27 August 2012

Hey,

So it was kind of a slow week, we worked so hard but not much came from it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How is everything been going back home?  Can you believe it’s almost been a year??  Weird.

Transfers are coming up next week, transfer Tuesday will be on my birthday.

We did a lot of service this week which was nice.  We moved two people and we helped clean out a member’s garage and hunted RATS!  It was great.

Sorry this letter is so short.  I really don’t have anything to tell you.  My Birthday is coming up! That’s exciting, I will send you pictures of the temple trip!

OH yeah, we have appointment with our investigator named Alex tonight at 7!!!!  We had a lesson with him on Tuesday and set him with a date for September 15th.  It was a very good lesson, we taught him the restoration and he loved it.

  

So I would like a picture of Ashley so I can see what the twins have done to her.

Family I love you so much and miss you a lot.

Love Elder Garrett

20 August 2012

Dear Family,

This week was great!!!  We had zone conference and I got to see a lot of past companions. I also learned a lot about how to effectively do missionary work!

So some miracles have happened.

First - Elder Bennett and I were going to see a referral from some other elders. We went to his house and started walking to his door but we felt impressed to turn around.  So as we turned around we saw the neighbor standing in front of his house. We started talking to him about Christ and baptism. He told us he had never been baptized before but it was probably a good time in his life to do it!  So we taught him about the restoration and how we now have the authority to preform baptisms the same way that Christ was.  He was very interested and wants to learn more.  So we are going there tonight and will teach him!  It was very cool!

Second - The other night we had an hour to spare because all our plans fell through, so we decided to just go out and walk and talk to people. We started down the street we live on and we were talking to everyone we could find, most of them spoke Spanish so nothing really came from it, but there was one person who turned out to speak English!!  We asked him if we could share a message with him about Christ.  He was in a hurry and told us we could walk with him if we wanted to.  So we walked with him and taught him the restoration! He was very interested and said that he wanted to follow Christ, he also told us that he was going through some rough things in his life and that he needs a way out.  So we promised him this is the way!  We have a return appointment with him tomorrow night!

So things are going great! I hope you all liked the stuff I sent you!  I miss you all so much!!!!

Love Elder Garrett

13 August 2012

Hey family,

It was a good week .... except the part where I only got one letter!!!!!!!!!! haha

Elder Bennett and I are working hard and finding new people to teach. It’s been fun being able to have so many opportunities to teach people!

Saturday Elder Wenz and I went to an appointment that we had set up with an investigator named Abraham.  We taught him the restoration and started talking about how after Christ died for us and after the Apostles died that there wasn’t any priesthood authority on the earth.  He looked worried and confused, so we asked what he thinks about that, he said that it doesn’t make sense that God would take the priesthood away and keep off the earth. (perfect answer!!!) So we then taught him about Joseph Smith and how God did give the priesthood back to his children. We taught him about baptism by that priesthood authority, we asked him to be baptized and he said "most definitely!"  So that was nice! He is set for the 8th of September!

We found this GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR!!!!!  Elder Wenz and I were tracting, we knocked on this door and the guy answered and said “YOU FOUND ME”.  We said yup the Lord has led us to you, are you ready to hear the truth?  He laughed and said “I was an investigator 20 years ago, I was meeting with the missionaries for two years .... I have been reading the Book of Mormon and have been praying that God would help me.” .................................................. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!  How awesome is that!  So we talked to him for about an hour and got to know him.  His name is Dave, he apparently has been going to church a lot and is reading and praying every day!  We tried to set him with a date for September 1st but he said that he would pray about it. That’s fine with me!  We are going back Wednesday night.  Tender mercies!

I love Santa Maria! It reminds me of South Bakersfield!  The people are so friendly and kind.  It makes knocking doors a lot easier and fun!

Well family I love you and miss you tons!

Hope all is well with you all!!!!!!!

Ash good luck! haha any day now!

Love Elder Garrett

6 August 2012

HEY FAMILY!!!!

How was your week???  Mine was very, very interesting. I got stuck in a tri-pan for the week.  I was still with Elder Bennett but we gained Elder Nielsen. He is on his last transfer in the mission. I got along very well with him but my companion didn’t ... but Elder Nielsen now has a new companion and is back in his own area. Things are back to normal!

So we had to cover two wards for a while, it was hard not being able to do the work I would have liked to do in my area, but we had to sacrifice.  I’m excited to be covering only one ward again! Things are a lot more simple and there aren’t as many names to remember!!! So like I said before I cover Santa Maria Second ward and the boundaries are HUGE!!!  It would probably take about an hour to drive from one end to the other.  So the GPS is such a blessing. We are on time to everything now!!! haha so thank you so much.

I get to go on an exchange with Elder Wenz this Saturday in my area!  I’m so excited, it’s going to be just like the old days except I will actually know how to talk to people and teach!  Elder Wenz is up in Pismo Beach about 25 minutes away from Santa Maria.  Then we have zone conference next week on Friday.  It’s always fun to see missionaries you haven’t seen in a while, that’s cool.

Cory, I hope you had a good birthday and went golfing.

Ashley, hope the baby growing is going well.

Everyone else stay classy!

Love you so much.

Elder Garrett