Week 17 -- Simon Bolivar

Jenny's translations and comments in red.

The questions we asked Garrett are in blue.

¡Hola!

Bueno comenzare contestar sus preguntas: (Well, I'll start answering your questions):

1.    Did you receive our 2 Thanksgiving packages?

1- si, gracias mucho gracias me encanta mucho (Yeah, thanks a lot much love)

2.    Did you ever receive my letter about my thoughts on General Conference?  What did you think of it?

2- si fue muy bueno gracias mucho (It was very good, thanks a lot)

3.   Will you celebrate Thanksgiving?

3- honestamente no, porque soy gordo y tenemos que trabajar en la obra misional (honestly no, because I am fat and have to work in missionary work)

4.  How is your Spanish?

4- no se me español es mas o menos, pienso que es terrible pero posible no es terrible, no se, ¿que piensen ustedes?  (My Spanish is more or less ?, I think it is terrible but possibly not terrible, what do you think?)

5.   Do you realize that we will get to talk to you, face to face, in exactly 1 month?  We are so excited!  Do you know if we will get to talk to you through Skype?  How long will we get to talk for?  Do you know where you will go to talk to us?  We can’t wait to know the plan.  That will be the best Christmas present EVER!

5- si es muy bueno estoy muy animado por eso fecha y la oportunidad se hablo. pero no se cualquier cosa sobre eso. entonces no se lo siento (I am very encouraged by the date and the opportunity to speak, but I don't know anything about it.)

6.   Do you think your machete talk made a difference?  Did you get any referrals from the members this week?

6- si el discurso machete fue bueno, esta semana obtuvimos 4 de un hermana, entonces es muy bueno. (My machete speech was good, this week we got 4 referrals from a sister, that was very good.)

7.     What was the best thing your experienced this week?

7- pues la mejor cosa que paso este semana fue que obtuvimos 5 o 6 nuevo investigadores (The best thing that happened this week is that we got 5 to 6 investigators.)

8.    When did you feel the love of the Lord this week?

8- si sentí la amor de dios diario, es maravillosa (I felt the love of the Lord daily and it is wonderful.)

9.    Have you given away any pictures of the Savior that we sent to you?  Have you given away stickers or other stuff that we sent to you?  We are just trying to help. 

9- honestamente esos son bueno pero es ingles y nadie aquí hablan ingles, pero aun tengo esos entonces alguno día se usare, y gracias por todo me ayudan mucho (Honestly those are good but no one here speaks English but I still have them and will use them someday. Thanks a lot you help me a lot.) 

¿entonces que piensen sobre me español es bueno o malo? (Then what do you think of my Spanish, is it good or bad?) 

OK, I will write in English now HAHAHAHAHAH!!

Wow you guys had a big week! What day is thanksgiving? Se me olvido (I forgot) and I wish I could have been there for everything that has happened--Davis' game, Hayden's play, Cami's soccer stuff, Kendall's ....stuff, and the ranch with Dad, and to be at home with Mom and Chase.  But I am doing a greater work. Family is great but the salvation of souls is more important to me right now.  I miss you guys so much but in two years we can see each other.

Guess what?  I just got a comment on your mission blog from a woman whose son has been called to the Ecuador, Guayaquil North Mission.  Her son enters the MTC on January 15th.  The crazy thing is that his name is Garrett Dean Taylor. J  Isn’t that a crazy coincidence?  So, look for a new Elder named, Elder Taylor at the end of February and try to remember that his name is Garrett Dean as well.  Wow!

Really his name is Garrett Dean?  That is amazing!  I want to train him now. Where is he from? And how far spred is my blog? Speaking of training...this week is my last week of being trained so next week I could be a trainer.  After next week I am done with all my training and the only training I will still have to do is my Spanish. I am pretty excited for that.

This week was honestly pretty standard.  Monday is P-day. Tuesday we went to Milagro for District Meeting, then the rest of the day is work. It is like that for the rest of the week.  Sunday is church and then it starts over. So honestly nothing really new happened except that we found about 5 or 6 new investigators. That is really good. On Sunday a family came to church so that is really good, but they aren't married so we have to get them married first then baptism. We had inter cambiars this week so on Friday I went to Milagro for the day and helped Elder Barreda (ZL).  Well that really was our week.

 On Thursday an Elder de la setenta (an Elder of the seventies) came to Babahoyo for a conference so we went to that all day which was really good to hear. At this conference there was a teaching practice.  They asked two Elders to practice teaching in front of the Presidente, his wife, the area seventy, and about a hundred elders and sisters. Guess who did the practice? Yes, it was me and Elder Mercado who did the practice.  I was a bit nervous. HAHA!! But I think we did good!

Well, honestly that was my week.

1- I love you guys!

2- Yes, that statement is true.

LOVE 

Elder Farley-

I am not sure if this is what the Lord meant about putting on the armor of God. 

Garrett must be eating a lot of cereal.

