Week 12

Week 12 - My very own Sacred Grove

Holaaaaa!!! 

This week was SUPER AWESOME! Fun fact: I've officially completed my first cambio!!! And we have some exciting news here in La Florida (drum roll ) ... WE'RE GETTING ANOTHER SET OF HERMANAS!!!! POR FIN!!!! Hermana Bryner and I are super excited haha. We've spent too long in a district with only Elders  Our Bishop is super excited too - practically dancing and skipping when we told him before church yesterday  They also split our zone in half, so the Hermanas that are coming in to share our sector will be the STLs! I'm so excited!!! 

This week I want to share a verse about Joseph Smith and the first vision! I bear my testimony to you all that I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him in that sacred grove. I know it as real as if I saw it with my own eyes. THE HEAVENS ARE OPEN!!! GOD LOVES HIS CHILDREN!!! 

 Scripture of the Week 

"[Paul] had seen a vision, he knew he had, and all the persecution under heaven could not make it otherwise; and though they should persecute him unto death, yet he knew, and would know to his latest breath, that he had both seen a light and heard a voice speaking unto him, and all the world could not make him think or believe otherwise. So it was with me. I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me." JSH 1:24-25

Lunes - Burgers + mountains = BEST PDAY EVER

~ Went to VILCHESSSS!!! with our district and some other missionaries from our zone 

Basically in the middle of nowhere in the Andes mountains. It was SO FUN. Genuinely the best pday ever!!! We did like an 8 mile hike up a river. It was so beautiful! A member packed homemade burgers and fries for all of us and we had lunch at the top of a waterfall. 

~ While we were walking, Elder Roberts pulled on a branch of the berry bush in front of me and accidentally let it go - it went flying back and smashed a bunch of berries on me  I spent the rest of the afternoon purple lol

~ We didn't have service the whole day - We left at 6am and came back at 6pm, and we just spent the whole day out in nature adventuring and enjoying God's creations! IT GENUINELY HEALED MY SOUL!!!! 

Martes - Angels round about 

~ Received a priesthood blessing at district council today…and it was holy ground. I watched those 10 precious Elders drop everything they were doing to help me receive the comfort I needed. Literally surrounded by them and their faith, it felt like a fulfillment of God's promise: “There will I be also…my Spirit shall be in your heart and mine angels round about you to bear you up.” 

~ Hermana Bryner had a KILLER migraine that kept getting worse and worse, so we had to stay in the rest of the day. I felt so bad for her. But she ended up being okay, plus we did some contacting and I got a lot of good study time in! 

Miércoles - Ashes to beauty 

~ INTERCAMBIOSSSSS!!!!! 

Today I was companions with Hermana Sanchez, one of our Hermana leaders. She's from Argentina and doesn't know English, so I got to speak Spanish the whole day! She came to La Florida, so that meant that I was leading the intercambio! It actually was so so so fun. I felt a lot more confident today than I usually am 

~ There was a HUGE fire in the field in front of our apartment complex. They had helicopters dumping water to try and control it - there was smoke everywhere and it was literally RAINING ASHES. Lowkey kinda freaky. But after a while it died down and everything was back to normal 

Jueves ~ Charity = confidence

~ Today felt like a fever dream lol  

~ Starting to feel more confident having conversations with people

~ Our zone is so hype!!! The chat is always filled with encouragement and funny moments that people share. Genuinely the best 

~ Talked to a lot of cool people today! 

Viernes - Chao Chao casa 

~ Lots of laughs with Hna Bryner. She cracks me up sometimes 

~ Another crazy huge fire next to our apartment  Our whole zone was sending in pictures of them with the smoke in the background - it was so big, everyone could see it

Sábado - My cup runneth over

~ We’re finding a suspicious amount of part member families haha. We keep “randomly” finding inactive members in the streets who want to come back to church with their families. It's super cool! 

~ Our ward had a niño baptism today!! It was so tender. One crazy thing that I now get to check off my mission bucket list: they asked us to fill up the baptismal font, and when we came back to the church before the baptism, the water was SOOOOOO OVERFLOWED, into the hallway and everything  whoopsies

Domingo - Day in the life of a CRM hermana

~ We stopped by an old man's house this morning so we could walk him to church, but when we got there he said he couldn't see anything and told us we needed to help him put eyedrops in his eyes. Aaaand we did  Honestly one of the funniest & most random things I've done in this country 

~ Almost got ABSOLUTELY DEMOLISHED by a street dog while we were walking today. It was trying to bite my leg but then a literal ANGEL drove by in his car and honked his horn really loud at it, and it ran away. I swear God protects His missionaries. Sometimes in crazy ways but He always does haha. 

~ WE PUT OUR FRIEND JUANA ON FECHAAAA!!!! More details in the spiritual thought. Just know it was a crazy lesson  

 Spiritual Thought 

Today, we had a lesson with our friend Juana. Juana works on Sundays, can't come to church, and has a really rough home situation with her boyfriend. But during the lesson, she was telling us how she had so much faith in this church and how she was truly converted to Jesus Christ through the Book of Mormon. We felt the Spirit really strongly and decided to be super direct with her! We prayed altogether and set a date for her baptism - February 28th. We promised her that if she fasted and prayed and did everything she could to grow this desire and act in faith, then God would make a way for her to be baptized next month. We were so scared haha but it just felt so right. And it still does.

It brought me back to my first lesson with my missionaries, when I didn't know how in the world I was going to make it to baptism. Confidently and compassionately, that Elder looked me in the eyes and said, “Bryleigh, do you believe in a God of miracles?” 

Of course, I said yes. 

“If you believe in a God of miracles, then you believe that He will make a way for you to be baptized.”

And it's the same with Juana. We are fasting with her this Thursday so that she can have everything she needs to be prepared for her baptism on February 28th. To any of you who wish to participate, you are more than invited to fast & pray with us. Juana needs your faith. 

I testify to you all that the God who reveals Himself to Joseph Smith in the sacred grove is the God who answers His children in times of trouble. He WANTS to be close to us. He will do everything He can, without infringing upon our agency, to help us come unto Christ and to calm our troubled hearts. If you are like Juana today, and you are searching for a miracle, I testify that the miracle you are searching for is simply just your faith. 

Have faith in Christ. Trust that He lives. Believe that He died for you. Hope in good things to come. And like Juana, and like me, you too can come to know for yourself that our God is a God of miracles. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen! 

You are all AMAZING! I love hearing from you. Thank you for your support and encouragement as I strive to be the missionary God knows I can be. 

Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have an amazing week!

All my love,

Hermana Geary