3/7/16 - I want to be Hispanic

hello friends and family!

this week was awesome and we had a lot of success...........and fun.

Last week on p-day we went to go to Zumba with one of our members. She is an instructor at the place we teach our English class. So we went and wow. I love Zumba and I love to dance, but Hermana R and I are first, out of shape and second, white. Hermana H (the instructor) would turn on a Hispanic song and she would start to dance all Hispanic-like and all the other Hispanic ladies knew how to do it perfectly and Hermana R would just yell "SOMOS GRINGAS!!!!" (we are white girls!!!) which means we can't! hahahaha. but by the time I am home from my mission, I will have learned every latin dance there is. I want to be Hispanic soooo bad.

So this week, the P's were painting the inside of the house. So we did a lot of service for them with the Elders! Painting, moving furniture, eating tacos and cleaning. love them!

Hermana P wears this head thing to keep her hair from creasing. she is getting me one from the Dominican Republic soon. also she puts a colorful straw in every drink that she drinks and that she gives us. This was when we were painting.

the tacos that Hermana P fed us when we were painting. they were DIVINE. (Megan is becoming slightly obsessed with Mexican/Dominican food I think!! LOL!)

little tender mercies:

1.     1. This week at soccer, the Elders brought one of their investigators from Guatemala. He brought his whole family while he played. His wife and two daughters were sitting far from the game but some of the hermanas went and talked to them. One of the daughters had autism and a spine/leg problem/disease. I don't know what it is called. But some of the hermanas brought the two little daughters over to the game to play. One of the guys kicked it to the one with the health problems and she slowly made a goal and everyone cheered for her. The other one played with us too for a little bit until the love for soccer by the Hispanic men overpowered their charity towards her. but it was a cute moment.

2.     2. We were on our way home from District Meeting on Tuesday and the light shining perfectly through the clouds. About 3 pillars of light shown through the clouds. as missionaries what do we first think of? The first vision. But beautiful reminders of why I am here make my day.

L! He is doing amazing!!! We taught him the 3^rd lesson – “Gospel of Jesus Christ” on Tuesday and he loved it. He told us that he has had so many temptations recently about a lot of things but he has tried to push them aside. He told us that he stopped smoking at the beginning of this year and hasn't smoked since. Is he prepared or what?!? We visited him on Saturday night too. We were planning on reading in the Book of Mormon with him and we were going to challenge him to read The 3 and 8 witness testimonies in the front, one page about the Book of Mormon and start the first chapter of Nephi (the first book in the Book of Mormon) during that week. In the beginning of the lesson we asked him if he had had a chance to read anything and he said yes so we said "where did you read?" he said "I read here....at work...anytime I can!" and we explained that we meant "where did you read in the Book of Mormon?" and he said "OH! I read Nephi 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7....I think that's it!" HOLY MIRACLE. We about jumped out of our seats. We looked at each other in awe. He is soooo prepared and he just loves to learn about the gospel. he is progressing so well! Also, last night we had a stake meeting that was especially for the recent converts and investigators. So guess who went? O and Hermana P and they brought L! They asked O to speak and bare his testimony and he did so well and L LOVED it. he said he loves going to church and that he loves the gospel. I have a picture of him this week!

This is L! this picture was during us freaking out because he read so much of the Book of Mormon. he looks scary but I can promise he is like a teddy bear. After my mission, I am coming back and hugging him!!

After the meeting yesterday O was telling someone about his conversion story and it was amazing. He explained that it was because of the examples of the members and examples of his family that finally pushed him to decide to become baptized. He said that he is such a new person and that the gospel has truly changed his life and the feeling of his home. While he was explaining this, Hermana P was getting emotional and it was so sweet. We need to be examples to everyone around us and we need to love the gospel. A lot of us that were born into the church don't realize what a blessing the gospel is in our life. Sometimes I wish I was a convert so I can experience the change. I wish I could have experienced praying for the first time, receiving an answer for the first time , going to church for the first time and feeling like a new person when I was baptized. Don't get me wrong, I loved doing that when I was young, but I wish I realized the importance of it all.

I got so many emails this week that I just loved! thank you for the support every week and sharing your experiences and life with me. I love it!

have an awesome week!

Hermana Garner

p.s. sometime this week go look up the video "LIFT". (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAuqdPWTGLI) I watched it this week and it has actually changed my life and my perspective on things. Enjoy!

We had a regional womens conference for our stake on sat. night! a lot of the female leaders from Salt Lake were here in Houston and they did a devotional and it was amazing! we had to leave early because we had a lesson with L. these are the other hermanas in the branch that we love! Hermana C and Hermana W.

This was p-day last week. it was SUPER sunny, we were both wearing green and there was a pretty fountain behind us.