This Blog Has Moved!

This blog has moved to --> matthewonamission.wordpress.com. 

Please update your bookmarks accordingly.

It's not that I have anything against Blogger, I just like Wordpress better.

Thanks!

Spring has Sprung (4/14/2014)

I really hate that saying by the way. I don't know why it's just one of those sayings that don't sound good and just... bug you! Maybe you feel the same way, maybe not. Moving on.

Spring is definitely here, and in North Carolina that means it's summer already. It was like 83 yesterday plus humidity. Not fun! 

This week was pretty fun, we taught the most lessons we ever have as long as I've been here! We finally got a baptismal date that seems promising! Her name is Delma.

Delma is the non-member wife of a less-active guy named Jon. Missionaries have been visiting them for a little over a year, and she's only been taught the first lesson, which is the Joseph Smith story and the Book of Mormon and stuff. Since I've been here we've been focusing on getting Jon back to church, the fact that Delma isn't an investigator never really crossed my mind. Jon is finally coming back to church consistently, and last week he brought Delma. We extended an invitation for her to be baptized last week, and when she came to church it solidified it. However, the lesson in Sunday School was "The Final Judgement" and needless to say she had some questions... We were able to clear up the concerns and now we have a good reason to teach the Plan of Salvation. But she's very promising and we're looking to get her baptized the first weekend in May. Unfortunately transfers are the 29th, and I won't be able to see it happen if I leave. We'll see what happens I guess.

I don't really know what else to say this week...

There's a video I want all of you to watch. It's called Because of Him and it's an Easter video the church is pushing super hard from yesterday until Easter. We as missionaries (or at least the ones like mine where we test things like iPads, I'm not sure) are trying to get this out here as much as possible. We share it on Facebook, it's got a hashtag, the church even got Youtube to make it the main video on the main page. It is estimated that 109 million people will have seen this video by Easter, and hopefully at least half of those have followed the church website a little after that. It really is a great video, I've already posted in on my Facebook page. The music is incredible. The message is even better. Fellow missionaries, if you're not aware of this initiative, look it up and start sharing it (easter.mormon.org). Family and other friends, start sharing it. Get the word out there. Let the world know what's possible "Because of Him".

Keep calm and hymn 255

Love, Elder Matthew Gardner

"With Patience Bear..."

This last week I passed my 4 month mark, meaning it's time for a monthly testimony. I'll talk about that at the end, but first I want to talk about conference.

Conference was amazing, definitely something worth going back and reading/studying the talks.

I know we probably shouldn't pick favorite apostles, but I think my favorites would have to be Elder Bednar and Elder Christofferson. And I was not disappointed by their talks! I loved Elder Bednar's talk about the Atonement and our real part in it in relation to Christ. Elder Christofferson's was amazing, definitely a great way to end the conference. I love how he said the resurrection is a FACT, and therefore all things related to Christ must've happened. My favorite line from his talk was "Faith is more than mere imagination".

Those of course were just my favorites, we heard amazing talks by all the apostles and leaders that spoke. As always, Jeffery R. Holland delivered. Elder Zwick and Elder Aidukaitis from the 70 had the best "stage presence" I guess is a good word for it. Did you Elder Zwick is from here? He used to be a baptist preacher, that's way he did such a good job speaking. He actually came to our mission like a month before I got here (kind of a bummer). He did a really great job.

I invite all of you to look up Elder Oaks' talk he gave at the priesthood session as soon as it's available. It was by far one of the most intense talks given this last weekend. Let's just say if he didn't completely abolish it, he certainly shut up the protest about women getting the priesthood for a while. Very much worth going back.

If there's a certain theme I could pick out of conference, it's in the form of a scripture.

Alma 7:22 "And now my beloved brethren, I have said these things unto you that I might awaken you to a sense of your duty to God, that ye may walk blameless before him, that ye may walk after the holy order of God, after which ye have been received."

A lot of the talks were about standing up for what you believe in as the world around us starts to crumble. We need to either "awaken" to a sense of our duty to God or get worthy to the point where we can "awaken". These are the last days, so we either need to jump on the bus or get out of the way.

Moving on to some investigator news:

We had an appointment scheduled with Tedarreus, the first one in like a week and a half, and he cancelled WHILE WE WERE ON THE DOORSTEP ABOUT TO KNOCK.

He still shows a lot of potential, but when things like this happen I just want to leave him behind and move on. But again, he still has a lot of potential. I don't really know what to do. Yes he cancelled, but let's look at why. He got kicked out of his girlfriend's house. Meaning he is (currently) living the law of chastity. Since he used her car, he can't go across town to do his smoking job. So he is (currently) living the word of wisdom. Those were the only two things keeping him back, but at the same time we don't really know where he is. *sigh* I just don't know what to do.

On a brighter note, we met someone named Q a few days ago. Q is a 22 year old guy who wants to get his life right, and we had one of the best lessons ever with him. We started by just talking to him and finding relevance for him, then did the usual lesson stuff. After we talked about Joseph Smith and the first vision, he said it sounded like poetry and gave him a warm fuzzy feeling (which was weird hearing those words out of a black guy's mouth). We assured him that was the spirit which helped him recognize it during his prayer. He gave probably the simplest prayer ever but at the end he literally prayed and said "... and I can't stop smiling. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." Then he looked up and asked us why. Well why what? "Why can't I stop smiling?" We again assured him that was the spirit and we planned to see him again tomorrow night. It was a really great experience and we're excited about Q.

