June 1st

Hello everyone! I hope this past week has found you good and well.

This week was filled with much service. We've been helping a member pack up her home because she is moving to the country. We have done lots of yard work for an elderly sister and for some non-members. 

The non-members are the Thames Family. They are so sweet. They are an older couple. All of their children have married and have kids of their own. The father use to be in a singing group called the Raindrops. He traveled across Canada performing. He was singing a little bit for us and sounded good. Even after they quit, the group would get called up to do reunions to perform. They also have a grandson who is awesome at Basketball. He was playing for I think Kentucky State while in college. He was #23. Then he moved to Switzerland to play professional for a time. Now he is back in Canada and is now coaching. 

Our ward had a bowling activity this week. We were able to go since we took Rosa, our recent convert. She needed a time out from her house. It was really fun. I have never seen bowling balls so small before. I will send some pictures. It was a fun time! 

Our last big thing this week was getting things ready for Val's baptism. Which will be held on the 14th of June. She is doing so well. :) 

I would like to end with some thoughts from the talk I gave in church yesterday. It was about missionary work. Pres. Monson has said that now is the time for members and missionaries to come together. We are on the same team. Our goal is to help people come unto Christ. There are 3 things that we can do. First we must study the Gospel. We can't tell people about the Gospel unless we know it ourselves. Second, we must strengthen our homes. Our homes are constantly filled with investigators (our children, friends, family, and ourselves). We need to make our homes a Christ Center Home so that we can learn and grow together. Third we share the Gospel. We have been given the greatest gift. We should in turn share that gift with others. There are a million ways we can do that. We can post things to social media, ask a friend to come to an activity, do service, and be an example. These are just a few of the things we can do. Sometimes it can be scary to share. But you will never know who is ready for the Gospel. 

I love you all and I hope that you have a great week!

Sister Gardner

May 25th Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!  I hope that you are all enjoying the holiday and doing something fun!

This week hasn't been too eventful.  We did have another Cornelius moment.  We were coming out of the metro and this man handing out newspapers stopped us and asked us if we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  We told him yes and then proceeded to have an hour long conversation with him.  I guess we will see what happens.

Transfers are this week.  Sister C and I are staying.  But the elders area is being closed down.  So we now will cover the entire ward.  The ward boundaries are huge.  Wish us luck on that and figuring out the best way to use our clicks (the amount of kilometers we have a month).

Darlene, Janice and Terri are doing great!  They are so easy to teach.  They  just accepr everything we teach and want to do it.  It's been awesome getting to know them!  

I hope that you all have a fantastic week!

Love you all,
Sister Gardner

Pictures from earlier this week

A Day in the Life of a Missionary

Hello on May 20th

Hello everyone! I hope that you have had a wonderful week. This past week and half have been good. We were able to see Darlene and her girls twice this week and they came to church! That was exciting. We have been trying to get them to come for a month or so. They said they enjoyed it. I hope they come next week as well! 

As we were walking out of an appointment with Darlene we had another Cornelius moment. We were walking to our car and this woman calls down to us from her balcony and asks if we're sisters. We say yes. Then she asked if we were really sisters. So we were like no we aren't related. Then she asked if we were sisters from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We then said yes. She said how she had seen us coming and had talked to Sherry and Miranda about us. She and her boyfriend and child are looking for a new community (church) because they moved and the old one is too far. We told her we would love to see her and talk about our church. We will be seeing her later this week.

We have also been able to see a couple of less actives that we haven't been able to get a hold of for months. That was a miracle.  This past Monday we went to a inner-faith service project. Faiths from around the island came together and we cleaned up a park. It was really fun. We were put in groups and went out to different areas of the park to clean. It was cool! 

After that we had a media split day among our stake. That means we had members with us all day coming with us to appointments and such. They would take pictures and post them on social media so people could see what missionaries do. It was fun. Some of the hashtags were #mormon #mt #mtlmormon #mormonmtl and #mtlmissionaries If you want you can go look these up and see some of the pics from the day. 

We also had Zone Conference yesterday. It was really great. Something we talked a lot about was the Book of Mormon. We had been given at the beginning of this transfer a challenge to read the Book of Mormon in a transfer. It has been a crazy challenge. I would like to extend to you the challenge to read the Book of Mormon. It doesn't have to be in 6 weeks. :) Just start to read it. It was written for our day. Those prophets saw this time and knew what we would need to be successful in this life. I challenge you to read it. Even if it's just 1 verse a day. Any little bit helps. I promise that you will be able to see and feel a difference in your life. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week and we will talk to you next week! Sister Gardner 

Happy Mother's Day

Hey everyone! Happy Mothers Day to all of the women out there! You are
amazing and I hope that you had a wonderful day yesterday!

Things here are going good. We are mostly working with our less
actives in the ward right now. We did see Darlene and her girls this
week and they are still doing amazing! We just need them to come to
church.

We had an interesting phone call from a man named Chuck. He called
and told us he had received revelation that the woman that claimed to
be his mother was not his mother. He said some other things that I
can't remember and I advised him to call the bishop. 5-10 mins. later
he calls again on an unknown number and said that he had been watching
a show called Deadly Devotions (or something like that). It said that
the Mormons were a cult. He asked us if we really were a cult and if
we believed in taking medicines because he had heard we didn't. I told
him we weren't a cult and that we could take medicine. His last
question was if we really were missionaries or were we really CIA
agents gathering intelligence on the people in Quebec. It was funny.

That same day we went to take a man named Doug a bible. I've met him
before with Sister H and the first bible we took him had a
printing issue with the back page. This week we brought him a new one.
He is a Jewish man that believes in Jesus. He came to know Jesus
through the Bible and by getting rid of his identity. He no longer has
his birth certificate. He has an act of birth and is now waiting for
his death certificate. He has a paper with a seal from the government
that acts as his signature/i.d. Very interesting conversation.

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

Photos from talking on skype yesterday!

May 4th

Hello everyone! I hope that you have all had a wonderful week! It has been so nice here. The weather has warmed up a ton, which has been so nice!

This week was a great week. We got 2 new investigators. They were a pass off from the French Sisters. We met with them yesterday and are very interested in the Mormon Religion. Hopefully it keeps going well.

We were able to get in contact with a less active that we haven't seen for a while now. It turns out she had changed phone numbers. She was happy to give us her new one and appreciated us stopping by!

Last we were able to get Darlene's daughters, Janice and Terri on a baptismal date of June 6th. Darlene is still thinking about being baptized.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week! Thanks for all the support and prayers!
Sister Gardner

Pics are of my companions "Greenie Meal"

Hump Day

As you come to the half mark of your mission, I am sending you this camel to remind you how far you have come, and where you are going. There are many similar characteristics of a great missionary and a camel.  

The first is the "hump". Yes, you have crossed the mark and now are over the hump of the your mission. But remember the hump of a camel is used to store food for the long journey. Camels can go for long periods of time without food, but he must store his food in his hump. A Missionary has learned from so many experiences, but a wise Missionary will store the knowledge she has gained, and put it to greater use the second half of her mission.

Another important symbol, is what the camel does to be prepared to carry his load for his Master. A camel sometimes protests his heavy load, but he drops to knees for his Master, and once started, he patiently carries his load. As a missionary sometimes the load seems heavy and difficult to carry. But when you drop to your knees and succumb to the Master's will, He will carefully lead you and you can bear the load patiently, and do your Father in Heaven's work as He would have you do. This is why the camel's knees are heavily padded, as a Missionary, your knees are calloused from the many hours of kneeling in prayer. 

The camel has high set eyes, that enable him to see long distances. A Missionary has her eyes set on higher things, she follows the Spirit that enables her to see the Children of God, those who are seeking answers, and she teaches them the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The camel has broad, two-toed feet, that keep it from sinking in desert sand. A missionary has a broad knowledge and a firm testimony of the Gospel. This enables her to teach with boldness and stand firm in her testimony. The people you teach do not yet have the blessing of such a sure-foot, but as you teach with love and the Spirit, you will help them gain their own testimony that will help them walk on firmer ground. One that will lead them back to their Father in Heaven.
So you see, a Missionary has a lot in common with a camel. Put this camel where you can see it often. Dedicate yourself to do as the camel does. Serve your Master well and patiently over the long journey. You have come a long way,  but there is still much ground to cover. Continue to move forward, serving with love, until your mission is complete and your Father in Heaven will say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

Sent Sister Gardner this package for her 1/2 way point ..... hump day!