Elder Collins

"No its not wheres the snow?" Well i wont lie. We had 2 weddings and 4 baptisms this week! Finally! my work from the whole month came through! it was a happy feeling. The weddings were awesome the Poblete family´s wedding and baptism was a little more special for me. This family is way cool. The dad is really excited about everything and grateful too. The day of their wedding his family threw him a party and i was worried he wouldnt be tempted to drink and to smoke. We went to check on him to make sure everything was ok and while his whole family were there drinking and smoking he and his wife were just off to the side. When we got there he got so happy and was like collins collins i havent drank anything or smoked like you told me! I was so happy, he has a lot of desire to learn more and become better. The other day when we visited his house we caught him reading the book of Mormon. When i was confirming the Holy Ghost with him i felt the spirit really strong. i was a happy camper. Well hope you all had a great thanksgiving, it was just a normal day for me. I really forgot it was thanksgiving after we ate breakfast because their wasnt any cinamon rolls. I feel stressed today because its transfers that and the the fact that im already working like crazy to find more familys again. We still dont know the changes and i wont know anything until 11. Well i love you all and hope all is well. Love reg

Elder Crump

Wow.  That is really about all I can say for this week...wow.  It was AMAZING!!!!  Seriously it truly was so awesome!!  We married a family!!!!  It was a LOT of work, but everything all worked out!!!  So everything was going all good, we had hired the mayor of Moyobamba to come to Tarpoto to do the wedding.  Because if we do it all in the city hall, its a lot more paper work, and we have to wait like a month.  So lucky us we have a member who is the mayor, but he lives in a city about 3 hours away... so we had to pay him to come.  So everything was going great, so we got to the chapel early to get everything all set up, and then 10 am came around, and the mayor, the members, and the family wasnt even there!!! It got to be about 1030 and we were getting nervous!  It was only my comp and me our pensionista, our ward mission leader, and the elders quorm president!  So i took a moto taxi to their house, and they were still getting ready!! I was like come on we can finish in the church!!  They didnt even have clothes for their wedding!  A lady lent her dress for the bride, and the groom is wearing my shirt, and my tie!! haha  But anyway, we all got to the church, and members started to show up, but still no MAYOR!!!!  I was nervous because he was about 2 hours late!!!  And he didn't want to answer his phone!! Boy it was stressful, because at about 1;30 we needed to leave the church becuase there was a big activity for the relief society!!!  So finally at about 12 30 the mayor showed up!  Haha, I had to hold my comp back, he wanted to say some words but i covered his mouth! haha but it was all good the wedding turned out great!!!  They were so happy!!!  And their kids too!!!  So  then later that night we Baptized them!! I baptized mariela, and my comp baptized jorge, the single dad!  So in this night we baptized 2 families!!!  And this friday were going to baptize diogo, and another kid named alex!  So if everything goes all good, this month we will baptize 5 people with 3 families!!!!!!!!  Im so excited!!! 

 

So as you might of guessed, im tired... haha seriously this week was one of the most stressful, but amazing weeks!  We are happy, but a little sad, because in our zone this week 7 baptisms fell through.... the elders are great, but they just need to verify with their investigators better.  It was sad, but it taught them a good lesson, that they need to work work work, and always verify with them!! 

 

Family, thanksgiving was so great! We went to this 5 star hotel in the middle of the jungle, Named the Rio Shilcayo, Hotel.  It was awesome!! He was there with one of his sons and their grandkids!  It was an anwesome thanksgiving!  Family,  Im so grateful for you all.  You are the greatest family ever, and I love you all so so much!  Being away is hard, but im not going to lie, baptizing families, and helping them enter into the kingdom of God makes it all worth it! I cant say it enough, but I LOVE BEING HERE!!  Its a whole other world, but i love it! 

 

Sorry I still dont know much about christmas, and still no packages!!!  But ill keep a look out!!

I love you all so so much!! Thank you so so much for all you do!

Have a good week,  And i ll try to send pictures!!!

