Dear Mom and Family,
I´m not quite sure what to put in my letter today. I have had some mixed feelings. I´ve always hated goodbyes. I think my feelings are similar to the same feeling I had leaving home to come to this mission. It´s the feeling that I no longer belong here and I´m only lingering. That´s how I felt that morning I went into the MTC and now that´s how I´ve been feeling yesterday and today. Last week was difficult for me to want to try and do something when there wasn´t stuff to do. I think knowing I was not going to be here in enough time to get any real work done frustrated me, but thankfully I did have a lot of stuff to do so I didn´t feel like that too much.
I went and interviewed and helped in a baptism this weekend. Elder Hales in Chinacá had his first baptism and he was super excited, but nervous as well because he is training and he didn´t know what to do. He is one of the humble servants God has called to do many things early on in his mission. I have a testimony of the whisperings of the spirit, because a month and a half ago, I thought of who could help me teach in one of my district meetings. I thought of Elder Hales and then felt the confirming movement in my heart that he should do it. There were many reasons why not to have him do it though. He has very little time in the mission and he struggles with the language still, but I couldn´t deny that feeling I had. So I asked him to prepare a lesson to give in three weeks that gave him time to prepare and practice his Spanish. He was very nervous but I knew that it would be a good learning experience for him. He didn´t end up giving it until last week because of conferences and things. What surprised me, and confirmed to me that my feelings were from the spirit, is that this week he has been assigned to be the new district leader now that I am going home. He is now more nervous than ever but I know that he will do well.
I feel one of the recurring lessons I have learned throughout my entire mission is to just enjoy the experiences that come, and to enjoy the process of learning. I´m not so afraid to make mistakes in life. I know it is part of the process. I am grateful for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and I know he is watching over me and guiding me every moment of every day. I´m grateful for the love He has for me and the relationship I have with Him. I hope that I may always be worthy of His trust as I serve Him and those around me.
So, today I´m going to Xela at 1:00
I´ll get there at about 3:30 at which time I have an interview with President.
After that I´m not sure.
Tomorrow, I´ll be going to the temple, I´ve been told.
Wednesday I´m going to Guatemala City and
Thursday morning I´m on the plane.
I´m hoping they give me time to get some souvenirs. If not, I have a couple but not a lot. I´ll do my best. The market here is kind of crazy and everyone tries to rip you off. It may take me a while to organize all the photos I have and to get all the ones from other missionaries that I don´t have. I won´t have a ton right when I get home though. Another thing is I have to find another suitcase for the flight home. So, there´s lots to do these next few days. I´m excited to see you all, and I´m really excited to spend some time with family again.
UNTIL THURSDAY!
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
Counters
Monday, February 13, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
February 6, 2012
Dear Mom and Family,
This week has been good. We kind of are placing our focus on Gustavo now. We´ve been trying to get him to commit to baptism but it´s kind of looking like he won´t make the decision in time for me to be here. Everyone keeps telling me I need to have my last baptism right before I go home but I don´t want to ruin it trying to push him into it. He came to church and he´s learned everything but he just doesn´t want to commit I think. I saw something on LDS.org where Pres. Uchtdorf teaches to simplify our lives. I think that would be a good message to give him. Things don´t have to be complicated. We can follow the simple guidelines God has set for us. We just need to "be still and know that [He is] God." (DC 101:16)
I´d just like to share one of my favorite scriptures I´ve found here on the mission.
Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.
- D&C 123:17
As far as the hymns... One of my favorites since I´ve been on the mission is "Let Us All Press On". Other than that I´m fine with whatever. That´s really my favorite.
Apart from that, I don´t know what else to say besides thank you. I will do my best this week. For dinner I will decide when I get there. I might be craving something at that time. I really just want that day to be relaxing for everybody. At least as much as possible.
I love You ALL!
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
This week has been good. We kind of are placing our focus on Gustavo now. We´ve been trying to get him to commit to baptism but it´s kind of looking like he won´t make the decision in time for me to be here. Everyone keeps telling me I need to have my last baptism right before I go home but I don´t want to ruin it trying to push him into it. He came to church and he´s learned everything but he just doesn´t want to commit I think. I saw something on LDS.org where Pres. Uchtdorf teaches to simplify our lives. I think that would be a good message to give him. Things don´t have to be complicated. We can follow the simple guidelines God has set for us. We just need to "be still and know that [He is] God." (DC 101:16)
I´d just like to share one of my favorite scriptures I´ve found here on the mission.
Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.
- D&C 123:17
As far as the hymns... One of my favorites since I´ve been on the mission is "Let Us All Press On". Other than that I´m fine with whatever. That´s really my favorite.
Apart from that, I don´t know what else to say besides thank you. I will do my best this week. For dinner I will decide when I get there. I might be craving something at that time. I really just want that day to be relaxing for everybody. At least as much as possible.
I love You ALL!
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
Monday, January 30, 2012
January 30, 2012
Hey Mom,
Last weeks letter was supposed to be "I GOT THE OTHER PACKAGE!" I´m sorry I couldn´t write last week. I had a million things to do that day and didn´t even finish everything I had planned to do.
I think one of the best things you could have put in that package was the Frisbee. We were already thinking how much fun it would be to play Ultimate Frisbee as a zone but there was only one problem, you can´t find any good durable Frisbees in Guatemala! So... when I opened the package and saw the Frisbee sitting there on top I thought "no way!" I grabbed it, held it up in the air and shouted "YES!" and kind of freaked out my companion a little bit. I instantly called the Zone leaders to tell them the good news. These past couple of weeks we´ve been playing indoor, 3 on 3 ultimate Frisbee for P-day. Thanks mom! You´re the best!
Some other things I´ve really enjoyed from the package are the Nutella and Peanut butter. I´ve been putting that in my granola every morning which is the best combination I´ve had for breakfast my whole mission.
The new music couldn´t have been timed any better. The day before, the mission had just made a new rule that we could ONLY listen to Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
The candy has been great, as always, and my companions have enjoyed it as well, and the instant rice/noodle meals have saved me a couple of times when I´ve had nothing in the house to eat. (besides granola, nutella and peanut butter) I haven´t really bought much food since we hired Bonnie.
I still haven´t had a chance to use the fake snow yet. I think I´m going to try a little, to experiment today. We´re thinking of using it in my going home celebration the zone wants to do my last p-day, so that I don´t go into complete shock when I come out of the airport.
The shoe warmers look super cool. I haven´t tried them yet though ´cause it hasn´t rained yet except for last night... The winds are picking up though and it´s getting warmer so I might see a bit of rain again. That and the Frisbee have been coveted by the whole zone. I´ve been asked several times if I´m going to sell them before I go home. I told them I think my little brother will probably need the shoe warmers on his mission too.
This week we had a conference with Elder Falabela, President over Central America. He taught us that we need to always be joyful and show the joy one might feel in the gospel. He also taught that the best way to do missionary work is to convert everyone into missionaries. That´s how Ammon helped convert thousands. After the conference, I received the "bomb pills" or the kill everything I´ve eaten in the last two years pills. That will be fun to take in the last few days of my mission.
William canceled his appointment again but we got to him on Thursday. We taught him about the plan of salvation. His wife didn´t join us even though I think she wanted to. He seems to take everything in and judge it with everything else he´s heard, and takes a standpoint of "that´s an interesting concept." He seems to like to learn what others think but I don´t think he´s willing to ´take sides´. It will take some time.
We finally managed to get in a second lesson with Gustavo. If you remember he was supposed to get baptized the week we opened the area. He´s had some problems with other recent converts, from other missionaries, that haven´t quite been completely converted and don´t exactly act like Christians. They got in a fight and after that he´s kind of avoided the idea of being baptized. The first lesson we shared the story of Alma talking to his son Coriantumer and compared him to the Zoramites who did not want to hear the message after seeing the conduct of Coriantumer. Then we explained how that didn´t change the fact that the message Alma shared was true and that following it would bring them joy and salvation. He understood it really well but still was not convinced.
This week we asked him how he felt about what we taught him last time. His response was that "all churches are good and it doesn´t matter which one you go to". I have heard that excuse WAY too many times before and I was NOT about to take that from HIM after getting so far. I told him that as a representative of Jesus Christ and His church, I know that this church was His church. I said that all churches worship God but that I knew that this church was the only one guided by Him through his prophets which he has called in these days. I promised him that following the precepts taught by these prophets wound bring him more joy and peace than any other church he could find. His response actually surprised me. I expected him to continue with his excuse so that we would leave him alone like all other people in the past have done to me, but he didn´t. He looked down as if defeated and said the four words I had not heard yet in my mission from any of my investigators, "I know it´s true..." He then explained that he just didn´t feel ready, that he needed to be better. We explained to him that the knowledge he had was good enough if he was willing to repent and obey God´s commandments. We agreed to talk about ALL the commandments once again and that if he had problems with one of them, we would work with him. We´re still not sure what else there is that he´s not telling us, but we feel there´s something else.
Saturday a missionary, Elder Hernandez, returned from Nicaragua and they invited us to his welcome home party. (baggie!) Sunday he showed us a picture of all the missionaries in his mission and guess who I found on it? Justin Dial. We talked about him a little bit. It was pretty neat.
That´s about it. I´ve had a difficult time getting over the fact that it´s almost over. The thoughts I´ve been having these past couple of weeks has been that I´m just getting in the hang of things and I´m learning so much and now it´s going to get cut short. I´m kind of nervous about the awkwardness when I get home, especially after seeing this new returned missionary, but I´m not too worried. The first few hours will probably be the weirdest. I´ve actually been wondering a couple of things like, "What in the world are we going to do after we leave the airport?", "When do I meet with the stake president?", stuff like that. You´ve probably been holding that off a little bit so as to not make me baggie, but I wonder anyway.
Thanks for holding in there with me. I´ll talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
Last weeks letter was supposed to be "I GOT THE OTHER PACKAGE!" I´m sorry I couldn´t write last week. I had a million things to do that day and didn´t even finish everything I had planned to do.
I think one of the best things you could have put in that package was the Frisbee. We were already thinking how much fun it would be to play Ultimate Frisbee as a zone but there was only one problem, you can´t find any good durable Frisbees in Guatemala! So... when I opened the package and saw the Frisbee sitting there on top I thought "no way!" I grabbed it, held it up in the air and shouted "YES!" and kind of freaked out my companion a little bit. I instantly called the Zone leaders to tell them the good news. These past couple of weeks we´ve been playing indoor, 3 on 3 ultimate Frisbee for P-day. Thanks mom! You´re the best!
Some other things I´ve really enjoyed from the package are the Nutella and Peanut butter. I´ve been putting that in my granola every morning which is the best combination I´ve had for breakfast my whole mission.
The new music couldn´t have been timed any better. The day before, the mission had just made a new rule that we could ONLY listen to Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
The candy has been great, as always, and my companions have enjoyed it as well, and the instant rice/noodle meals have saved me a couple of times when I´ve had nothing in the house to eat. (besides granola, nutella and peanut butter) I haven´t really bought much food since we hired Bonnie.
I still haven´t had a chance to use the fake snow yet. I think I´m going to try a little, to experiment today. We´re thinking of using it in my going home celebration the zone wants to do my last p-day, so that I don´t go into complete shock when I come out of the airport.
The shoe warmers look super cool. I haven´t tried them yet though ´cause it hasn´t rained yet except for last night... The winds are picking up though and it´s getting warmer so I might see a bit of rain again. That and the Frisbee have been coveted by the whole zone. I´ve been asked several times if I´m going to sell them before I go home. I told them I think my little brother will probably need the shoe warmers on his mission too.
This week we had a conference with Elder Falabela, President over Central America. He taught us that we need to always be joyful and show the joy one might feel in the gospel. He also taught that the best way to do missionary work is to convert everyone into missionaries. That´s how Ammon helped convert thousands. After the conference, I received the "bomb pills" or the kill everything I´ve eaten in the last two years pills. That will be fun to take in the last few days of my mission.
William canceled his appointment again but we got to him on Thursday. We taught him about the plan of salvation. His wife didn´t join us even though I think she wanted to. He seems to take everything in and judge it with everything else he´s heard, and takes a standpoint of "that´s an interesting concept." He seems to like to learn what others think but I don´t think he´s willing to ´take sides´. It will take some time.
We finally managed to get in a second lesson with Gustavo. If you remember he was supposed to get baptized the week we opened the area. He´s had some problems with other recent converts, from other missionaries, that haven´t quite been completely converted and don´t exactly act like Christians. They got in a fight and after that he´s kind of avoided the idea of being baptized. The first lesson we shared the story of Alma talking to his son Coriantumer and compared him to the Zoramites who did not want to hear the message after seeing the conduct of Coriantumer. Then we explained how that didn´t change the fact that the message Alma shared was true and that following it would bring them joy and salvation. He understood it really well but still was not convinced.
This week we asked him how he felt about what we taught him last time. His response was that "all churches are good and it doesn´t matter which one you go to". I have heard that excuse WAY too many times before and I was NOT about to take that from HIM after getting so far. I told him that as a representative of Jesus Christ and His church, I know that this church was His church. I said that all churches worship God but that I knew that this church was the only one guided by Him through his prophets which he has called in these days. I promised him that following the precepts taught by these prophets wound bring him more joy and peace than any other church he could find. His response actually surprised me. I expected him to continue with his excuse so that we would leave him alone like all other people in the past have done to me, but he didn´t. He looked down as if defeated and said the four words I had not heard yet in my mission from any of my investigators, "I know it´s true..." He then explained that he just didn´t feel ready, that he needed to be better. We explained to him that the knowledge he had was good enough if he was willing to repent and obey God´s commandments. We agreed to talk about ALL the commandments once again and that if he had problems with one of them, we would work with him. We´re still not sure what else there is that he´s not telling us, but we feel there´s something else.
Saturday a missionary, Elder Hernandez, returned from Nicaragua and they invited us to his welcome home party. (baggie!) Sunday he showed us a picture of all the missionaries in his mission and guess who I found on it? Justin Dial. We talked about him a little bit. It was pretty neat.
That´s about it. I´ve had a difficult time getting over the fact that it´s almost over. The thoughts I´ve been having these past couple of weeks has been that I´m just getting in the hang of things and I´m learning so much and now it´s going to get cut short. I´m kind of nervous about the awkwardness when I get home, especially after seeing this new returned missionary, but I´m not too worried. The first few hours will probably be the weirdest. I´ve actually been wondering a couple of things like, "What in the world are we going to do after we leave the airport?", "When do I meet with the stake president?", stuff like that. You´ve probably been holding that off a little bit so as to not make me baggie, but I wonder anyway.
Thanks for holding in there with me. I´ll talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
January 23, 2012 No letter today. This is all we got.
I apologize today. I was trying to do application stuff.(for college) I am coming back this afternoon and I might have some time to give a quick update. We have an appointment tomorrow with William and Maria.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
January 16, 2012
Dear Mom and Family,
This week has been a good week. Maynor's mom seems to have gotten in the way this week. He asked permission to go to mutual and she said no and he didn´t show up to church. The Lopez Gil (pronounced Hill) family is the family that we were teaching that one day. The mom told us that she would talk to Maynor´s mom and try to answer her questions and invite her to talk with us. We haven´t had the chance to talk with them about that yet. Until we get the chance to communicate with Maynor´s parents, we can´t do much more, but he does turn 18 the day I get home I think so he will be able to make his own decisions then. Sister Lopez told us he wanted to get baptized as soon as he was free to do so, so we´ll see.
We got contacted this week, for a change. We were walking down the street towards a members house when a yellow car with black stripes and a spoiler drove by and honked. We waved kind of robotically because everyone, friendly or not friendly, makes noises at us. When we got to the top of the hill, we found that that car had stopped and was waiting for us. We got to the window on the passenger side and there was a young man with a 10 quet bill to hand to us. We tried to decline as politely as we could but he kept insisting. He finally put down the bill and grabbed a juice and said, "If you won´t take my money then take this." Then he told us he wanted to talk to us and asked us where and when we could meet. We arranged for the next day a little earlier than we´re use to at the church. The next day he showed up and we talked a little bit. He explained that he did drugs and hung out with the kind of people who also did that kind of thing. We asked him what caused him to decide to talk with us and he responded sincerely, "Life is really hard without God." We began explaining the focus of our message and that we could teach him, but the change would come from his efforts to act accordingly. Then the subject turned to religion in general, which guided us to share the story of the restoration and we explained that this was the major difference between us and other churches. We gave him a Book of Mormon to read and explained roughly what we would be teaching the next few meetings. He didn´t come to church like he said, but we have an appointment with him tomorrow so we´ll see why, if he comes.
We resolved to go and try to visit William and Maria every day this week and see if we manage to get in at least once. If not we´ll at least have tried our best.
