화이팅! 나는 바로크라우더 장로다! 와!

Hey all, how we all doing at home!?

(Mom can you please forward this email to: .........; I recently decided to work on obedience a little more so if you could forward this email their way since I'm not technically supposed to I would be appreciative!)

It sounds like things are winding down in the Crowther home a little bit and that is pretty wild I have got to say. It is always a sad time of life when basketball season comes to an end! :'( But it sounds like the girls are doing way good! Alissa, it makes me laugh that you were kicking some big time booty in the basketball game. Work hard and keep it up!

Jenna and dating.... weird.... I don't like it at all....

I hear from Kellie often so ya. Kellie, your letters make me laugh almost every time. I sent you a response, did you get it!?

Katie BUG - HEY I haven't heard from you, missy, in quite a while! But thank you for the card that you sent me a while ago it made me laugh :)

Mom/Dad - Ya'll sound like things are going well with this here marathon (Outside of trying to picture Dad running more than about 100 yards at a fast pace, it's pretty cool; no offense Pop ;) hahaha!)

SO ya! I have had a wild week up here in 평택 and it has been a great experience! We have been working way hard and have seen some great success. SO ya.

Let me first start off by telling you about the awesome time I have had this week 전도'ing..... We have found 5 investigators this week.... 4 of them we found through 전도.... 4 of them (3 of the 전도 ones) we commited to a baptismal date on our first visit..... SO. Plus we met a really cool kid last night on our way home who was WAY legit. I talked to him and he said that he would like to hear more about our church! SO I have really come to like 전도'ing. I really have a lot of faith in it. It only takes persistence and diligence. It was WAY cool last week and I don't really know what exactly we did. We just did it and somehow it worked :)

So anywho in terms of a Korean mission that was the miracle for the week. It was nuts! We are doing really well and just had an amazing week (4 dates in a week is unheard of but we now gotta get them coming to church and this week, pulling a similar capacity of week is almost impossible (we are goin to 대전 today for Zone conference early so I can fix Sister Furniss's computer and then zone conference and a big mission training by our stake and then on Wednesday we are on splits, so I won't get back to my area to work until Thursday and that'll be late. But ya! So we will be in heavy need of your prayers so ya! It has been just great. I love it here. I love being able to serve in 2 wards (well... a ward and a branch...) but it feels like 2 wards and it is just awesome!

Lately, the thing that I am working on out here is following the Spirit. I feel like we can have the Spirit with us a TON but if we don't recognize it it's kinda hard... SO I have been kinda working on following the Spirit and I just had a thought. I remember that thing that Mom gave me that says: "When you have the Spirit:" and has that list of all the things that happen when you have the Spirit. One of the things is "you are confident and happy to be alive."  I have really noticed that a lot this transfer. I have gained a lot of confidence since coming to 평택. I am not scared to speak to people, in fact at all (although reading scriptures in 한글 in sacrament meeting is a different story. That I am absolutely terrified of although I did... it was just slow....) I love speaking Korean. I love talking about the gospel. I love just being this outgoing person. It's FUN! And it's great. I will meet people on the street who will tell me all the time "You are so optimistic... it's kinda cool." SO YA. I definitely know that that little bit is a change being wrought in me by my Heavenly Father. Because that is not the Josh that left on his mission 7 months ago (today in fact. I am wearing the tie too! It is very 멋있다 :)) So yes. I am a happy guy these days.

I was reading in the scriptures the other day and I read Alma 22:18. It is a great scripture. I thought about that in my life and in the lives of my investigators and how key that scripture is. "O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day." I especially love the "I will give away all my sins to know thee." I thought about how if I am expecting to see miracles in my missionary work HOW ON EARTH am I supposed to get them if I am not willing to be EXACTLY obedient. And I guess it gets harder and harder (because of the natural man and all) but ya! King Lamoni was willing to give away all of his sins just to know that God Exists. Much less have the power and courage to change the heart of a person or any of those hard things! So ya in light of that Mom I made the request I did at the beginning of the email. I will be writing a lot of letters today! Namely to those who's emails I have yet to respond to. SO ya!

I love ya'll so much remember this: "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." -Isaiah 41:10 (aka My Favorite scripture). God is right there waiting to help. We need only ask and he will be there for us. Develop that relationship with him. Seek his guidance. He will give it :)

예수 그리스도의 이름으로 말씀합니다. 아멘.

사랑해! LOVE YA!
Elder JOSH Crowther (I have to capitalize the JOSH because I haven't been called that in such a long time it's weird)

평택..... 역시.....

