Hola todos...
Yes, I found a way to take money out of my debit card so if anyone wants to send me money, you can put it in my account.
It has been a week of miracles with the people we are finding here in Sarandi Grande to teach and help them with the message of the Restored Gospel. We found 6 new people, all of which are great and have sincere desires to learn and find answers to their questions, this week. There are only two things to report that didn`t go so well this week.... The first is that a plague or something must of hit Sarandi Grande because nearly all the members were sick yesterday and we only had 7 members come to church, including the branch president who was sick and so Elder Bermudez and I had to be in charge of all the classes and sacrament meeting with the help of the 1st counselor. It was good because we had a family of 3 investigators and the Father who is a less active member. They all came and are getting married this Friday at 2:00P.M. and are going to be baptized by their reactivating father on Colin`s Birthday, the 9th of October.
The other thing is that all was well for the baptism of Candelaria until 2 days before her baptism when we discovered that they hadn`t talked to her father about this decision yet, and turns out that although he allowed his wife to be baptized, he is completely against allowing his daughter to do it, and so we had to cancel the baptismal service because we can`t baptize her without the permission of both the parents. We are praying that he will open his heart to allow his daughter to take this oh so important step in her life that she wants to do. Please include her and her mother Magdalena and her father, Albaro, in your prayers.
We are very excited for conference coming up in two weeks and can`t wait to see what a great experience it will be for our investigators to hear the voice of the prophet and feel the spirit in this conference. This week I really realized the effect in many people`s lives that has happened thanks to loving parents who have pushed and encouraged me to continue playing the piano when I was younger and didn`t want to practice. We saw a miracle this week that came from the piano classes we are giving here. One of my piano students who is named Luciano is really excited about piano and learns really quickly but stopped coming for a while to the classes and we have seen him with his friends drinking and smoking, and not living the things he is learning from us about the gospel...
So we went to his house this Thursday to invite him again to come to the piano classes and his mom answered the door (His mom has never wanted to talk about the gospel with us before and usually doesn`t even answer the door when she sees that it is us) and asked us to help her because she didn`t know what to do. We were shocked and asked what... She said that her son, Luciano, is in a dangerous path in his life and she wants a healthy lifestyle for him that will help him make good choices with his life and that she knew that we were good friends with him, and was very grateful for the piano classes because it is the only good thing he was doing with his life.
She said that she was ready to do anything to help her son find something good in his life. We promised her that the gospel of Jesus Christ was exactly what she needed and that she could start by praying for her son like Alma the Elder prayed for his son. She told us that she didn`t know how to pray and that if the gospel really did help her and her son to find happiness and unity, that she would be baptized. She said that she would pray to know if our message was true the next morning and that she would also start reading the Book of Mormon. We were able to help a mother desperately looking for hope for her son, but only because I had learned to play the piano and stuck with it and developed the love to share the power of music to open the hearts of a family who previously was very closed towards the missionaries.
Thanks mom and dad for the patience and encouragement to keep learning and to later teach and share my love for the music and piano and now to use this talent in the service of the Lord.
I love you all and hope you all have a great week. The Lord loves you and is going to show you miracles as you let him transform your talents and love into a blessing and hope for those around you. Shine bright for the whole world to see and always give thanks to the Lord for what he blesses you with.
Love,
Elder Gardner
Monday, September 20, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
HOW'S IT GOING?
Hola todos...
How is it going with everyone? I am loving the mission so much. We have seen some great miracles this week and are way excited for the upcoming weeks. We have a baptism this Saturday. Candelaria had her baptismal service anounced in Sacrament meeting yesterday and is going to be baptized this Saturday at 6:00. Please keep her and our other investigators in your prayers and thoughts. I have been so blessed this week with the help of the Lord in Sarandi Grande. For example, we had a 16 year old boy come up to us this week in the street and ask us when he could be baptized. He had been listening to the missionaries before but had to stop because he had to leave town to work for the summer. He is great and his name is Americo.
We also have been very blessed in finding some other people to teach through miracles and our piano classes. The family that we are teaching now with the wife, and two daughters waiting to be baptized by their inactive father came to church this Sunday with the whole family (something that hasn`t happened in nearly 6 months) and the father is preparing himself with the branch president to be worthy and active to baptize his family on October 9th. We are all very excited and are expecting to have at least 5 baptisms in October.
