November 29, 2010

Hey,

This week was quite interesting. We did manage to get to that cita with that one family. The man´s name is Rafaiel Solórzano and he has 4 sons Rafaiel, Cristian, Robinson, and Edgar. They are all around teen age. The father loves the teachings of Christ and tries to follow them. Loving the people and just being a good person in general. It´s amazing. His sons didn´t talk as much as he did and we´re thinking of ways to involve them a little more. Our next cita is for a week from tomorrow. That´s the soonest they were available and I think it´s a good thing. You´ll see why.

Saturday we had a little... mischief going on in our area and caused that we couldn´t work. La gente querian chemar a un ladron en la area. este se llama un castigo maya y es bien feo. Anyway, we were home all that afternoon pretty much. Then Sunday came and we told president that we were planning on going to Nimsitui to teach this contact we had, and would probably not be there this next Sunday... Turns out, that day, the zone leaders called us and told us that we had changes to go to Nimsitui anyway. It was really hard for me because the branch president depended on us so much, and we could just see the heartbreak and concern about what he was going to do without us. It was hard. We still plan on going to teach any investigadores that we may have there in Pancá, but other than that, we´ll be working in Numsitui and Patelup as well as Pancá. In Nimsitui, we have that investigator, and they´re trying to make it a ward. So we´ll be doing a lot of reactivating there. In Patelup, we´ll be working on doing a lot of baptizing because aparentamente, they have a lot of investigators in that area waiting for missionaries... So, with three areas (sort of) we have plenty of options and lots of work to do. I feel very privileged. I don´t know how long I´ll be here, possibly only two weeks, but I´m going to do what I can before Christmas and the next change. Wish me luck.

I´ve been fixing my other pants. I got the Dark blue pin-stripe yes. Yes the kids loved us and it was really sad. One of the little girls came and said good bye to us and gave us a huge hug. It was really hard for me because I have grown attached to all the primary kids in Pancá. They all were so fun. They´d just come to us and talk to us all the time, and they were so loving. It´s been the hardest change I´ve had yet.


Love,

Elder Landon James Crapo

November 22, 2010

My week has been really good. Almost every morning, we´ve had an opportunity to give a lot of service. We dug holes for trees for the father of one of the members. Then another day, we turned the dirt to start growing another plant for that same member. I really have gained an appreciation for the plow, even though I´ve never even used one. It would have been a lot easier. My back was really sore from bending over and hoeing the dirt and stuff a lot. The next morning, we carried leña to a members house. I was able to carry 4 very big logs because I was able to tie the bundle to my waist, therefore keeping all the weight on my legs. They were all amazed at how much I could carr. It was kind of funny. After all of that, we actually were able to contact some people who moved in about a month ago, and they´re really positive! For the first time since being in momos, we actually have a set day and time for a cita, not just an "if we´re here". I´m excited to teach these people.

For Thanksgiving, the zone leaders were planning on celebrating just a tiny bit today, but I don´t know if they got permission or not, so I don´t know.

Just one more thing, if you can find that "First Two Thousand Years" book that's in one of my boxes, I would really like you to send that, if you can find it.

Thanks a ton. I always look forward to reading your e-mails. I´ll let you know how things go this next week.

Love,

Elder Landon James Crapo.

November 15, 2010

Don´t worry about not having much to write about. I know not much happens at home usually. Actually I´ve been a little surprised with how much you have been doing since I left. Riding bikes, fishing, etc. It´s been kind of fun to hear about all the stuff you´re doing. Your letters are never boring. I am always excited for conferences and I love them so much, but it´s just so hard to explain all the things that I learned, questions I had, and all the things that went on during the conferences. Elder Clark covered so many topics I can´t even remember them all off the top of my head. He talked about loving your Latino comp, talking in Spanish with your Norte Americano comp., the importance of looking confident as well as being confident. Not letting others decide your happiness... stuff like that.

We´re both still here in Pancá. No changes, so I get to be with my kid for one more change. There have been a lot of changes nonetheless. They have closed a lot of my surrounding areas and stuffed Xela with a ton of missionaries. So the rest of us out here in the boonies are left on our own... I´m fine with that though. Bring it on! There´s a guy I contacted on a truck and it was quite on the spot. I didn´t even expect to do it but I was just kind of guided, with out even thinking. He lives in one of the areas that has been closed and only got one lesson from the missionaries there. The fact that he actually contacted the missionaries there on his own after I´d talked to him, tells me a lot about how serious he is. I´ve been given permission to go to that area to teach him so... we´ll see how that goes. The CD does work and I haven´t put it on the MP3 player because my DVD player can read the files right off the disk. It´s actually really nice. I think I´m going to try and find some speakers here so don´t worry about it for now. Elder Robinson gave out some rings before I got my package, so I´m going to save them for another area. He did get his 3 packages that his family sent and he´s been enjoying them very much. Other than that, I´ve just been enjoying the mission, helping out in any way I can. We dug holes to plant trees Saturday, chopped wood Friday morning, still showing conference every Friday. I´m kind of excited because our branch president is starting to give us references now so... cross your fingers that we start to have success here. I´m really anxious to get a baptism, since I´ve only had 5 and the last one was 4 months ago. I don´t get it. Some people have one every week and they say Guatemala is an easy place to do it too... I´m trying to be patient and change anything I´m doing wrong so that I can be worthy to recieve these chosen people of the Lords.

Until next week.

Love,

-Elder Crapo

November 8, 2010

We find out today if we have changes or not.

I did get my package and it was awesome. The fun just didn´t end, with all those toys, and all the little primary kids enjoyed them even more than I did. They all broke pretty quick, but they were fun. The yoyo´s came broken, but I made one out of the two, and now that works. The harmonica was awesome! I just got really into playing it Saturday night, and then one of the notes stopped working, and so I went to fix it, and it turned out that the metal band was broken and there was nothing I could do about it. But it was really fun to play, and I still sometimes try to play it even though the note doesn´t play. We ended up making the cake together and celebrated our birthdays together. I LOVE carmel. Thank you so much for that too. I´ve been enjoying the close shaves this week and would actually like more. Using one per month seems to work pretty good. So the ones I have should last ´till my one year mark. I really did enjoy the package a lot, and even though I´m not very good at decorating and stuff, it was still fun.

This week we did activities for the members. First we showed Conference. The only people who showed up, were one of the old old members and all the primary... the kids are the least of my concerns. It was a little frustrating, especially since I went to so much work to make sure I got the videos and made refreshments too... Nobody cares. We had futbol Saturday morning and that went well. All our young men showed up 30 minutes late and all of Canquixaja came 30 minutes early so there was a little complaining from the Jovenes de Canquixaja, saying that Pancá had miedo (was afraid) but in the end, Pancá won 18 to 7. All the missionaries were rooting for Pancá secretly, because of the bad attitude of Canquixaja. It was kind of funny.

Other than that, the works going kind of slow, but at least I´m learning a lot. I found out that my DVD player plays DivX files, which is how I was able to get conference on it. I´m not going to buy a new camera yet ´cause it still works well enough.

Thanks again for the package. Elder Robinson loves you too, but not as much as I do.

Love,
Elder Landon Crapo

November 1, 2010

Buenas Tardes Familia,

This week has been another, out of my area, week. We had a conference on Wednesday and we didn´t get home until Thursday. Even though we had a conference, we didn´t get mail. Someone told me that they´re going to hold mail until Christmas so that everyone can get their Christmas on Christmas... I hope that´s not the case. If it is, I may be paying a visit to the office tomorrow, because we have a conference with Elder Clark. The change is practically over, with all the stuff we´re doing outside of the area, and not much has happened. Not only do we not have baptisms at all, but we don´t even have investigators. I´ve been using my time helping pull the Branch together. We showed the first session of conference Friday, because NOBODY showed up to the real thing. We´ll be doing that every week, as well as soccer day on Saturday. I hope that works. Tuesday (while we were in momos waiting for the conference on Wednesday) we helped the Zone Leaders change houses. In the process, I ripped a tiny hole in my suit pants that I was wearing... sorry. The stitching on the bottom of my pant legs, on almost all my pants, are coming undone, so I have to find someone to fix that too. I ended up buying a DVD player from Elder Briggs, one of the elders going home soon, so that´s all taken care of. I got a hold of a K´iche´ lesson book and have been studying that. I´m coming home tri-lingual. I´m hoping I can have more success with the people if I can actually speak their real language.

