Week 38: "I knew you weren't from the South..."

Howdy howdy yall! It's a fast week here in Madison! Lots of crazy fun stuff happened! It's been a bumping week, but it's also been surprisingly rough! But, I've also learned so much this week!

So we finally got back to our area Monday night after the floods moved us to another area for the weekend. Sister Craddock and I were so glad to be back! We got right back to work! We have been visiting people all week, knocking tons of doors, and it really didn't seem like any one was really interested in the gospel out of everyone in our teaching pool. And honestly, it was a little discouraging! This week its seemed like no matter how hard we tired to help someone things just weren't working out. It was hard to feel joy! But Heavenly Father provided us with some tender mercies each day that reminded us that He was there. Whether it was just being able to talk to someone or reading a scripture that just comforts you. He really has been here with us! 

I had a bit of an epiphany this week that really just hit home! As I have been going through my mission, there have been times where I have trusted and relied heavily on the Lord, as I should! And then there are times when I'm not relying as heavily on the Lord as I should be. I realized it's in those moments where I struggle that I eventually turn back to Him because I have no other choice. Well, I realized if I am relying on anyone or anything more than Christ at any point of my mission/life, I'm doing it wrong! I feel like for me there comes a point where I get confident and basically say  "Alright God, I've got this. I can handle this just fine." How lame is that!? So I've decided I need to rely even more so on my Savior. Its changed a lot this week and its changed my perspective. I challenge yall to do the same!

Funny story: I gave a talk in sacrament yesterday and everyone came up to me to tell me they knew I wasn't from the South because I kept saying "you guys" instead of "yall". I guess I wasn't as Southern as I thought I was! Good thing I have 9 more months here to change that! 

I love being a missionary in the good times and even the bad! I'm so happy that I know my Savior and God's love for me and those around me! I know this work and this gospel are true! I love yall!!

Love, Sister Crouch

1. Weekly planning? More like weekly tanning! We've been enjoying the sunshine this week!

2. Be the change 

3&4. One of our favorite members took us to lunch this week! Sister Alhalteh is the best

Week 37: The rains came down and the floods came up

What a week we have had! So much has happened it's been unreal. It's been so crazy but so fun! We had Zone conference this week where Sister Craddock and I were able to help with the instruction and that was really cool! I got to see Sister Johnson AND Sister Strobelt! It was a total party! It was such a nice spiritual reset that just got me even more pumped for the rest of this transfer. It was much needed. After zone conference our week was insane! We got evacuated from Madison because of flooding and we are just having a ball. It's been crazy.

We led our first exchange as STLs this week! I went back to Mendenhall for a day with Sister Johnson! It was so fun to be back at my old stomping ground and see how Sister Johnson is taking care of Mendenhall. It made me so happy! I even got to see 3/5 Waldrops and that actually made me the happiest person ever! 

Okay yall but Valentine's day was actually the best. We were finishing up exchanges when we had a service opportunity pop up with the red cross. So theres been a lot of rain in Mississippi the past few weeks and its causing the river running through Madison and Jackson to flood, so lots of people are getting displaced and evacuated (including us). We were evacuated to a neighboring area Saturday night so the floods must be pretty serious. But lots of other people are being evacuated from their homes but with no where to go. So a bunch of missionaries got together and set up cots and supplies at a shelter for those who will be displaced due to the floods and it was such a fun way to serve! We served there, then we went and calked baseboards at someone's house and that was even more fun! But it was honestly the best way to spend Valentine's day! We heart-attacked some peeps and just expressed our love to others through our service and it made for an amazing day! 

As a mission, we are reading the Book of Mormon in 90 days and it had been so much fun! I have been focused on the Savior and his teachings as I've read and I've truly just realized how the Book of Mormon is just another testament of Jesus Christ. I've felt so close to my Savior and I've studied the Book of Mormon looking for Him! Life can be real bonkers sometimes and it's hard to focus on the gospel a lot of the time. But as we look for it and turn towards the Savior we can feel closer to Him and become more like Him! I love the Book of Mormon and I love this gospel! 

I hope yall have a great week! I love yall and I love this work! 

Love, Sister Crouch

1. We're trying to be cowboys. Toothpicks and service make for a fun day of service 

2. Crouch and Craddock Calking Companions

3. Sister Strobelt!!

4. We love love love President Varner

5.  Sister Johnson 

6. First day of sunshine calls for comp study poolside 

7. Post Zone Conference Canes 

Week 36: Is Jesus your steering wheel or spare tire?

