Elder Jerrod Crouch Mississippi Jackson Mission: October 14, 2015

Hey mama!

This week at the MTC has been a great one. Since I only have an hour to write while I am in the MTC please use the email I send to you as the chain email. People commented their emails on facebook and instagtram if they were interested in hearing or reading my weekly emails. So first of all My Companion is Elder Ben Stones from Woodland Hills Utah and he is an interesting character....... if you get pulled over from the police and have a breathalizer and it measures your blood alcohol percentage, well we could measure his Diet Coke blood percentage. In the past six days he has gotten 6 packages from his mom all including diet coke candy and more diet coke..... yeah so is interesting and chunky and funny all at the same time. So we are polar opposites but somehow it works when we teach together. My first night here was rough just being in a new bed but I wasnt sad or anything I just could not fall asleep at all but I have been sleeping like a rock since then. Oh and BTW Elder Stones is going to the same mission as me. Anyways, the food here at the MTC is not that great to be honest. Ketchup is my best friend because there isnt much flavor but at the same time i find myself eating a lot but dont worry I am working out hard with a few elders in my district and if I have gained any weight it has actually been muscle. They have these vegetable wraps here that are pretty refreshing around lunch time and the dinners are full of meat so I am getting my protein after work outs and also all my nutrition. I dont want a gut when i come home haha. Just so you know what it is like here, I wake up at 630 and go shower then iron my shirt and then since its officially winter months here we have to wear a suit every day so i put on my suit and go to breakfast. Then we have 3 hours of study time and then go to lunch. After lunch we go to a 3 hour class and the classes here are really interactive. The teacher here will demonstrate and then we will role play. We then teach investigators and then have an hour of gym, I shower again and then go to dinner. After dinner we have one more lesson with an investigator which most of the time are actors and then we have another class at night where I teach my teacher as if he was an investigator. The coolest thing that has happened to me is somehow seeing people I know. On day two here I saw Carter Coggins and gave him a big hug and talked for a bit and he is ready to get out of this place. I saw Sierra Smart and she was doing well and then in class our Assistant Teacher is Jordan Tui (Ammon from Beyond 5 Brother) and when he walked in we looked at each other and was like "Is this a joke Crouch?" and he just laughed and he is my favorite teacher here so far. He is very spiritual and makes me understand the book of mormon waaaaaaaaaay better. The three investigators i have are:

1: Mike who is really my teacher acting and so far we have him committed to baptism which is awesome.

2:Carol who we actually havent taught yet because she has been sick and keeps rescheduling.

3:Arnold who is very hard to teach because he wants to talk all the time and it is off topic but also awesome stuff to hear. Hopefully we can get him to pray today in our lesson.

Another cool thing we did is me and my companion got to skype with a member down in Mississippi and give her a spiritual lesson and it was cool interacting with people down in the south. We had her in tears which shocked me but the spirit was there even through a computer screen.

I sang in choir this week because if we did we got to sing for a general authority in our devotionals. On sunday we heard from Richard I Heaton who is the Administrative Director of the Provo MTC. And yesterday we heard from L Whitney Clayton who is in the Presidency of the Seventy. They were awesome to hear and it was awesome to sing in a choir led by the choir director of MOTAB.

Today I went to the Provo temple and did a morning endowment session and it was an awesome session except for a guy who called me out for not washing my hands when I went to the bathroom to adjust my tie...... and then when I went back in to make him happy he took my ceremonial envelope and I had his so he got mad thinking I stole his in the Session and that was just a little awkward.

The Church is true the book is blue and jesus loves you. Just remember that haha.

I leave on monday and my flight departs from SLC at 830 Am and I fly to Atlanta Georgia and then from Atlanta I fly to Jackson. Sooooo ill call from SLC early monday morning. Like potentially 6 or 7 AM.

Keep sending me dear elders until friday because they are really motivational and keep me moving. I love hearing from you all. I might not be able to email for a bit since I dont have a P Day here but maybe I will be able to Email Saturday night so email me on friday night and ill try to talk.

I love you all and constantly think about you but it makes me work harder and harder each day,

Talk to you all soon.

Elder Crouch- Mississippi Jackson Mission

Hey dad its crazy that I have already been here a week. I know that its flying by. Just use your headphones upstairs and watch some football for me. Keep me updated on the: Patriots BYU and the Top 25 of college if there are any upsets. I am doing alright and im just working hard. We already have one investigator committed to baptism. It was a shocker when he said yes I was like HOLY CRAP I DID SOMETHING SUCCESSFUL HERE. I think about you all at home and I am not getting sick. If anything I am using it as motivation to work harder and harder. My first night here was rough because I couldnt sleep and then my companion would snore so loud I wanted to murder him but good thing I didnt. hes a weird dude but only five more days with him since we fly out early monday morning. He sweats carbonation because of all the diet coke he drinks. Oh i forgot to put this in moms email but I got assisnged as ZONE LEADER which means I am the man in charge of about 10 to 12 sets of missionaries and its awesome being in charge. I get to greet the newbies today in a meeting and they will look up to me a lot apparently. Should be a fun experience. To answer your question about general authorities: the highest up person who spoke was L Whitney Clayton who was in the presidency of the seventy which was awesome. I sang in choir that day because the director was the director of MOTAB. Stay strong. The women may rule for a while but we will have a man cave in a few years thanks to the ACN Bonuses right? okay good. haha.

Love you and keep sending Dear Elders. They motivate me a lot. Cant wait to hear more

Love Jerrod

Your favorite only son who is doing great things in a place I cant leave which is slowly driving me mad haha