12-19-11

well yeah, i´m transferred! it was a surprise, but i´m okay with it. my new area is sooooo different from san fran. san fran was like all fields and little tiny neighborhoods here and there. now i´m in a busier area. it´s not city city, but it´s like city. i don´t know how to explain it lol. but yeah. i think i´ll like it. it´s called glew and pronounced like glay-ew, and in the zone longchamps. my area is condensced and not very spread out. but like i said it´s a lot more city like than san fran. my comp is elder hill, and he is from las vegas. he only has 8 months in the mission, and he has spent all 4 transfers here in this area. so he knows it very well. its very rare for a missionary to stay in an area more than 6 months, so after this transfer he will ahve been here for 7.5 so he is probably leaving after this area. so i´ll be leading the area after he leaves. scary to think of! lol. but yeah. it seems more like the argentina i pictured before arriving. san fran was very rural. we live in an apartment building, and our pension is pretty big. oh yeah, this area has a bad rep for robbings. we´ll see! and this area has bikes, my last area didn´t. so that´ll be a change, maybe it´ll be a break for my feet!!! lol.

my last week in san fran was good. the weather was perfect. chilly, and rainy. loved it. now it´s back to hot, humid, and sweaty. we didn´t have any baptisms last week, but hopefully to come in san fran. i have no idea about here in glew. i guess the ward here is amazing. it was sad to say goodbye to people in san fran, but i´m excited to be here. it kind of feels like the mission is really starting now that i´m finally done training, and am out of my firstr area. i´m now not a new elder anymore. i am in my 3rd transfer, i have 5 months, and there are 3 whole sets of missionaries younger than me. it feels good! lol. this week will be a lil tough, just me getting to know the area, and the members, and the investigators, but it should go fine. i´ve never been bad at meeting new people!! i´m glad the gardner christmas party went well. i´m glad the health for everyone is doing well. tell the family like grandma and grandpa, and the aunts adn uncles hi and merry christmas.

i´m just talking to elder hill and we were thinking about doing the call at 9:30 or 10 in the morning your time. would that work for you? when does dad have meetings? that´d be right after lunch for us, that´s not for sure for sure. i´ll keep you updated what we´re thinking.

i hope you guys have a great cold christmas! i´ll be sure to soak up the sun, and take a pic with the palm trees for ya.

i{m glad the shop is done! and that the elk will be finished in 2 or 3 months. that will be fun for you dad!

well i better go! love you guys.

elder gardner. i{ll send you another email with final christmas stuff

12-12-11

hey!

yeah, i´m not thinking our baptisms will work out this week. we´re trying, but people keep falling. missionary work is hard. this family was so close, and so prepared by god. we have been trying a lot of things, but they´re just not complying and falling hard. it´s sad to see, and i wish i could do more. but everyone has their agency. its sad.

and stop worrying about my weight! i promise i eat a lot!!!1 i eat yogurt, and peanut butter crackers every morning (thanks to your peanut butter) and then for example yesterday, we had two lunches, and i ate left over pizza from our branch christmas party. i´m eating just fine. lately members havebeen feeding us a lot lately. and wehave a lot of offers. so don´t worry. we eat a lot. :)

 let´s go to san carlos. lol. even right now, i could get us around lol. i still have a lot of improvements to make with the language... but i´m getting more comfortable with speaking. it´s just always understand people that is soooo hard. and widening my vocabulary usage. i always seem to use the same words. which gets my point across... but i need improvement.

yeah i have no idea what to do about the calling you guys thing. it depends on where i am. if i get transferred, itll probably just be a phone call. and i don´t know if i can have a back up plan if we do skype because we´ll do it at a members. but i told mcgary that i don´t think i´ll skype you guys, we can try, but i´d rather just be safe than sorry.

it´s super hott here all the time lol. actually this morning was freezing! it rained all night. but the days are still super hott.

we did have a cool experience with a member this week.   we had a really good spiritual talk with her. and she had to work that coming sunday, so she couldn´t come to church but in sacremet, after the sacrement, she walks in with her boyfriend! miracle!!! lol. but for real, she said that she just called in work to double check and they said her name wasn´t on the schedule anymore. so she came to church :) it was awesome.

other than that, it was normal. just working! and it´s my last week maybe, so i´m bringing my camera with me to all of the good families and taking pics with them.

well i beter go. love you guys!!!

chao chao

elder garnder

12-5-11

hey everyone.

