Dear Family and Friends,
So this week was great. The First Presidency has asked us
that every time we have leadership meetings with our mission president, that
the following district meeting should instead be a zone meeting given by the
zone leaders so that everyone could receive the same information that we
receive in the meeting, applied specifically to the zone’s needs. So the whole
zone got together in the stake center on Tuesday, and Elder Howard and I taught
all 30 of the missionaries. It was fantastic. We taught about what President
Parreño and the Assistants had taught us and applied it specifically to the
zone. We used D&C 11:21 (which is also something that Elder Viñas had
spoken about) and mixed that with what President Parreño had taught us. He
taught us that God has given us many tools to be able to do this work. He took
out of context a verse from the Book of Mormon which is Alma 60:21 and
explained that we cannot "sit on our thrones" and expect the Lord to
bless us if we do not make use of those tools he has given us. So using that,
Elder Howard and I talked of two tools that the Lord has given us to
effectively teach our investigators: the scriptures and Preach My Gospel. No
one in our zone is using the scriptures well in their lessons. We invited all
to study them with the purpose to help their investigators and make use of them
in their lessons. Every one of them needs to be able to convince a person that
our church is the true church using just the Bible. And then, with that
knowledge, introduce the true and FULL doctrine found in the Book of Mormon.
How can we expect them to believe us and understand the doctrine if we can't
back it up with the scriptures? Preach My Gospel helps us develop necessary
teaching attributes and contains the doctrines, principles and commandments
that we are to study, believe, live, love, and teach. That is how we obtain the
word of God. Then we spoke of obedience and companionship unity which allows
the Spirit to be with us and add clarity and power to our message. If we seek
first the word of God and are worthy of the guidance of the Spirit, we will
then have the power to convince men (Doctrine and Covenants 11:21).
That was a workshop on how to achieve Doctrinal
Conversion with an investigator. Then we hit Social Conversion, which has to do
with working with local members and leaders so that, as Gordon B. Hinckley
said, each new convert can have a friend, a responsibility, and be nourished by
the good word of God. We talked about how important it is that they collaborate
with the members so that the investigators can fully convert to Christ and His
church and have a lasting conversion as they develop relationships with the
other members of the church.
I really liked the meeting because as zone leader, I
really don't have time to directly teach the missionaries in the zone. And I
love to teach. Elder Howard and I normally only teach the district leaders so
that they can convey the message properly. Unfortunately, that doesn't always
happen. We taught them during the hour before the zone meeting and spoke of
that using 3 Nephi 19:5,8 when the 12 Disciples of Christ among the Nephites
teach the gathered multitude all that Jesus had spoken the day before without
changing even one word!
Anyway, this week we didn't have much success teaching
Sergio unfortunately. We had trouble finding him, and he has stopped
progressing very much because he has just hit a wall. He has no true desire; it
appears, to stop drinking even though he might say it because he does not
fulfill his commitment to read the Book of Mormon. He sticks it in the cupboard
and does not read it. We haven't seen him for 4 days now, and he isn't in his
house ever and always seems to be busy when we call. He did not show up at
church like he said he would.
However, last Sunday we started teaching this guy named
Federico Herrero. He is awesome! We have taught him almost every day since. He
just got married to this girl that works in the grocery store across the street
from our apartment called La Anonima but they aren't getting along too well. He
wants to up and do something extravagant like move to France or join the army
or something because he truly is not happy. As we have taught him, he has come
to realize that he really isn't happy but what we have helped him see is that
even were he to change his surroundings and circumstances, nothing would
change. He himself needs to change, and he needs to find God. Now he
understands that as he repents and follows God, the guilt will go away and he
will find true peace and happiness. He is reading and praying and progressing
very well. Using the scriptures and verifying his understanding with questions
we have helped him learn the doctrine which we then apply to him so that he can
see in what way knowing all that we teach him will benefit him. He has felt
really good and his prayers are improving a lot. They are sincere, and heard.
He came to the last session of General Conference and didn't understand much of
anything but he said he liked hearing the prophet speak. He is recognizing the
Spirit and if he continues as obediently as he is doing so, he will be baptized
on the 27th of this month! PRAY FOR HIM!
I LOVED conference. I saw some other themes as well, mom.
The work is VERY urgent. Many of the talks were about missionary work and
sharing the gospel, service, and protecting the family from Satan’s advancing
attacks. The Prophet was very straightforward in Priesthood Session about
sharing the gospel. He said, "Brethren, this is OUR responsibility."
And with that, closed his talk. I read in a talk that Elder Ballard gave at BYU
recently that nothing that existed in Sodom and Gomorra is not happening among
us today. And then yeah, many talks were focused on becoming truly converted
and changing our nature to be more like the Savior. I especially liked Elder
Holland’s talk. He gave that exact talk to missionaries in the Provo MTC in
January of 2011 before I entered. President Detlefsen showed us that talk my
first week but it was translated, and I did not understand it. Then, Elder Arias
showed it to me in Pehuajò, and it changed my mission. It is an amazing talk.
This one he gave had a slightly different angle taken, seeing as it was for the
whole church and not just the missionaries, but it was just as powerful.
I know that the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored
upon the earth. His Priesthood keys are held by President Thomas S. Monson, a
living prophet, and each one of his counselors and Twelve Apostles.
Thank you for your prayers and letters!
Love,
Elder Garrison
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