Week 10: double digits!

Aah! Finally double digits with the number of weeks! how crazy is that. Today is my 2 month mark! time seriously FLIES here.

With Hermana S and Hermana T at the temple!

 This week was so good with our investigators and the temple.

So 2 pretty cool experiences happened this week. one was with Luis, our golden investigator. remember that we found him knocking on doors and he didnt seem super interested at first. but he is so prepared! it is so amazing! entonces, one night we were teaching him the Plan of Salvation. after, I shared a scripture in Enos 1:27. (i think...please read it!) he talked about how that scripture is so beautiful and comforting to him. after that, I felt impressed to ask him "Luis, how do you feel right now in this moment?" and he responded something along the lines of "I have felt nothing like this before in my life. It is something so different, so peaceful, so loving" what better way to describe the Spirit? Am I right?!? It was so cool. Then Hermana Tirado asked him, "How do you feel about what we are teaching you?" He replied, "I feel like I understand it so well. If you both came to me 5 years ago, I wouldnt understand it as well. I have this knowledge that I have never had before." and then he said, "hermana garner, I know you are still working on your spanish, but I understand everything you teach me and I feel the Spirit so strong when you teach me. Dont worry about your Spanish." I didnt have words. It was such a neat experience! It was just a small reminder that I am doing something right. I am here for a reason and it is to teach these people that are prepared for the gospel!

In our apartment with one of our neighbors.

 Victor. He is another one of our investigators that is progressing a lot. He is a guy that you would never believe that would even think about listening to the missionaries. He wears a white tank top with a paliacate on his head and where we teach him there are pictures of girls everywhere. But he is doing really well. He is getting baptized! (my second invitation I extended and he excepted!) He comes to church and whenever we teach him, he always asks a lot of simple questions which is good because that means we can always answer them :) 

We also teach a less-active, Fernando. I dont love teaching him. Honestly. Because he just has so many questions for us that just test and try our faith and our beliefs. He tries to make us believe that what we teach isnt true. For example, one time we were teaching about faith and he was like "you dont have faith." and stuff like that. I am always really nervous to teach him because I never know how to answer his questions, especially in Spanish. But this week we went to his little apartment and I told myself to have an open heart. The lesson was on repentance. Hermana Tirado started explaining what repentance is and the steps of repentance. After she was done, I felt like I should share an experience I had with repentance. About how I made the same mistake over and over and over again and repented again and again again and how it was super hard for me. I was in the middle of the experience and he stops me and says "I have a question". "uuuuhhhhhghghgh" i thought. "here we go". so I said "what is your question?" and then he said "no..just keep on going, I will ask after you are finished". So I ended my experience by saying that all of those times I repented, I didn´t have the desire to change and I didnt have an open heart and wasnt sincere. I closed with my testimony about the power of repentance and how we are able to through the Atonement. After I finished, I asked him, "what was your question?" and he said "never mind. you answered it. thank you." it was probably one of the most spiritual experience I have had on my mission thus far! It was so cool! I know that the Spirit speaks through me, what a privelige! (dont know how to spell that word..spanish has made me an even worst speller). But in all seriousness, the Spirit is with me all the time. Sometimes I will finish a sentence or something and I will think "that wasnt me". Being a missionary is the coolest and most rewarding thing in the world!

THE TEMPLE. Holy cow. We had a meeting at the temple today for the open house that starts on Wednesday (for the VIP people). and we got to take the first tour! our mission! out of all 3 missions there and all of the hermanas, we were the first ones. It was so cool. The Spirit was SO strong. I cant even explain it in words. we walked into all of the rooms and felt the Spirit so strong in each and every one. I believe it is impossible to not feel the love of God inside the temple. I am so excited for the open house because I think so many people will feel something that they have never felt before and want to know more about it. I am working wed-fri this week and then the 2 weeks after that too. my pdays might be a little weird, so be patient if I dont write you back! it might be a different day or I may not have a pday at all! it is weird scheduling. but i am SO excited! Presidente and his wife always tell us that maybe the whole reason why we were called to this mission is because we were meant and called to work in the temple. we were chosen by God to work in the temple at this time! It is a little scary to think about, how we could change someones life by just answering one simple question or just a simple smile, but I couldnt be more grateful for my mission and the time that I am here. 

Also, something SUPER exciting is that we have an apostle coming to our mission on the 26 of August! and something SUPER exciting and scary is that I am singing at that meeting! me and 5 other people are singing "come thou fount"! sooooo cool. I am so excited for that experience! We are so lucky!

I had divisions this week! I was with another missionary for 24 hours! I was super scared but it was really fun! She got to meet all of our investigators and people we teach every week. She didnt speak any English, so that was hard but so good for me! I actually learned so much in those 24 hours. It was super hard, but super worth it! Just like the mission!

Hermana Guiterrez and I! (division missionary) she was so fun!

 Something funny. So we teach a lady who is 94 years old. Hermana Buitrron. She is the craziest lady. We go to her house probably 3 times a week. She has a daughter that is always there and she has 2 great granddaughters who are so fun. We all have a lot of fun together. One day in particular this week, I have never had the giggles so bad before in my life. Everything at that moment was so funny to me. Everything. I was crying because I was laughing so hard and so was everyone else. The funniest part was that while I was crying-laughing, Hermana Buitrron pulled out a roll of toilet paper out from under herself (she is in a wheelchair) and was like "here use this!!!!!" oh man. I lost it. Sometimes as missionaries you think the stupidest things are funny. the granddaughters always want to cook for us and I am teaching them English next week. They are 14 and 16 mas o menos. it is fun to have friends here!

This week, we are helping this lady move stores. (Her old store to a new store). She has the cutest little boutique kinds of things. Something you would see in a cute little historic town. Super cute. My kind of stuff. When we were done one day with helping here, she gave us each 18 candles each! The little mini ones but boy did they smell like heaven above. So that night, Hermana Tirado and I lit ALL of them and put them in our room, turned off the lights, and talked, read our scriptures and just relaxed. It was the nicest thing. Hopefully I can send a picture of our lovely experience!

Thank you for all of the love and support I have. I feel your love everyday! 

Hermana Garner