Hey everyone!
Real quick for those who are reading this who I didn't have the opportunity to skype with on Christmas... I've been transferred from Pilar, Bohol to The Celestial Kingdom, Cebu (otherwise known as Polambato). It is absolutely fantastic up here. The members are amazing as are the investigators. The Branch is small but has ton of potential. We have senior missionaries in our district who feed us American food on special occasions and even got us some Christmas gifts! It's only been a week but Polambato is amazing, and by far my favorite area so far.
Now for the family, it was awesome to see and speak with you! It sounded like you all had an awesome Christmas. Mom told me about all the shopping down there, and that sounded great for you guys too. Even here in the Philippines, when I grocery shop, I get slammed with an unnatural tiredness. Shopping absolutely kills me. I don't know why. I'm more wiped out after 30 minutes of shopping that after 2 hours of basketball. One funny thing that happened a little bit ago, we were grocery shopping in the mall and we heard the weirdest noise coming from the radio. Filipinos love their mix music. They'll mix to songs together to make a remix and I still have yet to hear one that actually sounds ok. This particular noise we heard from the radio was one of their mixes. It was Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer mix with Leaving on a Jet Plane. So weird. I don't even see how they fit, but whatever.
I'm still package-less, but it's alright. I'm going to be the happiest missionary when I get them mid February.
Thanks for all your love and support!
Elder Garver
P.S. Just in case Chris forgot, make sure the Parkers now how thankful I am for my scriptures!
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
12-20-11
Hey sorry Mom! P-day got switched to Tuesday this week because of conflicts with travel for the returning missionaries and whatnot. So It's a bummer that I'm not going to get to read your letter this week, but I get to see you soon (skype) so don't worry. So to answer a few of Dad's questions, I really wish I was fluent and firing on all cylinders... I'm sorry Dad, but you had it super easy. Just going to throw some stats out here for you. There is a rating system for languages, which official name I forgot, but Spanish is a 2/5 on the difficulty scale, and English and Cebuano are both 4/5. Talking with missionaries here, I've learned that you never become actually "fluent" on the mission here, you just learn as best as you can, and that the average missionary starts clicking a bit more with the language around 6 months in the field. Now, all that said, I am not just blundering around here in the Philippines. I am able to have conversations and teach lessons pretty well, or at least well enough. There is still a lot I don't understand, and my speech can be slow at times, or a lot of times, but it is coming along. The other thing too is that, because it is an unwritten language, every island has it's own dialect and way of saying things. I've heard that I was born (my first area) in the hardest island so hopefully my next area will become easier for me because of my challenging first area.
Speaking of areas... Transfer day is tomorrow, and I am transferring! I'm out of my first area! I'm not a greenie anymore! My new area is Polambato, Cebu. So I'm going to the big island for a while. I am sad to be leaving Pilar, but very excited for the potential success in my new area. I've heard that the branch there consists of about 15 or 20 members that are active, but over 800 that are inactive. Lots of lost sheep that are just waiting to be brought back. I'm so excited to just work my butt off every day. I love work! I will definitely not miss all the down time in Pilar with all our travel. My new area is pretty bukid as well, but that means that it will be clean and beautiful, hopefully. Speaking of that, Papa, I think about you all the time when I see the sunsets here. They are beautiful, and I haven't forgotten what you told me. I am not taking them for granted.
I still haven't gotten any packages, but now I'm going to Cebu, I might get them a bit faster. We'll see. Thank you for the gift money, Nuna and Papa! I have no idea what awaits me in Cebu, but maybe I'll buy some new belts or some knives or something. There is so many amazingly crazy awesome stuff out here. I'll let you know when I find something to get.
So it was a good week, and I'm pumped for Polambato.
I love you!
Elder Garver
Speaking of areas... Transfer day is tomorrow, and I am transferring! I'm out of my first area! I'm not a greenie anymore! My new area is Polambato, Cebu. So I'm going to the big island for a while. I am sad to be leaving Pilar, but very excited for the potential success in my new area. I've heard that the branch there consists of about 15 or 20 members that are active, but over 800 that are inactive. Lots of lost sheep that are just waiting to be brought back. I'm so excited to just work my butt off every day. I love work! I will definitely not miss all the down time in Pilar with all our travel. My new area is pretty bukid as well, but that means that it will be clean and beautiful, hopefully. Speaking of that, Papa, I think about you all the time when I see the sunsets here. They are beautiful, and I haven't forgotten what you told me. I am not taking them for granted.
I still haven't gotten any packages, but now I'm going to Cebu, I might get them a bit faster. We'll see. Thank you for the gift money, Nuna and Papa! I have no idea what awaits me in Cebu, but maybe I'll buy some new belts or some knives or something. There is so many amazingly crazy awesome stuff out here. I'll let you know when I find something to get.
So it was a good week, and I'm pumped for Polambato.
I love you!
Elder Garver
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
12-14-11
Hey Americans!
It's good to hear from you! I love email. It is such a great blessing to be able to instantly communicate across the world. I am also very excited for skyping the family on Christmas. Transfer day is actually on the 23rd here so I may be getting transferred and things might change a bit. I will try super hard to let you know if it does, but I think everything will work out well. President really wants us to talk to our families so if things change I will probably be able to send a quick email to let you know of changes. At any rate, maybe it is best that you log on a bit early to wait just in case.
So things are going pretty well here. No real huge news or updates but it's all pretty good. This week was actually really tough for work. And laundry. It is now officially rainy season here and I saw the sun maybe 1 or 2 times total last week. It poured almost every day, which makes work near-impossible here since Filipinos have a very firm belief that if they get wet in the rain during the day they will get extremely sick with fevers. So all the people hide, and all the Filipino companions refuse to leave shelter until it dies down. It's interesting to see the stark differences in beliefs just about medical health and the world. My last companion truly believed that mermaids were real, and I had a couple members laugh at me a while ago because I didn't know that dinosaurs (T-Rex, Triceratops, etc) still lived in Alaska. "Elder that's your own country and you didn't even know that? How silly of you!" They aren't joking either. I don't know what is taught in the schools here in the mountainous wilderness of Bohol, but, yeah. We still worked hard and got a lot of good lessons in this week.
Bikes are still being purchased and we should get them this month.
Before I make an end of speaking, I would that ye should know somewhat more concerning my appreciation for mail. I want to specifically thank Emily and Shaelyn for their letters, as well as Nuna and Papa (with Brandon as scribe) and Grandma Hansen. I love reading your updates and I especially like to see how those I care about are progressing spiritually as well. It probably has to do with my calling as a representative of Jesus Christ, but when I read my friends testimonies and stories of their spiritual experiences, I am filled with joy and thanksgiving. I am sorry I can't write back to you all specifically right now, but know that every letter is received with a huge smile and and am grateful for them all.
I love you all!
Elder Garver
It's good to hear from you! I love email. It is such a great blessing to be able to instantly communicate across the world. I am also very excited for skyping the family on Christmas. Transfer day is actually on the 23rd here so I may be getting transferred and things might change a bit. I will try super hard to let you know if it does, but I think everything will work out well. President really wants us to talk to our families so if things change I will probably be able to send a quick email to let you know of changes. At any rate, maybe it is best that you log on a bit early to wait just in case.
So things are going pretty well here. No real huge news or updates but it's all pretty good. This week was actually really tough for work. And laundry. It is now officially rainy season here and I saw the sun maybe 1 or 2 times total last week. It poured almost every day, which makes work near-impossible here since Filipinos have a very firm belief that if they get wet in the rain during the day they will get extremely sick with fevers. So all the people hide, and all the Filipino companions refuse to leave shelter until it dies down. It's interesting to see the stark differences in beliefs just about medical health and the world. My last companion truly believed that mermaids were real, and I had a couple members laugh at me a while ago because I didn't know that dinosaurs (T-Rex, Triceratops, etc) still lived in Alaska. "Elder that's your own country and you didn't even know that? How silly of you!" They aren't joking either. I don't know what is taught in the schools here in the mountainous wilderness of Bohol, but, yeah. We still worked hard and got a lot of good lessons in this week.
Bikes are still being purchased and we should get them this month.
Before I make an end of speaking, I would that ye should know somewhat more concerning my appreciation for mail. I want to specifically thank Emily and Shaelyn for their letters, as well as Nuna and Papa (with Brandon as scribe) and Grandma Hansen. I love reading your updates and I especially like to see how those I care about are progressing spiritually as well. It probably has to do with my calling as a representative of Jesus Christ, but when I read my friends testimonies and stories of their spiritual experiences, I am filled with joy and thanksgiving. I am sorry I can't write back to you all specifically right now, but know that every letter is received with a huge smile and and am grateful for them all.
I love you all!
Elder Garver
12-7-11
Hello!
It's me. That stinks about the mold problem. I hope it doesn't cost too much to remove. Is drywall really that expensive? I'm super happy to hear that you guys are all moved into the house now! Maybe not unpacked, but at least living in the new home. Can you send me the new address and phone number when you get it so I can relay it to my Mission President? Speaking of houses, if it turns out it's just super expensive to remove that mold, you can always just move out here. A really nice house out here, the same size as our house in VA would cost you about P700,000 to get custom built here (less than $17,000) and the bill for AC each month would only be around P2,000 (less than $50), so yeah, it's always a possibility.
This week has been super interesting, and I felt like I worked super hard with a lot of success, so it was definitely good! This new focus of ours is helping already. We spent the week finding and getting to know these inactive members all over our area, which meant lots of walking, but there was always a happy face at the end of our hikes to greet us. The members here are all so willing to welcome us in and talk about their lives, and what is holding them back from coming to church. I found it really uplifting this week to hear the testimonies of these inactive members. When we began to talk about the church, every single one of them told us they still knew it was true, and spoke of how much they missed the peace and happiness that flows from it. We had many people tell us right away that they would come back, some who had a few problems they needed help with to work out, and only 2 who said they couldn't come back due to problems in their lives right now. So in just one week's time, we made a lot of really amazing progress. To illustrate, we have consistently been seeing about 20-30 people come to church each week for sacrament meeting. After this week's work, nearly 50 people were at church! This number will hopefully just continue to grow as we start giving out callings and working more with ward members. We will also be able to reach even more people, currently inaccessible, once we get our bikes. Hopefully this next week or two. So the work here is super exciting right now.
In other news, Christmas is now in full full full swing, and I still have the Christmas Spirit, even though celebrations started in Sept. and I hear, don't end until Feb. One thing I'm missing actually is Christmas music. We hear it on radios in houses, but all we listen to in the apartment are hymns and EFY music. I think I'm going to buy a Christmas CD today if I can find one.
Well that's it for me this week! I love you!
Elder Garver
It's me. That stinks about the mold problem. I hope it doesn't cost too much to remove. Is drywall really that expensive? I'm super happy to hear that you guys are all moved into the house now! Maybe not unpacked, but at least living in the new home. Can you send me the new address and phone number when you get it so I can relay it to my Mission President? Speaking of houses, if it turns out it's just super expensive to remove that mold, you can always just move out here. A really nice house out here, the same size as our house in VA would cost you about P700,000 to get custom built here (less than $17,000) and the bill for AC each month would only be around P2,000 (less than $50), so yeah, it's always a possibility.
This week has been super interesting, and I felt like I worked super hard with a lot of success, so it was definitely good! This new focus of ours is helping already. We spent the week finding and getting to know these inactive members all over our area, which meant lots of walking, but there was always a happy face at the end of our hikes to greet us. The members here are all so willing to welcome us in and talk about their lives, and what is holding them back from coming to church. I found it really uplifting this week to hear the testimonies of these inactive members. When we began to talk about the church, every single one of them told us they still knew it was true, and spoke of how much they missed the peace and happiness that flows from it. We had many people tell us right away that they would come back, some who had a few problems they needed help with to work out, and only 2 who said they couldn't come back due to problems in their lives right now. So in just one week's time, we made a lot of really amazing progress. To illustrate, we have consistently been seeing about 20-30 people come to church each week for sacrament meeting. After this week's work, nearly 50 people were at church! This number will hopefully just continue to grow as we start giving out callings and working more with ward members. We will also be able to reach even more people, currently inaccessible, once we get our bikes. Hopefully this next week or two. So the work here is super exciting right now.
In other news, Christmas is now in full full full swing, and I still have the Christmas Spirit, even though celebrations started in Sept. and I hear, don't end until Feb. One thing I'm missing actually is Christmas music. We hear it on radios in houses, but all we listen to in the apartment are hymns and EFY music. I think I'm going to buy a Christmas CD today if I can find one.
