1:04 PM
Well, as promised, attached is a picture of my glory and sexiness.
Not much has gone on this week except for me getting over a cold. I just had a baptism this past Saturday. His name is Dan G. He's had a lot of trials in his life but he knew that the church is true. He was born into a polygamist family but renounced the wicked traditions of his fathers. He's struggled with brittle bones and other diseases and it's taken him four months to be baptized. He's been goin to church for four months straight without being baptized. What does he know that it takes most of us years to figure out?
I don't remember if I told you about this girl named Riley P who is going through a similar situation. Her mother hates the church (having been a member before) and absolutely refuses to let her daughter be baptized. Riley in the meantime refuses to give into her mother and continues to honor her heavenly parents by going to church and young women activities and whatnot.
Last but not least, there's a fifteen year old named Ben C whose parents told him that he had to live as a member for a year before he could get baptized. Ben's time is nearly up and since his parents gave him that challenge he's been carrying it out thoroughly except till recently. Now that he's so close to his year mark, his parents are starting to sabatoge(sp?) him by buying motorcycles and only riding on Sunday.
So what do all these stories have in common? These three people know that the church is true and will do whatever they can to become a member of God's kingdom. So why do we struggle with just the basics having already become members ourselves? I sometimes wonder how different I'd be if I had the fire of a convert.
I know that I have a pretty sweet life compared to most. Born and raised in the church. Eagle scout. Seminary graduate. Soon to be RM... I can't let the fire die. And I certainly can't give up on anyone who's on the verge of giving up. This life is so short and the rewards are eternal. Remember, never give up! Never surrender!
Elder Garcia
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
15 Sep 10 - 22 Sep 10
Thursday, September 23, 2010 11:59 AM
So yesterday was mah birfday. Things were pretty good. Some sister missionaries out here bothered to remember and wished me a happy birthday. The office staff sang to me twice because they didn't last year. I went to Iceberg and got a free shake cause it was my birthday. I stayed in for most of the day because I was sick. All in all it was good.
Yesterday at transfers I asked the Mission President's wife if she could fix me a birthday breakfast this morning and instead of responding, she just took off. Then I called her last night to tell her that I was sick and she just told me to drink plenty of liquids, chicken noodle soup, Tylenol, and rest. Then she called ten minutes later and asked how she was doing on being the worst mission mom ever. I told her that she was failing at that but she cried out that she was succeeding. She talked to me twice already and not once wished me a happy birthday. Then she played happy birthday on a music box and hung up.
Other than that, things are pretty dull around here. I'll keep everyone posted though.
Later
Elder Me
So yesterday was mah birfday. Things were pretty good. Some sister missionaries out here bothered to remember and wished me a happy birthday. The office staff sang to me twice because they didn't last year. I went to Iceberg and got a free shake cause it was my birthday. I stayed in for most of the day because I was sick. All in all it was good.
Yesterday at transfers I asked the Mission President's wife if she could fix me a birthday breakfast this morning and instead of responding, she just took off. Then I called her last night to tell her that I was sick and she just told me to drink plenty of liquids, chicken noodle soup, Tylenol, and rest. Then she called ten minutes later and asked how she was doing on being the worst mission mom ever. I told her that she was failing at that but she cried out that she was succeeding. She talked to me twice already and not once wished me a happy birthday. Then she played happy birthday on a music box and hung up.
Other than that, things are pretty dull around here. I'll keep everyone posted though.
Later
Elder Me
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
08 Sep 10 - 15 Sep 10
12:12 PM
One more week until I'll be singing 24 by Switchfoot. Then I'll only have about 6 more months left til I can come home. I can already see all the parties that I'm going to be throwing. Just like old times. But until then, I'm stuck on a mission in the wonderful land of Salt Lake City. Sigh...
