February 18, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

 

This week flew by super fast.

 

Elias Arias was baptized this Saturday by our Ward Mission Leader, Mauro Valdebenito, a 20 year old in our ward who should be going on his own mission soon. It was interesting to see how even Elias, who is 9 years old, had trials of faith this week to prove himself and make it to his baptism without doubting in his faith. Claudia, his mother, is the woman that was baptized in December and her whole family goes to an evangelist church. When Claudia`s house burned down at the beginning of last year, three of her older children went to live with the grandparents because now there is little room in what is left of Claudia`s house. Because of that, the family goes back and forth every once in a while to visit each other and the grandparents were not too excited to hear that Elias was to be baptized in the MORMON church. He got super worried because of their negative comments and began to tell his mother that he no longer wanted to get baptized. Thankfully, Claudia was able to comfort Elias and he decided to go through with his decision to get baptized.

He no longer cares what they say because he is SO happy after his baptism. He keeps telling his mom that he feels happy now and is continually smiling since his baptism. And even though his aunt and grandma told Claudia that "she had given her son up to the devil," he is content with his decision and she continues firm in her decision to continue attending church.

Juan Peralta is also doing excellent. He reads the Book of Mormon every day as well as does his daily prayers. He went to church for the third time this week so we'll be setting up plans for his baptismal interview so we can make the plans for his baptismal service. He is growing in faith, knowledge, and hope as he reads and prays and learns more. It is a great feeling to see his growth and see the change of heart he has had as the Spirit works in him and his desire to do good continually grows. He really is one of the chosen, prepared by the Lord to receive the restored gospel.

I have really gained a strong testimony in the mission of the real need to constantly search diligently in the scriptures. They bare testimony of Christ and guide us to Him. He is the salvation and if we search diligently in the scriptures, we will be filled with His light. I love to read the scriptures because I know that inspired men wrote them and there is no other source of knowledge that can better help us to achieve our eternal potential than the scriptures. Not science, not any worldly wisdom, not any secular education as important as it may be. The scriptures have been given to us and they invite us to come unto Christ, the fountain and source of all righteousness. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It is a book of divine revelations that help us believe in Christ, come unto Him, and believe the testimonies of the apostles found in the Holy Bible. I invite all who read this to search diligently in the scriptures and to come unto Jesus Christ.

Thank for you your prayers and support!

Love,

Elder Garrison

February 11, 2013

Dear Friends and Family,

Finally, this Saturday Elìas, the son of Claudia, will be getting baptized. We are super excited for him. He has progressed little by little. He is slightly stubborn and difficult to teach because he is only 9 years old but we try to make it as fun and interesting as possible for him so that he can understand the Gospel at his own level.

Juan Peralta, the kid in the picture I sent home last week, is progressing a TON. He is super awesome, we love him. He defends the church a lot and basically tells everyone that they need to go to the Mormon church. He reads and prays daily and his faith is growing little by little. His prayers are getting better, and now he is finishing them in the name of Jesus Christ. One of our challenges with him was that of helping him develop faith in Jesus Christ.  But as he read and began to understand the plan of salvation, he has come to have more faith in Christ. This week he explained to us that he loves the way we view Christ in our church. It inspires him to believe and to strive to be like Christ. Juan even expressed his desires to be "an Elder," hahaha, so we are pretty stoked. He went to church yesterday and everyone talked to him and helped him feel comfortable. He said he had waited all week, "anxious for it to be Sunday again." He said that in church he feels welcomed and not judged. If all goes well, he will be getting baptized in the next couple weeks.

This week we also had a meeting with Elder Viñas from the Area Presidency. It was fantastic. He didn't come with a prepared message; he instead stood up in front of us and answered our questions for about 2 hours. It was fascinating. He explained that as leaders in the church, we are like the signs that they place to mark the trail and that stick up through the snow when the trail is covered. But he wanted us to understand that as a leader or as a missionary or even as a Seventy of the Lord, we are not the way…Christ is. At the end he bore his personal testimony, explaining that he knows that Christ lives and that he knows many things that he can't tell us but that he knows them. He said he is less than the dust of the earth and is simply an instrument in the hands of God.

The following day, my companion and I planned meetings and taught our zone of 29 missionaries all that our Mission President, the Assistants, and Elder Viñas had taught us. We also had a meeting with our District Leaders to teach and train them and show them how we'd apply everything we had learned in our zone. It went well, and we are very excited because we are seeing a lot of success here in Bahìa Blanca! The Lord is blessing us for our hard work and we are seeing the miracles that He works through us.

Thanks for the letters, the prayers, and the support!
Love,
Elder Garrison

February 4, 2013

Dear Friends and Family,

This week I have been studying the New Testament in depth, using Jesus the Christ to help me understand.

I have been fascinated by the teachings of Christ during his mortal ministry. Something that caught my attention a lot was in chapter 22 of Matthew when the Pharisees and Scribes are trying to trap Jesus in something he says so that they can have a reason to accuse Him of some crime. The Pharisees send some of their disciples to ask Him a question and they ask if it is lawful to pay tribute to Caesar. Had Christ said no, they would have accused Him of treason and speaking out against the Roman government that was in control at that time and had He said yes, they would have accused Him of not being a faithful son of Abraham and set not only the multitudes against Him but also the Jewish Sanhedrin which would have used that as reason to kill Him.

