2016.01.11 Independencia

Davis at the lookout point in Chipinque park.

Hey Mom!

sounds like everything is normal up there, I guess that´s cool (I´m kind of tired right now bare with me, I´ll explain why in a little bit.) This week was super awesome. We taught a lot of people, found a lot of people, a lot of people came to church, and a lot of people are feeling the spirit and the truth of the things that we teach. This area has really changed since I arrived here, and my attitude has as well. I guess even in places where there would seem to be no hope, something can be planted and can grow into something grand. I think about the scripture found in Jacob 5:20-22

20 And it came to pass that they went forth whither the master had hid the natural branches of the tree, and he said unto the servant: Behold these; and he beheld the first that it had brought forth much fruit; and he beheld also that it was good. And he said unto the servant: Take of the fruit thereof, and lay it up against the season, that I may preserve it unto mine own self; for behold, said he, this long time have I nourished it, and it hath brought forth much fruit.

21 And it came to pass that the servant said unto his master: How comest thou hither to plant this tree, or this branch of the tree? For behold, it was the poorest spot in all the land of thy vineyard.

22 And the Lord of the vineyard said unto him: Counsel me not; I knew that it was a poor spot of ground; wherefore, I said unto thee, I have nourished it this long time, and thou beholdest that it hath brought forth much fruit.

The Lord Knows his vineyard perfectly, the servants don´t. They work with all of their might, but they don´t perfectly understand the will of the Father. That´s probably why the Lord puts missionaries like me in a tough area for a long time, so that I can become more patient and understand his ways a little bit better. Now I´m not saying that this is the worst area in the world, neither that I was the one who changed it to being a good area, nothing of the sort. Let´s just say that this missionary wasn´t awfully fond of staying in the area for more than 3 months back then, but now he can look back and show gratitude towards the omniscent Savior. I always remember something that Elder Oaks shared once, or who was it? anyways, it´s that we often don´t, or can´t recognize the blessings we recieve or that we have until we press forward, keep progressing, and then look back to see that the Lord was always there blessing us.

Elder T at Christmas

The Christmas package made it!

Bird calendars for Christmas

Also, Hno. M. A. was confirmed yesterday and he was super excited about that. That was awesome.

Davis, Hno M.A and Elder T

Ok here´s something super cool, and why I am kind of tired right now. We had a district activity today and we went to Chipinque Ecological Park! What does that mean?...BIRDWATCHING! Wow that is super cool Elder Garner. Yea I know, wanna hear what birds I saw? Yes I´d love to. (I don´t know who I was talking to just then, but it was someone who was interested in birds.)

District activity at Chipinque.

 

Well I didn´t see that many species, but for someone who hasn´t gone birdwatching in almost a year and a half, they´ll be happy to see a mourning dove (ok not really, those are pretty sad birds)

anyway I saw

Mourning Dove

Band Tailed Pigeon

Black Crested Titmouse

Mexican Jay (new)

Audubon oriole (new)

Canyon Wren

Spot Breasted Wren (new)

House Wren

Turkey Vulture

Black Vulture

Hepatic Tanager (new)

Black Headed Grosbeak

Crescent-chested  Warbler (new)

Black and White Warbler (new)

Hermit Warbler

Painted Whitestart (new)

Rufous-capped Warbler (new)

Blue Gray Gnatcatcher

Hutton´s Vireo

Hairy Woodpecker

Acorn Woodpecker

Green Jay (always cool)

Elegant Trogon (new, bird of the day)

An Elegant Trogon

Cerro de la Silla in the distance

So a member dropped us off at the look out point and we went exploring for a bit and then went down the mountain, it was a super cool place, kind of chilly but nice weather overall. There were some giant rock slides we went down, that was pretty cool. There were a bunch of mexican jays, they´re pretty big and noisy like most jays. All of the new warbler species were really neat, and two of them are species that are very rare to find in the US, so it was nice to see them here. We got down to the visitor´s center and I was looking in one of the local birding books and it said that chipinque was the best place in Nuevo Leon to find Elegant Trogons, and I thought "Dang I was not even looking for them." and so we left and we were going to go down the street to grab a taxi, and then I saw some green Jays, and I had told everyone that I would find them some green jays (cuz they´re pretty cool) so we were looking at them. Then to the right of the tree were the green jays were I saw a red breasted bird...Elegant Trogon! Now that was definitely a miracle, because it is a super good looking bird. I got a really crumby picture of it, and we went down and got a taxi to take us to a buffet, and that was pretty sweet too.

