Visiting Bof M musical contacts

Tuesday we had a crazy rain storm come through, and Elder Durfee and I got caught right in it haha. We were walking (because I still didn't have a bike) to a library to request some of his information back that he lost with his wallet from his home state, when this wall of rain comes in (you could literally watch it come) haha. We were soaked to the bone and we could not find the library so we stopped inside a Tops (that's a store here) and we ran into a member of of the church who said "Elders!" I was so happy to meet someone who recognized who we were. He gave us a ride to the library which was such a blessing, even though we still had to walk home it was nice to know the lord was watching out for us! :) Later that day we met a ton of really solid people who were referrals from the Book of Mormon show! We were able to teach a couple people he restoration and then they wanted to learn more! All I have to say is bring out the font and let's come unto Christ! Wednesday we did our morning studies and our usual morning routine. I have loved reading about Alma and Amulek's missionary experiences because I think we can draw a lot of knowledge from their missions, hardships, and successes. At lunch we met the Spanish Elders and gave them a bunch of supplies. And that is when Elder Niel let me borrow his bike (what a blessing) so now that I had a bike we were able to bike all the way over to the Galleria mall which is out of our area, but we had permission to leave it because that is where J worked ( the one who is a Disney animator and wants to missionaries over) we got there and she wasn't working until the next night haha so we were a little disappointed that we biked all that way. But we met a guy named A who has been going to the Amherst ward and some one referred him to us, and he lived close to where we were! So it was meant for us to stop by, he was really friendly but said that we would have to come back next week. He does want to meet with us though which is promising. Thursday we had district meeting and my training was on developing teaching skills and how we can become master teachers. It was a really cool to see all of the other Elders contributing and learning from one another! We had an awesome lesson with a guy named M who wants to become a member! And he is really pumped for pageant and things because he has always wanted to go but never had the chance! So as you can see we are having miracles pop up all over but we might not see if the people are actually going to follow through until next week! Later that night we went back to the Galleria mall and met J! She was super happy to see us and gave us her contact information! She has a bunch of wood she needs to burn and just doesn't want to burn it all by herself so we are going to go over there and hopefully teach a lesson! But she agreed to come to district meeting and be a "practice investigator". Friday we rode around like crazies met a much of crazies too haha Saturday we had exchanges and Elder Reed came up to Eggert and Elder Durfee went to Buffalo Spanish with Elder Niel. Elder Reed and I got a ton done! And we were antied hardcore by this guy on the street, he was yelling, spitting, and everything. But we kept our cool and afterwards this guy sitting on his porch who had no teeth so his English was a little slurred. said "don't listen to him he's on crack". Lol It was a great exchange and Elder Reed was a lot happier after he left:) Church is true! Elder Crowley

The Book of Mormon Musical

Hi guys! So this has been one of the longest weeks of my mission! And one of the most interesting haha Last Monday we said goodbye to lots of people hat I wanted to see before and Elder Rushton and I were running around like "chickens with our heads cut off" (as Elder Rushton would explain it) to get things done. We had a last little game night with the F and then we went and helped the L get their rotten meat refrigerator out of the basement! (remember that Ethan?) but it was nice to have a last memorable experience with them! Haha and Yes I got pranked by the gunman of North Tonawanda and they actually got me! They built it up for the whole night and then Mike and Elder Rushton kept really good faces which made it so much more believable. So when I saw a black masked man open the door to our sunroom I was like this is not happening right now, we turned off all the lights and ran into the kitchen and Elder Rushton was "freaking out" we called M (because he said to call him if we see something suspicious) and he came down to "save us" but I was like M don't be stupid we aren't worth it! hahahaha but again I felt that feeling of "I'm not going to die" after about two minutes I realized that it was a joke and I went marching outside to get mad at J! I'm glad they came because the adrenaline rush got me out of my sad feelings of leaving and made me feel like there would be more good times to come! :) Tuesday was transfer meeting, and I was glad we got to go. We were able to go because we had to bring our truck up to exchange for a new car! it was a great transfer meeting and it was nice to see some of the missionaries that I came out with. We went and grabbed some five guys for lunch and then headed back to our Amherst to exchange out stuff. Then Elder Rushton and Elder Hunt dropped Elder Durfee and I at our new apartment and then peaced out! The Kenmore Elders (E. Eastman, E. Woerner) have a van and they will sometimes drive us around to the store on P-days so since we all didn't have food we had to run to the store and get some! The other Elders had to be to an appointment in like an hour though so we basically had 30 minutes to shop for the whole week and it was kind of stressful in a way because there was no GF bread and it was like the only chance we would have to get food. Once we got back our apartment I realized that our area is way bigger than I thought it was, It's the entire east side (which is the most ghetto) of the buffalo metropolitan area. That night was a pretty hard night. Wednesday we helped a family move into the ward that morning and that was a good feeling to have something solid going on, and to meet at least one member of the ward! We also went to a district leader training which President conducted, and that was an awesome chance to learn from President Francis. The other Elders in our district called us that night and said, "Are you going to the Book of Mormon play?" I was like are you serious? I came in on the week the BOM musical is in town!? Heck Ya!

I went from having one of the worst nights of my mission to one of the best nights of my mission! So yes this whole week we have had permission to stay out later to stand out side and hand out Book of Mormons answer questions and teach people! :) We have been getting home around 12am each night after riding the metro back to the UB campus (they have one main subway here in buffalo so it's cool) so yes we are all a little tired after having a week like this. We were all super smiley and answered lots of people's questions, and about 80% of people responded really well! We handed out over 120 BOMs and gave away a couple thousand Mormon.org cards and Hill Cumorah pageant cards. The cast was super cool with us and the house managers always came and talked with us! I had the chance to talk with one lady named J who is a Disney animator and is super interested! Lots of people took pictures with us so that was fun:) Thursday (get ready for this) Elder Durfee and I were excited to visit some of our referrals so we bike into our area (our apartment is about 3 miles out of it) but Elder Durfee wasn't feeling well so we had a couple of detours but then I kick in my city map skills and I find us a bus stop a couple blocks away I was able to find a stop but we waited there for like 30 min, And while waiting I had a drunk guy trip and spill beer from my shins to my feet! Lol the bus never came so we biked to another stop and were able to get on with our bikes! (some buses can't take bikes) we get to the Utica metro station and I was so happy that we would be able ride the train the rest of the way to the church. But Elder Durfee left his wallet on the bus we just got off so we biked the rest! Poor Elder Durfee! He lost his MSF card, Home Card, $50, temple recommend, license, and most importantly BUS PASS! We had a great district meeting! I did my training on becoming Legit! Or in other words developing Christlike attributes and having real intent haha. Then finally that night we took care of show biz ;) and had lots of success and lots of laughing moments so ya! Haha Friday we helped a lady in our ward named Sister H move from her upstairs apartment to a downstairs one We met an inactive lady named M K. We weekly planned and then another great adventure amongst the crowds.

Saturday Sister H was going to take us to the temple but since Elder Durfee didn't have his recommend we decided it would be easier to catch up on some referrals after the matinee show. We stood outside the show with just the zone leaders and us, because all the other Elders went to the temple. And long story short I was on the back side of the theater with Elder Christenson, and Elder Durfee and Elder Haws were in the front. My Bike got stolen (no exaggeration) 5 FEET AWAY from E. Haws with the lock snipped and everything! Can you believe that? I've had it for two days and it gets stolen in broad daylight five feet away from us missionaries. So as a result the people we were going to visit did not get visited haha. That night T T (a recent covert as of last week) took us to a Chinese buffet and that was truly a blessing:) Sunday we met our ward mission leader (he was just called last week) his name is Brother M from Canada, he is passionate about his new calling as well so we are hoping for more good missionary work! Church was good but I got Elder Durfee's sickness so that was fun! Haha after church we went to the matinee show and then we had the last show of the week last night! Which was really fun but also a little sad because I loved doing that! So despite the hard week I am smiling away and I know that "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." -Philippians 4:13

Started from the bottom now we're here! Elder Crowley

Going to da ghetto!

