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Sciacca – Week 10
Transfer 16, Mission Week 99

Ciao tutti!

I hope that everyone has had a great week and that you are all enjoying the winter back home, which never seems to make up its mind, for Illinois at least. Hope that all is going well in your lives too!

This week was another great one and we were able to see a lot of really great things happen and it was super cool to be able to do all that we did. I recounted a little of our zone conference things and such and then we had our pday on Tuesday of last week. Towards the end of Pday we had our english course and we have been in small numbers for a while now and we were able to get a new student this past Tuesday who is in fact the brother-in-law to our branch President. Well we had another lesson with him after the course, which our President came to as well. Well the lesson went super well Sunday and this went just as well! We weren’t able to leave all the normal invites due to time restrictions Sunday so we extended all the invites and we were able to do that Tuesday. It went so well and he has just come out of a difficult time in his life and he has humbled himself so much and really wants to find more faith in God and just be at peace wit himself again working at always being a better person. He is such a great guy and he accepted a baptismal date for the 4th of February which is so amazing!! We are so excited and we will be preparing him for his interview next week. It was such a fulfilling lesson and his prayer at the end was super powerful.

Wednesday we had a scambio with Caltanisetta that went super well and we were able to accomplish a lot of good things during that as well! Unfortunately Anziano Bowers and I were unable to get into a lesson setting because our lessons fell through. We did some great finding though and it all went really well! We were excited to work tougher and we got to know each other a little more too! It was great stuff! I loved the way that Anzinao Bowers can really play well off of everyone. He listens intently to the people we are talking to as well as his companion which he is very easily able to play well off of what the people really need. It was very instructive to be able to do some finding with him.

Thursday the highlights were definitely getting to go visit our member who is in the hospital right now for an operation. He was very happy to see us and you could tell that he was very grateful that we came. It was really great to see him and talk with him and his mother who is super nice as well. The other people in the room even chatted with us and a lady was asking a lot of great questions as well. We then had another great lesson with our new investigator and he really understood everything contained within the Plan of Salvation. It was a great lesson and we were very happy with the way that it went and the more and more we meet with him the more that we can tell he is ready for baptism. He didn’t hesitate to accept that baptismal date and knows that it is going to change his life for the better. It is a very big commitment, but one where we really come to know that God gives way more than we realize on his side of the pact or covenant that we make with him. I know that it is going to bring many blessings to his life and the lives of those around him as it would with anyone.

Friday was a great day and we were able to go visit our member in the hospital again really fast which was another great visit with which we were able to help lift him up again. After that we headed straight to what we were hoping would be a lesson with one of our new investigators with his wife who is the member. He unfortunately didn’t join us this time and we are heading back there today to watch the restoration video with them all. We are really excited to see how that will all play out and where we will get with him. It was really cool to see more and more the changes in him since we have been here. We dropped off that pamphlet to him after we got back from zone conference and we wrote a little dedicha (like a letter thingy) in the inside. I put my name as Anziano Taylor Garrett and so he was making some jokes about the inauguration and how they were missing two Anziani there and he used my first name by memory so I was super impressed by that hahaha. He is so funny and just has this Sicilian mumbling voice that cracks me up no matter what he says hahaha.

We had a great day Saturday and we were able to have another great lesson with our branch president’s sister-in-law which went super well too! We taught the restoration and we had three other members there with us and it was great to see all the different conversion stories and how we each have our own way in which we gained our testimonies. This ended up being an essential ingredient to all the invites that we left her. The first one we extended we were floored to find out that she has already read the whole Book of Mormon this past summer after she had a surgery. Well she was willing to read it again thank goodness and she also accepted a baptismal date for the 25th of February. It was a super powerful lesson and we were able to really see the blessings of having member there to help us out in explaining things and offering another witness to the truths that we are bringing to them.

Sunday was a crazy day. It started raining in the middle of the night when we would wake up occasionally because of the wind or the thunder and such. It continued to rain really good while we walked to church with some good lighting going off around us. it was coming down hard all morning during the classes and sacrament meeting. It was pouring and the power was flickering on and off. Well after we found out there was a lot of water on the streets similar to how it was when I first got to Sciacca. President went and took our new convert home with his friends and had to go contrary to the one way honking to make it to the house. We then went to the hospital to go and give the member the sacrament and a priesthood blessing. Well there were rivers everywhere on the street it was crazy!! I haven’t seen flash floods like that since I was in kindergarten hahaha. It was really cool, but there were some spots that were really crazy, but it was a great day in church. We had both our new investigators there and our new convert brought three friends so we had a nice filled up room for everything this week!

I really enjoyed being able to study out of the Doctrine and Covenants this week and I am now doing a study of them which is going super well! I am enjoying studying also the context in which the revelations were received getting a historical background on it I have been able to also reflect a lot on Joseph Smith the first prophet, seer, and revelator of this last dispensation. I know that he is a prophet of God and the more and more I study his life I know that he has done many divine things to further the Lords work. He taught pure doctrine and was always stringing to help all those around him. I am thankful to have this knowledge that he was truly called of God because I have read the Book of Mormon and asked if it was true or not. I know that we can all know he is a prophet if we ask God. What a message of hope to know that God has restored priesthood keys once again to the earth that he truly speaks to us today and that there has been a line of prophets ever since that have had these keys as well. I love this story and quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson

Later, the incomparable Ralph Waldo Emerson rocked the very foundations of New England ecclesiastical orthodoxy when he said to the Divinity School at Harvard: “It is my duty to say to you that the need was never greater [for] new revelation than now.” “The doctrine of inspiration is lost. … Miracles, prophecy, … the holy life, exist as ancient history [only]. … Men have come to speak of … revelation as somewhat long ago given and done, as if God were dead. … It is the office of a true teacher,” he warned, “to show us that God is, not was; that He speaketh, not spake.” In essence, Mr. Emerson was saying, “If you persist in handing out stones when people ask for bread, they will eventually stop coming to the bakery.”

We know that he speaks today and it all started with a 14-year old boy in a sacred grove in New York City in 1820. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that this is his church today. I love him and thank him for leading and guiding this church through the prophets chosen of God. I love this verse from D&C which is very powerful to me.