Christ asks them to show Him a coin and then asks them whose image is on it. Caesar’s of course. He then commands them to give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and to God that which is God’s. It is interesting because not only does He cleverly respond to their question, but also He teaches a lesson. In Genesis it says that man is made in the likeness and image of God, our Father. Just as Caesar’s image was stamped upon their money and belonged to him, the image of God is stamped upon the soul of each and every one of us and therefore we must dedicate our whole soul to Him. I know that if we love the Lord with all our heart, might, mind and strength that we can become like Him.

This week, we have been teaching this kid named Juan Peralta. He lives with a bunch of his friends and they all are about my age. Juan has had a hard time in life and really feels empty. He has opened up to us a lot since we met him and slowly has gained a lot of trust in us. Yesterday he went to church. He says he wants to surround himself with a different kind of people and said he loved church a lot. He felt comfortable, enjoyed the classes, and over all said he wants to keep coming. He has a baptismal date for the end of February so Elder Furlong and I are really hoping that he can make it. He is now preaching to his friends. His faith is growing. And as it does, so does the light in his eyes.

Federico Oruè who we found last week also went to church again. He is progressing super well. He likes this so much that even though he works all day and the only time he has to go to his land and work on building his new house is after work, he told us he wants to dedicate his lunch hour to meeting with us and learning more. I am confident that the Lord has prepared the way for us to meet him. But in reality, the Lord has prepared the way so that HE could meet US. He needs a change in his life and his faith is growing as he reads, prays and attends church. Faith without works is dead. He is showing his faith and as he does, it increases.

Elìas Arias, who was going to get baptized this week, is going to have to get baptized next week instead because there were some complications and our bishop wants to wait until next week. So, that we will have to do. He'll make it, though. He is super stoked and comes to church with his mom each week, who is doing great herself and reads the scriptures almost daily. She is almost done with the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi.

Our convert Alejandra is super happy these days. We went over all of our lessons with her for a second time and she is on fire. She is reading the Book of Mormon constantly, always goes to church, and is absolutely brilliant.

Anyway, this week we have a huge leader meeting in my mission with Elder Viñas of the First Quorum of the Seventy. It should be great. Then the following day, my companion and I will hold training meetings with our District Leaders and then a big meeting with the whole Zone to transmit everything that Elder Viñas teaches us. I am excited.

Thank you for your letters and thanks mom for the quotes from Elder Holland. They were great. Pray for my investigators if you can!

Love,

Elder Garrison

January 28, 2013

Dear everyone,

This week was great. Our investigators Marcelo and Daniela gave us some referrals, telling us to pass by Daniela's sister because she had been asking a bunch of questions about the church that they didn't know how to respond.

So we went searching for this house and ended up finding these two guys named Cristian and Federico. We went in and taught them really fast about how God is our Loving Heavenly Father and that the Gospel of His Son Jesus Christ blesses us. Seeing as we didn't have time to teach more, we tied that into baptism and invited them to get baptized in the true church of Jesus Christ. They accepted.

After the closing prayer which was offered by Cristian, Federico gave us his address and his phone number and started going on about how he and his girlfriend want to get married and how they needed to decide if they'd get married in his church or hers. He said for that reason it was good we came by. So the following day we passed by his house and found out that "her church" is really OUR church. She had been telling him about the temple! AND they want to get married there. Her whole family are members of the church but no longer attend. So we started visiting them each day, teaching the two of them with her mom, and on Sunday, they went to church!

Also, we found this family of three who are named Gabriel, Dina and Luz. The cool thing is that their last name is Dedios (of God). They are progressing super well too. Other missionaries had visited them a year ago but didn't do a very good job at keeping the appropriate distance so when we got there all they wanted to hear about was America, our lives, tell jokes, etc., etc. So we talked a little but then subtly and slowly got onto the subject of religion and taught them. The lesson was fantastic. The mom doesn't believe in God because she has had a hard time since her parents died and none of their older children from past marriages visit them, etc. But as we taught them, they understood well. So well in fact that Gabriel asked us if the other religions get mad at us for saying that the Church of Jesus Christ is the only true church on the earth (most people have SUCH a difficult time understanding that...). Anyway, they read and prayed together that night and when we went by again, the mom had changed COMPLETELY. They were waiting for us with jello, got super excited and interested in the lesson, and at the end, she did the prayer.

Last, we found this group of kids, ages 18 to 22 years old that all live together and play the guitar. They are super awesome. They all listen to us and participate. One of them is already reading in chapter 14 of 1 Nephi. He read from the first page of the book to chapter 13 in one night. They all have profound needs and doubts so it isn't the easiest thing to teach all four or five of them at once but my companion and I are excited to help them get to church and everything. They were going to go but all slept in.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here serving a mission. I don't think we'll ever understand the magnitude of how important it is to obey the commandments of our Heavenly Father until we actually return to His presence. But I am positive that if we keep them, as much as we may not fully understand the importance, our hearts will change and our lives will be blessed as Heavenly Father cares for us and blesses us for our obedience. I have seen it again and again in my life and in the lives of others. I am confident that if we obey with a willing heart, He will bless us.

I'm as sure of that as I am that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. It's the only church that has a living prophet and twelve apostles endowed with the power and authority of the Holy Priesthood and called of God to teach and guide us on the earth today. That is how Christ established His church before. Why would it change today? It's that simple.

Thank you for your letters and prayers of support!

Love,

Elder Garrison