2/29/16 - And then there were two

hellooooooooo! I hope everyone had a good week this week! (I feel like I say that every week...but it's true!)

this week was a weird one....we are trying to get used to having just us 2 again. a regular companionship. it is good but we have a lot of adjusting to do!

the most exciting thing of this week: L WENT TO CHURCH AND LOVED IT! He went to all three hours his first time! not a lot of investigators are like that! he is one of the most prepared people I have met on my mission. this week we had a lesson with him about the Plan of Salvation and guess who came with us? O. it was the best. we are trying to bring our recent converts with us to lessons. but O and him are friends now and in the lesson O shared his testimony and L loved it. So for church on Sunday, O picked him up and everything! seeing members care for our investigators and welcoming them into the ward is the happiest thing as missionaries. In every hour, L sat next to a different member and it was awesome! He said he loved everything about church. We went and visited him last night to just see what he understood and what he liked about church and it went so well. We asked him about his baptismal date and if he was still good with it and he said "I can't wait".

Also on Sunday, I had a lot of embarrassing moments like always. But one of them was this. Hermana S usually directed the music during Sacrament Meeting. But on Sunday we weren't thinking and when it came time for the song, everyone was kind of just looking around and I didn't understand why (I was talking to a member so I wasn't paying to close attention) and I realized that someone needed to lead the music. so I ran up there and started to lead. The funniest part was the pianist is suuuper good and she does her own little thing sometimes. She does like cool intros and finishes with a bunch of rolly chords so when it was just the piano and no one singing, I felt kind of dumb waving my hand in the air, not knowing what to do. Let's just say a lot of people came up to me after and said they enjoyed me leading and they got a good laugh.

The weather has been amazing lately. In Missouri and Mexico it has been freezing (I have heard) but it has been nothing but beautiful here! We are so grateful for that because so many people are outside!

Without Hermana S everything has just been a little harder. She is so great and really motivated Hermana R and I. We had a couple of little incidents this week that twisted us around and we had to fall on our knees. but everything is good. I made a little thing to put on the wall the other day with the quote "come what may and love it" because it is truly what missionary work is. we plan very intensely for the next day every night, but as missionaries we never really know what is going to happen, who we are actually going to see and what we will do. but we have to be positive and happy through it all! I have learned that to be true on my mission and I love that quote! I think it is from Pres. Hinckley? Not sure. But it is a keeper. All of you artsy people out there, make a little thing of that quote to put in your house. it is a great reminder.

One of the blessings on one of my sticky notes was L's first prayer that he said with us. Yes I know I am going back to him, but he is on our minds A TON and we love him a lot. But hearing the first prayer of an investigator IN THEIR WHOLE LIFE is a very humbling experience and I will remember it forever. Experiencing them talking to their Heavenly Father for the first time in their life is incredible! L was super scared and embarrassed (like everyone else) because he said that missionaries say awesome prayers (everyone also says that). We explained to him that prayer is just a conversation. Heavenly Father knows us so individually and knows our thoughts and desires of our hearts, but he wants to hear from us. As missionaries we say probably around 25 prayers a day. Not an exaggeration. I think sometimes I take it for granted that prayer is such a privilege and we are talking to our Father. He has the same desires as our earthly father: He wants us to be successful, he cries with us when we cry and he is excited when we are happy, He wants us to live with Him again because He loves us immensely! He wants us to be happy and to live the gospel because He knows that is the only way we can be eternally happy.

R is doing really well too. Because there's only two of us, we can't go into a house with just one guy. So with R, we sat outside under his lights in the front of his house and read the Book of Mormon with him. It was such a nice night so it was amazing! He has a hard time reading the Book of Mormon daily so we try to go over once a week and read it with him. He told us that he read A TON the other day and that he loved it. He said he learned so much from the example of Nephi and his faith.

Tonight after P-day ends, we are running to different family's houses and dropping off little cards. So many people in our branch are sick or are not doing well so we are spending the rest of our day visiting them and sharing a scripture with them. Prayers for the Kemah Branch por favor!

