The glorious life of Elder Crow 10/12/15

Hello you glorious inhabitants of the strange United States of America,

This week has been pretty awesome! I just got done with a baptism interview with President Brough for our investigator Kristin!! She wan't ready when we got to her apartment, so President took us out to Cracker Barrel and, since he was paying, I got The Cracker Barrel Country Boy Breakfast. It is gloriously dewlicious and it encompasses 3 plates full of food! I wolfed it all down before President and Elder Koenig finished their breakfast and they were staring at my 5'6 figure going "......". Haha it was so good! We went back to Kristin's apartment and President had us sit outside while he conducted the interview. She passed all the criteria and she is going to be BAPTIZED this Saturday at 10 am! We filled out her baptism record and then we left. Elder Koenig and I have been meeting with her for the whole 9 weeks I've been here in E-Town; Kristin has been through 6-7 other sets of missionaries! I have seen the gospel work through her while I've been meeting with her and I've seen the spirit bear witness to her that this is the true church of God upon the earth! I can;t wait to see her baptized and she asked me to give a talk on baptism! 

I can't remember most of the rest of this week, but I'll share my experience at the hospital this past Tuesday. Brother and Sister Crowe took us to the hospital on base so I could have my ingrown toenail taken out. I have had it for over a month, so I'm very grateful right now! The man that took care of me was super cool! He has been in medical Army stuff for about 25 years and he planted a southern baptist church here. He noticed that Elder Koenig and I were missionaries, but it didn't seem to bother him. We talked about religion on and off during my appointment, but we mostly just joked around. I think he was surprised that we, being missionaries for the church, were so "normal" and willing to just talk! He and Elder Koenig joked around about taking my toe off with an exact o knife and a hot iron...not cool. But me the special person I am, my toe started bleeding like crazy and he had to put some goop on it an cover it in gauze. 

After that incredibly graphic and disgusting story, I'll share a little more. Look for the opportunities The Lord will place before you to be a missionary. I promise you that you do not need a name tag to be a missionary, members are sometimes better missionaries than we can be out here. You have a special connection and bond with the people you know, something that the missionaries cannot match. When you open your mouth and do your very best to talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ in your conversations, angels will guide your words! I testify to you, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, that your example and your words are the brightest light you can share in this sea of darkness. Like it says in Matthew 5, you can be a light to everyone you see and talk to and you can be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. Do not alow yourself to think that you can't share that with someone, you can do it! If necessary, have the missionaries over for dinner and ask them to teach you how to talk about the gospel with your friends! I don't have any time left, but I love you all and hope you will do your best to shine forth among the dark.

Much love,

Elder Crow

A week of learning 9/28/15

Hello all you glorious children of God,

this week has been a week of growth and learning for me. I forgot my journal at the apartment but I remember the week quite well.

Tuesday I went to a training in New Albany for new missionaries and it was amazing! President Brough, Sister Brough, and the assistants to the president all gave amazing trainings! When the assistants walked up they said, "You can't baptize!" and I was a bit taken aback! They went on a little spiel about how we can't do anything, but then they shifted gears and promised us they were kidding. They went on to talk about how our attitude affects EVERYTHING we do! Every aspect of missionary work coincides with our ability to move the work forward and find people to teach; if I keep a negative attitude about myself and allow myself to believe that I can't do anything, then I will not accomplish anything. But if I am willing to keep my head up and a smile on my face, then everything will be just fine! President Brough gave a training on "watching our companion's 6" and talked about how fighter pilots watch out for each other in the air. Since he flew F-11s and was a full Colonel in the Air Force, he get really excited when he talks about flying! What made him even more excited was when my "self-destruct" alarm went off and he went off on how when that alarm sounded, they had 15 minutes to get airborne and he started flying around the room and had a big goody grin on his face. Anyways, when 2 pilots go airborne, they both go into formation and fly 3 FEET APART going close to the speed of sound! When the lead pilot, or the more experienced pilot, signals to the #2 pilot, the #2 pilot peels of and moves about a mile away and a hundred feet below the lead pilot. The reason is to watch each other's 6! The back of the jet is referred to as a pilot's 6, like the 6 on a watch. The back of the plane is the weakest and most vulnerable because the pilot cannot see behind him at all. So when the #2 pilot peels off and stays a bit away, they can look to the side and easily cover their partner's 6! He applied this to how we need to watch after our companions in every way possible, not just keeping them in sight, but making sure he is staying obedient and enthusiastic and is doing what he should. Way cool!