yes, my weight is normal lol. i actually don´t know how much i weigh, but i know i´m a lot better. i haven´t had time to get to a pharmacy to weigh myself. our baptisms are for dec 17. transfers are the 19, i have no idea or inclination if i´m staying or going. i would like to stay. i feel like i have more work to do here. and so close to christmas, it would be good to stay so i can spend the holidays with families i know. so for the call on christmas, i might be able to skype you! we might go to a members house and skype with you guys instead of a phone call. i´m not sure at what time we would be doing it yet. what time do you guys have church? still at one? is it just sacrement because it´s christmas? that´s what we´re doing, just sacrement. lemme know kk?
i got the packages. thanks!! they were so nice. a couple things, the jump drives are too small. even together they´re barely one gigabyte. and i already have one gigabyte of pictures on my camera. i´m thinking i will need at leat 8, it would be nice to have two 8 GB jump drives if at all possible when you can send another package. also the mcdonalds gift cards on the back say only for participating US franchises. so we´re thinking they won´t work here... we can try, but i´ll probably just end up giving them all to elder mcgary seeing as how he is going home in january. but everything was super thoughtful, thank you.
that´s too bad you´re sick dad! i fell ya, hang in there. what do you have? itll be a really fun time to go to the Vegas with the daltons. i was just thinking about them the other day, and remembering our last trip to mexico, and wondering how better i could speak with mexicanos. lol. argentines speak a little differently. they fluctuate their voice a lot. all the people from the u.s. say they are singing their spanish, and they do.
yeah im taking good care of myself. we went to varela for lunch today. i broke down and got a hamburger. it was soooo good. it had a fried egg and ham on it too. yummmm. it just needed a pineapple, bacon, and some terryoki sauce!
and for your quetion dad, yeah we usually just eat lunch. i eat a yogurt in the mornings, and lately some crackers with your peanut butter you sent. mmmmm. and then we eat lunch with members, and then usually nothing for dinner. sometimes if a member is cooking when we´re visiting or an investigator, or treats or something every now and then. or if i´m starving i´ll make an egg or something. we don´t eat too much. i miss everyone so much! the holidays are harder when everyone i talking and teaching about family and planning family vacations. this is the last week of school for the kids here. then it´s summer vacation until march i think. january is going to be a hard month, everyone is traveling. unless i get transferred to the coast, then i´ll be buuuusssssyyyy becasue that´s where everyone will travel to! but itll just be a lot of tracting and stuff and taking names and stuff to give to the offices because most people don´t live in the coast cities, just visit.
yeah our zone conference with elder aiutukitus (i have no idea how to spell his name) went pretty well. he did kind of drop the cane a little bit and told us all that if we don´t get the mission standard number wise each week then we´re not working. which is super hard to do. but he says it´s possible, so we´ll work harder.
did you get my scripture? 3 nephi 5:13. i like that one about missionaries. i found that one here. my goal right now is to read all of the scripture. i´m almost finished with doctrine and covenants. i already read the book of mormon. now on to the pearl of great price and then... the old testament. lol. we´ll see if i can do it. i don´t think i ever made it past deuteronomy in seminary. that was a hard book for me to read. but i heard just make it to psalms and songs of solomen and it gets better. sunday morning we were taking the bus to go get some families for church, and these drunk guys got angry at the driver and punched out all the windows in the back door. lol. argentina is crazy. it didn´t even phase me. i´m not sure if that´s the missionary in me with a purpose, or if i´m just used to seeing those kinds of things happening lol. elder smoot and i were talking and we realized things that happen like that that would be a big deal normally, just don´t even phase us. lol. we just go on with life. lol.
i said a phrase that i thought had no second meaning to our recent baptism family, and yeah... it has a second meaning... a bad one. lol. so the mom jokingly called me a bad word cause she knew i had no idea what i actually said. lol. it was really funny. i keep saying this, but i can see my spanish improving. maybe one day i will feel like i have it :) supposedly less then two months, and ill have some kind of control of the language. it´s hard. in all conferences and stuff they say the only way to be a good missionary is to listen to their needs and stuff, but i can´t do that if i have no idea what they´re saying. but it´s getting a lot better. it´s weird to think in two weeks, i won´t be classified as a new missionary. but im excited. i just don´t feel like i´m good enough yet! lol. i´m sure everyone feels like that hough. i just want to speak, and teach better. but with time i guess.
oh today in varela, a drunk guy came up to me and he said you´re a yankee, give me money, and sometimes the drunk guys are scary cause you have no idea what theyll do, but if you play your cards right, you just talk them out of it. lol smoot and i totally changed the subject from him determined to leave with our money to tlaking about what soccer team he is for. lol. it was really funny. and then he shook our hands as we walked off. and being a u.s. missionary, everyone here always tries to say hello in english as we walk by. this same girl every week runs into us in varela and comes up and says hello, how are you, my name is barbie, bye bye. lol. i either respond to them, sometimes i just don´t respond, or sometimes i just start talking in english until they give up and walk away lol. sometimes it´s annoying. but yeah.
all is well! it is stinking hot. all day and all night. thanks for the garments, ill be a lot cooler. did you ever hear what happened to eric lucenko? did he make it to brazil? or get a new call? and i heard amber got a new calling in the ward that will be good for her. and she is turning in her mission papers in 2 months! that´s awesome. and ali for sure decided she wants to serve too. thatll be super good. but now i won´t see them for a long time! lol that´s okay. i know how important this work is.
i´m trying to remember what else happened this week...
oh yeah! so there is an area way away from everything that we go to once a week because it´s so far, and last friday (we were there thursday) a little girl was murdered at the school there. so sad.
and on saturday night, after we left maria, gabriel, and aymara´s house, 20 min after we left there was a gun fight two blocks away on the street we walk home on every night. a guy got mad at his friend and they starting shooting each other. i don´t think anyone died though, i didn´t understand the last part of the story. anyway, it´s just so weird all this stuff happens around is, but we seem to always be safe. i know that my work is important, and i have more to do, so i´ll be safe until my work is done. but if my work is done here, there is still another place on the other side that has a lot of work to do, so i´ll go where he wants me to go. but dont worry :) we´re safe. we watch out and stuff. we don´t go looking for anything.

well im off!

chao chao

elder gardner

11-28-11

HEy guys!!!

all is well :) i´m all better and out and working, sweat and all. i was very tired at the beginning of the week, as expected for laying down for 6 days, and had a little uncomfort but i feel fine now. this last week was great. we went on exchanges with the district leader and his companion which happens to be my mtc companion elder mcquivey, he´s in my district and i see him all the time. so i spent 24 hours with elder mcq in his area called mayol, just across the street from my area and the district leader went with elder mcgary in our area. it was a fun day to be with another companion for a little bit. we learned some new things and some better techniques so we improved a lot of things this week and had some great numbers. we took out 6 new baptism dates this week. the standard is 2 so we felt really good about that. yeah, almost always when there are transfers you miss baptisms, right now we have 13 baptisms planned. 9 are from one family. their date we set for the 17 of dec so hopefully we can get through with it before transfers so if one of us gets transferred. but who knows i could stay and mcgary could go, or vice versa, or we could both stay! but i love that family. they´re awesome. yesterday was aymara´s birthday. they had a big bash and invited us. we had empanadas galore and asado (it´s like barbeque) it was delicious. today we played soccer again at a close by church. seems to be our pday activity. maybe i´ll be good at soccer by the end of two years! lol. this week our area 70 comes. he has a really strong reputation of droping the cane for improvement. he just left the west mission and rumor has it he sent 2 missionaries home. he comes on thursday. we´re all pretty nervous for that. hopefully there are no calls thursday evening!!! lol. nah i´m not toooo worried, a little bit yes.
i´m glad kc was fun! i miss everyone. thanksgiving wasn´t too fun for us. we had spaghetti for lunch lol at a members home. it was pretty good. but not peegerds turkey ´m sure. miss ya´ll so much during these holidays. my weight is doing fine, i´m back to eating normal so all is well. my stomach is still a little off, but it´s just trying to adjust and get back to usual.
it´s so hot. well, it´s so humid. the heat isn´t too bad. we are just sweaty 24/7. and no air conditioning. but that´s okay, i´m almost used to it! lol. just nights are a little rough.
well gotta run! love you guys so much. we´ll tlak to you next week!!!

love ya guys. thank you for everything. especially this oppurtunity to serve.

elder gardner

11-14-11

you can post any of the pictures i think. no worries. i think that that family is fine with it. so no worries. i doubt they even know i have a blog. lol. plus it´s in english. but yeah, thank you for asking. that´s nice that you are forwarding letters to my friends, thank you. will you tell them to just email me responses to my mission email? i think some people are emailing my regular email, but i don´t think i can check it. lol. i think aunt angi did. yeah my feet are messed up. i just want them to heal! it´s been how many weeks now and they still aren´t healed. blah. i´m sick of it. but oh well. sometimes they are just numb, which is a blessing lol. 

mountains have snow? i miss mountains, and snow! lol it´s so hott here. and the humidity hasn´t even hit yet. they said it´ll be the worst about christmas new years time. lol. so opposite, it´s crazy. i´m going to miss you guys a lot this holiday season. it´s so weird i won´t be there! time has no meaning to me here. the only time i notice is between apointments, from pday to pday, and transfer to transfer. but it all goes so quickly. i definitely see why people say be careful and take advantage of every oppurtunity, because like if you see a house you want to clap and you keep putting it off, before you know it, youll be transferred. oh yeah, did you know that we clap houses instead of knock doors? i don´t know if i ever told you taht. lol. but yeah. everyone has fences and locked gates around their houses so we just stand at the side walk and clap. it´s normal now, but it was so weird at first. the cultura is so different, but i´m used to it now. i just give kisses away like crazy. lol. with missionaries it´s less because they know it´s not cultura for us, and we can´t with women, but a lot of people still do. and people taht don´t know. it´s going to be weird to not do that in the u.s.. i talked to the family that i baptised and they said they want me to bring you guys to their house. they said please stop by! and the boy that we baptised wants to go to school in washington dc to be in the fbi lol. so i told him if he does, to look me up. that family is so amazing. and the family of 11 that we found last week said to tell you thanks for raising me in the gospel and the way that you did so we can help them. they´re an awesome family. 

thanks for the garments. i probably could even use more whenever you get another package ready. and also i could use a jump drive for the computer so i can transfer pictures to it and take them off my card. so if my camera gets stolen i´m not screwed. actually to have two would be nice of like at least 4 or more gigabytes. or whatever isn´t super expensive. also some in-ear earplugs would be nice too. elder mcgary snores realllllly loud. i haven´t slept well since before i got bronchitis. i´m really tired lol. but it´s okay. i´ve never had much sleep anyway :) and i always do fine. but yeah that´d be super nice. 

yeah everyone says it´s six months in the field is when the language starts coming. i´m almost to 2 months.. so i still have 4. i actually have seen a large improvement this last week in my spanish. the Lord is helping me. but i still have a long way to go. but i held a conversation with someone that before i could not understand anything. the mother of the kids we baptise, she speaks so quickly. it is sooo hard for me to understand her. but i did this week! so improvement. also another one of our investigators, he mumbles and speaks so softly. but this week i understood him. so a couple puzzle pieces are coming together. 

i´m glad amber decided to go. she´d mentioned it in her last coupel of letters, but i´m glad she decided to. she´s so funny, she´ll be a great missionary. 

i hope you get some jerky soon! that´d be yummy. 

i hope i stay in this area at least one more transfer. a lot of our baptisms should be ready about the time transfers come :/ and right now our zone leaders are telling us to take all of our baptismal dates out for christmas eve. they call it a white christmas lol. but transfers are december 19. if i stay one more transfer, i will be here for at least another after that. which is semi rare to be in an area more than 2 transfers. but elder mcgary was in his first area for 6 months, and then the elder in my area before me was here for 6 months too. so it´s possible, just doesn´t happen too often. 

san fran is away from things. we have florencio varela semi close, like a 5 minute bus ride. so not bad at all. 

san carlos is a lot better. the really bad parts of san carlos, and the bad parts in guaymas are like parts of my area. but i wouldn´t have it any other way :) i´m learning so much being here. 

our area 70 is coming next week or the week after.  elder mcgary had to go to capital  again today for his visa and he said he ran into a group of missionaries from the west mission. he said they just walked up to them and then left. i wonder if elder marshall was in that group and that was him going to see if i was with them. that would have been funny if we would run into each other there. well we have a lesson in 20 minutes. gotta go!!

this last week was really slow, didn´t have a lot of lessons, a lot of tracting. and a lot of walking. but it´s great. i´m getting in the swing of things and i´m enjoying what i´m able to do. the heat is hard sometimes, it drains me quickly, but i´ll get over it soon hopefully. i´m always thirsty, and all of our people just give us tang... lol. it´s so funny. 

well i love you guys so much!!! thanks for the letters. and to my friends, love you guys!!! can´t wait to hear from you. 

oh mom, will you talk to sister brinkerhoff? she wanted me to keep her posted on how i´m doing. thanks a lot.

love you mom and dad. you guys are the best. miss you a lot, and have fun at tiff and ry´s.

chao! nos vemos.

elder jardinero

 

11-7-11

Hey everyone!

whew, this past couple of days have been crazy!!!! our two baptisms yesterday went great. I forgot that you have to say the persons name when you are baptising, so I forgot that, then got freaked out because I messed up. It took about 4 tries to get the words right ;) but after that everything went smoothly. on saturday we had the zone leaders come do interviews  and we got a call from another elder that said someone ran up to him and he wants to speak to missionaries. but he lives in our area so he told them we´d come. good thing we had the zone leaders so we could do splits and make it to all of our appointments plus go visit them. well long story short, the contact turns out to be someone that is VERY prepared to hear our message.

 one funny thing that they love, is that a person gardener in spanish is jardinero. so i tell everyone i´m elder jardinero. they love it. they always laugh and when they see me OH!!! JARDINERO! lol it´s great. we also had another investigator come and watch the baptism. oh! also, we took out ANTHER baptism date with another investigator. so we took out 10 this week lol. and had 10 attend church. the mission standard is 2 new dates a week, and 5 attending sacrement. so yeah, we´re doing awesome.

well elders smoot and lopez got robbed last night. it was kind of a crazy story. the people were drunk, but there were a lot of them. the only thing they took was 50 pesos and then elder smoots annointed oil. weird right? they took their backpacks at first too but they looked inside and only saw scriptures so they gave it back. but yeah, they´re in a very tranquilo area too. crazy!

we have family home evening tonight. hopefully we have 2 investigators come to this, that´d make a perfect night!! and for peggy, just give her the mission home address. it´s safe. and we get mail about once a month. and they get sent about once a month and it takes about a month. so it could take up to two months for me to send letters and to arrive to it´s destination lol.

we don´t carry pepper spray lol.

did you get my pictures? i sent like 6 in an email. i hope they sent!!! if not, i´ll have to figure something else out to do. i´m getting letters ready to send out to friends so let them know if about a month.... lol. i might write some stuff and then type it and have you email it. that´s about all from the last 4 days!! jam packed.

i love you guys!! talk to you next monday.

love,

elder jardinero

Hi Everyone, there were transfers this week so Rhet’s pday was Thurs. instead of Monday so that’s why this email is coming to you later.

Hey guys!!

week number five almost complete! whoa, so quickly. I had ice cream today for the first time. mmmmmmmm 

can´t even describe it. it´s so good. I really like the food here. it´s so simple, and reallllly good. it´s all pretty healthy too. even the cow tongue :)  yeah we have our baptisms in three days. they´re both really excited. they´re going to be amazing members of the church.

you guys better get having some fun!!!! lol and get it down good for when i get back :) we´ll have a blast. i´m trying to think of fun things to do with you guys when you are here, and where i want to take you guys. i´m thinking i want to bring you to san fran. it´s just weird thinking about that lol. i heard the coast is amazing. i hope one of my areas are in the coast. i´m thinking even i don´t end up serving there, i´ll want to take you there. i hear it´s amazing. google pinamar and tell me what you think, and santa teresita. i think that´s how it´s spelled. elder mcgary spent a year of his mission in santa teresita. he has so many beautiful pictures from there.

vernal sounds beautiful right now. i miss it. i don´t get a fall this year! it´s still spring here. it´s warming up week by week. there´s a lot of wind from the ocean that blows in. it´s always windy. plus no mountains to catch it so i´t gets pretty strong.

that sounds like fun to go to kc for thanksgiving. usually there are families that know it´s "el dia de gracias" for us yankees and they will invite us over for a nice dinner. but other than that i´t´s just another day of work for us! we get two days off in the year besides pdays, and that´s christmas and new years. every other day is a normal work day.

things are going great. we have our baptisms that we´re all excited for. on monday i´ll email pictures of the baptism and stuff. and other pictures too. 

i think that sums up the week! i get to email again monday, so reply quickly :) and if i miss anything i´ll write back soon. love you guys!!!

love ya!

elder gardner

10/16/11

lol well the water.. yeah it makes us sick, but it´s already happened, so we just drink it now. we try to avoid it as much as possible.  my stomach will not be the same again lol i can´t assure that. but it´s fine, all part of the experience. food is great! it´s so good. i love it. it´s not too different, but still very different. it´s all fresh, and they don´t flavor it with much so it´s good and you can taste the flavors of the real food instead of just what you put on it. like potatoes? they´re pretty darn good with out so much ranch and bacon bits smothering them lol. 
so we only see our misison pres for interviews that´s all. we have interviews this week i think. 

elder mcgary and i get along well. we´re both opening up a lot more. we´ll be together for at least 12 weeks for the training program. and this is his last area. so i´m his last companion. he leaves the beginning of january. 
yeah we just sleep in the sleeping bag. it´s hot though so i just use the sheet. there are bugs, but not an outrageous amount. i assume as it continues to warm up there will be a lot more. it´s not bad right now though. the other day was super hot. and it´s not even dead summer, with the humidity yet lol. whoo it´ll be hot. 
i´m glad you guys are going to kc!! i´m jealous. i miss everyone supder duper much. like crazy. 

i´m doing well. still trying to work out how to do emails and stuff. sorry this one isn´t too much informative. i´ll be better next week.
there´s lots of rain, adn mud a lot. and things are going pretty well. the work is hard, people are great.  
i love and miss you guys so much!!! i´ll be a lot better next week, promise :)

love!

elder gardner

10/10

Rhet hasn't been receiving the dear elder letters since he has been in Argentina, hopefully they will catch up soon.  So feel free to send him emails at rhet.gardner@myldsmail.net in the meantime.  Things are going well with his companion.  He is a little shy, but Rhet says he has been a bit too but is breaking out and talking a lot more and having more discussions.  They teach together well.  He has had problems with blisters and all of the walking, but finally is starting to feel better.  His spanish is improving, he says it's still hard to understand people, but it's getting better.  He says his apartment is good and the food is great.  They have crackers or grab something quick for breakfast and they usually eat lunch with a member, and usually don't eat dinner due to being busy or still being full from a big lunch.  He says that's common to not eat dinner.  They get served potatoes with boiled eggs and mayonnaise a lot.  They have a baptism scheduled for the 22nd and he is excited.  A problem they run into a lot is people living together, so it is something they have to work on with a lot of people.  He says it takes about a month and a lot of money to get married there, so a lot of people aren't married.  They had a fun pday.  About 6 of the missionaries made tacos, about 48 for the 6 of them and they were good.  

He seems to be doing well!  All missionaries love hearing from friends and family, feel free to write him at rhet.gardner@myldsmail.net.

1st email from Argentina 10-3-11

The flight to Argentina was long, but was good.  He actually answered questions from the flight attendants for about an hour and a half.  When he met his missionary president at the airport, they immediately gave him a pamphlet and told him to hand it out before they left.  His first area is San Francisco.  It's a pretty big area and is closer to La Plata than Buenos Aires.  He said there is a lot of walking, but they do get to take the bus too.  He said the people are awesome and the members are amazing.  The members do their laundry and feed them Wednesday through Sunday for lunch (they don't eat breakfast or dinner there).  He got to go to Florencio Valera and watch conference and loved it.  There are baptisms planned from the missionaries there before them and he is happy to be able to participate.  The food is good, pizza all the time.  Also empanadas and milanesa which is just like really flattened out fried steak.  They also drink a lot of tang.  But it comes in hundreds of flavors.  When he asks for water, he gets tang.  :)  His spanish (castellano) is coming along.  It was really hard his first day, but he is improving.  THe hardest part is understanding others, but he is getting better.  

