HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY!

Thank you for wishing me a happy birthday!!  Our address is 2535 w 46 pl Chicago IL, I dont know what the zip code is though! We live in a house on the first floor, it is pretty gross on the inside but we have cleaned it up a ton so it is much better to live in now! It feels like home now although it isn't the nicest place! We do not live with members, though there are just a few men that live in the basement.  I would just send stuff to the mission office though because I am not sure it is too safe outside.  Please don't send too much though because I only have so little time I can use it.

My companion's name is Elder Nunez though! He is so sweet and we are having so much fun together! He is from Los Angeles CA but his family is from Honduras! We already know each other really well because our areas have always been overlapping.  Last time when I was in Midway, he started to cover the Hyde Park YSA so that is the ysa down south here.  Then we both flipped up to the north side and I was in the Lake Shore YSA so I covered his area in Chi 3 and now we are together! For all of the 9 months that he has been out on a mission we have covered the same places! He also has had a lot of the same companions as me, he was trained by Elder Martinez so now I have hit their whole family line of trainers with the Abuelo (Elder Perez), Elder Martinez (Dad) and Elder Nunez (son).  We are having a great time together and we are working really hard, he is the district leader here in Midway! He is hilarious!

Aly's baptism was amazing though! It was definitely the highlight of my week! It was so sweet because it was at the Wilmette Stake Center and the font there is huge! I loved getting to go there and watch it! It was great as well because her parents came down from Milwaukee to see it and it was their first time they had come to the church! Aly had talked to her parents and there were some mixed feelings about everything so it was so great that they came and they were very supportive of her! Drew was able to baptize her and they confirmed her right on the spot because she wasn't going to be able to go to church that Sunday! She was a golden investigator for sure.  Right after I left that area Elder Zacher and Elder Potter taught her in a member's home with Elder Martino who is in the 70 and also President Woodbury.   Elder Martino just talked about how prepared and how solid she was! She is amazing!

James is also going to be baptized this Friday so I am excited for that!

My stomach is feeling good though, no problems!   And I think my flight should be at like 8 am here time but I don't know the exact time, that is when it normally goes.  They will probably send it out soon though.

Other than that it was just a pretty normal and great week overall.  Many small miracles that just make every day better! 

PICTURES!!!!

This week has been fantastic!! Everything is going great and I am loving being back in Midway!! There are so many miracles!! I am so sorry that I have been so bad at writing but today is Elder Dussan's birthday so we are going to Cheesecake Factory and I am using the gift card you gave me a while ago! I have tons of pictures to make up for it though!

Here is a picture of the Vazquez when we went and saw them last week before going to the south side. (inserts(

 THE LICONA'S HOUSE

This is President Dunn. He was the branch president of the single

adult branch for 31-45 that we would go to.  The next picture is of my

boy James. He is going to be baptized soon and he just loves the

Gospel! He is a huge example of faith and courage!

 Jackie's House above and with Jackie below

This was from Super long ago but it's a text from Aly!

(inserts)

This is our neighbor Hadia! We help mow her lawn and she always just chills out on the porch in her front yard.

his is Aly and Drew. Her baptism is next week!

This is a member named Scott in the YSA. He half lives in Salt Lake and half here.

RAINING IN MIDWAY

Tell Dad Happy Father's Day for me! Yesterday I wore my Fast Sunday tie and everything for him!! When we were in church though yesterday I realized how much I love all of you and how grateful I am for everything you all do!! But to answer your extending question:  I don’t think I am going to do it now.  It looked like there were going to be a lot of things happening right after I left with the Vazquez family and also Karina and her family but now it doesn't look like it is going to happen so I will probably just go home on the assigned day.  I have been thinking about it a lot but it doesn't make as much sense anymore for me to do it! I am really happy though that I am coming home this transfer because the timing is so much better! And now you don't have to worry because I know I probably scared you pretty bad! I am going to keep the option open but I will most likely just go home.

Your vacation looks like so much fun though!! I am so jealous about the huskies!! They are so dang cute!! So the one time I'm gone you guys go through the alps instead of the museums??? Hahaha..

