New year, New office

January 13, 2018


Well this mass email is going to be a bit short. I am going to send a video showing you all what I pretty much ended up doing the entire week with some pictures. I hope you all enjoy it.

But this week we actually had a lesson with some progressing investigators. Here in the office It is tough to find people who will actually progress and so when you do find someone who will you don´t want to mess up or bring anything new into your lesson. Well my companion and I decided to try a new tactic in our lessons. President Amato has been telling us that we need to help investigators realize that they can feel the spirit that we bring into their home, by reading the Book of Mormon. So we decided to break the norm and just teach lesson one right out of the Book of Mormon and not use the lesson pamphlet. A COMPLETELY new tactic. Of course it went a little rough and in the end we decided that we needed to improve it a little more, but we both agreed that it was one of the most spiritual lessons that we have ever given in our missions. I think that the thing that I took the most out of that lesson was that the Book of Mormon really is one of the main tools that God uses to send his spirit to touch the hearts of man. Like Joseph Smith said ´´a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts...´´ I truly testify of these things. Inside of that book we can find his spirit and feel it daily if we read it.

Miss you tons,

Elder Garbett

p.s we had emergency transfers and all of the last secretaries and assistants that President Boswell had called into the office left this week. Now we have a new generation in the office.

A New Generation

So it wouldn't fit in the last email but here is pretty much what I did in the office all week. I am super proud about it. and the pictures are some before pictures and I pretty much did an after video. 

Sin Libros...... otra vez

January 6, 2018

And so ends the first week of 2018. Let us begin:

1. So this last Monday, being the first of 2018, there was really nobody out in the streets. So we ended up walking to the office and when we got there we started to get to work preparing for president and the missionaries to show up to the office. After about an hour of working we all received a text from president saying that he wasn't going to show up and so we continued working and none of the other missionaries showed up because nobody was doing taxi. So pretty much Perú was like a dead zone because there was nobody in the streets.

2. Tuesday we had a 2 week training for all of the new missionaries that came into the mission this month and for every single 2 week training I have to give a training about the referral system. Something that I think that I have learned in doing the training every single time is that afterwards I always think that there is something that I could change about it. So I was looking at it afterwards from the original that was in the office when I showed up. When I showed up the training was about a 15 minute training. After all of my adjustments to it the training has become a 25 minute training. So I think that eventually after I leave the training might be a 40 minute training. 

So this week has been pretty alright. I mean not a lot has happened but everything is going pretty good. We were talking to president today and apparently there are going to be some changes coming up this week so I think that it will be getting a little bit crazy. 

love you all,

Elder Garbett

Feliz Navidad!!!!

December 30, 2017

Well this week was pretty calm here in the office:

1. So this last Sunday was Christmas eve and so that meant everyone stayed up (didn't eat dinner) and waited until midnight to let all of the fireworks off. I will say that it wasn't as exciting as my last Christmas but it was probably because we were in a rich area and we have a lot of big buildings around us. 

2. Christmas day came around and we didn't have our office meeting with president.  (Go figure) But instead we actually got to spend some time with our actual zone. It was pretty kool but the breakfast got delayed until the afternoon so we ate this breakfast-lunch thing and then lunch literally right after that. So then in that moment I am with the assistants and they wanted to go visit some members. We show up super full and the lady asked us (in order) if we wanted cake, masamora, or paneton. We were literally full in that moment and so we told her we couldn't but while we were giving a spiritual thought she got up and came back with some cake. Right after we all ate that she got up and came back with some of that masamora stuff. So in that moment we knew that once we would finish that she would bring us paneton. So we finished the message we had and we deliberately didn't finish the masamora until we were about to leave. After that we decided to go to the office because we knew if we visited sombody else they would give us more food. And if we ate anything else...........

Well pretty much besides those things not much happened in between the week. But yesterday we celebrated two birthdays. One was for Elder Yañez, the finance secretary and the other was for President Amato´s daughter Alice who turned 8. And so yesterday to celebrate her birthday she was baptized and we were able to attend it. It was kind of interesting because the ceremony was trilingual. there was English, Spanish, and Portuguese. But pretty much most of it was in Portuguese and even though it was like that and I understood about 75% of the meeting you could feel the spirit super strongly in there. Probably the best part of my week was going to that.

miss you all,

Elder Garbett

another begining (transfers!)

