Hola a todos...
Changes came and I am now leaving Camino Carrasco and am going to Belloni (which is really close to my first area, Bella Italia). And not to my suprise... I`ll be starting off in Belloni as a zone leader in a WHITEWASH!!! This will now be my 4th whitewash in the mission (that`s 4/5 areas). A whitewash is when the two missionaries were taken out and two new missionaries come in to start from not knowing any of the members nor the area nor the investigators. But I`m used to starting out in a new area that way, hahaha. You might as well call me elder Whitewash now. My new companion is named Elder Sasseli, he is American and has about 1 year in the mission, but I don`t know much more about him because I`ll meet him tomorrow.
Elder Ferguson will be staying here with Elder Bush and will be having the baptismal service of Daniela Otero this Saturday. She was ready to get baptized last Saturday but the bishopric didn`t want to rush the preparations like we would have had to do, so she will be getting baptized on the 30th of July! She is very excited and her mom is doing about the same.
It`s sad to leave Camino Carrasco with all the great people that I`ve met. but it wasn`t as hard as I expected it to be. Today we went to Gustavo Perez`s house and we made pancakes, eggs and bacon for breakfast and it was really fun. I`m so greatful for the mission and for all the things that it has taught me and blessed me with. I have learned something very important from each and everyone of the people whom I have and helped come unto Christ. They have strengthened my faith and helped me realize how really blessed I have been in my life.
Yesterday, Uruguay won the American Cup of Soccer and we saw and heard enough fireworks here in Uruguay during Pioneer Day, haha. It was also Elder Ferguson`s birthday and we ate cake and tried to share the gospel while the whole world was glued to their tv screens watching the soccer match. It was also Father`s Day here in Uruguay... yeah that`s right... here in Uruguay their holidays are so commercialized that they move back days such as Father`s day so as not to have them be coordinated with Big soccer games and other commercial events. It`s interesting so see what people will do to try and make more money.
I`m excited to go to Belloni and to start finding and baptizing the people that the Lord has prepared over in that area. Thanks for everything. I haven`t received the package yet but I bet I`ll get it tomorow with transfers. THANKS, I LOVE YOU.
Love,
Elder Gardner
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
A MIRACLE REFERENCE...
Hola a todos...
This week was amazing!!! We helped Daniela Otero overcome her fears to get baptized and now she wants to get baptized this Saturday but the obstacle now is that her mother was rushed to the hospital saturday afternoon and she is at the hospital taking care of her and depending on how well her mother recovers will depend if she gets baptized this saturday or not. Please pray for her mother named Rosa who is in the hospital and for Daniela Otero, so that she can get baptized this saturday. We are so happy that she has overcome her fears and doubts and now we hope that she can overcome the time obstacle of being able to meet with us this week and get baptized on Saturday.
I`m still safe and happy. We are getting nervous now with only one more week in this transfer and then come changes on tuesday the 26th. It`s Elder Ferguson`s birthday this Sunday!!! He`ll be turning 21. It`s strange to think that he only has less than 2 months left in the mission now. Time flies!
We received a miracle reference this week. It was a reference from President Heaton (the mission president of the other mission in Uruguay). His name is Carlos Quintero and he is a single man who has had a rough past (his wife was killed 2 years ago and 3 of his 5 kids are in jail for drugs, but he really wants to turn his life around and has a lot of faith in God). He is about 40 years old. He was working (refilling water dispensors) and he went to the mission home to change out the water and President Heaton started talking with him and asked him for his address and phone number so that the missionaries could pass by and share a message of Jesus Christ with him. He lied to the mission president and told him that he didn`t have a phone and wrote down an incorrect address. Then as he shook the mission president`s hand to leave he felt something strange inside. He told his family about what he had felt and couldn`t sleep all night.
He got up first thing in the morning, took a bus to the mission home and found President Heaton and apologized for giving a wrong address and explained how he had felt and what had happened during the night. He then gave the mission president the right address and his phone number and told him to send his servants. Then we received a call right after lunch from the mission offices and we received the reference of Carlos Quintero. We called him instantly and set up a time to meet him at 8:00 that same night. He was waiting for us outside of his house in the freezing cold with his Sister and Brother in law to receive us so that we didn`t get lost and told us all that had happened and how he knew that the Lord`s ways are not coincidences. He is great and now we are teaching his and his family. He came to church yesterday and loved it.
