one of the most exciting things that happened this week was
we went over to President Hall's house for an FHE with Jose and his wife and
his member friend, Hno. Vanegas. There was also a recent convert there from
Pres. Hall's ward. It was so good! President Hall taught so dang well! It was
fun to be his companion for a short little time :) He is such a good teacher, I
want to be like him someday! after the FHE is was telling everyone that I only
had 2 weeks left and how he was going to adopt me and how he was going to
change my tag so it said "Hermana Garner-Hall" sure do love him! He
taught Jose so well about the feelings of the Spirit and asked him about his
baptism. Jose told him that he still hadn't decided yet but was pretty sure it
would happen soon. Pres. Hall just told him straight up "getting baptized
is one of the most important things we do, and I invite you to do it as soon as
you can!" later on the week, we let Jose think and pray a lot about it. we
went over on Thursday and we simply said, "So....Jose. What do you think
about your baptism?" And he just leans forward, looks at us and says
"Next Saturday." YAY! He will be getting baptized this Saturday,
March 4 at 5pm! After he made that decision, he has been so excited and happy
about it. Pres. Hall said he called Jose yesterday and that he sounded super
excited. Pres. Hall is planning on coming to the baptism! It will be amazing!
Pres. Hall gave him a spiritual push indeed.
We visited Irma and Clarissa again this week with Hna. Solis
and it went great! We talked about church and how important it was to keep the
sabbath day holy. Hna. Solis bore a powerful testimony on that and how it has
blessed her life, especially her children. That made Irma and Clarissa both get
emotional and it said it really hit them and how they want that for their
family--the blessings of keeping the Sabbath Day holy. it was amazing!
yesterday at church, Hna. Solis shared that experience with the Relief Society
and how it helped her, as a teacher!
On Wednesday, we went out with the lovely, Hna. Vanegas
(Relief Society President) to go and find some unknown inactive hermanas. We
went to so many houses, no one was answering, and it was SO HOT. We were at an
apartment complex, walked all the way up to the fourth floor, knocked and no
one was there. Hna. Vanegas said, "This is like fourth floor, last
door!" she is the cutest. We decided to leave to find the next
less-active. I told Hna. Vanegas that she probably wouldn't be home and she
said, "Have faith hermana!" and we got there and she was there and
welcomed us in so happily and we had an awesome lesson. I need more
faith...haha.
Thursday we went to go visit a referral and it was an
awesome experience! So many converts that I have are from trying to contact
referrals but someone else in that house is prepared and ready. It is so cool!
So we went to go contact this referral, her daughter answered and let us in
right there! Her name is Annette and she has a cute little family. She said
that her mom was the referral and how she is in Mexico until the middle of
March! She said she was interested in what we had to say, so we shared the
Restoration with her in like 5 minutes and she loved it! She has so many good
questions that the Restoration was able to answer. We are so excited so start
teaching her! We were completely led to her that day.
we had a Stake Women's Conference on Saturday and it was so
good! a little funny story though. we had a dinner beforehand so all of the
brazos hermanas were all eating together at our little table. Hna. Regalado (mi
abuelita) thinks that "No como con hambre" like it never looks like
I'm hungry when I eat her food....she thinks I don't like it or something. So
she asked Hna. Solis (mom), "Does Hna. Garner eat well with you?" and
she was like "uhhh....I dont know! I guess!" and then other hermanas
piped in "She eats everything I give her!" "Yeah she eats pretty
good!" "She never asks for seconds though....." and everything
in between! I basically got roasted with all of the hermanas in my branch for
how I eat....haha. I'm super conscious of how I eat now!! :)
something from that conference that I liked though was what
someone said. They said "How do we raise successful missionaries? You
raise successful people. You raise good humans" I loved that!
Yesterday at church, I was asked to give a talk super last
minute....just kind of how a branch works sometimes. So I decided to talk about
the doctrine of Christ and walk the branch through it. It didn't prepare any
notes or anything (the first time I have ever done that) and I was super
scared! But it actually went a lot better than I thought and I really felt the
Spirit. Why? Because the Doctrine of Christ is something that I have learned so
much about on my mission, it was so easy for me to share my testimony about it.
I have grown such a love for it--it has become my life! It was a powerful
experience! That night we went to another meeting at the stake center, came
back and were with an RM married couple. We had them teach us the Restoration
as a companionship and they killed it. #MARRIAGEGOALS hahahaha. yep.
We are so excited for Jose's baptism this Saturday, pray for
him!! love you all!