Hello Everyone!
How is everyone doing? It is raining once again in Vancouver. In fact, it hasn't really stopped raining for the past couple of weeks I swear. It is all good though. I'm pretty much used to it by now. A few things happened this week. I better start off with Thanksgiving. I had a great Thanksgiving day. In the morning we did service from about 10 am to 2 pm. We got about 10 missionaries together and grabbed some rakes and garbage bags and went around raking peoples lawns in our stake. We did a lady's yard in our ward and finished up pretty fast. As we were driving to the next house we saw an older man doing his yard. He had a ton of leaves and hadn't really done a whole lot of it yet. So we pulled over and so did our convoy of missionaries. 10 missionaries came out with their rakes in hand and offered to help. His wife eventually came out and offered to give us some hot cider and cookies. We went in and they fed us while we warmed up. We talked to them for a while. It was really neat. We were joking around how they probably haven't had that many Mormons in their house at once. They are actually in our area so we are going to go back and invite them to one of the wards Christmas activities coming up. After service we went to our first dinner, the Maynes. It was great. That family is hilarious. They fed us a ton and we chatted and played some apples to apples. Literally right after that we went over to the Gonsalves house for our 2nd dinner. We loaded up there and met some more of the Gonsalves family. Brother Gonsalves and Cajia are still doing awesome. Sister Gonsalves is warming up too. I think she can really see how the gospel has blessed her family and she is starting to soften up. Last but not least, we went over to the Browns house for dessert. The Browns are the Samoan family in the ward who were recently baptized right before I came here. They fed us this dessert called pani po po. It's these rolls with coconut milk and brown sugar on them. Its kinda like a cinnamon roll. We were about to die at this point because we had eaten so much. As we finished up the pani po po, they bring out a big bowl of ice cream and a plate of cake. Oh kill me now. We ate most of it, but just couldn't finish it off. Elder Burgin and I weighed ourselves when we got home and we both gained 10 pounds just in one day. You know me though, it was gone in about 2 days. I just can't keep weight on. Oh well. Someday I will get fat.
The big downer to the week was Ian's baptism was put on hold for a while. The day before Thanksgiving, Ian's in-laws picked up their son and took him four-wheeling. Ian really wanted his son to be there for the baptism so we decided to do it this week. We talked to him about because it's just not a good idea to put off your baptism. The adversary really gets involved the last week of your baptism and if you put it off, it just gets even worse. But it's what he wanted to do and it's the way most of Ian's family and Nicole's family could make it. Ian said he would be okay. Now there are just so many things coming up that are making it even harder to do the baptism this week. Hopefully it can work out this Saturday. After so many miracles that happened in this whole process, you can see how Satan makes an attack and tries to stop it all from happening. I have confidence that all will work out, we just need to help their family as much as we can this week.
The work right now is slower than usual. I have been having internal conflicts with myself all week. I have just been struggling with how I could be a better missionary. You would think that after 15 months of doing this that I would be a pro. I recognize so much the missionary that I could be and sometimes it is difficult to know how to be that missionary. I have been praying and studying so much this week. With fervent prayer I have gained so many answers to my prayers, it is unreal. Today we went to the Portland Temple. Once again I thought that things were going to keep me from going to the Temple. We were giving a few missionaries a ride. One of the missionaries had a mis-communication problem and was super late. He ended up not even coming because he was so late. This of course made us really late because he told us he wasn't even going to come about 30 minutes after we were supposed to leave. We showed up to the Temple and barely missed the session. Our ride was able to sneak in at the very last minute, but we weren't. We didn't know what to do. We decided that we would do initiatories while we waited. We just did one each and then we decided that we would go to the later endowment session. Once again the Lord answered my prayer, because doing the iniatitories was exactly what I needed. The Lord works in mysteries ways. Elder Burgin and I are trying to work things out in our area and find some new investigators. We just taught one of the members in our wards girlfriend. It was a pretty good lesson, could have been better, but we figured out what we could do, once again through a lot of prayer and study.
It sounds like everyone had a really good Thanksgiving week. I'm always glad to hear that the family is doing great. Take care of yourselves and enjoy this time of year.
Love,
Elder Garrick
Countdown
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
November 23, 2010, Week 67
Good Afternoon Everybody!
This has just been one great week for me. A giant test of my faith, but everything worked out great. I don't even know where to begin. I guess I should start off with, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I can not believe that it is that time of year again. We are hitting all of the holiday seasons now. This transfer I will have Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then the beginning of next transfer is New Years, but that's never too fantastic when your on a mission. Well for this Thanksgiving we are going over to a members house in the afternoon. Their names are the Maynes. They are awesome and love having the missionaries over. We are going to have dinner at around 3 o' clock. Then we are going to go over to the Gonsalves family for 2nd Dinner. And then last but not least, we will probably go over to the Browns, the recent-convert Samoan family at night. In the morning we are going to do some service for people. We wanted to go to a homeless shelter and serve food and other things like that, but they are all full. I guess people only want to be charitable on Thanksgiving and Christmas. So instead we are probably going to rake some leaves and other yard work. That is if the snow melts away. Yes, it did snow in Vancouver. It really isn't bad at all, but people are just going crazy. They drive like turtles because they aren't used to driving in the snow. I guess on the east side of the mission, like in the tri-cities, it snowed about 7 inches. Crazy! It is getting real cold too. I broke out the warm clothes again and bundle up each time I leave the house.
Oh so my new companion is Elder Burgin from Kaysville, UT. He is awesome! He was actually my district leader in Pasco for a while. He has been out for 21 months and goes home next transfer. President is just sticking me with all these old timers. That's okay because I am able to learn a lot from them. He is definitely different from Elder Prawitt, just as each new companion has been different from the last, but we work well together and are doing great. He is hilarious and is always joking around.