Elder Bermudez went for another leadership training in Montevideo today and tomorrow and I am currently in the area of San Ramon with Elder Alcerro who is in his second transfer of his mission here. It`s a little stormy and cold today but the last week was great with the weather. Elder Bermudez and many of my piano students here are learning really well the piano and Elder Bermudez is beginning to help me with the classes because there are a lot of students to teach at once, so I teach the more advanced and he teaches the beginners. He is already playing with both hands in the simplified hymnbook that he bought from the distribution center.
This week I have started a new goal to introduce the Book of Mormon in every contact possible. I`m trying to use the Book of Mormon to answer the questions of the investigators and to be the keystone of the testimony of each person we are teaching. I was doing exchanges with Elder Whitaker on Thursday(when we switch companions and areas for one day) and we found an old Catholic grandma that began to ask us if we thought that her baptism was valid or not. We shared Moroni 8 and bore our testimonies and then she said to us that she understood now that a baby doesn`t need to be baptized because a baby doesn`t sin. She said, Now that I see it written and have read for myself, it makes sense, this has been a question that nobody has been able to answer for many years, thank you. We then explained that it wasn`t us but the power and truthfulness and clarity of the Book of Mormon that had answered her question and now she told us that she believes that the Book of Mormon is true.
I know that this church is true and that missionary work is for everyone to participate, my challenge for each one of you who reads my letters is to talk with the missionaries and organize a time when you can invite a friend or family member to come to your house and listen to the message of the restored gospel with you from the missionaries, and if you are not a member, the invitation is to listen to what it is that we are trying so hard to share with each of you. This message has changed my life and given it purpose, and I know that if you listen to it and ask God in prayer to know if it is true for yourself, that God will answer you through the power of the Holy Ghost and you will feel in your heart a peace and happiness that means that these things really are true. That'`s a promise. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that this church is true.
Love,
Elder Gardner
How is it going with everyone? I am loving the mission so much. We have seen some great miracles this week and are way excited for the upcoming weeks. We have a baptism this Saturday. Candelaria had her baptismal service anounced in Sacrament meeting yesterday and is going to be baptized this Saturday at 6:00. Please keep her and our other investigators in your prayers and thoughts. I have been so blessed this week with the help of the Lord in Sarandi Grande. For example, we had a 16 year old boy come up to us this week in the street and ask us when he could be baptized. He had been listening to the missionaries before but had to stop because he had to leave town to work for the summer. He is great and his name is Americo.
We also have been very blessed in finding some other people to teach through miracles and our piano classes. The family that we are teaching now with the wife, and two daughters waiting to be baptized by their inactive father came to church this Sunday with the whole family (something that hasn`t happened in nearly 6 months) and the father is preparing himself with the branch president to be worthy and active to baptize his family on October 9th. We are all very excited and are expecting to have at least 5 baptisms in October.
Elder Bermudez went for another leadership training in Montevideo today and tomorrow and I am currently in the area of San Ramon with Elder Alcerro who is in his second transfer of his mission here. It`s a little stormy and cold today but the last week was great with the weather. Elder Bermudez and many of my piano students here are learning really well the piano and Elder Bermudez is beginning to help me with the classes because there are a lot of students to teach at once, so I teach the more advanced and he teaches the beginners. He is already playing with both hands in the simplified hymnbook that he bought from the distribution center.
This week I have started a new goal to introduce the Book of Mormon in every contact possible. I`m trying to use the Book of Mormon to answer the questions of the investigators and to be the keystone of the testimony of each person we are teaching. I was doing exchanges with Elder Whitaker on Thursday(when we switch companions and areas for one day) and we found an old Catholic grandma that began to ask us if we thought that her baptism was valid or not. We shared Moroni 8 and bore our testimonies and then she said to us that she understood now that a baby doesn`t need to be baptized because a baby doesn`t sin. She said, Now that I see it written and have read for myself, it makes sense, this has been a question that nobody has been able to answer for many years, thank you. We then explained that it wasn`t us but the power and truthfulness and clarity of the Book of Mormon that had answered her question and now she told us that she believes that the Book of Mormon is true.
I know that this church is true and that missionary work is for everyone to participate, my challenge for each one of you who reads my letters is to talk with the missionaries and organize a time when you can invite a friend or family member to come to your house and listen to the message of the restored gospel with you from the missionaries, and if you are not a member, the invitation is to listen to what it is that we are trying so hard to share with each of you. This message has changed my life and given it purpose, and I know that if you listen to it and ask God in prayer to know if it is true for yourself, that God will answer you through the power of the Holy Ghost and you will feel in your heart a peace and happiness that means that these things really are true. That'`s a promise. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that this church is true.
