Letter Sent on January 21, 2013

Dear Family,

 Here in Ta Khmau things are going really good! Yesterday we had a baptism for that lady named Om Sambath, it was an incredible baptism. She bore a great testimony and it was pretty much a short talk;she had written down 2 Nephi 31:20 so she could read it and she had a great experience and shared a strong testimony. Something I loved was how much she talked about the members and how much they helped her and it wasn't so much just thanking the Elders.  The members are so good to her and things are just going great! She is such an amazing investigator and was so prepared to hear the gospel; probably the most prepared person I have ever had the opportunity to teach. She talked about how she was praying for years to find a pure holy church and how she felt hopeless.  Somehow two sisters (one being Cambodian) in Temple Square called her and contacted her over the phone. Then she got referred to us and has endured through a lot to come to know the Lord and His Church. Sambath doesn't know how they got a hold of her number.  An amazing miracle!  She just has such great faith and is full of light and love for everyone.  I am thankful for her and for her faith and example to me and all the members here in Ta Khmau.  I am constantly amazed and grateful for how the Lord truly guides us to His children or guides His children who are being prepared to us.  What an amazing blessing it is to be a missionary! I love these people so much.

Also this week we have been trying to help the Elder's Quorum President, Pheap, to get hometeaching up and going.  We have been trying to go out with the different companionships and help them get to the homes of those whom they are called to teach. It has been pretty good, we will continue to try and to encourage and support as much as we can. I will say this much that when I get back I will give it my ALL to be a good home teacher.  Amazing how the mission changes your perspective on so many things and you just see so much more clearly.  Being a missionary when all you do is try and serve and help others you see how important that the members are doing the same for each other and how we honestly can't do it all on our own.

Right now we are struggling with that great family we have out in Baku, when we've called to say hi throughout the week they say that they've been reading together as a family in the scriptures. Which is great!  We went to go visit them on Saturday and the dad was very drunk from a party or something.  He says he loves us and he has a desire to get baptized; we will continue to do our best to help them progress.  I am grateful for the member help, Pu Chanra, we have that really helps Pu Oeun out and is a big friend and encouragement to him.

We have another investigator named Vann who we met with who talked about how he really wants to learn and see if the Lord can bless his life, he said that if he could see the Lord how he would give up whatever it takes to know him.  He is a very smart man and has a wife and 3 kids. He is disabled and says he really wants to come to church but says he can't if there isn't a wheelchair for him.  So we are going to try and figure something out! See if we can get one for him or something..  Things are going really good out here in the Kingdom of Cambodia. I know that the Lord is mindful of everyone of us and that He is always anxious to bless us for all the good which we do.  Thank you for your love and examples to me.  Every week I get lifted up and have a desire to stand taller when you share your experiences and love. I love you. A lot.  Have a spectacular week!

Talk to you next week-till then,

Love,

Elder Garlick

 

PS. Congrats to Kambri and to Logan with your mission calls! I'm so proud of you both!

Pics;Om Sambath-ready for baptism. The sister's investigator Vandy, Om Sambath, and us.  Ta Khmau 1st Branch.  A sweet tree we found by Baku out in the rice patties. A "sweet" Om selling honey at the market this morning:)

 

 

 

 

