Week 61: I'm an official sister missionary

Howdy howdy Y'all! We had the best of weeks! We were busy like all day everyday, we are having a baptism this Saturday (!!!), we had zone conference, I've gotten the weirdest missionary tan lines, and the Lord has been in the details! I seriously love missionary work so much! 

So Wednesday was Zone Conference and it was so refreshing! As an STL, I got to instruct the whole zone of missionaries on what it means to be a "hybrid" missionary, combining our skills from quarantine and pre-quarantine. It was a tender mercy for me because I feel like I've had a dry spell with the Holy Ghost, like I haven't been able to hear him speak to me. But, as i was preparing for zone conference I was completely led by the Spirit to help me know what the missionaries needed and how I could help them. The Spirit was really strong as it guided our words to be what the zone needed! I loved being able to have that experience! I seriously love being an STL and figuring out how the Lord wants me to use my talents to serve others and help the missionary efforts. It's a blast! 

We had an amazing lesson with our friend Kevin who is getting baptized on Saturday! Bless his heart, he has been telling everyone and anyone about his baptism, he is that excited!!! So to help him prepare for what happens after we had a lesson with a cute couple in our ward about the temple and it was amazing! We showed him pictures of the Baton Rouge temple as we talked about certain rooms and the Spirit was so strong as we talked about the sealing room and eternal families. He is so excited for his baptism, but more importantly hes so excited for what comes after it! It was a huge tender mercy to see his excitement to continue to grow in the gospel and it has been amazing to see the ward embrace him and help him! Gotta love enduring to the end! 

Something that I've realized this week is how much power there really is in the Book of Mormon. I seriously love the Book of Mormon, especially the war chapters in Alma! I know, weird right? But as I was reading about things that will honestly probably never pertain to me (like war strategy or battles and stuff) the Spirit taught me principles that I could apply to my life every single chapter! Yall, the Book of Mormon is soooo true! I have learned more this time reading the Book of Mormon from the war chapters than I ever had! It's been really cool! 

Just wanted to update my peeps, I am officially a sister missionary. It has taken me almost 14 months to acquire the awkward tan lines that I have and I am pretty darn proud of them! Just figured I'd make everyone aware that the coast is getting me good lol.

I really love the gospel and I love the opportunity to share it and help others repent as I repent! It's the biggest blessing ever! I hit 14 months as a missionary this week and time is going way too fast! I love being a missionary and I love sharing the good news we do. I love yall, I'm grateful for the prayers and support!

Love, Sister Crouch

1. The farmers tan

2. The watch tan

3. District pday at the beach

4. Our neighborhood cat Zoey!  

Week 60: Someone stole my street contact?

Hey yall! I have been running around like a crazy person all week long and it has been the exhausting but I've also felt like a normal missionary again. We have been coming in after 9 most nights and it's been the best! The Lord is definitely blessing us for our efforts because we have had some crazy miracles but have also had some crazy experiences lol.

Okay yall. I can't think of any other place in the world where you literally are competing with other people on the streets for street conversations! Get this. We are trying someone's house who used to be taught by the missionaries when I hear a guy in his driveway next door. I had a very clear impression that we should go talk to him and a conversation popped into my head that we could have. So we leave a note at the house then I just start walking over there to talk to this guy. We have a conversation and MEANWHILE! Another man was walking down the street and honestly he looked a little sketchy...so I avoided eye contact for the most part until he got closer. The guy we were originally talking to (Juan) tells us about how he had a stroke and how God had a plan for him. As soon as I tell Juan that God was good and totally did have a plan for him, (no joke) this sketch guy SWERVES and walks up Juan's driveway! He then begins to preach to us about his belief. This man is holding the biggest Bible I've ever seen, easily 2 feet long and just preaching but like low key preaching that Christ didn't die for everyone. It was so sad to hear that some people didn't believe that Christ was the Savior of the whole world! He tried bashing a little, but I shut him down quick because I was literally trying to tell Juan about the gospel! But, at the end of that crazy interaction, Juan told us we could come back and read the Book of Mormon with him (miracles!!!) which was cool! But yeah. Only in the South does someone literally try to steal my contact! Side note: we totally saw the bashers at Walmart lol.

