LAST EMAIL from Elder Tyler Garcia - June 4th, 2012

　
How are you spending your very last p-day in Georgia?

We went and had breakfast with the senior couple and we played a game with them. After we went to the church and we played a card game while two emailed.

Was it a fun card game?

It was. It's a good game. I'll show you guys when I get home.

Is it hitting you yet that you only have 2 full days left before you get to go to the Temple and then are on the plane?

Nah, it hasn't really hit me yet. I can't wait to go to the temple though. We went to Zed's last night. It was pretty cool. Ate dinner and played a couple games.

Elder Tyler Garcia

June 4th is my last p-day.
I'm coming home Thursday, June 7th!!!  :D

Emails from Elder Tyler Garcia

April 23rd -

My last companion is Elder Allen. He's cool. So I'm glad I'm not getting a robot missionary.

Thanks for Johnny's address.

Not much has happened this past week. None of our investigators came to church. I think they plan it out with the senior couples investigators. They'll all show up or they'll all won't show up it's weird, haha. Yesterday was ward conference and we kind of got a new investigator but we'll see how it goes. The couple that needed help we committed to baptism again. The wife was more hesitant than the husband but he didn't say anything. We told them to pray about it. We also saw two less-actives yesterday. One was a guy, he was real nice but he was like "I'm going to be honest with you guys...I'm a drunkard." He told us a little about himself and he wants us to come back. Other than that nothing else really happened.

Where is Elder Allen from? I'm glad you're ending your mission with a companion you like.

At least the drunkard was open and honest, that's a good sign.


I think from Utah. I'm not sure.

Yeah, I like him, he was pretty cool. I think there's hope for him. He asked us "Do you really want a drunkard like me in church?" and we said "Yep"

April 30th -

This past week we taught this girl and we committed her to baptism. It might be a little difficult to teach her in a way...because of some things. Bobby and Ronda, the couple who needed help, he wants to get baptized, I'm sure she'll be baptized sometime after that. Wednesday night we teamed up with two guys in the elders quorum and we saw a bunch of less-actives. The last guy that we saw was pretty legit, he was awesome. We went out inviting less-actives in the elders quorum and high priest for next Sunday. Elder Burns from the area seventy is coming to our ward to speak to the priesthood and such. Um...other than that, I think that's it. Hopefully three baptisms in May.

May 7th -

Saturday we got to see the Sacred Grove and the Hill Cumorah. And the store where the first Books of Mormon were printed. Attended Sacrament meeting in Palmyra then headed back to PA. Will do a little research then head for Philadelphia and Maryland. Not sure what happens after that.

That's pretty cool that you guys got to see all that. How did Aunt Charlotte like it?

This week has been pretty good. One of our investigators had a baptismal date but we're pushing it back because he doesn't think he'll quit smoking a week before that date. We have two more investigators. I think I said something about the girl. We taught her the second lesson on the Plan of Salvation. She asked a lot of questions. She liked it a lot better than what other churches teach about after life. We taught this older guy with his fellowshipper. Taught him the first lesson and he liked it as well. Now that we have to push back that one investigators baptismal date I don't think I'll see another convert baptism :'(

Good for the converts but sad you may not see them baptized! :(  I hope it happens before you leave.

Yeah, I'm hoping too.

Also, can you skype on your phone? I'll probably skype or call between 2 and 6pm my time.

That time should be good. Daniel's calling around 4 which is 6 your time. So maybe by or before 5 is better. I don't think I can Skype on this phone. It'll be good to talk to you Sunday. We're on the road right now to Philadelphia. I pulled over to answer your email.

Ok then. Can I get Kaleens number so I can call there?

May 14th -

We saw our investigator who's working on quitting smoking. He's doing well. I'm not sure how the wife is doing she doesn't say much unless we say something directly to her. We went over the baptismal questions with him and she would nod on some questions and wouldn't do anything for the other questions. Another investigator came to church yesterday, the only one that came. She really seemed to enjoy church. She hung out with the senior couple sister. They seemed to get along pretty well. During gospel principles we went over the Plan of Salvation and we had just taught her this last Tuesday. After class she came up to us and said that she has a bunch of questions...it might have been after Sacrament (because we have it last) I don't remember. She wrote them down and is going to save them for our lesson on Tuesday. We invited the senior couples to come as well because our investigator likes the sister. Our whole district did a service activity on Saturday morning. It was about fishing. A couple of us covered the entrance directing people where to park...it was so simple yet complicated for some people. Anyways we were doing that in the rain, it was more like sprinkling, then we left because we figured everybody came...we were wrong but anyways. After that I started to help fix the poles, help un-knot them and re-hook them and what not. Then we kind of just chilled, it was a nice day. That was pretty much the highlight of our week, also helping the AP's move the stuff out of the second senior couples apartment but there's no need to talk about that haha.