 

All my Love,

ELDER NICOLAS COLLINS CRUMP

Elder Collins

Well hey there family. So this week was just a normal week. Still just doing stuff to find teach, marry and baptize some people. We had conference with president this week. Our whole zone had matching ties, it was super cute! haha. We learned a lot about how to find new investigators through less active people and new converts. President talked about the new announcement about the age of missionarys. It was way good!! He talked about how every nation in every language is supposed to hear the gospel in order for Christ to come. He explained that this couldnt be fufilled before because of the lack of missionarys and missionary tools. He said he believed that when president monson announced the new age it will be known as the "announcement" when the prophet is saying the Lord is preparing his kingdom more than ever to come! It was awesome and i havent felt the spirit that strong in a long time! Well nothing else is new its the last week before the changes. Pray for me this week that everything works out for transfers! i love you all. Happy Thanksgiving im grateful for all of you! love reg

Elder Crump

Well Family and Friends how is everyone doing?  I hope all is going great!  So first off.....HOLY COW SO MANY GIRLS ARE GOING TO BE MISSIONARIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Wow that blows my mind how many of my friends are going out!! How great is that! Look at how much the missionary work has progressed!!  We have been told that this next year in January to March we will get like 70 Sister missionaries!!!!!!!!!!!!  So every zone will have like 6 to 8 sisters, and our zone will problably have more because in the past Tarapoto at one point had 12 sisters!!!  Oh boy im nervous to be a zone leader to 19 year old sister missionaries! haha no it will be good! 

 

So to answer your question about thanksgiving, mom, dad you know how much i love to eat, so you know that i have been praying for a miracle, because its true here in Peru there is no thanksgiving...but my prayers have been answered, we just recieved a email from president Blunck that he is coming here to Tarapoto Thanksgiving day to invite our zone to dinner!!! WERE GOING TO HAVE THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Wow im so excited!!!  Of all the zones he picked ours!!!!!!! 

 

So everything is going great with our investigators.  We baptized Maria, that single mom!!!  It was awesome!! She has come such a long way!!  She has been in contact with the missionaries for 4 YEARS!!!! Yeah talk about an eternal investigator!!!  But the difference was 4 years ago they invited her to be baptized, but she was always working and could never come to church... so the missionaries just kind of gave up on her and just keep kind of visiting her.  So when i got here, we went to here house, told her that if she changed her work, and was able to come to church she would see the blessings Heavenly Father has for her, and then we invited her to be baptized!!  And she did it! She asked to change her work hours, she attended church, and a month later she got baptized!!!  It was so awesome!!  All she needed was to be pushed just a little, but with a promise from God, all will be well.  And with her faith that she had, she got that promise, and she has never been so happy!!  Her daughter Alexa, we need to wait for more time, her dad who lives in another city wont give her permission!!! 

 

So We are preparing Diogo, Jorge, and are you ready......ANOTHER FAMILY!!!  But not only for their baptism, but we are getting them married!!!  This weekend!! Were going to have their wedding in the morning, and then at night were going to baptize The wife, Mariella.  Her Boyfriend is a Member!!  Were so excited!!! Were going to be baptizing 3 families this month!!!  Im so happy!!  but this past week has been even crazier than the last one!  So to marry people here in Peru, is like a big stress case!  First off we have to get their ID from the couple, then we have to send copies to the city where they were born, to get their birth certificate!  But oh wait were in the Jungle, and everyone is from little villages in Iquitos!!  So we have to send members to go find their little island in a boat, and they have to get all their paper work for us!  Then we have to do all their paper work like 2 weeks in advance, and they have to fill out medical forms, proof that they are single, and all that jazz.  So we have been calling all over Peru looking for the paper work, but not only for our couple, but 3 others as well!!  Its been a nutcase!! but i love it! If all goes well we will be baptizing families, and later they can be sealed in the temple for all time and eternity!!!  Wow, the mission is nothing like I thought!!  It so much better!!

 

Dad good luck in your surgery! I hope,and pray all goes well and you will recover fast!!!  I love you!!!!!

 

So what more is going on here.....oh i got proposed to last night by this super crazy lady..... she wouldn't let go of my hand!!  It was intense, but I was looking around where is my pensionista with a bucket of water when I need her!! haha

 

So that is so awesome about Korban!!! Im so excited for him!!  Did he get my letter, because im still waiting on him.  And did you send out all the letters i sent?

 

I love you guys so much i hope all is well with you guys, and I can't wait to hear back from you all!!