I love you all and hope you have such a good week this week!

Hermana Garner

 We visited a family that is just coming back to the church and it was great and the most beautiful day. this little girl is the sassiest. whenever I try to talk to her or play with her she always hisses at me. like a literal hiss noise from an animal or something. so yeah. but this day SHE LOVED ME. we played together while we were teaching and she picked flowers for me. she definitely needs a haircut on her bangs haahaha. her name is J and she is perfect.

first thing from Texas from my trainer! yay!

2/22/16 - Good food!

hello family and friends!!!!

today was an amazing week! we saw a lot of people and miracles happened!

We have a new investigator! His name is L. He is from Mexico and he is in his 30s probably. We had a referral for someone that lived in his apartment so we went to contact him (the referral's name is P) and L opened the door. We started talking to him (L) and he was SO friendly and seemed interested. We set up an appointment and we went and taught both him and the actual referral Lesson 1. L asked amazing questions and P was just kind of there listening. We invited both of them to be baptized, P said no and L didn't answer. We figured he didn't because P said no. We set up another appointment and only L was there and he accepted a baptismal date for April 9! We are SOO happy and excited. He loves when we come and he is so prepared. We invited him to come to soccer with us on Friday to meet all of the men that go and he came and loved! he even scored a goal which made him and us super happy. Heavenly Father had him open that door first for a reason.

R is doing super well! We are trying to get more members to come out teaching with us and it has been working out super well! our branch president wants all of the recent converts to come out teaching with us. so we took rony! we were in a lesson with Y and he bore his testimony so powerfully! he even invited them to church!!! he did super well for being really shy. we were soooo proud of him. also when we went to the temple with him last week, he got fancy scriptures with his name on them and he asked if he could put our initials on them! So it says on the scriptures, "RR S.R.G" he is the best!!!!! oh also he took L to soccer!

English class was fun this week. the lesson that we taught was how to ask for help in English. it was hard to teach and hard for them to understand but it was fun. we did this activity where I had to speak suuuuuper fast in English and they had to say "slow down please". they had a list of phrases that they had to choose from like "I have a question!" or "I don't understand"  or "please speak louder" stuff like that. I was the station/,missionary that had to speak super fast. And I was the first one. so one by one they came to me and I said something like "hellomynameishermanagarnerandiamamissionaryhereinhoustontexaswhatisyournameiliketotakepicturesandplaythepianoalsoiliketoeat"

hahaha. and the look on ALL of their faces was so priceless. they just stared at me with blank faces blinking a couple times. it was the funniest thing to me.....but I couldn't laugh.

So because Hermana S is going home tomorrow, you can imagine the amount of people who want to see us and feed us before she leaves. so we have been out to breakfast, lunch and dinner and have eaten multiple dinner meals in a day a few times this week. my subject line is "good food" por eso. I will send pictures! I started a sugar fast a week ago and plan to go until my birthday in May. I have been going strong! pray for me! haha.

Goodbye Hermana S

Sister Hall, the mission president's wife came to our companion study on Friday. Sometimes she visits companionships just to see how they are doing and how their area is. it was really fun and good to have her. we learned a lot and we loved how she read outloud in Spanish. she is the cutest!

One of the many delicious meals we had this week was at F's house, the woman who is going through the divorce and has 3 amazing little girls. She fed us TACOS AL PASTOR!!! the famous tacos in mexico that I miss dearly. they were AMAZING. it made me miss my country, mexico!

 

Tacos Al Pastor                                                                                                    

These are the daughters of F. They all got overalls that day, they are so adorable and we love being with their family! they crack us UP!

I gave a talk yesterday! I was SOOOO nervous. It was on the Sabbath Day. Thankfully the topic was super simple because the branch needs simple things and simple reminders. My companions said I did super well but I think I did ok! My accent is getting better!

