Letter Sent on June, 4, 2012

Dear Family,

Hey! How are things back home? Crazy that the class of 2012 has graduated... Congrats and all that! Wow...Seems like just a few short months ago…time flies!  This past year has probably been the shortest of my life! Things here in Battambang are going good!  Elder Oleson's Zone Vision is to really focus on member missionary work and having real growth.  That is something that I also feel is very important and is something that I feel that we are doing better on.  We have been working a lot with getting ward missionaries involved in our lessons and we have seen some great things happen because of their help in reaching out to investigators, less actives, and recent converts.

It keeps coming up in our branch, for the need for home teaching and how many problems can be resolved and members strengthened as the Priesthood does this duty.  It is established but just not organized the best with companions being very far from each other and what not.  The branch president said that this week they want to meet and to reorganize things.  This is something that is really great and will help the work in Battambang progress a lot and strengthen the church here.

We have two investigators, Viisnaa and Davwii, who are new investigators; they are doing really great and already asking about when they can be baptized-because they want to join our Church- and for a Book of Mormon; it's very exciting to see their desire to learn and to embrace the gospel.

Our investigator Puu Sociat is struggling and feels that he can't overcome his addictions and he wants to stop learning for a little bit.. According to his wife Srei Doic,  it's really tough because I know that if he will really commit himself to it and rely on the Lord that he can do it! I love him and we will be praying hard for him and thanks for your prayers as well.

This week we also found a new couple of investigators as we stopped and helped an very old lady pull weeds (she's 73, very friendly lady) and her neighbor friend.  It was really neat to see how doing little acts of service softens hearts and opens opportunities.  We met them the next day. They are actually already Christian (which was surprising because I haven't really bumped into many older people that are Christian! They still do not totally understand our purpose, and I think they think that it is cool that we are foreigners coming over…haha, but as we continue to teach things will become more clear.  There is also a lot of potential for a bunch of other investigators from this family as well, who came and joined in the lesson with us.  I notice that as we truly strive to talk with everyone that many doors are opened and we will continue find those whom the Lord has put in our path.

I feel so very blessed to serve here in Cambodia, the people are all so kind and humble.  I feel that if I was in America that I'd bump into a bunch more grouches and get the door slammed in my face-but here you can just go up to about anyone and talk with them.  They have so little but are still so happy.  I am thankful for their Christ like examples.

I am thankful for my companion Elder Jensen and for all that I am learning from him.  We are very different but also have some things in common, and because of that, I am learning a lot and being stretched and becoming a better person.

The work is going well and we will continue to work our hardest. Thanks for all that you do and for your prayers in my behalf.  I love you!!

Love,
Elder Garlick
Pics; A little peek at the city of Battambang! I am not 100percent what these are...pretty gross looking! I think they said it's like medicine for something. Super cute little girl.

Letter Sent on May 28, 2012

 

Dear Family,

Things are going good here in Battambang! This week was really cool as our Elders Quorum President, Puu Salmon, gave us a referral of his little brother and his wife, we were by his house and then he came home and told us his brother wanted to learn! It was great, then when we were going off his brother, Viisnaa, and his wife, Daavii, showed up and we were able to meet them right then at his house! They are great, they came to church this past Sunday too.  They ask good questions and yesterday asked us for a Book of Mormon(which we were more than happy to give). They are pretty funny! We are very excited to be teaching them.

We have an investigator named Puu Sociat whose wife is Srei Doic.  We are working with him with the Word of Wisdom and he missed church last week cause he was sick and this week again because he was helping a friend with his Moto.. Which is hard because the only day he can meet us is Sunday as he works from 6:30am to 9pm Monday through Saturday..we feel that he maybe is losing hope that he can conquer his addiction but we will strive to contact him more throughout the week to strengthen and encourage him.  He can do it. But we just need to help him be committed and understand and rely on the Atonement for strength beyond his own.

I know that the Holy Spirit helps guide the work.  There will be many times when I will just feel an impression to go talk to someone or just to do something and I know that it comes from the Lord and even if they are not super interested. I have also noticed it just with little things to help me get along better with others and my companion.  Makes me want to do all that I can to always be clean and worthy of His guidance and also to listen. 

