I really want a beard. Alaskan missionaries should be allowed to have a beard during the winter.

I had an interesting epiphany a couple weeks ago that I forgot to mention. We had a snowball fight. Back home, my goal was to pack the hardest snowball I could and just pelt the squeals out of people. I would rejoice in the exploding snowball on my friends faces. But I had an epiphany. Most snowball fights aren't meant to be that way. Snowball fights are supposed to be fun. So when we had a snowball fight, I'd pack a softer snowball, and throw it just hard enough to reach people. It wasn't surprising that people actually enjoyed having a snowball fight with me. I wonder why it has taken me so long to realize that.

This week we went to the temple! I was able to finish my reading of the Book of Mormon in the Celestial room! It was awesome.

The shortest day of the year is over! We are coming closer to summer! I cannot wait to be able to have constant contact from the sun. I was telling Papa,

Saturday was the shortest day of the year. The sun came up at around 10:00, and it was pitch black at around 4:45. But... I never saw the sun. The tilt of the Earth is interesting here. Sunsets take hours. In Hawaii, once the sun lowers beneath the horizon, it is pitch black. So it goes from light to dark in minutes. In Utah it takes what would you say, 45 minutes? So here, the sun is set by around 1:45 or somewhere around there. Then it stays light, and slowly gets darker until around 4:45. The sun doesn't rise very high, which means it is always behind the mountains. I've definitely noticed it affecting everyone in Alaska. Days are much more tiring. It's harder to get motivated, and our energy gets drained quickly. Its just long. I'm blessed to have the companion I have, and I have been great at staying positive and happy. No sun doesn't affect me in an emotional sense, as it does others. Lots of people get depressed. No sun just affects me physically. I just have little energy. We work hard though, which make days go by faster. I'm super excited for summer!


We are teaching many people. My favorite thing to do on my mission is teach. I wish we could just be teachers like high school teachers. Just teach all day long. I love it so much. I learn so much, and I love the way I feel when we teach by the Spirit. Its such a cool experience. So cool.

We've been teaching two little boys, 9 and 10, and they have accepted the invitation to be baptized, and they are going to be baptized on the 3rd of January! It's so exciting. They are such cute little boys. After we teach them, we ask them to teach the lesson back to us. It's awesome.

I got an email from my friend Brayla, and she said something that really means a lot to me, and it's so true... "Us as missionaries get the privilege of front row seats in seeing how the Atonement of Christ works in the life of others."
I've definitely seen it. In others lives, as well as my own.

 Alma 5:7 Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by the bands‍ of death, and the chains‍ of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await them.

 I had an awesome experience that happened just last night, that testifies that Jesus Christ really does change our hearts when we let him. I have been praying for charity everyday, and I am seeing so many miracles come from my prayers.

First I have to put a little background. Before I came out on my mission, I was a little... well... judgmental. I hated plays. I hated them. I had a very bad attitude toward the Drama demographic. I had a very bad attitude toward people who liked to sing. Sing at church, sing at school, etc. I didn't follow the example of the Savior, I looked at the outward appearance, not on the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7) I was rude.

Last night we were invited to a Christmas program at a members home. I didn't quite know what it was. When we went in, there were rows of chairs in their family room, and a piano put right in front. We sat down and mingled while we waited for the rest of the group to get there. There were about 30 people there. And then it began.

I'm going to refer to this family as the Christmas family. After last night, I love the Christmas family.

Brother Christmas stood up, and introduced himself. He was a little quirky. He was definitely part of the Drama demographic. Him and his family were the type of people I would not like to be around before my mission.

Brother Christmas told us that his family was going to sing to us, and certain parts of the program he will ask us to sing along with him. In fact, he asked us to sing the first song with him. It was the 12 days of Christmas song. He had us stand up, and told us that we were going to do actions with the song. As we began to sing and do the actions. I felt really stupid. My mindset was, "This is so weird. I don't want to be here." But as we got to the third action, my heart was changed.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:7,  "Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is‍ Christ’s, even so are‍ we Christ’s."

The Christmas family is was doing this to show their love for the Lord. They were sharing with us. There wasn't one speck of pride in them. They weren't singing to show off, or to puff themselves up, they were rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ. My thoughts turned to D&C 25:12 "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads."

The rest of the night I had a splendid time.

