I LOVE Finding the Elect! - June 10

In Sister Cross' own words:

Helllllllooooo Everyone!

Boy! What a week! I feel like the weeks are flying by faster and faster and they're busier and busier. But then I come to email and I have no idea what to say! Haha. I can't believe we're halfway through this transfer already! I wouldn't be surprised if I leave the Don Mills East area at the end of this transfer. Maybe all of you can pray that I don't! lol. I'm not ready to be among all white people just yet.

I might have told you about C. (the Irish one from England) last week. He was a media referral who's learned about the gospel before. He is awesome! He's progressing right along. He went to Institute on Friday night and we taught him before. He told us he wants to know about some little things to make sure he understands what he's getting himself into, but he's pretty solid. The YSA did a great job of just accepting him. The YSA here is fantastic! He should be getting baptized soon. Last night he told us that he feels like Sister Fisher and I are part of God's plan for him. I LOVE being a missionary!

As far as crazy stories, they're becoming more and more normal, so I'm not really sure what to say. Sister Fisher waved at an Old Chinese man from across the street. He said, "Hi! How are you?" So we started to cross the street to talk to him. He immediately pointed his umbrella at us defensively and said, "No! No! No! No English!" hahaha! We gave him an ESL card and left. That same day we went to the Ward Mission Leader's house for Ward Coordination. When we got there, his dad answered and said, "You probably think you have a meeting here tonight, don't you?" It had been moved to the church. So we spent the next HOUR traveling on TTC (Buses and Subways) to get to the church. It was raining and we were a little wet. But it was good. We had a fun time.

I'm pretty sure that's about it. Oh! I heard from Grandpa Jacobson this week. Going to write him back, so that was good. Love you all! I hope all is well. I'm praying for you.

Remember: Exact Obedience!

Love you ALL!
Sister Cross

40-day Purification Challenge - June 3

In Sister Cross' own words:

Hello everyone!

This is going to be kind of short today, sorry. This week has been really good. Sister Fisher and I are learning more about each other and our strengths. These next few weeks are going to be solid!

We're teaching a new guy named C. who's really exciting. Hopefully he'll be baptized this month. And we're really trying to get more students to come to ESL. And so far it's working pretty well. So we'll see how that goes.

Our district is working on this 40-day Purification Challenge. I really think we'll see miracles come from it. I'm excited to turn more of myself over to the Lord during this sacred time I have to be a missionary. I can't waste my time worrying about what I can't control and instead pray harder for the things I CAN control. This'll be great.

I feel like I need to share something with all of you, something that I've learned over the last few months. The Lord doesn't give us goals to hit and we're done. We work toward baptism. Then we work toward the temple, then a mission or marriage, but then what? I know that the Lord has a plan and a "next step" for each of us. We just need to figure out what that is. And it all comes through what we like to call the Doctrine of Jesus Christ. Faith that Jesus Christ really can and WILL help you, Repentance.. and not just for the "big sins" but for the little things you can do better, Baptism (or the Sacrament), learning to listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost and allowing it to govern your life, and Enduring to the End or continuing that process. This is by far my favorite thing to teach people I meet. We are ALL at some point in this process. We just need to find where we are and move on from there.

Keep your prayers coming! I love hearing from each of you!

All my love,
Sister Cross

Short Week! - May 27

In Sister Cross' own words:

Hey everyone!

It's been kind of a slow and short week. There's actually not a whole lot to report on for now. Sister Fisher and I are getting along great! We've set some pretty exciting goals and we're ready to start working hard for them. We've heard a lot from G. this week. He's kind of struggling having a desire to stay at bootcamp, but he wants to do what the Lord wants. So that's a good sign.

We had a chance to see N. and S. yesterday. S. is really into basketball, so we showed them a Mormon Message about Tyler Hawes, a BYU basketball player. N really liked to see Tyler's mom showing her love for her son and letting him serve a mission. S. just liked to watch Tyler play ball. :) It was a good lesson, though, and Sister Fisher fell in love with them. Not a surprise. Sister Messer and I fell in love with them too. Their great!

We met with L., an older man from Jamaca. I don't know if I've talked about him much. He's great! We taught him the Plan of Salvation and he loved it. He didn't come to church because he wasn't feeling well, but we'll get him there.

Other than that, not a whole lot of news for you all. Oh, one of the members brought Reece's from the states, so I've been enjoying them! :) They're not as good out here. And they call them Reece.... weird.

I'll make sure to send pictures next week. I'd love to keep hearing from you all. Love you! Keep the prayers coming and remember... EXACT obedience!

Love,
Sister Jessica Cross

From Trained to Training - May 22

In Sister Cross' own words:

Hey Family and Friends!

This week has been CRAZY! Sister Messer went home yesterday. Well, she's flying on an airplane right now, actually. But she left Don Mills yesterday. And I'm staying here! I would be surprised if I stay longer than 6 more weeks, but we'll see. My new companion's name is Sister Fisher. She's from Fiji and she's only been out 6 weeks, so I'm what we call her "Step-Mom". I get to finish training her. Of course, I'm nervous about it. But I'm pretty excited too. I know that the Lord puts us where he needs us.

Last night, the Zone Leaders called and asked us to be in charge of the Don Mills ESL program. We've already been teaching it, but he wants us to do all of the trainings and stuff as well. Sister Fisher came from an area that didn't have ESL, so I'm basically doing it on my own for now. Like yesterday, I taught all on my own. But it went really well, I think. I'm just spending a lot of time on my knees right now. Maybe that's why. I need to be humble.

It's funny, before I got out, I had 3 major fears: Trying to understand accents of people we're teaching, public transportation, and having a companion from another country. I had to face the first two last transfer. I guess Heavenly Father is helping me face the 3rd one now. I need to be humbled, so it's good. Sister Fisher says she loves just having fun, so it should be a good transfer.

Coolest moment from last week was on Sunday. We have this less-active named Sister L.  She's started coming back to church and she loves it! We were walking her to the bus stop and she asked if people liked her being there. We told her of course! Which, is true. They do like her because she makes comments in class! Anyway, then she thanked us for bringing her back to church. Bringing someone back is just as good as a baptism! We're fulfilling our purpose and blessing people's lives with the gospel.

I don't really know what else to talk about this week. I'm pretty tired. P-Day should be on Monday next week, so I'll talk to ya'll soon. Love you!

Sister Cross

Happy Mother's Day!!! - May 13

Hey everyone!

This week wasn't super full. G. has been doing GREAT! He went to Bootcamp on Saturday, so we were a little nervous and SUPER sad about it. We got to teach him one last time and talked about setting goals and working hard. We showed him the Mormon Message about President Monson at Navy Bootcamp. It talks about standing alone. He really liked it. Saturday night, he texted us and said he found a really cool scripture he liked in 1 Nephi. It talked about Coventants we make with God and how we have to repent or perish. He said he thought it was really cool. He's almost finished with 1 Nephi! He's soo great! Sunday he didn't make it to church because of how everything played out those first two days there. But he said he found out there is an LDS service there, so he will go to that next Sunday. We're praying for him, that's for sure! He's awesome!

We did get a new investigator, A., from Rwanda. She was actually a former and we're trying to help her know that God loves her. She's so sweet and has an adorable 5-year-old son with special needs. Hopefully we can change her life. Or at least lay the foundation for other Sisters to help her if I get transfered. The other A., from China, is doing well. We're trying to help her overcome her fear of going to church.

Next week P-day has been change to Wednesday because of Victoria Day on Monday and Transfer Day on Tuesday. This week it will be fine to send letters and stuff here. But next week, if you could either hold out until you know for sure where I'm going or if you want to send it to the mission home, that's fine too. I won't know if I'm staying or going until Sunday. So we'll see how that goes. Sorry it's a little confusing.

I don't really have much else for you. It was GREAT to Skype with my family yesterday. It's weird that I'll only do that 2 more times on my mission... I guess it really will go by fast!

I love and miss you all! Happy Mother's Day to you women out there. Love you!

Sister Cross

Look at my New Prison Suit - May 6

In Sister Cross' own words:

Family and Friends,

I don't know where to begin or what to include. This week has been CRAZY! A lot of cool things have happened, but I think I'm going to focus my email on just this one story. It took up most of my life this week anyway.