Well that's it for me this week! I love you!
Elder Garver
Monday, December 5, 2011
11-30-11
Hi Everyone!
I did get to have my Thanksgiving feast here. It was way good. We ended up having mashed potatoes and bratwurst! It was soooo good to have a meal with no rice! Your Thanksgiving sound different but really good too. I would kill for a steak right now! How did you guys like the liver? I can't stand it. There is a Sudan here (what you put on rice) that is chicken liver and hearts. Every time I have to eat it I fight severe gag reflexes. That has been the only thing here so far that I have eaten that I literally cannot keep down. Everything else is pretty good. I guess intestine isn't that great either, it just depends on how they flavor the poop inside.
So now the Big news! We had zone conference on Monday, and WOW. We sat down and first thing we heard was "Hey Elders and Sisters, the zone conference is going to be a little longer than usual today. We are going to end at 4:00pm" That's 8 hours long! We soon found out why though. President just got back from a Mission President seminar with the Area 70s, and the Quorum of the 12 have made some huge changes to the Philippines missions. First, President gave us some stats.
-There are 645,000 members of the Church in the Philippines
-Only 114,000 are active (attend at least 1 sacrament meeting every month)
-There were 77,000 convert baptisms performed from 2004-2010
-Only 14,000 are currently active of the 77,000
-Out of all members in the Philippines, only 22,000 are Melchizedek Priesthood holders (abt. 3%), of which about half are inactive.
So these are some pretty disappointing stats. He then shared with us Jacob 5:47-48 about the allegory of the olive tree who's branches grow too fast and heavy for the roots to sustain. This made a lot of sense to us, and then he told us what we are going to do to fix it. First, starting last Monday, NO MORE TRACTING. None. We are now almost entirely focusing on building up and strengthening the Church that has already been established here. We are now focusing on reactivation and retention, and our main goal is not baptism, but temple sealing. Our baptisms will now come from part member families, or loved ones of less or non-active members that we meet while fellowshipping and rescuing. We are now working very closely with the Branch Presidents and Bishops to organize accurate membership records, organize them geographically, and then go rescue and help all these lost sheep return to the Church and get to the Temples to be sealed as eternal families.
President shared a couple quotes with us from the General Authorities at the conference.
President Neilson- "If all we do next year is properly teach and strengthen recent converts and inactive members of the church and get them to the temple without a single new convert baptism, the Prophet will be happy.
President Ardern- "As we reach out to reclaim inactive members we will bring back thousands, and we will bring in thousands.
So this is a crazy new approach to missionary work as I know it, but the Spirit was so strong at our Zone Conference, and I know this is inspired, and it is what the Philippines needs to establish a strong foundation that can support the rapidly growing church here. So that is all very exciting for us here, and we are anxious to see the blessings start flowing into the lives of the people here through the Church
So that's the big news from the Philippines this week! Keep up all the hard work back home! I love you!
Elder Garver
p.s. I included a picture of us at our Thanksgiving feast, and me fighting a goat for territory in Pilar. Love you!
I did get to have my Thanksgiving feast here. It was way good. We ended up having mashed potatoes and bratwurst! It was soooo good to have a meal with no rice! Your Thanksgiving sound different but really good too. I would kill for a steak right now! How did you guys like the liver? I can't stand it. There is a Sudan here (what you put on rice) that is chicken liver and hearts. Every time I have to eat it I fight severe gag reflexes. That has been the only thing here so far that I have eaten that I literally cannot keep down. Everything else is pretty good. I guess intestine isn't that great either, it just depends on how they flavor the poop inside.
So now the Big news! We had zone conference on Monday, and WOW. We sat down and first thing we heard was "Hey Elders and Sisters, the zone conference is going to be a little longer than usual today. We are going to end at 4:00pm" That's 8 hours long! We soon found out why though. President just got back from a Mission President seminar with the Area 70s, and the Quorum of the 12 have made some huge changes to the Philippines missions. First, President gave us some stats.
-There are 645,000 members of the Church in the Philippines
-Only 114,000 are active (attend at least 1 sacrament meeting every month)
-There were 77,000 convert baptisms performed from 2004-2010
-Only 14,000 are currently active of the 77,000
-Out of all members in the Philippines, only 22,000 are Melchizedek Priesthood holders (abt. 3%), of which about half are inactive.
So these are some pretty disappointing stats. He then shared with us Jacob 5:47-48 about the allegory of the olive tree who's branches grow too fast and heavy for the roots to sustain. This made a lot of sense to us, and then he told us what we are going to do to fix it. First, starting last Monday, NO MORE TRACTING. None. We are now almost entirely focusing on building up and strengthening the Church that has already been established here. We are now focusing on reactivation and retention, and our main goal is not baptism, but temple sealing. Our baptisms will now come from part member families, or loved ones of less or non-active members that we meet while fellowshipping and rescuing. We are now working very closely with the Branch Presidents and Bishops to organize accurate membership records, organize them geographically, and then go rescue and help all these lost sheep return to the Church and get to the Temples to be sealed as eternal families.
President shared a couple quotes with us from the General Authorities at the conference.
President Neilson- "If all we do next year is properly teach and strengthen recent converts and inactive members of the church and get them to the temple without a single new convert baptism, the Prophet will be happy.
President Ardern- "As we reach out to reclaim inactive members we will bring back thousands, and we will bring in thousands.
So this is a crazy new approach to missionary work as I know it, but the Spirit was so strong at our Zone Conference, and I know this is inspired, and it is what the Philippines needs to establish a strong foundation that can support the rapidly growing church here. So that is all very exciting for us here, and we are anxious to see the blessings start flowing into the lives of the people here through the Church
So that's the big news from the Philippines this week! Keep up all the hard work back home! I love you!
Elder Garver
p.s. I included a picture of us at our Thanksgiving feast, and me fighting a goat for territory in Pilar. Love you!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
11-22-11
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
I'm really starting to realize how terrible I am at writing and answering questions in my emails, so before I forget, Thank you so so so much for the scriptures! They are amazing and I am so happy to have a smaller set now. I also have gotten to go though and study the unmarked pages which has been awesome. I have received so much new revelation through it and it's been great.
I had an Idea for anyone who wants to find Pilar on Google Maps. LDS.og has a google earth section when you click on find a church close to me. Just type in Pilar Bohol, and hopefully our church building will pop up.
I also want to give a special thanks to Grandma Hansen. Thank you for all the dearelders! It's still such an awesome feeling to get mail, and I love reading your letters to me. I love you Grandma!
This week was fantastic up until Thursday. I got sick again and so I had to stay within sprinting distance of the bathroom for a couple days. That was not fun. I hate being sick on the mission. I'm almost all better now though so the work can progress! We are still working on Sister Florez's papers for marriage but that should be finished pretty soon. We also committed an 18 year old kid named Jaison to baptism this week. So as long as he keeps coming to church he should be baptized in Dec. We got an awesome new investigator this week that moved here from Davau. We have taught her just the first lesson so far but she has so much faith in God. She will feel the truth of the Restoration as she prays. We're meeting with her again tomorrow.
So the work is pretty good right now, and it's just getting better all the time. So guess what? BIKES! They finally cleared with the area presidency, and we are getting more info at Zone Conference on the 28th.
The Americans in my zone are throwing a little Thanksgiving party today. We are buying stuff for mashed potatoes and, if we can find it, turkey... We may just have to settle for sliced sandwich meat or hotdogs. I'm super pumped for the potatoes though. Hooray for no rice!
I love you all!
Elder Garver
I'm really starting to realize how terrible I am at writing and answering questions in my emails, so before I forget, Thank you so so so much for the scriptures! They are amazing and I am so happy to have a smaller set now. I also have gotten to go though and study the unmarked pages which has been awesome. I have received so much new revelation through it and it's been great.
I had an Idea for anyone who wants to find Pilar on Google Maps. LDS.og has a google earth section when you click on find a church close to me. Just type in Pilar Bohol, and hopefully our church building will pop up.
I also want to give a special thanks to Grandma Hansen. Thank you for all the dearelders! It's still such an awesome feeling to get mail, and I love reading your letters to me. I love you Grandma!
This week was fantastic up until Thursday. I got sick again and so I had to stay within sprinting distance of the bathroom for a couple days. That was not fun. I hate being sick on the mission. I'm almost all better now though so the work can progress! We are still working on Sister Florez's papers for marriage but that should be finished pretty soon. We also committed an 18 year old kid named Jaison to baptism this week. So as long as he keeps coming to church he should be baptized in Dec. We got an awesome new investigator this week that moved here from Davau. We have taught her just the first lesson so far but she has so much faith in God. She will feel the truth of the Restoration as she prays. We're meeting with her again tomorrow.
So the work is pretty good right now, and it's just getting better all the time. So guess what? BIKES! They finally cleared with the area presidency, and we are getting more info at Zone Conference on the 28th.
The Americans in my zone are throwing a little Thanksgiving party today. We are buying stuff for mashed potatoes and, if we can find it, turkey... We may just have to settle for sliced sandwich meat or hotdogs. I'm super pumped for the potatoes though. Hooray for no rice!
I love you all!
Elder Garver
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
11-16-11
So, my new companion is named Elder Culango, from Davau. He is a step down zone leader and has 5 months left on his mission. Also, he is a boss. I'm leading Pilar now since he is brand new to the area, and things are going great. I think I was sorta trained to think that Pilar was this "outer darkness" area (that's what the missionaries call it here) and it was so hard to change anything with my old companion. This new responsibility,and privilege to lead the area has completely opened my eyes. Pilar is great! I got to write out the new schedule for us this week, and in 2 days with Elder Culango, we did the same amount of work as I did with my trainer in a whole week. I'm feeling super good about this companionship, and I know the area is about to explode with success. I love love love working hard.
We are still working on Sister Flores' marriage stuff. She is super uneducated so we have to do everything for her pretty much, and so the process is pretty slow. I was a little nervous when I started to take over the area because I didn't know how I would do with all the legal stuff in a new language, but I have been blessed and I'm understanding and negotiating things alright. I've really felt the Lord pouring out His blessing on me, and the area this week.
You asked how big our boundaries are. If you look on a map, Pilar area starts in Alicia, Bohol, and goes all the way to Loboc, Bohol. People here are die hard catholics, so that can be good or bad, depending on how gahi their mga ulo are. (hard heads) They all have a belief in Christ though, so it's a good base.
My budget is about $70 every two weeks. P1044 for transportation P250 for utilities and the rest for food and emergency savings and personal hygiene items. I have bought some new lighter weight pants which were custom made for me for about $6, and I've bought a couple ties for 25 cents a piece. Tie collecting is big here among the elders so I'm wanting to jump in too. They have awesome little ukay ukays here, which are little markets that buy bulk clothing shipments with random unwanted american and asian clothes, and they sell them for super cheap, so sometimes you can find amazing stuff hidden in the piles of clothes. It's fun.
I'm happy to hear you are all doing well in NJ, and I'm excited to SEE you this Christmas! We can skype here, so make sure you have a camera and mic and a skype account all set up by the 25th!
I love you!
Elder Garver
We are still working on Sister Flores' marriage stuff. She is super uneducated so we have to do everything for her pretty much, and so the process is pretty slow. I was a little nervous when I started to take over the area because I didn't know how I would do with all the legal stuff in a new language, but I have been blessed and I'm understanding and negotiating things alright. I've really felt the Lord pouring out His blessing on me, and the area this week.
You asked how big our boundaries are. If you look on a map, Pilar area starts in Alicia, Bohol, and goes all the way to Loboc, Bohol. People here are die hard catholics, so that can be good or bad, depending on how gahi their mga ulo are. (hard heads) They all have a belief in Christ though, so it's a good base.
My budget is about $70 every two weeks. P1044 for transportation P250 for utilities and the rest for food and emergency savings and personal hygiene items. I have bought some new lighter weight pants which were custom made for me for about $6, and I've bought a couple ties for 25 cents a piece. Tie collecting is big here among the elders so I'm wanting to jump in too. They have awesome little ukay ukays here, which are little markets that buy bulk clothing shipments with random unwanted american and asian clothes, and they sell them for super cheap, so sometimes you can find amazing stuff hidden in the piles of clothes. It's fun.