It was good to talk to you and everyone else. I feel like there's so much to do so little time.

Sorry, I told everyone I was going to land in Salt Lake around 4pm. I would land in Salt Lake around 4 Georgian time. Utah time it shows it would be 2:16pm...sorry.

May 21st -

It's getting harder to believe that it's down to just over two weeks! Even though I seem to talk about it just about every day. ha ha

It still seems like a long time to me.

We saw all our investigators this week. It looks like the girl is the closest to getting wet. We just have one more lesson with her. We have an appointment with her on Wednesday, we're going to give her a baptism date. The couple hasn't progressed too much since last week. Though the last two appointments we had with them I almost fell asleep haha. Our other investigator we didn't even teach anything...I guess we did in a way. He just asked a whole bunch of questions. We had a referral stand us up for the second time so I don't think I'll be calling her again. My companion is a pretty dominant speaker so I've been stressed this week. He doesn't like talking on the phone, which I don't get.

Yeah, I'll still have that last Monday as a p-day.

May 28th -

I said that because "everything happened at the end of my mission". I had companions whose family went on vacation and I thought something like that wouldn't happen with me but it did.

It's been pretty good this past week. We have a baptism this Friday which is exciting. I guess that's the most exciting thing to happen in the past week. It's the girl, well, she's 29 I don't know if you call her a girl or a lady or what. Anyways, Sunday she asked the member who invited her to church and kind of talked with her at her job to baptize and confirm her and he was pretty shocked and started crying, it was pretty cool. He's probably in his late 70's. Member's have the power and they don't realize it. All the people I taught on my mission that got baptized were from members or part-members. The couple we're teaching was from a member and they're planning on getting baptized. The other investigator we're teaching is also from a member. I've never had a baptism from tracting.

We had a zone p-day today up in Conyers that was pretty fun. We played basketball and dodgeball.

Email April 9, 2012

Hey, my mormon.org profile is updated. You can check it out. [In Search, put Ceres]

How was your Easter Sunday? Did you have a nice dinner with someone?

I don't think I told....maybe I did.... They reorganized the missions here and made a Utah Salt Lake City Central Mission out of part of Temy's and the South Mission. They had to rearrange the offices at the stake center (our building) to make room for the new mission office. We used to have Sister Missionaries who I never saw. Now we have Elders who were there yesterday but I had to leave right after Sacrament so I didn't get to meet them yet.

I didn't feel like doing anything for Easter but Kaleen wanted to bring over dessert so all of us were here around 7:30 except Temy. The YSA were doing something.

It was alright. We had it over at the senior couples apartment and the other senior couple was there as well. The Watsons who were in the archives got transfered up to Washington D.C. so they left this morning.

No, you never told me. That's pretty cool though.

Yeah, all of us were here, except Temy. Kaleen said around 7:30 and showed up about 7:45 and complained that Am was late...they showed up about 7:55. ha ha They all left around 8:30 or so, of course it was past Scotty's bedtime.

Oh, here's a story for you. John called me Saturday about Johnny's first email from the MTC. I guess Amy posted it on FB too. Johnny's p-day is on Friday, they were playing volleyball, Johnny spiked the ball real hard over the net and hit the other Elder across from him in the face.... it was David Archuletta! Can you believe that?!

You heard of him before you went on your mission, right? He's from Murray.

Well, they were pretty early for Mormon Standard Time.

Yep, that's my boy. Haha jk. that's a good mission story. I heard of David Archuletta before. That's funny. What's Johnny's MTC address?

Oh yeah. My companion sang a solo for the Easter program during Sacrament and this is the song.

But I think it's a good one to put on the blog.



"They heard His voice; They saw His face, The promised Savior come to earth in days long past,

They saw Him heal the sick, and cause the lame to stand,

They watched as wind and waves were stilleat His command, And though I did not see Him calm the raging seas,
His hand has calmed my troubled heart, and I believe.

They heard His voice; They saw His face, They heard his teachings of forgiveness, love and faith,

He blessed their little ones, He taught them how to pray, He fed the multitudes who hungered by the way,

And though I did not taste the bread He bade them eat, His word is manna to my soul, and I believe.

