Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope it was wonderful for all of you. I know it was for me. We had such and amazing easter service on Sunday. We had many lessons on the Atonement and the resurrection of Christ. The speakers in Sacrament meeting also did a wonderful job. They read from Luke 24 and other New Testament stories of Christ and His resurrection. What a blessing it is to know that Christ lives today, and that because He lives, we will all live after death as well. One of the speakers yesterday spoke about how a mother was not allowed to use the word "Easter" in her child's school class. I was astounded by how much the world has been turning away from God and Jesus Christ. I know that I for one, "am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth." (Romans 1:16) I hope we can all always remember why we are here, and who is truly responsible for all of our happiness and hope, even the Lord Jesus Christ. I have also been having a wonderful time training my new greenie! His name is Elder Ackley and he is from Gilbert Arizona. He has a powerful desire to serve and has already taught me so much. I still can't believe that I am training a new missionary, I still feel like I was just in his shoes a few weeks ago. How the time flies. I love you all and hope the Lord is abundantly blessing you!

A Letter from President Martin

Dear Sister Crow,

I am pleased to let you know that your son, Elder Garrett Hunsaker, has been called to serve as a Trainer. This calling comes because of faithfulness and dedication to the work.

To train a new missionary is one of the most important responsibilities in any mission. Our future success as a mission depends on how well the trainers prepare our new missionaries. Your son has now been entrusted with that important responsibility.

Our trainers are asked to train through personal example, by teaching obedience to the mission rules and standards, and by following the outlined daily study program. This requires love, patience, kindness, and an understanding of the benefit of dedicated service to the Lord.

Thank you for the part you have played in helping him qualify for this opportunity.

Sincerely,

Jerald L. Martin
President

Bringing About the Lord's Great and Eternal Purposes

This week has been fantastic! I had a baptism on Saturday! It was soooo amazing. I had been teaching this woman in Ridgecrest for almost Seven months, and she was finally baptized on Saturday. I was asked to speak at the baptism, and while I did I couldn't help but cry because the immense joy that I felt. After the ordinance, I talked to her and asked her how she felt. At first she said "A little overwhelmed." I said, "I hope it's a good overwhelmed." When I said that, she paused, and began to get emotional as she said "I feel wonderful. I really do." It really helped remind me of what missionary work is really all about. I am so grateful to my Father in heaven for giving me the opportunity to have been an instrument in His hands. I am sure this woman would have been brought unto Christ eventually; of that I have no doubt, but I got to be a part of it. That is what missionary work is all about for me. We get to be a part of bringing about the Lord's great and eternal purposes: "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." In doing so, we receive blessings and joy that can only be received in doing the will of the Father. It is an honor and a privilege to serve Him.

Also, transfers are today, and I found out that in addition to being district leader for another six weeks, I am going to be training a brand new missionary fresh from the MTC! I am now going to have two leadership callings at once. Man, I'm going to be busy. It is kind of bizarre to me that I am going to be training a new missionary now. I feel like I was just in his shoes a few days ago. The time sure flies. Anyway, I am very excited to be able to train him and help him become the missionary he is going to be for the rest of his mission. I don't know anything about him yet, I get to meet him Tuesday! I'm sure he will be a great guy.

As we approach this easter Sunday, I hope we can all remember what it is really about. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, rose from the dead so that we could also do so when we pass on. He was lifted up unto death so we could be lifted up unto life. I am so grateful to him for doing that for us, for me. It means more than I know how to express. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

