05-28-12 You believe WHAT?

I literally got five emails with the subject line "HOLY COW!", and I couldn`t agree more. This week, probably the craziest thing I could imagine happened.

On Saturday, we met a guy named Ismael. He was really nice, super excited to see us, and he told us to come in. We were really surprised and excited (most people don`t act like that, especially right off!)

We sat down, and he said "How are you, my Melchizedek Priesthood brethren?"
Obviously, we asked "how long have you been a member?" He told us that he isn`t a member, nor has he set foot in our church, but he knows our church is true.
......WHAT?

It turns our that Ismael is part of an organization called "The Keys of Enoch" (or something like that...."Claves de Enoc"). This organization openly declares that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that God restored the church through him, that the priesthood wasn`t on the earth during the apostasy and that it was restored to Joseph. It absolutely blew my mind, because almost nothing he told us conflicts with Church doctrine, even the things we believe that most others don`t. The Keys of Enoch is a religious science orginization, so most things he said were scientific (with big words and everything!). But doctrinaly, it makes sense. For example, here are some things that Ismael explained to us:

• Through certain chemicals in our brains (that can only exist if we were born with them), we can see God, who exists on a higher plane than us (as Ismael said "The Seventh Dimension") -- Sounds rather similar to "revelation to pre-ordained prophets", doesn`t it?
• There are "vortexes", or small parts of the atmosphere that are thinner than all the parts, which make it easier to leave or enter the atmosphere. The four largest in the world? According to Ismael, Egypt, Palmyra, Nauvoo, and Salt Lake City.
• He said that in the future, the galaxy will complete one rotation exactly since it started, and when it does, the world will literally enter a higher plane in the galaxy. When that happens, Ismael said, the vibrations of this world will be too much for the forces of evil, and that should last about 1,000 years. (The Milennium?)
• They believe Enoch never died. Nor did Moses, nor did John.

It was two hours of mind-blowing discussion. He explained things to us about the Nephites and Lamanites, their pyramids....MAN this guy is smart. However, upon further discussion, I realized that he doesn`t believe he needs to be baptized. He completely and utterly believes the church is true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that the Book of Mormon is true (he`s read it like ten times). I don`t get how that translates to "I don`t need to be baptized.", but that`s what he believes. Who knows how much truth they have, but I`ll tell you what. They sure know a lot. Like....the SCIENCE side of our religion. It was so interesting. Maybe we`ll go talk to him again next P-day. =)

Well, other than that, this week has been a lot of running around like a chicken with its legs cut off (hee hee). The branch is spread out over an entire valley, and so we`re trying to teach the investigators we have (which are all over the place), and manage the branch extension we created, and just doing normal ol` branch president stuff (interviews, callings). All that stuff has probably led to me being sick. Don`t get me wrong, I`m fine, but it`s that "I bet I`m going to get sick soon" feeling. All achy and lazy and yucky. But this week is going to be great. President Cantù sent me a personalized letter to try and help me with this branch president stuff, and it`s really great. It`ll help a lot, I think.

Basically, being a branch president is "la onda". It`s so fun! I love doing interviews and stuff like that. Seeing how the church is run from behind the scenes.

There isn`t much more to say....I love you all. Para siempre Dios estè con Vos.  (Till we meet again)

Elder Crabb

PS: Code sign....it seems like it, but I hope not
(this has got to be an inside joke...anyone want to fill me in?)

Fow tows:

The first two are pictures from the "Keys of Enoch" book. Yes, the first one is in Hebrew. The other one is about the migration of the Nephites or something, I didn`t really understand (but wow, right?).

The next two are pictures of me in the back of a truck, riding to a place half an hour away (don`t freak out, yes, we hitchhike sometimes).

The one with the red tent is us at our lunch on Saturday. Literally a party with a band and beer. Awkward.

A couple of fake missionary pictures taken by Carlos, a recent convert.

And finally, breakfast in Los Mochis with district leader Elder Guillen (companion r-r-remix) and HIS companion, a new elder.

05-21-12 President Crabb?

Well, I was transferred! I kind of expected it, because nobody stays in Amistad for very long. It was sad to say goodbye, because we were seeing a ton of progress from Lionel, and Rosibel is working on Personal Progress! Woo hoo! There`s nothing cooler than watching a convert get taken in by the church.

