April 11, 2016

This week was pretty swell. It didn't rain all week which is incredible. It's raining right now though. I got a lot of stories so it could be a long one.

    First of all. We were knocking doors, which we do a lot of, and his guy opened up the door. He was an older guy. He brings up the verse in revelations that say not it add or take away from this book. Which is silly in and of itself since the bible isn't arranged chronologically and it says the same thing in Deuteronomy. My companion said "oh yeah in revelations chapter 22" and he said why don't you come in for a minute. So we did and he quizzed us. He asked us a bunch of questions about the bible and what we believe trying to get us to trip up, but we didn't. He couldn't stump us so we basically taught the first lesson, he refused to accept the challenge to read from the book of Mormon. He gave us water and prayed for us which was nice. But he prayed that we would be able to find the truth haha. We were like no worries there we already found it. Also that is the first time in 6.5 months of Tracting I have been let into someone's house right away.

     Next story we set up a night for some youth to come to the church and play ball and hang out and bring nonmember friends. So we were there and then This girl ran out of the church and her two friends were chasing her and this kid came up to me and said "Deanne wants to kill herself so she ran out and that's why they are chasing her. Should I call the cops?" I said probably not. I could tell she

was just doing it for attention since she came back in the church smirking. So then a little later the cops show up and take her and talk to her and what not. So we had to stay there a while and wait for her grandma to come get her and for them to fill out a report. It was cray cray.

      Next story. We met Elder Ballard of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. We had an awesome meeting with him and got to shake his hand. He is a great speaker. There was one meeting where the bishops

and ward mission leaders came and he opened it up for questions this guy got roasted. He got up and started asking this long question about passalong cards. "I have this neighbor I have been working on for 30 years and he is only interested in the tabernacle choir and general conference came around and I noticed there are not general conference passalong cards. And there aren't passalong cards for the tabernacle choir..." And he went on for a good 5 or 6 minutes until elder Ballard interrupted him and said "I got it". He then Told him that passalong cards are not a substitute for just taking the missionaries to talk to him and introducing him to the Book of Mormon. He laughed and said I will ask if the first presidency wants to do passalong cards for conference, but let's not over complicate missionary work. It was hilarious. He talked a lot about missionary work obviously and he told a few great stories. He told one when he was a mission president in Canada and he got a new elder. He had an interview and the elder told him that he would be the best missionary he ever had. He asked why and the elder told him that before he left his dad was diagnosed with cancer and he would likely not survive when he got back. But he promised God that if he would be the best missionary he ever had if he would save his dad. He sent the elder to the northernmost part of Canada do it was winter. He said the temp could be down to -60 with the wind chill. He and his companion were at dinner and an hour passed by. The elder said we have to go and his trainer said no we don't we don't have any appointments this evening. He said no we have to go. They got their coats on, left the warm house and outside on the doorstep the new missionary told him he would have to help him save his dad. So they went and knocked doors. People would invite them in so they wouldn't freeze to death and he would stay long enough to find out if they were interested and then move on to the next house. Pretty crazy. And his dad lived. The end.

       Next story we were in a lesson with his lady in her late 20s. She has clearly had a rough go at things and has blue hair. She told us all about her crazy boyfriend troubles and how he had sex with his baby mama while they were together and she almost did meth and her friend said its just like weed, but it helps you focus and she was like, what? I'm not gonna do meth and she was feeling down one day, so she took ten shots and then got in a fight with her boyfriend and something Possessed her and she picked up a sharp rock and was going to kill her boyfriend and then her inner good self was like no so she dropped the Rock and ran away so she would hurt him and then she got picked up by the cops and they said she wasn't drunk, but she was like what I took ten shots. Then she told us a bunch of other crazy stories and eventually we taught her a lesson and committed her to be baptized and she said she would. So that was awesome. She said she met with missionaries before and like having them talk to her because she felt good when they came by and she lost contact when she moved and she was praying the Mormons would knock on her door. Pretty cool.

     That is all the stories I care to write down. I hope everyone is doing well. Have a great week.

Ps. If you can, will you send me a few short sleeve white shirts. It's starting to get warm. Thank you.

Love,

Elder Garfield

April 4, 2016

Hey everybody. This week was pretty swell. I have my new companion Elder Goodrich. I am still in Canby, Oregon. We did a lot of Tracting/ service this week. We got a text from a less active member I've never met saying "can you possibly mow my lawn?" We said yes of course and we figured it would probably take a half hour. She lives in a mobile home park so the lawns are small. We get there and it turns out she has the biggest lawn in the neighborhood and it is literally 3 feet high in some places. It was a jungle of grass, dandelions, flowers, and who knows what else. After finding her lawn mower we tried to start it. It wouldn't start. I worked some magic and got it started after about 15 minutes. Then we started. My companion started mowed a little bit and wanted to switch off. So I mowed half the backyard and then gave it back to him and he mowed a little bit and then wanted to switch off so I just mowed the rest. It was hard work! The mower didn't have any drive so we had to just push it. It took two hours! It was ridiculous. A couple funny stories from this week.

      We were Tracting and I could smell someone was smoking pot. It got stronger and I said to my companion I think it's coming from this house. We knocked on it and this guy answered stoned out of his freaking mind. I talked to him and asked him if he had ever heard the message of the restoration that the missionaries share. He said "nah bro... You got it all wrong". After we thought we should have messed with him. Imagine what he would think if he was high and two guys in white shirts and ties started pretending to speak Japanese or started dancing... He would be so confused. We also talked with a Buddhist and a Jehovah's Witness and a pagan. The pagan I have written about before

a long time ago. We went back to visit her again. She is still insane. She told us she is a white witch. She has been brewing stuff to make her not sick. It hasn't been working... We talked to her for an hour. She said she does some voodoo and some Satan worship, but not a lot of Satan worship. She also told us she is into anime (boy on boy) which is nasty. She said "God forbid I don't watch it for that. I just watch it for the story behind it" haha. Good grief it was a weird week. None of them were interested, but it was funny.

      We had some success too. We set a baptismal date with a woman who has been investigating for a year and a half. She is scheduled to get baptized on the 30th so I'm super excited about that. We also had a lesson with a lady and her mom. They are actually pretty awesome. They said we could come back and teach them again. Other than that not much else happened. We watched conference and that was awesome. It was great to hear from all the church leaders. I liked President Monson's talk "Choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong" sometimes or most of the time choosing the right thing is difficult, but it is always possible.

Love you all,

Elder Garfield

March 28, 2016

I heard about the missionaries in Belgium. It has been a good for us because some people answer the door just to say they are sorry for the missionaries. It has been kinda funny people getting the story all mixed up. Some people say there was 1 or 2 or 3 missionaries. Some people said, "yeah I'm sorry for the missionaries that got hurt in France". It is funny how information gets confused so easily. That's probably the same reason as why there needs to be a prophet on the earth to guide the church. I've almost finished the new testament and it is funny reading all the epistles Paul wrote to the different people. In just a short time after Christ died. There was already so much confusion. The Corinthians forgot about the resurrection. They didn't think people would be resurrected anymore. Paul had to set that straight. And stuff like that happening all over. Especially without the type of communication we have today. It was a serious challenge to try and keep everyone on the same page. This week was pretty good. We did some tracting which is always fun... Not. We did find a lady who

said we could come back so that is awesome. And she seems like she is completely sane. So that is even better. We walked down this long driveway to go knock on a door and there was this German shepherd barking at us. No leash. No fence. I said hey, you think this dog will attack us. We said we would find out pretty soon. We walked up and it kept backing up so we could tell it was just scared and wouldn't attack. We knock on the door. We hear a older lady (55+) come around the corner angrily saying hello. I thought to myself "here we go"... She starts going off about how we can't just walk down people's driveways and knock on their doors and there was a dog barking and that should be a sign to not come further and that if she wasn't there we would have gotten attacked and we can't just go around knocking on people's doors. Especially in this neighborhood. Her "neighborhood" is

