Monday June 28th, 2010

Boy hows it all going back in the good old 801? I sure do miss that place I am gonna be honest with you guys. Hawaii is a much different place than Utah as you all probably know already haha but I just want to say be grateful for living in such an amazing state. You never really appreciate Utah until you move out of it. Even though I am serving in the richest part of Hawaii, you see so much poverty. Its sad to see. But the members that are pretty well off are so nice and humble, they help out so much and are really there to help anyone. They have the strongest spirits and I have come to love them so much in these past 2 weeks. I hope I get to stay in this area for a little while because I am getting so close to some of the members. I will be here for at least 10 more weeks because my companion will be leaving so I will be staying. So that definitely brings comfort!

So Sunday is awesome I love seeing the members they are all so welcoming. I am definitely having a hard time remembering names and even pronouncing some of them haha but its getting better. Yesterday was President and Sister Petersens last Sunday. Oh man I am pretty bummed they are already leaving and I only got to know them for a couple weeks. They are amazing people and so loving! They live in Draper. They will be leaving here on Friday and our new mission President comes in on Thursday. His name is John Dalton and he was an area 70 before he got this calling. I have heard nothing but great things from him. I can't wait to meet him. And I am way stoked because I will be one of the few missionaries that gets to know him well because the Presidents home is in our area so we see him every Sunday.

This week has been pretty great! Missionary work is hard man. We are in a very tough area too! Its hard to find new investigators here because most people are pretty settled and don't want anything more. Occasionally we find some people that will listen but we haven't found anyone new to teach since I've been here. This has really been a test of my faith because its so discouraging day in and day out as you get denied and doors slammed in your face, but you just have to be humble. Hard work pays off and I know that to be true.

Jona and Kiata are still on for baptism on the 10th so I pray that can keep that date! These kids are amazing and their testimonies are growing so much! I can't wait to experience their baptism. We have taught them a couple times and they really enjoy the lessons. Another lady named Haley finally got back from Turkey and Elder Walker and I are going to baptize her before he leaves on the 27th! She comes to church every week, has great knowledge. She just doesn't want to jump into the church and than find out something about the church she doesn't like. We have a lesson with her tomorrow so we are gonna get her a date set I can feel it!

So here's some pretty crazy Hawaii things. We put our cereal in the freezer haha! Thats keeps the ants and bugs out. Its kinda weird but now its normal to me haha. Everyone here leaves there houses open and unlocked. Its so hot so thats what you have to do. BK you would die because you would lock up all the windows and doors and your Pad would be blazing hot. I thought about that when I first got here and just laughed. Sure do miss you kid hope all is well with work and baseball. We had a dinner friday in a condo 30 stories up looking over the Ocean. Probably the coolest view I have seen for the time i've been here. We ate out on the patio and watched fireworks after! It was so cool! Hawaii definitely has its benefits!

Other than that things are pretty slow. A lot of tracting with no success, which is pretty common tracting doens't bring much success. But as long as you do you part, do what the Lord asks you will be blessed. My testimony on obedience has grown so much out here. Saturday we tracted for almost 3 hours and had no success at all, no one was home and we taught no lessons. We were so discouraged but than we came home and got 2 calls within 5 minutes for referals from members! Its amazing how happy things like that make you. That peace and comfort comes over you and I know that this referrals came from our hard work that day.

Stay strong in the gospel everyone! You don't have to be a walking missionary like me everyday but just do what the Lord wants. We are so blessed to have the Gospel in our lives. It is such a blessing to us all. You are all in my thoughts and prayers. Hope all is well back home. Stay in touch I love hearing from you all.

Ofa atu!
Love Elder Garritson

My first companion out here is Elder Walker! This is his last transfer, my first!

Here's Hawaii on the map (just in case you forgot where it was!)

Aloha! Behind me is Honolulu. This pic was taken from Diamond Head.

MTC pictures

This is me with Elder Sa'u. He is from Samoa and he has an amazing voice!

President Peterson, Elder Garritson, Sister Peterson

Yahoo, he made it to Hawaii. President Peterson wrote us an email letting us know that Jordan arrived safely, has been out doing street contacts in Honolulu, and has been assigned a companion and an area--we just don't know where yet! This is Jordan with his mission president and his wife, President and Sister Peterson.

Honolulu

The pad

Jordan and Elder Walker, his trainer

Aloha!

Hi all,

Talked with Jordan today as he was leaving from the SLC Airport to Honolulu! He should be there by now! He was very excited and said to tell everyone thanks so much for the letters and packages while he was in the MTC! He sent some pics and I will post them shortly. We will post his new address when he is assigned an area. He will stay at the mission home in Honolulu tonight. Thanks for all the support!

June10th Email--Time is short at the MTC!

Aloha‏

Boy another week down and only 5 more days of this place. This place is so amazing I have learned so much about the BOM and about teaching the Gospel so people will understand. Teaching with the spirit, compromising with people, it has definitely been a humbling experience! I am ready to get to the islands tho and teach people. I cannot wait. This church is so true. I have come to know without a doubt it my mind that this is the true church! I have done a lot this week we had our TA where we taught fake investigators and that was awesome!!! That was probably the first time I have felt the spirit put words into my mouth, its hard to explain but really thats how it went. The gospel is so awesome guys I tell you what! Tuesday night we got to hear from Elder Robert D. Hales!!!! It was so cool to be in his presence. The night before I just had a feeling someone important was coming so I made my companion come with me an hour and a half early so we could be close. We were like 20 rows from him it was so cool! He talked about obedience, well thats what he said he was going to talk about but really he didn't talk about that until the end. He talked a ton about the light of Christ!! I love the principle of the light of Christ, it probably is one of my favorite things to study about this gospel.. Holy cats he put it so strongly and the spirit was so strong the whole time! We watched a talk by David A Bednar about becoming a missionary and I would highly recommend everyone watch that! Also Miracle of a Mission by Jeffrey R Holland is another great one to watch and show the priests! So lesson 2 is about the plan of salvation and today I was reading in 1 Nephi 10 and its so crazy how God laid out his plan for us. There's no way someone could have made this up, everything falls into place and its just amazing! I love it!!

Exerpts from Jordan's first email--Life in the MTC

"Well I absolutely love my district. We have an amazing time together they are all a bunch of studs. My district leader is sweet we are just alike man.
Days are pretty hectic here. It was way hard to get into the swing of things becuase its eat sleep drink the gospel all day long for sixteen hours. We wake up, have personal study for an hour, go to breakfast, than have companion study for an hour. than we have class for four hours, lunch and than we have what is called MDT (missionary directive time) where you do something productive like teach teachers or whatever you want. We just usually study. Than we have class again for three more hours after dinner so its just like go go go! Its so crazy though I have learned so much. More in a week here than all of seminary which is crazy."
Here is his address for a couple more weeks at the MTC
Elder Garritson
MTC Mailbox #263
HI-HON 0615
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604
He is "dying" for letters--so send away! Thanks for following, will post again next week! Teri Garritson