Christmas Time is here!!!!

December 19, 2016

This week was pretty good. Here are some of my highlights:

1. I actually got sick this week with a fever but I was still able to climb a hill and give a pretty good lesson in Spanish.

2. The teacher this week for second hour in church wasn't there so Elder Salazar and I had to teach for an hour on the Law of Chastity. That was great. -_-

3. Bishop had me get up during sacrament meeting and introduce myself and give a little spiritual thought. I introduced myself but I forgot about the thought. 

4. When Elder Salazar asked a family who they wanted to pray, one of the little kids said "el Gringo" immediately.

5. We told one of the returned missionaries in our ward about the last story and now whenever we have him come with us he always calls me Gringo. 

So as you can all tell this week a lot of people started to point out my gring-osity. I´m not too worried about it though because we got three lessons in this week because someone came up to us and started to ask me about where I'm from and then I would tell them I'm from Arizona and they would ask me why did I come to Peru if I lived in the States before. You can all guess how the conversation went from there.

We had a lot of stake activities this week too since la Navidad is coming up. In each Activity our zone has prepared a song that we would sing in English. Every single time we got up and sang everyone was quiet and was recording us. Probably most of them couldn't understand us but that spirit was always there and everyone could feel it.

It doesn't matter what language you speak because everyone can speak one language that is the same and that´s the spirit. The spirit always will testify to someone no matter what they hear. 

I love hearing from everyone of you and I hope that tienen un Feliz Navidad!!!!!

Elder Garbett

Random pics 

Past Two Weeks

December 12, 2016

Well a lot has happened in these last few weeks. But let me begin with the CCM. Last Monday was my last full day there. But unfortunately the Hermanas in our district left that day at 6 in the evening because they were heading to Bolivia. To be honest I never really felt like a missionary in the CCM because it felt more like EFY (even though I never went to one). But when that bus left it hit me really hard that this is actually happening.

That next morning was really tough for me. I couldn't eat much. I was so emotionally torn since everyone in our room had left earlier around 4ish. And Elder Draney decided that he wanted to go for a walk before we left. I can´t believe that I even made it out of the walls because I just couldn't get the image of me and my companion sitting next to a little cassita getting ready to go and teach an investigator, and it was just killing me.

Well I was eventually able to get out of those walls and somewhat pull myself together. We met President Boswell and our new companions, had a little bit of training and went to our areas. 

My new companion´s name is Elder Salazar. He is 13 months into his mission and is the district leader of our district. He is a Latino and is from Pura, Peru and so far we have done amazing things together. He can understand English pretty well and we are able to communicate with each other with Spanglish, which is helping my Spanish a lot.

My Spanish has gotten so much better but I am still slow at speaking it. I can understand about 80% of what people are saying but usually that other 20% is the most important part of what they´re saying.

One miracle we had happened last night. We decided we would go contacting for an hour before we would go and eat dinner. But we had no idea where to go because where ever you looked there was no one in the streets and usually the streets are pretty busy. So I asked my companion if we could pray. He seemed a bit taken back but said sure. So I prayed (this time in English) and told God that we were lost and we needed help to find his chosen. Almost immediately after our prayer a man came around the corner and I had the strongest feeling to just tell him buenas noches. After I said that, Elder Salazar took over and we ended up going to his house and teaching his family a lesson. 

That experience was so amazing and it helps me realize that my cold showers don´t mean anything and that my broken Spanish doesn't mean anything because I know that if I can always stay worthy and seek for the spirit that God will help us. I miss you all and love to hear from you.

Best Wishes

Elder Garbett

Rowan's CCM District

 

Rowan singing in the choir

President and Sister Moore with the CCM District

Email from President Boswell

**Note: Rowan left the MTC this week. Although we did not receive an email from him, we received one from his Mission President with some pictures from their visit as he was heading out to his first assignment (we will find out from Rowan next week where that is).

December 8, 2016

Dear Garbett Family,

Just a quick note to thank you for sharing Elder Garbett with us and the people of Lima.  Sister Boswell and I are so excited to have him here with us.

We wanted to share this picture with you from our first day.

Elder Garbett is out working hard. You should have received a brief email from him Tuesday. He'll have lots of news next Monday, which is our preparation day. Once every three months we change preparation day to Tuesday so the missionaries can attend the temple. On that day, missionaries write home on Tuesday.

Thanks again for the support and prayers you are offering on his behalf. They make a difference.

We send our best wishes to you all,

President and Sister Boswell

 

Rowan with President and Sister Boswell

Peru Lima East Mission District Dec. 2016

Second to last week in the CCM

November 30, 2016

Wow. I know I say it every time but this week was definitely the best week I've ever had. You can all judge for yourself if it was:

1. Thanksgiving was this week and in our district meeting we had, after the Live video with Neil L. Anderson, we all went around and said what we were grateful for. Super spiritual and totally strengthened my relationship with my district. I feel like I've known all of them for my entire life. 

2. We had a Christmas devotional yesterday and Elder Montoya of the Seventy spoke to us in complete Spanish. I decided to trust in my Spanish and not take a translating device thingie. I got the jist of things but what I learned the most was that as long as I can bring the spirit into the lesson it doesn't matter how bad my Spanish is. Which is kinda relieving. 

3. My mission president (President Boswell) was at the devotional so I got to talk with him afterwards for a while. Apparently next Tuesday everyone that´s going to Lima East Mission is going to the church building right next to the CCM, have some training and some lunch with President Boswell, get assigned to our new companions and go out to our areas that afternoon!  

This last Sunday was super spiritual. I didn't speak this week (which I neglected to mention in my last email. I spoke that Sunday and it was all in complete Spanish. Super proud of myself) but President Moore showed us the video ´´The Testaments.´´ It´s pretty much about the Nephites in 3rd Nephi and Christ coming and ministering to them. It made me realize that no matter what we do that Christ is always there to help us. And he wants to help us. He´ll do anything to help us whether it´s through the Book of Mormon or prayer or even attending sacrament meeting. He died on the cross for us and he is there and will always be there for us. He´s done his part and is waiting for us to do our part so that he can do the rest. 

I love you all and I love hearing from you.

Elder Garbett

CCM Buds

Thanksgiving at the CCM

En Vogue

Selfie