I´m going to try and find, and buy, a Corte duffle bag thing before changes happen. If not, I´ll be dragging a bag with no wheels, if I have changes next week.

Today is Dia de los Muertos, which is supuestamente, the equivalent of Halloween, but is more like a memorial day from what I´ve seen. People buy flowers and make food for their dead ancestors... what a waste. I´d rather eat food than just set it in a grave to rot... oh well. We bought pupusas for lunch today, which are El Salvadoranian I believe, and they´re really good. (by-the-way, making tortillas are not that hard at all and are extremely bland and not worth it... in my opinion)

Other than that, all is just kind of tranquilo ahora. I love the costumes! I hope you all had a good time. We´ll see what fun events we have this next week. I´m excited for tomorrow.

I love you all,

-Elder Crapo

October 25, 2010 The Wild Mouse????

This week we had a lot happen. They opened up Xepón, which is part of my district, so we were helping with that, and then we had divisions all over the place to accomplish everything that needed to happen. Saturday we had a wedding, and we worked most of the time we had, running errands for them to make sure it all worked out. I didn´t take any pictures, because they had elder Robinson do it. His camera is better anyway. I found out today, unfortunately, that my screen is all messed up on mine and I have no idea how that happened. I still can kind of see half of what´s going on... enough to take a picture still. We had a fun experience riding in a "microbus", except it was on top of it, where they throw all the luggage. That was on Friday with Elder McKell. That was fun, dodging branches and holding on tight. It felt kind of like the wild mouse ride at Lagoon... only with out the walls of the car or a safety bar. :) I´m just kidding. It wasn´t quite that bad, but it does kind of paint a good picture. They had 40 people in this thing when it only holds 10. It was crazy. Other than that, not much at all has happened.

The picture with the one family, is the family of the Branch President. They are a really cool family and have helped us a lot. The other one, of the girl in the fence, was just a random girl who decided to play with us.

(When asked about Christmas ideas....)

I´ll come up with a little list of things I might want next week. My maleta broke, the smaller one, so I need to buy a duffel bag or something to fit all of my stuff in now. I´m thinking of buying a dvd player so that I can show movies to investigators and activities and stuff, but I need one that can read usb and stuff too. I´m going to be looking around for one of those. If you could maybe send me some church movies, like the one on Gordon B Hinkley and the one on Thomas S. Monson. The long Joseph Smith movie would be good too. I´d ask for The Testament too, but almost everyone has it and I don´t think I´ll ever need it. The Mountain of the Lord would be good too. I also need to buy new speakers now that I think of it... Sorry. They broke in the CCM and they finally stopped working all together. For now I´m just looking for a portable dvd player. I also found out that the rule has changed on the music. Now the rule is "anything that invites the spirit". So I´m going to want a lot of piano music and stuff. You could probably ask Nikki what she likes and you´d probably get a good idea of what I´d want. That´s all I can think of right now. Thanks for everything.

Love,

Elder Crapo.

October 18, 2010

Thanks for all the letters and love for my birthday. This week was really interesting. I made the banana bread with the cream cheese frosting for the whole zone, for my birthday, and then we had divisions on Tuesday and Wednesday. I had Elder Dority with me, while my comp was with Elder McKell. It was kind of interesting. We practically dropped all our investigators, or better put, they dropped us. It was interesting though. I learned a lot from Elder Dority. We finished that, and then the rest of the week, my comp and I have just been doing service, like always. We´ve just kind of accepted the fact that we can´t really focus on finding and baptizing. Yesterday, we spent the afternoon helping one of the nicest members we have, understand a sheet on keeping record of what you´ve read in the Book of Mormon, and explaining Lehi´s vision. It was really cool. At this time, I feel very calm about the work. I get the chance to help so many of the members, in so many ways, and I can kind of see the branch growing a little closer to each other. There has been a lot of correcting to do, so that people can stop offending one another, and it´s been interesting to see it all play out. I kind of want to stay for the end of the year, and see how things end up going here, but I doubt that will happen.

Thanks for everything. I´m attaching a picture of my notes that I took for Lehi´s vision. I love you all and will write you next week. I look forward to hearing how the Book of Mormon weekend went.

Love,

-Elder Crapo





After receiving my letter asking for more details....I got this!


