PICTURES FROM LAST 2 WEEKS IN BELLA ITALIA!

Chorizos with Elder Jimenez.

Elder Bracho and I (my frist intercambio).

puppy rescue (later gifted to an investigator who named him Elder).

my first Asado!!!

lunch at the Delgado's.

2nd baptism ~ Carlos rodriguez (13 years old).

baptism day (Carlos' little sisters).

field trip to the horse race tracks!!!

Elder jimenez is standing a raised platform to look a little taller :)

The stands.

The Maronas zone was the best!!!

Lunch with the zone at the Maronas tracks.



my first zone!



My first chapel.

Little kids are awesome!

The Book of Mormon is true!

military museum with the Garcia Family.

Bella Italia chapel at night.

P-Day with Elder Jimenez.

The Malvarez Family.

Bishop and Family.

Our good friend, the Bishop.

Ivone and Julio, Great investigators!

The Rodriguez Family.

President and Hermana Da Silva!

P-Day in Bella Italia

Shopping at 3 Cruces!

HOLA FROM SARANDI GRANDE

Hola todos...

How is everyone?  I`m doing great and am happily serving the Lord in Sarandi Grande, but sadly there is a transfer coming up on the 24th and we don`t know if we will be able to continue working together here in Sarandi Grande.  It is very likely that Elder Bermudez will have to be assigned to a different area because he has already been here for 3-1/2 months in Sarandi Grande.  It`s almost positive that I will remain here in Sarandi for at least 6 more weeks, but we find out what will happen on Sunday night when we receive the phone call of transfers.

We are working hard here in the area and are trying to find at least one other person to be baptized in the month of August.  We have Candelaria right now who is going to be baptized on the 28th.  We have 2 other young men that we are teaching that want to be baptized but haven`t yet taken it seriously and so we are going to see what we can do to encourage them to go to church and take things a little more seriously.  We are also hoping to place another baptismal date tonight with an amazing investigator named Diego who is about 22 years old and has sincere desires to read and understand the Book of Mormon and become closer to God.  We have faith that he will feel the spirit tonight and prepare himself to be baptized on the 28th as well.  We also have 4 people with a baptismal date in October (because they have to get married) and we are really excited!

We are planning a big activity in the church this weekend and are inviting (literally) all of Sarandi Grande.  We are going to have an open house in the church with refreshments, a talent show, games, etc.  We are hoping that this activity will open the hearts of some families here in Sarandi so they will see us from a different perspective and perhaps find some interest in listening to our message after they see that we aren`t that scary :)  We have made over 500 invitations and are inviting everyone that we can talk to.  Many are excited and we are praying that it won`t rain this weekend so that the people who are interested will come.  I will be playing the piano for my talent, we have an investigator who will sing and play the guitar, and Elder Bermudez who used to be a break dancer has some tricks and talents to share.  Please keep this activity in your prayers so that it will be a success in helping people here get to know the church, the members and what we actually do and believe in.

Thank you so much for your love and kindness and prayers for us.  We are receiving the blessings and seeing the miracles that come through your prayers on our behalf.  On Thursday, we have a zone conference with the new area president, President Arnold of the Seventy.  We are all very excited and motivated to continue working hard and to learn more from our leaders on Thursday.

Time is flying by and I will reach my 6 month mark this week (time does not exist here in the mission).  2 years sounds like a long time at first but there is never enough time to finish everything here that we have planned to do or want to do.

I have gained a greater testimony and respect for the Bible this week.  I read every chapter heading in the entire Bible in order to have summary of what I will be reading for the challenge given by the First Presidency to read the entire Bible in Spanish.

I know that the Bible and the Book of Mormon are true and that we are so blessed to have their words to testify and teach of our perfect example, the Lord Jesus Christ.  He lives and loves each of you individually.  I love you all.  If you can, please send me a copy of my patriarchal blessing and of my mission call letter.  Gracias.

Love,
Elder Gardner

THINGS ARE GOING GREAT!

Hola Todos...


Everything is going great here in Sarandi Grande and we are having lots of fun and success together here, Elder Bermudez and I. We have been very blessed this week and are really learning what it feels like to be a great companionship led by the Spirit. We are always smiling and are seeing many miracles in each day.  We set a goal with President Da Silva when he came and did interviews with us this week.  The goal is for the zone of Florida to have 24 baptisms in the month of August.  And for our companionship that means that we need to have 4 baptisms this month.  We have one person with a baptismal date for the 28th and are working hard to find the other 3 who will be ready to be baptized as well in August.  Please include this goal and us in your prayers because we know it`s possible to do it but will require the faith of everyone to see these miracles happen. 

