I'm just having a great time!!

Alright well good job Shay on that math test!. I remember those feelings haha, where you just don't have to stress about anything and just get to  rest and relax. Sounds like you guys are gettin all ready to go down to Utah this week and that sounds like it's gonna be a blast! You'll have to tell me all about it next Monday.

Well not much new has happened in my life, we've just been working like crazy and every day I get more and more tired but more and more happy:) I was talking to one of my best buds here Elder Boyd about material things and how we really don't need anything to be happy. Not even food lol, like I have been eating rice for just about a year straight, and even though it gets old sometimes it really just doesn’t matter anymore. Just something that will fill me up so I won't be hungry, just like when you are serving everyone else with all your heart, it just makes you so happy and not care too much about the external circumstances. Mom, I absolutely loved that quote that you sent me from Gordon B. Hinckley about work and service, and the person that serves almost always will get more out of it then the person that was served. I feel like this might be one of the keys to our growth here in this world, how better can we become like Christ than through service! Even if everyone is as whiney as crap (which you know I couldn't take) if you serve them, you automatically love them and it makes you see things through their eyes for a moment. So I just absolutely love this mission!!!! I love learning and growing! and I finally figured out that I'm not here to have fun or to have 10,000 baptisms, or be some great leader of the mission. I'm just here to serve and give all I have to the Lord and to the people around me. 

Well, that just came to my mind lol, but I'll tell ya a little bit about our p-day we had today. We don't hardly do anything here in Cucuta because there’s not a whole lot to do inside of the city, and we're not sure if going outside the city would be that good of an idea. So we just play soccer about every p-day. But today we got there and played a little basketball, gringo style and right after we left our companions (Me, Boyd, and Elder Doll) to go back to Elder Boyd and Doll’s house (they live 4 there) and we made the BEST BREAKFAST BURRITOS of all time. Seriously it had been such a long time since I had eaten hashbrowns! man it was awesome:) then afterwards we were sitting around talking and the man that sells ice cream came by. We all thought for a moment and then decided to chase the ice cream man down with the pitcher used for water or juice or whatever. We had him fill the pitcher full of icecream and we just went to town eating more and more even though we all had brainfeezes lol. When we were done,  we decided to go chase him down again cause it was so good (and cause I personally hadn’t eaten ice cream in a very looonngg time) so this time it was a little more complicated because the ice cream man doesn’t have a specific route.  He just wanders around with his ice cream machine. So after about 10 minutes of searching random streets the spirit led us to where he had gone. He looked back to see 3 weird looking gringos chasing after his cart with the empty pitcher lol. So we asked for more and bought oreos too and broke them up and had delicious oreo and vanilla with blackberries ice cream. But now I feel kinda sick to my stomach because we ate a ton of ice cream. But it was super fun lol.

Alright so thank you so much everyone for sending me quotes and mom especially, I had heard that story before and it is just awesome!  I was so happy to print it out:) But I have a question....So this has been getting me ever since I have gotten here. There are so many Christian Evangelical churches here and almost everyone goes to church, and compared to Tunja there are hardly any Catholics. But everyone just feels fine going to church, listening to basically a motivational speaker motivate them, say some prayers and then get up and listen to basically an awesome concert with awesome songs about God and Jesus. I still haven’t been able to show them  that a church needs actual principles to be the church of Jesus Christ. Anyone have any ideas, also Pa you might be able to help me on this one. A guy yesterday really stumped us, he asked us how is it that your church has the authority of God when my church performs miracles right in front of my eyes. I didn't see that in your church? Is there an answer to that? Do you understand me lol? I personally think that the miracle thing might be very fake but who knows. Alright time to go but I will attach the picture of the baptism that was last Saturday! It was awesome:) Everyone is just so happy:)

