BUGS and SUNSHINE

Hello everyone, BUGS and SUNSHINE
I hope and pray that all of you are doing great and that you are getting the same sunshine we are down her in the good 'ol Appalachian foothills! It is absolutely gorgeous, especially down at the hike we were on! There were birds singing, sunshine poking through the trees, there was no one but us at the waterfall, we had a ton of fund hiking around, all around just a good day! This week could've been better but how can I complain, I get to represent Jesus Christ 24/7 and everyone knows it! Definitely got the best job in the whole world!

We have been talking with a TON of people this week and as a missionary I want every person we talk to to be super nice and willing to listen to us but it's almost never that way haha. Especially this week we've just been finding a bunch of mean nasty hillbillies who think they know way more about Jesus than we do and they just tell us to get lost. It is definitely trying as a missionary to keep your cool and just smile at these people rather than just rip 'em to shreds and get angry. Every situation we seem to face, I would've reacted so differently at home; but out here, it's not that I HAVE to be nice to everyone, I could be a complete jerk. But it's the fact that I choose to be nice, I choose to keep a smile on and tell everyone "God bless ya, hope you have a great day!" Everyday we have choices placed before us, sometimes it's just left or right.

But sometimes it's left, right, upside down, walking handstand backwards, the choices seem to never end. But we need never be afraid of which choice is the right choice, it may at times seem like there is no right choice, but the path we should follow should always invite us to do more, to be more. To be more loving, more patient, more humble, really the path we should take should invite us to be more like Christ. I've found so much joy in not only my own growth and changing, but in helping others to change and be more like Jesus Christ. There is no doubt in my mind that we will find a brighter light of joy and happiness in our lives as we choose to follow the Savior and in doing so, helping others to come closer to Christ. Oh how much better the world would be if the Savior was the focus of every family and individual! He is our exemplar, our teacher, our Redeemer, He is the hope we have for more joy in this life. Look for a way this week to bring yourself and others closer to the Savior of the world, it isn't hard unless you make it hard.

Much love,
Elder Crow

Elder Parks and Elder Crow at Dogslaughter falls, pondering the words of Christ

Elder Crow at Dogslaughter falls with a craze face

Elder Crow at Dogslaughter falls,  Right before the hike, my shirt says I'm just here for the bacon. And I am rocking the socks the Lougee family gave me

Elder Crow at Dogslaughter falls

2016 April 25 Elder Crow on bike contraption with Honda motor in it, London, KY

2016 April 25 Elder Crow went to Liberty, Kentucky with another missionary and we pulled into this driveway and found a huge pile of flattened cans

2016 April 25 Louisville Kentucky LDS temple

2016 April 25 This is Joseph, he came hiking with us and he has just started coming back to church, Elder Crow in the red shirt

2016, April 18 Spring is coming to London

Hello everyone, Spring is coming to London, KY, 19 April 2016

As far as I can tell the "Dogwood winter" here in Kentucky is OVER! And "there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began" (Alma 26:35). Haha I am so done with cold it is officially short-sleeve shirts for the next 6 months!! And along with 75+ degrees most every day, even some of the rainy days, there are sooo many people to talk to! There is even going to be something called the rosebud ride this week, it is a race for cyclists and it's about 20-30 miles. Who thinks I should join and try to give Mormon.org cards to the racers while we bike and see how many accidents I can cause while softening the hearts of the children of men? Haha man warm weather just puts me in a good mood, missionary work is so much easier when it's nice and sunny outside! But it also counts for some extra sweaty shirts and that's a problem when your dryer isn't working and you don't know why...

Anyways, things have been great here in London! It isn't perfect, but there aren't too many things in this life that are meant to be perfect. If everything was perfect, we were given all the answers to life, we didn't have to learn or go to school or anything like that what would be the point in us coming here? Heavenly Father has uniquely created each of us, yet something we all have in common is that we are sons and daughter of a loving Father in Heaven! He lets us experience pain, suffering, sadness, and more so that we can know for ourselves that we want happiness, peace, joy, and light in our lives. In this last general conference (when men and women called of God speak to us) Elder Hallstrom said, "When difficult things occur in our lives...is our first response to remember who we are—that we are children of a loving God? Is that coupled with an absolute trust that He allows some earthly suffering because He knows it will bless us, like a refiner’s fire, to become like Him and to gain our eternal inheritance?" God knows what's best, don't ever think that He doesn't. Sometimes He loves us enough to hurt us and humble us.

