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!
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