Weekly Update 5/25/15

This week Carter sent a few pictures along!

 Not sure if this is nearby his home or what, but it is sure pretty!

 Missionary Selfie! :)

A random turtle in a pond- I still find it funny that he went to a place that has them all over! #helovesturtles

Here's his weekly update:

             This was a good week. Elder Hamp and I worked pretty hard. I can't complain! Actually I'd have to say that I'm pretty happy! But not content. We keep progressing in this area. The area is doing well now. The goal for this next week is to have it doing great. That's the key is just continued progress every week. If we can manage that then we will do some amazing things! I'm very excited to see what the Lord has in store for me, Elder Hamp, and the Kissimmee north area of his vineyard!

             Well I guess as always I'll just mention some funny stories, and some way cool spiritual experiences, and other random and or dumb stuff that I feel so prompted to share! Hahaha so bare with me people! I may or may not say some pretty stupid stuff!! LOL!

              Well I guess the first experience is a funny one. We have some awesome investigators named the Rivera family. There are three members of the clan, Sally(mother), Angel(12), and Katiana(9). They are super awesome! Actually to start off I'll share the story of how we found these awesome people! This happened on May 9th, so a couple of weeks ago! Elder Hamp and I were going to visit a less active. Well they didn't live there anymore, but as we were waiting for someone to answer there is super loud Eminem music playing next door, the song was "Till I collapse" freaking great song!! So I was trying not to get all distracted. But no one answered the door we were at. So we started to walk away, and we thought let's knock on this other door, like why the heck not!?!? So we did..... No answer..... Did again..... Again no answer...... And awkwardly enough we tried again..... Finally Sally answered. Her crazy nephew had been playing the music! But she thought that she had heard the door, all the way in the back of the house, over the music! #spiritisrealpeople Then we started to teach them! And they love the gospel!! And they are getting baptized on June 9th!!

              So back to the funny part. The other day Elder Hamp and I had to teach the law of chastity lesson. Well for those of you that don't know, that's a very awkward lesson. Hahaha Well we had the task of trying to explain to these girls what it meant. Well Elder Hamp had the idea to use the analogy of sugar and lemons. Girls save up their sugar, and boys save up their lemons! Then when their married they make lemonade! Well that failed miserably..... They were super confused and thought that we couldn't have lemonade until we are married..... LOL.... So the next day we were talking again. And we were going over the Ten Commandments, specifically no adultery. Well Katiana expressed how deeply confused she was, thinking that she couldn't have lemonade! She was like "Elder Hamp talked about sugar and lemons and stuff and I just don't know what to think!!" I laughed pretty freaking hard! Haha So we just told her that when she was old enough her Mom would teach her! And that she could have lemonade! Hahaha Pretty funny!!! 

                So another crazy thing that happened, well this isn't that crazy, but I taught the gospel principals class. For those of you who no nothing of this, that's just Sunday school class. Well the lesson that I was told to teach on Saturday (day before) was on the organization of the church. Talk about the most boring lesson in the freaking hand book! Hahaha I was like GOT DANDRUFF!!!! Hahaha So I did a little studying and prayed real hard like. And well I did it! Haha Everyone said I did a very nice job, and that I made a boring lesson interesting! That's a great compliment in my book! Like I'll take it right!?!? Haha So that was exciting! I'm just glad the Lord used me to teach the lesson! That's super important! 

                 We had a pretty cool lesson with one of our investigators Erik. We've been teaching him for a little while now. Last week we had to teach him the law of chastity lesson. With his girlfriend present, who's not investigating the church..... #superawk.... Hahaha Well it went good I guess. But this week we got to meet with him again! It was a super good lesson. We were able just to sit down with him and he was able to express his feelings to us on how he felt about everything! We then just had a great talk with him! And told him that with the Lord he can do anything! It was awesome and super spiritual! I loved it! That's one of the best parts about being a missionary! Is just getting to know people, and what they care about and love! It's awesome, and a really cool experience for me. You get to learn from the good in people, and also see the very bad. It's a great reason to go on a mission cause you see what a truly good person is! And there is some out there! 

