P-Day update week 35, 10/17/2022

 ¡Hola amigos y familia!

This week has been great! We've had a lot of work to do and we've just been putting our shoulders to the wheel! Of course not everything has been perfect, but it's been a fulfilling week with a good amount of progress made!

I guess this is where they filmed a scene from some movie called "Romancing the Stone" from the 80s, but I think it just looks cool!

Alright so first things first, this week we have been able to find some new people to teach. Now that we're ending the transfer soon we have to get the area ready for this coming couple of weeks! It has been really great thanks to the ward. The majority of the people we found this week are people that have been referred to us by the ward members, and that is exactly what we've been hoping for! You see when a person is referred to the missionaries by a member they have a much higher chance of staying a part of Christ's church, because they now have a built-in friend to sit with, to talk about church with, and to be their support! Some of these new people we found in fact were a nice family that lives just a little bit outside of Xalapa. They are the Melon family (I couldn't come up with a cool name sorry)! This is a family of four, a little boy named Jacob, a 10 year old boy named Sanderson, the mom Merida, and the dad Humberto! The youngest son has autism and does not participate much in the lessons, he just kinda does his own thing (for obvious reasons) but everyone else is very attentive, even Sanderson!! We found them from an hermana in our ward who found out that Humberto was sick and needed a blessing, so the Elder's quorum president went and gave him a blessing and from there the family said they were open to hearing the message of the restored gospel! Our first lesson with them went great! We arrived and saw that Humberto was bed ridden and couldn't move around too much, but we saw that they truly desired to know more about how Christ has and will help them. The lesson turned out really wonderful, I could tell that they were sincere, sometimes they would express their frustration with God for the trials they have faced, but then express their appreciation for how far they've come thanks to his help! The spirit was very strong in that room, they talked about how they lost a son a few years ago, and how hard it was for them, but we bore our testimony to them that they will see their son again, and that this life is not all! I felt that they really needed to hear that from us, and it was great to be an instrument for God to let them know that he is aware of them. We set up another appointment for Tuesday of this week, I'll let you all know how it goes, I truly see them with a lot of potential!!

My new friend, his name is Woosh Wayne (fourth cousin once removed of Bruce Wayne), but I call him Wooshy. 

This past Monday was the mission's leadership conference, usually they have it down here in Xalapa and we're able to go, but this time they had it in Poza Rica at the other side of the mission. They did that because we had a special guest arrive! Elder Douglas is the second counselor in the Mexico area presidency, and he came down to visit our mission's leadership! We the coordinadores usually go to MLC but because it was so far away we didn't go, but we did get to hear about what was said! Right after the zone leaders got back from Poza Rica, we had a zonce council so they could tell us what was shared during MLC! The council was amazing!! They shared with such a strong spirit the things they learned from Elder Douglas! One of the most important things they shared with us was obedience. A very wise person once told me "Obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles" (more or less what I was told). And this advice has proven true on my mission up to this point, and Elder Douglas re emphasized that for everyone in the mission!! He talked about how Christ has always invited us to "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." That is his charge and that is our goal. He wants us to be perfect, and live with Him again! Though we cannot be perfect in this life, and that's where the Atonement comes into play. He told us of the importance of truly repenting and becoming better everyday, that is how we can eventually become perfect! Elder Douglas mentioned to us that obedience is what is going to change our mission, that is the key that will open the gates of Eternity for not only us, but for those we teach! Obedience is the first law of Heaven, and it is not being begrudgingly obedient, but submitting to the will of God and doing what he asks of us out of love and not out of persuasion or fear! Elder Douglas said that every member of the church has to sacrifice something at some time in their life, and we have a choice, we can sacrifice out of obligation and fear, or we can sacrifice out of love for the Savior. He said that as we sacrifice out of love, it no longer becomes a sacrifice. If going to church is a sacrifice for you (which I'm sure it is for most everyone), Then the second you start going to church out of love for God and his will, it won't feel like a sacrifice anymore. But lovingly doing what you know he wants, because he is our father and we love him! They told us a lot of things he said as well, but I wouldn't have enough time in my next three emails to write it all, but obedience is the key, and obedience out of love is a super cool awesome key that has flames on it and always works the first time!