He arrived safely!

Although we haven't heard from Rhet yet, we have heard from his mission president that he arrived safely.  He will be serving in San Francisco, Argentina (North of Buenos Aires) with Elder McGary as his companion.  Here's a picture of all those who traveled with him and his mission president and wife.  Hoping to hear from him today.  I'll let you know.

9-27-11

Hi friends & family of Rhet!  He asked me to let you all know that "Dear Elder" is the best way to write him now that he's in Argentina.  You can also send one page trifold with a sticker to close  to this pouch mail address in SLC and they will forward to him: 

Elder Rhet L. Gardner
Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City, UT   84130-0150

Any packages and letters sent USPS requires him to pay a  fee to receive them.  Thanks for your care and support for Rhet.  I'm sure it makes a big difference to him!  His mom. 

9-22-11

Hey Guys!!

SO I have officially started packing! I'm probably going to be sending you a package with things I've found aren't a necessity to send back to you. I just can't take the risk of being over weight. So things That I don't NEED I'm sending to you. Overweight fees for this trip are $350 a bag. So I REALLY need to make weight lol. I have faith it will all work out Packing is a pain, but I'll deal. Plus they are redoing like 3 buildings here, and so they are moving/closing the book store this weekend, right when I'm trying to pack. So I'm packing today because if I need anything I'm out of luck. I think I'm going to get a back pack here to have my back back/shoulder bag for all my heavy books and things and then an extra change of clothes/ my tooth brush and stuff in case my luggage gets lost. And then I'll be sending stuff home, so I should make weight. We leave in only 4 days! And I'll be at my mission home in 5 I'm so excited! Argentina won't know what hit it. And calling should work out! Thanks for the numbers. And my phone card I think I told you is collect, but it's pretty cheap. Sorry! If i could have gotten one that was just a certain amount of minutes, I would have. But they only have the collect ones here. Well it's not realy collect, but it's like a 35 cent fee plus 1 cent for every minute. So it's really not that bad.

This week was eventfull! The TRC was so fun. It was our first TRC that was 40 minutes (a lot longer than our usual 20 minute lessons) and was about revelation through prayer. We usually get returned missionaries to volunteer, but this week we got a mother and daughter from Peru! So it was really fun having native speakers. And I could understand most of it But Argentines speak VERY differently, so I'm looking forward to hear that. OH! SO the October ensign is a special Book of Mormon edition, like the Jesus Christ one a while back. And the First presidency of the church gave all the missionaries a copy before it came out. It's SO amazing. You guys definitely need to read it. I assume it's out by now, or soon will be. But we had ANOTHer apostle come and speak! Lol we are so lucky. Elder Nielson came to speak about the Book of Mormon and the ensign issue. He is so funny. I'm loving this spiritual high! We also had a sister in our district, Hermana Eversole, get a pretty bad health concern. So they sent her home to get surgery. Sad! But she can return after it's all taken care of. But she had a hard time with being here anyway so maybe it's God's way of saying thanks for your effort and diligence, but you are needed for something else. It's awesome that God works like that. Yesterday we got to host too! Like when I got here and a missionary came and took my bags and showed me around and where to go and stuff, that's what I got to do. It was fun! It was especially fun to see the differences of families emotions. Some families were balling their eyes out, some missionaries were running from their families, and some were just all happy and so proud of their children. It was a really fun experience. So this week we have orientation tomorrow all day, and saturday is a different schedule too, and Sunday we just have like mission conference for fast sunday, and then more orientation about the field. So we're pretty much finished here! Wow! That is so weird to me.

 

Well I love you guys! Thanks for everything. After Friday no need to Dearelder me to Provo because I won't get it. Usually the ones after Friday, or Saturday don't get printed until monday afternoon, and I leave! So tonight, is probably the last time you can write to me until I get to Argentina. I'll call ya on monday! Sometime between 10-2 or 6:20-9:50 PM. And We'll see who I can call and stuff.

 

Love ya!,

\

Elder Gardner

9-15-11

Hey everyone!

 

HOw's everything going??

So I got a calling card. It pretty much does collect to the house and is a 35 cent flat rate and then 1 cent every minute after taht.. I hope that's okay. Or it's 5 cents a minute. Whichever one I choose. I figured it'd be okay. I hope I'll get time to call you guys!

Peaches sound amazing. Are they Grand Junction peaches? Those are the best.. Elder Anderson is from Colorado and we talk about Grand Junction peaches all the time

We were supposed to get our travel plans today taht's why my email is so late. We wanted to wait until the last second just incase we got our plans later in the day. So taht means we'll either get them tomorrow, tonight, or our visas aren't in yet. I hope everything is going okay still.

I'm glad you guys have gotten the oppurtunity to scout for elk! You guys better get a good one Are you having fun? I'm sure the bears wwont'harm you. Jazzy is there in spirit.

I haven't picked a favorite scripture yet:/ hopefully they're okay with waiting for a bit. I'll think hard I want to pick a REAL good one.

Tiff said it's Gpas birthday. Will you tell him happy birthday from me? And tell him a letter is on it's way with some pictures. I'm just waiting for the pictures to print.

And the same for your pictures. I got yours this afternoon so I'll send thim first thing in the morning. I hope that's soon enough for you. I tried to get them to you quickly, it's just we have no time to do things around here.

I've been sick for about a week and a half now. It sucks. Bad sore throat, headache, cough, and chest crap. I went to the doctor today cause I can't hack it anymore and he pretty much told me sorry! It's viral. So now I have to pay 25 dollars for some cough syrup. Perfect! lol. I just went, cause if it is something serious, I didn't want it to effect my travel date. People who get sick around their departure have to wait a couple days or weeks, and I just want to get out of here! Lol. It's a great place, but 7.5 weeks is a long time in this small compound.

Could you send me in a dearelder everyone's phone numbers? Just in case I can/want to call people at the airport. Like Nick's, Tiff's, Coco's, Dad's. Ask them what number they want me to call at. Like Coco and Dad if they want me to call their work one. Or if you want to three way, I don't know but if I can have them just inc ase that'd be great!

 

Elder Ballard spoke this last tuesday. It was a real treat. I'm sure getting fed spiritually here! It's kind of a record people don't usually get to hear 1 let alone 2 apostles during their stay. So I'm lucky!!! Love it. We also got a special devotional on 9/11. It was really good. We got to watch some videos, and rememberence videos and then a great talk by our MTC president.

