October 29th Letter

Hellooooo how's life? sounds like Halloween was sweet! I wish i could've seen all the kids. They're little cutie pies. Can i say sure to a nice warm hooded sweatshirt? That sounds niiiiice. and you know my style mom. :) Life is great up here. I'm pretty excited cuz i just got myself a Christmas present for myself from you(could i please have $70:)...). Brand new scriptures! i bought a compact black quad with a snap. My other ones were kind of falling apart a bit in the binding and were too big to carry around. I'm excited! Oh, and one other thing. I'm planning on not coming home. I'm loving this too much! maybe a visit every now and then... haha its great out here. We had this awesome appt with Rebecka. We wanted to set a baptismal date with her and after praying about it both of us felt good about December 13. it was an awesome experience feeling the Spirit like that. We taught the plan of salvation and that went very well. We showed Together forever, because her grandpa just died, so that was good. She felt the Spirit and i dropped my first date on her! it was a cool feeling and all. She accepted the challenge to pray about it and i feel good about it. Transfers are coming up and i don't really know whats going to happen. I've been here 3 months (crazy!!!) but there are other things going on that may lead to me staying here. I wouldn't mind. I love this area and my ward, but wherever the Lord wants me to go that's where I'll go! There's not too much else to tell you really, I'm tired! haha and my fingers are tired as well, and i get to play basketball today! woohooo! I'll send some pictures and stuff, NEXT WEEK IS TRANSFERS! I EMAIL ON TUESDAY!!!! with that said, i love you and give my regard to everyone!!!!
Elder Crippen

October 22nd Letter

hey, how much is the fee? no, i wasn't made aware. Stupid Canada. ugh. uhh, which box? i got the one with the jacket in it. is another one coming? cooooooool! mmmmmmm crab cooker, i miss thee. How'd the BEFY go? Did you talk about me? Things are going great with Tyler, he took us out to eat and we talked about him going on a mission. He'd be so great. And Pres Priday and his wife came and put on a missionary fireside, and Tyler spoke at it! He bore his testimony and told his conversion story. He Talked about me and how nervous i was in my very first teaching appt. Shaky voice yada yada yada. haha it was awesome though. I got to see elder page and that was cool. But the first thing he asked about was if i brought a CD of his. I wanted to punch him. NICE TO SEE YOU TOO PUNK! haha it was an awesome fireside. He's got a lot of friends. His home teaching companion is his best friend of a couple years, he's well friendshipped, no worries. SO whats going down in papa's loft? anything exciting? SO Brian got called to stake president! wow. I don't know if I'll serve in the south or not because of the family ties. I'd love to serve there, but i don't know. Pres is in charge. Maybe lethbridge, but i don't know if I'll serve in the cardston area. Which is really sad because i want to go to the temple! But I LOVE it here in brentwood. We have awesome RMs that come out with us, fun activities, good investigators. its great here. I got a letter from Irene, its great to hear from that family, i miss the Miles a bunch, give them my best please! Joey's gonna be a po-po? sweet! Liz broke up with him? weird. bailey married? REALLY weird. Tell anthony to write meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee please!!!!
I want to hear from him! Thats really sad about mark. I'll keep him in my prayers. What kind of nurse is garrett shooting for? tell him to write me as well! That poem was way cool, thanks for that. Yeah, so many times i wish that you guys could be watching me. It'd be great for you guys to see what you've made me into. I've really been searching for those experiences where you're just inspired to go somewhere, and i got one! We were trying by a potential, and he wasn't there, and i was just looking around, and saw the 1500 apt building and just felt to go tract there. And we taught a girl there and gave her a Book of Mormon. It was so neat. Its cool to see how different promptings can be. And we had a real neat experience with Natalie. We have really been pushing for her to pray. She has a hard time with it, but its amazing what the Spirit can do. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and you could tell she was feeling the spirit and we've seen a change in her countenance each time we go over and teach her. We originally were teaching her for her understanding but the Spirit has been witnessing to her, I KNOW IT! She told us that she prayed once, and it was for us. Pondering on that, we put it together that the same night she prayed for us we taught 5 people in 8 doors, and got 3 new investigators. She was quite freaked out, and the member that was with us just said, "God answers prayers." It was amazing! The Spirit does the real converting. SO guess what, tomorrow = me being out 3 months. CRAZY! We're going to play capture the flag again today. I'm excited for that. I thought of a funny scripture to send to people when they don't write me: Alma 62:1. I'm Moroni and they're Pahoran. :)
I'm pretty restless at the moment and don't really know what to write. Just know that i love ALL of you, and am doing well.
Elder Crippen
P.S.-In a talk Elder Ballard told me how to get my calling and election made sure! Ready? Live righteously! woohooo! hahah simple, yet so hard!

