Yo what up! My name is Sister Garrett!!

Whats up family and friends,

This week has been great! Miracles have been coming left and right! I enjoy opening up a new area because these miracles are easier to recognize. The first miracle happened Monday night when we tried by a less-active family. They expressed their desire to come back to church and bring their family closer together. It was a good visit with them and they ended up coming to church yesterday.

Wednesday the mission had Zone Conference. Elder and Sister Moreirra came to speak with us. Elder Moreirra is from the Seventy. He was a very great speaker. He was really funny as well! From Zone Conference I set several goals for myself. 

#1 to become exactly obedient. It is easy to obey the big rules of the mission but it is harder to obey the smaller ones. I want to become EXACTLY obedient.

#2 to have a good attitude. In any circumstance I want to develop the habit of having a good attitude towards anything.

#3 recognize and express my gratitude. From this goal I have a planner that I am writing now a miracle that I've had that day. It has helped me stay positive.

After Zone Conference Sister Jessee and I decided to stop by a referral a member gave us. This referral has recently gone through a divorce and just need some encouragement. We taught her a short and simple yet powerful message about the Restoration. She loved it! We gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she would read it. We set a baptismal date with her as a goal and she is happy to work for the date. What I didn't mention is that we taught all of this on her doorstep, while it was raining, and I didn't have my coat on, yet I loved it!!

Thursday, we had a lesson with Ron. He had questions about the Fall and the nature of God. He doesn't believe that God would have planned the Fall and that God has a physical body. We planned really well for the lesson with several scriptures and quotes. We taught him the beginning part of the Plan of Salvation and the spirit was so strong! We left the lesson with him rethinking the Fall and the nature of God. We used a quote that I just love! "Just as we do not really desire food until we are hungry, we will not fully desire eternal salvation until we recognize our need for the Savior. This recognition comes as we grow in our understanding of the Fall." 

Friday we went to a tea appointment and got there early, 30 minutes to be exact. We decided to do some knocking before the appointment. 15 minutes into knocking we knocked on this woman's door and she invited us in! We only had 10 minutes to teach her so we taught her about the Restoration. I stated Joseph Smith experience as he had the vision and she said "I feel cold and I have goosebumps." She felt the spirit and we will be teaching her tomorrow and schedule her for baptism. Another miracle is that we made it to our tea appointment on time! 

It has been a great week! Sister Jessee and I have tried to make finding more fun. I have 8 lines down from my rap and so Sister Jessee and I will rap together for people on the street! I am excited!! Thank you guys for all that you do! I hope this week is memorable! 

Lots of Love,

Sister Garrett

Helping Pontefract one step at a time.

To my lovely family and friends,

This week has been fairly good. Hard work but good! I will start off by saying that Sister Jessee and I have two new investigators!!! :) Woo Hoo!! Their names are Kris and Joseph. I'll explain their stories to you.

Kris is 22 years old. He works at a store named Morrisons. (It's like Fresh Market) Anyway, we stopped him while street contacting Monday night and set up an appointment with him the following morning. The lesson with him went really well. He understood everything we taught. We tried to give him a goal for baptism but he declined. He said that he is really connected to the Church of England. He said that he will read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. We have limited contact with him because of his job but his aunt is a member of the church and goes to our ward. We will try to go through her to help Kris.

Joseph is in high 20's. He is a single parent with a 3 year old son. His son is adorable. We knocked on his door and rapped to him. (Sister Jessee has the rap, I give the beat. I am in the process of making one up now.) He liked it and we taught him the Restoration. He accepted the goal of baptism on the 12th of September. I called him to see if he was coming to church and he said he was reading some more information about the church. He agreed to still meet with us to see if it is the true church. We will see him tomorrow to smooth over some misconceptions. 

We also met with the Elders former investigator (Ron). He has been investigating for 18 months? Anyway, he is big into the bible and deep doctrine. We are working with him now.

