No puedo creer que ya tengo ocho meses en la misión; son mas que la mitad de un año; ha pasado mas que el cuarto del tiempo de mi misión. ¡Es incredible! El tiempo ha pasado volando.
Alright, I´ll talk in english. We had a zone conference this week and President did interviews. He always talks to the yankees in english when we are talking one on one. When I came back from my interview everyone was praticing teaching. I took my companion´s spot and the other elder who was teaching asked me a question (in spanish, of course) about how I can come closer to God in my life. Without realizing it I responded in english about going to church and the other elder just stared at me (he is from Peru or something so he didn´t understand what I said). It took my a few seconds to realize I had spoken the wrong language. That was the first time that has happened to me. I think it´s a good sign; I´m comfortable enough with spanish that I can´t tell if I´m speaking it or english. I find myself thinking in spanish more and more often. And pretty much everyone understands me and I understand most of what they say.
So this week has been alright. Silvia, the lady we have been teaching for a while who needs to wait for her husband to get divorced, is doing very well. We talked to her sister-in-law this week as well. Somehow her three year old daughter got a hold of a book of mormon from 1952 and carries it around with her all the time. The mom has no idea how she got it and didn´t know what it was until we showed up. God works in mysterious ways... The lesson with her was awesome. She said she felt something inside as we explained about the restoration of the gospel, and she started crying as Silvia said the closing prayer. The two of them are reading the Book of Mormon together and came to church this Sunday with their children. Their amazing.
Other than that nothing too exciting. Except that I officially passed my eight months in the mission and six in Argentina mark. It´s crazy. I can´t believe that the time has gone by so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was flying to the MTC, and like this morning that I was flying to Argentina. I haven´t had the most amazing success as I was hoping in my six months here, but I have helped a few people come unto Christ. And I have learned more here than in my entire life before hand. If nothing else I have helped myself come unto Christ and gain a stronger testimony that He lives. I testify to all of you that He does live. That He is ready and willing to bless you and change you for the better if you will just come unto Him.
I hope everyone has a great week this week. Keep up the work good and I´ll talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Gardner
Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Searching... (Cazador Week 14)
Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your eyes.... Alright, I¨m not Shakespeare so I´ll just talk normally. Hello everyone. I´m back to tell you about the Argentine Adventure.
This week has been a week of searching. Searching for people to teach. It says in Preach My Gospel (A guide to missionary service): ´Nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach.´ How true that is! We have been searching but sadly haven´t been finding. It was a tough week. But there were some bright spots.
Silvia, the mom of the kid who got hit with a rock, is doing very well. A member invited her over to Silvia to her house and we have had several lessons there with her. She has a long time to wait until she can be baptized (her ´husband´ has to get divorced so they can get married) but she really likes the church. Most of the time we just read with her from the Book of Mormon. She has read up to 1 Nephi 8 already.
We also happened to teach a family that are pastors of an evangelical church. They were very nice and didn´t try to argue at all. We just had a nice conversation about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Then on Saturday night we went to their church to see what it was like. It was interesting. There were about twenty people there and they just did like a Sunday School type thing were they read scriptures together. It´s interesting to see how other churches do things.
Alright, I¨m out of time. Sorry this letter wasn´t too exciting. At least I sent pictures :). I hope everyone has a great week. I´ll be here again next time.
Love,
Elder Gardner
"My district from last transfer. From left to right: Elder Merrill (my comp), Elder Ramey y Elder Olano (zone leaders), Elder Gómez (Argentine that was waiting for his visa to serve in Arizona), me, Elder Wray (Elder Gómez´s companion)"
"Lobo. He is a random dog that followed us from a member´s house back to our house (about ten blocks) and waited while we went to the bathroom then kept following us until we went to a house and the mom of the house made him leave."
"Gold toed socks. They never get a hole in the toes.... yeah right. It´s only been eight months and almost all of them already have holes. Good thing my young men leaders taught me to mend socks."
"Me and my companion, Elder Southern. Before we went to go play soccer."