Now on to my testimony this month.

It's about patience. We studied patience a couple weeks ago as part of our Christ like attribute study where we study an attribute for a week for 9 weeks until Easter. Since then I've been thinking about different things that have been happening/ have already happened in my life when a little patience has paid off. One example is my mission in general. If you were to ask me back in July, I would've said that I would never have the opportunity to go on my mission. A month later I got my call! Another is my experience with Elder Leishman, my trainer. Don't get me wrong, he is a good missionary and I learned a lot, but we didn't have the best relationship. Now I have a companion that I can call a true friend. In those and many other situations just a little patience has paid off. Patience doesn't mean to sit back reserved until something good comes out of the bad, it's about moving on and pressing forward regardless about what's happening around you (kind of similar to the theme I got out of conference). Progress requires patience. We can't have either without diligence (this week's attribute), meaning we keep going. So keep going friends! Just as my favorite hymn "Be Still My Soul" says, "with patience bear thy cross of grief or pain..." and always remember Christ has been there before and is waiting to help you, you just have to ask.

Until next week,

-Elder Gardner

I'm coming home.

I can't take it anymore. I am so sick of being away from my family. I don't feel like I have a strong enough testimony to convert anyone down here, and that's obvious in my astounding number of baptisms (SARCASM). I feel like I'm wasting my time and money, just to walk around uselessly with no one to talk to. I already talked to President Craven, I'm flying out this weekend to be home for conference. Normally he calls home before I leave, but I told him not to so I could tell you all today.

...

...

...

...

...

April Fools. Too soon? I mean is a day early that uncalled for? It was my only chance! Haha but no I'm fine. Although it's true it's a little disheartening not having at least one baptism by now, because next week marks the 4 month mark. However, there are things going on, slowly progressing to the point of baptism, for now anyway. I'm having fun though, Elder Smart is a great companion and actual friend.

I have done some counting... and I should be leaving December 7th, 2015. We have a "license to preach" or something like that in our white handbooks, and that's the expiration date, as well as that the transfer meeting is that day. It's apt to change, but that's what I'm going with for now!

The work is pretty slow right now. I think I mentioned last week that we did a little "spring cleaning" through our area book, sorting through the ones that have some actual potential and who we have just for the sake of teaching a lesson that day. We have to go back to doing a lot of knocking on doors, but at the same time the few that we are seeing a lot we have appointments for all throughout the week.

About Tedarreus... He has been our most progressing investigator since the day we found him back in January. Lately however, he's gotten on this pattern of not contacting us or not answering when we contact him, for about a week and a half at a time. Then, we'll have an amazing lesson with him like we always do and there's suddenly hope for him. Everyone has been telling us we need to think about dropping him, district leaders, zone leaders, even President Craven's wife. I was about to, then Elder Smart told me about an investigator he had in his first area named Cedric. He was in the exact same position Tedarreus was in, he even looks like him. E.Smart was saying that Cedric would have the same teaching pattern, and almost never come to church. But he showed so much potential. E.Smart never got to see it, but Cedric was baptized. That helped me a lot, and we're going to keep being patient. In fact, that's the Christ-like attribute we studied as a mission this last week. Patience.

Patience is "the capacity to endure" according to Preach My Gospel. And that's true. The gospel of Jesus Christ includes Faith, Repentance, Baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and ENDURING TO THE END. We really can't have any hope unless we have patience, and we can't have patience without the faith that we can endure. Romans 5: 1-5 does a pretty good job at explaining how we can gain patience as related to the other Christ like attributes. Patience is the means by which we can endure to the end!

So one last thing before I go. We got to help with Primary yesterday! It was so much fun! We each (the four missionaries) got assigned a character, got to dress up if we wanted, and had to tell our story and testify of the resurrected Christ. The Sisters were Mary Magdelene and a Nephite Woman. Sadly they didn't dress up. But we did! Elder Smart was Joseph Smith. He had a suit on, I let him borrow my sweater vest, he popped his collar and tied one of his ties to look like those ascot things they wore back then. He even has a copy of the BofM how they were originally printed! It was perfect! I was Thomas, the apostle. I just had a bed sheet wrapped around me like a toga with a tie around my waist to hold it together. Oh yeah and a shaving cream beard. Bam. I have pictures but I don't have my camera. If I don't get them out today I will next week.

It was a lot of fun, and the common message is still the same for us today. Christ resurrected and now lives. He loves us and wants to help us, as long as we ask for it in prayer (John 15:15). I love you all and will talk to you next week! Also... General Conference is next week! Find someone who isn't a member and invite them! It's going to be great.

--Elder Gardner

_EldersSmart&Gardner_

So the title is our signature on our cell phone, just in case you were confused.

As you all know, transfers were this week. Elder Leishman's in a place called summerfield, and my new companion is named Elder Smart. HE IS WONDERFUL.

