4-29-13

HEy family!

 

Things are going well. Time is already flying by super quickly... With helping my comp prepare for him going home, it´s crazy to think that that will be me in several weeks. But I still have time :) So I will use it to my advantage and work as hard as possible. We are still going strong with lessons and investigators. If everything works out perfectly this week we should have 3 baptisms on Sunday. Pray for them! Their interviews are on thursday. 

President had to close a lot of areas this last week because of the lack of missionaries.... stupid visa problems. Us gringos are a dying breed! Soon it will be a mission only filled with latins. Which is fine! It´s better to serve in your own country anyway. I think I lost 6-8 months of my mission trying to learn the language where if I were serving in the US I could have jumped straight into the work. But I am grateful for my experiences, and wouldn´t trade them for anything. It was EXACTLY what i needed. and that´s whythe Lord put me here. 

 

THat´ll be a nice break for Dad to be able to have another day off. Give you guys some more time together. 

Good news! They finally got the paperwork to start my visa papers to leave legally! So we shouldn´t have any problems to come back :) I was super happy. Everything should work out perfectly. 

And in only 2 weeks we´ll be talking on skype :) WE´ve already got a family lined up to use their computer. It should go perfectly! Lov eyou guys and we´ll talk soon.

 

Elder GArdner

 

4-22-13

Hey family!!!!

For USU Don´t worry about it, I´ll handle everything when I get home. I don´t want to deal with that stuff while I´m out here, plus I´ll have all the time in the world when i get home :) Thanks for the offer though. If things don´t work out like they should, it´ll be for a reason, and I can go in JAnuary. I´m not rushed. 

The cows names shall be.. Alma and Amulek in the honor of missionaries everywhere :) And yes letters go to the same address.

Today was trasnfers. My companion and I are staying together. He´s going home this transfer! 6 weeks, and then 6 weeks after, I will be home! Crazy... Today a couple elders´ families came to pick them up. It was really funny because the elders all give their last testimonies, and one elders´ parents had gotten lost and hadn´t showed up yet, and during his testimony they showed up and walked up to the front row, you should have seen his face! It was soo funny. HE was just giving his parents then he just lights up and is like and there are my parents!!!! 

This last week went well. i learned a lot of good things. Important things. I still have 3 months, and I´m going to finish strong. This ward is amazing, and they really help out the elders. There is a lot of work here, so no complaining on my part. My only hope and prayer is that I can be the tool the Lord need for these people. That I am intune with the spirit enough to know how to help them. THat´s all missionary work is. It´s not how good of a teacher you are, or how much people like you. It´s when there are doubts, or people aren´t doing what they need, that you have the powers of heaven on your side to tell you what you need to do or say. That´s why being sanctified is key. 

It´s gotten hot again here these last couple of days. I am dying! I am not a person that likes the heat... I SOOOO prefer the cold to the hot. 

I just looked at the u of u website, and it´s only a 3.7 GPA for full tuition! So I´m even closer than I thought. And for USU they have one that is close, for a 3.6-3.79 gpa for 6,000 dollars. but only for fall semester. So either way I´m probably going to go to USU uintah basin for a while until my GPA is higher. I want at least a 3.7 

It´s crazy to see friends coming home already. And especially elders here that are my friends that leave is weird. I keep knowing less and less elders! the next traanser and the transfer that I go home are the two largest groups. Between the two groups, 49 elders and hermanas are going home. That is 1/4 of the mission! And the problem is that we aren´t receiving any new visas... :/ so this transfer they had to close down a lot of areas.... Another elder (one of my comps) HAs decided to come to utah for school. He wants to go to the u of u as well. But it´s super expensive for international students, so he wants to come live with me until he has residency and then apply. AHha I told him he is welcome! He is the one from Cancun who´s parents came a couple weeks ago and took us to dinner. 

Well family, love you lots! And we´ll talk next week :)

 

Elder Gardner

4-15-13

Hey family! 

