the bartolozzis SOO sweet

Making my RING! woot woot!

we look like the von trapp children from sound of music doing the cuckoo song

burn baby burn

jeah

train tracks are neat

Yup.

Kickin' it.

Middle of nowhere

The Judds, a WAYsweet family

this was scratched into the door of the community center where i emailed last week.

Wow, i can't believe this is it. This totally blows my mind that I'm on a plane and HOME in 2 days. I can't even remember anything else besides being a missionary so this is going to be weird. It was a great last week full of adventures. I'm just trying to replay them all in my mind so i can tell you!

Monday, we got a ride in for pday, and when we arrived back in Strathmore later that night i realized that i had left our car, AND our apartment keys in Elder Byington's car. oopsie. So we walked to all of our appointments that night carrying around our shoes, haha. A family let us borrow a ladder so then i broke into our apartment and we were all good. Wheeler had his car keys there so we were set. Later that night i was telling the story to Byington and Clawson, and was joking that they should come out and bring the keys. Clawson goes, buzz your door people are looking at us weird. So i did it jokingly and seconds later heard footsteps down the hall and out door opened. They actually came out! I was freaking out it was really exciting. SO yeah, that was a fun night being able to see them like that. Tuesday we went in for our meetings and also our zone pizza party award that we won for having the cleanest cars and that was fun. Then on Thursday we went on exchanges, did some service, and burned the suit! I tried sending the video of it but it didn't work. we drove out in the country, saw a road that said, 'road impassable" so of course we took the challenge. We stopped at the train tracks and had some fun there. We laid the pants on the ground, soaked em in gas, and then soaked the tail of my suit in gas, i put it on, and clawson lit it on fire. I ran to the pants and took off the coat and threw it down. It was exciting.

OH man! Wednesday night our dinner calender said "Rellief Society Activity" SO we went there and it was SO awkward. We were the only men in sight and i was scared. Also annoying was the fact that no one really talked to us. Only a couple members, two less-actives,and a recent convert. Tip to everyone, Missionaries are far enough from home. The ward they are serving in IS there home. They like feeling welcomed! ok, onward.

Saturday morning we helped out at the ward breakfast, I wanted to help cook stuff, but all we ended up doing was crack 100 eggs. I guess people think we only eat top ramen and stuff, haha! It was a day full of service for sure! We went and helped a family pull out a tree, then re plant it somewhere else. Then we went and helped a less active lady move a weight machine and an elliptical machine. That was crazy intense, mostly because there was so much assembly and tools and things to remember. I love putting things together, it was a blast. Then we went to the Woods, the family who gave us the fish oil, and helped them move a bunch of stuff. They're awesome.

Sunday was good. Elder Wheeler was giving a talk on hope, and Bishop Laycock asked me to bear my testimony at the end. It was fun because the majority of the ward thought i was only out a bit over a year. SO i said, "As Elder Wheeler and i have been going around to your homes, and you've asked me how long I've been on my mission I've always said, a bit over a year. I have a correction to make. As of last Friday, i have been out a bit over two years." It was fun to see surprise on people's faces. Then i spoke about a few of the things that I've learned. Then we went out to the native branch and both of us spoke there as well. We also found out that a guy who's been coming there for 4/6 weeks that i have been there isn't a member and wants to be baptized! Surprise! wow. well, I'm off to play some ball. SEE you guys soon. Love you!

Elder Crippen