6/11/12 Pictures

Gary's Baptism

Marquez in the ER

11 Transfers Down. 6 To Go.

Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2012 11:27:03 -0700
Subject: 11 Transfers Down. 6 To Go.
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Hello Everybody,

What a crazy week i have had.  And today we got transfer calls.  And it looks like I'm only going to have 4 areas in my mission! Which is sweet because it seems like most missionaries see about 6 or 7 areas by the time they are done! BUT I GOT LUCKY.  So I'm staying in Atascadero! Which i am happy about.  I like it here.  Its taken me a lot longer to warm up to this ward than any other wards i have been in.  But the area is sweet and there is always some fun service to do.  Actually our whole Zone pretty much stayed the Same the only change is that Elder Marquez is getting sent up to Paso Robles ward. So he will still be in my Zone! And Elder Jarvies is taking his spot and will be Companions with Elder Lifungula.  I love elder Jarvies he's such a good guy.  Great Missionary.  I'm stoke that he will be living with us. I still think its crazy that i was in Tehachapi for 6 months, Simi for 6 months and now Atascadero for 6 Months.  I feel like i haven't really been here that long though.... But here is how my week has gone!

Monday 6-4-12

We had our P-day. My companion doesn't like how we are always on the go on P-day. So i had to slow it down. And it stunk! I'm never doing that again.  Usually i like to get things done! EVERYTHING done!  And leave room to do fun things like sports! But he likes to stay in and write letters... take naps.... PLEASE! ha ha but i did for him because you have to show that you "love" your companion.  

Then we had plans to eat dinner with the Weavers.  One of my favorite families.  But, the mom was gone so brother weaver took me and wood to dinner out to a Spanish place and it was pretty good.

Tuesday 6-5-12

In the morning we went to brother Micklesons house with the other elders.  We pruned a REALLY tall palm tree and for some reason he loves me the most and trusts me to go up the ladder.  And it was WAY up there.  But we got the job done and it was fun. He gave us money to go out for lunch which he's not supposed to do... but doesn't let us have our way.  So we went and got... In'n'out?

We went out tracting afterwards... That was fun.  I think 2 doors opened out of a whole street.

We then went and taught Kameron.  Our last visit with him.

Right after we taught Kameron we got a call from the other elders saying that we needed to pick them up because elder Marquez had a crash on his bike and broke his wrist.  So we picked them up.  I got about a zillion RPM and Speeding violations from the Tiwi box in the car but i had to rush him to urgent care, which is supposed to stay open till 6:30 but was closed at 6:15.  So we went to the ER across the street.  We were in there for a really long time.  Missed our dinner appointment and our two other appointments.  But we found out that Elder Marquez broke his arm in 3 places and dislocated his wrist. Poor guy.  he was in a lot of pain.  But our room was the best.  All the nurses loved us because Lifungula and Marquez and i were cracking jokes and having a good old time.  Me and Lifungula were laughing so hard when Marquez had to get a shot in his butt! BA HA!  After all that fun stuff the doctor came in and wrapped up his arm, told him the news, took some pictures and told him he'd have to come back for surgery.  

We got Marquez in the car (he was still in his little hospital gown) and we went and picked up our dinner. The family packed it up for us and made tons for all of us! IT WAS BOMB!  and then we went to Walgreen's to get elder Marquez's drugs.

We came home. Ate dinner and went to bed.

Wednesday 6-6-12

We went to the Johnson's in the morning to pick up all that left over food.  Wednesday ritual.  

We went to district meeting which was pretty good.

We came back home and got changed quick to go do service.  We met brother Burgard who is a non member and hooked him up with brother Gouff to help him split some wood.  So we went to brother Gouff's house and he took us to Brother Burgards and brother Burgard took us to the site where the wood was at and he has A LOT of wood! It is a gigantic tree! But Brother Gouff and Brother Burgard were both very excited.  Brother Burgard because he was going to actually get all that wood cut, and brother Gouff because he was going to get a ton of wood out of this deal.  He estimated that there were about 20 cords of wood. (a cord = a stack of wood 4X4X8) So that's  a lot of wood!

Meanwhile Marquez was at the hospital getting his arm worked on. They were there from 12pm to 8pm... Long time.

