2015.06.22 Cienega de Flores

Dear Mom, wait

Dear Dad,

HAPPY FATHER´S DAY! I hope you hade a good US open, who was the guy that won again from last year that went to U of Florida and was super young? or was that another tournament? Anyway I bet Phil Mickelson didn´t win because he´s super old now.

Zone Conference: Davis back row right of center, President and Sister Swapp front center.

This week was a lot. first of all, we had our zone conference and it was the last time that I´ll see President Swapp before our next President comes next week (President McArthur). he was a super great Mission President. He taught us that it really is through small and simple things that great things come to pass. (alma 37:6-7) so don´t give up! keep going, because you can´t see the wonderful things that will come wuth time (D&C 63:33-34) Also, I got to see Elder J! That was awesome.

Davis and Elder J.

Well there are quite a few challenges that we have been facing here in the branch. We haven´t really had any luck finding any real investigators. There are many people here who will glady listen to us, but the won´t come to church or complete with their comittments. It´s not to say that they aren´t bad people. We have many great lessons with various people, where they can undoubtly feel the Holy Ghost, and they tell us, but then they forget the feeling and don´t want to really change for the better. It really is kind of a bummer for that to happen. 

We had a lesson with A. at the end of a tough day though, and it was pouring rain outside. We sand the hymn "Master the Tempest is raging" and he began to explain how he was still battling to get work off for all sundays. Elder T shared the story of Peter walking on the water to Jesus. When he had his eyes on the Lord, his faith was firm and there was not doubt, and he could walk on the water, but he began to look at the waves and feel ther winds, his eyesight went off of the Lord and began to doubt, that is when he began to sink. We explained: "Is this not like all of us, If we put our faith in Christ, and look towards him in every moment, we will not have to doubt that everything will go well, but when we look around and ask ourselves the "what ifs?" and think about consequences and situations that could possibly pass us by, well that´s when we begin to sink." opening to the short scripture in doctrine and covenants 6:36 filled the room. I think that Elder T and I needed that lesson as well, not just A. The rain had stopped when we finished the lesson, and it was a good end to the day.

A. arrived early to church and was confirmed, next week he will be able to recieve the Aaronic Priesthood.

 

A. after his baptism (wearing what was probably Davis' favorite tie.)

There are still many other things, we have to do a lot with the small branch to get it on its feet. We´re trying to start activities every week so that they´re more united. Sometimes, when I think that my portion is hard, I think about how hard it was for Joseph Smith to restore the Church, And I think of how hard it must have been for Christ to suffer for our sins. Then I remember the words of Nephi in 1 Nephi 4...Let us be diligent in keeping the commandments of God. I guess sometimes, we need to sit down for five minutes nd breathe everything out, then get up and get to work. Mom there are lots of things I want to tell you about how I feel and what I´m doing, obviously there isn´t the time to do it. But I want you to know that I´m never going to stop working hard. But if you could, I would like if you could share with me what you guys learn at church, what things you learn throughout the week about the gospel, what experiences you guys have, like thanny´s testimony! :) I just want to recieve spiritual nourishment wherever I can find it. 

We went to the markets today, and I got some things for you guys. our Branch President said that he was going to go to Utah in a month, so if I stay for another 6 weeks I´ll be able to send the stuff with him. There´s a late mother´s day gift that I´ll put in there too. 

I love you guys so much! Sounds like everything is great over there! I´m glad Thanny had fun at conference! I´ll send some pictures.

Elder Davis Garner

Nathaniel gets to choose the one he wants: howling coyote or gecko.

Howling Coyote (or a cat with bad breath?)

Gecko T shirt

2015.06.15 Cienega de Flores

2015.06.15 Cienega de Flores

here let me answer your questions first.

