You are more February 8 2016

Hello everyone,
First off, shoutout to Sister Lougee who is now in the MTC lpreparing to serve in the North Adriatic mission!I am writing all y'all from the teeny town of London Kentucky! An area inhabited by Appalachian Americans( hillbillies isn't too nice of a word haha) and good ol southern folk alike. The people here are SO nice(except for the sour pickle in the cucumber bunch), it blows my mind! I feel like this is the hardest part of a Bible Belt mission, the people couldn't be nicer but they feel like they already have everything they need to know about Jesus Christ. But I promise you that no one will ever know enough about our savior, we should be learning and growing every single day. Far too often we think we've grown s much as we can, but we are like the current bush that grows to be what it wants to be but not what the great gardener wants (The Will of God-D. Todd Christofferson). Heavenly Father knows exactly what He wants us to be, but less you feel like you are only here to be a puppet, let us all remember something. Heavenly Father knows exactly WHAT we can be, and in becoming what He knows we can be, we become what we desired to be all along. Put your trust in God and He will lead you down the straight and narrow path and guide you through every storm throughout this seemingly endless sea we call life. He knows the way home and He has given us the map to return to Him someday. Don't we all want to hear those words, "Well done thou good and faithful servant", we all want to go back home and feel His loving embrace. 

Each and every one of us has the divine potential to do so, to someday look up and see His smiling face beaming down at us. No matter what you may think, our Father in Heaven will ALWAYS want us back home despite our shortcomings. There isn't a mistake in the world that our Savior doesn't want to forgive. His love is everlasting, His mercy eternal. His atoning blood can always wash over us and make us clean again, for "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows" and "he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (That's in Isaiah 53 for you seminary kids) Jesus Christ suffered the greatest agony possible so that He could know perfectly how to strengthen us and build us up.

We strive every week to talk to talk to everyone we see, so I've met so many people who feel like they aren't worthy of the sacrifice Jesus Christ made, but that couldn't be more wrong. The atonement will always be available to sum we just have to live worthy of it and sincerely seek it. No matter what you have done, You. Are. Loved. A song came to mind, which is what inspired this title. "You are more than the choices that you've made, you are more than the summer of past mistakes, you are more than the problems you've crated, you've been remade." I testify that H love each one of us and there isn't anything He doesn't want to help us with, just ask him for it in prayer and then go out and show your faith! I love you all so much, I will tell you more about London net week I'm still getting used to it haha. Especially being in a car, it's very different! God bless and take some time for your family's is week!!

Much love from a soldier in God's army,

Elder Crow

Saw Elder Caskey, an old missionary pal going home

The Byrnes family

The crazy Harper family

The Carters

Saw Elder Koenig one last time, love that guy

Me and elder parks before we went out to work, on our bikes!!!

The only Elder named Crow you know 11/2/15

Hello you goonies,
First off, shout out to my bro Matt Vogel for going to the MTC today!
He will be serving his mission in Connecticut and he is going to be a
boss missionary! You're gonna kill it Matt! I mean Elder! Dang it...

Anyways this week has been a free fall of emotions, lots of trials
thrown my way. The weather has been absolutely ridiculously crazy! It
is either cold with a ton of wind and rain, or its a bit hot (it gets
hotter when you're on a bike). It's getting colder and colder, they're
saying this winter is going to be brutal! But I'm usually too busy
focusing on my burnin gluteus and thighs. I have a deep hatred for
hills at this point in my life.

On Tuesday, I thought I'd moved back to Washington because it was like
60 degrees with a headwind every way we biked, and it RAINED! It
literally rained for a full 24 hours, no joke home skillets. I went on
an exchange with Elder Caskey, one of our zone leaders. He is an
amazing missionary! We contacted 15-20 people in the rain and they all
thought we were crazy. Every one of them told us to stay dry...even
though we were drenched already. We tried a less active member, but
they weren't home. We got back on our bikes, but when I swung my leg
over my bike, I heard this long rip. I had a HUGE hole in the bottom
of my pants, the same pair I ripped my second day of my mission! We
had a hot chocolate break, then we went to our ward mission leader's
house for TSCO TUESDAY. That's right ladies and gents, we have
freaking Taco Tuesday in the GKLM...stick that in your juice box and
suck it!

Here's an awesome experience we had on Wednesday. We were at the ward
Halloween party and 2 young men walked in and introduced themselves as
being from Springfield, Missouri here for an FFA convention. One of
them was a member and his best friend has been investigating the
church lately. We got to know them quite well over the course of the
night and when it was time for them to leave, their ride hadn't showed
up. So Ryan (the member) turned to his friend and asked him if he
wanted to take the first discussion. He said yes! So we went into one
of the primary rooms and taught him the restoration. The spirit was
undoubtably there and I know that Ryan's friend felt it! At the end of
the discussion, we had Ryan bear his testimony and it was so powerful!
Then, Elder Koenig asked him if he would accept the invitation to be
baptized (in Missouri), he got real quiet and everything was really
peaceful, then he said that he would!

The grace of God can work in the life of every man and woman on this
earth, we just have to let him in! There is not a moment when Heavenly
Father isn't reaching His hand out, just waiting for us to take it and
be lifted out of the hole we've dug ourselves into. I have seen the
light of Christ brighten in the people we have taught. We've had a lot
of people drop us this past week, but I know that I did everything I
could to offer them access to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And you
don't have to wear a tag and ride on a bike to give people that
opportunity. Member missionary work is the most effective conversion
tool on the face of the planet. All of you can feel the influence of
the Holy Spirit and our savior whenever you choose to, take His hand.
What are you waiting for, He's right there! He atoning sacrifice of
Christ applies to all of us, we just have to desire that change within
ourselves and seek every opportunity to strengthen our foundation in
Jesus Christ. Here are 3 of many simple ways to invite Him into our
lives: 1) Have the missionaries in your home for a meal, a lesson, or
both. You can have servants of the LORD in your home, don't miss that
opportunity, let them teach you plain and simple doctrines because
that is one of the easiest ways to increase our desire and ability to
find missionary opportunities. 2) Read your scriptures. This is so
freaking simple. You have the word of God. So freaking read it, it's
there for a reason. 3) Pray for opportunities to uplift and cheer up
someone close to you. Despite what people may look like, everyone has
something they are struggling with. DO NOT pass up an opportunity to
share a smile, talk with someone, invite them to an activity or
something, or anything you can think of that would have a positive
impact on them. I can promise you that as you pray and seek for the
chance to be a light in the darkest of days, Heavenly Father will lift
you up and help you to do so.

I love you all, look for the light in others and be that light in the dark,
Much love,
Elder Crow