Talofa Lava Fam!!!
Boy, does time fly and things seem to just keep plugging along! We are having some good success here in the Nevada, Las Vegas West mission. As for our zone, we have been a little bit slower this month. But we have been tearing it up for the past couple of months, so it always seems to do that. When you kill it for a while, eventually it slows down a little and then it takes off again. But Elder West and I have a baptism in the ward that we cover coming up this Saturday. So we are super excited for that!!
The guy that is getting baptized, his name is Werner. We found him by typing in all of the less active members in our GPS. Then as we were close to them, if an appointment fell through we would go and try to visit these less active members. Well, when we knocked on their door they were super welcoming and we soon found out that Werner was a non member!! That was super exciting and we later found out that the only reason he hadn't been baptized was because his grandma, who raised him, got offended a lot of years ago and so she never had him baptized! He is 33 years old and we have really gotten close and he has warmed up a lot. He is such a nice guy and is really smart. He has graduated college and he said that this is his next step. So we are really looking forward to that. That will be Saturday at 2:30 and his uncle is going to baptize him. The best part is that his Grandma who hadn't been to church since Werner was like 8 came to church last week!!! So it has been a really cool journey to be with them through the whole process!
As for the 24th of July celebration... I won't lie. That is the one celebration that I truly miss going to. It seems like some of my best memories are from that day. The parade and all of the work that goes into the float.... I will be stoked to see it next year!! Hopefully people will stop confusing me with Foster!! haha I guess that just means one thing - Fos your dang good looking:) How did the softball tourney go? Did we even have a team? Sounds like the rodeo wasn't too bad. I am glad that the weather wasn't too terrible and that you were able to enjoy some of the summer in Idaho. Trust me, Idaho summers are the best!
As for my wonderful Vegas summer.... well, we are still right in the middle of things. This past week we went on exchanges with a compianship who is on bikes and I was able to get out and feel the heat for the day. Holy cow! I feel bad for all of these Elders who are on bike. It was probably 112 or so, which isn't too terrible for here, but it still sucks! Anything above 105 is way too hot for me. It is interesting, though. I am actually adjusting a little bit to it. I think that 80's are going to feel somewhat cool haha. We won't be back under 100 until at least September, I am sure. It has been a little cooler the past couple of days, but nothing below like 95.
We did have some really fun stuff go on this weekend, though. On the 27th, the day you were all partying back at home, we had dinner with the Palepoi family who lives clear on the other end of town. That was super fun to get to go and see them and get close to my first area!! That place seriously feels like home to me. I miss it sometimes haha. Then that evening one of the Sisters in our ward, Sister Cripe, had her 85th birthday party. So we went and told her happy birthday and got to sing to her with a bunch of the other members of the ward.
Also, this Sunday was a really cool Sunday because Debbie one of our recent converts that I was able to help teach got her first calling!!! She is now the Gospel Principles class president and she is super excited! So that is a lot of fun to see. We also got the chance to pass the sacrament with our 12 year old recent convert, Christian Curtner. I know one thing, I have had a lot of Spiritual experiences. To see someone that you were able to help get baptized, pass the Sacrament with you is a pretty awesome feeling! He is a super good kid who is kind of starting into the teenage years. He is going to be at scout camp this week and so his mom, Olivia who is also a recent convert, will be home all alone. She lives in our apartment complex and so does Debbie, our other recent convert. So she will be well taken care of. Those two really have bonded together because they live so close and because they are starting their journey together. It is really cool.
I wish you could just meet some of these people! I love them all and this area is really cool. I have met the Hawk family, who is like the best family in the world. They are super cool and we get to teach Tiffany each week, so it is worth it. We have transfers coming up in a couple of weeks, but I am hoping to stay here in this area for 1 more transfer. That would make it a 6 month area for me. Can you believe I have been here almost 18 weeks now? It is crazy!!!!
But now the most important story of the week..... So last night Elder West and I parked the car, wrote down our miles and then got out of the car and were headed up to the apartment. Then out of no where, in the grass.... we see this white bunny!!! Both of us stopped dead in our tracks and looked over and didn't even think twice. We dropped our stuff and started to creep up on it. Well, let's just say we caught us a bunny!!!:) haha It was awesome!! Totally made our day! And we called Elder Stewart and Elder Reel and we all messed with it for a while. His name is Whiskers! He is the man! But we, of course, couldn't keep it. So we had to leave him outside. Then this morning when we left, he was still there!! So he is just chilling out in the grass by our apartment. It is pretty much the coolest thing ever.
But lastly, this week I have been memorizing scriptures about diligence. Since I struggle with scripture knowledge, this is my way to get caught up. I have been picking a topic every week and then I memorize a verse every day that pertains to that topic. This week is baptism, but last week was diligence. My favorite one comes from 1 Nephi 16:28-29: "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the pointers which were in the ball, that they did work according to the faith and diligence and heed which we did give unto them. And there was also written upon them a new writing, which was plain to be read, which did give us understanding concerning the ways of the Lord; and it was written and changed from time to time, according to the faith and diligence which we gave unto it. And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things." It is talking about the Liahona and how it helped guide Nephi and his family through the wilderness. It was interesting because we also just got our Ensigns and there was an article in there that talked a lot about this scripture. In the scripture it says that the things that were written on the Liahona were changed from time to time, according to the faith and diligence that they did give unto it. Now in our lives, we don't have the Liahona. But we do have the scriptures. The writing doesn't change, but we do. As we continually read from the scriptures the things that we need from them will stick out to us. The scriptures have the things we need to know to get through this life. We just have to continue to read and study them with all diligence and then we will be guided the way that the Lord wants us to go.
Thanks so much for all that you have all done for me! I hope that you had an awesome week this past week enjoying the Pioneer Days!!! I love you all so much and cant wait to hear from you!!!
Love,
Elder Crapo
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