Date: Thursday, October 29, 2009, 1:02 PM
Chapter 28
So it has come to my attention that the presence of the Great Artemio is sorely missed. Cries of boredom have reached mine ears. I write unto my friends to offer my condolences.
I totally wish I could be back home right now cracking jokes (and playing some D&D). But I have a calling right now. And apparently, my calling is to baptize all of the Utah Salt Lake City Mission. Needless to say, I've failed.
But that's okay. That's all right. I got something that you'll all like.
Not really. I just thought I'd say that. It seems that I'm like a bright ray of sunshine for those who are feeling down. If I'm boasting of myself... oops. Anyways, it's not the first time I've wished that everyone could have a clone of me. That way EVERYONE could be happy (and I can kick back, relax, and let them do all the work out here on my mission). But, as my previous companion used to say, "If there are two of the exact same person, one of them is useless."
He might be right.
So, everyone will just have to wait another 17 months/68 weeks/476 days/11424 hours/685440 minutes (roughly) for me to get back. Or you can just wait until I find some way to buy a tape recorder and then just mail my voice back to everyone (tapes provided at your expense).
On another note, I forgot to mention transfers.
I'm still in the same area. I'm still covering the same three stakes, the same 24 wards. I've been here for four and a half months now, thus meaning that I've broken the record for anyone who's stayed in this area (the record was 3 transfers aka 12 weeks).
My companion is different though. His name is Elder Torres (pronounced Toehes). He's half brazillian/half uraguayian. He's the youngest of four with the oldest kid being a boy. He's been out only one transfer longer than I have.
He's headstrong and does a lot of things different. There are a lot of things that I don't agree with but I'm going to need to find a way to work things out.
Other than that, I have a new car. I've been driving every other day and two days ago I almost crashed into a house. ;)
So I should be getting my licence soon all you lucky people out there.
As far as everything else goes, I'll be sending out a photo album to my mom in a couple of weeks (minus the pictures that NOBODY but those who truly understands my peculiar mind would want to see... heh heh he). So if you want to see them, I'm sure she'll put them on the internet, or you can just talk to her personally. Most (if not all) of you know where I live.
If you have any questions, let me know. I'm sorry if my sense of humor offends anyone.
Later
"You know you're a missionary when you watch conference and you wonder where all the General Authorities get their ties."
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
14 Oct 09 - 22 Oct 09
Date: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 12:57 PM
Chapter 27
"It was a mild week in the land of Salt Lake. With a heavy coat of only one color on my back, the perspiration caused me great anguish as I tried to find an uplifting attitude as I served the people... " - Scholar Artemis
So, I've been teaching a lot more... I think. Most of the lessons are for eight to nine year old kids. That and Less Actives.
Abbey Dalton is nine and shy. I've only been able to teach her the first two principles of the first lesson. Near the end of it, she started to open up a bit.
Issac Postlethwait (Postlewait. The th is silent.) is nine too. His family is Less Active so we're teaching the lessons to get everyone caught up on the basics of the Gospel. He'll be baptized soon within the next couple weeks. They want one of his Active older brothers to do it so they're waiting for him to get some time off.
Tori Procter is eight and her family is semiactive. I think the bishop and the ward mission leader want us to teach her the lessons to get her caught up before she get's baptized.
Jackson Marcum is nine and has ADD. His Dad smokes and is not willing to give that up and because of that, he doesn't go to church. Jackson looks up to his dad so this is a great stumbling [block] for Jackson. If dad doesn't go to church, why should he? His mom is reactivating and that's a big help. I hear kids only have a 30% chance of staying in the church if they're baptized into a less active family.
Symantha Hagen is... nine, I think and has some health problems as well. She's super funny though. I love teaching her because she has so much support from her relatives. Her dad is less active and I don't know about her mom. Her grandma though is beginning to be a hinderance. Last lesson she basically took over and went off on something or other thinking she was helping. It was nice of her to do what she was doing, but she was stoping the work from progressing. We're going to have to find a way to deal with this.
Carlos Hensen is eight and both of his parents are less active. He wants to get baptized on Halloween though. So that's what we're trying to do.
As far as everyone else goes, we're not teaching adults... that I can recall. They're too set in their ways so they reject us fast. The bishops and ward mission leaders for some of our wards are begining to be a pain as well. They're basically telling us to not do any work in their area at all because we might ruin the "friendships" that the members in the ward are making with those who aren't members. So their area's are dead. And if by chance we track into these people (which we don't do much of anyways) the reputation of missionaries goes down and even less work happens, if that's even possible.
