May 27, 2013

Well, another week past, and this time I´m writing you all soaking wet! A huge storm is passing through Talcahuano and Concepción for a few days.... so I´ll be soaking wet for a few days I suppose! ^_^

So, Elder Miranda and I are still in our long and never ending search for new people to teach... I love it! You get to talk to so many people... I just feel bad that my comp hasn´t had a full day of just teaching people yet.... at least he is learning good skills with contacting so that in the future he will be a machine!

So until now, we really only have 2 investigators that are progressing, and they both are just in a standstill more than anything. One of them is named Sylvia. She is the mom of a recent convert here in the ward and she´s gone to church I don´t know how many times! Haha. She loves the missionaries and she loves learning about the gospel. She just won´t take the decision to get baptized.... she is just scared so we are trying to help her out so that she will be able to grow in her testimony. So really should could decide in any moment and that would be awesome, we´ve been praying so much for her.

Our other investigator is someone that I was teaching when I first arrived in Chile. Now all she wants is to be baptized and progress... she just has to move out of where she is living because she is living with her boyfriend and she doesn´t want to marry him... (I hope I haven´t told you all this before!) So we are trying to help her find a new place to live and to keep her righteous desires growing so that she can move on with her life. We´ve tried teaching her boyfriend, but he doesn´t want a thing with the church.. it´s a tough situation.

All this week we were doing random service projects with the member and helping out with the things in the ward. The key to if we are going to be able to help out the ward is to get the whole ward unified and working with us in the missionary work. This ward has gone through some tough times in the past, so things are a little tough, but Elder Miranda and I want to help so much to be able to help our Lord´s Kingdom grow here in this sector. I know that with the Lord´s help we will be able to do it!

So, aside from that, Elder Miranda and I are enjoying so much every day in the missionary work. We are pretty unified and I´m so happy to have Elder Miranda as my comp. He is so willing to learn and to grow, and we´ve been growing so much together. Just one night Elder Miranda fell on top of me... he broke the bunk bed, so later I tied him to his bed with some string! It was funny in the morning when he tried to get out of bed. Haha.

So, the work moves on. I love you all so much! I hope you are all well!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Garrétt

(Mom and Dad... P.s. Sorry if I don´t write next week... I might be down in Temuco to go say goodbye to people, so I might not have enough time to write! I love you all so much!)

 

May 20, 2013

So how is everyone doing?

Things are going great here, just getting a little colder now. In our tin house you really feel the cold seeping in, but luckily we have lots of blankets to keep us warm!

This past week was a little difficult, we really have no one to teach.... The other missionaries that were here before us didn´t really leave much to work with, We had to organize the huge list of old investigators and organize a lot of information in the house, but now we have passed that big hurdle and now on to the next one, finding people to teach!

We were able to be guided by the Spirit to find a few new people this week, it was amazing to see the few small miracles that happened when we felt like there was no hope left. We recieved one night a reference from some sister missionaries from a different ward, so we went to find the house.... It didn´t exist and so we felt like we should contact the house right next to where we were. In the end, we found a family that was passing for a hard time in thier lives, so we really feel like for some reason we recieved a bad reference and we found this family!

The whole week we were trying to find new people, contacts, references, etc... anything that we could think of, but it was just one of those weeks that are just a big test! From frigid temperatures, to really cold rain, we passed through it all with smiles and we just love being missionaries. My comp, Elder Miranda, is really excited to work and to help people, even though sometimes he is a little scared to talk to strangers, but he will get over that soon! So, we just need to keep trusting in the spirit and that we will be able to help those we have to get baptized and that all the other people can come unto Christ as well!

So, other than that, life goes on, the mission goes by so quickly, and I´m enjoying every moment of the mission and the cold that I can before I have to go home! I love you all so much! YOu are all so wonderful and I hope you are all doing what you need to be doing in the gospel! Always be praying!!!!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Garrétt

Today we went to the zoo too!!! :)

 

May 13, 2013

Hey there Everybody!!!

Well, here I am again, another quick week has passed!!!