I'm happy to hear you are all doing well in NJ, and I'm excited to SEE you this Christmas! We can skype here, so make sure you have a camera and mic and a skype account all set up by the 25th!
I love you!
Elder Garver
Saturday, November 12, 2011
11-9-11
Hey Family!
It's good to hear you are all getting into things in NJ! Rachel and Sydney thank you for the emails! I love getting emails from you guys!
So news from Pilar! First, I'm still here. There are no such things as addresses where I am, but I can be a tiny bit more specific than before. I am in Kasabas, Pilar. My house is right next to the LDS church, which is across the street from Bagumbayan Elementary School. Maybe you can find it now on Google Earth. The city we travel to in order to buy groceries and email is called Tagbilaran City. It's in South Bohol. This week is transfer week and I'm almost into my third transfer! I'm losing my trainer (Elder Santia) and being follow-up trained for 1 more transfer period before I'll be getting transferred to my second area (most likely). It is exciting to see change happening in the mission, but sad to see so many friends leaving as well.
I am excited to be getting a new companion though, because it will allow us to break from our routine and hopefully discover some new investigators. We have been traveling a lot to Sierra Bullones to work, which is a 20 min bus ride away, and therefore, many people have a hard time committing to come to church because they don't have enough money for the bus fare. We have 2 really good investigators there so we will keep visiting them, but hopefully now we can start proselyting a little closer to the church. Sister Florez still is planning on marriage and baptism, so we are still working towards that goal. There is a lot of paper work to be done, and we are doing it all for her because she isn't very well educated. Hopefully we will see success there soon.
Sydney, yes I still eat pretty much only rice. My diet is rice and a can of pork and beans in the morning, rice and hotdogs for lunch, and sometimes spaghetti, sometimes rice and more beans or hotdogs for dinner. Occasionally I make pancakes, but they are kinda expensive so that is a treat. I hear that the food is a lot better everywhere else, so hopefully after I transfer I'll be able to gain some weight again. Amazingly enough though, I'm still alive here in Pilar. I still think it's a miracle. Thank goodness for vitamin supplements, and thank goodness for the many blessings of the Lord.
I love you all! Good luck with the House this week!
Love,
Elder Garver
It's good to hear you are all getting into things in NJ! Rachel and Sydney thank you for the emails! I love getting emails from you guys!
So news from Pilar! First, I'm still here. There are no such things as addresses where I am, but I can be a tiny bit more specific than before. I am in Kasabas, Pilar. My house is right next to the LDS church, which is across the street from Bagumbayan Elementary School. Maybe you can find it now on Google Earth. The city we travel to in order to buy groceries and email is called Tagbilaran City. It's in South Bohol. This week is transfer week and I'm almost into my third transfer! I'm losing my trainer (Elder Santia) and being follow-up trained for 1 more transfer period before I'll be getting transferred to my second area (most likely). It is exciting to see change happening in the mission, but sad to see so many friends leaving as well.
I am excited to be getting a new companion though, because it will allow us to break from our routine and hopefully discover some new investigators. We have been traveling a lot to Sierra Bullones to work, which is a 20 min bus ride away, and therefore, many people have a hard time committing to come to church because they don't have enough money for the bus fare. We have 2 really good investigators there so we will keep visiting them, but hopefully now we can start proselyting a little closer to the church. Sister Florez still is planning on marriage and baptism, so we are still working towards that goal. There is a lot of paper work to be done, and we are doing it all for her because she isn't very well educated. Hopefully we will see success there soon.
Sydney, yes I still eat pretty much only rice. My diet is rice and a can of pork and beans in the morning, rice and hotdogs for lunch, and sometimes spaghetti, sometimes rice and more beans or hotdogs for dinner. Occasionally I make pancakes, but they are kinda expensive so that is a treat. I hear that the food is a lot better everywhere else, so hopefully after I transfer I'll be able to gain some weight again. Amazingly enough though, I'm still alive here in Pilar. I still think it's a miracle. Thank goodness for vitamin supplements, and thank goodness for the many blessings of the Lord.
I love you all! Good luck with the House this week!
Love,
Elder Garver
Sunday, November 6, 2011
November 2, 2011 Pictures
Friday, November 4, 2011
November 2, 2011
Good Morning Everyone!
So Halloween is pretty different here. First, there are no noticeable changes in the seasons so it doesn't even feel like time really changes here. As for the traditions, people don't go door to door, at least in the bukid. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE goes to the cemeteries, and they sit on the graves and eat food for like three days. It's pretty awesome. The cemeteries consist of hundreds of coffins all stacked on top of each other like building blocks, so kids and parents alike climb atop them to feast. It's pretty neat. Dad you would love it here. Despite Halloween, Christmas has been is full swing for about a month here. There are lights, Christmas music all over the radio in the buses and malls, and there are coundowns in all the news channels as well. A little early don't you think? It's a pretty big deal here.
As a members of the branch presidency, we are starting a big push to reactivate the less active priesthood holders in our area. It would sure be nice to have more than 2. So that is our main focus for the time being. Of course we still have our investigators as well. We are facing challenges with commitments in our area. For some reason everyone, no matter how golden, seems to have an excuse for not committing to church. They'll read and pray and know it's true, but they don't want to take the next step. We're working on it. We do have one baptism coming up on the 19th though so that is a great success. Sister Florez has been an investigator for about 3 years but has never been able to be baptized because she and her husband are not actually married. That is a very common thing here since divorce is nigh impossible. They have a family with 3 kids now though and they both are finally getting married! We are all very excited for them.
It's so great to here that my family can finally be together again! I'm very happy for you, and slightly jealous of your free food. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Garver
So Halloween is pretty different here. First, there are no noticeable changes in the seasons so it doesn't even feel like time really changes here. As for the traditions, people don't go door to door, at least in the bukid. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE goes to the cemeteries, and they sit on the graves and eat food for like three days. It's pretty awesome. The cemeteries consist of hundreds of coffins all stacked on top of each other like building blocks, so kids and parents alike climb atop them to feast. It's pretty neat. Dad you would love it here. Despite Halloween, Christmas has been is full swing for about a month here. There are lights, Christmas music all over the radio in the buses and malls, and there are coundowns in all the news channels as well. A little early don't you think? It's a pretty big deal here.
As a members of the branch presidency, we are starting a big push to reactivate the less active priesthood holders in our area. It would sure be nice to have more than 2. So that is our main focus for the time being. Of course we still have our investigators as well. We are facing challenges with commitments in our area. For some reason everyone, no matter how golden, seems to have an excuse for not committing to church. They'll read and pray and know it's true, but they don't want to take the next step. We're working on it. We do have one baptism coming up on the 19th though so that is a great success. Sister Florez has been an investigator for about 3 years but has never been able to be baptized because she and her husband are not actually married. That is a very common thing here since divorce is nigh impossible. They have a family with 3 kids now though and they both are finally getting married! We are all very excited for them.
It's so great to here that my family can finally be together again! I'm very happy for you, and slightly jealous of your free food. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Garver
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
October 26, 2011
Mom! I got the package last week! Thank you very much! So that is a good way to send things, just know it will take about a month or two to get to me. Now I can use my electric shaver again!
So this past few weeks have been crazy for us in Pilar. We have proselyted I think 2 days in 2 weeks. (Sorry for any grammar mistakes or typos this week, junky keyboard) So it's a 1 day trip to the Bohol port in Tagbilaran, then 1 day trip to Cebu and back, and another 1 day trip back to Pilar. We had that meeting with Elder Holland, and we have another training meeting in Cebu tomorrow, so I'm in Tagbi now. And then every Monday is a 1 day trip to district meeting and back so all those are shot too. All the travel is pretty exhausting, but it's good too. Elder Holland's talk was really uplifting, and the speaker before him (nalimtan nako and iyang pangalan!) was really good as well. Elder Holland spoke about our duty and callings and our responsibilities as missionaries, and Elder Kwan, from the 70, spoke about the Apostasy. It was enlightening. It was also really good to see old friends from the MTC in my batch and my junior batch as well. I also met a lot of Elders from all over the mission I had never met. This brings up a pretty cool story. Well, an encouraging experience for me. I had Elders coming up to me from all over that I had never even seen before and saying "Elder Garver! How is Pilar? I hear that you are Bistak already! (fluent)" Everybody told me that news was spreading fast about my diligence and it's rewards. It was pretty humbling, because I still think I have a very long way to go, but it was encouraging as well. It's a good feeling to know people think highly of me, and it encourages me to continue to strive to live up to their expectations. On that note, I finished the Book of Mormon in Cebuano this week! It's a great feeling to be finished, and I really feel like the language is starting to click now. I'm really loving it here now more and more as the language barrier gets smaller and smaller.
So I have another full week of traveling ahead of me because of this training, so I kinda sorta am doing what Dad is. I'll be happy to finish this transfer, then I won't be a trainee anymore, so no more dugay training meetings.
I'm excited to hear how the move goes and what the new area is like and all that fun stuff! It is sorta weird still to me but it's kinda exciting too I guess.
I love you all!
Elder Garver
So this past few weeks have been crazy for us in Pilar. We have proselyted I think 2 days in 2 weeks. (Sorry for any grammar mistakes or typos this week, junky keyboard) So it's a 1 day trip to the Bohol port in Tagbilaran, then 1 day trip to Cebu and back, and another 1 day trip back to Pilar. We had that meeting with Elder Holland, and we have another training meeting in Cebu tomorrow, so I'm in Tagbi now. And then every Monday is a 1 day trip to district meeting and back so all those are shot too. All the travel is pretty exhausting, but it's good too. Elder Holland's talk was really uplifting, and the speaker before him (nalimtan nako and iyang pangalan!) was really good as well. Elder Holland spoke about our duty and callings and our responsibilities as missionaries, and Elder Kwan, from the 70, spoke about the Apostasy. It was enlightening. It was also really good to see old friends from the MTC in my batch and my junior batch as well. I also met a lot of Elders from all over the mission I had never met. This brings up a pretty cool story. Well, an encouraging experience for me. I had Elders coming up to me from all over that I had never even seen before and saying "Elder Garver! How is Pilar? I hear that you are Bistak already! (fluent)" Everybody told me that news was spreading fast about my diligence and it's rewards. It was pretty humbling, because I still think I have a very long way to go, but it was encouraging as well. It's a good feeling to know people think highly of me, and it encourages me to continue to strive to live up to their expectations. On that note, I finished the Book of Mormon in Cebuano this week! It's a great feeling to be finished, and I really feel like the language is starting to click now. I'm really loving it here now more and more as the language barrier gets smaller and smaller.
So I have another full week of traveling ahead of me because of this training, so I kinda sorta am doing what Dad is. I'll be happy to finish this transfer, then I won't be a trainee anymore, so no more dugay training meetings.
I'm excited to hear how the move goes and what the new area is like and all that fun stuff! It is sorta weird still to me but it's kinda exciting too I guess.
I love you all!
Elder Garver
Friday, October 21, 2011
October 20, 2011
Hey everyone!
Sorry I forget to tell you about me emailing a day later this week. I hope nobody freaked out or anything. I'm in Cebu City today to hear Elder Holland give us a mission address! I'm pretty excited to get to hear from an inspired Apostle of the Lord speak directly to me. So my day is pretty packed today so I don't have a ton of time. It's awesome getting to see the entire mission though.
Mom, thank you so much for getting my License renewed for me! I think I can print that out. Before sending anything to me again let me make sure I get that first package you sent. And to answer your questions, I cook every night, usually hotdogs and rice or eggs or something. Always delicious. And I don't have a shower like you all have. I have a bucket and a ladle, but it's just normal for me now.
I don't have too much to update about the work this week since it has consisted majorly of travel. My budget this week is completely shot because of travel expenses but that's why the counsel us to have back up money I guess. I can be reimbursed for some travel though so that's good.
I love you all! Tell Sarah congrats for me on the marriage.
Love,
Elder Garver
Monday, October 17, 2011
10-11-11
(In response to a letter from everyone in the family):
So Alicia! School sounds interesting. I can relate with the drawn out good bye thing. I like a nice clean break. So how was your Birthday? Medieval Times sounds so much fun! Who did you go with? I miss you tons too, and although I am loving the work out here, I am looking forward to hanging out with you again too before WE go to college. Weird... Love you! And I love your letters too. Why would I ever not want to hear from you? Walay Klaro...
Also, I love getting mail from Sam, but I just don't have time to answer all the time. Tell her thank you and that I send my love.
