06-25-12 Can I PLEASE have a Book of Mormon?

My camera broke! I have no idea why, but it totally failed unexpectedly. Sad. I still have all my pictures and everything, but I don't have a camera. But that's alright, I'll get it figured out. This week, we had interviews with President Cantù. I was nervous, because I feel like every time I talk to him, he's going to breathe fire or something. That man is very intense. But the interviews were really calm and nice. We always up speaking half-Spanish, half-English whenever we're talking. He asked about our area and gave me a little advice to stuff I have been wondering about.

At those interviews, I saw Elder Romero, who I talked to for a little bit. He told me "Oh! I have a referral for you guys.". Excellent. I will never complain about that. Her name's Libieth. All we had was the approximate place where she lives and her phone number. So, that night, we had just gotten back from Los Mochis (where we had the interviews) at like 8, so I figured we should call her right then. It's not often that they give us a phone number as well as the address here, so I figured we'd take advantage. I dialed the number and a 20ish year old girl answered. "Hello?" "Hey, is this Libieth?" "Tell me who you are or I'm hanging up right now!" Whoa. "We're the missionaries!" She sorta freaked out, but once she realized who we were she got really excited. She told me that she had talked to Elder Romero in his area, and that sparked her interest to go look online for more information. Thankfully, she stumbled upon "mormon.org" and "lds.org", and she watched tons of videos and read a whole ton about the church. She said "Can I PLEASE have a Book of Mormon?" She is SO interested. To the max. The only thing is, she can't meet with us until after July 15th, because she's studying until then, but she still wants the Book of Mormon to study before then. She sounds SO great! I'm incredibly excited to teach her (especially because she lives with her mom, dad, a brother and a sister. Yay for complete families!). Remember Julio? that really cool guy I told you about that`s been reading and marking scriptures in the Book of Mormon we left for him? He said that HIS classes end on July 2nd. So it looks like we've got some pretty good potential for July.

Well, I guess the rainy season started. On Sunday we got absolutely DESTROYED with rain! We were standing out on the highway trying to catch a ride (completely soaked) when a huge semi truck pulled over and waved us in. I was like "Awesome! I've never ridden in one of those before!" So he gave us a ride all the way to our branch's extension (like 25 minutes away). Riding in a semi is so cool, by the way. It felt like a movie.

Right now we don't have many people that are progressing. We've had a lot of potentially good investigators that don't go to church or never read the Book of Mormon. The thing about Mexico is that everybody loves to hear you talk: "If it's good, it's from God! All the churches are the same because they talk about God", they say. That results in a lot of people that are willing to listen, with few people that are willing to change. We have to gauge it by the commitments, going to church, reading, etc. This week we should have a baptism if everything works out well and if change what they said they're going to change.

That about sums it up for this week. I really love being here, especially in Carrizo. There are very few members here, but the ones that there are are very strong. Actually, I might not be Branch President for long here! The other week I recommended Brother Franco to be the new president!! He needs to have an interview with the mission presidency (because our branch is in a district and not a stake) but I forsee absolutely no problems. It's going to be so great. Transfers are this next Monday! I'll let you know! Bye!

Elder Crabb

06-18-11 A Elder Crabb le gusta esto.

So, this week has been interesting (when ISN'T it, really). We had divisiones (splits? I don't know how to say it in English) with the zone leaders, that means they came here to Carrizo to see how I'm doing. I was a little frantic trying to get all the travel plans put in order but we figured it out. Elder Garcia came to spend the day with me, and much to my dismay, every single plan I had totally failed! One person who I had planned to visit told us that he doesn't want to hear us (although just the other day, he did), and the other people weren't there or they were busy. We talked to SO many people that day! One really obese kid, who told us he wanted more friends. Aw. We told him that God would be his friend, and us too. He almost cried. That was pretty cool. We also talked to a girl who we're pretty sure was possessed, but we kind of just got out of there as soon as possible...

That day pretty much failed, but we've had a whole bunch of cool experiences this week. Elder Sumano had told me the other day that he's never taught a Jehovah's Witness (which blew my mind--every sixth person is a Jehovah's Witness down here) and that he wants to, because he doesn't know much about them and wants to learn. I thought "Well, we'll see if we can get a little help with that." So I asked in my prayer that morning that Elder Sumano would have the opportunity to talk to a Jehovah's Witness and maybe even teach them (he has about four months in the mission, to give you an idea). That day, we left at ten, and didn't meet any all day. Just when I thought my prayer wasn't going to be answered, as we went up to contact a referral, a woman in a skirt with an umbrella walked in. Behind her, a guywalked in with a striped button-up shirt and a hat. Both very Jehovah's Witness-y. I thought "Wow, here we are!" When we knocked, another man answered the door and said he had company (we already knew that....) We asked if we could come in, but they were kind of hesitant, obviously. We just made an appointment and left, but we stopped by a little store to buy a snack for the night. We started talking to the owner of the store, and to our surprise, we found out she was a Jehovah's Witness too! Baptized 8 years (for those who don't know, you need to study quite a bit to get baptized with them, so she knows her stuff). She also said we could come back. Talk about answers to prayers! Don't get me wrong, we're not just going to Bible Bash. They both genuinely seem interested. But how cool, right?

