It's a small world after all

Wow this week seriously is hard to remember. a lot of the weeks are like this. I promise that

my memory still works it's just a tad difficult in the moment. Well after I sent the email to you all, I headed to a zone activity. It was super duper fun. got a little bit soaked from water balloons but when you live in Mexico, every day is like summer. Also I ate tacos for the first time. real actual tacos. Sorry taco bell but you don’t understand what Mexican food is. These tacos are the bomb. Seriously sooooo goooooood. I ate about 9 – NINE! The only reason being we paid 90 pesos sooo sometimes you make the best of what you paid. I also ate cow brain without realizing it. So that’s probably something new and exciting in my food experience.  I also learned at the activity that I cannot win a watermelon eating contest. it's definitely not my talent haha.

Anyway back to the work of the Lord. I've learned quite a few things this week. And by a few I mean a lot. One thing is the importance of focusing in your investigators needs. Sometimes you plan that you’re going to teach about family home evening and then you show up at the lesson and feel you need to talk about staying firm in the gospel. when you teach according to the needs, you are teaching a person, not just a lesson. Super great to have an experience like that. 

This week we all know I completed 6 months. WOOO!! seriously don’t understand. I still feel like I only have 3 months under my belt. Nothing incredibly awesome during that day. We just ordered pizza because why not?! 

One lesson we had this week we were teaching an investigators grandma. Next thing we know another investigator showed up. Get this. THEY ARE COUSINS!!! We met them at completely different times and holy cow how small is this world? You can be teaching cousins without even knowing it!

Okay, I'm going to be honest. There was a tad bit of frustration. We don't have progressing investigators. None. Zero. Nada. It's rough. Our leaders have called us telling us the same, that we need to work harder and asking why we don't have progressing investigators. We had a small bit of miscommunication, BUT we worked it out and it's true, when you have small conflicts or disagreements, you end up loving the people even more. I know they are here to help us out. leaders are here to support us. help us grow. A moment of reflection is what it was. 

We are just working hard to find new people. trying to find the pearl of great price. the people ready to live and accept the gospel.

I know the Lord has a plan for my companion and I in this area. I read in the BOM this week a scripture that really hit home. It reads:

And behold, I have given you the law and the commandments of my Father, that ye shall believe in me, and that ye shall repent of your sins, and come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Behold, ye have the commandments before you, and the law is fulfilled.

All the Lord wants is us. All of us. I know Christ is our Savior. He is the light and life of the World. I love Him and will forever follow His ways.

If you get a chance, watch this beautiful video. It will touch your heart I can promise you that.   https://www.mormon.org/easter/hallelujah

Love you all!!

Hermana Cross

You want me to do what?

You sure?

Okay...here I go!

YUM!!!

Watermelon!

Splish......

Splash!!

52 emails to go!

Happy Monday!

This week was good! As usual,  just working super hard. The weather this week was nuts. It was like

my first week here. A TON of rain. But the worst part (and was actually really fun) was that there was a crazy amount of wind. I felt like Dorthy in the wizard of oz. Hermana Meza and I were braving the storm. Our poor little umbrellas were on the brink of breaking. I wish I had a picture but I was too busy protecting myself haha. It's always fun to have a day a little out of the ordinary. The wind continued for another day or so. Enough that schools were cancelled and kids went home early. The zone leaders called us saying that if there wasn't light in our area we had to go home....but...we had light. We just continued working hard! The Lords work doesn't stop because there's a small (huge) breeze. 

Anyway this week brought good news and bad news. The good news is that we found a new investigator. She seems to have a ton of potential. We taught her twice and she assisted a baptism with us! it wasn't our baptism but we brought her along to see really what a baptism is. That its nothing crazy weird. Unfortunately she didn't go to the church. other commitments or something along the lines of that. But it's all good. We will just have to wait and see where this will all go!

Okay some unfortunate news. We thought we were going to have a baptism this week with 2 kids. 13 and 8 years old. We called president to check if we could still do the baptism (because turns out the mom really isn't a less active like we thought). He said no. No because there isn't anyone that will support them until they go on a mission. I understand that. Now is our chance to convert the whole fam. It's a small set back, and a little hard when we have seen change in the 13 year old, but I know it's for a reason.

That has pretty much been my week. We hit up the ruins last monday again and it was super fun! learning more about the culture is great. It's called Teotihuacan if any of you are interested in looking it up :)

This week I complete 6 months in the mission. I cant believe it. Just a shout out to every single one of you that supports me and prays for me. I feel the love that you have for me! love you all!!!

Hermana Cross

Lots and lots of pictures this week. 

