Elder Derek Croft

Ok, so this week was probably one of the most physically exhausting weeks that I've had in possibly my entire life, haha man, it was crazy.... So this week we were teaching Seminary on Thursday and Friday and Tuesday, and I have a bunch more admiration for these kids and their desire and diligence in getting up so early, man, it's crazy how much waking up that much earlier just wiped us out! Still, it was really fun to be able to teach these kids the gospel in a seminary setting, granted the participation was sometimes lacking because they were all so tired, but it was cool to be able to see their insights. I swear I wasn't nearly as spiritual as these kids are now. They are definitely being prepared to serve missions at a younger and younger age. We were able to teach them about temples, sacrifice, and standing up for what we believe in, all through the new testament. It was an enjoyable experience and hopefully they were able to glean something from it that was beneficial for them. Still, haha that means that we were really tired. So we had a lot of stuff to do this week, one night we had to stay up later planning a training because we had had no time at all earlier in the week, and I'm serious, not even poor budgeting of time, we had appointments, blitzes, exchanges, and meetings straight through and so the training/class was pushed to the end. Anyways, we finished the training and then woke up the next morning early for seminary, showered, ate, drove to the church, taught seminary, returned home, and then sat down to plan another training for a district meeting later on, and we realized that it had only been 8 hours since we had finished planning our last training.... Needless to say we were exhausted! Still, it was super fulfilling and I'd much rather be extremely busy than have too much time on our hands. Other cool things that have happened. We finally were able to teach a kid named Nick Cutter who has been going to seminary for the last two months. We sat down with him and taught him the restoration and it was super cool. He said he'd pray about being baptized and the next morning at seminary when we spoke with him he said that God had said it was go! Haha it's super cool and he has a strong support group. It just goes to show the power of youth sharing the gospel!

The other miracles continued to flow, Adam, a guy that wasn't goingn to be able to be baptized because of probation is now going to be baptized this weekend! It's honestly unbelievable what happened. He had a court date on Thursday and the judge waived his probation!! Man, it was the craziest miracle ever! He's a good kid, he's had a lot of issues in his life and he is a completely different person! It was incredible! There have been a lot of other miracles as well, last week was literally probably the best week Elder Sanchez and I have had together so far, miracles just kept falling from the sky!

I've also been thinking a lot this week about what it means to be "fully invested". Unfortunately this week we received news about a couple of missionaries who went home... It's interesting, I thought that one of the hardest things on the mission would be when investigators dropped us, but I think even harder than that has been seeing missionaries go home... It's amazing how much I've been able to come to care about these missionaries and how they honestly feel like my brothers. I worry for them and pray for them so much, and just hope that they'll be able to be ok. Anyways, it's made me ponder on what it means to be fully invested and if I've really been able to invest my whole heart, might, mind, strength, and soul into the work that we're doing. Obviously some days and moments are better than others, but I've been able to see that when I've been making a concious effort to be fully invested in the lives of each missionary, investigator, less-active, etc. that that is when the miracles have come, and that that's when it's hardest and most joyful. I just hope I can become more fully invested and help missionaries do so as well. I don't think we ever realize the gift that it is to serve a mission, the gift that it is to be able to give everything we have to the Lord. It's a blessing that I literally cannot compare to anything I've ever before felt or experienced....