Merry Christmas!

Hello to everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I have written, things have just been very busy around here. Missionary work is hard stuff ya know ;)

Well, MERRY CHRISTMAS to each of you and a HAPPY NEW YEAR as well.

I am still in my area here in Kearns with Sister Cheng, she is from Hong Kong, China and is a fireball missionary. We have seen such great success together here, so many people that are golden and ready to enter into their first covenant of Baptism. This Christmas Season brings for many miracles and softens many hearts. I testify that to be true!

Here's a miracle for ya.... we are teaching this wonderful woman named Veda. My companion and her previous companion found her and she was, well, GOLDEN. She grew up in Yugoslavia and was born into a Muslim family but never practiced the religion. She came to UT 20 years ago and heard of the church and never thought anything negative about it. She began to date an Active Member of the church about a year ago and he introduced it to her even more than what she knew. Last conference she was touched by Elder Bednar's talk to all the nonmembers, she felt like that talk was just for her. Then the Sisters showed up at her house the day of and she knew that was a sign from God. She started taking the lessons, the Sisters invited her to be baptized and she was unsure due to different reasons, she didn't feel prepared yet and like she knew enough and was starting to second guess herself. Sister Cheng's companion went home and then I was transferred into the area, I met her and it was like 2 kindred spirits coming together. I shared my conversion story in the first lesson and her heart was touched. We invited her to be baptized and she said YES, that she would pray about December 27th. Later we find out that my story was just what she needed to hear. It was a story of bravery and courage and she knew she was missing just a little bit of faith and courage. She sent us a text asking us to change her date to DECEMBER 25th instead!!!!!! Miracles!!!!!!  I love her so much. I know that this season really does, like I said, soften the hearts of Father's children. 

We also had the blessing and privilege for our Mission President and his wife to attend a few lessons with us last Thursday evening, the SPIRIT was so strong more so than ever before! I love them so much and am grateful for their calling. They have the strongest testimony I have ever seen! They really helped to solidify our investigators :)

I love this gospel. I am so grateful for the humble gift of the Savior given to us by a loving Father in heaven. If you haven't yet watched He Is the Gift, please do! Check out christmas.mormon.org

Discover The Gift through reading the scriptures. Embrace The Gift through prayer. Share The Gift through bring this joy to your friends and family :)

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Sister Garretson

Our zone, last transfer. 

Our two recent converts and their sisters! 

Sister Cheng and I with our investigator Francisco who just was baptized! :) blessings!!

December 1st 2014

Hello to you all!

I don't have anytime to write to you, but I just wanted to send my love and appreciation for all your prayers and love that you have shown to me. We missionaries need all of the prayers that we can get! Also, I know you are praying on behalf of those we are teaching and again, I see the miracles and blessings happening daily in their lives.

It's been a hectic yet SO rewarding of a week. 

We had 2 little girls get baptized this week along with 2 from my last area. And a sister who recently was reactivated in the church from one of my last areas just went through the Temple to receive her Endowment and I was able to go and be a part of that. Being a part of this glorious work is such an honor and I love my Heavenly Father so so much. That's why I get up each and every day! To help Him hasten His work.

In case you may not know, I was transferred AGAIN to Kearns. It's an area FULL of people to find and teach and baptize. They are the more humble people of all the areas I have served in simply because they don't have all that much. My companion is SIster Cheng from Hong King, china. She is a fireball missionary and a powerhouse too! love her so much.

Miracles are happening! I love my mission! I can't believe I only have 6 more months... WHAT! Still so much time :) And I love having the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meetings, yesterday I spoke on President Monson's talk "Be Strong and of a Good Courage." Sharing my conversion story is one of my most powerful tools, along with the Spirit of course. It's a touching story for all to hear. I had a lady come up to me after Sacrament and said, "thank you for your talk, I really needed to hear that because I was having a hard morning." Even if her heart was the only one touched, I did my part.

Love you all! Sorry for the short email... I will add stories next week!

Hugs & Handshakes,

Sister Garretson

Attached are pics from the baptisms!! The first 2 are from my old area and YES my last companion who just went home came back for the baptisms. And the last pic is of the girls in Sister Cheng's and my area.

"To bear your up..."

"And whoso receiveth you, there will I be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."  D&C 84:88

I love this scripture above! I have finally memorized it....thanks to Elder Clarke of the Seventy who visited our mission. He invited us all to do it and promised that it would provide us great strength in times of trial. Trials of which we often face as missionaries. Helping bring Heavenly Father's children unto Him and His Son is not an easy task, I mean look at the greatest missionary of all, The Savior, and all He had to suffer and endure on our behalf JUST to bring His fellow brother's and sister's into the gospel. He literally sacrificed everything, what am I willing to sacrifice to help the people in the area in which we serve? Sister Wall and I are pondering what we can sacrifice and I know that this will bless and strengthen our area so much! We will see the fruits of our labors begin to show time after time. 

