2015-01-26 San Nicolas - Still

Creepy mural

Hey mom!

I stayed in Nicolas Bravo, pero recibí un nuevo compañero! Elder J, from St. George UT! Wow is he cool, wow is he great, wow don´t we work together better than (something that rhymes) hahahaha. Nah Elder J and I are plowing through. We´re actually trying to start over in this area, kind of wash everything out, all of the people that are listening but not actually doing, and we´re just gonna start all over. It´s going to be kind of rough, but it´ll be worth it and I think that with that much diligence we´ll be able to get some baptisms this change and help some people change their lives for the best. 

Elder J is a cowboy, plays guitar and likes to workout(YES) I finally went running!!!! Yes!!! It was awesome, we go running almost everyday in the morning at a nearby park.

Elder J

Well, since we have been starting over, there really isn´t anyone progressing or anything, but we did have a really cool experience with some investigators(that moved out of the mission :/) by giving them a temple tour. When we entered the sacrament room, is that what it´s called? Salon Sacramental, she said that she felt an immediate peace and tranquilidad inside(There are words that im starting to forget what they are in english) We then played "Nearer My God to Thee" I played the piano and My companion sang. It was really amazing because we just filled the room up with the holy ghost, after we finished we just sat there in calmness. ¡Que Poderoso fue el Espíritu! This lady is most definitely going to get baptized, and we have passed the reference to the East mission. What can we all do to feel the spirit more during the sacrament meeting mom? How can we better take to heart the sacrament prayers and remember Christ throught the whole rest of the week? Didn´t Bro. O give a short talk about how we can be more reverent? Well when we are reverent in sacrament meeting we reiceve muchas bendiciones en nuestras vidas, por el resto de la semana.

Thanks mom for sending me that stuff. I´ve been making more stuff, like omletes and...eggs n´ stuff hahaha. I´m trying to find other things to learn. Oh! I know what I should learn, Chili rellenos, where you have a giant chili and you cover it in egg i think and its filled with meat and potatos I think. Really good. Also mom, I have realized that vegetables taste good when they´re hot. FINALLY RIGHT!?

Oh, one thing I know that would be lovely to get for my birthday. A nice sketch pad, some illustration pencils, eraser, etc. My comp has some stuff because his grandma sends him stuff to draw because he used to draw a little bit, but he doesn´t really so I´m drawing cool stuff like birds and portraits and all.

Zone soccer game: Elders and Hermanas.

We played soccer today as most of the zone because everyone in the zone is active and stuff. It´s super fun! 

I love you Mom!!!

I love you DAD!!!

I love you Thanny!!

Elder Garner

January 19, 2015 Last Day in San Nicolas?

Dear Mom,

I remembered the other things I was going to ask for:

Moleskin Journals, they don´t sell them here, could you try to get me a couple pretty fast I only have 74 pages(days) left in mine right now.

Spanish vocabulary book: once I´m pretty comfortable with my spanish and all, I´ll be able to learn a lot of vocab of a bunch of stuff.

Well I have officially finished Training! I don´t know where I am going yet (or staying) or who my next companion is, They´ll tell us tonight and we´ll change tomorrow. Overall, I´m feeling better and better with my spanish, and everyone tells me that I have learned it super fast. I can´t speak as well as I´d like, but that just means that I have high standards and that I´m going to keep improving.

Davis and a buddy Elder J from the Dominican Republic.

Sounds like the birds are pretty good. Don´t worry about spotting rare birds. the only way you can see rare birds is if you´re really looking for them(99% of the time, except for this Old lady I met while looking at a reddish egret, she accidentally came across that AND told me that she accidentally came across a Hooded Warbler a couple of weeks ago, What Luck for her!) I saw some Broad-billed hummingbirds, which my companion called ninja birds, some Western Tanagers, Ruby Crowned Kinglet, House Wren, yeah. The hummingbirds were a treat. I still have not had the opportunity to go birding on a p-day yet...sometime.

 

A park in San Nicolas

Yea! Nathaniel doesn´t have me to wrestle anymore. [Davis’ response to a report that Mom is having a hard time recovering from Nathaniel’s built up energy on Sunday evenings. He is too big to wrestle poor old Mom.]  Just make him go walk the dog to the park and make them play. Is he going to have new classes soon? Tell me if he has spanish class. Me animaría si lo tuviera. 

