May 30, 2011

HELLO

THAT BABY IS SO CUTE. What color are his eyes I can't tell?! Anyway, I'm glad to hear all is well. That tanning bed thing looked super funny. They should have thrown some sun glasses on him for the pictures. Good to hear that he is healthy and that Steph and Justin are doing fine!

And as much as I wish I was going to Costa Rica with you guys, I sure like it here. The Argentines are hilarious though. It must have been MAYBE 60 degrees out last night around 6 or 7 and we were with the Elder's Quorum President of Barrio 2 and he was complaining that he almost couldn't breathe because it was so cold. ALL OF THEM are like bundled up as if the world is ending and then inside their house is like an inferno because they all have califactors (probably spelled wrong, that is if that is even an English word) or fire things attached to gas tanks. Basically they have an open flame warming up the room. To 5000 degrees. Every time I walk inside, my glasses fog up. It's really cool.

But it's all good because Franco, Leonardo, and Matías got baptized and confirmed!! Elder Blackhorse and I planned it out super well and invited everyone we could and it turned out great! In fact, Ezequiel, the 23 year old second councilor in the bishopric said it was the best organized baptismal service the ward had seen. And I felt like it was super unorganized...But anyway, the boys were so excited and everything was great! I don't know if I've ever felt so happy as I did watching them get baptized! They have grown so much and the feeling in their home has changed. Their family is so much more close. And all of this (I now know) is because Natalia (who is always around when we're over), a member of the ward, invited her friend Analia to come to church! And now, 3 weeks after we started teaching them, the boys have been baptized and confirmed and pray like champs! They understand everything I love it!

Because of Analia's desire to share this though, we are now teaching her 29 year old nephew named Martín. He is getting baptized on the 18th and he has SUCH a desire to learn and make the change that he saw Analia and the boys make. I feel very blessed that the Lord has given ME the opportunity to be HERE right NOW, teaching this family and bringing them closer to Christ. Next week, they are going to give the little baby Lucia a baby blessing. She is the cutest thing ever.

Also, last week we were in the terminal waiting for the bus to Mar del Plata for District Meeting and a woman, Caren, sat next to us and asked where the church building was. Turns out, she's from Venezuela and she was baptised 19 years ago and fell away! She's here in Balcarce, Argentina studying at INTA (apparently a very prestigious school in Argentina, I had no idea) and she got the impression to go to church last week and didn't know where it was or when it started! And then BAM, there were the missionaries in the terminal. SO we dropped by and taught her and her 9 year old daughter, Camila, and they came to church on Sunday! They loved it and Caren was like crying because she had missed it so much. Camila is getting baptized the same day as Martín!

So I am loving this and can see the Lord's hand in this work. Elder Blackhorse and I are doing our best to be obedient and diligent in our work. We are constantly running back and forth across Balcarce and the Lord is blessing us each day with tiny miracles like the one with Caren! He cares about each of His children and wants them all to have the opportunity to accept the gospel and feel the joy it can bring into their lives. :)

As a mission, we baptized 101 people this month. Four shy of the record. 6 months ago they were baptizing in the teens (like 18 I think). President Detlefsen is AMAZING and he has slowly but surely turned the mission around. All the old missionaries said I came at the best time possible because the mission is the most righteous is has ever been. And now every missionary here came in under President Detlefsen. I feel very blessed to be here at this time.

Well, that's my week. I attached pictures of the baptism. The Spanish is still improving and I can almost understand everything. Every day I am writing down new words that people say that I don't understand.

My companion eats a lot.

The pizza here is amazing.

I could eat capresse empanadas until I die.

I crave Bahama Bucks often.

Carly, the other day in District Meeting, I thought of you when I made a dinosaur with my hand and wished there was water on the table that could be the waterhole for it to drink from hahahaha. I'm laughing thinking about it.

Today, we bought huge milanesa´s (flat fried meat) with ham and melted cheese on top all piled on top of french fries. Welcome to Argentina where no one eats healthy.

