Malo Le Soifua!!
Things here in Vegas are going really well!! It sounds like you are all going to be enjoying the 60 mph winds and I will be here enjoying the 95 degree weather today. I am so not excited. We are going to be having a bi-zone activity playing football, so I have to go out and enjoy right??
It's crazy that you are almost done planting grain!! I can't hardly believe that, but that will be awesome for you to have a little less stress going on in the life. Sounds like everyone is doing awesome and having a good week.
This past week here in Las Vegas we have had a pretty crazy week. We had some pretty good experiences, too. To start off, we had interviews with President Black and that was a pretty bitter sweet moment for him, I think. It will be the last time that he will interview all of us. It was a pretty crazy interview for me because of some of the things that he said and asked me. He started off by telling me that he was super sad that he wouldn't be able to do my departing interview. Then he went into what my plans are for when I go home... I was like, what they heck?? I think that he thought I have been out longer than I really have haha. I wanted to remind him that I have only been here 8 months!! But it was good and I really enjoyed talking to him.
It also has been a really crazy week for the Samoan Ward. We finally got a few investigators in that ward and one that is SUPER solid. She will be getting baptized on May 18. So that will be really interesting to see what a Samoan baptism is like. Here is the crazy part... she doesn't speak any English!! So we have to take a translator with us so that we can teach her. It has been a really cool experience. I really really want to learn the language so that I can teach her. I just feel like if I am going to serve here then I better learn how to talk to them, which I know might be literally impossible with all of the other things going on in my life right now. We are up every morning at 6:15 and I am hurrying to hit the pillow at 10:30 when we are supposed to.
President Black also asked me a really interesting question in his interview. He asked what has been the hardest part of my mission. Well, I am sure the whole family can guess this one. Of course it has been trying to get my ideas and views, and my companions ideas and views to match. This has been a real struggle, but it has taught me a pretty good lesson. I am learning a really good lesson right now as to how to try and accomplish that.
My companion and I are getting along well. He is a super good dude and he knows how to do missionary work. There are some things I don't agree with that he does, but I also am learning how to adjust my style and take some of the things that I like and change the things that I don't like. That is one thing I am noticing about older missionaries. They aren't willing to adjust. I just hope that the whole time that I am a missionary I am willing to adjust to the different circumstances and really push my missionary efforts forward.
Yesterday in the Tropical Breeze ward we had a returned missionary speak. He had just come home from New Zealand, which was a pretty cool deal. I can see how weird we as missionaries are as he tried to talk to people like he was normal. We are all weird, but I love it. Being a missionary is such a cool thing. One thing about it, I have learned that what everyone says is true. It is dang tough, not really physically, but mentally. Holy cow!! I have done some real soul searching since I have been out here and done some really long self evaluations. It has been fun and good for me to actually be able to see the changes that I am making and see them take place. One thing I know, without a doubt is that the Gospel is the ONLY way to have true happiness. We just started teaching a young couple who recently had to move back in with their parents because they got into a lot of trouble. They have 3 kids and their kids were taken away. Now they are really trying to change their lives. We meet with them every Monday and then stop by during the week just to check in on them. My heart just wrenches every time I see him. I can tell that he isn't really sure if he is even worth it, if he even should try to change his life. I really think he is just like, what is the point now? I see that and I can remember sometimes wondering that myself. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that you can!! Don't ever ever give up like that, because if you do, you're doing an injustice to what our Savior did for us!! He didn't go through all that he did so that we would just make a mistake and then throw the towel in and think, "dang it I messed up. Looks like he doesn't love me anymore I have a couple black marks in heaven now." He did it because he knew we would make mistakes. He knew that we wouldn't be strong enough to be perfect. He did it so when we did make those mistakes that we could change!! I am not totally sure why I just went on that tangent. I just know that the Atonement is so very real if we will allow it to change us. He wants to help us we just have to let him in.
Now on to the good stuff for the week! With my Samoan ward we get to cover the whole valley, like I have said before, which is pretty legit. But it does take us to some really shady parts of town. Haha Mom you would love to see some of these places:) I am not sure if you have been down there, but it is in the letter streets like, "D street: and things like that. It is super GHETTO!! But it's so dang fun. I hope I get to serve there full time. It might scare mom, but I would love it so much. Last week we were headed back to our car after trying to visit a member of the ward and this little black kid walks up. He says, "hey are you givind out free bibles??" And we were like, "yeah we can give you a free Bible! But we will do you one better and give you this book the Book of Mormon!!" It was pretty sweet! So cool to be in that place because people.... well some people....are much friendlier.
To end this letter, we did have a sweet baptism this weekend! The work here in Vegas is going crazy!! Last weekend in our stake we had 6 baptisms, and we are hoping to have another one here before to long. The zone here is doing awesome and we are having tons of fun! I am really enjoying getting to work with all of the members of the zone and sharing experiences with them. Our baptism was a pretty cool one. I kind of came in on the end of her teaching, but she is still a super sweet lady. Her name is Debbie and she was a lady who was just in the apartment complex and Elder Lee, an elder who served here about 6 months ago, just talked to her and she decided to just meet one time... Well, one time turned into a lot of times and then she was baptized. So it was really neat to be a part of that!
All in all things here in Vegas are going good!! I hope that you guys have an awesome week and I am looking forward to Skyping you in a few weeks!! Is everyone going to be there?? And what time is going to be good for you guys to do it? Just let me know in a letter this week or sometime. I will talk to my Ward mission Leader and set up a time to do it. I love you all so much and I will talk to you soon!!
Tofa Soifua!!
Elder Crapo
No comments:
Post a Comment