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
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