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

Always an adventure!

Hey there,

 

I am glad to hear from you! I am doing good. Please give my love to the ward, I miss them all.  I know you were teasing me about "the spirit" keeping me warm, but I heard of one missionary out here who served in -40 degree weather and only ever wore an overcoat, like something a businessman might wear... or maybe a flasher might wear that kind of coat. But that was all that he wore for his wintery stay in Russia! What a real man.

I have started to understand why you enjoy cleaning... or maybe I shouldn't say enjoy… Why you find it so necessary. If nobody cleans, stuff gets dirty. I can’t eat breakfast in the morning if I don’t wash my bowl, so that is very good incentive to wash the dishes.

Thanks for the photo of you guys on South Mountain.  I always enjoyed a good hike up South Mountain! The view is pretty great. Did you know there is a big rock house even farther up the mountain? I have never been to it, but I know if you get to the top of the trail and follow the road to the left, you can get to it that way:) I am happy to see the desert and dirt and rocks again.  I miss it.

I am very jealous of your weather! It sounds fabulous :) I hope Brent and Jodie are doing alright in upper NY.   Did they ever make up their minds if they were going to fly over here and move closer to the family? I faintly remember that being a possibility. 

Those chips I am eating are Crab flavor. The K is a K. The P is an R. The A is an A. The lower case B is a B:) Fun Russian language!

 

Those little burrito taquito thingies are bread with orange jam in the middle and sugar sprinkled on top! Super tasty:) The girl wanted my crab chips more than anything haha! I gave her some but she was insatiable. 

Russian Libraries have the covers of a lot of books flipped out like this. Weird.
 

The teaching is alright. We have been in a bit of a lull. There are very few people on the streets especially at nights. It’s okay, that just means we have to work more with less actives and planned meetings are our best bet. The weather definitely hurts our street teaching, but if they stop to talk with us it means they are very interested! It helps us weed out the weaklings and the less interested people who might waste our time. 

My companion is good. He played Magic the Gathering. It is kinda like Yugioh/Pokemon/Dungeons and Dragons. It is a card game based on monsters and magic and stuff:)  He explained it a little bit to me. Sounds fun:) He also was a part of SCA. It is basically medieval sword fighting. They give you real armor, or you can make it yourself and you go have full body contact sword fighting. If you get hit in the head then you "died" or if you get hit in the arm during the battle you can't use that arm. I saw a little video and it is pretty intense... like they go hard.. sounds pretty cool:) His name is Elder Murphy. He is from Tucson! 

We helped a babushka this week move some firewood and she gave us some bread and jam as payment.   Super tasty!  We also had some people yell at us on the streets.  This old guy yelled at us saying "You monsters! Mormons are the worst!"   I felt embarrassed for him; people were giving him weird looks. It is always fun here.   Always an adventure  Можно Сказать. (Translates to:  “you might say.” )

 

I miss you! Stay Frosty:)

Colder and Colder

 

 Dear Family and Friends,

Aww, I don’t have a Valentine this year! Oh no! It’s okay; my new companion will be my valentine.

Wow... 100 degree difference between Phoenix and Nakhodka is a lot! The wind is terrible ( So bad! Haha) Even though it has been cold, I have been plenty warm with just a regular suit and a big fluffy coat :) Some nights I put on my beanie but I look like a hooligan! I don’t like it.

I don’t want to say Pepsi is better than Coke, but I found a small vanilla coke for a higher price than a 2 liter of Pepsi.  whoops!

I fixed our broom with some ASU duct tape:) Good day!

I am so glad to hear that Michael and Carson and Chandler are all going out on missions. It is a fabulous experience! Michael told me today where he is going:) Way cool, I am sure he is going to have a blast.  I am glad to hear that Jean Hsu came back well. She was probably a big help in bringing people unto Christ. 

I got your package this week! Thank you so much for the tie! I LOVE IT! I am wearing it right now. I also love those taco seasoning packets. Those are the best gifts I could’ve gotten! Those will be very tasty.  Thank you :) 

Thank you for the pictures of Kreston playing baseball.  He looks great! I hope everything is good with them! Please send my love. My new companion reminds me a ton of Uncle Steve. My companion wears glasses, has spiked hair up in the front, and loves video games. He is very nice, very organized, and he speaks great Russian.  He is going to be fun to work with:)  Definitely different from Sayers but it will be okay. Elder Sayers is now serving with my companion from the MTC. Elder Hansen! Way cool. 

Beautiful View of Nakhodka

Dad, I hope your bills go well enough for you!  Wishing you luck from Russia! I am thankful for your wisdom that you share with me every week! It helps me:)

I don’t have a lot of time today:(  I am sorry!

I love you all!

Elder Gardner

 

February!

