Christmas Miracles

I hope everyone had a FANTASTIC Christmas! I know I sure did! It was amazing. Seriously. amazing. It was such a blessing to talk with my family. A little strange to realize it was my last call and that I'm getting close to the end. Nothing to be worried about because that's just how life goes! I want to share just a few experiences that we had this week. And I don't think words can truly describe the blessing and miracles that are constantly happening in the world around us. All I can say is God is good.

This week it was very hard to find people. Everyone seems to leave and go on vacation. It kind of leaves us with the last option. Contact. Don't get me wrong, i LOVE contacting. It's soooo awesome to talk with a bunch of people. But after many contacts I wanted to hear another answer besides "Yes of course....but in January." On Christmas Eve it was a little worse. We thought hard about what we should do and then LIGHT BULB. We decided to sing to our contacts. we did just that and the people hesitantly said "umm sure." As we were in the middle of the street or outside of a house singing a small Christmas hymn their eyes filled with tears. Not only theirs but ours as well. Their hearts were softened and accepted to have us return or visit them. Music really does not only touches the heart, but PENETRATES the heart.

Christmas day was an absolute hands down miracle. A few days early we were contacting (as I mentioned earlier) and asking a guy where a street was. We gave him a card about "light the world" and as we did so a girl walked by and then turned around asking to have a card. She said she was looking for a Jehovah's Witness church but asked when we have out meetings. We told her and she agreed to go and said we would see her outside of a store at 10:45am. 

Okay we kind of blew that one off and kept going. So on Sunday, we went to the store but to see another investigator...who didn't show. BUT this contact was there! she kept her word! So we all went to church. Nancy really really REALLY liked the sacrament meeting. After, we showed her the baptismal font. Before showing her the font, we explained the baptism of Jesus. My companion mentioned that we will have a baptism service on the 21st of January. We didn't even invite her and she said "Yes. I want to be baptized on the 21st. Im in your hands. Mold me." 

 A TRUE MIRACLE!!! And after, she said the word that penetrated her heart in sacrament meeting was "Restoration." I could hardly breath. I am AMAZED at the miracles God has prepared for us.Sometimes  I don't feel like I'm humble enough to be part of such a huge miracle but God surprises us and gives us all a chance!! I am soooo grateful for the work of the Lord. He prepares people every day to receive this gospel. Sometimes we have to look for them and sometimes they come to us. The call is clear. "Come and follow me" 

I know this church is true. I know it is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. He is our savior and loves us ALL. I have been humbled many times by the mercies of the Lord. He will make of us what he desires. What he wants is that we are happy and are perfected in His son, Jesus Christ.  He is the light and life of the World. He is the Christ, the living son of the living God. HE LIVES!!!  

I love you ALL. Thank you for always supporting me and loving me and doing incredible things!! Have a great week!!  

Hermana Cross 

Christmas Devo

Christmas Dinner - Tacos!

Second Round of Tacos!

Good mission buds!

Half the Mission together/ #thefam

Fear not, I am with Thee

WHAT AN AMAZING WEEK

There were an incredible amount of things that happened and seriously just miracles galore. I'm so incredibly blessed out here. The Lord does amazing things!!!

This week we had the baptism of the Golden Family. It was soooo special. I just wanted to cry haha. I guess that's normal right? Everything went smoothly. Well Vero had to be baptized like 4 times but by the end it was totally worth it haha. I would like to share with you all something very special about how this baptism came to be. 