Love,
Elder Gardner
Monday, September 6, 2010
WINTER IS COMING TO AN END!!!
Hola todos...
How are you all doing? Have you been seeing any miracles in Arizona? I sure have here in Uruguay! Sadly, this Sunday Candelaria and her mom didn`t come to church so we have to move her baptismal date back to the 18th of September, but we sure did see some great miracles this week which made up for the few hiccups in the success of Sarandi Grande. We are doing great here in Sarandi Grande and are seeing many great things happening. I`m glad you got the picture of Elder Jimenez and I and I would love to send pictures by email, but it takes a long time to put onto the computer and to send and I would rather use this short time I have writing about my experiences and testimony. This whole week it rained non-stop until Sunday. It was a thing that hits every year called the Saint Rose (Santa Rosa) when it rains for one whole week non-stop at some random part of the year but usually at the end of winter. But now the weather is great and we are enjoying a P-Day without rain!
Some of the miracles that we have seen this week are:
1. We have been teaching a really good family where the dad is a member (inactive) and the rest aren`t but want to be baptized, but they all want their dad to baptize them and he has had a problem with pride that has kept him from repenting and coming back into activity in the church. But this week we started to see a change in his attitude and he has really started to humble himself. He was even willing, if he can`t be worthy in time for the baptism of his family (His wife and 2 daughters) on the 9th of October (Colin`s B-Day), that he would be willing to have someone else baptize his family. This is a big step!!! We are so excited for them all and are really looking forward to October with General Conference and 3 baptisms to complete a family in the Gospel and on their way to a temple marriage!
2. We have an investigator who has been listening to the missionaries for about 6 months and has a great testimony and love for the gospel but never had the motivation to wake up early and go to church because she takes a medicine that makes it really hard for her to wake up early. Well after a fast, many prayers, and a phone call in the morning to help her get up (which she was already up and ready when we called her) she came to church and loved it. She now has a baptismal date for the 25th of September and is very excited along with us.
3. We were in church this Sunday and we received a ward mission leader who is very strong in the church! We started off on the great change in Sarandi Grande and they have already made home teaching assignments for priesthood and we are currently putting great goals to help us turn this little branch with many unanimated less active members and we are lifting the eyes of the active members to see success and want to help in the missionary work.
Piano lessons are going great. We have two very devoted students who are learning very quickly. We bought a simplified hymn book in Spanish from the Distribution Center and that has really helped us with these piano classes. In the last lesson we had one of the daughters of our family that is going to be baptized on the 9th of October named Vanessa come with her friend Alison and we think that Alison could be baptized with her friend Vanessa on the 9th if her parents allow her to do it. We`ll see how it all works out this week.
I received a calling in the branch this week and in our district of missionaries... I am called to be a branch pianist and as a home teacher with the 1st counselor of the branch presidency. And in our district as missionaries I am in charge of calling all the missionaries in our district (3 companionships) to ask them each night who they have with baptismal dates and what they are doing to help these investigators make it to their baptism prepared to be a faithful member of the church. The zone leaders in Florida decided to give each missionary a responsibility to help them feel more included, united, and focused helping each other focus in key points of the work, for example me with the placing and maintaining of baptismal dates in our zone!
We are all very excited and happy with the great results we are seeing as a mission here in Uruguay. I love missionary work and know that the Lord is directing this great work all around the world. This fast and testimony meeting was great and once again everyone got the chance to bear their testimony who wanted to. I shared my testimony of something I felt very strongly this time while partaking of the Sacrament, and I want to share it all with you...
