Costumes

Halloween Party

Week 58

HOLA!!!!!

Well this week flew by! It is crazy how fast time can fly, right?!

-Well we had divisions this week and it was pretty neat! We were able to go to the area of the hermanas. It sure made me more grateful for my area! It is crazy how a 10 min drive can change so much! The people in their area were very cold.. but nevertheless we found some new investigators with them!

-WEDNESDAY was just a miracle! So we had our ward TRUNK or TREAT. Okay, so considering that this was all 100% new for all of our members, they did really well! Everyone brought their assignments, and they all LOVED the games! Almost everyone came dressed up too! But OH MAN, we were so stressed that it was going to be a fail! Haha BUT IT WASN'T! I will attach pictures!! One of our investigtors (Wendy) helped us a ton with the decorations!

-Well it has been a little rough with Wendy and Bryan this week. Bryan started drinking again. And Bryan doesn´t want to get married to Wendy anymore.. So they are probably going to seperate.. But Wendy is still so great. She is reading in the Book of Mormon, and is just loving everything. She got a priesthood blessing this week from our Mission leader and his son. That helped her a lot. Please keep her in your prayers.

This week I found lots of quotes that I just loved, here are some:

¨How we respond in any situation has to make things better not worse¨

¨My life wasn´t going as I had planned, but it was still going according to His plan, and He was in control.¨

¨Watch out, you´re going to lose blessings, and you have to work anyway¨(That one is to help me not complain)

¨Defend your beliefs with COURAGE and with COMPASSION, but defend them¨Jeffrey R. Holland

¨You never check your religion at the door¨

Ponderizing: Helaman 14:17

¨But behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord.¨I love this. ISNT THAT THE BEST!! Through Jesus Christ we can return to the presence of God. And it is because He LIVES!! That is why we dont focus on the cross, because He is NOT dead. What a blessing.

Love you all!

Hermana Garrett

Random

Investigators at Church

At the Temple

Week 57

HELLLLOO!!

So this week was wonderful! Here are some of the eventful moments:

-Tuesday we had divisions with my MTC companion!! It was so awesome! We had set a goal in the MTC to be companions again, and well at least we were for a few hours! :) 

-Wednesday we found a ton of new investigators! We explored a little more in our area! We found one little old lady who can't hear very well and is blind. We were able to talk (Well it was more of us yelling) with her and her grandchildren. She is a little trooper! 

-We had interviews this week and found out that my companion will be going home a week early because her sister got her mission call and will be reporting on the same day that she would have gotten home. Also the mission president's wife talked to us about making our prayers more meaningful. One thing she talked to us about was that it doesn't say anywhere that we have to pray the moment we wake up. She said that it is more important that we are awake and have a conversation with God. She said ¨He doesn´t care WHEN, He cares HOW¨

-Basically the rest of the week flew by and well we had to speak in church and I had to sing. And we had 9 investigators at church (I will send a picture of some of the kids that came) 

Well today we got to go to the temple!! It was just the best thing ever!!! 

Ponderizing: Helaman 3:28

Love you ALL!!!

-Hermana Garrett

Week 56

HOOOOOLLLLAAA!

So this week really did fly by! Here are some highlights.

• Wendy and Bryan accepted a date to get baptized!! We are currently working on making sure that she isn´t legally married to her 1st husband (it could actually be a blessing in disguise, because we believe that the lawyer didn´t turn in the paperwork, and if that is the case we wouldn´t have to divorce her from her 1st husband, and we could just marry her and Bryan!!) It is the first time that I have hoped that someone isn't married! Crazy, right?? And this week we taught them lesson 1,2, and 3. Because remember, they went to church last week without us actually teaching a lesson! But they are just LOVING everything we teach! We are super excited for them.
• Yoselin:  She is also doing great! She is 14 years old, and just such a light for her family! Her older sister got baptized about a year ago, but then passed away about 3 weeks ago due to a tumor in her brain. And well ever since Yoselin has been super interested in the church. We focused a lot on the Plan of Salvation, and Yoselin just loved it! She loves knowing that she can be with her sister again! Isn´t this gospel just the greatest?!
• So both of my companions have been sick this week, with different things, and on different days, so we spent some time in the house. Not much time, because we could still go out with some members. BUT it was super awesome on Friday because we had set a goal as a zone to meet our weekly standard before Friday night, and well we had had a rough week, but Friday night we went out and were able to do 50 contacts and find 9 new investigators in less than 2 hours! It was awesome! We were just going crazy and talking to everyone! And well since then the days have been really enjoyable! It made me really think about how much God loves us. And when we set inspired goals, and WORK we can reach our goals with His help.

