L. Tom Perry in Ventura

Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2012 11:17:57 -0700
Subject: L. Tom Perry in Ventura
From: samuel.crapo@myldsmail.net

 Hello family and Friends,
 
 Its been another week and I'm feeling much better from being
 sick! I don't have much time so let me hustle and send my weekly
 doings to you ha ha!
 
 Monday 3-5-12
 We came to the church and did email. We left and did our shopping and
 what not at home. Then we came back to the church and played a TON of
 basketball. We had the Zone Leaders come up and play with us and we
 played a lot. I'm still not very good... ha ha But it was fun. While
 we were there i brought the rope elder Pulham gave me, Elder Casteneda
 (ZL) was like are you any good with that? I was like, run lets see if
 i can get ya. So he's running and i was going to rope his foot like
 elder Pulham used to do all the time.... And i went to rope him and it
 didn't feel right so i thought i wasn't going to rope him, but i just
 went through the rest of the motions and i did rope him. Stuck him on
 the ankle and accidentally pulled him to the ground. Ha ha it was
 funny. I was getting really good at that in Tehachapi but i didn't
 think i could do it anymore. It had been way too long. But i guess i
 still got it.
 
 Then we came home and i wrote lots of letters. The Guidos write me
 quite a bit so i have made an oath that if i ever get a letter i have
 to respond to it... so i ain't gonna quit yet! ha ha
 
 Then we went to the Gouffs home. They are super cool. They had a lot
 of people there. They were having an "Empty Nester's" get together.
 And so we went to that and ate dinner with them. It was good.
 
 Then we tried contacting a family. But they were busy :( We went in
 because elder Marquez took a really bad fall on his leg at basketball
 and hurt his foot. He was having a hard time walking so we came in
 and i gave him some horse liniment to put on his foot. and his foot
 was better the next day :) That stuff works miracles.
 
 Tuesday 3-6-12
 We went to San Louis, because we were going to have interviews with
 president. We had training by our Zone Leaders and the Assistants.
 Which was long and boring. The interview was extremely short and very
 anti climactic.
 
 When we got home we went to Paso Robles to contact a Referral who wasn't home.
 
 Then we went tot the church and watched the Joseph Smith Movie with
 Cameron (our investigator who is getting baptized in April)
 
 Then we went to the Millers (part member family) and taught a way good
 lesson to them. Committed the Husband (who is not a member) to read
 and pray about the book of Mormon.
 
 Then we came in for dinner. Didn't have anyone signed up.
 
 Wednesday 3-7-12
 We went to a lady's apartment, her name is Kathy, she's a member, but
 she gets lonely and calls the missionaries up to come do stuff for
 her. She'll kind of take advantage of you if you keep going but we
 decided we'd go over and plant some seeds for her. So we did. And it
 was pretty easy.
 
 Then we had only about an hour till our next appointment and if you
 ever have about an hour to spare before your next appointment, you
 cant do much. Especially without the car because it takes an hour to
 get anywhere on your bike. So.... we do something we call "Goin' on
 walk about" (Australian Accent) Where we pretty much walk on the
 streets to find people we can preach at ha ha.
 
 Then the Barretts took us to a Chinese buffet which was very nice of
 them. They are super cool. Their granddaughter who is only 19 is
 getting married! She should have waited for elder Crapo cuz she's
 cute.... but i guess not ;) ha ha ha just kidding.
 
 Then we were on bikes until 6PM! Gosh! Just going everywhere! Looking
 for people to bother. Our Teaching pool is not that large so we are
 trying to grow it. But i feel like we are doing nothing but knocking
 on doors with no one in there and riding bikes...... Sooooooo..... we
 need some miracles ha ha.
 
 While we were looking for people. My companion decided to pull an
 "elder lane" and go down a hill with no hands and standing on the
 peddles of the bike, so you lean forward and rest your thighs on the
 handlebars and thats how you control your bike.... pretty much stupid.
 Anyways, I've already gone down this hill and he is flying behind me
 doin' that evil Knievel stuff and i move over a little bit and i guess
 i got in his way because he was about to fly past me, and he had to
 swerve out of the way and he ate asphalt BAD! ha ha i just stood there
 and watched... not much i could do. I thought he had broken his leg
 or back! ha ha but he was OK, his knee hurt all week though.
 
 Then we had dinner with the Rayners who are SUPER Good cooks!
 
 Thursday 3-8-12
 We did Mormon.org in the morning which was great! i hadn't done that
 in a while. Had lunch... Mac'n'cheese.
 
 Then we took the car and put the bikes on the back and went to Paso
 Robles. Did some work there.
 
 We then took our bikes and rode to Templeton. That took a good hour.
 I found a County radio on the side of the road. Had i not been on a
 mission i would have had a little fun with that talking to the guys on
 the other end. But i didn't! we were having dinner with a family and
 the husband is a C.H.P. (california Highway Patrol) and i gave it to
 him, he called some peeps and got the radio back to them.
 
 Then they gave us a ride back to the car. And we threw our bikes back
 on and went to an investigators house, She had a whole bunch of
 people in her garage who were smoking and drinking. And part of me
 was like... eh we probably shouldn't get involved in that but then the
 other part of me says I'm a missionary and I'm protected and i need to
 got talk to this lady. So i listened to that and we went and actually
 found out that the guys in the garage were Mormons... they just had
 gone down the wrong path and are super less active. Super nice
 though. There was also another guy in there who was looking for the
 right religion called himself a "lost sheep" and we got to stand
 around and talk with all of them and our investigator for a while.
 
 Friday 3-9-12
 We did our weekly planning inside. We were doing a car fast. so no
 car that day.
 
 Then we went and got lunch at a place called Sylvesters. Its a famous
 burger place.
 
 Then we did tons of biking. Didn't get to see too many people :(
 
 Then we went to the church to help set up some tables for something?
 
 Then we came home and the Kessingers picked us up for dinner. It was
 a way good time. Because the wife (they are older) knows how to play
 the piano really well and we all gathered around the piano and she
 played old doo wop songs and we sat around and sang. Old songs like
 Earth Angel and Chapel of love, except they call it temple of love ha
 ha and just stuff like that! It was pretty sweet.
 
 Saturday 3-10-12
 I drove us all the way to Ventura! Took 3 hours!
 
 We got to shake hands with L. Tom Perry and listen to him speak which
 was sweet.
 
 Then i drove us home, which was another 3 hours... 283 miles round trip.
 
 Then we came in and figured out miles for the rest of the month. We
 only get 34 miles per day... what a joke ha ha.
 
 Then we had dinner with the Nichols. They are one of my favorite
 families out here. He was loading up his truck with dirt bikes
 because they are going dirt biking today. When i get home i want to
 get a Honda 250 dirt bike to ride whenever we go four wheeling!
 
 Sunday 3-11-12
 We had church. And before our church started some guy walked in from
 off the street and wanted to "Study the bible" he was kind of bashing
 at the door but we got him interested and now we are going to go see
 him this week.
 
 Later we had dinner with the Haselhuhn's and they were telling me all
 the places they have been to in england! Almost all the sights we saw!
 Warwick Castle, Stonehenge, Dover White Cliffs. It was cool. Mum,
 she would like your Yorkshire Pudding Recipe! ha ha
 
 Anyways that was my week! Thanks for all the support and emails! I
 look forward to see who wrote me each Monday! I love and miss you all
 a lot!
 
 Love,
 
 
 Elder Sam Crapo