Things are really slow for me here. If it weren't for Elder Mitchell, I'd go crazy. I cover two stakes/sixteen wards. One stake refuses to do any missionary work at all and then blames us because there is no work. The other stake is pretty good. We can still use a lot more work though since we can't tract out here. Everyone is either Active, Less Active, or Anti.
So I was talking with a Ward Mission Leader yesterday about the work in his ward. He's got two missionaries split up between sixteen wards so there's very little work going on right now. But, if every member fellowshipped just one person whether they be less active or nonmember, the work would increase a hundred times over. So much so that we would actually have no time to work in the other wards (unless it's in our dead time which consists of all morning and all afternoon).
What does fellowshipping consist of? Well, all it really involves is being a friend and encouraging their friend that the gospel will help their life. People are scared to do missionary work because in their minds there are only two things: 1. Be all gung ho and call everyone out to repentance and commit them to be baptized, or 2. Don't do anything at all and just leave it for someone else to do. People are lazy so they'll generally go with the second choice. Then there are the crazy ones who choose number one and drive people away from the church. All we need to do is tell people that God loves them and he asks them to follow Him.
When a missionary invites someone to go to church, we don't do it on the premonition [premise]that we're going to totally ignore them. We'll sit with them and explain what's going on and walk them through things. One reason people don't come to church is because everyone ignores them and they feel unwanted. Would you like to feel like that? When a missionary invites someone to pray, they'll pray first to show them how it's done and then help them to say their own prayer. One reason people don't pray is because they hear all these elaborate prayers to God and feel inadequate to talk to God with their basic understanding. With anything, we need help. God does not help those who help themselves.
Back home, I helped out as much as I could because for some odd reason or another, others needed my help. How many lives did I touch with my acts of kindness and my selflessness? No say. Course I had my problems, but that was always put on the back burner when it came to others. Shouldn't we do the same with those who fell away or those who don't need the Gospel? Don't they need help even more so than us? If it's a true principle that when we put God first, everything else falls into place, then shouldn't we let God take care of our problems and instead focus on helping people without God in their lives?
I know this church is true. I hope I've shown that by my words and deeds. Trust and Faith. Place those two things in God and we'll never be led astray or fall from the path that we've been placed on. Remember, the first and great commandmant is Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments."
Later ya'll
Elder Garcia
One more week until I'll be singing 24 by Switchfoot. Then I'll only have about 6 more months left til I can come home. I can already see all the parties that I'm going to be throwing. Just like old times. But until then, I'm stuck on a mission in the wonderful land of Salt Lake City. Sigh...
Things are really slow for me here. If it weren't for Elder Mitchell, I'd go crazy. I cover two stakes/sixteen wards. One stake refuses to do any missionary work at all and then blames us because there is no work. The other stake is pretty good. We can still use a lot more work though since we can't tract out here. Everyone is either Active, Less Active, or Anti.
So I was talking with a Ward Mission Leader yesterday about the work in his ward. He's got two missionaries split up between sixteen wards so there's very little work going on right now. But, if every member fellowshipped just one person whether they be less active or nonmember, the work would increase a hundred times over. So much so that we would actually have no time to work in the other wards (unless it's in our dead time which consists of all morning and all afternoon).
What does fellowshipping consist of? Well, all it really involves is being a friend and encouraging their friend that the gospel will help their life. People are scared to do missionary work because in their minds there are only two things: 1. Be all gung ho and call everyone out to repentance and commit them to be baptized, or 2. Don't do anything at all and just leave it for someone else to do. People are lazy so they'll generally go with the second choice. Then there are the crazy ones who choose number one and drive people away from the church. All we need to do is tell people that God loves them and he asks them to follow Him.
When a missionary invites someone to go to church, we don't do it on the premonition [premise]that we're going to totally ignore them. We'll sit with them and explain what's going on and walk them through things. One reason people don't come to church is because everyone ignores them and they feel unwanted. Would you like to feel like that? When a missionary invites someone to pray, they'll pray first to show them how it's done and then help them to say their own prayer. One reason people don't pray is because they hear all these elaborate prayers to God and feel inadequate to talk to God with their basic understanding. With anything, we need help. God does not help those who help themselves.
