Que pach贸 mi buen!
What’s up! Tell me all about your week!
So…I had my email draft all ready to send yesterday and accidentally clicked discard instead of send. Andddd it’s lost forever! So here comes my best recreation of whatever I had written yesterday. Oops
I hope you had a great week and a fantastic long weekend, went on some good long bike rides, got some good sleep and had a good time. Happy Valentines Day and stuff! This past week was super busy but suuuper good and full of miracles, so it went by very quickly! Feels like I just barely sent my last email…or maybe that I just barely wrote it. Ni modo, aqu铆 te viene campe贸n
馃寚
– Last sports night we had a huge turnout of members and of friends in teaching and it was a ton of fun! Arturo yelled encouragement from the sideline while playing at the board game table and we had a great game of basketball, it was tons of fun!! Small and simple things bring great things to pass, there are so many people interested in learning more about the church!
– Saw Elder Dagley from the CCM walking past the mission home on Tuesday. Always a great start to a great week.
– Went on exchanges again this week, and got to go back to Valle Ceylan, my previous area and the best area in the mission! It was a day full of miracles with Elder Galv茫o and it was just so fun to go back! He is an amazinggg missionary and such a funny guy. I got to see Sabina, Arturo, Aisha, Adriana, the whole bishopric and all the youth! That place almost feels like home, it was a great set of exchanges!
– I think there are enough Elders in our house with at least some OCD, because the other night we came home to a few buckets of paint and that paste that fills holes in the wall, and tons of cleaning supplies. Since then, we scraped and repainted our moldy bathroom ceilings, filled all the random holes and dents in the walls and ceilings, scrubbed our shower floor till it returned to almost its natural color, fixed the toilet, etc. Feels like a new house!
– Yesterday was Hermana Brady’s birthday and on Sunday, President gave her a box of Valentine’s chocolates for that and her birthday and we took a picture. They are so fun and she is such an amazing person, it was so fun to celebrate her birthday with her on Sunday!
– On that same grear Sunday, Arturo got baptized!! He is such a miracle and is so elect, he has been so excited all week and is constantly sharing the gospel with other people! He was preaching to other friends on Sunday, inviting people to church at english class and sports night, and wants to introduce us to all his friends and family that live around here! He is sooo cool and it was an amazing baptism, I am so thankful that I got to meet him when I did and I am so amazed by his progression! He was exceptionally excited about the limited edition baptismal program with the Broncos logo that the Lindavista Elders made for him. He sent us a video that same day of it front and center of his Broncos merch collection. Such a miracle to see him progress to the person he is today, I am so proud of you Arturo!
Well, hopefully I remembered most of the fun stuff that happened this past week. It was so much fun and this next week is going to be even more packed, so it’ll be even more fun!
馃摎
It’s always very interesting to notice some closer details when you study the Book of Mormon slowly and closely. And its also awesome to look at the overarching themes and storyline when you read it quickly! Anyways.
This week I was reading slowly through King Benjamin’s sermon, which is just full of some fantastic stuff. I was thinking a lot about about the number one goal and focus of the mission right now; that every missionary feels and finds joy in the work! So here’s verse 13 from Mosiah 3 that hits right on that point:
“And the Lord God hath sent his holy prophets among all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue, that thereby whosoever should believe that Christ should come, the same might receive remission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them.”
Whoa! The answer is right there. It’s the same steps that is the Doctrine of Christ, and the 4th Article of Faith. First, believe in (have faith in the power and Atonement of) Jesus Christ. True faith is a deep love and dedication to Him, which will lead you to find a remission of your sins, by repentance through the same power of His Atonement!
Man! Living the Doctrine of Christ is the way to find not just joy, but exceedingly great joy. I love how simply the Scriptures lay out answers to most all of life’s questions. The issue is not that there are no answers or solutions, they are there, we just need to search for them!
So, what are you focused on? Are you constantly increasing your faith in Jesus Christ? Are you feeling a remission of your sins every time you fall and are you trying to improve? Is your heart in it? Remember what President Nelson essentially said, your joy in life does not depend on your circumstance but whether or not you are focused on Jesus Christ. He is the Joy, the Light, the Life, and the Sanctuary in this life. If you want to feel warm, move closer to the campfire. If you want to feel joy, move closer to Him.
So, that’s my invitation for you this week. Go find joy by living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Be bold! Everyone around you is searching for joy and needs to hear from you how to find it. You are here for a reason and someone needs you. Pleaaase please please help someone else find joy though Jesus Christ this week, family, friend, whoever it is, there are people out there waiting on you!
Go be good. I love you all so much, I’ll keep on praying for you and I can’t wait to hear about the miracles you see as you are bold and spread joy! Do it!
Go make it a great week out there. I love you. Ah铆 nos vidrios!
Elder Crockett 馃檶
