Prepare Your Heart

They got messy doing some service this week

This week honestly felt like a month. Soooo much has happened and Sister Showalter and I feel like we're tripping over our own feet trying to keep everything straight and get everything done!  

Our phones are all set up! We'll get the last of the initial training on it this Wednesday, but we're already good to use LDS Tools and other things that I'm SUPER excited about to enhance our missionary work. Sister Showalter and I had a lesson this morning where we were able to use some resources that we don't normally have in order to help our recent convert prepare for the temple. I'm so grateful for modern day technology and that I get to use it in this way, and I want to take and apply the things I'm learning on my mission to my everyday life after the mission!  

We found TWO new investigators this week! One of them is a sophomore in high school and is really interested in learning more about the church. We met her on Tuesday, and when we went back on Thursday she opened the door, and through the screen we could see a book in her hands. Sister Showalter asked, "What are you reading?" trying to strike up friendly conversation, and she said, "Oh, it's the Book of Mormon," completely nonchalantly. That made our day. 

 There's a new sister in our house! Sister Neahusan is from Nevada, and she's in a trio with Sisters Hanson and Fuimaono. She's awesome! She's pretty much already fluent in Spanish, and she's also fluent in German.  She's really funny and witty and I look forward to getting to know her more!  

One of our investigators is doing great,  he's set September 30th as a goal for himself for when he'll stop smoking. We're proud of him and praying for him a lot! He was touched when I told him that you've been praying for him as well. 

 The other sisters' car has been having all sorts of problems - they were almost stranded on Thursday night going to dinner because their car was going to break down. We've had to rescue them a few different times this week, including right when we started emailing today - they called because their car wouldn't start and they were stranded with all their groceries in the Wal Mart parking lot. So that's been an adventure! But at least our car's not having problems now so we're able to help! 

 I've been learning a lot about hope this week and how to continually have hope in our lives. Moments of despair are going to come, but they're just moments. They will always pass. In the moment, it's often hard to look past it, but if you just take a breath, take a nap (if you're not a missionary, lol), you'll be refreshed and it won't seem like such a big deal. It's not something that's easy for me, but it is something I'm learning. Happiness really is a choice! 

A few quotes from Ward Conference yesterday. It was a really impactful Sunday for me, I felt the

with Brother Mitchel 

Spirit so strong and feel like I better know what the prophets are talking about when they tell us to "feast upon the words of Christ" and to "hunger and thirst after righteousness."   ​The Stake President said a few things that stood out to me - "The Church and Kingdom of God will go forth with or without you" and "Let us not live below the privileges." In other words, ​you choose whether or not to be a part of this work and enjoy the resulting blessings. It's entirely up to you.  And then, Brother Mitchell said a few things that really stood out to me (well, more than a few, but I couldn't record his lesson haha). The quotes I wrote down were, "The power of the priesthood is the power to organize - to create" and "When your heart teaches you things that your mind doesn't know, listen to your heart." talking about his testimony and how he puts aside his doubts in favor of what the spirit has told him is true. He's really a great example, it was such a privilege to be in his class!

The one scripture I wanted to share this week was Ezra 7:10. It's a perfect example of how we qualify and sanctify ourselves. Ezra 1) studied, 2) applied what he learned in action, and 3) shared the gospel. But before any of that, he "prepared his heart," which meant that he was willing and ready to receive the counsel of the Lord in humility. He was open to the spirit, and it was because of that that he was able to qualify for the spirit and to be a servant of the Lord.

Love,

Hermana Garner