Wow, never thought this day would come....

Ya....

Title says it all right? It straight up blows me away... so weird.

I am keeping busy and all in that I have a lot of things that have been made my responsibility. It has been very intense with President 신 here and I have been trying to stay on top of the wave of everything happening and be moving forward but it's hard. Very slow to be honest.

But all in all our zone is still doing quite amazing. We had a baptism this last week and although we are changing our focus to member missionary work like A LOT. We are still seeing good results. We are in need of 구도자 though so we will have to see what time brings. The goal of the whole thing that we have going on here is 2000 active members in this 전주 stake. It's a big goal but we can do it. BUT we cannot do it without the members though so that has been kind of intense.

All in all though it has been a good 2 years! I have learned a lot I have grown a lot. My testimony and everything is just so much better. Like SO much better. I have grown and become a better person and now the thing that I am trying to figure out is how do I keep it after I go back. Because I don't wanna go back to who I was lets put it that way. 

So ya. I remember that when Chase went back in his last email he wrote about the things that he would miss... but... you are all coming.... and i'll just show you those things.......... ya.....

Anyway... ^_^

I guess that this is technically my last email as a missionary huh? That's weird.... well, like Mom I guess I have to leave you with something that is monumental of sorts. So I wanna leave you all with my testimony ;)

But because I'm a Korean missionary, gotta do it in Korean :)

제가 정말 이 선교사업이라는 것이 하나님의 위대한 사업이라는 것을 확실히 알고 있습니다. 1820년에 조셉 스미스가 어린 소년임에도 불구하고 신앙을 행사하셨고 그기도에 대한 응답으로 하나님과 예수 그리스도께서 그분에게 나타나셨다는 것을 알고 있습니다.  하나님과 예수 그리스도께서는 조셉 스미스를 통해 이 교회 즉 예수 그리스도 후기 성도 교회를 세우셨습니다. 그 일로부터 몰몬경이 도 나왔습니다. 몰몬경을 읽음으로서 정말 이 교회가 하나님의 참된 교회라는 것을 알게 될 수 있습니다. 제가 그 방법대로 행했기 때문에 정말 확실이 그렇게 말씀 드릴 수 있습니다. 

예수 그리스도 정말 우리를 위해 속죄를 하시고 돌아가셨습니다. 그분이 또한 부활하셨습니다. 저희가 이 속죄의 가지고 있는 힘의 의지하고 회개하고 이 복음대로 생활하도록 단지 노력해도, 하나님께서 우리에게 축복을 주 실 것이고 우리가 발전하고 행복하게 하실거라는 것을 확실히 알고 있습니다. 이것도 제가 경험해 봤습니다. 정말 놀랍고 위대한 축복입니다.

제가 여러분을 너무나 사랑하고 이 교회가 단지 참됩니다. 사탄이 무엇을 해도 부인 할 수는 없습니다.

Love you all :) If you haven't gotten that translated by Thursday I will translate it for you :)

LOVE YOU SO SO SO SO SO MUCH!

See you soon (Thursday)

Josh (크라우더 장로)

Hey ya'll

Well well well if it isn't my Crowther family! How are ya'll doing????

 

It is exciting to get to hear that I get to see all of you soon and it is also exciting to hear that Kellie is nice and safe and that everything is going well. It is so good to hear from all of you. Like seriously it's pretty dang awesome.

 

I have just been working away this week and this last week it was definately interesting I have got to say. It feels weird to have all of you coming here soon and like actually making plans and stuff.... it's weird. I have most of our itinerary taken care of so as soon as ya'll get here we are gonna be busy busy busy!

 

I had a busy week with lots and lots of meetings and things. It was definately interesting. We will be actively going after this last week and then kinda wrapping things up starting next SO ya.

 

This week as far as our investigators went we dropped/reffered a lot of them. We don't have so many any more. Dropped 2 referred 3 so.... ya this week we weren't so busy with our investigators as much as with other missionaries and all.

 

But ya.

 

Just love you all tons and tons. I will see ya'll soon so don't have a lot to say. Just excited to see all of you to be honest. it's going to be good :)

 

We had a fireside this week and it was absolutely awesome. It was interesting to have a fireside in the first place (seeing as how they usually don't have them) but then at the same time I had to sing. Like they made me sing a solo and stuff it was scary. So ya. But all in all its over now and I am still alive. It was a good experience and all also President 신용인 came and gave an awesome talk on the Book of Mormon which was really cool. President 신 is just exciting to work with. He is full of energy and just infuses his energy into everyone. I can already feel it starting in the stake (seeing as how the stake presidency came to me and said that we are going to go do some touring of the entire stake and interview people and get the work going) so it's exciting to be a part of.

 

I just want to leave you all with my testimony that I know that this church is true! It really is! This is the Lord's work and he guides every step of it. It's cool. He guides each of us in everything that we do. He's there and he helps us so so SO much :). Love you all and look forward to seeing you all next week!

 

Love,

Josh (크라우더 장로)

Well, time just seems to keep flying... just not much left...

This is so weird to hear from all of you and to see pictures of you with everyone that I know. It truly just blows me away. So weird... like so SUPER weird

 

We had a good week however. We got things all taken care of finally and things started rolling. We are teaching about 14 investigators now and things are really picking up. It takes some time to find but once we get some people we can kinda get things moving which is exciting! We have appointments almost every single day of the week and we are just busting our butts to try and make sure that while we are teaching we are still trying to find and teach Less-Active members and new investigators as well. It's good stuff. Tiring but good stuff!