My suggestion, throw a wrench into everyone's plans. Screw everything up and then let the Lord take over. Missionaries aren't here to wait for everyone to get ready. We're here to teach those who are. It's something that I have a hard time doing. I should be more bold. But as you all know, I'm an easy going guy. I don't like contention, but contention happens to the best of us. Sometimes I feel like in order to tell people how it is, we have to be contentious.
Once again, I was wrong. If we tell people the truth of the gospel, plain and simple and with love, then it's not contentious. Jesus Christ was never contentious and He was the best teacher ever.
I challenge everyone to find someone that the missionaries can teach. I love it when the members out here give me referrals. I'm positive that the missionaries out there would love it as well. Every member a missionary.
Talk to everyone later.
Hope this is more detailed Mom.
Elder Garcia
Chapter 27
"It was a mild week in the land of Salt Lake. With a heavy coat of only one color on my back, the perspiration caused me great anguish as I tried to find an uplifting attitude as I served the people... " - Scholar Artemis
So, I've been teaching a lot more... I think. Most of the lessons are for eight to nine year old kids. That and Less Actives.
Abbey Dalton is nine and shy. I've only been able to teach her the first two principles of the first lesson. Near the end of it, she started to open up a bit.
Issac Postlethwait (Postlewait. The th is silent.) is nine too. His family is Less Active so we're teaching the lessons to get everyone caught up on the basics of the Gospel. He'll be baptized soon within the next couple weeks. They want one of his Active older brothers to do it so they're waiting for him to get some time off.
Tori Procter is eight and her family is semiactive. I think the bishop and the ward mission leader want us to teach her the lessons to get her caught up before she get's baptized.
Jackson Marcum is nine and has ADD. His Dad smokes and is not willing to give that up and because of that, he doesn't go to church. Jackson looks up to his dad so this is a great stumbling [block] for Jackson. If dad doesn't go to church, why should he? His mom is reactivating and that's a big help. I hear kids only have a 30% chance of staying in the church if they're baptized into a less active family.
Symantha Hagen is... nine, I think and has some health problems as well. She's super funny though. I love teaching her because she has so much support from her relatives. Her dad is less active and I don't know about her mom. Her grandma though is beginning to be a hinderance. Last lesson she basically took over and went off on something or other thinking she was helping. It was nice of her to do what she was doing, but she was stoping the work from progressing. We're going to have to find a way to deal with this.
Carlos Hensen is eight and both of his parents are less active. He wants to get baptized on Halloween though. So that's what we're trying to do.
As far as everyone else goes, we're not teaching adults... that I can recall. They're too set in their ways so they reject us fast. The bishops and ward mission leaders for some of our wards are begining to be a pain as well. They're basically telling us to not do any work in their area at all because we might ruin the "friendships" that the members in the ward are making with those who aren't members. So their area's are dead. And if by chance we track into these people (which we don't do much of anyways) the reputation of missionaries goes down and even less work happens, if that's even possible.
My suggestion, throw a wrench into everyone's plans. Screw everything up and then let the Lord take over. Missionaries aren't here to wait for everyone to get ready. We're here to teach those who are. It's something that I have a hard time doing. I should be more bold. But as you all know, I'm an easy going guy. I don't like contention, but contention happens to the best of us. Sometimes I feel like in order to tell people how it is, we have to be contentious.
Once again, I was wrong. If we tell people the truth of the gospel, plain and simple and with love, then it's not contentious. Jesus Christ was never contentious and He was the best teacher ever.
I challenge everyone to find someone that the missionaries can teach. I love it when the members out here give me referrals. I'm positive that the missionaries out there would love it as well. Every member a missionary.
Talk to everyone later.
Hope this is more detailed Mom.
Elder Garcia
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
7 Oct 2009 - 14 Oct 2009
Chapter 26
So I decided to write as if I were writing in a journal or if I were writing a story in a book.
So far, this has got to be a boring book.
But that'll change. Lately, I've been wanting to shoot myself in the face. The days have been going on forever and I get irritated a lot. Mostly it's been coming from my companion and the rest of it from everyone else. But the worst part is me because I'm letting them get to me.
The area that I'm in has had a growth in the beginning of the transfer but slowly it's been dying down. After a missionary fireside that we put on not too long ago, the Zone Lords inspired me to have a Zone Find. The Spirit really influenced us in this decision. It happened yesterday. There were 20 missionaries in my area. 3 Stakes. 24 Wards. There were barely enough missionaries for one per ward, but that was okay. Some of our Ward Mission Leaders fell through on getting us a list of names for the missionary to stop by and some of the Bishops just didn't care about missionary work.
We asked a bunch of members to come out and go on splits with the missionaries so that they could have missionary experiences. It was from 6:30 - 9 yesterday. We saw tons of success. At the missionary fireside, one of our mission presidency, President Atkinson, invited all the missionaries to sit up on the stand. As soon as we did, it was really noticable of the abundance of spirit that filled the room. That was attributed to the consentration of missionaries in a single area. And so it was with my area, because of the consentration of missionaries, the Lord opened up a window of opportunity and poured His Spirit out towards the Missionaries, the members, and those who the missionaries visited.
By the glory of the Lord are all things within our capabilities possible.
And now, transfers are next Wednesday... I hope I stay.
So I decided to write as if I were writing in a journal or if I were writing a story in a book.
So far, this has got to be a boring book.
But that'll change. Lately, I've been wanting to shoot myself in the face. The days have been going on forever and I get irritated a lot. Mostly it's been coming from my companion and the rest of it from everyone else. But the worst part is me because I'm letting them get to me.
The area that I'm in has had a growth in the beginning of the transfer but slowly it's been dying down. After a missionary fireside that we put on not too long ago, the Zone Lords inspired me to have a Zone Find. The Spirit really influenced us in this decision. It happened yesterday. There were 20 missionaries in my area. 3 Stakes. 24 Wards. There were barely enough missionaries for one per ward, but that was okay. Some of our Ward Mission Leaders fell through on getting us a list of names for the missionary to stop by and some of the Bishops just didn't care about missionary work.
We asked a bunch of members to come out and go on splits with the missionaries so that they could have missionary experiences. It was from 6:30 - 9 yesterday. We saw tons of success. At the missionary fireside, one of our mission presidency, President Atkinson, invited all the missionaries to sit up on the stand. As soon as we did, it was really noticable of the abundance of spirit that filled the room. That was attributed to the consentration of missionaries in a single area. And so it was with my area, because of the consentration of missionaries, the Lord opened up a window of opportunity and poured His Spirit out towards the Missionaries, the members, and those who the missionaries visited.
By the glory of the Lord are all things within our capabilities possible.
And now, transfers are next Wednesday... I hope I stay.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
01 Oct 2009 - 07 Oct 2009
Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 1:01 PM
So conference was awesome. I got to go to all the sessions (although I slept through Sat Morning, part of Sat Afternoon, part of Sun Morning, and part of Sun Afternoon).
Things have been really hard here. And cold. Really cold. I am ill prepared for the winter. I may come back an ice cube and for once I'll be really cool!
I'm doing a lot of less active work in my area and I couldn't be happier. For a while, I fell away from the church, but something inside me knew that the things I'd been taught were true. Last night, I was an instrument in the Lord's hands as I taught this single mother and her two children. The Spirit was strong. They even started crying (which, only the spirit and possibly a girl can get a sixteen year old boy to cry).
I'm sorry that my letters are so short. I don't have much time to write and these family history computers are super slow.
Take care everyone. Doubt not, fear not. And when you eat pie, think of me.
Elder Garcia
So conference was awesome. I got to go to all the sessions (although I slept through Sat Morning, part of Sat Afternoon, part of Sun Morning, and part of Sun Afternoon).
Things have been really hard here. And cold. Really cold. I am ill prepared for the winter. I may come back an ice cube and for once I'll be really cool!
I'm doing a lot of less active work in my area and I couldn't be happier. For a while, I fell away from the church, but something inside me knew that the things I'd been taught were true. Last night, I was an instrument in the Lord's hands as I taught this single mother and her two children. The Spirit was strong. They even started crying (which, only the spirit and possibly a girl can get a sixteen year old boy to cry).
I'm sorry that my letters are so short. I don't have much time to write and these family history computers are super slow.
Take care everyone. Doubt not, fear not. And when you eat pie, think of me.
Elder Garcia
Thursday, October 1, 2009
23 Sep 2009 - 1 Oct 2009
Sorry about this everyone but the computer that I'm on is stupid and it frustrates me so much that I can't think straight.
I'll give more info next week.
Elder G
I'll give more info next week.
Elder G
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