My new area is called "Carrizo". It`s REALLY small, and the closest big city is Los Mochis. I hadn`t ever been there before, so it was pretty sweet to check it out. It`s a lot like Culiacàn, but smaller. Apparently, we go to our district meeting every week in Los Mochis (it`s about an hour away), then we just hang out there and buy stuff in Wal Mart. Man, I`m sure getting spoiled by Wal Mart. But this week, we went to Carls Jr. (!!!!) for lunch to celebrate my first week. The food sure was good, but man, the music was really unfortunately great (unfortunate because I couldn`t listen to it!). I`m talking One Republic, John Mayer, U2, some of my absolute favorites. It was super weird to hear all that in Mexico. We talked really loud while we were eating, I`ll just say that. After that, we went to Office Depot and I bought a new backpack! My old one was getting some holes in it. I`m going to send pictures of it, but everyone`s going to laugh at me, because it`s really BIG. President Cantù`s wife said "Show me the size of your backpack and I`ll show you the size of your faith." Makes sense. How many Books of Mormon do you carry around? How many do you think you`ll give away? Well, I don`t know, but my backpack could probably hold like 10! Food for thought.

 

His new area (A) in comparison to Culiacan

Right now, I´m in a cyber cafè in the tiny town of Carrizo, my new area! It`s about a mile square.

Wow, it really is a square mile!

 

However, my area includes a few other tiny tiny towns, namely Chihuahuita, about 10 minutes away, and (I wish I was making up this name) Town Number 7 ("Poblado Numero 7"), about 20 minutes away. It`s a gigantic area, actually. It stretches clear up to Sonora, the adjacent state! It`s going to be a lot of fun.

Especially because I`m the new Branch President.

I know what you`re thinking. "Can they even do that?" That was my question too, and the answer is apparently "yes". I`ve been assigned to be the Branch President of the Carrizo Branch and the extension (where we just have another meeting for those who are far away) in Poblado Numero 7. It`s a big responsibility. A few FAQ`s:

• No, my title is not "President Crabb"! When you`re a missionary, you can have whatever calling in the church that doesn`t require you to be married, all the way up to district president!
• My only counselor is my companion, Elder Sumano (with three months in the mission).
• We have a "prayer house" (there`s not a chapel here. It`s a rented building, undedicated, where we have the services. It`s actually pretty nice. In Poblado 7 someone lends us a little house where we have those services.
• The baptismal font is literally a metal frame with a tarp inside it, which gets filled with water.
• I have my own office, and my own computer. Cool!
• I would have sent pictures of all this stuff, but my camera died and I haven`t had time to charge it.

And, the craziest of all:

• I have all the same responsibilities as any other branch president. That includes worthiness interviews, tithing, activities, baptismal services, callings, visits to sick members, temple recommends, and just about anything else you can think of. I even get to read the blue church manual (there`s manual number 2, the red one, that anyone can read. But only stake and ward leaders get to read the blue one, number 1.). It`s pretty cool to know weird cool little procedures of the church. Like, did you know that the church approves hypnotism for medical purposes, but discourages it for entertainment purposes? Just so you know...

Pretty much, I`m really amazed that I`ve been given this chance. The only other branch presidents I had even heard of in the mission were ex-assistants-to-the president. And I don`t even have a year yet! But I`m just really going to work hard and bank on the promise of the Lord that he qualifies whom he calls.

I`m so excited to get going. I`ll talk to you, and send photos, and comment on anything you guys have said (sorry) next week! I love you!

Elder Crabb

Oh, and P.S., Elder Sumano has never heard of, or tried, Root Beer. I`m going to show him what`s up next P-day.

05-14-12 Happy Mother's Day!

It was so fun to hear from everyone yesterday! I can`t believe how...."not-different" everybody is. I`m so happy about that, really. =) I miss all of you, and it`s always great to hear all your voices.

First off, Happy Mother`s Day!

This week has been pretty weird! We`ve been starting to teach a bunch of people that all have problems with the Word of Wisdom. We have been working with a guy named Chayo to help him stop drinking coffee and smoking (even though his family, who are all members, tells us that he drinks it anyway after we visit...). We also met a lady named Sonia who is a meth addict. The thing is, that`s not uncommon here. The uncommon part is that she totally wants to change. I`ve honestly never met anyone like her. She has been doing drugs since she was ten. Her life has been really tough, and she really wants to be baptized for that reason. It`s amazing, the amount of changes she`s going to have to make (she also isn`t married and lives with her boyfriend) but I think she`s willing to do it.