D&C 135

3 Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. In the short space of twenty years, he has brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two continents; has sent the fulness of the everlasting gospel, which it contained, to the four quarters of the earth; has brought forth the revelations and commandments which compose this book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other wise documents and instructions for the benefit of the children of men; gathered many thousands of the Latter-day Saints, founded a great city, and left a fame and name that cannot be slain. He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord’s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!

I know that to be true. I hope that you all have a great week and that everything will go just well for you all!

Ti voglio tanto bene,

Anziano Garrett

Sciacca traffic

Good pizza

Palermo Zone, January, 2017. My last zone conference.

Sciacca – Week 9
Transfer 16, Mission Week 98

Ciao tutti!

This week went really well and we really enjoyed being able to get some great work done here in Sciacca! The week seemed to have flown by once again. After a while of not seeing our investigator we were finally able to see him this past week with our branch president and the lesson went really well. We were really happy that we were finally able to get ahold of him and we hope that we will continue to be able to meet with him and be able to see where he is at right now. We still have a lot of confidence in him and we will keep working with him and seeing where we can get with him and everything. I really hope that he will continue to progress and make big strides.

We had a great scambio with Agrigento and I was able to be with Anziano Jensen, who is in my group, and we were able to get a lot of great things done. We were able to meet with someone that is originally here from Sciacca, but had lived in England for a long time so she naturally speaks English perfectly. The lesson went really well and she is in a perfect position to recieve the gospel and her daughter, who lives with her kids in Sciacca, sounds like she is in a similar position to really accept the gospel right now. I hope that she will commit to read the Book of Mormon and search for the answer that she really can receive from God. It was a little weird teaching in English, but it all went really well and we hope to see her again this week!

That night we were able to go over to a part member family’s house with the plans to teach the member’s husband and have him sit down for the whole thing. Anziano Campbell and I were unsuccessful in our latest previous attempt. Our member forgot that we were passing by and didn’t remember that we had set the appointment. We were still able to come in and we went into the living room, which was perfect, since that is where the husband usually is watching TV. We kept talking to him and he lingered long enough to sit down fro the lesson and we had a great restoration lesson with him. It was one of the most fun lessons because early on when Anziano Jensen found out at that he was a doctor we used this whole big analogy about doctors and hospital that flowed so well throughout the whole lesson involving both of them at the same time. We were really happy with the result and there was a sweet and special spirit that was there with us. We have seen some really big changes in Gaspare since he we have met him early on in our first transfer here, and we are really excited to see where we will be able to get with him and how we can be of help and assistance to him.

We had a great lesson with our new convert this week that went super well and we were able to talk about Joseph Smith and we started watching the movie with him which we will finish up on our next lesson with him. He is doing great and it has been so awesome to see how well he is continually progressing. We talked about sending the missionaries to his parents back home. We look forward to seeing where we can get with that and I really hope that his parents will be open to have the missionaries over to their home. We were also excited to see him at our ward activity, along with our other investigator, and some other nonmembers too! It was great! We had a karaoke night and this is surprisingly my first one! So Italians love karaoke and it is infamous here that most activities end up getting changed into some form of karaoke. We had a great time talking to people and watch how into it everyone would get while they were all singing. It was a great time. We even got an announcement in church that not this Friday. but the next. we will be doing an activity where we will split up into two teams and play some games, and President added that the end if we have some time we will pull out the karaoke stuff hahaha.

Sunday I had the opportunity to give the lesson in the combined relief society/priesthood meeting that we have where we go through all the lessons together. It was super cool to be able to talk about being an Ensign to the Nations and how our church is truly that light on the hill. It was really neat talking about the pioneer story of them arriving int he Salt Lake valley and how the church going from 6 members at the beginnings in New York and is still an ever growing worldwide church. It is amazing and it was so fitting because the members here in Italy are still like pioneers for the church, in their cities, and families. They are really doing their best to help give all their efforts to building God’s kingdom here in Italy. Anziano Campbell and I were both assigned talks this day too and we were able to give these and I was able to speak on the importance of the scriptures in our lives. It was a great opportunity to share my experience with gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon and how ever since my desire to read and study the scriptures has grown and grown and I am so very thankful for that. It was great too because the brother of the branch President’s wife came to church and has asked to be a part of our church and has a strong desire to change his life.

After church we went over to the branch President’s house for lunch and we were super excited because his brother in law was there too! We had a great lunch together and enjoyed being able to talk with one another and enjoy some wonderful food. They also told this really fun account of a famous Italian movie and a banana so that was entertaining to say the least. At the end of an amazing meal, with a nice cannolo to top it all off, we were able to have a great lesson sharing the restoration with them all. It went really well and we were able to hear this guy’s story and why he has a desire to change right now. We are so very excited for him and the spirit was there in much abundance with us all especially while talking about the atonement. We look forward to seeing him again tonight and finishing up that lesson with him. He is a great guy and we are looking forward to seeing where all we will get with him. He is really golden.

We went to Palermo and traveled to get to the church for our interviews that night with President and Sorella Pickerd. We got there and we were a little behind schedule so we had the opportunity to talk to the other missionaries waiting and get to know them all a little better. The interviews were super nice as always and I love being able to get to know them both better and get the advice and support that we are seeking from them too. I was able to get my temple recommend renewed which was super special and we did the whole thing in Italian!

It got me really excited again to be able to go to the House of the Lord which I have really missed for these two years. Super excited for that.

Zone conference was really great and we were able to feel a great spirit all together. We talked a lot about the importance of the spirit into our work and how essential it is that we have the Holy Ghost doing the teaching because that is the only way that we can help other people because he is the teacher. That is the way that God has ordained it. I was super happy with all that we learned and all the invitations that were given to us so that we can apply these things to help those around us. At the beginning of my mission I was able to bear my testimony in my first zone conference in Italian, and yesterday I was able to bear my departing testimony in English. I was thankful fro the Spirit that was present as me and three of the Elders that came in with me bore testimonies. It was a great zone conference and I love how President Pickerd is making sure that we are applying the things we learn for a lifetime not just for the next week, couple weeks, transfers, or missions, but a lifetime.

I really am thankful for this week and all we were able to do. One thing that I would love to share is from a talk that I used some quotes from in my talk this past Sunday.  It is from this past October, 2016, General Conference. The talk is entitled “Look to the Book, Look to the Lord.”

President Ezra Taft Benson expanded on those teachings of Joseph Smith. He said: “There are three ways in which the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. It is the keystone in our witness of Christ. It is the keystone of our doctrine. It is the keystone of testimony.”

President Benson further taught: “The Book of Mormon teaches us truth [and] bears testimony of Christ. … But there is something more. There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. … You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path.”

I know that to be true and that the Book of Mormon has truly been this big blessing in my life to really help me be able to have a strong testimony. I invite all to read it and ponder it in the hearts, and as Moroni exhorts us to have faith in God, a sincere heart, and real intent while asking our Heavenly Father if this book be from him or not. I know that we can all receive an answer that will be a blessing for the rest of our lives. I love you all and will talk to you guys next week!

Con tanto amore,

Anziano Garrett

Sciacca – Week 6
Transfer 15, Mission Week 95

Ciao tutti!

I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that you all enjoyed the holidays yesterday!! I always love the family time that comes out of the holidays when we are all able to just pause on life for a while and spend time with one another. It is super important to always treasure and cherish these times and memories that we can share with one another. I am thankful that the Savior can really unite us all together and I am thankful for the significance of this holiday to commemorate the coming of our Savior. I know that He has come and done all that He did for love of God and all mankind. I know that He will again come and that we can do all that we can to prepare ourselves for that time!

We had a great time here in Sciacca this Christmas! Babbo Natale [Santa Claus] passed by our house so that was super cool. We were able to go to church in the morning and it went super well! We were all edified by the talks that were given and the simplicity of the messages with their testimonies. It really helped us continue to feel the spirit of Christmas and reflect on the birth of our savior. Our branch President read through some of the verses in Luke 2 and elaborated as he went through it. After church we watched part of a movie and then went to a lunch with the branch President’s wife’s family which was a lot of fun! There was a good number of people, not as many as back home, but more than last year at Christmas, which made for a crazy time! We enjoyed being able to spend the lunch with all them and interact with them as we ate a delicious lunch because of which it was difficult for us to walk back to the church afterwards! We finished up that movie and then watched half of another one. Which we will be finishing today! We watched Zootopia and then It’s a Wonderful Life. Neither of which I have seen, but I thoroughly enjoyed the first and am loving the story of the second. We then got to finish off the night Skyping our families which was so much fun! I had a great time being able to talk to all them again and this time around it wasn’t really hard to hang up at all. It was nice to feel like we were all just sitting around again telling stories and such hahaha. It was a great time and definitely love them all so much!

The week went by super fast and was jam packed with a ton of things that we were able to do! We started off the week playing Zone Soccer and caroling later that night which allowed me to reminisce on last years zone activity that we did as well! We had a great time doing that and were able to sing fairly well together too! We then had DDM Tuesday in Palermo and then a super awesome lunch at the Garrett’s home so that was cool to be able to invited by some of the family even though I am far away from everyone else hahaha. That was a lot of fun and we had a white elephant gift exchange and I made it out with a nice scarf! We proceeded then to have a nice scambio with the zone leaders and it was cool to be able to go with Anziano Blocker who is in my group and that was the longest that we were ever able to work together so it was a lot of fun. I love being able to learn form other missionaries and be inspired by the way that they work and what we can all learn from one another. We were able to then have a scambio with Agrigento here in Sciacca which went well too! I was with Anzinao Alexander and Anziano Jensen was with Anziano Campbell. We saw a lot of neat miracles in getting the husband of our member to join us for the spiritual thought this time around, and we were able to see a lot of finding miracles too that we hope all pan out super well this week too! Love getting to feel the energy and excitement that Anziano Alexander has and all the hard work he puts in!

It was a great week and it just flew by! We were able to accomplish a lot and had little small moments to serve other to the best of our capacity. I really hope to be able to continue to put in as much hard work as possible! We are looking forward to see what the Lord has in store for us this next transfer when we will receive the calls tonight! I am excited to always be able to learn from the experiences and the oppourtunities that he places before us. We just have to continue to act, have faith, and trust in him! I am thankful for this time that we will also have to look back on another year and reflect on what is to come! There is a talk that comes to my mind that I would invite you to all read found at this link.

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/01/the-best-time-to-plant-a-tree?lang=eng

Here is a short little part that I love from this:

An old proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”

There is something wonderful and hopeful about the word now. There is something empowering about the fact that if we choose to decide now, we can move forward at this very moment.

Now is the best time to start becoming the person we eventually want to be–not only 20 years from now but also for all eternity.

I know that we can start now and we can commit to change and with the Lord there to help us we can become the person that we really want and need to become!! Once again a Merry Christmas to all! I love you all and thank you so much for all the love and support you show me!

Love,

Anziano Garrett

Christmas luncheon in Palermo, a few days before Christmas. Hosted by Anziano and Sorella Craig Garrett (the senior couple in Palermo).

[Editor’s note:  Craig Garrett is my step-cousin.  He served in the Italy Catania Mission in the late 70s.  He and his wife are now the senior couple assigned to Palermo]

Sciacca – Week 5
Transfer 15, Mission Week 94

Ciao tutti!

I hope that everyone had a great week and that you are ready for Christmas this coming weekend! With the weather down here it still doesn’t feel like that Christmas season back home sometimes, but they got the lights going, the music, and all the festive decorations out.

We are excited how everything is going his Christmas season and we have been able to do a lot of great things with the Christmas initiate as well as trying some other new Christmas themed finding activities we thought of.  We had a lot of things go on this week that we were able to do!

Tuesday after DDM we started a scambio with Caltanisetta which went really well! I was able to go with Anziano Lancaster back to Sciacca and we were able to have a nice full afternoon together even though some of our plans fell through unfortunately. We adjusted well and had back plans ready so we started working on this right away and we were able to see some nice success with some English group publicity as well as trying to share the video with some people in stores and on the streets. I was able to learn some great lessons on the scambio from Anziano Lancaster and it was great to be able to get to know him better because I have known him for a while but have never been able to spend an extended period of time with him. It went super well and the work in Caltanisetta seemed to be going really well too!