Rachel! It's been so long since I've heard from you I forgot how much of a nut you are! That is soo cool about you making choir! I seem to be cursed with companions who have terrible voices. It's good to be reminded that some people actually have talent. Singing is pretty big here even though nobody can carry a tune. We sing to begin and end just about every lesson, so that is interesting. Many times I go at it solo while my companion tries to figure out what he is doing. I actually feel sorta decent though, in comparison to the people here, so that is a change ;) I remember when we went to KD together with Dad. That was so much fun! Good times.
Sydney! Hola! Kamusta man ka? What's up with the spanish? It's cool though! You made me laugh about the groaning and telling you to get out of my room thing. That is definitely one thing that has changed a lot for me here on my mission. I absolutely LOVE the scriptures. I also don't have a problem getting out of bed anymore. Probably because I go to bed at the same time every night and I have a very important work to do that starts at 6:00am every single day. Speaking of the scriptures though, I have found that as I study every day, and pray before and after, sometimes during, the Lord quite literally directs me in my studies and I find so much support and many many answers to my questions. I know moving is tough. It makes me think of Nephi though. Think of his situation! He was asked to move just like you, except that he didn't have very supporting siblings did he? He also had to travel by foot through the wilerness! Maybe he had a camel, I'm not sure, but he definitely didn't have a nice car to speed around on a paved road to his beautiful new home. Nephi faced all his trials with faith though. He knew that The Lord had a plan for him, and The Lord ALWAYS provides us with a way to follow His will. If you want, start studying the very beginning of the Book of Mormon again, and watch how Nephi's story plays out. Then compare it to your situation, and see how you feel. I love the Spirit I feel as I study and pray, and I definitely know that the Lord knows us personally and supports us in times of need (adjusting to the Philippines was crazy hard for me). Try that out and tell me what you learn! Also, how is your ankle??? Are you ok? You didn't sound too worried. Almost proud... But I hope you are up and moving soon. I'll pray for you! I love you!
Parents :)
The work seems to be picking up here! It is very exciting. Our mission motto is "Success Through Obedience," and I never was a disobedient missionary, but this past couple weeks I really hyper-analyzed myself and I found a couple things that I may not be following 100% so I changed things I knew were off a bit, and asked my Mission President about the others. I can confidently say that I believe I am a 100% obedient missionary now, and I am seeing the blessing come already. We found some really good investigators while tracting these past couple weeks. One is Sister Ranas, who is an older widow, but she seems very interested in the church, and we found out this week that her late husband may have been a member! We are looking into that. Another is a young 14 year old boy named Jandi. He is good friends with many young women in our Branch and already believes that the church is true. We are teaching him the lessons now and helping him strengthen his testimony before baptism. We also have many other potential investigators that I hope to have more good news about later.
The work here is good, but very very different than what normal missionaries do I think. Our main proselyting days are Tue. Thurs. and every other Sat. Mondays we travel 5 hours to District Meeting and then do a FHE with the Branch here at night. Wed. is P-Day so we work for only the evening. Friday is planning day, and we also teach seminary and institute, so that day is shot. Every other Sat. we travel for a whole day into the city to pick up our support money and buy groceries, and Sunday we have church and other various meetings so we only can teach in the evening again. Also, everyone here goes to bed with the sun, so evenings are cut short quite often due to lack of electricity. Despite our many challenges here in Pilar, we are seeing success every day, and the area seems to be progressing. I learned that before I came, Pilar hadn't had a baptism in at least 7 months. We already have 2 baptisms, 2 investigators with Baptismal dates, and a couple more progressing investigators. I really hope this keeps up. The work is what keeps me going here, since it's definitely not the food.
I eat food here not to enjoy it, but just to survive. It's sad :( <--just like that. I feel a lot better health-wise this week though. Hopefully when I get transferred to the city there will be fewer bugs, more people, and better food. As for changes here, not much. My comp is with me until this upcoming transfer, and then I get a follow-up trainer for 6 weeks. That's the pattern anyway. Not really any new changes to the district either.
Well, I love you all! I hope you can figure out my license for me. I should also hopefully be able to pick up my package on the 20th when we go to Cebu to see Elder Holland. Fingers crossed!
Love,
Elder Garver
So Alicia! School sounds interesting. I can relate with the drawn out good bye thing. I like a nice clean break. So how was your Birthday? Medieval Times sounds so much fun! Who did you go with? I miss you tons too, and although I am loving the work out here, I am looking forward to hanging out with you again too before WE go to college. Weird... Love you! And I love your letters too. Why would I ever not want to hear from you? Walay Klaro...
Also, I love getting mail from Sam, but I just don't have time to answer all the time. Tell her thank you and that I send my love.
Rachel! It's been so long since I've heard from you I forgot how much of a nut you are! That is soo cool about you making choir! I seem to be cursed with companions who have terrible voices. It's good to be reminded that some people actually have talent. Singing is pretty big here even though nobody can carry a tune. We sing to begin and end just about every lesson, so that is interesting. Many times I go at it solo while my companion tries to figure out what he is doing. I actually feel sorta decent though, in comparison to the people here, so that is a change ;) I remember when we went to KD together with Dad. That was so much fun! Good times.
Sydney! Hola! Kamusta man ka? What's up with the spanish? It's cool though! You made me laugh about the groaning and telling you to get out of my room thing. That is definitely one thing that has changed a lot for me here on my mission. I absolutely LOVE the scriptures. I also don't have a problem getting out of bed anymore. Probably because I go to bed at the same time every night and I have a very important work to do that starts at 6:00am every single day. Speaking of the scriptures though, I have found that as I study every day, and pray before and after, sometimes during, the Lord quite literally directs me in my studies and I find so much support and many many answers to my questions. I know moving is tough. It makes me think of Nephi though. Think of his situation! He was asked to move just like you, except that he didn't have very supporting siblings did he? He also had to travel by foot through the wilerness! Maybe he had a camel, I'm not sure, but he definitely didn't have a nice car to speed around on a paved road to his beautiful new home. Nephi faced all his trials with faith though. He knew that The Lord had a plan for him, and The Lord ALWAYS provides us with a way to follow His will. If you want, start studying the very beginning of the Book of Mormon again, and watch how Nephi's story plays out. Then compare it to your situation, and see how you feel. I love the Spirit I feel as I study and pray, and I definitely know that the Lord knows us personally and supports us in times of need (adjusting to the Philippines was crazy hard for me). Try that out and tell me what you learn! Also, how is your ankle??? Are you ok? You didn't sound too worried. Almost proud... But I hope you are up and moving soon. I'll pray for you! I love you!
Parents :)
The work seems to be picking up here! It is very exciting. Our mission motto is "Success Through Obedience," and I never was a disobedient missionary, but this past couple weeks I really hyper-analyzed myself and I found a couple things that I may not be following 100% so I changed things I knew were off a bit, and asked my Mission President about the others. I can confidently say that I believe I am a 100% obedient missionary now, and I am seeing the blessing come already. We found some really good investigators while tracting these past couple weeks. One is Sister Ranas, who is an older widow, but she seems very interested in the church, and we found out this week that her late husband may have been a member! We are looking into that. Another is a young 14 year old boy named Jandi. He is good friends with many young women in our Branch and already believes that the church is true. We are teaching him the lessons now and helping him strengthen his testimony before baptism. We also have many other potential investigators that I hope to have more good news about later.
The work here is good, but very very different than what normal missionaries do I think. Our main proselyting days are Tue. Thurs. and every other Sat. Mondays we travel 5 hours to District Meeting and then do a FHE with the Branch here at night. Wed. is P-Day so we work for only the evening. Friday is planning day, and we also teach seminary and institute, so that day is shot. Every other Sat. we travel for a whole day into the city to pick up our support money and buy groceries, and Sunday we have church and other various meetings so we only can teach in the evening again. Also, everyone here goes to bed with the sun, so evenings are cut short quite often due to lack of electricity. Despite our many challenges here in Pilar, we are seeing success every day, and the area seems to be progressing. I learned that before I came, Pilar hadn't had a baptism in at least 7 months. We already have 2 baptisms, 2 investigators with Baptismal dates, and a couple more progressing investigators. I really hope this keeps up. The work is what keeps me going here, since it's definitely not the food.
I eat food here not to enjoy it, but just to survive. It's sad :( <--just like that. I feel a lot better health-wise this week though. Hopefully when I get transferred to the city there will be fewer bugs, more people, and better food. As for changes here, not much. My comp is with me until this upcoming transfer, and then I get a follow-up trainer for 6 weeks. That's the pattern anyway. Not really any new changes to the district either.
Well, I love you all! I hope you can figure out my license for me. I should also hopefully be able to pick up my package on the 20th when we go to Cebu to see Elder Holland. Fingers crossed!
Love,
Elder Garver
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
October 5, 2011
Hey!
I did NOT know you sold the house! That's awesome! Mom, I literally saw your email enter my inbox. It was kinda cool. Well congratulations! It's so cool that the girls are going to have such a new experience! Good luck to you all! I'm excited to see the house in person, in 2 years. Also Mom, I'm not sure what kind of Filipino food could possibly require a cookbook. So far, all I've eaten has been rice with hotdog, rice with pork, rice with chicken, rice with plant. There isn't much to it. I definitely miss American food, but once every couple of weeks we get to go to the city and eat McDonalds, so that's awesome. To bad its like P120 a meal. SO Expensive! like 3USD but a usual meal here for me is P20-P30. I'll look at the license thing after this, and tell you about it next week.
I did not get any of Sydney's emails :( Have her send them again for me! I also have not seen Conference yet. I will take a trip to the city this weekend to watch it with my Zone.
So this week is the start of my second transfer. I don't feel quite so green anymore, and it was a weird feeling to see friends of mine in my area actually go home after their 2 years. I feel slightly more like an actual part of the Philippines now. It's a good feeling. My sickness this week was not the typical cough and sore throat. I was basically paralyzed for a couple days with a totally stiff neck and pain in my ear and what not. We thought I might have Dengue, but I didn't and after I started taking medicine that literally tastes like poop, I feel a lot better now. We have been tracting a lot this week and have run into some really great families. We have taught some really good first lessons and I hope to have more good news about these families next week. Work here is really so different than regular missionary work, even in most places here, but it is good all the same. I also got my first chance to do a little Bible bashing with an old man this week, well more like I just answered some of his concerns out of the Bible. It was cool, but he wasn't actually interested in the Truth.
We have an awesome opportunity to hear from Elder Holland on the 20th of this month. He will be come to speak to us in Cebu with our area authority, I am very excited.
This has been a good week, and there are exciting things coming as well. Everyone here gets excited for Christmas super early, so we sing Christmas hymns all the time to start lessons now. It has made me think a little about Christmas though, and I have a little request. I don't know if I get any kind of gifts out here on my mission, but if I were to be so privileged, I would love money for a new pair of scriptures. Mine are heavy, and kind of starting to fall apart. I would love to be able to buy some mission scriptures to use proselyting. Just a thought. I think they cost about P2200 here at the distribution center.
Well I love you all!
Love,
Elder Garver
I did NOT know you sold the house! That's awesome! Mom, I literally saw your email enter my inbox. It was kinda cool. Well congratulations! It's so cool that the girls are going to have such a new experience! Good luck to you all! I'm excited to see the house in person, in 2 years. Also Mom, I'm not sure what kind of Filipino food could possibly require a cookbook. So far, all I've eaten has been rice with hotdog, rice with pork, rice with chicken, rice with plant. There isn't much to it. I definitely miss American food, but once every couple of weeks we get to go to the city and eat McDonalds, so that's awesome. To bad its like P120 a meal. SO Expensive! like 3USD but a usual meal here for me is P20-P30. I'll look at the license thing after this, and tell you about it next week.
I did not get any of Sydney's emails :( Have her send them again for me! I also have not seen Conference yet. I will take a trip to the city this weekend to watch it with my Zone.
So this week is the start of my second transfer. I don't feel quite so green anymore, and it was a weird feeling to see friends of mine in my area actually go home after their 2 years. I feel slightly more like an actual part of the Philippines now. It's a good feeling. My sickness this week was not the typical cough and sore throat. I was basically paralyzed for a couple days with a totally stiff neck and pain in my ear and what not. We thought I might have Dengue, but I didn't and after I started taking medicine that literally tastes like poop, I feel a lot better now. We have been tracting a lot this week and have run into some really great families. We have taught some really good first lessons and I hope to have more good news about these families next week. Work here is really so different than regular missionary work, even in most places here, but it is good all the same. I also got my first chance to do a little Bible bashing with an old man this week, well more like I just answered some of his concerns out of the Bible. It was cool, but he wasn't actually interested in the Truth.