Something I think allows us to recognize God's hand in our lives and His love for each of His children is patience. I cannot say I am the best at being patient, I am far from it, but I now understand how to be patient and why. I would like to share an experience I had this past week, it will give you a bit of insight to the life of a missionary and what we face on a daily basis. It seems like we have met just about every rude person we can find in London, one man had recently been contacted and hated us even speaking with him, he told us to "Get the heck (he didn't say heck) away from me and my kids!" And then started shooing us away like stray dogs. It upset me, but I kept going with a smile on my face. But Heavenly Father had a better lesson fro me than just masking my anger with a smile. Just a couple days ago, we contacted this man again not knowing it was him. When he saw us, he immediately told us to shutup and to keep biking, I wished him a nice day and told him we were just trying to help people and this made him yell even more. As we biked on, all I could feel was hate and contempt for this angry little man. So, without telling my companion, I screeched to a stop, took off my bike helmet and said a prayer for this man. Rather than just ask for the anger to leave my heart, I prayed for him and his family and asked that everything would go well for him. I immediately felt free of the anger in my heart, and went on with the rest of my day. I don't think I ever would have reacted like that before my mission, the gospel really does change people. I don't know why we all have to go through certain things in our lives, but I know Heavenly Father has blessings and challenges laid aside specifically for us; to make us stronger than we ever were before. I will leave you with one last thought. Elder Anderson said in a talk titled "Spiritual Whirlwinds": "Challenges will come to you, but as you trust in God, they will strengthen your faith." I know this is true. put your trust in God and He wil lead you through the thick and think of life.

Much love from good 'ol Kentucky,

Elder Crow

Elder Parks to left, Elder Crow to right at Mexican restaurant

Had a lesson with the Carnes kids about coming to church, Elder Parks in front, Elder Crow back right

2016 April 11,

12 April 2016 The 2^nd week of the 4^th months known as April in the year 2016

Heller to all y'all Yankees, Southern Brothers, and foreigners alike
(aka Canadians),
Sorry I'm getting this out so late but we are just coming home from a
hike with our ward mission leader and the sister missionaries in our
congregation (yes we got approval). So I am typing this up on the
drive home. This week has been awesome! We really dedicated ourselves
to reaching our goals this week and it has really paid off! We talked
to so many people, and for some reason we found a lot of the sour
pickles in the jar, but it doesn't matter it's part of the calling! I
know that what I'm sharing with them is something that can bless them
and their families, but it's up to them to accept it or not.

This week was a bit tough to start out. We had a baptism all lined up
for one of our investigators, but her dad wouldn't let us come over to
get her ready for her baptism! It is very easy to get aggravated and
upset as a missionary, but if you let Jesus Christ and the gospel
become a part of you then nothing gets to you. Everything you do is
filled with a love for someone else, every part of missionary work
makes you forget about yourself and think about someone else, I love
it! If I were trying to share the gospel and be a missionary for
myself or for Worley glory, then I would literally be wasting God's
time. Love is key.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is meant to change. Because we cannot
become more like the Savior unless we change. But change is not
possible unless we live the gospel of Jesus Christ. That means having
and SHOWING our faith in Jesus Christ, repenting of our sins (the cap
that unlocks the bleach to wash our bloody garments (aka the
Atonement)), being baptized to wash the spiritual muck off of us,
receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost to help us make choices to follow
Jesus Christ, and never ever getting off the path of discipleship. The
gospel is void if we don't live it, if we don't endure well to the
end. It's like unlocking a door then braking off the handle. We may
make mistakes, but Christ is willing to forgive. Sometimes it amazes
me to think that He is so willing to forget my mistakes, sometimes I
think they sent the mission call to the wrong Zach Crow! But I know He
loves me, and I love Him enough to love my brothers and sisters in
sharing the restored gospel with them.