So... Last week I told you about a guy who came to church, G.  He just showed up after coming to Institute/YSA activities for a while. Later we learned he'd even given his number to missionaries multiple times AND the Institute Teacher had sent his information to the Referral System. But no missionaries contacted him. So he came to church. We taught him that Sunday and set him with a date to be baptized on May 12.

Wednesday, we met him at this bench by a police station in our area. It's been super nice out, so it was great to teach him outside. We had planned to teach him the Plan of Salvation. We talked with him a little and he had some questions about some of the commandments. And then he said, "Oh... and sorry, but I can't get baptized on the 12." No!!! I was sooo upset! Then he said, "I'm leaving on the 10th! But I still want to be baptized." I just kind of stared at Sister Messer and I wasn't really sure what to say. We told him we would have to get permission, but he might be able to be baptized on the 9th. We sat down and planned out what we would teach him and when up through Friday (so 2 days later) because he wanted to meet with us every day. For some reason, we decided to stop there and plan it out from there when we met on Friday.

During the lesson, he brought up the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. He'd heard about both of them in Institute. We went over the baptismal interview questions, which wasn't normal because this was only our SECOND time meeting him. It all made sense to him, though. At first he had a couple reservations, like not drinking coffee, but when we helped him understand that this wasn't coming from us, but from the Lord, he readily accepted it.

We also found out that he doesn't live in our area. So that made things really complicated. Since he was leaving so soon and wouldn't be moving right back there, we figured it would be okay to keep teaching him. Elder Rowley, our district leader, said he'd talk to the Zone Leaders, who would probably talk to the Assistants, who would probably talk to President Scott and get permission for this all to happen.

Thursday, he brought a friend with him. He kept telling us she needs the gospel and she kept saying, "Whatever!" Then she told us she was already a member! She's in the Oshawa YSA. Haha. It sounds like she's the one who invited him out to the activities and what not. But we're not sure. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the last main lesson, and basically every other commandment except the main 10 and a few little things. We invited him to fast on Sunday and everything and he agreed.

Friday, we decided that we would pause and talk to him more about spiritual conversion and make sure he was actually gaining a testimony. Unfortunately, he had a little mix up with his roommate and couldn't make it out to our lesson. He said he would go to institute, though. We just couldn't believe how fast this process was going. In weekly planning on Thursday, we were planning for his BAPTISM! We had just met him! We still had a week, though, so we were trying to plan out what and when we were going to teach him.

Friday night, at 10:15, we were writing in our journals and watching some Mormon Messages. It was about time for bed, but we were expecting the call to tell us if he can get baptized next week. Our District Leader called us and said, "So.. I have some really exciting news! I just got off the phone with the Zone Leaders. President Scott wants you to baptize G. tomorrow and confirm him on Sunday." Literally, we just sat there and didn't say anything! He asked us if G. would be okay with that and we said we'd try to call him. He wouldn't answer! That stinker! He was at institute and they were having all kinds of activities because it was their "spring bash". We told Elder Rowley we'd call him back on Saturday and let him know what's happening.

We tried calling him all morning with no answer. We taught ESL and we were freaking out the whole time! After ESL, he finally picked up! I told him that they wanted him to be baptized that day! He said, "Okay, yeah. I guess that's a possibility." We were supposed to meet him at 2:30, so we asked if he wanted to talk about it then or if he wanted to get baptized then. He said he wanted to talk about it first, so we met him at the church.

We showed him the font and talked about the last few commandments we needed to cover. He invited his friend to come at 5:45 that night so he could be baptized! We called Brother Gonzalez, our Ward Mission Leader, who agreed to come and baptize him.

Around 5:40, Elder Rowley realized that they need Bishop's permission to let Brother Go preside. We had been trying to get ahold of him all day! It took about half and hour and a million phone calls to the Zone Leaders and Assistants before we finally got permission from the Stake President to baptize him.

When he first put on his jumper and came into the Primary Room, he said, "Look at my new prison suit!" Haha. He's funny like that. He took out his eye brow piercing too! Man, he's great! I played the piano, poorly and one handed, for the baptism and we didn't have any talks. He was just baptized. After, Elder Rowley asked him to bare his testimony. He said he was grateful that he was baptized a "Mormon" now. He said some other things. All I remember was that he took the Lord's name in vain during it... Oh dear. Bad habits. But we're working on his language.

The next day he was supposed to get confirmed. Time was ticking and he still wasn't at the church. 10 minutes before Sacrament was supposed to start, he FINALLY picked up his phone. He said he just woke up but would be right there. Then he didn't come... In the middle of people bearing their testimonies, he texted us and said, "Sry.. My friend got arrested." And that's all! Man... This kid stresses me out!

We got a hold of him later and found out that his roommate had borrowed his car to "go to the store" the night before and didn't come back. He also had the keyes to G's motorcycle and house and everything. He had gone gambling and got arrested and didn't have a license. So G. didn't have a way to get to church. Brother Go and his daughter drove us up to G's house. We picked him up and took him back to church for the last half of Priesthood. Again, we had to make a million phone calls to get permission to confirm him after church.

While we were waiting, he paid tithing because he wanted to. Oh! When we walked into the church building, he sighed and said, "I missed church." Like he hadn't been in a long time. It was great! He kept telling us he felt guilty for not being here. And then he was confirmed and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Crazy!

After church, he told us that his brother came over the night before to watch the Leaf's game with him. He said, "He brought over a whole case of beer. You know what I had to do? I had to make a smoothie!" Hahaha. G. is the BEST!

We're going to keep teaching him the follow-up lessons this week and talk more about his language. But he's great! I have felt so blessed to be a part of his conversion story. Honestly, all we did was teach him what was required before hand. But it felt so good.

Thank you all for your prayers! You're great! Love you!

Sister Cross
 

Miracles: I Love Them! - Apr 29

In Sister Cross's words: 

Dear Family and Friends,

What a week! I need to start with explaining some goals President Scott has set for us. He calls them Standards of Excellence. Each week, we set goals to help people come unto Christ. We call them Key Indicators for Conversion. Our mission president set the Standards of Excellence to help us work toward something achievable, but also that will make us stretch. They are: 4 Lessons taught with a member present, 2 new investigators, 2 investigators with a baptism date, 2 investigators progressing toward baptism, and 2 investigators at church. Each companionship still sets goals based on their area, but Sister Messer and I always try to at least set our goals at or above standards. These goals are hard! Sometimes we do very well at hitting the standards in one area, but another area will lack. We've especially been struggling with finding new people to teach.

We have a goal as a companionship to have 2 baptisms this transfer, which ends in 3 weeks. We knew that this last week would have to have MIRACLES happen in order for us to hit that goal. We have prayed our knees off for that miracle. I learned that Hope means to trust that the Lord really will bless us as he has promised. I've been leaning on that hope this week and really stepping out of my comfort zone. As of Saturday night, we had 0 investigators coming to church and we needed 1 more progressing, 1 more new, and 1 more member present as well as 2 coming to church to reach Standards. We prayed hard that night to have a miracle happen. But it seemed IMPOSSIBLE. We got to church on Sunday and Jacob showed! By definition, J. was our one progressing investigator. Still, we did not have another investigator at Sacrament meeting. I leaned over to Sister Messer during Sacrament and said, sadly, "We didn't hit standards. But we worked hard." Maybe not word-for-word, but close.

Sacrament ended and we went to say hi to the Spanish Elders who were talking to a young guy. We knew they were expecting someone at church, so we assumed this was him. Elder Johnson said, "Hey! This is G. He told us some about him. We asked him if they were teaching him and they said no and that he lives in our area! What?! We asked him about how he found the church and he said that he's been coming to play sports at the church almost every Friday night (after Institute, the YSA plays sports) since Jan. or Feb! He said he really wants a positive influence in his life and he decided to see what this church was all about. I literally couldn't keep the smile off my face. As he was talking, he said he's joining the military. I was trying to count out weeks to see when the earliest he could be baptized. The guideline is that someone has to come to church at least 3 times before they can get baptized. Which means the earliest would be May 12. Literally moments after I figured that out, he told us he'll be shipping out to Quebec on May 13! Oh my goodness! He was asking about the differences between us and another religion. We talked a little bit about prophets, but then class started.

