Well, we've only got two weeks left now. That's so fast. It's crazy to think that in two weeks I'll be teaching my first lesson with a real investigator.... and that they probably won't understand me. And I probably won't understand them... Exciting, isn't it? We are so excited, and are trying really hard to keep working these last two weeks. They're actually thinking of shortening MTC time by two weeks or so, and they almost observed our district because our teachers taught us at a faster pace. That would be nice, but I'm grateful I've got two more weeks to get more language skills down before I get dropped off in Santiago.

We had to say goodbye to both of our teachers this week, which was really rough. I wish you could've met Hermano Sheide. He's Jake's age, and his three years of teaching here were up. He was so awesome. He has more faith and enthusiasm than anyone I've ever met. When I think of Joseph Smith, I think of Hermano Sheide. I think we will all be better missionaries because of his influence on us. He didn't only teach us Spanish, he taught us how to be missionaries, to be the best missionaries we can be. I may be able to send pictures today... we'll see if that works out.

Dad would've liked what one of the seventies who spoke on Sunday said. He told us to "remember the dignity of our call" and "don't lapse back into stupidity."  He also said that the sun comes up every morning and we can start over, and become better every day.

He wanted us to memorize the last words of Nephi, which were: "for thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey. Amen." I know through my obedience, Heavenly Father has blessed me with the Spirit abundantly, and it's such a blessing for me and the people I teach. We had a great experience teaching one of the other missionaries who was acting as a less active friend. The spirit prompted me to bear a very particular testimony, story, and scriptures. Up to this point he had been unresponsive to us. The spirit was so strong, and I could see in his eyes that the Lord finally provided a way to get through to him, because we were finally listening to the spirit and the investigator.

Heavenly Father only gives us a witness after the trial of our faith. In Ether 12:6,12, Moroni says that "faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.... for if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith." It's crazy how much my faith has grown in the past month and a half. Jake sent me a quote that I can't quite remember, but it was something along the lines of how day by day we don't think anything is changing, but if you look back over a month, everything has changed. If we have any fear or doubt, we cannot work miracles, only through faith.

Well I'm done now, but I have a scripture to share. In Alma 26:37, it says "God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever." I testify that that is true and that God is mindful of all his children. I promise that if you will ask in faith, sincerely, and really intend to act on the answer, God will answer you, because He answers me.

Elder Garrett

What an eventful week it has been. So, we finally had an Apostle speak last night. Elder Neil L. Anderson spoke to us. It was awesome. It was also Pres. Monson's birthday. He told us when he was with him earlier that day, and told him he would be speaking to us, President Monson said to tell us how much he loves us and thanks us and that he prays for us and sends us his blessing. Elder Anderson had us sing for him and then his talk was mostly about his teachings and his life. It was really cool. But I'll get to that in a minute.

In our District Review after the devotional, this elder in my district, Elder Faught, got up when it was his turn to speak. He stood there for a minute, thinking, and then said: "It's always a blessing to be taught by the feet of an Apostle." Three of us immediately busted up laughing, and he had no idea what was going on. He was so confused and so he went on speaking. Afterwards, we asked him if he knew what he said, and he said: "Yeah, it's always a blessing to be taught at the feet of an Apostle," at which point we explained the important one word difference. He understood, and laughed accordingly.  

There are many things I could share with you that he said, but I've only got fifteen minutes left, so I'll have to only pick a few.

He shared some of his favorite things President Monson has said. One of them was: "The Lord will shape the back to bear the burdens placed upon it."

He said to never ignore a prompting from the spirit so the Lord will know He can trust us. If you are not sure if it is the Holy Ghost or yourself, take a chance on it, and within a couple of days you will know whether it was or not. And then they will come more frequently and you will grow up in the spirit of revelation. It was really awesome and the spirit was so strong.

