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| Picture with Jason, last day with Elder Holmestead |
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| Tadd sized suitcase |
Saturday, March 28, 2015
March 22, 2015
Pretty awesome week over here in Florida!!
Just the Normal Missionary work for most of the week which is awesome.For the first part of the week I was mainly the Camera guy that took pictures of Holmstead and a lot of members and investigators.
We met a new guy that has been prepared as well. We haven't met with him too much but he is super cool and humble. He is only 19 and has a 3 year old kid. His girlfriend got pregnant when he was 16 and that changed the rest of his life. He moved out and started providing for his family. The first time we met him on the street we set his baptism date, hopefully we can continue to prepare him for baptism.
Thursday was transfers!!! We went to Tampa area and I got a new companion! His name is Elder Swallow from Clinton Utah. He has only been out for 7 months so not too much longer than I have. He was serving in Port Charlotte area which is an area with a lot of retired people haha so he was surprised to see young people when he came into the area lol!
The mission also sold the car that we have been driving around for the last while. We are now sharing a car with the other Elders in our area. We will be dusting off the bikes and putting them to use now!
We have been preparing Oliver who is going to get baptized this weekend! He is super solid! In Indiana the missionaries met with him and he came to church there about 4 times and loves the church. He works a ton so we meet with him like 8:30 some nights if he gets home in time. We had a bit to cover with him and he came home late last night so we couldn't meet with him last night so we went over this morning at 9! We biked over there in the rain! That is a lot of dedication if you ask me. We went over all the commandments and he is totally willing to live them all. He will be going out of town for a funeral this week till Friday so we had to cover a lot today.
We had Stake conference yesterday. Im not used to drive an hour to the stake center hahah just right down the road usually. We had Jason and his roommate Ryan come to the stake conference as well! He finally made it to church. We can now start working with him a little more, we have already gone through all the lessons with him so he just needs to attend church a couple more times and then he can be baptized.
One thing I have learned this last week is Life is full of ups and downs, it is up to us to either make more ups or more downs. Everything we have we can either look at it with a positive attitude or a negative attitude. As we encircle ourselves with the Gospel I promise there will be more ups than downs in life.
I love you all and hope you all have a great week!
Elder Gardner
March 16, 2015
Not a bad week!! Had some success and some good news! Also some sad news but its all good.
Not a lot of news but we got transfer emails of who is staying and who is going to be transferred. Elder Holmstead my comp is going to be transferred and so I will be getting a new companion on Thursday which I am excited but partially nervous as well.
We have been seeing some people that have been prepared for us to come by. We have been seeing Ceasar who has been reading like crazy. We just gave him the Book of Mormon this week and he is almost to 2nd Nephi. He has just been eating up everything that we have to share with him. Same with Oliver who is from Indiana and has met with the missionaries there. We set his baptism for the 28th of this month and he is super excited about it.
Both Oliver and Ceasar both came to church yesterday which was a blessing for us. We have been having a hard time getting investigators to church and them showing up was a tender mercy. They both loved it and the members are pretty good at coming out to appointments with us and also fellowshipping them so they have a friend.
We had to let a couple investigators go this past week because they are not prepared to change. Jaime and Alison love us as people but are not willing to give up some things so we won't be teaching them anymore. Carmen who we have been teaching for a while texted us and said that she doesn't want to meet with us anymore, but we helped her quit smoking and she has not had a cigarette in a month and is so grateful for us helping her quit that. Tashun and Krystasia also texted us and said that they aren't interested anymore. The people we teach love us as people but it is not the right time for them to hear the Gospel.
We had a Elders quorum potluck activity where we played some fun games and had some food. Not a lot of people showed up but we had a good time regardless haha. We played this fun game called Kan Jam that is basically like horse shoes. I will send a pic of playing that.
This Sunday is stake conference! pretty excited about that! And then General conference in 3 weeks!!! SO EXCITED FOR THAT!
