Elder Garrett (in Zion)
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Monday, September 24, 2012
September 24th, 2012
"Hey there everybody!
Well, the festivities of Chile´s Independence Day have finally come to an end, and now there is the normal amount of drunks in the street! Wow, Elder Hughes and I ate so much stinkin food! Empanadas, Empanadas, and more Empanadas... but we love them so much! Yum! We just have questioned a lot of people though, why there aren´t empanadas with Cheese AND Meat mixed! It sounds like a fantastic idea, and I think the Chileans would love it! But everyone we have asked, they sound very skeptical about the idea and also they don´t think it would be too delicious... they are missing out!
Anyways, I survived and enjoyed my first and last 18th of September here in Chile... it was so much fun! I wish that I could experience another one here in the mission, but I am glad for the experience that I had. They celebrated it for so long! A little over an entire week! Elder Hughes and I preached the gospel wearing some fun traditional chilean hats... we felt like Preachers from Jehova Witnesses or the Omish or something. The people were really nice to us though!
This last week was a crazy week to work, and we got a lot done! A lot more than we were expecting to get done anyways, because with so many drunks, and with a lot of reunions that we had to go to, we had even less time than normal to work... But Elder Hughes and I want to work so much, and we had the best week that we have ever had together, and we have had some amazing weeks! The only thing that we didn´t have to top off the week were some baptizms! But we are making up for that by preparing some people to get baptized on the 6th! General Conference weekend baptizms! Woot! It´s going to be exciting!
The 4 people that we found that are going to get baptized are so excited! :) It´s been a fun adventure to really see again that God will put in our path people that are prepared to hear the gospel. We are teaching Maria, and 3 grandkids, Brayan, Ana, and Francisco. When we first found them, the 3 grandkids showed up to church because the grandma wanted them to learn about religion, so she took them to a church that seemed to call here atention, even though there are a few other churches that are closer to her. We stopped by to visit the grandkids and then found out that Maria was going to a different church to learn about God too. Well, after teaching about the Restoration, she changed her attitude completely and all four of them accepted baptismal dates and are so incredibly excited! They are studying so much to learn and they have a spirit so amazing! It is awesome being able to teach amazing people like them!
So, Elder Hughes and I yesterday came across a few J-Dubbs that just wanted to fight with us with the bible. We used reasoning, the bible, the spirit, and our testimonies to defend, and in the end, they really had no reason in anything that they were trying to discredit us with, and they just have really hard hearts and don´t even want to try to see our message is true. I´m so happy to have the restored gospel in my life and that I can be here to share this gospel with the people of Chile. But sometimes it is sad when they don´t even want to listen! Sigh, but we are doing our part! And because we are doing our part, we will continue to be blessed with success here, even though some days seem to fall apart! I love you all so much! I hope you are all doing well! Take care everyone! Wish us luck in our fight against the opposition here in Chile!
Con mucho amor,
Elder Garrett"
September 18th, 2012
Hey there everybody!
¡Feliz día de independencia! ^_^
Sorry I wasn´t able to email yesterday, hope you didn´t think I died! Jajaja! But today is our P-day because working today would have been really silly, so our mission president changed p-day to today.
Wow, quite a celebration the Chileans have for thier Independance day.... They started celebrating last week on Friday and we have heard that they are going to continue celebrating for a few more days too! I don´t know how many empanadas we have eaten... We have eating a lot of free food in the past few days. Empanadas, Mote con Huesillo, Sopaipillas, and lots of other delicious treats! They just have been randomly been inviting us into thier houses to eat on a few occasions... but the amount of drunks in the streets has definitely increased... which I didn´t think was possible! But Chileans love to drink to celebrate! Oh goodness, it is fun to talk to the drunks :P I´ll send some fun pictures of independance day next week, we had to use internet with our neighbors because Chile just shuts completely down for this day. It´s really weird seeing the streets so empty during the day. But during the night all we have been hearing are drunks, loud music, and people partying. I´m so glad that I am a missionary and that I can experience lots of different things in a foreign land.
