Week 29: Excited for Work & Teaching with Companion, Hoops too...

Whassup Whasssup yo! Ha ha I AM SO HYPED! anywayssssssssssss. This week has been pretty cool :) We got a new investigator! Her name is Victoria! She is Faith's daughter! So were like almost teaching the whole family! We got to teach her a lesson on the restoration of the gospel and it went really well. I am excited for her! She says that things we teach Faith are very familiar and that they make sense. So yeah!

MTC District- Elder Timothy

MTC District-Elder Wiggins

This week we got to work out with Raul in some crazy work out attire! Ha ha like the people that worked out wore funny stuff when they dressed up. Raul wore all his ex-marine stuff. Combat boots and a helmet and pants. I think Raul has a group on Facebook and they upload photos and stuff. We took some photos so we might be in his photos of his Facebook group. His gym is called "Unicofitness" and it has a knight as the logo maybe. I don't know. I can't check Facebook but his gym name is UNICOFIT or UNICOFITNESS. So maybe you could look that up on Facebook and find some pictures of where we work out every Thursday! Maybe even have some pictures from our crazy whacko work out day. I wore my superman shirt. Ha ha I wish I had a cape!!!!! Anyway, It was pretty fun.

MTC District- Sister West

We are excited for this transfer. I continue to learn more about Elder Stuckey! He’s pretty reserved but he is a good teacher and smart. He’s only 18 too, if I forgot to mention! His dad served in Seattle Washington and my dad served in Spokane Washington so that is pretty cool! I don't think they served together though. We’re biking a lot more now. We raced a car on my bike from a house to house and we won! Ha ha we were going against a Chevy 1992 sedan and it needs a lot of work on it. Ha ha  So ,I don't think it was that much of a fair win but we were going fast! Ha ha maybe hit 25 or 30 on the bike. We went downhill most of it, but still! Ha ha  We beat a car!   

I really want to play some kids at a park in basketball and try to get a lesson out of it. Like if Elder Stuckey and I win, we get to teach them a lesson of the gospel, and if they win I will give them 5 bucks or something…. I don't know. I just want to play someone for a lesson!!!!!!!! Ha ha

But things here are going well. It’s a little slow but it’s going. We got a lot of service coming up this week.  I have been falling in love with reading the Book of Mormon. Such a great book when you really read it.  Trying to teach people by the spirit and being bold. Those are something's that have been making me happy and trying to improve as a missionary.

I got pictures to use when I teach now! I am excited to try and use them while teaching the lessons. But that's kind of the big update for this week or the big things that happened. I wish I had more to report on, but I love you guys! Please send me some pictures so I can see you! Talk to me! I am on till about 12:30!

-- 

Love,

Elder Garrett Steven Harrington

Week 28: 6 mos mark; New Comp and Gator Status

Well, it’s official; I have been out for 6 months. Wow. Where has the time gone!? Ha ha pretty interesting. Little sad though too :( year left, plus 6 more months and this week was really slow!

Transfer weeks are always pretty slow. I think I am finally adjusted to this mission life though now. So not much to really report on this week, I think. I got a new companion. His name is Elder Stuckey! Pronounced ‘stuck-ee’ haha He's from Arkansas and he is 6 foot 5! He played football, tight end and he is a boy from the South. So he likes guns, trucks, and football. haha he's a really nice guy too. He's been out longer than I have; about one transfer, maybe two. A transfer is 6 weeks, if you didn't know. He knows how to read a map. I still have no idea how to read a map. So he really knows the area better than I do. I just know where people live. Those are my landmarks, not streets. Haha

So I'll give you a little update on the mission work. We actually have 13 investigators! That's a lot! haha that's good too! We got a new one last night. His name is Tom and he's probably in his late 70's and he's tall; ~6 foot 7!  He has been investigating the church for probably about 5 years now.  He married a member and the family that he talks to the most about the church is in our ward and he comes and attends our services.  We are going to meet with him about once a week. He said "I can get baptized. I can swim" hahaha that was great. He still just wants to understand everything spiritually before he joins. He’s a great guy!  Plays basketball and served in the Air Force!

So our 13 Investigators are:

Raul, Savannah, Olivia, Faith, Susanne, Kris, John, Michelle, Daniel, Julie, Don, Eric Tracey, Jeanie, and Tom.

We got to see Raul and help him with his gym and say a prayer with him. That was really good. He said he needed it and we will be going to his class again on Thursday in the morning. We will try and meet with him this Saturday hopefully!

We got to see Savannah this week! We didn't get to teach her but we got to talk to her and that was good! Her dad as well! He said we will have to come over again. Daniel and Julie are her parents!

Olivia is doing great, I believe we will be meeting with her this Sunday and teaching her lesson 2! She’s awesome. A very smart girl and she’s only 9!

John and Michelle we are going to stop by this week and see how they are doing.

Kris we will continue to help him understand the importance of church and baptism. Kris is 10!

