Gate City Branch (SP)

1. My Oliver slippers  and the tree, yayyy.

 2. With Jose Octavo. He was baptized the week before I got here. We have been teaching him the lessons after his baptism.

3. One cold day we were passing by a Baptist Church y saw the sign for the pastor and well...

4. Rogelio! Oh how we love him. He couldnt come to church so we spoke with him through Facebook and we read the Book of Mormon. We asked him to smile for the photo. Doesn't he look happy?

The Lost Name Tag, The Chicken in the Rain, Using FB to Teach, 1 month In NC

I needed an interesting title to intrigue :)

This week wasn't super eventful, which did make things kind of frustratig since i felt as if i wasn't doing anything. I'll share some of my favorite things that happened.

-On Tuesday i couldn't find my favorite nametag (i had a backup) and i was really sad. I prayed and prayed i would find it, but i felt as if i found the nametag in parts. I found  the magnet part of it one day, but not the actual thing. This taught me to pray fervently and to pray not only to find it, but to for the belief I actually would. 4 days passed until i actually did find it. It had dropped in a memebers yard, proabably while i was taking my shoulder bag off. It was such a miracle and i knew that this week i was suppose to learn the importance of prayer.

On saturday night, as my comp and i were planning, she said we needed to pray for new investigators. With Rogelio being baptized soon, we need new progessing invetigators.  With that in mind, i prayed that we would be blessed with the willingness to work and find, and for us to prove to God that he can trust us with new people to teach. On Sunday, we had 3 invetigators come. Because they fulfilled their commitemet and they accepted a return appointment, that day we gained 3 new progessingn invetigators. Miralces happen :)

-This week it rained a lot. It was cold rain and we were walking in the trailer park neighbourhood since we had several people in the area. No one was opening and we were both cold and wet and a little tired. Just then, as we're turning from the door to the street...comes a chicken. A chicken :) I can't help but laugh at how strange it is. My comp and i started laughing and joking and start taking pictures and have a blast, in the middle of a rainstorm with a chicken on the road. I love the tender mercies we see during the day. The way we laugh at the most random things, the way our conversations become something inspired and meaningful, and the way all things denote there is a God.

I am blessed to be part of a mission where we are allowed to use Facebook to proselyte. Only 10 mission in the world are FB missions. Our on date investigator wasnt able to come to church, but we were able to fb video chat and read the Book of Mormon! It was so fun and such a neat experience.

I learned this week that missionary work is something that should be enjoyed. Although not all weeks will be super successful, or eventful, its important to laugh and have fun and enjoy the minor details of our life. Im grateful for facebook, for the chicken who crossed the road (hah) and for the power of prayer. I know that through prayer we connect with our Heavenly Father. That time is so sacred, so personal and so needed in our lives. We need prayer because God needs to hear from his children. I love being a missionay and having lived in North Carolina for 1 month! Such a beautiful state :)

-Hermana Garcia

1 MONTH!

Rainy Day

Extra Pictures!

I always mean to attach them to the email, but frankly i get too excited and just sent the email. But here are these weeks pictures!

-We do service at an animal shelter where we take the dogs out of their cages to run and play. One of them was so huge it knocked me over and almost sat one me.
-The little boys who helped us during tracting
-Decorating the tree at a members home! YAY
-Chilling in the Mcdonalds parking lot using their wifi to sync area books and send in our information to our District Leaders
-Selfies because...we have tablets haha ;)

Week 3

Hello Friends!
You'll be happy to hear that i had 2 dinners for thanksgiving. Life is great, and like all good missionary emails, I'll add the highlight of the week.

This week I actually had a day in which i got dissapointed. The morning started off just fine and then during lunch, on our way to our appointment, we got super distracted (1st downfall). We got to our appointment and they  didnt open the door (2nd downfall). No biggy, we had another appointment with a member. We get there, and the member is there! YAY! But the person we're teaching doesnt seem to be home (3rd downfall). At this point i was sad and felt bad the member had come all way and that both teaching appointments fell through. My comp ripped her skirt so we had to drive back to the apartment. On our way out the door once more, we prayed that we could be happier and that we could see miracles. We prayed thar the dissapointment wouldn't get to us. Miracles happen :)

We tried a house where a less active lived but we discovered they didn't live there anymore so we decided to try the neighbours in hopes that they were hispanic. As we started walking, these two boys who were playing outisde asked what we were doing and we happily told them that we were sharing a message of happiness! They looked at us confused. My companion gave them a christmass pass-along card and they loved it. They overheard us saying how one of the houses was hispanic and so one of the boys says, "I can help you find the mexicans!! That house, and that house....and that one!" He said as he pointed to the houses. That was such a great help to us. The boys kept following us and would overhear what we would say and then they would keep playing with their toy water guns and lightsaber. One of them made it a game.

