Your future is as bright as your faith 12/7/15

Hello you gorgeous children of God that I cannot see,
It is so wonderful to have the blessings that technology provides us today and I'm so grateful I don't have to rely on a library for my emails haha. This week has been filled to the brim with work, challenges, discouragement, and blessings. Notice that only one of those things holds self evident happiness, although working hard as one of the Lord's missionaries is something I count among my blessings every day. My mission could be looked upon by others as boring, too much work, scary, or just plain stupid. But there isn't a thing this world can throw at me that would make this experience any less spiritual or amazing than it already is. Serving the Lord every day, 7 days a week, 12 months a year, 700 days of my time on this earth is something I will treasure now and into the eternities. Although the work is trying, the emotions spike every once in a while, and my legs never get a biking break Elder Haws and I LOVE IT!!! Heavenly Father has seen our efforts, He has heard our prayers, He has watched our faithful service, and He has blessed us. This week, we found 7 new investigators and 5 of them have baptism dates!! I know that it is because of never-ending work, EXACT obedience to the Lord, and constantly exercising our faith. I was working with one of my favorite members this week, Chris Loesevitz, and we were teaching a family with 2 less active members and 2 boys that haven't been baptized. While I was teaching them the restoration, one of the boys who is 12 just flat out said, "I wanna be baptized mamma!" And I could hardly keep from jumping up and down with joy! The Lord prepares His children to hear this glorious message!

That brings me to the title of my email this week. I have been listening to a young single adult devotional or a talk every morning while I work out. This past week I listened to a devotional by Bishop Gérald J. Caussé titled "We Are The Architects of Our Own Happiness" and I couldn't get enough of that talk!! Every person reading this email PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go read it sometime this week, I can promise you the spirit of God will help you discover a way to bring more peace and happiness into your life! One section of Bishop Caussé's talk is titled "Your future is as bright as your faith" and I think that defines the key to happiness. We all expect happiness to walk right up to us and slap us in the face but that's not how it works. Happiness and everything else we want to find in this life can only be found through diligent seeking. One of the key factors to finding here things is faith itself. We must believe that there truly is a way to find happiness, peace, joy in this life otherwise we will never find it. Put your trust in God and know that all this are carried out according to His will, don't ever forget that your life is part of His divine plan made just for you! Every choice we make decides whether or not we gain access to the blessings of His plan, and whether or not we even enjoy those things Heavenly Father places in our lives.

I shall end this email by expounding a story unto y'all. It was a glorious Wednesday afternoon and Elder Haws and yours truly had just returned from an incredibly awesome district meeting. We had lunch (I ate a salad for the first time on my mission, yes Elder Haws converted me to healthier eating) and had changed out of our suits, and the fire of missionary work was apparent in our countenances which still have a tint of green to them. We mounted our bicycular vehicles and rode off into the cold December air. We got to the top of a hill and I stopped for a moment. I realized my tire was quite flat, but we were going to contact a member referral so I thought nothing of it. We began our descent down the very large hill to get to this referral, and I relaxed. Elder Haws tough me how to ride and steer my bike down a hill with no hands, so I casually rode down the hill still with my flat tire. When I began to turn, calamity struck. My flat tire couldn't take the sharp turn and my entire bike folded out from beneath me and I slid very hard for a good 10 feet or more down the street, almost hitting a brick mailbox (because rich people like brick mailboxes for some reason). I wept some manly tears and then I begrudgingly started back to the apartment. Our whole day's plans were ruined, but it turned out all right because we had some great lessons going out to teach with members.   

That is all I have for you, I hope all y'all have an amazing week and make your future brighter with the light of your faith,

Elder Crow

Fixing a flat after a bad wreck

Elder Haws and I discovered Swiss Miss hot cocoa, the best stuff on the earth!!!

Elder Haws got me to start eating healthy...

Met this man, Deacon, street contacting. He is an ordained minister for his 

chapter in The Sons of God motorcycle club. Apparently they are international

now, he's super cool!

When you're a missionary, you're broke, you see $1 foot long French bread, and it expires in 2 days. Challenge accepted

This is how Elder Haws and I ride down hills, sleep well mom haha