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

Rainy Days and Mondays

                        This is a picture of Brother Lah. I have mentioned him several times.

                                         Crystal and Sister Nuttall enjoying the cooler weather.

                                          Did I say cooler? I think I meant cold and rainy.


September 23, 2013

Dearest family and friends

Yesterday was such a special day.  Gordon Miller finally got the priesthood! During high priest meeting, Bro. Horton ordained him and we got to be the special guests.  It was such a nice blessing and the Spirit was so strong.  Then, Gordon bore his testimony.  The usual goofy jokester talked very seriously as he testified on the restored church of Jesus Christ.  Afterwards, he pointed to Sister Nuttall and me and said, "Thank you, thank you."  I know I didn't teach him until after he was baptized, but I feel like I still have grown close to him.  It was such a wonderful experience.

We were able to meet with Rob and Delfino this week!  Rob really wanted to meet with a convert to the church, so we prayerfully asked Bro. Berryman in the ward to come with us.  It was such a good lesson and Bro. Berryman was perfect.  Rob is very sincere and he is reading and praying.  He's coming to church this week!  He also mentioned that for some reason out of the blue he started praying again a month ago and he didn't know why.  Then when Sister Nuttall and I knocked on his door he said his first reaction was, "I'm not interested, go away."  But then something told him, "Give it a chance, you've never looked into this religion before!"  Miracle?  Wow.  The Lord has been preparing people.  

Delfino is so funny! He grew up in Mexico but his mom is from Spain and his dad is half French, half Chinese.  He loved it the last time we came over and we are going to meet with him again this week!  He has been searching for a long time.  He has attended the Baptist church, the United church, the Catholic church, (and a couple others).  But he was never satisfied.  I think he will be with this church!

On Saturday, we tried to meet with Susannah Wingrove, but her grandparents (the Cordona's) opened the door.  They are members and temple workers.  They were so happy to see the missionaries and invited us in.  Immediately, they started talking about the Wingroves and how they broke their heart.  Susannah's parents want nothing to do with the church, but are fine with their children getting baptized.  In their broken English, they started crying and said that Heavenly Father would bless them and help their children come back.  It made me want to try even harder to help this family.  It'll be tough.  But because of the Cordona's we are now able to see what is going on in the family and the Wingrove's background in the church.

Bro. Lah wanted me to make SURE I gave my family his regards.  So he says hi!  I love visiting with this wise old man.  He has such a powerful testimony.

This week four people wanted to argue with us and told us that we needed to do "our research."  So the other night, I decided to do my research once again and I prayed to confirm my knowledge that the church was true.  My answer came straight from the Holy Ghost, not some anti-Mormon literature.  The church is true. Jesus Christ is my Savior and my Redeemer.  He lives! I love being his missionary.

Thanks for the love and prayers.  They are definitely felt!

Love,

Sister Crystal Gardner

From Crystal to crystal

September 16, 2013

Dearest Family and Friends

"Success in life is going from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm."

We had a successful week!  Most of our lessons cancelled on us, our investigator (Paul) on his date to be baptized dropped us, half our potential investigators don't want anything to do with us, the other half wouldn't answer their doors/phones, and we haven't been able to meet with Ariah in 2 weeks.  A miracle is coming and the Lord is just preparing me for it!

I've been studying a lot about the refiner's fire in the scriptures.  The Lord is our "refiner" and sometimes we need to be put in the fire (adversity, trials, etc.) for us to become separated from the dross and become perfect and precious stones.    

We were able to do a lot of service this week.  We helped out at a funeral and did all the preparation work so that the members of the ward and family could participate in the service instead of worrying about the food.  I find that because of all the service that we are doing for the ward and individual members, missionaries are getting a better name in this ward!  Now they are starting to want to help us.  Several members have asked if they could go with us to lessons and a few have asked for advice on how to share the gospel with others or reactivate straying children.  It's a big responsibility to be a missionary but I'm learning how to rely on the Savior more completely because little Crystal Gardner could not do this all by herself!

I truly love being a missionary! I can't believe all that I've learned in such a short time!  However, I still have a long way to go.... Luckily for me, I still have 15 1/2 more months to be in the refiner's fire so that one day I can be a little bit closer to become a more perfected "crystal". :)

Love you.

Love,
Sister Crystal Gardner

Wonderful Week

September 10, 2013

Dear Family and Friends

I think our family produces the cutest babies.  Vivian and Jane are both absolutely beautiful and they look just like their parents, it's fun to see the resemblance!  Thanks for sending me pictures.  Just so they know, they have the world's proudest aunt.  (I think every one is getting sick of me showing off their pictures.)

