December 8th

Hey folks!

I hope you all have had a great week! Mine has been pretty good. We have stayed pretty busy and have had to say a lot of goodbyes for Sister M. She goes home this Wed. and I get my new companion Sister G. I can't really tell you much more than that. Next week I will tell you more about her as I learn it. Sister G. and I will stay in Ottawa. It will be good. 

So this Saturday I got to do what you never get to do on a mission. I went to the movies. No joke. I really went to a movie theatre and ate popcorn and had a drink. Why? You may ask, because Meet the Mormons came to Canada. Since it is put out by the First Presidency we got to see it if we took an investigator or a less active with us. It was great! I suggest seeing it! You know it has to be good if the missionaries are allowed to see it. :) Unfortunately I didn't have my camera so I didn't get any pics. Sorry.

We also were able to see some Christmas lights. There is a street that does some major lights. We had a less active member take us because she wanted to take us before Sister M went home. It was so fun. When you get to the area and buy a house they must mention something about Christmas lights and how they are required. 

Today is Karen and Rick's wedding. It should be awesome. They are changing and growing so much. It is so fun to be a part of it! It will be really small. Like Karen, Rick, Xavier, and us and another set of sister missionaries. So ya really small. I will send some pics next week. 

Well I hope you all have a great week!

Love ya!

Sister Gardner

The following are pics from my birthday and the ward Christmas Party:

Information from letter to Carol:
Your tree looks great! :) Way to get into the spirit. We had a family donate a tree to us so now we have one too. :) I think I'm like Kevin on Home Alone because I just like having a tree. :)

Thanks for the birthday packages. The dear elder one was cute. So maybe my new companion will have a birthday coming up and we can use it then. I won't have time in the next 2 days before Sister Morris goes home. I love the bracelet! So cute! I've worn it everyday since. People have thought it was cute.

And I also got the other package. I wasn't sure if I was suppose to open it (after I had) so I didn't unwrap the one gift. I really haven't had the chance to really go through them yet since I got the dear elder and the one with the wrapped gift in it last night. But I did get the Birthday one 2 days after my birthday. Thanks!!!!!

Carol says, "I asked her why they didn't have the car last week for that situation."  So we didn't have a car because we had gone over clicks. We have 1400 kilometers a month and we were at like 1900. Which is bad but between a meeting we had in Montreal that we thought was getting reimbursed that took out 400 and Sister Morris saying goodbye we went over. So we parked our car for the rest of the month. We had it again on the 1st. We were in the sketchy part of town because we had a dinner with a former investigator. Her building has tight security and when people come they aren't aloud in the building until the person comes and escorts them in. So we were waiting for her to come down. Yes we had our phone but we couldn't do anything until she got down there. Luckily when we left no one was there. So ya we don't go there normally so no need to worry. :)

The Christmas church movie is great and I hope that it went well yesterday on youtube and on time square. Way cool! :)

I hope everything is going well!

Love ya!

Cassy

December 1st

Hey everyone,

I hope your Thanksgiving weekend was filled with fun! My day didn't really feel like Thanksgiving. We had appointments like normal. But we did have dinner at a members house. The mom is from the states so she had us come over and what a feast! Everything in a Thanksgiving meal and she made chocolate cheesecake with a brownie crust. Yum!!! It was excellent. 

This Christmas season the church has put out a new Christmas message. It's about 3 min. long. Everyone should check it out! It's found at christmas.mormon.org. It can be really powerful. We showed it with an investigator who had been contemplating suicide a week before and he said that he now had a reason to hope. He cried through the whole thing. The church is going big with it. On Dec. 7 they are buying ot the banner for youtube and showing it there and it will be on Time Square. All the visitor centers will be showing it. They have pass along cards for it. We as missionaries have to count the number of investigators we get from it. So ya, it's pretty big!. Check it out!