 

All my Love,

ELDER NICOLAS COLLINS CRUMP

 

Elder Collins

Family
Wow i want some snow!! my face got fried this week, really the sun is so strong right now. I think that means its preparing for big rain storms. Well a little bit about this week. The single mom that we baptized kind of went crazy this week. We went to her house to pick her up for church and she said, i knew this would happen, im not always going to church! other things in my life are more important than God! then she went to her room and blasted her music so she couldnt hear us. I just left her a note saying you know what happens when we keep the commandments and when we don't. The way your acting by going into your room to ignore us isnt appropriate and we hope to see you in the church. Haha kind of ridiculous. I was just doing paper work for two weddings that we are going to have on the 23! Im pretty excited about that. Everyone is putting up their christmas trees and lights and it makes us a little trunky. There is a family the poblete family that we have been teaching them a lot this week. They are awesome! they came to church the past two weeks for the full 3 hours. Yesterday they asked how they can improve as investigators. haha never had anyone ask me that before. Well not much else to say. hope all is well and that your shoveling the side walks. Loves for everyone. Love reg

Elder Crump

Well just another day in paradise....haha im sorry but i had to say it! Its so beautiful here!  And mom when i say hot, lets just say im going to be coming home looking like sam!  But it will be super funny because i have a wicked farmers tan!! haha  So This past week was the craziest week of my life!  So First off we had p day on monday, and we went into the jungle and went to the waterfalls!  Its was so awesome!!  But like i said I have like 12 kids here, and it was a little stressful, making sure no one fell into the water!  Seriously it was so funny!  So after that awesome p day, at like 5 we had to hurry and go change, and go pick up the assistants from airport.  Then that night they went on splits with us....ya its ok i surived!  Ps, do you know we have two latin assistants?  The first time! Always we have one white, and one latin!  Anyway, it all went good.  So then tuesday, we had a training for our zone from president blunck and his wife!  We had two other zones come in to tarapoto from Moyobamba, where Elder Fenn  (from my group) is at.  So that morning we had to get up super early, plan everything and get everything ready!  So then we had the training, and it went great!  Then at about 4 it ended, and right away Elder Ferreyra and I left with President, and the assistants, and we all headed straight for the airport!  The plain ride wasn't too long only about an hour, but i got put next to this "snake".  Oh boy, its was bad.  She kept asking questions about the church, i was so nervous because i had president and his wife sitting right in front of me!  Haha, but despite the fact she started crying and hyperventalating when we had a little turbulance, it all turned out to be ok!  Lets just say im gonna beat up elder wilson, the personal secretary who bought my ticket! Haha, but any way we got to lima, and right away we had to get some work done with the assistants!  i dont know why they always want to go on splits with us, but its all good! So we finished, and we stayed with the office elders in their house....oh boy memories from my hurt knee days...haha so then wednesday we woke up early and went and had breakfast with Hma consuelo! She cried! She was so happy to see us!  haha then we went to the zone leader conference!  Wow it was awesome!  Its so so crazy!!  It was a long day, but it turned out to be all good!  Then after in the night we headed back to the airport, and got back about 9:30 at night in tarapoto!   Wow that was a lot! 

 

So since we didnt have to much time to work in our area for like 4 days, we went into full work load!  We taught and contacted like crazy!!!  it was great!! We are still working with our families!  Jorge the single dad, has been having some problems with his ex, and DIogo, is having problems with his family. They say that if he gets baptized he will be disowned from them!  He is about 21 years and doesnt need permission, but still he wants his families support! Please pray for them!!  Jorge, Diogo, and Mary and Alexa!  They are all so great, but we need all the help we can get with them and their problems!  I have faith that Heavenly Father will bless them, and we will be able to baptize them this month all 4 of them!

 

So to answer some questions...Mom i like the Dri Lux tops, with the Poly cotton bottoms, send like 12 of each!  Do like the same size dad has, because yes im getting bigger!  We joined a Gym!  Haha i know right me in a gym, but we actually go like 4 times a week, and we have a personal trainer.  Haha so by the time i get home, i will be able to beat trevor and dad at the same time! haha  And with the other arm brady and brendon.  Haha just kidding! but really!  Wow 8 packages!! Im excited!!  I cant wait to get them!!!  So funny story i forgot to tell you, guess who is in my zone...Elder Blas, remember him... he trained me!!! haha its pretty funny to be his zone leader!!  But he is awesome, and finishes in january!!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRADFORD!!  Im sorry I'm a little bit late, but i hope it was awesome!! You are such a stud, and im so grateful my sister found a husband like you! Brother i love you, and i hope you have the best day!

 

Wow this was a long letter, mom enjoy! Haha, well i love you all and right now i miss Utah because of the snow, but i wouldnt want to be anywhere else but here!!!

