A FEW DAYS AWAY!!!

Hola a todos...

Hey!!! I`m so excited to come home and give you all a big hug again. It was a great last week! Jose and Mateo Rodao were baptized and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! It was a great baptismal service where their nonmember mom and grandma came to support them. They are such studs and are already planning to serve missions! It was a great way to end these two years with the baptism of two future missionaries and they were baptized by their 16 year old member friend Agustin who you met over skype who is also going to be a future missionary. 

Elder Clarke is being changed to Montevideo to train a new missionary fresh out of the MTC, and there will be 2 new missionaries in Hospital ward (Elder Sanchez from Spain and Elder Plyler from Utah). It will be hard to leave this great ward especially because the bishop called us last night and almost crying thanked us for our hard work and said, ¨I wish that every missionary that comes to my ward can be as great as you two have been in your service here.¨

I will miss Uruguay a lot and all the people that I have grown to love and care about. These have been a great and the best two years and I am so very grateful for all the experiences that I have had which have helped shape me into the man that I am today, and I`m so very grateful for the fact that my mission does not end with only two years but rather a lifetime of service just begins with these two years of training and service. That`s awesome that we had a baptism in the ward back home.

Well, I don`t have much to say but we`ll talk on Thursday. Love ya All!!!

Love,

Elder Gardner

ONE LAST WEEK OF MIRACLES LEFT...

Hola a todos...

This week has been trying and full of miracles. Yesterday before church we received trying news as 4 of our good investigators decided to stop investigating the church for various reasons... moving to another town, gave into Satan, or chose work over going to church. But we pressed forward and the Lord blessed us with 6 other investigators in church and 2 investigators that are going to be baptized this saturday!!! Jose and Mateo Rodao are going to be baptized this saturday 18th of February and it will be a great way to end my mission with 2 baptisms! and others that will be baptized in the upcoming weeks for other missionaries to work with! 

I am also excited to see you and hug you all! I received my plans for the last two days before my flight. I have time to go to the temple with the mission president and his wife, visit old areas, buy soveneirs, and have a FHE with all the elders going home with me in the mission home with President and Sister Da Silva and our final interview before we get on the plane. It will be a fun way to end the mission and I`m excited to be able to go through the temple one more time here in Uruguay. then the long, nearly 20 hours of travel back home which will give me lots of time to read, reflect, ponder, pray and sleep before I get home! 

One interesting story that happened this morning... So Elder Clarke and I left the house today at 7:20am to go buy some breakfast at the store about 3 blocks away and as we were about half way there... we passed by a bar with a group of people standing outside (it seemed like they had been there all night drinking and who knows what else...) and as we came near it there were two young girls that jumped on there moto and started following us in the road as we walked to the store and telling us that they thought that we were cute and that they wanted to talk to us. We ignored them and entered in the store bought our breakfast and came out and they were still sitting there on their moto waiting for us to come back to which we quickly told them to go away and leave us alone and started walking back home... They didn`t give up and continued to follow us back to our house... We didn`t want to let them know where we lived so we started to walk towards the church because now they were asking us to shake their hand, kiss them, etc... it wasn`t very appropriate what they were saying. so as we passed by our house on the other side of the street and tried to lose them on the way to the church, as we got about 4 blocks from the church one of the 2 girls jumped off the moto and started chasing us on foot (luckily we are fast and she was drunk, because she was pretty slow.) We ran and crossed the highway in place where there moto could not cross and they gave up the chase. I`m so very grateful for the commandments and the Spirit which are there to protect us and help us when we are in danger.  I love you and will see you soon. 

Love,

Elder Gardner

WITH GREAT MIRACLES ALWAYS COMES GREAT OPPOSITION!

Hola a todos...

It was a great but very trying week! It rained on sunday and none of our investigators went to church because the Rosano Godoy family got sick and couldn`t come and Jose and Mateo didn`t want to walk to church in the rain. They can all still get baptized on my last weekend in the mission but it won`t be easy for anyone. Luis Rosano is still struggling with his smoking addiction and He may even have to move soon for a job situation. We hope that he can get baptized before they move so that the Spirit can help them with all the new changes that they will have to accostom themselves to.

I`m excited to have a great last two weeks and I know that all these trials are for my benefit and will help me grow if I continue with faith. I love the mission and it feels wierd knowing that I will be leaving Uruguay in only a little more than two weeks.
   

