Pictures 1-9-12

1-9-12

Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2012 12:34:03 -0800
Subject: 1-9-12

Hey everyone!

 

I've gotte a few letters in the mail this week so thank you very much.  I dont feel much like typing right now... i dont know why?  But its been a good week.  I've gotten my shoulder all straightened out... kind of, they gave me the choice.  Go home for 3+ months and get my shoulder fixed, or stay on the mission and get it done after.  I'll get it done after, it doesnt hurt too bad.  And I start physical therapy this week, i guess i have a whole bunch of nerve damage in my arm, it goes numb sometimes, kind of like an electric shock feeling when i move it in certain ways.  So hopefully the physical therapy fixes that.  The week has been good. Not a whole lot of progress investigator wise but we have been doing LOADS of service.  I like my new companion a lot.  Elder Lane from Rigby, idaho.  He's a stud, a little crazy but awesome.  I'm loving my mission and there is no where else i'd rather be.  I'll try and write a better email next week. but this is it for now.  I still have all my journal entries in video form anyways so i can just watch all about this later ;)

 

Cool experience though.  Remember a while back when i told you that we gave a guy in the hospital a blessing? And then we found out he was ok? Well i found out a little more to the story.  So we were talking to the members that took us to the hospital to give the guy a blessing, they didnt even know him, he was a friend of a friend of a friend who asked our members if there was anything they could do to help. They offered to bring the missionaries to the hospital and give him a blessing (me and elder Jenkins) And thats what we did.  We didnt know really what he had but he looked like he was in bad shape, i think someone said cancer.  But elder Jenkins annointed him and i gave him the blessing, probably one of the best and inspired blessing i had ever given, i said thigs i dont think i normally would have, and that was that.  Well the other day our memebers  wanted to see how that guy was doing so they finally got a hold of someone who knew and they found out that he had a complete recovery! COMPLETE!  But what i didnt know was that his minister came to read him his last rights.... right before we showed up.   Like this guy was literally laying on his death bed, everyone there was saying their goodbyes.  Then we showed up and now he is healed... it was so cool to hear about how the priesthood was able to heal him.  And i feel super lucky to be able to hold that same power that christ did to do so... 

 

I know my letters arent quite as spiritual or short as this one... but i hope you all like it.  The church is true and if you dont know that then you need to find out :)

 

LOVE

ELDER CRAPO

Transfers... Again

Date: Mon, 2 Jan 2012 11:14:05 -0800
Subject: Transfers... Again

Hello Family and Friends,

 

     Its crazy how the time flies.  I cant believe i have been in simi valley for 4+ Months... it will be 5+ at the end of this transfer.  IT does not feel like it has been that long at all! Anyways i only have like 15 minutes so i'd better hurry and write this email.

 

Monday 12-26-11

We had phone calls in the morning, Elder Haynie told me everthing that happened.  They switched our district leaders so now the ZL's are our district leaders which is cool.  And then i was the only one in the district that changed. I got Elder Lane. Elder Bullard Left to Tehachapi, with the same Companion i had up there! He's been up there forever! lucky devil!

 

Then we went and did our shopping, emails.

 

Elder Bullard wanted to say goodbye to the Guidos so we went to their house and just chatted with them for a little bit.

 

Then barry took us to Famous Daves where i got a whole rack of ribs... Blah! TOO MUCH. But really gooooood! And then like always whenever we got out, Barry says "i'll be back i gotta go to the bathroom" so he leaves and comes back, then a few minutes later all the workers gather around and give me cake or something? Ice cream.   And they all begin to sing Happy Birthday to me... He does this EVERYWHERE though, haha he did it clear back in September too... It was funny though.

 

Then we went to Barry's, he threw a surprise party for me.  There were quite a few people from the ward there.  He bought a cake, with candles and some presents.  He's such a cool guy.

