October 27th, 2014

How goes it, all is well out here. It was a good week, struggling to encounter the people weve been to before, but in the process found a couple super cool families....Ive really found a lot of power in using the Family Proclamation, people really see the reson for the family and the importance they have in the lives of those around them. Its cool to see them set goals for themselves to have the happiness they read about in the proclamation. It was suprising to meet and start teaching 2 families that are already married....ha its super rare but it makes describing all of this a whole lot more meaningful. One of the families, its just a couple but they live with the guys mom too, are Juan and Patricia Sanchez. And theyre way cool they gave us to try cuy, which was my first time. (Cuy is guinea pig, the people from the mountains eat it here)

I was thinking a lot about the experience that peter had the night before Christs death, how its like us a lot of times. How he promises the lord hell go to prison or death with him, but then couldnt stay and watch with him. And how he could cut off the ear of the servant in front of Christ, but then when he was alone couldnt admit that he even knew him. Sometimes we can have desires to serve one second but then the next fall to the temptaion to be laidback in serving God. Or we forget who we are in a hard time and reject our true beleifs. Really we can learn from Peter and stay firm in the faith always, just as he wept, and learned from his mistakes, we can always look for ways to serve better and more faithfully, not leaving Christ alone in Getsemani or in the hands of the high priest. Thats my message today.

Elder Crisp


Cuy asado

October 20th, 2014

It was a good week here in Simon Bolivar, the people here are slowly being exposed to the reality that the power and authority of Jesus Christ are present and very alive in this world chalked full of lies like he never even established his church, or that we dont need to follow his way exactly just follow something that looks like it. This really is his church, and we were able to find quite a few people to try to help understand that these things are true.

We met a super cool lady this week her names Maria, her niece in the branch but is kind of inactive. We taught about the book of Mormon and she was really interested in it, but then through out the week she wasnt really reading it...I thought she would be one of the people (usually the older folk) that dont want to actually do anything. So we invited her to church, and to keep reading, and we prayed with her that she would have the desires to start to do the invitations... and she actually came. In the meeting the President mentioned the story of Lehis dream in Nephi 8. Maria got super excited cause she recognized the story...the night before she couldnt sleep, so she picked up the book, and read 10 chapters! It was super cool to see that she read an understood, and she enjoyed the meeting a lot from that talk. Shes progressing to be baptized in November.

I was reading the chapter about abinadi in Mosiah 13, a really good example of the faith we need and determination to follow the commandments. He says in 3 and 4 that they will not touch him because he still had not sayed and done exactly what God had commanded, that he had to finish his message, his commandment before they could kill. Just thinking about how strong he had to be in faith, how firm he was that what he was standing for was the truth, that they couldnt even touch him before he did what was commanded. I think it should be the same with us, that nothing should get in our way of being obedient, or reaching out to others, and that if were firm in our knowledge and faith well be this great example to others no.


Elder Crisp


We made a mattress fort but it fell.

The truth is I dont know this guy but he doesnt have feet and wanted a picture with me

October 13th, 2014

This week we decided to do a fast to be able to have more success, and it worked really well. The idea came from a quote I remembered from conference that fasting, and caring for the poor, is a reflection of our spirutal maturity. We hadnt been able to even teach people much before, but the last three days of this last week there wasnt really an hour where we werent occupied with lessons, It was a huge blessing. We have a man Jose who lost a leg and is about to lose the other, whos super humble and its humbling to me, he wants to work hard to be able to make it church. Another lady we have been teaching is Silvana, who was given the book of mormon by other missionaries way before. She just recently decided to pick it up and read it, she refused to before, but now she knows without doubt that its true, she even shares it with her friends at work. Thats the problem with her, she works sundays, its one of the most common challenges, and with all the people we have right now the challenges they have to overcome require a lot of faith. Thats something Ive thought about is if I would have the faith to do it. I want so bad for them to advance but I know that means I need to have way more than the faith they need to be able to keep advancing.

The main man Carlos who I talked about last week is still progressing towards his matrimony and baptism, hes super excited and willing to change....thats something we were talking about is the convanant it is, specifically to take the name of Christ (like in Mosiah 7) and he really wants that more than anything. Theyre gonna go get all their papers in this wednesday, So Im hoping theyll be able to get married the next week, Im just hoping there wont be problems with that process.

We have the truth and all of it too....we have such a greater oppurtunity to understand Christ because of the Book of Mormon, it really does leave such a good testimony that Christ is our savior. It was a lot of work to get that record to us but God put those words together, preserved them, and called his servants to deliver it to us because we need it more than ever. The remaining descendents of those very people need it. We all need that word and that testimony, and we need prophets today too, that is why it is so important to know that we really do have all of the truth. So why dont we put a little more focus in that testimony, the book. Ya so have a good week all


Elder Crisp

October 6th, 2014

We dont have too much going on with investigators right now, we do have one that were now preparing to get married/baptized. His names Carlos hes 45 or something, hes living with his girlfriend a member of the church thats active....so ya hes listened to missionaries before, knows a bunch of stuff about the church, likes listening to her read the book of Mormon, its just hes never had the desire to get married nor actually learn more. So Im hoping that now hes ready, his girlfriend says hes changed a bit now. When we taught about baptism he said there is no way Im gonna get rebaptized (already was in a evangelical church) but his girlfriend shared a powerful testimony and the scriptures hit him super hard and the spirit was super strong. By the end, he basically started chanted with a huge smile on his face yes I will, in the name of my lord I will be baptized the 18th haha. So ya so far hes excited to join the church but he needs a lot of prayers.

The rest of the week was basically trying to encourage people for conference, it didnt work too well, but we did bring Carlos to conference. We said to ourselves after the last session, after Elder Bednar spoke about why were so direct and persistent in missionary work DIRECTLY to investigators, and the Elder Kacher spoke about how to find the real answers and not fall to lies or "currents", that it woulkd have been perfect for specificaly those investigators that didnt come. That was kind of a pain that we missed that oppurtunity ha.

Conference was pretty sweet, it was super inspiring. I was noticing quite a few self evaluting questions pop up that are super powerful....
Are my eyes facing God?
How would an interview with Christ go (would I focus on the negative things)?
Would I accept the invitation to follow Christ and be baptized today?
Is my testimony of the gospel real? Is It mine?
Is it me?, betraying Christ (would I look around at others sins or mine own at the last supper)
If I keep living the same way and seeking the same goals, will the promises of my patriarchal blessing be fulfilled?
With these really we can teach ourselves how we need to imporve. There was also a lot of emphasis in holding tight to what we know, studying always to improve our testimonies, and watching out for the false voices that there are in the world today.

I liked the quote from the elder Martinez that was in spanish (which was awesome)
EL QUE SIRVE, SIRVE; EL QUE NO SIRVE, NO SIRVE
basically go get to work serving others, helping the ward, doing your responsablilites, or else youre not good for anything. Ha enjoy the life.


Elder Crisp