Soon to be 3 Months‏

On thanksgiving day I will officially be out on a mission for 3 months. 

 

Today it is 50 degrees! which is a huge change from two days ago it was in the low 10's for all of the week and then all the sudden there is just loads of water every where. I have never experience the ABS system on a car before this week when I was sliding to a stop man that was freaking trippy! I had no clue what the car was doing but one of the Elders in Gaylord  told me that it's all natural and stopped the car before any damage happened.

One thing I find funny about Michigan is just how serious people are about hunting, My neighbors family has gotten 13 deer this season (DNR officer so they get special privileges) But I think it's super funny how every hunter has these ridiculously huge freezers and they have multiple of them just for the deer meat.

I like it how here in the branch in the sacrament preparation room there is a tie rack for all of the people who don't come in ties and a white shirt so there is no excuses for not being able to do the sacrament.

I met a Member on Sunday who was 104 years old, it was Ants man!

We went to Mt. Pleasant for the Elder Nash training but Elder Nash got a emergency reassignment and he couldn't come but I wasn't even mad because all of the speakers who did give training did a killer job at it and the spirit was super strong and i learned alot!

Transfer calls are on the 28th and I may or may not have a new companion next Tuesday

Since Thanksgiving is coming up I would like to say a few things that I am thankful for

I am thankful for being in such a beautiful place where every time I get to go out side it is like a treat even with the snow, especially with snow at times.

I am Very thankful for a good healthy body and I grow more appreciative of that almost daily

I am thankful for this beautiful promised land of AMERICA and i love what 1 NE 13 says about it.

I am so grateful for guardian angles for when you don't know how to drive in the snow and you are sliding

I am thankful that I get to be out here serving people and making a diffrence in peoples lives even when it's just small acts of service

I am thankful that Alpena gets like no snow compared to Gaylord or to Sault St. Marie  (the Sr. Missionaries truck from Gaylord when we did trade backs this week was quite a sight with almost like a flame job done on it but it was like a half a inch thick of ice and then there was just snow piled all over it.)

And i am so thankful for all of the things I have learned from loved ones who are erry where in the world at this point.                     

i am very thankful for S choosing to be baptized this Saturday, I spoke at his baptism about the gift of the holy ghost, We had the baptism in the Branch Presidents indoor pool, I was one of the witnesses to make sure he went under. My companion got dressed up in his whites to help S into the water since he only has one leg, but that wasn't really necessary so he was just kinda chilling in the pool

 

I am also very thankful for Sr. Missionaries, man I don't know what I would do If I havn't had the W's or the S's around. They are such good examples to me and they are all so Christlike and give and help every one with as much as they can. They really help all forms of missionary work so much we are constantly hearing from them for people who would benefit form a visit with us, they come out with us when we have a lesson scheduled super early and no member can make it out to help us. 

 

They Feed us, they drive us to super far out places for meetings, and they really help the branch grow closer and strengthen it. Dad Elder W's company that he shares built the Tempe Town lake Bridges! It was hilarious the S's told the W's that I have two hollow legs that are impossible to fill up with food and during the training down in Mt. Pleasant all of the missionaries were eating Lasagna and some table didn't finish their tray and Elder W picked it up looked at me and we both nodded and I got the rest of it. It was hilarious how in sync it was.

On the subject of Sr. Missionaries helping us with lessons at early hours the W's came with us to this potentials house and we started teaching the first lesson. And Elder W served in Australia before but This was sister W's first mission. And man that was such a good lesson it was all going perfectly, Me and my comp were in perfect harmony on teaching and the questions the now investigator was giving was perfect and Elder W was doing really good teaching certain concepts and we were all teaching really good to his needs. The only problem was We didn't get Sister W to speak up much other than to read scriptures and she also bore a really good testimony at the end. We got out of there and she was jumping for joy on how well that went and she was saying how exciting it is to finally fulfill her dream of being a missionary, in the car she said "Man I really need to practice teaching more".... and I thought she was going to say something she did bad but then she said "It was impossible to say anything, I couldn't stop crying! , the spirit was so strong, My testimony was growing just sitting there!" ha ha It's so funny how enthusiastic she is and how happy she is to be on a mission.

Sr. Missionaries are great I have so much Respect for them because they seem to sacrifice even more than regular missionaries to come out and to do work.

Bye i love you have a good day! don't get shot!

Love,

- Elder Truman Rex Crockett

There was a Lion in the room

You  know things are real when your thermostat that is broken and never goes under 60 degrees in under 40 degrees! It's all good though at least I'm not in the Soo, they have over 4 feet of snow already! I finally know what Bill and Ted mean when they talk to Socrates and talk about us being "dust in the wind" =p ha ha I have never heard that song before. I love wearing thermals so much! they are so comfortable!

I made a cool discovery this week there is an El Rancho up here in GayLord! It just reminds me of the times when Miya would hold a comb up to her nose and Say "I am El Rancho!".

this week was a pretty crazy week, there was alot of big changes and Miracles that happened. At church there was 42 people there! Hoooly! We got a new Branch Presidency and it was the S's last day and it was Elder and Sister W's first day.

One of the craziest things that happened to me this week was we set up an appointment with a guy named E. Originally We door knocked into E and I got us into his house because He had a Boy scouts of America sticker on his window and i told him I was a Eagle Scout. After we were in his house we got along super well! He played guitar, was a locksmith, was a carpenter, played string bass, and many other things, there was not a doubt in my mind that I was basically prepared to teach this man. he even had a Canoe! (ha ha ha, I joke around with my companion every day that we need to carry around a canoe and baptize people in it, it's been a good running joke). He read the bible 8 times through so I knew it would be difficult to have him accept the Book of Mormon but I knew that If he would commit to reading it half as faithfully as he did the bible he would assuredly again a testimony of it. We never really got to teach him in that visit though, but we set up a return appointment. 

I woke up that day and I knew I needed extra power so i went to the "Glory Rack" of ties and picked out one of my special ties. I studied very specifically for that appointment because I knew it wan't going to be a easy one at all. And Man was I right! 

 

We get there and we get on more common grounds i swear if I wasn't the missionary for him and his wife I don't know who else was. I went in and started teaching, He had an amazing knowledge of the bible so I just had to point out things that happened in the bible like apostasy.  I asked him about the story of Noah and used that to teach. For some reason Elder W would not say anything at all, i tried to pass it to him and one time I straight up asked him to continue and he shut me down. 

 

So i basically had him read scripture when ever one popped into my head. He said about 6 other words through out the whole lesson besides the scriptures I had him read. But man I was feeling the Dews of the spirit! and I had no problem at all teaching him about the restoration, I felt the spirit like i did in the MTC which hasn't happened since I got to Alpena. 

 

The lesson was beautiful so far and then I started to tell the story of the prophet Joseph smith and E was completely silent, the whole lesson his mind would travel off topic and he would throw out things but he was silent. The spirit was there and he could feel it. I then taught about the book of Mormon and thats when things got really tough. He started to flip a biscuit on about how the bible is the only word of God for him even though I brought up prophesies of the book of Mormon, and prophets coming after Christ from the bible and what not.  the lesson was starting to go south so I said a quick prayer and asked for help and a miracle. 

I then started bearing testimony of the Book of Mormon and how it is the word of God and how there are living prophets here on the earth. I bore testimony with ever fiber of my soul, i used all of the power of the spirit and all of the Authority I had to let him know that this is true! I have never bore a testimony as powerful in my life than I had in that house at that moment. 

 

The spirit was so strong it was like a lion in the room, it was undeniable and he could feel it! There was a Lion in the room and he refused to look at it. I could not get him to accept the book of Mormon in my hands, I tried and bore testimony and tried but he would not take it. I was prompted before I left the apartment to put our phone number on a restoration pamphlet and the address and time for church. I gave him that pamphlet and tried to get him to commit to pray about the things we spoke about and ask if they were true but he kept beating around the bush. It got to the point where I didn't want to keep (as my companion said it) "beating a dead horse" and I closed with a prayer and we left. 

We had a long                     walk to the car, in silence. I wasn't angry at my companion for not doing anything at all, I wasn't mad that he wouldn't take the Book of Mormon. But it tore at my soul to think of his rejection of the word of God. It kinda reminds me of 2 NE 33:1-3, my eyes did water my pillow that night just as nephi's did.  

When we got to the car after the long walk of silence, and i jumped into the drivers seat, for the first time in like a half hour my Companion spoke up. "Elder Crockett I know why we were sent there! I am sorry for not speaking up, but I felt restrained, I'm glad I did though because I saw you teach with more power than I have seen many experienced elders teach with, You are a Great missionary and will only get better!" That is the first complement that I actually felt he was sincere about, and I have been blessed with the miracle I prayed for, he now has respect for me and there has been many miracles just because of that! Ugh the story's not over and i'm out of time!!!!

Bye I love you! be good, don't get shot!

