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!!!

Weekly Update 4/27/15

Weekly update......

          So this week has been a good one to say the least!! A lot of funny, and weird things have happened. Hahahah and also a lot of really spiritual experiences as well. That's just how the mission goes I guess!! 

          So to start! On Saturday we had a pretty full Day! In the morning we had a service project for the local YMCA!!! So that's pretty cool!! Haha it was fun! We did a lot of handing out flyers and putting up tents and stuff. But anyways after that me and Elder Hamp had some work to do! We decided to bike though! The ride was gonna be about 14 mile on round trip, plus whatever else we choose to ride. Well we rode down there, and taught a lesson to a recent convert! Then after that we decided to knock about 100 doors..... Lol! That was lots of fun! Amy ways so we walked back to our bikes in the park. This park is a pretty nice ones, there is always lots of people there! We always lock up our bikes and no one messes with them. But as we got back we realized that some one had let all of the air out of my tire..... Like what the freak. We had at least 7 more miles to bike!! So that wasn't happening! We had to call another set of missionaries to come bail us out! Hahaha but as we were waiting a cool miracle happened. While we were waiting in our slight humiliation slash humor a man walked up to us. His name was Raphael. He didn't speak very good English, but just good enough! He offered us pizza and soda. Well we taught him right there. It was super awesome! It was inspiring to see how the Lord worked through us to touch the heart of one of his children! We referred him to Spanish elders! So we'll see what happens to him!!

          So time for a funny story. A few weeks back Elder Hamp and I observed that Elder Johnson had been knocking out lizards with nerf guns. So we really wanted to try this. But we just hadn't had the time of day to this point. Well finally we got a hold of a nerf gun. We were pretty pumped and excited to see what fruits it would bring forth. We were thinking maybe even another prank coming up soon!! Hahaha so we ventured out into the hot sun, with a 5 dollar nerf gun.... Well we tried a couple of times and missed. Well finally we had one, right there waiting. And Elder Hamp hit him once, and he just looked at him! Then Elder Hamp reloaded, and hit him in the head. Immediately the little guy rolled over and started to shake violently.... And died..... We look at each other totally and completely horrified....it was our last thought to think that we would actually kill the guy! We felt totally horrible! So we took him in, and waited to see if he would come back. But he never did. We named the guy Patches. He was a good tough little feller. He went to the grave fighting, and he will never be forgotten.....

          Other crazy things happened as well. It was a good week, we worked really hard as well and hit a couple of our goals. Which I'm pretty happy with!! So for all of you that think I have no money skillz, here's a news flash.... I'm budgeting!! Hahaha I be writing stuff down and trying to manage my mula! Which is a good life skill to have in the future!! Haha also I had the best guacamole of my freaking life at this Mexican restaurant place. It looks like a hole in the wall, but it has the real authentic Mexican food! #mackrichards thought of that guy the whole time! This awesome Ward family took us there! Good stuff! Any ways! I got a weight loss plan as well, I guess things are going pretty well for good ol Elder Crismon here in Florida! Can't really complain all that much! I've lost 3 pounds this last week. Pretty happy with that! 

         Last miracle. So earlier this week, we were going to see a new investigator that we had planned on stopping by. We went there, as it turns out he wasn't home, but his older sister was! We started to talk to her! She had just as many if not more questions then her brother! Haha we sat down and taught her! She loved what we told her, and she became a new gator! We also taught her as it was raining, so that was a cool tender mercy, because once we finished it stopped! Hahaha that was on Wednesday! 

                   Well that was my week in a nutshell! Hopefully it was up to your expectations! I know that it was a good week for me and Hamp. We worked hard and got lost in the work. Our numbers were pretty good, so that's good as well. We just keep slowly progressing, as long as it's steps in the right direction! Thank you for all of you who sent me stuff this week! Shouts out to Erika and Tanner, and my Grand parents! Also shouts out to Rachel, Kamiel, Mckell, and Sierra!! Hahaha but you are all awesome! Thank you for your support! Have an amazing week!! 

Love, Elder Crismon!!

A few pictures...

 There's nothing better than receiving pictures from people via text! It's not only fun to SEE him but great to know that people are taking great care of him! :)

Weekly Update 4/20/15

WeekLy uPdaTe......... 