Susanne we got to meet with this week and teach her a little bit about priesthood blessings and gave her a blessing and we are meeting with her next week!

Don we will be meeting with this week! I am excited for that and can't wait to teach him. We are going to be teaching his daughter Emma about baptism because she’s getting ready for it! She’s going to be 8 soon! Hopefully Don will get baptized and he can baptize her. He knows the book of Mormon is true, it’s just seeing the importance of going to church.

Eric gave us a call and said he wanted to meet this week so we will see how that goes! Eric is in his 50's and he’s a nice guy!

Tom we just asked him some questions and tried to get to know his religious background a little bit better and why he has been investigating for so long.

Faith is like always slowly coming around. It’s always good when we meet with faith because we get down to talking about spiritual stuff and she is growing a lot. We got to meet with her this week

Jeanie is awesome! She's a piano player and she’s going to school, we try to do service for her around the house, and we will meet with her and teach her every now and then. She loves the church and I think she is just worried about what her late husband will think.

So yeah, we got a lot of work to do :) and we have another person that we are trying to do service for too. Her name is Lisa and she is blind. She is super sweet. She says that every day is a gift and I love that! She has met with missionaries before and the missionaries just lost contact. So hopefully we can teach her again!

So that is a lot of our work and I am learning that I am in a good place. I am in a great place. I am learning how to deal with things with the lord a lot more and just to develop faith a lot more and I just hope I can continue to be better! That's basically our report for you this week :) I hope you are all doing well and I love you a lot! Good luck with your week :)

Love,

Elder Garrett Steven Harrington

Week 27: Good bye Elder Farr... Fun with Faith, the work continues in Fox Hollow...

Man transfers suckkkkkkk! ELDER FARR IS GONE!!!!! AH!

Elder Farr was amazing! He was a really good missionary and companion. He is really in tune with the Spirit and he did a lot for Fox Hollow. He came into the Fox Hollow Ward with another Elder and built up the Ward and area for missionary work. They didn't have any investigators and were only teaching 8 lessons a week. They got like four investigators and started teaching 15 lessons a week. Then after that, Elder Farr got another companion who got really sick and the teaching stopped; went down to 0 lessons a week. This Elder went home and then I got paired up with Elder Farr and we got the ward back up! We found six investigators and taught 15 lessons again and let me tell you. Elder Farr and I worked hard. I loved it. We got to use a lot of our time to build up the ward and got the mission work going again. It was awesome! He was awesome! Elder Farr is someone I will stay in contact. He is a great friend and missionary and I learned a lot from him… Transfers are sad  I am going to miss singing with him from appointment to appointment. We would sing hymns and sometimes mix it up with some Jackson 5 I want you back!
I am really going to miss him. He was an older brother. Good missionary as well.

New Comp. Elder Stuckey from Arkansas

This week was soooooooooo long it felt like :((((( hahaha long weeks are soo exhausting. 
It was really interesting what happened this week though. I am learning more and more about the mission. It seems to me like this mission is a huge trial of faith. Probably the biggest trial of faith because you will not see very many things happen till you come home or a few months later, not always are urgent things going to happen. I am learning a lot about patience through this all. Its long haha. This is all on His time as well. Sometimes I feel a little sad that not bigger things are happening and I think that it’s my fault that some bigger things are happening when it could be just in the Lords time and I am all part of this time.
I got to be patient. I’m not going to lie, I am stressed. ha ha I need better coping methods with stress. My shoulders are very tense and I don't really know how to release it all that well. 
But what’s good about this stress is its not super bad stress. Just a little bit to remind me that it’s there. I do feel under a lot of pressure though. I hope I can find a good way to release it. So something's about this week. 
I got pretty bold with faith this week… lol. Faith likes to answer a question of what she thinks she hears is the question. I like to ask her questions and she gave me an answer that didn't answer the question at all haha and she said "now listen…" she kind of goes on to a different thing and then I don't know what happened. I raised a little bit out of my seat and said "NO You Listen!" ha ha ha Elder Farr gave me this look like ‘whoa’... and Faith was like ‘whoa’ too.. It was pretty funny. She gave me a Harry Potter Journal for that, ha ha Faith thought it was good. Faith is still making progress slowly but surely. I love Faith. She’s great and a funny girl but very stubborn. Ha ha
We got a new investigator! His name is Don. I think I might have told you about him. But he’s in his 40's and married to a member and we get to teach him! We taught him about the restoration and why it was so important. He doesn't really see the importance for church though. He grew up Methodist and he went to church every now and then so we hope he finds he desire and understands the importance of it!
We didn't get to meet with Raul this week. Raul's workouts are killer. I feel like I just got beat with a bat to my whole body. it makes us so sore and tired ha ha but its good. It makes Raul happy and it helps out his gym and he really feels the spirit when we talk with him. He has just been pretty busy. I hope we could meet with him sometime soon.
We need to meet with Savannah again. We will meet with her soon! Still wants to get baptized just the parents need to accept it.
Olivia! She’s the 9 year old and she knows like everything about the church! hahah she has a really strong testimony and I feel she will be baptized soon.
We tried to meet with Eric. He’s a referral. He just picked up a job and we will meet with him.
We need to make contact with John and Michelle and follow up on his reading of the Book of Mormon.
Susanne: we are finally meeting with this week. The work is happening. Just got to be obedient for the spirit to be there and have miracles happen. I love you guys and I love being here serving the Lord and you in any way I can. 
K that's my update
-- 
Love, 
Elder Garrett Steven Harrington

Week 26: Family Fun, Stake Choir & Conference and the work is going well!

GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:) HEY!!!!! :) ha ha how are you all doing? :) I am doing great! This week was a lot of fun! I am starting to appreciate all the little things that make me happier. Some funny things that happened this week were what some kids say sometimes. So we were at dinner and the cookies were brought out and then I don't how this happened but elves somehow were brought up and then this 7 year old said very seriously to me, "Don't give elves cookies. They Jump all around the place and when you see them, they freeze." Ha ha ha made me laugh so hard. Then we had a lesson with this family and we are teaching them the plan of salvation and I asked the kids if they knew what the plan of salvation was and they said, “YA I KNOW!” all excitedly. Then I asked them what it was and they said "NOAHS ARK!" Oh my goodness ha ha. Shows what kind of teachers we are. Just kidding! Ha ha ha but they are just goofballs. The family we were teaching has twins and they are just a blast.

Some other good things happened this week! A family from Parker in my last area just one day came and picked me and Elder Farr up and went to lunch. It was great! It was so nice to feel that you have friends here in the mission that love you and support you. It was great. It was a really tender mercy and a huge blessing I was so grateful for it.

Oh, I bought a whoopee cushion ha ha ha. I have been trying really hard to get Elder Farr by hiding it and putting it places where he wouldn't expect it but he just figured it out every time and I finally got him. I was so excited and happy! Ha ha it made me laugh for like 5 minutes. His face was priceless when it happened. So yeah we got to have a little fun on the mission :) So those little things make me happy now. Now for the bigger things.

We had Stake Conference this week and it was awesome! we had an 8 year old speak! Wow how brave! haha he did awesome. It’s so great to see these youth to just be so strong at a young age.  They are such an example to us and it’s great. We had a recent convert talk at Stake Conference as well from our ward and it was awesome to see and hear the transformation that happened when she got baptized. She was a strong devout protestant and her husband was inactive when they met and after twelve years of their marriage, her husband goes back to church. She thought it was just a phase. She had a very strong belief in God and she knew her stuff. Then after three years of her husband going to church she noticed something about her husband. She noticed that her husband became a spiritual leader in the home and that after all those years of being married with him. She saw a transformation take place and it was like she saw him in a better light and as a better person as well. That stuck out to me the most about how she noticed a transformation in her husband just from going to church for three years. Then she started to go to church to see what they teach and what changed her husband so much and she said she had just a very strong feeling in church and she started to ask questions. She sincerely pondered and sought for truth and she found truth and confirmation in the scriptures. It was incredible. An incredible Stake Conference.

So our ward is like one of two choirs in the Stake.  So we were volunteered to be the choir for stake conference. We sung Child of God and the Iron Rod in front of like 2,000 people plus!. It was so awesome! I felt like I was in the Mormon tabernacle choir! Except that everyone around me sound good except for me. I just try to imitate what they are singing and sound like the people around me. I cannot read music ha ha and I kind of know how to sing, but the feeling singing those songs were amazing. We had different arrangements of the song and everyone said it sounded good so it was awesome to be a part of it. I feel good when I sing hymns or when I am at choir because these are people that are bearing testimony when they sing and it’s very powerful. These people put so much emotion and spirit into the songs. I love it. I think I am going to do the choir when I get back home just go to be a witness of these amazing people that sing and I just feel the spirit so strong when we sing. Plus my ward choir is so fun and funny! I love them. I would love to be a conductor. A legit one with both hands just going off and I just know every song and I can just hit every note like those conductors do that direct the orchestra and other things ha ha. On a mission, conducting is the coolest thing ever. Ha ha.

Sunday was a spiritual high.

We had dinner with this amazing family. We always leave that place learning something new or just multiple things. They are the Gawoski's family. The dad is a convert. He reminded me a lot of my dad. It was amazing that dinner we had with them. The Dad is a patrol officer I think. All I know is he works for the cops. He is a strict firm but funny and great guy. He married a member and we always seem to have a good gospel conversation with them. They are amazing. Amazing, amazing, amazing people. The wife is sweet, nice and strict but firm too. They are a great couple and they have some older kids and little ones. So anyway, we talked about what we learned at Stake Conference and we had a great discussion and then the dad said, "hey we love having you guys here. You guys really bring the spirit into our home." And then he paused and started to tear up and said. "If it weren't for two young 19 year old boys like you my life wouldn't be like this, so I appreciate what you are doing" It was something so special to witness. It reminded me of my dad just because of how sometimes the little things of spirit can affect him so strongly. I love that about him and I love that about Brother Gawoski. He said that when they would move houses he would put up the Book of Mormon on a shelf and always wonder what was in this book and when he read it he was like why didn't you show me this earlier.  I wonder how many of us do that. We don't show them earlier when we have the chance to do it.

