Monday, December 12, 2011

It's hard to do things. We're burning up our miles fast and our referrals are never home but we just had a baptism, that's good. That's practically it for our week, unless I'll remember something later.

We're going to plan on burning up more miles to go up to Conyers. Kind of a zone p-day, they want to do this big tie trade-off/basketball, but I'm probably just going to get back on the computers. I wrote about Zed's brother in a letter.

No snow yet. We haven't had any snow flurry’s or ice storms yet either, I'm just guessing that it's because we're south of Atlanta and it's warmer here then it was when I was in Alpharetta.

At least there's no humidity. The humidity is what makes the winters here hurt. You can layer all you want but it'll bite right through.

There's a member, I think in the Spanish branch even though he doesn't speak Spanish but his wife is Spanish, he's diabetic so is his parents and he just gave me two bottles of Novolog.  They use the pump and they were kind of chastising me about not using it...but they weren't all that serious.

I forgot to mention that we had dinner with them.  They wanted to feed all the missionaries in the Jonesboro and Flint River ward and they want to do it again, I think this week.

All on the same night? Or just through the week?

All on the same night. There's actually eight:  three of us, two English in Jonesboro, three Spanish in Jonesboro.

Sounds like you have a big feast then?!

We did, she made Tortes, it's a sandwich that's pretty good.  It doesn't help though when you've eaten a lot that day to begin with, ha ha. 

What do you do for lunch today since you're going out of town?

We're going to go to Zaxby's with the Jonesboro elders on our way to Conyers

Zaxby’s must be a southern thing. I'll have to google it and check it out. It must be good if you all want to go there.

Yeah it was pretty good.  I had like two or three of them, it was way too much.

Zaxby's is a southern thing, I like Chick-fil-A better though.  Everyone in the district is a Zaxby's person.

I just read a little about it.  So each restaurant has a theme. What did you eat that you had two or three of?

I had two or three Tortes.  At Zaxby's I got a kickin' chicken sandwich.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Do you know about what time you’ll be calling on Christmas Day yet?

I guess it'd be after 4 my time.

So Wednesday is transfers.  What have you heard?  Is your three-some changing?

We're going back to two.  It's just going to be Elder Rima and me.  Our next zone conference is in February.

We haven't been able to do much.  We're trying to save miles.  We have a baptismal commitment on Jan 7, but I don't think it's going to happen.

It should be nice, everyone is just having Sacrament meeting.  What time do you have Sacrament?  I forgot, are you covering just one ward, or do you have more?

We have Sacrament at 10:50.  We only cover one ward.

Are you going to someone's house right after Sacrament?

Yeah, we're going to a family’s house at 2:30 and then we have dinner at 6.

I'm calling around 4 my time.  A couple of us are probably heading to the mall right now.  I think we're coming back.

-Elder Garcia

Emails Dec. 5th

Monday, December 5, 2011

Yep, Johnny got his call Friday.
He's going to........Argentina Buenos Aires West!
(Tyler's cousin)

Why does Johnny have to ruin the traditions of our family? Why can't he have an English speaking mission like the rest of us? Hahaha, it's cool, I'm excited for him, but not really, I hoped he'd come to Georgia, but it's still cool.

How was your week?

I was just comparing temperatures and you are still the warmest in the 50's.

Daniel is almost up there, and we're freezing in UT!
I'm glad we didn't find a place in Centerville after all. They had winds last
Thursday up to 102 mph. A lot of trees, fences and you name it was blown
down or blown away. They were without power over 72 hours.
The big pine tree in Kaleen's back yard that was near their neighbor’s house
fell. Thank goodness it didn't fall on either house. Farmington had winds
almost as bad as Centerville. They cancelled church today (Sunday) so
everyone could prepare for the big winds they are supposed to get Sunday
night and Monday.

It's been in the 60's a lot, too. It's taking a little longer to get cooler here but I'm not complaining the weather is so nice, I'm still in short sleeves.

Wow, did everybody stock up on milk and eggs?

If he [Daniel] calls [around] 6 or 7 your time then I definitely couldn't call. We're going over to the member’s home at 2:30, I don't know when we'll eat. I'll say 7 or 8 my time for now, I'll get back to you later on that.

The week was pretty good. The Christmas Devotional was pretty cool, especially the video they showed during President Eyring's talk. We also went to Zed's [a resent convert of Tyler’s] and we taught his brother and sister-in-law. Zed wanted specifically me to teach his brother and he thought it would be cool if I baptized him as well. They're an awesome family. It was a bittersweet moment when I saw Gabriel (the baby) and how much he's grown when I last saw him. Everything just seems so different. Super nice house, the two kids gotten bigger. Same family though, they haven't changed. That was pretty much the highlight of my day.

We had a baptismal interview with one of our investigators with one of the Mission Presidents Counselors. He got here when I was in the middle of writing back. He told us he just got called to be a Mission President! He's going to serve a Spanish Mission so the first thing that came to my mind was Argentina? But he doesn't know yet.

-Elder Garcia

Monday, November 21, 2011

How did things go this past week?

Things have been slow this past week. I've been a bit sick, just coffing mainly. Then two days ago Elder Rima got sick.

I forgot to mention that Gladys Knight came to town. She did this fireside type thing this last Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It was in Tucker so it was out of the mission. We haven't gotten any referrals yet from it. It was pretty upsetting to begin with. At the beginning I think only Lilburn, Roswell and Atlanta Stakes were invited maybe another stake was invited too I don't remember. The Conyers stake was not invited and the Conyers stake has a higher percentage of black people. The Gladys Knight fireside was mainly for black people. The Conyers stake was invited to go at the last minute which is the upsetting part because there was like no time to invite people. Even though members did invite people I don't think we're going to get referrals.

What are your plans for Thanksgiving?

We're having dinner with these members, apparently it's going to be super delicious. They're going to have us and the two senior couples. Dinner's at two. We're going to have a turkey bowl with the Jonesboro ward. Our ward is too old to play.