Press Forward

Wow can you believe it's March? I can't. It's so crazy!! Well this week was a lot better! Not that the other weeks were bad.....they just weren’t super great. I have really learned more about pressing forward. That we just have to keep going even when life throws some obstacles in your way. It's like Lot's wife. The only command was not to look back. But, for some reason, she looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. We probably won't turn into a pillar of salt if we figuratively "look back" but it will hold us back from our progression. We all have hard times. We all make mistakes that we never want to happen again. But we need to let the past go. Accept what has happened, what is currently happening and move forward. Keep your eyes focused on Christ. Keep your thoughts and actions focused in Him. He is the one that will help you most to grow. He will help you see your potential. I have a firm testimony is this. As is says in Moroni 10:32:  

"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God"

That was my spiritual ah-ha moment. We have found more investigators this week. And more that accepted the invitation to be baptized with a specific date. Seriously guys, the Lord will not let us down. A new investigator went to church with us too! he even brought his friend! Talk about missionary work haha. It was stake conference and that was great. Some super awesome talks and the spirit is always so strong when we are gathered together to listen to the same message of the gospel. We are just working hard every day. We just want to do what the Lord expects of us :)

On the non-spiritual side, we left our zone during the week to eat out with members. We went to a buffet and the food was soooo good. Buffet of Mexican food of course but woooweee so delish. I also ate some really kind of gross tacos this week. Soy tacos. Yeah you don’t want to try them haha. But something new is always good! We helped make a cake for the mom of our recent convert Alex. that was fun. Service is always a fun mix up during the week :) Well that was my week! Nothing super exciting but yeah! Hope you all have a wonderful week! love you all!

Hermana Cross

I can ride my bike with no handle bars

The Circle of (mission) Life

Wow we just finished another cycle. 6 weeks come and gone. It was crazy fast. Seriously cannot believe it. probably even crazier for my daughter. She's half way done with training! Wow is the only word that I have to say about that. We obviously didnt have cambios and I'm here in Los Pinos for another 6 weeks! it's all good because I thoroughly enjoy this area. It's true right now that the work is a tad slow. We find the people. They progress a tad. They stop progressing. We go back to finding. It's the pattern right now. I know that God has a plan for this area. I just sometimes have a hard time seeing it. Pray and work hard is the cure for this though. No worries, I'm never going to give up. there are people out there who are in desperate need of the gospel.

Anyway, this week was pretty much the same. As for the highlights, we had another ward mission activity. This one had more of a serious tone. Not super serious but more than the last. It was called "mini CCM." It was super cool because the youth and primary were the missionaries. They taught other members and seriously the spirit is so strong with those little ones. We had the opportunity to teach the non members that came. A group of them. It was super neat. This activity really helped strengthen my testimony. It's true that we bare testimony ALWAYS. But in this case it felt different. It really confirmed that this is the restored gospel. the same gospel that Christ established. It's such a blessing to serve here in mexico and help others come to know the same.

Friday we usually have weekly planning in our house, but this week we had a training about weekly planning in our zone. To help us out more. Fix a few things as well. It was different to plan in the church but I learned a lot. Planning everyday and for every week eliminates a ton of stress that's for sure.

Really I think those 2 things are the highlights of this week haha. sorry it's not super exciting. The weather right now is crazy. Hot. Cold. Windy. Rain. Pachuca is bipolar haha. The mission is still super great. It always is. Even when the work feels hard, the mission is still the best! thanks for all of your love and support and your prayers :)

Love

Hermana Cross

Fetching hombres

Happy last week of February! Crazy right? This week had many super long days. That being said this email will probably be short. To begin, we had some potential investigators last week. This week 3 of them dropped us. THREE. All of them sent us a message or told us.."right now no for personal reasons." Here is the key...all of them said they had problems with their husbands...all of them taking control over their wives. I told my district leader that in weekly reports and all he had to say was "fetching hombres." I thought it was funny and absolutely true. We are just working hard right now to find people who want to progess. None of our investigators went to church again. Sometimes it's frustrating...especially when we have to talk about whats happening in this area with the ward council. Oh well we are trying our best and if we trust in the Lord everything will work out.

This week we also had our zone conference. Super great as always. It's fun to see other missionaries that I know. Many that I don't know and it just blows my mind that there are so many missionaries here that I have no clue who they are or really that they exist haha. I learned in the zone conference that it's the smaller things that matter most. That really we are exactly obedient not because president wants us to be, but because it's what the Lord wants. There are so many blessing when we are obedient. I completed 5 months this week. Crazy right? In 4 more weeks I'll be at half of a year! Right now Pachuca is finally starting to heat up. people tell me that spring is super hot. Pachuca changes it's weather all the time. I think I'm actually getting more tan. WOO. one step closer to becoming a Mexican.