After class, we asked Brother G, our Ward Mission Leader, if he would be able to stay and help teach G. the first lesson. He said yes. As we taught, G. asked some really great questions and he said it all made sense. The spirit was strong as we talked about Jesus Christ's example and why He was baptized. I invited him to be baptized and he seemed to like the idea, but wanted to make sure he knew everything first. We talked about how the Holy Ghost can be that constant companion and influence for good. He, without any attempt at persuasion on our part, said, "I want the Holy Ghost!" We taught him the rest of the lesson and told him that we are holding a baptism on May 12. He said, "Right before I leave!" We talked about how we can be sure that he is prepared for that day. And he accepted! Earlier in the lesson, he brought up the Word of Wisdom and said how he really likes it. He said it makes sense that SOMEONE gave us this body and we should take care of it. Man! He is GREAT! After the lesson, I Sister Messer told me how she had prayed and asked for someone to show up at church so we could hit Standards. And he did!

I KNOW that as we do as God asks, He will bless us. He said, "I, the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." As we are striving to be EXACTLY obedient, we see the Lord blessing us. We have 4 investigators with baptism dates right now. It feels great! I know that, if we work hard and pray harder this week, we CAN have 2 baptisms in the next 3 weeks before Sister Messer goes home.

Thank you all for your prayers. They are greatly appreciated! And for your love! I've received quite a few letters this week and I love it! Thanks so much, everyone!

Sister Cross

Pics - Snowing and Subways in April!

Great Pics in Toronto - Don Mills

Look Alive! And have a Deeper Sense of Urgency! - April 22

In Sister Cross' words:  Dated April 22

Dear Children of God,

We are ALL children of God. Not just members of the church or believers in Jesus Christ, but ALL of us. This was something that J. brought up, and I just wanted to start by sharing that with all of you who might be reading this and have a question about whether or not you have a Father in Heaven who loves you. Our lives will not be perfect and we will not always understand why we go through the things we do. But I can assure each and every one of you that He DOES love you! If you aren't so sure about that, pray! And he will help you know he's there.

So, I'm not going to talk too much about J. He's not really progressing right now. Sister Messer is a lot more patient with him than I am. He likes to make things difficult for us. So I'm not really going to talk about him. Oh! But I did want to share a GREAT definition of Pride that I learned from him. He doesn't see it as a definition of pride, but I do. It's "Having faith in yourself." Faith in Jesus Chrsit will bring peace, joy, and salvation. Faith in yourself will bring pride and wickedness. And "Wickedness never was happiness" no matter how happy you seem to be.

Right now we're teaching an awesome investigator! Her name is A. We actually tried something that worked REALLY well and was a pretty spiritual experience. We gave her a chapel tour, but as we did so, we taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We started out in the Relief Society room and talked about how that class, as well as others, builds our faith in Jesus Christ. Then we showed her the bishop's office and talked about Repentance and Prayer. Then we took her to the baptismal font and talked about baptism and the Holy Ghost. We invited her to be baptized there. She's not set on a date yet, but she will be. Then we took her to the chapel and talked about Enduring to the End and how the Sacrament is part of that. Along the way, we showed her pictures of Jesus Christ on the walls and classrooms. The church building we meet in has 3 floors! So it was a little hard to go all over the place, but it was still way good. In the chapel, I asked her how she felt. She said she felt a lot of good feelings, but especially in that room. As we asked her to describe those feelings, the word she came up with was "Sacred." How awesome! When we met her the first time, it was on the street by her house on the way to an appointment. She had told us that she would take a long time to come to church because she's very shy. The tour was our second lesson with her and the first lesson, we only had enough time to talk about prayer. But guess who was at church on Sunday?! A!  She brought a friend with her and only came to sacrament because she had a family thing, but it was great! She actually came and said she enjoyed it. She's way smart and she's reading and praying a lot too. We're going to see her Thursday and invite her to be baptized on May 12. I love teaching the elect!

Ya'll might remember N. and S., the mother and son. Well we taught them about the Plan of Salvation this week. N. isn't progressing, but S. is. He's doing awesome! We taught about what Eternal Life means and how our goal is to go to the Celestial Kingdom. At the end of the lesson, S. prayed for us. He said, "Please bless the sisters that they can have Eternal Life. And please bless that my mom and I will get baptized on time." I LOVE this kid! Goodness! I want him to get baptized sooo bad! Next time, we're going to take picture with their family so I can send them to ya'll.

We've set the goal of 2 baptisms this transfer. We have 4 weeks left, so we're hoping A. will want to get baptized and then either J. or someone else. Keep us in your prayers! That'd be great! We recognize that, in order to achieve our goals, we need to change what we're doing. It's easy to sit down on the bus and nod off or relax on the way to a bus stop. But if that moment is the ONLY time these people see LDS missionaries, what will their opinion of us be? Lazy, tired, slow.... We need to have a deeper sense of urgency. We are working to help EVERYONE know the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is essential for ALL people and I am sooo excited to share that with others this week!

I love you all and the support you have given me. I'm sorry that I haven't had the time to write each of you back personally. P-Days are almost as busy as every other day. And I'm usually beat by the time we get back to write letters. So sorry. Thanks for everything!

Sister Cross

Testimonies and False Prophets - Apr 15

In Sister Cross's words - April 15

Dear Family and Friends,

It's been kind of a good, long week. The weather here has been crazy! It's been raining and snowing and windy. And then it'll be sunny and beautiful. It doesn't make any sense.And it's had quite the affect on our work. We had to stop and buy rain gear (which really isn't cheap). But I've LOVED having it.

W., the guy on house arrest, called us a few hours before our appointment with him and said he doesn't want to meet any more. He had rescheduled because he was supposed to help his Pastor move some stuff in his house. We're pretty sure he mentioned meeting with Mormon Missionaries and heard some things that probably aren't true. The thing is, we're okay with it. He's very dedicated in his church, so we're pretty sure it wasn't going anywhere anyway. He just wants friends.

We were able to meet with A., this sweet Chinese lady. She is so fun! When we got to her house, she had slippers for us to wear inside. It was great! She has a small little basement apartment and she keeps it very clean. She's excited to learn with us and we LOVED hearing her pray. She has friends of all different religions, so it's possible that she'll also hear things that aren't true. So we're going to try to keep open communication so she'll ask us about things.

Oh! We met a "prophet" on the bus the other day! It had been kind of a rocky morning and we were ready to just start talking about the gospel. We sat on the bus and Sister Messer saw this guy looking at our tags. I didn't see him, but she said she saw him sit closer to us so he could get a better view of our tags. We hadn't even got 2 stops away from ours and he said, "Sister! Sister! When you get home, you have to pray for yourself!" He then proceeded to tell us we were possessed by demons and that he knew that the angels that appeared to Joseph Smith were from Hell. He also told us that he KNOWS that Joseph Smith was not a prophet because HE IS! I had no idea what to say! Sister Messer just smiled and kept eye contact. I refused to look at him. We got off at the next stop and waited about 10 minutes for another bus. She said she'd heard stories about Elders having to get off the bus for things like that, but she never thought it would happen to her. Glad she's having good story-telling experiences! Haha.

Yesterday was fast Sunday. A mom got up to help her son bare his testimony. He wouldn't say anything. J., our investigator, called out, "Can I help him out?" Sister Messer and I sunk in our chairs a bit, but we both had a huge smile on our faces. He whispered into the little boy's ear, but the boy still wouldn't say anything. The mom bore her testimony and J. sat on the stand. He got up and talked about how he knew the Body of Christ was present and that the "team" (which is what he calls the ward, stake, etc.) is working hard. He's glad that people are going out and trying to bring more members to the team (US!). Then he said, "I'm also grateful for Sister.... (He clearly couldn't remember our names, which is HILARIOUS) Could you two stand up?" We shook our heads. haha. He said he was glad we bought him stuff to help him quit smoking and he's glad that we're helping him come to know the truth. It was probably the BEST moment of my mission!

Last night we also taught N. I think I told you about bringing the coloring book to her house so her 3-year-old twins would sit still. Well we got there and knocked on the door. K., one of the twins, opened the door. He saw me and smiled big. He grabbed my hand and said, "Please come in!" Then his twin sister, K, brought me a green crayon I had left there. Then K. said, "What's in your bag?" He started feeling it. But I completely forgot the coloring book! I felt SO bad! I gave them all the sticky notes I had left in my scriptures and even ripped out a notes page of my planner. It didn't keep them entertained for long. But we had K, with the help of Sister Messer, say the closing prayer. They were a little more involved so that was good. IF I ever leave Don Mills, I'm going to miss that family!