Hey guys! so transfers are tomorrow and I ammmm....... Going to EGGERT! which is in downtown Buffalo with Elder Durfee and we will be walking in da ghetto! We bus into our area and then bike around. I am the new district leader over Buffalo.

Tuesday we worked with a lot of former investigators and less actives, nothing really came of it so far. But we did have a great time helping out at Northgate! We helped feed the Alzheimer's unit lunch and worked with some of the music therapy people who work with them! It was really cool. This one resident named L just gives background commentary to everything that goes on in the room and it is so funny! Like really sometimes I think they need to start a reality show here! Wednesday we had a lot of appointments set up that we were really excited for but all of them fell through so that was fun! Hahaha for the past couple of days I've been watching bits and pieces of the LDS face-to-face live questionnaire with Elder and Sister Bednar. I have loved it so much! Even though it is directed for youth I believe we can all learn something from it. I have learned that the process of learning and becoming is something that occurs over time. If we are being sculpted by the master sculptor then he would rather sand us down overtime slowly. Instead of making a painful experience for us by taking big pieces, or hammer swings into our lives. We are able to become refined strong and beautiful, and we ourselves can't see all the angles that the Lord can. It doesn't occur with just one event or experience but like grains of sand we at molded into a pearl! Thursday we had district meeting and we talked about prayer and how we can make our prayers meaningful and more aligned with the will of Heavenly Father. That night we had dinner with M and the F. Over dinner we talked about how they are starting their life as a young couple (like you said last week Dad they are working so much, he is going to school and they are such a big asset to the ward...I mean talk about stress) and we played a game called "and it came to pass" which is like Uno but a little modified and Book of Mormon style! Haha it was a lot of fun:) Friday I felt like we had a successful day but I was so tired that night. We started the morning by doing service at the Riviera theatre; we swept piles of popcorn! And we were able to take out the trash backstage (I know exciting right?) haha Elder Rushton and I might have snooped around a little bit as well. After my "boring same sandwich lunch" as Elder Rushton calls it haha we weekly planned then went and mowed miss J lawn we spent the rest of the afternoon focusing on less actives. Some were nice some were mean, but the best thing happened! We met this family named the B who are snowbirds (leave for winter down south;) ). Their house here in N.T. Is beautiful, it has all these pretty flowers and they have just redone the whole thing! Anyway we had a great chance to talk with them. They have had some pretty rough experiences that occurred right after being baptized many years ago. (Can't really talk about it) but despite setbacks they continued to press forward in faith, but after a while their testimonies were shaken and they have had a hard time coming to church. In my prayers line night before I finally got my answer to the story of the 99 and the one lost sheep, and why they 99 have to stay back while the Shepard goes and finds the one. I believe their are two answers the first is that the lord has gone ahead to prepare a pasture for us up ahead, but that particular night I was led to the scripture Alma 37:34 which says "Teach them to never be weary of good works, but to be meek and lowly in heart; for such shall find rest to their souls." So I shared this scripture with P right on the porch and she started crying as she read it! We bore our testimonies of our love and Heavenly Fathers love for them. A truly great experience:) Saturday a lady in our ward asked us to help her put up this paneling for her 95 year old dad who wanted that particular type even though it was from the seventies. Her son was doing it but quit because it was too hard and so poor K, who works two jobs just needed our help. So we got started and let me tell you this job was a lot harder than we thought it was going to be. It was so tedious, the temp was 85 degrees plus outside so it must have been a lot hotter in the house (no one has air conditioning here it's crazy), we were there for 4 1/2 hours, and we were not making hardly any progress. Sunday was a great day because the J and K were confirmed! Lots of less actives showed up to church! :) but it rained all day and it was awesome! There is nothing better than just pouring rain:) the Nielsons (the new temple senior missionaries from our ward) gave great talks about the pioneers and how we must be modern pioneers whether you were baptized yesterday or sixty years ago. Elder Nielson gave a powerful testimony about not giving up, and that people need us! Once we have learned to fly with the Eagles we must not walk home with the turkeys. ( I have always loved that analogy) Well missions are still hard, but they are still the best ever so as long as we have the Lord on our side (which we always will) we have nothing to fear for the journey. Love, Elder Crowley

It sure is nice :)

Happy P-day! Another great week ended with J baptism yesterday! YAY!

