When we give away our crosses, we aren’t always sure where they will go, who will receive them or how they are used so it is always a wonderful experience for us when we get a note from our friends in Christ who have helped us spread God’s love. We wanted to share some of their awesome messages.

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Jadynne from MN sent this note along with photos from her mission trip to San Estevan, Belize:

‘Thank you so much for the crosses. We were able to take them with us to Belize on our mission trip. In this small village, we were able to bring the word of Christ to over 130 children in VBS. We had a wonderful time and made many new friends. I saved out a few crosses to take with me back to Florida to give with our prayer shawl ministry. God bless.’

Stephanie from MN sent us these photos of her recent mission trip to Nicaragua, along with this lovely note:

‘Hola! Thank you so much for the donation of supplies to make 300 crosses at SonShine Music Festival that I brought to Jinotepe, Nicaragua. Our mission group from Eagle Brook Church in Spring Lake Park, MN spent 8 days at the Arms of Love Orphanage that partners with OrphaNetwork. One day, we went to the WEGO feeding center where most of the children in the community receive their one meal for the day, Monday – Friday.  Along with the crosses, we brought packs of basic necessities (shampoos, soaps, toothpastes, wash clothes, toothbrushes) and taught basic hygiene. We also brought Flannel Graphs to share Bible stories and trained the older kids in a nearby orphanage how to use them as well. In addition, we had candy, nail polish, markers for face painting, a Jesus Loves You pamphlet, stickers and lots of love. Gracias and Dios Bendiga!! Thank you and God bless!!’

Nyla from MN shared this photo of how our crosses were decorated by the children at the mission she visited in Guatamela:

Sue and Greg from MN attended SonShine Festival, took some crosses home with them and emailed us their message:

‘We wanted to share with you how you all blessed us and it multiplied. We met you at SonShine this summer and got 100 crosses from you to take back to our church…Battle Lake Alliance Church. We had our church VBS at the end of July and had the children give a little performance at the local nursing home. These VBS children were mostly unchurched so, VBS is certainly a church outreach. After the children sang, they each took a cross and gave it to a resident or staff worker. It was so cool to see them give! Then, at the final VBS program, we gave each of the children a cross to take home. They were so excited to get one because, they had given first! Thank you for your vision and sharing it with us!!!’

Here’s what Monica from MT had to say:

‘I wish to thank you for the crosses and enclosed you will find a check for the postage. Our people feel very good about our using the cross to reach out to new and old friends alike. Thank you so much for doing such a simple thing with such a great amount of faith. I’m hoping that we will run out of crosses very quickly and need to order more and more. Know that you are in my prayers and your ministry has made the lives of our youth better. Thank you again for your generosity in faith … small things with great love … well done, my friends …’

You can’t imagine how our hearts swell when we get feedback like this. Do you have something you would like to share with your Cross The World family? Send it to me, with permission to use of course, and I’ll be more than happy to post it next month!

You never know who you will touch when you hand them a cross or how they will come to treasure those two simple pieces of wood, but the message we continue to get is that God is smiling because of our efforts. We are working together for the same purpose … we are making GOD’S LOVE VISIBLE, ONE CROSS AT A TIME!

And, we continue to be thankful to our friends in Christ who supported Cross The World during the month of August:

Mt. Zion Lutheran Church – Hudson, WI

Beth – MN

Olivet Lutheran Church – Fargo, ND

Immanuel Lutheran Church – Walker, MN

Center for Family Counseling – St. Cloud, MN