Terra Vermelha 17 de Novembro 2014

Family and Friends,

     The first week in a new area always seems longer, and it seems like forever since I´ve heared from home.

     I´ve been transfered to the Vila Velha zone (everyone´s favorite zone in the mission, and I don´t mean that sarcastically.) serving with Elder F. Lima (I know, another Elder Lima. I think I´ll give my first son the middle name Lima.) in Terra Vermelha. It´s a growing branch right next to the ocean. But really, you can see the ocean from our balcony. Any time we have to catch the bus we get to see some pretty incredible views. The branch members are really animated, and I can tell it´s going to be a great transfer! Yestrday, we managed to bring 17 year old Scarlet to church, and we found a man named Marcos who was contacted by the missionaries 15 years ago in Vitória, but disappeared. 

     My studies have ended up on the topic of humility a lot these days. I always thought the first step to spiritual development was faith, but in studying this week, I learned that the first element for spiritual growth is actually humility, and to have something as basic and simple as even faith, we have to first humble ourselves to beleive and act in Christ, accept the words of the prophets, repent, and so on and so forth. It´s through humility that God prepares the hearts of men to receive His word and be converted. Whether men will humble themselves or be compelled by God to be humble is up to the individual. Alma teaches us, ``...Blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God (...) without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe.´´ [Alma 32:16]

     I´ve been compelled many many times on my mission to be humble. and I know it´s because the Lord loves me and wants me to have humility that I might grow. However, I know it would have been better to learn from others and humble myself instead of waiting for the Lord to compel me. That´s what I´m trying to apply in my work now. I invite you all to apply it, too! Love you all and see you soon!

love,

Elder Crapo

Leaving Home 10 de Novembro 2014

Family and Friends,

     A lot of the same feelings I felt as I left home 19 months ago, and as I left Texas are being felt again this week. I'm being transferred tomorrow after 6 months in one of the greatest areas with one of the greatest Elders in this mission. I have a lot of mixed feelings. I really want to go and meet new people and see new places, but this area has been so good for me, so it's strange to leave. We'll see how things will turn out tomorrow at the transfer meeting.

     Unfortunately, this week all three of our baptismal dates fell through, and we were informed that the bishop (who owns the house we live in) will be asking for the house because his daughter will get married soon, and will move in. We did find a decent house to rent, though. Right next to a member who is like a mom to all the missionaries who pass through. We'll go close the contract today to have everything all ready for the new missionaries, because all four of us were transferred!

      In other news, after several months of pestering, begging, pleading, and crying, we finally went to see the national park here in Vitória: A Fonte Grande. I took lots of pictures, and I'm really sorry that my camera doesn't do justice to the view we had. We saw all of Grande Vitória from the top of the highest mountain on the island. It was so beautiful, I felt like it wasn't even real. Anyway, I'll send the pictures. Have a great week, love you, and see you soon!

Elder Crapo

 

Raining Surprises!

Family and Friends,

     Truly, it has been an very eventful week. We got rained out again on Thursday, and we had to walk home at night with water up to our knees, and the water that entered in through the back door was fun to clean up. Luckily the flooding didn't ruin anything...just annoying. Halloween was good, thanks to Elder Capawana's mom who sent waffle mix, maple syrup, candy corn, brownies, peanut butter, and other american goods last week. We had waffles for breakfast, and then at night, we made brownines with white chocolate chips and ate come candy. Other than that, it was a normal day.

     Three big miracles happened this week: One man named Tiago asked us more about our beliefs after overhearing a doctrinal conversation my compánion and I were having on the street, and another woman searched us out through her recent-convert sister, and told us, `` I intend to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ, what do I have to do to make this happen?´´ Her name is Marina, and she came to church by herself yesterday!

     We also passed by Eva and her husband, Fidelcino's house yesterday to take them to church, and they were all ready and said that they had been waiting for us to show up! They said that they loved church, and intend to visit again next week.

     I hope y'all are well, and that you have a great week. Love you tons, and see you soon!

carinhosamente,

Elder Crapo

27 de Outubro, 2014

Bom dia, meus queridos!

     Estava pensando muito esta semana, e eu acho que seria melhor se todos vocês aprendessem português, pois não falo mais inglês!

      No, just kidding, but really. Life would be so much easier if the whole world spoke the same language. 

     We´ve had a great week. Unfortunately, every time we went to visit Bruna and her family this week, Bruna wasn´t home, and they didn´t make it to church yesterday. Hopefully we´ll have better luck this week. However, we found another family of 7. The grandmother, Zuma, really has all the right questions and is loving finally getting some answers to those questions. She had a doctor´s appointment scheduled the same time as church yesterday, so she´ll take her family to make a visit at church this week.

