February 24th Letter

HHEEYYYYYY! whats new? Life is STILL good up here. I don't really know where to start. I think i'm really going to like it up here because on pday all we really play is basketball, so that is good for my heart. Not for my knees though, i don't know why they are so dumb. Elder Clawson and i went running this morning in the beautiful -3 weather, and my knees were really hurting at the end. This is dumb. But wow, this was a great week. Namely because of the Spirit packed week it was. On Monday we had a mission tour, which is pretty much a MASSIVE zone conference where a general authority is there. We had Elder Melchin, our area seventy or something. Before he spoke he said something that was really neat. he said, don't write down anything that i say, but write what the Spirit tells you. That was neat because it made me pay more attention to what i specifically needed to hear. It was a way good meeting that we got built up a lot. We've been focusing on faith because we need to have a faithful February if we are to have a miraculous march. 100 baptisms in march. Its going to be SO cool. One thing i noticed was that in Ether 12 Moroni mentions the miracles brought by faith. One of them is when Alma and Amulek have such great faith that the prison they are in falls to the ground, and they are unharmed. Applied to us that means that Faith helps us escape our own prisons of doubt, disbelief, discouragement, and so forth. A prison is something that holds you captive, and prevents you from progressing on in life. you are stuck. So when we have that strong faith our own prisons fall. yeah. It was also a blast because i got to see a lot of other missionaries. That's always a blast. AND it was back in the south stake center so that felt so good. it felt like home. The missionaries who were still there told me that it was weird that i wasn't there, cuz i was there for almost a year. And they said that it was pretty much MY building. I thought that was funny. BY the way, do you know how EXPENSIVE sticky notes are? its nuts. anywho yeah, it was good. I was planning on visiting some people but some missionaries needed us for exchanges and they ended up being late anyway, which didn't make me happy. On Saturday we had this WAY powerful lesson with a girl that we're working with that is just coming back to church. We taught a simple lesson 1, the Restoration. A lesson that i've taught over and over, but this was probably the most powerful one EVER. We focused on praying whenever we weren't talking for the benefit of the teacher and the learner. It was awesome. We left the appt feeling so good because we knew that we helped her out. Its amazing the strengthening that can come from the Spirit. Its also such a good feeling when you meet those people on the mission that you know that you were sent to help. SO good. OH! On our way home from mission tour on the big freeway, Deerfoot Tr, this car right in front of us slowly came to a stop. At first we thought she was trying to change lanes or something, but the we saw that her car was broken down. I wasn't at first too excited to get out on the middle of a freeway, with cars zooming by on each side, but i finally did, and went up to the car. She confirmed that her car just stopped working and it had never done it before and stuff. SO i told her to put it in neutral and that I'd push it to the side of the road. I then went to the back of the car, stopped traffic and starting pushing. The freeway was uphill at that point so it was a bit rough, but the Elder Clawson ran up and started pushing too. Which meant that our car was now parked in the middle of a freeway, haha. We got her to the side and she told us she had AMA (apparently, same thing as AAA) so we ran back to our car across the freeway, suit coats blowing in the breeze. It was pretty dramatic i'm sure, haha. But as we drove away we talked about how good it felt to do service like that. And also, we were in our suits so it probably gave the Church some good publicity. It was exciting! Woot woot, go service! Well, we are going to Burger King for WHOPPER WEDNESDAY! Yay! I love you all and miss you! Elder Crippen

February 17th Letter

The amazing Wilsher family. they'll actually be in CA when i get home! Jayme, the awesome lady we were teaching

And of course the Morrisons. My life is empty without them, haha

The Vances, i spent a large part of Christmas with them

The Funks, they were great

The Calgary South zone, for the last time. :(

Jerma(sp?) the lady who works at the best dollar store ever. She LOVED us, and knew me by name

This is Elder Clarke, and yes, he has 416 ties. His goal was to never wear a tie twice. WOW.