-Elder Crook

Un regalito de dios...I love missionary work

Well I’ll start right off the bat and tell you that a “regalito de dio” is a small gift from God. Why am I saying that?  Its because we are going to have the baptism of a kid who I never thought would be baptized. He’s the Elders Quorum president’s son. And come to think of it his story is kind of like the story of the one about dad’s home teaching companion.  The one that was never going to get baptized but his wife every fast and testimony meeting droned on about how he would come around.  Well ya it’s like that. When I got here I saw in the area book a page with his name on it and full with comments and lessons that the missionaries had taught and family home evenings they had had. So we went there 2 times, and we hardly even talked to him, we just talked to his dad, who is awesome.  Then shared a little message and got to know him better and then made fun of him for not being baptized, (he’s 16 by the way) He told us that he liked the church but would probably never get baptized (no idea why).Then this Sunday I guess after the youth split off, he asked one of the first counselors of the bishopric what he needed to do to get baptized.  Of course the 1st counselor got up and sprinted to let us know and almost had a heart attack telling us the good news. So we sat up an interview with the zone leaders and yup, looks like we will have a baptism this Saturday. They were quick to ask me if the bishop could just interview him right there but I’ve read Preach my Gospel enough times to tell them that no, the missionaries have the keys to baptism over anyone besides the 8 year olds who’s parents are members. It was a really cool feeling, knowing that God really has so much power to change the hardest of hearts.  It was an awesome testimony to me, that God knows what he is doing, and his work will go forth boldy and nobly no matter how hard things get. 

Alright so GREAT JOB MAMA!! It didn’t register in my mind that you were gonna run the same marathon as you ran last year:) That was so fun!! and yes I do remember riding in the back of the car wanting chicken strips being hungry. I am almost sure that we had sandwich stuff in the car but I was just too picky for a pb and j. Now a year later, you don’t even know how much I would give for one of those sweet wonders! I think 18 straight years of pb and j’s for lunch have given me a certain love for pb and j’s lol. Also I think that is SOOOO FREAKING AWESOME that you guys are doing that quest thing. That sounds so fun! I know you will have a blast and it will be a great spiritual experience for everyone that goes. Shay are you going? you better not miss that, it sounds so awesome!! You’ll have to keep me updated on how that is going. I remember all of my time as a young man going to those AP camps and especially Trek. When I think back I am unusually surprised to remember that I made the best of my times there. Although it was hard to get used to and I was always with kids I didn’t know from different wards, I still had tons of fun and strengthened my testimony. Usually when I think about the things I did before the mission I get mad at myself and disgusted and think why did I do that, or why was I like that!! It makes me mad sometimes and makes me want to get better. But I feel like I actually had tons of fun and did a good job at AP camp and the trek. 

Well we had interviews with the president this week.  He told me that I was one of the old guys now that I am gonna complete a year in the mission here soon. He also gave me good ideas on how to be a better trainer, and that surprisingly, all my kid had to say about me was good things! And how good of an example I was! Yeah I’ve been kind of hard on him and haven’t babied him at all due to the fact that he is just so new and fresh. And I think at times he really hates me. But that was how I was trained, there were a lot of times when I just downright hated Elder Suarez, but now I completey understand why he did those things that he did, and the next time I see him I’m gonna give him a big hug and tell him thanks! So there are times where we don’t get along and times that are tough for him, which stress me out a lot because I feel like I need to be 10,000 times better to train someone so new. So I expressed that to president and told him that I feel a huge responsibility and he helped me out with a few things. He told me, praise him, pray for him, and do lots of practicing on how to teach and what to say. So I’ve tried to follow the counsel lol. 

Anyways I still really, really ,really, really, want inspirational quotes, and stories, and object lessons from you guys all!!!!! I want everything you  have to give me. HELP ME BE A BETTER MISSIONARY, these things honestly help me a lot. Oh yeah dad I got a question. Where were you at when you had a year in your mission, and what were you doing and who were you with? thanks

Alright well to end I have attached a picture of me and my companion and the other 2 missionaries of our ward up on stage rockin out. We sang a song for our ward activity this last Friday and it was awesome!! It was a song about a missionary who left on his mission and his girlfriend got married with his best friend and sent him a dear john letter. I sang and played the piano and even read the letter in a high girly voice and then after was featured as our groups lead falsetto singer (yeah I can sing pretty high lol;) It was so much fun and my comp is a great guitar player, he rocks the guitar and we both took the song music and just put it to the guitar and piano by ear. It was a super fun night and the members laughed so hard!

