May 4, 2010 - Week 38

Subject: BEST WEEK EVER!!!!!!!!

Hello Hello Everyone,

So this definitely was the best week I have ever had on my mission. I have so much to tell you all this week it is crazy. First I will start with the cool stuff that just happened around town. On Saturday we went and helped out a member in our ward because he was doing a project for some lady and he was fixing her pool. Turns out that the house is where Adam West grew up when he was younger. Yes, the Adam West. The mayor on family guy and the original Batman. How cool is that. There ended up not much happening there because the pool was something minor, but we got pictures in front of Adam West's house. No I’m not in California, I am in Waitsburg, Washington haha. So that was pretty cool. Later that day they had this crazy medieval thing going on at the park by our house. It was a bunch of people who would dress up in medieval dresses and clothes and set up tents and they all just pretended to be medieval knights and stuff. We had to check it out so we went over and everyone was calling us "Mi Lords." It was pretty cool. The knights actually dress up in armor and have swords that they fight with. They are of course dull and they stick a thing on the end so they can stab each other. It was pretty intense. It was kinda weird though because everyone talked like they were born 800 years ago. "Mi Lord and Mi Lady," Everyone told us to take "Honor and Chivalry." But I got some good pictures of this too. Later that night we went to the feast they had. Guess what, like half of the people were already LDS haha. Everyone was really nice to us and the King and Queen were LDS so they talked to us a lot. I think it made everyone else mad haha. It was cool though. They gave us a bead of their Kingdom and I put it on my keychain.

Well last week we had zone conference and that was really cool too. It’s really weird because President and Sister Belnap will be leaving in the first part of July. I will miss them a ton. I have no idea what is going to happen with the new mission president. Everything could change or everything could stay the same. Who knows. It was a really good zone conference and we got great training that Elder Buchanan and I have been incorporating into our lessons and it has made our lessons so much more spiritual and everything just flows better.

Alright so the coolest thing that happened this week and possibly in my mission was a lesson we had. There is a member here who is in the hospital. She is doing a ton of missionary work. We have like 5 potential investigators from her. She gave a Book of Mormon to one of her nurses and I guess the nurse came back and said that she has read all the way to 2 Nephi. We have been trying to get in with this lady since I got to Dayton, but she has been kinda scared to meet with us. Her name is Lynne. Finally Sister Austin, the member in the hospital, talked to her again and Lynne said that she would meet with us. We drive out to her place, and she lives completely out of town in the mountains, and we sit down with her. We get to know her a little bit and then jump into teaching her. As we finish saying the opening prayer she goes, "Let me tell you where I'm coming from. I am recently divorced. I have always believed in God, but I have never known how to know which church is the right one, so I just never went to any. I have known who the Mormons are my whole life but never really talked to any. I have noticed that Mormons are just really happy. Family is really important to me and I have tried to raise my children with a little God in their life. My daughter lives in California and she is also recently divorced. She has lost her job and is really struggling right now in her life. I finally decided that I needed some God in my life and that’s when you two came into my life." The day sister Austin gave Lynne the book of Mormon Lynne went home and read it. The next day she got a phone call from her daughter telling her that she found a job. Lynne was so surprised and she thought it had to be from reading the Book of Mormon, so she kept reading. In what Lynne first told us it all just fell perfectly into teaching her. We talked about how the gospel blesses families and how many people, such as Joseph Smith, wondered which church is right too. It was the best lesson I have ever had. Our questions were perfect, her questions were perfect and the spirit was so strong. We asked her if she would pray to know if the Book of Mormon was true. She told us that she already knew that it was true and she just has a feeling inside of her, like she is closer to God. Everything was perfect, so we briefly taught her about baptism and then we asked her if she would be baptized on May 22nd. She accepted! It was amazing. After that she said, "I have a question, my daughter is really struggling right now. She needs this in her life. Can missionaries come to her house too?" We told her yes and that we could contact them right away. It was so great! That is the type of thing we practice in the mtc and in our zone conferences, but they never actually happen that way. It never goes that perfect. Elder Buchanan and I drove down the Mountain screaming we were so excited.

We also met with a part member family last night. They are really cool too. The guy is a member and he is a straight out cowboy. His wife said that she has been thinking about investigating the church. We had a good conversation and we will be teaching her soon. We got 2 new investigators yesterday and it’s funny because we stopped teaching 2 other investigators. It’s amazing how the lord can bless us. We have been praying to find some more people to teach.

John Janovich is doing great! His baptism is still on schedule for Saturday and I will be baptizing him. My first time in the font. We went over last night and we read our favorite scriptures to him. Then he took us by surprise and he read his favorite scripture to us. It is in 3 Nephi when Christ comes to America and says, "I am Jesus Christ, I am the light and the life of the world." I'm not sure exactly where it’s at but I know it’s either in 3 Nephi 11 or 10. He said that the scripture just stood out to him so much. Lynds thanks for sharing that scripture with me. I hope you are continuing to read everyday. I was actually thinking about how if anyone truly desires and seeks for the truth, they will find it. That’s exactly what 1 Nephi 10:19 says. I marked it in my scriptures and put your name by it. Isn't it awesome how simply reading can change your whole day? Dad thank you for that list of scriptures Dee gave out in Sunday School. I wanted to share with you my favorite of those. It is the "Why is life so hard" question. Mosiah 23: 21 -22 the lord truly does try our patience and our faith. And if we put our trust in him we can be delivered and then it leads straight into Mosiah 24, Whitney's favorite scripture. Pretty cool eh.

Well thank you guys so much for that package. I can't believe you sent me so much stuff. That was like a birthday package. The gps is awesome and the towel is great. I'm going to give Sarah and Hank the tie and book tonight. I think they will love it. Everything you sent me was just awesome. From the keychain to the rice crispies and York pieces. Thank you so much. I don't even need anything now for my birthday. Well I guess I better get going. Have a great week and I will talk to you on Sunday!!!

Love,
Elder Garrick