Fanta here is SUPER good.

Dad, there is a huge museum here about race cars because of that famous racer! Elder Blackhorse and I are going to go next PDay.

Thanks for the letters.

BYE.

-Elder Garrison 

More Pictures including Elder Garrison's First Baptisms

 

First Pictures from Argentina

Ryan with his companion, Elder Blackhorse (from Phoenix, AZ)

TOMS

Apartment

Apartment

A Few More Pictures from the MTC

Marked up scriptures

with Saul Marquez

In front of the Provo Temple

Ryan is going around the world teaching people to open their mouths for pictures...

May 23, 2011

HI FAMILY

Okay so I see that I am an uncle now!?!?  That is awesome!! It was funny to read all these emails and watch as time passed haha. I am super happy to hear that all went well, that Steph and Justin are fine, that the baby is fine, and that you were there like you wanted to be Mom :) In a little under two years, I will see this little guy! Keep sending pictures!

As for Argentina, things are great. I have some great experiences this week. I did splits with my zone leader Elder Wallace and we taught several amazing lessons to some of their contacts in Mar del Plata, who are now all progressing investigators for the Zone Leaders! And in Balcarce, Elder Blackhorse and I have the baptism of 17 year old Franco, 14 year Leandro, and 10 year old Matias this Saturday!! I am very excited! It is a great feeling to teach them, help them understand, and watch them gain their testimonies. I can see the gospel of Jesus Christ bring their family together, strengthen their relationships with each other, and bring them an understanding and perspective of this life. We have some other investigators named Micaela who randomly stopped us in the street and asked us "for our book" who is now reading and we're probably teaching her lesson 2 tomorrow, Leandro Zapata who we have yet to visit, and Nancy and her daughters Layla and Sandra who are slowly but surely beginning to understand the need for this. As for their desires to change, hopefully as they continue on, they will see that this can better their lives!

The other night, we went by a contact of Elder Blackhorse and his old companion and found a family of 6 and taught them! They have had some contact with the church before but I didn't really understand in which way. But anyway, Argentines LOVE to talk so it's really hard to teach them. And this guy was going on and on and I was getting slightly frustrated because we can't teach when they do all the talking! So I randomly held out a Book of Mormon and said, "Do you have this book?" He said no. So I gave it to him, bore my testimony, and we regained control of the lesson and they are going to read and pray! It was kind of funny and Elder Blackhorse laughed his head off after because he had no idea what I was doing but it worked!

Anyway, I woke up Saturday with a 101 fever and we've not done much since then because I feel like death. We taught one or two lessons and went to church but after a little while, it's all I can take. I'm better today and by tomorrow I should be set to get back to work! I'm here to work! Not to be sick and sleep!

So yeah, I uploaded some pictures but I need to take more! There are none of Balcarce! Next week, I'll have a bunch. Um I spent like 20 minutes reading all those emails about giving birth so I have to go so I'll have time to respond to everyone!

Ciao!

-Elder Ryan Garrison

ps - TOMS shoes are from Argentina. They have had these shoes called abrogatas for YEARS. I bought a pair for 15 pesos (just over 3 dollars) and they are exactly like TOMS! Oh and the TOMS logo is an Argentina flag I think! Anyway, all the missionaries here flipped when I told them how big TOMS are in the states. They thought they were all going to come back with these cool, unique shoes.

May 16, 2011

Hi!

Okay so that was a lot of information to take in! I'm glad all is going well for you, Dad. It sounds like you'll be all set within the month or sooner! Which is awesome. Balcarce definitely does have a lot of people for being so small so if it was going on 45,000 citizens I wouldn't be surprised. There is a big Statue dead center and then all the streets are a grid and each block is numbered. I'm still super confused about directions but I'm getting it. And all the main streets (del Valle, and the 3 others that stem out from the center plaza) are beautiful! They have a massive median in the middle with a sidewalk down the middle that has a line of trees on either side all the way down. It's like a tunnel. And since it's fall, they have all turned gold. It looks like that default picture on Windows computers. Elder Blackhorse said I won't see anything like that anywhere else in Argentina.