We have a lot in common, we both love music (both playing and listening), in fact he's taken music theory, so we can talk about music a lot. As well we both had a childhood based on classic cartoons and homestar runner (for those who don't know what that is, look it up). We quote Brian Regan to each other a lot. He's funny, and more importantly he thinks Im' funny ;)

Basically he's super happy and easy to get along with, and he's excited to do the work. We've already had our fair share of adventures just in this last week. Our recent convert friend Chris is the one who took us to Charlotte and back for the transfer meeting, and that was a trip. At that moment Chris hadn't slept in 72 hours, had 6 redline energy shots (you're only supposed to drink half the bottle withing a 24 hour period), and 4 energy pills. We thought we were going to die.

We've met quite a few strange people. The strangest is two girls who we met outside HPU who were very drunk and very high. They were very concerned that both of us have girlfriends and are still virgins. Well... We tried to bring the conversation back but they tried to invite us to a party to get us drunk and rape us... We're still both laughing and in shock about it all. 

We also helped the Terry's (members) cut down a tree. I'll include some before and after pictures.

Which reminds me, I'm going to start taking more pictures! Elder Smart and I are both pretty bad at taking pictures, so we're going to do better. The pictures I do have, Which may be in this email or in a separate one:

The ice storm a couple weeks ago.

The before and afters of the Terry's tree.

My sweet tan-line.

Elder Smart holding the part of a chainsaw the chain goes around. While cutting off part of the tree, the huge limb came back and bent the chainsaw part he's holding. Luckily he didn't drop it or fall off himself. If you're wondering why he's in missionary clothes, we were back and forth between appointments and cutting down the tree, and we were just leaving to an appointment. So don't worry, we didn't cut a tree in our good clothes!

I love you all! See you next week!

-Elder Gardner

insert creative subject here

Attention people of Earth (and some beyond)!

So this Teusday is transfer day. Saturday was the day we would get calls to see if we're moving. We got a call.

I'm staying here in HIgh Point. However, Elder Leishman is leaving. Not only that, he's going to be a district leader wherever he goes, so good for him! It's a little bittersweet that he's going. Our comapnionship was rocky at first, but since then we've sorted things out and now he's leaving. Maybe it's because I don't like change and there's a possibility the new guy will be worse than he was (yikes). I'm not training this transfer like what usually happens I guess. I'll keep you posted more on transfers when they actually happen tomorrow.

Update on Maurice:

One night we decided to check up on a family we dropped like 3 weeks after I first got here, to see if they were ready yet. We talked with Sean, the questijonably sane 17 year old son. As we were about to leave however, he said "have you heard about what happened to Maurice?". Naturally we were intrigued. According to the story he told and some information check we had our recent convert friend Chris look up, Maurice is in jail. Yup, he came to church a few weeks ago and later that week he ROBBED A BANK and is in jail. His bond is $280,000 dollars. We aren't sure of the reason, but all we have is because his girlfriend broke up with him. Elder Leishman sensed he had another side to him when he and Elder Kleinman taught him before I got here, and his assumptions were correct. So that was our most-progressing investigator. Everyone else is slowly fall;ing away, we can't get hold of anyone. I have a feeling my new companion will want to do some "spring cleaning" and we'll go back to tracting. Hopefully all goes well.

We had stake conference this last weekend. It was really good! I had never gone to one of those up until then, and I enjoyed it. Apparently they have brodcasts form Salt Lake and you hear from apostles! If I had known that before I would have gone a lot more. L. Tom Perry spoke at this one and he talked about the importance of The Doctrine and Covenants. It was interesting when he said: "The Bible and The Book of Mormon are great books indeed. They are records, commandments, and testimonies of those living anciently. The Doctrine and Covenants are the records, commandments, and testimonies of our day. It is our book. It belongs to the Latter Day Saints." Powerful! Makes me want to read D&C more carefully. If you haven't before (like me), go to your next stake conference.

Not much else happened this week, so I'll see you all next time!

-Elder Matthew Gardner

Let Us Stand Together

Hello family and friends! This week I actually kept a list of things I wanted to talk about this week so this e-mail will actually have some substance!

First off, remember last week when I talked about rain? Well later that day the rain turned to snow and later that week the snow turned to freezing rain. Last year Utah got some freezing rain but not like here. The rain froze to the ground when it hit and we literally got a 1/4 of an inch of ice over everything. As a result of this, Guilford County (county I'm in right now) went into a state of emergency. This was a legitimate natural disaster! The ice weighed down several trees and powerlines, and the roads were a mess (even for us practiced Utah drivers). All in all 80% of High Point lost power, from homes to businesses to street lights. Several cities around had similar problems, but I have to stay in High Point therefore only really care about High Point right now. Off subject, what do you do if the street light isn't working? Treat it like a 4-way stop, right? Could someone please tell that to EVERYONE IN NC? Anyway, so this was a big deal, and there are people still without power and hot water. Just before anyone freaks out though, us missionaries are all safe. We never lost power at all, and those in other areas who did only lost it for a short amount of time. We're all safe, warm, and fed. Although it doesn't really matter because the snow/ice is already all gone with temperatures back into the 70's the second the storm left. Yay for NC weather. We didn't teach a ton of people while this all went down, because a lot of people left because they don't have power. So a lot of our appointments fell through, but we did make a lot of calls. Especially while we were home-ridden while it was all coming down. Still haven't heard anything from Maurice. Everyone else seems to be fine, but we haven't had a lot of contact with people. This week will be better though!