Oh! Last story for today. We were walking to that appointment with N. and this guy was walking toward us. I almost didn't say anything; he didn't look like he'd be interested. But I just said, "Hey! As you're passing, my friend and I, we're missionaries. And we're inviting people to learn more about Jesus Christ. What's your religious background?" He said he was Christian and I asked him if that had played a role in his life. He said it has, but he's struggled with something. He said he fell off the path and he wants to get back on, but he doesn't know how. I asked him how he would feel if he knew all of those feelings of guilt could be gone. His eyes lit up a bit and he asked how that was possible. I told him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, Endure to the End) briefly. He asked how he could get baptized. We told him that he would need to learn a few things first, but that we could teach those to him and help him repent of the things that he struggled with and then, on May 5, he could be baptized. And he wants to! We're supposed to meet with him this week. It'll all depend on if he shows up to that. He seemed VERY sincere, like almost to tears that this was possible. But we'll see if that actually works. We're exciting to maybe have a golden one! It's hard to teach people here because they all have a religious background and, if they don't, they believe in "One God" meaning we all worship the same God, so the church doesn't matter and they don't want to hear more. G. (that's the guys name) is from Ethiopia and he seems very humble. So his heart should be ready to accept the gospel.

This week, I just wanted to bare my testimony that I know that God has a reason for EVERY trial we go through. If you read in the Book of Mormon about the people of Ammonihah who believed the words of Alma and Amulek and were cast into the fire for believing. Alma was constrained by the spirit to not stop the men. God had a reason. Most of the time, we will not be killed to be a testimony against wicked men in the next life. However, God knows what's good for us. We can't always see it that way, but it's true. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father puts trails in our path that will help us grow.

I love you all!

Sister Jessica Cross

One Transfer Down!

Sister Cross's words:

Hello All!

I've probably said it before, but time is so warped on a mission. It's crazy that my first transfer in the mission field just ended. I'm halfway done being trained and Sister Messer is dying (goes home) in just 6 weeks! Then I'll be moving on to a new companion. This week went by pretty fast. We had some fun experiences, though.

We're teaching a YSA guy named J. I don't remember if I told you about him or not. He's pretty great! He has some fun beliefs and we're enjoying teaching him. He came to church last week and then conference on Saturday morning and both of the Sunday sessions. He also has gone to institute and an institute Dance in the last two weeks, so those are some great signs. I'm praying we can teach clearly enough so he can understand. We really do have our own language as "Mormons" and I'm learning that some people define words differently, so we have to make sure they're on the same page first.

Mail got pretty caught up this week. I got 2 letters from Daniel/Nathan, 2 from Harrison, 2 from Helga and Hans, and 3 from Bill Sparks! It was a good week for me. :) Mail is slow, but to ease your minds, I AM getting it.

Conference was GREAT! Those of you who know me well know that I want to be a mom really bad! Well, the talks were all about families and how to make them stronger. One way is through obedience. Our mission focuses A LOT on EXACT obedience and how important it is. I'm learning that it's not just "nice" to have the blessings of obedience, but I NEED them. If I am going to raise my family to be able to withstand the temptations of the world, I need to be obedient and focused on what the Lord wants me to do. Right now, he wants me on a mission so I can learn these vital lessons. I am so grateful for the opportunity to devote so much time to helping others strengthen their families through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I want all who are reading this to know that I know that we have a living prophet on the earth today. Yes, he could perform miracles, such as parting the Red Sea. But no, he does not NEED to. Prophets in the Bible didn't just talk about cool, new things all the time. A great majority of the time, they reminded people of the things they needed to do in order to live with God again. They quoted scripture and taught and testified of Christ. This is EXACTLY what our prophet does today. This weekend, he reminded us that we need to be obedient. We learn in the scriptures that "I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." If you are doing what He asks, you CAN claim the blessings. I know that to be true.

Elder Holland, one of the 12 apostles on the earth today, talked a lot about holding on to what you DO know. I can tell you that a mission reminds you a lot of the things you do not know. People ask questions all the time and I realize I don't know all the answers. And sometimes the philosophies of men, mingled with scripture, make sense and I have to re-evaluate what I know to be true. But I do know this: The Book of Mormon is true. And if that book is true, then Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and the Authority he was given to act in the name of Jesus Christ to baptize and perform saving ordinances has been passed down. And Thomas S. Monson is the Prophet of God on earth today and has that same authority. If I know these things are true, which I do, then I have no need to doubt or fear.

I love all of you: family and friends. I have been so blessed to have love and support from home. I couldn't do it without you. Thanks for everything! Remember: Exact Obedience! Celestial work will bring Celestial Blessings.
Sister Cross

Easter in North York!

Recent email from Sister Cross.

In her words:

Hey Everyone!

This week was interesting. We had a couple of dinner appointments, which was good. One of them, Sister L., gave us "Easter Packages" that included toilet paper, tooth paste, canned soup, and a chocoloate bunny. It was great. We had to carry it with us to our appointment after, but our investigator was okay with it. The youth in the stake gave us all bags of food, too. Which was nice because this week we had NOTHING. Like my easter dinner was Cream of Wheat. Haha. It wasn't all bad. We had a pretty good laugh about it.

We counted our lunch appointment yesterday as our Easter meal. We ate with Sister R. and her daughter. So, little hint about missionaries. Their meal appointments are only supposed to be an hour long. Our first meal with her was 2 HOURS! She wasn't even done cooking. This one was only 1 hour and 40 minutes because we had an appointment. Nice of her to keep it short. :) She's funny. Her meals are like 5 star hotel meals or something. Seriously like 5 courses. And all REALLY fancy stuff. She's Polish and makes all kinds of crazy foods. She made this mushroom soup with sausage and stuff. It was way good. Except the mushrooms, but that's alright. And this Polish/Canadian Pizza thing. But not like normal pizza. She just lays out TONS of food and expects us to eat it all. I feel bad that I physically can't finish a meal there. I guess I just need practice.

We're teaching a guy on House Arrest. We're not exactly sure what he did, but he's great! He's turned his life to God and is trying to learn how to do what He wants. He's really active in his chruch; he's an alterboy , actually. We're hoping to help him know that the Priesthood is important. He was homeless for 30 years, but with the help of the government for disability, he's been able to have a home for the last 3 years. He is so sweet. He wants us to love his home. He's talks about it with pride and his face lights up when we compliment something. He won't be able to get baptized till September, when he's off house arrest, so we're taking it slow.

I'm not sure what else you all want to know. There are a lot of little stories I could tell. For example, I got on the bus and sat across from this elderly lady. I was just going to talk with her because she looked super sweet. But then she looked up at me and started talking, like she was talking to me. She said something like, "She's never going to win; she's mentally incompetent." And "She can laugh all she wants, they arrested her last time." And, "We're going to take her to court and (soemthing about lawyers.)" I didn't say a word! Haha. It was an awkward bus ride.

A lot of people have asked about mail and email. I'm getting mail slowly. If you send a Dearelder, for example, on Monday or soemthing. I won't get it till the next week because they don't deliver mail on the weekends. But I get it and I love it! I'm getting a good amount of emails too. We don't have a time limit on email, so that's nice. It's not overbearing either. I love to hear about how your lives are going and how your testimony is growing. Tell me about your easters! I'd love to hear it!

I love you all! Keep doing good and being GREAT!

Remeber: Exact Obedience.

Sister Cross

I am an eagle! Not a chicken!

Newest letter from Sister Cross - so exciting to hear from her!!!
Here are her words:

Hey hey hey!
Time is flying by faster and faster. We only have 2 weeks of the transfer left already! I am so grateful I'm probably not going to be one of the sisters training a new one after only 1 transfer. That probably wouldn't go super well.

We had a pretty cool training meeting this week. We got to hear from the AP's and President and Sister Scott. It was way helpful to see other girls who haven't been out long struggling as well. Some of them haven't even found a single investigator. I felt better about myself. But then I reevaluated where I'm at and what I'm doing. I know that I could be better. I HATE contacting, especially tracting or bus contacting. I feel so awkward. So I'm trying to have a more positive attitude about it. If Sister Messer suggests we go do something that sounds out of my comfort zone, I try to have an open mind.

