Hermana Garner - Now a Texan!

HOLA! voy a quedar aqui en Kemah por seis semanas mas!!

hello! I am going to stay here in Kemah for six more weeks! (transfers are this week) I'm happy I am staying but I am pretty sure this is my last transfer here. I have been here since January! crazy!

this week was an awesome one with a lot of success and miracles!

we tried to take out different members of our branch this week and we saw such a difference in our lessons and the Spirit that was felt. please go out with the missionaries!!!!!!!!!

the best part of the week was that on Saturday we got to go to the temple!! Jorge, a recent convert that we have been working with, went for the first time and was baptized for his grandpa! it was such a cool experience. also, the Peraltas went so Oscar was there. so cool. I brought some family names to do and Oscar and Jorge did some of mine and Pres. Allred baptized me. family history work is incredible and I wish I did it more before my mission. after we walked out of the temple, Jorge asked, "So when are we going again?" he loved it.

all of our investigators are reading in the Book of Mormon! they are all progressing! I have never had that happen before in my mission, it feels good.

this week we read 2 Nephi 31 with Yosdel and also talked about the Sacrament with Hermana Campo (the flight attendant Columbian). they got along suuuper well and the lesson was awesome. Yosdel loved the idea of how we can become clean every week and is planning on coming to church next week with her whole family! every time we go over there for a lesson she gives us this amazing mexican food, she is such a good cook. we went over one morning and she made arroz con leche--TO DIE FOR. I need to be Hispanic.

we took President Allred to a lesson with us and it was super interesting. the guy's name is Jose and he is an alcoholic. President Allred was super spiritual and Jose was crying because he has cancer and is confused on if God loves him or not. it was super powerful. we are so lucky to have the knowledge that we have a loving Heavenly Father who will never ever stop loving us, no matter what we do or who we are.

one day this week we were close to the familia Ayala's house. she is american and married one of the branch counselor's. she has 6 crazy boys. so we just stopped by and cleaned her whole kitchen, talked to her and shared a message and she said she couldnt have appreciated us more. the Spirit led us to her house that day.

IT RAINED. it rained a lot this week, to the point where we would walk from an appointment to our car and would be soaked already. so we decided to play in it for like 10 minutes together...pictures to come!

Elba and Anyeli are doin awesome. they didnt come to church because they slept in.....but they are reading in the Book of Mormon! yesterday we went over and taught Ruben, Elba's brother (also an investigator) and he also read in the Book of Mormon! it was funny yesterday Elba basically invited us to sleep over at their house that night...that is how much they love us! hahaaha. we always laugh together and she shares her feelings about the gospel and Christ. this week we are hoping she will accept a date to be baptized and her, her daughter and brother can all be baptized this transfer.

I have learned throughout my mission and especially this week that the people we teach will never progress in the gospel if they dont read the Book of Mormon. it is impossible to progress without it. it brings so much joy into my life and I want that for everyone I teach! I am going to finish it this week and start another blank copy. email me what you have learned from the Book of Mormon recently!

I can't wait for this new transfer and the new goals we have. I love how Heavenly Father always gives us opportunities to learn and grow. Right now is a hard time for me but I know that Heavenly Father is forming me into the person He wants me to be and I love that. I want to be who He wants me to be because He knows me better than I know myself! what a beautiful thing that is. I am striving to pray for that every morning, for me to submit my will to His and try to do everything He asks me to do every single day of my mission. I am His servant- I have to!

I read the story of the Brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon this week and I am still wondering if I could ever have as much faith as he did.

love you and miss you all and enjoy the Fourth of July! no celebrations for us today because Hispanics dont celebrate it....they hardly even know what it is or what we are celebrating....haha.

con amor,

Hermana Garner

my parents here in the mission. I told them I might get transferred and Hna peralta slapped me and denied it completely.She is convinced that I am finishing my mission here. It will be so hard to leave them when I do!

Anyeli is my favorite little girl here. she loves to hug us and hold our hands

President Allred! love him.

Jorge at the temple! he says he looks like Cristiano Renaldo in this picture...haha.

we went to the most AMAZING Mexican restaurant after the temple and Oscar asked for a bib. he’s my idol.

rainy day

hello friends and family!

this week was a hot one down in Texas........and humid which made it 2383x more hot. it was super hard too.

where do I start with our week? it was a hard one for sure. we had at least 15 set appointments with investigators cancelled for various reasons. we would have awesome members ready and everything all ready to go and then our investigator would cancel last minute. that was mostly the stress of the week. but some of our investigators are progressing really well, especially Reginaldo. he is great!

