Happy Pioneer Day

Hello Everyone and Happy Pioneer Day! I hope that you all had a fun-filled week! 

Life as a missionary in Sherbrooke continues to go. Yesterday we (the missionaries) sang in sacrament meeting. We sang Faith in Every Footstep in French. It went way better than I had expected. We only practiced twice and the second time I was on the piano playing accompaniment. Sister P and I sang the Alto part. I was super nervous because it wasn`t until we performed that we sang it together minus the one time last week we sight read it. I think Heavenly Father was helping us out a bit. Both Sister T. and I prayed a lot that the musical number would go well, and it did. Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers even if it`s for small things. 

The rest of the week went great. My French continues to get better. I`m slowly able to understand more conversations and my reading has improved. I just have to keep telling myself it will come little by little. The people we see have been very patient with me, which I have been very grateful for! One of our less active members realized I wasn`t understanding what was being said in a lesson and so he just switched into English and no one knew he spoke English. It was funny. He also speaks Spanish, French, and Maya (from the Mayans). It has been great miracle that we have finally been able to connect with him and his family. He said that he likes it when we come to visit. It`s a step in the right direction. :) 

Today we went blueberry picking with the B`s. It was fun. There are so many places to get fresh produce here. I`m loving it! Sister B also makes homemade jam and bread. Can I just say I have died and gone to heaven. It is so good! I have missed real jam! 

I hope that you all have a good week!

Sister Gardner 

Pictures: My district after wallyball last week, Hike with the Y.M. and Y.W., and Blueberry picking

Hello everyone!

I don't have a lot of time to write today. I hope you are all doing well and are having a wonderful summer so far! 

Life is Sherbrooke has been great. It's so peaceful here. I am enjoying the quiet life much more than the rushed life. Total country girl right here.

My French continues to improve with each day. I wish it could be faster but I'm grateful for what I do understand. We also teach many people in Spanish. My companions think that by the end of this transfer I should be able to understand it. Wish me luck! 

So the miracle I would like to share for the week happened last Tuesday. We went to our invistigator, May's home. We wanted to set a baptismal date. She is through with all the lessons, but she has wanted her husband to baptize and confirm her. The problem is he is not an elder, so he wouldn't be able to confirm her. Recently we had been given council to get all prospective elders (ones who need the Melchizedek Priesthood) ready to be ordained by Stake Conference - Oct. 31. So with that in mind we went into the lesson wanting to give him a date as well. Guess what, we did it!! May has a baptism date of Nov. 1 and Frank has a Melchizedek Priesthood date of Oct. 31.

It was such a great lesson! We talked about temples and I was able to share a couple of sentences in French about why I love the temple. :) 

I hope all is going well for you! Thanks for all the love and support!

Until next week, Sister Gardner

Sherbrooke Week 1

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all doing well. Life here has been great.

Sherbrooke has been a nice change in scenery. Geographically the city is huge. But it`s really just in the country, which has been such a nice change. It reminds me a little of home. :) It`s very hilly. If I`m here in the winter I`m not looking forward to that aspect of it. 

It`s a French area, which has been hard because I`ve only served in English wards up to this point of my mission. But most of the members speak English so they have been able to help me out.

One of my companions is from Tahiti. So she can help me a lot too. Her name is Sister T. I know her from my days in Ottawa. My other companion is Sister A. She is from California. I actually know her too. She was one of the sisters Sister H and I rescued one night a few months ago. We get along well and laugh a lot. :) 

My district is great. We have 3 teams of missionaries in the ward. The Elders: Elder R and Elder S and a senior couple, the P`s. Sister P retired from singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir a few years ago. It`s a great team of missionaries. 

Talk about small world. We have a couple in our ward. They use to live in North Carolina. They know Zack Brinkerhoff from his time as a missionary there. Yesterday in church Elder H was there. He came back with his family to do a mission tour. So it was fun to see him and meet his family. 

The last person I want to mention is Lou. She is our recent convert who has cancer. She will never leave the hospital and we are expecting a funeral soon. But she is so amazing! In the short time I have been here I am already in love with her. She has such incredible strength, courage, and faith. If you could keep her and her family in your prayers that would be great. 

Love you all! I hope you have a good week! Sister Gardner 

Pics are of my companions and Lou, Walking Lou`s dog this morning and Strawberry Picking with the B Family

Sherbrooke

Sister Gardner started out serving in Ottawa, then moved to Montreal (LaSalle  area), 

and is now in Sherbrooke!

According to the internet, Sherbrooke is about 101 miles from Montreal.

Hello on July 6th

Hello everyone!

I hope that you are having a great week.

This week was transfer calls and I'm getting transferred to a city called Sherbrooke. It will be my first area in French so wish me luck! 

This week was pretty quiet. We had 3 miracles yesterday. The first was a less active named Nic came to church yesterday. We have been working with her the last 2 transfers. Yesterday was the first time she came to church. She even gave her testimony.

Than we were able to visit with another less active that we have been trying to get a hold of since the beginning of this transfer. The visit went really well.

Last we got 2 new investigators with a baptismal date of Aug. 18. It's a mother and a daughter. She has 2 other little boys. It was our 2nd meeting but first lesson. It was awesome!

What a great way to end my last Sunday here in LaSalle. 

Today we had the opportunity to hike around Mount Royal. It was a lot fun.

I hope you all have a great week! Sister Gardner

Recent photos

Mount Royal photos with Sister C

Canada with a little Canadian

Here we are on July 4th, 2015!