June 23, 2014

Most boring subject ever...

This week's email is going to be uneventful. Sorry. This week we didn't really have anything super cool happen. It was a pretty slow week. Hopefully next week's email will be better. Sunday is TRANSFER CALLS so I'll have something to tell you. Any predictions? :) My vote is that I stay another transfer with Sister Rose in Moscow. I would have no complaints. Or I vote that I sweep into Moscow U 3&5 (University of Idaho student wards) .

Today is Elder Church & Tingey's last P-day. So tonight we are having a big bonfire and they're going to burn a suit. (a missionary tradition done toward the end of an elder's two year mission). We're throwing them a "Trunky Party"!

Wednesday we went to Spokane to go to the Spokane Temple. The Mitchell's took us. They have become my favorite family in this ward. They are so willing to serve us and to magnify their callings. So we went to the temple and afterwards they took us to COSTA VIDA. It has been WAYYY too long since I've had Costa Vida. It was so good. Totally worth the trip. Then they took us to Cold Stone afterwards for dessert. Hahaha. Then we made the 2 hour trip home. 

Sunday we met with my favorite people.

Ricks Family- They're in their late 20's. No kids. Bro. Ricks is on hospice due to cancer. I love this family. We went by and Sister Ricks asked us if we would sing hymns with her. It was probably my favorite lesson I've had on my mission. I can't sing, first off, but we had such a great experience. I've never felt the spirit so strong. "The song of the heart is a prayer unto me". Even though this family has gone through so much, they are so faithful and so humble. They love God and know he is watching over them.

Annette- She hasn't smoked in 11 days! (I think) and she's doing great! She says she still isn't having any side effects from the quitting and she feels so good! We are so proud of her! She said the closing prayer and she said: "Thank you for these missionaries.They have changed my life".  I almost cried. As a missionary, I guess I don't realize how much we are doing. That every simple act of love and kindness we perform has a lasting impression on the people we're serving. Those 2 sentences were so simple, but they hit me so hard. Because I'm a missionary, I have a greater love for people and a greater appreciation for God. I'm so grateful for Annette's closing prayer and her earnest and sincere desire to come closer to Christ. She has made a lasting impression on me and on the people she associates with. 

Jefferson - He said the closing prayer! He prayed for guidance and to know the truth of the Book of Mormon. He know's its true, he just needs that spiritual confirmation in order to fully act on the knowledge he's gained. He also finished the Book of Mormon last week and has started reading the Doctrine and Covenants. 

Obviously I've been keeping up with the World Cup. Anyone surprised? I didn't think so. The people who live above us are 3 RM (returned missionaries) guys and one of them is from Brazil. So we make a trip upstairs every night to see what the scores were for the day. :)

I'm so grateful for the decision I've made to serve my Heavenly Father. I know that my family and future family will be so blessed. Remember who you are and how much value you hold to those around you. You'll never realize the difference you make in someone's life. 

I love you!

Sister Gardanier

June 16, 2014

No Randy?

Before I begin my email. It has been brought to my attention that multiple people (mainly my mom) are concerned for my well-being due to my emails regarding Randy. I want all of you to be rest assured that I am COMPLETELY safe and he is not a threat AT ALL. I have contacted my zone leaders and will be in contact with my mission president after transfers to make him aware of the situation. Randy is sober all of the times we've seen him except for that one time 2 weeks ago. I do not need pepper spray or mace. I have the spirit and lots of priesthood holders continually on stand-by. I'm in Moscow, Idaho for crying out loud. People run away from us more often than they try to come up to us.

Also, to ease your frazzled minds, I did NOT have any contact this week with Randy. We were supposed to have an appointment on Tuesday but I was on exchanges, so I was in Pullman, WA... and he had to cancel anyways. Sister Rose answers the phone if he happens to call. 