December 23, 2017

So this week was a pretty normal week in the office (which is still pretty crazy):

1. So we received a good amount of new missionaries from the CCM this last Tuesday after sending off a really good group back home. It was kinda sad to see some of those missionaries go because of all of the good times that we have had together being leaders and everything but this new group that came in is going to be a really good group. 

2. So this last Sunday Elder Stoliker wanted to do some sort of musical number during sacrament meeting and so on Saturday night he confirms the thing and we have literally nothing planned besides that we are going to sing something. So he decides that we should do something with Hark the Herald angels sing. And with all of our musical knowledge we come up with something on the spot. Apparently it turned out really good and everybody loved it. I am going to send the video we took afterwards. I hope that you guys love it. 

3. So yesterday was pretty hectic. So being the operations secretary I am in charge of all of the packages that come in and out. So that means that I have to go and pick up the really big packages from the office. Being the week before Christmas I decided to save everything until yesterday to go and pick up so that I can pick up the majority of the packages that are coming in before Christmas. I show up there thinking that I am going to end up picking up like 5 packages that are a pretty good size. Turns out that I was picking up 8 packages that were bigger than normal. It must have been pretty weird to see two gringos walking out of a mailing office with some packages that are probably double their size. 

So, for being a pretty hectic week I am very surprised that I got some study time in. And being the Christmas season I decided to study about the life of Jesus Christ. And during this time I watched all of the Bible videos from the birth of him to when he was crucified. In all of these videos there was one in particular that caught my attention. The title of it is "To this end was I born." Truly he did come to save his people. During his entire mortal ministry He took no thought of himself. He came to teach us, to guide us, to love us, to die for us. This week we have the opportunity to remember the time he came to begin his mortal ministry. Let us remember him this Christmas and to celebrate the time that he came to end up doing all that he did so that we may not be lost. 

Merry Christmas!

Elder Garbett​

#IluminaElMundo day 13 and 14 completed

December 16, 2017

Well this week was busy But it turned out pretty good. This week we had our Christmas activity for the entire mission which was split into two groups on two different days. So what ended up happening was that 5 zones showed up in front of the temple and we headed to the restaurant right in front of the temple to have lunch. We ended up eating a ton of chicken (because its Peru) and we started doing an activity. We put all of the districts up against each other and we built gingerbread houses. And then afterwards President Amato gave us all a gift which was a Peru jersey with Peru Lima Este on the back.

After all of that we went down to an orphanage and every couple of missionaries got assigned an orphan to play and spend time with for the rest of the afternoon. And then after that president shared a message with everyone and we sang some hymns and left. 

Now this activity was really great. The food was good, the kids were great, we even rented a bouncy house for them to play on for two hours. But I really think that the last activity was the best. We all got to go see these orphans and bring some light to their lives. Being an office elder there was a chance that I could have needed to leave early for something so I didn't get assigned to a child but as we were leaving we had some of the children asking if we could come back again. When you think about it they never really have much interaction with people like that very often. We brought so much joy and happiness that they will probably never forget.

After both days were done and all of the fiasco was finished, all of us headed back to the office to change back into our missionary attire. While I was waiting for my companions I decided to go searching on the church website for something interesting to read. But I decided to go on the light the world campaign the church is doing and I found something interesting. These two activities passed on day 13 and 14 this month and on each one we, as a mission, were able to complete both days´ challenge just by going and visiting and playing with the orphans. What a great way to bring in the holiday spirit. I just want to close with this question:

This Christmas season how will you #LightTheWorld?

love you tons,

Elder Garbett

What happened this week?

