Pictures 10/30/12

Lots of Tracting

Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:09:10 -0700
Subject: Lots of Tracting
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Dear family and friends..

This week has been pretty good.  We're getting to the point where we are trying to find mor investigators because right now we dont have many.  We have some good potentials but we dont get too many referrals from the ward.  They do a  really good job at fellowship, but missionary work for them is no good.

we had some opportunities to do some service.  There is a guy in our ward who is less active and he is a Horder.  so we have appointments to go to his house a couple times a week to work on his house.  Its those mornings where we have nothing to do where service comes in handy.

we had a good lesson with a part member family.  And they all showed up to church on sunday.  Which is exciting.  Maybe we will be able to teach them some more.  

We also got to go to the temple this week.  Elder Scotts birthday is tomorrow and we got to go to the temple on thursday.  Our mission doctor took us in his Chevy Camaro Super Sport Convertible and we drove back with the top down.  The weather was so nice. and the temple was great.  I really love the L.A. Temple.

We did a lot of tracting this week.  Lots and lots just because there was really nothing else for us to do.  We have one potential from it.

Then we also saw one of our potentials kids at the play ground the other day and she is so cute, she came up to us and spoke to us wondering when we were going to come by.  We told her friday, and she was excited because she said Friday is her birthday.  So before we went over on friday we got her a card and a box of candy and when we went over they werent there.  But their other daughter was there so we gave the birthday stuff to her.  We came back the next day and the mom said that her daughter was so surprised to see that stuff from us.  She didnt get any gifts  except from us.  Total strangers.  So they are a really cool family.

We went to two different families houses on Sunday and carved pumpkins which was fun!

Anyways i dont know much of what to say but i'm going to send a bunch of pictures to sarah to post on my blog.  I havent sent any in a while!  So if she posts those prompltly i think you guys will enjoy that!  

I love you all a lot and cant wait to see you! 

Love,

Elder Crapo

Week 1 with Elder Scott

Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2012 13:21:43 -0700
Subject: Week 1 with Elder Scott
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been yet another week and this one has been a lot different.  A lot has changed!  I like change but not all the time.  Its been an ok week.  

We did the same old stuff on monday and tried to see as many families as we could for Elder Fernandez since he was getting Transferred to East Bakersfield.  Tuesday i dropped him off at the Stake center with his new companion and then Elder Humphries and i plus the zone leaders went down with the mission Nurse and went to transfer meeting.  It was a good meeting.  I always get so sad in those meetings.  Thinking about all the missionaries that have been in and out of this mission and how much i miss them!  Its going to be so sad when its my turn! But it was good to see a lot of missionaries i hadnt seen in a while. While we were on our way home we stopped off and got 5 guys, and a funny thing, some guy saw us all in the car and he held up a sign and we all looked over and it said "GO ROMNEY" ha ha that was pretty funny.  But we did what we usually do on a transfer day, got unpacked, did shopping, and had dinner.

Wednesday was good we had our district meeting and got to see a lot of members so that my new companion elder scott could get familiar with the ward. I saw two really cool things that day too.  I saw a Lamborghini Reventon and i also so a Meteor fall out of the sky.  It was huge and flamey and left a big ol' streak in the sky.

Thursday we did our usual visits to people.  It was a pretty good day.  We got taken out to dinner by Brother Leituala.  He's such a stud.  He took us to some asian all you can eat place which was super good.  And we came back and taught his family a lesson.  I love his family a lot.

Throughout most of the week the work has been pretty slow.  We are hitting our goal on teaching Less actives and Recent Converts but as for getting new investigators and teaching them it is pretty slow.  We have a really good potential that we have just met with Briefly this week but i'm really looking forward to sitting down and teaching her because she has a lot of good questions.  We also took care of the Nancetts dog while they were away.  They went to San Francisco to see a 49ers game.  

We got to do a little service this week for brother Durrant and also for Brother Tydryszewski.  Not much just little stuff.   

hmmmm... what else... I ate a grapple this week.. I dont think i've ever had one before.  Its an apple but part of a grape vine is grown into it... Some genetics thing.  So the whole apple has the taste of a grape... its really trippy but a really good apple.

We had Stake Conference this week.  Elder Packer (of the 70) came and spoke.  He told everyone who was to speak to throw out there talks and speak by the spirit.  So there were some interesting talks.  It seems they are changing all kinds of things up in the way they are teaching and running the church.  Its REALLY turning into a missionary church.  A lot of it is based on the spirit.  

Hmmm i dont know what else to say.  Elder Scott is from Colorado.  He's the oldest of 3 and he's been out 17 months.  He was in the Guidos ward (simi 3rd where i served for 6 months) for 7 and a half months...  He was there with a companion for 6 months.... Crazy!  He's ok.  I'm still getting used to him.  My patience is growing.  ANYWAYS!  Things are going good.  If i could only have one thing be different it would be to receive more mail :)  So please do so since i only have 4  months left!  

I love you all a lot! I hope you are all doing ok!  I miss you all TONS!  

Love, 

Elder Samuel Crapo

Transfer Calls

Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2012 11:44:43 -0700
Subject: Transfer Calls
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Hello Family and Friends!

 

 

Today we got our transfer calls and i was a little nervous for the calls because i REALLY like this area a lot.  Me and my companion now both white washed into this area so it was pretty much up in the air as to who would stay and who would go.  But of course, as usual, i stayed! WOO HOO!  I was so happy to hear that.  my companion is going to East Bakersfield and I am getting Elder Scott.  Elder Scott evidently is serving in the two wards i served in, in Simi Valley.  I havent hear too great of things about him...  But i'm sure he cant be that bad.  Just a little socially awkward i guess?  But that's ok, I'll be the judge!  I'm excited for the change.  Being in the same place with the same person for so long can get a little boring or annoying, Elder Fernandez and I have had a pretty good time together though.  He's a good Elder and there are things about him i will miss a lot!  But change is good!

 

As for my week things have been pretty slow.  Work wise, there hasnt been much.  We see a lot of less actives and recent converts but as for teaching people we are still on the look out.  The lady we had progressing for the longest time told us she didnt want the lessons anymore, i think i told you about that last week.  We checked up on her this week and she didnt even invite us in, so i'm pretty sure she's done!  But maybe over time she will be ready!  We did some good tracting this week though.  We found a lady named Stella who said she didnt believe in God, but by the way she was talking it was as if she just didnt understand how God works, why he lets certain things happen, so she seemed more hurt rather than unbelieving.  She said she has a lot of questions and we set up an appointment to see her on Tuesday, So fingers crossed!  We also were walking to a members house this week and on the way there a guy in his drive way appoached us and asked for a card, said he wanted to know it all and stuff.  He seemed a little over the top, like he was talking to us to be funny or something... But we are going to go back and see him probably this week as well!

 

We did some service this week for brother Durrant.  We put in a water fountain for him. The one we broke last week.  We set it up and got the pump going to get the water to come out the right way.  So it looks ok. 

 

I had to go to the Dr's office this week, because when i first got here my Tailbone was killing me, and i still dont know what it was from? I said in the first transfer if it hurts i'd tell our mission dr, and so i did, and then it hurt after what he told me to do for another transfer and i went to another dr and he told me it was probably my Coxyx.  It has little like tendens? in there?  And sometimes if they can swell or get messed up, so he gave me a mild prescription and told me to buy a soft bikeseat ha ha! Mine was pretty hard... but i was used to it, i still dont think it was my bike seat that was the problem.  But i did.  And it feels great now.  Doesnt hurt at all.

 

We also went and did mor service for the Durrants later in the week.  He had a garage door that wasnt working that we tried to fix, and thought we did, but it broke again, so we left it alone since its can be a pretty dangerous job with the springs and all.  And then he said his car was leaking oil.  So we jacked it up and got underneath and determined that the oil pan was loose so we tightened it back up.  We also played a little bit in their backyard with their kids.  Taught his daughter how to throw a football and stuff. It was a lot of fun. They are still one of my favorite families.

 

Later that night we helped a family pack up big trucks because they were moving.  And it went good.  It was a lot of heavy lifting and stuff. But it went really well. 

 

What else happened... Hmmmmm  We had dinner with an older couple this week.  The Owens.  They are super cool.  Just older.  She is hispanic and he is white.  She made us this meal that was strange looking but SUPER good.  She dumped this Green stuff on our plates that looked like baby food.  Green Baby food.  Then threw some talapia in it with some tomatoe stuff and a keesh? i dont know what it all was? She said it was Secret Green Stuff.  Ha ha! 

 

Also on sunday during fast and testimony meeting, a guy was bearing his testimony and the Nancetts little 2 year old Evan, CUTEST kid ever, was running around as usual, and last week he ventured up to the podium because that's where his brother was, in the primary program.  So this week he goes up and was walking around up there, i see the dad standing up looking for Evan, and all the sudden the organ just starts BLARING  ha ha! Evan was walking on the Organ pedals right in the middle of this guys testimony! It was so stinking funny!

 

Well that was pretty much my week!  I'm so glad i'm staying in this area!  It is probably one of my favorites! I pick up my new companion tomorrow and i'm excited to go because i get to see a lot of missionaries i like give their farewell testimony tomorrow.  So it will be fun!

 

Thanks for all you guys do! If there was only one thing i'd ask for from you guys, it would just be some more letters :)  So if you have the chance! Please write! I love getting letters.

 

I love you all lots! I hope you are all doing well!

 

Elder Samuel Crapo

General Conference

Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2012 14:36:44 -0700
Subject: General Conference
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Hello Family and Friends!

This has been a pretty slow week...  But some good things happened!  

Early this week we went on exchanges with the Elders In Fraizer park.  The District leader came with me in my area and my companion went with his companion up in fraizer park.  Let me tell you, Fraizer park is usually always 20 - 30 degrees cooler than bakersfield, the District leader was a little nearvous to go on exchanges because of the Bakersfield heat!  BUt he did good.  He got really sun burnt though!   We saw a lot of less actives and stuff, ate dinner with the Tydryszewskis.  Brother T is so funny, he has an electric lawnmower and has some pretty tall weeds and so he got his Samuri Sword (cuz he's a nerd) and went out in his back yard and started chopping down his tall grass with that.  It was pretty funny,  He let me have a few tries.

Also this week we had to talk to a Part Member families son.  He is in the 4th grade and has been suspended 3 times already this year.  So his parents wanted us to talk to him because he looks up to us.  So we did.  It went really well.  His mom is a non member so we hope to make some progress with her. 

We did some service at the durrants house this week.  We took that kid, since he was suspended he had nothing better to do than to pull weeds with us ha ha.  So we put him to work.  While we were there we got some text messages from our investigator Lyndell the one with a baptismal date... she told us that she didnt want any more lessons.  The whole quitting coffee thing was too hard for her and she is going through a whole bunch of health problems and its all adding up and she doesnt want to have to deal with it...  But  we are going to try and get her back on the path and keep going, she knows its true, she just doesnt think she can quit coffee, but she can.  While we were at the Durrants we were going to Install a little water fountain in his front yard.  So my companion picked it up and it is put together in parts and half of it fell off and the part that holds the whole thing together broke into a bunch of pieces.  So we spent the next 2 hours super glueing that all back together ha ha! But we got it all figured out.  

Saturday and Sunday were pretty easy days.  We got to just hang out at a church pretty much all day and watch conference.  Saturday night some members made us BOMB food.  He made brisket which he had been smoking since 4:30 AM and he also made something called ABT's  or Atomic Buffalo Terds.  Its a hollowed out jallepeno which cream cheese, 4 mexican cheese, a lil smokey in the middle, wrapped up in bacon, then covered in brown sugar... WOW. They were so stinkin good!  He also invited the Durrants to eat at his house and he had a good time!  They started watching my youtube videos like the scooter one!  So embarrassing.

