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

I WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hola a todos...

Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year!!! Thanks for the Christmas and Birthday packages and letters!!! It was fun talking with you over skype last saturday... You have all changed so much and Colin and Mason have definitely grown a bit! These fiestas... parties... have been fun but not very good for my weight loss goal... I need to work harder on that so that I can work off all the snacks and goodies from my packages and the members. Thanks for all.

For Christmas my companion got me a ¨mate¨ that says Uruguay. We had our own Christmas morning party where we decorated a small tree put our Christmas presents under the tree and While Elder Wilkey from England read the story of Christ`s birth from the bible, the rest of us sang background Christmas songs to accompany him, it was fun and I got a lot of it on video, haha. We have only one baptism planned for this friday, because the other person didn`t show up to church to announce her baptism, so she will have to wait another week.

I love you all and hope that you have a great week together. Let me know if you have any requests for something that I can bring back from Uruguay... What size shirt does Colin and Mason wear now? If I were to get a shirt for mom or dad... what size shirt should I get? We`ll see how expensive it is going to be...

I know that this church is true and that there are many more miracles that the Lord has planned for all of His children in what is left of this year and many more to come in the new year. Always remember who you are and how important each one of you is to our Heavenly Father. We are His children and he created all things for our benefit and out of love for us. I know that He loves us and that Christ lives. Let us always remember the miracle of Christ`s birth, life, death, and resurrection all year long. Love you all!

Love,

Elder Gardner

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!

Hola a todos...

I received the Christmas packages of you and Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks! The Christmas conference was really great and our musical number turned out really well! We are going to have to do skype on Saturday the 24th instead of Christmas itself. The member that was going to let us borrow their computer will be going out of town for Christmas so President Da Silva has given us permission to go to a cyber on Saturday to use skype so we don`t spend money on sunday. We aren`t going to be able to try it out before saturday but we did reserve 2 computers to use Saturday at 6:00 pm Uruguay time so that we can skype our families and with the information that you gave me about your skype account I should be able to find you if you are logged on at that time which I think would be 1:00 pm. But just in case... as a back up plan, if skype doesn`t work for some reason, please call on sunday at 4:00 urugauay time.  I`m excited to be able to see you and talk with you this weekend!

Christmas as a missionary isn`t much of a different day... We work like normal and work to find people to be baptized but the Bishop did invite us over to eat lunch with him and his family, that will be fun! If any plans change, I`ll let you know through another email before Saturday at 6:00 urugauy time. I love you so much.
    
This week has been great and we are looking for a lot of success here in Hospital ward starting with new years eve. We have 3, possibly 4 baptisms planned for the last weekend of 2011 and already 3 baptisms planned for the first week of 2012! We have a goal to find at least 4 people who want to get baptized each week so that for whatever problems or set backs that can ocurr, we will always have at least one baptism planned each week January and February. So far we are on a good track to meet that goal but it won`t be easy to maintain that kind of hard work and find that many miracles each week, but I know that the Lord will provide the way so that we can help at least one soul each week come unto Christ through baptism.

We had a fun Christmas activity this last saturday and we had 7 nonmembers come and participate. I love my new ward here in Durazno and I know that the Lord is blessing His children every day and loves us unconditionally.
   
That is so great that you are looking for service to give for Christmas to others who need it. I know that the Lord appreciates your love and service to His children and that these types of gifts more than any other gift that we can give. Love you. Talk to you this weekend!

Love,
Elder Gardner

ANOTHER PEACHY WEEK IN DURAZNO!

Hola a todos...
   
We had an amazing week here in Hospital, Durazno this week!!! We found 12 new investigators and now have 4 baptisms planned for the 30th of December. We are working hard and trusting in the Lord and following the promptings of the Spirit and we have been led to a bunch of great new investigators. We talked to a member in the ward who told us that we are going to be able to use their computer and skype for Christmas, but I´ll let you know next week how and when we are going to do it (what time do you have church at right now or what time would be better to be able to do our skype call?). Elder Clarke is a really good singer so he will be singing ¨What Child is this¨ while I play the piano and we will be accompanied by Elder Aguirre on the Violin for our musical number this wednesday in the Christmas Conference. The zone is doing well now and I know that if we keep working this hard that the Lord will bless us with at least 13 baptisms this month in Durazno.
    

