Week 76: Pull your weight

 "Pull your weight" has become the motto of my mission this week and will be the motto of my mission this next week because #Thanksgiving! We have eaten SO MUCH FOOD. Like so much. It's literally insane. I think I cooked 2/21 meals this week because of our sweet members and their kindness. Get this. So there's a restuarant called Bozos here in Goula and it's a must go while here. Some members called us this week and invited us to go on them and get anything we wanted. So Sister Nelson and I ordered this 1/2 lb. burger that was stacked high with onion rings and we were certain we couldn't finish it. But we pulled our weight and demolished it and regretted it 2 seconds later.  Just getting ready for this Thursday (we have 3 dinner appointments.)

Other than dying thoroughly after our Bozos, we had an amazing week! We did so much service and it seriously made the week go by so fast and made it so fun! I raked probably a 1/2 acre by myself, sawed this giant bush in an old lady's yard, dug out a few flower beds, and passed out a bunch of Thanksgiving day food to people who needed it all along the gulf coast. Service seriously is the best! I love helping those who can't do certain things themselves. Try and serve someone this week and see how you feel!

We did another church swap at our friend's Baptist church and it was so fun! Our friend is the Pastor there and he invited us to come to their Church's 50th anniversary and so we did! Everyone was so excited to see us there and it was so fun to be able to just get to know people and let them get to know us! We even got to stay for a SOUTHERN potluck. They know how to luncheon! After our friend's afternoon sermon, we went up to say bye before we left and he got choked up when he told us how much it meant to him that we came to support him. He told us "if it were up to me, I'd say we're friends." That was so cool! Something I think we overlook in missionary week is how important it is to just be friends with people not of our faith. Christ can unify even the "Mormons" and the Baptists as our good friend Dan would say. God definitely had His hand in us meeting and I'm so grateful for that! 

I'm so grateful for this time of year to reflect on all our blessings. I hope everyone is taking President Nelson's challenge and seeing the blessings of gratitude! God is so good and I'm so grateful for a modern day prophet and the counsel he gives. The church is true! This is Christ's church! 

I hope yall have a great week and a happy thanksgiving! Tell your social media what you're thankful for  #givethanks

Love yall so much!

Love Sister Crouch

All the pics are from Bozos. The before and the after haha

Week 75: God is like a girl...sometimes He leaves you on read

 So a lot has happened since I wrote last. It's been a party! Transfers happened and I found out that I'm going to be ending my mission in Pascagoula and staying with Sister Nelson! This is by far the longest I've ever stayed in an area (7 months to be exact) and it's crazy to see how many amazing relationships I have with the people here. I wouldn't want to die (or end my mission lol) in any other place! 

The work here in Goula has started to pick up so much and it has me super excited to end my mission working hard! We have been able to see so many miracles with the people that we're meeting, the people we are teaching and the attitude we are having! 

So I was able to check something off my mission bucket list this week and do a church swap with one of the sweet ladies we are teaching right now! Her name is Georgia and she is such a gem, we love her! We have been trying to get her to church for months and we finally got her to come and then we went to her church. Man, did we stick out like a sore thumb though! Haha we were definitely the only white people there AND we were wearing the name tag haha. But it was so fun. I really loved being able to see how other people worship and show God how much they love Him, but it also made me so grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! They even had me saying "mmmmhmmmm" by the end of the sermon and I fit right in ;)

So I mentioned meeting a Baptist preacher in my last email who wanted to learn more about us and our church. Well we got to have dinner with him and his family! It was so awesome. First off, they took us to cracker barrel and they while time they just asked about us, our family, our church, everything! They just wanted to know more about us. It was soooo cool! A lot people in the South grow up being taught in church that we aren't christian and that we aren't good people, including him! But at dinner, he told us how he read the pamphlet about Joseph Smith that we gave him and he said "y'all are good." They're pretty good too lol. They even showed us their church and sang us some of their hymns and it was just so cool. The same thought kept coming to my mind the whole night saying "we aren't God's only people". How true is that?! God works through everyone to make His work move forward and I'm grateful I was able to feel that. We are doing another church swap with them this Sunday and I'm so excited! 

I've been thinking a lot about giving it all to the Lord. People like Georgia and Preacher Dan teach me so much about what it means to surrender their life over to God and to do His will. I'm so grateful to be in a place with people who love the Lord as much as me. I was reading Alma 39:13 and it taught "...turn to the Lord with all your might, mind and strength." The people down South are an amazing example of that! I'm trying more and more everyday to keep turning to Christ and to keep becoming better. I know the Lord is there everytime we turn to Him and He is ready to help us become better.

I love yall so much! Have a great week and turn to the Lord :D

Love, Sister Crouch

https://fb.watch/1GypZQwQ1g/

^please give this a watch if you want a good laugh. My town Goula even gets a shoutout!

1. Georgia and her sister at their church!

2. I also got to see the Waldrops last week! They came to see me on the coast

3. We went bowling as a district for our last pday together and celebrated 2 elders' birthdays! 

4. I BROKE 100 FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER

5. The sweet sisters we do extra studies with for our trainings

6. Our friend that we see on the beach! Sweetest guy you'll ever meet

7. We got a picture with BB8

Week 73&74: The one where I was evacuated...again.

 Well, if you heard about hurricane Zeta that hit Louisiana and Mississippi this week, then you can probably already guess what I was up to this week...that's right! Hurrication round...4! Man, this hurricane season has been crazy for the Gulfport zone! 

So hurrication this round definitely wasn't as exciting as last time, with 53 sisters living at the church, but we still had a blast! Sister Nelson and I went to Denham Springs, LA and stayed with 2 awesome sisters and we lived in a house with a queen bed for each sister! That was a tender mercy lol. Our whole zone was super close the whole time we were there, so we'd get together at the church and have dinner together, have zone meetings, do missionary work together. It was a blast! We even got to drive to Baton Rouge and see the temple with our whole zone! It was so much fun! We've had plenty of bonding opportunities the past few months! We got to come back to Goula on Saturday and it felt so good to be back home! 

While we were in Denham Springs, we also had our zone conference! It was so fun to have even more time to spend with everyone and have an uplifting conference despite being outside of our area! We learned a lot and I'm definitely motivated to be a lot better this last leg of my mission! It got me pumped like no other! Also, get this...I PLAYED A MUSICAL NUMBER FOR THE ZONE ON THE PIANO!!! Yall, I haven't been able to play the piano since 5th grade but I've been relearning since quarantine and I was able to arrange the song "I Stand All Amazed" and played it for the zone! It was so cool! God can magnify even our nonexistent talents! 

When we finally got back to Goula, we decided to go to the pier at the beach and plan out the rest of our week. We normally go to different parks around Goula to plan, but we were feeling the beach that day! So we get there and we are planning and all the sudden this guy comes up to our table and sits down and tells us that he is a Baptist preacher and that he grew up his whole life being told Mormons were bad and that we worshipped Joseph Smith and all that jazz. I immediately got a little defensive and nervous because I didn't want to bash with a preacher! But this man continued and said he actually wanted to hear what we were all about and get something to take home to read so he could learn more and be more open minded. My jaw was on the floor! That NEVER happens! Like...ever. So Sister Nelson taught him about the Book of Mormon and we gave it to him and he already was so open minded, it was amazing! He even invited us to come over for dinner one night after he had read he could ask us questions he got. It was seriously SO. COOL. It was a miracle for sure! And looking back on our day, it's so cool to see how the Spirit guided us to be at the right place at the right time so we could meet that man! God is good!

I've been thinking a lot about feeling and following the Holy Ghost, and I don't about yall but sometimes I feel entirely disconnected from heaven. I was feeling that all week! But I think that God is constantly speaking to us through the Spirit and we dont even realize it! That's how I felt on saturday after that amazing miracle! So to try and see the Lord's hand guiding and directing better, I go through my day as I pray each night and thank Him for all the tender mercies or good things that happen and it has helped me realize how much the Spirit is guiding me! I'm so grateful for the companionship I have with the Holy Ghost and for my connection to Heaven through him! If yall are feeling disconnected, I promise God is leading and guiding you always! 

I'm so grateful for for this gospel and for my Savior. I was talking to Sister Amos this week and I realized how much the Savior loves broken things. He loves to heal and put broken things back together, including us! I'm so grateful I get to share His gospel with the people of Goula! I love yall and I hope that yall have a great week! 

1. Gulfport zone sisters

2. Gulfport zone 

3. Lol Sis Nelson forgot her tag at zone conference so we had to commemorate the occasion 

4. Sister T-Payne

5. The Denham sisters we stayed with

6. I got to see Mawmaw Kirby on my way home from Denham Springs in Slidell! Best day ever!

7. I also got to see Mr. Jefferson in Slidell lol. Best day ever!

8. The LITstrict 

9. Gulfport zone round 2

10. Mawmaw Kirby!

Week 72: Back in the promised land

 Well, after 2 glorious weeks in Gulfport, I'm finally back in the promised land of Pascagoula with my baby Sister Nelson! She's a doll. We are having a blast! She is a reassigned missionary going to Seoul South, Korea and so she is teaching me a little bit of Korean! I'm real glad she gets to spend some time in the best mission ever before going to Korea lol #LBRM4ever

This week has been filled with miracles! After saying goodbye to my trio (it was honestly such a sad day! Love them) sis Nelson and I headed back and we have been blessed! Our ward mission leader set up appointments for us with people we couldn't get into contact with so we were booked all week! We taught a bunch of lessons to members and investigators and it was felt SO GOOD! Goula was having a bit of a dry spell teaching wise (3 transfers long lol) and things are finally starting to pick up! We even put someone on date to be baptized this week. It's really nice to see the fruits of our efforts here :)) 

So we are working with my good friend Daphne and we had our first official lesson with her this week! She cooked us the BEST gumbo I've ever had and then we talked about the Atonement of Christ. I'm so grateful to know that Christ suffered for our sins so that way we don't have to if we just repent. God is good. she really loved talking about the Atonement and it made sense to her! So we are going to go through the lessons with her and officially start teaching her more! Afterwards she told us how she was telling her uncle about us and how she believed God sent us to her and he told her "Daphne, angels come in all forms." Sometimes God uses us (meaning ALL of us) to be that ministering angel someone needs. I'm so grateful she shared that with me! 