Sunday night after conference we went and ate at the Durrants and we made Navajo Tacos!  It was super good, after that i made them all Blintzes. They all seemed to really enjoy them! 

Other than that that was pretty much it! it was a good week and i really enjoyed conference.  I want to get tickets for the next one and actually GO.  I think it would be SICK!  

Anyways i love you all!  Write me lots because i only have 19 more times that i will be able to write you! ha ha!

Love

Elder Samuel Crapo

Cant Believe its October already!

Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2012 13:20:28 -0700
Subject: Cant Believe its October already!
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Hello Family and Friends!

It's crazy to think that i only have 4 and a half months left before i am home.  Scary kind of!  I hope you're all ready! ;)

Its been an ok week.  Not much has happened.  I am excited for conference coming up.  Its a good time to see other elders, get some revelation and to relax ha ha.  

This week has been slow, i'm begining to hate P-days.  We dont do anything.  We get stuck inside and are the last to email.  I need to find something to do... I've resorted to drawing tie designs on my envelopes... something to make the time go by.  Its horrible ha ha. Last week we got so bored that we invited the sisters over and we washed their car...

We saved a dog this week... We found a little dog that looked like Baxter off of anchorman and he was all scratched up and smelly and mangey so we picked him up and took him over to a members and then called animal control and they picked him up.  That was pretty cool.  Everyone was giving us funny looks driving by because they'd probably never seen missionaries with a dog before...

Work wise we havent had too much success.  Our investigator isnt really progressing.  Having a hard time quitting the coffee... She's got a lot of medical problems that are keeping her from doing anything...

We also got to go to another members house to give him a blessing.  He is a little less active, his family wishes he would go to church.  and we went over because he hurt his knee at work so we gave him a blessing.  Then their daughter demanded that she showed us Adventure Time.  That show is whack.  Brain washing the children of today!  

We went to the Durrant's this week and did a bunch of service for them on Thursday.  That was good.  We got a lot done for them.  They also took us to taco bell.  They are way cool.  They are from Tooelle.  He did a lot of the electrical work on the conference center and she actually did a lot of work at Jordan High when it was new i believe? 

Friday we did our weekly planning and ran outside to put some stuff in a mailbox and saw some members were getting trucks packed up to move.  So we threw on service clothes and gave them a hand.  They put us to work for a few hours it was good.  We got to go to a pizza party at the church after that.  I was so surprised to see how many kids in this ward love us.  We walked in and they all ran up to us and wanted us to play and talk with them.  It was funny.  After the party we went to a members house to help him lift his garage door because the spring snapped, so we helped lift it up so he could get his car out.

Saturday we went to our friend Aoese's house.  He's Samoan, big samoan family.  I love them.  They are way cool.  We stopped by to just play a game with his family but i guess we woke them all up.  So we ended up brushing leaves off his patio and scrubbing his pool ha ha!  Then he took us to get McDonalds and then we came back and grabbed all his recycling and took it to get some money out of it.  IT was a good time.  He's a good guy.  Always cracking jokes.  We also saw our investigatror, then ran over to bishops to eat dinner.  Then we went to the Durrants and gave their kids ties because they never wear ties, but we asked them if we were to get them ties if they would wear them, they said yes so we took their boys one each.

We had a really good lesson with a Less Active Part Member family this week.  We invited their home teachers and it was our first time teaching them.  It went ok.  Their home teachers like to talk a lot... But it went good.  We learned a lot about them.

That was pretty much all that happened this week.  I got a gnarley tan from being outside in the bakersfield heat all the time.  ITs great.  And... things are going good! 

I hope to hear from all of you.  I only have 20 more opportunities to email! So do it before its too late ;)  

Love you guys

Elder Samuel Crapo

Halfway through the transfer

Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2012 13:42:17 -0700
Subject: Halfway through the transfer
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Dear Family,

It has been a pretty good week so far.  Not too much has happened!  Uh.... On monday we had dinner with that guy who works at bolthouse farms.  They made us dinner and had like 5 different flavors of drink for us to try from.  That was sweet!

We had a pretty good week of contacting.  On tuesday we did a little tracting but it went really well for a change.  Found like 3 people.  We went back to go see one of those guys and whoever was there just closed the blinds and locked the door... so i dont think that was the guy we talked to at first. Because he was really cool and actually interested.  A lot of people are still sick.  We had a lot of dinners dropped off to us or a lot of dinners cancelled :(

Hmmm what else happened this week? I got to see one of our AP's play football on tv!  ha ha, i dont know if you remember clear back when i was a greenie that i went out on exchanges with Elder Bills.  Well he is a safety for BYU.  #20 Craig Bills.  And our ward mission leader showed us him a little bit on tv.  He had some pretty good tackles on special teams.

Ummm we met with our investigator this week and taught her the word of wisdom.  Committed her to stop drinking coffee.  It was kind of discouraging at first because she was convinced that she would never be able to do it... She said she's been drinking since she was 12 and now she's 70.  But we promised her blessings and told her god could help her through anything and we followed up with her the other day and she says the urge for coffee is gone!  Which was way good news!  She hasnt drunk it yet! I hope she can make it to the baptism date!

On saturday we were supposed to go see a whole bunch of people.  We had tons of appointments but almost all of them fell through.  The only one that didnt was with a catholic guy, who was so so nice. His family was so cool.  But he's so involved in his church that he's not really searching... Which stinks! He comprehended everything!  He almost fed us dinner like right on the spot too! It was sweet! But we had to go

We had other appointments but unfortunately they all cancelled.  Hopefully we will have better luck this week.

We had a good time at the Durrants house yesterday, played games, ate lunch and dinner, beat up their kids.  It was a lot of fun.

