Dear everyone,
Elder Furlong and I didn't pay our
gas bill for a really long time. So on Saturday morning, the mail man came
during our companionship study and we received a suspension notice.
So today we went downtown super early to pay for the bill first thing in the
morning so we wouldn't get stuck without hot water for at least a week, waiting
for them to turn our gas on again. Thankfully, our gas wasn't cut.
Well, since we were already almost
there, we went to the mission office to talk to the Assistants who call us each
Monday morning so we can pass our weekly zone report. And while there, a couple
of the office missionaries had to go get a missionary that was coming in from
Viedma to see President Parreño. I thought it was probably some missionary
needing an interview. But I was wrong. Turns out it was a member of the church
that is from Viedma (a district) and is leaving on a mission today and was to
be set apart by President Parreño. It was Kevin Hernandez. Good thing we
didn't pay our gas bill or else I never would have seen him. He was a member
that went out with Elder Calarco and me to visit our investigators. He was key
in the conversion of many people who otherwise would never have accepted the
restored gospel. When I saw him it was like seeing the Brustle family from
Pehuajò. He`s now headed to Guayaquil, Ecuador to spend two years of his life
serving the Lord.
This week Elder Furlong and I worked
very hard, trying to maintain the progress we`d been seeing in our investigators.
We`ve been passing by frequently, checking up on them, and moving on with the
lessons so they can continue understanding the doctrine. Yet in spite of our
efforts, no one showed up to church on Sunday. It was hard. We sat there during
the three hours kind of put out and feeling relatively useless because there
was no investigator to help feel comfortable, etc. The rough thing is that when
the people we teach don't go to church, they begin to doubt and find themselves
facing hard trials with little faith to back themselves up. So this week we are
going to see how they do and we will have to continue looking, tirelessly, for
new people to teach.
Something that I studied this week
that I really liked was when Christ arrived at Jerusalem for his final week of
life. The following morning while on his way from Bethany to Jerusalem, he was
hungry and saw a fig tree. Fig trees first produce fruit and then their leaves
come out. This fig tree was full of leaves but had no fruit. So Jesus cursed
it, and it dried up and died. James E. Talmage explains that Christ has already
showed his apostles his power to restore life three times on different
occasions. Here in this moment, he showed them his power to take life. He
wanted it absolutely clear in the moment that the Jews rejected him and the
Roman soldiers nailed Him to the cross that had He wanted to, he could have
stopped it at any moment. He is the Son of God and the Creator of this world
and had in Him the power to put a stop to His sacrifice. Yet he did not. He
gave His life freely and voluntarily. And in spite of having died, He had power
to take up His life again and so He did.
He has power over life and death and
for that very reason, overcame both sin and death for us. I am grateful for
that. And for the blessing I have to represent Him. I know He lives.
Thanks for the letters and prayers
of support! Please continue praying for our investigators.
Love,
Elder Garrison
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