I think the coolest thing about the mission, is when we see people recognize something different. They think it is us; the missionaries. All of our investigators love to be with us but it is not because of who we are. It’s because of the Spirit and seeing them recognize the Spirit is the coolest thing in the world, and seeing them want to have what we have that brings the Spirit into their own life is amazing. I didn't know we had such a powerful influence on people because of what we have. Not because of whom we are.

Our missionary work is really picking up :)

Faith is progressing. We have had some amazing conversations with her, we just hope she recognizes that this is what she needs in her life because she loves reading the Book of Mormon and loves the topics we discuss with her.

We are going to meet with Raul sometime this week and get back into teaching him.

Savannah and her parents, we are going to meet with them this week and see how they are doing and help them make more progress with understanding that God can answer their questions and that this gospel can bless them.

We have a referral who wants to meet with us. His name is Eric. He is a great guy. We hope that we can give him the best.

We are meeting with a guy called Don, good guy. His daughter is going to get baptized in a few months and we want to tell him that we see him baptizing Emma, his daughter. He knows the Book of Mormon is true. He just doesn't see the need for going to church every Sunday.

One of the people we have been working with, last week bore her testimony. It was so special and amazing to see. She is doing good, and her name is Gabi.

All I can say is I love you guys and I love being here helping others :)

-- 

Love,

Elder Garrett Steven Harrington

Week 25: Tough week, tough food, and tough testimony builds character...

Hey guys! I hope you are all doing well like always. Its soo good to hear from you guys!  It really helps me. Sorry if I don't respond to all of you. I will always try my best. I love you guys.

This week was hard. It was really hard for me.  It’s not that nothing is happening; we have had some good things happening. Just kind of disappointed in myself, that's what has been bringing me down.  I just haven't been feeling well some days and just been missing friends and family and I feel like I haven't been becoming a better person. I love serving others and trying to help them come closer to Christ and Heavenly Father but I feel like I am not good enough a lot of these days to be out here. I guess that is the adversary working on me. I don't think people realize how hard a mission is. It is tough. You think you have to be mentally tough when you do sports and push when you don't want to push even though your body is aching and dying for a break. Nope you got to be mentally tough. 24/7. There is no break. There is no rest from this work. You have to stay focused. The hardest thing for me on a mission is just trying to maintain that eternal perspective and that I am a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The reason why it’s hard for me with an eternal perspective is because I often find myself just wondering what is going to happen when this happens and it’s not good. I need to have that eternal perspective that this is God’s work and this is His plan for me. No matter how much it hurts me, I can get through it. What’s hard about being a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ is that I have to my head held high through whatever happens to me. I have to be one that steps up when I get denied my love and be forgiving and humble. I want to be that so bad but it is hard but like I said last time. The things that are worth the most are the things that are going to be the hardest fights of your life.

But besides that; I think I am doing pretty well. What’s the point of going through these things if I am not learning anything? I am learning so much from these things! I learned that the lord calls us in our weakness and qualifies us for His work. I learned that He works with this raw material and shapes you into what He wants you to become and what He wants you to become is who you need to become! We got to give ourselves up to Him. That's all He wants. He wants you because He can shape you into the strongest person that you can become.. He uses all of your potential. I just wish I could see that this is what needs to happen. I need to go through these things to be who I am supposed to be. I am learning that I need Him, I need him every hour. I can't do this on my own. I am not supposed to do this on my own.

I am learning that I need to be humble and that is my biggest dream and goal to have now. Just to be humble. When I am humble, I can come to the Lord and ask for His help to help me with my weaknesses and He will show me the way to overcome my weaknesses. I am learning this mission is all about you becoming the best you from serving others and that's what it comes down to sometimes. Forget yourself. Go serve the Lord. Go serve these people of Colorado and love them so much that you can't wait for each and every day to meet one of your brothers and sisters that needs you, an instrument to the lord. Everyone is a different instrument to the lord and different instruments are meant for different places and people. We are the Lords orchestra and no matter how many faults you have. He will still use you because He knows what you can do. You don't just yet until you do it. So do it.

I am learning of the atonement and what Elder Holland said that the missionaries will most likely use the atonement more than people they are teaching. I am learning that I just need to have faith in Christ. I need Him. If I am humble I will be with Him. There is so much I am learning and I wish I could tell you all of it. But the biggest thing that I am learning is that the Lord has called me to be who I am supposed to be, to step up. The only way I can do that is just forget myself and go to work. Like President Gordon. B. Hinckley. Be all you can be.

