6-24-13. The Time is Far Spent

Well, there's really not much to say. Like I've said before, I feel silly writing anything because I'm just going to say it all to you in person on Wednesday or so. Just know that I love ya and I'm so happy that I've passed these two years like this. However, there's one last thing I'd like to say.

This past week I've had a bunch of mixed feelings. I've felt a lot of "If only" feelings and it's been hard to get over that. I've been a little sad thinking about the "what if"'s of my mission. I've been wondering if I've been diligent enough, if I've completed my purpose, etc.

Then, all of a sudden, the AP's called us and told us there was going to be a worldwide missionary training meeting. I was excited to hear that we were invited and they wanted to involve us. Well, we went. And it was exactly what Elder Crabb needed. I mean, I just felt SO strongly this phrase: "Your mission is NOT over. It's just starting." I felt so much love and comfort knowing the Lord was pleased with my service. I'm going to keep serving and being diligent!

Thanks for all of your support these last two years. I love you all and thank you! See you all very soooon!

Much love,

Almost-not-Elder Crabb!

6-17-13 I'd have Dick Clark do the countdown, but he's no longer with us.

Oh boy....

Well this is a hard letter to write haha. It's like, I have a million things to say, but in the back of my mind, I'm kind of thinking "Can't it wait until next Wednesday?".

 

This week, we had a baptism! It was a total surprise, and I hadn't even taught her one lesson before. She had been taught before, her kids were members, she'd been going to church, etc, so it was her time. Her name's Veronica. Here's a picture:

 

 

 

I feel like I didn't have a whole lot to do with it, but it was great to see her get baptized!

Apart from that, I kinda got sick this week. Nothing too serious but it sure knocked me out for a whole day. After that, though, it was great!

Something that President Cantu has said several times has really stuck out to me. He says "An ice cream cone, whether you eat it or not, doesn't last too long." In other words, it's true, I only have a week left. Am I sad? Absolutely. Am I scared? That doesn't even describe the half of it! I pretty much don't know WHAT to think. However, I'm determined to have the last of my mission be awesome, even if it's just a couple of days.

This Friday evening, we'll be going to La Paz with the whole zone to say goodbye to President Cantu. He's ALSO finishing his mission next Wednesday! He's having a short devotional with the whole mission (a couple of zones at a time) to send himself off. Well, that means Friday evening we'll be in La Paz, Saturday we'll have the devotional and I'll stay there the rest of the day, Sunday I'll go to church in La Paz and stick around there, Monday I'll fly over to visit converts in Sinaloa, Tuesday I'll finish up my visits, we'll eat dinner with President Cantu and his family, then we'll sleep in Culiacan and the next morning I'll be home!

What I've realized is that it would be really easy to say "I'm basically not even a missionary! After Friday I won't even have an area!" But I'm going to do the best I can to visit people still and to keep sharing the gospel! So far it's going great. I've found some awesome people with Elder Miranda, and while I probably won't see them get baptized, I'm sure they will further down the line.

Make sure you're heppy. It's a decision. =)

See you all very soon!

Elder Crabb

06-10-13. 2 John 1:12

Well, it looks like it's going well for these last few weeks. I'm loving every minute and I'm still learning so much in my study of the scriptures.

 

Well, this week, I got a pedicure. I am being completely serious. My companion was having some really severe pain from an ingrown toenail, so we went to a place that takes care of that kind of thing. While he was in there, I was talking to the receptionist about how I have some wicked callouses (two years' worth) to the point that they actually hurt me. She said, "Oh, we can take care of that for only 200 pesos!" I thought, cool, what a deal, so I went for it! What I didn't realize was that I was paying for the whole package. They took off my callouses, they clipped my nails, they put some kind of weird lotion on my feet and then they gave me a foot massage!! It was so great! I had two years+ worth of walking and walking in those feet and that de-stressed me a ton!

 

Apart from just that, we were on the bus the other day, when a musician got on. That in itself wasn't weird, that's pretty common here. This guy just got on with a guitar and started to sing "Christian Rock" songs. The first one was semi-normal, but  then he started in with a two-chord song called, and I'm not joking, "Like a Buffalo". It says how God makes you strong like a buffalo. I started getting the giggles while we were riding, then he SCREAMED the chorus "LIKE A BUFFALOOOOOOO!!". I pretty much lost it. We were laughing SO hard....I'm going to miss stuff like that!

But before you go thinking the end of my mission is all fun and games....