God loves you even if no one else does,
Much love,
Elder Crow

 

We went over to Berea, KY today and it was awesome! Really windy and a
bit cloudy but it was super fun!

Elder Parks found a snake at Berea

geocaching at Berea

Elder Parks in the tree, Berea, KY hike

Kentucky is getting green, Berea, KY hike

2016 April 4 Bunnies and General Conference

Good afternoon from the foothill of the Appalachians,

I pray that you each had an amazing week and a chance to improve; if neither of these things happened for you, make 'em happen!! Each week in the life of a missionary is successful or not, joyful or not, and worthwhile or not. Each one of these circumstances is ultimately affected by one person: me. There were some hard times this week but there is nothing that a smile, a prayer, and some biking can't fix! Now you don't need to get on a bike necessarily to be happy (although it wouldn't hurt) but it's worth any effort to be happy. Something that was pretty awesome was doing a few hours of service for an older sister in our congregation, saving some baby bunnies from her sneaky little dog, and naming them Steven and Earl...but that has NOTHING to do with missionary work haha it just made my day (don't judge sometimes the only thing left to comfort me is a baby bunny).

Well this week has taught me soooo many things. First is that the Lord really does work according to the faith of his children (Moroni 10:7); that is to say, I can't pray in the morning to talk with 25 people that day and teach 1 person about the gospel then go sit on the couch! The Lord blesses us with what we faithfully ask for when we faithfully work for it. We stopped to talk to a woman going into her home and asked if we could come by and share a message with her and she said we could. When we went back, her husband and her uncle were there too! We taught them about how Jesus Christ restored His original church to the earth and has called prophets again to the earth out of love for us (after all everything He does is for us) and they enjoyed the lesson. They all 3 agreed to work towards being baptized on May 22, not because of anything I did but because of the good Lord above.

Then we got to watch General Conference this weekend! For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a broadcast of God's modern-day Prophets and apostles and inspired leaders speaking to us to let us know what Heavenly Father wants us to be doing. It is amazing, if you'd like to check it out, go to lds.org ! It never ceases to amaze me how much our Father in Heaven loves us. He loves us SO much! There is nothing He doesn't want to help us a with, a prayer He doesn't want to answer, a trial He doesn't want to walk with us, He just loves us! I have no idea why He cares so much for someone like me, but I know He does! I know there are many of His children who feel so alone, so unloved, so unwanted. That's why I'm here. If I can do nothing else in this life I want to heal every broken heart and shattered soul I meet. If you ever have felt, or now feel like, you are meant to be eternally hated and alone, let me say this. You're wrong. it's that simple. YOU. ARE. WRONG. There are 2 people up above who smile down upon you every day and one of them gave His own life and split His blood so that you could someday know for the rest of you life that YOU ARE LOVED! I know that is true. If I were to die right now there are 2 things I would take with me: A smile and my faith. There is nothing that can take those 2 things away from you except for yourself.

To end, I stand with Mervyn B. Arnold when he said, "I know He lives! I know it!", God bless,

Elder Crow

We found a couple of bunnies, we took some pictures before letting them go.  This one is Steven, he is cool. We found them while we were doing some service and the member’s dog tried to eat them

saving bunnies

2016 March 28, First Mission Easter

Good afternoon from Kentucky, I hope all y'all had a wonderful Easter!

My first Easter on my mission was a good one, success was obtained in being happy on Easter. Church was absolutely wonderful, I loved every moment of it! We had 2 investigators and a ton of less-active members of the church; it feels so fulfilling to have someone you invite to church actually come! Interesting Eastern Kentucky fact: a ton of people don't have cars, so they have to be given a ride to church. So the woman we asked to drive 1 of our investigators to church wasn't answering her phone and the people we had coming said she wasn't there yet and it was only 20 minutes until church started and I was freaking out on the inside (but I was as calm as a block of cheese on the outside). But they ended up making it! We have now had someone come to church with us for the past 6 weeks in a row and it feels so awesome!!! But it is not because of anything Elder Parks or I did, it was all Heavenly Father in His awesome mercy!