 

I have been REALLY tired of late. Yesterday church was hard. I almost fell asleep standing outside to greet people beforehand, just tired. But still it was a good meeting. We had an investigator that we picked up this week come to church (he has actually been coming out now for a couple of weeks and his son recently was baptized!) So we are working with him now but I feel like it is going to take some time for him. Needs to get the whole social thing worked out. Koreans are a very social people, so if the social stuff isn't right, things aren't right. SO ya. We will try to help with that as much as possible.

 

This week we gave a training on Feeling the Holy ghost. It was such a good meeting. The spirit was with us and in talking with people they all mentioned that they felt the spirit and were excited for the future! It was awesome. Keep working hard. It was honestly a relief to get training out of the way. I am just reading the Book of Mormon now and it feels great. I love it ;) No pressure. Just peace :) Awesome :) 

 

Lots of smilies right?

 

So anyway, I am now just working hard but things just keep dragging my mind to the fact that I am going home soon. The bishop asked me to give a talk on the 28th and yesterday I got a call from 황성규 so you all will get to meet him! He's so awesome. You are going to love him. Also I am working on getting things figured out for the trip. But, gotta do things one step at a time :). So ya.

 

This week I just want to add my testimony to that of President Furniss. He talked about the spirit in his talk (apparently) and I just wanna say that the spirit is so important. SO so so so so so important. We need the spirit otherwise nothing else matters. If you have the spirit things will go well. They just will. It's awesome! When we really take the time to get rid of distractions and things in our lives we get to hear the spirit a lot more. So as we live to have the spirit's guidance, always gotta focus on having our ears tuned to the spirit. So very important! But if we do, it is so very worth it and the spirit will guide us and help us :)

 

SO ya! I am excited to see you all. I will work probably next week (p-day) on the itinerary for our trip. Today we have a Zone activity and all so I am kinda lacking in time. BUT I promise I am getting things organized. It's gonna be fun to see you all!

 

Love you all tons. Like so so so Much! You're the best family ever. And you are all so BIG. Like you have no idea, I saw that picture of ya'll with President Furniss and I was just baffled. I know how big President Furniss is so ya, you all scare me. Big people. Weird.

 

Anywho, LOVE YOU

 

Josh (크라우더 장로)

 

뿅!

 

Well another good week and a BIG change

This week was another busy one. We were all over the place for training, and meetings, and appointments and all sorts of things. Just straight up BUSY. We went tuesday to 정읍 for splits, wednesday to 대전 for MLC with President Shin, thursday to 광주 for a mission tour. We were just chilling on buses for a large amout of the time. Busy busy busy. It was good though we were able to do a lot of good things and it was awesome to feel the excitement and all of having a new mission president.

 

Speaking of which, ya! We have a new mission president! His name is 신용인 회장님. He was the old VP of samsung and is kind of a super star. He's really really excited to be out here and has a really big vision of what this mission is going to be! It's really exciting to be a part of even though it's only a couple weeks. There is a lot of new excitement in the mission and it's good. Although it was SUPER tender to have President Furniss leave. It's exciting but still definately not the same mission anymore.

 

This week sounded like a fun one for you all at home! It is exciting to hear that we have a gym! I am gonna need it. I have been working out here with Elder Otterson. He is a pro weight lifter and frankly is just HUGE. So it is fun to be in the gym with him. He is really REALLY encouraging and I am feeling like I'm actually getting someplace! It's exciting.

 

Also our area is progressing a lot! We have about 10 or so investigators that we are meeting with now who are all making some good progress. It's awesome! They are willing to learn and specifically they are willing to experiement! It's the best. They keep commitments and are progressing well. One of whom is reading the Book of Mormon like a stud. He reads well and is studying it. I love it! It is an inspiration to me and he's making good progression because of it. The Book of Mormon truly has a lot of power in it. In fact that is one of the things that President 신 wants us to be focusing on is our Preaching of the Book of Mormon. It's so vital. But I'll talk about that in a sec :)

 

All in all though just excited to be out here. There is a lot going on and I am in a position to help God's work move forward. It's super exciting. We are all kinda re-evaluating and are moving to be a lot more focused on working with the 10's of thousands of less-actives here. It's gonna be a big work but we can do it!

 

SO ya, I am super excited this week! Because tomorrow after I give my last training I am going to start reading the Book of Mormon one more time. I intend to if at all possible finish it before the end of my mission. I love the Book of Mormon. It has so much power. So so so so SO much power. There is a reason people refer to it as the "keystone" of our religion. It truly is. And just like President Hinkley promised. Anyone who has read the book of mormon has GROWN under its power. It's true. I am so glad that I got it through my head that I needed to be reading it. It's so amazing what reading the book does! Be sincere and Read it! It's amazing the change that comes into your life. It's unexplainable, but because it [The Book of Mormon] is from God, it makes total sense. This is his work. I know it, I look at the effect that this has had on my life and can say without a doubt "This is God's work!" And to add to that I can say with certainty that The Book of Mormon is from GOD. Why? Because it changed my life. It gives me faith in Christ. It gives me strength to overcome my trials, it gives peace to my soul. So I am going to try and read the whole thing one more time before I finish my mission. I am excited. I am certain I will continue to learn (as I always do) and this time will learn something that can make me even better!

 

:)

 

Well I promised pics so I'ma 생략 more and add some pics!

