Day 38

Well, this has been a good week. On Sunday when Elder Stout and I were meeting with the Branch Presidency, we were discussing a lot about our own district, and an Elder in it who hasn't really been focusing at all and goofs off all the time. As a result, President Stewart decided to do some companion exchanges, so Elder Stout is now the companion of Elder Borchert, and I am the companion of Elder Zollinger. This is kind of an interesting situation for us, because Elder Stout and I are still the zone leaders, but we aren't companions. Oh well. It seems to be working out well though, and I've really enjoyed getting to learn from a new companion.

We had a cool experience on Wednesday in TRC. We were talking with an older gentleman, and I was able to make all sorts of connections with him and it was really fun to talk to him, and it wasn't so much a lesson about faith and prayer as it was a discussion (which is pretty good because we've been studying Spanish for about 5 weeks). After we were done with our time in TRC, our person asked us if we knew Spanish before we came here, and we told him we didn't.  He was really impressed with our abilities, so that boosted our self-esteem quite a bit. It was really cool because when we got here Elder Zollinger and I were the two elders who had no Spanish knowledge prior to the MTC, and we were able to carry on a conversation with someone for 45 minutes in the language.

 

This week we had "In-Field Orientation," which lasted from 8 until 5 on Thursday. It was really long, but really helpful, and it was good to talk more about finding people to teach and working with members and the ward (or branch) leaders. Mostly it just got me excited to leave on Monday.

 

I was able to see a lot of friends this week, which was really awesome. I see Nalany Resek a few times a week because she works at the cafeteria on the West Campus, so that's pretty cool. I saw Sister Aubrey West on Thursday at "In-Field Orientation," because she leaves this next week to go to Tennessee.   Because the orientation was at the main campus, I was really hoping that I'd be able to see Elder Scott Taylor, but I felt like the odds of seeing him weren't very good. We ate lunch and dinner at the main campus, and during lunch as I was waiting in line I was looking all over for him. Finally I found him... right in front of me eating lunch with his district. It was so fantastic and exciting to see him and talk with him for about 5 minutes. Unfortunately, neither of us had cameras so we don't have a picture of it. Last but certainly not least, as we took the bus back to the West Campus after the orientation, I got off and found Kindi Nybo waiting to get on the bus. It was so wonderful to see her even though we didn't get to talk long because she had to get on her bus. Probably the weirdest thing about seeing people that I knew from high school though is that I can only shake the girls hands. Fortunately, Elder Taylor and I were able to enjoy several hugs together.

That´s pretty much it for this week.  In 4 days I will land in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

 

Yo sé que esta obra es la obra de Díos, y yo veo tu mano en mi vida cada dia. Tengo un gran testimonio de mi Salvador, Jesucristo, y estoy muy agradecido por tu expiacion y la oportunidad que nosotros tenemos mejorar nuestras vidas y volver y vivir con Díos para siempre con nuestras familias eternas. Yo sé que José Smith fue un profeta y El Libro de Mormón es verdadero. Lo contiene las palabras de Díos, y cuando nosotros leemos este libro, podemos llegar a ser mas cerca de nuestro Padre Celestial. Estoy muy entusiasmado traer este mensaje a las personas en Argentina en cuatro dias cuando yo llego. En el nombre de mi Salvador, hermano, y amigo, Jesucristo, amen.

 

Elder Garrett