I think I've mentioned a girl named Maggie Carnes in a past few emails, if not then you will now hear about her. She is the youngest of 6, she's 11 and she in the only person in her family who isn't a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (but her whole family is less-active and hasn't been to church in years). She has come to church 3 times now with 2 of her brothers, Andy and Joseph. Joseph is also awesome, I shall tell you about him! He has recently been "re-activated" as he's been coming to church, reading the Book of Mormon and saying prayers with all of his siblings every single night! He is an amazing guy who loves his sister and his family and just wants them to be happy! Because of him living the gospel and setting an example, the Holy Ghost has confirmed to Maggie that she needs to be baptized on April 16th! There are few feelings sweeter than knowing that you are helping to lead someone to a life filled with happiness, a life filled with Jesus Christ.

Oh my goodness we are all so blessed! I was thinking about that as I was typing that last little part. I am a completely normal guy and I couldn't do any of this without help from on high. I'm by no means better than any other missionary. I know I'm not the best at teaching, I don't baptize the most people, I don't know my scriptures as well as other missionaries, I'm still kinda confused why Heavenly Father let me be a missionary haha! If it wasn't for Him I would be nothing, literally. Looking at the short 19 years I've been on this earth, none of it would have any meaning at all if it wasn't for Him and His beloved son Jesus Christ. But because of His infinite love and mercy, He made a way for us to be happy in this life and to be eternally happy in the next.

This perfectly ties in with my favorite scripture in The Book of Mormon, Alma 26:11-12 : " 11 I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

 12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things...".

There is not a thing in my life I can take credit for doing or obtaining all on my own. Looking at an even broader perspective, there is not a person in this world who has done or accomplished anything good except by the mercy of our Father in Heaven in sending His son Jesus Christ. It is wonderful to think about His victory over the grave that we remember on Easter, but why shouldn't we remember it more than just Easter? Everything our Savior did was for the blessing and benefit of God's children; His establishing the gospel and setting the perfect example for us, His suffering at the hands of sinners, His suffering in the garden of Gethsemane, His death upon the cross, and His rising again on the 3rd day. I echo the testimony of a modern-day prophet:

 "After the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!" (D&C 76:22) I testify to each of you that He lives! And because He lives, there is no end to the happiness and peace we can gain in this life! He has overcome death itself to give us a hope for the next life and the hope we gain in Him is like nothing else we can experience in this life! I bear my witness, as one of His humble and lowly servants, that He has extended the arm of mercy to each of us in hope that we might take His hand and walk alongside Him. I encourage each one of you to take some time every day to think about something the Savior did for you, something He did that allows you to "do all things" in "his strength". Oh how He loves you! Do you know how much you mean to Him?! He has set aside for you a blessing and a smile just for you! He only asks us to follow Him, and we will find sunshine in the darkness, peace amongst storms, and strength in our hearts to follow Him to the end. Remember Him and He will remember you.

Much love,

Elder Crow

2016 March 28 Eagle rock in Manchester, has a bunch of different symbols on it and stuff, proof of Book of Mormon people??

2016 March 28 Elder Crow at a member's house for Easter

2016 March 28 Elder Crow Found a sign with the coolest name ever, I wish that was my name...

2016 March 28 Elder Crow with the ward mission leader's son, we're good buddies, London, KY

2016 March 28 helped tear down a shed, it was awesome 

2016 March 28 helped tear down a shed, it was awesome

2016 March 28 helped tear down a shed, it was awesome

2016 March 28 helped tear down a shed, it was awesome

2016 March 28 the river leading into Cumberland falls

Mom,

Quick thought before I write the rest of this, does my little plaque thingy have the picture we took for my mission papers (don't know if I even have a plaque thingy)? Cause if its that picture I'd like that changed haha. Anyways, not important! It sounds like you have had one heck of a week! I hope this week slows down a little bit, hope you don't work yourself to death! Elder Parks and I have had a great week! Things are going much better now, and it's only because I changed. Not saying everything is because of me, my weekly email said otherwise, but I made a change that changed our companionship. He tells me every week in companionship inventory (when we tell each other what we need to work on and what we appreciate about each other) that I have been his favorite companion and he loves serving with me (not sure why he likes being with me :P). So I came to the conclusion that I was the problem. So I prayed for help, then I started bring more loving to elder parks. Our companionship will never be the same. I don't think my MISSION will ever be the same. I have come to experience such a joy in living the gospel and sharing it with others as I've been more charitable, as I've been deserving of others' love. I am convinced that an attitude of selfless love and Christlike care for everyone around us will transform our lives into something more and purge our hearts of anything ungodly and unkind. Love is the key that unlocks the door to meaning.

