What’s up everybodyyyy
It was a great week here, and I am just about to hit 6 months in the mission, which is actually so crazy!! It’s going by so fast, it’s pretty nuts! I hope everyone has had a great week this week, I miss you all! Here’s how my week went:
✨️ Weekly Highlights:
-First of all, Rosy got baptized on Sunday!! The absolute high point of the week for sure. She is the 9 year old sisters of the 3 Gonzalez family kids that got baptized last week, and her testimony is already so impressive. She asked me if I would baptize her, which was an absolute honor and an amazing experience. I am so so happy for her!
-Later that day, at lunch with some members, Juan Carlitos, my 3 year old best friend and I were playing with construction trucks. When we had to leave, I gave him a high five goodbye, but then he grabbed my hand and chomped down. I thought we were pals but maybe he just thought I’d be tasty. Genuinely such a funny kid though
-Today is Jared West’s half birthday, arguably one of the most important days of the year. I can’t wait till he gets my special gift!
-I got to confer the Aaronic Priesthood on Angel, Rosy’s older brother!! That was such a cool experience and the Spirit was so strong. He, and all of those kids are so active and dedicated in the church and are really good examples to me. Such good people and I am so glad I got to have such a cool experience like that with him!
-Our landlord forgot to pay our gas bill (which they mail directly to him, not us) so we’ve been without hot water. I don’t love but don’t hate a cold shower, but I guess he felt really bad because he gave us this weird plug-in metal stick to heat water with. I guess your supposed to keep it only in the water, because we plugged it in and it I went to stick it in the bucket, and the metal instantly melted all over the place. I landed it all in the bucket (phewf) so I didn’t burn the whole place down. Thank goodness Walmart sells them for like 3 bucks, it’s like nothing ever even happened! Back to the mountain man bucket showers.
-Hand of the Lord has been here the whole time!! So many people here have just come up to us, asking about the church, gospel, or where they can find the nearest church!! That has just been such a cool experience. Yesterday, a “Guatemalan alcohol dealer” (his words, not mine) came up to us because missionaries in Guatemala had helped him drop alcohol. We gave him a Book of Mormon, and as a sign of his gratitude, he gave me a bottle of 3000 peso cologne. What an iconic fella, he literally was carrying around a part still freshly packaged. Now I feel like my first companion with expensive colognes, not something I exactly expected. I have yet to use it…it has an interesting smell. I’d describe it as “wintery Park City classic cabin-style steakhouse dimly lit men’s bathroom air freshener”. Actually, I think thats the most accurate description of all time. Shout out to the Grub Steak (thank you Luke!) and “Zermat Kiwi Unisex Fragrance” , although not sure I want to walk around smelling like delightfully winter-fresh cabin bathrooms. Definitely a smell Jared West will wear and love for the rest of his life, once it gets his way.
Other than that, things are going great! My compa, Elder Marx and I get along so well and we have a lot of awesome late night chats and just like talk about life and doctrine, it is actually so much fun. We are working so well together and I love it!! I am especially grateful for the miracles we have seen and continue seeing together, and for all the people we have that are so interested and progressing so well. The Lord’s hand is always in this work, moving us along and presenting so many miracles!
This week, I’ve been thinking a lot. Which brings me to my…
📖 Spiritual Thought:
This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about what motivates a good missionary, how do you measure success as a missionary, how do I stat diligent, and so on and so forth. Sometimes I feel inadequate or lazy or angry at myself for things I didn’t say or scriptures I didn’t use during a contact or lesson that I look back and realize I should have said and that would have benefited the person and myself. I think sometimes, us as church members and as missionaries think we need to be perfect, on the ball and ready all of the time. I wish that’s how it worked, and that that was possible, but it’s unfortunately not!
I read one of my favorite general conference talks this week, and it has really been sticking on my mind. It’s called “Be Ye Therefore Perfect…Eventually” by Elder Holland. I love this story he includes:
“Leo Tolstoy wrote once of a priest who was criticized by one of his congregants for not living as resolutely as he should, the critic concluding that the principles the erring preacher taught must therefore also be erroneous.
In response to that criticism, the priest says: ‘Look at my life now and compare it to my former life. You will see that I am trying to live out the truth I proclaim.’ Unable to live up to the high ideals he taught, the priest admits he has failed.
But he cries: ‘Attack me, if you wish, I do this myself, but don’t attack the path I follow. If I know the way home [but] am walking along it drunkenly, is it any less the right way simply because I am staggering from side to side?
Do not gleefully shout, ‘Look at him! … There he is crawling into a bog!’ No, do not gloat, but give your help [to anyone trying to walk the road back to God.’”
I love that!! God doesn’t expect perfection yet, but He expects effort towards perfection. If you are on the path, stay on! You don’t always have to be running forward with a smile on your face, there will be times when you just feel like laying down and quiting. But perfection is eternal, not something we will achieve yet. And that’s okay!! Even if sometimes you slowly stumble along the path, you are on the right path, and thats what matters. The desire and efforts to follow God’s plan for you is the best you can offer!
So, I’d invite you this week to stay on the path and stay pressing forward. And if you aren’t on the path or have stopped and are laying down in the ditch, get pack to the path!! Keep your eternal perfection in mind and let the Lord guide along his path. I promise there is so much joy waiting for you!
I love you all, don’t you ever forget it. I miss you tons but I also absolutely love being here. Great companions, better Spanish, miracles, so many things that make this work so awesome! I am so grateful to be a part of it. I hope you all have a fantastic week, and remember, keep pressing along the path back to eternal perfection! Efforts every day, and I promise you will see the Lord’s hand.
That’s all for this week! I love you all!!
-Elder Crockett
📸 Picture Time:
