The Last One... - Pereira, Colombia

Holaaaaaaaa, cómo están?

I know I havent writen in a while but there's a lot of stuff that's happend.

To start off, I'm going home on Thursday  Yesterday was my last day in mi área. Six of us in zona Pereira are going home and tonight we will all be in the ZLs house. We're leaving on a bus to Medellín tomorrow at 6:00am to meet up with all the 19 misioneros that are going home and we have our interviews tomorrow and Wednesday. Thursday in the morning we board the plane and I come into Chicago 6-7:00pm.

The mission has gone by so fast but it's amazing. I love sharing with everyone the love and hope that I have received por medio del evangelio. I know that this church is true, that the gosple is true, and I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints is the church of God newly established on the earth. 

 There is so much that I want to say but little time to write, the zone already started playing basketball :) Thanks to everyone who supported me and helped me in and before my mission. I've seen how much I've been able to grow in my mission (spiritualy, socially, and emotionally. Only a couple of pounds weight wise and I doubt I've gotten much taller) and I can't wait to keep on growing after my mission as well. I invite all of you that are thinkinf about serving a mission to pray and talk to your bishop about it. If you serve, you won't regret it and it will bless your life forever. Love you all and see you soon.

 Elder Crenshaw :)

Transfers - Medellin, Colombia

Hey everybody! Transfers are today and I'm going to Pereira and ill be on the bus all day. Hope you guys have a great week and I'll try to write next week :)

Elder Crenshaw :)

Beginnings, Endings, and I'm famous now - Medellin, Colombia

Holaaaaaaaaa, como están? Hace rato no he escrito.

Again, like normal I have no clue what has happened since the last time I've written so I'll just write about something and hope that everyone is happy. If not, write me with your comments and or complaints and I'll try to resolve the issue in the next email I write, sea next week or some other random Pday. First off, Three weeks ago (yes I know I'm a bit late but ya fue) two cool things happened. Congrats to Hermana Graves, now Camie Graves for finishing her mission!!! She served in Chile Santiago for the last 18 months and finished with honor hace poco. Aaaanndd Congrats to Evan Crenshaw, my brother because he got his mission call to the Billings, Montana Mission!!! He will be leaving June 18th, one month and one day before I get back.

In other news, no clue if I've wrote a email since I got to Medellín, bit I'm in Medellín again! I'm in el Barrio Prado, there are 4 missionaries here and my companion se llama Elder Puma. This is our second transfer together. He's from Ecuador, 25 years old, and likes to drink mate. Mate is a drink from Argentina. It's kind of like a herbal tea but it's different, not sure how to describe it bit he drinks it alot. Like every day in the morning and night. It helps that we are also living with un argentino so they drink a lot of Mate. A lot a lot. I think it tastes like grass but ya fue jaja. 

We ate opening área here, for a while there weren't any missionaries in our area because there was a problem with visas and a lot of missionaries were reassigned, including Elder Puma.

Fun fact, I'm famoso now. The mission made a music video and I sang, link below.

But the work has been going really well. We have two people on date for Baptism the 20th and it's been cool to see how the Lord takes the work that we do and works miracles. We have seen soooo many miracles in these last few weeks especially. Random people showing up at church saying that they need to change their lives and follow Jesus, finding members that haven't come to church in over 5 years and seeing them come to church the next week, and soon much more. Another way we've seen the Lord's hand here in our area is through the adds the Church has in YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. Our area is in the center of Medellín, like literally Google Maps puts the word "Medellín" in our area, so EVERY TIME that someone responds to a add and puts their addres as Medellín, or as Antioquia (he departamento or state), or if Maps can't figure out the address, it sends the person to us. It's been amazing to see how many people, daily, are looking for help and want to learn more about God. Even though a lot don't actually live in our area, some live up to 6-8 hours away, we get to talk to them first and help them find missionaries closer to them so they can learn more. You never know who is ready and looking for help, it's just that they don't know how to find it. 

I've got to finnish up but I'm soooo happy for the time that I've spent serving the Lord, in the 10 weeks that I've got left I'm exited to keep helping everyone I meet to come unto Him and find the Joy that this gospel brings.

Love you guys and we'll see if I write next week lol. Cualquier pregunta, duda, chisme, chiste o reclamo me pueden escribir por interno y recibirán su respuesta... Eventualmente, tengan paciencia con el gringo con TDAH (Trastorno por Déficit de Atención e Hiperactividad) :)

Byeeeee

Elder Crenshaw :)

Click here for MUSIC VIDEO

Email time - Manizales, Colombia

Hey everyone, no clue how long it's been but i thought I'd write something really fast. Not sure what I wrote in my last email so if I repeat a couple of things ya fue.

