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 March 14, The Best 7 months of my life

Howdy you'ns!!

Just thought I'd send some pictures off before my group email, enjoy!

Elder Crow inside a tree! 2016 March

Elder Crow 3rd from left 2016 March with The Carnes children, "love these guys"

2016 March 14 went geocaching with a member, had to climb a small cliff, elder Crow being held up by 2 other Elders

Hello everyone,

First off, shout out to my buddy Jameson Pasko from Camp Helaman who just got called to serve in the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission!!! Anyways haha not sure what the weather is like for all of you around the globe but it is officially short-sleeve shirt weather!!!!! Until October that is haha. As you can tell from the title of my email, I have been serving the Lord full-time now for 7 months! I'm not counting down the days, but my companion recently reminded me of it. I honestly have no idea where the time is going, it is seriously flying by...like a crow (Crow puns!! gosh I need more friends)! But as I've thought back to the short time I've been out here in Kentucky, I can honestly say that I couldn't have made a better decision than to be serving the Lord right here, right now! 

When I came out on my mission, I honestly expected to learn a ton about the gospel but I really did not think I was going to change much. Boy was I wrong!! In my case, being on a mission has turned my heart closer to God and has helped me to know my savior better than ever before. I cannot begin to say even a little of how I feel about my Savior. I love Him more than words can describe and I know He loves each one of you more than you even know. It doesn't matter what you have done or who you are, you hold a special place in the heart of the very Creator of the world!!! If you don't feel His love in your life, it is only because you have not sought it out. We can come to love our Savior and come to feel cared for and beloved as we pray for the comfort we need in a world that offers very little. Even being out here serving my Father in Heaven, I have felt at times like no one cared about me or loved me. But there is nothing He would not do to help you understand how much He loves you! But through the power of prayer and humbling myself to notice the blessings He's put in my life, I have come to realize how much God really loves His children.

This week we really focused on talking to everyone we see, and it's not as easy as it sounds! Sometimes I see a small group of people and all I can think about is how scared I am haha. But Heavenly Father answers the smallest of prayers and He can "make weak things become strong" (Ether 12:27). Every talent or ability we have received, or will receive, is only possible through our Heavenly Father in His infinite care for us. We must find the humility to remember Him in all things, if we forget who has blessed us in the first place, we won't be too blessed for much longer. The most solid people we are teaching right now are because we were willing to swallow our fear and talk to some stranger on the street. And our amazing God will bless us for the smallest act of obedience we make. I promise that He love you! He has given us His son to follow and we can be made clean through His sacrifice. We can know his will for us by praying and reading the scriptures every day! I know that God has again called a prophet to the earth, Thomas S. Monson! I know that every day is a battle against the temptations and wiles of the devil, but there is NOTHING we cannot overcome through Jesus Christ.

Much love,

Elder Crow

Dear Mom,

I cannot describe the love and joy I feel as I read your letters. I have to thank you for your dedication to taking notes, I love hearing about the church addresses given by my dear church leaders. I too have seen the epidemic of conversion to the church meeting and not conversion to the gospel. There is a family in our ward who moved here from Utah. The father is a returned full-time missionary and has served in many leadership positions, and his wife has as well. He is a helicopter pilot and was stationed here in Kentucky. They have not been to church in YEARS because they cannot stand how the ward in Corbin is run, because it is not prim and proper like a Utah ward. They justify watching BYU-TV on Sundays and spending time together as a family. It hurts my heart to see such faithful saints drawn away from the restored gospel through personal preferences and opinions. But we are warned in the bible that even the "very elect" will be drawn away and deceived in the last days. I cannot imagine having been raised in a better family than the one I am a part of. I prayed fervently for comfort as I read my patriarchal blessing yesterday and boy did I get it!! I was reminded that I 'am a choice man of God" and I have to believe that because it told me that I "chose my parents". I must've been one smart spirit to have chosen the best earthly father and mother on the earth; thank heaven that I received 2 parents converted to Christ and determined to remain so.

In my personal studies today, I focused on humility (I'll talk more about it in my group email). What stuck out to me was remembering who our true strength comes from: Heavenly Father! He is the one to praise and glorify for every blessing we experience here in this life, not a single bit of this life would be possible nor meaningful unless we had such a loving Father in Heaven willing to sacrifice the most beloved of all His creations. If we but remember that all things are done "in the wisdom of in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things" (2 Nephi 2:24) then we can know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us. I remember being asked in E-Town, "If God is omnipotent then do we really have free will, He already knows what is going to happen." This is my feeling. If Heavenly Father already has mapped out a plan for me, then it means I am a part of the greatest plan known to mankind and I can know He has planned for me to be happier than anything on earth can make me!

This week got me down for a little bit, I've been working my butt off but elder parks and I have a lot of differences in our missionary work and it's getting pretty rough, but I was NOT going to let it keep me down! I realized that there are far too many blessings in my every-day life not to recognize and be thankful for. Heavenly Father is constantly blessings us in little ways. Just like how we receive knowledge and gifts from God "here a little and there a little", Heavenly Father doesn't always bless us right away or as grandly as we would like. But He blesses us with exactly what we need and exactly how much of it we need. I have found an enormous amount of comfort and peace as I have voiced my gratitude for the little things He gives me: a chance to serve a mission, my name tag, my breakfast, the sunshine, the rooster across the street, etc. It is so much better to be happy, so why not choose to be? Last night my district leader could tell I was a bit upset, so he shared 2 Nephi 10:23 with me: "Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember thatye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternallife." It is up to us to choose to be happy or angry, so why choose the latter? Yesterday was one of the best Sundays I've had in a while (Sundays are my favorite days as a missionary)! We had one of our investigators come to church, she's set to be baptized on March 26th :) And a member came up to me and gave me the 2nd best comfort of my day (the best came from heavenly father while I read my patriarchal blessing). Last week I gave him a blessing of healing, and the Spirit spoke to him of where he would find his comfort. He came up to me and said, "Elder, thank you for the blessing. You are a man of God!" I could hardly fight back tears as I shook his hand and thanked him. Heavenly Father knows me so well, we have such an amazing God! I am honestly doing the best thing I could have ever chosen to do right now! Is it hard, yes. Is it challenging, yes. It is picture perfect how I imagined, no. But is it worth it? Oh mom every second of the past 7 months of my life have meant more to me than I can even begin to say. I will be forever in debt to loving earthly and heavenly parents for molding me into what I am now. I can echo Elder Holland's words sounded just days after the beginning of your call as a mother," may I say to mothers collectively, in the name of the Lord, you are magnificent. You are doing terrifically well. The very fact that you have been given such a responsibility is everlasting evidence of the trust your Father in Heaven has in you."

You are magnificent mom, don't ever believe otherwise,

Elder Crow