We have an awesome opportunity to hear from Elder Holland on the 20th of this month. He will be come to speak to us in Cebu with our area authority, I am very excited.
This has been a good week, and there are exciting things coming as well. Everyone here gets excited for Christmas super early, so we sing Christmas hymns all the time to start lessons now. It has made me think a little about Christmas though, and I have a little request. I don't know if I get any kind of gifts out here on my mission, but if I were to be so privileged, I would love money for a new pair of scriptures. Mine are heavy, and kind of starting to fall apart. I would love to be able to buy some mission scriptures to use proselyting. Just a thought. I think they cost about P2200 here at the distribution center.
Well I love you all!
Love,
Elder Garver
Monday, October 3, 2011
September 28, 2011
Dear Family,
I saw the pictures of the house! Wow! I hope you are still there when I get back. That yard looks amazing! And see if you can convince the sellers to leave the pool table!
Alicia! You are almost 17! Stop growing up! Rachel and Sydney too. Stop it right now.
The mga binundo that have been happening in Manila have not really been affecting us much down here. We get heaving rain and winds but nothing damaging. The weather is actually not so bad here in the Bukid. It's actually kind of enjoyable sometimes.
Because we are so far out in the middle of nowhere though, the work is slow. I hear way different stories from my friends in Cebu, but I know I'm here for a reason. Right now we don't have many solid investigators, but we do have a few semi solid. Like a soquid i guess. The members are always nice though. I don't know if I have any real "favorites" as of now, but the District President is really smart and kind, and he feeds us every Sunday. Nanay Orapa is the member who we rent or apartment from, and she is really awesome too. She has a sense of humor, and is super nice. She also feeds us every Saturday and Monday. Can you see a pattern emerging? Hopefully I will be able to start really getting to know people better as the language progresses. I'm thinking that I'll really start settling in at the end of my next transfer period (6 weeks).
I haven't gotten your package yet, but that's probably just because I'm so removed from everything. It has to go to the Mission home first anyway, and after that it still could be weeks until I receive it. Patience is a virtue I'm being forced to learn here in Pilar. But thank you so much in advance!
I also need to renew my license soon right? Can you send me the info to do that next week?
I love you all so much! And I'm praying for you and the house every night.
Love,
Elder Garver
I saw the pictures of the house! Wow! I hope you are still there when I get back. That yard looks amazing! And see if you can convince the sellers to leave the pool table!
Alicia! You are almost 17! Stop growing up! Rachel and Sydney too. Stop it right now.
The mga binundo that have been happening in Manila have not really been affecting us much down here. We get heaving rain and winds but nothing damaging. The weather is actually not so bad here in the Bukid. It's actually kind of enjoyable sometimes.
Because we are so far out in the middle of nowhere though, the work is slow. I hear way different stories from my friends in Cebu, but I know I'm here for a reason. Right now we don't have many solid investigators, but we do have a few semi solid. Like a soquid i guess. The members are always nice though. I don't know if I have any real "favorites" as of now, but the District President is really smart and kind, and he feeds us every Sunday. Nanay Orapa is the member who we rent or apartment from, and she is really awesome too. She has a sense of humor, and is super nice. She also feeds us every Saturday and Monday. Can you see a pattern emerging? Hopefully I will be able to start really getting to know people better as the language progresses. I'm thinking that I'll really start settling in at the end of my next transfer period (6 weeks).
I haven't gotten your package yet, but that's probably just because I'm so removed from everything. It has to go to the Mission home first anyway, and after that it still could be weeks until I receive it. Patience is a virtue I'm being forced to learn here in Pilar. But thank you so much in advance!
I also need to renew my license soon right? Can you send me the info to do that next week?
I love you all so much! And I'm praying for you and the house every night.
Love,
Elder Garver
Friday, September 23, 2011
September 21, 2011
Hey!
I'm so glad you found a house! I want to see it! Can you try sending me some pictures again? How is the ward out there? Is there a big youth program? How are the Laurels...?
So I have kind of gotten in the swing of things, and I'm enjoying my work in Pilar, which is slow, but somewhat steady. I have now officially been in my area 1 month! That's exciting. I got to celebrate by taking the long trip to Cebu, which was awesome. I got to see all my MTC buddies again, and I found out I'm not terribly behind on the Language. Phew! I'm seeing definite improvement. I'm actually able to hold conversations now and I understand a lot more. My companion says he thinks I'm going to train after this next transfer which is scary but kinda cool to think about. We'll see what the Lord wants. If I was to train a Filipino I think I could do it. Given 2 more months of practice.
I hope you got my pictures last week, and I hope I can receive your pictures too, next week!
Dad, I'm praying for you and for the whole family. I love you so much!
Love,
Elder Garver
I'm so glad you found a house! I want to see it! Can you try sending me some pictures again? How is the ward out there? Is there a big youth program? How are the Laurels...?
So I have kind of gotten in the swing of things, and I'm enjoying my work in Pilar, which is slow, but somewhat steady. I have now officially been in my area 1 month! That's exciting. I got to celebrate by taking the long trip to Cebu, which was awesome. I got to see all my MTC buddies again, and I found out I'm not terribly behind on the Language. Phew! I'm seeing definite improvement. I'm actually able to hold conversations now and I understand a lot more. My companion says he thinks I'm going to train after this next transfer which is scary but kinda cool to think about. We'll see what the Lord wants. If I was to train a Filipino I think I could do it. Given 2 more months of practice.
I hope you got my pictures last week, and I hope I can receive your pictures too, next week!
Dad, I'm praying for you and for the whole family. I love you so much!
Love,
Elder Garver
September 14, 2011 Pictures!
September 14, 2011
So I'm in Tagbilaran (the city) this week so I can send you pictures! I'm on my way to Cebu for a training seminar. I'm super excited to see all my MTC buddies again. Thanks Mom, for sending me that package. I didn't get your sarcasm at first about the $110 and I freaked out a bit in my head. I'm glad you didn't spend that much on me. So I teach seminary once a week, and I love it. The kids are amazing here. As second counselor I pretty much just lead meetings, count tithing and whatnot, and help the BP with whatever he needs. I am learning a whole lot, and I'm loving. I really love the ward here, the are beyond nice. I really love our investigators too though. I have started to be able to understand a lot of what is being said to me, and so I can now more fully participate and actually teach according to needs, which I am ecstatic about. I'm really excited about one of our investigators, si Ronnie. Ronnie is golden, he prays and reads and has very good discussions with us every time we meet. As soon as he receives his answer that this is the true church, I'm positive he'll be baptized. His family lives up north though, because of the military or something, so hopefully he can have them move down with him soon. So the work is pretty good.
I'm very happy that you sent me pictures of the family. People here LOVE looking at them. On that note however, Sister's of mine: You are NEVER allowed to come to the Philippines. Sorry. Every single one of you, Alicia, Rachel, and Sydney, have had many fingers pointed at each of you individually and been deemed, "Oh! Gwapa!!" Nobody believes me when I tell them how old you all are either. Sydney, I had to fight off a 30 year old man a couple days ago that wanted your phone number! So, you can't ever come here, sorry. You are all just too good looking.
It's sure interesting hearing about your trials and experiences back home. I'm pray about you every single night. And I know that the Lord is watching over you. Padayon sa pagkugi!
I love you all so much!
Love,
Elder Garver
I'm very happy that you sent me pictures of the family. People here LOVE looking at them. On that note however, Sister's of mine: You are NEVER allowed to come to the Philippines. Sorry. Every single one of you, Alicia, Rachel, and Sydney, have had many fingers pointed at each of you individually and been deemed, "Oh! Gwapa!!" Nobody believes me when I tell them how old you all are either. Sydney, I had to fight off a 30 year old man a couple days ago that wanted your phone number! So, you can't ever come here, sorry. You are all just too good looking.
It's sure interesting hearing about your trials and experiences back home. I'm pray about you every single night. And I know that the Lord is watching over you. Padayon sa pagkugi!
I love you all so much!
Love,
Elder Garver
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Sept. 7, 2011
Hey everyone! This has been a great week! I really decided to try
and lose myself in the work this week and I have found great happiness
in doing so. The language is coming along slowly. My success in that
regard is that I have begun to be able to understand most of what my
companion is saying when we talk to each other in Cebuano. Well, I
get his overall point anyway. I'm still pretty lost when it comes to
anything outside a discussion, but I have faith it'll come with time
and dilligence. I heard from a lot of people that there was a talk
given, where someone said, if you read the Book of Mormon in your
mission language, by the time you finish, you will be fluent. I've
really grasped on to that promise. I'm almost at page 400 in the
Basahon ni Mormon! There is a total of 802 pages so I'm almost half
way to fluent! Hopefully. Could you look up that talk for me and see
if it's real? Or who gave it? I have also begun to really appreciate
the beauty of the Philippines. I'll try to send another email with
some pictures I took for you this week. I have found a great
love for teaching my Seminary and Sunday School classes here as well.
I try to teach them completely in Cebuano but it doesn't always work
out. Luckily everyone here is like 200-lingual with all the dialects
and various languages here, so they understand English well enough to
help me out when I need it.
I have developed a great love for the busses here! I love
traveling! We take various 2-6 hour round trips here multiple times
a week for meetings and such, and I absolutely love them! Mom would
absolutely flip driving here. Rules of the road, if they exist, are
just guidelines here, as are the lines and dividers painted on the
ground. There are motorcylces weaving in and out of both sides of
traffic going both ways, and busses hurtling through towns, overtaking
other busses around blind corners, over narrow bridges, and dodging
the millions of dogs and cats everywhere here. It's SO fun! I love
sitting in the very front with the huge window acting as a widescreen
TV, windows down, wind in my face, and occasional music blaring(they like
80s music here!). It's just awesome.
It's great to hear about your progress with the house. I pray for you
every day! About my scripture for the plaque again, I don't know how
long it can be, or if I can split up verses or anything, but this
would be awesome. DC 84: 77,79,88 If you could string those three
together, perfect. If not, just 77 and 88 would be ok. Or even just
77. Thanks!
I also have one more thing that would be great to include in that
package if possible, could you slip in one of my 8 gig flash drives? I
need a place to store all my pictures that I'm taking here, for
backup, because my 2 gig memory card is going to run out pretty
quickly. If I missed any questions, I'll answer them in my picture
email.
I love you all so much!
Elder Garver
and lose myself in the work this week and I have found great happiness
in doing so. The language is coming along slowly. My success in that
regard is that I have begun to be able to understand most of what my
companion is saying when we talk to each other in Cebuano. Well, I
get his overall point anyway. I'm still pretty lost when it comes to
anything outside a discussion, but I have faith it'll come with time
and dilligence. I heard from a lot of people that there was a talk
given, where someone said, if you read the Book of Mormon in your
mission language, by the time you finish, you will be fluent. I've
really grasped on to that promise. I'm almost at page 400 in the
Basahon ni Mormon! There is a total of 802 pages so I'm almost half
way to fluent! Hopefully. Could you look up that talk for me and see
if it's real? Or who gave it? I have also begun to really appreciate
the beauty of the Philippines. I'll try to send another email with
some pictures I took for you this week. I have found a great
love for teaching my Seminary and Sunday School classes here as well.
I try to teach them completely in Cebuano but it doesn't always work
out. Luckily everyone here is like 200-lingual with all the dialects
and various languages here, so they understand English well enough to
help me out when I need it.
I have developed a great love for the busses here! I love
traveling! We take various 2-6 hour round trips here multiple times
a week for meetings and such, and I absolutely love them! Mom would
absolutely flip driving here. Rules of the road, if they exist, are
just guidelines here, as are the lines and dividers painted on the
ground. There are motorcylces weaving in and out of both sides of
traffic going both ways, and busses hurtling through towns, overtaking
other busses around blind corners, over narrow bridges, and dodging
the millions of dogs and cats everywhere here. It's SO fun! I love
sitting in the very front with the huge window acting as a widescreen
TV, windows down, wind in my face, and occasional music blaring(they like
80s music here!). It's just awesome.