After that, Barry came back into town! ha ha he took us out for sushi and it was SOOOOOOO goooooooood!  We went to a place called Kai Lana.  And all the sushi is about $9.50 for ever roll and it was SUPER GOOD! I love Barry! He's the coolest.

Then we came back home and talked to elder Marquez. He has plates and pins in his arm..

We didn't get much sleep that night.  I had a lot on my mind and elder Marquez was having some extreme pain in his arm.  So i stayed up with him till the AM's getting him ice and making sure he was alright.  

Thursday 6-7-12

The other elders were supposed to go to district meeting but they didn't go.  The Zone Leaders stopped by.  We went out and picked up some things for elder Marquez and then we went out to contact a few people.

We had an appointment with Gary and it went really well.  Getting ready for his baptism on Saturday.  

We had dinner at the Cohen's house and that was pretty good.

Friday 6-8-12

We did our weekly planning at home.  Stopped at Subway to eat lunch.  Got a big old screw in our tire! It was making a thudding sound everywhere we went.  We called the Car dude and he told us to go to Wayne's tires in Paso Robles.  So we hopped on the free way hoping the screw would hang in there. But it came off and we got a flat.  So elder Lifungula and i jumped out and put the spare on.  Went to Wayne's got it fixed and then we went to Santa Margarita where brother Phillips picked us up.  He took us to his couple hundred acre property, threw us in the truck and hitch the trailer and went to his fields and picked up all the hay! IT WAS GREAT! I haven't done that in forever! It was great.  And then we'd take the loads to the barn and stack it.  It is such exhausting work!  But it felt so good.  We ate at their house and by the time it was time to leave it was 8 pm.  Took us about 30 minutes to get home and the day was Done!

Saturday 6-9-12

We didn't have a dinner so i called that lady who packed us food the other night and she said she would make dinner for all 4 elders.  We went to the church at 10 AM to make sure the font was being filled and things were being prepared.  And the lady met us there with TONS OF FOOD. Strogonoff which was more like Curry... it was good though. We found out that the bishop wasn't going to be there, they spelled Gary's last name wrong in the program and the bishop decided the night before that he should wait A WEEK to be confirmed in church (the following Sunday was stake conference)  The baptism was great though.  Gary's Nephew baptized him and it was great!

After his baptism the other elders got gift cards to in n out and so we went there for lunch!

We got home and changed for member sports.  We were going to play capture the flag.  We got there and waited 30 minutes and only 2 young women showed up... A lot going on i guess?  Maybe next week.  So we cancelled.

We got changed AGAIN and went to Gary's house because they were having a family get together and a BBQ.  So they invited us.  Since they are Thai they made some Curry.  It was so good but so spicy! I still have heartburn from it!

We took Cathy Merrill's garbage out.

And that was it

Sunday 6-10-12

We had stake conference. It was good. There was a guy who was a president or assistant or something to the temple and he gave a SUPER deep talk on the temple but he did a way good job.  Made me want to go to the temple EVERYDAY.  

We came home and pretty much our whole district ate lunch at our apartment to eat all that Curry strogonoff stuff that lady made for us.  We still have tons left over.  It was soooooo gooooood.

We then went to contact some people and met this one guy who is less active.  Last time i met him he was a real jerk to me but this time he was OK.  I just spoke to him like a human and he opened up and we got to talking about football and he is coaching the Bantams in Templeton.  He ordered a whole bunch of new helmets for the team and showed us the one he got for his kid.  It looked AMAZING. Had i had a helmet like that, i would have loved football.  My head would have never hurt that thing was like the best of the best.  

Then we went to dinner with the Platts and their parents President Kunz and his wife.  They are way cool.  Way fun to be around and really missionary minded.

Then we came home and played with my camera and made some cool pictures in the dark... Drawing pictures with the flash light ya know?

Anyways that was pretty much it! It was an ok week. We had a lot of appointments fall out because of injury but it was ok.  No biggy!  Anyways i hope you are all doing good! I was surprised! I had about 4 emails this week! It was great! If you ever get a chance please drop me a line.  I'd love to hear from you all!  I'm doing good!  I love you all and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Samuel Crapo

6/4/12 Pictures

Weeks are flying!

Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2012 11:35:10 -0700
Subject: Weeks are flying!
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Hello Family And Friends,

Its good to hear from most of you through email, OK maybe some of you, OK maybe just mom.  But still i'm sure you're all doing great! Drop me a line sometime.  I'd love to hear how you are all doing! 

I know I'm horrible at keeping a journal... i need to get back into writing.  But at least I have my planner that I can work off of.

So here's how my week went.

Monday 5-28-12

We had our P-day.  Which was OK.  We woke up and I cleaned the apartment.  I'm usually the only one that does and we were told that we were going to have inspections so I cleaned it up really well.  And we got a call from the people who were going to do the inspections and they told us that they wouldn't be coming until around 2.  So we went and did our shopping and emailing and we were going to go thrift store shoppin' but it was Memorial Day so none of the good ones were open :(  

We went to the park and played sports most of the day.  I got a rugby ball from one of the members in Tehachapi and last Monday was the first time we actually played.  It was fun.  But Rugby is not a two on two game.  We could have definitely used more people.  We didn't know much about what we were doing while we were playing.  So i talked to a Zone Leader (Elder Schiess) who played in college, and he taught us how to play touch rugby, which is a little different than tackle.  But still way fun.  I think it would be way fun to go back home and get on a rugby league.  

We called our dinner and they had to cancel which was ok because we had a lot of leftovers anyways.  

At 7pm  Gary had his baptismal interview at the church.  And he did great.  He will be baptized and confirmed this Saturday 6-9-12.  Baptized by his Nephew.  Confirmed by me.  I'm very excited for him.  He is the result of the Templeton ward's 40 Day fast.

Tuesday 5-29-12

We went to Brother Micklesons house in the morning.  We helped assemble his windmill in his front yard.  Elder Wood took some pictures of me and the guy who was putting it together on these ladders setting it up, I'll try and send some to Sarah so she can get them on the blog.  It was kind of a pain to get it up there, and by the time we had everything screwed in and bolted down, we found out that it was missing a part.  So when the windmill spins it hits the frame it stands on.  So that was no good.  But we had been there a good amount of time and decided it was time to go.  To be continued i guess? But it's fun.  Its not everyday that you get to build a windmill.

After all that we came in and got showered and changed, we went out and contacted some people but we never have any good luck during the day.

We had an appointment at 5 with our Recent Convert Kameron. He's doing good.  I like teaching him because he's a smart kid.

We drove out to dinner in Templeton.  To the Burgard's home.  They are a cool family.  They are kind of a Less active/active/non-member family.  And we got to talking to the Husband (who is a non-member) and he is working on a big wood splitting job and feels he doesn't have the sufficient tools or machinery.  But i hooked him up with brother Gouff and we'll be going out with brother Gouff this coming Wednesday to help this guy out.  The guy is way cool and i could see him being fellowshipped with brother Gouff and joining the church. Its a start! He was so shocked that we offered to help.  He wondered if we even had jeans and t-shirts to do service in.  He was even more surprised when we told him we had work boots and gloves.  I think all he thought of missionaries were good for nothing dorks in white shirts and ties.

After eating dinner with him we went to the Delbar's home for correlation meeting.  And it went well. Mainly spoke about getting the Baptism plans ready for Gary.

Wednesday 5-30-12

Sister Johnson told us that she gets all the Outdated or soon to expire food from Vons.  her husband was the bishop and a guy that worked there said he felt bad throwing all that food out and told him he could take it and give it to people that need it.  So she said for us to go over every Wednesday morning and she would load us up.  And there are some pretty good things you can get from there.  She gets TONS of food. So we put a whole bunch in the trunk of the car so we could bless the other elders at district meeting.

So we went to district meeting.  And it was an interesting one.  There is an elder from upstate new York is is kind of an odd ball and he was just on one that day.  I was laughing so hard because he's so serious, but the stuff that comes out of his mouth is so ridiculous or stupid. But anyways.  It was funny.

We then had to drive to a place called Waynes Tires out in SLO.  We ordered some tires for the car and they told us they would come in the next day.