 December 9, 2017

Either I am having some memory loss right now or literally nothing happened. Let´s see if I can remember something:

1. Ok so first thing that I do remember is that I have a ton of packages waiting at the mail office for me to pick up. You can really tell that the Christmas season is starting because everybody´s family are sending packages to their missionary. But the thing is is that the mailing office is being super stubborn with their working hours. I have already tried to go there twice and they are just always closed and it kinda stinks because the place is super far from the office and I need to be able to plan my schedule out the be able to take 3 hours to go there. *tis the season to be jolly, falalalalalalalala.*

2. Me and Elder Hidalgo went down to a place where we can buy a bunch of stuff for super cheap. Being on duty in the office I went down there with the intent of buying stuff for the new missionaries that will be coming in after next week. But Elder Hidalgo had to go there because Hermana Amato wanted us to get a fake Christmas tree for the Christmas activity that is coming up this week. After we got back he set it up downstairs and put a bunch of contact cards on it. I mean I really haven´t felt any kind of holiday spirit this year but after he did that it just made things feel a little better. 

3. Oh yeah! I almost forgot. So being the operations secretary I am in charge of making sure everything works in the office like it should be. So this week the printer stopped working. So I tried to contact the place to see if we could get a technician out to help us out but as of now nobody has answered me. So I started to try to figure the thing out myself. I got it to work once for some reason but after awhile it stopped working again. So retracing my steps I ended up figuring out how to fix it for a bit but I found out that it would stop working was because the factory sent us a bad ink cartridge which I was pretty mad about. So I was (still am) pretty proud that I figured that out.

Well it took me awhile but it looks like I did at least something this week. But I think that the highlight (which was the only thing that stuck out to me in the beginning) was the Christmas party that the ward had this week. We really haven´t had any luck in finding people recently but we just had faith that somebody would show up to the party that we could contact. We saw a ton of miracles that day. Not only had ours prayers been answered about finding people but we had an old investigator who was super close to being baptized not only show up but also sat at the table with the area presidency (Elders Carlos Godoy, Falabella, and Montoya) and in the end the elders were able to get an appointment with him. The activity was super great and I think that everyone there was glad that they came.

love you all tons,

Elder Garbett

The Week of Nightmares!

 December 2, 2017

So this week was super tiring for the office. So let me explain:

1. So you can really start to tell here in the office that the Christmas season is starting. I have already received around 13 packages that I think are for Christmas. But the thing is also that tons of letters have come in saying that in the main mailing place there are currently 6 packages waiting for me to come and pick up and based on their weights they are supposed to be huge. That is going to be one exciting trip to go out and get it. 

2. So ever since President Godoy has showed up, some stuff has changed around here. For example, now after every single leadership counsel we have there are going to be multizones where mainly the Zone leaders teach everything that was taught to them during the leadership counsel. But the thing is is that we had three multizones this week to do that from Tuesday to Thursday and then after that we had our leadership counsel for December. So I was running around like crazy this week trying to get food for breakfast, lunch, and to try to do at least something in the office this week. So that was a complete mess.

Well this week went by super fast but at the same time it was super painful because I was running around almost 24/7. It was just super tough to make sure everything was right and perfect. Which actually all happened thankfully. But I will just say it was probably one of my most stressful weeks I have ever had.

 

miss you all tons,

Elder Garbett

MOST CRAZY WEEK OF MY LIFE! (oh yeah and happy Thanksgiving!)

 November 25, 2017

So this week was super crazy and a ton of stuff happened. Lets get down to the kool stuff:

1. So first off we had this 2 week training for the new missionaries. So I had to go out and buy breakfast for them (which is pretty normal) but also I had to get lunch. So we decided to call up a member in our mission to do it but when I called him up he said that he was out of town and he couldn't do it. So in that moment my companions had the crazy idea for us to cook the lunch but the thing is that they didn't want president to know. They wanted it to be a surprise that we were going to make sloppy joes. Plus I had to give a training during the meeting so I could not see the process the entire time. But before the end I got to help a little bit in setting up and during that time I was super nervous. And when president walked in he had this super shocked look on his face and I was all like we are dead. But then I heard sister Amato speak up and she said "DANNY! Look! the secretaries cooked! And its awesome!" and after that everyone loved the food. So we can actually cook for 50 people. 

2. So last week there was a face to face for the Young single adults with Elder Oaks and Ballard and before that happened they asked if the missionaries could attend it. So we were all planning on going to see the face to face. But what ended up happening was that a missionary had to go home for some reason and he had to be at the airport right when the thing started. So I missed out on all of that but I ended up getting to at least listen to it while I have been working here in the office and it was super awesome. There were some inspiring answers and impressions that I received during that.