So what happened this week that was good was that I learned! We are now teaching this little girl that can get baptized!  Her name is Olivia. She’s 10 and the mom finally allowed her to get baptized and Nadia as well. She is 8. Sweet girls that have an amazing testimony! It is so cool and exciting. 

This week has just been crazy like chaotic. ha ha Just very disorganized and busy and in a rush to do a lot of things. So anyway, we have this Elder in the mission that likes for other Elders to try to do hot food. He has been trying to get me to do a habanero, this chili and this hot sauce. I neglected for about 4 weeks. I finally gave in. worse 5 minutes of my life. They got me to do the chili which wasn't too bad, (mistake number 1) compared to the hot sauce. I dealt with it pretty well. Then I did the hot sauce after it because they said it was not that much hotter than the chili… Well one thing for sure, it was still hot. So hot, I threw up. (Elder Barfington is back ladies and gentlemen!) I got a video of how hot it was so maybe you guys will see it when I send home my next SD card. ha ha  But there is a lesson to be learned here! That Elder was exactly like Satan! Not is Satan but like him, because he knows how to tempt. I was getting made fun of for resisting this stupid hot food and I finally gave into a little. Then they say to go bigger because I did something not as bad but it was still bad. So don't give in to a little thing because it can lead into a bigger thing! I was doing so well. Now I get like this awful hot taste in my mouth when I think of when I did it. blahhhh But, what makes me mad the most is that the Elder said he would get me before the end of the transfer and I totally forgot about that. I let him win.

Don't do hot foods and eating contests. No one wins.

I got to watch a little bit of the Joseph Smith restoration videos this week. It was awesome! I have so much stronger of a testimony of Joseph Smith now. I realized what he went through just for us, so that we can make it back to our Heavenly Father and know what true happiness is; the gospel. That's what brings me true happiness.  It made me that more happy to go testify of this man and what He has done for us. I know He was a prophet, to restore the church of Jesus Christ. I know that this is Jesus Christ’s church. And just like Joseph, who was called in his weakness but qualified for His work. The same thing goes for me. I am called to his work in weakness, but I am qualified for his marvelous work. I love you guys. Thanks for listening or reading and supporting me. I love you all so much!  

-- 

Love,

Elder Garrett Steven Harrington

Week 24: Special Families, Special Prayer, Special moments...

YOOO :) Whats up guys! I AM SO HAPPY!! hahaha just. This week was interesting! Like it was exactly what someone needed. Not wanted. 

So some highlights of this week! 

I got to go to a unified basketball game! it was amazing! Unified basketball game is when kids with disabilities go play a basketball game! We have a kid in our ward named Harrison. He has cerebral palsy. So he can't walk, he's in a wheelchair. It’s very hard for him to express himself when he’s trying to talk. He can say a few words, He can laugh and smile! He is such a great boy and has such an amazing spirit. His family is amazing too! Harrison reminds me a lot of Austin. It’s pretty crazy! So the family invited us to his game and Brother Spiers. (Harrison’s dad) said something interesting before we went. "You will feel the spirit." and I totally did. We went there to go try and meet some people like we did with the wrestling meet and we talked to a lot of nice people. It was awesome; there were very humble people there. So, most of the kids that played in the game were ones that were able to walk. Harrison is a coach! haha its awesome. So he has a buddy push him around in a wheel chair. But this game Harrison got to play!!!!!! :))))) It was amazing. Someone got a rebound and then gave him the ball and his buddy pushed him down the court all the way to the basket; I just got chills and felt warm inside, and I just recognized again what a great spirit Harrison has and all these other kids. You didn't care who scored. You got to love every minute of it. I felt as I did at Austin’s baseball games. So Harrison, he lifted up the ball as high as he could then his buddy shot for him and made it!! EVERY ONE JUMPED UP AND CHEERED! He was the game difference! The score was 50-48. He got pushed down the court with his hands up and smiling and yelling!!!  I got the chills again and just teared up for this guy because I was so happy for him.  I wish you could all meet him

It was just an incredible experience and I was so grateful for it. I wish I could just talk to all these kids parents about how special these kids are and who they are just noble spirits. And I could just relate with these parents because of my brother and hope that they can see the gospel side of these special ones.  So that was just a spiritual uplifting experience. And another great thing happened.

I said a really sincere prayer this week. I was very open and honest with my Heavenly Father and the prayer lasted about 15 minutes long and it just felt super good to get everything out. During the middle of the prayer, I started to talk less and just listen and then I heard a voice say, "I am aware of you and know what you are going through." And that really brought peace to me.  My testimony of the will of God increases every day. I am continually amazed with how much Heavenly Father gives us exactly what we need, because that is what I needed. I just needed to feel that I am looked for and that He knows me and that just spoke to me that everything is going to be okay. I have never had an experience like that before and it is so great to just know and feel that. And my testimony of prayer increased too. I think maybe the longer the prayer, the more time we get to spend with Him and come closer to Him. I don't think I would of had that experience if I wasn't honest and open with my heavenly father and just to just talk to him and not to talk with him, if it was a short prayer that probably wouldn't have happened either. 

