Earth Quake

ok so i have forgotten a HUGE detail that happened last friday! dang i dont know how i for got to tell you on monday but here it is. so friday morning at 9:45 am we, as a mission, had the opportunity to go hear and shank the hand of an apostle of the lord. you will never guess who's hand i got to shake. Elder Jeffrey R Holland, he came to our mission and gave us a special fireside and talked about missionary work and how we are guaranteed one convert on our mission; which is us. we are suppose to be converted to this gospel and stay in this gospel FOREVER! he laided down the law and the spirit was so strong. the whole time i had the chills running up and down my back for the next 2 hours that he was with us. it is one experience that has changed my life forever. when i shook my hand he told me something, i was so excited to be there but i cant remember what he told me. it happened so fast. but he did say, that out of the 30 years of touring missions, our mission, MY mission has been the most reverent when waiting to shake his hand. it was amazing.

and has i had heard from last week, i was transfered out to the desert again... but this time i am out in brawley, with a dodge mini van. haha we get to work the outside areas of brawley, the little baby towns. it is pretty sweet haha. i am white washing, or in other words opening up an area, so i have 0 people to work with, only a ward list, so i have to do all the work. my companion is Elder Simmonds from Canada. this is his 2nd transfer, and i am his 2nd companion, he is pretty cool but he still has a lot of work cut out for him. and i have a lot of work cut out for me. at transfers, president told me that he expects me to turn this spanish branch into a ward. so it is pretty crazy. hopefully we will be successful in our new task that lies before us. oh and to make it even better is that we dont even have a cell phone to keep in touch with anyone, and probably wont have one for one more week. hahaha it is just new experiences all the time. which reminds me about the earthquake :-D so we had just gotten out of conference and we were on our way back to our apartment, we were about a block away sitting at a stop light, and all of a sudden the car just starts shaking, i look in the mirrors to see if anyone is there to see if there was anyone shaking the car, and no one was there. so i start looking around and the whole city was shaking, windows were shaking people were running out of the buildings and it felt like we were out on the ocean in a boat. it was the most awesome feeling ever. it lasted almost a full minute and what not. it was pretty sweet. but that is about all the good news i have for you today. i probably wont have my camera for a while since we only get mail 2 or 3 times a transfer. so yeah i will get it eventually. i am glad that you are enjoying my pictures. you will have to let me know which was are your favorites :-D love you all and will talk with you soon. ~ELDER GARDNER

Good Morning

Gladys

Hey mom and dad,

So I can't even remember all of things I have told you but I don't think I have told you about this one. On the 30th of April and the 1st of May we are going to be having a special guest come to San Diego and sing and bear testimony of our Lord and Savior. You will never guess who that is. So I will just tell you ;-) GLADYS KNIGHT! She is going to be here for 2 days giving 4 firesides of singing and testimony driven songs. It is giving our mission a chance to become more united as a people. So what this is, an opportunity for members to invite their nonmember friends to the Stake Center and hear her wonderful music. There is only going to be like 6000 or so tickets to get in. You have to bring a nonmember otherwise you can't get in. Well you can but it isn't guaranteed. it is going to be awesome. Other missions have been doing this same thing and one mission that just had it, received over 4000 referrals for the missionaries to go visit and teach. It is going to be awesome! The only thing that I am worried about is that it is going to be at our Stake Center,,,, meaning, my companion and I are the ones that are going to be under the magnifying glass for the next little while. It doesn't really bother me but it is still a lot to have resting on your shoulders hahaha .

We just found a family of 7 that we are going to get started towards baptism. We went over there yesterday just to see how they were doing and everything. So while we were there, we were in our "church clothes" or suits. We didn't even mention church to them. We had the intentions to invite them, but they asked us to visit our church! It was awesome! But this transfer is almost over, only 9 more days of the transfer. I am pretty sure that Elder Roney and I are staying, but I don't know for sure. I hope that he doesn't leave. I am pretty sure that next transfer we are going to have 8 baptisms. We just have to teach them and invite them with the spirit, having no doubt that they will do the things we teach them and invite them to be baptised. It is awesome being out here in San Diego working with these people. We have to find more people and get more people baptized but that will come. We just have to do our part.

OH! So next week I am going to have the best letter ever! We are having something really special and really rare happening and I can't wait to tell you about it next week! But I got to get going now. Thank you for everything you do for me and everything. Oh if you have the chance, can you send me my basketball, my Wilson Ultimate? Just take all the air out of it and collapse it so it doesn't take up that much space. I am going to send out some packages to you this week so you can update your pictures of my mission and stuff like that. So yeah I will talk with you next week. take care! Love you! ~ELDER GARDNER

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

MTE

OK, So I haven't really had to do anything super hard yet, but they are going to start here pretty soon haha. We did have to go talk to the Stake President and inform him how well the missionaries are doing in his Stake and stuff like that. President Donaldson was there, so I am already getting what I wanted! :-) More time around President Donaldson!

