2015.11.02 Independencia

2015.11.02 Independencia

Hey Mom,

This week was pretty good, and it wasn´t too hot. Lemme answer your questions:

1. Capacitation is like a conference basically. as in capacity, not as decapitated, decapitation.

2.Elder Pieper did come, and many of the missionaries DID think that they were going to get decapitated instead of capacitated. I felt pretty capacitated, with my head fully incontact, so that was swell. He talked a lot about the Mexico Area Plan and how we as missionaries take full part of it. Then he just answered questions that we had. he was super good at teaching, and he could answer our questions and then some! I hope more general authorities come to the mission before I finish.

3. I think we are going to try to do it next week. We got permision so that´s good.

4.Hmm, well the story would have been a lot cooler if A had come to church this past week, because he didn´t. It was neat because he wanted to come to church, but he had recently started to work and he worked on sundays. We had talked about praying to be able to have his day off on sunday, so that he could come. Last friday, I recieved a call from him, in which he cancelled our appointment, but he told me that he had talked to his boss, and that his boss gave him the day off on sundays! (Que Padre!) So now he doesn´t work on sunday, there´s a little miracle, now he just needs to get to the chapel hahahaa.

J was confirmed a member of the Church yesterday, and I had the blessing of confirming him. It was a very special moment for me, because I had never confirmed anyone before. I was a bit nervous, but as I began I could feel the Holy Ghost with me, and I knew that he could feel it when I said "Recieve the Holy Ghost:" (well I didn´t say that, I said: Recibe el Espíritu Santo.) The chapel was full of the spirit during that fast and testimony meeting, and J bore his testimony, talking about the importance of prophets and his gratitude towards us as missionaries.

I guess you could say this area is kind of hard, but that´s not really important. We haven´t really found many people to teach this week, which is kind of a bummer but it´s no big deal, well keep on truckin´.

This morning we went to some restaurant that a member of our area has to go eat. We ate a bunch of tacos de barbacoa and got super full, and it was cool because it was all free (for us hahaha) The family is inactive, but they´re really nice and Elder T and I are visiting them to help them come back to church. It´s a family business, and the son is really full of spunk and a super funny guy.

This halloween wasn´t anything special. Last Halloween someone threw eggs at us, and this year nothing happened...está bien.

I started the Book of Mormon again, so that´s fun. I´m trying to learn about the examples of pride and how destructive it is so I can avoid it better.

I think that´s all I have for you this week, let´s hope that this week something funny happens,

Love

Elder Davis Garner

2015.10.26 Independencia

Dear Mother of mine,,

This week was "pretty darn good!" Where do I start?

oh I know where to start. Thanny sent me an email! It was the size of a text, but "It was worth it!" Tell him that he´s rocking the running and that he can get under 16:20 the next time he goes to Mt. SAC.

This week we had a baptism. I wasn´t exactly expecting hermano J to be ready, but he was. I don´t know if I´ve told his whole story before. More than a year ago, he found the missionaries and asked them to come visit him. They did, and were visiting him for about two weeks, and one night he was on his motorcycle on the freeway and got in a terrible accident, and his legs were bassically destroyed. Rigth before he was taken to the Hospital, he layed there stairing at the Temple here in Monterrey. For about a year, he was recovering, in the hospital, in a wheelchair, going to physical therapy often and such. About two months ago, he came to church, and we got to know him there, and We started to visit him. He wanted to learn, and he loved to read. He´s not the typical investigator that I would expect, always asking semi-odd questions and taking his time in accepting and understanding gospel truths. I sometimes would be a little frustrated in lessons because sometimes he would start talking about some random subject that had absolutely nothing to do with the lesson. It did take quite a bit of effort and patience for me to teach him, although for my companion Elder R, and now Elder T, it´s not that much of a problem. I guess I have learned that people aren´t always going to learn the Gospel how you want them to, or aren´t going to understand it in the same form you will. He is a chef, and right now, being stuck in his house while he isn´t at therapy, makes super good empanadas de fresa which is basically sweet bread with pockets of  strawberry. So his baptism was a bit of a hassle, or I would say. It was a little bit disorganized, and not very fluent. Jesús was baptized by two people, being that he didn´t really have much strength in his legs, and that he picked a member that´s 70 years old to baptize him. So there was another member in there to help him go under and lift him up. Goodness gracious it was a bit crazy, but above all that, He had made a covenant with God, and he had cleaned himself of all sin. I later focused on what was really important. He was happy that he could be baptized, even in his situation with his legs, and he felt the support of the members, so he had a good (birth)day. (It was his birthday too.) I remember earlier ago, asking the Lord if he could be miraculously healed so he could be baptized without a problem. I studied about it and prayed about it. Wouldn´t that be a great story to bring home? "Hey arise and walk!" like Peter...well the Lord said no, being much more wise than I could be. I read something in D&C about this that explained alot to me in

Baptism of J

J´s case. D&C 42:51-52

 51  The lame who hath faith to leap shall leap.

 52  And they who have not faith to do these things, but believe in me, have power to become my sons ; and inasmuch as they break not my laws thou shalt bear their infirmities.