Well, howdy there! It has been an unusually crazy week for Elder Josher Crowther (mister) here in 대한민국. I have had a busy week filled with up's and downs (as usual guess it happens?) So ya! I will tell you about my area and new companion and then about the area and the ward and branch I'm serving in. And then to wrap it all up I will tell ya'll about an investigator that we met yesterday!

So I am currently serving in an area called 평택 [Pyongtaek]. It is one of the coolest areas in our mission and I actually have lived in 2 of the 3, 4 man houses in my mission (not a lot of missionaries get that luxury). So I am expecting a crazy move in the upcoming future, probably something really weird. But yes. My area is the only area in the mission with 4 missionaries working it so it is kinda crazy. We don't see each other a lot but we always 식사 [eat] together and it is nice.

My companion's name is Elder Scoville, he has been out on the mission for a little over a year now and actually just went senior this transfer (which is good news for me because that means that I am going senior soon... which I guess is also bad news at the same time.... hum.... interesting) But yes. He is from Washington (state) and is a cool guy. Really good Elder and all I'm excited to serve with him. We have had a really productive first couple of days together and the work is going well. We have had some CRAZY experiences and have a TON of potential in getting people to progress and accept baptism.

The ward that I am in is really REALLY cool. Because 사실... I am serving in 2 wards... Or I guess you could say a ward and a branch (but the branch is bigger than the ward). I have the 평택 Korean Ward and then the 오산 American Military Branch. It was ridiculous! So I go to church twice on Sundays and get to listen to a church meeting that I understand 100% of and then one that I understand about 50% of. SO that was cool at least. I actually got to bless the sacrament in English on Sunday so that was definitely a different experience. Also
the change in culture is SO WEIRD. I go from the classic Korean culture for 3 hours to 갑자기 [suddenly] having to talk to people in English and it is hard! Total culture shock! Wah!

So yes, it is weird but I guess technically if you were bored you might be able to get in touch with some people who know me (through Dad of course, mister stake clerker). And yayayaya!

Anywho, I will tell you about two of my investigators: one who we found yesterday, and one who has been meeting missionaries a while! But not in that order.

The first one is a girl in the American Branch named Alex. She is way cool and she actually had a baptismal date right when I got here (but that is now dropped.... I'll explain). She has been meeting missionaries a while and has prayed about the BoM and knows it's true and commited to be baptized and comes to church and everything! She is so COOL! Only thing is.... her parents aren't so sure of it yet. So we are going to have to find some way to get her parents to give her the okay and then she wants to be baptized. I ask for prayers on her
behalf and on our behalf as well as we try and figure out how to get that permission and help her make that step. She is way cool I just hope we can find a way to help her out.

The next investigator we have is this lady named (     ), we aren't sure which yet. She is this way cool lady and is the definition of humble. We were 가가호호'ing in her apt complex on Saturday and found her and she said that we could come in. But there was no adult male there so we had to come back yesterday. She has been through so much in her life. Her family was killed. She is SO HUMBLE though. As we met her and she told us her story I really could not think of how to respond. She is just amazing, totally prepared in my eyes. I feel so bad that she has been through so much and I cannot even begin to understand what she feels. That is the cool part. I may not, but Jesus Christ can. He understands perfectly what she is going through. He has been there and knows
exactly what she feels every day. We shared with her Alma 7:11-13 and it was a really cool lesson. The spirit was strong and it was an eye opening moment for me. Our member that we brought along told her about how as she studies if she asks other people about our church how they are going to say we are a cult and that she shouldn't meet with us type of things. She seemed really worried all of a sudden and I piped up and these are the words that came out of my mouth: "I would not leave my family, my friends, my life, for something that I didn't know was true. I would not give 2 years of my life to do this, for something I didn't know was true." I really just had the coolest feeling as the spirit confirmed my words in my own heart. I am really doing God's work. It is so cool! I love it!

I want ya'll to remember that I know this is true. Every day I learn just a little bit more about what it is like to have the guidance of the Holy Ghost in my life. I look at the people that I am teaching and I look at the blessing that this gospel can be in their lives and it is just like. "Why would anyone want anything but this?"

I know I am weak. Believe me I find out every day just how much I have to learn. I found out more and more every day that I am far from the person that God wants me to be. But I was reading this morning in a talk by Elder Todd D. Christopherson, called Consecrated Missionary. It says at the end this: "God does not expect us to be perfect right now; but he does expect us to make progress now." I am here to tell you that I am experiencing that in my life. I hope that I can keep progressing, I like what Dad said to me a couple weeks back: "These are growing pains!" I gotta say I really haven't liked the pain too much, but I wanna be better and I guess it's not gonna be easy now is it?