That`s AWESOME that colin will be getting his patriarchal blessing soon! Way to go, I know that it will help you throughout your life and especially on your mission, It sure has helped me out a lot. When you receive it, read it and review it often and you will learn many new things each time you read it looking for comfort and guidance. I love you and I am so proud of you. Keep up the good work. And great job getting having straight A`s Mason, that is awesome! You must be working really hard, Keep up the good work. I love you all and thank you so much for all that you have done for me and the support and prayers that I have felt throughout my mission. I am also excited to give you all a hug and to tell you all about the wonderful experiences that I had on my mission. I`m still doing great, I`m happy, safe, and healthy like I have been my whole mission.
   

I know that my Redeemer lives and that He loves me and you so perfectly and profoundly that we can not fully comprehend it. I have felt His love in my life and every time that I have repented of my sins. His commandments are a true sign of His love for you and me and He feels our love for Him when we repent and are obedient to His commandments.

For all young men, serving a mission is a commandment of God and is essential for your welfare and happiness both personally and as a future family. I testify that the mission changes our hearts and our lives in a way that cannot be accomplished in any other way. The mission and the Book of Mormon have changed my heart and my life. I am so very grateful that I chose to serve a mission and that I have strived to serve with all my heart, might, mind and strength. Prepare yourselves now to serve and you will enjoy these two years more than any other year that you have had before the mission. The Lord loves you and needs you in this work!

Love,
Elder Gardner

AWESOME WEEK!!!

Hola a todos...

This week has been fantastic! We had 6 investigators in church and we are planning on having 5 baptisms before I finish my mission.The Rosano Godoy family came to church with their kids and the father along with 3 of his kids are preparing to be baptizedon the 11th of February. But please pray for Luis Rosano (the non member father) who needs to stop smoking before his baptism in 2 weeks. The bishop in our ward now loves us (When I got here he didn`t like the missionaries for problems that had occurred before I arrived to Durazno). He accompanied us to a lesson with this incomplete family that we are teaching and really helped them come to church and feel welcome in the ward.

My talk went well in sacrament meeting, I spoke about the many things that my parents and church leaders did for me to help me stay active and to help me go on the mission. I love this ward and it will be really hard to have to say goodbye to all these great people and the other wards in which I have served.

These are going to be the greatest 3 weeks of my mission! Like my Mission President said to me in my last interview with him, ¨Just remember that the Savior`s greatest miracles were performed in his last week of his earthly mission, the same can happen with you.¨

We are preparing the Rosano Godoy family to be baptized on the 11th of February and Jose and Mateo(who are brothers 16 and 10 years old) to be baptized on the 18th of February, please keep them in your prayers and also Sandra Calleros, who just needs to come to church 2 times and can get baptized!
      

I`m also very excited to be able to come home and to give you all a big hug. The time goes by fast and now I`m trying to apply all that I have learned in these last 2 years all at the same time in order to enjoy the spirit and joy of full time missionary work until the max. I love you all so very much. I too know that the Atonement changes lives and brings the greatest joy to every heart that embraces it and loves the Lord enough to repent of the many sins that each and every one of us has committed. I love the Savior and I KNOW that He loves me more than I can even imagine.
   

Colin, That is soooo great that you are going to receive your partriarchal blessing soon! My blessing has helped me a lot on the mission. I know that all the promises will be fulfilled in the time of the Lord if I continue to serve faithfully. It has given me strength, optimism, and guidance in my life. Treasure it and follow it and your life will be much greater than you could have hoped for without the guidance and counsel that it gives. I love you Colin. I love you too Mason! I can`t beleive how big and grown up you look now. You sure have grown up a lot since I last stood next to you. You two try not to beat me up too bad when I get home because I don`t know if I can take the two of you at once. Just colin, maybe... but the two of you would be unfair to an old beat up missionary... Love you All so much!

Love,
Elder Gardner

A GREAT WEEK!!!

Hola a todos...

It has been another great week here in the Hospital Ward!  Renae Francia was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  It was a great baptismal service and the Spirit was felt very strongly there.  We found an incomplete family (the mom is an inactive member, the dad and 3 kids want to be baptized and went to church all together yesterday).
    