Reality is starting to sink in that I will be doing this for the next 17 months. Every week, no change. It's like the first week or so of school and getting to know your teachers and classes is over and the homework starts piling on. And it won't go away. Except, you know me, I've always loved school. And I'm feeling that way about missionary work as well. No, I don't like it when investigators use their agency to choose not to listen to the gospel or when people try to tell me I'm not a christian, but I DO love it when we find a family who wants to hear more or when someone asks a FANTASTIC question that I have the answer to.

I'm starting to see the spirit work through me as well. We were in an appointment with N. and her family. She has 3 kids, a 10-year-old boy and 3-year-old twins, a boy and a girl. The twins are crazy disruptive during our lessons, but she handles it well. S., the 10-year-old is SOLID! They were taught before and their teaching record says they were solid then too. She works a lot and can't really come to church, so the elders that had them before dropped them. We picked them right back up. N. has been baptized before, but S. hadn't. When we challenged them to be baptized, S. said yes without blinking. N. is a little hesitant. She didn't really understand authority. I was able to think of an analogy to help them understand. And I was more bold than I would ever be in a situation like that. I'm not very good at being bold AND loving, but I was able to do so perfectly. I explained that her baptism probably brought her closer to God, which is great. But, when it comes to judgement day, God may say something like, "I am so glad you devoted your life to me and tried to do the right thing by being baptized. But it doesn't quite count. You needed to be baptized by someone with authority." Something like that. As soon as I said it, I was worried she would be offended. And I wouldn't normally say something like that. But she took it well and said she would pray about it. S. also said he would pray. He's great! He said the closing prayer and asked that Satan would stay away from Sister Messer and I. That was sweet.

We're also looking for opportunities of service, but it's not coming easily. This morning, though, we had an interesting situation. We woke up at 6:30, prayed, and started talking. A few second later, we heard someone yelling out the window, "Are you okay?" And we could hear someone grunting. We looked outside, but couldn't see anyone. We could hear the person who was grunting say, "I think I broke my arm." As we leaned forward, we could barely see an older woman, in her 60's, laying on the ground. The other person said they would be right down, so we waited. The person never came. The lady on the ground tried to get up, but was struggling. As she started trying to crawl her way back to the stairs, Sister Messer and I knew we should go help her. In our PJ's, we threw on a coat, some slip on flats, and ran down the stairs. The lady, Nancy, had managed to get herself to the stairs and was standing up as we got there. She wouldn't move her left arm. She told us we should call an ambulance because she can't drive. She had fallen down the stairs and at least dislocated her shoulder, maybe broken her arm as well. We were able to stay with her and call her work for her to let them know she wouldn't be there. She is so lucky someone was looking out the window. Although, I wonder if someone was there at all. They never came and we never saw anyone looking out the window either. She's okay, but she was in a lot of pain. It felt good to be able to help her. And we made it back in time for showers and breakfast. :)

You're probably wondering about the eagle thing... Well, at church on Sunday, we talked about grace a little bit. Brother L. (probably one of the COOLEST members ever, seriously.... If you've seen Kung Fu Panda, he sounds JUST like Po's dad, the bird. He's from China. He spoke in Sacrament meeting. He told us a little story. He said there was a bird expert that went to the home of a farmer with a bunch of chickens. Among the chickens he saw something out of place: a golden eagle among the chickens, acting just like a chicken. He asked about how that came to be because "that's impossible!" The farmer said he was in the woods after a storm and found an egg in a nest on the ground. It was still warm, so he put it with his chickens. The Golden Eagle was raised among chickens and learned to live just like them. The expert didn't understand. He picked it up and said, "You are an eagle! You have the eyes of an eagle; you have the heart of an eagle. You have the strength and the wings of an eagle, now FLY!" But the eagle just hopped right back down with the chickens. Long story short, the expert took the eagle up to the mountains where there would be other golden eagles and no chickens. Seeing his potential, the eagle flew with the other eagles. He then told us all, "You are eagles living among chickens! Fly!" Um, Sister Messer and I may or may not have laughed about it for the rest of church... and wrote it down and put it on our wall... Brother L. is fantastic! He's super nice and they've fed us the most so far.

I can't really think of much else. I will tell you something I learned in our training: Members are not there to help the missionaries with their work. Missionaries are there to help the members with their work! And missionaries know what their doing when they invite someone to be baptized after only one lesson. Trust them. And do your best to fellowship the new members. They need it!

PRAYERS would be super appreciated! I have to give a talk next week about Easter. So we'll see how that goes. For some reason, I'm really nervous. It could be because all of these people come from different places. Or it could be just because I have NO IDEA what I'm going to say. Normally I feel at least something. I might use a talk from Elder Holland that I was reminded of yesterday. We'll see.

I love you all! I seriously have the BEST support group ever! Thanks so much for the love and encouragement. I am most definitely inadequate if I'm doing it all alone. But the Lord is on my side and he's given me a great cheer squad. Thanks!

Exact Obedience!
Sister Cross

Anti Crazies and Getting on the Boat

Got this from Sister Cross a couple of days ago!  I hope you enjoy her words as much as I do!  Feel free to post your comments if you would like.  I'm sure Jessica would love to read them once she gets home from her mission!

Sister Cross' words:

Well hello everyone!!!!

Seriously, I feel like I emailed you 2 days ago! Time has just FLOWN by this week. And it's funny, a lot has happened.

A little bit of fun stuff, I got to go to downtown Toronto after emailing last P-Day. It was awesome! The city is HUGE and basically everything was under construction. I thought it would feel like Seattle, but it most definitely did not. The CN Tower is about the only thing that resembles Seattle. Everything is bigger in Toronto. I guess they have 28 Kilometers of underground shopping and stuff. We didn't even go there yet! Sister Messer only has a transfer and a half left and she's been dying her whole mission to come to Toronto. So we'll be doing some fun things in the next 9 weeks. I'll try to send some pictures of the things we saw, but no promises today.

After our adventures in downtown, we went shopping. While at the store we got a call from A. She had been "researching." NOOOOOO! She got some SUPER anti information and we wanted to clear it up. We told her we'd call her. After playing phone tag for a few days, we got a hold of her again. She had read more and wouldn't listen to anything we had to say. She just argued with us. She would say something, we would explain it in a very clear way, and she would disagree and get upset. Oh boy... She said she didn't really want to meet with us any more to learn, but she wanted us to study Greek Orthodox so we could know what Christianity was really about. She also wanted to give us our Book of Mormon back. Sister Messer said we could do that and we set up a time to pick it up on Saturday. Friday night, during planning, we realized the library she wanted to meet at wasn't in our area. We called her to see if we could meet somewhere else. She flipped out that we should be able to go to whatever library we want. She asked if we follow God. We said yes, and she then told us that SHE gave us permission to go and we didn't need to get it anywhere else. After a bit, she agreed to meet somewhere else on a different day to give us the book. Then she asked more Anti questions and argued a bit more. Sister Messer simply said, "A, we have to go." And we got off the phone. Then we realized we never set up a time or place and we were okay with that! Maybe she'll actually read the book instead of researching. But we're no longer working with her. It was a little crazy that all of this happened in such a short period of time. Funny thing is, we both felt relieved. And we were able to focus more on our other investigators.

We also ran into another anti guy that had to inform us we weren't Christian and that we are small and insignificant. We think. His english was poor. But because he "wasted our time" we were able to run into a less active in the elevator on our way to see a former investigator who seems promising. Blessings!

We had 3 dinner appointments this week, which were fun. I haven't been able to completely finish a meal without feeling a little sick, but it's been WAY better than I thought. We have one tonight, so hopefully that will go well.

So we got a referral from either her or missionaries that had taught her before. We met up with her at the Eglinton Square Food Court. She was so sweet. She's from the Philippines! Which is WAY great because basically have our ward is from the Philippines, including our bishop, and they basically take everyone from there under their wings. She said she was just looking for a place she felt like she could belong. We taught her the Restoration and she didn't really have any questions. I don't know if that's good or bad. But she came to church! And she said she felt so good. A sister in our ward, Sister S., met her after sacrament and took her to Gospel Principles. G. (our investigator) answered questions and did a GREAT job. She seemed to be understanding it all. And it was on the Spirit World! After class, she went with Sister S. and sat with her in relief society. We asked her how she was feeling and, as she touched her heart, she said she felt really good. She introduced herself in Relief Society and said she was so glad we met with her and found her a ride to church and she's excited to learn more. After church, she went to CHOIR PRACTICE with Sister S. and WANTED to be there! What?! She is so great! Hopefully we will meet with her this week and solidify a baptism date for her. She agreed that, if she knew it was true, she would get baptized April 7. But both of us think she'd be ready by the 31. So we'll see what happens there.