This weekend was busy! We went to this really sketchy part of town to meet with an investigator and have dinner. Really scary. We didn't have the car. So we had a brother in the ward come and pick us up. Little did we realize that his wife wasn't going to be with him. As sister missionaries we are not suppose to be in a car alone with a brother. But at that moment I was way more concerned about being safe then the rule. I was really happy when Brother Heagle got there! The people were scary. They were all on drugs and yelling and saying they weren't and touching us. Not fun. Luckily nothing happened. :)

We went to a wedding. No it wasn't Karen and Rick's. Their's is next Monday. This was of a  less active named Crystal. The wedding went well. The Bishop said it was the rowdiest wedding he has ever done. We were able to talk to a lot of less actives and non-members. 

On Saturday we went to a Karate tournament. That was fun. There was times when it was intense. They had 3 categories, but don't ask me what they were called. One was on the floor getting out of a attack, one was by yourself floor movement, and one was fighting. 

Then the ward had it's Christmas Party and holy cow they go all out. I will have to send some pics next week. The entire gym was decorated and the missionaries had to judge the pies for the pie eating contest. They also had a cookie decorating contest and a survey type thing to do. It was way fun! 

Sunday was missionary week and we had to talk. They wall went well. I did mine about member missionary work and how it is much easier than we think it is. We are missionaries all the time. We do missionary work by our every day tasks. 

Then the stake did a Christmas Fireside and it was awesome! They sang Far Far Away on Judea's Plains in Spanish and had bells and maracas and another instrument. There was an organ solo and people singing. I loved it! For one of the songs it was upbeat and they had drums. So fun!!

Today we went to the War Museum. It was way cool. I will have to go back because we didn't have time to see everything. Definitely worth your time if you ever get over here. 

Then the sisters in my zone had a little sisters party and Sister Hill made me a cheesecake for my birthday with a 22 on it. It was so cute.

Wish me luck tomorrow. I have to play the organ at a funeral tomorrow and I haven't played one since summer. 

I hope you all are doing well! 

Love,

Sister Gardner

Thanks for the Birthday wishes! You guys were here in spirit. I hope that everything goes well this week! 

I love you all and thanks for all the love and support!

Don't worry I'm not freezing. The snow is all gone here. It really hasn't been that bad. :)

November 24

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope your holiday season is kicking off well! I know it has been great here. On Saturday they had a Santa Parade that we were able to help out with and it looked like it was fun. Santa came too. They gave us hats for helping which they called tooks. 

This week's biggest miracle happened yesterday. I have mentioned Caeri and Patrick and how we have been trying to get them married. Things just haven't been working out. They went to get a marriage licence and it was $100 more than they had planned for. So they didn't get one. While that has been going we have been teaching Caeri and we have taught tithing and the law of chastity. We told her that since she is a member she doesn't have to pay tithing yet but she could use the money for tithing towards a marriage licence. She liked the idea but said it wouldn't happen until the end of the month when Patrick got his bonus. And with the law of chastity since we have taught it they have been living it, which has been really hard but they are doing it. 

So yesterday in ward council we mentioned them and that the wedding would be off because of the wedding licence. We also mentioned they were living the law of chastity. The R.S. Pres. heard this and thought it was amazing. When she went home she decided to call some people and get a collection going so Caeri and Patrick a licence. Within an hour she had $250 and the new stake president said he could marry them and use his house (which is huge and gorgeous). So the 3 of us went to tell Caeri and Patrick the good news and Caeri was overwhelmed. She didn't know what to say. She is rarely speechless. Anyway it was amazing! I thank the good and awesome members of this ward for helping out!

Prayers going out to my extended family and Paula Madsen's family. May your hearts be light at this time. Because of the knowledge that comes from the Gospel we know we will see our loved ones again! 

Don't worry about the weather here. All the snow has melted and it is very warm today. I haven't needed to wear my coat or snow boots yet. Hopefully that lasts for a little while!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love you all!

