28 January 2013

Hello family

Well this week was slower . . . but good things are still happening and we are still teaching really great people!

Something I have learned this week is how much Christ really can help.  I sprained my foot last Monday and wasn't able to work for most of the week.  But I was able to read the scriptures a lot and learn more.  It was interesting to read about the stories of Christ healing people and making them whole.  And I know that a sprained foot isn't that big of a deal but I was able to come closer to Christ through it. And yes through it all I smiled :) haha

Riley is doing great!  She came to church and is loving it!  I’m so grateful for her!  She has really been prepared by the Lord.

We weren't able to meet with AJ and Alyssa because they were really sick this week.  But they had done all the reading assignments we left them and they asked for more so things are still going great with them. They just need to get better!!

Well sorry this is so short family but there really isn’t anything else . . .

OH . . . HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MAIN HOMIE WADER-TOT!

It sounds like you all had a good time celebrating his birthday and that cake looked awesome!!!

Love you all so much 

Elder Garrett

21 January 2013

Hey family

So we had a really good week!!!!

The first blessing it was warm!!  I have missed the 50 degree weather!! 

The second blessing is that we found this part member family to teach!!!  It’s a mom and her kids.  We are only teaching two of the kids because the other two are only 4 and 2.  But AJ (boy) is 13 and is more mature than me ... and Alyssa (girl) is 11.  The mom had been teaching them about the restoration and the church for a while and finally they asked her if they could actually go to church, not just hear about it from her.  So they contacted us and asked to meet with us. The lesson went so well they asked some great questions and did most of the talking which is really good!!  We asked them to get baptized on Feb 16th and they accepted it!!!!  We are going to be meeting with them twice a week which is really cool!!

Riley is doing great, we had a lesson with her last night with some members.  We taught the restoration to see if she really understood it.  She basically taught us about it!  We just showed some pictures and asked her to explain it and she did it perfectly!!  It’s cool to see that the Lord really does prepare His children and is going to make sure that they are happy!  So her baptism is the Saturday before the other two, Feb 9th. 

Things here are picking up!  I finally feel that I know what I’m doing!!  It’s nice to feel comfortable with teaching and talking to people.

Saturday we were going to an appointment and we were a little early, so we were walking around and saw some signs for a garage sale.  Garage sales are great places to meet people!  So we went over there and we didn't see any one so we started walking away.  All of the sudden we heard "Hey Mormons!!"  We didn't see any one so we kept on walking.  Then we heard "oh.... the Mormons are leaving."  So we quickly turned around and tried to find the person.  We found him he was in his house behind a big metal screen door.  He yelled at us again "can you give me one of the second testimonies of Christ" ..... We were in shock!!  But of course we gave him one and taught him more about it.  Now we have an appointment with him on Tuesday!  It was a funny moment.

Well family I love you all and hope that all is well with you!!!!

Love 

Elder Garrett

p.s. Thanks for all the pictures of the kids!!!  They are all so cute!!!

14 January 2013

HEY FAMILY!!!!!

Well Tehachapi ... FREEZING COLD AND SNOWING!!!  My first day here it snowed and was around 19 degrees around noon!!!  I usually wouldn’t be complaining about the cold but I just came from Santa Barbara where it is around 70 degrees ... BIG DIFFERENCE!!!  It was really cool to see the snow again and throw a snow ball at my companion! haha

My companion is from Broomfield!!  Kinda funny right, small world!  He is really cool and knows a lot.  He has been on the mission for about a year now.  I like him so far!

This area is really nice though, everyone is really friendly and is willing to talk to us.  We are teaching this guy named Jim who is also meeting with the kingdom hall people.  He had been going to church with them for a while, but he had never been to ours before.  So we taught him about the Book of Mormon and how through our actions of faith, God comes closer to us.  So we shared Ether 12:6 and asked him to show his faith and come to church.  HE SAID YES!!  and here is the kicker ... HE ACTUALLY CAME!!!  He loved it and is coming back next week.

We are also teaching this girl named Riley.  She has been coming to church and has wanted to get baptized for a while but just didn’t have her parents support on it.  Well yesterday her mom signed a permission slip for her to get baptized.  She is now going to be baptized on Feb 9th.  It is such a blessing! I’m excited to be a part of it and help her come closer to Christ.

Things are going really well, I really like this new area, it has a small town feel to it! 

I love you all and miss you tons!!

Elder Blake Garrett

7 January 2013

Hey family!!

So ... I'm being transferred!!  I’m heading to Tehachapi.  It’s in the mountains above Bakersfield!!  It’s gonna be really cold there!  So I will be feeling all your pain!  I’m really sad to be leaving this place and the people, but most of all I think I will miss my companion the most.  My new companion is named Elder Scholes, he has been out around a year, so we will see how that goes!!

Other than that things this week were really slow.  Amanda was sick this week and we weren't able to see her ... But she is still doing good and will be baptized soon hopefully!!  It’s going to be hard to say good bye to her and her husband ... but life goes on!!

The other night we were walking down state street and this homeless guy came up to us crying and asking for money .. I didn’t have any cash on me so I couldn't give him any.  So he asked us to pray for him, so of course we prayed with him.  During the prayer he started hugging us and saying praise the Lord!!!  It was funny.  But it was nice that he recognized us as someone who could help him with something at least.

Well family I’m sorry this is so short!!!  But I’ve got lots to do today.

I love you all and hope all is well with you!!!

Elder Garrett

31 December 2012

HELLO FAMILY!!!

So this week was a really fun week!  Christmas was great!!!  It was so much fun talking to you all! 

Amanda came to church yesterday!!  It was so cool to see her there, she usually works on Sundays but she asked her boss if she can have Sundays off and he said yes!!!  Now she can come to church EVERY WEEK!!!  The ward seemed to really like her and she really liked the ward!  That was such a relief!  Sometimes you get scared that the people in a ward won’t like the investigators you bring!  But somehow it usually works out!

We tracted a lot ... Our area book is empty ... we don’t have a lot of names in it so that means no one really to go see!  So we are now trying to fill up the book with names so missionaries in the future will have something to do.  But that means a lot of work for us!  Yesterday we found three people who told us to come back and wanted us to share the restoration with them.  We are pretty excited about it.

We had exchanges with the zone leaders this week.  I went to the zone leaders area.  It was really fun, I was with a missionary who goes home in like a month or so, so I was able to learn a lot from him.  It’s interesting to see how other people view missionary work and then try to apply what you learn from them into the way that I do missionary work.

Tonight we have to be in at 7pm ... I guess we can stay up all night if we want but we still have to be up and going at 6:30, so I’m not gonna stay up this year.  I can’t believe that it’s already 2013, time is flying by!

Well family I love you all and I’m grateful for you all!!

Love

Elder Blake Garrett