My Nametag: A Representative of Jesus Christ: Catching a sneeze is hard!

I tried to take a picture of me sneezing...it didn't work!

I have missed everyone at home a ton recently. Homesickness hit so hard yesterday whilst we were out with 3 hours till we had to be home and all our plans had fallen through. I thought how long my mission was going to be. It was a hard thing to realize. It was a little overwhelming, but Heavenly Father quickly reassured me of my purpose here. It was amazing to feel His love telling me that He knows how I feel and is always helping me through it.

This week was AWESOME! We almost have 2 investigators with a baptism date! James is getting baptized on the 4th of July, and Lisa is so close to picking a date. It has been such a cool week. I had an experience while we were teaching James this week that strengthened my testimony so much. I had been praying to be more sensitive to the promptings of the spirit because my Patriarchal Blessing says I will be very sensitive to the promptings that come my way. I have been feeling like a blind man. I find it hard to tell what the promptings mean or what I should do, and I was so frustrated because I have been told/blessed that I will be good at it! So, we were teaching James and as we were wrapping up I had a distinct impression. "You have to say something." I just sat there like "...what on earth can I say?". Again "You NEED to say something". So I opened my mouth. For the first 10 seconds all that came from my mouth was senseless babble. "Uh... so we’d like to ask... you know how we talked... about baptism.. well..." In my head I was dying. I was just praying: "Heavenly Father, you promised that if I opened my mouth it would be filled. I opened my mouth, and now I am about to look like the biggest idiot on planet earth. I NEED HELP" Then all of a sudden these words came out of my mouth: "What do you think would be holding you back?" It wasn't an insanely deep or crazy question, but he just looked at us and said that he knew he needed to stop smoking and that he had already made a plan to stop. We hadn't even discussed the Word of Wisdom yet. It was unbelievable! It may not seem like a huge experience, but I couldn't get off cloud 9 that day. It helped me to know that the Lord knows what these people need. I don't know what questions James needs to be asked, but God does. It was incredible for me. We were able to bear testimony about how much Heavenly Father loves James. He teared up a little, and it was one of the most powerful moments I have had on my mission so far. I was so blessed to be able to be a part of that moment.

Just so you know, we actually didn't get to see Elder Holland... All the missionaries in Scotland did. They were going to broadcast it to us, but then they shut it down. That was a crushing blow, but we will be fine.

It was Lisa's birthday on Sunday and we said we'd make her a cake... We didn't have sugar or baking soda or baking powder or eggs... So we made something. It was definitely not edible. Hahaha. But she tried it! She actually texted us after and said she ate it all! I feel so bad for her.

I LOVE YOU!! Be good. Be not afraid, only believe.

Elder Crowe