Alright I thought of one more really good thing that I may of shared a couple weeks ago BUT I'm sharing it again.... Get over it if I did.

There is a movie about Martin Luther and there is a scene in this movie were there is this monk that trained Martin Luther and he is cutting his hair. Anywho the monk is like getting after him for turning the world upside down, Protestants fighting against Catholics and just craziness in terms of religion. There is a really tense moment and Martin Luther grabs the monk's arm and says "You wanted me to change the world, did you think there would be no cost?"

I like to apply that to myself 이렇게: I wanted to change myself, did I really think that there was going to be no cost? For me that cost is my Pride, my Passions, my Weaknesses..... everything. If I wanna be better, It is gonna cost every fiber of my being. It is hard I know. But I hope that it is worth it :)

I love you all and am so grateful for the gospel in my life! I promise you that it can be a blessing in yours too if you are willing to fight for it :). Love you all so so so so so much and take care of yourselves.

Elder Josh Crowther 크라우더 장로....

The end of the transfer... Well, it is time to write another letter home!

Well, hello there everyone! It has been a crazy week here in 대한민국 I have been busy and it has just been an all around better week than last! I have had a really good week this week that was capped by an awesome Sunday full of surprises and an awesome miracle. 

So yes, I wanted to talk about an experience that I had this week and the realization that I am continually having every time I actually take some time to think/say/write what has happened to me in the past....

So on Thursday, me and Elder Carter were out doing some 전도 and we were going and going and going and I met this guy.... We got to talking and everything and it was probably the best street lesson that I have ever taught. I loved it so much, the guy was asking questions and I got to just teach and it was a great experience. I ended up talking to him about the 몰몬경 and how it has been a blessing in my life. We talked and I offered him one and he accepted it. As we were kinda saying our goodbyes however I had been noticing that as we had been talking that he was just absolutely FREEZING! Oh my goodness this man was COLD. So I handed him the book of mormon and then since I was wearing a pair of just warm little gloves (not the ones that you bought me at Mr. Mac, Mom, I already lost one of those) but the thought crossed my mind that I could not give a man who looked as cold as he was a Book of Mormon when he can't even put his hands in his pockets to keep him warm if I do. SO the only thing I could think of was to give him my gloves as well. So I did. It was one of the warmest feelings of my mission to watch this cold man go take a Book of Mormon and  put on my gloves and walk away with it in hand. I don't know why, I probably won't even seen him again, but that brought up something that I really decided I need to work on. Love.

As I went home that night I just could not get my mind off of that man. I wanted him to call so BAD, I wanted him to read the Book of Mormon and be Baptized SO BAD. I just couldn't stand it! And that's when it hit me: I need to love EVERYONE like that. I love the scripture in Moroni 7 where it talks about "Charity never faileth" If I loved every single person that I met on the street (the ones that I talk to and the ones who say they are "Busy") if I loved every single person who I 가가호호'ed like that.... how great would be my joy if I did find that one. That one person out of the 55000000 people who are here that is willing to listen to this message. 

This not only applies in my life here out on the mission but afterwards. We are all Brothers and Sisters. God has put us here on the earth to learn and grow and how on earth am I supposed to grow if I can't show that love that I so desperately crave to others. How am I supposed to say to someone on the street here "I know this message will make you happier" and have them feel that sincerity if I don't ACTUALLY love them. It is a hard thing love. It is something that we have to try and get EVERY DAY. It says in Moroni (and PMG) "Pray unto the Father with all energy of heart that ye might be filled with his love"... 

I know that I'm not perfect at all (in fact I am not even approaching that) but the fact of the matter is that If I am willing to give all that I am in the service of someone I care about (be it family, friends, coworkers, investigators, whoever) then how much better my life will be. How much better the relationships we have with those around us. It just all hit me.

Then also on Sunday, Sister Bush (one of the sisters who is finishing her mission this week) gave a talk on Charity and Love in sacrament meeting that just reinforced that point. I need to love more. I have to let that become who I am now as a missionary and that is something that will serve me for the rest of my life. I need it!

SO ya, that is my random rant on the things that I learned during the week thing... :) It was a crazy day today. We played some Soccer in the morning (I have some awesome injuries from soccer, you should see my knee these days). Then we got transfer calls! And I'm on the move again! WAHHH!H!!!!HH!!!! I know right? I will be in the same zone but I am moving down to 편택 [Pyeongtaek]. I will be with Elder Scoville who is going senior this transfer so that'll be nuts! I am going to be serving in a ward and in a branch. The ward is a Korean ward but down in 편택 there is an American military branch that I will be serving in. So, long story short, my weight gain (which of late has stabilized at 84-85 kg) will explode and I will be a fatty in about 6 weeks. But ya. It has been crazy to server here in 신풍 with Elder Carter we have had a lot of fun and have worked hard. I am excited for the future but am grateful for the success that I have seen so far.