Maybe I lack the faith, or the humility, that he should leap, and possibly him as well. But there is still power to become one of the sons of God, and I remembered then a scripture in the Book of Mormon that explains how we become sons and daughters of God: Mosiah 5:7

 7  And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.

We can see that the Lord can teach us things in many different ways. I learned that a miracle didn´t have to happen for jesús to be baptized, but that he could have faith sufficent enough to become a son of God without any of that. We´re going to keep helping him strengthen his testimony and progress. He will recieve the holy ghost and offically become a member of the Church this upcoming sunday, as well as hopefuly recieving the aaronic priesthood.

I don´t have that much time to tell you about all of the other things that have been happening, but remind me to tell you about Alexis next week. This week Elder Pieper of the Seventy and the Mexico presidency will be doing a mission tour, and we will have a capacitation with him on thursday, so that should be fun. Also, President McArthur gave us permission to go up Cerro de la silla next week, so we´ll see if we go (I hope so!)

Cascada!

Any questions? It´s started to rain a bit and it´s getting cooler, which is nice. It rained super hard on saturday, and here all of the streets turn into rivers because they´re all slanted on the hill, we found a waterfall that day!

I love you all,

Elder Garner

2015.10.19 Independencia

Dear Mom,

What that`s so crazy that thanny ran a 16:18! Sheesh that`s fast, Sophmore year I ran a 16:59 so he beat me bad.

Right now I don`t really have much to say. It is awesome to be working again in the mission field. My area, finally admitting it, is a tough area. But that`s ok, I guess I just have to keep digging deeper to find miracles. Maybe it`s like digging or a spring. You keep digging and digging, and maybe you might get descouraged, but you can`t stop because you don`t know how close you are to break water. So I`m going to keep digging. My companion says that I`m like Elder Calhoun from The Best Two Years because I contact everyone. I haven`t even seen half of that movie. I`m pretty sure that it was shown in seminary 2 or three times, but I always fell asleep! But seminary teachers are the best.

Don`t worry mom about the gym, because I only have 30 minutes to work out everyday, and I don`t feel like it is enough. I can`t go out to run and I don`t have enough room to jump rope in the house, so I usually just to basic excersizes such as pushups and core and jumping up and down until I wake up the downstairs neighbors (haha.)

I don`t know what to think about BYU right now, Spanish and Book of Mormon studies would probably be the easiest classes to take for me when I be back. Unfortunately they would be easier than Ornithology, because I basically have forgotten all of that (well of course not, It`s hard for me to forget things, but I`m dormant in the cause.)

My companion and I do not wrestle [Note to reader: Davis was asked if, since he and his companion have been on their missions for the same amount of time, did they wrestle to see who was the "senior" companion], although that would probably be fun. I know that this letter is short and not very exciting, but I promise that I will have a wonderful story next week, because I am going to have a great week!

I love you!

Elder Garner

2015.10.12 Independencia

Doctor Cortinas- the doctor that fixed my toe forever. his name is funny because it kind of sounds like corteuñas, which means nail cutter. That´s the joke of the day.

This is "Doctors Hospital" They say it´s one of the best 10 hospitals in the world.

HEY MOM!!!!

Gosh I am feeling good! Let me tell you a couple things. First, I just got my stitches out and YAY I can walk again! I can run too, but probably not as fast as thanny right now. I am supposed to wait to play soccer for a week, but I don´t plan on playing for a bit. Also, I am eternally greatful that I have a mom like you. I remember on wednesday feeling terrible, and hesistant to tell you about my physical state, but I knew I should. The next morning I woke up without any pain! I know that it was your prayers that gave me that strength. I certainly know it. I started to remember the talk By Elder Holland  and thinking about how you were probably praying for me. Then when Sister McArthur [Mission President's wife] called me, I was even more certain. Thank you mom, I love you.

Well I don´t have much news from this last week, being that I was in bed all week, but now I won´t be. One thing I did do was finish the Book of Mormon for the 6th time in the mission, and I learned even more than the last time. I was trying to learn all about what the book of mormon taught about prophets, and President McArthur gave me the task of writing down and categorizing all of the scriptures and references that I found. Writing all of it down was a task, but I did find many more teachings from doing so. Organizing them I was able to see the great relationship that Prophets have with God the Father, with Jesus Christ, with the Holy Ghost, and with us. Their importance in our lives is great, because as it says in D&C 84, those who accept my servants accept my son, and those who accept my son accept me. We were very blessed to have been able to listen to the prophets and apostles this past week. Actually, we are going to have a 70 visit us this month, Elder Peiper, he´s of the area presidency in Mexico, so that should be excitng.

