P-Day update week 107 y 108, 03/11/2024

 ¡Hola a hola!

This week went by even faster than last week, but I feel like it's also been the fullest week of the transfer as well! Even though I don't have a lot of time (like always) I'll make sure you're not disappointed!

Goblet of Coke

So first things first, this week we had a wedding! As you all know, our friend Kris and his wife have been working with us to help them get married, and Tuesday was the day! Early on Tuesday morning Elder Parker and I got ready for the day and headed out to meet up with Kris. We only had to walk a short distance to the place we decided to meet up, called Trancas. From there we battled a little bit to find a taxi that would take us to Coatepec for less than 100 pesos, after trying with a lot of taxistas eventually Kris used this app he had on his phone to order a few taxis for us all to get there! Kinda wish he would've used it earlier, but no matter, we got there and that's what's important haha! Once in Coatepec, we met up with the witnesses and headed into the civil registry! After that we were only there for about 15 minutes! They just needed to check to see if all the information was correct and then after that the actual marriage lasted about 5 minutes! It went off very quickly and easily! Once they were officially married we took a few photos there in the registry to remember these moments and then caught a bus back to Xalapa! It was a whole show trying to get this wedding done, but at the end of the day it was all worth it!

Post marriage photo

After our couple was married and ready to go, all that was left was to have the baptism! We decided to have the baptisms that same day since Kris requested the whole day off. So after Arriving back in Trancas, Elder Parker and I headed to the stake center to get the font filled up and get the overalls ready! When we arrived we ran into the same problem we had last time, the drain was open and nobody knew where the keys were :/. But we had already found a solution last time, so we just decided to do the same thing again, plastic bag and pressured plunger here we go! Once we had the font filling up we had to hunt down some overalls, which was probably the hardest part of the day. But after searching for more time than we should've we decided to check the secretary's office, and lo and behold, two white jumpsuits perfect for our couple! It was weird when we got that done, because we could just sit back and relax, read some scriptures and just get ready for the service! At about a quarter till. Everyone started showing up, we had a pretty good turn out thanks to this being like ward meeting day or something like that! But once we got to the hour, and then 15 minutes passed, Kris and his wife still had not arrived, we tried calling them and they didn't answer, our messages weren't going through either! Man we were panicking!! We weren't really sure what to do so we just kinda tried to stay relaxed, and after another 15 minutes of waiting, we got a message from Kris! He said that they were having a lot of trouble trying to find a taxi and weren't sure what to do, but said they would let us know when they were on their way! It was a relief to hear from them, but we still didn't know how they were going to get here because from their house to the stake center it's about a two hour walk! So we tried to think of some options, but then we got a message from Kris saying they finally found a taxi and were on their way! Whew, what a relief, he also sent us his location in real time so we could see where he was while he was travelling! After not too long they arrived and we started the baptismal service, it was really beautiful, one of the most beautiful baptismal services I've had the privilege of being a part of! Wow after the service I had time to just think, think about Kris' entire journey until now, all he had to go through to find Christ. It was hard, but oh how perfect the plans of God really are!\

Baptism of Kris and wife

This week we had a few baptisms, and so we have a few less friends that we were actively teaching a lot. So you know what that means, we gotta find em! It was unfortunately a real struggle though trying to find friends this week, the first/last weeks of the month are our busiest as coordinators, we have to be working on our ad for the month and also check the stats of our ad from last month, and that's a part from having to work on our English class stuff! In fact we actually had a meeting with "our guy" in Salt Lake, even though our guy is a she everyone still calls her "our guy" haha! But we met with her and had a quick little orientation meeting, and I told her about how it's been a struggle trying to balance missionary work and Coordinator work. After hearing that she knew she had to educate me haha! So she took out John 21:18 on me and told me that right now I can't just do everything myself and trust in my own way of finding and teaching, she told me that EVERYTHING we do as coordinators is with the end in mind of finding, teaching, and baptizing true converts. She told me that English connect and Facebook ads have helped people come into the fold of Christ and it is real missionary work, just like talking to people in the street and receiving a reference. It was a very humbling moment for me, but I knew that she was right! So from there I now understand that it is important to find a balance between coordinator stuff and regular missionary stuff, but either one has the same purpose and will bring results!