No lemon meringue pie? I don't think the South knows how to make lemon meringue pie...oh yeah, doesn't Scott or Charlie not like it? (I always made lemon meringue pie especially for my mom...and Scott doesn't like that kind.)

Gladys Knight was just outside our mission boundry too. It's just outside of Lilburn.

Monday, November 28, 2011

So how was your Thanksgiving? Did you have anything different?

Do the members in GA fix the same things we do in CA, or UT?
Thanksgiving was pretty good. No, nothing was different. The Cranberry sauce had orange flavor in it and that was pretty good. I think the only different thing I've seen was Sweet Potatoe Pie. Sister Watson, the Georgia Archive missionary made lemon meringue pie. It still wasn' vct good like yours, I'm disappointed. We played soccer for the turkey bowl, I don't remember if I told you that. The spanish branch, of course, wanted to play soccer. After the turkey bowl the Jonesboro ward or at least a member and her family had the bounce house type things. They had the slide and an obstacle course and the missionaries got to go on them.

I said that we might not get referrals from Gladys Knight but we did. Our mission got like less then 1,000 referrals and the Atlanta mission got more than 1,000. Guess where most of the referrals went for our mission. The Conyers Stake! and we were invited at the last minute. We got 12 referrals but we're spliting them with the Christiansens the senior couple. What had happened was that the computer was down so the referrals didn't get out till it was fixed and then the computer sent all the referrals out at the same time. So everybody was bombarded with referrals. I also learned that the Conyers zone is the highest baptizing zone in the mission. Maybe that's why I'm probably going to be in this zone for 14 months...just kidding.

Things are good, we have two top investigators. One is getting baptized on the 10th. The other one had a date this weekend but they haven't come to church. We get rides for them but when we call the night before or the morning of they don't answer. We only saw one Gladys Knight referral but that's about it so far.

It hasn't really gotten cold yet. It's raining right now and we were told that it's going to snow tomorrow but it's not going to stick. It's still pretty warm though. The mission christmas party is on the 23rd and they sent out letters or something to the families about it I guess, but I forgot to tell them that I don't live in California anymore, oops. I'm going to send stuff home too, mostly nothing important, I don't want to leave it or throw it away.

That's funny about the pie...I never make mine from scratch like other people. I always use the jello recipe that's on the box! So since you were invited at the last minute you couldn't go?! So you are still under Conyers? It doesn't sound like that one guy wants to get baptized after all unless he's out of town. You need to catch him in the middle of the week. I was wondering why I haven't heard from them! It'll go to Kaleen's before I'll see it. So that will take even longer for me to get it. So which do you like better football or soccer?

Probably soccer, I never touch the football. You never really know where the ball will end up in soccer besides I was the goalie.

The first pie I had didn't stay together so it was mush. The last one there was too little, it was thin.

Gladys Knight was out of the mission. I'm still in the Conyers Stake.

He does and he wants to come to church and get baptized but we can't wake him up, especially on Sunday morning. We see him every week.

Also, since next monday is the 5th I'll say this now. 6 months left!

The Stakes out here are huge! Except for the Roswell and Lilburn Stakes. Haha yeah it's almost impossible to get your bearings out here. There are members who'ved lived here a long time and they still don't know where they're going!

The economy is rough out here. The road we take to get to the church there's three abandoned cars, my last area there was like five. Last week three people came up to us asking for money, a guy walked into our district meeting asking for food all in the same day. It was twice as worse in my last area, a guy even cussed us out for not helping him. People come up to us all the time asking for money or food, it's sad. That has nothing to do with the guy who wants to get baptized. He's cool though, he got kicked out of a library for preaching the gospel.

I don't really know how I feel. I have mixed emotions about how much time I have left.

I don't even know if I'll be able to skype.

-Elder Garcia

Well, I just had to start out with this, the Utes, BYU, 49ers... everyone had a great weekend...Utes beat UCLA 31 to 6, BYU beat Idaho 42 to 7, and the 49ers beat NY Giants 27 to 20. 49ers are now 8 and 1. If they can keep this up we may see them in the super bowl again!
Now that I got that out, how was your week? How is Flint River?

I'm glad the Utes beat UCLA...even though I'm not a fan of either. I just really don't like UCLA. That's awesome about the 49ers! The Jonesboro ward mission leader is from like south LA and he's a huge Raiders fan and he asked me which sports teams I like, he was a little upset when I told him I don't like the Raiders.

We've done mostly service this past week. Flint River is awesome. We're like a 5 minute drive south of the airport. So we're in the airport district and it's pretty ghetto but it's awesome. The ward is tiny (active wise) somewhere around 50. The comps are cool, I have no problems with them. Elder Rima and I are co-seniors I think, that's what an AP said. Elder Rima is the District Leader. I'm the "designated" driver because Elder Rima can't drive but Elder Famas and I take turns so nobody gets hurt.

Oh a week ago the Broncos beat the Raiders good! I can't remember the score, but it was awesome.

Wow. The ward sounds like Ceres! I think we had around 65 before everyone started leaving. I hear 3 new families moved in but I don't know how big they were.

Are you at the library in Jonesboro?

We're in the family history center. Oh yeah also, there's a senior couple (missionaries), well actually two. One senior couple is directly under [the direction of] Salt Lake. They're in the Georgia Archives Preservation.

That's good that the Broncos beat the Raiders.

Everybody's moving out of Ceres eh? That's good that families are moving in at least.

I'm not sure I understand.

They are serving here. The Georgia Archives is in our area and they are perserving them or something. Taking tons of pictures. They are from Idaho somewhere around Boise I think. Elder and Sister Watson. Elder Watson looked familiar to me and I thought he used to be a 70
but I don't know. He probably looks like Elder Hilbig? of the 70.
They are assigned under Salt Lake not President Wolfert, they don't need to report to him.

-Elder Garcia

I am getting transferred and so is Elder Youd. So it's very likely I will die in my next area. I am sad to say that I am not going to Canton. I'm going down to Flint River which is south of Atlanta. I'm in another threesome [with] Elder Rima and Elder Famas. I don't think I'll need anything for the winter. I don't know what the weather's like south of Atlanta, I think it might be a little warmer than when I was further north.

