September 19, 2011

OKAY.

Dad, that's a depressing turnout in the BYU - Utah game!

And I hope you guys don't force the missionaries to eat more food than they can handle!

So I am actually still companions with Elder Araya. Elder Howard came in though which is LEGIT because we get along really well. He is new Finance Elder who deals with all the money and is companions with the Elder who is training him in all that. But get this, there are actually 8 of us living in our house! With one bathroom. All 6 of us office Elders and the Assistants to President. They had us all move in together because the old house in which half of us were living before was too far away. Now we live all together and get to know everything that's happening in the mission! It's pretty special...Anyway, the Elders who lived in the new house before us were pigs. So we spent all day today cleaning. Fun.

This week was tough though. The assistants left with the elder in charge of all the houses in the mission to go check them and clean them out of "distractions." Which left us in a companionship and a triple every night. In other words, two groups to work in three areas.  As a result, we had less results! But hey, our investigator came to church! His name is Horacio. He's blind. And 33. And the most humble, nice, loving person ever. He LOVED church. He has few friends, few pastimes, and must get bored often. But the new experience of a million nice people saying hi and caring about him, hearing the hymns, and feeling the Spirit really helped him. It was funny because before, he never memorized names or anything. But in church he finally did. I explained to him how we dress every day as missionaries to represent the Lord, how we wear little tags to distinguish us, and everything else about the missionaries, members, etc. It was great. We had some members take him home and he asked me (using my name) when we were coming by again!

He's getting baptized for sure in 2 weeks!

The church is kind of weak in Argentina. So we're doing our best to motivate the members in every way possible! I got to speak in church yesterday (just like Kimberly!) and I spoke about the Doctrine of Christ (3 Nephi 27:20-22, 2 Nephi 31:19-21, etc.) and explained how it is necessary that we all repent and are baptized by the proper authority so that we can receive the Holy Spirit and present ourselves cleanly before God after we die. That is the gospel of Christ and the only way we can be saved in the kingdom of God! And then I shared in 3 Nephi 17:7 and 9 when Christ heals the sick Nephites but it is the clean people that help the sick come under Jesus to be healed (something I learned from Elder Blackhorse). It is our duty to share the restored gospel with ALL those around us! Whether we are missionaries or not! Everyone needs to be "healed" through Christ by baptism.

Unfortunately, a lot of the members here think that it is the job of the missionary to knock doors all day but that's wrong! The members find. The missionaries teach.

I love being here and doing this work. It's an incredible and rewarding experience to help someone find the restored gospel of Christ and come to receive the blessings of it. And I learn a lot each day about my own self, how to teach and interact with others, and how to learn in a more effective way. I'm so thankfully every day for the experiences I have.

Thank you all for your letters and encouragement! I hope everyone is doing well back at home. And if you haven't written in a while, or said you would and haven't at all. Please write me!

Chau!

Elder Ryan Garrison

September 12, 2011

Dear Family.

Wow. The office is literally insane. I don't even know where to begin. First off, President is never here. He is always in the mission home. But the assistants are here all the time. This week the new missionaries came in and the old missionaries went home so that was crazy. I have been learning all my duties in the office as well. We get to drive the mission van which is awesome. We basically don't follow the rules of not leaving your proselyting area because we always have to drive all over Bahïa Blanca to run errands. The missionaries are ALWAYS calling me asking about their things, ordering materials, etc. And I am really getting to know a lot of them (by their voices at least haha). Oh and my P Day basically doesn't exist now because we spent all day doing errands and other things that had to be done. Today we went to Walmart! It was weird.

But I love it.

And as strange as it may seem because I am in the office all day, my companion Elder Araya and I still managed to find more investigators this week than I ever have in my whole mission. Our goal each week is to find 15 investigators. And we actually did it! We don't know the members, the streets, the area, anything. But the week was amazing! Elder Araya is an amazing missionary. He is a fantastic teacher, very obedient, and at the same time, friendly and talks to EVERYONE. We wander the streets and talk to everyone in sight, knock doors randomly, and have found such great people! He has taught me a lot about following the Spirit and searching the guidance of the Lord. Yesterday, we were in this little area between two houses with absolutely no desire to knock doors. And he says, "We need to pray and ask the Lord for a new investigator to teach." So we did. We walked out from that area to the street and look over, and recently, a man had walked out of his house and was just enjoying the nice weather while leaning against his fence (we are finally able to work all day long in just short sleeve shirts because the weather is nice). So we contacted him and went inside and taught him! Later, we found 6 more investigators the same day!!