So for P-day last Monday we went to the mall over in Amherst with some of the other Elders. That night we had another delicious dinner at the F with J and the Chinese family (R L and their mom who are one of our investigators) we had a lesson on the importance of worshiping together and how the Gospel blesses our lives. We invited them to sacrament meeting and told R and L that all we want is for them to have that happy feeling of having a newborn baby (they just had a baby) all the time. Afterwards we played a game that they play in the Philippines and I don't know quite how to describe it but we all ended up laughing so hard we cried! Haha :) On Tuesday we got J baptism program figured out. When we visited A (polish lady from Northgate assisted living) she said, "You guys must be the happiest people on earth because you get to do what you love, and help people all the time. Some people hate their job." So true A, so true:) we were able to have lots of really solid contacts that afternoon. Wednesday I went up to Lewiston for companion exchanges with Elder Tanner and ya haha :D But at our dinner app. We had a great discussion on faith and how it allows Heavenly Father to be more forgiving, merciful, and more receptive to our cries. Because if we had a perfect knowledge of everything we would be held to a higher standard and less faith would allow for more strictness and less forgiveness to the laws we break. So faith is a gift to be able to exercise and allows for a more repentant sinner, a more loving and merciful God, and an overall better learning experience here on earth. I am grateful for faith! We had zone meeting and I thought that it went pretty well I love getting all together and learning from one another and being able to discuss concerns, and achievements! We got our #BuffNorth NYRM T-shirts! They look awesome:) We talked a lot about what a happy missionary is. And there isn't one right answer but it was a very cool topic. Elder Knudson (who is leaving for home) bore his testimony about how throughout his mission he has learned to not only follow the commandments but keep them. Keeping them means they become a part of who you are. After zone meeting Elder Rushton and I went on a very long street contacting venture and ended up talking to only about two people (no one was out). Friday we had our studies, weekly planned, had lunch and then we did service for the Riviera theatre this time we went through a stack of papers from last years volunteer hours sheets, and put them into the computer! After about 2 hours of doing that I thought I was dyslexic because I could barely process one more name, and my eyes were doing funky things! Later that afternoon we spent most of our time trying to invite as many less actives to church this Sunday because we knew we would be gone in Palmyra on Saturday! We went over to the L that night and helped S with her talk and figured out details for our road trip the next morning!

Saturday was the big day for PALMYRA! I love the sites so much, and I love having them as a resource to teach and testify even more then just from a pamphlet:) We started late because well you know how it goes with road trips;) haha once we got to palmyra the first thing that we did was take the L to the Book of Mormon Publishing site and they really liked that! J says that was his favorite part, and I loved watching their family piece together more facts and things together from the things we have taught them. We then went to the Hill Cumorah and ate lunch at the top of the hill on some picnic benches that they had. It was awesome to look out and imagine the last big battle occurring here with over 250,000 people! And I felt just right at home on the top of that hill haha, from the times that I had been there before. I would have never thought that I would be a missionary standing on that hill!

