Hey!
Welcome back to another one of my weekly emails, I was about to claim that I only have 30 or so minutes to write as of Monday night… but we all know it’s going to end up being a long one anyways so I will cease from using an devious tactics or tricks to lure you into reading my random, mostly useless stories. Anyways let’s get started!! This week was so cool with so many awesome stuff so here we go:
Let’s start out with my personal favorite topic, water! Over the past 7 days we have a grand total of 30 minutes of running water, during which I frantically washed my socks since I was down to my final two pair (pairs? or pair? I have no idea). PHEWF! Other than that, been showering at another companionship’s apartment a couple blocks away, and it is a really nice apartment (aside from the fact it smells like sweaty Greek yogurt and the shower doesn’t drain it is awesome. Anti-deodorant elders, greek yogurt for breakfast, plus unventilated hot shower humudity in a small apartment is a combination that has made me dry heave on first whiff on more than one occasion) We also woke up two mornings with water all the way down the hallways, and came back home one night to the same thing. Luckily, the senior service missionaries came over, brought us some big jugs of water (1 for drinking, 2 for creating usable bathrooms) and banged around the house, including fixing the leaky spot (thank goodness!) and adding some light bulbs, fixing a vent, adding a grate to a shower, pulling an outlet that had disappeared into the wall back out, all sorts of fun upgrades to the place. So, I have clean socks now even if we have no water, gist of the story. However, I have been severly lacking on the ability to wash shirts and etc, so we resorted to using an empty industrial garbage can that the service missionaries from the mission offices mysteriously left (don’t worry, we cleaned it out beforehand) to hand wash shirts. It was pretty fun for the first 30 seconds but after that got a little boring, but we’ve continued anyways. Process included in pictures below, fear not.
Well you know, water’s best companion is food, so that is where we will head next. Food this week was solid! Lots of Little Caesar’s (its really cheap and the Elders that share a ward building with us and live only a couple blocks from us love it there), but I am happy to announce I just ate my first two tomales in Mexico (one mole, one salsa verde) and they were way good!! I also got fed a small (although one could argue that any size should be considered big) bowl of cooked grasshoppers which was exotic (and one or five of them may have still been a little alive) but actually kind of tasty. Not the best thing I ate all week but also not the worst! Speaking of food (kind of) we had interviews with our mission president this week, which was so awesome, and we got to have them at the mission home which was so fun! While waiting for, and after our interviews, we got to have a cooking lesson with Hermana Burnham all about like muffins, hummus, baked potatoes, all sorts of random but tasty stuff. She gave us a little homemade recipe book she made for simple and tasty food, and I was flipping through it when I read “Peanut Butter Sandwich” and here are the instructions for you from my “rough draft” edition of the book I got. I hope this made it’s way into the final draft too:
1. Take two pieces of bread, white or wheat, whichever you prefer, but be advised that wheat is more nutrient dense.2. Spread peanut butter (creamy or chunky) equally onto each piece of bread with a butter knife.3. Add honey or jelly for extra flavor, and enjoy!
That is literally quote for quote and I actually laughed out loud when I read that. Apparently sopisticated dishes such as peanut butter sandwiches are foreign to some people. I was surprised “Toast” wasn’t included in the recipe book, but I’m guessing that recipe made it into the Birmingham recipe book to help missionaries out with cooking toast, such as Elder West. Congratulations on cooking toast! Anywho, I was pretty impressed with some of the other recipes regarding peanut butter, such as the “Simple Snacks” section with ideas such as spreaing peanut butter onto apples, spreading peanut butter onto bananas, crackers, grapes, toast, pancakes. Pretty adventorous and exotic list! Just kidding though the recipe book is pretty sweet and their are some tasting sounding things that maybe I can convince myself to try and make sometime.
Alright well now that the food section is all done, I’ll bore you with talking about how people came up and talked to us in english. It started with a few people in our ward practicing spanish with us, to some little kids yelling random english words at us as they ran by, and then this New Yorker came up to us and was super interested in hearing from us! He is originally from Tegucigalpa (pardon the spelling) Honduras, but lived from 7 y/o in New York until he go deported to Mexico City 14 years later. He is perfectly fluent in English and his favorite thing to say is “Ahh no way man you messin with me!” About like everything we say. “Oh yeah I know where New York is!” “Ahh no way man you gotta be messing with me!” and etc. about just about every sentence. Anyways, the english was all fun and good until it wasn’t, when people in the streets started yelling at us about Trump getting elected. The general message was “Hey you’re country voted for Trump, he doesn’t want us, so we don’t want you, get out of our country” (usually in spanglish) and of course filled with various curse words. Hey, no matter your political preferences all is fine and well with me, I am not particularly affected over the next two years and don’t plan to and won’t get into politics (no matter what side you take somone is always going to disagree with you so no thank you). Although I will say, the people here don’t love seeing us two gringos in the streets lately which has made street contacting kind of hard the last few days. The anger is dying down a little bit so that’s all good and dandy and we will get back to being contacting machines in the near future. A poor sister in our ward that has been telling us about her getting her grandson visas to go to the US for school broke down in tears to us on sunday because she felt like now he has no chance. Anyways, hopefully that is not the case, can’t say I am a particularly informed individual down here, and either way it was a sad experience. Anywho, sorry for bringing up the politics thing, point is contacting here has been adventorous this week. But onto more fun stuff!
