January 28th, 2013

Hey there Everybody!

Wow... another week gone... This past week has gone by so quickly! And we actually had a day with a bit of cloud cover here, so that was really nice! It is so hot.... I´m so ready for Fall time! :)

Anyways, this last week was a little strange. We had a lot of meetings, a lot of intercambios, and a lot of challenges in our sector, but we made it through in the end!

Summertime in Chile makes missionary work a little more difficult in some aspects... for example:

1. Everyone leaves out of town

2. The people that are still in there houses don´t want to leave their houses to answer the door

3. The number of members that go to church diminishes significantly

4. IT IS SO HOT!!!!! :P

Those are a few challenges that we face during the summer here in Chile... for that reason, I´m so ready for Fall time so that everyone can get back into the normal groove here (not that anything really is TOO normal in Chile anyways.... but I love it!). The only thing that I have really thought of to stop people going out of town is that we can go to the farm lands and burn everything... but we probably shouldn´t do that... right? Haha

Well, this past week we were able to make a few big accomplishments, even if we weren´t able to teach a lot of our investigators because almost all of them left out of town. What we were able to do was help the ward were we are at grow a little bit in a few great ways. We went to the bishop to ask him what we could do to help him in the ward, and he gave us a few names of members to go visit. So we dedicated some time to go visit the people he gave us and we tried to see what was going on. So what we were able to accomplish in the end was reactivate (or at least we hope that they are active now) a family of 5 who were baptized last year. We felt the spirit so strongly sharing with them and we were able to help them have a goal as a family to be able to go to the temple soon! Hooray! We were also able to reactivate the Elder´s Quorum President and his family.... they have been inactive for a few months now. It is sad how people go inactive for silly little disagreements in the church. Don´t we go to church because we love our Heavenly Father? Well, he came back to church with his family, so that was fantastic. And the other big thing that we accomplished is that we could help a brother in the ward understand the importance of the Priesthood, and now he is going to go to the bishop to have an interview with him so that he can have the Priesthood and that will be a big step for him and his family to have an eternal family.

I always love the opportunity to testify to the people, member or not, about the gospel and the blessings that we recieve from living the gospel. This really is a great and marvelous work that has come forth among the children of men. And for this reason we need to thrust in our sickles with all of our might to accomplish our Heavenly Fathers desires that everyone can gain the eternal life and live forever with him again.

Well, we have one investigator that we might be baptizing this weekend depending on what our bishop and his parents decide. The idea was that the father could baptize his son, but that won´t be able to happen for another 9 months... due to some laws in Chile over marraige. So depending on what the bishop and the parents say, we might just baptize him now... but if not, they are going to wait 9 months so that the parents can get married and so that the Hermano can be completing with the Law of Chastity to be able to use the priesthood. But we´ll see how that all works out.

So, that´s the update on how things are going here in Los Angeles, Chile. Maybe one day the heat will go away and that I can feel the nice cool air again! But until then, we are here fighting in the heat against the opposition. I love you all so much! I hope that you are all doing well! Today we ate huge completos as a district... 2 of them each one of us! They were so big and I´m still soooooo full.... haha! Until next week!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Garrett

January 21, 2013

 

Hey there everybody!

What a crazy and short week it has been... I don´t think the mission is ever going to slow down.

This last week was filled with craziness and miracles and the spirit. I did two intercambios this last week to get to know the sectors that are in my district and to know their investigators and all of that fun stuff. The really crazy part is that this week I recieved my new comp, Elder Manzanos. He is from Argentina and has one cambio less than I. We are getting along so well! I love the Argentine people, he´s my second comp from there, so no complaints from me! Why were these intercambios crazy? I had to leave our sector in the hands of Elder Manzanos, who doesn´t know much about the sector because he just got here and who doesn´t know any of our investigators or the members. But we have been working so hard and so great together this past week, and we are seeing the fruits of what Elder Hinckley and I were able to do in this sector to get it all nice and functioning.

