God's Timing

Holy smokes it doesn't even feel like today is Monday! But wow it's super awesome being here again writing you guys :)

This week flew by. It's hard to remember what happened! 

We had 2 intercambios this week and I had the chance to leave the area for the 2 of them. The super awesome part was that I got to work with 2 americans from my generation, one being my companion from the CCM! What a blessing it was. We had the chance to see that we really have come a long way and we have learned so much and we are still learning from one another! When I went to Tecamac I understood why people call it the promised land of the mission. Its foudn in the Estado de Mexico and wow. The people there are so nice and it just had a certain feeling to it. It's so interesting that every part of the mission is sooooo different! 

I learned a lot about God's timing is incredible. We found a few people in the precise moment this week. In intercambios and our own area. So there are 3 little experiences but big at the same time haha. 

1.  When  was with Hna Tobey, we went looking for a less active. She was busy washing her cloths (I guess shes always busy) and we just began to chat. After a little we asked to share a message. This sister opened up her heart to us and we were able to find out her needs. Maybe before she never really "had time" but this day she did and she too could understand what was happening in her life. 
2. Hn Haddock and I were knocking on doors. After a couple of attempts, we knocked on another. The woman came out and was on the verge of saying no. But she let us in, we said a kneeling prayer, and she was weeping. She explained that she has a lot of worries about her family and how she has strayed from her church. The gospel seriously is the answer to all of her prayers. wow. 
3. Finally, in our area. My comp and I just had a a click. We didn't talk about who we were going to visit we just arrived. And it was a miracle because we haven't found this contact for weeks. We prayed for her and again, the tears came. Her gratitude was incredible. The whole lesson she said "gracias." The promises we made felt so right and our teaching was in complete harmony. I was amazed at what the Lord was saying through us and that honestly, the words we said did not come from our preparation, but of what this sister needed in that moment. another wow moment. 

On Sunday I heard amazing talks about the sacrament and also it was a true blessing to hear the primary singing. My comp and I may have been crying haha. They are so blessed and soooooo beautiful! Wow the sabbath day is the best day. Every day really is special. 

What an incredible week :) here is a scripture to ponder on this week!

Mosiah 3:19

19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless she yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

Lots of LOVE!

Hna Cross

Dear Future Me

Hello hello lovely friends and family of mine!!

I will start out real quickly with the not so spiritual experience and then get into the good, heart touching stuff haha ;)

For these past 2.5 weeks, we were heating up water on the stove and showering like that because our boiler was broken. Well, we were okay with that. No problem. But the problems began to start when on Tuesday, I couldn't turn off my shower. It was stuck! It was just a little dribble but then BAM it starting running on full blast. We tried finding the off switch for all water and failed. We ran to find a giant garbage bin but even that filled up. The owners "people" were going to show up but at 4pm! It was nuts. But finally, after a ton of effort, we turned off the shower. But man talk about stress. SO I had a giant bucket  and little buckets of water in my bathroom for the entire week but the good thing is that the shower now runs perfectly and our boiler is a-okay!

Alright. Now onto the good stuff :)

Wow. Guys the mission is beautiful. Maybe this week was full of crazy small things, but it gives me the chance to look back on the small spiritual moments that God has allowed me to experience. 

1. First of all, sometimes the Lord tests our patience. We had our intercambios and well...we contacted for a loooonnnngggg time. And with a tiny area it felt like we contacted the majority of it. People do answer but then reply with no. And it repeats. Its easy to get discouraged, but the Lord knows there is more that we need to learn. Maybe I still don't know 100% what is was or is, but I know I will. All is in the time of the Lord.
2. Spiritual experiences can happen always with my companion. The spirit works in harmony with us. We fasted separately on Sunday. And this morning we talked about what we fasted for. Turns out we fast for the same thing and we received the same answer. THAT is how you know it is the spirit. That is how you know that your desires are pure. I thank God for always helping us to improve...together.
   