It snowed a lot in Utah this year I hear.

He came to church again. Our fellowshipper member is awesome. He helps kids get into college and what not so it was perfect. The fellowshipper had him go to his house after church and I think that went well. So it's been going good for him. Though I won't be able to teach him again.

Replying from the letter you sent:

That's cool that Father reads our blogs. I knew what White Washing is I just didn't know what Pink washing was. But that's pretty funny, we just call all if it white washing. That's really weird that Daniel has interviews inside his apartment. I don't remember if it's every mission rule or ours but I thought that nobody was supposed to enter a missionaries apartment except for other missionaries. That reminds me about the Utah SLC South mission. There's an elder from the Webb Bridge Ward that is serving his mission there. So if you ever see an Elder Reid...I know him.

I took my picture [for mormon.org] the Monday before last transfer because Elder Asher was going to cut it.

[I hope someone will let you know if/when your investigator gets baptized.]
[What do you mean by "cut it"?]

Yeah, someone will probably tell me if he gets baptized or not.
Elder Asher was going to cut my hair.

[Are you excited about going to Flint River?]

I'm not too sure. I'm pretty excited to be closer to the recent convert I baptized. Elder Rima seems like a cool kid. Elder Famas seems a little awkward/weird type of kid. I don't know, we'll see how everything turns out. At least I'll finally be in a car. Oh yeah, about being in a car in Coal Mountain and I officially know why we had a car and I don't remember if I told you this, when you asked why we were in a car, but it's because I was with Zone Leaders. They are all in a car. Also the new area's we took from Atlanta get cars so that's why I'm in a car.

The Flint River, Jonesboro, Stockbridge ward, and Jackson Branch are new to the Conyers stake. They used to be in the Atlanta Mission but since the Macon mission got dissolved we took part of the Atlanta Mission and the Atlanta Mission took part of the Macon Mission.
I've been down to Jonesboro for Stake conference. The Jonesboro building used to be the stake center for the old Jonesboro stake and is now the only building big enough in the Conyers stake to hold stake conference. I'll also be closer to the recent convert I baptized, he moved down to McDonough, which is pretty neat.

I don't know where he lives [the mission doctor]. Our old mission doctor [was from] Idaho. No, the mission president travels to church buildings and we go there for interviews. We've only done it over the phone once or twice. One was because of the snow.

Is Daniel getting transferred? or is he emailing tomorrow because of his companion?

-Elder Garcia

Monday, October 31st

Our plans keep changing today so I don't know what we're going to do tonight. We have to be in by 6 and we don't have a dinner with a member so we'll probably just stay inside. The ward party was Saturday night.
 
I thought the wig [Donald Trump wig, I sent both Tyler and Daniel one.] was messed up because I tried it on before the party but when I went to put it on in the church bathroom I was twisting it on my head and I figured out that I just put it on wrong back at the apartment.

[How did you do in the Chili cook-off?]

People liked it. It might have been a little too soupy. We didn't even get top 3. I didn't want to be a part of it anyways. I don't like chili anymore. We probably got it everyday during the winter time.

You know how there was a crease from the comb over? [The wig] Well I just had the crease in the middle instead of off to the side.

I don't know if anything really special happened this past week.

If I think of or remember something I'll probably put it in the letter I'm going to write later.

I remember what he [Donald Trump] looked like I just thought the wig was messed up haha. The picture on the front did look strange, like the hair is bigger than what's it's supposed to be. I have pictures before I figured out the right way to put it on.

-Elder Garcia

Monday, October 24th

The weather hasn't been bad. Today is fairly moderate, it's cool but it's warm. But it's been in the 50's for a couple of weeks.

Last Sunday the guy [the new investigator they met in front of Zaxby's] didn't come to church because he had a basketball tournament. Yesterday he didn't come because of our ride we set up for him. He doesn't have a car and so we have a member who lives close by pick him up but Saturday night like around midnight our members little kids got sick so he couldn't pick up our investigator. We've been teaching him and we committed him for baptism and he accepted. We'll talk more about a date next time we go over. 

 
-Elder Garcia

Sep. 26th - Oct. 17th

Monday, Sep. 26th

Is she [our cat] used to the cat place? Poor Minnie, she probably doesn't know what's going on and wondering why she is always in a different place hahaha.

I think it'll be weird going from Georgia where it takes over half an hour to get to a church building to Utah where I could just walk to one in less than 5 minutes.

So we got transfer calls this morning. Elder Asher is getting transfered. I'm getting two more companions, Elder Smith and Elder Youd. Elder Smith came from Clovis, CA but he's one of those families that move around a lot so I don't really count that he's actually from California. I forget where Elder Youd is from, definitely Utah or Idaho but I'm pretty sure Utah. (I don't really [care for] Elder Smith, I served around him before.)

The last threesome I was in didn't do to well. Hopefully this might be my last transfer in Snellville, I'll at least have two more transfers here. Two more transfers will make 6 transfers here and I was in Webb Bridge for 6 transfers. Yeah there's room [for 3 missionries] but I'll have to rearrange the apartment.

She [Minnie] can't stand Flower [the other female cat in the kitty-kennel] eh? I can see it now. When you guys look at every corner of the condo Minnie will be next to you guys and sniff to make sure there's nothing funny, like a drug cat.

As far as I know Elder Smith is the senior. I never got a call saying I'm going senior. Elder Asher says that you don't get a call to be "co-senior" but I won't count that. I'll ask an AP that I once served with on Wednesday. If Elder Smith is the senior companion I am going to be really upset because he came out a transfer after me.

-Elder Garcia

Monday, Oct. 3rd

General Conference was pretty good!

I thought it was Elder Neil L. Anderson who talked about President Dorius. But I heard it and it took a little while for me to convince my companions that he used to be my Stake President before I went on my mission.
 
-Elder Garcia

Monday, Oct. 10th

I was looking down when Elder Andersen was speaking, trying to take notes but I just barely caught "Mission President Peru Lima West" and "Dorius". I was pretty shocked too and I didn't get any notes on the story Elder Andersen gave of President Dorius.

