Week 24 - Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy almost Thanksgiving everyone! 

This week was a pretty exciting week! For disctrict council we watched the church's new Light the World videos and got pumped up to spread the Christmas cheer as missionaries!! I hope you're all getting excited for Christmas as well and are remembering our Savior. This is the perfect time to follow His example and show more love for those around you!

Other exciting things:

-I turned my driving privileges over to Soeur Morrell this week! I'll miss driving Brucie (the truck) but this will help her learn the area in case I get transferred in a few weeks!

-Soeur Morrell also gave a very motivational speech this week to me about submitting to Heavenly Father's will. This phrase has taken on a new meaning for me as a missionary. A lot of things we've been asked by God to do are really hard or just not really what we want as the natural man. But as we humble ourselves, become meek and submissive to His will, EVERYTHING works so much better. As King Benjamin says in Mosiah, we are the dust of the earth. Heavenly Father's, the Creator of the whole universe and everything inside of it. He knows what's best way more than we do.

-Update on Annie: She will be baptized THIS week, the 24th!! We are SOOO excited for her! 

-Soeur Anne-Gaelle, our recent convert, asked us to take care of her cats while she's gone on vacation since we live in the same apartments as her! We got permission from our leaders and get to go over twice a day to feed them and give them some love haha. I've never been the hugest fan of cats, definitely more of a dog person, BUT I must admit that those cats are pretty sweet :) We were so happy we got to help Anne-Gaelle because we love her SOO SO much!

-Yesterday while contacting we met two Haitain men. We were just chatting and getting to know them a little, and when they were Haitain I joked around with them and said, "Hey, me too! I'm from Haiti!" and they BELIEVED me haha! They were like, "Woooowww, wait, you speak creole???" Hahaha hey I applaud them for not categorizing me based on my skin color and my thick American accent. When they finally got that I was joking they just about died on the floor from laughing haha :)

-We also found out yesterday that we will be going back to normal non-smart phones. It was decided that it just wasn't the right time for our mission to have that technology, so we'll be going back to the old fashioned way! I was a little disappointed to be losing access to Whatsapp because it's makes staying in contact with people lots easier, but hey, like I said, this is God's will so we will roll with it! It'll be exciting to see how this changes the work again and I'm sure we'll see great things come of this :)

I just wanted to share a quick testimony about the Sacrament with y'all. Yesterday before church started, we had an experience with a member in the branch that honestly hurt my feelings a bit. I was feeling upset at the beginning of the sacrament meeting and was doing my best to keep it together. But as I sang the Sacrament hymn and partook of the Sacrament, I was reminded of the Atonement of Christ and how much love He has for us. I was reminded that He knows me individually, that He's felt all the pains and heartaches that come with missionary work and life in general. The hurt I was feeling in my heart was replaced with a feeling of love, for my Savior, for my loved ones back home (all of you!!), and especially the member themself. I testify that the healing power of the Atonement is real. The Savior knows your heartaches and shortcomings and will make you strong.

I love you all and hope you enjoy Thanksgiving! Enjoy being with your friends and family and all the yummy food. Sending hugs and positive thoughts!!

Bisous!

Soeur Gardner

(Mom note: That's a lizard in the freezer)