Now that we have all that settled. This week we had so many miracles! Okay, well we had a very slow week and Sunday was full of miracles. But, miracles happen everyday, so there were miracles all over. :)

Tuesday I was on exchanges in Pullman, Washington. Yep. I hopped the border. Its basically the same thing as Moscow. College town. Hills. Trees. Its all the same. Nothing super exciting. We did a lot of tracting. good thing I'm pro at it now, thanks to Sister McWilliams. :)

Wednesday we had interviews with president. I passed with flying colors. No plane ticket to come home early. :) 

Friday we had a zone car wash! It was so much fun! Sister Johnson and I worked the corner. We were pro (mom is so not proud).  It was cool because we were able to get a lot of non members to come. While their cars were being washed, we took them on a Church tour! It was really fun to be able to do community service and help them get clean! Spiritually and Physically, of course. Then we did service for a member. We cut down trees and loaded trailers of shrubbery and then unloaded it at their house. It was so much fun. Pretty much we hung out with the same 6 missionaries all day. Haha.

Saturday we helped out our member at his car show in Genesee. So much fun but it rained the whole time and I was freezing cold. I took the dragster out for a test run. NO BIG DEAL.

Sunday! So full of Miracles! I wish I had time to type all of them out. 

Annette - had a lesson and she's been sober for 3 days and hasn't had a cigarette in 8! She told us she's been reading everyday and that she doesn't really have the urge to smoke or drink. It's so great! Since she was sober, we asked her if she wanted a priesthood blessing to help her out. So we called up some of our favorite elders (actually, they were the closest ones) and they came and gave her a blessing. SO COOL. The blessing was perfect for her and she loved it.

Thomas and Kelli - Kelli got a blessing since she's pregnant. We weren't there for it, but Thomas loved it. Kelli didn't seem so sure. They also told us that they've been talking and Thomas is ready to be baptized, but Kelli isn't. So they were asking if Thomas could get baptized first. We said OF COURSE. They told us they would talk about it some more. But Thomas could potentially get baptized next weekend!!! :)That would be a cool way to end the transfer! :)

Jefferson - He told us he was going to come to church today! That would be 2 weeks in a row! When we first started teaching him, he told us he would never pray or come to church. Well, he told us he would pray next time! We encouraged him to think of a question to ask in his prayer for next time. He's has been getting answers to his prayers, but he's just not recognizing the as answers. So we're going to help him out... and then he'll get baptized. :)

This week has been so much fun! I'm so glad to be able to see all these miracles. Thanks for all the love and support you give to me. It makes the slow days worth it. :)

I LOVE YOU,

Sister Gardanier!

June 9, 2014

Commandment #2

This week's highlight had to do with Randy again. Hahahaha Oh my goodness. It was just such a blast teaching him. :) hahahaha

I'll start with the miracles, so we don't get distracted reading about my awkward situations. Hahaha.

1. Jefferson CAME TO CHURCH. Oh my goodness. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation this week and it was just such a great lesson. Then we went to church on Sunday and I glance over my shoulder and there he was! Sitting there in a dress shirt, slacks AND a tie. No joke. It was the greatest thing I've ever seen. He even took his daughter to her grandma's so that he could completely pay attention. The talks were PERFECT. The couple who spoke were both RM's and they were perfect talks for Jefferson. 

2.Tony and Shauna are getting married! Therefore, Tony can be baptized on July 23rd! Shauna showed off her ring at church yesterday and everyone is being so supportive. SO HAPPY. I almost cried when they told me. Almost. But I didn't.  Because I'm a big girl. But I was so happy. They're eloping to Coeur d'Alene on July 4th. :)

3. I finished my scripture box. Missionaries will know what this is. Its just a ghetto scripture case made out of a cereal box. I've had a half-finished one for like a month. So I finally put more pictures on it and taped it. It's pretty great.

 :)

4. It was Sister Rose's one year mark this week! :) So we went out to lunch! There were 14 missionaries at one table. So it was obviously so much fun :)

Okay. Now for the highlight of the week.

We have been seeing Randy EVERYWHERE. Like, in the most random places. At restaurants, on the street, and at people's houses while we're doing service. Stalker? Possibly. I think he put a tracker on me. But, that's not important. So, just remember we see him randomly and totally not on purpose. As a matter of fact, we are trying to avoid him. Not kidding.   

