October 13, 2010 - Week 61

Good Morning Everyone!

I'm sure you all probably guessed that I had a meeting yesterday. For the past two days all the zone leaders and district leaders had training on these new fundamental missionary lessons. It was amazing. But that is why I did not email yesterday. This week has been hectic. Transfers were this week and boy does that take a lot of time. There was some confusion on housing so we had to get that figured out. One of the sister companionships left and they brought in two elders. What they didn't realize is that the sisters were living in a house with a single sister and the elders can't live there. So we did a lot of moving and calling around and finally got everything figured out. WHEW! There weren't a whole lot of activities or anything that happened this week but I thought I would give you an update on people we are teaching.

Brother Gonsalves is doing great. He is completely ready to get baptized and he knows this is all true. He wants to do everything he can to change his life and completely follow Christ. Its amazing. His wife; on the other hand, is already a member but does not want to come back to church right now. This kills Brother Gonsalves because he wants to do this together and he keeps saying, "I want to go to the Celestial Kingdom with you." Elder Prawitt and I both realized that it would be best to just move forward with Brother Gonsalves so we can prepare him for his baptism. Its the best thing right now.

We have been meeting with this Turkish lady for a while now named Seren. She is pretty cool. She is muslim and doesn't have a real Christian background. She always talks to us but has never really gotten into the things we teach or anything. We decided to change our teaching to fit her needs. The past two lessons we've had with her have been great. She is now curious and wants to learn more. She is excited and making efforts on her own part to learn. Its pretty cool. We also met for the first time with a guy named Jerry. We met him before and just talked to him, but this time we were actually able to teach him. Man this guy is so ready for the gospel. The questions he asks are just so soul searching and with every question, the gospel has an answer. He was really wondering where we come from and what happens to us when we die. We explained the Pre-Earth life and how we have a Spirit body and a physical body. He was amazing and it just clicked inside of him. It was a good lesson and we hope to continue onward. Lastly is Birry (prounounced Beeray). We tracted into this family just yesterday. They are from West African and have lived here about 13 years. We were talking to the wife, Birry, and she said that she was Muslim. She started talking about Mohammed (sp?) and how he was a prophet. We explained that God has always called prophets on the earth and he has again called another living prophet. Her response was, "What! Are you serious? A living prophet! When did this happen? Are you serious? There is a prophet on the earth?" We simply told her yes and asked her if it would be important for her to find out. She said, "Of course it would be. This is a big deal! Why have I never heard about this before? I'm confused, when did this happen? Did God just drop him out of heaven one day?" It was amazing. She honestly wanted to know. She couldn't meet with us then but we rescheduled for a latter time. She said, "Good I want to hear more about this prophet." So we are meeting with her tomorrow. I am really excited and will have to let you know how it goes.

Our 2 day training was great. We talked about Our purpose as missionaries and how important it is to truly love people and to rely on the Spirit. Its so important in everything that we do. We read from D&C 50:13-14 where it says, "Unto what were ye ordained? To Preach my Gospel, even by the Spirit." President Greer asked us when did we accept the call to do missionary work. One elder raised his hand and said, "When we got our mission call." Another missionary raised his hand and said, "When we got baptized." I then realized that I accepted my call to do missionary work much earlier than that. The spirit bore witness to me that this is why I am here right now. I accepted this call long ago and now I'm fulfilling my calling, that I was sent here. Its amazing. I can't believe how great this work truly is. To help people come closer to Christ, its the most rewarding thing I have ever done. I realize that more and more everyday.

Well that is it for me this week. I hope you're all doing fine. I pray for many of you everyday. I think for P-day we are just going to play some basketball. I have a lot of letters that I need to write that I probably won't be able to write. I love you guys.

Love,
Elder Garrick