The boys would run and knock at the doors they knew were hispanic. There were a couple times that we had to run to the door since they had knocked on it while we were so far away. It made it so fun though. we knew that Heavenly Father used them to help us have fun and to have success. We found several people to teach becuase of them. They were so fun that i just had to have a picture with them.

I learned this week just how much God is willing to bless is children, you and me. He loves us so much that he simply wants us to come to him and ask for them. He, like any good father, wants to have his children be happy and wants to give them what they wants, all we need to do is ask.  I have never felt this kind of love in my life. I have grown up in a family where love is always constant, i have been surrounded by wonderful friends and teachers who love me, but being here in the mission field, love is different. Its  different kind of love. I feel Gods love for me as i love others.

Update: We have 2 people planned for baptisms. They are individuals who have been well prepared for the Lord, all we need to do is teach them. They are both set for January.

Every day i realize how privledged i am to be serving a mission and to be a missionary. I hope this week is a great one for all you back home!
-Hermana Garcia

Week 2 on the Mission!

Greeting from the Greensboro, North Carolina!

Yup, where in the world is that?! Its about 2 hours north of charlotte. Infact, Sister Fragoso and I are in the furthest parto of the mission. Super close to Virginia. i have been assigned to the Piedmont Branch which a spanish speaking branch! I didnt thin i would be serving spanish speaking so soon but it happened! The mission office is sending me my new nametags soon :) Since the ward is small, we are working with the inactives to get them coming again and to also get refferals from them. I'll share with you one of my favorite things that happened this week.

The Gomez family is inactive family who haven't bee to church in a while. We went to their house and i we used the "were new to the area and want to meet the branch's members!' card and the "im new to the mission! can i practise on you!" card haha. Sister Gomez said we could come back on saturday when her family would all be home. So we did. Sister Fragoso (14 months on the mission, from Merida Yucatan Mex) said that the best thing to do for inactive memebers is to do the Restoration with them. That lesson is very powerful and always invites the spirit. Doing so will enable them to remember how they felt the first time they heard it. So we had that planned.

When we get there, they let us in and Bro Gomez right of the bat tells us why he hasn't gone to church. He said someone from his ward back in utah really did him an injustice. He said the man who stole from his was a person who he trusted and when the member did that to him, he just coulnd't beleive. He said he didn't want to be around people like that so he left. His wife continued to go but she felt uncomfortable since she felt people from the ward labled her as a single woman. So she left. My companion and I listened to this and felt that we needed to remind them of thier testimony. Remind them that their conversion and testimony isn't to the people, but to our Father in Heaven. So we taught them the restoration. When we got to the part of telling Joseph Smith's vision, the room was filled with the spirit. We invited them to think back to when they first heard the story of the first vision, and then proceeded to tell them. As my companion recited the words of Joseph Smith,  the room felt as if it was sucked in and shut off from the world. It was so powerful. We all had tears in our eyes. Then brother Gomez said, "I have to go back.  I know i need to. I have been away for far too long and i want my family to be happier." He then turns to his wife and says, "Ive alway known this is true. It was good to have them remind us." I felt like crying. I felt so happy for them and so glad that they felt that.

As missionaires, our purpose is for others to feel and know what we know. I am a child of god. YOU are  childl of god. That in it's self is something that could change the world of an individual. That knowledge. And we as missionaires get to do that. But we can't do it without the members. As members; missionaries and not missionaires, it is our job to bring the world it's truth!

One last thing i wanted to share, that really made me reflect. We went to a less-actives house. When we asked if he missed coming to church he said, "no, not really. Im really comfortable the way i am." That stuck with me for the entire drive back home. I asked my companion if Happiness is synonimous for comfortable. And we came to the conclusion: The Gospel of Jesus Christ is something that never leves you stagnant. It will always make you grow. She then said something i loved:  Faith is uncomfortable. As members, we know that living the gospel means we are constantly changing. We are always wanting to improve and never "comfortable." Better yet, if we are comfortable, something is wrong. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is to be utalized every day. Everyday we should be making changes that make us better, make us uncomfortable and make us grow.

Are you comfortable?

My dear freinds, ward members and family, I love this Gospel. I love the blessing and opportunity it is grow. I love that mistakes are allowed and even encouraged, because then and only then can we become what we were meant to be. Be strong and be missionary always.
-Hermana Garcia

5281 Hilltop Road 
Apartment R 
Greensboro North Carolina
27407