I have seen my Spanish grow this week. I have felt since I have gotten here that I have been in a hole with my Spanish. It was hard being at home and not speaking it and coming back. But I have fasted and prayed for it a lot recently and I think I am progressing again. No, I am not fluent but I am getting closer and closer everyday. When I was in the MTC I remember I heard a General Authority say in a talk "Whatever language you speak in your mission, Heavenly Father knows that is the language that you testify the most powerfully in" that has always stuck with me and helped me a lot! I love this work and I love the Spanish language and I'm so grateful that I get to speak it all day everyday.

This week Hermana S is going home and I will miss her so much! I'm not getting transferred (SOOO HAPPY) and I will be with my other companion still, Hermana R which was just what we were expecting and wanting. it will be different but I'm excited that I don't have to leave here just yet. I love it.

have such a great week this week! say your prayers!

Hermana Garner

at district meeting this week! I love my district!

this is A. she is from Mexico City pretty much exactly where I lived! she is visiting her family here who is in our ward. she said "mi amor" 74 times during dinner..we kept a tally. that is how sweet she is. we were eating pazole (one of my favorite Mexican dishes) and she gave me us aprons because we kept on spilling on ourselves and mine was mrs. clause!

2/16/16 - Lost in the work

Hello friends and family-

Such a great title for Meg’s letter this week! It makes us SO happy that she is finally able to be a missionary without being sick! What a difference it makes and she is more excited to be there as time goes by. Thank you for supporting and writing to her and encouraging her. A couple of terms that I thought would be helpful that she talks about in her letter below:

Branch – a small congregation in the Mormon church– usually 50-100 people.

Aaronic Priesthood – male members of our church receive the priesthood which gives them responsibilities to act in God’s name to help and bless others. The Aaronic priesthood (or the Priesthood of Aaron as outlined in the Old Testament) is the preparatory priesthood and prepares men to receive the Melchizedek priesthood (also mentioned in the Old Testament) which has greater responsibilities.

Bishop or Branch President – The person who leads a congregation

Baptisms and confirmations at the temple – Church members perform proxy baptisms and confirmations on behalf of their family members who have died. These individuals can choose to accept or reject what has been done on their behalf. This paves the way for marriages in the temple that we believe create eternal marriages and families.

Visiting teacher – Each person at church is assigned to visit 1-3 other ladies in the congregation. They are asked to help them when they need help and be a support to them.

Some Fun and Crazy Megan pictures at the end of the email as well – it just wouldn’t be a letter from her without them!

Love you all – have a great week!

Leslie

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HOWDY! just kidding...I am not that Texan yet. hope you all had a good week this week! We had SO MANY GREAT THINGS HAPPEN.

We had the baptism of O on Tuesday, I had exchanges (went to Galveston) on Wednesday and we went to the temple on Friday! we were so lucky!

So the baptism was amazing. Pretty much the whole entire branch was there (about 50 people) and it made us so happy! so many of our less-actives came which made US happy and O happy. so many people supporting him! we gave him the picture of him and his wife in the car with a picture of us missionaries on the back with a little note to him. we always explained that we were just the lucky missionaries that happened to be in the ward when he felt ready and when the Lord felt he was ready. we hardly did anything! he already has the Aaronic Priesthood...the branch president interviewed him for it before he even got baptized. O will be a bishop one day! oh and they already set their sealing date for Feb. 10 of next year (their anniversary!!!!) hopefully I will get to go! he is talking about going to the temple soon too and he would love for us to go! we couldn't be more happy!