Anyway that´s my week. I haven´t sent photos for more than 3 weeks, since Christmas, so I ´m going to try and send a lot of photos right now. It seems that we might go to the Temple next wednesday, so it might be that my preperation day will be next wednesday and not the normal monday.

I love you all so much!

Elder Garner

Sharing a soda with Hno. M.A.

2016.01.04 Independencia

Dear mom,

Wow there is a lot of stuf that has happened this week, holy guacamole. First of all, about BYU. We had an activity in the mission offices today, and the whole mission went! That´s never happened before, but it was pretty cool. There Sis. McArthur told me about your email, and I went to talk to pres McArthur. He said that our original release date had been pushed back from aug. 31 to sept. 7, but that I, for school, could go home on the 18th of august. Turns out that Elder G is also going to go home a bit early and is going to go to school too, and I could actualy room with him. 

I´m not too stressed about leaving a week or two early. To look on the bright side, any of my friends could go to my homecoming talk before they head to school as well. I remember my farewell talk was in the end of august, and some of my friends had already left. Maybe this would allow more of them to come and I could share some of my experiences to feel the spirit. Anyway, you can talk to Elder G´s mom about that. I will probably be a bit nervous to go to school, just because I´ll have to speak english, I don´t have to speak english here which is nice.

The activity we had was basically just a bunch of sports, we had a soccer tournament, and President spoke to us for a bit and then we had hotdogs. it´s pretty cold right now, and it was raining on firday and saturday. No tengo frio, y eso está bien. I was able to talk to alot of my old companions at the Activity, such as Elder Hernandez and Elder T from Cienega de flores, Elder R and the missionaries from the MTC. I found out that A, my convert from Cienega, recently recieved the Melchisedec Priesthood! O from Nicolas Bravo is now a Teacher as well! K is also doing well in Nicolas Bravo, and it´s very good to hear that they´re all active, and even more important, happy!, in the church.

Yesterday, we had a baptism! M. A. was baptized. He´s an older guy, not as old as Hno. J but he´s still an older folk. I was able to baptize him, and it was a very special moment. The water was lukewarm, but with the air getting out was very cold. I asked him how he felt, and he said VERY COLD! I didn´t feel that cold, I felt full of the spirit. After changing I asked him how he felt, and he told me "I don´t feel guilty of anything, I feel content and peaceful." That is a good feeling, and I was very greatful that he could feel that. Quick question, is it greatful or grateful? I´ve never known...But anyway, We can always feel as Hno. M. A., without guilt, if we repent and make a covenant with our Father in heaven to be obedient. If we are baptized we can recieve that peace of conciousness, as the people of king benjiman felt (Mosiah 4:2-3) and everyone can recieve it, as did the once wicked lamanites, who repented of their sins and changed their ways (Alma 19:36) If we mess up afterwards, we can always repent again and partake of the sacrament, and renew our covenant. Our Heavenly Father truly loves us.

I also became fond of the hymn 273 "Truth Reflect Upon Our Senses" It helps us understand the importance of not judging one another, but loving one another and taking out the beam from our eye before taking the mote out of another´s eye. I guess that it is something important for me to do as a district leader. I need to improve my weaknesses and keep getting better, rather than telling other missionaries what they´re doing wrong. if I can get good at doing that, then people could follow that example and take out their own beams, and that would work much better.

anyway, I have a lot of pictures I want to send, but this computer doesn´t have a place to do it :/ I´d like to send pictures of the baptism too, but I´m going to have to do it next week then. But don´t worry!

I love you! Happy new Year!

Elder Garner

2016.12.28 Independencia

Hey Mom!

This week was super good! I don´t really have much to tell you because I just talked to you guys on friday. After friday we ate super healthy for three days, so you can feel really good about that. We had three people in church this week, hna socorro came too so we were really happy about that (That´s the one investigator that had that super awesome testimony experience)

[Note to reader: Chris told Davis in an email that I was going to keep him home with me next fall instead of sending him to BYU because I miss him too much.  He was joking - Davis would go crazy without something constructive to do for that long.] 

Hey you know I got really sad when dad made that joke and that I found out it wasn´t true, that I´ll be going to BYU straight away and that I might have to finish my mission a couple of weeks early. It´s cuz I started planning out in my mind what I could do from then until january in california, and I thought about all of the birds I could see, that I could go to thanny´s races, and stuff like that. I mean, I´m not bummed about going to school or anything, the thing that would bum me out would be coming home a tiny bit early. Of course I would finish with honor, and a week or two doesn´t do much difference, but it´s just going to be so hard leaving monterrey, and finish my mission. There´s nothing like being a missionary, I feel so happy doing the Lord´s will. It would also give me a bit of remorse, not being able to finish with the fine missionary with whom I started. But, Let the Lord´s will be done and not mine. As you told me before mom, I will be sharing the gospel my whole life, and that´s true, so if that´s what happens, I shouldn´t be discouraged.