An Ensign to the Nations

I hope everyone enjoyed conference! I know I did. I learned so much. My favorite talk was Elder Holland's (although I am a bit biased, as most of you know...). It made me feel so grateful for the fact that we have apostles and prophets in our day, that literally speak for God, and not for themselves. I know that those men really are inspired of the Lord, and that President Monson really is the Lord's mouthpiece today. I was touched when Elder Holland said that President Monson was ordained an Apostle at the age of 36, and that his family has had to give him as a full time servant of the Lord for over fifty years, ever since his kids were little. Wow, what a sacrifice. I am so grateful to them for giving their father and husband to us, and the Lord. He has blessed the lives of tens of millions, myself included. What a blessing it is to have him as the Lord's prophet today. I also really enjoyed President Uchtdorf's talk in priesthood session. He talked about how many priesthood holders are living beneath their potential and could using their priesthood for so much more than just for emergencies. I loved when he said: "If you had bought the most powerful computer in the world, would you merely leave it on your desk as a keepsake? Yes, it might look impressive to others, but until you actually hit the POWER button, you would be wasting such an amazing, powerful blessing." That really put it in perspective for me. I hope I can do better at using the priesthood in my own life, so I can better bless the lives of others. I would encourage you all to do what Elder Holland spoke so movingly about yesterday, ponder for a moment just how amazing general conference is. As we receive the conference Ensign and have the talks all posted on lds.org, go through the talks and find "Your personal epistle." It you haven't found it already, you still can. I bear witness that those men that we the opportunity of hearing this last weekend really are the Lord's messengers today. I know God lives, that He cares about us, loves us, and fights for us every day so we can be happy. I am so grateful to a part of this wonderful work, to shout a testimony of love, and a warning, as an Ensign to the nations. Love you!

Bring a Question to Conference

This week was kind of a slower one... Probably due to spring break and such. Most people weren't home, and we had a lot of cancellations. That's okay though, because I know the work will pick up again soon--it always does. We have a bunch of people we are teaching, but unfortunately, most of them aren't progressing yet. Something cool happened on Saturday though: The man that I baptized in Ridgecrest right before I came to Palmdale married the woman who refferred him! Kind of unexpected, but I'm really happy for them. I also found out that a woman that I taught for seven months in Ridgecrest is finally getting baptized in a few weeks! I'm going to ask President Martin if I can go to the baptism in Ridgecrest. I may not be able to go, but if not I'm sure Elder Bennett will send pictures. I'm also really excited for general conference this weekend! Something I have done that has made conference more meaningful for me is to bring a question to conference. Write it down, and then listen for the answer. I promise you, that if you really pay attention to the words spoken by the speakers, something that one of them says, will be the answer to your question. Try it! Love you guys!

Testimony for Those Who May Feel Alone or Discouraged

Today, I just wanted to use this week to bear my testimony to you all. I know that many of us are struggling right now, due to many different circumstances in our various lives. I have also been struggling as well. Many of the people we are teaching aren't progressing, aren't coming to church, or are canceling on us every week. We all have different trials in life, many of which seem incredibly difficult to bear. Many times when we are facing these trials, we feel alone, or worthless, or helpless. I know that the gospel is the answer to these trials. I testify, with all the surety of my heart, that we do have a savior. Namely, Jesus Christ. He lives, right now, at this very moment. He cares about us, He worries about us, and He weeps for us when we are struggling. I know that Jesus Christ was born through the power of the Holy Ghost of Mary, thousands of years ago. He was raised, and taught by His Father in heaven, so He could carry the burden of our salvation. He was the perfect example for us. Everything He did, He did for others. Never once did He think a selfish thought. Even though eventually all of the people He was fighting so hard to save would turn on Him in the end, He never gave up on them, not once. I know that He atoned, not just for our sins, but for our imperfections, our sicknesses, and our mistakes. Every hard time or difficult trial we have ever gone through, He felt personally. I believe He did this act person by person, on a very personal and individual basis for us. He didn't just suffer for all liars, thieves and murderers all at once. There are no blessings, baptisms, or any other priesthood ordinances done for groups. I don't believe the Atonement was performed for groups either. Think of the garden of Gethsemane as a temple, the temple of Gethsemane. Kind of like how we take names through the temples, Christ took our names through the temple of Gethsemane. One by one, person by person. That means, at some time during that brutal experience, Christ was thinking of you. your life, your pains, your heartaches. You. He atoned for you, and because He did, we have the ability to conquer anything life can throw at us. We just have to turn to Him, the one who made it all possible, our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. His infinite and eternal Atonement has the power to give us strength to do anything that is expedient in Him. I know that the fullness of the Gospel was restored to earth, through the prophet Joseph Smith. We now have had restored to us all of the precious truths that were once lost. I know that this is the very church that Christ Himself once established upon the earth over two thousand years ago. This is it. I know it. I learned this for myself, independently of any other person. It wasn't easy. Many nights I cried myself to sleep, because of confusion and loneliness, and just being unsure and full of doubts. It took a while, but God did answer my prayers. It has now never been more obvious to me. God is everywhere, in everything good, and always with us, especially in our darkest hours. It is never too late for anyone to ask for His help with anything. He will always be there. Even if we give up on Him, He never gives up on us. I know that one day we will see our Father in heaven again, as well as our Savior, Jesus Christ. nothing will shock us more than how familiar their faces are to us. They will embrace us, shower us with tears, and say "Welcome home, I missed you." I know that day will come, however, I will not know any better then than I do now, that they live. They love us, and that they are fighting to bring us home. Of this, I earnestly testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