Yesterday during the last two hours [of Church] we went over mormon.org. If you go on mormon.org and go under the first tab "Our People" then "Meet Mormons" and in the search bar you can type in "Ceres California" and I'll be the only one. So you can tell the ward they can look me up (easier) and...maybe tell them to make their own profile ;D

Also, on Friday we were walking home before dinner and there was this guy (in front of Zaxby's) walking towards us. So we decided to talk to this guy. We gave him a mormon.org card, we told him that we had our number on it to check out the website and give us a call sometime. We walked off and my companion realized that our number wasn't on the card. So we hoped something good would happen. Well, we get a text Saturday morning, it was a referral for some guy that lives on the street we tracted Friday afternoon. We called the guy and he said that some missionaries stopped him in front of Zaxby's and he checked out the website. Well, we told him that it was us that stopped him and he said he wanted to come to church tomorrow. We called a member to set up a ride. Sunday comes along and he ACTUALLY shows up. I was pretty shocked because that's the first time that's happened to me. I've had investigators come to church but not from a contact on the streets. I was a little nervous because he happens to show up when we're going over mormon.org for the last two hours. It turns out that he enjoyed it, but hopefully he'll come to church next Sunday.

Also, I think I made my decision...I was wondering if you could start applying me to BYU-Hawaii? I've been told that since I'm Asian, and going to be RM and it would be really easy for me to get in.

I don't remember anything else past Friday.

Well, since it's easier for me to get in...and it's not Idaho or Utah. Plus I can finally finish the circle hahaha. [Mom went to Provo and Kaleen went to Rexburg].

Our last stake conference was in Jonesboro since the Jonesboro building used to be a stake center. It took us like 45 to 55 minutes to get there. The building didn't fill all the way. The Conyers Stake is weird. Everybody south of Snellville ward has to drive outside of the mission to get in the mission. We always drive outside the mission to get to Conyers. The only way to get to the south wards in the stake is to drive outside the mission. Oh well I'm not complaining.

-Elder Garcia

Monday, Oct. 17th

Well...I don't really know how to respond to the first few paragraphs so I'll start from the one that you asked about Georgia.

Georgia's cooling down. It rained a few times last week and most of the week was misty. Yesterday in the morning it was 53 degrees and then it got hot and in the evening it was cool again. The ward has a traditional "chili cook-off" for their trunk-or-treat and it's a huge thing within the ward, even the missionaries get involved and enter in a chili. I personally don't want to be in it but my companions are all hyped up about it. It's funny seeing and talking to the ward during dinner. They're really into this contest on who can get the best chili. Anyways nothing else is going on. My "senior" companion is all about "finding" people right now since our "teaching" pool is low. Which means....plenty of TRACTING! because that's the only way to "find" people. I do think I'm getting transfered in 3 weeks. I think it's time for me to leave. After I leave here I'm most likely to die in the next area. 7 more months is a little crazy to think about. I forgot about the wig, I'll probably wear it. I want to get this Captain America shield...it's basically a frisbee with a strap to put your hand in. I still have the sword I got last year so I want to do Ephesian 6 (I believe) so I have the sword of truth, the shield of faith.

We have been getting more Mormon.org referrals but none (right now) who is like "yes, come teach me this instant" more of like "Yeah, I ordered a Book of Mormon, I want to look at it see what it's about and I'll give you a call back." I read Daniels email and I have three thoughts. My first thought was...what is a "pass-along card"? Then I thought. "oh yeah, those old things that we threw away because all we use is the mormon.org cards". Then I thought. What is "pink washing"? and of course those are cool stories. But anyways, it's been so long since we used pass-along cards I don't remember what it was like to pass them out.

We're still on bikes. I doubt I'll get a car. I was on bike last winter.

We're going to go. We need to shop and go play football down in Conyers.

-Elder Garcia

SEP 5TH - SEP 19TH

SEPTEMBER 5TH
So, we had a baptism on Friday.  Our bishop counted 150 people at the service.  The chapel was pretty well filled.

We taught our part member family the commandments and the nine year old boy asked in the middle of the lesson when he could be baptized.  We'll talk about it more when we go see them next.  So far the two oldest kids want to be baptized.  The mom is close to deciding.

SEPTEMBER 12TH
When are transfers?
September 28th
I think I have the same transfer cycle as Daniel.  Since he went into the MTC the three weeks that our new missionaries went into the MTC.

(Minnie, our cat, is staying in a kitty kennel while we find a place to live.  There is an orange cat in the kennel that is waiting to be adopted.  He has Tyler's middle name.)

That's good that Minnie's fine and somewhat enjoying the Cat house (kitty kennel).  If you do get "Sebastian" I don't know if I would be calling him that.  That's a little awkward saying my middle name all the time haha.

The last girl that got baptized was a freebie, we didn't teach her.  Mostly just the part member family we're teaching.  The two older kids are close to baptism but we feel we are close with the wife.

SEPTEMBER 19TH
Everything's good.  We've been mostly trying to work with less-actives.  We had a meeting with the ward council a couple weeks ago and we identified all the less-actives/part members and we've been trying to contact those.

That's good that you got a place now.  Thanks for the pictures you sent me.

-Elder (Tyler) Garcia

August 9 - 15

Companion - Elder Asher

I took videos of South Gwinnett's [High School] "dancing" band and when they came into the field I thought, "Wow, I am not in the west anymore" hahahaha

[By this I guess you mean they weren't that good?  Or they are way better?]

Well, they weren't that good.  But it was more of a culture shock I guess.  When I watched the movie Drumline I could believe that's how they did it here in the South, but when I watched South Gwinnett play it was hard to believe that's exactly how they do it in the South.

So is Daniel excited to be getting to Nuevo Mexicano?

[Yeah, he's super excited]

Thats good that he's excited.

Transfers this week - we're both staying . . . .

I'm going to try and send stuff home.  Like shoes (you'll get why), general conference cases.  I bought a CD holder case thing so its easier to pack, and pictures and videos.