I was thinking about two things in this month. First, something know as the "dark year" in the mission, it´s the whole year that you aren´t with your family, in my case it would be 2015 because  I started in august 2014, and I´ll be finishing in 2016, but for the whole year of 2015 I will be a missionary. Funny the term, but I was thinking that it really isn´t a "dark year" at all, but instead, the brightest year of my life. A whole calendar year spent walking along side of the Savior, preaching his gospel, and feeding his sheep. I feel eternally grateful for this year, and how I have changed what the Lord has given me in this time, and the oportunity I have had to give back.

Luckily, I still have 8 months left, and if you were to take the time of the mission (24 months) and compare it to a 3 mile cross country race, each 8 months would be a mile. I remember most of my races, and in the good races, my best races, I ran the first 2 miles wisely and speedily. Arriving upon the third mile, you don´t feel anguish or pain, but excitement and adreniline to give it all you got. I guess for lack of a better analogy, that´s how I feel at this time of my mission. I have served in those first 16 months wisely and diligently, and these last 8 months I look forward to giving my all. Do you remember those encouraging words you would give me? "What have you got to lose?" Well there´s nothing to lose here, but everything to gain. The Lord descended under all things, he went the extra mile, and for that he has recieved all glory and comprehension, and has the grace and love to show us the way to do it too. We should all have the new years goal to be more like Jesus Christ. If we don´t, we should have the goal to make better goals!

Send me some skiing pictures!

Love,

Elder Garner del Barrio Independencia

2016.12.21 Independencia

Hahahahahahhahahaa, [See copies of Nathaniel's Christmas list below - this is what Davis is laughing at.]

Tell Thanny to be grateful if he gets plain white yogurt! that´s the only thing I want. you know I always got something for christmas that was never on any of my christmas lists, and that was a snock in the snoot, so I hope thanny can get one of those too.

So I thought that list was too funny that I don´t have anything else to say. Oh wait, do you want to know where I got transfered? me too, but we´ll find out in febuary because I´m staying in Independencia for another month and a half with Elder T! how cool is that right? And everybody thought I was going to leave hahahaha, well not until I have contacted every person in this area...or when the milenium begins, whicheverone comes first.

Anyway for skype. I´ll skype you guys at 5pm central time, 3pm for you guys. that´ll be exciting. Thanny will have to tell me about the eggnog mile, and he´ll have to tell jonny that I´ll come to the next one. I´m still thrown off by that wish list that thanny put up. Dang it! I really wish that Thanny isn´t funnier than me when I get back home.

Hey you know I was reading Elder K´s email and it sounds like he´s doing a lot of cool stuff. C[ousin] always puts his titles in german and I don´t feel too excited to translate that.

Our convert J, who was baptized on the 6th was confrimed a member of the church yesterday, That was really exciting. He´s a really humble man, and yesterday he arrived on time to church, which was kind of weird because he usually arrives 45 minutes early, but he gave him self pace, so that counts for not being early. This man just wants to be in the church, it doesn´t really matter to him if he doesn´t understand everything or is kind of confused, he feels good there and he is glad that he is in good company. We had two others in church yesterday, and one of them (another older, humble man) is preparing to be baptized for the next week, so we are excited for that as well.

Ah, in church yesterday, a young married man who had been part of the ward before came and visited. I talked to him and asked him where he lives now, he said North Carolina. now I may have not been a perfect child, but I did listen to my dad now and then (ok...more than that) and I said "Do you happen to work for Bank of America?" DING DING DING We have a winner! hahahah so then we talked to him about banking like I was my dad, like I enjoyed finance or something. Maybe I do, who knows, will my future be in finance then? Well I´m not going to think about that right now...

Just so you know, i´m still going strong in my journal. I just read one of the teachings of President Wilford, talking about the importance of writing down your own life history. Well I feel like I´m doing a good job, and i´m grateful that for so many years you guys kept at me for writing in journals. Maybe i didn´t write so much before the mission, but now I´ve got it as a habit and it will be a blessing in the near future. I´m also grateful that Brother Oliverson highlighted the importance of having a journal as a missionary while in his sunday school class, so you can thank him for me.

Well, I´ll see you on friday!

Merry Christmas!

I love you!

Elder Garner
 

2015.12.14 Independencia

Dear Mom!

