Winter Wonderland

October 28, 2013

Dearest Family and Friends

This week we had the most gorgeous weather- around 17 degrees the whole week... but then yesterday we got quite the surprise.

Delfino is getting baptized next Saturday!  We taught him twice and he is so ready and excited to be baptized.  He did have concerns but after a very thorough lesson on repentance and a priesthood blessing given by Bro. Horton, he's ready.  I am so excited, but it's weird.  I feel like the two missionaries in The Best Two Years when the man says he wants to be baptized.  We jump up and down and then realize: "Now what do we do? We've never gotten this far before!"  Thankfully, Bro. Horton is taking care of most parts of the baptism- we just have to finish teaching everything before his baptism.  Pray for him, please.  His boss said that he probably can't have Saturday and Sunday off (for the baptism and confirmation) but I told him 1 Nephi 3:7 and that if the Lord commands him to be baptized, he will provide a way.  

Lorena has enjoyed seminary every day this week and she is hanging out with the other young women at other places besides church.  It's great that she has made good friends!  She enjoys our lessons and always has lots of questions!  We are making a goal with her to be ready to do baptisms for the dead by the end of November (the next youth temple trip).  Susanna's baptism is approaching so we taught her the Word of Wisdom.  She's 10 years old but LOVES tea.  So we had to put all the tea on the top shelf where she can't reach it.  Lorena has been helping her resist, but she goes on and on about how difficult it is for her.  She's doing great!

We haven't been able to meet with Rob, but we have a lesson scheduled for next week.  He has been reading and he says he has a lot of questions.  Bro. Horton says he want to come with us. We were able to meet with Elsie.  She is a new investigator.  She loves the Bible and says "God's words have ceased."  But she agreed to read the Book of Mormon and we will go back on Tuesday!  

Our ward is so amazing.  Everyone comes and offers to go to lessons with us!  They all want to help out and are asking whom they can pray for.  I love the support.

Guess what?  We won the "cleaning inspection" award for our apartment! 

The Lord works in mysterious ways.  This week I had quite the cold, probably because of the changing weather.  I lost most of my voice, but it was such a blessing because it forced Sister Martin to open up and teach :) It was great!  She definitely gained some confidence this week.  No worries, Bro. Sheppard made me some miracle cure out of Cajun peppers, honey, garlic, etc. and my throat feels much better! 

Thanks for the prayers.  I can feel them!  

I love you all so much! 

Sister Crystal Gardner

Thanksgiving

                                 

October 15, 2013

Dearest Family and Friends, 

Happy CANADIAN Thanksgiving!  Yesterday was Thanksgiving and the Sheppard family had us over for turkey dinner.  The turkey was cooked to perfection, not dry at all. (Almost as good as Benji's turkey!)  We also had Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, cranberries, Martinelli's, potatoes, dressing (stuffing), and pumpkin Cheesecake. All that was missing was Granny Goodheart's spaghetti squash and pickled green beans!  I feel like I should be going up to the mountains and chopping down the Christmas tree today. . . . But then I have to remind myself it isn't Christmastime yet, and it is still October and the Halloween decorations are coming up!    

Let me tell you about Sister Martin!  She is from a small town in South Carolina and has a little southern accent.  She is very sweet and nice but very, very shy.  This will be a challenge for me, because I love to talk in the lessons. I'm going to have to learn how to help her to talk and participate, even if she doesn't feel comfortable with that yet.  I think training is going very well.  It's weird trying to teach her stuff that I'm just learning for myself, but the Lord is helping me realize how I can help her feel loved and needed.  I think we are going to get along very well and I'm excited to see what is going to happen during our 3 months together.

