March 3rd, 2013

Wow. Sounds  interesting. ha ha ha. KK looks beautiful in her dress and Zach has grown a lot.  Glad to hear that dad is still the joke and I can still picture everything in my head. The way you would laugh and all. and tell Heather CONGRATS!!!!! That is so cool! The only sad thing is that they all decided to get married when I was gone.   ha haha. Sky, hold on for one more year.  ha hahaha. 

This week was good. At times I get frustrated because we don´t have the success I want. I don´t know why, but for some reason it seems that all of the Elders that don´t obey always have baptisms. It can get a little annoying. However thankfully everyone in my zone obey. We had a fun zone activity today and we all relaxed, but I am really tired. This week was good. We found a person, Gabriela, who the missionaries had taught before. She didn´t want to go to church because she was afraid they would just baptize her. Well, my companion brought this up and we finally had her commit to go to church, but the last time we saw her was on Wednesday and I´m guessing she forgot because she didn´t come. We did have someone in church finally. Omar.  He is cool.

 I also feel like Satan is working hard to get us distracted.  On Tuesday as we were starting to plan for the week the phone rang and we had to go to the hospital. An Elder in our zone had a strong stomach infection. He is now fine, but the morning was shot. Then the next day as we started to plan for the week the phone rang and it was the mission offices asking my companion if he was going to leave 3 weeks early or later. Well, that got him all riled up because he still has 5 months. Finally we did get the week planned. There are some cool people in our ward and I am playing the piano every week.

 Also I have a new companion Elder Sanchez  .He lives in San Luis, and is a full time missionary.  His visa didn´t come and right as he was about to get on the plane, is bishop told him to stop. He is going to Ecuador. He leaves this Wednesday. He said he now has an initiative to learn English... So he can talk to Kaitlyn... haha haha. I showed him a picture of the fam, and it was pretty funny. 

I treasure the picture by the way. Well, it is time to work. I love you all. Have a great day and work and laugh and play hard. I will talk to you all next week.

Love Elder Michael Blake Crouch

ps. Cada miembro es un misionero.

Papito, tu eres el mejor. Debes practicar mucho su español, porque en un año y un mes, va a hablar mucho en español. ja ja ja. Te amo.

February 25th

So here is the deal with my mission. We had a special conference with Presidente Del Valle. In 4 months when he finishes, so does la misión Mexico León. It will now become the new mission of AguasCaliente, which includes Aguas, San Luis Potosí, and some other places. The new mission of Queretaro which I believe was once a mission in Mexico will get the state of Guanajuato, which includes Leon. I will not know who my new President is until June 24. That is the last transfer day before the split. Where ever I am at, that is my new mission. ha ha ha. Cool right. So, basically that is how it will be.

And Mom, congrats on the photo. That is really cool. And That is interesting about Elder Boekweg. And, Dad, you are awesome. And chew Kaitlyn out for not writing me. This is the first time in the whole mission. Maybe my bros may have been a little unfaithful, but kk not. ;D I hope that animates Sky and Zach to write... ha ha ha.

And I think it would be cool if you guys came, However, Maybe just mom and dad. I feel like it is safe here, but if there are a lot of people, it might be hard to travel. And I ain´t driving in Mexico. And Dad would be crazy if he drove and mom, well... I think you would fit right in...... Ha a haha. No, but my new leaving date is April 7 2014. I still have 3 more General Conferences in the mission. =D

Well, I love you all so much. I think it would be cool if you guys came, because I will not be leaving from Leon and I would like to go and visit. Who knows if I will have another chance. ha ha ha. Love you! I hope you know I am joking about the driving and what not.

Stay strong.

Every member is a missionary.

Love Elder Michael Blake Crouch

Febrary 25th 2013

Well, you guys basically took all of the fun out of this letter... Get off the internet and go coyote hunting or something. Let me have what little fun I can with you guys by telling the church news... haha ha ha. 

This week was alright. My companion and I made some awesome plans for our investigators, but we couldn't seem to get a lesson with them. How frustrating. We have gone with a lot of people, but really I feel like this area is worked and maybe a little dry. However the Lord says work, and with all of the changes he is making in the world with missionary work, it means he isn't about to let some missionary give up. I know there is someone here,  we just have to find them. 