I sure am getting ancy to leave! Getting travel plans will be a blesssing because it'll be tangible evidence that I get to leave and actually start my mission soon! 1.5 weeks

I got pics printed, so I'll be sending that to everyone soon too

 

I love you all so much!!

 

Elder Gardner

9-8-11

Wow! Time is going so quickly here, I can't believe it. Yeah! That's funny you saw Casey and Christy Hughes in SLC. He told me he saw you guys too. I always see someone from Vernal at the Gateway, EVERY time lol. It's so weird. I laughed so hard when you said Gracy said "Rhet's on his mission" it was my favorite. And it's so weird to hear Rhet! All I hear is Elder Gardner It's weird to call people by their first names. SO yeah! I heard the same thing about the calling card. The week before, they sell them at the book store, so I'll just go in the week before And I should get my travel plans next week if my visa is all in order. And right now it's kind of random! Three girls in an advanced spanish district went to the same Consul meeting as me, and one has their visa and is in Argentina, the other two are serving in St. George until theirs come. BUT they were advanced, so they were only here for 3 weeks, we've been here for 6 and 2.5 left so we should be safe. When I know the travel plans I'll let you kn ow ASAP. 3-way calling would be fun, but I don't even know if I'll be able to call. It should be able to happen, but that's only if we have long wait time between flights at airports. And if everything is smooth. If not, it might not happen just a heads up. But I want to talk to you guys So I'll try my best. THe tape thing might be a cool idea! But I would want to talk to Tiff, Nick, and Coco too. But whatever we can work out, I'll be grateful for.

Yesterday during class, they paged Elder Wadman in my district to the travel office, he is going to the Domincan Republic, and he came back and said they told him he was leaving that night at 11:40 for the DR MTC! WHOA! We were all shocked. Sister Schillemat the other sister in our district that left 3 weeks ago for the DR mtc, but he wasn't supposed to. So he was rushing everywhere, and then they called him back in and said just kidding! Lol I guess the MTC President called here and said that an elder didn't show up, so he called the MTC pres here and said send Elder Wadman TONIGHT. Then the other Elder showed up or something. But elder wad got to talk to his parents twice! Lol it was funny.

Yeah I should get a new companion in Argentina and then I'll get a new one every transfer. They just consider the MTC as a 'transfer;'. I haven't had time to get a companion picture taken. We're so busy here and I didn't get the message for that until tuesday because of labor day weekend and the mail and stuff. BUT we are taking it today, and I'll go get one printed soon and then mail it. We can't email pictures here because all we can do is email and language study on the computer.

I hope the shop gets finished for you guys soon! It has felt like a long time.

SPanish is still coming. I kind of feel like I've hit a plateau. But that's okay. I'm still working, and looking forward to being in Argentina and improving that way. only 2.5 weeks left! Hopefully! Lol I'm getting anxious to get out of ehre. I like it, but it's hard to be in a confined area for this long! Especially when I'm used to at least leaving a city at least once a month. lol. It's hard sometimes.

Dad! I'm glad the elk scouting is coming a long, and that Rod won't give you bullets He's lookinng out for me. I'm expecting a 6X7 hanging in the shop when I get home.

I can't believe Gracy is already in Preschool! That's not allowed. Tiff, Nick, and Cor always say it's weird that I'm in college, and stuff but now I really understand! That is soooo weird to me that she is starting preschool.

Levi Watkins was supposed to get here yesterday, I'm still looking for him. I see Layken, Shellie, and Katie Palmer allll the time. It's fun to see familiar faces. They all say hi and give you virtual hugs back.

Things here are feeling really repetitive, and a lot of the learning and stuff has taken place, so now I'm just anxious to apply it. And actually get to Argentina. NOthing really amazing new. I'm so thankful for Pdays and sunday/tueday devotionals. It seems like Thurs/Sund/tues are break days throughout the week. THe spirit is so strong those days because of the temple, and devotionals. We always have great speakers. We have the 70 here a lot. It's really cool.

Today I did sealings for the first time in the temple. It was really cool to be a part of. There was a spanish speaking sister participating also so we got to talk for a second. I'm really anxious to be immersed in the language. well, I better go! I miss you guys a lot! Think of you often . Thanks so much for the package!

Love you!

Elder Gardner

9-1-11

Hey all! Things are going well. I got the Drivers license and my debit card :) no worries. And the gum! Love it! It's sort of not allowed, but it's the best present ever. Also I got your other package today. Thank you SO MUCH! Best day ever. Also. I found my glasses cleaner and other scriptures marker stuff, so no worries. It was just burried deep in my luggage so I couldn't find it. So I see Lakyn tons! And I saw Shellie today, and Katy Palmer. Still looking to See Levi Watkins though. I see a ton of people from EFY over my years, but I only recognize faces.   I'm doing A LOT better teaching. I don't use notes anymore, and I just listen to the Spirit about the things I need to teach. I just study material during my personal study and then have all of this material and piece it together as we teach. We've started practice teaching too before we teach so that helps. Sad Pearl Preece died! We all loved her.

Gracy is sooo funny. I love hearing all the stories everyone tells me. I get stories from you, nicky, and amber. I love it :) I wish I could talk to her on the phone! :( She's going to be so big when I get back. I love all the cookies! I don't have a favorite, so no worries :) ANd thanks for always sending stuff! I love it.

I'm glad you guys are getting stuff done at gpas. That's nice of Nicky to grab stuff for me, she's the best. I'm half way through! Actually more than that! We leave sept 26. NO flight plans yet, they usually come the week before. But it's changed from the 27 to the 26 so I think that it will stay that day. SO they actually tell us that there aren't "any rules" about calling the family in the airport on our traveling days. Our branch presidency kind of hinted that we should if we have the means and are able to make it happen. So you might be getting a call on the 26! I'll let you know when my flight plans are so you can know when to be prepared.

Dad, you better find a huge elk. Don't settle. I'm not missing out so you can settle for a wimpy bull! :) Not being there, makes me really want to be there :)

I hope your hip is better mom!

Sorry this letter is jumbled. There is NO time to fix corrections lol.

