A Baptism, History and Elder Snow...

How y’all doing Fam?!

This week has been a great one as always and well, another change down and out for the count! I’ve already been here in Paraiso for 3 months and it seems like I just got here! I’m staying here for another change with Elder Calero so that’s good news as well. This week was sweet and it literally just flew by. I guess I’ll tell you some stuff that happened so Mom doesn’t kill me, because I have like no time to write!

Anyway this week we had the baptism, yippee!!!! Vilma was baptized on Saturday and got confirmed Sunday. So let’s just say it was a pure miracle she was able to do it.. and wanted to. On Thursday we were visiting her and she just didn’t want to do it at all. Her family had come to visit her last Monday and just destroyed her again and then the members of the other church where she was going came and told her that the devil is going to curse her forever if she goes to the church of the Mormons. She was so scared of baptism after that and we couldn’t do anything to convince her otherwise. She had felt the spirit so strong and knew that she needed to do it but just wasn’t brave enough to take the decision. Friday we visited her at a member’s house and talked a ton more about the spirit and how she just needed to follow the impressions she had felt. The miracle of it all was that she felt the spirit so strong again but this time it was in the middle of their house that is a total chaos. We thought there was no way in the world she would be able to have the desire to do it with all the noise and distractions there, but she did! It just really hit me that it doesn’t matter where we are, we can always feel the peace that comes through the atonement of Christ. We can be in the middle of downtown SLC but it’s still possible to listen to the guidance of the spirit. After Vilma felt that in her heart she’s just like, ‘I’ll be baptized tomorrow then!’ And she did it! It was such a sweet service and I’m super stoked for her now!

This week we were giving a blessing to a sister that was super sick, we went to give her the blessing, but before hand taught about blessings to her and her family. A lot of the family aren’t members but they were just there watching. So we start giving the blessing and one of the kids that’s like 8 or 9 years old comes up and puts his hands on the head of the lady too, while we are giving the blessing. I try to take them off and he puts them back on, I take them off again, and he puts them back on, all while I’m giving the blessing.  After the last time he says something like, FINE! and goes over to his sister that’s like 12 and puts his little hands on her head and starts mumbling something, haha it was hilarious. At least there is some future Elder material there right!? haha

So this week we had a visit of Elder Snow who is the historian of the church. He came with his wife yesterday, which is why we are writing Tuesday this week. The whole time I was just thinking about how much Dad would fit into the role of Elder Snow. They are like the same person and just have such a love of history and studying it. Anyway Elder Snow talked a lot about his own mission and how we are building up the kingdom of God on Earth by the work we are doing. It just made me so happy knowing there are so many of us from the Summerhill Ward that are doing the exact same thing. Building Gods Kingdom all throughout the world. He helped us have the vision that all our converts can at least affect the salvation of another person and how the chain just continues and continues until everyone has a chance to hear the gospel. It really helped me remember the importance of my work and how I can make an eternity of a difference in people’s lives.

Well... I have a lot that’s happened but I just can’t get myself to write it all but that’s some of the stuff for this week. Life’s good and I love being a missionary!

Keep it classy folks!

Elder Crump

Killing the apartment mice :0(

Vilma's Baptism

At a pizza restaurant with the other elders who work in Aldea.

Real Rabbit

Hey Family, Elder Crump checking in from Aldea 1, Zona Paraiso! Time just keeps tickin’ and the weeks keep goin’ by! This week was a little rough in terms of animo as they say but hey, I’m a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ, what more could I want in life! We were able to see a lot of miracles this week as well as trials but as you know, it helps our testimonies go stronger and stronger!

This week we were able to bring Vilma to church and it was so sweet. She is the sister of a recent convert and like I said last week, she has problems with the other church she went to. This week though she was able to go to church with us and accept a date for next Sunday after church. The key to everything was, as always, Christ and his atonement. We talked a lot with her about the sacrament and that she would know the church is true by the spirit she felt while they were passing the sacrament. So I don’t know what it was this week but during the sacrament in the ward, the atmosphere was absolutely perfect. In general the meeting is like normal ones, everyone talking and babies crying, which makes it hard to think and feel the spirit. The whole time I was just praying everything would be perfect so that Vilma could feel the spirit. Well the sacrament was perfect, and it was literally silent the entire time. The spirit was just so strong and I felt so at peace and knew Vilma felt the same way. She felt so awesome there and is now ready to be baptized next week if everything goes well! Or as everyone says here, ‘Primero Dios se bautiza ella!!’ haha.

Well another real interesting thing was my lunch last Saturday. I was 100% sure I was enjoying some quality chicken and was licking the bones when the lady showed me what it was I had eaten. Real Rabbit. She had another dead one there she was going to make for dinner, which looked totally disgusting!  But hey, they taste amazing, so that was fun!

This week I have been in a trio with an Elder from Utah that has like 4 months in the mission, he is having a hard time working and doesn’t like the mission at all. He is set on going home and is already doubting his testimony. We even had a hard time making him go to church. It’s been extremely hard for me to be with him and keep happy, because it really is sad he feels that way. My comp and I have tried real hard to keep him happy and make him want to stay but just haven’t been able to change his mind. If everything goes as planned he will leave in two days. It’s been hard but I really have learned so much from being with him.  One thing is the importance of having a testimony of the prophets that call us to be missionaries and that give us a call for 24 months. This Elder doesn’t have faith in that and thinks that it’s just a time period that the people want us to serve, and not that it’s a call directly from God. I KNOW that God called me to be here, he knows I can do it, and he knows I can do it for 24 months, nothing more, nothing less. I have faith that the prophet receives revelation in everything he does.