Even though we didn't do a lot of teaching, we had lots of opportunities for service. Mainly cutting up trees that fell down. We helped this one guy who is neighbors to a member, his name is Tom. His tree split in to three pieces, one blocking the way into the backyard on the side of the house, one hit his house and the back porch (but luckily no damage), and the other is still standing. We cut it up and cleaned it all out in about 2 hours, and it was a big tree. Many hands make light work, and even though there were only the 4 of us I'm sure the Lord had a few hands helping us for providing service.

The 40-day fast ended on the 6th. Next day cracked open a root beer. It was delicious. I didn't think it would be that hard, but it was. Although I'm drinking soda again it was good practice making sacrifices and resisting those temptations. I probably would've had a more spiritual experience if I hadn't only focused on giving up temporal things, but I still learned something from it. 

I have a joke! The 2nd counselor of the bishopric told this one to us. So back in the times of the Spanish Inquisitions, part of the job was to get all the Jews out of the land. Because both parties are God loving people they didn't use force but first decided to debate the issue. However, the Catholic Priest only spoke Spanish and the Jewish Rabbi only spoke Hebrew. But they did the debate anyway, with hand signals and objects to make they're point. So the debate starts and the priest starts by holding up 3 fingers. The rabbi holds up 1. the priest waves his arm above his head, the rabbi points at the ground he's standing on. The priest brings out some bread and wine, the rabbi pulls out an apple. The priest gives up and says, "that's it, the debate is over. They won, they're staying here". The congregation goes wild. How? What did he say? So he tells them, "well, I first started explaining the trinity and he responded by saying there is still only one god we all worship. I then tried explaining that God is all around us, and he said that God resides within each of us. I then pulled out the bread and the wine to talk about Christ's sacrifice for us, then he pulled out the apple saying we're all accountable for the sin adam and eve made in the garden. The Rabbi was also talking to his congregation. Well what happened? They said. He told them, "well he said you've got 3 days to get outta here. I said ain't one of us is leaving! He then said ALL of you gotta clear out of here, and I said no, we're staying right here! Well then what happened? They asked. I'm not sure, he pulled out his lunch and I pulled out mine.

Haha! Funny!

So because it's been 3 months of my mission offficially, my testimony for this month can really be summed up in one scripture. 2Nephi 7:8 "And the Lord is near, and he justifieth me. Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is mine advesary? Let him come near me, and I will smite him with the strength of my mouth."

This is the scripture I chose because of what happened with this storm, and what I've been learning about Christ like attributes. All those members who were fortunate enough to retain power reached out and helped all those who weren't. There were families sleeping over, eating, and showering at these homes and all was done with the brotherly kindness that should be had in a ward family. And even though we didn't lose power, a lot of people were checking up on us and were making sure we were okay. All in all it struck a note in my mind that when the devil sends bad things our way, or even if God sends things our way to test our faith, we all need to stand together. It doesn't even need to be exclusive to church members. We can stand together as neighbors and communities, too. There truly is strength in numbers, as I said about many hands helping Tom. We do not have to go through trials alone, there is always help available. Even if we feel we are alone, God will not forsake us! I know that that is true!

I love you all,

-Elder Matthew Gardner

March 3, 2014

So first I have to apologize to anyone who has sent me letters. Specifically I'm sorry for not replying as swiftly as I probably could. The thing is our mission president has made it clear we should only write our family on Mondays, and my companion is very adamant about making sure we follow that rule. However, he never gives us time to do that because he gets cabin fever if we sit inside longer than 45 minutes. So again I'm sorry, but I will try to do as much as I can. Please do keep sending me letters, missionaries love getting mail, and I'll try to reply as soon as possible. Thanks!

Anyways...

It is constantly raining here in NC it seems like. A couple weeks ago it snowed a bunch, this last week was beautiful 60's and 70's, and now it's raining as we speak, threatening to freeze and possibly snow again. Weather is ridiculous. It seems I talk about it a lot, but ya know it's kind of the only thing I pay attention to. This week I just kinda decided to allude everything to rain today. Enjoy.

In just a couple weeks I'll be done with training, and I can finally be a "normal" missionary. If the words of other missionaries ring true, it should all fly by now. In this case the rain has lifted.

However, it's pouring on our success. Remember Maurice? He was supposed to get baptized this Saturday but now he can't, he didn't come to church. He pulled one of his famous "drop off the face of the planet" tricks, and we haven't had any contact with him for a week, despite our calling him every day. *sigh*

We haven't had any contact with Bill for a month, because the members we're working with on him don't want us to push too hard. They want to help him on "God's time" and not "ours", which means probably 6 months instead of the usual couple of weeks.

Tedarreus is still doing great, he's still progressing, but he's progressing slowly. By the end of March he should be done with his smoking job and become a manager at his other one, then he can have enough money to move out and start living both the law of chastity and the word of wisdom, then he can get baptized! but that's at the end of march. We have transfers before then...

Speaking of transfers, the official day is the 18th, and we find out if we're going anywhere on the Saturday before. Just in case I do move, please don't send me anything that week. I don't want any mail mishaps and I'm sure neither do you. Comparing that to rain... um... I don't know think of something.

