February 11th Letter

Baptism of Tanner with his parents

Me and the nerf gun. STUCK THE CEILING YAY!!!

ME!!

Life is good here! Nothing too too exciting. We had the baptism of Tanner Wilson this last saturday and that was an amazing experience. He's a great kid, acts way older than his age (15) and was so excited.
It was a great experience. Its definitely a different experience being in a small town and stuff. We aren't really allowed to tract, seeing as everyone in Taber is either LDS or Anti. So yeah. I guess Taber's been closed down to missionaries every now and then because people have physically chased them out! ALRIGHT!!! Sounds like I've got some adventures up ahead! We do a lot of service and stuff down here, in the springtime we'll get to BRAND COWS! I can't even describe how excited i am for that. There's a lot of missionaries out from this stake, and the parents are always so kind to us! (you better be doing the same thing!) There's an extended care place for geriatrics (old people) and we do a sacrament meeting there every Sunday, and i gave a talk on having Charity in trials, D&C 123:15(?) and we then took a lady the sacrament in her room because she wasn't able to get out of bed, and we sang for her, and she was so grateful! It was very touching. Elder Herrera is a fun kid, he's from Worcester Massachusetts, and is from the very ward where Fred Nelson is serving right now! That was a neat coincidence! Well, this church is true and i am SO pumped to be out here. It's a great work, and I'm proud to be a part of it. I love you and pray for you!
Elder Crippen

February 4th Pictures

Sign in the middle of nowhere. HAPPY!!!
Me and elder Page reunite!

Bye BYe big daddy garvin! home to the land of endless pdays!

First off, let me apologize for last week's Sentence. haha. Life is going good here in Taber. Its a really small town in the middle of no where! We cover a lot of the surrounding acreages, which is cool, because if i stay til April, i get to brand cattle! That'd be so sweet! I'm an outdoors man born in a city. Dang. I can't wait til i can go out and camp again. And i REALLY can't believe I only have 18 months. time is ZOOMING by its ridiculous. Its kinda scary.
Taber is fun because we get to do a lot of service. Currently we are helping turn an old library into a theatre, and we're doing lots of DEMOLITION. oh man i feel right at home. SO much fun. Knocking down walls, going crazy with a sledgehammer and a jack hammer. oh man, good times. Takes me back to the days working with Wes! I miss that man. EXCITING NEWS! We have a baptism coming up! I feel funny because i didn't really have a part in it, but still, that doesn't take away from the excitement of seeing someone make that wonderful change in their life! He's 15 and SO solid. Elder Herrara is a lot of fun. He's actually from the town where Fred Nelson is serving right now. His dad just went on splits with him! Crazy! I've really come to love the book, Jesus the Christ. SO GOOD! Read it. yeah. p-day is weird here, because we don't hang out with other missionaries because they're all so far away. SO no basketball for awhile, but i plan on staying in shape. The member we live with has a treadmill, so i run on that every morning. I have to go, we have a lil service appt to get to, but i love you all, and can't wait to here and see you guys! in 18 months. hahah much love!
Elder Crippen

January 27th Sentence

Hey! life is good here. We've had a lot of adventures and stuff. I'm getting transferred to Taber, which is the place for good corn. so that's exciting.

Elder CrippenCardston Temple trip
Yay for 6 months out! Burning stuff...

Lethbridge zone

Climbing the bridge!

Elder, I wish you never sent these pictures, actually, I wish you never did it in the first place you dummy!

Signed, Your Extremely Concerned Big Sister

Big Ball

MY LETTER TO CODY AFTER RECEIVING THESE PICTURES:

Subject: YOu Idiot!!!

What the heck do you think you are doing?! I have to say I am SO glad youwere transferred because you should be NO WHERE close to that bridge anylonger. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING NIMROD (the Book of Mormon character...)? Doa lot of people do that? Was it "presidency approved"?You almost killedyourself and then almost me when I saw that picture. Don't do things likethat ANYMORE PLEASE! Hopefully in Taber the most dangerous thing that youcould do would be to get lost in a corn maze... You're killing me Smalls!