October 15th Letter

The Calgary West zone after playing capture the flag

The Temple plot! AMAZING!!!!!

Clark Kent!!!!

Playing with the companions camera, its a cool color mode capture thing.

This is kinda funny because I'm writing two emails to you at one time. crazzzyyy. absentee? coool. You'll have to tell me how to vote, i trust you guys. Seriously, the church makes this world so small and you can instantly become friends with someone even if you don't have ties with someone. its amazing. I've had two girls in the institute ask me if i know Andrea Forsythe. She's one of the divine six, and she has relatives up here. I guess they were looking at her facebook pictures and saw me and made the connection. weirdddd. these people know my true self! aghhhhh! but its way fun to find those connections. yikes, mom, PLEASE don't send any pictures of the oral surgery. I wouldn't want to have to see ANYONE in that pain or circumstance. I really wish they would've let me see my bone and teeth though. BUT I DON"T WANT TO SEE YOURS!!!! that's cool that barb thanked you for breaking the ice. Maybe after the mission i can go convert him. :) I'll have all this practice with hard nosed Canadians. I've noticed that "caucasian" people, where's caucasia anyway?, are much more prideful that others. whats our deal man? agghhhh Wicked is so good!!! I can't believe how old the grand kids seem. Maddie's in 5th GRADE! yikes. Prepare for middle school aka outer darkness. 900 miles didn't seem that bad? haha that's about how long we get to drive in a month. 1600 kilometers aka "clicks" More fires?! good grief. holy marriage....Anthony this weekend?! wow. PLEASE tell him to write me, i miss him. Make sure Katie sends me the pictures!!! The music I've asked for is good to go. Other missionaries have it. just Sunday music really. Jericho road, EFY stuff, motab, you know. soft uplifting stuff. I've really been working on the piano and can sight read many hymns. I can play choose the right, come thou fount, let us all press on, praise to the man, lead kindly light, i need thee every hour, guide us oh thou great Jehovah and more like that. its fun! Temperature is definitely dropping. its hitting 2-7 degrees C as a normal. oh i hate windchill. but i am well fortified with jackets and stuff! Tell Robyn miles she still has my headband, and she better be sporting it with pride! We got a couple of inches of snow, but nothing stayed at all. its gonna hit 17 degrees on Friday so that's exciting! My companion has taught me not to be a robotic missionary. The best missionaries are the ones who are themselves and teach in a way that people can relate to. Investigators feel more comfortable when you aren't all Holier than thou-ish. haha, no towel turkey yet, but maybe sometime! that would've been good for thanksgiving. in October? dang Canadians. One thing i love about Canada is the phrase Gong Show. Its used to describe an event or something that is just crazy, as in not organized and stuff. Washroom sounds a lot better than bathroom, and perogies! aghhh they're amazing. like potstickers, but with potato and bacon inside! well, I've gotta go, I'm sending a letter home soon so I'll write some fun stuff there! LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

