What an amazing week!

Hi Mum,

This week was a really really good week. We saw numerous miracles everywhere we turned. We got 21 new investigators this week!! I think that might be a Scotland/Ireland mission record. The Lord is truly blessing us here in Dundee. Elder Cook is an amazing missionary and I am truly blessed to serve with him. We are learning from each other everyday.

We get to go golfing today. We also have a team called the SIM squad coming to work in Dundee this week so we have to make loads of preparations for them. They are mainly here to find, teach, and set up baptismal dates. It's just been started. It's really cool.

I got a kiss from a drunk man this week. He thought I was a really cool guy. Loads of drunk people love the Mormons. Loads also hate us... but he gave me a slobbery kiss. So that made my day brighter. 

I wanted to talk about what I have learned this week. I have been talking to a lot of people recently who have talked about grace. So I decided to do a lot of studies on grace and works and why we need good works. I have thought about it before, but I really wanted to focus some of my studies this week on good works. 

The first scripture that I found in my studies that I really loved was in Luke 14:33 "So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple" We do not believe that we of ourselves can make it on our own, but we are commanded to give up all that we have. We cannot even be his disciple if we do not give up all that we have. The rich young man who was a dedicated servant of the Lord and had kept all the commandments from his youth could not get eternal life unless he gave up all and followed Christ.  We do not believe in a Christ that allows us to ride in on His grace alone without work. We had a man tell us this week that you don't need to keep the commandments! If that isn't blasphemy, I don't know what is. We are not a whiteboard, which, once we accept the Saviour, He wipes clean. We are a piece of coal that must undergo refinement in order to become a diamond. Christ wants us to become something NEW. Paul became a new creature in Christ. 

In 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 it talks about how we will all stand before God to be judged, and what we receive will be according to our works in this life. James 2:18, 24, 26 says that faith without works is dead. Or our faith is meaningless if we do not act upon what we claim to have faith in. 

John 13:15-17 Christ gave us the example, and we are to DO as He has DONE. The servant is not greater than the Lord. We are obviously the servants, but by us just accepting grace and doing nothing then we are putting ourselves above Him. We are making a mockery of His sacrifice. One reason I love Christ is because He changes me. He invites me to grow and become better. I want to be like Him. I don't want to get to the next life and not have grown. This is the time for me to become as much like Him as I can. I owe it to Him. I don't want to accept the easy path. 

I don't know if any of this is making sense but it was a great week for my growth and learning. I am so grateful for the blessing of salvation I have been given, and I am thankful that exaltation is within reach as I give my all to the Saviour. 

I love you.

Elder Crowe