haha It almost seems unreal. The Nielsons (the new Temple senior couple that is in our ward) came up from Zions camp to meet us and come with us to our next stop which was the temple! I love the temple! They told lots of really awesome stories about the Palmyra temple that I had not heard before so I was grateful for them being able to help make our temple stop more of a memorable one for the Lingles. The Nielsons will be really heading the effort to get the L to the Temple with names and such! I'm so grateful! After that we went to the Joseph Smith farm and through the sacred grove and it was as good as ever:) we went back to the Hill Cumorah Visitor Center to have a tour and Sister Hunter was our tour guide! She bore some powerful testimonies and truly had and impact on J as she talked with her about missions and such! Finally we treked it home after a long but awesome day at the sites! Sunday was a very sweet experience as we were able to have the baptism for J, and K !LOL I baptized J and Elder Fields baptized K. And yes I said J full name perfectly haha K was wearing these two white dresses and they were so heavy when she came up she fell back! And then once she found her footing she yelled "YAY!!!" with her hands up in the air! K truly demonstrated what it means to feel the joy of redeeming love:) C F, and S gave talks and Bishop gave a welcome to the ward. The spirit was strong and I wouldn't have had it done any other way! The GOSPEL IS TRUE! "you don't need to to walk where Jesus walked to walk as Jesus walked." And you don't need to pray in the sacred grove to have a witness that the gospel is restored. But it sure is nice ;)

Love, Elder Crowley

Week 19

HI :) It's so good to hear how well you guys are doing! I love our family TOO! And I think that everyone is growing so much:) I am doing pretty good:) I am now feeling a little tired these past few days just because it's now getting hotter, but I am trying to focus on turning those service opportunities into teaching appointments ;) and holding on to the rod even when we cannot see the light ahead. We are unstringing our bows today! So this week my journal has been kind of neglected haha so I'm going to have to write based on he highlights I can remember! Monday we went hiking along the gorge and it was so incredible! The water up here is a lot more greenish blue and there is a lot of history up here! We haven't been getting much rain this past week, but Monday night we did! It was pouring harder than I have ever seen haha I almost felt like I was in a tsunami. You could look out the window and it looked like you were going through the car wash! I got a migraine that night that lasted for about a day but it's all good:)

Tuesday helped in the Alzheimer's unit and fed them lunch, haha that is always a good time when they can only remember who you are for a minute! They are the greatest, I can wait to see these people on the other side of the veil when they are resurrected and be able to associate all together:) We visited potentials in the afternoon and It is interesting to see that when you show the Lord you want to find those who are ready to hear the gospel often times you will run into someone in another way that you weren't originally doing or expecting! We had a great lesson with J and are continuing to prepare for her baptism this Sunday! We spent an afternoon at this Catholic school. It was kind of awkward being in a strictly Catholic school and a Mormon Missionary sitting on this bench. But I had a nice conversation with the front desk Lady and she seemed to really like what we do as missionaries! Wednesday we had district meeting and had a discussion on looking for clues in teaching according to someone's needs, whether it be in a lesson or you just met the person on the street. I really liked the training Elder Fields gave! The rest of the the afternoon we spent finding people to teach and talking with A B about his testimony of the Gospel and his excitement to be baptized. Thursday we had interviews with President and then taught the APs the laws and ordinances lesson. It was nice to see president again. We helped brother G move that night. Friday we made a ninja move to get some supplies to A B. We gave him a triple combo, KJ bible, finding faith in Christ, and the rest of the pamphlets) it was nice to see him in person since I had seen him with Elder Willis:) Saturday was a pretty stressful day considering we got a text from A B revoking his testimony because he thought we are a polytheistic religion and he got into some anti-stuff! But we were able to resolve his concerns with man, becoming like heavenly father. We went to the farmers market off Robinson and Payne, and had a great time with M inviting people to our ward's strawberry social that they have in the summer! There were a lot of really cool farmers and merchants there including the Amish with all their homemade goods. I may or may not have bought some gluten-free cupcakes. We then visited some people on Grand Island and proceeded to head to the adult Saturday night session of stake conference which I have to say might be my favorite meeting we have in the church. We had an area 70 come and join us for the conference and what a pleasure it was to have them there. I will share some of the things that I learned by the spirit or by various comments that were shared. I learned that any form of repetition even in ordinances can either lead to increased the learning or complacency. And that the sacrament is the only ordinance that we partake of more than once for ourselves, we should strive to make it our priority to make the sacrament a sacred experience. Elder Perkins shared an experience of his early family counsel l while him and his wife were serving as mission presidents in Taiwan they thought of having family court haha and you would have an accuser and and defendant over dumb things like "Johnny looked at me cross eyed." and pretty soon their children thought the things they were fighting about were kind of dumb. I also wrote down that by doing family history work we keep the chain going both forwards and backwards, we will receive spiritual strength and added protection as we unlock the gates for those in the spirit world. We will become more like the Savior, as we become saviors up on Mount Zion. Think about it you're actually doing as Christ would by inviting others to partake in ordinances of eternal life it also United earthly family and causes them to work together:) sometimes we think about breaking the chain forwards if we don't live the gospel, but we can also break the chain backwards if we do not save those who have gone before us. Sunday the conference continued and it was another great meeting! We were in the choir sight reading and it was great! We sang "This is the Christ" and "Praise to the Lord", both very powerful pieces! The Church is true, we must all keep holding on to the Old ship Zion as tight as we can because that is the only boat with Heavenly Father at the Helm.

