March 19, 2012

Hey Everyone!

Another week gone and past... This last week seemed to go by really quickly. Nothing too exciting happened this week, just a lot of work like always. We had a fantastic Family Night with a family in our ward and with our 70 year old investigator Roberto. We taught the Restoration using candles and a paper Earth that I made and topped it off with the video of the Restauration. It was fantastic and in the end we all shared our testimonies. Roberto in the end shared his testimony and said that he has been reading and praying, but still hasnt recieved an answer from God yet.... but he also said that he is very excited that he is preparing to be baptized on the 31st of March! It was amazing and I was so happy to hear it from him that he is excited to be baptized. Also, our other investigator, Yasna, that is going to be baptized on the 31 is doing great. Her brother that was baptized in November has been falling away from the church little by little... so we had a great meeting with him yesterday and we hope that we cheered him up and that he will be a great strength and example to his sister!

We also went to Los Angeles this week!.... In Chile that is! And even more exciting about that is that we all recieved.... Shots!!!! I wasnt very excited at all... and I didnt have anyones hand to hold... If only you were there Caralyn or Mom! Haha. I dont like getting shots one bit! The weather here the past week has been out of control. One day of extreme heat, another day of extreme cold, rain, sun, wind, fog, you name it! Sadly no snow though... Oh well. But like always, the work has been going pretty slow here in this sector, but hopefully soon we will have some activities to help the ward out, there really isnt much enthusiam here in this ward. But we are trying to change that. Yesterday at church was kinda depressing though... I dont like it one bit when we have like 8 people committed to church... and then 0 show up. It is so sad because it will help them so much to progress and to be happy! But everyone has thier own agency. Yasna couldnt come because a close friend died... and Roberto couldnt come because his wife was out of town and he has difficulties getting ready for the day without her. And all the rest that said they would come... well... they just didnt. There is always next week!

This week we have Interviews with our mission president, Presidente Martinez. And this is also the last week of this Cambio... so Saturday I will find out if I will stay here, or leave for another sector, and who will be my comp and all that jazz. How exciting! Today for P day we went to a National Park here in the City (A huge hill with a crazy forest) to visit some huge statues that the Natives here years and years ago made... we got lost and ended up never finding them... My comp has been there before, but he wasnt a very useful guide obviously! Oh well, maybe another time! A dog I named Feramir followed us for about 5 hours in the hills and forests and the city! How funny! Anyways, I hope you are all well! I miss you all and pray everyday for your safety! I love you so much Caralyn! Take care everyone! I am doing the best I can!

Con mucho amor siempre,

Elder Scott Garrett

March 12, 2012

Hey Everyone!


¡Tanto Tiempo! Sorry I havent written in a while.... but its okay now, I am writing today!


For the past 2 and a half months Ive been in the Southern part of my mission in a City called Temuco. It is a pretty big city, very green and beautiful unlike my last sector in the north, and I have spent most of the Summer here. It has been really hot some days because there is no wind, it has also been freezing some days because it has rained for weeks at a time non-stop. Good thing I love the rain, right? Yep! Well, like I said, I am in a city named Temuco, but in a sector called Llaima. But you might as well call my sector Rich Ville. O.o My goodness the people in the sector are quite rich! Also this ward is pretty dead.... and has been for awhile. The people here are hard to teach because they dont want to listen because they have a lot of money (Im not saying money is a bad thing either!) But the little members that do go to church are very strong (but also a little lazy to help us in the work). Ive learned a lot here, and Ive learned the importance of the members in Missionary Work. We are trying our best, My comp Elder Jennings and I, to get a fire started in this ward to help the people here. This ward is notorious for little baptizms... in the past 4 years there have been.... maybe 6 or 7? Not very many at all! But we have 2 baptizmal dates for 2 of our investigators for the 31st of March! Finally our hard work is showing some fruits! But the sad part is that I might not be here for their baptizms, because cambios are in one more week.
Like I said, this sector is really rich and it has been really hard. Ive been dealing with a lot here in the Mission, but I feel like I have grown quite a bit. This sector is also huge... HUGE! So I get to walk around quite a bit. Elder Jennings lived in the same house as me in the north, but now he is my comp here in the south. The house we are in is so much better than the one before.... it is actually a house! It seems like everyday here in Llaima something weird happens to us. A ton of people can speak English. There are a lot of Native people that live here in the south and they have a different language. We have a lot of really big houses with pools in our sector, a huge soccer stadium, no drunks! It is a really clean portion of the city of Temuco. But that just makes it all the more difficult to find people that will listen to us. All we can do is try our best everyday. And so the work and life continues on everyday. Some days better than others, but that is life. But with life, we have the chance everyday to learn the things of God. Yesterday we had a stake conference, and the theme was about families! Families really are important, and it is important that we strengthen our families and our homes with the gospel and the little things! ... oh, and will you tell Bro. Haddox thanks for the letter and the tie!!
I hope you are all well! Take care everyone. Thanks for all of your support!
Con mucho Amor,
Elder Garrett

