February 24th, 2014

Hello everyone! It has started to warm up a little bit. Still snowing. Still cold. Just when we think the last of it is melting away, it snows again. I don't expect it to stop any time soon.

We are very excited about the ward boundary change here. It all takes effect on Sunday. For our district, it has already begun. We started last week with handing people over just so we would be on pace with the stake. Elder Rust and I probably got about 30 people from everyone else, and gave up about 3. Our teaching pool is getting pretty good sized because of it and we aren't complaining. I can't wait for some of the new people I get to teach!

We have some wonderful youth in this stake. They are all on board with the missionary work in the area. We have been given the green light to take all of the priests in the stake to go out with us and teach. We are the only set of Elders in Lovell, so we get all of the priests. We do splits with them on Mondays and Thursday. I am so amazed with how eager they are to help out. I know The Lord has prepared this area very well for missionary work.

We are going to have quite a few baptisms here very soon. We should be able to reach the stake's goal of 40 baptisms this year. So far we are more than on pace for that. I have faith that they will have more than 40 this year even though they had 24 last year. The stake president is an inspired man and it is a pleasure to work with them.

Transfers will be coming up again by next week. I should be getting a call by the end of the week. Fingers crossed I go somewhere good, but I know The Lord will send me where he needs me. I know I am right where I need to be right now. These are very extraordinary times.

I hope everyone is doing well!

Elder Garceau 

(I love you Mom!)

February 18th, 2014

Hello again everyone! I am sorry I did not email yesterday, it was a holiday and nothing was open. But I can email today so here we go!

How was everyone's valentines day? Mine was great. We got out and taught the gospel! Some of the young men in the stake came out with us because they didn't have any plans. Valentines day doesn't really mean much to missionaries because we have to spend the whole day with our companion anyway. People pittied us and gave us cookies and things like that. It was nice. (To give you an idea of what it was like I have a picture...)

We had a fun preparation day where we played basketball with some youth and other missionaries. I think I'm getting better, but I don't think I will be playing NBA any time soon.

The Lovell stake ward boundaries were recently changed. Our area was very unaffected. We lost about 2 people we were teaching and we are gaining about 20 from a few of the other wards. This will be very good for us in that we will have more to do and be a little busier. I'm very excited for this change. It gives us great opportunity to meet new people. Even though I have been here almost 6 months, It feels like I've been transfered already with the ward change and now the new boundaries.

I don't have much else to say, but that the church is true, christ is our savior, and we have a true prophet on the earth today!

Elder garceau

(I love you mom!)

February 10th, 2014

Hello everyone! Not a bad week this last week.

We didn't really teach as many lessons as I would have liked, but we did find a new investigator. Her name is Chandi and she is a great lady. Her husband is a less active member and she goes to a local bible church. She has visited with the sisters before but she felt like they were too pushy so she stopped visiting with them. We gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read it and pray about it. Her family has been very pushy in the past and now she feels like she is in a position to decide for herself. So we are going to make sure her family doesn't know she is investigating the church this time. The bishop told us to go and see her while we were over for dinner. She says that she knows she needs baptism and she thinks this church is the right one to get baptized in. She really is a nice person and wants the best for her and her husband and thier two kids.

It seems like just after a baptism when we don't think we can find anyone else to teach and baptize, we are directed to someone who needs us. The spirit is very stong in the area. The stake has a goal of 40 baptisms this year, which means each ward gets 5 baptisms this year. We are doing pretty well so far, we had 2 baptized in Lovell 3rd ward just this month. We think we should have two in Byron before the month is over and we may have another baptism in Lovell 3rd as well. That would be five baptisms in the first two months. Not a bad start for the year!

It was really cold this week. I'm pretty sure this is the coldest I've ever felt in my life. This has been a pretty cold year even for Wyoming and Montana. This may be the coldest I will ever have to feel on my mission. At nights sometimes it can get down to -30 or -40, but never when we are out and about. It also snowed about a foot in the past couple days. Snow is not fun on the road.

I hope everyone is having a great day!

Elder Garceau

(I love you Mom!)

February 3rd, 2014

We have had a pretty good week here. On Saturday we had a baptism for Brenda and Lorenzo! They were married the week before and we baptized them Saturday. I was given the privilege to confirm Lorenzo and give him the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a very wonderful feeling being God's hands for a little bit. I could feel the spirit go through me to him. I am very happy for this couple

Last week on preparation day we got together as a zone and made ice cream sculptures. Elder Rust and I made a hobo igloo because neither of us are very creative. We used cookies and cream if you were wondering what flavor. 

The Pitbull is named Voto. He's a big dog. He belongs to the McArthurs. He likes wrestling with people and as soon as you say the word,"Bath", he either yells at you or goes and lays down as far away from the bathroom as possible. You can see on his tail that he has cancer. We don't expect him to live more than a few months. He's really a softee. 

We are going into another car share. Now we will only have our car every other week. I don't know how it's going to work because we have such a large area to travel between our two wards, but I have faith the Lord will provide (or transfer me somewhere else where I don't have a car share ha jk).

I really feel at home here in Byron and Lovell. It's a lot like home except for the small town. We still have sagebrush, red rock, sand, silt that rises when it rains... the only difference I see is the snow. Maybe St.George got a taste of the snow because of all the missionaries from St.George in this mission.

I hope everyone is having a great day!

Elder Garceau

(I love you Mom!)