Fifth week in field...

Well first off Mom and Dad thanks for the package of food! I loved everything in it especially the oat squares (you know that's my favorite cereal) :) 

Last P-day was really fun! We went to a parade that they have in Payson.  They do it every year for labor day and it is a pretty big deal.  We went with a less active family, it was way fun!

This week was really good.  We taught a lot of less active lessons.  We are really trying to work with the members in our ward to bring less actives back to church.  We were able to bring 2 less active families back to church this week and they seemed so happy. 

Another exciting thing we did this week was we went to the temple with Eduardo.  We did baptisms and we went with a few other members.  It was such a great experience for him.  We wanted to see if they could do the confirmations and baptisms for Eduardo in Spanish because he doesn't really know English.  Unfortunately they weren't able to but he still understood the point of it.  It was kind of funny because the man that confirmed me thought I didn't speak English either, he kept talking to me really loud and saying phrases really simply and I was like I speak English, I'm still learning Spanish haha.  My companion, Eduardo, and the other members thought it was super funny haha.

This month we are eating with our Spanish ward which is nice so we can get to know the members more.  The only problem is they expect you to eat everything they give you or they will be offended haha.  They just keep piling our plates haha.  So far the food has been pretty good expect one member gave us these sweet potatoes that was mixed with something and it was gross.  She gave it to us for desert and it was a ton.  My companion and I were like o boy we have to eat this so we did.  It was so gross, after we left their house we wanted to get the taste out of our mouth so we went to McDonald's to get a milk shake haha. 

So our ward is basically all family.  They consist of the Martinez and Garcia family.  They all are related to each other and then there is other families in between.  Its hard to keep track of them all because there is so many of them and they all are family haha.

To answer some questions people have asked me mainly my dad haha.  Most of the people that we teach are Mexican but we do have some others that are from Hondures, Peru, El Salvador, Chile etc.  But most people we contact are Mexican. 

So today we are actually moving to a different place.  We will be leaving our Mansion, we are super sad because we love the Wisdoms (people who we live with).  But it will be nice because we will be closer to people we are teaching so we won't go over miles.  Also it is the last week of the transfer which is crazy, I feel like I just got here.  So next Monday we will know if one of us gets transferred or not.  It will probably most likely be me that gets transferred because they will probably have my companion train another sister since many more sisters are coming into the mission.  So yeah I'm not sure what's going to happen with that, we will see.  It will be sad to leave because I have already grown close to a lot people we are teaching and the members but I know if I get transferred that's where the Lord wants me.

I have learned so much being out in the field, it has taught me so much and I can't wait to learn more!

Thanks everyone for all the love and support!

Love,
Hermana Veronica Garces

Fourth week in field...

Well first off I have to wish a few people Happy Birthday this week! Happy Birthday Melissa, I hope you have a great day! I love you and miss you! Happy Birthday Dad! It is a big one for you haha! Hope its great, you are the best Dad ever!

This week a lot of great thing happened! We had a follow up training meeting in Provo this past week and I was reunited with my MTC district!!!! It was so great to see Hermana Read, Hermana Sablan, Hermana Derges, and Elder Hodges! It felt like I was reunited with my family again!! Everyone seems to be doing pretty well!  Our trainers were in a separate room and us new missionaries were in another room with our mission president, President McCune.  He asked us what we learned so far in the mission field and I raised my hand and said learn to trust in the spirit.  He looked right at me and said Hermana Garces that is amazing that you said that, we are not alone in this work we have to trust in the spirit, the spirit will lead us the way.  Do not ever put yourself down, you are of worth and you are called of God to be here.  I almost started to cry when he said because I have been struggling a lot with trusting in the spirit since being out in the field and feeling of worth.  Everyday keeps getting better!

So this past Saturday we had our baptism for Eduardo and Carmen!!!!!! It went so well!!! The spirit was amazing! Watching them come out of the water was great, they seemed so happy and they said they felt like a new person! It was such a great day! Then on Sunday they both were confirmed and Eduardo received the priesthood and got a temple recommend! He is so solid! We are going to go with him this week with some members to do baptisms at the temple! He says he wants to go out and teach with us! He's going to be such an example to others! Also Carmen's son went to the baptism and he said he wants to get baptized too so we are going to start teaching him!!

Sorry this is short but I don't have much time! Thanks again for all the love and support and all the mail that I received this week!! You all are the best!

Love,
Hermana Veronica Garces

Third week in the field...

Well first off, Mom and Dad thanks for the letters and packages this week!  I loved it! This week a lot of great things happened!

On Tuesday we went to the temple with our district! We went to the Provo temple since that temple is the closest to use! It was weird thinking that I was in Provo just a few weeks ago at the MTC and now I am out in the field, crazy!! Anyways the temple was great, I loved it! Going to the temple was something that I really needed this week and it really helped me! It was good to feel that spirit! After the temple we went out to lunch with our district which was fun! It was fun to bond with other members and in our district!

Also on Tuesday night we had that service project that I was telling you about! It was such a good turn out! So many young women and young men showed up and really worked hard to clean the apartment complex.  We picked up all the trash that was inside and outside, scrubbed the walls, and many other stuff to clean the place up! It looks so much better now! A lot of the little kids that live there even helped clean up!

Wednesday we had zone conference! I was hoping I would see someone from my district in the MTC and guess what I did! I saw Hermana Read ( my companion from the MTC).  We walked in and I didn't see her and she came up behind me and gave me the biggest hug!!! It was sooooo good to see her! I have missed her a lot even though it has only been a few weeks! It was so good to catch up with her on everything! She was seriously the best companion I could have ever asked for in the MTC, I love her!  Zone conference was really good.  President McCune told us a lot of things especially how we should effectively work with the ward council, ward mission leaders, stake leaders etc.  He also told us that very soon we will be getting our ipads! We will have access to use Facebook on it, email, and pretty much everything a missionary needs.  It is exciting stuff!

Friday we met a lady named Rosa that was moving and we offered to help her.  We ended up helping her for over 4 hours! It was really great though and she really appreciated it, we are hoping we can start teaching her! Also Friday night was pretty slow for us as for teaching lessons, I guess as missionaries we forget that a lot of people go out on Friday haha.  So we had a hard time finding people to teach so my companion and I being the rebellious missionaries that we are decided to get a treat and by getting a treat I mean we went to the gas station and got 2 big bags of M&Ms haha.  It was super great haha!

Saturday Eduardo and Carmen (two people that are getting baptized this Saturday) had their baptismal interviews and they are both so ready! We are so excited for them! Saturday night we were invited to this ward social that is in one of the stakes we cover.  IT was at someone's house outside on their lawn.  The elders in our district were also invited! They has us scoop ice cream for everyone and they had a band there that was really good.  So that means we got to listen to some real music haha.  They sang lots of country songs which was fun!  It was an English ward and it was nice to get to know more people. 

So since being out in the field for almost 3 weeks I have learned that it is very tough to learn a language especially being in the states because we are not fully immersed in it.  We work primarily with Spanish people but we also have to work with a lot of the English wards too.  And a lot of the young people that are Spanish speak English and they prefer for us to teach them in English so that has been a challenge here.  But I know it will get better with time.  Also with the Provo mission we cover stakes not wards so we work with a lot of the stake leaders which is different.  Also a lot people think there is not much work to be done in Utah but o my goodness there is a ton of work to be done here.  People have told us that some of the wards here only have 30-40% that attend church and that maybe half of the pews are full on Sundays.  There are so many less active people here, it is really sad.  And there is a good amount of people that aren't members here so there is PLENTY of work to be done here.  I have also learned that we really need to not let Satan bring us down.  I have felt him bring me down pretty much everyday but we really need to rely on the spirit and trust in the Lord.  It is super tough sometimes but I know that listening to the spirit will really help us.

So this Saturday we have the baptism for Eduardo and Carmen! We are looking forward to it! We are going to meet them everyday this week to make sure they stay on track.  I'm so grateful to be serving in Provo, Utah.  It has definitely been a blessing and a learning experience for me. Thanks for all of the love and support. Also happy birthday to my nephew Luke this week, I can't believe he is turning 6! Hope he has a great day!

I LOVE YOU ALL

Love,
Hermana Veronica Garces