Hooray for last valentines day in the field! woot woot! Some girl in church gave a prayer and asked that it be a good one even for the single people. it was pretty funny. Things are way different up here. The ward is TINY!!! WOW! Its totally different. I can't remember if i told you or not but my companion is Elder Clawson and he's been out for a year tomorrow. Yay! He's quiet but a lot of fun. We live with Franny, a Spanish guy who I've heard about pretty much since the beginning of my mission. A bunch of my best friends in the mish have lived with him. Elders Pehrson, Jensen, and Larsen to name a few. We live up by the airport, in Far north Calgary. (oh, could you remove the apartment address from the blog. That's from October.) Franny's a fun guy and he treats us well. On Saturday we went to the baptism of Hans Escher, a guy from Germany. He's building his own boat for kicks and we went on it and it was SO cool! (ps, the boat is in dry dock, like, with no water to be seen around it, minus all the snow of course. AGH snow.) we had an awesome week up until last night. We were almost convinced that spring was here. And then 5 inches of snow fell last night and continues to fall now. Classic canada. we'll see the end of winter sometime. This winter was actually a lot better than the last one. Haha look at me talking about it like its over. Sigh. I've learned I'm definitely a people person because it was really hard to leave the south. I literally miss the Morrison's like crazy. And they are only two of a bunch of people that are my favorite people ever. hopefully i can find some more people like that. This'll probably be my last area, aka the area I'll go home from. And of course it would be right by the airport. Talk about torture, haha. No worries, I'm focused. But it doesn't mean that i don't still love planes. We're working really hard for our goal of 100 baptisms in March. We just need to get some investigators so that we're a part of it. This zone is on fire with it. It just goes to show that when you do what you're told, good things happen. Now we just need to get our ward on board. Its a REALLY small ward, there's about 100 people on the ward list, and half of them are less-active and stuff. So Sunday was weird. They aren't the most excited about missionary work but I'm here to make a difference so I'm going to do that. There's a pre-mish kid we go out with a lot who is way cool, Henry. he plays the guitar like a madman and he's really funny. Oh, and apparently yesterday was McDonald's customer appreciation day so you could buy a big mac and get another on for a penny. I did it, and i didn't feel too appreciated. It was gross. haha, I'll stick with in n out. Or A&W. That's something up here that they don't have a lot of back home. Its good stuff. Apparently, Bro. Banks, the high priest group leader back in Fish Creek park ward named the Teen burger. What a lucky man i am to have known him and know that part of history. :D AGHHHHHHHHHHH i want in n out. That is stop #1 when i get home. In n Out. We have interviews with President Archibald tomorrow so I'll get my endorsement for BYU then. Well, life is good up here in the Confederation Park ward. I love you all a lot and pray for you. Life is good! Elder Crippen

February 9th Letter: TRANSFERS

some of my favorite fish creekers

Well, just like all good things,come to an end, my time in fish creek park ward, and the south stake has come to an end. I'm pretty bummed. There are a lot of way cool people here, and a lot of people who have really changed my life. I'm going to miss them all a lot. I'm heading up to the Calgary North Stake, where I'll be in the Confederation Park YSA ward. Supposedly its the smallest YSA ward in the city, and I'm coming from the biggest in the city. SO that'll be an adjustment. Earlier in my mission i actually wanted to serve in the north so I'm finally getting that wish! haha. I've heard from some other missionaries that its a pretty sweet zone, and what makes me really happy is that I'll STILL be around Elder Meyers. Him and i have been in the same district/zone since June and he's fo sho one of my favorite missionaries. Its my dream to serve with him so hopefully dreams come true! He'll be a DL there in the same zone so its almost seems like they're setting it up like he'll be my comp for the last few months of my mission! That would be awesome. It was a pretty good week. Our bishop suggested a really good idea. He said that when i get married, we should just elope to the temple. I told him, Bishop, i would die. He laughed. He has some pretty good practical jokes and stuff. Man this ward is so legit. I've been in this zone for so long its going to be weird to leave it. I feel like I'm a relic here. I was here for almost a year and now I'm gone. Its going to be hard to say bye to everyone. I'm really nervous that I'll forget someone and man, that would not be cool. We had our weekly church tour and only one person showed up but we did it anyway. I was really hit by the Spirit by how lucky we are to have this restored gospel and how much hope and peace we get from it. Its pretty ballin. I was reading the Ensign for Feb and the first presidency message was good. It was unique because it was small, but it was still good. I loved President Monson's message on learning from the past. we aren't to dwell in the past, but we are to learn from it and move on. That's something that i tend to do i think, is dwell on the past and maybe hold grudges a bit. And how a deep foundation of faith and a testimony will help us through the hardest times. Having a testimony is the most important thing you could have! It gets you through everything and it never leaves you. The message also helped me see the importance of reading your patriarchal blessing, and that it really is for US. And of course the cool little part about how he loves the word, "come." Its so true. SO much is better and possible when we come unto Christ. That's what I'm trying to help people do! Well, til next week! I love you all! ELder Crippen

