4/24/12

Transfers!

I'm going back to Bohol!  I'm assigned in Valencia, Bohol, follow up training the kid of my junior batch.  I've heard it is a super hard area, and I am excited to go destroy that mindset.  There is no such thing as a hard area.  If Alma and the sons of Mosiah could baptize thousands of blood-thirsty Lamanites, no area in our world could be too difficult.  I am so excited to return to my first zone and to reunite with the members there again.  Elder Shelley is staying in the area and being follow-up trained.

We had a great last week together.  We got to baptize the Burlaos family as well as Sister Labigan, and the testimonies they bore afterwords were powerful and impressive.  We also began a larger search for more less-actives because we dropped a few who need a bit more preparation before they'll progress and come back.  I am sad to be leaving such amazing people here in Bogo, but I am excited to go meet everyone in my new area as well.  I know that these investigators and members are in good hands, and the Lord with continue guiding and supporting the missionaries here.

It was great to hear you reminiscing about the family, mom.  I love hearing about you guys.  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful, close family.  I truly do treasure you all more than you can understand.  I also smiled when you told me about the 50 min trip some girls travel to get to church every week.  I too was humbled here on my mission.  There are a couple very active member families in our branch here in Bogo that wake up very early in the morning to walk 8-12 kilometers down from the mountains with their families every Sunday to get to church.  One member just started making and selling peanut butter to us so that they might have the money to ride the public transportation to church and not have to carry 3 young children all the way to church and back.  The faith of the members here is amazing.  Would you walk 10 miles every Sunday to get to church?  You should be able to answer yes.  There is no excuse for us to not follow every commandment of the Lord with exactness.  We all need to cut out our excuses and find a way to follow EVERY commandment of the Lord.  Keep up your faithfulness and you will find blessings in your life that you didn't even know were there.

Sorry that my mind is kind of all over the place this morning.  I love you all so much, and I love the work that the Lord has entrusted to us here in His vineyard.  I'm excited to hear about how Alicia likes her new job! (I only laughed a little bit) and about how Rachel and Sydney are doing in their adventurous lives.  It's so cool that Dad got called as a temple worker!  I would love to be able to do a session while he is serving.  I hope you are still there when I get home!

I love you!
Elder Garver

4-17-12

Yeah! Email time! I love you guys!

It has felt like a long time since I last got to email you all, but I
think that is because of 1) how crazy this week has been and 2) how
much good happened this week.

First, thank you for sending my license! I'm excited to drive again.
Especially here ;) When you come out here to pick me up next year,
it'll be an option. I'm thinking public transportation will be better
for some places but a rental car would be really nice for others. 

I
got word that I have 2 packages waiting for me in the mission home, so
I'll be able to pick those up in a couple weeks at transfers. I
think I'll be transfering. That is usually how it works after
training. Your greenie stays in the area and you leave. 

I want some pictures of Alicia's prom experience! That was SO much
fun for me. Who asked her out? Are they just going as friends or
what? 

So this week! First, the bad news. There was some misunderstanding
in communication, and Sister Labigan was under the impression that her
baptism was being postponed a week because of a schedule conflict, so
she didn't show up to the service on Saturday. Not to worry though!
The good news is, we visited her right after and worked it all out and
she is being baptized this Saturday. The even better news is, Sister
Labigan is being baptized with another investigator family of ours,
the Burlaus family. So this Saturday and Sunday we will get to see 6
people baptized and confirmed. It is going to be a great weekend.
Both the Burlaus family, and Sister Labigan and her family are all
very excited to see their families brought together through baptismal
covenants, and are all preparing already to make it to the temple to
be sealed. I'll be in my last transfer 1 year from this Sunday. How
great would it be to see these families sealed together before my
return home! I love these people. 

We also had Zone Interviews this week, where President Schmutz
personally interviews us all. It is always so great to talk with him,
and I got a lot out of our interview this last week. He told me that
there comes a point in our Spiritual progression when we stop asking
God to strengthen our weaknesses, and we ask Him to show us more of
our weaknesses so that we can begin to seek His help in making those
strengths as well. I have begun doing this in my personal prayers,
and it's been eye opening to see how weak I really am! I have learned
so much from doing this, and it is something I plan on doing the rest
of my life. We can't be afraid of chastisement or embarrassment if we
have a true desire to grow. We never grow if we don't mess up
sometimes, and recognizing those mistakes is key. 