My new companion is Elder T, from Puebla Mexico. He has the same time as me in the mission, and is 20 years old. I have never had a companion that has been younger than me in age still (neat-o).

That´s good that thanny had a good race, my second time in clovis I came in dead last because I was super sick that day, how terrible was that! hahaha, I went home and slept all day. It was pretty humiliating. Anyway, I hope thanny is doing well in school too. Who´s his seminary teacher? Is Sister Bennett still teaching for Junior year? I´m fine with thanny using my room and all, as long as he prints a scripture and puts it in the corner of the mirror each week to PONDERIZE muahahahahaha. in spanish ponderize is meditizar...que padre.

My bank card is working , and the water here is fine, but if you want to send me a water filter thing the water would taste 10 times better, and there are some areas that don´t have cleanish water. That´s cool that dad is the secretary. Here in the missionary the secretaries don´t get much sleep, but there are two marriage missionaries that are secretaries, and I bet they know how to get sufficent sleep. My sleep habits are better than I´ve ever had in my life, so that´s pretty good. I remember when I came to the MTC and said "We get 8 hours of sleep?! That´s a ton!"

Anyway I´m going to do a bunch of missionary work this week,

I love you all,

Elder Garner

2015.10.07 Independencia

Hey Mom!

The surgery went pretty well. The doctor cut into the nailbed on both sides so that it doesn´t grow back, but now I have to wait until next monday to take out the stitches and be able to walk. I guess the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak! (I am still in Indepe)

Sounds like Thanny did a good job. That is a pretty fun course because you can set your own course (Ohhhhh, I´ll set my course, now when I´m young...) [Note to reader:  Nathaniel ran a race in a park where both boys attended an 11-year old scout camp called "Set Your Course"] Anyway. I´m pretty tired right now because I had a small fever yesterday and my kidneys kind of hurt right now, but do not worry mom. Since my toe isn´t ready I´m staying in home and resting. It´s not very fun, I´d rather be outside, but I´m learning from the trials. I´ve been "ponderizing" the scripture Romans 5:3-5...that more or less says: we rejoice in tribulation, because with tribulation comes patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope does not ashame, because it brings the love of God through the Holy Ghost that is given to us. I will be able to be more receptive to the Holy Ghost, which is a wonderful thing!

I loved the General conference. I felt the holy ghost confirm to me that the three new apostles were called of God.  I really enjoyed Elder Nelson´s talk, mentioning the importance of Women in the Gospel. I was really impacted by that talk, along with Holland´s and the two women speakers, how important women are in the Gospel. I don´t have that much energy to write, but I thank you mom, for being the best mom I´ve ever had (the only mom I´ve ever had) and all of the important women in the church, like Sis. Waldren and her rapunzel hair hahahha. 

I got wider shoes, and I will get my pants fixed.

Tell thanny to ponderize one of the scripture mastery scriptures he´s reading and I´ll do it with him :)

Love,

Elder Garner

p.s. I wrote today because it was our temple day, but I didn´t go because I don´t feel 100%

:)

2015.09.28 Independencia

Wow neat! Sorry you didn´t get the joke. here is the scripture in spanish:

 How  beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of  him that  bringeth  good  tidings;  that  publisheth  peace;  that bringeth  good  tidings  of  good;  that  publisheth  salvation; that  saith  unto  Zion,  Thy  God  reigneth;

it´s funny because me feet aren´t blessed. BUT EVEN MORE SO. I went to the doctor on friday to take out that toe nail, and the doctor said "uh huh, I´m not taking that out. that´s infected." So guess what, I gotta take pills for a week so it disinfects itself and so it isn´t as inflammed. The worst part is that I´m not supposed to walk on it...for the whole week. That is the worst part. I´ve got to wait until next friday to take it out. So this friday and saturday I spent most of the day inside...dying to get out and teach. It really isn´t fun to stay in. But I guess I´m gonna learn something from this and then I´ll be even more out and about to preach the word. I can still visit the people if a member drives us to the appointments we have, but there are only two active members in our ward that have cars, and they work most of the day. Actually, a less active member we are helping out gave us a ride to an appointment and later to the pharmacy to buy the medicine I needed. I´ll stop talking about this so Seth doesn´t go walking around saying "Hy did you read about what Elder Garner did this week?...Toenails Bro!"