We were able to go back to do the switch in Agrigento and Anziano Campbell and headed back to Sciacca. We had a great lesson with our investigator that was sick/had back pain earlier in the week. He was doing better and we had a super great lesson with him. He is really doing well and we are doing what we can to help him keep his commitments. He has been reading more in the Book of Mormon and we are hoping to see some big steps made this week with the lessons that we will be teaching. In the middle of the lesson when we’re talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ he made some comments on having many different friends from different religions and expounding upon the fact that whatever be true it’s good he is here with us. We explained that he can know for himself with surety that these things are true.

He just has to continue to search it out. As the lesson went on he stated the fact that he really loves the way that we think and believe in what we do, and that he sincerely hopes that he is able to really come that point to know it is true.

We had some other eventful things happen like walking in a thunderstorm without umbrellas so Anziano Campbell fashioned a trash hat panoche and then I put one around my bag. We were soaked by the end of it searching for some less active houses that we hadn’t been to yet. It all ended well! We had a really great branch Christmas party that went really well! There were more non-members than members so that was really great! It was just a simple party where we did what Italians love to do most on the holidays! Eat! It was really great and there was some great food and we had great opportunities interacting with everyone there. It was cool to see that everyone enjoyed it and our branch president gave a really powerful spiritual thought that was super well done. We saw a cool miracle from that where one lady from the party that lives in the same apartment complex, because the whole first floor of the apartment is our church, came to church for all two and a half hours! It was really cool and the lessons were given in a great manner as well as the talks being well done. We had a good time for sure and left that table like 5 pounds heavier at least.

It was a great week and we finished off our Sunday night with some house finding where we wrapped a Book of Mormon with a painting from a Liahona. We were telling people that we had a gift for them so we could gift them something that means so much to us. We had someone get mad at us and the very next door the lady opened up and she was really touched that we were offering this gift. It was super cool even though we weren’t able to get in or get a return appointment we really pray that they will read the book. The husband was very touched by it and he said that he would definitely read the book. I really hope that they read it and will feel the converting power that comes from the Book of Mormon.

I am thankful for this week to be able to celebrate another Christmas here in Italy. This is a great time as we should do always to reflect on the gift of our Savior Jesus Christ that our Heavenly Father out of pure divine love gave to us. I am very thankful that we have an older brother that voluntarily came into this world to atone for all of us.

One who was without sin or imperfections. He who gave all that he had to sacrifice Himself for each and everyone of us individually and personally. I am thankful for the time that we have to always be drawing closer and knowing Christ more personally each and everyday! I love this scripture from Isaiah 9.

6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of iPeace.

He truly was all this and more and I love how each name shows and describes a different characteristic that he had that made him so perfect and unique. I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas this Sunday and are able to enjoy a wonderful time at church Sunday and then some great time with family and friends! I love you all and am thankful for all the support and help that you guys offer me!

Buon Natale e tanti auguri!!!!

Anziano Garrett

Sciacca – Week 3
Transfer 15, Mission Week 92

Ciao tutti!

I hope all is going well now that all the Christmas festivities are in full swing and you all need to enjoy this month of December! Things have been nice and busy as normal this past week and we are loving it!

So we had a busy week being able to see some people and then we were in Palermo a couple of days as well! It all has been going super well and we are doing a lot of great things down here in Sciacca!

We had a great lesson with one of our investigators last week and he has been doing really well. It was a super touching lesson and we were able to pass over the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and see what his testimony and remembrance was regarding that lesson. He remembered a lot in detail about the lesson so it was able to be a simple pass over with a great opportunity to go into some more detail with him. We look forward to being able to see him tomorrow night and talk about the plan of salvation with him. He is a great kid and I really feel like he will make it to baptism for sure if he keeps working hard to find his answers.

We had a referral that was given to us the other week from a member that lives in Bari that was passed to us through the Palermo 2 Anziani. This lady has been so prepared from God! She was so excited to hear from us and meet us the other day! She is really wanting to make sure that she is drawing closer to God and finding greater peace in life. You can tell and feel this sincere desire that she has. It is so cool and special to feel the spirit as she asks questions that you know she just needs the answer. We are excited to see where we will be able to go with her and how we are going to be able to help her and guide her down this path to finding greater happiness! We are excited at how prepared that she is. So a few weeks ago she had a moment to sit down and reflect on where she stands before God and felt like she just had to make some changes. She kind of went through her head and went over all the commandments that she needed to make sure that she was keeping and coming up in that was the word of wisdom. She was all of a sudden able to realized without evening having a knowledge of the word of wisdom to give up smoking and drinking alcohol! It was so cool to hear that testimony from her. She is great and we are excited to be able to see her again this week!

We had a rare occasion this week and I am sorry for putting this down all the way here! We had some emergency transfers this week and I got a new companion  who is Anziano Campbell! I will definitely miss Anziano Hughes and hope that he will keep finding success all along the way! We were only together for a short period of time, but it was really great! I am glad that we were able to share the experiences that we did and I was able to learn from him! He is great and will keep doing amazing things! Anziano Campbell is awesome though and he is from Layton, UT. We are getting along great and we are excited to see all the things that we will be able to do here together and accomplish with one another. We are going to do great things and we are already seeing a ton of miracles together. I hope that we will continue to be able to have a great time with one another and recognize all that the Lord can teach us and is blessing us with.

We had a great time in Palermo for Specialized Training and I was able to learn a lot that we can apply into our work here in Sciacca.

We are excited to see what we can apply from what we learned to make sure that we can get to where we need to go. President Pickerd went through all the baptisms from this past transfer and it was great to be able to see all the pictures and hear all the miracles that are happening in the mission! One was this new convert that was baptized a week or so ago! She was the sister of this new convert that was baptized a few months ago! So the new convert was in fact someone I spent a pday with in Segesta with the Palermo zone leaders and Anziano Spencer a long time ago! She was doing well when they were teaching her, but then the Anziani decided to rest her for a little and she was picked back up a few months ago and was so ready to learn again and made it all the way to baptism. I think it is super cool because last winter when I was on a scambio in Palermo Anziano Palazzo and I were doing street finding for a Christmas sondaggio and we stopped this new convert’s other sister (one that isn’t baptized yet) and that is how she met the Anziani. It is amazing how different everyone’s stories are and that she was able to finally make it to baptism. Super cool to see how it can all start with one simple conversation on the street and helps you know to just keep going and opening your mouth.