I was thinking in how it must have felt for the disciples of Christ or for the Nephites who got to personally see and touch the marks of the nails in the hands and feet of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. And I wanted to feel and know how it must have been and then it came to my mind that... We don`t need to physically touch and see the marks that the Savior showed to his followers when he visited the earth to know that he really died and suffered for each one of us. He came and visited to testify and give evidence of His atoning sacrifice. Today we have more evidence than we realize and sometimes we take it for granted! We have the Bible, the Book of Mormon, a living prophet, the hymns, a restored church of Jesus Christ himself, continued revelation, the Holy Ghost, temples, etc. All we need to do is open our eyes and reach forth our hand by taking advantage of the many testaments and evidence of the Savior and Redeemer of the world. He wants us to see and touch the marks in his hands and feet just like the disciples, Mary, and the many Nephites who all did so, ONE BY ONE, and he continues to invite everyone to do it as well through the many things he has restored to help us come to a personal and convincing knowledge that Jesus is the Christ. I know that He lives and loves us each, ONE BY ONE, very much!!! I share my testimony of Him and His atoning sacrifice in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love,
Elder Gardner
P.S. Can I have a recipe for sloppy joes and for other dishes that have pasta or rice as a main ingredient please. Thanks! Thanks for the copies and the memory card and Elder Bermudez says thank you very much for the hymn book, He loves it!
How are you all doing? Have you been seeing any miracles in Arizona? I sure have here in Uruguay! Sadly, this Sunday Candelaria and her mom didn`t come to church so we have to move her baptismal date back to the 18th of September, but we sure did see some great miracles this week which made up for the few hiccups in the success of Sarandi Grande. We are doing great here in Sarandi Grande and are seeing many great things happening. I`m glad you got the picture of Elder Jimenez and I and I would love to send pictures by email, but it takes a long time to put onto the computer and to send and I would rather use this short time I have writing about my experiences and testimony. This whole week it rained non-stop until Sunday. It was a thing that hits every year called the Saint Rose (Santa Rosa) when it rains for one whole week non-stop at some random part of the year but usually at the end of winter. But now the weather is great and we are enjoying a P-Day without rain!
Some of the miracles that we have seen this week are:
1. We have been teaching a really good family where the dad is a member (inactive) and the rest aren`t but want to be baptized, but they all want their dad to baptize them and he has had a problem with pride that has kept him from repenting and coming back into activity in the church. But this week we started to see a change in his attitude and he has really started to humble himself. He was even willing, if he can`t be worthy in time for the baptism of his family (His wife and 2 daughters) on the 9th of October (Colin`s B-Day), that he would be willing to have someone else baptize his family. This is a big step!!! We are so excited for them all and are really looking forward to October with General Conference and 3 baptisms to complete a family in the Gospel and on their way to a temple marriage!
2. We have an investigator who has been listening to the missionaries for about 6 months and has a great testimony and love for the gospel but never had the motivation to wake up early and go to church because she takes a medicine that makes it really hard for her to wake up early. Well after a fast, many prayers, and a phone call in the morning to help her get up (which she was already up and ready when we called her) she came to church and loved it. She now has a baptismal date for the 25th of September and is very excited along with us.
3. We were in church this Sunday and we received a ward mission leader who is very strong in the church! We started off on the great change in Sarandi Grande and they have already made home teaching assignments for priesthood and we are currently putting great goals to help us turn this little branch with many unanimated less active members and we are lifting the eyes of the active members to see success and want to help in the missionary work.
Piano lessons are going great. We have two very devoted students who are learning very quickly. We bought a simplified hymn book in Spanish from the Distribution Center and that has really helped us with these piano classes. In the last lesson we had one of the daughters of our family that is going to be baptized on the 9th of October named Vanessa come with her friend Alison and we think that Alison could be baptized with her friend Vanessa on the 9th if her parents allow her to do it. We`ll see how it all works out this week.
I received a calling in the branch this week and in our district of missionaries... I am called to be a branch pianist and as a home teacher with the 1st counselor of the branch presidency. And in our district as missionaries I am in charge of calling all the missionaries in our district (3 companionships) to ask them each night who they have with baptismal dates and what they are doing to help these investigators make it to their baptism prepared to be a faithful member of the church. The zone leaders in Florida decided to give each missionary a responsibility to help them feel more included, united, and focused helping each other focus in key points of the work, for example me with the placing and maintaining of baptismal dates in our zone!
We are all very excited and happy with the great results we are seeing as a mission here in Uruguay. I love missionary work and know that the Lord is directing this great work all around the world. This fast and testimony meeting was great and once again everyone got the chance to bear their testimony who wanted to. I shared my testimony of something I felt very strongly this time while partaking of the Sacrament, and I want to share it all with you...
