Know. Live. Love.

When we submit to the will of the Father, miracles happen!

First things first - next Sunday, our stake is having a special fast for missionary work and opportunities. Everyone in the stake is encouraged to fast for personal missionary opportunities as well as for the full-time missionaries and their investigators. If you all can, I'd invite you to join the fast to fast for your own personal experiences, and also for my investigators, by name - Luis, Kenia, Diana, Beatriz, Romelia Flores. There are other people we're teaching as well, of course, but those five are the ones that we're focusing on at the moment. If you can't participate in the fast, please pray individually and as a family for those opportunities and experiences. I know as we all do this, we will see miracles and be blessed!!

My companion talked me into
straightening my hair for the day

There was a lot of the typical rejection and frustration this week, but it was also a week of miracles. The first one that comes to mind is from yesterday - we woke up, got out to the car, and realized we'd forgotten to get gas Saturday night, and we were almost empty! We had a lot of places to drive to yesterday, some of them pretty far, and we were worried about being able to make it through the day without having to get gas on Sunday. We prayed in the morning that our gas would be able to last, were careful with how we used it, and got home that night without the gas light even being on! This morning, we turned on the car and immediately the gas light was illuminated. It was a cool witness of the Lord's power and also of the sanctity of the Sabbath day, that He made it possible for us to do everything we needed to do without having to go to the gas station.

So, first I'll update you on Luis. We had three different lessons with him this week. On Thursday we went with Brother and Sister Perez - they were baptized just over a year ago. We had a really great lesson, and the Perezes were really amazing with their testimonies! He was completely attentive during the entire lesson, and agreed with everything that we said, and was humble. At the end of the lesson, he committed to take the steps he needed to in order to live the Word of Wisdom! We were so excited!  We pushed him to trust in the Lord and take his efforts further, and invited him to first read the scriptures and pray when he feels the urge to smoke or drink. We testified of the power of the atonement and that he can do this, and faster than he thinks he can. If you could remember to pray and fast for him as he struggles to overcome this, I know it would give him strength! He told us yesterday that he doesn't see us as just missionaries anymore, but as his amigas. We feel the same way. He's really an amazing person!

There were a lot of different times when we felt directly led by the spirit this week to go to certain places - places we had no reason to think of going to and that made no logical sense - and we saw miracles as we followed those promptings. One of the times the spirit really led us to do something unexpected was Friday night. We were driving to try and contact a potential investigator, and drove past Sebastian's house, we were teaching him back when I first got here but ended up dropping him because he really was non-responsive in lessons and told us he wasn't going to change and didn't want to waste our time. But as we were driving past, I got this really strong feeling that we should try to visit him. I told Hna Cedeño to turn around, and she did.We knocked on the door, and his mom, Norma answered. She gasped, smiled, and said, "Es un milagro!!" We walked inside and were immediately greeted by warm, tight hugs from Camila and Santiago, Sebastian's younger siblings. Sebastian was sleeping, and we didn't see him at all, but the other three were so happy to see us, and said they'd been waiting for us to come back and had missed having us over. We were able to share a scripture with them and invited them to come to the branch activity the next night - La Noche Cultural. And then they actually CAME! 

I almost forgot - yesterday I got to sing in church. I did the arrangement I'm always playing of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives," but I memorized and sung it in Spanish. 

 Saturday, I went to my first baptism as a missionary! It was one of Hna Cedeño's old investigators in Queen Creek. He finally decided to get baptized, and we got to drive down there to be a part of the baptism. It was wonderful to see, and lifted my spirits so much! I hope to see many of my investigators take the same step, but it was wonderful and encouraging to see him making that change in his life, even if I haven't had the experience of helping someone reach that point yet (as a missionary). Hna Cedeño was so happy and excited!

.John 10:4 - Christ is speaking in a parable about himself being the Good Shephard, and he says here, "and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice." Do we know His voice? How can we come to know and recognize His voice more in our lives? It was something that caused me to ponder this morning about how I can better recognize and follow His voice at all times

.John11:41. Before Christ raises Lazarus from the dead, he says, "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me." Of course I've read this before, and I knew that Christ only ever did the will of the Father, but I thought a little deeper about it today, about how Christ really did only ever do God's will, and how if it hadn't been God's will for Lazarus to be raised from the dead, despite Christ's love for him (because it says clearly in the scriptures how he loved him) He would not have raised him from the dead. We don't really think about Christ praying before performing miracles, but it caused me to reflect on the miracles He did do and how He searched for that witness from the Father that His works were sanctified. In all things, truly the will of the Son was swallowed up by the will of the Father.

Les quiero mucho!!Hna Garner​