Week 67 - I left the island!!

Hello everybody!! This week we had a lot of really amazing experiences :)

On Monday we went with the sisters to Sainte Anne and ate lunch by the ocean, it was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!

On Tuesday we continued helping our friend Moania clean up her new house, doing service is really fun and we got to know Moania a lot more as we painted and picked up trash. She said this week we can make banane pesée together and I can't wait <3

On Wednesday we were really blessed! As we were contacting in this one neighborhood, we ended up to-to-to-ing at this hospital/rehab/recovery center place! Which was funny because to us it just looked like a normal house haha. But a nurse came out and spoke to us, and said there were a couple patients who are really religious that would love to speak with us. So we sat out on the porch and talked to this one man, with the nurse, and it was really interesting! I never thought I'd be teaching in a situation like that, but it actually was pretty cool! We also happened to get there right during their dinner time, so they gave us a drink and a bokit to go!

Right after that, we went to teach a woman that we had called from the area book. The Spirit helped us a lot to find her house (I've shared experiences like this before-- Heavenly Father really guides us to the people He wants us to see!). And there ended up being three other of her friends there too who really wanted to join our lesson! At first they were talking a lot and were kinda crazy, but as we started teaching and bearing witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and how they can know that it's true, they became very calm and listened really closely. The Spirit came right in to bring the message into their hearts, and it was an amazing experience to see that :)

On Thursday I left Guadeloupe for the first time in AGES (okay it's only been since January but I liked flying more at the beginning of my mission)! Soeur Herrera and I got to go to BARBADOS, the mission headquarters, to do exchanges with our sister training leaders, Sister Morgan and Sister Blomquist! We got there on Thursday night, and I spent the whole day on Friday with Sister Morgan. We walked around the neighborhood and taught a couple lessons. Their area is so small that Sister Morgan had already talked to basically everybody, so it was a lot of just stopping by and checking up on them. It was really fun speaking in English since Barbados is english-speaking, but it honestly was a lot harder than French is for me now because the people speak English a lot differently that we do in the USA, haha :) I had a blast though, got lots of sun and lots of walking in, and everyone we talked to was super nice and friendly! Very special people <3

If you look back at the very first email I sent in the mission field, I think I talked about these two ladies named Esther. When I first got to Barbados, I visited them for just a few minutes. Guess what? After over a year, we stopped by their house again, and I was shocked to see that they still knew who I was! They were so happy to see me and asked all about what I'd been up to the past few months. They have insanely good memories, and I felt so touched by that! 

We also ate at Chefette, which is a fast-food chain uniquely in Barbados. It was SO good. They eat lots of fried chicken there so that's what I got, and it was delicious :)

On Saturday morning I went to a coordination meeting with Sister Morgan, and afterwards as we were leaving, a really old woman walked up to the church and asked if there was an activity going on. Turns out she had gotten the times mixed up and wanted to come to a movie night that wasn't starting for about 5 more hours. But she insisted on just sitting outside the church in a chair until then, so the elders gave her a couple brochures to read as she sat, and as we waited for the other sisters to come pick us up, I chatted with her a little. She was quite the character! She was from St. Vincent and had been living in Barbados since the 1970s. She said she was baptized about 5 years ago and that the missionaries helped her clean up her act a lot. So she was a sweetheart and fun to chat with :)

Then Soeur Herrera and I headed back to Guadeloupe! Even though Barbados was fun, when I got off the plane in Guadeloupe, I just felt like I was home <3 I love the fact that I feel at home on a french speaking island in the Caribbean! Who woulda thunk, haha :)

At the airport before we got our bags, we ran into this man who ended up being a member from the Dominican Republic! He was SO nice and talking to him totally made my day too.

Yesterday we had a gooood day as well! Church was great and in the afternoon we taught this nice man named Denis with Soeur Elise, the lesson went well! Luckily Soeur Elise was there to speak creole to him because I still haven't gotten it down at all hahaha 

That afternoon we were going to teach a lesson to Marie-Janine, who is the sister of an AMAZING recent convert. We walked over to see her, but long story short we ended up having an experience with these other people that brought our spirits down. We needed a pick-me-up and some peace, so we went back to Marie-France's house and read in the scriptures together. We felt so much love from Heavenly Father, and the verses we read brought comfort to each of us. I'm so thankful for the Gospel in my life, that I have that source to turn to myself, and that I get to help others turn to that source too and see the light that it brings :)

I love you all so much!! Sending you hugs and wishes of a great week.

Bisous, 

Soeur Gardner

(P.S. Sorry but pictures aren't uploading from this computer, so if I don't get any sent today I apologize!!)