I was thinking in how it must have felt for the disciples of Christ or for the Nephites who got to personally see and touch the marks of the nails in the hands and feet of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. And I wanted to feel and know how it must have been and then it came to my mind that... We don`t need to physically touch and see the marks that the Savior showed to his followers when he visited the earth to know that he really died and suffered for each one of us. He came and visited to testify and give evidence of His atoning sacrifice. Today we have more evidence than we realize and sometimes we take it for granted! We have the Bible, the Book of Mormon, a living prophet, the hymns, a restored church of Jesus Christ himself, continued revelation, the Holy Ghost, temples, etc. All we need to do is open our eyes and reach forth our hand by taking advantage of the many testaments and evidence of the Savior and Redeemer of the world. He wants us to see and touch the marks in his hands and feet just like the disciples, Mary, and the many Nephites who all did so, ONE BY ONE, and he continues to invite everyone to do it as well through the many things he has restored to help us come to a personal and convincing knowledge that Jesus is the Christ. I know that He lives and loves us each, ONE BY ONE, very much!!! I share my testimony of Him and His atoning sacrifice in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love,
Elder Gardner
P.S. Can I have a recipe for sloppy joes and for other dishes that have pasta or rice as a main ingredient please. Thanks! Thanks for the copies and the memory card and Elder Bermudez says thank you very much for the hymn book, He loves it!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Oh Està, Todo Bien!!!
Hola todos...
How is everyone doing? Things are going great here in Sarandi Grande and we are still seeing many miracles and receiving many blessings. At this moment I am currently in Montevideo because we had to travel here this morning to sign some papers for my immigration, so officially I`m a legal resident of Uruguay for the rest of my mission!!! It has been a fun morning because I got to see all my friends from the MTC (both from this mission and the Montevideo West mission). I also saw Elder Jimenez here because he had to come talk with President because President Da Silva wanted to do a special transfer with him. He received the call from the offices that he was to stay in Bella Italia, but they called him back and said that he was to be reassigned to Durazno the next day.
I`m doing great and am healthy, safe, and happy. To answer Dad`s question, all my clothes are doing just fine for right now and if for some reason I have to buy new ones, I can do it in Florida or in 3 Cruces (the bus station where all the missionaries pass through when they change companions or areas).
This week has been really great and the excitement in Sarandi Grande has spread for piano lessons. I now have 6 students and all are youth and very excited to learn. We are using this opportunity to help both the youth members and investigators look at coming to the church as a fun thing not only for the meetings on Sunday but with piano lessons, soccer games, and activities to try and keep the youth more engaged in such a small branch with very few youth. Also, the members and nonmembers are becoming friends which is very helpful to have a support system to encourage the youth to keep learning about the gospel of Christ.
We had a branch conference this Sunday and Elder Bermudez, the youth of the branch, and I did a special musical number of ¨Oh mi Padre¨ or Oh my Father. It was a really great conference and we had a lot of people come to church. With the visitors from the Stake leadership and the members here we had about 30 members and 4 investigators come to church. We were expecting more investigators, but it was a very cold Sunday morning and when we stopped by the house of a family we are teaching to walk to church together, they were all still asleep. We are hoping that they will make the effort to wake up a little earlier next week.
We have two investigators with baptismal dates, one... Candelaria for the 11th of September and the other Aaron for the 18th of September. Please keep them in your prayers and also the other investigators that we are teaching.
We have seen many miracles and have felt and seen the power of the Adversary working full time against us, but we know that both occurrences mean that great changes are being made and that great things are to come, because we are receiving much help and blessings and there is a greater reason for Satan to work harder to try and discourage us and our investigators. I have been studying a lot from the scriptures and finished the book of Mateo and Genesis this week. It`s been really great to read the Old Testament and the New Testament at the same time along with the Book of Mormon. It helps me connect all of them better and see how they compliment each other in bearing testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I love you all very much and hope that all goes well with you this week. Thanks for the line of authority chart Dad. Love you Mom, Dad, Colin, Mason... (and Buddy). Gracias, hasta lunes.
Love,
Elder Gardner
How is everyone doing? Things are going great here in Sarandi Grande and we are still seeing many miracles and receiving many blessings. At this moment I am currently in Montevideo because we had to travel here this morning to sign some papers for my immigration, so officially I`m a legal resident of Uruguay for the rest of my mission!!! It has been a fun morning because I got to see all my friends from the MTC (both from this mission and the Montevideo West mission). I also saw Elder Jimenez here because he had to come talk with President because President Da Silva wanted to do a special transfer with him. He received the call from the offices that he was to stay in Bella Italia, but they called him back and said that he was to be reassigned to Durazno the next day.