Back home, I helped out as much as I could because for some odd reason or another, others needed my help. How many lives did I touch with my acts of kindness and my selflessness? No say. Course I had my problems, but that was always put on the back burner when it came to others. Shouldn't we do the same with those who fell away or those who don't need the Gospel? Don't they need help even more so than us? If it's a true principle that when we put God first, everything else falls into place, then shouldn't we let God take care of our problems and instead focus on helping people without God in their lives?
I know this church is true. I hope I've shown that by my words and deeds. Trust and Faith. Place those two things in God and we'll never be led astray or fall from the path that we've been placed on. Remember, the first and great commandmant is Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments."
Later ya'll
Elder Garcia
Saturday, September 11, 2010
1 Sep 10 - 8 Sep 10
1:24 PM
Okay everyone, as you may well know, General Conference is just right around the corner. It'll be my third one and once again I'll still be on the west side of the reflecting pool most likely hanging out with some of my missionary friends and being loud and obnoxious as possible. So if you want to come and say hi and maybe take me out to lunch or stick 20$ in my hand to compensate forgetting about my birthday (Sept 22) I wouldn't mind. If anyone would tell me when their birthday was I would gladly send you the best present in the entire world: a picture of me!
I remember for Felicia's birthday I gave her pictures of me and she absolutely loved it. And then for my birthday she gave me pictures of myself and I absolutely loved it! Everyone loves pictures of me! Even me!
So if you can't tell by my words on this screen, I'm still happy with Elder Mitchell. I had interviews with my mission president yesterday and he asked if I want to stay another transfer with him. I said yes and President Winn said okay on two conditions: 1. I get rid of all my "worldly" things and 2. We get rid of the negativity in our companionship. Well, it looks like I'll be saying goodbye to Munchkin... and D&D... and Magic: The Gathering... and King's Blood... and Quiddler... and everything else that takes the stress away from missionary work. But that's okay. I still have my sence of humor and my nearly endless supply of movie quotes and songs. But as for the negativity, I have no clue what P Winn is talking about. We're not negative to each other at all! Only to members who are less than easy to work with and with missionaries who like kissing butt. Can't please everyone though. Guess they'll just have to get used to our shenanigens. Who wants a pic of me and my comp with parted hair, suspenders, our pants hiked up past our navels and really short ties?
Nobody understands us.
As far as the work goes, we nearly dropped all of our investigators who weren't progressing. So our time is mainly spent towards finding people. Which is going slow and we're basically wasting the day, BUT... I got nothing to that.
Talk to ya'll later (hopefully)
Elder Garcia
25 Aug 10 - 01 Sep 10
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 1:09 PM
Hello everyone.
Nothing new to report here. I'm just having to deal with the idiocy of members in one of my stakes. I've never met anyone who hated missionaries as much as these people do. So, my companion and I are either going to do one of two things. First is to drop a couple wards altogether and do no missionary work there whatsoever, or to make a lot of people mad by continuing to do what we've been called to do. Either way, we're in a lose-lose situation and our moral has gone down a tiny bit. Of course in our lose-lose situation, we also win. If we don't work in those areas that don't want work to be done in, we no longer take damage to our moral or to our integrity. Also, if we choose to tick everyone off by continuing to do what we've been called to do, we provide a bit of entertainment on our behalf.
Other than that, life is still good. I have some help with keeping my sanity and Elder Mitchell is still fun to be around. Now I find myself not wanting to go on District/Zone leader exchanges because my leaders are Tools.
