June 12, 2012 - MTC

Bonjour, ma famille!!

     Comment çava? How is everyone? Angie must have had her baby by now. I have no idea when Ant wrote me the DearElder saying that Angie was in the hospital waiting to go into labor. We don't get DearElders on Saturdays or Sundays. Lame. Soo...she must have had her baby sometime between Friday and Monday. That's all I know. And I havent seen any pictures..nothing. Just saying. That's kind of lame.

     Mom, I haven't heard from you in 6 days?..

     This reminds me of something. My friend, Elder Kunzler, who I knew before the mission, hasn't gotten a letter from his family since he's been here! What?!!! I thought that was super sad, so I made him this little note thing on the other side of this treasure chest with gold and diamonds and stuff that I had made for an object lesson earlier that day. It's not too big, but yeah, so I wrote on it and was just was like, "Hey, Elder Kunzler! How's the MTC? I hope you like this treasure! A pirate gave it to me..*blahblahblah* -Sis Gardner"  You get the jist. Anyway. I gave it to his district leader after I made a fake stamp and "addressed" it to him so he'd be getting something during mail time at the end of the day. He really liked it; I saw him earlier today and he said thanks. :) Nice elder. I don't know why he wouldn't be getting letters. So sad. Quoi d'autre? Hmm...so we got our travel plans on Friday and contrary to popular belief, I am super sad. I'm happy to be leaving the MTC but so sad to leave my friends and teachers who basically are my older friends. lol. Today we went to the temple for the LAST TIME until I come home from my mission. WHAT?! I may or may not have had a cry time after the session. sadsadsad. Man, it made me really glad that I've been going every week (minus the week I came in to the MTC) since I've been endowed. It's so incredible going to the temple I LOVE IT and now I'm soo sad I'm not allowed to go cause there's no temple in my mission. There's a temple in Bern, Switzerland, but that's the Alpine-German Speaking Mission. Lame. Anyway! LYON! I got my new mission home and office address!! I don't really know where you're suppose to send the mail..so I'll just give you both so you can figure that one out.

Mission home address:

8 Impasse des Hautes Bruyeres

61930 Ecully

France

Mission Office address:

59 Rue de l'Abondance

69003 Lyon

France

     I am completely freaked about going to France and trying to speak/understand the language. Like you don't even know. I know that I've learned sooo much more than I have ever known about French and am alright with reading it and asking basic questions and making basic sentences, but really? I'm being thrown into a modern war with a bow and arrow (not an intended racist joke. lol). I know I can do it, I also know that I will struggle. So any letters of encouragement would make me very, very happy. more happy than you could ever imagine. Oh man. So! Flight plans! Here we goooooooooo!!! (nsync?) (and yes, Court, references to movies is great! Don't feel bad. I don't. lol)

      Flight plan(shelby): British Airways (all flights are British Airways for me) 

#1- Leave- SLC, 11:05am June 18

     Land - Chicago, 3:05pm

#2- Leave- Chicago, 5:15pm

     Land - London,  6:55am June 19

#3- Leave- London, 8:40am

     Land - Lyon, 11:15am

     So that's my flight plan. I hope that you all are ready for me to call y'all during the breaks. Who should I call? Like which number? Telling me would be great, so I'm not calling everyone and no one is answering, which would be really sad. So Elder Call, Elder Gruber, and Sis Harris are the only ones from my district that we're flying with! Elder Hilburn and Elder Smith are also going the Lyon Mission, but they're being sent to Switzerland! ?!?! Weird. And they're not leaving until Tuesday. :((((( So we're definitely sad about that. And the Parisians are leaving on Monday also but not until 4pm. My heart hurts. But it's fine; this is what I came for, to go out into the field and serve. I was lucky to meet so many great Elders and Sisters. I'll definitely be seeing them again; we're already planning on it. All the missionaries in my district are from the west coast, so that makes things easy! What doesn't make things easy is Sis Grewar and Sis Hurrell being from Australia. What the what?? But hey, I've always wanted to go down under! haha. But really. Anyway. We'll talk about that in 18 months, dad. ;-) So basically I've just been trying to study and pack stuff..it's weird. What am I saying? I haven't packed anything yet. haha. But I will be starting today! Not that I have that much. I'm sending some things home, also! Expect a package in a week or two.

     On Sunday, Sis Harris, Elder Kunzler, and his companion Elder Wilson sang "A Child's Prayer" en francais, which is "La Prier de l'Enfant". Je pense. Anywho, it went really well and It was cool to sing en francais and know what we were singing. I cried like 3 times on Sunday. It was ridiculous. I think it started with us singing because it was super cool and spiritual. And Sis Grewar is a convert and gave her conversion story in Relief Society, and the speaker spoke about "whom the Lord calls, He has chosen" and about our missions waiting for us and "your calling is to bless lives" and it was crazy. Then! For the fireside Bro Stephen B. Allen spoke to us about being nice to our companions and that they're children of God, then was talking about our parents and how our moms are "having terrible emotional problems!!!" with us gone and our dads are just happy we're gone, which made me tear up because I know that dad isn't happy I'm gone at all! Except for the fact that he's saving money. haha. So that made me tear up a lot. Then we watched "The Testaments", and I always cry at the end when Jesus Christ touches the father's hands and the father begins crying and he's healed and it's awesome. Oh dang.

     So all of this was so great for me, because on Sunday I called out a few districts in the branch presidency meeting. Yeah. Not the best way to make friends.

     I didn't specifically say any district, so I technically didn't call them out, I just told the Branch presidency (when they asked me) that the Sisters were really bothered with some districts breaking the rules and giving letters out before 9:25pm and getting on the internet when it's not preparation day or on their emails during TALL time. It was kind of intense afterward, because there were specific Elders who weren't following the rules and it wasn't cool that they were doing that as Elders who are given the responsibility to be leaders. I said this. So then after we had our temple walk, this one Elder had some lame comment to hurt my feelings that he didn't directly say to me but for me to hear and I just ignored it, but Elder Asay (pronounced Ay-see and he's from Dallas!) was like, "Cut it out, Elder. That's enough" and the stupid Elder (not stupid, he's just super immature) was like, "What? I was joking! Je blague!!" and everyone ignored him. It was nice. I thanked Elder Asay later, then yesterday I was in the same line as one of the elders that was doing wrong that's a DL, and I put my hand out to him and was like, "I'm sorry if I offended you" and he was like, "What are you talking about?" Me: "You know what I'm talking about. I'm sorry if you were offended by what I said. I hope we're good," and he was like, "Yeah-yeah. We're good." "Good." The end.

     So the sisters were really nice about all of it and were supporting me the whole time, which was really nice. And my district! Oh I love them. They're such sweethearts.

     So dad, I went the doctor again because they wanted to check my foot one more time before I leave and I had the doctor write down what is wrong with it. Him: "Developed dependent edema. Has some recurrence of soft tissue swelling with dependency". I don't even know what that means, but I hope you do. haha. Write me and let me know what that means..because he doesn't explain things on my level. Also, please put some mula into my account. I need $200 for traveling, and euros are more than a dollar for 1. I..need my new card. My card expires THIS MONTH. So..I need the new one asap. Please send me the new one or let me know that I need to take out a lot of cash. I leave Monday morning, so you'll have to make it overnight or something.

     Mom, why you no write? I havent heard from you since the 6th when you were insinuating that you were sending me a package that I haven't recieved. ?

     Court- I loved your letterssssss. I'm writing you today!!!

     Ant & Angie- YOU'VE HAD A  BABY!! CONGRATS!!!!

     Ben-thanks for the quick email and the postcard!! I LOVE the postcard!!!! Have you seen the animated movie? It's beautiful. Such amazing illustration.

     Shelb- lets here about EFY, foo'!

     Alrighty, I am sooo over the limit. I'm sending you some photos that Frere LePretre sent us that we took yesterday. So funny. Frere Wilcox is the blonde on the left side of the photo for the most part, and Frere LePretre is wearing the suit.

     The church is true!!!!!!! I am seriously so glad I have a strong testimony because I would neverrrrrrrrr do this if I didn't. I'm going to be taking it one day at a time. Frere LePretre said take it 24 hours, l don't think about the rest of the time, just finish the day.

     I love you all, and I would love to hear from you!!

Love always,

devano (soeur Gardner)

June 5, 2012 - MTC

Salut!

     So not much has happened this week. We are now less than two weeks before I leave, so..yeah! Uhh..yep..

     Soooooooooooo.. This week we just taught lessons and got new missionaries. We have 45 new missionaries in our zone! HOLY MOLEY! It's a lot. there are 6 new sisters, who are all roommates also, like my roommates and I. 3 are going to Paris, one Lyon, one Montreal, and one Tahiti. C'est interessant, n'est pas? Sis Hurrell helped me make flags for the girls with their names on them for the door to their room. We helped host and we had all the sisters know that if they got a French Sister, to give her to us. Haha. So we met them and they're all really nice. One is from the same place as Will in Vegas! I was like, oh, do you know Garrett Allen? And she said she went to high school with him! She's cool. I think her name is Sis Horn. I'm not the best with names, obviously. I've had multiple conversations with her, too! Oh well. I also have in the zone now...Elder Foote! He is the younger brother of my friend, Jenny Foote. I met him and was like, your sister told me to take care of you, so here I am. Haha. I'm so awkward. I also now have in my district Elder Kunzler! I met him last fall in the Intro to Film class, so it's cool that I have a friend from "before the mission" here.

     Lets see..not much has happened since last week, other than the new people, to be honest. Frere LaPretre is afraid that we are going to plateau before we leave so we're all pushing ourselves super hard..yeah. We had a 40 min lesson last week in the TRC and it went really well. I'm starting to get the language a lot more. It's a-comin! (haha, *a hurricane's a-comin'!* name the movie) But yeah. We should be getting our travel plans Thursday, so I hear, and it will have our new mission home address, because once President Roney moves in the mission home is moving to Lyon. Surprise! I just figured that one out last week. Everyone write me and tell me how your lives are!! It's kind of sad when you don't get mail. Especially when random Elders are getting ridiculous packages and letters daily. What the what?! C'est fou.

     Yesterday we had "PVL" (parle votre langue, aka: speak your language)  ALL day. It was hard. It was just my district, so when we sat down for lunch Elder Kunzler and his comp sat by us and began talking to us en anglais because they don't know we're doing that and they don't know French really, and so I tried to speak to them in English and my district got mad at me. And would interrupt me en francais. It was annoying. So I was trying to talk to them in French but they didn't understand me well and it was just confusing.

     Uhh...oh, I went to the Health Center because of my foot. It was still puffy (dad I talked to you about it), so I went in. The doctor doesn't know what's up, so he told me to take ibuprofen (sp??), ice it when I can (which I haven't found a time to...) and to keep wrapping it at night and elevating it. I'm not sure if all of that it was he said or what I've learned from dad. So I haven't iced it, but I've been wrapping it and trying to elevate it whenever I can, and yesterday it was looking really good!! I also rubbed it a lot Sunday night, so I think that may have helped. But I went in to get an x-ray Thursday to make sure I didn't break anything. What hurts are my metatarsels, #2-5 on my left foot, specifically 3 and 4. They hurt the most. Maybe I bruised a bone?? I have no clue what I'm talking about so I was asked to come in again this week to get it checked on again. So that's what I'm doing at 2. It doesn't hurt really to walk on it, it just looks bad near the evening and hurts when you put pressure on it. Anyway! It's fine. Mom, don't worry about it. No biggie. Um..yeah! So..I don't really know what else to talk about right now, I'm trying to be more obedient and get off the computer by the 30 min mark because I've been going past it lately to talk about everything, but this time I won't. Obedience is key!

     I got a letter from Sis Tingey and Elder Holland!! That was pretty cool!

     Dad, thanks for your awesome letters. I love each one you send because I know you mean every word. I'll write you back today!

     Mom, thanks for the photo of grandpa and grandma! Unfortunately that's not really my whole family..so could you send me one? Thanks! I'll write you too.

     Court, you got my letter, I hope! If not, it should be at mom and dad's. Sorry, I didn't have your address on me and I wanted to send it asap so I just put that address because I remembered it.

     Ant, I can't wait to hear about all your ridiculous trips! Please fill me in. and I miss the weather reports.

     Shelb, I hope you had a great time at EFY!!!! Write me and tell me all about it. And about a boy... ;-)

     Benhamiin, did you get my letter and postcard? :)

     Angie, good luck with your pregnancy!! I'm assuming that you'll pop any day now. What a gross term..especially typing it out. Sorry. Haha

     And Nate, thanks for taking care of my sister and for yall's beautiful children. Send me a photo.

     I love you all and I hope that I hear from you soon. (EVERYONE, not just the fam. Don't want yall to feel excluded.)

     The church is soooooo true!! I love this gospel with all of my heart. I bore my testimony on Sunday and I was like, I'm taking advantage of being able to bear my testimony in English because this is the last time I'll be able to for at least 16 months! But yeah, I know that I've been helped soooo much by Him since I"ve gotten here. My testimony has like, tripled since I've gotten here. It's crazy. The church is soooo true. It's so important for us to have it. I don't know what I would be doing right now if it weren't for the church. Oh man. I love this Gospel.

I know that through this Gospel, we can all be cleansed and be clean. We can be happier than we have ever been. Yeah, in ways it's harder, but it is so worth it, just like being here is so worth it. I have the hardest time crawling out of bed when my alarm goes off, but I can and I do because I know that it's worth it. I can't wait to go to France and embarrass myself all over the mission because I know that with the Spirit by my side (and my companion!), I can accomplish anything.

Love you all,

devano

-Sœur Gardner-

May 29, 2012 - MTC

Hola, ma famille,

     This week has lasted for forevvvvvvvvverrrrrrrr. I don't even know what has happened. Lets see...

