Tuesday, May 28, 2013

May 28, 2013 -

One Month Down...


I've been out for one whole month! Ahhh! It seriously flew by. I had no idea it had even been a month until my companion reminded me!

So, here's a recap on my week.
Monday I was still really sick. I had an awful temperature and I probably should have gone to the doctor, but I didn't want to. We had 2 lessons that night and one of them was with an investigator and his mom was going to be there (a new investigator! :)) so I didn't want to cancel. We teach him (Quinn - the investigator) at a member's house (his friend, McKay) so we called and asked if his dad could give me a blessing. They gave it to me at the end of the lesson. I felt awful and I probably looked like death. I didn't contribute much because I couldn't really focus. After the blessing, we left to go to the other lesson. By the time we got to the house, I felt like normal! I wasn't coughing or anything! That is the power of the priesthood. After that lesson, we went home and went to bed. I had no energy. All I have now is a cough, but its not nearly as bad as it was before.

This week we've done lots of tracting. I've come to not hate it. Its really not too bad. I've had the door slammed in my face and been told by an Atheist that he "feels bad for me because God is my crutch" ...haha. I told him that if that's the only crutch I need, then I'm pretty well off! He didn't like that too much.

Our investigator, Trevor (Trevor was Jordan's first baptismal invite. He was set for a June 8th baptism) dropped us this week. It's been sad. We really loved him and wanted him to get baptized. His friends were over when we went there for his lesson. One of his friends didn't like us too much ...or the church, so he told Trevor he didn't agree. Trevor told us he wasn't interested anymore. :( we'll go back over sometime towards the end of the transfer to see if that's really what he wants.

On Saturday, while we were tracting we ran into this lady who is a LA (less active member)! She moved here 7 months ago with her NM (non member) fiancĂ©e and hasn't been to church in a while. Her brother is on a mission and comes home at the beginning of July! So we've been trying to get her to come back to church. I really love her. She's awesome and she has such a strong desire to go back to church. She is way more ready than she thinks she is.

On Sunday, we had 2 of our investigators come to sacrament meeting. We spoke in that sacrament meeting, by the way. :) We got asked Saturday morning if we could speak. Both our talks went awesome! It was so much fun to write a talk for the ward. A lot of people came up to us after and told us that it was what they needed to hear. Divine Revelation. :) Wolf, one of our investigators, is doing so well. He may not be accountable to be baptized, but we hope he will! He has some mental disability, but he said he loves our church and he wants to come back! Jim Parker is our other investigator. We go over to his house once a week to do service for him. He talks a lot and he likes the company. He lives alone and doesn't have any neighbors really. Neither are on-dates, but I told Jim that he WILL be baptized before I leave the area. he laughed. I think that's a yes? :)

Anyways, I love you all so much. I have been so blessed here and I've loved the area. The member are great and so supportive. I miss you all so much. Thank you for all the prayers and the love.. and the letters!  They're awesome. :)
I love you!
love,
sis gardanier

                                        Jordan and her companion went over their mileage 
                                        so they are biking it for a couple days.



                                  "Rainy Day Pancakes" was a silly tradition when Jordan
                                   was little and it was raining outside. It looks like
                                    she has kept up the tradition!!
                                        


                                           Sister Jensen, Sister Gardanier, and Sister Johnson


                                               Look who found a Sonic in Idaho!!  Lucky Girl!!

Monday, May 20, 2013

May 20, 2013


Hi friends!
So this week has its ups and downs. Most of the week was slow, but a few fun things did happen! :)
 
So this Wednesday, I had my first baptismal invite! It's to a guy named Trevor. His baptism date is set at June 8, but we don't think he'll be ready by that date. As of Saturday, he still hasn't read the Book of Mormon. He's married and has one little boy who is seriously the cutest thing. We invited him to church Saturday night, but he didn't come. :( but its okay! We have an appointment with him on Tuesday at 8! So we're keeping our fingers crossed that he's read it by now.
 
On Friday, the Sister Trainer Leader (ZL for girls) asked if we'd do exchanges! So from Friday to Saturday I was in Sandpoint (Sandpoint, ID looks like an hour drive north of Post Falls) . My companion there was someone who I came out of the MTC with! She was in my zone! In Sandpoint, they have an annual "Stuck in the 50's" parade/celebration during the week. So Friday night was the parade! It's where everyone brings their cars from the 50's and drives them through downtown. The cars were way cool and everyone was on the street. So we walked around, Sis. Johnson and I were way too new to do street contacting, so we just talked to people but nobody seemed interested. Saturday I came home and we ate dinner at a member's house who has a daughter on a mission in England. They were so sweet and their daughter, Grace, is EXACTLY LIKE LEXI. She loves ranch, cheese, and is a super picky eater. It was so funny. She talked like Lexi and acted just like her. LEXI I found your twin. :)
 
Yesterday was an interesting day. me and my companion have had colds from the (changing) weather and our immune systems are way crazy. We went to church, taught a few lessons, and then went to a family's house for dinner. Afterwards, I wasn't feeling well enough to go to other member's, so we went home. We took my temperature twice within an hour. The first one was 101.9 and the second time was 102.3. So we called Sis Mullen (The mission presiden's wife) and the doctor to see if I needed to go to Urgent Care. Turns out my lovely MTC companion (the sister who was in Sandpoint, ID) had bronchitis and gave it to me!!  I haven't been to the doctor but I feel 100% better today! :)
 