They saw Him scourged, And mocked to scorn,

They heard the angry crowd, They saw Him crowned with thorns,

They watched Him bend beneath our burden in the streets,

They saw the bitter nails that pierced His hands and feet,

And though I was not there to watch with them at Calvary,

My spirit weeps, I have not seen, Yet I believe!

They heard His voice, They saw His face, The risen Jesus, crowned with vict'ry o'er the grave,

And though I did not see His triumph over death, Though I did not see Him draw immortal breath,

I know He lived and died and lives again for me, My faith is sure, I have not seen,

yet I believe."

Elder T. Garcia

Monday, March 26th Email

Everything is alright. I'm just trying to make it by these next ten weeks...well at least 4 more weeks. Nothing happened this past week. Our top two investigators, it's the couple, the husband wasn't feeling well so we never saw them this week. We tried seeing less-actives this week but no one is home. We've tried to see people in the afternoon and in the evening but no one is home. Everybody's sick, everybody needs a ride to church, everyone is on probabtion, the members don't really help in anything, over half the ward are older members, this area is just pretty tough.

Elder Campbell is from West Jordan, UT. It's not really going ok, well, we get along but I'm going insane. I don't think I will survive if I stay with him another transfer. He's been out 13 months. He's by the rules probably like 95% of the time. I don't get how to teach these missionaries how to go by the spirit of the law instead of the letter of the law. A lot of missionaries who are by the rules ruin areas and people don't like them. I liken it unto the Pharisees and the Sadducces. You see, the Pharisees and the Sadducces were ALL about the rules and they totally over looked Jesus Christ. Everybody else went by the spirit and they recognized Jesus Christ when He came.

(Um, I don't think that should go in the blog.) (Sorry, Tyler, I like your analogy. Missionaries should ALWAYS go by the Spirit!)

So, I have thought about what to do in California. I really don't know. We should let the people of facebook decide. I bet a couple of people would "like" the status and I bet Tessie would comment haha.

Our investigator has some $$ left to pay off. Once he's done he can be baptized.

I guess that's it for now. We're saving miles for this last week because we have to go all the way up past Lilburn for a meeting, they won't let us write them off so it doesn't count against us. Well, I'm glad I'm leaving in 10 weeks, I feel sorry for some of the missionaries left who have to deal with some of the stuff that is happening in the mission.

-Elder Garcia

Emails Mar 5, 12, & 19

5th

Not much has happened this last week. We met with our investigators, the couple. They're practically the only ones haha. The other guy is still on probation so we still can't really do anything. So when we met with them we went over 1 Nephi 8. It went pretty well, the husband is still enjoying everything. Before we taught he asked us a lot of questions, it was getting intense. Nothing anti or bashing just more questions to get to know us, stuff about missionaries, etc. he was fascinated about everything. They didn't make it to church yesterday, the wife had to work and the husbands feet were swollen and hurting. We also had a barbecue cook out Saturday evening by the best cooks in the ward and it was a huge feast. Both the senior couple missionaries were there, plus the bishop, elders quorum president and wife, relief society & young men's president and son, one other couple and a less active, so 15 people were there in a tiny house. It was pretty crowded. Also at church there's a Filipino couple in our ward and their feeding us at the end of the month and I told him that my brother just had balut on his mission. Now the husband wants to make me one. So I might challenge Daniel now haha. That's pretty disgusting but then again I've had chicken feet, ox tail, pig tail and who knows what else Jamaicans and Nigerians put in their food. That was my week.

Well Daniel called his Filipino side. So I figured I might give it a try haha

I'm glad I don't have a Filipino side! Take the challenge in GA then.... you won't find Balut in this house! I'm setting down my foot on that one! ha ha

I don't know how I'll make it through two more tranfers. There's absolutely nothing to do down here unless I go out of the mission or go see recent converts or other members. We practically only have two investigators, I'm never going to tract again. Our district keeps to themselves now. I hope I get a cool companion next week that will keep me sane haha.

13 weeks, 2 transfers, 3 months, 1 general conference and 1 mothers day left to go.

12th

So Daniel is pretty sure he's getting transferred north (not necessarily Santa Fe).

That's cool that Daniel is finally getting transferred.