So let me tell you about the miracle week that we had. In our weekly planning we set goals for how many lessons we want to teach, new investigators we want to find, people we want to have a baptismal date, and people to get baptized, etc. Well we have been teaching Ian as I have talked about for the past couple of days. His baptismal date is November 27th. That is this week. He has a lot that we haven't taught him yet and we weren't sure if we could do it, but we decided that we wanted to work towards it because it would be good for him to have it this week instead of pushing it back. Ian is just doing awesome. He loves coming to church and meeting with us. His wife, Nicole, has been really closed off lately and has stopped meeting with us for some reason. She has never come to church and is really worried about change and what people will think of her. So we stopped by Ians house and had a lesson with him. We taught him of the Word of Wisdom. He said that he already has quit all of his addictions. We told him we wanted to meet with him more often, like everyday, so we could help prepare him for his baptism. Then next day we talked about tithing. Oh boy tithing. Ian and Nicole are going through a BIG financial crisis right now. They are working with an attorney over something and may have to sell their house. Money is just a big deal right now and we knew that tithing would be a big obstacle that they would have to overcome. We taught Ian the importance of paying tithing, why we pay, what its used for, and the great blessings that come from it. We talked about how it is an act of faith, a way to show Heavenly Father that you are putting your trust in him to provide for you, by keeping his commandments. Ian's whole appearance changed from his usual happy and excited face to a look of worry. He said, "Oh I didn't know that tithing was a requirement for getting baptized." He said that he knows it is what he should do, but the problem is that he didn't know what Nicole would think. Nicole handles all the financial stuff. Ian was really worried. We told Ian to talk to Nicole about it, to explain his feelings and beliefs and then to pray for help. The rest of the week Ian was in our prayers. On Sunday we fasted for him. We didn't even announce his baptism in church because we weren't sure if he was going to be able to be baptized. Ian, of course, came to church on Sunday. He had a great time and learned a lot. After the meeting we asked him if he talked to Nicole yet. He said that he had. He said that he was just so worried that he kept on praying and praying for Gods help. When he talked to Nicole, she understood and allowed him to commit to paying tithing when he gets baptized. He also said that this has been incredible for him. Ian's boss has been extra nice to him for some reason. On Friday Ian's boss gave him two $50 gift cards to show his appreciation for Ian's hard work. Ian was interviewed on Sunday and passed with flying colors. He will be baptized this Saturday. I am so happy. The Lord truly provides. Ian said that the only condition now is that Nicole doesn't want us to set up any more appointments without her being there. I think that's great. It sounds like she wants to be involved again and hopefully she can follow her husbands footsteps.
On Sunday night we were planning for the next day. We are struggling trying to find people to teach right now. Most of our investigators are just falling off the radar like crazy. They either are going through something that makes it hard for us to meet with them, or they don't want to commit to do anything. We just have very few people we are actually working with right now. I have been doing a lot of finding. Finally, while we were planning I thought, "Man, I am just so sick of tracting on doors and getting rejected all the time. Is it okay to pray for God to lead us to someone who actually wants us to come, who is actually praying for missionaries to knock on their door?" E. Burgin and I discussed it and decided that we were going to do it. So that night and all of the next morning, we prayed for it. We went out to find. Every house we tried they just were not interested. The wouldn't even talk to us. Out of the whole morning and afternoon we talked to 1 person who would actually listen, and that 1 person was not interested. We finally decide to go somewhere else. We tried a potential investigator and no one was home, so we decided to knock a few more doors to find that person we were praying for. We see a house at the end of the street and we feel we should go there. When we knock on the door, a girl opens the door. She says, "Oh Elders! It has been a while since I have seen elders." She said that she used to meet with missionaries all the time. Her husband is an inactive member. She grew up with her foster parents who were LDS. She would go to church and went to a couple years of seminary in high school. She said that when she reads the Book of Mormon she gets such a peaceful feeling come over her. For the past couple weeks she has been getting a feeling telling her that she needs to go back to church, she needs to read her scriptures, she needs to pray. She has been getting these feelings for a while now. She wanted to go back to church, but didn't know where the church was. She had actually been praying about it that day. Then we knock on her door. She is going to come to church this Sunday. She said that she wants to get baptized. She knows it's true, there were just some things in the past that held her back from getting baptized in the past, but that have now been resolved. How amazing is that?
My testimony that Heavenly Father hears and answers specific prayers was confirmed and strengthened this week. Two amazing experiences that I wasn't so sure would happen, but decided I would try, were answered. I have always known that Heavenly Father listens to my prayers and He comforts me when I need comfort, but this week I know that if we actually ask Him for things and then trust in Him, He will give it to us. How incredible is that. My scripture for this week is 3 Nephi 18: 19-20 where Christ is teaching the people how to pray. I am thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows me and is aware of my righteous desires and hopes. I'm thankful that I'm not alone in this battle against life. I have been studying about the Savior recently. Not any thing different, but just the Savior. He overcame all things. Trials, temptations, and even death. It fills my soul with hope to know that through him, we can overcome everything too. Whether it be a test of faith in living a commandment, financial problems, or having to push through to improve the area you are serving in, if we put our trust in God we will overcome everything. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. There is so much to be thankful for right now. Enjoy that turkey dinner.
Love,
Elder Garrick
This has just been one great week for me. A giant test of my faith, but everything worked out great. I don't even know where to begin. I guess I should start off with, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I can not believe that it is that time of year again. We are hitting all of the holiday seasons now. This transfer I will have Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then the beginning of next transfer is New Years, but that's never too fantastic when your on a mission. Well for this Thanksgiving we are going over to a members house in the afternoon. Their names are the Maynes. They are awesome and love having the missionaries over. We are going to have dinner at around 3 o' clock. Then we are going to go over to the Gonsalves family for 2nd Dinner. And then last but not least, we will probably go over to the Browns, the recent-convert Samoan family at night. In the morning we are going to do some service for people. We wanted to go to a homeless shelter and serve food and other things like that, but they are all full. I guess people only want to be charitable on Thanksgiving and Christmas. So instead we are probably going to rake some leaves and other yard work. That is if the snow melts away. Yes, it did snow in Vancouver. It really isn't bad at all, but people are just going crazy. They drive like turtles because they aren't used to driving in the snow. I guess on the east side of the mission, like in the tri-cities, it snowed about 7 inches. Crazy! It is getting real cold too. I broke out the warm clothes again and bundle up each time I leave the house.
Oh so my new companion is Elder Burgin from Kaysville, UT. He is awesome! He was actually my district leader in Pasco for a while. He has been out for 21 months and goes home next transfer. President is just sticking me with all these old timers. That's okay because I am able to learn a lot from them. He is definitely different from Elder Prawitt, just as each new companion has been different from the last, but we work well together and are doing great. He is hilarious and is always joking around.
So let me tell you about the miracle week that we had. In our weekly planning we set goals for how many lessons we want to teach, new investigators we want to find, people we want to have a baptismal date, and people to get baptized, etc. Well we have been teaching Ian as I have talked about for the past couple of days. His baptismal date is November 27th. That is this week. He has a lot that we haven't taught him yet and we weren't sure if we could do it, but we decided that we wanted to work towards it because it would be good for him to have it this week instead of pushing it back. Ian is just doing awesome. He loves coming to church and meeting with us. His wife, Nicole, has been really closed off lately and has stopped meeting with us for some reason. She has never come to church and is really worried about change and what people will think of her. So we stopped by Ians house and had a lesson with him. We taught him of the Word of Wisdom. He said that he already has quit all of his addictions. We told him we wanted to meet with him more often, like everyday, so we could help prepare him for his baptism. Then next day we talked about tithing. Oh boy tithing. Ian and Nicole are going through a BIG financial crisis right now. They are working with an attorney over something and may have to sell their house. Money is just a big deal right now and we knew that tithing would be a big obstacle that they would have to overcome. We taught Ian the importance of paying tithing, why we pay, what its used for, and the great blessings that come from it. We talked about how it is an act of faith, a way to show Heavenly Father that you are putting your trust in him to provide for you, by keeping his commandments. Ian's whole appearance changed from his usual happy and excited face to a look of worry. He said, "Oh I didn't know that tithing was a requirement for getting baptized." He said that he knows it is what he should do, but the problem is that he didn't know what Nicole would think. Nicole handles all the financial stuff. Ian was really worried. We told Ian to talk to Nicole about it, to explain his feelings and beliefs and then to pray for help. The rest of the week Ian was in our prayers. On Sunday we fasted for him. We didn't even announce his baptism in church because we weren't sure if he was going to be able to be baptized. Ian, of course, came to church on Sunday. He had a great time and learned a lot. After the meeting we asked him if he talked to Nicole yet. He said that he had. He said that he was just so worried that he kept on praying and praying for Gods help. When he talked to Nicole, she understood and allowed him to commit to paying tithing when he gets baptized. He also said that this has been incredible for him. Ian's boss has been extra nice to him for some reason. On Friday Ian's boss gave him two $50 gift cards to show his appreciation for Ian's hard work. Ian was interviewed on Sunday and passed with flying colors. He will be baptized this Saturday. I am so happy. The Lord truly provides. Ian said that the only condition now is that Nicole doesn't want us to set up any more appointments without her being there. I think that's great. It sounds like she wants to be involved again and hopefully she can follow her husbands footsteps.
On Sunday night we were planning for the next day. We are struggling trying to find people to teach right now. Most of our investigators are just falling off the radar like crazy. They either are going through something that makes it hard for us to meet with them, or they don't want to commit to do anything. We just have very few people we are actually working with right now. I have been doing a lot of finding. Finally, while we were planning I thought, "Man, I am just so sick of tracting on doors and getting rejected all the time. Is it okay to pray for God to lead us to someone who actually wants us to come, who is actually praying for missionaries to knock on their door?" E. Burgin and I discussed it and decided that we were going to do it. So that night and all of the next morning, we prayed for it. We went out to find. Every house we tried they just were not interested. The wouldn't even talk to us. Out of the whole morning and afternoon we talked to 1 person who would actually listen, and that 1 person was not interested. We finally decide to go somewhere else. We tried a potential investigator and no one was home, so we decided to knock a few more doors to find that person we were praying for. We see a house at the end of the street and we feel we should go there. When we knock on the door, a girl opens the door. She says, "Oh Elders! It has been a while since I have seen elders." She said that she used to meet with missionaries all the time. Her husband is an inactive member. She grew up with her foster parents who were LDS. She would go to church and went to a couple years of seminary in high school. She said that when she reads the Book of Mormon she gets such a peaceful feeling come over her. For the past couple weeks she has been getting a feeling telling her that she needs to go back to church, she needs to read her scriptures, she needs to pray. She has been getting these feelings for a while now. She wanted to go back to church, but didn't know where the church was. She had actually been praying about it that day. Then we knock on her door. She is going to come to church this Sunday. She said that she wants to get baptized. She knows it's true, there were just some things in the past that held her back from getting baptized in the past, but that have now been resolved. How amazing is that?
My testimony that Heavenly Father hears and answers specific prayers was confirmed and strengthened this week. Two amazing experiences that I wasn't so sure would happen, but decided I would try, were answered. I have always known that Heavenly Father listens to my prayers and He comforts me when I need comfort, but this week I know that if we actually ask Him for things and then trust in Him, He will give it to us. How incredible is that. My scripture for this week is 3 Nephi 18: 19-20 where Christ is teaching the people how to pray. I am thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows me and is aware of my righteous desires and hopes. I'm thankful that I'm not alone in this battle against life. I have been studying about the Savior recently. Not any thing different, but just the Savior. He overcame all things. Trials, temptations, and even death. It fills my soul with hope to know that through him, we can overcome everything too. Whether it be a test of faith in living a commandment, financial problems, or having to push through to improve the area you are serving in, if we put our trust in God we will overcome everything. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. There is so much to be thankful for right now. Enjoy that turkey dinner.
