July 23, 2012

HEY,

This week was fantastic. We are teaching this family called the Lucero family. The mom is named Marta and her children are Nicolle (18), Mariano (17), and Ivon (9). They are AWESOME. Elder Howard and I love them. We have been slowly improving our lessons together and now are teaching together even better than ever. We've had some great lessons with this family and finally, each one of them has offered a prayer to end a lesson and they are reading the Book of Mormon together. We are excited. This week we worked really hard to get them pumped about going to church so they got there on Sunday and loved it. The week before, they had slept in and we were super bummed about it. So now we are hoping that they will get baptized in a few weeks. The only problem is that their mother lacks the motivation which is sad because she just admitted that her father in Còrdoba is very sick and could die. And not even that drives her to seek help from God. Sadly, her children went to church without her yesterday. But we'll get her there. Regardless, she loves us and has no problem with her children going to church and getting baptized if they want, etc.

It is kind of funny though because we met them because Mariano and his friend shouted at us in the street in English...Kind of like in Viedma with Agustìn. So we talked to them for a while and wrote down their addresses. When we showed up to their house, Nicolle walked up with this girl named Astrid who is a member of our ward! Not chance. So Mariano is awesome. He always has a light in his eyes when we teach him. 

The other miracle we had was that two weeks ago, we did splits with some of the older members in the stake for a few hours. Elder Howard went out with Lucas, the kid that always comes with us to lessons, and they contacted this man named Marcelo in the street. He has no house. They invited him to church and the next day he showed up. Last week we couldn't find him, however, because he has no house and lives in the streets. So he didn't show up at church. Well Lucas ran into him and lovingly called him to repentance for having not come to church. So THIS Sunday he showed up again!! Awesome. He is going to get baptized for sure.

And the other miracle was with Catalina, who I have been teaching since I got here. She goes to church every Sunday in a skirt and everything. So she looks like a member but has never wanted to get baptized! But this week, after the baptism of Marìa and Marcos, who are her aunt and uncle, she decided that she wants to do it. So she expressed her desires to her mother and grandfather and this Saturday, will be baptized! Her grandpa invited us over and told us the news and Elder Howard and I were super stoked. So we have planned everything and it's all ready to go. This week we will finish teaching her and she will have her baptismal interview on Friday!!

The other Elders in our area also had investigators in church on Sunday so the Bishop was pretty happy and the members got very excited to see the fruits of our labors.

Plus, Marcos received the Priesthood. He came up to Elder Howard and I and said, "It's been a very long time since I put a tie on...You two may be young, but you taught me many things that touched my very soul and have changed me. I thank you for that." We gave him and his wife hard cover triple combinations and a framed picture of the baptism and they were speechless. So great.

As for my new mission president, I left that out! Two weeks ago, Elder Howard and I traveled to Bahìa Blanca for the Zone Leader conference and met him and his wife. They are great, I really like them. I won't lie, I really really miss President Detlefsen. I constantly remember the things he taught us and try to apply them to my life. But President Parreño is also a very inspired man with an incredible story. He is from a smaller city near Alicante, Spain where he first went to church with two members and four missionaries. They were the only ones there. He was the third baptized member in his whole city. All because he saw a light in the eyes of the missionaries when they talked to him in the street and he wanted to be like them. Since then, many stakes have been formed in his city and he has served as Bishop and Stake President.

This week, they came to Santa Rosa and we had our Zone Conference and interviews with him. There were 37 of us there and Elder Howard and I had to set everything up, organize lunch, and I conducted the meeting. Crazy.

Anyway, thank you all for your letters and support! I love you all! Please pray for Catalina, Marcelo, and the Lucero family so that they can be okay! I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. He lives and has restored His church in these last days so that each one of us can come to know the true points of His doctrine and be saved and perfected through His atoning sacrifice.

Adios,

Elder Garrison