October 27, 2014

SUPER TRUNKS!

HELLO. I'm not sure exactly what you're supposed to write on your last email home.....so just know that I have absolutely LOVED my mission. I have had experiences that have literally changed my life. I've met people I will never forget and learned so much about the unconditional love our Heavenly Father has for each of us. More on that later.

Monday night to Tuesday night we went on exchanges and I was in the Spanish area! I got the chance to test out my Spanish knowledge! Turns out, I don't know ANYTHING. Hahahaha. We luckily only taught one lesson in Spanish, and I could sort of follow the lesson, but that's mostly because I helped plan the lesson, so I knew what direction she was going. Hahaha. But I could introduce myself, say I was from Arizona, and say the name of the church. So, I was basically fluent. Just kidding. We got to go to this cool Mexican Bakery and get authentic mexican pastries. Hahaha. SO GOOD. Fresh bread and this really good cornbread. Oh my goodness I loved it! Mexican cornbread is the BEST.

Wednesday I got my SUPER TRUNKS!!!! (aka my official flight itinerary and my time for my final interview with President Mullen).

Thursday night was an adventure. It isn't going to sound nearly as funny as the experience really was. We had a dinner appointment with this Less Active single mom on the other end of our area and we were on bikes. But we ended up getting a ride from a member who came with us to an appointment before. So we got dropped off and didn't have a ride home. Now that it's winter, its way dark at like 6pm. We go to our dinner appointment and she FORGOT that she was feeding us, but we didn't remind her. So we just played it off like we had a lesson with them instead. After the appointment, we were starving, it was dark, and we were freezing cold because the weather finally decided to start acting like fall. I didn't have my coat because I left it in the back of the car. So we walked to the closest grocery store to get some food. On our way back, we realized how dark it was. This city seriously has like NO street lights anywhere. And this upper part of our area is pretty ghetto. We had guys yelling at us through car windows and trying to talk to us. Normally we're all about people talking to us, but not in this area at this time of night. Sister Gosdis turned to me while we were talking and said "The only reason I'm okay with this is because I know you have a knife on you." Hahahahahaha  It was really funny. DON'T WORRY MOM I WAS OKAY. ( I sent her a pink pocketknife when she was in Moscow, ID.  It was more piece of mind than anything else.  Evidently it helped Sister Gosdis feel safe.  It served it's purpose!!)

Friday was a crazy day. Basically all our appointments cancelled and everything was falling through. Elder Ebmeyer and Smith came to go to the Spokane Temple so I got to see them! Elder Ebmeyer gave me a blessing and it was SO GOOD. It made me really happy to know that Heavenly Father is giving me guidance and knowledge for when I go home. 

Saturday was insane! There's a set of sisters in the ward next to us and one of them was having a really hard time. So we had to do emergency exchanges and talk to President and Sister Mullen. We switched back for a few hours, then that night we were on exchanges again. A lot of calls were made and all that stuff. But now we are good. But I am going to be in a TRIO for my last week! Hahahaha. Sister Haynes will be our temporary third wheel! Its going to be so much fun and I can't wait! I'm definitely in for an adventure the last week of my mission!

Sunday we taught President and Sister Mullen and the twins. At the end of the lesson when we were setting a return appointment, President says "Well Sister Gosdis, not next Sunday because your companion (meaning me) will be here (for her last night of her mission)!" Hahahaha.  It's pretty great!

Well. I'm so grateful for my mission! I've learned so much and I know that I was able to do these things in the strength of the Lord. (Alma 26:12) I will never forget the experiences I've had. I know that God loves me SO MUCH and having that knowledge can literally bring peace to any situation I've experienced. Serving a mission takes WORK. It's difficult... physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally, but it's all been worth it.

I know that this church is true. That Jesus Christ suffered and paid the price for me so that I could return to live with my Heavenly Father and him again. Through Joseph Smith, the original priesthood of God was restored and we can be baptized and receive eternal life through that priesthood. The atonement of Jesus Christ is infinite and everlasting. We can use it under any circumstance. Christ has already suffered for ALL of it. Not just what we can do or overcome ourselves, but everything. It's already been done. We are worthy to use it. Heavenly Father loves YOU. You are here on Earth for a specific purpose. You have been created and put in your family for a reason. Not just haphazardly. Trust in God.

I love you all! I'll see you soon!

For all you that want to email me at home, use jordan.gardo@gmail.com

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying good-bye so hard.

Sister Gardanier

                                  Final picture in front of the Washington Spokane Mission Office.

October 20, 2014

Meet the Mormons...

HI. So just a heads up. Next week is my last week to email. So don't email me anything after next Monday because I'll never get it. But I would love to hear from you! Chances are I probably won't email you back though. 