Let us all follow Jesus's invitation to "Judge not‍ according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." (John 7:24)

I love Jesus Christ. I am so grateful that He lives again. I'm so grateful for His atonement and the power that I receive from it. This Christmas season, I want to invite you all to let Jesus Christ change your hearts. Turn to him.

I love you all so much! Keep reading and praying!

Elder Tyler James Garver

Eagle River

​I don't know where to start! So, I'll start with transfer day.

I was super excited to serve with Elder Hinckley because we were great friends in the MTC. When it came to transfer meeting, I sat next to him and his companion during the departing testimonies. He didn't seem very enthused. I was getting worried.

At transfer meeting I was able to see Elder Nichols! It was so fun. I miss that guy. On P-days we drive up to Anchorage to email, and Elder Nichols emails here as well, so we will be able to see each other more often now. Its nice.

Back to the transfer meeting. After the meeting ended, we went out to my truck to move all my luggage into my new car, (2014 Jeep Compass). Elder Hinckley really wasn't very happy. On the drive to the apartment, he was scowling. This was not the same guy I knew at the MTC. My natural man wanted to say, "What's your problem?" but I decided to stay positive. I talked to him as if we were great friends, but he showed no interest.

Rather than it being discouraging, I actually was excited. It was strange, I was excited to try my charity out. I've been working on loving everyone, and praying to be filled with the love of God. I was excited for this opportunity. I've made it a goal to be the kind of companion that left a positive impression in my companions mind for the rest of their life. I want to make sure I'm their friend.

The rest of the day Elder Hinckley was frustrated. I wasn't sure what it was. At the end of the day, planning was very apathetic, and he seemed very disinterested in the work. (Fast forward a couple days to my interview with President Robinson, he told me that Elder Hinckley's last companion was... well... not as obedient as he could've been.)

It was such a fun challenge. I spent a lot of time praying. It's cool to be able to consciously make the right choice. Many times after a certain thing he said or did, I was able to sit and think, "I can make two choices here. I can confront him and tell him to shape up, or I can love him into change." It was such a liberating and motivating feeling when I decided to love him.

The next morning he got up and sat at his desk and wrote in his journal during exercise time. At 6:55, he got in the car and we went to a members house to work out at their gym. We are supposed to be done exercising by 7:00. I was a little worried, and I didn't know where I needed to set the line, but I decided to let him know how much studies meant to me and that we need to be home in time for studies. Gratefully he obliged.

When we went to the home gym, he went to the bench press. He has grown a lot stronger since I last saw him. He put on some really heavy barbells(?) on the press, and started lifting them. He's pretty strong. I went to the ab machine and did some reps. This entire time he was still angry. After he was done lifting I'm sure 3x my weight, he went to the treadmill. I decided I'd take a try at the bench press.

Knowing my limits, I slid off the barbells and replaced them with some that I could handle. As I did my reps, he laughed at me. That was an interesting moment. I got up and started to punch him in the face. He jumped off the treadmill and tackled me to the ground. As we were falling I let out a war cry, “In memory of my God, my religion, and my-" "Arghh!" (I couldn't remember the rest of the title of liberty.) As my face throbbed with pain from his punches, I managed to put him in a headlock. He was under my mercy now.

I'm not sure what the members were thinking upstairs, but apparently they let us continue as I cried, 

"And now, Elder Hinckley, I command you, in the name of that all-powerful God, who has strengthened my arms that I have gained power over you, by my faith, by my religion, and by my rites of worship, and by my church, and by the sacred support which I owe to my future wife and children, by that liberty which binds me to my lands and my country; yea, and also by the maintenance of the sacred word of God, to which I owe all my happiness; and by all that is most dear unto me—

Yea, and this is not all; I command you by all the desires which ye have for life, that ye deliver up your attitude unto me, and I will seek not your blood, but I will spare your life, if ye will go your way and come not again to mocking against me.