I had my first lesson in Portuñol, which is the mix between Portugese and Spanish.  That was interesting, but I could understand every word that the investigator said.

It`s weird to think that summer vacation for you all is coming to an end, that`s probably because it`s freezing cold and rainy here still.  It`s crazy to think that Colin will be starting High School this year and that Mason is going to finish with elementary school this year.  I hope you are all doing well and feeling the Love of the Lord in your lives.  I know that I sure have felt a lot of His love for me this week.

This week I made a plan to help me organize my time better in the mission and to set some goals that I can check up on and improve througout my mission.  I want to let you all know that I know that the scriptures are a powerful tool and a real guide in our lives.  These books aren`t something to read just for fun or to be read and while reading to think that it`s just a boring history.  I know that The Bible and the Book of Mormon and all the other words of the prophets are vital and essential in the lives of each individual and especially each family.  If we read both personally and as a family each day a little bit of the scriptures then we will find the guide and help that we so desperately need in each day to combat the forces of the adversary and find the solutions and hope to push through trials and obstacles, be comforted and motivated by the words and promises of the Lord, and be lifted above our own expectations and potentials.  These books are the word of God, sent to us in a time of great need to guide and help us through this path back to our Heavenly Father. 

This week we received a challenge from the First Presidency to all the Spanish speaking members of the church to read the Bible cover to cover, and to always use the new edition of the bible in Spanish that came out in 2009.  I am so excited to do this and it will be a great challenge and blessing for me because I`ll be reading it all in Spanish. 

I want to give a few suggestions on how we can all use the scriptures more effectively and often in our lives.
1.  Read every day (even if it`s only a couple of verses.)
2.  Mark the scriptures that you like, apply to your life specifically.
3.  (1 Ne 19:23) Apply the scriptures and stories to your own life.  Put yourself in the shoes of those who are writing.
4.  Memorize a scripture a week.
5.  Write down the impressions that you receive from the Spirit in a notebook or study journal and review the notes from the previous day before beginning to read again.
6.  Always start and end with a prayer when reading to invite the spirit to help you understand what the Lord is trying to tell you.

If you do these things, I promise you that you will develop a greater love and see more often the blessings that come from reading the scriptures.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet of God that receives revelation to direct the Church of Jesus Christ in these latter days.

I love you all and am grateful for all that you do.

Love,
Elder Gardner

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS PA...

Hola todos...

Happy Birthday Dad!!! I hope you have a great birthday week and I wish I could be there with you all to celebrate, but my birthday present to you dad is the fact that I am enjoying my mission here in Sarandi Grande and am serving the Lord with all my heart, might, mind and strength... also we have another person with a baptismal date!!!  You remember the woman who was baptized in my first week here in Sarandi...well, her daughter who is 10 years old wants to be baptized too, and she will be baptized on August 28th.  We also are hoping to prepare 3 other people for the 28th as well.

Well, to answer your questions... I`ll talk with some of the other North American missionaries about the debit card.  Yes, I still have to wash my clothes by hand, and even better now... we don`t have a wash board so we wash our clothes in the shower or the sink.  Elder Bermudez is a great cook and we are eating really well.  We have a wide variety of ingredients to use here, but we don`t have an oven, only a microwave and a gas stove burner.  And yes you do have the greatest missionary son or brother in the whole world, haha.

This week has been great and really cold and rainy, but we did find some great people that we are teaching right now and have another baptismal date set up for Candelaria which we are very excited for.  I love it here in Sarandi Grande and we had more than 20 people in church!!!  It was fast and testimony meeting so everyone except for our two investigators bore their testimonies and there would have been time for the investigators to do so as well if they had wanted.  We are small in numbers but seeing a lot of progress here in Sarandi Grande.

There was a new Area President called to the South American area, Elder Arnold of the Seventy.  We have a zone conference with him in September and we are all very excited.  Elder Bermudez and I are happy and loving being companions.  He is fluent in English and is studying really hard to learn the little he has left in English.  He might write you all in English to practice in letters. 

I am now teaching 3 people piano in Spanish.  I have 2 Uruguayan students and one Honduranian student, so I guess you can say that I am an international piano teacher now, and bilangual too.  It`s been really fun and they are all learning fairly quickly and I`m learning a lot about the Spanish system of music as well.  It`s been a really great experience and I`m glad that I stuck with the piano in order to have fun playing and sharing my musical knowledge with those who have desires to learn all around the world.

I love you all and want to once again wish dad a happy birthday and give him an international hug (and tweeky)... You are all in my prayers and I hope you are all receiving as many blessings as I am!!!