It's great to hear about your progress with the house. I pray for you
every day! About my scripture for the plaque again, I don't know how
long it can be, or if I can split up verses or anything, but this
would be awesome. DC 84: 77,79,88 If you could string those three
together, perfect. If not, just 77 and 88 would be ok. Or even just
77. Thanks!
I also have one more thing that would be great to include in that
package if possible, could you slip in one of my 8 gig flash drives? I
need a place to store all my pictures that I'm taking here, for
backup, because my 2 gig memory card is going to run out pretty
quickly. If I missed any questions, I'll answer them in my picture
email.
I love you all so much!
Elder Garver
Friday, September 2, 2011
8-30-11
Hey Family!
This has been one of the craziest experiences of my life! Dad, like
always, you were right. I should be careful what I wish for. Also,
you were right about culture shock. I'll admit, this week was
extremely challenging for me, but only in a mental way. I've been
blessed with pretty solid health. As of now though, culture shock is
just about gone. I'm starting to enjoy it here, even if washing
laundry by hand every night is a pain. So sorry for my lack of time
last time to explain my pictures. Yes, that is my house, and my
kitchen. The bag is full of eggshells which we give to our neighbor
to feed the pigs. I live with my companion only, and we are learning
to get along. The Branch is great here. We meet for 3 hours like a
normal ward and we have about 45-50 members who usually show up to
worship on Sundays. I actually am the 2nd Counselor here, as well as
sunday school teacher, and seminary teacher. So I have a lot on my
plate all the time. I love all the members though, and the people are
so nice. We found 3 new investigator families this week and I'm very
excited to continue teaching them. I get laughed at pretty much all
day every day, but it doesn't really bug me. Seeing an Americano here
is super rare for these people in Pilar, so little kids stare with
huge eyes and girls point and giggle. Mostly I hear, "Hey Joe!" I'm
excited to be able to communicate better. And yes! I think we are
getting bikes! We'll probably find out this week.
My scripture for my plaque. I actually can't remember the exact
reference, but In Doctrine and Covenants something, I think maybe 84.
Christ calls us his friends, and says it is expedient for us to come
unto him so that we may be called his friends just as His disciples
were his friends in days of old when they walked with Him. Could you
find that and use that for me?
That is so crazy that you got hit with an earthquake and typhoon!
It's the second coming!! So cool. But we didn't feel any affects
here too bad. It rains pretty much every day but nothing out of the
ordinary down here in Bohol. Except! I heard the craziest thunder of
my life yesterday. I was teaching a lesson when all of a sudden I
heard what sounded like a firing squad of 20 soldiers, or literal
cannons right in the room. BOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOOM BOOOM for , not
exaggerating, at least 30-45 seconds straight. I thought the island
was being torn in half. It was so awesome!
I'm glad you are all safe and sound out there.
Also, Sisters of mine. I love you so so much. Thank you for helping
the family out and being so wonderful. I know that the Lord is
answering my prayers for you through your service and dilligence.
Thank you for all your prayers. I know they are helping me every day.
I pray for you all the time as well and it makes me so happy to know
that they are being answered. Keep up the amazing work over there and
I'll strive to do the same here.
I love you all so so much.
Love,
Elder GarverThursday, August 25, 2011
Welcome to the Philippines 8/24/2011
 |
| I'm guessing this is where Andrew lives. He doesn't label things yet. :) |
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| Elder Garver, pondering his new surroundings. |
 |
| The kitchen? |
 |
| Christine, who was baptized on Andrew's first day there, with the branch members. |
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| The beautiful landscape |
First Week!
So my life so far is pretty much right out of The Best Two Years. 1. This is NOT the language they taught me in the MTC 2. We teach maybe 1 lesson a day, and maybe get a contact or two. The latter isn't so much my companions fault though. I don't think. I have been assigned to the PIlar, Bohol Mission. We are the most secluded area in my whole mission. It is a 2 hour bus ride anytime we need to buy anything besides basic food staples, and at least an hour walk to the nearest investigator (of which we have a total of 1) and any tracting we can possibly do is a 30 minute bus ride each way, so we have no time at all for anything here. I admit that because of all this, this week has been extremely difficult for me, especially when combined with the huge culture shock. I see some hope though. I'm working with my companion (a Philipino, Elder Santia) to teach him to plan better so we can use all of the little time we have effectively, and I just sent a letter to the President petitioning him for bikes. Pray for me will you? We had a zone conference this morning which was amazing. I really felt the inspiration flowing and it gave me tons more hope for myself. The language is crazy difficult here, but I think it is slowly coming along. I can understand now about 1% of what is going on! Maybe. But yeah, those are my feelings so far.
Oh! I got to baptize a little 9 year old girl my 1st day here! It was pretty neat! Her name is Cristine Dela Pena Orapa. I love the kids here so much.
As to the actual place, It's so different! It is very pretty though. I'll try to figure out how to upload pictures. I don't know if I'm ever going to get used to cold bucket showers, and I'm very quickly growing tired of rice. But no worries! I hear my cheeks are going to be super chubby when I get back because of the rice, I'm scared...
1 quick funny story this week. My companion starts freaking out one night because we forgot someone at the church. From what I could gather from his broken english, we had forgotten someone named Manwell at the church and had locked him inside the gates. So we ran over there at 9:30 at night, unlocked the gates, and ran in to get him. He wasn't there, but a Gospel Doctrines MANUAL was. They call it a manwel here. Sheesh.
One more thing! I need you to send me something! Remember how Dad told me I didn't need a power converter that changes the Voltage? Well I do. Otherwise my ipod and shaver will explode. can you see if you can send me that other one from walmart that limits the amount of voltage? Thanks! IMPORTANT: you need to send it in a priority mail, international envelope! Otherwise it will go through customs and I will be forced to pay around $100 to pick it up. The envelope should be about 15 bucks. Thanks!
I love you all so much! Thanks so much for everything. Hopefully I'll have tons of good news next week!
Love,
Elder Garver
Oh! I got to baptize a little 9 year old girl my 1st day here! It was pretty neat! Her name is Cristine Dela Pena Orapa. I love the kids here so much.
As to the actual place, It's so different! It is very pretty though. I'll try to figure out how to upload pictures. I don't know if I'm ever going to get used to cold bucket showers, and I'm very quickly growing tired of rice. But no worries! I hear my cheeks are going to be super chubby when I get back because of the rice, I'm scared...
1 quick funny story this week. My companion starts freaking out one night because we forgot someone at the church. From what I could gather from his broken english, we had forgotten someone named Manwell at the church and had locked him inside the gates. So we ran over there at 9:30 at night, unlocked the gates, and ran in to get him. He wasn't there, but a Gospel Doctrines MANUAL was. They call it a manwel here. Sheesh.
One more thing! I need you to send me something! Remember how Dad told me I didn't need a power converter that changes the Voltage? Well I do. Otherwise my ipod and shaver will explode. can you see if you can send me that other one from walmart that limits the amount of voltage? Thanks! IMPORTANT: you need to send it in a priority mail, international envelope! Otherwise it will go through customs and I will be forced to pay around $100 to pick it up. The envelope should be about 15 bucks. Thanks!
I love you all so much! Thanks so much for everything. Hopefully I'll have tons of good news next week!
Love,
Elder Garver
Thursday, August 18, 2011
I made it!!!!!
I made it! It's freaking awesome here!!! I'm so, so excited to begin proselyting. Plane trips were great, Cebu is crazy, I'm passing out.
P-day is Wednesday! I'll email you then with a bunch of pictures!
Good nightishmorningthing...
Love,
Elder Garver
Almost There!
Well I made it through my long flight! I'm in Hong Kong now, and it's pretty crazy here. We don't have any yen so we can't buy anything to eat, but luckily they fed us very well on the plane. I slept for like 10 hours on the flight but I'm still exhausted. It's only 8am here! We are sitting next to some Philippinos here while we wait for our flight to get in, and I can understand a tiny bit of what they are saying! It's awesome! But I now feel a lot less confident in my language... But it's still awesome! So yeah, my flight was not bad at all, I didn't even watch any movies, even though they had Thor, Kung Fu Panda 2, and a bunch of others. Just 3 hours more and I'll be in the Philippines! I love you all!
Elder Garver
Monday, August 15, 2011
1 Week!!!!
1 Week!!! I assume you haven´t gotten my letter home yet since there are many questions answered in them that you asked. But anyway. I got my flight plans!!! It´s all real now! I´m actually going to be on a plane in just 7 days heading to the Philippines. I´m so excited! I´ll be leaving the MTC around 4:30pm on Tue. The 16th. My flight from SLC leaves at 8:30pm I'm going to buy a calling card from the book store tomorrow so I can give you a call. Expect my call inbetween 6 and 7 (Mtn. Time). If you want I can also call you again from San Francisco. I have a 4 hour layover there before flying to Hong Kong, but that would probably be around 1am your time, so i understand if you want sleep! But if I , for some reason can't call at SLC, I'm waking you up around 1 whether you like it or not. I'll keep it short if you need me to though.
Sadly, visiters at the airport are prohibited. Nuna, and Papa, I love you, but unfortunately I have to be left alone at the airport.
So yeah! Exciting times here at the MTC! I've learned so much here but it's now time for me to get on with my mission life, and start applying what I know, and learning so much more in the field. I hope Dad is right, and I don't get too sick right away when I get to Cebu. I'm definitely going to be culture shocked though. The USA is all I've ever really known. I don't think they could possibly prepare us enough here, for there. I'm just going to roll with the punches when I get there, and soak it all up. I'm so excited, I'm phlipping out! <-- pretty funny huh? I just thought of that. All by myself! Yeah, I need to get out of here...
Basta... Thank you all for all your support and love while i've been here. I have literally been living the same day over and over again for 56 days, and your letters and packages have been what's thrown a wrench in the cycle and made me realize that time exists. Thank you for helping me survive the MTC! I love you all and I can't wait to tell you all about the Philippines soon!
Nahigugma ko kaninyo!
Gugma,
Elder Garver
P.S. Family, tell Scott I mailed him back with the address that was on his dear elder. He should just start to email me now. Thanks!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Wooo Hoooo! Good News Inside!
I got my FLIGHT PLANS!! Woo hoo!!! I'm actually leaving for the field soon! I leave on the 16th, at 8:15 p.m. and arrive in Cebu at 11:30 a.m. on the 18th. :) So be ready for my phone call before 8:15 p.m. on the 16th, hopefully around 6:00 p.m. I'm excited to talk to you! Excited kaayo ko! I don't know if this, or my email will reach you first, but I had to let you know ASAP.
Also...an update: Apparently, my companion here has a mental disorder. He first isolates those close to him (me), and then turns those close to me against me through insults and degrading comments. This explains a lot. I have now received a new companion, Elder Fluckiger, the very tall elder in my district. Elder Taracena is receiving psych evaluations and people are trying to get him the help he needs. I received a blessing from my district president a couple days ago and my life here has totally turned around. I'm happy all the time, and I have no more worries. With Elder Terecena somewhat out of things, my district all likes me again! We laugh and joke and have fun. They still don't study language much, and we still have different opinions on things, but we are all friends now! Two days ago, the elders in my zone told me they noticed that I was smiling a lot more lately, and they liked it. A sister missionary told me I looked "guapo" when I smiled and I should keep it up. Everyone says I'll still be "their zone leader" and I feel super loved. I love it here now! I'm still super excited to go, but now I can enjoy the last two weeks here too.
I love you all so much! I can't wait to TALK to you on the 16th!
Love,
Elder Garver
Also...an update: Apparently, my companion here has a mental disorder. He first isolates those close to him (me), and then turns those close to me against me through insults and degrading comments. This explains a lot. I have now received a new companion, Elder Fluckiger, the very tall elder in my district. Elder Taracena is receiving psych evaluations and people are trying to get him the help he needs. I received a blessing from my district president a couple days ago and my life here has totally turned around. I'm happy all the time, and I have no more worries. With Elder Terecena somewhat out of things, my district all likes me again! We laugh and joke and have fun. They still don't study language much, and we still have different opinions on things, but we are all friends now! Two days ago, the elders in my zone told me they noticed that I was smiling a lot more lately, and they liked it. A sister missionary told me I looked "guapo" when I smiled and I should keep it up. Everyone says I'll still be "their zone leader" and I feel super loved. I love it here now! I'm still super excited to go, but now I can enjoy the last two weeks here too.
I love you all so much! I can't wait to TALK to you on the 16th!
Love,
Elder Garver
Almost There!
