New Years week!

To who this may concern,

        What a week it's been! Lots of ups and some downs. It was the week of Christmas!! My second and last one in the mission field. That's a weird thought to have! This has been a week of reflection for me! Especially with transfers being tomorrow. We Also had another Baptism this week! WAHOOOOOOO!!!! So that's pretty cool! The Lord has truly blessed me with a lot of things this week! Of course the highlight was being able to talk with my family and close friends on Christmas! So I'll start into this week!

        For my last Christmas Eve in the mission field it sucked! Just a crappy day all around. We had a tough one with a lot of people canceling on us last minute. We had a good time with some members of the church, but when it came to missionary work it was few and far between. Then we received news that we had to travel all the way to Deland to deliver some packages to some missionaries! Which is fun getting to play Santa! But sadly we had to wait an hour for some missionaries because they just wouldn't answer their phones! It was a tad ridiculous. Border line disheartening. Plus other little things happened through out the day that only added to the poopy day! Haha Luckily the day passed, and Elder Egan and I identified things that we could have done better. So that day was soon
out of the way!

           Christmas itself was a much better day!! Well how could you have a bad Christmas? As a missionary the day is not much different other than recovering and opening presents! Plus we get to Skype! Elder Egan and I made it a good day! We had lots of fun making German pancakes in the morning and planning for the next week! Haha I got a lot of great gifts from home, and I'd like to thank all of those who sent me a gift! It truly made a missionary happy! Shout out to Tanner and Erika for sending me a dope tie... Anyways. Christmas was good plus the whole fam dam is doing good! Got to talk to others as well that made my Christmas just that much better! Wahoooooo!!

             Well on Sunday we had another baptism! His name was Zoobie. He's a great kid, he's 11 years of age. He's the son of one of my recent converts Brandi! He decided to follow the example of Jesus Christ and enter into the waters of baptism! An amazing outpouring of the spirit was felt by all who attended! Plus Elder Egan and I had the privilege of teaching the message of The restoration specifically the story of Joseph Smith! We got to teach what makes us the one and true church on the earth! There is no better feeling than that of testifying of the message of The restoration. I know it's true. The baptism went great and it was a great way to end my time in Daytona.

             That's right folks yah heard it here. Elder Carter Crismon received news on Saturday that he will be leaving his new home in Daytona and starting a new journey somewhere else. Daytona is where I have stayed the longest my whole mission. So it feels as though a part of my heart is staying here as I leave. I've made some life long friends and had the privilege of changing a lot of lives here! Honestly, my heart broke as I heard the news, I don't want to leave. I love the people here in Daytona, as crazy as they are. It feels as though I fit in. LOL Through it all I can proudly say with all my heart that I did everything I possibly could to help as many people as possible. I worked with all my heart here, and maybe that's why it's so hard to leave. I would ask for your prayers in my behalf as I begin a new journey somewhere else. I'm really nervous, and sad. Also optimistic about what the future holds for me. All God needs to do is give me the opportunity and I'll make the best of it!

                    Well folks that's the news for today! It was a good week overall! With all of the distractions and stuff Elder Egan and I still had a killer week! One thing I've learned is that dull or slow weeks are for dull or slow missionaries! We can truly make the best of any situation that we are put in. We need to be a creator of circumstances, not a creature of circumstances. That's the key to success in life, or at least that's what I feel! It's my goal to push forward these last 7 1/2 months with all of my heart, might, mind, and strength. That way I can look back with out regret and say to God the father of us all I did what thou as asked me to do. I will be praying for you all this week! I hope you guys had a good Christmas! I'm sure you all did! Don't be afraid to email me now, I know it's tough... but just push through! It'll make me real happy! Haha LOVES!!!!

Love, Elder Carter Crismon

P.S.- Shout out to Danielle Nowers!

A few Pictures....

 At last weeks baptism!

Christmas Week Pictures

I got these pictures later on Monday when we were emailing back and forth- I had to share!

 Sunrise on the beach- a favorite time of day!

 Companions and friends!

Christmas sweater fun!

Christmas Week Update!

Weekly up-date....

 Dear family and friends of Elder Crismon,

                      I hope all is well with you this Christmas season! What a wonderful week it has been with lots of cool revelation and miracles. Plus Christmas festivities, and gifts. Most of all I feel close to the Savior and know that this is His season! As for the missionary work side of things Elder Egan and I continue to work our little tails off! We both feel with all our hearts that this is the most effective we've ever been! That's exciting! We also have a baptism coming up this week! How cool is that? The Lord is just blessing us out here in the promised land of Daytona Beach, Florida,

USA 32119. So here we goooooo!!