     -I play volleyball with the Elders instead of with the Sisters now. Haha. It's just a bit more fun because they try. Ha

     -Tomorrow we're getting 45 new missionaries into our district, and only 6 of them are Sisters and only one of them is going to Lyon that I know of. I'm a "host" tomorrow, which means I take the new missionaries from their families, get them their books, take 'em to their rooms, then take them to their classroom. THEN tomorrow night and Thursday night I'm talking to the new missionaries (with the district leaders) about the rules, what we do..etc. Ya know. Anyway. Yeah, so busy next few days.

     -Ummmmm...oh!! Thanks for the sparkling cider, mom and dad!!! GREAT story about that. So I got it right after dinner, and the Elders do a package dance for us if we're lucky, and this time they made up a new dance, which is based off of the "haka". They call it "the paka". It's pretty epic. and I don't use that term loosely. Anyway, so it was awesome and then after class I opened it and found the bottle, tried a lot of different ways of opening it and not succeeding, so Elder Brent had the idea for me to put it in the door where the door closes, like the metal part is a perfect spot to open the bottle. So I put it in the crack, and right when I pushed it so the top would come off, the Elder was like, but be careful, and then I got completely sprayed in the face by the martinelli. And I got it all over Sis Harris because she was standing next to me, and I got it all over Elder Call's desk (which I helped him clean). It was sooooo funny. I couldn't see but I was laughing so hard and so was everyone else. Good times.

     -so that same day (Saturday? Friday?? Je ne sais pas!) we taught Eric and asked him to be baptized and he accepted!!! We taught him about the first 3 principles of the gospel, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His atonement (reviewed since we already talked to him about it), repentance (which we made a notecard for him with the five R's and a scripture to back each one up), and then baptism! We had the best object lesson where we took ziplock bags into the cafeteria and collected a lot of gross, slimy foods. We asked the custodians for some plastic gloves, then collected a few trash bags. So we when we had him sit down on the floor with us and put the glove on, we asked him how you can sin. Then we put the food on his hand for everything that he said, then asked if he'd want to shake the Savior's hand with that hand. He said no, because it was dirty and we said exactly! That's why through repentance we can be cleansed. Then I had him read 3 Nephi 31? The whole chapter is about baptism, and I had him read a scripture that says something like if the Savior had to be baptized, how much more then do we, and then I had him read a scripture a few verses down from that that says for us to follow his example, then I asked him how we could follow his example and he said to repent of our sins and be baptized and i was like, so will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized? (En francais: Suivrez-vous l'example de Jesus-Christ en vos faisant baptiser? Not sure if it's completely correct, but it's the basic layout of the sentence). And he said yes! Then we ended it and when we were going through what to improve and what we did well with Frere LaPretre (btw if you didn't remember Frere LaPretre is our teacher and our "investigator", Eric. He's playing himself 6 years ago), and we went over like 30 mintues, and Frere LaPretre said, "It was my pleasure to sit and be taught by you two for 30 extra minutes. That was really really good!" It made us feel realllly reallly good!! And then I sprayed myself in the face with a martinelli! Partyyyy! But yeah, great night.

     -Sunday we watched Legacy after the fireside, and Sis Hurrell and I were like, oh yeah! When Joseph Smith showed up because he's pretty good looking in the movie, and then we started laughing so hard because we were checking out Joseph Smith. She said, "Geez, just shows how desperate we are. Instead of comparing actors, we compare Joseph Smith's!!" Kind of pathetic..

     -We got a new Elder yesterday from some random island by the Fijian Islands, and he's really black and doesn't speak much of any english, and E. Smith and E Hilburn (zone leaders and they're in our district) coudn't find him anywhere! So they told us to look out for him and so I'm leaving the cafeteria and see this really dark black guy who I'd never seen and I ask him if he's new and he's like, uh...non..lskjflsdferdfkd. He started speaking spanish to me, trying to be funny I guess. I aws like, oh..nevermind. It was awkward. Oh yeah, they found him like a few hours later. He was randomly in a classroom with 2 other companionships on the bottom floor of our building. They were like, HEY!! We've been looking for you!! And there was a Sister in there who looked at them weird and was like, he's fine.. haha. Awkward moment for them also, apparently.

     -Yesterday night we taught Eric again and he was telling us he didn't want to be baptized because his family didn't want him  to and they thought the Mormon religion was a cult (sect en francais). So we had to read him scriptures and give personal experiences, so I talked about how my parents (holla!) were both converts (it would be wayy too difficult for me to explain dad's situation en francais) and it was hard for them, but it blessed their future family so much. I asked him if he wanted a family in the future and he was like, yeah! and I told him that through being baptized you would be blessing your future family as well as yourself and bless his family now, even though they weren't being baptized, and that I'm an example of that. I told him that through him being baptized, he could recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost and always feel the way he does when we are with him. Then we asked to meet with his family so if you guys have any great scriptures or personal stories that I have forgotten, shoot me up! You know where to find me. I'm not goin anywhere..for 3 weeks, at least.

     Sunday I think me and 2 Elders and my comp and I will be singing a hymn during church. I'm not sure what song we're singing, yet. We're practicing for the first time today.

     So I'm sorry I haven't written anyone back, preparation days have been getting soooo busy it's kind of crazy!! if i take a nap I don't have time for anything else. Blah.

     Anywho, I love being here. I mean, the food is okay, the classrooms are alright (it kind of feels a bit like home now, since we're there 90% of the time), but it is incredible how amazing you can feel here. It's honestly through the Holy Ghost. This week I was reading a lot from the Bible Dictionary, and it is actually very interesting!! Without the Atonement, there would be no point to the Restoration. There would be no point to anything. I know that's kind of common knowledge, but it was just a thing that was much more emphasized on this week. Incredible how that works. The Church is sooo true it's INSANE. Like honestly. There are so many times that I wish I would've shared the gospel to a friend or a random person that I met in the airport or something. It's so important to share the Gospel with others because we were given the gift of being born into the Gospel and they didn't. They don't have that knowledge. some people are just waiting for the truth. How incredible the Gospel is, and how important it is for us to share it with others. It's like the talents or whatever, the person who hides his doesn't get anymore or something? I don't remember the whole thing, just the jist, but what I do remember is that if we're given soemthing, we should share it with everyone that we can! Some people don't want it, but some really do. You can just tell! The gift of the Holy Ghost is real, and when we testify we are giving the nonmember the power of the Holy Ghost, which gives them a testimony of Jesus Christ. Read it in Bible Dictionary, "the Holy Ghost". It's awesome. I didn't realize that there are two different things. I knew, but not really. AHH!!! SO COOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

     I love each and every last one of you, and I hope that yall are doing so great!!!

     Write me! I leave in 3 weeks from yesterday! June 18th I'm shippin out to Lyon! Well..we'll get there on Dad's birthday, June 19th. (dad, I think someone's pulling a lot of jokes on you..first my mission call to France, now I get there on your birthday? Haha. Start lovin' some frenchies or I'll be married to one soon! ;-) )

Love always,

devano (Sister Gardner)

May 22, 2012 - MTC

Bonjour, ma famille!!