As for something fun and interesting about this week, I had some major revelation in a dream. this has never happened to me. It was AWESOME. I had a dream how to teach the atonement. Like another example. Also my companion says that I teach in my sleep. Just doing the Lords work 24/7 haha She says my compromisos are very direct and my Spanish is better when I sleep. does that mean it's okay to close my eyes during a lesson? JUST KIDDING. The work is progressing slowly but it's all good in the hood. The mission is great no matter what. And as for training, my daughter is just killing it. Seriously I am blessed with a super great companion. We get along great and I really hope she becomes a trainer after. That was my week and looks like my email is it's normal length or longer haha. Have a great week!!!

Love

Hermana Cross

Helping out an unfinished saying

Chop - Chop!

Zone Conference ready

Long time no see

Wow first of all just a small shout out to another cousin of mine that will be serving in Spain! Halla Halla go Spanish! And missions! Spanish in Spain is a tad different but still super crazy awesome. This week well let's be real was crazy fast again. Nothing super exciting happened so in all honesty I'm really sure why it was super fast. I guess that's what happens out here in the mission. You do the same thing every day and then your week is over. I'm just going to hit some high lights. 

We have a few potential investigators that could progress so that's wonderful. One of them is an older lady. Not like super old but definitely older than me. Anyway, we invited her to read the BOM and well, she did! The first 12 chapters of 1st Nephi. Ok, sometimes people read and don't understand a single bit. But she's the complete opposite! She understood every single part! Totes cray. 

Unfortunately none of our investigators went to church...BUT I'll just keep praying for them and all will work out. Let's see....I have learned that some people really really like to talk. Sometimes for 30 minutes without us saying anything. I have also learned that I can't keep up with 30 minute stories haha. Poco a poco I'm going to stick with it. Friday was awesome. Hermana Egbert called us and said she had a little treat for us. We do our weekly planning on Fridays and we just got started and she arrived with cinnamon rolls! how sweet?!?! Seriously the best mission ever. President and Hermana Egbert just are the most wonderful people. Seriously our parents her in the mission. 

And Saturday. I SAW HERMANA OJEDA!!!!! I knew she was coming to visit but I didn't think she would have time to see me. Next thing I knew she was at our door! I was so thrilled! Jsut love that girl so much. But really strange to see her as a normal person. That was pretty much a huge highlight. This week with lessons, yes we have found new possible people but also had to leave a couple more. It really is best for their progression. In reality I'm just so happy to be out here. I can't imagine anything better. Have a great week everyone! Love you!

hermana Cross

Becoming the norm

First of all, super stoked that the Broncos won! Our recent convert Alex texted us and told us they won. I was pretty happy haha. Anyway, this week was pretty long. and fast. We started the week with intercambios...or splits with the sister training leaders. It was super fun! i left my area and I realized how grateful I am for my area. It seriously just feels like home. I mean I am coming up on 5 months in the next couple of weeks. intercambios are just super great. I learn so much more. It's a lot of work for those sisters but they have a big impact on the rest of us. We did 2 different things of service that day. it was nice to mix it up a bit. The 2 services were cleaning. seriously I don't understand why people don't clean. its kiiiiinda gross. I'm happy to do the cleaning because some of these houses desperately need it haha.I talked a bunch with the sister i was with and we just laughed and laughed. the mission is fun too...who knew? ;) 

Right now we are struggling to find new investigators. we are kind of at a plateau (is that right? I really don't know haha).  we are finding people and then next thing you know they are sending us a message on Sunday saying that they talked with their pastor and he said they cant go to our church (true story). People these days. Always asking everyone but God. If any of you are wanting to know if this is the true church, all you have to do is pray and ask our heavenly father. i promise he will answer. 

Anyway, we had our zone training and it's always fun to be with a group of missionaries. we talked about repentance. Before the mission I always felt like it was a heavy topic but now it's probably one of my favorite topics. just because it changes lives. It's incredibly hot here. It feels like summer every day. 

Oh the thing that is super exciting this week is that we had another BAPTISM!!! WOOO. Our mission leader told us that it's becoming the norm to have a baptism almost every week. I wish it was the norm but I think we are done for the next few weeks. Yolanda is our convert and everything went super smooth this time. everyone gave me the thumbs up. very successful. she has been prepared and she shared her testimony and just wow. so happy for her! the 2nd convert I've seen progress since the beginning. I love that feeling. The converts/members/investigators are my family and I just love them all so much. love the mission.

That was my week in a nutshell. i hope you all have a great week and HAPPY VALENTINES DAY because that's on Sunday haha oh fun fact, I finished my first journal 100%. I have never completed a journal . That is a success itself. Love you all!

Hermana Cross

Yolanda's big day and me

Mondays = Pizza Day!

our white board full of info of the area