Week 4: Natives love the 4th of July too!

7-7-15

Megan’s letter is below – she is doing great! So positive and excited about everything she is learning and experiencing. And – of course a funny story or two – it just wouldn’t be Megan without those!!

Here are some explanations for some of the terms she uses that might be a bit confusing –hope this helps!

Generation – the group of missionaries that came out the same week as Megan to the training center

Fasting – we usually fast once a month and donate the money from the meals we don’t eat to help those in need. As part of our fast, we specifically pray for those we know who need help with challenges in their life.

Fast and Testimony meeting – a church meeting where we share our beliefs and experiences we’ve had that help us to live more like Jesus Christ.

Ward mission leader – A person in a congregation (we call it a ward) who helps the missionaries serving in that congregation.

We love you and so appreciate all the prayers and thoughts for Megan and all the other missionaries serving around the world. We are all blessed for their service!

Have a great week!!

Leslie

¡HOLA! 

I know I say this every week but it is still so crazy to be in my fourth week. We are the second oldest "generation" here! Our last Sunday is a week from Sunday. Craaazzzyy!! Time flies when you are learning the gospel :)

So the Fourth of July was so much better than I thought it was going to be! All of the American missionaries wore red, white and blue to show their American pride. When we walked into our classroom first thing in the morning, our teacher gave us a candy bar with American colors that said "Happy Fourth of July!" but in Spanish. They are the sweetest! Then for lunch, the staff made us this huuuuuge meal. Hamburgers. Apple pie. French fries. Watermelon. Corn on the cob. Bbq chicken. They treated us sooo well! And it was even better because we fasted from that meal on Saturday until lunch on Sunday. They are so nice to us! They are the sweetest people. By the way, that fast was the easiest 24 hour fast I have ever done in my life. The spirit was soooo strong throughout the entire thing. 

Sunday was soooo great. It was fast and testimony meeting and every single person in my branch bore their testimonies. Soo powerful.....because it was in English so it was nice. Usually, everyone in the branch/zone has to prepare a talk on a certain topic and then on Sunday they choose random people to come up and share what they prepared...and we don’t know who it will be. I haven’t been chosen yet! 4 Sundays going strong. It is probably because I play the piano every Sunday...haha I am thankful for that.

We found out last week that our morning teacher lives in our mission! He is the ward mission leader in his ward and he said he could help us teach investigators and we could tour the city with him on our p-day! I’m so excited!

So officially starting this week, we will have (on some days) a sticker on our nametag that says "solo español" which means we can only speak Spanish. Anywhere. At meals. In our room. Everywhere. It is so hard but seriously it helps so much! It helps because we are so used to gospel vocabulary that it is nice to have a normal conversation with someone with everyday words.

Our lessons have changed A TON since being here. Hermana C and I used to write out every single thing we taught. Including how to say, "Will you say the opening prayer?" and "How was your day"? Stuff like that. But now we barely have anything written down. I think last week we taught two lessons with nothing. We weren’t holding anything and we didn’t have anything to read. It just shows how far we have come and are coming! It is so encouraging when you can explain 5 or 6 principles of the gospel with nothing to look at......in a different language.

I seriously think I have the best district. We are all best friends already. We are so lucky we are going to the same mission and we don’t have to leave each other after the MTC. We are already looking forward to Thanksgiving at the mission president’s house to catch up. Every night we walk home and ask each other about our life dreams and goals and what we want to accomplish in this life. Seriously sooo uplifting. They are all so strong!

Funny story. 

So we play sand volleyball with our district and another district (with the other Hermana J). We have soooo much fun playing together. We just laugh the whole time. Anyways, at one point, Elder M and I were going for the ball at the same time and we kind of bumped into each other and we were both going in for a hug and we were super close to each other and then we paused, stopped and yelled "aaaahhhhhh!" because we forgot we can’t hug. Everyone was dying laughing! They said it was a pretty funny sight to see!! 

Another funny story.

On the fourth of July during lunch someone put the tiniest little American flag in a plastic cup and put it on top of a juice machine and we all stood up gradually and sang the national anthem in the cafeteria. Pretty funny but pretty cool!

All of the hermanas and I in my district sang at a devotional this week! We sang "lead kindly light" in Spanish of course. I SANG TENOR BABY. Oh man I miss choir and singing and learning parts and all of that jazz. 