Hitchhiking is one of the craziest things ever! Not danger-wise, but man, the people that pick up hitchhikers aren't the most normal people in the world, and every time it's an adventure. We met one guy who told us a whole lot about aliens. Others have said that one time missionaries slept in his car and never told him when to stop, so he brought them to Sonora, a different state in a different mission! Oops! Another guy Other times there have been goat legs (see last week's photo), I've ridden with cows and horses, in a milk truck, and inside a bouncy house too. Guys on motorcycles have offered us rides! Haha....it's so much fun. But every once in a while it take s a long time to get someone to stop, unfortunately.

I love this Church. It's SO true, and it gets more true every day. I love studying the scriptures, which is something I never imagined that I would love. The mission really has changed me a lot, although there is still a big ol' chunk of goof in here somewhere. It's nice to get this change of perspective. GO ON A MISSION. It changes EVERYTHING! I always knew it was true, I always had a testimony.

But now, I get it.

Love you guys! Keep on keepin' on!

Elder

 The church is SO true. It gets more true every day. I love studying the scriptures (I never would have imagined myself say

 

 

P.S. "Code sign--Oops! I meant the first one!"

06-11-12

We had a crazy Spirit-packed week this week. 20 HOURS of instruction from President Cantù, his wife and the assistants to the president. Basically, from Tuesday (I almost wrote "Martes"...) to Friday, we went to a class from 8 to 1, went out into the field to work, ate, came back at 5 for more classes, and at 7 we had dinner and left. It was so fun, because the area I was assigned to work in for this week was Amistad!! My old area! I was super excited! I got to sleep in the same house and work in the same exact area! One of the coolest parts was that I saw my converts Rosibel and Lexzaida. Remember Lexzaida? She`s the one with the kid who broke his foot, so we helped them out. She got baptized, but shortly after, her work made her start working on Sundays. I was worried that I had baptized an inactive member, because when I left she hadn't been to church for four weeks. I got back this week, and to my surprise, she is VERY active! She gives rides to the missionaries every Sunday to help them pass by for the investigators, she feeds the missionaries every week...I have to say, it was a really cool experience to see that she's progressing so much. I also ran into Rosibel. She was so excited to see me that she tried to hug me, but I quickly dodged her like the missionary I am. She said she hasn't missed a week of church since her baptism! She also said that she's gone with the missionaries a bunch of times to teach her friends. Elder Peterson told me that in one lesson she said to her friend "Look, I don't hardly know anything about this church still. But you feel really good when you go to church and read the scriptures, so..." I laughed right out loud! Way to go, Rosibel! Pretty much I just enjoyed the heck out of this week. I learned a ton, and I now have my eye on some things that I need to do better on. Some highlights of the seminary:

• President Cantù showed us a video in Monterrey, Mexico when all the missionaries of the entire mission did a processional-type thing at a gigantic church activity, and even non-church political people were crying.
• We heard more about "specific prayers" (like I have mentioned before)
• Hermana Cantù said "God has a plan, The Plan of Salvation. But Satan has a plan too, the Plan of Destruction. And is plan is 'meh, just do it a little bit later.' Or 'meh, just do it the easier way.'"
• "All you Utahns. Most of your families would be 100% happy if you didn't baptize a single person, but came back after 24 months after learning a lot. But do you think the Lord would be happy?" -President Cantù
• There were POPSICLES!
• Just kidding. Well, there really were popsicles. But there were SO many more things. I took like 10 pages of notes of really amazing stuff about the Atonement, repentance, diligence, humility.....

Today we just got back from Los Mochis, where I recieved my boxes (!!!) and we had a cool zone meeting. But the best part happened after. =)

I was with Elder Sumano, Elder Webster, and his companion, Elder Rodriguez (don't let the name fool you, he's from Arizona!). After the zone meeting, we decided to go get a couple of pizzas at Little Cesar's (Cesarito's?). We had bought everything and we were just settling down to eat when this guy comes out of nowhere and started talking to us in less-than-understandable English. It was fine for a second (probably because we didn't understand him). He was with two friends, and he said "Hey, can we take a picture?"

Okay, whatever....

So we took the picture. Then, he started doing a slow weird creepy series of movements. I really wish I could just show you what he was doing, but basically he pointed at the sky, he crossed his arms over his chest, he put both hands in the I-love-you sign and held his arms out, he showed us a tattoo on his shoulder, then his other shoulder (this is all in complete silence, by the way. Like he's doing a weird creepy ritual or something).

