April 28, 2014

   This weeks email Tracie talked about the cold front that we just experienced. She talked about how we went with the Smith's to see Vocal Point and how awesome it was. She also suggested that he goes to school at BYU and join the group. Tracie let Kyle know that Stephen Smith just opened his mission call letter and he will be serving in Honolulu, Hawaii.

hola!!!
 

 so you had a cold front come through?? haha here it hasnt even gotten to the 70s yet!! haha vocal point is awesome!!! Elder holtry has them on is ipod! we listen to them all the time! my week has been pretty good. We had a hard time seeing people. A lot of people weren't home or were too busy to have us over to teach a lesson. We were able to see David and he is very solid for may 10th. Joey and Maddy are progressing quite well! We are still trying to help Maddy quit smoking. She has cut back a ton since we first started teaching her! She is down to only smoking 2 a day! We talked with her about choosing a baptismal date but she said that once she quits she will pick a day for baptism. Other than that we are working hard here in Kent! i love and miss everyone!!!

         -Elder Garr

Here are more picture from Kyle. He seems to think his mission shoes will last another 6 months. Kyle also sent to videos that I will try uploading. Yes, he is still a boy at heart!!!

April 21, 2014

  Tracie's email was all about Easter. Did you go to the Ward Easter egg hunt? Did you get an Easter dinner?...   She also talked about a random text that was sent to her phone from someone from Washington.

hola!

yes i got my basket. our ward didnt have a breakfast and egg hunt. we had dinner at a members on easter. the random text was from sister Mcleod! she is an awesome member! we were talking and she had said that elder holtrys mom had gotten on his and accepted friend requests and she looked at me and said "ya were still not friends." so then i told her to text you :P and within 5 mins she was like "hey were friends!!" ive been good :) elder holtry and i are just getting over a sickness but oh well :P my eye still kills.. my knees are fine. and my ankle is questionable...

i think that covers all of the questions asked in this letter ;) 

  this past week has been awesome! We are still working with Joey and Maddy and helping them to live the word of wisdom. They are struggling but we can see that they really want this and its just going to take time to ease off of smoking. They have already made progress. Maddy went from smoking 6-8 a day and now she is down to 2 a day. Our other investigator David is awesome. He has seen the hand of the lord in his life and can recognize the help that he is getting. He is dating a member down in Lakewood and she takes him to church every Sunday and he loves it! When he first started meeting with us he told us that in order for him to be baptized there were a couple of things that would have to fall into place. As we met he told us about how those "things" have all fallen into place and that everything is working out. This is what missionary work is all about. Helping others recognize the hand of the lord in their life and helping them take the steps to gain salvation. Kent is the best! We are helping the members out with their missionary work and you can tell that they are getting excited about it!

i love and miss everyone!!!

                       -Elder Garr

We also received more pictures from Kyle this week.

the first one is a note from Averi.

the second one is a picture that Averi drew me

the third on is an easter card from Averi

the fourth one is the inside of the easter card from Averi :)

Averi is an 8 yr old girl in our ward and her mom has said that she has a crush on me and my last comp. elder Grandstaff. its pretty funny! everytime we go over there she draws us something :) she was the only person to give me a valentine :P bunch of slackers :P love everyone!!!

April 14, 2014

This weeks email Tracie talked about how the driving lessons are going well with Kinlee. She also mentioned how Lexi burped at the table and was soooo proud of it that she asked for a rating. Kinlee said it was a 4. Lexi was so mad that she told Kinlee she'd like to see her try and burp a 4.

hola!

sounds like things back home are pretty awesome! all i have to say about lexi....i give it a 7 1/2... glad to hear that your bedroom is finally painted! 

for the first time in a long time Elder Holtry and I got SUNBURNED!!!!! it was great! we both got a little color back haha! we did yard work for a member and the sun was out and shining!! 

so things out here in the frontlines are pretty legit! we have a potential of 4 baptisms this transfer!!! We already had one last week! then we have another one that is solid for May 10th. i hope that i get to stay in this area for a while! i love the ward and all the people here in kent! i could finish my mission in this ward! so we are working with this couple named Joey and Maddy and they are pretty awesome! they are committed for the 10th of may as well! other than that we have been doing quite a bit of service! (hence why we got sunburned!) haha so how are things going for everyone back in az!!??!! lemme know whats up! 