We drove home.  Made some lunch and went out and did our usual contacting.  We stopped by some members houses and gave them Member Missionary packets to work on and then had ward Correlation with brother Mattice.  Our dinner had cancelled that night so we ended up going to A&W.  We walked in and there was a member from another ward who i knew a little bit, an older guy, and he stood up as soon as we walked in and said "DON'T LET THEM PAY! I'M BUYIN'!"  And he did. Which was very nice of him.  So we decided we'd sit next to him and talk while we ate.  And boy can that guy talk.  He spoke about how he is always doing missionary work... and he gave us a live example.  He was like watch this and got up and told some random person working at A&W all about the book of Mormon.  Then went to his car and got a book of Mormon and gave it to her.  Ha ha he was kind of psycho and i think she was a little freaked out. But its cool to see that he wakes up every morning and thinks, "who can i share the gospel with today" And that's what every single member should think.  Because nobody thinks that way.

Thursday 5-31-12

We did service for brother Gouff in the morning.  Went to the place where he had his log splitter and finished up the job he had there.  It was fun.  I love working around brother Gouff.  We went back to his place and helped him with a few odd jobs around his house and he fed us lunch.  It was pretty good.  

As soon as we pulled into our apartment a member called us up and asked us if we could help move in his son.  So we said ok, and drove up to his place and unloaded a u haul.

We got a call right after that from the guys at the tire store saying the wheels were in and we could go get em put on. So we drove to SLO and got the wheels put on.

We came back home, got showered and went to dinner.  We ate at the Houseman's house.  They are a really cool family.  Probably one of my favorites just because of that one dinner.  She made Grilled cheese sandwiches  with avocado, tomatoes, onions... mmmmm it was just so tasty.  They were fun though, fun to talk to.  Their son in law has a sweet moped. Its a Honda Metropolitan. JUST LIKE THE ONE AT HOME.  Except his had race track checkers on it instead of being purple.  They also invited us to their daughters baby shower on Saturday.

After that i cant remember what we did? But we did something?

Friday 6-1-12

We went to the church and did our weekly planning.  After that we did our usual routine and went to Subway for lunch. We went back after that and finished planning and then we were going to go to that baby shower but i forgot that it was Saturday not friday.  So the other elders needed a ride to an appointment and we just went with them.  We talked to a really cool guy named brother carpenter.  Reminds me of Stuart a lot.  Big guy, facial hair, funny t-shirts (his was a picture of buda that said "i have the body of a god), had his iPad and iPhone where ever he was, read off a few chuck Norris jokes. This guy could definitely be Stuarts twin.  Anyways he ended up telling us about the Zombie guy in Florida!  Who ate that dudes face! WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE WORLD? And why are people smokin' bath salts?! gosh! I knew zombies would be real someday! AND NOW ITS HERE!

Then we left and went to the church. The young women were having an auction to raise money for girls came and we got to eat for free and people kept buying us desserts in the live auction.  It was great.  We had a good time.

Saturday 6-2-12

We went to brother Mattice's mom's house to help move her out.

We then went to Youth Sports and had a pretty good turnout.  We played a game called gator ball and then moved onto basketball.

After that we went to a couple peoples houses that we need to go see.  And it was good because we got into some peoples homes that we never have been able to before.

Then on the way back i stopped at the farm supply store and bought some horse liniment.  And i saw a cowboy hat there and i was so tempted but those things are $80!!! maybe a birthday present or something? Maybe i'll just call up Elder Pulham and he could just hook me up?

Then after that we went to the baby shower.  And it was good.  Lots of people.  It was more like a pool party.  Lots of food.  And then sister houseman, who is my new buddy, came out and threw water balloons at us, i got hit in the ribs and got my whole side and arm wet! Gosh! I kept catching the balloons though because they weren't too good at popping and i would throw them back.  When everyone was settled down and walking away i had a balloon that nobody knew about and i saw brother houseman walking away and he was pretty far away, but i threw it and got him right in the back, but it didn't even pop! It sounded more like it hurt! ha ha.  But while i was there, a members niece was there, and she saw my name and asked where i was from and said "i know your dad"  So apparently this woman moved to sandy in May and moved back to Cali just recently and she was in our ward back home.  She lived on 300 east and Mary Lynn Richardson was one of her visiting teachers.  So she took a picture and said that she would sent it to Mary Lynn.  Kind of crazy! Way small world.  Her name is sister... Mier? Myer? Mire? i don't know something along those lines.  

After that we visited some families, we stopped at one families house and talked to a guy that told us about the zombies too! HE has the inside scoop somehow though and saw pictures, videos, and all the stuff.  He told us of like 4 other cases around the US and Canada!  ZOMBIES ARE REAL!!!!  Anyways the family was funny, they are a little less active but are super cool.