     How art thou? Oh man, so I have quoted "oh brother, where art thou?" like 5 times since being here, and NO ONE knows what I'm talking about!!!!! It's the worst!!!!!!!! Because they're good quotes!!!!!!! Oh goodness. Someone will be like, "Oh, well, I wrote it in the letter" and I'd be like, "Well I ain't got no letter/radio" in that accent and they'll just look at me weird. It kind of sucks. My old district leader, Elder Call (it switched just this week to his companion, Elder Gruber. They switch it halfway through the time spent in the mtc; I don't know why. He was the best district leader ever!! Sooo sweet and just wanting to make others happy. Sooo hilarious. Pretty dang naive, too, but not too much I guess.) Always knows what I'm quoting, but alas, he's never seen the movie. Which is weird cause he would really like it. So even my movie-quoting friend here doesn't know it. Dissapointing. But we DO quote Madagascar and Madagascar 2 together! So hilarous. He is one crazzzzzzzzy amazing piano player. Like you give him a few notes and he'll create a song. Or you give him a tune and a minute and he'll recreate the song you were humming. Ex: Lord of the Rings. Uh-may-zzzzing. Sundays after dinner we all as a district go to a room and have music time. The best time to chill and have fun.

     So! We went to San Fran. It was pretty exciting, waking up at 4:15 to be at the travel office at 5 and at the airport at 6:30 with a flight that left initially at 8:30 but got pushed back to 10. And I was the group leader, of the 6 elders, and my comp. Lame. So I was given this packet that had a piece of paper rubberbanded to the front. It was the funniest thing (it may have also been so funny because I was tired), because the paper seriously resembled stuff you see on the movies for secret agents and stuff. Example: the paper said:

"Sister Gardner, In the packet you will find passports, visa information, a cell phone....etc etc....When you arrive at the airport, call 2034029332. Ask for the blahblahblah and tell them we are the private group. The name of the group is Mormon Travel."

It was just super sketch sounding and I was laughing so hard reading it. The end it even said "Good Luck". Hahahaha. Still makes me smile.

     So the elders started out by being really smart at the airport and, for breakfast, mind you, got huge Cafe Rio burritos covered in hot sauce. Yeah. I got a tortilla and some chips and salsa to share with my collegue (what we call our companions in french. Best not to call them our "companions"..I think you understand why) and we didn't even finish it. In fact, I gave the rest of the bag of chips, which was a lot, to this random guy at the food court and took the rest of the tortilla with me for a snack on the plane. A few of the elders couldn't keep in their breakfast and had to go to the bathroom for quite a while. There was me, Soeur Harris, Elder Gruber and Elder Hilburn (both in my district), Elder Truman (from St George and super cocky but kind of funny..I can't decide), Elder Harris, Elder Johnson, and another Elder that I can't remember his name. I'm terrible. Anyway, these other Elders were from a district that's only guys and by the end of the longest day ever we were verrrrrrry glad we had our Elders. They're just such good Elders!!! All of them are going to Lyon except E. Nomaaea and E. Davis. Umm...anyway, so we watch their stuff for over an hour while they walked around the Salt Lake Airport. I honestly have no idea what would be fun about that, but whatev. When we got to San Fran I called the travel people, we got a van, we went to the french whatever even though we knew it would be closed for their lunch break but did it anyway because the lady in Provo told me to after I told her it would be closed, went to lunch with Elder Hilburn's parents (his parents were already in San Fran for their anniversary) and they were so nice and paid for all of us!! geez, right? cray crayy. ;-) Anyway, so then we went back, got photos and fingerprinted, then we talked to the security guards while we were waiting for the others. I asked them if they went to church, and one of them was muslim and very religious (he was from Sudan I think. He looked kind of like Jafar from Aladdin but with the genie body. lol. No I was not attracted to him, I just thought that would be the best way to describe him) and the other didn't really go to church (he was born in Guatemala but raised in the states). I got this super overwhelming feeling that we needed to talk to the second guy about the church, so after trying to get the elders to talk to him about the gospel (they were just having casual convo without inviting him or testifying or anything!! I was a little annoyed), I got up and went over to where he was standing and began asking him what he wanted to know, and then gave him a brief explanation of our religion, that we believe that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and that we believe that it goes along with the Bible, that we believe in Jesus Christ and that he is a huge part of our religion and other stuff, then I bore my testimony and promised him that if he looked into the church and prayed (we gave him a pass along card) he would recieve blessings and he could be with his family forever and that he would recieve an answer to his prayer. He looked sooooo interested!!!!!!!!!! He was like, "wow, yeah I will look into it! I'm really interested in learning more" GOLDEN! So he I went and sat back down for a bit, then we left and when we were walking out the second man was shaking our hands as we left, saying thank you, and when he got to me he took both of my hands in his and said, "Really. Thank you." and I just smiled and it was crazy and oh mannnnnn the church is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He had the light of Christ in his eyes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really hope and pray that he looks into the church because it really will bless him soooo much!! I wish I could have taught him the lessons and made him that much happier and I can't wait to do that in less than a month in France!!

     Oh man. So..last Wednesday was our half-way mark and sunday we had a little party with some of the people from the zone with some brownies Sis Hurrell's mom ordered for her earlier in the week. I am getting to the point where I feel like I'm plateauing and so I'm trying to push myself even harder!!!!! It's so important! AHHH! I only have 4 (?) weeks left to learn this stuff and have it down before teaching and speaking only in the language! AHHH!! So I'm trying, along with the district, to speak french a LOT more then we have been (we are the best in the zone; no lie. so we're trying to keep improving instead of slowing down). I'm getting alright in it; it's so exciting looking back a month ago and seeing how much more I can speak!! The gift of tongues is real. It's sooooooo freaking real. Ha, Elder Nomaaea is rubbing off on me; he says freaking all the time! Like..way more than I have ever said that. Luckily you can't really say freaking in french. Ha

     I love my Elders so much. They're just an amazing group of Elders and they make me so happy. I know that Heavenly Father put us all together for a reason, so we can bless and strengthen one another and I can truly testify that they bless and strengthen me! So a few weeks ago I got an eye infection, and after a day or two it went away, then I got it again a week later but in the other eye (it didn't itch, it kind of hurt a little when I put pressure on the lid near the tear duct, dad), and I had gone in to the health center and they gave me some eye drops that I don't have the name of on me(sorry, dad), but I used it as often as I was suppose to and wearing my glasses which was super annoying because they're crazy thick, and it wasn't getting much better, so Sunday I had Elder Call and Elder Gruber give me a blessing. It was so cute because I asked Elder Gruber if he and Elder Call could do that and he was like, yeah, yeah, okay that would be great, then they went into a room for like 20-30 min and I guess planned what they were going to do or something; I have no idea. But they finally came out and asked if I was ready and I was like, are you ready?? And so Elder Gruber blessed the oil and Elder Call gave me the blessing and it was just so touching how much they cared about doing it perfectly (it was the first healing blessing Elder Call has given) and I think it helped all of us, not just me.

     So by that night my eye was doing much better, and by the next day it was gone! Gone!!!! G-O-N-E!!