Sister Gardner

Letter to Carol

Carol sent her a couple of thoughts about prayer.  Sister Gardner responded:

Thanks for the thoughts. In my personal study I have been reading the Book of Mormon and there has been a lot about prayer this past week. Basically it says to pray anywhere and to pray for everything. So really we can talk to God about anything and everything. Everyone has the right to pray. It doesn't matter who you are or where you're from or what you have done. That is a gift H.F. has blessed all of his children with. It's amazing to think about it. God always has time for us. We're the ones who don't make the time. Powerful things right there!

Are you ready for Thanksgiving? Dad emailed me and his kids have all week off. Aren't you jealous?He still has meetings and such but he doesn't have to plan for the week. Well at least this week. He goes to Puerto Rico on Friday so he has to make lesson plans for his sub and that's never fun. But hey at least he gets to go somewhere warm for a few days. I will be at a members home for Thanksgiving. They are feeding us a typical turkey dinner but it will be lower key since Canadian Thanksgiving has come and gone. It will be fun. Are you going to Monroe? If you do say hello for me.

As far as weather it hasn't been too bad. The snow has all melted and it is raining instead. Today is really warm. I hope it lasts for a little bit longer! Don't get me wrong I do love the snow, it makes things look pretty but I don't want it to be freezing especially since I don't get to wear pants. Either way it will be good. :)

I hope school and everything goes well for you this week! 

Love you lots!

Cassy

November 17th

Hey everyone!

I hope you are enjoying this winter weather I hear you are having. Winter has happened here. It has been snowing off and on the last week, but nothing stuck. But the last 2 days we have had snow and it has stuck.  So time to clear off the car every time I go out. I don't mind snow, it makes me happy to see and I love that moment of peace before all the cars and people go through it.  But we'll see how I feel about it in the spring/summer. :)

I want to mention 2 miracles this week. So first deals with Caeri. I have mentioned her before She has to be married before she can be baptized. Last Monday night we had an intense lesson. Patrick felt like she was only getting married to be baptized. Her mom said it was too soon to plan something like this. Caeir just wants both. Everyone was fighting. We didn't know what to do. Finally Sister Stewart (the mom) was like we need to pray. And she offered the prayer. She is a less active and has never prayed in front of us before. So that was great. She said in her prayer to help us accept the decision to be married now, in 6 months, or a year. As soon as her prayer ended it was calm and Sister Morris had the impression to say that the wedding needed to be super simple so that she can be married. In a year when she is sealed in the temple they could have the big thing. They could have a ring ceremony and big celebration and then she would be able to get what she wants. After that was said everyone seemed to accept the idea. Now I know they are ok with it. Caeri sent out a text to her family saying the wedding wasn't happening the way she thought and now she is eloping (to the mormon church) to be married. And then at the end of the lesson Patrick said he wanted to be baptized. Crazy right!!! Exciting at the same time!

The 2nd miracle is with a less active names Sister Salzburg. We started seeing her as helping a fellow sister with her visiting teaching. So we both thought we needed to see her again. She fed us an amazing lunch and we had a good chat. Then Sunday morning she texted us saying she was coming to church! :) What is so amazing about that is we didn't even talk to her about coming to church. And one of her hesitations is she wouldn't know anyone there. Well she was a very popular person. Everyone came and said hello to her. And during Relief Society I asked her how she had felt during church and she told me it was like coming home. Awesome right! She wants to see us again this week. :)

We live in an apartment. Depending on where you are depends on where you live. We have some sisters that live with members in a guest house type place. All the ones in my district live in apartment buildings. 

Transfers happen every 6 weeks. So there is a possibility of moving every 6 weeks but that doesn't really happen. My companion goes home Dec. 11 so I will get a new companion. I don't know if I will still be here or not. They call us and tell us the Saturday before transfer days if that is happening. 

I hope everything continues to go well for everyone! I love hearing from you!