Alright well I sure love you guys°!!!!!!!!!! have a great week and remember to smile and be happy always!! I know that no matter what Jesus always has a smile on his face, and we should too:)

-Elder Crook

3rd place at State!....Way to Go!

Alright well I don´t really think about home during the week but man Friday and Saturday night came around and I was just itching to know how Shay did. I almost couldn´t take it at night when we have a little bit of free time to eat something and to shower and stuff and to write in my journal (yes I´m still juicioso at writing in the good ol journal.) So when Monday came around I was just so excited to print out your letters and read that Shay once again kicked some major butt. Anyways it was so awesome to hear how great you did Shay!!! 3rd at 5a state:) Remember last year when we went to Baja Fresh afterwards with Frank? That was fun wasn´t it. I can remember telling you that you were running like a 10:44 and that if you could shave 20 seconds off this year and then 20 seconds off your senior year you´d be running with the best of em. Well if I remember correct you shaved just about 20 seconds off of your time at state last year!!! So hopefully this next year you can do just around the same and run like a 10:02 or a 10:05 no? That would be super awesome right!!!! Well love you lots, now take a break for a few weeks and let those legs and knees rest. I´m sure proud of you:) And I think it would be freaking awesome too if you became a Banana Slug.  Those things are pretty cool right although they would dry up and die in those nice California winters.....hmmmmm something to think about. I know that you have your mind set on BYU but expand it a little!

Alright so it was Mothers Day this Sunday and the whole town just went crazy. Saturday night there was music bumping really hard on seriously every corner. We woke up at 6:30 and it was still going!! and the people were STILLL drinking lol. But we had a good turn out at church and some really nice messages for all the moms. Then afterwards we went to the BEST LUNCH IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. There’s a hermano here that absolutely loves his wife. He made seriously like 50 steaks!!! for the whole family and for us. So they brought me my plate and I had 2 huge steaks that covered more than half the plate with salad, potatoes and guacamole (everyone has guacamole with their baked potatoes) then he said ¨Elders Don´t feel ashamed to eat the meat with your hands¨ that was all he needed to say, I went to town on those 2 steaks!! Man they were soooooo good and I honestly had forgotten how much I love meat lol. So then I get done, and the hermano says to me ¨those first two pieces looked like they were kinda tough, here’s 2 more¨ so he gave me 2 more huge steaks and honestly I did not even feel at all full, man I just devoured those things then took my plate to the kitchen to wash it and my hands. Then one of the sons whose a return missionary said ¨hey look man I got way to fat on my mission and I can´t eat my second steak¨ so he gave me another piece and tried to start talking to me in English and said es que, tengo muchos fatties! Haha that was super funny and I almost choked on the meat! Honestly I have never been more satisfied in my life! It was awesome, and I´m not exaggerating. I had 5 pieces of manly meat!! Then we shared a message about Mothers Day and one of the other return missionaries asked me one thing that I missed about my mom.  I had to respond right on the spot that the first thing that popped into my head was your Sunday walks that you´d always go on. I would never go because I was too busy watching tv or just doing something better ya know. So I told them about that, that mom would always ask me to go on walks with you guys and I never hardly went and that if I had the chance to go on a walk with her right now I just wouldn´t know what to do I´d be so happy.

Well my time is running out but I want to tell you a funny story to end. So we had an activity in the other ward here, they asked us to come especially because no one from their ward knows my new companion (Elder Carballo) so we went and they had Elder Carballo dress up as a bum and sit on the sidewalk outside of the church and ask for money. They were holding an activity about the Good Samaritan. So everyone walked in not even paying attention to him or the little kids would make fun of him lol. Then they all went to the chapel and the other missionaries gave me a signal and I gave the bum,  Carballo, a signal and he walked in the chapel and started asking for money!!!! One hermano almost kicked him out cause he thought he was drunk! then he went over and started asking for some of the refreshments!!! All this time I was sitting in the back laughing my butt off watching my shy, timid companion be the bum lol. It was awesome and at the end, all  the missionaries  sang “A Poor Wayfaring man of Grief “ and he came up and sang with us. He started to sing and take of his bum clothes and had his missionary clothes underneath. It was all good till he got to the pants,It was so funny watching him take off his pants in front of like 40 people. It was an awesome activity and I was really surprised to see my comp come out of his shell. I couldn´t have done it, I would have just started to laugh too hard and give it away. 

