Now That's What I'm Talkin About (in Dad's Kip voice)

Hey family!

Ok seriously, General Conference was SO AMAZING. So inspired and so what I needed. Here it is in case anyone missed any of it and to watch it all again and again. :) 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2014/04?lang=eng 

We went to piura to watch it, and they had a room downstairs with it in English with all the gringos! haha so that was pretty great listening to 8 hours of english-good practice for mothers day coming up! :) Hna Kaeding is a new missionary from provo, she has 1 week in the mission, and is so cute! We were literaly squealing together as the conference came on. It was so funny! I have such good memories watching general conference. Setting up our couch cushions, with our bingo and candy and pens and paper. Good times! I feel so close to home watching general conference, so its fun to feel that same feeling from so far away. I LOVED the song the choir sang sunday morning, im not sure what its called, but it says, Fear not, for the Lord is on thy side. It was so beautiful and really was so great and nate I thought you arranged it or something. 

Yeah well I couldnt pick a favorite talk, but narrowed it down to my top three, President Uchtdorf, Elder Stevenson, and Elder Bednar. The talk on gratitute by pres uchtdorf reminded me of you jess, when you made that attitude of gratitute blog! Such a great example of this. We should be grateful for whatever circumstances we are in, and not base our gratitude on our circumstances. I also loved how he said, ¨we are eternal beings wih eternal blessings. Endingss are not our desitny, but are mrerely temporary pauses. Hard things happen in life, but its not the end, its just a beginning, leading to bigger and greater things!

I absolutely loved the analogy by Elder Steveson! Life is just 4 short minutes. Like in sports or in this olympic event, the competators only have 4 minutes of performance, after YEARS or a lifetime of preporation! I loved how he compared our life to this 4 minutes. Before this life we prepared, and now its time to perform! I remember dad, you always telling me how crazy it was how many hours i was in the gym, and how all of it came down to the 4 minutes I would compete on the four events. This four minutes relaly will pass quickly, and like elder stevenson said, well have eternity to think about what we did with it! If life is 4 minutes then I am already at my 1 min mark--what??? Life goes fast, and its about performing to our best ability, and not giving up if we fall, but to keep giving it our all! We will receive our metal one day, as we give this 4 minutes our all. I was also thinking about how we have muscle memory, and after being injured, I was able to get back all my skills, thanks to muscle memory and lots of practice! It made me think, that we have spirit memory too! This life is about remembering what we already learned or knew in the preeternal life! I feel so at home when I read the scriptures or go to church, or pray, or go to general conference, because this is our home! Living the gospel of Jesus Christ is such a blessing, and its why we are here! 

Yeah well things here in Chulucanas are going great! Hna Hualinga knows the area better than me by now.. haha We have been working with a great family, la familia zapata chira! Elocadio has polio, and his left leg doesnt work. And the left arm of his wife aurora doesnt work either. They are so sweet and strong and have been inactive for years, but are starting coming back!!!!! they ahve 2 great kids, moroni and ja...something I forgot. But I will find out tonight when we ahve fhe with them. Elocadio has been having problems with drinking. We had a sweet lesson with presidente aguilar, who overcome smoking and drinking and is the 1st couselor. I love when members bear testimony and share experiences. The spirit was so strong. I was thinking about commandments, and how sometimes they are just hard. I loved how pres. eyring in conference said we will find happiness in time. The effects of our obedience is delayed for a purpose, and that is to build our faith. We first have to show obedience, and then receive the blessings. First have faith, then see the miracle. First dont compete at level 8 regionals on sunday, and then feel and gain a testimony of keeping the sabbath day holy. The small sacrifice of not competing gym on sunday has given me so much happiness and more faith and blessings. I know that sometimes its hard to keep the commandments, but thats the way they are supposed to be, to build our faith. 