I´m trying to think of things to tell you, but there Isn´t anything investigator wise. O is excelling in the church though. It is awesome. He is now 1st counselor of the Deacon´s quorum and he always gets to church early. He´s got his own scripture bag now where he puts his bible, his triple(BOM,D&C,PGP) his duty to god, and some pamphlets that he has. I´m pretty sure he´s in second Nephi now with his reading. He´s just super duper good mom. I´m just kind of nervous for him in the future. I hope that he will have enough money to serve a mission and such. That´s a long time away, but O is already talking about it hahahaha.

Davis relates well to 12 year old boys.

We have been scraping the bottom of our area looking for new people to teach. A couple days ago we were walking on the streets asking every lady that was sweeping if we could help them out with anything. They always say "No, acabo de terminar, que amable jovenes." which means "No I just finished, but how nice of you, youths" We had talked to three sweepy ladies in the day, and none of them had been interested, we come up to the fourth and ask, she gives us almost the same phrase. But then! she asks us "Que necesitan? ¿Quieren un vaso de agua? pásense!" which means "Do you need anything?, want a glass of water, come on in!" We had some water with this lady, and then we started to talk to her. She said that missionaries had passed by her a couple years before, and that they taught her and her daughter (We didn't meet her daughter). She said that the past few years she and her daughter didn´t get along very well, but now her daughter would let her kiss her and hug her, all that stuff that moms like to do, ya know? Wow I don´t really remember how it got to here, but we committed her to getting baptized! and we´re going to go see her and her daughter today with a couple of members in the evening when P-day is over (6pm). We had been trying different and new ways to find people for a while, but wow we finally found one that´s quite interested! I know that the Lord has prepared people to receive the Gospel, and that If we are diligent we can find them!

How are you guys doing with everything mom? I miss you too. Sometimes it´s hard to listen to some of the music that I have because I get homesick. I´m working really hard though. How´s family home evening and family prayer and scripture reading? This Sunday the bishop here got on the case of the members and told them that they need to be more active in the gospel. More temple visits to do temple work. More sharing the gospel. More scripture reading. Paying full tithing. it was bold, but loving. I think you guys are doing great on everything mom. I know that It´s really hard for you to do all of this stuff mom, because your classes have been taking so much time (you wrote this at 1 in the morning!) I can promise you that If you pray together as a family that you will have a bit more energy,and a bit more time to do fun things with dad and thanny (and patrick the prince of puppies...spoiled dog)

If I get transferred, and there is a not as safe ciber, then I might stop sending pictures. I´ll send a couple today

Buying crepes and if I know anything about Davis it is filled with Nutella.

I love you mom! Keep working Hard and Loving harder!

Tell Nathaniel that he should get a hobby, like drawing or something for when he is bored on Sundays.

Oh if you can please maintain and clean/fill the hummingbird feeders. Hummingbird migration starts kind of early on the west coast, and we had a lot of hummingbirds last year so they might come back! [Seriously, he wants me to feed the hummingbirds too?]

Tell dad that there´s a member that reminds me of him because he tells the same silly kind of jokes.

 

The fellow with the guitar reminds Davis of his dad.

¡Les amo muchísimo! 

Elder Garner

January 12, 2015 San Nicolas

I´m going to respond to your questions on this email, and talk to you about the rest on the other one you sent me.

1.We had nothing planned for New years eve, but then Edson invited us to come over to his house and have pollo asado (grilled chicken) It was quite fun. He was also playing Toto, hahaha he really likes that band. Unfortunately he hasn´t been to church in the past two weeks, one time he was super sick, and this time he just found a new job so he might have had to go to work :/ oh dear

2.not yet [Grandma Johansen’s package that was sent in October has not arrived yet.]

3.I got some futbol shoes and two jerseys. I also bought some things that I needed, such as another pair of shoes and another pair of pants [Items purchased with Christmas money.]

4.Shoot, I wrote this down, don´t worry I can remember. [What do you want for your birthday in May?]

Things I want for my birthday;

Another photo album, mostly of just our family (grandparents, me growing up, our vacations, etc.)

A small english hymn book

The teachings of Joseph Smith in englsih

A nice blue tie and/or a cool bird tie

hi-chews

more music I guess

surprise me

I think that was it, maybe one other thing that I wrote down that I forgot, I´ll check.

Things that I need(or want for mission reasons):

My long black running spandex

long sleeved white underarmor spandex (both for next winter hahaha)

Who knows, it might be colder next year and I could be in a colder area

Dia de los reyes, jan 6. giant sweet bread. cut it up, person who gets the baby jesus in theirs has to make everyone tamales!

Love you! I´ll read and write to the other letter now!

