Hermana Garner - Now a Texan!: 8/1/16

buenas tardes!! como estan?? hope you all had a good week and stayed cool!

this week was full of adventures, laughs and a third companion for the weekend!

most exciting news is that Lily accepted a date to be baptized and Ruben went to church again!!! Lily is getting baptized Sept. 3 and Ruben is excited for his date on August 20. it is coming up! also, Jose still has his date for Aug. 13 but we will see about that! more details to come.

Ruben is doing really well. he has real intent to be learning about the gospel. we taught him the first part of the plan of salvation the other day and he loved it. he loved that we lived with Heavenly Father before this life and that He loved us then too. I felt inspired to tell him this during the lesson: Before this life, we learned all about the gospel, the plan of salvation, all doctrine, everything. in this life, we just have to learn it again to remember. we told Ruben that and it hit him....that this is the second time he has learned about the Plan of Salvation, not the first. he said he has at the question of where he came from before and now he feels good about it. I just love teaching people!!!

Elba and Anyeli are doing.......okay. Sadly, Elba told us this week that she doesnt want to get baptized. she said she has too many family problems and she doesnt have time. so sad. but we were with her and Anyeli and Anyeli asked her when she could get baptized. Elba went on about how she has to get her permission first which is completely true. we dont want a little 9 year old to get baptized without her family supporting her. Anyeli went on to say that God has touched her heart and put us missionaries in her path to help her get back to Him. It was the sweetest thing I have heard on my mission. It made my heart leap. We will see what happens!

On monday night we went over there and watched the First Vision (story of Joseph Smith) with Ruben and Anyeli while Elba was outside on the phone. It was amazing and the Spirit was so strong. Something that I have learned on my mission is that when we are talking about the First Vision with someone, if there is a distraction, it always happens either during the First Vision or the baptism invitation. So like all other times, we were at the part in the movie where Joseph started to pray and saw the pillar of light, when Elba walked in talking suuuper loud on the phone. But the coolest part was that no one said a word or even moved and just continued to watch the movie. The Spirit was too strong. I loved it. Anyeli wanted to watch it over and over again she said.

I have grown to love Anyeli sooo much. she is the sweetest little 9 year old I have ever met. she has been through SOOO much as a little innocent kid. she deals with Elba who is super hard sometimes but she always squeezes us soooo hard when we come over. she loves the Lord more than any other kid I have ever met. I will never forget her.

On Thursdays, we usually go to a garden to help pull weeds/plant/harvest/etc. at another church. We texted Ally (the leader) about how we werent able to make it that day and she sent a text that said "Go out and be light in the world!" it is cool that other people from other faiths know our purpose as missionaries and they see our light.

We got a mini-missionary this weekend! her name is hermana marieles! she is the cutest. she is from south houston, her family from mexico. she was with us from thursday to sunday. we loved having her with us and having her learn about missionary work. the coolest part was she was actually set apart to be a missionary before she came with us. what a special calling we have! it was so fun having her meet all of the people we love and seeing people learning about the gospel and changing their lives. it was super hard to say goodbye to her on sunday but my tired back from sleeping on the floor was grateful for my bed again! we are having another mini-missionary this weekend too and we cant wait! we already love her! haha.

yesterday at church, I realized how much I am going to miss it here in Kemah. We had interviews this week and President basically told me that I am getting transferred. I am super sad to go but I am also super excited to meet and love more people. I was sitting at church after playing the piano and I looked over at Oscar and Hna. Peralta and they are holding a little baby together just smiling and laughing together. I talked to Oscar after church and said it was the cutest thing and he said "Yeah..we never got to do that together! So I treasure every minute I have with a baby" because this is both their second marriage. he is still my favorite person and forever will be. Also, the Aguirre family has kind of adopted me as their little mexican child. they love me and i am in love with them. we spent a good chunk of the day with them eating and going out with them. they are such a solid family who really loves the Lord. I want a family like theirs one day.

I love being a missionary. I never want to stop! helping people come unto Christ is the biggest privilege.

remember to read your scriptures and pray to our Father every night. never miss it!

love you all!

Hermana Garner