The rest of my week went by pretty slowly, Elder Koenig and I had a ton of meetings and responsibilities to attend to throughout the week so it took a big chunk out of our proselyting time. I have found that although our numbers didn't best reflect our efforts, I found so much joy in helping others and taking time out of my day to help someone take a burden off their shoulders. I have discovered that not everything I do will equate to a number I can out in the weekly numbers, but sometimes there are things more important than a number on a record. This work is about serving and loving and bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who do not have it. Jesus himself went about almost every day of his life taking time out of his day to uplift someone, heal someone, provide a service to someone, or show them love when no one else would do so. Like Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, "Although I may not be my brother's keeper, I am my brother's brother and 'Because I have been given much, I too must give' "

I firmly echo the words of this disciple of God, we are to lift up those in need and to comfort those who stand in need of comfort, please take the time out of your day to mourn with those who mourn and lift up the feeble knee. For are we not all beggars? Have we not have times in our life when we have fallen to our knees and cried out to our Father in Heaven for the comfort and aid that we so much needed. And has he not, TO THIS DAY, found some way to bring us out of the darkness and flood our lives with light? Has he not, whether we recognized it or not, taken the time to listen to our prayers and the desires of our hearts? And has he not blessed you more than you even take the time to notice? Look for the light in your life, put on a smile, share the joy within your heart! Don't let it go to waste, but let it shine and let is spread to others! I challenge each and every one of you, no matter how unnecessary or little it may seem, to serve your felloe brethren. I promise you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that you will be blessed when you are willing to FORGET YOURSELF! Find them. Find the people that God places in your path. Don't ever think that you can't do anything to uplift someone! Pull over to help someone on the side of the road, do your chores without being asked, get up right now and go hug your family and tell them you love them, pay someone a compliment, make a new friend, SMILE! Be the light in the darkness, the standard to the nations, the beacon to the lost. Be like Him.

Much love,

Elder Crow

This is me somewhat dried out after biking through a rain storm, you
can kind of see how wet my LIGHT GRAY pants were. It pours sheets down
here! But I was wearing the same smile the whole time, and I wrecked
for the first time! I pulled into a grass patch in front of an
apartment too fast, lost control, and smacked into a guardrail! I
epically and flawlessly flew over the top of my bike and the
guardrail. My body was tossed like a rag doll, and then Elder Koenig
laughed at me for like 5 minutes and wiped the grass off of me . And
you can see what a "bike leg" looks like on my right foot.

he also said in a similar email  

I hope you can see, not sure how good the picture is, what I looked like after biking in the rain and getting in my first bike wreck! Elder Koenig and I were pulling in front of this apartment complex and I rode into the grass while he went on the sidewalk. As soon as I hit the grass, I lost control and slammed into a guardrail. I was gracefully thrown over the top of my bike and my rag doll landing was flawless, as always. I laid there for a minute while Elder Koenig laughed his head off and then he wiped the grass off of me. He still hasn't let me forget it... 