We don't teach as much as the Salt Lake Mission.  P-days are tough, school just started, us and the Centerville Elders are like cut off from the rest of the zone and we're on bikes.  Centerville is in a threesome and they have to bike to the library and it takes them forever to email.

[Saturday, Elder Ballard and Elder Gaye(?) spoke to the missionaries.]

No time to take pictures.  Elder Ballard and Elder Gaye(?) had to leave and go do the same thing for the Atlanta Mission.  We only got to shake his hand.  Elder Ballard broke his toe so he's been limping.

Elder Garcia

August 1 - August 8

(From July 24th)
          From Tyler to Kaleen:

                 A year goes by fast, by the time Daniel hits his year mark I'll

                 be home!  It's neat to say huh? A brother going out each year

                 and one coming back each year.

          Kaleen to Tyler:

                 That is weird to say about a year from now.  Yeah that will

                  really go by fast!  Also, little Scotty could be walking by then!

          Tyler to Kaleen:

                  I'm now at the point where I'm (almost excited) to go home

                  but I'm glad I'm still here on the mission.

(August 1st) [Mom's responses/additions in Purple]

From Kaleen to Tyler:

     Here's a story for you -

            Wednesday night [after Daniel was taken to the MTC]

            a bat flew in through the fireplace! Dad caught it.

[up in the corner of the living room with a rubber glove, standing

on a chair - Scott took pictures and Artem threw it out the back door] 

            I should upload the picture and send it to you 

            (if you want to see it). Ew it was so gross!

            Then on Thursday night I was on the computer and I

            heard this noise and I thought someone was trying to open

            the back door.  So I went into the kitchen to turn on the 

            light and another bat flew over the top of my head!

[probably the same bat looking for revenge!]

             I ran

            upstairs to wake up Scott.  It took us a long time to catch

            it. It actually landed in the wooden bowl on top of the

            cupboards by the sink.  Scott put a cookie sheet over the

            top and we ended up letting it go outside [again!].  That bowl is 

            going in the garbage. Turns out the fireplace vent got open

            somehow.  Crazy huh?

Tyler's response to Kaleen:

        That's pretty cool.  Hahahaha I pictured father totally being
asian/ninja catching it while it flew out of the fireplace.  I do want
to see it.  You know what I pictured when the bat was in the bowl?
I pictured you getting Scott and you two popped out your guns and 
shooting the bat in the bowl.  hahaha

August 8th
         August already!
I know...10 Months!!! but who's counting?  I figured it was easier to 
write back in an email [because] I'm two weeks behind in my journal 
writing and it's hard catching up.
The week has been very slow. We had two teamups with the members 
and one solid appointment.  Hardly any dinner appointments as well but 
I didn't worry about that.  We have a good amount of investigators to 
teach but the only problem is, is to get in with them.
Yeah, President Wolfert is a good mission president.  It'll probably be 
a while before I get used to it.
Transfers are on August 17th.  So I think Daniel and I have the same 
transfer cycle. It's a five week transfer because last transfer was 7.
I like the ties.  Especially the lime green one!  I thought Temy was going 
to send me his plane tie? [maybe a month before he's off his mission].
The new drop-off [at the MTC] is not fair!  They broke tradition! oh, 
well what can you do I guess.
Hahaha that's pretty funny that Daniel tried to find girls to write to him.  
Daniel and I aren't lucky like Temy is haha.

Elder Garcia 

July 25, 2011

I asked about Plantains, which he said he didn't care for a few weeks back. They look like a large banana. They are really popular in the south.

His answer:

It's in the squash family.

Plantains are alright now, after you eat [them], after awhile they're not bad.

From a resent letter:

Elder Asher [my new companion] is from Burley, ID [he was old companion in the MTC].

Here's another [hymn] that every so often we'll sing at Zone Conferences. Some words have been changed a tad bit.

1st verse -

*We have been born, as Nephi of old, to goodly parents who love the Lord.

*We have been taught, and we understand, that we must do as the Lord commands.

(Chorus) -

*We are as the army of Helaman.

*We have been taught in our youth.

*And we are now the Lord's missionaries to bring the world his truth.

2nd verse -

*We have been saved for these latter days to build the kingdom in righteous ways.

*We hear the words our prophet declares: "Let each who's worthy go forth and share."

(Chorus) -

3rd verse -

*We know his plan, and we are prepared, increase our knowledge through study and prayer.

*Daily we'll learn and we have been called to take the gospel to all the world.

(Chorus) -

Elder Garcia

July 11th & 18th

Well, I blew it!  I fell behind on keeping up Tyler's blog.  It's caught up now!  See below for other resent messages from June and early July.

July 11th

I sent Tyler the game Daniel played on everyone on Facebook on Tyler's Birthday (7th).
If you missed it it was pretty funny. Everyone thought Tyler was really on Facebook
(Daniel has been watching it for him while he's been on his mission.)

Tyler's comment:
hahaha that's pretty good

President Wolfert's here. The whole mission is going to be at transfers. I don't know
if President Wolfert is going to change how we do transfers or not so far it seems the same.
I never got a call saying I'm going [to be] Senior Companion so so far it looks like I'm still a junior.

(He got 3 ties for his birthday)
I did like the ties. I can only wear them on Sunday's though and zone conferences.
They're all silk and the polyester ties are better in the heat.

July 18th

It's fine. (about not being able to wear the ties everyday).

I really like the solid purple tie. I've been trying to collect solid color ties on my mission...
so far I have orange and purple.

My last comp was good and all. There were just some things I couldn't stand, he was very
competitive and had that kind of pride.

The mission fasted for President Wolfert and it seemed like a fast recovery.
(Explaining something I didn't quite understand.)

Guess What! my new companion isn't "new" at all! He's my MTC Companion, now I get to
spend more time with him! No, I'm not even senior this time.

If Daniel meets a sister missionary in the MTC named Sister Richards, her family is in my
ward. She has short blonde hair.

Is Daniel excited? nervous? Has Temy been filling him in with stuff? It sounds like a fun week.
(In Utah - before Daniel goes into the MTC).

