June 11, 2012

Dear Everyone,

Okay so we baptized little Julieta!! It was great. I was surprised at the turnout actually for the baptismal service. Her mother made a huge cake (and Argentine cake is awesome), the Primary prepared hot chocolate, and the Relief Society brought tortas fritas (which are little fried scones). A lot of our other investigators went too which was great because most people that see a baptism end up getting baptized because it is always such a spiritual experience! We put on the Restoration video while my companion (who baptized Julieta) and Julieta changed and our investigator Yarco looked at me after and said, "That was great. I am finally starting to understand what you guys have been teaching me." Good sign. He was going to get baptized this upcoming Saturday but things got complicated with planning it so, unfortunately, it's going to have to wait another week. But he at least has now decided that he is going to do it!!

So the week was good! We also taught many other people who have a lot of potential, including this man we found right at 8:30 on Sunday night. We ran out of plans and I said, "Well, Elder Sànchez, where does the Spirit tell you we should go." He responded, "Hmm..." and we went, knocking doors here and there until we saw one door with the windows lit up. When the man answered, I introduced us and started to talk to him and he said, "You guys came by a while back, one of you is from Mexico, right?" That's when my companion realized that he and Elder Scoma, his last companion, had already knocked this door and, not being able to teach him in that moment, had passed by several times in the following weeks, trying to teach him but never finding him again!!

Well once again, he said he was busy but this time, we insisted upon taking only 20 minutes of his time before having to return to our house at 9. So he paused, and then let us in! I don't know how it all came together so well from that point on, but the 20 minutes lesson we shared with him was SO spiritual, he accepted everything we taught him. As we talked openly about our families and showed pictures, he opened up and began to tell us about his whole religious history and when he finished, I felt inclined to tell him that this was the moment to start a new chapter in his life and find the truth and that it wasn't just chance that had led us to his door for the second time. We could see on his face that he recognized the truth of that, and he accepted the invitation to pray to know if our message was true so, on our knees, he offered the closing prayer His name is Pablo and I have a lot of hope that he will be able to come to church and learn to know the true teachings of Jesus Christ and, one day very soon, be baptized in the true church.

Hahaha and sometimes in the mission, we find ourselves with people who are not too receptive. A few hours before we found Pablo, we contacted the house of this 23 year old guy that we had talked to in the street a few days before. His brother answered and let us in and before we knew it, another brother was inviting us to accompany him in "the presence of God" that was to be found in his bedroom where he and some friends were praying. I was like, "Um..............Can we share a very important message with you guys instead?" And he said no, that he would like to pray with us in the presence of God..... So...we went. We got to his room and I immediately felt an awkward knot in my chest upon seeing his friends sitting on the bed, apparently crying, overwhelmed by "the presence." It was obvious; however, that those emotions did not come from the Spirit because the Spirit was not present. When we sat down and started to talk, they immediately began to interrogate us about Joseph Smith and began to angrily deny that he could have seen Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. So, I asked for their Bible and, Alma-and-Amulek-style, we declared the true doctrine, explained the meaning of the scriptures, and testified of the truthfulness of Joseph Smith`s sacred vision. They wouldn't have it though, constantly interrupting with excuses, even when they could see the reason behind our words and feel the Spirit testifying of truth. However, they will not forget.

I have a strong testimony that the Lord loves His children and that this is His work. He prepares each one of the people out there to receive the message of the restored gospel. I know that if we allow Him to help us and guide us in this life, He will provide for us in our moments of difficulty. All He asks is that we outwardly show our love and faith in Him by keeping His commandments.

Thanks for the letters and pray for my investigators! CHAU.

Elder Garrison

June 4, 2012

Weird.

So we moved. Being so far away I feel like I am going to go home to that house anyway though. It probably won't hit me until I get home in a very long time. So I will probably not think about it for now. It will probably just feel like another transfer. But moving must be a complete nightmare. How long did we live there? Like 15 years, right?

Well this week was another fast week. We went to Bahìa Blanca for the last leadership training meeting with President Detlefsen before he finishes. It was awesome like always and I learned a ton of things from those that taught us (President and the Assistants). My zone is the biggest zone though so it's slightly overwhelming. However, it helps that we have some awesome District Leaders who are very hard workers and know what they are doing. Elder Sanchez and I are doing our best to encourage them and help and lead each one of them and their missionaries to have success. Each night, we talk to each one on the phone to see how the day went. We also go on splits once a week with one District Leader at a time to see how they work and help them amplify their vision and improve whatever things we see necessary to improve, and we have a meeting with them every two weeks to discuss ways to work more efficiently in the zone and ways to train the missionaries so they can achieve their goals and have more success. I really enjoy it because it is helping me grow in many ways. In Viedma it was very different because I lived with half my zone!

