Week 24

This week was a great one!

We had a great lesson with José about the temples with a member. He is super excited to be able to go, and do the work for his father. We gave him pictures of the temple, and he has them up in his tuk tuk. He has also given out 2 pamphlets to people that rode in his tuk tuk!

We are starting to help Hna. Vilma fill out her Mi Familia (It's the Family History pamphlet)! She told us about her mom who died happy and fat! It was pretty entertaining! And she also taught us a lesson. She was sick this week and said we all need a little medicine, and a little bit of God. It reminded me of the phrase faith without works is dead! 

Argentina and Luis and their daughter Argentina are progressing so well! We are helping them get married within this next week! They were so excited, Argentina told us, the sooner the better!! 

Leydi and Melvin are also doing swell!! We had a lesson about families this week, and it went super well! And after they invited us to eat! It was supurb! I think it was our first meal with a family in the 6 weeks that my companion has been here!!

So yesterday we gave the movie La Restauración to the Arroyo Family, and they couldn´t figure out how to watch it in Spanish, so they watched it in English, and it was amazing how much Hna. Nora could understand. I know that a lot of it was because of the Spirit. Later that night we showed them how to watch it in Spanish, but it was such a great lesson for me. The Spirit doesn´t have a language barrier. 

It was also so humbling. Yesterday in our sacrament meeting we had a few talks on tithing. After the meetings our 3 families that are investigating all asked how they could donate and pay tithing. All 3 payed their tithing yesterday. And they were all so excited.

This week we came home 2 nights SOAKED from the rain! We ran from one investigators house to another... it made for some great memories!! :)

Ponderizing: 3 Nephi 13:31-33 I love this. God knows our needs. All of them. And as we put spiritual things first, he will bless us temporally!

Love you all!

-Hermana Garrett

Week 23

HOLA TODOS!!!

So I don't have much time, but this week was a good one!!

To start off, last week I found a scorpion outside our door when I went to turn on the water... THAT was super scary! But it was a blessing that we found it before it came into the house! I may or may not have screemed! And the lady in front of us came over and killed it with a broom! It was actually hilarious, all of our neighbors were laughing at me... :) Then 5 min later we found the biggest toad I have seen in my whole life!

Yesterday Roy received the Priesthood. It was super special. He is now in a cast! He was in the hospital for a few days with his leg, and now he does't have those scary looking rods in his leg! 

We also found a new family in Campos Nuevos, and after ONLY ONE lesson they came to church yesterday!!! We are going to start to plan their wedding, and they accepted a baptismal date for the 26th of March!!

Well it is ¨Febrero Loco¨ (crazy Feburary)!! AND ain't that the truth! It was raining all week, and raining while there was sun, and super cold in the middle of the day, and then super hot in the evening! We got SOAKED in the rain! TWICE this week! It made for some good bonding with our members who we took shelter with! ;) Also, I have never been so thankful for electricity! This week we have been without it a couple hours like everyday!! 

We had a great lesson with some less actives. And after the lesson, they came to church yesterday!!! It was great!! We are trying to help them get involved in missionary work. We have found that that helps get less actives involved. 

We are also teaching some deaf ladies. They are awesome. It is a challenge, but so amazing!

Ponderizing: Helaman 15:10 I love this verse. You should all read it...

"And now, because of their steadfastness when they do believe in that thing which they do believe, for because of their firmness when they are once enlightened, behold, the Lord shall bless them and prolong their days, notwithstanding their iniquity—"

Love you all so much!!!!

-Hermana Garrett

Roy's Baptism

Week 22

Hola!!!!

What a great week! Most of this week was spent getting everything ready for the baptism of Roy! And I am so glad that we spent time to get everything ready, because it really did pay off. It was such a great and spiritual experience for everyone. Practically the whole group came!! All except for one family! We all took a big bus to Morales (about an hour away) And had the service in the church there. 

Roy was beaming after.

We also had a lesson this week with José on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It was by far the most powerful lesson I have taught on my mission yet. After, Hermana Geronimo and I were like, ¨ Wow, did you feel that?!¨ It was amazing. And the gift of tongues is a very real thing. As we were teaching my mind was so clear, and everything just flowed. And then as we were talking that night, Hermana Geronimo told me that she was amazed at how I spoke with very few errors. And José normally has problems understanding me, but not once he asked for clarification. And Hermana Geronimo said that she also learned a lot from the lesson. I don´t share this to make you think that I did anything. Because I know that there is no way that I can speak, teach, and help others feel the Spirit ALL IN SPANISH without divine help. 

We also had divisions this week in St.Tomas! It was an adventure to work in another area. Made me super grateful for Los Amates!! That being said, we had some super great lessons. And it really is amazing, during lessons, if we are in tune with the Spirit, we really can be prompted to say just the right thing. I did not know the needs of many of the investigators, but we were able to teach them according to their needs with lots of help from the Spirit!

Ponderizing: Enos 1:12 I love the diction in this scripture! First off, it is ¨after¨ we pray AND labor WITH diligence that we can have the desires of our hearts. BUT we have to have Faith. 