We had a very nice lesson with Delfino.  He says he wants to be baptized before I leave this area. I know that he can be ready before then, but he just wants to know everything because he says when he commits to something he is deeply committed.  So we are going to ask him tonight to be baptized on November 9th when we have a lesson with him, if we still feel right about it.  He is such a humble man and has so much faith.  He couldn't come to church on Sunday because he had to work, but he said he was so sad that he couldn't come to church that he is going to ask his boss to not schedule him on Sundays or he is going to find another job!  He is several steps ahead of us and he just soaks up everything we teach him.  The Van Tonders came with us to the lesson.  (Sister Van Tonder is from Guatemala and Brother Van Tonder was born in Africa and grew up in Panama.)  A lot of the lesson was them talking in Spanish and I was actually able to understand a little tiny portion of what was being said!  I've decided that one day I'm going to learn Spanish. :)

Cheyenne is also on date to be baptized on November 23 along with Susana Wingrove.  Cheyenne is moving into the Wingrove home permanently on the condition that she quits smoking (a miracle).  So now she is asking for help to overcome the addiction!  They still haven't found Sister Wingrove's brother, but they are at peace that the Lord knows what is best.  Her brother lives in El Salvador and he went missing 2 weeks before he was supposed to be sealed in the temple to his wife.  It is very sad.  

We weren't able to meet with Rob this week because he had family in town.  But he said he's been taking the Book of Mormon to work with him and has been taking the time to read.  He sounded very excited to meet with us this Thursday!  

Since it is Thanksgiving, I figured I should mention a few things I am thankful for:

  

1.  Dad, Mom, Brent, Holly, Clark, Victoria, Vivian, Benji, Mara, Jade, Ella, Jesse, Savanna, Henry, Jane, Thomas, Meagan, Samuel, Olivia, and John -- my family --  and the support that they give me.  A new sister just came to our zone.  She was baptized 22 months ago and her family is very anti-Mormon and not supporting her as a missionary. (She's absolutely amazing, so when she gets home, I'm lining her up with Samuel.)  Thanks for being proud of me. 

2.  My Savior, Jesus Christ.

3. Personal revelation.

4.  The opportunity to be a missionary5.  Standards. 

6.  The priesthood.

7.  My testimony.

8.  Good friends.

I love you all.  Look for miracles.

Love, 

Sister Crystal Gardner

I'm Done Training

October 8,, 2013

Dearest Family, 

I have news!  As of yesterday, I am officially done training. And tomorrow, I will become a trainer!  My trainee is flying to Calgary from the MTC right now!  It's pretty intimidating because I've only been here for 2 transfers, but if the Lord has faith in me, I guess I can have faith in me as well.  As usual, prayers are very much appreciated! Tonight I get to go to the transfer devotional to meet my trainee and then tomorrow I will pick her up and away we will go. I'm going to miss Sister Nuttall though.  We worked very well together.  We both came on missions to work and the Lord blessed us with 1 investigator my first day to now with 7 real investigators, several less-actives that we are working with, and many potential investigators as well.  The Lord helped our ward become more missionary-oriented and because of it, we are starting to get referrals.  Yes, I'll miss her, but I'm happy to be staying in Airdrie/Crossfield.  There is still a work for me to do here.  I can't wait!

What a wonderful week!  Number one reason: conference.  I loved the talks, especially Dieter F. Uchtdorf's "Come Join with Us!", the exclamation point!!!! man who was VERY excited about missionary work (members have already asked who our investigators are so they can pray for them!), Elder M. Russell Ballard's talk - it was very motivational for us missionaries, Richard G. Scott's talk on the atonement, and of course the Prophet's talk.  Sunday morning was my favorite session.  It was quite incredible, the Spirit that was there.  Delfino came to a session with us (Saturday afternoon) and he loved it!  He texts us all the time with questions when he is reading the Book of Mormon and he is praying.  He feels the Spirit.  His faith is growing!