Thanks for always letting me know how things are at home. I´ve really appreciated it. I love you all and look forward to seeing you all once again.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
This week has been a good week. Maynor's mom seems to have gotten in the way this week. He asked permission to go to mutual and she said no and he didn´t show up to church. The Lopez Gil (pronounced Hill) family is the family that we were teaching that one day. The mom told us that she would talk to Maynor´s mom and try to answer her questions and invite her to talk with us. We haven´t had the chance to talk with them about that yet. Until we get the chance to communicate with Maynor´s parents, we can´t do much more, but he does turn 18 the day I get home I think so he will be able to make his own decisions then. Sister Lopez told us he wanted to get baptized as soon as he was free to do so, so we´ll see.
We got contacted this week, for a change. We were walking down the street towards a members house when a yellow car with black stripes and a spoiler drove by and honked. We waved kind of robotically because everyone, friendly or not friendly, makes noises at us. When we got to the top of the hill, we found that that car had stopped and was waiting for us. We got to the window on the passenger side and there was a young man with a 10 quet bill to hand to us. We tried to decline as politely as we could but he kept insisting. He finally put down the bill and grabbed a juice and said, "If you won´t take my money then take this." Then he told us he wanted to talk to us and asked us where and when we could meet. We arranged for the next day a little earlier than we´re use to at the church. The next day he showed up and we talked a little bit. He explained that he did drugs and hung out with the kind of people who also did that kind of thing. We asked him what caused him to decide to talk with us and he responded sincerely, "Life is really hard without God." We began explaining the focus of our message and that we could teach him, but the change would come from his efforts to act accordingly. Then the subject turned to religion in general, which guided us to share the story of the restoration and we explained that this was the major difference between us and other churches. We gave him a Book of Mormon to read and explained roughly what we would be teaching the next few meetings. He didn´t come to church like he said, but we have an appointment with him tomorrow so we´ll see why, if he comes.
We resolved to go and try to visit William and Maria every day this week and see if we manage to get in at least once. If not we´ll at least have tried our best.
Thanks for always letting me know how things are at home. I´ve really appreciated it. I love you all and look forward to seeing you all once again.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
Monday, January 9, 2012
January 9, 2012
Hey Mom and family,
So, the things you asked about I haven´t seen yet. Did you send it in two boxes? If you did, I only have one for now. Maybe tomorrow I´ll get the other one when the Zone Leaders go to Xela.
We share the same are as our Zone Leaders. Even though we have different houses we spent a lot of the holidays together so that it wouldn´t be so lonely. We also spend some P-days in the afternoon together and we play games for a little bit.
In the video, the guy playing the violin is Elder Hales. He´s fairly new. He just finished being trained and is now training. (The way the new training program works is that you are trained for two changes and then you train for two changes in the same area usually) He just began training this last week. He is really good at the violin and he gave me some stuff to look up when I get home, of some concerts and things he´s done. We also like the same kind of music so we´ve enjoyed talking about that too.
The District has changed up quite a bid this week. I now am over Chianlta with Elder Conte and Elder Chicas, Las Rosas with Elder Xovin and Elder Reyes, and lastly Chinacá (which I didn´t have before) with Elder Hales and his kid Elder Cardona.
The work this week seems to be improving. The one family we were teaching canceled our appointment on Thursday and when we went to visit them yesterday they were there and we saw them but the aunt that was there said they were sleeping and couldn´t talk to us. "Lame" (Jessica quote) But Thursday we visited a member family and taught a small lesson, just to keep our practice up with teaching. What we didn´t know was that one of the kids there named Maynor, wasn´t part of the family. We taught about why the Book of Mormon was written and the blessings that come from daily study. We challenged them to study together as a family every day. Afterwards, Maynor asked how much the book of Mormon cost. We responded that it was free. Then he asked us if he could keep the Book of Mormon we gave them while we were reading? (We still didn´t know he wasn´t a part of the family nor a member) We let him keep it of course. There was plenty more in the house. After the lesson, the little girl of the family, who was born with a defect but is very sweet, extremely smart for her age, and a lot more in tune with the spirit, came up to me and whispered in my ear to invite Maynor to church on Sunday. So we asked all the kids, including Maynor, if they were all coming to church on Sunday and after making sure the other son, Chus (his real name is Jesus but they all call him Chus), was going he decided to go too. Yesterday we went up early to accompany them and they were all there already ready to go. Maynor really liked church and we have an appointment to go with him on Tuesday and he´s going to mutual on Wednesday. Even though I hope for more, I´ll be very grateful if he´s the last and only person I get to see accept the gospel between now and the time I go home.
