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