PERHAPS THIS IS MY LAST WEEK WITH ELDER JIMENEZ...

Hola Todos...

This week was great and time is flying by so quickly here, I can`t believe that I`ve been away from home for nearly 5 months already!!!  This is the last week of this transfer and we find out what will happen on Sunday night.  This Sunday we receive the call from the president to find out who will stay and who will go, and if we are lucky then we both get to stay for one more transfer (It`s likely that one of us will go and it`s always the one who has been in the area the longest, but since we arrived together here in Bella Italia, it`s a toss up and we are a little nervous to find out).

Yes, once again Uruguay advanced in the World Cup making them one of the top 4 in the world and the only team remaining from South America. The people are crazy here for their soccer and everyone is talking about it.  They play again tomorrow afternoon and the whole world is watching with anticipation and it`ll be near impossible to do anything for the entire afternoon here if Uruguay wins again, but at least everyone`s happy right now.

We had a baptism this last Saturday.  His name is Carlos Ezequiel Rodriguez Jara, and he is 13 and now the only member of his family who has joined the church.  His mother and aunt and sister are all listening to us right now and they are all a great family, but Carlos was the one most dedicated and progressed the quickest.  We are hoping to help complete the family so that they can one day be an eternal family and all participate in the blessings of this wonderful restored gospel.  Carlos is doing great and even acompanied us to a bunch of lessons after church on Sunday.  He is a great kid and reminds me a lot of Colin because he`s really tall for his age and has that same attitude as Colin and is always cracking sarcastic remarks.

I`m glad to hear that you all had a great time on your cruise and I`m glad to hear that you all made it back alive.  I love you all very much and hope that you are enjoying your summer.  The weather has been really weird here lately.  We are in the middle of winter and it`s hot like summer.  I`m in a short sleeve shirt today and it feels great.  It`s strange, but I`m not complaining.  Today we had an activity as a zone where we went to a horse racing stadium and took pictures together and had a fun time (I`m sending some more pictures home soon).

We lost our ward mission leader this week... He was called to be the 2nd Counselor in the bishopric and now we don`t have our amazing Ward mission leader to help us anymore.  It`s tough to get the support of the members here when only a few of them are active and half of them work all the time or don`t have time to help us at all.

I love the work here and have grown to love my area very much and hope that I don`t have to leave it next week.  Please keep me in your prayers and thanks for all the letters!  It`s always fun to hear how everyone is doing.

I tried to take some money out of my personal card here but the machine wouldn`t let me do it.... I don`t know if the code has been changed or if we have to talk with the bank to allow me to take money out of the machine, but if there ever is an emergency and I need some extra pesos for some reason, I can`t get money from my card and there are very few stores or places that take cards, everyone only accepts cash here.  If you could look into that for me please that would be fantastic.

I love you all and want you to know that I`m safe, happy, and healthy.  I know that this work is the Lord`s work and am learning with each new day more and more of what the Lord has planned to do through me and my service here in Uruguay.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true and have finished the challenge and can really testify with all of my heart that this book is Another testament of Jesus Christ and that we can become closer to our Savior by reading and studying this book more than any other book in the world.  Read it and you will find the answers to whatever question or doubt that you may have.

Love,

Elder Gardner

THE WORLD CUP IS A BIG DEAL DOWN HERE!

Hola Todos...

How`s it going with everyone?  All I`ve heard about this week is how amazing Uruguay is doing in the World Cup and how they are going to win it all and how ¨unfortunate¨ it is that USA is out of the running.  Wow, I`ve never seen a group of people so devoted to a sport... They all take work off so they can watch the game and the whole family is together to watch the game, which is the perfect situation for teaching the people here... but no one answers the door and absolutely nobody is in the streets during these hours.  When Uruguay scores a goal or wins a game, WE KNOW it instantly!!!  There are gunshots, yelling, cheering, and everyone runs out into the streets with their Uruguay flags as capes, singing their team's song for about 1 minute and then everyone is back inside glued to the television. 

It`s getting pretty cold here and it rains a whole lot more now that we are in the middle of winter.  I bought some rain boots to help keep my feet dry and safe.  I`m over my sore throat and feel great.

We had our first Asado, the famous barbeque of Uruguay. with one of the members in our ward last Friday.  It was delicious and big.  We couldn`t finish everything they put on our plate. 

Sadly there were no baptisms this week, and we had an all time low attendence at church of only 30 members and our one faithful investigator, Carlos who only is 13 years old but comes to church every week rain or shine.  He is going to be baptized this Saturday.  The rain scared away all of the members here in Bella Italia from church and so I had to play the piano and talk in church for 15 minutes with no notice before entering the doors to the chapel.  I felt the spirit very strongly in my talk and ended up talking for nearly 20 minutes on the importance of missionary work and how the members can help in the work as well.  The members all congratulated me and said that they were very surprised to hear such a great message from someone so new in the mission.  I even cried while bearing my testimony in Spanish... that was a first.  I love my area here and Elder Jimenez and I are praying for a miracle that we can stay together for another transfer, but we both know that it is very likely that one of us (we don`t know who it will be) will be transfered to a different area on the 13th of July.

