April 18th will be a good day....

To my wonderful family and friends,

Out of all the weeks I have been here in Keighley this week probably has been the most eventful. We taught and scheduled two people for baptism; Aladar and David. Let me explain in more detail:

About a week ago Sister Arrive and I were going to go by a AUF in Keighley. We knocked on the door and it clearly wasn't the guy we were looking for. He is Slovak and speaks very little English. We explained that we were volunteers for our church and he then said, "Volunteers?" He explained he needed help with painting so we offered to help. We called him the following day to ask him if he needed us but he said he didn't need our help anymore. We asked if we still could come over and he said yes. Aladar is a father to five children and a wife, who doesn't speak much English. We taught Aladar Monday, 23 March, with Slovak pamphlets and the Slovak Book of Mormon. Surprisingly he understood most all we taught him. We scheduled Aladar, to be baptized, for the 18 of April. He accepted and Sister Arrive and I were excited. Since then we haven't been able to see Aladar. We have made appointments with him but his son is ill and he is always going to the hospital with him. Sister Arrive and I are hoping and praying that we will be able to see Aladar.

The next miracle. David. Now you might remember me, two-three weeks ago, talking about a man named David. (We were flogged buy a girl named Georga and decided to go to see David. Within a week David read 18 chapters of the Book of Mormon.) On Tuesday night we finally were able to meet with David at the church. We gave David a chapel tour and taught him the first lesson. Along with the first lesson we watched the Restoration DVD. The spirit was strong as we scheduled David for baptism on the 18th of April. Due to David's schedule we haven't been able to see David since that night but Sister Arrive and I are hoping and praying that we can see David twice this week.

Now to my family and friends who may be thinking why would a missionary schedule someone for baptism on the first lesson? I thought the same thing. I in fact was pretty against it at the beginning of my mission. President Pilkington and the Assistants established how important it is to schedule someone for baptism on the first lesson because - 

#1- It fulfills your purpose as a missionary (Invite others to come unto Christ...baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost...)

#2- It establish, to the investigator, our purpose and expectations as missionaries

#3- It helps missionaries see who really has the intent of wanting to learn about the Gospel and follow Jesus Christ's example

Yes I am scared to invite people to be baptized on the first lesson but I have learned my roll as a missionary. Right now Aladar and David are a bit far from baptism but I have faith in Heavenly Father that it will all work out! :)

Wednesday and Thursday Sister Arrive and I went on another exchange. I really enjoy going on exchanges because I learn so much from the Sisters. I love applying

what I learn from the Sisters. Sister Lee and Sister Gilbert are really good sisters. The both of them are good teachers. I feel the spirit really strong when they teach. I need to apply the spirit more by sharing more testimony as I teach and find. I learned that from the exchanges with Sister Lee and Sister Gilbert.

This week I was reading in Alma 22 when Aaron was teaching Lamoni's father. He taught him about the creation and about Jesus Christ. In verse 15 the king asks Aaron what he can do to have eternal life and Aaron's response was in verse 16 which says, "If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yes, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope thou desirest." That last part struck me. ..."then shalt thou receive the hope thou desirest." Everyone on this earth desires HOPE. I have came in contact with so many people here in England who feel hopeless. The Gospel of Jesus Christ provides that HOPE that people are seeking. Hope is something only Jesus Christ can offer. That is why it is so important that the church has missionaries all over the world! To provide hope for those that are desiring hope. I love you all so much have a fantastic week! :)

Sister Garrett

First time doing exchanges!!!

This week was stressful, I must admit. Last week we couldn't do any exchanges so we had to do TWO 24 hour exchanges this week. Which means we only had a few days in Keighley. So the work in Keighley hasn't progressed at all. We didn't get much finding time and lessons, but at our weekly planning Sister Arrive and I made specific plans for finding this week. How we are going to use our time to the best of our ability. We planned specific areas we wanted to find and specific potentials we wanted to see this week. Our goal was to get the area moving. Right now the investigators we have are not progressing. (pretty much we don't have any investigators.) So our goal is to find new investigators and start scheduling them for baptism. 

Even though we spent a lot of time out of our area I loved going on exchanges! We did exchanges with the Leeds 1.1 Sisters and Leeds 4 Sisters. Those exchanges were wonderful! I learned a lot from each sister individually. I went on exchanges with Sister Nelson, Sister Riberra, Sister Geiser, and Sister Griffin. They are wonderful missionaries that I will strive to become more like. I made a few goals on areas that I think I can improve on. I have looked back on my mission so far and I am amazed at the improvements that I have made but I know I still need to improve in others. I have been out 5 months. Soon I will almost have a year to go! It is going by way to quick!! I am excited to continue to serve the Lord and his children. 