It is so weird to think that 6 months is gone!  Already! Time seriously flies. I only get to write home about 75 more times. Haha,  weird. I am glad you enjoyed the stories!   I am trying to be better about writing home. Some of my emails in the past have been kind of LAME.


Would it be acceptable to wear this pink tie in front of Congress? I am actually curious:)  

I am glad that Ksenya is keeping you all so informed.   She showed me the text that you sent her about my hair. ha ha  I have been meaning to get a haircut for the past 3 weeks but we seriously don't have enough time - even on preparation days.  I got a haircut today, though and the lady after she cut my hair, shampooed it.  It was so weird.   I have never had somebody shampoo my hair for me. I got one haircut at the beginning of the Russia experience but that was about 3 months ago!  It was definitely time to get one. When I shook my head around I could feel my hair flopping from side to side. Fun stuff :)

I am so happy to be here in Russia. The people here are way nice, but some of the men here just stare at us. I don't know if they are intrigued, or maybe they are angry, or maybe drunk, or maybe just zoning out.... I can never be sure with these guys :) Nevertheless there is a lot I can learn from them! 

They don't have any high speed trains here in Russia, maybe 60 mph but that’s it.   The train took us past a way pretty frozen lake. We looked out across the lake to see people sitting on buckets with Sticks in their hands. They were ice fishing!  They sit there and fish through holes in the ice. Pretty cool!  I wouldn't wanna do it, doesn't sound like fun to go sit out in the cold.

I don't understand these prices. Both of these are 80 rubles. (About $1.17 U.S.)   One is a can. One is a jug! 

I am sorry about the police driving on our lawn, that is so dumb. They need to not be so rude. They sound very RUSSIAN. The Russian police do whatever they want. ha ha

Thanks for the update on our home teaching families.  I kind of miss home teaching.  We are like full time home teachers here on a mission. I hope they are doing well:) I am a little sad I haven't heard from any of them yet!

Mom asked why we were wearing socks at church.  It’s because everyone walks to church and our shoes would get the church muddy.  I love how we always take off our shoes:) It is very comfortable. Sometimes they even have soft slippers that you can wear around the house. They are called topichkee. 

I heard a way cool quote the other day, but I had to translate it from Russian so it might not be 100 percent accurate. It is by Max Lucado. He wrote that book "You Are Special". I remember Grandma Gardner gave it to me and she wrote a little note in it. That was so sweet of her, I used to always read it. Anyways the quote is "Any person who wishes to conduct the orchestra needs to turn his back to the audience". I thought of it in the sense that if we wish to be a leader and do something worthy of applause, we might have to go against the flow. We can't be blind sheep just following whatever happens. We also should try to avoid situations where the blind lead the blind. I am not sure exactly where I was going with this thought, but I hope it makes you think a little bit more about life, and our decisions we make every day. 

I love you all! I will be back soon enough! I miss you!

Ryan Gardner

Six Months...wow

Big news! 6 month mark is in 4 days! Time really does fly, it is weird telling people that I’ve been here half of a year. I sent a package to you guys today. It is some books, 2 Russian nesting dolls, some CDs because all the CDs and DVDs here are about 2 dollars each. I hope it gets there soon. The lady said 3 months! haha Now we wait. 

(This picture was taken in an effort to scare us - nice building)

 

I love Russia, it is so.... dog eat dog… you gotta get what you want because nobody is going to give it to you. Even in line for the post office. They don't make a nice line, they all stand in a clump and jump in where there is a free spot to go. I didn't realize that at first and like 3 people cut me. Then I put my shoulders back, stood up tall, put on my grumpy face, stared down some guy, stepped in front of him and took my turn... haha whoops I was frustrated. I should’ve been nicer! It is okay:) The guy didn't even care, it’s just how they work here. I still love these Russians!

This week at our English practice there was a girl who showed up. I have seen her a couple times, she is probably 17 or so, and I tried to talk to her in English. She said she didn't like English. I giggled and asked her why she was at English practice. She paused a second and told me "To see you" aww she’s got a crush on me! That’s so cute :) I am out of her league anyways. Haha just kidding I just said thanks and walked away.  

