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