January 27th, 2014

2nd Week

Hey, this week went by way faster, I cant already tell that itll keep getting quicker. But this week we werent able to get as much done.... on wednesday I had to go into guayaquil to do some stuff for my visa here, and then the next day we had exchanges to interview our dates....2 of the 3 dropped by the way. But it was cool i went with an argentinan elder on the exchange and suprisingly i could understand a lot of what he said, and i felt like I could speak way better spanish with him and others. Haha it kinda made me wish that i had a latino companion. But still even with Elder Le Fevre im learning.

We were still able to find some new investigators this week, one of which is a man who has a weird name i cant remember. But we initially contacted his wife, who made it sound like she was seperated, so it was a surprise when we went to teach her and he was there alone. We taught him and he was way interested and çwe set a date for him. We havent had a change to teach the wife but she seemed really receptive too so i think we can baptize her too and their 4 kids. I really hope. We found the family in this little village called Pantanel, basically poor boondocks outside the city. Its a really interesting place, there pigs and dogs running around playing with eachother, its really jacked up. But everyones super cool there and ready.

We had a baptism saturday, her name is Luz. Shes a really nice old lady. Haha shes younger than Mom though.But ya it was a cool experience, a lot of her family came and were really happy, well try to talk to them all. Her daughter is one of the ones who dropped, were trying to get her back on date. Interesting fact she´s im pretty sure Miss Ecuador. like seriously theres hundreds of those toddlers and tiaras sashes on their wall. But ya we have a few strong investigators right now so the works going well.

It pretty much rains every night here, some nights its completlely pouring all night long. It doesnt rain much during the days, but when it does its great cause its cools me off a ton. But the streets fill up so much, and we end up wading through water past my socks. Fun stuff.... I hope you all have a good week!!!
Elder Crisp Love

January 20th, 2014

First week

Hey there everyone. So ya Im finally here in Ecuador, things are going great! Its a lot different than I had expected, but its pretty beautiful. Im in an area called duran, its just north of guayaquil. The culture here is pretty interesting. There are stores everywhere, all down the front street and from peoples houses. If you walk down a manzana(a block of houses) most of them have stuff to sell from there window. One thing that I just cant get used to is all the dogs in the streets. Theres dogs everywhere. And theyre all natty and disgusting. I swear sometimes it feels like im walking through a sarah Maclaughlin commercial. But ya the people are all super chill here, everyones suprised to see two gringos walking around.

Oh ya so my companioin is definitiely not from el salvador. Hes from oregon, and hes whiter than me haha. People say that this never happens, having a gringo as a trainer, and especially cause hes only been here 3 months. That makes it a little difficult cause even though we only speak spanish to each other, I dont really pick anything up cause he only has pretty basic spansih. But its all good, im learning a lot about the mission life from him. Its not like we cant get anything done cause were americans, he can understand everyone and communicate well. I think itd be much easier if i had a real spanish speaker to learn from but thisll work out. WE also live with two Guatametecos, they help a lot.

The work here in duran is pretty good. We finally got a baptism on satuday. So thats it, my work heres done im coming home. No but there are a lot of people who are prepared for the gospel here. Just the other day we had a pretyy cool expierience. So we had these two investigators before i got here, two girls 15 and 12 i think. So after a few days of trying to reach them we finally got in a lesson with them. Their mom who was meeting us for the first time sat by the lesson, i think cause she thought we were freaks trying to feed her children garbage. After the lesson we asked the girls to be baptized, they really excited said ya. So we asked the mom for permission to baptize them. She had tears in her eyes and siad she wanted to be baptized as well. It was so awesome, We have them on date for Feb 1. But Ya we have 4 people on date for this saturday, itll be really good.

So ya the mission life so far is good, Im adjusting well I think. Ecuador is beautiful place and Im looking forward to the next week. Good luck with all
Elder Crisp

January 13th, 2014

Hey so Im leaving tonight at 10 (my plane leaves at 1 am). Its a 5 hour flight to colombia, then a two hour lay over and then another two hours till Ecuador. Im soooo excited. Dont worry about me if someone wants to fight i can hold my own. But ya its gonna be way awesome, everyone else is nervous but im not nervous at all. I know right when i get there i wont know a thing anyone says but itll be alright. Haha thats funny to hear about that game(settlers of catan). that game is fun. . Oh ya i didnt actually sleep on the roof [on New Years' Eve], but i did watch fireworks it was sweet. Thank you for all the advice, ill keep it in mind throughout the week. I dont got much time to email, maybe i can email more tomorrow. Oh ya the MTC President said calling at the airport is against mission rules, but if I get a chance i will. If i do ill call at night, not at my first layover cause thats at 430 in the morning for you guys. Well see. Good luck to everyone this week!
Love Elder Crisp

Elder Crisp arrived in the mission field on January 14th. This is a letter  from the mission offices:

Crisp Family,
Receive a warm greeting from our part. It pleases us to inform you that Elder Crisp has arrived to the mission field without any complications. We are very happy to receive him in the Ecuador Guayaquil North Mission. Attached you will find the following: One picture with President and his companion, one with his companion, one with the group with which he came, a letter written by your son, and a letter from President Amaya.
Thank you for the support you give to Elder Crisp.

January 7th, 2014

Yo so I dont have that much to say this week, I think Im just kind of getting too routine with this MTC thing. I just need to actually get out there in the field and mix it up. Its nice studying but I think Ive learned all that I can in Spanish (I can understand everything they say in the Book of Mormon save a few words here and there!) and the only way ill get better is actually talk to real people. Ive definitely plateaued there and of course I can always learn more teaching skills and scriptures and whatnot, but I can do that in the field. So im just gonna up and leave this. No I got my flight info and im leaving tuesday morning at 1 AM. Thatll be delightful. A week from today Ill be in South America eating bananas and selling cocaine by the kilo off the side of the road. Im super excited and I just want to finally share the message with real people!
That moses thing reminds something David Bednar´s wife said in a devo, that all we need to do to resisisit sin is to remember who you are. Its that simple but its super protecting. It reminds in Mosiah 4 i think it says something like I cant say all the ways you can sin, but just watch your thoughts and actions, and you will have the spirit. Something like that. But thats all you got to do just watch what you think and remember that it needs to fit with who you are.
I am very very glad to hear that FS won it, just think about how happy their parents are to have raised them to be so clutch ya know. I hope you all have a good week, at work and at school and at play. Well see ya in a few weeks!

 "My dominican linda princesa" (beautiful princess)

"My adorable teacher Hermano Soto and his fiance, ranked number 2 on cutest couples ever."