3. So for some reason a bunch of the missionaries phones have been dying on them. Luckily for me I had enough temporal phones to get to every area that has needed a phone and I had to go and take all of the busted ones to the area offices. It was super kool because I got to meet the technician and he did a run down with me on how he knew if a phone has been abused or if it just was a straight up horrible equipment. So that was really eye-opening.

Well a lot of stuff happened here in Lima this week and you all probably are wondering how was thanksgiving down here in Peru. It actually was a pretty normal day. We knew that it was going on because some lady came to the offices to drop some packages off for some missionaries. But we ended up having to stay in the offices late and then we received this text from our pension saying that we need to be there at 8:30 with some scriptures ready to go about marriage. So we are all freaking out thinking that our pension is thinking about divorcing and we show up and he says that we needed to stay outside for a moment longer because the bishop was there and things just got super silent. After about 5-10 minutes they open up and we walk in expecting to see bishop there but all we see is a giant table full of food ready to celebrate thanksgiving. I mean first off we were all super relived but it was also a super touching experience because we all thought that it was just going to be another busy day at the office but that just turned everything around. I mean I didn't cry but I did get teary for a moment there. But I will just say that I am thankful for my wonderful pension who is absolutely amazing. 

Love you all,

Elder Garbett

transfer 2 in the office

November 18, 2017

Well this week was pretty interesting:

1. Well first off we got to go and plan for the Christmas activity that we are going to be having soon and I got to meet some orphaned children. While my companion was talking to some ladies about the details a little girl about 7 years old walks up to me and asked me what my name was and just stared at me for like the longest time but it wasn't like a weird stare. It was one of those stares where there was that fault of love for that child because well she is an orphan. All that I can say is that after that I cannot wait for this activity to fall into place because it is going to be awesome.

2. We actually had time this week to where when we did go to proselyte we actually had a lesson and it was super kool because these people might actually progress. They were super attentive and just wanted to keep learning more. Like I know that when you tell people that Jesus actually visited the Americas they get interested but like these people went crazy and wanted to know how and everything. It just shows me that when we are putting everything into the work of the Lord that there are people waiting for you that will just accept the gospel. 

Well this week has been pretty interesting, as you can tell. I keep learning things right and left while being in this position as a secretary to president. Like for example the other night I received a call from a missionary who was talking to me about giving more call time on all of the missionaries phones because his zone has been running out of time a lot recently. This was in the middle of the night when I couldn't do anything so I just told him that it is something normal and that if they are running out now it´s just that they are wasting some time calling people and that they could be a little more efficient. Then he got super offended and started to say things like what is more important, salvation or less call time. And I just ended up having to tell him that there is just an order to everything just like the church and that I will look into that when I am in the office. Now that I am in this position I need to have a lot of patience with people and when people get like that it just frustrates me sometimes. I mean I thought I had a good amount of patience but now...... yeah I need a lot more. 

love you all tons,

Elder Garbett

I finally got a camera!!!

**but it didn't last long so he's without a camera again for a while  :-(

Just one word: LIFE

 November 11, 2017

Just to sum up this week, it was super stressful:

1. Well this week was the first week of transfers so that meant that we had a group come on into the mission and it was a super huge group. I will just say like 15 new missionaries came on in. So that meant I had to get a lot of bags ready and buying food for the new missionaries and the trainings. aka a lot of running around. 

2. So my companion got his new replacement next transfer and is training him right now. So that means that I am in a trio and Elder Dahl (Elder Hidalgo's replacement) is going to be my new companion. Elder Dahl is like super cool and he is from Oregon. He´s got 15 months in the mission and he is super into computers. Like some of his projects right now (besides his training) is to program something that will make his job a lot easier. Super Bacanasaso! 

