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  :)

HI AGAIN - Calarcá, Colombia

Ok so I'm writing again because why not, I have time before lunch. Ok so first things first, very fast review of the week, because I'm sending this when lunch gets here. Ok it's here

Lol it's actually was ready if I have more time later I'll write more later, maybe, but here's a summary before everyone else finishes lunch.

Me desmayè, nos robaron, cambios, medellin, uff carisimo, metrocable, el hueco, ey mono/gringo

De nada :)

OK where were we, ok poco a poco

Primero, me desmayè means I fainted, for those of you who didn't put it in to Google translate already. Don't worry it wasn't because I hit my head or anything, I just had a really big head rush. Yep, I fainted because I'm tall. No normal you don't full on faint when you have a head rush but that time I did. :) my hip hurt for a bit after because I fell on it, and we lost 1.5 mugs (one only lost the handle) but over all ok. I think in the end my companion elder Mendez was more shook than I was lol.

Nos robaron, we got robbed. Yup. I lost almost all of the money that the mission gives us to live because we happened to take it out of the ATM that day so that was fun. At least it wasn't too bad, I didn't even know that we got robbed until after. The way the robbery went down was like this. We (me and the LZs) were waiting for my companion as he was coming back from a medical appointment in Medellín. The zone leaders didn't want to go all the way to the terminal because they had appointments that they wanted to go to. So they had elder Mendez get off the bus at a random roundabout, dark, in the middle of nowhere, next to their appointment, in a dangerous neighborhood. All good so far. A guy comes up at this point and asks us where a park is, the park doesn't exist but the LZs start contacting the guy anyway because ya. The guy then says that he, and another guy that just showed up, are part of a cartel and that they think that we are going to sell drugs to someone. So they need to look over our phones to make sure we aren't doing that. The lzs say ok that's fine and give their phone to them so I do the same. Next they ask one of the lzs how much cash he has on him. He says he has about 170.000 COP on him, the truth because we took out our money that day, so they told us all to take our our money and show them how much we have. They then had to take that too so that they could "make sure that it was real or something. Still not sure on this one, they were using lots of slang and talking about drugs. As a person who learned Spanish from the Book of Mormon, I don't know a lot of slang or drug words jajaja. After that they told us to take a lap around the block while they checked our stuff and then when we got to the other side, they would give us our stuff back. I started going around the loop but after like 10 steps my companion, who had arrived at this point but didn't get robbed, starts saying that the lzs are dumb and how could they fall for that. I being the clueless gringo that I am at times, asked what he was talking about. That's when I found out that the people weren't actually nice cartel people making sure that we weren't invading their territory, and that we just got robbed. :D

Ok the rest ate faster, cambios means changes directly, but for missionaries, it means transfers. This time I actualy transfered! A little sad leaving Calarcá after 6 months, but cool overall. Ahora, I'm in Medellín! My new area is called buenos aires.

Uuf, carisimo = it's expensive here. Not crazy expensive because it's not a huge touristic place, but much more expensive than my last area, think tiny town vs giant city.

Metrocable means, I'm really not sure, but it's kind of like a ski lift. Our area is literally the side of a mountain. So at times we have to take the metrocable so we don't take 2 hours walking up the side of a mountain. Super cool.

El hueco, the hole directly but it just means downtown where everything is a copy and super cheap. Don't go in ropa de proselitismo or alone/without a Latino or 100% you will get robbed. Still half a chance, but oh well. It was fine when we went.

Ey mono/gringo. What I hear minimum 20 times a day. Gringo is just gringo, I'm used to that. Mono means blond, I'm obviously blond in an area where that is not normal lol. But mono also means monkey. So when someone says that it has a little double meaning. I don't really care, but some how, I only figured out the monkey thing two days ago.

Ok that's it for summary, spiritual thought and shout outs in another email because this is long.

Elder Crenshaw :)

Lol don't worry, I'm still alive :) - Calarcá, Colombia

Hi, I'm in a bus and I finaly have time to write a little bit, ya ya ya I know I haven't written in forever but ah well. I'll calculate stars when I get back to our area, but a lot more people sent some good stuff.

