July in Tela- Pioneer Day

Lancetilla

July 2:

hi mom, it was a good week this week. . i dont have transfers this week, im staying with my companion for the 3rd transfer together. hes a good guy, im just frustrated with his time managment a lot. other than that it was a decent week, we got lots of stuff done and met lots of prepared people. my golden convert jose is now our mission leader of the branch! super exciting for him. i miss you guys but there is a lot of potencial here that i want to help with.love you mom

July11:

hi mom, sorry i couldnt write yesterday, we were in the other city all day and then another missionary he had some medical trouble that went to help with. so it was a fun day. ill read your email now, just wanted you to know im still alive

rom: Joshua Brian Gardner <gardner.joshua@myldsmail.net>
Date: Tue, Jul 11, 2017 at 9:14 AM
Subject: Re: Letter from Dad 7/9/17
To: Wesley Gardner <wesleydgardner@gmail.com>

hi dad, it was a good week. things are going good. thanks for the help and for your words dad. im excited to know where brennen is going to go, i was hoping it would have come but thats ok. thats cool that he was prdained! ive pretty much stopped worrying about my tools, mainly because i remember when i first started working that you offered to let me use yours. i know ive made the tool thing a bigger deal than it really is. thanks for your example to me in being generous and kind, he wont be using them for too long anyways. I wrote grandma. hmm well i was going to write a general email but i think ill just write the things to you.

so remember Jose my golden investigator/convert? so he was called as our mission leader last week! weve been working with his children he has 2 that live with him and then others.they have some problems with relationships, they ned to get married or seperated basically, both of them.  So his daughter, yadelin, got her answer about the church and has been coming to church! her boyfreind said he would rather commit suicide than get married with her, so basically they just need to stay seperated. of course they have a daughter which comlicates things. but she is getting ready to be baptized. 

Then he has a son, Eli. he kind of walks with a rough crowd and said that he thinks its too hard to get baptized and try to live the gospel, and that its a very serious covenant with god. he has not recieved his answer yet, mainly cause he hasnt asked. but his girlfriend( they also have a son together) we challenged her  in one of the visits to ask right now about the church in prayer. she said her prayer, then just put her hands to her face and looked at us with tears in her eyes. it was so cool! they dont want to get married either.

 so jose has another daughter  that weve been trying to teach but she lives in another house. this week we were teaching all of them, about baptism to try and commit them to a date. we told them we knew they would be ready by the 29 for baptism. the discussion was going great, until this lady started talking about how they arent ready for baptism and they wont be prepared for this date. she gave a huge rant about it. the spirit just quickly fled when she was talking. it was very frustrating, because ive seen the prgoress they have  made and know that they can be ready! more than anything its that she planted doubt in their mind. my comp just gave a scripture from the bible and tld her that she cant judge if they are or arent ready, that baptism is a step of faith. i know they can do it, because theyve recieved answers to their prayers! they have the faith necessary! theres a lot of things i wanted to say to her but as a missionary theres a lot of times where you just shouldnt say anything. so now basically weve left it in their hands.. they know what they need to do and we are just hoping they will do it and ignore the influence of their sister.

so this is just one of the things that happened this week. love you dad things are going pretty great out here. i miss you and love you! 

also if you could share these things with mom and the fam since its a lot of work to write it haha.

heres a cool picture that i drew this week

our mission mom in this branch gave me a little spinner thing to help with anxiety, ive been rubbing the sides of my shirts and its been wearing them out. shes also going to help me fix my shirts so i dont have to buy new ones.shes such a sweet lady. we got a lot of plans for what will probably be my last transfer in this area. were making shirts as a zone, and also trying todo a "white night" where all the convert baptisms for our stake will be at the same place, with our mission president there! it will be super cool if it works out. a very rare oppertunity.

love you dad!

To Ben:  Jul 17

yes bruh it is still hot sometimes! it has been raining alot here lately. bruh i hope you had a good birthday bru! and that you liked my letter! love you too bruh! have a gud one!

On Tue, Jul 11, 2017 at 10:41 AM, Nicole Gardner <wesandnicole@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi Elder Josh,

I got your letter and I'm going to open it on my birthday.  Thank you.  

Is it still hot there?  There were really cool lightning storms here last night.  Also crazy thunder.  We watched out the window.

I'm going into 6th grade.  I can't wait for my birthday!

I love you!

Love,

Ben

July 17:  hey dad wow iowa! not what i was expecting but it will be great for him. nov 15! woot! and yeah 10 months here!which is almost 11, which is almost halfway! i got a lot of hope for this transfer, hoping for some miracles for the people here. we have seen a lot already! ive been working on dong my excersize here too, i miss my weights haha. we have nothing here  just bodyweight stuff. haha for my comps birthday his dad told him that he had to invite me to lunch. so after we had interviews on saterday, we went to pizza hut and he bought on of the biggest pizzas. basically i definetly gained a fw pounds with all of the birthday food we had haha. thanks dad, i hope i am having more of an impact than i see. love you dad

Re: Great week! Happy Pioneer Day my dear Pioneer!My Sweet Elder Joshy,

Lots happened this week and I hope you are ready for the blessings!  I talked in church today on being Born Again and was told it went well.  I never know quite what I'll say and I cut it from 12 pages to 6 and then about 5 when I gave it. I talked about how we can change our hearts and I'll attach a copy of my little (haha) talk in another email for you if you have time ever to read it.   I told a few ancestor stories of" I Was There" and Emma and Edward Payne since tomorrow is the 24th - Pioneer Day.  I wasn't near as nervous as for singing but still it was crazy!  

