I Can Now Go Home

December 2, 2010

Mommy & Daddy,

Well, today is my last preparation day (p-day)! Can you believe that? I haven't emailed you yet. We have morning p-day, so I'm writing you and it's like 1145am. We had a zone pot-luck breakfast this morning. It was really good. I made papas-con-hueves to bring. We had a lot of food from other countries. I'm super full now!

This week has been a really good one. We have three new investigators! DJ from MO, we are passing him of to the local missionaries. We are teaching a guy named Adnano, he is from Mexico and is progressing now! He said he'll go to church this week. We also have Jessica #4! That's right, another Jessica. She is golden. She is from Alberta Canada. She is going to church on Sunday. It's a two-hour drive and she is totally fine with traveling that distance to go to church. I love when people are prepared to hear the gospel! They're willing to do anything to know the truth. It just amazes me how much as members of the church we take for granted. We have investigators who travel hours just to get to church. While we members only live 15 minutes away from our chapel and sometimes we would rather sleep in than go to church.

My mission has changed me so much. I now have realized what things are important. I'm so grateful that I've had this year-and-a-half to strengthen my testimony and change. I really feel like I'm different and I understand Heavenly Father's divine plan for his children. As few transfers ago in district meeting (actually it was probably more like a year ago) they talked to us about a scripture in 1 Cor. 13:11, it says "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

So for district meeting we changed the scripture so it applied directly to us. Mine said: "When I was Aubree, I spake as Aubree, I understood as Aubree, I thought as Aubree: but when I became a missionary, I put away Aubree-ish things." I want to continue to put away Aubree-ish things as I continue to grow and mature. I'm not quite sure how I can master that without being totally weird, but I'll work on that.

My testimony has been strengthened so much on my mission. I'm grateful that I've learned so much that I can teach my future family. I never would have learned all of this the same way had I not served a mission.

Thank you for all of your help, prayers and support throughout my mission. I could not have served without your help. I am so grateful that we can be together forever. I love you so much!

I know that God loves us. I know that Jesus Christ lives; He is our Savior and Redeemer. I know both God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to the young boy Joseph Smith and he restored Christ's church.

I love you both so much! Thank you for being the BEST!

Love,

Sister Garbett

P.S. I'll be home for Christmas!

P.S.S. The other morning our zone had to wash the vans at 6am. While we were down there guess who we saw! Elder Dallin H. Oaks! He came and shook all of our hands! It was really neat! He came up to us and talked with us for a few minutes. He told us to tell all of our parents hi. The night before Elder Christopherson was at our choir performance, but I didn't get to talk to him. I can now go home. Heavenly Father knew that I wanted to meet an apostle before I went home!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Nov 26, 2010

Mom & Dad,

Happy thanksgiving! I hope you had a fun one at grandma and grandpa's house. Did you eat a lot? My Thanksgiving was good. We went to the same place as last year. We got to watch Toy Story 3. The food was catered by the same place and I'm not sure if we ate ham or turkey this year again. I am really looking forward to a real Thanksgiving dinner.

We had three weird days this week. On Tuesday, there was supposed to be a huge blizzard coming our way, so we were all sent home at 1pm. We went to our friend's house (Sister Gilbert and Sister Williams) and hung out with them. The first thing we did was put a pizza in the oven and then we built a fort. While the pizza baked, Sis Williams made smoothies and then we drank the smoothies and ate the pizza inside the fort. We all told stories in the fort and listened to music. After a couple of hours of eating and talking we were all tired, so we took an hour nap in our fort. When we woke up everything outside was white! It reminded us of Christmas, so we turned the lights on the little Christmas tree and played Christmas music while we made cookies and hot chocolate. After that we bundled up and went outside to play in the snow for a few minutes. When we were too cold we went back inside dried off and got back inside the fort. We told more stories and played a couple games. We were the most envied room on the 2nd floor. :) Lots of sisters kept stopping by to come in our fort. We were home by 8pm to plan for the next day and then the fun was over for the night.

Thursday was Thanksgiving, so we were off the Square by noon. President ordered a charter bus to drive us so he wouldn't worry about us getting into an accident. There were a lot of fun things to do. We had karaoke, pool, ping-pong, wally-ball, arcade games, movies, more games and lots of fun! We all had a great time and loved watching Toy Story 3. We were home by 8pm and so tired, we went to bed at 9pm.