So I said that there was an awesome cap to last week and I will tell you that to wrap things up. We have this investigator named Tiako (최봉림/최용봉) who is a Chinese guy (hence the 3 names) and ya, he is way cool. He came to church on Sunday (he comes when he can get off work) and we got to meet with him during priesthood meeting. We had an awesome discussion and in the course of the lesson he accepted the commitment to be baptized! Not only that but we set a date with him too! So on 3/11 he will be baptized (providing he doesn't have work and Elder Carter and his new greenie can meet enough between now and then to get all the lessons in and get him prepared). It was an awesome cap to the week and ya!

I want ya'll to remember something. God lives, and he loves us. He is our Father and like any Father he will guide us as we seek his guidance. Believe me if anyone doesn't deserve it (his guidance) it's me. But he is even willing to guide me and help me overcome the things that I am going through. How much more will he guide all of you :). I love you all, from the bottom of my heart. I frequently think about the person I would be without you and I am scared to even think where I would be. I am so grateful. I love you :)

Take care of yourselves and know that this is true!

Elder Josh Crowther

Bet you weren't expecting this!

Well, here we are, another week here in Korea. It has been a crazy week and all, but I will tell you just about some of the stuff that has been going on here.

I have really been working on personal development these days. I can't tell you how much I worry about my ability to testify and things like that. It has really been a great experience here on the mission but I have to admit... The crazy spiritual train ride that I have been on here is just huge, I go on the CRAZIEST rides. I go from the highest of high's to the lowest of low's, all in the space of about 24 hours. For example this week...

It was on Tuesday that I woke up and I just knew something was wrong..... I could just feel it, something in my heart was wrong.... So I thought "ya know, I'll just go to the gym and work out and it'll all be better......" SO I went to the gym and worked out and long story short it was not better... I just didn't feel the drive that I had had the day before. I wanted to be a missionary but something inside me just... didn't.... So during personal study I just got down on my knees and prayed. I can't tell you how hard that was for me. To try and sit there and fight off this feeling that was in my heart. It hurt, however, I opened up my scriptures and decided to read about faith. So I opened up to Alma 32:26... I read that and all of a sudden I realized something in my life. I have lived my life pretty similar to the direction that it gives in Alma 32:26-End... I especially like verse 41 where it says we have to "Nourish the tree... by your faith with great diligence"..... I think about the process of growing a tree. Sometimes there are hard times in the growing of a tree. But even during those hard times we have to continue to nourish the tree. Even when it may seem hard, even when the conditions may not be ideal, in the nourishing of the tree we come to love it more and more. Not only that but if we are faithful and help the tree till it produces fruit,  how much better it will be because we watched the tree and knew the whole process that it went through to get where it is.

I kinda tried to apply that to myself.  These days are bound to be amongst the hardest times of my life. But it is through the hard times that we have to have our roots planted deep, so that even when things are hard on the surface, when it comes down to it, we know the truth. I know this is true and although some days may have me thinking otherwise, I always have to think about the blessings that I have received because of it. My life would be so much different if I wasn't living the gospel, if I didn't live this gospel to be perfectly honest I have no idea where I would be right now. But I do know this much..... "by their fruits ye shall know them..." this gospel has blessed my life and protected me from so many things. All I have to do is realize that to see that God is watching over me. That he does care. That although things may be hard at times, if we hold on we will be made strong. Joseph Smith once said "God will take hold of you and will wrench your very heart strings. And if you cannot stand it you will not be fit for an inheritance of the celestial kingdom of God." This life is a refining process. There will be heat. There will be pressure. It will be uncomfortable, but we if we can make it through and not crumble, we will become so much better than we could ever be without it.

So Dad asked me to throw in something in my email home: What would I say to people who are preparing to serve a mission? 

I would have to say that the one thing I worked the hardest to figure out was that God really does love me. That despite everything if we can lean on that one thing as a fact, life gets just that much easier.

So one of the things that I would say to those preparing for a mission is get a knowledge that God loves you.

The second is: Know where to go in the scriptures to find comfort.

