August 31, 2010 - Week 55

Hello Everyone

Well I am now in Vancouver, Washington. As I email you all at this very moment, it is already raining outside. Summer is drawing to a close and the rain is already coming. It is very beautiful here though. It is so green. The city is definitely bigger than little 'ol Dayton. It has been a little difficult getting used to that. What I love is that there are so many people everywhere. I can talk to literally everyone I see, because I have no idea who they are and they probably don't know about the gospel. Its pretty cool. Life as a zone leader is a very humbling experience. I think our phone is almost constantly ringing. We are constantly planning and keeping forms up to date for the Mission, and then on top of all of that we try our best to actually do missionary work. We are very busy. My new companions name is Elder Prawitt. He is from Springville, Utah. He is one of the best missionaries I have ever served with. He actually served for 1 year in Ukraine, but then he had to come home for a bit because of medical reasons and now he has been serving here. He only has 2 transfers left, but we try not to talk about that haha. I am learning a great deal from him. Our zone consists of 18 missionaries. 12 elders and 6 sisters. It is a lot of fun. You get to know everybody in the zone because we are always talking to them. Mostly our role as zone leaders is to help the zone in any way possible. We teach them, encourage them, and unfortunately we have to correct them. That is definitely something I do not like to do. It has never been something that I wanted to do as a missionary, to get mad at someone because they aren't doing the right things, but it is something that needs to be done. I have decided to talk to people instead, figure out why they are breaking the rules, and then follow the spirit from there. Yup, there are a lot of new things for me. I am back in a giant ward. The members are really great though. They are really supportive and love to do missionary work. My mind has just been racing lately trying to remember all of our investigators names, members names, missionaries names, along with what we are doing with all those people. The members that we live with are the Renigers. They are so funny. They are really nice too. We have the whole basement to ourselves. Its pretty good. We have our own bathroom and couch and desks. We even have our own weight set, so maybe I can actually get buff now haha.

Well unfortunately I am in a library now where we only have 1 hour to email so I will have to be somewhat brief. I wanted to tell you about a couple of really cool experiences I had over this last week. Elder Prawitt is big time into tracting. He likes teaching a lot more, but pretty much if we aren't teaching a lesson, we are tracting. Man, I will tract, but it's definitely not my favorite and I like to do others things than that. But we don't have much else to do right now so we have been. We have A LOT of potential investigators. We are setting appointments up with them, but when we show up to teach them, they aren't there. We will sometimes have 5 or 6 lessons in a day and not teach any lesson, because no one is there for our appointment. We try calling them in advance, we try swinging by, writing the appointment down, and still no appointment goes through. It has been pretty hard on us. Thus, we have been tracting when those things go through. So yesterday, once again the person we had an appointment with was not there. So we said a prayer and asked god to direct us as to where we should go. We just started walking. There were some houses that we walked by and Elder Prawitt asked if we should start there. I just didn't feel right about it so we moved on. We are walking and I see a house that looks perfect. I point to the neighborhood and Prawitt says, "That is exactly what I was thinking." So we go and knock on the first door. The lady is completely not interested. So I say to myself, "okay, Heavenly Father has prepared someone here, otherwise I wouldn't have been directed here. That lady is not the person the lord wants us to find right now." And then we move on. We see two guys unloading a truck, so we stop by to see if we can help. We start to talk to them. One of the guys starts talking to us. We asked him how faith in Christ has helped him. We got on a great discussion, where we were able to talk more and more to him about the gospel. The man studies religion a lot. He knows all about the Apostasy and has even studied a little bit about the American Indians and their belief on God. We had such a cool talk with him. We told him about the Book of Mormon and invited him to read it. He said that he definitely would. He was really excited. The only problem is that he is going on a road trip with his family and won't be back until the end of September! Its okay though. We did what the Lord wanted us to do and who knows what Edward (the guy we talked to) is going to do.