3. We taught a man who we met in the beginning of this cycle about 3 weeks ago. When we returned, his older parents we there JUST TO LISTEN. Guys. He shared the gospel and he isn't a member! Can we not do the same?! We must be as Alma when he heard the prophet Abinadi. In Mosiah 18:1 it reads  
   "And now, it came to pass that Alma, who had fled from the servants of king Noah, repented of his sins and iniquities, and went about privately among the people, and began to teach the words of Abinadi—"  It was an amazing lesson and man was the spirit there. And I know that the gospel has the answers to their soul deep questions.
4. Lastly, in my training, I wrote a letter to myself. I wasn't going to open this letter until I was on the plane ride home. But while talking with Hna P about what we have accomplished I felt the need to read my letter NOW and with my companion. As I took out the letter I hadn't touched for 13 months, I felt a feeling in my heart I can not describe. I began to read this letter and tears filled my eyes. As I read, I felt the spirit testify to me that I am a changed person. I am not the same, nor am I finished changing. I have accomplished my expectations I had for myself and I will continue to work on them. I know the Lord wanted me to know I have been doing His work well. I cried for the love I felt for my Savior and Heavenly Father.

I can tell you, with certainty, that the mission has not changed me, but Christ our Savior has changed me. I know this work is glorious and eternal. Thanks be  to God  for this restored gospel and to all of you for your love and support!

LOTS OF LOVE!

Hna C

LDS Graffiti

Finding four-legged friends

The True Meaning

Hello family and friends!!! I hope all is well with you! Wow this week was so incredible. The work just keeps getting better and better! I didn't think it was possible but it is!!! And it passed by sooo quickly that I didn't even write in my journal but good thing our lives are so planned out that I can pretty much remember enough to write to you all :)

This week I learned the "true meaning" of many things. So here's what I learned.

The true meaning of...Love.

Wow. Love is a real thing. And I'm not talking about fairy-tale love. I'm talking about Christ like love. This week there were lessons soooo full of love that were just incredible. One of them was that we found a younger girl (25 yrs) who we've been trying ot find. In this lesson, we said a prayer for her. She was crying and the spirit just filled the room. We both hugged her and I cant even tell you how, but I could honestly tell her that I loved her. We shared tears and obviously shared the beautiful spirit that was there. She said no one has said a prayer for her for 4 years. SO LONG AGO. But her gratitude was incredible. Wow. It was amazing. Also, love can be just as small as realizing you feel what others feel because you see them with your spiritual eyes. Coming to realize this type of love can change your life because man it has changed mine!

The true meaning of...listening to the spirit.

In our intercambios this week, I had the chance to go to pinos! WOO my first area!!! At one point, we were going ot do an hour of contacting. We said a specific prayer and in this prayer we asked to find a woman, with a white door, who will smile while opening the door. My companion for the day stopped at a house. We knocked and bam! The 3 things were answered. ALSO this lady was someone I contacted almost a year ago! I don't remember her but she remembered me. It was amazing. A miracle really. She , her son, and daughter accepted baptism with a date. The coolest part was that her daughter walked in just in time for the baptism invitation and she accepted. It is evidence that the spirit will ALWAYS testify of truth even without hearing all of the lesson. Wow. So amazing!

The true meaning of...The Culture of Christ.

In the mission, we've been passing some difficulties with obedience and talking advantage of the culture of Christ. It's been a rough patch in the work here in Pachuca. We talked a lot about what we can do as a leadership counsel. There are strong opinions from every person. But we came to realize we need to put our focus again in the Savior. We have to again remember His ways. Remember why we obey. Remember that this is His work. That stuck out to me a lot. I am truly blessed to have have the time to understand obedience with Pres Egbert and now consecrate myself even more to the Lord with the culture of Christ as the motto of Pres Kimball.

I have never felt happier. I have seen true miracles this week. I feel the spirit every single day. I am beyond blessed to have a companion that is worthy of the spirit so that we both can be lead, guided and taught by Him. we have a lot of work to do here in Villas and we are going to have success. I just know it!!! I love you all sooooo much!!! thank you thank you THANK YOU for everything!!!

Hermana Cross :)

Thanks Cass for the scarves!

My buddy Herman Q!

Flip flop companionships

The new zone!

My convert Estephany!!!

Gotta love the American food that Sis Kimball
makes for leadership counsel!

Wowza!

WOW. What more can I say about this week? IT WAS AWESOME. Okay awesome for many reasons. Not anything like drop dead exciting if I'm going to be honest with you all, but full of incredible moments.

