(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
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