 

All my Love,

ELDER NICOLAS COLLINS CRUMP

 

Elder Crump

Well, well, well this past week has been so awesome!!  As crazy as we are, I still find time to love what were doing! haha but seriously things are going great!  So im getting the hang of having to do the paperwork, so today I have a little bit more time!!  So here in the zone tarapoto things are going great!  We already have 3 baptisms for the zone for this month! Our goal is 17 with 5 families!  Think we can do it? You bet your bottom dollar we can!  Im excited!! 

 

So i am going to answer some questions to calm mom down! haha so first off we have 14 elders in our zone so yes im a father again... we live above a family of members!  Our pensionista!  Her name is Luzmila and she has 4 kids and they are so funny but little twerps!! haha but they have this little boy named andre...mom lets just say when you see his pic your gonna want to take him home! hahah  So we live in this one room apartment, but its actually nice!  We only have cold cold cold water which i actually like!  The animals i here, i dont actually quite know what they are, but today for p day were going exploring in the jungle, and were going to go hit up some of the sweet waterfalls they have here!  But all the time i see dogs, cats, sheep, pigs, chickens, monkeys, SPIDERS, bugs, lions and tigers and bears,  girl snakes, and all that jazz!  Im hoping today i will see more!  So the mission runs the district so its like President Blunck is the president of tarapoto and we are like his counselers.  They have a branch president but every thing has to go through us then the president of the mission.  My goal is by the time i leave here is to have them become a stake! Its gonna be rough, but right now it just depends if the members will start to take action!  SO like i said we are working like no other! We are mainly focused on our zone, which means we dont have too much time to work in our area, but that still doesnt stop us, right now we have two families that are preparing for the 17 of nov.  One is a madre soltera...i dont remember how to say that in english...a mom who is a alone and doesnt have a husband...  haha oh boy thats bad  and a padre soltero  a dad who doesnt have a wife!  Both have two kids!  Also we have this young guy named Diogo as well for the 17! Im excited for them!!  Its going to be an awesome month!

 

So i think i answered about all of them... oh yeah we drive in these moto taxis  is a motercycle with a carraige like thing on the back! haha  its actually a smart idea, I think im gonna bring it to utah! hahah  hmmm what else...oh yeah i did get the tape and it was amazing!!!! Thank you so so much!!!  Im so happy!  So about the packages... every month we go to Lima and we have a conference with president and then we get the mail.. so if you want to send some thing for december send it this month, because we go the first of december to pick it up!  So family like i said things are going great!  The jungle is a whole other world!  Seriously so beautiful!  I have only been asked by 5 girls here to have me take them back home and marry them, and 3 of them were under the age of 9, haha no just kidding, but really the people are so different, but so amazing!  I truly have such a love for these people.  They are my brothers and sisters, and i am so lucky to know them.  They teach us such an amazing lesson to know that it doesnt matter how much you make, but how much faith you have in God. 

 

Family, I want you all to remember that hey this life isnt easy, sometimes were on top, but as we know we can fall down.  Don't look at challenges as a burden, or dont fill your mind with thoughts of why me? But look at it as a way to strenthen your faith in God.  He is always with us no matter what.  Times may be hard, but when one door closes, Heavenly Father opens a window, the windows of heaven, and he will pour us out a blessing, that there wont be room enough to recieve it!  Family i love you will all my heart! Your always in my prayers, and thoughts! I thank you for your love, and support!

 

All my Love,

ELDER NICOLAS COLLINS CRUMP

 

Elder Collins

Buenas días America! Well this week was a lot of contacting nothing like a fun filled week of contacting. We found a family this week and they are awesome! We started their papers to be married today so thats always a good thing. It was kind of funny because we had been contacting for like an hour and a half so i was just frusterated not really in a good mood to teach someone. This family lets us in and i just said "look we are here to help you as a family by baptizing you" Well that worked because they were like "ok, great, weve never been baptized before also we want to get married"!! Also this week we had a baptism of a single mom. We have been teaching her for about a month now and she finally had gotten the answer to her prayers that she had been waiting for. Haha myles is playing soccer! nice. I wont lie i kind of felt sad this week thinking that myles will be going soon after i come home. but i guess he´s gotta go somethime  Hey Mom - Dad said your already stressing about what to send me for Christmas christmas! tranquilo no mas! everyone is starting to put up christmas stuff, its making me trunky. haha nah but really. If you see BYLUND tell him sup brah? also tell him im giving him two thumbs up right now! Well thats about it, i love you all! love reg