I know that the Holy Ghost is real and that the Priesthood has been restored on the Earth again. I never recognized how important the Priesthood was until this last week, like I knew what it was and what it could do, but not really. The Priesthood connects us to our Heavenly Father. Without the priesthood, we couldn't baptize, we couldn't recieve blessings, we couldn't do anything. The Temple would cease to be a Temple of God. I know that Heavenly Father hears everyone's prayers, no matter where they are, physically or spiritually. I know that He loves us and knows us individually. He knows our strengths and our weaknesses. He knows how He can bless us, even if it's from a trial. Trials can help us build our faith if we choose to rely on Him. That's what I Iearned this week with my eye being all crazy. I realized that I wasn't being as sensitive to what I was asking for in my prayers and I really had to humble myself and give all that I had to Him. I gave two of the best Elders in the MTC the opportunity to strengthen me and themselves through my own trial.

     I love this gospel and I am so proud to call myself a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

     J'aime l'Evangile retabli et je suis tres heureux pour moi etre(wrong) un missionare de l'Eglise de Jesus-Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours!!

     I'm sorry I dont have much time to finish this, but I plan on writing everyone back who wrote me!! Thanks for the letters, everyone!

Shelb- I got yours! wooo!!!

Mom-what is the Jones' address? I sent them a letter and it came back to me!

I love you all and I hope that you will remember that our Heavenly Father loves you soooo much.

Love always,

devano

- Sœur Gardner

May 15, 2012 - MTC

     This computer is SO STUPIDDDDDDDD. I started writing this email and it shut me off then wouldn't let me on. and I tried it with four different computers. Then a worker came in and told my companion and I that we couldn't be on the computers in our preparation day clothes. I'm kind of reallly peeved right now. Anyway. So this is my letter..hopefully it goes through this time.

     And I'd really appreciate hearing from people. "Air boxes" more than once a week sort of suck when we're studying all day and get our mail at 9:25pm (air boxes=when no one gets any mail all day). As Sister Harris says, ANY mail is like gold. I guess it makes it easier writing people back when you have a min amount of people to write. I'm kind of cranky, I just woke up from a nap and had to change computers three times to get one to work, then it shut me off! So. Here we go.

     So tomorrow we go to San Fransisco!!!!!!! We plan on wearing flowers in our hair (*bud-um CHING*!) They gave us ten whole dollars to travel with and buy ourselves three meals! haha. At the airport.. that would get you a sandwich. Luckily I have money (thanks to mom and her letter! :-) ) We're leaving at 5am and will be back around 8-9pm the same day, so quick trip! Yep, dad, the same day! I wonder how that'll be. Pretty crazy, I'd assume. So lately I've been doing well. Very roller coaster-y. We teach my teachers, Frère Lapretre and Frère Wilcox. Frère Wilcox plays the part of an investigator he had who agreed to baptism the first lesson; his name is "Jean-Paul". We have him committed to baptism and we're teaching him about the commandments. Frère lapretre plays himself 6 years ago (we call him by his first name, Eric, while teaching), before he joined the church. Mind you, he's the hardest investigator because he asks questions about EVERYTHING. He investigated the church for 2 years! So in one lesson we were talking about the atonement and I began telling him about Eric and how losing a cousin was really hard and how I know that Heavenly Father had His son die for us and how I couldn't imagine doing that and I just started sobbing! It was so out of control. I felt embarrassed because we were teaching a lesson and I got super emotional over Eric and couldn't stop for a few minutes! Frère LaPretre broke from his character and was like, "Do you want to talk about it?" and I was like, "Désolé! Non! Non!" (sorry! no! no!) Oh man. But yeah. I felt that it wasn't inappropriate...but it kind of was. Anyway, we didn't get everything accomplished at all during that lesson in my mind because everything else that I was planning on saying just slipped out of my mind and I was focusing on pulling myself together. So afterward he gave us feedback and I was trying to talk to him and was just not doing well controlling myself and he was like, "Are you okay?' and almost gave me a hug, like had his arms out and was walking toward me and I just stood there, then he remembered I was a missionary and just rubbed my arm sympathetically for a little bit. haha. Geez the MTC can do all sorts of things to you. So that was a lesson ago, and we had another lesson yesterday with him and it went SO WELL!! We had an object lesson regarding the Fall and Adam and Eve. We had him lay on his back and do the motions you do for a pushup, and asked him how many he would have to do to become strong, then had him do real pushups and asked him why they were different and he said because there's resistance and we were like, exactly! With the Fall of Adam and Eve we have opposition in all things! After the lesson during our feedback he said that we did really well and that he enjoyed the object lesson. The next lesson on Thursday we're going to have him wear a backpack full of rocks during the whole lesson. Our lesson with him are becoming his exercise time also. haha. We collected rocks today and had a pretty good time doing so.

     When we taught at the TRC this last week, Sœur Harris and I had to teach this guy who was like a grammar freak. Seriously. He would fix everything that was said if it wasn't correct, and for me it wasn't correct. So every time I said something, he corrected me. Eventually after he would correct me I was just like, "Oui" and continue instead of re-stating my sentence. That was annoying. I cut half of what I was going to say because I was so annoyed. I need to practice patience.

     I have a friend, Elder Wilson who is taught by my friend from before the mission, Pat! He teaches Fijian, and I have become friends with Elder Wilson because we were partners in a workshop together a week or two ago and because I visit with him in the hall when my comp is in the bathroom (his classroom is across from the bathroom). He's leaving Thursday, and it's the first person to leave the MTC (other then people I already knew like Alison and Alex) that I'm actually sad about leaving!

     So we got a picture back from when the ambassador and his son came and I'm standing next to the ambassador and am in my grey suit jacket and everyone else is wearing black and my elders (my district elders) were saying like I look like his young beautiful wife. Eghhh. lol. So gross. I think I'll send it to y'all but I may just keep it in my journal cause I had the district sign it. Nah. I think I'll send it to y'all. Just keep it in safe keeping, cause it's a good photo of us (minus me looking like an old guys young wife) and our teacher Frère Lapretre is in it also!

     Court, I got your letter!! Sounds like having two kids is twice as hard as having one. Haha. Go figure. I called it! I knew Asa would be jealous of Tyler. Poor Tyler!! He's only four weeks and already getting beat up by his older brother?? Sad day. I don't mind you sending me shorter letters; better than nothing! Court, you're so hardcore. I hope I'm as good of a mom as you are when I have babies. (IF I have babies after all the gross stuff you've told me about pregnancies and giving birth..lol.)

     Ant-I'm just lovin your weather reports and updates on the baby (Isaac? What name??) and poor Angie. I'm sorry for your discomfort, Angie!!! Hopefully that baby comes out soon so you can be feeling better!

     Ben- your letter was so great. I loved it. In fact, I have it in my bag and have read it probably three times. And I read parts of it out loud to my roommates cause I thought it was funny. In fact, I read parts of everyones letters out loud! Not the personal stuff, just the funny stuff. It's great. I loooove it.

