Monday January 27th, 2014

Hello everyone! It has been a pretty good week here. we just had a wedding on Saturday for two of our investigators so they can both be baptized! I'm very excited for them! 

We finally got our car fixed so maybe we won't slide around on the street quite so much. I doubt it.

We are having a wonderful time in our new home. The members we live with are just wonderful. 

Elder Rust and I have spoken in both of our wards in the last two weeks. It has been so great. I gave a wonderful talk on the holy ghost.

Transfers were last week. The only change to our district is Sister Steck has left. She is from St.George as well. She's cool.

We attended a baptism of a little girl we have been teaching. Her family is now starting to come back to church. I just love the work of salvation. Bringing people to the gospel is the best feeling in the world.

We have three people we are working with now. They should all be baptized very soon.

One man is a trucker from Portland Oregon. He just showed up at his brother's house after 5 years. He likes what their family has and he wants the gospel for himself. He has a desire to be baptized. He's a great guy. I can't wait until we can baptize him. We've been having a few troubles with him quitting smoking, and complications in his personal life holding him back. We know with faith and prayer, we can get him to where he needs to be.

The sugar beat factory has been shut down for the last couple of weeks. There was an accident that happened where one of the workers fell into the processor. She was sucked down to where the sugar beats come into the factory and chewed up by the machine. The only reason they found her was because her bone fragments were clogging up the machine. The FDA shut down the factory to come in and test the sugar for diseases and what not. The thing is though, there is no way any part of her would make it through the purification process. The sugar beats having a bunch of junk on them in the first place go through a long process to get the pure sugar. There is literally no way any human fragments would make it through. Animals even fall in all the time and there is never a problem. Now the FDA is calling back any sugar shipments and quarantined the sugar in the factory. It's a whole mess. All agriculture in the area is being affected. 

production has fired back up in the past couple of days. There are still investigations going on, because nothing in the situation makes sense at all. To be continued...

I hate it when stuff like this happens. 

I hope everyone is having a good day!

Elder Garceau out

charlie mike

(I love you mom)  

January 13th, 2014

Hello everyone! Things are going well. We have a lot of people to teach. I am glad because we haven't had many people around during the holidays. Teaching the gospel is just great because I get to see the happiness in others grow as I share with them about Jesus Christ.

We moved from Lovell (a town of about 2,500) to Byron(500). It's going to be a bit of a change but so far I like it. The members we live with now are wonderful. They also have a son on a mission. 

I may not be in this area for much longer because we have a transfer coming up. I've been here for about 3 transfers now (4.5 months). It's crazy to think that I've already been on my mission for 7 months. Time has flown by.

We met a man from Portland whose brother is a convert to the church. We have been teaching him in his brother's house. He is a trucker and has been having a rough time lately. He remembered how happy his brother's family is and he wants the same happiness that they have. He showed up about a week ago at his brothers house out of the blue and told them how he wanted the missionary lessons. We have been teaching him every day since Thursday. He is so ready for the gospel. He knows that this is what he wants and wants to be baptized. I am so grateful for this opportunity the Lord has given me to lighten someone else's life.

I have seen my faith grow immensely and I know it is because of my focus in Jesus Christ. The beginnings of faith are very crucial I have found. You can have faith in a lot of things. You can have faith that the sun will rise, faith that when you turn a light switch to the up position the light will turn on. You can have faith that your car will start in the morning. And a war fighter can have faith in his training he has received that it will save his life when he is in combat. But things like this can fail you from time to time (besides the sun rising. That's obvious.).

With all of the things to have faith in, a question arises: What is the best thing I can have faith in in this life that will always work? What faith will never fail me?

the prerequisite to faith is hope. There is a scripture that perfectly tells of this and helps to answer the question.

 41 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.

Moroni 7:41

I have a knowledge that putting our trust and our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ will bring us the best results. Christ will bring us to the highest we can go if we will exercise our trust and faith in him. 

I don't think I could say it any better than the prophet Nephi in 2 Nephi 4:17-19

 16 Behold, my ^asoul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my^bheart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.

 17 Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great ^agoodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O ^bwretched man that I am! Yea, my heart ^csorrowethbecause of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.

 18 I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily ^abeset me.

 19 And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have ^atrusted.

I know that if we put our faith in Christ we can accomplish all things that God requires of us. If we exercise sincere faith in Christ, the pathway will be clear. We can know of the truth of all things for ourselves if we keep an open mind and an open heart and pray sincerely to the father.

I hope you are all having a good day!

-Elder Garceau

(I love you MOM!)

January 6th 2014

Hello everyone! Things are great here in Wyoming. It's down to the negatives again. We are finally getting our car worked on. It wasn't too bad except we don't have ABS or traction control. That's pretty irritating when we have ice on the road. I don't see what good some of these things are if they don't work.

This last week we didn't have many teaching appointments as we have had new years, but we have had some good quality lessons. For new year's eve we went and spent the evening at a members home. That's about all we could do, but we had a good time. 

We are switching wards with the sister missionaries and instead of Lovell 1st ward we will be taking Lovell 3rd ward. I don't care what they switch on us so long as we get to stay in Byron. I love that place. It's not very big, but we have the most work to do in Byron.

Two of our new investigators are on date for getting baptized (the ones we are taking from the sisters). I'm not really going to take much credit for that. It's great to see people coming to the gospel. They are living together unmarried so they are going to get married the week before the baptism. I am very excited for them. They are very firm investigators. I'm glad to be in the right place at the right time to teach them the gospel.

Now that the holidays are over we can visit people more. The members in our wards are very on top of things and go on exchanges with us every other night of the week. I'm sure we can reach a goal of 30 lessons this week. I am very positive about that. 3rd ward is on fire and they have members who are willing to work with us. It's so great so see things working the way they should.

The Lord really is moving forward with his work. This should be an exciting time for everyone. Things have already changed drastically in the church and they're only going to get better from here. You don't need to wear the tag to be a missionary. You don't even need a specific calling! You can be a missionary right now. It's an exciting thing to bring someone to the gospel. The prophets have extended the invitation for us to act. We have been given specific promises from doing member missionary work. Those promises are very legitimate. It isn't a maybe, it's a promise. All you need to do to find out these promises is to read the latest conference talks. When someone gives a promise within their calling, that means that so long as you follow the conditions you will receive the reward. By not following these promptings from apostles and prophets we do exactly as has been spoken of: living below our privilege. Don't live below your privilege. Heed the counselings of the prophets of the Lord and choose to act today. I know that you and your families will be blessed as you actively seek to help the Lord in his work. That is a promise.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

-Elder Garceau

(I love you mom!) 

December 16th, 2013

Well, this week has been very... uneventful. Everyone is getting into the Christmas season and has no time for us. besides, it's cold.

I am so glad to be staying in Lovell this transfer because I don't want to go somewhere new just before Christmas. That would not be fun because I wouldn't know anyone.

Everyone is putting up Christmas lights. I sent some pictures of the best ones I have seen so far. It's fun in Wyoming because even the people in the middle of nowhere put up Christmas lights even though no one is going to see them.

My district is doing a musical fireside for anyone and everyone who wants to come! My pal Elder Howard and I will be doing a duet of What Child is This, and we will all be singing Angels We Have Heard on High. I am very excited. We have a lot of talent in our district. We have 3 piano players and pretty much everyone can sing. Should be a good show.

We are also having our Christmas Zone Conference tomorrow. I am going to sing while Sister Mecham (mission president's wife) accompanies me on I Heard the Bells on Christmas day. We found a very good arrangement of the song that I like. Wish me luck!

The people here are wonderful and I should have a very good Christmas this year!

Hope all is well!

Elder Garceau

(I love you Mom!) 

November 25, 2013

This week has been pretty great. It started snowing early this week. It is very cold up here but not as bad as everyone says it is. Sure it's only 2 degrees in the morning and the high is 20, that's okay. Bring it on!

We had a baptism on Saturday! It was wonderful! Her name is Jeanayha. She is 9 years old and she understands everything we teach her. It was a great baptism. 

We have another 9 year old baptism coming up this weekend on friday. We've really seen some growth in our work here in Byron and Lovell. It really is great to see!

I've got some other wonderful pictures to show as well...

This is the deer that Brother Wilkerson shot. He's 83 and still goes hunting and does it all himself. I went out into the garage to put some food in the fridge and the first thing I see is this body with no hind legs lying next to the fridge. Wyoming!

These next two are pictures of what Wyoming looks like.

I went to the Chiropractor for the first time in my life. I woke up one morning with a terrible knot in my neck that made me walk around with my shoulders all skiwampous. My neck was tilted to the left, and my left shoulder was about an inch higher than my right. It was very painful. Luckily we have two chiropractors in town that are both members and will help the missionaries out for free! So now I am back into my push up routine from being out of it for a week. I felt useless because I couldn't really do anything with out feeling terrible pain. The other Elders gave me a blessing which helped a lot! Sister Wilkerson wouldn't let me leave the house. I made the mistake of asking her for an ice pack. -_- She made me lay down on the couch for the entire evening with the ice on my neck. It was probably for the best anyway. Sister Wilkerson loves to nurse people back to health. She's great! I'll bet I made her feel good by giving her something to do, she's a very nosy 83 year old lady. 

For thanksgiving we are supposed to go to about four dinners with Investigators, Less actives, and ward members. President wants us to feel sick to our stomachs. I'm going to get so sick! Bring the pain!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

-Elder Garceau

(I love you mom!)

Monday, October 28th

Well we are doing great! We just got transfer information yesterday! I will be staying in Lovell and Elder White will be a zone leader in Corvallis Montana. I am getting Elder Rust as my companion. He is from Georgia. That's really all I know about him. He should be a good missionary. 

Today the temperature is supposed to drop to 15 degrees Fahrenheit. It started snowing in little flakes. Winter here I come! I am so ready for this! Bring it on! 

We were at a members house with the sisters and there was this crazy cat named Spaz. We stuck straws in his collar and messed with him. Tons of fun. Then we gave the lady a blessing for a surgery she was having. We've been giving a lot of blessings lately. It's awesome! The first picture is Sister Wing from Texas. She's cool. Then we found these 3D glasses and made funny faces.

I will finally be getting my I-pad this week. Which is great, because I want to study Revelations and I need a side-by-side help because I can't figure it out. It's going to be great! We have our planner, our area book, ward information, scriptures, all of the conference talks!, all of the magazines! I'm pretty excited. It's like a new video game just came out.

That's all I can think to write about for now.

-Elder Garceau

(I love you Mom!)

Monday October 21, 2013

Hello everyone! It's been a very good week for us here ! We have done a lot. We have more people to teach and more people to look up. Things are great!

Our mission has been selected to pilot the I-pad as a missionary tool and I have been approved to have one! The training for them is today in Billings. And I'm not going. For some reason my Mission President wants me to be here in Lovell on an exchange with another missionary Elder Ross. He's a pretty cool guy so we are going to be hanging out today. My companion is going to be at the training today so he can tell me all about it.

Sorry, I don't have pictures of me getting punched in the nose or any after photos. I really don't want anyone to see that anyway. 

I met a less active member who is a petroleum Engineer. He supervises the directional drilling for a major oil company. It uses a lot of math and I am very interested in it. As part of the procedure they drill down two miles, and then out two miles. The oil is collected in 4 miles of pipe (kind of similar to wiring but bigger) and then it gets pumped up to the surface where they clean it out and store it. I guess it's a pretty new procedure. His job requires a lot of math and it sounds like tons of fun! He goes out on the site for three weeks and then he is back home for about a week. It doesn't sound like something I would want to do for a very long time, but maybe for a little while because it pays well. He is on his week off at the moment so we are going to visit him and his family this evening. He's going to tell me more about his job and then maybe we could talk religion for a bit. Who knows. We'll see how this goes.

Every week, the missionaries in the district have to report numbers (lessons taught, baptisms, people attending church,...etc.) to the district leader so he can send them to the zone leader. Elder White has decided the give a prize every week to the people who call in first. This week we gave the prize to the second caller. The prize has generally been the same every week... a sugar beet! We keep finding these on the side of the road because the trucks keep dropping them. Just last week we found 30 sugar beets on the side of the road! Someone is going to be getting a very big prize.... We're going on exchanges later this week and my companion is going to hide sugar beets everywhere in the other elders' apartment while he's there. And next weeks prize, the only one who doesn't get a sugar beet is the winner! This is going to be so great! I can't wait! 

I love you all!

Elder Garceau

(I love you mom!)