Our car said, -10 Celsius, and we were just fine walking around in
our suits. Its funny how you adapt. It started snowing again after
a nice little warm spell and stuff. Darn. I keep feelings these
little hopes that winter will soon be over, but its the middle of
January, and winter's gonna go til at least March, maybe April, who
knows, maybe even May! Maybe even June, I HOPE not!! Well,
stories, hmmm, we had an amazing zone conference yesterday, and I
bore my testimony on how this gospel give hope to so many people.
The plan of salvation is pretty sweet. This life is such a small
part of the real deal. I love it. So we went on exchanges, and
me and another elder went to an old folks home to shovel the walks
or something, but ended up bowling with them. They were sweet old
people, and you can tell having us there made them really happy.
There was this 100 yr old Japanese lady that had a crush on me I'm
pretty sure. I kept helping her up to the bowling ramp(they
basically rolled a bocce ball down a ramp to a bunch of plastic
pins.) cause she couldn't walk too well and she liked holding my
hand. Slightly awkward. But hey, i gotta get what i can
right? :D just kidding. But it was a lot of fun. We watched the
Testaments with an investigator, and as cheesy as that movie is,
its amazing. I love the end where he heals Helam. It just gave me
goosebumps thinking about it. But one thing that really hit me
this time was the love the father had for his son, running through
flames and dodging falling boulders, fighting all odds just to LOOK
for his son. And it hit me that my mom and dad would definitely do
the same exact thing for me. So thanks. :) For Christmas we
received gift cards for $25 to the Cheesecake Cafe, and when we
went there a few weeks ago to use them, someone picked up our tab,
same thing happened a week later! Being a missionary has its
advantages in this Mormon filled town! And last Saturday we tried
again, no one picked it up, but when we cashed in our gift cards,
Whitt and Garvin just left the rest of there's as a tip, but the
lady handed mine back and said i had a $30 balance on it! my card
was good for $50! I feel blessed! So we're gonna go back for
cheesecake or something. Here's another cool story i forgot to
tell you guys. I have really been trying to know Christ better,
and to understand the Atonement and all. I kept praying to have a
dream or something where it would help. One night i was praying
hard for it, and soon after couldn't sleep. So i went and read the
scriptures. I read 3 Nephi 11, and got to about verse 10(?) when i
realized i got my answer. Those are they most beautiful verses in
any scripture. I got my answer just from those. And it hit me that
we can't just pray and expect things to happen. We need to put in
our own efforts. My patriarchal blessing talks about my
"developed" talents. That's how things are done. We gotta pull our
weight! Oh, and here's a good funny story. We went to our
dinner last p-day, and this old German man opens the door,
surprised to see 3 of us, so we had to help them reset the table.
And being the helpful guy i am, i went to put the leaf in, and for
some reason, German man was bent over under the table doing
something, and i beaned him straight in the head with the table
leaf! And he started bleeding A LOT. All through dinner he held a
napkin to his head. And he kept wiping it and smearing it in his
hair. SO EMBARRASSING. I just wanted to leave. bah but it was
hilarious as well. :) Well, i love you all so much, and can feel
the impact of your prayers! Be good, and stuff. Miss you all and
love you!
Elder Crippen