In times of trial on your mission you aren't going to have the ability to just bail from everything. You aren't going to be able to just mope for a couple days and have some miraculous experience that gets you over it (Believe me I've been there). You are going to have to know where to go in the scriptures to find help and comfort. STUDY THEM, KNOW THEM. God can teach us and comfort us through the scriptures. This is one thing that I work on every day. I want to get to know them so much better. I can promise anyone who reads this that if they know the scriptures and know how to apply them to your situation in life, God can and will comfort you and teach you through them. He has and does continue to do that for me, EVERY DAY.

Kind of a sobering letter this week but I guess you know it happens. If ya'll would be willing to pray on behalf of my investigators that would be helpful. We just need to meet with some of them and others need that answer that it is true really bad. If you could pray for that for me I'd be much appreciated

I love you all. So glad that all is going well at home, remember that God lives. Remember that He LOVES you. Lean on that through everything and I can promise you'll make it through anything that comes your way.

Love,

Elder Josh Crowther

The week..... Again explained more interesting than just saying that I just did this and this and this!

Well! Here we are on yet another P-Day here in Korea and I have now been out on a mission over 6 months (by 3 days no less...weird eh?). SO in light of how I did my email last week I was thinking that I would do a little bit more of that style today and just tell you about stuff as opposed to just laying down a sketchy day by day view of what went down!

SO. This week I want to tell you about a crazy experience that may have turned into a miracle (may not be 100% sure on that but we are slowly finding out more and more....)

So, on Friday we were sitting there doing some weekly planning (just like every single other planning of my mission) and we are going along all cool and stuff and all of a sudden we get this call! So we look at the number, don't recognize it and so Elder Carter answers the phone. He starts to talk to the guy and come to find out he's a new investigator from like 1.5 years ago. It was crazy! So in the course of talking to him he was like.... oh so you wanna meet some time...... wait right now???..... well, how about in like 30 mins.... alright we'll see you then... and he hangs up. "Elder, get dressed we are going to meet a former." SO I get dressed and we go to meet this guy. We get to where we are going to meet him and find him. His name is 김동화....and he brought two of his "friends"..... and they are girls.... about 25 years old..... and they aren't exactly the most "innocent looking" of people that I have ever met in my missionary work. SO we introduce to the guy and then BOTH of the girls stick out their hands and want a handshake....(only reason that is included is because the only girls hand that I have shaken here in Korea is one of the other Missionaries.... she's an American).... SO we shake both of their hands and all and ya.... we start walking down the street towards this guy's house and the girls just WILL NOT leave us alone..... So, we are talking and all and they keep calling us 오빠...(which in Korean is a term that you use if you are really close and it is a girl's older male friend)..... So they are doing that as well as  반말'ing us to death (Another thing you only do if you are way close to someone....) SO we are going along and me and Elder Carter get two seconds to chat and we are like "I don't feel good about this at all........ we need to get out of here......" So we keep going and that same feeling of "GET OUT" keeps coming and coming and coming.... (They continue talking about how we are all going to go drink beer and "Play".....). We finally get to the point where I was like "We gotta get out of here man, call Elder Hardcastle and get him to give us an excuse to leave." So he calls Elder Hardcastle and gets him to bail us out and all and ya.... So we like ran away and all and that was good. But right before we were about to leave, he was like well..... "I will come to church then! I'll see you Sunday!"

So we are like sprint walking away and are like "No bueno, no bueno......." it was ridiculous. SO first of all, we just sit there and are way grateful for the Spirit getting us out of there and all (Seriously, it kept pushing and pushing and pushing to where we were finally like, alright, gotta go). We then went and were just dazed and stuff and ya... So then SUNDAY comes along..... and right as we are down greeting people and all and are heading into sacrament meeting, I look back and see him coming through the gate.... So we are like AHHHHHHHHHHH He is back!!!!! So we are like freaking out and all, so we go and Elder Carter takes him into sacrament and goes and sits by him.... We get done with sacrament and go into Gospel Principles and all of a sudden, our teacher starts asking him all these questions! And he starts answering and asking good questions and really expressed a sincere desire to learn more and he wants the blessings and knowledge that we talked about and stuff.... So we are like way confused as to what to do! But he is way tight (despite his probably just having some not so bueno friends). SO ya!

That was cool and then also on Saturday, we walked about 15 miles just 전도'ing. I was sore. Like I had some hardcore 몸살.

Anywho, that is the crazy thing of the week. We have been working hard and it has been great. Language is coming (they are making me translate some these days which is a challenge let me tell you. Regurgitating stuff in another language is nuts....)

It has been great to be out here, me and Elder Carter are working hard and it has been so fun to work with him. He's a great guy! Also, I have been here and I actually live with one of the cool guys from 광주 [Gwangju] it has been way WAY fuN!

