Loving Missionary Work.

This week I have learned a lot. Sister Hart and I have found it difficult to enjoy finding. It seems like we are constantly finding. So it was hard to find the motivation to find. Sister Hart and I talked and realize we need to approach finding in a different light. We realized that finding isn't just to find investigators but to help God's children on an individual level. When we changed our view of the purpose of finding our attitudes changed. So our plan is to make finding more fun. That is what we feel that was lacking. We are going to try to involve the IPads more and use our resources. I am excited once again to go finding!

This week Sister Hart and I found two new investigators. So Chantelle is a 19 year old we have met twice. The first time we met her we asked if we could come by and she said she was busy. The next time we met her was at the bus stop. Turned out we were going on the same bus as her. I asked her how her day was and you could tell it wasn't good. She told us that she just found out her mom has terminal cancer and is expected to only have a few years to live. Sister Hart and I did our best to comfort her. We explained that in order to truly help her we had to teach her about the Gospel. She accepted a day for us to come by and teach her. Chantelle lives with her boyfriend, Michael, So we ended up teaching the both of them. We planned on teaching the Plan of Salvation but the Spirit told us otherwise. We showed the Because of Him video and testified of Jesus Christ's Atonement. The spirit was so strong in the lesson! We scheduled Chantelle and Michael for the 21 of November. They are great!

So the bad news of the week is that we are no longer teaching Keith or Bata. Here are their stories. We had a lesson with Keith this week. We planned on scheduling him. We asked him if he read Ether 12, and he said no. He told us of how he just couldn't believe in a God. The spirit told me that we had to let Keith go. I thought to myself. "Why would God want us to let Keith go after 3 lessons?" From what I know about Keith is that he can feel the spirit easily so when he comes to have a desire to know God is there, he will receive his answer. It was hard to walk away from Keith's house that night but I know Keith would recognize the feeling of the spirit in his life missing.

Bata was similar. We knocked on her door and instantly I knew we would not see her again. Bata did not have desire to change her beliefs. Even though it was sad to not being able to teach Keith and Bata I am glad we left it at a good note. Sister Hart and I are still searching for that prepared soul. We will find them! Hope you all have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Garrett

I really don't get subject lines sometimes.

Well it isn't much of a surprise. This week Sister Hart and I did a lot of finding. It is England and people here are just not bothered about religion. But besides finding we had a pretty good week. As a new missionary in the mission filed it is good for a missionary to get to know all of the lessons so this week Sister Hart and I went to some less-actives to practice teaching them. It started off Monday evening for Family Home Evening. We went to a older couple named the Spencer's. We practiced teaching the Plan of Salvation to them. The spirit was really strong. The trouble is here in England and I guess everywhere else is that people just make excuses in coming to church. The Spencer's are great people but just do not have the motivation to come. Which to be honest, is very sad. Sister Hart and I will work on them and try to commit them to coming back to church.

Tuesday Val invited Sister Hart and I for tea. She is so good and loving church so much! Val is a very outgoing person and she talks to everyone at church and just befriends them! She is 71 and so sometimes she forgets some of the doctrine that we teach her but she FEELS the truth of the Gospel. That is enough for her. She is an example to me of the Saint I want to become. Someone who follows Jesus Christ completely. Who doesn't ask why but just does it. Later that night we taught Rosemary. We taught her the power of Hope and Faith in her journey to give up smoking. We have  made some goals with her to help her stop smoking. Her desire is lacking just a little but I think her desire to quit smoking will increase the more she reads her scriptures, prayers, and ultimately goes to church.

We finally were able to see Carmin. Our investigator from Romania. I just love her. The lessons we have with her are incredible in the fact that we can communicate with her fairly easily. She has little English but we were able to teach her the first lesson. She understood that there were prophets. She doesn't understand why just select people could be a prophet. We shared Joseph Smith's experience with her and she honestly thought Joseph was just seeing things. We told her that the only way to find out is through prayer. She was in a rush so I don't think she soaked up everything. Hopefully we can see her again next week so she can understand how she can receive answers.

On Saturday we were able to teach Keith. We brought a member with us which I think helped because he could relate with him more. Last time we asked him if he would read Alma 32 for us. He did but it was hard for him to understand it. Keith still doesn't understand how there could be a God. He was unable to come to church which was a shame. He works Sundays and the next day he has off is in 7 weeks. Not looking good for us. I think he has desire to know that there is a God but he just doesn't want to tell us that. He is slightly stubborn. I really think over time he will accept the Gospel. 

The ward's numbers have been decreasing. There are so many less-actives in this ward, it is quite sad. President Pilkington wanted to help us out so he came and did a fireside for our ward. We invited everyone we could! Not as many showed up that we wanted to but it was

quite a good turn out. Several less-actives were there and even non-members! President Pilkington is so inspired! I think the ward really needed what he shared. Well time has come to a close. Talk to you all next week. Keep shining your lights!!

