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
Monday, December 19, 2011
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
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
Monday, December 12, 2011
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
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
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
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
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
Monday, November 28, 2011
November 28, 2011
Dear Mom and Family,
I´m glad to hear that the surgery went well. First I want everyone to make a guess where I am. I´ve been in every city possible to be in our mission now. Where am I? Xela, Momos, Huehue, Nahuala, or Quiché.
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................I am now back in Huehuetenango to spend Christmas once again. The area I´m in now is Brasilia2. There are two companionships in this area: The Zone Leaders and us, and guess who´s the Zone Leader... Elder Fuentes, my companion from Calvario. So now we are here once again to spend Christmas together once again, sort of. My new companion is Elder Chacón and we´re both new in the area. Not very many missionaries like him too much. He´s kind of socially awkward and acts like he knows better than everyone else. From the very beginning, we began the companionship a little off because he began to command me in everything. That being said, I don´t want you to think I´m miserable. It seems that since I hit my six months left mark, it has been my job to be the companion of missionaries that require a lot of patience and, in some ways, a firm hand to get the work done. I have learned a lot this week about trusting in the Lord and looking to him for consolation and peace.
Here we have only been able to find one investigator that the other elders had before, named Gustavo. He´s come to church several times and it seems that they tried to set a goal to baptize him this last week but he says he still feels unprepared. He´s already had an interview with president but still doesn´t want to quite yet. So we´re just trying to get to know him and gain the confidence the other elders had before we got here. He probably will get baptized in a couple of weeks. I´m out of time now but I will explain more details next week.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
I´m glad to hear that the surgery went well. First I want everyone to make a guess where I am. I´ve been in every city possible to be in our mission now. Where am I? Xela, Momos, Huehue, Nahuala, or Quiché.
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................I am now back in Huehuetenango to spend Christmas once again. The area I´m in now is Brasilia2. There are two companionships in this area: The Zone Leaders and us, and guess who´s the Zone Leader... Elder Fuentes, my companion from Calvario. So now we are here once again to spend Christmas together once again, sort of. My new companion is Elder Chacón and we´re both new in the area. Not very many missionaries like him too much. He´s kind of socially awkward and acts like he knows better than everyone else. From the very beginning, we began the companionship a little off because he began to command me in everything. That being said, I don´t want you to think I´m miserable. It seems that since I hit my six months left mark, it has been my job to be the companion of missionaries that require a lot of patience and, in some ways, a firm hand to get the work done. I have learned a lot this week about trusting in the Lord and looking to him for consolation and peace.
Here we have only been able to find one investigator that the other elders had before, named Gustavo. He´s come to church several times and it seems that they tried to set a goal to baptize him this last week but he says he still feels unprepared. He´s already had an interview with president but still doesn´t want to quite yet. So we´re just trying to get to know him and gain the confidence the other elders had before we got here. He probably will get baptized in a couple of weeks. I´m out of time now but I will explain more details next week.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
Monday, November 21, 2011
November 21, 2011
Dear Mom and Family,
I´m glad to tell you that this week was a really good week. We went to the temple twice this week. Lino´s family and his teacher, Catarina, could not go to the temple on Friday, so we arranged to go with them on Thursday with another ward in Nahualá. It was great. They loved it. The temple is beautiful. There´s a lot of Guatemalan things there. The murals of the mountains and the lake and quetzal birds are beautiful. The celestial room is different. I like the one in our temple much better but there is always the same spirit there. We´ve continued to teach Lino´s dad and Catarina. We tried committing Catarina to baptism and she said she´d be willing if she felt more prepared. We promised her that we would help prepare her and that through other commitments she´d be able to prepare for that day.
Pedro, Lino´s dad, has been more difficult and slower because he has many ideas from the Pentecostal church, but we´ve enjoyed the lessons and we´ve avoided contention. We will have to wait and see if he reads the book of Mormon. We´ve determined that if he doesn´t do that, he won´t progress.
We´ve received a lot of good reports about the temple and the District leader called us this morning and told us that there´s a reference from the temple for this area.
I´m excited to see how these next few weeks go here, but I no longer will be here in Xolcajá. I don´t know where I´m going but I have changes.
I´ll be writing you next week from my new area and most likely the area where I will be finishing my mission. I love you all. Have a great week.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
I´m glad to tell you that this week was a really good week. We went to the temple twice this week. Lino´s family and his teacher, Catarina, could not go to the temple on Friday, so we arranged to go with them on Thursday with another ward in Nahualá. It was great. They loved it. The temple is beautiful. There´s a lot of Guatemalan things there. The murals of the mountains and the lake and quetzal birds are beautiful. The celestial room is different. I like the one in our temple much better but there is always the same spirit there. We´ve continued to teach Lino´s dad and Catarina. We tried committing Catarina to baptism and she said she´d be willing if she felt more prepared. We promised her that we would help prepare her and that through other commitments she´d be able to prepare for that day.