This week went really well and we are excited to see what next week has for us. We were able to walk forever yesterday all the way out to a less active’s house and I think that they were super excited to have us over and they were surprised that we walked that far to go and see them, but it went super well and we had a great little lesson with them last night. Hopefully we will be able to see some great things happen with them because the wife is the only member of the family and they have 3 boys. Would really be amazing! Everything is going great though! We had fast and testimony meeting yesterday and I am thankful that we have the opportunity as we serve God and do the acts that Jesus Christ would do for others to come to really know our Savior, not just know things about him.

This talk that Elder Bednar gave last general conference really touched me and I would invite you all to read it because he really helps us realize that is important to know the Savior and we can do so through the simple steps that he lays before us.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/if-ye-had-known-me?lang=eng

It is a great talk and don’t forget to keep checking Mormon.org on how we can do these acts of service daily this month! Love you all and hope that you have a great week!

Love,

Anziano Garrett

Palermo Zone, December, 2016

Palermo Zone, December, 2016

Palermo Zone Anziani, December, 2016.  My new companion, Anziano Campbell, is on the far left.  He is in his 4th transfer.

Palermo Zone Anziani, December, 2016. My new companion, Anziano Campbell, is on the far left. He is in his 4th transfer.

Catania – Week 24
Transfer 14, Mission Week 89

Ciao Tutti!

I hope that everyone had a great week and that you are all enjoying life! Don’t know what the weather is like back home but it feels like the fall here. It is really nice during the daytime and is a good temperature. It cools off at night enough to throw a sweater on.  People here though have been wearing pants, coats, scarves and what not for months it seems like though. So it definitely feels like the fall! We had a great week this week and we were super busy once again!

This week we had two awesome lessons with our part member family again and we are doing our best to help them out in any way that we can.  It’s amazing to see their progress and all that they have learned and are putting into practice. We really feel the spirit strongly when we are all together and we know that they are really making a lot of progress spiritually. They have been keeping their commitments and we are just really trying to find a way for them to arrive in church.

That is the big struggle right now for all of us to try and figure out. We hope that we will find a solution and we are positive that Heavenly Father will bless them as they continue to do all they can to obey His commandments and continue to grow their testimony. I feel very privileged to have been able to know them and be able to work with them. They have such a big faith and are really doing what they can to change their lives through the gospel and working hard at it.

We had the opportunity to do two scambi this week that both went really well. For one of them we were here in Catania again and I was able to go and work with Anziano Parkinson in his work which went really well. We had a great time and were super busy the whole day with lessons and some other errands that were necessary to do. We had a great time teaching together and I felt like we did a great job clicking in the short time we were together. It was super fun and we had some really cool lessons. Anziano Parkinson is awesome though! He has a great fire about him and is willing to work super hard. He has been fun to be around in the house and he is a great kid. We are always messing around with each other like brothers so we always have a very supportive and fun atmosphere.

Traveling to Siracusa was nice this past Saturday to get down there for a scambio with the Anziani. It was a great time and they did a great job planning it out so we had some great lessons all together.

It is so cool how many youth they are meeting with and are helping down there. It is awesome to see these youth accept the gospel and commit themselves to such change. We have been able to feel a great spirit with them and we are all really hopping they will continue to move forward with all that they are learning and putting into practice. I love how excited and happy Anziano Andersen is and how he is always sharing the great miracles that they are seeing down there.

We had a cool P-day today and what we thought was a service project. We went to go and help pick apples off trees up on the mountain so it was really great to be able to go up with the these members. We felt bad thinking that it was a service project that we were headed to. We were able to get some Catania Jerseys that are throw back from the late 50s early 60s which is super awesome. It has been a great day and we are looking forward to a nice family home evening tonight and hope that the lesson on eternal families goes well. We have been super busy this whole transfer and I can’t believe how fast it has gone past. I would love to stay here and keep working here in Catania so I am really nervous about the transfer calls tonight.

This past Sunday I was able to give another talk, but this one ended up being a little different than normal. We were invited by our wonderful senior couple, the Edgels, to come and join them for church in Sigonella on the military base and we each gave talks. It was super weird to be around so many Americans and hear English in such abundance. I was able to talk on the importance of faith and it was a really good learning experience to be able to write and give the talk.

Something that came into my head in a lesson this week while teaching on faith was to ask an inspired question where I learned something really neat. I asked this guy what the fruits of faith are. I was really intrigued by this and was able to reflect on all the blessings that come because of our faith. I was intrigued to see and study about all the things that come because of our faith. These are just a few:

Hope, Charity, Repentance, Knowledge, Miracles, Answers to prayers, Guidance, increase of faith, etc. I really enjoyed speaking on the subject and learning much on faith and how important it is in our lives. I had some quotes that I shared and I want to share this one with you all. This is a quote from Anziano Neil L. Andersen.

My dear friends, your faith did not begin at birth, and it will not end at death. Faith is a choice. Strengthen your faith, and live to be deserving of the Savior’s approving words: “Great is thy faith.” As you do, I promise you that your faith, through the grace of Jesus Christ, will one day allow you to stand with those you love, clean and pure in the presence of God, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I know that we can all have the choice to act on and grow our faith now, see, and reap the blessings the Lord is so ready and willing to give us. I am thankful for the gift of faith that we can all obtain in this life and cultivate as we go through our mortal journey. Thanks for all the messages this week and I will talk to you all soon!

Anziano Garrett

Catania Zone Soccer, Nov. 2016

Catania Zone Soccer, Nov. 2016

Enjoying some Sicilian pizza

Enjoying some Sicilian pizza

sicilian-pizza sicialian-pasta

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016.  Playing musical chairs.

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016. Playing musical chairs.

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016.  Playing musical chairs.

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016. Playing musical chairs.

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016.  Playing musical chairs.

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016. Playing musical chairs.

