Week 11

hello peeps,

okay just a cvouple quick things for the week,

edward is an eternigator but i swear i will baptize him if its the last thing i do before i die. we normally go and teach him at night when he gets home from work and its hard for him because he cant focus and its just a mess so we were trying to think of a solution and we found one. Every other day we wake up at 4:30am so we can walk to his house and be there by 5am. We have an hour of scripture study with him and its great. besides the fact that i am struggling without sleep we are doing really good. The lessons in the morning and so powerful and we are able to answer all the quesitons he has. The spirit is so strong and something in him is starting to click. Its really encouraging so we will see where it goes. But at this point ive been up since 4:30 this morning. And its rough

Yesterday we had exchanges with the DL. so i went to Bacoor with our DL elder Acera. We just went hard in the paint. We left the apartment at 11 am and by 2pm we had taught 6 lessons and had 5 new investigators. We were super successful and at the end of the day we were evalutating and he said to me "Do you realize why we got so many new investigators" and I didnt so i said no and he just looked at me and said "Its because you are white, good looking and tall. Everyone wants to talk to you " so he basically used me to get lessons and investigators but hey it works! 

now two random stories/things about me

the other day we were on a jeepnee riding to downtown Imus and there was a women with prolly a 3 year old child on her lap riding in the seat across from us. So we are facing eachother. and its crowded and lots of people are there and i wasnt paying attention and i look forward and BOOM there she is just on the jeepnee boob out breast feeding. Wow tanner and I just laughed. Definitley not in america anymore. 

Next i am starting to hate shaving. I am finding i used to shave everyday for looks and now I have too. If i dont shave everyday it looks so bad and I legit get a five oclock shadow. Its the worst. My beard is coming in more fully and it sucks. 

That is all for the week. I love you all lots and miss you!

Love

elder gsack

elder tanner and i sitting

Tanner and i had to jump the fence to get into church the other day. 

This is a fresh rat road kill. They are all over the streets

Some random river.

Me cheesing in a ricce field.

Jeepnee ride.

Week 10

Hello,

This week has been pretty good. Lots going on and there are so many people we have to teach. 

I dont have tons of time so just a quick couple points

1. Kenneth cant be baptized till his 18th birthday. that is super frustrating so we have to keep him an investigator for the next 5 months... rip

2. Yesterday we had a zone confernce and elder schmutz came and talked to us. He talked a lot about faith and shared a lot of quotes. One that realyl stood out to me was "Simply leave it to God" This hit me hard espically with the langaugae and everything else out here. There is so much going on and so many trials and when he said this it was what i needed to hear. Simply leaving it to God and trusting he will take care of us. So my advice for the week is Simply leave it to God.

3. Candies here my goodness. A little kid gave me some candy the otehr day and was so excited and when i ate it, it was a cough drop. LOL so that is the candy here so needless to say i dont eat a lot of it. 

4. I can solve the rubics cube in about 1 minute and 15 seconds or so. I have a video i can hopefully send to prove it. And yes i am becoming more and more addicted

5. We have all these stores on our street and a lot of times we go to them to buy stuff for breakfast. The other day we were at it and i saw panckaes and thought i would try them. Man they are amazing. So most morning now i have pancakes with strawberry syrup :)

I miss you all lots and really apprecaite all your love and support!

Love you!

Elder gsack

Garrett just sent a lot of pictures - no captions. Interpret as you wish :)

Dead People, Stabbings, Bomb Explosions (Week 9)

Well my subject line has absolutely nothing to do with my letter i just made it something that will catch all of your attention. This week has been good and things are getting more and more enjoyable daily. SO that is good. 

This weekend we had general conference which oh my. There was a miscommunication with the ZLs so it turns out we got to go to all the sessions. So saturday morning we got up and traveled to Bacoor which is close but because we are in the philippines it takes 90 minutes on a good day. Saturday we had priesthood and both saturday sessions back to back to back. SO that was brutal. Six hours sitting in the chapel however it was really good. Definitely the best general conference ive ever watched and i think that is because I am a missionary now. However it was incredible. Saturday night we went and got BBQ for dinner. I got some mystery meat that I honestly had no idea what it was until my companion told me... Yeah I had a ton of pig ear. Turns out it wasnt too bad but once i found out what it was man i felt sick to my stomach. Yuck. 

This week weve been focusing a lot of three different investigators a lot. Kenneth. We have been teaching him a lot and we extended the baptismal invitation to him and he said he needed more time which is okay. But when we were leaving Joanne the member that works with us and is good friends with him told us he has a crush on a girl so that is a big thumbs up and we were quite happy to hear that. 

