Pictures

I am in the Sandy East area! Right now I have two companions.

Me, Sister Smith, Sister Wright. 

Sister Smith broke her foot :( She will be getting a transfer soon.

Our zone in the MTC 

Pointing to my mission :) 

Our Faith Predicts Miracles...

Hello!

Sending all of my love that way. I think of you all so often because I am always realizing how blessed I am to have this beautiful gospel in my life, to have had the help from my wonderful ward, great friends, and a loving and supportive family to have made any of this even possible for me! There are so many blessings being bestowed upon me, it's incredible! Not only is the Missionary Training Center a place to come closer to Christ, it is a place where we can convert and gain testimonies of this everlasting and eternal gospel! One thing that the MTC stands for to me is, "My Time with Christ." Neat, huh? :) 

Both my companion and I work so well together and have effective lessons. Yes, they don't always go as planned and it IS frustrating at times, but I know that the Spirit was always present and THAT is what testifies to each one of us the truth. It "brings to our remembrance" what was forgotten once we passed through the veil. The Holy Ghost is essential to have as a Companion, too! So it's as if I am really in a trio! Because even the investigators knew, at one point, all that we are teaching to them...and the Spirit allows that veil to be parted and reminds them of the goodness they once knew, of how they should partake of the fruit and never be thirsty!

The Lord has entrusted me with this message. I have been called to go forth and share it with those whom the Lord has prepared before my face. I can only do this through the power of the Holy Spirit. It's the testifier of ALL things and it connects us to Jesus Christ and God the Father. I want to strive to be the BEST missionary that I can be and that can happen as I am living worthy to have the companionship of the Spirit. The Spirit is what guides us to receiving revelation and it shows us what the investigators need in order for their conversion to happen. Yes, Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End are essential and what we are sharing, but those are all centered around the Atonement of Jesus Christ! Those are just principles that lead us to The Atonement! I mean, we even pray in Christ's name. Meaning, we pray through His Atonement...as in our prayers are meant to change us! Establishing that relationship with God is so important! He promises blessings, He promises comfort, peace, knowledge! Ahhh, I just love this gospel! 

So I leave the MTC on Wednesday, FINALLY!!!!!!!

My new address will be just at the mission home until I have my first assigned place to live! It is:

Sister Layne V. Garretson

Utah Salt Lake City South Mission

8060 S 615 E 

Sandy, UT 84070

I love and miss you all! I am so happy to be here. We are always so busy at the MTC and in the mission field we don't even have time to sit and think about how much we miss home. Although it is hard for some, I can admit I have found myself a little homesick as I lay my head down at night. BUT! I am ready to finally head into the field, get some yummy home-cooked meals, and change the lives of those I share the gospel with Forever. What a blessing to be doing the Lord's work. I am honored! :)

Remember:

"Our faith predicts miracles."

Love always,

Sister Garretson

My very first post in the MTC!

I love you all. Oh, and I miss you all a ton!

How are things going at home? I hope well :) I pray for you all every day about how you can find happiness and trust that The Lord will help you through any struggles that you all may face. I know it may be hard with me gone, or maybe not at all! But know that I think of you all often. Especially when we are taught that families can be together forever (this is for my family:). I want nothing more than be that with you all. In this past week I have gained so much knowledge about the love that our Father in Heaven has for all of His children! Yes, even mother's and father's. WE are ALL His sons and daughters. He wants nothing more than to see us happy in this life and in the life to come. He wants to limit each of your stress, unhappiness, sadness, and solely fill you all with the joy of this everlasting gospel!

As a missionary, we are being taught here more in depth about the beautiful gospel of Jesus Christ. Here, at the Missionary Training Center WE as missionaries are converted and choose to change our lives, our thoughts, our choices, our actions, and be merely obedient to what Heavenly Father wants us to be. Which is that we serve Him with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength! Yes, we have a very strict schedule.. But let me say, I have never realized how much time we can waste in just one day alone. We have to be at breakfast BY 6:30am, which wakes us up at about5:30am. Then we have a ton of personal study time, companionship study time, and class. We have about four teachers that help show us how to become amazing missionaries by serving the Lord diligently and serving His people the same. THEN in the middle of that all, we have lunch and dinner.. Then more of the studying and classes! Then at 10:15pm we have what is personal time with our Father in Heaven and writing in our journals. I choose at this time to report to God of the things I have learned this day and ask Him what it is that He thinks I need to fix, need to change. Then I sit and listen, listen for His reply. It usually is by just a feeling of comfort, happiness, or even a thought! Communicating with Him is one of the 2 ways we can be in touch with heaven. He keeps the door slightly cracked and through prayer, being the first one, and through the companionship of the Spirit, we can be in touch with Heaven and feel His love as often as we want. BUT, that is up to us.

I have been called here to serve a mission as a representative of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am to love those whom I teach these lessons to, and be led by the Spirit to teach them what it is exactly that God wants them to know. I know I don't feel qualified to do this work, but we were not called because we ARE qualified, but because we are His chosen elect and He will qualify us!