Elder Garcia

June & July

June 20th ~Friday was our last day with President King, Sister King, and Connor. They leave next week.  They live in Bountiful so if we move we'll be neighbors!
I don't really know what else to say, I'm still alive and well, trying to survive the heat or I should say humidity.  Hope everyone is good back home.

I just remembered.  You looked for a Town home and they're called Stone Creek or was it the ward? I can't remember but I kind of laughed at it.  The apartments I'm in right now is called Stone Creek (on the Green) as well.

June 27th
I have their (the King's) home address but not on me.  I think they're more in the middle or closer to the other side of Bountiful.  I'll give you the address in a letter.  I forgot what ward they were in too. They were supposed to go home today but it looks like they'll be here for another couple weeks.  I don't know if you got President King's email for that.

I thought you had already left (for Oregon), I have no concept of time out here.  I was going to send Sammy a letter (but I don't really know what to say) then I remembered she was going with you guys to Oregon.  Speaking of cousins, did you ever get my email a long time ago that there were Estes' in the Webb Bridge ward?  I asked him about his genealogy and he said he didn't really get that far into it, he said that most of his ancestors he found were from Florida, Main and Russia...maybe I already told you that, I can't remember.

Thanks, I hope it'll be good like in Coal Mountain where we played baseball against another ward but I really don't think that will happen.  I hope you have a good 4th of July as well, I don't know if you'll still be in Oregon but still!

July 5th
I heard that President and Sister King were going to leave today...well on a Tuesday, nobody was sure if it was today or next Tuesday.  We were just told do our President's letter to President Wolfert.

Yeah, I'll probably stay in this area for awhile.  Transfers aren't till next week.  It was a pretty good P-day too. (On Monday, July 4th).

For the 4th of July we went with two other elders and a family from their area to Stone Mountain.  We just hiked up the mountain and took pictures. We also took pictures of the carving on the side of Stone Mountain.  I'll attach a picture of the pride the South has for the Civil War.  From Left to Right is: Jefferson Davis , Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson,  Anyways we did that for a few hours and went to the members home and was there all day.  It was pretty neat.  Oh and the members and friends and neighbors, (some were members, some were not).
But one use to be in the Modesto 3rd ward and I talked to the wife for awhile.  She asked me to ask you or maybe anyone who was in the Modesto 3rd ward before Ceres ward was created, so in the 80's if you know Mike and Pam? Boyles?  She remembers Harpers and a Bishop something that starts with an S I think.  She said that Pattersons and Berryhills sound familiar and she definitely remembers Stones.  Anyways they live in the Lawrenceville ward.  So moving on it was a pretty good day, I took a lot of videos of the what-would-be-illegal-fireworks-in-California, it was pretty cool.  Anyways that was our fun day for the 4th of July.  Hope it was good in California.

Elder Garcia

My appologies to everyone for not keeping up with the posting of Tyler's letters.  I will do better from now on.
You will find new postings below for all of April up to today.  Start with April 4th towards the bottom and work your way up.  Enjoy!

Monday, May 2, 2011 8:23 AM
Nobody even came close! All the guesses were all around it! Ha ha

New Mexico Albuquerque Mission!! (Pres. Miller)
Goes into the MTC on Wednesday, July 27th!

That gives him three months. We both know why . . . he needs to have surgery on his right eye because he's been having blood build up in it which is making his vision blurry. The doctor wants to do some kind of surgery to help it. We know the G.A.'s are truly inspired, don't we??!!!
Well, what do you think about that?

That's pretty cool. Maybe he'll get to preach to the Lamanites.

There are Navaho in the area! So maybe so.
Wow. What did you think about the Youth performance?
All I have to say is everytime I saw the drummers I would think of you sitting there and probably wanting to get up there and either join them or show them how to do it! ha ha
Sister King sent all the Missionary parents the link to watch it live, so Daniel and I were both watching it.
Did you say you got to go to the Temple dedication? When are you able to go through a session for the first time now?
Daniel has been doing everything you did, looking up everything he can find on New Mexico. Can't find a mission logo though. I think they just use the New Mexico state flag.
Sister King also let us know that all of you were safe from the tornados. I just talked to my friend, Glenda, that lives in Huntsville, Alabama and the tornados missed their house, but they've been without electricity since Wednesday. Tonight they are spending some time in Nashville, TN to shower and wash clothes and stuff and buy more ice for their freezer, so their meat doesn't go bad. I guess they are going back home tomorrow (Sunday).
How are you liking your new area and your new comp.?

I thought it was cool. The first bass in the drumline was in my first area. I really like that family. They were pretty good for how much time they were given to practice.
There was three youth I know that were in the choir. Most of the youth in my last area I saw, they were part of the cheerleading and football dance and most of them were in the front.
Yeah we got to go to both rededicatory sessions. So, we got an email from President King today. The Presidency of the Seventy said that we can't go to the temple anymore. I should be happy enough that I got to see it and be there for the open house.
Has he gone to the mission website thing?
Yeah, the tornado did some pretty big damage. Mostly in Alabama, I heard over 200 killed. I think Tennesee got hit pretty hard as well. I don't think Georgia got too much damage.
The area is pretty good. The companion isn't as bad as the last.

What? You can't go to the Temple anymore? What does that mean? That doesn't sound right. I would think they would WANT you to go, at least every 3 months or so.
That's really disappointing!

Missionaries asked President King about going to the temple and President King asked the Presidency of the Seventy and they said we can't. So we'll be without a temple two months longer than the Atlanta Temple district members were without a temple.

Did you have someone take a picture of you with the Atlanta Temple in the background, for your plaque?

Maybe you can crop it. I have pictures of the Atlanta temple but not with me in it. I should have taken one to be "prepared". I didn't think they wouldn't let us go to the temple anymore.

I don't know if I have a good program to do that. That's really a shame. Maybe you'll be able to get one before you come home.

Oh, maybe I could.
-Elder Garcia

Monday, April 25, 2011 8:08 AM
So you are now in the Conyer's Zone?