February 3rd Letter

me with our zone title of liberty. do i look like the picture of capt Moroni?

Wow this week has been unreal. SO spirit PACKED. We had zone conference Thursday where a new mission slogan was presented, "My Mission Belongs to the Lord." Its cool. We each got a picture of Christ and it has that on a sticker at the bottom. It was a good zone conference where i felt there were some things i could do to be better. THEN we had an awesome zone leader council this last Friday where President Archibald talked a lot about covenants and the importance of them. Then after that, the APs presented our baptismal goal for march. 100. That's almost 5 times what we normally get. Normally i would be skeptical and be like, wha? To be honest, i was not excited for ZLC one bit because i just saw it as a second day in a row where we just sat for 8 hours and were trained on stuff. but IMMEDIATELY the Spirit hit me like crazy like an adrenaline rush and i knew it was possible. My heart was swiftly changed. So we had an intense meeting after that talking about what we had to do. SO what we came to was that we needed to make a covenant with the Lord to give everything to him. To devote ourselves 100% to the work and everything. We all made a list of things that we were doing that we aren't supposed to and someone said, emailing friends. I was like, oh yeah, that's a rule. So yeah. That's kinda where were at now. Then we put it to an actual vote of who supported this. 26 out of 26 yes' were read and as they were being read i looked over at President Archibald and saw that his eyes were red and tearing up a bit. It really showed how much he cares for us, for the work, and for the Lord. That was a cool experience. We were given the responsibility to take this to ours zones and present it powerfully. I was so nervous for that and felt really inadequate. We all fasted on Sunday for the strength for everyone to be in the right mindset to achieve it and i felt strengthened by that. Monday morning we did the training and i talked about covenants a lot, and it was cool, because these were the notes i went into it with. "PMG baptism (cuz it talks about covenants), D&C 33:7-10, notes from ZLC, and D&C 76:5-7" I talked for at least 45 minutes. The Spirit totally took over and helped me out. It was awesome. And the good thing was i wasn't just rambling. Good things were being said and good discussion came up. Then we presented the goal and everything to the zone, and we did this thing where we had a white shirt, wrote on it,"My Mission Belongs to the Lord" (our new mission slogan) and had squares that people could tear off and write the same thing on them and keep them. Its like everyone got their own personal title of liberty! Then everyone signed the shirt. It was awesome and a lot of people liked it. we do have a few party poopers in out zone. So after we said all of our stuff, we talked about how we all need to make our own personal covenant, and to go to a different room of the chapel and do it. I then said, "well, I'm going to make mine," and walked out of the room into another one. Then i heard and saw people walk by the door of the room i was in and it felt so good to see that. Then, after praying, we went back in the room, where we had put a shredder, and have everyone make a list of their weaknesses. Then like the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi, we buried/shredded our sins away, and signed the shirt and tore off a piece. It was cool. Then we made a covenant as a zone. It was an awesome experience. I've really seen that its HARD to focus on everything, and be 100%. But i know its possible. It just take effort. Afterwards we had a few missionaries come up to us and thank us for everything. It felt good to be that instrument in the hands of the Lord. WOW. On Sunday we met with Lana, the Jewish girl, and afterwards, she asked us if we would be ok with her advertising our church tours. We said yes. Her boyfriend later dropped off this paper that they were putting on a lot of bulletin boards and stuff in the UNIVERSITY!!!! Its LEGIT! wow it was cool to see that. Our INVESTIGATOR is doing that. She's awesome. I hope some good comes from it. We told her we could get the phone numbers from the other missionaries in the city for her so they could all be in the prospective areas, but she goes,"No, no, only my elders." it was funny. But as you can see life is going really good. I'm excited to play some bball today. It seems like i can never get enough of it. I'm out of shape though. Its embarrassing. haha I love you all! ELder Crippen