Love,

-Elder Truman Rex Crockett

The Bearded Man

Our car has been in the shop all week long, and will probably be there until Wednesday unlike what they promised us. My comp is ticked about it, He is from the country in a city that is alot smaller and spread out compared to Alpena and never had to ride a bike in his life, he hates riding bikes. I love riding bikes so much!!! Dude I don't even care that we are getting rained and snowed on , I love it! We have been blessed with several miracles just because we rode bikes.

We dropped our car off earlier this week and we had to walk a mile and a half or so to get back to our apartment. and it's hilarious because as we were 10 feet from the door the phone started vibrating and I looked and it said "congratulations Elder Crockett! You are now granted your driving privileges, get the keys and fire up that engine you deserve it!" ha ha ha well i just have to wait 2 weeks to get the car back from the shop to do that =p.

We were out riding bikes to a street to go and do some door knocking and there was this man who was doing yard work and getting all of the leaves out of some ones yard who had this awesome beard! Man that thing was knarley, it wasn't like duck dynasty status but it was thick, medium sized, and super manly. I yelled " I like your beard!" and it made the guy have the biggest smile because it was pretty random. The next day I was out riding bikes down a main road waving to every car that passed as usual, and this guy leans all the way out his window and yells "I like your suit!" It was the man with the beard!!! Oh man that brought the biggest smile on my face and made my day.

This week we put our last investigator on date for baptism, all of our investigators are now on date and should be baptized in about a month. Problem is we no longer will have lessons to investigators, other than to clarify and reteach and what not.

We had a District Meeting this week and so we went down to Gaylord for it and we were having trade offs after wards. While in our district meeting we got new rules for our mission, now every Saturday we have to have a car "fast" because we have the most car crashes out of every mission on the eastern half of the states, and so we no longer can use our cars on Saturdays. 

 

We also got a new rule about us not emailing for more than a hour and a half, because alot of missionaries are super stressed and they spend all P-day emailing and they never go out and do anything fun. Oh my goodness my companion flipped a biscuit! not only are we going to have to ride bikes, but it will have to be in the snow, he was not a fan of the new rules and made it pretty clear during the meeting... I love these new rules! I was so disappointed because I was thinking that I was never going to get on a bike again after we get our car back, and i also like the email one because I can actually have time to go and do fun things on P-day, all we ever do is shop, email, laundry, jimmy johns (or culvers!!! I love that place, it's like in and out but alot better!), email, and then FHE. 

Trade offs were super sick! I loved it! I wish I had several more days with my district leader Elder D. Man we Did Work! We picked up several new investigators! We had huge success when we door knocked, and we really did not want to stop at all, we did it for like 4 hours. it ended by us getting let in and teaching the whole restoration to a family who saw us riding bikes earlier that day and wondered why are they dressed so nicely to ride bikes, one hour later we were on their doorstep and I said about 10 words and then asked if We could come in and share about that (in those 10 words I introduced us and said something about eternal families). 

 

The father was golden he kept coming up with questions about our church and the answers to the questions were all bullet points to the lesson of the restoration, he lead everything perfectly so it was nothing more than a natural conversation. He offered us some beers and we of course politely rejected and were going to go back there this week and give them some Books of Mormon and teach more. Oh man the Church is so true when you are on bikes and people actually notice you!

One of my biggest struggles that happened this week was Elder S decided it was finally time for a double legger meal. He was determined to fill both of my "hollow legs" up with food. He took us to Mancinos and bought me a big meal! I calmly ate one sandwich after another . but I was pretty dang full after that. We were dropped off at the church and then went with a member to a lesson and an hour later they took us out to eat... at Mancinos...I was still full from that last meal but Struggling i ate a few slices of pizza. Oh my goodness i was dead, that was a double legger! It took 2 rounds to do it but it happened.

The branch President pulled me aside yesterday and asked me to conduct the primary program.=p I am super excited for it. I will be in primary for the next few weeks preparing for it, Sister S was going to be conducting the music for it but she goes home next monday so they asked me to do it. 

I gotta go, Bye I love you stay strong, don't get shot, Do work!, go... read some books!

Love,

-Elder Truman Rex Crockett

The S Word....and......The Gospel According to Skywalker

 It was October 31st in the year of 2014. We looked out the window and watched as the clock ticked to 9:07 am the rain turned to snow! I loved it so much! it made my companion super sad but snow is amazing (I still think the S word isn't nearly as bad as the D word, for now i guess ha ha) It didn't stay to long it was gone later that day. But I loved seeing it as we drove over 180 miles on that day, it was so beautiful how all of the bare branches of the trees were now white and you could see even the tiniest of branches because there was snow stuck to it. And it wasn't super hard core either so driving in it wasn't bad at all, except the telephone pole that fell down and made it so we couldn't continue that way to a members house. 

