Know. Live. Love.

Changes

Let's start off with the changes - we have three greenies in our zone!! Elders Peterson, Ralph, and Reynolds are all training. One of the newbies is Elder McKee, and he's Spanish-speaking, so we'll be getting to know each other really well!

Our last picture as a zone

  And now for the BIGGEST news of the week - LUIS CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And he brought his two kids!!!!!!!! They were only able to come to sacrament meeting, but the talks were so perfectly directed to him and everything he's going through! I was playing the piano, so I didn't get to sit by them, but Hna Cedeño told me that he was crying during the first talk, which was all about the healing power of the atonement and how we should be grateful for our trials because they bring us closer to Christ. He really seemed to enjoy it, and the branch was AMAZING about welcoming him and making sure they all knew who he was and he got to meet a bunch of them. We also introduced his kids to others in the ward, and both of them said that they really, really wanted to go to primary!! It really was a miracle, and we know it was an answer to all of our prayers and fasting! We're SOOO grateful and can't wait to meet with him this week!!!!

One thing that really came out of this week was just more companionship unity. Hna Cedeño and I already loved each other soooo much, but we grew so much closer this week as friends! We've talked about anything and everything.

One thing that came from all of our tracting and walking around this week, though, was a miracle on Saturday! We were knocking on the doors of this apartment complex and knocked on the door of Isaac. He doesn't speak Spanish, but we taught him a little bit about the Book of Mormon, and we actually have an appointment with him today, and if he's interested afterwards we'll pass him on to the English missionaries. But the real miracle came when we asked him for referrals. He gave us SEVEN referrals!!!!!! That's what most people's WEEKLY goal is in this mission, and that day alone we got three more!!!! For the past week, we had 17 referrals, which is absolutely incredible!! Now the challenge is contacting them, because a lot of the time they're not home, but we'll keep trying until they are!!! That day we also knocked on 40 doors. My knuckles hurt.

Also, I hit my three months this Thursday! WHAT???

Luke 15:20. This is during the parable of the Prodigal Son, and I hadn't really ever noticed this detail before. The son is returning to his father to seek employment, and verse 20 reads, "And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." Those words - "when he was yet a great way off" - were incredibly significant to me this morning. It doesn't matter how much further we have to go in the repentance process. If we turn to the Lord and are making our way back to Him, with a contrite heart and a willingness to change, He will run to us immediately and embrace us with His love. And however much further we have to go, He will stand by us the whole way, as long as we keep our focus on moving closer and closer to Him.

Les quiero muchisimo!!!Hna Garner