This is when I started to laugh uncontrollably.

He proceeded to remove his shirt and show us another tattoo, on his back, then another one one on his stomach. He then turned his head 90 degrees and started to make sounds that I've only ever heard come from a goat. He said something in Hebrew, kneeled on the ground, literally worshipped Elder Webster and KISSED ELDER WEBSTER ON THE HAND! By now, I was absolutely dying of laughter.

What can we possibly say to him at this point? My reasoning was "Well, he's probably almost done..." Remember, this is all happening outside of a Little Cesar's. CLEARLY in public view. So we're getting a LOT of weird looks by now.

He yelled in a huge voice "I AM ONE OF THE NINE!" He said something else about how there are some people that serve God and some people that don't, and the ones who don't serve him will be punished. Then he calmly walked away with his two friends, who thought that his behavior was completely normal. We held in our laughter until he was completely gone, then all three of us just exploded. What the heck?! And it was SO creepy...but absolutely hilarious. Literally the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me on the mission!

Well, I love you guys! See you later!

Elder Crabb

P.S "Code/sign: The second one!"

 

.....and sorry, I don't have captions for my photos for lack of time. Basically a lot of random photos from seminary and with my companion. And one of the Walmart, Carl's Jr. and Office Depot, all in the city of Los Mochis. Plaza America!

 

 

06-04-12 (365 down, 365 to go)

This week, among other things, President Cantù informed us that we`re going to a so-called *seminary*. Basically, it`s a training meeting for the missionaries and the president. Cool, Right? Even cooler, because not everyone goes. Me and my companion, Elder Sumano, were both selected to go. Woo¡ I`m excited. But, unfortunately, that means we`re going to have to travel to Culiacàn and leave our area to rot in the sun without any attention. Sigh.....it`s for the best. I always learn so much from these things. Basically, I`m going to be in Culiacàn for four days, getting spiritually slapped in the face by my mission president. Don`t get me wrong, I absolutely love that guy. But he`s a little intense sometimes... Hitting pulpits, yelling....yeah. But he`s such a good mission president.

Another cool thing about this week is where I`ll be staying. They informed me that I`m going to be in my old house in Amistad again¡ I might even get to go work in that area again¡¡ I`m really glad. I miss that area.

This past week has been one of training members. I really love this area, we have very capable members in good callings. But nobody does much, honestly. We`re trying to do some training to do visits and get their callings accomplished. Right now we`ve been serving in every calling, visiting inactives, visiting the sick, the investigators, cleaning the building....lots of stuff. Don`t get me wrong, I`m happy as a clam. But I know for a fact that if we don`t help the members be self-sufficient, this branch is never going to grow. Imagine having a new bishop every three to five months.They would change everything every time¡ How frustrating.Basically, my goal here is going to be to help the members do their responsibility.

All that time with members isn`t allowing for much time with investigators. It`s understandable, because I`m the branch president, so it`s not like anyone`s getting mad at me for my numbers. But I`m frustrated anyway¡ I want to baptizeand help people come into the church¡ We`ll do better after this whole week of not even being there.

I gotta go. This letter`s pretty lame, sorry. We`re in Los Mochis right now in the most crowded place I`ve ever been and it`s really hot and we have to go to Culiacàn.....so, until next week. Love you all¡ I promise my letter next week will be better¡

Elder Crabb

P.S. I have a year in the mission¡ I always thought, when I have a year in the mission, I`ll know what`s up. I`m here to tell you that just because you have a year in the mission doesn`t mean much¡ I sure have learned a ton.

 

My anniversary breakfast, thanks to Elder Sumano -in all honesty, some of the worst pancakes I`ve ever had. But I sure love the guy-¡

I bought a tiny cake for my one year anniversary. Elder Sumano explained the tinyness by saying that I`m celebrating, but not TOO much, because it means my mission is half over¡

My Peña Nieto hat¡ Peña Nieto is one of the presidential candidates here in Mexico. Most everyone hates him for some reason, honestly. All the other candidates have some commercial that says something along the lines of *Peña Nieto is the worst, Vote for ME.* He doesn`t respond to any of that, which I think is cool. And smart.

 

*Para entrar ponga su mano aqui* means *To enter, put your hand here*. Elder *Sumano*....hahahaha....

HALF WAY!

Today is Cody's YEAR mark!  He has been serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for 365 days!  Only 365 more days until we meet again!  Does the time feel like it's going fast to anyone else?  He'll be home before you know it!

Cody we are all so very proud of you and your decision to serve a mission. It has been amazing to see you grow in the gospel with such love and strength.  Your sacrifice and service has truly been blessing to your family!  Thank you for being such wonderful example to us all!

~Rhoda Crabb