Letter Sent on January 14, 2013

Dear Family,

This week was really good! We were able to really focus on finding and meeting with less active members. We especially had some good success with meeting with those who are Priesthood holders and getting to know them and share with them. Elder Rucker taught me that a good thing to do with LA members is to commit them to learn the first 4 missionary lessons again; so we've been asking people if we could come back and teach them again to help remind them about the doctrines and things they have forgotten.
We were biking down the road one day and felt prompted to go kinda out of the way and try to say hi to a recent convert member named Ming Nou that we hadn't been able to meet with in a while and then after we got to her house. She wasn't home.  After we started biking back towards our original destination and we were talking about how sometimes we don't always recognize why we were prompted to do something that we did; but that the Lord has a greater purpose or vision in mind.  Elder Jensen then felt that we should go and try to visit one of Ming Nou's sons who is a Less Active member and lives right by her.  We went to his house right at the right time and were able to talk with ,not the son we intended to meet with, but his other brother who is also less active. We were able to talk and get to know him some and figure out when we can meet with him again to help him out.  It was so neat to see how the Lord prompts us to do certain things and how when we take the time faith to go out of our way to follow through on a prompting, there are always blessings that come from it.  The Lord really does bless each one of us with promptings and revelation everyday and for that I am so grateful.  The Holy Ghost is such an amazing gift! Could you imagine if you just had to guess about everything and just hope that you made the right decision? We have the privilege of receiving direction everyday on what the Lord would have us do and say. 
There is a less active named Sophea who is a return missionary who I've told you about before. He came to church on Sunday-which was great! It is always such a sweet experience to see a less active member come back into the fold.  We had a nice lesson with him where he shared about what he was studying in the Book of Mormon and he compared himself to when Nephi broke his bow and how that is like when he was less active and how know he is starting to come back.  It is so great to work with Less Actives like Sophea and see that they want to come back but just need some help and encouragement.  I am sure that everyone of us has the opportunity to reach out to others and strengthen their faith and help those who have become inactive come back.
Anywho, things are going great in Ta Khmao! I know I say this like every week, but I love my mission so much and I pray that my love for it will only continue to grow.  I know that this is the best thing I've ever decided to do and I am so happy to be able to serve the Savior all day everyday.  I love Him and know that He lives and truly watches over us everyday. I love you too! Thanks for everything you do and for your prayers and love. Have an awesome week!

Love,
Elder Garlick

Letter Sent on January 7, 2013

Dear Family,

 

 Hey how are you doing? I hope that you are all doing just great! Happy New Year! Or in Khmer- Suasdei Chnam Thmey! This means “Hi New Year"

This week was good, honestly pretty hard, but still good.  I have honestly been struggling this last week and have just felt pretty stressed out with a lot of things and trying to adjust to things and to be a better companion.  I am trying to be a good companion but know that I have many weaknesses.  I know that I sometimes am impatient, and can get frustrated too easily. I feel like I need to strive to be more humble and selfless in my companionship and that that will really help things go better. Pretty much what I am learning about getting along with others that being selfless is best.  I am continuing to learn and grow a lot.  And I love Elder Jensen, he's a super fun and great guy and he is an amazing missionary; we're both learning a lot.  Things are good!

This week I had the opportunity of going on an exchange with Elder Jongsma! I brought him into my area and we had some good things that happened.  The focus of the exchange was to strive to be Christ like and about being.  We talked about setting goals weekly and setting goals daily.  I challenged him to prayerfully set a daily goal each day for how he can do a little bit better and to really focus on that one goal for the day and try to really do his best on one point that he feels to work on.  I committed to do this too and am glad that I am emailing about it because it reminds me that I need to do better at this myself! I   learned a lot about him and I was impressed with how loving and Christ like he is, I also like how he really tried to help the people that we met with understand what we were teaching and if they started getting distracted or talking about something else he would help them focus on the lesson again.  One thing that we wanted to work on was contacting and on trying to be open to the Spirit and contact those whom we feel impressed to talk with; to be willing to stop and share this message. Also, just to be opening our mouths and talk with everyone everywhere we are. Elder Jongsma is a great Elder and I am so glad to be able to serve near him and be in the same house; he's from my MTC group and it's crazy that we've been friends for just over a year now!

Elder Jensen is feeling a lot better, pretty much 100 percent now! So that's great:)  We have a new investigator named Gum Ly and a couple of her family members who we are going to hopefully start meeting with this week which is exciting!

I am sorry not a whole lot to share this week but know that.. 

Things are going great! I hope that the same goes for you.  I love you so much. I hope you know that and that I am deeply grateful for all of you and for your prayers in my behalf and that of our dear brothers and sisters here in Cambodia.  Have a terrific week!

 

Love,

Elder Garlick

PS. I will send a whole bunch of pictures soon!

