Thursday, January 5, 2017

7/18/16 - sun and more sun

a big hello to all of the people I love!! hope your week was great! mine was sunny and hot.

can I just start by saying that I absolutely love my mission? I never want to come home! I have met people that have changed my life and I will never ever ever forget them and the things that I am learning.

The beginning of this week, we finished our time with Hna. McMullin, the traveling trainer, my childhood friend, and it was amazing! we learned a ton and we were exhausted by the time she had to leave. we had a cool experience while she was here! there is always this guy sitting drinking out on his porch in this apartment complex that we pass by a lot. we have talked to him about 3 times and we finally set up an appointment with him. he says he doesn't know why he is here. he has cancer and has had a really hard life and he doesn't feel like God loves him. we told him not to be drunk for the appointment and it came true! we showed up and he was completely normal and ready to listen. we taught him the Restoration and he committed to be baptized on August 13! we asked him why he wanted to be baptized and he said that he thinks it is time to turn his life around. he wants to change. and that is exactly what this Gospel is about! his name is Jose and he is prepared!!

On Tuesday we ate with la familia Aguirre (new favorite family) and it was awesome. Hna. Aguirre is a true Hispanic and never lets us help her with dishes, cooking, cleaning, anything! But I finally got in and helped her cook dinner while Hna. Hughes visited with the family. She taught me how to make everything and you could tell she really enjoyed it. She told me that I need to learn how to cook Hispanic food because "my Hispanic husband will need it someday!" hahaha shes so funny but she is sooo right! hahaha. she is the sweetest and her son comes out with us a lot to go to lessons. they are a solid family and I love them!!

Wednesday, we met with a new investigator Eda and her cute family. They are from Guatemala and they are very Christian which is awesome. They really want to learn more but don't really want to act, so we will see! After that we went to Oscar's house to finish the new member lessons with him! We started to talk about service and then a family from the ward came over because Oscar is helping them with a certain project. So it kind of got interrupted. We told Oscar we had to go to another appointment while he was visiting with the family. He walked us out and he stopped us outside and said "This is a perfect example. This family needed help, so I am helping them. They don't have a lot, but I am very blessed. I am doing something for someone because they cant do it themselves." and he went on and on about how we need to serve in life because it will help us be more positive and receive more blessings. Before we went in, he said hi to about 4 of his neighbors outside. what a guy. sure do love him a lot.

Anyeli, Elba and Ruben! they are doing okay! Ruben is reading in the Book of Mormon but they just wont come to church! we are going to give them a little break for a while and see how it goes. But one day this week we wanted to teach Anyeli a little object lesson to help her understand baptism. So we brought honey over one day. And we said "Anyeli, have you lied to your mom before?" "yes" so we poured honey on her hands. "have you punched your siblings before?" "yes" more honey on her hands. "have you...etc" by the time we were done her hands were super messy. then we asked her to get her phone and text someone, or turn off the TV or give us a high five, activities that you have to use your hands. And she couldn't! We went over to the sink and washed it off and explained that the honey was your sins. We cant do anything if we are messy and buried in our sins! But with baptism (the water) we can be clean from everything! She told us that she really really wants to get baptized. she is amazing!

this week we had to take it a little slow because we are still recovering from being sick. but this week we are super motivated to push ourselves and talk to as many people as we can! One of our goals is to be tired at night. To come home, take off our shoes and be exhausted. We want to feel like we have spent the day right and that we have done everything we can! Pres. Hall taught us this week that at the end of the day as missionaries we need to say to Heavenly Father, "I have done all that I could." Yesterday, in church I learned from one of the speakers that when we kneel to pray, we show humility. We show Heavenly Father that we are willing to do anything that He asks us. I am working on my diligence this week as my Christlike attribute. I am ready to work in the hot Texas sun and be tired at the end of my days because I only have 8 more short months to do it.

have a great week this week! love you all!