 

Tuesday 12-27-11

Early in the morning Barry came over and brought us dohnuts for Breakfast and ate them with us.  Then Cooper Brown came by and he is a kid visitiing his family getting ready to go on his mission, but he was goonna take us to Transfer Meeting.  Elder BUllard had ALOT of stuff... i told him to try and fit everything into his suitcases but he didnt listen... oh well... he will learn.  Anyways we got it all packed up and we went to Ventura.

 

Picked up Elder Lane, he is from Rigby Idaho, he just came from North Bakersfield.  I am his senior companion... I dont know why? He has been out for 14 months.  ONe of the AP's who i served around in Tehachapi, came up to me and said hey man we trust you alot, just help Lane get his obedience back up... so looks like he's been a little naughty on the mission... but i dont really like being his senior because he doesnt listen to me... He's Senior yet i'm his senior... doesnt make sense. Plus its embarrasing when people ask how long he's been out and then they say oh so you're senior, and he says no... then they automatcally think that he's done something wrong on the mission to not be able to be senior... which is true. But its killing our trust... this area is getting killed because they send Piles here to serve... if they were to send good missionaries here it would be blazing with baptisms... i know it would.  So i'm trying to be a good example, but thats pretty much all i can do... He's a way cool kid though, i like him a lot, he's just a little arrogant but we get along well.

 

Then we went to Costcos with cooper, got some food and gas.

 

Then we went shopping with the spanish elders, Elder Graff is gone so now we got another guy. He's... cool

 

We ate dinner at barry's house, BBQ'd some burgers and dogs. It was goood.

 

Then later that night we went on splits with Brother Walter.

 

Wednesday 12-28-11

I turned 20! how weird! I dont feel twenty...

 

We had district meeting.

 

Then Barry took us to lunch at 5 guys.  Then we went to the park and had a lesson with his son.  And it went really well. The kid knows his stuff pretty good.  We also took some really good pictures there which dad got, i'm going to try and send some. but i'm horrible at sending pictures because i never have time...

 

Then we contacted people for a while, went to our investigators house who has a date.  Went over the baptismal questions and stuff with her. She still seems super nervous, its hard to help people have a belief in god when they have never had that belief before.

 

Then we went to a Referral from the Guidos, we were lucky to catch her out in her yard but she said that she wasnt interested.

 

Then we went to the Regis' and talked with Jean (non member) for a little bit. He's super cool.

 

Then we went to a potentials house clear at the other end of our area.  She came to the door wearing Thigh high go go boots... bright baby blue... strange, but ok.  She's definitely a hippy.

 

Then we went to dinner at the Browns.  And brother Brown was telling us the story of when elder bullard was complaining that he took us to in and out instead of the habitt.  Its a pretty funny storry but unfortunately i dont have time to type it haha. Maybe next time!

 

Then we rode to the guidos house, they were supposed to have some non member friends come over but they couldnt make it. 9 rolled around and i was like ok time to go Lane, and he was like no i'm playin guitar and i seriously had to stand there and be like LETS GO, everyone got quiet to watch to see what would happen because here i was being the obedient missionary, having to stand up to this disobedient one... it sucks....

 

Thursday 12-29-11

WE went to Bonnie shorts house and taught her a little lesson.

 

Then went to brother Darleys house to get some bike repairs.  He ended up not being able to fix Lane's bike so he sent us to his friend at the bike shop.  She gave Elder Lane a different bike because the one he had was all messed up.  i also got a flat on my bike RIGHT outside, so i got some strip things to put into my bike so they dont pop, they also put a different tire on and replaced the inner tube... they hook us up pretty good. but still costed me $20.

 

Then we went to mcdonalds and Elder Goudy and Searcy picked us up.  WE went to the Crazy ladies house and did some work in the  back yard.

 

Then went out trying to contact people. No one was really home.

 

Then  Barry took us to Free birds (we saw barry a lot this week because he had some time off) Its a burrito place that is super new.

 

Then we went to his house and watched some mormon.org videos.  That is always fun.

