December 30, 2013

I hate driving on black ice!

This week was one of the fastest weeks I've had on my mission! We had P-day on Monday, Christmas Eve on Tuesday, Christmas on Wednesday, weekly planning on Thursday, District meeting on Friday, and Church on Sunday!

Monday we went Christmas caroling in our area and ate Krispy Kreme donuts! Except I drove 15 miles on straight black ice. I hate it.

Tuesday was Christmas Eve! We couldn't really go out and knock doors, so we made cupcakes and took them to member's houses on Christmas. We had a Christmas Eve dinner at the Wilkinson's! (The sister missionaries live in the Wilkinson's basement.  We had a chance to say hello to Brother Wilkinson on Christmas Day as we were "Skyping".  Thank you for watching out for our missionary.  We love and appreciate the Wilkinson's!!)

Wednesday was Christmas! We opened presents at a member's house and ate breakfast there. It was so much fun! Then we had appointments all day. We got spoiled by our ward members for sure! And I got to Skype my family! It was so much fun! Then we went home and crashed after our sugar high. 

Thursday we had weekly planning. I don't remember what else we did. Hahaha.

Friday we had district meeting. Sister O'Very taught and did such a good job! We also had a lunch appointment with a part-active family. So that was really cool! Elder Isaacson asked us to go over and see Amanda and Eddie (recent converts of Sister Harper's and Sister Gardanier's that are struggling both spiritually and physically). They're moving to an apartment and I probably won't be able to see them again, so I went to say good-bye and call them to repentance. It was bittersweet for me. Probably mostly bitter for them. Eddie was kinda getting upset with me and Elder Isaacson cut in and stood up for me and told Eddie what a great missionary I was.  Elder Isaacson also told Eddie and Amanda how important they are to me. It was so awesome. Elder Isaacson made me so happy. :) 

Saturday nobody was home. We struggled all day.

Sunday there were so many people in church! There was a ton of family in town and we got to meet a lot of them. We taught the Jacob's and had a very interesting lesson. Hahaha as usual.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I hope you have an awesome New Year! As this year is coming to an end, I've been thinking about all the things I learned in 2013 and how grateful I am to be serving a mission. I'm grateful to have a loving family who loves and supports me through everything. I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of all of us personally and is so aware of our personal struggles. I know that one day I will be able to stand in his presence and see the love that he has for me and that he will be proud of me for the decisions I've made and the person I've become. I know the Book of Mormon is true. And I know that I have been called by a prophet of God to share the knowledge that I have.

I love you. 

Sister Gardanier

                   Merry Christmas!!  Just an interesting side note...we wrapped
                   several of her gifts in "Barro's Pizza" boxes.  She really giggled
                       about that.  Brought back old memories of her first job!!

                                                  Happy New Year!!

                                    Making red velvet cupcakes....her favorite treat!

December 25, 2013 Christmas Day

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR MISSIONARY!

We were able to Skype with Sis Gardanier on Christmas Day for about an hour.  We had so much fun just watching her and being able to talk back and forth.  She looks amazing and is doing fantastic.  She loves the members in Liberty Lake and is keeping her fingers crossed that the transfers in mid January will let her stay just a little bit longer!!    

PS - Jordan sent us some shirts and a baseball cap from the colleges in Spokane.  You can see Cole wearing his new Gonzaga shirt, and Lexi got a WSU shirt. Thanks Jordan!!  We love you so much!!

December 23, 2014

I hate driving in snow!

This week has definitely been quite eventful. I have officially decided that I HATE driving in the snow. I had a little bit of a mishap this week with snow and the car....We're okay! And we still have our car! :)

Monday- We went to the Christmas party for the members in our ward! Its was awesome! There was an atheist there who was making us feel super awkward, but he left after dinner because he didn't want to hear our "spiritual thought". Hahaha so sad. Maybe one day he'll open his eyes. :) After that, we went caroling with our zone! It was way fun, as usual. :)

Tuesday- I don't really remember what we did. But we did eat dinner at a member's house! They told us they wanted to feed us every other week! So every other Wednesday we are going over there to eat. Hahaha I love this ward!

Wednesday- We went over to a lonely member's house and borrowed her kitchen to make cupcakes! It was lots of fun! We contacted a referral who wasn't interested, but it's okay! We gave her 2 DVDs and she was super nice. That night, we ate dinner with another family. They took us to this really nice restaurant. The wife recorded a video of us and sent it to our parents. It was super awkward but so funny. :) We had correlation and then went to bed!

Thursday- Longest day OF MY LIFE. We had to temporarily move out of the member's we were living with because they needed our room for their family coming into town for Christmas. So, we spent the whole morning packing and moving into another member's home. We didn't eat lunch until 4:00pm. So we were really glad to be done with that for the day. We did absolutely no Weekly Planning and did it during sacrament meeting yesterday....Hahahaha. We also had a dinner appointment with an investigator! Her name is Diana. I've taught her before with Sister Luki, but Diana went MIA after our lesson....But we ate dinner with her and read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon with her and her member roommate. 

Friday- It snowed all day! We got 4 inches. :)  I taught district meeting! I taught on using the Book of Mormon the resolve concerns. It was so great! It was lots of fun and I got to see how the missionaries in my district teach! Then we ate lunch and drove home to mail my family a package. HERE"S MY CAR STORY! So I was driving and I meant to turn left, but instead I went straight. So I was going into a parking lot to turn around but there was so much snow i turned too early and drove into a ditch. Long story short. a truck had to pull the car out. But there is no damage to the car! YAY! So we didn't have to call the Mission Office. :) Then we drove back to the stake center to help set up for the Ward Christmas Party. Then back home to help a member, who cancelled as we were driving up to her house. Then back to the stake center. Then I forgot to get my stuff for exchanges, so back home and then back to the stake center. Hahahaha it was so snowy! I was slipping all over the street.... and we don't get snow tires or anything! I guess I need to pay more tithing so we can purchase snow tires.  That evening I went to West Valley for exchanges with Sister Burk.

Saturday- I was in West Valley. We visited a lot of people. We picked up an investigator for them! We went to her house and taught her. and as we were leaving she told us she wanted to give us something, but not to look behind us because that's where the surprise was. (by the way, there was a rake behind us...) And as we walked to the door, I whispered to Sister Burk "is it okay that I'm freaked out right now?" Hahahaha she gave us a glass statue. We didn't die. :)

Sunday- Lexi (Lexi is their recent convert that is less active) was home! We went to see her and see if she wanted to come to church. She obviously didn't. After church we visited members.

I hope you all have a fun Christmas! I miss you all and I'm so glad for all the love and support I get from you! 

All my love,

Sister Gardanier

                             Look at all that snow....and where are her gloves?  :-) 

December 16, 2013

"O Come All Ye Faithful"

Helloooo!

This week went by so fast. Probably because P-day was on Wednesday last week. hahaha. But The past few days have been full of fun and crazy days. Its awesome!

Thursday- We helped a member set up her Christmas decorations because she and her husband are having a Christmas party with a ton of non members and they told us to come and share a message. So, basically they can't run away because they'll be sitting and eating while we are giving our thought. It's a genius idea. :) We met with Sis. Tilley and went on a blitz in our ward. A "Blitz" is where our district goes to one area and tracts it. We didn't really get anything from it, but it was a good experience!

Friday- We went out with the Single adult rep from our ward to visit single adults with her. We went to go see Bob Brown, an alcoholic. Its ALWAYS an adventure for us when we go over there.....We made him posters with scriptures on them and we hung them on his walls so he can maybe feel the spirit occasionally....

Saturday- We had a new member lesson at Janine's. Then, we went to see Amanda and Eddie! They haven't been keeping the Word of Wisdom, and the Elder's asked me to go over there and call them out on it. It's super sad to see them making poor choices, especially when they know the things they were taught. But I'm so grateful for the opportunity they have to repent and be better! That night, we went Christmas caroling with the zone! It was wayyyy fun. The Spanish Elder's picked up new investigators from caroling! It was really fun. and the elders can sing really well! 

Sunday- We went to round some people up for church, but nobody came. :( Wahh. But sacrament meeting was all about missionary work! And the Ward Mission Leader's wife spoke, so it all worked out :) We saw Mimi (Lexi's grandma). Lexi (a less active new convert) is still MIA (missing in action)  which stinks because it' so close to Christmas. Then we saw a few other members.

I'm so grateful to be a missionary during the holidays. So many people are serving the people around them. Including us. :) We have too many holiday treats! Remember the real meaning of Christmas during the craziness of the holidays.

I love you all.

Love,

Sister Gardanier

                                 Yep...she is standing on a frozen lake....

                             

                                       The sister's went bowling last P-day

                                                Where are her gloves?

December 11. 2013

Orange Juice with an Egg Nog Chaser...Happy Holiday's!

This week a member "bar tended" for us. He gave us so many holiday drinks. Hahaha. Sister Pope doesn't like egg nog, so I helped myself to her "shot" of egg nog. She and I were both sick by the end of the night. Haha.

Its also been freezing cold here. Last week it was a warm 1 degree outside. With NO SNOW. What the heck? I don't understand. Isn't it supposed to snow when it's that cold outside? Apparently not.... So there's hardly any snow on the ground... BUT the lake is frozen and it's probably going to melt sometime this week. So, we're going out on it today so we can walk on the ice. :)

I don't have a ton of time today, so I'll just talk about the highlights. (If I can think of any....)

Sister Pope is going to teach me a lot this transfer. She's super solid and has learned a lot from her trainer. And she isn't liking how slow our area is compared to her last one. So she broke out this brainstorm list and told me to make calls to all our "Missionary Minded" families. (mom and dad and family, you better be one of those families....) to make appointments to get referrals. As of today, we have 7 referrals we have to contact. I can't wait to see our area pick up! 

