April 20th Letter

eggball!

hitting eggs with a baseball bat
Bro scott the seminary teacher, so sweet

Me and some seminary kids


more seminary kids!!! yay!

Nothing too much to report here from Canada. I'm in South Calgary
now, in the New Brighton and Mckenzie wards. I'm excited to be back
in the city. Its easier to be a good missionary here and i'm happy
for that. But i'm REALLY gonna miss Taber. Taber had so many
awesome members and i def would like to go back eventually. Sweet
place. Life is good. :) More to come next week!

April 15th Letter

me in the shack

Elder Castillo in front of the shack

Transfer # 6 Medicine Hat Zone

All 59 ties of mine! (there's 58 in the picture, i dropped one in the closet)

Birthday shirt!

Birthday hoodie!

SO a couple nights i had a dream where i was on the beach with some friends, and i decided to walk down the beach a ways, and there i saw EVERYONE! The whole family was there and we started playing and it was a blast. I really liked that dream, the beach seems to be a common occurrence in my dreams. crazy. I think I've found my tie style, i have over 50 now, and i really like ones with diagonals, but with stuff in the background, like that one Angie gave me the night of my setting apart. yeah. tough to explain. But life is going good here, transfers are next week, so emails are on Tuesday. I gave a talk in church this last Sunday and i spoke on Christ's life and atonement, and it was a blast to give. I wish i could just know more! It was such an amazing 3 years he ministered in life, and now, living again, continues to minister to us! I just wish i could study Christ and his life over and over again! Its the best topic ever. Easter is such a great time. I LOVE IT!!!!

April 8 Letter

eating a dried fish...ewwww

and the catch!!!

My district at zone conference, 3 piece baby! Elder Bailey, Elder Pehrson (Comp #2), me and Elder Castillo

basketball battle wound

the shack!

HELLO! BREAKING NEWS! ITS WARMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!! Can you believe it?! Its WARM! I'm SWEATING!!! Its AMAZING!!! Wow, straight up amazing. First things first. What an amazing general conference. There was like several times when i was so happy and giddy i wanted to jump up and down and hoot and holler, don't know how appropriate that would be though....dang it. Elder Holland's just had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. And of course i liked Elder Perry's. haha. Nothing too big is going on here. For pday we played football and baseball with the seminary kids so that's sweet. Remember at conference when we went on that virtual tour of the home, haha oh man that made me homesick. I could smell texas sheet cake! But in my opinion we passed that test with flying colors. And that made me excited when they mentioned Calgary, and i could TOTALLY picture dad all of a sudden perking up, hahah. What's this i hear about Michael being in a cast?! I was never told anything about this!!! update me! And how's Harvey liking Seminary? He needs to send me his gourmet top Ramen recipe. With the eggs and spam and stuff. I'll fill you in a bit with last pday. It was fun. We met up with the missionaries from Brooks at Vauxhall, a small town in between us, and we went to this shack, and then went and played basketball in the vauxhall chapel. that chapel is TINY! SO we were bouncing the balls off the wall doing trick shots and stuff. So i tried videoing it, and it went in on my first try! Talk about beginners luck!! It was fun. You never answered my question, Is that Spencer on page 74?! I need to know its been driving me crazy for 5 months!! SO that's news from Taber, nothing too exciting, just living the wonderful life of a missionary. I love you and i miss you!

Elder Crippen

April Fool's Letter!

Life is good in Taber. We recently just set a date again with the Pickett's, and i really think they are sincere this time. their parents are really pushing them and it just feels like things are going well. We're pretty close to asking some of the seminary kids to take lessons. There's 16 non member attending! Isn't that crazy? I'm excited because we're heading out to this shack in the middle of nowhere for pday and its gonna be sweet. I'm excited. I love how when we teach, the Spirit really whispers the truth to the investigators, and they feel the need for the gospel in their lives, and feel the need for repentance. its a great work! and i really have to use the washroom right now i gotta gooooo aghhhhhhhhh
Elder Crippen

Hey! Some more things i wanted to mention.
November 2008 ensign, is that Spencer on pg 74? There's a kid who looks and acts just like him, and i was curious if i could get some confirmation to that.
At Zone conference, we are randomly asked to give a 5 minute talk on whatever. I finally got chosen, it was my first time, and i think it went really well. It was on prayer and i got to share some personal experiences on it and stuff. And you won't believe this, but my district was asked to do a musical number and i sang. on my gosh i sang. with a cold. Never again. hahaha we sang "Ye Elders of Israel." SO we couldn't screw it up to bad. one thing I really saw at zone conference is that when things aren't going well and we don't feel directed, we need to take a step back and look at the big picture of where our life is going and what we are doing. And if we aren't doing right things, we see that we need to fix them.
Dad, get a 3 piece suit, trust me. It'll go well with your fathers day present. I'm sure you can get one at any thrift store, or who knows, maybe you still got one somewhere. trust me. just do it.
Tell me more about how things are going at home! people, events, etc. Its so crazy how fast time is going. I can't believe it!