Another funny thing for the week. I was leaving a lesson on an interchange and the lady is like, ‘Hey be careful of the goose outside.’ so I’m like whatever, whatever you say Hna! So my comp leaves down the stairs and just starts booking it, and I’m just like... uh what?? Then I realize there is this massive Goose storming down the brick stairs that lead down the hill. So I just take off running as well... needless to say I went tumbling down the stairs and that was just a grand time!

That’s all I’ve got for the week. You guys are awesome and I love you all soooooo much! See ya next week.

Elder Crump #1

Mom's note: No description came with these pictures this week.  I have no idea who these elders are except the one on the right in the second picture is Matthew's companion, Elder Calero.

Coke Can

Hello there family. Let’s just say the mission is the best place to be right now. This week was HQ to put it lightly. We had so many spiritual experiences as a companionship, I have loved my studies of talks and of Jesus the Christ, and to top that all off, we were able to leave with President Spjut to visit on Friday and learn a bunch of new stuff from him!

The sweetest thing was this week we were able to baptized Franklin that we have been teaching for three weeks now. It’s just insane to see how fast he was able to progress and start to live the gospel in his life. We found him the very day that Elder Calero came here and he didn’t really want anything. We came again and just used the Spirit so much to commit him to go to church. Little by little he started to read the Book of Mormon and pray. The biggest thing is that he decided to download gospel library on his phone and listens to talks and stuff every night as well. President visited him with us and started asking him about his testimony and stuff to see if he really is pilas (like HQ haha) and Franklin is just like ‘Look President, I feel the Spirit when I do everything and I know that the Book of Mormon is true, what more do you want?’ Haha, he is so boss it makes me so happy. Every time I get the chance to say the words, ‘Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ’ I just feel the Spirit so strongly. What a blessing it is to be a missionary!

Another blessing of being here is that funny things always happen. One of those moments was Thursday while my comp and I are waiting for a bus we needed to take. I’m just standing there and all of a sudden a random girl, that’s like 7 years old, comes up to me and says something to the affect of TAKE THAT, and throws a mostly empty Coke can right at my face, getting Coke on me... I literally just busted up laughing because it was so hilarious. The mom comes running over and wants to kill her daughter and my comp and I are just like on the ground dying of laughter.

We have been teaching a lady named Vilma that has a lot of problems with her family not supporting her like all the other people here. So we had been teaching her a lot and couldn’t figure out what is was that we were doing wrong. Yesterday we were in a lesson with her and tried so so hard to focus on the Spirit being there and helping her feel that what we were teaching was true. She’s like ‘I don’t know what you guys mean because I don’t ever feel like that.’ My comp and I are just like beaten because we had no idea what else to do to help her out. And bam, personal revelation to the two of us in the same instant and we just look at each other like ‘Wow, we are so dumb... THE BOOK OF MORMON, USE IT!’ was the message we both got from the Spirit. So we teach it, testify of it, and use it to explain why our church is different than any other on the face of the Earth. And then she’s just like.... ‘When you guys teach me, there’s just something that like hits me in the chest, it like almost hurts because it’s so strong.’ and I’m just like, YIPEE!!! haha because we could then explain to her that the Spirit was trying to tell her that the BofM really is true and that means the church is as well. Let’s just say ¨me la pico¨ as they say here, with the fact that we have the BofM!

That’s all folks, until next week, love ya all!

Elder Crump

Franklin's baptism :0)

With Franklin & Elder Calero.

From last week's pday excursion. 

GC Action

Buenos Dias Familia!

Conference was so awesome this week and I really enjoyed listening to the apostles testify of Christ and share their personal testimonies that He lives. The new apostles are such powerful men and after listening to them I have no doubt in my mind that they were prepared since the beginning of this world. My favorite talks were the last talk of the conference by Elder Bednar about older apostles, the way he highlighted all of the apostles that had died while he was an apostle was so sweet. It made me have so much love for them and after seeing Pres. Monson struggle to give his talk I just felt so awesome inside knowing they truly are men called of God. The other talk I enjoyed was about the things that the spirit tells us we should do differently. If I could only be perfectly in tune with the spirit and know perfectly the things God wants me to change, I could progress so much faster in life. I’m going to work hard these coming days to find those things I can change as a missionary. Overall it was an awesome conference and as always, there are many things we need to change to be better disciples of Jesus Christ.

Well, every week in the mission can’t go perfectly and this past week was definitely one of those times. We were supposed to baptize the sister Esmeralda but can’t now because of her family.  They don’t even let us talk to her. So that was really rough to accept after having taught her so much.  In addition to that we only brought one investigator to the conference, which is Franklin, the dude that will be baptized next weekend. We had the potential to bring 8 or more people but I guess it just wasn’t God's will for us! Let’s just say that I have a lot of faith that this coming week will improve and I’ll have a lot of miracles to tell you about next Monday!

The one miracle that I can tell you about this week is what happened with the sisters working next to our area.  They brought a lady named Sandra to the conference and I had visited her a lot so I was super happy that she decided to come. This was Saturday. Well, at almost the end of the conference she all of a sudden passed out and was super sick. She was given a blessing and then we sent her home. She went to the doctor and they gave her the help she needed and medicine and stuff so everything was decently fine.  The thing that surprised me was, Sunday morning comes around and one of the first people there in the conference.. Sandra. It just made me so happy seeing that nothing was going to stop her from progressing towards her baptism and it made me think of when Joseph Smith taught people the day after he had been beaten and covered with tar and feathers. People just blow right through their trials and keep going. I’m just really grateful for people like that who show me what it’s like to truly put all our faith in Christ.

That’s all I got for the week, sorry... I promise I’ll have a lot more sweet things to tell you about next week. Love you all a lot, put in practice the things you learned in the conference and I know you will be able to change! Have a great week!

Elder Crump

The lone gringo...

Just chillin'
(I think that's his pen in his mouth, haha!)