The second story I wanted to tell you was about this recent convert family in the ward. They are from Samoa and are one of the greatest families I have ever met. The father, mother, and two younger daughters just recently got baptized. They moved here almost 10 years ago from Samoa. They have 3 sons who lived in Samoa during that time and have only come to America in the past couple of months. They have a great story. Their 3 sons actually joined the church in Samoa and the oldest one is on a mission in the Phillipines. The parents actually came in contact with the missionaries because they saw them walking a long the street and had a question about their sons mission. The first day I met them, they sat me down and told me their conversion story and then said, "You are now part of our family. You are my brother." Well their 2 younger sons are now in America and they come out with us a lot to do missionary work. On Sunday we were at church and the 2nd hour ended. It was a combined meeting with the young men and young women this week so we decided to stay. Eric, the middle son, sits down. I start to talk to him just a little bit. I can tell that he is a little nervous or something is wrong. He says, "Elder Garrick, can I ask you a question? I have wanted to go on a mission my whole life. Today I have a meeting with the Bishop. I just wanted to ask you what has been the hardest part about your mission." I could tell that he was very nervous about the decision that he was about to make. He explained to me how there have been so many things lately that have been trying to keep him from going on a mission. The biggest one was fear. I talked to him about how I felt. I remembered the night that I was set apart as a missionary. I will be honest family, I was really nervous that night because I knew that it was the beginning of a lot of things I was afraid of. When Daniel gave me his tie and tag I had an overwhelming feeling come over me. I knew that I could serve a mission, because my family had too. I talked to Eric about this experience and how his brother was also on a mission doing the exact same things that he would do on his mission. A smile came across his face and he just started to nod. After church he came out with us. The whole rest of the day he was saying, "I am just so excited to go on my mission. I can not wait." While he was with us he helped teach and bore a strong testimony on faith in Jesus Christ. It was great.

Those are my two stories for the week. Teaching has been really different lately. These new missionary lessons are really, really, really, focused on teaching investigators and not lesson's. It requires that you love, listen to both the investigator and the spirit, and know the doctrine of the gospel very well. Elder Prawitt seems like an expert at this right now and he has been helping me to understand how to do it as well. The missionary lessons are no longer teaching a set lesson, they are talking to an investigator, getting to know who they are and what they want, what they believe in, helping them come closer to Christ. Every single lesson will always be different. Its amazing. Tonight from 6 - 9 pm we have 6 lessons. 5 of those lessons are with people we have never taught before. We have so many people to teach tonight that we are going to have to split up and go with another priesthood holder in the ward. It will be an amazing experience though. I am so excited for this next transfer and the things that I am about to learn. The week has definitely not been easy, but man has it been fun. I hope everyone is doing well. I love you all so much.

Love,
Elder Garrick

August 24, 2010 - Week 54 - Oh Gosh, Holy Cow!

Jared and Elder Williams at transfers on August 25th.

Good Morning/Afternoon everyone,

Well I have some massive news for everyone. For a while now we have been trying to find another place to live. Our members granddaughters have been staying with them and we can't live with anyone who has young girls living at home. There is literally no one in the ward who can house the missionaries. We have asked everyone. We have been searching for apartments, but the only ones they have are for low income requirements or they are renting out houses. On Thursday President Greer called me and said that he wanted to talk. He said that he has been working with the Stake President in Walla Walla trying to figure this out and they have decided that the only thing that they can do is to pull the missionaries out of Dayton. I was devastated! He said that we would leave at transfers and the Walla Walla missionaries would get our car and take over the area. They would come out probably only 1 or 2 times a week and come to church probably only once a month. That was a major bummer for Elder Williams and I. We have found so many new people to teach right now. This last week we also had an amazing lesson with James and Danika and we set a baptismal date for them on September 11th. I will talk more about that later though. President Greer said that he has been really proud of all the work that we are doing. He then said that he wanted me to be a Zone Leader in the Vancouver West Zone. And that took me by surprise. All I could say was, "A Zone Leader?" He said yes and asked if I would accept the calling. I told him that I sure would. I did not think that would happen. Usually missionaries are District Leaders for a few months before they become a Zone Leader. I am very excited but super nervous at the same time. My new companions name is Elder Prowlitt. He actually served in the Ukraine, but had to come to the states for some reason. He has been serving in this mission for a little over 6 months. Everyone says that he is amazing. President Greer said that he expects a lot out of us. I believe Elder Prowlitt goes home soon which means that he will probably train me to be a zone leader for the next 1 or 2 transfers and then I would take over the area and become the senior zone leader after that. I seriously don't feel ready for this right now, but I guess Heavenly Father thinks I am. Without trials we can't grow right. I think I will be doing a lot of growing the next few months haha. I have been told that I will be over 6 sister missionaries. That will be different. I haven't really even served around sisters and now I am going to be a zone leader over 6 of them. I'm not sure how many elders are in our zone either. I figure there will be around maybe 14-16 missionaries in our zone. I will find out for sure tomorrow. And I am going to the big city of Vancouver. People have been showing me pictures and I had no idea that it was that big. I guess its a suburb of Portland. So I will be around a lot of people. I think there is a lot of work to be done over there. Wish me luck everyone and keep me in your prayers. I am going to need it.