Hey how is everything going! This week was super duper, and to top it off, my handy dandy bird calendar tells me that the Christmas bird count starts today! So get out there and get counting! Besides that there really isn´t much else

love you

Nativity scene at the Monterrey Temple

elder garner

[Note to reader: Davis thought it was funny to send only this short email and then wait another 30 minutes before sending any more. Mom doesn't think it is very funny.]

Pssht yea right, a bunch of cool stuff happened this week. Where do I start. Well it sounds like the stake idea was super good, and it´s pretty funny that thanny was a robber, but I hope he got his recompense of justice, maybe he can read Alma 41. 

Anyway, we did another service project this week. We cleaned part of someones house, because it had set up in flames so everything was burnt and we swept everthing out and made it look all empty and less burnt. It was fun, but there was a lot of "sackcloth and" ashes (a good place to repent ey!?) and so we had mouth covers and even still I was coughing a bit during the day. No matter.

Also, this week was a very big week for mexico. Let me start with the more worldy things, and then we will go to the more spiritual things.

First of all, The Tigres (soccer team here in Monterrey) one the national cup last night so everyone in the streets was going crazy and yelling and shooting off fireworks...actually until 4:30 in the morning. That´s some celebratory stamina if you ask me. But I woke up at about 4 today and there were still fireworks going off, pretty crazy if you ask me.

Vamos Tigres!

Also, 12 of December is the birthday of the virgen maria guadalupe, so this whole weekend all of Monterrey came to our area to go to the giant catholic church and all of the stores and shops nearby. There were lots of parades, bands, traditions and noise. That contributed to the crazyness (and coolness of the week)

Lastly, We went over to the chapel of the temple yesterday to watch the broadcast of the Tijuana Temple Dedication. Wow was that amazing. I´ve been to the rededications (or the transmitions) but never a dedication. That was something different. President Uchtdorf was the one who dedicated the temple, and he gave a wonderful talk before offering the dedicatory prayer. He mentioned that we should always walk upright before God and be worthy to go to the temple continually. He invited everyone un Mexico to remember this special experience (and to write it in their journals, especially the youth.) Speaking of that, I finished the second journal I had and have now started in the new one, so I will see if there´s a quick way that I can send it, or if I will just hold on to it until I come home.

I´m kind of posed like a sister missionary, dang it...whatever i don´t even care!

Elder T and I worked harder than ever to finish this change. We truly thrusted in our sickle with all of our might. For that we were able to find a humble man who had just came out of prision, who wanted to change his whole life for his family. He wants to find God, and we contacted him on thursday and went to visit him on saturday. We talked about his family, and shared a message about the restoration of the Gospel and how throught knowing that it was true, he could change his life, be forgiven of his sins, and make promises with God to have an Eternal family. That touched his heart, and he felt the spirit, as he described: "A happiness that fills my chest, that I´ve never felt before, but something that gives me peace and hope for a better world." (Isn´t that what Moroni tells us in Ether 12:4? ) That was a very special experience that we had, along with many others this week, that I recorded in my journal. I know that when we talk about the importance of family, we can attract people´s attention, and when we teach them that the way that we can make covenants with our loving Heavenly Father to have an eternal family has been restored on the earth, they can feel the spirit. Try doing that this Christmas: Share the message of peace and good will.

Well I literally have no clue where I will be tomorrow. I´ve been here for 6 months, but there is a rumor that I will stay another change (which would be perfectly fine with me) but we´ll see tonight. I will confirm how we will communicate for Christmas next week. I´ll try to send a lot of pictures from the area.

Well, tell thanny not to rob anymore gold coins.

I love you!

Elder Garner

2015.12.07 Independencia

In December, drinking horchata, I look psychotic...

Hey Mom!

That´s great that it arrived, Dillon is the best (not Elder J anymore...dang) [Note to reader: Davis sent a gift on the plane with a returning missionary who mailed it to us when he arrived home.] It sounds like the footlocker race was really fun and that thanny had a busy birthday.

Service projects are a good excuse to use machetes.

We did another service project this week. We went to the area of the zone leaders and cut grass and bushes in a park. it was tough and took a while because we only had machetes and some other tools, but I learned to use a machete really well! President and Sister Mcarthur came too, and it was a fun service project.

Baptism of Hermano J

Also, we had a baptism this week! Hermano J was baptized by his neighbor and dear friend JM. Hermano J has never been one to understand much of what we teach him, and less to remember what we teach him, but he has recieved the spirit of God and knows for himself that this church is true. He has humbled himself and repented of his sins, and now he has made a sacred covenant with God. It as pretty funny actually in his baptism. The members took a little time to go into the primary room for the baptism, so Hermano J said "Ya, I don´t want to wait anymore, I want to get baptized" so he went by the stairs that lead into the font and he was just about ready to jump in! We started, sang a hymn, said a prayer and shared one tiny little message and he was in there! hahahaha! Isn´t that great? I´m glad he was so excited to get baptized. He´s not a very social old man, but after his baptism he hugged every person that came. That was a great experience.