We finally found somebody new! His name is S___.  We met him on the street, introduced ourselves and the first thing he said is "Hey do you want some sunflower seeds?" He gave us each a giant handful and then we talked about God. He was a way cool guy. He has a real desire to change his life, he has been in and out of prison his whole life and now he is 40. He has a grandson and he needs to get his act together. He is the first real investigator we have met in the past 8 weeks or so. The work is slow but it wouldn't be fun if we had baptisms every other day... right? Or maybe that’s just what I tell myself ;)

We met with another guy, he has a baptismal date coming up in the following weeks. His name is A___. He is a way cool guy, way nice.  The whole time we were meeting with him, his senile, bed-ridden mother was in the other room screaming the whole time. She was screaming "Get out!" And she wouldn't give it up. A couple times he went out and told her "If you don't keep it down I am going to carry you out of this house and you’re gonna live on the street" haha Russian Humor. She kept screaming and we ignored her, we closed the door and then we heard a shatter. She threw a glass onto the ground and smashed it. He cleaned it up and we kept going with the lesson. A little later she started screaming "Neighbors! Neighbors help me!" She took a shoe or something hard and started banging the floor trying to get somebody to help her. The guy just turned to us and said "Don’t worry guys none of the neighbors are coming to help." Haha oh that’s reassuring. As we were leaving, the mother said "Get these Americans out of here!" Al_____ said to her "These are my Russian friends. Don't you feel bad now?" She got dead silent... She thought she had made all that racket over some Russian guys.. haha as we were leaving I puffed out my chest, put on my deep Russian voice and said "Da Svadanya" "До Свидания". (English translation:  “Bye Now”)   Hahahaha super funny :)

Let it snow.

 

We taught him about the Law of Chastity and it wasn't as awkward as I thought it was going to be. He was way open to accepting it. He said that he agreed with the principle and he was ready to follow it :) Pretty fun being a missionary, never a dull moment!

I am so jealous of the weather! I miss just going outside with no shoes and shorts and whatever I want to wear. Here, you have to leave 5 minutes early from anywhere and everywhere to account for time to dress yourself.  

I am glad you liked the photos last week. I have been bad about sending as many as I should. Pictures are worth a thousand words. I still need to figure out how much I weigh in Kilograms and how tall I am in Meters. You guys have your handy dandy iPhones and laptops to tell you the conversion between the two. I have math and a brain. I hope I can do the math J 

I am so glad I can still keep in contact with the Schindele’s. They are a fabulous family!  

We just noticed today how expensive everything is getting. Yeah we have to buy less at dinner time, or be smarter about what we buy because some of the stuff here, the price is skyrocketing. Crazy. It definitely doesn't help us at all with missionary work. The people are getting more frustrated and less happy to talk with us. They are worried about their families and finances - which they should be. There are a tonnnnn of sailors here who are leaving for the sea. They normally leave for 6 months of work and come back. They all need the money. There are also a bunch of people leaving to go to Thailand. They are looking for better work. It is weird that they have to leave their country to find work to provide for their families. Either they stay and work 3 jobs to still be poor, or they leave. It is so hard here. 

I love you all so much! The Church is True and I Love You! Keep on smiling!

 

 

Trip to Vladivostok

We all went on over to Vladivostok this past weekend. The trip was great.  It was a great bonding experience for all of us in the Nakhodka Branch.   A week and a half ago we took the train to Vladivostok.  It was pretty cold on the train. We were in the regular cheap seats and they weren’t heated very well. This week when we went to Vlad we rented a bus and drove down - the whole branch together. It was a very fun bus ride. Yes, I was wearing a candy necklace :) Mrs. Schindele sent it to me in a letter and I thought "What better to do on a bus ride than to make and eat some jewelry?" Very tasty:)  

In that picture I was with Ksenya's oldest daughter. She is pretty cool, she speaks English pretty well too!



Must have been a long bus ride.

We had Elder Jorg Klebingat (of the Quorom of the 70) come visit us with his wife. They spoke at church on Sunday to all of the church members we brought. Then they were also with us on Monday at our Zone Conference. He is the 2nd Counselor of the Eastern European Missions, including all of Russia. He spoke to us about how we could improve our missions and how we can grow and be better people in general. Better followers of Christ. It was way good:) I took lots of notes. He is the man!  He doesn't beat around the bush when he talks. He tells us what he is thinking, he does what he does and he knows what is up.  His confidence is great, it is hard to describe, but if you met him you would understand right away.  Oh and I talked with him for a few minutes after church. He asked me "What can I do to help you Elder Gardner?" Oh man, haha I had NO CLUE. What should I ask a member of the Quorom of the 70 to do for me? I told him “nothing” but afterwards I was thinking that I should’ve asked for some Burger King:) 

We stayed the night with the APs. (The assistants to the President.) They are so much fun. It is right now Elder Jaeckel and Elder Hinkson. I have spent a few days with each one of them in the past and they are doing a great job! Everybody loves them.  

I got a TON of mail there while I was in Vladivostok!  I got a package from the Priest Quorum, Brother Busby sent it to me.  And I finally got the Worthen’s Package!  I also got some letters from the Rick and Pam Woods family and I got some letters from people in the ward. Oh, I got a letter from the Calvin Woods family, too.  It was way good to hear from them all.  

That is neat that Mom and Cameron got to go out with the missionaries.  I would be SO interested to see how American missionaries work. They can use their native language, they can speak to people who are probably nice most of the time, and  they can use iPads!  I think it would be such a different experience. 

