Sorry for getting this out so late the wifi at the church is broke.
Well I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and took time to remember
our savior and spend time with your families. Our Christmas Eve was
spent with the Dales...there are 3 Dale families. It is not physically
possible for it to be quiet when you are around the Dales haha. But it
was fun to spend time with all of them, and they gave all 4 of us
missionaries $45 of gift cards!! ...to Buffalo Wild Wings. Haha but we
were grateful. Opened up our packages for Christmas and I got so much
food I love it! And thank you to my Aunt Louise and mother for the
great sweaters, my sisters for the thoughtful pictures, and to my ward
family back home for their family Christmas cards. But of course, the
best gift I got was the chance to talk to my family for the first time
while on my mission. I honestly thought I would be bawling but I was
so happy I couldn't stop smiling! It made my heart melt to see my
beautiful baby sisters and my amazing parents (and Miss Kim). It felt
like the longest 45 mins-1 hour ever and it made my day, I don't think
I will ever stop loving my family! I count my family among my greatest
blessings, I couldn't be more grateful for them being out here serving
the Lord. And how grateful I am for a gospel-centered family, I can't
count how many broken families I have seen on my mission; single moms
or dads, siblings living in different states, fights being the only
form of talking...I just love my family soooooo much.
Well, this week has been pretty crazy weather wise. For the last 3 or
4 days, I have worn a short sleeve shirt cause it's been in the high
60s, loving it!!! But Kentucky gave me a nice rein-action of home and
rained the past 2 days, and I've been reminded of the Lord's care for
his servants. Every time Elder Haws and I have stepped outside to bike
in the sheets of rain coming down, it seems to let up a little bit so
we can stay safe and still find people to talk to (but they all think
we're crazy). I don't have too much to say about this last week, but
God has given me many opportunities to grow in my patience and
humility. I'm so grateful that missionaries aren't spoon-fed
investigators or anything like that, everything we as missionaries
accomplish comes from constant work work work. And right now, I'll be
honest, the work is going kinda slow here in E-Toen. But I don't have
any room to complain, Heavenly Father blesses me snd Elder Haws so
much. I'm blessed to have someone who cares enough about me to make me
work for what I want, who gives me chances to grow and come closer to
Him every day.
I think so many people look at attributes like charity, humility,
diligence and so forth as something that is already part of someone's
personality. But something I have come to understand is that every
desirable Christlike attribute in the world can be obtained. When we
sincerely want to become more like our Savior, all we have to do is
pray and work. Pray to Heavenly Father that He will give you
opportunities to develop a certain characteristic, He will recognize
our desire to change and will help us along the way. But we will not
automatically be more loving, more willing to serve, more forgiving;
it take time. God will give us many opportunities to DEVELOP these
attributes through small or big experiences every day, and we have to
take advantage of them. Elder Haws and I have had a lot of chances
this week to become more humble, patient, and trusting in the Lord. I
can look back and see that I have done what I can to be more humble
and I have been given that gift. If we want to be more like Jesus
Christ, we have to put forth the effort. That is what I'm inviting
everyone to do here on Kentucky, and that's what the other 85,000
soldiers in God's army are doing. Take the opportunity this week to
ponder what you can do to be more like your Savior, then pray and
study to find how you can develop that attribute, then work to make
that attribute a part of your nature.
I love you all and stay strong in the Lord,
Much love,
Elder Crow
My amazing sister Rebekah drew all of
this on my Christmas package, isn't she
amazing!!!
This is a tank in E-Town, and I am
holding the word of God on top of it.
Best tank ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment