September 26, 2011

MOM,

How lucky are we.  We have one of the greatest families on earth.  I got all choked up to hear you comments about seeing all your kids in the temple with there spouses.  I'm overly grateful to be a part of a family where each member is walking in the path that god planned for us to take.  Yes, we have trials, and boy are they heart wrenchers, but take a step back and look at our family........ its worth it!  The trials, the pressure, the enduring is worth it!   Because at the end of this life we will all be there together enjoying eternal happiness.   And when you see a family as awesome as ours, you have to look at where it all started.  The Big Ma and Pa.  Thank you mom and dad for showing us the way, thank you for putting up with us so that we can partake of never ending happiness.  Mom, in the words of the top gun fighting instructor,  "Yeah, you did it right´´.  I'm so glad to hear that everything went great.  Tell Andrew and Becky, felizidades.  Tell that Auzzy he's a stud,  and tell Starla and Teri they are amazing too. And tell the fam they are the best!    I love you, And i hope all goes well in the preparation for Texas.  I know you will kill it. 

Sept. 19, 2011

Super Sorry about last week, I feel a little sheepish because of what happened.  The thing is we didn't have money.  I had the debit card but I was trying to take the money out through a debit card and it wasn't letting me.  The next day I tried taking money out through the check card option and it worked.  Not sure why it changed because it has always been debit.  Let me know if there is something bad about using it as a checking card. 

So the big secret is..... nnnaahhh lets be real I don't have any juice secrets.  But the prophets have been grilling me because I've been reading their talks from last conference, about how returned missions highest priority after the mission should be marriage.  Namely president Scott and President Monson's talks hit home.  I still have a little time to worry about a mission companions but the just despues its celestial companion, its weird to be talking about this.

Anyways we had some great things happen this week.  We found an awesome new family but of course they aren't married.  My comp showed me how the Mexican celebrate the 15 of Sept.  We grilled bananas bought monllas and some staches, and my comp bought a ginourmous couete.  It was awesome.  Here are some pics of the day.  I’ll let you in on this family more next week, cause they are the bomb diggidy, but i don't have any more time .  I love you, and hope all goes well with the meat and wedding stuff.  cuidate mucho!!

Elder Gardner

mom don't you think i forgot your big 5-0 for anything you just wait for  something awesome that headed your way.  Feliz Cumpleanos.  I love you mom

Sept. 5, 2011

who the heck did BSU play?  was it Ohio state or Ohio university, or Miami Ohio?  if it was Ohio state i think i might pee my pants.  but don't be miss led i don't really care because I'm doing more important things here in Mexico (but please respond to the first 2nd question).  so MY comp and me and some other elders that live here close just got back from zumpango.  I told you about this new part of our area where we started to work, its where we got the 109 references.  so this place is called Santa Inés and its way out in the boonies, and its really close to a air force base. right now all of Mexico is getting read for the big bash that they have on the 15 de September. entonces, the air force for the past week has been practicing for something they are going to do on the 15.  so when ever we are over in Santa Inés we always see these planes passing by.  at first i was to excited, it was cool but nothing to start screaming like a girl over.  but my comp has a bit of a different perspective.  the kid saw his first plane in person when he flew to the CCMorMTC. so every time he sees a plane pass he starts to have spasm's, he always scrambles for the camera, and he always is way to late to get a pic.  Being around someone with this kind of enthusiasm has rubbed off on me.  I find myself every time i hear anything that sounds like a plane having the same type of spasms.  we have been talking to a lot of people about how cool the planes are, and one of our investigators told us where the air base is.  I called pres. yesterday and asked if we could go, he told me it was out of the mission, but because pres. call is new he let us go.  we got up early and spent an hour and a half in a combi only to find out that they wouldn't let us enter the base. we were desperate to find some where we could see all the planes taking off and doing their formations.  we knew that the train goes right past the base, so we found the tracks and walked for a good half hour until we found it.  it was the coolest thing I've ever done on a p-day.  their were hundreds of planes and helicopters practicing.  my comp almost died.   when we decided to head back we heard the train coming. joking around my comp said we could just jump on the train  just like all the immigrants do.  when the train passed by he gave them the hitch hikers sign and to our surprise the train immediately stopped and the conductor told us to get on .  we ran up to the train and got on.  it was THE COOLEST THING EVER.  sitting in the train riding back to our area.  when we got back to Prado's the train stopped right in the middle of town, right in the middle of the intersection.  all the cars were stopped wondering why the heck the train stopped in the middle of the road, and then they see 4 missionaries jump off and every ones faces where like, what the deal is going on.  it was the best p day ever. 

ok next week ill focus more on telling you about the people we are teaching, but dang how cool was that.  I'm sending a couple of pics but you have to see the rest.  I love you all, and hope that life is just  dandy.  I love you all, take care.

with a bunch of love and adrenaline
Elder Gardner

August 29, 2011

Evan,

I want you to know that I'm furious.  how can they tell BSU they cant wear blue on the turf.  That is the most ridiculous thing in this world.  What about those others schools like Notre Dame or Marshal who wear green on the their turf.  Tell the NCAA that I strongly disagree...... breath..... ok...... the logo is pretty sick, how did you pull that off?  Dang Evan, sorry about the whole REI deal that stinks.  Apple would be pretty cool to work at, though.  Wait a minute, Megan is head coach? that is awesome!!  When does the season start for her.  Thanks for the update Evan.  Good  luck in the regular season.  What is up with dad’s team name?  Thanks Evan take care, say hi to meg for me.  I love you guys. 

Elder Gardner

P.S.  Oh my gosh i still can’t believe that they can’t wear blue any more.  I want to strangle someone.....breath......ok.....  ok I don’t want to strangle anyone but boy does that burn my curds. 

 

Dear Family,

So, i was sitting in this house of one of the the hermanas and she gave us some agua.  While I was enjoying this glass of agua, I asked the hermana what type of agua it was and she told me agua de coconut,  I was super surprised becasue I was loving it.  Before the misión if I would have drank coconut water I would have thrown up.  It started me thinking of all the things I just love here in Mexico.  First off, the food here is insanely good,  quesadillas,  tacos dorados, pasole, tacos al pastor, chileciles, all the fruit here, the pan, they make water out of everything, the other day I had water of cucumber, dang good.  I don’t know what I'm going to do when I get back to the states and there aren’t tortillas with every meal.  I can’t tell you how much I love buying my tamal con mole in a torta with my steaming hot atole, there is nothing better than that in the morning.  I can’t eat my food with out chile, I still don’t eat super picante but I find myself pushing the limit at every meal.   I have fallen in love with the game of futbol,  I catch myself day dreaming sometimes about playing.   I’m fascinated with how I can get anywhere I want with 7 pesos in a combi.   I always find it hilarious how many people we Mexicans can fit into one car.   I think the thing that I have loved most about being here is those days when every thing is just bomb.  We had one of those days last Saturday .  We took a trip to the temple with 8 new converts ,1 member, and 4 investigators.  It was cool to show them the temple and the beautiful spirit that dwells there.  We had 1 investigator say when she got out of the car,  “whoa, you can feel that this place is special. I feel so beautiful.”  It got even better when I saw my last ward there from Queretaro.  I was super psyched to see all the members  but even better when I saw three of my converts there,  Anayeli and Luis, and Maru.  They were going through for the first time to do baptisms.   One of the most awesome experiences I've had on the mission.  It was a fabulous week, and now we have another.  I'm grateful for all the many things I'm learning, for being here in Mexico, and for all the people I've gotten to know.  I love you all and hope that you all are happy. 

Cuidanse mucho

Elder Gardner

August 22, 2011

Well, first off i want to apologize because I just saw the emails from Garrison, Aaron, and Kevin, and I feel like a rotten son, but I'm just not to quick at this typing game, and 45 minutes is not very long.  There aren't a lot of words but each is packed with love and gratitude.  Dang, I love that harvest wreath I was thinking about that the other day. Tell the Ellison's I say hi, I love that family.  So we had transfers today and the big news is that there is no news.  I'm going to be here in Prado's with Elder Baez for at least 6 weeks more.  We had a good week, but we are hungry to explode this area this next change.  You might even hear about our area in the Ensign next month because we are going to baptize so many people, well at least that is the goal.  I love you mom and send my salutations to the family.  keep pushing, keep stepping:)

with much love from a slow typer,

Elder Gardner

August 15, 2011

So first off, check out the craziest fruit on this planet.  its called a pitajaya, and let me tell ya it tastes weird, it reminded me of eating a poppy-seed muffin but tasted like a slug.  Not sure it was my favorite, but we also tried this fruit called carambola they kept calling it the star fruit.  It was super bitter, but they put it in to a drink and O,BOY was it good.  Anyways we had a great week,  we finally got Prados out of the whole.  We changed a lot of things, and saw the resluts.  It was such a blessing to see the fruits of our labors.  We brought 3 new people to church and they are doing great, and we also sacked out a baptism from some of recent converts.  The papa we baptized three weeks ago, and the daughter didn't want to.  But we had an awesome noche de Hogar with them and got her excited.  She was baptized on Saturday.   We are getting better, and better each week, but transfers are coming this week.  I think everything will stay the same here in Prado's, but I’ll let you know next week how it goes. 

 

I love you so much

Elder Garner

August 8, 2011

I'm glad to hear Emily had a good time, I was a huge experience for me too.  Anne didn't go?  We had a great week and found some awesome families.   we had a lady contact us in the street.  Her name is Ines, and she had talked with the missionaries a while back, and for some reason they stopped going by.  She told us that she has kept praying and that it has changed her life.   She has 4 kids, and one of her daughters names is Danilla, she is one of the cutest little girls.  Danilla was born with a problem in her brain that made her deaf.  The doctors have put something in her brain and a something outside so that she can hear, kind of.  She only hears like 15% not sure what that means.  Ines never finished school but in now teaching Danilla how to read, write, and talk.  It’s something that is a great challenge for the family.  Ines is really excited in learning more about the "Mormons", and wants all here kids to learn tambien.  It’s tough with Danilla, because she doesn't understand words like love, God, or prayer.  I've been thinking about you a lot because I know you could help this little girl so much.  Do you have any ideas on how we can teach her in a way that she will understand.  We are excited to start teaching Danilla this week, but it will be tough.  Let me know what you think,mom. 

About the contacts, its going to be a little tougher than we thought but we are seeing fruits from those contacts, not directly but they are coming.  I will let you know what happens with the letter if it ever gets here. thanks for every thing.  I love you so much, keep the smile.  I've got something super awesome for you guys but not sure when it will happen.

 

Love

Elder Gardner