I'm doing pretty well out here.  There's not a whole lot going on to report on.  Its been a pretty slow P-day.  We arent allowed to hang with anyone in our zone, only our district.  The only people in our district are 2 elders that live an hours drive away and the sisters who we pretty much CANT hang with. ha ha!  But things are going ok. Its starting to cool down here.  I got mail quite a bit this week. I think i had something from someone at least every day.. It was really nice so all you who are writing me, Keep it up!

I love you all and miss you all! I will write you next week!  I hope you are all doing great!

Love,

Elder Samuel Crapo

Good and not so good week

Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:53:15 -0700
Subject: Good and not so good week.
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Hello family and friends!

This is your favorite missionary reporting!  Like my subject says it has been a REALLY good week and a REALLY lousy week.  So i'll start with the bad news first and then when you're all depressed i'll switch it around and give you the good news to cheer you up!

So this week we have had a lot of bike issues again!  I ended up having to buy a whole new tire and tube again, which stinks!!!!  And that very night i got it, the OTHER tire went flat! I don't understand? We get so many flats.  I took the bike home, found two holes and patched them up and my bike has been ok ever since.  On the other hand, my companion still doesn't have his own bike.  Its been slowing the work a lot because he keeps borrowing all these clunkers from other people.  He threw a little tantrum the other day because he pedal kept popping off and we had to walk all the way home from the farthest point in our area ha ha.  Goes with the job i guess?  He gave his bike that he was borrowing a good beating though, that should show it to malfunction...

Just as i was getting better from being sick the week before, i got sick on Sunday.  Really bad.  I am pretty sure it was food poisoning,  I was up at 4:30am on Sunday and spent most of my day in the bathroom.  (TMI?)  but its true!  It was horrible! I couldn't keep anything inside my body, no food, no water, no nothin'.  I haven't had a meal in over 24 hrs.  I just barely started eating saltine crackers this morning and still feel sick. Yesterday i had it bad.  Tons of body aches, i was super cold even in sweats, hoody, wool socks. it was horrible. But evidently its something that is going around.  We found out there were a ton of people in our ward who were going through the same thing.  I couldn't go to church because i was so sick, so we had the ZL's come babysit us so that my companion could go to church with our investigator.. I was also up at 3:30AM today and went back to the bathroom.  But i am feeling lots better.  Just taking it slow.

Well that was pretty much it on the bad news.  The good news is.  We got to do a little service this week with our ward mission leader.  It was pretty fun.  Just moving tables and chairs from our building to the stake center.

We went to a stake party on Friday, it was Australia themed and they were trying to teach us how to speak like an Ozzy.  They were horrible at impersonating an Ozzy.  

When i was sick i asked the Durrant's (My favorites) to bring me some sprite and they did.  They also brought us dinner.  They are the best!  He was like "we have our phones next to our beds, if ANYTHING comes up and you need something no matter what time, call us"  They are so awesome! They are like our parents of this area.

No for some really good news.  We went on exchanges on Saturday with the ZL's.  And it went really good me and elder Angus were on foot but we got  A LOT accomplished.  Not only did i get tan like nobodies business ;)  but we also Taught two member present lessons, picked up 2 new investigators that seem super solid  taught one other lesson, taught a less active lesson and we set Lyndell with a baptismal date.  She is going to be baptized October 13th.  I asked her, "do you think you will be ready by October 13th?" and she said "The question is WILL i be ready by October 13th and the answer is yes" so huge progress there! And she came to church again this week!  The exchange was really really good.  I wish everyday was like that!

We also got to see a high speed car chase.  Me and elder Angus were walking down the street and a truck and white mustang FLEW past us going WAY fast and then we counted 11 cop cars were behind them!  GOING WAY FAST! IT was sick! 

Anyways! Things out here are going good,  we are beginning to see success in the work we are doing and are hoping to have some good results soon!  

Thank you all for all you do! Its good to hear from some of you ;) i want to hear from ALL OF YOU!  I love you all very much and miss you tons.  

Love,

Elder Samuel Crapo

PS  I have been out 19 months yesterday! :/

Start of the transfer

Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2012 11:52:42 -0700
Subject: Start of the transfer
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Hello family and friends!

It was good to hear from a lot of you as i checked email this week!  Things sound like they are going pretty good for the most part!  

This week for me has been pretty uneventful... kind of.  I've been getting kind of sick... and i dont know what it is yet? but if it keeps going on i'll find out.  I'm Completely drained though, i feel like i can never get enough sleep.  I could sleep alllllllllll day! 

In the way of missionary work though, we are having success with Lyndell! She is so great! We met with her like 5 times this week.  She came to church and stayed for all 3 hours.  It was good! she wants us to come back and talk about some parts of church but i hope she makes it a regular thing.

I've had a ton of bike problems this week which stinks!  So many flats! I had 3 flats on saturday... i will have to buy a whole bunch of replacement parts :(

The weather here is still hot but this week we were relieved to have some RAIN!!! yes! it was cloudy and some what sprinkly for a couple days this week. which made it super nice!

Most of the work we do revolves around seeing the members of the church.  the ones we havent met yet.  We dont have too many investigators... Actually only one.  

So things for the most part are just fine.  One of those slow weeks, that's all.

I hope you guys are all doing great.  I want to hear from all of you!!!!  I feel like i never know enough about everybody! So write me, email me! Do something to where i know you're still alive or send me an update of what you're up to.  If not that then send me some pictures!!!!

I love you all very much! And miss you all a lot as well!

Love,

Elder Samuel Crapo

Pictures 9/3/12

This is me elder goudy and elder Humphrey's

This is elder Goudy poking my nipple....

That is me and my companion elder Fernandez

I'm An Uncle!

Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2012 13:22:14 -0700
Subject: I'm An Uncle!
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Hey Family and Friends!

This is Elder Crapo!  Sounds like things back home have been pretty insane. I was excited to get the news on saturday when i texted the guidos in simi to text scott to say happy birthday and then found out that Amy had the babies! that is SUPER early! but that is so cool! I'm glad they are doing well i cant wait to see those little guys :D  If you ever need to tell me something sooner just go ahead and text the guidos :)  That is their daughters phone number. Its Theresa! She is super cool and will forward any messages for me! I dont know if that is strictly by the rules... But i dont have much longer left and i promise i'm still super focused!  But Congrats to stuart and amy! I'm very excited for the both of you! Send me pictures when you can!

