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! 

Week 46: L: "Love is exciting, happy and splendid." C^²: *shrieks*

34 days of quarantine DONE! And boy, it's been 34 weird days. This week was no exception. Not much has happened in all honesty, but at the same time so much has happened? Isolation is the biggest blur of my life! I'll give yall the run down of this week!

•we got take out Cane's and had a picnic in the park where a squirrel came and tried to sneak some of our fries. He wasnt very sneaky haha

•we've been Facebooking lots! Making lots videos and fun stuff to post which has kept us busy

•we called former investigators and actually have some teaching appointments!!!!! That was a HUGE tender mercy! 

•I almost beat the high score on our bop it. 

•we finished listening to Saints 2 (a huge 44 chapter book) so we restarted Saints 1(another huge 44 chapter book). ROUND 2.

•we have watched the same church movie "Legacy" approximately 5 times this week. I'll explain our crazy obsession with Legacy real quick. "Legacy" is a fun Restoration church movie thats about the Saint's early history in the church up to their migration to the Salt Lake Valley. But, amist all the history, there's a SUPER CUTE love story and Sister Craddock and I have come to the conclusion we miss our Rom Coms. The romance makes us literally giddy, it's hilarious. Theres one line in the movie where the love interest of this one lady goes "Love is exciting, happy and spledid." and no joke, Sister Craddock and I get so giggly and scream a little bit. What can we say, isolation is making us crazy like the rest of yall. 

So as you can see, it's been a very productive week for the Madison Sisters! Lol, seriously though it has been somehow! God's work doesn't stop! Miracles are still all around us in the Lord's work! 

Something awesome about quarantine is that I've had some amazing scripture studies just filled with the Spirit. I've learned so much the last month and it's been so uplifting and so much fun. Something so awesome stood out to me this week that I want to share with yall! So theres this prophet Mormon in the Book of Mormon who was commanded to keep a record of his people on the very sacred plates of his people when he is 24. When he was 15 Christ visited him and taught him. I couldn't help but think of Joseph Smith as I read that! When Joseph was 24, he reorganized Christ's church and was the prophet of it. At 14 he was visited by God and Jesus Christ and taught about the Lord's church that would soon be on the earth. The Spirit touched me and taught me that God really does trust us youngins to accomplish great things, He works through the weak and simple, things that dont seem possible are because of Him! We are all apart of pretty awesome work for our Father in Heaven and He trusts you, loves you and is helping you. I've definitely felt that this week in quarantine. I'm so grateful for that knowledge!

Christ lives and loves us! Take this time in quarantine to grow closer to Him and learn to hear Him. I know our Heavenly Father will help us as we put in that effort. I love yall! Have a good week and look for the joy in these hard times!

Love, Sister Crouch

1. Our Canes picnic 

2&3. Movie nights! 

4. Where we are 80% of the time in quarantine haha

5. Didn't take many fun pictures this week so please enjoy Henry the Camel

Week 45: Zoom calls...more like DOOM calls...

Well, the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission has gone Facebook this week! We have had Facebook since before I got here, but it's like official now! And it's been a crazy week because of it...well as crazy as a week can be in quarantine! We have been on our phones literally so much all week so my eyes are honestly dying from all the blue light but anything for God's work! It's been really cool to see the mission get excited about this new change though and have a chance to still find people to teach! It's been awesome.

Something not so awesome about this week is Sister Craddock and I had TEN HOURS OF ZOOM CALL MEETINGS...we had meetings with the leadership in the mission to talk about heading the Facebook pages we now run and that took almost 3 hours then a mission-wide zoom call for 6.5 hours the next day!!! I was deceased but it's all good. It has been really cool to talk about our new way to proselyte. So we made a page for every zone in the mission to try and find people by posting uplifting content! It's been working really well in other missions so we are trying it out! It's been fun so far lol. A little stressful, but fun so far lol.

Easter was really so different this year but one that definitely is going in the books. Our mission did a Facebook life worship for everyone at home and it was really cool to still worship our Savior from home! And how cool was it to fast on Good Friday?! I'll be honest, that was like the hardest fast of my whole entire life! I was shakey by 11am haha. I thought to myself about how hard this fast was and the Spirit taught me a lot in that moment about how hard our Savior's Friday was. So if you struggled with your fast, you're in the best company ever with Jesus Christ! Thinking about Him all weekend was the only way I found joy with my quarantined circumstances and being away from my family, it's what got me through! Then I realized that that's what Christ did. He focused on US to get through His Easter weekend. Just some food for thought, He focused on YOU to get through what He had to go through. That makes me feel pretty darn special and loved and hopefully it makes you feel the same way! 

I'm in 3 Nephi right now with our 90 day challenge and I just read the story of the resurrected Christ appearing to the Nephites on the Americas and letting them feel the nail prints in His hands one by one. I always thought it was really interesting that He had scars since I grew up believing being resurrected gave us a perfect body (like minus scars!). I read this scripture a few months ago and it hit me why He had the scars :) 1 Nephi 21:16 "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." Christ engraved us on the palms of His hands, He always remembers us. That's the thought that's been in my mind all weekend and I hope yall were able to feel our Savior's love for you the way I was!

