Parting with Hermana Bumstead, new companion Hermana Smith

So this week was really bitter sweet.  I had to say goodbye to my companion Hermana Bumstead after being 3 months with her.  On Tuesday we spent all day visiting less actives, investigators, members so that my companion could say goodbye to everyone.  It didn't hit me she was leaving until Wednesday when I was helping her lug all of her luggage out of the house.  She has been so amazing to me and I know our companionship was truly inspired. 

So my new companion is Hermana Smith, she was my sister training leader last transfer and we were in the same zone! So we already know each other pretty well, we were super shocked that we got called to be companions because we were not expecting that at all! We are super excited to be serving together! She is from Oklahoma and she has been out almost a year. 

So I was pretty nervous taking over the area because I never I have had to do that before.  One of my zone leaders asked me before getting my new companion how I felt about taking over the Provo Slate Canyon area and I said "I am pretty scared but what is keeping me hopeful is that the Lord still wants me here and that there is still work for me to do here".  He said "You are going to do awesome this transfer, Sister Garces...it is your time to shine and your Spanish is going to get a lot better and you will have a lot of success, I know it".

This week I have had to take more initiative in teaching lessons and making phone calls in Spanish and using a lot more Spanish than I am used to.  This week was really great, we were able to teach a lot of lessons.  We got really lucky with getting rides, a lot of members were able to come out with us to teach.  We even committed one of our investigators to get baptized.  We set a date for her for the 22 of February.  I am so excited for her, she is so ready and has a really strong desire.  Her daughter is super interested too, we didn't set a date yet for her because we didn't feel it was the right time but we are hopeful this week we can! We were able to teach a lot of less actives this week as well.  And church was amazing, we had so many less actives that came back to church and several investigators that came.  We haven't had that many people come in a long time.  Out gospel principles class was full and it hasn't been that way for awhile.  Our ward mission leader was so happy with us, he was so amazed how so many people were at church. 

I am so grateful for the success we had this week and I know it wouldn't have happened without the help of my Savior.

I know I am still in the Provo Slate Canyon area for a reason.  This area is really great and I am looking forward to building up the area even more!

Thanks again for everything, I love you all!!

Love,
Hermana Garces