We had so little people in the church on Sunday... it was kinda really sad. Last week we had 118 people go to church and 6 investigators, but on Sunday we had 46 people in church and 1 investigator in church. Everyone was out of town or just being really lazy.... really depressing... But Elder Hughes and I had the opportunity to give talks on Sunday. It was a fun experience for us because we were both sick in the stomach. We ate some Papaya with our Converts and we all got sick... yucky! So climbing up and down stairs and hills on Sunday was super fun! ^_^
Elder Hughes and I are leading our Zone with the work that we are doing here in our sector, and now we have 4 people who have accepted baptismal dates for the 6th of October, so we are going to work super hard so that we can have some baptizms to start out the next month! The time with Elder Hughes seems to be going by so fast, I´m enjoying everyday with him, I have been truly blessed with a great companion. I´ve had the opportunity to grow so much as a person and as a missionary in the last cambio, and I know I will continue to learn and grow during the rest of this training period.
So, just continue to have us in your prayers, and I am always praying for all of you! Elder Hughes and I are going to continue to work hard and to do our part, and we know that the Lord will bless us. I hope you all have a great Independance Day! ^_^ Haha, Wish us luck! I love you all so much!
Con mucho amor,
Elder Garrett
Monday, September 10, 2012
September 10, 2012
Hey there everybody!
This past week flew by again... and I realized that today marks the 1 year and 1 month mark of my mission.... ugh... the mission is going by so fast! But I am so glad that I am enjoying every moment of it! This past week was the last week of my first cambio with Elder Hughes... so nothing is changing this cambio, we are staying here together so that I can finish training him for another 6 weeks! We are having a lot of success here! We had 6 investigators go to church, and this week we had a lot of people in church. When I first got here to this ward, there were only about 70ish people who showed up every week... but lately we have been having about 90 every week... but yesterday we had 118 people show up to church! That was an awesome site! ^_^ I haven´t seen that many people in one sacrament meeting here in Chile ever!
This last week we had a couple of fun things happen in our sector... first of all, we had a couple of small earthquakes, nothing too gigantic, but enough to shake a large house around sufficently! How fun! My companion didn´t even feel it, he was oblivious to what happened! Haha! But that´s okay, we forgive him! But not only have we started to have a bunch of small earthquakes (which could mean a big earthquake might happen soon!), but also during the week we had a Tsunami warning from some big earthquake that happened in Costa Rica? Or at least that is what the people have told us... but in the end a Tsunami never came by to eat us, so we survived! It is interesting living in an area that has threats of a Tsunami and that is affected by earthquakes and everything... isn´t Chile great! I love it! It is a new adventure every day!
I also had the opportunity to feel the responsibility of a district leader... I was able to do another baptizmal interview for a companionship in my district, and that was another spiritually uplifting experience! ^_^ I love doing the interviews and being able to meet other people and to hear their testimonies of the gospel! It´s awesome! I also visited some investigatores of some other missionaries because they wanted help from me... I feel quite humbled that other missionaries look up to me as a leader, but I´m just doing the best I can and I´m trusting in the Lord. Last night a set of missionaries in my district called me to ask me a question about setting weekly goals as a companionship... and a couple other times during the week I had the opportunity of giving guidance and council to the missionaries in my district, it is a fun experience! I´m just glad that there have not been any really big problems in my District! Well, Elder Hughes and I are just going to continue to work and keep up our success! Wish us luck!
I hope all of you back at home are doing well! Things are getting a little bit warmer every day here! And everyone is getting ready to celebrate the Independence Day of Chile, the 18th... but this year they are going to start the festivities on Thursday and party until next week! Haha, I´ve just heard that there are a lot of drunk people, so this should be interesting! I´m excited to experience my first and last 18th of September here! I´ve heard it is so great! I love you all so much! Take care everyone!
Con mucho amor,
Elder Garrett
This past week flew by again... and I realized that today marks the 1 year and 1 month mark of my mission.... ugh... the mission is going by so fast! But I am so glad that I am enjoying every moment of it! This past week was the last week of my first cambio with Elder Hughes... so nothing is changing this cambio, we are staying here together so that I can finish training him for another 6 weeks! We are having a lot of success here! We had 6 investigators go to church, and this week we had a lot of people in church. When I first got here to this ward, there were only about 70ish people who showed up every week... but lately we have been having about 90 every week... but yesterday we had 118 people show up to church! That was an awesome site! ^_^ I haven´t seen that many people in one sacrament meeting here in Chile ever!
