Grateful for the Gospel!

Well this week was a little up and down but it still ended up being really great.  We didn't teach as many lessons this week, a lot of appointments fell through which was a little frustrating but we still were able to see a lot of miracles. 

We had a really great lesson with a less active lady we have been teaching for awhile.  She is the only member in her family, she has 4 kids who are younger.  Her husband is not a member.  Her one son really wants to get baptized, he is 10 so we have been working with him a lot.  He has such a strong desire to be baptized, he is such a sweet boy.  Her husband has always been really friendly with us but has never sat in on a lesson.  He is very catholic and respects the church but he hasn't really had an interest.  But a miracle happened this week, for the first time he sat in on the lesson with us and he has somewhat of an interest now, he is willing to learn more and supports his son for wanting to be baptized.  We are really excited for this family and have a lot of hope for them.  She came to church this week with all of her kids and she hasn't been to church in a very long time.  She would say "yeah I will be at church this Sunday but never came, there was always an excuse.  So seeing her and her kids at church was such a great thing.  We are praying really hard for this family, especially for the husband that he will have that desire and that he will want this for his family.

We have another investigator that we are working really close with.  She is really close, she is 14, her parents are members and got baptized over a year ago.  She goes to church every Sunday with her family but she for some reason does not want to get baptized.  She went to girls camp this past week and had a wonderful experience.  She has opened up a lot with us and this week, we are hoping that we can sit her down and talk about baptism with her and put her on date.  We think that she just needs a push and that if we put her on date, it will give her something to work towards.  We have been praying for her a lot.

This past Saturday we had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Mt. Timpanogos temple.  We did the session in Spanish, that was the first time I have done a session in Spanish.  We have been teaching a couple recent converts.  We love them so much, and they were receiving their endowments. We got permission to go.  Sister Traini, my last companion also was there which was really nice. What a special experience it was to be there for them.  A lot of ward members were there and a lot of people from American Fork were there that I knew.  It was really neat to do the session in spanish, I was able to catch onto things that I haven't before.  We are hoping in a few weeks that they can be sealed as a family with their kids.  There are some personal issues with that, we are praying really hard that they will be able to.

We had a zone training meeting this past week that was so good.  We talked a lot about talking with everyone.  When I served in my Provo, my zone leaders there were very good about talking with everyone and really helped the zone to be more excited about talking with everyone.  When we would go out to lunch as a district they would make us kneel down and pray and ask specifically where we should go eat so we could find more people to teach.  I definitely opened up a lot serving in Provo because we did that and because I was in a walking area and was able to talk to more people.  I know it is something that I need to keep getting better at.  Sometimes its really uncomfortable or awkward to talk to everyone that we see.  The zone leader that I had in Provo was actually at our zone meeting, he is an assistant now and he is very good at talking with everyone.  And he said something really interesting that I never thought of before he said "The Atonement of Jesus Christ has helped me so much in my life, I truly love my Savior and I know that he loves each and everyone of us and I want everyone to feel that, that is why I do everything I can to talk to everyone, I want them to feel the significance of the Atonement in their life...we have that message to share with everyone, we don't want to hold back".  My testimony of the Atonement has been strengthened so much since I have been on the mission, I truly know Jesus Christ and what he means to me.  Relating the Atonement to talking to everyone has given me the motivation to really do everything I can to talk to as much people as I can. 

I love serving a mission so much.  I really know that obedience brings blessing, and we can see miracles as we are exactly obedient and fully committed to serving the Lord.

I am so grateful for the gospel.  Virginia, I am so proud of you for being baptized, it sounds like it was a very special day for you.

Family- I love you so much, I miss you all a ton especially since the whole family is together and I am the only one gone but I know why I am here.  The gospel has blessed are family so much and I need to be here to share that with others.

Transfers are next week: I have no idea what is going to happen at all. We will see what Heavenly Father has in store for me.

Love,
Hermana Veronica Garces