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!

Riverton

Can you believe it! WHAT!? :O

So we go to a Zone Meeting last Tuesday at 4pm and have a little bit of training from the Zone Leader's and then at the end they tell us our transfer news. Once they got to me, I knew for a fact that either Sister Lopez or myself would be transferring to a new area. This we knew because the AP's called her and said she would be training. Any way, Elder Hammond looks at me and says that I will be leaving and Sister Lopez will be staying. Ah! Just to know that we were being separated BROKE my heart, I already miss her a ton and it hasn't even been a week yet. BUT! When they tell me my new are and new Zone Leader's I about fell to the ground being overjoyed! Haha. So they tell me that I am going to the Harvest Park Stake which is in Riverton, Utah and that I would be in the Herriman Zone with the ZL's being Elder's Northrop and Salmon! AH! Elder Northrop was my District Leader in Sandy for 3 months. I was stoked. Also my MTC companion, Sister WIlliams, she's in my Zone too! haha...and then!!!! They told me my companion was going to be Sister Castro! Hahahaha this is too funny. So she was MTC companions with my trainer, Sister Wight. AND when Sister Castro and I would see each other at Zone Conferences, we would always say that some day we would be companions because we just have TOO much fun together. And it's almost been a week and by golly gracious, funniest week of my life! Some things that are cool though, 1) she's from Vaccaville(sp?), California which is between Sacramento and San Fran. AND this is the best part, she joined the church in May of 2012! We both have been member's for the same amount of time and it's the most touching thing when we both can bare witness of how the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has changed our lives forever as being newly member's to the Church.

Here's a picture of us together :)

I come into this Stake that we serve in and the boundaries actually just changed and so we are white washing a few wards (means we are the new Sister's in the wards and don't know anyone or anything that's going on and have to well, start from scratch). That's been a little hectic, but totally possible! For sure! Oh and the best part is, we don't have a car. I never realized how spoiled I was in Sandy with a car for 6 months and in WJ with a car too because our area was so big. Now, we ask member's all the time for rides and it's amazing how willing they are to stop what they are doing to offer us a ride somewhere. It's definitely teaching me to be more organized with our planning and who we go to see. AND we are over some apartments, they are in the news wards we are covering now and we had some fun experiences the other day tracting in them. SO! This was the game, to make it fun. Sister Castro and I would walk up to a door and right after we knocked we would say a random word and we would have to incorporate it into our door approach with them. Haha so Sister Castro knocked and I told her, "Cheesecake." She gave me the funniest look and then a lady answers the door and actually invited us in. We ended up having a lesson with her, but this is so funny! When Sister Castro was testifying that the Church was true, she said, "You know, the gospel makes you feel really good, kind of like after you eat a piece of Cheesecake." HAHAHAHA that was the funniest thing and I could NOT even laugh, oh it was hilarious. So the next door we go to, I knock and she tells me, "Tiger." This guy answers the door and I started immediately testifying of how through "Christ's Atonement we can overcome our sins and transgressions and how we can relate it to a tiger with stripes. We have stripes on us that show our transgressions and that through what Christ has done and through Baptism we can have them washed away and become like a Lion." Haha most random thing ever, but at the spur of the moment the spirit was there and testified to him that it was true! We invited him to come to Temple Square with us and he said yes, that he was interested in knowing more! Sweet!

We are also teaching some other people, but I'll say more about them next week. Needless to say it has been some of the most humbling experiences for me to go through and to see them having overcome all that they have. It's amazing to watch the Atonement of Jesus Christ truly bring many changes to peoples lives as they choose to accept Him and follow His Example and live by the Father's Will for us. 

I am excited to watch miracle after miracle unfold before us as we strive our hardest to seek from Heavenly Father what it is that we must know and do in order to help bring His children back to Him some day. Serving a mission is one of the most humbling experiences and is something that allows me to know the Savior more personally and come to a knowledge of all He went through, suffered, and endured not just for me but for all those whom we meet on a day to day basis. Also for my friends and even my family. The Gospel is for all and I know that it's something that can bless our lives and bring great joy, additional joy to each of us. I am so honored to be able to represent the Savior for these short 18 months, it truly is an honor and privilege. 

