest part because I woke up to a loud but distant rumbling and crunching noise like glass and dirt rolling down a hill. We found out later that it was a huge landslide in Patzité (part of my area) that took out 8 houses. Because of that, more than half our area is inaccessible right now because of the walking path being taken out. The road near our house, the main one that goes to Guatemala City, is almost completely wiped out.
Being out here has been a bit of another culture shock to be completely honest but I´m sure when we begin to get some work done it won´t matter. I´m actually excited to have the chance to really learn K´iché. If I stay out here for the rest of my mission, I will be able to teach in K´iché my last change; at least I hope. I´ve been living off of oatmeal and beans this whole week since I didn´t get a chance to buy before the storm hit, but that´s a good thing. I´ve been trying to stay healthy and I´m taking the vitamins you sent me which probably have helped more this week than ever. My new companion got sick though so I´ve been using your propolis pills as well. I imagine right now that I probably weigh 165 now which is close to the ideal weight for me and to my goal. Don´t worry though, my companion has permission to go to Xela and buy healthy food because he's on a mission weight loss program and needs special food. So I´ll be able to do the same.
The reason I got changes is because I traded places with an elder who was having some health issues and altitude sickness and they wanted him to be closer to the doctor. My new companion, Elder Paz is from Honduras and has had some rough companions these paste few changes and at one point was about to give up and go home. The assistants told me I needed to take care of him and help boost his excitement and self esteem. He has many good goals. He is determined to learn English and exercise every day. The point is, there´s a lot of work for me to do. They haven´t baptized here since the first week of January. They´re building a new chapel and it will be finished and dedicated within the next month. After that, the bishop says the goal is to fill the chapel by the end of the year. The ward is split into two areas and we live across the street from the other Elders. Most of the week we´ve spent in their house waiting out the storm playing Uno.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
Monday, October 10, 2011
October 10, 2011
Dear Mom and Family,
Thank you so much for all your love and letters. It feels really good to be able to remember how much I´m loved back at home. I really REALLY needed all your letters today. Things have been kind of difficult for me lately. I really am trying so hard to do everything I should and to have the spirit and success, but I just haven´t done too well. I´ve longed for so long the peace in my heart that I am pleasing the Lord in what I´m doing every day and not guilt for not doing more. This week I´ve had struggles with my companion. He has been quick to judge and his comments and responses to me have been belittling and judging. He has had some struggles with the existence of racism, and has turned to racism as his reaction and defense. He has claimed that we North Americans do not understand Latins, because we have never grown up in an environment where the government could shoot you if you were out late at night or if you looked like a gang member. He seems to depreciate us because he doesn´t believe we can offer anything to them. We have been given everything and we have nothing to offer because we haven´t suffered enough to win his respect. The most frequent thing that comes out of his mouth is that all the sins are going to fall upon someones head for not doing what HE thinks they should be doing. He doesn´t show mercy and all he wants to do is "machete" people. Something happens or doesn´t happen and he throws up his hands and goes about saying that they should be doing this or that and indicates that if he were in such a position, he would be able to do the job perfectly. He feels that everyone is against him, especially North Americans, but he can´t see that he is the one who is making an enemy out of everyone else.
We got the chance to work with President Boutista this week. We went to visit Hermano Martinez and we had an extremely good lesson. Yesterday President showed up to sacrament meeting, hoping that Hermano Martinez would show up but he didn´t. We made an appointment with the bishop to visit Hno Martinez for Wednesday. I´m hoping that they can resolve past conflicts and that Hno Martinez can confide in him and begin his way back.
Tonight we have a family night with a young single adult less active and with her boyfriend who´s Catholic. She´s 6 months pregnant too. We´re hoping they commit to getting married and him getting baptized. They are both extremely nice. We´ve met him a couple of times but we haven´t had the chance to teach them together yet.
I´m out of time now but I just want you all to know how happy you have made me. That´s why I told you all that I did. So you could understand how much I appreciate what you do.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
Thank you so much for all your love and letters. It feels really good to be able to remember how much I´m loved back at home. I really REALLY needed all your letters today. Things have been kind of difficult for me lately. I really am trying so hard to do everything I should and to have the spirit and success, but I just haven´t done too well. I´ve longed for so long the peace in my heart that I am pleasing the Lord in what I´m doing every day and not guilt for not doing more. This week I´ve had struggles with my companion. He has been quick to judge and his comments and responses to me have been belittling and judging. He has had some struggles with the existence of racism, and has turned to racism as his reaction and defense. He has claimed that we North Americans do not understand Latins, because we have never grown up in an environment where the government could shoot you if you were out late at night or if you looked like a gang member. He seems to depreciate us because he doesn´t believe we can offer anything to them. We have been given everything and we have nothing to offer because we haven´t suffered enough to win his respect. The most frequent thing that comes out of his mouth is that all the sins are going to fall upon someones head for not doing what HE thinks they should be doing. He doesn´t show mercy and all he wants to do is "machete" people. Something happens or doesn´t happen and he throws up his hands and goes about saying that they should be doing this or that and indicates that if he were in such a position, he would be able to do the job perfectly. He feels that everyone is against him, especially North Americans, but he can´t see that he is the one who is making an enemy out of everyone else.
We got the chance to work with President Boutista this week. We went to visit Hermano Martinez and we had an extremely good lesson. Yesterday President showed up to sacrament meeting, hoping that Hermano Martinez would show up but he didn´t. We made an appointment with the bishop to visit Hno Martinez for Wednesday. I´m hoping that they can resolve past conflicts and that Hno Martinez can confide in him and begin his way back.
Tonight we have a family night with a young single adult less active and with her boyfriend who´s Catholic. She´s 6 months pregnant too. We´re hoping they commit to getting married and him getting baptized. They are both extremely nice. We´ve met him a couple of times but we haven´t had the chance to teach them together yet.
I´m out of time now but I just want you all to know how happy you have made me. That´s why I told you all that I did. So you could understand how much I appreciate what you do.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
Monday, October 3, 2011
October 3, 2011
Dear Mom and Family,
About all we´ve been able to do so far is work with inactive members. We talked with the bishop on Friday about the 15 names we needed and we got them. There are about 4 families he gave us, one of which we are already working with. We also mentioned the keys and he told us that he understood and is going to get some to the Mission Leader.
One family (familia Martinez) is a senior couple. The wife (Alma) has a strong desire to come to church and be active and has helped us a lot with another friend of hers (Margarita) who is also less active. The problem is the Husband (Rolando). He is less active for several reasons. One of the biggest reasons he blames on the leaders of the ward. He says that they don´t show love and kindness nor do they show their Christlike character outside of the church. He judges them and says that it´s better to be inactive and living a Christlike life than to go to church and then to "not even greet people they know in the street". We tried to teach about the importance of going to church and in the conversation he said that those who are inactive have a better, clearer view of things than those who just go to church to go to church. At that time I could not stand any more apostasy and I just blatantly responded "That´s not what Christ teaches in the Book of Mormon." It was silent for a few seconds and then I decided to explain myself. I opened up to 3 Nephi 18 and we read 1-12 and then I explained why we go to church, to take of the sacrament. Then I reiterated that Jesus taught them that it was his commandment that they always do it and how we promise to carry His name and that He promises the spirit. Then I read verse 25 and explained that Jesus taught that nobody should be denied nor deny themselves that privilege and that those who did were more easily swayed by temptation. He paused, then, as he always does when we confront him about coming to church, he tried to make a joke out of things and said, "yes but I always have the spirit with me." At that point I just gave up. I thought, "I can´t make this any clearer for you. You´re contradicting Jesus Christ himself." but I didn´t have the heart to say that at the time. I felt it wouldn´t do any good. I just smiled, closed my scriptures and put them away. There was a little bit more small talk and religious jokes from Rolando and then we left.
The other family we´ve focused on went much better. We´ve been teaching the parents of a young single adult named Deisy. All of them are converts but her parents haven´t gone to church for quite a while. Her grandfather who lived with them just recently passed away and then we came in and started teaching them little by little with family night activities. We taught about the gospel. We went in depth on faith, touched on the repentance process, the baptismal covenant, and explained the purpose for going to church. We shared the same scripture of 3 NE 18. Yesterday we got a text from Deisy:
"Hola Elderes!! Hoy en la mañana me acompañaron mis papas a la conferencia, estoy muy agradecida con mi Padre Celestial y con ustedes por lo que hacen por mi familia. Que el Padre Celestial les bendiga. Att Yo"
I am so grateful for these experiences that I´ve been able to have in my mission. Even with the disappointing ones, I can feel the spirit acting through me as a voice of warning.
I haven´t mentioned this but I kind of have to now. The family that we live with here, when I got here, asked if I could help them fill out their petition papers for a visa. It was all in English and they couldn´t understand it. I did so for all 5 of them which was hard work, but it was worth it. A couple of months later they went to the embassy to have their interviews and it got accepted. They now have visas for 10 years and they are planning on spending Christmas and New Years up there in Los Angeles. They also are planning now to go visit Utah for a few days to see the historical sites and the lights at Temple Square. The only problem is they don´t really have a place to stay or anyone to show them around. I thought that it would be kind of fun for you guys to have them stay in the trailer there and be able to meet a Guatemalan family that gave me housing for at least 3 months. The only thing is, I don´t even know if you still have the trailer... Anyway, I thought I´d mention it and see your response. It would be really awkward at first probably with the language barrier but... What do you think?
As far as my birthday... Just deposit money I think.
Thanks, I love you!
Elder Landon James Crapo
About all we´ve been able to do so far is work with inactive members. We talked with the bishop on Friday about the 15 names we needed and we got them. There are about 4 families he gave us, one of which we are already working with. We also mentioned the keys and he told us that he understood and is going to get some to the Mission Leader.
One family (familia Martinez) is a senior couple. The wife (Alma) has a strong desire to come to church and be active and has helped us a lot with another friend of hers (Margarita) who is also less active. The problem is the Husband (Rolando). He is less active for several reasons. One of the biggest reasons he blames on the leaders of the ward. He says that they don´t show love and kindness nor do they show their Christlike character outside of the church. He judges them and says that it´s better to be inactive and living a Christlike life than to go to church and then to "not even greet people they know in the street". We tried to teach about the importance of going to church and in the conversation he said that those who are inactive have a better, clearer view of things than those who just go to church to go to church. At that time I could not stand any more apostasy and I just blatantly responded "That´s not what Christ teaches in the Book of Mormon." It was silent for a few seconds and then I decided to explain myself. I opened up to 3 Nephi 18 and we read 1-12 and then I explained why we go to church, to take of the sacrament. Then I reiterated that Jesus taught them that it was his commandment that they always do it and how we promise to carry His name and that He promises the spirit. Then I read verse 25 and explained that Jesus taught that nobody should be denied nor deny themselves that privilege and that those who did were more easily swayed by temptation. He paused, then, as he always does when we confront him about coming to church, he tried to make a joke out of things and said, "yes but I always have the spirit with me." At that point I just gave up. I thought, "I can´t make this any clearer for you. You´re contradicting Jesus Christ himself." but I didn´t have the heart to say that at the time. I felt it wouldn´t do any good. I just smiled, closed my scriptures and put them away. There was a little bit more small talk and religious jokes from Rolando and then we left.
The other family we´ve focused on went much better. We´ve been teaching the parents of a young single adult named Deisy. All of them are converts but her parents haven´t gone to church for quite a while. Her grandfather who lived with them just recently passed away and then we came in and started teaching them little by little with family night activities. We taught about the gospel. We went in depth on faith, touched on the repentance process, the baptismal covenant, and explained the purpose for going to church. We shared the same scripture of 3 NE 18. Yesterday we got a text from Deisy:
"Hola Elderes!! Hoy en la mañana me acompañaron mis papas a la conferencia, estoy muy agradecida con mi Padre Celestial y con ustedes por lo que hacen por mi familia. Que el Padre Celestial les bendiga. Att Yo"
I am so grateful for these experiences that I´ve been able to have in my mission. Even with the disappointing ones, I can feel the spirit acting through me as a voice of warning.
I haven´t mentioned this but I kind of have to now. The family that we live with here, when I got here, asked if I could help them fill out their petition papers for a visa. It was all in English and they couldn´t understand it. I did so for all 5 of them which was hard work, but it was worth it. A couple of months later they went to the embassy to have their interviews and it got accepted. They now have visas for 10 years and they are planning on spending Christmas and New Years up there in Los Angeles. They also are planning now to go visit Utah for a few days to see the historical sites and the lights at Temple Square. The only problem is they don´t really have a place to stay or anyone to show them around. I thought that it would be kind of fun for you guys to have them stay in the trailer there and be able to meet a Guatemalan family that gave me housing for at least 3 months. The only thing is, I don´t even know if you still have the trailer... Anyway, I thought I´d mention it and see your response. It would be really awkward at first probably with the language barrier but... What do you think?
As far as my birthday... Just deposit money I think.
Thanks, I love you!
Elder Landon James Crapo
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