This last week we had a couple of fun things happen in our sector... first of all, we had a couple of small earthquakes, nothing too gigantic, but enough to shake a large house around sufficently! How fun! My companion didn´t even feel it, he was oblivious to what happened! Haha! But that´s okay, we forgive him! But not only have we started to have a bunch of small earthquakes (which could mean a big earthquake might happen soon!), but also during the week we had a Tsunami warning from some big earthquake that happened in Costa Rica? Or at least that is what the people have told us... but in the end a Tsunami never came by to eat us, so we survived! It is interesting living in an area that has threats of a Tsunami and that is affected by earthquakes and everything... isn´t Chile great! I love it! It is a new adventure every day!
I also had the opportunity to feel the responsibility of a district leader... I was able to do another baptizmal interview for a companionship in my district, and that was another spiritually uplifting experience! ^_^ I love doing the interviews and being able to meet other people and to hear their testimonies of the gospel! It´s awesome! I also visited some investigatores of some other missionaries because they wanted help from me... I feel quite humbled that other missionaries look up to me as a leader, but I´m just doing the best I can and I´m trusting in the Lord. Last night a set of missionaries in my district called me to ask me a question about setting weekly goals as a companionship... and a couple other times during the week I had the opportunity of giving guidance and council to the missionaries in my district, it is a fun experience! I´m just glad that there have not been any really big problems in my District! Well, Elder Hughes and I are just going to continue to work and keep up our success! Wish us luck!
I hope all of you back at home are doing well! Things are getting a little bit warmer every day here! And everyone is getting ready to celebrate the Independence Day of Chile, the 18th... but this year they are going to start the festivities on Thursday and party until next week! Haha, I´ve just heard that there are a lot of drunk people, so this should be interesting! I´m excited to experience my first and last 18th of September here! I´ve heard it is so great! I love you all so much! Take care everyone!
Con mucho amor,
Elder Garrett
Sunday, September 9, 2012
September 3, 2012
Hey there everybody!
This past week has been a week for sure! 7 days! Haha.
Honestly nothing too out of the ordinary happened this past week, but things still keep heating up! But randomly today is nice and cool, which I enjoy because it was a fun time climbing up stairs and hills all day in the heat! I´ve been so grateful to have been here in this sector for the Winter. Yesterday we had our time change here in Chile, and it is really starting to feel like spring time! That means less cold, less rain, and more heat! Hello sunshine! It is so nice to live by the ocean and to have a beautiful view of the sea with a nice sea breeze in your face! It is so beautiful here and helps a lot to keep my comp and I determined when we are climbing up the hills!
This past week we had another mission conference and Elder Hughes and I had to teach in front of 100 other missionaries and our Mission President about the Book of Mormon. We did a great job from what I have been told and I was very impressed with Elder Hughes and his spanish. He has been improving a lot, and I am glad that I have been here to teach him and have him help me out with everything in the missionary work! He is a great help! He is a super great companion too! We are doing our very best to keep working hard and to see some real miracles happen here in our sector. I can't believe that after this week, we will be half way done with the training process. The time has been flying with Elder Hughes! Elder Hughes has been an awesome companion to have during this time as a District Leader. He and I are leading not only my district, but also the zone with our examples and the work we are doing. I'´m so grateful for the spirit to guide us in this work and that I have the chance to be an example for the other missionaries around me. This work really is amazing, and even more so when the spirit guides us.
This past week I had a really awesome experience of being led by the spirit. We prayed about who we could visit of a list of a lot of people that we contacted during the weeks before, and we felt inspired to visit a few of the people on the list. Well, one night we went to go visit a person on this list... but they weren´t home and all of our other plans fell through too... so we had no clue what to do next. I said a little prayer in my heart and then I felt like we needed to walk exactly 3 streets away from where we were to go contact a street... so we went and I had no clue why, but we went! So while we were contacting, we came across one door and a man answered that we had contacted the week earlier that wouldn´t give us his direction, but when he saw us, he let us in and asked us how we found out where he lived! He was very impressed that we stopped by his house and is actually really receptive! I´m so grateful for the spirit that can guide us in the lord´s work!
