"Buckets" (an insult, courtesy of the Elders in our district, that applies to the weather this week)

Hey everybody!

I think there's a quote from Mark Twain or someone like that which goes something like, "The coldest winter I ever knew was a summer in San Francisco." Well, brothers and sisters, that is definitely not the case for me, seeing as I grew up in Utah and am serving a little further south, in Los Angeles. But I do think I can honestly say that the wettest weather I've ever experienced has been a mission in sunny California. It has rained so much this winter! I mean, it's nothing in comparison to the rain Sister Howard is used to, being from Washington, but I've never seen this much water in the streets in my life. Our parking pond just keeps getting bigger and bigger. ; ) The nice thing about it though is that right after it rains, it's actually really pretty here since you can see the sky! Honestly, it's a lot of fun since it still isn't constant. But it's definitely different than what I'm used to, haha.

Favorite Scripture:

Mosiah 23:10

"10 Nevertheless, after much tribulation, the Lord did hear my cries, and did answer my prayers, and has made me an instrument in his hands in bringing so many of you to a knowledge of his truth."

Alma 29:8-9

"8 For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true.

9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy."

I think when  hearing the term "instruments in thy hands," I have always thought of instruments as tools, like surgical instruments or something like that. So in my head, I've always just translated it directly to being tools in the Lord's hands, so that He can work through us. At zone conference this week, however, someone quoted this phrase, talking about instruments actually as musical instruments (which makes sense, especially as a musician, haha). He mentioned how there are a lot of different kinds of instruments, and how each of them not only has a different sounds, but needs to be played differently also. That made me think about things completely differently. Yes, the Lord works though us to accomplish His work. But He also knows us, and knows our part in the symphony of His plan. Each of us, when we have the help of the Lord, can create something beautiful. And not only can we sound good as soloists,but we can gain even more strength, power, and beauty when we play our notes together with other instruments of the Lord. No wonder music is such a powerful way to invite the Spirit; it's a wonderful reminder that each of us has glorious potential to share the music of the gospel.

Favorite Miracle:

We were stopping by some people last night and ran into this part-member family whose youngest daughter is actually going to get baptized next month. The mom had us review the baptismal interview questions with the daughter. It was cool to hear this little girl's sweet testimony, even though it was simple and we had to help her out a little. It just goes to show that we really are to become as little children.

Favorite Service Opportunity/Funny Thing:

We were walking down the street, back to the car, when we passed this 50-ish-year-old lady who asked if she could walk behind us. It turns out that she needed to walk down a couple of blocks to some church she was going to try out, but didn't want to walk there alone because it was dark and there are a lot of homeless people on that stretch. It was a little out of our way, but we decided to help out anyway. She talked to us the whole way there about how she is an up-and-coming singer/songwriter who has been giving her CDs away for free for a couple of years, and she's planning to be on The Voice this next season so that she can get discovered. She hasn't auditioned yet, but she's absolutely certain she's going to make it. It was just kind of random and funny to talk to her since there are about a million people in Hollywood with the exact same idea. The conversation ended with us giving her the address to our own church (we did get to share the gospel a little bit, thank goodness ; ), and her giving us some business cards with a picture that could have been maybe been her about twenty-five years ago. We were glad we could help her out though!

Other Stuff:

We had a bunch of opportunities to have lessons with less actives this week. The cool thing is that all of them we met with want to come back to church. One, Melissa, has been reading the scriptures and praying on her own for a while now and has decided that this is where she needs to be. She plans to start coming to church regularly for the first time in 20 years as soon as she gets back in town. We are so excited for her, especially since she has been recognizing her answers and is pressing forward pretty diligently. We also had the opportunity to meet with Jolie at the Visitor's Center right after zone conference. We had a great lesson about prayer with her, and she told us a few days later that it really helped her. An elderly lady, Maria, apparently joined the church ten years ago and moved into the ward right after, but needed brain surgery almost immediately afterwards, so no one in the ward knew her. After years of medical problems, she finally decided to reach out for help, and we had the opportunity to visit with her. She asked us to sing a hymn for her, and the Spirit was so strong when we did so. Finally, we've also been able to start working with Yarik, a Ukrainian member of our ward. He's been really flaky for the past few years, but suddenly he has decided he wants to progress in the gospel. He has asked us to read the Book of Mormon with him, and he came to church for the first time since we've been in the area! It has been cool to have the opportunity to help these people to come closer to Christ, even though they are already members. I guess that inviting "others" to come unto Christ really does include all of God's children!

I hope that everyone has a good week and that ya'll are staying dryer than we are out here! ; )

Love,

Sister Garfield

Us with Sister Fox on a beautiful day right after a rainstorm

Trying some Ukrainian cake and juice