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
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
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