I´m sorry I don´t give too many details. The truth is, I´m just REALLY slow with everything. I think a lot, and my typing isn´t very fast compared to everyone elses. Yes, this place it kind of like home in the mountains, but you find things like banana trees and the biggest variety of bugs you´ll ever see. That, and then corn fields everywhere. That´s what they live on here. It´s sad because some people say that their corn didn´t grow too well, and that they don´t know exactly how they´re going to do, during the dry season. I think I already said this but, we do live in the chapel. Our shower is dumping a bucket of cold water on your head, outside in the open, from a cement box. There are a ton of hills and mountains and there are waterfalls and streams all over the place. Our every day is usually spent helping people make tortillas or desgranando or degraining corn. Occasionally we chop wood or work in the field. My companion really wants to just teach lessons, but there aren´t investigators to teach that much. Every day is just like going on a hiking trip. We get home at 6 because there are no lights out here, and it´s dangerous. Most of that extra time is spent studying or sleeping because we're so tired from the walk. The hikes are worth it though. The place is very beautiful and I never get tired of helping people in any way I can. It´s when I feel like I´m not helping anyone, when I have problems living with myself. Every Monday and Tuesday morning, we get up at 4:30 to go to Momostenango. We ride in the back of a pickup truck with a cage to hold us in. This morning there were almost 20 people on the truck. They ride like 60 mph on dirt road. It´s freezing cold in the morning and that wind is almost too hard to bear sometimes. When we get there, we have to pry our hands off the bars and try to thaw them.

There have been a couple of times when we do our language study in the sun on some rocks near the stream. It´s very peaceful and quiet, I love it. I´ve lived off eggs and oatmeal for the past month now, with an occasional banana bread when I need it.

I´ve been changing a lot lately. In the mission, I can´t be my white (referring to personality color) little self and distance myself from any problem that comes up. I have to be actively in peoples lives and progress. I have to put my views out there and hope that I don´t cause a conflict. I have to do more than be the quiet servant in the corner, like I´m used to being. People rely on me to be outgoing, and so I´ve been doing my best to change, to be able to do that. It´s difficult though. I hope some day I can be someone who is firm, strong, uplifting, active, loving, all those things that you expect from a missionary.




Quite the bug collection....he was told NOT to bring any of these home!!!






Pictures!!!! I love pictures!!!







Branch President and Family




Little girl who wanted to play.

October 11, 2010

Well, his letter is VERY short and sweet this week. I sent a lot of extras this week since his birthday is tomorrow, but I ran into some gliches with my computer, so things were late sending and by the time he got it, time was up so this is all we get this week. I have sent a note to his companions mom, to see if I can get some details of the week from her side of things. If so, I will pass it on. If not, we will all have to wait another week. Thanks for all your love and support.


Thank you so much! I can´t say much now, because we´re over the time limit right now, but I want to say thank you to all of you and I´ll be able to respond to you next week, after I read everything. Things have been going well this week. We´ve had a lot of work to do.

October 4, 2010 He's a trainer!

So, we had changes and I´m actually not surprised at all. I saw it coming from a mile away. I´m still here and I´m training. My new comp´s name is Elder Robinson. He´s very excited and it´s always refreshing to have that fresh excitement around. He´s from Colorado and he likes to Ski. That´s about as much as I know. We haven´t really gotten to work together yet, because of the conferences we´ve had. (We had one Friday with president.) This week was basically awesome with conference and everything. It surprised me how many talks and things were about, or mentioned, missionary work. It was kind of comforting. I had a whole range of emotions during it. With elder Hollands talk, I could only think of you and dad and how much you take care of, for me, and feel a little guilty that I never earned anything for myself. I also felt really good about a lot of those talks. There was one part of one talk that pains my heart though. The one where he says something like, give me a young man who is and eagle scout, has his duty to god, and had a burning testimony of the book of Mormon, and he will be a successful missionary... I think my slacking will haunt me for the rest of my life. But, I understand that I can´t change the past, and I just need to repent and try harder from now on.

Ya, It´s really easy to pull out money from my card and buy stuff with it. I always see or find little tiny things that I think I could use, so a little extra money that´s actually mine would actually be kind of nice. So go ahead and do that if you want. I´d like it. (this was in response to the question if he wanted some extra cash in his account as part of his Christmas present)


Hunter,

I can´t believe you are getting baptized next week. You are so big now! You´re going to be so tall when I get back I won´t even recognize you. I remember when I got baptized, I wondered why we did it so early. I felt like I could never be perfect for even one day after that. But, I have learned something. Being baptized isn´t just becoming clean and free of sin. Hunter, when you become baptized, you show to Heavenly Father that you are ready to try to be like Jesus a little bit more every day; That you will do your best to do the things that he wants you to do. You will learn to do this even when it´s hard, or doesn´t seem fun, because you will learn to believe his promises that he gives you, if you follow what he says. He promises that if you try to be more like Jesus, you will be happier and have more blessings. You also get to have a friend to help tell you what Heavenly Father wants. He is the Holy Ghost. He talks to you through your heart and tells you through feelings, what you should do. If there is something you don´t want to do, ask yourself or mom or dad, why Heavenly Father wants you to do it. With every commandment, He promises special blessings. One example is, that He promises that if you read the scriptures and follow what they say, you will feel the love He has for you. Even though you will make mistakes, Heavenly Father has given you the chance to erase them every Sunday. When you take the bread and water at church, you say to Heavenly Father, "I´m still trying to be like Jesus. Please forgive me for the mistakes I made." I love you and I know you will be happy and blessed for this choice to be baptized.

Thanks for everything.

Love,

-Elder Landon Crapo

I love this beautiful message given to his little brother. Hunter hasn't seen this yet. We have decided to read it to him at his baptism as a surprise. Dad will have to read it....Mom won't make it through.

September 27,2010

I´m sorry that I´m being so vague. It´s hard because I´m already in an area that´s hard to find people. If I don´t say much, it´s because not much exciting is going on with the work. We walk a lot and talk with a lot of people, but it´s hard to get people, who have a hard enough time growing their corn and having enough food, to be interested in something that doesn´t directly involve those needs. They go to church and that´s all that matters to them, in that aspect. Apart from that, the decisions that a person makes affects everyone around them. So, sometimes things happen that I can´t do anything about, but I can find joy in my own little accomplishments, and that´s what I´m trying to focus on. Really, you don´t have to worry. I´m doing ok. A mission is hard work and is very sobering, but that doesn´t mean I´m having a bad time and that I want to go home. I´m just trying really hard to learn and to grow as a missionary really fast. It may sometimes feel like I´m neglecting to keep you informed, and it´s probably true, but I just want you to know that I´m doing my best and that I´m enjoying what I´m doing. I´m just focused.

We were discouraged this week though, because we had no luck with the investigators that we had, and have basically dropped them. They canceled the conference with President on Wednesday, and had nothing planned because of it. We didn´t want to go walk the same route that we walk every day and try to talk to the same people, so we made the decision that it was time to walk as far out there as we could until we reached an area we hadn´t been in yet. The second house we went to, we walked around behind the house and ran into a mom and her four kids. We tried to offer service and explained why we were there and found out really quickly that they didn´t understand Spanish very well. (Everyone here speaks Quiché and about half speak Spanish well.) But we managed to be able to help them pick some corn from the field. After doing that for a while, we offered, for the second time, our message about "Jesu Cristo." She was very eager to learn about Jesus Christ, but we knew that we wouldn´t get far with how little Spanish she knew, but we gave a prayer, explained a little about fOllowing Christ, and how baptism was a part of that. It was very basic. Then we offered to bring a member family that spoke Quiché with us next time, so that we could start teaching them. We put a cita with them for Saturday, but unfortunately, I kind of got booted out of my area all weekend, when one of my Zone leaders decided to surprise me with divsions without my knowing or being prepared, and the cita didn´t happen. It probably wouldn´t have happened anyway because of the rain. We just had rains for a really long time, but not a huge storm. The coast is what got hit, not us.

That´s been this week. I´m excited for conference. We go to the stake building in Momos to watch conference and there is a specific "Engleis" room that we get to watch it in. This week is also changes, so we´ll see what happens. I honestly think that I´m staying and Elder Crockett is leaving... but we´ll see. I might even train this next change.

Thanks for your love, and care. I´ll talk to you next week.

Your humble missionary son,

-Elder Landon James Crapo

September 20, 2010

So ya, a lot has been happening in the mission. FORTUNATELY, Momos doesn´t have to wear their jackets every day. Only on Sunday. Don´t worry. I haven´t been affected by anything. I have food that will keep me alive. Eggs and refried beans and pasta keep me alive. I do eat a lot, so I might pull into the funds from home. Actually, I had to buy everything from Xela with my debit card because my mission card wasn´t working, but I´ll just keep that money set aside for more emergencies. Things here have been going ok. There´s a little bit of pressure to get some baptisms, but I just know that nobody in our area is ready and we´re going to have 0 baptisms this month, but I´d rather get no baptisms than a rushed and not lasting baptism. They tell us to focus on souls, but then have a panic when we don´t get numbers. I think it´s because if you focus on numbers you don´t get them. If you focus on souls, miracles happen. So when we don´t get numbers, we´re not doing it right. It´s an extremely odd concept and it´s hard to get everything straight, but I´m learning. I´m just going to continue to do everything the best I can. I´ve learned a lot and have faith that this next month and change I will be better prepared to teach and find with ¨convincing power¨. Other than that, I don´t have much. The lady we challanged isn´t in my area and I haven´t heard much about her from the zone leaders yet. I do know that she is one of the chosen and that she will eventually be baptized. I could just tell. We have a meeting with President on wednesday and everyone´s expecting a castigo. I expect to learn how I can do things better. Don´t worry that I don´t have much to say. Momos is a hard area but I haven´t given up yet. Give me another month and I´ll have something to tell you about, I think. Some things just require patience.

I love you all and thank all of you for your letters and care. I really appreciate your prayers.

Love,

-Elder Landon Crapo

September 13, 2010

So, this week has been quite crazy. So as I´d told, you we were going to Xela to buy food for the month right? Well, we went and did all that stuff, but some companionships went and did their own thing and ended up getting lost. Lots of our food stuff got damaged or lost and there had been a couple other things like throwing up on the bus and getting stuck in Xela for the night. It was very chaotic and as a result we are no longer allowed to go to Xela the first of the month. Nothing really happened to me but crazy stuff was happening all over, most of it could have been prevented too. Anyway, so the next day, the Zone leaders taught about that new curriculum almost all day. They also told us that the training for the district leaders was canceled. Bummer. Anyway, we´ve been working extremely hard in our area. There are very few people in our area and we have to go long distances to reach people. These past couple of days, my comp. and I have made a decision to get really serious. We´ve been trying to reach our goals every day and sometimes that involves running up and down mountains to make it in time. It´s been tough and I spent the last couple of nights recovering from heat exhaustion from the days work. Luckily, my companion knows a lot about that kind of thing and won't let me get sick. :)

Other than that, I don´t really have specifics. We had an investigator named Baltazar, but he left for Guatemala City and won´t be back for a month... We´re working with a lot of less active families and have come up with a good plan to strengthen the Branch as a family. I´m very excited to see what we accomplish in this next couple of weeks, but for today... I´m going to take a long nap and try to recover and get my strength back. I can tell just by looking at myself that I´m losing a lot of weight. I´m probably back to my 140, like I use to be before I left.

I love you all.

-Elder Landon Crapo

September 6, 2010 Love this letter!

Thanks for the letter. I really miss family reunions. I'm glad you're all having a good time and you've all been safe.

Happy Birthday Hunter! And thanks for your letter. It made me smile.

So, two highlights for this last week:

I've finally got someone I'm actually hopeful will get somewhere, in my area. His name is Bouthezar (or something like that. It's something close to Boutizar :) ) His wife's name is Maria. He lived in Georgia for 2 years and knows a tiny bit of English and can understand quite a bit. We've gone to teach him a couple of times. Elder Jud and Elder Crockett contacted him first. This week, we went to teach him and he said he didn't have any time. We asked him if there was anything we could do for him. (We always tell them that we're here to serve in any way we can, not just to teach) He said that he actually did have something we could do. They were working on shucking corn, and so the four of us sat in a circle around a big pile of corn, and we all shucked the corn and just talked about stuff like English and what it means to be a missionary and what we do. At one point, Elder Crockett mentioned about his family and stuff and I just sort of took it from there and taught about our wonderful plan of happiness. Elder Crockett and I were working together so well it was like we were of the same mind... That's really the first time I've felt like that has happened. We finished off with our testimonies right as we were finishing up the last little bit of corn. As we ended with a prayer and left, both of us were just super excited. It felt so good. There's still a ways to go with him, but we have high hopes.