Anyway I eat lots of food here. But only one time a day. Argentines are weird! Lunch is in the middle of the day and it's HUGE. And they feed us so much I almost die every time. And I have to eat a lot in order to not be freaking rude because apparently everyone and their mom will get offended if I don't! But then we work all the way until 9 without eating much at all. So I get home starving. But I've now had empanadas, and facturas, and tartas, and tartitas, and all kinds of awesome food. I love it all. I don't think I'll be gaining any weight here. Which is good.

As for the work? We have been teaching these three boys named Franco, Leandro, and Matias. Their mom was baptized at age 13 and fell away until like 4 weeks ago when she just randomly went to church! (sorry if I already told part of this story I can't remember) But anyway, we are teaching the boys and will be baptizing them on the 28th of May! It is super exciting to teach them and watch them progress and understand and develop their testimonies! And it is great to see the mother, Analia, watch her children learn and her family come closer together through family prayer and scripture study. They all came to church yesterday all dressed up (Elder Blackhorse and I taught them to tie ties hahah). Other than that, we have a 22 year old named Leandro Zapata and we stopped by and read with him because he hadn't read on his own. It was fantastic and we're praying that he will read on his own from now on! I think he saw how easy it was and how COOL is was. We read 3 Nephi 11 of course. We also have an investigator named Larry. He's from Boston and speaks English. But he doesn't understand the importance of our message! So we're working with the boys, Leandro, Larry and quite a few others.

We're also turning this ward AROUND. We're working on getting this program called 15 Families (created by the First Presidency - we ask 5 families each from the Elders Quorum, High Priests, and Relief Society if they want the missionary discussions again) to reactivate families in the ward! We started by reactivating our Ward Mission Leader hahaha but he came to church on Sunday with his wife and we're meeting with him tomorrow! We also went to meetings with the Elders Quorum and Ward Council to discuss our vision for the ward and the 15-family program. Besides that, we're getting the ward excited about missionary work but doing a Training event to teach the youth (and anyone else who wishes to attend) how to present our message, a Book of Mormon, and a pamphlet! The ward can see that we want to be involved and we're here to work. I'm excited to see where all of this takes us. Hopefully to more references and more lessons with members present.

And we did ALL that in spite of having to travel to Bahia Blanca Monday night, return Thursday morning, travel back to Mar del Plata Thursday night to have Zone conference Friday, and FINALLY getting back to Balcarce Friday night. No more travelling for a while now. ONLY WORK.

So that's about it! I'll upload some pictures of my house and stuff! I'm super happy for Jordan and Kevin! Those are amazing calls! Jordan, my buddy Christian Hutchingson is also going to Mexico, to the Mexico City West mission. We will speak Spanish together with Tanner and Taylor when we're all back. Except Tanner and I will sound funny! Que vas a hacer vos? And Kevin that is so cool that you're going to the same Philippines mission as your dad!!

K. Don't forget to send pictures of Jackson when Steph finally has him!!

BYE

-Elder Ryan David Garrison

Vamos vamos Argentina, vamos a ganar!

Familia y Amigos!

Hey! So I am in Balcarce, Argentina now! After trying to leave on Monday and getting delayed at the airport, they sent us back to the MTC for the night! It was weird getting excited to leave, saying goodbyes to the friends I have made and the district that became almost family to me, and then coming BACK! But it was all fine because I loved seeing those people again :) So the next day, on two hours of sleep, I left once more. We got up at 2am to say goodbye to Sister Weight who left at 3 and then we all left at 5. So after a 4 hour flight to Atlanta, Georgia, a 6 hour layover (where I had a Big Mac and Dr. Pepper and almost died because I was so happy), a 10 hour flight to Buenos Aires, a 6 hour layover after switching airports, a 1 hour flight to Bahia Blanca, spending the night, spending the day meeting my Mission President and having an interview with him and some presentations from him, a 7 hour bus ride to Mar del Plata, spending the night with my Zone Leaders, and a 1 hour bus ride to my area, Balcarce, I FINALLY ARRIVED.