This week has been a week of searching. Searching for people to teach. It says in Preach My Gospel (A guide to missionary service): ´Nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach.´ How true that is! We have been searching but sadly haven´t been finding. It was a tough week. But there were some bright spots.
Silvia, the mom of the kid who got hit with a rock, is doing very well. A member invited her over to Silvia to her house and we have had several lessons there with her. She has a long time to wait until she can be baptized (her ´husband´ has to get divorced so they can get married) but she really likes the church. Most of the time we just read with her from the Book of Mormon. She has read up to 1 Nephi 8 already.
We also happened to teach a family that are pastors of an evangelical church. They were very nice and didn´t try to argue at all. We just had a nice conversation about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Then on Saturday night we went to their church to see what it was like. It was interesting. There were about twenty people there and they just did like a Sunday School type thing were they read scriptures together. It´s interesting to see how other churches do things.
Alright, I¨m out of time. Sorry this letter wasn´t too exciting. At least I sent pictures :). I hope everyone has a great week. I´ll be here again next time.
Love,
Elder Gardner
"My district from last transfer. From left to right: Elder Merrill (my comp), Elder Ramey y Elder Olano (zone leaders), Elder Gómez (Argentine that was waiting for his visa to serve in Arizona), me, Elder Wray (Elder Gómez´s companion)"
"Lobo. He is a random dog that followed us from a member´s house back to our house (about ten blocks) and waited while we went to the bathroom then kept following us until we went to a house and the mom of the house made him leave."
"Gold toed socks. They never get a hole in the toes.... yeah right. It´s only been eight months and almost all of them already have holes. Good thing my young men leaders taught me to mend socks."
"Me and my companion, Elder Southern. Before we went to go play soccer."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.
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.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Tribulation (Cazador week 12)
¡Hola!
To tell the truth, this week has been kind of tough. The week before was amazing and we had high hopes for all the people we had met and started teaching. But slowly one by one they all started falling away. On Thursday we had four appointments planned and all of them fell through. On Friday we had seven planned and all but one fell through. So we were rather disappointed, but we kept working through the tribulation. I think Satan was working pretty hard too, let me tell you some of the things that happened:
Silvia. She is the wife of a less active member. We talked to them and gave her a Book of Mormon on Sunday. On Tuesday we came back and talked to them and they said that they had read together and discussed the church and felt really good. It was the first time they had talked about religion without fighting. Then Tuesday night Silvia´s son (14 years old, from a different father) was out playing soccer when some punks came and started a fight. The son got hit in the head with a rock, right in the temple. It broke the skull and he is in the hospital and won´t leave for a while. So Silvia has been in the hospital with him too. And the husband just got a job offer that will take him to another province (state) for about a month. And for some reason he accepted! So he left when his family really needed him most (they have a three month old baby too). Any thoughts they had about the church have left for at least a month.
Family Jousset. They are the cousins of Juan Ignacio, the kid that got baptized two weeks ago. After we taught them the daughter went to the hospital for surgery, I´m not entirely sure why - some sort of gall bladder thing. So the mom has been gone and we haven´t been able to talk to them in over a week.
Juana. This is the older lady who lives really far away and came to church once. Her daughter was kidnapped, we believe. She left of her own free will with an older man that Juana doesn't know. And she took her national identification documents, all of the pictures of her in the house (so they can´t put up signs with her picture), and 800 pesos. So Juana has been busy trying to find her and take care of the farm that she lives on all alone.
Domingo. An amazing old man that we found. He told us that he wants to become a member of the church. We were really excited for him. On Saturday we had an appointment with him but when we went there was a note on the door for us telling us that he will be gone for 15 days. We have no idea why or where he went. But at least he thought to leave us a note, I think he will be baptized when he gets back.
So it´s been an interesting week. But Elder Merrill and I kept working. And for those of you who realized that today is transfers week, let me tell you about my new companion. Elder Merrill left and I am here in El Cazador with Elder Southern. He is from Indiana (I think). I don´t really know a whole lot about him yet (I just meet him about an hour ago). He only has two transfers left so I hope he isn't trunky. I´m a little bit worried about having to handle the area until he learns the ropes here. This is my first time staying in an area and getting a new companion, I´m going to have to take a lot more leadership. It´s a little bit scary but I´m really excited for the chance to learn a lot. God kept me here for a reason, now I just got to find out why.
