Week 9: weird tan lines

8-3-15

Hola familia y amigos!!

Another week down in the mission.This week was so good! I loved it. Time flies here though!

Th most exciting thing that happened this week was my first baptism! It was so great. There are no words! So remember that Ismael (the investigator that got baptized) has been investigating the church for doce años! So this was a huge deal to him and his family. His whole extended family was there and his wife couldnt be happer I dont think. It was a cool site to see. Anyways, we had a cute lil service before and when he got baptized, it was such a neat feeling in my heart. after the baptism, there was so much joy and happiness. they had a really good lunch after (tacos and rice of course). we went to an appointment after that and then Hermana Sic called us and told us that there was a Mariachi Band at the baptism! So after our appoinment, we ran (literally) to the baptism. I was so excited because I have never seen a Mariachi Band in person before and that was one of the things I was so excited for coming to Mexico. We get there and dang. They are so amazing. The best part was this little abuelita. (old lady). Rewind to right after the baptism. I was playing the piano after, and she came up and started singing along to the hymns I was playing. I will hopefully send a video of it. She had such a good voice and she was the cutest little thing. But with the Mariachi band, she was dancing. SO GOOD. she was movin her hips, swingin her arms, and just smiling so big. (no teeth). it made me so happy. we danced together. She is my grandma here. unfortunately she isnt in my ward, but I will still see her around Im sure. I love old people!

I was sick this week. older  missionaries in my mission said that I will get sick a lot. it is just something that Im going to have to deal with. hmmm.

Funny little thing. so Hermana Tirado and I were walking through the street one day and there was an open window with a movie playing. IT WAS FROZEN. anyone who knows me knows that I dont love anything more than Frozen. So I convinced her to watch it with me for like 5 minutes. So we stood outside this house and watched Frozen. 

que mas.

people have asked me how my spanish is. well it is definitely improving! My companion and I tell each other one story a night in our opposite language. It is good because it is pretty much all past tense so it is hard for both of us. But it is good! There are a lot of things that I dont understand in a lesson because in the MTC we just learned Gospel vocabulary. Not everyday things. So when people are telling us about their job, or about the government or something like that I just smile and nod and hope that they dont ask me a question. But it has happened so many times when Im just listening and they stare at me like im supposed to know what they asked me..haha. I have learned just to laugh at myself though and not let that get to me. poco a poco! everyone says that here with my spanish. but I love learning Spanish and cannot wait until im fluent! It will be the coolest thing! I understand more than I can speak. I can pretty much say anything that I want, im just slow. People here talk so fast! The people of mexico city are known to talk fast. Haha funny story. We went to a members house and I understood every single thing they said. And there were about 10 people there. I understood every word! we walked out and I told Hermana Tirado "umm...I just understood every single thing they said. this isnt normal. what happened?" and she was like "they talk suuuuuuper slow. its weird" and I was like "oh. dang". but it was still cool!

My subject line is "weird tan lines" for a reason. (I couldnt think of anything else...sorry). But I do have so many weird tan lines! every part of my body that is in the sun everyday is dark. dark. dark. but my toes are white. but the top of my foot is black. it is so funny. i will take a picture of it next week. i have a pretty bad farmers tan. my shoulders are white but my arms are black. my knees are white but from my knees down to my feet are black. it is pretty funny. dont make fun of me when i come home! :)

my p-day! people have asked me about that too. so every monday we have a "preparation day". we wash our clothes by hand! I actually love it. it is super fun! we wash it on a wash board/sink thing and then hang it up on a clothes line! quite a process. but fun! we usually go out to eat with the elders in our district. tacos. pizza. yeah. we clean our apartment. we have a couple meetings sometimes. and we write our families and friends! every monday night we go to a creperie here (owned by members) with our district and drink herbal tea and have crepes. so fun! i love pdays!

My favorite part of this week was Sunday. Testimony meeting. Fast sunday. I didnt fast because I was sick. but we were in testimony meeting and the bishop finished bearing his testimony and opened it up to the congregation. in a regular testimony meeting, there is about a 5 minute silence. maybe one person gets up. BUT HERE. he finished, sat down and 30 people got up out of their seats and went on the stand. families. couples. kids. old people. everyone. they made a line on the stand. there testimonies were so strong. seriously the people here are so amazing. they have such big hearts and strong spirits. our testimony meetings should be like this! we should be excited to share what is in our heart. we should WANT to share it with everyone we know because it is such good news! we have the gospel of Jesus Christ on the Earth AGAIN! in OUR dispensation! It was a huge testimony builder to me on Sunday. Also, two of our investigators were at church on Sunday too so it was even greater because I know without a doubt that they felt the Spirit. both investigators have baptism dates too! (and I extended them!). My testimony has grown so much here! I love this opportunity I have!

I love you all! Thank you for all of the emails!

Hermana Garner

p.s. I just read over this and Im sorry some of it is in Spànish, I didnt notice. it is hard when you speak spanish all the time and then type in english! haha!

 Baptism of Ismael - such a great day!

 The lady she mentions who sang songs with me after the baptism. :-)

 Got the Mexican stomach bug :(

So something funny. My eyes were super itchy one night (because I'm allergic to Mexico) and Hermana T said her mom has the same problem and she puts hot tea bags on her eyes and it helped. I thought I didn't understand her Spanish because that was the weirdest thing I have ever heard BUT IT WORKS MIRACLES. I am forever grateful for Mommy T.