May the Lord bless each of you as you strive to daily pray to the Father, read from the Holy Scriptures and come and attend church. He is there! I know it and I feel His presence every day. I love each of you. I hope you know that!

Eternally,

Sister Garretson

The scripture that is the theme of this past week, we have shared it with everyone we meet... it's Alma 7:14-16. Boom, love it!

Layne's Fourth of July Letter!

Happy 4th to you all! Let me tell you, the Salt Lake Valley really knows how to celebrate them a fourth. WAHOO! But seriously, the valley fireworks are amazing! Such a beautiful view. Wow!

Sorry it has been a while since I have sent out a mass email, please do forgive me. I will keep this one as short as possible, seeing the time is almost up for emailing!

So, the baptism picture below is of a girl named Nyla. She lived in a less active home, she is eight by the way, but she decided for herself that she wanted to be baptized so we went and taught her the lesson's beforehand. They are just the most darling family! The mom has started coming back to church a couple times a month and the dad still hasn't been coming, but it was so nice for us to be welcomed into their home and to have played fun games with the 3 girls to teach them more about the Christ! What an adorable family and don't they have just the CUTEST girls. Awe! Love it. It's my weakness, kids. :)

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The following picture is of a family that we ate lunch with on Saturday. Their girls are so cute too! I found out that they had chickens and oh golly, it just reminded me so much of home. I needed a picture holding a chicken :)

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And these last pictures, well here is the story short, sweet and simple. Basically, Sister Lopez and I got home and wanted to watch the fireworks in the valley. There are some nice areas with hills we could go watch it on, but to be Obedient, we stayed at home. We decided to go on top of the roof. SO, we went to the garage and got a ladder to take to the backyard and climb up on top. Now, listen, the roof was SO steep and slippery. It took her and I trying like 5 times to finally have the guts to go up there. (most of you know I don't do heights. No way!) So I finally make it up and pull Sister Lopez up too. Like I said, the view was GORGEOUS! I would DIE to have that view in my backyard. So so so pretty! Any way, after we were done we decided to go back inside but as we went to go try and get down, we realized it's not possible because the ladder was too far away from our feet. Sister Lopez tried going down backwards, but she's so short (haha) that she couldn't reach it! While trying to go down she was singing, "Heavenly Father, are you really there? " (the child's prayer hymn haha). And I tried, but it was still too far for me too and I was so afraid we would knock over the ladder. AH! So we started panicking, and oh yeah, we didn't have our phone on us to call for help. We walk to the other side of the roof to try and see if we could jump, still too high! After worrying so much we look over and see that the neighbor's were sitting in the grass. (tender mercy). Shouting out to them, "help!" Haha they come over and bring a super tall ladder and help us down. Needless to say, plan ahead both getting up and getting down. But hey, it was a neat experience :)

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​The neighbor's coming to the rescue!!!

And just a spiritual thought for you all, it's from 1 Nephi 8 regarding the tree of life. Something neat I learned about it is when is says in verse 30:  

"But, to be short in writing, behold, he saw other multitudes pressing forward; and they came and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree."

Imagine this, they came to the tree, desiring to partake of the fruit, and they fall down first and THEN partake of the tree. How is it that they could fall and then partake of the tree? Think about where a fruit normally is, higher in the tree, and yet they were on the ground, on their knees. Well, something I learned is that Christ is right there to hand to you that fruit, which is exceedingly white and desirable above all other fruit. The fruit represents the Atonement and the Gospel of Christ, He is the Keeper of it all. He is the one of whom we must partake of in order to have eternal life. I am so blessed to be working alongside the Savior. I love Him and I know that He and the Father love each of you so very much!

Have a great week and God Bless!

Sister Garretson