Week 76 - My last transfer begins!!

Hi friends!!

This was a really great week. I got to work with another sister, Sister Fiso, in the other area in Barbados and it was so much fun! Sister Fiso and I came out to the field together and I was thankful I got to spend some time with her :) We spent a lot of the exchange contacting in this great neighborhood where we met a lot of super fun people!! We got to help some older people bring their groceries in, met a very cute old lady and her even older mom who had just had a birthday, and got let in by a really nice couple and given juice and scones. We also got to visit one of their friends who had just been baptized last weekend, he is SO cool and I loved getting to teach him! Sister Fiso is a WONDERFUL sister and she has tons of awesome ideas that I wrote down to apply. We really had a blast! 

I got some exciting news that I'm actually going to be transferred over to that area for my last transfer!! Both Sister Fiso and her companion are going together to Saint Lucia, and I'll be going there in their place with Sister Pennell!! I traveled to the field with Sister Pennell, which means we will be finishing our missions off together which is just going to be so crazy and fun. We're gonna work so hard that our chacos break!! :)

I love all the friends that we're teaching SO much. I'm really going to miss them but I know they'll be in awesome hands with the sisters coming in! We're teaching one young man named Bico who understands things really well and we think he could be baptized soon!! The big thing we're working on with him and all our other friends is the importance of coming to church... we've been let down the last couple Sundays when no one answers their phone on Sunday morning and doesn't show up at church. But we will be working harder this week to see what else we can do to help motivate them to be there! 

We did teach a really wonderful woman last night named Theresa, she understands the restored Gospel super well too and I think she could be baptized by the end of the month!! Her neighbor is also one of our friends, she's super adorable. We said goodbye to her yesterday (since I'm being transferred and Sister MacDonald is going home) and she was SO sad to see us go :( Saying goodbye is kinda the worst sometimes!!

This week we got to attend the funeral of a sister from our branch that I got to meet once before she passed away. She was a super sweet woman, and I think her funeral service was really beautiful. I hope my funeral one day will be like a Carribean funeral with lots of singing, testimonies, bright colors, and hope that we'll see each other again :)

This next week is going to be a crazy one with transfers! As the Sister Training Leaders here we'll have quite a lot on our plate with wonderful new missionaries coming in and our beloved other missionaries going home!! It's been a bit stressful organizing it all and I hope I can give the new missionaries the nice warm welcome they deserve to this amazing mission. 

President Fisher asked us to open up the orientation for the new missionaries with a little presentation, and as I've been thinking about what to say, I was brought back to a talk I heard from Elder Cook when he visited the MTC right before I flew into the mission. He talked about 4 relationships we have on our mission that are of significant importance:

1. Your companion! I've learned so many things from ALL my companions that I think I will always take with me and be able to apply to my future, especially with my eternal companion (wink wink haha). 
2. The people! When I first received my mission call, that night I was laying in bed wondering who I'd be meeting on my mission, what it would be like, and kind of becoming anxious about it all. But I felt a thought press into my mind saying, "It's not about you. It's about them." I know that our missions really are about the people we serve and I've come to love them with everything I have. Love for the people makes ALLL the difference when it comes to teaching them the restored Gospel!
3. The mission president and his wife! I LOVE the Fishers and I know we've been matched together for a reason! They've become lifelong friends and I'll always have a very special place in my heart just for them :)
4. The Savior Jesus Christ. This transfer, we're focusing on developing our Christlike attributes. I have a firm testimony that the Lord lives and that following the example he set 2000 years ago can make all the difference in our lives. Because of Him, we can find forgiveness for what we may believe is unforgivable. Because of Him, we can find comfort when we feel we're in the deepest pits of despair imaginable. He changed my life and He is constantly shaping who I am and who I strive to be. I am here on a mission because of Him, and I have no doubt in my mind that it's Him, not me, who leads this work and blesses these people. I love Him.

Thank you to each of you for all your love and support throughout my mission!! I'm a little emotional going into this last transfer but I'm so excited to see what the Lord has in store :)

I LOVE YOU ALL!!! Enjoy the snoooww to those of you that have it hahaha!!

Sister Gardner