Monday we had interviews with President Mullen. I passed, again. Yay! So It looks like I get to stay another 3 months until our next interview. :)

Tuesday (yesterday) we had zone meeting. we got a from talking-to from one of the AP's about our low baptism numbers. So we're hoping to be able to step up our numbers. They weren't so hot last week.

I hope you all have a good Holiday season! It's so great to be able to say 26 degrees is warm. :)

Invite the missionaries over to have dinner for Christmas. :)

I love you!

Sister Gardanier

         
                                      Twin sister missionaries at Zone Conference.

                                      It's a "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree"!!

December 2, 2013

That awkward moment when... 

The JW's (Jehovah's Witnesses) are tracting the same street the sister missionaries are street contacting on. Yes, this happened. They probably really needed the gospel, but they had their daughters with them and it was actually really intimidating. Hahaha.

I'm getting to the point on my mission where I actually know the missionaries leaving at the end of transfers, and it's super sad :(

First off, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I hope you all ate lots of food and gave the missionaries your leftovers. :)

Second of all, transfer calls were last night. I can't believe it's already time for another transfer. Anyways, I'm staying in Liberty Lake and my new companion is Sister Pope! I have no idea who she is, but I'm not training her so I think I can handle it. This will be her 3rd transfer and she just finished her training. :) 

Tuesday night Sis Imangazi and I went to visit people she wanted to say goodbye to. She was getting sick, but there were people she really wanted to see. So Sis. Gummersall (Ward Mission Leader's wife) gave her some NyQuil at 6pm and we to visit a couple of families! Needless to say, around 8pm she was half asleep. Hahaha but she was a trooper and made it through all the visits! She came home and collapsed in bed and was sound asleep when I came back in after planning. Haha

Wednesday I dropped Sis. Imangazi off at the mission office. There was another temple square sister going back to Utah, so me and her companion were temporary companions! (sorry if that was confusing). And she was actually serving in my old area in Post Falls, ID! So we went there for her District Meeting and I got to see how much the District has changed since I left. I recognized nobody. Hahaha. But I loved being there! Then we picked up our new temporary companions! They are Temple square sisters who just arrived for their outbound. My companion is Sister Luki from New Zealand! Her accent is so pretty and all the member adore her! She can honestly work circles around me. She's solid!

Thursday was Thanksgiving! We had appointments from 11am to 9pm. All day! We were able to have 11 lessons that day, and I think we hold the record in the mission for that day. No big deal. :) We had 8 meal appointments. So we were really full and sleepy by the end of the night. 

Friday we had district meeting and then went to lunch with the sisters! Sister Peterson had her last DM (district meeting) ever and so we had to celebrate. She left this morning. :( I don't remember what else we did....It snowed! but its all melted now.

Saturday. I don't remember what we did that day, either. whoops. 

Sunday. We saw Lexi (their less active new convert) and tried to round up a few people to come to church. We had 3 investigators in church! It was great! After church we had dinner with the Hagerty's and helped decorate the Gehrett's Christmas tree. :) Later that evening we got transfer calls.

I love you all tons! Have an awesome holiday season! :) 

Love,

Sister Gardanier

                                                   Hello Sister Luki!

                           Making Gingerbread houses with some ward friends.

Sister Imangazi

It's funny how someone we have never met has touched our lives so much!!  

Sister Imangazi left to go back to Temple Square on Wednesday, November 27, 2013.  These two sisters sure had a great experience together.  They bonded from the beginning, and got along so great.  A letter she wrote to our family calls Sister Gardanier an "angel spirit,...so full of charity, kindness, patience and love".   We love you Sister Imangazi!!   You will be missed!!  

Before Sister Imangazi left Spokane, Washington...we asked her to share her conversion story.  There are not many members of the church in that part of the world.  Here it is written in her own words.  

Hello!

Sister Gardanier's family!! 

I love sister Gardanier! She is so perfect and great sister missionary!!! She is full of charity!!! Great example for me!!!! 

My conversion story: 

My family --- the first Muslim family who joined the church in 2003 & sealed in Sweden temple in 2005.  My whole  family Mormons except for my grandmother. She is still Muslim but she gave us permission to join the church. I grew up with the gospel. Gospel blessed me & my family so much!!! I'm so happy that we met LDS family who came from America to work in the Embassy.  We met them in 1997. We became good friends with them,  and they shared the Gospel with us and showed why they're so happy. When they began to share the Gospel, we felt that we related Mormons then any other Christian beliefs. They gave us a Book of Mormon to read and pray to find out the truth. Since there were not missionaries and church chapels, they invited us to come to have sacrament meetings and family home evenings at their house. We really loved everything they were offering because they didn't force us to follow their beliefs, but invited us to have great joy with them. It took couple years to have our baptisms and join the church. A few years later, the Church was able to be built in Kazakhstan and the missionaries came and started preaching the Gospel. I love Muslim tradition, even I'm Mormon I still keep Muslim tradition in my country. We're happy "Kazakh" Mormon family.

Sister Imangazi 

from Kazakhstan!!

We will miss you Sister Imangazi... enjoy Temple Square for the next 3 months before you finish your mission and return to your family and friends in Kazakhstan.  

We love you so much!!  

November 26. 2013

Hi frannns.

Wednesday is going to be the HARDEST DAY of my life. It's up there with saying goodbye to Elder Bigler and my family. Hands down. Sister Imangazi flies back to Temple Square tomorrow morning. We said good-bye to some of the families last night, and that was really hard for her. It was harder for me to watch. 

I don't have a lot of time to email, sorry. But we did pick up 3 new investigators this week! But they live in the Greenacres ward. She's a single mom with 3 boys who are currently attending scouts in our ward. She wants her boys to continue coming to the Mica PeakWard instead of moving to the Greenacres Ward. So, we're going to have to work with the stake president on that this coming week.

Transfer calls are Sunday, so I'm excited to see what happens! I'm Super sad Sis Imangazi is going back to Temple Square, but I know she's great there and she can't stay here  (with me!) forever. It's breaking my heart that she's leaving. :(

I love you all like crazy! have a good Thanksgiving and holiday season! Pray that it won't snow on me until Christmas. :)

Love,

Sis. gardanier!

                   She trimmed off 4 inches off the bottom of her hair...

                              Their District "ugly sweater" contest...

                           They made Thanksgiving placemats with a family.

                              Seven months down....eleven more to go!!

November 19, 2013

I don't have much time at all today! Sorry! We went to the temple today and we have an early dinner, so our p-day is cut super short. 

To be honest, not much has gone on the past week.The only thing I can remember is that we went on exchanges! Sis. Peterson (Sister Training Leader) and I stayed in Mica Peak and worked there for the day! We were able to visit lots of people! One family in particular we visited told us that she's been diagnosed with cancer and that he cooks dinner for her since she doesn't have energy. (sorry if that was confusing) So we asked if we could cook dinner for them that night! We went back over there and made Potstickers and ate with chopsticks and Asian spoons. Way way fun!

Another cool thing was we had a lesson with a young man named Sam! The Elder's street contacted into him and so we went over there and had a lesson with the Elder's  and Sam. He looked SUPER familiar when I met him, so we got to talking and I asked him where he was from. He said he moved here from Arizona 6 years ago. I asked what part, he said CHANDLER. I asked where he went to school and he said he went to Santan Junior High! I KNOW HIM! It was so weird. He and I graduated from high school the same year and so we were in 7th and 8th grades together! Isn't that insane?! What are the chances.....Obviously I needed to meet him again! :)

Sorry this week's email is super lame. But I have been able to see so many blessings from serving a mission! I'm so glad to be able to be in Mica Peak with these amazing members. Thanks for all the love and support I get from you all. Remember the missionaries this holiday season and give them lots of love! :) They need it.

I love you all.

Sis. Gardanier

                                This picture was texted to us Tuesday night from a member

         Not the best picture of our sweet sister missionary, but 

         I enjoy looking at the items pinned on her bulletin board.

                I recognize a picture of the Gilbert Temple

                and a picture of Sister Gardanier and Lexi...

         and I believe Elder Bigler is there also!!

November 13, 2013

Late Sunday evening, I got a call from Washington on my cell.  Mmm...wonder who that MIGHT be? It was a call from the family who had fed Sister Gardanier and Sister Imangazi. They wanted me to know that because of the Veteran's Day holiday on Monday and a Zone Conference on Tuesday, Sister Gardanier's P-day wouldn't be until Wednesday. I appreciate the information. Thank you to who ever called!

The quote of the week of course is from Sis. Imangazi, as usual. :) She always makes fun of me and tells me I'm too nice to people and that I should let them do things themselves. Yesterday my grandparents, Nana and Poppy, sent her a package for her birthday and she turned to me and said,  "I know why you have so much charity. You get it from your family."  Hahahaha. She then proceeds to say, "You have too much charity. Give me half of yours because my heart is hard like stone." So, if any of you have extra charity, send it our way because my companion needs it. :)

This week we taught 12 lessons! Not as many as last week, but we are really trying.  And we still currently have NO progressing investigators. Actually, we don't really have any investigators right now. We are working on blind faith. We know Heavenly Father has our back :)

Monday we were supposed to go to the new Cafe Rio ( Sis. G's favorite place to eat!) that opened at the Spokane Valley Mall with a member. Turns out the Cafe Rio DIDN'T OPEN.  :(   So. Mad. It was supposed to open on October 30, but they said it won't open until January. Gosh dang it!  :(  That's all I can remember from Monday. It was so long ago....

Tuesday I don't remember what happened either. But we did go out and work....

Wednesday was a long day. We found out that we have to move out of the member's house for the holidays, so we're going to be moving into an apartment eventually. And we have Ensign magazines EVERYWHERE. So, we decided to spend the afternoon sorting through them because we didn't want to do it when we moved out. We got it all DONE! We saw Lexi ( a teenager who is less active and a new member) and her grandma that night.

Thursday was WEEKLY PLANNING.  Lexi's grandparent took us out to dinner! We went to this mexican restaurant. It was pretty good, but obviously nothing like the authentic food in Arizona. I miss the good Mexican food!

Friday we had a lesson with Sis. Tilley! She invited us to come over the next week and have another Korean lunch with her! I'm so excited! We are actually going over there today to eat. :) I'll take pictures so you can all see how great it is. She's awesome! She told us that she makes us Korean food so that I'll be used to it when Tyler gets home and makes it for me. Hahaha

Saturday we were supposed to polish silverware with a member, but she cancelled last minute. :( So we really just tried to visit people. We have a few members that live way way way up in the mountains so we decided to go try and visit them. We got lost going to one. Then we went to a less active family and they were SUPER not interested in talking to us. Hahaha. She was practically slamming the door on us as soon as he opened it. It was great. :) Then we visited Anne. She's a less active who we visit every week. We always do some sort of service for her. I vacuumed for her this time. I've gotten really good at vacuuming in nice straight lines, just like my mom likes :)

Sunday we had 2 people come up to us at church and tell us that that have friends who have accepted the invitation to take the missionary discussions! So we're setting up appointments for those later this week.  We also saw Janine ( a new member ) and she told us about the new job she got. :) 

Monday we just did service with Janine all day. And then she made us dinner! We went out to visit a few people. We saw Lexi's grandma and we found out that Lexi has run away...again. So we shared a scripture and left. We went to see the Gehrett's to go over some things because she was taking us out to visit some of the sister members.

Tuesday! We had Zone Conference! It was from 9am-4pm!  We were so ready to get out. Our mission president has totally raised the standards on missionary work. He wants us to double our baptisms per month. So, he wants us to try and get 70 baptisms per month, teach 3 lessons per day, and increase our church attendance by 10%. Its going to be really hard for us because we don't exactly have investigators to work with, but I have faith that President Mullen knows what is going on and that the Lord will help us. :)

We just had lunch with Sis. Tilley! She made us Korean food. It was so good! :)

I hope you all have a fun week! Enjoy the cooler weather! (The high temperature was 46 and the low was 31 today in Spokane... Shall I tell her the high in Phoenix was 83?  Na!)

I love you!

Love,

Sis. Gardanier

                                              Lunch at Sister Tilley's.

                                  Watching the snow out the window...

                                                   Smile!!

November 4, 2013

This week, Sis Imangazi had tons of funny things to say, but this one is priceless.

Sis I- Sister, how far away is that plane?

Me- Uhhh I don't know, 50 miles?

Sis. I- nope. 12 months.

Me- I hate you.

This week we taught 15 lessons! HOLY COW! Needless to say, we are extremely happy. We are working as hard as we can and its starting to pay off. :) Good thing the Lord has his hand in everything we do! :)

Monday we didn't really do anything super exciting. EXCEPT... I asked our DL (district leader)  for a blessing. I've been having migraines for 2 weeks every night. They were getting so bad that we didn't even plan our day because I needed silence and medicine. So we met the elders at the church building and it turns out President Mullen (her mission president) was there with the Liberty Lake elders! So there were 5 priesthood holders participating in my blessing. Including 2 greenies (brand new elders)! It was way cool. But President  Mullen made me call the doctor and I might have an appointment this week. So, we'll see! 

Tuesday we had dinner with a member and there was a less active couple there. Then we went out on some visits with the High Priest Group Leader's wife. We saw Lexi (a recently baptized, less active teenager), and she wasn't exactly happy to see us. :)

Wednesday we taught Janine! She just got a job, so we're really happy for her. They needed her to find employment. She told us that before she applied, she prayed and then she got the job! It was an awesome experience for her and definitely built her testimony on prayer. :) 

Thursday was HALLOWEENIE! It is really boring for missionaries. All of our plans for the day fell through right as we walked out the door. Really annoying. We didn't get to go trick or treating either. Sadly. We had to be inside by the time the kids went outside. It gets dark early here, so we were inside by 6:00pm. We had nothing to do all day. So we planned and went to bed. 

Friday we had exchanges after our District Meeting! I went to the Newman Lake Ward with Sis. Bohling. I like her tons. We raked leaves and visited a few people. One family we visited has a son going to Daejeon Korea! So I may have a few "hook ups" there :)

Saturday NOBODY was home. Really annoying. We knocked on doors all night. We ended up going to The Jacob's house and talked to them for a bit. Then I felt like we should go see our investigator, Terry. She's really struggling with her husband's health. We went by and found out her husband is in the hospital and she really wasn't doing well. She cried so much... and she was watching the "Hallmark Channel". Not a good combination. So we decided that we needed to distract her and help her clean her kitchen. So that was good. :)

Sunday there was a baptism for a husband and son who I taught when I was in the Saltese Ward! It was awesome! Practically the whole ward was there. We had to meet in the chapel and then cram into the Relief Society room for the ordinance. I was so great!

You all are great! I miss you lots. 

I LOVE YOU.

Sis. Gardanier

P.S. This Sunday was daylight savings!! I can honestly say that I LOVE daylight savings. But only in the winter. I'm not going to like it in the spring. But we got an extra hour of sleep! Unfortunately my body is trained to wake up at 6:30am ...So I was awake at 5:30am and couldn't fall back asleep. Darn!!. But I absolutely loved it! :)

                        Six month mark!! 

October 28, 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

This week we went to the mission office to grab some supplies for the missionaries in our zone, since we're the only ones who have a car full-time. We have new people working in the office now and when I introduced myself, Sis. Handy (new mission office worker) says "Oooooh, so YOU'RE Sis. Gardanier! You get SO MUCH MAIL!" Hahahahahaha. Best thing of my life. There are much worse things to be known for. :) But yeah. Thanks for all the mail! :)  Keep it coming!

This week we have been able to pick up a NEW INVESTIGATOR. Well, two actually. But we haven't met the second one yet. We are so freaking happy. :)

I'm really glad to be staying with Sis. Imangazi. That means no awkward first week of transfers. Hahaha. It's going to be a sweeeet transfer!

There really isn't anything else to report!

Wednesday we did yard work for Terry. She's our new investigator. She is a member referral! :) She totally needs the gospel, but it's going to be a little bit before any real progression happens. She is going through a lot and she's had a lot of stress her whole life. Her husband has Alzheimer's and she constantly has to watch him to make sure he doesn't get himself lost or in trouble.  But we gave her a Book of  Mormon and invited her to be baptized! She said she would be baptized when she reads the Book of Mormon and know it was true. :) So we can't wait! 

Lexi ran away this week. Frustrating. So we had to deal with that. We've decided (and her YW leaders) to fizzle off of Lexi. She loves the attention she gets and so we want her to want to be better for herself and not because everyone else wants her to. So this week we only saw her once and all we did was say "hi". She got in trouble at school, so she wasn't very happy to see us. :)

We carved 4 pumpkins this week! I'm practically pro. :) I can gut it out like no one's business.  :) That was our "service" we did this week. Helping people decorate for the holidays. you know. :) 

 

Saturday night we got a call from the Liberty Lake elders with a solid referral! We are so happy! We haven't met him yet, but from what they say, he's great! He was going to try to come to church yesterday, but he wasn't there from what we could see. It was a missionary farewell so we didn't know a lot of the people there. 

I miss you all so much! :) I love hearing from you all. It makes my day! 

"Help thou my unbelief."

ALL MY LOVE

Sis. Gardanier :)

                  Happy Birthday Sis. Imangazi!!

October 21, 2013

We got transfer calls last night! Me and Sis. Imangazi are staying in Mica Peak! I get to hang out with her for 5 more weeks! Her transfers start earlier than ours, so she leaves a little early. But I get to keep her! :)

This week our goal was to "endure to the end" and we totally did it! We had an awesome week with lots of lessons. :) We were able to contact 5 referrals this week!

  

On Tuesday, we visited a less active who was in the Peace Corps! It was really cool to hear about the experiences she's had. She isn't going to come back to church, but I think I can convince her. :) We also got to go on splits again! The Elders Quorum President had people he wanted to visit, so we went out with him! We met another less-active from SNOWFLAKE, AZ!  He and I were able to talk about that a little bit. not that I know a lot about Snowflake, but hey, it was a connection. We're besties (best friends) now. :)

Wednesday we did service with Janine! She's been sick a lot, so we were glad to help her out. We gutted out her husbands "office".  I have decided that men do NOT get their own room in the house. They do not know how to clean or organize. But i'ts okay. we got it done :) 

Thursday We had a lesson with Sis. Tilley! She calls me Sis. Jordan, so that's always an adventure. Hahaha.  But she's going to Korea in a couple weeks and I have come connections in Korea that I'm going to hook her up with :)  Other than that it was a pretty uneventful day.

Friday we had a lesson with Lexi's grandma! She was so great. She said she would take her BOM to work to read. :)

Saturday we were able to go visit Amanda and Eddie! Things are rough over there so we were glad to bring a little happiness over. :) We ate dinner at the Christensen's! They're so great. 

Sunday we had the Primary Program!  There were 6 investigators in church and we got to talk to all of them! Then we ate with the Krohn's. His less active sister and her non member husband were there. It was crazy fun. :)

I miss you all! Have lots of fun! Give the missionaries referrals. :)

Love,

Sis. Gardanier

October 14, 2013

This week, the email was labelled "Hotchkin".  We were all confused on what this word meant, and asked Sis. Gardanier.  Jordan was talking about how prickly her legs were, and she compared her legs to a porcupine.  Sis. Imangazi was trying to repeat the word "porcupine" after Sis. Gardanier had used it in a sentence.  The word came out as "hotchkin".  We all got a good giggle about that..  I think there are daily chuckles with the language barrier these two sisters share.  

This week picked up! WE ARE SO HAPPY! :) We had a total of 11 lessons this week. Which really isn't a lot, but it's better than the 5 we had last week! :) So, we're making progress :)

The only real thing to report is that Lexi, our RCLA (recent convert/less active member) was in church! We went over at 12:00 to go wake her up. We spent an hour getting her ready and straightening her hair. Then nobody came to pick her up for church. It was 12:58 so I was like "just get in our car. Don't tell anyone." hahaha. So we took her to church, sat down for like 3 minutes, then she stood up and walked out. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! We ran after her and made her sit down. Then, five minutes later, she walked out again. I'm too young to have children. She ended up staying and sitting with another family with kids to keep her occupied. So, that was good.

Yesterday we got a legit referral from a 10 year old! He told us to go visit his neighbor. So we told him we're going to take him with us when we go. :)

I hope you are staying warm! Go to church! Send me lots of pictures. :)

Love you!

Love,

Sis. Gardanier

We were able to talk back and forth with Sister  Gardanier a little bit today...and we learned that transfers are this next Sunday. She is hoping to stay companions with Sister Imangazi, but thinks the mission president will make her a trainer during her short stay in Washington (Sister Imangazi is officially called to the Salt Lake City/Temple Square Mission.  These sisters come serve a prosyleting mission for a short amount of time then return to Utah and finish out their 18 month mission.). Since Sister Imangazi came, Jordan is in a car and isn't using a bike right now.  She said the weather is beautiful, topping out in the 60's during the day and dropping to the 30's at night.  Last week she bought some brown boots on p-day to keep her feet warm.  You can see them in the pictures below.  She is also LOVING the leaves turning all the beautiful colors.  This Arizona girl didn't know leaves turn colors and fall off of trees!!  She is doing amazing and is loving the Mica Peak ward, and is looking forward to some possible investigators coming this next Sunday to the Primary Sacrament Meeting Program.

                              Her caption on these pictures was "red leaves everywhere"!

October 8. 2013

This was a long, long week. That seems to be how they are lately. But it's okay. It could be worse. :) That's my mission motto :) Its super motivating. I was actually really embarrassed to turn in our numbers to the DL (missionary district leader)  Sunday night. (missionaries will understand what I mean),  So, that was kind of depressing. We've been helping the Elder's finish getting the paint off the investigator's deck. That's how we fill our afternoon hours. 

We also were told about a "Daily Dose" English class that have some Russian's attending! President Mullen approved us to go there and help. We got 2 potentials out of it! :) YAY! But they speak Russian, so I obviously don't do much. But it's way fun! I'm improving my English skills! One of the lessons was about the airport and I was like ..."you have to be kidding me". Trying to make me trunky here. But it didn't! 

We've mostly been visiting members we like. Because we need referrals. And if they like us, they'll give us people to teach. That's my idea anyway. It's going to work eventually!

But something super cool happened Saturday night! We were walking around the apartment complex in our area visiting less actives. It was around 8pm and it was pitch black outside, so nobody wanted to talk to us. Sis. Imangazi got a prompting to go to a less active's apartment.  We have been knocking on her door for like 3 weeks with no answer. So we went AND SHE WAS THERE. Funny thing is, we knocked like 5 hours earlier and she wasn't there. Haha but we were able to help her out and give her a little lesson. It was so great! 

GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS SO GOOD. After watching that, you better have texted the missionaries with referrals. If not, do it right now. There's nothing greater than being able to help the missionaries. and now is the time for members and missionaries to work together. :) My favorite talk was Pres. Uchtdorf's. I also loved Elder Nelson's talk. I love how much he admires the body and how he understands God's hand behind it. 

I love all of you guys so much! I love getting letters and especially pictures. :)

Be good!

Love,

Sis. Gardanier

                       

                             The Spokane Valley Sisters!

October 1, 2013

Jacket weather!!  :)

Its been cold, windy, and rainy all week! I LOVE IT. I've pulled out my scarves and jackets and I'm crazy happy! :)

This week was probably the longest/fastest week of my life. Since P-day got moved to Tuesday, our week gets jumbled and crazy. I went on exchanges with Sis. Sheppard. I love her tons! We had lots of fun hanging out in Mica Peak. We stained a bed for Janine and had Correlation (a monthly church meeting) with my WML (Ward Mission Leader). SO fun.

