Happy Mother's Day!

It was really great to see my family yesterday! One of the funniest moments for me was when Hannah asked me about a bike and a car haha... we walk all day everyday... and we walk A LOT. The craziest thing was seeing how big all of my nieces and nephews are! I was very impressed with all the words and animal sounds that Josie knows, and that Jackson is learning to walk. Liesel... well... doesn't do much yet... but she was born in November... so I guess it's okay that she's just cute for now. It was fun talking with you all! It was actually really hard to speak in English, and I found myself thinking in Spanish and translating it in my head to English haha. It was rough. My Hondureñan companion made fun of me afterwards because he could tell I was struggling. I've been teaching him some English and he was really excited to talk with you all, but when the moment to shine came... he froze... and had to ask me what you said haha.

This past week was a bit difficult. We're doing a lot of walking and having trouble finding people. We had a lot of people who weren't home when we had appointments. However, we're staying positive and we know that the Lord needs us in Pablo Nogués. Today in Companionship Study we read a scripture in D&C 95 that says something like the Lord chastens and gives challenges to those He loves, and I decided, "If I've been in Pablo Nogués 4 months, the Lord must love me a lot!" We're staying positive and working hard. Something interesting is that we are not only faced with the challenge of finding more investigators, but more inactive members, because most of the inactive members we were working with are now active.

There's a hymn that's been impacting me a lot lately, and I like to put it in terms of in my mission and life in general. The hymn is "O My Father":

1. O my Father, thou that dwellest
In the high and glorious place,
When shall I regain thy presence
And again behold thy face?
In thy holy habitation,
Did my spirit once reside?
In my first primeval childhood
Was I nurtured near thy side?

2. For a wise and glorious purpose
Thou hast placed me here on earth
And withheld the recollection
Of my former friends and birth;
Yet ofttimes a secret something
Whispered, "You're a stranger here,"
And I felt that I had wandered
From a more exalted sphere.

3. I had learned to call thee Father,
Thru thy Spirit from on high,
But, until the key of knowledge
Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heav'ns are parents single?
No, the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason; truth eternal
Tells me I've a mother there.

4. When I leave this frail existence,
When I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you
In your royal courts on high?
Then, at length, when I've completed
All you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation
Let me come and dwell with you.

In the spirit of Mother's Day, I testify that just as we've a Father awaiting us as we pass on from this life, we've also a Mother. I'm so grateful for them. I'm so grateful for my earthly parents and all they've done for me. I know that they were meant just for me.

Love,

Elder John William Garrett