Ponderizing: Alma 57:27 "Now this was the faith of these of whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually."

I love this. (I´m still young right?! :) ) But really, I am so amazed by the youth these days. And well I like to think about how they will just keep becoming stronger and stronger!!

Love you all!!

-Hermana Garrett 

Zona 5

Week 55 - from Sweats to Sweaters

Hola!!!

WELL WELL sooo much happened this week, I don't even know where to start! I think I will just try to give a rundown of some of our superstar investigators!

-Majo, (Short for Maria Jose) age:16 - she is an interesting one! Her mom is a member of a few years, and her older sister recently got baptized! Her sister (Sara) is so adorable, and just such a good little Mormon! :) Sara and Majo don't have much in common, other than their desire to follow Christ. Majo has a date for her baptism in December so that she can overcome some things that are going on right now, but she is a trooper!

-Joselin, age:14 - her sister (Darlin) also got baptized not too long ago, but passed away over a week ago from a brain tumor. The mom was very supportive of Darlin and always let her go to church, but the mom and Joselin never wanted anything to do with the church. Well, we went to go visit them, and as we explained that they would be able to be with Darlin again, and that if they got baptized like Darlin, they would be able to be with her the mom started crying. She told us, if you can promise me that I will see my daughter again, I will get baptized in your church. Well, she didn't accept a date, but her daughter Joselin did. And she was super excited. We are sure excited for her as well!

-Wendy and Brian: THIS IS MY GOLDEN STORY OF THE WEEK! So on Friday we were out contacting in the evening, and stopped Wendy and Brian as they were walking in the street. We didn't talk for too long, and when we asked them where they lived they told us they had just recently moved and so they didn't know their house number (A very, VERY common excuse that we hear daily). But we asked them for their number to call the next night when we would be in their area again. Well, Saturday night we were over near that area, and decided to give them a call. Wendy, much to our surprise, answered the phone! She told us to meet her in front of a certain store, and that from there she would show us to her house. WELL we were like hmmm there are only 2 options: 

1. They are going to abduct us OR 
2. They are going to get baptized

WELL I am writing to you right now so the first didn't happen...and the 2nd, not yet... :) Well, they show up at the store and show us to their house, we taught, and then halfway through the lesson the older daughter (who is already married and lives in another zone) shows up, and so we decided to just invite them to come to church, and they were like sure! So we made plans to call them Sunday morning, and that we would pass by their house so that we could all go together. When we left from their house we were so excited!! Well, they came to church and LOVED it! The members here are so great about talking to the investigators, and they were all so nice to them. It was WONDERFUL!!! But yeah, we will see where things go!

I don't think I mentioned, but I am now in Asunción in Zona 5! I am in a trio, and it is great! I forgot how much I liked being in a trio! One of my companions is from Chile and the other is from California! YEAH, I have now had 3 companions from California! But they are both pretty great! And we have lots of really great members here! And there are members who feed us EVERYDAY! (That is the best part! :) ) It is a ward and it feels so great to be in a normal ward, normal building, ahhh I never thought I would appreciate it so much! :) OHHHH BUT anyone who reads this and has pictures from any TRUNK OR TREAT like that every  ward does for Halloween, if you can send me any pictures, I would be so very thankful! We are going to do one with the ward! They are super excited, but don't know how to decorate, what activities to do, etc. So, any ideas and pictures would be greatly appreciated!  