A family of investigators came to church for the first time yesterday and had a great experience. They need to get married in order to get baptized and the judges are on stirke so that no one can get married for now. Please pray that the judges will soften their hearts and allow people to get married again here in Montevideo, Uruguay.
We are doing great and are as healthy and happy as ever. A few less active members decided to come back to church yesterday as well and we had a great meeting. Thanks for your high councilman talk dad, I really appreciate reading them and always learn something great for a missionary.
I love you all and hope that you are all being as blessed as I am as a missionary and I`m glad that the missionaries made it to dinner this time, haha.
Love,
Elder Gardner
This week was amazing!!! We helped Daniela Otero overcome her fears to get baptized and now she wants to get baptized this Saturday but the obstacle now is that her mother was rushed to the hospital saturday afternoon and she is at the hospital taking care of her and depending on how well her mother recovers will depend if she gets baptized this saturday or not. Please pray for her mother named Rosa who is in the hospital and for Daniela Otero, so that she can get baptized this saturday. We are so happy that she has overcome her fears and doubts and now we hope that she can overcome the time obstacle of being able to meet with us this week and get baptized on Saturday.
I`m still safe and happy. We are getting nervous now with only one more week in this transfer and then come changes on tuesday the 26th. It`s Elder Ferguson`s birthday this Sunday!!! He`ll be turning 21. It`s strange to think that he only has less than 2 months left in the mission now. Time flies!
We received a miracle reference this week. It was a reference from President Heaton (the mission president of the other mission in Uruguay). His name is Carlos Quintero and he is a single man who has had a rough past (his wife was killed 2 years ago and 3 of his 5 kids are in jail for drugs, but he really wants to turn his life around and has a lot of faith in God). He is about 40 years old. He was working (refilling water dispensors) and he went to the mission home to change out the water and President Heaton started talking with him and asked him for his address and phone number so that the missionaries could pass by and share a message of Jesus Christ with him. He lied to the mission president and told him that he didn`t have a phone and wrote down an incorrect address. Then as he shook the mission president`s hand to leave he felt something strange inside. He told his family about what he had felt and couldn`t sleep all night.
He got up first thing in the morning, took a bus to the mission home and found President Heaton and apologized for giving a wrong address and explained how he had felt and what had happened during the night. He then gave the mission president the right address and his phone number and told him to send his servants. Then we received a call right after lunch from the mission offices and we received the reference of Carlos Quintero. We called him instantly and set up a time to meet him at 8:00 that same night. He was waiting for us outside of his house in the freezing cold with his Sister and Brother in law to receive us so that we didn`t get lost and told us all that had happened and how he knew that the Lord`s ways are not coincidences. He is great and now we are teaching his and his family. He came to church yesterday and loved it.
A family of investigators came to church for the first time yesterday and had a great experience. They need to get married in order to get baptized and the judges are on stirke so that no one can get married for now. Please pray that the judges will soften their hearts and allow people to get married again here in Montevideo, Uruguay.
We are doing great and are as healthy and happy as ever. A few less active members decided to come back to church yesterday as well and we had a great meeting. Thanks for your high councilman talk dad, I really appreciate reading them and always learn something great for a missionary.
I love you all and hope that you are all being as blessed as I am as a missionary and I`m glad that the missionaries made it to dinner this time, haha.
Love,
Elder Gardner
Monday, July 11, 2011
WHILE ITS HOT THERE IT IS COLD HERE...
Hola a todos...
It`s been pretty cold here these past few weeks but yesterday and today have been great days. Everyone is telling us that it will be raining for the next 3 days straight, so we`ll enjoy the sun while it`s still out and shining.
It`s been another great week here in Camino Carrasco. Elder Ferguson and I got to help some missionaries in our zone move houses (it reminded me of the many times that Dad and I would go help people move all the time when he was Elder`s Quorum President). It felt good to help them because 2 of the missionaries moving weren`t able to help move anything for their back and knees. There are now 6 elders (the 6 office elders: APs, Financers, and secretaries) all living together in the same house right next to the beach. That will be an interesting place to live when summer gets here with tourists and everything...
