Moments Away

Happy Monday!!!

Wow what a week!!! I just want to give a big shout out to my family this week. I was informed that my best dog friend passed away this week. My heart, yes hurts. But do you know what is super cool? Christ understands me!!! You got it! I want each and every one of you to remember that. Jesus Christ knows how we feel because He suffered so that He can comprehend every emotion we experience in this mortal life. I love my dog sooooo much but I know it's better this way. God allows hard things to happen so we can become stronger and keep pushing forward! It's amazing how many scriptures have come to mind in this moment and maybe at the end, I'll share one of them :) 

And as for this week in the vineyard of the Lord, it was an incredible week. I actually didn't spend a lot of time with my own companion. We had intercambios and also divisions with members. About 4 days in a row! But something that I have learned is that when we have these moments away, we learn 2 things 1) the companionship  we have in inspired of God and 2) God gives us opportunities to grow even more. 

There were moments that I would absolutely love to share with all of you, but the truth is, they are moments very special and I hold them dear to my heart. But I will share one of them with you :) There is a German girl who lives in our area. We have one thing in common: the English language. We were walking with her in the street and she asked how we came to know this church. I began expressing my testimony with her and we stopped in a street corner. In that moment this street corner became a "holy place." (D&C 87:8)  My comp Hna Pineda speaks a little English but WOW!!! What an incredible moment to see the gift of tongues working so hard in her! This German girl felt the spirit. The 3 of felt the love of God. A very uplifting and edifying moment (D&C 50:21-22).

God is good. His love is everlasting. I feel the love of the Lord every single day. God is oh so good to me :)

LOTS OF LOVE!!!

Hna C

OH AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I AM GRATEFUL FOR EVERYONE OF YOU!!!!

I got sick...so had garlic and lime juice!

McTaco's

Pretty - Pretty!

The Zone of Pachuca Sur

Tears from Heaven - Rainbow Bridge (ode to Stella)

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart. Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

I have no words. I'm crying like a baby haha but I guess that's to be expected right? Poor kid to the side of me looking at me like I'm crazy haha. But I'm thankful for my companion who was here to give me the hug I needed. Wow. I cant believe that she passed away. I love her so much. Who would have thought that it would it would all come to an end so fast. First of all. I just want to say thank you. Thank you for letting us go get her and bring so much joy into my life. She really did save us. Oh man how I love that great and beautiful dog of ours. Second of all. I want to share with you a dream I had a few nights ago. I was dreaming that I returned home. You two told me to go see the doggie. I of course was happy to go see her! But when I saw her, she didn't seem super thrilled to see me.. Just kind of sat there. I was confused and well sad. I was crying in my dream. I didn't understand that why after 18 months being gone, she would turn away from me. I woke up very confused. I told my companion about it and life kept going. I know I had that dream for a reason. She wasn't happy because it was a sign telling me she wont be there when I get home. But that's life. Life moves on. There will be more best pet friends in my life but she will be my favorite :) Thank you for telling me all of this. I really do appreciate it. I guess all I can say is that I'm happy she's not suffering anymore and I'm happy that all of you are healthy and happy :) I love you all so dearly.

Pictures of Stella 

Did you know...

Hello my lovely people!

It was a very chaotic week. Full of meetings and conferences. It all started on Monday and yep it all ended on Sunday. Can you believe it? Probably by now you do haha I'll just fill you all in on a couple of things. 

First. Being an American means hearing from every person. Literally every single person, that Donald Trump won. It was quite the topic. I could only do so much to avoid the topic but it seemed to be the topic of the week haha. Every person just said "Hey did you know...." and I could finish the phrase haha. All I can say is that I trust in the Lord. He knows what we need. He helps us live our lives in the right way. In the best way :) 

On Monday, we had the leaving sisters stay in our house. HOW BEAUTIFUL!!!! All of these sisters had a special glow to them. You can see it. You can FEEL it. Just the confirmation that they did all they could. They didn't lose time. Not at all. I shared some good heart penetrating spiritual experiences with them. It made me open my eyes just a little more. Time is fast. Time is borrowed. We have to be wise with what we have. It was just a night of beauty.  

As for the rest of the week, we had our zone training and our leadership council and the training for new missionaries. Wow. Weeks like these don't give us a lot of time to work in the field. But even though there wasn't a ton of proselyting time, we could still see some AMAZING results.

The family of 3 we are teaching all went to church. Can I get a WOOHOO!!! They are now preparing to be baptized December 10th. They are the answer to many prayers. Wow. They are amazing. I love them so much!

There was a special Mexico wide broadcast on Sunday. The talks were amazing. We heard from Elder Nelson and Elder Hales. It was like an early Christmas gift.  It was made pretty clear that we need to KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS! Sis Pineda and I talked a lot this week that the second coming is coming fast. Are we preparing enough? Or will we be the person that says "No one ever told me!" when in reality the prophets and leaders have been telling us all along?  It's important that we do all we can. Right now. We wont know when Christ comes again but I can promise you all that its sooner than we could ever imagine. 

Finally I just want to share the scripture that I heard several times this week. I guess it's just what I needed :) Have a great week and I love you all!!!

2NE 31:20

 20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.

