P-Day update week 42, 12/05/2022

 ¡¡Buenas buenas!!

This week has been really good! It was the last week of the transfer, so we had to finish it off on a high note!!

A brother in the ward who is from Denver!!

As I explained in my last letter, we had a change of mission leaders! Everyone was sad that we weren't going to be able to say goodbye to President and Hermana Perkins, but we got some good news when they told us we would have a little goodbye devotional with the Perkins! We were really excited to hear that! Early Wednesday Morning, both Zones here in Xalapa all came to the stake center closest to our house. At about 9:00 everyone was in their seats waiting for the Perkins to arrive! When they got there everyone stood up and greeted them! It was so cool to see them again, I feel like I haven't seen them in ages! It's only been like two months but that is still kinda a long time, at least for me haha!! But after saying hi to everyone, President and Sister Perkins took their seats and we started the meeting! We got to hear President and Hermana Perkins give two short talks, it was really nostalgic to hear them speak and have the assistants there translating for them! President Perkins spoke just as powerfully as he did before, he talked about how much he has loved serving with us and how much he misses us! Hermana Perkins said about the same type of things, but they both finished with helping us understand why we are here. They made sure to focus on the fact that we are here to bring souls unto our Father, that they might live with him! They implored us to remember our purpose and never stray from that! We then heard a few words from President and Hermana Day, they basically just said how much they were going to miss the Perkins and how happy they are to have learned so much from them as their prior councilors! We finished with singing a classic, "I know that my redeemer lives" When I first started my mission we always ended the conferences with this song and we stood up during the last verse, without saying anything everyone did the same this time to finish the meeting! It was very special! I'm going to miss the Perkins so much, but I know I will get to see them again one day!!

Baptism of Lauren!!!

After riding on that spiritual high from hearing the Perkins speak again, I was very ready to go and hit the streets! And that next night we had a special activity we were going to do in our district! For the past 5 weeks or so we have been planning our caroling activity! We have been taking some time in our District Councils every week to practice our songs and get everybody into shape! So when the day finally came we were all super excited! So we went to the city square here in Xalapa, there is a park there called "Parque Juarez" and we knew it was going to be bustling thanks to the Christmas season! But we got there and there were a lot more people than we thought there was going to be! We all started getting kinda nervous to sing acapella Christmas songs in front of all those people! But we decided that we had come this far, we might as well see it through to the end! So we gathered up nearby a big Christmas tree and we began to sing! As we sang, people began to gather on the nearby benches and listen, I felt the spirit with every song we sang, as we sang of Christ!! The first song ended with an applause from the crowd, after hearing that I think all our nerves went away and we started to sing with some passion!! We all really need to thank Elder Buer for his help, he was the guy who led us in our practices and he led us out there, he really carried the team on his shoulders haha! Once we had sung our whole "set '', we went around and talked with the people who had been sitting and listening, we passed out a lot of pamphlets and then we moved to another spot and kept singing! We did that for about 2 hours!! It was honestly so much fun! And I feel like the amount of people we were able to reach made it worth it as well, even if these people never decide to talk with the missionaries again, I can say with surety that they felt the love of God through those wonderful hymns sung by my companions! It was a really great way to start off the Christmas season!!

When we were in a trio for the day!

The Book of Mormon!

We had quite a good week when it comes to our friends! This week one of our friends got baptized! I don't remember what I called this friend in my prior emails so we're just going to call her lauren. Well we have been teaching Lauren since I got here in Xalapa, we found her because her boyfriend is a member of the church! Since we've been teaching her she has grown so much! She goes to church every Sunday, she participates in the activities and she is a faithful and good willed person! But the only thing holding her back from being baptized was that she and her boyfriend weren't married! I'm speaking in the past tense because this past Friday they tied the knot!! After a long while of helping them be ready to get baptized and married they finally decided they were going to do it! So on Friday at about 1:00 we all went to the civil registry in a little place called "Dos Ríos" The couple arrived looking super good! We haven't really seen them look all glamoured out before so it was very cool! The ceremony was pretty quick, and from there we all went out to eat! We ate at the house of Martín's uncle, and we ate barbacoa chicken! We couldn't stay for too long but we did have a chance to celebrate with the newlyweds! But the next day was the best part, the baptism! These past couple weeks we have been working with the ward's mission leader a little more closely, and we decided to let him do some more things when it comes to the baptisms! We Let him make the whole program and we basically just had to show up with the overall! It was honestly really great! The baptismal service went off without a hitch, everyone arrived on time and the water was filled and clean, with semi warm water! After the ordenance the bishop gave a welcome to the ward, and as I looked at Lauren who had just been baptized I was filled so strongly with the spirit of the Lord!! That is why I'm here, I have seen her become a different person through the atonement of Jesus Christ, and this step of baptism was the icing on the wonderful cake she has made these past couple months! That needs to be my goal, to help people reach that!!