My most favorite part of his talk was at the end, when he bore testimony that Christ lives. I wrote down the exact wording that he used because it was so powerful to me. He said:

"I testify with absolute certainty that He rose the third day, that there is life after death. I testify that He lives, I witness that He lives. I am His witness."

The spirit bore a powerful witness to me that this was true and that this man is one of His special witnesses for us on the earth today. Not only did the Holy Ghost bear witness of the truth, but also gave me several promptings during the talk.

He said we have the light of revealed truth. Our pain will be swept away because Christ will lift it from us. Our pain will be swept away by peace and relief. He has felt your pain and can and will give you His peace. He lived a perfect life and gave a perfect sacrifice for us. While we cannot fully comprehend the Atonement, we can know that it is real and that it works.

During one of our classes yesterday, I felt prompted to share something that we talked about. We were talking about the power of the spirit in conversion, but our teacher felt prompted to take the lesson in a different direction that he had not planned on. It was something I had never thought about but that made perfect sense to me when I did.

We do not have a monopoly on the spirit. The spirit testifies of truth when it is spoken. You can go to any church and feel the spirit. When people testify of truth, the spirit backs them up. However, when they testify of a false statement or the tampered truth, the spirit will not testify.

For example, if someone testifies of three things:

1. God is our loving Heavenly Father

2. Jesus is the Christ
3. And the Bible is the only book containing the word of God.  The spirit will testify of the first two statements, but will flee when the third is stated, because there are several other books of scripture, especially the Book of Mormon.

The beautiful thing is that we have the complete truth. Other churches have only some of the truth, and can therefore only feel the spirit at times. We complete the truth, not change it.

I hope that made at least a little bit of sense. I'm out of time now, so I'm off to do laundry. Thank you for your support.

Elder Joseph Garrett

One of the biggest things I've learned this week at the MTC is that we're not teaching lessons, we're teaching people. And we're helping people. Not only do we ask them to repent, we actually need to help them change their lives. You have to make sure they know you want to love, not lecture, that you want to help, not interview. Otherwise, it will be hard for them to give up everything they know and change their lives completely.

This does not only apply to investigators.

There are many approaches to inviting people to come unto Christ. The most effective way is to help and love them.

Pray for opportunities to help other people, and they will come. Put your fears aside and do not be afraid to open your mouth. You don't always have to say something profound. Recall that Alma the younger found one of the greatest missionary companions of all time simply by asking him for a bite to eat. It doesn't matter what you say to people as long as you say it.

I've had a lot of experiences this week with prayer. Every time I pray, I get an answer. Sometimes not in ways you would expect.

There was something I never understood about the church. I pondered and prayed about it, and during gym, I saw that a talk by Elder Christofferson was on one of the TVs. I felt strongly that I should go watch it. So I went to the bike right in front of that particular TV and plugged in my headphones. To my surprise, the question I had was eloquently answered. He talked about when Peter was given revelation that the gospel should then be preached to the gentiles. I felt that Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost truly guide this church and instruct the Prophets and Apostles what we need and when we need it, even when a change in church practice is therefore needed to accomodate revelation.

I testify that the heavens are open in our days. The Apostles and Prophets receive revelation for the whole church and the whole world. And if we pray, we can receive personal revelation for ourselves. I know that He answers prayers, because He answers mine every day. He will answer if you ask sincerely, and if you intend to act on the response.

I know that Jesus Christ suffered for us so we wouldn't have to. He died, and was resurrected. He lives, and will come again.

Elder Joseph Garrett

So the big news is we are getting two brand new roommates in our room. I don't know where they are going to put their stuff, as their are four desks, four closets, and all the space under the beds are full with suitcases. So this will be an adventure. We are going to pretend like we are not allowed to speak English at all. It is going to be so fun.

We watched a video that Elder Holland made, and one of my favorite quotes in it was that "if you love them today, maybe you can teach them tomorrow." He was referring to unresponsive Primary kids, but I think it applys to all of us. He reminded us that if we don't testify throughout and at the end of a lesson/class, the people will leave wondering what we thought about it. Testimony truly invites the spirit. We can see that everyday as we are teaching our roleplay investigators.

