WE WELCOME ELDER GARDNER!

We apologize for the delay in getting this letter to you. We have moved our mission offices and have had some technical difficulties. We hope you enjoy the pictures! Sorry for the delay.

20 April 2010
Dear Gardner Family,

Today we went to the airport in Montevideo, Uruguay, to pick up Elder Gardner and welcome him into our mission. He arrived a little tired, but full of excitement and enthusiasm to get to work.

We have spent the day with him getting to know him, and we have recognized that he will be an asset to us here in the mission. With this time that we have had with him he has shown many talents that will be put to use in blessing the lives of many wonderful people.

Today was the day of transfers; he met his trainer and then headed off for his first area so that he could start ¨ [bringing] to pass the immortality and eternal life of man¨.

We are now sending you a photo that we took with him this afternoon. As you can see, he is extremely excited and ready to start. We are so excited to have your son with us and hope that you receive this photo with excitement and pride in all that your son has done to prepare himself for the opportunity that he now has to serve the Lord for the next two years.

Love,

The Da Silva´s

URUGUAY! (First area: Bella Italia)

My charger works and all is well here in Uruguay. I have a new mission home address (don`t worry my other mail will still get to me but here is the new address):

Elder Jeremy Gardner
Misiòn Uruguay Montevideo
Dalmiro Costa 4635 Bis.
C. P. 11400 Montevideo
Uruguay

We didn`t get to go through the the temple here yet. I arrived safely in Uruguay and am currently serving in the Bella Italia area (part of Montevideo in the northeast section). Our time in the mission home was short but great. We ate, met President and Hermana Da Silva and met our trainers. My trainer is Elder Jimenez from Panama. He doesn`t speak much English and is a triple degree black belt in kung fu. He is a great missionary and a great example. He has had a rough time before the mission. He is the only member from his entire family and doesn`t have the support of his family (they don`t even write him). It would be really good for him if you mailed him a letter or package or e-mail or something so he has something to read. He doesn`t speak much English, but he understands a lot of what he reads and I can tranlate what he doesn`t understand. He really is a great and hard working missionary and could use the support of you if you can do that for him.

We were placed in a difficult situation here in the Bella Italia area... We are in a white wash (an area where President removed both missionaries and wants to start anew with 2 new missionaries) and neither of us knew the area or the ward or anybody here when we arrived. It`s been difficult because our area is so big and we have been a little lost. But thanks to the amazing Ward Mission Leader here we have been able to make a lot of progress. He is an amazing man who is really dedicated to his calling and helping us here. He is practically a missionary! He works early in the morning and late at night but has the afternoons off and spends nearly every free moment he has with us visiting less active members and investigators and helping us get to know the area.

We had no investigators to work with when we arrived so we had to basically start anew (probably why there was a white wash here) and so we now have 9 investigators that we are working with and there are a lot of inactive and menos actives to work with here. The ward is big but there is a retention problem here that we are going to try and change. We are doing well and know that we are going to do very well together here and have much success.

I have learned very much this week and have spoken Spanish ever since I arrived here, so it`s weird to speak in English now because half the time I am thinking in Spanish. Thanks for all of your support and I want to let you all know that the Lord is leading and guiding this work. I have been blessed with the gift of tongues insomuch that I can nearly understand everything that my companion and all the other people here say. I know that this church is true and that miracles do happen. Every day I see countless miracles in my life! I feel the spirit very strongly every day here and love the life of a missionary.

Our house is small and clean NOW... It was pretty dirty when we arrived, but we cleaned it up and it is now a house of order. We have to wash our own clothes by hand here and pray that it doesn`t rain when we hang them out to dry. We also have a pet chicken named Shakira. She lays eggs for us and we don`t know what to do with her because we aren`t supposed to have pets as missionaries, but she was there when we arrived and the people who gave us the key to the house told us to keep her and eat the eggs if she lays any.

I love you all and hope that all goes well. You are in my prayers and I have faith and strength knowing that there are many doing the same for me. With faith, anything is possible in the Lord.

Gracias, hasta luego.

Elder Gardner

P.S. Elder Jimenez wants to say something to you mom and dad:

Es un verdadero privilegio poder ser el compañero del Elder Gardner. Yo espero que ustedes confian en mi en que podre ayudarle en todo lo que necesitan.
Elder Jimenez

MY LAST DAY IN BUENOS AIRES!

Hola todos,

¡Feliz Cumpleaños Mama! Happy Birthday! My present to you is this letter on your birthday! I love you. I hope you are having a wonderful day with the family. I also found out that I still have all my pictures from my camera and am going to send the right memory card this time, but the bad news is that I'm not sure if my camera can recharge here... I tried to recharge it last night and my charger isn't working correctly. I'll try to do it again in Uruguay and then we'll see what's up from there.

