Liebe Familie und Freunde:
Meine Gute! What an amazing weekend!
I know that President Monson is a prophet of God, and that the voice of God was
heard this weekend through President Monson, the Apostles and the other leaders
of the church.
I am so excited for all the new
missionaries that will be coming to the field in the next few years! The young,
excited 18 and 19 year olds will change the whole face of the work. Trusting in
the Lord to make up the difference of experience, the work of the Lord will
move forward with greater power and effectiveness than ever before! I can feel
it.
I really loved what President Monson
taught this conference. In Priesthood, he testified that people can change. He
encouraged us to see people as what they could become. That is an eternal
perspective. I have experienced that recently with a few people that have been
through some very difficult times, and not viewing themselves as God sees them.
As I have prayed for and have been blessed with a small view of them as God
sees them, it has been neat to see how feelings change, and the Lord can work
through us to meet their needs. I also loved President Monson's experiences
from Sunday Morning where we learned about the workings of the Spirit and the
miracles that can happen through following those promptings. I really felt the
Spirit testify to me that this is the way for me to live my life: starting the
day praying for opportunities to serve, and being spiritually prepared for
them; to go throughout the day enjoying the moment, listening to the prompings,
and courageously following them; and then expressing gratitude and thanks to
Heavenly Father at the end of the day for all of the blessings, miracles, and
for His hand in my life. In short, make someone's day! I am excited for these
next two cycles, and for doing all I can to listen to His voice through His
spirit, and courageously following His voice, regardless of how inconvinient or
obscure it may be!
The music was amazing! My favorite
songs were: Hope of Israel, If the Savior Stood beside me, Does the Journey
Seem Long, and Weary Not. There is a great power to music. Many times, I feel I
can express my testimony of the Gospel better through music than I can
speaking.
And one of the neatest miracles of
the weekend happened as I was playing the piano in one of the broadcast rooms
between sessions. A young adult moved into the ward recently, Jonathan
Dannenberg and I hadn't had a chance to get to know him, so when he walked into
the room, I took that as my chance! Come to find out, he just got back from his
mission in Moscow West- That is Elder Mark Harris's Mission! I asked him if he
knew Mark, and he said absolutely! He knew him well from being fellow
missionaries and he praised Elder Harris for his hard work and said he was
notorious in the mission for talking with everyone and for just loving
everyone! I knew we were talking about the same Elder Harris! We were instantly
friends, and had a great time talking all about the mission and what he
experienced, and what a great job Elder Harris and the other missionaries are
doing in Russia. There was a neat Spirit there, one of unifying and friendship.
I know the people in our lives are not put there on accident. Rather, the Lord
knows each of us personally and intimately, and knows exactly how to lead and
guide our lives. Alma 17:2-3.
Ana Castro was baptised on Saturday
before conference! It was so powerful! She is the sweetest, gentlest, nicest
people ever! She asked me to confirm her this coming Sunday.
And the greatest anticipation of
this week is to go to Hamburg! We are allowed to go with the ward to Hamburg to
see President Monson! I am so excited! Jonathan comes from Hamburg, so it will
be fun to go with him and the ward. What a huge blessing- General Conference
this weekend, and then to see the Prophet live in Hamburg this coming Saturday!
This is a miracle, and I am so humbled and grateful to be blessed to attend.
Maybe Elder Bangerter will be there, too!
On Thursday, Elder Walker will leave
for Frankfurt and then to Australia, and my new companion, Elder Penfold will
come up to Dortmund. He is from England! I have officially had more
non-American companions that Americans! I love all these great people from all
these different countries! I look forward to these next two cycles and all that
the Lord has in store for us... and maybe I will get a slight Englisch accent
along the ways :-) Our main focuses are on Reaching Goals and recognizing
opportunities in the ward to support and serve, to really help the momentum and
direction of missionary work come from the members.
This work is true. This work is the
work of the Lord. I know that He leads this church through His chosen Prophet,
President Monson. It's the work of salvation for all those that want it.
Alles Gute,
Elder Nathan D. Garlick
German Frankfurt Mission
"Shall we not go on in so great a cause?" D&C 128:22
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