Feb 27, 2012

Transfers arent for another 3 weeks... Ive been here in Llaima for a transfer and a half already... transfers are every 6 weeks... but we dont always change every transfer. We are in a place called Temuco, but in a ward called LLaima. Just like when I was in Esmeralda (the ward) I was in a city called Talcahuano. Llaima is my sector, but the Area is Temuco.

We found a lot of people this last week... its been really hard for us in this sector because it is SUPER RICH!!! Super rich, so all the people during the summer have been on vacation... but now they are all starting to come back and school starts for everyone this week... so we have been finding some great people. We are hoping to baptize this transfer... I hope so. We have been working so hard with little success here... sigh. Oh, and we taught an investigator the restauration... but with Hamburgers! It was my idea and it worked great! ^_^ I called it the parable of the hamburgers... basically we made a good hamburger, with all the things that a true hamburger has... and explained that people didnt like it, killed the workers (sorry, Im giving a really brief crazy version) who had the recipe of the true hamburger... so the recipe was changed.... then we made a hamburger with weird things in it... and then we explained that the boss of this original hamburger place called a new worker to restore the true hamburger. I hope that made sense!

Feb 20, 2012

Hi there! You must all be partying with Diana and Steve and the kiddles! How fun for you all! Message me if you can! I will send some pics now. We went to a cemetary here earlier today at my request... I was hoping to find some zombies! Haha

We are in a ward, but it is small, and dead :P I have to teach the Gospel Doctrine class every other week, and occasionally the youth. Sometimes I bless the sacrament too. We have only spoke in church when we arrived in this ward to introduce ourselves.
We have few investigators right now, and this sector (the ward) is kinda dead. We are trying our hardest to come up with ways to find people... but everyone doesnt want a thing from us or they are all vacationing! Stinking rich chileans! haha! But its good. We have one investigator that is close to a baptizm, and we are pretty sure we will baptize him in a few weeks if not sooner!

Im in the south of the mission, we dont have the luxioury to look for mail every week, we have to wait for conferences... so I dont know if my package is here or not. That fruit I opened up, it tasted gross! but it was super spikey! How fun to visit plig ville! Well, my time is up. Im glad all is well at home, I hope mom feels better! I love you all! It was great to hear from you all, and what a surprise to hear from Diana and Steve! Take care all of you! I love you all!

Con mucho amor,
Elder Garrett

(some spanish...see if you can figure it out....was between Scott and Steve)

De verdad yo tuve una empanada por desayuno hoy dia. ¡Fue Rico! Sahne-Nuss es vale mucho, pero me gusta mucho las frutillas aqui. Les amo mucho. Espero que todo esta bien y que ustedes tendre un buen viaje a Las Vegas.

February 13, 2012

This new area has been just fine... it is huge. Ive been here for a month and a half already... We have a few good investigators, but the work is slow here. The sector is huge and rich! The complete opposite than my last area. Ill be here for another cambio with Elder Jennings. I have eaten 2 completos in this area. Yum Yum! I hope you are well. Take care!
Love, Scott

February 12, 2012

Hola everyone...this is MOM! Scott has sent many pictures of which I am posting for you to enjoy! He is in a new area called Temuco, Chile...google it! He says it is much nicer than his first place and there are tons of farms and he has to do ALOT of walking! He is enjoying his new area, apparently he and his new companion Elder Jennings have come upon an area which has not been touched by missionaries in 27 years...so the field is GOLDEN!!!!