The Stake President meeting was 2 weeks ago when the transfer started. This last week we had the first round of Mission Training Excerise/Exchange (MTE) For 3 days we listened and talked with President Doanaldson and discussed ways that we can best help the mission improve and grow. Possibly multipling baptisms by 10 times! How sweet would that be? I am going to be a part of something incredible and I am just loving it. This week and next week, we will be out with other missionaries, training them on the things that we discussed in MTE and helping them put it into practice. It is a lot like the program that we had 3 months ago, but this time I got to help put it together and organize it :-)

Ever since Thursday, the last day that we were organizing the MTE, we have seen miracles happen. During the MTE, President Donaldson made us a special promise. He said, if we will put things of the world behind us, have a more sense of urgency and diligence in this work, we will be blessed. Our investigators that we are working with will begin to progress faster than we have ever thought possible, and the Lord will help us as leaders of the mission, to start multiplying baptisms in our area. Then in the zone we work with and then the mission.... Elder Roney and I decided to do that. We prayed and asked the Lord help us, that we would like to have 5 baptisms in the month of March.

Already we have been seeing miracles and changes. We went over to a members home on Friday, sat down with one of her non member sisters and started talking with her. We found out that she has been having a rough time with everything in her life lately and is looking for something to fill this gap that she feels she has. So Elder Roney and I took some thought and began to teach her the restoration. We taught her with more power and more from the spirit than I have ever done before in my mission. We gave her a Book of Mormon and asked her to read it. She said yes. We then were getting ready to leave, so we asked her if she would be willing to pray. She was a little hesitant at first but then said yes. In all of my mission experiences for one year, I had never heard a more heart felt spirit driven prayer to our Heavenly Father to know of the truth that we had just shared with her. She was crying during the entire prayer, the spirit was in the room and testifying to her with every word she said that what we had taught her was true. She finished her prayer and we were all sitting there, quiet for a minute or two. We asked her if she had any questions before we left. She told us that she was baptized before in the Catholic Church and was wondering if she would need to be baptized again. Elder Roney and I told her that we could answer her question by using the scriptures.

We went to 2 Ne 31 and read it, verse by verse explaining the doctrine of Christ. It was my turn to teach and use verses 11 and 12, so we read them and we helped her answer her own question. As I asked her the question that the Holy Ghost was prompting me to say, I saw a click and she understood that she needs to be baptized by someone who has the authority to do it. Elder Roney and I believe that she will be getting baptized this next Sunday. She came to church and loved it.

So we have already seen the promise that President Donaldson gave to us being fulfilled. We are going to have a lot of good experiences over the next 5 weeks. It is awesome. I am so blessed to be able to have this opportunity to do this work and be a part of something so great. Thank you for teaching me while I was young the things I needed to do to become the person I am and will become. Love you guys so much. and will talk with you next week.

~ELDER RYAN GARDNER

PS. Exactly one year from today, March 1st, I will be home... I don't have that much time left. I have to make it count.

Transfered!!!!

Oh my gosh you will never guess what happened to me at transfers!

OK, so it was Tuesday night, the night that the Zone Leaders call and let us know who will be packing and who will be picking up their new companion, and to my amazement I was the one getting transferred!

So I started packing and getting ready. All the Elders kept calling me, trying to find out about transfer rumors, so I just didn't answer. The next morning, Wednesday, we arrived at transfers and I heard a rumor that I was going to be a Zone Leader. I just didn't believe it. me, a Zone Leader? haha yeah right. So we all sat down to do our transfers and President said, "Elder Roney, please stand up, you need a new companion don't you? Elder Gardner stand up, you are the new Zone Leader for the Sweetwater Zone. Plus you have a car now" :-D I was in shock. I couldn't believe it, and I almost didn't want to believe it.

President went on through the transfer and finished the meeting. Then we had a Zone Leader Council with President Donaldson to discuss how we can best help our Zones and be good examples. We sat down and had an amazing 2 hour discussion and I have never felt so good in my mission than right then. The first words out of President Donaldson's mouth was that everyone in this room has been specifically called by God to help our mission progress.... that hit me like a ton of bricks. So this past week has been pretty busy trying to learn all of the new responsibilities. Like I said earlier, my new companion is Elder Roney, from Utah, he has been out 9 months, and this is his 2nd transfer as a ZL companion.

