"Merry Christmas! ¡Feliz Navidad!... well almost,
Today may very well be the last time I write you all from the mission field. This morning I got on the missionary website to write the letter to the president and to send him the numbers we had last week. You will never guess what happened.
I could not send him a letter. According to the church I am no longer a missionary in the Peru Lima West Mission. I may have a few days left before I get home, but I am no longer held accountable for what I do here; so, I am going to throw a huge Christmas
party! Only joking... it is going to be a Christmas Eve party.
This week was a very great one. It just started off on the right foot. We were finding new investigators (many of them being families) and we were really just seeing how much some of our investigators want to progress. It is so great when
we do not have to really focus on showing a person why they should want what we have and instead just teach them what they are going to have because of their righteous desires.
We visited our investigator Sergio this week and he is so excited to be baptized this Saturday. He has even been looking up pictures of the temples and prophet and has all kind of questions about the mission. He wants to go on one the moment
he has been a member for a year.
There was a miracle that took place this week as well. We have been working with a less-active family where not all of the family members are members of the church. Kelly has not been sure about being baptized since we have been here. Sunday
evening we went over to their house and she told us that she had prayed and had received an answer from God. She said that she was going to be baptized and that she was going to go to church every week. We were so excited...so, we invited her to be baptized
this Saturday and she accepted! Sometimes the mission is just super great.
Yesterday I did not write because we had our Chirstmas Conferance with the mission president and three zones. It was super fun. Every zone had to put on a skit and a musical number. Our musical number was terrific... by far the best. My
friend Elder Dunn is a musical geneous arranged the number and played the piano. Then we made gingerbread houses and we shared family Christmas traditions... of course I shared how we eat Mexican food and how Grandpa Stradling´s eye would just twitch the entire
night out of nerves and the adults would all be sweating while eating there ketchup covered tamales... I love Christmas in Arizona.
To finish the conferance President Archibald and Hermana Archibald gave us all a gift. It was a family Christmas card with their family and a picture of all the missionaries. I do not know if you all remember that headshot that I sent home
a few weeks ago where I was making a funny face, well, that is the picture that made it into this card... now the mission will always remember the true Elder Garner. President spoke to us and at the end of his talk he spoke a lot about what I had said in my
testimony at his house just two weeks ago. He taught us that Jesus is our friend and we are His friends, especially while serving as missionaries.
As I have been anxiously awaiting these next few days to come to an end I have thought a lot about what the mission means to me. I do not know if I can explain it well, but I will try.
The mission for me teaches us what Christmas really means and Who Christ truly is.
Just over 2,000 years ago a king royal by blood was born. He was not placed in a fine linen or silk lined crib, He was not wrapped in the world´s finest cloths or blankets, nor did He have a nice room to be welcomed into the world. His
humble birth was no coincidence and I am sure it is what He wanted. He would be born, live and even die humbly. A King born for the low and meek. To what kingdom would this humble King rule over? What people would He serve? What would He ask of those who followed
Him? This babe, a king by birth, would prove to be the greatest king this world has ever known. He would rule the Kindom of His Father, He would serve all men and women who have or will ever live, and He would only require a broken heart from those who choose
to follow Him. He is Jesus Christ: the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords and the Son of the Living God. He came into this world humbly and He left it even more so. However, He now lives and will one day come again. This time however we shall all know of His
royal stature.
Jesus Christ is the first gift of Christmas. Given by a loving Father unto all of His children. He is a gift that does not have a beging or an end. He is a gift that we have to accept. He is a gift that had a price so high that it could
not be paid with money but only with His own blood. He is THE ONLY Gift that really matters. I love that at Christmas we give gifts. I do not believe that we do it because of the wise men but we do it because of the tradition our Father started. He gave us
a gift that we truly need and a gift that we all desire. When we are together as a family and we open our gifts that we have put time and effort into getting we should spend just a little time to rember Who really is the gift of Christmas.
I am so thankful for the mission and for what it has taught me. I am so thankful that I was able to meet so many amazing people here in Peru that have been and are such examples to me and for how they have taught me to open my heart and
love more openly like the Savior. I am thankful for the conversion that I have gained while looking for others to bring unto Christ. More than anything though, I am thankful for the relation that I have gained with my Redeemer and for now more fully understanding
Who He Is.
I know that Jesus of Nazareth is truly the Christ. He is the Son of our Heavenly Father. He was born of Mary and died in Calgary. He suffered the pains of our trials and mistakes and hardships in Gethsemani. He is our older brother and
is PERFECT. He knows us and He knows how to help us, council us, and how to make us perfect too. More than anything, I know that Jesus Christ is our friend. He has said so to His 12 Apostles and he said so to Joseph Smith. He did not lay down His life because
of obligation or because of future blessings He would receive, but did it because we are His friends. I am greatful to have a friend who never turns from me and is always there to ease my troubles. I know He is our Heavenly Father´s best friend and I know
that His life shows us that we too are friends of our Father.
The mission has been so great. I am so thankful for the two years I have had here and for the blessing it has been to serve my Savior. I am glad that I still have questions, that I do not understand many things, and that I am far from perfect
because it makes me excited for the even closer relationship I can one day have with my friend and Savior Jesus Christ.
I love you all very much and I am sorry if not everything makes much sense... it is hard to describe something that means so much to you. Maybe that is why it is hard for me to explain to people what my family is like. Well, I will see
you all next Tuesday,
For the last time, "
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