Week 16 - Simon Bolivar

¡Hola!

Well, as usual I will start off by answering your questions:

1-Yea, It was constipation so don't worry about that.  It's all passed and everything is back to normal as far as my bowels go. :-)

2- My toe is doing just fine.  The new nail is starting to grow in and it feels really weird.

3- No I didn't receive your packages but hopefully tomorrow.

4- I study my scriptures for an hour everyday and I am learning a lot.  Por ejemplo, (for example) I didn't know that Alma and Amulek were forced to watch women and children being burned and during that Amulek said to Alma that they should stop it from happening but Alma said "No--they are being saved in the kingdom of God".  So I thought that was sad but a cool story.

5- Oh my shoes are doing fine.  Yes, if I need new ones I can get them down here just about anywhere.

6- The next transfer day is in two weeks and I think that Elder Mercado will get transferred and I will probably stay in Simon Bolivar for another while.

Now I will tell you about my week--my week was pretty crazy by the way.

        Lunes was just a normal P-day.  Martes we went to Milagro for District meetings then we came back to Simon Bolivar.  Two hours after we arrived in Simon Bolivar we had to go back to Milagro because on Wednesday it was the conference of leaders and Elder Mercado is a District Leader so he had to go to that, which was in Guayaquil.  So Elder Mercado and the other District Leader and the Zone Leaders went to Guayaquil and I stayed in Milagro with Elder Juanes.  He is from Bolivia, Santa Cruz.  We did the normal missionary stuff in Milagro.  Elder Mercado and the others didn't come back until late Wednesday night and there were no more buses to go back to Simon Bolivar so we stayed the night in Milagro.  On Thursday morning we went back to Simon Bolivar. Thursday was a normal day.  Me and Elder Mercado just taught lessons and talked to people. On Viernes we went back to Milagro for a Zone meeting and after that was over we came back to Simon Bolivar. On Saturday and Sunday we stayed in Simon Bolivar teaching our investigators.

         On Domingo me and Elder Mercado gave talks in church. Lately the members aqui in Simon Bolivar don't really help with the missionary work.  It has been totally me and my compañero. So for our talks we talked about missionary work and how the members need to help us with the missionary work. I felt a little bit like Jeffery R Holland and how he is just so direct and says thing like they are.  When people are direct and say things like they are and kind of lecture other people we call that MACHETE. Yes, we macheted the members,  but we macheted with love. I did feel the spirit and I did notice a change in some of the members afterward. I really liked Sunday--it was a really good day.  

         We have one investigator named Luis and he has 21 yrs. Every time we teach him I know he feels the spirit and I know this because he asks the most questions during our lesson and that is an indicator to me that he feels something. He has a problem with drinking, smoking, girls, and with the police. I know that he feels something during our lessons but so far that hasn't been enough to change his ways for good. He lives with his cousins and one of them is a less active member. Can you guys pray for him specifically and pray that he will have a mighty change of heart, because I know he can be a great member?  I can feel that in him, but he needs some help and we are doing everything we can to help him.

Well, that was my week in a nutshell. Here are my questions:

1- Can you send me copies of my pieces of art work?

2- Can you send me a list of all my friends and everyone that is serving a mission that I know and their missions?

3- Umm...that's it just keep on sending me great letters

LOVE,

Elder Farley-

Week 15 - I killed the toilet! - Simon Bolivar

¡Hola!

I will start off by answering your questions:

No, I have not received the packages yet but tomorrow I should receive them, so I have my fingers crossed.

No, I did not have to pay the doctor for my toe surgery.  The church paid for it.

Oh I would say I have lost at least 10 lbs but possibly more.  I am not quite sure.

My favorite part of my daily routine is from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. because that is when we teach most of our lessons and it's cooler out so it feels nice.

One word I would use to describe my mission so far is AMAZING!  I have blessed so many peoples lives with the gospel and I don't want to stop.  I just want to baptize the world.

Well, for miracles I would say there are too many for me to write down, but here are a few that I have noticed.  For starters Elder Mercado and I were able to find Erika, a less active member, and we were able to teach her, her cousin, her mom, and her little brother. She and her little brother are members but her mom and her cousin aren't members.  We were able to commit them to a baptism date so that is really cool and a miracle. Another miracle I have witnessed is that Simon Bolivar is the biggest area in my mission and we have to walk everywhere because the buses are never reliable.  I have noticed that we have the strength to go throughout the day with a good attitude and enough physical energy. The gift of tongues is another miracle.  I am able to speak enough Spanish to really communicate the lessons.  Before my mission I was terrible at Spanish so this is a great miracle.