Well let me explain a little more in depth on the title. So a lot of things have been going down since I came in here. Like no other Operations secretary has done what I have done and I especially don´t like it. Like just to be on the low side I think that I actually fired my first guy and also I told off some missionary´s family because they were being super super super rude with us (which wasn't missionary conduct. Don´t do that on your mission. Trust me). But pretty much this week I was feeling pretty bad about those last two things that happened. But I got the chance to talk to President Amato about it and pretty much he told me that what I did was rational. Now was there something else that I could have done to make it better than it turned out to be? Obviously. But I think that one thing that he told me was pretty much "Welcome to Life." So I feel better about it and it just looks like I need to adapt to some stuff, which I am kinda excited to learn.

with tons of love,

Elder Garbett

official operation secretary in the house

 November 4, 2017

Well I think this week just like established that I am the new Operations secretary,

1. Well we thought this last Sunday that we were going to have a smooth week where we would have tons of meetings but where we would get everything done and ready for the next transfer. Well turns out that president went full sparatic on Monday and decided to change all of the meetings around to different days during the same week. So the week went by super fast and super stressful. Like it was good and everything except for the part that you forget it was Halloween up until the little kids start knocking on the office door saying "trick or treat!" and then you send them off with little pass along cards because you just ran out of chica morada candy in the office. 

2. Like I said we had tons of meetings but I think that the main one that we had was the leadership counsel. Right there I got to show my stuff as an operation secretary. We have recently been having some problems with contacting referrals that we receive as a mission and so I had to get up and give a training about what was going on and then conduct like a seminar kinda thing to get ideas from all of the leaders in the mission on how we can fix the problem. It went so good that my training for 15 minutes turned out to be 45 minutes. 

Well it actually turned out that the office had interviews with president this transfer and mine was pretty interesting. I don´t know how he did it but for some reason when I was telling him about my past companions he found something that I needed to work on and it was humility. He began to tell me about it and he gave me a talk from Ezra Taft Benson that is titled Beware of Pride. It was super interesting to me because I usually always have humility on my mind and try to improve. But this talk just took it to another level. One thing that stood out to me the most was that when we are prideful we "pit our will against god´s.... Our will in competition to God´s will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled." It made me think a lot about that, really if I want to be humble I need to continue doing the will of the lord and to not go against or think against his counsel. 

miss you all tons,

Elder Garbett

**Mom note:
Rowan does not have a camera currently, but we discovered that it truly is a small world because I received a text from my dear friend, Marjorie, letting me know that a senior couple serving from their ward (Bro. and Sis. Henry) ran into Rowan. I guess they are in the same ward in Peru. So they took a picture and sent it to Marjorie, who sent it to me. I am grateful to see his happy smiling face and the Henry's too

well long time no see?

October 28, 2017

Well it´s been awhile since I have gotten on hasn't it? I think that I am going to just write this differently this week.

Well the office here is pretty cool. This last week my trainer, Elder Flores, left the office and so I pretty much took over everything. I mean before I knew how to do things but if something popped up and it wasn't something that was in like in the handbook I just dropped it off to him and was like I don´t know how to do this. Now that he is gone I have to just pick it up and do it myself which I really love doing. I think that is one thing that I am going to learn here in the office because like I'm not always going to have someone to tell me what exactly I need to do so I like how I am like learning a bit more of initiative. 

Well this week (because my trainer left) we went to the airport to send a missionary home who decided to leave a week early and this missionary was my first companion in the mission field. My father! Elder Salazar was my first missionary that I took to the airport and it was super sad. We stood there for like 5 minutes hugging each other and I think everyone thought that we were gay but it probably was the saddest moment I will ever have on my mission. 

All in all the office is doing great! I am doing amazing with my first gringo companion (who is also from Arizona). I am literally running from place to place putting my whole heart into it and I am loving every single second. 

miss you all tons,

Elder Garbett

it is going down for real!

October 14, 2017

This week was absolutely amazing:

1. Well first off I can just say that I think that my time is up being a trainee. This week was the last week of my training as an operations secretary and my trainer was basically like, ok I taught you everything, you can do your thing and I am going to go do my thing. So really it was my time to shine this week and I think I did everything alright. 

2. So we had a very special guest this week come and talk to the entire mission about a ton of stuff. Elder Godoy (President of the South America northwest area) came to speak to all of us. I will get to the details of what he talked about but in relation as operation secretary I was running around like crazy getting everything ready. Lunch, tables, chairs for the picture, etc. the entire thing lasted 2 days and I was out for more than half of each of the meetings. 

3. So Elder Godoy is from Brazil and because he is from Brazil he knows Portuguese and so does my mission president. So during the lunch when we were there with them they were going full out Portuguese. It was kinda interesting because even though I didn't understand the entire thing word for word I understood pretty much the gist of what he was trying to say. 