I hope you all enjoyed General Conference. What a blessing it is to hear from living prophets, seers, and revelators. It absolutely stuns me that one talk can answer millions of questions and prayers in the entire WORLD. God works miracles in everyone of us. There are an incredible amount of things I want to write about conference but time doesn't really allow me to haha. But, I will say that I understand more fully of the great gift that is the Atonement, prayer, the Restoration and service. They are small topics that have a huge impact on life. I l know without a shadow of doubt that all of the words spoken are true. God will never abandon us. His truth with shine forth forever. The gospel has been restored. How great does that sound? We have modern revelation! God never fails to surprise me with His great glory and power! I know these things to be true.

I feel incredible here in Villas. Hermana Pineda is AMAZING. Holy cow I just love this girl. She is a spiritual giant. Literally I am so amazed by her. I am grateful beyond compare. She is one of those people that is just naturally funny and kind and seriously has a way with words. It's like the moment I've been waiting for. She and I get along so great. We talk so much. Like wow. We said it could be a challenge in our companionship as a joke....but then we realized its a little true haha just love her to death.

We went on a fun adventure to the hospital to visit some sisters that were there earlier this week. all is fine but its was fun doing something a little different. Jsut in general the mission is fun. It rained a lot on Tuesday and reminded me of the crazy rain when I was here a year ago. How crazy right? 

Love the mish and love all of you!! Have a great week!!

Hna C

Hospital Trip

Yo Hablo English

Alex my convert from Pinos &
He's still active WOOO!!

Start Spreading the News

Hello hello lovely friends and family!!! Hope you all are just SOOOO great! I know I am!! 

Here we are another week in the beautiful work of the Lord. And I have some fun news! I have left San Juan and I am now in my new area Villas de Pachuca! I have returned to the zone Pachuca Sur...my first zone. I'm still a sister training leader but my companion and I are the senior sister training leaders. It should be a fun cycle! My new companion is Hermana Pineda. She's from the state of Mexico. SUPER awesome. I seriously wanted to be her companion and look! We are together :) I'm super pumped for what will come!

And well.....yeah I'm a tad bummed that I left San Juan. I can honestly say that I love San Juan with all of the my heart. After 4 1/2 months there it wasn't easy saying goodbye. Not only me, but also my companion left the area. So they closed San Juan but they put new sisters there. It's hard to leave at the point of progression. I learned an incredible amount in San Juan. And for that, I am so grateful with God for all of the experiencias He gave me. San Juan really does have a big part of my heart. And because it was a closing area, we had to go around telling everyone that we would be leaving. Saying goodbye never gets easier.  But the best part is having the chance to say many hellos after :)

This week was filled with good experiences. I have seen so much progress in many people. I have heard an incredible amount of questions of the soul. It just warms my heart that I can tell them "Everything you want to know, we have to share with you. And God wants you to listen." I know by those small moments that God is preparing people one by one. You just have to find them. They arent always going to have a giant poster saying they are the prepared one (and never have I seen that) but the Holy Ghost tells us and guides us to those who need it. And members are a HUGE help. They are the key to missionary work. So all of you members out there, I hope you are thinking of some people the missionaries can visit :)

This week I read in Jacob 5 in the Book of Mormon. I never really understand this chapter....but there were 3 verses that hit me hard. 

 21 And it came to pass that the servant said unto his master: How comest thou hither to plant this tree, or this branch of the tree? For behold, it was the poorest spot in all the land of thy vineyard.
 22 And the Lord of the vineyard said unto him: Counsel me not; I knew that it was a poor spot of ground;wherefore, I said unto thee, I have nourished it this longtime, and thou beholdest that it hath brought forth much fruit.
 23 And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said unto his servant: Look hither; behold I have planted another branch of the tree also; and thou knowest that this spot of ground was poorer than the first. But, behold the tree. I have nourished it this long time, and it hath brought forth much fruit; therefore, gather it, and lay it up against the season, that I may preserve it unto mine own self

I can compare these verses to San Juan. The Lord knows when life is hard. He knows everything. He works just as hard (and even harder) than us so that we can see the results in HIS time. San Juan strengthened me. San Juan gave me more than I gave. I know the Lord works in all parts of his vineyard. Just thinking that someone somewhere in the world is being baptized or going to be baptized makes my heart rejoice. It doesn't matter where we are, a missionary's work is the Lord's works and we are part of His vineyard. I know this church is true and God and Christ never stop loving us and will never give up on a part of his vineyard.

Have a fabulous week!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!

Hermana Cross

Hermana Pineda

Hermana Quevado

Hermano...borrego (ha ha)