Elder Garrett Returns Home

Elder Garrett Briggs returned home from the Ghana Cape Coast/Kumasi Mission on August 15! He had a very long journey home and we're so glad he's back! Garrett was scheduled to arrive in the Salt Lake City airport at 4:50pm. About the time the family was going to leave for the airport Garrett called from Texas to let us know he and 8 other missionaries missed their layover (from a previous delayed flight) and were stuck in Texas. The next few hours were up and down as we thought he was on the next flight...then we got a call from mission travel office letting us know he wasn't. A few hours later another call, "Garrett would be on the next flight". Then a call back, "he wasn't able to get on that flight". We would all get so excited and then be disappointed. It wasn't until Garrett called and said "I have a ticket in my hand, I'm getting on the plane!" that we all cheered and headed out the door to pick him up. His flight landed around 11pm.

We had to put up some spotlights so you could actually see the sign and balloons when we pulled up.

Mom and Dad- at the airport

Briggs family along with Elder Maughan's family waiting in the airport (they are all wearing their pj's because it was so late).

Waiting...

Dad, Jordan, Wade, Josh and Amber 

Garrett and Mom

Garrett and Dad

Garrett and Jordan

Garrett and Josh

Group Hug!

Brotherly love...

Garrett wearing his Ghana mission attire

Elder Garrett L Briggs GCCM Forever Strong 2010-2012

 Brothers! Josh, Garrett, and Jordan

 Kente backpack

 Garrett and Mom

 Parker is showing Garrett his African sign Akwaaba!! Ayeko Wiazde.

 Saying goodbye to the other elders he came home with

 Parker (went to same mission) and Wade. High school buddies and now Garrett's college roommates

 Family and Friends

Car ride to the church where Garrett would be released

 Pulled into the church at 12:02. We have a dedicated Stake President that knew Garrett would need some time to rest the next day so he met us at midnight to release Garrett. Everyone was exhausted, especially Garrett after 3 full days of traveling!

 Sometime around 1am...

Loved the feel of the soft carpet!

 Very worn out missionary shoes

It was very overwhelming to come home and see all the nice things everyone in America has. We are so blessed! 

Back in his bedroom for the first time

 First dinner at home-because of his delayed flight he missed the first real dinner we had planned for him but we saved it and ate it the next night anyway!

Its been so great having Garrett back (for a short time before he left to school).  Garrett had 10 days from the day he arrived home until the day he started Fall semester at BYU! He's been busy, here's a few pictures of what those 10 days involved...

 Getting a haircut from Mom

 Drinking Mom's "Green Smoothies" with lots of nutrients... and lots of doctor appointments!

 Garrett spoke in sacrament the Sunday after he returned. He did a great job and everyone loved hearing his testimony and stories from his mission (more mission pictures and videos to come)!

 Garrett got to see and catch up with lots of family...even meet a new little nephew Jaron!

 Grandma and Grandpa Jacobson

Lots of great souvenirs from his mission

Enjoy his first real hamburger in 2 years!

 Play with his niece and nephews who grew up!

 Buy school clothes. Pack for school. Move to Provo. Find a job on campus. 

Buy books. Start class!

Welcome Home Garrett! We love you!

Until Wednesday...

Elder Garrett Briggs started his 3 day journey home! We received this picture from Sister Holmes, the Mission Presidents wife this morning. These elders are headed to Cape Coast today! Garrett's journey home will consist of a few long flights starting tomorrow! Garrett will travel from Accra, Ghana > London, England > Dallas, Texas > Salt Lake City, Utah!!

Last letter from Elder Garrett!

Who would have thought that this day would come? Not me. But at the same time, it has come all too quickly. This last week has been so crazy fast. We have been real busy, and we will stay real busy up until the day i leave. This week we have been busy making sure everything is prepared for our zone conferences this week, and we have been planning instructions to give at the meetings as well. Between all of that and trying to do some teaching with our investigators, we haven't had much spare time. All of our investigators are doing great. 

I'm particularly impressed with one of them, he has become so serious about the gospel and helping his family to come into the gospel together. I gave him some of my shirts and trousers and ties and stuff so that he can have the priesthood attire. He didn't want to put it on before church because he was afraid he'd miss the sacrament being passed. That's how awesome he is!  

This area has become really awesome and i love it. Elder Wheeler and I were talking and this area is pretty powerful lately. It has been amazing to see the blessings that have come to us because we are diligent, even though we have so many extra things to do outside of our proselyting. We also had an interesting experience on Friday of last week. We had to go to the hospital to pay a bill for one of the elders who was having work done on his teeth. We pulled into the parking lot and got out of the van, when a woman stumbled up to us and asked us for a blessing. We were in the right place at the right time and were prepared to do it.  Its funny how Heavenly Father works sometimes...... the situations that we are placed in so that we can be used as his instruments. I don't doubt that this is the Lord's work, and it has become so incredibly close to my heart. As excited as i am to come home, i know that it will be difficult for me to fight back tears as i get on a plane next week. It makes me want to cry just thinking about it right now. I am so excited to see all of you though! Love you all so so much!!!!!!!!

 

 

Elder Garrett Briggs

GKM/GCCM

First Kumasi Zone Conference!

The very first Kumasi Zone Conference! We received these pictures from Sister Holmes, the mission presidents wife this week. Garrett is sitting in the front wearing the purple tie. We are so proud of our elder and are excited for his arrival back home this week!

Garrett bring picked up by another elder...

