Week 12: "I've Got Goose Chills!"

When people say that Satan really tries to drag you down right before something good happens, they are so right!! Last week was just so hard emotionally and spiritually and it really made this week mean so much more! This week was amazing, the Lord's hand was in all the details and man, when you're missionaries He can trust, He's just going to bring you so much success.This week was just full of miracles left and right.

We started off the week with an amazing day where we found so many more people who wanted lessons from the missionaries! We were able to find a person named Kat who Sister Strobelt and Rowe could not find when they first got to the area, but we ran into her house on Tuesday! She was so excited to see us and so excited to start taking the lessons! It was a really cool experience and it really showed me that all that I do, if I'm working hard and being obedient, is not for nothing, that the Lord is still consecrating my efforts. But really Tuesday was so awesome, we found so many previously interested people who want to come back to church and learn more! It was amazing!!

We did some exchanges with the sisters in our district this week! I spent a day with Sister Estes then a day with Sister Jenkins and it taught me so much. Being a missionary is kind of hard sometimes, so when you can learn from and grow alongside all these different missionaries, it's a lot more fun and you get a lot more out of all those little growing pains. We were able to learn lots from each other and see some people. I am just NOW feeling pretty confident that I could tract just fine thanks to exchanges!

So a really amazing miracle this week: this guy named Billy has been coming to church for a few weeks with his wife (who is a member) and their new baby and apparently he went up to our bishop and said he wanted to be baptized!! It was really amazing because when we went to go teach him after that, it was really obvious to me that the Lord was really preparing Billy for the gospel. Our first time teaching him, we were teaching the Restoration of the Church to him and we got to Joseph Smith's first vision. As we were teaching, the Spirit was SO STRONG! It was seriously almost tangable!!! We asked him what he thought about Joseph's experience and he told us, and I quote: "I love it, I've got goose chills right now!" Haha it was AWESOME!!! We explained to him that that was the Spirit and you could tell that it made sense to him and he believed what we had said. I love this sacred opportunity that I have been given to see the gospel click for someone. An experience like what happened with Billy almost never happens. But when it does, it makes every door you've knocked, every person who has dropped you, all the blisters, all the tired days, and every other not so fun thing missionaries go through SO WORTH IT!!!! That seriously was a miracle to me. 

The rain down here is killer! Its been pouring every day this week! But thankfully, I've learned my lesson and haven't turned into a raccoon since last week lol. Sister Strobelt and I have just decided to embrace the fact that we'll just always be wet, whether from the rain or from sweat! (I know, it's pretty gross, but when you're walking around in 90° weather and 70% humidity, you get a little sweaty.) On Monday, we were surprised by a HUGE rainstorm that caused some flooding in the parking lot we had parked in, and I think the picture speaks for itself on how much it rained! 

I was reading in Alma 24 this week and something kind of clicked for me. Alma 24 talks all about the Lamanites that have been converted unto the Lord. They used to be a bloodthirsty people who delighted in bloodshed and that was their life. They knew that their enemies were preparing for war against them but in verses 15-16, they talk about how they're willing to give up all their weapons of war to show their God that they are willing to follow him. How scary is that?! They dont care if it means that they die, they just want to obey Heavenly Father. Then it clicked. What am I willing to give up to show that I'm willing to better obey Heavenly Father? I challenge yall to find a way to better serve Heavenly Father this week and I promise you're going to be SO blessed!! 

I love this gospel, I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior, I know they're real. I love the Book of Mormon and I love being a missionary. I also love you all! Have a great week everyone!

Love Sister Crouch

1. Sister Estes and Sister Jenkins

2. Us with Yojanna, a woman from Honduras who we are starting to teach!

3. Aftermath of a surprise rainstorm

4. All of us on exchanges!

5. The lake outside of hobby lobby. Walked through it to get our washitape and stickers #worthit