So Vernal should be a for sure thing. I don`t see why I couldn`t if we have an airport here. Plus when Cadin left, he left out of Vernal. So the church is able to do it. I didn`t give them a back-up plan, so Hermana Mayer will make it happen :)

Don`t worry about giving me anything for my birthday! I`m doing fine! I don`t need money, nor anything else. I`m doing perfect. :)  I`m trying to decide what to get everyone!!! it`s a hard decision. 

The pearl of great price is awesome. Every time I read it, I just am bombarded with information! lol. I read Alma 7 today, it was amazing. Probably one of my favorite chapters of the BOM. And I love Ether 12 too. They are amazing ones. I really like the whole book of Mosiah as well. we were told that missionaries learn in their two years of service, what normal members learn in 20 years! I feel like I`ve learned more about the gospel here, than I ever knew before the mission. It`s amazing. 

I really hope I don`t lose my spanish... I really want to find a job speaking spanish. But we`ll see. I`ve had some ideas about school! So I heard that at the U if you have a 3.8 GPA or above, you get a full tuition scholarship as a transfer student. I think I have a 3.68, so not too far away. It`s the same at BYU as well. So maybe I`ve been thinking about maybe my first semester back at USU Uintah Basin to get my GPA up, and then I can qualify for the scholarship. Just some thoughts. instead of jumping right into a financial mess right when I get home. We`ll see how it all goes though.

And yes! On mothers day we will be able to talk :) Love you guys!!!

 

Elder Gardner

4-8-13

Hey family!

 

So yeah, there have been tons of floods out here. La Plata is like destroyed! All of conference we were gathering food and clothes for the people over there. I´`m  sure the elders in La Plata are helping out with the actual clean up, but us over here aren`t doing anything in la plata. 

Conference was awesome. I watched it all in spanish this time. 

Lizard rock sounds awesome right now!!! Haha. That was a funny april fools prank :) 

Over here things are going well! I started getting sicker, so I called the doctor and he said i have another sinus infection, so I got on some more meds, and I`m feeling better. All is well! 

This last week was crazy! We are starting to drop a lot of people because they aren`t progressing at all... so yeah. This week will be a lot of looking for new people, and dropping old people. 

My big goal right now is I want to read the BOM before I go home, but do it in spanish. It`s super cool! I have leanred a lot of cool stuff and it`s a whole different perspective. I am almost finished with Mosiah, so I am right on track and should finish in plenty of time. I don`t think I`m going to finish the bible before I get home though... I also wanted to do that, but oh well. I can get that when I get home. 

I`m starting to look for stuff to give to people, and I`m not sure what I want to give people.

Today, I`m going to try to send pictures! So hopefully you will get another email :) 

Hope all is well family!!!! 

 

Love yaA

 

Elder Gardner

 

4-1-13

Hey family!

 

So today has been crazy... I hate holidays in Argentina... it´s terrible. They shut everything down, so it´s impossible to do anything. And besides that, every other day is a holiday here because no one wants to work. So I´m already late, and don´t have any time, so i´m going to keep it short.

Things are going well! We have a ton of work here... as of right now we have 24 people with baptismal dates, and from the last two weeks we have 21 new investigators. Things are hopping here! We baptized yesterday, a lady named _______. She´s really quiet, but she was super excited to get baptized. I didn´t know if she was going to be ready or not, but last week at the stake conference, she traveled by herself 40 minutes to go watch it! So that was the determining point for me, and I could see she was willling to put in her part. And she completely changed her life aroung, so that is awesome. 

________, (the last baptism) got sick today because she went with the youth to southern Argentina on a youth trip, so she didn´t come to church and wasn´t able to get confirmed... that´s a bummer because now she has to wait two more weeks. 

Our closest family to baptism right now is really struggling.  They love the church, and love the lessons, but never can come to church. So that sucks, and is a problem for us... we´ll see what we can do about that. 

There is never enough time as a missionary. I´m busier than i was before! I don´t think I can ever complete anything I need to, not one thing completely. It´s terrible but there just isn´t enough time. We need like a secretary or something for each companionship. That would be useful. 

Well sorry, but I´ve got to go, we have a cita right now!!!

 

Chao!!!!

 

Elder Gardner