Week 51: She AUDI!! RIP Madison, hello Pascagoula!!

Transfer news has come!!!! And I am STOKED. The dynamic duo of C² is getting split up after 3 whole transfers together in Madison (don't worry, I love sis Craddock! ;) )! I am going to Pascagoula, MS with Sister Craddock's trainee, Sister Young!! Just a little about Pascagoula: it's on the coast!!!!!!!!, my apartment is approximately 1 mile from white sand beaches *cries tears of joy*, it has a Rasising Cane's so it is perfect for me! It has always been my secret dream to serve on the coast in the summer and man! God is too good! Sister Craddock is going to West Monroe, LA and hopefully is going to baptize Duck Dynasty for me! I'm so excited for a change and I'm so excited for the beach! 

This week was awesome for a few reasons! Isolation has let up a lot! We can teach people in parks, have district pdays outside, have district meetings, we can do service for members outside and even eat with members outside! We still have to social distance, but hey! That's progress in the right direction! Once we got the news, we texted about 20 members begging for service and wow! We have been put to WORK this week! It's been a blast! We've stained doors and windows, we helped build kayak racks, washed cars, and its felt so good! So that was awesome! We're pretty spoiled though, the memebers we served let us fish for the first time ever in their lake! So totally a win win! 

We also got to have a mission zoom call with ELDER BEDNAR on Tuesday! And oh my goodness it was incredible! We had a whole hour with him and the whole time it was a Q&A where missionaries got to ask him and Sister Bednar questions! And man, the Spirit can be soooo strong even over technology, its insane! Elder Bednar really focused the whole hour on hearing what's not being said by listening to the whisperings of the Spirit. And wow. It was awesome. He told us to be thinking of a question ask and I couldn't think of one the whole time we were talking with him! But, as soon as he closed questions, one came to mind and I was able to study it and reflect on what the Spirit taught me during our call and I've had revelatory studies this week! It's been so fun! Elder Bednar speaking to us is definitely a mission highlight! 

Something that has really helped me this week has been service! I've realized that I have been thinking wayyyy too much about myself and my struggles and its exhausting! And that's not good! So this week as I've been studying humility (or thinking about others more than yourself) I've been able to serve others and it has been so healing for me! As cheesy as that sounds, it's so true! I've been able to feel like a normal missionary and it has been amazing! Mosiah 2:17 says "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." Service has been the best! Try and find someone to serve this week! 

God is so aware of us and knows just what we need! Christ suffered for you! They know just how to help us through our struggles and are there to lift us and support us! I love them so much and I love yall! Have an amazing week!

Love, Sister Crouch 

1. First and last kiss of the mission! Apparently it's a thing to kiss the first fish you ever catch? 

2. ELDER BEDNAR! 

3. Service!

4. Just hanging with some chicks

5. I tried to sculpt Sister Craddock during a zoom call...I wasnt too far off lol

6. C²

7. I caught a fish so big it broke the pole! Basically a pro 

Week 50: "I'll Turn to you" ... Patent Pending

Hey y'all! Week 9 of isolation! Day 62! Isn't that crazy? We did get some good news about isolation from President this week! We are officially allowed to teach people in person! As long as it's at the church...and we wear face masks...and stay 6 ft apart...and sanitize everything we touch afterwards......but still! That means we're getting closer to being able to go back out! So we are super happy about that! 

We had some awesome quarantine miracles this week! We finally were able to post the song Sister Craddock and I wrote on Facebook and it's been so crazy to see it explode! It has over 60 shares, has reached over 9,000 people and 4,400 people have viewed it! It is so awesome! So many people have said the kindest things about it, we had people messaging us asking for the audio, and so many people felt the Spirit as they watched. That was just amazing! Lately it's been really hard to feel like I'm helping anyone in isolation, and that has been super lame! But our song touched people and helped brighten people's day, so that was a huge tender mercy. If you haven't hear the song yet, I'll send the link and feel free to check it out if you feel so inclined ;)

Another awesome miracle! We have someone new to teach!!!!!! We haven't had anyone new to teach since FEBRUARY...3 MONTHS AGO!!! And! Our new person is golden, he has amazing questions, is reading the Book of Mormon on his own and tells us everytime we talk that he cant wait to worship with us when church opens back up. We even got to have a worship service with him over video chat! It was amazing to see his enthusiasm for the gospel! 

Okay I've got to be honest. This week was a lot harder than usual. Usually, I try my best to stay positive and happy, but this week that wasn't going too well haha. Satan was having a grand time trying to discourage me. And honestly, I was discouraged this week! So I prayed really hard before bed one night asking to feel God's love for me and to know that I'm doing okay as a missionary. The next day, I got to see the Waldrops from Mendenhall (aka some of my favorite people on this entire planet!), we had a sacrament attendance with one of our friends joining our worshop service, we had so many positive messages about our song, all of which came the very next day! I was so full of gratitude to my Heavenly Father for His loving hand! God really is aware of us. He hears and answers our prayers! He loves us more than we can even comprehend! He's too good to me. I'm so grateful for Him! 

Jesus Christ can help us through our struggles and make our burdens feel light! We don't  have to go through life alone. Isn't the so amazing? Man, I just love God and Jesus Christ! And They love us too! 

Alma 26:37

"Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen."

I love y'all and hope yall have a great week!

Love, Sister Crouch

1. We got to get together as missionaries and help at the Bishop's Storehouse on the condition we social distanced. We kept our promise! Lol

2. The last picture of our district before transfers haha. You could say my hat one-upped the rest 

3. The WALDROPS!

4. Humid hair! 85% humidity most of this week caused our hair to double in size. Bring on the summer lol

5. More zoom calls haha

https://www.facebook.com/109692950693783/posts/131940085135736/

^^^check out our song!

Week 49: "I don't know if I should listen to Beyoncé or the Book of Mormon."

Wow, what a week it has been! Sister Craddock and I hit 11 months!! Crazy, right? When did we get so old?! We have started to get our foreign missionaries and I could be called at any time for transfer news! So not nerve wracking AT ALL!  But its exciting times to be a missionary for sure! First facebook, now all these new missionaries. It's been so fun to kind of be a pioneer for the mission!

Funny story: We got a referral for this one guy who wanted a Book of Mormon, so we called him and set up a video chat for that night! So we're talking and this guy is flat out hilarious and so extra and I loved every second of it! He's on his porch chatting with us and we start to explain what the Book of Mormon is and all that jazz when a car drives by. Well this guy just goes "hold up, hold UP. I dont know whether I should listen to Beyoncé or the Book of Mormon." I laughed so hard, but it was a genuine struggle for him that totally made my night!

Speaking of Beyoncé! I've come to know for myself how it feels to be Beyoncé! So Sister Craddock and I recorded our song on our phone and it was good enough. Was it the best quality? Nah. Did it get the job done? Yeah it did! Well we send the video to the elders to see if it was okay to post on our page and they call President to ask if they can film it with their fancy videoing equipment they've invested into (we had no idea lol). So they call us to tell us to come to the church the next day and they're going to record the song. We just went with it. So we show up, happy the elders want to be apart of it, and we set up shop. They had tripods, microphones, fancy lights and I was SHOOK. They grab a piano and move it to the foyer, set it up with all angles, had 3 phone cameras recording different angles, and it was insane! So we record our first take and there's a fire alarm behind us. Tacky, we know. So as a joke Sister Craddock turns to me (jokingly) and says "man I wish we had like a fancy tree or something to cover that." Well, 2 seconds later the elders run off somewhere and come back with A FERN TO COVER IT!!! I was laughing so hard! They looked at us and said "you said you wanted to cover it". If we said we should move the piano an inch, they were already on it! Every need, CATERED! It was so extra and so hilarious. Picture is attached below. They're editing the video today, catch it on the FB soon! 

This week I've been thinking a lot about my Mom (she's the best) and all she has done for me. I've been thinking about how special it is that God gives us the chance to have families and to have joy in those families! I thought a lot about all the Christlike attributes my mom has that I want to have one day. I was thinking about Christ's first recorded miracle in His ministry in John 2 when He turns water to wine at a wedding in Cana. What's cool about that story is that Mary, Christ mom went to Jesus for help when they ran out of wine because she had complete confidence in Him and His purpose. She turned to the servants at the wedding and said "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." Isn't that cool?! Mary had such great faith! Moms are so cool because they see the best in us even at our worst. They see our potential, love us unconditionally. I think a mom's love is like a glimpse of the love our Heavenly Father has for us. I love you Mom!! Thanks for raising me!

I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and they are real! They care about you! They're there to help you through any trials you may be having. Turn to them and they'll turn to you! I love y'all, have a great week! 

Love, Sister Crouch

1. What it looks like when the district sings an opening hymn over video chat for our district meetings

2. More zoom calls!

3. The sisters in our zone!

4. Happy Mother's Day!

5. Started from the bottom...

6.  ...Now we're here.

7. 11 months! 

Week 48: LBRM gets DOUBLED!

I swear my mission experience just keeps getting crazier and crazier! Heavenly Father is really keeping us on our toes out in the field! We had another mission zoom call on Tuesday (thankfully this on wasn't 6 hours long lol) and President Varner dropped some crazy news! We are getting 150 MORE MISSIONARIES in the next TWO WEEKS from all the foreign reassignments!!!!!!!! Isnt that insane?!  We have 130 in the mission right now, so we are more than doubling! More crazy news: everyone in the mission currently will have a new companion (some will get 3) and every 2 bedroom apartment is going to have 4 missionaries in it! Sister Craddock and I have a 2 bedroom apartment so we'll get 2 more sisters! It's literally so crazy! We are so excited to have more missionaries and more company to keep us occupied in isolation...which has officially been extended until May 15th, possibly longer! Yay!!!! 

We actually got to do stuff this week! Like normal stuff! We went to help at the Bishop's storehouse with all the missionaries in our district and with members of the stake and that was so fun! We had to wear gloves and masks the whole time, but I'm just glad we actually got to serve someone IN PERSON! That was a huge tender mercy. We have been going to the church a lot to work so some stuff for Facebook and we have gotten super creative with our filming "equipment" for our videos lol (pics below). We bought a frisbee and found some tennis racquets and a tennis ball so we've been playing lots of fun stuff in the sun! The watch tan is only improving, right alongside my jambu tan lines! It's been a good week, not much to report on!

We did have some super simple, yet amazing miracles this week, though! We have decided to call some of our past investigators or potential investigators in our contact lists and it was really cool to see the Spirit lead us to those we needed to call. We would scroll through the list and a name would stick out to me and we would just call them. It was crazy to hear things like "this just brightened my day" or "I really needed this today" or "I was just thinking about you!" It was awesome to know that God is still leading me helping me brighten other's days. We even got in contact with Donna, our mega miracle from a few months ago! We haven't been able to get ahold of her since February, but we did this week and she wants us to call again! 

I finished the Book of Mormon again this week for our 90 day challenge and oh my goodness it was so amazing! It is 1000% the word of God and divine! There were lots of things I learned this round of reading. The thing that sticks out to me the most is that I need to have faith ON the Lord, not just faith in Him. That's something I noticed this time reading is that the prophet Mormon (who abridges most of the records that make up the Book of Mormon) had very intentional language when he wrote of faith. There were times when he invited us to have faith ON the Lord. And that got me thinking! How is having faith on the Lord different than having faith in Him?! What was Mormon trying to teach me?! I came to the conclusion after much pondering and reflecting that Mormon was asking us to rely on Christ. To not just believe in Him as our Savior, but to believe Him! To believe in the promises He gives us. To trust that He really will heal us, help us, and lift us! To rely completely and wholly on Him. It was pretty cool to learn that lesson in isolation as missionary, when it's been really hard to have faith on Christ. So that's what Sister Crouch here is working on right now! It's been a really cool, really revelatory read of the Book of Mormon the past 3 months! 

Even though our circumstances are way different than what we were used to and life has been surprisingly difficult inside, I'm grateful for a Savior who knows exactly how I feel, knows exactly how to help me, and knows how to lift me back up again! He's to good to me. I love Him and I'm so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who sent Christ for you and for me! 

"And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil-"

3 Nephi 27:14

I love y'all! Have a great week!!

 Sister Crouch

1. Refining those made tennis skillz

2. What other Wal-mart shoppers see 

3. Behind the scenes of our FB video, dropping soon! 

Week 47: Catch me bopping it to our Christian jam

First off! I know some of y'all are probably wondering. Yes. Yes, I did beat the high score on bop it! And it was pretty epic, to say the least! And yes, we have watched Legacy even more this week. We are still obsessed! But how can you not be?! Haha we have had such a great week, despite the fact that today marks 6 weeks in isolation. A WHOLE TRANSFER of my mission has been indoors!!! Isn't that so crazy?! Somehow, we are able to find joy every day and we have had a blast every day. Here's some of the things that we've been up to!

• we found magnolia blossoms! Nearly 11 months in the Magnolia states and we saw our first ones this week!

• we had more mission Facebook zoom calls 

• we had a few fun picnics on the church sidewalks to just be outside! The church is our new favorite spot!

• my watch tan got even tanner 

• Sister Craddock and I wrote a super awesome Christian song!! Dropping on Facebook soon

• got blessed with so much food from so many amazing members. Southern hospitality is so real folks.

• went on a few runs to try and work off the amazing food the amazing members brought us...

And that's about it! Another productive week here in Madison lol. We did have some awesome miracles though and plenty of tender mercies! One of them was with writing our song!

So we have been encouraged time and time again to use our talents on our Facebook page and that's an issue for Sister Crouch here because my talents are not what really ones I could show case...so that's been a challenge! But sister Craddock plays those ivories like Bach and has some pipes to go with it. Me, on the other hand, have always liked writing but definitely wouldn't call it my talent. Sister Craddock had the idea to collaborate our interests and write a song about Jesus Christ! I was super excited and oh my goodness it must've been meant to be because we cranked that song out in maybe 3 hours, lyrics, melody and all! We were shook. The Spirit totally enhanced my measly attempt to write lyrics and inspired us with something pretty awesome! It reminded me of a talk I hear my first day in the MTC by someone in the MTC presidency. They talked about the miracle of feeding the 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and how Christ magnified what seemed small and insignificant into something bigger than itself. That has stuck with my my whole mission. Time and time again I found that whenever I presented the Lord with my effort, my talents, my will (my 5 loaves and 2 fish) the Savior has magnified it to be something greater than I could ever make it. To me that was definitely a miracle and I'm so grateful for the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ!

Isolation has taught me a lot. Its taught me so much about the Savior Jesus Christ and His awareness of each one of us. I've learned more about finding joy despite our circumstances if our focus is on Jesus Christ. I've come to love the peace the Book of Mormon brings even more! Now, I wouldn't call this experience a prison, but this is kind of like my own personal Liberty Jail experience. The Prophet Joseph Smith spent 5 months in prison the winter 1838-39. And they were awful months! But the prophet received some of the most beautiful and comforting revelations from the Lord during his experience and learned about God's will for His children. That's a lot like my experience...to a degree! During this trying time I've learned more about the Atonement, felt the Spirit teach me more, and have really come to know my Savior better. That's a pretty awesome way to spend 6 weeks. :)

I have such a strong testimony of the principle that joy comes no matter our circumstances. If you aren't feeling happiness or joy during these hard times, turn to our Savior! Let Him lead you to that which only He can bring! He's always ready to help us, His arm is stretched out to us all the day long. I love Him so much and I'm so grateful for Him. Christ lives, God lives and they love us! I love yall and I hope yall have a good, happy week! 

Love, Sister Crouch

1. MLC 

2. The first magnolia of the season!

3. You can tell we take our stewardship calls very very seriously 

4. Usually how I look after calling more people in area Book than I can count

5. Jimmy John's picnic at the church!