Missionaries, Missionaries, and More Missionaries!

 My dear Family,

I am not sure how well I can concentrate to write this email right now. I am in complete shock still about Ashley's mission call and the calls of Diana and Brent and others. I am so utterly filled with joy at the thought of so many coming to join the missionary forces. This may possibly be the only thought and feeling in my brain and heart right now. I had planned to write about things but now I have nothing to say other than to express love and gratitude for those who are going and serving missions. I am just gleefully thinking of all of the people who will be blessed by these missionaries....just starting with themselves, their families, and the people they serve. The effects of missionary work are eternal.

I will try to compose myself to write a few lines about what's going on here in Ecuador. First and foremost, I have decided I love Ecuador. I love the sound, look, and feel. I love the people. I love most of the animals *I am excluding the dogs and cats. I'm not sure if I will ever love these.

Today for lunch we went to Olga Ruiz's home to eat lunch. We teach lessons in her house all the time and she invited us to come eat there today! She made some fancy soup with pumpkin, cauliflower, potatoes, and this ball of platano/banana stuff with meat and all kinds of things inside. All I know is it took a lot of work and this was just the first course. We ate a rice dish with shrimp as well. DELICIOUS. I made brownies and we bought vanilla ice cream//well ice cream of a sort b/c the ice cream here is really different. It's a lot softer and more like sorbet. I told Olga *I say Olga b/c I know how much Amanda, Em, and others are going to love that her name is Olga, that I was going to remember this meal for a long time. She told me, A LONG TIME? How about Toda de su VIDA? Oops....To make up for my mistake, I said I will remember it for my life and in the eternities I would come to her and thank her again.

 You asked about our door approach. It depends, but usually we take a moment to get to know the person...Talk about their family or what they are doing. Then we say we are missionaries and we bring a message of hope and joy for their families. We know that we are the children of God, He loves us, and He has a plan for us. He has revealed this through prophets in these days, and we know that we are members of the same church that existed when Christ was on the earth. We may ask questions like What is your belief about God? What is your purpose in life? Why is your family the most important thing in your life? Etc. If we have time and they let us in, we teach the first lesson about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We always sing and pray. It is amazing how this can change the negative feelings in an instant.

This week we met Raquel....She is 65 years old. We were sitting in her little garden with the mosquitos and spiders and well...any ways.... Raquel was saying how we were too young to have left our families (especially here people live with their parents until they are married and often after this. Its normal for a 30 year old to live with their parents if they are not married) and what if our families needed us, what if something happened to us here, etc! But then we sang and prayed and after the prayer she was telling us how we are protected by God and our families would be blessed for our service, and more. It was an amazing change. I believe music and prayer go together. Both are ways we can express love, adoration, and praise for Heavenly Father.

You asked about what I do to get up on time! What has helped me is start praying!  When I immediately start praying, I feel a lot of strength and that extra little push to get up and start working. If I am tempted to sleep more, I start asking for strength to get up and do! I don't know...I think it helps to go to bed and get up at the same time everyday. There is no deciding every morning or night when I am going to bed or whether I am going to get up in the morning. The decision has been made and it is just a matter of doing it. It's much more tiring to decide day after day if I'm going to be obedient. It's easier to just say YES. I think on a mission too, I just think that if I do not get up or if I am not obedient, the Lord cannot bless me. D&C 82:10  "I the Lord am BOUND when you do what I say but when you do not what I say ye have no promise". The Lord keeps His promises.
Sounds like you're working super hard dad and mom at work, trek, home, and more. You are fabulous examples to me. Thank you for your prayers and love. I really felt an increase of support yesterday during fast Sunday and I was reminded that there are many people praying for my success and happiness and health. Thank YOU!!!!

I got a letter from CHERI!!! WOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO! She's pregnant!!! I am thrilled for this and cant wait to see the little red headed tike. Crossing my fingers for red hair. I got two letters from Grandma and Grandpa this week!!! Your letters are as delicious to me as Grandpa's candy. Seriously, I could just eat them up. The miracle of this was that Grandma sent $5 and this very day we had run out of cash and we not able to get to the bank to take out more money from our cards for February. It was truly a miracle of timing. And a miracle it made it to me. We were able to live off that until we got to the store. $5 buys a lot here in the little stores.

My dear family, I just love each one of you so much. I tell people about your experiences and examples all the time. You are a strength and example to me and many people here in Ecuador. Thank you for
sending your love to me!

Love,
Hermana Garlock

ps. Lots of rain and warmth equals a lot of mosquitoes.

Highlights of news we sent to Morgan regarding missionaries:

For some of you who know these people--they received their mission calls this week:>
This week had been full of missionary calls being opened!  Some we have been waiting for....others we have been shocked by...and all of them are so exciting and make us so happy!!!

Christian received his call to Mozambique, Africa.  He will speak Portuguese!  His mission also includes Angola.  He will leave June 8th,  

Aunt Diana and Brent received their calls to Romania, Bucharest mission to serve with the young adults.  It is the same mission as Bryce!  They leave  for the mission training center April 18th!  They will learn the language in the MTC and head to the mission just as Bryce is leaving.

Ashley, has received her mission call to Argentina!!  She kept it a secret until she got the call!!!  I couldn't believe it when she called and said she had big news!  She certainly shocked us all!!!  She leaves for the MTC March 23rd!  She is very happy to be a Hermana!!!  I can't stop smiling just thinking of Ashley with a cute name tag on preaching the gospel in Argentina!!

Brady received his call a couple of weeks ago but I wasn't sure that we told you. He is headed to Brazil along with Kevin Brady from Oregon who is also headed to Brazil!  They both enter the MTC in Brazil June 8th! So many mission calls!!!

Elder Jolley has been called to Pennsylvania to serve!  He will be great!  Not the same mission as Elder Masters but right next door.