                   Well tonight an old lady in a nursing home said I was looking good and asked if I was retired. I think she thought I was someone else. Hahahaha It was pretty funny! Elder Hamp and I laughed about it! It's things like that, that help you get through the tough times in the week! But we had a great week this week. We are both pretty happy with how everything turned out! Now the key is like I said earlier is just improving! That's always easier said then done! Hahaha Well I hope all is well with all ya'll back in SLC! Thins are going well here in the FL! Have an amazing week ya'll! Can't wait to hear from yah!!

OUCH!!

This past Monday after emailing he went out with other Elders to play basketball and had a bit of an accident....

The poor guy sprained his ankle!! Thankfully it healed quickly and he is doing fine now! But it sure looked ugly!! And he is going to take it easy on the basketball for a bit so he doesn't re-injure it anytime soon! But I am sure he'll be back at it in no time! church ball is serious stuff! Haha!

A few recent pictures!

 Carter sent a couple pictures this week with his email. These first two are of the hot sauce challenge he wrote about earlier. It looks like it was pretty nasty!

 The next photo is of his area he is currently serving. transfers are coming up however, so this may change soon! We'll see!

 This last photo is of his companion Elder Hamp doing a shirt burning ceremony! Apparently it's a tradition in their area to burn a shirt on your 1 year anniversary! Pretty crazy but a fun idea! :)

Weekly Update 5/18/15

Weekly update. 

               Well this week has been nuts. Full of miracles, and funny moments, and more miracles. This has been one of the best weeks of my mission. The Lord truly blessed us a lot! We had 5 investigators come to sacrament meeting, which is the most I've had in a long while. Plus we found 10 new people to teach! We also had a great Zone Training Meeting! And I got a great package from back home!!  So shout out to my Mommy and family for the awesome package! Thanks guys!!! 

              So miracle for the week is this. On Tuesday we went to go visit a girl named Sally. We met her on Saturday. We weren't sure how solid she was, or if she was just gonna blow us off like a lot of people do these days. We went over there and she was there! She remembered our appointment and was super excited about it! We taught her, and she loved everything, the next day we were back over there teaching her kids! They are awesome! They are a whole family that lives over there! It's pretty awesome! We ended up teaching them three times, and now they have a baptismal date for the 30 of May! They are so excited! They already love the church! It was a super cool miracle for us, because we were really struggling trying to find solid people to teach, because everyone is just so flaky. So don't be flaky. Especially with missionaries. We HATE it. Goodness. 

             Funny moment. So on Saturday night there was a baptism. The Spanish sisters in our ward had a girl they had been teaching. Her name is Sam. She was getting baptized! She is super awesome! Well she chose me to be one of the speakers at her baptism. I'm not sure why cause I suck at speaking, but she chose me anyways!! Haha well apparently I gave a really good talk! It was great! I don't even remember much of what I said!! But I know I said everything that I wanted to say! Everyone said the spirit was strong. Which is super important! I'm thankful for that! Well so after that we all walked down the the baptismal font. Well as we had been talking and going through the program for the baptism, the font was leaking. So when they got there the thing was like halfway empty. So they went back into the other room, and had some girl sing, hahaha and they just had like a mini testimony meeting! Haha Meanwhile me, Elder Hamp, and Brother Hefner were filling up trash bags with water and dumping them in the font. HAHAHAHAHAHA it was freaking funny! We were in suits too! At one point a bag broke that I was carrying, and water went on the tile floor. And I looked at Elder Hamp and said "my water broke....." Lol I'm so funny. 

            So on Monday night after we had emailed and played basketball and stuff we decided to go knocking. Before we visited this guy named Gary. Well we knocked on 7 doors and found 5 people to teach! And taught 4 lessons. It was so awesome! Because usually on Monday night we don't do much teaching! It's just hard because everyone is in a bad mood, well because it's Monday. But it was a super awesome miracle that just happened before our eyes! After words Elder Hamp and I were like holy cow. What the freak just happened. And then we went home and crashed asleep! 

         Another funny story, so on Wednesday night we went to go visit this guy named Gary, I mentioned him before. He wasn't there on Monday! Well he was there on Wednesday! Well anyway, he plays the guitar and sings a little bit! He's not very good though. We asked him to sing to us. And he did. It was the most awkward thing ever. He turned on his karaoke machine, and started to go for it!!! Hahaha He just kept looking at us! I got serenaded my a 70 year old man, not totally sure how I feel about it. But it was pretty freaking funny none the less, he then gave us a copy of his CD. It is pretty funny! We both got one, Elder Hamp and I. So we've been listing to it. It's pretty funny, and pretty bad. 