First Transfer 9/21/15

Dear people of my acquaintance,

So this is my last week of my first transfer in the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission! I can't believe I've been out this long, and I've grown more than I ever would have expected. Street contacting is cake now! Elder Koenig is having me bike in front a lot so I can talk to people and get to know the streets better, and it is amazing how easy it is to strike up a conversation with someone about anything! Elder Koenig and I read something called the Riccardi Letter and it is amazing, I'll send it out soon! We took a lot from it and apply it to our work, and something we do is go out everyday thinking "Fear NO man!" When we go out with that attitude and we put a smile on our face, then doing this work becomes a 1000 times easier! We actually biked past this big burly guy mowing a lawn, and I looked at Elder Koenig and said, "Let's go talk to that guy" and he said," Lead the way!". So we went back and started talking to him and he's actually LDS! His name was Brother Peterson and he's this really big guy with tattoos all over his arms, with a bandana on, and you would have never expected him to be LDS! He's actually been missing a lot of church since he runs his own business and we told him where the church building is and invited him to come back and he said he'd try to make it to a sacrament meeting soon!

Friday was a bit rough. Almost Everything we had set up fell through and we were going to sit with a member and her non-member friends for the E-Town Homecoming parade when this guy on his cell phone waves us over. He asked us what "Gospel" means to us and we told him it means good news. He proceeded to start teaching us the good news in the understanding of his Baptist faith. The guy kept rambling on and on and I was starting to wonder when he would stop, when I saw why he was still runnin his mouth: his MINISTER walked up and joined in the "teaching". We came to realize that when this guy waved us over, he was on the phone with his minister telling him he was going to stall us so his minister could come talk to the Mormons; we got played!!! This minister hands us each a little booklet (which I later looked through and tore to shreds), shook our hands, and proceeded to give me the biggest waste of my time and the most false doctrine in one sitting I have ever had to deal with. It quickly turned into a Bible bash, my firs one, but Elder Koenig and I didn't participate. He barely left room for us to get a word in and he would not stop talking! Over the course of 45 minutes, he told me: I'm going to Hell, I'm being influenced by the devil and I'm doing his will, Joseph Smith was a false prophet and was of the devil, The Book of Mormon is the devil's book, there's nothing I can do to be saved, and I should turn away from this terrible faith. I finally had enough, bore witness to this man that we follow Jesus Christ and we will never stop preaching his gospel, and I walked away. That's what I should've done in the first place, and that's what you should do. The spirit is never present in a bible bash and it's a waste of time; the best thing you can do is bear your testimony and walk away without saying another word.

Despite that negative experience, the weekend made up for it. I got to be a part of something called the mini-MTC. It is a mulit-stake activity where 1-2 youth are paired up with a missionary and they get to live a day-and-a-half of the life of a missionary! It was so much fun to do role plays and to teach my boys about missionary work! We got to do morning studies together, hear an AWESOME lesson from President Brough, and go out an teach someone! It was truly humbling to see how much I've grown and know, but how far I still have to go.

I don't have a lot of time left, so if you have any questions and some free time, please feel free to shoot me an email! I'll end by saying what I wanted to say to that Baptist minister. There is NOTHING about this gospel or the work I am doing that leads others astray! Every day I wake up and wear the name of Jesus Christ over my heart until I put my head on my pillow and there is nothing else I'd rather be doing. I am a messenger and a servant to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, it is his work I do and it is his work I will continue to do until they put me 6 feet under! This church is His church, he loves us and wants nothing more than for us to bring ourselves and other unto Him. I will never deny this gospel, not for anyone nor anything. I go forth with the "voice of a trump" and someone will hear the gospel coming out of my mouth while I live and breathe. Don't ever forget that you are a child of God, don't ever forget what you are a part of, and don't you EVER forget what you are to be doing.

I love you all and I can't tell you enough how great my joy is to be going forth as a light in the darkness.

Shine forth,

Elder Crow

Family,

Unfortunately I'm out of time to email today, so I won't be able to personally email you all, but I just wanted to let you know that I love you all so much and I use you guys in a lot of my stories when talking to investigators. People are impressed by how much I care for my family and they don't even know the half of it! I love you all more than you can know and I hope all goes well for you! And tell Sister Hendrixson that I got to brag about her in Elders Quorum in church and I told everyone how amazing she is and how much I miss serving her!

