5-16-16 - The blessings are coming

hey friends and family!! hope this week was fantastic! mine was.

so probably the most exciting thing is that Leopoldo IS BACK! we had no idea! we were at the chiropractor and I was calling a ton of people while Hermana Reeder was getting adjusted. I decided to just call Leopoldo and see how he was doing and when he was coming back! He said "In fact, I am in Dickinson right now!!" .........what. I screamed and told Hermana Reeder. so we set up an appointment that night and have seen him everyday since! he finished his job in South Carolina and is taking a break before he goes to San Antonio for 2 or 3 YEARS. yeah...he will be gone for a while. but he is doing so well! we can tell he had just a little bit of a hard time over in South Carolina, but he has picked back up again. He went to church and RECEIVED THE PRIESTHOOD! from who you ask??? OSCAR. there is literally nothing better than one of your converts ordaining your other recent convert. I LOVE THEM! so much caps lock in this paragraph. hahaha. but it was such a cool moment for us. but with Leopoldo, we believe that Heavenly Father sent him to South Carolina as a little "test run" to see how he would do over there without us before he went to San Antonio for a while. we have no doubt that he will stay active for the rest of his life. we are excited for him to be bishop one day. he has such a strong testimony and knows so much! we have been teaching him the "new member lessons" and he is basically teaching us. he makes us so happy! one more thing. when someone gets baptized Pres. Hall sends them a letter about how great their decision was. Leopoldo wrote him a handwritten letter back! I am going to translate it and send it next week....it is the sweetest thing. also he gave me a super nice bracelet for my birthday! he said the silver was from Mexico...what a guy!!!!

We had zone conference (a meeting with 60 of the missionaries serving in Megan’s area) on Tuesday and WOW. I learned soooo much and left feeling super inspired and motivated. President Hall is one of the best men I know. He is soo in tune with the Spirit, so the words just hit you like a block. they are just what you need to hear. the theme of the conference was being a disciple of Christ. I definitely need to improve on that. cant we all? As missionaries, we have a super special calling of being literal representatives of Christ. what a privilege! I am working on not taking that for granted as much every day. I wont have this badge on forever. we learned so much about the Book of Mormon and the importance of working with members. I have grown to love the Book of Mormon SO much more...especially here in my Texas mission. I am so grateful for it and the inspiration and revelation I receive everyday! I always find myself thanking Heavenly Father in my prayer to close my personal study for all of things I learned just during that hour of my day!

such good news: WE ARE MOVING ON WEDNESDAY! So.... our apartment right now is a little dumpy and it isn’t in the safest area. the hermanas have lived there forever and never been able to move. but I talked to the housing coordinator at zone conference and became BFFs with him so he would let us move. it worked and our new apartment is so beautiful and nice! one of the main reasons we wanted to move is because we work more in League City than in Dickinson so we use a lot of miles. so please dont send mail this week! I will give you my new address next week!

So Rosy. she is doing well...we haven't been able to see her but she still wants us to come by...SHE called US! that never happens...haha. we are so lucky  to have been able to find someone with real intent. but other than her....we don't have anyone else. we are trying so hard but it is super difficult right now. so this week we have visited a lot of less-actives and recent converts that are struggling. pray for them!

last night we went over to a family in the branch, la familia Munoz. they don't live in our area so we have never visited them before. they are from Colombia and they are the classiest people I have ever met. black tile floors, candles, and such a clean house. haven't seen one of those in a while. they wanted to have us over before Hermana Reeder left to have a family night and dessert after. this week we have so many meal appointments its crazy! livin the life of a companion about to go home is awesome...so much good food! haha.

this week wasn't full with a lot of lessons.....cleaning and packing up the apartment has taken up a lot of our time....but still I learned a lot and was so glad to see Leopoldo receive the priesthood. It is such a special power and authority that he now has...he was just beaming after the meeting. the happiness that I feel from those moments in the mission overpowers those hard times. this week will be the last one with Hermana Reeder so we are going to work our little booties off. she needs to finish strong.

thank you again for the birthday letters/packages that came this week too! I love you all like crazy! have a good week this week!

Hermana Garner

the cutest, tiniest pineapple EVER. i was so obsessed.

mama peralta makes the best Dominican food.

this is the peraltas daughter Jenny. she is one of my favorite people here. we laugh so hard when we are together.

LEOPOLDO!