Pedro, Lino´s dad, has been more difficult and slower because he has many ideas from the Pentecostal church, but we´ve enjoyed the lessons and we´ve avoided contention. We will have to wait and see if he reads the book of Mormon. We´ve determined that if he doesn´t do that, he won´t progress.
We´ve received a lot of good reports about the temple and the District leader called us this morning and told us that there´s a reference from the temple for this area.
I´m excited to see how these next few weeks go here, but I no longer will be here in Xolcajá. I don´t know where I´m going but I have changes.
I´ll be writing you next week from my new area and most likely the area where I will be finishing my mission. I love you all. Have a great week.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
Monday, November 14, 2011
November 14, 2011
First of all about the temple; The open house started on the 11th and will go to the 26th. I hadn´t been able to mention anything about it before getting here to Nahualá because I didn´t know myself. I knew that we were going to be able to enter but I didn´t know when or anything like that. The rule is that we can only go in if we bring 10 investigators with us. But, for every 10 investigators we bring, we can go 1time. We have 50 who are planning on going on Friday so... we´re praying and hoping all of them come. The ward is going on Friday this week and Friday next week.
So, as you know, today they sent me the information for my honorable release so they can reserve flight tickets. It was kind of a shock for me to see that. It looks like I won´t be getting home until the 16th. I don´t know what projects you have planned but, just so you know, you´re only going to write me 13 more times before I get home.
I was thinking about the pants and I still want you to buy them but I think you should save the money in shipping. I have the other suit I had made. They did an OK job. It was a little too big when he made it but now it really is too big. But it still works. I can come home in that and when I get home you can have the pants there ready for me, and maybe you can see if you can fix the other suit I have. Save the money. I can get by with what I have here. I´d rather have new stuff when I get home than have new stuff for only three months. About the measurements, my sewing kit has a measuring tape but I keep forgetting to do the measurements. Sorry...
This week went pretty well. We´ve got quite a few people to bring to the temple on the 18th, as you know already, and we´re doing all we can so that they don´t fall through. Maritza, the lady who owns the tienda that we converted into our office, told us that she wasn´t going to go but she hasn´t explained to us why. It frustrated me a little, but we´ve been praying that when the time comes, she will have changed her mind.
We started teaching someone this week named Pedro, the father of some kids that come to the tienda to talk to us when we eat lunch there. Pedro has lots of doubts though, and I feel it will be very difficult to focus on the spiritual part of the lesson. We´ve doubled our efforts to plan our lessons really well and prepare well to teach our investigators, and even though we haven´t followed a single plan yet because of the questions our investigators have, I feel the spirit guiding us. I have to admit too, I´ve become rusty in my teaching because I´ve gone so long without having a positive investigator.
The K´iché is coming along more or less. I understand a few things when nobody is around to translate for us but I´m nowhere near being able to communicate with them.
I just want to say thanks for all your love and prayers. I love you all and can´t wait to see you all and tell you all about my mission.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
So, as you know, today they sent me the information for my honorable release so they can reserve flight tickets. It was kind of a shock for me to see that. It looks like I won´t be getting home until the 16th. I don´t know what projects you have planned but, just so you know, you´re only going to write me 13 more times before I get home.
I was thinking about the pants and I still want you to buy them but I think you should save the money in shipping. I have the other suit I had made. They did an OK job. It was a little too big when he made it but now it really is too big. But it still works. I can come home in that and when I get home you can have the pants there ready for me, and maybe you can see if you can fix the other suit I have. Save the money. I can get by with what I have here. I´d rather have new stuff when I get home than have new stuff for only three months. About the measurements, my sewing kit has a measuring tape but I keep forgetting to do the measurements. Sorry...
This week went pretty well. We´ve got quite a few people to bring to the temple on the 18th, as you know already, and we´re doing all we can so that they don´t fall through. Maritza, the lady who owns the tienda that we converted into our office, told us that she wasn´t going to go but she hasn´t explained to us why. It frustrated me a little, but we´ve been praying that when the time comes, she will have changed her mind.
We started teaching someone this week named Pedro, the father of some kids that come to the tienda to talk to us when we eat lunch there. Pedro has lots of doubts though, and I feel it will be very difficult to focus on the spiritual part of the lesson. We´ve doubled our efforts to plan our lessons really well and prepare well to teach our investigators, and even though we haven´t followed a single plan yet because of the questions our investigators have, I feel the spirit guiding us. I have to admit too, I´ve become rusty in my teaching because I´ve gone so long without having a positive investigator.
The K´iché is coming along more or less. I understand a few things when nobody is around to translate for us but I´m nowhere near being able to communicate with them.