I have some very exciting news!  Paul von Chinnery is ON DATE to be baptized on October 5.  We are all very excited.  However, we have a lot of work to do.  He is very addicted to drugs.  He's quit other drugs and is now working on getting over smoking.  There was a baptism for an 8-year-old boy on Saturday, so he agreed to come.  I have never realized how awful drugs were until we were at the baptism.  Before it started he kind of had an anxiety attack.  I was sitting next to him and helped calm him down.  I don't know how many times I told him, "Everything is going to be all right." "You're okay, you're okay."  Once the prelude music started playing "Be Still My Soul", he said, "Sister Gardner, I'm okay now.  I'm calm."  He really enjoyed the baptism and kept talking about his own baptism in a couple of weeks!  I have a lot of faith in him, but I'm also very worried.  It'll be very hard for him to stop drugs where and with whom he lives.  He's been on drugs since he was 8 years old.  Neither Sister Nuttall nor I have ever dealt with people with addictions before, so we are definitely asking a lot of people for ideas and suggestions.  Paul doesn't have a car and the closest addiction recovery program is in Calgary.  But we did order the pamphlet.  These next couple of weeks will be interesting.  Any suggestions or (even better) prayers are accepted!

We haven't seen Karen since she was at church.  We have stopped by almost every day and she's never there.  We called and she said we could meet yesterday and she wasn't home (or didn't answer the door/phone.)  I don't know what is going on.  I know she felt the Spirit at church so maybe she's just scared.  We're not giving up.

I think I told you about Suzannah Wingrove, but if not, she is a 10-year-old girl that has a very inactive family.  We've been meeting with her and her family.  She desperately wants to get baptized and is ready, but we hesitate to baptize her until we get the family more active.  It would be such a shame to get her baptized and then the next week have her completely inactive because of her family.  So we are working with the whole family and we want the whole family to go to church for a month before Suzannah gets baptized.  The family really likes Sister Nuttall and me, so they are fine with us coming over several times a week.

The other day, we were walking down a developing community called Williamstown, when a Mexican man called to us.  "Who are you? I've seen you walk down here a couple of times before!"  We explained that we were missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  "Ah Mormons?!"  He then went on to explain that he went to our church for a year when he was dating a Mormon lady, but he went because he wanted to know and not for her.  Later they broke up and he moved, so he lost contact with thechurch.  He invited us to come and teach him and his son's friend that lives with them named Charlie (he's Filipino).  So we are going to teach the two of them this week! Like it says in preach my gospel, the Lord puts US in prepared people's paths or he puts PREPARED PEOPLE in our path.

Dan and Angela are doing great!  They are planning on getting married in February and we talked about temples and she is excited to go through the temple.  So now, we are focusing our lessons more to Dan.  He's been the inactive son of a very active family and Angela is the one that has brought him back to the gospel.  She's ready for any changes and she's bringing him along.    

Yesterday, after we were supposed to teach Karen a lesson and she didn't answer the door, we had an hour before dinner.  So we knocked on some doors.  I had a distinct feeling to go down a street.  One door caught my attention (maybe it's just because of the Yoga sign on the front door... (love Yoga) or maybe it was the Spirit!  We knocked on the door and this big guy (probably does Yoga everyday ;)) answered.  We introduced ourselves and he said, "Come on in".  He cleared the table and asked us to take a seat.  Then he said, "I'm ready."  Uhhh okay.  We started asking him about his religious background and what he knows about our church.  His wife is Buddhist, one of his parents was a Mennonite, and the other was Irish Catholic.  He says he's read every religion's scripture from the Koran to the Bible and everything in between and that he searched so hard that he doesn't know WHAT he believes anymore.  We introduced the Book of Mormon and gave him a copy.  He said, "I can't believe I've never read this before.  I'll read it.  It's not very big, I'll probably be done in like 2 weeks."  Woah.  I promised him that this is what he has been searching for.  He was amazed at my confidence and said he hoped that he could find out just like me.  We are meeting with him again tomorrow!

It's been a wonderful week.  I really love being a missionary.  It's amazing how much the ward looks up to these little baby missionaries and they come to us so much for help.  Yesterday, I held a poor old man's hand as he talked about his wife's death 2 days ago.  I love these people so much and they are really starting to trust me.  The little kids love me.  One 4-year-old girl in particular always tries to sit on my lap and unfortunately we're not allowed to let them do that, which is the hardest of all the mission rules!