Just yesterday Elder Parks tried to do something nice for me (this is a funny story). We have 2 alarms go off in the morning, 1 at 6 am and 1 at 6:15. On weekdays, we will try to wake up at 6 so we can workout more, and because I take forever to go to the bathroom. As soon as we finish saying prayers I always have to go to the bathroom. So I went and I saw a green Easter egg floating in the toilet. I assumed elder parks had tried to throw away one of the eggs he'd gotten in his package and it had just missed the trash can. But the thought came to me to pick it up. Well, we had both already gone pee and I did NOT want to pick that egg up. So I flushed it. About halfa  second later elder parks walked in, saw the egg gone and said, "WHERE IS THE EGG?!?!" I told him I flushed it down and he freaked out! It turns out, elder parks knew I would be the first one to the bathroom, so he put an egg that I would see in there with $20 and a nice note from him!! I felt like the biggest turd ever haha, I felt so bad for doing that to him! So I made your chocolate peanut butter squares to make up for it (I'll send pictures soon, Bekah knows a funny story about this though, ask her)

Well I love you so much and I had much more to be grateful for this birthday than usual, and my amazing family was a big part of that,

Elder Crow

He Lives, March 21, 2016

Hello loved ones,

Well this transfer is at an end! I have been in London for 7 weeks now and I found out I'll be staying for 6 more weeks with Elder Parks! I'm super excited to keep working here, I know there are many more lives for us to bless!! Well, London has been going great but the weather is so wacky. There is a saying, "If you don't like the weather in Kentucky, wait a week and it will change." There is much truth found in this phrase. This past week was 70 degrees and warmer, so it was short sleeve shirts and riding our bikes every day! Today, it is 47 degrees and it will not get a whole lot warmer the rest of the week...it makes missionary work very hectic haha! But I love it either way. I have biked in freezing cold and snow, the crazy rain and lightning storms, and the overwhelming heat and sun. Whatever it's like out there, there's still work to be done, and someone's gotta do it so it might as well be me!

This week has been so amazing, I know I don't talk too much about what we do throughout the week, I'll start mentioning more of that. So we have had a huge push in the mission to talk to everyone we see and we've been trying super hard to do just that. And just because we are missionaries doesn't always make it easier to talk to complete strangers. I say a small prayer everytime I walk up to somebody (really before I do anything) on the street, or in their car, or while they're smoking, etc (we really talk to EVERYONE haha). A lot of our time is spent doing all that we can to find people who are willing to hear the message we have to share, but lots of people here are set in their ways and aren't too interested in what we have to say. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't give them the opportunity to hear more about Jesus Christ; whether they know it or not I know that what I am sharing is true and I know it can bless us all in strengthening our faith in our Savior. We have been focusing a lot on Christ's resurrection with Easter coming up and we've been sharing a video called "Hallelujah". It is an awesome video and I would encourage all of you to go watch it here: https://www.mormon.org/easter?cid=HP_SU_3-13-2016_dMIS_fSPC_xLIDyL1-A_

As I have studied and read the scriptures and prayed sincerely to learn more about my Savior, Heavenly Father has blessed me with a greater understanding of what Jesus Christ has done for me and all of us. I can testify with all of my heart that HE love you! It does not matter who you are, where you are in life, or what you are doing, HE LOVE YOU!!! Stop and think about that for a moment. The Savior of the world, the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, the Master of Light love you. He loved you enough to come to this earth. He loved you enough to live a perfect live so that you know exactly what to do to be a great deal happier in this life then you would've ever been on your own. He loved you enough to suffer and pay for every one of your sins with His own blood. He loved you enough to die for you. But most amazingly enough, He loved you enough to LIVE AGAIN!! Jesus Christ lives!! Never again do we have to worry about being alone, never again do we have to worry about being imperfect, never again do we have to worry about being lost, never again do we have to worry about being hated, never again do we have to worry about anything. Ever. Because He. Lived. Again.