Everything here has been so great!! I am loving being back in Midway!!  The weather here has been crazy though! I swear it has rained every day for the past like two weeks! For part of the day it will be sunny and nice and then clouds will come out of nowhere and just drench us! Last Monday we went downtown for Pday and it was like a 7 or 8 mile bike ride from where we are at so it is not too far but on the way back right when we got on our bikes it just started pouring rain!! After like 30 seconds we were already soaked all of the way through so it was pretty fun because at that point we didn't care if we got wet anymore! It was funny though because we were just riding through the rain and the Tornado sirens were going off and we were just riding through hahaha! It was way fun though because we were just going through all of the puddles and we were soaked!

Midway is amazing though!! I feel like I never even left here and I just love it so much!! Today for lunch we went over to Karina Huicocheas house with the elders in their pasole and then they also got me a big cake for my birthday!! It was so nice of them and I loved being there with them!! I just love their family so much! I told Karina that if they ever want to come to Utah they are invited!! I love her and her family so much!!We have seen so many miracles here in this Ward though! One of the biggest miracles that we saw was that last week, the members gave us the names of a few families who are less active to go and stop by and so last Sunday we tried one of them at like 4:30 and nobody was home, later that night at like 8 we had stopped by almost all of the people we had planned and then we were talking and we decided to go back! So we go back and as we are locking our bikes up in front of the house their car pulls up, we didn't know if it was them or not but they get out and we ask for Isabel and Brenda Morales and it was them! We ended up helping them bring all of their groceries in and we got to know them better and they just opened up completely to us! They talked about how the husband/dad has been sick for 13 years and has had  tons of surgeries and that in the last year and more the members of the Ward had stopped visiting them and they felt abandoned.  When I heard this it broke my heart completely but we talked to them and now we are going over twice a week and his week we brought the sacrament to them since they both can't leave at the same time because they have to be watching the husband/dad and now we are helping  them feel more of Gods love again! It is so amazing and it was a miracle!  We have seen so many other great miracles but that is one of the biggest!

Also, Elder Martino of the 70 came this week! It is crazy because he came my second transfer her in the field and now he came back! He fired up the mission so much though so hopefully we see a huge increase in the work here!

Aly is getting baptized tomorrow as well!! It will be in the font at the stake center which is absolutely hugell! Her parents are coming down and everything and I am so excited! Also Drew proposed to her like 2.5 weeks ago while they were at Disney
World! I am so happy and I can't wait for tomorrow!!

Elder Garrett Eichers

This is Greg and Emily! The day before their first date, Greg took us

out to dinner and we prayed that the date would go well and now they

are engaged! #prayerworks

TRANSFERS ARE HARDD!!!!

From Von and Carolyn Christensen's Blog:  TRANSFERS ARE HARD - especially when you have enjoyed knowing the missionaries in your area.

A change in AP's.  Two stay and one goes.    Elder Eichers has been here the longest, so he will go back out in the field.  The one in the middle will stay with Elder Zacher who has been here the shortest time.  

These three are great young men - obedient - good leaders - hard workers - and fun to be around.  Of course they all have a strong testimony of what they are doing here. They bring people to Christ and which makes those people happier....and makes their Heavenly Father happy. 
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A SWEET WEEK

Memorial Day was great but we didn't get any pictures haha.  That is so crazy that everyone is coming home already!! I am trying to think about home as little as possible but it is so hard because everyone always asks us about it.  Its weird to think that the bishopric is getting redone because we were talking about that this week when missionaries go back to wards and stakes that are different!

But this week was fantastic!! Finally everything in our area is really starting to kick off! Aly and Drew are doing great, this weekend they are in Disney World and they said they are just loving it there as well! She is all ready for her baptism and her family is set to come!  Her mom was wanting her to move it back (this was a few weeks ago) and she told her mom that she couldn't wait until September because “her Elders" were leaving so that was a sweet moment!! I just love her and Drew so much!!  Also Diego came to church this week, he was only able to come for the first hour and a half but he made it so that was sweet!

Some of the best news was the news that came earlier today.  So today for Pday we went and played basketball early this morning and there were quite a few elders there but we were with the elders in my first area and they said that they are teaching the Reyes family again and that the daughter Jaylen is on date for our last week here!! It made me so happy to hear that there family is coming together again!! My whole week has been made and it is only Monday!!

We have transfers this week as well so we will start tomorrow working on them. I feel like I am going to be leaving but I am not sure yet so next week I will let you know what happens!  I hope that you have a great day!! :)

Elder Garrett Eichers
Illinois Chicago Mission