Week 3: Last Week at Provo MTC

Hello there! It´s good to hear from you! And I hope the IB ceremony went well and everything. I am also upset that I didn´t receive the empanadas... I would have shared with my Argentine district elders! However I did pass along one of the alfajores to Elder Paxman. I sent it through to his mailbox so I don´t know how he enjoyed it, but I am sure he did. (By the way, the keyboard is in Spanish mode and for whatever reason can´t be switched back to English so please pardon the strange characters.)

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I just sent home a package with some stuff I didn´t need. I sent home some books, the tape recorder dad gave me and other things, so you can probably just throw the package in my closet and leave it there and it would be fine, unless dad wants his tape recorder :) Anyway, it cost me more money than I had, so I had to withdraw some money from the ATM, and therefore maybe if you could top off my emergency money? Thank you!

Also, concerning my travel plans, here they are!! I am flying with American Airlines, and I am thinking that I will call you while I´m in Dallas, so I don´t wake you up or anything. So it will probably be like 9 or 10 or so when I call you. I’ll be getting in the DR at about 9:20 their time. Also, to get to Puerto Rico I will leave the DR on Jan. 31 at 11:40 and arrive in San Juan at 12:53, so not a long flight! And I should be able to call you then too! However, my airport phone calls are limited to about 5 minutes, and NO LONGER than 10, so I won´t be able to talk for too long... :( sorry… but I will be able to talk!! :) I am also the travel leader for my group to PR (which is two other missionaries, and one Hermana), but I don´t know exactly what that means just yet.

I did receive your package with the presents, and I am excited to open them Sunday morning! Thank you so much. I will miss you very much that day, but I am excited to be here for Christmas, because the MTC President said that while it won´t be Pres. Monson, he guarantees we will recognize who is speaking to us at the MTC wide Sacrament Meeting! I am very excited for that, but I will be thinking about you and praying for you! Also, I got the newsletter, and it looks great mom!

On Christmas, I won´t be calling, but I will have some time to write you a letter, which I´ll probably mail off Monday before I leave. I will also mail my SD card that day, so when you mail it back you´ll have to mail it to me in the DR.

It´s kind of strange to think about leaving, because being still in Utah, I haven´t really left home, so it will be strange to leave.. and once I leave I will be out of the country for just under two years! It will be strange, but I´m excited for a new challenge!

For Christmas also, I hope you all enjoy your presents, and let me know how it all goes! I´m sad I won´t be there on Christmas Eve, but I know I´m where I am supposed to be. Oh and one more thing, I got myself some cool looking Spanish scripture cases made in Guatemala, and I will send you home some pictures of them on my SD card. So consider that my Christmas present to myself :)

Now speaking of my investigators and the work here, Elder Kerr and I really kind of had a breakthrough with Juana. The Spirit testified of our message, and she said herself that she wanted and needed to pray about our message and about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. It was incredible! She even offered the closing prayer of our last lesson, which was the Plan of Salvation. It was wonderful! I was actually speechless after the lesson. Our other investigator, BJ, is kind of progressing, but not as much as we would like. We teach him tonight so hopefully we´ll be able to make some progress. We feel like he really wants to know, but doesn´t want to try. I think we are close.

I am learning so much here and the language is coming along pretty well. I can teach lessons alright, testify, and pray in Spanish now, so that´s pretty exciting. I hope to keep progressing! Spiritually, I have been learning a lot and I feel like my testimony has grown so much. We have some stellar teachers and they are so great.

Oh, and on a side note, I saw Elder Ulrich and we talked for a while. Turns out, he lives on the bottom floor of my building!! It was pretty cool.

Anyway, it´s good to talk to you, as always, and it is great to hear from you. You´ll have to let me know how the NBA season goes once it starts, and has BYU already played their bowl game? Anyway, you guys are the greatest, and while I do miss you, I am really enjoying it here and I have really settled in here. I love you all so much! Thanks for your support and for your prayers. I hope all is well for you and I look forward to talking to you, albeit for a few minutes, on Tuesday!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Gardner

P.S. If you could send me the address to Clearfield High, I´d like to send a postcard or something to Mrs. Ellis and a couple other teachers. Thanks so much! Love you all!