Love,
Elder Garrick
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
November 16, 2010 - Week 66
Hello Friends and Family,
Man what a week it has been. This was Elder Prawitt’s last week. You would think that for a missionaries last week in the field, he would be blessed with miracle after miracle. This week was not so much that way. We were able to see a miracle happen when Cajia Gonsalves got baptized. That was something really special. The young women really put the whole thing on. The Spirit was so strong there. Cajia had to get baptized twice because her head didn't go all the way down the first time. Her Grandpa baptized her and he brought his own clothes so we didn't have to deal with another clothing fiasco. Everything went really well for this baptism. The young women sang a really cool song called, "He knows me." It was really good.
We have been struggling really hard lately to find people who we can teach. People are very busy and it seems as though the people we are teaching are just falling off like crazy. One of our really progressing investigators is having problems with her boyfriend and is trying to figure things out. She is getting all ready to move out. This will either be a blessing or it could be bad. If she wanted to get baptized she would have to move out sooner or later, or get married, so maybe this is what needs to happen. Although, it is making it very difficult for us to meet with her. She has a lot of kids that she has to deal with. I told you last week about Rebekah and how she is living in a homeless shelter. She hasn't yet left, because her aunt just doesn't have the heart to kick her out. We actually met with her aunt this week and had a lesson with both of them. Her aunt is really wanting to go to church. Her husband passed away recently and she just hasn't been able to get over it. Well after the lesson we thought things would work out and we just found out that Rebekah is going to leave sometime to go to the homeless shelter again. Needless to say, many of our investigators are just disappearing and the adversary is making it hard for us.
We have been blessed to be able to help Ian. We had our movie night on Friday. It went really well. We had about 40-50 people show up. Most of them were less-active/recent-converts and there were a few active families there. There were a lot non-members there. Ian showed up with his son. We were so excited to see him. We got a big popcorn machine and Ian helped us make all the popcorn. The only mix up we had for the movie was the light in the projector was burning up. We of course tested everything out before hand and it all worked. The video was going and the sound was great. Then we actually start playing it and the color is all messed up and once in a while the screen will just go dark and made it hard to see what was going on. It worked out though. Elder Prawitt went into the next room and said a prayer that everything would work. The picture was never the best, but you could still see the movie and the Spirit was there. That is what we wanted. We just wanted people to feel the Spirit and learn more about who Joseph Smith was. After the movie I got up and bore my testimony. It was a good night. Ian really liked it and the other missionaries’ investigators really liked it too. After the movie Ian asked his son what he wanted to do tonight and he said that he wanted to pray. It was really neat. His son was going crazy because there were so many missionaries there. He was going around counting all of them.
Well with all that said let me tell you about the week Elder Prawitt and I had. My whole time with Elder Prawitt he has been focused on the work. These last few weeks we have been talking about home more and more which is just normal. We worked so hard. Since all of our investigators have been falling off, we have been doing what we should be doing, finding more. Yesterday was his last day here. He left Vancouver at 1:30 pm so we had from 10am - 1pm to work. We decided that we just wanted to find some new investigators. We went tracting. We didn't have much success for a while. We knocked on a few doors and no one was home or not interested. We finally see this lady getting into her car. She says, "Hey you guys are missionaries right? I have to go get my son from school right now, but maybe you guys can come over for dinner sometime. My Sister-in-Law is Mormon." We told her that we would love too. So sometime in the future we will have dinner with this non-member lady and her family. Pretty cool huh? After that we had an appointment with a new investigator. We knock on the door and she is not home. Of course she is not home. That would have been Elder Prawitt's very last lesson. So we go to the next neighborhood. We knock on a few doors and then the 3rd one we get to opens up. This Indian lady answers the door and is very friendly with us. She says that her husband has met with missionaries before. They are Hindu, but like learning about other people’s faith. They used to live in California across the street from one of the Temples. She invited us in and we taught her a lesson. It was so great. We are going to try and see her again with her husband sometime this week. The Lord provided for us. The time was 1 o'clock and Elder Prawitt decided that he would end on a good note. We grabbed something quick to eat and went over to the church. Man I miss that kid a lot right now. It was so sad saying goodbye. We gave each other a big hug and then he just looked at me. He said thank you and I thanked him as well. I don't think I have ever been this sad to say goodbye to a companion. Maybe it’s because he is going home and I realize that I won't see him again in the mission. We were great friends. I know I haven't said much about Elder Prawitt because we have just been so busy. He is the best companion I have ever had. It was a privilege learning from him and working side by side with him. We had so many miracles happen the past 2 transfers. And I tell you what, I have never worked as hard on my mission as I do now. I have never grown so much as I have now. I understand the true purpose of missionary work and I understand how to do it. That doesn't mean I know everything and that it's not hard anymore, because it is and from seeing this last week for Elder Prawitt, it always will be. But now I know that diligence, faith, pure love, humility, hope, and the guidance of the Spirit are what I need to become a great tool in the Lords hand. Since working with Elder Prawitt I have come to love missionary work, not because it makes me happy and I feel the Spirit, but because I want to do the Lords work and make other happy and feel the Spirit. I love doing missionary work, because I love bringing people closer to Christ and their true relationship with their Heavenly Father. I don't know if I ever told anyone, but Elder Prawitt served in Ukraine for a year then had to come home for health reasons. He was sent to Washington for a purpose. He has always strived to be the best missionary he can be, even when his companion didn't want to. He and I have a lot in common. At about 4 o clock today he will be home with his family. I can't believe it. It’s amazing how fast time goes by on your mission. One day that time will come for me and it’s probably closer than I think. Right now I'm ready to move on and to keep working hard. I thought that for this week I would share Elder Prawitt’s favorite scripture and one that I have come to love as well. Helaman 3: 35. May God bless all of you this week. Take care of yourselves.
