Hey, family. This week, I had a sudden, really crazy realization. Usually, when people ask me how much time I have in the mission, I say "Like a year", so they won't think "oh, he's already gone..." (or be like "Hey, he should speak better Spanish by now....") But yesterday, someone from one of my old areas, Amistad, came to visit a family member. It was cool to see him, we were talking about my converts (Lexzaida, Rosibel, Lionel) who are ALL still active! WOO! But that wasn't the crazy part. He asked me how long I had left on my mission, and I decided to tell him since he's not in my current ward. I had to think about it because I always tell people a year haha. But that's when I realized that I almost have 18 months in the mission! That totally freaked me out. I'm not a "year and a half" class missionary! Anyway...whoa...
Other than that, this week was pretty much awesome! A lot of really memorable things happened.
To be able to explain last P-day, I need to explain The Toledo. There's a bus here that's really famous, called the Toledo. It's famous because it always drives really crazy, there's always super loud music, and there's all kinds of stickers and lights and weird things on the inside. (If you're familiar with Arthur, I refer you to "the crazy bus"!) It's always super full and somehow I always end up really awkwardly pressed up against someone.
Suffice it to say, I really hate taking the Toledo.
So, after emailing last Monday, we were going to go to Centro (downtown) to mail a package for my companion. Like I said, I was feeling a little nauseous and everything, but it wasn't going to stop me from doing "my stuff", so we went. Of course, to get to Centro we have to take a Toledo. The whole time the bus was going from one side to the other, and I just felt worse and worse. By the time we got to Centro, I was totally sick. Like I said, they gave me medicine and everything. But that sickness wiped me out from Monday until Wednesday! So that was incredible. However, I feel excellent now. =)
(Side note: There is NO sign of Thanksgiving down here....)
We were going to have a baptism on Saturday, but I have to explain the surrounding situation as to why it didn't happen. I told you about our really cool investigator Cristal, right? We have been going there a lot to try and help her get an answer. And this week, she had a really cool, really direct experience that totally gave her a testimony! She said "I'm converted. I know the church is true!" We were SO happy!! Happy doesn't even begin to describe it. As we were talking about the baptismal interview, we suddenly realized something awful. Due to a really personal, really unfortunate situation completely out of Cristal's control, she can't get baptized just yet. She's still working toward it, but she has to make an extremely difficult decision. However, she said she will keep going to church forever. "Just because I'm not baptized doesn't mean I'm not going to go to church!" Awesome. Her son, Anthony, however, had no problems and was super excited to get baptized. We called the Zone Leaders to come and do the interview, and all seemed to be well. BUT. They finished with the interview and they said "He can't get baptized yet." I thought something along these lines: "Hahaha....ohh....riiiight.............um.......are you serious?" There is a new rule, directly from President Cantu, that those who want to get baptized need to be living the Word of Wisdom or the Law of Chastity for 30 prior to their baptism. We did NOT know that, and Anthony drank coffee two weeks ago. Aw.....so he was really sad about that. But we explained to him that he could still get baptized and that maybe he could even get baptized with his mom and his mom's friend Karely, then he was fine.
So, Karely. She lives with Cristal. She's actually the reason that Cristal started listening to us in the first place, because she called us over jokingly. Cristal has always told us that she's super rude, she swears like a sailor and that she yells at her kids. We started talking a little bit with her, and we realized that Cristal was right! But Karely told us that she's really been wanting to change and get better. She's been reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know if it's true (she ABHORS reading), and, also this week, she said God answered her through a dream and she said she knows we're the true church.
I've been living so many really powerful experiences in this area, whether it's finding new people, being in the right place at the right time, teaching the right thing, answered prayers, or testimonies through the Spirit. I love this work! It's so amazing. Sometimes I feel so incredibly small here in this big old world, trying to convert everyone, but I know that we're doing the best we can! =) I love you all and I'm so glad to be here. Thanks so much for your support, making it such an easy decision to come out here. Thank you for writing me so often and giving me encouragement. Your words have been a huge help to me many times, and for those who write me every week (you know who you are), many times something you say answers my prayers.
I guess, to sum up how I feel this Thanksgiving season,
THANKS. =)
Elder Crabb
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