Well with the sad news that the area is closing down we have been doing a lot of preparations so that the Walla Walla missionaries can take it over. We have done a lot of updating and paper work. Packing has been horrible. I sent a small package home with some of my old letters and my jazz hoop. I have never played with it so I figure I'd just send it home. For our last Sunday we wanted it to be the best Sunday ever. We invited James and Danika to church and we picked them up. We also had Ashley and Anthony Razzolini come (John Janovichs daughter and son-in-law/Trisha Razzolini's cousin). Did I tell you guys that we have been teaching them too? It has been going really well with them. John was a church by himself on Sunday because his wife was feeling sick. The Razzolini's came in late and they sat by John. He got the most surprised and happy look on his face. It was so great to see that. So they all came to church and it was perfect because it was the Primary Program. The ward has been so sad lately since they heard we were leaving. We have been going around saying goodbye to everyone. I literally love everyone here. It has been great serving here. I have gained so much experience and so much knowledge. I have gotten to know everyone in the ward and almost the whole town.

Well like I said I would tell you about James and Danika. We went over there with our ward mission leader and had a lesson with them. We talked to them about the plan of salvation. I was pleading to Heavenly Father that I would know what to say to them. And then I had something come to me. I explained that we are on this earth to learn and progress. We are separated from our Heavenly Father's Presence. I then said, "James and Danika, How do you think Heavenly Father feels that we are no longer with him? Have you ever thought about that?" They both replied no, but then they started to focus. They were really starting to think. We talked about how we are separated from God, but he loves us so much he has provided so many ways for us to get back to him. We then talked about the Atonement and Baptism. We then asked James how he feels about the plan that Heavenly Father has provided for them. He said, "It is the greatest plan I have ever heard." We then talked about how even Jesus Christ was baptized and we asked if they would follow His example. They said yes. Danika was all teary eyed and she said, "We'll be to church on Sunday." It was so great. They came to church and enjoyed it. I hope that they can continue to progress after we leave.

Saying goodbye to everyone has been really rough. We stopped by the Janovich's. Their whole family was there to see us. We talked to them for a while and then we had to go. Sister Janovich gave me the biggest hug as she always does and she said, "If we get married in the Temple in a year, will you come back for it." I told her that not "if" but "when" they do I will definitely be there. They are so great. That family is truly amazing. Last night we met up with the whole Huxoll family, Caysie, Lorns, and a few of the Huxoll's friends. We went to the park to see Hank skate and then we said goodbye to everyone. Caysie was just crying. I felt so bad for her. I hope that she can realize what she needs in her life. We said goodbye to the Huxoll's and that was heartbreak #2. We went and said goodbye to Trisha and Destiny Razzolini. They have changed so much in the past couple of months too. They are doing so well. We took pics with them and left. Heartbreak #3. Then last night we went over to Jim Bob and Laurel Bloomfields place. We talked to them for a long time. They gave us a pamphlet for Bloomfield Beef to remember them by. As we left big Jim Bob gave me the strongest hand shake and rapped his arm around me. I went to give Laurel a hand shake and she just hugged me. Ah killer. We left there house. Heartbreak # 4. It has been so hard. I literally haven't felt this way since I left home and had to say goodbye to the family. I was searching the scriptures and found these. It describes exactly how I feel. Alma 26: 15-16 and Alma 29:17. I have been thinking about that a lot lately. It will be a great day.

Well I love you all. Take care and have a wonderful week. I will talk to you next week and give you all the new things that are happening right now.

Love,
Elder Jared Garrick

August 17, 2010 - Week 53

1 Year Shirt Burning

Elder Williams

Hello Everyone,

Hows it going today? It has been an alright week this week. It is the last week of the transfer and we get our transfer calls this Saturday. Everyone thinks that I will finally be leaving. I'm kind of bummed because I don't want to leave. At the same time, it would be a good change for me. I have no idea where I might go. I think I could stay for one more transfer though. That would be good. I guess it's wherever the Lord needs me. Yesterday was Zone Conference and we had Elder Ringwood from the Quorum of the 70 come. It was an awesome experience. Elder Ringwood talked to us about some of the coolest things. He would open things up to questions too, so missionaries could ask him any question that they had. I was trying to think of a question to ask him, but just nothing came to mind; although, after our meeting my mind was full of questions. Eh I guess I will have to ask the next time I meet a general authority and they let us ask any question we want..... It was such a great meeting though. Elder Ringwood talked a lot about a missionary and the steps that we take to become a great missionary. There is a process that missionaries go through along with investigators. Many people first have a desire to learn the truth, then they put it into action by studying and praying etc., and then they receive a witness from the Holy Ghost. He said that many missionaries first have a strong desire and hope to do good, they sacrifice 2 years of their lives in trying to do good, they then receive the fruits of the Spirit which are love, peace, happiness, etc. He said that this is fantastic and what so many missionaries actually achieve, but he said that there is a different plane of desire and hope that not too many people achieve. He himself said that it is something he only achieved a couple times during his mission. It is a more excellent hope and desire for a better world, then the missionary literally devotes his whole heart and soul into the Lords work, then as a witness he receives the gifts of the spirit. I realized, and as I have talked about in some many of my emails and letters, that I am currently in the stage of my mission where I have received the fruits of the spirit. I am so happy right now. I have gained so much peace and understanding about life and what I should do in the future. The gospel has brought me so much happiness, but there is a more excellent hope. I decided that I want that in my life. It's something that will be difficult to achieve, but I want it so bad. I guess this is a pretty deep conversation for my emails haha, but it is something that really stood out to me and something that I have been thinking about a lot lately. Well the zone conference was great. I got to see many of my friends there. Its so crazy because A LOT of the missionaries go home today. Their missions are over. Time has gone by so fast. I remember when I met a lot of these guys and they had only been out a year. Now they are going home and I am in their shoes when I met them. My trainer, Elder Smith, is going home today too. He got the permission to go home 7 weeks early to go to school. I saw him yesterday and we had a nice chat. I introduced him to Elder Williams, his grandson haha.

This week I did hit my 1 year mark. Thanks again for the packages everyone sent and the letter and emails. I can't believe it has been a whole year. That night was one of the busiest I've had too. We had 4 appointments for the day. After our last appointment we went over to our ward mission leaders house and I whipped out my shirt and we did the 1 year burning. Man it lit up fast. It must be all that sweat that has seeped into it haha. Now I am just on the down hill. I feel like I'm moving onto the next stage of missionary work. I'm no longer the new guy or greenie, but I'm the missionary that has been out a while now.

This last week we didn't have as much success as we would have hoped for our new investigators. We did have a lot of appointments to meet with our potential investigators, but many did not go as planned. One person was not interested, and 2 canceled on us. We did meet with Steve and Nancy, the people in the trailer park, and that went well. I don't think they understood a whole lot, but they understood enough. They did understand what the Book of Mormon is and that they should pray about it. That is a good first step. We are hopefully going to meet with them tomorrow. They were going to come to church on Sunday, but unfortunately their ride canceled last minute and they couldn't come. We are going to provide a ride for them this week. It will be especially good because it is our wards Primary Program. Steve and Nancy's kids are really excited to come to church. I guess they talk about it almost everyday. Oh cool story. On Sunday, Trisha Razzolini came up to us and said that she has been hearing stories about us. We were confused and curious so we asked her about what. She said that she was at her work the other day and there were some people talking bad about the Mormons. They were saying all of this bad stuff and then one of the guys stops everyone and he says, "Hey there are two really good guys who are helping my friends Steve and Nancy and they are Mormons. That's good enough for me." Pretty cool huh. We have never even met this guy before. All we know is that his name is Tom and that he is friends with Steve and Nancy. We are going to ask Steve about it tomorrow. Its crazy the influence that we have on people and you don't even know about it. This week we also met with John Janovich's daughter. We have talked to her a few times, but not a whole lot. We decided we would just go over to her house and talk to her. She is married to a Baptist, and he is a real nice guy. We talked to them for a while and then we showed them a short church video. I talked to Ashley, Johns daughter, and asked her if she would like to take the missionary lessons. Ashley is a member, but hasn't been to church in a long time. She said that she would love too. We then asked her husband Anthony and he said, "Well you know that I am a Baptist, but I know that this is really something that is important to my wife so I will do it and do it with an open mind." SWEET!!! They are both really sincere too. We set up an appointment and Anthony goes, "We'll see ya on Wednesday." I have great hopes for them. So we are still just truckin away. Things are going really well. I haven't been able to record my recent converts stories, but I am going to do it this week.

Mom and Dad, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!! You guys are just awesome. I hope you had fun time to celebrate so many years of marriage. Well I hope everyone is doing great. Have a good week.

Love,
Elder Garrick

August 10, 2010 - Week 52

The Field is White for Elder Williams.
The Field is White for Elder Garrick too.


Hello Everyone!

This has been one rollercoaster of a week for me. Many ups and many downs, but it has ended very good. I guess I will start off with what has been going on with Caysie. As I said in my last email, Caysie was not able to come to church. We were going to push her baptismal date back, but when we went to go see her she told us that she is just not ready to get baptized right now. She is so stressed out with being a single mother that she just can't do it right now. We tried to explain to her that the gospel is the best thing for her family right now, but she didn't understand. She also informed us that her friend Lorns is now going to church with his mom and will no longer be attending our visits with them. Caysie did say that she wanted to still meet with us. She said that she likes it. Usually at this point we would stop teaching somebody if they don't even want to commit to progress, but I really feel like she needs our help right now. With our new training we have been getting we have really been focusing on loving the people we teach and seeking to understand their beliefs and figure out how we can help them. This week we just had a nice talk with Caysie on how she is doing and what she really believes in. We feel like we understand where she is at in her faith right now and we can really meet her needs and help her. Hopefully all goes well with her. We meet with her tonight.

So that was a big downer for us. We met with James and Danika and did a similar thing, trying to get their expectations and their beliefs. It went okay. Our teaching pool is dwindling. This whole week we have been trying to find more and more people to teach with no success. Asking anyone and everyone for people we could just go meet. We finally go to a recent converts house that stopped going to church shortly after his baptism. His mom is pretty active, but his son is really rebelling right now. We spoke to him and his mom and brother. We had a really good discussion with them. He usually doesn't take anything seriously, but we were asking him questions and he was sincerely answering. His brother is a non-member and he was there for the whole thing. We asked him if he would want these blessings in his life. He said it couldn't hurt. His brother has a hard time talking because of a stroke he had. We are going to teach him this week and get a whiteboard for him to write a response. We asked the family if they knew anyone who could use the gospel. He goes, "Well I’m sure all the people in the trailer park could use it."

So we head down to the trailer park. We knock on the first door and all these dogs start spazing out and barking. No one is home. We move onto the next trailer. There is a 3 year old boy standing outside. We ask him if his parents are home and he just points inside his home. We look inside and knock, but we don't see anyone so we move on. We go to the next trailer and all these dogs start coming out. So we turn around because we don't want to be attacked by 6 dogs. We notice that the little boy is now following us and so is his little dog. The dad comes out finally and starts calling for him. We bring the boy back and start talking to the dad. He isn't interested in our message, but he asks us what church we are from. We tell him the LDS church...or the Mormons. He goes, "Oh my Grandma is a Mormon." We talk to him a little bit more and find out that he and his wife have been thinking about coming to a church. His wife is anti religious, but is warming up to the idea. We stop by again the next day and meet the wife. She is very hesitant, but warms up to us. They agree to have a lesson the next day and are very excited. Even the kids say they want to go to church.

Well the next day we are walking to their house and two ambulances pass us. We think "oh no I hope someone is okay." Sure enough they pull into the trailer park and right in front of the trailer we were going to. As we walk up everyone is outside. They pull the wife out on a stretcher and haul her into the ambulance. The husband just doesn't know what to do. Right as we are supposed to teach them this happens. We play with their kids to try and distract them so they don't see their mom. We stay for a while and talk to the husband. With tears swelling up in his eyes he says, "It was all looking so good when you guys came, and now it looks all bad." We assured him that there is still hope. Thankfully we saw them yesterday and the wife is out of the hospital and everyone is okay. We are going to teach them this week.

The same day that whole accident happened in the trailer park, we stopped by to see Tammy Lerue and her daughter, the one we gave a blessing too. Tammy was there with her brother and his wife, Jeff and Sophia. We talked to them for a while and checked up on Sami. I guess Sami is doing really well. It’s definitely going to be a struggle for her to have kids in the future, but it is possible. She is very healthy though and is not in danger. We had a good visit with them. We have been trying for so long to get in with both of these families. They are great, but for a while never really showed an interest. We thought we would stop by and just chat with them, let them know that we love them. It starts to get late and we tell them that we need to leave. Tammy then goes, "Well we are going to be gone Tuesday, but you guys could come back on Wednesday." We just sat there. "You...You mean for a lesson? Would you still be interested?" She said that she would. We ask the brother and his family and he said that he would too. So we are going to teach both families in their home together. It’s going to be so great. I'm so excited. It’s amazing how the Lord works to prepare people. We didn't even do anything. It’s all these people are just being placed in our path. On top of all of this we are going to start teaching Sara Huxoll's mom. Sara asked us to go see her. She is the nicest and sweetest lady ever. We talked about how well Sara is doing and asked her if she would want the same blessings. She also said it couldn't hurt. So things are really looking up for us. We technically haven't taught anyone of these people yet, but we have plans to teach all of them this week. Hopefully it goes well.

