Multi zone stuff and the Trunkanator 9000 - Calarcá, Colombia

Okey dokey peoples, I don't have a ton of time beause it's allready late and ya but this week was good :) we had the mutizone conference with the president this week and the day afterward we had a multi zone pday :D those were both realy cool, aparently in the eje cafetero (where we are) we have almost all the really tall people, I'm tallest in the mission at 2m (6'6-7) but there are three other really tall gringos (6'3+) and another tall latino (6'2) yes of course we made a amazing basketball team lol. In general it was a really good couple of days. We had a gift exchange too, I got alot of candy so I'm happy :)

Ok now the important part, so as I've said, my companion is finishing his mission soon, like realy soon, 13 more days soon. Anyway, he has to do this thing called my plan every week, its kind of like a online class for how to go back to normal life after your mission. It's a really good idea and everything but holy cow is Elder Lucas trunky after he does one of the sections lol. This week was titled something like "Salir con joven atultos de la opuesto sexo, matrimonio, y familias eternas" :) anyway, I've started calling it the trunkanator 9000 ©️ lol.

In other news, there isn't much other news, the rest of the week was pretty normal, just a bit shorter. We found a person realy close to the church, we can literaly see the church durring the lessons in her house. She is a bit older and has really good questions but she dosen't actualy listen to the answers we give so we'll have to work on that.

wow this email is random but oh well, lets make it even more random, here is a hicu, hycoo, hycou, I'm not exactly sure how to spell it but a poem that I made this morning while I was taking a shower:

Yo tengo fria

El agua esta fria

Quiero morir 

:)

We don't have hot water in this appartment, it broke about 3 or 4 months before I got here and for some reason I don't fully understand/would take to long to explain we can't fix it, so I've been taking cold showers for arround 3 1/2 months. It's not that bad but it helps me feel better about it if I complain just a little while I have cold water pouring down on me. :D I thought today's ramdom thoughts were especialy good so I thought I'd share it lol. 

That's all I can think of for now so here's your spiritual thought.

Somone from my home ward sent me a really cool poem this week, (I happened to read it this morning hence my less inspired poem) Unlike my poem this one had an amazing message about the gosple, it's a little long so I'll just summ it up. Someone is in a hole and can't find a way out. They feel hopeless and lost and feel like they can't do anything. Then they hear somone say "Get up! Get ready! There's nothing the matter! Take rocks and take sticks and build up a fine ladder!" The person thought this was a good idea so they started to do it. It was hard and they were very sore but they kept on going because they wanted to get out. Now they had hope. Finaly they ran out of sticks and stones, the ladder was very tall and but they were just a bit short. They went back down and tried their hardest but they couldn't find any else to use but they couldn't do any more. They had done all they could but they were still stuck in the hole. They started to dispair again. Thinking they would die in the hole even after they had done all they could, when they heard a voice saying, "Do not weep... You have worked hard, and your labor's been rough, But the ladder you built is at last tall enough" The person again climed the ladder, but this time there was a rope where the ladder ended. They climed the rope and at the top was the Lord. He fell down and worshiped the Lord, saying, how could I every repay Thee for this? The Lord said "Feed my sheep." and went to save other people. Of course the person went and spread the same message that had given him so much hope when he was about to give up. Calling down the many other holes around him. "Get up! Get ready! There's nothing the matter! Take rocks and take sticks and build up a fine ladder!" I love the last line of this poem, it says:

"So do not lose faith; there is reason to hope:

Just climb up your ladder, He'll throw down his rope"

The Savior is the hope in our lives. We can do all we can but without him we will never be able to do enough, but when we do all we can, he is always ready do throw down his rope. Share the gosple and the hope with others, with your friends, children, spouses, family, every one. At times we all can loose hope, at times we think there's no way out. But with Him, there is always hope. Some times we don't realize that, or sometimes the people we know don't realize that. But if there is one thing I've learned more than any other in my misson so far, it's that there is ALWAYS hope. I need to go to sleep in like two minutes so I'll end here but I still have so much more to say about this topic tho, it's literaly one of the most important things we share as missionaries. Read your scriptures, say your prayers, go to church, and share with others and the you will never run out of hope.