 

I love you all tons! See you soon!

Josh (크라우더 장로)

I turn 21 tomorrow!

Hey, guess what I am becoming official can go to jail if I do stupid things adult tomorrow! It's crazy!!!

 

AHHHHHHHHH I know right? Overdramatic?

 

This week was BUSY. Like really really busy but in a different kind of way. We didn't do normal missionary things this week this week was much more of an "administrative" week so to speak. We had P-day and all and that went well we had a lesson with one of our investigators and he is actually progressing! Like it is so exciting!!! AHHHHHH It just absolutely blows my mind we haven't had any investigators to work with and we finally got one progressing this week. It feels really good. He read a bunch of the Book of Mormon and things are going well.Tuesday we then hauled down to 광주 and met with President Furniss for his "Farewell Tour." It was fun I conducted the meeting and it was exciting. I also at that meeting in front of 3 zones had to give my "farewell testimony." It was.... weird. I felt so odd to be up there. Didn't seem real to me at all. But ya, we had a really good meeting. President Furniss gave us a lot of tips on life and how to do things and it was a really good meeting. I really enjoyed it.

 

We then came back had a normal day before we went to 대전! I went up to the office to help train the new SMMR and the new Financial Secretary. Spent two days up there doing that then came back down to 전주! It was a busy week with a lot of working hard just not a whole lot of meeting with investigators. We also had a stake choir competition? Ya it was fun we just got everyone together in the entire stake and sung hymns and other things that we have prepared. It was pretty intense I have got to say! We then the next day got a chance to get together and watch the whole "Work of Salvation" broadcast. It was really good! I am really excited for all of the progression to be made in missionary work but I am pretty much not going to be a part of any of it because They say it'll be implemented over the next couple of months and I don't have that much time left haha. But for the missionaries that will be serving then it'll be exciting! It is crazy how things are moving forward. It's exciting I have got to say!

 

I have been just working away though. I am planning this transfer to stay EXTREMELY busy. I like busy. I don't like days of just having to 전도 and contact. Like Elder Perry said, contacting for us in this day and age isn't as effective as it used to be. So the responsibility of finding needs to move to the members so we will see what we can do to help that actually happen! It's gonna be fun I have got to say :) We have a lot of things going on here and we have been able to find a little bit so it is good! We can teach some (if we had a day to stay in our area anyways) and ya!

 

So officially now our mission president has changed. President 신 is in the office and here and all and the swithc is being made. It is so SO weird. Like President Furniss just is gone. Just like that. It's so weird how this whole thing works.

 

But ya as far as this upcoming week it's gonna be similar. I am going on splits in 정읍 today and then we will be going to MLC on Wednesday(in 대전) and then on Thursday we go back to 광주 for a meeting with President 신 (welcome tour). So this week is going to be busy as well. It is crazy. But ya! It'll be good!

 

This week I am just grateful for the mission. For the awesome affect (effect?) that it has had on my life. Grateful to God for making this happen :)! God lives, the church is true! I know it :)

 

Love ya'll! Take care! We will see you soon!

 

Love,

Josh (크라우더 장로)

Well onto my last transfer!

Hey ya'll

 

It has been a fun week. We got out and worked hard and it was really good. felt good to just be out and about. I really had a great time and we had a lot of great opportunities to feel the spirit and to work hard.

 

This was actually a really good week as far as spirituality went because we had a special focus this week:

 

THE SPIRIT!!!

 

It was way awesome. We focused all of our studies and things on the spirit and trying to feel and share that with others. It was great because as we studied I felt the spirit a LOT. It was then cool to take that spirit out into the day and then kinda experiment with what I could do to keep that spirit with me. It was really quite the experience to feel the spirit that much. It was awesome and it is really kinda nice to be able to feel the spirit in the work.

 

However I discovered exactly how hard it is to keep the spirit RIGHT there with you. It is hard stuff. When we stop paying attention to it, it's hard to just feel it. Interesting how hard it is to stay focused on feeling the "still small voice" it is there. It definitley is there but the whole recognizing thing is the hard part. So we are working hard at trying to stay in tune lately.

 

This week though we got out and found! We found 4 investigators this week all of whom we are working with on a pretty regular basis now and one of whom we will be meeting with tonight. It is exciting! I like teaching people a WHOLE lot more than just senslessly 전도'ing all day long. It makes me feel so much more productive. I actually sent an email to my buddy Tyler (from BYUI) and we have been chatting back and forth about our missions. Says he can't imagine tracting all day. I was just like.... that's my life.....

 

Very different.

 

So I have not had a chance to see the broadcast about missionary work but I am excited to! We got permission from president and everyone in the mission will be watching it this Sunday at 4 (our time) So we will get to hear all about all the new changes and things. It's exciting I have got to say.

 

I like the course schedule for classes. I am excited about college to be honest, it's hard to think that I am excited to... study.... ya I know. From this kid that's weird. BUT ya! It's alright. I am thinking about how I ought to do things and all, maybe I'll ask a question. So say for example that I major in CIT and minor in CS, if I then went on to get a masters what all would that entail? I feel like a masters would probably be a good idea so... ya... but I don't know a whole lot, can you all tell me more about that whole thing?

 

But ya! THis week just feeling the spirit doing the work, working hard. It's good :) I like it. We are going to be busy this coming week too. We will go to 광주 for Presidents Goodbye tour then to 대전 on Thursday for training that I am conducting. I will be training the New Office Elder. It'll be fun. But ya! busy busy busy. I like busy.

