Que lo que, vatos míos!
I hope everyone had a great week and found lots of excuses to go on mountain bike rides and trail runs since its been so warm. I’ll lend my bike to anyone who wants to get out. Hit me up
Had a crazy past week with transfers, its all been tons of fun and kind of stressful but its been great! I’ll just jump right in:
🇲🇽 🌮 🌇
– President gave us permission to go to this member-owned barber in a red zone (area is closed for at least a year) where this lit guy cuts hair for 50 pesos. It was lit! Afterwards as we walked back to the main road to get an Uber, this guy asked us to help him push his 3 carts so we did, and I was quaking the whole whole time because I was so scared we were about to get robbed. No robberies occurred 🙂↕️
– I was companions with Elder Rodriguez for a couple days after Elder Nielson went home, and we got to go pick up Elder Luz from the airport!! He speaks perfect English and Spanish on top of his Portuguese, he’s going to be elite! The Bradys took us all to Toks afterwards, great day.
– My new companion is Elder Ruggieri from Chicago and my same generation and it’s already been a ton of fun to be with him! He’s a huge gym guy so he’s turned around our house every morning and I’m hoping I can finally put on some weight thats not straight to the gut.
– We had a great English class that the sisters gave, it was super spiritual anddd two of our friends showed up! None of them showed up on Sunday which was a huge bummer, so please pray for Alonso and Arturo! They both have desires to change and know their Savior so I am so excited for them!! We went and got tacos al pastor, success
– On Wednesday we went and picked up the new missionaries from the CCM which was so cool! This is a great group of excited missionaries and I am so excited they are here!
Anyways, thats about all the news I have for this week. We loaded up the house full of healthy Costco food this morning so I think I have someone who’s finally going to motivate me to lock in. This is going to be awesome.
📚 🤲
I was reading in Jacob 5 this week (man, it’s so stinkin long but there is sooo much to get out of there) and I took away something I don’t think I’d thought of before.
There’s a video of Elder Holland teaching about suffering in this life that I think has a lot to do with that same principle (I edited out a sentence or two at the beginning to make this a more efficient reading for you):
“The servant said unto his master: How comest thou hither to plant this tree, or this branch of the tree? For behold, it was the poorest spot in all the land of thy vineyard.
And the Lord of the vineyard said unto him: Counsel me not; I knew that it was a poor spot of ground; wherefore, I have nourished it this long time, and thou beholdest that it hath brought forth much fruit.
Look hither; behold I have planted another branch of the tree also; and thou knowest that this spot of ground was poorer than the first. But, behold the tree. I have nourished it this long time, and it hath brought forth much fruit; therefore, gather it, and lay it up against the season, that I may preserve it unto mine own self.”
Or, as Elder Holland said, there is something in suffering that is exalting. From the little I get told as a missionary about what’s happening in the world, it doesn’t sound like life is particularly easy. I know for a lot of people life is exceptionally hard and circumstances are sometimes unbearable.
What I do know is that God loves His children unconditionally, and that every experience in this life is for our learning. In fact, His promise to Joseph Smith while in Liberty Jail was that every trial would be for his learning, and would give Him experience.
So, if you feel like your Heavenly Father has planted you in the poorest spot of ground at the very back of His vineyard and has forgotten about you, He hasn’t. If you think you or someone you know has been forgotten by the Redeemer, you and they have not.
Your Heavenly Father knows you and is nourishing you, that’s a promise. He knows exactly what you need to bear your best fruits, to become your best self. I know it won’t be anywhere near easy, but I also know and promise that it is possible. He will never and can never forget about you. He is constantly worried for and nourishing you. He, the most perfect Being in the universe, even “wept” and says:
“What could I have done more for my vineyard?”
Of all the truths I have learned as a missionary, the primary and most important one we teach and testify of is that God loves all of His children, no matter who they are, what they’ve done, and even if they love Him back or not. He loves without conditions and He loves without limits. You will bear the good fruit He knows you have the potential to be and to become. He has a perfect plan!!
I love you all so doggone much. I’m sorry for all the moments you feel like you’re stuck in the worst spot of the garden, but I hope you know I love you and I always pray for you.
You can do this!! Make this a great week. Go nurture someone else who’s in a tough spot. They need you!
I love you!! Talk soon 🙌
Elder Crockett ❤️