             Well we had a killer week. Both numbers wise and spiritually. Elder Hamp said he thinks it's the best week he's had in his mission. I'm not sure if it is for me, but it's definitely up there! We just applied the things that we have been learning! Which is the key I guess! Haha I know we can do better. That's the other thing is to keep progressing! It's crazy to think that another transfer is almost over. The time is really starting to fly by really fast like!! It's kinda crazy! Thank you all for your support and your prayers! They really do mean the world to me, and the other missionaries as well! The prayers really do help! Haha Well until next week! Sorry if this isn't the grandest of my emails! But I'm trying! I hope ya'll have an absolute amazing week! #turtles!!! 

Love, Elder Carter Crismon!

Weekly Update 5/11/15

Weekly UpDatE....

           well this week has been a really good one actually. I have literally learned a ton about missionary work and life. With 2 exchanges, and a seventy in town you are bound to learn something at some point! And I guess there was just an outpouring of the spirit in my direction! Which I am very grateful for! I need to learn things, so I can be successful in life.

         Well the first thing I'd like to cover is the exchange I had with one of my zone leaders Elder Ashworth! He's from Alpine Utah and he is friends with Karson Liljenqiest.... My boiiiii! We get along really well! Elder Ashworth has only been out 6 weeks longer then I have, and he's super successful. I wanted to learn from him! And we were both very excited to be together! And boy did I learn! It was freaking awesome! We got some work done, and I learned how to properly plan for the week. I also learned some of his secrets to being a great missionary! We talked about a lot and how our missions will effect us in the future. He's a great man, and I have a ton of respect for him! I also consider him a good friend! He's pretty funny! 

        Well I have a new motto in life. "Happy Always, Content Never." I got this from Elder Clarke of the seventy! I love it! Cause it's what I am trying to become! I want to stay happy as I always am, but I also want to never ever be satisfied. I just want to be savage in life, and work my butt off to get the things that I want! The mission has taught me that this is very very important. There is a term in the mission, "savage missionary" which just means that he's willing to do anything to be successful and help these people. That's what I want to become, and I also just want to be savage in general! So I can be successful in life! Elder Clarke is the man! And I'm very grateful that I got to learn from him! I also said the closing prayer at our meeting with him! That was super nerve racking! Hahaha I didn't want to blow it! Haha 

        Well, funny story for the week. Honestly nothing to crazy funny happened this week! The week was a pretty serious one! Haha I guess on Wednesday when I was on exchanges with Elder Bravo we sang a bunch of Disney songs together in the car! Haha Now I do not like Disney, and before my mission I would stay very far away from it, unless it was Frozen. But hey I was singing all sorts of funny crap! Hahaha Like "I'll make a man out of you" from Mulan! Hahaha That was lots of fun! I love life! That's just the truth!! 

        Got to Skype home yesterday! That was great! It's always good to see my family! Love them very very much! I feel like an hour just isn't enough time! But hey it's good enough for me! Will is looking big finally! Hahahaha well I had a great week. The numbers are improving, and I'm improving. What else could you ask for!? For me I guess I could ask for a six pack! But I have to work for that I guess, one day! Hahaha 

          Well it was a good week, full of learning and spiritual experiences for me. I really enjoyed it. There is nothing better then serving the Lord out here in the mission field! I'm grateful for the chance and opportunity I have to be here in Florida! I love it here! Although it's starting to get hot, and I'm starting to see the craziest bugs I have ever seen in my entire life! But I guess I've gotta grow up and be a man about it! Well I wish you all the best of luck in this next week! I'll be praying for you! And I wanna tell you that I love yah! I would love to hear from you all though! So please hit me up! Hahaha in the mean time though y'all have a great week!!

Love, Elder Crismon!

Funny Video!

Carter sent this to us today along with the weekly update! A little missionary fun in the car! Hahaha!

Weekly Update 5/4/15

Weekly update!! 