I'll attach some more pictures next week, including the Burlaus and
Labigan families.

I love you all so much! 

Elder Garver

4-11-12

Hello Everyone!

I'm officially 20 now!  Yipee.  It feels pretty good honestly.  I LOVED the pictures that you sent me Mom.  I think pictures are my favorite thing to get on the mission.  I love your letters as well, the food is a definite perk.  Any news on my license yet?  Transfers are coming up in the next few weeks and I might need it pretty soon.  I have faith that the Lord will watch over something that important for us.  I love you guys!

HOLY COW ALICIA!  You are turning 18 in a few months!  What the heck is up with that?!  That hit me like a ton of bricks this week.  You are almost an adult...  That is so weird.  I also started learning Tagalog today.  It is a ton of fun.  Have you looked up that rosetta stone thing yet?  I could even help you once a week through email if you want it, and we can talk in Tagalog over skype when I call this mothers day!

About Easter.  We survived, and we didn't see anything too disturbing.  We saw a few crosses that had been raised up on a hill, but that was the day after they do their crucifixions, so the people had already been taken down.  That was a relief.  FYI, you do NOT need to whip and crucify yourself to receive the blessings of the atonement.  Just pray, confess, and change, and you're great!  So, happy Easter :)

So! We have been having more great successes on Polambato.  It seems like the Lord is just opening the heavens above our heads here and great things are happening.  We are very happy that Sister Labigan is getting baptized this week, and she will be the completing link in her family.  They are all very excited to go to the temple and are looking forward to the blessings that are in store for them.  That whole family is solid, and it's awesome to see how much they are embracing the gospel as a family.  We also are on track for another family baptism the Saturday after this.  The Burlaus family has been doing so great in trusting the Lord and sacrificing to make it to church every week.  Brother and Sister have taken off in their testimonies and prayers, and the 3 daughters have been coming to every youth activity each week.  They are already getting integrated into the branch, and are developing friendships.  Sister and Brother were very impressed with General Conference this last week, and said that they could feel the power from the speakers, especially the Prophet.  We are very excited for them. The 5 of them will be baptized as a family next week, on the 21st.

We have also continued to be led by the Lord in where we go and who we talk to.  We felt the prompting to stop by a deserted looking house next to the road we were walking on and see if anyone lived there.  We ayo-ed the house, and were called into the back by a man who was doing some chores.  He greeted us as Elders, and then proceeded to tell us that he had been the Branch President back in 1997, but had gone inactive when his wife passed away.  We had no idea that this Melchizedek Priesthood holder lived here, but were extremely happy when he committed to come back to church this Sunday.  He will be a huge help to our branch here.  I could really feel his love for the church and his sincerity in his testimony.  The death of his wife sent him for a loop, but he has seen the power of the atonement, and is excited to come back.

Work is fantastic out here in the Lord's vineyard, and Elder Shelley and I are happier than ever.  I love you all so much, and I'm excited to see you all next month on skype!

Love,
Elder Garver

4-4-12

Mom!  You are so flipping skinny!!

Holy cow!  That's amazing!  You look great!  Sorry I had to open the package a couple days early.  Ants started getting in it.  Funny enough though, they were attracted to the pictures and not the food.  All the pictures were fine, and the food too.  I just stuck it in the fridge, and I'm still waiting to open the individual stuff.  But man, I loved those pictures.  Dad made me laugh with his cowboy hat that is way too small for him.  I love pictures so much.  I love you guys!  


I definitely feel older than I ever have in my life.  I do feel 20.  I have gained such a stronger more mature spirit on my mission, and it feels great.  Birthdays aren't a huge deal out here unless you're rich.  Most people can't afford much, but people are making me birthday cards and stuff.  It's super nice.

About my license.  I actually will be driving.  All Zone Leaders here are required to have a drivers license, and many of them have cars.  So if I become a ZL I am going to need that license.  If you just pray over it, it'll get here no problem.  It might help if you just hid it inside another package.  Yeah, I think that is what the Spirit is telling me :)

Thank you so much for the songs, Dad!  I am hoping they will work.  Did you get them off itunes?  The .m4a format is protected, but I might find a way around that.  I'll let you know next week if I was able to play them.  I'm excited!  April fools isn't celebrated here by the way.  Elder Shelley and I made a couple jokes to each other but that was the extent of our celebration.  Nothing big.  What I am really looking forward to/dreading is Easter.  It is true that people crucify themselves here in order to "show forth repentance."  I've heard that the field they do it in is right on the way to our church building.  Great.  Elder Shelley is freaking out.