We had a little adventure this morning when our Toilet broke and started spraying water all over the place but we fixed it all for less than a dollar! It was a little crazy but I think that we handled it really well and fixed it fairly quickly. Well, now after I finish writing you We are going to go to the stake center to play soccer and practice our musical number for the Christmas conference this Wednesday. That will make for a fun and exciting Pday.
    

I´m excited for this Christmas conference on wednesday and for our ward christmas party this saturday. The members are really gaining a lot of trust in us and have now already given us 3 really good referrals that will be getting baptized in the next few weeks! I love this ward and am so greatful to be able to be serving here now with Elder Clarke. We are now teaching a family or 11 (only 4 are listening to us for now) named the Silveira family, A 19 year old girl who moved in with some members because her family kicked her out named Katy, Fabiana and Mariana who live with the Cicao Family (pronounced ¨Seacow¨), a mother of a member who will be leaving for his mission on Feb. 29th to Columbia who wants to get baptized now. And a father of a family named Mauricio who had listened to missionaries before but never got baptized.

I love missionary work and I know that the Lord is directing it because it is His work. I know that He loves each and every one of His children and that He wants them to get to know Him and come unto Him through baptism and becoming a member of His church. I know that this is the true and only Church that Christ himself has authorized on the earth. The Book of Mormon is true and will change the lives and hearts of every person that will take the time to consistantly read it. Now is a perfect time to share our message of Christ with all those who have not yet heard it during this Christmas season, Keep serving those in need and also look for opprotunites to share your testimony and invite those around you to come and follow Christ through listening to the missionaries and getting to know His Chruch. I love you all so much and thanks for all that you do for God´s Children.  Have a GREAT WEEK!!!

Love,
Elder Gardner

P.S. Hey Colin... Don´t be chub and get a job and go on some dates. I keep hearing that you are so tough and strong so I don´t think that those kind of things would scare you, haha. Love you and Mason and keep up the good work, you are both going to be great missionaries! The mission is the best! Are you reading the Book of Mormon and Preach my Gospel?

DURAZNO IS JUST PEACHY!

Hola a todos...

Thank you so much for the new shoes, they feel so much better than my old beat up ones that I`ll show you when I get home. I also got Grandma Linda`s package with the scar cream. Thanks for all your love and letters and packages!

Durazno is great I love the city here.  I`m in the city of Durazno which is in the middle of nowhere but it is really nice with a lot of trees for shade to keep me cool during the summer and the people are definitely more receptive than in Montevideo. Everyone says hi to you and everyone knows each other. There is even a small zoo here in Durazno and our ward in Durazno is called Hospital... So it looks like President Da Silva put me in the ``Hospital`` to finish my mission. The ward is great and strong but there is some lack of trust between the missionaries and the leaders of the ward because of past missionaries that have been here in this ward.  I love being with Elder Clarke, he is from California and has about a year and 5 months in the mission. He is a really good singer and loves music so we are now preparing a Christmas special musical number to sing for Christmas in our ward.

I`m very excited to be here in Durazno but I know it will be a little bit of a challenge as a zone leader because they only had 5 baptisms in all of november between 18 missionaries and it is a big change that I need to help the zone have like we did in Maroñas. I know that the Lord will help me know how to help the zone and the ward so that we can be united and work with faith to see similar miracles here in Durazno.

In our first week we have been inviting literally everyone to be baptized that we talk to and we have found 7 news and have placed 3 new baptismal dates for December this past week. We are excited and are trying to transfer this excitement to all the other companionships so that we can all work with a new fire in our hearts. We already talked with one of the members about borrowing their computer to use skype to talk with our families for Christmas but I`ll let you know about the details later in the next couple of emails before Christmas. I`m excited to see how much you have all changed since I last saw you all.

The new apartment is very nice, I live in the house with 3 other missionaries again and I like it, the apartment has a bathroom, back patio, kitchen, study room, and a bedroom upstairs (yes, there are two stories in our apartment), and the best part of it all... We have air conditioning in this house!!! It is a tender mercy of the Lord for my last summer in Uruguay! the other two missionaries that live there with us are, Elder Mejìa (from Mexico) and Elder Wilkey (from England). They are all great missionaries and I know that we will have a great month of December together.