I still can’t believe I haven’t had my phone in a month. I haven’t heard or seen my family and friends in a month. I haven’t had real milk in a month. I haven’t not read the scriptures for at least an hour a day for a month. I haven’t driven a car. BUT I LOVE IT. I love not doing all of those things! I love not knowing what’s popular and what is the cool thing to do. I love it. I love being surrounded by missionaries all day long and building off of each other. I love serving the Lord and preparing to teach the people that are already prepared to learn from the Spirit. I cannot wait to get out into the field and meet these people! I. cannot. wait. 

I love you all so much. I am praying for you and hope you are doing the same for me!

Hermana Garner

All of the hermanas in our district with cute, authentic mexican shirts we got near the temple. Love them so much! I'm proud to call all of them my best friends.

 With one of the workers at the MTC.

Starting Week #3 at the MTC!

Hello everyone! 

Can you believe that tomorrow I am halfway done with the MTC! It is sooo crazy! It has flown by and at the same time has been so slow. I have learned more than I could ever imagine here though! 

We went to the Mexico City temple today! We didn’t get to go in because it is under construction, but we went to the visitor’s center! It was so neat. It reminded me a lot of the Independence Missouri Visitor Center (if anyone has been there). Very powerful things that I learned!! The temple is literally right in the middle of the city. The sisters in the visitor center made me sooo excited to help with the open house when the temple opens!! They are the sweetest. They were from Chile I think and they were working on their English. It is very motivating to learn that we aren’t the only missionaries trying to learn another language!

For anyone that knows Spanish, por y para has been the struggle this week. Learning that grammar point makes me want to throw up. It is so hard.

So this week we found out that all of the hermanas in our district can sing! We sing three part harmony hymns every day and it brings the Spirit so strong. We are going to do a musical number for one of the devotionals here! So excited!

For gym time we play sand volleyball. It is super fun and sooo nice to get out and move.

This week 70+ missionaries came in the MTC! Crazy how much the work is moving forward!

Hermana W and I found out that both of our grandparents have cabins in Island Park in Idaho! We also figured out that we go four-wheeling in the same place! (That huge dust bowl and by the train tracks)! We were freaking out when we found out. We decided that we are going to have our mission reunion there ;)

I love Hermana J! She is sooooo great! 

I have no blisters on my feet! It is a miracle! I thought I would because before I left when I was breaking them in, my shoes were so hard on my feet but Heavenly Father knows I have to wear them every day! Haha. 

I have been a little bit sick from the food. It just took my body a while to get used to it. But I’m ok now!

On P-day: the last 2 p-days we have gone on field trips so that has been fun! It is soooo cool to see the city. I will send you more pictures from today’s trip. But usually on p-days we play a ton of sports, clean, nap, take pictures, study, laundry, go to the store and buy ice cream with our district. It is so fun! We really look forward to the break!

I don’t think I’m going anywhere else until the field! Crazy!

Funny story from today: we were on our way home from the temple and we were sitting by a bunch of natives and we were talking and stuff and then I said ´listen!´ and then I said a super-fast Spanish tongue twister to them and all of them were like OOOOOOOHHHHHHH DAAANNGGG HERMANAAAAA. Hahaha. It was pretty funny and then they all thought I was native (I get that a lot) and started talking muy rapido (really fast) in Spanish and I was like “wait....I don’t speak Spanish very well!” Hahaha. 

The Spanish is definitely coming along! I can pretty much say everything that I want to in a lesson, prayer and my testimony. My companion and I have been great together and we have invited all of our investigators to baptism and most have them have committed! It is such a great feeling!

I know this is where I´m supposed to be and the Lord needs me to be a missionary right now. Yes, it can get very discouraging here, but the Lord makes it work and helps me to be happy when I am down. I know He is there for EVERYONE in the world. Reach out to Him if you need help or comfort and I know He will help you.

I love you all. Thank you for writing me!

Hermana Garner

 Megan's MTC district heading to the temple visitor's center.

Right in the middle of Mexico city streets they have outside public gyms for free! There are always soooo many people on them and it makes me sooo happy! But it is pretty funny looking.

 Meg and her companion at the entrance to the MTC (Spanish = CCM).

 All the sisters going to her mission at the Mexico City temple.

On the bus going to the temple visitor's center. All the sisters in her MTC district.