So ya, loving life and loving being a missionary. Despite the occasional hardships (they are inevitable) it has been so cool!

I am actually out of memory on my camera.... SO I am going to back it up soon as possible but I am going to need a new card. Dad, I don't know what all we can do. I can buy a card here easy but I would need some money. ALSO I have been talking to a bunch of Elders and they all have a big USB drive (500GB/1TB or so, they run not too horrible here) that as they have different comps and stuff they just exchange data and all and I was wondering if you might consider doing that! But ya!

As to all that is going on at home, it has been crazy to hear from everyone these last couple of days especially. Mom, I did get the tie and coincidentally it is actually probably my favorite tie (like I'm not even kidding, I love it so much I can't even tell you I would wear it 4 days consecutively but I would have people thinking I'm weird). Girls sound like they are all just owning on the defensive end of the court and it is just great to hear about all of their amazingness. I would love to see them play so much, so if you were to maybe make a video of them (like you did for me) and throw it up so I could download it, I would totally watch it!

Dad's getting a promotion eh!? Waya!!! That is so cool, it is about time someone acknowledged the hardest working man in the world (Plus he gets props because according to everyone here in Korea, he is a hotty!)

In fact, it's kinda funny, whenever I show my family pics to people, everyone is always like "WAHHHH, these are your parents/sisters!? They are SO GOOD LOOKING WAHHHH!!!" It's crazy! 

It has been a great experience so far and I am just looking for things to keep getting more and more interesting as life goes on! I love the mission, I love my Heavenly Father, I love the fact that I can do this work. I love that I am able to share this message with people and to see people accept it is SO cool to me!

I love God with all my heart, I know he's real, he really is our Father and he wants us to be happy!

Don't ever doubt it :)

Love ya'll!!!

Elder Josh(er)

                 ^

                 |

     That's for Dad :)

ANOTHER Week in the mission field (also my 1/4th of my mission mark on the 27th)

WELL, I am going to start this off with the preface that this could be a very interesting letter because the keyboard i'm writing on is coivererd with this film stuff so I write jkinda weird..... We shall see....

So any who, I'm not going to give as days by days this week seeing as how this keyboard is really bugging me and not a whole lot was different this week. But I will take some time to tell you what all I've been learning and stuff so hopefully that will make up for it!

So to be perfectly honest this week was very... normal... just a normal week and all slower than usual (being that we didn't get to teach a whole ton of lessons and all) but it was still quite a good week. We found a couple new investigators this week whom are very cool. One of them is this old man who is quite legit. He is this guy who has just seen everything. He was an air paramedic so he would go and jump out of a plane/helicopter and do paramedic work on people. He has just seen so much that he is just like "why?" so we are working with him and should have a lot of potential with him. He is way hard to understand. It's frustrating sometimes to be honest but you get used to it.

We also met this guy who was actually a former investigator. He was so cool, but his church interest is kind of small so we will have to work on that. He is a very cool guy though and things should be pretty good with him as he is a very smart guy. We had this investigator who we haven't been able to meet for a couple weeks who had a baptismal date this week that unfortunately we weren't able to follow through on seeing as how he won't answer his phone/texts and we don't know where his house is! So he is hard. Someone quit at his work so he had ot pick up another shift so all he does these days is work/sleep/work. It's pretty ridiculous if you ask me. I think that he will pull through soon though and we will be able to meet him soon!

This week it was really cool. We saw the craziest miracle, it was totally whack. So I will tell you about it :)

One of the main ways that we have been finding people of late (we actually found 5 last week, just 3 were girls so we referred them to the sisters) is through English Advertisements. They are crazy, so we have been going and putting those in the mailboxes of all the people and the giant apartment complexes that scatter our area. SO we went to this apt and talked to the security office and the guy was like "NO.... go talk to the manager" so we go into this managers office to ask if we can put them up there and we go into the office and talk to his secretary. We talk to her for a while and try to explain our point of view and she's like "NO....let me ask the big man himself... you are doing it free...." so she goes into the office and comes out after a bit and BAM "NO, sorry" so we are like .... ok.............. so we start packing up our stuff to leave and as we are walking out the door all of a sudden we hear a "WAIT!" so we stop and the manager comes out and is like "come into my office... let's talk." So we are like "ok... sure... whatever" so we go into this guy's office and talk for a while and the guy is nice and all but overall is just like no no no no no no no.... SO we are talking and I was like "hummmm, Heavenly Father, please let us advertise here, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen," in my head. And all of a sudden he gets this look on his face and he's like..... "well it is free, and you two are really good guys..... sure go ahead :)" He then proceeded to offer us coffee and we were like nah... so he give us this delicious, WoW not illegal tea that was delicious :). It was way cool!