Talk to you all later,

Sister Gardner

Birthday package

Carol sent Cassy a package from "Dear Elder" for her birthay. It features a Pillsbury Funfetti cake mix with matching Funfetti frosting (cake mix calls for water, oil, & eggs), in addition to birthday candles, crepe paper, 8 balloons, 2 party hats, and 2 blow-out horns. 

I hope that she will receive it on time!  
Happy Birthday Sister Gardner on December 1st!

November 10th

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing? Life this week has been good. There really isn't a lot to report here. Caeri's baptism is off because we are now planning her wedding to Patrick. So that's been fun. She wants to be married on Dec. 6 so she can be baptized. But that is so soon and with what she really wants for her wedding I don't think we will be able to pull it off that soon. So ya that's that.

We got to see Myriam again this week and that was fun. She is still really wanting to learn more about this church she was baptized into but doesn't know anything about it. So we will continue to teach her to the best of our abilities. She is super nice and has a bubbly personality. it has been good.

Carolyn is doing good. She isn't our investigator but we do see her and are her friends. She got baptized 2 weeks ago and it was awesome. She had to overcome a lot for it to happen. We haven't seen Dan this week. We went back to the hospital to see him but he wasn't there so we are going to try again next weekend. 

We have had snow. Yes the snow has come but nothing stuck. It just made things wet. But that's nothing new because it rains here all the time so it's always wet. Luckily it wasn't cold yet. I know winter is coming so I guess I should get prepared because all the members keep telling me good luck. 

Things definitely go better when we are able to get the members involved. I was reading this morning in Alma and Ammon was with the King of the Lamanites and all he did was serve him. That's what got the king to open up to the Gospel. It doesn't take a lot. Just a smile or holding the door open. We make it much harder than it really is. I'm still learning this. It comes with time, a lifetime of learning. 

miss having Thanksgiving in November. There isn't really isn't anything to look forward to. Its killing me since Thanksgiving is my favorite. Maybe some of our American friends can give us a meal. That would be fun.

Love you all! Hope everything is going well!

Sister Gardner

November 3

Hello everyone. I hope you are all having a good week! My week here has been awesome. My companion calls it greenie and leaving miracles since I'm in training and she goes home this next transfer. 

I first want to mention Carolyn. So she is not our investigator but we sometimes help teach her and we have become good friends with her. She was able to be baptized on Saturday. This was huge because things kept going wrong for her, like her family basically disowned her, and she almost couldn't find a place to live (she had been living with her boyfriend), but she stayed strong and was baptized and confirmed. I hope she gets a small break. Sister Morris gave the Holy Ghost talk and I gave a prayer (which I didn't know until I got there). It was great!

Next is Dan. He is a security guard at the Veteran's Hospital. He has been studying many religions and have read a lot of scriptures. He decided he wanted to learn a little big more about Mormons. He already knows a lot of things that we teach. He has been cool to talk to.

Last I would like to mention Myriam. She is a less active and we have been looking for her. When we went to talk to her Mom about her, her mom said she wouldn't want to meet with us, but she would mention that we were asking about her. Well she passed on the message and Myriam called us back. She was super bubbly and wanted to meet with us. So we went and it went awesome! She asked many questions and she really wants to know about the church she was baptized into but knows nothing about. 

So when people really want the truth they will search for it. God prepares them for it. It's awesome to see the change people have. 

So the random thing is from Elder Mourier. He is from France. The crazy thing is he knows where Price, Utah is and knows about Groggs. He loves the food there! Crazy right! His Dad's mission companion was there and took them to it. Awesome right! Price has a small claim to fame from a family from France. 

Madi and Tathan, I would like to here how your missions are going as well! I want to hear the good, bad, and the ugly. 

I hope everyone's week goes well. If someone can spread my condolences to the Kettle family, the Johnson family from Greenriver, and the Smith family with their losses and hard times that would be great! 

Love you all!

Sister Gardner