            -Elder Garr  

April 7, 2014

   This weeks email to Kyle mentioned the hot weather here in AZ and how she would love to have Washington's weather. Tracie also mentioned that Sydney Frost only has six months left on her mission. She also mentioned how Lexi and a friend ran the 5k Hope Run and how well she did. Also told Kyle how Kinlee now has her permit and how teaching her to drive has been an experience. It was April Fool's this past week and the girls decided to pull a joke on Tracie.

hola!!

glad to hear that everything is going well back home!! haha im just glad im out serving a mission while kinlee is learning to drive and hopefully i will be moved out when lexi starts to drive! because thats going to be scary!! if you go see sister turley tell her that i love her!!!! haha sounds like you had a good april fools day!!! and they get the jokesterness from me haha!!!! at least im claiming that they do! so for the saturday session we watched conference at the stake center! then for the sunday session we watched the first session with my recent convert josh! the second session we watched with some less active members! 

so, on the bright side of things...... we just had a baptism yesterday!!!! his name is Jeb and we have been working with him for 4 transfers! we should be having another baptism here soon!! super awesome!! kent is booming!! i love this ward and all the people that we are working with! i will send pics home of the baptism!! sorry its a short email but im running out of time to send the pics!! haha i love and miss everyone! 

                                 -Elder Garr

We also received some more pictures from Kyle.

the first is of last transfers district!! from left to right its: Elders Solomon, Holtry, Me, Rogers, Sisters Sheffer, Dudek, Goble, Pearson!

 the next one is of Elder Holtry...he got tired and fell asleep on his rubiks cube!! gotta love the square imprints on his forehead when he woke up!!

so the first two are of my pinewood derby car!! (sis Heslop will like this!!) 

    -our elders quorum had an adult pinewood derby and we were allowed to participate!! i took 3rd place in the anything goes category!

the next one is of Jebadaih, Elder Holtry, and Me!! he was baptized on the 6th of April! the day the church was established! super cool!!!

March 24, 2014

I can't find Tracie's email so I will just post Kyle's short but sweet email.

this week has been pretty awesome! our investigator David decided to be baptized!!! he has chosen the date of April 6th!!!! we are still working with him and helping him prepare for that day!!! we also have to other investigators that have chosen to be baptized on the 3rd of may!! elder holtry and i are being blessed with people that are prepared!! this is the best part of missionary work!!!! we went over to allisons house to do service again!!! it was pretty awesome! we cut down a huge part of a giant tree!! it was pretty sweet!! im having Allison email them to me and i will forward them or she will just put them on Facebook!! sorry this weeks is kinda short but im running out of time :P i love and miss everyone!!!

                   -Elder Garr


We did receive a few pictures this week from Kyle. These are from the service he and his companion did at Allison's.

March 17,2014

   This week Tracie talked about Lexi getting a new bed and Kinlee going to the DMV to take the test for her driving permit. She also mentioned how she received a friend request on Facebook from someone in Washington. Tracie also told Kyle how she rocked an awesome sharing time.

hola!!

thanks for sending off my package...haha Allison is the best! we have been doing service over at her house. when Olivia commented on that kid history video allison watched it right away and then texted me saying she was dying of laughter!! she is pretty awesome! she is making us beanies and crocheting us ties!! i miss being up in trees! it was pretty fun but kinda sketchy because it was windy and i almost died at least 4 times haha!!! oh here is a real funny story. so we have to give our car to the hermanas at night because it is a new rule that sisters have to be in a car when its dark. well we gave the car up and then started walking to a members house. we visited with them and then asked them how to get to this other members house the fastest. so she gave us directions and we were on our way. well we missed one of the turns we were supposed to take and then went about 7 mins in the wrong way! so now it is about 8:35 pm and we dont have our car and we are about a 40 minute walk from our apartment. well we decided that we needed to run to this members house because if the husband wasnt home then we had a long run to make it back before our curfew. so as we were running to this members house i started to rain pretty hard and it was dark and i managed to blow out my ankle!! yup thats right i rolled it hard! i stepped in a pot hole and then i heard a pop! thankfully the member we were going to see was home and he was able to give us a ride!! i couldnt put weight on it for 2 days! and then at church i was gimpy and everyone was like what happened?? so then i had to explain the story at least 37 1/2 times! but all is well. i dont think its too bad...we will see in a couple of weeks!! well i love and miss everyone!!

