Allergies.......What!

I am so sorry! I got distracted me with some funny mission videos today, and our time is almost up, so it's a short message today.

It's been kind of a stressful week. James has been struggling with quitting smoking, so unfortunately we cannot baptize him this week, but he is so determined to quit and get baptized. Some of his family is supportive, but some of his friends have given him a really hard time. He is amazing, and I honestly love him so much. His baptism is set for 3 weeks now, but that means either Elder Hatch or I will not be here. That is ripping me apart. I want to be selfish and stay, but I also want Elder Hatch to be able to finish his mission with a great baptism. And staying together is probably not an option.

Also, I have never had allergies before in my life, but apparently pollen is different in different parts of the world. I have hay fever. It feels like Satan is inside me! My eyes are itchy all the time; my nose is either runny or it's blocked all the time; I sneeze 4000 times a day; and I still love being here! Thank goodness it hasn't really made a difference in our work or effectiveness.

We found a couple cool investigators this week! We met this lady named Rosaleen during the week and told her about church, and she said she might come (people say that all the time, and they never come J). So when we walked into the chapel after ward council and there she was talking with a bunch of the relief society sisters, we were shocked! The great kind of shocked! It was amazing to see her, and she said she will keep coming back every week! The Lord blesses us tremendously.

Next week we will have had our moves call. We will see where the Lord needs us.

Hugs and kisses to you all! I Love you

Elder Crowe

Elder Stanley's birthday.

I thought I'd try custard in my Weetabix instead of milk... It was like trying to eat plaster!

I'm a professional chef. Or we have amazing members that know how to cook. Which do you think it is?

Scotch Eggs - So Good. :)

Skittles milk...NOT amazing! :(

The sounds of Belfast

Ok - So I (Patch's mother) managed to figure out how to post an audio file to the blog. Yay me!! It is on the sidebar for you all to listen to. :) Patch is talking about the things he hears people say in Ireland - a lot!!  He sure loves it there!

Here's the latest:

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!! It totally slipped my mind that it was Father's Day till someone couldn't come to teach with us. It is funny how being in two different worlds messes with my head.

There isn't a whole ton to report on this week. Lisa is going on holiday with Jade on Tuesday for 3 weeks. Either Elder Hatch or myself will never see her again! It's so crazy to think about leaving an area. I have only ever been in Holywood so I don't know the difference.

James is coming along so well. He is a champion. He is a non-smoker!! He has quit smoking for about a week now! Seeing the change in him has brought so much joy into my life. I love James so much and I am so blessed to be able to know him. He has so much faith. His mum and brother have been worried telling him that all the church wants is his money, but he just explains that they are wrong and that he knows the spirit that he feels is real and that the church is true. He loves the people and has so many friends at church. We got to take him to a baptism in Bangor on Saturday. It was a really beautiful service. He was a little nervous for his baptism, but after he saw what it was going to be like he said he was just excited for the day to come. It is in less than 2 weeks. I am so giddy! I cannot wait. We are seeing him almost everyday for these next 2 weeks to make sure he is ready and prepared. We know he will be.

 We met some amazing people and also met some... other people. We had about 2 houses to go chapping, and we went to this neighborhood. The second door we knocked on, we got let in, but the man wasn’t really interested. We tried to explain about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and the Restoration, and he kept talking about the Bible. It was all the usual things that preachers tell their congregation about Mormons, so it was easy enough to answer all of them. But then when all his "concerns" were answered, he still wouldn't read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We ended the conversation since it wasn't going to go anywhere and left.

Missionary work sure can be frustrating! People don't trust God! They think they know everything. They will say He is the source of all truth, but they won't ask Him if the book is true. I get so saddened and mad! It's dumb! But I know the Lord is helping me grow. I need to be humbled and learn patience and all those great Christ like attributes. It just is not fun having to learn them ;)

I hope your days will be glorious in the coming week. Trust in the Lord. He is mighty to save. 

Elder Crowe

The funny things we see sometimes! haha

Lots of fun in too much sun!!

My sweet sweet Mummy,

Too much sun! lol

What a week--so much has happened. We had Zone Development yesterday and it was amazing. It is a day of pain and sports, and I am so sunburned!! Hahaha. I even had a little voice in my head saying "Mum would be telling me to put on sunscreen now". I didn't listen to that! It was really fun though.

This is the last time I will see President and sister Brown

I might have cried--just a little! Sister Brown is so cute!

We had a lot of great miracles this week. James told us that the next time he comes to church that he will have given up the smokes—which is a miracle. That man is such a testimony builder to me. I have seen his life change so much. It is so amazing to see. The Lord is so good to us. We are taking James to see a baptism in Bangor this Saturday, he is reading every day, and is coming to church and cottage evenings. He really is allowing the Lord to change his life.

Some MTC chums

We also were stopping by a former investigator this week and had an address that was the wrong house. We were about to leave and go elsewhere when we felt impressed to see if there was a Lomond Street (we were on Lomond Avenue). We checked the map and there was. So we got to meet the former investigator, Frank, and he invited us to teach him, and he said he'd see us at church. It has been amazing to see the hand of the Lord in all things.

James gets baptized in two weeks and 4 days. I am freaking out with how amazing that is!! I love this work so much. 

I love you, Thank you so much for all you do for me. 

Elder Crowe

Holy Pizza!!!

Two feet wide!

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

Our missionary crew - and Dermott Shiels

Toilet paper art!

I love flowers! lol