     Shelby- Why haven't I heard from you?? There's a sister who's one of my roommates, Sœur Lucas, who is Guatamalan and reminds me so much of you because she's a little reserved and is your height and your hair and skin color and looks sort of like you..so I have a soft spot for her. haha. Write me. This is an order, not a suggestion. Thanks, shelbywoo.

     dad- I got your letter and I love it also. And I could totally read it! AND that thing that you always say, "Expect the worst and hope for the best and take whatever comes" or something like that, I have said that like 4 times already being out here. Everytime we're preparing a lesson (daily) I think this. Crazy how it helps me prepare, having this mindset.

     mom- I'm sorry I couldn't call, but I hope you enjoyed the photos!! And the jacket thing! I really appreciated the three little cards and laughed so hard at the man/woman that Monet painted and how you were like, geez, at least Monet could have put a hat on her to make her look more like a woman! lol. So Good.

     Nancy- You are such a sweetheart for sending me all of those cute postcards!!! I love them!

     The Jones'-  Thanks for the lovely card!!! And I'm keeping you in my prayers, Susan!

     Well, this week has been so long/gone by so fast. The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days, as people here say. And it's so true.

     I've been playing sand volleyball during "sport" (what aussies call athletic/exercise time) and it's been so fun! I've become closer with a lot of Elders in the zone, which is important to me because a lot of them are going to Lyon also and they might end up being a leader over me! ha

     In two weeks we're having 49 new missionaries coming in to our zone! HOLY MOLEY! This is a ridiculous amount. When I came in, there were maybe 25. So we're preparing for a bunch of new missionaries.

     This is my fourth week here! On Wednesday I think it's the beginning of my fifth week? I don't even know. ahhh. Time flies. I was sort of slacking last week because I just got sooo tired!! But this week I gave myself a pep talk and know that I need to work harder to reach my goals. (Frère Lapretre is rubbing off on me!! He's a goals-freak. haha) But seriously!! I'm studyin studyin studyin and I'm praying that it will come up in my mind when I teach lessons! I love this gospel and I am so grateful to be serving a mission!!!! I get so happy thinking that in a month I get to go out and preach the gospel to everyone!!! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and that He has a plan for us to be happy; happier than we could ever be without it. I love this gospel and I love you guys. I love this country, I love France, I love Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ for dying so that I can return to live with Him again. The Atonement is real. We can be clean and pure even if we've done bad things.

     I love you, family, and I pray for you in all of my prayers..which are a LOT.

     Thank you to everyone who has written me! I love the letters!!

I love you all,

Sœur Devan Gardner

May 8 Email

guess who's back! back again!

ha. I dont even know that song, only that line. or two lines. whatever. anywho. Guess who just met the Dominican Republic Ambassador and his son, Carlos, jr? THIS GIRL! or..sister!! ha. Yeah, my teacher is amazing and they were giving him a tour of the mtc and we were the "chosen ones". (*toy story reference, anyone?*) It was pretttty crazy. lots of guns and burgers. lol, jk. no guns. or burgers. Now I don't know why I was so excited.. haha. so that just happened and we met Richard Hinckley, Gordon B. Hinckley's son! he was nice. so they just asked us who we were and where we were from, then sat in class with us for 5 min while f. lapretre spoke french to us and acted like we knew everything he was saying. we went over the lesson last night. :) so that's what went down literally 30 min ago. I wore my suit jacket and they took a few photgraphs of us so it may be in the church news, im not sure.

so next wednesday I'm going to san fransisco to get my visa for france!! we have to all go out there to get a finger print or something stupid but hey, I get outta the mtc for a whole day!! Not that the mtc is bad, but being in any consolidated place for over 2 weeks is a little crazy, and I've been here for at least 20 days...cabin fever! (*yeahh!*) lol. umm..yeah so I just got that letter. Me and most of my district is going out there. ahhhhhh my district is AWESOME. I love them. even the annoying, negative ones because they can be really fun and positive sometimes! i think out of all of the districts in my branch (the french speakers), we are the most united. we seriously are crazy. literally. insane. ;-) nah, we just have cabin fever sometimes, i think. pour l'example:

yesterday night we got mail. sounds regular, right? not in our classroom. we were first joking about how we would ask carlos jr for a burger or tell him we're his biggest fan, then we began (we mainly being the elders with me adding in and sis harris just shaking her head and at times laughing) saying that the ambassador would walk in and we are sacrificing our smallest elder (who is coincidentally also the only foreigner-he's canadian. yep, lots of canada jokes. lol) and begin chanting "the field is white and ready to harvest!". I said we should chant it en francais. lol. this is what we do for fun. and when our brains begin feeling like they're mush. I can't spell any english words very well anymore, so sorry to people I write handwritten letters to. i can't get french yet I'm losing my english! blah. anyway! so after we finish joking about that and chanting and circling the canadian and elder call and elder gruber, we (btw, this is mainly alll done by the elders. I just laugh and join in, and sis harris joined in on the chanting and circling thing also) began making up some weird song that the guys had already started, which circles around "saturday night" to a made up tune. It's a little on the broadway side..anyway, so elder call, our d.l stands on a chair and begins tossing letters to people while chanting and yeah..people in our hall were standing in the door recording us.. hahaha. oh geez.

So I love our elders. as weird as they are..I think they're hilarious. 90% of the time.

So french is going alright! I have learned sooo much in the past 20 days! seriously! We can give lessons en francais without notes and I don't have to flip out and study every sentence that i want to say; I just think about it and know the jist of what I want to say and learn the verbs! geeez lou-eez the gift of tongues is realllll. oh yeah, over a week ago sis roney woke up early and heard me reciting "our purpose" en francais in my sleep!! lol. yeah, I study hard. So hard I take it into my dreams, apparently. I love french; It's so beautiful! It's hard sometimes, but I just try to relate it to english and the way it's laid out majority of the time, then I begin understanding it.

My teachers are great! Frere LaPretre is a get-down-to-business sort of guy who works the crap out of us until we are almost in tears..then builds us up. well..he's not as hard on the sisters most of the time, but he expects more out of us than we do, so we get pushed pretty far. I love it, though. It's weird. Even though at times I fall on my face and feel like dying, I realize that I learned more than I would have if I hadn't of done that. C'est tres interresant(e?)! Our other teacher, Brother Wilcox, is from Colorado/California and is totally chill. I mean, he still expects us to learn and work hard, but he's a LOT easier on us. It's funny how it balances out so well. We are probably..no, we are the best district in the branch. that sounds cocky, but I'm just trying to give you an idea of how hard we work and how hard the push us. and I'm not that good, either, we just have been pushed since the beginning. It's hard!! hard like I try to wake up extra early to study BEFORE personal study!!! It's ridiculous.

Dad-I miss you, too! Things are going great here, as you may have read, and I'm doing really well. As long as I don't think about not being home for a while I am totally fine, plus I've been gone from home for long periods of time before so I guess it just hasn't hit me or something. some of these poor elders have never been away from home before so they get homesick. It's sad. so I'm doing great, don't worry about me. I'm saying that even though I know you still will because you're my dad. :) and regarding the sunglasses? hmm..well I would like sunglasses because we walk up to the temple twice a week and it's super bright, but my sunglasses aren't the best and they have scratches on the lenses so just leave em there. Thanks, though! oh, and another way of saying bye in french is "a bientot!" which means "see you later!", or the classic "au revoir" which means "bye!"

