April 28, 2014

80,000+

This week went by so fast. We taught 33 lessons this week. No big deal. :) This won't be a long email or anything. I got super distracted during my email time and I don't have a ton of time. 

We got 6 new investigators.

I'll give you a run down of all the peeps we're teaching.

Gary - LA (less active). Rough past 10 years. RM (Returned missionary). Has a past of doing bad stuff and things like that. TOTAL SWEETHEART. We're working on reactivating him right now. He came to church on Sunday and brought his nonmember friend! Who the heck does that?! It was awesome! We taught him about the Plan of Salvation and ended up talking about the Atonement for basically the whole lesson. He cried a lot. is it bad that I enjoy making people cry? It's just a visual cue that they're feeling the Spirit! :) He talked to the bishop on Wednesday and is working on repenting. :) He's already committed to leaving his past behind him.  His stories about how it felt to go through withdrawals and the pain of everything has assured me I will NEVER do anything like that....EVER. Poor guy. 

Doug - LA (less active) for over 40 years. He lives in Genesee. Its a SUPER small town in our ward. It's a 15 minute drive from our apartment to the town. look it up on a map. It's pretty great. Anyways.... he has lung cancer and he's living on "borrowed time" as he called it. Haha. He wanted nothing to do with the church and then he got super sick and called his brother (who lives in Southern Idaho) to come give him a blessing. His brother left right away and was at his house the next day to give him a blessing. Here is Doug's version of the blessing he received... "I know my brother. I know how he talks, what he says, everything. He's my brother. I can tell you one thing for sure. That was not my brother talking. I know it was from God." He was crying and everything as he was telling us the story. He said he's never been more open to the church and that when he gets better, he'll come back to church. :) We set up a time to go back and see him and his NON MEMBER WIFE who's been reading the Book of Mormon. Miracles.

A New Investigator! He's a referral from some sister missionaries in another area. The lesson didn't go very well.  He takes a long time to think about the questions we ask him. The lesson was full of awkward silences and it didn't go as planned. And we also had a less active member with us who we were trying to fellowship. We felt so bad it was awkward for her. More to come on him...

Thomas and Kelli - Golden investigators. This week we talked to them about the church organization blah blah blah. And we told them that there were 80,000+ missionaries serving world wide. Kelli Says "yeah, and half of them are in Moscow" hahahahaha. There are like 10 sets of missionaries that cover the Moscow, Idaho area. Lessons with them are HILARIOUS. They're still praying about a baptism date. They came to church on Sunday and stayed for all 3 hours! That's huge.Hahaha.

It SNOWED on Sunday. What's up with that? But it didn't stick. Good thing because we're on bikes. 

Jefferson - He's an investigator who doesn't realize he's golden. Hahaha. He's new. He read through Jacob 5 in 3 weeks. He has awesome questions and really wants to learn...but doesn't think he'll ever get baptized. Psh. That's what he thinks. 

Yeah this ended up being a lot longer than I anticipated. You're welcome. :)

I miss you all so much. I hope you all have been enjoying the warm weather. I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever warm up here....

Study the talk "Missionary Work and the Atonement" by Holland. ITS' SO GOOD. 

I love all of you. Thanks for all your love and support. Constantly pray and ask for help when you need it. The Atonement is "infinite and everlasting" and it was made for us to use all the time. Christ already paid the price for ALL of it. not partially, or half, but all of it. We need his help ALL THE TIME. I've taught the Atonement a lot this week, and I've learned a lot.

I love you.

Sister Gardanier

                                  12 month mark...Gone one whole year...Wha Hoo!!

April 21, 2014 Part 2

EASTERS (this a movie line from one of our favorite flicks...a funny family joke)

How the heck is it Monday already? That shouldn't be possible. But I do love my P-days! :) I really don't remember everything that happened this week. But I'll try to recall as I go.

We went on exchanges! I went to a different area with one of the STL's. It was so great. Their area isn't as busy and stressful as ours, so it was nice to be able to breathe in between appointments. She and I talked about things I've been struggling with and it was really good to hear her input and see what she had to say. All in all, it was a good exchange. But I'm always grateful to be back in my bed. :) Which makes me miss my bed at home. :(

We haven't had as many appointments as usual this week. We're working on some "do or die" lessons with a few of our investigators. Basically, we're taking a break from them for a week-ish and if they don't do what we ask them to, we're going to drop them. We want them to realize how important this is and that our church really is different than everyone else. Its gone really well, though. We have been able to see some progress with them. But its still a little iffy.

Go look at the mission website for pictures on specialized training. it was SO MUCH FUN. We basically just played games. best. day. ever. (you can see Jordan in a light blue APS t-shirt and dark gray sweats in some pictures, and a black cardigan in other pictures.  She is in the "Moscow Zone")

On Saturday, we went out to contact (aka tract. Sister McWilliams calls it contacting because I don't hate her as much if she doesn't use the "T" word.) And nobody answered, but as we were walking down the street, this lady came and chased us down (literally. I never thought that would happen) And she told us we needed to look up some websites (aka anti information) because she is "really concerned for us" and that our religion "is really dangerous" those were literally her exact words. Hahaha... people these days. Her daughter has Mormon friends and want her to go to church with them, but her mom looks everything up online and won't let her. This lady will be held accountable for this. Thats all the comfort I have. Haha. While she was talking to us, she was saying that she wouldn't read the Book of Mormon because she has all the info she needs from the internet. OH MY GOSH. I was furious. I thought I was going to punch her. Honest. Sister McWilliams could tell I was getting heated. I have no patience for people like her. I love her as a daughter of God, but that's about as far as it goes. I've repented and stuff. Don't worry.

