Sunday, July 28, 2013

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)

Sunday, July 21, 2013

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)

Sunday, July 14, 2013

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!


 

Monday, July 8, 2013

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)