Friday was preparation day (p-day). We now have morning p-days, so it's a little weird. We had a meeting at 8am and then choir rehearsal at 9. Afterwards we went to Denny’s with our "fort-buddies" around 10am. I ordered biscuits and gravy, hash-browns and bacon. Yum! Then we braved Wal-Mart on BLACK FRIDAY! It actually wasn’t that bad. We only had to get a couple of things, so it was ok. The Temple Square lights come on tonight! It should be crazier than Wal-Mart! Tomorrow we have our first choir performance, wish me luck! Sunday I'm singing with Sister Despain in church. We are singing "In Humility Our Savior". We couldn't find an accompanist, so it will be acappella. Again, wish me luck! Then on Monday I will be singing a special musical number on the Square. I'm singing "Winter Wonderland" and Sister Gilbert is accompanying me on guitar. We'll see how it goes.

This week has been good. The work has been slow, for oblivious reasons. I love my mission. The church is true! I love you so much! See you in a couple of weeks!

Love,
Sister Garbett

"Blessed for her service"

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS

November 24, 2010

UTAH SALT LAKE CITY TEMPLE SQUARE MISSION
Salt lake City, Utah 84250

Dear Parents,

Your daughter Aubree Garbett, will complete her mission here on Temple Square on December 8, 2010. We have enjoyed serving with her. She has worked hard and in doing so has become a powerful spiritual missionary. In addition, she has served very effectively for a season in the Maryland Baltimore Mission for her "outbound experience".

It has been wonderful to see her accept these leadership responsibilities and perform her duties. She is an amazing sister missionary and has made a notable contribution to this very important work.

She has had many choice experiences, which I am sure she will share with you upon her return. We will miss her, but she goes home with our love and appreciation for all that she has accomplished here.

We are grateful to have served with her, and know that she will be blessed for her service. May the Lord continue to bless her and your family.

Sincerely, yours,

=signed=

Michael H. Holmes, President
Utah Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission

Attitude!

November 11, 2010

Mom and Dad,

This week has been great! Jessica (1) was baptized, so we are majorly trying to find investigators who want to learn more about the gospel. All of our present investigators either got baptized or stopped progressing, so we’ve been striving to find more.

Whenever we schedule a first appointment with someone we call them potentials then after our first appointment if we schedule another one they become new investigators. So a couple days ago we were working super hard and found five potential investigators! One of them was a student who we took on a tour at Temple Square. His name is Joon. He is from Korea, but is living in Wyoming. We have our first phone appointment with him tomorrow. The other four potential were found through the Referral Center. My companion, Sister Despain, found two and I found two, also.

One of the potential’s contact was amazing! This potential was a referral by a member of the church. We had talked to the member at conference. At first, he was pretty resistant about giving us his friend’s phone number, but he followed the promptings of the spirit and gave us the number. When I called the potential (Garrett) he was really chill. I just talked to him personally and shared my testimony without any reserves. The spirit was there and I invited him to receive the missionaries. He said, “Yes!” I was so excited. I began to testify of how happy the gospel makes me and will make him, then *click*. The phone went dead like he hung up! Oh-No! I called back and the answering machine picked up. I called again and nothing. I called once more and still nothing. I was so sad. I immediately started praying. I knew that he only agreed to see the missionaries because he was feeling the spirit. I didn’t know if I would ever get another chance to speak with him again. I walked into the other room and told some of the sisters what happened and how sad I felt. I walked back into my room and heard my phone ring! It was him!!!! He said the battery in his phone died as he was driving so he had to wait until he got home to call back. I got his address and he still wanted the missionaries to come to visit. We are calling him this Sunday to follow-up with how the missionary visit went! Hopefully he’ll turn into a new investigator.

I called the member who had referred and he was so excited to hear that Garrett has agreed to have the missionaries visit with him. He said he had just finished talking to his local missionaries in Provo and was trying to figure out how to get the missionaries to Garrett. He said it was so crazy because I got his referral over a month ago and finally got in contact with Garrett on the same day he met with his missionaries trying to find a way to introduce the gospel to Garrett.

Having the faith to find new investigators makes all the difference on the mission. That day Sister Despain and I really focused our efforts and attitudes on finding the people who are prepared to hear our message and Heavenly Father blessed us!

Our Mission President, President Holmes, always says he’d pick attitude over experience any day. It’s so true. I’ve been able to see that through my companion’s example. Even though I’ve been out six-times longer than Sister Dispain has, whenever she has the right attitude she is more powerful at teaching than I am. The Spirit works through the humble and diligent. I’ve seen miracles through her and I have learned so much from her!

One of the other potentials is a girl named Regina who we also met on Temple Square. She was here for a Chemical Engineering conference. We showed her around Temple Square and she was so prepared to hear what we had to say. She had lots of questions and was so eager to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. She agreed to meet with the missionaries and was willing to have us call her. She has been reading in the Book of Mormon and praying and was committed to going to church. She is now a progressing investigator!