Our investigators are doing well. Not many are coming to church on Sundays but we are planning a baptism on the 23rd of July. It`s a mother of 3 kids, and two of them sometimes go to church with her, named Daniela Otero. She surprised us yesterday in church when she told us that she stopped smoking Saturday night. But then didn`t like the idea of Tithing that we taught her that night. We would really appreciate your prayers that she can get over her doubts about paying a full tithe. We are doing our best to follow the spirit and bring members to the lessons with her to testify of tithing. She needs to accept it before Saturday so that she can have her baptismal interveiw and so that we can announce her baptism in church next week. My testimony of each principle is reconfirmed and strengthened each time I find myself testifying of a commandment or principle of the gospel to someone who has doubts about it. I`m very greatful for these experiences that only full-time missionaries can receive to help me in the future for me and my family.
We also are teaching a really great family. The parents names are Josè and Magalî and they have two kids named Valentina and Facundo. They are a little nervous about coming to church but have testimonies of prayer and the Book of Mormon. They need to get married before they can be baptized and talking about opposition... the judges who do the civil marriages are on strike right now so no one can get married until they lift the strike. Please pray that the strike ends and that people can repent and get married to follow the law of chastity here in Uruguay.
Well... That`s all the time I have today. I`m glad that Colin enjoyed EFY... They had a mini EFY here in Argentina for the youth members of Uruguay last week too. I thought that that was really cool that EFY made it all the way down here to Argentina. I love you all, Thanks. Just suprise me with what`s in the package. I don`t have any specific requests except the new EFY CD if possible.
Love,
Elder Gardner
It`s been pretty cold here these past few weeks but yesterday and today have been great days. Everyone is telling us that it will be raining for the next 3 days straight, so we`ll enjoy the sun while it`s still out and shining.
It`s been another great week here in Camino Carrasco. Elder Ferguson and I got to help some missionaries in our zone move houses (it reminded me of the many times that Dad and I would go help people move all the time when he was Elder`s Quorum President). It felt good to help them because 2 of the missionaries moving weren`t able to help move anything for their back and knees. There are now 6 elders (the 6 office elders: APs, Financers, and secretaries) all living together in the same house right next to the beach. That will be an interesting place to live when summer gets here with tourists and everything...
Our investigators are doing well. Not many are coming to church on Sundays but we are planning a baptism on the 23rd of July. It`s a mother of 3 kids, and two of them sometimes go to church with her, named Daniela Otero. She surprised us yesterday in church when she told us that she stopped smoking Saturday night. But then didn`t like the idea of Tithing that we taught her that night. We would really appreciate your prayers that she can get over her doubts about paying a full tithe. We are doing our best to follow the spirit and bring members to the lessons with her to testify of tithing. She needs to accept it before Saturday so that she can have her baptismal interveiw and so that we can announce her baptism in church next week. My testimony of each principle is reconfirmed and strengthened each time I find myself testifying of a commandment or principle of the gospel to someone who has doubts about it. I`m very greatful for these experiences that only full-time missionaries can receive to help me in the future for me and my family.
We also are teaching a really great family. The parents names are Josè and Magalî and they have two kids named Valentina and Facundo. They are a little nervous about coming to church but have testimonies of prayer and the Book of Mormon. They need to get married before they can be baptized and talking about opposition... the judges who do the civil marriages are on strike right now so no one can get married until they lift the strike. Please pray that the strike ends and that people can repent and get married to follow the law of chastity here in Uruguay.
Well... That`s all the time I have today. I`m glad that Colin enjoyed EFY... They had a mini EFY here in Argentina for the youth members of Uruguay last week too. I thought that that was really cool that EFY made it all the way down here to Argentina. I love you all, Thanks. Just suprise me with what`s in the package. I don`t have any specific requests except the new EFY CD if possible.
Love,
Elder Gardner
Monday, July 4, 2011
Hola a todos...