 

This Thursday we were in the house of a member eating, and one of the daughter's 14-year-old friends was talking about Justin Bieber. My companion and I expressed our "thoughts", and she said "If Justin Bieber was [from any church] I would join. But why are there so many churches in the world anyway?!" We took that as "Hey, teach me the góspel!" So we did. We taught her about the Restoration and she got really excited and wanted to come to church. She did! And she told her friend, the member, that she's feeling like she wants to get baptized! We are looking very forward to teaching her.

 

Apart from that, I'm a little nostalgic, but focused. I want to make the best of this time that I can. I love you all and I appreciate your support!

 

 

Love,

 

Elder Crabb!

6/3/13. The General Epistle of Elder Crabb to the West Jordainians

Oof. Here's a long one. 

There's a lot of scriptures that have meant a lot to me on my mission. But none have taken such a meaning to me as 1 Corinthians13:11: 

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."
I feel like I have become that (to a certain degree, right? I still like playing with Legos and I still sing while other people are talking to me). Mostly in a spiritual sense, of course, but I have definitely become that.  I have matured more in this time than in the 19 years before it.
This may seem sorta sappy or weird but it's true. My personality hasn't changed. But my very desires have changed.  Before my mission, I thought the word "conversion" was a synonym for "baptism", or that it meant that you got a testimony. But now I've come to understand that being converted is much more that. The REASON for me wanting to do things is different now. Before I don't know if I had a specific reason for wanting to do things I do. But now I understand the covenants and promises I've made, and I want to keep them. I'm not going to say I have a perfect testimony, but I sure can tell you that I'm not the same Elder Crabb that left West Jordan in June 2011.
This also might seem sort of sappy, but my biggest fear is that I'm going to lose all of this wonderful progress I've made just because everyone sees me as the "same ol' same ol'" Cody. I'm going to be doing stuff I didn't before. Yes, I'm going to read my scriptures every day. Yes, I'm probably going to want to talk to you about it. Yes, I'm going to want to have FHE (and invite some people!).If you're not a member of the church or if you're not currently going to church very often, I'm definitely going to be talking to you about it. I'm not saying I'm going to pray for my food in restaurants or anything....I'm not WEIRD (well, I can't really say that, I probably am), but I have changed. Don't think "Oh, it's just his habit--he'll get out of it sooner or later". I don't WANT to get out of it. I love this. What I'm trying to say here is that, I'm going to be new at this. I'm going to be doing "normal people" stuff, going to school, working, etc. It's going to be hard to adjust, but I'm determined to keep doing these things.
One of the things Elder Holland said when he came was that he made us each promise that we'd each have one convert in the mission: US. I'm here to say that I have mine, I just want to keep him!

Anyway, don't think of this as my "obituary" letter. I'm still working hard. =) The reason that all of this is on my mind, actually, is because of what we did this week:

This was the week of the "concilio", the Mission Leadership Council. On Tuesday we went up to La Paz to catch a plane to Culiacan, we "jumped the puddle" and flew over the Mar de Cortez, and got there. Thursday was the big day. We got to President Cantu's house, played ping pong, and ate breakfast. Then we went bowling (high score--106. I sure haven't gotten better.) It was fun. 

But more importantly, the meeting was very very good. It was all so spiritual. We had all thought it would probably be very good because this was President's last leadership council. He ends his mission when I end mine (the 26th or so). He talked a lot about personal conversion--how baptisms will just come if we're doing our part to change ourselves. He also talked about how we as leaders have to be a good example. He showed us this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHi2dxSf9hw) WOW, right? It hit us all pretty hard. It's true, a lot of the "older" missionaries have a lot of bad mission habits that, if we can weed them out right now, it's going to be a lot better.

With all that said, we started to share some personal stories, some "thank you's" to President and Hermana Cantu. The spirit was so strong! It was so great. We came home and had our zone meeting on Saturday, and the whole week was gone!

In good news, we've been blessed even though we weren't here. A recent convert invited her neighbor to church and she accepted. She went and really liked it--right now we're going to go teach her a lesson. It's going to be really great!

I'm so happy right now. I know this all has to end sometime but I sure wish it wouldn't! I love being a missionary! Keep doing good stuff! See you soon!

Love,

Elder Crabb

Oh, and today, we ate at Hard Rock café (in Puerto Paraiso....I love my area) and some Americans were eating next to us started talking to us. It turns out that they were members......and they paid for us!! Woo hoo!! That's all. That explains the photos a little bit I guess. =)

05-27-13 Moving Mountains in Los Cabos‏

This week was really long, and we didn't do much of anything. Well, we did a whole lot of stuff.....I'm just going to explain.