Well, that's about all. Good luck these next 5 weeks. Don´t over-do anything; I don´t want to come home to you in the same condition I left you in.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
So, the things you asked about I haven´t seen yet. Did you send it in two boxes? If you did, I only have one for now. Maybe tomorrow I´ll get the other one when the Zone Leaders go to Xela.
We share the same are as our Zone Leaders. Even though we have different houses we spent a lot of the holidays together so that it wouldn´t be so lonely. We also spend some P-days in the afternoon together and we play games for a little bit.
In the video, the guy playing the violin is Elder Hales. He´s fairly new. He just finished being trained and is now training. (The way the new training program works is that you are trained for two changes and then you train for two changes in the same area usually) He just began training this last week. He is really good at the violin and he gave me some stuff to look up when I get home, of some concerts and things he´s done. We also like the same kind of music so we´ve enjoyed talking about that too.
The District has changed up quite a bid this week. I now am over Chianlta with Elder Conte and Elder Chicas, Las Rosas with Elder Xovin and Elder Reyes, and lastly Chinacá (which I didn´t have before) with Elder Hales and his kid Elder Cardona.
The work this week seems to be improving. The one family we were teaching canceled our appointment on Thursday and when we went to visit them yesterday they were there and we saw them but the aunt that was there said they were sleeping and couldn´t talk to us. "Lame" (Jessica quote) But Thursday we visited a member family and taught a small lesson, just to keep our practice up with teaching. What we didn´t know was that one of the kids there named Maynor, wasn´t part of the family. We taught about why the Book of Mormon was written and the blessings that come from daily study. We challenged them to study together as a family every day. Afterwards, Maynor asked how much the book of Mormon cost. We responded that it was free. Then he asked us if he could keep the Book of Mormon we gave them while we were reading? (We still didn´t know he wasn´t a part of the family nor a member) We let him keep it of course. There was plenty more in the house. After the lesson, the little girl of the family, who was born with a defect but is very sweet, extremely smart for her age, and a lot more in tune with the spirit, came up to me and whispered in my ear to invite Maynor to church on Sunday. So we asked all the kids, including Maynor, if they were all coming to church on Sunday and after making sure the other son, Chus (his real name is Jesus but they all call him Chus), was going he decided to go too. Yesterday we went up early to accompany them and they were all there already ready to go. Maynor really liked church and we have an appointment to go with him on Tuesday and he´s going to mutual on Wednesday. Even though I hope for more, I´ll be very grateful if he´s the last and only person I get to see accept the gospel between now and the time I go home.
Well, that's about all. Good luck these next 5 weeks. Don´t over-do anything; I don´t want to come home to you in the same condition I left you in.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
Monday, January 2, 2012
January 2, 2012
Thanks for writing me dad. I feel like I don´t hear from you enough. So, I did get the package and it was awesome. We were excited to play with the remote cars and it was lots more fun with the four of us. I was also excited about the jerky and granola bars. The chocolate orange was a must that I always look forword to. We´ve been playing with the little maze games in our spare time which has been fun. Then we challenged each other to do different things in a certain order to make it harder. The socks and deodorant were needed badly and I´m enjoying wearing my nice clean new socks today. We had a lot of fun together and I am really happy with all the caramel I have now. It will definitely last me AND my companion till the end of my mission. This week we´re teaching a new family. They are a reference from a member, not in our area, who took them to the temple open house. The dad studies psychology and works at a university. He is very intelligent and kind of prideful but they are very nice and inviting and they have really enjoyed what we´ve taught them. The wife, Maria, cried when she went to the temple and has felt the spirit big time. They might take a while but they seem extremely positive. That´s all the time I have. I´m being pressured to get out now so...
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
December 26, 2012
This letter was in response to me asking him to send me something on the topic "A Marvelous work is about to come forth" that I was assigned for a talk in sacrament meeting. I was asked to use experiences from my missionary.
Ok so,
Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men. Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day. Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work; For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul; And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work. Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence. Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen.
-Doctrine and Covenants 4
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is revealed to Daniel—The king saw a great image, a stone cut from the mountain without hands destroyed the image, and the stone grew and filled the whole earth—The stone is the latter-day kingdom of God.
-Daniel 2
The Church has become one large family scattered across the earth. There are now more than 13 million of us in 176 nations and territories. A marvelous and wonderful thing is coming to pass. The Lord is fulfilling His promise that His gospel shall be as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands which would roll forth and fill the whole earth, as Daniel saw in vision. A great miracle is taking place right before our eyes.