Saturday and Sunday were just difficult days for us this past week. With all the success we were having, we were wondering if we were ever going to see some opposition, and then the weekend came, and BAM! Everyone we talked to didn´t want a thing to do with us and they all just tried arguing with us. The things I learned in the weekend is that Missionaries are spies, the word "Mormon" means Poligamist, Missionaries are here to kidnap little children, our religion is based off of Demonic Rituals, that Joseph Smith had 100 wives, etc etc etc... I could have made a book about all of the ridiculous things that we heard just this past weekend! And I'm grateful that my companion didn´t understand all of it, because some people said some very very rude stuff too... but that is what life is like as a missionary sometimes! But on the bright side, the four baptizms we had were the most baptizms that a companionship had in August! Hooray!
Well, I hope all is well at home and that you have all been enjoying your summer. I have had a pretty exciting Winter here and I am ready to get to be able to walk around without a sweater and jacket and such! I hope all of you are doing great! I love you all so much! A shout out to all of my cousins who are serving missions and who are preparing to serve! Being a missionary is an amazing experience that I love!
Con mucho amor,
Elder Scott Garrett
(p.s. No pictures this week as Scott's camera needs a new SD card.)
August 27, 2012
Hey there everyone!
This past week was so crazy, but crazy awesome!!!!
We had a wonderful week with rain at the start of the week, and I had an upset stomach... but now we have really really REALLY nice weather! It is like the springtime! So beautiful by the ocean and up in the hills! And it is so nice to walk around without being covered in mud! That´s always very nice if you ask me! This past week we had a lot of fun adventures, and can you believe that we have finished a third of the training proccess? Time is flying with my companion, Elder Hughes.
This past week we had interviews with Presidente Martinez. Mom and Dad, he wanted me to thank you both for raising me so well! Elder Hughes and I are leading our Zone with all the work that we are doing! I´m doing my very best to train my companion how we should be in the mission! My companion is growing more and more everyday, and I am so happy to see the progress that we have both been making together.
This week I also was able to have a fun District Leader experience. I had the oportunity to interview an investigator of another pair of missionaries in my District. It was a great experience to be the person to decide if the investigator was prepared and to be able to hear the testimony of someone who has been learning of the gospel. I interviewed a girl named Katherine. She changed her life a lot to be able to get baptized, even getting married! She loves the gospel and she had a very strong testimony of our Saviour and of his Atonement. I´m so glad that I had such a great experience with my first baptizm interview! ^_^ And while I was doing that interview, 4 of our investigators were getting interviewed so that they could get baptized this past week! Hooray!
The other day we were trying to find our way up to a hill by the ocean with a bunch of houses that were built after the Earthquake and Tsunami here for the people who don´t have a lot of money. It was like a little war camp or something... but before we could find the path up the hill, we ended up by the ocean on the beach, so we did some fun beach contacts! Thats a first in my mission! Haha! I felt like I was in Samoa or something doing contacts! I´m so grateful to be in another super beautiful sector! I´m so happy to be here in the mission to help the people get on the path to Eternal Life! ^_^
Well, probably the highlight of the week was the fact that we were able to have 4 baptizms of four of our investigators. Selma Angelica Catalán Barriga. Andrea Alejandra Carrasco Espinoza. José Manuel Muñoz Carrasco. Camila Andrea Martinez Carrasco. Angelica is like 55 years old and the Mom of someone who was baptized last year. Andrea is the mom of José and Camila. I was able to baptize Andrea and her kids, and my companion baptized Angelica. It was such a spiritual moment, only to be matched with that of the confermation of them all the next day during the sacrament meeting. We had a lot of members that showed up to the baptizm to help support them all, and also my trainer Elder Lusk and Elder Santos showed up. (They are companions now.) I had to rebaptize Camila because one of her feet came out of the water the first time! It was hilarious, because she just wanted me to baptize her like a bajillion times, she started swimming around after she was baptized! Haha! Elder Hughes did a really good job with his first baptizm, but was a little nervous. He also did a really great job confirming José the next day as a member. I had the opporunity to confirm Angelica, Andrea, and Camila. It was such a spiritual experience. After the confirmations, when we were sitting there in the church benches during the sacrament, I couldn´t help but start crying to see the happiness of our converts, and to see their pureness. It was a really touching moment that I´m glad I could take a moment of reverence to observe and feel the spirit. ^_^ Sigh.... Being in the mission and being able to help people like we do as missionaries is just an amazing experience, and I´m so glad that I can be so close to my Heavenly Father during this time. So that definitely was the highlight of the week!