It's only sprinkling on the rest of our investigators, which show a lot of promise but just aren't quite there yet. We'll keep going, please pray for us all.

I love all of you! Except you Jim... you know what you did...

-Elder Matthew Gardner

February 24, 2014

In about a week it'll be the 3 month mark! That means I'm done with training. And now I can be a normal missionary. Who knows what'll happen after this, transfer weeks bring many surprises. There are many missionaries who sometimes get split trained, meaning They got a different companion during their first 3 months, so who knows what'll happen.

I can't believe it's already P-day again, I don't even know what to say. Here goes nothing.

So last week was dealing with Winterstorm Pax, this week was perfect sunny, 75, slight breeze kinda weather. We were passing High Point University on our bikes one day and all the college students were having beach parties. Bathing suits, volleyball, tailgates, BBQ's, all in the middle of February. Craziness.

We are getting closer and closer to baptizing Maurice! If you don't remember him or I've failed to mention him before he's a 19 year old kid who was found by missionaries like 3 transfers ago (a transfer is 6-weeks mind you). When I came we tried to find him but he had dropped off of the face of the planet, up until about 2 weeks ago. We've been re-teaching him some stuff but to know avail because he remembers it all! Now we just have to wait for him to come to church one more time and he will hopefully be baptized on the 8th. However, our Zone Leaders are having a baptism that day. No problem right? Well they called us and said to move it because they already have a spot and there will be basketball that morning and a ward activity that night. One: basketball doesn't take the whole building. Two: they could have easliy just tried to work it out. We could have done it at the same time, just use the same font for different people, that happens all the time. But no they just called and said we had to move it. Why can't they move theirs? I dunno. It's frustrating because it's my first baptism but we have to probably wait until the next week. We're trying to get it to happen on Friday the 7th, but either way just keep us all in your prayers! Maurice needs this!

We also met this guy named Joe. He's not close. Here's why: We found him walking into the Library yesterday so we stopped him as we were walking past. He says he had met with missionaries before, but I'm not sure. Joe is very old. And he's crazy. When we found him he was chewing on leaves. He literally picked them up off the sidewalk and started chewing on them one at a time. Crazy. So we went into the library and started talking to him. He seemed to understand just fine until we asked him to pray about Joseph Smith. He sat there for a couple seconds, looked at us like there were aliens jumping out of our noses, and just stood up and walked away. Just walked away. We never saw Joe again. So there's that fun story!

Love you all,

Elder Matthew Gardner

February 17, 2014 (Pax)

The title is the official name given to the winter storm that swept across the whole united states. From my understanding, it started somewhere in the Washington/Canada area, went down through Nevada and Utah, across the state, then up through Georgia, Alabama, and the carolinas. There was rumored 8-10 inches, but we only got about 5. Either way, it wasn't anything new to me. However, the rest of the state was in PANIC! Walmart was a mess, and for whatever reason everyone gets milk and bread when it even threatens snow. Everyone got their milk and bread then went inside and prepared for the apocalypse or something like that. Meanwhile Elder Leishman and I rode our bikes in the ice! It was fun. I apologize for the shortness of this e-mail, but because of the snow we were home-bound for two days. We didn't do a whole lot of teaching either, because of the weather. We haven't had any contact with our promising investigators this week and no one came to church. *sigh* Pax was quite the hindrance. But it always gets darkest just before the dawn! I also apologize for not taking pictures up to this point. But here's a couple. The first of Pax, and the stupid speed limit of our apartment complex.

February 10, 2014

This week I have had to make several different trips to Wal-mart, which gets very annoying. I know what you're thinking, "Elder Gardner, you can't go to the store when it's not Monday!" True, unless it's for my bike. SO let's back up a bit. My bike came with a headlight. They all do. On the first day the headlight was already on the bike, and a little box with the charger was hanging down off of it. Well on the way to my new first area the box flew off and I was left charger-less. This week my light finally died. We cannot bike if we don't have a headlight. SO we went to "the store" to buy a light, couldn't get it open, returned it and got another one, and then had to go back a third time that night because batteries are not included. Later in the week we were about to start riding our bikes to go knock on some doors or something, when suddenly my back tire burst on a curb. SO we had to make another trip to Wal-mart (number 5 at this point, because of the light fiasco and of course the normal monday grocery trip) to get a new inner tube. BUT we got the wrong size. SO we went back again to get the correct size.

Now we jump to Friday, when we were biking to go knock on doors or something when we passed a lady who said "help me I'm lost". And no, not spiritually lost looking for guidance like I thought at first as well, this lady was literally lost. Her name is Elizabeth, she's 52, and lives with her mom. She can't drive, so a friend dropped her off at the much-visited Wal-mart, and Elizabeth thought she could get herself home. She couldn't. We found her in front of Home Depot, which is about half a mile away from Wally World, yet she said she had been lost for about 4 hours. SO we parked our bikes and walked with her another 1/4 of a mile to starbucks, where we could get some wi-fi and check good old google maps to find where she lives. She lives half way across town. BUT we walked her home anyway. For the next 2 hours we listened to her pretty much repeat the same 3 things: How she couldn't believe she was so lost, how her mother's going to react once she gets home, and how she's from Philadelphia. Did I forget to mention that? Oh yes, her accent was a real treat. Anyway, she also kept going off about how she usually never goes to Wal-mart, rather a gas station by her mom's house literally called "The Store". SO after those 2 hours of hearing about "that stoopid stowah" as she called it, naturally Elder Leishman and I stopped by on the long walk back to grab a snack and refresh ourselves. SO that is why the title is the way it is.