I'm so grateful to be here in the promised land of Goula! I love the Lord and I'm so grateful for His gospel. Try and find a way you can serve someone this week and be the answer to someone's prayer! I love yall so much! Have a great week.

Love, Sis Crouch

1. The blessed trio

2. The quint got matching moomoos. Catch us looking like grandmas past 9pm (no offense grandma, you rock it )

3. More hurrication pics! My class/bedroom for the weekend!

4. Love Mississippi 

5. The only pic I have with sis Nelson haha

6. More hurrication! 

Week 71: Pensacola...a glorified girls camp

Y'all, I don't even know where to start with this week! It was straight up psycho!! As many of you may of heard, our mission was hit with another hurricane! Hurricane Delta hit Louisiana as a Cat 2 Friday afternoon and yall probably already know what that means...HURRICATION!!!!! Except this time, on steroids.

So get this. Hurricane Delta was originally supposed to hit the entire mission, meaning as of Wednesday afternoon, the entire mission was going to get evacuated. We had a zoom call with President Wed night where he so lovingly told us we were not only all getting evacuated, but we WERE going to get evacuated to Pensacola, FL...like the white sand beaches Pensacola that is a dream vacay spot. Yeah, THAT Pensacola!! But then, Delta started going a little west, so the entire mission ended up evacuating to the Hattiesburg and Gulfport church buildings. Guys, I lived in a church building for 3 days with 50 other sisters from the mission!!!! It was insane!

So here's some funny moments that have happened this past hurrication:
-some guys came and built our showers outside the church building in the parking lot and that's where we showered all weekend lol.
-sooooo many members brought us air mattresses and food for the rest of the weekend
- I spent all weekend with Sister Amos and President Amos and we partied hard with them
- I helped president Amos unclog basically all our toilets...the RIP of not using a church building for 6 months haha
- I got to see 2 of my past companions and most of my mission friends!
- I made so many more mission friends and party hard with them!
- we ate lots of Bluebell
- we just ate lots, period

So basically, this was the best hurrication yet! I had the best time and I really came away feeling uplifted and more unified to the sisters in my mission. Something that has been really hard for me lately has been feeling the difference in the mission recently. We haven't been unified like we were a year ago and it's made me sad! I've been praying lots to know how I can be the change and hurrication was honestly an answer to my prayers! I'm so grateful that God uses every and all opportunities to bless us and help us! God is good all the time!

I'm so grateful that God gives us good out of bad. This gospel is so true! Christ is aware of all those that are suffering in this world and He is aware of you! Keep those who have been affected by the hurricane in your prayers. I love yall! Have a great week!


Love, Sister Crouch

Week 70: Raising Jesus's Name...on a banner

 What is up good people?! What a good week it has been! Transfers were so fun! I got to see so many of my mission friends and I came home with my new companions Sister Payne and Sister Riddle to Gulfport, MS! It has been a nonstop party and I seriously have been nonstop laughing the past 5 days and I could seriously die here...but I'll back in Pascagoula in 8 days with my trainee, Sister Nelson! But until then, I'm gonna keep working and partying here!

It has been such a wacky week lol. I've met amazing people and did some fun stuff here! We went to the beach on Thursday and found a few ladies waving around banners that said "Jesus" on them by the ocean. So obviously, we had to talk to them! We asked what they were doing and we were answered with "follow us and we'll show you!" We ended up lyrical dancing with Jesus banners with 2 random strangers and it was crazy! It was probably the weirdest thing I've done on this earth, but it was fun! Definitely a once in a life time experience! And we met some really great people! It was a blast! 

Okay, but conference guys?? It was sooooo good! I came into conference ready for revelation, I had my questions ready, notebook open and I seriously had answers for all my questions WITHIN 3 talks!! I loved Elder Holland's talk, it really pricked me good! He said "Christianity is comforting, but it is not often comfortable." If that's not meant for me, I dont know what is! I love that even though we are loved, God loves us enough to let us be uncomfortable and have lots of growing pains. God is good!

Sorry this email is super short, but I'm just having too much fun haha. I love yall, I love this gospel and I know Christ is real. Have a great week!!

Love, Sis Crouch

1. Transfer day

2. The real MVP of the Gulfport area

3. I held a ferret this week and it was so whacky haha

4. The squad in Goula

5. Raising the Jesus banner

6. Pday with the elders before transfers!