Things are going really well and I have all my things packed. I'm just waiting till 6:00 am when I will be leaving the CCM headed for Uruguay!!! I'm so excited and even more excited about going through the Temple in Montevideo. Every day here in the CCM is a good one, but I know that the campo or the field is going to be even better. I can't wait to meet my trainer and start working on building the Kingdom of God everyday.

On this special day I just want to thank you Mom for all that you have done for me in making our home such a great and special place, and for raising me in such a great, loving, and perfect home for learning how to become the missionary I've grown to be and will continue to learn to be. I love you so very much and am eternally grateful for all that you did to help support me and help me get to the point that I am at right now. I hope that you can always have a smile on your face everyday because you know that you did an awesome job in being a great mother. I don't say "you are the best mom in the world" for nothing. I really mean it. I'm here serving the people of South America because of all the loving parents I have, Mom, Dad, and Heavenly Father. I pray for you every day and can walk in the confidence and strength given to me because of your prayers. Thanks for all that you do!

I had my Spanish test this morning that the CCM sends to the Provo MTC to evaluate the difference between what missionaries learn at the CCM vs the Provo MTC and I did great!!! They videotaped me and asked me questions that I had to answer in Spanish and the teacher said that I speak as good as some of the missionaries he's seen in the field who have been out for a whole year. I'm not one bit nervous for the field, but rather really, really, really excited because I know that the Lord will prepare the way and that things will be hard and difficult but I know that I am being watched over and protected. I also know that every day in the mission is exactly what you allow it to be. The better the attitude and the desire to work, the better the day! I have set some goals to help me make my first transfer the best it can be.

My time is short but I want to share with you that I really do love this gospel and I KNOW that it is true. I have felt the spirit testify of the truthfulness of it so many times as I have studied, taught, and lived it. I have felt a witness so strong that I cannot deny the truth of it. I KNOW the Book of Mormon is true and that it is another testament of Jesus Christ, and that it was translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith by the power and authority of God. I know that God loves each and every one of us because we are his children. Jesus Christ is our brother, friend, Lord, Savior, and Redeemer. He suffered for each of us individually and knows every pain, sorrow, worry, and heartache that we have felt in this life and will ever feel in the future. Because of Him and His sacrifice we can have hope and joy for the future for we CAN live with God again and we can be there with our family for eternity!

Smile and rejoice for Christ lives, and we will live once again because of that single act of love and charity of our beloved brother and Savior. You are all children of God, never forget that.

Amor,
Elder Gardner

P.S. My address is the one in Uruguay. It should be posted on the blog and if you have changed your address since I left and want to hear from me, then I will need to hear from you first because I don't have your new address. I want to hear from all of you. Love you.

PICTURES FROM THE MTC

FINAL WEEK IN THE CCM!!!

Hola Todos!

Any more mission calls to report on? Thanks for the updates. It´s been raining for the past 3 days straight! I don´t think I made a mistake on the memory card, but I think there´s one more memory card to check... I take more pictures this Sunday though because it´s my last Sunday here at the CCM. I also got a printed out photo of my group here and all the Latino missionaries leaving on Tuesday with me.

I also get to email again on Monday because it´s our last day here. Then we leave the CCM on Tuesday at 4 am, way early! We arrive in Uruguay after an hour flight and go through the temple in Montevideo with President De Silva and the rest of the missionaries going to my mission. I can´t wait to get to the field and be able to go out proselyting every day and teach the people of Uruguay about this wonderful gospel that has changed my life and I want to help everyone feel the ¨Sunshine in my soul today¨ (or in español ¨Tengo gozo in mi alma hoy¨).

Thanks everyone for your e-mails and letters. I´m so glad to hear from you all. I just want to take a moment to write to all the young men and young women who are preparing to serve their mission now... This is the God´s work and He wants all of you to serve, but not only to serve, but rather to preach His gospel by the spirit. I know that the atonement of Jesus Christ is for everyone because he did suffer and die for each of us individually. If there are any of you that are reading this right now that have something they need to repent of in order to be worthy of the spirit as a constant companion in your life, DO IT NOW!!!

The Lord, our Savior and Redeemer, atoned for us so that we can be forgiven and be happy. I know that He lives and that we are all children of God. This is the church of Jesus Christ, He is the center and focus of it, the Book of Mormon is a testament of Him, the Prophet is a witness of Him and I also am a witness of Him, as a missionary and representative of Christ. It is my calling and duty to call all men unto repentence and as you are preparing to show others the way to Christ and the hope He gives to all that come unto Him and repent, then you need to have the spirit with you, and it´s never too late. This is the work of God. Therefore, we must do it in His way, we cannot hope to accomplish this work in any other way. And for those of you that are remaining on the straight and narrow path, Great Work, keep it up and never give up... Perseverar hasta el fin.