I am grateful that we got some time to reflect on the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for each one of us! I am grateful for His love and grace that let's me change and repent and become more like Him everyday. I'd be a different person without my Savior. I love Him and I know He is real and He lives!! I love yall and hope yall have a good week! 

Love, Sister Crouch 

1. Easter cookie decorating! Remembering the reason for the season :))

2. Trying to Facebook 

3. Hour 5 of our zoom meeting...

4. My favorite stop on our walks!

Week 44: President Russell M. Nelson? More like Hustle M. Nelson!

The Lament of Sister Crouch:

Its day 20 of quarantine. The days are getting longer, and growing dimmer. But only because it's been cloudy in Mississippi this week. The pages of my Book of Mormon are well-worn, my eyes burn from the blue light of phone screen from all the Facebooktime we have had (gotta spread that gospel). The only comfort I have, is knowing we have Bluebell ice cream in the fridge, and google photos movie maker to create our masterpieces. 

Okay, in all seriousness! This week was slow, but full of tender mercies. Sister Craddock and I discovered a movie creator on google photos (for all you isolated missionaries who are trying to get creative!!) and its changed our isolation time! The past few weeks have been pretty sad...being inside, not able to proselyte like normal has been a tougher adjustment than I thought it'd be. But nothing stops God's work! We had a total miracle with the video creator! I had an idea of how we can share who we are and why we are here through a video for Facebook, and the Spirit literally put so many ideas of how it could be put together and it fell into place so perfectly! So we posted it and together, Sister Craddock and I got 1000 views! Don't get me wrong, we aren't focused on the views or numbers. It was just a tender mercy knowing we are still able to touch someone watching the video from our apartment. It was so amazing and changed the mood of our whole week!

Other than that discovery, the rest of the week has been about the same, BUT! GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING! I think we are all just trying to keep up with our prophet, President Nelson!  I dont know about you, but it was the best conference I've ever watched because I really spent so much time preparing for it. The Lord loves effort, and He definitely blessed all those who prepared! I am so grateful for Joseph Smith, the restoration of Christ's church and gospel, and the direction and peace a living prophet gives the God's people. God still works with us because He still loves us! I'm so grateful for that knowledge. 

I've been reflecting a lot on the early days of the church this week and I am always amazing with how the First Vision (the event itself) relates to me. God the Father and Jesus Christ visited 14 year old Joseph Smith in answer to his prayer. I've been thinking about that a lot. On paper, Jospeh Smith seems like the most unlikely person to have anything extraordinary happen to him. He has a 3rd grade education, has never read the Bible all the way through, didn't know where to turn for forgiveness of his sins. But God sees potential, and decided to work with and through him. God called him BY NAME. He cared enough to answer Joseph's question and that's how God cares for and loves us too. God cares and works with and through me too and He does with you. That event changed the world, and it has changed my life. Follow the prophet's invitation and study the new proclamation about the Restoration of the gospel! Miracles will come :)

I am so grateful for this gospel, for a loving Father in Heaven who still leads and guides His people! I'm grateful for the peace I have during these crazy times. I'm grateful for Christ and His sacrifice to bring that peace to me. For those who are looking for peace in these hard times: check out comeuntochrist.org and learn how you can find more peace in your life, despite circumstances! I love yall and am praying for yall! God's got this 

Love Sister Crouch

1. The only picture I took all week...whoops. 

2. The video we made for Facebook for those who didn't have a chance to see it! 

Week 43: Yes, yes that is facial hair...

As you can probably tell from the pictures attached, this week has been whack! We are on day 13 of isolation as of today, and we'll be here in isolation until (at the minimum) April 14th...so things can only get weirder from here!  In all seriousness though, it has been a good week! Sister Craddock are really getting creative when it comes to ministering to members and their families! I'm really learning how to utilize Facebook as a tool in missionary work, and I'm really gaining, or at least trying to gain, patience! So all in all it's been a wholesome week!

So the mustaches. We have turned them into a tool for ministering!! Weird right? Yeah, you're right it is weird, but it's also so fun! One of our favorite families EVER had a birthday in their family! Their daughter is so cute and sweet so we decided to make a birthday video of us singing and being super goofy (hence the stache) to brighten her day! Although it is pretty unconventional lol, she loved it and thought it was hilarious! It felt really good to still bring people a little bit of joy from the apartment. There even came a funny story out of the mustaches! Right after we made the video, we heard a knock on our door and it was our neighbor bringing by cheesecake to our house! Sister Craddock and I PANICKED! We were throwing props off of us, but I came to the conclusion itd take too long to take off our mustaches so I just full sent and opened the door! His face was shocked to say the least.  I explained how we were making a video for a kid and wanted it to be silly and he replies "well, you hit the mark." #ROASTED. It was hilarious. 

