November 28, 2016 🎄Christmas Season is upon us🎄

Hey Everbody,
So Thanksgiving is over and that means...Christmas is again upon us
with all its glorious lights and trees and food and family time! If
you haven't already, go check out the new Christmas initiative the LDS
church put out on Mormon.org its awesome! The theme to it is pretty
great, it's all about serving others around you and that's something I
love doing! Why think about yourself and eat potato chips when you
could go see someone, make their day, and maybe even give THEM your
potato chips?! Haha Christlike, sincere service is, in my opinion, one
of the few ways we can allow the love Christ has for others to enter
our hearts and help us love them even more than we do! Another opinion
I have is that the Bible doesn't capture all of Christ's love and
service, I think the disciples still experienced it all but they just
couldn't remember it all; I imagine Jesus as the kind of man who took
every opportunity to serve a fellow brother or sister, no matter how
small the service. It's not the size of the service that matters, but
the love that goes into it. The smallest opportunity to do something
for another should not be taken lightly, we never know how much it
will mean to them!

So we got transfer calls on Saturday and I'm staying in Lexington for
another transfer with Elder Conlin! We're pumped to see what's in
store for us in the next 6 weeks, time will only tell the many
adventures of Conlin&Crow! We had an awesome Thanksgiving, and for the
first time I can remember, I didn't have turkey! Instead, we had steak
and Alaskan crab! I let everyone else go to the crab and I pounded the
steak haha it was awesome! We also tried some cabbage rolls since a
lot of the people in the family we are with were Korean, all in all it
was a good time!

Go find someone to help out, no matter how small and insignificant it
seems, I promise it'll make a difference,
Elder Crow

October 17, 2016 Apostles and Transfers

Hey everybody,

This week wasn't very eventful until the weekend, then things got poppin' lockin' and polka dottin'! On Saturday we had Elder Stevenson, one of the 12 Apostles, and Elder Uceda, a member of the quorum of the 70, come speak to the whole mission. I had an awesome time seeing past companions and mission friends, so many of those guys have changed my life! But it was even cooler to hear from a modern-day Apostle. Elder Stevenson is a funny guy and a powerful speaker, the Spirit was in the room the whole meeting and it was very peaceful; not overpowering, no one was passing out or getting put into spiritual comas, but it was awesome.

Something that Elder Stevenson spoke about that I really liked was when he brought up a section from Preach My Gospel called "A Successful Missionary". In it, and this is the part he talked about, he said that we don't have to measure our success based on numbers or because of how great other missionaries are doing, you can know you are doing good if you feel the Spirit. It's that simple. We, not just missionaries, make these huge expectations for ourselves that we feel we have to accomplish in order to be someone. But the Lord's expectations are much simpler than ours. In the words of Elder Bednar, "If today you are a little better than you were yesterday, than that's enough."

Oh and we got transfer news! Elder Clark is heading out to Western Kentucky and I will be staying in Beaumont. My new companion is Elder Conlin, I don't know him too well but I'm excited to meet him!

God Bless,

Elder Crow

September 12, 2016 First week in Beaumont!!!

Dear everyone reading this email,
A big 'ol hello to y'all, I hope everything has been well for each one
of you, things have been great in Beaumont! There is actually no city
called Beaumont, we bike around Lexington every day. It's been pretty
toasty out, but we got cooled down on Saturday when we got caught in a
nasty rain storm. Livin the bike missionary dream boys and girls,
ain't nobody got it as good as the Beaumont boys! It's really
different serving in a big city, I miss the country already haha!
People here are very different and it's taking some getting used to on
my part, but it'll all work out in the end! We stopped to talk to a
couple this last week and we couldn't understand them because they
only speak whatever language they speak, they're from Africa (Elder
Haws I needed you man)! So yeah, Lexington is pretty diverse. It's
awesome being a bike missionary again, not worrying about miles or a
clean car, I just have to worry about getting hit by one! The drivers
here are terrible! There is also a very sweet old lady named
Pocahontas in the ward, we visit her in her nursing home and she calls
us "her boys" and we call her "mama" and that's how everyone knows us,
so it's pretty awesome!

So yesterday in church I heard something said that I had never thought
of before and I want to share it with y'all. So most everyone knows
this scripture, if you don't here it is, in Matthew 17:20 it says: "20
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say
unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say
unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove;
and nothing shall be impossible unto you." Now I always thought that
meant to literally remove mountains, and it can apply to that if you
have that kind of faith, but in Sunday school someone said, "if we
have faith, we can remove the mountains in our own lives." And that
blew my little mind!

So yes, you can move mountains! Heavenly Father doesn't give us trials
for no reason, He doesn't do ANYTHING without a reason behind it. If
we humble ourselves and look for God's reasoning in our hard times, we
won't question what He does and we will find peace and happiness in
our lives. I remembers as a Senior in high reflecting back on the
years my dad was deployed and wondering why Heavenly Father had taken
me away from my dad for those precious years. I somewhat understood it
in my first few weeks as a missionary. The Lord knew I needed to grow
on my own while my dad was gone, He knew I couldn't have anyone to
rely on but Him if I was gonna make it through those difficult times
and in future times of trial. God needed me to be alone so I could
realize I am never alone. Just a simple example. Try reflecting on
some past trials and try to think of the Lord's purpose in putting you
through it, it will help open your eyes to the amazing plan He has for
you.

God bless, enjoy some sunshine and some lemonade (unless you're in
school then get to work!),

Elder Crow