Love,
Elder Garrick
Man what a week it has been. This was Elder Prawitt’s last week. You would think that for a missionaries last week in the field, he would be blessed with miracle after miracle. This week was not so much that way. We were able to see a miracle happen when Cajia Gonsalves got baptized. That was something really special. The young women really put the whole thing on. The Spirit was so strong there. Cajia had to get baptized twice because her head didn't go all the way down the first time. Her Grandpa baptized her and he brought his own clothes so we didn't have to deal with another clothing fiasco. Everything went really well for this baptism. The young women sang a really cool song called, "He knows me." It was really good.
We have been struggling really hard lately to find people who we can teach. People are very busy and it seems as though the people we are teaching are just falling off like crazy. One of our really progressing investigators is having problems with her boyfriend and is trying to figure things out. She is getting all ready to move out. This will either be a blessing or it could be bad. If she wanted to get baptized she would have to move out sooner or later, or get married, so maybe this is what needs to happen. Although, it is making it very difficult for us to meet with her. She has a lot of kids that she has to deal with. I told you last week about Rebekah and how she is living in a homeless shelter. She hasn't yet left, because her aunt just doesn't have the heart to kick her out. We actually met with her aunt this week and had a lesson with both of them. Her aunt is really wanting to go to church. Her husband passed away recently and she just hasn't been able to get over it. Well after the lesson we thought things would work out and we just found out that Rebekah is going to leave sometime to go to the homeless shelter again. Needless to say, many of our investigators are just disappearing and the adversary is making it hard for us.
We have been blessed to be able to help Ian. We had our movie night on Friday. It went really well. We had about 40-50 people show up. Most of them were less-active/recent-converts and there were a few active families there. There were a lot non-members there. Ian showed up with his son. We were so excited to see him. We got a big popcorn machine and Ian helped us make all the popcorn. The only mix up we had for the movie was the light in the projector was burning up. We of course tested everything out before hand and it all worked. The video was going and the sound was great. Then we actually start playing it and the color is all messed up and once in a while the screen will just go dark and made it hard to see what was going on. It worked out though. Elder Prawitt went into the next room and said a prayer that everything would work. The picture was never the best, but you could still see the movie and the Spirit was there. That is what we wanted. We just wanted people to feel the Spirit and learn more about who Joseph Smith was. After the movie I got up and bore my testimony. It was a good night. Ian really liked it and the other missionaries’ investigators really liked it too. After the movie Ian asked his son what he wanted to do tonight and he said that he wanted to pray. It was really neat. His son was going crazy because there were so many missionaries there. He was going around counting all of them.
Well with all that said let me tell you about the week Elder Prawitt and I had. My whole time with Elder Prawitt he has been focused on the work. These last few weeks we have been talking about home more and more which is just normal. We worked so hard. Since all of our investigators have been falling off, we have been doing what we should be doing, finding more. Yesterday was his last day here. He left Vancouver at 1:30 pm so we had from 10am - 1pm to work. We decided that we just wanted to find some new investigators. We went tracting. We didn't have much success for a while. We knocked on a few doors and no one was home or not interested. We finally see this lady getting into her car. She says, "Hey you guys are missionaries right? I have to go get my son from school right now, but maybe you guys can come over for dinner sometime. My Sister-in-Law is Mormon." We told her that we would love too. So sometime in the future we will have dinner with this non-member lady and her family. Pretty cool huh? After that we had an appointment with a new investigator. We knock on the door and she is not home. Of course she is not home. That would have been Elder Prawitt's very last lesson. So we go to the next neighborhood. We knock on a few doors and then the 3rd one we get to opens up. This Indian lady answers the door and is very friendly with us. She says that her husband has met with missionaries before. They are Hindu, but like learning about other people’s faith. They used to live in California across the street from one of the Temples. She invited us in and we taught her a lesson. It was so great. We are going to try and see her again with her husband sometime this week. The Lord provided for us. The time was 1 o'clock and Elder Prawitt decided that he would end on a good note. We grabbed something quick to eat and went over to the church. Man I miss that kid a lot right now. It was so sad saying goodbye. We gave each other a big hug and then he just looked at me. He said thank you and I thanked him as well. I don't think I have ever been this sad to say goodbye to a companion. Maybe it’s because he is going home and I realize that I won't see him again in the mission. We were great friends. I know I haven't said much about Elder Prawitt because we have just been so busy. He is the best companion I have ever had. It was a privilege learning from him and working side by side with him. We had so many miracles happen the past 2 transfers. And I tell you what, I have never worked as hard on my mission as I do now. I have never grown so much as I have now. I understand the true purpose of missionary work and I understand how to do it. That doesn't mean I know everything and that it's not hard anymore, because it is and from seeing this last week for Elder Prawitt, it always will be. But now I know that diligence, faith, pure love, humility, hope, and the guidance of the Spirit are what I need to become a great tool in the Lords hand. Since working with Elder Prawitt I have come to love missionary work, not because it makes me happy and I feel the Spirit, but because I want to do the Lords work and make other happy and feel the Spirit. I love doing missionary work, because I love bringing people closer to Christ and their true relationship with their Heavenly Father. I don't know if I ever told anyone, but Elder Prawitt served in Ukraine for a year then had to come home for health reasons. He was sent to Washington for a purpose. He has always strived to be the best missionary he can be, even when his companion didn't want to. He and I have a lot in common. At about 4 o clock today he will be home with his family. I can't believe it. It’s amazing how fast time goes by on your mission. One day that time will come for me and it’s probably closer than I think. Right now I'm ready to move on and to keep working hard. I thought that for this week I would share Elder Prawitt’s favorite scripture and one that I have come to love as well. Helaman 3: 35. May God bless all of you this week. Take care of yourselves.
