Love the MTC!

Happy Fourth of July Week!

Hey y'all!

 

Happy Fourth of July yesterday! It was such a fun day. Hope you got all the pictures I sent. They had a special devotional last night for us, and then we got to watch 17 Miracles! After that they had icecream and we got to watch the fireworks from the Stadium. We were all cramped in the south corner of the MTC, but it was so fun watching from there. I am so proud to be an American and am so thankful for the freedoms we have. We talked a lot about how the Restoration of the gospel would not have been possible if it were not for the founding of this great nation. How lucky we are!

 

While we were watching 17 miracles, I made a list of "My 17 miracles," I have seen in my life! It was fun reflecting back on how the Lord has blessed me so much in my life, and I know it is way more than just 17 times! More like 17 times a day. But anyways, I spent some of my personal study time this morning studying about miracles. I love reading about all the miracles Christ performed in the bible. And I love how miracles always work according to our faith. In the bible dictionary under "miracles," it says that miracles are manifestations of divine or spiritual power. I was thinking about this, and Elaine being born was definitely a manifestation of Divine power, as I felt the love of God so strong as I prayed for comfort and as we were together as a family. This helped me learn the divine truth of eternal families, of Heavenly Father's plan for his children, and of the power of the Atonement. Because of the resurrection we will all live again, reunited both body and spirit to stand before God. I know we will see Elaine again, and that is possible because of Jesus Christ!

 

On Sunday we had Sheri Dew come and talk to us in Relief Society! She was such a powerful speaker and I took so many notes. One of my favorite parts was when she said, "Conversion requires immersion." Just like we need to be immersed in water to be baptized like Christ was, to be fully converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, we need to be immersed in his teachings. We need to be continuously learning about him, and applying his teachings to our lives. She also likened it to learning another languge. The only way I am going to learn Spanish is by being immersed in it and practicing it as much as I possibly can! The same is true with the language of the Spirit. In order to be able to hear and follow promptings from the Holy Ghost, we need to continously be working at understanding how the Spirit speaks to us and then have the faith to follow those promptings!

 

I am so happy to be here, and am learning and growing so much everyday! Today we are supposed to get our "travel plans," and then next week reassignments I think if our Visas are not in. I can't believe my time here at the MTC is coming to an end! It has flown by. Our district really has become like a family. We love each other so much and it is going to be hard saying bye to all them in a couples weeks. I am so grateful for all I learn here. I can't wait to see what is in store in the future! The future is as bright as your faith! Have a great week!

 

Love, Hermana Garlick

The Week of all Weeks!!

Dear Fam,

 

I can't believe all that has happened this week! It has been absolutely the greatest! Singing in the world wide missionary broadcast was probably one of the neatest experiences ever!!! We were on the 4th row, about 20 feet away from the general authorities! no big deal. Hermana Gutierrez is so funny she said, "We are so lucky, we get to see the back of their heads!!" haha, she's right, not many people can say that. Elder Nelson kept looking back at us and waving, it was so great! Singing was such a great spiritual experience. When we practiced earlier in the week singing "Hark all ye Nations," the choir director had us all stand up on different lines of the song, according to which continent we were going to on our missions. It was so neat seeing all of us gradually standing, representing where we were serving! Finally at the end when we were all standing you could feel the power of all the missionaries. It was so neat. During the actual broadcast, the camera man came right to our row?!?!?! hahaha Everyone was so jealous! It was the ultimate adreniline rush. haha I'm glad we didn't forget the last word to the song, "tooo-day" How crazy is that though! What a fun thing to always remember! It was fun reading about Dad's reaction yelling out my name at church! haha I can just picture it! The meeting was so great and got me even more excited to be a missionary! The other way fun thing was during our break Hna Gutierrez and I went out to get a drink, and I got to see JESS AND KELL!!!! AHHH It was the greatest thing ever, seeing mi hermanas!!! And then Travis too! Even though it was only for a few seconds, it made me so so happy! :)

 

Thanks so much for the letters, packages, and "dear elder" letters, and emails! It's so weird not having a phone and only being able to get on the computer once a week. Getting letters is the greatest thing ever! Thanks so much!!

