Hey Family!!!!

 

Hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving!

 

Well last week Elder Wenz got sick and we were stuck in until Saturday. So we missed Thanksgiving. We ended up having to cancel our two dinners. It sucked but at least I didn't have to eat two dinners! I got sick yesterday with an intense cold, so we only worked half the week and we still had one of the best weeks I have had on my mission. We have been picking up a lot of former investigators, I'm excited to go and teach them all! We have been working hard and the Lord is really blessing us.

 

Two Sundays ago this girl came up to Elder Wenz and I and she said she wants to be baptized. I was so blow away I had no clue what to say but ok! We asked her some questions and apparently she has been going to church and seminary for THREE years, but her mom said that she didn't want her to be baptized. So Nancy (the girl who wants to be baptized) said she would wait until she was 18, and she turns 18 on December 18th! She told us that she wants to be baptized on New Years Eve! I'm so excited to start teaching her on the 18th! 

That truly is a tender mercy from the Lord. We have been working so hard and all of the sudden some one came up and said "I want to be baptized", what a testimony builder that is! 

 

The work is getting easier and a lot more fun!

 

Hope all is well with you!

 

Love you 

Elder Garrett

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey Family!!!!!

 

So my new companion, Elder Wenz is so cool! He is from Louisville, Kentucky!

 

 We have been working so hard the past week. We have been teaching lessons non stop! We have taught around 8 lessons in 5 days! We have 3 new solid investigators that are really excited about what we are teaching them and they invited us to come back. Elder Wenz and I work well together! Our teaching styles go well together and our testimonies feed off of each others. Its really amazing to see the spirit teach someone rather than us teach them. I have realized that the Holy Ghost is a way better teacher than me or any other missionary out there!

 

 We live with the zone leaders still! The one that was kind of not so nice and not happy at all left! The new Zone Leader, Schiess is amazing! I'm learning so much! He is teaching me things my trainer should of but didn't for some reason, so I'm really excited about it. 

 

 I'm so excited for Thanksgiving!! We have two dinners set up! Its going to be a rough day though.

 

 Oh, my new Companion Elder Wenz has only been out 5 months so its almost like we are training each other! President Castro is doing some really crazy things with leadership and trainers! I'm so excited about this transfer! I'm already learning so much from Elder Wenz!

 

 Bakersfield is weird its so cold here now, its around 40 degrees right now. I thought I was going to California not Canada!!! The nights are freezing, its hard falling asleep. I'm so greatfull for the coat that you sent me!  I have been using both the coats and my suit jacket! Its rough but at least I'm on a bike now. The other day we road 24 miles, it was such a long day but I slept like a baby!

 

Last Night we met this guy named Mike at the Wal Mart Parking lot. He was really nice! He is Baptist and wasn't interested in listening to us at all, but we were persistent and started talking about modern day prophets and how they are called of God just like Moses and Noah. He opened up and about the idea of talking to us and we told him that we have a uniuqe message about the fullness of Christ's Gospel on the earth today. He was so interested by the time the spirit was done with him he wanted to meet with us!

The Holy Ghost works in great ways that help us do this work as missionaries. I'm so greatful to be out here during this time of my life. I hope that you all have a great Thanksgiving! Its going to be weird being away from home for the holidays though.

 

I love you all! and hope all is well!

 

Elder Garrett

 

ps.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!

A VERY Short Letter

Hey!

Well I'm not getting transferred! I figured I wouldn't. BUT I am getting a new companion! His name is Elder Wuenz. He is aparently new. But he is a really good missionary!

This week was long but very successful. We taught this young couple who has a firm testimony in Christ. They want us to come back and see them.

Its hard having this great message but no one wants to listen to it!

But I gotta go.. Elder Campbell has physical therapy. Sorry about the lack of news. I will have more next week!

Love, Elder Garrett

Well this is the last week in the transfer! So I wont find out if I'm being transferred next Monday morning!

But the big news of the week, the Lord has blessed me and my companion with a car! ha ha! Now we can go out and do work! We have been going crazy and talking to everyone we see!

Well our day..
 6:30am try to wake up and work out
7:00am Breakfast/get ready for the day
8:00am Personal study
9:00am Companion study
11:00am we usually tract
12:30pm lunch
1:30pm we go see potential investigators
5:30pm Dinner with a member every day!
7:00pm Back to Proselyting or lessons
9:00 pm HOME
10:30pm Bed

That's my day. I love going out and talking to random strangers! It makes me laugh most of the time cause every one has some crazy idea about us not believing in Christ already! ha ha
Well nothing too crazy or interesting happened this week. So nothing to report.

But you should send letters to the mission office this week unless you send it before November 9th. If your going to send me a package just send it to the mission office!

Well love you sooo much!!!!
Miss you all

Elder Garrett



*Side note from Ashley: Sorry I didn't post this earlier in the week, but remember that if you are sending a LETTER OR A PACKAGE please send it to the mission office (address on the right side bar of the blog).  And I'll try to be better about updating the blog when I get the letters.  :)

A Happy Halloween From Elder Garrett

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

 

Well this week let me see.... last Monday my companion hurt his knee so we really cant ride bikes that often or walk for that matter so we have been stuck inside all day and have been studying sooo much. It sucks but it is very good at the same time. We talked to Sister Castro (the Mission President's wife) about it and she said that he would most likely be transfered to a car area. So we will see what happens next week. ( I cant believe that the transfer is almost over! its crazy)

 

This area is tough. There is a lot of work that needs to be done, a lot of people dont really like talking to the missionaries.. well they love talking to us but not about the gospel. So that is very frustrating and discouraging, but Heavenly Father is just trying to teach me something! Just got to figure out what it is now ha ha.

 

This week was pretty slow nothing new really happened.. sorry.

 

I got the packages that you've sent! Thank you so much! Including the pants and the bread they both were welcomed! haha. 

 

I have become good friends with Elder Haws from Chandler Arizona! He is so cool. His cousin is Tyler Haws (the BYU basketball star ha ha) He is in the area right next to me and speaks Spanish. He is a stud! 

 

Well love you all!

 

Love Elder Garrett

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