Love,
Elder Garrick
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
November 9, 2010 - Week 65
Good Afternoon Everyone,
Well there have been some good things going on right now in the Washington Kennewick Mission. After my email last week we immediately drove down to Kennewick for our 2 day training. It's about a 4 hour drive that we have to make each month and because Elder Prawitt and I drive the soccer mom van, we are the ones who drive the rest of the zone leaders down. I tell ya what, road trips to St. George will be no problem for me when I come home. The training was really good. 2 men from the mission dept came and spoke to us. They talked about some of the new fundamental lessons again. We learned about the Doctrine of Christ for the 18th time. They are really trying to drill this into our heads. It really is so important though and I can understand why they are giving so many trainings on the same lesson. Many missionaries are not understanding this one concept. We talked about how we are to invite people to be baptized on the very first lesson. By the second lesson we should invite people to set a specific date for baptism. That's pretty intense, but it will help the missionaries and investigators out a lot. We also found out that we have the privilege of texting now. HOLY COW!!!! We had the longest discussion about it in our zone leader council. Right now we are going to start it off with the zone leaders and see how it goes. Eventually we want to have the whole mission to have texting. Its pretty exciting though. It will help out so much in missionary work. We can follow up with reading assignments, see if people are coming to church, verify appointments.
Well let's give an update on what is going on shall we. Ian is doing fantastic. We had a church tour with him. The guy has just changed so much ever since we gave him a blessing. He has always had great anxiety and ever since our blessing he hasn't had that anymore. He came to church on Sunday and had a great time. His wife is still very nervous about coming, but we want to talk to her about it as well. Things are really shaky right now with Rebekah. She is the one who was homeless for a while and is now living with her aunt. Well we just found out that things aren't working out at her aunts house and she will be leaving today to go to another homeless shelter. The only place available is one that allows people in at 7 pm every night, but then kicks them out at 7 am every day. She will then have to wander the streets for 12 hours with her 3 year old son. Our ward mission leader gave us a stroller so that she can push him around in it and hopefully he will stay inside it and not run away. Its pretty horrible. We are working with the Stake President and also the Bishop to see what we can do for her. Last but now least is Cajia Gonsalves. Her baptism is this upcoming Saturday. I am so excited for it. Cajia is still really nervous and doesn't want a lot of people there. We are going to have the young women put it on. It will be like a young women baptism. They are going to sing a song and the speakers are going to be the YW leaders and the prayers by girls in the ward. Last but not least is Philip. Philip is progressing really well right now. He continues to read the Book of Mormon. This last lesson we talked about prayer and Philip gave the closing prayer. It was really neat. Hopefully things will continue to work out for him.
This Friday we are going to do a movie night with the missionaries. Mom, you told me about this a while ago and we finally decided to put it into action. I am so excited for it. We are going to project "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" onto the big screen in the gym. We are going to have popcorn and drinks and other goodies. We are telling everyone about it and people seem like they are excited for it too. A young man in the ward said he wants to get all his friends and have them ask non-member girls to the movie. PERFECT! I want to start doing one activity like this every transfer where we can find more people to teach and do it in a different way than just knocking on doors. Well this is Elder Prawitt's last week. Man I can't believe it. Do missions really end? It's so weird to me to hear that many of my friends are now home. I remember thinking that when that day came, I would not have long left on my mission and that it would probably fly. Elder Prawitt has served a great mission. He is the companion that I have wanted my whole mission. We work hard, we teach, we find, he is a powerful teacher. It has been so great being able to serve with him. Next week I will have a new companion and I'm sure he will be great too, but serving with Elder Prawitt has been amazing. It's the first time I have been able to serve with someone who has my same desire and determination for missionary work. Well that's it for me this week I hope everyone is doing well. Enjoy the sunshine, because its always rainy and dark here in Vancouver. I'm getting used to it though. I love you all.
Love,
Elder Garrick
Well there have been some good things going on right now in the Washington Kennewick Mission. After my email last week we immediately drove down to Kennewick for our 2 day training. It's about a 4 hour drive that we have to make each month and because Elder Prawitt and I drive the soccer mom van, we are the ones who drive the rest of the zone leaders down. I tell ya what, road trips to St. George will be no problem for me when I come home. The training was really good. 2 men from the mission dept came and spoke to us. They talked about some of the new fundamental lessons again. We learned about the Doctrine of Christ for the 18th time. They are really trying to drill this into our heads. It really is so important though and I can understand why they are giving so many trainings on the same lesson. Many missionaries are not understanding this one concept. We talked about how we are to invite people to be baptized on the very first lesson. By the second lesson we should invite people to set a specific date for baptism. That's pretty intense, but it will help the missionaries and investigators out a lot. We also found out that we have the privilege of texting now. HOLY COW!!!! We had the longest discussion about it in our zone leader council. Right now we are going to start it off with the zone leaders and see how it goes. Eventually we want to have the whole mission to have texting. Its pretty exciting though. It will help out so much in missionary work. We can follow up with reading assignments, see if people are coming to church, verify appointments.
