I hope that you all have had a wonderful week and that you've been able to enjoy your MLK day today! This week has been another great week with Hermana G. here in Piura, learning every day and growing every day closer to our Savior Jesus Christ.
This last Monday was transfers, which means that our district is a little bit different now! It's always kind of sad when there are transfers, but every transfer brings new opportunities to learn and grow, and I'm looking forward to what this second transfer here in Micaela will bring :) Our district changed a littile bit this time because the companion of our district leader (who went to Tumbes) is now training, so we had to change district leaders...so finally we're in the same district as the elders in our ward! Hopefully that will make it a little bit easier to work with them and the members of the ward, because before it was a little bit hard because we never really saw them, just on Sundays and in our mission counsel. Our new district leader is Elder C. from Lima. He really likes to work hard, which is really good and a great encouragement! We also have a new zone leader since the other one went home last week, and it turns out that he's from Santa Cruz just like Hermana G. and was actually her really good friend before they went on the mission! Kind of crazy just how small this world really is.
This week we had a bit of a rough time finding people that wanted to let us in. We had a couple of rough experiences, but for the most part we were able to just get over it and keep working!
One of them happened on Saturday night. We've been working a little bit recently with a less active that supposedly was "rescued" this last year, but she and her husband are currently inactive again, so we're trying to work with them to get back on track. We had a really neat lesson with them on Saturday night (where we finally met her husband that is now back from working in Sullana) where we read a little bit in the Book of Mormon and talked about the Sabbath day and the importance of going to church. In our district meeting we had talked a lot about leaving commitments and promising specific blessings, and not just saying, "well, you'll be really blessed if you do this." So with that in mind, my companion and I promised them that if they made the sacrifice to go to church tomorrow, they'd be able to have the work they needed during the week and be able to pay for all of their needs. The Spirit filled the room and it was so powerful. He testified to our hearts (or at least to those of my companion and I) that the promise would really come to pass if they did what they were promising us they'd do. They promised us that they would go, and we walked out of that lesson really happy and hopeful for the next day and to see the fulfillment of the promises that we'd left them.
Unfortunately, they didn't make it to church the next day. We're not sure what happened, but we were really sad that they didn't make it. I think that's one of the hardest things for me as a missionary. To leave a promise backed by the Spirit of God and then see that the people don't have the faith to do the thing that will bring the blessings that they need so badly in their lives.
Yesterday morning I was studying Preach My Gospel (one of the benefits of having 10 am church, we get to have personal study on Sunday mornings) and reading about the Christ-like attribute of humility. I read about the definition that is there for pride and it really surprised and humbled me when I reflected on it later and thought about how I often judge the people when they don't keep their commitments. It talks about how pride is when we believe that our own way of doing things is better or will bring better results that the inspired direction of our leaders or from God. I realized that a lot of times I do just that, and that just like our investigators, I lack the faith to really believe that there are people in my life that are ready to hear the gospel, so I don't share it with them, even though a prophet of God has promised me and each of the members of the church that there really are.
I'd encourage each of you to reflect on some of the ways that you can be a little bit more humble and have a little bit more faith in what the leaders of the church tell you or what the Lord is always telling us through the scriptures, and make a goal to change. I know that because of what Christ did for us it's possible. Love you all so much!
Love,
Hermana Garner
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