Monday, February 1, 2016
Last Week in E-town 2/1/16
Hello everybody it seems like this last week has flown by and so much
has happened!
So as you can tell from the title of my email this is my last week
here in E-Town. I have grown to love and adore the people in this town
and most especially the amazing ward family I have here. I have been
very blessed to serve in this area and I cannot believe how much I
have grown and changed since I stepped on that plane 6 months ago. I
have a deep love and admiration for my savior Jesus Christ, he truly
is the perfect refiner. I have faced times of disappointment and
discouragement, but I have been showered with little blessings far
greater than any trial or hardship I could ever face. Through the
thick and the think He has walked with me and lifted me up in my
darkest times, just like the daughter of Jairus in Matthew 9. He will
take each of us by the hand, raise us up from whatever iniquity or
pain we may be in and makes us anew. The hand of our savior can make
us bright and clean no matter what where we may be in our lives.
To end my time in E-Town we had 2 baptisms!! Nauje and Noriean Carter
got baptized this last Thursday and they were confirmed yesterday at
church! I'll out some pictures below from the baptism. It was quite a
memorable baptism. An hour and a 1/2 before we started, the car elders
called us to tell us that the hot water in the church wasn't working
so the font was filling with ice-cold water!!! The members we eating
dinner with freaked out and took us to the church right away. They
started boiling pots of water on the stove in the church and were
dumping them into the font as fast as they could. I was kinda chilling
in the back not worrying about a thing, I was surprised how calm I
was. The bishop came and saw what we were doing, he kinda smiled and
walked to the back of the church. Then he walked to the thermostat and
said, "You're welcome buddy" and the font water was hot! Apparently we
don't have all of the keys to the church. But the baptism was still so
wonderful and I got to baptize Nauje, the first person I've ever
baptized before!!! It was such a sweet experience for us all.
My next email will be from London, KY home to 8,000 people, 30%
baptist and 40% atheist haha. I know the work will be hard, but I'm so
grateful the Lord trusts me enough to make me work to spread this
gospel. Serving my mission has been the greatest decision I have made
thus far in my life, and I love the feeling I have when I go out at 10
am to talk with people about Jesus Christ. Like it says, also in
Matthew, I have been persecuted for righteousness' sake to preach the
gospel in Kentucky. These 2 years aren't the best of my life just
because I'm serving a mission, they are the best 2 years because I am
MAKING them the best 2 years. There isn't any darkness so thick that
it can put out the light that burns within each of us, there is always
happiness to be found in our lives. If we make time for Heavenly
Father then he will make time for us, and we will recognize the tender
mercies of the Lord in our lives.
I love you all, stay strong and shake hell (Alma 48:17)
Much love,
Elder Crow
has happened!
So as you can tell from the title of my email this is my last week
here in E-Town. I have grown to love and adore the people in this town
and most especially the amazing ward family I have here. I have been
very blessed to serve in this area and I cannot believe how much I
have grown and changed since I stepped on that plane 6 months ago. I
have a deep love and admiration for my savior Jesus Christ, he truly
is the perfect refiner. I have faced times of disappointment and
discouragement, but I have been showered with little blessings far
greater than any trial or hardship I could ever face. Through the
thick and the think He has walked with me and lifted me up in my
darkest times, just like the daughter of Jairus in Matthew 9. He will
take each of us by the hand, raise us up from whatever iniquity or
pain we may be in and makes us anew. The hand of our savior can make
us bright and clean no matter what where we may be in our lives.
To end my time in E-Town we had 2 baptisms!! Nauje and Noriean Carter
got baptized this last Thursday and they were confirmed yesterday at
church! I'll out some pictures below from the baptism. It was quite a
memorable baptism. An hour and a 1/2 before we started, the car elders
called us to tell us that the hot water in the church wasn't working
so the font was filling with ice-cold water!!! The members we eating
dinner with freaked out and took us to the church right away. They
started boiling pots of water on the stove in the church and were
dumping them into the font as fast as they could. I was kinda chilling
in the back not worrying about a thing, I was surprised how calm I
was. The bishop came and saw what we were doing, he kinda smiled and
walked to the back of the church. Then he walked to the thermostat and
said, "You're welcome buddy" and the font water was hot! Apparently we
don't have all of the keys to the church. But the baptism was still so
wonderful and I got to baptize Nauje, the first person I've ever
baptized before!!! It was such a sweet experience for us all.
My next email will be from London, KY home to 8,000 people, 30%
baptist and 40% atheist haha. I know the work will be hard, but I'm so
grateful the Lord trusts me enough to make me work to spread this
gospel. Serving my mission has been the greatest decision I have made
thus far in my life, and I love the feeling I have when I go out at 10
am to talk with people about Jesus Christ. Like it says, also in
Matthew, I have been persecuted for righteousness' sake to preach the
gospel in Kentucky. These 2 years aren't the best of my life just
because I'm serving a mission, they are the best 2 years because I am
MAKING them the best 2 years. There isn't any darkness so thick that
it can put out the light that burns within each of us, there is always
happiness to be found in our lives. If we make time for Heavenly
Father then he will make time for us, and we will recognize the tender
mercies of the Lord in our lives.
I love you all, stay strong and shake hell (Alma 48:17)
Much love,
Elder Crow
The Carter Boys and us
District Picture
Me and Sister Thomsen
Me and Brother Owen (wearing the tie I gave him)
Me and Aiden
Serving in the Snow 1/25/16
Howdy ya'll,
I'm using every possible greeting I can think of so I thought I'd use a stereotype of my mission haha. Well, this week has been pretty CRAZY! On Tuesday it was 5 degrees,no know because I got out of a lesson and check the weather, then sat on my ice cold bike seat! Haha it warmed up later, but then it dumped down 5 inches of snow! I tried, and utterly failed, to ride my bike in the snow and I almost face planted so we were not going with that gameplan. So for the entire day we walked to our appointments and all around E-Town as long as we could. And we had people tell us we are crazy for staying out in that kind of weather. Had it not been for the amazing timing of my beloved mother, I would have froze! She sent a lovely coat and gloves the day before the cold snap so good job momma! On Thursday AND Friday it snowed and it totaled up to about 8+ inches of snow. We weren't allowed to work on Thursday because there were "blizzard-like conditions" in most of the mission. We sat in our apartment until 1 pm, then a member cam and picked us up. We got some Wendy's, (I best the 5 saltine crackers in 1 minute challenge), then ovules people's driveways for most of the afternoon. It felt so much better doing something for others rather than ware my day on my iPad in my apartment, I love the members here they take such good care of us. On that note, transfer call are this Saturday...that's when we find out if we are going to a new area. I've been in Elizabethtown for almost 6 months and I everyone is telling me that I am leaving. Ugh, I feel like they are right haha, but I won't know for sure until Saturday so we'll see then.
But I do have something to look forward to before transfer calls. This Thursday Nauje and Noriean are getting baptized! They gave us quite the scare because they showed up to church a little late, but they made it! And what makes me even happier is the fact that Nauje asked me to baptize him! My smile must have been a mile long, I was in heaven! I cannot describe the joy that comes to my heart when I think about all this, that I can serve my Heavenly Father for 2 years and show everyone how much happiness they can gain from following Jesus Christ.
I'm using every possible greeting I can think of so I thought I'd use a stereotype of my mission haha. Well, this week has been pretty CRAZY! On Tuesday it was 5 degrees,no know because I got out of a lesson and check the weather, then sat on my ice cold bike seat! Haha it warmed up later, but then it dumped down 5 inches of snow! I tried, and utterly failed, to ride my bike in the snow and I almost face planted so we were not going with that gameplan. So for the entire day we walked to our appointments and all around E-Town as long as we could. And we had people tell us we are crazy for staying out in that kind of weather. Had it not been for the amazing timing of my beloved mother, I would have froze! She sent a lovely coat and gloves the day before the cold snap so good job momma! On Thursday AND Friday it snowed and it totaled up to about 8+ inches of snow. We weren't allowed to work on Thursday because there were "blizzard-like conditions" in most of the mission. We sat in our apartment until 1 pm, then a member cam and picked us up. We got some Wendy's, (I best the 5 saltine crackers in 1 minute challenge), then ovules people's driveways for most of the afternoon. It felt so much better doing something for others rather than ware my day on my iPad in my apartment, I love the members here they take such good care of us. On that note, transfer call are this Saturday...that's when we find out if we are going to a new area. I've been in Elizabethtown for almost 6 months and I everyone is telling me that I am leaving. Ugh, I feel like they are right haha, but I won't know for sure until Saturday so we'll see then.
But I do have something to look forward to before transfer calls. This Thursday Nauje and Noriean are getting baptized! They gave us quite the scare because they showed up to church a little late, but they made it! And what makes me even happier is the fact that Nauje asked me to baptize him! My smile must have been a mile long, I was in heaven! I cannot describe the joy that comes to my heart when I think about all this, that I can serve my Heavenly Father for 2 years and show everyone how much happiness they can gain from following Jesus Christ.
I can't say enough how much I love my savior, and not only for the sacrifice He made but for the life He lived for me. There is a video called "None were with Him" with Jeffrey R. Holland and I would ask you all to look it up on LDS.org . For me it defines the atonement of Jesus Christ and the comfort and love I can feel because of the lonely path He walked near the end of His mortal ministry. I love my mission and there isn't a thing in the world that could make me happier than to serve my fellow men and represent my savior and do the will of my Father in Heaven. I would invite you to look for ways to be more Christlike in your relationships, your families, and with everyone around you. Always remember there is something we can improve on and learn from Christ, even as a missionary I am constantly making mistakes and trying to improve. I believe that there is only one thing I could ever be perfect at: trying.
God bless and go out of your way to help someone out this week,
Much love,
Elder Crow
Stuck in the apartment
Stuck in the apartment
I made red lobster biscuits, they were deliciously celestial
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