Week 24-Baptism

Que lo que mo?

This week was transferre week and I got to stay!! Woohoo what a blessing! I am so grateful because I don't want to leave! We are starting out this tasnferre with a big bang! 

Wednesday we went with Carol and we started all of their papers! Woohoo they just need to do a couple more things and then her and Hadid can be baptized! Grated it took us basically the entire day (mostly because we were waiting for her to get ready for a while) to get everything done but hey! It was totally worth it! 

We also have a date for Elizabeth and William!! Ahh I am so excited because there are going to be 2 weddings!! Woohoo! If anyone has easy cultural hall wedding ideas please let us know because we are all for ideas!

Saturday Bayron was baptized! He is Elzabeth's and William's son and they didn't want him to have to wait for them to be married for him to be baptized! It was so beautiful! He was so happy and William and Elizabeth were also so happy! They were just so prepared and understand everything and I am so excited for them!! 

Sunday we had both Bayron and Jose confirmed! Jose even received the aaronic priesthood! This week was just so amazing and I can't even begin to conveye how grateful I really am to be able to stay in this area! It is so great and the people here are so amazing! They are so welcoming and loving and there is never a dull moment! 

With this last transferre the zone is really different and the hermanas are fading out! They whitewashed two areas! Now there are only 6 hermanas and 12 Elders! It is super crazy! The  mission wont be getting anymore Hermanas until January!! Super crazy but what can you do?

The rain has picked up and is starting to flood!! Everywhere there is water and Everything is just wet It is so crazy! Umbrellas dont even work! You walk out and get drenched from head to toe! Our house has a coupke of leaks and the front door area sometimes floods but atleast when it rains there aren't any bugs! See! Blessing in everything!

I love you guys all so much and hope you are enjoying a very nice and sunny labor day! Thank you for all your love and suppport! This church is true and this is the Lord's work! every memeber a missionary! You guys can feel His love for His children by opening your mouths as well! 

Les quiero mucho! Cuidense

Hermana Garcia

Bayron's Baptism! Elder Nelson was able to baptize him :) 

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Week 23

Well hello there!

This week was a really great week! The majority of our investigators are progressing!! Woohoo its such a blessing! I am kind of freaking out because there are transferes this week and we find out soon whether or not we have changes and I really hope I don't!

Wednesday we had an awesome lesson with Annett on the plan of salvation! She even read what we left her! I love how serious she is taking it and really am praying that the Lord is sending her the spirit and that she is really and truly seeking it. Next step is to get her to church! After her we had a lesson with Xenia who is this super old but flipping adorable woman! She is kind of lonely and tad loca but every lesson we have had with her she has felt the spirit. The problem is that she can't go alone... we had a lesson with her on the Sabbath day and just how great and important it is to go to church. We mentioned how it is like a big family and everyone is there to support one another. She loved it so much and she even started to cry when we mentioned the family part! It was really quite touching... Unfortunately she did not come to church yesterday but we will see what happens!

Friday we did this super cool service Project! we made panamanian tamales! (they are not nearly the same as mexican tamales.... they may look somewhat the same but the taste really isn't there...) But anyways we as missionaries were in charge on making maíz or the dough for the tamales by grinding up the actual corn into the paste..... we walk in and we see these two big coolers full to the rim in corn! It was crazy! We only had one machine to grind it all up and at the beginning it was going really slow but then we picked up the pace and man we finished a whole cooler before we had to go! It was exhausting but actually a lot of fun and a really neat experience!

Saturday we were supposed to have another temple tour with out investigators! The temple has been closed for maintence and so they cancelled it! Then (since we had already paid for the bus) we were going to have our APs do a Little tour and talk about missionary work and then we were going to stop by and see the temple from the bottom.... then the bud got cancelled as we were waiting for it to pass!!! We were waiting with William, Elizabeth, Bayron, and Derek (Bayron's friend who has starting investigating the church!) and Carol with her futuro esposo (Yes still aren't married...) were on their way! They were all so excited to go to the Temple so we took them anyways because they each had cars! It was great! They even let us walk on temple grounds and around the temple! Although we didn't get a tour we were still able to have these two families feel of that beautiful spirit and to know that families can be eternal. They both aren't married but they were able to be reaffirmed in their desires to really get married so they could be baptized and enter into the Kingdom of God. we are already planning Elizabeth's and Williams wedding! They even started the process today!! I am so excited for them!

Elizabeth and William didn't want Bayron to have to wait for them to get married so this saturday he will be baptized!! I am so excited for them and for their diligence and understanding! It really is a beautiful thing to see!

This work is amazing and everyday I know with more surety that this church is the true church of God. I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to serve here with these people and to be able to grow closer to the Lord and to gain His trust. I am humbled daily that the Lord has placed this responsibility in my hands to help bring more of His sheep back into the fold. Please remember to always open your mouths! Don't be scared! The worst they can say is no!

I love you all so much and thank you so much for all your love and support! 

Les quiero mucho!

Hermana Garcia

Week 22

Hello all! 

What a busy week it has been! It really just flew by! EVERY SINGLE LESSON WE HAD PLANNED FELL THROUGH!!! (except for 4...)  Needless to say it was pretty frustrating! We did not let that get us down though! We worked hard contacting literally everyone on the street walking the majority of the time to everything! We were exhausted but we actually got some pretty hilarious stories out of it!

So we contacted this lady by knocking doors and we gave her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and she was pretty religious (She was super religious) and she was also very nice. She was saying "Amen" and "Halleluja" (I don't know how to spell that...) to basically everything we were saying, so we decided to give her a Book of Mormon and set an appointment to come back the next day. We returned the next day and she came out to the gate to greet us but said she read the pamphlet and the Book of Mormon but didn't think it would be a good idea if we were to come in.... That really hurt because she didn't want to listen to our message of the Restored Gospel because it was just "different then her beliefs"... So as we were kind of standing there not exactly sure what to say because we didn't want to fight or argue all I felt like I needed to do was bare my testimony to her of the Book of Mormon and how I know that if she will continue to read it that it would change her life. We then left her with one more chaptture to read, 2Nephi 29. She was very nice in her rejection to us. It definitely was the nicest rejection I have ever had but It till hurt.

We had a lesson with Linda this week who has been an investigator for a little while but has not been progressing at all. We had a lesson on the Book of Mormon with her and promised her that through this book she would find all her answers and that she will want to follow the commandments and be baptized if she would just read it. We then said that the Lord would answer questions and she could open to whatever page and read whichever verse and there the answer would be. So she tried it there with us and opened to Jacob 6:7-8 and there was an answer alright! It reads  

"7 For behold, after ye have been nourished by the goodword of God all the day long, will ye bring forth evil fruit,that ye must be hewn down and cast into the fire?

 8 Behold, will ye reject these words? Will ye reject thewords of the prophets; and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning him; and deny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great plan of redemption, which hath been laid for you?"  It was a fantastic kick in the pants with her and tomorrow we will see once and for all if she is really and truly progressing to baptism.

On Thursday we had a lesson with José who is supposed to be baptized this Sunday! We just need to finish teaching him the rest of the lessons but we are having a difficult time finding times to meet with him because he lives in an area that we actually can't enter into with out the elders or a priesthood holder. So the Elders were with us and we taught José Lesson 3 the Gospel of Jesud Christ and right as we were leaving it started to just pour rain! It was extremely unfortunate because it was already 6:45 and we had to get going to make it to dinner at 7. Well the rain was so bad we had to wait for it to even kinda ease up to run through it. (Umbrellas were completely useless in that rain). We ended up waiting for about 15 minutes talking to this group of teenage girls who just thought we were hilarious. Then we ran through the rain getting drenched all the way to the bus stop! We were soaking wet and were still getting wet from the rain and the wind as we were waiting for yet another 15 minutes for the bus. We were very blessed that there was still a bus running because those Diablo Rojos are very unreliable! Needless to say it was an adventure for us all and was really entertaining! Los pobrecitos elderes got sick though so it just proves that Las Hermanas just have stronger immune systems!

Saturday was our day in Portobelo again and all those sitas fell through as well... We ended up having a very entertaining street contact with a very drunk guy on the word of wisdom after he offered us beer! It was quite hilarious especially after he said that he didn't need us to tell him the word of God because he used to be a pastor. Hermana Patrick pointed out the six pack of beer in his hand and he got all defensive saying " Before, before!" (I am sorry it is just a lot more funny in Spanish!) We left him with a pamphlet of the Word of Wisdom and then walked away. I honestly thought he was going to fall over he was just swaying!