We have been so blessed here. The members are awesome and our ward mission leaders are so sweet. They take such good care of us. Remember to always pray AND study your scriptures. It's amazing how much I've learned from the scriptures from just sitting down and studying them. P.S. the bible dictionary is AWESOME. its probably my favorite book. :)
 
I love you all and I can't wait to hear from you! Letters are awesome and I read them all the time. :)
 
All my love,
sis. gardanier


Monday, May 13, 2013

May 13, 2013 - Post Falls, Idaho


For Mother's Day, we got the chance to talk to Jordan over skype.  She looks so awesome!!  She was all smiles and couldn't wait to tell us all about her first week being a missionary.  She is in a small town outside Coeur d'Alene, Idaho called Post Falls. 

Hi everyone!
Oh my goodness. I love it here! I'm currently in Post Falls, Idaho. Its mostly a trailer park type of area. The members are awesome and they are so sweet!
My companion is Sis. Burgoyne (she is from Centerville, UT).  She's awesome. She makes sure I'm always doing what I'm supposed to. She keeps me on task and really pushes me to be my best. Its helped so much. Everyone loves her, so its easy to talk to all the members.
We are over 2 different wards. Post Falls 1st and 3rd. 1st ward is way bigger than 3rd. 1st has a lot of families. 3rd is way small. in sacrament meeting, they didn't even open the overflow and only 3/4 of the benches were being used. that ward is mostly retired people and they have like 4 young men. Most of the men passing the sacrament were married.
I just have so much to tell you all! We have a baptism date set for a 17 year old. I haven't met him yet, but I will tomorrow. His baptism isn't until the end of july, but we're hoping to talk him into moving it up.
Most of the missionary work we've been doing is getting less active member to come back. A lot of them just needed a little extra love. I love teaching them and they always have such great stories for us. I've loved watching their testimonies grow and its so fun to see them in sacrament meeting. Everyone adores the sister missionaries! :)
Yesterday after I skyped the family, we got a text from the bishop with a referral! HAPPY DAY! He was in sacrament meeting yesterday and he wants to join the church! SO we called him up today and he sounds so promising! He was driving when we called, but he said he's call us in a few hours to set up an appointment. I'm so excited!
I love you all and I miss you! Write me lots of letters! I promise I'll respond. :)
All my love,
Sis. Gardanier




Tuesday, May 7, 2013

JORDAN ARRIVES IN WASHINGTON

5/6/13 - Here is a picture of the 36 people in Jordan's group that arrived in Spokane today (she is the second person from the right in the front row):



Saturday, May 4, 2013

FIRST EMAIL

5/2/2013:

On Thursday, we got an email from Jordan.  She sounds GREAT!!  She leaves bright and early Monday morning for Spokane, Washington.  


So the MTC is so great! I absolutely love it here. I've been having so much fun!

Since I've been here, I've seen Elder Green (Jordan's friend from our stake), Sis Fullerton (a friend from our ward), and Elder Butler (Easton Walker and Elder Bigler's friend). There are so many people here. But we're all on different schedules so you never see everyone at one time. 

My district is awesome! I love my companion! She makes sure I'm always on time and using my study time wisely. haha. She's such a great companion. She keeps me sane. She is so funny. My district is made up of 8 people,  4 sisters and 4 elders. All the sisters are going to Spokane and the Elders are going to Riverside, California. We've all grown so close and the spirit in the room is always so comforting.

In the first week, one of the sisters got really sick. The elders in my district offered to give her a priesthood blessing. It was incredible. In the blessing, he promised her she would be able to serve her full 18 month mission. the next day, she was completely fine. It was such a miracle. The first two days she was sick, she couldn't get out of bed. We later found out she had strep.  And luckily none of us got it! :) I count that as a blessing too. 

Its super busy here all the time. We're always in class or at a meal or in a devotional. On Sunday, Sis. Oscarson (the new General YW president) came to speak to us for Relief Society. It was so cool.  I'll bet she'll talk about it at General Conference. She said it was her first official assignment since she's only been called for a few weeks. It was so great to hear from someone so in tune with the spirit.

I know that being here is so important. I love everything about it. I feel like I got dropped off months ago. I miss everyone like crazy. I don't have time to think about missing everyone, but I miss you all so much in my heart. I think of you always.

The spirit is so strong and I have learned so much since I've been here. I have had lessons being taught through the spirit. I have gone into a lesson planning on teaching one thing, and it ended up going so well that we ended up getting him to commit to baptism! I wish I had time to tell you everything. but just know that I have been incredibly blessed and I have learned to teach through the spirit. I love you all like crazy! Stay safe! Write me lots! I love letters and I ALWAYS have time to write back. 

Pray often and try to see others through the Lord's eyes. God loves you more than I can even explain and more than you will ever know.

I love you. I'll see you soon!
Sister Gardanier


Thursday, May 2, 2013

MTC Pictures

5/2/2013 - Here are some pictures that we received from Jordan today: