Week 6 - A Week of Miracles!

Wow, this was a really interesting week!! Truly a week full of miracles.

Honestly, at the beginning of the week I was feeling a little discouraged. I was struggling with all the walking, struggling to talk to people, and just struggling to get motivated. On top of that, I came down with a cold. I got a little too in my own head and was just feeling bad for myself haha. But that definitely changed!!! I prayed a LOT to have more motivation, more confirmation that this is where I'm supposed to be, and just for some comfort. It took a couple days, but then the blessings came pouring in!!!

A funny experience first though, that happened earlier in the week:

We were doing some door to door contacting in an apartment complex, and guess who we ran into-- that's right, the woman who followed us the week before! Apparently she lives in the complex, and she was there with her door open as if she was waiting for us. We just said hello and tried to walk past her as quickly as possible as she muttered some insult to Sr Krucher-- we made it past her without much else luckily. But on our way back down (we work appartment building by starting at the top and coming down) we knocked on her neighbor's door. At the same time, of course she came out too and just started at us as we talked to this man. I was getting a little nervous and was praying the whole time that we'd know what to do-- luckily the man talked to us for a long time so I had time to figure out a plan in my head. Eventually, when we had to go, we just walked past her quickly and she said something else to us-- something racist, from what I understood. But we made it out safe and sound and havent really seen her since!

On Wednesday night, Sr. Krucher fell into this rain gutter while we were playing basketball and got really scraped up, which made me think that the next day would probably be really hard. But Thursday turned out to be probably the best day of the mission so far!! We had some really really good lessons and made lots of new friends, Sr Krucher said more than she's ever had in her mission before in one day!! Everyone we met was so sweet and I know it was a blessing from Heavenly Father. When you work hard even when you're struggling, things really do get better.

Another exciting piece of news-- WE HAVE A CAR NOW!!! I'm grateful that I got to experience what it's like to do missionary work on foot, but having the truck is a really big blessing. I've always wanted to drive a truck too, and driving is actually a good stress reliever for me, so I'm thankful :) It's a little weird driving here, especially getting used to round abouts, but I'm getting the hang of it!

Yesterday I had a really powerful experience in church-- we were singing the opening hymn, How Great Thou Art, and I was just overwhelmed with so much love for the people here. They sing loud and proud, sometimes not on key but they dont care haha!! I looked around at everyone in our branch, and I almost started crying because I felt just how much love Heavenly Father has for them. They're teaching me so much. I'm thankful for them, for that experience, and that I get to serve them here in French Guiana :)

We've been blessed with a really amazing amie (friend of the church/investigator)-- she is practically a member already haha! She actually contacted the Church and said she was interested in leearning more, and she is awesome. I think she will be baptized at the end of August!!

Another really really cool experience-- like I said, the majority of the people here live in apartment complexes or in little neighborhoods, but on Friday we decided to walk along a little dirt road that leads to almost a new world-- it was like a dream.This road leads to really humble houses and shacks basically in the jungle, and we met the SWEETEST kids there. We talked to their parents and set up another visit, and the kids took us off on a trail that led to another little family-- a dad and his sweet baby who was only a few weeks old. It looked like all they owned was a bed and a tarp that they had set up in the trees. It was a really humbling experience for me, and I'm so grateful we met them. I hope we'll get to help them more in the next week.

I'm so thankful for the week I had and the people we met!! I really learned the importance of prayer this week and I am seeing more than ever God's hand in my life. 

Love to you all! Til next week!!

Soeur Gardner

FYI this is my address to send mail if you so please!! Its best to not send packages but I'd love to hear from you! :)

Soeur Gardner

La Residence les Jardins du Malhury

Bat F Appt 43

Route de Remire

Remire-Montjoly 97354

Guyane Français, France

Mom note: Morgan sent me the answers to a few questions I had asked, and offered a few other items of info that she hadn't included in her letter:

"-my feet are better! They were a little swollen and my shoes were giving me blisters, but im taking care of them and with the car theyre doing better!

-the bugs actually arent all that bad, not much to report on. I have a couple mosquito bites and theres fire ants, but its not too big of a deal. We do have a fun lizard friend that likes to visit with us as we eat lunch outside though, its fun haha!

-most of the people here are very friendly! Lots of them are from Haiti and are fairly poor, but theyre kind to us. They arent very interested in our message most of the time, which makes it hard to get new investigators, but as you can read in the weekly email its gotten better with that this week!

The language is slowly coming-- its still hard but Im understanding a little more. The hard thing is just expressing myself still. And I am happy and healthy! getting over my cold and feeling really blessed. Things are going well! 

The people were VERY excited about France winning the World Cup hahaha

This week on Thurs I get to fly to Martinique for exchanges, that'll be fun!! (Mom note here: Exchanges are using going to the next closest area for a day to work with a different missionary - well she's doing that, except this exchange is 892 miles! I'm still a little surprised that the missionaries travel so much, and travel alone. What an experience.)