Quarantine is still pretty boring, but we really are trying to make the most of it! Just to update y'all:

-we still cant crochet anything except a long chain of yarn

-we have been going on like 3 mile walks to get out of the apartment and it has been glorious

-we are still making funny videos to help us laugh 

-we finished Saints one and are 15 chapters into Saints 2 #addicted

-our Spanish skills are improving thanks to duolingo! 

-my forearm muscles are sore from the extensive coloring we've been doing lol

-we are still studying the heck out of the gospel and it's been legendary 

If theres one think the past 12 days has taught me, it's that happiness really is a choice! There are some days we are down in the dumps being stuck in the apartment but we choose to make the most of it and by the end of the day we are just happy! During my extensive study of the Book of Mormon this week, I got to the war chapters (honestly they're some of my favorites!) and the idea that happiness is a choice slapped me upside the head! Just for some context, the Nephites (aka the good guys) are at war with the Lamanites (the bad guys) because the Lamanites want to take away their religious freedom and subject them to bondage. Sounds like the Nephites have plenty to be unhappy about, right? Well, in Alma 50:23 it says "But behold there never was a HAPPIER TIME among the people of Nephi..." Crazy right?! These people are at war, times are uncertain, yet they are feeling so much happiness! The most happiness in the past 550 years! Isnt that insane?! They chose happiness. I know it's way easier to say to just choose happiness, but like the people of Nephi, if we rely on our Savior Jesus Christ during this scary and uncertain time, we too can find happiness! I've felt that this week and I know yall can too :)

I know God's got this. Times may seem uncertain to us, but this is all apart of God's PERFECT plan. Keep trusting in Him and leaning on our Savior and Redeemer to get through! Miracles happen when we trust God and Christ! I love yall and I'm grateful for all yall and the examples you have been to me! 

Love, Sister Crouch

Ps during my extensive study of Book of Mormon, I came to the conclusion that the Lord of the Rings is based off the Book of Mormon. Shoot me an email to hear the theory.

1. The South is just too beautiful 

2&3. Costume and props for our videos

4. Please enjoy the product of our boredom pt. 2

Week 42: Self Isolation... more like self isoLAMEtion #nothingcanstopthiswork

It's safe to say that this has been the weirdest week of my whole mission. Like all the other missionaries across the globe, sister Craddock and I are also quarantined for the time being which has been very interesting! I'll admit, it's been less than ideal, but I've decided to turn the 2 weeks inside into a spiritual bootcamp that makes my faith grow instead of 2 weeks that shake my faith. Because of that, I have seen the tender mercies of the Lord all around me everyday! That's been a huge miracle for me!

In all reality, quarantine has been pretty boring. But to enlighten yall on what these two sisters have been up to, we have:

-learned how to shuffle cards like a true Vegas dealer (bridge and all)

-learned how to do the cup song using an actual cup

-reenacted scripture stories using kinetic sand, and creative sets on the kitchen table (s/o to the Sherman's for letting us borrow their sand!)

-learned how to crochet a long chain of yarn...still cant turn it into anything yet though haha. Stay tuned!

-have listened to 25 chapters of Saints in 48 hours...I'm actually officially obsessed with church history!

-sang primary bops while doing the cup song cup beat. Pretty legendary.

-have studied our booties off! 

-have become professional directors and producers of goofy videos that make us die laughing 

-have walked around our neighborhood more than I walked around BYU campus

And that's really about it. It's been interesting to try and fill our time and also ENJOY our time, but everyday we have miracles! Sometimes that miracle is just that we found something to laugh at or that we found joy! It's definitely an interesting time to be a missionary!

I've been focusing my studies this week on faith, because I really need it right now! As I was reading in the Bible dictionary, I read a super cool line about faith. It says "Where there is true faith there are miracles, visions, dreams, healings, and all the gifts of God that He gives to His saints." Sometimes the miracles aren't that our trials disappear or that covid19 is suddenly cured and life goes back to how it was (even though that would be a pretty cool miracle). Sometimes our miracles are that we came out from trials and hard times stronger than we went into them or enduring them with joy! The Joseph Smith translation for the scripture Hebrews 11:40 says "God having provided better things for them through their sufferings, for without sufferings they could not be made perfect." Sometimes trials and hard times are better for us in the long run than a miraculous solution or deliverance. Trust the Master Creator, trust that His plan is perfect for you and this work. Nothing can frustrate His work or His plan. Keep having faith and find the miracles that happen! 

I'm really grateful for the peace that the gospel brings! I've felt the peace and comfort of the Holy Ghost this whole week as our mission is changing. I'm grateful to have another experience to grow my faith! The world is in our Father in Heaven's hands! He's got this. I love Him and I'm grateful for that knowledge! I love yall! Have a great week, stay healthy and happy.

Love, Sister Crouch

1. Social distancing who? 

2. In honor of Vegas being shut down...

3. My favorite covid meme.

4. Please enjoy the product of our boredom ;)