November 21, 2011

Hey,

I love Pehuajò. It's officially my favorite area so far. In Bahía Blanca the people are really cold and stiff. It's sort of a rich city. And I don't know, more than that, the people are just really closed. They like their house and their ideas and minding their own business. It's like the Dursley's. Everyone in Bahía Blanca was like the Dursley's. Here in Pehuajò, we asked a lady who was mowing her lawn, the name of a street and she turned her lawn mower off, walked over, said hi, gave us directions, and sent us on our way. It was incredible. I was so used to Bahía Blanca I got very confused that someone could be so helpful and kind! And not just her, everyone!

Long story short, I like it.

Elder Arias and I are working really hard here too. On Saturday, it rained all day. Somehow, in my hurried rush to pack and leave, I left my rain coat and my umbrella in Bahía. So I got soaked. Drenched. But we worked anyway and I at least had my winter coat. And it turned out to be the most productive day in my mission!!! We found 5 new investigators in one day, had 3 other lessons with members present and taught 9 lessons overall. It was incredible. But the whole week was that way. We also had lunch with the members every day! And there are only like 10! Hahaha. But things are changing. We are training our Branch President. The other elders tried to confront him and point out his flaws. But he only got defensive and they lost the Spirit, fighting. Elder Arias and I realized quickly, though, that President Uriona knows absolutely nothing about the Gospel. And even less about being a Branch President. He was called just as they were about to close Pehuajò because he was the only Priesthood holding, active member!! We started by having a meeting with him and his counselor and the family that recently moved in from my old area who are the Branch Secretary and Relief Society President. We explained what needed to change and that we are all in it together to support one another.

It was interesting because we talked about little things like saying hi to everyone at church, arriving on time and stuff like that. But President Uriona got so animated, it was great!

Yesterday at church there were 19 of us instead of 13. President Uriona did all the little things we asked him to do and the environment was so much different. There was so much more order and the spirit was so strong that our investigator Rosa, who has known about the church here in Pehuajò since 1994, said she had never felt what she felt in church yesterday. And went on for like 5 minutes about how nice it was that the "director" came up and said hi to here and gave her a beso (kiss on the cheek, it's what they do here).

So things are changing slowly. God does the same with us. He pushes us through hard times so we can struggle and grow. But he never makes us overcome that which we don't have the ability to overcome. He does it because He loves us and wants us to progress. He is doing it with me, with Elder Arias, with Branch President Uriona, and with each one of us. His plan is so huge and perfect; it's literally incomprehensible for us. We just have to trust in Him and trust that He has our best interest at heart.

Elder Arias has already been my most influential companion so far. He has baptized more people in his 11 months here in Argentina than any other missionary in the mission. He is about to break the record of most baptisms in the mission and he isn't even half way done. He has baptized almost every week of his mission. Yet he does it because he is incredibly humble and has the deepest love for the people: he desires nothing more than their salvation. That is the pure love of Christ. Christ suffered and died to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. He desired nothing more than our salvation and for that He gave His life. I, on the other hand, am struggling with that but for that reason, I am grateful to be with Elder Arias because he helps me by pushing me to grow and learn.

Thank you so much for always writing and praying and helping! Happy Belated Birthday, Mom, you're 29 again! I love you all and will be talking to you on the phone very soon! Weird.

CHAU!

 Elder Ryan Garrison 

November 14, 2011

Life is crazy in the mission.

On Friday, I was stressing hardcore about the packages I send weekly because I didn't have enough boxes of the Book of Mormon to send to everyone who wanted them (not that Elder Howard didn't have the money I needed to send the shipments anyway he needed to go to the bank) and thinking about the investigators in my area, Villa Mitre Alto. We were working hard with Rodolfo and involving the members as much as possible so he could find his desires to progress by coming to church. But then, at about 3 in the afternoon, Elder Johansson, the secretary and my District Leader, got off a phone call and shouted, "emergency transfers!!" He looks at me and says, "Garrison, you're headed to Pehuajò with Elder Arias, go buy a ticket in the terminal, teach Elder Sancho how to work with Materials, and pack your stuff. You're leaving. Tonight." And just like that, I was gone. I literally did all that in hours and hopped on a bus at 8:00 to go to the tiny city of Pehuajò, Argentina.

Pehuajò (Pay-wa-ho) probably has about 40 to 60 thousand people I would guess. It's a ton like Balcarce. And beautiful. The only thing is, there is no church. They rent a tiny little house and currently have 10 active members. The church here is very fragile, the attendance is quite low, and they were going to close the area completely about a year ago but Elder Aidukaitis of the Seventy felt the prompting to not close it. But what happened this week is that the missionaries here had an argument with the Branch President and President took them out and was going to close the area. But instead, he decided to send Elder Arias and me here.

Elder Arias is amazing. He has two more transfers than me but is on the verge of breaking the record of baptisms in the mission. He was a zone leader in Bahìa Blanca just recently and got pulled out like me before the transfer ended. He has incredible faith and determination. As well as a full understanding of his purpose as a missionary. He loves the people with all his heart and is the most obedient companion I have had. He is humble and wants to succeed so that the Lord's church here on the earth can grow. He is 24, from Chile, and studied Law before the mission. And he is hilarious. We are going to be great friends.

