Well well well.... The mission is going great! The people here are amazing! I have grown to love the area even the smog and the humidity haha! The days are going by so fast and the weeks are going even faster. I'm already half way through the transfer! I can't believe it.

 

The other day we had an apointment with shane so we stopped by and he wasn't home, so we left a card and asked him to call us when he got it. So around a hour later we recieved a text from him saying that we shouldnt come around his house anymore and that we shouldnt talk to him anymore. He told us that his family is getting mad about us comming around and that they are strong christians and dont want to talk to anyone who isnt..... it was so sad. we tryed to explain that we are Christians and that we believe in Jesus Christ and that he is our Savior but he wasn't having it. So we no longer have him as a investigator... it sucks.

 

But the work is still going great. We ran into a less active part member family the other day while we were riding around. She was very intersted in learning more about the book of mormon and wanted a copy. (She is the less active) Her fiance wanted to learn more about the Restoration. So we left him with a restoration book and told him that we would stop by later in the week and talk about it with him. he was very very intersted!! So Elder Campbell and I Invited them to the halloween party this wednesday that the ward is throwing ( so so excited about that! Chilli and Cornbread cook off!! and trunk or treating! going to be a good day! ha ha) but they sadi that they would come! So yeah I really hope that they will come.

 

Yeah the mission is going well!!

 

Love you all so much

 

Elder Garrett

Letters #1 and #2 From the Field

Letter #1:

Family and Friends,

Well The Lord has sent me to South Bakersfield! But luckily He loves me and sent me during the winter, the temperature is around 76 degrees right now.  The area is a biking one and I wasn't expecting that but its actually really fun.

My companion is Elder Campbell, he is from Lindon, UT! (And Granna, I already asked...he doesn't know you. Haha!) He is super smart so I'm learning tons from him.  The work is hard but I'm excited to do it! We got white washed into this area so we had nothing to go off of.  We already have two people with baptism dates, so that's pretty cool. It is very different teaching real people instead of actors. I'm so nervous when I teach, I don't really say much and I need to work on that.

So they are suing this new training program and my group is one of the first to use it, it is a 12 week program. It apparently will make us into some kind of super missionary, that's what President Castro says...we'll see.

The other night we were trying to find our house but we were kinda lost.  So we went down this street and I thought I heard my companion say "STOP", so I asked him why.  He didn't know what I was talking about so we kept on riding and again I heard someone say "STOP", so we stopped.  While I was telling my companion about what happened, a gang of 25 came out of the bike path we were planning on going down. You could smell the weed and you could tell that they were all high.  Who knows what would have happened if we would have kept going on.  I'm so glad I listened to that prompting!!

By the way, California really needs to work on the way they label their streets! There is no number system just names.  It makes it difficult to get around.  Other than that this place is cool! The people are amazing.  I hope to find so many people that are looking for the truth!

With Love, Elder Garrett



Letter #2:

Well week two is in the books! The work in this area has been dead for awhile apparently BUT..... The Lord has been blessing me and my companion to find more and more new investigators, so that's awesome! We also have been working on less active or inactive members and getting them to go to church! Yesterday we had one in active family come to sacrament meeting! I was so happy to see them!! 

 

Some how my companion and I have been ropped into the primary program and will be singing the second verse of I hope they call me on a mission... BY OURSELVES!!! yeah I'm a little nervous, but it should be really fun! I feel like the members of the ward are finally starting to trust us and are letting us know about there non member friends so we can go baptize them!

 Because we were white washed into the area we have only taught two lessons.... this sucks but its ok cause it leaves soooo much time for tracting! Which turns out to be one of my favorite things to do! Its so fun going and talking to random strangers and teaching them about how they can live with there families forever and how they can draw closer to our Heavenly Father. Because of all the tracting we have a lot of return appointments, so by the end of this week we should be teaching about 7 investigators, hopefully! The people here are so ready to hear about the gospel and learn more of Christ.

 

One of them is named Shane Aouto. He is poly and is 20. When we met him he was sitting in his garage watching TV and smoking weed, ha ha so he was fun to talk to! I asked him to put it out, luckily he agreed and then we started to talk to him about the Book of Mormon and the first vision, the spirit there was so amazing! I know that he felt it because he started to tear up on 1 Nephi 1:1. He told us that he has been looking for some one to teach him how to have a relationship with God and how to become a better person! Score!!!! ha ha. I truly love Shane and want to baptize him so that he can have a better relationship with God and have the Holy Ghost all the time! He is amazing! We have apointment with him in about 3 hours so hopefully that will be good! 

 

But the bike situation..... well let me tell you a story of a bike named "Green Lantern" The awesome bike came from Walmart. (first mistake) It worked like a champ the first week! and I loved it! But like all good things it had to end.... By the 10th day of its awesome life the chain would fall of constantly... by the 13th day it became so bad that while I was turning sharply and was putting all my weight on the right side (second mistake) and then the chain fell off!!! so I ate it... HARD!!!!!! It sucked so bad!!! And then the gear shift on the right side broke and that was the end of the green lantern... But now I have a awesome new one! A little nicer and bigger thank goodness. But its a sweet black and yellow one, so I named it Bumble Bee! Just for you Lucas! So thanks for helping me out, it was really stressful to try and figure that whole situation out but every thing is good now!

 

Well I hope everything is going well with you and you are doing ok!

 

Miss and love you all!

 

Elder Garrett

He Is In California!!

Hey Everyone, this is Ashley.  I know its been a while since we've heard from Elder Garrett but he has been super busy.  He has been in California for a week now, he is currently in Bakersfield.  I got an email from him today saying that he just sent a letter so hopefully in a couple of days I'll have a letter to post to let you all know how his is doing.