April 23, 2012

I continue to be reminded about how amazing my mom and dad are.  I love you both so much.  I want to let you know again how grateful I am for you both.  We as children could not ask for better parents. 

It was a good fought week.  We stepped up our game here in the colmena.  I feel like we are doing what we need to do to receive the miracles we and the people here need.  Luis Nephi had a great week, that's not to say it didn't come without difficulties.  We helped him through his jitters, and now Luis Nephi is the newest member of la colmena.  We asked him how it was going with the Book of Mormon.  He told us it was going great.  He said he was reading before one of his classes and all of his students started to come in and everyone was asking him if he was Mormon.  Very proudly he said "yes, I'm Mormon."  Then he explained a little about the church.  He gave us a great reference that we are going to visit today.  He is a great missionary.  His baptism was awesome.  When he came out of the water he went right up to the bishop and told him, “Obispo i just got baptized!”  Luis has taught us all a lot about how great a blessing it is to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. 

The Church is true, and everybody needs to know it.  I'm grateful to be a missionary.  It was a shocker for me last week to read that Kevin is home.  I think even more of a shocker because I know I'm next.  Not sure if I'm ready for my next mission to start.  I love you all.  Choose the right!

Elder Gardner

Just a shout out to my boy Vance that made it through his cancer!

April 16, 2012

O Phoenix, cant wait to get down there when i get back.  Evan promised me that he is going to take we to a Suns game and introduce me to Steve Nash, and then buy me an i pod.  At least that's what I understood when I was reading between the lines from the last letter he sent me.  Sounds like you had an awesome spring break. 

It was a good week, other than the fact that our family of investigators that we brought to church got up after sacrament meeting and literally ran out the door.  We were confused but I guess that is a pretty good sign that they don't want to learn about the church anymore.  The highlight of the week was Luis-Nephi.  The guy is a stud.  We taught him about the Plan of Salvation, and he loved it.  I have never taught anyone who really understood the importance of the Plan like Luis did.  Every part of the lesson he was on the edge of his seat. Throughout the lesson he would tell us that what we were talking about was very important.  He is right.  He taught me a lot about how important this plan is.  At the end of the lesson he kept telling us how very wise our words were, and then he asked us if he could offer the closing prayer.  In his word he kept giving thanks for what he learned and for sending Briggs and Gardner to him.  He prayed for the strength to be able to get to the Celestial Kingdom.  At the end of his prayer he looked up and with tears rocketing out of his eyes he said in his Mexican English,  "Its like Happiness".  It was awesome, LuisNefi is awesome.  He is going to be baptized on Sunday, I’ll send you some pics next week.  Elder Briggs and I are on our quest to find the escogidos that are in our area, because its the best way we can help La Colmena. 

I love you so much, have a splendid week.  thanks for sharing the script in sec. 6. 

: )

Elder Gardner

April 9, 2012

¿Que Tal?

We just finished up with Semana Santa for the Catholics.  This is the week that they celebrate the week leading up to the crucifixion and the resurrection.  Viernes was crazy because every catholic church (they are like Mormon church's here, on every corner) had their own reenactment of the crucifixion.  So we saw a lot of bloody guys with crosses on their backs, in one case they actually nailed the guy to the cross.  Wasn't my favorite part of the week.  On Saturday we were walking to an appointment and we saw some kids playing on a roof with water.  As we got closer the kids saw us and then took their buckets and launched the water at us.  Elder Briggs and i were super confused, luckily we are super agile we didn't get wet.  Come to find out that for some weird reason the tradition on this day is to get every one wet, friends, family, and your local guerro. 

We are teaching Louis English here at the local college.  He is one of the funniest guys I have ever met in my life.  After he read in the BOM he told us that after his baptism he is going to change his name to Luis Nephi.  This week we taught Luis about the Word of Wisdom.  It kind of hit him as a big surprise because he loves his cup of coffee in the mourning, and opening up his can of cerveza.  After explaining the commandment and the blessing we receive from obeying, he was willing to give it all up.  Thinking it would be difficult for him we put a plan were he would give it all poco a poco over a 2 week span.  Our next appointment, when we asked about how it was going with the Word of Wisdom he told us that there was no problem.  We asked him if he could throw the 2 week program in the trash and give it all up that same day.  His response showed his faith,  "yeah, that won’t be a problem".  We asked him how he was able to give up some thing he has been doing all his life in seconds.  He told us, “because i understand that it is the only intelligent thing to do".   I learned a lot from him in that moment.  There are some times when I need to remember to keep the commandments because like Luis Nefi said," its the only intelligent thing to do."  I'm grateful for the lessons I learn from these people who have been prepared by God. 

I'm learning tons of things every day here on Gods mission.  I hope that never ends.  Hope all is well up in the states.  Don't worry, we had another earthquake.  Say hi to the family for me.  Keep  smiling and marching forward.

With a whole bunch of love

Elder Gardner