February 23, 2014

hola!

i got your package!! thank you very much! this week has been pretty good! we haev been working with some great people! there is a lady that we have started to teach. her name is Wendy and she is a mother of 7 kids and just before christmas her husband walked out on her and left. she is going through a rough time with the whole situation and looking for answers! luckily we were there to answer them! i love making an impact in peoples lives!! other than that we have changed some things. the way we teach is totally different! the weather up here is pretty awesome! it rains almost everyday!! and its only around 45 degrees! i love it up here...but i probably wouldnt move up here :P i love being a missionary!! 

               -Elder Garr

this is Elder Holtry...he is a bit creepy...just kidding he is awesome!!

this is me...i was bored so i sat on the ground...

More February 18, 2014

 

More Pics from Kyle's email on Feb. 18

Andrew and I

Elder Grandstaff when he gets bored

My snowman i built on a members car

February 18, 2014

Here's how Kyle's mom's letter started.

         Ok...this is how this letter is starting!!!!!! Dad and I prayed about the motorcycle that you want... Its a big fat hairy NO!
Love you!! :)
Your option was Jetta or Civic for your CAR when you get back.... Not a deathmobile! ERG

so i dont think that you and dad prayed...i think the mother inside of you is coming out trying to protect me ;) im still not sure about the car though. im thinking jetta but i love my car. its been pretty nice up here! its low 50s and its awesome! sounds like you had fun at grandmas! oh speaking of grandma how is her eye doing?? a little bird told my that she lost sight for a little while in one of her eyes!!! like thats something you leave out in a letter to someone who is away from home and out of the loop :P haha whats up with her?? so no i did not get the package because of transfers...oh by the way im not getting transferred. im staying in the scenic hill ward for at least another 6 weeks!! i love it here in kent! its ghetto!! there has been 3 shootings since ive been here! (mom just ignore that last sentence...) other than that things here are awesome! we are teaching a lot of people that dont speak english! we have committed Chinee and Dah and their 10 yr old daughter Wasa to be baptized on the 15th of march! they are from burma and speak very little english! we use their daughter as a translator sometimes. to invite them to be baptized we were using Google Translate! it was pretty neat! Its pretty great! i love it up here in the great state of Washington!  i love and miss everyone!!

                -Elder Garr

we were knocking on doors and we say this sign 

the other one is of a boy named Daniel. he is crazy out of control... but he was in my shoe

we had a baptism a couple of weeks ago and the pics are of us and the kids

and then add in the grandma and mom

February 10, 2014

hey!!

its crazy to think that this is my last summer while on my mission! time flies when you are teaching the message of the restoration to everyone! this past week has been pretty awesome! we have a lot of potential in this area and we are trying to find what we can do better to help them feel the spirit more in their life. we should be having another baptism coming up shortly!! something interesting this past friday was we had a ward potluck and Elder Grandstaff and i got hit on by two 8yr old little girls...it was weird.
So the question you asked... i have no clue on how to answer it. i love my car but the jetta is a lot nicer... but my car has memories!! (dont worry mom, nothing bad) just good times with friends! so im not sure. i will have to converse with the spirit on that one :P would i be taking the car with me if i moved out?? or how would that work?? as you know i would like to get a motorcycle :) nothing to fancy just a Kawasaki ZX10 ;) anyway... i love and miss everyone!!

            -Elder Garr

February 3, 2014

i cant believe that you almost forgot to write me :P sounds like you had a very interesting day!! and a fun one at that!! sorry to hear that dad is sick :( hope he gets feeling better :) im pretty much over my cold/sickness :P thanks for the thought of the cold medicine though haha i miss costa vida!! they dont have them up here in washington :( they do not let the missionaries watch the Super Bowl :P but man was it crazy last night!!! we found out that the Seahawks won and the whole town/state went nuts!!! there was fireworks going off and people were driving around after the game just honking their horns and yelling out the windows!! it was pretty intense...like camping... haha. ya i remember Sister Heslop saying that when i was back in az :) 

  other news from out here in the great state of Washington is that we...............drum roll please.............. had a baptism!!!! Andrew (11) and Averi (8) were baptized this past saturday and then they were confirmed in sacrament meeting. Andrew asked me to baptize him and Elder Grandstaff to confirm him, and Averi asked Elder Grandstaff to baptize her and for me to confirm her!!!! it was neat to see them make this step in their life!!! then our recent convert Josh got the priesthood yesterday!!!!!!! he is awesome! Josh asked me to be the one to confer the priesthood to him!! i didnt think i would be doing that for another 15 years when i had a kid of my own that turned 12 :P it was an awesome experience to do it though. This area in scenic hill has a lot of potential so we are working hard to find those people that the lord has prepared!! love and miss everyone!!

                                               -Elder Garr

January 21, 2014

today we went through the temple and it was amazing!! have you seen the new video in the temple??? its amazing! there is so much more emotion in the video its awesome! if you havent been to the temple in a while you should go!! thats my challenge to you :) go to the temple at least once a month ;) you can do it and i know that you will see the blessings from going on a regular basis. its hard on a mission because we only get to go once a year and thats rough. so thats my challenge to you!! dont let me down. im going to keep bugging you about it :P love ya!!!!

            -Elder Garr

January 13, 2014

hola!
 

  sounds like you had a blast without me...:P haha oh well :) im havin fun teaching people the restored gospel!!! haha this week has been pretty awesome! we are teaching people from napal and Burma!! they both speak very little English so its kind of hard to teach them. but we are learning napali!! one of the investigators that speaks better English is going to write down napali to English translations!! so we can learn that! all we can say is "hello" "goodbye" "how are you" "where are you from" and other little words :) its pretty fun! Kent is very diverse. we had interviews with our mission president and he was telling me some stats about Kent. 

   In Kent there are roughly 123,000 people as of the 2012 census.

   Out of that 37.2% speak a different language than English, and 26.9% are foreign born.

that's Kent for ya :P pretty diverse. but its fun trying to learn other languages!! and the people love it when you sound as white as possible!! its pretty funny. or when you make hand gestures when you woke them up or they don't understand :P its awesome!! other than that we have been knocking on lots of doors!! i love it! 

             -Elder Garr

January 7, 2014

sounds like you had a fun new years!!! We stayed up super late to welcome the new year!!! we were up till 10:30pm!!!! haha holidays just arent the same when you are on a mission. its just another day of missionary work! we go out and find people! and with the new year a ton of people were a little drunk so that was interesting! so funny story, yesterday we were tracting in our apt complex and we knocked on this spanish ladys door who knew a little english. so we tried talking to her in spanish and it was weird cuz random spanish words would pop into my head when i was talking with her!! But guess what!!!!!!!!! JOSH WAS BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!! is was such an amazing baptism. the spirit was super strong! and this past sunday he was talking with the bishop and the bishop asked him to say the opening prayer in sacrament meeting this next sunday!! he is flippin out haha because he doesnt like to be the center of attention! he almost didnt get baptized because everyone would be staring at him! he told us that he wanted to tell the bishop no so badly but something inside of him said yes! hes already recognizing the spirit in his life and it is awesome!! 

  very rarely do people pay for our meals :P i have had it once and that was by a non member who talked to us and then bought us some McDonalds!! but other than that no one has payed for a meal unexpectedly :P oh well! i love being a missionary!!!

             -Elder Garr

the first picture is of Elder Grandstaff! rockin a model pose!!

the second one is of Josh's Baptism!!! Josh is the tall one in the back