I know that the Lord will guide me to those who are being prepared to receive the gospel and to help the ward improve its trust in us the missionaries and in helping the zone progress and have more baptisms each month so that we can reach our goals. We have a goal for December of 13 baptisms that we are working very hard to reach and to keep helping even more people in 2012 to come unto Christ and receive the saving ordinances of Baptism and confirmation, so that they can be candidates of the Celestial Kingdom.

We are going to have a mission Christmas conference on the 14th of December and it will be a great experience!!! We are also working hard to have a ``Navidad Blanca`` or in english a white christmas (not of snow but of people dressed in white ready to be baptized.)

I love you all and I know that the Lord loves you and appreciates all that you do to serve in this great work, think about what you will give to your Heavenly Father and Christ this Christmas. I`m starting to think about it too.

Love,

Elder Gardner

I'M GOING TO DURAZNO!!!

Hola a todos...

I´m going to be transferred to Durazno (in english that means Peach, so it will be a peachy area). It is a city in the center of Uruguay, which also means that I´ll be farther away from the ocean and it will be even hotter! I will be with Elder Clarke, he is a great, fun missionary that I know we will get along and work great together. I heard also that Elder Thompson (the missionary I trained) was called to be a zone leader in one of the zones in Montevideo!

There have been a lot of miracles in the entire mission this month. We set a record of 150 baptisms in the month of November (that is about 50 baptisms more than the average for the past year). In Maroñas, we reached exactly our goal of 21 baptisms in November reaching our goal. We had a great baptismal service here in Belloni with the baptism of Brian and Luis from our area and a family of 4 in the other missionaries´ area. Our example from last month was seen and followed this month because not only us, but about 4 other zones also reached their goals for november, it definitely was great to see that other zones are also progressing like Maroñas is. I think I know why The Lord and Pres. Da Silva is sending me to be a zone leader in Durazno... They only had 5 baptisms in all of November between the 18 missionaries that are in that zone. I feel that the Lord is sending me their to help Durazno like Elder Sasselli and I did here in Maroñas.

I´m excited for my new assignment and I know that it will be a great last area and will be a great opportunity for me and other missionaries there to learn and grow in the service of the Lord. I know that miracles are a common thing amoung those who have faith and work diligently to reach inspired goals. I am very grateful for the time that I have left to serve in the Work of the Lord here in Uruguay. 

I haven´t received the packages yet, but I suppose that tomorrow when we go to meet up with our new companions that my box with new shoes will be waiting for me there. Thank you so much for all that you do and for the prayers and support that you always send my way. I always keep you in my prayers as well and hope that you can always have spiritual experiences to help your testimonies continue to grow. I have felt my heart soften and change by serving diligently and studying the Book of Mormon daily I know that it is true and that it has the power to help us change our lives and have a greater disposition to follow Christ. This is the true and only church of Jesus Christ and we are so very blessed to be members of it. Have fun, be safe, enjoy every day and always look and search for opportunities to share the gospel and serve others. I love you so very much and hope you have an excelent week.

Love,
Elder Gardner

ANOTHER GREAT WEEK!!!

Hola a todos...
   

This week was Great!!! in the zone we had 4 baptisms and we have 12 baptisms planned for this weekend in the zone, 2 of those baptisms will be from our area and 5 from the other missionaries in Belloni. So we will be having a ward baptismal service with 7 baptisms this friday!!! Luis (31 years old) and Brian (11 years old) will be baptized from our area, they are both excited and ready to be baptized this next week. Luis has changed so much that I can`t believe it, he was so confused by having studied so many different religions before but now he told us... ¨don`t call me Lucho anymore, that`s the old me and now I`m a new man, call me Luis¨ (Lucho was his nickname anyways) ¨It`s like Saul to Paul¨ (only he wasn`t trying to destroy the apostles before his conversion, haha.)  A family that I found in my last area just got married and baptized and are going strong in the church. I also heard that in December, the family that I baptized in Sarandi Grande (my second area) are going to the temple to be sealed and I think that President will give me permission to go to their sealing! That will be exciting!
    