This area I am in now, just had 5 baptisms and 10 the transfer before that. We have an assignment to go to the Marine Corp Recruit Depot (MCRD) to teach marines there. That is something I have always wanted to go and do. It is a little harder because we teach by ourselves, we don't have our companion there to help us. So it is pretty much up to you. It is a lot of fun. Last Sunday, I talked to this one recruit that has been thinking about joining the church for a while but just didn't think he was ready, so we talked and I found out what has been holding him back. we talked about the restoration, word of wisdom, baptism, priesthood and the Holy Ghost. He was still a little shaky about it, so I asked him to pray right then and there and I would come back in 10 min to get his decision on being baptized. So I went and talked to another marine that had just been baptized the week previous, he had a lot of questions, so I was able to visit with him and hopefully I was able to help him. Then I went back to talk with the first guy. He said that he was ready to be baptized. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time right then. So he will be getting baptized when he gets back from Camp Pendleton. That was a Great experience. Our area is way awesome. We have a ton of potentials in this area. We have 3 families of 6 that we are going to start working with and hopefully get them baptized in a month. So if you could, pray for them to have their hearts opened and receive the desire. and pray for my companion and me that we will be able to teach them the things that they need to know.

This work is amazing, I have never had this much fun in my life time. The Lord works in mysterious ways, and can catch us off guard. When we think we know what is going on and we think we have everything figured out---- BAM it gets changed in an instant. Thank goodness for prayer, it is one of the best tools that we have to ask for help and receive guidance from our Father in Heaven. I am so grateful for the love and support from everyone back home in Pocatello and for the emails and letters I have received from the ward. Thank You So Much. ~ELDER GARDNER

Shadow Branch President

Hey. thanks for the letters and emails of encouragement. :-) they help but I still have a lot on my plate. So to answer some of your questions about what I am doing... yes I am still a District Leader, I am still a follow up trainer/senior companion, and I am a "Shadow Branch President" meaning that President Donaldson wants me to do everything I possibily can to do to get this branch up and going. It is a HUGE responsibility and IF I am successful, I don't know what will happen next.

Let me tell you about this last Friday, the 5th. President Donaldson called us and asked us to go to the Sharp Hospital and give a blessing to an investigator from the Carlsbad Mission, so we did, and it was in Spanish of course. It was pretty Amazing, I said a lot of things I didn't know I could say and still don't know how I said them. When we got home I read my Patriarchal Blessing, the part about the gift of healing... it was so Awesome! I felt really good about the blessing and that the 9 year old will get better.

Then later that day I did a baptism interview for the sisters in my district. His name is Johnathan "Jack" Estrada. He Is from New Jersey and just barely turned 18. As I sat there talking with him, getting to know him better, He told me that as soon as he turned 18 recently, he moved here and moved in with his internet girlfriends grandma. A year ago, his girlfriend got him interested in the church over the internet and sent missionaries to his house. His family didn't want him to continue, but he knew it was true. He was 17 at the time and decided then, that he was going move to San Diego in a year and get baptized, so thats what he did. He is a really good kid and I respected what he did,,,, to a point. So he passed the interview and was baptized on Saturday and confirmed Sunday.

Later that Friday, Elder Morris and I went over the branch president's house and taught him a planning principle that president Donaldson taught me. As we were leaving his house it started pouring rain, ( it was 8:00 pm at this point) and we decided,,,, acutally I decided that we should go see one more investigator that lived just down the street. So we went over there and knocked on her door Her 15 year old son answered the door, and said she wasn't home. Elder Morris said thats alright, we will just come back some other time. I didn't feel right that he said that, so I decided to persuade the 15 yr old to invite us in and it worked. We went in and got to know him and everything. Well 5 minutes later, his mom showed up so I was pretty happy. We had a good discusion with her and we taught her an object lesson with a piece of wood and a couple of nails, ( i'll show you after my mission don't worry ) and she was very impressed. I felt that we should invite her to be baptized and we did. She accepted, but said that she doesn't feel ready. I reassured her that if she will do the things that we ask her to do and keep talking with us, she will become ready. So we will be working with her and help her get baptized on the 21st of Feb.

It was a really good day, we added the 15 year old as an investigator, so I think we could have some success with that. Just have to do everything we can and the Lord will do the rest.

I know that I am not perfect and never in this life time will be, but as you know, never is not a part of my vocab. So I try to make sure that everything I do, is as close to perfect as I can. Most of the time it is, but I need to stop stressing out when its not. I think I am starting to go bald... receding hair line... hmm.... anyways,

I tried what you sugguested to do in your letters mom, and it seems like it has worked hahaha but now I don't have time to email my mission pressident ;-) just kidding. but anyways time is short and we got to get going. I love you guys. I KNOW I would not be out here, on my mission, doing the things I am able to do without the loving guidence that I have had for 20 years, 1 month and 6 days, and 11 hours, 43 min. I truely have been blessed with an amazing family that I love so so much. Just a year and a couple of weeks and I will be home, starting a new adventure. I will need your guidence just like President Donaldson has been here for my guidence as a missionary. Everytime I see him, I see you dad. and everytime I see Sister Donaldson, I see you mom. I hope this letter has been a good one to read, cuz it was an awesome one to write. Take care and I will talk with you next week. love you. ~Elder Gardner

Coaching

I have a couple of things I need to say to clear some things up. As it turned out, last week we actually didn't have people from Salt Lake come to teach us or go out with us like I thought was going to happen, but let me tell you the story that makes sense to me. We have had some Great stuff going on in the mission. We are making a new "Preach My Gospel" DVD and we have a "Super District" in our Mission that consists of six Elders and two Sisters. It was this group who received the teachers from Salt Lake and had the coaches.