                    So to start I'll tell of a funny story that happened. So this week we took out with us to teach a young teacher named Devondrick. We call him DD a.k.a. LeBron James. Hahaha He's a

great basketball player and we always give him crap! Well it was his first time out with the missionaries! So we prepared him and told him what was going to happen. He was excited, but nervous. He bore a powerful testimony of prayer, and how it's helped him through life! Anyways, afterwords we were driving through the ghetto of Daytona. And me being the spontaneous funny dude rolled down the window and yelled hey feller! Anyways this kid down the street hears me and thinks we are calling for him! So he starts to run, and we start freaking out cause this kid is running full speed at us in the ghetto! Haha Turns out he was 12 and that he thought we was yelling for him! Ahahahaha all is well....

                    So miracles happen out in the mission field just in case anyone was wondering. So Elder Egan and I on Sunday night were driving to an appointment. We then noticed that we had been driving on a low tank of gas and the light came on. So we're sitting at this light and we were like is it worth it to hit another appointment and have the chance of running out of gas? So we prayed and decided to go! #LFG We then had an absolutely amazing lesson with a less active member. We both felt the spirit very strongly. I felt inspired to talk about temples, which was weird because this guy hadn't been to church in a while, but the spirit was like "YOLO Ninja...." Or something like

that. So I followed faithfully and the lesson was KILLER!!! Wahoooooo!! We built a relationship and we both felt the spirit as well as the less active!

                    So this whole week Elder Egan and I have been having revelation come upon us. We've been studying and diligently seeking how we can improve. The Lord has been richly blessing us with

info for our good. We've seen first hand how we could improve! It's been cool and our companionship studies have been just inspiration stations. There is a quote on my wall that boldly states "Small Daily Improvements are the Key to Staggering Long Term Results." That's the plan and that's what we intend to do! It's been a good time! Elder Egan and I get along really well. It's because we both have a deep and strong desire to do what the Lord wants us to do. So that bonds us

together in a cause. Which in turn unites us and we've since become good friends. Plus we share an abiding love for Christmas. So that's good!

                 Speaking of Christmas our mission had its special Christmas Devotional this previous Friday! It's was loads of fun to see all the bros from different areas. The whole mission shows up for

that one. It's always nice to see my boi Elder Johnson. It's weird because exactly a year ago we were in that spot. We were chilling with our dude Elder brookston Jeppson! #ShoutOut It's weird to think we've made it this far. I only have 8 months left on this sojourn in the wilderness of Florida. What an adventure it's been. I'm not done yet though. Still have plenty of work to do here in the land of the gators and humidity.

                 I would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas. There's no snow here in Florida so that makes it weird. Enjoy it back there for me. I hope we all can remember the true reason for this

joyous season. The Lord Jesus Christ, we celebrate his birth. We celebrate the gift of victory, of hope, and of peace. With the angels on that first Christmas night I sing "Glory to God the highest, peace

on Earth, and good will to men!!" I'm grateful for my mission and the chance I have to represent Jesus Christ. He's the man. Hahaha I know that he lives and that he has once again established his true church once again on the earth! This is it! I'll be praying for all of you this week! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! WAHOOOOOOO!!!!

Love, Elder Carter Crismon

Weekly Update 12/14/2015

Hey there little fellers who I call family and friends!

                            Well I had another pretty good week out here Deland/Daytona! It was a packed week full of lesson, a DM people, ZTM, and calls and other random stuff. I'm pretty happy with the
effort I put forth and that Elder Egan and I put forth! Last night I felt the confirming witness from the spirit that Heavenly Father was pleased with my efforts. Something I feel most weeks from him. Lately I've been feeling it more and more. Here are some of the weeks highlights.

                             Well the first thing that comes to mind is our Zone Training Meeting that we had on this previous Thursday! The week before we had MLC. The purpose of ZTM is to take what we
learned at MLC and teach it to everyone else. This focus was on two things 1.) 5 questions that we as missionaries can ask ourselves to help make our work better. And 2.) How are we supposed to feel during our mission and during teaching and stuff. With a focus on how the investigator must feel as well. President Berry came to our ZTM. We were pumped afterwords. Elder Egan and I we super excited to help train our missionaries on how to be better teachers and feel the spirit more. My training was focused on Getting members out to lessons and other little things that we could do to be better. The plan was to pound the pulpit, and I did! President Berry even came up afterwords and said I delivered a great training. Peeps are telling me I should be a motivational speaker. Maybe that's what I'll do Andee! Haha it was a great ZTM and it left us excited for the rest of the week!

                           So on Saturday night I got a letter from the mission office! In the letter I was  informed that my departure date has been moved up from September 14th to August 17th! WHAT THE HECK!!!?!?!?!?!,!,!, I guess president Berry feels it's important for me to attend college in the fall of the 2016 semester. So I'm going home a whole month early in order to make it. That's kinda sad because I really don't want to go home that early. I love being a missionary, but I guess college is important too. So if any of you have suggestions on where I should go to college please inform me! Cause I'm still searching! Hahaha

                            So cool miracle that happened this week! Last Saturday Elder Cook and I found a cool investigator named Devonte! Not sure if I mentioned him before. Well we've met with him a
couple of times this week. It's miraculous how fast he is progressing. We set a baptismal date with him for the 14th of February, but it seems that he will beat that date! Each time we go over there
he tells us of his reading in the Book of Mormon. Yesterday we had him pray for us, and he agreed to for the first time. It was amazing to listen to him pray. You could tell that he was speaking with his
father in heaven. Just like we all should, he spoke to him like he was right there! I loved every minute of it. The spirit was felt by all those who were present! I'm grateful that Heavenly Father puts me into
positions like this to bless those that he is preparing! Lately he has been putting more and more of them into our path. It clicked in my mind that the more obedient we are as missionaries, and the more we follow preach my gospel, the more likely he'll bless us with more people. I knew that before but now I have a testimony of it.