Today we did do something really cool for P-day. The whole zone piled into the back of our Bishop´s convie and his wife drove all 12 of us to a Hacienda (basically a really really really big ranch house). It was a fun ride. I´m glad we made it.  ha ha ha. Well, this hacienda is call "X-Hacienda de Gogorron." Well, a member of the church came with us to show us around (her dad´s uncle owns it). This hacienda has a pretty cool story... The filmed the 2nd Zorro movie there... We looked at  a lot of cool spots. The sad thing is that it is really run down. The filmers left all of the scenes up, but most of it is destroyed and what not. Some cool places are, the jailhouse, the school house, the city of San Francisco (which is now beat up), the main house, and the church house. I walked through the secret door in the church house (That is in the movie) and a secret tunnel in the main house. It was really cool.

 But holy cow, It is in a desert! As we were walking to the main road, we passed through the town, there was no grass, just dust and wind. They use cacti as their fences instead of barbed wire. ha ha ha. It was really cool. 

Also, let´s see. News for the week. Oh, well did you guys hear that there are going to be 58 new missions in the world and 8 new in Mexico? That is something big that is happening. haha ha. But I´m sure you all now... ha ha ha ha. I love you guys.

Love Elder Crouch

February 18th 2013

Yippee! KK is going to Prom!! Now this kid better be a good boy.   ha ha ha. I still haven´t gotten the package, but I will be going in to Leon the first  Tuesday of March. We´ll find out.  I do know an Elder Boekweg. And the singing thing we did was a multi zone activity. We were about 36 missionaries singing and testifying in the centro. It was cool. We did it again this week and will be doing it again on    Friday. As for the church houses, there are two or three stakes here in San Luis. In my stake there are at least 3 church houses. I am sure you can find the church on mormon.org but my church house doesn´t show up. My area isn´t too bad. It is pretty calm. But there are some areas in my zone that, well, best not tell you. ha ah aha. We are safe. =D

Well, I really don´t have a lot to say. We had a zone conference with Presidente Del Valle and his wife. That was cool. We got called to repentance and told to do better. That was a boost. ha ha ha. We also had transfers. We were thinking no one would get changed but, yep, half the zone has changes. We will be getting two "gringos" as the Mexicans would say. That is going to be fun. Also, next week we are going to try to go to a hacienda where they filmed part of Zorro. That will be cool.

We did have some pretty cool lessons this week. The Spirit is amazing. We keep having spiritual lessons with a less active. Yesterday we watched 17 Miracles. That movie really hits home with the people here. Also we had some good lessons with Miguel, who is a doctor and investigator. He just hasn´t come to church... And Martin y Pati, are amazing. They are excited to get married, but tampoco haven´t gone to church. That is a hard thing about here. 

I really feel like my ward is like a ward in Utah. The area is small and walking down the roads I feel like everyone knows who we are. A lot of the members live close to each other. But we have a lot of less actives. That is a hard part. A lot of people talk about doing stuff, but they don`t do it. ha ha ha. It is frustrating at times. But it is getting there a little bit at a time. Well, love you all. 

Stay strong and remember that every member is a missionary.

Have a great week.

Love Elder Michael Blake Crouch

Love Ya!

February 11th

This week was pretty interesting. I was back in Leon for leadership training (for lack of a better word). It felt like coming home.  ha ha ha. I loved it. We learned a whole lot. I got sung to for my birthday. Basically it was a legit spiritual experience (the training). The Pres. and his wife and a couple of missionaries did a practice and it was awesome to watch. The Pres and the Hna. presented the Holy Ghost. You could feel it come into the room and man was it cool. I had a similar experience in a lesson this week. It was an awesome lesson and when I presented the Holy Ghost it got even cooler. Also the Pres. talked about how the Lord is completing two ancient promises. One is the gathering of the 12 tribes (which started with the restoration) and also that He is preparing for the 2nd coming. Isn´t that cool?   Everything we do as members is to prepare for this event. I am so excited! ha ha ha.

 I then had to teach my zone what we learned. Then on Friday I played the piano in one of the city squares... You would be proud of me. As missionaries in San Luis we are doing an activity every Friday this month. We are singing himnos about the Plan of Salvation and we talk about every point. Well, I played the prelude music, and also, I am the director. That is kinda fun. It is pretty cool. 

On Saturday we did divisions and in a lesson we taught about the Plan of Salvation. Well, as we taught the fall, one of them got excited because it was part of the plan. It was really funny. The Gospel just makes sense. ha ha ha. 

Also did you hear about how the Pope quit? How funny.  He definitely isn´t a prophet because a prophet can´t quit.  It isn´t a job.  Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God and the Church is true.

I love you all!

Love Elder Crouch

Ps. Cada miembro es un misionero.

psss. The bishop and his wife made me a cake on Monday and gave it to me.

and I got the Christmas card and a letter from Aunt Cindy,

as well as a card from grandma j and tori hunter.