Dear mom,

That was awesome how you planned that party for dad, now he´s really old! hahahhaa. Sounds like all of the birds are doing well too. Sounds like you saw a Kingfisher to me, they sound kind of like woodpeckers in their chatters, and they kind of have those largish wings with a similar wing beat.

Oh! Yesterday on sunday, my companion woke up in 4 in the morning and started vomiting and having bad diarrhea until about 7. The Mission President´s wife told us to stay inside all day so he could rest, so we didn´t even go to church! Yikes! The missionaries not at church! We told the bishop and then also told the ward mission leader to watch for and investigators that came to church (none) and the bishop’s wife brought us some bread to do the sacrament ourselves. It was a bummer to be cooped up in the house all day, but I had time to read a lot of scriptures, and I read all of the family histories that I had and wrote you guys a letter. I really liked reading about grandpa and grandma Johansen and their endeavors, can you tell them that I think they’re awesome?! It made me think about all of the things that I have done in my life and such. Oh this is something that I didn´t write in the list of stuff I want for my birthday, can you send me more family history stories. More about dad´s parents and grandpa Charlie, and then you and dad as well. (I think I´ll write another short letter to go with the one I wrote yesterday about some of this) But yea, Family history is really neat and I love my family. I hope grandpa can show me how to do wood carving and such.

I went on divisions [splits?  It’s when the missionaries go for the day with different companions.] last Friday with a Mexican zone leader. He told me that I speak super well for not even being done with my training yet! It´s nice to get praise, and it motivates me to keep studying!

I made chocolate chip banana pancakes for my zone leader at the end of divisions for breakfast. Not the best photo and he made a funny face, but good stuff.

That´s about all I´ve got for this week. This is my last week of training! Here´s a picture of Hebrews 11:1 on a wall in a small park we pass by all the time hahahah. It´s pretty chito (cool)

I love you guys so much!!!! :)

Davis

January 5, 2015 San Nicolas

How are the birds mom? Are you still going over to the sewage ponds with your classes and seeing the cool birds? I wish that I could´ve taken you birding more often, but you always had to do your class. It was always fun when we went though. We can go a lot when I get back. Keep looking at your field guide that you bought! Don´t let it go to waste!

Well, it´s a new year, and we all have goals set for this year. As a mission, we are all going to read the book of mormon within 45 days, starting tomorrow! I´m thinking that I´m going to do it in spanish, and that will be really good to be able to read through it in spanish for a first time. Another goal we have as a mission is for every area to get a baptism on the 1st of February. I don´t know if I´ll be in this area or not for that date, because the change ends in two weeks, but we can start preparing this one man we have started teaching, and have already set a baptismal date for the 1st of February.

We have been teaching O´s parents still, and they have been progressing(slowly). They didn´t come to church yesterdays which was a bummer, but It was because K(mom) was pretty sick. We have been talking to them a lot about marriage because they aren´t married. K is for it, but V (dad) hasn´t felt so sure about it. Well about a week ago we had some lesson with them, and we gave them a law of chastity pamphlet to talk about together; If getting married is what the Lord wants them to do. They´ve been in contact with the missionaries for almost 6 months now on and off, but back then V was really closed and stubborn about it. He´s been a lot more open now though, and he told us that one day he was coming back home from work in a bus and there was a lot of traffic. So, he pulled out the law of chastity pamphlet and he read it. He told us that he felt a tranquility from reading it, and that getting married is something that he should do. They feel that they are going to be ready to get married sometime, they don´t know if they´re prepared yet, but we have seen the changes in their deeds and desires and I think that we already know that they are ready, we just need to show them that they are. We have yet to set a specific date for their wedding, but we will. since they didn´t come to church we can´t baptize them this change, so that means that either I or Elder S won´t be there for it. But, we are still working with them and belive that they will soon be ready to be married and baptized. They are starting to understand all of the blessings of baptism and marriage and it is great.

Sorry but I have to go now, I should´ve wrote later. I´ll print this off [Mom's email to Davis arrived after he had written the above message and was out of time.] and be ready to reply to all of your questions next week!

I love you two!!!

I love you too nathaniel!

Davis

December 29, 2014 San Nicolas

Hey!

It was really fun to skype you guys! DID YOU HAVE FamilyHomeEvening!? do it tonight tooo please. Es algo que los profetas modernos nos han pedido a hacer, y sé que todos de ustedes van a ser más felices a dentro el hogar si lo hagan.

I´m trying to work out as much as I can. Thanks for the jump rope, this one is better than the one I bought here because It´s heavier and I have to hold my arms out farther, so It´s a better workout.

Davis testing out his new monocular for spotting birds.