Last time I wrote I was in Planeta Rica (the coast) since then I've been in Medellin and now I'm in Manizales. I was a bit sick in Planeta Rica ( I lost 13 pounds) but I loved the time that I was there. In the end I left at the end of the transfer because the water was making me sick and the health secretary told Prezident Florez :( BUT I went to Medellin so that was cool. I was only there for a week but it was in a great area so it's OK. My area in Medellin was Villa Hermosa, I was in a trio with Elder Ballesteros y Elder Sellán. Both of them are newer in the mission, Elder Ballesteros has 4 1/2 months and Elder Sellán has 2 months. After a week all of the new group of misioneros that got here had to get resigned because there is a problem with the visas in Colombia :( they all left el miércoles and presidente had to do a lot of emergency transfers. I was in a trio so he told us that one of us was going to leave si o si. On Wednesday at like 12:00 ish one of the APs called and said that I would be leaving the next day in the morning, not a surprise because we were in trio, and that I should pack in the night. We went to lunch and the APs called us again and said that there had been a change of plans, and I should come to the offices at 6:00. That was at 2:00. We had to go home and my companions had our appointments virtual while I packed everything. I left for the office at like 5;30 and got to the office in time to see all the new missionaries leaving. Then presidente said that they had trouble finding a buss to Manizales quickly and I could only bring 1 suitcase. So I repacked super rápido and went to sleep so I could leave in the little bus the next day. And now I'm in Manizales :D

I'm out of time so I'll talk more about Manizales and my current area the next email, whenever that happens lol. But I want to end bearing my testimony that I know this church is true. At times life is crazy, but no matter what happens the work is the same. I love it here in the mission, I've learned sooo much about the gospel, about Jesucristo and about myself. I know that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior and our Redeemer. He knows us personally and loves us more than we can imagine. Through his atonement we can come to live with our Heavenly Father and become the people that he wants us to be. He has a plan for us. I also know that His church has been restored on the Earth through Joseph Smith, and that today it is lead by Jesus Christ through his Prophets and Apóstoles. I know that the Book of Mormón is true and as a representative of Jesus Christ I invite all to read it. It will bless your life in a way that no other book will. It is the word of God. I have learned of the power of the prayer. The blessing it is to be able to talk to our Father in heaven. I testify that he hears us and that he can and will respond. Go to Him in prayer and let him work miracles in your life. When we have faith in him he will respond. Find the ways that you hear him in your life, search for ways to hear him more clearly and search for the answers to your questions. Read the scriptures, they are the pre-recorded words of God and through them we will come to know our Savior and his love for us. I testify of the power of the atonement in our lives. It is a gift that is freely given to us and it is of greater worth than almost anything else than I can imagine. Use it in your life. Learn to love the blessing of repenting daily. It has blessed my life and it will bless yours too. I know this work is true, I know it with all my heart, and because I know it is true I share it with the world.

Ya nesecito dormir entonces les dejo con eso: )

If you have any questions or just want to send me an email because you're cool feel free. I can't respond until Monday but I can read it any day of the week :)

Okey dokey, I'm writing again :) - Calarcá, Colombia

 Ok so I'm writing two week in a row, I know, loco, when has that every happened. lol

OK so what happened this week. We had a few intercambios where we are companions with another missionary for a day. Other than that I can't think of much. A pretty normal week overall. BUT this week we are going to have a conference with a member of the 70, Élder Becerra! The whole mission will be coming to Medellin so the apartment will be a little packed. Normaly we have 4 people here. Durring the conference there will be 12 :) Everyone arrives this wednesday so we'll see how that goes. I really cant thing of anything else we did, with my family normalmente hablo sobre mi semana but today we just talked about english grammer so ya. Thats about it, unless you guys want to hear about the subjuntive :)

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT TIME!!!

Ok so this week we've been studying stuff that Elder Becerra sent us to study. The second day of meetings we will be focusing on 3 sets of scriptures. The cool thing about the scriptures is we can relate them to both missionary and members. Your homework is to read them and send me your thoughts. Ill send you mine next week, but trust me. These always have been some of my favorite scriptures, but now they are better. 

Alma 8:18-22, 10:4-12

Alma 19:16-17,28-29

Heleman 5:35-43

Have fun, keep or gain your testimony, see you next week.

Elder Crenshaw  :)