Eva is doing well, but recently got back together with her boyfriend who is a little against the church. I know she will be strong! and great news is that ALEXIS is going to be baptized this saturday!!!!! :) He is so ready and such a great example to me. When he prays, he prays with SUCH Faith. Hes 16 and reminds me a lot of a peruvian jared. Ill send pics next week hopfully, my camera is temporarily disconnected if you know what i mean but we will get it fixed right quick! here are some other pics from before, kinda fun. :) 

other fun thing is we started up piano class this week! so that will be fun. ANd tomorrow we have muli zone conferece, so Im way excited for that. :) Love yall tons and hope you each have such a great week! Use your 4 minutes in the best way you can! :)

con amor,

hna Garlick

Sunday will Come

Familia Mia,

This week has been good! Lots of ups and downs, but we keep going! Hna Hualinga is a great missionary, and it has been hard with the adjustment but little by little she is getting more comfortable in the area. This week I was in need of some help, and when God knows you need help, he will send you Nelly. She is our pensionista and we eat and she talks with us for lunch each day. I had broken my watch and sunglasses, and she went to the market and got them both fixed for me! Sometimes if we are feeling down or broken, and pray to our heavenly father for help, he´ll always provide a way for things to be made whole again! Im so thankful for all the members here too who have been so loving! Love is always the answer. Love is doing the dishes, and serving selflessly. It has felt like one of the longest weeks of my mission, but Sunday came! Sunday is always my favorite day of the week, and it was a day I felt so close to my heavenly father. Maybe my compaion and I are different, but I know that we are companions for a reason, and that together hna Hualinga and I are going to be able to bring forth the Lord´s work in Chulucanas! 

I forgot to tell yall that the other week was stake conferences, and so we traveled to piura! (I know know how everyone feels from huntsville) YEah well there were a couple surprises there! The first one was that ANGELICA was there with her kids! They moved to piura! It was SOOOO happy seeing them, she showed me all the pictures from their baptism, and it made me so happy! Also, all the missionaries went up to sing in stake conference, and they had me lead! ah! In front of everyone, was so scarey but fun! good thing kell and I went to choir practice with nate so that I could learn how to do it. And then I had to teell the whole congregation to stand and sing with us too, I may not have a gym to get an adrenaline rush here, but I can get asked to spontaneously lead the stake miraflores in called to serve, and that works good enough for me. haha :) 

Our investigators are doing really well and we are receiving so many references from members!! Everyone give a reference to the missionaries this week! I am way pumped for general conference this weekend, it will be great! And the rs conference blew me away. And I could understand all of it! would you look at that. :) 

Love you all so so much! Make it a great week! And if you ever feel down, konw that sunday will come. ;)

love,

hna Garlick

"I sail, I sail! I just let the boat do the work!"

Hola Familia Mia,

WHATAWEEK! First off, Im sitting here with my new companion, Hermana Hualinga, from, you guessed it, Peru!! She´s from a part of Lima close to the temple. I am 2 days older than her, she is the youngest of 15 kids, and the first to serve a mission. She´s way cute and well we´ve only been together for a few hours now but I have already learned lots from her and I am way excited to be her companion. She has been in the mission for 6 months, and was in piura this whole time, like how i was in paita for my first 6 months too. Hermana Gozán got transfered to... PAITA!!!!!! She is in the other branch, but wow, I am so excited she gets to go there. She sure has heard a lot about Paita in these past 12 weeks. We have had 3 cakes made for us this weekend since we were having transfers. Hna Gozán has been such a great missionary here in Chulucanas and the people here love her so much! She will be missed lots, but I know she will be able to bless so many lives over there in Paita! 

It rained a few times this week which was fun, and no earthquakes so thats good! We were able to see Katty, the member we were able to help come back to the church! She is adorable and man, going through some rough times. Her mom prohibited that she come to church! She is super sad but has so much faith. I know that through prayers of faith her moms heart will be softened and will be able to be ok that she comes to church. Going to church yes, is important, but something that her mom cant take away from katty is her testimony and her faith. She is always reading the book of mormon, praying, and sharing the pamphlets we give her with her friends! She really is so great and I know as we keep having faith her mom will come around. 

