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

 

3-25-13

I love Hermana Kirk! Yeah she was in my zone in Adrogue. She is super funny. and her accent is awesome. lol. 

Woo! Two talks in one day :) Who do you think I am, a missionary or something??? :) NAh that`s fine. But Just wondering, are there any topics assigned or anything that they want me to speak about?? And let`s not do the dinner thing then, I`m soooooo down with just chilling at the house :) 

It`s cold out there?? It`s cold out here too... sweaters!!! I am using my sweaters again :) All my clothes are starting to get nasty lol. They will last until I get home, but my shirts are starting to turn like a yellow color, and all my pants are ripped, and my shoes are falling apart. lol. Luckily I have that new suit, so I can go to church and have nice clothes and not look homeless. I`m probably going to leave all of my clothes here though... nothing fits anyway all my shirts are made for fat Rhet so I`ll probably just donate my clothes to the mission home or to the ward or something like that if that`s okay with you. I think I`ll take my suits home, and maybe we can get them tailored? The one green suit, I never wore. Maybe once on the mission, but it`s just toooo big. The black one I used every time, until I got the new one, but I`ll probably bring that one home... But I`m just going to leave all my bedding stuff too, my sleeping bag and my pillow and stuff because I won`t need it. 

I did get my package! Sorry I totally spaced about telling you. And FYI I really liked that paisely tie you gave me... lol. So I am switching it out for another ugly tie that I don`t want and then keeping that one :) The other red one... yeah.... that one is ugly. :) Did you get those from DI or something?

A new weight set sounds awesome! I`m going to have to start exercising when I get home to not get fat again... here we walk all day long so I don`t really worry about it... 

Well I love you guys, and we`ll talk next week!

 

Rhet

 

PS They asked me what airport I am going to fly home to today, I`m telling them Vernal for sure. 

PSS They are havingt problems getting the paperwork to renew my visa before I go home. Hopefully they get it all worked out before we go home. IF I leave illegally, I either can`t enter the country for ten years, or we`ll have to go to the Argentine consulate and pay him like 300 dollars... so hopefully they get it worked out before I leave. 

 

3-18-13

Hey family!!!!

So things are going super well :) I love my new area, my new comp, and the ward! This ward is having a lot of success right now, so it´s a good change from ______. The ward actually works. It´s weird. The first counselor is a very strict person, but that´s why the ward works I think. This is the first ward I´ve been in with ward missionaries that actually know how to work and DO work. The ward mission leader got home from his mission a month ago... so he knows exactly what to do. He is actually talking to me a lot lately because he wants to go to the U of U to study medicine. I told him we should room together :) 

So this week we were able to help _______ get baptized. I just met her this week, but she had only received two lessons, so we finished teaching her the lessons, and got the interview done and taken care of, and she got baptized yesterday after church. She has 16 years, and is a really smart girl. She asked me to baptize her, so yeah, I can´t complain about the week! 

This next sunday, we have a special stake conference and it´s directed by an apostle, and then in May Elder Cook is coming to our stake center for another special stake conference. This stake is one of the only stakes where the members know how to work. It is a well knownn fact about the stake, and it has a lot of success because of the members. I don´t know if it´s because the mission president belongs to this stake, or if it´s just because they are awesome. But either way, I´m glad to be here. It will be a good place to finish my mission. 

There is a couple in our ward that are from St. George! Lol. Funny right? The dad is from here, from this stake, and went to study in Utah and met his wife there. They come here and live here for 3 months every year and so they are here right now. They are super cool though. they kept running up to me yesterday to talk. I think they miss speaking in English or something. 

I don´t know about the dinner thing. It´d be nice, but a lot of work and stuff. I´m going to be super tired too. Plus when would we do it? After my homecoming talk? And from which ward? 

 

Love you guys! We´ll talk next week.

 

Elder Gardner

3-11-13

Hey family!

So I have news! I did get transferred, and I got a new comp. I am now in an area called Parque Baron, in the zone Banfield (where the mission home is). I`m excited for a new area, and I`ll be here until I go home more than likely. My new comp is Elder ________ from Chile. He goes home one transfer before me, so we`ll probably both end up dying here in this area. He`s super nice. It`ll be a good transfer I think. Right now, this area is having a lot of success so we`ll see how it continues!

 

This last week my old comp  had his parents come visit him because they were traveling in Buenos Aires, and they took us to lunch :) YUMMY! We ate really well, and they were super nice. They live in Cancun right now, and told me I for sure have a place to stay if I ever want to visit :) His parents are musicians; the mom sings, and the dad plays guitar. They are REALLY good. That`s why they were here in Argentina, they were invited to do a tour here. 

Pics are super hard right now because the computers here are a mess, and they are full of viruses so I have to be reallllllly careful. Two weeks ago I tried again, and it erased ALL of my pictures. Luckily you guys sent me two jump drives so I had to copies of all mypictures, but it was a mess.... and it freaked me out. So yeah. I will get them to you asap. Is pres mcclellan the new stake pres in the stake? Who are his counselors?

 Saying goodbye to everyone in Adrogue, everyone made me promise them that I will come back, I told them in Octubre we are planning our trip. And they are all excited to meet you guys. How many days are you planning on staying? Don`t forget that two days of those will be traveling. Have you already started you papers for your pasport? It would be best to have them all done before I get home so we can just book the flights and hotels and be done and not have to worry. 

That`s awesome about ______ :) He will love it. That is so crazy about ________ already being home. Ic an`t believe it still.

Wow another one of my comps went home today. Elder _______ left. That is soooo weird for me. In 4 days, I will be home in 4 months! Super crazy. 

I`m feeling a little better, but I still have a stupid cold. It`s been like 5 weeks now... BOO! I bought new scriptures for me in Spanish. My others ones have been destroyed, so I wanted new good ones for me to take care of and bring home. 

Well I love you guys, and will talke to you next week :)

 

Elder Gardner