Sacredness of Missionary Labors

I'm a day late, but I have reason, and permission to be.

Yesterday Sister Felt was throwing up in the Halloween bowl.  Like, probably for a couple of hours.

Is no bueno.  But so far today, she is feeling better!  That's good!

I spent the day watching Mormon Messages that someone gave us to watch, and sewing up my pile of stuff to sew up, eating sour patch bunnies, and writing a pile of substantial letters to a bunch of people that I love. :)  It was good.  The Mormon Message "Lessons I learned as a Boy" by Gordon B. Hinckley made me cry.  What a wonderful spirit in that profound, but simple lesson.  (I'm not going to expound, because it will give you all the chance to watch it. :)

Watch here: http://www.mormonchannel.org/mormon-channel-daily/193?v=911029440001

Also, if you haven't taken the time to watch the new on on bullying please do. It will bring a new perspective, and make you want to be, and do better.

I'm not sure of the direction of this letter this week.  There has been a lot that has happened.

For the first time in my mission we have an investigator with a baptismal date.  We are thrilled about that, but I also wonder if I should feel more thrilled about that?

I am happy because she wants it.  But it has also been re-confirmed that baptism is not my "golden ticket".  It is truly wonderful, but it is really seeing the lives of people change that is my golden ticket.  I love to see the light of the gospel shine in the faces of people that I love, and truly, I love them. I know that I'm going to be so sad to leave Rocky Mount when the time comes, because I know that this has been a place that my efforts have gone to good use in building the Lord's kingdom on earth.

I had a lot of time to ponder yesterday, and I don't know exactly what triggered it, but there was a shift in me.  I was led to pray for something that I hadn't prayed for before.  I said that I was so sorry that I didn't always understand how truly sacred this work is.  I was devastated that it had taken me this long for it to finally click, and I shifted.  I wish I could express the depth of the feelings of my heart in sharing how I feel now.

This work is SO sacred.  It is a privilege and an honor to be a part of it.  Although there are over 80,000 missionaries world wide, I am not an insignificant part of this work.  It cannot be done without my efforts, and I have been a major part of this work in a specific place.  In Rocky Mount No. Carolina, Virginia Chesapeake Mission.  Also, fun fact for you; I am the best Sister Garvin in this whole mission (mostly because I am the only Sister Garvin in our mission. :)

And I continue to thank all of those who have provided me with the means of going on this sacred journey.

I sometimes get caught in wondering how there could possible be room for any more growth, but it is the little things now to put me through the refiners fire over, and over again to get out all the bits of dross.

From the hymn "How Firm A Foundation" it says:

1. 5. When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
   My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.
   The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
   Thy dross to consume, thy dross to consume,
   Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

I hope that I will trust enough to continually go through this process.

There is so much to hope for in a bright future, and it is oft times easy to lose sight of that when we are passing through the "dark ages" of our lives.

I just know that no matter how dark a trial may seem there will have to come a time when it shall pass.  And through the divine help and strength that provided through the Atonement of Jesus Christ it will be possible to be refined, and not consumed.

(Here's my new thing that I came up with this week. #GarvinSoapbox any time I say something that I know is true I say "Hashtag, Garvin soapbox."  Yes, I'm still funny even when I know profound things)

I love you each so greatly, and I hope that things are home are more refining than consuming. 
Also for A&A:  the youth of this church are prayed for almost as much as the missionaries, you have untapped potential to be a tremendous force for good in this world.

I love you all!

Love,
Sister Amber Garvin

Monday, Feb. 24, 2013 - Sister Garvin, Sister Felt

Well,  I've left only about 15 minutes to type this email, and I'm not sure how long that will get me.  I guess we'll have to find out in 15 minutes. :)

This week was really miraculous!  We have started focusing more on Revelation through Planning, and Finding.  Because of the trainings from our District and Zone meetings, as well as us being directed as to how we can implement the ideas from those meeting into the work in our respective areas, we have begun to see so much progress already.

I'm feeling for the first time that really, really... our plans each night are directed by the goals that we set weekly and daily.

Let me just put a little plug in for my companion....

Sister Felt is ~AMAZING!~

I just love, love, LOVE this girl!  She and I laugh ALL THE TIME!  And she just has great perspectives, and inspires me to "try a little harder to be a little better."

Ooop.... I got distracted reading things that people send me.  So not I have 2 minutes left.

Okay.

So I learned this really great thing in the Bible Dictionary about Charity.  It says that charity is "never used to demote alms or deeds".  I think that's really interesting.  So we don't have ACTS of charity, but as we develop charity--the pure love of Christ-- I think that it drives our actions.  So charity itself is not an act, but when we have charity we act to serve, help, strengthen, bless, and uplift those who are around us. :)

I hope that little snippet of an epiphany makes a little bit of sense to you. :)

Hmm.  I'm full of inspirations quotes, and have run out of time. Sorry about that.

Oh.  We've had BEAUTIFUL weather this week, somedays in the 80's.  Now we hear it is supposed to snow this week.  I really think that the weather here is more tempermental, and unpredictable than that in Utah.

PLEASE DONT SNOW THIS WEEK!!!!!!!  I HATE WEEKLY PLANNING FOR 3 DAYS IN A ROW BECAUSE WE CANT GO OUTSIDE!!!!!!

And that's all I have to say about that situation....

Have a lovely week!  No matter the weather!

Love forever,

Sister Garvin

Birthday Surprise for our little friend

Sister Felt

First day Sister Felt arrived in Mission

Tuesday, February 18, 2014, LDS Sister Missionaries, Rocky Mount, North Carolina

Hint, Hint!!!

Good morning family!

I know that you all hang off of my every word, so I'm sorry about the delay in my letter this week. ;)  Just kidding about the hanging.... not so much about the delay.

There were more snow days last week.  Everything shut down because it was an "ice storm" which is mostly just really wet snow....  School was cancelled from Tuesday-Friday, and so they had to go to school on Pres. Day as a make-up day, and they're supposedly having to shorten Spring Break because of all the snow days. SO SAD!

Good news:

Sister Felt and I get along really, really well.  I just really feel like we are equally-yoked in this companionship.  We have a lot of similarities character wise, but some really different strengths.  She is going to help me plan better since that is not one of my strengths.  So Heavenly Father did answer my prayer, because I prayed that I would get a companion that could help me improve my planning.  Yay.

We saw some truly amazing miracles this past week, and were able to contact some people that we haven't been able to before and share short messages with them.  We are trying to help strengthen the ward members by being purpose-driven missionaries, and to this point we have seen great improvement-- some within ourselves.  I love being purposeful!!!

I tell so many people this because I think that is is profound: "Purpose doesn't evolve from friendship-- friendship evolves from purpose."  That is something that the sister Training Leaders in Newport News really helped me to understand.  Our purpose is to "invite others to come unto Christ" and when we are driven by that we develop stronger and deeper relationships and friendships with people than we would if we just chit-chatted with them for 5 hours.  A purposeful 15 minute lesson is much more effective than an hour lesson where you just get to know someone. Hark!  There is wisdom in these my words.

I've just had a good week.  Also, I realize that sometimes I complain a lot-- and I don't always know that I'm doing it, and I really have no reason to-- so if that comes through my letters, I give you permission to call me out.  Help me do better, because I can't always do it myself. :)

Life is good. 

Maybe not always ideal, but there is always good to be found to combat the bad if we but look for it.

I love the scriptures.  They are a constant source of good.

I also love dessert.

And when I get a solid 8 hours of sleep.

And when people allow their testimony and faith in Jesus Christ change their lives. 

And shoe shopping.  But I don't do that very often because I don't need more shoes right now.  I sometimes just like the way my feet look in shoes.  Oh!  I found out that I can fit in little girls sizes 5/6 shoes.  My horizons have been expanded.

Oh again!  I LOVE letters, and when I come home and see letters on my bed from people that I love.  It makes
my day. 