 

Probably one of the coolest people on my mission so far is a guy we found this week. His name is Lionel. The first time we talked to him, I was like, "Hello....is it us you`re looking for?" (Just kidding. Please tell me someone understood that.) He started off by saying that he didn`t like churches because of tithing. That he had been robbed by ministers before and it was just better if he didn`t pay it, because it`s a political thing, not a religious thing. I`m going to admit it, that doubt kind of caught me off guard. The most complicated doubt we ever get is like, "God isn`t just one person?", so when he pulled out some scripture about Abraham paying tithing to Nebuchadnezzar, saying tithing is just a way of taxing, I was kind of blown away. He has read the Bible like 50 times. He has entire chapters memorized. All we have to do is teach him from the Bible and he believes every word we say, because he isn`t part of any church, he`s just studied the Bible a ton. Yay! I don`t doubt he`ll get baptized at all!

 

I love the gospel! I hope everyone realizes how much I`ve changed spiritually out here. I`m still pretty goofy, I`m not going to lie, but I`ve just sort of realized the importance of all this stuff. I love it! It`s not fair, just when I really want to study and learn a ton about Mexican history and the Book of Mormon, I have no time or means. Ironic, but it just makes me want to do it more when I get home. I`m excited! That`s all for this week! Transfers are Monday....we`ll see what happens!

 

Elder Crabb

 

Meteorite?

Elder Crabb's Zone

 

05-07-12 Cinco de Mayo?

Pretty much everybody has been asking me what it´s like down here in Mexico for Cinco de Mayo. Well, I´m here to tell you that.....it´s the same as the United States. Maybe worse, because I´m LIVING IN MEXICO, and I didn´t even hear one word about it. Funny, huh? However, 5 de Mayo was a pretty special day for us over here. That was the day that Rosibel got baptized! She is definitely my coolest convert in the mission. She believes everything so much! The coolest part was, this Sunday, her THIRD Sunday ever in church, she got up and bore her testimony! I was really surprised, because she´s not too outgoing or anything. But she said "My friend Jasbel told me this was all true....why didn´t I believe it before?". Even better, she said "Everyone said it would feel good to get baptized, but not HOW good!" I was so happy. =) Really, I could care less that I´m the one baptizing her, I´m just so glad to see someone just GET IT.

It was an awesome process. Her friend Jasbel taught her pretty much everything, honestly, we just answered questions and reinforced her teaching. It´s really an incredible experience to see someone go from 100% nonmember to 100% member. Honestly, I´m just about as excited as you can be right now. But I didn´t even tell you guys what happened during that day.

 

We were going to the church to fill the font (I literally had to ask Elder Peterson how to say "font" in English) on Saturday morning. Everything seemed fine. But when we turned on the water....nothing came out. Needless to say, we were a little bit panicky, we had a baptism that night. We weren´t sure what to do, and we tried everything to get it to work. I was at the point of just finding some buckets when I finally said, "We need to put this in the Lord´s hands."

Okay. Time out.

 

Remember how I said that Elder Octavio Tenorio of the Seventy was going to come and talk to us? Well, he did, and it was AWESOME. He talked about "specific prayers". Like, for example, instead of "Please bless that I can find my backpack", it´s "I´m going to stand outside on the road with a sign that says "Lost backpack" for an hour, and the person that has it will recognize me and give it back to me, and the person that has it will not have stolen anything." He talked about how we believe those prayers can be answered, so why don´t we pray like that?

 

Alright. Time in.

 

I was thinking about what Elder Tenorio said. So I prayed that we could have our baptism. I prayed that within an hour someone could come help us figure out what was wrong. That we could get the water fixed. And that we could do it soon, because we had an appointment. After the prayer, I got up to go and see what else we could do, when I realized there were two guys in the church. I said, "Can I help you?" "No," he said. "We´re with the maintenence of the church, we´re here to clean the air conditioners." I said "....you wouldn´t happen to know anything about how we could get the water turned on.......would´ja?"

He said yes.

In the long run, they didn´t up fixing the problem. But they gave me an idea to fill it (run a hose from the other side of the church that WAS working to the font). I filled it the whole way like that. But how awesome, right? We had our baptism. Someone came to help us. We did everything in like a half hour. I was ready to let it slide that the water still didn´t work, when the faucet for the font (that hadn´t worked just hours before) suddenly worked. Little did I know that ANOTHER maintenence guy was going to come check the building´s water that day, to check if it had problems.

 

GOD´S PLAN IS PERFECT!!!

 

I love you all, and I miss you. Talk to you next week!!!