So President Donaldson's plan was to use the members of the "Super District", and their companions to be the coaches for us, the "Reliable Group" that I am included in. So what actually happened was President Donaldson taught us how to better fulfill our purpose, work better with members and how to do begining teaching better. So the way it turned out, we had an Elder from the "Super District" work with us. We didn't get people from Salt Lake like we had thought was going to happen. Basically what happened is this was an experiment of President Donaldson's that is to better help our mission improve.

Now this is whats going to happen this week. I get to go out and be a Coach to another companionship on all the things that I got coached on. I will be out of my area for 3 days, coaching and helping other missionaries become more successful. It is going to be pretty exciting! I hope that I will be able to teach them everything I possiblily can.

But guess what? As a result of the training, we had 8 investigators at church Sunday!!!! That is almost unheard of! Just in my district, we had 18 new investigators at church! Now the only thing we need to do is get them with baptism dates and then get them baptized. I think we are learning what makes this work more successful. :-D

I am So glad to hear that Krista is doing well with everything and that she is going to have a baby!! That is So Awesome! But at least I will be home before the babies 1st birthday. haha So when is Krista due? When is Rachel due? I am going to have 3 new neices or nephews I haven't ever seen! Crazy. but this makes it all worth it.

We were able to confirm Ricardo in church yesterday and he asked me to do it. I was so nervous because it was my first one! I was pretty stressed out about saying everything right and using Spanish correctly, But I got up there, showed my faith by studying the night before, and went up and confirmed him. Afterwards, he told me that I said everything right and that he was really impressed. So that was an other miricle that I have seen in my life as a missionary. There is nothing that I have expierenced thus far in my life that is more exciting than being able to baptize and confirm one of our brothers, and a child of our Heavenly Father. I can't describe it, other than it was Awesome! :-) Well I think I have made this one long enough for today ;-) So I will talk with you later. Thank you everyone for all that you are doing for me and all the prayers that are said for me. it really makes a difference. Take care and I will talk with you next week. :-) ~ELDER GARDNER

Ricardo

Do I have a lot to tell you today!!!! We had a Great Thanksgiving dinner with our branch president, he is So Awesome, just like Bishop Fawcett. We didn't have turkey but whatever kind of meat it was, it was pretty good. :-) We had a really good time eating with them and spending time with them.

Then for Friday transfers, we got our call Thursday night and were told that both my companion and I were staying. That was good, we were also told that Elder Nelson would be staying. Elder Nelson and I will have been together, in the same apartment, for 6 months by the time this transfer is over on Jan 6. Elder Nelson and I get along really great, So I was happy to see that him and I will remain roommates. :-)

Then on Friday, we got a call from our new Zone Leader, Elder Nelson, aka my roommate, saying that he wasn't our District Leader anymore and that I will be the new District Leader!!!

So I am pretty excited,,,, but then I got to thinking that I am going to have a lot more responsibilities. And then to top it off, I was told that tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday, from 8am to noon, we will be having a 3 day training seminar by church leaders coming from headquarters in Salt Lake City, and after that! we will have a training coach stay with us to teach us things and help us become better missionaries. Right now I am stressing out because the training coach will be in my very first district meeting! I do know my topic but it is still pretty scary, especially with someone from Salt Lake there....

But the best part about this last week was that we baptized Ricardo, age 17, yesterday, he asked me to do it and I will be sending pictures next week. it was Awesome! and what makes it even better, is his parents are thinking about the church and asking what makes it so different from other churches and why would their son want to come and get baptized so quick. We are going to start teaching them and hopefully get them baptized also:-) Everything is really good and rewarding but then also really stressful all at the same time. Just pray for me that I will be able to do my best to better help my new district and the people in my area grow closer to our Heavenly Father.

What I need is: my planners that I have sent home, I found out that it is better to just keep them with me because it is possible now that I could go back to areas I have already been and I may be able to help some of those people I have worked with earlier. I have sent home 5 planers, my MTC one, my trainer one, 2 with Elder Virrueta, and the other one with Elder Andelin, So send back all of the planners that I have sent home. Thank You for all that you do for me,,,,, only 26 more days until I get to call home again ;-) ~ELDER GARDNER