Sad day, Hermana Tempora went to Tumbes for a month! She has been progressing so well, and am sad we forgot to get her address so the missionaries can visit her there. Well, we will be ready when she gets back and I know that she will do great things in her life. The faith she has is amazing. And the love she has for her family is incredible. I want to be like her. 

We went to yapatera again this week with our pensionista, hna nelly and a member sergio in his moto. We visited hna lydia. She told us that she is receiving visits from Jehovah Witnesses too! they were actually waiting outside during the lesson so they could enter! She says she has a testimony, but needs time to think about it if she wants to return. She is currently the only member living in yapatera. We are going to plan an activity over there so we can help the name of the church be known over there too! I know that God has plans for all of his children. 

I feel like Bob in What about bob sometimes, how he said, ¨ahoy!! I sail!!! I just let the boat do the work..¨ Its kind of like being a missionary. Being a missionary is something that our Heavenly Father is directing, through the Holy Spirit and through his servants, us! Being a missionary is living the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we live the gospel, God will bless us, and help his work to go forth. I know that Christ lives and leads and guides this church through living prophets. Im way excited for general conference coming up`, Like nate, I feel like its christmas coming up. :) so everyone get your brackets ready for the 5th and 6th! :) 

Love you all so much! Im so happy being here and serving the Lord. ¨happiness is the desination, but its also the path.¨-Elder Uchtdorf. I know that there is great happiness ahead, and also great happiness we can find right here, righ now.
love yall!
Hna Garlick

Chulucanas!

  La Plaza de Armas

Our Zone at the Mirador of Chulucanas!

HEB Speed Bumps and Shaking Doors, and Lots More!

HOLA HOLA familia!

What a filled crazy fun interesting blessed week! Lots of excursions and lots of missionary work, and lots of blessings.

first off, last monday we went to La Encantada, which is about 20 minutes in a moto away. We went with Eva and Bianca. Its a pueblito that makes tons of pottery! It was so fun seeing all the little shops and seeing how the pottery is made. Its so pretty and fun to expereince that. 

We also went to Moropón the next day, which is an hour away, for our district meeting! they usually come here to chulucanas, but we went there this time to see what the cute little town of moropón is like! I know I didnt participate much in the family ¨Lost¨marathons, but I felt like I was driving through the island of lost to get there! The mango and banana orchards were so pretty! And I even saw a corn one and could recognize that pretty well. :) It reminded me of the cherry orchards grandpa took us to in utah. so fun! Im so thankful for the beauty of the earth, and for beautiful peru that I have the opportunity to serve the Lord in for 18 months! We went in a nine passenger van, but it is more like the size for a 6 passenger or something like that. ha but the driver was super funny. There are those huge speed bumps in the road, the ones like in heb, that are super fun to go over! Well he drove AROUND every single one! hahah I have never heard of anyone driving around speedbumps, and he still had to slow down a little to do it. What is the purpose of speed bumps? To slow down a little! In life we get so busy, and get going way fast, but its important to slow down, take a breath, and really see whats most important. I know we have speed bumps for a reason.So lets not be like this driver and try to drive around them.. :)

Next excursion was thursday, when we went to Yapatera! Its another 20 min moto ride, but its our area! It was our fist time going there, and wow, its big! It really should be its own area! But there are no active members living there right now, for now anyway. :) We visited a woman who has been inactive for 15 years. Her health is poor and it costs a lot to take a moto to church. We are going to keep going there to visit the people there, and I know that with time we will be able to help them return back to church! Sergio, a member took us in his moto with Nelly, our pensionista and Jarman, our mission leader who is nelly´s wife. They are so great and really have dedicated their lives in service to the Lord. I sure do miss the food of Hermana Marilú in Paita, but Hna Nelly cooks great too and always gives us flan with jello afterwards, and apples! I really have learned to love this food! :) The other day she made us Ceviche de Mariscos. It was cooked so it was ok that we ate it. Man, it was the first time in my life that I ate sea food, and enjoyed it so much I wanted more! Only with Hna Nelly. Also here I love chifles. They are like potatoe chips, but made with bananas! so good! 