This week has been a good week! Not a whole lot has happened....  but it has been a good one!

We have been doing a lot of contacting and tracting and stuff. Everyone is SO NICE, but not really interested... which is a bummer. but i hope we get some more work soon.  The investigator we are working with still hasnt come to church yet.  She is just super scared i guess?  I hope she gets comfortable... we are trying new things to help her...  We only met with her once last week though.  

On tuesday we had a pretty funny split.  Well we were supposed to go on splits with the Priests and only one priest could come.  And it is brother kirks kid and he is a great kid and the whole time we spoke with them they were really concerned for him.  all we were going to do was eat dinner at a members house and he would share the message and then we were going to go to a part member family's house where he would just sit and watch and maybe bear testimony if he felt like it, but the reason his parents were so concerned were because of his biking skills.  I almost died laughing because as we were on our way to dinner this kid, who is 16, could not ride a bike to save his life!  He probably went 10 feet before he would just veer off path and crash or lose balance.  Poor kid, but gosh who doesnt know how to ride a bike?  We told brother T that we would be late to dinner and on our way there he climbed over his wall and took our bikes into his back yard and we hopped over to make the trip a little quicker.

On wednesday  we went to lunch with our district.  Which was super fun.  Our district is really small but we went to round table pizza and all had a good time.

ON friday night we went to the Durrants house for dinner.  They are probably my favorites. They have a daughter who is 15 and two boys just below her and it was a lot of fun.  The mom and dad are so funny and we have a lot of fun around them.  We watched a video  with them and then in turned into one giant epic pillow fight, running around the entire house just leveling each other with pillows and stuff. It was insane! SO MUCH FUN!    I wasnt feeling very good that day though and i think it was because i was drinking too much water.  So i bought a gatorade and it fixed me up pretty good.  I gotta make sure to buy more gatorade!  Otherwise all the water i drink flushes out all those minerals!

Saturday we did a ton of door to door stuff.  We had a good dinner at the Cosby's and we got some free juice from the Bywater family.  (he is the guy that works for bolthouse farms).

I think that is it for the substantial things... not a whole lot happened this week.  But its been good.  Transfers were today and i'm staying with my companion which i'm happy about!  We have a TON of people leaving and coming in!  Elder Lifungula is coming to this zone! Which i'm stoked about! Elder Hernandez is coming to this zone and i'm super stoked about that too, that kid follows me EVERYWHERE i go!  I love him! and.... we got a new sister, she came from a previous companionship but her comp went home and got moved over with two other sisters. But now one of the original sisters is leaving and she is staying.  Which is way cool!  She is awesome! She is from draper and her name sounds familiar so if anyone knows any Putnam's let me know cuz that is her name!

Anyways that is about it.  I miss all of you very much! I cant believe how fast this is all going!  I am having a great time in the extreme heat of bakersfield and everything is pretty good!

I love you all!

Elder Samuel Crapo

Exchanges

Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:04:08 -0700
Subject: Exchanges
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Hey Family & Friends!

 

Its been another great week and the week has gone by so fast!  But i'm not in the library right now! I'm in Frazier Park! It is pretty sweet up here.  We got a member to drive us up.  Brother Nancett.  He's stinkin awesome.  But we will be driving back down on the bus! Yay.  We are up here to do a hike and since its our district only we had to come up because the sisters cant be alone with the other two elders so we HAD to come.  But it will be fun.

 

My week has gone ok.  Work wise... still slow.  We did have a good time with an investigator this week.  We taught a pretty good lesson with her and Asked her to be baptized by September 22nd.  She said she would pray about it.  She still hasnt come to church though.  She feels she needs to know more before she goes to church.  She is a little scared to go i think?  I wish she would just come because i think she would love it.  We also watch the Joseph Smith Movie.  The full one.

 

We went on exchanges this week.  My companion went to Frazier Park. And i stayed in Bakersfield with Elder Scholes.  It was a good exchange.  We exchanged monday night and got back together wednesday afternoon.  So it was a pretty long exchange.  But it was a lot of fun. 

 

We had some service this week which was great.  There is a family in our ward who is moving out and is trying to fix up their house.  So we have been doing all sorts of work over there.  Painting and yard work and what not!

 

I've had some bike problems this week! Two flats in one week!  And it is impossible to find a regular patch kit these days.  They only have these cheap patch kits.  Its ridiculous so i've been having to buy new inner tubes! It stinks!

 

Hmmm what else happened this week? Yesterday we were riding our bikes down the street and right outside of a members apartment a kid was getting in his car and he was like "Oh hey elders" and i recognized him so i stopped and said "Wait i know you!" and he was a kid up in Tehachapi that was good friends with our convert! We didnt talk to him long at all but it was cool to see him.

 

Also this week we stopped at the Gas station and i saw a guy with Utah plates on his car.  So i got out of our members car and i yelled out to him.  I was like "Hey what part of utah are you from?" he said Logan.  Then he came up and read my tag and was like "crapo? did you have a brother serve in Brazil?" ha and i told him yes.  He said that he was in Stuarts same district in Brazil at one point...  Small world.  Unfortunately i didnt catch his name...  But he is down in Bakersfield to work.  He just got here.

 

We also went to a members house to visit.  They are super awesome.  The Laffoons.  They have a whole bunch of classic cars.  Mustangs, volks wagons, deloriane (like back to the future), and a... Fero? I wanna say? But all super nice cars.  Pluse two street bikes. One of them being a Honda CBR 1000.  The guy asked if i wanted to test it out. BOY WAS I TEMPTED!  But they are super chill! She went to Sam's Club this week and bought us a 48 pack of Tigers Milk! It was da bomb!

 

I also sent Logan a Package in the mail last P-day.  I've never sent him a package and i kind of owe it to him! Plus he's the man anyways!  I put a whole bunch of cool stuff in there!

 

I think that's pretty much it for me!  Things are going great.  I'm loving this area still!  I cant believe how fast it goes.

 

Anyways i love you guys.  I hope you are all doing well and write me back soon! 

 

Love,

 

Elder Samuel Crapo

Weeks are Flying

Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2012 11:51:07 -0700
Subject: Weeks are Flying (i think i have made the subject of an email "weeks are flying" already)
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Hello Family and Friends!

 

I cant believe how fast time goes.  I swear i was here in the library yesterday reading and writing emails!  Today was a way good day for emails! I had 19 Emails in my inbox!!! BOO YA!  That was so great!  Its  taken me forever to view them all but i love it!

 

This week has been pretty good.  Not too much happened.  Work-wise we have been working with an awesome lady named Lyndell.  She is about 70 years old but she has SO MUCH ENERGY! I love it!  We took her on a tour of the church this friday and she loved it! Loves pretty much everything about it.  We had a member of the ward, Brother Kirk, come with us and i'm so glad he came because she loved him, he loved her, and he was able to give her a lot of information on the church building!  Unfortunately she didnt make it to church on sunday.  She had a friend come into town! But she's so close!

 

We also have been working with another family but it seems everytime we go over they are just sleeping, or too tired to listen, or they have kids running around everywhere, or they have some sort of medical problem! The guy who lives there i feel so bad for.  He really has it hard. Always in and out of the ER and always has tons of meds that are effecting him.  He's a member but the rest of his family are investigators. 

 

We do a lot of tracting in this area.  Which i still like a lot.  But still no success.  We have found really cool members that pretty much just clean out their cupboards to feed us.  They seriously load us up.  Some lady gave us 3 boxes of cereal, 20 cliff bars, a giant bag of cereal, cookies and all this other stuff just because we stopped by her house.  Then she noticed we were on bike so she dropped it off at our apartment for us! What a stellar lady!

 

We had Zone Conference this week which is why i feel like it went so fast.  It was pretty good.  It was down in oildale which is a serious racist town.  There is a grocery store called 11C.  The 11th letter in the alphabet is K.  C is the third letter in the alphabet... KKK... Yeah they are all super racist.  Black elders and sister cannot serve there! ha ha

 

Ummmm  probably the biggest news was that me and my companion got in a bike wreck.  It wasnt too bad.  I got some nice road rash and broke my helmet and he got a little scab on his elbow.  but for some reason elder fernandez likes to ride REALLY close to me, side by side and then one day i was just riding along and he was all up in my grill and i couldnt pedal because they were stuck on his bike and i couldnt move my handlebars because they were stuck on his bike.  So next thing ya know we fell.   And my whole shoulder is black from the asphalt and my pants are ripped (good thing, because i needed a pair to burn for my 18 month mark OH YEAH) and i'm bleeding all over my arm, and leg.  So i'm sitting there thinking to myself to see if anything is broken, but its not, I caught myself on my wrist so that hurt a bunch.  But i'm sitting in the middle of the road and i look behind me and some lady is walking towards us and she saw the whole thing (dangit) and she was like are you guys ok? and i said yeah we are fine.  But she was still walking our way and she was just getting her mail so i started talking with her, i was like "hey how are you today ma'm?" and my companion looked at me with a bewildered face and was like, wow! i cant believe you started talking to that lady. ha ha. MISSIONARY WORK DOESNT STOP FOR ACCIDENTS!

 

So yeah, i burned my pants. It was great.  We burned them over at the Durrants house, THEY ARE THE BEST!

 

Other than that not a whole lot else happened.  We met a member this week who just got a job with Bolthouse Farms and he is going to hook us up with a whole bunch of fruit smoothies! YUM!

 

But i'm looking at my computer and only have 9 minutes left! YIKES! I hate writing in the library!

 

Anyways i love you guys!  i cant wait to hear from you again next week!  I hope you're all doing well!

 

Love,

 

Elder Samuel Crapo

 

 

113 Degrees

Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2012 11:44:37 -0700
Subject: 113 Degrees
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Hello Family And Friends!

 

Today is monday and i'm writing you... duh!  How are you all doing?  I miss you all very very much!  Its so crazy how fast the weeks go.  I feel like i was here yesterday writing emails and now here i am again!  Jeeze!

 

This week was a pretty good one.  Last monday a bunch of elders came down and we got to play some sports.  That was pretty fun.  I got to see Elder Goudy.  He was in simi when i was there.  He's a good guy.  Super Crazy.  But it was fun being around him again.  We dont get to do too much on P-days because we dont have a car and our area is pretty small.  Plus there are no missionaries to hang out with out here! 

 

Tuesday was pretty good.  We had some good appointments.  Got to do a little service pulling weeds for an elderly lady in the ward and we got to meet some new people in the area.  We had dinner with the Tydriszewski (tid-dra-chef-ski) family.  They are super cool.  Super young family, just had a baby 3 months ago.  I already love them a lot! They are so cool.  He's a big comic book fan and loves star wars.  I dont know if i mentioned his house in past emails but he has a room dedicated to JUST starwars things.  TONS OF TOYS EVERYWHERE! its insane. I'll snap some pics next time i'm there. 

 

We also had a meeting with our ward mission leader.  He is pretty awesome.  Brother Branson.  Their house is kind of busy though becasue his daughter just got married on Friday. 

 

In district meeting we were told that we were no longer allowed to play sports...  On p day we can.  But any other day with investigators and stuff we are not allowed to.  That STINKS! But i go home in 6 months. I'm glad i got to do it for the first 18! I really took advantage of it.  It was fun.  But i guess too many missionaries were getting injured and the missionary medical was having a hard time keeping up with the doctor bills.  Stupid missionaries.  If they get hurt, say you fell off your bike or something...  Now we all have to suffer.

