"Stories on the Sabbath" - A Misisonary Story

Happy 25th Birthday to our son, Daniel on Oct. 15th! 

  

We will never forget those cute chubby cheeks of yours!

       We love you!
     "Dan the Man"

Dan
with   
an attitude!  

Daniel was such a handfull, that he completely changed our parenting style.  He kept us on our toes and we grew to love and adore him.  We had some very interesting experiences with the "Law" during Dan's teenage years.  However, the Lord knew the perfect place to send Dan on a mission to stay out of trouble.  The first 3 months he learned spanish in Guatemala, but was transfered into the deep jungle of Polochic where he learned to speak an ancient Mayan dialect.  He served there for 20 of the 24 months of his mission.  They only sent the stalwart missionaries into the jungle, because of how tough it was.  Many times he didn't have electricty or running water for months on end.  He grew so much and so did we as he shared his mission experiences.  Please indulge me as I share a very candid true story that happened to Daniel on his mission.

The Family,                                      (July 18, 2007)

       I am writing you tonight by candle light, yes, that’s right, by candle light!  I want to tell you about how grateful I am for the “comforting companionship” of the Holy Ghost, by beginning with a “cute” little story about the beginning of my week!
      Saturday night during my sleep, I was attacked by a small army of some type of bug.  I get bitten a bunch of times on my shoulder, bicep and armpit areas.  Turns out that my body for some reason, did not like the after affects of the bites, and therefore my upper chest area, broke out into a rash.  Here in the jungle, they call it “XOX”.  After dealing with it for a couple of days (not able to scratch it because it makes it worse) it started to open and bleed, as well as oozing out puss! Whenever I would sweat or move my body, it would cause alot of pain.  Nevertheless, putting my faith in the Lord and trying to forget myself, I kept working, despite the rash coving my whole upper-body.
      Tuesday comes around, and my comp and I are headed out in the back of a truck, for a 3 hour drive out to another area in our district, to do a baptismal interview.  After arriving and doing the interview, we found out that we had just missed the last truck that was heading back to Senahu (my area).  Now keep in mind, we are out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the jungle in a tiny little village called, “San Francisco”.  Knowing that the 3 hour drive would be about 5 hours by foot, hung over our heads.  So we begin our 5 hour walk back to our area, which is literally on the other side of 2 mountain ranges.  Also knowing that we had about 2 hours until dark, we took to the pace of a slow jog, or a speed walk.
      The day before I ate some bad food that did not sit well with me, and therefore I had been vomiting and having diarrhea most of the day.  So having this big infected rash, and fighting the pains in my stomach, and the unrelenting fatigue, we began our 5 hour walk through the jungle back to our home.
      The reason I’m telling you all that bad that happened is to prove a point, which will be revealed at the end of this story.  About 45 minutes into our walk, my boots broke, again.  The entire sole came completely disassembled from the shoe, making it impossible to walk.  I thought to myself, “What else could possibly happen to make this any worse?”  Just as I completed that thought, sure enough, right then a drop of rain landed on my arm. It then began to pour!  It was raining so hard, I could barely keep my eyes open.  I found some string, that I for some reason brought with me and used it to tie the sole back on to the boot.  We once again continued walking.  About 2 hours went by, it was still pouring rain, and I was so cold and hot at the same time.  Soaked from the rain and fighting back the fatigue from walking, we all of a sudden saw a truck coming.  We stuck our thumbs out for a hitchhike.  (Hitchhiking is our main-way of transport in the jungle.)  Sure enough, it slows down, but only to tease us.  As we ran to get in, it then took off down the road in full speed.  We tried chasing after it, but it was too late.
      As we continued to walk, I had to stop and catch my breath, and try to keep from vomiting.  I remember looking up into the dark, rain-filled sky, as I offered a prayer of help and of strength to be able to continue and make the last part of the journey.  As I finished my prayer, my comp looks over at me and says, “Hey, do you hear that?”  As I looked back to see what it was, headlights began to fill the dark path.  A truck stopped and let us hop in! We were so ecstatic!  As we hoped into the back of the truck, I told my companion that I had just prayed for help, and right when I finished my prayer, the truck came to rescue us!  Now isn’t that awesome?! Talk about answers to prayers!  I could actually feel the presence of the Holy Ghost the entire time we were walking.  It made me feel comforted and safe, despite all the adversity that we were facing.  Not once, during the entire “adventure” did I become angry (which is unusual for me).  Not once did I complain or whine, and it was because of the Holy Ghost that was with me, helping me, strengthening me, comforting me and directing me, the ENTIRE TIME!
       I found myself thinking about the good we had accomplished in helping prepare a young man for baptism, and helping him on his way to entering the only true church on the face of the earth.  I wasn’t thinking about the pain in my stomach or the bitter cold any longer, or even the fact that I was soaking wet and covered in mud.  I was concentrating on the good that was accmplished that day.  I know that was only possible with the help of the Lord and the companionship of the Holy Ghost.
      We arrived home, dead tired, and soaked, but safe and happy!  As we entered the house, we were confronted with the intrusion of RATS!  But we won’t go into that right now! That’s a story for another day.  However, no matter how comforting the Holy Ghost is, knowing that there are rats on the loose in my house is NOT a good thing! Thanks again for your love, support and your prayers.  I can feel them all!
Love,

                                                                   Elder Garvin  

     Above is a short clip of Daniel celebrating his 21st birthday on his mission.

Daniel served an honorable mission and came home to find a beautiful wife!  He and Kyrstin were married in July of 2009.  They say that you can judge what type of missionary you were with how beautiful your wife is....so I would say that Dan did a great job!  We love and adore Kyrstin and are so happy to have her as part of our eternal family.

Now at age 25 - he has HIS hands full with two little ones of his own! 

Daniel has been such a wonderful addition to our family.  He is a kind, loving and dependable husband, father, brother and son.  Everyone enjoys being around Dan because he allows his "fun" side to come out, which in turn gives us all permission to do the same. 

We feel so blessed to have been his parents!