Vero has been working like crazy and it was really hard finding her these past weeks. Well she finally got permission to miss work on Saturday (her baptism date) but not on Sunday. And that alone was a miracle! But then she called us the day before saying they took away her permission and she wouldn't be able to be baptized. So, after 40 minutes on the phone with her, we were able to promise her that baptism was what she needed. The miracle that happened is that during this phone call i had the largest impression ever to tell her "you need to leave your job and not go tomorrow." I just thought "are you kidding me? Is this real?" I was scared. I didn't want to offend her at all. Nor did I want my companion to freak out. But I felt that it was right. In that moment I told her. I invited her. To my surprise my companion told Vero " I know what my companion said is the right thing. you need to leave this job and not go tomorrow." Vero was obviously nervous and didn't know what to do. We invited her to pray and ask God. The morning of her baptism we sent a text asking her what her decision was. She said " I know that I will probably lose my job for not going today, but I need to be baptized. I trust in God,"

WOWOWOW A TRUE MIRACLE!!!! During the whole process of their conversion, that yes is still happening, we reminded them that they should not fear but to just believe in Gods promises. And on Sunday they were confirmed and man the blessing was exactly what each one needed. They heard even more promises that will happen. I am in AWE with our heavenly father and all of his blessings! I love this family to death! They have become a part of my life that I will never forget. 

And I just want to wish you all a very FELIZ NAVIDAD!!! Remember that Christ is the reason we celebrate this incredible day. He is the reason we are here. Thanks to Jesus Christ we can be perfected and we can live in the presence of God again. I know HE LIVES!!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!

Hermana Cross

Julio and Julio and Vero - the Golden Family!

The golden family with President & Sister Kimball

So True

Our apartment building all lit up

Christmas gifts from the family! (so warm and cozy)

Pic of the full moon 

Together Again

HAPPY MONDAY!!!

Wow just today was super great. And all week too!! It makes me just so dang happy to be doing the work of the Lord. I will fill you all in on a few details...like always :)

Today was the best day EVER! I saw HNA OJEDA!!! If you don't remember who she is, she was my trainer. I haven't seen her for 11 months!! My heart skipped a beat I think. I was so happy I wanted to cry. We had the chance to talk a little and I asked her simply if she thought that I have changed. to my surprise she said "yes. A TON!" That actually comforted me. Sometimes we don't realize our own change. She was the one person I wanted to hear that from. I know I've changed. Maybe not my personality or how I look, but in who I am. It's amazing. I love her soooo much. Sad to see her go but that's life!!!

Also, today was our cambios. But guess what?! WE DIDN'T HAVE TRANSFERS!! yep that's right. 3 cycles with hna pineda! That never happens! I cant even express how happy I am! Another 7 weeks together! WOOHOO!

This past week we were going to have the baptism of Julio and Julio and Vero but Satan threw a HUGE curve ball. Well Vero had to work all week super late. We couldn't finish all their lessons on time. All week we wanted to teach Tithing. When we finally could teach it, we realized it was the answer they needed. They are passing financial problems, but just has we knew they needed to hear about tithing, so did Satan. We taught a super spiritual lesson and wow. I understood why everyone wants to sleep after moments like that because it takes all of your energy! super special! now they will (or should) be getting baptized this Saturday :)

And lastly, we are teaching a family that is super special to us. And we past by just to say hi. Anyway, this couple, well this man told us that he hasn't smoked or drunken alcohol in a week! And we havent even taught the word of wisdom! Then they asked if not being married was a problem and we said "yes its a problem" but they are so willing to do all of these things!! WOWOWOW! How great is the work of the Lord?! Its super great :)

Well, that was my week in a nutshell. Thanks for all you do!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Hna Cross

Oh yeah!!! I forgot the most important thing ever. I ate chinicuiles this week. Those are like worm type things haha. SOOO fun!! What an experience :)​

Hna Ojeda - my trainer!

Hna Ojeda - my trainer!

Hna Ojeda and Hna Quevedo, my old companions!

Service project painting a member's home

Chinicuiles

chinicuiles dish (from the web)

Piece of Heaven

Best first week of december in my entire life!!!! It was so incredibly awesome! We of course kicked off this week with the "Light the World" initiative that the church has this year. And wow. Service is SO AWESOME! It was a true blessing to see the other part of our calling and our duty.

