London>Lexington

2016 May 16 Elder Crow was on exchanges with Elder Chandler so Zachary made him scrambled eggs and pancakes

2016 May 16 LtoR Elder Parks and Elder Crow planted a dogwood tree for someone

Dear Everyone,

Hello! I hope you are all doing wonderful and I hope your week was fanstantastic! This week was packed with spiritual awesomeness! On Wednesday we went to Lexington to hear from Elder Kopsichke of the Seventy. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a man who is called and ordained just like the Seventy men Christ called to preach the gospel in Luke Ch.10 . So we got to hear from a modern-day member of the Seventy and his wife. They are from Germany but they speak great English and they are great! Lexington was meh, I like small towns better than a jam-packed crowded city. I learned so much from Elder and Sister Kopischke I can't put it all in one email, I am still reviewing the notes I took! But while I listened to them speak, I couldn't help but feel the love and the spirit that radiated from the 2 wonderful individuals. It is amazing to me that everything in Christ's original church is back, He may not have had any buildings but the organization is completely restored today! I am beyond blessed to have this gospel in my life, and to share it with everyone I see. Something Elder Kopischke shared really stuck out to me. He told us that each one of us made choices in the life before this that determined where we are now. And we chose our families! So stop for a moment one of these days and just look at the ones you love so much and thank Heavenly Father for what you have. Every one of us have blessings we often forget about.

Other than that, this week has been jam-packed with walking. Yes walking. On Saturday I was working with a missionary from another area and with a young man who works with us on Tuesdays and Saturdays. So I was the only 1 of the 3 who knew London so the entire day's work and plans were leaning on me. We probably walked over 5 miles in just a couple hours haha. I don't know how much they appreciated me after that but we got to talk to a ton of people and even though most of them weren't interested I know we still did everything I could to offer them this amazing message about Jesus Christ.

Quite honestly I was able to apply something that I myself taught about during a meeting in church yesterday. I gave a talk about adversity and I was able to personally testify of the Lord's helping my family through each one of my dad's deployments overseas. I realized that I have kinda switched spots with my dad. I am the one wearing the uniform, working in a foreign country, doing crazy things I never would have thought of, serving a mission. Is it hard? Yes. Is it challenging? In every way possible. Are there days that just beat me to my knees? You better believe it. But as I walked away from a conversation with a rude man a thought came to my mind, "You are not alone, I am here." So is this difficult, challenging, taxing mission worth it? There isn't a thing on this earth that can make me believe otherwise. I pray that each one of you will be able to recognize that even in the toughest times and in the darkest times of your life YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Every trial and temptation, every hardship and adversity is worth it. Because then we will do everything we can to appreciate and work for the days filled with smiles, blessings and happiness.

May God bless every one of you with a wonderful week,

Elder Crow

Dear Mom,

I greatly enjoyed my Sunday as well, I actually got to speak in sacrament meeting! For the first time on my mission, almost a year out, and this is the 1st time I've ever been asked to speak so I was super happy. I just love giving talks and teaching lessons. So I was quite new to the church's policy about praying for my talk topic, but I did so and felt inspired to speak on adversity. I walked up to the pulpit ready to use the book the Danielsons gave me and True to the Faith and a ton of scriptures and general conference talks, but I only ended up using 2 general conference quotes and speaking from my heart the rest of the 10 minutes I had. I was overcome with emotion as I recalled our family's hardships during dad's deployments, it was touching to share it in my talk but it really made me realize just how much Heavenly Father loves us for looking out for us so much during those years. I can't imagine how you did it, it must have been so hard. But I'm glad you did it, it made us all stronger.

Something else that happened this week was Elder Kopischke of the 70 and his wife came to the GKLM!! We had 3 of the 6 zones in the mission in 1 stake center, I saw some old friends but almost everyone I know is in the other half of the mission haha! I was so thoroughly impressed with Elder Kopischke's knowledge of the scriptures, his ability to teach by the Spirit, and how much love radiated from him. I took 4 pages of notes and it is so hard to soak everything in from what he shared with us, our zone conference was 6 hours long (with lunch). At the very end, Elder Kopischke opened it up to us missionaries for questions. That very morning, the Holy Ghost prompted me to think of a question I would ask Elder Kopsichke if he asked for questions. I thought he would just speak the whole time but nevertheless I thought one up. So I kept trying to raise my hand but other missionaries kept beating me to it! Finally, Elder Kopischke said, "Ok, President Brough do you think I could take 1 more question before we wrap this up?" And President Brough said, "Absolutely, and I know the missionary who asks this question is the best missionary in the mission!" I knew he was joking, that's just President Brough, but now I felt really awkward raising my hand. But I wanted to have my question answered so bad my hand shot up after he said it. I felt so red when every single missionary in the chapel turned around to see who had raised their hand, I am not even close to being the best missionary in the mission! But I asked Elder Kopsichke,"How do you feel we can best invite the Spirit into every aspect of missionary work?" And his answer seemed to me the answer to anything we want the Holy Ghost invited to," 1)Be as obedient as you can, 2)Be as pure as possible, 3)Plan as effectively as you can, and 4)Work as hard as you can." I felt the Spirit fall upon me as this servant of the Lord looked so intently into my eyes and spoke with such love, there is no doubt in my mind that he is a man of God.

Afterwards, I thanked him and Sister Kopischke for coming, then I thanked President and Sister Brough for their trainings. Sister Brough was the last one I spoke to, she shook my hand and said, "Oh thank you so much for coming. We love you so much Elder Crow, we hear such wonderful things about you from other missionaries!" Once again I think this is the part of the Lord's calling old people to preach the gospel where age interferes with wisdom, haha I'm kidding. But her words touched my heart and I couldn't help but be grateful for such an amazing blessing to be serving in Kentcuky.

Last thing. This morning, we had a senior couple come and inspect our apartment. They were both greatly impressed at how clean we kept our apartment and in my mind I was like," Yeah! Every hour of cleaning at home was worth it! Thanks mom, all the nagging paid off!" Haha I love you so much and I hope everything is going well for you. I can feel the strength your prayers give me and it means so much to have a loving family back home.

Much love,

Elder Crow