Temple Day

Hey mom and dad,

We did go to the temple but the temple isn't open on Mondays so we went today, Tuesday. The only way that we can go to the temple is on preparation day, so we moved it to today. Sorry about that, but yeah I am just glad that you didn't call my mission president :-)

So the past two weeks Elder Roney and I have been out of our area coaching our missionaries on how to become greater missionaries. It was so much fun being with President Donaldson for those days and hearing him teach. He is so awesome!

The only thing that I didn't like about it was that we had to be out of our area and away from our investigators for that long. We did however have a baptism on Sunday the 14th and I baptized her. We found her about 8 or 9 days before her baptism and she was really prepared to be taught and accept the gospel. It was awesome. I have been so blessed that 4 of my 10 baptisms have been super prepared to hear the gospel and follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was my first baptism as a Zone Leader. We should have 2 more baptisms hopefully this week. We have a lot of people that are close but they still won't comitt to a baptism date. They think they have to know everything first.

I can't believe how much I have learned about the gospel on my mission so far, and I still have a little less than a year to go! I can't imagine what it is going to be like a year from now. But that isn't important. What is important, is what is happening right now and each day up to the day I come home.

I don't remember if I have told you in an other email, but my mind isn't thinking about school right now. I still have too much to do and so much going on. I can't even think about what I want to do with my life. haha. All I know is that if I keep focused on what I need to do here now and stay focused up to the day I come home. The Lord will bless me even more than if I had everything planned out for when I come home. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying I will not think about it, but I still have 11 months left, so maybe we can talk about it in 7-8 months from now. ;-)

So how is everything going back home? Good I assume. I bet the cat is leaving fluffs of hair everywhere. hahaha I would just shave him bald. Then you won't have to worry about cat hair. But you will have to keep him inside or put sunscreen on him if he does go outdoors haha. :-D

I need to send my camera home to so everyone can see the new pictures I have taken. Then you can watch more than just MTC pictures, haha. I will have to print some off before I do. I should have a package coming home to you in the next week or 2.

Thank you for everything! I don't think I would be where I am in my life if it wasn't for my parents and the leaders that I had growing up and keeping me accountable to my standards and staying true and faithful.

Oh,,,, so Elder Noel is sitting next to me right now and he just found some stuff about our mission on the LDS newsroom site. It has an interview with President Donaldson and other stuff about the Mormon Battalion Historical site here. So you can check it out. But we have to go. I will talk with you next week. see you later. ~ELDER GARDNER