My little Christmas tree!!

The tree and the comp!

Alright so because this past week was the last week of the transfers, we got our new transfers this past Sunday! For the past week or so, the secretaries in the mission have been saying how much they were going to miss me, and how much they didn't want me to go, and I know that they receive the transfer news right when it's done, so they actually know. And thanks to that I was pretty convinced I was leaving, and I made that known amongst the members in the ward and said my proper goodbyes! And when Sunday came we received the call, I will be.....Staying exactly where I am with the same companion hahaha!!! This transfer, just about no one was actually transferred, I think the fact that we have a new mission president is probably the biggest factor for that! So when I got that information I straightway called the secretaries, because we had beef, their response was "There needs to be opposition in all things''. They explained to me that because they tried so hard to convince me that I was leaving, when I found out I was staying I would be super happy! Which is kinda true, I'm super happy I'm staying, I really wanted to spend Christmas here in Xalapa, but I'm just sad I said goodbye to so many people! It's gonna be really awkward visiting these people again hahahaha!!! But I'm over it now, there is a lot of work to do here so I am happy! Also because we are receiving a good bit of new missionaries this transfer, just like the last, we hosted missionaries in our house! We had 3 trainers and 3 new guys here with us! A lot more Mexicans came this time around so that was pretty cool! When they got here we ordered pizza and listened to Christmas music as they helped decorate my tree! It was pretty cool! Elder Parker is training so he stayed with us last night! It was awesome to see my old buddy again! And what added more to my joy is that he was still my buddy in the Lord!! Overall pretty relaxed, nothing too exciting happened!

So as y'all might have seen when I was talking about the new missionaries who stayed with us, I mentioned that they helped decorate our tree. That's right folks, area Alborada bought a real Christmas tree yesterday, and spent far too much personal money on the decorations so it would look cool! I didn't plan on buying one until I got to my new area, but now that I'm not leaving I can enjoy it here with the lights we've already put up! Yesterday after buying some new tennis shoes at the store, we went to a market near our house and picked out the perfect little Christmas tree! It only cost us 450 pesos (22.5 USD) and it's about 6 feet tall! From the market we carried our Christmas tree on our shoulders as we walked home, it was kinda brutal, but it's for Jesus' birthday so it's cool! When we got to the house we lugged it up the stairs and put it in the prime position in the living room! Then we put it in a little crate with some sheets to make it stand up straight, and we used some curtains to create a makeshift tree skirt! From there we realized how much of a mess real Christmas trees make, we spent the next couple minutes just cleaning up the dirt and tree bits haha! But since we got that ready we headed to Walmart to buy the decorations! We took a quick Chili's trip to refuel and then we headed back to the house to start the decorations! The ornaments didn't come with string so we had to use my floss, but once we had gotten a sufficient amount we started to get everything put on! We didn't get too far until we had to grab the new Elders, but once we had come back home we got the music playing, and put everything on! It was really awesome, it reminded me of home! Putting the star on was probably the hardest part, but we got it to work somehow haha!!

No picture of a cat this week so here's a salad

I just want to leave y'all with a quick testimony! I know that our Heavenly father has a perfect plan for each and every one of us! I wasn't planning on staying here for another transfer, but the Lord needs me here! I know that the Lord knows so much better than we do, and if we are doing the things he needs us to do, like studying the scriptures, going to church, praying, and trying to live his commandments the best we can, he will guide our paths and lead us to great and marvelous places! I invite you all to get rid of everything in your life that is impeding you from receiving revelation from God, we cannot survive in this day and age without personal revelation, there are many things the Lord needs us to do. And we need to know what those things are! I love you all so very much and I hope you enjoy this week just as much as I enjoyed eating little Caesar's pizza and decorating my Christmas tree! See y'all next week!!

-Elder Garnica