I love you all and hope it doesn't rain as much where you are as it does where I am.

-Elder Matthew Gardner

February 3, 2014

That's right, tomorrow marks exactly 2 months of being on a mission, and that includes the time I spent in the MTC (not like I'm counting or anything). It's very strange, because every day feels like a week, but every week feels like a day. But these past to months have felt like a year. Ugh. Anyway!

With another month gone, that means it's time to bear a simple testimony about what I've learned since last month. I've been thinking long and hard about this one, but I've decided to talk about how everything happens for a reason. I decided this because of something I heard at the beginning of this month time period, to something I actually thought about last night. It started with a trainee/trainer meeting we had back toward the beginning of January. President Craven took all of us new guys and seperated us from our trainers and gave addresses to both. One thing he told us really stuck out to me and it is this: Over the past decade, baptisms here in the south have plateaued. Not decreasing but not increasing either. This worries the first presidency and the quorum of the twelve immensely. Because of this, they are super careful with who they send here. That jumped out to me because if anyone talked to me about a week before I left they would know I had no idea why I was going on a mission. Every thought I had about it beforehand went out the window and I was freaking out. Knowing that my call here was selected very carefully doesn't tell me what my purpose here is yet, but it certainly strengthened the desire I've always had to find it. I was sent here for a reason, and likewise everything else happens for a reason. We went out with a member this past week and one of our appointments fell through. We were about to go home but then we started talking to a family outside in the parking lot (it was in an apartment complex) and five minutes later we were in their living room talking to them about the restoration. They weren't very receptive, and asked all the hard questions, such as why women can't have the priesthood. We went back the next day and they weren't totally interested anymore. But Brother Cunningham's spirit was strengthened after that first visit, and ultimately that's why we talked to them.

So now this thought I had last night. It starts with a scripture in 2Nephi chapter 26. At the end of verse 15 it says: "...and all those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not be forgotten" and then 16 talks about voices from the dust of the earth speaking to people. These verses really talk about the Book of Mormon, the voices of the prophets talking to those who don't believe. I think it talks about something different. Before I continue, remember this is all my own theory and there isn't a lot of scriptural evidence save for the scripture I already shared. Anyway, I've heard a lot of people talk about the spirit world co-existing with our world. That explains sights of "ghosts", where the veil could be thinner in some spots, or possibly just a wrinkle in it. This would explain why people say they hear or see their loved ones telling them to do their temple work, which is what I think that scripture means. "and all those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not be forgotten". I do believe in guardian angels. I do believe those who loved you still love you, and with God's will can communicate with us. My grandmother passed away when I was about 3 years old or so. I know she helps and strengthens me all the time, as well as others in her life she loved. I know because of recent things happening at home that would otherwise make me want to give up, anywhere from my family not having enough money to have TV to my neighbor dying. But I'm here for a reason. I don't know what it is but there is one. That's my testimony this month.

Anyway, that's all for this week.

-Elder Matthew Gardner

January 27, 2014

There isn't much to say because it wasn't too long ago I had a P-day! At least it doesn't seem like it. Since Tuesday, we've been really persistent about teaching Tedarreus and Bill (the two I mentioned in my last message).

We taught Tedarreus the Word of Wisdom earlier this week, which I was very worried about, partly because I haven't taught it before and partly because I wasn't sure how he would take it. Luckily, he took it very well! He said he knew he had to stop those things when he first met with us. However, there's quite the stump. Alcohol, coffee, tea, illegal drugs, no problem, he's done with those. But he get paid to smoke cigarettes. He's on this panel that like taste tests them or something. But he gets $140 dollars a WEEK to do it for one, maybe two days in the week! The problem is he needs that money in order to move out, which he needs to do in order to live the law of chastity. So.. quite the stump. We just have to keep working with him, strengthening his faith and being his friend. On the bright side, he loves the Book of Mormon and coming to church.

Bill: We found out from his member friends that if he gets pushed to hard he will pretty much disappear off the face of the planet. We haven't had contact with him since Wednesday. Not sure what to do at this point...

If you remember a few e-mails ago, I mentioned someone named Douglas, a former we found that was ready again. We haven't had contact with him for about two weeks now. But last night we had a fabulous lesson with him and things are rolling again, putting all 3 of these men looking forward to a baptism date.

As for me personally, I'm doing much better because I've been getting back into my sketch book lately. Last week on our P-day (which remember was Teusday) we had a zone activity. Our whole zone got together and played sports, tyedyed shirts, and pretty much just hung out. First off we got to wear normal clothes, which was glorious. Second, because I'm in no wise a very sporty person, I sat on the stage drawing. A lot of people said I was really good, and now I'm even drawing a couple of missionaries!

