~December 26, 2011- Christmas!~

We were able to skype with Elder Garcia yesterday! It was so awesome. He looks great and is doing so well! Elder Garcia and his companion are planning another baptism for the next week. They have been so blessed with the people they have.

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 Esther sent this to Elder Garcia for Christmas as a joke!

~December 19, 2011- Festival of Lights!~

Elder Garcia's new companion is Elder Wright, who us from Oregon. He says his Spanish is very good!! -- Elder Garcia has been able to go to the temple a couple times for a Christmas celebration called the Festival of Lights. It is a gorgeous event that the church does every December. They turn on 500,000 lights all around the temple and they have shows for everyone to see, and its is free, so a lot of people go. Elder Garcia and Elder Wright took  some of the people they were teaching last week.

So, Elder Garcia is able to skype with us for Christmas!! he just got the confirmation that it is OK. We can't wait!

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~ December 12, 2011- Spanish Speaking!!~

Elder Garcia has been transferred to the Spanish mission! He is so excited! He already knows quite a few of the Spanish missionaries from seeing and talking to them in conferences, so when it was announced that he would be going Spanish, lots of people were excited! He will be sad leaving the English missionaries, but they were told that the Spanish and English zones would be combined, and that means they would have meetings together. He loves speaking Spanish to everyone, he says there is a certain spirit with the people and the ward is so much fun. The first day he came on, they had a lesson with a member who is from Mexico and he made them tacos de lengua which means tongue tacos! He had a handle bar mustache, big scratchy voice, and everything. His companions (there are 3 of them since one is leaving home in a few days) are awesome! They are so humble, and speak Spanish very well!

~December 5, 2011, DC pictures~

Here is the mall they went to in DC on their P-DAY! It is HUGE! 

Visitor Center

Here is a sunset view from Elder Garcia's apartment. There are no mountains so it goes on forever! So beautiful.

~November 28, 2011- P-Day in DC!~

For P Day, Elder Garcia and some other missionaries went to DC. The Reflecting Pool that is so famous has been under construction since he's arrived

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The Washington Monument was off limits because it got damaged from the earthquake they had in August.They also went to the Art Museum at the Smithsonian1

~November, 21 2011- DC pictures~

Elder Garcia and some other missionaries went to DC for p-day!

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~November 14, 2011- The Church Has Been Restored!~

Elder Garcia had a really interesting experience he told us about. Last week, some elders were biking around a neighborhood at night, and felt prompted to visit an apartment, they knocked and when the door opened, there was a little group of people who apparently had being praying for "a heavenly manifestation". So they were really excited, but since they only spoke Spanish they couldn't really talk to them for too long. So a few days later they brought Elder Garcia and Elder Jensen to visit them. They were very excited to teach these people who they thought had been praying for missionaries. When they got there, and Elder Garcia started talking to them, he found out that that wasn't the case. There was a guy there who greeted them and sat them down along other people who they thought were family members. When Elder Garcia asked the man who they were he said that they are people from the neighborhood coming to learn more about God. That thought how awesome it was that they were all there to listen to their message! Nope. Wrong again! The man started talking to Elder Garcia and Elder Jensen and suddenly they realized they were in a little church service held at his house! The man brought up how the missionaries were brought to them the one night they prayed, and how that it was a sign from God that his church would grow and be blesses! The man started prophesying and the people got up and started mumbling and raising their hands. Elder Garcia says it was the strangest thing ever and the Spirit was gone. They wanted to just get out of there! But then Elder Garcia asked everyone in the house if they wanted to know what they did. He told them that the man was right when he said that it was no coincidence that they had come, but it was not for the reason they thought. He told them that they came because the Spirit had brought them to the house. Elder Garcia gave a little 5 minute talk about their purpose, and about the Book of Mormon and that the church has been restored. He gave them two pass-along cards and then they left. He says that was a crazy but very interesting experience. Other than that, he is working hard and teaching the gospel to as many people as he can! 

~November 7, 2011- Miracles Are Happening Everywhere!~

This week Elder Garcia taught a lesson in Spanish. Him and Elder Jensen visited an investigator who actually called them! The investigator said that one of them had given him a card with their number a while back. They went over to teach him and Elder Jensen saw that there was a magazine in Spanish so they asked him if he spoke. They were curious because he was a colored man from Africa. He said that he does! He actually prefers Spanish! So Elder Garcia spoke to him, and he opened up a lot more. The investigator said that he comes from a part of Africa that was colonized by Spain and that everyone speaks Spanish there. He came to church on Sunday, and now he wants to be baptized! Elder Garcia taught him again after church, he said it was awesome!

Now they are just preparing him for baptism. He says that miracles are just happen everywhere! He loves his mission and loves learning from people and getting to know so many different languages.

~October 31, 2011- Pictures!~

Elder Garcia did not have too much time to write today, so I don't have any updates on him. However, he did send pictures! :)

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Pumpkin Carving!

Elder Garcia's apartment! 

They passed their apartment inspection! 

Trip to the temple!