First week in the Field!!!

So this week has been INCREDIBLE!!! Yes it's true that the language barrier is tough to get around but that doesnt stop me from giving it my best shot! I know the language will come! My trainer Elder Anasario is amazing as well! He helps me to explain things that I cant to our investigators! we have a blast! He is my tatay in the mission field!! Oh I had liver that had porks blood and mud mixed together and that was gross so yeah haha We have four baptisms lined up for next month. Now I know what you are thinking "only four?" but here we have to have them attend sacrament 4 sundays in a row and with all the elections coming up with murders and crime people tend to stay inside. and another big one is transportation too since the typhoon wrecked alot of houses people need to spend money on that and the chapel is very far from our proselyting area but our bishop offered to pay for them so we will see how that goes. I get called pogi alot here which means handsome so yeah I can believe it haha and the kids all like to hang on my arms haha Only one of our investigators came to church but thats amazing because we are going to go teach him again this week! I know now with complete surety that this is divine work, the Lord is preparing the hearts of those we least expect for the acceptance of His message. That is one thing I learned this week, it isn't our message that we have to share, it's His. And there is no message sweeter or truer. Like we were teaching this girl and we taught her a few times and her mom was there too but not really listening. anyway we extended a baptism date and her mom interrupts and is like" I have been praying and reading the Book of Mormon and I believe it is true and I have faith that Joseph Smith was a Prophet called of God, I would like to be baptized if thats ok." MIRACLES! the Lord prepares those of whom we seek as we seek diligently and faithfully. I have faith that as we push ourselves harder and harder each week we will find those lost souls He wants us to find! I love my trainer who helps pick me up when I fall down, I love my Mission President who gives us goals to stretch us to our full potential, I Love this work we have been called to do, I love this Gospel that gives hope and love to those in need, And I love Our Savior who prepares the hearts of men and women all over the world to receive His message. Until next week!
Love, Elder Dakota Crisp

URGANT!
If you are planning on sending me something use USPS Regular Mail because any private carrier or first class shipping will Cost ME money too and that comes out of my food money which is very limited already! so NO UPS, or any shipping like that and NO FIRST CLASS!!!



MANILA MTC Nei Gal Atu!!!

So Just a quick email to tell everyone that after 6 long weeks I am now leaving the MTC!!! WOOHOOOO!! I will miss this place and the people inside it that have helped me get so far. I wish I could take this place with me but I know there are people out there I promised to find in the life before and I Won't let them down. there are people thouroughly in need of the message I bring. It is a message of hope for those who need some, it is a message of a new beginning to those who feel like they can never be forgiven, it is a message of love from our Father in Heaven. I know that our Father in Heaven loves us, if He did not then He would not have sent us to this earth so we could someday have all He has if we live righteously and pursue all celestial things. And He most certainly would not have sent His Only Begotten Son to this world to be tortured and beaten and broken far past the point of any man, suffering both on the cross and in Gethsemane for the sins of all mankind. I know He loves us more than we can ever comprehend and that love stretches to every soul both living and dead. Like our beloved Prophet said, "The Book of Mormon is the keystone to our religion." Without the Book of Mormon there is nothing, but if you read and ponder and pray with a sincere heart, nothing wavering thenyou WILL recieve an answer, and through the help of the Holy Spirit our Father in Heaven will testify to you that everything therein is true. If you know that the Book of Mormon is true than you know that Joseph Smith was truly a Prophet called of God to restore the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you know Joseph Smith is a prophet, then you know that the revelations from him are truly from God. If you know these things than you know that Our Heavenly Father loves us and that this is His restored Church on the earth today. I leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

P.S if you dont hear from me for a while that just means that the power is out and I am not able to email yet.

Elder Crisp

LAST WEEK IN THE MTC!!!!!