Ant- I LOVE the weather!! it just makes my day!! And I laughed so hard when you were like, speaking of babies,... in your dearelder. lol. so good. Oh and btw, funny you should bring up eric in your letter. On saturday evening, I don't know why, I began thinking about him and played "come, come ye saints" a million times on lds.org during our french computer thing. I got this super good feeling and just began writing in my journal and bore my testimony and I will again, that I know that eric is in an amazing place is so incredibly happy. The plan of Salvation is real; God loves us so He has a plan to bring us happiness, that's why we also call it the plan of Happiness!! I can't wait to go out and let people know how they can be happy and why they're here on earth. I dont know what I would do without the Church. My teacher, frere lapretre was kind of athiest before he joined the church, and so he is one tf the "investigators" we teach and he acts the way he did before he joined the church. he was investigating for 3 years. yeahhhh. so it's hard and he asks a LOT of questions and it's sooo hard. But I've learned from this that you're not teaching lessons, you're teaching people with lives and with family, with concerns and emotions that you can't just teach from a book and expect them to follow along. it's crazy how much I learn from each "lesson" with him.

Mom- (and dad), thanks so much for the cupcakes!! My roommates say thanks, also! we had a party last night with them and it was fun. and I'm so sorry to hear about grandma! Is she doing better? I'll keep her in my prayers and tell others too, also.

Court-send me pictures of your baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ben-thanks for the postcard! It was wonderful. :) send me more about you!!

shelb- wtw (what the what)?! why no talk? :( I feel excluded.

claire- I got both of your dearelders and I'm soooooooooo excited for you/super jealous that you and aud will be in the mtc together!!!! I sent you a letter to singapore last week, so..i have no clue when you should be getting it. lol.

aud white-write me!!!!!!!! I haven't heard from you! no bueno!!! yes, that was spanish. i'm reaching out.

mads- i miss you and your strange humor that corresponds with mine.

nancy!!- thanks so much for the postcard! I love it!! c'est tres beau!!!!! I have it on the ceiling of my bunkbed along with ben's postcard. :)

AND TO EVERYONE ELSE: I love letters. any kind. dear elders come the same day, so that is seriously great. I love hearing from everyone!!!!!! so please!!!!! It makes me super happy at the end of a long day hittin the books.

The church is true. I am so proud to be on a mission and have the ability to preach the gospel to those in search of the truth. How important it is for us to recognize who we are, what we're here for, and where we're going. I love knowing the Truth and having the gospel in my life. We all can invite others to come unto Christ, you don't need a nametag (though it helps). Faith in Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. This is my purpose; to teach these things to others and help them return to our Heavenly Father. I LOVE THISSSSS.

Love you all and pray for you at every meal and every morning and night.

Love with all my heart,

devano (soeur gardner)

Second email on May 1

oh yeah, I've been called as the coordinating sister in our zone. haha. basically i'm in charge of making sure the sisters in our zone are doing alright and Im the only girl in the branch council meetings! i would. lol

May 1 Email

     I'm back!!

     So every tuesday we have preparation day, which is when we go to the temple at 9:15, email, write letters, do laundry, etc. at 7 we have a devotional where usually an Apostle comes and speaks. yayuhh. last week Soeur Harris and I sang in the choir that performed before M. Russell Nelson Spoke. crazy, huh? umm..so yeah. things are flying by, now. And now we have two teachers, one in the morning, Brother Wilcox, and one in the evening, Frere LaPretre. It's so weird being taught by guys literally younger than your sister/brothers. Bro Wilcox just turned 23 and LaPretre is 25. So I guess the same age as Court. anyway, so we've been learning sooooooo much my mind doesn't feel compatable to fit all of the information that I throw at it! We've been having to teach lessons without notes to our teachers who are our "investigators". It's hard. yesterday I made Frere LaPretre and my companion laugh during the lesson because I tried to say "We want to teach you about the Spirit". Basically no one knows what I said. lol.. it was embarrassing. Especially since I got Frere LaPretre to fall out of character. lol. But whatevs, that's what I'm here for, right? To fail until I succeed. Heavenly Father really does listen to prayers. I don't think I would have stuck it out and stayed at the MTC if it weren't for my testimony. Geez it's HARD!!! I seriously have never studied so much in my entire life. Your whole day is planned out to a T, then you barely get sleep and I've been trying to wake up earlier than I already was waking up so I can study more!! ahhhhhh!!!! It's so worth it, though. It's weird, because I'll be like, this...sucks. I have been spending all my time studying and studying and studying just to embarrass myself?? but then you get these huge pumps of the Spirit and I get super excited and I'm like, guys, this is happening! (*reference to madeline rupard! and the other ladies. love yall!!*) and then I go on and am like, we get to go out and preach the gospel and change peoples' lives and make them so happy!!!!! It's weird the roller coaster I'm on. lol. but yeah, it's cool. majority of the time I'm just loving it, only a few times a week I get discouraged a little, then I remember that Satan is behind those feelings and I throw myself back into gear. That's really important, to stay happy and to just have faith that Heavenly Father is looking out for you. If you're having trials(ME), it's for a purpose. He loves us and won't give us anything we can't handle if we've been doing what we should be..and I'm pretty sure I'm where I'm suppose to be, doing what I'm suppose to do. :)

     I know that I was called to serve a mission for a purpose, and I am so grateful for the love that our Heavenly Father has for us. I know that He sent His son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, to atone for our sins. How little we are, yet how much we matter to Him! I'm grateful every day for the things that I've been blessed with; to be blessed with a loving family who makes me laugh all the time (I love fun things in letters that make me laugh!!), I'm blessed with wonderful friends who deal with my weird personality and love me for it, and I am blessed with a loving Heavenly Father who forgives me for all the things that I've done wrong and I can't even pay him back, no matter what I do. The least I can do is give up eighteen months of my life to serve Him! I have a testimony that all the things that I've said are true, and that everyone can come to recognize these things if they pray and ask Him.

Once again, I love getting letters! Dearelders are great cause we get them THAT DAY, and of course snail mail is awesome. I can't send you a letter back unless you send me your address (Court and Ben and Ant!!!!)!!!!!!!!!!! So please, send me your addresses. And I need addresses for my friends on missions! I forgot to get them before I left. So much to do and so little time.

     Mom-the shoes are a little big, so I think I'll get some thing to put on the end of them or something..you could send me something if you'd like? haha. And hte skirt fits great! The slit is a little bit too high, but I'll fix it up today. umm...Oh, and I lovvvvve the chocolate and gum!! They don't sell gum here. I was talking to some of the elders, and we were joking about how gum packs are like cigarettes in prison. hahaha. I was like, I brought 3 packs in with me and my mom just sent me 4 more packs! hahaha. so dummmmmb but hilarious. it's weird how long I've been here..cabin fever! yeaaaaaah!

     The food isn't THAT bad, but it's not good. haha. 1 out of 10..4. and you have to watch what you choose; I avoid creams of any kind. that just is a no. and mexican food? ha. yeah right. well...I think that's it. I got the Woods' letter! that was so nice of them! Tell them that I said thank you sooo much!!!!

      So what I'd like right now are letters and prayers!! Haha. Speaking another language is kind of hard. ;-)

      I love you all and I pray for you all the time!!

Love always,

Soeur (devan) Gardner

P.s: I've been messing up so much with saying my first name this week!!!!!! It's bad. haha

Email on April 24, 2012

The last post was a transcription of a handwritten letter we received yesterday. Today Devan got to write the family an email, which she has specifically asked to be posted to the blog. 

Bonjour, ma famille!

     Yes, I am alive. Barely. jk. Haha. It's not too bad here, but it's super difficult. We are studying like...all the time. And when we're not studying? Ha. We're always studying; that's non-existent. Anyway, things are going well here! My companion's name is Soeur Harris. She is from Portland and is in the Beaverton Ward. Her dad is bishop, so..was he y'all's bishop, Court, Nate and Asa? Umm..oh, post this on my blog, please, ant.
     So things are cRaZy HERE!!!! We are being taught to teach with the Spirit (as dad said in his last dearelder letter) (BTW I love getting letters, including dearelder.com ones. Better than nothing!!) and how to speak en francais. It's insane; I know how to bear my testimony already in french and almost pray completely without notes. I was called on yesterday in my district to give the spiritual thought before class, and I was like, oh okay! "En anglais?" and my teacher, Frère LaPretre (ant, say THAT in french! he says if you can say his name correctly you can learn to speak french. haha) was like, "Non! en francais!" and I was like, "Umm..que?" Haha. It was bad. But not. He told me I could do a scripture, so I did Alma 32:21 and then said that having faith was very important and that through having faith you can know that the church is true or something; I don't really remember because I said it so slowly. Haha. But yeah, then I bore my testimony that I know that the Book of Mormon is true and the gospel is true and I think I said that the prophet was the true prophet on the earth today. Yeah, I can say that en francais. Booyah!
     Not really; Heavenly Father is blessing me so much with this language. I can't even begin to tell you. I'm obviously struggling a lot with it, but I would barely be saying "I believe" en francais if it weren't for His help. It's crazy how being here you feel the Spirit everywhere. That's what they really try to tattoo into your brain; teaching with the Spirit can change lives, not your perfect french. Frère LaPretre is a convert; when he was 20 he said the missionaries came to him and the missionary who barely could speak french made the biggest influence on him because he taught with the Spirit and with his heart. I thought and think still that that is the coolest thing. Teaching with your heart really makes an impact on the people you teach. Knowing the french language will definitely help you out with everything, but if you are scared of not knowing anything when you go out, as long as you have the Spirit with you and you love the people you meet and teach, you'll make an impact on them.
     I love knowing the Gospel and I am so glad that I grew up in a home with the Spirit. Yeah, it wasn't perfect, but it was enough to influence me and help me to become the person that I am today and who I"m trying to become. This work is so difficult; I want to cry every afternoon (when I'm most tired) because I don't understand what my teachers are saying or I can't memorize something, but it all works out. You have to have faith that Heavenly Father will help you in all situations, and that's what I'm learning to do. I can't doubt myself; doubting comes from bad spirits. That won't help me and it won't make me feel good about myself. All I can do is KNOW that Heavenly Father will bless me for doing His work and that he will give me the gift of tongues. Please pray for me and for the gift of tongues; I need it. I am terrible at memorizing, which I'm sure y'all know, so I am trying so hardddd to memorize and memorize quickly, which almost feels like it's not enough, but I know that with the Spirit and with my hard work anything is possible as long as I have faith.

     Ahhh things are insane here! I live with 5 other girls in the residence halls and they're all great. 2 are from Australia and 1 is from Guatamala. She is learning french and english! Poor girl. The girl who sleeps on the top bunk of my bunk is Soeur Roney; yes, my mission president's daughter. Crazy, right? She's going to the Paris Mission! She's really nice and she says that her dad is really silly and wants his missionaries to have fun and laugh and be real people..which I'm excited for. Haha. I'm trying to keep the personality I have in my french; right now it's really difficult but it's slowly coming. I only have 30 min to be on the internet to email, so send me dearelders the day before (my p-day is Tuesday!)  and I'll try to respond to y'all's letters in the email and handwritten letters. Oh, I sent my address to the family. I hope y'all have gotten it. Post it on the blog and facebook? Thanks!

     By the way, mom, I did see Elder Holland! I've seen him probably five times. He says thanks for the package and that he was really confused when he first got it because it was from us but had stuff from home in it. Lol. He has meals an hour before me, so I don't usually see him at that time. Ahhhh five minutes!! Umm...Well if you guys find any cute flats, please send me some. My feet. Blah. Everyone is wearing cute flats here, well, almost everyone. It's weird. Not very practical for being out in the field, but practical for the MTC. But I have everything else I could think of...oh! Dry mangos! Who knew they were so good?! If you would like to send me some..that would be alright. ;-)

     So my companion is really fun, kind of quiet, and it took a while to get her out of her shell. She does speak french; she took the RM BYU class for a few days but got out of it because it was too much work and she wasn't majoring in it. She graduated last August from BYU and lived in Seattle working for a nonprofit organization. Yeah, one of those girls. ;-) jk, she's nice, kind of quiet at times, but I think she's getting use to me. Lol.

     Anyway, I love you all. I hope that this makes you feel good that I"m doing well. The food is not the best, but I just stay away from sauces and strange meat. Haha. Salads galor, basically.

     Please let everyone know that I"m doing great, and tell them to write me! I love letters. The guys in my district are really nice, btw. Elder Call is our district leader and he has the most expressionistic face!! It's hilarious. Anywho.

Love you guys. I want to see photos of the baby!!

Love from the empty sea (dad),

Soeur Gardner (devano)

April 20, 2012

Ma famille-

     Hey! I'm alive!! Haha. Yeah. So... When Mom & Dad left I went and got all of my things, saw my friend Alison Jones (now Sœur Jones), spent time with her last night when I was unpacking...she is right next door to me! Trés fou!
     My (one of) teacher is from Paris and served his mission in the Geneva Mission! Ha! Any who, my companion's name is Sœur Harris & she's from Portland in the Beaverton Ward! She's 23, just graduated from BYU in August, and knows a little French. More than me! She's really nice and cool, so I'm following her around everywhere. Lol. C'est amusant. I haven't really gotten French down yet...but I know more than I did when I got here! It feels like I've been here for at least a week and it's not even been 2 full days. Insane.
     We met our districts today and they're nice. Wait...zone? I don't know, it's so confusing!! Anyway, we had to all get up and bear our testimonies. That was cool.
     Tomorrow Sœur Harris et moi have to teach a discussion to an "investigator". In French. :-/ (<--- All of the missionaries) But I have faith that the language part will come as I'm willing to give up control and let the "Holy Spirit Guide". I love you ALL (especially le petit bébé Tyler! Give him a kiss for me & tell him about me all the time!) and the church is so true it's INSANE.

Love you with all my heart,
Devan Sœur Gardner