-Gordon B. Hinkley, "The Stone Cut Out of the Mountain" October 2007 General Conference
Allow me to explain a little of what I have been able to observe of this work and the growth of the kingdom of God here in this small part of the world. Guatemala, and all of Central America, has an interesting history, and I´d like to share an experience I had that illustrates it. After being in the CCM for three weeks the Latin companions we had all went into the field and we waited for the new group of Latin missionaries to come in. During that time, our president took the advantage of the opportunity to take us to some historical sites, which included a relief map of Guatemala, art and other museums, and the market. As we went through a particular room of one of the museums we noticed a mural that covered one wall that depicted the mighty change in this country. It began with indigenous people sitting around their fire doing a ritual. It then continued to the arrival of the Spanish colonies and the introduction of christian customs. There were some parts depicting the cruelty of the Spanish towards the indigenous people. But what caught our attention the most was the image of two light skinned, blond haired men in white shirts and ties, each bearing a blue book in their right hand. This was the last thing painted on the far right side of the mural depicting the present day. It has been an impressive thing to me to think that this work has caused such an effect in the lives of these people that he would add it to his mural of key events in the history of this people. I´ve been privileged to be here in this mission during the construction and dedication of a new temple here in Quetzaltenango. The open house began with a video of the history of the church in Quetzaltenango. The growth has been amazing. I´ve witnessed the growth of the church in various places. As I served in Momostenango I was privileged to see the beautiful sight of a chapel on the top of almost every major hill in the entire area, each filled every Sunday with humble members who, for some, walked 2 hours through mountains with their little children to go to church. They very often were the first ones in church. I feel extremely privileged to be part of this work. Looking for those who are being prepared to enter the Kingdom of God. I´m out of time but that´s one thing I can share. I hope it´s helpful.
Love,
Landon James Crapo
Ok so,
Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men. Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day. Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work; For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul; And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work. Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence. Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen.
-Doctrine and Covenants 4
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is revealed to Daniel—The king saw a great image, a stone cut from the mountain without hands destroyed the image, and the stone grew and filled the whole earth—The stone is the latter-day kingdom of God.
-Daniel 2
The Church has become one large family scattered across the earth. There are now more than 13 million of us in 176 nations and territories. A marvelous and wonderful thing is coming to pass. The Lord is fulfilling His promise that His gospel shall be as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands which would roll forth and fill the whole earth, as Daniel saw in vision. A great miracle is taking place right before our eyes.
-Gordon B. Hinkley, "The Stone Cut Out of the Mountain" October 2007 General Conference
Allow me to explain a little of what I have been able to observe of this work and the growth of the kingdom of God here in this small part of the world. Guatemala, and all of Central America, has an interesting history, and I´d like to share an experience I had that illustrates it. After being in the CCM for three weeks the Latin companions we had all went into the field and we waited for the new group of Latin missionaries to come in. During that time, our president took the advantage of the opportunity to take us to some historical sites, which included a relief map of Guatemala, art and other museums, and the market. As we went through a particular room of one of the museums we noticed a mural that covered one wall that depicted the mighty change in this country. It began with indigenous people sitting around their fire doing a ritual. It then continued to the arrival of the Spanish colonies and the introduction of christian customs. There were some parts depicting the cruelty of the Spanish towards the indigenous people. But what caught our attention the most was the image of two light skinned, blond haired men in white shirts and ties, each bearing a blue book in their right hand. This was the last thing painted on the far right side of the mural depicting the present day. It has been an impressive thing to me to think that this work has caused such an effect in the lives of these people that he would add it to his mural of key events in the history of this people. I´ve been privileged to be here in this mission during the construction and dedication of a new temple here in Quetzaltenango. The open house began with a video of the history of the church in Quetzaltenango. The growth has been amazing. I´ve witnessed the growth of the church in various places. As I served in Momostenango I was privileged to see the beautiful sight of a chapel on the top of almost every major hill in the entire area, each filled every Sunday with humble members who, for some, walked 2 hours through mountains with their little children to go to church. They very often were the first ones in church. I feel extremely privileged to be part of this work. Looking for those who are being prepared to enter the Kingdom of God. I´m out of time but that´s one thing I can share. I hope it´s helpful.
Love,
Landon James Crapo
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