Week 45 - A Blessed Week!

Hello friends and family!! 

This week was definitely one for the books. Monday night started off SUPER well with an awesome lesson with this couple we found a few weeks ago. They were really open and receptive to learning more!! 

On Tuesday we taught our three really cool friends preparing for baptism! It was super funny, when we sat down to start the lesson, Richardson gives us this super cheesy smile and says, "Today it's my birthday!," knowing all three of us were about to freak out (which we very much did and we loudly sang happy birthday to him). We had a good lesson focused on baptism and helping them prepare. They came to conference last week and talked about how much they loved it, how they felt answers to their questions and a really strong spirit. We're really hoping they'll get a confirmation to get baptized this month because they are SO wonderful!! Later on that week we stopped by just to do a quick follow-up, but turns out they weren't there because one of the members took them to the church for autonomy class!! We were so surprised and happy to hear that they were at the CHURCH haha!! :)

On Wednesday we saw our funny Dominican friend Albie again. We had an AMAZING lesson and he accepted to be baptized as well!! He came to church for the first time yesterday and had a great experience. The lessons with him are so wonderful because, one, he is super receptive and open to accepting the Gospel, and two, he is hilarious. My favorite quote from this week was, "the three wise men went to Bethlehem to nurture baby Jesus, and the three wise men (referring to us, a trio of soeurs) came to Lamentin to nurture Albie." Hahaha Albie is the best 

We also worked with a member, Soeur Désir. She's from Dominica and she's just about the cutest thing on the planet. She had us go back behind her house to look at her garden-- she also has a pig back there with TONS of little piglets!! It was ADORABLE. Later on, her little granddaughter followed us across the street to an apartment complex and she decided to join us for some contacting haha! She was super cute holding her little Book of Mormon and knocking on doors with us. She also did our hair afterwards :)

Wednesday night, we went to the airport to pick up the sisters in Saint Martin for exchanges!! I got to be with Soeur MacDonald and Soeur Hamner for Thursday. We had a BLAST. It was a pretty crazy exchange-- we got in a little car accident, but thankfully Heavenly Father was looking out for us and no one was seriously injured. Count your many blessings!

On Friday we had a MIRACLE LESSON!!! Junie, a super sweet woman, knew the missionaries about a year ago but lost touch when she moved to a different city in Guadeloupe. But she recently moved back into our area and gave the missionaries a call asking to learn more!! So we went over, and it turns out she is completely prepared for baptism as well. She talked about the temple and how she has a goal of going there with her family one day. She has three young kids who were there for the lesson. They are SUPER cute. Her little 2 year old son was paging through the Book of Mormon and came across a picture of Jesus at the front. I pointed at it and asked, "Who is that?" and he repeats after me, "who is that....?" I say, "It's Jesus Christ!" and again he repeats, "it's Jesus Christ!" Then I respond, "He loves you!!" and he repeats, "He loves me, anpil anpil anpil!!! (anpil means a LOT in Creole). It was the cutest moment of my life <3

That day we also met a TON of cool people contacting who invited us in, including an older lady who sang for us (she can sing soprano, alto, tenor, AND bass-- we were pretty impressed!). We also bought some coconut water on the way home to live the island life haha ;)

Saturday we spent the day in Abymes, so I got to see a couple of the people I taught a transfer ago! It was really cool to see how they've progressed. We also had an interesting fireside that night by Elder Gamiette, one of the Area 70s, all about how the Book of Mormon likely took place in the United States. He showed us this video called Hidden in the Heartland that reminded me of some of the TV shows I watched back home, but it was really cool :)

I also found out Saturday night that I'll be staying another transfer here in Sainte Rose with ma soeur, Soeur Christianson!! Super excited to serve another transfer here :D Soeur Morrell is also staying in Abymes, and Soeur Johnson is coming back to be with her, so it's going to be a PARTY in Guadeloupe!!

On Sunday we had an AWESOME day at church and a great lesson with another friend in Abymes who I taught last transfer. She's now coming to church and is progressing towards baptism, and her two daughters are being taught as well!! So amazing to see the work progress!! :)

Well voilà, that was my week!! Hope everything is going well for you, and that you have a very happy Easter!

Love to you all,

Soeur Gardner