January 27th Letter

me and Rice (like the tie?)
crazy adventure on the ice

cool river icicles

a little ice bubble man

too cold for basketball

panarama mania

panarama mania panarama mania part 2

hey family! It was a pretty good week. It flew by so fast that i don't know what to say! I hit 18 months last Saturday and that blows my mind. Me and rice went on an early morning walk through fish creek park and that's where a lot of the pictures come from. I was a good week of helping people. Wherever we could it felt like we were doing some kid of service for someone. That service could be just making someone feel good by talking to them and giving them a smile. A sister in our ward came up to us and talked to us about her brother and asking for advice. He's on his mission and apparently having a hard time. We were able to help her out and share some things with him that she thinks will help. And it was nice because in helping her brother, we were helping her, and with helping her we were able to help her brother. It always feels so good to help people and do that. This ward is awesome. There are so many sweet people who are so nice to us and make us feel right at home. And good things are happening. We just got a great solid referral for someone that we'll be teaching this week. And on sunday, some random guy from some other stake came up to us and started talking to me and this girl he wants us to teach, and says that she's ready to hear the gospel. It's just fun to see that when you work and prove to the Lord that you're willing to work that things just kinda fall into place and just work out. I've also really seen that the best missionary work is done with the members of the ward, and with them following the example of the leaders of the ward. Its a great shift that has been going on and has lead to a lot of really good changes. We're being more effective and also are getting more work done and are teaching more. our ward had a volleyball activity night, and it looked like so much fun. Key word, looked. Because there's been a lot of missionaries who've gotten hurt playing sports they've limited us to only playing on pday. SO dumb. I wanted to play so bad! aghh! i did get to serve it a couple times. yay. There is a new investigator that we picked up that is pretty crazy. He he is convinced that God is a computer. I really want to ask him is He is a Mac or a PC. Is that blasphemous? haha good times. I can't believe its nearly February already! so nuts. Time is ZOOMing. I love you all and hope that everything is great! Keep it real! Elder Crippen

January 20th Letter

Hello everyone! Its been a pretty fun week, just teaching and stuff. WE had another appointment with Greg, the UFC guy, and it went well. We taught the plan of salvation and it was sweet. ON Friday we helped Jayme and her husband Paul move, and that was A LOT of fun. We had 12 missionaries there helping and it was really good for Paul to see that support and see that we are all normal guys and stuff. He's way cool and we sat and talked for a while about whatever and he's way cool. They really appreciated the help. Then the next morning we helped the Wilshers move, they're the SWEET English family. They just moved to a better bigger house down the road. But they're awesome and i like em alot.
It was fun to be able to do a lot of service as well as teach. Something always just feels so good when you're serving people and helping them out. Yesterday morning we did some more service at the Morrisons chopping wood, and it was WAY icy in their side yard where i was stacking the wood, and i slipped and fell (my first fall EVER on ice up here) right on a stump. It hit right on my lower back and then i rolled off to the side. It knocked my wind right out so i couldn't breathe. so i laid on the ice for a bit, not breathing, and the only one who saw was their 5 year old daughter Gabby, and she goes, Did that hurt? haha it was funny the way she said that. But yeah, it hurt. I'll probably have like a circle shaped bruise, haha. It was rough trying to get comfy in bed last night, and its feeling pretty sore today.
Another fun thing about Canada, is how fast the weather changes. SO weeks ago we got a whole bunch of snow, and then the last week has been above freezing. SO the snow has all melted but then it gets cold again so it all turns into ice. You'll see random things frozen in the gutter, or even into the middle of the road. straws, cell phones, pens, newspapers, midgets. its fun. :D But life is good and I'm happy! i love the work and love you all!
ELder Crippen