Aug 5, 2013

August 5, 2013

Hey there everybody!!!

Can you all believe that this is my last week in the mission field? O.o I still can´t believe it! Well, I suppose that this will probably be my last email home before I get home.... This time next week I´ll be in an airplane on my way to Santiago and from there to the U.S..... that´s so weird to think about!!!!

Well, this last week was a trying week for Elder Miranda and I. A lot of everything that we had planned fell through, and a few of our investigators told us that they didn´t want us to keep passing by... sigh.... they just don´t know what they are going to miss out on!!!! What really tears my heart is when they do understand what they could lose, but they still don´t want anything....

But we were able to have some really great experiences this past week. We have an investigator named Marisol.... I´m not sure if I mentioned her last week, but she is fighting addictions with cigarrettes and alcohol. This past week we also found out that she is going through some other problems and so we are helping her out. She was so excited to go to church and she is preparing to get baptized... and then yesterday we called her early to triple check that she was going to go to church and then she told us No because she was feeling sick and it was raining.... so randomly I said, "Well, if we can come pick you up in a car, will you go to church?" She said yes!!!! and then we realized that we didn´t have a car and we had just promised her that we would pick her up.... haha.... well... that´s when we started praying and calling members because church was going to start in about 20 mins.... We called and called and called.... and no one answered... we were freaking out!!! :) It was hilarious.... we felt helpless, but we didn´t lose hope. Finally a member that we had called, we felt to call him again, and he answered and he was soooooo willing to go pick her up and she came to church and loved it for a second time! We were so happy! Thank you Hermano Pozas!!!! :) We really felt like our prayers were answered!

We also had another experience that just left me crying with a mixture of frustration with saddness because I love our investigators so much..... We are teaching our investigator Sylvia and we planned a super great lesson about the Holy Ghost and we prayed about what member could go with us, and the hermana had hurt her leg but she was still so determined and excited to go with us to visit Sylvia. So we started teaching Sylvia and the member bore such a strong testimony of the Holy Ghost and the gospel and the importance of being baptized..... the spirit was as thick as molases in the room and it was obvious to see that Sylvia felt it too.... We challenged her to get baptized, but after thinking about it for about a minute of complete silence... she said no... she says she is afraid of water.... sigh.... We tried to help her understand and to help her, we testified and we know that she felt it.... but she is too afraid.... It was just so sad for me because we love these people so much and I know that she is just prolonging getting all of the blessing that God has in store for her. I left that lesson crying.... it is a feeling that is hard to describe... I imagine that it is a small sadness compared to the sadness that our Heavenly Father feels when we go astray in this life... But we are making plans to help her out!!!

I´m just so excited to be here in Chile working in the most amazing work ever.... The mission is just the most incredible experience ever... but I know that even though I´m going to be super sad to leave this amazing country and that they are probably going to have to drag me onto the plane to get home, I know that even more amazing adventure await me soon! Like I´ve heard from my mom and from others, the mission is like the MTC of life... and I´m excited to see what is in store. I love you all so much. Thanks for all of your prayers and support in these past 2 years. But we still aren´t done, so I´m going to finish out strong! I love you all so much! Have a fantastic week and I´ll see you soon!!!!

Con muchísimo amor,

Elder Garrétt