July 13, 2015

Has It Really Been A Week?

Hello my lovely friends and family :) I missed you :) Mondays are always so fun to open my email and remember that you all exist and that I have people out there that love me despite the fact that we're all so far away and that you still love me :) Haha is that prideful?

This week has been a tough one. Real tough. Everyone that I planned to take Sis. Johnson to....well....we saw them but they talked so much we couldn't have a lesson, or they were about ready to leave and couldn't have a lesson, or they weren't home, or something else. It was hard! I was like man I'm sorry Sis. Johnson, this isn't normal! But part of me felt like it is different to now and that we've got some work to do. By which I mean A LOT of work to do. Like, it's gonna be a rough transfer. God's not letting me have it easy, that's for sure.

So Sis. Johnson and I are starting from ground zero. We have no investigators, and maybe like 6 less actives that we occasionally get in with. So please, please, please pray that we'll find some people! I know they're out there and I know if I just keep working hard that we'll find them, but I need some help, too. I'm doing everything I can to have more faith and hope and patience so that God will bless us with those investigators, and we're working really hard. But we also have a whole lot of work to do with the ward, which is also making it hard to find new people.

Also, I slacked on pictures this week. Sorry. At least you have a cute one of me and Sis. Johnson :) we attempted to get the rainbow in the background, but no guarantees. AND, I somehow managed to forget my planner at home, so I forgot everything that I was going to tell you about. So bear with my scattered brain today.

Observations of Sis. Johnson, my new companion! She's fantastic. I love her to death. She's an absolute HOOT and is SUPER opinionated. But so am I, and usually it's the other way. Like she hates tourists, for example, and makes sure to tell me everyday, but I love them because they're fun to people watch. They're the best kind to people watch, and they are WAY more willing to talk about the gospel than most people are. Okay maybe that's an exaggeration, but they do tend to like talking to us more :)

So let me tell you a story. Two weeks ago, our stake president came to the ward and challenged everyone to sit in a different pew every Sunday. So last week, Sis. F and I put up a sign to remind everyone, and a good portion of the ward moved benches! We sat in the very back row on the very far side and took someone's spot and it was HILARIOUS. They were like whoa it's a whole new view, but they just sat one bench in front of us. Haha. Then this week, we re-vamped our sign and posted it again right before ward council. Well, one of the ward members walked by and said, wasn't that just for last week? And we told her no, it was an every week thing, and she said "Oh, well, I'm still going to sit in my same bench." And then laughed and walked away! It was the mom of the family whose bench we took last week, and she wasn't even there to change benches! And there were a lot of people who went back to how it was.

So that means it's time for another rant. PEOPLE. Our priesthood leaders are inspired. They are literally called of God to say the things that they do, and whether you're comfortable with the things they ask you to change or not, it's like God asking you to change. And then when you don't heed their counsel....well, then you aren't heeding God. It's plain and simple. It's black and white, you either follow God or you don't, through His leaders. It doesn't matter if you don't like them, and it doesn't matter if they don't like you, we're all trying (see Latter Day Saints Keep on Trying from this last conference....SO GOOD) to get back to Heavenly Father, and they are imperfect, but they are doing their best to convey to you what God needs you to hear. So listen and act. That's revelation from God that you are denying the blessings of, otherwise.

Pagosa is teaching me so much....it's like a cramming study session that God is giving me in the last stretch of my mission, and He's hard core teaching me these things that I KNOW will bless me for the rest of my life, if I listen and act. That's the key, though. Cuz if I just listen and think oh well that's a good nugget of information, that's no bueno. I'll lose that lesson so fast and then I won't be able to progress when those challenges come. It's easier to fall. God gives us these lessons from everyone so that we'll change, we'll keep growing, we'll keep progressing to be like our Savior, and eventually we WILL get to Him. But, we have to act.

Family and friends, I love you. I hope you know how much I'm changing, and how much I'm still striving to change. And I want you to do the same, and that's why I tell you all these rants! Haha I feel like they're coming more frequently, but it's because I'm learning a lot and I just can't help but share my little insights!!

Your challenge this week is to sit somewhere new in church. Put a reminder in your phone, write yourself a sticky note, do something, but change seats. Make others do that too, and then get to know the people you sit by!

And your scripture is Doctrine and Covenants 1:37-38. It was something else, but I can't remember what it was and that goes along with my rant. So yeah.

God is teaching you. He loves you. He's doing what He can to get you back to stay with Him.

Be good! Choose the right!

Love ya!
Sister Garcia

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