P-Day update week 12, 05/09/2022

¡Hola Hola!

Another week has absolutely flown by, it was the last week of the transfer but we made sure not to let up the work!

We had to stop teaching a lot of people this week, I know that we have been doing all we can and all our friends are truly wonderful people, so I trust that one day in this life or the next they will come to gain a testimony of the divinity of Christ and the truthfulness of this work! But because we had to let some people go we also had to spend some time this week finding new people to teach and now that we have been given approval to knock doors we've been enjoying that haha! It has been giving me a weird nostalgic feeling from my door to door sales time, but the nice the thing is that I'm not selling anything but inviting people to enjoy the gospel of Christ which is much more fun! We met some pretty good people that we will be teaching in the coming weeks! I also learned that the rhythm of "shave and a haircut, two bits" is very offensive and knocking on doors with that is definitely not the smartest way to make friends haha.

This week we met with one of our friends a couple times. Her name is Sara and she's been being taught by the missionaries for a couple months. Her kids were baptized back in March and she's needed a little more time to come to the same conclusion as them, but she did and was baptized yesterday after our stake conference! It's amazing to see that now she can be united with her family in the Church of Jesus Christ! Here's a fun experience from when we met with her on Tuesday this week: We went over to iron out the details of her baptism but she still had some concerns, and when we were talking with her I said a word in Spanish that I never heard before, but it was actually real and applicable! My reason for sharing this is just to add to my testimony that the gift of tongues is really real, and it was just kind of a cool experience :)

Elder Nielson, Sara, me, and Elder Cottrell at Sara's baptism

For the past two weeks or so there has been a fair here in Zacapoaxtla. There were concerts almost every night since it began and the whole town has been feeling crazy! We've been wanting to go but we realized we can't go on any of the rides and all the games cost 40 pesos a pop to play. So all we got this time was a picture of the fair from the hill!

The Fair at Zacapoaxtla

I'm not sure if I've talked about the animal situation here in my area, but basically there are street dogs like everywhere, and I mean everywhere! We see them walking in packs, sleeping  under cars, and weirdest of all, on roofs. The amount of time it took for me to look at five dogs standing on a roof barking at me and not think too much of it has been very long! But the point of this story is that cats are a little more rare, so I've decided that each week I will take a picture of a cute cat and add it to my email for my faithful followers to enjoy, and this week it is this little orange guy we saw outside Sara's house!

An orange cat

Last week was the final week of my first transfer in the mission field. It's crazy to think that I've been here for six weeks already. It has felt a little more like six days haha! But because the transfer is over that means people are going to get transferred to new areas. We got the word yesterday that Elder Nielson and I will be staying together in Zacapoaxtla for another transfer, but Elder Cottrell will be getting moved to an area in Martinez called Vega de la Torre. It's a little sad because I was becoming pretty good friends with him during our time together and he is probably one of the funniest guys I know. But they needed to close an area and they closed the other one in Zacapoaxtla so they had to let him go. But I know we'll see each other at zone conference so I'm not too worried about it. That also means that Elder Nielson and I will be the only companionship in our little house/complex thing and that is a lot of room! We live in a four bedroom six bathroom house that only holds two people! A lot of house to clean with not a lot of people, but I'm sure we'll make it work. 

Elder Nielson and Cottrell enjoying purple flowers on our walk home

Almost our entire branch at Sara's baptism after stake conference

I'm very glad to be staying in Zacapoaxtla. It took a little time, but I have really come to love it here and love the people. If I had it my way I would serve this area for my entire time on my mission, but I know that's not possible. So I'll just have to do the best with the time that I'm given and not let a second pass me by!

The outside of the Presidency in Zacapoaxtla

This week has been a week of calming people's nerves and giving them strength against their fears. Like Sara, we also met with another sister in the branch who had been thinking a lot about eternity and told us how it was kind of scary. To be honest, I had the same thoughts before in my life as well. It was nice to be able to tell her that as she lives the laws of God here on earth then she will be ready and able to live the same laws in Heaven and enjoy the eternities. That's my invitation to you all today; live the law of Heaven on earth so when you get to the next life for real you won't feel uneasy about joining your friends in an eternity of good vibes!

Picture from our zone trip to the Cristo last week

I love you all and I'm no longer dying of my sickness so no need to fret. But I am working hard out here helping as many people as I can find the joy of Christ during my short time as a missionary. Remember that I still have time to pray for you! Keep up the great work y'all!

-Elder Garnica