Well as the weeks continue, I will have more to tell, but that's all for now!

Ponderizing: Alma 46:15 ¨And those who did  belong to the church were faithful; yea, all those who were true believers in Christ took upon them, gladly, the name of Christ, or Christians as the were called, because of their belief in Christ who should come.¨ I love this scripture because it says that they did it gladly, and that they were faithful. Like it says in Matthew 11, we take the yoke of Christ upon us because it is light. We do it gladly, and we should LOVE to follow Christ! I am going to try extra hard this week to LOVE being a Christian! 

Love you all!

-Hermana Garrett

From Sweat to Sweaters

MTC Elders and Transfers

General Conference

Week 54

HOLA!! 

Well this week went by super fast, it was sure full of exciting things! 

-We had concilio (council), that was super great! And as a zone we had completed with our goal for baptisms for the month so that was awesome! I also got to see some Elders that came to the misión with me and were in my district in the CCM (MTC)! One is the Elder from Las Vegas! I hadn't seen him since we left the CCM!

-Then we had zone meeting! That was probably one of my favorites! We watched that video of the man who saves up to be able to pay for the cruise, and took all his own food to avoid any additional costs, and on the very last day he finds out that everything on the cruise was included in the price. We watched that and Elder Orellana related that video to us as missionaries. That we all had to prepare before the mission, work, save money, interviews, doctor appointments, etc. and that now we have made it on the cruise. We have sacrificed to get here, but are we keeping ourselves locked up in our rooms and eating canned beans? Or are we taking advantage of every opportunity to be missionaries? Are we living beneath our potential? This really hit me. And I would like to invite each of you to take a look at your life, we have all made sacrifices to get where we are (in a job, university, etc.) but are we living up to our potential where we are? It's like that phrase, ¨Bloom where you are planted.¨ I think there are things we can all do to change and ENJOY where we are at. That was one thing I LOVED in conference, they talked a lot about being JOYFUL!! ¨and men are that they might have JOY!¨

-We also had divisions with some Hermanas over the Conference weekend, and it went super well! We went to Zacapa to watch Conference, so we just stayed there with them. It is always fun to get to know other areas!

-And then there was Conference!! I want to hear from all of you what you liked most!! Because it is sure hard for me to decide! I LOVED Russell M. Nelson's talk. I loved when he said ¨Jesucristo es gozo¨ (Jesus Christ is joy) - there is that JOY again! I also liked how he said as we try to take the instructions of the world in how to find joy, we will never find it. That is so true, isn't it? Yes, the world tries to offer us ¨fun nights¨ or ¨thrilling vacations¨ but those things aren't going to bring us joy. Those THINGS aren't going to bring us back to our Father in Heaven. I also loved the talk by J. Devin Cornish where he talked about how we should not compare ourselves with others. And that if we repent, we will be sufficiently good!

-It was super ¨calidad¨ (excellent) because even though we had to travel to go to General Conference, we still had 7 investigators that made the sacrifice to go. Most even stayed for 2 sessions! And Carlos, Jorge, and Edgar went to the Priesthood session! We were so thrilled!! 

BIG NEWS!!! SO today are changes, AND I HAVE CHANGES TO THE CAPITAL!!! That is all I know, I don't know where I will be or with who, but hey, I'll be in the capital!! :) So this week will be nothing short of an adventure, I am positive!

Ponderizing: Alma 28:14 ¨And thus we see the great call of diligence of men to labor in the vineyards of the Lord; and thus we see the great reason of sorrow, and also of rejoicing-sorrow because of death and destruction among men, and joy because of the light of Christ unto life.¨ LOVE this scripture! And I think it does a great job of explaining the emotions on the mission! Great sorrow and sadness when people don't accept, but great JOY (there it is again) when people accept and enter into the baptismal covenant.

LOVE YOU ALL! Have a great week!

-Hermana Garrett