           Whuttt is up y'all!! It has been a good week! I must thank all of you who sent me a birthday wish the day of, and the day before! You really did make my day!! I'm very grateful for all of you!! Also all of you that sent me packages! Goodness made me so happy!! Tuesday or the day of my birthday was lots of fun! Nothing too crazy happened! We went to lunch with Elder Bravo and his companion Elder Perkins because it was Bravos birthday as well!! We then went and visited some people! We didn't have a dinner or anything. But it was still a pretty good day! It was funny because honestly it doesn't, or it didn't, feel like my birthday! Haha but I still had a good day! I don't feel 19 yet, matter of fact I still feel 12.... LoL

          On Thursday I went on exchanges with Elder Bravo! That was lots of fun! He and his companion work in the YSA wards. Which is the young single adults between 18-30. So that was solo fun! We taught and met some really awesome people! We had breakfast that morning prepared by a couple of college students who work for Disney, they are chefs in one of the really nice restaurants in Disney world. It was soooo good, they made breakfast sandwiches! Freaking awesome! Then later on we went to Chilis! That was pretty good! Elder Bravo and I had a lot of fun! He's a good missionary! There was also a awesome thunderstorm. I love thunderstorms! There were a couple this week! Like almost one every day! We have a cool weather app, so I love watching the weather patterns! I guess during the summer it rains everyday like clockwork! It just gets so hot, and since the ocean is right there, storms just appear everyday! But any who! I had a good birthday!

            The rest of the week wasn't to eventful. On Wednesday we had district meeting! That was lots of fun! I gave another training on extending commitments. Which I was very grateful for the opportunity to give! I learned a lot! And the zone leaders said it was a good training! That's good! Also all of the missionaries in our little area have been playing this game called what are the odds? Basically one missionary asks the other what are the odds that you.... And challenges him to do something! The other missionary says the odds are 1 out of 5. Then on the count of three both missionaries say a number between 1 and 5. If they say the same number, then the missionary who was challenged has to do it. If they guess the wrong number then nothing happens. Well I got challenged to drink two tablespoons of hot sauce. Well I lost. So on Wednesday after district meeting I had to drink some..... Elder Radigan, the man who challenged me to do it, got the hottest sauce at this burrito place.... Any ways it was made with some super hottttttt peppers. Like goodness! It claimed to have been made with the hottest pepper in the world.... I died. Holy cow my mouth was on fire! The stuff smelt hot. Gooodddddnnnnnessss hahaha I'll send some pics soon.

           Our baptism for Saturday was canceled. We are actually thinking we are gonna have to drop her. We don't know what happened, but she just doesn't feel like getting baptized. She knows that the Book of Mormon is true, and that the church is true. She just doesn't want to get baptized. It's really sad, and me and Elder Hamp are just confused. We honestly don't know where to go! She's been going to another church, but she hasn't gone in a while. That's probably it. But we just don't know what to do. It sucks. oh well!!

            Well Sunday was a good day!! Guess whattttt????????????? I gave a freaking talk! Hahahahaha how about that! The first talk I've given in my mission! I had to talk about prophets.  Holy guacamole was I nervous! Hahahah it's pretty nerve racking to speak. Because well, it just is! I was notified about two days prior. So I did my best to prepare! I was literally almost shaking before hand. I was praying so hard that the Lord would send his spirit to "give me utterance" as the scriptures say! I just chose to have faith in the Lord! Literally taking a leap of faith. Well it worked!! I spoke for 15 minutes, and I really don't remember a thing that I said. I probably couldn't do it again either! It was absolutely nuts! Like goodness! Everyone said it was really well done! And the member of the bishopric who asked me to speak thanked me for it, and said it was very well done! Hahahahaha WHAT A RELIEF!!!!!!!!!! You see the Lord does answer prayers! 

            It's been a good week over all, this was the last week of the transfer! On Saturday we got a call from the zone leaders. And well both of us are staying!! Yay!! One more transfer with Elder Hamp!! I'm freaking excited!! We had a great talk on Sunday. We are really kinda bonding! So that's pretty awesome! Hahaha well I'm very very thankful for all of you who have emailed me and written me!! It means so much! Every letter, and email truly helps me get through those tough days. I'm gonna be doing my best to write you all!! Thank you so much!! I hope you all have an amazing week!! I'll keep praying for you all!!

             Op! Almost forgot to mention, that on my birthday Elder Hamp gave me the funniest present! Well first he gave me this book he doesn't read called "the little missionaries book of answers" basically whenever someone reads Anti-Mormon material that book has an answer for it! I love it! But he had these popper things too. Yano those ones with the string, and you pull it and it pops and confetti flies everywhere! Hahah Well he had like 20 of those things for some reason! And he popped one every hour of the day on my bday! Hahahahaha every time it scared the crap outta me! Hahaha it was pretty freaking hilarious!!! Any who! That's all have a good week!! 

Elder Crismon