The Lord gives or asks of us nothing unless he knows that he can give us a way to accomplish it in some way. They aren’t giving us anything that they know we can’t do.\u00a0 They are trying to push us to the point where we will grow and develop and ultimately change.\u00a0 It reminds a lot of the first day that we were here during orientation.\u00a0 They said, “There isn’t much growth in a comfort zone. And there isn’t much comfort in a growth zone.” We should all be developing in some way and when we mess up we should never fall back down further than where we developed the last time. We are all going to mess up in some ways but its having that strength and power to change and do what is right to be able to bounce back from our shortcomings.<\/p>\n
There are so many analogies in this gospel to running. When you are training and you know that you are putting in your best effort and giving it all you got, you will see results.\u00a0 You have to tell yourself, just a little farther, just a little more, not too much longer to go. There are times all of us want to throw in the towel, but we need to keep going and know that the blessings that are in store are of great worth even sometimes more than we can imagine. This is a gospel of change and we should constantly be changing and asking ourselves,\u00a0 “Can I do a little better today than I did yesterday?”\u00a0 We will struggle and suffer a little bit but that’s what it takes to change through the help of Jesus Christ and his infinite Atonement.<\/p>\n
Our lessons have been going well and we are facing new challenges when teaching. We taught a first lesson to a to someone that is playing a 75 year old Italian lady. We tried getting to know her the first lesson a little better and tell about how our message is centered around Jesus Christ and how that can help her in her life. It was interesting because my conversation skills are very limited.\u00a0 She said that she loves to eat and listed off things like, pasta, fish, and horse. I said I like to eat too and she then asked us what we liked to eat and I agreed to much of the same thing then she asked if I like horse.\u00a0 I told her I had never had it and then she went on to say something about the horse.\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes, when I don’t fully understand something I will just nod my head and say “si.”\u00a0 So I did and I don’t have a clue what I agreed to because then she started smiling and saying stuff like she was going to cook for us. I need to stop doing that so much hahaha.<\/p>\n
We had two really good devotionals this week and the first was given by Brother Radenbough (I think that’s how you spell it).\u00a0 He grew up in Urbana and he is a Branch President here at the MTC.\u00a0 He talked about conversion and how we have to help people stay converted to the lord and help them truly change their lives and stick to that change. He told the story of his father with the help of his wife a little.\u00a0 He flew B-17 bombers in WWII and he saw, many times, God’s hand in his life.\u00a0 His departure to Hawaii was delayed by a week and that happened to be the week leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor.\u00a0 Then he was in Australia and took off right as the remaining Japanese went to attack there.\u00a0 He consistently survived skirmishes and saw the Lord helping him in his life.\u00a0 It reminded me a lot of Louis Zamperini.\u00a0 The Lord may have work for us to do in this life and He helps and aids us so that we may be able to have the opportunity do it.\u00a0 His dad married his mom and she was a member of the Church but he wasn’t.\u00a0 He investigated the Church for over 40 years, 48 if I am not mistaken.\u00a0 Late into his life he asked Brother Radenbough if he could baptize him as he was, but Brother Radenbough said “No dad, you would have to live the word of wisdom.”\u00a0 From that point he really started to work at it and he would call every week and tell how Brother R. how he was progressing.\u00a0 He reached the point that he could be baptized and they did it as a surprise for their family reunion.\u00a0 This was such a good talk and it showed that conversion doesn’t always happen the same for everyone.<\/p>\n
There was girl from Korea that came here and has only been here for a little over 10 weeks. She signed up for the TRC [I think this is the Teaching Resource Center in the MTC, which is staffed by volunteer native speakers who role-play for the missionaries learning a language<\/span>] in the MTC and took lessons from training missionaries.\u00a0 Most people are members [of the Church<\/span>] in TRC so the people teaching her found outs she wasn’t a member a couple days after the first lesson with her.\u00a0 She learned and grew through the spirit and she was baptized a couple weeks ago. She had to learn a lot and when she was taking lessons from actual missionaries and she speaks little to no English at all.\u00a0 They set up a baptismal date for six weeks out.\u00a0 In English she said “Are you crazy!”\u00a0 It was pretty awesome.<\/p>\n We had a talk last night from Brother and Sister Clarke of the First Quorum of the Seventy.\u00a0 He gave 10 key points to being a successful missionary but also having a successful life in general.\u00a0 I can’t go into detail of that one due to time though.<\/p>\n I am growing closer to my district.\u00a0 They are all pretty goofy and funny and I love getting to know them a little better.\u00a0 I am growing closer to them.<\/p>\n I was reading and studying in 2 Nephi 4 and i like the verses from 15-16 and then also 27-35. They are awesome verses and it is when Nephi put all his trust in the lord to the end of his days. He says “yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation. We need to trust in the Lord and give it all we’ve got and He will help us make up our shortcomings and help us strengthen our weakness and truly answer our prayers when we pray with exceeding faith unto him.\u00a0 Faith like Enos had whereby, because of his faith, the Lord would answer his prayers because of his exceeding faith (Enos 12:12).<\/p>\n I love this work and it’s not easy, but I know that I am going to Italy for a reason.\u00a0 Keep praying, keep reading your scriptures, and keep doing all you can do to be converted through the help of Christ’s atonement.<\/p>\n Ce Vediamo!!<\/p>\n Anziano Garrett<\/p>\n The funny cereal names at the MTC<\/p><\/div>\n Eating Girl Scout cookies<\/p><\/div>\n This is my whole district Anziano Suowan, Anziano Grant Just, me, and Anziano Bickmore<\/p><\/div>\n![\"The](\"http:\/\/taylorgarrett.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/DSC01330.jpg\")
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