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