Heavenly Father is preparing those who come to Temple Square. We are so blessed to be part of this work! The returned missionary I talked to on the phone was a great example to me. I want to be the kind of return missionary he is. He said the last two-weeks of his mission was the best and I’ve set a goal for the last four-weeks of my mission to be the best!

This church is Christ’s church! I love you so much!

Love,
Sister Aubree Garbett

P.S. The pictures of the High School is the same school where the "High School Musical" was filmed. We had a lot of fun on our P-day just being silly and taking lots of pictures!

"Daughter of God"

November 4, 2010

Mom and Dad,

I’ve had a great week. Jessica (2) was baptized on Halloween! She was the exact definition of “golden”. I’m so grateful Heavenly Father allowed me to be a part of her life at such a special time.

Jessica (1) is still on date for this weekend to get baptized. She is ready. She doesn’t fully understand everything right now, but she doesn’t have to. She knows that she is a daughter of god and desires to follow Jesus Christ. She told us that the elders don’t really teach her anything and we are the only one who teaches her. I hope that’s not true, but I think we teach simply enough for her to understand. I’m grateful that I will have so many people to keep in contact with after my mission

I’m getting a cold and not feeling fantastic. We we’re talking to a man in the tabernacle. He was in his 70‘s. He was a member of the church but he asked a lot of random questions. After we had been talking for about ten minutes he asked me what was I doing about my cough. I told him I’m taking Dayquil. He said that treats the symptoms and asked what I was going to get rid of it. I told him I thought I probably had a virus so that’s all I could do for my cough. He then asked if he could smell my breath (Yes! Random!) I asked him what was his schooling and reasoning for wanting to do that. I have to admit, he caught me off guard. He told me he is in research medicine and if I had a bacteria infection it would have a certain smell. Well. I didn’t feel comfortable with him smelling my breath, but he said he works for the church. He told me if I don’t feel better in two weeks when the doctor visits the mission to be sure to make an appointment with him. He said he was going to call his boss to make sure that I am seen by the doctor. I told him I didn’t want my mission president to get mad at me for coughing around the guests. He said he would make sure I don’t get in trouble. So it was quite an interesting conversation.

The work is eventful; needless to say I’m loving it and having fun. Heavenly Father is wonderful for keeping it exciting. It keeps me working hard and staying focused! I’m excited to see you soon! I love you so much!

Love,
Sister Garbett

Farewell Talk

October 28, 2010

Dear Mom and Dad,

This week has been really good! I’m so happy I’m staying with my trainee, Sister Despain in the Chat Zone. This is the first time I’ve had the same companion for more than one transfer my whole mission! We did have to move into a new apartment, but it was only like two doors down the hall. When we first moved in, we rearranged all the furniture so it’s set up just like our last apartment. Our room looks so much the same that I fool myself in the mornings. :)

Our investigator, Jessica (2) is getting baptized this Sunday, October 31. I am so excited for her. She is really changing her life for the good. She accepts everything we teach her about the church and she knows it’s all true. Through reading the Book of Mormon, saying her prayers and sincerely asking God and going to church, she has received personal revelation and knows the truth. She is my first baptism that I found, taught and saw baptized. When we found Aksel from Norway he had already met with the sister missionaries in Chat. We just had to commit him to call the missionaries in his area. When Jessica (2) came online, I was the one mainly chatting with her because my companion was setting an appointment with someone else at the same time.

Our other investigator, Jessica (1), is still on date for November 6, for her baptism. Her local missionaries don’t teach her like they should. They haven’t taught her lesson two or three or gone over the interview questions. They only met with her once a week and her baptism is a week a way. Sometimes 19 year-old boys bother me. They didn’t even teach her the restoration thoroughly. They just had her watch the movie, so she doesn’t understand the apostasy or anything about it. Oh well, I guess it’s a good thing we keep teaching her. We were supposed to just pass her off, but that was not going to fly with me. She needs us to teach her simply because the Elders don’t.

Our new investigator, Jessica (yes that would make her Jessica 3) and her husband seem very golden. They live with her uncle who is a member along with his wife and daughter. They went to church last week and are eager to go this week. They want to be baptized on November 13. That means we should have three weeks in a row of baptisms. They were reading the Book of Mormon before we even had our first lesson! I’m really excited about them.

Our other investigator, Lisa, REALLY wants to go to church, but her husband won’t let her. We are trying to help with that, but we don’t really know what to do. She reads the Book of Mormon and prays and she says she knows the church is true, but her husband doesn’t want her to go to church. She says she thinks he doesn’t want her to leave the house at all. Although, she is able to go to her family and she has talked to them about it. Her super catholic dad even thinks she should go to our church if it’s what she wants to do. I’m going to keep praying for her.