On Saturday we were able to have a baptizm for our investigator named Sheryl. Sheryl was so excited to be baptized and she really did have a change in her life. It was a miracle to find her after searching for her for a month straight, but in the end, she still wanted to get baptized and the ward is helping us out so much so that she can remain active in the church... that´s the idea, right? The only way to recieve Eternal Life is to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a part of that is Enduring to the End. The water felt so nice and cold... perfect for a hot day. The next day on Sunday I was able to confirm her a member too. She´s really happy and I´m so happy whenever I´m able to participate in an ordinance of the Gospel. Words cannot express the joy I feel when I can baptize someone and when I can confirm someone. It´s amazing, I love it! The best part of all of it is knowing that I´ve been an instrument in the hands of the Lord to help someone be apart of the fold of God.

Right now I´m extremely tired too... As a district we decided to go to a Volcano that is about an hour and a half away by bus, and then from there, we hiked 8 miles up and then 8 miles down to get to the volcano in the heat. It was so much fun! We left really early in the morning, we had to wake up at 5:30 to get to the bus station on time so that it could take us up there. It was quite a fun hike and pretty intense with the heat, the bugs, the adventure. It was a lot better than a normal zone activity of just playing soccer and eating food. We almost didn´t catch the last bus on time to take us back to L.A. from the Volcan Antuco, but by a miracle and with extreme heat and weary legs, we were all able to make it to the bus. Elder Gato enjoyed the hike too.... he hitch-hiked in my backpack like always!

Really a lot has happened this week, I don´t know what more I could share in this moment. I´m quite tired and my mind is all over the place.... I can´t believe that I almost have only 6 months left in the mission... Time is flying by way to fast! So here I am, in the ghetto L.A. of Chile! I love you all so much! Send me some rain or snow or at least some clouds! That would be wonderful! Take Care!

Con mucho amor, Elder Garrett

January 14, 2013

Hey there everyone!

I hope that all of you are enjoying your cold weather... it is just
getting even more hot everyday here! I don´t think I sweat this much
in Southern Utah in the boiling heat... maybe that is because I never
walked around in church clothes all day every day! Haha, hmmm... that
could be it... but who knows!

It´s been a great week to say the least... we´ve seen so many miracles
happening here, all the work that we have been doing since I got here
has been bringing the blessings that we are recieving now in the
sector. It´s been a great spiritual cambio with Elder Hinckley.
Starting from zero has been really fun and a lot of work... I´d rather
not have to do that again though! But we finally have some
investigators to teach and a few of them are progressing to be
baptized now.

We are actually going to have a baptism this Saturday. An investigator
that we have been trying to track down for like a month finally came
back from her vacations and she was passing through a really hard
time. We felt the urge to go visit her one night, even though we have
tried and failed so many times during a month... we could never find
her. But our prayers were answered and we found her basically crying
and even though she didn´t have time in that moment, we could set up a
meeting with her and we went and taught her and she wants to get
baptised to fill the empty space in her soul. Elder Hinckley, my cold
hearted killer of a companion, ended up crying in that lesson with
her... we´ve been praying for her for over a month now... it was a
great experience for him in the missionary work. And as always, an
amazing experience for me! Moments like that when we are really led by
the spirit shows us that this is the Lord´s work and he works in his
own ways. We are just his tools that get to do the work! I love it!
How great is the missionary work!

So she´s going to get baptized on Saturday, her name is Sheryl. She´s
a really nice person. The next Saturday we also have a baptizm planned
for an investigator named York. He is just a little kid, but we found
him through his inactive parents. He is progressing great and we
activated his family! We are also seeing a lot of miracles with other
investigators.... and we are working so well with the church members
in this ward. I love it here regardless of the heat!

Well, this cambio has ended and so has my short time with Elder
Hinckley... it was so much fun being with him, we worked hard to get
this sector prepared for the future. He is leaving the sector... but
I´ll still see him every week, because he is staying in the same zone.
I´m going to be with another Argentine, so I´ll get to work better
with my Argentine accent. haha! His name is Elder Manzanos... but I
don´t know him... so we´ll see what happens. I´m still district leader
and Elder Humpherys is in my district again! How fun!

Well, I hope that you are all doing well! I love you all so much! Send
me some cold please! I would love a bit of snow or at least some
clouds!

Con mucho amor,
Elder Garrett

 

January 7, 2013

Hey there everybody!