A productive week it has been to say the least, meaning we are as busy as ever! Veronica was baptized this past weekend, it was a beautiful experience for Sister Wall and me. So many of her family members, active or not in the church, still came to support! Even her father who isn't active in the church anymore still showed up. I had a surprise part in the program, just the closing prayer! It was really funny though to see Veronica's mom's face when she looked over at me once I realized I was saying it... haha, any way! SO funny thing happened, after Veronica was baptized by her grandpa, she reaches over to the stairs and grabs something. It was her goggles! She put them on and went down under the water to get the plug. All you hear is a "clunk" and then she came up and said, "Got it!" It was the funniest thing I have ever seen. But hey, what else do you expect from a nine year old? i'll attach a pic of us and her and her momma at the baptism.

Solo is still doing so great! He always is reading his scriptures and praying...he loves that he has his own BOM is Malagasy. He comes to our lessons with it and a pen and notebook paper. I have never seen someone so eager to learn in my life! There are personal struggles he still is facing that is keeping him from being baptized...but like our Father in Heaven says, if our desires are of goodness to God in His eyes, He will grant them unto us. We are planning to fast and pray on his behalf! Keep Solo in your prayers too, he would greatly appreciate it. :)

Something powerful I learned this week is the sacred gift and privilege I have as a missionary and a representative of Jesus Christ. I am only set apart for a short amount of time, 18 months!! And I want to give all that I have to help this dear children receive the fullness of blessings that Father has in store for them. A quote I read from Elder Holland, you know how straight forward he is, he said, "Forgive us if we ask so much about obedience. We are called to preach the gospel by the Spirit...and any other way is not of God. If you would just be that comfortable, actually it takes a lot of pressure off. It takes an incredible amount of pressure off us individually. To just say it really is His work and He'll do it and He can do it and He's always done it and He will do it! These are His children to save. This is His work. He will do it, but He's got to have an obedient and spiritually hungry missionary!" I have no comments about that other than he is right! As His servants we must be humble, patient, and full of Love.

Thank you, each of you, for all that you have done to strengthen me! You have each blessed my life! And for that, I know I have to give all my heart to the mission. Heavenly Father continues to bless me and has never forsaken me. He will do the same for you!

Love always and a firm handshake to the men,

Sister Garretson

Veronica's baptism day!

Sister Wall and I burnt a skirt each at one of our fav families houses, for my 9 mo. mark and her year mark! 

Manahoana

Manahoana means hello! :) 

Today was our temple day, we were able to attend a session at the Oquirrh Temple, it was absolutely beautiful and gosh, I learned so much more! It's true, every time you go not matter what number of a time it is, we always are enlightened and given greater knowledge. We don't have a lot of time to email, so I will be short, sweet and simple!

So I recently started reading the New Testament and from my reading this week, I just wanted to share what stuck out to me...maybe each of you might learn something from it.

Mark 6:48-52

The Plan of Salvation for Solo in Malagasy

At The Visitors Center at Temple Square

Heart-attacking someone's door :) 

"And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased:and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened."

Right before these verses, Jesus Christ fed the 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 fishes. Then following this miraculous event is when this scriptures come in... When Peter saw it was Christ, he asked if he could walk on the water and of course, these miracles only work according to our faith. As Peter went to walk on the water, the winds and waves scared him and he began to sink, but in the account of Matthew chapter 14, Christ immediately stretched forth His hand and saves Peter. When His disciples saw that He could stop the winds they were so amazed and in this scripture above, it says that they "wondered." When Jesus saw that they were pondering how this could be, He says "for they considered not the miracle of the loaves." Needless to say, how often to miracles happen in our lives and soon after we forget of the miracles? Why are they so easy to forget? You know, through this story I got that Christ was inviting me to recognize His hand more in my life and to never forget the miraculous things He has done for me, for my family, and for those we are teaching! 