Hermana Cross

La Catrina

What another wonderful week in the Lord's work. Nothing makes me happier! Today was our day of cambios. Can you believe 6 weeks has gone by?! I'm not going to lie when I tell you I am SOOOO happy that we didn't have cambios. More time with my compañerita :) We have so much work we still need to do. Together. This week went by incredibly fast and I almost don't remember what happened! How crazy is that?!

This week we had a new baptismal date! WOOOHOO!! I feel like I haven't had a new investigator in church for sooo long. I almost forgot what an absolute joy it brings to the heart. It's a younger kid who just wow. Is amazing. Reads everything and always says YES! Music to my ears! He doesn't just say it, he does it.

I also have been thinking in how wonderful missions are because I have met sooo many people that have become big parts of my life. My own companion is one of them. I am always amazed at the hard work and dedication she gives. Really. I  am beyond blessed. Heavenly Father really knows what I need and for how long (yay another cycle together! she's teaching me how to dance so look out world!)  Also I have made great buddies in my district and it's sad to have change but change is good right?

Also, I learned that true love does exist. Maybe not in the romantic way. Definitely not hahaha. I learned that true love means developing Christ like love. His love is real. His love never ends. His love is for everyone. And, especially in this week, we saw our investigator after a long time without seeing her. I was immediately over come with the same feeling when we said our first prayer with her. A feeling of love. The love God gives to her. Its beautiful. Everything is beautiful in the world. We just have to open our eyes a little more. Maybe not with our physical eyes, but our spiritual eyes. Sometimes we fail to find the flower hidden under the weeds and thorns. There will always be hard moments. That will never change. But if there are hard moments, there a million more great and happy moments :) And yeah there was a moment that Hna Pineda and I thought "Did we do all we could this month?" And we both said no. But very quickly we told Satan NO and to get out of our minds! We made a plan to knock on every door in our area. Its very possible in the area I'm in. We are ready to go!!!

This week was Dia de los Muertos. I invite you to look up the story of La Catrina...I actually really don't know it haha. But I've never heard my name so much in a very long time haha. I'm basically Mexican guys.

The mission is great. Love the work. Love the Lord. Love you all :)

Hna "La Catrina" Cross

A little more info she sent:

Guess what? I'm going to be a great grandma! my grand daughter is going to train! and my other daughter will have a daughter. WOW My family is growing! :')

The missionaries going home had the chance to go to the temple. The FIRST group. There's hope for me to go!! A never before moment.

Matchy!

My Buds

My Daughters!

Pan de Muerto

Una Ofrenda

Beautiful Sunset

Missionaries going home and to the Temple!

Bye bye old good old companions :(

A week of answers

Hello lovely people!

How wonderful it is to hear from you every week! Thank you for all of your love a support! I hope you all know I feel it every day and I'm sending the vibes back at ya! 

First of all, I'll answer a few questions that some people have asked me. I guess I haven't been super clear about the area and the ward and details like that haha. So the ward is small. So is the area. We work in all of the area in one day. Its super rare that that happens in other areas. The members are awesome. Really in all of the mission. They always feed us and its great because there are a few new returned sister missionaries that help us out in the work. Lots of potential here in Villas! Gotta love it! 

This week was full of answers to my prayers. As I was reading the letter from my mom and how she talked about prayers and all that I just thought "WOW! That was literally my week too!" So that's pretty awesome! I have really learned more about prayer and patience! Can you believe that I'm still learning about patience one year later? I can! Why? because we are always learning and we aren't perfect. Just in the process :) 

The Lord works in his timing. I mentioned that last week with investigators. This week was the Lords timing working in me. Even more special. Recently, I've been thinking a lot about what the Lord expects of me, and how I can become a better missionary in these last cycles that I have in the mission. I don't feel discouraged so don't worry there, but sometimes, we beat ourselves up a bit. I was beyond grateful that we had interviews with President Kimball this week. They are SOOOO special. He takes every chance he has to teach about our Savior. And man, they are incredible moments. He knows who Christ is. He knows how to help us become like Him. Is that not our goal? Become more like him? I learned that he does not want perfection. He wants us to do all that we can. What does that mean? That means we wont do everything perfectly but he want to work hard and do what we can. There will be a little left, but that's okay! That's so that Christ can step in and help us! So beautiful! I love my Savior! 

Also, this week I had intercambios with my good ex comp Hna Quevedo.  I love her so much. But its odd being the sister training leader of my ex comp who is also a sis training leader haha. Shes so great. Its a special relationship. She will be finishing her mission next Tuesday. I cant believe it. But she is an example. She doesn't even have the vibe that shes finishing. Its incredible. Absolutely incredible. We shared a moment very special that had a million answers to the questions of my heart. I think its different now that we aren't companions but better. We can see more that whats close. Its a larger perspective.  

And lastly, wow church is the best guys. I have learned more and more. We were fasting with an investigator and let me tell you, Miguel is AWESOME. He seriously understands that action is repentance. He understands EVERYTHING and he WANTS to live it. Like wow. He just has to get married now haha. one step at a time :) 

I'm doing my personal progress again and let me tell you. Its changing everything. Its amazing. It helps me make goals that will help me change who I am. Not just goals of the mission, but goals that help me reach my potential as a daughter of God. Everything is so inspired in the gospel. I love it. 

Obviously I love all of you too!!! Thank you. Seriously. Thank you!!! 

Hna Cross

The Tradition continues

Happy Halloween from my comp!

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