Love you guys

Elder Crenshaw :)

IKD what to put here but we got sick this week so thats a thing - Calarcá, Colombia

Hi everyone! so I don't have a lot of time again but I responded to a lot of people today, went to Finlandia with some of the other people in the district (a touristy place, cool but not quite as good as elder Gomez hyped it up to be) and had a mental debate about whether or not to buy a speaker. Still not sure about the last one but I'm leaning towards no.

As I said in the subject line, we were sick for most of the week. I was only sick for two days, but we're in a trio and we all got sick one after another so it adds up :( we still found some new people tho and were able to teach lessons over WhatsApp. We made and edited a video too. ok yep byee

Elder Crenshaw

lol I forgot the spiritual thought,

one thing ive been learning alot is about how we learn. When we learn, about the gosple and in general, it comes poco a poco. at times we have lots of questions, and want to learn everything at once. or learn faster. Thats not how it allways works tho. one way we can learn faster tho is asking God to help. I've seen this alot in learning Spanish.

the scriptues talk about this alot but here are a few places,

Introduction to the Book of Mormon

1 Nephi 15

Enos 1

Mosiah 4

Alma 14 and 32

Moroni 7 and 10

James 1

and more :)

ok thats it, byee

again

Elder Crenshaw :)

Doctrine and Covenants 

Reincarnation and Impulse Buys :) - Calarcá, Colombia

Hey so I can't write much this week because I don't have a ton of time, Elder Camacho is the DL y tiene veriicaciones con los LZ esta noche. But ya one person we are teaching told us he had 105 lives before this one when we were talking about resurrection so we had to explain the difference between resurrection and reincarnation to him.

Otherwize the week was pretty normal, we are in a trio (Me, Elder Palacios, and Elder Camaho) so it's a little tight with only one bathroom and one person sleeping on a bed on the floor but its ok. I might of said that last week but oh well. :)

OK so impulse buys, well, only one. Today. Elder P needed some new pairs of pants so we went to Armenia to buy some and I saw this amazing shirt. By amazing I mean kind of weird. Lets call it unique. :) normaly I don't like to buy suff as a general rule unless I need to but lets be honest, who could pass up a lemur shirt lol. I don't know when I could wear it durring my mission, possibly on P day but ya, very worth it. In colombian pesos it was 72 mill (72,000) but in USD thats around 19 bucks so it was a good deal too lol. I'll put a picture at the end of the email and in the drive.

Thats all I can think of and the zone leaders are gonna call in like one minute so the spiritual thought for the week is Hevenly Father loves each and every one of you individualy and more than you can possibly imagine. Nobody is perfect but thats why we have the Atonement.

BYEEEEEEE 

Elder Crenshaw :)

p.s. yes I'm wearing a tshirt and shorts under the shirt, deal with it :)

New Companion! - Calarcá, Colombia

 Ok so week we got a new companion! The zone leaders called us in the morning while we were reading the Book of Mormon and asked something about a new companion and we were confused so they hung up and two minutes later the APs called and said that we were getting a new companion latter in the day and we should go to the ZL house after lunch to wait for him. His name is Elder Palacios. So ya now we are in a trio. Ok I don't have a lot of time and I'm sorry to all the people that Emailed me the last two weeks, I totaly forgot to do email stuff this morning because we were at a realy fun park with some of the members, I apreaciate your email and I promise I will probably remember to respond next week lol. Actualy tho, I read them all and I realy do apreciate them :)

OK so I taught people how to make "American" (Chocolate Chip) cookies this week. I couldn't find all of the ingredients and the oven was dificult to say the least but they liked them so that was a win. We also asked a person we're teaching to be baptized! If everything goes to plan that will happen the end of November :). 