Interview on 11/16/09

I just wrote you the longest email ever and when I tried to sent it, it logged me out and erased it all... This week was pretty rough. We didn't get our investigators to church and a lot of other things didn't go the way we wanted. But what I really want to tell you today is that last week, we had interviews with President Donaldson and it was the best one ever! When I was talking with him, I told him that I am disappointed in myself because our investigators aren't progressing or anything and I felt like I was a bad missionary. He just looked at me and smiled and told me the coolest thing ever. He said: It isn't what your investigators do or don't do. It is what you do and don't do. Are you doing everything that you possibily can? Are you living all the rules? Do you love your companion? I answered yes to all of these and he said: Then you are not a failure as a missionary. Even though your numbers are not what you want them to be, you are doing all that you can to help your brothers and sisters, and that is what God wants you to do. I have been watching you and I know you are a Great missionary and I can count on you to get things done. Just keep doing the work and the lord will take care of the rest. """ After that interview I felt like a million bucks. He is such an amazing servant of the lord. .
We have to get going. we still have some things we have to do today so I will talk with you next week.
PS. I seriously have the best family the Lord could bless me with. if it wasn't for the love and support that I have from everyone, I don't think I would be where I am today. thank you so much for everything. ~ELDER GARDNER

Delet

Halloween for a missionary is horrible! haha we didn't get to talk to any of our investigators that evening because we were commanded by our mission president to return to our apartment as soon as it started getting dark. so yeah Halloween this year was a real downer.

I do have a good story. My companion and I were trying to contact a former investigator Sunday night, When we showed up at his house we found his younger brother Delet. We had talked to him twice before but were using him to get to his brother. but at that meeting with him, I felt impressed to give him a scripture to read. (this was about a week or two ago and we had given him a BOM) so when we found him home Sunday night we asked him if he had read it, he said he had, but he told us that he only believes in the Bible. I asked him if he thought it was possible for God to have more scriptures than just the Bible, he said yes, so I told him, that is what the BOM is, or LDM (Libro De Mormon in Spanish ;) so we talked more with him trying to get him to open up and talk with us. and it turned in to a really good discussion, and it was all in Spanish! So I now know without any doubt that God will put words into your mouth at the very hour, the very moment you need them. My Spanish isn't that great, but people can understand me and I can communicate with them and that is what matters right now. So my goal for studying is to keep polishing the Spanish I know, and increase my vocabulary.

About our investigator Delet, we talked more with him and got him interested in coming to church and to start talking with us more and eventually, he doesn't know this yet but to get him baptized! It was a really good experience for me.

My companion still doesn't have good Spanish, so I have to do most of the talking, I know he will start saying more soon. I love my companion but he has so much to learn. He is always trying to impress me or be better than me! I know I should be humble about it all but it just upsets me. But please.... don't give me advice about what to do and how I need to love him and try and build him up and all of that other stuff. I know that.

What really made my day was that we went to the temple today and were able to do 2 endowments. The only thing that keeps me going sometimes is the temple. It is just so amazing. I wish that we could go to the temple more than just 4 times a year. :-( Well I have to get going. it is really late and we still have to get our food for the week. I will talk with you on Monday. Love Ya. ~Elder Gardner

Eight Months

I don't know if I told you about our baptism last week. It was awesome! She was a 73 year old lady and as soon as she saw us walking towards her door, the first time, she said she knew we were the answer to her prayers. We confirmed her at Church yesterday. It was awesome, she is amazing. We might have at least 3 more baptisms this transfer that I am praying for. So remember to keep them in your prayers as well as your prayers for me ;-)

One of them, another Great Lady, we used 2 Ne 31 on Saturday and taught her the importance of baptism and invited her to be baptized, and it was amazing! She said she has wanted to get baptized, but she has just been waiting for the right missionaries to come along. She's had missionaries that would come by but never taught her the gospel, they were just her friends. So she was very excited that we taught her and asked her to be baptized and she could say Yes! She will be getting baptized this Sunday if all goes well. :-D

I did get the Missionary Mall pants last week, they are fine, they aren't as good as the originals that I came out with, but they will work, no worries. I noticed that you put more money on my card. thank you.

Rick and his family look so good! I can't believe how big and broad Daniel is getting, Wow! he might be able to beat me up by the time I get home ;-) I have to write president his letter so I better get going. Thank you for all that you do for me and all the support. I think I will be sending a box home during this transfer. So sometime before 11/25/09 and there will be some amazing hot sauce in there. I fell in love with this stuff. it is guacamole with habenero pepper sauce. I think Bishop and you and Rick will love it! but anyways, I got to go. love you! ~ELDER GARDNER

Golden contact

We had a lot to do this morning so we got on email a little late. Yes, we had transfers last Wednesday... and unfortunately, Elder Gunnell was transferred out to the desert. So I have a new companion, he has been out 4.5 months and his Spanish is... well, I won't judge. So yeah I am officially a senior companion now.
I have an awesome story for you,,,, Yesterday, we were on our way to Teresa's home to help her get ready and tell her the things she needs for her baptism on Sunday. I had to call our ward mission leader so he would know what was going on with Teresa, while I was on the phone, my companion saw this guy beating up his wife right out there on the street. So he took off and didn't tell me, and I am left there by myself not knowing what was going on. I hurried up and hung up and jet over to my companion, he had broke up the fight without getting physically involved so that was good. He had the cops called and they took like 20 min to get there. All this time the husband was cussing us out continually. He came over to us and got right up in our faces ready to fight, just then two K-9 units and one regular police unit showed up and stopped this guy in his tracks. So yeah that was pretty exciting.