Sounds and looks like Utah is really fun as always! Tell grandmas and grandpa that I say buenas!(rarely anyone says hola here, it´s always buenos dias, buenas tardes, buenas noches, or just buenas...sometimes my companion and I play a game where we´ll say buenos dias(good morning) in the afternoon, or buenas tardes at night hahahahaha, and then we´ll see what they reply) I haven´t checked walmart for journals. We got a sweet mission journal from the mission president as a gift though!(still need the moleskine ones though) I´m glad that the gifts got there on time and that you liked them. I´m kind of jealous of nathaniel´s [fixed gear bicycle] tires, I´think I´ll just buy some new type wheels when I get home hahahaha. That would be fun to ride around together.

A new bird guide for Davis - birds of Mexico and Central America.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM AND DAD! and happy new year. On Christmas here in Mexico they just go crazy. The 24th there were just so many fireworks, and most of them sound like gun shots (Some of them may have been gunshots [don´t tell mom that]) hahahaha. No, this is a safe zone that I´m in (Which is why there are a lot of hermanas in this zone)

 I don´t know what will happen on new year´s eve. My comp said that last year they went home early because everyone went crazy. My area is pretty nice though so that might not happen hopefully. I got a couple [local] recipies so far.

Davis with Elder S and the Stake President's son - showing off ties that were gifts from the Stake President.

This week has been a pretty hard week to find new people to teach and such. We lost those 3 investigators (we actually got the couple back just because their son O is super cool, they are kind of on standby though until they decide to get married) and not really any of the people we talked to wanted to talk at all. We had thought that it would be easier to talk to people in this season, especially since all we talk about is Jesus Christ! It wasn´t so however. No matter. One thing that I have learned while reading through the New Testament (Besides that Christ knows who Nathanael is) is that it a privilage to preach and work in his name. One thing that Christ tells the Seventy in Luke 10 is that when someone rejects them, they also reject him(Christ) and his father that sent him. Another thing that I found in Acts was that one of the apostles said(dont remember where) that it is a privilage to be worthy to suffer in the name of Christ. So I just need to remember, whenever we are just being rejected, and persecuted, That the Lord stands right there with us, just as our names are right next to his on our plaques. 

 

And THIS is why Davis' hair looks like that - The Stake President gave Davis some of his own personal hair product.  Note how shiny his son's hair is.

E was confirmed a member yesterday and is super duper happy! O comes early to church and is just a super good deacon, he might be in 2 nephi now, that´d be cool.

Mom I´m doing Swell! I hope you´re all doing swell! 

Here is your topic for FHE if you need one, this one is easy: John 13: 34-35 (As I have loved you love one another)

Tell everyone else that I´m doing Stellar!(Not Steller as in Steller´s Jay though)

Thanks for the gifts!!!! They´re awesome!

I love you

Elder garner

December 22, 2014 San Nicolas

Hey Mom!

Ok, I´ll wear it everyday, even if it´s foggy and rainy. No se preocupe. [In response to Mom’s request for him to wear sunscreen.]

Some quick requests: Can you send me that music that I asked for in the mtc? The stuff like Gimnopedie and bolero and all that stuff? Thanks. Also, can you send me a Moleskine journal, like the one I have now. If you want I can send you a picture of it next week. Its a really good journal but I probably have over 2 months left in it. Actually could you send me two? I write a page every day in my journal. Gracias.

Elder S, E, and Davis

E got baptized yesterday! and President and Hermana Swapp came! It was really awesome and I got to do the baptism! Hahahaha his elbow almost didn´t make it under the water, but I got it under. E bore his testimony at the end and he has changed a lot. I remember when we found him he was a pretty sad guy, but now he´s always happy. Except in the picture hahahahah! I don´t know why but mexicans just don´t smile in their pictures! ah no me importa. 

Hermana and President Swapp, E, Davis, Elder S., and another fellow.

It sounds like the house is gonna be crazy. I´ll be excited to see it. [In response to reports of new home improvement projects.]  I bet you´ll get an iphone 6. I saw one and it´s almost as big as an ipad.[In response to news that Mom’s phone was crushed and will need to be replaced with something way too big.]

Anyway. I AM GOING TO SKYPE YOU AT 4PM PACIFIC TIME. ok? Be ready for that. I don´t know what will happen if it doesn´t work. We are going to skype at the stake president´s house so if it doesn´t work on your side then I could probably use his cell phone or something. I´ll figure it out. I´m going to call Mom first ok, so be ready with that one. If not then Dad´s and then Thannys. I´m excited to talk to you!!