Love you all,

Your missionary,

Elder Crow

p.s. I love my cutout, you can put me in the window so I can creep people out and confuse them! Elder Koenig thought it was weird though haha!

Influences 9/7/15

Hello everyone,

so this week has been a whirlwind of madness, we've been so busy! Last Monday, after we were done with our emailing, we went to a restaurant called Tumbleweed. Now this story illustrates why you should NEVER feel like you have to do what everyone else is doing. I was with 3 other Elders and they all ordered the "En Fuego Challenge"; I'm not a big spicy fan, but I didn't want to be the only Elder who didn't try! So I ordered it as well. It was a monster. 2 1/3 pound patties, with jalapeno cheese, diced jalapenos, jalapeno rings, and pico de gallo; there was also a whole grown jalapeno and a bunch of french fries. The moment I took the first bite, I instantly realized my grave mistake. My face has not been as red as it was in a very long time and the tears felt like little hot needles raking down my face! I was getting those little dry heaves you get when you eat spicy stuff, I was crying, and I was struggling! Finally, one of the zone leaders got this horrified look on his face after eating the whole jalapeno and he ran to the bathroom to throw up! That's when I was like, "ok, ya know what, you''re all idiots, I'm an idiot, and I'm throwing in the towel!!" And I failed the challenge. I got through the burger and some of the fries, but 3-4 glasses of lemonade does not soothe the burning fires of Hell that dance on your tongue. Haha anyways, don't feel like you have to do what everyone around you is doing, it may lead to dire consequences.

I didn't do too well on my journal writing this week, so I don't remember everything that happened. But I do have some stories. So on Wednesday we met with a guy named Josh, he's the boyfriend of another one of our investigators, and he is so on fire! We got to know him and we taught him about the restoration. He doesn't know anything about Mormons so he didn't have any false impressions about us, just some awesome questions! He felt the spirit, no doubt! And since then, he's committed himself to: reading the Book of Mormon, going to church, and saying prayers every day (even though he is shy and not usually comfortable with praying/speaking in front of people)!!! The Lord prepares his elect for us to find, not just the missionaries, and members are usually just as important in finding people to bring to the church. 

On Thursday I had my first zone meeting in E-Town! I met a lot of missionaries I didn't know before then and they are super cool! And I met the Sister missionaries as well, it was different because they don't come to our district meetings since my district is 1 of 2 districts in the whole mission which doesn't have Sister missionaries! I learned so much about setting goals and asking inspired questions from the trainings that we had from some of the district leaders. It was an awesome meeting, I tried Panera Bread for the first time, and I had my eyes opened to how I need to be teaching and preparing to teach those the Lord has prepared for me to teach. 

On Friday I had a district meeting and my first interview with President Brough. President Brough is so funny and he makes a joke about every 5 seconds, unless he's in a meeting or something like that. He cares so much for the missionaries in the GKLM (the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission) and he shows so much love to us all, I don't believe there will ever be a time when he won't watch out and care for me as a missionary. That is what makes a great leader, to love and care for those who are in your care and to make every effort to lead them in the ways of Christ and our Heavenly Father.

I'm out of time, so I'll leave you with a short spiritual thought. On Saturday I talked to a woman who majored in religion, but she tried to convince me that Jesus Christ couldn't have died for my sins. She couldn't have been more wrong. Jesus is the Christ, the very son of God. He came to this earth and, when the time came, he knelt in Gethsemane and bled. He bled from every pore and he bled for every Son and Daughter of God that will ever walk this earth. Like President James E. Faust, I sometimes wonder "how many drops he shed for me", but that is not what is important. What is important is that he died for you! He took every sin in the world upon himself and he would do it again in the blink of an eye! We will never be able to pay him back for the blood he spent, but we can live our lives in a way that makes up for as much as we can.

Keep the faith,

Elder Crow

In the Field 8/24/15

Hello everybody!

