Baptizing all the Catholics...

         Well family, it’s another week down out here in the mission. We had an HQ week and have really had some quality lessons with our investigators, which is awesome. My companion and I don’t have any dates right now, which is weird for the area but we are working real hard to put dates in the near future. But here are a few random things that happened this week.

    First off I just want to make sure everyone understands how awesome the “El es la Dadiva” thingy is. Or “He is the Gift’. A ton of the missionaries are talking about it and I just wanted to give my input on it. It’s awesome. We have contacted a whole bunch of people because of it and it’s really made my testimony of the Atonement of Christ grow a lot. We watched a few videos with one of our investigators about the atonement and Christmas and stuff and all of us in the room just sat there in awe for like two minutes after the video ended. The spirit was so strong! So if any of you haven’t looked up the videos or found out about He is the Gift, do it.

    Here in El Salvador it’s extremely hard for people to say my name. Who knows why, because it’s so short and everything, but still. It’s crazy. I’ve told some of our investigators my name a thousand times and they still can’t remember it. So as of recent, people for some odd reason have just started calling me something different. I have no idea why, they just do. One lady only knows me by Hermano Juan. Another huge family all calls me Elder Rocky. Another old man always calls me Grump. Another group of kids call me Elder Jelly? or something of the sorts. It really doesn’t bug me at all. It’s just I literally always have to pay attention to the names people say because, before I know it, it’s my own.

    I did interchanges a whole bunch this week and I learned a ton from my Zone and District Leaders. One is Elder Slack from Copper Hills. He’s my District leader and it was so awesome to talk to him and teach. We taught lesson one with one of our investigators and it was crazy how well we worked together and how strong the spirit was. We just both bore our testimonies of Joseph Smith, said a prayer and left and I was almost 100% sure the lady’s mouth was still hanging wide open, hahaha.

    My companion and I were in a lesson with an older lady this week and she’s just super Catholic and doesn’t want to go to church with us. She likes our message and stuff, she just won’t go to church. So anyway we go to visit her, determined to be straight up with her and tell her all about our purpose as missionaries and find out if we should continue to teach her or not. So we are talking with her about baptism and stuff and my comp’s just like “Hermana, in truth, as Mormons we came here to baptize all the Catholics in the world and help them realize how mistaken they really are. Está Bien??? (Is that right/ok?) The Hermana is just like, “Asi es (yup)...” sits there for like 20 seconds and then suddenly realizes what she agreed with and stands up and starts going nuts on us for messing with her, hahaha, it was so funny.  The only downside is, we can’t go back now. But still it was hilarious.

   Another story with an old lady this week was that we have been teaching her for quite some time now. Her name is Sebastiana. She’s like super Catholic too and just likes hearing the word of God like the majority of people here. So we are teaching her about the Sabbath day and everything and after like 30 mins finally get her to say she might go to church. Or as the people here say ‘If God gives me life or If God permits it I will go’. It’s hilarious. Anyway, we left and were just like - ok that’s for sure the last visit we are going to have with her. Sunday comes around and guess who just randomly shows up at the church? Sebastiana! And she brings her son that is 25 and wants to serve a mission as well! His names Orlando and super positive, which is awesome! It’s just crazy how the Lord works to help us find the people we need to teach!

         That’s about all I’ve got for the week. Rather that’s all the time I have. Enjoy the Christmas times people. It’s the best time of year for a reason. Remember to read and pray everyday and you’ll be happy! Have a marvelous week!! Love you all.

Elder Crump

 

He loves these kinds of pictures :0)

With the Christmas tree he and his companion bought.

The total Bro Zone.
I believe Elder Slack is on the far right.

The view heading back to Nahuizalco from Santa Ana.
I think it's the valley where he worked before, Tazumal.