Letter Sent on December 31, 2012

Dear Family,

Thank you so much for the delightful Christmas! It was so great talking to you all.  Serious, I loved it, probably too much:) It seems like there was a lot more that could have been said but at the time it is hard to think, haha.  Anywho, I love you. Yeah so for Christmas we had some great service, devotional, training, and of course food.  I definitely learned a lot and came away with a lot to do and a desire to be better and stand taller.  We learned a lot and a lot was shared about how we can do and be better for this next year, everything I learned and that was shared just felt so right and I was definitely uplifted.  We had a great testimony meeting and I love hearing testimonies of other missionaries.  Honestly, this was the most Christ centered Christmas that I have ever had, not really much focus at all on presents or tinsel; just love, service, and gratitude for Him.  I really love this Christmas time of year when we all turn our hearts and thoughts more to Him.  I hope to try and maintain that Spirit and set goals to be better this next year.
This week was good, a pretty crazy one though! Elder Jensen has been feeling sick ever since just a bit before he got here, and he was really quite sick this week. We went to a health clinic and were able to get some medicine for the big guy and now he is feeling a lot better now and will hopefully be 100% soon. 
This week I went on an exchange with one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Kuen, and learned a lot. He came into my area and we were able to meet with the Elders Quorum President and talk about home teaching.  We are going to start really trying to help encourage and support him in getting home teaching off the ground more here in Ta Khmao.  We had a couple of interviews and all, and I learned a lot about teaching too.  I also received some good advice about not overdoing things and to remember that we're human.
Then on Saturday I went on an "exchange" with our Elders Quorum President out to Baku because Elder Jensen was still not feeling good and so he went with Elder Jongsma and Elder An so that he could stay close and not have to do too strenuous of biking.
Yesterday, we had a baptism! Her name is Ming Leak and she is so great! Truly puts the word gold in golden investigator.  She definitely has prepared herself for it(we've been teaching her for 2 months and she's read to Alma 44 already!) She said that she stopped drinking coffee and stuff a couple of months before she even started learning.  It was a great service and she shared a sweet testimony and talked about how her reading of the Book of Mormon well into the night, feeling a strong desire to read it, and how it helped her come to know that God lives.  I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have to teach her and how blessed I am to be serving here in Ta Khmao.
She was a referral and the lady, Om Ly, that referred her to us brought another friend to church named Om Gumly who came to the baptism and now has a strong desire to learn with us! And, she has children and grand kids as well who have potential! We scheduled to meet her this week.
The dad from Baku and a couple of his kids were able to come to church and they felt very happy, the mom was sick but hopefully we'll get the rest of the gang there this next week.
There is a man named Tin that has learned with a few sets of Elders but just has concerns and questions that make it so he can't commit himself to be baptized, we invited him to the baptism and afterwards had a great lesson with him and talked about faith and the requirements for baptism-I really feel like we have love for him and that he has changed since he learned before and that he is going to finally learn and fully commit himself this time.
Things are going super good here in Ta Khmao.  I feel like this past week has been so great and that we truly do see simple yet incredible miracles everyday.  I feel that is true for all of us, just being a missionary we are more prone to recognize them and we have a full time call to give our all to the Lord.  I know that He loves us all and is mindful of us.  When I reflect on my life and my mission so far I see how truly blessed I have been and feel a sense of love and gratitude for it all.  I love being a missionary here and I love the opportunity to serve.  Elder Jensen and I are doing real good in our companionship and yeah, things are great!:) I know that the Lord has prepared people for His restored gospel and is indeed hastening His work.  I have got 1 year of my mission left and I feel so blessed for it and after this Christmas and after reflecting I feel a strong desire to just give the Lord my all-my whole heart; I just want to serve with everything and have a stronger resolve to have no regrets.
I just hope that if anyone is reading this letter and is thinking about or is at the age where they can go on a mission-Do it. Especially the young men back in Lehi 36th, Do it.  I love my mission so much and it has been the most treasured experience of my life.  I love this work, I love the people here in Cambodia, I love the hard times, I love seeing the change the gospel makes in the lives of others and how truly involved the Lord is in doing His work.  I honestly do not know what I would do without my mission and am so grateful for the growth that I have been blessed with and for the short opportunity to serve full time.  I just hope that you will all continue to be the men that you were born to be and really take preparing for a mission serious.  I promise with all my heart that you will never regret it and that it will truly be the turning point in your life. I hope you know that I love you, I really love my ward family so much.  Especially my brothers in the Priesthood. If I didn't care or think that it was a big deal then I wouldn't bother with writing this.  I just think of  your great potential and want you to be happy.  Don't let anything hinder you or distract you from going.  I know when we sacrifice for the Lord, He always blesses us back, tenfold. Know that this is truly the work of the Lord. The Lord is truly hastening his work.  So keep on reading your scriptures, pray sincerely, and live so that when you serve you can give Him your all! I love you all and can't wait to hear about your calls(send me an email when you do!)
Anywho, I had best get going, have a fantastic week and a happy new year!