I just want to say thanks for all your love and prayers. I love you all and can´t wait to see you all and tell you all about my mission.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
Monday, November 7, 2011
November 7, 2011
Dear Mom and family,
This week went a lot better. We finally are finding new people to teach. The two most positive people are:
Maritza, a lady who works at a "tienda" that gives us lunch, and
Catarina, a schoolteacher. One of her students, a little boy who likes to talk to us a lot, gave us the reference. The boy´s name is Lino and we have plans to begin teaching his family as well. All of the people we´ve been able to invite to the Temple, has come primarily from these two investigators.
I haven´t mentioned this yet, but Maritza is the first person I met when I got here. I saw that she had an oven and I told her that I could make a really good banana bread with all the old bananas that she had. (It was also my birthday the next day) The next day we made my birthday cake and shared it with her and her daughter.
Saturday, we spent most of our time in Maritza´s tienda. In the morning, we went over to reorganize stuff and clean shelves. Afterwards she made us lunch and then she began to ask us some questions. One of the questions was kind of a strange one but we were able to use it well. She asked ME, and she asked me to be honest, if the men in the United States were loyal to their wives or if they betrayed them as well. My response was that I didn´t know about the rest of the United States because I lived in Utah and the majority of the men I know there are members of the church, but I assured her that most if not all the men I know there are completely and 100% loyal to their wives. Then she asked me if the women were loyal as well, and I assured her that they were. I then explained to her the great blessing that I have had to be able to grow up in a family where my parents have been loyal to each other and to the Lord all my life and that I´ve become who I am because of the family I grew up in and the parents that have raised me. Then the conversation changed a little. Both my companion and I gave examples (anonymous of course) of people we knew (him before the mission and me during the mission) who were members and had not been loyal to their spouses. We began to explain the process of repentance that they had to take in order to become worthy and faithful once again. Then we explained how the world knows who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for us, but what they do not know, is how to apply it into our lives. We tied it all off by explaining that the members that she knows, and even ourselves, are not as happy and kind and good to others because we naturally are perfect. We are who we are because we have learned to apply the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in our lives and the process of repentance. We ended on that and she told us that on Tuesday (when we go for lunch) she´d have some more questions for us.
Yesterday, Elder Martino randomly was attending church here in Chirijox with us. Nobody knew he was coming but he spoke in sacrament meeting and taught Sunday school. It was a great experience and I wish I could have the kind of inspiring power he and all authorities have. When he was done, everyone felt better and wanted to BE better. Even despite the discouraging living conditions that these people live in, he was able to lift their spirits and encourage them to live better.
The work is beginning to pick up and I´m excited to see how everything goes.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
This week went a lot better. We finally are finding new people to teach. The two most positive people are:
Maritza, a lady who works at a "tienda" that gives us lunch, and
Catarina, a schoolteacher. One of her students, a little boy who likes to talk to us a lot, gave us the reference. The boy´s name is Lino and we have plans to begin teaching his family as well. All of the people we´ve been able to invite to the Temple, has come primarily from these two investigators.
I haven´t mentioned this yet, but Maritza is the first person I met when I got here. I saw that she had an oven and I told her that I could make a really good banana bread with all the old bananas that she had. (It was also my birthday the next day) The next day we made my birthday cake and shared it with her and her daughter.
Saturday, we spent most of our time in Maritza´s tienda. In the morning, we went over to reorganize stuff and clean shelves. Afterwards she made us lunch and then she began to ask us some questions. One of the questions was kind of a strange one but we were able to use it well. She asked ME, and she asked me to be honest, if the men in the United States were loyal to their wives or if they betrayed them as well. My response was that I didn´t know about the rest of the United States because I lived in Utah and the majority of the men I know there are members of the church, but I assured her that most if not all the men I know there are completely and 100% loyal to their wives. Then she asked me if the women were loyal as well, and I assured her that they were. I then explained to her the great blessing that I have had to be able to grow up in a family where my parents have been loyal to each other and to the Lord all my life and that I´ve become who I am because of the family I grew up in and the parents that have raised me. Then the conversation changed a little. Both my companion and I gave examples (anonymous of course) of people we knew (him before the mission and me during the mission) who were members and had not been loyal to their spouses. We began to explain the process of repentance that they had to take in order to become worthy and faithful once again. Then we explained how the world knows who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for us, but what they do not know, is how to apply it into our lives. We tied it all off by explaining that the members that she knows, and even ourselves, are not as happy and kind and good to others because we naturally are perfect. We are who we are because we have learned to apply the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in our lives and the process of repentance. We ended on that and she told us that on Tuesday (when we go for lunch) she´d have some more questions for us.