Also, we are teaching someone from Madagascar. His name is Solo (pronounced Soo-loo). We began teaching him this week! Our first lesson was the Plan of Salvation and we drew it out for him on a white board and wrote it in Malagasy so he could follow along. His daughter and her husband translate for us. It's been amazing to gain a testimony on the gift of tongues and to see it right in front of us. Solo has taken the discussions before, he knows the church is true and the BOM is the word of God, he just has some personal hold-ups! He leaves back to Madagascar in November. Please please pray for him. We are taking him to Temple Square soon, there is only ONE Sister there who speaks Malagasy! What a blessing :) It's been so amazing teaching him and learning so much about the church over in their country. It's almost like I am not even serving in Utah! Haha.

One more thing! This Stake is growing, we have the same vision as the Stake President and are doing everything in our power to set goals and make plans to make that vision come true!! Elder Clark of the Seventy said that, "Goals not written down are only dreams. Dreams don't come true." Oh, that hit us hard! Setting goals is a lesson to learn for a lifetime! This Stake has such powerful leadership! SO much is going to happen this transfer! My new companion is a rock star too...love her so much!

Well, thank you for the love and support! I appreciate and pray for you all! My hugs and handshakes go out to you. Have a blessed week! 

Some other words in Malagasy:

Valoma=Good bye

Salama=I'm doing good

Tafandria mandry=Good night

Misaotra=Thank you

I told Solo and his family (who are all members BUT him) that I am going to Madagascar! I have this new obsession with the language :) 

 

Valoma!

Sister Garretson

September

From September 1, 2014 

Hello to you all!

Got myself a new companion, her name is Sister Wall. She hales from Marietta, GA! Everyone here loves us southern gals :) we have to spice up Utah a bit!

Not too much has changed in the area! Veronica is on date to be baptized on the 13th of September and we are just so excited for her. It's been a blessing to have taught her! She's obsessed with cats, it's too cute. She's only 9 yrs old and her dad wouldn't let her be baptized unless she decided to come to church and if she herself decided to be baptized and she did!! So the mom told us in Relief Society a couple Sundays ago that she had a daughter for us to teach. Golden people!! Ah! They are all over the Salt Lake Valley, all over the world too! But honestly, listen to this. As 5 proselyting missions together in the Salt lake valley, there are over 400 people baptized every month. Mind blower! There seriously are people that are here trying to find us, not just us finding them. 

I don't have too much time to write today, but I sure do love each of you so much! Enjoy these lovely pics and also your week to come! 

May God bless you in all you do! Remember that Jesus Christ loves you and there isn't one man or woman that He would deny coming unto Him. He invites all men, everywhere, no matter what :) because He loves us!

 2 Nephi 26:33

"For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile."

I've seen Father's love for me and His children pour out like a river of flowing water and I know that He desires to share this love with all that will come unto him. Coming Unto Christ is a invitation that we are all given, we are not forced to do so but to choose for ourselves. Why, isn't that what love is?

Handshake and lotssss of love,

Sister Garretson

SMILE!

From August 25, 2014

To be "Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal." -2 Nephi 9:39 (Smile)

Well, this week marks the end of this transfer. It's gone by in a jiffy! I will find out tomorrow about transfers, but I have a feeling that The Lord sees fit that I should stay in this area at least one more transfer, but who really knows....right? Apart from transfers, my 9 month mark is coming up! And Christmas is in just 4 months! And General Conference is in just 6 short weeks! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!? That means that we need to catch up with Heavenly Father's pace in Hastening His Work of Salvation. Yes! 

I haven't sent an email for a couple weeks, but here is a quick update on what's all been going on here in Riverton/Herriman.

We had a member of the Seventy, Elder Clark, he came and visited our mission a couple weeks ago. He trained our mission and gosh, there is so much to improve! But there were many things that he taught not only to all of us, but to me, personally. One thing was that we should never be apologetic to the Lord's standards. Another was that we never really give 100% in trying, we only give each of our certain percentages and well, the Lord makes up for the rest. And the thing that stuck out the most was, we asked him, "How do we increase our desire?" He took a minute to ponder, then said:

"You must first decide deep inside if you even want to make it to the Celestial Kingdom. Then you ask yourself, 1) Do I love myself? 2) Do I believe in my potential? 3) Do I love myself enough to do it?"

I have taken this much into consideration, asking myself if my goal really is to make it to the Celestial Kingdom to dwell with my family, my Father and His Son forever. That IS my desire, is that yours? Is that what your goal is? If so, what are we doing in this life to make it possible? Hmm..

Something else that happened this week was that out Sister Training Leader sent us a text and said that she felt inspired to go on exchanges with me. That was an answer to my prayers! I went with her to her area, she taught me so many great things. One though in particular is to be more confident in the power that I have as a missionary to guide the area to help it reach it's full potential. To also help my companion become her full potential. And that in this process of giving selflessly to others, I will then begin to find myself and start reaching for my full potential some day. And the STL said she had many things to learn from me, that I taught her as well. That just lifted my spirits to help me know that I am really counting many lives. 