Thanks for that picture of Elder "Varney" doing that baptism in the ice... That is Elder Barney. In Russian a capital "B" makes a "V" sound so maybe that was how he translated his name tag back in the day, or maybe it was just a bad translation:) I never knew him but Elder Sayers says that he knows him:) Cool stuff! We haven't done any ice baptisms yet, boy am I glad!  https://www.facebook.com/LDSMissionaries/photos/pb.259235360763343.-2207520000.1421578245./883161378370735/?type=1

The legislative bills Dad is working on sound a bit difficult. I can't imagine fixing the pension system. Where to even start? There are a ton of people here in Nakhoka, though, who are on pension and they get free bus passes. They don't have to pay to ride the bus around town:) Hopefully you can do something like that for the firefighters, even though we don't really use busses in Arizona. Those projects sound big! I know you will do good:) If there is anything I can do to help, just let me know.

We bought 15 kg of potatoes for a Babushka.  (about 33 lbs)

Hope everything is going well:) My 6 month mark is in 11 days! Wow... Time flies! I think it is interesting how some people get homesick while others don’t. I don't know if I have gotten homesick once yet:) I am too tired to be homesick. ha ha

I love you all so much! 

Elder Gardner

 

I haven't slipped this week

It was a good week!  I have not slipped any more on the ice. Still sitting at a count of 7. Elder Sayers though... he slipped 2 more times yesterday -  aww poor guy. I will think about buying some boots but I haven't found anything worth buying yet. I need to keep my eyes out! And wow, that is kind of scary to hear about Grandpa Woods slipping and falling! I am glad that he is okay. 


Giant icicles waiting to fall on us when we open the door! AGH!


That is crazy to hear about the javelinas in Ahwatukee! I haven't ever seen one in real life. I heard in some countries they try to tackle those with their bare hands! Now THAT sounds like a fun Saturday night!  I am glad to hear that Dad is still riding the motorcycle. That is sweet.   I am super jealous, I haven't driven a car or bike or anything for 6 months! Walking... walking... and more walking.. 

Our feet got cold... feet gloves! Next big thing for Billy Mays to sell:)

What a wild story to hear about Chandler Dowell almost losing his luggage to a thief in the Mexico City airport. I am glad he got it back. I bet Chandler scared the guy who took his luggage pretty quickly. I wouldn't want an angry Chandler coming after me! ha ha

This week was a pretty good week. We had a couple of instances where people came up to us asking for cigarettes. We tell them we don’t smoke and walk away but they just follow us! They are annoying sometimes.  There are so many people here with whole mouths of gold or silver teeth. They lost every single one of their teeth due to smoking, chewing tobacco, or bad hygiene. Even some of these Babushkas have all gold teeth... kind of scary the first time I saw it. 

Our baptismal font:) We set it up for a baptism the other day but the day before the guy's baptism he went and told his Jehova Witness Pastor. The pastor told him that if he got baptized in our church he was buying himself an express ticket to "Heck"... aahaha dang. No baptism for us.

I always see this yellow jeep running around!

 

I ate some of the Alligator Jerky that you sent me this week. Way good! I love it! It had some citric acid in it too, super tasty.

I was really glad to have that lazer pointer "Cat Toy" that you sent me this week. We were on the street looking up into the apartment window where the other Elders were eating and we needed to get their attention. We called them but they didn't answer and we were wondering how in the world we could get their attention. Then I remembered... Cat Toy to the rescue! I shone the cat toy through the window and onto the wall by them. They looked out the window and we were able to talk after that.  They told me as soon as they saw it, they knew exactly who it was. "Elder Gardner! Him and his Cat Toy" they said. 

 

We find cats in the weirdest places sometimes!

One of the other elders' investigators came to the church this week. His name is Sergei. He said 'Hey do you guys have some hot water?" We said yeah. He then went to the kitchen to make some coffee...at church!  We saw him and told him that we don't drink coffee. We said "Here have some herbal chai; you shouldn't drink that coffee." He took the packet of chai, said “Thank you,” put the chai into his pocket and made the coffee anyways... ha ha ...we just laughed... there wasn't anything we could do, he already decided he wanted coffee, so he was having coffee. 

Train toilet... I am glad I am not a girl... theres no place to sit.. just a squat  :)

I started a strict shaving program. I shave once every 3 weeks. (It isn't really that strict.)  I can't grow any facial hair. I don't really know why I shave. It wouldn't make a difference either way. Maybe by the time I get home I can grow a beard or something!

Some of these Russian Cars have sweet paint jobs!

I think that is way cool that Austin wants to be a magician! That is sweet:) I wish him the best of luck! I don't know if I could do that, I take my hat off to him.

I love you all so much!

Russian Nesting Dolls

 

Elder Gardner