1-25-12

 

Hey!

That package is HUGE!!!!! What the heck? Did you sell a car to pay for postage on that thing?! Dang! I have been the most spoiled missionary in the Philippines this week. Chili, Mac and Cheese, Nutella... wow. Merry Christmas! The candy was also awesome. All the scriptures attached were so clever. I really don't know how you sent all that, but thanks!!!

This week has been filled with changes. The entire branch got rearranged up here when we had Zone Interviews with Pres. Schmutz. I got called to be the 2nd counselor again! This is awesome here though. We need leaders who will act, and I will act. The Branch is continuing to get stronger each week. It's easy to see growth when you only have about 20-30 active members in your branch. Add a couple families and you've doubled attendance. My companion is also going home on Monday, so I'll be working with a member for a few days until my new comp gets here.

The Sanchez family is still strong in faith. They are determined to make it to the temple. It's been great to see them go independent. As a missionary, it's great to know that you aren't needed anymore. It sounds funny, but when you are only there to strengthen a family, and not fix problems, it is a great thing. With the Sanchez family, if we left right now, they would continue growing, and make it to the temple one day. That is a pretty tough thing to do with a weak branch, but they have it going, and it's awesome. We also began teaching Randy Sanchez's brother, Raniel, this week. They are pretty solid as well. We are working on a Word of Wisdom problem with Raniel, but when that is straightened out, they will be on the path to the temple as well. We also had Bro. Laquigan come back to church on Sunday after 14 years of inactivity. He rearranged his work schedule and even brought his nonmember daughter! We are teaching the rest of his family right now as well. Sister Laquigan doesn't seem too crazy interested, but at least we are strengthening Bro. Laquigan and showing his wife the blessings of the Gospel.

I love you guys!
Elder Garver

 

 

 

1-18-12

Hey everyone!

This week has been pretty good. There was a huge let down that just kinda ruined the week though. Just like Dad said in his email, when the work is going great, that seems to be when the biggest challenges come. We found out this week that our star family, the Sanchez's, aren't married. Such a killer. So that pushes their temple date back a bit... They are pretty down about it, but we shared with them about Hope and Faith on Monday, and they are determined to push through this and do it right. They are arranging things to prepare for marriage this week, so we can keep moving with it. They are still a solid family, and they still have great faith and determination, and I still love them to death. Sin is a bummer, but I love the Atonement, and I absolutely know that we need to always keep loving those who mess up, and be there for them when they are getting back on the right path. I love our Savior Jesus Christ.

We had some more great success this week as well. We got all key Auxiliary Leadership positions filled in the branch, or at least called. They will be sustained and set apart in 2 weeks after our district conference this Sun. Things are going great in the Branch, and in the field as well. One huge success this week is that I convinced my comp to drop a family of 3 young women who we have been teaching forever now with no progression. They don't read, pray, or come to church, and they never even participate in lessons. They were always good for a lesson though. Stats aren't worth the worth a ready soul though, and now we have another open hour every other day to find that one who is searching for help.

More success, I got Nuna and Papa's package this week! It was awesome! I'm still looking for Mom's though. Hopefully just a couple more weeks right? Anyway, Nuna and Papa, everyone loved the cookies. They were gone after just a couple hours. The mashed potato mixes were genius as well. Thank you so much!

Finally, I want to tell Mom and Dad that you need to serve a mission when you become "Seniors." I don't know if Dad remembers, but the senior missionaries are amazing. There is one couple here, the Ernstroms, and if Dad was 60ish with white hair, he would be just like Elder Ernstrom. Everybody loves the senior missionaries, the members, investigators, and missionaries as well. They do wonders out here, and I would love for you both to experience it for yourselves.

One last thing, I want to thank everyone in NJ for all their cards! I've gotten more letters from people I don't know than from those I do! Thank you so much for your words of love and support. It makes me feel welcomed already to a ward I've never before attended. You guys are the best. I'm looking forward to the day when I get to see the faces behind the loving words and meet you all. Thank you!

Thanks for all your love!
Elder Garver

1-11-12

Hey!

So much to say this week! Holy cow!

So work just exploded this week, and along with that, we saw Amazing success. We taught 32 lessons this week, saw 3 inactive families and 1 more individual come back to church. We organized a Temple Prep class for 4 individuals, 1 of who is the wife of an RM and their family is planning on being sealed shortly after she finishes the prep class. We also started teaching a family who was previously completely against us, but through our teaching their father, their hearts have been softened and they now want the missionary lessons. We are also working with the Bailys (The senior couple assigned here) in order to clean up the Membership Records, and that is coming along really well too.

So that was a very short condensed version in order to save time. So let me explain a little how this has been working. Tracting is now against mission policy, so that means that planning is very important. If we get punted, we can't fall back on tracting anymore, so we need back up plans for our back up plans. We still tract, but we tract for members. The membership rosters out here are extremely messed up to say the least, so a big part of our job is also to correct those, and find the lost members who's addresses are listed as "Cebu, Philippines." Since Cebu is such a big area to search blindly, we are honing our detecting skills and it's been pretty fun playing Sherlock Holmes out here. When we do locate members, the reactions vary. Most, not all, seem to be pretty hard-hearted at first, but they open up through diligent effort and love. Some inactives need all the lessons again, some just need a push to come back to church, and some, like the Sanchez family, are locked and loaded, and just needed to be visited a couple times to pull the trigger. The Sanchez family is my all time favorite family of my mission so far. Bro. Sanchez is an RM who went innactive and his wife went with him. They have 3 kids but were only married by law, and Sister Sanchez has yet to be endowed. When we found them last week Bro. Sanchez just about tackled me. They were so happy to see the missionaries and welcomed us in to teach them. Bro. Sanchez, and almost I as well, was in tears by the end of our lesson, and they all committed to come back to church. They did, and when we visited them again, I mentioned that we would start our lesson with a prayer, and immediately all 3 kids jumped up, and knelt in a circle with their arms folded and heads bowed. I almost fell over. Brother Sanchez, the father, has such an amazing testimony and he is in tears every time we teach them. They are so amazing, and so ready for the blessing of the temple. Sister Sanchez is now in a temple prep class and they are all preparing to be sealed.

This is just one of many success stories we've had this week, and it's blowing my mind. My comp and I are also getting along pretty well, and we are getting better at teaching in unison every day. I wish I could just go on forever, but I'm out of time for today. I love you all so much!

Elder,
Garver

P.S. You all need to be out doing your part too! It's not just members in the Philippines that need to be rescued. There are families out there just waiting for your help. Don't let them down!

1-4-11

Hey Everyone!

This week has been crazy. My companion has been in Cebu City all week with doctors appointments and things he needs done before he goes home next transfer. My district leader's comp is going home too so we have been doing splits all week as they both were in the city. So Elder Wangsgaard and I have been juggling two areas all by ourselves all week but our comps just got back late last night so work can go back to normal now. I am still absolutely loving Polambato. My entire Zone here is super super spiritual. It is amazing what committed obedience does for a zone and district. The Spirit is so strong here. I love it. My companion is... extremely trunky. He is mentally finished with his mission, so that is a challenge that I have been entrusted with for this transfer. We are working on it though and it is getting a little better every day. I want him to finish out his mission on a high note. He is a super nice guy and it's fun to be around him, it's just the obedience thing we are working on.

I've been learning so much this week. Elder Wangsgaard is an amazing missionary, and he has been such a good teacher as we have worked together. One thing that has surprised me on my mission, is that no matter how humble I think I am, I can always get humbled even more. That happened a lot this week. I now know without a doubt that I do not know this language. If the Lord chooses to pull back a bit and let me try on my own for a day or two, I just fall flat on my face. I was blessed with that humbling experience this week when I started to think to myself that I was even better at the language than my DL who has been out for almost a year. Not true. It's the Lord that is filling my mouth every day, and without him, I go back to my skill level of Junior-year German. I have loved working with Elder Wangsgaard this week, but I'm excited to start working with my comp again too.

Your week sounded awesome, and I'm so glad that you are all still so close with our friends in VA. Chris and I both are so grateful that our parents are so close, just like us. I love you guys!

No package yet, but I got like 5 letters this morning. I'm excited to read them after this.

I love you!
Elder Garver

P.S. I included some pictures for you this week:

                

  This one is my new Branch in Polambato, some of them anyway. 

   Then there is my new companion with his cow family.  Sorry it's sideways!  Gravity is a little different here.  ;)

 This one was taken in Pilar, in celebration of Christmas at Nanay Orapa's house.

And finally, I found Rachel's twin in the Philippines! Look at that! They are identical! It gets better too. This girls name is... Rachel! And, she is 14! What? Way cool dude. It's even better because she is a rock solid recent convert. She has read half the Book of Mormon in 3 days! She is just awesome. So every time I see her and think of how awesome you are Rachel!