Sunday 6-3-12

We went to the usual amount of church.

Ate dinner with the Johnson's who play MEXICAN TRAIN after dinner EVERY SUNDAY. SOUND FAMILIAR? New favorite family ha ha.  Then we went to a youth fireside where some return missionaries spoke.  And one went to Argentina.  And i was looking through his pictures and in a zone picture i saw a kid i knew.  From high school.  I asked him about him and he said he ended up going home early for some reason... poor guy.  It was Brennin West.  He's a cool kid.  I wonder why he went home early?

Well.... that is pretty much it.  I need to get back to journal writing because i know i'm missing some things!  Oh well... that's a good amount i guess?  

I really hope to hear more from all of you! I miss you all lots and hope you are doing good!

Love,

Elder Samuel Crapo

Week 4. Down

Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 11:15:28 -0700
Subject: Week 4. Down
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Dear Family and Friends!

I'm sorry but i keep forgetting to write in my journal... I'm getting really lazy on writing in it.  I never wrote much to begin with... but now i have to look at my planner to know what to say to you guys.  I can tell you this much, that last night (5-27-12) I saw a stinkin' possum in the back yard, a baby one! And so me and elder Lifungula found golf clubs and we ran outside and went crazy on that thing... but we missed it... it ran away.  But then this morning, we look outside and there was a big old possum on the fence!  It was big! and so we went back out and cornered it.  but it was so cute and defenseless and was just shivering... i felt bad.  So while elder Lifungula threw rocks at it i took my golf club and whacked it off the fence ha ha... and i forgot on the other side that there is like a 7 foot drop and he flew off and fell onto somebodies AC unit! ha ha man it hit it hard! but we checked to see where it went and couldn't find it so i guess it just took off! BUT IT'LL THINK TWICE BEFORE MESSING WIT THE MISSIONARIES!  So.... Here's how my week went...

Monday 5-21-12

We did our normal P-day Ritual.  Went shopping, did email.  Went thrifting and i scored 2 sick ties!  Then we went to the "Sunken Gardens" and threw the football and Frisbee around.  We were doing something that we call "pull" where just like when you're shooting skeet, you say pull.  Except you'll stand right next to the person throwing the Frisbee and you yell pull and you take off running and the person throws the Frisbee really hard and the other person just runs as hard has they can and catch the Frisbee... harder than it looks! ha ha But i got it down to the point where i could throw it as hard as i can and then i'd chase after it myself and i could catch it.  I had people in the park that were just hanging out cheer for me ha ha it was so funny.

Then after all that good stuff we went to dinner at the Weaver's home.  They are probably one of my favorite families.  Their kids are always cracking jokes and stuff and one of the brothers ended up getting pushed into the pool by his sister.  It was way funny.  They also gave us this huge packet that is all "British slang" and it is awesome!  I need to ask mom if she's heard of any of these things.  My favorite one is (forgive me) "the mut's nuts" kind of like saying "Man that's the Bees Knees!" you say "Man! That's the mut's nuts!" ha ha ha it cracks me up every time!

Tuesday 5-22-12

We went to brother Micklesons in the morning to help with a service project.  We helped him build and place a GIANT windmill.  All these guys that he knows showed up and we got it into place.  And then they wanted the front cap from his back yard wind mill taken off and switched with the new one.  So elder Lifungula and i were up on these huge ladders taking this big cap off of the windmill and replaced it.  So that was pretty fun.

Then we went and ate lunch... I don't remember where? Or what? Probably leftovers?

Then me and elder Wood went out tracting... And it was OK.  but we didn't find anyone...  It was really hot and then as we were finishing up the other elders called us and asked us for a ride... They had a little bike trouble.

We went and picked up the other elders and apparently elder Lifungula's chain broke off and got caught in his spokes and sent him flying over his handle bars. He caught himself with his hands but messed up his wrist pretty bad.

Then we went and taught Kameron at the church.

We went to brother Mattice's house for dinner and had a correlation meeting with him as well.

Wednesday 5-23-12

We went to brother Gouff's house and did service for him.  We were supposed to go finish up splitting wood at his friends house but he couldn't find his nice big chainsaw.. he thought someone stole it.  But later on found out that he took it to get a tune up ha ha.    So instead we used his other chainsaw and cut up a kindling pile and stacked it all up for him.  It looked really good.  