October 8th Letter

Parents!
Looks like you guys had a great time! Thanks so much for the pictures. I really enjoyed the ones of David. Such a monster!!! Tel him to keep his head up when he hits and to thrust the hips. It gives you more power. But most of all, You have got to WANT IT. Does he only play defense or does he play offense as well? SO things went great with the family? That's good! details? How did my mission help? Conference was soooooo gooooooooodddd. oh man i loved it. During the Saturday morning session i literally felt like jumping for joy. I can't describe how happy it made me feel to be receiving all that counsel. Personally, I loved the talk Richard G Scott gave in priesthood about women. I was sad because i couldn't hug mom like he told me to. sigh. Winter quarters is so cool. I would like to go through all those sites sometime. Wicked is soooooooooooooooooooooooo good. The song For Good gets me close to tears when i think of all the family and friends who have made me who i am. OOOOooo Christmas package. I'm supposed to tell you to send it not by fedex or ups, and to write 'gift' on it or something. so yeah. :) I got your package today but i don't actually get it yet cuz its in the zone leaders car but thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!! Yup, Elizabeth is so gone. haha i knew it. WE always said bailey and liz would go first. Could you send me some church CDs? Just put songs you know I'd like on there. Some specifics I'd like are: All of Me- Jon Schmidt, For good-Wicked, a more excellant way cd, the greatest gift cd, Come thou fount- david crouden, and stuff you know I'd like. I'd be so grateful to get those! yerah that's so exciting about the temples! Rome will look so cool!
INDEPENDENCE! yahhh!!! that sweet! We got a couple yee haaas from members during conference when they announced Calgary. reverence please? Seriously, it felt so weird not going to dinner with the boys after priesthood. so weird. But the whole zone went to dairy queen so that was cool. President Stephens called you? Sweet! He's not the branch president, he's the second counselor in the stake presidency. He's like dad! He owns the largest dry cleaning company in Calgary so that's cool. free dry cleaning! yay! It was so crazy. yesterday as we were going in for lunch we saw this huge gray cloud coming over us. a few minutes after getting inside it gets super windy and loud and it started hailing and stuff. crazy!!!I took a couple videos. Should i send the whole memory card home or a cd of everything? I'll probably send the card. so yeah, I love you guys so much and i miss you More everyday. But I'm really having a great time and am loving being a missionary! Have a good week!
Elder Crippen
we're going to play capture the flag in a park! I get to use mt 'elder bourne' skills! yay!

October 1st Letter

I love the story of those guys that helped out the Handcart company. I like to think that had i been alive at that time i would've done the same thing. Actually, Josh was baptized on September 27th, not the 28th. How do i know? BECAUSE TYLER WAS BAPTIZED THE SAME DAY! word. That was such an awesome experience. I gave a talk on baptism and used an object lesson on hot sauce and how it cleans a penny, (thanks to Aimee and her volleyball tournaments and eating at taco bell at said tournaments) Guess i should've saved that for the talk on the holy ghost and the baptism of FIRE! hahahahahahahahaha......I then was a witness for the baptism, and after Tyler came up her looked at me and the the biggest smile I've seen on ANYONE. That was pure joy for sure. It felt so good to know that I've made such a difference in some one's life and stuff. Also, i thought about it, and i guess he's in the same situation as dad was. I created a younger version of my father! wowwww. I'm so grateful for those two missionaries who taught you guys. Its fun for me to hear about you seeing all my friends at BYU. You should go visit the Divine six in apt four at liberty square and whip them into shape! dad, your experience with the girl on the plane was hilarious. and horribly awkward. wow, i dont know what i would've done. gross. haha, birthday girl was funny too. I had an experience at BYU like that where this girl kept leaning more and more and more and i was leaning halfway into the aisle to get away from her. How did the lady take the gospel discussion? Was she nice and stuff? My new comp is way outgoing and fun. He's from Idaho but more recently from Vegas. He loves sports and a lot of the same things i do so we have lots of fun talks and stuff. For kicks, and to celebrate p-day eve, i trimmed ETT3 (endure to the end) onto my chest, and then a big smiley face on my belly. :) haha i can almost see you rolling your eyes. Elder Pehrson put CTR and ETT3 in his legs. so yeah, that's fun. We've picked up a few new investigators, Rebecka met some LDS kids at college, so she started taking classes at the institute and is interested in the church. During the first lesson, she told us she already believes in The Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, just isn't completely sure about a Modern prophet (conference! yay!) and stuff. So yeah, she's way cool and has been through a lot and became Christian on her own out of a very anti-religion family. With how well things are going, I'm expecting to get 2 baptismal dates this transfer. The other Tyler is very close, just wants more knowledge, and We're trying to get a hold of Carla, she's way busy and hard to catch, but i feel really good about her. You can tell she wants to change.While we were walking around earlier this week, we saw TWO people fall off a bike and a skateboard. The guy on the bike didn't totally fall, but he feet slipped of the pedals and stuff, enough to look really embarrassing, and a guy in front of us on a skateboard caught a crack and got launched. that was fun to see. I felt really bad cuz I've had experiences like that and its so embarrassing, so we did our best to comfort. well, enjoy the pictures, and I'm excited for the letter! I love you guys SO much and really miss you! Elder Crippen "Posterity Shot" Elder Taylor trained Elder Castillo and Elder Page, who trained me.

Three Generations!

Tyler, President Stephens and Us Before the baptism

Us and Tyler after the baptism. See a difference? SO legit.