Letters from Elder Garrett

July 30th Letter

We met an investigator this week, we talked with him and invited him to church, he didn't seem very serious though. Much to our surprise, he showed up to church last week. And we were able to set an appointment with him, and actually met him twice during the week. We have had great lessons with him this last week, and he came to church again yesterday. He loves church and the message that we are sharing, he loves it so much that the very first time we taught him, he accepted a baptismal date for the 19th of August. (I am bummed i won't be around!!!!! :(  ) He is doing great though, and loves the message of the restoration so far. 

On Wednesday of last week Elder Wheeler and I loaded the mission van with some supplies and headed up to Sunyani for a couple days. We went up there to go on splits and to do some baptismal interviews. And it worked out nicely for me, because i was able to go back and do those things in my old area up there, Penkwase. I got to see almost all of my recent converts.  Most of them are still active and doing great! I was actually able to attend the institute class there on Thursday night as well, and it was such a powerful experience for me. One of my recent converts up there, was the one teaching the institute class. And he taught like he has been teaching for years, it was so awesome to see that! He is preparing to go on a mission and is hoping to have his call before the end of the year. While I sat in the class, on my left side was another of my recent converts who is now the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency in Penkwase branch and is also thriving in the gospel. He is working on his mission papers right now. And sitting on my right hand side was another of my recent converts! He is super powerful now as well and has all the scriptures on his high tech phone and was making contributions to the lesson that just blew me away. He is also hoping to leave for a mission next year. In addition to that, one of the other people who attended institute was a converts sister. I interviewed her for baptism and she did great. It is so much fun to see a recent convert now bringing his family to partake of the goodness of the gospel. The Penkwase Branch is booming right now. And it is was so much fun for me to go back and to see some of the fruits of my labor up there. It nearly brought tears to my eyes as i saw how helping just one person into the fold creates a chain effect and it is impossible to measure the good that will come from that one person, and the amount of people that one person can bring into the gospel as well. That one night of seeing all those people in Sunyani made my whole mission worth the sacrifice and the pain. That was so rewarding for me! I can't accurately describe in words how i felt up there. It was like i was home again. Sunyani will always be one of my favorite areas. 

Yep, we had a baptism yesterday, he is just one of those people who is so prepared for the gospel. Witnessing his baptism was awesome! I'm jealous that Jordan gets to be involved in missionary work at home too. I am really gonna miss this work- being submersed in it all the time. 

 

It has sure been an awesome week of missionary work. I am determined to work hard until the very end, which is coming a whole lot faster than i realize it. I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

July 16th Letter

Well, this week has been pretty crazy. If the next month goes by half as quickly as the last month has..... then I'd say its still too fast. Weeks are flying now, and we are so busy and will be so busy until the end of this transfer, that i know the remaining weeks are going to continue to fly by for me. On Tuesday of last week Elder Wheeler and I escorted President Holmes to a district meeting. Pretty much the entire day Tuesday was spent with him, between taking him to district meeting and then coming back to the mission home and preparing for the zone leaders to come in that night. The zone leaders all got here on Tuesday evening, and we had dinner and a short testimony meeting. It was really good. We ate so much good food! Actually..... it was probably what we think is "normal food", but it was good food to us! Even dessert! Haha. We also watched a video of a talk given by Elder Jeffery R. Holland at the MTC about a year ago, titled "feed my sheep". It was about missionary work and the importance of missionaries learning from their missions and staying strong for the rest of their lives. I almost felt like the video was aimed towards me, i learned a lot from it. 

Elder Wheeler and I were so busy we didn't really have time to prepare our instructions for Wednesday, so Tuesday night at like 10 we finally got time to sit down and talk about it. Don't ask me how.... but we planned 2 hours worth of instruction in an hour. On Wednesday we woke up and all went jogging together, then we ate and had a group scripture study session where we went deep into 2 Nephi 31, teaching about the doctrine of Christ, it was awesome! Elder Wheeler and I gave an hour instruction to the zone leaders about being examples, and another hour about weekly planning sessions. Overall I think the meeting went well.

We are still teaching our investigator. We gave one of the members an assignment to pray for him that he would accept the truth. On Wednesday night we taught him about the Book of Mormon. During the lesson his shift ended and another person came to replace him, so they both sat in on the lesson for a while. At the end of the lesson, he was pretty much teaching the other guy about why the Book of Mormon is true. It was so awesome. Elder Wheeler and I just looked at each other and smiled and let him do a little missionary work. He came to church again this week, so we are hoping that when we meet him next we will try to set a baptismal date for him. He very well could be the last person I see baptized as a full time missionary, and I'd love if it was to be him. Because of that discussion, we have also been able to start teaching the other guy, and even a 3rd guy that works the graveyard shifts!!

We had 5 investigators show up to church again. That makes 2 weeks in a row with 5 investigators at church. We are doing well and finding some sweet people to teach. Not to mention that Sunday after church all the members piled into a trotro and we went to the nearest ward meeting house where there is a baptismal font. We had a baptism by a recent convert (one of Elder Wheeler's recent converts from his last area actually) in that ward. He had even brought his wife to church that day, so she was able to witness the baptism as well. And he is very serious about us getting his wife converted to the gospel as well. Sunday was a great day and it was so good to see the smile on his face after he was baptized. That baptism makes the first in our proselyting area in about 10 months now. Everyone is starting to see a ray of hope and they are all getting excited about it. I feel like good things are going to happen in Daban!

Garrett's Homecoming

Garrett will be home from Ghana in just over a month!  He is scheduled to report his mission at 1 p.m. on August 19th at the Parry Farms Building located at 15429 South Iron Horse Boulevard (1550 West) in Bluffdale.  Hope to see you there.

The Cape Coast AP's with the newly called Kumasi AP's just before the mission split