I bear my witness that Jesus Christ is the living Son of the living Father of us all. I testify that He rose on the third day to break the bond of death, to ensure that families CAN be together forever. I know that I am His brother, and each one of you are His brothers and Sisters. I know that if we turn it all over to Him He will not let us fall, but He will walk with us along the long and lonely road we call life. I know that He knows exactly what we are going through and we can find new life in Him. If you ever feel like you don't mean anything, like you have no purpose, remember there will always be someone who cares. If you want to feel loved, then you must love others. We can experience all the blessings and joy that come from following Jesus Christ if we but follow His footsteps and do all that we can to make Him more central in our lives.

Happy Easter everyone remember what He did and still does for us,

God bless,

Elder Crow

The district: me, Elder Champ, Elder Parks, Elder James, Elder Riphenburg, Elder Hardy, Elder Money and Elder Watmough (our zone leaders), Sister Kockerhans, Sister France, Sister Lee, and Sister Achee

The Elder holding my left side is Elder Champ, he is from Enumclaw, WA!  We both sang bass together first district meeting, so he signed us up to sing at zone conference (when all the missionaries in our zone boundaries come together to be trained with President and Sister Brough there )!!  We are either singing “Brightly Beams our Father’s Merc y” or singing that same hymn mixed with “Now let us Rejoice”.  We haven’t decided yet, oh well we’ll figure it out!  

Part of my district after district lunch (all the missionaries in our
district go out to lunch) at Zaxby's

Dear Mom,

I already told dad, but I forgot to wish you both a happy anniversary!! I hope you two got some time together, but it sounds like these work shifts are interfering a lot. I just pray that Heavenly Father will lead him to a job that will give him time for rest and his family. I would also like to thank you for the email you sent this last week. I have been able to look for "roses in the thorns" and it has made all the difference. Yesterday was a very hard day. We had some high goals to hit and we didn't get home from church when we would've liked to. On top of that, we have to move our 2 hours of studies to the afternoon before we can work! It took everything I had to stay positive and be excited to get out and work for a  few hours. We were able to do so and we reached our goals and ended the week off GREAT! I've seen a lot of hardship this past week, but it was also one of the best weeks I've had on my mission! We have a young girl who is preparing to be baptized on April 16th (she was the one who was going to get baptized the day before my birthday but she wasn't quite ready) named Maggie. Her whole family is less active and she is the only un-baptized member in her family. Her parents are not providing any support at all to help her get baptized, we can't have lessons in the house anymore and they won't drive their kids to church even though they have a nice big SUV. It is very frustrating to see so little effort on the part of her family, but this is where I found my rose. She has 2 older brothers, Andy is 13 and Joseph is 18. They are the greatest support to their sister I may have ever seen! Joseph asks his dad if we can come teach his sister every day, and he gets yelled at every time for asking (he's doing this while struggling with anxiety and depression) yet he still keeps asking!!!! He found a way to get us over to teach Maggie; he finds something his dad wants done and if it's big enough he asks if we can come help. We then go over and do the service, and with the weather getter warmer, we have a lesson with Maggie and her siblings each time! I feel a great deal of love and amazement at how my Heavenly Father can work wonders through the most difficult circumstances. He has a plan, He has it all mapped out perfectly. He knows exactly how to bless us exactly when we need it, and He also knows when to let us tread through the wet cement sometimes. I am oh so grateful that my Father in Heaven knows me so well to build me up in ways I NEVER could on my own. I have found more joy and more self-worth in my full-time service to the Lord as I have put a smile on my face and trudged through the thorn bushes to find the roses Heavenly Father has placed in my path. It isn't always easy, but discipleship is as rewarding as we make it; we can choose to turn it into a maze of difficulty with uncooperativeness and a lousy attitude; or we can turn it into a walk in the park with a willingness to submit to the Lord's will and a happy heart. I'm so grateful for a mother and father who held my hand during the walk in the park, then taught me to rely on Christ and keep myself unspotted from the world and sent me off running into the woods next to the park; with uncertainty lingering but knowing all would be well.

I love you so much,

Elder Crow