I just felt prompted to say that and if there´s one thing I´ve learned this week it is that we should never put off or ignore the promptings of the spirit. This week has been amazing, and so was proselitismo. I love talking to the people here, and I finally feel like I can say most of what I want to say. Sometimes it takes a lot of time to say it. but I can do it now!!! I can teach about lessons 1-4 in Predicad mi Evangelio, testify, explain how to recognize the spirit, extend commitments, read (and understand most of what I read), and understand what the people tell me (with a few exceptions...), and most importantly I feel confident in my companions (whoever will be my next companion as well as the Spirit) in helping me teach what these people need to hear to gain their own testimonies of this gospel and come unto Christ.

This week we had the Area President, Presidente Bowen, come talk to all the missionaries here at the CCM, and it was amazing. I learned so much from him about how to help resolve the concerns of the people we will meet, and even more from the promptings and impressions of the Spirit. I can´t wait to go to the temple in Uruguay this upcoming week! And I´m excited to meet my trainer and start living the life of a full-time missionary everyday.

I´m short on time now but I will write more on Monday. Until then just know that the Lord is on our side, and when we allow him to lift us up, then all things are possible. ¨All things are possible in a companionship if one of the members is the Lord.¨

I love you all, especially you Mom, Dad, Colin, and Mason.... Thanks for all your support and love. I still await your letter about your temple experience Colin. Colin and Mason keep Mom and Dad laughing and don´t forget to pray and read your scriptures. Smile and be Happy for today is a beautiful day!

Amor,
Elder Gardner

ALMOST DONE AT THE CCM!!!

Hola Everyone!

I´m here to report that everything is going just great and actually, if you can believe it, even better than the past weeks. I´ve enjoyed the little mail that I have received and hope that I can hear from more of you. If it takes a while for me to respond, like more than a month, then that probably means that I never received your letter and it was lost in the mail. (Tell Grandma Linda for me that I received her letter and her package and thanks).

This week has been amazing, partly because of General Conference and partly because of proselitismo, but mostly just because I´m a missionary! The weather is starting to cool down now, so activity time really feels nice outside and I can´t notice the humidity as much. I´ve become really good friends with this new group of Latinos! Nearly all of them know my name by memory now and they said ¨Although you are a Gringo on the outside, you are a Latino at heart¨, except they said it in Spanish... I love the South Americans here!

I´ve improved my skills in soccer (futsol actually which is a mini version of soccer but played on concrete). I scored 2 goals today. I got my hair cut for the 3rd time here at the CCM and either he´s getting better at it or I´m just getting used to his style of cutting, because I think it looks better this time than the other times in the past. Tomorrow we get our picture taken with all the missionaries who will be leaving the CCM a week from Tuesday!!! I´m so excited to get out into the field and be proselyting everyday!!!

There have been many great spiritual experiences this week in devotionals, class, and testimony meetings. We had a really good testimony meeting in which the North American missionaries bore their testimonies of the Libro de Mormón and I felt the spirit very strongly. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that we are so very blessed to have this testimony of Jesucristo in our lives and I want to share it with everyone I can. We also found out that we get to go out for proselitismo for an hour or two during the week in addition to the Saturday of proselitismo, but during the week we must go out with a Latino when we go during the week. I´m way excited for that experience.

Now for my proselitismo experience of this week... It was the best one yet!!! We helped Hermana Silva and Hermano Grosso, from last week, set up conference on their computer so they could watch it and they were so very grateful. Later in the day we were standing in a park getting ready to plan our next move and a man came walking up to us and asked if we were missionaries... and of course we said ¨Sí, Sí Somos misioneros de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Días.¨ Then he asked us where the church was because he wanted to go and he wanted to know when we could come by and teach him more about our church. We didn´t even have to say anything and he was ready to hear our message. He made sure we had his address and knew exactly where he lived and seemed very excited. Sadly, my companionship is being assigned a new area for next Saturday, but we made sure to pass on the reference to the full-time missionaries. I know that the Lord prepares people for us to teach because there is no way that there could be anyone that prepared without us saying a single word to them.

I also had a chance to teach a man in his early 20s the first 3 lessons in Spanish because he kept asking questions that led perfectly into the next part of the lesson! Teaching the way that Preach My Gospel teaches us how to teach really does work!!!

Finally, General Conference was amazing. I took so many notes and learned so very much. My favorite talk was in the Priesthood session on Patience. It was really good for all of the North Americans to hear especially because sometimes we aren´t as patient with the language and other things as we are learning here. We watched all sessions of conference here at the CCM. We watched Saturday morning and Priesthood session after proselitismo and then watched Sat. morning and both Sunday sessions on Sunday. I hope you all watched conference because this was one of the best ones yet, President Monson even said so himself (multiple times).