Then on Friday we were knocking on Maira´s door, a new investigator who was super interested and receptive, but we have been having so much trouble finding her in her house! The house was pitch dark, but I knocked anyways. Nothing. I knocked again, theis time harder, and the glass door shook, and then it wouldnt stop shaking! I sure thought I hadnt knocked quite that hard! ha! well, then we saw everyone was running out into the street, it was an earthquake! We couldnt feel it at all, which was so weird, I guess because we were outside, we could just see things moving. People were praying with their hands up in the air, and others crying. We were of course fine. We went to comfort a lady crying super hard. Earthquakes are perfect opportunities to share the gospel. We told her God loves her, has a plan for her, and that everything was going to be ok! She felt better but wasnt too interested in the Gospel. Anyways, I know that if we are prepared we shall not fear, and also if we trust in God. Thats why we are not afraid! 

Sorry for this marathon of a letter! ha! then we get to sunday. It was branch conference, and wow, we had SO many people come to church! It was a miracle! The fans were going like crazy, and I was playing the piano for the choir. Right when it was time for the 2nd musical number, the power went out! oops! no fans, no electric keyboard. So i stood and sang with them, and it still turned out great! Just got a little hot but thats nothing we cant handle. :) 

Alexis is doing well, but now we can only teach him Sunadys, so that makes it a little hard, but he has been reading his book of mormon like crazy! He got to church on sunday 30 minutes early, and was reading his book of mormon. I wanted to take a picture! He is so faithful and I am thankful for his example to me! We also had Leandro come to church, who is an investigator we ahve been teaching since January and for work he hasnt been able to come. But thats what faith does, it proceeds the miracle, and he was there! It made me so happy when I saw him walk in. I know that God is a God of miracles, and he will give us what we desire, as we have faith in him. 

love you lots! gotta run to a lesson. We were in piura today and got back late. I had RANCH for the first time in 9 months, and a hamburger from chilis. you could say my stomache is super happy from my lunch today. :) Hope yall have a super week filled with faith and miracles!

¡Besos! 

Hna Garlick

There's Going to Be a Rock or Two...

Familia Mia!

Well it has been a week full of learning! Each week is, but especially this week I have learned to really trust in the Lord.

First off, Eva is doing so great! I forgot to write last week that our flute duet went great! My fingers were shaking a lil bit, ha but it turned out great and for my first flute duet after 3 weeks of learning, it was great and really brought the spirit before the baptism. We played Nearer my god to thee. Eva is very active, Reading her scriptures, and doesnt even like to sing but is part of the choir for branch conference with us! Hna Gozan is leading and Im on the piano like always. Im so glad my senior year I made the goal to play every hymn in the hymn book. It has helped so much and I have been able to help out each week make sacrament meeting that much more reverant. Anyways, Eva has been way excited to share the góspel with her friends, her family is Catholic and are not all that supportive, but I know that through her example her family will be blessed.

Alexis was able to come to church! El problema ahora es que el va a comenzar clases en la noche, y trabajar en las mañanas! Sorry for the random outbreak in spanish! in otherwords, we are only going to be able to tteach him on the weekends, which is going to be a Little difficult to help him keep progressing, but not imposible and I konw that he will be able to reach his goal of baptism! I sure hope Ill be here when he is baptized! He has such great faith and is so sincere. Cambios are the 24th of March-either me or hna gozan are heading out, and we have no idea which! Im fine either way, I know the Lord knows better than me where I am needed, so Im not going to try to say what I want.. haha