We are both very happy and have seen some great miracles here in our area... for example, this week we were doing contacts in a street that we had never before contacted in our time here, and clapped a door (because you can`t knock the doors here due to the gates and dogs) and a woman came out and when we asked her if we could share a message about the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ she smiled and said yes you can and thanks for coming.  I know that this is a sign that you came to my door this morning, because God sent you to me because I`m going through a hard time and I prayed that God would help me and you were the first ones I ran into after this.  Thanks.  We are very excited to work hard this week and see at least one more baptism in these next few weeks before we are separated.

I love you all and want you to know that the Book of Mormon is true, and that really it is another testament of Jesus Christ.  I know that God loves each of His children individually and personally, and that He really does answer prayers.  He is a God of miracles and never will cease to do miracles in the lives of those who have faith in Jesus Christ.  I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God today.  I have really learned of the power and importance of prayer this week and hope that you all remember to pray this evening because He is listening and will answer your prayers.

Love,

Elder Gardner

MORE PICTURES FROM FIRST 6 WEEKS...

My favorite grocery store, Multi Ahorro.

The Malvarez Family.

The street right in front of my first house in Uruguay

Broken glass keeps the burglars out :)

Me at the beginning of my mission

Shakira the chicken.

view from the window of the house.

My first Baptism!!! Rosana Mendez

Rosana and family

Elder Zegarra (peru) and I

The bus ride to Rosana's baptism.

Uruguayan streets.

Elder Jimenez and I

Elder Draper, Elder Smith, Me and Elder Jimenez out to lunch

Miaaionary whiteboard

PICTURES FROM URUGUAY...

ZONE CONFERENCE

VISITING A MEMBER FAMILY ON P-DAY

 

  

DISCOVERING GOLDEN ARCHES IN BELLA ITALIA!

HOME SWEET HOME!

WASH DAY ... CHECK OUT THE GLASS SHARDS

THEY PUT ON THE TOP OF THEIR WALLS FOR SECURITY!

ELDER GARDNER & ELDER JIMENEZ

HEY, HOW'S IT GOING?

Hola Todos...

Thanks for all the love and support and for the letters. We are beginning to receive the letters from the ward and are really happy to have some people to write now. Zone Conference this week was great! We learned a lot and learned how we can work more efficiently with the members, leaders, and our investigators here in Bella Italia. We ate hamburgers together and each had a personal interview with President Da Silva. The spirit there was very strong and they had me play the piano for the conference. When I play the piano here, all the kids on Sunday come and gather around to watch and listen and everyone enjoys having someone that can play the piano. I love you all and sadly we have even less time to write an e-mail this week because we had to take an online survey for missionaries during our e-mail time as well.

I want to let you all know that I`m safe, happy, and serving the Lord each day here in Uruguay and can feel the love and support of your prayers and letters each week. Thanks for all that you do and for your examples and hard work back in the States. We are officially in winter here and are about to see a whole lot more rain and cold in each week. This will be exciting and adventurous. Congratulations Shawn and Bryan on your mission calls. I`m so excited for you all and for the awesome experiences that you are all going to have, and what a coincidence, when we all return... Jeff, Scott, Shawn, Bryan, and I can all talk in Spanish together. That will be fun. Prepare now and work hard.

How did the temple trip go, Colin? How did you feel? I want to hear all about it. Sorry to hear that you were sick, Mason. I´m starting to get a little sick here too(sore throat). But don`t worry, we`ll both be better soon. Love you mom and dad! Thanks for the e-mails and letters and Always remember that I always look up to you and your great examples for me and my brothers. Keep up the good work and I know you will find the joy and happiness and the blessings of having 3 sons who served missions and grew closer to the Lord through their service.

Elder Gardner

P.S. Elder Jimenez wants to know if you can do a little research on what he has to do to apply and enter BYU because he wants to go to BYU after his mission. If you could, please look into that and send us any info that is essential to apply or things he has to do to enter BYU in one of your e-mails. Love you all, thanks BYE until next week. Mason, Elder Jimenez wants to come and meet you too some day when he moves to the United States after his mission, so practice your Spanish now.

HEY FAMILY AND FRIENDS...

Hola todos,

This week has flown by so quickly and it`s probably because we are having such a great time down here in Uruguay!!! This week we received a new goal from our zone leaders and from President Da Silva... our goal is to have 15 lessons per week with a member present to give their testimony and support to our investigators throughout the week. We all thought that it would be really difficult to achieve because usually we had about 10 lessons a week with a member present, but we surprised ourselves here in Bella Italia and had 19 this week! We are still staying strong in our goal of 200 contacts each week, and we have 2 people with baptismal dates for the 26th of June. Their names are Josè Laxaguè and Saira... We would really appreciate if you could include them in your prayers and if you go to the temple this week please put their names in the box for prayers.

It`s definitely winter here now... It`s raining just about every day and it`s pretty cold. But I came well prepared so don`t worry about me. I`m well armored against the cold and rain, but we did get completely soaked when it rained on Friday. We were blessed with just enough sun today to wash and dry our clothes.