I may walk away from a lesson and think, wow, I totally butchered that one. But maybe the people that we just left were sitting there thinking, "wow, did you just feel that?" Heavenly Father merely uses us as His instruments and He called us to be missionaries not because we are like Christ, but because He desires to help us become more like Him. Many changes are being wrought in my life and I hope that each of you see the change in me once we meet again after the mission.

We are teaching a good amount of people, but please keep some of them in your prayers! Eternity, Veronica, and Vilate! 

Love you all!!! have a great week :)

Handshake,

Sister Garretson

ps - read 2 Nephi 4, that was an answer to my prayers too! Notice the change in Nephi that comes and how he relies on the Atonement to change him!

Baptism!

Hello to you all! Sorry that I have been slacking in sending out my emails. Needless to say, things get pretty crazy on the mission and time on P-day is so limited to all that we have to do. So I shall update you on what all is going on in the area.

First off, we had a BAPTISM Saturday, it was for Rusty! You all didn't know that we were teaching him. So here's the story:

There's a Transitional Home in the Stake that we serve in and basically it's a program that men can join who are recently getting out of jail and are "transitioning" back to life. This program is something they have to pay to be in for 3 months and have certain rules they have to follow. For example, curfew is 9pm, they have to attend a church service on Sunday(any church), and they have to basically include God in this change in their lives (and they use the LDS Addiction Recovery Program). They each have had to overcome addictions and it's amazing to see the change that has wrought in them and the amount of humility which they hold for applying the Atonement into their lives. Ok, with all of this said. Rusty, he's been in the program for a month and a half or so and he has been attending our church on Sunday's. I guess he talked with the Bishop and the Bishop called us about 2 weeks ago and said that he has a desire to be baptized. WHAT!! :D so we got together and met with him, taught him for a week and a half and he was baptized Saturday!! WOOHOO!!! He has such a willingness to change and such a strong and deep love for Jesus Christ and to follow his example. What a beautiful baptism it was! Many people attended and showed him their love and support. I'll attach a pic of him at the baptism with the email :)

So this Transitional Home, or White House (it's what we call it), it's filled with men that are member's and some that aren't. The head guy of the program, Joseph, is LDS and he invited us to come and introduce ourselves to them at a meeting they had. After we introduced ourselves and told them that we are there for them if they ever would like to talk or meet with us. That we as the Lord's servants and missionaries, we can help them learn how to apply the Atonement of Christ into their lives and come closer to their Father in Heaven. Joseph put our number on the whiteboard and the next couple of days, there were some of the guys that gave us a call and had a desire to meet! And the GREATEST part is when we go to their church, which is right by their house, we save an entire row for them and it's amazing to see them sitting in Sacrament meeting! That's where they and each of us need to be every Sunday!

And don't worry, we are safe. We have people attend lessons's with us and normally have the lesson's outside of the church on the grass, right by the road. Honestly, it's such a heart warming experience to watch them each apply the Atonement into their lives and then actually change, they pray always and read their scriptures always and there wouldn't be a sacrament they would ever intentionally miss. They always bring their scriptures to meet with us and are so eager and excited to learn!! I love it so much!!

SO many miracles are occurring in this area, we have apartments and that's a goldmine for finding people to teach! The Lord is truly blessing us for the hard work that we are putting forth. I know this is where I have been called to serve and it's an immense blessing to see even those who are member's of the church, but have fell away, to see them rekindle their testimony and come back into the arms of a loving Heavenly Father. 

The gospel, THAT is what's perfect. No, the people within it are not. I mean, isn't that why Christ came here to the Earth? We are all inadequate, we all need to be uplifted, strengthened, and edified by the Atonement of the Savior, Jesus Christ! It's through Him and by Him that we can become clean, become even as He is, and one day dwell in everlasting happiness with Him and our Father forever. 

May each of you ever so recognize the hand of The Lord in your lives each day and always give thanks unto Him by night.. You all are in my prayers and are always on our Father's mind, he is mindful of each of you. Of your needs, desires, and intents. A guy we teach, Matt, he said to us that, "We must look unto Him, have Him be your best friend. Your friends influence your actions, let His righteous actions influence you!" Love it!

Well, this is all I have for the time being. Love you all and hope this week is the BEST ever!!!! 

Handshake,

Sister Garretson

Layne, Sister Castro, Rusty 

Welcome to Riverton!

Layne's first time eating a crawdad!