May 5, 2014

Family, 

First off: mom, I made those brownies, and they were delicious. All the missionaries close to us have decided that they are going to take the Word of Wisdom to a whole new level and they don't eat sugar, so Sister Torralba and I ate way too much and then shared with some of our investigators. It was wonderful. I'm saving that recipe. Thank you. Thank you. 

So, the cultural celebration was cool, huh? Sorry that you didn't see me. We thought that we were going to go down with the kids, but we ended up just being on a higher level. It's good with me though. We were closer to President Uchtdorf. He was funny there and at the Dedication. The Dedication was wonderful. Some really cool blessings were promised. I loved it. 

So, the Lord has blessed us with some wonderful experiences this week. They are small, tender mercies, but they have helped to strengthen my faith so much. 

1. I lost my scriptures at a mission conference a couple of weeks ago. I was so, so sad. They were the red ones that I had all through high school and college. I didn't cry, but I was so very sad. Well, I prayed so hard for someone to find them. I asked the missionaries there to look for them, they did, and they couldn't find them. I prayed and prayed. I knew they had to be somewhere--they couldn't just disappear, so I kept praying. Low and behold, (that is a weird phrase) the Zone Leaders over there called my Zone Leaders and the my Sone Leaders called me. THEY FOUND THEM. I was so happy. 

2. We met this really cool girl. We had taught her a couple times, but we stopped by and her dad was super weird. He acted super sketchy, so we thought that she sent him out to give us the boot. We decided on a whim to text her, and she texted us back and is still interested. That seems silly, but as a missionary it was such a blessing. 

3. We met an awesome kid, who wants to be baptized. He accepted baptism right off the bat. He wants it. We are so grateful for him. 

4. Best one. So, last night we didn't have much food in the house. HAHA don't freak out. We usually get fed, but it was a little different because of the dedication. We made do with a weird concoction and went out to work. Right after knocking doors, Sister Torralba suggested that we say a prayer for our investigator that we were about to visit and also for some food. She said a very direct prayer. She said, "Please bless that someone will call us and give us food." We kind of laughed about it, but knew the Lord would provide in some way. Well, within the hour, our phone rang. It was a less active member that had just fed us about 4 days ago. He said that his wife had made a little extra food and wanted to know if we wanted some. We were dying and Sister Torralba immediately started to cry. We thanked him and accepted the food gratefully. He said that he would bring it to us. As we waited for him to come, we joked that we should have asked for chocolate cake and some fruit. And guess what he pulled out right after the chicken Spaghetti.... CHOCOLATE CAKE AND FRESH FRUIT. We were blown away. We told him that he was an answer to prayer. I'm sure that his faith was strengthened as much as ours was. It was such an awesome experience. I'm thinking about asking for a beautiful, Colombian husband next...

Enough of that. Here are some pictures. 

We biked in the humidity and lived. I may be losing it, but the humidity isn't as bad as it used to be. Sister Torralba may disagree.

We get free Mickey D's in our area. We use it only when we are desperate. We used it on our bike day because we were dying. It is a weird old movie themed one. HAHA very fitting :)

I just get better looking every day, right?

Family, I love you, I've missed you a lot the last few days. I hope everything is going well. God answers prayers. Give Him a try. 

Hermana Gardner
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