Basically every day this week we were busy serving or traveling. We had very little lessons but you know what? I've never felt better! Sometimes we get super focused on numbers and how many lessons we have and all that jazz. It was nice feeling that even though we didn't teach a lot, we could feel that we did all we could. I want to share with you a few super large and great service projects we did :)

December 1st was the world wide day of service. So we did just that. our district leader had planned a project to clean a park in a neighborhood in their area. Okay, I'm not going to lie, we were not in favor of this activity. We might have complained just a little. We felt like we weren't changing lives picking up a few pieces of trash. So that's a small background comment haha. As we were cleaning this park I thought "Katrina, service is service. Stop complaining!" So as we continued, a thought about an investigator of the elders came to mind. I asked what ever happened to him. From that moment everything changed. We went to this old mans house to clean it. This poor man was living in a very dirty home. We spent hours there cleaning his home. It made me think how blessed we are to have a Prophet of God tell us how we can make our home our own little piece of heaven. I know that the spirit can only dwell in clean places, spiritually and physically. It was such a great feeling to know that this man can know feel a little more the presence of God in his life and feel comfort in his own piece of heaven. 

Then a few days later, we did another service project in the house of 2 little convert boys and their less active mom. It was a ward activity and it was a surprise for them! They are passing a lot of hard stuff right now. We just showed up and started cleaning, painting the walls and we gave them a whole bunch of food to stock the house. Wow. It felt SO GOOD! The next day in church, Diego (14 years) gave his testimony of gratitude and the tears just came a flowing. I couldn't control the happiness in my heart. Serving blesses the lives of others. And when we feel happiness and receive blessings...well that's just a huge bonus that God gives us.

I know that service is the gateway to developing Christ-like love. The love of Christ is real. He lives and we can testify of Him every time we are willing to reach out our hands and lift one another. I love you all sooooo much!!!! Have a great week!!!!

Hna Cross

Service in the park

Cleaning the old man's house

District get together

Take My Hand

Wow such an incredible week! I think the weeks just keep getting better! Guys I cant even explain how happy I am right now. I cant even begin to describe it. Its absolutely THE BEST THING EVER! Life is full of incredible things. Man. I just love life.

Let me just fill you in on a few things that I might have failed to mention. Sometimes everything slips my mind until I'm done and signed off. But I finally remembered in the process!

We have a family of GOLD progressing. I believe I mentioned that we said a specific prayer and then 3 weeks later we found these prepared children of God. So this was all about 4 weeks ago when we found them. Its a family of 3. Julio, Veronica and Julio Hijo. They are SOO prepared. No problems at all! No problems with the word of wisdom or the law of chastity! Its sometimes hard to believe that these people actually exist and that a family of gold is possible but man, it's happening! They are going to be baptized the 10th of December if everything goes as planned. I'm learning that God ALWAYS fulfills his promises. Even promises that were made since the beginning that are mentioned in my patriarchal blessing. Now that is amazing. I love them so much!!! 

Second of all. Wow. The Lord has been so good to my companion and I. He has blessed us an incredible amount with experiences that I cant even begin to describe. It's amazing to see the enabling power of the atonement work in those around you. It's amazing to feel sorrow and joy at the same time. Its amazing to see how the Lord has prepared my companion to share certain experiences in the precise moment. The Lord amazes me every day. 

My companion has become much more than a companion. She is my best friend. Literally like a sister. For this reason I have titled this email as such. sometimes words aren't enough or aren't even necessary but the small reassurance that there is someone else who feels the same is comforting. It is as if I was together with the Lord. He reaches out his hand to each and every one of us. He's all around us. Look for Him. This Christmas you can also do such. I invite you all to go to mormon.org and watch the new video. It is beautiful. And absolutely heart penetrating. 

I love you ALL!!! thanks for everything you do for me!!!

Hermana Cross

Thanksgiving with the Kimball's, assistants and
the office missionaries

A change of study habit

The missionaries in the mission office