So we are teaching this guy named Kevin and he is on date to be baptized on August 8th and we are so pumped! But all last weekend we couldn't get in touch with him at all. All our calls went straight to voicemail, he didn't answer any of our texts. Those are very out of the ordinary for Kevin! So we decided to go over on Tuesday and see what the heck was going on. We saw him and told him what was going on and he had no clue what was wrong with his phone. Well we head back home and we get a text that Kevin accidentally blocked us and that's why our calls weren't going through! He's still learning about technology but we are super glad he accidentally blocked us and still wants to get baptized! Haha. We are so excited for him!

I have been studying the war chapters in the Book of Mormon this week and they're secretly some of my favorite chapters because I see the kind of people I want to become in them. There are some amazing people in the war chapters and one of my new favorites is Corianton! Corianton was the son of the prophet Alma and in Alma 39, his dad talks to him about some of the sins that he committed on his mission. I used to be so confused with Corianton, wondering how he could fall so far from the path as he was serving the Lord and preaching the gospel. But this time I was studying and I came across a scripture in Alma 48:18. The prophet historian Mormon is telling us about a war hero and says that he was a man of God and that "...he was a man like unto Ammon, the son of Mosiah, yea, and even the other sons of Mosiah, yea, and also Alma and his sons, for they were ALL men of God." I LOVED that scripture! Corianton may have fell away, but he came back and became a man of God. That's how I want to be! I make mistakes all the time and I sometimes feel like I'll never be who I want to be. But Corianton changed! He became who God needed him to be. He became a man of God! There's hope for all of us to change and become who the Savior and God want us to be and who They needs us to be. 

I am grateful that I can repent and become better. I am so glad that the Savior gave His life for me and for all of us to become like Him. Jesus Christ is my biggest hope and I love Him so much! God is so good! I love Him, love the South and I love yall! 

Love, Sister Crouch

I have been the worst at taking pictures lately so please enjoy the random pictures from my week 

1. I found Paul McCartney's doppelganger in the children's Old Testament book.

2. I found this hideous moomoo at Walmart and it's the best 7 dollars I've ever spent

3. The watch tan is BLINDING

Week 59: Powdered Sugar Everywhere

What is good people?! What a week we have had down here in Goula! We have been so busy with appointments and we have someone that is still progressing to baptism!

Monday night Sister Young and I were able to drive to Baton Rouge for MLC on Tuesday! It was really cool to be able to get to know President Amos even more (he even sat with sis Young and I for lunch!) and see some more missionaries. It was interesting seeing the differences in mission presidents and their councils. It made me miss the Varners a little bit, but it also grew my love and appreciation for President and Sister Amos! The format was really different and it made me realize just how much the mission has changed, how much I have changed! It's crazy what can happen in a few months. But it felt so good to be back in Louisiana!! We obviously had to celebrate the occasion with some beignets from Cafe Du Monde (don't tell Elder Niepraschk)! It was kind of a mess to eat in the car, but by the end of the week we got all the powdered sugar cleaned up haha. We came back with a huge drive to work as hard as we could and get #backtothegrind.

Okay y'all, this week I have felt so unimportant as an STL! I'm not sure what it is, but this round of being a leader has been way harder! I didn't know what to do so I just took it to the Lord and had a "wrestle" with the Lord (Enos 1:2 a great story about prayer!) and just told Him exactly how I felt and told Him about my concerns. The very next day, no joke, I get a call from President and he decides to tell us about his vision for the mission which was a told answer to my prayers! He hadn't told anyone at that point, but felt like he should tell us. Yall! The Lord is so aware of us! He knows our hearts and He is there to answer our prayers. The change with leadership won't be immediate, but the Lord blessed me with so much peace as we talked with our President. God is sooooo good folks.

I've been thinking a LOT about prayer. But not the routine prayer, half asleep lying facedown on my mountain of blankets prayer. I'm talking a true meaningful conversation with our Heavenly Father. I admit, I'm guilty of slipping into habits with prayers and turning it into a routine...yikes, right? Well, during my studies I read Alma 37:37 which says "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good..." I think the word counsel is so important! Counsel really tells us prayer should be a conversation with our Father in Heaven, and when we make it a conversation and put our whole soul into it. He will direct us for good! I challenge yall to figure out a way to make prayer more meaningful this week!

