It's the Anniversary of Your Natal Day

Having Elder Cruz as a companion has been really awesome!  We've been having lots of little miracles happen lately.  It's kind of frustrating because they aren't the kind of miracles that produce results so much hahaha.  But really if we're seeing lots of "coincidences" and little miracles, it means we're working according to the will of the lord. 

Tomorrow  is my birthday! I'm excited because....I'll be 20. ☺  Actually, the other Elders in our ward spilled the beans and a member said they're going to make me a cake,  AND, my family sent me some cool birthday stuff.  The children of Constitución are looking forward to some fun little party favors! 
Love you all.  Short once again, but I'm very happy right now! ☺

Elder Crabb


Pictures:

This is a Mexican cemetery. Here in Mexico, they build GIGANTIC houses over the grave sites of their loved ones.

 The biggest one is this orange one (with me, to show the size). They hold memorial-service-type-things in the houses. I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty creepy. Just TONS of abandoned houses all over....

The pink one is kind of an urban legend. The story is that some guys kidnapped a five-year-old girl from her house one night and killed her. The narcos (drug-traffickers) went after those guys and killed them, then proceeded to buy this gigantic princess castle for her family.

 Just a cool missionary picture. =]

Elder Crabb's Birthday...

Just thought you'd like to know...Elder Crabb's Birthday is this week!

 

So if you want to wish him a happy birthday you need to make sure you do it TONIGHT or EARLY MONDAY MORNING!

We love you Elder Crabb, Happy Birthday!

Update 2 of 2

Cody sent two blog posts in one email so I decided to space them out  a day apart!  Here is the second blog post he sent with yesterdays email.

This week, we were taught a valuable lesson on faith.  There’s an investigator we have named Virginia, who has some heath problems but an awesome testimony,  who we were going to baptize this Saturday.  Unfortunately, she couldn’t make it because she was sick.  She called it off like half an hour before!  We had the font ready and warm and everything,.  I tell this to set the scene.  On Saturday at 6:15p.m., we were going to go to an important appointment.  Elder Blood told us that we can’t leave the baptismal font full, because the font door doesn’t lock and the bishop things it’s a safety hazard.  Nor could we just leave the pump on, because you need to empty the pump manually part way through, or it won’t finish.  I was really stressed, because our appointment was for 6:30, and it takes 45 minutes to drain with the pump.  As I’m sitting there scrambling to come up with something, I say “well whatever the Lord wants, I have faith that it’ll turn out.”  Then Elder Cruz says, “Do you have enough faith to work for it?”  We all looked at each other for a second, then we went to TOWN!  I followed up my pant legs and got in the font and Elder Cruz and Elder blood ran buckets,  We emptied the entire font in 20 minutes, then got to our appointment around 10 minutes late  (but they were still there!)  The point is we all say, “I have faith!”  but are we willing to show it?  If we really have faith, it drives us to action!  Elder Cruz taught me that.

Speaking of Elder Cruz we received news about our transfers!  I’m staying in Comondu, but Elder Blood is going to serve in Mazatlan.  My new companion is the above –mentioned Elder Cruz!  However, Elder Cruz is a new elder.  I have been assigned as a trainer!  It’s going to be fantastic!  Elder Cruz is really humble and he has a powerful testimony.  I really can’t wait to work with him.

I thank anyone who has prayed for me (or missionaries in general) in the last seven and a half months.  We need your prayers!  But just so you know, I have felt those blessings from home!  The church is true  I love it here

Elder Crabb

Update 1 of 2

Wow these past few days (and weeks, really) have really flown by in the twinkling of an eye.  For some reason, it just started going really fast all of a sudden!  Now I have the feeling it won’t do anything but get faster.

January is still hot here.  Everybody’s all cold, but to normal people, it’s still hot.  I’ll admit it, I’m a little cold in the night, but that’s what blankets are for, right?

I’m slowly discovering that Mexicans just have lots of holidays just for eating,  First you got your “Day of the Virgin.”  December 12.  Lots of food.  Next up, Christmas Eve, and of course Christmas, both great BIG dinners.  After that, New Year’s Eve!  Huge Dinner with the family.  But don’t forget about New Year’s Day! We gotta eat again!  Later, there’s “Day of the Wise men,” on January 5^th so we can eat.  I believe there’s also one in February somewhere.  It’s a bit ridiculous, but we’re enjoying both the figurative and literal fruits. 

This transfer ends on the 15^th.  We’re all curious to see what happens, because Elder Farr, our district leader, is finishing his mission then!  (Heads up ladies—he’s single!)  Someone will be training Elder Cruz in his place, and who knows who’ll stay or leave.  The only thing we know is, if Elder Blood and I leave, we’ve sure left a lot of baptisms for the next missionaries!  There’s a lot of people we have right now who are going to probably be baptized, but probably not in this transfer (about five or six).  I’m not sad about that at all.    If they get baptized that sure is enough for me.

A lot of people think  Mexico is a “perpetual land of sunshine and baptisms.”  Well I’m here to set the record straight!  Perpetual land of sunshine?  Okay, yes  But baptisms?  Only sometimes.  It’s true that the Mexican people are much more open to listen to us (so much so that we usually throw them a baptismal challenge in the first lesson), but they have their challenges,  The most common is the “all churches are true as long as they talk about God.”  Idea!  We’re going on a few weeks without a baptism, but we’ll try to fix that! ☺

Thanks for your letters and your prayers.  God loves you.  I’m safe, the church is true,  What more is there?

Elder Crabb

p.s. I’m sitting here enjoying “Ramkali”, by the Take 10 Men’s Choir, thanks to my awesome family!

 

(editors note:  Just want to remind you all that these letters are hand written and then photographed and sent via-email.  Sometimes I have to “translate” Cody’s handwriting, most of the time I’m pretty confident, other times I’m just guessing!)