 

Good to hear from ya'll I am excited to see you all soon! Time goes by fast and ya... before I know it ya'll'll be here.... (You like that you all will = ya'll'll I thought it was clever) but ya!

 

Study chapter 4 in PMG. I have had a really good time as I have taken my time going through that chapter!

 

I hope you know I LOVE YOU it is great to be here on a mission but I am excited to see my family :) Love you all tons! See you soon!

 

Love,

Josh (크라우더 장로)

This week

Well, we have another week down! It is getting to crunch time in that I have literally 1 transfer left. We got our transfer calls today and I am serving with Elder Lyons till the end! So it is going to be a fun transfer. I kinda tried to like mix styles and stuff this transfer and be balanced between the lot of us but now I am just going to go all out. Like run to appointments. Run to this. Run to that.... Run everywhere.... ya...!!! :) We have time left so that'll make things easy but we are going to work our butts off if I have anything to say about it.

 

It has been another rough week. We had like no investigator appointments at all this week. It has just been way to slow for my liking. So we are going to find this week. We found some people yesterday that have some potential and this week we are going to get some new investigators and do this thing. But ya!

 

The Zone however is doing amazing! It is awesome. Like everyone here is just working their tails off and things are just going amazingly. We are finding people who are willing to be baptized and everything! So ya. I have already got my last training in mind and I will be probably doing something on teaching by the spirit. So it'll be nice to just work hard on trying to feel, listen to, and recognize the spirit. I have had some really good studies of late just studying how things need to be and I have learned a lot. The gospel never ceases to amaze me. We never are really learning things we don't already "know" but at the same time God just seems to take the things that we need the most and "bring them to our rememberance" right at the right time! It's great. So I have been learning a lot lately and hopefully we can have some good progress.

 

I took a look at my schedule for BYU-I this semester and it looks like it is going to be pretty intense. I took a look at all the classes and things and it's gonna be great but tough. I do however think that I am going to change my major over to CIT for my bachelors but if I was to like a Masters or something at BYU how would that work? Is that even how that whole process works or like what?

 

Anyways I think the coolest thing that I have had a chance to study of late is about prayer. I studied prayer in PMG then also in the Liahona that we got recently on how to improve our prayers and it just doesn't cease to amaze me just the things that we are expecting. Prayer is a hard thing to do effectively but it is SO very important. If we do it right though SO many blessings. I know that to be true for a fact! It is great. Love prayer. God really does listen.

 

I love Elder Hollands quote (repeating myself?) that the words: "Ask and ye shall receive" are the most repeated words in scripture. And the greatest part of it all! God wasn't kidding. He really does answer. He guides me on a regualar basis, he helps me to be better and he really truly helps me always! I can feel that!

 

But ya I would really reccomend the Liahona talk about how to improve our personal prayers. I learned a lot and am trying to improve. It is quite the amazing thing, prayer. I love it!

 

So grateful to all you at home, love you tons and tons. I hope you know that. I am so excited to see all you soon!! :)

 

Love my family! They are the best, in our house here in 중앙 we have had the ongoing thing for a couple weeks now of just how awesome eternal families are! We are all excited to be getting married but I am just excited for the family that I have now. It is awesome!

 

Love you all tons and tons and tons and tons! Let me know if there is anything specific that I can pray for you!

 

Love,

Josh (크라우더 장로)

Well, this was a good week in comparison :)

So ya this week was nice. We actually found this week a little bit and we also had some meetings that kept us pretty busy and all. So ya. We actually this week went to 대전 for a meeting and it was quite a good meeting. Another opportunity to kinda refocus and recommit. Every day that goes by it just amazes me how tired I'm getting. It's rough. But still we get up and go. Thanks mom for the gym membership its been nice, I am getting into a little bit better shape and all which is nice.

The work here however in 전주 Zone is going really well. The missionaries that we have here are all studs and they just are working their tails off. We have been seeing baptism/confirmations every week for the last 3 weeks and we have another 3 baptisms planned this weekend! It's awesome. The missionaries here are just busting their butts and God is just blessing us. It's been nice.

I have been having some problems with the heat. It is HOT... like really hot... humidity + elder Crowther = not friends. So ya, I am already through Elder Jensen's thing of cortizone cream and I am now onto mine (turns out I have it too! THanks mom!) and ya. I am also now becoming friends with Baby Powder. Just something to absorb the moisture because my body is not built to handle this much humidity so i chafe pretty bad. It hurts. So ya! Sure you wanted to know that but hey ya'll keep saying you like that I am frank....?

But ya, it makes me laugh that there was a meeting with the sister missionaries. To be completely honest I did not even know that we had missionaries over our ward until I went to college and it turns out that one of my roommates served in our stake.......... weird.... so ya. It'd much different here in Korea. Every ward having missionaries and all. In fact, most branches have their own missionaries and branches without them just complain about having no missionaries. Apparently we have a pretty big effect.... who knew?

I have recently been doing some self evaluation and have decided to work on Charity and Love. 자애와 사랑. I need to pretty bad. I am a very diligent and obedient missionary BUT as far as the "loving" type people don't usually attribute that to me. SO I am working on it. Any tips/advice? Anyway that you can take my "tough love" and make it into love that people actually recognize? A how-to would be nice. I however am studying PMG and the scriptures and all and doing some honest self eval and I hope it'll get better.

Workin' workin' workin' that's about it. I need to work harder though. 더 전념해서 해야지.... More dedicated. I work but I feel like my pace has kinda slowed a lot. I need to pick it up and I felt that this week. I hope that I'll have some assistance in how seeing as how just 전도'ing all day every day is not exactly what I am LOOKING to do. I'll do it. But I would like to kinda go out with investigators and things and it seems that the only people that I can find on a consistent basis are leaders of other churches.... I am really good and finding these people. I have found 3 in the last 2 weeks :)

I truly TRULY love ya'll. I am just working on fixing myself these days. I am sad that I don't have more time to do it seeing as how I have lots of flaws but I guess I'll just have to do it more proactively. Love the mission. Love that God is giving me this time to get better. I pray every day that I'll have his guidance and it comes. I love it. Grateful for this opportunity. Truly am.

LOVE YOU TONS! Not a whole lot of time left eh? Excited to see ya'll soon. Really am! Don't bring anything heat insulating at all. It's SO HOT haha :) Love you!

Josh (크라우더 장로)

Glad this last week is over to be honest...

Wow.... Ya...

 

This last week was hard. Just a lot of things to fix this week that took a lot of stress and a lot of phone calls and more than once on my knees asking for help. This whole missionary work thing is hard and it looks like God isn't just going to let me "get off easy" by just having a plain normal rest of my mission.

 

 Ya. Lots of stressful things in the ward, stressful things with missionaries, sickness, ya... Not cool. Just glad to be able to kinda slow down and email and all.

 

However this week as I was reading your emails I saw that you all have been praying for me! Especially that I would be able to find. Just wanted to say thank you and that yes indeed we did find this week. We were able to find 2 investigators through referrals from a member in the ward! The both of the investigators we found were referrals from the same man and the two are actually related (father + son) so it is cool.

 

This week however we just worked hard. We went to 서울 on Monday and then came back and just went to work. lots of 전도 and trying to teach people and all it was great. We were pretty much able to get through all the hard moments and now I'm just tired and ready for a nap to be honest. I did however cut my hair today! 1.5cm haha. It is nice and short once again. And if I was to show my hair to 장영준 he would laugh and tell me that my hair feels like a hamster. It's cute :)

 

I did however have my last presidents interview this week. It is the last one of my mission (until I have my exit interview with President 신) and ya it was weird. I don't know quite what to think about all of this but ya it's happening whether I want it to or not. SO ya!

 

By the way I did get you the information for President and Sister Furniss' "homecoming" talk It is as follows:

 

2013/7/14 12:50 PM

Pleasant Valley 5th Ward

 

I told them that all of ya'll would be coming so... guess you gotta go now.... :)

 

Love ya'll tons and tons. Hope you know that. So grateful for this work, it's true. I know it is. It's God's work and if we are faithful we will see miracles! Thanks so much for all of the prayers, I truly can not express how much I need them nowadays. I thought I needed them before. I think God is teaching me just another one of those hard lessons in life right now so ya keep them coming :)

 

LOVE YA!

 

Josh (크라우더 장로)   

Well, I am on my way home

Well everyone Hello there!!

I told you all a little bit about my week and all when I called today but I got a second on a train and it has little pay to go computers so I wanted to shoot you an email.

So as far as the whole Visa thing goes I have my passport in the mail under Premium EMS service (about the Most expensive mail you can send here) and ya! It is going here and I will talk to the Furniss's about whether or not you need to send it back or if you can just keep it with you and bring it when you come. That could definitely be easier.

So ya

The trip to 서울 was fun but wet. Lots of rain and my umbrella broke. But fortunately a nice guy at the Travel Agency I went to gave me one. It turn out his kids go to BYU and he's not a member and knows nothing about the church but was friendly and saved me from a very very VERY wet day. So ya.

We have been working on finding lately with not to much success. We've literally tried EVERYTHING we know.... maybe... not sure but I think so

I have been trying to focus on being obedient and focused but I am finding it gets harder and harder. I think this trip to 서울 will be good for me though because I am so ready to just not think about anything but missionary work for a while. It really is relaxing to the soul and just is good for me. I need it.

The Zone is doing great to be honest. We had 2 baptisms this week! 2 people that are starting the "Enduring to the End" journey. Fun stuff I think :) We are currently trying to find someone that can progress and all but as you know. That is hard stuff. Definitely possible! But hard stuff.

All in all though just serving here in 중앙 Ward, Still Zone leader, serving with an Elder named Elder Lyons. He's a cool kid. Love him. makes my life a lot easier and happier. It's great.

Love ya'll! I really do. So grateful to be here in Korea (even though the immigration office bugs me a lot) and to be able to teach Christ's gospel. I am trying to understand it more and more. I need it so bad

Love you, love you love you

Look forward to hearing from you next week!

With lots of Love :)

Josh (크라우더 장로)

Another week!

Well, ya'll it is just another week in the mission field. I forgot that President Furniss has a default letter that goes home asking you all to help me focus. I should have warned you about that haha. Made me laugh to see that you had just gotten that, it is kinda crazy I gotta admit.

So ya all in all though this week was a week of TRYING to find. It hasn't been very successful. I have had Elders all telling me that it is hard to find in this area and seriously they weren't kidding. It is nuts. It makes things so much harder trying to work harder when I have no investigators, because as fun as it is to work hard, doing only finding all the time is tasking and to be honest kinda boring. But we keep at it!