First Week in Palmdale

Greetings from Palmdale everyone! It's so weird being in a new place. I'm so used to being out in the middle of nowhere that I'm not used to being in civilization anymore. Now I hear sirens and cars honking all the time, and see so many people walking around everywhere... I am not used to that anymore... Everything seems so huge and loud. I'm sure I'll get used to it quickly though. My new companion is named Elder Smith, he is a great missionary who is a really hard worker. It turns out, we are also distantly related! Abraham Hunsaker is both of our great, great, great, great grandfathers. Small world huh. We have had many great experiences this week. We've also had some crazy ones, but I guess that's just how the mission goes. This next week I'm going to spending three days in Santa Clarita getting leadership training for seven hours a day. So, twenty one hours of training... Wow, that's going to be long. I'm sure I will get so many great things out of it though. I'll be sure to let you all know how that goes next week. We have three baptisms coming up on April the ninth! We are really excited for that.

I already have a crazy story from being out here. We stopped by a member who has a few nonmember roommates. One of them is a guy with schizophrenia. When went over there, he hadn't taken any of his medication, and he had also been smoking weed. Yeah, not a good combination. He was basically freaking out from the moment we walked in. He was yelling and screaming about how God had possessed his body and that he could "Feel our aura of goodness." He kept grabbing me and shaking me too. Pretty much every other word he said was profanity. He started to say how he wanted to punch us so that he could beat some some of the spirit out of us... I was kind of fearing for my life at this point. The other two roommates had to restrain him while we ran for our lives. Yeah, it was intense. Elder Smith and I were so freaked out afterwards we drove off at like ninety miles an hour, then we just pulled over and sat in the car for like half an hour until we calmed down.

We are excited for general conference in a few weeks. Something I have started doing for general conference that has really made a difference for me, is thinking of or writing down a question (or questions) that have been on my mind lately. If you pay attention to the speakers in general conference, something somebody will say will always give an answer to your question. Whether it be directly addressed in one of the talks, or given to you by the spirit, the answer will come. You just have to be listening for it. I have received answers to some of my deepest questions by doing this, and I know that you will too if you try it. I love you all so much and I thank you again for all of you love and support. It means so much to me. I promise I will continue to work hard and do my best to bring many people the joy of the gospel. Love you!

Palmdale District Leader!

I don't have much time to write today, I'm getting transferred to Palmdale! Palmdale is a bigger city in the Desert. I'm also going to be the new district leader of the Palmdale district! I'm pretty nervous, but I'm going to do my best, and I know the Lord will make up for my imperfections. Saying goodbye was so hard yesterday. In fact, it was without a doubt one of the hardest days of my mission so far. I have come to love the people here so much, it almost shocks me. It also shocked me how much they have come to love me even though I have only been here for seven and a half months. I bore my testimony and told everyone I was leaving, then people after me got up and bore theirs about me. Many cried and said that I had made such an impact on their life. It was such a blessing for me to see the fruits of my labors. I took a ton of pictures of people I have been teaching here when I said goodbye to them, and I'll send a bunch of them your way next week.