Alright well I sure love all of you°!!!!!! the pic is of our district:) LOVE YOU ALLLLL AND WAY TO GOOOOOOO SHAY SHAY:)

Elder Crook

Wasn't it just Homecoming?

Dangit Shay!!!! You are such a freaking STUD!!!! There’s only 4 letters to describe Shay S.T.U.D. Haha when you look for stud in the dictionary, Shaylen’s picture is right there next to a skinny tall Ethiopian man who runs the mile in 2 minutes! haha honestly Shay’s letters this week were the best! and the pics! I love the pics! Well we just have got a few more days till the big ol state meet (not me, unfortunately I won´t  know until NEXT MONDAY!) but that’s alright!  I know that Shay is a Stud and kicks the crap out of people. WAY TO GO SHAY!!! And honestly, I can still remember so clear, sitting in Bogota after homecoming weekend getting to the bottom and seeing Shay, wondering if I was actually looking at my sister, and just sitting dumbfounded looking at the pictures. Today I prepared myself mentally a bit and enjoyed looking at all the pictures that were sent to me. Sounds like it was a great week! 

Well my week also was pretty great! We had 2 count em 2 baptisms that turned out really well. The hermana is just so awesome! She has a testimony of the church and has felt a change in her life for the better. I felt the spirit so strong when she was bearing her testimony afterwards.  It was just great. Also we baptized her son that is 10 years old, and after he got baptized started swimming in the font! My companion drug him out of the water but not before the bishop opened the curtain things and said ¨What is going on in here!¨ haha I was laughing so hard, but trying to be reverent, Then I went and gave a hermano the movie to watch in between while we got dressed and little Carlitos went back and jumped in the font again! He was so happy and content in that water lol. I drug him out and shoved him in the dressing room with his mom and made sure he didn’t escape again to swim, all the while just laughing quietly to myself. 

Well we also moved houses this last week and it is really awesome to live in the heart of our area, I feel integrated with the people lol like I´m just one of the vecinos or just another peep living in Cucuta. Except we didn’t have a fridge for like almost a week, and we don’t have an oven or even a stovetop to cook eggs on. So I´m just pretty much breadin it. Or I make meat, bread and cheese sandwiches lol. But so it´s pretty empty lol, just basically our beds and study tables and 2 chairs lol. But It´s been good, I´m gettin along great with my comp, he´s really just pretty easy going and still kinda shy but we´re workin on that. I have slowed down a ton, and we are studying like crazy!!! So I´m doing great as well!

Pa, it´s like 300 pesos to print out a sheet of paper so just go for it and send me those talks, after a while printing things out does get expensive but for the material that you are giving me it´s worth it. Also the object lessons are going great! I have so far done the cup one that mom sent on the restoration and the atonement one with the food coloring and bleach. That is super cool for people of all ages! The cup one too, it´s just like an easier way for the people to understand which is pretty much our purpose. Oh and mom, that’s pretty cool that you are still running a crap ton of miles! Good luck with the marathon and thanks again for those other lessons you sent me. Oh and Melanie, I can only get online to view my e-mail and can´t really go to your sight even if it is for the lesson things. But thank you and maybe you can send me one directly to the e-mail. I sure love you guys sooooooooo sooooooo much and hope that all goes well this week.......AT............STATE!!!!! KICK BUTT SHAY!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

-Elder Crook

My One Hour of Heaven

Well I sure enjoyed talking to you guys yesterday. I am so thankful that everyone is alright and doing great back home, and I agree with Pa that this is going to be an interesting next year that I too don`t want to go fast or slow haha.  So we`ll have to just take it one day at a time and enjoy every bit of it. So honestly it`s hard for me to even think that we even called last night just cause it passed by so darn fast. It is just so weird sometimes because I just get in such a routine of working all week reading and writing you guys then going back to work. Haha afterwards I realized that my parents and sister are more than just words on the page or pictures on the computer screen. It`s just so weird, and is making me so much more grateful for who you guys are and all that you have done for me. I really, really enjoyed it in the moment and it will be a great memory that I will keep in the back of my head. 

Well I actually didn´t get Griffin Lines letter so you´ll have to give him my e-mail again and make sure it goes through. But I liked what dad said about your track meet Shay. That he was yellin at you to not let poor Cody beat you and you turned on the after burners and whooped his butt like normal. haha Pa,  I wouldn´t feel bad about ol Cody either, I´d probably be givin him crap alongside his dad too lol. Haha also about the poor ol bunny rabbit.  I heard somewhere that rabbit meat goes really well in soup, or maybe if that doesn´t work you guys can just make some rabbit jerky, I bet that’s pretty tasty lol. And I realized today (I realized a lot today cause I printed your letters out) that whenever you guys talk about food it makes me want some of your goodies soooooo Baaaadddddd. Theres no chocolate chip cookies here! Although I did get a recipe from my man Elder Boyd, when we get all moved we´ll have to make a batch or 2:) 

Well my week was just pretty normal for me, I don`t know if you could say the same for my comp. He just kinda hit the ground running with me and for the first few days I kinda forgot he was new and just treated him like he should know everything. But that was bad on my part, cause he got baptized a little over a year ago and he´s just super, super, super, super green. He´s talking to me more now but he just shelled up when he got here. I can´t blame him, everything is new to him, even the gospel...so I have just had to slow myself down and make sure he understands everything, make sure we plan really good and most of all make sure to give him all of the personal time at night. But he´s great and has a great spirit so things should be going good the next few months with him. Also he follows me in every step, so I realized real quick that I can´t be a bad example in anything or he will follow and that will set a precedent for the rest of his mission.

Well mom, I´m grateful that you wrote me about your desires to share the gospel with your coworkers, just don´t get scared, people have their free agency to choose and decide for themselves and more often than not are waiting to hear the Gospel. I personally don´t think that it will hurt your relationship with others at all because everyone already knows that your mormon and have accepted you. Also it made me think of a scripture in D&C 84:85 that talks about sharing the gospel (I think that was the first scripture that I learned in the MTC lol) And also It´s great to hear that Emily is getting better and will be able to go back to school here soon, thanks for telling me that, I still try to keep her in my nightly prayers. 

Well the last thing is to keep sending me things that can help me be a better missionary. I want more object lessons, talks, (dad I would like that talk on the atonement that you gave that one time in gospel doctrine for Easter Sunday) more quotes, and inspirational stories. I am making a really cool study journal that I will put all of that stuff in. It´s more like a study book filled with topics and also fun and cool pages about missions. My first page is titled MISSION 101 lol. Well thats all I´ve got for today, I love you all tons and tons and tons!!!!!!!!!!

-Elder Crook

Newfound sense of Fatherhood.... Take 2

Hahah welllllllll we did have changes this last Sunday and I went toooooooooooooooooooo     CUCUTA haha. I'm still here in my area but good ol Santillan left me. Also I know you are all waiting, we do get to talk this Sunday for an hour, I will call you guys Saturday to ahhhhhh set up the appointment:) Well turns out that I am training again. Honestly we have 224 missionaries now here in the mission and when I got here there were only 152. There have been newbies like CRAZY soooo I'm gonna be a Daddy otra vez haha. I'm actually really excited and just kind of ready to kick butt. I feel so refreshed and ready to start out new. Honestly when I got here from Tunja I was just really quite depressed, but the change with Santillan went surprisingly well and just made me so much more excited to be a missionary. Like it just threw cold water on my face and said "YOU’RE A MISSIONARY!!! YOU’RE ON A DIFFERENT CONTINENT!! YOU’RE SPEAKING SPANISH!! JUST ENJOY IT!! So I am tryin to get back in the good ol groove of just enjoyin stuff that comes my way even if its tough and makes me wanna cry sometimes or is just like a physical weight is just pushing down on you to try to make you go back to sleep when it's 6:30 but the Lords blessings are always better than the consequences of not being obedient. I honestly am loving it right now and I'm just super jacked up to talk to you guys again!! I remember the last time that I got to talk to you I had just started to train elder Escobar and now when we see each other again I will just have started to train my newbie. I have no idea who he is yet cause he's getting here tomorrow afternoon cause Cucuta is freaking lejos haha. I just have one wish about him, that this is his mission and he's not here temporarily.  I just don't want another temporal. 