Besides English Connect and Facebook, we still do normal missionary work, and we've actually been trying to put into practice what President has been telling us to do the past month, and that is work with the members! So this week we decided that we really needed to find new people and we were going to do that through the members! Our first order of business was asking for references after eating with a member family, but we know that as missionaries if we ask a family for a reference they will almost 100% of the time not think of anyone and say no. So we have to try different ways, and the big thing we did this week, was after eating with a family, we would share a scripture and invite the spirit, and then invite the family to pray, that night, and ask Heavenly Father, who needs the gospel right now in their lives (friends, neighbors, family members etc.). This new method has been great! It not only invites the people to share the gospel, but they do it in a manner of prayer and revelation so their desires are more pure and worthy! In Fact we've already had some new friends pop up from the method, and it looks like it will really work! But that hasn't been our only action this week, we've also come to the knowledge of the power of Family Home evening! We always hear about missionaries having family home evenings with members and having them invite their friends, but I haven't actually done it before, so now was the time! So I'm not sure if I shared this but when Sheryl was baptized she brought two of her neighbors who are not members, and so we thought it would be a good idea to have a family home evening with Sheryl and she would invite her neighbors over! And that is exactly what we did! The evening of the event, we finished our lessons and everything before 6:30, so we could have time to get there and have a good time! But as we were leaving our last appointment we got hit by the biggest rain storm I've ever seen! It was so crazy, and we only had one umbrella to carry us on the way home! When I say this was a crazy rain storm, I mean within about 4 minutes the streets were already almost flooded and it was on the brink of being scary! But we knew we had to face it, so we tried to stay under my little personal umbrella as much as we could as we headed home, and then we got there to quickly change our soaked clothes, grab our rain jackets then head out again! Thanks to the rain, just about all the streets were just big mud paths, and it was very hard to traverse, in fact, after trying our absolute hardest to get there on time to the family home evening we had such a hard time that we didn't get there until one hour after! But we did eventually make it, only just a little but completely soaked haha! But from there it was a great activity, we played Uno and got to know our friends a little bit more! Also Sheryl made empanadas and hot chocolate from everyone after the activities! We actually only had time to share something really quickly before we had to leave thanks to the whole set back, but just getting the chance to be with people and show them we aren't strangers went a long way I think! And hopefully we'll see many fruits from these types of activities!

P-day donuts

Zone went to a trampoline park (photo taken right after I hyperextended my elbow bahah!!)

Kris and his wife were actually not the only baptisms that took place this week, our friend Lacey got baptized as well! it was a very interesting turn of events to be quite honest with you all, you see we had been planning for her baptism to be the next coming Sunday, not this past one. One day her husband texted us and said he wanted to meet with us, it was urgent. So we zipped over to the stake center and met up with him. He basically told us that Lacey decided that day, that she wanted to get baptized as soon as possible, and that they would get everything sorted out to make it happen! It was very interesting because there were some things that needed to be resolved before she could be baptized, and her husband very clearly told us that they got it worked out! So that day was a Thursday, and so we had about two days to get the entire program set up, get the jumpsuits, finally get the drain closed, and let the bishopric know! man the weekend was crazy! We spent the next couple days running around like maniacs trying to get everything sorted out, and make sure that it was perfect! The hardest part was just trying to get the programs done, I've never made physical programs before, but Elder Parker says it's a pretty normal thing, and so we decided to do it! Thanks to us having a computer it actually turned out pretty nice, but finding the place to print them looked like it was going to be the kicker! So we started looking for a little paper store nearby where we could print them off, and then we remembered "hey, we live in Xalapa, I'm sure there's an office max or something here". We hopped on google and lo and behold there is an Office Max in xalapa, and in our area! SO we headed there and printed them off, then cut off the white borders to make them look all pretty! It was great, it reminded me of scrapbooking :)!! But from there all we had to do was get the font filled up, so we found someone with the keys, and on the day of the baptism we met up and he opened the lock for us! After closing the drain we also turned on the boiler, apparently you can have a baptism with warm water, who would've thunk it! From there, everything went off without a hitch, we made sure to go early and get the jumpsuits sorted out and we had the entire program done by the day before, so the day off we could just relax! In fact it was pretty weird not worrying about anything right before the baptism, it felt like there was something missing hahahah!!! But the whole service went off perfectly and Lacey was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! What a long time coming, She is probably the most prepared person I've ever had the privilege of teaching, it was truly special to be in those lessons with her and see her true aptitude of receiving the things of God! I'm very excited to see where she can take this grand faith that she has, while she is in the church!

Baptism of Lacey

Alright that's it for this time, it was an amazing week, with three people making the decision to be baptized and become part of the Lord's restored church. Today I just want to send a quick spiritual message about love. Just love people y'all!! My time living here in Mexico has taught me one big principle, the Mexican people know how to show love. Everyday I meet someone I know, and even though we have basically no history, they always always make me feel loved! And it's made all the difference, So I just want you all to know how much Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ truly love you. And it is our duty to show that love to all those around us and make this world a better place. I invite you all to pray this week and ask for opportunities to show love and help your fellow man, i know that this will bring you more happiness and joy, because I have experienced it. I love you all, have a great week!

-Elder Garnica

Cat sitting on a rock