just a few random houses on a road in the middle of nowhere haha. So she was furious and wasn't interested, obviously. And her dog was really friendly. As she was telling us it would attack us I was petting it and it was licking me and leaning against me. I said "this dog right here"? She angrily said yes haha. Then we found a lady who was really nice and said we could come back right next door. We were knocking doors later that day and this guy answered. He looked really tough and had sleeves and was bald and buff. He was really nice. We asked him where he came from because he said he just moved in. He said "ummm... Prison". What do you say to that?!?!? We were like oh cool. We didn't really know what to say haha. He wasn't interested, but he was nice. Then his neighbor was a really flamboyant guy. He said he wasn't interested, "but (he put his hand on his heart) my humanity

extends beyond denominations so I am so sorry to hear about your friends in Brussels" it was kinda funny. He was super nice. Then His neighbors we knocked and they had really loud music playing. Some guy answered. He seemed a little bit tipsy. He wasn't interested. Then as we were knocking on the next door a lady from the loud music house opened the door and yelled "don't y'all pray to some guy on another planet!?!?" Uhhhh she's not entirely wrong I guess.  Then two more doors down. A lady was in her driveway. I ask her how she is doing. She says "don't bother guys" then she went in her garage and closed the garage door haha. So many interesting people in canby. So here is the transfer scoop. Transfers are today and elder hill is leaving. He is going to sandy. My new companion is Elder Goodrich. I don't know him at all so hopefully he is cool.

Love you all,

Elder Garfield

I heard dad is getting a new rail? Is that true? That's too bad about

Derryl. He is the dune legend. It sucks getting old.

March 21, 2016

This week was a bit rough not going to lie. We had some old guy yell at us to get off his porch like dogs. "Get out of here!! Go!! Get!!" He was a real nice guy. Then we were walking someone yelled "Mormonism is a F&$&@&$ joke!" That was nice of him. We didn't have a ton of success. A lot of cancellations and no one really interested. We did some service.. We did the ivy pull so we pulled a bunch of ivy and chopped down some blackberry bushes that was pretty fun. Then we planted plants for this older lady. It was sunny two days in a row this week so that was very lucky. I think I got a little bit tan. It was bring your own container to 7-11 for Slurpees so I drank probably a gallon of Slurpee this weekend. It was amazing. I'll attach some pics of that. This is the last week of the transfer so I might have a new companion soon. I'm not sure yet. I will almost certainly stay in Canby though. Unless they whitewash the area. You never know, so I will keep you all posted. Other than that nothing super exciting happened. Easter is coming up so we are pretty excited about that. And then the week after I think is general conference so that should be awesome.

Spiritual thought:

Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. (Isaiah 49) Go knows what each of us is experiencing and he will help us through our trials. Especially when we turn to him in times of need. Thank you all for your support and prayers.

Love,

Elder Garfield

March 14, 2016

This week was interesting. I was playing pinochle at the old folks home with some old people and this old lady came up behind me and gave me a hug. I was like oh this old lady is so nice. Then she straight up kissed/licked my ear... I was freaking out. I did not expect that at all. It was disturbing. Other than that the week wasn't disgusting. The weather has been pretty bad as usual. It's been raining a ton. As usual. We found 4 new investigators which was amazing. We had a mission wide fast for more investigators and we only fasted breakfast because we got really hungry, but it worked. We went on exchanges this week. I went with elder Miller. Not much else crazy happened. We sang in the choir for some musical fireside which is lame. I sorta just lip synced.  There's than that not much happened. Congrats to Alyssa on getting hitched. Sounds like you had a busy weekend. Sorry my email is really lame this week. If you haven't gotten a chance to watch the new Easter video go check it out on lds.org.

March 7, 2016

This week was pretty good all things considered. Our car was in the shop all week so we were on foot/bike. So I got to ride my bike which was bomb. My companion has his bike, but he didn't have a helmet so we only rode once to the church since you need a helmet to be allowed to ride. This week we also got to go the the temple which was awesome. We didn't go to the visitors center so I didn't see any of the hot sisters unfortunately. We had some rough days too. We were walking in the rain for 3.5 hours Tracting/visiting people who used to meet with the missionaries, but stopped for various reasons. Only 3 or 4 people even answered the door and they weren't interested haha. So it turned out to be a colossal waste of time. But we planned our route so that we would end up at McDonald's so we got some ice cream which was awesome. We went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I was with Elder Shaw. We walked over 11 miles the first day and again no one answered or was interested. So we went to a members house and taught the restoration so that we could at least teach somebody. We were walking and someone pulled over and offered us a ride. We hopped in and were talking. It turned out to be Elder Blunk of the quorum of the 70. So that was pretty cool. We also saw some llamas. And we were walking through this neighborhood. We saw a lady outside working on something.

