Teaching many about Jesus Christ!

Hey Family!

This week was an awesome week of teaching and finding new people! We were able to get 11 new investigators and we set more baptism dates. We are now up to 6 people with a baptism date! The only thing now is to get them to come to church. We were expecting about 6 or 7 people but only Orlando came again. It was very sad but we are still working hard! Another problem came up with Orlando. He was going to finally get baptized this Saturday but his passport is expired. He is from Guatemala so that's the huge problem. The bishop in the other ward needs it to do the baptism for us but it won't work if it's expired. So we have to help him raise money these next few months to try and get a new passport. Last night we had an awesome experience! We went to go visit a guy that we taught a long time ago but haven't been able to find him in his house for a long time. Only his wife was there so we said we would come back another day. We didn't have a whole lot to eat last night but as we were leaving she said, wait! Let me give you guys some avocados. She went into her house and came back with a huge pineapple! It was awesome! We've never even met her! She was so nice and it was a huge blessing. Except for the fact that we ate so much and my lip started bleeding ahah. Today we are going bowling so that will be pretty fun! A good change up from the regular play soccer every pday haha. I love and miss you all sooooo much!

Love Elder Markham

Lots of new investigators!

Hey Everyone!

We had a good week this last week. We were able to find 14 new investigators and get some good lessons in. There are some good humble people in the area that really want to learn! It's just super hard getting them to come to church because they can't get rid of old habits and it's a little hard for them to go to the church because you have to take a bus to the next town. But we have an investigator called Orlando that I've talked a little bit about. He's been an investigator for a very long time. He's just been waiting for his marriage papers to get here from Guatemala. He's been such a prepared investigator from the start. The only things are that he's been having a lot of problems with his son who's super sick in the United States that has been trying to work but he can't. And their granddaughter is super sick with a heart problem, and Orlando has arthritis. We're doing the best we can to help them with everything to help him get baptized. I think he will get baptized with in a couple weeks. We also have another investigator who's been going to church for four years. Her daughter is a member and so is her husband but he doesn't like the church anymore. We were finally able to find her in her house and her son too! He's not a member so we were able to teach him too. But the only doubt she had was baptisms for the dead which doesn't make sense why nobody had helped her with that before. So we taught her about that and she said it made sense and now she's fine about that. We invited her to be baptized in a couple weeks but she said she would pray and tell us Sunday...well...she didn't come hahah. But I feel that it's only a matter of weeks. 

I love you all and miss you very much!

Love Elder Markham

Garrett and his companion Elder Stout eating muffins in a cup

Garrett and his "Ghost Friend"

Here's a couple fruits called mamones. They are super good. A little sour and your mouth feels weird as you eat them haha. But they're awesome haha

In the Jungle

Dear Family!

This week was a super fast week! I'm glad to hear a little bit about the wedding. I'm sad I missed it but El Salvador is where I need to be! We are still working hard and teaching lots of people. During the mission I have really learned how to listen to the spirit better. I love it when we are teaching lessons and I just start saying things and using scriptures that I would never thought about using if I didn't have the spirit to help me.

This Saturday was an awesome day! We went to a little conference thing for an awareness of this river that we are going to be cleaning. It made the national news so I'm pretty sure if you looked it up you could find it and I'll be on there. It's for the Acelhuate Rio I'm pretty sure. Our whole Zone was part of it. So try looking it up and you should be able to see me on there! 

Not much happened this past week. It just goes by faster and faster I can't keep up. It's rainy season now. It rains a ton almost every day, then when it doesn't rain it's 10x hotter! Haha, I also learned that the city where our church is inside a crater of a giant volcano! And our house is on the opening when all the lava flowed out when it exploded thousands of years ago. Pretty cool huh? Well I love and miss you all. 

Elder Markham

Garrett and his companion Elder Stout

Here is a part of Garrett's area.  He said they had to walk down this little street to try and find people to teach.  It seems like a beautiful area and he is really enjoying his time there.

Garrett and his District Leader Elder Lucero

A sweet compliment to Garrett

Hola Mi Familia!

Puchika, este semana fue super rapido. Cada semana siente como un dia! Nos vemos en un rato.

This week was full of surprises and awesome uplifting moments! I got some letters this week. I got the letters from Sara too with all the pics! I love them!!!! So during the week we were walking through the street and we crossed to the other side to just barley see two huge buses racing, they were racing for fun. They were seeing who could get to the exit first, and.. they ended up crashing together. The scary thing is is that they were both filled with people. At least it wasn't too serious or anything. Then we went to a Sisters house in the ward to teach her and her kids. She lives with a bunch of older sons that are members and always listen to us, but they don't come to church. The last time we went she was telling me how she was happy that I was so happy and that's how every missionary should be. Then this time she asked my companion what he was learning from me. He just said that he was learning a lot and she said that my companion seemed to be a lot more happy since I had come. Then she just kept saying that there was something about me that was different than other missionaries and that she just liked me. It's hard to say what she said because it's weird to explain in English haha. It was good and helped me notice the difference you can make just trying to smile a lot more. So yes mom, you were right... Sunday we had stake conference and it was awesome! We talked a lot about keeping Sunday a holy day and they encouraged the missionaries to write to their families and tell them one thing we could all improve. I thought and there isn't much really. Mom and dad taught us well from the activities that we do and don't to what we should wear. I always thought that was a rule that mom made up . It's been a super fast awesome weekend. We are teaching lots of people and we will have a baptism soon, we are just helping a guy get his marriage papers. I love and miss you all!!!

Love Elder Markham

Changes...and lots of Pupusas to eat!

Hey Family!

Well...another change means...another change haha. I had changes once again. I don't know why. I'm in an area that's called Santo Tomas. My last area was probably the smallest in the mission, but I am now in the biggest area in the whole mission! It's awesome too because I have the number one pupusa place in all El Salvador, which pretty much means the world! hhaha. The area I'm in is super beautiful too. There are tons of areas that are just all jungle! There's a pupusaria that we ate at the first day and you could see mountains and hills covered in the jungle! I love it here! My companion is from Washington and his name is Elder Stout. It's cool because he was really into football so he's a big lineman haha. Its good to have a cool companion that we can relate a lot. He's also a great hard worker and he's only got a few months in the mission. We've been working super hard, talking to tons of people and finding new investigators. I don't know how many baptisms we will be able to get because there's a ton of people that we have dates with but I don't exactly know for how sure they are since I'm just getting to know the people. And no one came to church yesterday so that was hard too....But we are still working super hard and the days are flying by! Just this week was pretty long. I'll try to get some pictures of the jungle areas to show you guys but we'll see how that goes haaha. I love and miss you all so much! I'm doing great and eating lots of pupusas! Which reminds me! We went to a members house the other day and they asked how many we wanted and it was all free. I said 7 because I wasn't for sure how big they would be...that was a mistake. I could have eaten about 3 or 4 more but they were sooo good. They also gave us an ice cream sandwich. 

I love you all!

Love Elder Markham

Another Baptism...but more importantly Garrett's testimony of why he is there. And PICTURES!

Hey family!

I hope you all got that picture! Yep we had a baptism this Saturday for Salvador Hernandez. He is super great! This area hasn't had a baptism for about a year until now. Salvador was being taught for 3 changes before we finally baptized him. That's about 18 weeks haha. When I got to the area he had almost all the lessons, he just had tons of questions and was scared to be baptized. Me and my companion had been teaching him and trying to help him these past 6 weeks. We had that meeting with our mission President a little bit ago and received some great revelations for our area. We went to his house a little after and told him that we were just going to share a quick lesson with him that day then after the lesson we did a direct invitation to be baptized the following Saturday and he accepted and was baptized! It was super great to hear his story because I found out that the Lord had been preparing him for years!!!! When he was 18 his friend, who was a girl, was taking the lessons and since there wasn't a man he was just there so that they could have a man over 18 years old for the lesson. But he never really got into it too much until someone gave him a Book of Mormon a little bit ago. It was awesome! He asked me to baptize him and confirm him. It was a really great experience. There isn't much going on except we've finished another change. There's some crazy huge ants outside that when they are walking around with their wings out, they look like Dragons!!! They only come out this time of year and are super scary haha. There was also this cute little girl with frozen pajamas at one of our lessons. I showed her the picture of Mayli and Elena (Garrett's nieces) and said that it was little Elsa and Ana. She took it and was amazed haha. Well I'm excited to hear from all of you this week. I love you all!

Love Elder Markham

** Momma's Note:

I shared the news and story with Garrett about the miracle we witnessed as a family this past week in seeing his cousin get hit by a car, and go from life support to having the Dr.'s expect a full recovery although it will be a very long and painful one.  I told Garrett up front that his cousin would be ok, and then shared the details.  He said it was so much different getting the news like that so far from home, and wishes the best for his cousin as he will now join in our prayers for his full recovery, and also giving thanks for the miracle that he survived.

Garrett and I have an opportunity to exchange some more personal messages through email.  I keep them close to my heart and they truly make my whole Monday the best day of the week!  But I would like to share one of them that he sent this past Monday.  He shares his testimony of what he is truly learning as a missionary for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...and I wanted to share it with those who read his blog.  I am so proud of his service!

Thanks, I hope we can go again soon! It's such a great time at the temple! I love this work mom. I have learned so much and grown and changed. I look back and realize all the changes in my life before my mission that I should have done. But I know that this is one of the reasons I am here for two years. To convert myself. I love you so much mom. And even though we walk up hills for 4 hours straight sometimes, there is no other place I'd rather be. You guys are what keep me going and the few people here that we teach. I have to go but I love you so much!

Love Elder Markham

Garrett and his companion Elder Aranda at the baptism of Salvador Hernandez

Garrett at the El Salvador Temple...where he finds great peace

The El Salvador Temple

Huge "creepy ant things that look like Dragons!"

Will Garrett play college ball when he returns?

I get asked that a lot....Here is a good article that explains what an LDS athlete missionary does for the two years he is serving...if you are interested.


http://www.vanquishthefoe.com/2015/5/9/8564195/guide-what-athletes-do-on-lds-mormon-missions-trips-hint-not-professional-training-or-weightlifting


Linda