Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Happy P Day!


My week was good! I am happy and healthy! I don't think I have gotten sick yet. I had one bad day a few months ago. I had a warm head and was shivering, but I went to bed early and it was gone the next day:) The Lord doesn't want us to be sick, so all will be well with us missionaries!
Sounds like everything is going swimmingly in Phoenix! I am sad I couldn't help pick weeds or come to Megan Woods’ baptism but I am sure you all had fun:)  I think it is funny that you talked about the wanna-be hoodlums you found at the Mall. It seems like they are everywhere! They even have some in Russia.  

That is so exciting about Zade’s call! The Asuncion mission sounds familiar... who else was called there that we knew? I think maybe somebody got called there a few years ago:) 

My companion is great:) He knows Russian really well. Turns out his whole family was part of the sword fighting association! Family traditions are the best:) 

I am glad that you got my birthday video for Grandma Gardner! I wanted to do something for her but I didn't know what to do:) I am so glad to have great friends here who love to help. They are all so sweet:)
I am a bit jealous that Mom and Cameron are going up to Utah in a few weeks! But then again, it is colder there than it is here. Maybe I am the lucky one! We had some light snow 2 days ago and yesterday it rained. ALL DAY. We had a 5 minute walk to the church and I managed to step in enough puddles to soak both shoes and socks before getting to the church:) Luckily we take off our shoes at church so those could dry, and my socks dried quickly enough to not bother me:) Because it rained so much, the power went out during our sacrament meeting. Our piano is an electric keyboard so we lost our music during the middle of our sacrament hymn. We all kept singing, and went on with the meeting:) I think we even sounded better acapella.
One of the people who was supposed to speak yesterday, forgot that he had a talk so guess who gave one of the talks. ME! Our Branch President, Elder Veselov, asked me if I wanted to speak. I looked at him and said "Well..... if I have a choice... not particularly" Haha he just laughed at me. When he asked me to speak, he had already made up his mind. He told me I was going to speak and let me prepare for the next 5 minutes before the meeting started. Wonderful! I spoke about the power of the Priesthood and it ended up being about 20 minutes.  Not bad! I remember one time in Sacrament meeting Dad leaned over to me telling me that as a missionary I should always be ready to share a spiritual thought in church. Turns out he knew what he was talking about.  Maybe Dad isn't crazy after all!
 
We went out walking on a frozen lake this week with one of our members:) K______!  We visited his Dacha (little summer home/cabin) His is about 10 square feet but some of them are as big as real size houses! Pretty cool:) People live there sometimes, his is just for fun in the summers.  There was a ton of stuff frozen in the lake! This is a car hood! haha we found the rest of the car a hundred feet away:)

I am sad to hear about Sister Miller! That is so unexpected, I cannot even begin to imagine how her family must feel. My heart goes out to them. If there is any way I could possibly help, even from Russia, please let me know. If there is anything I know,  I know that God knows us and loves us. We are literally His children and He knows what problems we face in life. Jesus suffered for all of our pains and afflictions in this life. We must turn to him for help and he is there for us. Always. The 4th verse of How Firm a Foundation is one of my favorites:)

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o'erflow,

For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,

And sanctify to thee, and sanctify to thee,

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

 I love you all and miss you! Stay frosty:)

 

Elder Gardner

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