The Book of Mormon as the Foundation of Your Testimony of the Gospel

We had a baptism on Thursday!!! The spirit was so strong there. The man who we baptized was referred by a woman who he is now engaged to! She spoke about Baptism at the service, and at the end she said to him. "When I asked you to take the discussions to find out more about what I believed, I never thought you would join. I'm so proud of you." It was such a great experience. It was one of those moments where I felt like I was really doing my job. I am so grateful that the Lord led us to him, and prepared him for us so that he could make the commitment to be baptized. We have three more people who we are planning to baptize in the near future as well. I just want you all to know that I know with all of my heart, that this is the Lord's church. This is the exact same church that Christ Himself set up while He was on the earth over 2000 years ago. I know this because of the Book of Mormon. I have read it, and prayed about it. Without a doubt that book is the word of God. It has brought untold peace and happiness into my life. Every time I read it, I get the same feeling of peace and the spiritual reassurance that everything will be okay. That Book should be the foundation of all of our testimonies, because it can literally serve as a shield against anything the adversary can throw at us. If your testimony of the church is based on something else, like "Well, my family goes to church, so I guess I'll too." Or even if you believe the church is true because you love the bishop and you believe he is an inspired man, what happens when you are living on your own and your family isn't going to church with you anymore? What happens when the bishop gets released and a new one is called who you don't like as much? The foundation of your testimony will be shaken. However, if your testimony is based on the Book of Mormon, then no matter what happens, if somebody offends you, if your bishop were released, if Satan himself threw everything in his cruel arsenal at you, you could still say "I know that the Book of Mormon is true, so it doesn't matter what anyone else says or what else happens. That Book is true." Elder Holland said that the Book of Mormon could be considered "'A stone of stumbling... A rock of offense...' A barrier, in the path of one who wishes not to believe in this work." If the foundation of your testimony is the Book of Mormon, then your foundation will always stand, even if the rest of your house has been blown over and burned up by the fiery darts of the adversary. I know this to be true. Love you all!

Priesthood Keys

We had a ward conference this week, and some things were spoken about that I wanted to share with you all today. Our Stake President spoke about priesthood keys. Priesthood keys are given by God to certain people in the church (like the Elders Quorum president, Bishop, Stake President, Etc.) to give them the authority to direct the work over a certain group of people that they have been given stewardship over. The Bishop to his ward, the Stake President to his stake, and so on. They are the person the Lord has put in that position, and He trusts them to take care of His children that they have stewardship over. Not only has the Lord called them though, but they are the Lord's Representatives over that particular group of people. They also can receive personal revelation from the Lord about how they can strengthen and help the people they are responsible for. That is something that is crucially important. We need to invite the Lord into the Lord's work. We need to ask Him for His help. What would He have us do, and what will He do to help us accomplish it? For those of you who aren't called to these positions, priesthood holders have the same responsibility over their families and homes. You can receive personal revelation for your home and your family. Isn't that amazing? However, the revelation won't come unless we ask for it! We need to invite the Lord into the Lord's work. When we do, everything will go better. He knows exactly what each family needs in order to be happier, healthier, and stronger. If we invite him in, by asking him for help and inspiration, He will be there. The Priesthood is the Lord's way of reaching out and giving blessings to His children, wherever they may be. That is why the church wants a priesthood holder in every home, home teachers visiting every member, and priesthood blessings being given wherever needed. The Lord wants His priesthood to flood the whole earth, to saturate the very walls of our home, that is why He has given it to us. Not to be used only in case of emergency, but whenever His help is needed. Never be afraid to ask for a priesthood blessing if you feel that you need one. His priesthood is here to help, to bless us all continually. I know that this is true and that if we invite the Lord into our lives and our homes, He will be there. We just need to ask Him to come in. Whether through the priesthood or through personal prayer, He will always there for us, just let Him in. Love you!