             Hope everyone is doing good this week!! I am doing great! Loving life down here in the FL! Haha it's been a good week, lots of funny experiences, along with lots of very spiritual experiences! A good balance, which makes missionary work that much better! Things are rocking out here in Kissimmee!! 

              So the first funny experience that I'll share is we met this guy named Gary. Now Gary is probably like 60 years old! He said he's been all over the place, and that he's met with Mormons before! He thinks we aren't old people which is nice!! Haha any ways! Well he plays guitar! He used to be in a christian band, and he was a musical pastor! Haha That's just weird to me! So when he lived in south Florida, he used to play at a Baptist church. Well I guess this pastor at this church really wanted Gary to join! And Gary was not having it! So finally one day he said he would be baptized and join. Well they baptize by immersion. So Gary had the funny idea to take with him a block of dry ice into the pool where they were gonna baptize him! For those of you that don't know what dry ice is, and what it does in water, dry ice is frozen CO2, and when put in water it begins to bubble, and make fog. So when our friend Gary got into the pool it began to happen! And I guess when they pulled him up from the water, the whole church was gone!! Ha hahahahaha they thought he was possessed or something!! Pretty stinkin’ funny! But Gary agreed to meet with us again, and he's a great guy!! 

             Other good stuff that happened this week! Well we are still teaching this man named Erik! He is such a good guy! He's been going through a tough time! So we have been helping him! Well this last week he finally started to do the things we committed him to do (read the Book of Mormon, pray, etc.)!!! Which is a huge step in the right direction! We also had two killer lessons with him this week! The spirit was really really strong as we shared the story of Joseph Smith and the first vision again. This next week he's supposed to be coming to church and we are all very very excited about it! Erik is a good man! He's been through a lot, and really wants to change his life for the better! One of the best things about being a missionary is all the people you get to meet. You really meet a lot of really cool people! And as soon as you start to serve them, you just love them! Sometimes is easier to love some more than others, but eventually it comes! 

            Other funny stories, or story! So this week we (about 10 missionaries) went to this Mexican place! Yano I've come to learn that it's always the like hole in the wall places that are the best. But I think this place was the exception. It was a very nice restaurant! They were playing really awkward Mexican soap operas the whole time! But I got these tacos. And man let me tell you that they were the best tacos I've ever had..... Like holy cow!! I just sat there and chowed down the whole time! I was thinking of my boi Mack Richards who is in Mexico! I was like good for that guy, I could eat this every day! Haha but it was real good!! Haha

             So last night Elder Don R. Clarke of the first quorum of the seventy came in town! He's in town to do a mission tour! General authorities do this every so often to make sure we are doing our jobs right! Haha This will be the third seventy that I've met! Last night he gave a training to all of the ward councils on how to better use missionaries! Which was AWESOME!!! It was really cool, and we all learned a lot! Plus a lot of missionaries got to meet up! And we got to say hello to some old friends. Which was lots of fun too! 

           So one last crazy funny story! So Sunday morning I woke up and went to my closet and stuff. Well I was sitting in my chair, and I noticed something on the floor. I thought it was a frog at first. But I turned on the lights, and it was a huge cockroach...... I literally jumped. I freaking hate bugs! So I was like what the heck am I gonna do!? Then I saw my 50 lb kettle ball.... So I picked it up and squashed the sucker. Hahahahaha it felt amazing! They little feller was like a pancake after words!! Hahaha there is so many freaking bugs down here that I hate it! The Lord is really testing my courage! Cause that thing looked like it could have eaten me!!! But I got him!!

             Well that was my week in a nut shell! We just keep grinding out here! That's really the best way to put it. It's a grind, a constant one! But we are doing it for the right cause! We are out here doing Gods work, and changing lives for the better! That's the honest truth! Just about every morning I've woken up at 6 or 6:30 (sometimes we miss the alarm, or something happens) for the last 8 months and I plan on doing the same for the next 16!!! Crazy to think that I'm 1/3 of the way done. I will definitely say that time flies by, and sometimes way to fast. Cause I love being out here! It's a blast! Soon I'll be half way done, and then the next thing Yano I'm done! And I'll be back home!! But thank you all for you support and prayers! I really do feel them! And am very very thankful! On those days when it gets tough those are the things that help get me over the hump! I hope you all have an amazing week! Much love!!!