We went to the temple on Friday and it was AMAAAAZING. I love the temple. it is such a good place to be, especially on the mission. but it was us three, R, and his brother F. We all drove there together (about an hour away). it was such a beautiful day! the weather couldn't have been more perfect. but we got there and right before we walked in, we told R that this was a very special place and when we walk in, it will just be an overflowing feeling of peace. it will be a feeling you have never felt before. so we walk in and sure enough it is amazing. we get situated and do confirmations first and realize there aren't any workers who speak Spanish. sooooooo we were a little sad. the spirit is still strong and great but it would be hard because R wouldn't understand. so we were about to start and in walks a Spanish speaker that was late for his shift at the temple...haha. WHAT A MIRACLE! the Lord times things perfectly (with a good sense of humor) so we got to do everything in Spanish. it was so cool! when we were watching R get baptized I got emotional. because I realized this: THIS is our goal. baptism is important but the TEMPLE is our goal. to make covenants with Heavenly Father to be closer to Him so we can return to Him one day. yes, baptism is awesome and that allows us to keep those covenants. but it hit me that day. our mission president says "begin with the end in mind" in that while we are teaching people, we have to imagine them in the white clothing of the temple. I love that! so after we finished, we walked out of the temple and R explained to us that he is so happy that he made the decision to be baptized and to be able to go to the temple and he felt really good while he was going baptisms. it made us so happy for him! THIS is why I am on a mission!!!!!!!!!

So a fun little thing: I went on exchanges this week in GALVESTON! I will send pictures but basically I just rode around the island on my bike for a day and it was awesome! I have pictures that will show how cute it is. but it was super fun to meet different people and to see the ocean! it is such a cute little town!!!

So on Saturday we had a ward party for Valentine's Day. Basically any ward party that I have had on my mission includes eating and dancing and I am TOTALLY ok with that. as missionaries we can't really dance, but we still have fun. but Saturday was amazing because there were more non-members than members there!!! the work is so good here! also it was super fun to see all of the people that I love dancing together (O and his wife are BOMB dancers). Hispanics really know how to dance.....it makes me happy.

We have two new investigators!! last week we were emailing at the library and someone asked the other hermanas in our district (who were emailing at the same time as us) "soo...who are you guys? what does your name tag say??" stuff like that. they found out that they live in our area and so we went and met them. it is a woman and her daughter. Y and I. They are amazing people and very Christian which is awesome! the sad thing is that Y is having a lot of marriage problems with her husband. he basically wants a divorce but she doesn't. its hard. but we have been over there about 3 times. she has another daughter named Yazel and she is ADORABLE. I will send a picture that she drew for me. keep them in your prayers!

one of our less-active families is having a really hard time. their mom was in the hospital this week. she has diabetes and something went wrong. but she went home and we went over there one night because we really felt like we should. we got there and Hermana p, she is the relief society president and the visiting teacher of her were already there visiting her! that is how strong our branch is! it made us so happy. missionaries can only do so much, it is the members that really make a difference. so we talked with her for a long time. we said a kneeling prayer and we ended the prayer and just had a HUGE group hug. it was all the people that I love. I have grown so close to so many people here already....it has only been a little bit more than a month! I never want to leave!

I am lost in the work. I truly am. Because I don't have to worry about my health as much as Mexico, I have truly learned to get lost in this work. We just never have time to think about home or our old lives and I am completely fine with that. This is the time I was called to serve the Lord and His children, this isn't for me. my purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ and to help them in their lives. I am constantly serving and worried about people other than myself. I love these people and I am so glad I am here in Texas. A lot of people have asked me "Do you NOW know why you went to Mexico first??" and yes. I have had so many small moments where I have realized that yes -  I went to Mexico for "this reason" or I met this person in Mexico so I can help "this person" here. I need to write them down so I will always remember...I will share in a future email :)

thank you for all of your prayers and emails! love you all! have such a good week! read Ether 12 (You can read it here: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/ether/12?lang=eng)  I shared it a lot this week and have grown to love it!

Hermana Garner

The scarf that I am wearing has a funny story. a member walked in with it and I was like "ooohh! that scarf is soo cute!" she took it off and said "here! a gift for you!" and wrapped it around my neck. people are so giving!!!

Us and O at his baptism! he is the funniest guy and insisted that we take the picture like this.

 all of us at the temple!!