Yeah Conyers Zone and Stake.

The Post Office is right next to the Wal-mart!! (Which is right across the main road from Tyler's new apartments).

Hey, this is exciting for you. Looks like a great area. I hope you find a lot of investigators.

Yeah, it's pretty cool. Our apartment is actually in the Centerville Ward and we're closer to the bottom of our area. Past Centerville Hwy is our area.

Temy came home Thursday and Daniel got his call papers on Friday!

Daniel's not going to open them until this Friday night though, because that's when all his friends can be there. We're going over to the RS room at 7:30 pm. So you'll find out next Monday!

What have you been doing this week? How is the weather?

Oh, Kaleen said the 30th. Well it doesn't really matter for me since I'll still hear on Monday. So, I guess I better put my opinion in now on where I think he's going. I'm going to say St. George, Utah or maybe Provo. I don't really think he'll be going that far because he's blind in one eye and diabetic, but don't tell him I said that. Who knows, my other thought was somewhere on the east as well.

We've been doing a lot of walking, because Elder Sobers didn't have a bike. The assistance brought his bike on Friday morning and we still haven't ridden our bikes. Friday we went to the Temple with Elder Sobers' grandma and three cousins, he got permission because he's going home in July and his cousins live in the Atlanta mission. Saturday we did service all day helping a member move into a house still in the ward. Sunday was church and we had a teamup to come out with us. Today is P-day and later today we're going to do some more service with the same member. It's been raining like once every two days within the past two weeks. Mostly at night, one was a tornado warning, I think, yeah because a tornado came through somewhere close and I know one or two came through St. Louis, MO. Wednesday it's supposed to rain. And when it's not raining it's been pretty warm, a little humid.

We haven't really been able to do much work since we had to walk everywhere and the subdivisions are pretty far apart so it takes a while to walk some place.

That's exciting that Temy's back home. But I feel alone now, it's weird.

Colorado would be neat. I miss the west. It bothers me when people down here keep saying "mountain" for hills. Stone "Mountain" is just outside the mission and we could get permission to go sometime for P-day. But it really should be Stone "Hill", it's a huge rock and they carved Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and the Southern President what's his name Jefferson?

But I could see Daniel going to like Boston or something, maybe he'll go to Pennsylvania haha.

When I talked to President King about calling home about Daniel's mission he said that too that maybe he'll come to this mission. I don't know if I'll train him (if he does come) because President King is thinking about making me senior after Elder Sobers goes home in July but no one really know until transfers, the Lord could have different plans.

Yeah a whole week wow I probably would have went crazy. How's everybody else doing? Like John and them. Johnny still hasn't written me back but oh well I don't expect too much from getting letters from people.

-Elder Garcia

Monday, April 18, 2011
I'm now in Snellville, the Snellville Ward. Just one ward. Still on bike.
On Wednesday the 13th we went from 4 to 9 pm and my companion and I ushered (at the Atlanta Temple). This last friday we went again from 8 am to 5 pm. Our district leader picked us up at 5:45 am and we got to the Temple at 6:30 then we had a meeting at 7. This time we did parking. On Thursday we have district meeting/interviews inside the Temple. I think that's what President King said.

I've had fried okra for lunch at a place called Dick's Barbeque. It was alright it didn't really have a flavor. Kaleen said that Grandma used to make us grits when we were little when we were at her house. (Grandma made them Cream of Wheat! LOL)

I'm further away from Canton. None of the missionaries there (Canton, Jasper, Ellijay) got transfered. I'm probably 2 hours south east.

So...for the past 8 and a half months I've been on bike. I've never weighed myself until now, since my last apartment didn't have a scale, this apartment does have a scale. The average weight gain in this mission is like 30 pounds. Missionaries and members have said that it looks like I lost weight. During General Conference, a member told us this "diet", I guess you could say, that one of his companions, when he was on his mission, did. His companion ate two tuna fish sandwiches for 6 months and lost a ton of weight from it. Breakfast is the same and you can eat whatever the members give you. I'm going to try it, see if I can lose more weight. So I saw how much weight I lost I got excited to tell you. I was thinking about not saying and have it be a "surprise" when I get home. I lost 30 pounds! The belt I got at Men's Wearhouse is too loose so I had to go back to my old belt. My goal is to lose 30 more pounds by the end of my mission.

That must be exciting for Temy to come home. I almost have a year left!

Oh, President King said no about calling about Daniel's mission papers. Temy must be pretty lucky for him being able to see us and getting a call for my mission papers. "Bytheway" calling home for Mother's day, there's a family that has skype, I'm pretty sure. I don't even know if I want to use skype...yet. I don't know.

My companion is from Guyana. His name is Elder Sobers.

I think it depends on traffic. When I was in Alpharetta it usually took us an hour to get to Lilburn. Now I'm probably like 15-20 south east from Lilburn.

So my new area is the very top of the light blue (the small area that has the rabbit ears). The dark green very right is one huge area. The one with the three missionaries. I don't remember if there's still three, or two or four now since transfers.

-Elder Garcia

Monday, April 4, 2011 8:42 AM
The Atlanta Temple will be having their open house and everything pretty soon . . . have you heard anything about the missionaries in your area being involved with that yet?

The sister missionaries need to be there everyday, all day, Elders will be there at least 3 days. I will be there Thursday doing the booty covers for the special guests. Then I'm pretty sure we'll be there on transfer day. Then one other day after that.

Monday, April 11, 2011 1:12 PM

So what's the news about transfers? Do you know if and where you are going next? Do you know who your companion will be?
Will you be moving everything before you go to the Temple?
How are you coping with allergies? Are you getting and taking allergy pills? Do they help? Are the pollens hitting you pretty hard? I know it's terrible there, probably a lot worse than it was here.

Sooo...I am getting transfered. The odds were against me staying. We don't know where we go or who are companions will be till Wednesday. I haven't been to the temple yet. Our mission got canceled to work at the temple last week. I really don't know what's going to be happening on transfers because the mission is scheduled to be at the temple throughout the day.