On Monday, we got a call from President Cantu ("Shh! SHH! It's President!"). It really surprised us, but he said that he wanted us to go to the stake building Tuesday at 1 because we were going to have a meeting with President Ramirez, the stake president. Well alrighty. So we did, and President Cantu had his laptop open on a Skype call. He said "Oh, and by the way, Elder Montoya of the Seventy is going to be on videochat during this meeting." AH! So there he was! We just talked about a lot of normal "business" and it was all fine. Me being really new here I couldn't opinionate on pretty much anything, so there I sat, not saying a word. Then, at the end, when they got ready to finish, Elder Montoya said "Before we end, I want to hear the testimony of the Elder on the left" (me). Huh? So...I said it. It caught me totally off guard and it was weird and a little awkward but I bore my testimony about the organization of the church and what not. It was a little strange but I got it out. Who knows why he did that....I'm having all kinds of brushes with general authorities!

Well, that was one thing. Basically we didn't proselyte much this week because there was a lot of Zone Leader business to take care of. For example, all the missionaries need to have all their possessions WITH them (e.g. they can't leave stuff in the mission offices like they used to). We had to send nine HEAVY suitcases to Sinaloa. To do that, we had to obtain the travel plans of the people that flew to Sinaloa, obtain copies of their ID's, go to customs, get them revised, checked and sealed, then we had to bring them back to the messenger service to send them. All of that without a car! Haha it took us a REALLY long time. Like I said, we literally just ended up doing that and nothing else. However, we had an AWESOME spiritual experience this week too. =)

We were walking down the street like normal and I saw a woman, by herself,
using a shovel to move a seven-foot-high pile of dirt. So I said "Hey, do you need help?" She, of course, said that she didn't. "Of course you do. You're moving a huge pile of dirt by yourself. Will you let us help you?" Apparently I phrased the second question better because she said yes. She found another shovel and we started helping.

Through that process she started to ask us questions about who we were and
what we believed. Some of the questions she asked were so awesome ("Is
there any evidence that Joseph Smith was a prophet?") We mentioned the Book of Mormon and she said "When can you come by and teach me more about that book? WHOA! So we said "Sunday." She said she could as long as it was in the morning, because she went to church in the afternoon. We have our meetings at 11, so we took advantage and invited her there. She accepted!

Well, it was a huge huge job, so the next day we called some other missionaries from San Lucas to come and help. We finished the whole job in about four hours total. She was so grateful that she bought us pizza (which we ate.....then went directly to lunch haha. I was absolutely dying of full-ness...) The best part about this story? She went to church!! We walked quite a bit in the sun with her to get there. She said she liked it, when it all had finished, and we agreed to stop by at 5.

When we got there, she was ready to say "Alright, I liked this part of the church, but this part no, why do you do this in your church, etc." It was so cool. She was really interested. We taught her about the Restoration. We had finished, and were getting ready to tell her about the Spirit, when my companion asked "How do you feel right now?" and she started to cry. She said "I know this is the Holy Ghost." It was so powerful. It happened again
a couple minutes later too. She wasn't sure that that was an answer because
she says she's felt that in her church too, but she says she wants to know if it's true. It was so cool!

I'll admit, that scared me. If I had been telling jokes with my companion, chatting, not paying attention, we would have totally missed her. But it's good to know that the Spirit guided us to her. We have another appointment with her.

We also changed houses, but that's not to interesting because you didn't see my house beforehand anyway. =)

I'm so glad to hear that some of you are changing at home as well. I've realized that a missionary is like a magnet for blessings. He gets them, The people he's around gets them, anyone who's related to gets them, his friends, EVERYONE: I'm starting to see that that's SO true. I'm so grateful that the Lord has allowed me to see the changes in all of you (and to participate in some!). I love all of you so much!

Have an amazing day!

Elder Crabb

05-20-13 Final Stretch

I've talked to the mision offices. They've told me that they're working on my departure date and time.

(Eeek...so excited!)

This week was incredible. Understatement of a lifetime.