But Balcarce is soooo awesome! It's very European feeling. They have brick and stone walk ways in front of rows of houses and shops all crammed together side by side. But everyone speaks Spanish! There are basically no traffic laws except "don't get hit" and "don't hit anyone." But everyone just walks in the streets like it's no big deal! The town is probably 8 square miles (definitely more than 2 mom but probably still only 2 by 4 miles) and has like 16,000 people I think. But because I'm on foot, it feels like it's huge and there are people everywhere. The food is awesomeee. I've tried quite a few things like empanadas, facturas, tratas I think they're called, and this nasty sugar water called malte (not mate). It's super different though! It's very dirty, to the point that we don't even go barefoot in our home (which is actually nicer than most people's homes). But that's like everywhere outside America. I love it though! I can't understand a word of what anyone says but I'm learning. I think I'll get it down quick. I hope.

So my companion is named Elder Blackhorse. He's Navajo and pretty hilarious and he's from Phoenix! He finishes his mission in July but isn't even trunky which is nice! He wants to be obedient, work hard, and have success so that is exactly what we are going to do. We left to teach a lady and her son the moment I set my bags down in the house. We have a lot of investigators so we're going to do our best to help them pray and read and take the steps to progress in the gospel so they can come to know Christ and gain their own testimony of Him. I'm excited! And I am actually helping in the lessons believe it or not :)

So random stuff?

I can only email family! It changes from mission to mission depending on the Mission President and the rules he sets. So everybody else has to write me real letters or use dearelder.com (which is both easy and cheap) and you all better do that (Jake). And then I'll respond freehand.

My Mission President, President Detlefsen, is super awesome! He has done a ton to help our mission to be both more obedient, and in turn, more successful. He doesn't speak English well but he understands like everything you say. He's also really funny.

Argentines all look Italian. The guys in the stores that sell bread or food or something else all look like Italian pizza chefs. It's straight up legit.

The police here don't really do anything.

My feet hurt a lot.

The little children all stare at me and think it's funny when I speak Spanish...

They do not sell Dr. Pepper here.

My mission is a non-caffeine mission anyway.

There really are more dogs here than people.

I get to travel BACK to Mar del Plata tonight and then BACK to Bahia Blanca tomorrow for some training meetings. And then I have Zone Conference in Mar del Plata on the way back.

Winter is coming not summer.

The water does spin the other way when draining.

I have an hour to write now instead of a half hour.

Jordan thank you for the pictures and emails! I loved them. I was told I could open any emails waiting for me but from now on I need to receive physical letters so getting writing (like Jake).

And I miss and love everyone! Mom make sure to find out what Jordan's mission call is so you can include it in an email next week. Or Kim could do it, that'd be cool! Thanks for everything and I really appreciate everyone who takes time to write! Bye!

-Elder Ryan David Garrison

Update on Ryan's Trip to Argentina

After a failed attempt to leave for Argentina on Monday of this week, Ryan left Tuesday on a rescheduled flight.  He arrived in Buenos Aires around 3:45 AM Arizona time and we won't know for a few days how he made the final leg of his journey to Bahía Blanca.  Any snail mail en route to the MTC will be forwarded to his mission and he'll get it someday.  Please note the updated mailing address on this page for future snail mail.


Ryan got to talk with the family on Monday and Tuesday and he is, in his words, "freakin' stoked" to get to the mission.  He had McDonald's and a Dr. Pepper in the Atlanta airport.  We expect to speak to him again on Sunday for his Mother's Day call.  P-Day is probably Monday so that will be the next post here of his email.


 - Robin