I have no clue what I wrote about the last time so if I repeat random stuff oh well.

I my new companion is Elder Mendez, he is from Bogotá, he has 18 months in his mission, I'm remembering already saying this so I'll skip ahead, uuuuummmmmmmm IDK. Ok so these last few weeks have been good, we are here now so I'll try to write more later lol

Byeeeeee

Elder Crenshaw  :)

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

OK my companion is getting a hair cut so I have a little more time to write, these last few weeks have been good, our area is progressing  we still don't have a person on date but a couple of people are close, we've been working a lot with members too because our branch is tiny and could close literaly at any time. Our goal is 50 people in the chapel my last week here, it'll be tough because right now we have about 25 to 30 people on a good day but we'll see. Also I'm not sure why but right now we have a lot of people that are like super invested in another religion. Like we have a catholic minister, a séptimo día youtuber, and a person that doesn't know what religion he believes in but he believes in the Bible and basically has it memorized and has these realy weird ideas about everything he reads. The good news is that the second two are actualu really interested in our message. The second guy read over half of the Book of Mormon in between our first and second lessons so that was cool. OH YA fun fact, I can now say that a youtuber with a silver play button invited me to have lunch at his house twice lol :)

OK shoutouts.

MY COUSIN WHITNEY GOT HER MISSION CALL like 3 weeks ago, I know I know I'm horrible at writing sorry :) She will be serving in the California, Anaheim mission and her first four months she will be serving in the Mormon battalion historic site. She starts MTC March 21 Congrats Sister Anderson! :)

I feel like there was one more but I honestly forgot so I'd some thinks they deserves a shoutout for something write me and I'll put you in next week lol. 

Today we went to Salento which is a touristic town in our area with our zone. It was cool and I'll sent photos if I remember. Also we met a random gringo from California whose parents are from India and is visiting Colombia and Europe because ya, why not. So he hung out with us all day and didn't understand anything when we were talking spanish so that was fun. Ok yep.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT TIME!!!

Keep the commandments and the blessings will come. We have had a lot of people in this area that have a realy strong desire to learn more about the gosple and improve their lives, a lot of them also have had a hard time keeping the commandments when they learn about them. At times life can be dificult, at times we can have challenges or be scared to do what we need to do, at times it can be hard to start something new. Sometimes the gosple of Jesus Christ is easy to follow, and some times he asks us to do things that put us out of our comfort zone. A lot of people, whether they are just learning about the gosple or have lived it for years, have "that one little thing" that they know they need to do better but they don't. It could be going to church, reading the scriptures, keeping the word of wisdom. But when we act in faith, I say we because everyone can improve, the miracles will come. I've seen it over and over again in my mission. I invite all of you to find the one thing, if you want find more than one thing. But find it. And when you find it, pray for the help to change it. But do it.

Okey dokey, my compañero is done with his haircut so adiós

Elder Crenshaw :)

Very short resumen of this week - Calarcá, Colombia

Ok I feel bad that I forgot to write so here's a short summary,

Cambios were pushed back to friday or monday, were then bumped up to wednesday on tuesday half way through the day, I'm still in Calarcá but I have yet another comp, Elder Mendez. He is cool, likes expensive shoes which I don't understand at all pero no importa. We found some new people this week and we have a multi zone conference again this Wednesday. I want more yoyos but that's normal so nothing new there.

Spiritual thought, read your scriptures and sent me your favorite of the week, if it's relate to the topic in the last email, you get stars, if not, posiblemente una check or algo así, todavía no estoy seguro.

Adiós, 

Elder Crenshaw :) 

Stars and I forgot to write oops

Marsha Crenshaw Ephesians 1:11  

Jeanie Anderson Moses 1:37  

Spencer Becker Colossians 1:13-29   

Because I forgot to write, the stars deadline has been extended until I do, good luck.

Almost cambios but then no - Calarcá, Colombia

Hola todos!