Well let's give an update on what is going on shall we. Ian is doing fantastic. We had a church tour with him. The guy has just changed so much ever since we gave him a blessing. He has always had great anxiety and ever since our blessing he hasn't had that anymore. He came to church on Sunday and had a great time. His wife is still very nervous about coming, but we want to talk to her about it as well. Things are really shaky right now with Rebekah. She is the one who was homeless for a while and is now living with her aunt. Well we just found out that things aren't working out at her aunts house and she will be leaving today to go to another homeless shelter. The only place available is one that allows people in at 7 pm every night, but then kicks them out at 7 am every day. She will then have to wander the streets for 12 hours with her 3 year old son. Our ward mission leader gave us a stroller so that she can push him around in it and hopefully he will stay inside it and not run away. Its pretty horrible. We are working with the Stake President and also the Bishop to see what we can do for her. Last but now least is Cajia Gonsalves. Her baptism is this upcoming Saturday. I am so excited for it. Cajia is still really nervous and doesn't want a lot of people there. We are going to have the young women put it on. It will be like a young women baptism. They are going to sing a song and the speakers are going to be the YW leaders and the prayers by girls in the ward. Last but not least is Philip. Philip is progressing really well right now. He continues to read the Book of Mormon. This last lesson we talked about prayer and Philip gave the closing prayer. It was really neat. Hopefully things will continue to work out for him.
This Friday we are going to do a movie night with the missionaries. Mom, you told me about this a while ago and we finally decided to put it into action. I am so excited for it. We are going to project "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" onto the big screen in the gym. We are going to have popcorn and drinks and other goodies. We are telling everyone about it and people seem like they are excited for it too. A young man in the ward said he wants to get all his friends and have them ask non-member girls to the movie. PERFECT! I want to start doing one activity like this every transfer where we can find more people to teach and do it in a different way than just knocking on doors. Well this is Elder Prawitt's last week. Man I can't believe it. Do missions really end? It's so weird to me to hear that many of my friends are now home. I remember thinking that when that day came, I would not have long left on my mission and that it would probably fly. Elder Prawitt has served a great mission. He is the companion that I have wanted my whole mission. We work hard, we teach, we find, he is a powerful teacher. It has been so great being able to serve with him. Next week I will have a new companion and I'm sure he will be great too, but serving with Elder Prawitt has been amazing. It's the first time I have been able to serve with someone who has my same desire and determination for missionary work. Well that's it for me this week I hope everyone is doing well. Enjoy the sunshine, because its always rainy and dark here in Vancouver. I'm getting used to it though. I love you all.
Love,
Elder Garrick
November 2, 2010 - Week 64
HAPPY LATE HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!
I had an awesome week recently. Man there is so much to say. I guess I will start off with Halloween. On Friday we had our wards Trunk or Treat. They had games and activities for the kids from 6-7 pm and then after that everyone went outside and people had decorated the trunk of their car and all the kids went around in the parking lot and got candy. It was great. One of our investigators and her 7 children came and they all had a blast. All the little kids were making friends with them. It was a lot of fun. Elder Prawitt and I switched tags, so I was Elder Prawitt for Halloween and he was Elder Garrick haha. Super nerdy I know, but what else could we do. We have a great ward. They love the missionaries and are pretty good about helping us out. On Halloween day we went over and had dinner with some other missionaries and the members they lived with. It was pretty fun because they had a ping pong table and a guitar. Oh man do I miss the guitar. As I played it I had a ton of songs just flood back into my mind, but unfortunately I couldn't remember all of them. It will come back I know. So that was pretty much our Halloween. Oh man I have to tell you. While we were with the other missionaries on Halloween, their members cat came up and sneezed in Elder Nillsons eye. Well guess what we found out about 10 minutes later. Elder Nillson is allergic to cats. He didn't even know. Maybe he is only allergic to cat sneezes. So his eye swelled all up. It wasn't too bad, but it was hilarious. Thank you to everyone who sent Halloween packages and letters. I have been stuffing myself with candy.
So I have some great news. We currently have 3 people on date for baptism! Cajia (pronounced Kaya), Brother Gonsalves daughter, decided that she finally wants to get baptized. I had the strongest prompting on Sunday to invite her to get baptized, but our lesson was just going a different direction. Topics kept on changing and it was all a little scattered. Whenever I would try and lead to baptism it would go a different way. I finally just thought, well I will do it next time. Well I guess Elder Prawitt had the same prompting because at the end he just randomly said, "So have you prayed about baptism?" She said that she had and she wanted to. It was a good lesson for me to always follow the Spirit, even if you're scared or it's not the ideal situation, you always follow the Spirit. This week I came across a scripture in my reading that really applied. 1 Nephi 1: 26-27. This is Lehi talking about Nephi. I thought it was really neat. We also had Stake conference. One of our investigators showed up. His name is Philip. We just barely started to teach Philip. On Tuesday we showed up and his son and daughter were there so we started teaching the whole family. Philip really just wants to change his life. We invited him to church and then realized it was stake conference, but we did it anyway. He came and we are hoping he liked it. It was 2 hours long which is really long for someone new to church, but I really hope he felt the Spirit, I sure did. One of the speakers spoke on following the Spirit. He talked about how prophet after prophet has come to the current living prophet in vision and told them to tell the people to have the Spirit of the Lord as their guide. He then talked about how if we get a prompting and we follow it and it doesn't go as planned, do it again next time you get a prompting. It is how you show the Lord you are willing to follow his direction. So that was really neat.
This week we met with Ian. Ian and his wife are someone that we have taught in the past and we thought were just golden, but recently we haven't been able to meet with them. They live with their cousins who are members of the church. Well Ian's back has been hurting so their cousins said that he could receive a Priesthood blessing. We went over there and talked to him about the priesthood and about blessings. It was only Ian, Elder Prawitt and I in the room with Ian's kids going crazy all over. We gave Ian the priesthood blessing and everything just went calm. As we finished Ian was crying. He said that he hasn't felt like that since he was a kid. He said he just had this energy go through his body and then he felt calm. We bore testimony that what he felt was the Spirit telling him that what we talk about is true. We then talked about how the Priesthood was restored to the earth and how by that same priesthood we can get baptized. We invited him to get baptized and he accepted. He then prayed at the end of our lesson and gave such a sincere and heartfelt prayer. He told God that he knew what we talked about is true, he prayed for his family, and then prayed that he could follow in Christs footsteps. We met with him again yesterday. We read with him. He said that the chapter we read apply so much to what he is going through in his life. He is going to come to church with us this Sunday, he just doesn't have a tie. So today we are going to go tie shopping and get him one.