So. I won't do another dialogue. Mostly because I can't remember what the conversation was word-for-word. and you'd have to have it verbatim for it to be as hilarious as it was in person. 

We have an appointment with Annette Sunday afternoon. So we show up and Randy is there. OH BOY. Okay. I'm mentally preparing for what is about to happen. We walk in and I make it a point NOT to sit next to Randy. So I sit on this bench thing and Sister Rose sits next to me. Whew. No room for anyone else. (thank you for reading my mind, companion.) So we sit and it's CHAOS. Annette and Randy are both talking a ton and they're talking about nothing important. So we're trying to talk about Annette's reading. So we tell them we want to start with a prayer. I ask Annette who she wants to say it. She wants to hold hands. Sister Rose says no (what a champ). Our member is SO uncomfortable. Randy quickly volunteers to say the prayer. But before he starts he asks how to say my name correctly. This is the part where I can either tell them how I pronounced it growing up, or I can make something up so he sounds really funny. I choose to be honest. I already have a feeling this is going to be awkward. So I tell him and he kneels on the ground and STARTS PRAYING TO ME. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Talk about worshipping false idols. He's like praying about how great I am and how honest and perfect I am. Okay, dude. You're crazy. Then I whisper to Sister Rose that we need to leave ASAP. The Spirit wasn't there. So as we're trying to teaching, guess who walks in? Yep. ROGER. Remember that creepy hitler minister guy? Yep. Him. Sister Rose wants to rebuke the evil spirits inside him but she doesn't have the guts. Hahah I don't either. So I just pray I never have to see him again. Randy and Roger start to not be super nice to each other. Randy just doesn't like Roger and it's very obvious. It was really awkward for our ward member, and I'm sure she wanted to cry. And I don't blame her. I wanted to cry a little bit too. So we shared a scripture and tried to get out. We ask to say a closing prayer. They insist we hold hands. Okay. And let's sing campfire songs while we're at it. Just kidding. Sister Rose says the closing prayer, then Roger starts to speak in some tongue saying random names. Okay. Whatever. Then Randy decides he wants to show off. So he starts doing this chant in spanish or something. We get out of there right away.

Then Randy calls that night and ASKS ME ON A DATE. To go get coffee. Smooth. "What do you think God would say to you hanging out with a crazy old guy like me?" he asks.

How do you even respond to something like that? Oh so awkward.

ANYWAYS.  We went mountain biking again this morning. super fun. :) 

I love you all! Pray for the Ricks family. :)

Love,

Sister Gardanier

  New PJ's!!  Thanks Nana and Poppy!

June 2, 2014

"I'd Wait an Eternity for You"

Oh, the week we've had. First off, HAPPY GRADUATION to the class of 2014! :) Welcome to the real world. Good luck to you for the rest of your life! :)

I really have no desire to be typing out this email right now. Hahaha. It's a struggle to have things to say. But I know you all are interested to hear about the crazy things that happen in the life of a sister missionary serving in Moscow, Idaho.

We had dinner Sunday night with President Monson. NO BIG DEAL. Just hanging out with the Prez. :) It was pretty cool I guess. We just talked about stuff going on in the church and we invited him to do missionary work. He said that's something he needs to be better at. Pretty much I gave him advice and he accepted the challenge to share the gospel with more people. NO BIG DEAL.

Ok ok...It was the Stake President of the Moscow University Stake. Not the President Monson of all President Monson's....AND... He grew up with my dad! :)  Funny, funny evening!

Highlight of the week was our lesson with our investigator, Randy. I'll try to make it as detailed as possible so you can visualize the whole situation.

Friday. 4:14pm. We're doing weekly planning. The phone rings and it's a number we don't have saved. Not unusual. I answer.

"Hi! This is Sister Gardanier"

"Hi Sister. this is your friend Randy."

"Hi Randy! We missed you this week at Annette's! (another investigator)"

" I know, I'm sorry I couldn't make it out.

"That's alright. We understand"

"What's on the agenda for tonight?" 

"Well we don't have any appointments, so we're just going to to around and visit people."