Sunday was great! I think I told you about the guy in our ward who just got back from a mission in WA. Well he spoke about the Atonement. It was great! Our investigator loved it too. At the end of his talk, he said something that really stuck with me. And I hope all you boys (my brothers) will really take this to heart. But it can be applied to any commandment. He talked about how we often look at the story of Noah and imagine all the logs on the ground as he's preparing to build the ark. We'd all probably said say, "I'd get on the boat!" Then he said that we have a prophet today who is "building a boat." He has asked that EVERY young man serve a full time mission. The floods are coming and he's asking us, "Will you get on the boat?" Ryan and Brent especially, get on the boat! Adam, Daniel, and Nathan, start building it! Your time is coming too. I've taken that a step further in myself. As I've said, our mission focuses on exact obedience. But I need to make sure that I'm "getting on the boat." As General Conference approaches, I'm trying to keep that in mind. I'm excited to see what "Ark" President Monson talks about and try to jump on. As King Lamoni's father said, "I would give all my sins to know Thee." I need to have that attitude, especially about my "favorite" sins. Just something to think about this week.

Thank you all for your support! I've said it over and over, but I am so grateful I have the BEST family and friends! I couldn't imagine doing this without all of your love and support.

Remember who you are. Exact obedience. Get on the boat!

Sister Cross

"The Obedience Thing" and feeling WAY better!

Okay, so I forgot to post this wonderful letter from Sister Cross, but here it is - better late than never :-).

Sister Cross' words:

Hey everyone!

Okay, so this week has been crazy and time is warped on a mission. I feel like it's been FOREVER since I email ya'll last week, but this week also FLEW by. How that works, I'm not so sure.

This week, Sister Messer and I realized we really needed to find people to teach. She told me about a promise she read that said if we talk to at least 10 people a day, our teaching pool would double. Well, we NEEDED that. She implemented something from her last area called The Obedience Thing. Our District Leader is calling every night to hold us accountable for being exactly obedient about these things:
1. We wake up by 6:30, home by 9:00, and in bed by 10:30
2. We talked to at least 10 people that day
3. We only have lunch and dinner for an hour. No more!
and then we got to add our own. So.... We decided to do something a little crazy.
4. Challenge at least one person to baptism every day!

At first, it was a little weird, but boy have we seen the blessings of it for sure. Before we started this, Sister Messer and I got on the bus and really were trying to find someone who would be prepared. She said a silent prayer to know who was prepared to hear the gospel. Right then, A. sat down next to us and started talking about how she's writing a book about her and God. What?! Sister Messer asked her if she had talked to missionaries before and she said, "No, but I might have to." We got her info and decided to give her a call a couple of days later. When we called, she talked more about her book and we asked if we could meet with her on Friday. She agreed. Well Friday morning came and she called to cancel. She said she wasn't feeling well. We invited her to church and she said she would try to come. Our hopes were falling. We had other strong potentials we were working on, and she's a little interesting, so we let it go. Well, Saturday night she called. I answered and she said, "Hi! I was just calling because I really want to come to church tomorrow. Is that okay?" She then proceeded to tell me that she thought Mormons were a little weird, but read about Joseph Smith and his story makes sense. She said she couldn't find a a skirt that fit, but would try to lose weight so she could one day wear one to church. She was already planning on coming for more than just that week! I couldn't stop smiling. Usually she just talks about her book, but the whole time she talked about how we're just Christians and she was "drawn to us" and she talked about how good she feels when she's around us.

She came on Sunday, late because she forgot about the time change, but she came. She still talked a lot about her book, but it was so good. She talked about how God tells her to do things and she gets upset about it, but does them anyway and prays to be grateful for his guidance. She had a hard time understanding prophets and also struggled to accept the Book of Mormon. But she accepted the challenge to be baptized on the 31st! Her only questions were, "Will I be wearing clothes because I don't fit in a Bikini?" and "So do I need to bring a change of clothes?" It was so great! At the end of the lesson, we asked her to pray. She said something like this, "Heavenly Father, I'm having a hard time accepting the Book of Mormon as scripture. Will you help me to believe in it? And thank you for these girls." She has asked us multiple times if she can keep in contact with us when we leave because she really needs friends.

I 100% believe that she is a blessing because of our dedication to being exactly obedient to what we have been asked to do and because we were willing to open our mouths after a long day anyway. We have found a few people to teach simply because we were willing to talk to them. Most of the people out here have strong religious backgrounds such as Muslim or Hindu. And others have only heard negative things about our church. But I have seen, with A., that we really can fall in love with the people we are teaching. As we were talking to her, she got emotional because she's been praying and wants God to come down here to answer her questions. I felt a strong prompting to tell her that we were an answer to her prayers. That made her cry more, but the spirit was strong. She said that she has felt so drawn to us since she got on the bus and she wants to make good friends who believe in God. Boy can we help her with that!

Oh, funny story about her. At church, she asked us about a few of the normal rumors that spread about Mormons. Like we worship Joseph Smith. But then she asked a hilarious one! She was asking us about why we don't have crosses in our building and things like that. Then she said, "I heard that Mormons have a giant cross underground so they can go step on it after church. Is that true?" Where in the world did that come from?! We were soooo excited to clear that up for her. And explain that we worship Jesus Christ and live our lives centered on His sacrifice for us. Again, the spirit was so strong as we met with her. I pray for her everyday so that we can help her enter the waters of baptism on the 31st. But I have no doubt she will. Even if she doesn't want to, if God tells her it's right (which I KNOW He will), she will do as He wants. But she wants to get baptized. So we don't even have to worry about that.

A lot of you have asked if I'm feeling better. I am SO happy to report that yet, I am feeling SO MUCH BETTER. My companion is starting to get a little cold, but she's fine. I'm finishing my meds tomorrow and I should be solid even after I stop taking them. Thank you for the prayers! I definitely needed them.

So... as we're preparing for the Easter season, I was hoping I could ask you all a favor. If you could email me or write me about your testimony of the Savior and how knowing that He is risen has blessed your life, I would LOVE that.

Okay, really quickly, they changed the policy, so I CAN email friends as well as family. My responses might be short, but I would love to hear from everyone. Chelcie, get McKenzie to email me! I've thought about her a lot.

Thank you all for the support. I am growing to love it out here! All I needed was to be obedient, open my mouth, and let the Lord work through me. That's my purpose as a missionary. Nothing I do will ever bring success. But what the Lord does through me will bring all the success in the world!

Sister Cross

Remember: Exact obedience everyone!

Just In - PICTURES!!!

Sister Cross with her First Comp in the field!

AZ Bound?  Hmmm...

MTC Class - lovin' learnin'!

Saw lots of old friends at the MTC!

"I LOVE MAIL!!!!"

Where is Toronto?

MTC - Toronto Bound Sisters!

Waiting for Bus - Almost there!

BRRRR - In Toronto with 1st Comp

Terra's Apron, Matai's Wash Cloth

First Companion & Trainer - Sister Messer

Pres & Sis Scott with Sis Cross

FIRST Email from CANADA!!! BRRRRR...

Mom! Thanks so much for emailing me. It's been weird not getting ANYTHING for an entire week. I wish they delivered DearElder everyday here too. Quick question. Did they send you my address? If not, it's:

2 Swift Dr. #412
North York, ON M4A 2A2
CANADA

DearElder will let you put in that address exactly instead of just the mission home if you'd like. It should prompt you every time you start a letter. I would LOVE to get letters here. We don't get mail from the mission home too much. I should get some on Wednesday during our Zone Training, but we'll see.

I have more time on computers here, so you don't really have to make it TOO short.  Quick update for you. I've been pretty sick, actually. I had a cold in the MTC and on my flight out, the pressure really messed with my sinuses. I got a sinus infection, although I didn't really know what it was until Wednesday. I went to a doctor here who prescribed me a nasal spray and some antibiotics. It was working really well until yesterday. Everything started coming back. Prayers would definitely be appreciated.

It is COLD here. The first full day here, it was super wet too. And my feet were soaked the whole day. It dried up, but it's a bitter cold. Yesterday was the hardest because I started feeling sick again at church and forgot my gloves and ear muffs at home. We were trying to visit less actives and it was really painful. But you gotta do what you gotta do.

Okay, my companion's name is Sister Messer. She's from Vegas area and is actually going home after training me. So in about 11 weeks. I've heard nothing but fantastic things about her. I do feel guilty that I've been so sick and not super motivated to do anything. But she's been patient. We're opening a new area. It's called Don Mills East. It's in the "outskirts" of Toronto. Sister Messer has been dying to come to Toronto her whole mission, but hasn't had the chance. We're actually opening the area. There have been elders here in this ward, two sets, actually. They're still here, we're just sharing the ward with them. Weird, right? 3 sets of missionaries in 1 ward!

This place is crazy. I think Dad would love it. There are so many different cultures here. The quote of the week is, "Talk to him! He'll be nice; he's not white." -Sister Messer. It's true though. I was telling her that I was nervous to talk to people because I don't know how to start the conversation. My words were, "At school, I could ask people where they're from because everyone is from somewhere different. But here, they're obviously from Toronto." She was like, "No! Ask that question. That's a great one!" Seriously, last week I met someone from Columbia, Russia, the Phillipines, India, and tons of other places. They've all been here like 3-37 years. ;) Everyone has different backgrounds. And I thought the question, "What's your religious background?" would be a weird one to ask, but they answer it like I'm asking what they're favorite ice cream is. Most are muslim or catholic or hindu or christian... there really isn't a norm of any kind.

Our ward is really interesting too. My favorite family is the Lim family. The parents and some of their kids live in our ward. Their son, Jared Lim, just got back from a mission, actually. He served in Kennewick, WA! How cool is that? We just kind of switched places. He served in Vancouver for a whole year in total on his mission, but he doesn't know the Olsen's.

Since the area is new, we're starting from scratch. We got one investigator from the Elders who is a little difficult. He knows a lot about the Bible and refuses to pray about the Book of Mormon. Sister Messer doesn't really want to teach him any more, but I see it as a fun challenge. He's interesting. We also got a new investigator who isn't from a Christian background, which makes things a little bit difficult when teaching. But he's so sweet. He's from India, I believe, and really wants to know more about God. He actually has a baptismal date already, but I've learned that that doesn't mean too much because Preach My Gospel is set up so we challenge them after the first lesson. Hopefully we can still get him in the water.

I realized that I haven't emailed at all since I got here, so I'll have to tell you about getting here and how that all worked out. So leaving at 3 am is CRAZY. We were super tired and I was sick, but so excited. When we got there, the line to check in was huge because of all the missionaries. I felt bad for all the regular people there. Our plane was supposed to leave at 6:40, but it didn't even get to the gate till 6:35. Our layover was short, so I was a little nervous about making our next flight. We also had to get sprayed with antifreeze and everything. The pilot made us all laugh about it, though. We landed in Denver and they didn't have the gate ready for us. The pilot said, "Sorry, folks. They DID know we were coming." We waited for about 20 minutes and then he came on the speaker and told us they lost the key to our gate as well. If it weren't for the fact that half of our next flight was sitting on this plane, it would've left us. We had 34 missionaries going to Toronto on our flight and 2 on another. Eventually we made it and got onto our last flight. When we landed in Canada, immigration did NOT like us. She kept asking me why Canadians couldn't just serve missions there. She said she thought something else was going on here, but we didn't know about it. That "our church" was up to something. Whatever, we made it through.

We stayed the night at a hotel because there wasn't room for all of us. There were 29 SISTERS and 7 elders with us! How great! I guess our group has been a legend in the mission. Everyone was excited for this big of a group. The next day, we met our trainers and took off. We got to drive by the temple. It's HUGE, but I guess it's very under-utilized. We need to get more people to go to the temple!
Oh yeah, our apartment. We moved into an apartment that the old Korean elders used to occupy. It was DISGUSTING. I'm pretty sure they never cleaned their apartment ever. Dirty dishes were in the sink and on the stove. We joked that they must have heard they were supposed to move 5 minutes before they did, so they grabbed their stuff and ran. We've met the Korean Elders, actually. They're funny. They apologized multiple times. I think they were really embarrassed. One of them, his name is Elder Baek (pronounced Beck). Cool, hu? Our mission has a lot of elders that speak different languages. We're the only mission in the world with Pharsie (spelling?) speaking elders. It's pretty great. Actually, we also do a lot of finding through and ESL (English as a Second Language) class. We help out with it twice a week. There are a lot of them in our mission. Kinda cool.

Hopefully I'll feel better soon. Next week, we're probably going Downtown on our P-Day, so I'll have cool pictures for you. Especially of the CN tower, which is a lot like the space needle, only taller.

Anyway, I think that's about all. I'm going to try to send you and email with pictures now. Let me know if you have any other questions or anything. I love you all! Mom, don't worry about not saying goodbye. I almost called you back, but thought it would've been easier just to not worry about it because I didn't really care to cry MORE.

Love,
Sister Cross
 

Last MTC Letter - Time sure Flies

<Larry's words> This is her most recent but due to internet connectivity issues in India, it's a few days later... since this letter, she got to speak briefly with Margie and a couple of her brothers and has flown to Toronto.  Can't wait to hear from her in her first area!!!

<Sister Cross' words>

Hello family and friends!

Since I'm leaving on Monday morning (SUPER early) we get time today to do laundry and email our families, kind of like a half a P-Day. This week has FLOWN by! I can't believe we only have today and Sunday left! And so much has happened. Hopefully I can get it all across to you.

Okay, so Monday and Tuesday were great! They don't have as much classroom time, so it was kind of nice. Tuesday afternoon was really hard, though. We had our first TRC (Teaching Resource Center) which means an actor comes in a plays an investigator and we teach them. Ours was extremely difficult. She's Roman Catholic and asked super hard questions. Like Sister Wise was sharing about the Restoration and the spirit was there; it was great! And then Ivelisse (our "investigator") totally killed the spirit. She brought up a scripture that says no one can see God without being transfigured and asked if Joseph Smith was transfigured. What?! Who asks that, really? We left there with only a second appointment and basically no hope. Mom's letter couldn't have come at a better time when she reminded me that if I am rejected, they aren't rejecting me, they're rejecting the gospel. We talked to another sister who had taught her and she suggested being bold and maybe even letting her go. I wanted to do that so bad! I didn't want to teach her again. But I also knew how important the gospel is and we wanted to help bless her life. Brother Beheshti, basically the best person ever, suggested we pray silently as a companionship for 15 minutes asking the Lord for help. On Thursday, before we taught her, we had some study time and we did just that. I told Heavenly Father I wasn't going to stop praying until I got some kind of guidance. All of us felt like we needed to talk to her about prayer and the Atonement. In our appointment, Sister Wise nailed it! She got Ivelisse to pray during our appointment, agree to come to church and agree to get baptized if she found the right church! It was awesome.

On Wednesday, we had a volunteer TRC, which means they may or may not actually be an investigator. We actually were told ahead of time that the scenario was less actives. We got to teach this humble 20-year-old Chinese kid who went to BYU. He talked about how he's the only member in his family and he felt like he needed to be an example. When all of his friends went on missions, he prayed to know if he should go too, but got the answer "Not yet." He was criticized a lot for it and stopped going to church, but had recently decided to go back. We asked him how he felt in the Temple and he said he loves being there. I connected with him surprisingly well. I shared the scripture in Matthew about talking the yoke of Christ upon  you and I talked about how Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know exactly what he's going through. I even shed a tear or two. After, he prayed and then asked us to stay for a second. His words were, "I had to fib a little bit and I feel so bad! That really did happen, but it was a few months ago and I'm okay now." It was hilarious how bad he felt for acting and doing what he was supposed to. He was so sweet and told us that the things we said were exactly what his friends on missions told him. It was the first time I had confidence in my teaching ability.