Jarom was asked from the pulpit to come give his testimony (which causes great anxiety for him but I almost felt like it would happen since Bishop is gone on vacation and Bro Veals who loves Jarom and was his Home Teaching companion for a few years was conducting- did you know that Jarom is partners with Grandpa now and Brennen is with Dad) and he shared a testimony of prayer from his camp this week.  He said they were at the hardest part of the hike on Friday pretty high, I think 11,520’ and there was a lightning storm and they had to quickly hike to safer ground.  He said a prayer that he could make it because he was nervous but also so sore and tired and he said he felt better and was able to finish.  

Oh that Jarom!!  What a week for him! It was incredible!  I'm sure you relate because of Philmont!  He said the views were amazing and he was pretty fed up with Chad's lack of help and complaints as a tent partner.  He only saw a bear coming home on the train and right after they hiked one part a guy was attacked by a moose and his arm was beat up pretty bad and his dog killed.  Another guy not with them was attacked by a porcupine but our little Teacher group with many Mommas and boys praying for them were safe all week.  Very wet and cold and tired but safe!  It is so good to have him home again!  I worried and prayed all week.  (Just like when any of my boys go away) He did have a bad headache day and took a few Cokes to help and it did.  He also was pretty sick to stomach and threw up 2nd day out and didn't eat much the rest of the week.  Good thing his appetite is back now but his stomach still hurts.  He made hashbrowns, bacon and eggs for his breakfast this morning:)  Hungry again!  Jarom can get his permit this week and has to complete papers for Eagle project still with Save the Family.

Ben had the week of his life!  We surprised him with his gift from Alex to actually FLY A PLANE!  He was woken up early Friday morning and taken to work with Dad and then dropped off at Chandler airport where he thought he was just looking at planes.  He got to actually fly once in the air and has so many stories and was so excited!  I'm taking him to visit Alex this week at the nursery before school starts next week for Combs.  He also got his Arrow of Light on Tuesday and it was awesome!  Grandma did so much to help him she even came.  IT was nice and hot outside but the sun was going down and they did have a fire with color flames.  Not the same as the flaming arrow shoot but still cool and his actual arrow board is great!  On to Boy Scouts we go!

Brookly got her license on Thursday!!!  Yay!! She had a stressful trip there and a few unexpected happenings and then couldn't park once there so I was worried but with her and I praying hard she got it and will do fine now!  Brennen will teach her the truck since I'm not great at it:)  She starts school THIS Tuesday and is not excited!  She was put in the same English teacher that was the Comma Nazi and we requested a change and got it so we felt blessed there!  

Brennen went to the lake after work with Priests this week and had a great time!  He accepted his mission call and is working on all the stuff for that!  We did baptisms yesterday and he'll go through temple after he gets the next interviews in August sometime.  ASU deferment is stressful and hopefully works out.  We had the wrong form and the proof we sent was too big file.  Of course, right?  We redid that tonight and hope it goes through tomorrow.  

August 13th is the Tucson Temple Dedication so we don't have sacrament that day and even Ben gets to go!  So cool!  

  

I pray for you daily and have really felt the spirit as I've worked to do all the Lord has asked the last few weeks.  I feel I need blessings so I'm doing all I can.  I loved really studying for my talk and wish I could motivate myself to do more like that each week.  What are you studying now?  By topic?  By Preach my Gospel lesson?  Let's study together.  Tell me what you are doing this week and I'll study it with you. I hope you are feeling our love and support in all you do and that you are growing in the gospel.  You are amazing!

What was the most interesting, spiritual and challenging thing this week?

I love you!

Love,

Mom

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From: Joshua Brian Gardner <gardner.joshua@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, July 24, 2017 3:57:37 PM
To: Nicole Gardner
Subject: Re: Great week! Happy Pioneer Day my dear Pioneer!

