Monday, January 17, 2011

Whirlwind, Rainy Week--Sunshine in My Heart!

 Mis padres and Familia en toda!

Wow! I loved the description of your week---a whirlwind. I can relate here in Ecuador! Last night, it rained harder than I have ever experienced in my life. We were literally walking through a river in the streets. My clothes were soaked through within a couple of minutes. It took all of my will power to not grab the hand of my companion and dance in the rain. I am not sure how appropriate this would be as a missionary. At the point when we were chilled to the bone and realized no one would let us into their apartments looking as we did, we took cover in our apartment.  From what I hear, this is just the beginning of the rainy season.

Even when it is rainy, I realized I can have sunshine in my heart. Since it is super hot during the day, it is not too difficult to remember the warmth of the sun. :) This week was full of little tender moments.
 
We found a family that has four little boys--all under the age of five. Their house is really only one room and the other parts of their house has some kind of covering over it. I don´t even want to imagine the damage from the rain last night.... Their youngest child is only 16 weeks old and he was born premature two months. I believe he is the smallest baby I have ever seen! Sooooooooooo precious. The mother- Jacqueline loves reading the Book of Mormon. They didn't come to church this Sunday with us unfortunately so this will be a challenge to overcome. When we visited the family on Saturday, Mario, the father was gone and Jacqueline was trying to calm her four boys who were running around crying. It was a really special experience for Hermana Rosas and I. We sang I am a Child of God and the boys settled down. It was so precious--- one of them came over and rested his head on my knee. Unfortunately, I did not realize he had poop on his hands. Yeah this was nice on my skirt....Thankfully my skirt was black. So I just wiped it off with some water and we were able to move on without too much commotion. Even wild little boys can feel the Spirit  to be calmed. With this experience, the rain, and my week reminded me of the song ¨Master the Tempest is Raging.¨ The beautiful part is that the Savior comes and says ¨Peace be Still.¨

The greatest tender mercy this week was immigration. Yes. All of the new missionaries traveled to Guayaquil to receive ID cards from Ecuador. I am thankful for this law of Ecuador because guess who came to our apartment at 6:30 am from Loja?! Hermana Salmon!!!!!!!! AHHHH! It was the happiest reunion yet of my mission. We ate pancakes with peanut butter and caught up on the past month of our missions. It was a little boost of happiness that I needed. I would love love love to serve with Hna Salmon again in the future. What good motivation this is for me to learn Spanish...Not that I need more motivation. Truly I feel the greatest source of motivation from the fact that I want to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to share it with my hermanas and hermanos!!!!

I was thinking this morning about how thankful I am for our family. I remember mom and dad when we lived in the house on Grandview, you made a chart for the Book of Mormon. After we read to a certain point, we would get a reward like a blizzard from Dairy Queen, or an even bigger reward after finishing Alma. As much as these rewards were delightful, I realize now the greatest reward from this was not something temporal, but something much more valuable. I have developed a love for the Book of Mormon. It began at the age of 10 and has been fostered and the love will continue to grow as I share it with more people. The Book of Mormon with the Spirit is the greatest conversion tool we have.
 
 I love you! Thank you for your love and prayers and support!
Thank you for your letters!

Love,
Hermana Garlock

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