Well, 6:30 we get up and do exersize. right now I´m doing something that my convert F taught me, where you start with diamond pushups and then you go to marine push ups and then regular and then spread pushups. I also do the jump rope a bunch and core and whatever else I have time for. ITS SUPER HOT IN OUR HOUSE. honestly it is not a very pleasant house, but that´s ok I didnt come on the mission to be the prince of bel air (smell ya later!) It is super humid, so it´s hard to fall asleep. You can´t open the windows unless you want a million cockroaches to join ya! so we got our two fans and that´s that! the spider unfortunately died :( poor guy, but I find other weird bugs in the house so it´s ok. anyway in the day what we´ve been doing a lot is looking for families, we talk to families, we teach families, we eat with families, we ask people if they know families. Well we talk with everyone, EVERYONE! but we want to find that family that desires to have the restored gospel in their life. Weather=super hot.

Speaking of families, we found many this week. It was so awesome to teach many full families about the restored truth of an eternal family. We would start each lesson with "families can be together forever" and with that I could feel the spirit fill up my whole chest, and I´m positive it did the same with my companion too. From then on, in every lesson we were truly guided by the spirit, and If I had the time I could tell you many wonderful experiences that we had in the lessons. 

Oh but in sunday, we were disappointed. We sat there waiting in sacrament meeting, and not one of the 4 families that we had commited to church came. A. came late and wasn´t able to be confirmed (but don´t worry about him, his work won´t be a problem now and he will be on time next sunday) I thought to myself "I thought that the blessings came after the trials" Later I felt that voice say to me "patience" Well here is another lesson that I learned. Sometimes we are stuck in the middle of a sticky situation, and we feel heavy in trial, and at the end of the day we say to ourselves "I suffered it well and willingly, the blessings will come." But, I guess sometimes we don´t understand that some trials are longer than others, saying to ourselves "be patient" and then expecting the blessings tomorrow isn´t really being patient. If there was one spider that I could have in my house, it would be charlotte so she could sing to me "Cheer Up! Cheer Up!" 

But don´t worry about me, I´m not the lest bit disanimated. I thought to myself "Well, If these families, or I, are not receiving great blessings, my Heavenly Father should be sending them to my family." I hope you guys feel wonderful this week. The gospel is the most wonderful thing we have and It´s great to have the blessing of an eternal family. Maybe since Nathaniel is so bored, you guys could all go to the Temple, or do a super fun family home evening where you do service to a neighbor or an old person and then get ice cream. Dad is in charge of the service projects in the ward now isn´t he? He should have plenty ideas.

dang I didn´t bring my thingy to send photos, but next Week! We´re going to go to San Nicolas for a zone activity in the afternoon, but then we are going to stay and work there in the evening in the area of two other missionaries and stay at their house, because tomorrow we´re going to the temple, and after we are going to have a zone conference! It´s the last zone conference with president Swapp too, how sad, he´s going to be leaving in two weeks. He´s been an awesome mission president and I´ll miss him a bunch. But I am excited to have another, it´will be super cool to learn from two mission presidents. Hey, did I tell you guys that Elder J is the newest assistant to the President now? So I´ll get to see him tomorrow as well! 

Let´s all 4 of us have a super duper week!

I love you!

Elder Davis Garner

(for dad Elder Davie Chocolate)

2015.06.08 Cienega de Flores

Dear mom!

Sounds great! It´s funny how I was going to do an intership at the NPS in Santa monica mountains, and then once the guy sent me the thing about the Least Terns at the naval base, I went and did that. Nathaniel should have fun there. I miss running, It´s kind of tough not running. but there are more important things...

A got Baptized!!! Yea, the other missionaries in the branch were going to baptize the two youths on a thursday evening, and so we called A "Hey do you want to get baptized?" "Yea when?" "7pm" "ok I´ll be there at 6:30" Woo hoo! He has been felling more and more confident every day, and he has been getting good at recognizing the spirit. He says that he is going to make the final decision this week about his job so that he can go to church every sunday and be confirmed a member! (He wasn´t this week because it was the stake conference)

Baptism of two youths (young boy and girl with glasses) and "A" (probably the one right next to Davis in white).