Well pretty much as you can probably tell the highlight this week was President Godoy. He pretty much like focused on every fault that I have, opened my eyes about my faults, burned them all to ashes and told me what I have to do now. It was pretty interesting because I wasn't in there for a long time but then I got to eat lunch with him, we had a staff meeting with him, and then in the end all of that we had a leadership counsel where we placed goals for the mission. I think that was probably the best out of everything because I think that sometimes we as leaders think that we need to talk with president before we do anything. But Elder Godoy gave us an example from his mission when he was a zone leader. He had called his mission president with problems and pretty much his mission president said "ok elder what are you going to do? The Lord called you and he trusts you, and so do I" and then his mission president hung up. And then after that president Godoy started jumping up and down in joy (super weird by the way) but this meeting with president Godoy was absolutely the best.

 

miss you all,

Elder Garbett

From the Office

 October 7, 2017

Wow! Finally I get the chance to write to you all. Here is what's going on:

1. Well like I said in my last email I am in the office as one of the four secretaries to president. My main job is to get all of the packages that the missionaries receive, to them in their zones. Also to make sure that they get everything that they need to have to proselyte (Books of Mormon, Pamphlets, contact cards, etc.). Obviously I have a ton of more responsibilities but it is too much to tell. 

2. We received a good amount of missionaries come in this last transfer and this week they had a one week training. And in the one week training the operations secretary has to give a training to the newbies. And so because I am the new secretary here my trainer decided to have me do the entire thing myself. It went by pretty well. 

3. One of the great things about being a secretary is that you can go on the computer to study on LDS.org. So I took the chance to watch the Funeral of Elder Robert D. Hales. Really one of the things that I took from this funeral that I would like to share is that some people when they look at the prophets and Apostles they think that they are extraordinary men who really didn't have a life. Really they are normal people who have normal weaknesses like us. Especially Elder Hales. Elder Hales, during his callings had major problems with his body but he continuously focused on doing the Lord's will. Like it was said in the funeral session, Elder Hales used all of his strength to write a talk that he so dearly wanted to share in this last general conference. But during the process, it sucked out all of his strength he had left. It really makes me think about that if we truly love the Lord we would put all of our effort into doing his will. Just like he always said, Elder Hales '' returned with honor.''

Well these past couple of weeks have gone by pretty well. I just think that I am glad that I can just keep working whether I am in the office or out in the Field. I think I prefer the field more because sometimes the office gets a little boring. But I really think that the highlight for these past few weeks have been the general conference. I had the wonderful blessing of listening to it in the language of the restoration again (English!!!!!!!).  Like our mission President told us to do, I went watching the conference with a question in mind. It just continues to prove to me that these men are inspired by God because every single time that I have gone to conference with a question it has been answered. God continues to talk to us through his Prophets. And he knows each and every one of us personally. He never wants to leave us in the darkness and this is why he gave us the prophets so that he can continue to guide us in this life. And I am so grateful for the opportunity to listen to them at least twice a year. 

miss you all tons,

Elder Garbett

just a quick note

 September 25, 2017

Well, today is just going to be a quick note because I don't have very much time.  We received the transfers yesterday and I am in the mission offices. I am going to be the next operation secretary to president. And P-days are only on Saturday. So I just get this quick little time to tell you all that I will be on and emailing you all on Saturdays at the same time.

See you all on Saturday,

Elder Garbett

Last week before transfers

 September 18, 2017

Well this week went by really slow for me. Let´s just say that a lot of contacting in the same places in the area can just become super boring in like 5 minutes. But like every week it has it's ups and it´s downs. Like for example, this week we had interviews with President and Hermana Amato. It was super great to get to know President a little more because the first interview that I had with him was with his wife too.

But really I think that the highlight this week was from yesterday. One of the counselors to president Amato (president Delgado) came to our church hours this Sunday. And just to be lucky too I had a talk to give that day. Pretty much I talked about the family history of the Garbetts and how the ward can help the missionaries find more people. After me President Delgado had the chance to speak a little bit about the mission work also. In my talk I talked about a statistic that one out of every child usually becomes less active but in his talk, President Delgado included the statistic of lost children before this life (one third). That really made me think a lot about how great the work is because many people have already been lost and it is our duty to bring as many others back so that they will not be lost.

miss you all tons,

Elder Garbett

rise and shine!!!!!!!