Carlos Bobadilla was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I had the privilege of performing the ordinance and his family came to support him. It was a beautiful but very cold day. He is such a great young man and already wants to be a missionary. He is really excited to keep learning about the gospel and is very intelligent. I also renewed my temple recommend, but I`m missing my membership ID number to put on my recommend. Could you check with the secretary of the ward to see if they have the number in their records somewhere, because I don`t have access to it, Thanks.
We are excited for the upcoming weeks here in Camino Carrasco because we have a lot of great families that we are teaching that could get baptized soon, but they all have one hurtle of another to jump over first. Please keep... Daniela Otero, Geranimo, Camilo, Natalia Cardozo, Rodrigo Reufelo, Josè and Magalì in your prayers so that they can make it to the waters of baptism in the month of July. Thank you very much.
On P-Days, Elder Ferguson and I are trying out new things to cook and eat. We wanted to know if you had any fun quick recipes that we could cook on P-Day. Also... could you send us the recipes for apricot chicken and sweet pork. Elder Ferguson thought that they sounded good.
Sounds like you had a great time in Utah and that everything is going great up there. I`m so glad for the spirit in my life and for the privilege that I have to serve as a full-time missionary in the work of the Lord. I`m so very grateful for the health and well functioning body that I have. In my zone there have been a lot of injuries that are keeping missionaries from being able to go out and proselyte. Elder Peña is on 24-hour bedrest for his knees (he had an MRI taken and is waiting the results), Elder Gold (Elder Peña`s companion) is also on 24-hour bed rest for his back (mom will know how that feels), and Elder Soto was on bed rest for 3 days this week because he hurt his shoulder in a bus when it turned abruptly and unexpectedly. It really made me feel very blessed for the little things that I can do that others can`t do and for being able to serve FULL-TIME thus far in my mission. I haven`t had to stay home at all in my mission for sickness or injury or anything. I know that it has much to do with the prayers and care of you all.
Thanks for following our Lord Jesus Christ. He Lives and really did atone for all sins of all men who are willing to have faith in him, repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure faithfully to the end to each commandment and covenant that our Heavenly Father has given us.
Love,
Elder Gardner
Carlos Bobadilla was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I had the privilege of performing the ordinance and his family came to support him. It was a beautiful but very cold day. He is such a great young man and already wants to be a missionary. He is really excited to keep learning about the gospel and is very intelligent. I also renewed my temple recommend, but I`m missing my membership ID number to put on my recommend. Could you check with the secretary of the ward to see if they have the number in their records somewhere, because I don`t have access to it, Thanks.
We are excited for the upcoming weeks here in Camino Carrasco because we have a lot of great families that we are teaching that could get baptized soon, but they all have one hurtle of another to jump over first. Please keep... Daniela Otero, Geranimo, Camilo, Natalia Cardozo, Rodrigo Reufelo, Josè and Magalì in your prayers so that they can make it to the waters of baptism in the month of July. Thank you very much.
On P-Days, Elder Ferguson and I are trying out new things to cook and eat. We wanted to know if you had any fun quick recipes that we could cook on P-Day. Also... could you send us the recipes for apricot chicken and sweet pork. Elder Ferguson thought that they sounded good.
Sounds like you had a great time in Utah and that everything is going great up there. I`m so glad for the spirit in my life and for the privilege that I have to serve as a full-time missionary in the work of the Lord. I`m so very grateful for the health and well functioning body that I have. In my zone there have been a lot of injuries that are keeping missionaries from being able to go out and proselyte. Elder Peña is on 24-hour bedrest for his knees (he had an MRI taken and is waiting the results), Elder Gold (Elder Peña`s companion) is also on 24-hour bed rest for his back (mom will know how that feels), and Elder Soto was on bed rest for 3 days this week because he hurt his shoulder in a bus when it turned abruptly and unexpectedly. It really made me feel very blessed for the little things that I can do that others can`t do and for being able to serve FULL-TIME thus far in my mission. I haven`t had to stay home at all in my mission for sickness or injury or anything. I know that it has much to do with the prayers and care of you all.
Thanks for following our Lord Jesus Christ. He Lives and really did atone for all sins of all men who are willing to have faith in him, repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure faithfully to the end to each commandment and covenant that our Heavenly Father has given us.
Love,
Elder Gardner
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