Week 9 - Deux Semaines Restantes (2 weeks left (MTC))

Hey All!

How's everything going back in Utah? I hope that you all had a great Pioneer Day and were able to do some awesome things this week!

This week, the biggest treat was seeing even more Elders come into the MTC! Elder Jackson, Elder Thomas, Elder Coomans, Elder Teynor, and it's awesome to see everyone!

Josh and Elder Devashrayee

Well, nothing really happened outside the usual this week, but French has definitely gotten a lot better and everything is clicking as well as it can! I get my travel plans this Friday, so I'll find out when I'm headed to Tahiti, and we only have 2 more weeks left!!! I'm definitely excited to go to Tahiti and though I'm definitely not going to be a master in the language, it'll get there if I keep putting in my part and keep doing the things that the Lord wants me to do!

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

The Gift of Charity has been on my mind all week and I have decided that to be the missionary Heavenly Father needs me to be and to the be the kind of people that God wants us to become, we must all develop Charity. Charity is more than just giving what we have to others, it is the intention by which we do things. Some awesome scripture references to Charity that I love are 1 Corinthians 13 and Moroni 7: 41-48. I would like you challenge each of you to study charity and do your best to develop it, as I will this week!

Hope you are all doing well!

Elder Garff

Week 8 MTC "A Rohi" and Au Revoir Elder Kimball and Elder Arne

Hey everyone!

This week was by far the strangest week that we have had in the MTC. We had one member of our district, Sister Thornock, get her mission reassigned due to medical reasons and she is now in Las Vegas! So, hopefully she'll have an awesome mission in Vegas and use the Tahitian that she learned in the MTC! The Lord knows what He's doing, so though it was hard to say good-bye to her, especially since she was fluent in French and helping me out a lot, but Las Vegas is where she needs to be! Our roomates, Elder Kimball and Elder Arne moved out this week, they're going to France! They got here earlier than we did and they're leaving before us too!

On some happy notes for the week, we sang for the whole MTC last Sunday at the devotional that we had! We sang an old Tahitian hymn, "A Rohi" and it was awesome! There were 12 of us and we had a mix of Bass, Tenor, Alto, and Soprano arranged by ourselves, it was pretty legit! I also saw Elder Devashrayee this week! He and I grew up as neighborhood/sport friends and it is awesome to see him here! He's here for 9 weeks and he is my classroom neighbor here! It'll be awesome to have another one of my best friends in the MTC! It's been awesome to see Sister Jones, Elder Smith-Driggs, Elder Devashrayee, and I'm excited to greet everyone else who is coming soon!

Overall, this was an extremely crazy week with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows while I have been on my mission. The thing that I have learned however is that no matter what stage we are in, whether feeling good or awful, we always need to remember our God, remember to pray to Him, and remember to read our scriptures every day. The days can really drown out perspective, but if we can keep a long term perspective on everything and do the things that will help us in the long run, which may not necessarily be the things that we like in the short run, we will be ultimately so much happier than we would have been had we not chosen God ahead of ourselves.

Elder Garff

Week 7 at the MTC - Time for a Dramatic Pose...

​Hey all! 

 

Another awesome week at the MTC! The French is coming much better and I feel like everything is just coming! My teacher told us that the more we memorize and learn, the easier it will come, and that is true! Granted I still have a ways to go on Tahitian and French (and English for that matter!) but I know it'll get there!

 

Other than the language everything else is going well! Everything has been really fun and we have welcomed in 20+ missionaries in our zone in the past 2 weeks! The MTC is getting so many missionaies it is ridiculous!

 

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

As I have read the Book of Mormon, I see how important it really is for all of us. The Book of Mormon truly contains the fullness of the Gospel (Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End) and I love every minute that I get to read the Book of Mormon! When you have the chance, I would challenge you to read the Book of Mormon. It has truly changed my life and my views on my life before and after this one as well. Everything in the Book of Mormon is true and I promise that if you read it with a real intent to see if it contains the Gospel, you will receive a resounding "YES!" through prayer and you will receive what God wants and needs you to do in your life.

 

Funny Story of the Week:

My companion and another Sister in our District ran into poles this week. It looks like they are learning another language: Polish

 

Elder Garff

 

P.S. My companion, Elder Clements, and I decided to take one of those "Dramatic Missionary Pictures" in the wind, pretty legit :) 

 

 

 

A Sample of What Josh Sends to his Adoring Family...

I only have 20 seconds

I'll send another letter this week. I hope that everything is good at home, thanks for the letters!

Elder Garff

 

Week 6 - Starting French - Oui!

Hey everyone!

I hope that everyone had a great 4th of July! Here at the MTC we tried our best to celebrate! One event that we had was a 4th of July Devotional which included a flag presentation of every flag represented by natives or missionaries going to that specific country. My companion, Elder Clements, was chosen to be the flag bearer for Tahiti, and since I was his companion, I was able to go with him :) Lucky days! Then we watched the fireworks from the "Stadium of Fire" it was one of the few exciting things that ever happens in that stadium... GO UTES!!!!! :D :D :D

 

On another note, we transitioned to French this week and it was a huge struggle... In Tahitian, we have to pronounce every letter of every word and in French, it seems like we don't pronounce any of the words. So, with my background of Spanish and Tahitian, French is so foreign to me!!! But, my district is full of awesome French speakers, so it'll hopefully be a good transition!

 

I hope that all is well back at Utah and that everyone is enjoying everything in life right now!

 

Funny moment of the week:

I don't know a lot of French and when I asked our teacher where he was from, he told me he was from the planet Mars. All the fluent French speakers started laughing, and I had no clue what was going on ha ha ha! I just smiled and said "Maitai Roa"! (Tahitian for "Very Good")

Thought of the week:

Only through breaking us down can the Lord build us up. A building that needs to be improved must be broken down in some way to be built up to a more glorious state. I have found this fact to be true as I have definitely been under construction in many different ways in the MTC. I had my way of doing things, but as I humble myself and view things the way the Lord would like me to view them, I become more receptive to His blessings and I become stronger. I have many mistakes and flaws, and when I am humble and willing to let the Lord build me instead of wanting to build myself, I find that I become the Elder that He wants me to be and not the Elder I want to be. The Lord can make a lot more out of our lives than we can, so we need to humble ourselves, and give Him the tools and follow His plan.

Elder Garff

 

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Week 5 at the MTC - 5 More to Go

 

Hey everyone! I hope that everything is going well back at home! Everything at the MTC is going well! We are at the halfway point and are starting to learn French! So, back to square 1! I'm really out of time today, but here's the important parts of the week!

Important:

I realized today that my goal as a missionary is to help others see the face of God. I know that once we see our Father in Heaven, we will have more joy than we ever will feel on earth. I know that my reason to be here is to help others draw closer to God and to help them follow him

Cool:

I saw the Skyline Missionaries with more to come!

Sorry, that's all I can write, I'll let you all know how French is coming next week!

Elder Garff