Toodle-ooooh!

Love,

Sister Amber

Valentine's Cookies -- "Thanks Mom!"

Monday, November 11, 2013, Sister Garvin in 'North Carolina'

Missionaries: Goldsboro Zone

So transfer calls were yesterday (which I can hardly believe....).  I've been here for 6 weeks already, and I get to stay at least another 5!

We are having a 5 week transfer next time because otherwise the new missionaries would be coming in on Christmas day.  Also it's no good to spend the entire week of Christmas getting ready to leave all the people that you love.  Now we get to spend the week before doing that.  Which is still no good, but it's better than the worst, and I can be content-ish with that.

Anyway.... I'll know if I'm leaving Rocky Mount on December 16.  Then I can tell you. :)

This week was adventurous.

On Saturday at exactly 5:00 AM our fire alarm started chirping every single minute.  The battery was low, and it was awful! We tried to take the battery out, but it was still attached to the ceiling, and had a back up power source, so it still chirped. We turned all the lights on, and I stood on my companion's bed to try to do something about it.  I just wanted my extra 1.5 hours of sleep left! 

We reached the conclusion that we were just going to have to sleep with ear plugs, but we said a little prayer over the battery, and put it back in.

Guess what?..... It worked, and the alarm stopped chirping!

Whether by miracle or happenstance it matters not, because I believe that it was an answered prayer.  Especially since at 6:30, as soon as my alarm went off it started chirping again.

We woke up and it was 61 degrees in our house.

We went to the store and got a battery at 6:45 a.m., as soon as we had put on skirts, and brushed our hair.

It was a long day, but I learned that as many bad things that there are in one day there are at least as many good things too.  There is always enough good to combat the bad.  It's just really hard to shift your perspective.

Oh P.S.   It was my 7 month birthday yesterday.

I'm growing up so fast!  In January I'll be half way done!

I read some good missionary (and life) talks this week-- both by Elder Bednar.

The First "That We Might Not 'Shrink",which I may have made mention of before.  It's great.  Everyone should read it.  It helps with the whole perspective business.

The second "Becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary."

They helped me this week. :)

I don't really know how to end this week.  I've run out of things to say that are inspiring today.  Except rhymes.... If you're inspired by rhymes.... Then I am still full of inspiration.

add, bad, cad, dad, fad, gad, had, lad, mad, pad, rad, sad, tad, wad, zad, orange, grape, artichoke.

Haha.  I really make myself laugh.

I'm so weird, I hope that you still like me when I get home, and have no social skills.  All I'll know how to do is bear my testimony. 

Oh, Ash!  The member that we live with-- Brother Holloman had a 'hippie van' that had red white and blue, with American flag curtains on it.  You would really, really like him. :)     

(note from Amber's mom:  Amber's younger sister, Ashley, LOVES 'hippie vans' and wants one 'really bad'.)  :)

I hope you can meet (by Skype) at Christmas!

Love always, and forever!  even when its colder than 60 degrees.

Buenos Nachos! ;)

-Sister Garvin

Hakki! AKA: 'Hello' Via Ashley.

September 23, 2013. Willamsburg, Virginia. -- Starfish Story.

Muddy 'Crocs'  :)

Dearest Loved ones, whom I love,  

I don't remember what week it happened or if I sent a picture, but I made my companion walk through the mud.  It was an accident, but it happened.  This is what happened to the new Crocs that I bought at TJMaxx for $8 (stellar deal.)

We've also been working with this sweet hispanic woman named Maria - to help her with her English, and in reading the Book of Mormon. We aren't going to be meeting with her anymore because she is going to the Spanish Branch, and the Hermanas (spanish-speaking sisters) are going to be meeting with her from now on, but she is so sweet. :)

I don't know if I have many words of wisdom this week, but I can say this:

I'm 10 pages away from the end of the Book of Mormon, and it's still true.

It was true when I started it, it was true when I got half way through it, and it is still true as I approach the end.

