October 25, 2010

Hola well this week as all of you know I am in a new sector called Curico. It is so huge and it´s really pretty. I am in a ward now we have like 90 people that were in the church last Sunday. The chapel we are in is kinda ghetto, it´s really small. But the people are really great. The house we live in is like the best in the mission it has 2 bathrooms and 2 storys. My companion is named Elder Yeakley he is from Boise he is a funny kid. So something really cool happened this week. We first started to do contact just knocking doors and this was on Wednesday, I think, maybe Tuesday. Anyways this woman came out and we started talking and my comp asked if we could come in and she said yes. So we went in there and got to know her a bit and she works with special needs kids and I told her about Gabe and that was cool to have that connection. So eventually we got talking about baptism and what we need to do to get cleaned of our sins. She was very receptive and is very smart. So my companion invited her to be baptised and she said well if I receive an answer then of course I will. During the end of the lesson I testified to her about the importance of families to her for some weird reason because she has a child and what not. At the end of the lesson we asked her to say the prayer and she didn't want to so I just said it. I didn't think much about it after that, but the next appt my district leader and my comp went back there and she said that I just gave the prayer in a special way and she just felt like the spirit of God was in her house and just felt so good. That made me feel so good when I heard that. They taught her the restoration and she loved it and when they talked about the restoration of the apostasy she just gasped almost and she said she got this feeling inside her like a burning inside her. They told her that was the holy ghost telling you this is true. Also they gave her a Book of Mormon and she was about to buy a book to start reading and she didn't because they were expensive so now she has the best book ever to read. Also something that is ironic is that she lives with her partner and I asked them if they had been thinking about marriage and she said yes, they want to do it this year they have been together for 10 years. The Ironic part is that she came to a baptism of the other missionaries because she couldn't come to church and her best friend is being taught by the other elders that we live with and is really close to baptism. Everything has just been a little miracle and been really cool. We just gotta get them married so she can get baptised. Her name is Ingred by the way for those of you who wanted to know haha.

So I am really grateful to be here and I know this church is true and I love seeing the hand of the Lord in this work because it really shows that this gospel is true. Take care all of you and hope your week is great.

Love Garrett

October 18, 2010

Hello everyone well they kicked me out of Linares haha and I am going to a place called Cudico. I will be senior comp there. It´s the farthest northern part of are mission. So it´s a bitter sweet feeling leaving a sector. I am content with leaving because we had a baptism with Nora. It was so great to see the changes in her. Well I tried to send the pictures but the stupid computer doesn't want to read my memory card so I will send them next week. Well I have decided that I hate saying goodbye to people it really sucks. But I have gotten really close to some people here and it will be hard to say goodbye. I have felt like my email have just gotten worse and worse as time goes on. I have really learned a lot here in Linares more than I ever thought I would and I will use every bit of it for the future.

Well this past week I was sick had a fever that was fun NOT but hey I'm still alive and doing great. I am sorry for my crappy emails but I will write more next week in my new area and send the pictures. Well I love you all and thank you for your emails and your love and concern.


Love Garrett

October 11, 2010

Lots of Pictures!














Alright so these pictures are from what we did last p-day. We went up in the mountains and explored. We went up in this little van bus thing. There were 19 of us that fit in that little car, it was nuts but kinda fun at the same time. It was really pretty up there I am sending another email with just pictures because I couldn't last week. Also there is a picture of me with a bees suit on because we went to this place where I was in the middle of a bee hive and ate the honey straight from the bees. It was so fresh and natural and just amazing.

So I got a story that is pretty cool that happened last night. So my comp and I had walked all over yesterday and only 2 of our people that we are teaching were home so we taught them and by this time it was like almost 9 at night and that is the worst time on a Sunday night when you have nothing to do. But we had a back up plan, we were on our way there and I was not sure if we were going there or somewhere else but I asked my comp if we could go to this teenage boys house who is 14 he goes to church by himself and was having some problems so I asked if we could go there and he said, yeah I was thinking the same thing. So we went to his house and he wasn't there, but we went in anyway and sat down. All of him family are members but he goes alone. Anyways we went in there and started talking and this kids older brother asked if we could give his 2 year old daughter a blessing because she had been sick. He then said how he knew that the Lord guided us here for that reason. We told them that we had never really passed by there house in the past. I gave the daughter a blessing and then we shared a scripture. The brother who is not active gave the closing prayer and asked to help them go back to church and to say their prayers again. He got all chocked up and the spirit was defiantly there. It´s just a simple story but was really powerful for me.


Well I gotta go right now but I hope your weeks goes great for you.



Love Garrett

September 27, 2010

Hey everyone up north how are we doing? I have been a bit under the weather these past few days. Hahaha yeah I have been a little sick with a runny nose and a headache which I never get. It´s great working when you feel like garbage. But The beginning of the week we found some people who were really interested, we basically just walked in the door it was cool. For those of you who remember Jore we taught his wife the other night and she is so great and she told us that her and Jore never trust anyone but they trust us. She started crying as she was talking to us the other night about how Jore does not have the best of friends that he hangs around and drinks a little bit. He left the other night before we got there because he was ashamed because he drank a little bit. She told us he has changed a lot for the better from what he was. She has a lady who she works with that is a member and then Jore works with a member who is a return missionary from a few months ago. But the other night we had a good lesson about the sacrament with his wife and how important it is, she really liked it. She told us to come back the next day so we could teach Jore because he would be home and she was there too on her lunch break. We watched Finding Faith in Christ. It is a really great movie, Jore lost one of his friends last week. His friend got murdered so he was a little down and so at the end of the movie we gave them a plan of salvation booklet. They committed to coming to church and you know what, they both did!!!!!!!!! It was so great. Also that the lady Nora came to church as well. The cool thing is that Maryum his wife had to work at 11 and church started at 10 but she came for almost the whole hour. They are both excited about general conference next week.

The only problem that happened on Sunday during church is that like 5 little kids decided to have exercise class during sacrament meeting and they were running laps around the whole room. It was so loud and the parents didn't seem to care and they were yelling and laughing and I just felt so embarrassed. Now I know where the line is of little kids being little kids and where the line is of to where it´s a problem, and it was way passed that line. I am grateful for my Mother that she would take me out and spank me and what not when I acted up in sacrament meeting thank you MOM. I just thought it was a funny story for everyone.

This week we had zone conference and I got to see a lot of the missionary's and a lot of my friends, it was really great. Our mission was invited by Elder Scott to read the Book of Mormon in 2 months. The mission is going to buy Books of Mormon for us to read in our own language and we have to mark it every time it is referencing Christ. I am really excited to do this and I know it will help and we will receive lots of blessings from doing this. I hope all of you are sharing the gospel with your friends who are not members because it truly is an important work and the missionaries need your help because they can´t do it alone. I Know this gospel is true and I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that the only way back to him is through the things that he taught and we have to do them if we want eternal life. Hope all is well and I love you all so much and love hearing from you.

Love Garrett
ps I might be on the tv when they talk about Chile during general conference so look for me

September 20, 2010

Life is pretty funny sometimes. Especially on the mission when things happen and there is nothing you can do about it. For example like a month ago we were eating lunch at this old ladys house and she was giving us fruit and I was reaching for a bananas and someone took it and I was like shoot I wanted a banana but I wasn't sad or anything. So she took that as oh, he is unhappy and wants a banana, but I was just fine and so she went out and bought me a banana. The funniest part of the story is that it was on Sunday and we tried to stop her from going but she wouldn´t. So I felt kinda bad, but it was kinda funny. Then we ate there yesterday for lunch and this week in Chile has been there Independence week and they always eat empanadas and all sorts of stuff and BBQ and what not. I was expecting to eat a bunch of empananads on the 18 because that is the real day of their independence. But I didn't eat any on Saturday, the same lady asked me if I ate lots of empanadas that day and I said no and just kinda went off a little bit about it, but I was just messing around. I figured that it would be ok because everything is usually closed and you cant buy anything on Sunday because of the holiday. But she told me she would make me some before I leave the area I am in and I was cool with that. She goes back into the kitchen and then we hear this door open and we hear her leave and then about 2 minutes later she comes back in and we hear the microwave going. She comes back in the room and I was like ¨ Where did you go?" She was ignoring the question and long story short she bought the empanadas. I am not going to lie they were pretty good but I was still kinda mad at her. This is an active member she just loves to make the missionaries happy and will do anything to do that. We all got a good laugh about that.


So this week I was on mini changes 2 different times out of my area so I wasn't here to much. But anyways Nora got an interview and she needs another one with the mission prez so I hope she can pass it and everything will be ok. Gioconda didn't come to church this week neither did Nora. It was a holiday week this week here they had their independence on 18. My investigators are like a roller coaster always up and down. Juan has not come to church in like a month we taught him like a week ago but I don't know what his problem is, he told us he would read the whole book of Mormon this past week, I hope that he did it. It´s almost like having kids and trying to direct them in the right path because you know whats right and you have walked the path yourself. So we have another really cool lady we are teaching but she hasn't come to Church yet but I really hope she will because her life is really hard right now. Other than that I am just here in Chile trying to fight the good fight and Satan is pulling out some big weapons and not just here in Chile but on some people that are close to me and all we can do is just fight it off with prayer and with reading the Book of Mormon, but not just reading it but really studying it. I say the Book of Mormon because it´s the only book that Jesus Christ himself has testified is 100% true. I hope all of you are reading and doing your best to fight off Satan and his temptations.

Love Garrett