HIS RESPONSE:

ahem, i take offense. I am elder bourne. That bridge was SWEET. and i'm not retarded. Thats why i didn't go higher. It was fun though. Thanks for the concern! i don't know if it was presidency approved, definitely not DISapproving. I think... Its what you get mor not letting me play with you and jolene back in the day. :) sucker. LOVE YOU!

Elder Crippen

January 21 Letter

It's deeper than it looks!

hello! let me just first off say, i love all of you! yay! Oh man, Obama. No offense to anyone who's a fan, but I'm sick of politics and this election. Race is too involved. He's a person, I'm a person, you're a person, we're all the same! bah.
A member showed us this news clip, and ugh, i should stop. I'm done. Nothing too much has happened this week. We've done a lot of service for families and stuff building things. We've done A LOT of drywall. To be honest its been a harder week for me. Low self-esteem junk. Dang Satan is REALLY working on me. Sometimes i wonder if i can really do this, that things at home are so much easier. Then i slap myself and go, dude, come on. I'm ridiculous. But when people say this is the hardest thing they've ever done, they aren't kidding. We went to the temple today and it was great. it really had me missing the San Diego Temple. Nothing beats that temple. Its been REALLY warm lately, +10 C! crazy! haha weird thing is i miss the cold. Its new and adventurous to me. Kylie and Andy were just baptized this last week up in Brentwood, and I'm SO bummed i missed that. They are REALLY amazing people. The Lord really prepares people to come into the church. So true. Emails are on Tuesday next week, so yeah. This transfer FLEW by so fast! good grief. 13 more to go.:D I love you and miss you!
Elder Crippen

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

Goodbye to Brentwood Pictures

Ice unsafe! too bad we saw this sign afterwards... its started cracking, a lot! scary. We got off fast!

The Sherwoods! The members we lived with for 4 1/2 months

Kylie(black jacket), one of the sweetest people I've ever taught, her friend Kayla(who was taught by elder pehrson), and Kayla's son Lowen
Mike murray, one of the best member missionaries, EVER
Travor livingstone, such a chill man, and a favorite member. Helped me a lot

Tim Wright and tyler barndollar, men among boys

Elder taylor and i at the ward Christmas party. YIKES!!!

Shoveling snow with some sweet members in -40 weather, left r to right, Anne, Clarissa, me, Claudia, Christine, and elder Taylor

Kim, a sweet member who was one of our most faithful sports night attendees

January 7th Letter

- That is an ice chisel in the middle of the road. Snow was packed 6-8 inches!!!

-Canadians in their natural habitat!

-Us, mom, and the cool sisters, sister willis and jackson

-Elder Garvin, me, and elder Whitt

-me and me and pa! SO much fun to see them!

-We decided to run around the block in VERY cold weather in shorts, shirt, tie and beanie. CRAZY!

-On boxing day we picked up matching sweaters. This is our boy band. UNO TRES!

Life is going great here! I've never seen so much snow in my life!!! SO MUCH. We've got some awesome people we're teaching, one of whom i think will be baptized this month. she's way solid. We've been doing a great job finding new people to teach, and its been such a great experience being in a new area. We received gift cards for Christmas to go to the cheesecake cafe. TWICE we've gone to use them and both times our tab has been picked up by members! Its pretty nice living in such an LDS area. I guess I'm getting a small taste of what Cardston is like! I have some sweet stories, but they're in my planner, and i keep forgetting it! But Just know that life is GREAT! We built an igloo. :) This church is true, and i LOVE in gospel. it brings such peace to our lives! and i LOVE the Book of Mormon. Alma 32:28 describes how i feel when i read it. I LOVE LIFE and i love all of you!

p.s., seeing you guys was so motivating. it was great for me to see how happy you are with me out here!!