Eternal Happiness

Happy Valentines Day! So, we had to push our baptismal date back due to a conflict with the family and everyone being able to make it, so the new date is one the 26th, a week from Saturday. We were kind of bummed about that, but we know he is ready for baptism, and that's all that matters. We had a lesson with him last night about eternal life and the Celestial Kingdom. We talked about how our Father in Heaven wants to give us everything that He has, and all we have to do is keep His commandments, and we can receive it all. We read Mosiah 2:41 "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true, for the Lord God hath spoken it." We invited him to think about the happiest moment he had ever had in his life, and then imagine that moment lasting forever. I invite you all to do the same. Think of the happiest you have ever been in your entire life, the moment when you were brought to tears of joy, the moment you wished would last forever. Happiness in this life can be such a fleeting thing, in fact, there have been time when everything was going well for me, and I would think, "Great, that means something hard is coming." That however, is not the case in heaven. Heaven is a place where happiness never ends. All we have to do to get there is keep the commandments and endure to the end, and God will give us everything he Has. I know with all my heart this is true. Neal A. Maxwell once said "Our rejoicing in these two great and precious gifts [immortality and eternal life] Should conquer any mood, drown any despair, lift any burden, and tame any tragedy." No matter what happens here, remember that God plans to give us something much better. I know this to be true. Have a great week!

A Letter to the Forest Hills Ward Priest Quorum

Dear Bretheren:

First of all, I want to thank you for all of your letters of support and encouragement. It means so much to me to hear from all of you.

I want you to know that I am doing really well out here in California. The members treat us really well, and we have quite a few people to teach at the moment. We are about to have another baptism on Feb. 12, which we are really excited for.

When you all wrote me before, you had some great questions. I will try to answer as many as I can. Sorry if I forget any!

The best part of my mission would have to be the strengthened relationship I have gained with my Father in Heaven. As I have spread the gospel to the people here, I have been able to feel God's love for all his children, including me, in a way I was never able to feel before. You start to love the people you are serving SO much, that it almost shocks you. I now have a much stronger testimony of God's love for us. With all of my heart I know that He lives, and that he fights for us every single day, simply because he loves us dearly and wants us to be happy. How truly blessed we are to know that!

The hardest part of missionary service kind of goes along with the best part. I mentioned before that you begin to feel God's love for all of His children while you serve. Well, you also feel his profound sorrow when people reject His gospel. You come to love the people, and feel His love for them so much that it really breaks your heart. Luckily, the joy and blessings of missionary work far surpass the pain that you sometimes feel.

A spiritual experience I had was when I was on exchanges with two of the other missionaries. We were teaching an older woman who had recently been through some REALLY hard trials, and was convinced God had abandoned her. We talked to her about the Atonement and that because of it, she would never be left alone. No matter what we said, though, she insisted that God had left her. "I prayed and prayed," she said, "And God never answered me. He abandoned me." After saying this, she began to cry. I don't think any of us had any idea what we were going to say to this woman. We wanted to help her, we just didn't know how. I said a silent prayer, asking the Lord to help us know what to do to help her see that He was there for her. As soon as I finished the prayer, there was a knock at the door. The woman got up and answered it, and it was the Relief Society President of her ward. She said she had a gift from the ward for her so she could have a good Christmas. After that, the sister from the ward embraced the woman we were teaching, and we heard her whisper, "Don't be afraid." The Relief Society President left. And I knew God had answered my prayer.

We told the woman that it was no coincidence that the Relief Society President had shown up right at that moment. God was trying to tell her that He was there, and that He had not abandoned her. Tears filled all eyes in the room, and the spirit was there strongly. That experience was a miracle in my eyes. It really helped me see that God never forgets us, or leaves us alone. He is always there, no matter what.

My living conditions are fairly nice. I live in a two story townhouse with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. For our purposes it is perfect. We get fed by a member family almost every night. They take such good care of us out here. In fact, they almost do too good of a job. I've gained 35 pounds since I've been out here! The members feed us so much, that every missionary in this mission has a really hard time not gaining weight.

I've had a few baptisms so far, and we will hopefully have four more in the next month or so. My companions have all been fantastic so far as well. I am currently serving with one of the missionaries I was with in the MTC! His name is Elder Bennett and he's from Canada.