Are you all enjoying the snow and cold up in the U.S.? Me? Don´t mind me here in the south end of the planet at the end of the world in the heat! Wow... it is just feeling so hot here... that hole in the Ozone layer isn´t helping out either! I´m glad that I have sunscreen though! Now only if I had clouds in a can or something to block the sun and to get it to cool down... oh well, before I know it the Chilean Fall and Winter will be here and I will have nothing but rain and cold!

December 31, 2012

 

Hey there Everybody! Happy New Years!

This past week seemed to fly by! I can´t believe that last week I was able to talk to my family, it was a lot of fun and really weird too! It feels like time has passed by so quickly, but also as if I´ve always lived in Chile as a missionary and this is my real life. Strange, that thing called time... and it only passes by every second! Haha, and here we are at the end of this year, I feel like I´ve grown so much this year, and I know there is still so much that I can learn and that I need to do while I´m here in Chile... almost 7 months left! Yikes! Time is flying by! I love you my family, and all of my friends and loved ones too!

So, aside from all the holidays and such, it has just been getting hotter and hotter here in Chile... so hot! Well, at least here in Los Angeles. I talked to Elder Hughes the other day and he says that the temperature is really nice by the ocean! Lucky him, he lives in Paradise and I live here in the desert. Elder Hinckley and I are progressing a lot in our sector and we were used by the Lord this week to answer the prayers of a lot of people in the ward. Our new Relief Society President has been praying for this past week for help and guidance, she just got put in like 3 weeks ago and she is really young. So we were planning for our day and what we should do and we decided to go visit her. It turns out we had exactly what she needed... we have a really awesome list and map of the sector and the members that we made and she needed something exactly like that to be able to start working and to know where all of the sisters in the ward live. It was a great experience to see that would could bring relief to a member.

We are also working hard with our investigators, even though none of them want to accept a baptizmal date.... YET! :) We are doing our very best, despite the fact that they are all going from place to place during the holiday season... The summer time here in Chile is the most difficult time to work as a missionary because everyone just leaves! But despite that we are seeing progress here in the sector and we are very happy about that!

This past week all the district leaders had a meeting with the Presidents Assistants about our responsibilities as District Leaders... I´m glad to know that I´ve been doing my responsibility right! I´ve had to travel so much this cambio, and things just seem so hectic and strange lately here!

I hope you are all doing great, I´m doing quite well here. I love you all so much, thanks for all the support this year and I wish and pray for you all to have a great new year! Remember, we don´t have to wait for the end of the year to change things in our lives! That is what repentance is for and we can do it everyday and at any hour! ;) I´m so grateful that Christ lives and that he provides the way for us to become better people! I know this church is true, and I´m so grateful that this new year I still get to preach his gospel to my Chilean brothers and sisters!

¡Feliz año nuevo! 2013!!!!!!

con mucho amor,

Elder Garrett

(do you like our new years decorations?)

December 24, 2012

 

Hey there Everybody!

Merry Christmas! ¡Feliz Navidad! ^_^

May we always remember this time of year and why we really celebrate! We celebrate it to remember our Lord, Jesus Christ and his birth, and all of the things that he has done for us! It is sad to see how so many people in the world get lost in the gifts that stores have to offer, when our Heavenly Father offered his only begotten son as our Saviour, and Christ accepted the will of his father to take upon him the sins of the world and to die for us. What greater blessing for us to remember that we can always repent of our sins so that one day we can return to live with our Heavenly Father and with our families forever! ^_^ Don´t forget why we celebrate Christmas! Don´t take the CHRIST out of CHRISTMAS!

This past week went by so fast! We had our Mission Christmas Devotional and we had it up in the north part of the mission, up in Talcahuano, so I was able to see Elder Hughes again! He´s having it a little rough, his comp isn´t so great and his comp has been making working really hard... and his grandma died, so he was a little sad. But I trained him well and I know he´ll be able to pull through and he´ll be a-okay!