I hope all is well back at home! I can´t believe how fast the time seems to be going by! Now Elder Hughes and I have the big task of helping the rest of our investigators progress to be baptized! We are going to continue to set our goals high! I love you all so much! I want to wish Caralyn a Big Birthday Wish!!!! Happy 21st Birthday Caralyn! I love you!!! I hope all is well for everyone! Well, we are just going to keep working, no time to slow down! That would just be silly!
Con mucho amor,
Elder Garrett
This past week was so crazy, but crazy awesome!!!!
We had a wonderful week with rain at the start of the week, and I had an upset stomach... but now we have really really REALLY nice weather! It is like the springtime! So beautiful by the ocean and up in the hills! And it is so nice to walk around without being covered in mud! That´s always very nice if you ask me! This past week we had a lot of fun adventures, and can you believe that we have finished a third of the training proccess? Time is flying with my companion, Elder Hughes.
This past week we had interviews with Presidente Martinez. Mom and Dad, he wanted me to thank you both for raising me so well! Elder Hughes and I are leading our Zone with all the work that we are doing! I´m doing my very best to train my companion how we should be in the mission! My companion is growing more and more everyday, and I am so happy to see the progress that we have both been making together.
This week I also was able to have a fun District Leader experience. I had the oportunity to interview an investigator of another pair of missionaries in my District. It was a great experience to be the person to decide if the investigator was prepared and to be able to hear the testimony of someone who has been learning of the gospel. I interviewed a girl named Katherine. She changed her life a lot to be able to get baptized, even getting married! She loves the gospel and she had a very strong testimony of our Saviour and of his Atonement. I´m so glad that I had such a great experience with my first baptizm interview! ^_^ And while I was doing that interview, 4 of our investigators were getting interviewed so that they could get baptized this past week! Hooray!
The other day we were trying to find our way up to a hill by the ocean with a bunch of houses that were built after the Earthquake and Tsunami here for the people who don´t have a lot of money. It was like a little war camp or something... but before we could find the path up the hill, we ended up by the ocean on the beach, so we did some fun beach contacts! Thats a first in my mission! Haha! I felt like I was in Samoa or something doing contacts! I´m so grateful to be in another super beautiful sector! I´m so happy to be here in the mission to help the people get on the path to Eternal Life! ^_^
Well, probably the highlight of the week was the fact that we were able to have 4 baptizms of four of our investigators. Selma Angelica Catalán Barriga. Andrea Alejandra Carrasco Espinoza. José Manuel Muñoz Carrasco. Camila Andrea Martinez Carrasco. Angelica is like 55 years old and the Mom of someone who was baptized last year. Andrea is the mom of José and Camila. I was able to baptize Andrea and her kids, and my companion baptized Angelica. It was such a spiritual moment, only to be matched with that of the confermation of them all the next day during the sacrament meeting. We had a lot of members that showed up to the baptizm to help support them all, and also my trainer Elder Lusk and Elder Santos showed up. (They are companions now.) I had to rebaptize Camila because one of her feet came out of the water the first time! It was hilarious, because she just wanted me to baptize her like a bajillion times, she started swimming around after she was baptized! Haha! Elder Hughes did a really good job with his first baptizm, but was a little nervous. He also did a really great job confirming José the next day as a member. I had the opporunity to confirm Angelica, Andrea, and Camila. It was such a spiritual experience. After the confirmations, when we were sitting there in the church benches during the sacrament, I couldn´t help but start crying to see the happiness of our converts, and to see their pureness. It was a really touching moment that I´m glad I could take a moment of reverence to observe and feel the spirit. ^_^ Sigh.... Being in the mission and being able to help people like we do as missionaries is just an amazing experience, and I´m so glad that I can be so close to my Heavenly Father during this time. So that definitely was the highlight of the week!