This week I also had the opportunity to go on an exchange with Elder Gerrard in my area, since Elder Oleson took Elder Jensen on an exchange in his area.  Yeah, I was a little apprehensive for this exchange judging the fact that he had been here for a week and me, 3 months.  But things went really well and the Lord blessed us with a great day.  I was surprised by my Khmer and realized that I knew more than I thought I did! It was good having to be forced to talk a lot more and to be more confident.  I feel like the language has gotten a lot better within the past few weeks.  I felt pretty good about myself and probably, a little prideful, so I am thankful that-at the end of the exchange- when we were waiting at a street corner for the other Elders to switch back that a man that we contacted was having a hard time understanding a whole of what I was saying, sometimes I would try and explain something or ask him something and he would say he couldn't understand.  The Lord will not have prideful missionaries.  So I was grateful for that slice of humble pie to remind me of my reliance on the Lord!:)

We are seeing a lot of new investigators coming out of the woodwork, and we had a lot of LA's and Recent Converts at church on Sunday which was great to see! One less active named Piiro we found when we were coming back from meeting a new investigator who lived really far away and as we were biking back in the dark and it was on a road that we had never been on before and we hear someone yell, "Elder!" so we stopped and it was Piiro who has been a member for a real long time but also very inactive-so we got his phone number and all and we ended up meeting him again another time when we were meeting that same investigator and we went and taught him how to pray again.  And he came to church this Sunday for the full 3 hours!  Just another simple yet amazing miracle of how the Lord will put people in the our path, how blessed we are! Missionary work is definitely work; but, I love the people here and I love the Savior and I know that this is indeed His work and his glory, the gospel blesses my life so much and I am grateful for the opportunity to share it.  I love the Book of Mormon and my testimony of it continues to grow the more I study it.  I just feel the Spirit and a desire to be better, every time I read it. It testifies of Christ and I know that it is a gift from God.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is our Heavenly Father's church restored to the earth and I know that He leads it through his prophet, President Monson.  Just hope you know that I know these things are true.
Things are going good and we will continue to work our hardest!  Thanks for all you do, I love you.  Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Garlick

Letter Sent on May 21, 2012

 

Dear Dear Family:),

Things are going good here in Battambang! This week has been an exciting one for me with having a new companion and all and sending Elder Nebeker off. I love Elder Nebeker so much and am thankful for all that he did for me and all he taught me.

It was weird and sad saying bye and sending him off to Phnom Penh on Wednesday.  I went down to the city on Friday with Elder Sin and Elder Khlot who are both going to new areas.  I will sure miss them!  But yeah anywho, we rode the bus for like 6 hours there and then went to the mission home to meet our new companions.  My new companion's name is, Elder Jensen! He is from Fort Collins, Colorado; and he has been out for just over a year now.  He is our new District leader.  He is very organized, and he's a nice guy!  

There were 23 missionaries that came in which is a TON.  Twelve of them are Sister Missionaries and before that we had...8. hah:) The work here is definitely growing and it's really exciting.  We actually got another set of Sister Missionaries in Battambang and they are in our branch which is really exciting as well!  

One of the best parts of going to the city was that I got to meet up with most of my group from the MTC which was so great!  I haven't seen pretty much all of them for 3 months since I haven't been to Phnom Penh since I first got here.  It was really great talking with them and especially Elder Barney and just seeing them and how they are doing.  You definitely have a special connection with the group of missionaries were your district in the MTC, cause we are all in the same place going through similar things.

Elder Nebeker and I had a really cool experience last week; We had a referral that we had contacted and had set an appointment to meet...and was pouring rain really really strong. We were soaked. And so we met our member help under this big gas station canopy where she was waiting for us to go and help teach.  And when we got there this guy, Croy, came up to us and asked, "Are you Mormons?" and we told him that, "As a matter of fact we are!" and he then told us that his mom is a member in Phnom Penh and had told him about the church and encouraged him to look into it.  However, he didn't know where it was and he said he had been looking around for us and he found us! It was a really cool experience being led to him-as he was seeking shelter from the rainstorm at the gas station too-and it just strengthens my testimony that we may not know where all of God's children are; but, I know that He does and that He love us all one by one.

He came to church with his wife and son this Sunday and we met him and his wife that night and he is going to continue to keep learning, another incredible miracle.

Things are going well, it's a change being the one who knows the area and having to take charge a lot of the time until Elder Jensen becomes more used to it.  It's stretching and humbling.  Plus we have 2 new American Elders in our zone-it's really weird not being the youngest one anymore...there's actually a group under me-crazy! It makes me feel even more of a need to work hard and to be a good example! Things are going well.

