Una semana interesante

This was an... interesting week. Last Sunday while looking for a lost frisbee, I gave Elder Fabila a boost to look up on a high shelf and he fell and accidentally hit me in the head above my ear pretty hard with his elbow. My head hurt a lot, and the next day when I woke up, not only did my head hurt, but I couldn't move my neck at all. I talked to Sister Ayre and she sent me to the hospital, so we got there at about 8 pm Monday night. The doctor told me that I had a traumatismo de cráneo (not sure how to say that in English) (Head trauma). They gave me a shot (of I don't know what) and a few hours later I could move my neck a little, but it still hurt really bad. They gave me some pills to take for a few days and they told me that I had to rest 48 hours. We left the hospital at about 1:30 am, and arrived in Zárate at about 3 am. I'm doing fine now, my head and neck aren't bothering me. The best part of it is that Sister Ayre said that the mission pillows aren't good for my neck, so she told me to use some of the zone money to buy a good pillow:) The worst part of it was that we couldn't work on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.

On Wednesday and Thursday we finally moved from the tiny apartment to a much bigger apartment. The secretaries said that it is the best apartment in the mission. It has a nice kitchen, living and dining room, with a room to study, and a bedroom. It also has 2 air conditioners, which is fantastic. It would be more fantastic if it were still summer here, but it is already starting to cool down. The bad news is that we had to finish up the moving on Thursday morning, and in the afternoon we had a bunch of meetings at church and weren't able to spend time in our area finding people to teach.

On Friday we were finally able to work in our area and we taught 15 lessons in one day. We were able to find a couple new investigators that seemed really great and that wanted to be baptized. It felt so good to finally be able to get out in our area and work.

On Saturday and Sunday Elder Fabila was sick and there weren't any members who could do divisions with us, so we were once again confined to the apartment and we couldn't work. Sunday afternoon when we were in the apartment, Elder Sanchez and Elder Lanas arrived because Elder Lanas was also sick, so he stayed with Elder Fabila and Elder Sanchez and I left to go work for 3 hours in my area, which was a nice break from being in the apartment. 

Then, last night when I got home, I wasn't feeling too great. I spent the rest of the night throwing up, so that wasn't very fun. I now feel pretty good though, so I'm excited to work hard after Pday gets over and find new people to teach! The truth is... this week was pretty horrible because we hardly got to work. It is so boring just being in the apartment. I'm really excited for this week and positive that we are going to find many people to teach!  This is the best work there is! This is the most important work there is! 

Que la fuerza les acompañe.

Love,

Elder John William Garrett

This past week was really wonderful. Elder Fabila and I are staying together another transfer as zone leaders here in Zárate, and we are really excited to keep working hard and helping our zone reach its potential. We had a really excellent zone meeting on Thursday and we could feel the Spirit very strongly.

This past week was a little rough in that we weren't able to find many new people who wanted to progress. However, we are going to keep working hard this week. On Sunday after church we cornered every member and asked them for referrals and in the end got about 20, so we're pretty excited. Our ward mission leader Mati is the best and is helping us a lot. 

The Ramirez family is progressing really well and yesterday we were helping them do some family history work so that they can take names to the temple when they go next week. They are so incredible. On Saturday Elder Fabila, Julio, and I bought matching ties to wear on Sunday which was pretty cool. He is going to bless the sacrament this week.

On Wednesday this past week the Bishop notified us that we would be having a Missionary Sacrament Meeting. The four of us missionaries and our ward mission leader had to give talks, and we did a special musical number of "We'll Bring the World His Truth." We each sang parts of the song solo, which was pretty nerve-wracking. The members said it sounded good though. I was really excited to give my talk, especially now that I have... a considerable amount of time on the mission and can speak pretty well. I planned a really great talk about the real reason of why we do missionary work, planning to talk about the creation, the fall of Adam, the Atonement, and some other thrilling topics. I was supposed to have about 15 minutes to speak... but I was the last speaker and I was left with just 5 minutes. It was probably one of the most spiritual experiences that I have had. During Sacrament Meeting I said a prayer and told the Lord that I had studied a lot and prepared a lot of material for my talk, but that I wanted Him to guide me to say what I needed to say. In the end, I gave a completely different talk from that which I had prepared. I was a little nervous walking up, but when I was in front of everyone I was completely calm, and the words just came flowing out of my mouth without even thinking. I mostly testified of the Savior using Moses 1:39, Mosíah 5:8, and D&C 18. Anyway, it was an incredible experience, and I definitely felt like the Lord spoke through me.