Hey everyone!
Not too much to say this week. I'm ready to leave for the field. I've been trying super hard to SYL all the time still but it's become super difficult. We got the new Cebuano districts in this week, and they are really cool, but it made everyone in my district completely forget about speaking cebuano, myself included. But it's really hard to start again because nobody else is doing it. Ok. Right now. Wala'y Engles. So yeah, things are alright. I don't know if I mentioned this last week, but we had an Elder get sent home, so that has had a weird effect on our district as well. Appearantly there were things that hadn't been taken care of before he came so he needed to go home and fix whatever it was.
On a happier note, I got a letter from Elder Parker this week, which was awesome! I thought he had forgotten about me with all the Lord's work he was doing. So it was great to hear from him. And as always, I really appreciate all your mail. I really love it.
Dad, I don't know how much I need. Nobody told me exactly how much I needed for customs, they just told me to be prepared to pay. Just put whatever you think I'll need and then send me a DearElder with how much I have on it so I can know. Thank you a whole lot! Also with the tie thing last time, I asked again, and my ties will last me a while in the Philippines so that's good. They will get ruined after a while but I can buy new ones for cheap when I need to.
I don't know if you can tell, but I am really, really ready to get to the field. 13 days left! But who's counting?
Love,
Elder Garver
Sunday, July 31, 2011
July 12, 2011 (Posted a little late!)
Ahhhh... Hello Everyone!
This has been an interesting week. I've experienced many new challenges, but I'm still very grateful to the Lord for all of them.
My Zone Leader duties aren't too bad, but they do take up a lot of my time. Sundays are completely shot, since I have meetings starting at 7:00am going all the way to 10:00pm. I'm in charge of organizing sacrament and priesthood meetings, and making sure everything goes to plan. I'm also in charge of overseeing my zone, which is comprised of 4 Districts. I am responsible for overseeing any problems that arise in the zone that the District Leaders present to me, and I am also in charge of teaching and orienting new missionaries who enter the MTC into my zone. So my Wednesday and Thursday evenings are now set apart for this orientation, and my entire Sundays are taken up with meetings. I do appreciate the assignment though, and am trying to fulfil my duties the best I can.
Mom, you asked me what kind of Book of Mormons I'll be handing out since the language is unwritten. The church has invented an ingenious solution to this problem. Essentially, they made up a system of writing for the Filipinos. Many Filipinos speak English, and the educated can read it. The Church has made the Book of Mormon into the Basahon ni Mormon, which contains the Bisiyan words spelled out in English letters. This way, the Filipinos only need to know how to sound out the letter sounds and they'll know what it means because everything sounds exactly how it reads.
I've been sending letters to you, my family, like crazy this week. You should be getting another letter with some writting on the back, very soon. When you get this wait for the second letter that I sent today until you respond. I want to be on the same page still, and since there is so much lag in the snail mail, I don't want it to get confusing. I do still love getting all your dear elders, it really does make my day.
The older Cebuano district left for the Philippines yesterday. They are still in the air now. I am so so so jealous of their 36 hour flight plan. Seriously. I want to get out in the field so bad. My teachers tell us that things have really changed since they were in the MTC. Appearantly we know just as much Cebuano now, after 4 weeks, that they did when they went out to the field. That means that I could survive going early, with the same knowledge they had. The MTC is an amazing accomplishment of the church, and it's a great learning place, but I'm ready to go now. This Saturday is our halfway point. ugh. I guess the more practice I get, the better though. With the older district leaving, our numbers have also dropped by 6. Now only 8/2500 speak Cebuano in the MTC. Our lunch table is so lonely. We get 22 new missionaries in 2 weeks though! I'm very excited.
Misyonaryo ko sa simbahan ni Jesukristo sa mga Santos sa Ulahing mga Adlaw. Nasayud ko nga tinuod sa simbahan ug pinaagi ni joseph smith, nagpahiuli ang Dios sa ebangelyo. Nagpasalamat ko sa Dios para iyang gugma ug pagia niya. Excitedkaayo ko para sa opportunidad sa magalagad sa mga tawo sa Philippines. Nahigugma ko akong manluluwas ni Jesukristo ug Nagpasalamat ko para kaniya.
I'm a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know that the Church is true and that through Joseph Smith, God restored the gospel. I am thankful to God for His love and His guidance. I'm excited, too, for the opportunity to serve the people of the Philippines. I love Jesus and am grateful for Him.
Naa ko'y sa pinakamaayong pamilya sa kalibutan!
I have the best family in the world!
July 28, 2011
I'm glad you liked my last letter. It's been fun to see myself get better this week. It's sad though because nobody else in my district even tries. I don't understand. But like you mentioned, I just have two more weeks left and then I get another chance for a good companion and district. Unfortunately, I don't get to see the other Cebuano district again. They are going to a different mission than me. But no worries.
I'm pretty sure the MTC has my Visa and stuff. They give it to us when we leave so we don't lose them, I guess. But I get my travel plans next week! I'm so excited! I've been here an eternity, it feels like.
Too bad I'll miss Robbie though. Where is he going?
It was also cool to hear about your trip to NYC. I love how you said, "we thought about sending you treats from FAO Schwartz..." but just left it at that. Nice. I'm really good on food now though.
Oh, do you know how much money is on my debit card? I need to have enough for customs, ties, and new pants, plus whatever else I need out there when I arrive. I don't know if I need more money, I just want to know how much I have.
So Sydney tells me that Alicia finally got her license. Basta! (That's cool!) Make sure she takes care of my baby while I'm gone!
Dad wanted to know the best way to contact me in the field. I think, for now, just send me emails starting on the 15th, but you can also check dearelder.com. I know dearelder.com delivers letters to some missions but I don't know how long it takes or anything. I'll just have to wait and see.
Well, I love you! The MTC has definitely given me a profound gratitude for righteous parents who raised me well in the Gospel. Again, I love you!
Love,
Elder Garver
I'm pretty sure the MTC has my Visa and stuff. They give it to us when we leave so we don't lose them, I guess. But I get my travel plans next week! I'm so excited! I've been here an eternity, it feels like.
Too bad I'll miss Robbie though. Where is he going?
It was also cool to hear about your trip to NYC. I love how you said, "we thought about sending you treats from FAO Schwartz..." but just left it at that. Nice. I'm really good on food now though.
Oh, do you know how much money is on my debit card? I need to have enough for customs, ties, and new pants, plus whatever else I need out there when I arrive. I don't know if I need more money, I just want to know how much I have.
So Sydney tells me that Alicia finally got her license. Basta! (That's cool!) Make sure she takes care of my baby while I'm gone!
Dad wanted to know the best way to contact me in the field. I think, for now, just send me emails starting on the 15th, but you can also check dearelder.com. I know dearelder.com delivers letters to some missions but I don't know how long it takes or anything. I'll just have to wait and see.
Well, I love you! The MTC has definitely given me a profound gratitude for righteous parents who raised me well in the Gospel. Again, I love you!
Love,
Elder Garver
Groundhog Day 42
Hey everyone!
The days are counting down! Less than 3 weeks now and I'll be in the Philippines! Unfortunately I'll miss Robbie by 2 days. I fly out on the 15th. Which reminds me. Make sure you are home on the 15th family, because I'll be calling you that day from the airport. I don't have my flight plans yet, sigh... but I know that's the day when I'm leaving. Oh, and do you know how much it costs to go through customs? I know I'm supposed to have money for any bags and what not. I just want to be sure I have enough to actually get to the Philippines.
So this week hasn't been too different. A lot more of the same. It just barely finished pouring rain outside right now though; that was fun. Oh, and the temple has been closed for a month for cleaning, but it opened up again today so we got to go. I got to do sealings with my district, and it was really neat. I love the temple.
I'm also loving my language more and more every day. I've deffinitely gotten better by only speaking Cebuano all day. Nobody else is really doing it but me, but it's been really fun to see how sentences seem to come easier and easier every day to me. I'm super super excited for the field. One thing I found out though, is when my call packet said to not bring nice ties, they meant it. Apparently, it is so humid in Cebu, that silk ties simply shrivel up. The good news, however, is that ties in the Philippines cost about 20 pesos each (about 35 cents USD). So not too big of a problem. We learned how to barter this week in class so I'm all set. The money exchange rate is so crazy there. I can't believe that I'll be living off of 60 dollars a month pretty soon. Wow. But yeah, what would you like me to do with all my silk ties now? Mail them back home or what? And how much would that cost?
We didn't do anything to celebrate pioneer day here. at all. Maybe because on the 4th of July, the MTC appearantly offended a bunch of foreign missionaries with the festivities and they had to publically appologize for that at a fireside. Oh well.
Oh, one thing I do need to mention, is how delicious a glass of half minute maid orange juice, and half welches grape juice is. It's pretty much the best drink I've ever tasted. Maybe. It's pretty good. You should try it. The food has been going up and down in edibleness here recently, some days it's amazing. Other days, I have salad. I do have more food than I can eat now at my residence though, thanks to all the care packages you have been sending, thank you for the cookies Nuna and Papa!
I don't really know of much else that has been interesting this week. We do get another 2 Cebuano districts this week though so that should be fun. We aren't supposed to speak any English to them at all, as part of the new curriculum. Unfortunately I think only 3 people in my district are capable of that. We'll see how it goes. I'll send you another letter tomorrow Mom!
Nahigugma ko kaninyo!
Elder Garver
July 18, 2011
Thank you for writing me all your letters. I liked them. I've had many thoughts about the Atonement of Jesus Christ this week and I'm thankful for Him. I decided to begin only speaking Cebuano this week. It's difficult, but when I follow my commitment I have fun and feel the Spirit. And, when everyone doesn't understand me, they don't argue with me! I have many quiet days, but they're peaceful. I think I'm becoming better at Cebuano.
Despite my many trials, I know my Father lives, and He loves me. I'm thankful to Him (and my awesome parents) for the opportunity to serve my mission, and to teach the people of the Philippines. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ.
Oh! I had the opportunity to see Crystal these past couple weeks, at the MTC. It was cool! Grandma wrote me about her wedding. I probably won't get to see Crystal again for a long time now.
I miss you all and I love you. Thank you for your help and advice!
Love,
Elder Garver
Despite my many trials, I know my Father lives, and He loves me. I'm thankful to Him (and my awesome parents) for the opportunity to serve my mission, and to teach the people of the Philippines. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ.
Oh! I had the opportunity to see Crystal these past couple weeks, at the MTC. It was cool! Grandma wrote me about her wedding. I probably won't get to see Crystal again for a long time now.
I miss you all and I love you. Thank you for your help and advice!
Love,
Elder Garver
July 22, 2011
I never thought I would write so many letters in my life. Once a week correspondence just isn't enough though. It has also been surprisingly lonely here at the MTC. Even with so many people here, I feel very alone quite often. My only constant is Jesus, and for Him, I am very grateful. I don't think I was ever meant to have a life devoid of worry and stress, but I know that I am never truly alone.
I loved the family pictures you all sent. I love you all very much. My teacher told us that the people in the Philippines love seeing pictures of missionaries' families, so if you send me all the pictures you can/want of me and you all, and my friends, I'll show you off to my investigators!
That care package you sent me was amazing as well. It was so clever! The muddy buddies made everyone jealous. I'll be sending a bunch of pictures home soon. I hope you'll enjoy them.
I'm super excited to get out of here, and into the field. I'll start translating my Cebuano for you as well. Maybe I'll teach you some of the language so you can use it when you pick me up.
I love you all so much! ayo-ayo (Good-bye)!
Gugma (Love),
Elder Garver
I loved the family pictures you all sent. I love you all very much. My teacher told us that the people in the Philippines love seeing pictures of missionaries' families, so if you send me all the pictures you can/want of me and you all, and my friends, I'll show you off to my investigators!
That care package you sent me was amazing as well. It was so clever! The muddy buddies made everyone jealous. I'll be sending a bunch of pictures home soon. I hope you'll enjoy them.
I'm super excited to get out of here, and into the field. I'll start translating my Cebuano for you as well. Maybe I'll teach you some of the language so you can use it when you pick me up.
I love you all so much! ayo-ayo (Good-bye)!
Gugma (Love),
Elder Garver
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Groundhog Day 35
Kamusta Mo!
First off, I have the best family in the world. Thank you all so much for writing me! My sisters are all amazing and funny and nindot kaayo and my parents are the best parents in the kalibuton. My grandparents are nindot as well and I love them Dako! Shaelyn, you are awesome too. Thanks for the letters!