What a week! God is SO GOOD!!! We had the craziest, coolest, most unreal Saturday with the biggest miracle I've had my whole entire mission! It's just been the best week!

Saturday had a real rocky go. We had some solid appointments with some legit people, all of which (by 10am) had fell through. Our day was planned out around those individuals so we had no idea how to spend out time. Honestly, I was a little salty. But, all day we just prayed to be where God wanted us and prayed to be an answer to someone's prayer, and we felt prompted to go knock some doors in this apartment complex, something we normally wouldn't do...like at all. But we did! Then we tried some other people around us and eventually every second of our day led us to be at the exact right place at the perfect time. There are some miracles that Heavenly Father plans by the second, and looking back, the Spirit was guiding us all day by having us do things we normally would never do! And it all led to seeing a man walk down the stairs from his apartment while knocking a members door and saying hi.

This guy said hi back and we asked how his day was. Turns out, he had just gotten back from a funeral where he had buried his father in law. I asked if there was anything we could do for him and he just looked at us and said "yes! You go upstairs and knock on my door and talk to my wife." Uhhhhh OKAY! The spirit bore powerful testimony that our appointments and plans fell through for this moment and for this person. So we go straight upstairs and we meet his wife, who was just broken because of the loss of her dad. She looked lost and hopeless and it really broke my heart to see. She told us all about her dad, told us about the funeral, then asks "you believe he's in heaven right?" And guys. We bore testimony of eternal families, of God's love for her, how aware He is of her family, and told her that her dad is being taken care of. There's something really amazing about being a missionary. Sometimes God let's us feel the love He has for His children as we teach them and love them. That's what he did. I grabbed her hand and cried with her, but because I knew that she was going to see him again. Before we left their house she looked at us and just knew God sent us to her because He loves her, and we got to tell her we knew that God sent us to her because He knows her and loves her. 

There have been days on the mission where everything falls through and we have no idea what to do and it seems like we are just kind of there. But I have a strong testimony now that as we follow the Spirit and go with the flow of things, we really are on the Lord's errand. I know God is in the smallest details, even down to the millisecond. He is aware of His children, He is aware of you! My amazing and wonderful mom sent a quote from my friend who just got home from her mission. They said the more we serves the more we learn it is less about our abilities and more about watching the Lord work His miracles. If that's not true I dont know what is.

It's been a real good week. The Lord has taught me more about my mission this week than the past 8 months. This work is amazing and I am so blessed to be apart of this work.

I love my mission, I love this work. I love being able to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord and I'm so blessed to know who I am and where I'm going. I love God! He is so good! I encourage yall to pray and ask Heavenly Father to help you be an answer to a prayer today. Be on His errand. It's the greatest work to be apart of :) I love yall, and have a great week!

Alma 26:3

Love, Sister Crouch

1. Seriously though, how do you get the job to come up with the church signs?

2. The district with a some member who wanted a picture with some awesome missionaries haha

3. KATHY! The light of our whole LIFE in this area. Shes a recent convert we get to work with in Madison!

4. JIMMY JOHNS! First time having it in 8 months! 

5. We tried this member, but his wife wasnt home so he delivered a warm meal to us on a miserably cold, Mississippian evening. Southern hospitality is REAL!

Week 35: "Stop, drop and roll doesn't work in hell." We love Louisiana!

Hey yall! Remeber how I said I was starting to like dogs less and less in Mendenhall? I take it back! That's just because we weren't going to the animal shelter and walking dogs for 2 hours a week! Heavenly Father was too good to us this week. It has been really stressful in figuring out the missionary work in Madison with Sister Craddock and I being so new. Earlier this week was overwhelmingly so the idea kept coming into our minds to check out the animal shelter for service and Heavenly Father led us to PURE JOY!! Safe to say, God is good.

This week Sister Craddock and I got to go down to Baton Rouge for a Mission Leadership Council with all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders in the mission and it was the coolest experience! We got to go to Baton Rouge and it felt like going home! I missed seeing the Jesus Semis (pics attached). But for real, MLC was the best. It made me realize how much prayer and revelation truly goes into the mission, which may seem really obvious, but that was my first time ever seeing it! The Spirit was so strong. As we were talking about the mission and our goals and a mission, the amount of love and trust I felt from Heavenly Father and President Varner was just unreal. It was so humbling remembering how God is giving me this incredible opportunity to be apart of this great work and how great of a gift it is! It was amazing! And I got to see Sister Rowe! I just love my mission!