We were now an hour late in getting over to Teresa's home but we knew we had to go over there, and while we are biking there, we see this guy walking toward us so I am thinking, oh oh, not again. We stopped and he asked us what was going on, we told him, then we got on the subject of religion, how convenient ;-) so we get talking and I pretty much teach him the first lesson right there and he is soaking this in like a sponge. I gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he wants to read it from cover to cover. I was so excited at this point and told him that we have a church just up the street and he is more than welcome to come, he is like "ok awesome I will be there tomorrow I am really interested in what you guys have to say, I know that God put you guys in my path for a reason." I just wanted to scream,,,, I was so happy!!!!! We got his info and all and he did come to church, all 3 hours and after church he said, " you guys are more than welcome to come over anytime you want. and I will definitely be coming to church next week!" I was Super Happy and we know that we need to work really hard with George so we can get help him get baptized. he is Awesome.

So yes we did have a baptism yesterday, That makes 7 now, President called last night to congratulate us and as we were talking he mentioned how it was my first baptism as a senior companion, and that I now know how to baptize... so I'm not sure what that means but usually when he says something like that, someone becomes a trainer or a District Leader or Zone Leader, and right now, I don't think I could do that so we will just have to wait and see.

Yes I did get my watch, and the Zucchini bread, Thank You, I got it last week and ate the bread in 6 days haha. The pants came in today and they seem to fit me well. We really don't have much going on other than those stories I told you so I will talk with you next week and let you know how George is doing. Thank you for all that you do. I don't know if you added money to my account but I need more money, I have to buy some stuff to keep me warm out here is this weird California weather. ;-) humidity is rough. I got to go. LOVE YOU! ~ELDER GARDNER

Teresa

I actually have a lot to tell you this time, yeah I hate my bike. it is the worst thing I have ever done. I have had nothing but problems with it. I've had to get my front and back derailers fixed cuz they were out of tune. and yeah $57.77 is the cheapest I could find. I am hoping that I get put in a car area pretty soon so I don't have to waste so much money on my stupid bike. I would like to have more money on my card so I don't have to call President Donaldson and get him to call you to put more money on my card, that is just embarrassing. I would like my balance to stay above $200. I have done pretty well with my money so far. I always buy whatever food I want cuz I don't buy the name brand stuff, I buy the "Kroger" stuff and it tastes just as good.

This week was pretty cool. we received a printout of all of the referrals for our area over the past year. We started going to all of them and this one lady, Teresa invited us in and started talking and everything. When we found out what her needs were, we decided to offer a prayer, I said it, and when we finished she was bawling, she said that just a few minutes before we got there she had been praying for some help and guidance, and we knocked on her door, so she was very grateful for us. We invited her to get baptized and she accepted and will be getting baptized this Sunday the 18th. I hope Elder Gunnell and I stay together one more time so we can get all these baptisms done. Speaking of knocking on doors, President Donaldson asked us not to knock that much because it isn't the best way to do missionary work. the best way to do missionary work is through the members. So we have been working with ward members and getting referrals and we have been pretty busy.
So about this flu shot thing, we have to pay 25 bucks to get it so I was hoping I would get some money today from you ;-) but I think I will be able to get 25 bucks some other way.
I am not getting fat or anything I just don't have the same muscle mass that I did before when I was lifting weights and working out every day. I have lost the upper body muscle mass. nothing I need to worry about tho.
How is the family doing? How is Daniels football team doing? What is his position? Lexie is so big! she is going to be as big as Jeremy was when I left. wow. but that is just way the cookie crumbles ;-) I have to get going. I have to get my flu shot and all so I will talk with you later. love you. hope to have some money coming my way soon. LOVE YOU for everything. ~ELDER GARDNER

Conference - week 12 Oct 09

haha Yes Conference made me pretty "homesick" but not the Priesthood session. that was the best Priesthood session I have heard in a long time. I definitely need to repent about my past and how I treated you and mom. I was retarded. I am sorry about the mischief I did when I was young and dumb.
I loved all of the conference tho, Elder Holland's talk was really good. I think we are going to use that talk with some of our investigators. It will be a powerful tool of conversion. The only thing is that our investigators are just too scared of what their families might think, or it would be too big of a change, so they say no to a baptism date. Hopefully things will start to look better, but transfers are next week... I am hoping that Elder Gunnell and I stay together one more time, or two :-D But we will just have to wait and see. We are making progress with all of our investigators so I am pretty sure that we will have some baptisms before next transfer.