Well anyway, when we got back, I got really sick like dad is today. I could hardly walk on Wednesday, I felt so weak. And Thursday I was only sort of better. Friday, we did splits and Elder Sanchez traveled to a little city called General Pico to do a baptismal interview, and so Saturday was the first day we actually got to work in our area a full day. So we went out with this member kid named Lucas who is 18 and getting ready for the mission and he went along with us to 7 lessons. It was a good day.

This upcoming Saturday, Julieta Haag, our investigator that is 9 years old, is getting baptized. Her older siblings are already members and have been attending church pretty regularly for the past month or so, so we are baptizing Julieta! It is going to be great. Then for next week, we are going to work with Yarko, another investigator of ours, so he can get baptized!

It's been tough trying to get used to my area and the work and the huge responsibility of being a leader in such a big zone. It's been a struggle because I have missed Viedma so much and it's just not the same here. The people don't treat us the same at all and we have run into a lot of interestingly tough situations with the work. But I know the Lord has called me here for a reason. I know that there are people here, waiting to receive the restored gospel. Just like they were waiting in Pehuajò and Viedma. But I think the Lord is asking more of me this time. More sacrifice. So please pray for Julieta and Yarko and I will send pictures of their baptisms!

That's all.

Chau.

-Elder Garrison

May 28, 2012

Dear everyone,

Woah! That scared me! I saw the pictures of the car crash and seriously thought someone had died in our front yard. I`m glad to hear that that is not the case. But that is great to know that she was okay and that the Lord took care of her. Blessings for the living the gospel. And Kimberly, congratulations for graduating from high school. I feel like the family made fun of me when I graduated because it was apparently not that great of an accomplishment hahahaha. Good work, though.

This week was pretty good. It could have been better though. What I think was happening to me was that I was trying too hard to adjust to the area and also, my companion and I are adjusting to teaching together. It is completely different when a missionary changes companions. Elder Calarco and I weren't perfect but we had developed a very blended form of teaching the people and helping them learn. It helped us a lot to develop certain characteristics such us love for the people and the ability to seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost in order to apply the lesson to the person. But now that once again I have changed companions, I must find the way to teach with that missionary so we don't start to have confusing, themeless lessons that don't help the person to comprehend the message. It is an interesting process. But it also helps us to develop important attributes like humility and patience.

The ward is pretty interesting. They have their struggles but I am still firm in my belief that once we start having success, we won't stop as long as we keep being obedient and diligent in our work! We have to find people to help! Every time I contact people, I think in the Llaupi family because I love them soooo much and the thought of them pushes me. I remember that all people have the opportunity to accept the gospel even those who’s door we knock.

Yesterday, the Stake President invited us as the zone leaders to his meeting with the bishoprics of the whole stake. We gave a report of the progress of the zone and helped give them the same vision we have as missionaries to have real growth in the church! It was a great experience because we prayed and planned so much to know exactly what to say. Because what we said and taught was going to have an effect on the leadership of each one of the areas of our missionaries! And it went even better than I can have imagined. More than ever, I think the Bishops are going to have a trust in the missionaries and help them in the missionary work.

Well, that's all. Not too eventful the week but we're going to keep working hard this week so the Lord can bless us! Tonight we're traveling to Bahìa Blanca for the very last Leadership Meeting that I will have with President Detlefsen until he goes home at the end of June and the new president, President Parreño from Spain comes to take his place. Not sure if I mentioned that. It's going to be SUPER hard to say goodbye to President Detlefsen because he is such an amazing man! But the new president will definitely help us to continue growing!

Well, I love you all!

Chau,

Elder Garrison

May 21, 2012

Mis queridos familiares y/o amigos,

Here I am in La Pampa. It's basically the same as everywhere else I have been. The thing here in Argentina is that all the cities (at least those that are in my mission) are basically exactly the same. The only difference is in size. And weather.

My area is the richer area of the city though. It covers almost all of downtown and then some other areas of the city many of which are neighborhoods that aren't super super rich but still, a good half of the area is full of either very big, nice houses or businesses and several story apartment buildings. It's pretty. But slightly overwhelming.

The thing is, President Detlefsen has promised us that we can have the same success in any area of the mission. And the Lord said, "The field is white already to harvest..." I trust in that promise and am confident that if Elder Sanchez and I work hard and do all the things that we have been counseled to do by our leaders, that we can have that success that we desire. So I am really excited about it!! This time I am in a ward. However, the attendance is half the number of people that were going to church in the branch in Viedma. But it is our goal to FILL that building up.