Well, I hope everyone has a great week. I´ll tell you more next week. Same time, same place, slightly different storyline.
les amo,
Elder Gardner
To tell the truth, this week has been kind of tough. The week before was amazing and we had high hopes for all the people we had met and started teaching. But slowly one by one they all started falling away. On Thursday we had four appointments planned and all of them fell through. On Friday we had seven planned and all but one fell through. So we were rather disappointed, but we kept working through the tribulation. I think Satan was working pretty hard too, let me tell you some of the things that happened:
Silvia. She is the wife of a less active member. We talked to them and gave her a Book of Mormon on Sunday. On Tuesday we came back and talked to them and they said that they had read together and discussed the church and felt really good. It was the first time they had talked about religion without fighting. Then Tuesday night Silvia´s son (14 years old, from a different father) was out playing soccer when some punks came and started a fight. The son got hit in the head with a rock, right in the temple. It broke the skull and he is in the hospital and won´t leave for a while. So Silvia has been in the hospital with him too. And the husband just got a job offer that will take him to another province (state) for about a month. And for some reason he accepted! So he left when his family really needed him most (they have a three month old baby too). Any thoughts they had about the church have left for at least a month.
Family Jousset. They are the cousins of Juan Ignacio, the kid that got baptized two weeks ago. After we taught them the daughter went to the hospital for surgery, I´m not entirely sure why - some sort of gall bladder thing. So the mom has been gone and we haven´t been able to talk to them in over a week.
Juana. This is the older lady who lives really far away and came to church once. Her daughter was kidnapped, we believe. She left of her own free will with an older man that Juana doesn't know. And she took her national identification documents, all of the pictures of her in the house (so they can´t put up signs with her picture), and 800 pesos. So Juana has been busy trying to find her and take care of the farm that she lives on all alone.
Domingo. An amazing old man that we found. He told us that he wants to become a member of the church. We were really excited for him. On Saturday we had an appointment with him but when we went there was a note on the door for us telling us that he will be gone for 15 days. We have no idea why or where he went. But at least he thought to leave us a note, I think he will be baptized when he gets back.
So it´s been an interesting week. But Elder Merrill and I kept working. And for those of you who realized that today is transfers week, let me tell you about my new companion. Elder Merrill left and I am here in El Cazador with Elder Southern. He is from Indiana (I think). I don´t really know a whole lot about him yet (I just meet him about an hour ago). He only has two transfers left so I hope he isn't trunky. I´m a little bit worried about having to handle the area until he learns the ropes here. This is my first time staying in an area and getting a new companion, I´m going to have to take a lot more leadership. It´s a little bit scary but I´m really excited for the chance to learn a lot. God kept me here for a reason, now I just got to find out why.
Well, I hope everyone has a great week. I´ll tell you more next week. Same time, same place, slightly different storyline.
les amo,
Elder Gardner
Monday, January 31, 2011
(Cazador Week 11)
It´s been an interesting week. We had some really good success working a lot with the members. We managed to get a member to go with us to an appointment every day. It helped the people we are teaching a lot to talk to someone who is a member that isn´t a missionary and it also helped the members be more excited about missionary work. We found a lot of new people this week, here are a few of them:
Claudia and Elizabeth. Elizabeth is the mom of Claudia, 21 year old girl who has a year old daughter, and Erik, an 8 year old boy. We first talked to them over a month ago but have never been able the enter the house because there isn´t a man there. After many failed atempts we finally got a member to come with us. We soon realized that they LOVE to TALK. We were there over an hour and barely said five sentences, the rest of the time they just told us practically their life story. They have had a pretty tough life, they really need the gospel to help them find peace and comfort. Saturday night Claudia´s ex-husband (they were never married but lived together) came and tried to take the baby away. He hit her but the neighbors called the police and stopped him. Apparently, he hit her bad enough Claudia had to go to the hospital. Then Sunday she went to work and got fired. Without knowing any of this, we showed up Sunday morning with a picture of Christ and a scripture written on the back that talks about how even when we feel abandoned God will never forgot about you. When we gave it to them Elizabeth asked, ¨how did you know how we felt? Are you magic?¨ We replied, ¨nope, just representatives of God.¨
Homberto Gomez. He is an old man that is all alone. His wife died and they didn´t have any kids, so he is all alone in the world now. We taught him a short lesson about the plan God has for us and then invited him to church. He said he would come so we said we would go by his house to pick him up Sunday morning. It is about a half hour walk from where we live and I wasn´t very excited because I didn´t think he would really come (o man of little faith that I am) but when we got there he was wearing a white shirt and dress pants and waiting outside. He went to church and really enjoyed it and said that next week we can just meet him at the bus station. That was amazing. I learned to never doubt in people like that again.
Silvia. Her ´husband´ is a member that we didn´t know lived here. The elders quorum president found him and invited us over to talk to them. The husband wants to bless their new born baby in church but knows he needs to change some things in his life first in order to be worthy (such as get divorced to his ex-wife and marry Silvia). We talked about how first he needs to change the small things in his life, such as reading the scriptures, praying, and going to church, and then God will help him with the bigger problems, such as finding the ex-wife to get the divorce. (It´s sad how big of a problem that is here.) We also taught Silvia about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and she really liked it. They are an amazing family.
We taught a lot more people than that but those are the most interesting. It honestly had been a pretty amazing week. My companion and I are working hard and have seen a lot of results of our efforts. The gospel is real. Christ really came to the earth two thousand years ago to pay for our sins so that we can have peace in this life and live with God again in the next. That´s why I am out there walking around in 105 degree weather with 90 percent humidity. Because He lives. There is nothing more important or as fulfilling as helping people come unto Christ.
I hope everyone has a great week. Remember, with God all things are possible.
les amo,
Elder Gardner
Claudia and Elizabeth. Elizabeth is the mom of Claudia, 21 year old girl who has a year old daughter, and Erik, an 8 year old boy. We first talked to them over a month ago but have never been able the enter the house because there isn´t a man there. After many failed atempts we finally got a member to come with us. We soon realized that they LOVE to TALK. We were there over an hour and barely said five sentences, the rest of the time they just told us practically their life story. They have had a pretty tough life, they really need the gospel to help them find peace and comfort. Saturday night Claudia´s ex-husband (they were never married but lived together) came and tried to take the baby away. He hit her but the neighbors called the police and stopped him. Apparently, he hit her bad enough Claudia had to go to the hospital. Then Sunday she went to work and got fired. Without knowing any of this, we showed up Sunday morning with a picture of Christ and a scripture written on the back that talks about how even when we feel abandoned God will never forgot about you. When we gave it to them Elizabeth asked, ¨how did you know how we felt? Are you magic?¨ We replied, ¨nope, just representatives of God.¨
Homberto Gomez. He is an old man that is all alone. His wife died and they didn´t have any kids, so he is all alone in the world now. We taught him a short lesson about the plan God has for us and then invited him to church. He said he would come so we said we would go by his house to pick him up Sunday morning. It is about a half hour walk from where we live and I wasn´t very excited because I didn´t think he would really come (o man of little faith that I am) but when we got there he was wearing a white shirt and dress pants and waiting outside. He went to church and really enjoyed it and said that next week we can just meet him at the bus station. That was amazing. I learned to never doubt in people like that again.
Silvia. Her ´husband´ is a member that we didn´t know lived here. The elders quorum president found him and invited us over to talk to them. The husband wants to bless their new born baby in church but knows he needs to change some things in his life first in order to be worthy (such as get divorced to his ex-wife and marry Silvia). We talked about how first he needs to change the small things in his life, such as reading the scriptures, praying, and going to church, and then God will help him with the bigger problems, such as finding the ex-wife to get the divorce. (It´s sad how big of a problem that is here.) We also taught Silvia about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and she really liked it. They are an amazing family.