First of all, last Monday, I got my transfer information, to Los Cabos. But
they told me that I wouldn't be going there yet, because Elder Holland was
coming on Saturday to visit our mission (!!!), so ALL the missionaries from
our entire mission were going to be there and we were just going to do the
transfers from there (like "everyone leave with your new companion" sort of
thing) I got the chance to visit my old area Nueva Galicia from Monday until
Sunday, which was the best! There's a guy that I never never ended up
finding that lived in Nueva Galicia that supposedly was very ready for the
gospel. His names Alfonso. So in this week I made a point to drag Elder
Huerta (my temporary companion) over there. It turned out that he and his
whole family were prepared to hear the gospel. I'll be asking about them
later! When we went there they were really excited and we felt the spirit
really strongly.

We also had a really cool experience in ANOTHER of my old areas, Amistad.
We went there and contacted a woman who I had met before (about a year ago)
and she was excited to talk to us. She kept asking the best questions ("But
if Jesus' church was taken from the earth, there's no hope! We need HIS
church!")

As cool as it was to complete "unfinished business" in some old areas,
nothing could have prepared me for the conference with Elder Holland.

Like I told some of you, I was asked to organize a choir for Elder
Holland's visit. It was challenging because we didn't have a lot of time
and it was kind of a difficult arrangement, but we pulled through. We
practiced on Friday night and I was ready.

Saturday morning came and we were all SO excited to be there. There were
lots of security people and it was so exciting. Finally Elder Holland got
there and it was so special. They didn't let us take pictures but they took
lots of them so there'll be lots of those. He asked to shake each one of
our hands, which was really neat. I made eye contact with him and it was so
awesome. The spirit was so strong.

I was asked to lead the hymns, which was funny because I could hear Elder
Holland very well because I was on the stand with him. Like three feet
away!! (He's a pretty good singer!)

Anyway, he started his talk and he was talking about something very
different than normal. Usually the apostles talk about stuff like Preach my
Gospel or Reactivation or stuff like that. But his talk was exactly what
Elder Crabb needed. What was his topic? "Personal Conversion". I felt like
every word of what he said was just for me. He said so many special things
and so many memorable phrases that I'll remember forever. Here's just two:
"We're God's investigators." and "How can we hope to keep the sheep if we
have to run after the shepherds?" That really got to me. Now that I've been
getting close to the end of my mission, one of my biggest fears is that
I'll mess up big time in something. But he helped me so much. He said that
if we're having trouble we just have to get closer to what we know is the
truth, it's like a compass. He said so many beautiful things that I won't
even try to explain it here. Suffice it to say that it was exactly the
motivation, comfort and feeling that I needed right now.

We ended with the hymn "Behold! A Royal Army". I've always liked that one.
I don't know what it was, but this time, it just hit me so hard. I felt the
Spirit so strongly when we were singing. I was so choked up I couldn't even
sing. Especially in the chorus:

"Victory, victory,
Thru him that redeemed us!
Victory, victory,
Thru Jesus Christ, our Lord!
Victory, victory, victory,
Thru Jesus Christ, our Lord!"

Wow. That is now my favorite hymn.
After Elder Holland had left a guy came up to me and asked me "What's your
name, Elder?" I told him and I recognized that he was the one who had been
taking photos the whole time. He then asked "You were the one who led the
music, right?" I said yes, and he said "thanks, have a great day" and left.
Who knows why he did that.....maybe I'll end up in Church news or something.

Well, all of that was great but it was BEFORE I even got to my area! I had
been here before, when I started my mission, but I didn't remember much. I
was excited to get here. There was a huge problem with the suitcases and
the weight of the things you could bring and everything, but that's not too
important. Basically I had to choose 10 kilos of my most important
possessions (not even half of my clothes!) to bring to the Baja with me. We
flew over here and it is just beautiful (and not even hot!).

Since today is my first real day here, they told me that I HAD to see
Puerto Paraiso (Paradise Port). It sounded great, so I went. here are just
a few of the many, many pictures that I took! I even found a crabb
(intentional)! It was so awesome. Being in Los Cabos is just the best haha.
·We even found a returned missionary on vacation there, although the
American guy in the picture was just some random guy that said "Mormons!
Can I take a picture with you guys?" Well, sure....So we did. It was really
funny. there were LOTS of Americans there! Everything was in English and
everyone there speaks English. It's literally paradise here.

Elder Miranda (my new companion) says we have a lot going on in this area,
and that we'll be baptizing soon. I'm so excited to just give EVERYTHING on
my "final stretch". Pray hard for me so I can get this done! the Lord's way!

I love all of you! Some of you are doing amazing things, and I love when
you write me about your adventures!!

Have an amazing week! Read the Scriptures!

Elder Crabb