 

Elder Crabb

4/30/12 Witty Subject Line‏

Of COURSE it would happen this week, but my pants are starting to fail. I ripped a big ol´ hole in one of them, the other ones are starting to get little holes where my hands rub against them while walking (unbelievable, right?) and my suit pants are now a completely different color.  Right now, I have three pairs of pants, and all of them have some sort of defect haha. My backpack has some holes, and my shoes are getting pretty worn out!  Everyone has told me that when you hit a year, everything fails, which I can definitely see happening.

I´m pretty sure you can imagine what kind of stuff happens in an apartment of four guys that have never lived on their own before. I struggle with the game of "garbage bag Jenga" that we play every week. Basically, it´s played like this: you put garbage in the garbage bag until it all comes falling down, and that person has to take out the garbage. As you can imagine, it gets pretty ridiculous. I was going to take a picture of our most ridiculous, but it fell before I had a chance to take a picture!

I´ve been pretty good about writing in my journal, although we´re just gonna say that "pretty good" in this case means "once or twice a week". I´m trying to write more often, it´s just pretty difficult in this area. Let´s just say, at the end of two years it´ll be updated.

In other news, my ukulele totally got shut down! I was so sad when I heard that. But my companion-slash-assistant-to-the-president told me it´s because they´ve had to send a bunch of missionaries home recently for various reasons (like seven or eight!) and they don´t want anything that could possibly be a distraction. "Raising the bar" as it were. Sigh....I woulda been fine.... But I am, however, enjoying very much the music that you´ve sent me, =) Thanks!

Oh yeah, and Elder Octavio Tenorio of the Seventy is going to come visit our mission this week. On Friday, we´re going to have a conference with him and his wife. I have never heard him speak, but from what everyone tells me, he gets right down to the "needy-greedy". (I don´t know if you´ve ever seen him before. He´s the guy with big ol´ glasses.) I´m pretty excited. I´ll try to get a picture! =)

This week, Elder Ramirez and I taught a family of four, which was pretty cool to start out with, but even more cool was, by the end of the lesson, there were TWELVE people listening to us! The biggest miracle of this week, however, was Rosibel. She´s the friend of a member, and they´re both pretty young, she only has 15 years (I´m going to leave that last sentence in here so you can laugh at my Spanish grammar.). But basically, she was just at church one week, where I met her, so on Monday we went to her friend´s house to teach a lesson to her, where we watched "The Restoration" (you know, that twenty-minute movie about Joseph Smith). The family was a little bit distracted, but Rosibel was GLUED to the screen. She was totally captivated. During the First Vision part, she cried. I asked her how she felt, and she said "Amazing. What is this feeling?" We explained that it was the Holy Ghost. We left after a powerful lesson about the Restoration. The amazing part is what happened next. Four days later, I was with Elder Peterson in his area, pretty darn far from anything in my area, when I get a phone call. It was the friend of Rosibel, Jasbeth. She said, "Hey, Rosibel just told me she wants to get baptized. What do we need to do?" I was kind of shocked, I´ll admit it. But I just said "Don´t move, we´re going to come right now!" When we got there, we taught a really neat lesson (one of the most powerful of my whole mission) about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She´s going to get baptized this Friday! I´m so excited! Honestly, she is one of the most spiritual teenagers I´ve ever met. She says that she feels like our church is true!

Funny side note: There´s an elder in our mission named "Elder Cervera". He ordered a new name tag. When it got to the mission offices, we couldn´t believe it. It said "Elder Cerveza"! ("Cerveza" means "beer"!) We were laughing pretty hard about that. But even better, an elder in my zone, Elder Robles, lost his name tag one day on the bus. He was panicking, because in our mission, you do NOT walk around with your name tag off. Elder Ramirez said, "Well, I do have one solution....you can be Elder Cerveza temporarily until you get your new tag. It´s the only extra." I was absolutely dying laughing. Reluctantly, he agreed!

I hope everything is going well back home! The weather is sure starting to heat up. It scares me, I´ll make some comment about the heat and an old lady will say "Oh, you have no idea. In the summer, you´re going to want to die!" Yikes. Take care, and I want to apologize to those who have written me who I have not written back to. Sorry! Such is life when you´re a missionary! But rest assured that I´m doing my best to try and write.

Nos vemos pronto,

Elder Crabb

Wonder if I´m getting along with my companion? Check out our "shaving cream fight" picture.....Elder Ramirez is a psycho! (in a good way.)

 

Also, this is our gang sign for "Amistad A", our area (too bad Elder Ramirez isn´t one for photos. And yes, he wears "jammies", something we make fun of him for quite often.)