And now, if ye do not this, behold, ye are in my hands, and I will command my fists that they shall fall upon you, and inflict the wounds of death on your face, that ye may become extinct; and then we will see who shall have power over this companionship; yea, we will see who shall be brought into bondage!" (Alma 44:5-7)
Just kidding. Even though he laughed, I actually just kept lifting.
I was worried though. He continued in this manner for about two days. He acted like he was cooler than me. But I continued to love him. I continued to serve him, and I continued to pray for him. And whatd'ya know? He's back to his normal self now :)
This area is awesome! We have so much work to do!
We have an investigator that is an old lady from Germany. She is quite kind, but doesn't seem to be progressing.  She had been talking about the German language, and we were learning a couple words. As we were talking with her, I had a brilliant prompting from the Lord. "You know Sister German lady, (I've decided to keep names private just in case), I've heard that when we read the Book of Mormon in a different language, we are able to learn that language. Would it be alright if we brought German book of Mormons next time we come and you can teach us how to read aloud? Can you explain to us what the passages mean?" She thought that was a great idea! Elder Hinckley and I are going to be able to learn German, and she will have the opportunity to read and explain the Book of Mormon to us. Its so exciting!
The Lord also gave me another great prompting! I was being introduced to all the ward council on Tuesday, and when we went to the Sunday School Presidents home, he was cooking. He was kind of a gruff guy. He didn't seem to trust a new missionary. I was able to use some skills that I learned from reading "How to Win Friends and Influence People" (awesome book). I learned that he loves to cook. Absolutely loves it. By the end of the visit we were getting along just fine.
At the end of the night I had a great thought given to me! I talked with Elder Hinckley, and he thought the idea was great as well. We decided that we would call the Sunday School President and ask him if we could come over and learn how to make some cookies for our investigators. Last Saturday we were able to make some cookies! It was a great experience and opportunity.
The area in Palmer that I was in was a lot more spread out than Eagle River is. My last area (The Butte) was in the boonies. Its a little challenging going from a small town lifestyle to a busier city.
In Palmer everyone worked on the Slopes. The oil rigs way up north.
Here in Eagle River, there is a military base. So everyone is in the military. The diversity of the areas in Alaska is quite interesting.
All in all, I'm safe, there is a lot of great work to be done, my companion and I are getting along just fine, and Christmas is coming!
I hope you all are doing well, continue to read and pray!
Elder Tyler James Garver

12:00 am. This is the most sun I see all day, well, I don't actually see any sun. Unless I am in the city, they have about an hour of sun exposure. I usually miss out on that.  By 4:45-5:00 it is completely dark outside.

Like most, this is a cloudy day, at around 3:00. Alaska is beautiful.

Next week I'll have to post some pictures of my new area. 

Hello All!

So this week was transfer week. I got called to serve in Eagle River, in the Meadow Creek ward!! I'm super excited, because I have been assigned to serve with Elder Hinckley. Elder Hinckley was in the mtc with me. We are going to have an awesome time.

 

Eagle River is just about a half hour from here, so I'll be able to pack my typewriter with me!

 

I trained the reindeer for the very last time this past week :( It was fun though! We were training them to pull a sled because Macy's department store is going to film a commercial there for Christmas. Click this link, and you can see us walking them. I look like a goof, but I'm warm! I've got my bunny boots on, a Vietnam hat on, and a Carhartt coat I bought at a thrift store for 14 bucks. Warmth.

http://youtu.be/UJPwE6UFXtU

 

I've really grown close to the reindeer, and they are comfortable around me. If you look closely at the photo I have attached, Raspberry is snuggling up right into me. I'm gonna miss them! Sister Hardy gave us all a "Reindeer Farm" hoodie! I'm super appreciative of that.

 

I honestly cannot remember what I emailed about last week, so if I said if I was going to update on something, I'm sorry. Because I probably won't update on it.

 

My brain is kind of cloudy today, I've got so much going on in my head. I still need to finish up packing, and I'm thinking about how great this next transfer will be.

 

This last week I discovered something awesome. It's called a scarf. Scarfs are awesome!!

 

I'm not sure if I mentioned this already, but a couple weeks ago Sabrina taught me how to knit. Apparently I didn't pick it up all the way. There have been piles of tangled up yarn laying around in our apartment. I get to a certain point, and the knots just get tighter and tighter, and I don't see any progression.

Well, I went to the Binghams to say goodbye last night, and they helped me figure out what I was doing wrong!!

 

I'm going to knit a scarf now! After that, I'm going to knit a tie! The problem is, by the time I'll be done with the scarf, it'll be July. But that's okay!

 

We watched the Christmas Devotional yesterday, it was great! The music was beautiful. I've decided that I want my future daughter to learn how to play the harp. I hope she consents.