 

We had a couple of flat tires  this week, it was pretty funny because we worked on Elder Fernandez's tire a whole bunch, got a new tube in it, went to the gas station, filled it up, came back home, parked the bike, and then his new tire exploded.  So we had to do it all over again,  he's got a "hand me down" bike right now..  My bike is holding up really well.  The only thing that is wrong with it is the seat.  Its so small and hard i'm worried i may not have forever families with a seat like this.

 

The irish's (the people who own our apartment) took us to red robin for dinner at the mall.  And while we were there we stopped off at Macy's because elder fernandez wanted to pick something up.  And it was so weird being in there.  I never want to work at that place ever again! ha ha!

 

We also talked to the Irish's daughter in law who lives just behind us, and i noticed their garage was always open and inside they have a weight lifting bench.  So i asked if we could come work out on it at nights and they said yes.  I'm so happy!  Finally can get a good work out! :D

 

I also got to go to a Christian store this week. I picked up a W.W.J.D. bracelet since i gave my last one to Deborah in Atascadero.  So now i'm back to normal!

 

We did a lot of walking and it was REALLY hot.  We were on our way back to our apartment when some guy and his wife and small child in the back pulled over and asked if we needed a ride and we accepted.  They were super nice.  His family are all members but not from the area and they felt like Dry mormons.  So elder fernandez was writing down their information and when he gave us his address it sounded familiar.  So i looked in my planner for his address and i found it on the back where i keep the important stuff. and his address was under "AVOID" ha ha i guess this guy is super anti and when to an open house once and just preached anti stuff.  Offended a lot of people.  There was a note about him in the area book that said dont go around them.  So they dropped us off and asked us to stop by.  Elder Fernandez was so excited that we had just found a golden family and i was like, what is his address again? and he told me and i showed him my planner and he was pretty upset.  We got played pretty good!

 

On friday it was supposed to be really hot.  Same with saturday.  But we decided to go tracting anyways.  We did about 4 hours of tracting.  I like tracting, its not effective AT ALL, but i like it because its exciting. You never know who is behind the door ya know?  But we were sweating to DEATH and  EVERYONE is super nice, always giving us water or taking the time to listen. I love it here.

 

IN the way of investigators we have 2 that are progressing.  One is a recent converts wife who came to church this week with him.  In meeting with her we asked what she expects out of our visits and she says that she hopes to be ready to be baptized some day.. Now i dont think she really has the desire to get that done any time soon, its not on the top of her list, but still its good!  And then we met with an older lady but she is a fireball she's so much fun!  She said she had been thinking a lot about what we are teaching her and she wants to come to church.  We hope to set her with a baptismal date next week!  We also had the Irish's Daughter In-law come to church.  She is not a member but her husband is, just a little less active is all.  But she's really interested in learning, but at her own pace.  She's making an effort to come to church and hopefully in the near future will take the discussions.

 

We also got to go to our ward mission leader's daughter's wedding reception.  It was fun.  The happy couple met at walmart in orem.  How precious.  Its so weird going to those things because those people getting married are MY age! GULP!  But it was a lot of fun and we met some really cool people.

 

It was pretty dang hot all week.  Probably the hottest month in bakersfield says the locals.  They wonder why we are on bikes?  The Zone Leaders told us that on friday and saturday it stayed around 113 - 114 degrees constantly in the afternoon! Ha ha! It all feels the same after 100 degrees anyways.  I really like it though.  I think my favorite temperature is high 80's.

 

Anyways.  I'm loving where i'm at.  Everyone treats you like you've been here a really long time, like, lots of people already love us.  I like it here a lot.  I'll be sad to go.

 

Thanks for all your support.  If you ever get the chance write me! Or send me packages! or something? I only have 6 months left so dont put it off ;) i love you guys lots and miss you tons!

 

Love,

 

Elder Samuel Crapo

Second Week In Bakersfield

Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2012 11:51:18 -0700
Subject: Second Week In Bakersfield
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Hello Family And Friends!

 

So it was the second week in Bakersfield and things are still going great!  I love this area A LOT! I'm really interested to see what president will do for transfers.  I'm usually the one who stays for 6 months! I could finish my mission off here.  But who knows.  The weather is great! its Usually 103 or hotter... so its not too bad.  I really like it actually.  Sure you get sweaty and stuff on the bike but it makes me feel so good.  So much better than the cold!

 

So last week i texted John and Michelle King up in tehachapi.  They were the investigators i loved so much. I texted them to tell them if they are ever in Bakes to look me up because its super close and John Said that they are BOTH getting baptized August 4th.  I begged President to let me go up to tehachapi to watch the baptism but he said no... Lame.  but still they got baptized. I was so stoked to hear about that.  They say they will let me know when they are in bakersfield! I would be so excited to see them.

 

Last p-day was kind of lame.  We have to do our email at the library because the Family history center is pretty much shut down at the moment.  The library stinks because i cant hook up my camera and send pictures or plug in my disk and copy pictures you guys send (thanks simon and stuart). But i will try really hard to get them when i can.  I love having pictures.  The p-day was ok though.  Not much to do when the only other elders in your district live an hour and a half away.  And the other two are sisters... So we did play basketball at the church after email.  It was fun. but it stinks knowing we cant all get together each monday.

 

We dont have too many investigators in the area but everyone here is SO NICE.  Its either REALLY nice or REALLY mean.  ha ha.  So for the most part you block out the mean and remember the nice.  So its easy to tract because everyone is usually friendly.  But like most people. They arent interested. 

 

We've met a lot more members this plast week and they are all really cool.  I like this ward a lot.

 

Our area goes out pretty far but there is usually no need to go out as far as it goes but on the last elders progress record there was a family on there that lived pretty far out.  Well we didnt have much to do so we went and saw them.  It was hot and it was probably just a 4 or 5 mile bike ride but it felt like a really long one.  The heat just takes it out of you.  But the guy pulled up RIGHT as we were about to leave.  He is a trucker and he was really cool. 

