Dear Everyone,
This week was great!!
1. On Monday night, we received a call from this kid
named Daniel who said he had meet Lucas Santos (a 18 year member heading to
Buenos Aires Norte in a month) and they wanted to learn about the church and
participate. So I set an appointment for the following day and when we got
there, it turns out that Lucas wasn't the first contact he had had with the
Church. He and his friend Victor had a copy of the Liahona magazine from
General Conference last year. They had read it and marked it up and everything.
We were very surprised to meet someone like this. Well, it turns out they are
from Córdoba and they are from a Christian foundation that they had been sent
to establish here in the province of La Pampa. So, they are missionaries. But
full of questions and very interested in what we believe and why! We aren't
sure what their true intent is in meeting with us, but after the first lesson,
they accepted the challenge to be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ and
since then have been reading the Book of Mormon. They attended church this
Sunday and enjoyed it a lot so we'll see what their real desire is when we see
them again on Tuesday. Regardless, if they feel the Spirit (which they
definitely felt at church) they can become converted and come to know that the Church
is true.
Once again, however, the Lord is giving Elder Howard and me
investigators with knowledge of the scriptures and I feel like He is doing this
because we are studying the Bible very well and connecting it with the Book of
Mormon. It says in the Book of the Mormon that the two books will grow together
to confound the false doctrines of men. And that is what our goal is. For
example, these two thought Jehovah (in Spanish it does not say "Lord"
in the Old Testament, it just plain says "Jehovah") anyway, they
thought that Jehovah was the Father and not Christ (a Jehovah’s Witness
doctrine). So when we taught them the Plan of Salvation they got a funny look
on their face when we said that Jesus Christ created the earth under the
direction of the Father. Well once we showed them John 1:1-3 and Hebrews 1:1-2
and Ephesians 3:9, they realized that it was that way. The lessons with them
have been very spiritual and interesting.
2. Federico Herrero is progressing a ton! He is reading
the Book of Mormon and is on chapter 8 already! We read with him and he also
reads on his own. The other day we taught his brother-in-law because he was
over at his house when we showed up. His name is José. When José got super
interested in what we were teaching, Federico felt excited and realized that
what he is doing is a good thing. He even helped José to pray, encouraging him
and everything. Federico had trouble getting to church because his motorcycle
broke the day of!! He had left to buy parts for it and wasn't there when we
went by to walk with him to church. But about 10 minutes into Sacrament
meeting, the last hour of church, in he walked!! Elder Howard and I are excited
for him. He should be baptized next week.
3. We contacted this lady named Estelia. She answered her
door and we were on the sidewalk, behind the wall of her front yard. When she
opened the door, she stood there glaring at us hahahaha. So we began to talk to
her and after a few minutes, we had her in front of us, showing her scriptures,
asking her questions and getting to know her. Turns out she has never been
baptized in any church! So we gained her trust and helped her feel the Spirit
and challenged her to come and participate in our church and to be baptized if
she felt it was right. We gave her a pamphlet and taught her to pray and left.
Saturday when we went by she said "Don't get mad but I didn't read!
However I AM going to your church tomorrow." So we stood and talked to
her, once again just outside her house, and got to know her 14 year old son.
Once again the Spirit was present and we helped her to realize that if she
showed her faith, the Lord would bless her even more than he currently does.
She promised to go to church, said a prayer with us and yesterday showed up to
church with her son, Agustín!! She loved it SO much. She said she will be
coming to church every week and left with a big smile on her face. Turns out
she knows María Gutierrez, our convert.
So Elder Howard and I are very excited because with our
investigators and those of the other two missionaries, there were 10 new people
in church yesterday! And the attendance boosted up to 68. AND it was testimony
meeting. So the Spirit was very strong and all those present felt it. I know
that if each one of the new people can allow that Spirit to guide them and
direct them in life, they will feel that the Church of Jesus Christ is the true
church of God upon the earth and they will be motivated not only to get
baptized but also to continue onward to receive all the blessings that our
Heavenly Father wants to give them.
Mariano Romero is now first counselor in the Young Men’s
Presidency and he and Marcos Herràn are going to receive the Melchizedek
Priesthood in two weeks after Stake Conference!! So they are progressing very
well. Marcos is giving a class this next Sunday, his wife María is a primary
teacher, Mónica Gutierrez got up and bore her testimony on Sunday and so they
are all progressing very well! Our Bishop is doing a great job with that.
On the downside, we did have to drop Sergio because he
would not progress. He wouldn't read the Book of Mormon and was always drunk.
It was very sad for us to do that because we had come to love him so much.
Someday, he will accept the gospel. We had a VERY spiritual final lesson with
him in which we read Ephesians 4:11-14 and 2 Nephi 33:9 to the end. We were
straight forward and loving and on our way out, he looked at us and said,
"Onward soldiers. Those of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
will always be welcome in my home."
Anyway, that is how the work is going here. Thank you for
the letters! I love you all. Please pray for our investigators.
-Elder Garrison
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