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.