I got to go to the temple this week and I felt the spirit there too again. It was great. The temple is always like a refresh. A spiritual recharge; like Sundays, Zone conferences, and meetings. Temple days are a spiritual boost. I didn't get to see Elder Ruiz :( but I know he is doing well. 

So, our mission work going on right now: 

Raul is a little stressed out right now :( it’s hard to run a gym but he’s always glad and happy when we come. We cleaned his gym and we are serving him as much as possible right now! He’s a great guy and I hope he can feel that this is what he needs and that it can help him so much. He is a brother.

So we are still meeting with Savannah! We didn't get to meet with her this week but we are on for this week and we are excited! It’s pretty cool looking at what has happened. Savannah wanted to get baptized, and then her mom said no. Then it has turned into us teaching all three of them. It’s kind of like when the Lamanites come to attack these other Lamanites; but these other Lamanites don't fight and just pray that the Lamanites that are attacking these other Lamanites will stop attacking  the ones that are just praying.  It then turns out that the ones who were attacking join them. And thus we see the work of God is amazing (: haha I love the mission, it can be hard at times but the things that are hard are the things most worth fighting for. 

We have been trying to meet with Susanne, and she has just had things come up but she wants to meet and that is great news :) We chopped her wood and she loved us coming over and serving her. She just has been busy!

We also got to talk to a guy outside of his garage about cars and he gave us some advice and he said we could come by sometime again if he’s outside. He’s talked to missionaries before. I don't think he has been taught but his neighbor is Mormon. He races. His name is Landen and he is like late 30's. Pretty cool guy, He had a Ferrari 360 spider ahaha. So jealous... 

Oh and I am also in the ward choir... My companion loves to sing, so he drags me to choir, but it is good because the members really open up to us more. So we are building a lot of trust with them.  So I will sing in front of the ward and it is nerve racking! When we go practice, I have absolutely no idea what I am doing and I just try to sound like the rest of the people. I am in the bass section. Making a super low voice is funny.  Choir practice is like the show, ‘The Office’, basically, it is hilarious.  And I don't know if you guys know this but I have been out for 5 months now!  When I hit my 7 month mark I will be getting an IPad! The whole mission will be getting IPad in April! Super exciting! :) 

Oh, and Faith. She is slowly making progress. It is awesome though because like she says she’s not going to change but she is feeling the spirit and recognizing something she just doesn't know; so we hope she can continue to progress! We have started to figure out that what will work best with her are open ended questions. In our lesson with her, she is reading from the Book of Mormon and she knows it is true! So I asked her a question. Faith, if you knew something was true. What would you do? She said, “Well, I would consider all the things that bad could happen with the people around me.” Then I asked her, “Faith, what about the benefits that could happen with the people around you?”  She said she’s never thought of that before. So our questions are staying with her and she is thinking about them :) It’s pretty cool. I love talking to her and having a good gospel discussion. 

Everything is good. Time to just try and go make some things happen this week. 

I hope you are doing well :) I love you guys! And that is my report!

-- 

Love,

Elder Garrett Steven Harrington

Week 23: Zone Conference of Heavenly Father's Love

It’s getting to that point where you are just like whoa what week is this? So if you want to remind me what week it is that would be awesome! :) haha but GUESS WHAT!

THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME! No baptisms, no new investigators, but just a really cool spiritual experience about God being a loving Heavenly Father.

That's what really made this week awesome because I felt God's love a lot this week. And it was amazing. We had a zone conference with a whole bunch of other missionaries around my area. Probably about 60 missionaries gathered together and usually we just talk about how we can become better teachers.  And that is good to review, but it was the best to just sit down and talk about how God is a loving Heavenly Father with all 60 missionaries, and why this message is so important.

Zone Conference - Arapahoe District

I just loved that day. The spirit was so, so strong and it just felt amazing. I loved it so much because everything makes sense.  God is a loving Heavenly Father.  He has a body just like us, and we were made in his image.  But, he has a heavenly body, while we have an earthly body.  He loves us so much that he has given us this earthly life or earthly experience, so that we can grow and become like Him.  He loves us so much; He gave us a way to succeed in this earthly life called the gospel of Jesus Christ that brings peace, hope, happiness, love, and comfort into our life. He loves us so much that He has given us a way that we can communicate with him called prayer; and answers them.  And has given His only son to us, to you, a Savior, to know what we are going through in this life, and to help us to be forgiven of any mistakes we have made.  He loves us so much that He has a plan for us in this life that can give us a whole new meaning to our life.  And that we have a purpose for living and we can live with him forever and also with our family.  Forever.

How great is God! How great is my calling! How great is this work!  This is what I go out and teach every day to people that don't know this or have felt it yet. That God is our loving Heavenly Father. He knows us and He loves us individually and perfectly.  How great is this message. I can't tell you how great it is to feel this feeling of God's love as well.  I can't tell you how much I enjoy this.

