Hello!! I hope you're all doing wonderfully this fine Monday! It has been quite the week here in Tumbes...as usual haha! Before I forget, I have to tell you guys that as Hermana C. and I were walking towards the place we always go for Internet, we saw a huge group of missionaries. A couple of sisters called out "MISIONERAS!!" haha and they all came to talk to us. It's not uncommon to see missionaries from other missions here, because they always send the missionaries to Ecuador when their visas expire, and they just basically go there, get a stamp, then come back to Peru. And since we're so close to the border (and since our area is the center of Tumbes with all the shopping and restaurants and everything) they always come here to find something to eat. So we were able to help direct them to a relatively cheap place, and as they started in a train in the direction we had indicated, we met a senior couple that was with them....and their plaques said "Elder and Sister Dickson" naturally I was curious to know where they were from, and they told me they were from Morgan, Utah! Turns out that Elder B. Dickson is a cousin of some sort of Grandma Garner! Small world right? His wife's name is C.B. Dickson and also grew up in Morgan...I don't know if you know them Grandma? Anyways, it was a pretty crazy coincidence. It was also kind of obvious that they had a little more trouble with the language because they started talking to me in English as soon as they saw me....I felt kind of bad because I always have a bit of a hard time switching back to English and kept saying all these random words in Spanish...oops haha.
Anyways, speaking of speaking in English, we had our interviews with President Rowley this week! Wow. It's always so amazing to me how in just 15 minutes I can find so much peace, encouragement, and inspiration. He asked us to prepare by reading Alma chapters 36 and 37 and prepare to share the inspiration we recieved. It was such a neat experience for me to be able to read and study these two chapters in the last couple of weeks. I shared with him how I was really hit by the first part of chapter 37 and the powerful testimony it gives of the power of the Book of Mormon. I told him that before the mission I read the Book of Mormon everyday and all that good stuff, but here in the mission, I've really been able to realize just how important and impactful it can be on our lives if we just let it! The best part of the interview was at the very end, when he kind of summed up the interview and shared some powerful words of encouragement. I will never be able to forget how inspired his words were. They hit me to the core and the Spirit was SO strong. I literally felt like my Heavenly Father was talking to me in that moment. Wow.
This week we've been focusing a lot on our recent converts: A. and M. A. has completely changed. He's reading the Book of Mormon like crazy, went in to recieve the priesthood fasting because he felt like it was something really important, and he's kept himself totally a part from his family and friends who go drinking and partying and such. He's also started participating in the YSA activities and such. We feel like proud parents pretty much every time we talk to him...this is what conversion looks like. :) M. is doing well also, but still has a lot to learn. He keeps telling us that he's reading his Book of Mormon, but it's pretty easy for us to tell that he acutally isn't. That was a little bit dissappointing to us, but after a lot of testifying and about three days when we went and our lessons consisted solely of reading the Book of Mormon, he's finally getting it a little bit more :) everything is poco a poco though right? Other than that, he's always faithfully on time to church and participates in the classes, and even brings his friends to church to get to know what it's like. We've been pretty happy with both of them and their progress!
Yesterday I had the opportunity to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting. I focused on the three basics that have been really standing out in my mind lately...reading the Book of Mormon every day, praying and really conversing with our Heavenly Father, and going to church every week. I pulled some quotes from Elder Nelson's talk from this last conference (I can't remember right now what it's called...but it talks about building our faith and how truth is universal), and even though it definitely wasn't perfect, my testimony personally grew as I was able to prepare and present that talk...hopefully it helped someone else too! :)
That's pretty much it for this week. I'm still in denial that this transfer is already halfway over, and that I now have 6 months in the mission...time really flies. I hope that you all have a wonderful week, and don't forget to read your Book of Mormon, pray, and go to church! I PROMISE you all that you will be able to tell the difference in your lives as you make these things a priority!
Love you all!
Love,
Hermana Garner
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