I also found out this week that Elder Shelley was super good friends with Carson Corbett, from our stake in VA.  They lived together in AZ.  It has been pretty fun telling stories this week.  Small world.

As for work, we are doing great up here!  We dropped an area this week though because the people there began harboring a really bad spirit.  Every time we went there the people got more and more reclusive and reluctant to talk to us, and even the people who were great there a month ago began to refuse to talk to us.  It was tough to see them all go so down hill.  We think it has a lot to do with a couple inactives there who have started voicing their offences against the church and the whole town just hopped on that and turned against us, and Christ.  We may go back after a while but as for now we have been seeing tons of success in our finding efforts again.  It has been great to have some free time in our schedules for member finding, and we have found some more amazing people because of it.  We have another baptism scheduled for the 14th this month.  Sis Labigan is absolutely amazing.  She has had the biggest turn around I have ever seen in my life.  When we first contacted her 4 months ago, she screamed at us and told us to get off her property.  Now, she is reading and praying and bringing her whole family to church.  She has her eyes set on the temple, and wants more than anything to be sealed together for all eternity.  Her baptism will complete the family, minus 1 son, and Bro. and Sis. are working on him now.  He has a lot of schooling and is busy all the time as of now.  To answer the question about the Filipino mindset on eternal families, they all believe in something similar to that, even though the Catholic church doesn't teach it.  It has been cool to see how so many people out here are one religion or another, just because they don't know there is something better out there.  Almost everyone here has some problem or concern with their church, but doesn't know what to do about it.  It has been so great being able to give them the answers that nobody else can.  It is such a blessing to be in the only true and complete church.

Elder Shelley is still doing great, and it is scary but exciting at the same time to see this next transfer coming up on us so fast.  I wonder what will happen.  Transfer day is always so exciting for me.

I love you all!  Thanks for all the birthday wishes!  CJ made me laugh.

Love,
Elder Garver

P.S. No I didn't get on facebook.  That must have been Sarah or someone.  I'm not allowed to go on any sights besides myldsmail. net.  Thanks for making sure it got done though!

3-28-12

Good Morning!

Today is a great day.  We had a challenging week but it has picked up a ton these past few days.  But more on that in a minute.

First, I got your package!  Thank you!  I haven't opened it yet.  I'm saving it so I can have something to look forward to on my birthday. 

Oh, by the way, did my itunes account work?  Speaking of itunes, don't worry about the music I asked for, I found some enya here!  If you could figure out a way to attach just the theme song from man from snowy river onto an email and send it to me that would be awesome.  Also, I need my new license sent to me as soon as possible.  I might need to get a Philippines License soon and mine expires on my birthday.  With a active license I can just switch it over without any tests or trouble or anything.  I love you!  


Mom, as for the food, we take centrum every day, which packs us with all the vitamins that we need, so I'm good with that.  I'm also switching up my diet a bit so I can eat more meat and protein.  Hopefully I can get a bit fatter soon.  But I am healthy and I feel great.

So work this week!  It was slow moving at first, but great blessings came out of it in the end.

We had originally had another baptism scheduled for this week, but we found out while teaching the Law of Chastity that her marriage to her husband was actually what they call a "secret marriage," and needed to be renewed yearly to stay in effect.  This was not done, and so they aren't lawfully wedded anymore.  This was a huge bummer, but Sister Lisil is still coming to church, and we are working with her husband to try and work our their marriage.

The Labigan family is on fire.  The father and two children are members that we reactivated last transfer, and Sister Labigan has come to church twice in a row, last week without her husband because he had an emergency work call.  The whole family is super talkative in the lessons and all participate.  The Burlous family all came to church this week.  That makes 4 consecutive times for the 3 daughters and the first time for the parents.  They all seemed to have a good time and the father was smiling all through priesthood and gospel doctrine.  We are excited to see them continue to progress.  The children are involved in the youth camp and are going to mutual activities as well.

It's awesome to hear you all doing your part in the states as well!  Let me know how the new member lessons go and how the BBQ goes as well.  I encourage you to do a good study of the Preach My Gospel book in preparation for your lessons.  It is a huge blessing and has tons of great truths in it.  When you prayerfully study that book of scripture, inspiration flows.

I love you all so much!  Keep up the good work back home!

Love,
Elder Garver