This last one happened yesterday and is actually quite interesting. It's almost like a fairytale missionary story. It was just beautiful. It was with me and one of my Zone Leaders, Elder Tucker. They had a cita with someone for that afternoon but Elder Cahawaii (the other ZL) and Elder Crockett were busy doing something, so I went with elder Tucker to their cita. (We took the truck to Momos yesterday because there wouldn't be any this morning.) On the way, Elder Tucker was explaining to me about the new curriculum the church is doing for the missionaries with their new "The District 2" videos. He was explaining to me about the new focus we were having and how to go about this new approach to the same Preach My Gospel. We prayed before we went to the cita and went in. We explained clearly what our purpose was when we got in there. The new thing is to try to make you, as a missionary, "invisible" so that they can really build a relationship with the Lord. We started with a hymn and a prayer, as usual, explaining the importance of why we do each. Then we had a lesson guided by the spirit to each and every person there including the investigator. Right off the bat, she opened up and explained how her near death experience helped her realize how fragile life was and how she was devastated to think of leaving her family in the condition they were in. We gave a great lesson about how we come closer to our Heavenly Father and the steps we need to take to show our faith and willingness, and to start on the path to be with our families and our Heavenly Father forever. By the end, she committed to be baptized on the 18th, EVEN THOUGH the doctor said she shouldn't be in water after her surgery. She has an appointment with the doctor on the 17th, and she's going to ask if she can be baptized on the 18th. In the mean time, we're all going to be praying for her to be able to do this. As we finished our lesson with a prayer, something amazing happened. All of a sudden, it seemed like the room was illuminated a little by an orange light. We went outside to see where it was coming from and we couldn't believe how beautiful it was. It was a huge orange sunset that illuminated the whole entire sky around us in bright orange, with a double rainbow in the back, behind the house. It was AMAZING! Unfortunately, neither of us had our cameras, but the missionaries in Racaná (about 45 min. away from where we were) got a picture of it in the distance. Just imagine me in the very center of that huge bright light. :) We both loved it. If nothing else, it was the most convenient thing that I've ever seen, but I personally feel it was just a tender mercy. I am very grateful to have had that experience.

Now this week, I feel very excited to be able to go to the training as a District Leader. Last week, the Zone Leaders had their training, and now I get to learn more about what really happened yesterday. I strongly believe that the Lord was trying to show me the importance of what I'm going to learn this week. I'm going to be spending three days in Xela during the training. I've very excited.

Today we're going to Xela to buy food for the week! I'm excited. It also means that I get pouch today too, although, for some reason I feel I won't get much, if anything at all, because it was so close to conferences, but... we'll see.

I love you all and am so grateful to have been born of goodly parents, that I would be able to be worthy to enjoy experiences such as this, where I can feel the love of the Lord so strong. I miss you.

Love,

Elder Landon James Crapo

August 30, 2010 District leader!

This week has been actually a little fruitless but I hear that's just kind of how Momos is. Tuesday we had a district meeting... I think I may have forgotten to mention that I'm district leader. Anyway, I did my best to try and teach a little something to help the whole district of two companionships, including my own. ;)
Afterwards, we waited for a truck to take us to our area again, which is about 45 minutes away from Momos. They dropped us off not where they were supposed to, and we had to walk the whole rest of the way home. By then, it was dark and here we have to be inside at sundown for our own safety.

Wednesday we had a conference. I got a 3 in one letter from Nikki and 3 letters from Sister Thompson at the end. I love my two frequent writers! After the conference, we took the long bus ride to Momos and then the long truck ride to my area. Unfortunately, we got dropped off NOT where we're supposed to be again, and this time my comp slipped in the mud and got all muddy. Unfortunately, this wasn't a laughing experience like with my experience. I was afraid for my life and just kept my distance until my comp could calm down. We laugh about it now though. That day we didn't get to work either.

Thursday was planning day and then we worked that afternoon, hiking most of the time.

Friday was hiking a lot to houses that didn't have time for us.

Saturday as well... But we have got a few experiences where we both have felt that some people are ready and need the gospel. We are trying to come up with ways to gain their trust so that they'll let us teach them.