This week though was just a starting week into this transfer. We got a chance to actually meet everyone in the ward and all and had the opportunity to give my 인사 말씀. So ya, said hi and all, it was hard. I have been having a little bit of a "fish out of water" kind of experience being in a different ward in the same 전주. It really is kinda messing with my mojo.

This week though I went on splits with Elder Jensen and we just worked hard and so that was fun. Got out and got to meet some people and that was nice and then we also got a chance to get out and teach a referral. He was so cool! had been to Salt Lake City and everything. It is so cool that the biggest family history library in the world is in SLC because all the people who study history find their way there at some point in time. It's so weird.

I have just been working hard though. That's all I really can do I guess. We just keep working every day and see what happens. Hopefully we will find a way to get this Ward involved in the work and get things going. Pray for me to find a way okay?

I did however have a crazy experience this week. I got to participate in a traditional Korean wedding. It was crazy. One of the members in 전주 ward had asked me before I moved to be one of the guys who helped him out. so ya..... I'll attach pics.... anywho.... it was pretty legit

Today I am going on splits with the AP's. It'll be fun seeing as how it is P-Day and all we are basically just going to be hanging out a little bit and then we will go out and do some more finding for a couple hours. Then the day after that I am going on another split with one of the District leaders out in District B (정읍) so lots of moving around right now :).

All in all though good week. Great to hear that Jenna graduated from seminary and this week she graduates from high school! That's crazy. I gotta say. Alissa is busy with soccer in the rain (keep at it sis!) and Katie is our little trumpeteer so that is always fun. Kellie sent me an email saying that she might get to go to Japan! That'd be crazy! :) but ya!

Love ya'll i'll attach some pics! Remember that I love you all and that this church is true! I love the gospel, I love Jesus Christ and am so grateful for his sacrifice for us. This is God and Christs church. I know it :)

Love love love love love love love you! TAKE CARE!

SO ya!! Love you have a good week

Mother's Day call

(This is from Elder Crowther's mom):  We were able to Skype with Josh for an hour on Mother's Day.  He surprised us by calling his dad's phone and saying, "I'm going to be on Skype in one hour.  Be ready."  It was literally an 8-second conversation; David could scarcely believed it had happened.

Josh is still working hard, dealing with the challenges of being in a new ward and area and searching for investigators.  He said he struggles with declaring the gospel with boldness v. overbearance.  He described an encounter with a lady where they kept going back and forth until the woman finally said, "Okay, you're right, but don't talk to me about this anymore."  He's still learning 22 months into the mission. :)

We spent a lot of time talking about our visit to Korea to pick him up.  He definitely wants to spend our only Sunday there in Jeonju, the area he has been in since last October.  He also wants to take his dad to Pyongtaek to get new suits together.  He's looking forward to exploring Seoul, since he has only seen the airport, and we realized that when we fly in, it will actually be him coming to the airport to get us!  We told him we want balloons and banners saying, "Welcome family!"  

His sisters learned the Korean word for "older brother" which is oppa and kept calling him that.  He would laugh and shake his head.  As he watched the girls banter and interact, he looked at his dad and said, "How have you survived without me?"  David laughed and said, "I need you back, son."  Josh smiled, "Don't worry, Dad, I've got your back."

Over and over, he would look at us and smile and say, "My family....my family...."  He misses us, I think.  We miss him, too.  We prayed together, with him praying in Korean, and there were many tears throughout and after.  

We love our Josh.

Wow I can say that 100% without a doubt I did not see this coming!

Hey ya'll

So ya as the title suggests I have some interesting news...

I'm getting transferred.... WOW

It's not a big transfer seeing as how I am just going to the other ward in 전주 [Jeanju] city but it's a move and it is intimidating. I will be in the house with probably my best friend in the mission and we are just going to live it up... I am excited

This transfer is a big one for our little 전주 [Jeonju] zone. We are getting huge. There are a total of 2 more companionships coming to our zone with a companionship being made into a threesome. It is exciting. It is also fun to see that my "son" Elder Miller (the one I trained) is coming back to our zone! it is going to be fun. I know everyone in our zone and am just excited to have another adventure ahead of me.

This was a good week. Elder Zaleski and I were able to just get out and go to work. We have been teaching a lot of people and it is just good stuff. We were able to find 3 more investigators this week and 1 of which was a member bringing his student to church! It was way legit. So we totally pulled a member referral this week and ya! 

We also went to 대전 [Daejeon] and I got to see all of the missionaries who are going home this transfer (except for elder 구병모) it was really cool. I love all those elders, they are studs and have served honorable missions. I am so very very impressed with all of them and if we could just clone them and make more of them we would be set as a mission for a long time. They are amazing.

I realized this week that I still have a long way to go. I am working hard on trying to be better but it gets harder and harder because I feel like the things that I am trying to fix now are just more and more ingrained into my personality. So I am trying my best to kinda wrench those things out and fill them with good qualities. But it's hard... ya....

This week will just be busy with trying to get everything handed over to Elder Zaleski. He will be going co-senior here in 전주 and it will be really good for him. He needs a senior assignment. He'll progress a lot with it.

I will be serving with an Elder Lyons. He was in my zone beforehand so I know him a little bit but we will be working together and I am excited to try and help him out. He is a young missionary so I am excited to work with and learn from him. Just plugging along :)

Next week however is Mother's Day! I will do my best to find a member with whom I can skype (seeing as how I am in a new ward that could be a little bit of a task but I will do my best) but if I am unable to find one by about 8PM your time then just call me.