So this week has been a little stressful on the house, with the whole fear of the hurricane and the fireworks that were going off I think the house just cracked! One day I was doing the dishes, minding my own business and the ring that holds the sink nozzle to its base snapped! And water started pouring out! I quickly shut it off and tried to put the nozzle back on, but without the plastic ring, we can't really move it or it'll fall off! So we now have to be really careful about how we use it, but I don't want it to be like that forever, so I went to one of my favorite places on earth. Home Depot. As I walked into home depot with my companion that familiar wood and oil scent hit me and I felt right at home! As we walked through the isles looking for the piece we came across a display sink, and this display sink had exactly the part we needed, and I could easily take it off and bring it home with me. But I knew that Satan was just trying to trick me into stealing something even though I needed it, NOT TODAY SATAN!! So we moved along and asked somebody where the part would be but the worker said they don't carry that piece by itself, we would have to buy a whole new sink  to get it fixed!! I thought back to the free ring sitting two isles down, but we just decided we'd leave and hope for the best with our sink! Now that event is not the only problem the house has faced this week. On Saturday I was in the bathroom measuring out the space we have on the wall because we plan on putting a mirror in. As I was measuring it out, I saw two exposed wires coming out of the wall, and decided it would probably be best to shove them back in where they came from, but as I did that, the two wires touched and BOOM! A huge explosion of sparks came out and I jumped away! It turns out that these wires were in fact still active! And when I touched them together they didn't like that, so they decided to revolt and start messing with the lights in the house! First it was just some light flickering, then the whole system was messed up, the hallway light was now the switch for the bathroom light, and the closet light would dim the hallway light and light up the bedroom! It was a whole mess! Not knowing what to do, I called our downstairs neighbor Jose up to give us a hand (He is also the first counselor in the bishopric), he took a look around and first wrapped up the exposed wires with electrical tape and put them out of reach (my reach mainly) and then just reset the breaker and then we were good as new! It was kinda scary for a little bit, but thanks to hermano Jose we didn't have to relearn the switch patterns to turn off the lights in the house!!

The glorious Home Depot!!

Well old "Made of glass" Garnica is back at it again! This week after the zone council I started feeling a little sick, mainly just a sore throat but still a little sick. I didn't think much of it and finished our day and went to bed. I woke up the next morning with a crazy cough, runny nose, and a headache! As we made our way throughout the day I started to decompose more and more, By the time we arrived at an activity in the night, my eyes were watering uncontrollably and I couldn't stop coughing with my nose also running like Usain Bolt! It was pretty rough, but I was sure it was just a bad cold, that is until I lost my sense of smell in the middle of eating! Right after our food appointment we went and bought two COVID tests, one for me, and the other also for me just to be sure haha! I took them and they both fortunately came out negative. I'm not sure what happened but after a couple hours my smell came back, and I went and got some cold medicine from the store! And from there with one powerful blessing from my companion, I was ready to tackle P-day in full force!! It was super weird, I was almost 100% sure I had COVID, but I guess not, my great luck strikes again!!

Okay I'm about out of time, but I want to share a quick experience we had this week with our friend Cash! So Cash has been a lot of fun to get to know and teach! We see him with so much fire for the gospel when we're with him, but when it's time for him to do things on his own (Pray, go to church, read), he is less fired up. Something that I've mentioned before here is that, we as missionaries don't have to convince people to believe our words and be baptized, all we have to do is invite them to pray and ask Heavenly Father if this is all true. And if they do that, and have a sincere heart, they will know for themselves. But sometimes just helping people take that step is the hardest part. And for our friend Cash, it has been a REALLY hard part, he tells us of how often he thinks about Joseph Smith's experience, and how he wants to put it to the test. But he also said that he is waiting for the perfect opportunity to go and pray, he is waiting for his perfect quiet spring morning, this is causing him to not do it as he waits for a perfect moment that won't come. So the other day we went with him and decided to help him out. What we did is we decided to invite him to pray with us right there and ask if the things we've taught are true. He was a little hesitant, but I think he knew that he needed to know for himself. So we all got down on our knees and told him he can start praying whenever he's ready, after a few seconds he began to pray. He began to talk with his Father in Heaven, he began to ask, he asked if we spoke the truth, if The Book of Mormon is the word of God, and if Joseph Smith was a true prophet. As he finished his prayer, we all stayed there and waited in silence as we listened to The Spirit of the Lord. After about 30 seconds we got up, and we asked him "Cash, do you believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God?" and he quickly gave his reply "Yes." As he said that my soul was filled with the spirit! I felt it testify to me as he bore his testimony of Joseph Smith. It was truly an amazing experience, and I am so ready to see where he can go with this new found testimony!

Cool little gray cat.

I don't have any more time, but just know that I love you all, and that Christ desires perfection...eventually. Keep repenting and keep trying your best!!! Have a wonderful week!

-Elder Garnica