Love,

Elder Gardner

HOLA FAMILIA!

Hola Todos...

Things are going great here in Sarandi Grande, Florida and we are loving the work here.  Time is really short today and I´m sorry I don`t have much time to write you all but today we had district meeting and we have to travel about an hour by bus to get to the stake center for it and that definitely cuts into our already short time that we have for Pday.

How is everything going in the states... I love you all and am so greatful for your love, prayers, letters and all that you are doing.  I have been receiving your mail just fine.  Thanks for all of you that have taken the time to send some mail and emails too. 

I started teaching piano in Spanish this week, that was fun, and it`s really different here because they don`t learn with the a, b, c, d, ... as the keys they are taught the way of do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do.  She is really excited and we have also found another less active member who wants to learn as well and we are hoping that through this opportunity that she will have a desire to return to church and be active once again.  I haven`t had the chance to try again with my debit card, but I have noticed that many of the machines here are like you said and really aren`t ATMs.

We have some really great investigators right now that are listening and also want to be baptized.  It feels really good to have people who really want to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized, and are willing to make changes for the better by repenting and progressing.  We also learned a lot from this conference that President Da Silva had with all of the leaders here and we are all excited and ready to teach in a more effective way in which we really are going to focus each moment and lesson on the needs of the people and try not to get stuck in a rut of teaching the lessons and not listening to the needs and questions and doubts of the investigators.

I`m doing really well and am safe and happy, and it has been raining quite a bit here in Florida... I have really been blessed in every way imaginable here in the mission and am loving every minute of my mission.  I don`t absolutely need anything right now, but a little chocolate and some more of those post its to mark my scriptures would be welcomed.  Thanks for all that you do and your wonderful example to all that are watching. 

Keep up the good work and don`t forget to smile, read your scriptures, and pray everyday.

Love you,
Elder Gardner

Sarandi Grande

Hey everyone...

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

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

Magdalena Gomez's baptism

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elder Gardner

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

NEW AREA AND NEW COMPANION!!!

Hola familia y amigos...

I now finished 2 transfers here in Uruguay and have had a great time here with Elder Jimenez in Bella Italia.... but sadly I have received a call to serve in a different department of Uruguay with a new companion.  I am currently waiting in the bus station for him to arrive and meet me.  His name is Elder Bermudez from Honduras.  I continue to have latino companions... I saw a picture of him that Elder Jimenez had.  I talked with him over the phone and he sounds really nice and fun.  We have been assigned to work in Florida, the area is called Sarandi Grande, and we are excited to work together.  I am anxiously awaiting his arrival so I can get to know him and get to work.  We are going to be in the campo or the country and I am excited to get to know more of Uruguay. 

I`m doing really well and I`m healthy, safe, and excited for this first real change in the mission.  Elder Jimenez is going to be companions with one of my friends from the CCM, Elder Young from Gilbert, AZ who turns out to be good friends with Ryan Palmer (small world).

Wow it`s really cold right now and it reached -3 degrees Celsius here.  I have to take a 4 hour bus ride to my area today and so I`m not going to have much p-day time this week, but luckily I had time to write you today.  I love you all and thank you very much for all your letters, love, support, and words of advice.  I really appreciate it! 

Elder Bermudez told me over the phone that we have a baptism this Saturday, I`m way excited!!!  It was sad having to say goodbye to my first area and all the great friends I have made here in Uruguay, especially Elder Jimenez.  We had a great spiritual experience last night when we stopped by one of our investigators` houses to say goodbye... It`s a great family that we have been teaching named Ivana and Julio and they have 4 kids... They got all teary-eyed when they found out that I would be leaving and told us that after our last visit, they felt the spirit and cried with joy after we left them and explained that they now know that the authority and sacerdocio of the restored church is here on the earth and that they want to be baptized as a family.  I now know the joy that we can feel as missionaries in the service of the Lord when the people recognize the Spirit and are willing to act upon it.  I`m one happy missionary but I wish that I could have had the opportunity to see their baptism, but if all goes well, I should be able to go through the temple with them to see them get sealed in a year.

Sorry I don`t have much time and I need to get going to see if my companion has arrived yet.  I love you all and will give a report of how the new companion and area is next week.  Thanks for your prayers and always remember to say your prayers and read the scriptures each day.  There is no better medicine than this to stay safe and happy in this dangerous world.  My spanish is coming along great and I`m seeing many blessings and miracles from our Savior in each day.  This is the best work I can do and I`m finding the joy and inmense happiness that is in the service of the Lord.

Love,

Elder Gardner