Peace in Christ

We spoke with Conner this morning.  He sounded really good and is teaching several lessons.  Conner discussed teaching about prayer and using the model of the Lord's Prayer found in Matthew.  He felt that many are able to receive answers to their prayers and feel the Spirit much easier after discussing the Lord's Prayer.

Conner and his companion recently enjoyed making a video and shared it on Facebook.  

The video can be found here:  Peace in Christ

Baptism

This last week went by fast. We didn't have water for most of the week. We tried to ration the water we did have, but ended up not having water to wash our clothes so a lot of time was spent trying to get some. I have such short time until I go home and seems like there are a lot of things that I have to do that keep me from going and working with people. As far as the work is going, we have a lot of good leads and people we are working with. We expect May to be a really good month for baptisms. 

We did get a baptism yesterday! It felt good to see some of the fruit of our labours. I am excited to see what good comes because Christabel made the decision to be baptized. I love y'all and I hope you all had a good week. 

-Elder Garrison 

A Light Between the Clouds

I am sorry it has been so long since I last emailed. To be honest recently I have been stressed and disappointed by a lot of things. I don't really want to go into those things. I guess the point is that life is not easy for anyone. We have ups and downs and shortcomings and set backs. The important thing I have come to learn is that it just matters where your nose is pointed. 

I love section 123 of the Doctrine and Covenants. It talks about wasting and wearing out our lives in bringing people the truth. There are times when it feels like wasting and wearing happens more easily than at other times. I love the last verse, "17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." Yesterday was an example of this. 

We had the font filled for a friend of ours to be baptized. We had to fill the font twice because some boys broke in and swam in it making the water brown. It is a pain in the rear to get that font filled because of how slow the water fills and the lack of keys to it.  She is a member of a part member family. Imagine our surprise and disappointment when the uncle came up to us and said that she would be unable to be baptized that day. To add to the disappointment two of the people we had on date for this month did not come to church making them ineligible for baptism this month. This was after taking the long bike ride up the hill and having them promise us again that they would come. It stung because our mission has the goal to baptize 100 people this month and every area is expected to baptize. We have Stake Conference the last weekend in this month and had General Conference last. We hope to reach our goals. 

As we rode away from church we were left wondering what else we could have done. We came to the conclusion that we did everything in our power. After finishing our studies we went out. We met someone around our age named Jay. The three times before this he asked us many questions about things that seemed to him to contradict the bible. We taught him about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. The time before we had a long discussion about what he had read. He was looking for anyway to disprove it. We answered all his questions. We told him to continue to pray. The difference yesterday was like night and day. He had prayed "earnestly", as he put it, and received an answer. He only asked questions for understanding. To see the change in him literally over night was such a blessing to see. I saw, "the salvation of God, and his arm" was revealed. It felt like a moment of light between the clouds and the Spirit was there in abundance. I look forward to seeing him in the water wearing all white. 

I love you all. I hope each of you have a great week. 

-Elder Garrison

Erica's Story

I spoke with Conner today.  We have been discussing his plans for school for when he returns home.  It is hard to make decisions about classes and find housing when it seems he is a world away but it will all work out!  Conner has heat rash again and that has been rather miserable as his skin is so sensitive to the heat.  He is doing his best to move forward and serve and is grateful for those he is meeting and teaching.

Erica a friend of Conner's and new church member shared her story about finding the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Click the following link to hear Erica's Story:   Erica's Story

Missionaries in Ashaiman, Ghana

I spoke with Conner today and he is doing well.  He didn't have time to send his weekly email out but he sent me some pictures.  Hard to believe he completes his mission in a little over 4 months!

All is Well

This last week was good. I went to Elder Samatanda's area for an exchange. He is from Zimbabwe. It was fun talking with him and getting to know him better. My area is doing well. We are working hard and have more people to teach than time to do so. My prayer is that the Holy Ghost will convince people to read and pray. It seems like I only have time to just point people in the right direction.

I forgot to talk about Zone Conference last week. It was about the doctrine of Christ. While Jesus Christ taught many doctrines, His doctrine on how we can become like Him is above all the others. It is that through His Atoning Sacrifice we can become clean from sin and weakness. As we believe in that sacrifice we have faith. Faith leads us to want to be more like Him. We begin to change while we rely upon that sacrifice. We are baptized so we can promise God we can do better and have our sins wiped away. We receive the Holy Ghost so we can get more divine help for our quest in becoming like Him. We can never stop trying. It can be more complex, but it doesn't need to be. I know that as we do these things we will become more like Christ incrementally. 

I love each of you. 

Elder Garrison

Conner and Elder Robertson

Another Week Another Baptism

Yesterday I had an amazing opportunity to go back to my very first area, Afieyna. I was able to baptize Henry! It was so good to see him finally get into the water. The Lord is a miracle worker. When I left that area, I wondered if I would be able to see that happen. That was worth the journey back to Africa. God's plans are far superior than our own. As we do our best to do what he asks, he will take us by the hand to the places we are supposed to go. It was also a great chance to say hello to a lot of the members. I had fun remembering a lot of the experiences we had when I was there. 

Things here in Sun City are going well. We are always super busy. I don't think I have felt the weeks fly by so fast. My hair is getting sun bleached, but surprisingly I have been able to keep from getting sunburned too bad. We were out of water from last Wednesday to today. We had to use the sachet water to shower. That doesn't do quite as good of a job. I am surprised the water didn't turn brown when I got into the water yesterday for the baptism. The work is sweet, but I do look forward to a nice A/C, running water, and electricity that almost never goes out at home. 

I love y'all! I hope you had/have a great week!

Elder Garrison