I`m doing great and am healthy, safe, and happy. To answer Dad`s question, all my clothes are doing just fine for right now and if for some reason I have to buy new ones, I can do it in Florida or in 3 Cruces (the bus station where all the missionaries pass through when they change companions or areas).
This week has been really great and the excitement in Sarandi Grande has spread for piano lessons. I now have 6 students and all are youth and very excited to learn. We are using this opportunity to help both the youth members and investigators look at coming to the church as a fun thing not only for the meetings on Sunday but with piano lessons, soccer games, and activities to try and keep the youth more engaged in such a small branch with very few youth. Also, the members and nonmembers are becoming friends which is very helpful to have a support system to encourage the youth to keep learning about the gospel of Christ.
We had a branch conference this Sunday and Elder Bermudez, the youth of the branch, and I did a special musical number of ¨Oh mi Padre¨ or Oh my Father. It was a really great conference and we had a lot of people come to church. With the visitors from the Stake leadership and the members here we had about 30 members and 4 investigators come to church. We were expecting more investigators, but it was a very cold Sunday morning and when we stopped by the house of a family we are teaching to walk to church together, they were all still asleep. We are hoping that they will make the effort to wake up a little earlier next week.
We have two investigators with baptismal dates, one... Candelaria for the 11th of September and the other Aaron for the 18th of September. Please keep them in your prayers and also the other investigators that we are teaching.
We have seen many miracles and have felt and seen the power of the Adversary working full time against us, but we know that both occurrences mean that great changes are being made and that great things are to come, because we are receiving much help and blessings and there is a greater reason for Satan to work harder to try and discourage us and our investigators. I have been studying a lot from the scriptures and finished the book of Mateo and Genesis this week. It`s been really great to read the Old Testament and the New Testament at the same time along with the Book of Mormon. It helps me connect all of them better and see how they compliment each other in bearing testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I love you all very much and hope that all goes well with you this week. Thanks for the line of authority chart Dad. Love you Mom, Dad, Colin, Mason... (and Buddy). Gracias, hasta lunes.
Love,
Elder Gardner
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
ELDER BERMUDEZ & I ARE STILL TOGETHER IN SARANDI GRANDE!!!
Hola Todos...
We have been blessed with the opportunity to stay together here in Sarandi Grande (Elder Bermudez and I) for at least six more weeks. We have been extremely blessed this week and have seen many miracles here. We had a zone conference with President Arnold from the Seventy on Thursday and we learned many things and are going to see many great changes here in the mission. His focus of everything that we talked about was what things we are going to do differently here in the mission to raise the bar and get out of the normal and into the potential of the mission. He said that for the last 5 years the numbers and efforts of the missionary work here in Uruguay have been average and flat... because the efforts of the missionaries here have been just that. Then he went on to introduce some new ideas of what we can do to do things differently to achieve different and better results as missionaries. We made a list of about 20 things and we are all very excited and happy with what is going to happen here in the mission. He also said that he is going to have us stay in our areas for longer periods of time to help us focus more on where we are than where we might be going. He said that we could be in an area for up to 8 months at a time, not the usual 3-4 months that was happening in the mission before. We have started applying these changes and have found great success and miracles in our area here in Sarandi Grande.
We also had our big two day activity here in our area this Friday and Saturday. We had invited about 500 families from all over Sarandi Grande and had about 40 people come to the activity which was about what we had expected. The majority of them were youth and children because the activity was full of games, talent show, and candy. But the miracle that came from this activity was that we found 5 new investigators, one inactive sister reactivated, and we had 8 nonmembers in church this Sunday! We had 30 people at church this week -- a new record!!! We now have a lot more people in the streets that wave at us and are willing to talk to us and all the kids in the street are much more kind when they see us!
The only bad news is that the one investigator that we had planned to be baptized this Saturday didn`t come to church so we have to wait another 2 weeks to baptize her, but the wonderful news is that we now have about 30 investigators that are really good and have potential of being baptized in the next two months! Thanks to this activity and many other miracles from the Lord we have been blessed with many great people who are genuinely interested in our message! And also for the first time in a long time we have nearly every hour of our time set with different people to teach for the next two days which is really hard to do here in Sarandi where the people don`t want to commit to a time ever. Miracles are raining down from heaven here in Sarandi Grande and we are very excited to work with these wonderful people here. With these miracles we have an opportunity to double the size of the Sarandi Grande branch here in the next two months.
As part of the things ¨Different¨ that we are going to do in the area is offer more piano lessons in the church for our investigators so they can become more comfortable with coming to the church. I had to drop two of my students here this last week because they weren`t willing to practice, but we gained two new and excited students yesterday! I know that our Heavenly Father is a God of Miracles and that His Son, Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. The Book of Mormon is true and the word of God along with the Bible. This church is true and is guided by revelation given to our prophet today, Thomas S. Monson directly from our Heavenly Father.
I love you all so much and I know that Heavenly Father loves you all even more.
Elder Gardner
P.S. to answer your question... In Sarandi Grande we have to walk to get around the area which can be a lot of walking in one day but also can be a lot of excersise and blessings to find people in the street as well. Love you.
We have been blessed with the opportunity to stay together here in Sarandi Grande (Elder Bermudez and I) for at least six more weeks. We have been extremely blessed this week and have seen many miracles here. We had a zone conference with President Arnold from the Seventy on Thursday and we learned many things and are going to see many great changes here in the mission. His focus of everything that we talked about was what things we are going to do differently here in the mission to raise the bar and get out of the normal and into the potential of the mission. He said that for the last 5 years the numbers and efforts of the missionary work here in Uruguay have been average and flat... because the efforts of the missionaries here have been just that. Then he went on to introduce some new ideas of what we can do to do things differently to achieve different and better results as missionaries. We made a list of about 20 things and we are all very excited and happy with what is going to happen here in the mission. He also said that he is going to have us stay in our areas for longer periods of time to help us focus more on where we are than where we might be going. He said that we could be in an area for up to 8 months at a time, not the usual 3-4 months that was happening in the mission before. We have started applying these changes and have found great success and miracles in our area here in Sarandi Grande.
We also had our big two day activity here in our area this Friday and Saturday. We had invited about 500 families from all over Sarandi Grande and had about 40 people come to the activity which was about what we had expected. The majority of them were youth and children because the activity was full of games, talent show, and candy. But the miracle that came from this activity was that we found 5 new investigators, one inactive sister reactivated, and we had 8 nonmembers in church this Sunday! We had 30 people at church this week -- a new record!!! We now have a lot more people in the streets that wave at us and are willing to talk to us and all the kids in the street are much more kind when they see us!
The only bad news is that the one investigator that we had planned to be baptized this Saturday didn`t come to church so we have to wait another 2 weeks to baptize her, but the wonderful news is that we now have about 30 investigators that are really good and have potential of being baptized in the next two months! Thanks to this activity and many other miracles from the Lord we have been blessed with many great people who are genuinely interested in our message! And also for the first time in a long time we have nearly every hour of our time set with different people to teach for the next two days which is really hard to do here in Sarandi where the people don`t want to commit to a time ever. Miracles are raining down from heaven here in Sarandi Grande and we are very excited to work with these wonderful people here. With these miracles we have an opportunity to double the size of the Sarandi Grande branch here in the next two months.
As part of the things ¨Different¨ that we are going to do in the area is offer more piano lessons in the church for our investigators so they can become more comfortable with coming to the church. I had to drop two of my students here this last week because they weren`t willing to practice, but we gained two new and excited students yesterday! I know that our Heavenly Father is a God of Miracles and that His Son, Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. The Book of Mormon is true and the word of God along with the Bible. This church is true and is guided by revelation given to our prophet today, Thomas S. Monson directly from our Heavenly Father.
I love you all so much and I know that Heavenly Father loves you all even more.
Elder Gardner
P.S. to answer your question... In Sarandi Grande we have to walk to get around the area which can be a lot of walking in one day but also can be a lot of excersise and blessings to find people in the street as well. Love you.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
PICTURES FROM SARANDI GRANDE...
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| Elder Bermudez, Me, and Elder Jimenez in the bus station. |
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| baptism of Ambar Trucido (the branch president's daughter). |
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| 3rd baptism ~ Magdalena Gomez |
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| Bundling up for winter. |
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| My bedroom in Sarandi Grande. |
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| Teaching Elder Bermudez how to read music. |
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| Missionary clothes. |
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| My house in Sarandi Grande... I'm standing at the door when I took this picture. |
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| Your average Uruguayan house (constructed by owner). |
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| Dulce de Leche... Yummmmm... |
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| All windows in Uruguay have bars on them. |
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