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