We are going to change Pehuajò, though. We plan to triple the attendance by the end of the year. And we are going to work as hard as possible to do it, too. Oh and the one strong member family that lives here, happened to move here about 4 weeks ago FROM Villa Mitre Alto. So I already know them very well!

Anyway, I'm already out of time because I took so much writing President, but I am super excited to be here even if I will miss the office. I know the Lord has a purpose in everything and He is constantly involved in this work. Because it is His work. I may be here for a while but I am going to do all I can to constantly serve to my best ability so that the church in Pehuajò can grow. Thank you all for your letters, I'll do better at responding next week. I love you all!

-Elder Ryan Garrison 

November 7, 2011

HEY

So I went to get all the mail downtown with Elder Howard on Thursday. I always drive. It's legit. Anyway, Elder Howard is in charge of money but was running out so he only brought 300 pesos. Turns out we got 14 packages in the mission!! Which was going to cost about 2000 pesos and take hours to pay for, etc. (Everything is super slow in this country) So, what did we do? We paid for mine and left the rest for another day! Hahaha. So yes, I got my package. It only took like 3 weeks, mom! That's what I thought anyway. I think I should have explained the tax system on packages though...They make you claim the price of the contents like you did. Then they convert it into pesos and make you pay half the price as a tax. So I now owe the mission 202 pesos. But I don't care because that package was the best thing I ever got!! And I am really impressed with the ties you picked out, too. The other office elders were really jealous of them. So thank you so much for everything in it and for getting all those letters together! :D I realize that's my birthday present but I don't mind opening it early. Every day is the same here. On the other hand, I WILL wait for the Christmas one so no worries.

As for the news thank you for that too, mom. The Argentines always ask us about politics for some reason when they find out I'm American. I am still going to tell them I know that I don't discuss that as a missionary but I like knowing some of what is going on!

As for this week, it was super hectic with office things like normal but it's really fun. All the leaders came into town for big meetings and as the materials missionary I had to give a presentation. I mostly liked seeing all my friends though. As for the investigators, Rodolfo still didn't come. I don't understand. We managed to teach his girlfriend who is equally as smart but knows nothing about religion except her own with is Catholicism. She understood well and we tried our best to apply the message to her current needs and struggles. So we were hoping that instead of being an impediment to Rodolfo that she'd actually help him get there. But nope, he'll come to anything we set up during the week but somehow it is impossible for the guy to get out of bed and come to church on Sunday mornings!

Our other investigators are this couple that one of the ladies in our ward introduced us to named Cesar and Miriam. She is so determined to help them that she is going to help them get married so they can get baptized! It is quite the miracle! The woman is amazing too and always gives us food. 

Well that's all I've got. Thank you so much for the letters and the package and the support. I know what I am doing is right. I love you all!!

-Elder Ryan Garrison

October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween? They don't celebrate that here. Sad.

Thank you all for the letters!!  Thanks for the emails from Tanner too! He still is Tanner and still terrible at writing letters. Hahaha. You can send me the rest too that'd be cool. All the others manage to write me though so no worries.

This week was cool. We did divisons within my district with the focus of finding new investigators. Our district leader wanted us to all stay in divisions until every companionship had found a new investigator.. My district is all the office elders and the assistants. So I was with Elder Acosta from Mendoza, Argentina. He is the new assistant to President because the other one, Elder Bills, finished his mission. Elder Acosta is really cool. He is a fantastic missionary and super obedient. And super Argentine haha. The way he speaks is awesome; his accent is very Italian sounding. I liked working with him because he's smart and he helped me a lot with ideas for my area, ideas for becoming better personally, and is a great example. I do like being in the office a lot because I get to know a lot of the missionaries like that and I get to be around a lot of leaders which is fantastic. Tomorrow, all the leaders in the mission come in for their monthly conference with President and the Assistants. It's going to be another hectic week in the office.

Our investigator Rodolfo is awesome though. He reminds me of Martin who was baptized in Balcarce. He is rather timid and struggles to express himself a little. But he understands everything and always retains the information (unlike most people that we teach). I think he is very prepared. The only problem is his girlfriend, Romina. She has a tight hold on him and she is very catholic. They don't live together (BIG surprise in Argentina) but she seems to be around a lot. I'm worried that she might continue holding him back. He didn't come to church again this Sunday and when we passed by to see if we could acompany him, guess who answered the door? Her. Ugh. Pray for Rodolfo if you could. It's going to be tough.

Other than that, we don't have very many people to work with. The area has been beaten to death by other missionaries and the members are colder than ice to us. Not sure why. But we're trying our best to show our love for them and to motivate them to get involved! In Balcarce, the members asked US when they could go out with us to teach investigators! I had no idea back then that that was a huge blessing.

Well, that's all I’ve got. Thanks for all the support! Send more pictures, though!

As Tanner said hahaha, chau vagos!

-Elder Ryan Garrison