This week I went on exchanges! I went to the Evergreen Ward, and my companion for the day was Sister Haynes! She's so great. We had dinner with this less-active lady and she served her mission in Arizona! So we bonded over Arizona things. It was really fun. She told me about how much she misses the citrus and the sunsets. She's cute. And then she started talking about how much she loves Rockin' R Ranch and I told her that we always watched fireworks from there on the 4th of July! She loved it. 

We had a super awesome day on Thursday. We had dinner with a returned less active and then we asked her if she would come with us to our next appointment. We went to see a member who's also a returning less active. The husband is trying to come back, and his wife and children are less than supportive. But when we got to the appointment, the wife and one of his sons were there and they stayed for the lesson! The son had removed his records from the church in June...all thanks to the member we brought with us! She totally could relate to them and they all got along so well! It was so great! 

FRIDAY we had specialized training!! Okay, so Sister Gosdis and I already know what was happening at the training because a member told us, but we were excited anyways. So we had a training and then President surprised us with the movie "Meet the Mormons!" IT WAS SO GOOD. I loved that it crushed all the stereotypes of Mormons and that we are actually normal people. And they snuck in a lot of LDS doctrine. It was so awesome! So you should tell everyone to go see it. My favorite was the story about the missionary mom. Maybe because I'm a little biased. But it was cool because she was at such a low point and had no hope and then the SISTER missionaries showed up at her door. The whole direction of her life changed because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. SO COOL!

Saturday we met with President and Sister Mullen and the twins. Let me tell you. The twins are hilarious. They just crack me up. We sang an opening song and Nathan was playing the piano and he kept messing up and we all were just laughing so hard. But he was able to hit the last measure perfectly. Hahaha. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and invited them to read their patriarchal blessings. I gave Sister Mullen new oven mitts that my mom had sent me and she thought it was so funny. ( remember how last time the sister missionaries ate at the Mullen's home, the oven mitts were left in the oven and started a small fire )

I have to go! But I love you all so much! Make sure to go watch "Meet the Mormons" and take all your neighbors to see it too! :)

I LOVE YOU

Sister Gardanier

October 13. 2014

SHAWNDANTEEEE

There isn't anything NEAR as exciting to tell you about, as compared to last week. SORRY. But we did teach a lot! This week we had a total of 37 lessons! That's kinda a big deal, just so you know. Twenty-two of those lessons were lessons taught to Recent Converts or Less active members. It's so cool to be able to help out those struggling with their testimonies as well as those who are searching for light and truth.

The best part of the week was Shawndante. He's our 13 year old investigator and he is seriously the cutest thing. We originally weren't planning on teaching him, but he came to conference with Calvin last week! He's progressing a lot, so we put him on-date for November 22! Problem is, we haven't even met his mom yet. We've talked to his dad a little bit, but his mom is so busy and we haven't been able to meet with her. Shawndante is our first priority and we want him to have family support and not go less-active. So it's essential to get his parents on board. and you know, it wouldn't be terrible if his family got baptized with him. Haha... But when he gets baptized, it's going to be so awesome! He's going to be a member of the Seventy one day. He's so in tune with the spirit and he's so open to learning more. He totally gets the priesthood and the apostasy and everything! We told him to pray about the Book of Mormon and he told us that when he prayed about it, he felt a gush of wind and an overwhelming peace. He knew that it was the spirit! And everytime he prays in lessons he says, "thanks for getting the Mormons here safely." Hahaha it's so cute! So, keep him in your prayers!

We've been hearing a lot about the movie "Meet the Mormons." We aren't allowed to go to the theater and watch it, but if a member gets it, we can watch it with them. But rumor has it that next week at our specialized training we'll be watching it. So I'll keep you updated next week! :) But you should really go see it! We've heard lots of good things about it and I'm really excited to see it. So you all should go see it and tell me how it is! :) 

Also, make sure to keep Sonja in your prayers! She's a less active and recent convert and she's trying to overcome smoking again. She needs all the help she can get! :) 

We've been teaching this family where the husband was on the brink of going LA. Luckily, thanks to the Spirit, we got in there just in time! In the past, he did not want to be a member anymore, but we taught him and his family. He came to church yesterday and he bore testimony of faith and scripture study. We know that if we had not been listening to the Spirit, he would still be hard-hearted and less active for sure.

I'm so grateful for all of you! This week has gone by so fast and I know that Heavenly Father loves each of his children. I've been studying the Christlike attributes and i's amazing how well faith and hope go together. You cannot have hope without faith. Having Hope in Christ and his Atonement will help us to have more faith in him, and vice versa!

I love you!

Sister Gardanier

                             Lemon bars from home!!  Special Delivery!!

                                            Spokane Washington Temple

October 6, 2014

Where's the smoke alarm...