But hopefully I will be able to be on skype sometime before then. I will try to do something in the morning. :)

So at the end of Mom's email she asked me to Tell ya'll about something that brought me Joy... so let me think...

I think that the thing that brought me Joy this week was a meeting I had with our members last night. I went to a members house just to stop by and visit and I told them about my coming out on a mission and how that all went about. It was so sweet the spirit that was in the house. I was just so happy for the gospel and in talking to my companion afterwards it was so clear that the spirit was there. So grateful for it :)

So simple, read the scriptures, pray, go to church (willingly) if you do those things the change that occurs is SO real. I love it. I'm so grateful to my Father in Heaven for helping me to be better. Grateful for the gospel. glad I can share it.

Grateful for you all. Love you so much :)

P.S. I saw Sister Simonsen at the office for ZLC on Wednesday so I took a picture with her. Show it to the ward

Well it has been a while! Not really

Hey family! How ya'll doing? It has been an interesting week for me out in the mission field and things are getting no easier lets put it that way.

 

I went on a split this week with one of our District Leaders. He is a stud and it was an awesome split. Had a lot of fun. Got to get out and just talk to people and just work hard. i liked not having to be the senior and like be in charge of things. It was really nice I have got to say. Sorry this email is a little delayed the things around me are all really loud and annoying. Our normal email place's computers are both dead (well the computers aren't dead but the DNS server is down for them) and ya!

 

It has been raining a lot of late. That is the only thing of any really big notice. This week was a hard week in our area I dropped a LOT of our investigators. None of them were progressing and I have just been trying and trying and this week I decided that I was going to try and find some more prepared people. So we are back to even more finding. The hard part about being in Korea is all the members have already been bugged for referrals for the last 40 years so.... ya. But still we are helping them get out and do missionary work. We did get a referral last week and this week in church one of the members said that there was someone he was going to try and refer to us. So thing are all in all going alright. We still have some potential in the investigators that we are teaching but ya.

 

This week was just a normal week though. Lots of finding and stuff so that was interesting. But to be perfectly honest there was nothing really all that interesting that happened this week. Just worked......

 

We worked a lot with our recent convert 장영준 and he has been being pretty good lately. He made it up to 서울 for his second trip to the temple to do Baptisms and it was way good for him. He said he had a great time and came back and met with us and we talked about him referring his family to the sister missionaries. It is good stuff! He is progressing so good!

 

So ya. Life is good. We are going to have a better and more interesting week this week (I am going to MLC, which used to be ZLC but apparently the prophet changed it recently so the sister leaders in the mission also meet with the Zone leaders and we all get to chat together) So there should be some fun things to tell you about next week hopefully. But ya I am just happy to be a missionary. Trying to work harder and harder every day. Finding I get more and more tired but I am never more happy than when I am out and working ;)

 

Love you tons. I am excited to see ya'll in 2-3 weeks  (mothers day :)) and so ya we will talk lots then. I am excited to be here :).

 

Remember that God lives, he loves us. This is his church and his gospel. It truly was restored in its fulness. I testify to that. God's church is complete I can promise you that!

Hope ya'll are doing well. It definitely seems like it! Let me know if I can do anything for ya'll back home okay!?

 

Love love love LOVE you!

 

Josh (크라우더 장로)

HEY, guess who is alive after one more week!

So ya, I am alive. This week was just stressful for me to be honest but here I am. It's been an alright week with a surprisingly good ending!

This week we just got out and tried to find. But ya, it's not working. Finding is hard, goodness. We are doing a lot of 가가호호 (knocking on doors) but ya. I don't know if I have told you this but it is hard to knock on doors in Korea. Most areas of the world people are like "I got so many doors slammed in my face I can't take it!" I'm like "DUDE WE TOTALLY HAD 3 PEOPLE OPEN THE DOOR TODAY... YA NONE OF THEM LISTENED AND THEY ALL SLAMMED THE DOOR BUT STILL!!!!" ya. 보닌의 관점의 차이죠. It's funny because I am just thinking to myself "hey at least you see a high percentage of the people who slam the door in your face."

anywho. Ya we are just trying to get some finding going while still teaching the investigators that we have! The ones that we do have are progressing so that is good, hopefully this week we will see some big jumps.

This week we also had Zone Conference. It was a good meeting and I am now liberated from training for a long time which is a relief. We are just plugging along I guess. Our zone needs to find some more prepared people. The ones that we have aren't quite ready yet so pray for us here!

I have recently been changing one of my focuses. I have always been a Obedient/Diligent missionary (or so I feel) but that is one of the things that I am preaching to the Zone of late. My Greenie Elder Miller said it the best: "If we work hard and are obedient, we will see miracles." TRUE

I have to elaborate on that because not only that but "If we work hard and are obedient, we will see miracles, AND we will be happy." TRUE. People don't begin to fathom the changes that the mission can have on you if you just give 100%. Sure it's hard, I struggle to do it every day. But it's living the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we are preaching to people that makes it possible. We have faith in Christ, we repent when we make mistakes, we partake of the sacrament, and get the spirit. Then we continue to endure and do it Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

That's what this is all about. Becoming like Christ. Preparing ourselves to receive the blessings that God has planned for us as his "heirs" (as I was reading your email, Mom, I saw this scripture that Grandpa used. I use it a lot too. Most people don't believe that we can become like God so I use it a lot to help them see that the apostles taught the same principles).