I hope all is well back at home! I can´t believe how fast the time seems to be going by! Now Elder Hughes and I have the big task of helping the rest of our investigators progress to be baptized! We are going to continue to set our goals high! I love you all so much! I want to wish Caralyn a Big Birthday Wish!!!! Happy 21st Birthday Caralyn! I love you!!! I hope all is well for everyone! Well, we are just going to keep working, no time to slow down! That would just be silly!
Con mucho amor,
Elder Garrett
August 20, 2012
Hey there everybody!
This week has past by so quickly again! I can´t believe that Elder Hughes and I have been together for 3 weeks now! The time seems to be passing me by so quickly!
Well, this week a lot of interesting things have happened. For about half of the week I wasn´t even in my sector. I was going to other sectors to do intercambios and to get to know the investigators of the missionaries in my District. One day we had to walk for about 2 hours in the rain to get back to our sector because the buses were not passing by at all! It was fun and my companion and I loved it! This week we had a lot of rain, and luckily my immune system didn´t fail me this time and I am a-okay! The huge non-stop rain storms in our sector by the sea, up in the hills with huge gale force winds is quite fun! This sector always seems to have some new surprises for us with the weather here. For a couple of days we were covered in mud and soaking wet!
My comp has been growing in the missionary work, and his Spanish skills are increasing too. It helps a lot when a youth comes with us, because he is forced to try to express himself to talk, because I´m making him learn (of course I´m here to help, but I´m not a personal translator!). So his Spanish is progressing rapidly, but of course he still has a lot to learn! I still have a lot to learn too! We are teaching a lot better and more unified now. I have a lot of trust in my companion, and I love having him help me in the lessons and teach about half of the lesson with me, even if sometimes I have to re-explain the stuff, but I know it is helping him grow and learn in a way that my trainer never let me grow. The members enjoy my new comp, I enjoy my new comp, It has just been a great learning experience with him!
This week we have been trying to accomplish two main goals: 1. To prepare our investigators to be baptized this weekend. and 2. To help some youth that are falling into apostacy.
So I´ll talk about goal 1.
GOAL 1:
This week we have been preparing 4 of our investigators to be baptized this Saturday. We are going to baptize Angelica, and also Andrea and her two kids José and Camila. They are all so awesome! I love them all so much just like any of my other investigators that I have taught in the past. It is incredible how much you learn to love the people from just sharing the gospel. We could potentially have up to 7 baptizms this weekend, but the other three (Katherine and her two kids Anibal and Matias) depend on if we can have a miracle and get permission from the husband of Katherine, because they are prepared to get baptized too.
GOAL 2:
A couple of youth in our ward have decided to fall into apostacy and now they don´t want to go to church or seminary and we think that they are starting to smoke and drink coffee.... so we have been trying to do whatever we can to help them come back... And the worst part of this situation is that the youth that are deciding to act silly are recent converts from earlier this year.... sigh. So we are looking for the right way to help them out... The opposition really tries to take down the righteous, and it isn´t worth it at all to do silly things. But oh well, we will just keep trying to help them out the best we can!
So that´s the scoop for this past week! This next week we are going to have at least 4 baptizms, I get to do a baptizmal interview for an investigator of missionaries in my District, We have our interviews with our missionary president, and I get to continue training Elder Hughes! I feel like that this has been a training period for me, because I have been learning a lot! But it has been so much fun too!
I love you all so much! Wish us luck in the next week! We have a lot to do and we are looking for some awesome miracles to happen! Take care everyone! Remember that when we do what our Heavenly Father wants us to do, we will always recieve blessings, comfort, and help... even if sometimes times are really hard!
Con mucho amor,
Elder Garrett
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