Via Lactea

Favorite Spanish phrase of the week: Vìa Lactea. The Milky Way. We got a ride back from San Lucas last night in a convertible. When you're in the pockets of highway between hotels and cities, the stars are really a sight. The black ocean made me feel like we were just driving at the edge of an abyss.

New fruit (or vegetable!) of the week: Betabel. Or beets. I felt like I have never really tried it before. Rating: Better on salad. Also, 5/10. With Tony's spice, 10/10.

We're working a lot with Sarahì in preparation for her batismal service! That will take place between the sessions of conference on Sunday. She's really funny and is just progressing and learning everything well. Earlier in the week we had a zone conference in San Lucas with President Cantù, which was great. I came out of that with an improved understanding of the purpose of trial and our Heavenly Father's keen ability to understand us and our needs. If we do our best, even though it may be far from perfect, that is acceptable for Him. He asks us to endure difficulties and knows that they are exactly what we need. If we are obedient and diligent, even without understanding exactly why, He accepts our effort.

We've been finding a lot of cool new people, but we've had a lot of trouble finding them afterwards... That tends to be a problem if they are going to progress. Sometimes we just can't find them when they're home, or sometimes they don't want to be found, or sometimes we do divisions and we can't find the house of the people they found while I was gone. Whatever it may be, we're looking for people who really are prepared to recieve our message, who want to come closer to the Savior and who want to really progress in the Gospel.

We were walking to the ciber just now, and we heard a weird sound in a trash can. A huge dog jumped out and nearly took out Elder Crabb. Mèxico.

Dia de Independencia

We had a really cool ward activity on Friday for Mexico's Independence Day. Mexicans seem to be really patriotic, so it made for a really fun time. We ate helotes (the thing that that skeleton guy throws in that other guy's eye in Nacho Libre), did our best to mouth the national anthem, and I'm pretty sure I pledged to defend Mexico a few times. There were some dances, skits, darts, and lots of food. I lost very badly at darts (only one of them actually stayed in the board).

We've found a few really great new people this week. One is Ana, who is a good friend of Sister Pacheco, a recent convert. The first time we arrived, she just started getting out chairs for us before we had said anything. She's really cool, but she brings her kids to visit their dad in prison every Sunday, so they can't really make it to church. We're trying to find some way that she can come, but it doesn't look totally possible. But, we always met Saraì, who was able to come to church. All of her family members are members of the church, but she just didn't get baptized somehow; however, she wants to get baptized! We're the perfect guys for the job.

New favorite Spanish word: "rocanrrolear" = to rock 'n roll.

Guayabas

New fruit week: Guayabas (new for Elder Crabb, anyways). Guavas in English. I give them an 8/10. Elder Crabb gives them a "better than nanches."

I had the awesome opportunity to visit Sinaloa for the capacitation in Culiacàn. We boarded a tiny Cesna in the wee hours, which meant we had a red ocean sunrise. Really, really cool. I realized that my camera was in the cargo hold, and then I realized that it was one of those incapturable mission moments: being with sleepy Mexicans on a tiny plane by the light of a Lion King sun over the Gulf of California. I was there for two days, and got to see some old friends (a few missionaries from my generation are training missionaries from Elder Crabb's generation) and meet a lot of new Elders who I hadn't seen before. It was a great learning experience. I think one of the biggest lessons I learned was the importance of faith. Everything is based in it. The "animo" that I have for the work is based on my faith. A fin de cuenta, the success that I see is based on my faith and diligence and trust in the Lord. We also instituted something kind of new: in a first lesson with investigators, we're basically like, "Hey, this is the Book of Mormon! Let's read it right now!" and then we read the first 12 verses of first Nephi, in which Lehi prays, is given a book and feels the Spirit while reading it; it's a pretty cool parallel for what is happening in the life of the investigators in that same moment.

I had a really fun birthday. We worked really hard. I didn't even have time to open my packages by the end of the day. On Sunday, the Vega family made me a fruit and graham cracker cake!

I spoke in Sacrament meeting. I related the stories of Newel K. Whitney and the prophet Jeremiah and talked about how the Lord prepares us to accept the responsibilities he gives us. I also talked about Amalia, from Costa Rica, and about how the Lord had prepared her to recieve the Gospel.

Elder Crabb and I are having a lot of fun. We're staying together for this next change and have big plans to improve the area.

Shout-out to Oliver for being super awesome.

A Cow.

This morning we had a really cool zone meeting in San Lucas. Our zone leaders taught a few concepts about missionary work, but applied them in a really cool way. My mission is part of my preparation for... everything afterward. Life and beyond. So, the better I handle my current responsibility, the better I will be as a father, and the better I will handle my responsibilities in heaven. It was cool. I'll do everything I can right now to help those who I can, but also to grow and become better for future callings.