Then at 2 pm we went to Gary's house and read out of the book of Mormon with him.  

Came back home and took the other elders to the hospital.  Elder Lifungula was having some really bad pain in his wrist so he went to the ER to get an x-ray.. the ER is like the only place to go around here.  So we were there for a while.

Then we went to a restaurant to eat dinner.  It was a Spanish restaurant.  Some member bought us tickets to go eat there.  The young women were working there to raise money for girls camp.  Then Barry Thomas from Simi Valley came up and saw us! He took all four of us out to a place called A.J. Spurs.  It was sick!  It was so good and it was way good to see him.  I was way happy!  

Thursday 5-24-12

We went to brother Schiebers house in the morning. We helped him with some things around his house.

We came back in and went to Kenny Gouff's house and had an early dinner at the Gouff's.  Kenny came with us.  The Gouff's made some really good food as always and then Kenny told me to get the pellet gun and shoot some squirrels ha ha he sat behind me with a pair of binoculars and was my spotter, told me where they were and how to aim.  Made me want to be a sniper for the military ha ha.  It was so dang funny because we just sit inside and crack the window open and shoot the squirrels from inside.. I got two of em.

then we went to the Murray's house and gave them their Tupperware back and set up a time for dinner.

we went to Kathy Merrill's house and took out her trash and she gave us her recycling but we took it home with us because it was a big black garden bag FULL of water bottles. We're gonna cash those in!

Friday 5-25-12

We went to Lompoc in the morning and from 9-5 had zone conference.  It was OK.  Boring as usual but always good and spiritual.  Zone Conference always gives me a better attitude about the work, i just hate sitting through it all.  We got some mail there too.  The Guido's sent me a package! It was awesome! It had a hoody inside with a whole bunch of letters! and a bracelet that says "I  Someone with Autism" because their daughter Maria is autistic and i do love her!

We drove back and went to dinner. We got there really late. Like 8 pm! i felt bad because they waited for us. But Lompoc is like 1 hr 30 min drive!

Saturday 5-26-12

We had sports in the morning with the Youth.  We started that up.  It went pretty well.  We had one non member girl show up and she was really cool.  We played ultimate Frisbee and we played soccer.  When we were playing ultimate Frisbee i jumped in the air to block a pass and got drilled in the nose by the Frisbee. That felt good...  But now i have a bruise on my nose.  It was fun though.  We had a short little thought afterwards that i shared and at church the next day all the parents said that their kids had a great time and they want to do it next week too.  So next week it is!

We were supposed to go help brother Gouff out but he ended up not needing any help.  But our dinner called and said that they would pick us up at 3:30 for dinner! HA HA crazy! But they did and they took us down to SLO for Home town buffet!  Which was OK.  I don't like Buffet's just because i can never eat that much.

Then we came in and did our planning for the week and ran a few errands out to people after.

Sunday 5-27-12

We went to church. Me and elder Wood ended up saying the opening and closing prayers in both our wards..

Then we went to dinner at Gary's house.  His mom made some Thai food.  It was really good.  And the weavers came over too.  

That was pretty much it though! Thanks for all your support! I still want more mail though! ;) I could always use more mail ha ha. Things are going good.  The weather has been nice. A little cool the past couple days but usually in the 70's and 80's.  I miss you guys a ton! I hope to hear from you soon!

Love,

Elder Samuel Crapo

Pictures 5/21

Finally Got To Go On An Exchange In San Louis Obispo

Date: Mon, 21 May 2012 11:56:11 -0700
Subject: Finally Got To Go On An Exchange In San Louis Obispo
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Dear Family and Friends,

So the internet right now at the family history center is down :( But i'm typing this on WordPad and then i'll copy and paste it later.  They are having a whole bunch of issues with the internet.

So let me tell ya all about my week.  Hasnt been too busy.  We've had some sickness and repairs going on holding us up a bit.

Monday 5-14-12

We had our P-day.  And it was good.  We went to the park and played frisbee for a while.  It was kind of windy so that stunk... but it was fun to play.  We havent played in forever!  Some Hobo came and played with us too.  I'm pretty sure he was drunk... but it was a lot of fun because it made his day!