 

We went to the Bakers for one last time as well. :( Sister Baker told me to tell my mother that she did a great job raising me. Brother Baker said, "What about his father?" She said, "Hmph!" But then she thought for a minute and said, "You can tell your father too. Mormon dad's are good fathers. I was thinking about Catholic dads." (She was raised Catholic) I also learned that Brother Baker around 200 guns. Wow. Thats a lot of fire power. I got the Vietnam hat from Brother Baker. It actually went there. Crazy.

 

Well thats all for this week folks!

 

- Elder Tyler James Garver

Great Week! He is the Gift!

Well this week was pretty eventful. I loved it :) I've learned to have a good attitude about things, and I'm loving my mission. I'm pretty happy :)

Monday after emails we went to the pharmacy and signed up for flu shots. As I filled out my form, I saw that it asked if I was sick. Elder Good and I both had a little of a cough, so I decided to ask the pharmacist. She said that if we felt like we were coming down with something we should probably wait. I heeded to the advice, but Elder Good didn't.

Later on in the week, Elder Good was destroyed by the flu. We had to stay home for all of Saturday, and all ofSunday after church. I told him not to take the shot! I had a little bit of the cold/flu, but not nearly as bad as Elder Good. 

 

Elder Good moans in his sleep. Really bad. For some reason, the people who snore (or in my case moan), always seem to fall asleep first. I've been able to endure through it, but when I had the little cold I couldn't stand it. I couldn't get to sleep because of his moaning. It was around 12:30 am. I got pretty ticked. As he moaned, I dragged my entire bed out into the other room, remade my bed, sighed with relief, and kneeled down to pray. As I was praying, asking to be able to sleep, I knew that I was being disobedient. In the white handbook we are expected to sleep in the same room (but not in the same bed). Ugh. I had just managed to smash my mattress through two doors and dress the bed with impeccable neatness. Why did I have to feel guilty? "God would understand," I rationalized. But it didn't make a difference. I couldn't climb into that enticing silent beautiful  bed. With much reluctance, I bear hugged my bed and once again wrestled through the two doorways. Little surprise, Elder Good slept through this entire production. I threw my sheets on my bed with disgust, and fell into my bed. I love my Heavenly Father. Through the Spirit, He prompted me to grab the fan from the storage closet. I did so, turned it on, and much to my pleasure, the rest of the night was bliss.

This Thanksgiving was a great holiday. We were able to visit with a lot of people, and were able to share messages with everyone. For dinner, we had Tur-Duck-Ham. Instead of chicken stuffed in duck, and stuffed in turkey, there was ham stuffed in the duck. Then there was bacon weaved on top of it. I wasn't a big fan of it. But that's okay, I ate it with gratitude. Not a big fan of duck.

 It was a great holiday. We shared with a ton of families a Thanksgiving message, and I realized I need to be more grateful. Every night I have been writing down in a notebook things I am grateful for that had happened that day. It helps a lot! We were given a lot of pumpkin pie, and when Elder Good was sick the Sisters brought some whipped cream and noodle soup. The whipped cream for me, the soup for Elder Good. I loved my whipped cream and pumpkin pie:

There are a lot of bald eagles here in Alaska. Its pretty cool.

We have snow now! I'm okay with it :) I'm extremely glad I have the experience of driving in the snow. It hasn't snowed much, it's a lot like Utah right now.

I said that we would have a good week, and we did. We went tracting out in the middle of nowhere. There is a subdivision about 5 miles away from any other place. We decided to tract there. We tracted into someone willing to meet with us! They weren't able to at that moment, but they said we could come back on weekends. We visited yesterday, and they were hit pretty hard by the flu. So we will visit them next Saturday :)

We also had a lesson with Greyson, which went well! We committed him to baptism, no date yet. We found a family who is willing to invite Greyson and his family over for the lessons! Super excited to have a lesson over there!

They announced the Christmas party yesterday, and in Elders Quorum we were told that the kids cannot sit on Santa's lap. That's super sad that a rule has been made for that.