I love my family.  You are what matter the most to me.  Thanks for raising me in the gospel.  I've never realized what an incredible blessing that was until I'm helping those that don't have it in their lives.

Be safe.  I'm praying for you.

Love (with all of my heart),
Sister Crystal Gardner

Look for Miracles

September 3, 2013

Dearest Family and Friends

Yesterday, we talked to a man on the street.  He was willing to talk and argue, but not to listen.  He went on a 30-minute rant on how there are no such things as miracles.  I feel bad for this man, because I see miracles every day of my life.  I hope you enjoy hearing about the miracles of this week!

I think I told you about Paul von Chinnery.  After our second lesson with him, we started reading with him in the Book of Mormon every day.  I love Paul.  He really tries hard to understand the Book of Mormon.  He takes every verse one at a time and reads it through several times until he completely understands it, then he comes up with an analogy to fit the verse, and then he figures out how he can apply it. Some days we only get through 7 verses with him, but it's incredible how much he is taking away from it (and after spending so much time on just a couple of verses, I feel like I'm learning a lot as well).  The second time we were reading with him, I asked him why he meets with us.  He said it's good for his brain... and he feels good when he reads the Book of Mormon and when we talk to him.  We explained it was the Spirit!  This morning we met with him again and felt like we needed to prepare to teach him the Word of Wisdom.  He is a German man and has probably been involved in every type of drug ever created, so we knew this was going to be a struggle for him.  Before we were able to talk to him about it, he told us decided he was going to stop doing drugs.  He said that as we have met with him, he feels like the Book of Mormon helps him feel better than doing the drugs and the Spirit has prompted him to stop!  Woah.  I was kind of in shock.  He didn't have a single cigarette on him and usually he ends our lessons so that he can go smoke.  Miracle #1.

I know that you are all anxious about Karen.  Well we met with her on Saturday and she was going to tell us if she wanted to get baptized on the 21st.  She said that she wasn't going to be in town after all and she decided to visit with her Mom in Oklahoma.  However, she agreed to come to church on Sunday!  We were so excited to have her there.  Angela and Dan were blessing their babies and it was testimony meeting!  I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous about testimony meeting and our ward has so many young families that sometimes you can't hear because of the amount of children crying.  But I prayed that the children would be comforted and at peace and that she would feel the Spirit during the testimony meeting.  It was an amazing meeting.  The children were quiet and EVERY testimony addressed her concerns and needs.  Miracle #2.

Unfortunately, sometimes people don't want to hear the message of the gospel and reject it.  I'm getting pretty good at being rejected on the streets, but it's so much harder after teaching them for a couple of lessons.  You really start feeling how much Heavenly Father loves his children and when they don't want what will make them happy, it breaks my heart.  On Sunday, we taught Marcel again.  I don't think he has the right intentions and the sincerity that we hoped.  It was one of the hardest lessons that I've walked away from and it really hurts to see.  But you never know what seeds we are planting.  You never know what he may experience later in life and he will remember the missionaries.  I love these people so much.

A less-active family moved into the ward and their 11 year old wants to get baptized! So we will be teaching her and trying to get her family activated as well!

There are many, many more miracles I've seen this week.  I've been praying to notice the Lord's hand in my life more and have a greater appreciation for it.  The Lord puts us in the right place, at the right time so often.  It's incredible!  I love being a missionary.  I love seeing change, in myself and in others.
 I love you all!  Look for miracles.

-Sister Crystal Gardner

P.S. My ward mission leader (Bro. Horton) and I are really good friends!  We talk to him almost every day.  Sister Nuttall and I are the background on his computer screen :)  Haha so, he said he can't wait to meet my family in 2 years when we take a trip up here!  Also, he said that we are invited to stay with him and Sis. Horton and eat all the fresh raspberries and Saskatoons we could possible want when we go visit.  Be excited, they are delicious. :)

P.S. Guess what? So, we've been working our hineys off... and we have the HIGHEST numbers of ANYONE in our Zone. :) Ok, well the Lord has helped us the entire time. But it's nice to be his little instrument, ya know? Well, I don't want to brag, but I wanted to tell SOMEONE.  I love being a missionary girl. It's quite rewarding and the hard/stressful/frustrating times are worth every second of it.  I really am learning a lot about myself and who I want to become.