Happy Thanksgiving...in the states

Grateful for this boy who showed Elder Gardner and his companion the way when lost in the mountains of Honduras

Elder Gardner and Elder Guadarrama look happy to be found

Happy Thanksgiving.. in the states

This week was alright. We had exchanges on Tuesday and the was great to go see how other missionaries work, espeically since Im just starting out. Unfortunately I ended the day with a migraine so we had to cut it short. We took lots of bus rides this week, its always fun to be crammed in there with lots of other people for 20 or 30 minutes. The stuf the buses as full as they can here, but they have these little vans that are worse. We usually take one bus and then a van to get to our meeting spot with the other missionaries. Its also kind of fun to play chicken with the traffic, not something I thought i would enjoy but it is pretty fun to cross the street. Always lots of action!

We had a cool mercy this week. So we had to take a bus at 6 to a baptism.  It was 5  and we  were about a 35 minute walk to our next appointment . we wanted to share the video of the restauration, but there was definitly no way that we would have made it. I thought to myself, the only way we will be able to share this video is if we get a ride somehow. Not even 30 seconds later this little mototaxi shows up out of the nowhere and the guy tells us to get in! We were able to share the video and we had the father there too. The people here are always working, so we dont teach a lot of men. Anyways it was cool to see how everything came together, hopefully something good will come of it.

So theres been some new happenings with the crazy lady here! She moved all of her stuff right in front of the church, which we pass a lot more than where she used to stay. So every Sunday here they have a little farmers market. We were walking past it on our way to church on Sunday. They were playing Christmas music and then the crazy lady was  like hiding behind the car so I didn't even see her. But she grabs me and holds me super tight and tries to start dancing with me.  It was so funny and weird. I kind of just tried to get away from her, gently of course. Then she grabbed my companion and tried to dance with him.  We tried telling her like hey we got to go church! she said no importa! baile! A guy from the stake presidency happened to be driving past right then and saw everything. Pretty funny story.

It's been raining pretty much all week here but its been nice weather. Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving.

The pics are of we got a little lost and this kid kind of guided us through some of the mountains to where we were trying to go. Pretty crazy!

Love,

Elder Gardner

Notes to Mom with a little more insight personally:  

Hi mom! I got the packages last week. I got letters sent for Christmas so that's good. We have ants in our apartment and they also found the package... I keep the candy in the fridge now but most pieces will need to be washed since  there's smashed ants in most of them now... that was an adventure haha. Any suggestions for ants? I sprayed permethrin idk how its spelled all over.. idk what it is but its all I have. so hopefully it works. I need to get boots and I'll prob use g and gs money for the that in the next week or 2. we have to get permission from the mission president to buy them since the place where they are actually affordable is pretty far away. But yeah my call letter is def only for US missions, a lot of stuff we can use here  that would be useful. Over time I'll probably get everything love you and  my letter this week has a few funny things!

Wowza! (Josh's description of this week)

Elder Gardner driving 

1st Baptism  Elder Guadarrama, Elder Gardner and Claudia Almendaraz

Another week! Long yet short. Amazing how the time flies. So we had zone conference last Tuesday with President Carlisle. Super good  about Tad McCalisters talk on being a consecrated missionary. Lots of things for me to work on, but I'll get there some day. Sister Carlisle made awesome cinammon rolls that made me miss American pastries haha.

So our area is super good, but also super big and we really need the help of the members but don't have it. Pretty much everyone lets you in to hear a message, but there's kind of 2 different types of investigators here. 1 those who let you in and listen, and maybe even come back, but they aren't interested in doing it, just hearing it. Weve been instructed not to teach them, just to make casual visits for a few reasons that I won't explain here. Kind of interesting though. And then 2, those who are interested and listen and do haha!

I've gotten a lot of comments this week about Trump and everything thats going on, usually when we're out on the street people will yell something after weve already walked past. Too scared to say it to my face, not like I would understand it anyways though haha! Some person was throwing stuff at us last noight, I think he was just a random drunk though so not a big deal.

I finished Jesus the Christ! such a good book. Looking forward to reading the New Testament now with the insights I've gained.

Oh this week we had the grossest thing for one of our lunches. Some kind of tail, and liver. You had to bend the tail around to get the meat out of it, it was super gross. The cheese here is also really gross and we usually get a big chunk  of it. Its super salty and bitter, and kind of tastes the way the dump smells. Im almost at the point where I can bear it but i miss american cheese for sure!

So we were on our way to an appointment when this guy yelled some cusswords and something about Trump at me. After our lesson,  we walked a few streets over to a little store. He shows up a few minutes later and is like wait you speak english right? I followed you over here! I'm drunk right now but I used to go with the Mormons in California! He wanted us to stop by his house sometime. We'll stop by later this week and see how that goes, it might be nice to vist with someone who speaks English for once! 

There's a crazy lady that lives here that usually throws rocks at the missionarys until they give her money. She was trying to get some money from me a few days ago  but we didnt have time to haggle with her haha. So I might get some rocks thrown at me next time we pass her.

I had my first baptism this week! Claudia Almendaraz. Its cool because her parents wouldnt let her talk to the missionaries until the week i arrived, and we gave her brother a blessing. He was in a pretty bad motorcycle accident and is still recovering but a lot better. ANyways it was awesome! I had the privlege of baptizing her and it was super cool, i dont know how to describe. There truly is no greater joy than bringing souls to christ!

So my area is pretty safe, except for the gang MS-13.Which if you know about them you know they are one of the most dangerous gangs in the us and mexico. Theres a few streets that we arent allowed in because of this but otherwise  its safer than pretty much the rest of honduras.

We had ward conference on sunday and the stake president talked about how we need to be active in the gospel , and not just active in the church. Super good, espiecally for the members of this ward.

Anyways its been a good week and looking forward to another good one.

Love

Elder Gardner

Week 2

Hello,
It's been another week already. The girls here love the gringos and I get lots of comments when we're just walking around- but nothing to crazy has happened yet. We have a few people who are pretty interested, but of course everyone has a few problems. For most of the people here, its that they need to get married, but its difucult/ expensive for them to do that. Its been dificult to not understand what anyone has been saying for the past few weeks but I'm slowly understanding a little more of the people who speak clearly. We have a baptism this Saturday so that should be good.  Our mission president only lets us write for 30 min so don't have lots of time. I guess the old one who just left let them write for 2 hours, bummer. Anyways the work here is going good and I'm looking foward to being able  to know this languange.

Have  a blessed week everyone!

Love,

Elder Gardner

Hi mom! Our Mis Pres only wants us to write for 30 min so don't have lot of time. Yeah its been really hard here since I don't understand anything the people are saying and I don't think they understand me very well either. When I got here I had to pay 30 for literally 2 sheets so not happy about that. I bought a blanket today but need to handwash it prob tomorrow. Also I cant find earplugs here, just foam earplugs would be great to help me sleep cause I haven't been sleeping good. Lots of loud birds and chickens here and raindrops also. I miss you and the fam but I figure if I can just stick it out the first few months to learn the language it will get better. I'll try to write a general email now with a few things that happened this week love you!