Alright dad well sometimes I like lookin like a russian mobster alright, those guys are always such studs and plus it's a tactic so that I don’t get snaked on alright! I totally know that gelled hair looks waaaaayyyyy better than a super buzzcut on my oddly shaped head lol. But this is just more convenient, and gel NO MATTER WHAT I DO, gives me zits lol. Also that pic with the colombiano hat was at a service project we did to help a guy in the bishopric build his house. They build houses so differently here haha we just shoveled dirt and filled it the foundation of the house with dirt so it was all level and they can pour cement there. So that was the goofy picture. Also mom you wanted me to talk about Cucuta and it is basically a city of about 700,000 people and its all surrounded by mountains. It's quite hilly but my area has almost no hills, but you can see other areas with lots of hills. It has been raining a ton here and every time it rains the streets flood instantly and are just like mini rivers. In the aguacero I told you about, me and Elder Boyd were walking on the sidewalk and a taxi sped by and just drenched us with water, it was honestly like a scene out of a movie haha. Also here there are no gas stations and cars and trucks that you see in the states, there's a truck like Eric Luckmans black one and it is just ginormous on the road lol. This is because Venezuelan gas is just so cheep everyone just hops the border buys tons of gas and then camps out on the highways to sell it and it seems to me like they make pretty darn good money. 

Alright so I don't have any super crazy stories this week but I just want to say that I had one of the coolest experiences on my mission. Well we found an old investigator when we asked a recent convert if she knew anyone. She showed us where it was and we went and contacted the lady, who we found laying on her bed with the bottom part of her leg cut off at the knee.  Her name is Judit. She was really happy to see us. We noticed that her wheelchair was in super bad condition and she could hardly even push herself around just cause its all broken. She has a 9 year old kid who is just starting school because he was in foster care for a year or 2 when this lady  was sick in the hospital with diabetes. So you guys know...just super humble circumstances. Circumstances that if I compare them to what I have always known, just make me want to cry. So we had a few lessons and then asked the bishop if he could help us find a new wheelchair. He is super awesome and just had an almost new one in his house. So we had a lesson with her in the morning and invited her to be baptized.  She accepted and I could feel the spirit was there. Then we asked if she would be home in the afternoon. She was a bit confused but said she would be. Then we went to lunch at the bishops house, cleaned up the better wheelchair, and headed to Judit's house. I greeted her pleasantly and told her we had something for her.  The bishop rolled the seat in and she just broke down in sobs, so grateful for a used wheelchair. It humbled me so much because at first I felt like I was on extreme home makeover haha. But then I saw just how grateful she was and it was only a used wheelchair! I could just feel Christ’s love so strong in the tiny room,  it was amazing. Honestly it hit me so hard to see a woman so grateful for so little. Watch out for a baptismal picture of her and her son:) 

Well change of subject I do kind of have a funny story about the hermanas in my district. So it was raining super hard Saturday and their area is basically one big hill. So the rain was so bad that the canal at the bottom of the hill turned into a river like an actual fast running river. The hermanas were going home and realized they couldn’t cross, saw a man get swept into the river, then decided to camp out under a bridge of all places. I honestly did not ask them why they were under the bridge but that sounds kind of a dumb place to be in an aguacero. Anyways they called us like 50 times but our phone was in the house (we have a rule that its supposed to stay in the house), they called the zone leaders 50 times who finally answered and went to rescue them but couldn’t get there because of the rain. So they climbed back up the hill and stayed with a member until the rain let up and they could get back to the house. Elder Boyd tells me that they were pretty hysterical and thought they were gonna die lol. Well I asked them and they told me the exact same story that I just told you guys lol. It kinda makes me laugh, poor sisters camped out under a  bridge!!!!!