I would much rather have the other missionary mall pants that I used to have. They are much more comfortable and have bigger pockets. so yeah. the brand of the pants are Missionary Mall and the stitching is yellow. Thank you for fixing my watch :-) I still have to write President so I better get going. Thank you for all that you do for me! :-D I don't deserve parents and a family as good as I have.
I love you guys. you have no idea. ~ELDER GARDNER

Teaching "14"

Creo que es tan impresionante que todo el mundo va a cabo en sus misiones ahora. Braydon entra en el campo de mañana, Taylor ha estado en la misión durante un mes y Cameron se va. Es tan sorprendente para mí !!!!!

Esta semana ha sido una semana muy loca. Estábamos tratando de conseguir todos nuestros investigadores a chuch pero no pudieron conseguir ni una a la iglesia. Así que sí que ha sido la Downer sólo para nosotros. Las cosas van bien sin embargo, tenemos un montón de gente que estamos enseñando y es posible que podamos tener 14 personas bautizadas en breve, esperamos 3 ó 4 antes del 14 de octubre cuz que es cuando uno de nosotros puede ser transferido. Espero que nos mantengamos juntos por lo menos uno más,,,, dos serían mejor!

Pues aún tengo que escribir una carta de presidente por lo que hablaré con ustedes la próxima semana. Lo sentimos acerca del envío de los pantalones. No recibí el correo electrónico no enviar hasta hoy, así que sí. esperamos que usted puede conseguir que el reloj fijo, que sólo necesita un nuevo puesto de modo que permanecerá cerrado.

Gracias por todo lo que haces. Deseo que estaba en casa para poder robar las cookies de debajo de su nariz. ;-) Pero voy a hacer eso pronto. ~ ANCIANO GARDNER



I think it is just so Awesome that everyone is going out on their missions now. Braydon goes into the field tomorrow, Taylor has been on his mission for a month and Cameron is leaving. It is so amazing to me!!!!!

This week has been a pretty crazy week. We were trying to get all of our investigators to church but weren't able to get even one out. so yeah that has been the only downer for us. Things are going good, we have a lot of people we are teaching right now and it is possible that we could have 14 people baptized soon, hopefully 3 maybe 4 before the 14th of Oct because that is when one of us could be transferred. I am hoping that we can stay together for at least one more,,,, two would be better!

Well I still need to write my President a letter so I will talk with you guys next week. Sorry about sending the pants. I didn't get your email not to send them until today. Hopefully you can get my watch fixed, it just needs a new post so it will stay closed.

Thank you for all that you do. I wish I was home so I could steal cookies from under your nose. ;-) but I will be doing that soon enough. ~ELDER GARDNER

Too Hot

This week was pretty good, but we didn't get our investigators with dates, they were all too busy last week so that is our goal this week, more Member Present Lessons and more time at church so we are going to do good this week. I have a story for you. I almost died this last week at a dinner appointment. It seems like everyone here who has us to dinner, likes to try out chilies on us and have us eat them, They say that is what helps us speak better Spanish or whatever. So we are at this members house and he brought out a little orange chili and gave it to me. I'm like, OK, whatever. So I took a bite of it with food (this is key so it isn't so hot) and it wasn't too bad. So I took another bite, a little bigger. It was a little hotter and so I said this is a really good chili and they asked me if it was hot, I said a little but not bad. Then I took my third bite, (I still had half of the chili) but the whole thing broke off in my mouth, so I was like eh,, oh well and I chewed it up,,, OH WOW!! My Poor Mouth! That thing almost killed me! My eyes started watering, my tongue was on fire and my face was RED. Elder Gunnell looked at me and just started laughing. I couldn't do anything to put out the fire. Finally when it died down, about 15 min later. I asked them what kind of pepper it was and they said a Habinero! I thought to myself,,, No Way! I was a little upset that they would even give me that hot of a pepper, but I was like oh well, nothing I can do about it now haha. It was about the worst experience of my life ;-) But it was a good story none the less.

So how are things at home? Everything still going good? Do you think you could do me a favor? Send me the cat in a box, hahahaha, I wouldn't mind having him for a while and then I can just send him back. Just make sure you send him overnight so he doesn't starve, haha just kidding. I think that is funny that mom has him so spoiled. He isn't even going to know me when I get home. He will just be an old mad cat, but who knows. Oh, so you never told me if Bishop wore my tie on fast sunday? I have to keep track of these things ;-) Well I have to get going, we still have a lot to do today and not a whole lot of time left. I love you and for all the support I get from everyone back home. tell mom I am sorry I don't write her, I will do my best to work on that but it is just hard to have any time on P-Day. that still isn't an excuse but I will work on it. Love you! ~ELDER GARDNER
PS Tu espanol es muy bueno por solimente leiendolo. pero yo no se si yo escribo este carta bien o mal. hasta semana primero.