     We had an interesting experience the other day as we were leaving from a lesson. We were proselyting in an area a little more...shady. As we were stepping out the door, we heared a ``pssst´´ from the other side of the alley, and I turned to see a police women flanked by two or three other police officers with a gun pointed right at us. She motioned for us to get out of the way, and we hopped back into the house and waited for them to stop looking for where the drugs were hidden. They didn´t find anything, but I guess there´s been some drug traffic reports. Oh the joy. I find it a little funny that wherever the missionaries are working, the police are usually working there, too.

     We are also getting swamped and flooded by rain. November and December are usually the rainiest months here, but I guess nature decided to get a good head start this week. We weren´t expecting this yesterday, and made the mistake of leaving home without umbrellas. You probably can imagine how we ended up.

     I hope you all are well and more dry than we are! Have a great week, love you and see you soon!

Elder Crapo

Miracles

Dear family and friends,

     We've had a really great and humbling week! We were called to the mission office to have our interviews with President Young, and it was really good to talk about everything that's going on in the mission, with the family and receive a confirmation that he's really pleased with the work we're doing. We also found an awesome family of three: Camila (11), Pedro (12), and their mom, Bruna. They accepted us at home so willingly and understood everything so clearly, and they'll make a visit to church on Sunday. The spirit was really strong in that first lesson, and we feel pretty confident that they'll join the church soon.

     We had ward conference yesterday, and we had about 280 people all crammed in our little chapel, but the spirit was definitely present. Our work now is visiting all the friends the members brought! We also were asked to give a blessing to a little girl who had been having abdominal pains since the day before. Her mom asked us to bless her that the pains would pass so that they could watch the rest of the conference without having to go home. After the conference, we asked the girl how she was feeling, and she said that she was all better! 

     Finally, yesterday we held the baptismal service of Renan! His sister, Ayla, didn't want to go through with her's yet, but we'll keep working with her. We actually had four baptisms in the ward, and it was cool so many people dressed in white. I sang ``If the Savior stood beside me´´ in Portuguese with two other members, and it was a really nice meeting. 

     Other than that, we're still running as usual. Summer really is starting to hit hard and we've had some really hot days, so we can't manage to sleep with the covers any more. I hope you all have a fantastic week! Love you, and see you soon!

Elder Crapo

13 de Outubro 2014

Family and Friends,

     We had an awesome, long, interesting week. We managed to get in and teach Renan and his mom, Sandra, and his 15 year old sister, Ayla. Sandra has already received the missionaries, and is fully supportive of her kid's involvement in the church, but for now is a little hesitant to make any personal commitments. Renan and Ayla are super intelligent, and remember everything we teach. Both were at church yesterday, and are already well integrated with the rest of the ward. We scheduled their baptisms for this weekend. So far so good! Wahoo!

     We also found a lady who met with the missionaries on the street 5 years ago, but for some reason they never showed up at her home. She invited us to stop by on Saturday to share our message, and it was a little difficult to find her house, but we managed. She responded really well to the Restoration, and accepted a baptismal invitation. She's only free on Saturdays and Sundays (this sunday, she already had another commitment, so she'll come to visit us at church next week) so we're anxious for next Saturday to see how things are going.

     Our new District Leader, Elder Capawana, had an infected ingrown toenail, so I went with him to the urgent care center on Friday. I don't know if you remember the last time I was in a Brazilian hospital, but this time wasn't much better. Gratefully, we managed to get the surgery done with, and now he's on to recovery.

     That's all the news for this week. I love you all and hope your well. See you soon!

Elder Crapo

6 de outubro 2014

Family and Friends,

     We had a really great week! Tuesday, we said goodbye to Elders S. Costa and Pinargote and said hello to Elder Capawana (from Idaho) and Elder Urzua (from Santiago, Chile). It's been a little interesting getting used to one another, especially since it's been about 5 months since the last time the scenery changed here, but we get along fine so far, and I can tell it's going to be a great transfer.

     We're still working with Nilesley, and his mom said he'd go to visit his dad this week to talk to him about the baptism. We know he's ready, and we've set a goal to hold his baptism on Sunday. Hopefully all goes well. We also held a family home evening at a less active family's home which went really well. I gave a message about unity and teamwork, and many of the things I said were also said by Boyd K. Packer (I think it was Boyd K. Packer) in conference this week, so that was neat. 

     Speaking of conference, we absolutely loved it! I found it really great to hear everyone speak in their native tongue, especially when they announced that Elder Carlos A. Godoy would speak in Portuguese. Not only was it cool to hear him speak and to understand every word, but his message really was something I needed to hear and that I had been praying for. Among my other favorite talks were from Cheryl A. Esplin and D. Todd Christofferson in the Saturday morning session, President Monson in the Sunday morning session, and Elder M. Russell Ballard in the Saturday afternoon session. Above all, though, I loved Carlos A. Godoy's talk. Unfortunately, we didn't catch the Saturday afternoon or the priesthood sessions. Overall, it was a great conference, and I'm anxious for the next one in April.

     That's the wrap for this week. Stay well! Love you all and see you soon!

Elder Crapo