Well I am SUPER PUMPED TO TALK TO MA PA AND MY PROM QUEEN SISTER;) LOVE YOU GUYS AND SEE YOU SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Elder Crook  

April 29

Alrighty ma, you told me that you would send me a pic of Shays race and I don´t have it here in my inbox, arrepientate alright! send me the darn picture cause it always makes me feel a little closer to you guys as if I were there with you:) Thanks haha. And pa ya I know that sometimes I forget to shine my shoes lol but I have shined them since then and actually used my aguacero boots (that I will tell you about a little later) Ok anyways I´m super happy to hear that Shay totally kicked butt in her last meet and that she is learning the principle of obedience through going to Friday school. I am still laughing about how you just felt so guilty staying home in the first place and about how mad you were about getting punished:) (by the way I never went to those stupid assemblies either) haha actually the same exact thing happened to me my last year.  I just told ol Mulkey that I was on my free period studying my BUTT off lol, he believed me and didn´t do anything. Guess you should go to the next one huh? hahhaha I think this is one of the moments that you are glad that I´m not home because I feel like teasing you a lot on this one haha. Love ya toots! 

Alrighty so we had our super p-day today and no unfortunately we did not doa  push up contest because there just wasn´t enough time. We played soccer on a turf field across from one of the chapels here, and it was super fun!. There are only 4 gringos here in Cucuta and 3 of us play decently, the other one is very uncoordinated lol. So we played a big game to start out with and I scored a few golasos.  During the middle it got kinda rough. I wasn´t the one starting the roughness but I got some contact in here and there lol. Just like dad says ¨theres always a little room for football in every sport¨ I applied that principle and had some good hits here and there lol. Afterwards one of the other gringos asked sister Andelin if we were gonna play with the hermanas and she said only if you guys stop tackling each other lol. So that was pretty fun, there are some really good soccer players here, and I actually like to play it, its fun lol. Then we had lunch and a little meeting with the 2 zones here about missionary stuff then we left and now I´m here. So it was pretty awesome and I took lots of pics which I will send you. Oh also one of my best friends from the mission Elder Da Silva sent me a tie that his dad gave to him when he was trained. I think I have made a friend for life with him even if we can only communicate through e-mail and face book the rest of our lives. 

Also about the aguacero boots lol, it has been raining a TON here! More than in any other area, it is nice at night because it isn’t near as hot as when I got here. Also during the day it is soooooo awesome! Just nice and warm but with the sky covering the sun, it’s not so hot. But Friday night it started to rain monsoon style. Honestly it was one aguacero lol, we were at a less active members house and he gave us huge trash bags and cut head holes and arm holes in them and sent us on our way. We looked like such DORKS but I’m very used to weird looks now lol. The streets were like rivers! My shoes stayed dry like half of the way home then they just got soaked so I decided to have some fun and just wade through the streets.  We were with one of the zone leaders Elder Boyd who is another one of my good friends and we just goofed around the whole way home in our trash bags lol. So after that I have been using those big timbaland boots that make me look like a big time rapper or something lol. But it was an experience I will never forget just because I have never been so wet, and had so much fun. 

Well I want to end my letter asking you guys for help. I want to really be a little different in the way I teach and do things so I want object lessons! of anything you can think of! I want inspirational quotes! anything you can come up with! and I want activities that we can do for family home evening! Anything you can think of. You guys can all help me be a better missionary through sending me theese little things every week. Think of what you guys have already done and taught, send me everything! and this isnt´just limited to mom, dad and Shay, anyone who reads these letters,  send me ideas alright! It really would be awesome if you guys could do that for me!

Alright gootaa gOOOooo

LOVE YOU LOTS

-Elder Crook