September 11, 2017

Well this week was awesome:

1. Well, there is like this giant hill in our area right, and so we decided that we should go up there for a day. Well that was an interesting morning because I think I received more rejection there than I have in my entire mission. But we kept going and in the end of the morning just before we headed down to lunch we decided to knock on one more door. We contacted the guy and he invited us inside and we talked to him and his dad. Then after the lesson and everything we asked the guy whom we contacted to give the prayer. It wasn't very much but what he said was interesting. He pretty much said that about 5 minutes before we knocked on his door he was praying asking God to send somebody like us.  (mind blown) 

2. We had our first multi-zone with president Amato. It was pretty kool (when President and Hermana Amato spoke) but I think especially I learned tons when Hermana Amato spoke. She pretty much talked about keep going when the going gets tough. Me Levantaré

3. Now we know that my mission is huge! There are like almost 200 missionaries in this mission. So usually when we take pictures with president as a mission we do it in two pictures, one with 5 different zones and another with the other 5 zones. But this time was different. We were all out on the concrete court (for soccer) and the personal secretary for president got up and started to tell us which zone would be first. As he was calling us up President stopped him from the crowd of missionaries and asked him why he was doing that. The elder told him that it was not possible to do it as a mission and then president´s next response exploded the entire mission into laughter. ´´You don´t have Faith?´´ and so then we got one picture with the entire mission. Now there is faith working there. 

Well the highlight of this week I will say was that we had the opportunity to meet with Elder Oaks this last Saturday. Really it was super great to be in that room with him as he spoke to us about our purpose as missionaries. We all know what the objective is as a missionary to teach everyone about the gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end). But he also told us that there are some missionaries who think that it is to convert people to the church. But it isn't. Our purpose is to convert to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Really that made me think a lot. Am I really converted to the gospel? or just the stuff that is in the church like the activities or the good times with the other members. Really I am so glad to say that I am converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. truly without this gospel I probably wouldn't be doing what I am doing now and I would probably be doing different things.

I love you all tons,

Elder Garbett

 

 

and we just keep running

September 4, 2017

Well this week was pretty amazing:

1. Well first off I went on splits this week and I went back to the same area but with a different companion. But I would say that the main highlight was that we were sitting on a bus and we were only on there for like 2 minutes and someone on the outside threw a water balloon at the bus. Practically everyone on the bus got wet except for me. I can only draw two conclusions from that. 1 its because I am just a super great and spiritual missionary and 2. it was because I was the only one in the back of the bus. 

2. We had a district attack in my area this last Friday. Pretty much a district attack is when all the missionaries from our district go to an area to find more people for the missionaries of that specific area but I´ll just say that we found tons of people from all of the efforts of the missionaries in my district. 

3. Well this last Saturday was Peru vs. Bolivia in futbol (soccer for you gringos) and pretty much the entire world was watching that. We went to visit a new investigator that day during that time and when we passed by we saw the game going on (1-0 Peru if I might add) and we knocked on his door. The first thing he did was close his curtains and then he came out and told us that he was just about to leave the house to go and do something. . So we decided to plan another day to visit him. but that was pretty much the entire night that night. Also we would know who scored because when Peru scored the entire world started to scream ´´GOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLL´´ and they actually had fireworks go off. and well you knew when Bolivia scored because the world would scream ´´WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!!´´ that was an interesting night.

Well as you can tell this week was pretty good. But like always I saved the best for last. So this last fast Sunday (yesterday) we had a stake conference and in the stake conference President Amato spoke and pretty much welcomed all of the investigators who were at the meeting and his wife and daughters shared their testimonies. It was super spiritual and well, amazing to see our president again (like always). But after that an area seventy spoke to all of us. Pretty much he talked about being spiritually self supportive and then he told us how that we are examples to the little ones when they see us put everything else aside to make sure that we go to church, or fulfill our calling, or go to the temple frequently. One word, PODEROSO!

love you all tons,

Elder Garbett