Another miracle, I've been blessed with money management. Before my mission I wasn't very good at managing my money. But I've been blessed so much on my mission! I've never been in want for money. Mosiah 2:41 :)

The Church has come out with a new Christmas initiative called He is the Gift. We've been given pass along cards to... pass along. We have to give out 10 a day. In fact I just leaned over and gave one to the lady sitting next to me :) Everyone, WATCH IT. Go on

Christmas.mormon.org  and then share it! Share it on facebook! Talk about it with everyone! The December Ensign will talk about it, and you will get pass along cards in it to... pass along ;)

I'm super excited to see the success that comes from it! I love you all! I hope you all are reading and praying everyday :)

I'd like to extend an invitation this week, which I will do so from now on.

This week I want you to do the Attribute Activity in Chapter 6 of  Preach My Gospel on page 126. Work on something to improve this week, and then tell me how it went!

- Elder Tyler James Garver

Life is Amazing :)

Okay, my jacket is off, my emails are read, the list of things to write about is out, the tie is loosed and the top button of my shirt is unbuttoned. I'm ready to roll.

First of all, Mom, I only unbutton my top button when I email. Right when I get up I cinch up my tie and button back up. I just have to get settled.

The light is getting a little weird. It's pitch black by 5:30. There is sunlight, but not direct sunlight. So I'm lacking on the Vitamin D. The sun is so low its always behind the mountains. Elder Good has a happy light, so we are able to get some Vitamin D. It's weird, when we don't have Vitamin D we get exhausted pretty easily.

The other weird thing is, there is no snow. It is almost December and I have seen no snow. Boy oh Boy I am grateful for that. It's still a little chilly, but a light jacket fixes that right away. Man I'm being blessed.

One of our missionaries had to go home because his younger brother took his own life. That hit us pretty hard. It was totally unexpected. It scared me because he was the same age as my younger brother Brandon. We've been praying for him.

Bishop Casperson sent me an email that addressed exactly what I have been working through this week. As I mentioned last week, I have been in the mindset of 'go go go'. But I have come to an epiphany this week. Which is funny, because Bishop Caspersons email was icing on the cake.

He mentioned in his email a book that he was reading. The book talked about a missionary who thought his missionary service was to work, and not so much to love. The missionary found gratification from being exhausted at the end of the day. He found gratification from knowing that he was a hard worker.

I kind of connect with this missionary. I have felt that I need to work work work to be a successful missionary. But I have been learning, and Bishop Caspersons email has mentioned, that I need to love people, and not just work. Yes, I need to use time wisely, I need to be diligent, but I need to be motivated by love. I shouldn't be motivated by the number of lessons that I have, or the number of investigators I have. This week I have been praying for love. I have been praying to love my investigators, random people on the street, to love everyone. I am really seeking this out. I am so glad that Bishop Casperson sent me that email, because it really did tell me that I am doing and seeking what is right. Man I love my mission. I am learning so much! I kind of just word puked this week for an email, and I don't really know how to best articulate my feelings. But this is what I am feeling:

This week I have been studying and praying earnestly. I have been really focusing on strengthening my testimony on the divinity of Jesus Christ. I've learned from the scriptures and from General Conference addresses that I need to earnestly seek. I need to not only pray for a testimony,  but I need to act on faith. I need to live the gospel principles, I need to experiment on the word, I need to be continually pondering the word of God. I am determined to have an unshakeable faith in Jesus Christ's divinity. I am determined to KNOW. I want to have absolutely no doubt.

I do have an unshakeable testimony of many things:
I know that when we are sincerely searching the scriptures, we will find answers. I KNOW that. Because it has happened to me. I know that Heavenly Father loves us, and if we let  Him, He will help us to meet our potential. I know that when we pray for righteous things, He will give them to us. I know that He knows us best, and is so happy when we rely on Him and live the gospel.

The last couple of days I have been seriously tearing up my scriptures trying to find answers, and I am finding them little by little. Something that isn't little by little is the presence of the Spirit. When I am sincere, I feel the Spirit so strong!

Look forward to next weeks email, it won't be so unorganized, and it will be full of amazing experiences that I am going to have next week.

Live the gospel! Read the scriptures! Pray! Heavenly Father loves us all.

I love you all too :)

- Elder Tyler James Garver

Northern Lights, Amazing Weather, and Bill.