Halloween was fun, we went to church, went to Victor's house , taught a lesson, asked him to be baptized, and then went back to our apartment by 4 because President Florez said that everyone had to be back to the house by then, I read the second half of Saints, (realy good book about church history) and we orderd pizza because why not we have an exuse.

OK short spiritual thought, as I said I read Saints this week and I've been thinking about prophets and the blessing it is to have a person to guide the church in this day. One part I liked alot in the book was a story about Hyrum Smith and Brigham Young. I'm just gonna copy paste the section becuase it's in gospel library too and I don't want to summarize :)

Brigham could see that Hyrum’s and William’s actions exhausted Joseph. One Sunday, as Brigham finished his evening chores, Joseph arrived unexpectedly at his door. “I want you to go to my house and preach,” Joseph said.

Normally Brigham enjoyed meeting with the Saints, but he knew Hyrum would be preaching that evening as well. “I would rather not go,” he said.

“Brother Brigham,” Joseph insisted, “if you do not go with me, I will not go home to my house tonight.”

Reluctantly, Brigham agreed to preach, and he walked home with the prophet. They found Hyrum standing beside the fireplace, speaking to a full house. He held the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants in his hand and declared that they were the law God had given them to build up His kingdom.

“Everything more than these,” Hyrum said, “is of man and is not of God.”

Brigham listened to Hyrum’s sermon, his emotions rising. Beside him, Joseph sat with his face buried in his hands. When Hyrum finished, Joseph nudged Brigham and said, “Get up.”

Brigham stood and picked up the scriptures Hyrum had set down. He laid the books in front of him, one by one, so everyone in the room could see. “I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for these three books,” he declared, “without the living oracles of God.” Lacking a latter-day prophet, he said, the Saints were no better off than they were before God revealed the gospel through Joseph Smith.

When he finished, Brigham could tell his sermon had moved Hyrum. Rising to his feet, Hyrum humbly asked the Saints to forgive him. Brigham was right, he said. As valuable as the scriptures were, they were no substitute for a living prophet.

OK so basicly we need Prophets. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is in reality the Restored church of Jesus Christ on the earth once more. I know this with out a doubt in my mind. Through the restored gosple of Jesus Christ we can return to live with God after we leave this earth. We can be with our families forever in eternity. Thats my goal, and I know that my Heavenly Father wants me to achieve that goal too. That is why we were sent to this earth and I know I'm going to do all I can to fulfull that puropse and help as many people as I can along the way. It's why I am serving a mission and why I'm so happy all the time.

Love you all, I'll try to send pictures to the drive, if I remember, which means probably not, but mabye,

Elder Crenshaw :)

RAIN - Calarcá, Colombia

Okey dokey so i kindof forgot to write and it's past 6:00 so ya, I'm alive, i got my work visa so i can contact now, it rained literaly the entire week exept for the two days i remembered my unbrella, and I'm following my aunt Teresa's advice and just not puting the time at all :)

I know God loves all of you, he wants you to come and live with him again after your life on earth, and the way to do that is through the restored gosple of Jesus Christ. Yep. That pretty much everything, if you have any questions, thoughts, or just want to talk I'm here, love you guys, i'll write more next week. Probably. Yep. 

Byeeeeeeeeeee

Elder Crenshaw :) 

Mission Email Week 11.5 - Calarcá, Colombia

 Yes Figured out how long I've been on my mission, the problem is, I started on a Thursday and P-days are on Mondays. I could do it by weeks in Colombia but we arrived in Colombia on a Tuesday. So the question for you all is, How should I mesure??? I could start at MTC, Colombia, round up, round down, use fractions, just measure in days, or just skip it entirely and just put something random in the title each week. If no one has an opinion I'll just rotate through the options. If somone does have an opinion, I might do that. If I remember. If more than one person has an opinion, and they are different I don't know what I'll do. I guess just put all of them.