So, it's kind of like the best thing.

Everyone should read it.  Every day.  Or more.

We had Zone Conference this week.  Our ward (church congregation) fed all the missionaries, for which we were all grateful.  I love Relief Society, and being part of something.  They were wonderful to us.  

It was great to hear from President Baker, and his wife, and to refresh and refine the vision of missionary work that they have for this mission.  I appreciated so many things that they said.

This week I'm not as fiery-sounding as I have been inprevious weeks.  It must be the weather. :)  Or the change in season. (There is an entire yellow-leaved tree by our house!) But I'm just as fiery in testimony.

To quote the words of a very wise woman-- namely mom-- who changed my life today.

"There are so many things like that that just don't seem fair and...I know that you know that and have dealt with a lot of them in your life.  And, yet, like the starfish, you have made a difference - one person at a time....
"Sometimes we don't think we are - but, we are watched and...everything we do - makes a difference.  Even if we don't know it. "

"It made a difference for that one."

Mommy, thank you for helping me be a starfish. We are a family of starfish.

Probably somehow the entire eco-system would crash without starfish.  I don't know all that scienc-y stuff, but that's just my idea.

So yeah.

It's weird, but thank you for being my starfish family.

You're basically the best-- more than anything else ever.  And you're mine, which is even better.

Love for eternity, "AND BEYOND!"

Sister Garvin AKA Amber

--------------------------------

The Starfish Story

A young man is walking along the ocean and sees a beach on which thousands and thousands of starfish have washed ashore. Further along he sees an old man, walking slowly and stooping often, picking up one starfish after another and tossing each one gently into the ocean.

“Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?,” he asks.

“Because the sun is up and the tide is going out and if I don’t throw them further in they will die.”

“But, old man, don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it! You can’t possibly save them all, you can’t even save one-tenth of them. In fact, even if you work all day, your efforts won’t even make a difference .”

The old man listened calmly and then bent down to pick up another starfish and threw it into the sea. “It made a difference for that one.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Williamsburg, Virginia, September 9, 2013 - Sister Amber Garvin

(Dear Readers:  Amber was a bit hesitant to share this and wanted me to look it over and see if it sounded 'too grumpy' or not.  I felt it was actually strong and powerful, and...a good reminder to the rest of us as to our personal responsibility of sharing the gospel and doing more than just being an example.  I hope you will all take it the same way.  - Sincerely, Amber's mom, Heidi Garvin)  :)

From Sister Amber Garvin; serving in Williamsburg, Va

Monday, Sept. 9, 2013

Soooo..... There is this thing called missionary work.  And we had Stake Conference this week and it was all about it.

There is something that I learned from it that I would like to share.  I only share it because it hit me with full force this week, and especially as I listened to the words of our inspired leaders who hold the keys to missionary work in this area.  I share this not to offend, but to invoke a thought.  A thought that if cultivated and pondered will lead to an action.

That's the disclaimer.  Please take the rest with a pinch of salt or a grain of salt or whatever that phrase is that will deliver the message in a way that I mean it.  I mean it out of love, and out of a hope that I will always retain in my remembrance the things that I am learning here.  I don't always remember to write them down, and one day I would like to look back and remember what lessons I learned that shaped me into the person that I am becoming.

Here's the rest:

We talk about it all the time, and I have gained a new perspective about it since I have been living it.

We talk about it frequently enough that I hope that if I just cut to the point you can piece things together.

Missionary work has changed, and is continuing to change.  

Here I will be very frank: Being an example is not enough.  It's not.

While being an example does lead to people noticing you, and it does lead to you being able to live the standards that it doesn't lead others to action.

I am not excusing myself; I have used that line before "I will just be an example." But I have asked this, and I could probably think really hard to structure this question more eloquently, but here it is.  Where did that get me? Honestly, not far.  I was able to maintain my personal standards, but that didn't share the gospel with anybody.

Being an example did not make me a missionary. 

This probably sounds harsh.  But I'm learning that beating around the bush doesn't get me very far either because I'm not being completely honest.