We went shopping at a place called the grocerey resale... basically if a store has a product that has been damaged they arent allowed to sell it so they give it to this store and this store sells it for SUPER cheap.  You just gotta make sure whatever you're buying isnt in "too" bad of condition and that its not expired.  But for the most part its pretty good stuff! I did all my shopping for like $14!

Then we had dinner at the Budrow's home.  It was good.  We went in service clothes because we were going to help them with a service project after.  Which went... ok.... We were helping a lady get rid of junk out of her house but her daughter got really mad at here because she said she was just giving away all their things so that was a bit awkward... but no biggy.

Tuesday 5-15-12

We did our usual stuff.  Went to brother Micklesons in the morning...  We did some pruning with him.  In his house he has these custom made rugs all over his floors.  And he had the guy remake them because he didnt like the color in the old one.  So the new one came in and he gave me one of the old ones! ITS SICK! I just dont know how i'm going to send it home?  Its kind of awkward to send a rug home... Its not a big rug. but i really want it.  I want to remember Larry Mickleson! haha  Its got his fathers ranch symbol on it and everything! Really a good lookin rug!

Then we went to lunch... i dont remember what we had? Probably bacon and egg burritos

Then we went tracting... for a while  probably had 3 doors opened... and we tracted for 2 hours.  I dont see why elders look down on service because tracting is way worse... i can actually feel like i'm accomplishing something when i'm doing service where as i can go tracting and not get anything done.  Tracting is a good way to waste time. 

So then after that we went out and visited members and gave them their "missionary Packets" 

We met with Kameron and taught him.  I owed him 50 Peices of jolly ranchers so i gave those to him as well

Then we had dinner at the Asplunds.  They are super cool.  Their kids are funny too.  

Then we took off to the church to see if the youth were doing a service project and we talked to a few of them that were leaving and they said that they were going to a house. so we told them we would change and come help them.  So we changed, went to the house and they had already left! They were there for about 10 minutes not even....  So we went to the church and ate food  with the youth and then some dumb girl stole my stinkin car keys and it took forever to get them back! Young women... grrrr.

Then..... that was it.  We came in.

Wednesday 5-16-12

We went to district meeting.  And that was ok.

We came back home and ate lunch and elder wood wasnt feeling well so we stayed in pretty much the rest of the day.  We went to dinner at the Hammers home which was ok and that was it.  Poor guy wasnt feelin good. Then later that night we went on exchanges and i finally got my chance to go to SLO. I went with Elder Griffin.

Thursday 5-17-12

So first we went to a ladies house where she looks after mentally ill kids and physically ill kids.  Its crazy because the spirit is so strong in her house because of these little kids.  They are so cute and innocent.  I feel really bad for them.  

Then we went to campus at Cal-Poly and ate with a member.  He took us to the food court.  That was fun.  He also took us around the 70 million dollar gym they just put in that place it is SICK! ITS HUGE!  all the kids that go to school at Cal-Poly get to go there for free. It made me want to go to college really bad!

Then we went out tracting a lot... Which was cool because the people actually answer the doors there... But you never know what your are going to get.  A lot of yards are filled with beer cans and garbage and stuff.  Lots of houses are full of naughty pictures and other strange things haha... its a place to party thats for sure.  And not to mention GHOSTBUSTERS everywhere you look! GOSH!!! It was so crazy!! But throughout the day we did a lot of tracting.  Didnt really get to do a whole lot of teaching.  And elder Griffin thinks i have the BEST english accent he's ever heard and so when we went tracting i tracted some doors with a british accent hahaha.  It was pretty funny.  He would stand there and smile the whole time.  He was too afraid to talk because then he would start laughing.

Then we went to dinner. 4 college girls took us to the market on one of the streets.  Its stinkin sweet, they shut down a whole street and all the shops on that street move their stuff into the street and sell out there and then local vendors and stuff come and sell their goods.  Its so stinkin cool.  So the girls ended up buying us bbq pork sandwhiches and they were so BIG! I felt bad i could not finish mine! Neither could elder griffin. 

Then after dinner we went and taught a less active girl and she seemed pretty cool.