I love yall and I love the gospel! Remember God and Jesus loves you, spread some sunshine this week!

Love, Sister Crouch 

1. BEIGNETS 

2. Someone we are teaching named Kevin!

3. MLC

4. Cafe du Monde

Week 58: She's been resurrected...STL take 2

Where does one even start?! This week was filled with so many miracles, it was crazy! The Lord is so involved in His work and is so ready and willing to help us in it. Plus, we had a blast!

So at the end of Pday last week, Sister Young and I didn't really have anything planned, but we had a referral that only lived a half mile away. So we decided to bike there and just stop by since we weren't having much luck getting in touch with them over technology. So we stop by and they let us right in! I was holding a Book of Mormon and the man who referred himself asked what the difference was between the Bible and the Book of Mormon, so we got to teach them about the Book of Mormom! They were so pumped to start reading!!! But it doesn't stop there! Then they proceed to tell us how they've always wanted to get baptized but never knew what church to get baptized into... obviously, we jumped on that pretty quick, offering to help however we could! We had a return appointment and they are loving what we've taught so far! I'm so excited for them! 

I have learned over the past year or so that my love for rap helps me connect with so many people instantly. Funny story, we are teaching some teenage boys right now (they're the cutest and I'm obsessed with them) and they wanted to play basketball with us out in their driveway before we had dinner with their family. Somehow I was able to make a 3 pointer and one of the boys starts singing a rap song. I immediately start singing along and this kid looked at me with pure shock and says "people from your church don't listen to rap!!" Haha they didn't realize I used to be a normal human I guess lol. So it was awesome! As we were shooting hoops, we were talking about what they liked and they were so pumped to talk about rap with a hip sister missionary.  Making connections and forming friendships is the best way to share the gospel! Who would've thought my love for music would help me so much on the mission! 

So last week I mentioned being an STL last week, turns out rumors are true! Your girl is going to be a Sister Training Leader again! I am actually so excited and I cant even wait! I get to go to Baton Rouge tonight for mission leadership council again. It feels good to have an idea of what to do and I just love serving the sisters around me. So this transfer will be awesome. 

I have been studying lots about missionaries lately, and I feel so blessed that I've had the chance to grow so much on my mission. I have had my fair share of hard times and I know that's how it is for all missionaries. But the Lord supports us and helps us the whole way through! Alma 26:12 say "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." I'm so grateful that the Lord can make this weak Sister stronger! I love Him for that! 

I love my Savior, I love being a missionary, is is hard and I have to rely on Christ daily. But we can do all things with Christ. God is good! I love yall, stay safe and have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Crouch

Week 57: Mosquitoes: the Unofficial State Bird of Mississippi

Alright, alright, alright. What a good week we have had! It was my favorite holiday and we spent almost all of the 4th outside! We were able to put someone on date to be baptized who wants to grow closer to God! I somehow hit 13 months. I got too many mosquito bites to count. Rumor says I'm an STL again with Sister Young...I'm 99.9% certain this is truth, but I haven't heard it from President Amos yet! So basically it's been a blessed week! 

Okay so miracle! We had the best phone lesson of my entire life! So we are working with someone named Kevin and he is so awesome and so ready for the gospel. He was taught about a year ago and didn't progress but now he really wants to! So we were teaching him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and talking about repentance when he said "I just feel like I'm meant to do something big, like something big is going to happen to me." Uhhhh....baptism?! So I had this prayer in my heart, asking that Heavenly Father would help me know how to bring up baptism to him in that moment. So I opened my mouth and words just came out! It was so awesome! I don't even know what I said but the Spirit was so strong! One of my favorite things about being a missionary is being able to really be an instrument to the Lord and feeling Him work through ME to bring His children back. It's so cool! Basically, he's on date to be baptized now! Hopefully he'll be baptized July 31st if all goes well! I am so excited to keep on working with him this next transfer! 

I got to meet my new mission president and companion! President and Sister Amos are the most cajun people I have talked to in a while! They're hilarious!!!!! President is from Opelousas, LA and Sister Amos is from Baton Rouge so she's 20 mins from home! They just made us roll on the ground we are were laughing so hard!!! I am super excited to work with them as an STL! It will be really fun to get to know them more. They were definitely called of God and that's what I got out of our meeting Friday! He's the man for the job!

The 4th was seriously so much fun! We had this idea as a companionship to bake like 10 dozen patriotic cookies and take them to the boardwalk and pass out to just get the badge out. We got to wave to so many people and serve so many people! We wore our red, white and blue and just had a blast! It was so fun to just feel normal! We then had some amazing BBQ with the cutest memebers ever! My favorite holiday was well spent, that's for sure! 

I was in a lesson this week with this guy who is so in tune to the Spirit and doesn't even know it! Its wild! But basically, we were having a lesson on faith and he said something that really stood out to me. He said "faith is just letting go." I was shook. Alma 32: 21 says faith is not having a perfect knowledge, but to hope for what we can't see. Basically, this guy was saying faith is all about letting go of the "what ifs" and just going forward and hoping that God's got this. Faith is about letting go of our sins and turning to our Savior and hoping He can help us overcome our weaknesses. Faith is letting go of our doubts and insecurities and seeing what God sees. Faith is literally that simple! I loved his insight so much I wrote it next to that scripture. Faith really is just letting go. Pray and ask what you can let go of to strengthen your faith in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father and He will help you let go of it and grow closer to Him!

I love this gospel and I love being able to share it. Being a missionary is the absolute best. God is good and cares about each one of us. Jesus Christ sees great worth in us! He loves us so much! I love Him and I'm grateful to bring others closer to Him!  Turn to Him this week! I love yall, have a blessed week

Love, Sister Crouch

1. Cheers to month 13!

2. Happy 4th!

3. I love Goula and I love the beach. 

4. Our socially distant district pday lol

5. The district!

6. "Mosquitoes: the unofficial state bird of LA." -President Amos. I'm adding MS in there because I got 20 bites in 30 mins! #happysummer 

Week 56: Ik kom bij je

Wow, this week was really crazy! We were so busy every day, which is a huge miracle! We went on exchanges, I hit one year in the South, I went kinda viral, and a band in the Netherlands is covering Sister Craddock and I's song. Safe to say, our week was pretty cool!

I got to go on exchanges with my STL, Sister Jenkins who was in my district my 2nd transfer! It was so fun to go on exchanges as older missionaries and just hit the ground running. We even got to visit people IN PERSON and IN THEIR HOMES!!!! It was so amazing! It was the first time in months I felt normal! I loved it! It was so fun to get a new perspective on how to spend our time and get back into the groove of visiting people. Sister Jenkins also taught me how to use Facebook groups to help the posts we make reach more people. I am not the best at finding on Facebook, so I decided to try out the whole groupz thing where i share posts to them! So to test the groups, I shared "I'll Turn to You" that Sister Craddock and I wrote last transfer from my Zone's facebook page to the Worldwide United group! That group has almost 600K members from all over the world and people with all sorts of religious backgrounds! It's an uplifting group where anyone can share stuff about God, Jesus Christ, hope, or basically anything uplifting! So I shared the song Tuesday night when it had less than 1k views. It now has gotten 47k views and has reached over 100k people!!!!!! Its absolutely crazy! So many people have reached out to tell me how much they loved it or how it helped them and gave then strength! A cool Dutch band in the Netherlands is doing a cover of it since there isn't a ton of gospel music in Dutch! It's just absolutely insane! It has almost 500 shares and it just blew up! It was so humbling to see how our efforts aided by the Spirit were able to affect people. That was a huge miracle. It was such a cool experience! 

Friday we had a film day with the district for Facebook (because that's a huge part of the missionary work now)! Some members in Biloxi came to the church with their ~fancy~ equipment and I got to make another video! It'll be posted soon, so stay tuned! But to me that video was a huge miracle! I decided to be very open about my struggles with self-confidence and body image insecurities...something I don't talk about very often! But I felt prompted to share my struggles and I was so nervous to film because I had an audience of straight up elders!!! And Sister Young of course...but also elders! It was pretty intimidating, but I just prayed that the Spirit would guide my words and that's exactly what he did. I'm really excited to share it! I felt the Spirit so strong making the video, and I'm excited for people to feel the Spirit as they watch! Stay tuned folks!

Sister Young and I got to teach the Plan of Salvation to some amazing boys we are working with! We talked so much about how God's plan for us wouldn't work without Jesus Christ because He is the only way we can get back to the Father. A few days later I shared 3 Nephi 27:14 with someone and it says "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..." and it hit me! Jesus Christ was lifted up to give us a boost to our Heavenly Father if we choose to come to Him. That's grace! Having Christ's help the whole way until we get back to our Father. He makes it so we can reach what we, ourselves, can't reach on our own! I'm so grateful for the grace of Jesus Christ that helps me every day! 

I'm so grateful for my Savior and for all he has done for me! I love Him so much! I challenge yall to share your testimony of Him with someone you love this week, whether that's in person or on social media! I love my Heavenly Father for sending Jesus Christ to help us one day come back to Him a little more heavenly. I love yall and I hope yall have a great week!

Love, Sister Crouch

1. What Sunday devotionals look like in the Pascagoula ward lol

2. The Dutch band from the Netherlands sent me a clip of them working on our song and it's SO GOOD!!!

Week 55: The floor is leaking and Joseph Smith is King Benjamin

What a week down here in good ol Pascagoula, MS. We have someone who is progressing (a huge miracle!), we had zone conference and got to say goodbye to the Varners, we're writing another song, and our house is high key falling apart! But that's okay because miracles!

So yeah! Miracle! We were calling people who were taught then dropped by previous sisters and we actually found someone who wanted to work with us again! He wanted to learn about Joseph Smith, so we had a really awesome Restoration lesson and oh. My. Goodness! The Spirit is so cool! He led and guided my words like crazy to meet Kevin's needs. At the end, we asked Kevin if he believed Joseph could be a prophet and he said yes! Something that kept him from progressing a year ago is that he didn't want to come to church, but now he does! God has a plan! His timing is perfect! I'm really excited to see how things go :))

I had my last zone conference with President and Sister Varner and I am so sad they're leaving ONE WEEK FROM TODAY  But it was so good to see them one last time and say goodbye to them and hear their testimony one more time. I'm obsessed with them. They were exactly what I needed this past year. We talked a lot about using technology to further the Lord's work and I just have a renewed desire to use Facebook as best I can! I may be really bad, but hey if the Lord can magnify 5 loaves and 2 fish to feed 5,000 He can help me use Facebook! It was also so good to be around people again! I've missed gathering as missionaries and church members. I can't wait for church to meet back up!! So yeah, zone conference was amazing. Prayers were answered, the Spirit was felt, tears were shed saying bye to the Varners, it was a good time haha.

When it rains, it pours in Pascagoula! The past 3 weeks I have felt like the biggest adult dealing with adult things! Rear-ended, getting our car fixed, getting our AC fixed, and then this weekend we realized our floor had water leaking up through our tile! So I earned the title of a big girl and called the office multiple times and it was such a mess! We had no responses so we just had a member come by and he fixed it (shotout to Brother Loosli!). It has just been crazy and I am so ready to adult, watch out Provo! 

All this week I have been studying repentance. President Varner said something really cool about repentance at Zone Conference. He said we should be so thrilled and excited to be able to repent every day. I was shook! He was so right! I love the gift of repentance and change! Over the past 20 years of life, I've accumulated a long list of my wrong doings and mistakes that I'm not too proud of, but thanks to Jesus Christ, I don't have to feel guilt or pain if I just repent! What an amazing gift! Christ is too good to us. I love Him so much! So I studied the story of Alma the Younger in Mosiah 27 and Alma 36 and I think it's pretty darn cool that Christ allows is to make complete 180°s and turn our life around. Check out Alma 36:14-22 and see the 180 Alma is able to make because of Christ! Then look for the changes Christ has helped you make and make more! We aren't earning heaven, but learning heaven in this life all thanks to repentance!

I love yall so much and I'm so grateful for all your prayers and support! I love my Savior and Heavenly Father and I know this work is true! This is Christ's church! Have a great week!

Love, Sister Crouch

PS. Sister young and I have noticed the Church uses the same actors for basically everything. I thought I'd share that Joseph Smith in the Restoration is also Peter in the Bible Videos, King Benjamin in the BoM videos, and Brother Willie in 17 miracles. You're welcome.

1. The best mission president and wife ever

2. My zone in Gulfport!

3. My district

4. Good ol Goula

5. Lol this is the life of the co-driver #backitup