Spanish is improving! I love it. Some days I get really frustrated, but that's life. I'm seeing huge improvement so that's all that matters. I've started comparing the BOM in spanish to english and that's really helped. We also got a new branch president because our old one is going to be the new temple president in Costa Rica! Whoa right? They're both great men, our old and new pres. We also got a new teacher becavuse school started. I like our old one better, he was an aamzing teacher.

Elder Holland actually came and spoke at our Tuesday devotional. WOW! I've never heard a member of the 12 or 1st pres speak before. It was life changing. I definitely understand the importance of a mission. It was like the coolest experience of my life. He is an amazing person. He gave so much great advice. Maybe i'll write a letter and send it to you guys with some info cause I have no more time lefrt!

Gotta go!

Love you guys

Elder Gardner

email 8-24-11

Hey ya'll! It's been a month. WHOA! it went by so quickly. I can't believe it. I saw laykin today! like 20 min ago actually lol. She was really excited to see someone that she knew. I wrote her a welcome to the MTC note with some pointers lol. The bookcliffs weekend is this weekend yes? I hope you find the big bull Went to the temple again today. We're going to do sealings next week and see how that is. That'll be cool. I'm glad you guys want to serve a temple mission! Any ideas of where you want to go?? Lol sorry I wrote in pencil. I had several people say they can't read it. My handwriting in pencil is so much better, but I'm dealing with a pen No worries. And dad can send me his new email address if he wants. Whatever works for you guys. I don't think that I'll have a problem saying what happens to me, whatever happens happens! I was told that the Buenos Aires mission South is the most dangerous of the three, so I will probably yhave some scary stuff happen. I saw Steven Skylar Hansen yesterday. He seemed overwhelmed, but happy to be here. He is serving in the Oklahoma City or Tulsa mission, I can't remember which one. The one with the panhandle so I think Tulsa. I laughed so hard when you said that you were going to park in the temple parking lot. I've thought about having people do that too. I also laughed with Ryder's toilet toy story. He is going to be an awesome funny lil kid. So for the package, go ahead and send it when you get my debit card if you want with: eye glasses cleaner, my other scripture marker from Tiffany with the refills I bought and left on my entertainment center I think, that digital watch if it's not too expensive, water bottle, lots of good non-wire hangers ( the wire ones collapse too easily maybe like 15? roughly.. maybe more if possible?), drivers license, debit card, some more regular ankle white socks from my old clothes, and what ever else you wanna send. That's a lot of stuff, sorry! If you wanna send something else I love all kinds of candy and stuff but kit-kats, 100 grands, sweedish fish, starbursts, skittles are my favs. And I really want some Oh's! cereal. Theyr'e in a small tiny box at walmart. The cereal here is nasty and we have to eat it on sundays so we don't have to have cooks working on sundays. Thanks about the blog stuff! it would suck to lose an investigator over something so silly. If i don't let you know what's okay to put on there, just be VERY carefull. Thanks a bunch. and sending emails to me, I think i'd do fine with whatever info comes about. The Bailey thing wasn't a distraction, I was worried, but the spirit helps me stay determined. so whatever you feel is best. And thanks fro the cookies! They were sooo good. And the rest of my district liked them too Since they're fresh, they go bad quickly so I ahve to share. 

 

The church flew in the Argentine Consul to meet with all of the missionaries going to Argentina for their visas. That was way cool we just talked with him for like an hour just about the country and stuff. I'm SO very excited to get down there. And finally start applying the stuff I'm learning. And immersing myself in the language will really help me get the hang of it all. The tutor skipped out on me again, but then rescheduled. We had a meeting yesterday and it went really well. My biggest problem is understanding what people say because it's hard to translate in your mind with how quickly they speak. But that's part of learning. My teacher suggested to watch conference talks in spanish during my language study to help me get used to hearing them speak. The TRC is just volunteers from the community come in and talk with us. It's sort of a lesson in the sense of we prepare a topic to discuss, but really we just go have a conversation. Most/all of them are members. It's really rare to get a non-member but I guess it could havppen because they are just volunteers. But it's way fun, and really helps with the Spanish. Things are going great! Talk to ya next week.  

 

Elder Gardner

 

Email 8-10-11

Hola mi familia!

I'm missing you guys like crazy. THis week has gone by SUPER quickly. It's unreal.

Tell dad thank you for the letter! And he is more than welcome to send me his own email address if he wants some too

So I sent 3 pictures to you today in a letter, so hopefully they get there. THey are super cheap to print off here because missionaries get 40 percent off at the bookstore. So i got like 8 pics and it only cost 70 cents. I did get my typhoid shot, so no worries I gotcha covered madre. How's grandma doing with her diabetes? Better? You said she was doing great. Grandpa has to get what done again? They sure do have a lot to deal with. I sent all my sisters, you guys, and grandma and grandpa pics. I just sent them all one, and you three. So feel special I hope the letter made sense, i was scramble brained trying to hurry to the computer lab. My car is sold! YES! I'm so glad it's not a burden on you guys anymore. That's cool Kalianne bought it I've been loving the scriptures you put at the bottom of all my letters. A  lil spiritual pick-me-up before I go to bed. So I do get mail everyday but sundays, so if you dearelder on saturdays, I'll still get it. So we get to do temple walks every sunday with our district and then go to the temple to do sessions every thursday. So I decided I'll just tell you guys about my schedule usually in a day we have 1-2 classes of 3 hours each. Those class times we have a teacher that of which only speaks spanish. THey teach us important teaching tactics, and then grammar stuff for spanish. We also teach "investigators" during those times which are just the teachers but they've created like an investigator for us. We have two teachers that alternate classes. 3 days a week we have 2 classes, where they both teach, and 3 days we only have one teacher. No class on sundays. Then every day we have usually 2 hours of personal study where we usually just study scriptures or preach my gospel, or language, or just whatever. Then we have an hour of language study where usually the advanced classes come in and we just talk to each other only in spanish. Then 5 days a week we go to teh computer lab to do "tall" which is basically a mormon version of rosetta stone but is way helpful. Then we have 3 meals a day, and companion study in there too, and gym time 5 days a week (i've been doing really good! Running 3.5 miles every day). Then sunday and tuesdays we have devotionals at night and then testimony meetings after that. Andf then of course on sundays sacrement and stuff as well as a LOT of personal study time. Tuesdays  we have "service oppurtunities" where we just go clean the buildings here lol. And yeah! basically it. It's just intense studying all the time. Oh yeah! Saturdays, starting this saturday, we start the "TRC" which is where real people in the community, members and non-members, come to the MTC and we teach them in our language. So that will be interesting. Oh and thursdays we have freetime all day until 6, then we have class. Except we go to the temple at 9. Today we did initiatories because I had a hair cut appointment, and they were really cool! I love the temple. PS my hair is... reallty short But it feels nice to have it shorter! So the food isn't good anymore.. i only like the breakfast items and the other ones I have to choke down lol. Not so yummy.. I miss your cooking! But I haven't gained any weight, so happy days.