It`s fine to look into housing now, it will actually be better to start looking into it already.  I would love to speak my first Sunday back in church.  I also get to speak next Sunday in church here in the Hospital ward.  Invite friends to come to the airport if they would like to and if you want to throw a homecoming party go ahead but don`t tell me about it, surprises are always better.
    

This week we met a returned missionary and his wife who came to our ward to visit because he had served here about 7 years ago.  It was fun talking to someone in English and he seemed like a great missionary and a fun guy.  It will be a great last month in my mission. and I will enjoy every second of it!  My mission has definitely changed my life and helped me become a great and better person.  Thanks for all that you have taught me through your example and love and for involving me and encouraging me to participate in things that built my faith and helped me become the missoinary that I am today.  I love you all and I can`t wait to see you all and to give you all a big hug.

I love you all and sorry that I don`t have much time to write today.  Have you invited a nonmember to a family home evening or to church or an activity yet?

Love,
Elder Gardner

RETURN ITINERARY!

We received the itinerary for Elder Gardner's return to Arizona...

He will be arriving in Phoenix on Thursday, February 23 at 1:05 p.m.!!!  It will be a long 19-hour journey from Montevideo to Miami to Dallas and then finally to Phoenix... He should be pretty wiped out.  Can't wait to have him back!

IT'S BEEN A GREAT WEEK!

Hola a todos...
Elder Clarke and I are excited to continue working hard together. This last weekend, Matias Carrizo was baptized, it was a ward baptism because he is only 8 years old and his parents are members but it was a great experience because we activated his parents because the bishop asked us to do so and he was baptized. There were 9 nonmembers that came to his baptism. Renae Fancia will be baptized this saturday at 7:00 and another miracle is that Mariana came to church again yesterday, so it looks like there is still some hope for her baptism in the next few weeks. Sadly, none of our other investigators came to church yesterday.

Elder Gold is from Utah and his ¨oro¨ (greenie) is named Elder Brione, from Lima, Peru.  They are both great missionaries and are working hard with a lot of faith. Sadly, I heard that the family from Sarandi Grande will most likely not be getting sealed while I`m in Uruguay because the father has started work on sundays and does not come consistently to church now...  But I`m writing them and encouraging them to get sealed as soon as they can.
      
What time do you have church there on Sunday now that it`s 2012? That`s wierd that you haven`t heard anything about my flight plans to go home because the other missionaries from my group say that their parents already know the flight schedules and even the plane seat that they have. From what they have told me.... We leave Uruguay wednesday the 22nd at 11:00pm and we will be getting back home about 5:00 or 6:00am on Thursday morning. I`ll call the mission offices to see what happened with getting you the information.
     
Things are going great here in the Hospital ward and we are seeing the attendence to church increase now that the church schedule was changed to 5pm-8pm. It`s been pretty hot here, it got up to 113 degrees this week and it reminded me of Arizona. We are trying to help an incomplete family get baptized, the mom`s name is Fabiana and her two kids are named Jose and Mateo. Mauricio, an inactive member and returned missionary needs to get married to his wife, Fabiana. But while we are waiting for that... Jose and Mateo want to get baptized but they for some reason have not been able to come to church even when they tell us, 30 minutes before church starts that they will come. They are a great family but we don`t know what to do to help them come. We are trying to get them to know other members and be their friends so that they feel more comfortable in coming to church. 

We did a service project for Renae Fancia this last saturday with the youth of the ward, where we cut her really long grass and helped clean up her back yard and patio. She is really excited to be baptized this saturday and we hope to be able to baptize Mariana on the 28th if she accepts  to listen to the lessons again. A returned missionary in our ward told us to give him 2 weeks and he would find us a family to baptize. So the members are helping and wanting to help with missionary work, but Satan is working hard to try to stop it in any way possible.
       
It is a bitter-sweet feeling getting near to the end of my mission. I`m excited to come home and continue on with my life and to see the all the people that I haven`t been able to see for 2 years, especially you mom, dad, Colin, and Mason. But I also don`t want to leave the mission because I love serving 24/7 in the work of the Lord and helping people come unto Christ. But the good news is that the mission doesn`t really end after 2 years, it just barely begins. I will continue to share the gospel after my mission and will apply all that I have learned to help my friends neighbors to come unto Christ and be baptized and to work to make it to the temple.

