Sarandi Grande

Hey everyone...

How`s it going with everyone?  Thanks for all the emails, letters, and I received the package from Grandma and Grandpa.  Thank you all so very much.  Well, this week has been full of miracles and adventures!  First of all, I have safely arrived and started working hard in the area of Sarandi Grande, Florida in Uruguay here and I love it. The area is full of country and it`s definitely gaucho territory! 

The branch here is very small but the members here, although few are really great!  There are only 30 members in the branch here, with only 20 active members (a much better percentage than Bella Italia, hahaha.)  I have seen many miracles here in the first week of our work here together with Elder Bermudez. 

Magdalena Gomez's baptism

We even had our first baptism here together in Sarandi Grande last Saturday.  Her name is Magdalena Gomez, and she is a great member now with a great testimony who has overcome many obstacles through her faith and even got baptized while she is pregnant.  She is a great example here for all the members and for us.  And the best part is that she wants to learn how to play piano to play in sacrament meeting here because they don`t have a member who knows how to play, so I`ll be using my piano teaching skills to teach her how to play a few hymns.  She has taken lessons before but needs just a little more help to be able to play here, and I`m excited to start teaching piano in Spanish, that will be awesome.

It has been raining nonstop here for the last week and it`s pretty cold but we`ve been blessed not to get sick and I`ve been grateful for that rain pancho that you sent me in the last package, gracias.  This baptism that we had together was a big deal for this area because not only is the branch so small, but also this area hasn`t seen a baptism in nearly a year.  We feel really blessed to have been a part of this miracle and feel that we have already found some people here that are ready to progress and are excited to see some long awaited success in this area.

The bus broke down here when we were coming to the area from Montevideo last Tuesday and we had to wait for another bus to come by and take us the rest of the way.

Elder Bermudez is the best!  He is short, black and is from Honduras, but has an enormous heart and a great enthusiasm for this work, and together he and I make a great companionship that teaches with a spirit of love that I have never felt so strong before.  I`m so very grateful for him and his great example for me.  He is learning english right now and is actually really good with it.  His english is about as good as my spanish, and he is always smiling and loves church music (which is a perfect combo of the two of us).  All of his family is members and he has been a member since birth.

The area here is beautiful and peaceful compared to the city of Montevideo in my last area, and the people are really nice and friendly here.  There are a few less dogs here but a lot more sheep, cattle, horses, pigs, etc. and the dogs here are definitely crazier and we have to be more careful with them because some of them attack without warning, but thanks to a good companion who knows the area, the spirit, and a backpack (my shield in the armor of God,haha.) we haven`t had any problems and are safe and healthy.  The house is a little smaller than my last house and a little more humble but it`s a good house nonetheless.

President Da Silva is making some big changes and has some new ideas so he has called all the leaders from all the zones and districts to the mission home for a training meeting, and with Elder Bermudez being a district leader here, I am left without my companion until Thursday, so right now I am in the center of Florida in a trio until he returns and we are having a great time and seeing miracles too.  I am getting to know more missionaries and learning a lot now and it`s a great experience and adventure for me.  I`m so excited to be in this area and to be working with such a great companion and zone of missionaries and can`t wait to see what President Da Silva has in store for us all here this week.

Thank you once again for your prayers and words of support and love.  I love you all and miss you, and want you all to know how happy I am and how wonderful it is to serve the Lord every hour of the day.  I see miracles and blessing in every minute and am learning so much from my studies and from following the promptings of the spirit.  That is so great that you got to go to a baptism of Dad`s friend this week.  That`s awesome that you are participating in the work of the Lord in Arizona as well.  Thanks for your service, love and great examples for all our friends in Arizona and keep up the good work and never pass up a chance to share your testimonies with all our brothers and sisters here on the earth.

I know that this church is true and that God is a God of miracles and love.  I know that my Redeemer lives and love me and each one of you with more love than we can imagine.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that there is no greater blessing or happiness than when we are in the service of God and sharing the blessings that we have received through the restored gospel.  I love you and say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Elder Gardner

P.S.  No matter where I am in Uruguay, you can always get mail to me through the mission home, because there is a mail system among the missionaries here from the mission home that distributes the mail once a week to all the areas in district meeting each Tuesday.  Thanks.  Love you -- until next week.