We taught a lot more people than that but those are the most interesting. It honestly had been a pretty amazing week. My companion and I are working hard and have seen a lot of results of our efforts. The gospel is real. Christ really came to the earth two thousand years ago to pay for our sins so that we can have peace in this life and live with God again in the next. That´s why I am out there walking around in 105 degree weather with 90 percent humidity. Because He lives. There is nothing more important or as fulfilling as helping people come unto Christ.
I hope everyone has a great week. Remember, with God all things are possible.
les amo,
Elder Gardner
Toy Story! They come on the back of cereal boxes, so I bought all the cereal of them I could.
Random picture I took while walking to the internet place today. This is the sidewalk.
Another random picture I took. This is a ´chino´ - mini supermarket.
The map of the area.Monday, January 24, 2011
Un bautismo milagroso (Cazador week 10)
Well, this week was rather amazing. A couple weeks ago I mentioned that Elder Merrill found a member family that isn´t on the list of members, and that in this family there is a 12 year old son who isn´t a member (or wasn´t a member). The grandmom and son came to church two weeks ago, last week Juan (the son) came by himself, and yesterday he was baptized. So the story:
Juan´s mom died about three months ago. Ever since then the whole family has been kind of depressed (he lives with his grandmom, dad, and 8 year old brother who has down syndrome). The grandmom and dad are members but the dad stopped going to church a long time ago and the grandmom stopped about 5 years ago. Elder Merrill showed up at their house the day after the grandmom had a dream where the recently deceased mom asked her why she doesn´t go back to church. After the grandmom and Juan came to church the first week we tried to teach them again but never found them at home, we passed by three times during the week but they were never there. After Juan came to church by himself we realized he was really interested and we needed to talk to him. So Monday night we set an appointment with him, his dad (who is almost never home), and the grandmom. We felt that we should invite him to be baptized, but he is going on a two week long vacation on Wednesday so we didn´t know when to do it. We prayed and decided that it would be best for him to be baptized before he left, so we invited him to be baptized on Sunday. He accepted and his dad was very supportive of his decision. We had to call the mission president to get special permission to baptize him before church on Sunday, at 8 in the morning. So with lots of help from members, we went to his house and taught him every day this week to help him be prepared. On Saturday morning he had his baptismal interview, he was there 15 minutes early waiting for us to arrive. Then on Sunday morning we were a little worried because he was late, but he showed up a few minutes later with his dad, grandmom, and aunt and cousins. It was a great baptismal service and there were lots of members there to show him and his family support.
So, Juan has been our main focus this week. We have had a lot of help from the members who were willing to go with us to visit and teach, which was amazing. We realized this week how willing people are to help, they just need someone to invite them to do it. Also this week the ward had an activity on Saturday. There was a carnival in the soccer field in the back of the chapel. Sadly I forgot to take my camera so I don´t have pictures, but there were lots of little games (throw a ball at cans, ring toss, water balloon toss (I got wet), get candy out of flour using your face, etc). It was really fun and lots of members came, along with Juan and his cousin who had a great time.
We have seen God´s hand guiding us to people who need our help a lot in the past week. From guiding us to Juan and his family that really needed some comfort in a hard time of their life, to talking to another lady on the street that recently had to get a restraining order on her abusive husband. There are a lot of people who need help, it is amazing to be an instrument in God´s hands to bring them the help they need.
I hope everyone has a great week. Keep up the good work and remember to take time to stop and lift the hands that hang down. You can be the miracle that that person was praying for.
Love,
Elder Gardner
"These are Argentine keys. Yes, they look like they are keys to a castle or something. It´s awesome."
"Juan with more of his family: his dad, grandmom, brother, aunt and cousins."
"Juan and his dad, his dad is inactive, but is fully supportive and very proud of his son´s decision."
"Juan and the missionaries, Elder Merrill baptized him."
Juan Ignacio, the amazing young man that got baptized yesterday.
"A few weeks ago we went to spend some time with Adrian and Rocío (the couple that got baptized a month or so ago) during p-day. Adrian showed us some of his guitar skills, it´s rather impressive considering he his blind."
