Ciao Tutti!

I hope that everyone had a great week! This week flew by again and it seems like we are always having something to do and getting busier and busier. We were able to have some cool lessons this week and it went really well. We also had a scambio mixed in there with Ragusa where Anziano Clasby and Anziano Cox are serving. I went with Anziano Cox and he is one transfer younger than I am. We were able to do some good less active work and it was a really fun time to work with him and have the lessons that we had. He is really good at teaching directly and simply where he puts the ball in their court and leaves it up to them to decide if they want to do it or not. I really enjoyed seeing that simplicity with directness.

Another lesson that stuck out to me this week was from our part member family that we are visiting. The member is so amazing and ever since she found the church she has made a complete turn around in a ton of things. She is just coming back full strength and it is inspiring to see and witness. Her husband is very nice and their daughter, who is our age, is very inquisitive and they both ask great questions and desire to understand. They both kept their commitments to read and it was great to go and visit them again. We were able to start off our visit helping them with a little bit of service. We helped take off the outer shells of almonds and then throw them in a crate to allow the sun to dry them later. It was a very interesting service and was a ton of fun. We had great conversation with them and got to them a lot better and they kept asking questions and we were able to discuss the gospel a lot throughout that time too. They are wonderful people and have a special place in my heart. I really hope that we will really help answer their questions and that they will trust in the Lord and the plan that he has prepared for each one of us. I know that the plan is perfect and sometimes we may not understand every small detail of it or every answer to the questions we have but if we have faith and trust that is all it takes to feel the comfort, hope, and peace that plan brings into our lives.

We have had a great time being able to work with these members here and we are seeing our work starting to grow now and we really hope to see that continue as well. The members are awesome and are super supportive of the missionaries here. This week we will have many members out of town because they are taking their yearly trip up to the temple. I am super excited for all the youth and members that get to go up there. It will really be an amazing experience for them and a time always to remember. This verse from Isaiah 2 comes to my mind where he is prophesying of the temples in the latter days.

2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

I think that this is such a wonderful scripture and we see that the early saints did truly flow unto Zion where the temple was be constructed in the Salt Lake Valley. I think that is just so neat and that we see that now the Lord has blessed us with temples all over the world for people to go to and to perform the ordinances for the living and the dead. It is such an amazing work and we are truly blessed immensely with temples. The only place that we can go to be sealed in marriage with our families for not only this time on earth, but also for eternity. I love these excerpts from the talk given by Thomas S. Monson in April 2015:

“As I think of temples, my thoughts turn to the many blessings we receive therein. As we enter through the doors of the temple, we leave behind us the distractions and confusion of the world. Inside this sacred sanctuary, we find beauty and order. There is rest for our souls and a respite from the cares of our lives.”

“As we attend the temple, there can come to us a dimension of spirituality and a feeling of peace which will transcend any other feeling which could come into the human heart. We will grasp the true meaning of the words of the Savior when He said: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. … Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

“Such peace can permeate any heart–hearts that are troubled, hearts that are burdened down with grief, hearts that feel confusion, hearts that plead for help.”

“The blessings of the temple are priceless. One for which I am grateful every day of my life is that which my beloved wife, Frances, and I received as we knelt at a sacred altar and made covenants binding us together for all eternity. There is no blessing more precious to me than the peace and comfort I receive from the knowledge I have that she and I will be together again.”

“May our Heavenly Father bless us that we may have the spirit of temple worship, that we may be obedient to His commandments, and that we may follow carefully the steps of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

I love the temple and am so very thankful for the steps that are clearly laid out for us to achieve that happiness in our lives personally as well as in our families. I am so very thankful for the blessings we receive as we go there and know that the sacrifices to build these great and wonderful houses of the Lord do not go unnoticed. The early saints knew that the sacrifices were worth it because the blessings that they would receive therein would be priceless. I know that His temples have been established in our day for our own benefit. I know that he lives and love us beyond comprehension.

I love you guys and hope that you have a wonderful week!

Con tanto amore!

Anziano Garrett

Preparing an American breakfast for a ward party in Catania

Catania at night

Catania at night

Catania District (Anziano LaPray is taking photo), August, 2016

Eating gelato selfie with Anziano Nielsen