Okay, I think I told you all about Dennis, our teachers investigator personality. He is extremely difficult to teach sometimes. Well, we as a companionship decided we were going to baptize him. We planned a little bit of a lesson, but since it was our first real time meeting with him, we knew we had to take time to discern his needs. We prayed and then knocked on his door. He told us to come in and we talked for a second and then asked if we could start with a prayer. He's done this before where he will hold out his hands to pray, because that's what he knows, so we expected it. We usually go along with it for the opening prayer and then teach him to pray "our way" during the lesson and do that to close. Well, this time he was sick, so he asked that we close our hands and just touch fists (which is what we've been doing this whole time at the MTC because it's flu season.) So basically we're sitting here, trying to pray in a fake lesson and we're "fist bumping" instead because he's sick. Sister Wise started the prayer, "Heavenly Father..." and then burst into laughter. I, of course, followed suit. It was HILARIOUS. We couldn't keep it serious. He was like, "Is everything okay?" I asked him, between laughs, if we could pause for a second so Sister Wise and I could gain our composure and start the prayer over. He agreed and we asked Sister Edwards to say it. Even through the actual prayer, Sister Wise and I had a hard time. When we finished he said, "Well, I certainly haven't felt the spirit like that before." The lesson went okay, but we definitely didn't baptize him that time. And now, everywhere we go, Sister Wise and I fist bump. Usually she tells me she doesn't want to pray! And then we proceed to chuckle a little bit.

Yesterday, we have In-Field Orientation. Basically they teach everyone who is leaving next week all of the things they didn't teach you in class. We're sitting in a chair for EIGHT HOURS. Seriously, it was exhausting. But it made everything feel real. Well, until they put on the cheesiest play I think I've ever seen! That was funny. Basically it was about a new elder in the field who is REALLY excited about his work. I think the funniest moment is when they were in a ward council and the primary president gives the Bishop and the Ward Mission Leader a sticker for being reverent. The new elder, Elder Sharpe, leans over to the Ward Mission Leader and says, "Hey! Congratulations!" Later, the Ward Mission Leader's phone goes off, so the primary president takes his sticker away. Elder Sharpe says, "Sorry about that, man." See? Cheesy! But funny.

After In-Field, they told us the great news about the 58 new missions! It's crazy what you don't hear in the MTC. But oh my goodness it was so exciting. Our instructor was telling us about how this is normally low months as far as numbers go in the MTC. He said on average they have like 1400-1700 missionaries during these months. But right now, during our low time, we have 3200! Sitting there, Sister Wise pointed out that this whole room full of young adults excited to share the gospel are going to enter the world next week. And this is happening every week! Our instructor reminded us of how, in 1978 (or something like that) all men were allowed to have the priesthood. He then said that this announcement was bigger than that. It is so cool to be apart of this great work!

I've been doing a lot better. I do have a cold and that's not fun. But other than that, my spirits are a lot higher. And on Monday, we'll fly out to Canada. By the way, we have like 5 elders and something like 30 sisters going into Toronto with us! What?! How exciting is that?!

Anyway, I better get going. Thank you so much for the love and support. I really do miss you all!

Love, 

Sister Cross 

PS Elder Eric Schenk says hi! He was standing right behind me. :) 

Sister Cross at Seatac - she is ready!

 Jessica with Dad

 Jessica with Ryan

Jessica with her first official Travel Companions - same flight to Provo - very cool!

FIRST Letter (from MTC) - Roller Coaster & ER Trip!

Hey Everyone!

 

I feel like I have a hundred things to tell you all! I don't really know where to start and I have limited time. So bare with me if I miss something.

 

First of all, the MTC is amazing! Our first day here was interesting. I would bore you with some of the details about that day if I had time. I'm in a trio right now; my companions are Sister Edwards and Sister Wise, both a good friends from Layton, UT and both are 19. We have two other sisters in our room, Sisters Ogden and Noker. They are wonderful! Our district has 12 people, us 5 girls and 7 guys. You'll never guess where the guys in our group are going.... PHOENIX, AZ! Crazy, right? Harrison actually wrote me and said he feels like he's about to train again, so to keep an eye out for Phoenix Elders. I just laughed. They are so great! Our main teachers are Brother Bonner and Brother Vea. Brother Bonner is honestly the happiest person I know. And he is so full of the spirit all the time! As part of training, each of our teachers have an "investigator" personality we have to teach. Brother Bonner acts as Troy and we LOVE teaching him. Brother Vea is hilarious, but we don't like teaching him when he acts as Dennis. I actually cried at the end of our first roleplay with him and it hasn't got much better. That's okay, though. I need the challenge.

 

Really quick, to make sure I have time. I have a few schedule things to talk about. First of all, we leave the MTC at 3 AM a week from today (Monday). So letters please make sure they get sent here in time. (DearElder would be best). Our plane leaves at 7AM, and I do get to call home. So I'll probably be calling at like 5 AM your time. I can leave a message if no one answers. I'll probably call Mom's phone and then Dad's phone if there is no answer. We'll get to Toronto around 2 or 2:30 PM there time, so I'm not sure what time that is at home. I can't wait! The MTC is great, but I'm definitely ready. I am so glad I don't have to stay here longer than 12 days. Oh! So you'll never guess who I saw in the Cafeteria! I was in line for wraps and I looked up and there was Carlos Suffert! He was the Brazilian exchange student that stayed with Tyler Henderson our Junior year, I think. He's here learning German to serve in the Berlin mission. CRAZY! He was really excited to see someone he actually knows. Anyway, I was hoping someone could do me a quick favor. I told him I'd try to get Tyler's address for him. Tyler probably has it on his Facebook. If not, could you call the Henderson's and get it? Instead of sending it to me, could you send it to Carlos on DearElder? It would be Carlos Suffert (here at the Provo MTC) and his box is 97. That would be GREAT! Thank you!

 

Anyway, I have a pretty great story to tell you. So I don't know if you've heard, but the food here is definitely not very good for you. I'm trying to eat wraps, but that's not always an option. Anyway, on Saturday, my companion, Sister Edwards, ate fish and chips for dinner. She even mentioned how fried food doesn't sit well with her, but that she was doing fine. We were in class and our instructor told us to act for ourselves (it was a GREAT lesson, but I'll have to tell you about it later). We left the room and she said she wasn't feeling well and we needed to go to the bathroom. Eventually she decided to go to the Health Office, which is actually closed on Saturdays. The front desk called the doctor and he said he wanted to see her, so we went to the ER! We actually left the MTC on a shuttle and she got an IV and an Ultrasound only to find out it was just a stomach ache. The nurse told us that happens a lot from the MTC. We had to stop to get her some medicine from Walgreens. While we were there, a girl ran up to us and said, "Sister Missionaries!" She told us she just turned in her papers and was all excited to see Sisters. It was a cool moment to realize that I'M a sister missionary!

 

The MTC, as I have said probably half a dozen times, is amazing. But it is so hard. I have been humbled over and over again. I'm grateful for it, but it gets overwhelming. Tell the boys to start preparing now, especially Ryan and Brent. Learn Preach My Gospel inside and out and study your scriptures hard! You'll need it. I sure which I had.

 

I've seen Alex Barkdull, Kacy Murray, Carlos, and Catherine Andelin all since being here. It's kind of fun. Yesterday, we got to walk up to the temple. There were a TON of missionaries there all taking pictures. It was way fun to feel apart of something so big. Today I got to go to the Temple with my district. That was fun too. The temple here is WAY bigger on the inside. They had multiple sessions going on at the same time because there were so many people. When I got back into the dressing room, the Sister helping us actually asked us to change as quickly as possible because they needed more lockers. That was great!

 

We are the first group to do the full on 2 week MTC program. About 1,000 missionaries came into the MTC on Wednesday and they said that's only going to get bigger. We have almost 40 missionaries going into my mission on Wednesday! And at least half are sisters! This work really is hastening. You can feel it as they're trying to cram a ton of information into our brains and hearts before we leave. It's a little crazy.

 

I have to thank you all for the love and support. We didn't get mail until Thursday night because our District Leader has to get the mail and that's when he was called. He stood next to us and over and over again said, "Cross. Cross. Cross." as he handed me more and more mail. I feel so loved! Thank you all for your support. I will try to write back to everyone in a couple of hours during personal time, but no promises.

 

I have to go. I will get you pictures on my first P-Day in the field. We can't get them on here at the MTC. I love you all. 25 to my family! Have a GREAT week! This one, I've been told, flies by pretty fast. Thank goodness! I feel like I've been here for a month! Talk to you soon!

 

Sister Cross