We are having a problem in our ward here in Bella Italia with attendance in church. There are a lot of members in the area but only a few that show up for church on Sundays, and it`s getting worse now with the cold and rain. We are only having about 30 people in the chapel out of the usual 100. It`s also a big challenge for our investigators because not even the members are attending church. Please include us in your prayers as we seek to find a way to improve this here in Bella Italia.

We have been hearing a lot about soccer here, because the World Cup has started. Just to show you how big a deal it is down here... On Thursday when Uruguay was playing France, there was absolutely nobody in the streets, and President Da Silva even had the zone leaders call us and tell us to use the afternoon to do planning and studies because no one was going to part from their sacred soccer match to listen to us. All we have been hearing this week is how everyone is doing in the World Cup and who everyone thinks is going to win. There is another game this Wednesday and we are secretly hoping that Uruguay loses because then there won`t be any other games to take away from our time in the streets teaching.

Thanks for the updates and letters. Sounds like you all have had some interesting experiences this week.

We have zone conference this Thursday and I`m sure I will learn a lot and we will all have a great spiritual experience as we always do when Presidente and Hermana Da Silva come and talk to us. I know that this church is true and that nothing can stop the work of the Lord, and I`m so very grateful to be a part of the work of the Lord here in Uruguay. That`s so awesome that Shawn and Bryan have their calls and Jeff is getting ready to leave soon, I`m so very proud of you all.

Good job bearing your testimony Colin and good rescue work Mason!!! I love you Mom and Dad, thanks for all that you do to make our family happy and safe. I miss you all, and hope that you are having a great time in summer. Love you, Talk to you next week.

Love,
Elder Gardner

P.S. Stamps are always appreciated, and I was wondering if you could send me colored mini post it tabs (the kind that are thin) so I can mark some scriptures to use with them, Thanks, love you.

I'M ON MY 2ND TRANSFER NOW...

Hola todos,

Hey first of all, I had my first baptism on Saturday the 5th... but sadly none of our other investigators persevered through the week to be prepared for Sabado Blanco and be baptized. I`m going to send pictures today in the mail to you of my first transfer. Last week I wrote to you on a Tuesday because of transfers. Every time that we have transfers, P-day is moved to the Tuesday so people can go to their new areas during P-day and not lose time for proselyting because transfers are always on Tuesdays every six weeks. The next transfer is on July 13th.

The way that it works here is that I barely have enough time to print out your e-mails and write you because we only have 30 min each to write for email...so if I don`t write specifically to anybody or don`t answer your questions it`s because I haven`t had time to read your email yet and I `m going to try and answer your questions in a letter. Thanks for the letters. We received the Stewart´s, Uncle Bruce`s, Grandma Linda`s, and a few other friends letters this week.

This Saturday was great and a little sad at the same time because out of our once potential 9 investigators with a baptismal date, only one... Rosana Gabriela Russo Mendez... was baptized and confirmed this week. I was able to perform the baptism and we had about 20 investigators and family members attend the baptism, which we hope will lead to more baptisms in the near future. We thought we were going to have two for Saturday because both Walter and Rosana passed their baptismal interview, but for some unknown reason (we think it might have to do with the family of Walter), we couln`t find Walter anywhere and he wouldn`t answer his cell phone on Saturday so he couldn`t attend his own baptism.

I`m jealous that Dad got to spend a whole day in the temple and that you got to see the dedication of a new temple in Arizona. I´m praying that I get to go to the temple sometime soon here in Uruguay. Thanks for your prayers and letters of support to your two sons in Bella Italia. Thanks for the talk of Colin and also all of the talks that Dad sends me. They have been really helpful and it`s great to hear your testimonies. Keep being such a great family and reading and praying together every day.

Elder Jimenez and I are doing great here and are excited and reenergized for these next six weeks together. I love you all and want you to know that I KNOW that this church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true! It really is another testament of Jesus Christ... I`m almost finished with the challenge of Presidente Da Silva to read and mark every reference of the Lord in the Book of Mormon. I have come to understand the Book of Mormon in a whole new perspective and have felt its testimony of Christ very strongly in a way that I can`t explain. I advise everyone who reads this email to take this challenge and come to find a greater testimony of the Book of Mormon. Read it from cover to cover and mark every time the name of our Savior is written and also all the words which He himself spoke to the people of the Book of Mormon.

I know that this is the work of the Lord and have seen the blessings of serving the Lord 24/7. I have also come to know of the power of this gospel and the fear that Satan has that this work is progressing here in Uruguay. He has tried to do everything in his power to impede our investigators and I know that this work cannot be stopped, for it is the work of the Lord. We are setting new goals and always trying to improve ourselves with each new day in order to evade the traps of the adversary and also to help our investigators to avoid them as well. I love you all and say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Your Son, friend, and servant of the Lord,
Elder Gardner

P.S. I would appreciate it if you could send me more stamps and pictures. I`ve been looking for an album to put the pictures I have in but haven`t been able to find one yet. And a little chocolate is always welcome... Love you all. Gracias. Until next week.