I love you all very much and hope everything is going well for you. I love this gospel and church! This is the true restored Church of Jesus Christ. I know that Jesucristo died for us and felt every pain, sorrow, sin, and affliction that we have or ever will face in this life and that he wants us to have hope and joy for the future. Yes, the road may be hard at times and we may want to give up when we are asked to do things that are difficult, but I know that the reward is worth it. You can do hard things! I know that you can do hard things because Christ could do hard things and we are never alone in this life. If we allow Him, Our brother, Savior, Redeemer and friend will lift us up to new heights that we could never have dreamed of reaching on our own.

Smile, be happy, for we have been blessed to live in such a great day and age! I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was called of God to be a prophet and that he did translate that book by the power and authourity of God. The Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ, and so are we. Each and every one of us is a testament of Jesus Christ, for when we bear our testimony, it adds to the countless ones who have gone before us. President Thomas S. Monson is the prophet, seer, and revelator in this day and I know that what you heard on conference came directly from God, our loving Heavenly Father.

Love,
Elder Gardner

P.S. This is the address for the mission home:

Elder Jeremy Gardner
Uruguay Montevideo Mission
Horacio Quiroga 6350
Carrasco
1150 Montevideo
Uruguay

You can send letters or packages to this address (the mission home) or you can also send letters from the pouch in Salt Lake. Gracias. Choa!

I'M OFFICIALLY AN OLD-TIMER!

Hola familia!!!

I´m officially an old-timer here now. My district is the next group to leave for the mission field. I only have 2 and a half weeks left here, I´m getting so excited! And we get to watch all sessions of conference this Saturday and Sunday in ENGLISH (there are a lot of gringos here who are really happy about that, haha). We go out for proselitismo as usual and then we get back around 5:30 and then we watch the Saturday morning session after dinner, then the priesthood session right after that (it´s going to be a conference marathon). Then we watch the Saturday afternoon session on Sunday morning followed by lunch, then Sunday morning session, then dinner, then the Sunday evening session after dinner.

I got your package today with the candy and notebooks, thanks! I´m going to need the candy for conference snacks, hahaha. It´s good to hear from you all that you are all doing well. I enjoy reading your emails and seeing the pictures you send. I sent a memory card home in the mail and I hope it makes it to you alright. Let me know when you get it please.

Oh, before I forget... STARTING ON MONDAY, PLEASE HAVE EVERYONE SEND ME LETTERS TO THE MISSION FIELD ADDRESS, because I will be gone from the CCM before they get to me then.

I love you all and miss you and look forward to receiving letters from you. Also, my watch broke and I can´t fix it (and my alarm clock doesn´t work right either). Por favor, I mean please send a new one to the mission home for me (preferably just a watch with an alarm setting on it). I think that will work best. Also I might need a couple more Tide pens. Those things are really helpful here for us missionaries who have a hard time keeping our shirts clean. Gracias!


Alright for this week during proselitismo, we went back to the same area and we had 3citas planned. We started the day off by stopping by our first two citas (Violeta y Carolina) who either were not there or they gave us a false address. So it was dissappointing to start the day off with but we said a prayer and continued on. We didn´t have many people who would stop and listen to us though. It was a really tough morning in general, but then we had lunch and started again.

We said a prayer again and then around the next corner we saw a lady ahead, who called to us when she saw us saying ¨Elderes, Elderes, Venga conmigo¨ (which means, Elders, Elders, come with me). We were excited to have someone who wanted to talk with us! Her name was Hermana Silva, a member! She wanted us to come by her house and talk with her son who was a less active member. We were welcomed with smiles and great hospitality! Turns out that both Hermana Silva and her son Hermano Grosso had served missions in the US before and he knew a little English, but she knew none. He is divorced and has been having trouble with work. We were able to help him feel the spirit again and remember how the church had blessed his life in the past and gave him the address to the church because they didn´t have it because they only moved into the area 3 weeks ago.

I know that we were sent to that family to help them come back to church again. I got the chance to talk on the phone with Hermano Grosso yesterday and he said that they went to church and it was great! It feels really good to have made a difference in the life of someone here. We sang a hymn with them and then they asked me to leave them with a prayer for them and a blessing on their house.

It was a week of many firsts! First time in a house here, first time making follow up phone calls, and the first time singing and praying for a real family here. I´ve been blessed with many opportunities here to serve and I can´t wait for the ones soon to come.

I love you all and I must go soon. Sorry I didn´t have much time to write today. There are a lot of new missionaries here today who need to use the computer to let their families know that they are still alive, haha.

Hasta la proxima semana. I love you all, and Yes Colin, you can steal my room if you need to. Adios.

Amor
Elder Gardner