I want to share an experience that I had with you this week that I thought was really cool. I was on a bus (we were just taking the bus to talk to some people) and I said hello to this guy. We started talking and he asked if I was a missionary. I of course answered in the affirmative and he asked from which church. I responded 예수 그리스도 후기 성도 교회 and after a little bit more discussion he realized that we were also known as the 모르몬교. SO he was like: I have questions for you. Do you have some time? My little missionary mind is just thinking : WAHOO!O!!!!!!!! LES DO THIS!!!!!! and so we go sit down and start talking. He starts asking all these questions and then all of a sudden he starts to kinda "preach." I have had bad experiences with Bible Bashing (it's really hard in Korean) so I didn't want to get into that so we kinda talked and agreed on a few things and then I got a chance to start talking a little bit about our beliefs. I was just so happy because as I started to talk I literally knew EXACTLY what to say (you know how God like promises us that we will know in the very hour, yea the very moment what we shall say. Ya he wasn't kidding there either). As we started talking I was just guided to ask questions that made him think. His attitude when we started talking was "I'm going to teach these kids a lesson." As we talked more and more I taught the gospel in a way that I have never taught it before. I literally got to live the promise that God gave when he said "we will not be confounded before men." As we talked I was able to bear my testimony and challenge this man to get a testimony of his own of the things I had talked about (primarily the Priesthood and the Restoration of the Gospel). He accepted the offer as well as a Book of Mormon, a Restoration Pamphlet, gave me his phone number and as I called again a couple days later, we are planning on meeting some time this week. 

I was just so glad for the scriptures. So glad for this complete and flawless Gospel that Heavenly Father has given to us. We have to know it. We have to "feast upon the Words of Christ" but truly as we do, it all makes sense. It really does all make sense. You can't deny this because it's from God. 

I testify that this Church is true. From the bottom of my heart. God loves us and has restored His true church to the earth. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 즉 예수 그리스도 후기 성도 교회. It's true.

Love it.

I love you all too! It's so good to hear that you are all doing well and staying busy. Jenna is setting a huge example for me as far as college and providing for oneself goes so I am going to be needing some work when I get back. but ya. Anywho.

I am so excited to see all of you soon! I have told a couple of the members that I am really close with that you are all coming and have some people ready to see you! It's exciting. I don't know what all we are going to do so ya'll just make the Itinerary and I'll just modify the parts that need to be changed :)

Love you all tons. I hope you all know that. Love the gospel and I hope you do too :)

Take care!

LOVE,

Josh (크라우더 장로)

Ya I know you only get to see one side of my face. I don't know why I do that weird. anywho enjoy!

HEY, guess what.... I watched conference​! It was awesome

Ya so like the title says. I watched conference. The last one of my mission. It was really good I had a lot of talks that to me were really needed I thoroughly enjoyed them.

I just want to start off by talking about this whole deal with North Korea....

Long story short, no problems at all. South Korea is safe, American news blows everything up way to big anywho (thats why I don't watch the news.... yes I finally found a legitimate reason!). But ya no problems. Keep prayers for the leaders JUST in case BUT like seriously no problems at all. You would think that at least the people in the country that is apparently "at war" would know what is going on. Ya, it's not big enough that anythings happening here. 

So ya, don't worry. And besides, 전주 is about the safest place I can be. The leader of North Korea's Grandpa lives here. I'm safe haha. 

But ya that's that. As far as the week goes it was good. We unfortunately dropped a LOT of investigators this week (like 5 people) and I am planning on dropping one more. It stinks to stop meeting people. Like it really does. But ya, I'm here to share the gospel to those that are ready for it. 

and...

Ya. 

So anywho, this weekend was conference. I was so excited for the opportunity that I had to be able to watch the Prophet speak just for missionaries in Priesthood Meeting (like seriously that is what it was). It was a blessing for me and exactly what this Zone needed.

I have just been plugging along. Day after day doing missionary work. Get out work hard. Teach the Gospel. Try to help people come to Christ. Ya'll know how it goes. We have an appointment tonight with one of the guys that we are meeting that is doing alright. He is a little hesitant to progress but is still coming along. He came to church two weeks ago and unfortunately he didn't come to General Conference but hopefully he will be out this week.

I am just trying to teach these Korean People more and more. It is hard. Like it really is hard. People think differently, but people are people and that makes me laugh and happy.

장영준 is still happy and all it is fun to get to meet with him (and now some of his friends) they are fun people and it is just good to spend time with someone as awesome as 장영준 :)

I Love ya'll tons, I am so grateful for prophets that lead and guide us today it is such a blessing to my life. It was a blessing to hear the words that God had in preparation for me. I feel really like the whole conference for me. So ya. Sorry rest of the world. God took care of me during conference haha.

I love this work, it's truly God's work. We are bringing people back to him. That is our "quest" and it happens one day one small act at a time. I am so grateful for the wonderful opportunity of being here in Korea. Grateful for an inspired Mission President that guides our mission grateful for mom and dad to help me be able to be on a mission and being amazing parents and examples to me.

Love ya'll so much, I'm excited to get to see you soon!

Look forward to talking to you more next week!

Josh (크라우더 장로)

P.s.

So this is the pictures of my pockets!

 this is where I keep my pen:

 

this is where I keep my planner:

 

this is where I keep my mp3:

 

this is where I keep my wallet:

 

this is where I keep my glasses rag:

 

this is where I keep my keys:

 

this is where I keep the phone:

 

This is my pockets! :)