Of late, though, we have just been trying to find some more investigators it has been pretty hard work. You know that Pioneer Children song? Pioneer Children sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked... you get the picture. So it has been good in that respect though.

Now some WHAT's???

First of all, HOW IS JACOB ALREADY HOME??????

Second, HOW IS RACHEL ALLEN ENGAGED?????

So yes, if you could promptly respond to those that'd be awesome. Or if you could have the respective parties send me a quick email/letter I would be much appreciative. 

Oh and yes I forgot to tell you. My buddy 박윤기 made me a Korean name. SO I will have a tag with this on it in a bit; by my name will be: 강현 장로 [Elder Ganghyeon]. There is some really REALLY cool 한자 [Chinese character] for the 현 so I like the name. It means something like one who is strong and has a lot of wisdom and intelligence, or something along those lines :) so I like it :). 

I also had interviews on Tuesday last week which was crazy. My interview went just fine but my companion apparently found out that I am going to be going senior in the decently near future. SO prayers would be appreciated (even though I know you already are :))

Oh, I also have some requests for things that I would like If you have the time/means to send them my way! First of all the Mormon Doctrine book and also the Mormon Encyclopedia, AND also if you could put the video of my basketball stuff someplace I could get at it that'd be awesome, like a windows media format would be nice. Just avi would work to :)

Oh, and I might get to see San Ha next week. I'm not sure yet but he is back in Korea and one of his friends is in my ward and ya. He needs to get his butt down to 수원 [Suwon] so we can chat!

It is awesome to hear that the basketball is going well at home. I hope you all are doing awesome. I hope you all know what I am coming to learn more and more every day. That God lives, that he loves us, that he is there for us even when it all seems like everything is crumpling to the ground. I know he is there. He supports me every step that I take, every word I say, every time I open my mouth, even when I don't know how to respond, God makes it something I can do. I know he's real! Don't you ever forget. Name of Jesus Christ amen.

They look cold, don't they?

Hello from Suwon (2nd week)

Hello again from good old 대한민국 [Korea]. Elder Carter and I have had a pretty ridiculous week if I do say so myself! But my typing is getting progressively slower and slower so I will do my best to crank out a good email for ya'll!

Started off with last Monday which was pretty crazy if I do say so myself. We went to 신갈 [Singal] which is on the edge of our mission (which actually had to go into 서울 [Seoul] to get there) and played basketball at the impressively large church building there (one of the only ones that I know of in Korea that has a basketball court in it!) So we had a very awesome time doing that, got to play some ball and discovered that despite the fact that I have gained 10 kilos since I came to Korea, I am still able to touch the rim! It's gotta be all that walking, hum.... I'll keep doing that! But ya so then we went and met with a guy by the name of 이동엽. He was pretty cool and we set a return appointment with him, which was really cool. I will talk more about him in a sec, he is not a happy ending.... yet... Then we went and 전도'ed the rest of the night away and that was it! Pretty uneventful day if you ask me but we are still working hard!

Tuesday was pretty fun. We started off the day eating at an awesome restaurant called 아자아자 [hip hip]. WHICH has the most HUGEOMONGEOUS 돈까스 that I have ever seen. It is nuts! So far I have eaten 2 from there (which probably has contributed to the nice ring of fat that currently occupies my waist). ANYWAY, we had our first district meeting and it was great. I got to introduce myself to all the people in our district and it was pretty legit if I do say so myself. It is actually pretty cool- Elder Miller from the MTC (my comp in the MTC) is actually in my district now. So we got a chance to talk and work together and stuff and it is pretty cool! So YA then we went for a district activity back to 신갈 again and did a 전도 activity where I went with our Zone leader and got to talk to a bunch of crazy people that live outside of 서울. That was interesting. Then we went back to our area and put up some advertisements for English CLass and ya! Went and met with a member and 식사'ed and it was legit! Went and met with this "new investigator" that I called and it actually turns out that he is a long lost less active who just happened to move back to 수원 about a month ago. SO that was good! We then went and did some good old fasion 가가호호'ing and called it a night.

