Hermana Garner - Now a Texan!: 8/8/16 - Tender mercies are daily

hello family and friends! this week was one full of tender mercies and heat. oh man, it was hot. my companion came up with a math equation that explained us. heat + exhaustion=heat exhaustion. all week we were feelin those symptoms...haha. but we have water!! dont worry.

this week we saw little miracles every single day. here they are:

monday-we were at our second home, our little mexico. an hispanic apartment complex. we were trying all of these different people and we taught 2 women a little mini version of the resto and they were interested! they are from El Salvador, a woman and her niece. older ladies, Rosy and Bessy. and after that we knocked on this other day, a Guatemalan guy opened. ok this door has a story. we were walking by it the other day and I felt like we should knock. So i walked up to it and knocked and this lady opened it and said she wanted us to come back. two days later we go back and knock and it is a different guy. we teach the restoration, he accepts a date to be baptized in september. we go the next day and it is a different guy who is also interested! so we call it the "magic door" because we now have about 3 new investigators from it! so the miracle was we found 3 new investigators in the 3 hours we have to work on pday.

tuesday- we were in the same place, also trying people. we were with a member, Favio. we just finished talking to this guy from Honduras and he sees his friend super far away. and he says "Hey! she's my friend!" and so we said, "Go talk to her!! We want to meet her!" so he ran up to her and she just fell in his arms. bawling her eyes out. she was hugging Favio so hard. we were kind of confused....but after they let go, we found out that her brother died the night before. and Favio also knew him. it was such a tender moment. we got to hug her and explain to her has the chance to see him again. a short sweet testimony came out of my mouth to her heart from the Spirit. after we left she whispered to me "Muchas gracias."

wednesday-we were over in Hitchcock, Texas having dinner with the Aguirre family. they are the best people and so humble. they are both converts and they are such a solid family. they bring non-members to church almost every week!! THATS missionary work. but I learned a ton from Hermano Aguirre that day. in a little snippet he said: "Who is in charge of this country? A president. Anyone that works for the president would say it is a privilege. Who do you guys work for? The person who is in charge of the whole universe. Is that not a privilege?" it hit me hard. our calling is so sacred and so important. he teaches us things every time we go over. it is humbling.

thursday-we went to go pick up our mini missionary but she wasnt at the meeting (complicated circumstances) but we got to see the other mini-missionaries go to different companionships. it is a huge thing! we have a meeting, the whole family comes, they have a little devotional about missionary work, they get actually set apart, their family and them cry a little and they are sent off! it was so awesome to see little 14 year old boys get SO excited when those elders hugged him and welcomed him in. missionary work is amazing and I'm so happy I am a part of it.

friday-we got our mini missionary in the morning. that night, we went to teach Jose. he is doing awesome! we taught him the Plan of Salvation this week. it really touched him. we were at one point in the lesson and we were talking about how he lived with God before this life and how He loved him. How he agreed to come to this life to be tested and tried. He agreed! He started crying and explained that he has thought for his whole life that he doesnt have a purpose and questions how he is still alive. we tell him that he is still alive because God has something in store for him. We are going to have to push his baptismal date to Aug. 27 because he hasnt come to church yet, but he is planning on talking to his boss this week about sundays and stuff.

saturday-we had an awesome lesson with Ruben also about the Plan of Salvation. the part that touched him was the Atonement. we have been trying to make our lessons with people more personal for them so it is more powerful. Ruben definitely felt that. He understood repentance and how we can be clean again because Christ loves us. He gave His life for all of us individually. It grows my testimony every time I teach it.

sunday-we were talking to this lady and up the stairs walks REGINALDO. dont know if you remember him but he has basically been avoiding us for 2 straight months. he was going to get baptized and stuff and was doing so good and then he kind of just dropped off the face of the Earth. but he saw us, said hi, we set up an apt and talked to him that night. its sad...his heart isnt as soft now but we will see where it goes!

a lot of these experiences were how we needed to be at that specific place at the specific time in order for it to happen. we would have never seen Sonia, Favios friend or talked to her if Favio wasnt with us. a lot of them were just powerful moments in lessons where our investigators felt the Spirit touch their heart.

tender mercies are daily, we just have to look for them. it is such a blessing to be a missionary. we had an amazing time with our mini-missionary again this week. I don't realize how great of a calling I have as a missionary. we are working for the Man who gave His life for us. what a privilege. I am going to have a lot of "lasts" here in my area this week because I am 90% sure I am getting transferred next week. I will miss my Kemah but I am excited to love more people.

side note: lice is gone! whoooooohoooooo.

this week we all need to watch this video to remind us of who we really are!
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-01-014-the-will-of-god?lang=eng

love you all tons!

Hermana Garner