So the work in our sector is slowly growing, line upon line, and precept upon precept. Even though we had less time to be able to work this past week, we were able to do more work that the past 2 weeks. We are seeing a lot of mini miracles and we feel so blessed. We were able to give a couple of blessings to the sick in our ward, and in one ocasion, I was able to bless two little kids... and right after I finished giving the blessings, they fell right asleep. Maybe I just have a soothing voice? :P haha! This week we also came across a couple of challenges. Almost all of the appointments we had with our investigators, they had to cancel it last moment, so we went to our back up plans and they weren´t their either, so we had the privilage to be guided by the spirit to do exactly what we needed to do in that moment. We are slowly aquiring more people to teach, which is a super huge blessing because we don´t have many investigators at all in our sector. But we are getting blessed, what more could we ask for? BAPTIZMS!!! But that will come with time and with all the work we are doing now to prepare the way ^_^

So how was the end of the world? For me it went quite well! It seemed like a normal day to me! Haha, It was funny and kinda sad to see how people were acting, even some of the members, but whatever, one day Christ will come again, so we just need to be prepared! ^_^ So that was my week, I love you all so much, the work is getting better here in the subburb of Los Angeles, Chile. I hope you are all well and that you have a very merry Christmas! My last Christmas in the mission... so weird! Take care everyone!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Scott Garrett

(Do you like my piggy? It´s name is "Ganonito" ^_^)

December 17, 2012

 

Hey there everybody!

We are almost to the end of the world and the time of the year to remember the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Honestly it doesn´t feel like Christmas time at all here in Chile, I´m looking forward to cold weather next year for Christmas. It´s hot here in Chile.... it´s summer time! Jajajaja. Well, to help it seem a little more chilly for christmas, I made some paper snowflakes and put them up in the house. The other Elders gave me a weird look for doing that, but I don´t care! ^_^ Hehe, I´ve got the Christmas Spirit!

Elder Hinckely and I are hitting it hard here despite the many difficulties that we are facing. We are doing our part and even though during the week we weren´t able to see too much progress, at the end of the week we recieved a miracle in our sector! Yesterday at church a member family brought a neice to church, Antonella, and we went and met with them after church at their house to see how she liked church and to visit the family. She had been going to an Evangelico church, but she said that she feels like this is the only true church and that she loved it because she felt something special inside that she has never felt in any other church! ^_^ I´m so grateful that we have been blessed with her and that she just came to us basically. We had our first lesson with her right then and there and she accepted a baptizmal date in January with ease! She wants to be baptized and confirmed a member! She is so excited to learn and willing to follow our saviour. We were also able to put a baptizmal date for another person named Andres for a day in January. So the things are getting a little better for us here and we are being blessed for our diligence despite the difficulty of the work here.

This past week Elder Hughes called me with some interesting news that impacted me pretty hard... well, it made me think and ponder. He said that an Hermano in Talcahauno Centro died from a heart attack. He was a very healthy man, not too old either.... but he has been innactive for about 20 years now. His wife is very active and I love that family so much! But the sad part for me is that my last week in Talcahuano Centro, Elder Hughes and I tried sharing a message with that hermano... but he didn´t want anything to do with the gospel. He always prayed with us, but he just never wanted to hear a message because something in his past in the church happened and he hardened his heart.... and for 20 years he has been innactive. I remember in my last visit with him he said that he still has plenty of time to come back to the church and he´ll come back when he feels ready... and now he´s dead... it was a strong thing to hear and reflect about, and the same goes for Elder Hughes. It just goes to show that no one really knows when their life is going to come to an end. I know there is a big hubub about the "end of the world" this friday... at least here in Chile, but I know it won´t happen on the 21st because it says in the bible that only God knows when it will happen. but also like it says in Alma 34:32-34 today is the day that we need to prepare ourselves to meet God. We need to be prepared temporally for any type of disaster, but we also need to be very prepared spiritually. We never know when our lives in this earth will end.

This past week I also had an opportunity to have an intercambio with Elder Santos. It was strange, but also I can see that I´ve forgiven him for the things he did while we were companions. We got along just great... but he seemed to just snore a lot louder than ever before! Haha. But whatever, the work is progressing here in our sector, so that is all that matters! I´m happy, I love the work of the Lord, and I´m doing my part! I love you all so much! I hope you are all well and that you remember the reason for the season!

con mucho amor,
Elder Garrett