On Sunday The Alston Family came again to church and stayed all 3 hours and it was fantastic! Unfortunately attendance yesterday was low "because of the rain" but its rainy season so this will be rough... Anyways so they came and it was fantastic and they are just such a blessing! We has a lesson with them later after church on the Plan of Salvation and the first question we asked was "What do you think the plan of salvation is?" or something like that because I said it in Spanish! Elizabeth ended up answering and she basically gave the whole lesson! It was fantastic and the whole lesson was so great! Before we could even invite them to be baptized she was talking about how they know they need to be baptized so that they be an eternal family and they know they need to get married so that they can be baptized. Hermana Patrick and I were just dumb struck! It is so fantastic and they have a fecha for the 5th of September! We just need to get all the marriage stuff done before that! Pray that all will go smoothly with them! They are so prepared!!

I thought I would just share a little thing that I loved on Humility. I feel like everyone is always saying that they need to be humble but we never really realize what causes pride. I have been focusing on this a lot this past month and have learned that humility is directly tied to our obedience. When we are obedient we are showing the Lord our humble heart. We are showing to Him that we will do whatever it is He asks us because He knows best. When we aren't obedient it shows that we think we know better therefore showing the pride of our hearts. I have really loved learning and searching more on this subject and have learned so much and realized just how proud I really am. I am working daily to have a soft and humble heart to really prove to the Lord I am His servant and I encourage you all to do the same. The blessings that come will be many.

I love you all so much and thank you all for your love, support and prayers!

Les quiero mucho!

Hermana Garcia

Week 21

Hello all!

This week was yet another great week! I GOT MY PACKAGE! I was so excited I did a little dance when I walked into our zone meeting and everyone was being all quiet reading their Liahonas hahaha I LOVED IT!

On Tuesday we did not end up casting out any demons because unfortunately her husband very much hates the church and is a scary guy. We didn't actually meet him but we met his aunt and she told us that shes even scared of him! Guess we found out who the demons really are! So that was a little worrisome but we have kept trying to pass by her house to check up on her but she hasn't been home... We then were able to meet with Lourdes who is still so solid and we talked to her more on the Priesthood and what makes our church different from all the others! Its was a really great lesson and she has been reading the Book of Mormon and everything! Now she just needs to come to church... Always the hard part!

Wednesday was a really really special day. We had planned to use this day to go contacting in an area that had no members and no passed investigators. It was just untouched! That whole morning during our studies we were just praying for someone. We just needed to find someone new. Someone prepared for us, and we did. It was the greatest thing on the planet! The very first house we knocked on a little boy came out and we asked if his parents were home. He said yes and then his mom popped her head out the window and was asking what we wanted. We presented ourselves and asked is we could share a message with them. She let us in, gave us water, and then we got to know her a little bit. We found out that she didn't attend any church but that she and her husband have been looking for one but haven't really felt like any of them were true. We said how perfect we have the true church which is perfect for you! She said she has heard about it and they have tried to visit it but it was closed... So sad. Well we started out with a hymn (and she actually sang with us) and then the opening prayer. We then taught the Restoration and she the whole time was accepting every part of it and the spirit was just so strong! At the end she brought out a copy of the Liahona from 12 years ago that they had and she said they even had more! It was so great and we invited her to church and she said she would go! We stopped by again on Friday so check in with her and remind her about church on Sunday and she said that we could wait a little bit because her husband was on his way home from work so that we could meet him too. So we waited and talked with her and found out that she was reading the pamphlet that we left them and also the Book of Mormon! We were so excited and then her husband got home and they were leaving so they actually took us home! (yay! one less crazy diablo rojo to take!) He was really interested and said that they were definitely coming to church and we set a lesson with them for sunday at 4. Sunday rolls around and we call them in the morning to remind them and they said they were getting ready so we were super excited!! So they weren't there for the first half of sacrament meeting and we were getting super sad about that but they came when we were singing the intermission hymn! It was fantastic and they stayed the rest of the time and all the lessons were just perfect and they just loved it! Familia Alston is their name, William, Elisabeth, and Birón. At the end of church William downloading the gospel library on his phone! We later had our lesson with all three of them and reviewed the restoration but this time with the 20 minute restoration video! The spirit was so strong and my testimony was strengthened about how true the restoration really is. They even ended up going to this fireside for married couples!! I am so excited for them!! 

José came to church yesterday! He was so proud to finally get his third assistence! He chenged his work schedule and everything and came to church compeletely exhausted becuase he got off work at 4 that morning and waited for church to start! We set a baptism date with for the 23 of this month because he is still missing some lessons but man does he want to baptized as soon as possible!! I am so excited for him! 