And my Spanish has improved a ton in this week. We talk a lot about it and practice in the street both English and Spanish. But the unfortunate thing is that two new missionaries are coming in today. They couldn't come last week because they hadn't received their VISAs. So President did some last minute transfers and what is happening is Elder Whipple (my trainer as Materials) is leaving to train a new missionary and Elder Howard (MY MTC COMP!) is coming in to replace the Finance Elder. Elder Whipple was the Finance Elder's companion but now he will be with Elder Araya and I will be with Elder Howard. AGAIN!

Well I have to go now! We´ll see how things go. I know I am going to have success in this area. A lady Elder Davidson and I were teaching in Balcarce is getting baptized this weekend so I am happy!!

Thank you everyone for your letters! I get to go and pick them up from the post office myself now haha.

I love you all!

-Elder Ryan Garrison

September 5, 2011

Dear everyone,

So in the mission we have transfers every six weeks. Transfers start on Monday and end six weeks later on Sunday. The Friday before, the Assistants of the Mission President call the Zone Leaders who then call the District Leaders who then call the individual companionships in their districts. So I'm obviously explaining this because...I got transferred! After finding out I was leaving, we did our best to say goodbye to everyone for me and still have lessons at the same time.

It was super hard to say goodbye to Balcarce. I had grown really attached to the city, the members and all they did for us, the people I had taught so many times, and especially the people that were baptized in my time there. I lived there for four whole months! So saying goodbye to Martin and his cousins Franco, Leonardo, and Matias was incredibly hard. It basically sucked. Because maybe it's not goodbye forever, but I won't be seeing them every little while like I have been. Martin was super sad so he and Natalia, his "girlfriend," made us this awesome lunch on Saturday and it was freaking awesome. They made these things called Cantelones that are kind of like lasagna ravioli things. And on Sunday he showed up to church in a suit!! It was legit. I am confident that he will be a very faithful member of the church in the future. He has never missed a Sunday. My hope is that he and Natalia can get married in the temple some day!!

But anyway, last night I said goodbye to Elder Davidson and left Balcarce with Elder Guzman (the Chilean missionary that had lived with me for 3 months) because he as well was transferred. And now I am in Bahia Blanca, the capital of the mission (which isn't as pretty as the Mar del Plata area but I'll live). AND I am the new Secretary of Materials in the Office of the Mission!! Which was a big surprise for me. I had been joking with Elder Guzman for a week or so saying he was headed there (we basically knew we'd be leaving because of how things work out with timing, etc.) but it turns out that I am the one here now! So what happens is I spend my day from 10 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon working in the office and then at 5 o clock I leave the office and go work in my area until 9 at night. I am getting trained by Elder Whipple from California who has been the Materials Elder since I arrived until 3 weeks from now when he'll be transferred away. My companion, however, is Elder Araya, a Chilean elder that arrived in the mission with me (he is going to be the Pensionero which is the office elder that deals with all the missionaries housing contracts and rent, etc.). He is super legit, wants to work really hard, and speaks 

only Spanish!! So finally I am going to be able to learn a ton more of Spanish!!

What I do as the Materials Elder is take orders from the missionaries in the mission, order the materials, receive them, send packages all over the mission, take care of cell phones, pick up and distribute mail to the missionaries, order and stock the materials of the office itself, etc.

So I am not exactly sure how I feel about spending my day in doors all day every day for the next 4 to 6 months (or even more) instead of being outside working in the mission field but I know that the Lord called me to the office for a reason and that there are things here that I need to learn. So it's all good!

Thanks for the letters and news about what's going on at home! I love you all!

Chau!

-Elder Ryan David Garrison

Pictures sent September 5, 2011

Pictures sent August 29, 2011