P-Day update week 17, 06/13/2022

 ¡Hola!

I know I say it every week, but this week has actually gone by super quickly, but also a full week!

A good amount of stuff has happened so I'll just go through the week. Our P-Day last week was spent on Teziutlan. Every Monday our zone, or the missionaries that live in our general area, meet in Teziutlan at the stake building and play games, crack jokes, and eat tacos haha! But we realized that we haven't spent any time with our companions. In this zone, usually we just stay home and call our families. So we decided to spend some time with our companions. It was super fun. We played a lot of soccer!! I'm worse than I remember haha. Nevertheless, it was so much fun! After playing soccer for a while we played a missionary favorite sport, Cheetoball. I didn't know it existed before I came out on the mission, but it is now part of me. Cheetoball is like free-for-all dodgeball. When you get hit, you sit down. If you can touch someone who is still standing, you can come back in. The thing about cheetoball is that the games rarely ever have a winner, but this time there was. Sadly it wasn't me hahah! Either way it was nice to get to know the missionaries in the zone!

Xalapa Centro Chapel

We had a baptism on Tuesday!! It's not usual for us to have a baptism on a Tuesday, usually we hold them on Sunday mornings so they can be confirmed members of the church and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost! But this time was a little different. The girl we baptized is named Allison. She is the niece of Natalie. Allison's mom has actually been getting taught in Mexico City and she also decided she was ready to be baptized! But the kicker is that she wanted to get baptized with her daughter. So we talked with the missionaries in Mexico City and were able to work it out. We were able to get permission for Allison and her mom to get baptized in Zacapoaxtla and for them to get confirmed in their own home wards! So the morning of, we made our way to the same waterfall from two weeks ago and had their baptisms. It was so beautiful. Seeing a mother and daughter get baptized together at a waterfall!! The water was very cold and we tried to get there later in the day, but still had to face the cold. It was a great baptism. Sometimes it's hard to balance on the rocks and make everything work, but we got it to come out perfectly!! On Sunday she was confirmed. I always love the confirmation blessing. When the officiator says "receive the Holy Ghost" it's always so powerful! I love to see the change that comes with this great step. It is amazing as well!

This week we ended up having our Zone conference in Xalapa. We usually have it in Teziutlan, but our Mission President got COVID. So instead of a few small conferences we just had two large conferences. That means everyone in the south of the mission area went to Xalapa on Thursday for our conference. For those of you that don't know yet, my companion and I are pretty famous for being late...like always. And the day we were supposed to travel to Xalapa was of course no different. That day (Thursday) we had to be on the bus in Teziutlan at 11:50, and we live about an hour away from there. We decided to have a lesson at 9, that wouldn't have been a problem if we arrived at that time, but we didn't get to the appointment until about 9:45!! And of course we don't like rushing lessons. We just kind of let them run until we're done and we let it run for a while! We had the lesson, and it was great, but we didn't get out until about 10:30. Then we had to zoom out of there! We eventually made it to Teziutlan after waiting on a sprinter for about 20 minutes, completely stressed out! We made it there at 11:50! So we had to literally sprint from the terminal to the bus! It was crazy! But we arrived in 3 minutes! When we got there the chauffeur didn't even bother scanning our tickets, he just let us on, and when our companions saw us we were met with near thundering applause! At least that's what it felt like after running like a million miles!

With the Branch Secretary

The rest of that day went pretty well! After arriving in Xalapa we had interviews with our Mission President then headed out to get some food. One of the Elders told us about a good sushi place. Obviously with my hot streak of getting sick, I was a little worried but I decided to trust them. I was very surprised. The sushi was soo good! I got a king crab roll with fried rice and a mango lemonade. But I made a terrible mistake. I forgot to take a picture of it!! I promise it looked very pretty!! But after our surprisingly good sushi, the surprises kept on coming! The rest of the conference continued the next day and we stayed the night with a companionship in Xalapa. The next morning we  ate breakfast and got a quick shoe shine. Then we headed back to the conference. When we arrived, a man stopped us and said "hola Elderes" which caught us a little off guard. Most of the members here call us "hermanos" and he caught our attention because he had an American accent! So we started to talk to him, and apparently he was a missionary for the church back in 2012, he served in Brazil and spent some time after that in Mexico. There, he fell in love with the people and the culture so he decided that's where he wanted to live. The sad part is that he isn't active in the church anymore. He had a few bad experiences and decided he didn't want to be a part of the church anymore. Obviously it was a little sad to hear that, but we enjoyed our conversation and let him go on his way. 

Fresh shoeshines!

So that day we had our zone conference! Even though I've only had two zone conferences here this one was the best! The first reason is that it was definitely huge! I got to meet so many new people and people who I had heard a lot about but not had the opportunity to meet. With this many missionaries in one place (about 60-70) the spirit during the conference was almost tangible. We had the opportunity to hear from President Perkins and his wife, as well as the senior couple in our mission. They mainly talked about the scripture D&C 84:88 and they emphasized a lot that we aren't in this alone as missionaries, or as people. They talked about how His angels are always round about us, and how we should do this work in the manner of Christ! It was super cool! After they finished speaking, it was time for the classes. This time Elder Nielson and I were chosen to give a class! I was a little nervous since I don't have a lot of experience I'm not sure what I can teach these missionaries, but we went with it anyway. President asked us to talk about being a successful missionary. We each talked about a few points we thought were important. Elder Nielson talked about the importance of staying focused in our purpose, invite all of God's children to receive salvation through making and keeping sacred covenants with Him. I talked about the importance of not comparing yourself to other missionaries.  Even if it seems that they are having more success, or seem happier. I told them that these feelings of inadequacy come from Satan and not from God. I bore my testimony on the importance of individuality. Then we both talked about being one with God, that is our purpose as people, and when we focus on that, everything else more easily falls into place! 

Xalapa Monument

The last part of the conference, and something that has been building up for a while is that Elder Nielson finishes his mission on the 20th! This is his last week and at the zone conferences, every missionary that will finish in that transfer, gives their testimony. So of course Elder Nielson and the other "champions" as they call them, gave their testimonies. It was so powerful, the spirit coming from them was just incredible, it's hard to explain, but I know that they'll do very well after their mission! Going along with that, this past Sunday was Elder Nielson's last Sunday in the branch, so they asked him to speak! He didn't have a lot of time but he gave his testimony about the change one undergoes on the mission, and how much his time in the branch has helped this change along! It was kinda sad, I mean he has done so much for the branch and to see him go will be hard, but I also know that Lord will bless him. After church they invited us over to eat with the branch at the Branch President's house. We weren't really sure why, until we arrived and found out it was a goodbye party for Elder Nielson!! It was so much fun. We got to just be with each other, and eat good food, and boy did we eat hahaha! They brought tamales, so you don't really have to wonder if I ate a lot! Maybe a bad decision, but no matter. We finished our afternoon with some goodbyes and cleaning.

Elder Nielson with his big pastry

A Black Cat

I know I haven't had any really good stories this week, but this next experience is probably the most special. On Sunday we decided to drop by Daisy and Albert's house so Elder Nielson could say goodbye. We arrived and just talked with them for a while. We shared a scripture about the temple and told them how much they meant to us. We have truly seen them change since they were baptized. In fact, Albert was recently called to be the second councilor in the branch presidency!! But after we finished talking we gave them the floor. They both thanked Elder Nielson and bore testimony of the things they've learned to be true. Daisy shared her experience of this whole past couple months. She told us how she was going through a very hard time. She didn't really know what to do or where to go. Then one day her husband brings over two missionaries. She says she will never forget the day those two young men came into her house. They weren't alone because they came with the spirit of God. When I heard that I couldn't help but start ugly crying, because I knew, in that very moment, that the spirit she felt from the missionaries is the same spirit I felt from her. I've been trying to focus on my reason of being here lately during the hard times and yesterday it came utterly clear to me. I am here to help people like Daisy and Albert become the people Christ wants them to be. I am here to serve the people that they might receive eternal life. 

So that is also my spiritual thought for the day. Let Christ and his spirit change you. Let him work on you. Use the gift of repentance and be washed clean in his blood. He suffered and died for you! Don't wait to allow his grace into your life. I know that Christ can and will change you if you let him. I love you all, have a great week!

Elder Garnica