Elba is doing super well too! we read 1 Nephi 1 with her this week and she looooved it. she loves the Book of Mormon. she also loves us and is sooo excited when we come over. I have pictures this week!

we had an AWESOME zone meeting this week too and I learned soo much. we learned about agency and responsibility and it really inspired me to be better. a better missionary and a better person. I have a lot to work on but I know I can do it with Christ's help.

on Thursday, we didnt go out and work because I was sick. my body was suuuper achy, I felt really light headed and dizzy and I couldnt really move. I think I was dehydrated, but I am better now. President Allred gave me a blessing and it was just what I needed.

hard week? yeah. there was a point where we got rejected about 3 times in a row and I got in the car and just started crying. cried and cried. the mission is hard and super discouraging. in the car, we were going to visit a couple of families in the new part of our area but we realized that we didnt have their addresses so we called Pres. Allred and went over to his house to get them. lets just say the reason we went over to President's house was not for the addresses, it was to be encouraged and spiritually held. He really helps me and has helped and loved me the second I got here in Kemah. I am super grateful for him. That night he brought over 2 cases of water bottles and a ton of food. he loves us so much!

so with Reginaldo, we had a cool story that happened this week. so we had one day this week where literally everything went wrong. everything you can think of. it was suuuuper discouraging and hard. we were just trying people left and right, no one was home, no one was answering their phone, everything hard. we decided to go to the complex where Reginaldo lives just to walk around and talk/try to find people. we left without teaching anyone. super discouraged, I got into the car on the verge of tears. Hermana Hughes was still outside and I just hear her say, "Reginaldo??" she sees him walking up the street and into his complex. he was one of the people that we couldnt contact because he works crazy hours and sometimes he forgets to call us back. so I get out of the car and he tells us he got off work early and was about to call us. we set up an appointment with him about an hour later. miracle #1 with him. with that appointment, we were planning on teaching him about the Plan of Salvation, the perfect plan God has for each of us. he hasnt come to church yet so we were going to focus on that too. the Spirit directed us the whole entire lesson. we didnt talk about the plan of salvation at all, we talked about commandments and how the Lord will always always always provide a way for us to keep them and to receive the blessings from them. we focused it on going to church. it was one of those lessons where we sat and just asked question after question being led by the Spirit. he kept on saying that when God wants him to come to church, he will let him! when God doesnt want me to work on Sunday, He wont give me work so I can go to church! I had a very strong prompting to say what I said. I said, "If Christ was sitting here with us today, and if He asked you to come to church, would you do it?" and he just stared at me and said "Yes" and then I said "Well, as representatives of Jesus Christ, we are inviting you to church just like He would. When we invite you to do things, it is really Christ inviting you to do them" and he just sat there thinking after that. we went on to talk about how God loves him and wants him to come to church to feel the Spirit and to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. at the end of the lesson I said, "Reginaldo, will you come to church this sunday?" and he said "Yes" and the best part about it is..........HE DID! He came and he loved it. we have an appointment with him tonight so we will ask him more about it. but that was probably one of the coolest experiences of the gift of tongues on my mission. im grateful for the Spirit because He is the real teacher.

another cool story. we go to Reginaldo's complex a lot because we have a lot of potential investigators there. there is always this black guy just dancing in the streets CRAZY. like all out. he just walks down the sidewalk dancing like a crazy person. I have taken a video of him because it is so interesting and funny. but we were in the complex and we walked up to this black guy with a hat on and started talking to him. he looked kind of sad and lonely so we just told him how Christ loves him and then we started talking about what he likes to do and stuff. he was like "Oh! I am a gymnastics coach and I dance for exercise around here sometimes!" and thats when it clicked. we were talking to the same guy who we thought was on crazy drugs and now he is telling us his love for Christ. he was such a neat guy with a good heart. another example of not judging someone by their cover. we have an appointment with him this Saturday and his name is Troy! when we walked away, we saw that he was already reading the pamphlet that we gave him.

although this week was super hard and discouraging, I saw the miracles. just like every other week. even though we have hard weeks, God always shows us little things that are a reminder to me that He loves me still. He always will! Also, when I took the Sacrament yesterday, I felt the cleanest I have felt in a long time. I just felt the love of God so strong yesterday. Seeing all of the people I love at church and learning about how I can grow to be more like Christ. it was a good day yesterday.

This week I am ponderizing: alma 26:12. it is one of my favorites and as a trainer it is hard to remember to be humble. I am working on it this week! work on it with me!

thank you for all the love and support always. love you all!

Hermana Garner