 

Hmmmm... What else happened this week?

 

We met two families this week who both have kids who are getting baptized.  Both REALLY cool  families.  Brother Nancett is one of them and he said that when he was 8 he was baptized by an Elder Crapo.  In San Demas.  So if somone can look into that for me and let me know that would be REALLY COOL!

 

We also talked to another family.  Big Samoan family and their daughter was baptized this week too.  We got to go the baptisms.  There were like 5 kids being baptized and the Samoans relatives filled the whole chapel.  We were invited to their house after for a Luaua at their house.  It was great.  Party up front had a whole bunch of them drinking and smoking but they were so happy to see us and then led us to the back where everyone was swimming.  They fed us SO MUCH FOOD.  It was crazy.  But so delicious.  Those people were so stinking nice!

 

We also went to the Nancetts after that.  They had a big water slide they had rented.  And we talked with them for a while.  They too are so awesome!

 

We also go to teach an investigator this week.  He was really cool.  A high school coach.   He also played football in college.  He's only been taught once and he really likes what we have to teach.  He's hard to get a hold of because he is so busy but i could totally see him progressing.

 

Hmmmmmm.... I think that is pretty much it that happened for this week.  Me and my companion get along pretty well.  He's quite the talker.  Talks pretty fast too, typical New York kid ya know? He's very outgoing and is fun to be around.  Its crazy to see how i have changed the way i look at my companion.  I feel like such a baby when i look back at my old emails about how i used to complain so bad about all the things they did wrong.  Its so easy to just shrug that stuff off now and just see the good in each companionship.

 

Anyways i hope you guys are doing great!  I love you lots and will talk to you next week!

 

Love

 

Elder Samuel Crapo

South Bakersfield

Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2012 12:44:01 -0700
Subject: South Bakersfield
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

Hello Family And Friends,

 

This is Elder Crapo reporting from my new area in South Bakersfield! I love it here already..  The first couple days here me and my companion both felt so welcomed.  Everybody, members and non members are really nice.  I think the only person that doesnt like us is our neighbor across the way.  He has a huge Prop 8 sign in his window, it faces our apartment to torment us.  Other than that its great.  Our apartment is huge.  Used to be a 4 man but now me and my comp live here.  We have a room for sleep, a room for studies.  Our own bathrooms.  A huge garage.  Nice Kitchen and Family room.  It needs more elders though.  It could be a lot of fun ha ha.  I still get the homesick feeling when i think about the other elders in my last apartment or when i think about my last area.  I get so dang attached to my areas!  6 months is a long time to stay in EACH area.  But i'm so glad this ward warmed up to us really fast.  Its been SUPER DUPER hot and that was to be expected.  I really like the heat though... The air is just bad... Really bad.  There is always a bad haze here.  We did a lot of walking at first because my companion Elder Fernandez didnt have a bike.  So the days were flying by walking everywhere.  But he finally has a bike and we are able to get a lot more done.  I like Elder Fernandez a lot.  He's a way cool kid.  He served with Elder Stephenson for 3 transfers and me and elder Stephenson got along really well in Simi Valley. Elder Fernandez is a city boy but he's way chill.  He's from Manhattan, New York.  Cant get much more city than that.  He played pretty much the same sports as me in high school and he also did Mixed martial arts when he was back home.  So he's going to teach me how to fight a bit.  It'll be sweet.  We have had a hard time getting in touch with a map and a ward directory so the first week we were trying to get that all figured out.... never really got one.  So by sunday we got the map and the directory and now we are ready to go. 

 

This area is supposed to be really good for baptisms.  They say  they usually get Monthly Baptisms.  Right now its a little slow because of the summer.  But i'm sure things will pick up now that we are all ready with our bikes and maps and stuff.

 

This white wash was a lot easier.  There wasnt as much stuff going on here to have to follow up on  so we can start fresh and  this area is tiny so we dont really need a GPS to get everywhere.  Just a map will do. 

 

We had a good ride down.  Actually the mission doctor took us home.  Brother Moyes.  He's a crazy guy.  He actually took us out of our mission for lunch at five guys.  In santa Clarita.

 

We've been having to do a lot of shopping.  Getting new things to get situated and stuff.  Lots of members see us on the street and pick us up and take us places which is great! 

 

We have found some opportunities to do service already.  Just little stuff though.  Moving Boxes. Weeding :( and little things like that.

 

We've met some really cool families. One in Particular, the Durrants.  They just moved from Vegas and Brother Durrant is a ward missionary.  Really cool family. 

 

Hmmm.... What else can i tell you?  What else do you want to know?  I think i'm just going to do emails like this from now on.  Still somewhat long but not the day to day thing.  I just cant keep up with that plus i bet my emails are really boring... Dylan is probably saying "FINALLY HE UNDERSTANDS" ha ha.  But i am just out of the habit of keeping a journal... and i'm always forgetting things....  The past 6 months went by so fast and the days go by SO FAST that i cant even remember what i've been doing day to day.... Its too hard.

 

Anyways we have about 3 good investigators.  We've met one of them and hopefully can meet the others this week.  They all seem pretty golden from what it looks like. 

 

Anyways if there is anything you can do for me it would be to write me.  I never get enough Mail :) 

 

I could always use pictures.  I LOVE getting pictures either in the mail or through email.  doesnt matter JUST SEND SOME!!! 

 

I could use some stamps? ha ha i'm running out!

 

Anyways thats about it... I love you guys a lot and miss you tons!  I cant believe i only have 6 1/2 months left....  I'm getting scared beceause everyone keeps telling me i'm super old in the mission.... I used to say that about people who had been out as long as i have too.  I feel like i dont know ANYBODY in the mission anymore.  Everyone i know has gone home now ha ha.  I Am old.  Everyone keeps telling me that the last six months are the fastest too! AGH! I'm nervous!

 

Well  i love you guys i already said all this so..... BYE

 

Love,

 

Elder Samuel Crapo