Two for one!

Hello all - this is Elder Crowe's mother again. I'm sorry that I didn't post last week. I just started a new job and life gets crazy when new things come along. Anyway - this week you get a two for one experience. I'm posting both last week and this week together! Hope you enjoy.

August 24, 2015

Hiya Mum! 

Well, most important, my trainee (son) is Elder Lampropoulos. He is from Sandy, Utah. I'm excited to have a companion that doesn't have to take a plane to see me when I get home. He is a stud. He wrestled in High School and played baseball as well. I think he is secretly a closet One Direction fan ;) so we get along very well. He is pretty homesick. His father passed away, so he is the man of the house, and it is hard for him to not know how his family is doing. He is a champion though; such a strong Elder. I am so nervous that I am not good enough to train. I know that is just Satan, but I feel like I just got here. It's so scary. I am trying to keep us busy so that he doesn't have much time to stop and think. Work is the best cure for most things. He is a great worker, and I enjoy having a hard worker in this area. We are going to get stuff done. Next weeks email will be full of stories and miracles. 

We have 3 teaching appointments this week and hopefully more to come! I am excited to see the work start to move in this area. There isn't too much else to report this week. I'll try to have a voice memo next week, and more pictures. I am trying to be better at sharing my testimony to everyone I meet. That even if they don't want to listen to me they will walk away knowing and feeling that I know this church is true. I am excited. I love you and I miss you. 

Keep fighting the good fight.

Elder Crowe

August 31, 2015

My companion is amazing. I love him so much. He is a champion and is kicking Satan right in the face. He is still having a hard time, but he is determined to stay here and to do the work that he has been called to do. It is a huge testimony builder for me. He really wants to serve the Lord.

So I found out that when they choose who trains who, the President and the Assistants sit in a room, say a prayer, and then put trainers together with trainees based on the Spirit. President told me that before the Assistants even came in the room he had already paired me with Elder Lampropoulos. He said that we are meant to be together. I know we are meant to be together too. I had the humbling experience of being able to get just a peek at the man Elder Lampropoulos is going to be. It was amazing. He really is someone so special. I am very blessed to be able to be a part of his journey. 

We are teaching some really great people and have scheduled to teach 3 amazing families this week. It is amazing how much the Lord blesses us when we put in the work and show Him we are dedicated. Elder Lampropoulos is a hard worker, and I really appreciate that. 

We taught a man named Ian on Tuesday. He has had a hard life and lost loved ones and is trying to find out what truth is. He has read so much and is brilliant. He is so smart, but he has been trying to read it all and to put it all together, and he is still as stuck as when he started. So we were prompted in the lesson to ask him to submerge himself in this church. He realized that his way of finding out what was true hadn't been working, so he agreed to submerge himself. It was amazing. Such a cool experience.

We taught Faye as well. She was having a hard day, and we went to teach the Plan of Salvation. She has a hard time because she feels so alone. She has been let down by a lot of people in her life. I was on an exchange with Elder Tang at the time, and we bore testimony about how much Heavenly Father loves her. She felt the Spirit very strong and started to cry. She said she would be at church and it was amazing! When Sunday came she had tonsillitis and couldn't make it. It was heart breaking! But we will be there to love her and help her to feel God's love.

We have a lot of miracles happening and we are excited for all that is coming! The Lord is so good to us. 

Keep fighting the good fight

Elder Crowe

Reunited with the cuz!!!! (Elder Crowe and Elder Tang!)

Amazing Days!

Hey Mum,

This transfer has gone by so fast. We got moves call yesterday. Elder Zander is headed to Beith, and I am staying in Dumfries and training a new missionary. I will get a brand spanking new baby boy from the MTC on Thursday!

Also, more amazing news. Guess who my Zone Leader is: Elder Tang!! (Elder Crowe's cousin) We will get to go on exchanges, and he will be at some of my District Meetings, and I'll see him at Zone Conferences. I am so excited! I am also very nervous to train. I feel like I don't know anything! But I also know the Lord will help me as I strive to be a Christ like teacher. I will get to see some really good friends at the mission home this visit as well because they are training too.

This week has been very productive for Elder Zander and I. We got 4 lessons and 2 new investigators. One is a lady named Feya, who used to be a Jehovah's Witness. She is a gem. She is such a sweet lady. She got a kitten this week because she is so lonely. We were teaching her about how she could feel the spirit, and as I shared Joseph's first vision with her the spirit told me to ask her what she was feeling so we could teach her how the spirit speaks to her. And I completely disregarded it. We ended up not being able to fully connect with her and she wasn't able to recognize the spirit speaking to her. We got back in the car and I was distraught. I was so frustrated with myself. It was a good learning experience to DO WHAT THE SPIRIT TELLS YOU. Obviously, I wish I had learned it by doing it right. But, we are meeting with Feya again on Friday, so I'll be listening hard to that spirit. 

The work here is starting to move. We met a man named Ian who was an investigator about 20 years ago. He is very scientific, but we are working to help him to feel the spirit. We cannot do anything on our own! We are so powerless. When we don't speak the words that the Spirit would have us speak, then we are not representing Christ. The Spirit is the only thing that causes lasting conversion. 

I am not sure what else to say. A man wanted to fight us this week and pushed Elder Zander down the stairs. He wasn't even drunk, so that was crazy. The adventures of a missionary never end. J 

I love you

Elder Crowe

My district and Zone Leaders

We went on a hike with some awesome members

The view was amazing!! :) What a beautiful place.

More about Dumfries

I will start by telling you a little more about Dumfries. So, It is a little town...city? One of those. It is right on the English Border, so we are right next to England. In Belfast I could walk from one side of my area to the other in an hour. Here in Dumfries I can drive for an hour in most directions from our flat and still be in my area. It is massive, and almost all countryside and farms. The towns/cities here aren't like in Utah where one city turns into the next; they are separated by miles of country. The outlying towns are Annan and Lockerbie and Gretna, etc. I have had the new experiences of chopping wood, doing some farming, trying to catch rabbits and pheasants, and eating haggis, all in this area. It's a cool area. There are probably 7 castles in our area, but Elder Zander has already been to all of them and doesn't like castles so he doesn't want to go to them on P-days! Haha. But that's okay. J

We are just struggling to find the prepared people at the moment. But, we have 2 lessons set up for this week. It's very exciting! When talking to people all day finally pays off and you get lessons, it is a blessing from Heavenly Father.

By the way, haggis is amazing. Some people don't like it, but I think it is the bomb. It's pretty much just a bunch of ground meat and oats. The spices are really strong though. My ward is awesome. The members feed us ALL the time. Dumfries is great.

I have finished the first half of the Old Testament and it is so much info. I'm studying it with the institute manual and that helps so so so so so much. I'm reading in Job at the moment, so maybe it isn't the exact middle, but it's really good.

Next week is moves call and it seems like it has come so fast. I've been in this area for no time and it already is moves. I am excited to see the work moving in this area. We were walking on the side of the river talking to people, and we stopped this man named Ian. We found out he had investigated the church in 1997 and had a lot of questions and stopped investigating. He agreed to meet with us so that we can help him feel the spirit and know it's true! It was amazing! I am so excited to see him. It was such a testimony building experience to see that we need to talk to everyone! We had a few appointments fall through this week that looked like they were going to be really solid. It was pretty brutal, but I know the Lord is watching over us and is walking every step with us. This work is amazing even though it is really hard.

I love my Saviour so much. He has done everything for me. I will proclaim His love to all I meet, and I hope you will too. This gospel is for everyone. 

Keep fighting the good fight

Elder Crowe