EASTER SUNDAY! We have 6 investigators in church. Our Gospel Principles teacher is super deep and it sometimes goes over my head. Which means the investigators sometimes don't get it either, but oh well. The spirit filters. We tried to put our two investigators on date last night. They said they were thinking of being baptized in OCTOBER. I was like uhhh yeah right. We were thinking like May. Hahaha. So, we're still working with them.

Thanks for all the love! Go watch the  "Because of Him" Mormon video. It's SO GOOD. :)

I'm so grateful for the Atonement. and the blessing it is in my life. I can overcome absolutely anything. It is there when you are in physical, spiritual, or mental pain. Christ knows what we feel like. I have spent lots of time on my knees figuring out my life and how to use the Atonement to my fullest ability. 

I love all of you. 

Sister Gardanier

April 21, 2014 Part 1

awkward.....I forgot to send this last week. hahaha.

Miracles

I don't have a ton of time to email, but there were a few miracles/crazy experiences that I had this week that I'll tell you about. :)

1. Street Contacting. So we ride bikes, and street contacting on a bike can only be awkward. so we contacted into this kid. He's 18. He was sitting at a bus stop and Sister McWilliams slams on her brakes and I almost rear end her. Hahaha. Anyways, she blurts out "have you ever met missionaries before?" Smooth. We know...and he says that he meets the girl missionaries all the time and that he was supposed to go on a church tour on Tuesday and it never ended up working out. So we're like well, we'd love to take you on a church tour! and he's like okay, let's go right now. So we gave him a church tour 5 minutes later. Total miracle... and, even better, he was at church on Sunday! So cool. but he's YSA so we have to hand him over.

2. Dinner with a Pastor. We've taught the Warfield's a few times. He's a pastor and they're super nice. We had dinner over there and for our lesson he started pulling out all this anti on Joseph Smith. It was super annoying. Then he started talking about the temple stuff and Sister McWilliams was NOT having it. She straight up REBUKED him. It was all by the spirit, because it was much needed and that was the only way he would listen. But it was really cool. The spirit bore witness to him that what we were saying was true and he couldn't deny it. Way cool experience.

3. BAPTISM! Two of our investigators, are currently praying about a baptism date. They are so golden, it's ridiculous. We love teaching them. They had a list of questions for us when we came on Sunday and the questions were all about how to become members. Hahahaha. I love them!

4. Its hot.. a whole 60 degrees. I'm sweating. Haha

5. The Wilkinson's came to Moscow this week! I lived with them while I was in Mica Peak! They came and had lunch with me and Sister McWilliams. It was so much fun to see them. He gave me lots of hugs and they told me I was their favorite. You know, the usual. :)

I love you all so much! WRITE ME LETTERS. its been pretty bare....

Remember to study your scriptures and to help the missionaries lots. They work super hard. 

Love,

Sister Gardanier

April 16, 2014

We didn't get a typical letter from Jordan this week.  She emailed us a few questions, which we answered, and then she had to get off the computer.  I hope for a super long and news-y letter next week!!

April 7, 2014

General Conference, Birthday, and Transfer Calls

Yesterday was a crazy day for me! It was my 20th birthday, General Conference, and transfer calls. Nothing super exciting is happening for transfers. Sister McWilliams and I are staying in Moscow, Idaho. Which I'm really excited for because I absolutely love our investigators :) and I just finished unpacking this week so if I left I would NOT be happy. 

My birthday was SO MUCH FUN. It was the best birthday a missionary could ask for. We woke up at 6:30am had a slice of cheesecake for breakfast. :) General Conference was so great. We had 2 investigators come to the morning session and a less active come to the afternoon one. In between the sessions, the missionaries threw me a birthday party! :) I like almost cried. They made food and we all ate together and it was so much fun. I love them. :) Then we ate dinner at our investigator's house, Thomas and Kelli. They are my favorites. They made me s'more cupcakes and it was a blast. Then we met with Cal (another investigator) and he had balloons for me and a WHOLE red velvet cake. Hahaha. We had a few other appointments and to end off the night, we went to this member's house and they had a piece of cake for me and sang to me and recorded it and sent it to my family (ok...really my mom). :) That way she could see me on my birthday. :) I'm her favorite, I know. :)

CONFERENCE WAS SO GREAT! Oh my gosh. I loved it. The Saturday morning session was my favorite. And my favorite talk was probably Utchdorf's. He's great. I loved how much they mentioned the Gilbert Temple Cultural Celebration! It made me miss Arizona for sure. And I'm so proud of all the youth who participated! You all did awesome! I haven't see it yet, but I know it was great. :) It was really cool to have investigators watch it and hear their insight. 

I can't think of anything super cool that happened. We found a less active named Gary. He's great. He has a ton of stuff he has to repent of, but he's changing. he came to conference and loved it. He served a mission in Chile. He got into a lot of bad things, but he sees how important it is to stay rooted in the gospel. I love it. 

I love all of you so much. Thanks for all the birthday love! :) It's been the best. I love how happy everyone is and I'm so glad to be staying in Moscow! :) Enjoy your week! :)

All my love,

Sister Gardanier