I looooooved that zone conference!  It was just perfect on every level. I have come to realize that the will of God is the love of God as well. Because this will of God is always what’s best for you, and what you need!  Not what you want. I have come to also realize that sometimes what we want is just going to bring us pleasure and not that true happiness that we thought it would bring.  Pleasure only lasts for a moment.  Happiness can last longer than a moment.  And when you are aligned with Gods will you will feel God's love which will make you happier than anything you ever wanted. So this is what it comes down to the most.  What do you want? Your pleasure, or to feel God's love?

I know that God is a loving Heavenly Father and that He knows me.  Because I have experienced the will of God and it is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Who knew that this is what brings me more happiness than going and playing professional basketball or just doing whatever I wanted to do?  All I know is that I am the most happiest when I am doing what the Lord wants me to do.

So, that is my weekly update for you and I love you all and He loves you :) Have a great day

-- 

Love,

Elder Garrett Steven Harrington

Week 22: Morning works out, Wrestling Meet Greet Up & a Miracle!

What’s up everybody!! This week was pretty fun :)

We got to fix a washer! It was insane! And it was insanely cold! Everyone makes fun of me here because I cover my entire face. I wear ski goggles and a ski mask and a beanie. IT’S COLD OUTSIDE! We’re walking too! I am from California. I AM SUPPOSED TO STAY WARM! I tell them that and they just start laughing. But regardless of the weather, Colorado is soooooo beautiful. Mountains look so cool all decked out with snow and it’s just wonderful place to be here.

So remember how I said last week we were going to go work out with our investigator? Well we did. We worked out at 5:30 in the morning! It was insane!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha  So we did jump rope for a minute then went into a plank position and stick out our feet and touch them with our hands, alternating... did that for a minute. Then we did push-ups for a minute. Then we did burpees… Did that for 15 minutes. That was our warm up! Then we had like a two minute break, and me being the smart kid I am, I ate a banana before the work out… Then we did more of an ab work out and legs as well again. Then did this circuit of pull ups and bench and I didn't do the circuit. hahaha I  sat out before the circuit and I felt like I was going to throw up hahaha and I did! I ran outside of the gym and just pukedddddd. I just felt waaaaaaaaaay more better after that...

You know you get a real work out in when you puke... haha so now Raul calls me champ and then my ward mission leader calls me Elder Barffington. I am making a big time presence at Fox Hollow... haha But the work out was fun and we are going every Thursday now.  I am finally not sore anymore from the work out. It lasted all the way until Sunday. The altitude here is great and killer. haha I love it though. I feel very healthy here and that I can breathe!

So we were going to teach Raul but he needs to help out his parents. His dad is going through surgery so we hope that goes well.

Savannah went to church yesterday!! You have no idea how good that is :) Her parents have been very hesitant to her getting baptized. She has been going to Catholic Mass with her mom for the last two weeks and she came yesterday! She still wants to get baptized, but it’s just been a very sensitive situation so we are trying to help her out. We go over there every week to read scriptures with their family now and they are starting to really see that we are pretty similar and we are teaching good things! So hopefully soon… We will keep praying.

So we got to go to a wrestling meet this week too! IT WAS SOOOOO FUN! The members in our ward invited us to go to their son’s high school wrestling meet! And it was so awesome because we were supporting the school and we got our face in the community and showing everyone like hey we are normal people as well. We cheered on the school and the wrestlers and we got to meet some wrestlers. They were really nice and so we are planting some seeds and hoping to open some people’s hearts! We met a really nice family too, so we are going to go and try and meet with them sometime. I really have respect for wrestling now. Those guys work hard!

Then the same members, who invited us to a wrestling meet, invited us to this Chinese New Year party. It was a big one and again same as the wrestling meet! We met some awesome people and they asked us a lot of questions and they were very friendly and I think a lot of the people here are seeing that hey, Mormons are awesome and are really nice! They throw parties and do some great things! So we are doing our best to just try and meet everyone.

We also went tracting this week. I and Elder Farr have a hard time with tracting. So we faced our fears together. I really wanted to try a new tracting approach. haha I wanted to replace my fear with honesty and see what happens. I really wanted to knock on a door and say "Hi I am Elder Harrington! and I am extremely nervous to talk to you right now! whats your name?" hahaha I feel like they would be super confused if I just knocked on their door and said that. I hope it would lower their guard though and kind of see like wow. He’s a normal person. But then I would say "But I am confident enough because we are sharing a message about Christ and how much he loves us and how he can improve our life." I didn't do it though because I felt like it would have come across as pathetic and stuff, not confident. Takes away power, but we did go tracting and after you go tracting. You feel really good about yourself.

I don't know why but you just feel that you are pleasing your Heavenly Father because you are doing what he wants you to do even though you don't want to do it or you just feel uncomfortable doing it. I feel peace after I go tracting. So hopefully I can use that more of as motivation to go tracting some more, because I will feel peace. I am doing everything that the Lord asks of me. Just because I do that doesn't mean that everyone is going to accept my message but it does mean that they had the chance and that I helping the Lord and going through with this journey with him.