The only person we have had a chance to really teach is a man named Bauthezar and his wife. We just started though, so we'll see how he progresses within the next few weeks.

Sunday was a "ccm" which is training for the presidents of the branches in the zone. We don't do anything there, but we have to be there. That took all afternoon and then we came here to Momos to sleep the night for P-day today!

I know, I make it sound super exciting right? But I really do love this area. We are going to do some real work this week. I feel that now is the time for my efforts to be stronger so that they can actually produce fruit. This area will be better in some way by the time I leave. If that only means that the members have a stronger relationship with each other, that's fine with me.

Thanks for all your love, concern, and support. I go to Xela next week to buy all the food for the month that I can't get here, so I need to make a meal plan so I know what to buy. I want a little variety. I don't know what I want but if you could just sort of think of my favorites that aren't too hard to make, but are different from each other a little, that will help me make a decision. I want to make pineapple burgers but I don't think there is such a thing as brown sugar here so... maybe in a package? :D I know this list is getting long. I've already forgotten all the things I've asked for. Oh well, thanks for all you do for me!

Love Elder Landon James Crapo

p.s. Thanks for the pictures!

August 23, 2010

So, I´ve got lots of news this week! I don´t like to start emails without reading one first but... I´ll just try to start with what´s happened so far.

We were almost positive that I was going to have changes this week, so on Tuesday, we went to presidents house to make banana bread with them to say goodbye. Then we went to visit Delia Castillo, our best investigator to that point, and said goodbye to her too. Then we went to my house and had 7 missed calls. After a few calls, we found out that I had changes, but for some reason they like to keep information form us. All they told me was to be in Xela at 9:30 the next morning. So... it was another late night packing all my stuff. The next morning, I made a HUGE mistake and drank all of the orange juice that I had, before I left. We went to centro and waited. That´s when I realized the mistake I´d made. I had to go to the bathroom twice before we even got on the bus that takes 3 to 4 hours to get to Xela. I nearly exploded and finally had to get off real quick during one of the stopping spots to go on a tree. It was ridiculous. When we got to Xela, we had no time. They told me I was going to Momostenango and to get on the bus because it was leaving immediately. (I took one last bathroom break first though.) It was another 2 to 3 hour bus ride to Momos.

So I´m in MOMOS! I don´t know if you know anything about Momos or not, or if I´ve ever said anything about it, but let me explain a little bit. Momos is the place that everyone either wants to go there, or dreads going there. It is very remote. There are a ton of mountains and everyone lives really far away from each other. Some areas don´t have electricity and almost nobody has a shower. That being said, it is one of the most beautiful places in the world. The mountains are beautiful and there are waterfalls and streams everywhere. Everyone speaks Quiché and depending on where you go, they might not know Spanish. It is a challenging area but I really wanted to come. One day in my last area, the Zone Leaders called and asked if I wanted to go to momos and I said yes and Here I Am!

Anyway, so while I was on the bus, I met one of the new missionaries. He´s from California and his name is Elder Brown. He´s super excited and I just love to see new missionaries because they are always just so excited. We got to momos and carted our luggage all over the place for a while. Finally, some people from the area showed up and I met my comp. (which at the time I didn´t even know was my comp. until I asked him if he knew who my comp. was.) Elder Crockett from Orem. He has one change under his belt. He´s a half Polynesian blue eyed white guy. He has the Hawaiian attitude of work hard, play harder. He´s been trying really hard to help me "loosen up". Since my last area, I´ve been a little reserved. Of course, as you may know, I can never completely loosen up as much as people would like. It´s just not my nature to be goofy, crazy, fun, but he´s trying. I´m really excited for this change. The next time I get pouch, I´m predicting will be in two weeks. I still lug the piano in it´s huge box. I still need recipes and I even have an OVEN now! We live in the Chapel, that´s why. I haven´t written anyone else to be honest. I want to start writing some other people like Phil and Ben but I can only find barely enough time to write the one and even that has fallen behind a couple of weeks. The thing is, I can´t send mail from momos because it most likely will get lost... So I don´t know what to do. It´s really tempting to send e-mails now. I don´t know what to do to be honest. I have to wait to go to Xela, like we do every month to get food. So... I don´t know. Anyway, that´s that. I´ve got some pictures so... Talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Landon James Crapo
New Companion, Elder Crockett