"Oh be wise; what can I say more?" -Jacob 6:12 Love, Elder Crowley

We be skypin yo

Hello hello again! Yesterday it was so good to talk to you guys:) and like I said just think next time that we skype it will pretty much have been a year :)

I can't remember all we did Monday so.. Tuesday! Haha Tuesday was just kind of regular day but it was been one of my favorite days because pretty much everything we did went well. We had to cut our morning studies early because we scheduled our service at the Riviera Theatre earlier. We helped N. gate with their cinco de mayo party, it was fun making tacos with them. A was not having a good day she said "oh good thing you guys are here, Get me OUT of HERE! Go call he police and we can run away!" Poor girl :( Later we visited one of our potentials whose house almost burnt down! In my studies on Wednesday I learned about how when Jesus was sleeping on the boat in the storm it was a sign that he was in a good healthy condition to be able to sleep through something like that. "He lived according to the laws of health, yet never allowed the body to rule the spirit; and His daily activities, which were of a kind to make heavy demands on both physical and mental energy, were met with no symptoms of nervous collapse nor of functional disturbance." -James E. Talmage. We must realize that we are human and must follow Christ's example even in temporal affairs. We had district meeting in the bed of our truck outside while E. fields gave a training, it was time for something different. Thursday we mowed A 93-year-old lady's lawn. Her son called and asked us to, even though it was out of our area. We realized that after we had committed to do it, but it was only 2 miles out so we figured what the heck! We got there and her whole lawn was covered in weeds! And all she had was an old-fashioned push mower Haha it was fun though:) Friday we helped J with his car and changed the oil. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn new things and him helping us develops talents. We had a great lesson with J that night on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was good chance to teach someone according to their needs again. Saturday we helped the GI (Grand Island) Rotary club with their adopt a highway clean up. We caught a snake! And E. Rushton resolved hat he would "never litter again." Haha our outdoor work was not done for that day because we went to the H and helped them clean up their flower gardens around the house! It was 90 degrees plus humidity! They have this old piano from the 1800s from London that I am determined to buy one day! Haha we told them that we would meet them at the Olympia (the Greek restaurant) Sunday HAPPY MOMMYS DAY! You guys know everything that happened that day :) Love YOUS, (everyone in New York says "Yous guys" haha) Elder Crowley

Peter Whitmer Farm Training

Hello! I'm still alive! And only a 41/2 hour plane flight so I'm really not that far away:) I am feeling really healthy and my stomach has felt a lot better since being out here! I stopped eating apples and that has stopped my stomach aches and I try to stay away from dairy but when I do have it I eat it with one of those lactose pills. I take a probiotic once every three days usually and I think that has helped as well:) So Monday we went to the Niagara Falls aquarium. It was fun and we had some good laughs:) Tuesday we had exchanges and I went with Elder Fields to Lewiston. We had a great day street contacting in the falls! We gave away a ton of Mormon.org cards and I was able to give two Book of Mormons away on the street! It was awesome because that doesn't usually happen in N.T. Haha Wednesday we had a two and a half hour drive for our specialized training at the Peter Whitmer farm! It was such an awesome training and it was great to be right where the church was organized. I also got to see Sister Taylor Hunter again!