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016.  Playing musical chairs.

Catania Ward Halloween Party, October, 2016. Playing musical chairs.

Catania – Week 23
Transfer 14, Mission Week 88

Ciao tutti!

I hope that everyone is doing well and you had a great week! This week flew by for us and we were super busy once again! We had some really special lessons with people this week and look forward to being able to teach some more lessons this week! One lesson that sticks out to me in particular was last Monday night we talked about recognizing answers from the Lord and seeing the Lord’s hand in all that we are doing. It was super cool and special to be able to discuss how we feel the spirit when the Lord is trying to speak to us. It is something that is very interesting since I feel personally it comes in different layers of levels. It is not always the same feeling. I am so very thankful though to practice the opportunity to feel the spirit more.

It definitely took some time for me to recognize how I felt it at times. I have learned so much in how he speaks to me and I realize that this will also be a life long feat to accomplish fully.

We learned a lot this week in the moments that we were able to have with all the other missionaries of the zone. We did a scambio in Messina Wednesday to Thursday and then in Reggio Calabria from Thursday to Friday. It was super fun and we were able to have a great time learning and doing missionary work with them. Some of the lessons that I learned that I loved was precisely on love towards others. I was able to observe the great love that Anziano Brandon has for everyone and that was something that I was super touched by in observing that with everyone that he interacts with especially his companion Anziano Moscon. It was something that shows his love for the Lord in the way that he treats others. I loved being able to work with Anziano Jackson in Reggio and seeing his intuitiveness and all the time he spends looking for small ways to improve and adjust so he can be the most effective missionary that he can be. We had a great week on the scambi and had to use some money to buy food while on the road, but we definitely ate well which was really nice hahaha. I love being able to spend time with the other missionaries and learn all that we can from one another, seeing and observing the different styles of work and how to things is great for all of us.

We had some other great lessons with some less actives at the end of the week that we are working with. It was super cool that we were able to see one of the less active families in church yesterday along with two of our investigators and one of their husbands who is a less active. It was super cool and a big miracle/blessing for us. I really enjoyed church this past Sunday and had the opportunity to bear my testimony there. I was super happy in being able to listen and feel the great spirit that we can always feel when people share their testimonies. I love how testimonies work and how they are so different, but yet so the same each time we bear it. I love that we can think of so many things that we want to share when in the process of bearing testimony. I love the fact that the spirit can just give us the words that we need to say each time whether for the benefit of others or ourselves. It is so special to be able to listen to and bear testimony. I know that as we bear testimony that is when we can gain a stronger testimony as well. I love this quote from President Boyd K. Packer.

“Oh, if I could teach you this one principle. A testimony is to be found in the bearing of it! Somewhere in your quest for spiritual knowledge, there is that ‘leap of faith,’ as the philosophers call it.

It is the moment when you have gone to the edge of the light and stepped into the darkness to discover that the way is lighted ahead for just a footstep or two. ‘The spirit of man,’ as the scripture says, indeed ‘is the candle of the Lord’ (Proverbs 20:27).

“It is one thing to receive a witness from what you have read or what another has said; and that is a necessary beginning. It is quite another to have the Spirit confirm to you in your bosom that what you have testified is true. Can you not see that it will be supplied as you share it? As you give that which you have, there is a replacement, with increase!”

I know that we can really come to find a great testimony as we bear witness of the things that we know and the things that the Holy Ghost has taught us and will yet teach us in those many moments. Our testimonies should be living and continuing to thrive with the nourishment that we give it by reading, praying, learning, having experiences, obeying gods commandments, etc., and simply also bearing that testimony and sharing it with others. I am grateful for my testimony and I hold it dear to my heart, and I hope to always make it thrive and grow consistently throughout my life. Hope you all have a great week and a wonderful time with everything that you have going on! Go Cubs!!

Love,

Anziano Garrett

Mission conference with Elder Russell M. Nelson, October, 2016, Rome, Italy

Mission conference with Elder Russell M. Nelson, October, 2016, Rome, Italy

Catania – Week 22
Transfer 14, Mission Week 87

Ciao Tutti!!

We had a great week and it flew by once again with how busy we have been! We are loving it and it has been a lot of fun for sure! We had a family home evening last week at the part member’s family and we were able to bring our new convert to the lesson who is a ward missionary and we think a super nice fit to our investigator who is around the same age. It was a great lesson and we were able to teach about obedience, the 10 commandments and following the prophet. It was a really good lesson and I am so thankful for the fact that Jesus Christ leads and guides his church through a living prophet today and helps us along our journey through mortality. We are very blessed to live in such a time where we have aide along the way through this life.

We had a good time Tuesday where we had a lesson after English group where we picked up a new investigator. He is super nice and was really open to listen to us so we will see where that will go. Wednesday we were able to go on scambi with the other Anziani here in Catania and I had the opportunity to be able to go on a scambio with Anziano LaPray again. We had a good scambio for everything that happened on it. We essentially got 3 bidones and were able to prepare for the Halloween activity while waiting on the people that never arrived at the lessons. We were really hoping have all those lessons, but we had different plans put before us though. Ended up being really cool and we were able to see little small miracles in running into some people on the street and had some good finding at a piazza. It was great to work with Anziano LaPray again and be able to observe his work ethic and his missionary characteristics that are so unique to each one of us.

Thursday we were given the chance to go and do some service on the military branch of Sigonella near to Catania with all the missionaries. We cleaned the chapel and that was a great moment for us to be able to serve those around us. We met some great people there and had a great time rendering that service in cleaning up the chapel.

It was interesting to have some American pizza there for lunch and then some Taco Bell as well. It was super weird. I enjoyed being able to see all the different religious faiths there and see the unity that we can still have as Christians and event others of other faiths. I am thankful for the fact that we have religious freedom where we live and that our founding fathers saw such a need to establish a land where we can each practice our religious beliefs as we see fit.