Hermana Garner

this is la familia Aguirre's son, Abraham. He went out with us and brought a baseball bat to scare off this family who has tons of dogs. it was super funny.
we made so many of our goals last week and we were pumped!
Karen Cruz got baptized! this cute little 11 year old! she wanted me to do her hair before the baptism and hna hughes and I did a little talk.
we both got letters from our moms on the same day and it made us so happy
she is one of my favorite people here, Lupita. she is the manager of the Zumba studio where we have our English class.
us with Hna. McMullin! (exhausted if you cant tell)

7/11/16 - Plan of salvation is real

heeeeeeeeellllllllllloooooooooooo! hope you all had a good week this week! it was a hot one down in houston.

where do I start?? it was such a crazy, busy, sick, exciting, sad, frustrating and amazing week. ya got me?
the thing that impacted me the most was this. we got a referral from the other hermanas in the branch. we went to go contact it and we found out it wasnt in our area but that the woman wanted hermanas, instead of Elders. so we called her, set up an appointment and went in the afternoon. we had no idea what to expect but she sounded pretty interested on the phone. we brought Hna. Gonzalez with us and she did great. so the woman's name is Lily and shes in her 50s. she is from Honduras and here comes the sad part. she has 5 kids and 4 of them have died. her parents and all her siblings have died and her spouse died too. her only son left is in Honduras. she has absolutely no one. it was heartbreaking for us to hear. she was crying throughout the whole lesson, and we were just hugging her holding her hand. it was so humbling for me. I need to stop complaining about the little things during the day that bother me. the most surprising thing she said to us was this "I know that I have to get baptized in your church to be able to see them again and live with them again" whhaaatttt! she promised us that she would study the pamphlet for the next time we see her. she is just the sweetest lady and I already love her tons. the sad part is we dont know if we will be able to teach her because she isnt in our area but we will see. it was an awesome experience though and I will never again take for granted the people I love that are still living on the Earth.
another experience related to that was this! we went to have dinner with la familia Aguirre this week. we were telling them all about Lily and the experience that we had. We finished the conversation about it and it was silent for about 2 minutes. Hermana Aguirre just looks at us and says, "I feel like I need to go with you guys to meet her. I just feel like I could relate to her and I need to be her friend. I think she needs me" how cool is that? that members can relate to the people we are teaching because they have been in that situation. it makes sense-we are all trying to help our friends learn about our Savior, Jesus Christ!
I was sick again this week with my body aches so we had to stay in a day. But Yosdel came to our apartment and brought me food! soup and mangoes! whats better?!? she is the nicest person and she is doing really good. we taught her how to pray this week and how prayer is bien importante. we invited her to pray about everything that we have been teaching because she is reading in the Book of Mormon but she hasnt coming to church yet. so we will see this next week what happens!
Elba, Ruben and Anyeli are all doing awesome. They all accepted to get baptized August 20 as a family! We are SOOO excited. Elba and Ruben didnt come to church yesterday but Anyeli did! hahaha. but they are awesome and we have a ton of faith in them. I love them TONS.
a funny little experience happened this week! this cute little 11-year-old girl has been wanting to come out with us recently and we finally found a day this week when she could! so we set up a time and everything and her mom texts us and asks if her friend can come with us too! (non-member but getting baptized this weekend) and her little 9-year-old sister! so we took out 3 little girls and it was awesome. we went and visited Rosa (old lady) and they each shared something with her. we also went to see Elba so they all could meet Anyeli and be her friend. it was awesome too! we got them little slushies from Sonic after. we laughed the whole time and loved it.
this last Saturday and Sunday we have had a "traveling trainer" with us! Her name is Hermana McMullin and the craziest part is....we were childhood friends in Utah!!!! we didnt know that until just recently. soooo funny. but she is an awesome missionary and has taught us a ton. we committed 2 people to be baptized yesterday right on the street and they totally had a real desire too. she is such an amazing example! I love learning from other people.
and to end the week, our car got towed.............again. so that is what we have been trying to figure out this whole day. whoooooooooooooo. so fun.
I finished the Book of Mormon this week and I started a fresh one the other day. This time around, my goal is to learn more about Christ. His attributes, ways He shows His love, His Atonement, etc. I already love it and I have already grown closer to Him as my Savior. I love Him and He is why I am here as a missionary. I am His representative, what a privilege that is! I love being His missionary.
Hermana Garner

fourth of july consisted of talking to drunk Hispanics cookin their carne asada
definition of today
my little best friend here.
the cute little girls that we took out with us!