40 day fast: As a mission (starting yesterday), we are doing a 40 day fast to become closer to Christ. We can take this opportunity to either give up something temporal, or improve on something spiritual, or maybe even both. I have decided to do both, and invite all of you to try it as well. Start each day covanenting with God with what you're going to do, and then report to him each night, thanking him for strength or pleading for forgiveness depending on how you did. What I've done:

Temporal: I'm giving up soda. Everytime I see someone doing this, I think they're crazy. But I had the thought come to mind coincidentally as I was drinking soda that maybe I should try it and see if there are any benefits.

Spiritual: As missionaries, we stress being exactly obedient, and I haven't quite been doing so good. Specifically with going to bed. We're supposed to go to sleep at 10:30, but I'm out like a light around 9:30, the second daily planning is done. I'm going to stay up til I'm supposed to, and take this time to draw as I mentioned earlier.

Again I invite all of you to do the same, and I'll tell you how I'm doing at it week to week.

With Love, 

Elder Matthew Gardner

January 21, 2014

HEY! I apologize for the late e-mail. Yesterday was national black day- I mean Martin Luther King Junior Day, and we had to go out and work. It's only a big deal here in the south apparently. To celebrate, My companion and I got some fried chicken.

 

Sooo this last week... has been nothing but knocking on doors. Every time we get a new investigator they fall through the cracks or we can never get back in contact with them. Pretty uneventful, so this e-mail might be short like last week, so I apologize.

 

The weather here is very... stupid. Although I don't miss the miserable cold of Utah, I do miss the CONSTANT miserable cold. Here everything is unpredictable. One day it's just kinda cold, then the next it's cold AND rainy. Then sunny 4 hours later. Then the next day is like 10 degrees and yesterday was 75! It's crazy! but I did enjoy the sunny september weather in January. Apparently it's supposed to drop 40 degrees and snow today, so yeah I kinda hate it.

 

Luckily we do have two very promising investigators. Tedarreus Ezekiel and Bill Tucker.

 

Tedarreus: About 3 weeks ago we were trying to find an investigator E.L. (Elder Leishman) was teaching before I came. He dropped off the face of the planet, so we went next door where some guys were hanging out. One of those guys was Tedarreus (TD is his nick-name). We talked to them about the restoration, and TD expressed a lot of worry about some religions that say there are only a certain amount of people that can be saved. We have been meeting with him pretty much all week, and he just soaks everything up like a sponge. No arguement, just "Oh I didn't know that before". He loves talking to us and he says he's been more positive and happy since we've been meeting with him. He already knows he has to stop smoking and we haven't even mentioned the word of wisdom. He came to church with us this last Sunday, absolutely loved it (all the talks seemed to be things he needed to hear), and we've scheduled for him to be baptized on Feb. 8th. Hopefully everything will work out.

 

Bill: Bill is an old man that used to be in the army. He's come to church with a very close friend of his in the ward, and he knows a little about us through him. We've only just started talking to him, but he's very promising. He says everything we teach is similar to the standards he already holds that he learned from serving his country. He's scheduled for Feb 15th.

 

Please pray for these gentleman. Not only does the church need them but they need the church. Pray for their needs. Even though you may not know their needs, the spirit does.

With Love,

Elder Matthew Gardner

Janurary 13, 2014

This week was actually pretty uneventful, so I apologize if it's short. A lot of this week was filled with meetings. There was a trainer/trainee meeting on Teusday, a zone meeting on Friday, and then there's zone conference this coming week. Also on the days when we had a bunch of appointments lined up, usually only one or two would keep it. Very disappointing, but at least we did some good tracting.

A lot of our week was also hindered by the rain. For two days in a row it was just straight up pouring rain. Thunder, lightning, the whole deal. It literally rained 3 inches! Gutters and some streets even flooding with rivers of 3 inch deep water. And everyone carried on just the same, no biggy. Now that the rain is gone of course it's back to October weather on the Utah scale, so the 'natives' have coats on while I'm strutting around with a short-sleeved shirt. Back to the subject at hand, rain. This week was fortunately bike week, so yeah all in all I may never get dry again. By word of the white handbook, we're not allowed to ride our bikes in harsh conditions, and Elder Leishman and I both agreed that rain that literally hurt as it fell was pretty harsh. So we were home for a good portion of the week, but we weren't completely useless! We called a bunch of people we had saved in our phone, treating them like former investigators, and we cleaned. We cleaned and even did a bit of re-decorating, in preparation for our carpets going to be cleaned later this week. I like having a clean apartment, it eases my soul.

I have been very stressed this last week, even to the point where I thought, "maybe I wasn't ready to come on a mission". I knew that wasn't my thought nor was it from The Lord. I talked to my mission president, and he showed me a lovely booklet called "adjusting to missionary life", or should be more appropriately titled "hey if you're stressed read this and then you won't be". I am pleased to say I feel a lot better, aside from the usual stress and loneliness, and it's all thanks to some good old fashioned cleaning and organizing. Again I apologize if it's short, I'll try to make it up next week!

-Elder Matthew Gardner

John 15:15

January 6, 2014

Happy New Years! This week unfortunately marks the end of the "holiday season", and winter turns from magical and wonderful to just cold. Although it hasn't snowed here yet, it has been raining off and on for pretty much the past week and a half, and when it rains, it pours. Apparently we're not allowed to proselyte on New Years Eve, probably because of all the drunk people out there. Remember that true happiness comes from living Christ-like, not wasting your time, money, and brain cells on worldly things (but I hope maybe you got some good videos!). So New Years Eve we spent the night at the same home we spent Christmas in. Brother Terry, who served a mission in Korea, made some really delicious but also really spicy food. On the topic of food however, the weirdest thing I've eaten so far has been updated from a really strange Honduran soup to...(drum roll please)... Fried chicken livers! Yeah they were pretty gross.