But I´ve been doing great! Besides that, Elder R and I are just about done together, but we had a good run. Elder ruiz is super ready to tackle any task now and he is feeling ready to preach the gospel for the rest of his mission (and life.) I don´t know what else to saay about that, but I´m feeling pretty good. I don´t know what is going to happen (as always) but I´ll find out tonight, and you´ll find out next week hahaha.

During my time in the house, I was able to  finish the book of Alma. It´s always tough for everyone because it ends with a lot of chapters of war, and there isn´t too much preaching or teaching to be found. BUT, if you read carefully, there are many hidden treasures. Let´s look at the epistle of Helaman in chapter 58. He starts to talk about how they are suffering from lack of rations and lack of more troops. He doesn´t know why they aren´t recieveing provisions, and he says this:

34 Now we do not know the cause that the government does not grant us more strength; neither do those men who came up unto us know why we have not received greater strength.

35 Behold, we do not know but what ye are unsuccessful, and ye have drawn away the forces into that quarter of the land; if so, we do not desire to murmur.

This is what I noticed. First, He makes it clear that he does not know the reason. He says it twice hear. For that he does not judge and says that he doesn´t desire to murmur. I thought that was super neat. We should always think why Mormon included THAT scripture when we are reading, and how it applies to us. We can apply this in our days, many things we don´t know, why people act certain ways, why people do things, why people feel certain ways, why they say things. We shouldn´t complain for the actions of others when we don´t have a logical or reasonable answer to explain why they do that. For example, we shouldn´t judge an elder that stays in his house all day...because maybe he has a n ingrown toenail hahahahahhaha.

Anyway, I think that´s all I´ve got for today. It is pretty sad that Elder Scott died, but That means that we will have 3 new apostoles this next week. (Wow!)

I love you all, keep safe and not as sick as my toe!

Elder Garner

2015-09-21 Independencia

Hola

Hey I have a joke. It starts with a scripture: Mosiah 12:21-24: "Cuán hermosas sobre las montañas son los pies de aquel que trae buenas nuevas..." (You can post it in english because I don´t remember how it goes i english, also Isaiah 52:7-10) This scripture mentions that the feet of he that brings good news (the gospel) are very pretty. Surely this does not include the toes, because I´ve got three ingrown toenails on both large toes and index toe, and two deep scab/callises on my pinky toes! hahahaha it´s actually not my fault, I cut my toe nails. My area Independencia always gives people ingrown toenails, because of all of the hills and staircases and steep roads. except my companion because his toenails are tinier than a babies toenails! (nepoleon dynamite voice: lucky!) But I´m going to go and take them out this monday.

Nooooooo....

 hahaha a pair of pants ripped right at the groin in the middle of the day, not very noticable, but I don´t know how to sew. I have the supplies, but I don´t know how to do it, SOS.

Sounds like thanny did a super good job. Woodbridge is a fun race. But I remember that the bus ride is killer, because you gotta go to the bathroom super bad!

Anyway. This week went by pretty fast (ah sorry that I didn´t tell you that we went to the Temple today!) Elder Ruiz has been a great companion, but our time together is coming to a close this next monday. We still won´t know who goes where until in the night on monday. But I´ll go (or stay) wherever the Lord wants me.

On top of Monterrey

This week I was looking through the Liahonas that had arrived, and it talks A LOT about marriage and the fmaily. It´s obviously something very important. Elder Ballard mentions that we need to be active in defending the truth (In the september edition.) We need to actively defend our beliefs on traditional marriage, that legal and lawful marriage is ordained between a man and a woman. Much was mentioned about that in the past general conference. Here in Mexico, almost all pairs are in free union, and more than 75% of the people I talk with that are living with someone don´t have any intentions to get married. It is pretty sad. It´s a big commandment, and obeying it yeilds BIG blessings (Tell thanny blah blah blah science science science BIGGER) Whether you´re mormon, catholic, protestant, or any other religion, or of no faith at all, the commandments of God stand stronger than the law of gravity. If anyone wants to have a successful relationship, they´ll get married. If anyone desires a successful family, they´ll base their family on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am greatful mom that you and Dad have done so, so that we can have a happy family, and that we can be together forever.

General conference is coming up soon. I´m pretty darn excited!

I don´t know where [sister of a friend] heard that I was in a dangerous area, cuz I didn´t tell [friend]. And I don´t know why J and C are telling their moms about all of the trouble there is in their [mission] areas. I thought it was a rule not to hahahahaha. But don´t sweat it. My area is prertty calm right now, being right after the elections here in Nuevo Leon nothing has been happening.

Anyway, I still have some gifts for thanny, but if he wants them he has to write a letter.

I´m working hard, and I´ll keep working hard!

I love you!

Elder Garner

p.s. there is a blog for the mission:

monterreywest.weebly.com