So this week we got to work. We did service in the bishops house (we need to gain his confidence), started working with the investigators that Elder Sanchez and his last companion had been teaching, and looked for some new opportunities to teach new people and at the end of the week, we had 6 investigators in church. Legit. We had tried to baptize this 21 year old kid named Yarko (which is pronounced like Shark-o) but didn't manage to. He`ll be getting baptized soon anyway, I hope.

Anyway, Elder Sanchez is a great missionary. He has the desire to work really hard, is very obedient, and we get along very well so I am stoked!!

Plus we had quesadillas and made guacamole today. Awesome.

Anway, I'm out of time! I am going to our meeting with the District Leaders now. Unlike Viedma where there were 12 missionaries and 2 districts, here in Santa Rosa we have 5 districts and 28 missionaries. There's a lot of work to do.

I love you all! Pray for Yarko and Julieta!!

Love,

Elder Garrison

May 14, 2012

Dear family and friends,

"The field is white already to harvest..."

This week was amazing. The Zone Leader meeting in Bahìa Blanca was fantastic like always. President Detlefsen shared some very great things with us using the 6th chapter of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price. We talked about the goals we had set in previous months and whether or not we had achieved them and we talked about the goals we wanted to set for the coming months and what we planned to do to achieve them. Our mission is growing very rapidly and we are seeing miracles, each month an entire branch-worth of people are baptized. There used to be only 160 missionaries but we are seeing so much growth, the church has been constantly sending more and more missionaries. There are almost 200 right now and more are on the way.

After we had returned to Viedma, we were followed by President Detlefsen because he came to our Zone to have personal interviews with each of the missionaries. He talked to us beforehand and gave us some awesome insights. He asked us to share with him scriptures that had impacted us during the week and began to teach us and explain doctrine. We talked a lot about sin and repentance and about how God works. It was fascinating and left me pondering a lot. The scripture that sparked the discussion was 2 Nephi 9:45. Then the interviews took all the rest of the day.

So on Thursday, we finally got to work! The members continue to be on fire. They are working super hard and the branch continues to grow. Our goal had been to baptize the Llaupi girls (or as you all say, Loopy) who are Jorgelina and Mariana. So we gave it all we got and they accepted! Friday night, Elder Hoyos took the interviews, and even Jorgelina was doubting, at the end, they both decided to do it!

But on Friday morning, the Assistants called with transfers. Turns out, I`m heading out to Santa Rosa, La Pampa to be Zone Leader with Elder Sanchez from Mexico (I heard he makes killer tacos which is awesome because I have not eaten Mexican food in over a year). But that shocked me. I was not expecting to be transferred. In fact, based on what President had told Elder Calarco and based on what I felt about the growth I still needed to accomplish with Elder Calarco, I was expecting to stay with him for at least one more transfer. And like President had told us a few months ago about staying our areas for more time, I felt like 3 months in Viedma was SO LITTLE. I doubted so much that I had to call the Assistants back and ask them whether my companion was lying to me or not. In such little time, I had grown extremely attached to the members, the converts, and just about everything to do with Viedma. More attached I would say, than I was to Pehuajò upon leaving.

So we booked it. We went straight to this kid Gabriel's house and told him he needed to get baptized or everything we had taught him was worth nothing. Because he would never progress without baptism. He is 13 and his mom wouldn`t let him. But after talking, he promised to talk with his mom. The next day, we passed by and talked with her as well because she had told him she would think about it. But she was super against it. However, the Spirit worked in her throughout our conversation and she finally accepted. Gabriel was baptized and his mom was there to see.

So after so much hard work, practically running all over the place, talking with you guys on Skype, and packing up my things, I arrived at the terminal with Elder Dobson, the other missionary from my area that was leaving, and almost 30 members and converts were waiting there to say goodbye to us. I cried like a baby.

But I know that the Lord has prepared people in Santa Rosa for me to help. I know that if I am obedient to His commandments, that I can be an instrument in His hands, to bring salvation to His sons and daughters here on the earth. I know without a doubt that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church on the face of the earth. It has a prophet and twelve apostles with the authority of God just as Christ`s church had 2000 years ago. It’s the same church. And He leads it. The Book of Mormon is true and can change the life of any person, in any place, wherever they might be, if they can just read it and pray to know it`s true.

Please pray from those in Santa Rosa so that the Lord will soften their hearts and they can accept the message of the restored gospel! :)

I love you all!

Wave to Jackson for me.

Chau.

Elder Garrison