We said hello. She ignored us. We asked if she needed help with anything. She ignored us. Then her later bumped into this bird bath that was hanging up and water poured out all over her face and sweater. Then Elder Shaw says "oh no!" And she was trying to play it off like nothing happened. We kept walking and turned the corner and were dying laughing. Later in the week we went to dinner and the members were feeding us. Their kids were so crazy. There was this 10 year old boy who sat on Elder Hill's lap and called him mommy. Elder Hill promptly threw him off and said I am not your mommy ha hahahahha. Meanwhile another child was barking like a dog and another was running in circles yelling. It was crazy, but hilarious. And on Sunday we got to play with a bunch of puppies and take a pic with a donkey named Guss. It was legit.

Spiritual thought:

18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

John 15

Love,

Elder Garfield

February 29, 2016

Hey. Sorry my email is so late. Everything is going alright here in Canby. We aren't having a ton of success, but we are trying. Canby 2nd ward hasn't had a baptism in a year so we are doing the best with what we have. This week we tracted quite a bit. We didn't find a single person. We found out two of our investigators aren't actually interested. Our investigator family has been giving us the run around. I have never had a lesson with them since I've been here. And we think the investigator who lives in the trailer is just trying to get with us. 😨 we saw her again so she wasn't murdered, but she is pretty crazy and she was saying, "yeah those two young guys come to my house looking for me. That's something I can brag about if you know what I mean" we were like yeah... Maybe if you had some teeth that'd be cool haha. So our car is in the shop getting the bumper fixed. We won't have a car for this week, so it is going to be tough doing missionary work. It takes 20 minutes to drive to the edge of our area so it's basically impossible to walk/bike out there to see people. This week was fairly uneventful, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

Spiritual thought:

When I was a young man, my parents joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We knew that the missionaries had been teaching them, but my parents had taken the missionary lessons alone.

After this surprising announcement, my brothers and I began to listen to the missionaries as well, and they each received the message of the Restoration with gladness. Although I was curious, my heart was not into changing my life. I did, however, accept the challenge to pray about whether the Book of Mormon was the word of God, but I did not receive an answer.

You might ask why Heavenly Father did not answer that prayer; I certainly wondered. I have learned since that the promise made by Moroni is accurate. God does answer our prayers about the truthfulness of the gospel, but He answers them when we have “a sincere heart” and “real intent.” He does not answer just to respond to our curiosity.

Perhaps there is something in your life that you have a question about. Perhaps there is a problem you do not know quite how to answer. Today I would like to share some thoughts that may help you obtain the answers or help you are seeking. The process begins with being converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Receiving Revelation Depends on the Condition and Intent of Our Hearts

I have thought about the accounts of several individuals in the scriptures. Take, for example, Laman and Lemuel. Like Nephi, they were “born of goodly parents” and taught “in all the learning of [their] father.” Yet they murmured because their father was a visionary man. From their point of view, his decisions defied logic, for they knew not the things of God, and therefore they would not believe.

It is interesting to note that their choices allowed them access to potentially faith-building experiences. They left their home and their riches. They suffered through wanderings in the wilderness. They eventually helped build the boat, and they agreed to journey to an unknown land.

Nephi passed through these same experiences. But did these actions build their faith? Nephi’s faith was made strong, but Laman and Lemuel grew more cynical and angry. These brothers even saw and heard an angel, but alas, they continued to doubt.

Mortal life is not easy for any of us. We are placed on earth to be tried and tested. Our response to life’s experiences will often greatly influence our testimonies. Consider some of the reactions of Laman and Lemuel: They murmured when their father asked them to do hard things. They attempted to obtain the brass plates, but when success did not come, they gave up. Their attitude was “We’ve tried; what more can we do?”

There was even a time when they were sorrowful for doing wrong and asked for forgiveness. They prayed and were forgiven. But the scriptures record that later they returned to complaining and they refused to pray. They came to Nephi and said they could not “understand the words which [their] father [had] spoken.” Nephi asked them if they had “inquired of the Lord.” Notice their response: “We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.”

Continuing Obedience Allows Us to Receive Answers

Nephi’s reply to his brothers is a key for us to receive continual answers to prayer:

“How is it that ye do not keep the commandments of the Lord? How is it that ye will perish, because of the hardness of your hearts?

“Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?--If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things [will] be made known unto you.”

I know some returned missionaries who have had undeniable spiritual experiences, but the lack of certain spiritual habits seems to have caused them to forget the times when God has spoken to them. To those returned missionaries and to all of us, if you “have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?” If you do not feel it now, you can feel it again, but consider Nephi’s

counsel. Be obedient, remember the times when you have felt the Spirit in the past, and ask in faith. Your answer will come, and you will feel the love and peace of the Savior. It may not come as quickly or in the format you desire, but the answer will come. Do not give up! Never give up!

Let us compare Laman and Lemuel to the sons of Mosiah. Both groups of men were raised in righteous families, yet both strayed. Both were called to repentance by an angel, but what was different about the experience of the sons of Mosiah?

Trials Will Build Our Faith

Their missionary success is unforgettable. Thousands were converted to the ways of the Lord. However, we often forget that as they began their missions, their “hearts were depressed, and [they]

were about to turn back, [but] the Lord comforted [them].” They were counseled by the Lord to “bear with patience [their] afflictions.”

The Study of the Scriptures Tells Us God’s Will

Why did the trials of these sons of Mosiah strengthen their faith and commitment rather than cause them to murmur or doubt? The key is that “they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.” We will all face trials and have questions, but remember that we must be “continually holding fast to the rod of iron.” “The words of Christ will tell [us] all things what [we] should do.” We must make scripture study a daily part of our lives, as this will open doors of revelation.

Prayer, Combined with Fasting, Invites Revelation

For the sons of Mosiah, “this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation.” Prayer and fasting will

allow us to be susceptible to spiritual promptings. Communicating with Heavenly Father while purposefully abstaining from food and drink allows us to “loose the bands of wickedness [and] to undo the heavy burdens.” Prayer, combined with fasting, will provide so that when we “call, … the Lord shall answer; … [and when we] cry, … he shall say, Here I am.”

Turn to Him

These personal religious habits--obedience, scripture study, prayer, and fasting--strengthened the sons of Mosiah. The lack of these same personal religious habits was a major reason that Laman and Lemuel were left vulnerable to the temptation to murmur and doubt.

If you have been tempted to murmur, if you have had doubt that leads to unbelief, if trials seem more than you can bear, turn to Him. If you are one who has turned away or rationalized your behavior, turn to Him. Can you remember when He did “speak peace to your mind … ? What greater witness can you have than from God?” Ask yourself, “Am I as close to living like Christ now as I was before?” Please, turn to Him.

May I return to my personal story. Eventually I began to be sincere. I remember when the missionary who was teaching me asked if I was ready to be baptized. I replied that I still had some questions.

This wise missionary told me that he could answer them but that I would have to answer his question first. He asked me if the Book of Mormon was true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet. I told him that I did not know, but I wanted to know.

My questions led to increased faith. For me, the answer came not as an event but as a process. I noticed that as I did “experiment upon [the] words” and began to “exercise a particle of faith,” the Book of Mormon became “delicious to me” and it did “enlighten my understanding” and truly did “enlarge my soul.” Eventually I had that experience the scriptures describe as a swelling within your breast. It was at this point that I desired to be baptized and to commit my life to Jesus Christ.

I truly know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Oh, I still have things I do not comprehend, but my testimony of truth draws me closer to the Savior and builds my faith.

Brothers and sisters, remember Nephi and the sons of Mosiah, who had spiritual experiences and then acted in faith so that answers came and their faithfulness grew. Contrast this with Laman and Lemuel, who doubted and murmured. Even though they sometimes acted in worthwhile ways, work without faith is dead. We must have faith with works to receive answers.

I hope as you have listened this morning that the Spirit has impressed on your minds and hearts something that you might do to have your questions answered or to find an inspired solution to the problem you face. I bear a solemn witness that Jesus is the Christ. Turn to Him and your prayers will be answered. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

-Elder martino

Love,