Love,
Elder Gardner

I WILL FINISH MY MISSION IN THE HOSPITAL, HaHa

Hola a todos...

I am staying in Hospital ward until the end of my mission! And I will be staying here with Elder Clarke still! the other two missionaries from our house were changed out and we will be living with Elder Gold and his brand new missionary that he will be training. I`m excited to stay in this area and I know that it will be a great last 6 weeks!

Mariana did not get baptized this week. The members that were helping here are still sick and they started to pressure her a little too much and she just decided that she doesn`t want to get baptized for now. Sadly, she will have to wait for other missionaries to come and help her get baptized. But we do have a ward baptism this saturday and on the 21st of January, our investigator Renae Francia will be baptized. Possibly we can have 2 baptisms that day with Lucia but she is having some doubts right now and didn`t come to church yesterday. We are also teaching Josè (16 years old) and Mateo (10 years old) who are preparing themselves to be baptized on the 28th, but they need to come to church this sunday! We also found an incomplete family of members and we are teaching two of a members kids who have not yet been baptized. they are the Godoy family. Please keep these people in your prayers, Gracias.

     
It feels very weird knowing that I only have 6 weeks left here in Uruguay. I love it here and I love the people.  I know that it will be very weird going back home and seeing a completely different lifestyle. I love the mission and wouldn`t have traded it for anything else in the world. I have definitely felt and seen my life change in these 2 years and I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to serve that the Lord has given me.

I was reading in Preach my Gospel the other day and I found a really good quote that has helped me see how to better help and encourage the members to participate in missionary work more fully.    ¨Missionary work is but home teaching to those who are not now members of the Church, and home teaching is nothing more or less than missionary work to Church members.¨ (Harold B. Lee PMG ch.1 quotes at the end). This can also be applied to visiting teaching as well. Missionary work isn`t so hard or different than what we do to serve others in the church... it`s only applying what we already do to those who are not yet members of the Church. This is His church and He wants all to come unto Him and become members of His church. Let us open our mouths and hearts to those who haven`t found the truth only because they know not where to find it.

I love you all and hope that you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Gardner

BIRTHDAY TO NEW YEARS!

Hola a todos...
  
Sounds like you have all had a great week of fun and parties! I had a great birthday, the missionaries from my house surprised me with a birthday cake and made a chicken roast lunch to celebrate, we played Soccer. It still hasn´t hit me yet that I´m now 21, wierd... Time is flying by way too fast and I´m almost down to my last transfer. I have no idea what will happen my last transfer but it is most likely that I will stay here in the Hospital ward.
    
Sadly, we did not have a baptism this last weekend... Mariana will be getting baptized either this week or the next... She watches over an elderly sister from our ward and that sister happened to be in the emergency all this last week and Mariana was there watching over her so she couldn´t get baptized last week, Sister Cicao now is out of the hospital and we hope that all goes well so that she can be baptized this weekend or the next. We did have 2 investigators in church who are preparing to be baptized the 21st of January!!! And there is a kid of some members who is going to be baptized the 14th of January, so January is looking like a great month for baptisms in the Hospital ward.
    
We only had 5 baptisms in the zone all december but we are looking much, much better for January and we are all very excited, I think that with transfers some new missionaries will be coming in and we will have a new and greater excitement as a zone (There are a few missionaries that have been there for 6 months that are just ready to move to a different area).

For New Year´s Eve, we ate dinner with the Barrios Family and it was really good. I am really giving it my all and trying to serve with all my heart, might, mind and strength so that the Lord will constantly guide us to those who are waiting to be baptized and receive the gospel in their lives.
   
I´m so very grateful for the time that I have to serve and to learn from the Spirit all that the Lord wants me to be and to feel Him molding me into the person that He needs me to be so that this Great Work will march forward with greater strength and efficiency. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that There is now greater happiness that we can receive than that which comes from the Spirit as we give our all and show our love for the Savior as we are willingly obedient and make heartfelt covenants and keep them sacred. For all those out there getting ready to serve a mission... Do it, there will never come a greater experience to help you become who the Lord expects of us as we serve a full time mission. the mission is the best! Study Preach my Gospel and the Book of Mormon every day and the Lord will prepare you to serve in His great work! He lives, let us make known this great message to everyone who is willing to listen to it. I love you all!
     
Love,
Elder Gardner