This week was an absolute roller coaster! I'll jump back to Monday of last week. I had to wake up at 3 AM to catch a bus and 2 trains in order to make it to the airport on time. Everyone at the terminal was so nice and they asked us where we were all going, it was so crazy! We were allowed to make one last call to our families, so I borrowed a cell phone from a very nice old man; talking to my family was the highlight of my day, by far! The next 8 hours of my life included a 4 hour flight to Atlanta, then a 45 minute flight to Louisville; both with time zone changes. When we landed in the airport President Brough, Sister Brough, and the assistants to the president were all there waiting for us. It finally hit me that I was a missionary when President Brough gave me and Elder Stanley a hug and said, "I've been waiting for you two for a whole year!" It was awesome!

Anyways, fast forward to this past week. We had a transfer meeting on Tuesday where me and the other 15 Elders and Sisters were introduced and given their trainers. There were some 200+ Elders and Sisters there, it was awesome! We sang the coolest version of "Called to Serve" ever! Then I met my trainer! His name is Elder Koenig, he's been out 18 months from Colorado, and he is an amazing missionary! Before I left the meeting, I got my iPad and my area...I am serving in the Elizabethtown Kentucky!!!! For those of you who don't know, that's the very town I was baptized in 10 years ago!!! And we got a ride home from a brother in the ward, Brother Crowe; and YES, he does spell it wrong!

My first week as a missionary was crazy! I am in a biking area (otherwise I'd get incredibly fat from all this food) and it is pretty crazy biking in this humidity! A lot of people admire us for it. But I tore a pair of pants on my first day in the field! I didn't have what's called my "rider's leg", or tucking my pants leg into my sock to keep it from catching the chain. And the very next day, Elder Koenig got the flu really bad! So my entire day was 10ish hours of updating teaching records, studying the scriptures, and weekly planning! The next day, when we went to work out with the zone leaders,(Elder Allen and Caskey live a block away from us) I had FRIED TURTLE! Not something out of the store, Elder Caskey and Elder Koenig killed, skinned/shelled, and fried a 15-pound snapping turtle (which isn't uncommon in this part of KY)!!!! It was really chewy and hard to eat, but it really does just taste like chicken! On Thursday, I got my bike from the bike shop; then Elder Koenig gave me the opportunity to use it the rest of the day (and I almost accidentally biked into the street...).

I have already seen the goodness of God during my short time here as a missionary. The spirit really does accompany us, but only when we are willing to listen to The Lord's commandments. There is a man here named Tracy Owens, he's been a convert for a year. Almost 2 years ago, his wife took his kids and left him; 2 days before Christmas! For the past year and a half, he has been fighting to overcome his word of wisdom issues and try to win custody over his kids. He has been called a monster in a courtroom, is legally allowed to contact his family using ONE number, and is facing severe depression and temptations. Elder Koenig and I went to visit him on Friday, and he broke down crying, because he's realized his family will never be reunited on this earth. We gave him a blessing of comfort, and the spirit of The Lord washed over the porch we were meeting on. When we are at our lowest point, in the darkest of times, and when we are deeply humbled by our trials The Lord will not hesitate even a moment to lift us out of whatever hole we have fell into. His only request? That we turn to him.

That is my message this week, to turn to Him who is mighty and willing to save us from the depths and pains of sin and sorrow. In a missionary fireside I attended yesterday, a brother read this from his fortune cookie, "All the darkness in the world cannot put out one candle"; President Brough then said in his testimony, "But isn't it amazing how one candle can chase away every bit of darkness?"

I love you all and live your lives this week like you are setting your candle on the hill that cannot be hid,

Elder Crow

Elder Norris ( the younger brother of one of Zach's MTC teachers) and Elder Crow 

Pictures from sister Brough 8/19/15

Elder Crow arrives at mission home 

 President  Brough and his wife 

President Brough, his wife, Elder Koenig (first trainer), and Zachary in front of the Mission office