We also spent a lot of time working on the investigator's house with the Liberty Lake elders. We spilled a lot of paint on her deck so we've had to use paint thinner and "goof-off" to get the paint off. It's really tedious. But its okay! We love helping them out. :)

Thursday we had a Training on obedience. We have another training this week and next. So NEXT WEEK my p-day is going to be on Tuesday. Just giving all my blogger fans a "heads up". :) But anyways, the training was so great! And Sis. Mullen decided the whole mission needs to do a "fall cleaning" so we were given a list of deep cleaning we have to do. We're working on that today. But its going to take a few days. We also went to Sis. Tilley's for lunch! She fed us Korean food!  Hahaha. It was actually pretty good! Some of it was...different... but for the most part I loved it! 

Saturday we did weekly planning. We usually do it on Thursdays, but since we had training and painting on Friday, we moved it to Saturday! And then that night we went to the General Relief Society Broadcast. It was so good! President Monson is so great and I love the Relief Society General Presidency. I loved Sister Burton's message and the emphasis on Covenant-keeping. That's what we try to teach people as missionaries! :) Then we went to a member's house to help celebrate her birthday! We ate Angel Food Cake and shared a message. It was so much fun :)

On Sunday, Sis. Imangazi and I said the opening and closing prayers in Sacrament meeting. and we bore our testimonies, taught the Gospel Principles class, and talked to a primary class. By the end of church, I think the ward was done with us. Hahaha. We went to contact we had with a Russian referral for Sis. Imangazi to teach. I didn't understand a word, but the investigator said we could call her and come back another time! Yay! And we ate dinner with the coolest family ever! The Christensen's! They did a surprise birthday "party" for their son, and we got to be part of it! That was way fun! 

I love and miss you all!  Be good missionaries! :)

Love,

Sis. Gardanier

                                 Trying out Korean food from Sis. Tilley

                              October marks the 5th month she has been out!

                                  Goofing off with Sis. Peterson at a training meeting...

September 24, 2013

We typically hear from Jordan on Monday's.  But she was being "interviewed by her mission president, President Mullen on Monday.  We asked her if she "passed" her interview, and her cute comment was "Hahahah...well he didn't hand me a place ticket home, so I assume so!".

We also got a surprise picture from her on Sunday night.  My amazing friend Kim has a friend Corie who has a sister named Jennie (did you follow that?) who trimmed Jordan's hair while she is serving in Liberty Lake!! Small world (and great story!!)...but such a sweet blessing to know that someone is watching out for my missionary.  Thank you Kim for the sweet text and picture...Love you dearly!...Thank you Corie for taking the time to take a picture and send it to Kim...Jennie, I am touched by your act of service to Jordan.  I appreciate you so much!!

Hi friennns. 

I really have nothing super fun to report. Its going to be super lame. My apologies.

I went on exchanges this week with Sis. Peterson. I love her guts. She's so much fun. We only taught one lesson while she was here, but that's okay! 

Janine was baptized on Saturday! It was so great. Her husband baptized her and he bore his testimony. She was confirmed in sacrament meeting and it was so great! She's awesome! :)

Sis Tilley was in church on Sunday for the 3rd week in a row! Yay! We are so happy!

We had a big fat miracle yesterday! Lexi, our RC/LA (recent convert/less active) lives with her Grandma and we gave her a BOM  (Book of Mormon) and she asked if we could watch the Restoration video together! So we're going over there tonight to watch it! She was so happy to get her BOM and asked if she could write in it and keep it! Haha we were like yeah, definitely!

Yesterday we finished painting! We have touch ups to do, but we love painting houses! Our whole zone came out to help. :)

I love and miss you all!

Love,

Sis. Gardanier

September 16, 2013

Hello friends! So this week was slooow. but its okay! It gave me time to show Sis. Imangazi how to work in a proselyting area. She's doing great! All the members love her. And she can hold a conversation in 9 languages.,, and fluently speaks 4. I like to brag about her. :)

So this week, like I said, was really slow. so i really don't have much to report. But we did have a few miracles! :)

So we have a RC (recent convert) who is also LA (less active member). Depressing. But she lives with her grandma and grandpa. We went by to see her but she wasn't home. We ended up staying and talking to her grandma. When we had to leave we asked if we could say a quick prayer. She said yes and asked if she could say the prayer! AHH!  We were like uh  "YES. PLEASE DO ". It was amazing. Her prayer was so sweet and simple. I almost cried.

Sis. Imangazi speaks Russian, and we got a Russian referral! We have 3, actually! (miracle!) We went to visit 2 of them. Only one was home and she said we could teach her! But she's getting a new job and will call us when she gets her new schedule next week. :) Another referral was just a number, and it turned out he lives in Seattle. Too far for us to go. But we (by we I mean Sis Imangazi) gave him a quick lesson over the phone and we said a prayer with him. it was so great. I don't understand anything they say, but it's way cool to listen to their conversation!

I miss all of you and I hope you're doing awesome! Keep the letters and pictures coming! I LOVE THEM!

I love you!

Sis. Gardanier