Sorry I haven’t written for the last 3 weeks, the schedule has been really weird. For example, in the last 2 weeks I've had 4 companions. Yep 4. Basically My original companion finished his mission the 26 so he's already at his house. Obviously I still need a companion for the last two weeks of the transfer so I stayed with the ZLs for a week and then went back to my area with one of the missionaries from Sevilla (another area in my zone) So my comps the last two weeks were Elder Lucas, Elder Jackson, Elder Peñalosa and Elder Bermejo. It's been good to work in my area again after a week of not being there. Elder Lucas was a really cool companion and I learned a lot from him.

Speaking of new companions, let me explain the weird schedule we've had the last couple of weeks. OK to start off, the last time I wrote was right before Christmas, that was the 20th. We celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas as a zone and Christmas (Sat 25th) was Pday. I didn't write then because I forgot, you are very welcome :) the next Pday wasn't a monday like usual (and like literally every other mission) it was the next Saturday the 1st. We didn't have a group activity that week and had to go to bed at 10:03 (normal bedtime) because one of the zones in Medellin broke a window in one of the apartments of the elders playing futbol (soccer) Christmas and President Florez was mad. :( Instead I was with the zone leaders and we ate some food and ya. I didn't write that week either because I forgot again :) If it makes you feel any better I forgot to write my mission president both of those Pdays too so you guys can't really complain. ANYWAY, after that we didn't have pday Monday the 3rd either because ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  Don't worry It gets better this week was supposed to be cambios (transfers) but half of the missionaries in Medellin have the new Omicron thingy, including the mission president and his wife, so cambios got delayed by probably a week. We really don't know.

ALSO

Congrats to Sister Hamilton!!! She started her mission a bit ago in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania! Extra cool because I used to live there :) You're gonna do great :D

Spiritual thought, why are we here? That here could be on this earth, in a town or city, in a ward, branch, family, or whatever. The question has a lot of answers but there's always one in common. We have a Heavenly Father who has a plan for us. He loves us and wants the best for us. When we trust in him, we will always be in the best place, at the right time to do his work. That doesn't just apply to missionary work. That's everyone. At times we can think that that's not true, but it is. Remember that you are here for a reason. I won't give you any scriptures on this because it's your homework. If you find one and send it to me you get a gold star and if you find one that I haven't found yet you get two :) good luck.

I hope you guys are all doing great and you don't have covid, I'll try to remember to write next week, but if you send me scriptures I have to so I can give out gold stars, just saying.

Elder Crenshaw :)

p.s. Example of gold stars  these could be yours

IDK what to put here so here's all the keys...of the keyboard - Calarcá, Colombia

IDK what to put here so here's all the keys on the numbers and symbols page of the keyboard +±×÷=≈≠≠/_€£()@#№$%٪‰^&*¿¡!-‐‐—'":;,?‽ `~\|<>{}[『「〔【】〕」』]°•○●□■♤︎♡︎◇◆♧︎☆★︎¤《》¥₩,. de nada :)

Okey dokey, so im not realy in the mood to write a lot today so oh well, this week was good, we haf an intercambio with the district leader this week. One cool thing that happened is this sunday one of our personas en enseñanza asked what he needs to do to be baptized, definitly not something that happens every day, we haven't even talked about baptism, he just heard about it at church! Very cool. Other than that pretty normal week we did a little planing for Christmas the upcoming week and half of the elders in our zone cut our hair to 2cm today because navidad and why not lol. Elder Lucas leaves the day after Christmas so after that I'm staying with the zone leaders untill about January 10 so that will be cool. The next pday is christmas eve so idk if ill have time to write or not but we'll see :) 

Ok short spiritual thought, one of the favorite quotes our mission president likes to say is "obedience brings blessings - exact obedience brings miracles" this is true for everyone, not just for missionarys. When we are exactly obedient to the commandments of the lord, miracles can and will happen when we need them.

Okey dokey, byeeeeeee

Elder Crenshaw :)

Photos because i should probably actualy send some for once :)

Multizone Conference

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 :)