Well, the end of the story is that the truck belonged to a seminary teacher. He works for the church, so they gave him an old missionary vehicle. We told him what we did, and he flipped. Apparently he is a huge Utah fan. Huge. He told us that we better replace that sticker. So I'm going to have my parents mail me a BYU sticker and a Ute sticker. We will give him the BYU sticker first, wait a week and then give him the Ute sticker. It'll be funny :)

There is some sort of tropical storm somewhere on the coast, so the weather has been AMAZING. It's so warm! I love it. I am really being blessed. I bet it's colder in Utah right now than it is in Alaska.

I saw the Northern Lights this week, they were pretty cool. I was told that they weren't as bright or as colorful as they can be, but they were pretty cool nonetheless.

This is how I would describe what I saw:

They were sort of dim, but they covered the whole middle of the sky from horizon to horizon. To describe the way they covered the sky, I would describe a river in the sky.

The colors were green, like a glow in the dark green.

My companion told me that they either dance, flash, or stand still. This time they flashed a bunch.

As far as I know, the northern lights are solar bursts from the sun hitting the atmosphere.

Again to describe them like a river, it would be a stand still river, with drops hitting the surface. When the 'drops' would hit the surface, the lights would flash just a tad bit lighter and brighter. It was really cool.

I got a letter from Papa, and he asked what they looked like, and he said to him they were kind of spooky. I would have to agree with him on the type that I saw. It was a spooky flashing green.

Later on this winter I should see brighter and more defined northern lights.

We trained reindeer again this week, and it was a lot of fun. Because of transfers, I am really the only one who knows how to train them now. I think I explained a bit of what we are doing, but I will give an overview of what we did.

There were more missionaries that came this time, and each of them was to train a reindeer. Eventually we will end up training two or three reindeer. I love getting down and dirty, and some other missionaries are a little uncomfortable doing that. So, I pointed out Louis to a fellow missionary, and told him how to hook on the rope. That way he didn't have to worry about wrestling with a reindeer to put on a halter. To halter a reindeer, you have to entice it to come close to you by feeding it, then you need to grab on to its antlers and hold on for dear life as they flip and flop trying to get away. After you get a good hold on them, you grab a halter and put it on. After the halter is on, you attach it to a rope, and hold on as they try to get away. This is their first time being on a halter, so it is scary to them. Naturally they freak out. Its hilarious to look around and see all of the reindeer dragging all the other missionaries around. Elder Lancaster is not pulling his reindeer, his reindeer is pulling him:

Remember Sugar? Well she didn't get the best of me this time. I grabbed on and held on tight. She is now haltered.

Because Elder Gilmore has Louis, I was able to find another reindeer:

I haven't named her yet. :)

Next time we go over there, they will be less afraid because they will be more used to the halter. Our goal is to be able to train them to walk like a dog on a leash first, and eventually train them to be able to pull a sled. It's fun work.

Now to missionary work,

Grayson isn't grounded anymore, so we are going to start teaching him again.

We found a new potential investigator! His name is Bill.

He lives above and across the hall from our apartment. Here is Bills story:

He has always wanted to play the banjo. He is an engineer. Quite an intelligent engineer. He has done a lot of noteworthy things. Well, something happened with his leg or something, so he has been taking a break from work. He told us that when we was taking a break, he bought a banjo and decided to learn how to play it.

He said that when he picked it up and looked at his banjo, he observed that the banjo was a horrible engineered instrument. Its apparently 30 or so pounds, and the strings have to be plucked pretty hard to make enough sound.

Because he is an engineer, he redesigned the banjo. It is much louder, and much lighter. He sent the banjo to a friend in Tennessee, and they were amazed with it. Mike Scott, a Guinness World Record banjo player who has his own line of banjos, requested that Bill make a banjo for him.

He showed us the banjo, and its actually really cool. I was very intrigued. We brought up what we do, and he told us that he was Christian. He shared with us his conversion story. He told us that he has proved that God exists through math. He wrote a paper on it. So Elder Good asked if he could have a copy, and last night Bill brought a copy to us. I don't think Elder Good knew quite what kind of a paper Bill was talking about. Its at least 25 pages. Bill told us that he'd be happy to take us out to get a pizza and talk about it, God, and 'Utah and shiz'. So this morning before studies I looked over the paper. I'm only a fourth of the way in, but there is so much opportunity of teaching Bill the gospel! As I was reading it, I was reminded of Elder Russell M. Nelsons talk, "Thanks Be to God" I found that talk in an Ensign I have, and we are planning on sharing it with Bill.