A few weeks ago, we had an appointment with this guy, Edmundo, but couldn't find his house. We found it during this last week, and we when got there he said, "Hey! What happened to you guys? I made ceviche!" So we missed out on some good ceviche, but we made sure that he didn't miss out on the Gospel. He was really interested in what we taught about the Book of Mormon, and has a few friends who are members.

This week, I'll be going to "seminary" again in Culiacàn. That should be really fun and even more edifying.

Marino, Daniel

We had a great baptismal service on Saturday! It was so fun. This was Elder Crabb's first baptismal service and first time baptizing someone and everything. Marino and Marìa Luisa were finally able to get married during the week. We came by and night to congratulate them, and ate awesome sweet bread and hot chocolate. After talking about eternal families, we read the lyrics to Families Can Be Together Forever and then sang it. That was powerful. They have four young boys who are currently members and a few older ones who we're working with, but basically the Pacheco family is going to be a missionary powerhouse in a few years here. So now that Marino was married, he was able to be baptized and confirmed this weekend. Daniel was also baptized. His dad is not a member, and so things have been a little complicated at their house. But on Saturday, his dad came to the service! Daniel was infectiously happy, and his dad gave him a big hug at the end. A bunch of Daniel's cousins who we are teaching came too. It was great.

We knocked a door during the week that we thought was a reference we were looking for, but it turns out it's just this cool girl named Ani. She has family members who are in the other ward, but aren't super active right now. So, we left her with a Book of Mormon and an invitation to read it and pray about in preparation to be baptized. When we came back, she said she had read it and prayed about it, and does not believe that it's true, which kind of took me aback. She had a lot of doubts about the Plan of Salvation doctrine that didn't fit in with her study in the Bible, and said she had come to the conclusion that the Bible is more than enough scripture. We tried sharing some different scriptures and testifying, but we really didn't find a way to help her out at the time. But she did come to church on Sunday, which was really cool.

Throughout the week, we were able to be a lot busier and taught a lot of lessons. However, not all of the lessons were great. I'm trying to get better at just being more organized, being able to set up lessons with members, being able to get to all of our appointments on time. We ended up teaching quite a few half-lessons to new people (where we sort of ran out of time and left a pamphlet), and then haven't been able to teach them again. I just want to be able to focus on the people we're teaching during a lesson so that we can really listen and help them, instead of being stressed about making it to the next thing. But it was a really great week, overall. We're really tired now, and I guess that is the result of working hard.

It's taken me a while to realize that I'm not my companions. My companions in the mission have been awesome, and they taught me a lot just through their examples. Sometimes I've been afraid to apply what I know are correct principles. What I've realized is that I can do the work as well as any of those I look up to, I just have to do it in the Lord's way. My diligence has waned a bit as it's worn. It's funny how difficult it is to realize that the grind is genuinely easier when you work harder. It seems paradoxical, but if I am as diligent as possible, I enjoy the work, and I love working hard.

We've instituted a new tradition of the Elder Crabb-Elder Tingey companionship: new fruit week. This weeks fruit: nanches. I give it a 4. Elder Crabb described them as overripe bananas and later as bread-fruit. Another new thing we've been trying out is the concept of "2x4" contacts. Each time we contact, we try to do at least one. For example: "Knock, knock. Hola, buenas tardes. Did you know that Jesus came to the Americas and visited the people here? I have the evidence in my backpack." It's worked well. We've met some great new people this week, and we'll continue to find next week.

We'll be a bit focused this week on our investigators Marino and Daniel, who have their baptismal service planned for this Saturday. Marino and Marìa Luisa's wedding is planned for this week. Daniel is great, but his mom has really odd doubts. For example, we taught the Restauration, and she started quizzing us about the apostle Peter's authority. We taught about the Book of Mormon, and she started up about John the Revelator's final words in Revelations. We taught the Law of Chastity, and she asked about polygamy. That's been fun.

Pray for rain!

We had a bit of a let down this week. A lot of our time we spent preparing a baptismal service for Jesabel on Saturday. We were visiting the family each day throughout the week, and brought a few members with us to their house. On Friday, we spent a good portion of the evening inviting members to the service, and on Saturday we had everything prepared. Jesabel never showed up! And now the family has had to move back to Mexico City, so we weren’t able to find out really well what inhibited her from coming. We’ve just prayed a lot that everything goes well for her.

Every second week of the month, we have missionary Sunday! So all four of us in the San Josè 2 district spoke. I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost: His role and mission, the way we can receive guidance from Him, and the importance of following the impressions or guidance we receive. It’s strange how personal experiences from years past just work their way out of the folds of my brain when I need them, even if I had never really considered them before.

This week, Elder Crabb and I just want to work ourselves to the bone. Diligence and efficiency are our goals, and I really just want to focus on finding new people. I take comfort in knowing that if we are doing all the right things, we will have the greatest Guide available, so we’ll trust in that guidance.