Friday we had another lesson with our part member family and then headed to the church for the Halloween activity that we were throwing in church. It ended up being super awesome and it was the best turn out I have seen here at any activity thrown. We were a little worried that not many people would be there at the beginning, but we were able to see a lot of people come and we had some really great activities for everyone to participate it. We had about 100 people there and a good majority of them were non members, almost half of them. We had pumpkin carving, candy fishing, cookie decorating, the guess how many jar game (where some guy started eating out of the candy hahaha), and then that game where you stick your hand into a box to feel brains and eyeballs. We had a last box labeled worms where it was empty and when they stuck their hand in there it was grabbed by my hand since I was hiding under the table where no one could see me. It was super funny to hear people’s reactions hahaha. The activity was awesome though and we had a great time putting it all together. We had a great spiritual thought on the Atonement and we hope that all the people that came were able to feel a beautiful spirit with us.

We had a great Saturday and had a scambio in Ragusa that went super well. I had a great chance to be able to go with a new missionary named Anziano Wright who comes from Long Island, New York. He is a great missionary and I was able to learn a lot from him! He did a great job in leading off on the lessons and taking the lead in his city. It was a great opportunity for him to grow and be able see that he is capable of doing what he needs to do. He is super focused and really working towards that standard of excellence to have a baptism per transfer. He is great at getting to the chase with people and I love that. It was super great working with him and I look forward to seeing how much he will continue to grow.

We had a wacky Sunday where we had to take one of our sisters to the hospital because she wasn’t feeling well. She is ok though and we were able to figure out that it wasn’t anything to grave, but they also didn’t give a solid diagnosis at all though. We were with them for the morning though and had the opportunity to bless the sacrament later that night for us and all the sisters that weren’t able to partake of it. I was thankful for that opportunity to partake of it and bless the sacrament. I am thankful for the wonderful ordinance of the sacrament and all the blessing that we gain from partaking it and renewing our covenants with our Heavenly Father. It was very special to see how personal that the Atoement is and as well as the sacrament. I am thankful for the chance to change and be better through our Savior Jesus Christ. I love this quote from the apostle Elder Dale G. Renlund last general conference talking about repentance.

Instead of making excuses, let us choose repentance. Through repentance, we can come to ourselves, like the prodigal in the parable, and reflect on the eternal import of our actions. When we understand how our sins can affect our eternal happiness, we not only become truly penitent but we also strive to become better. When faced with temptation, we are more likely to ask ourselves, in the words of William Shakespeare:

What win I, if I gain the thing I seek?

A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy.

Who buys a minute’s mirth to wail a week, Or sells eternity to get a toy?

The fact that we can repent is the good news of the gospel! Guilt can be “swept away.” We can be filled with joy, receive a remission of our sins, and have “peace of conscience.” We can be freed from feelings of despair and the bondage of sin. We can be filled with the marvelous light of God and be “pained no more.” Repentance is not only possible but also joyful because of our Savior. I still remember the feelings that washed over me in the branch president’s office after the firecracker episode. I knew I had been forgiven. My feelings of guilt vanished, my gloomy mood lifted, and my heart felt light.

Brothers and sisters, as we conclude this conference, I invite you to feel more joy in your life: joy in the knowledge that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real; joy in the Savior’s ability, willingness, and desire to forgive; and joy in choosing to repent. Let us follow the instruction to “with joy … draw water out of the wells of salvation.”

May we choose to repent, forsake our sins, and turn our hearts and wills around to follow our Savior. I testify of His living reality. I am a witness and repeated recipient of His incomparable compassion, mercy, and love. I pray that the redeeming blessings of His Atonement may be yours now–and again and again and again throughout your lives, as they have been in mine. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I really love that part of the talk and the fact that it is truly joyful that we can repent and forsake our sins. Change is real and possible only through our savior Jesus Christ. I have felt that change and am thankful for the utmost divine love I have felt that my Heavenly Father and redeemer Jesus Christ have for me. They have the same for you as well. I love you all and am thankful for all your support and help while I am out here! Talk to you guys again next week!

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Garrett

Catania – Week 20
Transfer 14, Mission Week 85

Ciao Tutti!

Hope that everyone is doing well and that you all had a great week!

This week was another busy one for us and we had a lot that we were able to accomplish this week. We had DDM this week on Tuesday and that went super well and we were able to have another really spiritual addestramento together about service and rendering service to others. We read some great things and something that touched me was reflecting on this verse.

8 And now my sons, behold I have somewhat more to desire of you, which desire is, that ye may not do these things that ye may boast, but that ye may do these things to lay up for yourselves a treasure in heaven, yea, which is eternal, and which fadeth not away; yea, that ye may have that precious gift of eternal life, which we have reason to suppose hath been given to our fathers.

We are laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven as we serve our fellow man and those around us with our full heart and for the welfare of them. I am so thankful that God offers all of us the opportunities to serve those around us. It is always a blessing to be able to help those in need around us. I know that service is such a wonderful thing that we can render towards others.

We were able to have a great evening making sure that things were ready for the zone conference in the church and gave a ride to the church to President and Sorella Pickerd. It all went well and we finished off the night with a scambio with the Assistants to the Presdient. It was a great scambio and I was able to work with Anziano Rosenberg and I learned a lot from his boldness and his excitement that he has about the work. It is amazing to see his dedication and love to the Lord. We had a good lesson together and were able to give one of our former investigators a baptismal date. It went super well! We shuffled some people around after their interviews to finish off the night and we were all able to get settled down in order to be ready for the zone conference.

Zone conference went super well and we were able to learn from so many wonderful leaders. Sorella Pickerd talked to us a lot about attacking the day and I enjoyed talking about improvements on prayer and study which is something that I have been trying to put into practice continually. I know that working on and adjusting the little things help so much to see the big miracles in the work that we are doing.

The assistants talked about two things that I really enjoyed about studying and taking strength form the Atonement. The other was about being the message and being those Angels for others. We can present the message to them with joy and happiness showing truly that this is something that does work for us as we put it into practice. I am thankful for that blessed opportunity to be one to present that message to others. We then talked about the successes and the stories of the past baptisms in the mission. They were truly amazing and inspiring to hear about and it was really neat to talk about them and get us all excited about having our own stories.