I really wish I could explain more about this experience with Bill, because I have missed a lot of detail. But I'm excited to see how this pans out.

The other day I read a talk by Tad R. Callister called "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary." It is a great talk. I found comfort in it because I knew that I was living a lot like the consecrated missionary that he described, but I also felt comfort in it because I have so so so much to work on. I want to do my best. I am so glad that the Lord is behind this, because I have no idea what I am doing.

I love reading and studying the scriptures. I feel Gods love everytime I do. I love it so much!!! I hope you all are truly studying the scriptures and becoming "Consecrated Members". We all have a lot to work on, but that's the whole point of life!

I love you all :)

Elder Tyler James Garver

 4 PM in Alaska. The hours of sunlight are still pretty normal.

 

Elder Good

Well hello all! I had a great week! I hope you all did as well!

To all the people who have sent me letters, thank you very much, I haven't forgotten to reply, it just will take me a little while. But I will write back!

I got a new companion this week. His name is Elder Good. If I could describe him in one word, I would use.... Great!

The only thing I knew about him before I met him was that he snored. Well, he does.

But not as bad as everyone said he does. The first night was rough, but the rest of the week has been just fine now that I am used to it.

The weird thing is that he doesn't just snore. He moans. Its hilarious.

It sounds like he is in agony all night. It really is odd and funny.

Elder Good is a very chill fellow, and we get along quite well. We are really going to raise the bar on our missionary work. It's going to be a great transfer.

Speaking of missionary work, last night we taught Sabrina.

I really like Sabrina. She is a great gal, and I cannot wait until she fully grasps the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She has been taught all of the lessons, and understands it quite well. She has even started sharing the gospel with others! It's awesome! She's a member missionary without even being a missionary! She has a couple concerns, and we are praying for her. If you all could include her in your prayers that would be awesome! Last nights lesson was awesome.

We teach her at the Mothersheads, and last night we ate at their home. Sabrina had already had dinner so she knitted while we ate. Our dinner lesson was about faith, and we ended up reading Alma 32 together around the dinner table. It was great and Sabrina totally understood it! She really is a smart lady. After we had dessert, I asked Sabrina to teach me how to knit! I learned how to knit! Sabrina, Sister Mothershead, and I were knitting as we taught Sabrina her lesson. We covered all the lessons, and then talked about the baptismal questions. Then we talked about her concerns. It was awesome.

The light is getting interesting here! It's dark by 6:00 pm. The sun comes up at around 7:30.

I have an embarrassing story to tell. And this one sadly is not a joke.

Thursday, Elder Good and I were invited to a ward training/dinner at the church. When we drove up, we saw that another missionary truck was there. Or so we thought. All of the missionary trucks are Nissan Frontiers or Chevy Colorados. All the license plates on the mission vehicles start with the letters YZ. That means that they are tax exempt. Well, we saw this Nissan Frontier with a YZ license plate. It was red. There was a missionary who left last transfer that drove a red Nissan Frontier. He was a huge Ute fan. When we saw the truck, we noticed that the truck had a Ute sticker on the back window. That is against the rules! We thought that he probably put the sticker on right before he left. So... we peered inside the truck, and of course we saw church materials. The truck was a mess inside.

Lets look at all the reasons why we can assume that the truck is a missionary vehicle:

YZ plates.

Nissan Frontier.

Church materials in the back.

Its messy.

The last Elder who was a huge Ute fan drove a red Nissan Frontier.

It was all pointing to it being a missionary vehicle. Elder Good tried to open the door to the truck to verify, and it opened. We looked in the back seat and there were Joseph Smith Testimony pamphlets, Book of Mormons, and all that.

"You know what would be hilarious?" I said to Elder Good as I started to chuckle. "We should peel off the Ute sticker!"

Elder Good started to pull his knife out and I said, "Wait I've got a razor blade knife, lemme do it."

E Good- "Okay, I'm going to look around in the truck and see who is driving it right now."

After peeling off half the sticker, as I crumpled it up in my fingers I heard,

"Wait! Stop! There's a pistol in the glove box!"

He ran out to me and we both freaked out together.

"Oh man! What are they doing with a pistol?!"

to be continued... (I've run out of time haha)

Love you all!

Elder Tyler James Garver