Rico and Family. They own a print shop. Basically like a little staples. And we have been teaching him and they are really interested. We will see where that goes but RIco is sweet. Younger guy and its lots of fun. 

Edward Devira. Man hes a tough one. His whole family is members. His wife is a member. He has been going to church for 6 years. Believes everything and anything we teach him but is "Looking for a sign." But since Elder Tanner has been here they havent invited him to baptism so taht is coming soon. Please pray for him. Weve been praying and fasting for him tons. He does business in America, actually in Gresham OR and is very intelligent. Like he knows a ton and makes bank but we will binyag (baptize) him. 

Now random funny weird stories and facts:

- Elder Tanner got a football sent to him and man we go hard. We run routes and everything. Everyone comes and plays with us and its a lot of fum

- I am learning to solve a Rubic Cube and I am getting good. I can do it in under 2 minutes so there is lots of improvment coming but watch out. Im addicted lol

- The other day i was climbing up to bed. (bunk beds im on top) and i put my foot on the second step and bam there it went and tumbling went Elder Sackley. Wood splinters everywhere, broke 3 screws and bent 2 nails so now i have to run and jump up into bed

- Now from that last one you may think im fat but since ive been in the legit field I have lost 7 pounds and since ive left home ive lost 15 so im skinny. idk how because i eat so much food its insane but im dropping fast 

thank you for all the support and prayers. It really means a lot and i miss and love you all!!

Elder gsack

this is my house. Yes we shower from a bucket. No toliet paper so yes yuck. No ac just fans

This is Garrett with the mission nurse, her name is Sister Hall. Her brother-in-law is in Murray Hill Ward  and works for Fidelity.

Lots and Lots of Philipino experiences (Week 8)

Yo yo yo

This week has been so crazy good with tons and tons of experience. I am really loving it here and it has been lots and lots of fun. Before I forget, I havent watched conference yet. Remember I am 14 or 15 hours ahead of you so when you guys were waking up to watch Sunday morning session I was already done with sunday and asleep. So we watch conference a week after so this coming weekend. HOWEVER for some reason President Speirs is not letting us go to any of Saturdays Session. So that is really annoying and frustrating but everything has a purpose. So ill be watching this week

Couple quick random things through out the week and then i have a good 40 pics to send so i got to get going on those lol. 

This week has been a lot of meeting members which is really good. They are all very understanding and love to help me with tagalog. One of our recent converts name is Marie. She is really cool and her and her son kurt were just baptized. BUT they have 13 cats and 9 dogs. Im not kidding at all. I counted every single one it is so crazy but good news there is no carpet so its not too bad ;)

One of our investigators name is Kenneth. He is gay and 17. He is very receptable to the gospel. It is really cool for someone to be so understanding and wants to know more. BUT for me, man it is hard teaching him. his voice is really high and the first time i taught him Elder Tanner turned to me to testify and share some and I was so so so close to saying "sister Kenneth" ihad to bite my tongue and gather my words and it was so bad but after i told elder tanner what happened and he just lost it. He thought it was the finnioest thing. Driving home that night in the Jeeonee i saw my first wreck. That was horrifying. Just a dead guy laying on the pavement while everyone just swerves around him and continues on. its so crazy here. That night I also did my laundry by hand for the very first time which was rough and that is going to take some time getting used to.  

Sunday was fast sunday and man it is hard on the mission. They are legit a 24 hour fast and its rough espically with the heat and everything but i did it. Its rough though. 

last quick storty and then i have lots of pictures.we were on a trike the other day. We were jsut going along and it ran out of gas. and he said "no gas' and i thought welp and then he reached down RIGHT next to the hot engine and grabbed a gatorade bottle. I thought it was gatorade but he started poruing it into the tank and just looked at me and laughed. they are crazy here man

i am loving it. The work is hard but so good! 

Love you all lots!

Elder gsack

president and wife me and elder tanner

temple!

snail

 cutting labrums hair with sissors lol

kevin and gerlad for view in mtc

the different views while riding trike

gambling on the streets with kids

random kids we ball with

sunset

dope name tag

we walk through a rice field everyday its alittle short cut and the other day we had visitors in our way so we petted cows and it was way funny

its tradition to crack eggs on someones head when they have something big and it was elder tanners bday on tuesday so guess wahat!!!

i slumped out

goat we found