A lot going on!

Conner sounded great today!  He asked me to send him a recipe for some no bake cookies so he can make them next week for Christmas.  He does not have an oven in his apartment so he cannot bake. He said he isn't home sick and it doesn't feel like Christmas there with the climate.  When he was on the phone with me someone came up to him and asked him for the shoes he was wearing.  He was wearing his Nike shoes today.  Of course, he had to say no as he had no others shoes with him and people are often asking him for things.  

Conner's weekly email:

This last week we had a lot of good things happen, but we

had a really big step back with someone we had on date

for baptism before all the good happened. She tried to hand

back all the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon. We also 

had a member she was staying with say he didn't believe in

the church anymore. That sucked. Sometimes people forget

that in this life we will have a trial of our faith and we need to

remain faithful through it to receive a witness of the reality of

God and the truthfulness of this church (Ether 12:6). We were

able to talk them down and commit to just keep moving

forward. I don't know what is going to happen, but I pray

the outcome will be well. Anyways, the rest of the week was

great. We met with Henry, the man we met late at night last

week. We met his wife and kids. It is very rare to be able to

teach families out here, so I am excited. The spirit was strong

as we talked about the plan of salvation, or God's plan in

regards to sending us, his children, away from his presence

and into this world. It also deals with why he sent us here

and what happens after we die. As we spoke about how

families can be together forever, their eyes lit up. The spirit

was in their small shop, and you could just tell how badly

they wanted it. If I could help them go to the temple to

participate in that, and I was unable to do anything else of

worth, my mission will still be a success. Another thing that

was great about this last week was we had our Christmas

zone conference. It was spiritual and uplifting for the first

half and a lot of fun the second. We watched a lot of skits by

missionaries that were so bad they were funny. Apparently

everyone was too busy working to practice on them. We then

had a nice lunch, even to American standards and some of

us spent a few hours throwing around a football. A few days

later we had a zone activity for Light the World. People were

able to tour our chapel and received a Book of Mormon. We

nearly gave out 30 Book of Mormons. This week is Transfers,

so we will find out what happens for the next 7 weeks

tonight. Transfers fell on Christmas so they shortened this

one and lengthened the next one. I hope this week is full of

joy and fun as everyone gets ready for Christmas. Let me

know how you all are doing.

-Elder Garrison

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