Love you all tons! Have a great week!!

-Hermana Garrett

Week 21

This week was a grand one!!

-We had 9 investigators at church

-We had the training for new missionaries in Los Amates! (16 missionaries in the Elders house)

-President Crapo came to our Zone conference in Puerto Barrios and sang that ¨if you chance to meet a frown...¨ 

-We had interviews with the President in our house!

-Finished my first jar of Peanut Butter

-visited Quiriqua and the Castillo de San Felipe again!

First off, Christian and Maria:

They are a young couple that we met in Campos Nuevos! They came to church with a member family that lives near them! That was fantastic! They are also always so appreciative when we come by and teach them! They have a baptismal date for March 5th!

Saira:

She is 18 years old. We had been teaching her for some time, but we couldn´t ever get her to commit to come to church until this week, and SHE CAME!! And she talked to the Mission President's wife who was at church this week, and as we were leaving she told us that she is super excited to come back! And President Crapo asked her if she was preparing for baptism, and she told him that we are talking about that with her. She will have a baptismal date by the end of the week ;)

Roy and Wendolly:

THEY ARE GETTING BAPTIZED THIS WEEK!!! We are sooo excited for them! They really are on the road to long membership in the church! And Roy is still excited about starting to prepare for a mission!

José:

This week we had plans to have a lesson with him and another member in the group. We were traveling all day, and for no logical reason I was questioning why we were going to have a lesson with him with this Sister. But we went ahead and verified it, and went to the lesson. Let me just say, that was one of the best lessons we have had with a member. It made me a believer that missionary work is way better when members are included! José said at the end of the lesson, while crying, that this Hermana had answered his prayers and questions that he hadn´t told anyone.

Ponderizing: Jacob 3:1 I have given this as homework a lot this week as we have been focusing on prayer with our investigators.. The end of the verse is pretty direct, but it is a promise I won´t pass up! ;)

Love you all tons!

-Hermana Garrett

Tuk tuks, chocobananos (chocolate bananas) one cold night, and kids from the ward

Week 20

Buenas!!

So many wonderful things this week!!

Daily miracles here. It is a real thing! Here is the story of the week! This is the story of José!

We were in a lesson with Alvaro, and during the lesson I had a random craving for coke. This is super rare because I am not really a fan of coke, anyway, so as we are walking out of the lesson, Hermana Geronimo asks me if we can go to the tienda (store) because she really wants a coke! Then I tell her that I had the same craving! So we go to the tienda, and I ask for a coke in a bag, and she starts laughing at me because she hasn´t ever had coke in a bag, and there was another gentleman there and he starts laughing too as we try to explain that it is normal! I continue to talk to him, and he goes on to tell us that he has read parts of the Book of Mormon and has met with missionaries in the past! We were already late for our next appointment, so we set up a time to meet with him the next day! So after talking to him more we found out that he has 2 kids, and had a baptismal date before, but then he moved here and didnt know that the church was here too. So we have been having lessons with him and Alvaro, and also we have had lessons with the Arroyo family! It has been awesome! And he came to church yesterday!! And has a baptismal date for the 5th of March!!

SOO that has been pretty great!! And it turns out that he is super good friends with Alvaro, another investigator that we have right now! Alvaro is 27 and is catholic, but says he doesnt feel anything when he goes to church. He agreed to take the lessons and see if he feels anything. Well we had a lesson last night with Alvaro and José! It went super well. And Alvaro reads everytime that we leave him ¨Homework¨ :) And every time we ask him to pray he starts sweating a ton! But his prayers are so sincere so we love asking him to pray! :)

La Familia Arroyo:

This week they really proved that they are going to be solid members of the church! So we had an activity at the nursing home. The group wanted to bring some sort of food and share a message and spend some time with the people there! So, Nora, being the amazing person that she is offered to make ALL of the food. She baked a GIANT cake, and made chicken salad sandwhiches! And the best horchata that I have ever had!! She really is amazing. And then to top that off, this week with José we had 2 lessons in her house with him. We also had a Noche de Hogar with them (FHE) where we played a game with maza!! There is a picture of it! It was a great night! And we are going to do something with them again tonight!  And Roy is so excited to go on a mission. We were talking the other day and he said, so I am getting baptized on the 13th of Feb, when is the earliest that I could leave??

On Saturday we met this huge family in Campos Nuevos! Well they told all their friends about us! So then yesterday we were talking with a new family, and they told us that they had heard about 2 nice young ladies, one is white, that go around talking to people, and the lady said she was hoping that she could meet us! We have an appointment with her this week! :) It is the best when people want to meet with us! :)

Sometimes at night I am amazed that the whole day has been in Spanish. The gift of tounges is real folks. 

Ponderizing: Alma 53:10 I love how it says that by the power and word of God they had been converted unto the Lord! As missionaries we do not do the converting. It is 100% the Spirit. But as we are worthy, the Spirit can work through us to find and help those who are ready!

Love you all tons!

-Hermana Garrett