"I was wondering if you could come by today and see me. I want to take you on a tour of my house. And show you the pool."

"Sure! we'd love to! Could we come by around 6:45?"

"Yeah, that works"

"Awesome, we'll see you soon!"

"Okay! and also. Its really nice to hear your beautiful voice again."

......."hahaha we'll see you tonight"

Odd. What the heck. Anyways. We had a dinner appointment at 5. We don't have the car, so we walked all day.

6:15pm.

Spirit to Sister Gardanier:

"Get a set of elders to go with you."

"No. We'll be fine"

"Get a set of elders."

"Why?"

"Get the university elders." (this is weird because Randy isn't ysa {young single adult} so there would be no reason for them to come with us....)

"Okay fine."

University elders are in. Okay. Now to call Randy and tell him we're going to be late, seeing as we're on foot and I'm not desperate enough to ride my bike. 

I call Randy:

"Hello, This is Randy's house"

"Hey Randy! It's the missionaries! We're just calling to tell you we're going to be running late. We're walking, but we're on our way!"

"That's alright. I'm just waiting outside for you."

"We'll call you when you get close! We won't want you to wait for us. It's going to be a while."

"That's alright. I'd wait eternity for you"

Ooohhh. Sister Rose and I make awkward faces at each other,,, and try not to sound too weirded out.

"Okay, we'll see you soon!"

Awkward. This is so weird. He must be drunk.

45 minutes later we arrive at Randy's house. He 's outside. The elders are already there. Perfect.

Randy is drunk. For sure. Oh well. I'm going to at least get a lesson in. We have to impress the elders with our great teaching skills. We're going to bring the spirit to this home even though he's drunk. I obviously need to work on humility.

Talking to Randy:

"Hello. Welcome to my house!"

"Hi!"

"Would you like to come around back and see my pool?"

"Actually we were hoping to teach you a lesson! Can we sit here?"

"Yes. Definitely"

So I help him grab a chair from the other side of the yard. It's not that far. It was like all of 10 steps. Still in sight and sound of my companion. I grab a chair from him and he says "Thanks, bea..." Oh gosh. What? There's no way I heard that right. Pretend like I didn't hear it and I'm not totally creeped out right now. 

Me:

"Can we start with a prayer?"

"Yes."

"Who's turn is it?"

"Would you please?"

"Yeah!"

Prayer.

"So have you been reading?"

"Sort of. I just really admire you both for all the hard work you do. You really make Annette's day when you go over there and she loves you lots and she knows you are telling the truth........." he continues to tell the elders how great we are and how much good we are doing for Annette for like 10 minutes.

Thanks Randy, but my head really doesn't need to get any bigger.

10 minutes later he stops talking.

"Well where are you in your reading?

"I'm at Enos"

"Oh my goodness! That's one of my favorites! Can we read the first 8 verses with you? That's the meat of the story and it's really good"

"Yes please!"

We read the 8 verses. And we talk about it a little bit. Randomly the shuts the Book of Mormon and puts it on the spare chair.

Randy:

"Take your fingers and have them touch your socra points. (index and thumb touching.)"

Uhhhh okay.

"Repeat after me." then he proceeds to do some Buddhist chant.

Elder Montgomery says:

"Can I know what it means before I say it?"

"No"

Oh, gosh. Okay. So we do it. Then he says to do it again. Heck no. 

Me:  "Randy! we're talking about Enos!"

"This has to do with Enos!"

Okay. Out of luck. We do this Buddhist chant 4 times.

I try not to laugh but I look over at Elder Church who is making this hysterical face and trying not to laugh. I bust up laughing. So awkward. We all start laughing. Randy is stone faced. 

Meanwhile... there is this cat demolishing this baby rabbit off to the side of us. It was blocked from our view, But Elder Church just confirmed it. And there are mosquitoes EVERYWHERE. 

We say a closing prayer and leave. Elder Montgomery tells us that he's crazy and that we shouldn't teach him anymore. Hahahaha 

That was the highlight of our week.

I forgot my camera, so I'll send pictures next week.

I LOVE YOU!

Sister Gardanier