Well hey guys!
How’s everyone doing? I hope christmas went well and you’re all so excited for the new year, that is sure to start off with some Ohio State Rose Bowl domination. Well, we’ve added some new rules to the mission, and now we aren’t allowed to write emails during our free time, like lunch hour and at night anymore. So, heres this week’s email, hopefully a little more concise for you folks that appreciate that.
First of all, people here really love celebrating the new year which is pretty different from home, I mean New Years day is like more important than Christmas! Unfortunately, we have to be in the house at 7, so we don’t get to go out and party or eat with a bunch of families, but the good news is we just ordered an al pastor pizza and we are making Costco brownies, so it’ll all be made up for.
– Food Review –
Another special weekly segment borrowed from Jared West. Even if he doesn’t respond to my emails, I’ll still honor his inventions.
🌯 35 Peso Al Pastor Burrito: This thing is pretty huge and has lots of jalapeños, but the al pastor is delicious. Only downside is that it’s only open at night, luckily its right alongside the route heading home. 10/10
🫁 Ground Cow Intestine & Egg Torta: (yes, I know those are lungs, theres no intestine emoji) I had my doubts, in fact I had many, but this may be my new favorite pre-District Council, and post-45 Minutes To Burn snack. Tasty breakfast, and the guy is friendly and sells them cheap. Sells the bad boys right outside our house, and they sell out by 10am. 8/10, because if you think about what you are eating it gets weird.
🍮 Mom’s Homemade Caramels: My Mom made and sent me caramels and they are literally the best thing ever, I may or may not have eaten the entire bag in a matter of 2 days. Best thing I’ve ever eaten. 100/10
🌶 Cinnamon & Chile de Arbol Mole: Listen, I love mole, but this flavor combo had me sweating, wheezing, and red in the face because it was so spicy. Flavor combo threw me off a little bit. I coughed some into my lungs and I think the damage is permanant. My tongue steamed when I drank cold water. 3/10, it was even spicier on the exit route, especially after we did 15 minutes of running to get back home on time.
🥞 Gorditas de Nata: I finally figured out what those vanilla fluffy mini pancakes thing were, and man I swear I’ll lose all my money on those bad boys. If only the stand was closer to our house. 15/10
🍔 PLUS Burger from KR Burger MAX: I guess one of the two guys that runs this place is a member of the Church, and already knows my companion, who helped him return to the church. Now, every time we walk by to head home, he insists that we each take a free PLUS burger, which tastes even better when it’s free. That will never get old. 12/10
That wraps up the food review, which is probably the majority of the things I have to tell you this week.
Anyways, beyond that we had a fun district council this week, we had a gift exchange!! I got a gift from dear sweet little Zone Leader Elder Quintero, who gave me my book back, a broken umbrella, and perhaps the most legendary Jordan shirt I have ever seen. Plus, I ate one of those tortas beforehand. I’d call that quite the win. That was actually really fun and we all spent a lot of time laughing! We have a pretty awesome Zone.
Well, we had 2 baptisms in the ward this Sunday! I am really really sad to tell you all that none of those 5 people I mentioned last week were baptized. We passed by them each day, but in the end none of them were baptized. That was really hard and really sad, but I have faith that each of those people can progress to baptism! So, the baptisms we had this past week were some people the other Elders taught, but I knew them both and got to teach them both a little bit, so I was thrilled they got to be baptized!! I hope we can help our other friends progress to baptism too! I got to give little talks in both the baptismal programs, and I played the piano for the interlude music and hymns and stuff, and that was really fun too!
That disappointing news doesn’t mean we didn’t see lots of miracles this week. We has 11 people come to Church with us for the first time, including the sister of an awesome recent convert who is super interested and absolutely awesome, she is already so powerful and we hope to invite her to be baptized this week! Her name is Jannete, please keep her in your prayers too! On top of that, we had that legendary family of 8 come to church with us, and they absolutely LOVED it, the ward loves them, and I am just so excited about them!
Keep them in your prayers too, the family Gonzalez. Seriously some of the kindest, funniest, and most excited people I’ve met here. They constantly give us food, soda, meals, they are seriously so cool and they are just the funniest family. I’m so excited for them and I’m sure they can progress!! There’s also a little kid in our ward names Juan Carlito and he might be my favorite person in the ward. He’s almost 3 years old and just kind of follows me everywhere, and is the literal cutest lil fella. I love it here so much!
Anyways, in other news, the mission hit over 100 baptisms this month which helped us break over 720 baptisms on the year. I hate focusing on numbers, but I just think that is a great evidence that the work of the Lord is speeding up in Mexico and throughout the world, which brings me to my spiritual thought!
Of course, per the usual, I’ll start with sharing a few scripture verses from the Book of Mormon! I would love to share this whole dang chapter because its so good, but I guess I’ll just share a part. This is from chapter 9 of 3rd Nephi, when the people hear the Lord’s voice right before He descends to the earth after His death and resurrection.
“O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?
Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.
And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost, even as the Lamanites, because of their faith in me at the time of their conversion, were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not.
Behold, I have come unto the world to bring redemption unto the world, to save the world from sin.
Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold, for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved.”
I absolutely love that chapter. This week, I read President Nelson’s talk about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. And I think that talk, where President Nelson testifies that Christ WILL come again, speaks very similarly to this chapter in the Book of Mormon where Christ appeared to the people in the Americas for the first time. I love this quote from President Nelson, asking us to prepare again for the Lord’s Second Coming!
“I urge you to devote time each week—for the rest of your life—to increase your understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
The best is yet to come, my dear brothers and sisters, because the Savior is coming again! The best is yet to come because the Lord is hastening His work. The best is yet to come as we fully turn our hearts and our lives to Jesus Christ.”
So, my invitation to you this week is to do the things to increase your discipleship and love for your Savior, who was tortured, killed, and later resurrected for you, and prepare for Him to come again. And maybe next week I can share some more scriptures from this great section of the Book of Mormon! This week, focus every day on preparing to recieve the Savior, by growing closer to Him in your love and dedication.
Well, I guess I’ll wrap it up now. I love you guys so much and I miss you!! I pray for you guys so much and I can feel your prayers for me and for the people here that I’ve gotten to know. Thank you!! I hope you guys always remember how much I love you! Enjoy the new year and the rest of winter break and all that jazz!
Talk next week capos mios!
-Elder Crockett
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