Week 94 Lovin' it!

This week was great. No complaints. Honestly the life is pretty great right now. I love my companion and our investigators and the area. The branch is even getting better.

We had a baptism this Saturday and his name is Sainz Smith. I know how crazy that his name is Smith! Like Joseph! It was destiny I think haha but he was so excited this whole week for the baptism! Like every time we got there he would run to the door and be like okay tell me more about how we are going to do it so I don't mess up haha but the baptism went great. I got to baptize him it just went great!!!!

Another cool thing is that we have another investigator named Asusena and she is a reference from sister missionaries. She is the cousin of another investigator that they had. We invited her to the baptism and when we got there we see her with the bible and the Book of Mormon out studying the Plan of Salvation pamphlet AND filling out the questions! She is so great and will be getting baptized on the 6th of May! So exciting!

Another fun thing was our family home evening that we did last night. we talked about the strategies of satan to make our lives bad and then we talked about the strategies we have to conquer satan. it was a great class. And it was for one of our investigators who isn't really progressing that great but after this class we could see her just shining. I just know that was what she needs and that she is know excited to learn more and keep studying. And maybe even baptism!

I'm just so happy in the mission right now! Even the heat doesn't make me that mad anymore!

I love you all!

Elder Garry

T-Minus 8 weeks New Companion

This week was so awesome!
So Elder Chojolan finished the mission and now I have a new companion named Elder Pineda from Guatemala as well. Just that this time he and i get a long great! haha
Elder Pineda is the coolest. It has only been like 5 days together and he is already on of my favorite comps that I have had. We work super hard and we just talk all day long as well. Like for example, last night we just talked about all of our favorite songs and we would just sing them all. We have the same interests and everything. He always says "we are twins" whenever we figure out that we have the same interests hahaha

So lets talk about the work!
As of right now we have 7 investigators with a baptismal date! and they are all so great! We have baptisms lined up for the next 6 weeks! We have one lined up for this week and then another for the next and that's how it will be this whole month and the month of May!!!!
Just yesterday we found 2 new investigators who are so great I love them so much!!! One is named Asusena! She is 18 and during the lesson when we were talking about Jesus and how through him we can live with God, she just starts crying so hard and the Spirit just filled the room. It was kind of funny because as Elder Pineda was talking I was watching him, then he stopped to pass me the time and I look over at her and she is crying and it startled me because I wasn't expecting it. She just starts saying that she knows it is all true and that she will be baptized!! She has a date for the 6th of May!
Then another guy named Noun. He was like this big time gangster and about 6 months ago, someone tried to kill him and shot him in the arm. He said that he was just full of rage and hate and was going to do something bad and then the missionaries just walked right up to him and said "would you like to be happier" and he was like well I guess I do. Then he was going to get baptized but his grandpa died and the missionaries stopped visiting. The other day we were walking and he yells out, ADIOS and my comp goes, I feel like I know him. and I was like how do you think you know him... and he said that one time he did divisions in the area and visited him. And we had the lesson and it was just so spiritual!!

So I am so happy right now!! I love life and the mission and my companion and my investigators!!

I love you all!

Elder Garry

Week 92 9 weeks to go!

This week was so hot. it fried my memory and i almost didn't remember anything that happened. but i asked my comp and he reminded me haha

I guess it was a pretty good week!!

My companion and I are working hard and having some success here now! We are teaching pretty fun as well! We realized that people really don't understand the restoration as well as they should so instead of just teaching to teach, we are now teaching super cool. We are teaching with the Rubik's cube.. exactly how Elder Coleman and Elder Bird taught us the restoration, we are teaching. Showing how the cube is perfect and teaching the elements of the church of Christ, then teaching the apostasy and mixing it. Then little by little fixing it as we teach the restoration. We taught it to the husband of a member. This husband I guess has never wanted to be baptized nor listen to the missionaries but we have been able to bring him to church and we taught him this lesson this way and then we put a baptismal date and he accepted it!! The wife was almost crying!! It was so awesome the lesson.

I was thinking about the struggles I have had this change with some people coughcompanioncough and I just started to think, what is it that I have learned from this. like there has to be something. i think that i have learned patience. And finally, after all of this time, I think I have it down pretty well. Like I am super patient now. I never was. Another thing that I have realized and understood is the importance of picking my battles. If something bothers me, I think for a second, "is it worth mentioning" and I think well what will happen if I say something, and if the outcome isn't worth it, I just don't say anything and I feel good about this learning. My goal was to be his best companion and I know that I wasn't but I have for sure learned a lot from him!!

He is actually going home on Wednesday and I will be getting a new companion named Elder Pineda. also from Guatemala. That makes 3! and zero gringo companions!

I look forward to it! He will be my last companion as well!!!

I love you all!!

Elder Garry

Week 91 Conference

This week went by so fast it was incredible! it was so great as well.

First off we have a great investigator named Sainz. He is 12 but his family are members. I guess he used to be really disobedient then the family said he needs to find someone to help him and then we showed up!! It is true he is kind of disobedient but when we are there he is so respectful and nice. And I talked to him and said he has to help the family out and I am hearing that he is getting a lot better! So basically he went to alll of the sessions of conference. And he is 12. And he didn't freak out or anything. He sat there and asked questions and it was so great! After conference he told us, "hey I know that my baptismal date is for the 15 but is it okay if I get baptized on the 4th". We had to say no because we still have to teach him stuff but he is so great! I love him. I call him my disciple because he wants to learn my magic tricks.

And conference was honestly so great. I loved all of the talks because they were all so centered in Jesus Christ and his atonement. But out of all of the talks, I think that I loved the talk by Elder Palmer the most because it helped me receive more personal revelation than the other talks. He said that we must "become the person that the Lord wants us to become" and it was a nice little quote and I loved it. We have all heard it before but this time I heard it and then I got a question that came rushing into my mind. "who does the Lord want me to become" and in that same moment it was like I could see my future. I'm not a fortune teller but I could see myself in the future paying my tithing. I could picture myself getting sealed in the temple. And I could picture myself baptizing my little kids. I realized that if I want to be the person the Lord wants me to be, I have to do as Elder Hales taught and to be a true disciple of Christ. Not just follow Christ but to do as he would do. I have to live this gospel and not just teach it. It makes me want to be a better person. What the Lord wants are people will to become better. And that is through living the gospel of Christ. It was just such a great moment where I could see the big picture and not just the normal 5 steps ahead that we normally can see.

So I loved conference, and I am excited to put into practice everything that I learned and to go back and study my notes so it stays in my mind nice and fresh.

I love you all!

Elder Garry

Week 90 Photos

There was no big email today. He was in a great mood. He got to go to the beach. Lots of pictures. He wrote 
me eating fish
me kissing fish
me wishing i could not sweat but swim like a fish