Oh and we had a miracle happen! :))))))))))))))))))))))) This is super cool!  A guy in our ward is a convert and he has three little adorable girls. They are amazing! 10, 9, and 7 are their ages and they have such a strong testimony! He was divorced a few years ago. He joined the church because he knew it was true and he needed to do it. The wife wouldn’t let the children get baptized, so after 2 or 3 years of the kids just wanting to get baptized. She finally agrees. They are now allowed to get baptized!! :) The girls are so happy and excited and we get to go through the missionaries lessons with them and prepare them for their baptism. It is soooooooo exciting :))))))))) SO ya! That's our week :)

I hope you had a good week as well :) Love you guys. GO GIVE THEM HEAVEN!

--

Love,

Elder Garrett Steven Harrington

Week 21: Bronco Day-not!, Savannah & Raul and a Hookalau!

AH! Broncos noooooo (ha ha I totally jinxed them. If the broncos would have won the super bowl did you know there would of been no school today for the kids in Colorado? Crazy! Ha ha they are that big in football! Needless to say this week was awesome!!:)

Me and Elder Farr did a lot of good things this week. It is starting to snow a lot more now.

I don't like the snow... ha ha I have not yet fallen though so that's good! So this week we met with Savannah again and her parents and it went really well. We felt prompted to go there one night and we went there said a prayer before we went in and it was very strong and powerful to be there. We bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and why we use it as well and we told her about a baptismal service and what we do for it and it was great! I let them borrow the Reflections of Christ book and we are now starting to read scriptures with them like once a week!

We also got to teach a lady named Faith! She is Catholic. She was brought up Catholic and we taught her the plan of salvation this week and it went really well. She was like, “wow”. She was very interested. She said that it was a lot of food for thought. And she really is starting to understand us and I think she is coming a lot closer to Christ now. She tried to guess my first name and she texted us "Godric Gryffindor" as a guess and I laughed so hard. Ha ha so now she calls me Godric. I think it’s so funny, but yet epic! She’s into movies. She is in her late 50s I think.

We also got to meet up with Raul! Raul is probably the coolest guy ever! He owns his own gym and we wanted to meet up with him again. So we go and see him and he was teaching a class. He was a little busy so we asked if we could help with anything. He told us that the dumbbell rack needs assembly… So we put it together for him. There were two dumbbell racks. The first time we messed up and Raul started laughing! Ha ha. You learn faster and better from trial and error! Ha ha its pretty interesting how that works.
So we finished building the dumbbell racks for him and it was super cool. He invited us to work out in the morning and take his class, so we are going to work out with him in the mornings. I am super excited for that. Raul was an MMA fighter and he knows all different types of fighting. So we might be doing a kickboxing work out with him and cross fit kind of deal. I am so excited! Raul wants to get baptized as well. Just he wants to do it when it is the right time for him. It’s really exciting to be meeting with him and teaching him. He is a great guy. He had a problem with alcohol and we promised him that if we read the Book of Mormon, he wouldn't have a problem or want to do alcohol anymore. He hasn't had a drink since. He has been sober ever since we started meeting with him. Great things are happening! Heavenly Father is amazing! He helps us so much.

So now about my basketball game… We played against President and the AP's, we lost. :( We won the first game 11 to 4 and then they won the last two! like 11-9 and 11-7 in the second game. It was so frustrating. I had to guard the 6'8 guy and it was hard. Ha ha I think I did a good job though against him. He tried to post me up a lot and he did alright there but he liked to shoot the threes as well and it is so hard to block that or contest his release point ha ha. Our President can ball too. He loves to do step backs. He’s good at them and we played good defense. We just missed some easy shots though. :( It was a bummer, but it was fun!

Now for the luau! The luau was super fun. We got to paint our faces and wear lava lava's. I really enjoyed the culture again. I am a part Samoan so it was cool! We did a hake and a Fijian dance. It was a lot of fun. I have some videos of it all. We practiced them last week about two times so in the video it doesn't look like I know what I am doing ha ha so I really hope my parents don't upload that one if you are my friends on Facebook ha ha. But yeah it was a lot of fun :) a lot of non-members came and they really enjoyed it :) so it was a success!

But anyway.. What I am currently learning about is fear. I think the biggest thing I want to eliminate when I come home from my mission is to eliminate fear. It’s a little scary sometimes to be on a mission and what you are doing but I want to really develop a lot more faith and trust in Heavenly Fathers plan. Eliminating fear would be so cool to do. So that is what I am working on right now, eliminating fear. If I eliminate fear it won't be so bad for the rest of my life. I am so grateful for this chance to serve and learn and it is getting better each day. Optimism is a key. A whole new perspective :)

So I hope you are doing well and I love you all! Hope you enjoy this update!

--

Love,

Elder Garrett Steven Harrington