We had different rotations into different rooms throughout the day. I will just describe some of the things wrote down. Some of my favorite scriptures that we studied are Alma 5,7,58,2Nephi 2. In the Peter Whitmer log home we were given a tour by the Oslers (the site directors) it was pretty familiar to me and it reminded me of coming with the family. I wrote down that when Joseph was translating he was always ready to translate based on the next word, he never had to read the paragraph before to understand where he was at. He could just continue where he left off. I also wrote down that the Urim and Thummim were clear stones that he would look into, and sometime he would put them into a black hat to see the words better. Emma said that when he would come to a name he would spell it which meant that he was actually seeing the words. But Joseph always said that he translated by the gift and power of God. He translated it once and was done! President Francis talked to us about having Elder Holland come and speak to them at the new mission presidents seminar when they fist got called. To paraphrase E. Holland said that "when your missionaries ask, why is his so hard? Why is this painful? Is there some other way to do missionary work? You tell them that we must all feel a part of the Atonement because salvation isn't cheap!" President Francis went on to say that time is not relevant to God, it is only something that we understand here on earth. Which means that those three hours that Jesus spent suffering in the garden were actually longer. Jesus paid for each of our sins individually and also our infirmities. It was a performed ordinance, an individual ordinance performed for each of us by the Savior. When we ask "Why is this so hard? Why do I have to go through this?" Remember someone has already asked that before when he cried out "Abba!", and that person was also the most pure and perfect of us all. Thursday we helped out at Northgate like usual, we took A (the polish lady) for a walk and she loved it!:) I know that her and I will be good friends in heaven. My driving record came, so I sent it in to Elder Clement! We gave a Ukrainian man a copy of the Russian bible and Russian restoration pamphlet. We street contacted along the canal. We went out to a Chinese buffet for dinner with M and ended the night with a POS lesson with J and A M. We sorted books with J on Friday at the N.T. Museum. We had a great discussion with her about different Gospel topics and resolved all her concerns, it was awesome! She really likes the atonement because she thought that we all have to be perfect to go to church haha. I can wait to see where she goes in life, I think she will be a great mom and a great addition to God's army! We had a full day of service on Saturday! We went to Grand Island early to help set up traffic cones, tents, and barricades for the lawn mower race that happened in front of town hall. J came along for our missionary shenanigans pretty much all day. It was nice to do service all day, and we made contact with a lot of people. In the afternoon we helped with the Rotary club's hotdog sale at the same lawnmower race event. It was really cool to watch these "lawnmowers" more like go carts zip down the road! I think the top speed was 75mph. The Rotary club it didn't sell as many hotdogs as they would have liked to, but the old man were fun, the local band was okay, and it was such a beautiful day. After that we did service for the Riviera Theatre! We had to book it back home and then change into our proselyting close while eating dinner on the way. We got to the show and we're ushers. The show was "yesterday "A tribute to the Beatles. J came with us and it was so fun all these old ladies ushered with us, and at intermission people were really starting to get weird after a few visits to the bar ha ha. But we still got out in time to be home so that was good! We're going to be back on Tuesday to clean so that should be fun. I love old historical things especially theater, so this is really fun for me. Some last minute things that I have learned this week are to do what you love but don't be stupid, take time to enjoy life, love people, and if we are in a situation where our faith is being tried we should rejoice because that means we are on the right path. My favorite quote from the week is... "In the end, we are all pilgrims seeking God’s light as we journey on the path of discipleship. We do not condemn others for the amount of light they may or may not have; rather, we nourish and encourage all light until it grows clear, bright, and true." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf Love, Elder Crowley