Elder Gardner

Elder Gardner will enter the MTC on Wednesday, June 23rd. We will keep this blog up-dated every week with his letters and pictures. If you would like to write to Elder Gardner, please click on the "write a letter" link on the right hand side for directions and his address. If you don't know much about Mormon Missions read the "about missions" page to learn more; it may help you understand some confusing terms in the letters.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Transition (Cazador week 13)

Well, this week has mainly been a week of transitions. Getting used to working with a new companion and passing by all the members so that they can get to know Elder Southern. Elder Southern is a pretty cool person. He is from Indiana and loves to make jokes and have fun. His Spanish accent is really good, people often ask if he is from Argentina. He also just came from Parque Chacabuco, where I was three months ago. And best of all he did show choir in high school. Of course he did show choir in Indiana where it is way bigger and better than anything I ever did, but it is still a cool thing to have in common.

We spent a lot of time this week talking to inactive members. When Elder Southern was called to this area he was told this his responsibility was to strengthen the ward and the inactives. It took less than a day for him to figure out what the problem is: people don´t feel like they have friends at church. (I knew that a long time ago) The members that go to church go to church once a week, attend to the meetings, then leave as soon as it is over, and don´t see each other again until next week. That is not what the church is about. La capilla no es la iglesia. The purpose of the church is to be a community of friends who are concerned for each other and help each other, both spiritually and physically. That´s why we have home and visiting teaching, relief society, priesthood quorums; to make friendships and help each other grow. So we have been thinking of things we can do to help build friendships and bring people back to church and find nonmembers to teach at the same time. We've got some good ideas, now we are going to start trying them.

Other than there isn't too much to say about this week. Yesterday was Elder Southern´s birthday so we ordered ice cream Saturday night (I LOVE Argentine ice cream) and are going to eat at McDonald´s today then play soccer.

Hope everyone has a great week this week. I´ll talk to you next time.

Love,
Elder Gardner

Here is a second e-mail that Doug sent to his parents and siblings:

¡Hola Familia!

I have decided to write you all a letter. Mainly just to say that I love you. Ok, that´s not really why I´m writing it. That is way to emotional for me to write something like that. More it is just to say, ¨Gracias por nada.¨ That´s actually not it either.

It is actually just to say hi. Partly cause I´m bored. My comp is going home fairly soon so he talks about home and I have thought a little about what it will be like when I get back. It will be weird. New nieces/nephews, new brothers/sisters in law (Katie and Nate, wink wink). But thanks for all the support you have shown me. I miss you all and am excited to see you all again in a little while. That´s all I've got to say.

Love you all,
Your brother/son/nephew,
Elder Gardner

p.s. Write me letters!!
p.p.s. In case you didn't realize it yet, there is another reason I am writing this. Sabrina is pregnant. That is all.

No comments: