ALOHA! September 27, 2010

(Jordan's companion's mom posted this pic on her website. It's a fun pic of the two of them looking down on Waimanalo and Kailua. Beautiful island! Thanks Sis. Smith!)

Well another week down and this one was a pretty solid week! Everyone here is getting really excited for the Laie Temple to open back up. They have been remodeling it for the past couple years. They kept pushing the dates back, it was originally suppose to open in the beginning of the year, then the middle, and then finally in November it will be dedicated and October will be the open house. We have some ward temple trips planned for the open house, but I don't know if we will be able to go because missionaries are not allowed to proselyte during Open Houses of the temple, so we will see. This is partly the reason why work is so slow right now, everyones focus is on the open house and not missionary work, so we have hit the pavement hard with very little success, but thats okay we keep going along knowing that the Lord will provide!


This week was an interesting week, most of our investigator lessons fell thru. We had a lesson with D*** and K*** on Tuesday and it was definitely a different lesson. We taught them about faith and we watched Finding Faith in Christ, which is a phenomenal video! It shows the life of Jesus Christ and all that he did. K**** is ready to be baptized, we just have to set a date with her. Since she is 8 it doesn't count on our "numbers" as a baptism but it really is. Thats the one buggy thing about the mission, everyone says they aren't worried about numbers, but they are. It brings a lot of frustration because what doesn't go into numbers is the hard work with no success. Its good tho, the man upstairs knows all! Ha but D*** is a tough kid, he thinks very very hard and is struggling to find his faith. Continue praying for him, because miracles will happen!

Our lessons with A*** and C*** this week fell thru. They both are super busy! C**** kids are baptized, so they don't like us so much because we won't go to movies and stuff with them. So we are working hard with them to help them realize how much we do love them and how much we want to see them succeed. If you are a future missionary reading this, DO NOT be an apostate missionary. Just do what the Lord wants, put your life in his hands for these 2 years and it will be the greatest time of your life! (Jordan said the missionaries that baptized those kids would go to the movies with them--those who don't follow the rules are apostate! haha! Jordan isn't opinionated or anything, is he??!!)

We had an interesting experience with Bill this week. (Bill is the guy we tracted into and cut down some bamboo for him) Well Tuesday night he invited us over for a BBQ he was having so we were super excited. Well we got there and everyone was drinking! And than they offered us some! Everyone was super nice but it was just out of our comfort zone. There was one lady there who was very interested in our religion and the BOM. We shared a message with her about the Plan of Salvation and she loved it! We committed her to church (she didn't come) but she had a good reason not to. We are going to work hard with her, she has high potential!

Work is great as always, how could it not be, its the Lords work! My quote from today comes from Joshua 1:9, most of you probably know this one but it is a scripture that saved my life. I probably wouldn't be out here without this scripture. It is so powerful and I testify to you all that it is true. Take a read and ponder over its words, because this scripture really changed my life. Conference is coming up and I am super excited, all of you better be watching!! Hope all is well, love you all!

September 20, 2010

Aloooooooha!

Howzit from Hawaii! All is well here in the beautiful islands. It is blazing hot right now, these next couple weeks are some of the hottest weeks of the year because the trade winds tend to die down. A couple weeks and the temp is going to drop about 10 degrees and it is going to be solid! Well, its already is solid-- its Hawaii come on, but it will be even better! Hope all is well in Utah, I bet it is going to start cooling down and I feel for you guys! That is going to be no bueno. I'll think about you while I am chillin on the beach (just kidding)!

Another week down and it seems like they are flying by. You have all been in school for a month, and I am coming up on 4 months out (yeah I know 20 more months, I am almost there). Haha but I was thinking the other day and I am pretty stoked that I still have 20 months left. These next 20 months are the ONLY 20 months left of my life that I can fully devote all my time to the Lord. To share the Gospel with all the people I come in contact with, being called by a prophet of God. Being so in tune with the Spirit that its scary at times! I love this job, I love this work, and more importantly I love these people! The Gospel is true my friends, I promise you that!

Work is still slow here unfortunately. Its going to pick up though, I know it. The Lord is putting us thru a dry spell to strengthen our faith. Its like I talked about last week, if we get everything we want, we will never get anything we need. If every door I knocked turned into a baptism, I wouldn't learn a thing. It would be tight, but it wouldn't help me grow. My faith wouldn't strengthen. These times are tough, but seeing the blessings come after these times make it all worth it! I can see a bright future ahead, I just can't get brought down by Satan (a lesson we can all learn, not just for missionaries).

We are teaching 3 people on a consistent basis right now. ***** is a 14 year old kid who is SUPER smart and thinks very hard, at times too hard. We are really focusing in with him and trying to get him to recognize the Spirit and not try to understand everything all at once. He will be baptized, its all just a matter of time. His sister ****, who we have been teaching (she is 8 years old) is getting baptized! Its going to be great and I think this is going to be the turning point for *****. I'll let you know how that all pans out.

Then in Hawaii Kai we are teaching two ladies. One whose name is Angela. She is Catholic and is very devout. She is such a sweet spirit though, some of our lessons get pretty heated but I love this woman! She is so kind. There is going to come a time when she is going to say "I get it". She comes to church, she reads, she prays, all in due time will the blessings of the Spirit come upon her and testify to her of the truthfulness of the Gospel.

The other lady we are teaching is Cindy and all her kids have been baptized and she wants to, she just needs to quit smoking. She is trying really hard and she will quit very soon. We are going to get a date set with her this week. She will recieve the strength she needs thru the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I know it! Blessings are in store!!!!

Thats about all. The brethren have come out with a new teaching method which focuses in on 8 teaching principles in helping people and investigators. They also came out with DVD's to help, which are AMAZING. President Dalton bought every companionship a DVD player to put in their pad, and we watch these DVD's every night! My teaching has gone thru the roof with this! I will explain more about it later, my fingers are tired.

Stay strong in the Gospel, keep your sights on the temple, remember who you are and what you stand for! The Lord will bless you and help you, but you have to let him in. Don't give into temptation. Shun Satan, and all will be well. I love you all!

Elder Garritson

Howzit! September 13, 2010

Hello Travis & Jordon:
Good morning and thank you for the Wonderful & Kind Help with Cutting our Bamboo on Sept. 7.Also, I* have attached the Photo's.Take Care and Have a Nice day.Aloha,Bill C.

Aloha all ya'll! Another week down, man are weeks flying by or what!? Seems like just yesterday I was back on mainland, I am enjoying it out here. Work is slow but we are working hard and doing the things that the Lord wants, and I know he will bless us. Hope is on the horizon with the other area we took over, Hawaii Kai (we are now Kahala and Hawaii Kai missionaries, which is a huge area to cover). They got a new ward mission leader, Bro. A*** ( this guy is SOLID!) and a new bishop who is super missionary minded. They are going to have choke names for us to teach in a couple weeks, so we will be doing work there now as well. This is a good thing because Kahala is really dying down. This will get both wards going on the 15 name program (because where ever the work is, that is where we will go) and it will keep us busy! The blessings Heavenly Father gives us come in ways we don't expect! Sunday is super busy tho, we are at church and meetings from 7-3! Its good though, I really enjoy church!

So my birthday was a phenomenal day! I couldn't ask for anything better because I got to see Bro. J*** bless the sacrament! That was more than I could ever ask for! It was very cool and super spiritual, he is an amazing man! They also took great care of me, fed me on saturday and sunday night, got me a b-day cake and sang me happy birthday. Sister J*** got me a very nice Lei, so it was a great birthday. Thank you all for the birthday cards and gifts, you are amazing! I really appreciate all of you and not forgetting me!! Also, I am not sure if I have told you about Audrey S**** but she is a RC and is an amazing lady. We have been teaching her for a while and my relationship with her has grown so much from day one. I was sad because I thought I would leave last transfer and it was hard to say bye to her, but I get to stay which is amazing! We had a super spiritual lesson with her on Thursday and I was bawling, we talked about Christ and I told her about the boy who died from cancer and his testimony of Jesus Christ and his Atonement. (President Monson told the story in his talk last conference, go read it! My favorite talk, sunday morning session.) Anyways, she gave me a nice lei and made a picture for me from some of the lessons I have shared with her. I may send it home so it doesn't get ruined. But that was nice, I had a great b-day, and no I don't feel any different!!! (I had asked Jordan if he felt different now that he was no longer a teenager!)

Other than that, not too much is going down. Working hard (or hardly working, you will never know!) President Dalton is hilarious, without fail everytime he sees me the first thing he says is "how is the 3 ball coming along!" Haha I love this man so much, he is so personable and he is working wonders for this mission. His motto: Work hard, Play Hard, Have Fun! I love it, its so true. He knows what he is doing as a mission president!

I forgot to get a quote for you all but here is one of my favorites, I have shared this with some of you but I want all of you to hear it: "If we get everything we want, we will never get anything we need." I came up with this while on my mission. As times have been tough, those are the times that I have grown the most. There is a reason for every single trial we have, no matter what it is. They all strengthen our faith in the Lord. Put you trust in the Lord, and he will deliver you out of your trials. It talks about this in Alma 38:5, which is one of my favorite scriptures. Remember that!

Thanks for the letters and everything yall, keep them coming! Keep me updated on your lives. Love you all, have a great week!

Elder Garritson

iN tHe jUngLe, tHe MiGhtY jUnGLe...

September 7, 2010-Staying in Kahala!!!

Aloooooooooooooooha!

6 more weeks in Kahala! I am pretty stoked about it, this ward is super tight and its going to be interesting because the area is dead so we are going to have to work hard to get it back on fire, I know the Lord will provide if we work hard! It's still me and Elder Smith so its good stuff! We have a good time together, our whole zone pretty much stayed the same, except our district leader Elder Labarre went home, he served a good mission, really tight kid. He is moving to Daybreak in October so keep an eye out, short blonde kid haha! Oh yeah we are also taking over the Hawaii Kai area as well, so we have a huge area! It will be fun, its a good area. We are now covering the richest areas of Hawaii haha!

So an update on the J***, they are doing so solid! They love the ward and are really fitting in. You won't believe this, Uncle B**** has been called as Gospel Doctrine teacher, can you believe it!?!? Ha he is kinda nervous, but he knows the call has come from the Lord so he has no question it is for him. He will do great, we did some service for him today and that was solid, my back hurts now though haha!

Work is kinda dead for Kahala, the only 2 we are teaching are D**** and K***. D**** is 13 and K*** is 8. They moved here from mississippi with their mom, who is not active. They are coming along pretty well, they have had a lot of wrong information put in their minds so teaching them goes really slow. They ask some interesting questions and a lot are just questions that you have to rely on faith with, so we are praying for them and they will be baptized.

Ben Beck left on his mission to Tempe Arizona last wednesday. Man this kid was a stud, he went out to teach with us all the time. We got really close so it was hard to see him go, I started to cry a little haha! But he will be a solid missionary, he knows what he is doing and has an amazing testimony! I am going to room with him when I get back because he is going to BYU!
We are teaching a lady in Hawaii Kai who has had missionaries teach her forever and she just has a problem smoking, we are going to give her the 15 step stop smoking program. This program was put together by a missionary and really works! It is nuts, if they put effort into it and want to quit, they will quit. It only takes 2 weeks. So if any of you yahoos have picked up the habit of smoking, let me know and I can help you out haha!

We finally got to go golfing yesterday! Man it was so solid, good fun! I miss swingin the clubs brah! Freak out, I shot a 46 which was horrible, but my swing isn't completely gone so I am happy about that. I started out par par par and than went down hill from there, it was a pretty tough course. We had fun tho!

Other than that, we are just working hard! We tracted into a guy and did service for him so that was cool! Tracting is long and dreadful but the Lord blesses you in other ways as you do it, so we do it! The same goes for all of you, as you dont want to do things that may seem silly and pointless, just do them! The Lord will bless you in other ways as you keep his commandments!

Here is you quote for the week, Uncle B**** shared this with me and I loved it so I thought I would share the joy. This comes from Duet. 1-2: go read it, it is a great scripture! As we hearken unto the voice of the Lord, keep the commandments, do everything he asks, his blessings will come upon us and overtake us! We will be place high above all nations!!!

I know this is true yall, do the things our Heavenly Father asks and you will be blessed! God Speed, Love you all!

Elder Garritson

Aloha! August 30, 2010

(I got busy last week, so there are 2 posts today-one is from the 23rd, the other from the 30th!)

Howzit my friends? Hope all is well back in mainland, school starting up and summer is over! Sounds like everyone had a good summer and everyone was safe so thats what I like to hear! Good luck in school ya'll and stay focused!