I'm just working on being a bit more tactful.

So anyway.

yup.

I have to head out for today, we only have an hour, but I will be here next week, and I love you, and I will write you a letter soon!  Sorry that I have fallen behind!

 

You are my reason for fighting!

Thank you for being my constants!

I hit 5 months tomorrow.  It's been a year since I started school (at BYU-I last year).  It still doesn't seem real that I have been here (in Virginia) this long, but I still think about how far away next October seems.

When I picture my most beloved family waiting for me at the airport that is when I continue to have the strength to continue one more step.  

You mean more to me than I even thought, and more than you will ever know.

Love (literally) forever,

Amber

Week 5:

Dear Mom (And everyone else),

(some personal things then,)

Also, I take missionary work very seriously.  So I hope that my letters home don't make it seem otherwise.  Please correct me if that is something that I need to improve on immediately rather then gradually.

This week has really been a tough one on me.  I am calling it a "Missionary Meltdown" and have likened it unto a candle.  I started out really strong, and slowly melted into a puddle at the bottom of the candle holder, and struggled to keep the light strong and steady.  

I am saying that I really was burned out, and I probably cried for reals for the first time since we sold the puppy in March (you know mom).  It was a huge blessing, and actually an amazingly spiritual experience to kneel down and pray feeling so completely discouraged and ask Heavenly Father if he really cared about me, and if he was still there.

I needed to be reassured that he was aware of me, and the feeling of comfort that I received was something that I can't ever really express adequately.

I know that if Heavenly Father is that aware of me, then he must be that aware of all of his other struggling children.  From this understanding, my love for the people that we are working with, searching for, my companion, and myself has grown even greater.

Ending on a slightly more adventurous note, this is what happened this week..........

We were helping to unload a storage unit full of really big trash, such as broken box springs, desks, and shelves.  We have a dumpster. There is only one way to get big things in that dumpster, and I am happy to say that missionaries such as Sister J. and myself, were that way.  We climbed into a dumpster.  Don't worry, we were wearing service clothes, we were being supervised, and we took showers very promptly afterward.

Thus is the life of a missionary.  Surprise!

You are my best friends, and I am glad that we are an eternal family.

Love,

Your Sister Garvin

MTC - First Entry - April 11, 2013

These are excerpts from Amber's first letter.  I was SO thrilled to get it.  :) I'll be the one updating her site.  Thanks for following.  Heidi G. (Amber's Mom)

Dear Mom,

We were challenged by our MTC Presidency to write letters home last night.  I am a little late, but I am fulfilling the commitment I made.

I finally feel reassured that I .....have been prepared to be here.  I asked that there would be angels round about me to bear me up, and I felt there were throughout my arrival day and still.  Thank you for teaching me to ask.

It is an amazing thing to be here and to be part of this work.  I have already gained a new appreciation of being surrounded by the feeling of the Holy Ghost all the time.  I have also begun to learn to love differently despite mortal differences.

I know that Heavenly Father has prepared me to be a missionary for many reasons, one of them being that I really haven't gotten a huge culture shock -- maybe that will come later.  Right now I feel like studying and having a companion are what life should have always been like.

My companion is Sister ____.  She is from California and has amazing curly hair.  So far we get along really well, and she is teaching me, through her example,  how to talk to, relate to, and love others' no matter what.

Our district consists of 6 Elders and us.  We have already become close and have had some great discussions.  I am amazed at how quickly Elders step up their game and behave like men of God.

I know that one day ______(brother) can be one of them and learn some of the same lessons and behaviors he has already begun.

I want you to know that I am doing good.

I am glad to know of the birthplace of peanuts :)   Our district was wondering if peanuts grow on trees, shrubs, or underground?

Talk to you soon!
Sister Garvin

p.s.  I was called/chosen to be a sister training leader and Senior Companions for this week.  I will be in training with the other sisters until Sunday because they leave Monday from the MTC to their missions. I didn't know I could grown so much in such a short time.   :)