As always, thank you so much for your love and prayers.  I am so thankful for you.  And I cannot express that enough.

Okay I'd better get going-I love you!

Love,

Elder Garlick

Pics; The District President's fam! Elder Nebeker and I love them so much, they were the last members we met with before he left. Incredible family.  Elder Sin bought this yummy treat for at a bus stop.. They made me try some.. haha:) They actually were pretty yummy! haha, only in Cambodia.. They had a mothers day program yesterday! Real neat. Don't know why it wasn't last week? haha, but here is a picture we took afterwards of all the women in the branch!  Another picture of our house.  Me and Elder Jensen! A picture from mine and Elder Khlot's photo shoot a few weeks back.  Probably my favorite missionary yet, Elder Monkey!:)

Letter Sent on May 14, 2012

Dear Family,

Things are going good here in Battambang!  We had a baptism this past week and that was really great; the investigator's name was Viilai and she is awesome.  Elder Nebeker baptized her and afterwards she bore a very powerful testimony.  It is so great to see her now as a full fledged member, she has such a sincere desire, is so strong, and is just the epitemy of a "golden investigator".  She is going to do some great things in the Church and in her life!  I am so grateful to be able to see the change in her life and her desire to share this with her family.

We seem to have a smaller pool of investigators right now but we have a lot of really great potential investigators that we are going to start meeting and I am excited as I feel that we will continue to see some exciting things here in Battambang!

When I was with Elder Oleson on an exchange in his area on Friday we witnessed a couple of miracles.  One thing that we had decided to do was strive to pray periodically throughout the day together and keep the Lord involved. We had taught a lesson and then another lesson had fallen through and we went just a little ways down this dirt path where it was nice and quiet to say a prayer together.  And after we did we just went riding down the path to maybe contact some people and see what was down the road and when we got to the end a short ways down it ended at this house and there was a guy laying in a hammock and he came and talked to us and it turns out it was a less-active member! Elder Oleson had been looking for him but didn't have any info but his name, baptism date, and a very vague address.  He had asked members too but couldn't find him..till that day!  We got his phone number and had a good little chat with him. We were definitely led to him.   It was pretty incredible.  And we were sure to say another prayer of gratitude afterwards!

We later were contacting and coming out of a contacting slump for the day and we just felt like we should contact this older man and nothing too special happened-but it seems like the first contact of the day is always the hardest; after that we were in the contacting mode and started going down the street and felt like we should talk to another man who was interested and scheduled an appointment with him, then we continued contacting and the next three people we contacted seemed prepared, ready, and had an interest in learning more, we scheduled appointments with them all as well.  All of these people were within like 50 feet of each other and it was so cool seeing how we were led to them.  2 of them even came to church a few days later.  It was very neat to see how the Lord led us to those who were ready and prepared.  This just strengthened my testimony of the simple power of prayer and also that the Lord truly does know where each of his children are-we don't, but if we will listen, He will guide us to them.

Elder Nebeker will be going home this week.. I will miss him!  We have grown to be good friends. And I am so appreciative of all that he has done for me and for all of his love and teachings.  He is very patient to put up with me!  I have learned so much from him and he has got me off to a great start here in Cambodia.  I love him and will miss him.

I love this scripture in Alma 56:45-48; "Therefore what say ye, my sons, will ye go against them to battle?..even so they said unto me:  Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth..they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it."  I love this story and the incredible example of these Stripling Warriors and most of all I love and am grateful for my moms who have taught me and helped make me who I am today.

Well know that I am doing well and that it was super sweet being able to talk to you all, I am glad that all is going well!:)  I love you. a. lot. And I guess I'll talk to you later! haha, Have another great week! And Happy Mothers Day! Personally, probably the best one I've had yet, hah:)

Love,

Elder Garlick

Pics; Our investigator named Cet who is actually just moved to a place called Kambung Cam, we'll be giving his number to the missionaries there so he can continue learning; Viilai, she's pretty short huh? She's great!; A bunch of our friends!; Our investigator Bong Da had a baby!; Elder Khlot will be leaving to another area this week-I love this Elder!; Elder Nebeker-Ditto; Puu Sokciat(investigator) and Srei Doic's(recent convert) family; Puu Sarin and Ming Siinaa's (investigator)family.