This week has been the most rough for Hna Gozan, she found out her neice might have cáncer. She has been struggling, and I have been struggling too to help her be motivated. We had our interviews with President Rowley, and he shared with me the story from conference by Elder Vinson. Theres a boy and he has a huge rock to move, and does all he can to move it, but he cant. He goes to his dad and says that he has done all he can, but still cant move the rock. The dad says, no you havent done everything, because you havent asked me for help yet! The dad then procedes to help his son move the rock. Pres Rowley told me there is going to be a rock or two in my path, the trick is going to my father in heaven and asking for help. I made the goal to pray more fervently, and this week I was able to do that, since I have prayed hard to recieve help from the Lord. He has indeed helped me, and I know he will! There are going to be lots of rocks in our path, but I know as we turn to the Lord and trust in him, we will be able to move them, and come out stronger!

 

Its like in gymnastics when I was learning back hand back hand on the balance beam. Julie would stand back behind me further down the beam to spot me on the second backhandspring. I would often times prepare to go, but look back to make sure she was still there. I knew she was there, and I knew she wasnt going to leave, but I just had to doublé check once in a while. Sometimes I would fall, but would always get back up and be more determined to stick it next time. Sometimes we need to be reminded that God is there for us, he always will be and wont move, like coach Julie. He wants us to stick it and have success, we just have to have trust in him, and go for it. lots of times I didint go for the second backhandspring because of fear of falling or because I wasnt focused. This leads to more fear, and no progression because I will never learn to stick it! So its just better to trust in the Lord and go for it, no matter what.

Im thankful for learning this this week and know Im never alone and that with God all things are posible. It is important to remember hte Why and the Who of each day. Why am I hear, and Who am I hear for? As I ask these two questions each day it helps me and gives me strength to keep going. I know Im here to share what I know is true with all those around me, and I know Im here for my father in heaven and Jesús Christ! Each day is so imporatnt and has a purpose, and this gives me strength.

Thanks for all your love and support! Missing yall because i love yall! Hope yall have a great week!

los amo!

Hermana Garlick

Half Way??? This is March Madness!!

Hey family!

It has been wow, a great week! EVA WAS BAPTIZED! :) It was so great the baptismal service, and she is just the greatest. shes 28 years old, and has such a strong testimony of this gospel. After her baptism, she asked where we were going, and we said off to visit Alexis! Well she asked if she could come! She bore such strong testimony of baptism. The spirit was so strong, and man, she is so great! Alexis is already in 1 nefi 7, and was reading all the pamphlets and in moroni too! He talked to his boss about taking off sundays, and he said no! AH. But I know there is a soluctiion. So he wasnt able to come to church sunday. Buty I know the Lord will ehlpe provide a way! 

Other way exciting news, hna Gozan went to Lima for her residence...not too sure why they got to go, and we still havnet! they even got to eat subway! Im way jealous. but anways, i got to be companions with hna Gutierrez again for a day!!!! :) it was so fun, she has gotten SO good at spanish! She makes me want to be more dilligent in my studies and during the day to keep getting better. Well we went and visited Shirly in her area of Tacala, and wow, it was such a powerful lesson. She said, ¨Por Supuesto!!¨to the baptismal invitation, with such joy and a great smile. It was such a happy moment. Life is full of so many happy moments and its so great being a missionary because those happy moments feel amplified. SHe may not even be my investigator but it made me so happy! :) 

OH, and I found out this week that Angelica, and her two sons Benjamin, and Alvaro in paita, WERE FINALLY BAPTIZED!!!!! Wow, I am so so ahppy, and also at the fact that their dad was STANDING IN THE DOOR AT THE BAPTISM!!! Miracles really do happen, he would barely shake our and when we entered the house. So that was super happy news! 

Sure love you all lots. Hope you have such a great week, and not too much march madness! ha! when does that start by the way? I really cant believe I am at my half way mark. Time is flying so fast- I dont want it to! Time to make this next 9 months even better than the first! 

Have a happy day! 

love,

Hna Garlick