I`m doing great and happy as ever, it is very stressful to be in charge of the zone and try to sort out all of the little or sometimes not so little problems that go on with some of the missionaries and be always worried about how the investigators are doing not only in my area but in 8 other areas in the zone. But I never have felt more excited to work in the work of the Lord and as a result the time is rushing by even faster!!! I calculated that exactly 3 months from today... I will be making the trip back to Arizona and I know that these next few months will only go by faster than the last! I have felt my faith grow a lot as I have seen so many miracles in my area and in the zone!!! I know that this is the Lord`s work and that this is His Church.
     

Changes are coming up this next tuesday and It is very likely that I will be changed to a different and my last area. I`ll let you know next week if I stay or if I go but I wouldn`t mind staying in the zone of Maroñas, and keep seeing the miracles that we are seeing, but I`ll go where the Lord wants me to go. I am guessing that I will be my packages when we go to changes, but thanks for sending my shoes, one of my pairs completely died this week and the other pair is on it`s last few miles. I love you all and hope that you are enjoying studying Preach my Gospel and are looking for opportunities to share the gospel with your friends and neighbors. I love you all and am praying for you!

 Love,
Elder Gardner

LIFE IS GREAT!!!

Hola a todos...
   
    This week has been another great week in the work of the Lord!!! Our zone has 6 baptisms this month so far and we have planned 3 baptisms this weekend with a potential 16 more baptisms for the last weekend of November, 25 planned baptisms which would put us over our month`s goal of 21 baptisms. All the missionaries are excited and working hard, while sadly almost half of the other baptisms planned in the mission are falling... for example in the mission, we had 47 baptisms planned for last weekend but only 23 were baptized, there is much opposition and many missionaries are falling under the pressure and opposition... but the missionaries of Maroñas still stand strong, we haven`t had a baptism fall through for over 2 months!
    

Good news!!! President Da Silva gave us permission to use SKYPE for our christmas phone call this year, so I`ll be giving more details about how and when we will be ¨seeing each other¨ in december, but that will be exciting! Make sure that your skype is working without problems before Christmas. Time is just flying by, it is already nearly Thanksgiving and I feel like November just started.
    

Thanks for checking up on the BYU info, and we`ll just take care of that when I get home.

We saw a miracle here in the other missionaries area in our ward... They are teaching a family of 4 who have a baptismal date for the 25th of November who needed to get married in order to get baptized. so last thursday they planned to go to the offices to take out a wedding date (usually you have to wait about 3 weeks to 3 months between taking out the date and the actual wedding) and the Lord provided a miracle!!! the other two elders and us went to the office with the couple to be there witnesses for their wedding and there happened to be an opening for the 24th of november (just 2 weeks from the day!!!) and so they are going to be married the 24th and baptized the 25th of November as a family!

I love you all and hope that you are receiving as many blessings as I am here in Uruguay. It`s even starting to heat up now so that`s good! Love you.

Love,
Elder Gardner

SURPRISE TRIP TO THE TEMPLE!

Hola a todos...

President Da Silva was so pleased with the success of our zone that he moved up our temple date so that he could talk with the zone before all the other zones, so we were blessed to have gone to the temple last thursday at 7:00 am. It was a great experience and I felt the same peace and Spirit that Dad had mentioned from the stake temple day. We are so excited and are now working with great faith and all of our heart to reach our baptismal goal for November: 21 baptisms! I know that we can reach it but it will be really challenging and will cause me much stress between now and the end of the month. We have found some new families to teach in this last week and are excited to help them make it to the waters of baptism.
     

I forgot to tell you last week, but you have permission to start looking into BYU stuff and it won`t bother me, and it is a good idea not to procrastinate it, haha. I`m doing great and don`t worry about my finger it will be just fine, I the missionaries in the house to give me a blessing and it is healing just fine, I already played the piano last sunday in church, and the scar it will leave won`t be too big, but like mom said... it will be a great memory! It looks like my fingernail broke a little and the left half might die and fall off, but it will grow back without problems. I didn`t even have to go to the doctors, thank goodness.

