2016.03.21 Huasteca

Davis even likes to see graffiti birds.

Hey Mom! How are the California Poppies?

Elder S and Davis running on the La Huasteca dam

Well I`ll tell you what we did this preparation day, we went to La Huasteca today to run with a member. We ended up going to a dried up abandoned dam and we climbed on it and it was pretty cool. I didn`t see many birds, just a phanopelia (or however it`s spelled, species of silky flycatcher.) But the mountains were really pretty and the air was nice (and cold too.) I`ll send some photos.

Well this was a great week, and we finished the change. I thought that elder S was going to finish his mission here with me, but it seems that he will be going to another zone to finish his mission, and my new companion will be Elder G! Wow wasn`t he in the MTC with you, yea he was! Hey that`s going to be pretty neat. So I`m pretty excited for that. Some of the missionaries are leaving the zone, and fresh new missionaries will come, so that should be fun as well. I hope that I can continue to develop good leadership skills and be a friend with everyone so I can help them out when they`re having trouble. There are some missionaries that have been here for a long time, and so they might feel a bit sad because they aren`t having so much success and they`re still in the same area, so we will see what we can do to help them out and encourage them to keep moving forward with faith.

quick joke: Brother Parry, Thanny`s sunday school teacher emailed me. He seems nice. But when Thanny goes over to their house, does he enter saying: "Brother Parry...more like brother PARTY!" And then he starts doing some weird dance they do nowadays that I don`t know because I`ve been here for more than a couple of moons. Alright...

Yay, running to a dam....

Well this sunday we had the ward conference. It was really great, we had 5 investigators there, but I was a little disappointed because the family from last sunday didn`t arrive, but it turns out that they had a family commitment to attend, so that`s alright, we`re going to visit them today in the evening. The Bishop`s daughter has been inviting her friend to the church activities and he came to church as well, and likes to be there at the chapel, We`re going to have a family home evening with him tonight as well. There are a handful of people that can enter the waters of baptism this next change, we just need to work super hard as we have been doing and work well with the members, and continue to grow our faith. I`m excited for this change.

We did have one very impressive experience this week. We were looking for a referral one day, and then we just went up the road, walked for a little while, and then decided to go up an unknown road, we walked up for a minute and we knocked the door of a green house. A nice lady came out and let us in. We started to teach her about the plan of salvation, because she asked us why there were so many challenges in this life, and that she had a sick family member that is on the verge of death. We explained the importance of trials in this life, and that our Heavenly Father wants us to grow, and have faith in his son, Jesus Christ. She certainly was someone prepared by the Lord, because she mentioned that she felt a great feeling of peace, and that she NEVER let people in like us (such as other religions preaching.) But when we knocked her door, she just felt the need to let us in. WOW. Then, Elder S mentioned to me after the lesson that he had said a prayer in his heart that Heavenly Father would guide us to someone who would be baptized. Double WOW. We visited here the next day, and she still had that wonderful feeling, and her husband also accepted us well. Unfortunately, they just left for a trip for a couple of weeks to be with family members a ways off (Probably because of the break.) But, that was truly amazing that we were able to find them before they left, and I`m full of gratitude to the Lord that he lets us be instruments of the Holy Ghost just like that. We do all we can to be obedient and diligent and loving, and the spirit guides us and just "blows us out of the water."

Also, I finally finished the Book of Mormon on the subject of pride. That took over 4 months, yikes that`s a lot of pride present in the Book of Mormon. It really demonstrates that when others look to raise themselves in power or in riches, or simply want to satisfy their needs before the needs of others, they lead themselves to spiritual and physical destruction.

Thanks for the advice mom, I feel that the mission is just getting harder and harder, which is incredible, because it requires me to strengthen my faith and keep giving it all that I`ve got. I love it because I feel that Heavenly Father is showing me how much he expects of me, but how much confidence he has in me, and in all of us.

I`ll let you know next week how it goes in this new change! I love you all!

Elder Davis Garner