Love Sister Garrett

We preached to a man named Keith

My wonderful Family and Friends,

I hope you all have had a good week! This week is the same as always, finding. Which isn't a bad thing. It just means we are trying to find that person who is ready to accept the Gospel. This week we did 25 hours of FUN finding. Sister Hart and I have fun while we knock doors and street contact. This week we had appointments with Bata and Carmin but they weren't able to meet with us this week. Bata was sick and Carmin was getting her kids ready for school (they just moved to England two months ago) So nothing has happened there, BUT I still think they both have potential. 

Friday we taught two Jehovah Witnesses. More like they wanted to teach us. The kept asking questions and sharing scriptures from the bible that they think proved their point. But to be honest, they didn't have the spirit. That is how I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. I know it through the Spirit. Sister Hart was really good in the lesson. She bore a lot of testimony that helped invite the spirit to the room. We gave one of the Jehovah Witnesses a Book of Mormon to read. She said she will read it. Another experience this week involving the Holy Ghost. :)

This week we found a man named Keith. He talked endlessly about how God cannot exist. We asked him how he knew and he said look at all the bad things happening in this world. We bore our testimonies and asked if we could share more with him sometime. He said we could come over but that we wouldn't be able to convince him. We said we could not convince him about anything. It was up to him. So we set up an appointment with him Saturday night and off we went.

Our Sister Training Leaders came on exchange with Sister Hart and I all of Saturday. So my friend and STL, Sister Davis, came to the scheduled lesson with Keith. I will be honest. I wasn't expecting Keith to answer the door when we went to his house Saturday night. What little faith I had. We got to know him a little bit better. His life, religious background, and his expectations of our visit. Then before we started the lesson we promised that he would feel the Spirit as we talked. To start it off we asked if we could offer a prayer. He said he would feel uncomfortable so he declined the offer. We respected him so we began to explain our beliefs. We taught Keith to his needs and shared the beginning part of the Plan of Salvation so that he could understood Heavenly Father and His plan for us.

Repeatedly throughout the lesson he mentioned all of the bad things that happen in this world. He couldn't accept the fact that a God could let all of these bad things happen. We talked about Agency, the purpose of life, the Holy Ghost role in our lives, and a lot about Jesus Christ. Both Sister Davis and I felt the spirit SO strong. We bore simple but powerful testimonies of Jesus Christ and God's love. Towards the end of the lesson you could see Keith completely change. We asked him to read the Book of Mormon. He accepted. We asked him if he would be baptized. He said he doesn't know enough at this point. (which we explained to him that we can help him with that) We asked if we could say a kneeling prayer with him. He said YES! We set up a return appointment and we are seeing him Wednesday.

The Holy Ghost is the real teacher. Sister Davis and I said what Keith needed to hear. All because of the spirit, Keith was able to turn completely around. I love this Gospel. It is so simple and that's what makes it so powerful. I love England and the people here. I cannot believe I hit my year mark Friday. I cannot face that fact. 

Until next week,

Sister Garrett :)

The Church is so true.

Dear Family and Friends,

I do not have much time to email. Right now we are in York and I have only 40 minutes to email. So this will be short but at some point I will explain more about this week and General Conference but here is just a summary of my week:

This week was great! I have learned so much from Sister Hart as well as from General Conference. I really enjoy training because it brings me back to the basics. (I really needed to be reminded.) Sister Hart is a brilliant finder. She is so bold and brave! She is very obedient and willing to work. I feel very blessed to be able to train her. This week we did a lot of finding again. But we did have some lessons as well. 

The first lesson we taught was to a woman named Bata. We have taught her three times in the past. She seems very curious to learn more about our church but I believe that is the extent. We have briefly went over the Restoration in the past but at our lesson we wanted to go over it in more detail. Well I guess that wasn't what we were suppose to teach. The spirit directed to talk more about the Book of Mormon and how to find truth. We tried to schedule her but she said she was already baptized. Next week we will teach about the priesthood along with the Restoration. I am not sure how interested she is to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized but we will ask her next week.

The other lesson we taught was to a woman named Carmin. She is from Romania. She speaks very little English. She knows very selected words but Sister Hart and I were able to communicate with her. It actually was very impressive to be honest. I don't speak Romanian (if you weren't aware) but she understood everything we taught. We invited her to be baptized which put her off a bit. Next week we will teach her the Restoration so that will help with

the questions she has. She seems very golden and prepared. I am excited to continue to teach her
more.

General Conference was amazing! I really felt God's love for us while watching the sessions. It makes complete sense that God would call a prophet to the earth along with Twelve Apostles. The Gospel is so simple and sweet. Jesus Christ loves us and he reaches to us through the Holy Ghost and his servants, the prophets and apostles. I love this Gospel and I am glad I have the chance to declare his word.

Until next week,

Sister Garrett