Elder Garlick

Letter Sent on December 17, 2012

Dear Family,

We have kinda lost and dropped some investigators lately and we have a bunch right now but with many of their schedules it is hard to meet them and they can only meet us once or twice a week. We had an investigator named Sopheak and some recent converts that just moved into the other Elder's area; so we'll miss them!! So we are finding we have lots of time when we don't have appointments and we are really going to crack down and search for less actives and CBRs.  I really want to continue to find all the less actives and especially the Melchizedek Priesthood holders and returned missionaries.  I feel maybe the Lord is wanting us to focus more on this and is maybe giving us time in our days to do it.
I am now with my new companion, Elder Jensen! He is huge!! He's like 6 foot 5. I feel like a little kid next to him. He is 19 years old, and is from Japan! Well originally from Ogden but he moved to Japan when he was 3 and he lived there for 14 years and knows Japanese better than English.  He went to Utah State for a year and wants to be an engineer.  He is super cool and real easy going, I am excited to serve with him! It is weird because this is the first time I have been older than my companion age wise and the first time I have been the companion that knows more of the language. Things are going good!
This week we were able to meet with a referral that we got from Salt Lake a week or two ago.  Her name is Uang Sombat and she is 58 years old and the mother of 8.  She has member family in America and they referred her to us somehow! Amazing.  For the past couple of weeks she has been far away taking care of her sick mother and we haven't been able to meet her.  Last time we called her she said that she should be back on Sunday and should be able to go to church.  We called her on Sunday to remind her and to describe where the church is.  We met her at the church and she told us her story of how she got there; she said that a few days before she was in Vietnam with her sick mother trying to help her get better and the doctors said that she was fine, then she came back to Cambodia and made it back to Takeo Province which is where a lot of her kids live. Ming Sombat didn't have any money and she remembered that she promised that she would go to church.  She prayed that she would be able to find a way to come in order that she could keep her promise.  She then was able to sell a chicken for $3.50 so she was able to get a ride in a van to TaKhmao.  She then spent 12.5 cents to ride in a trailer pulled by a motto from her house to closer to the church and then she walked a pretty good distance asking people for directions to get to the church.  And she kept her promise. We were able to follow her to her house as she rode on a motto trailer after church and met with her and 2 of her children.  She has learned about Christ before and was asking us if she could be baptized on the 31st of this month.  She told us that whole story (like 5 times) and about how happy she was to actually see the church.  I am so grateful for the Lord and know that He truly leads his children whom He has prepared to us and His restored Church.  I was so impressed with Sombat's faith and her love for the Lord.  I am looking forward to the privilege of teaching her. How blessed we are!
So yeah, things are going good here! We'll continue to work our hardest! Hope you know I love you and I miss you.  Christmas is almost here...8 more days! I am super excited to talk to you next week!:) Have a great one!
Love,
Elder Garlick