Ok so this week. Overall very good. I finaly had Dracula. (type of ice only available in October) In each one there is a little toy and I got Dracula which is aparently kindof rare, my companion was kindof mad that I got it my first time ever trying it lol. ALSO I've discovered the wonders of Jet Chocolate. It's this kind of chocolate in Colombia and in each bar there is a sticker. in total there are 256 different stickers. From what it looks like almost all of the gringos have collections, on the elders in my CCM district (he's in mission Bogotá Sur) got 96 in the first two weeks! compared to him I'm slacking, I only have 8 and it's been 6 weeks lol.

Spiritual thought for the week, (I'm going to try to do one of these every week, don't let me forget) The Book of Mormon is literaly amazing. If anyone hasn't read it yet DO IT :) Actualy though, The Book of Mormon is such a blessing in our lives. It realy is another testament of Jesus Christ on the earth. As I've been teaching people about this book and in general the gosple of Jesus Christ my testimony has gotten so much stronger already. The Book of Mormon is especialy cool because it is proof that our Heavenly Father realy does love all of his children! I like what it says in 2 Nephi 29:7-9

     7 Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?

     8 Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also.

     9 And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever.

I know that God loves ALL of his children and wants us to learn and come back to live with him again! Just like the Bible talks about Prophets, commandments, and Christ's ministry on the other side of the world, the Book of Mormon is about the same things, in the americas! All of 2 Nephi 29 is cool and I hope you guys read it some other time, its not even that long, I know you can do it :D

I want to end my saying that I know this is realy the restored gosple of Jesus Christ on the earth today. I know that Joseph Smith realy was a prophet, called by God to restore the gosple to the earth in the latter days. He realy did translate the Book of Mormon, a "book... written by many ancient prophets by the spirit of prophecy and revelation." This book realy does testify of Jesus Christ and the best part about it is that we can all know for our selves that it's true! (See James 1:5 and Moroni 10:3-5) 

The gosple has brought me so much joy in my life and I'm exited to share it with others for these next two years :)

You guys are the best, I expect answers about the subject line and any questions you have. lol

BYEEEEEEEEEEE

Elder Crenshaw :)

Mission email week heidogjwysugleebflswjejqlsñddmsñsñsjflfodhshdnfu :) - Calarcá, Colombia

Hi everyone, don't worry I'm still alive, I just forgot to write the email last week. We had problems with the phones and by the time we figured it out I forgot to write :) oops. It's ok tho because I FOUND THE ' KEY ON THE SPANISH KEYBOARD!!! I can write words like I've and I'm and I'll and don't and it's and haven't and all the other words!!! It's where the -_ key is on the english keyboard. the -_ keys are on the ?/ key, the normal ? is shift + -_ and I have no clue where the / key is. :D

also yes ' is different than ´

I'm and Ím

The last two weeks were good, we had a baptism, General Conference, I helped give a blessing to a lady in the ward who has a hurt back, we had a multi zone conference with the other zones in the Eje Cafetero (I think that's how it's spelled) and interveiws with President Florez. Other stuff happened too but those are the highlights. I listened to General Conference in Spanish and I actualy undersood almost all of it! I'm studying the talks again tho because I missed some stuff but ya that was cool. The baptism was great. Jenny is now a member of the Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días 

I TOOK PICTURES

like a lot.

like 100

in the last two weeks

:)

Over half of them were in one day tho because the hermana we gave a blessing to has a huge garden with lots of new plants and flowers. I'm gonna put the best ones in the Google Drive with the pictures because it would be a lot to put them all in the email. I'll put the link to the dive folder at the end of the email tho and if I forget it's in one of the earlier emails too. 

The multi zone conference was good, I got to see some of the other Elders from my MTC district. everyone's spanish is improving and we had cake after the meetings so that was good. The meeting was good to. It's fun to see President Florez talk about missionary work. He gets so exited.

This is the last Pday before transfers so there is a small posibility I won't be able to write next week if either me or Elder Camacho gets transfered. Hopefully that won't happen because I don't know where everything is in my area yet but we'll see.

ok thats it.

I think.

ya.

ok.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''

:)

Byeeeee.

(More pictures of food and plants in Elder Crenshaw's GOOGLE DRIVE ALBUM in the Calarcá folder)