July 25, 2016 Baptisms and Blessings

Howdy everyone,

I can't believe it's already been another week, so much has happened and for some reason I'm gonna tell you! So this transfer(6-week time period) just ended and Elder Bragg and I will be together for 1 more transfer until I leave London! I can't believe I only have a month and a half left here, this town has gained a special place in my heart over the last several months I've been here! In the way of other announcements, I can't remember if I already told y'all, my mission will be getting Facebook in August, I don't know why but I'm sure Heavenly Father has miracles awaiting us; I don't know all the details but you'll know 'em when I get 'em. And, most importantly, Gabby was baptized this last week!!! Oh I can't describe the joy a missionary feels when he/she sees their efforts to bring someone closer to the Savior accepted! She had a huge grin on her face the whole time and we filled our teeny relief society room with 30-some odd people, it was awesome! Then, yesterday, we confirmed Gabby a member of the church and gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 8 or 19) and she asked me to do it. It was such an honor and it felt so wonderful sharing something so special with her; as I've reflected on my time in London it occurred to me how much good we've done. The world and the devil would have you first remember your weaknesses and your failures before anything else, but Heavenly Father would have you look at the good you've done for others and the successes and strengths you have (no matter how many or how few that may be)! It's especially easy as a missionary, for every good thing we do or success we have there is 10 times the failures and trials to pop up and say, "Hey remember me?!" But when that happens you punch Satan in the face by putting on a smile and remembering you are a beloved son or daughter of God!

Heavenly Father made such a beautiful plan for us all to come to this earth and the Savior of us all did what no one else could do so that we don't have to remember our trials, our mistakes, our pains, or any of it! He suffered for each of us personally so all we have in front of us is happy times and smiles; that doesn't mean trials won't come but it means He's already gone through it so you have someone to be with when you have to go through it. I have personally felt the Atonement of Jesus Christ change me and help me to become clean, to become someone I never would have expected I could be. And it is still changing me. That's the beautiful part of the Atonement, it never ends, it is an "infinite atonement" as a Book of Mormon prophet puts it. As the final triumphant piece of the Atonement, the Son of God was resurrected. I was reading about it in Luke this week and came across my favorite scripture about this event; Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb and finds it empty then turn to find 2 angels standing next to her. They say to her in verses 5 and 6 in chapter 24: "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen...". How wonderful are these words!! Can you imagine what it must have been like for all of us looking down from our Heavenly home and shouting for joy upon seeing Jesus' triumph over death! This is the day every man, woman, and child received the hope and possibility of coming back home to our Heavenly Father again someday! Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Redeemer of our souls! He is my Savior, my best friend, and the best big brother there is. He loves you, every single on of you! It doesn't matter who you are or what you've done, He only cares about who you can become and what you can do.

Much love from the east side of the Mississippi,

Elder Crow

July 18, 2016 Nerf Shenanigans and Chick-Fil-A

Hello everyone,

Or sayonara as they say in Canada. Haha man I have so much to talk about it's been a crazy week! We had to go to Lexington twice this week for meetings and we had planning sessions/meetings every other morning! The Lord has been blessing us as long as we've been obedient to Him and to the mission rules, He can't bless us if we don't do anything! On Wednesday we went to Lexington fro a new missionary training, but I think it was really an Elder Crow training haha I learned so much! A sister from our ward, Sister Harper, she's a sweet 'ol Southern lady and she told us to call her Mama Harper, I love the South! Then we went to Lexington for another meeting on Friday, and afterwards we went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch; it was the first time in 6 months I'd had some Chick-Fil-A and I was so happy! Haha and as for the "Nerf Shenanigans" you see in the title: we had some elders stay at our apartment before we went to Lexington on Friday because it's a really long drive for them. One of them brought a couple Nerf guns and he had modified some darts to put thumb tacks in them! And all night long he would randomly shoot us and it didn't feel too good! So we quickly put a stop to that!

