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

ASU MADRE!!!!

August 28, 2017

Well this week was super interesting and a bit strainful:

1. Well we went on splits after the district meeting this last Tuesday and all in all, working wise we did amazing. We found 2 people to listen to us, contacted tons and put a date on somebody. The unfortunate parts is that I was in a different area and also for the entire day I had a bad case of diarrhea. We stopped at my companion´s pension at least 3 times, 1 time in their room, and once in the church (which there wasn't any water so I just left it there. )  And then after all of that we went to eat dinner and immediately after I finished everything I ran to the bathroom and threw it all up. I´ll just say that that was probably my best split that I have ever been on. 

2. So about 2 days after that (pretty much when I was sure that everything was gone from my system), we had to get up at 4:30 in the morning to go to the offices because my companion needed to go to migraciones. So that pretty much meant that I was stuck in the mission offices for like 3 and a half hours studying.  I mean I love to study but when you don´t have your system and everything you usually use to study it gets boring after like 15 minutes. (Oh! I really love what Alma said right there! I´m going to use my orange pen and put a mark right there and....... oh wait. I don´t even have my normal blue pen.)

Well this week had it´s ups and its downs. By what you probably read in number one it was a down down down. Right now here in my new area with my new responsibility (trainer) I have tons of stuff that I need to think about. How am I going to train my companion, how am I going to help so and so to accept a baptismal date, I need to put a talk together for this Sunday and for the next district meeting, and then... whoops looks like my breakfast just got burnt. Really this area is testing my patience. I mean my companion is absolutely amazing because he can pretty much do everything and so I don´t need to think too much about him. Really he is such a blessing for me because when I first heard that I was going to train I thought that he wasn't going to know very much. but I came here and bam! he took over pretty much everything. Really I just keep trying to hang in here and just work and wait for the rest to fall into place. 

love you tons,

Elder Garbett