Hermana Noris is totally active again and I helped with that! It was super rewarding and we stopped by her house to share a message and she has been reading the Book of Mormon on her own and visited the temple just to sit outside and the bishop even wants her to start taking temple prep!! I am so excited for her to recieve these blessings!! 

Guys this church is so true and the Book of Mormon is the most amazing book on the Planet! If we will read and study it daily we will never falter! We will never go inactive because it is true and that spirit we feel when we read it is real. It is the love of God and we are so blessed to have it in our lives! 

Thank you all for your love and support! I love you all!

Les Quiero mucho!

Hermana Garcia 

All the Hnas in Porotbelo for a zone Pday!!

Zone pic!

Week 20 - BAPTISM!!!

Hey ¿Que sopa mo?

We had a baptism this week!! It was the perfect end to a very strange week! Let me start from the beginning :) 

Tuesday we had an awesome lesson with our investigator Lourdes! She was the contact we had when Hermana Salas saw the swimming pool and just knocked the door and have been meeting with her ever since! She is so funny and loves having us over for lessons. Though she still hasn't come to church I am confident that she will eventually come! Our lesson with her was so great! We just talked about the Book of Mormon and bore testimony and the spirit was so strong! We read the introduction together and then opened it to a random scripture and it was the perfect scripture! At the end of the lesson she paused and said "I really need to read this book"!!! It was so great and we were so happy!

On Wednesday we had a lesson with another contact for the first time. She was actually a contact I had with Hna Salas but we never found her again, so this time we made sure to get all the details of her house! (There are no house numbers or even streets sometimes...)  We didn't think they were members or anything so we started out everything with this woman and her 4 daughters. We start singing the opening hymn (How Great thou Art) and halfway through the hymn her youngest daughter runs out of the room and returns with another Hymn book!! We were so shocked and confused! The lady (I guess I should say that her name is Vileca) said they went to a different church before hand so after the hymn we questioned further as to why they have a hymn book and found out that 3 of her daughters were baptized in the church 2 1/2 years ago but she said she was baptized in a different church. We questioned a little bit more and found out that she too was baptized in the church the same time as her daughters but started going to a different church because one of the daughters dad didn't like them going to the church so we they stopped. So we continue on to the prayer and Vileca offered to say it. In the prayer she asked for help with her sickness. I was impressed to ask what it is she may have and she responded with "Tengo demonios" Yes this word is very similar to demons but we weren't so sure so we asked what that was playing our gringo card to get some clarification. She clarified with "Concocen el diablo y infierno".... She has demons ladies and gentleman! It was great! So we kept our cool and said that the Elders would come with us the next lesson and give her a blessing! So tomorrow I will experience my very first demon casting out thingamagig! After the lesson we went to check out her teaching records in the Area Book and found out they were never confirmed so we should be having 5 more baptisms! The youngest daughter just turned 8 so she can not be baptized too! 

Okay so now for the very best part! My very first baptism as a missionary! I was so excited and she was so great! She really wanted to be baptized so we were able to cram in all the rest of her lessons so that she could be baptized yesterday! Her name is Michelle and she is 21 and was dating the son of one of our most faithful members! He is on his mission right now but she continued to take the lessons and just really wanted to be baptized because she knew it was true! ( Hey I can see the blessing from his mission already! It is always helpful with that extra help! :)) So yesterday we  were able to help her get prepared to be baptized and she was baptized by his dad and she was just so happy and nervous beforehand and then afterwards was just so happy! It was the greatest thing ever and it just helps reaffirm my testimony. I feel like everyday I have experiences for my own personal growth. The Lord knows exactly what I need and for that the mission is in no way a sacrifice. These blessings are just too great! If anything I feel a little selfish because I have been so blessed! I know what my purpose here as a missionary is and it is to bring souls unto Christ. Enduring to the end is probably the most important thing for us in this life. We can't achieve exaltation without doing what the Lord has commanded. He knows us and He loves us and will bless us if we are humble and willing to ask!

I love you all so much and thank you for your love and support and prayers!

Les quiero mucho!

Hermana Garcia

 This is a picture of Me Hna Patrick and Michelle before her baptism!!!

 Michelle walking out of the baptismal font!

Me and Michelle after baptism!!! Woohoo!

 Hermana Patrick before I gave her a perm!