Closeness

Dear Family and Friends,

I am going to be brief this week. We have been kind of all over the place with conference, and then a trip to Albuquerque for council meetings, then Zone Training on Friday. We had a couple of good lessons last week.

First was with Frank. He really is not progressing anywhere very fast. We have been pretty discouraged about how to even help him, and ultimately we feel that he doesn't understand the importance nor the requirement, nor relative simplicity of repentance. I have said more and more, if there is one thing that I want people to learn from meeting with us it is to repent. Repent early, repent often and repent completely. It's not worth living life bogged down with guilt and shame, and the burden of our own weakness and stupidity when through the atonement of Christ we can be free from all of that. I love the talk from Conference that related how in the sense of welfare and people feeling entitled or expectant of relief when they are further away from the source the help is coming from. The same is very true in our lives as we withdraw from being close to our Father in Heaven and the reality of the Savior's Atonement we are more likely to be expectant and demanding in the things we think should happen in our lives. Another Lesson was with Eric. We taught of being humble by choice rather than being compelled. We also committed him to quit smoking and with his permission and willful consent, confiscated and destroyed his pack of cigarettes he had bought that morning. That is a repentant heart. Thought the journey is not always easy, it is both a commandment and a blessing to allow us to become better and stronger than we have been ever before.

The way that I have had to draw closer to my Father in Heaven is through more meaningful prayer. I relate it to Rock climbing. When you approach a climb you study and identify the route which will provide the most effective ascent. Before you aver start, you attach yourself to the anchors with your harness and a rope that is connected to another person who is there to catch you if you fall, and offer a wider perspective of the rock face as you are clinging onto a portion and you may not be able to see what is around you. Before you begin, you double check ropes knots, and lock gates on the belay device to make sure they are all in proper order. In prayer, I have had to slow down and ponder on the path that I have walked during the day, and the route which I am going to try to take the next day. Then I have had to double check my "gear" being my heart and intent before I truly approach the throne of our Eternal God and Father. This is my way of drawing closer to Heavenly Father, and it may not be the same for everyone. I invite you to ponder on your prayer, and to consider how you can make it more meaningful, heartfelt and truly sincere. I love you all! Have a great week!

 

Elder McGarry

 

 Wrestling with a rattlesnake

 We finally found a way to cool off outside! Thank goodness for windows that roll down ;)​

 

 Bonus pic sent by text message this week

Cohesiveness

Dear Family and Friends,

I'm going to try to do things a little differently this time. As I was waiting for my companion to use the restroom during a hymn in a conference session I started to fill his water bottle. A few thoughts went through my head: First, I wish I had my water bottle so I could get a drink. Second, no then I'd have to go to the bathroom and I'd miss out on a good talk! Third, But I need to stay Hydrated like sister Miller said! Fourth, What am I doing?!! I don't need a water bottle to get a drink I can take a drink right now while I'm at the fountain! 

A few things I learned here. Stay hydrated. That's just a good thing to do. Another thing is sometimes I have a one track mind and I get so focused on one way of doing things that I forget to just be where I am and do what needs to be done right now. I had gotten so wound up in what I was going to do later about what I was preparing now that I nearly neglected to do what I should have just done right then. 

Looking at a spiritual standpoint, I think that in some ways we try to bottle up all the good stuff to share and to give to people that we want to help and forget to allow from the abundance of God to partake of his goodness ourselves. Sometimes I want to help someone so badly that I just ache inside and I forget that the goodness of Christ is for All times, even when we have the Godly sorrow that he wants us to have which inspires and urges us to become better. 

Cohesiveness is another term I like to use for spiritual, social and emotional interdependence. Just like nature has it's natural disasters, it also has it's natural way of sorting things out and bringing balance or homeostasis. This is described also quite beautifully in Mosiah 18:9-21. In our missionary work we are mostly looking for new investigators right now in our area since the ones we are working with are not making any real steps forward. As we do that I have come to realize that we have been imbalanced in not being a cohesive unit with the ward. Just taking a step back and realizing that the spirit is there, and is guiding so many things in my life is such a comfort, and I know that there are many people who are just waiting to be found as we work together in cohesiveness. Or in the words of Alma, with our hearts knit together as one. May we all strive to be more cohesive with the spirit and with our surroundings and always be ready to give an answer of the hope that is in us. I love you all! Have a great week!

-- by

Elder McGarry

 Helping the Hermanas move​

Breakfast

Bonus pics that were sent this week from the Edwards who are a CES missionary couple, they said Elder McGarry helped with a record time move for some sister missionaries between conference sessions. They love serving with Jacob. :)