Oh and stake conference of san Nicolas was awesome! As Missionaries we are only supposed to go to the sunday session, but, the priesthood meeting needed a male piano player and the closest one in the stake was...an hour and a half a way(me) so we went, and I was able to see a lot of the members of the Nicolas Bravo ward. After the meeting, the stake president came up to me and said (in english!) "Thank you so much Elder, keep working hard" He´s got pretty good english, but it´s always unusual to hear it hahahaha. And then on sunday, guess who I saw!? O!!!!! Early to church as always in his nice shirt and tie! I also got to see his parents V and K, goodness there is such a difference in them now that they are going to church every sunday and preparing to get married and baptized. I love them so much.

Davis and O at the San Nicolas Stake Conference

Elder T is super cool. We are working super hard together and he is super fun too. This week we came home on sunday night exausted, but we felt that the Lord was greatly pleased in all of our efforts. We have two whole families in the teaching right now, and we have faith that they will both progress nad be able to be baptized. Both families show the interest, intentions, and humility to truly desire to follow the saviour. 

This Week was...as Violet from the Incredibles said: "Super Duper Dad!"

Love you mom, I´m going to send you some pictures.

Elder Garner

2015-06-01 Cienega de Flores

Hey mom,

The truth is I don´t know. [Davis is responding to a question about whether or not he has gained weight since he doesn’t run as much on his mission.] Since I´ve gotten to Cienega my pants have loosened a lot, I´ve been pulling them up a little here and there. But last time I weighed my self i was 165lb, but I don´t know how much I was when I was in Nicolas Bravo or anything. hmmmm. I feel all right in terms of health. I don´t feel super in shape though, cuz I can´t run all day every day and do more after that. 

Farewell to Elder H

Elder H was changed out, and now I have a new companion. Elder T. He´s from...Monterrey! He´s lived in Monterrey since he was 20 and then moved to coahuila, and there he got his call to monterrey. he´s 25 years old too. But he´s a cool guy, a hard worker and he does excersize. We did go on one run this week, but only for 10 minutes because I didn´t know if he was feeling great or whatnot, he was probably fine.

This week was pretty tough, as in we worked pretty hard. A was super animated because he got his work buddies to help him out so he could go to church on sundays and be baptized. We were super excited. But in  the morning on sunday when we were filling up the font, we got a call from A, saying that his friends didn´t want to help him anymore and he had to work. Dang, we were all pretty bummed. But don´t worry, he will find a way to make it happen! One way or another!

Hello Elder T

We have been looking for families, and we found one! It´s a family of three, and when we found them, the mom said "Hey I´ve been waiting for you guys for a while, you always pass by and I wanted you to talk to me, we want to go to your church." Awesome! We still haven´t gotten to known the husband because he was sound asleep when we found them. They were heading on their way to church yesterday, but then they got a call and had to go help her mom with something, it was something urgent. Dang again! Oh well, They´re for sure coming next time!

Oh here´s an awesome story!!! First of all. the zone cienega de flores was so small this change, that they merged it again with San Nicolas, my old zone. Now there is just one zone for the whole stake of san nicolas. So, now we have to go all the way to the stake center for the zone and district meetings, which is almost 2 hours away! The super cool thing thought, is that it is my old area Nicolas Bravo! So many good things from there. Elder G (one of the Elders that was in the MTC with me) is in that area now, and he was telling me how strong my converts are, they´re all doing so well! The best to hear about was O and his family, he´s still being the valient deacon that he has always been, and now his parents are coming to church every sunday AND FINALLY V [O’s dad] WANTS TO GET MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!! Elder G told me his story, that he lost his job, and he told the missionaries it was because he wasn´t doing what they were saying. They promised him that he would get a new job if he started going to church...so he started, and he did! Now they just need to find the time and means to get married and then BOOM, they can get baptized and O and his family will be able to recieve temple blessings in a year! That was probably the coolest thing this week, even though it wasn´t in my own area.

Hey mom make sure to take pictures up at Berkeley, that´s cool that you saw a pacific loon. I found one of those with J one time at sycamore in febuary. I´m pretty tired from this week, but I feel pretty good, sometimes there are things that stress me out, but I can always find a way to relieve it. 

I love you mom! I´ll send some pictures

Davis

also, I don´t use gel in my hair anymore, and I saw a curve billed thrasher, northern bobwhite, verdin, and a bunch of roadrunners.

Maybe Davis doesn't wear hair gel because he cut all his hair off.

one more...found a turtle in the middle of nowhere

2015.05.25 Cienega de Flores

Dear mom,

Wooooooahhh I´ve been on a mission for about 9 months now. Time flies. Well we have transfers today, but we don´t know if anyone goes or stays or any of that until the night, hmm.

This was a good week, a lot of things happened. A prepared this whole week to get baptized, we finished all of the lessons and all. He was super prepared and had built up his testimony. There was only one thing that impided him to get baptized...work on sunday.. We prayed every day of the whole week that his boss would give him work of that day. He was many lessons where the power of the spirit of the Lord was so strong you could not deny it. arturo was ready, he was praying too. He had to make his decision saturday night and we would find out by him coming to church or not. We did not doubt that he would come. We had built up our faith like a great walll.

well! he didn´t come, he went to work, because it´s a new job and the boss still won´t give him that day off yet because he´s new. But we had such great faith! all of us! was it all in vain? Of course not! Maybe A used his agency to go to work and something radical didn´t happen to allow him to come to church and be baptized, but he is not lost, his testimony is not crushed. Our development of faith is not wiped away. I still felt great yesterday, even though arturo didn´t get baptized. We watched a video in the gospel principals class, of a convert who recieved the blessing in his confirmation that his example would help his family accept the gospel. Well, when he is baptized, the family gets more uptight about the gospel, because he won´t work on sundays. It bothers his father and they mock him that he is taking religion more important than his family. The convert gets stressed and asks his bishop "why is my family less receptive now, I thought they would be more receptive?" the bishop told him "Well sometimes we don´t recieve blessing right away, sometimes we have to have raith, keep being obedient, and just wait. Trust that the Lord will complete his promises," In the video, the family does not become more receptive to the gospel, but that´s just the video, Arturo did not get baptized this week..but that´s just the week! I can keep strengthening this great faith that I have been building up, for the benefit of A and all others!

Davis' selfie with his whole zone.

Also, the Water in the whole town of Cienega de Flores went out, It was awesome that we couldn´t brush our teeth or anything! Everyone said it wouldn´t come back until thursday...oh goodness! But guess what?! It came back this morning so we could shower in cold water and brush our teeth! A MIRACLE!! That was pretty awesome. 

right now there is a medium sized spider crawling on my computer screen...

"look out! Terrible joke INCOMING!"

...guess it´s just hanging out on the net...

Nathaniel looks super goofy as always, and more preppy. Horchata wasn´t a really big thing here during the holiday season, but there is something called i don´t remember, but it´s something like hot chocolate but it isn´t and it´s made with corn and (i dont like it yuck) but that´s alright!

Te amo mama!

Elder Garner

2015-05-18 Cienega de Flores

Dear mom,

El Autobús Mágico was probably the best idea ever. I´ll read them when I have the time in my language study and then when I have a companion or anyone who is american, I can start giving them away. [We gave Davis a bunch of "Magic School Bus" childrens' science books in Spanish because he wanted to learn science vocabulary in Spanish.]

This week was super good! and super hard! I´ve realized that Cienega de Flores is just a tough area, more than Nicolas Bravo at least. With less members, more area, less english, more faith required, sometimes it makes me tired, but i just put my shoulder to the wheel,push along, and do my duty with a heart full of song, it works! Goodess gracious I´m sweaty.