Letter Sent on December 10, 2012

Dear Family,

Hey hey! How are you doing? I am doing great! Things here in Ta Khmao are going just swell.  This week I had the opportunity to go on an exchange with Elder Rucker and he came into my area and we had a ton of stuff fall through, haha- The joys of missionary work:) So we decided to go and look for less active members and to go find people in my CBR book(our missionary record book for all the members) We went and found one but they weren't home and then after we decided to say a prayer asking for direction and that we would be led to those to talk with.  Soon afterwards we started biking to a different part of town to try and find another lost sheep when someone on the side of the rode called out, "Elder!" We turned around and went back and it turns out it was a less active member who had moved to Phnom Penh and had recently come back to Ta Khmao! We were able to talk with him and schedule a time to meet with him and help him become active again. Super neat! I love how the Lord leads us to those people who we need to meet and I am so grateful for that.  It always seems that whenever we take a moment to pause and pray that we always seem to see miracles and receive direction.  I know that the Lord knows where each of His children are and takes care of them.
Yesterday was transfer calls! Initially, we thought that nothing was going to change and that it would be the same house: Elder Sem, Elder An, Elder Rucker, and me. My favorite house yet.  But surprise! Elder Rucker got called to be an Assistant to the President and Elder Sem is getting transferred to go "whitewash" in Phnom Penh. With that I got called to be a District Leader and my new companion is going to be another Elder Jensen! Yeah I didn't see that one coming.  So I am pretty sad that I won't have the privilege of being companions with Elder Sem another transfer.. I really love him and we've had a lot of fun together! I'll miss him.  I am also going to have a very humbling and learning experience of being a District Leader. So that will be fun! I find that during my mission the Lord always is pushing and stretching us to be our very best. Just when it gets kinda comfortable you get pushed a little bit harder and given more opportunities to learn and grow.  I am grateful for that.  I love Him, I love this work, and I love being a missionary.  Also, I love you! I hope that you have a super week! Talk to you soon.
Love,
Elder Garlick

My SD card is being crazy and won't open up on the computer but will when it's in the camera?? I'll try and figure it out.

Letter Sent on December 3, 2012

Dear Family,

How are you? TaKhmao is going great.  I realized I never really told you about this area and Elder Sem and I've been here for like a month now, sorry my bad:) Welp, I love it here! Ta Khmao is just outside of Phnom Penh and is very much a city area.  It takes like probably 30 to 40 minutes to bike to the mission home. I love it because we have a part of our area called Bakuu that is a good solid hour bike ride away if you're going fast. Out there it is all rice patties and beautiful farmland! I love it. So we get the city life and the farm life as well.

Elder Sem is 23 years old and is from Phnom Penh.  He has been a member for 8 years.  He has 2 brothers and 2 sisters and is the 4th oldest in his family.  He has been serving for 6 or 7 months now and is an amazing missionary.  He is super funny and just really layed back and easy to get along with. I am learning tons from him!; and am actually the senior companion for the first time, which is a little more stressful but honestly it's pretty much just the same.

All of us Elders went and did some service on Thursday out in Bakuu with the Young Men and Young Women from both branches. We helped an awesome member named Canraa, harvest his rice. It is amazing how much the youth enjoy service and I am impressed with their faith and effort to bike all the way out there and do service with us. A lot of them were sitting two to a bike. And I'm serious, it's a long ride!:) The members here in Ta Khmao are so amazing.

Yesterday there was a cool experience with one of our members fellow shipping an investigator of ours. This investigator's name is Ming Cantaa; she is the mom of a contact we met with and we started teaching her, we only met her a couple of times and then this last couple of weeks she has been busy and we weren't able to meet her. The other day we called her and invited her to come to church and then on Sunday she came! She stayed for 2 hours and sat with one of our Recent Converts, Ming Lekana, in Sunday School; after Sunday School we asked if she could stay for 3rd hour-she told us that she was feeling sick and wanted to go home; however, after 2nd hour Lekana walked out with her and just ended up talking with her and shared how the Gospel has blessed her life for like 20 minutes, just being an instant friend, and then Ming Cantaa went to Relief Society with her and then afterwards went and practiced with the branch choir for this big interfaith Christmas celebration(which she wants to go sing at now). It was amazing to me how the power of members doing missionary work and befriending our investigator really helped our investigator feel the Spirit and their love and kindness. It really had a big impact on Ming Cantaa and I think she is going to really start progressing now because of how welcome she feels with her new amazing member friends at church!

I feel so blessed to be serving here in Cambodia.  The people here are just full of love and are just so kind and happy.  It is seriously amazing considering how little many of them have, however, they still choose to be happy and instead of being worried about what they have they give and love others.  They are so Christlike and you can't help but feel like you are around Him when you are around them.  I am inspired and want to be a more loving person and am so grateful to be able to serve here. I pray that we can all be more loving and just smile and love others as Christ would.  May we be like Ming Lekana and lovingly reach out and share the gospel.

Welp, it's pretty crazy, this week week is my one year mark! It's pretty crazy, exciting, and scary all at the same time. I still feel like I am a new missionary.  I am excited for the privilege to serve for another full year! I love you and hope that you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Garlick