I miss Elder Perry.

Hello my dearest family... well I’m glad to hear everything has gone well for you guys this week and that Zacho is going to be graduating. Crazy how fast that year went by! So I always want to tell you guys about what happened throughout the week but I just never feel like typing forever, so here are just a few things that we did and stuff. It was a good week, super fast and full of the spirit as always, haha and just so ya know... I’m really gonna miss Elder Perry!

So I was reading in the Book of Mormon this week, (I finished it for the first time in Spanish last week) 1 Nephi 11;22-23 is the reference and they are the coolest verses because it talks about how the greatest joy of the soul is to bring others unto Christ, which is exactly what our mission call promises us if we put everything we want behind and do everything solely for the glory of God.

I saw Elder Craig and a whole bunch of my CCM homies on Tuesday in a multi zone meeting we had and it was awesome. It always makes me so happy to see them all and just chat it up. We also got a bottle of pills that are hilarious that Hna Spjut made to help us with our Animo (excitement, desire) haha. Pres. and his wife are seriously so loving and care about every single missionary so much, it’s amazing.

This week we talked to the mom of an investigator that we have been teaching for quite some time now. Cesar, that I mentioned last week. SO we figured out his fear of water problem and stuff but then went to get the mom’s permission and well… she wouldn’t sign the paper. The whole time she had been telling us that it was totally fine, everything we were doing, and that it was great that he was going to church and stuff but now she won’t let us baptize her son. I read a whole bunch of scriptures from the Bible with her and she’s just like, ‘You know a lot and I don’t read the Bible much at all, so I’m just going to need to talk to my preacher and see what he says about all that you said. But ill let you know’ :0( Talk about rough news for us. So we are just gonna have to let things be there now. It just makes me real sad.

Also the family that we have been teaching and that went to church and everything... well we had to drop them this week, They just had smoking problems, all the kids, because all the gang members just sit outside their house and whenever they leave they get offered drugs and so last Friday they ended up caving in and smoked. Long story short, we are going to have to drop them, which is going to be so hard because I’ve tried so hard to love them and we have worked so much with them and to not see them baptized is real tough. I just hope that missionaries in a few months time can come back and baptized them.

I have killed so many cockroaches this week I’m going nuts, haha! I’m like finally starting to get used to seeing them now though. Also killed a mouse yesterday. Quality stuff!

So this week we were teaching a guy named Carlos that’s a less active with his wife and kid. They were baptized three years ago but then went inactive when a bunch of stuff happened to him and his family. Pretty much he was at a priesthood session a few years ago when a bunch of the gang members here took his wife and kid, and did a bunch of stuff to them. He came back from the priesthood session, couldn’t find them and went with a whole bunch of people to go look, hours later he found her with his son far away from the house, just super beat up and abused. Then the same people that did that later killed his uncle and his cousin. So, ever since, he has been inactive and with a whole bunch of hatred for the people.  Anyway, we were teaching him this week for the first time and I decided to read Ether 12:27 that talks about weaknesses. He just started crying a ton. Turns out it’s his favorite scripture that he had actually used to teach some of his friends a long time ago. They had been baptized then they came back and taught Carlos with the exact same scripture he had used to teach them. Then a year later, I come to teach him and pull out the same scripture. Coincidence? I think not... He’s like ‘I know God his trying to talk to me and I’m gonna do everything possible so I can go to church next week.’ It was just a sweet experience to be inspired to share exactly what the people need to hear.

That’s all I have time for, love you guys a lot. Keep it real. Don’t stop living the gospel. It’s the best way to live! Have a great week!

Elder Crump

One of the counselors in the Buena Vista branch that Matthew loves.

Eating pupusas at a member's house.

Handsome boy! His area, Chalchuapa, in the background.

With Elder Craig, his MTC companion, at a Zone Conference.