KARMA

March 1, 2010

Mom & Dad,

Hello! How’s everything going? Maryland is freezing! It has snowed half the time I’ve been here. But it doesn’t stick. The other half of the time it’s too cold to snow I’m so excited for spring to arrive.

The Mission is going well. I’m still adjusting. My companion is Sister Walker. She is from Massachusetts. She is 29 yrs old and a convert of four years. She has been in this area (the Susquehanna) for 6 and a half months. She knows the area well. Although when I got here we didn’t have any progressing investigators and no appointments, but we’re working on changing that.

It’s such a huge transition from Temple Square to Maryland, but I’m trying to adjust. I’m trying to work with the members and gain their trust. Members are so important. I never understood that so much until I got here. Please help the missionaries in your Ward. Offer to have lessons taught in your home, give the names of people you know when you feed them. Make sure they share a spiritual thought and give them names of friends and co-workers for them to share the gospel with. You know so many non-members! Co-workers, people who do your nails, people who helped built the cabin, people who worked with you on your loan. Pray about it! What about your co-worker who lost her husband. If you feel more comfortable, use my name, tell the missionaries to tell your friends that I want them to see what I’m doing and why I left home for 18 months. If you want me to be blessed, be member missionaries. If you help the missionaries the members here will help me. It’s Karma!

We are in a major finding time. “Nothing happens in Missionary work until you find someone to teach (preach my gospel).” Tracking is not super successful. Although my second day here we found five new investigators tracking, but so far none of them have kept their return appointments. Members are the best finders!

I can’t wait until we get some golden investigators. We have one investigator now. She is 23 yrs old, divorced and has three children and lives with her mother. She seems interested, but she isn’t keeping commitments and hasn’t come to church. She has a baptismal date, but she needs to quit smoking. She still needs to pray about Joseph Smith, then it will be easier for her to quit because the Holy Ghost will testify that Joseph Smith was a prophet and the Word of Wisdom was a commandment from God.

We have a couple of men we are trying to teach, but they live in a boarding house so we need a Melchizedek priesthood holder to go with us. We haven’t found anyone who is willing to come to an appointment with us. So we haven’t been able to teach them. Members are so important to missionary work!

We see a lot of less-actives here. Most of the time the story is the same, a member marries a non-member. The non-member doesn’t go to church and won’t let the children go. The member goes by themselves, feels alone and stops attending church. Then they are no longer keeping their covenants so they feel bad about going to church. What the heck were they thinking!?! I have decided that I am going to marry someone who will put the Lord first! So many marriages would last and be happier if everyone would put the Lord first.

There should never be an option to going to church. You make time to go to the temple at least once a month and you do home/visiting teaching every month. Do you know how many more people would be active if everyone did their home/visiting teaching? The Lord instituted this program for a reason. It was inspired. I don’t mean to lecture, but I wish the members could work harder, including me. As we do the little things; read our scriptures, say our prayers, go to church etc. Then the bigger picture will make so much more sense and our testimonies will grow. I so badly want everyone to come unto Christ and be baptized. I feel like the sons of Mosiah “…for they could not bear that any human soul should perish, yea, even the very thought that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.” (Mosiah 28:3)

The other day we taught a less-active member of the church, the plan of salvation. After we taught the differences between the three degress of glory we told her that Heavenly father dwells in the Celestial Kingdom, so which kingdom would she want to go to. She said the second one. I could not believe she could be content not living up to her full potential. I can’t imagine the pain and sorrow our Heavenly Father feels knowing his children don’t want to return home to him.

I know I can live with my Father in Heaven again. It takes a lot of work and commitment to do what’s right, but it is worth it. I know we can be together as a family forever. I hope that I can at least touch one person through my testimony. This church is the true gospel of Jesus Christ restored to the Earth! I know we have a living prophet to lead and guide us today. I know that through the atonement we can live with our Heavenly Father again.

I love you both so much. Thank you for your support. Thanks for letting me vent. Please strive to be a better member-missionary everyday.

Love,

Sister Garbett