Juan´s mom died about three months ago. Ever since then the whole family has been kind of depressed (he lives with his grandmom, dad, and 8 year old brother who has down syndrome). The grandmom and dad are members but the dad stopped going to church a long time ago and the grandmom stopped about 5 years ago. Elder Merrill showed up at their house the day after the grandmom had a dream where the recently deceased mom asked her why she doesn´t go back to church. After the grandmom and Juan came to church the first week we tried to teach them again but never found them at home, we passed by three times during the week but they were never there. After Juan came to church by himself we realized he was really interested and we needed to talk to him. So Monday night we set an appointment with him, his dad (who is almost never home), and the grandmom. We felt that we should invite him to be baptized, but he is going on a two week long vacation on Wednesday so we didn´t know when to do it. We prayed and decided that it would be best for him to be baptized before he left, so we invited him to be baptized on Sunday. He accepted and his dad was very supportive of his decision. We had to call the mission president to get special permission to baptize him before church on Sunday, at 8 in the morning. So with lots of help from members, we went to his house and taught him every day this week to help him be prepared. On Saturday morning he had his baptismal interview, he was there 15 minutes early waiting for us to arrive. Then on Sunday morning we were a little worried because he was late, but he showed up a few minutes later with his dad, grandmom, and aunt and cousins. It was a great baptismal service and there were lots of members there to show him and his family support.
So, Juan has been our main focus this week. We have had a lot of help from the members who were willing to go with us to visit and teach, which was amazing. We realized this week how willing people are to help, they just need someone to invite them to do it. Also this week the ward had an activity on Saturday. There was a carnival in the soccer field in the back of the chapel. Sadly I forgot to take my camera so I don´t have pictures, but there were lots of little games (throw a ball at cans, ring toss, water balloon toss (I got wet), get candy out of flour using your face, etc). It was really fun and lots of members came, along with Juan and his cousin who had a great time.
We have seen God´s hand guiding us to people who need our help a lot in the past week. From guiding us to Juan and his family that really needed some comfort in a hard time of their life, to talking to another lady on the street that recently had to get a restraining order on her abusive husband. There are a lot of people who need help, it is amazing to be an instrument in God´s hands to bring them the help they need.
I hope everyone has a great week. Keep up the good work and remember to take time to stop and lift the hands that hang down. You can be the miracle that that person was praying for.
Love,
Elder Gardner
"These are Argentine keys. Yes, they look like they are keys to a castle or something. It´s awesome."
"Juan with more of his family: his dad, grandmom, brother, aunt and cousins."
"Juan and his dad, his dad is inactive, but is fully supportive and very proud of his son´s decision."
"Juan and the missionaries, Elder Merrill baptized him."
Juan Ignacio, the amazing young man that got baptized yesterday."A few weeks ago we went to spend some time with Adrian and Rocío (the couple that got baptized a month or so ago) during p-day. Adrian showed us some of his guitar skills, it´s rather impressive considering he his blind."
Monday, January 17, 2011
Senior Comp, for 2 days (Cazador week 9)
Wow, time is really flying here. I can´t believe it´s already been a week since last p-day. Time especially goes by really fast when there is some sort of change. And this week I was on divisiones for a few days, which made time speed by.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday there was a mission wide training meeting for all the leaders in the mission, which means that my companion had to go since he is district leader. So Wednesday I went to work with Elder Gómez in his area. It was pretty fun, we did service breaking a bunch of rocks with hammers. Then we visited a few people before our companions came back at night.
On Thursday Elder Gómez came to my area and we worked to together until Friday night. It was weird because he has less time than me in the mission so I was the senior companion for a few days. I realized I still have a whole lot to learn about how to be a good missionary. Fortunately Elder Gómez is Argentine so he can speak spanish and understands the culture very well. He is also an amazing missionary. On Thurdsady we taught five lessons together and found five new investigators. Two of the new investigators were Juana and Andrea. An old lady and her daughter that live out in the middle of nowhere. A member told us that we should go visit them but we never had a car to be able to go. But on Thursday we had a young man with a car who took us (his name is Nahuel and he is waiting for his mission call that should arrive any day now). We passed the last of the houses in our area and continued down a dirt road about 8 more minutes before we finally found a group of houses. Juana and Andrea were there and we taught them a nice lesson then said we would be back Sunday to bring them to church. But Saturday Nahuel told us his car was in the shop and he couldn´t go. So we called a few other members and found someone who was willing to drive us (that was a miracle, that aren´t many people with cars here). We got to the house about 8:40 Sunday morning and they were both ready and waiting so we left and made it back just in time for church to start at 9:00. They had a really good experience except that Juana had recently fallen and hurt her arm and was in a lot of pain. But it was amazing that we could get them there and back again without any problems. Truely a blessing from God.