The medical system here is horrible... although it may be cheaper, I`ll give you an example... last week, in the zone, one of the people (Hugo Mendez, 72 years old) who got baptized slipped on the wet bathroom floor while changing clothes after the baptism and hit his head on the tile floor. He started to bleed quite a bit but luckily there were a few members there that new how to treat the situation and had medical training, but after the situation was stabalized, we called an ambulance to come take him to the hospital to make sure that he was alright, and then we waited... one hour... we called again and they said that they had already talked with the emergency room so that an ambulance could come by... then we waited again... another hour, we called again and they said, ¨oh, the ambulance will be coming by sometime this afternoon just be patient.¨ at that point it was already 2pm and that meant it could have taken another 3-4 hours more?! So he ended up going with the missionaries from his ward and another family to Pando (40 min. away by bus) and walking straight into the hospital so that they would attend him faster. He is doing alright now and has about 5 more days of bedrest. So luckily I didn`t have to go to the doctor for my finger, who knows if I would still be there, hahah.
    

I am happy, healthy and smiling like always and am just glad that I don`t have to go through what the missionaries of the bible and book of Mormon had to go through in their missions. Nobody stoning me or throwing me into prison or trying to kill me or poison me, etc. I had a dog tooth try to go through my finger, not nearly as bad as having nails hammered through my hands, wrists and feet like Christ did for us. I know that He lives and that He can heal us of any wound (physical or spiritual). I love him and will serve him all my days and for all eternity, for he has called me and I must respond. This is the work of the Lord and it will go on with or without me, but it will be much better for my sake if it continues on with me, so that I can continue to grow and progress and become like Christ and the man that He wants me to be.

Love,
Elder Gardner

6 MIRACLE BAPTISMS THIS WEEK!!!

Hola a todos...

I had an amazing week in which we saw so many miracles here in the zone of Maroñas!!! We had no baptisms planned this weekend when the week started and we were worried about reaching the zone goal of 18 baptisms. But we trusted in the Lord and worked with all the faith and diligence that we could muster, and the miracles began to appear... last sunday, the other missionaries in our house, Elder Burnett and Elder Dominguez, talked with a member that recently moved into the ward and who had a 9 year old son who hadn`t been baptized and he came to church and was baptized yesterday after stake conference. Monday, Elder Avalos and Elder Jimenez found a girl who wanted to be baptized and had come to church last sunday as well. Tuesday, We had a zone fast and that afternoon Elder Sasselli and I found a 9 year old son of an active member, Leandro Correa, who recently turned 9 and wanted to be baptized. Wednesday, Elder Saavedra and Elder Albujar found an old investigator and a friend of a family of members who wanted to get baptized, and finally Elder Maluff and Elder Chavez on Thursday talked with one of their investigators about being baptized with this group of investigators and he joined in and so we went from having no baptisms planned to having 6 miracle baptisms this weekend. Which put us up to 20 baptisms for the month of October and over our goal of 18. We were the only zone in the mission to reach their monthly goal that we set.

The Lord definitely showed us many miracles for all that we did in faith and I know that this is His work and that He can do anything to make it continue progressing if we are obedient and act in faith.

I also had a crazy experience with ringing a doorbell the other day... I went to ring a doorbell and some how the dog that was on the other side of the fence fit his head through a very small gap in the fence and was able to twist his head enough to reach and bite my right hand ring finger. I`m doing great and there is now problem but it is going to leave a pretty good scar. If you could please keep the healing and recovery of my finger in your prayers that would be great, I love you all and am so happy to be serving the Lord here in Uruguay! The mission in the best!

Love,
Elder Gardner

I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK!!!

Hola a todos...

I love missionary work and I`m enjoying and treasuring up every experience, blessing and miracle that I have experienced in the mission.   Juan Rodriguez was baptized and confirmed the newest member of the Belloni ward.  It was a great baptism and a 23 year old recent convert of the other 2 missionaries, named Mauricio, baptized him.  It was a great experience especially because it was the first time that Mauricio has baptized (He got baptized about 4 months ago) and now He is going to receive the Melquisedec Priesthood next Sunday in Stake Conference!  He is preparing to serve a mission when he hits a year of being a member. Speaking of Baptism...

Colin, now that you are a priest, you can now baptize. So start looking for your friends that you can help get to know the gospel and then you can personally baptize them! That`s so great that you are now a priest!!! I`m so proud of you! Keep those spiritual and priesthood muscles moving!!!
    
In Maroñas now we have 14 baptisms and we need 4 more, we only have 2 planned but I know that the Lord will provide miracles that it is still possible if all 18 of us in Maroñas work with all the determination and faith to be able to find 2 more people to baptize by next monday.

Elder Sasselli is a great companion and has a great testimony.  He is the first missionary in his family(his dad is a convert and his twin brothers are not wanting to serve a mission quite yet).  He and his family were inactive for several years when he was a teenager, but one day he felt the need to come back to church so he started to go alone to church every Sunday and later his mom and sister started going with him, now his whole family is active and his parents both have church callings.  He was the engine of his family train to get them back into the activity of the church.  Elder Kleinau was changed out (he had been here for 6 months already) and now we have a Paraguayan elder named Elder Dominguez in the house with us.  He is a great missionary and has a lot of faith and is always very excited to work in the work of the Lord.  Today for Pday, we are going up to another area, Toledo, and we are going to play soccer as a district at the church there.

Our investigators are doing good.  We didn`t have that many people to teach last week but we have found some good families that we are starting to teach so we will see how they progress and hopefully have some family baptisms in November.  We are planning an activity to get the recent converts excited about going to the temple to do baptisms for the dead!  It`s getting me excited to go on November 17th as a zone as well.  I haven`t gotten my garments package yet and I am going to make a Christmas request that would be greatly appreciated if it was sent a little earlier than Christmas... My shoes are wearing out and I will need some new church shoes soon. Other than that I can wait till I get home for other things.

Gracias for everything, I love you all so much and I know that we are all being blessed for the service that I am giving to the Lord.  Sorry I haven`t sent pictures yet, I almost lost about 96 photos when Elder Sasselli was copying a few over to his memory card and we were able to save them all but now they are on a USB that I cannot send in a letter, but I am waiting to send them in a package with your scripture cases that I just got last week. They turned out great, I hope you will enjoy and take good
care of them.

Love,
Elder Gardner

6 MORE WEEKS IN BELLONI!!!

Hola a todos...

I get to stay 6 more weeks in Belloni!!! Elder Sasselli will be staying together for 6 more weeks and we are excited to see the great progress and success that the zone of Maroñas will have by the end of these next 6 weeks! We could tell that President Da Silva and the Lord are very well pleased with how Maroñas is doing because only 2 of the 18 missionaries were changed (and it`s because they had already been in their areas for 6 months.). 

All 4 of the baptisms came through and we have 2 more baptisms scheduled for this week, so please keep Maroñas in your prayers so that these 2 baptisms and the 7 planned for next week can come through!!!  Elder Sasselli and I will be having a baptism this Saturday. His name is Juan Rodriguez and he is definitely a miracle baptism.... We were just standing in front of the grocery store waiting to take out our monthly money from the atm machine when Juan came up to us and said... Hi Elders, my name is Juan Rodriguez, and I have been investigating the church for 2 years in Salto (a city in the other Uruguay mission) and I want to get baptized. Where is the church here?... Those were the best words that I had heard in my mission yet! He came to church yesterday and will be getting baptized on the 22nd, this Saturday at 7:00. It was a great miracle that we really needed in our area to help us in a hard time of not being able to find investigators to go on searching with more faith.

I also was in Bella Italia (my first area in the mission) the other day doing a baptismal interview for a 65 yearold lady and there was a member that accompanied us to the interview who I recognized as an oldest son of the Zamora family (who in the time that I was in Bella Italia, I taught but he didn`t have the desire to get baptized).  He got baptized 4 months ago and is now preparing to go on a mission. This week was just filled with great miracles!

We will be going to the temple on November 17th as the zone of Maroñas, I`m so excited!!!

That`s great that you have started to study Preach My Gospel as a family I know that you will all learn so much for it and if you keep up the study that Colin and Mason will become even greater missionaries than I am when they are called to serve. Keep working hard and studying hard so that you can build those spiritual muscles so that Satan, just like the football team that Colin beat last week, can be as scared of you as they were of Colin.

I`m so very proud of you all and the great things that you are accomplishing, Keep up the great work and share the gospel. Love you all so much.

Love,
Elder Gardner