This week we had a service project at our part member family’s house and it was super awesome. We helped gather the olives from their vineyard. It was super cool to work out there with them all together with all the other missionaries. We had a good time with the family and we really feel that we helped them with the little things that we could do for them in gathering the olives. We had lunch out there together. They had us break the piñata that she was so kind to make for my birthday a few weeks ago and we got back to work. It was a long day and it takes a lot more time to accomplish than we had anticipated. It was super interesting work and I was shocked to think that it takes 25 kili [kilos] to make 1 liter of olive oil. We shared a message at the end of the night before heading home and closing the night out.

We had a good rest of the weekend with other various lessons and a great three hour block at church along with a wonderful Geso Sunday evening. The service that we were able to render though of course made me reflect on Jacob 5 in the Book of Mormon that talks about the allegory of the olive trees. It is something that made me think much about laboring in his vineyard over here in the Italy Rome Mission. I love these three verses that conclude the chapter.

75 And it came to pass that when the Lord of the vineyard saw that his fruit was good, and that his vineyard was no more corrupt, he called up his servants, and said unto them: Behold, for this last time have we nourished my vineyard; and thou beholdest that I have done according to my will; and I have preserved the natural fruit, that it is good, even like as it was in the beginning. And blessed art thou; for because ye have been diligent in laboring with me in my vineyard, and have kept my commandments, and have brought unto me again the natural fruit, that my vineyard is no more corrupted, and the bad is cast away, behold ye shall have joy with me because of the fruit of my vineyard.

76 For behold, for a long time will I lay up of the fruit of my vineyard unto mine own self against the season, which speedily cometh; and for the last time have I nourished my vineyard, and pruned it, and dug about it, and dunged it; wherefore I will lay up unto mine own self of the fruit, for a long time, according to that which I have spoken.

77 And when the time cometh that evil fruit shall again come into my vineyard, then will I cause the good and the bad to be gathered; and the good will I preserve unto myself, and the bad will I cast away into its own place. And then cometh the season and the end; and my vineyard will I cause to be burned with fire.

The Lord truly works and does his best to bring all his children to the truth to immensely bless their lives here and in the life to come.

I am thankful for this final hour that he has been working since the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ about 200 years ago. This work is truly a great and marvelous work. We all can partake of the blessing and be counted among his good fruit as we do all we can to learn of him, follow him, and then help by laboring beside him in this great work. It takes time and a lot of work and that is what he is willing to with each of us as it describes all the necessary steps stated in verse 77 for example. I am thankful to have found this gospel to be true and that it has truly changed me and who I am. I know it can do the same for all of you as well. I love you all very much and hope that you have a great week!

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Garrett

Catania Zone Conference, October, 2016

Catania Zone Conference, October, 2016

The birthday pinata

The birthday pinata

Hitting the Pinata

Hitting the Pinata

The birthday pinata

The birthday pinata

Working Catania

Working Catania

Anziano Parkinson

Anziano Parkinson

Catania – Week 19
Transfer 14, Mission Week 84

Ciao Tutti!

I hope that everyone had a great week and that all is well with everyone! We had a super week over here and we have just been all over the place. So to begin my email we received our transfer calls Monday night and I am staying in Catania for a fourth transfer! I have received Anziano Ponce from Lima, Peru. He is a great missionary and is super dedicated to the work and really gives it all that he has. I am super excited to be staying and able to work with everyone down here for another 6 weeks. We have a lot of great plans and good work going on that is starting to grow as well! We are excited to be here and look forward to working together and seeing a ton of miracles.

So this past week we had to take missionaries to the airport Monday and that went well! I received an email from Anziano Nielsen and he has safely made it back home to Salt Lake City. He was super fun to work with and really taught me a lot. I hope to be able to continue to apply all those things that I have learned from each of my respective companions here in the mission. We proceeded to play paintball with almost the whole zone after that and it was a ton of fun! We had some members there as well which was really nice. A lot of people came out with some bruises and welts, but I didn’t seem to get any for some odd reason. It was good though!

For half the week I was on scambio with Anziano Cox because Anziano Clasby also went home. We had a great time together and were able to have a really cool lesson with two of our investigators who accepted baptismal dates that we will continue to help them towards and all that they need to do in preparation for that. I am thankful for the sweet spirit that we feel with them and all that we can truly learn together as we are all edified during those lessons. They are super special and the daughter of this member is working hard at reading the Book of Mormon and praying. It is super awesome! We also had a some great less active work done as well.

Transfer day was crazy and started off super well with all the departures and what not! Sorella Gleave and Sorella McKenzie were in opposite companionships here in Catania and headed off to Cosenza. I thought that was such a super cool transfer call! I was able to make dedicas for all the members with photos that we had taken together. I was super excited for them to go there. We had some crazy traffic all day here in Catania so that didn’t help with getting everyone where they needed to go! Driving here is insane. It is just an organized mess if that makes sense. It is a good life skill though! We were able to eventually get everyone to where they needed to all go and help out everyone with all the bags and what not! It was super fun at the end of the day and we accomplished a lot!

Other things that we did this week were the fact that we were able to translate for a member with President Jarvis of Sigonella, the American military base. It was super fun to help out with that. We also had to go and find some spray for the cockroach infestation that the sisters have at their house. We were able to plan a lot and do all that we could to get ready for everything that we need to do. We have zone conference this week and it will be really great as well as the mission conference next week in Rome on the 20th! We will be driving up there so that we can switch out the cars. It will be a beautiful drive and will take roughly 9 hours. We will be headed to stay at the Villa that night so it will be great!

I had a great study this morning and it connected super well with everything that I was touching on. It was revolved around the atonement and I really love this quote from Bruce R. McConkie:

All things center in, revolve around, are anchored to, and are built upon the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no language given to men or angels to proclaim these truths with the power and verity and dignity that should attend them. Let it be blazoned in burning  fire  through all the sidereal heavens that salvation is in Christ and comes because of his atoning sacrifice.

I think that is so true and such a powerful statement on the Atonement. It is impossible to even imagine fully all that he did for us. I am so thankful for that sacrifice and that I have an older brother that did that for each and every one of us. I am so thankful for the knowledge of from the Book of Mormon and modern day revelation through prophets and apostles that continually testify of the divinity of Christ and his mission. It is something amazing to think that we have that. Those special witnesses just like in days of old. I love you all and hope that you all have an amazing week!

Anziano Garrett