Facing the fire!

What is up?! 

Well this week had been hard! This whole month has been pretty hard for the Dublin Zone, but we love it! We love the fire. We love being refined. We feel invigorated and excited for the work.

Elder Wilson + Elder Crowe

Just so you know I am serving with a future Apostle. Elder Wilson is an absolute legend. The spiritual experiences we have had together are incredible. He is a great man full of the spirit. We are trying to be sanctified and consecrated. We were walking down the street GQing the other day, and we stopped this man. After talking with us, he told us we were "Mighty men full of Light", so we say that to each other all the time now. We are learning how to speak by the power of the Holy ghost every day. It is amazing to feel the Lord working through us. Though we are imperfect (well I am, he's pretty close to exaltation) the Lord still uses us in incredible ways.

I got to give a talk yesterday in sacrament. President Donaldson gave a talk also and it was a really spiritual sacrament meeting. Not to toot my own horn.

Our investigators are having a hard time progressing at the moment. Satan is a real butt sometimes! But we are working hard and seeing miracles all around us. 

We are flying to Edinburgh tomorrow for a meeting with all the leadership, so it should be good. I am excited to be in Scotland for a bit. I do miss Scotland a lot. I am serving in the greatest mission in the world. Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. What a dream to be serving the King of kings here!! 

We all make sacrifices in our lives. We sacrifice for school, work, family, etc. We sacrifice the things we like for the things that matter most. We sacrifice sports to worship our Heavenly Father on the Sabbath; we sacrifice money and time and family to come on missions for 2 years; we sacrifice comforts to move where the Lord needs us. We are a sacrificial people. We recognize there is power in our sacrifices, but we also recognize that the greatest act of love ever performed was sacrifice. The Saviour performed the greatest act of love the world, universe, eternities has ever known. The only pure and perfect Man sacrificed ALL so that we could receive ALL. What an act of love.

The essence of the gospel is love. This love is what moves us to act. It is not glory, honor, fear, or any other temporal thing which entices us to do what we do. It is love in it's purest form. When we share our testimonies and love with others, we Latter-Day Saints must realize that we are not doing anything of ourselves. We are simply inviting others to partake of the love that Christ has already offered them. Let us think of others more than we think of ourselves. Let us not be preoccupied with the things of this world that distract us from sharing this message and fulfilling our duties to Him who has saved us. Let us move forward with a steadfastness in Christ. Let us remember always that until we sacrifice, until we walk to Gethsemane and back, until we lift the hands that hang down, until we stand as a witness in all times and places, until we are willing to share, we will never understand the fullness of joy that comes through Christ. It is not enough to believe with our heads; we must know in our hearts.

 "If you cannot endure persecution, you cannot endure the glory of the Celestial Kingdom." -Joseph Smith

Love

Elder Crowe

A popped tire!!

Changing the tire

An Exceptional Week!

Hello hello,

This week was actually exceptional. First off, I am glad you are working hard and settling in well. Second, I am so sorry about all the hassle of life lately. I am sure it weighs heavy on your hearts. I don't have answers; all I can do is listen. But I will pray for you, and hopefully we will all see situations in life not asking what others can do to improve, but how we ourselves can become more faithful, loving servants of the Lord. The only problems we can change are the problems within ourselves. I have realized on my mission in companionships, and in all relationships in life really, that any problem I have with someone else is because I am not doing my part. I am not being like Christ.

Elder Wilson and I with Jade - a friend from Belfast

This week was so good. Elder Wilson is amazing. A beautiful South African Stallion. He is an amazing man of God. He has taught me so much. I am learning at the feet of a true disciple of Christ. I am blessed to be able to serve with him.

We have done some great work in this area. We were led by a glorious spirit horse this week. There was a horse in a residential neighborhood, and I thought it was weird so I wanted to take a picture and so we pulled down this street for 2 seconds and a little girl stopped us asking who we were looking for. Some of her older brothers and sisters came and invited us inside. When we went in, there were 17 people in a room. We taught them the Restoration and they all accepted baptism! The Lord used my easily distracted mind to find 17 people willing to follow the Lord. Now whether they all make it to baptism is a different story, but no matter what, seeds have been planted. 