If I don't take allergy pills my eyes just itch, and I'll sneeze a couple of times but that's about it so far. I do take the allergy pills. They help. The pollen right now isn't as bad as everyone says it's been. But it does get on everything.

If I go to the country I hope I'm in a car. If I go to the more suburban area I hope there's a Walmart in the area. That might be weird to say but I miss going to Walmart and actually being there and not being rushed.

Anyways...I'm excited to leave...finally...but I will really miss the ward, they've been great.

-Elder Garcia

March 28, 2011

　
Yeah, the "ring of fire" has started. Chile, Japan, other places in the ring of fire. Everybody is thinking that San Fransisco is next.

General Conference is my 10 month mark and I'll have two months left for my year mark. So Scotty Jr. III will be a year old when I get back.

I'm serious about the Macon mission being dissolved and that one area. Some things had to be re-done. A couple areas have been closed down. We don't have enough missionaries to fill all the areas we have. So some areas had to be combined. So missionaries can go to our missions new areas.

It's been raining off and on the last couple days and through this week. So it's been cooler.

I'll try to do better with the letter this week.

-Elder Garcia



(Note: this color is Mom's inserts)

(About the rededication of the Atlanta, Georgia Temple)

(An email to Kaleen)

Yeah we have schedules according to our districts. I'll be there April 7 or 8th I can't remember which one doing the booty's (coverings for the shoes before going into the Temple). And I think another day we go is when we have transfers which is the 13th. And one other day, but I don't know cause I don't know if I'll be in a different district. Right now I'm only 6 exits off the freeway, north of the temple. Once it's open we'll get to go once a quarter with our zone.

There's a storm coming through this week so it's been nice and it's raining off and on. The pollen is coming out and it'll get worse, it'll get thicker which will be interesting. Which means I have 2 months till I hit a year, yay!

I'm pretty excited too. I'll be the only one on a mission when he comes (baby Scott)! That might be weird to say. But it's kind of cool that I can say that.

It will be interesting to see what Ruger (Scott and Kaleen's german shepherd) does. You should take pictures of them two, showing what Ruger's reaction is.

-Elder Garcia

(About the sweater vests I sent for winter?) They were pretty good. I used them a couple times. Next winter will probably be worse than this last winter since this last one was worse than last year and that was supposedly the "worst" winter Georgia's had.

Am and Charlie. How are they doing? and how is Kaleen doing?

I heard that a hurricane or whatever hit California that came from Japan like two or three days ago?

Our only real solid investigator is Don. He's somewhat progressing. He finally started reading the Book of Mormon like a month or two ago. He's still in 1 Nephi probably at chapter 14. Every time we go over he's on the next chapter and he asks questions about the chapter. It's starting to frustrate me because it's like he wants to know and learn everything there is you can learn in the Book of Mormon. But I'm just glad he's actually reading the Book of Mormon now.

Elder Jordan and I went to the wards scout auction on Saturday night. It was pretty fun. They raised like $5,260 somewhere around there. I couldn't believe how much money was being bet on some of these things.

So now that the Macon mission is being dissolved our mission got four new areas and they split the Lilburn stake. We now have the Conyers stake and the four new areas were added to that stake. I think a ward and a branch combined in the Athens stake. Three missionaries are covering an area almost twice as big as the Roswell Stake, isn't that neat? Well they're in a car so they're lucky.

Well I think that's about it.

-Elder Garcia

We haven't been getting that much rain. The other night we had a thunder storm and it hailed and they were the size or marbles, it was pretty neat.

We live across the street from a fire station and alarms will go off for certain weather. Like one or two days after the thunder storm the alarm went off again but nothing happened that day, it was weird.

One other thing I keep forgetting to say. 3 or 4 weeks ago Michelle Obama was in my area. I heard she went to speak at Northpoint Community Church (a big mega church, I've been inside, it's pretty nice. Maybe I'll baptize Andy Stanley. He has three mega churches and both my areas covered two of his churches.) and I also heard that she was just driving by. Traffic was super bad. We were going to dinner and it took over an hour and it was probably like a normal 5 minute drive right down the road.

A member also told us that Jeff Foxworthy likes to go to the Home Depot in Alpharetta (it's probably the only close one around) which is right down the road from us too. It's right next to the Walmart we always go to.

-Elder Garcia

So, I'm not getting transfered...and neither is my companion. This is the 4th transfer with him.


We also got an email about our new mission president. President Wolfert, he served in the same mission President King did. President Wolfert's youngest son is in the Fresno mission right now and is coming home in July. Also Larry Gelwix is going to be the new mission president for the Fresno mission, Daniel should know who he is. So if you've seen an Elder Wolfert or if he'll serve in Ceres, he's my new mission president's youngest son.


I'm not really doing well. All I should say is that the Lord is really testing my patience.


The Macon Mission is now dissolved. Parts are going to the Jacksonville FL mission, South Carolina, Atlanta, and maybe ours. I'm not sure if we get part of it or we're taking part of the Atlanta Mission. We're getting 4 new areas but I don't know when that is.


That's cool that there's a missionary from the Philippines serving there. Does Daddy and Elder Pepit talk in Tagalog?


-Elder Garcia

The Atlanta Temple is going to be opening up! Open house is like from April 9th to the 30th (except Sundays of course). Dedication is on May 1st I think. Everyone's excited!

I asked about his profile on Mormon.org.  If you want to see it, just put Tyler Garcia in the search box on Mormon.org.


It's hard to do it in one day. It took me like 2-3 days to finish mine and then like a week or two later I changed/added more to mine. My companion finished his in like a week. All the members we showed it to said it takes a while to finish it. Then it takes like a day to a week for them (people in Salt Lake to review it) to actually post it up there.


It's gone from Winter to Spring in a day (no joke!) we were wearing our coats and stuff at the beginning of the week and at the end of the week we were in our short sleeve shirts. I miss the fog. I wish we had it. I'm tired of the rain. It's sprinkling right now.


The actually Spring will be interesting. Missionaries have said the pollen gets pretty think and you can see it flying off cars and it gets all over your clothes and stuff.


-Elder Garcia