I´m here again in my first sector and it is really weird to be honest. I love it and I love the people here and it is great to see that everyone was really happy to have me here in the Ward again. A few of my investigators from when I started the mission are still my investigators now, and some of the people who I taught are members now! I´ve been able to catch up with a lot of the members and together we are starting to work well to edify God´s kingdom here in Esmeralda. In the end it was a little hard to have to leave Galvarino after so many months, but I am already used to living here in Esmeralda, so it wasn´t a completely new change.

And here I am with my second son in the mission, Elder Miranda. He is from Peru, my first Peruvian comp. And only my 4th latin american comp. Wow! He questions why I speak with an argentine accent if I´m from the U.S.... it makes me laugh! I just told him that I´m an "Argengringo". That´s the best and simplest way to explain why a gringo in Chile talks like someone from Argentina.

Well, he is a newbie in the mission but has a lot of desires to work and to progress and to help our investigators, I´m so happy for that! He is so willing to learn how to do all of the things we do as missionaries, and I´m so happy to teach him and to help him progress. We don´t have many investigators at all in this moment, so this next week will be a lot of us searching for families to teach. I want to help so many people!!! I love the mission so much.

It´s pretty chilly here in Talcahuano, just how I remember it from last year during this time, but I love it and it isn´t stopping me one bit from working as hard as I can. Yesterday apart from seeing my family and being able to talk with them for mother´s day and for my dad´s birthday, (I love you all so much, it was so great to see you all!!!!) I was also able to see a missionary from this ward who is serving in Peru that my trainer and I reactivated when I first came to Chile. He thanked me for helping him come back to church, and now he is in the Lord´s work too! :) That was an amazing experience, we never know what impact we will have in the lives of others!

Well, today we had interviews with Presidente Martinez, I always love my interviews with him. We talked about how I´ve been in the mission, spiritual experiences, and just how amazing the Lord´s work is. I value every moment I have to talk with him. I cried a lot bearing my testimony to him, I felt the spirit very strongly with him... I´m really close to him in the mission. He thanked me for all that I´m doing as a missionary and that he has been grateful to have known me and to have had me in the mission. He just wants me to be me always and to be the happy me that I am to help others! I agree! I always want to be crazy and happy! :)

So, that´s all that´s been happening! Also, I´m including pictures of the same house where we are, but it had a small upgrade... it is still a little shack, but a lot better from when I arrived! I love you all so much! Until next week!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Garrétt

May 6, 2013

Hey there everybody!!!

Well, another week gone, and now I´m moving on from this sector to what will be my last sector I´m sure... So the adventure in the mission field continues! As I write, I am filled with emotion and lots of memories of this sector of Galvarino... finaly it is starting to get cold here just as I am leaving... The winter time is finally coming to greet me! ^_^

Well, this past week was a really nice week.... it went by so quickly with our normal district meetings, a Mission Conference, weekly planning, english class, etc. There were so many activities that the only time we weren´t doing a thing was sleeping! It was so fast paced and we were able to get a lot done with our investigators.

We had a lot of success in the ward this past week... aside from my comp going on a "YOU HAVE TO DO THIS OR ELSE" spree with some of the lessons.... he doesn´t have patience with the people we teach....but it is an interesting learning experience. Nothing gets done if you don´t teach with love! ^_^ But we were able to leave a lot with the members to get them excited about sharing the gospel and the things in this ward are finally starting to take root in the hearts of the members. So the work of the Lord in this sector will finally grow into something huge now! ^_^ I´m more than happy to have helped with that! We were also able to put 8 baptizm dates for the near future with our investigators, so hopefully Elder Swensen will be able to do everything well. He is going to recieve a lot of responsability really soon... he´s going to train a newbie, and be district leader for the first time.... He´s really nervous, but I´m sure he will do well!

This past week was also my Birthday! Thanks for all the birthday wishes! ^_^ It poured on my birthday! I was really happy about that! I love the rain!!!!! It was a really nice present. And aside from that, Elder Swensen was able to throw a surprise party for me with a really nice family that I love so much. We reactivated them, and two sisters in the family are doing their mission papers to go on a mission! Woot! It was a wonder birthday and we ate a lot of food, there were presents and such, it was just wonderful. I really wasn´t expecting it at all. I was so happy.

We had some really great lessons too with our investigators and some people came asking to be baptized, so that was pretty awesome. This really is the Lord´s work and he is constantly preparing people to recieve the gospel. Sometimes I just laugh because God does things so much better than we do! ^_^ We are also in the process of helping a family be completed in the gospel. The father in the family is a drunk, the mom is super nice but not a member, and two kids are active members. We were finally able to get the father to listen to us and he really has desires to change his life because the family is going through some hard times. The came to church and stayed for all the hours and they really liked it... so we will see what we can do to help them get to the temple one day! ^_^ The gospel really does change lives!!!

Well, here is my cambio....

First: I´m going to continue as District Leader...

Second: I´m going to be training.... AGAIN....

and Third: I´m going to go back to my very first sector in the mission in Talcahuano, Esmeralda.

I´m filled with lots of thoughts and feelings.... but they are all good. I´m really excited to train and to be able to go to my first sector. I´m going to hit the ground running there this time because I know everyone and I know the sector. It´s going to be great. So, here I am in my last 12 weeks of the mission... how the time flies! I love you all so much! God loves us always!!!! Take care! Happy Mother´s day Mom, and happy birthday Dad on mothers day! I can´t wait to see you all family!!!

Con mucho amor, Elder Garrett

April 29, 2013

Hey there everybody!

Well, this past week passed by extremly fast! I can´t believe that the month of April is done for as well! Time is a really weird thing!

Well, first things first.... This last week I had a chance to baptize a youth in our ward! He isn´t one of our investigators.... nor is he an investigator... it is a rather silly story! It turns out that Pancho (the youth) has always gone to church since he was a little kid because his family is all active and such. "Supposedly" he was baptized when he turned eight years old... but no one in the ward remembered his baptizm and there weren´t any photos and he didn´t even have a record of membership! So in the end I had to do the baptizmal interview for him (because he is in the sector of the other missionaries in the ward) and he asked me to baptize him. We´ve been really good friends from the first day that I arrived at this sector, so I felt really honored to be able to baptize one of my good friends. It was a really special experience for me! ^_^

Apart from that, the Hermanas in my district also had a baptizm and the Zone Leaders in my district had another baptizm apart from Pancho. So my district was on fire this week! The Hermanas were going through some hard times, but I did a baptizmal interview of one of their investigators and she was baptized yesterday and it was an amazing spiritual baptizm! So now the Hermanas are really excited to keep working to help others come unto Christ!

Well, this is probably going to be my last week in this sector.... I´ve been here for about 6 months now. That´s a long time, but I love it here! If I leave I´m going to miss the people here... we´ve seen a lot of miracles in the ward and a few of the youth that I´ve left with to teach and that we are strengthening are either working on their mission papers or they are waiting for thier mission calls. How sweet is the Lord´s work! ^_^ It really is something unexplainable and just so incredible!

Apart from that, unfortunately our investigator Matias didn´t get baptized. His Mom was being a little stinker and she isn´t going to give him permission to get baptized any time soon. But I´m stll praying and hoping for a miracle.... I know miracle exist and that our Heavenly Father can do anything. So, we will just have to be patient and keep working hard to help him and his Mom out!

We are also teaching English! It´s so much fun! ^_^ Haha, Elder Gato even helped us out! I love you all so much! I hope you are doing well! Take care always!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Garrétt

 

April 22, 2013

Hey there Everyobody!

This past week was really amazing! ^_^ I had a lot of fun experiences!

First of all... we had another mission conference with the whole mission.... and also I was able to go to a leadership meeting with a General Authority.... Elder Zwick from the Seventies. Elder Zwick was the mission president of Presidente Martinez when he was a missionary, so that was a really cool experience to hear some stories from both of them! I love it when General Authorities come to the mission... and I love when I can hear our Presidente Martinez talk.... the spirit is so strong when then teach and talk. It feels just like General Conference but all up close and personal and really interactive. You learn so much! In one of the closing hymns, we sang "called to serve" and it really sounded like we were surounded by angeles that were singing along with us. It was a powerful experience for me. Elder Zwick also showed us a picture of how the new temple here in Concepción is going to look like. I recieved a confirmation from the spirit that really it was going to be like that. It was amazing!