Yesterday, Elder Martino randomly was attending church here in Chirijox with us. Nobody knew he was coming but he spoke in sacrament meeting and taught Sunday school. It was a great experience and I wish I could have the kind of inspiring power he and all authorities have. When he was done, everyone felt better and wanted to BE better. Even despite the discouraging living conditions that these people live in, he was able to lift their spirits and encourage them to live better.
The work is beginning to pick up and I´m excited to see how everything goes.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
October 31, 2011
That´s a pretty cool costume! And Hunter is getting so big too. He looks quite a bit older than the pictures I have in my camera. It feels like only a month ago that you sent me the pictures of his alien abduction costume.
I tried to get someone to fix my boots but they made them impossible to wear. I got huge sores on my feet that didn´t go away for a month from trying to wear them. So this change I left them behind. Also the other shoes because I had been re gluing them every month and they finally fell completely apart. So I´m stuck with the nicer Sunday shoes that I´ve got and I´m trying to take care of them the best I can so that they last me the next few months before I come home. I don´t want to buy new shoes here just to use them for a few weeks.
My shirts have surprisingly held out extremely well. It wasn´t until this morning that I found one of my shirts with a tear in the collar like all the missionaries who are going home have. I think I can get through though. I might come home looking a little rough but... I´ve had quite a few adventurous areas.
This week has been an interesting week and a purifying week. I´m not going to hide it anymore, the elders that are here and the ones that were here before seem to have given up hope. They don´t want to do anything because they don´t believe they can do anything. They´re fun to talk to and hang around with on P-Day, but it becomes a temptation to relax during the week. I´ve been working really hard with my companion to help him see clearly the vision once again. But... I find the same lack of faith in myself. I´ve found I don´t believe I can change anyones lives. I´ve tried to change my mind. I´ve studied the subject of faith deeply and have had some pretty amazing spiritual experiences. I´ve tried to explain the things I´ve learned to my companion and increase both our faiths. But we haven´t come to the level I´d like to be at, that I feel we need to be at, in order to make some changes here. We had a really long talk far away from anyone at all about the things we were doing and how, even though it might be fun, doesn´t help in the work. I find I have to be more forward and bold than I have ever been in my life.
Yesterday we were visiting an almost investigator with her inactive mother. Her name is Maritza. We pay her to make us lunch and we´ve done some reorganizing service in her store. Yesterday her daughter had a really swollen mouth from a tooth that a dentist down here pulled. We were afraid of a bad infection and recommended that she take her to the dentist I went to. We talked about it for a long time and then we left her with a blessing. This morning we called to see how things were going and they didn´t even go to the dentist, because she woke up all better. That´s the best thing that happened this week.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
I tried to get someone to fix my boots but they made them impossible to wear. I got huge sores on my feet that didn´t go away for a month from trying to wear them. So this change I left them behind. Also the other shoes because I had been re gluing them every month and they finally fell completely apart. So I´m stuck with the nicer Sunday shoes that I´ve got and I´m trying to take care of them the best I can so that they last me the next few months before I come home. I don´t want to buy new shoes here just to use them for a few weeks.
My shirts have surprisingly held out extremely well. It wasn´t until this morning that I found one of my shirts with a tear in the collar like all the missionaries who are going home have. I think I can get through though. I might come home looking a little rough but... I´ve had quite a few adventurous areas.
This week has been an interesting week and a purifying week. I´m not going to hide it anymore, the elders that are here and the ones that were here before seem to have given up hope. They don´t want to do anything because they don´t believe they can do anything. They´re fun to talk to and hang around with on P-Day, but it becomes a temptation to relax during the week. I´ve been working really hard with my companion to help him see clearly the vision once again. But... I find the same lack of faith in myself. I´ve found I don´t believe I can change anyones lives. I´ve tried to change my mind. I´ve studied the subject of faith deeply and have had some pretty amazing spiritual experiences. I´ve tried to explain the things I´ve learned to my companion and increase both our faiths. But we haven´t come to the level I´d like to be at, that I feel we need to be at, in order to make some changes here. We had a really long talk far away from anyone at all about the things we were doing and how, even though it might be fun, doesn´t help in the work. I find I have to be more forward and bold than I have ever been in my life.
Yesterday we were visiting an almost investigator with her inactive mother. Her name is Maritza. We pay her to make us lunch and we´ve done some reorganizing service in her store. Yesterday her daughter had a really swollen mouth from a tooth that a dentist down here pulled. We were afraid of a bad infection and recommended that she take her to the dentist I went to. We talked about it for a long time and then we left her with a blessing. This morning we called to see how things were going and they didn´t even go to the dentist, because she woke up all better. That´s the best thing that happened this week.
Love,
Elder Landon James Crapo
Monday, October 24, 2011
October 24, 2011
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
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
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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