Last but not least, we met with a lady named Rebbecca. She is the lady who I talked about in my last email. She is currently homeless, but is living with her aunt. We were able to meet with her late in the evening when her son was asleep. Man we had such a great lesson with her. She wants to start over. She has made a lot of mistakes and just wants to change. We again talked to her about baptism and she accepted. It's amazing what is going on right now. Elder Prawitt and I are working hard and seeing miracle after miracle. This week I have been focusing on my love for Heavenly Father. It changed everything I did this week. I want to be better, I want to help others, I have the Spirit with me when I love God. Charity is so important. I learn more and more about it all the time. Well that is it for me this week. Today we have to drive to Kennewick because we have an extending Zone Leader Council Meeting. Tomorrow people from the missionary department from church headquarters are coming to meet with us and give a training. It should be good. Hope everyone is doing well. I love you.
Love,
Elder Garrick
I had an awesome week recently. Man there is so much to say. I guess I will start off with Halloween. On Friday we had our wards Trunk or Treat. They had games and activities for the kids from 6-7 pm and then after that everyone went outside and people had decorated the trunk of their car and all the kids went around in the parking lot and got candy. It was great. One of our investigators and her 7 children came and they all had a blast. All the little kids were making friends with them. It was a lot of fun. Elder Prawitt and I switched tags, so I was Elder Prawitt for Halloween and he was Elder Garrick haha. Super nerdy I know, but what else could we do. We have a great ward. They love the missionaries and are pretty good about helping us out. On Halloween day we went over and had dinner with some other missionaries and the members they lived with. It was pretty fun because they had a ping pong table and a guitar. Oh man do I miss the guitar. As I played it I had a ton of songs just flood back into my mind, but unfortunately I couldn't remember all of them. It will come back I know. So that was pretty much our Halloween. Oh man I have to tell you. While we were with the other missionaries on Halloween, their members cat came up and sneezed in Elder Nillsons eye. Well guess what we found out about 10 minutes later. Elder Nillson is allergic to cats. He didn't even know. Maybe he is only allergic to cat sneezes. So his eye swelled all up. It wasn't too bad, but it was hilarious. Thank you to everyone who sent Halloween packages and letters. I have been stuffing myself with candy.
So I have some great news. We currently have 3 people on date for baptism! Cajia (pronounced Kaya), Brother Gonsalves daughter, decided that she finally wants to get baptized. I had the strongest prompting on Sunday to invite her to get baptized, but our lesson was just going a different direction. Topics kept on changing and it was all a little scattered. Whenever I would try and lead to baptism it would go a different way. I finally just thought, well I will do it next time. Well I guess Elder Prawitt had the same prompting because at the end he just randomly said, "So have you prayed about baptism?" She said that she had and she wanted to. It was a good lesson for me to always follow the Spirit, even if you're scared or it's not the ideal situation, you always follow the Spirit. This week I came across a scripture in my reading that really applied. 1 Nephi 1: 26-27. This is Lehi talking about Nephi. I thought it was really neat. We also had Stake conference. One of our investigators showed up. His name is Philip. We just barely started to teach Philip. On Tuesday we showed up and his son and daughter were there so we started teaching the whole family. Philip really just wants to change his life. We invited him to church and then realized it was stake conference, but we did it anyway. He came and we are hoping he liked it. It was 2 hours long which is really long for someone new to church, but I really hope he felt the Spirit, I sure did. One of the speakers spoke on following the Spirit. He talked about how prophet after prophet has come to the current living prophet in vision and told them to tell the people to have the Spirit of the Lord as their guide. He then talked about how if we get a prompting and we follow it and it doesn't go as planned, do it again next time you get a prompting. It is how you show the Lord you are willing to follow his direction. So that was really neat.
This week we met with Ian. Ian and his wife are someone that we have taught in the past and we thought were just golden, but recently we haven't been able to meet with them. They live with their cousins who are members of the church. Well Ian's back has been hurting so their cousins said that he could receive a Priesthood blessing. We went over there and talked to him about the priesthood and about blessings. It was only Ian, Elder Prawitt and I in the room with Ian's kids going crazy all over. We gave Ian the priesthood blessing and everything just went calm. As we finished Ian was crying. He said that he hasn't felt like that since he was a kid. He said he just had this energy go through his body and then he felt calm. We bore testimony that what he felt was the Spirit telling him that what we talk about is true. We then talked about how the Priesthood was restored to the earth and how by that same priesthood we can get baptized. We invited him to get baptized and he accepted. He then prayed at the end of our lesson and gave such a sincere and heartfelt prayer. He told God that he knew what we talked about is true, he prayed for his family, and then prayed that he could follow in Christs footsteps. We met with him again yesterday. We read with him. He said that the chapter we read apply so much to what he is going through in his life. He is going to come to church with us this Sunday, he just doesn't have a tie. So today we are going to go tie shopping and get him one.
Last but not least, we met with a lady named Rebbecca. She is the lady who I talked about in my last email. She is currently homeless, but is living with her aunt. We were able to meet with her late in the evening when her son was asleep. Man we had such a great lesson with her. She wants to start over. She has made a lot of mistakes and just wants to change. We again talked to her about baptism and she accepted. It's amazing what is going on right now. Elder Prawitt and I are working hard and seeing miracle after miracle. This week I have been focusing on my love for Heavenly Father. It changed everything I did this week. I want to be better, I want to help others, I have the Spirit with me when I love God. Charity is so important. I learn more and more about it all the time. Well that is it for me this week. Today we have to drive to Kennewick because we have an extending Zone Leader Council Meeting. Tomorrow people from the missionary department from church headquarters are coming to meet with us and give a training. It should be good. Hope everyone is doing well. I love you.
Love,
Elder Garrick
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