Also, I got your package and letter this Tuesday. Can you tell me again how your lesson went? I like the idea of it and all, That we have to be in the world but not of it. I haven´t opened the presents yet hahahah, Thanks for wrapping them. They wrote what was in the box so I know I got a book, legos, and the other thing was smudged so I guessed Moriancumer, the brother of Jared. hahahahah. [It’s a monocular – small enough to keep in his pocket for spotting birds.]

Vermillion Flycatcher

Oh, I did send a package home with a member who was visiting Texas and he was gonna send it. Tell me when it gets there.

I´ll send some pictures now. See you on Thursday!!! I Love you!

Elder Garner

December 15, 2014 San Nicolas

2014-12-15 San Nicolas

Hey Mom, Thanks for the hot chocolate instructions.

It sounds like everything is going well over there, I´m glad Nathaniel is doing well in school. If he goes to BYU though I don´t think we would ever be there together unless he went a year before a mission. That wouldn´t be the worst thing to do if I were still there.

Davis and 4 other missionaries pose for a picture with a nun.

We´re going to have a baptism this Sunday! We met this guy named E my on my first P-day in the mission field, and he told us to come visit him the day after. That lesson we had was so powerful; he had been jobless and such and our lesson just brought him so much comfort and peace. Right in that first day he wanted to be baptized. We promised him that he would have a lot of trials as he continued to follow the example of Jesus Christ and live the commandments that the Lord has given us, but that he would also be blessed very much and that he would be able to find work.

Well after about a week of teaching him, he did find a job, but then we could never see him because he was never home. We got really anxious and frustrated and two weeks went by where we didn´t see him. We finally saw him in the local market and made an appointment to see him. Phew, we found him. When we had the lesson, we were surprised of his faith, because we thought that he had lost his desire to be baptized and such. He told us that he had been praying everyday in the way that we taught him! Wow! That´s something that got us really excited! We had to talk to him about not working on Sundays because it is the Lord´s day and that we need to go to church. Not a problem, E changed so now he tries not to go to work on Sundays and he has been at church for the past two weeks. It was still a bit hard to find him on weekdays, and for a couple days he was working in a mechanic shop right by the church. We headed over there and talked to one of the guys who worked there. His name was A, and is he interested! We talked to him about the restoration and gave him a pamplet and at our next lesson with him. that pamplet was just marked up with questions and all, it was amazing. There was a concert at the temple yesterday for christmas (It was awesome ill tell you a bit about it during skype) and he came with us! He drinks, which is something we have to talk to him about, but he is almost always spot on with the commitments we give him!

Monterrey Mexico Temple

Anyway back to E, he´s doing really well now, still not having the easiest time with work, but he´s really happy. He does want to go work in the states (he has a visa and all so he wont be illegal or anything) but he asks us if he goes to the states if there will be an LDS church there, and of course we tell him of course! oh yea, E speaks pretty good english too because he worked in Vancouver with his brother for 2 years i think. I have seen how this gospel has blessed him so much, from the time we met him to now, he is so much happier. He´s laughing and smiling all the time and it´s great. I know that when we try our best to be obedient to the things our heavenly father has commanded us, and when we repent of our sins and constantly try to follow Christ´s example, we can find great happiness, even in the heart of trial and difficult times. I´ll send you pictures of the baptism next week.

For the Skype, I´ll probably skype on Christmas on the 25th from the stake president´s house because he´s in our ward. I´ll write down the skype addresses you sent me.

also...There´s AP BIOCHEM!?!?!?!?! WOAH. hey mom, after about a year in my mission when I´m super comfortable with all of my spanish, you´ll have to send my diagrams of biology stuff labelled in spanish so I can learn that in spanish (and multitask and review all of that stuff hahaha) My MTC teacher told me not to stop learning vocab after you have become comfortable speaking and such. Learn all you can while you have the gift of tongues!

I think that´s about it for today, here are some pictures and tell Nathaniel to email me next week, and dad, they send funny emails. [Mom's emails aren't funny?] I´ll send a letter soon.

I love you all (and have you been doing FHE and scriptures and prayer and all?)

I love you

Davis

P.S. a sneak peak? of a Christmas surprise? huh? what´s this? (I hope it gets there on time, it should’ve been sent last week...it might get there late) DONT WORRY YOU’LL STILL LOVE IT!

Is that the Christmas surprise?

P.P.S. Hahahahahah no way! I bet he likes three rooms though! [Davis responded to the news that we put a window in Nathaniel's room so he can sleep in there when it is hot instead of moving into the guest room, and Davis' room...]