After all of that snow we check out a newspaper and saw that there was a 50% off all snow gear at J.C. Pennys so we went there to get me some winter gear. I Got a big jacket, a scarf, a beenie, and a long sleeved thermal shirt for P-days to go with a jacket vest that a investigator gave me. In total with out the sale I would have spent 280 something on it all. So i was pretty glad we stumbled upon that sale. But even better the cashier was cute and I was really nice to her, and i didn't notice it until today but she gave me a extra discount on it all! I only payed $100 on all of that, when the coat its self was originally $200. Man it really pays off to be nice and devastatingly attractive!   

We are now on daylight savings time, i have no clue who thought up this idea, but i  am grateful for that extra hour of sleep I got on sunday because of it

So on my mission I have used up the ink in 4 pens already ha ha ha! I guess i write quite a bit, who knew. 

This week I was doing alot of driving every where. I had loads and loads of time to just ponder. I am really grateful that I was able to finish and get my Eagle scout award, and I am really grateful for all of the leaders who helped me learn through out my life whether it was in sunday school or in Scouting I feel like I have been really blessed with amazing examples in my life that has encouraged me to work hard and to be Christ like. I could write a million names down for who I mean when I think about that. And I am so grateful for all of those who weren't my leaders and teachers but my friends who had a huge impact on me. I also remembered I forgot to have my Eagle Court of Honor ha ha oh well we can do that later =p.

There is a member who we go and visit every week, we read out of the book of Mormon with him. His Cat Sammy ran away 7 months or so ago and i think it's very sad / sweet because every time we pray with him he has us pray for Sammy, that she will be safe and have help. I love it, it's really like I said Sad but Sweet that he misses his cat that much. 

Starting today we're taking the jeep to the shop to get repaired so I will be riding a single speed bike every where for the next week. I hope it's fun, I love riding bikes but one of these is a girl bike and I have a feeling that even though it's smaller my comp won't want it. But riding bikes for the Gaylord missionaries did miracles so my fingers are crossed.

Aight well I'm headin off to do some laundry, We have to come back later today, so if there is any thin you want to say go for it.

Bye I love you have a good day! Don't get shot!

- Elder Truman Rex Crockett

 

 

 

The Gospel According

to

Skywalker

a talk by Elder Campbell

Skywalker 1:1

a long time ago in a city probably not too far away from where I am located currently there was a wise jedi master name Nephi. master Nephi was an expert at the doctrine of Jesus Christ and Taught this doctrine very well within the chapters of the BOOK OF MORMON (2 Nephi 31). let us examine this in light of Star Wars:

 

Faith: luke is exhorted by master Yoda to lift his X-wing out of the mucky nasty swamp. Luke tries and ultimately fails to lift up the X-wing with normal effort and gives up exclaiming "it's too big". Yoda then tells him that "size matters not" and lifts the X-wing with his mind. Yoda teaches that if we exercise faith and put forth effort, we won't have to worry about how big a task is because can still accomplish it (Matthew 13:31-32).

 

repentance: Skywalker the older started out as a very frail boy that made many mistakes, becoming a murderer of people (Alma 36:14). in the end of his life, he finally turns and repents. bringing balance to the force and even appearing to leah as a spirit to ask forgiveness from her as well. Darth Vader repented as we need to as well. I imagine though that Vader looked at his life and realized that if he repented sooner, his life would have been a lot better (Alma 34:33).

 

Make Covenants and Receive Blessings: in order for luke to progress further than he was, he had to make an oath into the jedi order (2 Nephi 31:10-11). this brought him membership into the jedi and all of the gifts and blessings associated with it. including the ability to now use the force at all times(2 Nephi 31:12).

 

endure to the end: Luke has only begun his journey with the redemption of his father and the end of the sith. he will soon encounter "sun destroyers" about 12 more death stars, Admiral thrawn, his own battle with the darkside, yslari lizards, and amongst all of that raising a family (was that too much Star Wars deep doctrine? maybe. read more Star Wars books if your confused). but through all of this (we have his whole life documented) Luke skywalker stayed true to Force, becoming a great teacher of it himself (2 Nephi 31:19-21).

the Gospel is where we can achieve the greatest happiness in life and where we can do the most good. I hope that we all with have this as a pattern in our lives and recieve the blessings from it. I leave this in the name of Jesus Christ amen.