Anyways, I was reading a talk this week by Dieter F. Uchtdorf called "Forget Me Not"; now he addresses the women of the church in this talk but forget that detail because it was a good talk ok! This week was kinda tough and I was trying to find how to better be patient with myself and my personal growth as a missionary; because missionary work isn't all rainbows and baptisms. I would highly encourage any ladies who are too hard on themselves (and you insecure men as well) to look through this talk. The first point I noticed was this: "God is fully aware that you and I are not perfect...God is also fully aware that the people you think are perfect are not." I have a terrible habit of comparing myself to other missionaries, and often times many of us will compare our strengths and weaknesses to the strengths and weaknesses of others. This needs to stop. Now. Heavenly Father does not want you to be your own critic, leave that to Satan. When we focus on our weaknesses and our mistakes we often quickly forget our strengths and our successes; more importantly, we often remember our trials before we remember our blessings.

Many of us are "endlessly compassionate and patient with the weaknesses of others. Please remember also to be compassionate and patient with yourself." Don't set your standards to reach the world's 1st place podium, reach for the love and support of a loving Heavenly Father, who is always beyond happy and proud when He sees us try. Would you rather find 100 compliments and successes in today's world or would you rather have 1 prayer answered and know that you are loved? Heavenly Father doesn't become our eternal judge until judgment day, right now He is our #1 supporter and He loves us so much. Don't ever forget it. You'll always be special in someone's eyes. Because you're unique, no 2 of you have the same eyelids as the other (terrible example but go with it).

I love all y'all so much,

Elder Crow

Bamboo June 27

Hello, hola, konicaiwh(I think that's how Japan spells it), wie gehts,
I have been practicing my gift of tongues for when I meet the true
Apalacia people out here! Met a few this past week with Elder Bragg
and they had some of the thickest accents if ever heard! He asked me
what they said afterwards and I guess my gift of tongues has been
kicking in because I understood every word haha, I've been in eastern
Kentucky too long! But I've loved working with Elder Bragg  this week,
it is so awesome to give a new missionary the experience of a
lifetime, although I'm not sure how appreciative he is of my not using
the car too often haha. We finished our day out on Wednesday and we
came in for the day; after planning he asked me to count up how far we
had gone that day and I figured we biked about 26 miles that day! I'm
the worst car missionary ever haha! President Brough came to church
yesterday and the member teaching the class we were in mentioned how
much we bike and I'm not sure if I'll be in a car area much longer
after I leave London haha!

So onto the title of my email, bamboo. I was preparing a mini-training
I was asked to give at district meeting and my ward mission leader,
Brother Harms, gave me an AWESOME analogy on faith, you are allowed to
quote this whenever you want because it's that good. So when you plant
a bamboo seed, it takes A LOT of work. Try guessing how long it takes
for a bamboo seed, to sprout, or even grow. How long would you guess?
Well you're probably wrong, whatever you guessed. You have to
faithfully tend to and water this seed for....5 years. 5 whole years!
And after 5 years of watering (you can't stop or it shrivels up and
dies) you get a small shoot 3 inches tall. But! But, for the next 80
days after the seed sprouts, you would have a 90 foot bamboo tree!!

Well I think that takes some dedication! But how great of a blessing
it must be to have such a lovely tree after so many years of arduous
watering and weeding. I don't think it's much different from our
faith. Sometimes it takes years to nurture and care for a slowly
sprouting seed of faith and hope, but the outcome it ALWAYS worth it!
So for those of you who don't feel like your faith is where it should
be, keep trying and don't you dare give up! To quote an apostle of the
Lord, "So keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing.
Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever."
There will always be room to grow and learn, but if you feel like your
faith isn't as firm and strong as you would like, your only critic is
yourself. Do your best and trust that God will help you to complete
the rest of this long journey we call life. "You may not know
everything, but you know enough."

God Bless all y'all and Happy Independence Day (p-day is next Tuesday
so don't be surprised when I don't email on Mondays),

Elder Crow

And So The Training Begins June 20

Hello everyone,
This week has been amazing!! I got Elder Bragg from Louisville on
Tuesday and we've been workin our tails off since, and I think I'm
killin him with this humidity haha! We haven't found a lot of new
people this week, but we've been working really hard with Gabby. She
came to church yesterday and she loved its, then later that night we
went to Lexington for a fireside and she got up and bore her testimony
about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and said how
happy she's been since she's been learning about the church and I was
so happy to see someone recognize and act on the good that this gospel
brings! She and I talked after the fireside and she told me she wants
to be baptized a week earlier on July 22nd, her birthday! So very soon
we'll be havin a baptism.