The MTC was awesome; I really enjoyed it. I was there during the new mission president training, so the whole First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were there. We had a special fireside with all of them there and Elder Oaks spoke. The MTC was an incredible experience. I learned so much there, and it went by so fast! Make sure you pay attention while you are there, because before you know it, you'll be out in the field!

Things are so great out here in California. It is such an amazing place to serve. People have been, for the most part, kinder than I thought they would be. Every now and then, someone is outright mean, but most people are polite even if they aren't interested.

I think some of the most important things people can do to prepare for missionary service are:

1. Go on splits with the missionaries. This is probably the best way to really see what it is like, and you'll get experience teaching!

2. Study Preach My Gospel.
The better you know the things in this manual, the better prepared you will be. You'll be so grateful you did!

3. Read the Book of Mormon every day. You will be testifying of the truthfulness of this book to almost everyone you meet, so it is essential that you have your own testimony of the Book. Studying it also brings the missionary spirit like few other things can.

4. Study passages in the scriptures (particularly in the Book of Mormon) that testify of Christ and His Atonement. This is also a very important thing to do. As missionaries, this is what we offer to the world, namely the blessings of the Atonement of Christ. We are NOT out to increase church membership! We are out to tell people that they have a Savior who loves them, knows them, and died for them so they could be cleansed of sin and make it back to their Father in Heaven's arms someday. When you study the Atonement and see just how important it is for you in your own life, your desire to share the gospel will naturally increase!

I want to leave you all with my testimony. With all my heart, I know that God lives. He lives right now, in this very moment. He sent His son Jesus Christ to atone for the sins and infirmities of all mankind so that we, someday, can be free of them forever. God's work, and God's glory, is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Or, in other words, to raise His kids. He wants nothing more than for us to come home, so we can dwell with Him in a state of never-ending happiness. That is our missionary message to the world; and it is the joy of my life to spread it.

Hope you are well,

Elder Garrett Hunsaker

Achieving Greater Spirituality

Good news! WE SET ANOTHER BAPTISMAL DATE!!! Yep, that makes four! Things are going so well. We have been watching "The Testament" with investigators a lot lately. In case any of you haven't seen it, it is a DVD that tells the story of the Book of Mormon and the Savior appearing to the Nephites. It brings such a powerful spirit when we watch it. I would highly recommend for one of your upcoming family home evenings! We also had a really good lesson in Elders Quorum yesterday, called "Ten steps to achieve greater spirituality." It was a talk by one of the general authorities. The ten steps are:


1. Read Scriptures EVERY DAY
2. Really "Pray," don't just "Say Prayers"
3. Fast meaningfully/with a purpose
4. Go to bed/get up early
5. Be happy/optimistic about life. Have an "attitude of Gratitude"
6. Work hard/don't be lazy
7. Focus on "How" you serve, rather than "What position" you serve in.
8. Love EVERYONE, even your enemies
9. Strive daily to become the person that you ideally know you can be (or the person that Christ knows you can be)
10. Share your testimony with others, especially nonmembers


I know these are things we all can work on. I certainly need to work on all of them, especially as a missionary. I know that if we focus on these things, and how we can improve them in our lives, we will see our level of spirituality increase. I love the Lord so much. He has blessed us with so much success out here, and I know He continually blesses all of us with success as long as we follow the gospel diligently. He loves and misses us dearly. All He wants is for us to make it back home to live with Him again in happiness forever. I know that we all can. Love you all!

Another Baptismal Date!

Hello Family and Friends! I have hardly any time to write today. I wanted to let you all know though that we set another baptismal date! It was with the husband of the woman we just barely set one with. He said he wanted his family to be saved and that he would do anything to help find the right path. We promised him that if he would set the example for them and be baptized, they would all follow and eventually be sealed to him forever. He said he would be baptized, and accepted the date of March fifth! We are, needless to say, ecstatic for their family. Sorry I don't have time to write anything else this week, but I want you to know that I love you all with all of my heart, and that I hope the Lord blesses you in all aspects of your lives.