Thanks for all the support! I love you all! Que la fuerza les acompañe!

Love,

Elder John William Garrett

New Transfer and New Zone!

Today was transfers, and I have a new zone! Well... somewhat. Elder Fabila and I are staying together in Zárate, but there were 4 missionaries from the zone who finished their missions and a few others who got transferred, so it is a pretty new zone. We are so excited to stay together in this zone and excited to have a lot of success together! 

This past week was somewhat of a challenge in that we talked with a lot of people but no one wanted to progress in the gospel. We were going to have 2 baptisms on Saturday but they both decided not to get baptized at the last minute, so that was a bit disappointing. Oh well. There are more people that the Lord has prepared waiting for us! If there is something that I have learned in the mission, it is to be optimistic. Every day we are rejected. Most of the people tell us "no." However, all of the "nos" are worth it when someone says "sí." I know that the Lord is guiding this work and that He will guide us towards those chosen children of His, all we have to do is live worthy of the guidance of the Spirit and work diligently.

I had a couple of cool experiences this past week. On Sunday Julio received the Priesthood. It was a really special experience for the whole family, and they are still progressing really well towards their sealing goal. I love them so much! On Sunday we had the despedidas in San Fernando and I saw Joel from Pablo Nogués. He was a less-active 20 year-old. We worked a lot with him about 10 months ago and on Sunday he hugged me and said, "thanks to you guys, I'm preparing my papers to serve a mission." I also got to see Ana who we baptized in Chacabuco about 2 months ago, and her parents are getting married on Febuary 25th and are going to get baptized! 

It's a good day to be a missionary. Que la fuerza les acompañe.

Much love,

Elder John William Garrett

This week was pretty good. We are a little disappointed that we weren't able to find more progressing investigators, but we are ready to find a lot this week! This week as a zone we are going to focus a lot in expanding our circle of members to teach more lessons and have more progressing investigators. We are going to be focusing a lot on getting to know and working with more members, teaching short effective lessons with super strong commitments to see if the people really have the desire to progress in the gospel. In the past 6 months in the barrio Zárate, almost all of the converts have been children under the age of 12, and we feel that with this new focus so that they progress, it is helping us help others to become converted. It is incredible to see the difference as we focus a lot on the desire of the people to progress and we see them fulfill their commitments. There is a special spirit about them. This past Sunday a few of our recent converts had the opportunity to share their testimonies and it was really incredible to hear them testify of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the church.

In the first week after the baptisms of our investigators, all of them were faced with many challenges. Abril, the 9 year-old daughter of the Ramirez Family spent half the week in the hospital due to an illness that is going around. It was incredible to see that the family coped with these problems by reading the scriptures and praying together. Whenever Abril was in pain she would ask her mom to read to her from the Book of Mormon.

This week we have Antonella as a very strong possibility for baptism. She is the 19 year-old niece of an active family in the ward (her uncle was even a stake president), and she lives with the family. She has been attending church every week for the past 8 months but never had the desire to be baptized. These past few weeks we have been stopping by each day to help her gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon and it is really incredible to see the change that is taking place in her. If all goes well she will be baptized this week.

Today we had an activity as a zone and we played futbol and ate pizza. I think I'm improving with my futbol skills, Elder Fabila is helping me a lot. Julio, the father in the Ramirez family, came to play with us and had a great time.

I'm doing really well. Elder Fabila and I get along well together and we are having a lot of fun while working as hard as we can. I'm really learning a lot from him. I am grateful to have him as a companion, he is a fantastic missionary and a great friend. I'm doing all that I can to improve each day and help others become the best missionaries they can be.

Que la fuerza les acompañe!

Much love,
Elder John William Garrett