Me and my companion, Sister Williams, get along great! It's neat to always have someone with you 24/7...but don't worry, I have my privacy when I am in the shower and using the facilities. haha! She is from Pennsylvania. Her and I act SO MUCH alike, it's ridiculous. She is just as silly and goofy as I am. I love her! We do this thing every day, called companionship inventory, and her and I figure out what we can do better as a companionship and set goals for ourselves. For instance, having a more effective companion study or making sure we remember to pray together before bed and when we arise. Her and I have been blowing minds left and right of the light and love that we bring with us every where we go. Even to the investigator that we teach, who really is our teacher.. shhh haha! But on a serious note, our Branch President and his counselors, similar to a Bishop and his two counselors, assigned the two of us to be the Sister Training Leaders. SO COOL!! We take care of the Zone Sister Missionaries. There are 9 of us, one is a trio! Within a Zone there are Elders and Sisters. We are amazing, THEY are amazing. I love them so much. I have had some of the most spiritual experiences with them. My comp and I are assigned so that we may help these Sister come closer to Christ!

My address is:

Sister Layne V. Garretson

DEC18 UT-SLCS 

2009 N 900 E Unit 170

Provo, UT 84602

I want you to know you DO NOT have to worry at all. I am being well taken care of here. Oh and let me tell you, the food is an ALL YOU CAN EAT buffet. I have to be careful how much I eat or else I will be gaining some weight! Lol

I want to leave you all with something that has really touched my heart this week.

So Jesus Christ is the center of it all. Because of Him we are able to return and live with both Him and God again. Christ is the vine and we are the branches! His work abides in us as missionaries, but only if we abide in Him. His love is what changes the world. He can provide that joy in us but only if we strive to follow and live His commandments. We are called as missionaries to share this love with others! We don't only follow the commandments of "thou shalt not," but also the first and foremost important commandment that we "love one to another" (John 15:1-16). This goes along with how we teach our investigators.. Our trainer told us to look upon them as if they are wearing all white, see the potential Heavenly Father sees in them, and most importantly LOVE them as He loves them. These things that we teach to them are not of a man's wisdom, but of a "demonstration of the Spirit and of Power" (1 Corinthians 2:4).

I am so happy to be here! I am learning so fast, it's overwhelming at times. But I am glad I decided to take part in the Lord's work!

I love you ALL!!

Sister Garretson

Called to Serve.

Hello!
Well, this isn’t a total goodbye…it’s more like an “I’ll see ya later!” 
The time has finally come for me to be leaving to head out on my mission. I am so so very thankful for this opportunity that we have in the church to serve as a full-time missionary. This was never in my plans before because the age to serve was 21 when I first joined the church. Now it is at 19 and we have over 80,000 missionaries serving worldwide. Incredible, right??

How did I come about this decision to serve then? 
Well, I joined the church on April 8th of 2012. Twice a year the church holds what’s called “General Conference(GC).” Once in April, once in October. April GC had just passed so my first GC ever was to be in October. Prior to the conference I knew all about missions, but like I said I never thought I would be able to serve. Especially given the circumstances of school and finances, I could not afford it what-so-ever. Anyway, my first GC the age changed for both the boys and the girls. The men can now serve at the age of 18, it used to be 19. And the girls can serve at the age of 19, it used to be 21. As soon as I heard the age changed, it hit me really hard that not only did this changed happen for all of the young members of our church, but especially for me. I knew that I joined the church at the time I did JUST SO I could go off and serve a mission. We can plan life all we want, but it always ends up turning out how God has destined it to be! Always. Because I had this plan of serving a mission, I knew that I needed to be in a better surrounding of the LDS lifestyle. Allowing myself the opportunity to learn and progress so I can be the best missionary that I can be. I was currently attending Polk State College in 2012 after I graduated from high-school. It was such a blessing because my parents had prepayed my schooling, so the money I had not needed to worry about. But for some reason, I could feel Heavenly Father telling me that it wasn't where He wanted me to be, and that he had some place better in mind. So I had a friend from church who was attending Brigham Young University in Idaho. He said nothing but great things about the school and how it’s such a perfect place to be in preparatory to a mission. I decided why not, why not apply and see what happens. Needless to say, I was accepted! So I attended school there from January 2013 to July 2013. What an UH-MAZING experience. While I was there I battled back and forth with a mission. One day I was feeling really good, the next I wasn't sure if that is what Heavenly Father wanted for me. I didn't have a lot of support from home, so that made it pretty tough as well. But that was only because they didn't understand, which was okay but hard for me to be okay with. 
After returning home from school, I was able to visit with my family once again and see how they were doing. Life was good. Both of my parents had come to know that me being a member of this church wasn't going to change so they were supporting me, that’s all I have ever wanted. Then, once again, I received that prompting from Heavenly Father, “Layne, you need to serve a mission.” I took it seriously this time and fasted and prayed. I decided that the way I shall know if I am to go is if once I go to tell my parents of my decision and they say yes, then that’s it! I am going! After I prayed hard for a week then fasted on the last day, right after I broke the fast I went into my parent’s room and talked to them. I reminded them about how they love to see me happy with a smile lit up on my face. I said, “I know you both like seeing me happy and what I am about to tell you makes me do that exactly, if not more. I want to serve a mission.” Their reply was much to my surprise, they said YES! I just knew that it was what I needed to do. So I got together with my Bishop, filled out my papers and sent them off! I now am going to be serving as a missionary in the Utah Salt Lake City South Mission. I am so excited and so ready for this!! I enter the Missionary Training Center this Wednesday, December 4th. I would love to hear from you all! Just click on the “Contact Me” button and my info is all there. I love you all! I shall see you in 1-1/2 years
Eternally, -Sister Garretson-