Then he took me home.  I like Elder Griffin, he's a really cool guy.  And you know the more i talked to college kids the more i realized i need to know what i'm going to do with my stinkin life! So i've determined that when i get home i will be getting my generals most likely at slcc and stay home for a while.  And then i think i will move someplace warm. Maybe cali since i have the hook ups here!  And i'll be taking fire science and prepare to become a fireman.  I can do firman service for about a year before i actually join and that will make it more likely that i will get on as a fireman.  I'll find odd jobs to do while i'm in school and i'll work towards getting my motorcycle and dog.  I'm not sure what school i will go to to do my fire science classes.... maybe UVU? i need to find a place where they will let me be a fireman anywhere i want... sometimes you will go to school to be a fireman but you can only be a fireman in the state that you took school so i need to make sure it i can move around when i'm a fireman.  Maybe i can go to the forest service... that is easier to get into than just a regular fireman job.  Its more dangerous but i think it would be cool... Be a smoke jumper or something? But thats the plan! And i'm stickin to it! So if anyone asks you "what is sam going to do when he gets home" you tell them all that i just told you! haha

Friday 5-18-12

We went to the church in the morning and did our weekly planning.  And for lunch we went to subway and while we were at subway some members from utah walked in.  And they were like "wow! 4 missionaries" and we got to talking to them and i found out they were from midvale and so i asked him what high school he went to and he said jordan... i was like wow! me too! and i remembered that grandpa? or great grandpa? crapo taught music there and i asked him if he took music.  And he was like "what's your last name?" and i told him crapo and his eyes got all big and he was like "Honey! look! This elders Grandfather was my band teacher!" haha it was pretty sweet!  His name is brother Kessler... i dont know where he lives now? Northern utah i think?  But what a small world.

Then we went back to the church and ended up goofing around rather than getting back into planning. Making videos on my camera haha we made some good ones.  I'll be sending a full memory chip home soon.  You'll have to check it out there are some good things on there.

Then we went out and did work all day.... We contacted mostly members.  Giving them missionary packets to do missionary work.

Our dinner had to cancel so they sent us pizza.  Which was good.  We also found out that our dinner is a chiropractor and he said we could come in any time we want! BONUS! HAHA!

Then we visited a few families after dinner and called it a night!

Saturday 5-19-12

We went to the Mortons in the morning and taught that crazy little girl again.  She's really warmed up to me now though... she's always holding my arm and trying to hold my hand haha she's only 7 but she is CRAZY!  But she's really smart too.  

Then brother morton wipped out some guitars and i got on the drums and Elder wood, brother morton and i all played for a little bit.  It was pretty fun.

Then we came in and the elders were having some mega bike problems and so we stayed in for a while running to and from the store getting parts and trying to fix their bikes and since i'm the only one in the apartment that really knows how to fix bikes i was doing it all.  I'm really glad i had all that practice on those beach cruisers we  re-did.

So our dinner had to cancel too.  So they got us subway which was really nice of them.  

After that we pretty much went out and ran errands.

Sunday 4-20-12

Was a pretty typical sunday.  Lots of church and we ate dinner with the wood family.  They are actually a really cool family.  Really missionary minded.  it was sweet.

 While we were in church brother moore (we made our mothers day phone calls at his house) he was talking in church.  He's in the stake presidency so i got to hear him twice which was good because he said something i liked and i had two chances to write down what he said. He said...

Theres two things in life to worry about,

living a healthy life or not.

If you live a healthy life you have nothing to worry about.

If you dont, you have two things to worry about.

Whether you get sick or whether you dont.

If you dont get sick, you have nothing to worry about.

If you do, you have two things to worry about.

Whether you live, or whether you die.

If you live, you have nothing to worry about.

If you die, you have two things to worry about.

Whether you go to heaven, or whether you go to hell.

If you go to heaven, you have nothing to worry about

If you go to hell you'll be so busy shaking hands with all your buddies you'll have nothing to worry about.

So dont worry.

haha i thought that was kind of funny.

Well that is pretty much it! Thanks for all your guys' support. I would love to hear from every single one of you. And especially recieve pictures! Its my favorite thing on the whole planet to get pictures.  Of ANYTHING! You, your family, your dog... it dont matter i just like getting pictures of things that pertain to you.  And i like letters as well... So just whenever you get the chance! DO THAT! haha!  I love you all very much.  I cant wait to see you in... still a long time to go... but i'll see you someday! 

Lots of love,

Elder Samuel Crapo