For those you don't know, I HIT MY ONE YEAR MARK THIS WEEK!!!! I can't believe it has already been a year. It went by so fast. And I always hear that the next year goes by faster. Most of my friends are getting really close to coming home. It’s amazing. The mission is an amazing experience. It is one I will never forget. I have enjoyed so much this last year and want to enjoy every moment of the next. Take care everyone. I hope you all have a great week and enjoy the summer.

Love,
Elder Garrick

August 2, 2010 - Week 51

Hello Family and Friends,

Its always good to be able to write to everyone. We are so busy it is so hard for me to write letters. I know that before I left on my mission I always said I wouldn't be the missionary who was too busy to write people, but you can get so busy sometimes. Literally working from 10 am to 9:30 pm and then we have to plan and update our records. Many nights I rarely have time to even write in my journal which is something I have really been striving to do. Many nights I just come home, plan, update, and then go to bed. I promise that I will always write back, it just may take a couple months haha.

Well this week we had a new training. There are a new set of 8 missionary lessons to help missionaries become more effective and really to strive to help our investigators. The training was so good. Probably the best I have ever had. There are new Preach My Gospel DVD's that depict the lives of 8 missionaries. Its kinda like reality tv for missionaries, but you get to see them actually teaching people and planning for the week. Its just real life. Its good because the missionaries take the training and apply it into their teaching and you get to see how much better their lessons go and how their investigators really feel the spirit and become converted themselves. There was a big focus on addressing the investigators needs and asking them questions so that we can understand them and understand what they believe so far. If they have any concerns then we can immediately address their concerns and teach specifically to help them. This has always been the goal of teaching, but there is just a higher emphasis on doing it and ways to rely on the spirit. It was good. We have zone conference in a couple weeks and I'm sure we will get the 2nd lesson for this new training. I am really excited about it. I know that it will really help our investigators.

Well we met with Caysie on Tuesday. She wasn't able to come to church again. We talked to Sara Huxoll and she said that Caysie has a lot of questions that she is asking her now. We are going to try to meet with her again even before our next appointment. That is why I titled this email the way I did. I can not believe how hard missionary work can be sometimes. To truly help investigators be converted to Jesus Christ and the Restored Gospel is not an easy task. I realize more and more everyday how important the spirit is because I do not know what I would do with out the spirits help in my teaching.

This week we also had dinner with this less active couple that we have been working with. We haven't been teaching them anything, but we have been trying to just fellowship them. We had a great dinner with them. We decided to teach them about the gospel: faith, repentance, baptism, and the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. We had a really good lesson. Sister Lowe, the less active woman, is from England. Both her and Brother Lowe are hilarious. Well we are teaching them and we start talking about the Holy Ghost and how we are happier when we have the influence of the holy ghost in our lives. I ask Sister Lowe, "What can you do to have the holy ghost more in your life." She goes, "Well we can go to church!" Completely took me off guard. I thought she was going to say pray or read scriptures or something. So we invited them to church. Unfortunately they didn't come. I guess everyone has their free agency. But we did give them both a brand new copy of the Book of Mormon and committed them to read it everyday. We followed up and they said that they have been reading. It was good. I hope we can still make progress with them.

It was kind of a hard week for us. We had that great training and it got us really excited, but it was just rough. We had a lot of appointments cancel and we didn't have the best lessons with our investigators this week. We are struggling to find new people to teach. Once again, this is not easy. For some reason I have full confidence that things will start to work out for us. As long as we are trying our best and doing what the Lord wants us to do then it will work out. I don't know why I feel this way, but I do. I guess it's my faith in Christ. I guess that leads me into my scripture for the week. Its D&C 68:5-6. Just keep moving forward. It brings a whole new meaning to enduring to the end. Well I hope everyone is doing well. Hopefully your enjoying your summer. Take care.

Love,
Elder Garrick