So yeah, my companion is going home and I'm pretty depressed. I'm really hoping that these 12 weeks will go by super fast. My new companion is Elder Campbell. I don't know where he's from. He was a Portuguese speaking missionary up in Roswell got switched to English and sent to me. I don't think he's as cool as a few of my last companions so that's why I'm depressed. I'll be getting a little bit of help so hopefully that will keep me somewhat sane.

Daniel asked if I had my bags packed...yep, I packed last night. Well, mostly everything, my proselyting clothes and scripture stuff is all that I use anymore. I have so much room left, especially if I send home a box or two. I bought those space bag things in my last area and they save a ton of room.

Also, do we have relatives down here? There's a park in Rex, GA called "Walter Estes park" and I found a street on our map that says "Estes street"

(They are....probably descendants from our first ancestor who came to Virginia in the 1600"s.  He had around 13 children and many of them moved further south.)

Oh ok, that's what I thought because the Estes trucking company is also in our area.

19th

(Got your Travel Itenerary for coming home.  Flying Delta, coming into SLC at 2:11 p.m. on June 7th.)

I'm glad it's Delta and a one way trip.

How did your week go?  Do you think this will be your last comp? How is he?

We're supposed to have another snow storm come in today and then it will gradually get warmer through the week and it should be in the 60's by Thursday, so I'll get to take Scotty outside. If I have enough energy I might walk him to the park, he'll love that! I saw that it's been in the 70's there. Are you feeling the humidity yet?

Daniel got moved a little further north, up to Las Cruces.  It's around 45 miles from El Paso.... at least it's away from the border!  He says he's covering two wards.

It's been in the 80's all week. I thought the same thing about the summer. I think it's going to be pretty bad. Good thing I won't be a missionary anymore haha. The humidity hasn't really hit yet but it's getting there.

But first a joke! What do you get when every car is yellow?...

I hope this isn't my last companion. He's not bad, he's a good missionary but....

Anyways, it wasn't too bad. We saw our investigators again. None came to church yesterday. I'm pretty trunky...it's inevitable. After ward council my companion and I went and sat down in the foyer. A couple minutes later this lady shows up at around 8:30. She asked where does everyone meet, what time it starts, etc. Anyways, we told her how everything went and then she told us that it was her day off. She said that she always passes the church building on the way to work. She then said to us that everytime she passed the church something inside her told her that she needs to go. She told us she always follows her feelings and came to church to follow that feeling. ELECT OR WHAT?!?! But guess what the best part is! SHE'S NOT IN OUR AREA!!! she's in Jonesboro's ward....gosh darn it.

I can't wait to see Scotty. 11 more weeks...but who's counting?...I AM! =D

Well...at least Daniel is out of El Paso right? So, I remember Daniel saying that there's 3% of members in New Mexico. A couple weeks ago I found out what the percentage of members are in Georgia. Guess what it is! It's like 1%!...give or take a couple tenths of a point. Anyways, I'm pretty trunky, and my companion makes it better...to be more trunky.

The answer to the joke: "POLLEN!"                    Pollen...because it's spring time.                                  Snow? Hopefully it'll all be gone when I get home haha. I'll try and bring some of this weather.

Just don't bring the humidity!

Emails Feb. 27, 2012

How did things go this past week? What are your plans for today?

I guess I was busier this week so it seemed like it came by faster ha ha.

I can't even remember what we did this last week, except for Saturday. We had two appointments with our investigators and a dinner/birthday party to go to. Our first appointment was with the couple that needed help. The husband is really progressing. He's read what we gave him to read and really enjoyed that. We taught them 3 lessons already. They came to church 3 times now. He cut his hair because it was long and he wanted to wear church clothes but he didn't have a tie. I gave him one of mine and he really liked it. We asked him if he wanted to get baptized and he said he would like to but wanted to know a little bit more before making the decision. The wife is a Baptist and she said she doesn't want to change but he really doesn't like her church. She'll get baptized after her husband gets baptized.

Our other appointment was with the guy that asked for the Prophet Biography book. He is loving the book.

I'm not sure what we'll do today.

I watched some of the videos you sent.

Why did you walk down a one lane dirt road? I didn't see any houses. Were there supposed to be houses back there? I would have thought you would ride your bikes.

hahaha, I tried to make it funny as possible. There was one house, the one where we were at. I didn't film it because I was trying to be funny because I said something about it at the beginning. The part that I showed the Penske truck there's a subdivision behind it. We locked our bikes there and tracted in the place for a bit before going to that one house. It was a less-active member.