 

This week I had a couple bad/hard days. I can tell I'm being worked on. THey're usually only half bad days, so that's a plus One lesson to "Hugo" our teacher that is an investigator went really badly. We challenged him to get baptised and he's an alcoholic and a catholic so he said that he didn't think he could quit and that we couldn't help him because we've never helped anyone else overcome addictions and then he kept saying he's already baptised and we said it wasn't under proper authority, but that didn't go well. We sure learn a lot, and these are really good examples I'll probably be dealing with a lot. So Elder Mcq was really sick on Sunday, so we went to sacrement then had to stay in the apartment. WHich was okay by me, I needed a nap terribly! I'm so tired all the time. SO the next day, I took him to the doctor and we got to go off campus to get medicine at the clinic nearby, that was a fun experience. It was weird to be in the real world. And it was the BYU campus so I kept looking for like the Franciscos and friends I knew So Spanish is coming along! But I'm not at the level as everyone else is, so my teacher offered me and Elder Wadman a special tutor. It made me feel like the stupid kid in the class, but it should really help, so i'm not going to complain. And hopefully I'll get way good and it'll help a lot SO yesterday we were teaching GLoria our other teacher/investigator and usually I use a script written down to help me with spanish, BUT! Yesterday I did almost the whole lesson with no script! And could answer and follow questions I'm really improving and it feels great. That lesson went amazing. We found out she had cancer, but she is in recovery so that's good. And she has a hard time understaind we are spirits that lived prior to this life and will be resurrected.. but we have great scriptures to back it all up.  I gave my first melchezidek priesthood blessing! Itw as way cool. Sister Eversole was really sick tuesday night, so she asked us to and I got to. It was cool. And I annointed Elder Mcq during his bliessing on sunday.

 

Well i only have 10 minutes left and still have to email Tiffany! Love you guys so much

Pday (Thursdays) email

Hey mom and fam!

 

Things are going great. I have gotten all your letters! I think the best way to continue is for you to dearelder me, and I will reply with emails. We only get 30 minutes to email all our family every week. So when you email and stuff time is spend reading it. So then I could just get the letters, then reply on Thursdays in the computer lab. I love getting letters! So send me however many you want Pass the word on to the rest of the fam that letters are muy bien. I can only email you, dad, sisters, and gma and gpa if they emailed. So I guess it's letters for friends! That's okay But it makes pdays very busy. I wrote 9 letters today.

Yesterday was rough.. the language was frustrating, and I got flustered and stressed out. But the Lord works miracles. It was definitely a trying day, but I'm bound to get some of those in the next two years. Today we got to go to the temple. It was MUCH better today than it was my first time through. I could just sit back and participate instead of worrying what to do next. The Provo temple is beautiful. I love that the MTC is so close! We get to go on district temple walks every Sunday, it was definitely one of the highlites. Wow there is so much to say, and I only have 21:26 minutes left and still to email Tiff! Still haven't heard from Nick and Coco yet.

Tell Grandma Gardner I love and miss her very much! If you could include her address in your next letter, that would be great. Then I can just mail her letters too.

I'm glad you didn't have strep! My cold has been winding down. I still get coughing fits every morning around 9.. but all is well. I got Elder McQuivey sick, he's not too happy with me. I love my district so much. We all get along so well, and we have created a very close family relationship that will stay strong for the next 8 weeks. Hermana Schilemat leaves in 2 though to finish her training at the Dominican Republic MTC. I really miss you guys! I think about you often.

The food here isn't terrible.. but it's not the best either. It's definitely a lot harder to stay healthful than I thought. Especially when no one else is watching what they eat.

I got the package of cookies! I loved them! (along with the rest of my district.) They were so yummy and tasted almost home-made. I am really enjoying myself. It really is hard though. We had to give a lesson yesterday, and we have another one tonight..

Hahaha yesterday during my lesson I was trying to say "Sin is a choice" which would be "Pecado es eleccion" but I accidentally said "Pescado es eleccion" which means fish is a choice. Lol we all had a good laught about it. Spanish is coming, but it sure is hard. The teachers don't give you any slack. They all speak only in spanish. I wish that they did 3 weeks preach my gospel training in English, then do 5 weeks of just language training. Because it's very hard to get to know the preach my gospel well when you have to worry about the language aspect.

I love that I can feel the spirit so much here. It is a comforting thing to rely on. It makes it much easier to continue with faith when one can constantly feel the Lord's presence.

Well I love you! It's nice to finally write back.

Looking forward to some letters Tell Nick and coco about writing letters,and I'll reply with emails. Just tell them to include their emails in the dearelder.

 

Love you!

 

Elder Gardner

2nd Letter from Rhet

We just got our second letter in the mail today.  Rhet said his "P" day is Thursdays so maybe we'll get an email from him then.  His Spanish is coming along.  He's already praying in Spanish.  He had to prepare his first lesson in Spanish and is preparing a talk for Sunday in Spanish in case they call on him to speak.  He said it's hard to write in complete English now because his mind is thinking strictly in Spanish.  He loves his teachers and is meeting some really cool people.  He sees Elder Loosle, Elder Boren and others from Vernal alot.  He said he is beginning to feel the spirit while speaking and hearing Spanish.  That's amazing!

Farewell

A lot went on a few weeks ago...a lot of playing, eating, 4 wheeling, a temple session, and a farewell.  Not nearly enough picture taking, though.  

Such a great uncle.  The nieces and nephew love him.

So do we.

GREAT babysitter...

Lots of fun family time.

Awesome day at the temple.

So much fun with the baby bro.

We were busy with the food and visiting at the farewell dinner that we didn't get any pictures, such a bummer.  It was a great time, though.  The whole week was much more emotional than I had expected.  So glad we got to have some fun with the funnest guy ever.  I guess we will share him with the people of Argentina for a bit.  They are lucky.