Cool story folks. We had a really cool miracle! We were trying someone in an apartment complex Saturday and we just prayed before we went in that we'd be able to find unplanned opportunities to talk to people and find those interested in the gospel. We close our prayer, open our eyes and the car next to us has someone right outside working on the car! So we talk to him and he tells us "hey my moms a church lady! You should go to her door, she loves talking Jesus." I mean who can pass up that opportunity?! So we head up and they let us right in and we have an incredible lesson the Book of Mormon and the spirit was so strong! I felt God's awareness of them and love for them and I just see so much potential in them! It was a huge blessing!

It's been a rough week trying to know where to even begin to know where to start with our area, but God is providing! He is blessing us so much everyday and it's only through Him that this work is possible! We taught a lesson on the Atonement this week and I found a picture called "Not my will; but Thine be done" by Walter Rane and it is so powerful. I think it captures the emotions Christ may have had as He prepared to take on the world, literally. Upon His shoulders. Take the pains and sorrows of the world and the sins and it's only because of that event that I'm able to do anything in the work. Jesus Christ is my strength, my joy and my salvation! I'm blessed to have that knowledge and I just love Heavenly Father for sending Him to earth for me and you. It's the best.

I love this work and I love yall! This week marks 8 months as a missionary and it's the best thing ever! I love it! Love yall!

Love, Sister Crouch

1. Best way to get attacked by a dog haha

2. All the STLs in the mission at MLC!

3. All the mission leaders at MLC

4&5. That. That is my mission. I love Louisiana!

6. Sister Rowe!

7. Sister Craddock!

8. I told you the gas stations were posh

9. "Not My will; but Thine be done." By Walter Rane 

Week 34: "Hey, you're Elder Crouch's sister, right?!"

Week one on Madison is in the books! Man, Madison is so bonkers. The amount of fancy gas stations that exist within the city limits blows my mind. I never thought a gas station could be posh until I got to Madison. But, really, the craziest thing about Madison is how many people asked if I was Elder Crouch's sister! Everyone remembers my brother which was really weird/crazy. It has made for a really fun joke, for me at least! Whenever someone asked what I was doing in Madison, I just replied "What can I say, Heavenly Father saved the best Crouch for last!" (Sorry Jerrod, totally joking!) So yes, Madison is lit, fancy, a party and sooooo much fun! I love it!!

Wednesday was such an insane blur. Sister Johnson and I drove to McComb to pick up our new comps, I picked up Sister Craddock and we headed up to Madison! Sister Craddock is so awesome! I came out with her and we are both STLs for the Jackson zone! It's been so much fun being her companion, especially here! So we got here in Madison and we had dinner appointments lined up for almost every night (a complete novelty), sooo many people the other sisters were teaching, and so many things to do. Safe to say, it was extremely overwhelming! But, it was also an exciting challenge, figuring everything out! So we got to know the people we were teaching through notes the other sisters left then visited the Alhaltehs! They're members in our ward who are amazing! They took good care of Elder Crouch and I have a feeling they'll take good care of us too! Then we went to a dinner appointment followed by these AMAZING members taking us to Sam's to buy us groceries!!!!! Like boxes and boxes of groceries! It was insane!!! It was the kindest thing anyone has done for me on the mission. These people are so amazing! So safe to say it was a great first day!!!

The rest of the week has been so very eventful but so amazing! But, even with all the incredible tender mercies from the people and the Lord, it's been a tougher week than usual. It's been overwhelming, I've had trials and insecurities, if felt inadequate and I've just been in a funk, I guess? But every day we have been here, the Lord has put miracles in our path, has led us to someone who needs us, and has led us to someone we need! He has a plan for me and for all of us and I've felt that this week. Mormon 5:23 has been on my mind all week! "Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God? Know ye not that he hath all power, and at his great command the earth shall be rolled together as a scroll?" We truly are in God's hands and that's not too shabby of a place to be! 

Madison is awesome, the people are so fun. God is taking care of us in every way. Jesus Christ is strengthening us through all things and all trials. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and when we read it every day it changes our lives! I love this gospel and I love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ! Love yall!!

Love, Sister Crouch

1. My last pic with the Waldrop clan

2. Sister johnson has this thing where she has to take a heel clicking picture with all her companions, so here's our attempt!

3. Sister Alhalteh and Sister Craddock!

4 Florence district heel click attempt  

5. Sister Johnson!!