So, aside from that the things are going well in our sector. If all goes well this week, we will be able to baptize our investigator, Matias. He is preparing really well for his baptizm, but he has a few little fears that he won´t be able to keep on doing the right thing afterwards... but we are going to help him out all this week so that he takes the decision. We also had a funny experience.... at least pretty funny for me. We went to visit a less active family.... and supposedly we went to visit the correct house.... but it really wasn´t. We stopped by a few times during the week, but no one came out or they weren´t home.... but we kept on passing by. In the end the mother of the family came out and greeted us and was really nice and my comp thought that she was a member.... but I felt like she wasn´t. Anyways, she let us into the house and we shared with her, her husband, and her two kids and my comp started to share with them about how happy he was that they are members and that they need to come back to church so that they can be sealed in the temple and such.... I couldn´t stop him to tell him that they weren´t members.... in the end, the father asked if we were Jehova Witnesses or Evangelicos or from some other church.... I really wanted to laugh, it was a rather silly situation... but in the end we had a great lesson with them and from all the confusion we found a new great family to teach! ^_^ That makes me so happy!

Anyways, so apart from that, I also recieved the packages you sent me for my birthday! Thank you all so much! Thank all of you in the ward too for all of the fun birthday messages that you wrote on my apron. The members all love it! I´ve already had a few opportunities to help out in the kitchen! ^_^ I love you all so much and I miss you all! But the work progresses and I´m so happy to be here in the Lord´s vineyard to be bringing souls to our Saviour. I love you all so much! Take care, until next week! 

 

April 15, 2013

Hey there everybody!

I know I probably say this everyweek, but time just keeps going by so quickly here! SLOW DOWN!!!!! Haha, well, life goes on!

This last week was kinda crazy. It rained a few days, and then other days it has been pretty hot during the middle of the day and pretty cold during the morning and nighttime. But that is just how life is in Chile sometimes!

This week we have been working pretty hard with a few of our investigators to help them come to church so that they can progress and recieve the blessing of the gospel in their lives. We are getting a lot more help from the members in our ward, but in the end, none of our investigators showed up to church which was kinda really sad.... not depressing by any means, but it makes you feel sad in your spirit, you know? You really start to love the people you teach so much and all you desire is that they can feel the joy and happiness that you feel in your life in the gospel. We are teaching one family that is super awesome. It is a family of four and the little girl who is 11 years old is so smart and so willing to complete all of the invitations that we make for the family. She has already prayed to know if the book of Mormón is true and to know if Joseph Smith is a profet and she has recieved her answer already. She was so excited to go to church, and even a member family was going to go pick her up to go with her... but in the end the family wasn´t there... so we don´t know what happened. We are just going to help them out more so that they can feel the spirit in thier lives so that they can progress!

This last week I also had the opportunity to give a few blessings of health to people in the hospital. We recieved a call from a Sister in our ward that we needed to go to the hospital to bless her daugther who is pregnant, because she was really really sick. So we arrived and in the end, we were able to bless her and a few other pregnant women that were there in the same room that were having complications with their babies. It was really interesting to see that even though the other women were from other faiths, they could see us as servants of the Lord and they had the faith that we were able to help them out in there moments of need. It was a really spiritual experience.

We also had two opportunities this week to go to different wards in the stake to be able to do an "attack" in the ward with lots of missionaries and the members to go visit a lot of less active members to invite them back to church and to see how they are doing and to help them out. It was really special to see a lot of the members come together to help out in the mission work and to look for and visit the lost sheep in the fold of our Shepard. Yesterday I was paired up with Elder Lengruber, so that is why I have a picture taken with him! It was really fun to work with him again, even just for a day. We met some really interesting people who didn´t want to listen to a word we said, but we still enjoyed every moment of it. I love being a missionary, even if others don´t like what we share, but I know it´s true and that is why I keep on going!

Well, I hope you are all well and that all is well back at home! I can´t believe that in less than a month I´ll be able to talk to you all again my family! It felt like I just did though! Haha... I don´t know what I´m going to say because when I talk with you, I´ll be home in like 2 1/2 months! Haha.... until next week I suppose! I love you all so much! Take care!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Garrett