We have an investigator that is preparing to get baptized this week, his name is A, as I´ve told you. He has a great testimony in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and does things such as reading and praying, because he wants to! not because he feels like he´s obligated to. He has a bit of oposición right now, which is that his boss is having him work on sundays, so until he gets that day off for rest, he can´t get baptized. He really thinks that he can get it off, and he´s been praying so that he may get sunday to rest. right now he has monday off (so close!) But he´s a great guy, he works in a company that makes juice so he said he´s going to bring us some next time, and he´s super funny. It´s really fun to teach him, and have him ask questions and see him reach an understanding of the principles. We had a powerful lesson with him about the word of wisdom, where two convert members expressed their testimonies about not drinking or smoking anymore and receiving great blessings. He isn´t addicted to anything, but he said that once in a while he´d smoke a cigarette or take a drink. He prayed, at the end of the lesson, to receive the strength to live the word of wisdom and to know that it is true. Bien con ganas Arturo es.

Well, I´m still putting on my sunscreen, and it´s hard to eat healthy here I don´t really know what to do about that but hope that the members feed me something healthy. I´m still feeling great! Elder H and I are working awesome!!

I love you mom,

Davis   

2015-05-12 Cienega de Flores and Davis' 19th Birthday

Happy Birthday Davis, May 14, 1996.

2015-05-12 Cienega de Flores

Hey Mom,

It was really nice to talk to you guys this past weekend. Too bad thanny wasn´t there. Anyway, between then and sunday, not much happened. I´ve been thinking a lot about the book of mormon, and how important it is. I told you guys the story about the lady who gained a testimony of the restoration through the book of mormon, and I told my mission president in my letter as well, and I think it´d be a good experience to share with everyone:

I have learned a lot more about trusting in the spirit, and the power of the book of mormon. Last sunday we had an exerience where we found a lady and we taught her about the restoration and about the book of mormon, inviting her to be baptized. When we came back that saturday, she declared to us that she had read the book and she had prayed...and she had recieved an answer that it was all true. Wow! how incredible. I could never do anything such as that. It´s like what Elder Anderson metioned in his talk this general conference talking to pres. monson years ago: We do all we can to hasten the work of the Lord, but this is the Lord´s work, and he opens doors, and works miracles that we can scarcely imagine. I found myself in the priesthood class this sunday learning about what Pres. Benson said about the book of mormon, it´s holy promise, and how we must concentrate everything on the book and its promise. Then later in the night I re-read "The Challenging and Testifying Missionary" another time. That night, I think I might of had some mixed dream or something, where I was talking at the pulpit, or someone else I don´t know, about the importance of teaching with the spirit, and letting the spirit teach through the power of the Book of Mormon. The person talking said "If we aren´t allowing the spirit to teach through us, and throught the book of mormon, then what are we doing?!" Well I woke up thinking "Well if I didn´t already know how important it is to do everything with the spirit and the book of mormon...I do now!"

Elder H and Davis at the Monterrey Temple

Something else that I have learned about this week has been sacrifice. The mission is a sacrifice, but there are so many opportunities to sacrifice even more mom. To sacrifice all of our efforts, our talents, our smiles. To sacrifice our man-like characteristics by ridding ourselves of pride, disobedience, fear, complaints, and all else. It is not an easy task, but what Elder Ringwood reminds me is that the good news of the gospel is that the desires of our hearts can be transformed. I´ll be honest sometimes you think "have I even made any progress at all in my mission?" but then again, when we see how much we still have to go to make it to the peak of the mountain, we often forget how much we have done to get to the point that we are. As long as we are progressing up that mountain towards perfection, through the gospel and love of Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father is happy with us.

It wasn´t that had to end the call THIS time, but it was still pretty hard mom. It´s also super hard to not open my [birthday] presents yet hahahhaa. In the next package you send me, can you send a packet of college ruled paper(100 sheets) and hi chew of course. And US stamps. That´s about it.

Way to go Nathaniel!! Now do school and get good at spanish!

"¡Andele Thanny!¡ Ya pónte en tus estudios y mejórate en español!"

I love you all so much, thanks for everything,

Elder Davis Garner