The importance of keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

Hey Family!

Wow, I've never been so tired in my life haha. I forgot to tell you last pday but once again we were out of water. We didn't have water for another week and a half! Luckily yesterday we had water in the morning before going to church!

We have been teaching lots of people! We have about 9 or so lessons a day with less active members and investigators and each lesson has about 4 or more people. There are two families that we are going to teach today that have daughters ages 9 and 13 that haven't been baptized yet. The families are members, just not the kids. So we should have those two baptisms pretty soon. 

While studying this week and teaching lots of people about the Sabbath day I learned some cool things and was also really grateful for the example that mom and dad set for us in helping us get to church every Sunday. I like what it talks about in Doctrine and Covenants 59:9 about how the Sabbath day cleans us and we will be without mancha (stain??). I can't remember what that means in English but you can look it up haha. It's sad when people choose not to go because we have to see the blessings that they lose. But it's rewarding to see the huge blessings they receive when they go! SO thanks Mom and Dad for everything!

I miss you all and can't wait to talk on Mothers day! 

Love Elder Markham

Some changes and getting excited for Mother's Day!

Hey Family!

I don't have too much time today, but real quick we had a great week. I was kinda sad though because Elder Togisala had emergency changes and went to San Patricio where I was before I came here to Valle Nuevo. My new companion is Elder Hernandez from Guatemala. He has 11 months in the mission and he's a great missionary! Kevin passed his interview for his baptism! Ana didn't because she still has a few things to work on but said he can get baptized this week. 

On Tuesday we went to the temple! It was awesome! I love going to the temple! It's one of the things I love most! I was able to get one of the really big Book of Mormons for Jenifer. She's the less active we found last week that hasn't been able to go to church for her eyes. But we were also able to teach her sister. Her sister is awesome! She has a huge desire to do what is right. They have both been reading in the Book of Mormon like crazy and they understand so well! They both went to church yesterday and I'm sure she'll get baptized in May. She has a date for the 14th.

It's crazy to see the time go by so fast. Everything is going great! I'm happy, healthy and nothing could be better! I miss you all so much! Just a bit more until Mothers day (The only day besides Christmas that we get to talk to Garrett)! Love ya all!

Love Elder Markham

Small miracles that become Big...

Hey family!

It was a pretty good week this week. This week we will be doing Ana and Kevin's interview for their baptism next week! She's ready but just a little scared for the big commitment. Her and Kevin went with us yesterday to church. We are teaching another sister named Linda and her daughter Camila. They are really awesome! Camila is only 8 but she likes to listen. Linda lives with her mom and brother but they don't really want to listen much. Linda said that they would go to church with us Sunday. But when we got to her house in the morning she was sleeping and her brother didn't want to wake her up. But a little after sacrament meeting during the Gospel principles class, they showed up! It was awesome that they came! Linda wants to go to a church to help her daughter. She accepted a date to be baptized  the first week of May! 

We had an awesome experience this week. Last week we were looking for a man named Jose Duran. But he lives in a gated area and unless you have a visit it's hard to get in. So the guy at the door didn't let us in. But this week we found his daughters address in the ward directory and saw that her birthday was Friday. Jose isn't a member. So we went there a little later in the day Friday and there was a different guy there. We said we were going to visit her and gave him the direction. He let us in and said that he thought the last passage was hers. We went down there but as we were walking we noticed that the numbers were too big so we thought it would be another one. As we turned around there was a little girl looking at us and I felt really strongly that we needed to talk to her. I asked her if she knew Alexis and she said she moved. But that her dad (Jose) still lived there. She took us to his house but he wasn't there. I then asked how she knew her. She said that her sister was listening to other missionaries and that Alexis always brought her sister to our church. We then asked if we could see her sister and went back to her house. We met her sister and she started to tell us how she has been wanting to go back to church but her mom doesn't let her because she has an eye problem where her vision goes away suddenly and can't see. Her mom only trusted that her friend (Jose's daughter Alexis) took her to church. We put a visit with her to go back and we are planning on trying to meet her mom and uncle to see what we can do to get her to church. It's awesome how God has helped us to find His children in need. After we talked to her, her sister came out of nowhere again and told us that Jose came back so we were able to meet him as well! He's not a member but he will be soon!

I love and miss you all! 

Love Elder Markham

Continuing to learn and always striving to be better

Hey Family!

This week was a huge learning week! I loved the talks from this week especially the ones in the Priesthood session! I learned more than anything else what I need to change in my life to be a more powerful missionary and priesthood holder. I have already tried putting these things in practice and I've already been able to see a few changes. I'm so grateful for General Conference and the words of the living prophets! And I didn't know Grandpa was a poet! haha....I don't know if you saw the session when someone shared a poem from Edwin Markham...

Well we haven't had water for about a week now. The whole area where we live hasn't had water so I guess while we were out visiting a truck came by and started selling water to everyone. Some members live real close to us so they're going to be helping us out a bit haha.

Rodolfo has his testimony and is ready to get baptized! He believes that the church is true and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God! We are getting ready for his baptism here in a couple weeks! He is doing great! The thing that I like most about teaching him is about the Savior and repentance because the Spirit is always so strong. He has a huge desire to change his life. I can see the happiness it brings him and that is what the mission is all about. Bringing others unto Christ through faith, repentance, baptism and entering the temple. I love being here and being able to help so many people! I love and miss you all!.....like always! haha

Love Elder Markham

*Garrett says they have drinking water...but that's it.  He appreciates things more when living under hard conditions.

Pics sent by Elder Togisala (his mom Amber)

Elder Togisala and Garrett

Lots of baptisms and getting excited for General Conference!

Hey Family!

It was one of the best weeks ever! Carlos was baptized and confirmed this last weekend! He was really happy! There were a lot of members that were there to support him. Now our plan is to visit him Wednesday and teach him about the Priesthood so that he can have his interview with the Bishop and receive the Priesthood here soon! 

Ana, Kevin, Rodolfo and Sergio all went to church yesterday! It was so awesome! They are all preparing for their baptisms in April. We had to change Rodolfo's date to the 23rd because he drank coffee. But he said that he felt so bad inside and that he wouldn't do it anymore. He also loves reading the Book of Mormon because he says it helps him be happy and have the energy to get stuff done. Ana and Kevin just need their interview this week and go to conference. Then they will be baptized on the 9th! This week we will also be making sure that they have received their testimony. They say they are reading alot and praying. They feel good as they pray but haven't gotten an answer. But we will help them be able to recognize that that is their answer.

Wednesday we had another temple trip where we bring all our investigators to the temple and also less actives. They loved it! I was also Nephi again. The news was there so maybe you might find me on the news from here! haha but it was awesome because I got to see a ton of people from my other areas. But guess what! Elder Custodio was there! He visited from Guatemala! It was great to see him. Later I went on divisions with the Zone Leaders in Alta Vista. And for dinner we went to the Zepeda Family! IT was so cool to go back and visit with them. They were all so happy to see me and saying how I could actually speak Spanish now and stuff. It was so fun.

I am so excited for General Conference! Its going to be amazing. I love listening to the prophets. I know that the words we hear from them come from God! I love you all so much!

Love Elder Markham

Please join us this weekend April 2nd and 3rd watching General conference on BYUTV or cable networks April 2nd at 9:00-11:00 am and 1:00-3:00 pm and Sunday the 3rd at 9:00-11:00 am and 1:00-3:00 pm

Find out more at www.lds.org or at mormon.org

General conferences are the semiannual worldwide gatherings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Church members gather to receive guidance and encouragement from Church leaders about gospel living based on the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Pictures from Elder Togisala's Mom Amber:  Garrett looks very happy, but too skinny!  I can't wait to have him home to put some muscle back on him!

And Garrett got to visit his friend Karen Martinez (Zepeda Family) who sent me these pictures!

The service he does....

Hey Family!

Well, Pati wasn't able to get baptized this week because she wanted a little bit more time. It's really hard to have lessons with her but we should be able to help her to get baptized soon. We had Carlos' interview on Saturday and he passed! He will be getting baptized at 5 pm Saturday afternoon by Fidel Hernandez. He's the Gospel Principles class teacher. He's really great and funny. Carlos says he's kinda nervous but also really excited. Rodolfo is really progressing as well. He stopped drinking coffee and Alcohol the first day we taught him the Word of Wisdom. At first he kept saying it was kinda hard, but now he says that he feels really blessed. Then we asked if he read the first chapter of the Book of Mormon that we left for him to read. He said yes, then we asked if he would read the second chapter before the next visit and he responded, "well actually I was just thinking about reading a chapter a day". It was awesome! He wasn't able to go to church this week though because of an emergency. We still aren't sure what happened because we haven't been able to talk to him since. All we know is that he called his friend Ismael at 2 in the morning and said he had an emergency with his family and had to leave. We have a visit with him tomorrow if we can't get a hold of him tonight.

You guys will never believe but on Wednesday we went to the movies!!!!! haha we went to see "The Resurrection of Christ". It was awesome and had some great things in it that talked about the Living Christ. President Vasques says that he's going to get us all a copy of it! Have any of you seen or heard about it yet?

Well I love you all tons! And miss you so much!

Love Elder Markham

**  While Garrett serves his two year mission, he is not allowed to go to movies, go on dates, watch TV or anything that is not related to teaching the Gospel or serving others and Christ...so that is why he made a joke about "going to the movies".  Here is a link to explain a little bit about what Garrett is doing in El Salvador.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-02-2000-mormon-missionaries?lang=eng

Garrett will stay in this area for a while

Hey Family!

Well they told us changes this morning. I'm staying here in this area and my companion has changes. I'm glad I get to stay here so that I can see the fruits of the area this change. I don't know if you got the pictures from the baptism on Saturday. But the sister missionaries in my district had a man named Ciro that they were teaching. They had been teaching him for over a year and he was always too scared to get baptized. I told the sisters to get a visit set up in the church so that I could meet him and talk to him. But they said better yet why don't we just do his interview to show him that he's ready. So last Sunday I did the interview. He was soooo ready with a huge testimony of the Sacrament. He really wanted to change many things he did before. After I interviewed him I told him he was ready and asked if he would like to get baptized the next Saturday. He accepted! The sisters then passed by his house to set up a time and get the things ready. They called me after and said that he wanted me to baptize him. It was awesome! I think Elder Togisala tried sending some of the pics. He also says hi!

I did a lot of interchanges this week because last week I wasn't able to. It was fun and I was able to learn some stuff from the other missionaries! We also did the choque de fuerza in my area this week so we had a ton new investigators this week. Yesterday Carlos, Ana, and Kevin went to church! They have their baptismal date for the 26th. Kevin is the son of Ana, and Carlos is a guy that my companion and his old companion started teaching last change but then they couldn't find him in his house anymore. After a few weeks here he just randomly showed up at church and we put a visit with him. He answers all the questions in the gospel principles classes! 

Well I have to go but I love you all tons!

Love Elder Markham