 

Another great thing that happened this week, was our devotional on Tuesday night! Janice Kapp Perry came and spoke to us-the one who wrote, "As Sister's in Zion," and the missionary version I typed and sent in my last email! She also wrote all my favorite primary songs, including, "I'm trying to be like Jesus," "A Child's Prayer," and "I love to see the temple." She taught us about the power of music. I really liked what she said, she said, "We can learn things through music that would otherwise take much longer to learn." I have definitely grown in my testimonty and learned so much through these songs she has written, along with the hymns! We got to sing a medly of all the songs she has written all together with her leading. That was such an amazing experience! At the end, she sang a song she wrote that's called "Like Jesus," that is her testimony! Before she sang it, she said, "pretend like I'm your grandma." That was so sweet, and made me think of how greatful I am for my Grandmas! Thanks Grandma Blake, Grandma Garlick, and Grandma M for being such incredible examples to me and for your love and support! I'm so lucky!

We love p-days! We went to the temple this morning, and we are about to go to our zone picnic we have. Last week an Elder in our zone rapped to us about his conversion story. It was so funny! haha It's fun getting to know so many people that are all doing the same thing!

 

Lots of people are getting sick here, so we are not even allowed to shake hands! A Hermana in my district got sick, but she is better now! Hopefully we will stay away from the sickness!

 

I'm so happy with the food here, mainly becuase they have two of my favorite things, Life and Peanut Butter. I also really like the wraps they serve almost every day, it's like subway style but with a chicken wrap. yum!

 

One of my teachers here, Hermano Christofferson, gave us this really great quote: "We are not earning our way to heaven, we are learning our way there." How true is that! Each day we learn how to be more christlike, how to rely on the atonement more, and how to best serve others and to do our best! I've been studying charity, or the pure love of christ more. I thought how charity is kind of like making cookies. It takes time, effort, sometimes it's not perfect, but the effects of our charity blesses others and makes them want to bless others too! Also, the more ingredients you have for cookies, the more you can make. The more spirit we have, from scripture study, prayer, church, and other things, the more we can share the pure love of Christ with others! It's fun having an hour of personal study every morning to have time to ponder and think about different aspects of the gospel. I love it!

 

Love you all! Have a great week!

 

Love,

Hermana Garlick

 

Singing in MTC Choir at Missionary Broadcast 6-23-13

MTC!

We Willingly Serve Him with Spirit and Might

Hola!

 

Wow, what a week! So much has happened and it's hard to know where to begin writing! First of all it's so fun to hear from all of you. It's weird not having a phone or being able to get on the computer all the time, but letters are so fun to get during the week!

 

I am so excited for Sunday! We get to sing for the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve in the Marriott Center at the broadcast Sunday! We will be singing "Called to Serve," and "Hark all ye Nations." Hermana Gutierrez and I have been practicing a lot, be sure to look for us! :) It will be neat being here when all the general authorities will be. I can't wait! This really is the best time to be in the MTC.

 

In relief society here on Sunday, we have it with all the sister missionaries and always have such an amazing speaker! We also sing "As Sisters in Zion," Missionary edition. It is so incredible singing it with SO many other sister missionaries. We copied down the lyrics. Here they are:

 

"As Sisters in Zion we're called to God's labor, we willing serve Him with Spirit and might. 

We go to the nations with truth Everlasting, we teach of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ. 

We thank thee Oh God for a prophet to guide us. We trust in his words and our purpose is clear. 

The angels of Heaven are walking beside us, We'll share our glad message with all who will hear. 

We go forth enlisted with Helaman's army in numbers much greater than ever before, 

With power and spirit we'll faithfully witness, The heavens have spoken and truth is restored."

 

It's so amazing being a part of something so big! I am so glad to be a missionary, and even though I'm still here in the mtc until mid july, it is still so fun! A ton of the sisters that were supossed to go to Peru like me, finished their six weeks here with still no visa. Some of them are going to New York, and others to California. So I think my 5th week here if my visa still isn't in, I will get my temporary reassignment until it comes! I hope I will get to head to Peru soon though! But everyone can start their guesses for my second mission call if you want. :)

 

I'm out of time, but love you all! Thanks for so much love and support! Prayer is so imporant, and I have really gained a testimony of how prayer can give us more faith, strength, and power to keep going! And I am so thankful for you Dad, I hope you had a great Father's day. I'm so thankful for my Heavenly Father as well!

 

Hope you all have a great week! Adios!

 

Love,

Hermana Garlick

Soy una Misionera!!

Querida Familia y Amigos,

Wow, I can't believe I have been a missionary for over a week now! I love it so much. My p-day is on Friday, so that is when I will be able to get on email and write letters.