The Pontefract ward is struggling. The ward has a lot of less-active. So Sister Jessee and I have been visiting the less-active members to bring them back to church. We went on a split with the Relief Society President and another Sister on Thursday this week. I went with the Relief Society President to a less-active sister. Her name is Brenda Humphries. She has had a lot of feelings of inadequacy. I shared with her the Mormon Message "The Power of Hope". That video touched her so much that it made her cry. We comforted her and saw her at church on Sunday. 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ brings hope to the hopeless. I have seen that so much on my mission! Everyone needs the influence of hope in their lives. Jesus Christ gives that hope through His Atonement. I bare testimony of that. I love you all soooo much!! Have a great week!!!

Sister Garrett

New area...

To my family and friends,

I am no longer in Grimsby. Which is quite sad BUT I am excited to start things off in my new area. Right now I am in Pontefract. Which compared to Grimsby is quite different. Pontefract, like my other areas is small and not very nice. When we got here to Pontefract on Wednesday we started off by seeing the Ward Mission Leader (Brother Carter). He really is so missionary minded and wants to get the area moving with new investigators.

As of right now Sister Jessee and I are the only missionaries in our area. They pulled the Elders out and put Sisters in. Pontefract hasn't had sisters in 5 years! (Very similar to Grimsby) The ward is very small and has a lot of less-active members. Our work here is going to be bringing less-actives back to church, strengthening member relationships, and finding new investigators!! Sister Jessee and I are excited to work! As of right now we have two investigators that we haven't met yet. Their names are Ron and Sullivan. We realize that this ward really needs Sisters and new members to build the ward. I am excited to start working here.

Through our finding efforts this week we have a return appointment with a single father named Joseph. He is very open-minded and is willing to see if there is a God. I am excited for him to learn more.

I have to run but know that I love you all and hope you guys have a great week!!!

With love,

Sister Garrett

P.S. Sister Jessee is from California and has been out on here mission for almost a year now.

this week is full of big news...

To my amazing family and friends,

Transfer calls were last night. And since I love anticipation... you will have to wait for the results till after I explain about my week... :)

This past week we had MANY miracles again!! They all happened on Thursday! We met with most of our investigators on that day for some reasons. First we met with was Rebecca. We watched the Restoration video with her and bore our testimonies of the Restoration. I know she felt the spirit. She loved watching the video as well! Afterward we scheduled her for the 29 of August. I feel that she is ready! As she comes to church, reads and prays she will feel the Holy Ghost testify to her of the truth. 

After Rebecca we ran over to Georgina's house. We also wanted to watch the video with her because she seems like a visual person. I think it helped her as well understand the message of the Restoration. She unfortunately is going away on holiday for two weeks but having faith we scheduled her as well. But for the 19th of September. She seemed a bit more hesitant then Rebecca, but I know at some point she will accept the Gospel. :)

Later that day we saw Gemma. Martin wasn't available but we saw her with a member. Wow. The spirit was strong. Sister Silvennoinen and I went in with the intention of following the spirit. With ONE question we asked her, Gemma brought up that she thought setting a date would be good. I asked her what date she thought and she said the 28 of August. Since I knew Satan would tempt her with a date so far away I asked if she would be ready to be baptized on the 15th of August. She said if she receives her answer, yes she would. You can never go wrong by following the spirit and these past two weeks is evidence of that. It's nothing that I have done. It was all Heavenly Father! He knows what is best for his children and missionaries are his instruments. I know that is true!

Yesterday, President Pilkington decided that he wanted to meet Gemma and Martin. I can now say that I have been in a lesson with President Pilkington! Which is rare because of how busy he is, but I think the visit helped Martin and Gemma want to progress.

So for the results of the transfer call... I am leaving the Great Grimsby. Which I am sad about. I hate saying goodbye to people! But I know I am going where Heavenly Father needs me. I will be heading up by York with a Sister named Sister Jesse. I have heard GREAT things about her so I am excited for this transfer. I love you all! I hope you have a great week!!

Much love,

Sister Garrett