March 26, 2018

Spiritual Slap in the Face

Hola.

     This week wow, can you believe it has already been another week??? Lots of good stuff this week!!!!

     Well we got some bad news.. Raquel, our golden investigator was anti-ed. She dropped us and we haven't been able to find her since. We are so so sad. Her family is meeting the JW's (Jehovah’s Witnesses) and we are hoping that somehow someway we will be able to find her and talk to her again.

     Wednesday all of our plans just kinda fell through. We had wanted to try some new ways to find and so we went TIENDA FINDING!! woot woot. We found all the Latina tiendas and just talked to all the Hispanics there. It was so so fun. We wanted to look unweird because two white girls dressed up in a Mexican tienda don't stand out at all right? So, we bought all the stuff to make salsa (which turned out BOMB!!!!) We were inviting people to English class and saw little miracles from it. We met a member that we have yet to track down, two friends named Miguel and Miguel talked to us all about  God and we got their contact info. It was just really successful. At the last tienda, we were so grateful that we felt like we had to thank the tienda by buying something.  We are in line to buy our churros and we couldn't pay with our card, a nice man in line bought our churros!!!!!! Heavenly Father always always sends blessings and sometimes they are just in the form of a churro.

     The Hernandez family was so fun this week. We have really been focusing in on Troy and trying to help him. He just is a kid that has never really felt wanted. During the lesson I could tell that he was going to cry. His life has been way harder than any 8 year old deserves. I just went over and told him how much I loved him and how much we loved teaching him and we thought he was great. I had never felt so much Christlike love for a little boy before.

     We had the chance to Video message Jose who has been in Mexico for the last 4 months. He goes back to Charleston in like a week. He is so so excited. But talking to him was such a tender mercy. We told him that now we can cook like Mexicanas and we speak Spanish so we could be Mexican.. He just laughed. I think he was agreeing... Right?

     Saturday we had a mission wide conference!! It was so fun because I got to see all of my favorite missionaries. Elder Klebingat is a member of the Seventy. Y'all should listen to the talk he gave in conference a couple years back. It is called "Approaching the Thrown of God with Confidence." The talk is pretty much a spiritual slap in the face. Which also perfectly describes the conference that we had. I loved it though. I realized there are a lot of things that I need to do to be a better disciple of Christ. He talked so much about putting everything on the altar. I always have felt like I have put forth a good effort but there is so much that can be changed and should be. I loved that he said there is no such thing as exact obedience, there is only consecrated obedience and that involves faith in Christ and a lot of effort and repentance. 

     OH MAN. Not only is Elder Klebingat a fireball who very lovingly roasted us into the Second Coming, he is also so, so funny. He is sharp and German and awesome. He did a couple things that were just so good - anytime he was telling us about someone who was saying something dumb, he used an American accent. He kept getting after the elders and he'd just be like, "Elders, are you kidding me?" Let me give you some quotes from him to help you see how the day went. 

-"Whatever DNA strand involves beating around the bush, I wasn't born with it. I don't have it."

-"My highest degree of depression comes when I pull my toast out of the toaster and I realize my Nutella is gone."

-*Looking directly at Sister Hamilton and I* "That is a boatload of...untruth."

-"I don't care if you only move one inch, but move."

-"The least the Lord can expect is your best effort."

-"You don't earn respect by trying to earn respect. You earn respect by leading."

-"Well, hello!"

-(After saying some "insensitive" things about mental health, AKA missionaries who use bad mental health as an excuse not to do missionary work) "Some people tell me, (reverts to American accent) 'you can't say things like that, you're in America!' And I'm like, 'well, the Lord called me here, so...'"

-"Heavenly Father, I am dying 1000 deaths right now..."

-"Why are you laughing? That was profound, what I just said."

-"You cannot be perfect but you can easily be consecrated. If you're not willing to do that, you would be better off at home."

     I came out of that conference different. I just felt like that will be a turning point in my life. What we do on the mission is not just important for 2 years. This is important stuff!!!

Sunday night we had an awesome lesson with Robert. He has had the hardest week. We told him that after we chose a date it would all get harder, he has a testimony of that!!! He is learning to rely on the Lord and he loves how much he has already progressed. Pray for Robert. :)

     I am going to work every day on being a consecrated missionary and it will be something I have to do every day for the rest of my life. I know that the calling to be a missionary is of eternal significance and that was something that hit me hard. We are not just gathering the lost sheep and trying to build up the kingdom, even though we are, we are gathering our friends. We are finding and teaching the people that we promised to find. I know that the Church is true and that the gospel is the way to happiness.

Con mucho amor

Hermana Crofts

The South Carolina Columbia Mission. See if you can find me in the picture. I think I am wearing blue-green and am on the right side.

Video message with Jose

District meeting. I swear all the pictures I send home are from DDM but oh well at least I am sending home pictures right?

Churros. We ate them outside because we can't eat them in our car. It was freezing and I think my churro was more like a popsicle when I finished.

MMA with Josh