Book Of Mormon Challenge...Who's with me? 4/28/14

Hello!

So l don't remember what I said about last week, but it was kind of rough. This week though has been wonderful. I think it has a lot to do with the switch up of being in a new district. We had a good district before, but I feel like we were able to get some really helpful advice for our area this week.It reminded me to focus on what really matters. The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion, and I need to be treating it that way. I need to give it more priority in my teaching. We saw how much that helped us this week, especially our attitude in general. We were happier. 

We were able to teach Jenny this week, we watched the Testaments with her and afterwards asked her how she felt as she watched. She said she felt peace and just good. Jenny has read the Book of Mormon before and knows A LOT about the church, where we don't know how much she has felt and known by the spirit about the gospel. That is one thing that is hard about inheriting investigators who have been taught for a long time, where we don't know what they have learned and what they know except from the Area book, which doesn't always tell you everything.. ok back to the point. We  invited her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon to know if it is true. I feel like we are going to be able to help her as she recognizes the spirit. 

We had some amazing lessons with members yesterday. Where Sister Baker and I haven't had any investigators to teach this helped us to practice teaching in unity and we both learned alot. We taught one family and had them act as investigators, which is where we had the most insight on explaining the apostasy. The other family we taught had invited their neighbors over for dinner as well as a new family in the ward. We taught the Restoration to them and we felt like that really helped the members strengthen their testimony, especially the new family in the ward. The best part though was that when we got there they were all talking and having a great time. It was seeing the members do missionary work.

Yesterday in Relief Society the lesson was on Richard G. Scotts talk Personal Strength through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Ah, I love this talk. I wish I could explain everything that I love about it but you probably don't want to hear it all and I don't exactly have time. But read it!!!

Also I am going to be starting the Book of Mormon over on Thursday.. I wanted to do a little challenge and have people read it with me. I was trying to think of how to do this, but I decided that I want to read it by my birthday.. and I only figured out how many days that was because I had to figure out approx. how many pages to read each day. so 531 pages in 135 days.. about 4 pages a day. but more than just reading, find verses that help you in your life, then write them down. Who's up for reading with me? Think of it as your birthday present to me. 

My time is up, but I love you all. Thank you for all the prayers and your examples to me.

Love,

Sister Kellee Gardner

Happy Easter 4/21/14

Happy Easter everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful day. I have loved learning more about the Atonement, especially the Resurrection this past week. One of my favorites is 1 Cor. 15:12-14. If Christ was resurrected, we are all resurrected. Also something that President Van Cott has mentioned that I love is that if God didn't have a body, Why would Christ resurrect? The resurrection is an amazing gift that we are all given so that we can return to Heavenly Father's presence. We have to then do our part here on earth to be able to stay there and live with Him! 

I was excited to hear about my new neice! I can't wait to hear more about that. I hope all is well.

This week has been good. We have been able to talk to many people and even receive some referrals. We haven't had referrals in a while, so that has been good, we just have to work on getting solid Investigators. 

We had an awesome tender mercy yesterday. About 4 or 5 weeks ago we met a couple who was outside planting some flowers before it was dark, we talked to the wife for a little while and then it was getting dark so they were heading in and we needed to go as well. We have gone to that neighborhood a few times,( a member lives just down the street) and they were never outside. Yesterday we had decided to walk that area again to talk to them and they were out. Thats not the best part though. She seemed really eager to talk to us and she was saying that when she sees us she knows that God is thinking of her. We didn't set a time to come back but she told us that she knew that we would be back. That was what we needed yesterday, and that is what she needed too! I love moments like that! 

I hope all is well at home! I love you all. Have a wonderful week!

Love, 

Sister Kellee Gardner

Hello! 4/14/14

This will be short, I am sorry!

This week I have learned a lot about loving others. Every day I realize another reason Sis. Baker and I are companions. She helps me to be better Every Day. We had exchanges on Wednesday, and that was kinda nerve wracking for me, I was with Sis. Bonham and we were here in Yucaipa. It was the first time I have really been in charge of planning. It was kind of stressful, but Sis. Bonham is so patient! She is the kindest person and I have loved working with her. We had a really good day that day, even though our amazing progress I thought we were making with Stella didn't end up so amazing. 

Sis. Baker and I have been working on talking with  EVERYONE. I have seen how much of a difference that has made. We haven't had any success as far as new investigators, yet! but I have noticed that I am happier and there are a lot more potentials than there would be if we didn't talk to everyone. On Tuesday we went and delivered a B-day card to a less-active. He has Parkinsons and art has become his therapy, he does a lot with recycling and sculpture and makes cool skyscraper city looking things out of old metal. I love it and I think I might buy one.. Coolest thing ever. anyways after we talked to him we decided to walk a little bit more before we went to our next appointment. We were in an area that we hadn't really spent a lot of time in and we had never walked around. We walked down a street and we needed to start heading back, we almost turned around but decided to walk a little further. We didn't see anyone out but as we walked past the next house we saw two people. One happened to be a member, he goes to the spanish branch, so we didn't know him but he was at his neighbors who isn't a member. We had a really good conversation with them and it basically made our day. 

My testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been strengthened this week. The gospel is simple, I love it and I love to share it!

I love you all!

Sister Gardner

General Conference 4/7/14

Hello!

This week was a slower week for us as far as lessons go, but we were able to talk to quite a few people. We did meet with Jenny, I don't know if I have mentioned her before, but she has been investigating for a while now, she's actually reading the Book of Mormon for the 2nd time. She just isn't ready to make the commitment. The lesson we had with her went well though, we are excited for our lesson this week with her. 

Last Sunday, Stella came to church. She is the wife of a recent convert and she had a baptism date but something happened and she didn't end up getting baptized. It was good to have her there, I think she is opening up to us and beginning to trust us. We were able to meet with her this week and have a good conversation with her. She has great faith, we just have to help her recognize that. 

Conference was AMAZING! The hardest part after conference is to remember what I learned.. there is so much good information that is given in a short amount of time. I am going to pick a few highlights.

Elder Amado- Sat morning: The accent was tough to understand, but I think that allowed me to focus more on what the spirit was saying. That was just a cool experience to see how what he was saying and what I was feeling were not necessarily the same thing.

Elder Anderson- Part of the awesomeness of this was because I was remembering the mission conference we had a few weeks ago. I think that allowed me to see how much the Apostles really do love and care about all of us. 

There were alot of talks about Obedience- At least thats what I got from them. Keeping the commandments, making and keeping covenants and just being obedient. Elder Nelsons talk was one of those  that stood out to me. Another focus was the importance of family and family history. Being on my mission I have seen even more how family is such a blessing. Distance makes the heart grow fonder I guess you could say. 

This weekend I really felt God's love for me individually. I had prayers answered and even though I feel like there are 500 things I need to change and do better, I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and I just need to be better One day at a time. It is possible! I loved President Eyrings quote "Every day and every hour  you have the choice to make or keep a covenant with God" I don't know if that is exact but it really is a choice we make often. but the choice is to be obedient or to not. To keep our covenants or not. That is the choice.

I loved every single talk!

I would love to hear some of your favorites ( I loved M. Russell Ballards talk where he mentioned sharing what we learn with each other) 

Thank you again for all that  you do! I love you all!

Love,

Sister Kellee Gardner

Conference and an Earthquake! 3/31/14

Hello!

This week has been wonderful. We went to a less actives this week Sister Brown and she watches an older man during the day at her house. He's the nicest guy. He read the Joseph Fielding Smith book, and liked it.. he just doesn't believe in Prophets on the earth today. We talked to him about how we believe that we have a living prophet and that he can know for himself. We committed him  to watch conference as well. He said he would watch it. We are excited for that.

On Tuesday there was a funeral here and we helped out a little with that. Sister Pace, from the ward in Yucca was there, it was her son-in-law who had passed away, so her daughter is in our ward here in Yucaipa. It was really good to see her. Made me miss C&S for a minute(a restaurant).  On Wednesday we went walking in an area by a less-active that we have been trying to contact and so we stopped by. We got there and someone answered but said he wasn't home, we asked when he would be, she didn't know. she closed the door and we walked off, she opened the door again and then asked us where we were from. We said "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" she told us to hold on, and then another woman came out,( the less actives wife) and she talked to us for a little. we found out she is not a member but that her husband has been telling her to learn more and become one:D. She is from Thiland and she wanted a Thi Book of Mormon she has one in english, but she prefers Thi. She seems really  interested in learning more, and I guess when they moved here they stopped going to church. We are pretty excited to go back there.. 

Friday night there was an Earthquake in LA and we felt a little bit of that. It felt like 5 seconds and that was it. Sis. Baker and I looked at each other and decided that we didn't like that... First earthquake! 

My favorite day was probably Saturday. The Woman's broadcast was amazing.  We went to the Stake center and they had a program and dinner. The dinner was packed- they had to set up more tables, and the Chapel was packed for the broadcast. The Spirit was amazing. I loved how they really involved everyone. I think my main feeling was the realization that we are all in this together and we have an amazing opportunity to help each other. It really is ALL about making it back to our Heavenly Father. We have made covenants to do so. That is something that has been a focus out here on  my mission is keeping covenants that we have made. There are so many blessings in store!

I can't wait for Conference. It is going to be amazing!

I hope everything is going well for all of  you, I love you all!

Love,

Sister Kellee Gardner

So... 3/24/14

Hello!

I have realized that I say the word "So" a lot to start sentences.. It is kind of sad that I can't think of anything else to say.. I need to work on creativity. We spent more time outside this week to find people and to be seen. The weather has been nice, so people are outside, but it is also Spring break, and a lot of people are gone. They get 2 weeks for spring break here, which is crazy! It makes it kind of difficult to set appointments, but sometimes people are home who wouldn't normally be home, so it works out. This week has been another week where we have really been led to those who need us. We planned on stopping by a members home, he is active, but we didn't know him at all. We got there and he was trimming his rose bush, perfect! We walk over and then A less-active who we hadn't met yet came out and we talked to her. We offered our help to do yard work (we bought garden gloves last week to bring with us. People don't take us seriously when we offer to help, we thought they might if we had gloves!) So we helped her for a bit, and then had a lesson with her, she said that is what she really needed. She also came to church on Sunday! After that on Thursday we stopped by another less-active for a few minutes before an appointment we had. They were very nice and we set up an appointment for Saturday with them. 

Saturday's appointment with them went well. They lived in Utah for 5 years and they are back here because he lost his job. They really want to go back to Utah, and are having a hard time dealing with being here in California. We planned on talking about the Atonement with them. I was thinking more of the redeeming power of the Atonement but as we talked with them, I felt like they needed the enabling power of the Atonement. They kind of broke down and opened up with us a little and told us that basically they have lost hope. They were searching for peace in their life. We talked to them about their conversion, which got them thinking, hopefully they recognize that they need to come back to church.. We will keep meeting with them though.

I love meeting with recent converts, their faith and testimonies amaze me. I learn so much from them every time we meet with them. They go through a lot in their life and to see how God prepared them to receive the Gospel is inspiring! 

I am running out of time, I am sorry this is short. I love you all! 

Love,

Sister Kellee Gardner

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Shaking hands and Pi! 3/17/14

Hello everyone!

This week has been wonderful. I We had a cool experience on Tuesday. We had planned to go meet an unknown and a less active. We went to the unknown and didn't feel good about it. We decided we would have a member come with us this coming week. We went to the less active to see how she was doing. We pulled up and didn't feel good about that either, so we left. We went to our back up, who was another less active that no one really knows except the bishop I think. I met her about a month ago and she told us that she is almost always sick, she didn't let us in then so I figured that she would probably be sick and not let us in this time either. Me and my little faith.. We got there and she told us that today was one of her good days and that she had just gotten home and that she had prayed that someone would visit her today. We weren't sure why we weren't supposed to be at our other appointments until we got there. We invited her to come to church and she told us to call her Sunday morning. We did, she told us she was ready to go and she came to church! Tender mercies, I love it.

Saturday... Mission Conference! It was amazing and not long enough. There were over 400 missionaries there and we all got to shake Elder Andersons hand. Elder Anderson asked us why we thought they would make an effort to shake everyones hand. I think it shows how much they really care about us as missionaries individually. Which reminds me of dads email this week. He talked about the difference between a Sheep herder and a Shephard- Caring and loving collectively or individually. A question someone asked Elder Anderson was "How did you become more like Christ?" His answer was just by choosing to do good every day. That is something that I have learned on my mission, continually doing good no matter the situation. That is the definition of Enduring to the end. There was so much more, but I am out of time..
Oh and in case any of  you were wondering, I did get to celebrate Pi day! I completlely forgot about it until dinner when we had pie.. I am just glad that I didn't forget and then remember the next day, I might have beat myself up about that. Pi day is probably my favorite holiday :D.

We also talked to the mom of one of our less actives. She isn't a member but loves the bible and has studied religion. After talking to her for a while she told me that I would be married in 2  years and have 2 kids.. We will see about that one!

I better get going, I love you all!

Love,

Sister Kellee Gardner

Where I meet Sister Baker 3/10/14

Hello!

This week has been fabulous! Crazy, but fabulous. Monday night I took Sis. Ferry to the Mission Home, picked up two other sister there so we could work as a trio til Wed. morning. It was sad to have a companion go home.. weird too.  We went to Oak Valley, Sis. Bonhams area, I went on exchanges there a few weeks ago, so it was fun to go back. We had an awesome lesson with a girl named Joslyn, she loved Sis. Laiti! I know she felt the spirit! So Tuesday we spent most of the day in Oak Valley, then came to Yucaipa at night so we were closer to the Mission office for wednesday. Funny story... So we had a thank you note to deliver to a family in the ward so we turned on the street and she was just backing out of her driveway so we drive around the block and come back thinking that she would be gone and we could just drop of the note... we come back around and she had pulled back in because her dog had gotten out... ok so we awkwardly drive around again a little slower giving time for her to hopefully pull out and leave. so 3rd try, still there- We were dying.. So we drove around one last time... She was gone, perfect! we got back in the car and then we sat there for a few minutes laughing and then writing another note for someone close by.. Long enough for her to come back and see us.. We tried so HARD to be sneaky... Fail! Oh well I guess..

Wednesday... The big day. We went to the mission office for transfers, Sis Bonham and I are both training.. There were only 8 Sisters and no Elders this transfer, Very different from my transfer when I arrived.. So I found out my new companion, Sister Baker! I love her already. Shes a lot like me personality wise. Shes even tall!! Shes from Grantsville, but grew up in Tennessee. These last few days I have learned so much! Training is a great experience, I get to take the time to go back and focus on the basics, and you can't beat the greenie fire. We have been busy meeting everyone in the ward and going out and trying to find new people. It has been an exciting week and I am super excited for Saturdays Mission Conference. I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Sister Kellee Gardner