Last week in my personal study I was reading in the Book of Mormon about Abinadi. (Mosiah 12,13,17,18...)  This story stuck out to me because of the effect Abinadi had on a lot of people. Abinadi was before the king and taught the Gospel. Alma was touched by Abinadi's words and was converted and later brought 450 people to God. Abinadi didn't see the results of his efforts. He could have simply got discouraged but he shared the message Heavenly Father wanted him to share and because of him 450 were baptized. This struck me because it helped me realize that even bringing one person to Christ can effect so many others. As well as how planting seeds is so important. I may not see the results of my work but it is all still worth it! Hope you all have a fantastic week!

Until next week,

Sister Garrett

Amiss the rejection of people there are miracles in the mission field...

Dear family and friends,

There are days in the mission field, that I have noticed, that are harder than others. Yesterday, was one of those hard days. Two weeks ago we met a girl named Georga who is 17 and lives with her parents. On Monday (2 March) we had a really good appointment with her. We ran out of time so we didn't schedule her for baptism. Because she didn't have her work schedule she didn't know when we could meet next so we said we would give her a call the following night to set another appointment with her. She doesn't have a cell phone at the moment so she gave us her home number. The phone number that we were given didn't work the next night. So we had no clue how we were going to get a hold of her. On our way to the church Wednesday night, for a meeting, we saw her on the bus. Miracle! We set another appointment with her for the Friday (6 March). She seemed very excited to see us again and to come to church. She even invited her boyfriend to come to church with her. 

Friday night we were on our way to see Georga when we got a text from her saying that she had a friend come a long way to see her. She asked to see us a different night. We asked when but she never texted us back. Sunday comes and very sad and disappointed we didn't see Georga at church. So, Sister Arrive and I thought to go by her house and see how she was doing. Her mom answered the door. Her mom told us that she doesn't want her daughter to be a Mormon. She also said that Saturdays and Sundays are the only days their family has time together (step-dad works during the week) so she doesn't want to share her with a church. I explained to her that her daughter had questions for us that we were just answering. Her mom then said, " Well her mom can do that." And then she shut the door. I was crushed! I felt like Georga was SO ready to accept the message that we were going to share with her. From there Sister Arrive said, "Lets pray!" In her prayer she asked where we should go next. She felt promoted to go to the man that we met a week earlier. We knocked on his door and we caught him in the middle of reading a book. I asked if he liked reading and gave him a Book of Mormon. Yesterday we saw him and he had read 17 chapters of the Book of Mormon! Miracle! We taught him briefly and said we would come by later.

I am so very sad that Georga's mom rejected us. I felt Georga was soooo ready to accept the message that we had shared! We hopefully will see her again on the bus! :) Until then David is doing wonderful! Amiss the rejection of people there are miracles in the mission field! Love you all very much! Have a wonderful week!!

Sister Garrett

My New French Companion

Dear family and friends,

This week was wonderful! Little miracles throughout the whole week. For example, we made it to a tea appointment exactly on time (if we aren't on time President Pilkington takes our tea appointments away), and we found a few more people to teach! :)

Sister Arrive is my new companion. She is from France. She is 23. She is nearing the end of her mission in 5 weeks. She likes to read and watch movies. Sister Arrive is the only member in her family to join the church. She has been a member for only 3 years and she is a great missionary! From these past 4'ish days I have learned SO much from her. She has inspired me to become a more obedient and diligent missionary. Sister Arrive talks to pretty much everyone she sees. She has helped me become more diligent in finding. With previous companions we knocked more but with Sister Arrive we actually do more street contacting. I used to feel uncomfortable with street contacting and bus contacting but now I have become more comfortable with talking to people.

In fact, on Thursday we rode the bus to a nearby village by Keighley named Cullingworth. I walked down the bus trying to decide who to sit by and everyone had bags on the seats next to them. I ended up

not sitting by anyone. I felt very disappointed. A young girl sat down behind me and so I decided to be bold and speak to her. I complimented on her jacket and asked where she got it. Conversion flew from there. Her name is Georga and she is 17. She has desire in wanting to know if there is a God and what the purpose of life is. I told her why I decided to serve a mission and made an appointment to see her on Sunday, 18 February.

Yesterday, we were going up to her house and her step-dad was in the driveway. We asked if Georga was home and he said she wasn't. From there he invited us to go inside and we started talking to him. He seems open to Georga talking to us. We set an appointment with her for tonight and I am excited to teach her! I love serving a mission. The small miracles throughout the weeks help me to continue pushing forward! I love you all very much! Have a fantastic week!!

Sister Garrett

(Thought I better do this again)

English word of the week:

Rubbish (Rub.ish)

1. English word for trash or garbage.

ex: All your rubbish goes in the rubbish bin. Rubbish does not belong on the ground.