Nothing too much has happened here this week. Our teaching pool is very slim now that Brother and Sister J*** got baptized so we have hit the streets hard again trying to find new investigators. Our ward really needs to get the 15 name program going (not sure if that is done in utah, but it is where the ward council picks 15 names, members or non members, go to their homes and invite them to hear the missionary dicussions) if they say yes, we have a lesson. If not we are stuck. So our ward hasn't been doing it so we are really working hard and are gonna have to be bold with the members so they start to pick up. Don't be scared members!!!! Share the gospel with your friends, the worst thing that will happen is they say no. This is their fsalvation at stake!!! Ha and if you need a simple way let me know and I can help you out with that one! But thats about all we are doing.

We have been working hard with some less active members to get them back to church. One of the families, the D******, are really coming close. Most missionaries give up on them but I will not! I know they will come back before I leave this area (which could be next week wednesday). Its all about faith. We have another lady we are teaching in the Hawaii Kai ward but she just wants to bash with us, so those are the lessons you have to be careful with because it can quickly turn into a heated conversation (which if it turns to that, I don't back down and I don't lose!) But thats about the work. Continue to be great member missionaries!

Outside of the misssionary work we got the opportunity to go to Pearl Harbor on Wed. to do some service on the USS Missouri! That was awesome! What an amazing ship. President Dalton set this service up for us, he is such a stud. Really doing a lot of good things for this mission and I am especially grateful I have the opportunity to serve under him! But Pearl Harbor was great, we were really blessed and priviledged to serve there and got a tour of the ship and everything. It was a good break from the missionary lifestyle, but yet still rendering our service!
Here is your thought for the week: "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear" -President Hinkley Self explanatory.

Take care all of you, love you all! Keep writing me!

Elder Garritson

August 23, 2010-Alooooooooooooha!

Howzit yall this week has just flown by and I can't believe it is already week 5 of this transfer. 12 days from now I will be getting that phone call telling me if I will be staying in my area or going somewhere else. I am pretty sure I will be leaving to Maui tho because only the blessed go to Maui and I am destined to go there haha! I really want to serve on Maui tho!

This Saturday was the long awaited day of the J*** baptism!!! Remember the first day I emailed you guys after we taught them and I said they would be baptized, well it has happened! What an amazing day Saturday was. Honestly it was one of the most spiritual and happiest days of my life. The baptism was at 3 o'clock and there were close to 75 or so people there. They had people from all over the island come, there was a couple from Utah that came, and their daughter from Germany came!!! Tons of nonmembers there and it was so spiritual. He is so funny. He joked about how we were going to have to dunk him 3 times because of all the sins he committed in his life and we reassured him once would do it. However the person performing the baptism messed up twice so he was baptized 3 times! Ha it was quite funny he told a joke about it and told us he was right and that he would have to be baptized 3 times. He is quite the guy. Auntie S**** was awesome as well, she has a huge fear of water so it was really hard for her to get in but she said when she was under she just felt warm and all her fears were gone. The young man doing the baptism really talked her thru the whole thing and calmed her fears.

What a great day, my heart is full and I am so grateful I have been able to see such wonderful people change their lives and come into the fold of God. This church is true man. Brother J*** is going to do great things for the church, I bet he will have the Melchezidek priesthood in a couple months. He already has a calling and they are talking about being sealed next year. I am going to beg and plead with President Dalton to let me go to that because that will be a really special day for them!

Haha like I said Uncle B**** is a funny dude. We were teaching him on Tuesday his final lesson before baptism and that went all good. Uncle B**** is just hilarious like that but he has such a strong testimony. He was praying and he prayed for you guys particularly and asked you to be blessed for my service. His prayers are so sincere, I was crying after that prayer and it brought the Spirit in so strong! He knows I love sweets so he sends me home with chocolate every night, I can't wait to come back here after my mission and have you guys meet him!

Other than that nothing else is really happening, that was our main focus this week! Work is kind of slow now so we are praying for it to pick up. We have some potential investigators to go with but I don't know, its hard to get people to see the light, especially here in Kahala. But you just rely on the Lord and he takes care of the rest.

Here is my thought for the week, it comes from Thomas S. Monson: "remember that you are entitled to our Heavely Fathers blessings in this work (whatever your work is, life school etc.) He did not call you to your privileged post to walk alone, w/o guidance, trusting to luck. On the contrary, He knows your skill, He realizes your devotion, and He will convert your supposed inadequacies to recognized strengths. He has promised, 'I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on you left, and my Spirit shall be in you hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up'".

This is so true my friends, I have witnessed it out here on my mission. Trust in the Lord and he will never fail you.

Thanks for everything, I love you guys!

Elder Garritson