My week has been pretty standard. Monday is P-day. Martes (Tuesday) we go to Milagro and have our district meetings and then we come back to Simon Bolivar and preach the gospel. Wednesday is a normal day where we study and preach. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are normal days as well.  Sunday we go to church and then preach the gospel and then our week starts over again. Honestly my week was pretty normal.  Saturday was the birthday of a member so we went to go celebrate with them so that was kinda cool.  He has 11 years now and his name is Gabriel (I didn't edit this sentence because Kendall told me that in Spanish that is how you would say that Gabriel is 11 years old.  I thought that was funny that Garrett is now writing in English the way he is forming sentences in Spanish. He is so confused!).

One thing that is really making me mad is that none of our investigators attend church.  In order for them to be baptized they need to attend church twice but nobody does so it's kind of making me mad. But I will try even harder.

This really was my week--nothing too exciting.

My questions:

1-  I would like another CD that has a bunch of classic Christmas songs.

2- Can I also have an EFY 2011 CD?

3- Umm can you tell me about night stomach pains? Almost every night this week I woke up at 2 or 3 with really bad night pains.  I took medicine and then it stopped so I don't know what is going on.

4- How is everyone?

Well, sorry this email wasn't as good as others but my week was normal.

LOVE, 

Elder Farley- 

P.S. Oh se me olvide (Oh, I forgot),  something did happen this week. Wednesday morning I had to go #2 so bad.  So, when Elder Mercado was done showering I ran in there and unloaded my package, if you know what I mean :-). Then I showered.  But because of my "package" it clogged the toilet so badly that I actually killed the toilet!  Water was everywhere so we had to tell our land lord.  They replaced the toilet but I felt really bad :( but I learned my lesson. 

 Yikes - I killed the toilet!

Super handsome

Gabriel's 11 year old birthday with the Elders

Exhausted after a long day of work

P-day fun

Week 14 - Garrett has the sillies -- Simon Bolivar

¡Hola!

¿Como Están? Estoy muy bien soy muy feliz, y mi dedo de mi pie es muy bueno (I'm fine, I'm very happy and my toe is very good).  My toe doesn't really hurt anymore and yes I am back to normal doing normal missionary stuff.  Yes, we did baptize him. Elder Mercado baptized him. I will send some picture of that so you can see it. 

Let me start by answering your questions:

1- My toe is doing a lot better. The nail won't grow back to normal for a couple of months but it is feeling way better.

2- Yes, I started working again.

3- Yes, we baptized him.

4- NO! Nadie attended church but that is the only thing that is ticking me off because nobody attends church--NOBODY!  But I don't give up.

5- The weather is just cloudy and humid like always. Some days it's sunny and humid and those days are really hot!!

6- Yes, I did receive the package and I loved it!  I really do love it. Thank you :)

7-  Yes, I did have another interview with President Amaya the day before my toe operation.

Ok let me tell you about my week now:

Well, on Tuesday we didn't really do anything because of my toe, but we went to Milagro for the District Meeting. Wednesday we tried working and we did as much as we could with my toe. Thursday we had an intercambiar (exchange) with the Zone Leaders but it was only for 5 or 6 hours, so me and Elder Barreda stayed in our house and cleaned, while Elder Alfaro and Elder Mercado went to have an interview with the 14 year old kid that we baptized.  Friday we worked all day because the doctor said my toe was healing just fine and on Saturday we baptized Rosendo the 14 yr kid. Sunday was just a normal day; we went to church and tracked all day. That really was my week in a nutshell.  Oh you were right, they do celebrate the "day of the dead" but its not called that.  What they do is that everyone goes to the cemetery and eats a meal by their dead loved ones. Then they drink this purple drink and they only drink it on that day and it's out of respect for the dead, That's kinda cool.

A funny experience that happened to me this week was when we did work I couldn't wear my normal shoes so I had to wear one flip-flop and one normal shoe. I looked really goofy. I will send a picture of that also. 

Ok, so this week I have been craving so bad to see "The Phantom of the Opera". That is probably going to be the first movie I see when I get back. Just thought I should let you know :-).

QUESTIONS:

1- I don't care what I get for Christmas.

2- What is the best way to kill a mouse?

3- How can I become Batman?

4- Where is the fountain of youth?  I gotta beat Jack Sparrow.

5- I have a confession to make .......uh..........I stole the cookie from the cookie jar!

6- Umm can I have another Christmas CD?

I love y'll tons!

LOVE,

Elder Batman Farley-

I wrote Garrett right back after I got his email and we were able to email back and forth for a few minutes. What a treat!  I told him he sounded like he was in a silly mood, that he looked skinnier, and asked him if he liked the t-shirt that I sent him.  Here was one of his silly responses:

Yes, I feel a little silly today :-).  I have lost weight, and until I can find where I lost it, I will need a size large shirt instead of an XL.

Then I asked him if his mission is the best thing he has ever done.  This was his response:

FOR SURE WITH NO DOUBT!!

1 shoe + 1 flip flop = 1 hard working and dedicated missionary :-)

Garrett, 14 year old Rosendo, Elder Mercado

Rosendo's baptism with Elder Mercado

Garrett cleaning his apartment -- I think?