By Laura Crowell

I was working part time at the East Bay Regional Park District helicopter unit in Hayward, California while attending college. The helicopter pilots patrolled the parks from the air while their own police force patrolled the parks on the ground. Part of my job was to schedule the volunteer EMTs each month. The EMTs, or emergency medical technicians, were available in case they received a dispatch for a medical emergency in any of the parks. One of the EMTs was a Keeper of the Flame named Barbara.

Unknown to me at the time, Barbara served at the San Francisco Teaching Center. She had brought to the helicopter unit a Christmas gift for our supervisor, Randy. It was a book. A very special book. It was called Saint Germain on Alchemy. The book laid on Randy’s desk for a few weeks, unopened, because he was on an extended vacation. Whenever I went into Randy’s office to file something, I would flip causally through the book. Soon, my curiosity got to me and I took the book home!

Flipping through the pages, I came to the section with the title “The Mystical Origins of the United States of America.” As my eyes darted from word to word on those pages, I felt my heart leap with excitement. I knew those words were true and I was transfixed! Soon the book became a little worn and I asked Barbara if she could replace the book so that when Randy returned he would have a fresh one on his desk. I still have the copy that says “To Randy—Merry Christmas” on the inside page!

I had a chance to talk with Barbara regularly and she answered many of the questions I had. She brought in a copy of “Heart” magazine that was published by The Summit Lighthouse, which I found fascinating. And she gave me some short decrees to give.

And then….a fortunate event happened. Mother was coming to San Francisco! I didn’t know her as Mother. I didn’t even know her as Elizabeth Clare Prophet really. Barbara gave me the flyer for the lectures Mother would be giving over a three day period. On a student’s budget, I chose one lecture a day. I chose one on chakras, one on the Cosmic Clock and one on twin flames.

As I sat at the San Francisco venue, I looked around with awe as I felt as if I knew the people in the audience. Everyone seemed vaguely familiar.

I had studied some metaphysical and spiritual teachings and attended some talks by channelers and psychics from the New Age scene in the Bay Area. But this was very different! It was as if all that I had read up until that point that was not truth, simply fell away. It was like a veil had parted and I could see truth from error.

As we gave the Tube of Light decree and the Heart, Head and Hand decrees, I said to myself,

“If I do this, I cannot fail!” I didn’t really understand at the time what I might have failed at, but now I know that I was saying to myself, “I can put on my Christhood, have my spiritual victory, and win my ascension if I stay on this path.”

After Mother concluded the third and last lecture that I attended, everyone stood up to give her a standing ovation as she walked off the stage. Intuitively, I did not want to stand up. It wasn’t because I didn’t like what she had to say. It was because I knew in my heart that she really didn’t want to be idolized. She did not own the message—God did. She walked back into the middle of the stage and said humbly, “I give the glory to God.” That gesture was important to me because I saw that she knew she was simply a vessel.

The rest is history as I soon became a Keeper of the Flame and began saving my money to attend a three-month session of Summit University, which I did. After SU, I went to serve at the Boston Teaching Center, and then at the Chicago Teaching Center. After attending Summit University Level II, I went on staff at the headquarters in Montana and have had the profound fortune to serve there for many years.