                        -Elder Garr

oh and the ponkeke recipe is:

 2 cups flour

 4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

 1 can crushed pineapple

mix all ingredients. make consistency thick but not too thick. shouldnt be soupy.

get oil up to 375 degrees

cook until golden brown on outside and not doughy in the center. 

use an ice cream scoop to get into balls to drop into oil. (pampered chef cookie dough scoop with the little scrapper that moves when you squeeze the handle works best)

if oil is too hot the outside will burn and the inside will be doughy. start low on the oil and work your way up until you figure it out!

March 10, 2014

    Tracie's email this week mentioned all the necessities we were getting ready to ship up to Kyle. Some items were requested and others were just cause we care. She mentioned a new pizza place called Fired Pie that just opened up and how awesome the pizza is. Tracie also mentioned that we saw the movie Son of God and how good it was. Oh, we received two separate emails this week.

sounds like you and dad had some fun! nah missionaries arent allowed to even see those movies :( we get to watch the Testaments and other cheesy church movies :P Elder Holtry and i have memorized all the lines to the Testaments :P thats what we do with our spare time :P haha so i watched the temple dedication video on lds.org and its pretty amazing!! somethings funny is that song that everyone played on the ukulele...i learned out here and its one of my favorite songs to play :P haha i can teach Lexi when i get home :) ive also learned a couple of other songs :) i love playing the ukulele! 

so fun story! i got to speak in sacrament meeting yesterday!! i spoke on missionary work! everyone said that i did a good job speaking :) i had 20 mins to fill and so i just didnt look at the clock. then randomly i looked at the time and all of my time was up and i still had some material to go over haha! you will get the recipe for Ponkeke  next week :) i dont have it on me :P i love washington! 

                   -Elder Garr

so i learned a new song on the ukulele!! have you ever heard of "Tears in Heaven" ? its by Eric Clapton. There is a samoan family that the wife is a member and her husband is a nonmember so we go over and teach him but their son Junior (also a nonmember) told us that if we learned how to play that song then he would come to church! well haha i learned it :P so now this wednesday i will go over and show him it so he can come to church haha!!! its now my favorite song!

March 3, 2014

    The email to Kyle talked about the cultural celebration and the great experience both of his sisters had. It also had some details on what had happened at the Garr house during the week.

hola!!!

  gotta love those sunday naps....oh wait...we dont get those :P sounds like the temple celebration was awesome!!! bummed i wasnt there. but im where i need to be :) 

To my dear sister Lexi: yes......i would have killed you....love you though!!!

haha so this week we went and talked with some less active members. some have committed to come back to church. we will have to see this Sunday :) hopefully they stay true to their word! so a fun story from this week is that a while ago a Samoan member gave us a recipe for Ponkeke!!!! it is the best thing on the face of the planet! but last night we went to the fletchers for dinner and had Hawaiian haystacks!! they were so boss! but after they let me use their deep fryer and make ponkeke! so we had some leftovers and we took them over to this samoan families house and they ate them up!! i am a true samoan!!!! Joe Le'atu (the father) told me that they almost tasted like his wifes!! that made me pretty happy! they are the best! they told Elder Grandstaff and I that we will always be part of their family! we are their favorite missionaries! so my companion is still Elder Holtry. He is from south jordan Utah. we get along pretty good! i still play the piano and the ukulele every chance i get. since i have an uke in the apartment i pick that up and play almost daily! i love music! oh that reminds me! so at our baptism of Andrew and Averi I was asked to play a musical number. well a set of sisters in our district brought one of their investigators. after the baptism he came up to me and asked if i would play at his baptism!! he loved the song so much that he bought it on his iphone!!! he shows everyone that he knows that song! i love the way music impacts peoples lives!! i love missionary work! 

                                   -Elder Garr