Yesterday was an awesome Father's Day at church, it made me feel
somewhat older than a child when I got a Hershey's bar, yes!! But more
important than that was the spirit I felt there. We talked about
sacrifice in gospel principles (a class for people looking into the
church), not the lamb kind of sacrifice, but more like personal
sacrifice. I read a talk by President Monson this week. In it he
shares a story about a man named Benjamin, I'll share it with you!
"A story written by Karen Nolen, which appeared in the New Era in
1974, tells of a Benjamin Landart who, in 1888, was 15 years old and
an accomplished violinist. Living on a farm in northern Utah with his
mother and seven brothers and sisters was sometimes a challenge to
Benjamin, as he had less time than he would have liked to play his
violin. Occasionally his mother would lock up the violin until he had
his farm chores done, so great was the temptation for Benjamin to play
it.
In late 1892 Benjamin was asked to travel to Salt Lake to audition
for a place with the territorial orchestra. For him, this was a dream
come true. After several weeks of practicing and prayers, he went to
Salt Lake in March of 1893 for the much anticipated audition. When he
heard Benjamin play, the conductor, a Mr. Dean, told Benjamin he was
the most accomplished violinist he had heard west of Denver. He was
told to report to Denver for rehearsals in the fall and learned that
he would be earning enough to keep himself, with some left over to
send home.
A week after Benjamin received the good news, however, his bishop
called him into his office and asked if he couldn’t put off playing
with the orchestra for a couple of years. He told Benjamin that before
he started earning money there was something he owed the Lord. He then
asked Benjamin to accept a mission call.
Benjamin felt that giving up his chance to play in the territorial
orchestra would be almost more than he could bear, but he also knew
what his decision should be. He promised the bishop that if there were
any way to raise the money for him to serve, he would accept the call.
When Benjamin told his mother about the call, she was overjoyed. She
told him that his father had always wanted to serve a mission but had
been killed before that opportunity had come to him. However, when
they discussed the financing of the mission, her face clouded over.
Benjamin told her he would not allow her to sell any more of their
land. She studied his face for a moment and then said, “Ben, there is
a way we can raise the money. This family [has] one thing that is of
great enough value to send you on your mission. You will have to sell
your violin.”
Ten days later, on March 23, 1893, Benjamin wrote in his journal: “I
awoke this morning and took my violin from its case. All day long I
played the music I love. In the evening when the light grew dim and I
could see to play no longer, I placed the instrument in its case. It
will be enough. Tomorrow I leave [for my mission].”
Forty-five years later, on June 23, 1938, Benjamin wrote in his
journal: “The greatest decision I ever made in my life was to give up
something I dearly loved to the God I loved even more. He has never
forgotten me for it.”

As I read this I couldn't help but think of my amazing parents who
have always sacrificed so much for me and my sisters and everyone
around them. I count one of their greatest sacrifices as sending me on
my mission (especially dad, he's surrounded by estrogen so if you have
some spare man time invite Jase Crow haha) but I think when the right
kind of sacrifice is made, blessings are brought about rather than
sadness and hardship. I would also add that sacrifice doesn't feel
like sacrifice when we do it for the right reason and the right
purpose. So many people we talk to look at us like we are giving away
2 years of our lives and losing time we should be having fun with. But
serving a mission to me does not feel one bit like a sacrifice. I add
my testimony to that of Benjamin Landart, "The greatest decision I
ever made in my life was to give up something I dearly loved to the
Hod I loved even more." I know this decisions I'll shape and affect
every moment of my life to come. I love serving my Savior and my
Heavenly Father, I know the gospel I share every day is pure and true,
and nothing would make me question my decision to serve a mission.

I love all y'all so much,
Elder Crow