Wednesday was a little different. We started off the day with study like usual but we went to meet with this one guy at his office and it was good, but then he took the last 5-10 mins of our meeting to just beast us on how bad our Korean was....mine in particular because he had already met with Elder Carter. So ya that was pleasant and ya, we went and met with this foreigner named David (....what are the chances right?) and he is way cool. Except... he's from Cleveland.... and a LeBron hater.... I don't know if I can teach him.... hahahaha.... 농담! He is way cool. We went and talked to him about the Plan of Salvation and the Book of Mormon and stuff and it was good. More of just a get to know thing for me! So ya it was good! SO we also went and met with this other less-active named... 이병환 he is cool but won't come to church.... Always makes excuses.... grrrrrrrrr. So we will work on him. We then came home 식사'ed and it was great. We went to English class and it was fun, prepared a message and all and just had a good time :) Got done and went home!

Thursday was cool. We just worked hard all day visiting people and 전도'ing. Not really a whole lot to report on that.... EXCEPT, Elder 박 beasted us all on the use of slang... specifically like "Mormon Swear Words"...... So I was feeling bad because he like pulled out a bunch of quotes by L. Tom Perry and the white handbook and stuff.... SO I am trying to stop using those words, SO I may begin to use GRRRRRRRRRR a lot..... just fyi. 

Friday 'twas a good day-- we went and did weekly planning and then 전도'ed most of the rest of the day. Talked to people and stuff and then we went and met with a guy by the name of 장은진 he is way WAY cool! he is so nice and receptive and he wants an answer and EVERYTHING. He's just awesome. WOW, it's been nuts. SO ya, then we went to a member's house and 식사'ed at their house. While we like sharing our message and everything and I was bearing my testimony the husband just farted like SO LOUD. We all just busted up laughing and then ya he was just like "Ughhhhh gas......" it was funny. 

Saturday was a lot more finding in the morning, so we put up English advertisements and we talked to people on the street and then at 5 o'clock in the afternoon we went to this play that the YM/YW were putting on and it was crazy. They had some funny acts and stuff but I think the worst was that one of the songs that they danced to had the following lyrics repeated like 10000000 times: "I got a Hangover.... I been drinkin' too much...... I don't wanna grow up.... I just wanna drink until I throw up....." SO all us American elders just were busting up in the back and it was great. But the dance was cool all things considered. Then we went and just 가가호호'ed and ya! 

Sunday was fun, we went to church and all and my man Martin was there. He is this guy from Cameroon who is a less-active and can only come to church every other week but he is SOOOOO cool. We chatted and stuff, it was great. Then we went to Gospel Principles with one of our investigators. We had this member come and he just took over and totally BEASTED our investigator. Talked to him about like the Galaxy and stuff.... I didn't understand it all but when I walked out I felt more intelligent than when I walked in. So it was great. Priesthood was good but I didn't understand it at all and so that was kinda hard. Went home did comp study and all then a member called and we went with him to go talk to Less-Actives! So we drove around for a while and me and Elder Carter just played a lot of rock-paper-scissors with his daughter. that was fun. Went to their house after a while of driving/visiting and 식사'ed with the SIster Missionaries as well (which I forgot to tell you about, we have one of my younger 동기 in my district too!) and ya that was fun! went and 가가호호'ed and this was the first day that people actually opened the door. In fact it was pretty odd. But it was great because I've never actually had a door slammed in my face till yesterday! So ya the first door I knocked, they opened up the door and I was like "Hi" he then was like "Ahhh, you're the Mormons....." and slammed the door.... Great way to start I thought. So ya! That was the night

TODAY however I have to ask some questions for ya'll at home. I read all your emails and It is so good to hear about all your experiences with missionaries lately! That is so cool. But first of all... How is Jacob already home? I swear he left like yesterday, it is ridiculous, ya'll should send me his email so I can write him. Second, are all my sisters just like these amazing awesome athletes and I just have to be on the other side of the earth for it to all of a sudden "come to pass?" Grrrrr...... I want to see it, I'm so jealous that ya'll can watch it but at the same time, SO PROUD of all my sisters( and my 훌륭하신 [revered] parents :) for teaching them so well!) I hope all is well at home. 

Oh, I would like to tell you about my last night resolution. I am buying a gym pass with my comp and we are going to the gym. I am getting rid of this fat ring. It will DISAPPEAR!!! AHHHHH So ya, we are buying gym passes (like 40 dollars) and it is going to be great. I will get thin and attractive and everything. It'll be great!   

Love ya all so much and I hope ya'll are doing well at home. Remember that this church is true. Every day it brings so much peace to my heart to know I have a Father in Heaven that loves me and is watching over me. He wants us to find Him, that's why we can pray, that's why we can read the Book of Mormon and feel His love. He wants us to know :)!

Love you all, have an awesome week!

Elder Josh Crowther