So far with the P90X I've lost one pound (huzzah!) and this time, I'll keep it off. I hurt and I'm hungry (because all I'm eating is yogurt and oats for breakfast and lunch). But, my skin feels tight on my body which means that I'm getting stronger. So now my Strength score has gone from a whopping 11 to 12 giving me a +1 to all my skills involving strength. It's too bad my Dexterity is still at 8. Although, I'll settle for an 8 Dexterity with a 15 Charisma any day. If you factor in my new work out, I think my Charisma might have even gone up to 16! HUZZAH!
Okay, so I'm still the same geek I ever was. I find myself thinking at the most random situations WWCBD. What Would Chuck Bartowski Do?
Later everyone
Elder Garcia
Okay everyone, as you may well know, General Conference is just right around the corner. It'll be my third one and once again I'll still be on the west side of the reflecting pool most likely hanging out with some of my missionary friends and being loud and obnoxious as possible. So if you want to come and say hi and maybe take me out to lunch or stick 20$ in my hand to compensate forgetting about my birthday (Sept 22) I wouldn't mind. If anyone would tell me when their birthday was I would gladly send you the best present in the entire world: a picture of me!
I remember for Felicia's birthday I gave her pictures of me and she absolutely loved it. And then for my birthday she gave me pictures of myself and I absolutely loved it! Everyone loves pictures of me! Even me!
So if you can't tell by my words on this screen, I'm still happy with Elder Mitchell. I had interviews with my mission president yesterday and he asked if I want to stay another transfer with him. I said yes and President Winn said okay on two conditions: 1. I get rid of all my "worldly" things and 2. We get rid of the negativity in our companionship. Well, it looks like I'll be saying goodbye to Munchkin... and D&D... and Magic: The Gathering... and King's Blood... and Quiddler... and everything else that takes the stress away from missionary work. But that's okay. I still have my sence of humor and my nearly endless supply of movie quotes and songs. But as for the negativity, I have no clue what P Winn is talking about. We're not negative to each other at all! Only to members who are less than easy to work with and with missionaries who like kissing butt. Can't please everyone though. Guess they'll just have to get used to our shenanigens. Who wants a pic of me and my comp with parted hair, suspenders, our pants hiked up past our navels and really short ties?
Nobody understands us.
As far as the work goes, we nearly dropped all of our investigators who weren't progressing. So our time is mainly spent towards finding people. Which is going slow and we're basically wasting the day, BUT... I got nothing to that.
Talk to ya'll later (hopefully)
Elder Garcia
25 Aug 10 - 01 Sep 10
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 1:09 PM
Hello everyone.
Nothing new to report here. I'm just having to deal with the idiocy of members in one of my stakes. I've never met anyone who hated missionaries as much as these people do. So, my companion and I are either going to do one of two things. First is to drop a couple wards altogether and do no missionary work there whatsoever, or to make a lot of people mad by continuing to do what we've been called to do. Either way, we're in a lose-lose situation and our moral has gone down a tiny bit. Of course in our lose-lose situation, we also win. If we don't work in those areas that don't want work to be done in, we no longer take damage to our moral or to our integrity. Also, if we choose to tick everyone off by continuing to do what we've been called to do, we provide a bit of entertainment on our behalf.
Other than that, life is still good. I have some help with keeping my sanity and Elder Mitchell is still fun to be around. Now I find myself not wanting to go on District/Zone leader exchanges because my leaders are Tools.
So far with the P90X I've lost one pound (huzzah!) and this time, I'll keep it off. I hurt and I'm hungry (because all I'm eating is yogurt and oats for breakfast and lunch). But, my skin feels tight on my body which means that I'm getting stronger. So now my Strength score has gone from a whopping 11 to 12 giving me a +1 to all my skills involving strength. It's too bad my Dexterity is still at 8. Although, I'll settle for an 8 Dexterity with a 15 Charisma any day. If you factor in my new work out, I think my Charisma might have even gone up to 16! HUZZAH!
Okay, so I'm still the same geek I ever was. I find myself thinking at the most random situations WWCBD. What Would Chuck Bartowski Do?
Later everyone
Elder Garcia
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