So today is groundhog day 35. Only 27 more to go! I'm over the hump! How exciting. We begin our first all Cebuano TRC lessons this Thursday and I'm really looking forward to it. I have all this vocab in my head, I'm ready to put it to some meaningful use. My companion, who struggled a lot the first few weeks, has been getting much much better as we have studied together and he is really taken off. We had a great experience early this week where I almost had to beat him to the ground (kidding) but after this experience he finally opened up to me and we had a great talk. We have never been closer and this week has been fantastic. The Lord never ceases to surprise me with His infinite goodness and wisdom. I truly do have an inspired call.
The language is going well. I don't really feel that I've improved much since last week, but as I speak more and more I am realizing that it is coming easier. I've decided to speak all in Cebuano from now on. Lisod kini, pero naghunahuna ko nga maayo ini. Nag... just kidding. I'll still type in English for all of you. But I did commit to myself to cease speaking English. This has proven difficult since half my week is filled with meetings with my English-speaking branch presidency, and various tours and training meetings with the new English missionaries. Oh well. It is a ton of fun to speak sa Cebuano when I do have the chance though. I love this language.
Besides that, nothing much new has happened this week. I really do feel like I've been here my whole life, but at the same time I, no. I've been here forever. Thank you all for keeping me a little bit attached to the real world. I am very much focusing on the work, but I do love the little reminders of home when they come. I just mailed a little package with a couple letters and some photos home so those should come to you soon. It cost me a whole 4 stamps!
I love you all!
Gugma,
Elder Garver
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Nindot Kaayo!!
Nagpasalamat ko kaninyo para sa mga dearelder ninyo!! Thank you so much for writing me this week! The mail room was closed on Monday and I thought I was going to miss the chance to reply to you all! I just barely got them in time. I apologize to you Mom, last week I didn't recieve your letter until after I had emailed everyone, so I waited until later today. If you send me the letters on Sunday, that should be enough time for me to get them. Feel free to send me little updates throughout the week as well. I LOVE getting paper mail, and I only have 6 weeks left of it! I'm just going to send this to you Mom, and can you make sure everyone else gets it? Thank you!
So this week was was a pretty crazy one, lots of cool things happened. We had an amazing 4th of July devotional, where we sang patriotic songs to celebrate our great God-given Nation (even yankee doodle) then some amazing speakers, and then, out of nowhere, we heard bagpipes, and a band marched in playing hymns followed by all the mission flags. I got some pictures, which I'll send. They aren't the best but they show a little bit. Then came the best part, the president stood up and told us that they were lifting the curfew for the night so we could stay up and watch the fireworks for the stadium of fire from the MTC lawn! It was pretty cool.
I also got to bear my testimony to everyone this past Sunday in Cebauno and it was really neat. Only 14 out of 2500 people understood me, but I loved it nonetheless. I'm truly loving my language and I am so grateful to the Lord for His help in my studies.
They other Cebuano district his heading off to Tacloban this Monday, which we are all very jealous about. I want to go so bad! This also means that the old Zone Leaders got released, and new ones got called. Elder Taracena and I are now the new ZLs and it has been crazy already. Being a zone leader means absolutely no free time on Sunday's, and much less throughout the week. This is interesting because Elder Taracena and I had been kind of at each other's throats for a bit, and he needed all the study time he could get because he was struggling in the language. But as soon as we called assigned to be Zone Leaders, he began picking up the language even without added study time, and we have been getting along great. We are really bonding over our service and I'm loving it.
I am recovering from a little cold right now that just about took me out yesterday. It's looking like a 48 hour bug though and I'm hoping I'll be better by tomorrow. All things said, this was a pretty great week. Time seems to be speeding up, and I'm getting along with everyone. I'm also seeing tons of familiar faces every day. So far I've met Calvin Fairbairn, 2 people from EFY, Connor Larson from AZ, Jeff (Holly Harris' Cousin), and a Sister from my mission prep class in VA! I also get random people who call out to me as I'm walking around, who I don't remember, and I talk to them until they're satisfied and leave. It's always quite interesting as I try to answer all their questions and comments about "back home" when I have no idea where "home" was. But it's pretty fun all the same.
One last thing I learned last week before I go. I asked my teacher how to say "pet" sa Cebuano, because I was thinking about CJ, and he said they didn't have a word for pet. Any animal the Philippinos own is considered food, so they don't raise dogs as pets, they raise them as livestalk. Pretty cool huh?
Nahigugma ko kaninyo!
Love,
Elder Garver
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Feed Me!
Thank you Father! I did recieve the Dear Elder, and I am so glad I did! I thought that you guys hadn't been able to find it. That is definitely the best way to contact me, because I can use my full 30 minutes to just respond to you all.
So I've been at the MTC for just about 4 months now... wait, it's only been 2 weeks? Ugh... Time moves so........ slow........ here..... but it's great. I'm having a lot of fun with my district and my teachers are all great. I'm learning the language so fast and It blows me away. There is absolutely no way I could learn this fast on my own. The food leaves something to be desired. I'm getting 4 different plates of food for every meal just so I can find one that tastes decent. It's really not that bad but I'm getting escited to go to the Pilippines and be able to eat real food there. I'm so excited to get out into the field. I am convinced I have the best mission and the coolest language in the MTC. This week has actually sped up considerably since the first, and I think it's because things aren't so foreign to me anymore. I want to wish Dad a very happy birthday and I love you. I appreciate everything you've done for me and I couldn't have a better father. Happy anniversary to you and Mom as well, I hope everything is going well now after camp and things.
This last week was a pretty crazy week. We had 104 mission presidents and their wives in the MTC all week as well as 10 of the Quorum of the 12. They blocked off half the MTC so these presidents could be trained and taught by the Quorum. This would have made things crowded, without the influx of 600 new elders which arrived on Wednesday, so I've felt like a sardine all week. I found out I'm getting a new mission president though, and my district and I got to meet him and talk with him and his wice for a while this week. He is so awesome and he made me even more excited for the field. I was floored when I learned that he and his wife (President and Sister Shmutz) had been taking Cebuano lessons for 2 months, and we all knew more Cebuano than them after just 1 week in the MTC. I cannot get over how amazing the gift of tongues is.
I know the Lord has called me to this work and I know that I have been choosen to serve in Cebu because the Lord has prepared people there to hear me teach them. The Gospel is true and this work is inspired. I love all of you.
Love,
Elder Garver
Learning the Language
Dear Family,
I'm sorry I got cut off during my email. I only have 30 minutes and I have so many emails to read! It would really help me answer all your questions and share much more if you all use dearelder.com. I've been kinda lonely throughout the week while all the other elders get letters and packages. ;)
Like I was saying in my email, I'm loving the language. I've learned the equivalent of almost two years of school language in 1 week. It's been crazy too since Cebuano is an unwritten language! We are just putting English letters to appropriate sounds. The language is so much fun.
I was a little disappointed in my companion at first. He seemed to be absent-minded and, therefore, slower at picking up the language. He's the only member in his family as well, so he doesn't have such a religious background or vast knowledge about the doctrine of the church. But! I soon realized that I had been too quick to judge. I can testify to you all that Elder Terecena and I were placed together through inspiration. I have learned so much about patience and love for my fellowman by working with him on the language and the gospel during companion study. He is an amazing Elder and I am very glad he is my companion.
I was really happy to get a letter from Mom this week. Something about physical mail is just so exciting. It's time for personal study now, but I'll be looking forward to your dearelders all this week!
Naghigugma ko kaninyo. Naghigugma ko ni Jesukristo ug nasayud ko nga manluluwas siya kanato. Nagpasalamat ko sa Dios para sa pamilya nako. Maguban ang Dios kaninyo.
Love,
Elder Garver
I'm sorry I got cut off during my email. I only have 30 minutes and I have so many emails to read! It would really help me answer all your questions and share much more if you all use dearelder.com. I've been kinda lonely throughout the week while all the other elders get letters and packages. ;)
Like I was saying in my email, I'm loving the language. I've learned the equivalent of almost two years of school language in 1 week. It's been crazy too since Cebuano is an unwritten language! We are just putting English letters to appropriate sounds. The language is so much fun.
I was a little disappointed in my companion at first. He seemed to be absent-minded and, therefore, slower at picking up the language. He's the only member in his family as well, so he doesn't have such a religious background or vast knowledge about the doctrine of the church. But! I soon realized that I had been too quick to judge. I can testify to you all that Elder Terecena and I were placed together through inspiration. I have learned so much about patience and love for my fellowman by working with him on the language and the gospel during companion study. He is an amazing Elder and I am very glad he is my companion.
I was really happy to get a letter from Mom this week. Something about physical mail is just so exciting. It's time for personal study now, but I'll be looking forward to your dearelders all this week!
Naghigugma ko kaninyo. Naghigugma ko ni Jesukristo ug nasayud ko nga manluluwas siya kanato. Nagpasalamat ko sa Dios para sa pamilya nako. Maguban ang Dios kaninyo.
Love,
Elder Garver
Sunday, July 3, 2011
First Letter!
So, holy cow! I've only been here a week? There is a saying here, "the days turn into weeks, and the weeks turn into days." This is my 7th day so it still just feels like I've been here for months. It's great here though. My District is really fun to be with. We have two Cebuano-speaking missions in my district. My mission is full of awesome, diligent elders. One really likes to goof off so it's really hard to study sometimes. My companion, Elder Terecena, and I have decided to study in a separate room from now on so it can be quiet, and I'm excited for the better study time.
The food here is pretty good, and there sure is a lot of it. I'm trying really hard to eat well and work out every night, though, because I hear it's pretty easy to gain weight in the Philippines, which is interesting because I thought it would be the opposite.
My studies thus far have been mainly focused on language, with just a few hours of gospel study each day. My schedule is pretty much, wake up, eat, language for 3 hours, gospel study for 1 hour, lunch, language for 3 hours, gospel for 1 hour, dinner, language study until 9, planning, bed. It's super exhausting, but it's been an awesome experience for me. I know the Lord is helping me because even though I'm working and studying harder than I ever have before, by following my schedule and mission rules, I'm always wide awake for my lessons. When they're over, though, I feel like passing out.
Now for the language: I can truly testify of the gift of tongues! I've been here not even for one week and I'm fully praying in Cebuano, and testifying as well. The language is so much fun, and I know my call was inspired. I haven't even been to Cebu yet and I already love the people. I'm so, so excited. I love you all, and I apologize for not being able to answer everyone personally. I just don't have the time. I will be able to email throughout the entirety of my mission, though, so that will be nice. I encourage everyone to write to me through dearelder.com. It's free, and delivered the same day. I'm out of time! I love you!
Elder Garver
The food here is pretty good, and there sure is a lot of it. I'm trying really hard to eat well and work out every night, though, because I hear it's pretty easy to gain weight in the Philippines, which is interesting because I thought it would be the opposite.
My studies thus far have been mainly focused on language, with just a few hours of gospel study each day. My schedule is pretty much, wake up, eat, language for 3 hours, gospel study for 1 hour, lunch, language for 3 hours, gospel for 1 hour, dinner, language study until 9, planning, bed. It's super exhausting, but it's been an awesome experience for me. I know the Lord is helping me because even though I'm working and studying harder than I ever have before, by following my schedule and mission rules, I'm always wide awake for my lessons. When they're over, though, I feel like passing out.
Now for the language: I can truly testify of the gift of tongues! I've been here not even for one week and I'm fully praying in Cebuano, and testifying as well. The language is so much fun, and I know my call was inspired. I haven't even been to Cebu yet and I already love the people. I'm so, so excited. I love you all, and I apologize for not being able to answer everyone personally. I just don't have the time. I will be able to email throughout the entirety of my mission, though, so that will be nice. I encourage everyone to write to me through dearelder.com. It's free, and delivered the same day. I'm out of time! I love you!
Elder Garver
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Officially Reported
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| Elder Andrew and Nuna |
Getting to the Missionary Training Center was an adventure in of itself!
We all loaded in the car...
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| Nuna, Cousin Mary, Papa |
The "Drop off" crew
Elder Andrew ended up driving himself to the MTC
Saying goodbye to Papa
There were many BIG hugs of goodbye from Mary
Goodbye hugs from cousin Sarah
And the last goodbye hug to Nuna in the car.
Then the missionary was off, his amazing journey has officially begun!
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