 

hi mom, pretty good week this week. a lot happened. maybe ill write a group email since not many people wrote me todo and explain a little. weve been having lots of challenges. lots of our investigators have dropped on us and it seems like everything that could go wrong has been. but despite this i still have the joy from knowing im trying my best and after that its out of my hands.

so for studying right now im doing the first chaoter of preach my gospel, also in mosiah 14 or around there, also reading in psalms like 60, and then like the third talk in general conference womens session. i kinda just study on whatever i feel like at the moment, and then by topic as things come up in the week that i need to know more of. i will be studying the authority to use the preisthood and why its important. weve had a lot of questions about it lately and i have realized i dont really know the importance of authority. so yep. been a good week though despite the challenges, it feels good to be tested, like a deep satisfaction even though its hard. im glad things are going well with the fam, sorry to hear about dallin, who knows how things will work out some times. love you mom!

hey dad! good week, busy week. lots of challenges but also we have seen the hand of the lord in our work here and it is worth it even though its so hard. thats cool with your work,  go dad! haha im scared to let brookly drive the surburban too. haha  mom told me brennen is going to teach her how to use the truck... haha good luck! im glad jarom had a great time in colorado, definlty lifelong memories. thats funny he was with chad, i was also tent buddys with alex. no problems there though! something that was sad this week, is it was joses first time in branch counsel, and he had to see firsthand just how weak this branch is right now. he told us that he didnt say anything because hes new, but hes going to  start saying things about changes that need to be made. just sad that a brand new convert knows how things should be more that the people who have been runnning it for a while.  i was reflecting on how i can better streghten this branch in the short time i have left. but we have been well blessed  even though its been very challenging here. i love you dad, things are really going great despite the hardships.

happy pioneer day everybody. things have been going pretty good here. Weve had lots of challenges in this area the past month. everything from the branch problems to solid investigators dropping. Basically everything that has had the potencial to go wrong has. But despite this, we have seen so many blessings here. It is deeply satisfying to know that you have given your all. Let the challenges come, for I will continue to trust in the Lord! I feel a little like Paul, who said this

8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

Even through all our trials we have plenty of joy in the lords work, and every thing we have gone through has just made the experience in this area better. Opposition in all things right? But anyways right now we have a family that we are teaching  and they want to get married and baptized. we planned the past weekend an event to help them  raise the funds for the papers! on the morning of, we bought all the food and called them up to coordinate when they could come make it. We made pastelitos, which is a fried tortilla with a meat stuffing. But anyways we call them up, and they say, shoot, were in the hospital right now, shes gone into labor! Now this really threw us off, so after a few frantic calls to the relief society sisters, one of them was able to help us! we passed all the ingrediants to prepare to cook them that night. Then we went and made 5 gallons of natural orange juice. now we had planned to do lemonade and orange juice, but our coup[le was going to provide the lemos. so we bought 30 oranges thinking that would be good. 30 oranges didnt go very far when we needed 5 gallons, so we ended up just adding a bunch of tang to it haha. we had no juicer and just used the spine of a knife to juice them, so there was plenty of seeds and pulp in it! IN the end somehow we worked through every problem that came up and ended up making about half the funds needed for them. As of yesterday when we visited them at the hospital she was still in labor, we havent been able to get ahold of them yet today but im sure everything has worked out fine. Everything always turns out fine when we have faith!

6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.th.

I hope you all enjoy your pioneer day and spread your light to all the world.

Love,

 Elder Gardner

July 31:

hmm well i know theres thinhgs io want but at the moment knothing comes to mind. really the shirts would be the most help. really i just like getting letters the most, and also  for candy if you could send some chocolate things! i miss it. but i think im doing good otherwise... i can never remember. but i make do with the things i have just fine. thanks!

hi dad. another good week. i mainly told mom  but we have a new thing we use to find new investigators. basically we leave a blessing in just anyones house after founding out about them, then we return within 2 days to start teaching. i have a lot of faith in this and know i will see miracles. hmm so with our investigators... we got the guys papers done for marriage, now we just need his wife to go to the city where she was born to get hers done. but they didnt come to church so its possible they will not be able to fget baptized before i leave but im really hoping so. sounds like your work is going good, thats exciting that you are in that position. love you dad have a great week

On Mon, Jul 31, 2017 at 5:47 PM, Joshua Brian Gardner <gardner.joshua@myldsmail.net> wrote:

wow what a week. that makes me really sad about coach butler, i was really looking forward to getting together with him with all my buds after. thats crazy about shad too, who knows what can happen. hmm really the only way to protect your testimony isto protect it by keeping it growing. anyways was a good week this week. we hyad our conference with president and he rolled out a new inicitiative to heklp us find news. its called the harvest! basically we go to a house where the spirit guides, and tell the people there that we are representatives of jesus christ and that were here leave leave a blessing on the house. then we go in,find out some basic needs, kneel and leave the blessing , then leave with an appointment for within n the next 2 days. we havent been able to try it yet, been very busy pasty 2 days with lots of travel. but i know it will create many amazing experiences. we have already heard of lots of cool ones that have  happened. we went to lancetilla again, this time we had the whole zone and we paid for a guide to show us. we leanred a lot of cool stuff and got to taste a lot of different fruit, including a miracle fruit that changes your taste buds for a while. basically it makes everything taste a lot sweeter. it was super cool and i want to grow a tree haha. anyways things are going good otherwise. love you mom

dangerous plants! they showed us one, that if you ate the fruit you would die within 3 minutes. pretty cool! the fruit was not in season unfortunately