Also on Friday we did service again. This time we moved a bunch of dirt from the front yard of a house to the back. It was a ton of dirt and we spent about two and a half hours with wheel barrows and shovels moving it. We didn´t even finish it either. Needless to say I am very sour right now. I didn´t expect to get such a good work out on the mission.
This week I really learned the importance of action. Many times we want something to happen but instead of doing anything we just hope it takes care of itself. That doesn´t work very well. We can sit there and hope and pray and have great faith that someone will come to church, that some how we will pay able to pay the rent, or that we will be happy. But unless we go out and do something about it nothing is going to change. That´s why James told us faith without works is dead. I can have faith that God will help me pay the rent but unless I go out and look for a job it isn´t very likely to happen. God blesses us as we put in the effort, He doesn´t bless us in our inaction.
Well, that´s all I got time for this week. I hope everyone had a great week and will continue having the same. Or, mejor dicho, will go out and make it a great week.
Love,
Elder Gardner
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday there was a mission wide training meeting for all the leaders in the mission, which means that my companion had to go since he is district leader. So Wednesday I went to work with Elder Gómez in his area. It was pretty fun, we did service breaking a bunch of rocks with hammers. Then we visited a few people before our companions came back at night.
On Thursday Elder Gómez came to my area and we worked to together until Friday night. It was weird because he has less time than me in the mission so I was the senior companion for a few days. I realized I still have a whole lot to learn about how to be a good missionary. Fortunately Elder Gómez is Argentine so he can speak spanish and understands the culture very well. He is also an amazing missionary. On Thurdsady we taught five lessons together and found five new investigators. Two of the new investigators were Juana and Andrea. An old lady and her daughter that live out in the middle of nowhere. A member told us that we should go visit them but we never had a car to be able to go. But on Thursday we had a young man with a car who took us (his name is Nahuel and he is waiting for his mission call that should arrive any day now). We passed the last of the houses in our area and continued down a dirt road about 8 more minutes before we finally found a group of houses. Juana and Andrea were there and we taught them a nice lesson then said we would be back Sunday to bring them to church. But Saturday Nahuel told us his car was in the shop and he couldn´t go. So we called a few other members and found someone who was willing to drive us (that was a miracle, that aren´t many people with cars here). We got to the house about 8:40 Sunday morning and they were both ready and waiting so we left and made it back just in time for church to start at 9:00. They had a really good experience except that Juana had recently fallen and hurt her arm and was in a lot of pain. But it was amazing that we could get them there and back again without any problems. Truely a blessing from God.
Also on Friday we did service again. This time we moved a bunch of dirt from the front yard of a house to the back. It was a ton of dirt and we spent about two and a half hours with wheel barrows and shovels moving it. We didn´t even finish it either. Needless to say I am very sour right now. I didn´t expect to get such a good work out on the mission.
This week I really learned the importance of action. Many times we want something to happen but instead of doing anything we just hope it takes care of itself. That doesn´t work very well. We can sit there and hope and pray and have great faith that someone will come to church, that some how we will pay able to pay the rent, or that we will be happy. But unless we go out and do something about it nothing is going to change. That´s why James told us faith without works is dead. I can have faith that God will help me pay the rent but unless I go out and look for a job it isn´t very likely to happen. God blesses us as we put in the effort, He doesn´t bless us in our inaction.
Well, that´s all I got time for this week. I hope everyone had a great week and will continue having the same. Or, mejor dicho, will go out and make it a great week.
Love,
Elder Gardner
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