 

Then we went to the Guidos and had a lesson with their non member friends and gave them a book of mormon and the  lady actually seems pretty interested.

 

I got sarahs package in the mail.  I liked it a lot.  Especially all the shredded paper... haha i think we are going to prank some other missionaries with it by putting it all over their car!

 

Oh and barry has been doing "7 days of birthday" So everytime we see him he gives me a new present or does something for my birthday,  This day he gave me a bowling pin.  So i made them sign it, i'll send it home soon.

 

Friday 12-30-11

We did our planning at the Township building because the ZL's think we get too distracted by the other elders at the other building.

 

Then i paid for subway for everyone because i have like... 3 gift cards to there. And i dont even like it that much! BUT HEY! I'll eat anything cuz i'm a poor starving missionary.

 

Then we went out contacting, and like most days no one is really home.

 

Then we taught chelsea and Jordan, Chelsea is the one with a date.  She backed out of it though, she doesnt feel ready yet :(  But we'll keep working with her and her friend, we'll actually probably have to turn her over to the ZL's because she turns 18 soon and will be YSA age.

 

Then we went to barry's house and he made us some... nasty meatloaf... but oh well! Its always good to go to barry's because we are able to teach his son everytime we see him.

 

Saturday 12-31-11

Did service with the Erringer Elders.  Just odd jobs, sawing posts, fixing brakes on cars, all kinds of stuff. While we were there there was a lady putting some christmas stuff into the atic of the garage, she fell of the ladder she was on and SLICED her palm open, it was BAD, she rushed to the hospital.  I saw the pictures later... they were gross, they took a huge chunk of flesh out of her palm and gave her 12 stitches! OUCH, they give me the heebie jeebies whenever i see them.

 

Then we went to sports and played softball. it was an ok turn out, it was a lot of fun! We were still in service clothes because we didnt have time to c hange.

 

Then We got changed and showered and barry took us to Palermos, its way way good! and then we taught scott a lesson and had to be back by 8.  We got super bored so Elder Lane was like, lets celebrate new years eve by keeping the lights off. So i went to the bathroom but when i came back out he had mounted a black light to the wall so everything was kind of glowing.  Then i remembered i had glow sticks, so we cracked them and taped them to our bodies to make ourselves look like something out of tron and then i remembered i have the tron score, so we put it in and made a few music videos! It was SICK! haha you'll have to see them when i send them back to you! We stayed up till 12. We were laying in our beds and we were just like, yay happy new year.... goodnight haha that was it.

 

 

 

 

WELLLLLL thats pretty much it.  I have an appointment this thursday for my shoulder. I'll let you know if i need surgery or not! well... of course you will know becuase chances are if i get surgery i might have to come home for a while... i hope not though.  But we'll see!

 

I hope you guys all had great holidays! Write me!

 

Love

Elder Crapo

Christmas Time

Date: Mon, 26 Dec 2011 12:26:28 -0800
Subject: Christmas Time


Hey family and Friends! 

 

Time for another update, if i spoke to you on the phone there will be news in here that you didnt hear me say because we got our transfer calls today!  Also i didnt do very well at keeping a journal this week... i didnt keep one at all actually... you think i would because it was christmas and a lot of important things were happening, but i just found no time to do it.  So i will just do some typing away and you'll have to use the gift of discernment to understand what i mean.  So! Time for the big news! We got our transfer calls today, and Elder Haynie was the one to call.  He called and said that i would be staying in Simi, in now what is known as "the smallest apartment in the mission". Yup, i'm staying in the same place but the elders that lived in the Smallest apartment got kicked out, so since we had the second smallest we now have the smallest! UGH! But hey i got a new companion headed my way all the way from Bakersfield! His name is Elder Lane, i dont know much about him except that he has been out longer than i have and i am his senior companion... thats not always good? but hey i'm ready for a change! I just hope this goes well! So thats the big news Elder Bullard on the other hand LUCKED OUT!!!! He's going to Tehachapi! My wards! Where i was born! So LUCKY! He's with Elder Winward too! That guy has been up there FOREVER! this will be his 5th transfer there! MAN! I better call him or something and give him the heads up... oh man.  So thats the news.  They are also switching up our district leaders, so now the Zone Leaders are our district leaders. That means Elder Haynie is my District Leader!!!! YAY!!! haha! We are losing elder Graff, he goes to Santa Paula. And i'm going to miss elder hernandez because he's going to be with the other district :( Nothing else really changed, i dont know if what is going on with the transfers is inspired... the past three missionaries that have lived in my apartment now all went to tehachapi... it kind of seems like a connection that as soon as you are done serving in the ward i'm in you go to tehachapi... Kind of dumb.