I'm very grateful for the members here. They try so hard to get us fed every week and we're trying to get them excited about helping us missionaries, by referring us to their friends and such who need to hear the gospel. On the topic of missionary work, our long search sorting through former investigators has brought forth fruit! We've come across 3 different households that for one reason or another have been "dropped" by missionaries in the past, and I'm excited to say that the seed of faith planted back then has been sparked back to life.

Cathy and Ronicka Little: A mother and daughter living by themselves in some really nice apartments on the edge of town. Ronicka opened the door and was so excited to see us, saying that it's been a couple of years since missionaries have visited. They read the Book of Mormon together whenever they're home together, and we set up a return appointment with them tonight. Ronicka is even inviting a couple of her non-member friends to listen in.

Douglas Dorsette: Douglas is a single father with two sons, Doug and Zion. My companion Elder Leishman found him while I was on exchange with the zone leaders, so Elder Stone was there to meet Douglas. Douglas was also excited to see them, and said he only had one concern since missionaries have spoken to him in the past. He was confused about what happens when we die, and the difference between Heaven and Hell. Elder Stone reassured him of the most important doctrine we teach, that our Heavenly Father loves us. Because of the great love He has for us, why would he create a place for us to burn for all eternity? The real "suffering" comes from not living up to the standards placed before us. That answer was very sufficient for Douglas and we've begun to teach him again. He came to church yesterday and has quite a few friends already, mostly because he's come to church a lot in the past. He feels the spirit strongly, and he knows where he needs to be, he just needs to get there.

The Marchaina family: A family we found last night. The mother was so excited to see us as well. She said she wants nothing more than to follow the example of her son, Michael, who since the missionaries have come has been baptized, comes to church every week, and is planning on serving a mission very soon. He should come to our ward, but doesn't because some boys picked on him in the past. It's a good thing he only switched wards instead of leaving the church, but we'll need to fix that issue. Anyway, the mother reads the Book of Mormon as often as she can, and she knows with a surety that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the BofM is true, but won't get baptized without her husband's support. Her husband is catholic, but has also been reading the BofM, and likes it, but has just a few concerns that I'm sure meeting with him a couple of times won't clear up.

So all in all it's been a really good week, however I'm starting to dislike my companion a lot. Keep us in your prayers. 'Til next week,

Elder Matthew Gardner

1John 1:4

December 30, 2013

It hasn't been a very good week for missionary work. We have very few investigators as is, and they haven't been home. For now all we're doing is finding former investigators previous missionaries have stopped seeing and asking if they're still interested. Part of that process includes converting ALL the teaching records into the iPad! Maybe all of this footwork will pay off for future missionaries. We've come across our fair share of ministers and preachers from different churches. It's funny because we will talk them in circles and make them contradict themselves, all the while they think they're teaching us. We have had the opportunity to strengthen our relationships with the members and teach some less-active members during all of this.

Christmas! We spent Christmas day in a member's home, Brother and Sister Terry. There were a lot of other members and a lot of food as well! We also got a lot of gifts from members (food, toilet paper, socks, etc.), which to be honest I felt kind of undeserving of. I've only been here for two weeks and haven't really added to the work yet! All-in-all it was a very good Christmas. I did Skype my family, and it was good to see them! There certainly isn't as much snow down here than there is back home... because it hasn't snowed here. It does rain though, and when it rains it pours.

A lot of things are reminding me of home this week, while we're on the subject. Sometimes I'll hear a laugh that kind of resembles my mom's laugh. I saw a license plate with my house number on it. Some guy at church even wore the exact same sponge-bob tie my younger brother Alex has. It's hard, but I'm grateful I left around Christmas. This time of year is probably the hardest to be away for some missionaries, myself included. I'm glad I'm getting through it at first!

Now I'll share some spiritual experiences. I've had the opportunity quite a few times on my mission to give a priesthood blessing to someone who needs it. We stopped by a recent convert's home (bro. and sis. Whitaker), and talk with them. Brother Whitaker has some bad health problems and he accepted happily Elder Leishman's offer to give him a blessing. Brother Cunningham was with us, and he anointed the oil, and I gave the blessing. Elder Leishman asked me to do it without any notice, after the oil was done. That true inspiration comes without any premeditation, like it says somewhere in Mark about opening your mouth and the spirit not confounding you or something like that. 

My cousin, Kimball, came home literally the day I left. He sent me some of his missionary stuff this past week. An old little book of mormon that has been passed around between 3 missionaries now (including me!), that I will always carry with me. His old missionary handbook, which he marked up all over the place. A talk David A. Bednar gave at the MTC about becoming a "Preach My Gospel Missionary". and his old name plate (although it's in spanish). I'm so grateful for these and other tools we have to be effective missionaries. Thank you Kimball. Just because you're home now doesn't mean you have to stop doing what you love and spreading the gospel!

'Til next week,

Elder Matthew B Gardner

1 John 1:4