We contacted an absolutely GOLDEN abuelita this week! She is about 60 and walks with a cane, but is like the happiest and most receptive person I have met here so far and is literally amazing. She has done everything she can to get to lessons and to church early, is super eager to learn, and already wants to share the gospel with more people! We literally just met her last Thursday but she already has had 2 lessons with us, came to a church activity about church history in Mexico, brought her son, and came to church with us! She is so so cool, her name is Erlinda, keep her in your prayers because she is so cool and so powerful! The hope is to invite her to be baptized this week, I am so excited for her and grateful for her as a miracle in our lives! So never fear, contacting hasn’t been all bad, its actually been awesome. We met this super cool guy named Josepf outside a hotel one day, he is from Egypt and looking to make his way to the United States, but only speaks Arabic so we’ve been talking with him through google translate. Which has been really cool to see that it can work that well for a full on conversation. He came to church with us and absolutely loved it, and kept telling us how grateful he was that we were teaching people about Jesus Christ. Such a cool guy and so cool to meet him! Kind of crazy to be teaching someone in Arabic in Mexico City but hey I certainly am not complaining. Really cool guy!
Speaking of cool guys, Esteban’s birthday was on Friday so we brought him a little cake and he was sooooo happy to see us and just like all smiles! PLUS he had his baptismal interview and is all ready for this sunday!! I am so so excited for him, he is such a funny and ambitious kid, and keep him in your prayers please because he is actually just so cool and ready and I am so excited for him!! Can’t wait to see him be baptized this sunday! Anyways, that was absolutely awesome and such a blessing to this past week but really my whole time here! On sunday, a couple people called in sick that had been asked to speak, so I got up with about zero preparation and talked for the last 10 or so minutes, but dropped some Book of Mormon quotes, weaved a lil stuff together, and shabang shaboom those ten minutes were filled and (probably just trying to be nice though) the members told me they loved it! So we count that as a win from the week for sure!
Alright last story from the week, that despite all the miracles was the highlight. I got a text from President Burnham last week that a friend was in town and wanted to take us out to lunch, and a few minutes later I got a text from Shawn Rossiter about going out to lunch! We met him at this really cool old resturant with live mariachi bands in the historical district, and man lunch was SO awesome. The food (chilaquiles with rice and beans, of course) was absolutely delicious but getting to catch up with Shawn was soooo fun!! We talked all about missions, mountain biking, classic stories, family the whole deal. By the way, congrats to everyone on the successful mountain bike season! Anyways, that was just such a blessing and (actually kind of suprisingly) made me less homesick! It was a bummer we only had an hour or so before we had to take off, but it was nice to get a real hug (and a surprise kiss on the cheek) and feel so loved by my mountain bike coach and friend of 6 years! Such an awesome experience and I felt so blessed and loved, and so grateful that I got permission from Pres to go out to lunch with him!! Lots of laughing and reliving great memories, including getting roasted on my directional senses, and it was just such a highlight.
Alright well, before I dive into my spiritual thought, I am happy to announce that Nyestalgia won last weeks poll and that all the votes I got were all towards one of the two Mr. Nye related songs. (no Mr. Nye I didn’t make that up to make you feel special, it’s true!!) so that is pretty fun! Nyestalgia is my personal favorite so I am proud of you all. Anyways, here comes my spiritual thought. Some of you (specifically one) may accuse me of being long-winded and for rambling, but hey, at least I can successfully swallow and ibuprofen without puking (Jared/Elder West!)
Well, this week I was thinking a lot about sacrifices that we make to become better people, to improve the lives of other people around us, to follow the Lord’s will for us, and so on and so forth. So, I thought I’d start with a good old CS Lewis quote that I LOVE!
“Now we cannot discover our failure to keep God’s law except by trying our very hardest (and then failing). Unless we really try, whatever we say there shall always be at the back of our minds the idea that if we try harder next time we shall succeed in being completely good. Thus, in one sense, the road back to God is a road of moral effort, of trying harder and harder. But in another sense it is not trying that is ever going to bring us home. All this trying leads up to the vital moment at which you turn to God and say, ‘You must do this. I can’t’”
For me, that trying harder and harder until we’ve given all our effort to God and can’t go any further is a huge sacrifice. That’s us sacrificing our efforts, focus, and goals on God, and asking for His help, love, and grace when we’ve done all that we can. Exactly like one of my very favorite scriptures in 2nd Nephi 25 says:
“we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”
and this less famous but still super banger line:
“we are made alive in Christ because of our faith.”