Rubics Cube

Hey dad! Things have been going good and I just love it! Well the only thing thats hard is that I have to lead the area but that is ok. We have been finding a ton of families, but they aren't really making any progress, so this week we are for sure going to make it count. We are going to try and get them all with a baptism date. So things are going really good. Elder Gunnell and I are having so much fun as companions. I didn't think a mission could be this fun. Elder Gunnell and I have been playing chess with Starbursts and I have only lost once and that was the first game. I was just "getting familiar with chess again" so he won. He wanted to play again and we did, and the past 5 times I've won. I think I better stop winning so he will keep playing me. Oh and I have learned how to do the Rubiks Cube. I can solve it in 3 min! We use the Cube for the first lesson... the Restoration if you will...we go in there with a mixed up Cube and then while we are teaching them, I solve it and then end with the First Vision and the Book of Mormon. It seems like it works pretty good for them. Thank you for the Zucchini bread. I ate it all in 3 days hahaha I was really surprised to see that I got the whole thing. I thought for sure there would be a chunk missing that dad got a hold of. But thank you for all that you do. I hope you didn't get the missionary mall pants altered from 42, because 42 is perfect. If they are 41's they will be high water pants. So yeah,,, its 34 waste and 42 outside seem. or 36 inside. I love you and mom so much! ~ELDER GARDNER

New Companion

I have a lot to tell you this week! It was transfers on the 2nd and my companion, Elder Andelin got transfered, leaving me to lead the area and decide what needs to get done. I was really nervous about this new responsibility, and I was really nervous on who I was going to get as a companion. Well, we were at transfers and president Donaldson called my name to stand up, then he called Elder Gunnell's name to be my companion! Since I have been in the area before, I am the senior companion. It is awesome! Elder Gunnell and I were at the MTC together (so if you look back at the pictures you can see him and to whom I am referring to.) I am really excited to know I will be with Elder Gunnell for the next 6 weeks! I am still worried about having to talk to people and "lead" the area. Elder Gunnell's Spanish is better than mine so that kind of made me disappointed for a little bit but then I looked at it this way, " I have a perfect opportunity to learn how he mastered Spanish and also have an awesome time working with him." So yeah I am having the most fun I have had so far in my mission! Since transfers, Elder Gunnell and I have added 3 new families to teach, they seem some what interested, so it is possible that we could have 8 baptisms this transfer or the next if we are still together. I am so excited. the only thing that I wish,,, is that my Spanish was as good as Elder Gunnells or better. I thought I was improving and on track but now I know that I need to take it up a couple of notches. So that is the latest updates with me, I think I am going to clock out for today. OH before I forget, about the pants, I think that I need them at least 1 inch shorter in length so I'm not stepping on them when I walk without shoes. and a box,, yeah I could use a box. with a little bit of money in the box or something ;-) haha just kidding. but yeah don't send me gum, we can't chew gum, so just send me some nestle chocolate milk powder, granola bars and some treats :-D and what ever else you want to send me. :-D Thank You for all the love and support I get from Everyone. ~ELDER GARDNER

SIX MONTHS OUT

Ok, well this week was really good for my Spanish you could say. We had president interviews and he told me that I just need to get out and speak it and it will come that much faster for me. I was like ok I will work on it. President mentioned to my companion that he might be transfered this next week and that I better know the area. So after our interviews I had to lead out the area and start up the conversations with our investigators. This forced me to start speaking Spanish. It wasn't too bad, so I didn't mind. Sunday came around and we have Sacrament Meeting last. Sam, the 2nd councilor, came up to me when we walked in and asked me if I could give a 5 min talk and that he was sorry that is was such short notice. I thought, Oh My, how am I suppose to write a talk in "SPANISH" and then have to talk for 5 min and not have any help from anyone?! Of course I was really nervous but I told him I would do it. Then he told me that I had the choice of going 1st or 2nd; I chose to go 1st. I had no idea what to talk about, well I just thought of my favorite stories and how I could relate them to everyday life. I wrote out a couple of ideas on a sticky note and wrote out my introduction, and that was it, hoping I would be able to do it. I said a little prayer to Heavenly Father asking Him to help me strengthen my faith and help me know what to say. Sacrament Meeting came along and it was my turn to get up and talk. I got up and did everything I wrote down and read my scriptures and related it to how we need to have faith in the prophets. then I ended with my testimony and sat down. I didn't have my watch on, so I didn't know how long I had talked. I soon found out that I had talked for 10 minutes and that everything made sense and people came up to me and told me "good job" and that it was an amazing talk. I was so happy,,,, you have no idea! Sam came up to me and told me he was very impressed with me, cuz last time he went with us he saw how my Spanish was and that I didn't like talking. and he was very impressed. So yeah, the Lord answered my prayer and strengthened my faith that I know how to speak Spanish! Got to go write my president's letter ~ELder GARNDER