                           Well this church is true, don't really to say much more. No sugar coating this time around! I'm thankful for all the prayers put up in my behalf! Like One of our converts Mrs, Jackson
said "When praises go up, blessings come down!" That's true and I'm grateful for the prayers thrown up for me! I really do feel them and their power. Know that I pray for you guys back home. Turns out I'll be returning earlier then expected. Not by my choice though. Maybe I'll convince president to let me stay longer! Hahaha I hope you all have an absolutely amazing week! LOVES!!❤️❤️

Love, Elder Crismon

 A new haircut selfie! This was NEEDED! :)

 A giant cookie he made! Haha!

 The Nativity on the wall was in the box we sent him! It's a cool foil wall sticker! :)

 They also used the lights etc to decorate their study room a bit! it sure looks festive!

Weekly Update 12/7/15

Weekly update,

                              Well what an absolutely amazing week! Elder Egan and I just went absolutely hambone and got some great work done. This has been the best week for missionary work that I have ever had. Through out the week we continued to see cool miracles and it all culminated in the confirmation of one of my converts. Heavenly Father has been so merciful to me in this area. I wish to express my gratitude to him for the things he has blessed me with, for without him none of this is possible. I'm his servant, and I only wish to do his will! Anyways here's the week!

                             Well miracles. Here's the first one that happened, on Thursday Elder Egan and I were standing in the parking lot with one of our remembers DJ. I love that man, anyways we were

just chatting and talking about life. Suddenly a woman drove into the parking lot and was just staring at the church! So we went over there and started talking to her! Suddenly we taught The restoration, and she had committed to come to church and read the Book of Mormon! The best part is she came to church yesterday. We taught her after words and we committed her to a baptismal date. We are so very excited for her. The Lord just dropped her into our hands. One of our converts Brandi had been helping to prepare her and know she's moving forward to baptism!

                            Alright the second miracle. So I was on exchanges with one our district leaders Elder Coon! He's the man, and we've gone on an exchange before way back when I was in Cocoa and

Training Elder Willard! Anyways! We had some time and we needed to find. So I pulled out a map on me iPad and mapped out who we could see. So the first person that we saw was a less active. Well someone answered the door and he wasn't the guy we were looking for. Anyways turns out that he had met with missionaries before! So we taught him on the spot, and set up an appointment for the next day! So we go over, and we had a killer lesson and set another Baptismal date! It was so amazing! The Lord is really blessing us here in Daytona. That I'm grateful for!

                           Other fun things that happened well I went on two exchanges this week! The first one was in a Spanish area. I don't speak a lick of Spanish, but I was able to contribute to everything! I was with Elder Harrison a.k.a. "The Peach" because he's from Georgia! We had a grand time, he's the district leader down in the south part of the Zone. He's only been out for 4 months so we talked about a lot! Then on Saturday I went on an exchange with Elder Coon as previously mentioned! We had a good time as well! He's another one of the DL's that we have. He's a great guy, and we had fun

reminiscing on the good old times back in Cocoa 11 months ago! Time is flying by!

                            This week we also had MLC again. Those are always just such a blast because you get to see all your buddies from around the mish! I got to see Elders Johnson, Doman, Chidester,

Pututau, Ashworth, Langston, and some others. Including my boy President Berry! It's always a good Time, and we learned a lot of cool things! It's so weird to sit next to my great friend Elder Johnson. It

only seems a few short months ago that were joked about going to the same mission. Now we are both leaders in the Same one! It's weird how the Lord works like that!

                             Well it was an amazing week, filled with lots of other amazing miracles for which I didn't have space to mention. Elder Egan and I are really killing it here in Daytona. We are producing Quality and Quantity. Yesterday I was able to Witness and be a part of Doug's confirmation into the Church of Jesus Christ. That is when he officially receives the gift of the Holy Ghost! It was so awesome. Again those are the moments that make the hard work and dedication all worth it! I know that God loves and cares deeply about each of us. He is always there and here's and answers our prayers in love! He Sent his Beloved Son, even Jesus Christ to suffer and die for us. This Christmas Season I invite all of you to put Christ Back into Christmas! For he is the reason for the Season! Thank you all for your prayers and love. It means to world to me! Have an amazing week!

LOVES!!!

Love, 

Elder Carter Crismon

This is a picture from Doug's baptism last week!