Happy Easter

First of all thank you for the Easter package! It really brightened our day and I was like "God is good!" Haha I loved all the notes and treats they made us smile and laugh out loud!:) (nothing melted and ) Whenever I read all your emails I always laugh out loud and smile, it is great to hear about some of the details about what is going on with you guys! Ethan always says the same thing haha "I hope your having a great time out there" lol but Ethan Nice job making Varsity! YAY! Now you can really show off those skills:) How come I haven't heard from Bethany or Lissa much lately? But I always love their short notes on packages:) I'm glad that you guys are still kicking and even though things can be busy and it seems like you can't do one more thing, you are all striving to work hard and do what the Lord wants us to do! I think that if we read the scriptures everyday despite how busy we are we will be able to accomplish everything that we need too! The scriptures give us power to overcome, peace to enjoy, and knowledge that gives us perspective! Our spirits need nourishment just as much as our bodies do! So here we go! Monday we had one of the better P-days that I have had in a while we headed up to Youngstown and spent the most of the day up there. We played soccer with some youth in our ward, but mainly roll down hills and froze our buns off! There were lots of brick houses that held troops during the war of 1812, so cool! We walked down to the bank of Lake Ontario and it was so big it looks like an ocean, it was also cool because you could see the huge skyline of Toronto Canada all the way on the other side of the lake! Very windy but awesome. Tuesday was a little less than enjoyable but I don't think that we will have many days like that! haha we went to Northgate as we usually do on Tuesdays and met a lot of people that have a firm belief in the Savior. We went Street contacting and nothing but bad things happen, people were rude, they thought we are crazy, and most people thought that we were Jehovah's Witnesses and that makes them very angry. We ran into this Lutheran Church and asked if they had any service opportunities or jobs they needed to get done, and the people working at the church were very nice but the pastor was not. The pastor took us into his office and try to bash with us and totally destroy any value of our calling as missionaries! When all we asked was to help him! The spirit was absolutely gone and I was so disheartened by the experience. And to think I was about to climb 50 feet in the air to change a light bulb in his steeple! I want him to ask me to do it just to show him I can! Haha And that wasn't the only sarcastic human being we dealt with. We met quite a few people who worship Peter Cottontail instead of Christ on Easter. Haha and all the less actives we met said they were too tired to watch conference this weekend. But I think we did with the Lord wanted us to do and he was pleased for our efforts! Wednesday was April fools and we didn't do any crazy pranks! But Elder Fields got me so good by telling me president was emergency transferring me to Wellsville! Haha I really learned a lot in my studies that day, I love studying and learning more! I learned a lot about keeping our fishing lines in for as many hours of the day as possible in Preach my Gospel. I also learned about Jesus his early life in "Jesus the Christ" I love that book, it is seriously one of my absolute favorites! I learned that Jesus had to learn his purpose and still had to grow as a child just as any other man. The only one who knew his true purpose was Mary and even she was reminded time and time again of the magnitude and glory of the Savior's calling. Elder Fields gave a great training on not being lazy and letting go, or getting rid of distractions. We played V-ball...we went to Duffs as a district then Elder Rushton had a nice discussion about being an effective leader. (We always talk on the way home from the church building) Thursday I was so glad that we went to Northgate because we were considering not going but we did and guess who we saw? The performing African-American lady with the bleach blonde hair! Oh my gosh after we finally mustered the courage to go sit in the audience, we were of course called up to perform. Elder Rushton went up and sang 'Oh happy day' with her and was so embarrassed it was hilarious! We had so much fun helping her entertain the crowd and getting them moving and dancing! I saw A(the polish lady who we all have a crush on) in the third row and I went up to her in the middle of a song and started dancing. Her face lit up she was so happy to see us! In the middle of the happy song she said HAPPY EASTER!" I literally had President Monson's words from the last conference running through my head "let us not forget the elderly" the whole time we were there. We had dinner with the F and M that night!(more authentic phillipino food, and jackfruit!) They invited their apartment neighbor across the hall to listen to the thought. His name is R and his wife and him are from China! He understood our lesson on charity and the Easter Video #BecauseHeLives. I was able to speak a little Chinese with him and he said I didn't have an accent at all and he was very impressed with how much I knew so that was a plus! Hopefully we can teach him sometime! On the way home 'Grandpa voice' came and M always gets a kick out of that. (He's trying to convince me to be an actor lol) We talked to M in the rain the on the back porch about temples:) (his endowment is on Saturday the 11th) I always start writing my journals at night thinking it was a pretty rough day, but then my eyes are opened and I can see how the Lord's hand was there that day even if it wasn't there all day. I guess if the Lord had his hand in our day all day he would be controlling us and we wouldn't grow! I am always reminded to be humble and charitable several times in a day! haha we took forever to watch the "Joseph Smith the prophet of the restoration" movie with S and J. We had dinner at the H that night and what a cute old couple they are! Brother H. And I love talking about music and the physics of sound. Since he knows a lot about organ pipe work and piano work and I know the voice pretty well we talked about how if the higher note and the middle note are perfectly in tune they will naturally bring out the low note in a chord, both in strings, pipes, and vocals! The sound of music is so cool! When I hear music I hear God speaking to my spirit. I feel grateful to be alive when I hear or produce music. It rained again tonight and Elder Rushton and I sat in the car and talked about life and how to deal with people. Peter Cotton tail also left a present on the door step! (Thanks again ;)) I have been shrieking with excitement all week for General Conference!(seriously though) I always receive a ton of Revelation and peace during General Conference! We switched watching sessions between the church and the L house with some technical difficulties here and there! We had Easter dinner with some of the L extended family and so it was a great missionary opportunity! I loved Conference SOOO MUCH! I swear every time I watch conference I say "this is the best conference ever lol" and Kim B. Clark being called into the First Quorum of the Seventy ! I saw many people I have recently heard from in the last couple of months speak, sing, or names be announced in conference so I felt a special connection to Colorado, Utah, BYU-I, the NYRM, and the world all at the same time! But isn't that what the gospel is? It binds all of God's children into one eternal realm and work here upon the earth! It made me excited for that momentous event when all of us will be gathered in the flesh and know that the work is done! Some quick memories from conference are 1. We will all have the same "well done thou good and faithful servant" no matter the office we held or the time spent in the vineyard 2. Being a disciple of Christ comes over time and President Monson isn't perfect either 3. There are still good people in the world and the Church is in good stance the adversary would have us believe we are not doing well or not progressing so we don't have hope 4.RM doesn't stand for retired Mormon 5. We mustn't live fake lives 6.This Generation needs to carry the baton higher than ever before 7. On Easter we celebrate the victory over all our falls 8. If your not hearing the music of the Gospel..keep practicing 9. the Lord loves us 10. Being a Dad is awesome 11. Be useful not deceitful 12. Fight for liberty 13. Press forward with faith in Christ 14. The elect are being gathered 15. Godly fear chases out worldly fear. (And a book full of notes ;)) It has been I pretty rough week in between these moments I have explained, (with no success finding people to teach) but for some reason it feels like it has been a week full of love, new understanding, and a greater desire to serve the Lord. So it is great to be alive and I challenge you guys to really study the conference talks not just set them aside and say "well that was a great spiritually uplifting conference now I'll wait until the next one!" Haha only paying attention to conference once every six months is like brushing our teeth once every six months. Nasty! Pick one talk and strive to live the principles taught in it that week! :) I love you guys! Elder Crowley Ps. Mormon.org/easter has been awesome this week with the timeline and everything!