HI! :) This week was SO FUNNY. Sister Gosdis and I had some of the funniest lessons ever this week. I'll tell you all about the funny stuff because that's what makes missions fun, right? :) 

MONDAY. Okay. So we don't have our car and so we're on our bikes. We left our appointment at like 8:55 so it was pretty dark and we had a long way to go to get home. And I haven't biked in a while, so I'm not exactly in shape. So I know it's going to take longer for us to get home than what Sis. Gosdis is thinking. So we're biking up this hill and I've become really stubborn by this point and I don't want to be a wimp and walk my bike up this hill. So I'm determined to make it to the top. Sister Gosdis is WAY ahead of me and I can't even see her red lights on her bike anymore. And my bike light sucks. I can barely see the ground and I'm constantly worried that I'm going to hit a curb and eat it on my bike. And I'm wearing a jacket and I really don't need it because its not that cold, so now I'm really hot and sweating. And I don't know the area and I'm afraid that I'm going to get lost and I don't have our phone or even know our number. So that's a problem. So I'm riding up this hill, my legs are burning, I can't see the sidewalk, I'm panting, and I see a car turn off of a street and kinda start to pull up really slow next to me. I assume its a member saying"hi", but then out of know where, I GOT SILLY STRINGED!!! Someone sprayed silly string out of their car window and sped off! But I'm still determined to make it to the top. So I yell out "Heavenly Father, HELP ME" and then proceed to cry. Hahaha... pathetic, I know. Then I pulled myself together, found my companion, and told her what happened to me. She almost peed her pants from laughing so hard. Hahahaha.

FRIDAY. We have a potential that we helped move earlier in the week. We offered to have her new apartment dedicated so it could have good feelings and be a safe place. She agreed. So we needed to have a priesthood holder do it, just to give some of the new missionaries experience. Long story short, the AP's ended up doing it. They came over and it was seriously the most awkward lesson ever. Elder Denman and Elder Cahoon are the APS. Elder Cahoon is very enthusiastic and optimistic. Elder Denman is very meek and listens to the spirit really well. The investigator's daughter has ADHD and is autistic. She sits next to Elder Denman and starts to cuddle up to him and play with his tie. SO FUNNY. He was feeling really awkward. Hahaha. Then she shows us this Monster High Doll she got and yells at the top of her lungs, "SHE EATS PEOPLE!!!" Hahahaha I was seriously trying so hard not to laugh.

SUNDAY. So we're in President Mullen's home ward, so we scheduled a dinner appointment with them. Sister Gosdis and I were nervous because we had to teach a lesson to them and it's to the MISSION PRESIDENT. So, we were a little scared. We're sitting in the living room because dinner wasn't ready so we were going to teach the lesson first. We were sitting there in the room teaching and all of a sudden I smell something burning, but I just assumed that Sister Mullen had it under control. Sister Gosdis says "Is your food okay?" and Sister Mullen says, "Yeah, its fine". So we continue our lesson and then it starts to get kinda smoky. So Sister Mullen gets up and 3 seconds later here, we hear, "Don, something's happened." And the twins (they're older teenagers) jump up and run to the kitchen. President just looks at us and is like "She called me...." hahahaha then we walk to the kitchen and President and the twins are outside on the back porch with something charred and in flames. Hahahahaha. The kitchen is thick with smoke and we can hardly breathe. Turns out, Sister Mullen had left an oven mitt in the oven and it caught on fire! Hahahaha... so it created an interesting night. President pointed out that NONE of their smoke alarms had gone off and that he had just changed the batteries.  So we were a bit concerned about that. But all in all, it produced a great night. President wrote about it in his weekly letter to the missionaries. Hahahaha.

So I'll share something spiritual with you. This week during weekly planning I was really having a hard time trying not to get trunky. But Sister Gosdis was sick and I was left with a lot of time for my mind to wander. Not good. So I called one of the elders so I could get a blessing. I was also seeking for some guidance as well, so this blessing would serve both purposes. So Elder Folu and some other elders met us at a church building. Elder Folu and I are really good friends, and I knew he would tell me how it is. So I was getting my blessing and it was great. It talked about using the atonement and using all my might, mind, and strength to serve. Then he took a long pause and said, "Heavenly Father is pleased with you, but he is NOT satisfied. He knows you can do more." Then he closed the blessing. Ouchhhhh. But I've had lots of time to reflect on it. My mission is not over. I have not done everything I have been sent here to do yet. Therefore, if I were to quit and give up now, I would waste 4 weeks of potential blessings and spiritual growing experiences. That's why I needed the blessing, to get called to repentance and to know that I'm not done yet, but that the Savior is ALWAYS there and will lift me up. :)

Conference was so good! I don't have time to talk about it, but go watch it!

I love you! (28 days left.)

Sister Gardanier