P-Day update week 64, 05/08/2023

He aquí, las planchas de Garnica.

Another week down, this transfer is flying by! We've been battling a little bit over here, this area is trying to defeat me, but I won't let it!

Elote on top of Doritos with nacho cheese! It's called Doriloco!

I'll be honest this week has been kinda difficult, this area has its tricks to it, , but we're trying to keep moving forward! When we started out this month my companion and I set a baptismal goal for the companionship of 2 people! We had two people in specific we were sure could be baptized this month, but after this past week both of the4se people are no longer options. So let's start with Kristen, I've talked about Kristen on here before, she is the caregiver of a brother in the ward, well she WAS the caregiver for a brother in our ward! On Monday last week we stopped by to visit with them and share a few scriptures, and get everything ready for her baptism this coming week! But halfway through our lesson Kristen interrupts us and says "Brothers, I'm not going to be here anymore, my kids are coming to get me in a few days and i will be moving to reynosa". When she said that we were a little shocked, the last time we had stopped by she had told us how excited she was to be baptized and have the opportunity to be born again in the Lord. But now she was moving far away and said that she didn't want to go to church in her new home anymore! It was very sad for us to hear that, and as she did the brother in our ward began to talk bad about her and they began to fight right in front of us. This is the reason President Nelson talked so much about contention in our lives, we could feel the spirit leave the instant they began to fight. We just hope that she will have the opportunity where she is going to meet with the missionaries again and continue on this path to Eternal life!

Our other friend that we were hoping would be baptized this month is a little girl we met when I first got to the area, her name is Candy! Candy is a little nine year old girl who's mom is an inactive member of the church, and she has such a great desire to be baptized, but it's been a little difficult to get a lesson with her and her mom, we've been thinking up to this point that she's just really busy! Every time we try and put a lesson with her, she says that she can't, that she'll let us know when she has time, but last night we sent her a message where we just said that we could set up a lesson for a few days from now and have time to clear our schedule! Her response was not exactly what we wanted to hear, she basically said that she doesn't want to go back to church, and that even though her daughter does, she doesn't want them to be on different spiritual paths or something like that! It was kinda out of the blue but it's fine, she has her liberty to choose, we are just worried about her daughter, but when the time comes she can be baptized, the Lord's timing is perfect! And even though we lost two of our friends, we have a lot of faith that we are doing the right things in the right place, and the Lord will do his part!!

Fries

Companion sick

Rio filibobos!

This week we had our Zone Conference! On Thursday we had the interviews, I absolutely love interviews with Presidente and Hermana Day! They always have great council and wisdom, and this time around they were able to give me some great advice about dealing with problems in the Zone, and getting along well with whatever type of companion I have! During the interviews we took some time to do technology audits with every area, this is when we go through the phone of the missionary with them there to make sure that they aren't using these tools in a bad way! It went well, I had faith in the missionaries, but we mainly did it to help them know that we are always on our toes! There were a few people that weren't being 100% obedient. I'm not really the type of guy that loves correcting people or chastising the missionaries for imperfections, but we talked in the Leadership council about helping missionaries overcome problems, and sometimes it's necessary to help them, by correcting them. But the key is to do it in the way Christ showed us, with love. If I'm going around correcting everyone just because I like the feeling of being right, I'm not going to be able to help these people. But I also need to be firm in keeping the missionary standards and commandments. It's a hard balance but I think I'm slowly getting a hang of it!

The next day on Friday was the conference itself in Teziutlan! That morning we got up nice and early, in our house one of the APs and another companionship stayed with us to make it to the bus station on time! We had to get up at 5:30 so my companion and I could get showered and ready to go, i'm actually starting to really like the cold showers I have to take since we don't have a boiler. It's so hot here that even right when I wake up and as soon as I get out of the shower I start to sweat, so the cold showers are my only time to feel really cool when i'm in the house! But after we got all ready we walked over to the bus station and waited for the rest of the Zone to arrive, in that time frame I was sitting down, and from the corner of my eye I saw a claw machine. In this mission the claw machines called "Muñelocos" are famous, every bus station in the mission has one, and everytime you get the chance, you use it! I have not strayed from that, but unfortunately every time I try, I fail. But this morning was different, the air had a different smell, I felt that this was my chance! I pulled out my five pesos, and headed over to the machine, I examined my options carefully before I put my money in. In that I saw a red dragon with little wings, I wanted him. I put my 5 pesos coin in and took control of "The claw" i moved said claw with a confidence i have yet to see up to this point in my claw machine experience, I centered it over the dragon, I moved to the side of the machine to get another angle, and make adjustments accordingly. After 20 seconds, I hit the button. The claw dropped to the bottom of the machine, and grabbed hold of my little red dragon. Once the claw began to move up, I held my breath. At the peak, the claw shook, with a shake to move mountains, but my dragon stood firm! The claw with my little red dragon in its grasp moved towards the drop point, there it let my new son go. He fell into the collection box, where I stuck my hand in, grabbed him tightly and freed him from his plasticy cage! I turned around and saw my beloved Zona Martinez, I had won the battle. I lifted up my son like a modern day Simba in a victorious pose. I held him high that the entire zone might look upon him! It was glorious! From there we all got on the bus and headed to Teziuitlan, having received a new member into our brotherhood!

It was a really good hot dog, I promise...

Little gray cat!

The conference itself was awesome! I got to see a lot of friends from my last transfer, Like one of my best friend's Elder Moreno! He was in my district for three transfers in Xalapa, and he was my Zone Leader last transfer! He's one of my favorite people on earth! There I was able to talk with him a bit, we have decided that we will be companions one day, We will begin to hope that this next transfer he comes over here to Independencia, or I go over there to teteles! We have been planning for a while to ask President if we can finish our missions as companions, but we'll see how it goes!! In the Conference we talked about a lot of things, but one of the big focuses from President this time was the Book of Mormon! He talked about ho0w important it is to have a testimony of this glorious book! And he invited us all to begin a new reread of the Book of Mormon, the netirew mission will read it in the next two months!! And he invited us to act upon the invitation from Moroni, to pray and ask God if it is true. Even if we already have a testimony, but to do it again and strengthen our testimony of this divinely sent book! After the conference itself I began to start feeling a little sick! And then my companion and I realized that neither one of us has had the phone since we got off the bus! It was kinda a two punch combo, but long story short. we lost the phone, w2e have a new one now, and I must have ate something really dirty!!

That's all the time I have this week! It's been a good week, and we're going to keep trying to work hard and find new people!! I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

-Elder Garnica