 

Anyways this week there wasnt a whole lot of work done, there were a lot of parties and stuff. Like the one on wednesday in Oxnard, we had a big missionary party with other zones and that was fun.  We all got our packages and stuff.

 

We had a district party on friday which was cool. some elders asked a professional photographer in their ward to come take pictures of us haha so i will see if i can get my hands on those goofy pictures.  Its crazy, some of the elders are loaded or soemthing because they bought us all presents and stuff! ITs crazy! I felt so bad that i couldnt get them anything.

 

We spent our christmas eve pretty much with the Guidos, they opened gifts and got us GIMUNGOUS Stockings full of stuff! Way cool stuff too! They hooked us up! They are so awesome!  We also played an intense game of football in the morning, i'm out of shape, i would run a play but get way tired, plus on defense i had a guy who was pretty good, so he wore me out as well. but i think i made the most points for our team.  The guys here think i should go play college ball as wide reciever... i guess i could... but i dont know if thats what i want to do? We also ate dinner at the McMullins house with their family and they got us ties.  IT was good. We went caroling as well.  There were a lot of drunk people... I dont know how they could do that? spend christmas with a hangover... fun!

 

Then christmas day we went to church... both sessions and it was fun.  we sat with barry thomas the whole time, he stayed for both.  Then he dropped us off at the guidos and we did our phone calls there.  That was fun too.  ummmmmmm  I really liked all the presents i got.  The Watch was perfect! my shoes havent come yet and i guess sarah sent something that hasnt got here either.

 

I'm not sure what else to say? i've had a great christmas with the guido family.  Definitely a lot different. Very humbling.  I'm so used to giving and then when a family takes you in and just gives to you... it makes me feel spoiled. Its weird being on the recieving end. 

 

I have an appointment to get my shoulder checked out on January 5th.  If i have to get surgery i'll see if i can recover here in Simi.  haha Barry said that he would take work time off so that i could stay at his place baha! I wouldnt want to come home for a little shoulder injury... but i dont want to let it sit and get worse later on, it would be better to get it fixed asaps so i dont suffer for it later ya know? i just dont want to come home and realize how good it is and not want to go back out.  haha i know thats what i'll start thinking i'll be like "man no more stupid comps to worry about, this is great i aint goin back" so we dont want that! I want to stay out.

 

Uhmmm on christmas night we went to barry's house, we played monopoly with him and a girl that lives in the house.  It was fun, he got us ties as well.  We are going over tonight because we have him signed up for dinner.  He's been planning a surprise party for me... trying to get a whole bunch of people to go haha... oh boy.  Because its my birthday... ugh... i dont like this! haha

 

Hmmmmmm... i really cant think of much else to say... i'm sorry i didnt keep a journal! But i hope you all had a very nice christmas, and i hope you all have a nice new years too.  I miss the traditions. IT didnt feel too much like christmas, another work day really... biggest reason was because it was like 70 degrees outside! But i really miss you all, i cant believe how close i am to being out a year! its goin by way too fast. I'll let you know what my comp is like when i meet him, i've heard good things and not so good things... haha Anyways take care everyone!

 

Love,

Elder Crapo