Where to begin?! I love being here at the Provo MTC so much. I have just 5 more weeks here now, and then hopefully my VISA will be in so I can head to Peru!

The day I came into the MTC, 932 other missionaries came in as well-the highest number ever to enter in one day! There are so many missionaries here, it is fun to hear so many different languages being spoken as I walk around!

Another reason why it's great being here is because I have been able to run into so many people! It was so exciting to see Lizzie, I actually saw her as we were getting our name tags at the same time! :) I also see a ton of people from my freshman ward which is fun, as well as Carter and Nefi from home! And it was such a surprise when Nate walked into my class! :)

My companion is Hermana Gutierrez, and she is so great! She is from California and went to BYU last year as well. We get along super well and have a ton of fun together. We are seriously laughing all the time. I am so glad we get along so well! :) She has such a strong testimony and helps me grow, and is great at her Spanish so we are able to help each other so much. I will hopefully have time to attach some pictures so you can see us!

Our district has six sisters, and four elders. Me and Hermana Gutierrez are the only two going to Peru, Piura, and everyone else is going to Argentina. We are with each other all the time and have been able to get to know each other really well. Hermana Rainsdon is from Alpine and knows the Reneers-so that's fun! Our zone has four districts, and all of the different zones are spanish speaking as well, but going all different places. Church is all in Spanish which is fun, and helps me pay attention a lot better. Brother Watson is in my Branch Presidency, and he is related to us! I don't know if I remember this right, but I think he said his Grandma Venice or something is siblings with Great Grandpa Hicken! He said he had Kaleb in his Branch too when he was here I think! It was so fun talking to him and having him tell me how he remembers Elaine, (Grandma Garlick), and how they basically grew up on the farm together! I thought that was such a great mini miracle that out of all the branches here at the mtc I got  into the one that Brother Watson is in who knew Grandma! I know that this did not happen by accident and I am so grateful for this blessing!

Spanish has been coming along! Our teachers only speak in Spanish, so we kind of don't have a choice but to learn it. We try to speak it as much as we can to each other. I'm still trying to figure out how to roll my R's...haha that will be an exciting day when I can finally do it. It is really tiering studying all day long, but we love it. There is literally not a free moment-we are constantly studying the gospel or spanish, or both. I love it so much! The spirit is so strong and everyone here is so kind and happy and I love it. :)

We get to go to the temple Friday mornings which is the best. I love going there and feeling such great peace! It is also fun to get to walk outside of the MTC. Since we are always in here, when we get to go out it is super fun. :)

There are amazing devotionals every sunday night and tuesday night that are so good. Since there are way too many missionaries here, we are starting to have Tuesday devotionals in the marriott center! It was fun walking over with everyone-it felt like a giant parade. And it also felt like we were about to watch a basketball game. haha but the devotional was good too. :) The speaker, Elder Arnold, talked about how God sees his Children at their full potential, and that is how we should see others too. I also really liked how he talked about how missionaries are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ 100% of the time. How great is that?! I am so happy to be a missionary and to dedicate ALL My time to serving the Lord for this next 18 months.

There is a worldwide missionary broadcast on the 23rd as I'm sure y'all know, and Hermana Gutierrez and I are singing in the choir! :) So be sure to look out for my red orange shirt I will be wearing. :)

We have been going to a yoga/pilates/excercise class every morning which is so fun, and have been able to do some running during our exercise time in the middle of the day as well. And luckly there is room for me to do some gymnastics in my room too. :)

The other day we were walking down our hall after our morning exercise class and found a whole box of cupcakes from the coco bean in the food give away pile! :) we were so excited and ate them right then! haha I felt sick the rest of the day, but I think it was worth it. Those cupcakes don't just appear out of nowhere every day! :)

I am so grateful to be a missionary. It is a lot of work, but I have been closer to my Savior Jesus Christ than I have ever been! I know Jesus lives and he is my Savior, and I know that through him I can do hard things, like learn Spanish and live in Peru! I know the Book of Mormon is true and am so thankful for the peace and strength it gives me and how it helps me live my life. I know Thomas S. Monson is a living prophet today who leads and guides this church! I am so grateful for this testimony I have and share with everyone around me. 

Well, can't wait for my second exciting week, full of more studying and learning and growing! It's the best.

Love,

Hermana Garlick