The Spirit Horse!!

We started teaching a man named Vilnis this week. He is so prepared by the Lord. He feels the spirit so strongly, and he recognizes what it means. I am blessed to be a part of his journey. What a privilege that our loving Heavenly Father has given me to be able to be a part of His glorious work.

I am humbled by the magnitude of this calling. I wish every day that I could be better for Him. I have had some very earnest prayers this week. I have poured my heart and soul out to Heavenly Father asking for forgiveness and asking that He can make me a Holy instrument in His hands. I want to know how I can better bring souls unto Christ. Some thoughts have come to my mind about this:

My mind is drawn to Love. I have pondered love a lot this week. I was in a district meeting this week and an Elder asked a question about the difference between like and love. I have pondered myself a lot this week. I am pleading with the Lord daily for forgiveness, for understanding, for increased sanctification, and for the ability to see through His eyes. I have come to understand that love is not a matter of convenience. It is not a natural reaction in most cases. Love is a choice just as faith, humility, and obedience are choices. We choose to love, and we choose to increase our love. The way we increase in love is still something I am pondering. The fruit of love (or the expression) comes in many different forms: service, obedience, sacrifice, etc. But I have realized that as we EXPRESS love, it NATURALLY INCREASES our love. So in all cases we do not naturally grow in our love, but as we exercise that love, out of a choice on our part, it naturally grows within us. To love is not always easy. To choose to love is not always the easiest option. But to choose to love brings forth light. Love and light are synonyms. Pure Love casteth out darkness.

I am trying to be better at loving. I am still struggling everyday. I love you all and pray for your success and yearn for you to experience a fullness of joy in this life and in the life to come.

Elder Crowe

Ireland - Here I come.

Well, the Lord has a new assignment for me. I am going to DUBLIN!! I will be serving in Clonsilla. I have heard so many amazing things about Dublin, and I am so excited to go there. My new companion will be Elder Wilson. He is from South Africa and is an excellent missionary. I don't don't know him too well, but we are on the mission council together so we have spoken before. I am leaving today! I was up till 2 packing my things last night. It was a really long night. I am so excited!! I get to serve in all 3 countries. I also get to drive again ;) Watch out Ireland! Well I have no time (whoa shocker there) We are doing Moves Planning, so I am booking buses and trains for all the missionaries to get around the mission. 

I learned about the Atonement this week. I am learning about the suffering of the Saviour. It is so incomprehensible. Gethsemane means oil press I believe. When he bleeds from every pore it was because the pressure, pain, exertion, force, and agony was being heaped upon Him in such immensity that His physical frame was pushed to its limit. It is also amazing to think that the only thing that His Godliness helped Him with was to be able to feel everything and not die. He did not use His divinity to block the pain or dull it. His divine heritage just allowed His mortal body to feel it all and not die immediately. Tad R. Callister also mentions how Christ prayed more earnestly. He says "Were not all His prayers earnest?" What could cause God Himself to fall on His face? This must have been torture to surpass all human intellect. 

I am amazed at the love Jesus offers us. He has taken upon Him more than we could ever know in this life. When we put off this tabernacle of clay and don the understanding of immortality we will truly fall at His feet. Every single knee will bow and every tongue confess. We will see Him as He truly is. We will see what He has done for us. 

I cannot wait for the day that I fall at His feet and have my eyes opened to all the He is. I love Him with all my heart. I love Him with all my soul. Because of that I will give Him everything. My time is His, my talents, my efforts, my words, my very life. These are not mine in the first place; they are all from Him. And so I am simply returning to Him what has always been His. 

I love you! I love this work. I love Dundee and I will miss it here. (even though I think I have spoken to everyone in this city at least twice) 

Keep Fighting the Good Fight

Elder Crowe

Amazing Zone Leader Conference

Zoe, Zorcha, and Kyle - Making friends for life.