Sorry about last week! I didn't really have anything interesting happen. I'm still district leader! We went proselyting and wow the first words out of my mout "Woah I'm in trouble....This aint the language they taught me in the MTC!!" NO JOKE! haha anyway it has been a good week this week for all of you worried about the earthquake DONT haha it was fine we felt it but it was no worse then what we get back in California! As for typhoons haha they are just wow! SO MUCH WATER!!!! no joke we complain back in the states if the water barely wets the road but here people are driving in 4-5 FEET of WATER I mean, you could go water skiing behind these cars! IT's pretty sad out there when we went proselyting just seeing how little they had...I mean at $9.50/hr I make more in an hour than they do in a month! But they are so happy with nothing it blows me away! AND THEY LOVE ME HERE!!! I'm walking around and people are smiling at me, Kids are hi fiving me, they ALL compliment me on my skin, (yes I meant skin! Here they actually have special creams and stuff to make their skin whiter!) and every single woman, old and young, winked at me and pretty sure a few guys did too! Good to know I am still just as good looking as when I left! haha Jokelang!!! Anyway Big Brother Brian Davis so I saw that Your boy had Eyeball tacos so naturally I cant be upstaged so I went ahead and found a fish that looks absolutely terrifying and I ate its head! Eyeballs, eye sockets, teeth, the works oh and it was pregnant too so I ate its unborn babies! NO MERCY!!!! So top that Elder Davis!!! So this is my last P-day in the MTC!!!! Woohoo!! Hard to believe that it has already been a month and a half!!! So yeah I head out into the field on wednesday morning! After Proselyting I have been really trunky to get out there, knowing the language or not I know the Lord helps by telling me what to say "Open thy mouth and it shall be filled, and I will give thee utterance." Its true, i know that my testimony will give others the crutch they need until they can find their own... it's sad that it took 2 years for me to realize that but I know now and I wont hesitate! I love yall and you will either hear from me tuesday, wednesday or two mondays from now but if you dont! dont freak out it just means the power is out my pday will be on mondays now! Goodbye my fereni!!! (Fereni is friend in samoan) God be with you till we write again!

Mahal po kayo!

Elder Crisp

Alam ko po na totoo ang Aklat ni Mormon at ang Aklat ni Mormon is ng salita ng Diyos, Alam ko po na totoo ang propeta si Joseph Smith. Alam ko po na nagbayad-sala po si Jesucristo para sa mga kasalanan natin. Alam ko po na sa pamamagitan Nag-sacrifice kay Jesucristo magbuhay po tayo ang kasama Ama sa Langit natin muli. Alam ko po na sa pamamagitan Joseph Smith, Ibinalik po ng Diyos ang perpekto ebanghelyo sa mundo. Nagpapasalamat para sa oportunidad Nag-serve in ng pilipines. Nagpapasalamat ko po para sa mga propeta at mga apostol. Nagpapasalamat ko po kayo. Nagpapasalmat ko po pamilya atin. Nagpapasalmat ko po para sa pagbabayad-sala ni Jesucristo at ang Pananumbalik ng Ebanghelyo ni Jesucristo. Alam ko po na sa pamamagitan panalangin at magbabasa ang Aklat ni Mormon Magtatanggap po tayo marami mga biyaya. Para pamilya sa akin, Alam ko po na sa pamamagitan  Magaaral of mga salita ng Diyos, at Magsusunod ang Perpekto halimbawa ni Jesucristo at magpapabinyag by someone holding ng awtoridad ng priesthood of ng Diyos, Alam po kayo din ano Alam ko po to be totoo at Magtatanggap marami mga biyaya Gusto po ng Diyos mayroon ninyo. Sinasabi ko po ito sa pangalan ni Jesucristo, Amen. Mahal po kayo lahat!

 

 

 

 

Yes, that is the fish head that he ate! :/

 

 

 

Week 4 Pictures!

Alright everyone! So there are a lot of pictures but not many descriptions for them. I hope you enjoy them anyways! :) P.S Sorry some of the pictures are sideways!

 The small Sister on the left, he name is Sister Crispino so of course he had to take a picture with her! lol

 

Week 3 email!

I've been here so long it seems like my mission is almost over. I had strep throat this week. It was pretty bad, in fact the nurse said that I should recieve a reward because it was so bad. I did get to give a blessing to another person in my district. I never really realized how blessings not only bless the person who is recieving it but also the person giving the blessing as well. As far as my district goes...well they didn't like me much before I was called as district leader so now those feelings have been amplified to hate now that I am. which is a major bummer because I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I am a pretty great district leader. I bring the Spirit to every discussion and it is there until they remember they don't like me! Oh well I know if I continue to do my best, the Lord will do the rest.

I'm going to be honest it was really only the first week that went by so slow but I look back at these last couple of weeks and I have almost been here for A WHOLE MONTH!!!! We have had 2 general authorities, Elder Echo Hawk from thw the First Quorum of the Seventy and Elder Callado from the Area Seventy. Nobody seemed to think much of them but I was REELING with excitement!! These men have been called to a leadership position in the Church by God! They have been called to inspire other men and women all over the world!

My biggest craving for food....hmmmm strawberries and definately chili! They feed us extremely well here and the best news so far...mission presidents banned the consumption of balut to all foriegners!!! WOOHOO!!!!

It is very sad here though.... I mean Elder Echo Hawk said that of the 600,000 or so members here only about 100,000 are active... It is really sad to know so many have lost their faith or never had it to begin with. Its sad because it means the missionary didnt truly care...I will change that when I get out there! No matter what it takes I will NOT be one of those missionaries! We cannot forget that we don't need to just  baptize their body but their mind heart and soul as well.

It's funny, no matter how much my district may hate me, my heart aches with theirs when I see them sad. Yesterday a sister that was transferred from our district was rushed off in an ambulence. She was samoan, all of the samoans in my district rushed to her as soon as they heard. They are so passionate for each other. I realize that is how we must be to all of our brothers and sisters around the world. That is why I am here and not there with you. My didstrict may hate me but I will love them. when they are right I will stand by them. when they are wrong I will be there to help them up when they fall...thats what it means to truly be a representative of Christ.

Week 2 email & Pictures!

so this is week 2! I got to go to the temple twice so far....incredible... and today I was informed that I am now the District Leader so I honestly dont know how I feel about that. I am very shocked and a little scared because I dont know what i am doing so yeah... this week we are teaching two "investigators" in the MTC and those are going great! Oh and we finally had burgers!!! and spaghetti and pizza!! I ate salmon pero I drowned it in ketchup haha  anyway this week went by alot faster than last week... I feel like I should be coming home soon cause it has felt like it has been so long...oh well I love it and my kasama Elder Abekoon is pretty awesome too! one of the Sri Lankan elders is teaching me wushu! wow hard stuff but most times I play ping pong I am getting pretty good! I feel like Forest Gump! I love it and I got the most incredible blessing I have ever been given from my MTC President the other day and it made me feel so good and I cried it was incredible. I met an Elder from Redlands his name was Elder Sabado and he was awesome but he left with the last batch to his mission so that was pretty sad but I met some cool american guys plus one from new zealand haha last night there was this exit sign that was blinking off and on like a scary movie so we decided to video somebody (Elder Juber) who is awesome by the way but yeah he starts running down the dark hallway like the grudge and people freaked out!!  I will try to sent a photo or two of this place and I will hopefully have some new adventurous stories for you next week! Til then! HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

 

Monkey from Japan

 

 

He made it to the MTC!

 

 

With the MTC Presidency

 

 

His companion Elder Abekoon

 

 

Angeles Missionaries

 

 

Elder Cookie and Sister Elmo!

 

 

The views

 

 

The Manila Temple

 

 

Sister Tibule, his Tagalog teacher

 

 

Map of his mission

 

 

A hallway

 

 

Jesus

 

 

The missionaries with the lady they gave a blessing to on the way to the MTC

 

 

Elder Rajan, Dakota gave him a blessing after he hurt his ankle

 

 

Elder Watkins

 

 

Elder Wright. He looks like Harry Potter so they were casting spells on each other!

 

 

Elder Sabado

 

 

Elder Sims

 

 

Random Filipino elders who wanted to take a picture with him...probably because he is so tall!!

 

 

Some of his roommates

 

 

Elder Moi Moi