We have a few more investigators, but they aren’t really progressing. Efrem is in Ethiopia. He has read the Book of Mormon five times, but can’t get baptized till he goes to church eight times. He’s only been three times because he lives 14-hours away from the nearest church. He has applied for a few jobs near the church, but hasn’t heard back from them yet. I’m praying for him, too.

We haven’t gotten hold of Yvonne, our investigator in Ghana, for some time now. We’ve been calling her, but she never answers. She hasn’t emailed us back in a while either. Hopefully we can get in contact with her soon. She seemed eager to learn about the church when we first contacted her.

Sister Despain and I are doing great. Lately, it seems harder and harder for us to get out of bed and exercise in the mornings. We started a new routine. In the morning we get up, make our beds, get on our knees and have companionship prayer. It’s been really great because we start off our day already focused. We pray for our investigators and the work. My mind is set on the day and I’m more focused as I exercise and study. We have personal prayer later, which is also great because I am more awake and my prayers make more sense. :)

I’m giving my missionary “farewell” talk on Sunday. I’m not really ready for it yet, but it will be good. I’m so happy that I get to speak the same day Jessica (2) is getting baptized. My talk is on forgiveness/atonement, which I think is very fitting because Jessica (2) has experienced forgiveness through the atonement, which gave her the desire to be baptized.

I am so grateful I have this chance to share the gospel with others. I know that I was sent here to help specific people. I’m grateful I get to stay in chat with Sister Despain. This work is incredible!

I love you both so much! I can’t wait to see you in a few weeks. I can’t believe it’s almost time to come home!

You’re always in my thoughts and prayers!

Love,
Sister Aubree Garbett

13th Transfer

October 21, 2010

Mom and Dad,

Hey, how is everything going? Did you get the car you were thinking about getting? P-day was fun today but it was busy. We went shopping after emailing. I got two sweaters and food from Wal-Mart. Then we came home and changed really quickly then went to the haunted village at Heritage Park. It was really fun. But I wasn’t scared. I just kept talking to the “actors” who were trying to scare us. I told one of them he needed to make some noise when he jumped out at us because it would be scarier and he tried two more times to scare us without making any noise and I said, “You’re just as not scary now as you were the first two times. Really, you should try making noise.” I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get scared, but at least it didn’t give me nightmares.

This week has been really good. Jessica (1) is still on date for November 6 for her baptism. She is working on living the law of chastity and repentance. She says she feels like the Elders don’t really listen to her and she loves it when we teach her. 19 year-old boys just don’t get it sometimes. :) But we are only teaching her about every five days now, so pray that her Elders will step it up.

Jessica (2) went to church on Sunday! She did what we told her to do. She went up to the Elders and introduced herself. That night we called her for our appointment and she was meeting with the Elders. We called her back thirty minutes later. She was so happy! She is getting baptized on Halloween. She is ready to “live her life for God,” as she puts it. She asked us if she should only have one pair of earrings. We told her that is what the prophet counsels us to do and she was fine with it. She said she is going to take out her other set. I love how Heavenly Father prepares his children and how the Holy Ghost works on them. We barely have to do anything!

We have another investigator named Lisa. She is 24 and has two little children. She is married, but she isn’t happy. She said her husband is an alcoholic. We promised her the gospel can bring her so much happiness and peace in her home. I felt the spirit so strong as I told her that and I knew it was true. She is slowly starting to open up to us. She is planning to go to church on Sunday.

We are teaching Yvonne in Ghana. That is an interesting situation. She says she has to get baptized before she goes to Oregon to marry someone she met on the internet. We think she may be a mail order bride. We are going to make sure she meets with the missionaries in Ghana so they can better help and teach her.

The work is going great! I am loving my companion! We get along so well and we have so much fun! I am really praying I stay with her in Chat next transfer! We’ll find out my fate for my last transfer on Monday! I’ll let you know what happens!

Speaking of my last transfer, I speak in Sacrament on Halloween. I can’t believe I’m going to be giving my “farewell” talk already! I feel like it was just last transfer when my trainer spoke! Time truly flies by!

I love my mission! I’m sad it’s ending, but also excited to see what happens next for the rest of my life. Ha ha! Sister Despain calls it my 13th transfer! I think that makes it sound scary. She quoted WHB and said, “Go directly to your new area when you are transferred and meet your ‘new companion’ without delay.” Ha ha! I guess her teachers told her that in the MTC and she felt like it was valuable information that I needed before I go home (my 13th transfer).

I know I was sent to this mission for a reason! I am so grateful to serve the Lord here. I love you both so much!

Love,

Sister Aubree Garbett