The Elders with Santa
Hey Everyone,
Sorry I couldn't think of what to title this email so.....ya. Well not much has gone on this week. This may be a shorter email. As you probably saw in my last email, things are pretty rough. And they just keep getting harder and harder. Many of the people we have been teaching don't want to take the lessons anymore and even some that we are teaching just aren't progressing. I tell ya what, Americans might be some of the hardest people to teach. Everyone thinks that Mormons are just crazy and they all have false views about us that their preacher tells them or that they read on the internet. And most of the time people don't really listen to us, they just disagree with us and try to convince us that we are wrong. There are very few people who actually want to listen. We have been trying to contact some old potential investigators that no one has seen and even try some old former investigators who stopped investigating a while back. We got some appointments so hopefully all goes well. We also have been trying to work with our wards. It's really tough because our ward mission leaders aren't really doing much and when you live in a state like Washington, everything really depends on the ward and the ward mission leader. We have a great Stake President here. He just took our whole zone out to lunch at the Red Lion. I talked to him about it and he was very concerned. He said he is going to talk to the bishops and see if something can change. He is a great guy. I have never seen anyone, literally anyone, who works with missionaries as much as he does. He is already busy with being the stake president, but then he does all this extra stuff because he knows how important it is to spread the gospel.
So that's pretty much what has been going on. Pretty hard, but it can and will get better. On brighter news, I just thought that I would tell you a little bit more about Adrian Sandavol. Last night we had our first New Member Lesson with him. He is awesome. Ever since he got baptized he has been studying the scriptures and he sat by me in church last Sunday and he was looking up all the scriptures and answering questions. The bishop asked him what made him decide to get serious and how did you know this was true. He said it was because Elder Cashin and I actually got down to business. I guess the other missionaries just kinda hung out with him and never really taught him much. But Elder Cashin and I actually went in and taught him, and he liked it better that way. He also said that he found out it was true because he was actually open to the spirit this time. He said the spirit is what made him join. I know that it was when we had that great lesson with him about God appearing to Joseph Smith the same way he appeared to Moses. That was one of the greatest experiences I have ever had. So when we met with him I asked him how he felt. He said that he feels complete, he feels whole. He said that there was something missing in his life, but not anymore. He said that he is a lot happier now too. He just got the Aaronic Priesthood this Sunday. We talked to him about Missionary Work and he got all excited. He wants to share it with his friends and his family. He said, "I can baptize now right?" We told him yes and then he said, "I need to find people to baptize now!" He is great. Him and his wife actually bought Elder Cashin and I a couple of ties. They want to have us over for dinner before transfers.
So speaking of transfers, we will find out this Saturday if we are leaving or not. I'm pretty sure that I will be staying but you never know with President Belnap. I'm pretty sure our District leader and another missionary in our district will leave because they have both been here about 10-11 months. Elder Cashin thinks that he will be leaving too. So if you need to send me anything, then you better send it to the mission office. I will let you know by next p-day if I'm leaving or not. And hey mom I already got the Band of Bros. Andy's mom sent it too me. If you see her tell her thanks for everything. Also I got Anne, Leon, and Kaylene and Hailee's (I hope I spelled everyone's names right)card and thing to McDonalds. Tell them thank you for me as well. I have just been so busy with things lately I haven't had time to write. It takes us forever to plan for some odd reason and I have been getting to bed really late. Late as in like 11:30. That's not really late, but for a missionary it is haha.
Today we got to go to the Temple. Boy was that great. I miss going to the temple every week. I really needed it today. I also thought that if I go to India pretty soon that this could be one of the last times I get to go to the temple for a while. And with my visa to India.....I am willing to go if the Lord wants to send me there. I know last week I said I was gonna write India off, but I just can't do it. I know I'll get there someday. Well I hope everyone is doing good. Thank you all for your support and your letters. I will try to catch up on them today, but I can't promise anything. Love you and I'll talk to ya next week.
Love,
Elder Garrick
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