March 25th Letter

I cannot believe you are on a cruise. That blows my mind. We had a couple days of BEAUTIFUL weather with the temperatures hovering around the 50s. (I never thought I'd ever say that) And then last night we got hit by a huge snow storm that lasted all day Wednesday. And then we had to drive home and stuff. it was crazy. lucky to be alive! We got to have pday with the zone, so that was neat. The work in Taber is going great. I love this place! the people here are amazing. Member's have really been getting involved and we're seeing some good success. That's the only way it works! I really love it out here. As missionaries will always talk about how nice it would be to be at home, dating, listening to music, and watching movies and all. but we really love these two years. And I'm 1/3 done! so scary! I don't want to come home! Its such a nice break to enjoy the great things in life. Haha, i sound like a hippie, but i love you all so much!
Elder Crippen

March 18th Letter

The mascot for a tire store? weird.

Elder Herrera and i


dereailed train? NUTS!

sweet suit! gay pose

3 piece!!!!

Hey! Thanks for the birthday party!!! I wasn't really able to watch it because the computer I'm on is lame, but hey, thanks so much! I"ll keep trying to see it! It was definitely the most unique slash worst birthday ever. That morning i was driving to meetings, and was driving into the Church parking lot when the car slid on some ice and decked a curb. It trashed the rim, and messed up the alignment. SO yeah, that was NO fun. Had to go get it fixed, and the new rim had to come down from Edmonton so we were stranded in Medicine Hat for the day. But it was cool cuz the missionaries we stayed with are way sweet. but also a HUGE bummer because we were going to have dinner with a SWEET family, and then another awesome family wanted me to come over for cake, so i had to cancel all that. BIG bummer. And there just wasn't a good feeling the whole day. I felt trashy. it wasn't fun. But anyways, on a more happy note, I know how to do the Rubik's cube! Elder Jensen taught me. My life feels so complete now. just know that it IS possible. I've told you some stuff about crazy ray. She's the sweet lady who lives in medicine hat who has the gift of discernment like crazy, like a psychic, but not psycho. Whenever i see her, she always talks about how amazing my life is going to be, how perfect my wife and i are together, and how amazing my children are, and everything. its very nice. I keep trying to get it out of her more stuff about my wife, but she just always says that I'll know once i go home. Patience patience. gah i hate it hahaha. The only thing she'll tell me is that she is accommodating and is a good cook. Sounds good to me! And supposedly my daughters are going to be athletic tomboys. haha cool. I guess we'll have to see how god Crazy Ray is. I think I've said this before, but i don't think i can say it enough. The youth here are so sweet. We're having a sports night tonight and are gonna play some basketball with em. SO chill and sweet. They are such great examples and down to earth kids. I don't know what it is but they're awesome. Things are going good with investigators. We're seeing some good progress from some of our "eternal" investigators and that's really exciting. its so frustrating when someone wants to be baptized but someone else for some reason or other is holding them back. This church is a good thing!!! My new comp, Elder Castillo is sweet. He's from Sacramento and is a mutual friend with someone from BYU. he's funny and is REALLY good at playing the piano. AND is a good basketball player. We'll have lots of fun. :) SO yeah, that's life from Taber, nothing too new is happening. But life is good, and i love it! And i love all of you! Elder Crippen

March 10th Letter

TRANSFER NEWS! I am staying in taber, i get to celebrate my bday here! And i'm a district leader. woop. now i have to babysit people. haha. But thats cool. Elder Herrera is going up north to calgary where he'll be serving in the mision president's ward.
I'm getting Elder Castillo who is actually from the home ward of one of my byu friends. so thats cool. Did you really quote that to those youth? Did it seem to help? What do i need for my birthday? love, mail, pictures? haha no idea. money? whatever that heart gives, i like. We used to get the church news but we don't anymore for some reason. but sure, send it over. its exciting. Calgarianites are very excited for it. Taber is good. Work is picking up again. We've stopped by part member families and all. We went by this guy in the hospital, an elderly guy in extended care, and he can't talk to well. His mind is fine, but his body isn't so good. he can't speak too well, or move.
So yeah. My birthday's coming up in less than a week! Thats crazy!!! Almost 20. I already found someone who is gonna make a cake for me! i'm excited! WEll, life is going well, and i thank everyone for their love and support. You are all amazing and the best family anyone could ask for. I wonder if i requested you in the pre earth life...... hahaha Love you!
Elder Crippen