Remembering the MTC is a "Back to the Future" moment.

This week, Elder T and I probably had one of the most spiritual experiences of our missions. Last sunday, we had found an old lady named S, along with her husband J. They´re both very old and J can´t see or walk. That day we taught a little bit about baptism and authority and they accepted the invitation to be baptized. We returned on tuesday and that day she was very stressed, because she is having some problems with her family, a lost son and an angry grandson. Her and her husband both felt very bad in terms of health, and so instead of teaching them, we felt inspired to explain to them what a blessing is and see if they would like to recieve one. They have great faith and we gave them each a blessing of comfort and counsel. They were very greatful, and I was as well, that we could hold the priesthood and serve others with the responsiblity that the Lord had given us. Later, on friday (I was on divisions so I was not there) Elder T went to visit them and Hermana S was very ill with a fever and all. They  gave her another blessing and went to buy her medacine and dispense. I had seen her in the morning that day, before starting the divisions, and she did look pretty bad. Then, Saturday, we went and visited her, and she looked much better, much healthier. She told us about how she felt terrible and abandoned on friday, but how special that blessing was that my companion and the other Elder had given her was. She said that in that moment, she felt that God was speaking directly to her, and that he told her "Te mando que te esfuerces y seas valiente." or in enlgish "be strong and of good courage." Elder T and I were literaly stunned! and Elder T told her that was actually a scripture, and opened up to Joshua 1:9. She then bore us her testimony (not even knowing what a testimony is!) and said "I know that the my Heavenly Father spoke to me through the Holy Ghost that day, and that he loves me and that everything will be alright. I know what you [missionaries] are sent by God and share the truth, and that you do his will." That´s from what I remember, she said a little bit more than that, but it was amazing, and the spirit was stronge the whole lesson. That was probaly the smoothest, easiet lesson I have ever taught of the restoration of the gospel. She had read the pamplet before and said "I know it´s all true, the holy ghost told me, I just have a question or two about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon." After the lesson she said. "I know that it is all true, and that everything you are going to share with me is true." She wasn´t able to come to church with her husband, because they´re still recovering from being ill, but they will sure come the next sunday. I was so happy after that lesson I think I shouted "Hoorah for Israel!"

So, I probably only have one week left in independencia, or at least I´m guessing. Next sunday we will go to the chapel in the Temple to watch the Temple dedication of the Tiajuana, Baja California Temple, so that will be pretty awesome.

I haven´t got the package yet, but who knows it´s probably in the offices now. Let me know what you´re going to do for Christmas, I don´t know what I´m going to do yet, or where I´m going to be! (Mars)

Love,

Elder Davis Garner

2015.11.30 Independencia

Drawing of the district by Davis

Hi Mom!

Well looks like Thanksgiving was a blast! I´m sure thankful that I´m here in the mission, and I´m very thankful that I have such a loving mother, a funny dad, and a brother who wears skinnier jeans than I ever wore.

This week, what happened...Well We have an investigator named J, I believe I have mentioned. He´s old and he´s fraile and he can´t see very well, and he´s sick and he doesn´t remember things...BUT he wants to get baptized, and he has felt moved to finally make that decision in his life. We try to teach him and everything, but he doesn´t remember hardly anything. He has listened to the missionaries before, and had recieved basically all of the lessons. but back then he didn´t want to get baptized. All I know is that he has humbled himself and repented of his sins, and wants to be baptized. He tries to obey the commandments and doesn´t have any problems with them, so he will probably be baptized this week!

Elders in the district before tree cutting service project.

Elder T in a tree with a machete.

Elders after service project with machetes, limbs intact.

We have been working hard in this area, and it is tough to find people who want to listen, even harder to find people who want to progress, but we have had some lessons this week that were full of the spirit, and that is what I really liked the most. It is great to see the spirit working in the person during the lesson, it often changes the whole outcome of the lesson. We taught one lady who was a bit skeptical at first, she had listened to us two times before and he had brought some members to come with us. The lesson was very powerful and at the end she said, tearing up "I´m in good hands, I´m with good people."

Now it´s December, that was fast. That´s about all that happened. Tell Aunt Sue that I don´t really see any birds in the area that I´m in because it´s really urban.

I´ll send some pictures that I couldn´t send last week.

Love,

Elder Garner

Found a Utah license plate in Monterrey.