We had a miracle this week.  We've been working hard with the Wingrove family.  Susana is excited to get baptized and Cheyenne is excited about learning more, so we've also been trying to help the inactive family as well.  Well, on Wednesday Cheyenne was struggling with several things going on in her life, so the Elders came and gave her a blessing.  The whole family was there except for the Dad and it was so powerful.  That night Sister Wingrove called us in tears.  She said that she needed our help.  Her brother had gone missing in El Salvador for days and her family was having a 24 hour fast and prayer.  She said she has been inactive for years and she can't remember how to pray or fast anymore and she needed us to come help her remember.  So the next morning at 8:00 we helped them start their fast.  The whole family was involved and it was very special.  This is what this family needed to regain their faith.  We fasted along with them and we hope to hear good news soon.

Next Monday is Canadian Thanksgiving! And the Sheppards invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner.  He's a master chef so it will be delicious.  :) I'll send you a picture next Tuesday when I will get to email!  

I love my family.  Thanks for being my support! 

Love, Sister Gardner

Cultural differences

September 30, 2013

Dearest Family and Friends,

Wow. What a week.  We were so busy.... teaching! :) We have several progressing investigators and FOUR investigators and several less actives came to church!  Miracle.  It was really funny though.  Sister Nuttall and I felt like we were "running around with our heads chopped off" trying to get everyone to their individual classes.

Susana is now on date to be baptized on November 23, and we committed her to come to church every week before then.  We have learned that you also have to teach a 10 year old a little differently than the others, namely lots of object lessons.  One day, we had planned to teach her, but she wasn't home.  Cheyenne, a 16-year-old girl who lives with them, answered the door.  She said we could come in anyway and wait.  Sister Nuttall and I looked at each other and without talking we knew we needed to teach her.  So after chatting casually, she started asking lots of questions.  We were able to teach her about the Savior and the atonement.  She loved it and was so excited to learn more.  We asked her to pray at the end and when she did (though she was nervous) she said, "Thank you for sending the sisters, I have such an exciting feeling and I'm ready to learn more and read the Book of Mormon."  Whoa!.  The next time we met with her we were able to talk about the Plan of Salvation and she was just so wide eyed the whole time, like she had never thought about life after death before.  She is such a sweet girl, but she's been doing drugs, drinking, etc. her whole life.  It's sad, but the atonement of Jesus Christ can help anyone, no matter who they are.

We have a new investigator named Collin.  He works for one of the ward missionaries and has gone to church before and loved it!  He has a very sweet spirit, but dropped out of school in 7th grade to hitchhike and travel with the carnival.  So reading the Book of Mormon is very difficult.  We teach him again tomorrow!

Delfino Sanchez is a wonderful man and the Lord has prepared him to hear his message.  His native language is Spanish, but he also speaks: Italian, French, English, German, and Portuguese.  He used to work for the Mexican Government as a translator.  He is so willing to learn and he always says "Teach me!"  Well, when we asked him to come to church, he said in his broken English that he'd have to buy a new suit because he wanted to look nice the first time he goes to church.  When he came to church he really loved it and felt the Spirit.  I love teaching him!  

The Lord blessed us so much this week.  I've learned that the key to getting the members excited about missionary work is inviting them to participate in the lessons.  Each fast Sunday, a member of the ward gets up and says how much they enjoy teaching with us because the Spirit is so strong.  Now ward members come up to us and ask if they can come with us!  It's been amazing.  

I got a request for some cultural differences between this area of Canada and the USA.  There really aren't that many, to be honest.  Sometimes I forget I'm in a foreign country!  But maybe because I'm just used to it... (1) Canadian flag; (2) we take our shoes off before we go into anyone's house (best idea ever!); (3) the money is COLORFUL, no pennies, loonies/toonies (1 and 2 dollars are coins); (4) everything is written in French and English; (5) everyone here is from different countries all around the world; (6) "EH?" is a real thing... I catch myself doing it all the time...; (7) different words: took=hat, washroom= bathroom, chesterfield=couch, they pronounce words differently: pasta, bag, Mazda, etc.; (8) THE WEATHER; and (9) Chinook winds. 

I pray for all of you.  Please continue praying for me! 

-Sister Gardner