My Weekly Report...

Hola Everyone!!!

Hey first of all, things are going great here in the CCM (yes Colin, they are really great days every day because being a missionary is way fun!!!). I got Mason´s postcard in the mail today, THANKS!

This week we had Saint Patrick´s Day or Día de San Patricio. They don´t really celebrate it here in South America, but we did in the CCM. We taught all of the Latinos what it was and watched their perplexed faces as they wondered why we Americans would celebrate such a bizarre holiday in which everyone runs around pinching the people who don´t wear green, haha. Some of them just shrugged and went on with their day, but a lot of them ran back to their rooms and changed their ties so that they could participate. It was really fun! We are really starting to become good friends with the new group of Latino and North American missionaries that arrived last week. And my Spanish is improving so I can even have a decent conversation with the Latinos that don´t know any English at all.

To answer your mail questions, I don´t have the mission field address with me right now, but I can send you a letter with it in it later. I still am trying to find out if I can send my memory card with my pictures home. It takes approximately 12-14 days for me to receive a letter or envelope here at the CCM from the States.

This week for Proselitismo we got to go out for 7 hours in the actual city instead of the outer town like before. It was a really cool experience. We started walking around the streets and this time we knew it was going to be harder to get the people to stop and talk with us because there were stores everywhere and although there were a lot of people around many of them have obviously seen the missionaries around before because they have some pretty creative techniques for avoiding us... Some people would randomly take out their cell phones as soon as they saw us coming and pretend to talk on it and then put it away as soon as they were a safe distance away. Others would completely ignore us, others used the "I´m Catholic and I don´t want to hear anything you have to say right now" and others tried to say that they were too busy to talk.

We tried to be as persistent as we could and got a couple of people to finally give up making excuses and listen to us. One of my favorite contacts that day was a man named José. He was sweeping the water out of his gutter (something I see a lot of down here) and we asked him if he had a minute to spare for us, and he said ¨Yeah I have time. I´m not like the others around here who make up excuses or don´t listen because I belong to another religion." He said that he had an open mind for hearing whatever anyone wanted to talk to him about and he did. He listened to us and we had a really good conversation and we explained why we were here and the love we had for the gospel. He seemed very interested and accepted our pamphlet promising that he would read it and pray about it.

The other really good experience we had was towards the end of the day... We were about to start making our way back to the bus when we saw a father and his three kids sitting on the sidewalk up ahead. So we walked up to them and started talking with them. I felt the spirit very strongly as I testified and taught what I knew to be true! He was Catholic yet very kind and considerate when we discussed our message. The thing that touched me the most with them was when the father said, ¨I want my boys to be as strong and willing to serve as you three are, to leave your home, family, and everything behind for 2 years and go serve God in a foreign country, trying to communicate in a new language, yet having the courage to share what you know with random strangers all day long. That´s the kind of love for God I want my boys to have when they grow up.¨

It was so nice to hear that after a long hard day of being rejected many times and ignored. I know that this work is for God and that he has entrusted us to do it. He called me, a young 19-year-old man to come teach as his Son would teach to strangers who someday I know won´t be so strange to me. I know that someday I will be able to see many of these people I meet here in the life to come and we can all share in the joy of our God together.

I know that this church is true and that there is no better thing to do than to work with all of your heart, might, mind and strength. Especially when things are difficult or when people are rejecting you, that is the time to stand up for what we believe in and share our testimony of what has blessed our life. I keep thinking to myself... How would my life be right now if I didn´t have the gospel of Jesucristo in it? and when I think of that, it helps me remember why I´m out here and how all these people must feel to not know the purpose of this life, where we go after death, how they can be forgiven of their mistakes, and to think that they are all alone in this world.

We tried to go back and teach Brenda about 3 times this week but nobody ever answered the door, so we are passing her name on to the full time missionaries in this area and left her a note in her mailbox bearing our testimony of this gospel and especially the Book of Mormon. We can only pray now that she will answer the door when the other missionaries come by.

I know that we have a Savior and Father in Heaven who is watching over each and everyone of us each day. He knows the desires of our hearts and will always be willing to help us reach our goals when we set them with an eye single to the glory of God.

One thing that I´ve learned this week is that we can´t receive spiritual gifts before we ask for them. I made an effort to be more specific in asking my Heavenly Father for spiritual gifts that can help me better serve the people here and teach with the spirit to fulfill their needs.

Pedid, y recibiréis, llamad, y se os abrirá, amén.(Ask and ye shall receive, knock, and it shall be opened unto you).

Love,
Elder Gardner