Really, to me, being on a mission, and really living after your covenants with our Heavenly Father is about sacrificing things in your life to become a better disciple, person, or tool in the Lord’s hands. Sometimes the sacrifices seem too hard in the moment, or altogether not worth it, but as we put off our natural selves and become perfected (through effort, sacrifice, and grace) to become Disciples of Jesus Christ, the blessings He offers, and even promises, are so much greater than what we can imagine. Whatever that sacrifice may be, I promise the everlasing joy that the Savior offfers you is so much sweeter than the temporary joy of whatever it may be. It doesn’t even have to be something bad (mountain bikes aren’t all too evil, college football is fun to watch, and skiing fresh powder is pretty hard to beat), if those things (or whatever your hobbies may be, surfing, home decor, experimental deserts, who knows) are clouding your vision or blocking the light of Christ, I promise that sacrificing (even a percent!) to make sure that your outlooks or goals are focused eternally on Him will bring so much more joy and love in your life than riding down Pinecone on a Spark does (even though that is pretty dang awesome stuff!). As CS Lewis says…
“The instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a one’s self is not kept clean and bright, their glimpse of God will be blurred.”
Or, in other words, if all you ever do is read about Ohio State stats, watch highlight reels of Jeremiah Smith’s one handed catches, show off your signed football collection and on and on, if such a priority of your life is given to focusing on Ohio State (or bird photography or amusment park coin collecting) is going to take your eternal focus off God, which is going to lead you to forget or slip away quietly from the eternal joy of God. Not to say we can’t have all those things together! You can trail run, watch basketball, and still have a rock solid testimony in Christ. But, its about moderation, evaluation of priorities, and maybe even some sacrifices of your time, devotion, and attention, to turn your life over to Jesus Christ and become perfected, happier, and holier through Him. To illustrate an example of this kind of sacrifices for God being greater than things of the world, here is a story from the Book of Mormon that, as everything in the BoM, applies GREAT to us!
Ammon is a missionary, pretty infamous at this point for chopping off the arms of armed gangs trying to mess with the king, and for even converting the king and his entire people unto the Lord. So, the king and Ammon are pretty tight at this point, and are riding over to rescue Ammon’s brothers from jail. Said king comes along his father along the journey, and this guy is capitol K King. He is the King of his son, the King. Basically like mega king of the entire land. Anyways, Dad King isn’t too pleased that son king missed his royal party because he was busy becoming converted by Alma, so to oversimplify adn shorten the story, he and Ammon end up having an epic duel. Ammon basically smites Dad King to the ground and is like hey you better let my brothers go or you can kiss your kingdom goodbye. Ammon is like boom sword to the throat standing over this guy “being wise, yet harmless” is saying this, and the Dad King says, probably a little more frantically than this,
“I will grant unto thee whatsoever thou wilt ask, even to half my kingdom.”
So, Ammon simply asks that son king and his people be left in peace and his brothers be freed, and lets the king off scott-free. This is a surprise to the king, who later ends up asking to “meet with the missionaries” so to speak, and has Ammon’s brother Aaron come and talk to him. Now, when Aaron asks him if he wants to learn about God and how to attain eternal life, Dad King says,
“I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom that I may recieve this great joy.”
This time, his life (at least physical life) isn’t even under pressure; he’s in his own palace surrounded by his gaurds, and Aaron has no sword, or plans to duel the king. But I love that response so much, the difference of the King willing to give up half his kingdom to save his own life, but willing to give up every possesion, his entire kingdom and to forsake all that he has, that he, in his words:
“What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of Go and receive His Spirit, that I may be filled with joy? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom that I may recieve this great joy.”
Now that right there is a great example to me of sacrificing things of the world (even a whole kingdom) to grow closer to God, to be made perfected through His Son, and to recieve this eternal life of joy. So, I will wrap this email up to you with my invitation for the week, to focus (even a little bit!) less time on football, bikes, skiing, movies, whatever it may be that could be blurring your glimpse of God, to instead devote even a little bit more of you time, focus, actions, thoughts, feelings, to growing closer to Him, your Heavenly Father, and becoming perfected through the Atonement of His Son. I promise that you will have lasting joy, not fleeting like the things of the world, when you instead focus on God and His things. No, you don’t have to quit watching football altogether (especially this close to the Ohio State vs Michigan game) but I would urge you and invite you to spend extra effort on the things of God. Study your scriptures for 5 more minutes every day. Study them with with more intention, with more questions in mind, with an open heart. Pray more earnestly to you Heavenly Father, and then be worthy, willing, and open to listen to and follow the revelation He has waiting for you. I promise you, even if it feels like a bummer at first, your life is going to take off like a rocket in terms of joy, peace, and love that you feel, as you strive to sacrifice things (time, focus, effort, whatever) to Jesus Christ. As you make your view of Him cleaner and brighter, your life will become filled with His light and love.
Well, sorry for getting on a repetitive soap box there, that’s a topic that I like and that my parents have done a great job teaching me my whole life! So, it’s something I like to think about and try to do (no matter how imperfect I am at it, which is very). Anyways, I love you all so much, and I am thinking of you always and LOVE reading your emails and hearing from you! You all are so funny, supportive, and kind, I love you, miss you, and pray for you all, always. I guess that about wraps up this weeks email, thanks for reading if you read to hear! If not, I had a good time writing anyways so I’m not too offended. I love you all so much, and will fill you in on stuff here once more in a week! For now, I gotta go get some snacks from Costco!
Much much love!!
-Elder Crockett