I am nervous to be taking over this area and to have a new companion but I know it is only for my benefit. This mission is molding me into who I am going to be. This Gospel is for the ones who are prepared to change their lives, if you are not ready to listen to what the Lord has in store for you and live according to it then be a part of the world. But to whoever is prepared the Gospel changes lives. I know that and see it every day. This earth is a time to prepare to meet God.
Elder Gardner
Monday, March 9, 2015
Weekly dose of Tadd, March 9, 2015
Well another one bites the dust! Not a bad week! What about everyone else?!
This week has been a great week for finding new people to teach! In the process we have found some people that you can tell the Lord prepared for us and put them in our path.
The first person we met her name is Junette. We met her actually a couple weeks ago and she didnt seem too interested but we gave her a pamphlet anyways and then we felt like we should go by her house the other day. She let us in and she read the pamphlet and we had a great lesson with her. She started crying in the prayer that she offered and you could tell she felt the spirit for sure.
We were teaching a lady Pam for a little who is from Indiana and comes down for winters (snowbird is what we call them) and her and her family met with the missionaries there and then passed them onto us while they are here. Pam isnt really too interested but the other night her son came up to us and was like "oh hey I didnt know you guys were coming by today! where is your church so I can come?" We were talking with him and he says yeah I think what you guys are sharing is definitely true. We hopefully can baptize him before he goes back to Indiana at the end of the month.
The most prepared guy has been Ceasar. We were walking around and saw him working on his car and so I thought it might be awkward going to talk to him while he is busy but we did it anyways and he just talked with us for a few minutes. We gave him a pamphlet of the Restoration and then came back the next day and he read it and understood the whole thing. He told us he has had a rough couple of years but he wants to change for the better. We said Well we know a way you could do that! lol. You can tell the Lord put him in our path at the right time.
I know that this Gospel changes lives. I can see the effect that it has on peoples lives that I come in contact with each and every day. I can see the effect that it has had on my own life. The reason why it changes people is because of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost has one job and that is to testify of truth. If the message wasnt true the spirit wouldnt be there. That is why its the fastest growing religion because it is true.
I hope you all have a great week this week and remember... God is a Mormon.
Elder Gardner
P.S. Shout out to my big bro and soon to be father!!!! He turns 24 this week!
March 2, 2015
Well February is gone! That went by fast haha
This week was pretty good! Thursday we drove to a stake center where a couple of the zones met and we had some training from Elder Zwick of the 70. We Drove about an hour and then were there at the stake center all day. We sat for basically all day but took good notes and the spirit was pretty strong there as you could imagine. We all got to go and shake his and his wifes hand. He had a grand daughter who came as well who has her mission call to spain and she leaves soon. He taught a lot about being simple in your teaching. The taught that when you teach teach just using a Principle and then use an example on how the Principle has blessed you and then give a scripture and testify of it. That is all. So many people think that teaching has to be this whole lesson when it can be a simple principle and testimony.
Later that night he had a devotional where the ward council members came and he talked all about missionary work. He taught all about guess what? thats right missionary work!
We have been lacking on people coming to church but are going to start doing things different because our investigators need to come to church to be baptized. Jason is done with his orientation now and so he will be coming to church and his baptism will be on the 18th of this month. He is going to be cooking us alligator tail soon and I'm way stoked about that!
It is starting to get warm here. Summer starts here in April and it gets real hot and humid from what other missionaries tell me. Im excited though.
I love all the emails and updates about what is going on in your lives. You guys are all lucky but I am even luckier being here and being able to serve the Lord. Time is short as a missionary and its not the easiest but totally worth it! This Gospel has been a blessing that I never realized until about 3 months ago. We all have the greatest gift in the whole world! The best power tool that can either sit and get dusty or change lives and help us out in our lives. USE IT!
I love you and God loves you all.
God be with you till next week lol!
Elder Gardner
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