December 19, 2011

Dear Mom

This last week lots of things have happened. We had changes this week. My companion got changed out and I have a new companion, Elder Ward. He´s from Nebraska and he´s been a nice relief for me. I have become District leader once again even though I´m in the same area. So, once again I am District leader of the exact same district I was leader over exactly a year ago. It seems kind of strange to me but it´s been kind of fun at the same time. I´ve gone back to my old area and visited my converts. They´re struggling getting up to go to church, I´ve been told, and there are a lot of members that were really kind to me that have gone inactive since I´ve been there. It´s been kind of sad for me to see that, but I plan to go and help them try and reactivate some good friends of mine.

The Futbol tournament went well. We played terribly and lost every game but we had lots of fun. I played defense and had some fun defensive plays. Bonnie is from California and Enrique her husband is from here. They´ve lived in the states most of their lives but right now thy´re living here and have their restaurant.

This week we´ve got lots of fun things planned. Wednesday we have a service project, Thursday we have the Christmas Conference, Friday we have interviews with president, Saturday we have the Zone Party at Bonnies house :D, and Sunday is Christmas! We´ll be home all day long Sunday. If I get the package at the conference, I promise I´ll wait this time until I call to open my gift.

Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo

December 12, 2011

(In reference to questions concerning a family from Guatemala that are coming for a visit this week) They´re not that different from a family back home. Edgar (the dad) is very businesslike and straight faced and I think if it seems to him like he´s in the way he´ll change his mind, but he is really courteous. The wife, Betty, is about the opposite. She LOVES to talk and she loves to cook. She wanted to know some recipes from me but we ran out of time. She likes the banana bread as well as all the family and they were hoping to be able to make some cheesecake but I never even got the chance to ask you for the recipe. I don´t know how much time you´ll actually have at home to be able to do something like that but just so you know. When I was with them we usually just ate beans and eggs and bread, but that´s just the night time snack right before bed if your hungry. Just know that they´re more like a states family than any Guatemala family I´ve known.


The dedication was awesome! A lot of people told stories of their pioneer ancestors who saw the missionaries in a dream or a recently deceased spouse who returned to tell his wife that he was not happy where he was at that time but that he would soon leave that place. The reason was because the wife´s sister was about to do the temple work for him. There were many stories like that. The dedicatory prayer was beautiful. I liked it a lot.

(In reference to an email that I got from this lady asking for recipes)
Bonnie is the lady who has been feeding us really well and Zumbas is the restaurant. It´s been really good and I´ve asked her if she can make me a batch of home made caramel and I also was wondering if she could get the pineapple cookies to work since I couldn´t.


For Christmas, I will call. The limit is 40 minutes and I have to buy the minutes on our phone with my own money.


That´s about all I know. The Christmas conference is the 22nd, so there´s still some time (for his package to get there). Thanks so much and I love you all.

Love,

Elder Landon James Crapo

December 5, 2011

Dear Mom,

Being back in Huehue has been good. I guess I´ve never been good at explaining things here but Elder Fuentes is one of the best, if not the best companion I've had and the changes I had there were the most effective ones I´ve had as well.

I´ve thought a lot about how my last half of my mission is going and I feel that I´m being tried like I´ve never been in my life before. I´m being prepared for something. I don´t know what it is and I don´t like to think about it, but I know I´m being prepared. I´ve thought about the same thing you mentioned to me a couple of times, but I´ve always dismissed it as justifying not having success in the mission. I don´t ever want to think that I can´t do God´s work just because I have a difficult companion. I don´t know if I´ve done any good for the companions that I´ve had, but I sure have tried.

My companion is from El Salvador. He likes psychology and wants to be a psychiatrist.

I´m just going to tell you now that I don´t expect to write much about the work for the next two weeks. The cultural celebration is Saturday and the Dedication is Sunday. President Uchtdorf is coming to dedicate it and I believe we might be able to have a conference with him.

I´m here with Elder Bagley and he has mentioned a lot of stuff about this area to his mom. I think she´s on the missionary moms group. We are eating really well... someone has been praying too hard that I get fed extremely well these last couple of months in my mission. ;)

I´m out of time but I´ll write you next week about the temple.

Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo