February 26, 2013 - Grenoble, France

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

fam-

this will be even SHORTER then last weeks!! and for that I am sorry. But I have a little bit sick, so I dont have the most energy to write a long email. 

so grenoble is awesome and beautiful and the people are nice. We have 2 amis with a date for baptism, and they are dan who is chinese and we teach him in english (his date is solid for the 16 of march) and vaber, who is from cote d'ivoire originally but is married to a french woman and they have 3 kids. she actually hates the church (not for any real reason), so we are working with him getting permission from her (since we arent going to tear apart their family) and also helping him to quit smoking with the program dad sent me! we have to translate it into french for him, but we explained it to him on friday and he started saturday and is doing good, so he says! 

lets see.. and my district is awesome!!!!!!! it has elder foote (friends with his sister, Jenny from byu and he is a transfer younger then me and we became friends in the mtc and served in the same zone for a few transfers), elder loeura (same transfer as me! we came in together and we were in the same district my first two transfers!) and he is spanish speaking in grenoble with elder sanchez, then elder GRUBER!!! I LOVE elder gruber!!! he was, if you dont remember, in my district in the mtc, and we have been in each others zones every transfer since we have been out minus 2, and now we are in the same district! SO stoked. but yeah. they are great. and I LOVE my companion. She is just so fun and a great missionary. We get along really well. She goes to byu, also! hollah!! Well, I should go, but  I will send you a picture of what its like in grenoble. Its not like this all the time, jk. But yesterday...yes. and saturday. brrrrr! 

Love yall and the church is SOOO TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!

love always,

devaneaux

the weather when it was "unusually warm". the mountains looked sooo good i dont know if you can tell, though.

February 19, 2013 - Grenoble, France

en avant, En Avant, EN AVANT!!!

Bonjour, ma famille!!!

So as I said yesterday, I am in Grenoble!!! Which I have been told is the number one place to ski in France! Sooooo I'm going skiing next pday!!! haha, jk. But it actually is not very cold... like about Provo on a not too cold winter day. But my comp, Soeur Addis says that its unusually warm; lets hope it stays that way. Cause we all know I'm a baby in the cold. But hey! Now I have served in the Pyrenées, côte d'azur, and the french alps!!! Heavenly Father loves me SO MUCH!!!!!! I think he definitely knows how much I appreciate the beauty of these places. The Alps are beautiful!!!!!!!!! And I'm not even totally immersed in them! Well..I kind of am. We are in a "bowl", surrounded by them. It's...pretty cool. I hope I get to be here for the spring!!! Considering that I was only in Nice for 2 transfers!! That is super short for a sister missionary. Usually we stay places about 3 transfers. But this is where I'm suppose to be now! 

But back in Nice, we had the BAPTISM OF SARAH!!!!!!!!!!! HOLLAH!!!!!!!!!!! She DID IT!!! She got baptized!! And she asked me to give the talk on baptism at her baptism, and it was great getting to share with her and everyone the importance of baptism and the promise that you're making with Heavenly Father, and that its a commitment for life! "We can't quit and we can't go back", as Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said in the talk "The First and Great Commandment". I actually shared a paragraph from that talk for her, the part about us having neighbors to help and such, that discipleship is for life. You should read it!!! FHE!!!! Mom and dad, court nate and those kids, ant angie shelb and that baby(!), and ben and your roommates. haha. But seriously! What a great talk. I read it often to remind myself of how much I need to work on and continue progressing!

That is one thing that I have come to love more and more on the mission, that we are here to progress. That seems like an insanely obvious statement, but..is it? I think that a lot of times we get into a mind set and we get comfortable doing the same things over and over. But then are we progressing? I guess a little bit if we are doing good things over and over, but we always have room to improve. It's like a muscle; you have to not only continually use the muscle, but if you want to progress in your fitness you need to take it to the next level! You have to run just another lap then the day before, and continue bumping it up, otherwise you're staying the same. No progressiono. (italiano?) So! Maybe you like just running 2 miles a day, okay, but we are talking spiritually here. If you're  planning on running a marathon, you can't just continuously run 2 miles a day and expect to be able to run that whole marathon. In the spiritual sense, your "marathon" is eternal life. You need to progress and continue progressing until you reach the finish line! Eternal life is all about progression, and if we aren't progressing here, then we can't expect to be progressing there. SO many stories that relate to this; the hen making the bread and the other animals not getting their own because they hadn't done their part; the Bible stories! The master giving out the talents and the man with one doing nothing with it, and in return the master taking it from him and giving it to the one who progressed the most! SO many things that remind us to progress and become better, we just need to apply it to our lives, and not just once, but often! Monthly! Weekly! Daily!!! Keep a tally on yourself, give yourself a check. Don't cast your net back on the same side. That will get you no where. 

Okay, enough of that. I LOVE my companion! She is very fun and we get along super well. She dies after next transfer, so she has this transfer and the next, then DEAD! Cray. Oh, dead is mission lingo for going home. haha. sorry. I miss my italian comp, soeur bicchierri!!! But i am so stoked for her because she is training this transfer!!! Lots of crazy things have happened! We had 7 zones, now it just changed to 11!!!!!!!!!! And we have 2 equipes of soeurs now in the Nice appt!!!! cray!!!!!!!!

Alrighty, I love you all so much and I am so grateful for you! You "light up my life". Really though. I talk about yall all the time to my comps and other missionaries. I just tell em that youre the best. It's true! Here's my ADDRESS because I know my family WILL write me because they're the best!! ;) No I'm not manipulating you...! haha

Les Missionnaires

12 Boulevard Marechai Foch

38000 Grenoble

FRANCE

I love yall so much and I know this church is true!!! Keep being the best and share the gospel with your friends!! Family! It's your duty!!!!!!!!

Love always,

devaneaux

February 18, 2013 - Grenoble, France

GUESS WHAT

I got TRANSFERRRRRRED!!!!!!!!!!!!! to Grenoble! I will email tomorrow! check out the weather and tell me! haha
-soeur gardner

February 11, 2013 - Nice, France

If You Could Hie to Kolob

ma famille,

bonjour! I hope you are doing greattt!!!! So many people are asking what I did for my birthday. Well! As always I started on the 4th because it was pday. We(I) went shopping(its the end of soldes! suchhh good sales!!), and the elders in nice and the zls (they were in nice for exchanges) came by our apartment and made me a cake and sang happy birthday(so nice), then we went to have fhe with an english woman in our ward, Donna. I absolutely LOVE her!!!!! She is the coolest and is the best cook! And just really fun to talk to. especially in english! cause we can crack jokes one right after the other and not have to think about conjugations..its nice. So we ate with her and she made the best dinner!! Then tuesday (real birthday) soeur bicchierri went crazy and put little notes saying happy birthday EVERYWHERE. I do not use that word lightly. lol. She put them on my yogurt in the fridge, on the herbal tea, on the remote for the cd player, on the KEYS, in the toilet paper, on the toilet seat! IN THE SHOWER! on my shampoo and conditioner bottles!!!! It was out of control and sooo funny, because it didnt just say happy birthday, it said something like "happy shampoo birthday! dont get it in your eyes!" and "happy toilet birthday!!" hahahaha. and english not being her first language made it even better! it was the best. I laughed. a lot. Getting in the shower was the biggest surprise. so good. gotta love companions. ITALIAN companions!! then we went to randomly visit this older woman, elida, who is ITALIAN and soo italian and kind but has a little attitude! so we went to visit her but she wasnt home, so I was like, well lets go to the patisserie on the corner and get a baguette for lunch, so we do but then soeur bicchierri buys this CRAZY nice cake that is sooo beautiful for my birthday present and I was like, what the what that is out of control!! we cant eat all that!!!! but she was all, its your birthday present and im getting it!! and then we were walking back to the apartment and we ran into ELIDA! and we asked her if we could come by later to celebrate my birthday with her! and she said she was going to the doctor so we couldnt then we asked if we could go right then nad she said she had to eat lunch, then we were like, ok, in an hour? and she looked at us for a second, then said, ok, ok and smiled cause we know she was excited to have some cake with us to celebrate cause her husband died like 10 years ago and shes alone. so we go home and eat real fast, then we run out again to go to elidas, but on the way there a lady walked past us with a cake in her hands and soeur b was like, happy birthday! and she was all, thanks!!! and we both stopped and we began laughing and we talked to the lady, her name is line, and it was her birhtday too!! and we just talked and she said she doesnt believe in God but felt like she should maybe meet with us, so she gave us her number and told us to call! so we went off to see elida and celebrated with her and it was really great cause we also taught her the plan of salvation and how she will see her family again after this life and she was so touched! oh, and her and soeur b always talk in italian and I UNDERSTOOD enough to bear my testimony about waht they were talking about!!!!! WHA?!!!! soeur bicchierri was like, YOU UNDERSTAND ITALIAN?? and i was like, NO!....yes?? it was crazy. lol. Gotta love the mish. Later that night we went to a pizzeria and it was nice to not be cooking for ourselves. birthday!!!

okay what else...dont have time! well george, the man that we thought was someone else, is super solid!! He cut down from 2 packs of ciggs a DAY to 1! and yesterday he said, yeah I've really been thinking about it, and I've decided to stop all together. we were like WHAT?!! that is sooooo great!!!!!!! It was so cool. I love George. He is just incredible. He testified of the Book of Mormon and reads every day and prays about it and feels good and we testified that it was the Spirit telling him it was true and he just nodded his head. He is SO SOLID its out of control!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love. the gospel.

Okay gootta fly, but thanks for the birthday wishes!!! ant and angie, got your letter! haha, love the mustaches!! :D

I know that the church is true! I love this Gospel sooo much! I know that we are truly blessed with gifts, we just need to continually pray to recieve them! I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Heavenly Father loves us and answers each of our prayers. We are loved so much by Him, and he knows each one of us individually.

Happy Anniversary, mom and dad!!!! THIRTY YEARS!!!!!! THAT is impressive. haha. for anyone, not just yall. lol.

Happy birthday, Nate!!!!

Happy (late) birthday, ASA!!! (hes just three..didnt realize i missed saying that..right?)

Last week before transfers...doubt i'm leaving. OH and pray for us for wednesday! the paris and lyon mission are combined in finding all day that day! day of MIRACLES-MIRACLES!

have a great week!!!!!!

love always,
devaneaux

February 4, 2013 - Nice, France

they say it's your birthday!!!

its MY BIRTHDAY, TOO, YEAHHH!!!

family,

one miracle i will share, we met a totally prepared guy named olivier that we will be teaching tomorrow!!! he literally stopped US after we walked past him, he was like, "vous êtes mormons?" youre mormons? and we were like, yeah!!! and he said he talked to the elders once in strasbourg and now hes working here and he was asking alllll these great questions about the book of mormon and all the questions that are answered in the first lecon! and we set up a rdv and gave him the bom and he wouldnt take it at first, not because he didnt want it, but because he thinks its worth so much (which it IS) and he couldnt take ours! aha; finally he took it and was trying to pay us and i told him he could give us his number for it! lol. he did. so stoked. He took it and we invited him to read it and he was like, of course!!! Yeah I'll read this! and said he talked to all different religions, evangelists, jehovah wit, muslims, but nothing seemed "right". This is gonna be great. I can feel it. :D

so....my birthday is tomorrow!!! and I dont have ANY time to email you because lots of..stuff has been going down at home, so I'll leave it at this:
I love you. I pray for you every day. Please rely on the Lord in times of trial. He will bless you and help you, strengthen you in time of need. Never forget this.

Rules have changed and now no emailing friends, so...sorry, everyone who are not my fam!

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes and I will hopefully hear good news from you soon!

love,
soeur gardner