This week was amazing, so many great things happened. Before I begin telling everything that happened this week I want to give a shout out to my family. It was so great to talk to you all yesterday! You all look great. Mom, I am so happy you liked my present! Luke and Cailyn, you have grown so much, I can't believe it! Charles and Amber, I'm so grateful that I was able to talk to you even if it was just for a few minutes. I can't believe next time I see you all, I will be home. It is crazy how fast my mission is going. Next month I will hit a year!!
On Tuesday we has zone conference and it was on the best! We talked a lot about working better with leaders, our ward mission leaders, Bishops, stake presidents. We talked about how we can be effective in ward councils, stake correlation meetings, etc. Out mission is unique in the way that we work a lot with leaders because we cover multiple stakes especially with Spanish work. President McCune then had a few people that were recently baptized come and share their conversion stories. Their stories were amazing. Hearing their stories reminded me of my mom's conversion story. It took her a long time to join, the gospel changed her and my whole family and it has been the biggest blessing for my family to be a part of the gospel. President McCune then said to us "Wasn't that amazing, that is why you are on a mission. It's not about how many lessons you teach, how many baptisms you have, making sure the area book is updated, filling out the progress records, etc.....it is about what you just heard. You are here to share the gospel and the happiness it can bring to others. Hearing President McCune say that was another reminder tome of why I am here. A lot of times we get caught up in the technical part of missionary work, we stress about little things. Covering 14 stakes can be pretty stressful and it's easy to stress more about numbers etc. We have to focus on why we are really here, we will be more happy that way.
We had a great lesson that night with an investigator! We decided to go by this investigator's house we have been working with. She has 3 little kids. The last time we taught her was when Sister Holladay and I had just gotten to the area, so it had been awhile. She opened up a lot to us. She said she had read a few pages of the Book of Mormon but was having a hard time understanding what she was reading. We read a little but with her. We read part of 1 Nephi chapter 1 with her. When we got to verse 12, "And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the spirit of the Lord", we talked about the importance of feeling the spirit. She asked us an interesting question. She asked us how does it feel to feel the spirit, I don't think I have ever felt it before? There was a point on my mission where I felt like I was struggling recognizing the spirit. I testified to her that we can feel the spirit. When we feel the spirit we feel calm, we feel peace, we feel happy, we feel good. I told her that as she continues to read the Book of Mormon that she will feel the spirit and that it will testify to her that it is true. It was such a great lesson with her, at the end she said she felt like she was feeling the spirit as we were teaching her. We have an appointment with her tomorrow, we are so excited for her! We hope she can continue to progress.
On Thursday there was a dance performance for all Mom's and girls ages 8 and up. It was in the stake that our Spanish branch is in. We invited so many people to it and it was an amazing turn out. What a wonderful program it was. They were professional dancers from the group Diamond Dance Company. The program was called "Shining the Light of Our Saviors Love'. Between each dance performance they had a sister bear testimony about the Savior. A lot of people really enjoyed it. It is so amazing that dance and music can bring such a great spirit, I love it! "It is meant for us to have trials and sorrows. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, every piece of coal in our lives can be refined in diamonds, and place on our heavenly crowns".
This week we also had the opportunity to share the "it was mom" video with a lot of people just like we did with the Easter video, "because of him". We had a lot of great experiences sharing it with other people and encouraging them to share it as well.
This week we had a Spanish leadership training meeting. All Spanish speaking missionaries in the mission have to go. It is supposed to be really exciting, there is a seventy that is coming.
I am so grateful to be here and the experiences I have been having. I love it here in American Fork, so many great things are happening!
I love you all, thanks for all the support
Love,
Hermana Veronica Garces
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