The other night I prayed for a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon. For the next two days, the Book of Mormon is basically the only thing we talked about. We talked about it in class, in workshops, and then in the devotional last night. It was a really good experience for me about the power of prayer. The more our prayers are answered, the more our faith builds.

Our big focus the past two days is that you don't need to solve every doubt (your own or an investigators), because if they will read the Book of Mormon, ponder about it, and pray about it, sincerely, with real intent, they will gain a testimony that it's true, and then nothing else matters. Because then you know Joseph Smith was a prophet, that the church is true, and most importantly, that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world. There is no greater resource to teach of Jesus Christ.

I also decided something this week. Most of it comes from something Andra Thorne once said to me about directing. The way to lead is not to force, but to lead. To set an example and encourage others to follow. Don't drag. Dragging creates resistance and contention. Just something I've observed this week. Also, I believe this is the way Jesus Christ leads. We have our agency, he set an example and asks us to come unto Him and follow Him. If he forced us to, we would never progress, and we'd probably resent Him for it. This is why we chose to follow God's Plan of Salvation as opposed to the other proposed plan.

Don't rely on logic and statistics. Rely on the spirit.

This month has gone by so incredibly fast. So many good experiences.  Thank you for your prayers and support.

We listened to a talk by Elder Holland, and he said that as missionaries, our work is the same as the Father and the Son, "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man," by "inviting others to come unto Christ through faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost,and enduring to the end."

In the devotional last night with Rex D. Pinegar, a main theme was the question "Why am I here?" It was a great talk that we had a good experience talking about afterwards. Jesus said that his "work is to do the will of Him who sent me." It is the same for us. We are here to serve God and do everything he would have us do. If you want results, do the work. Commitment brings success. He wants us committed to it all, even every rule, because when Jesus Christ was doing his work, He was completely committed to every rule to fulfill the will of His Father.

There are some Elders here who don't know why they're here or are here for the wrong reasons. I want you to know that I do.

There are many things I don't understand. I don't know how the world was created, or where Kolob is, or everything that will happen in the second coming. As a mortal I don't fully comprehend eternity. I don't know why every commandment or rule has been made. I don't know all the mysteries of God.

These are nice things to think about, but in the end, it really shoudn't be very important to us now. I believe we should focus on one main goal: living the gospel of Jesus Christ by faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Rather than getting caught up in how long the seven seals are, we should strive to become like Christ, even to become perfect even as He is perfect. As we live the gospel, we should be becoming more like Him, or we're not doing it right. I think the biggest chunk of knowledge we are meant to gain on earth is how to be like our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ. If we prepare now, we will be ready when He comes again.

While I know we can't be perfect as mortals, I know if we strive to develop Christ-like attributes every day of our lives, one day as resurrected beings we can become perfect through Christ's Atonement.

While I don't know everything, these things I do know:

1. Jesus Christ is my Savior and through his atonement the gap has been bridged between mortals and God. Our sins have been paid for and if we will do the neccessary work, Christ's grace will get us there. Through his Resurrection, our bodies will be reunited with our spirits after death.  

2. The Book of Mormon is true. It is the word of God, and the most true book on Earth. It was translated by the power of God.

3. Joseph Smith saw our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

4. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, as is Thomas S. Monson. God Speaks through the prophets and Apostles to guide us.

5. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ (Not Joseph Smith) restored the fulness of the gospel and its ordinances on the Earth for the last dispensation (through Joseph Smith.) They did this so we could have full access and availabilty to the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

6. We are children of our Heavenly Father and He will communicate with us as we pray with real intent. Real intent means we really intend to act on the response. He has a plan for us so that we can have joy.

Thanks so much for the letters (keep them coming). I'm sorry I had to miss the birth of my first niece, but I know this is where I'm supposed to be. I hope Jake and Hannah get some sleep and are doing well.