Zuster Garvin and Elder Jex Will be Greatly Missed

Elder Jex and Zuster Garvin have been a big blessing to our mission. Since there was only the two of them, we decided after their interviews with President Brubaker we would go to the molen (windmill) museum only a few blocks away from the mission office.

We hiked up many flights of narrow stairs (more like a ladder) up to the top of the windmill. it was a

blustery day at the top. I guess it is why there are so many molens in the Netherlands!

It is one of the largest windmills in the Netherlands, and is located right in the middle of the city of Leiden.

Elder Jex's most memorable moment.

Later in my mission me and Elder Weatherston were sitting at home wondering what to do when we got a phone call and it was an investigator, Lucy, and she said “Hey, I want to talk to you guys about something but I don’t have much beldegoed, can you call me back?” I said sure and we called her back and she said how she had been thinking about how we said they can be baptized and she knew we had more lessons, but Feb 6 is her husband, George’s birthday and she wanted to know if they could get baptized on that day so that it would be really special for him and we said sure, ya, that works and then rearranged our plans because we had been planning on the week after that. But if they wanted the 6^th, we would do it and we start everything, got the ward to agree and they are now good members, even if they are busy a lot and can’t make it to church every week, but they were so golden. When we taught them I sometimes wondered if they had a script or had read PMG because their answers were so perfect and inspired.

Zuster Garvin most memorable moment.

Zuster Harrington, Zuster Jeffs and I were all serving together in Den Haag. We felt like we needed to visit some less active members and so we headed over. As we were teaching them about the love of God and the importance of church, their friend, Danso, came in. Our eyes lit up! We invited him to sit in on the lesson and we told him that as missionaries we teach people about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We showed him a baptismal calendar and he seemed very interested to meet with us again. After a lot of effort, trial and error we were able to schedule some appointments to teach him the blessings that come from the restored gospel. His desire was there, he wanted so badly to learn more about his Savior. As we taught him the message of the restoration, it all started to click for him. Later when we taught him the plan of salvation, we committed him to read the pamphlet. The next appointment we walked in and there he stood holding the pamphlet as he boldy and joyfully declared, “THIS IS POWERFUL!” he had taken it to work and read it in his lunch break as he sat nearby the construction work of the train tracks. He came faithfully to church and loved to learn more . One Sunday he brought his friend Sandra to church and she shared the same enthusiasm for the gospel as Danso. After a lot of hard work, from him and us, he was baptized and confirmed a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. He told me, “I’ll never regret it! It feels so good!” his friend Sandra will be baptized this Saturday.

We see many interesting bicycles contraptions in the Netherlands! Zuster Garvin called it the Dutch mini van!

We had a delightful evening with the missionaries. After dinner we enjoyed talking and sharing our testimonies of this wonderful Gospel! ( I forgot to take pictures!)

The next morning, we realized school has begun! We passed hundreds of students on their way to school!

Zuster Garvin was so happy to greet her family at the airport!

Zuster Garvin has been a diligent, positive, precious missionary. We just wish we could keep her!

We will miss Elder Jex's sense of humor, his positive attitude, and his willingness to do whatever was asked! In nine hours he will be home! No doubt his parents will be there to welcome him home!