Short and sweet 1/12/15

Hello!

Sorry this is super short, I don't have a lot of time today. 

This week has been really good though. We had Zone meeting and then on Sunday we had Stake Conference. President and Sister Van Cott spoke at Stake Conference, and of course it was really good. It was really what our area needed to hear. The other talks were really good as well. It was all about Missionary Work! and how awesome and exciting and easy it can be.

We were able to go the temple for a lesson with Nese on Wednesday, and that was really good. As we were walking around, it was the end of the shift for the workers and out walked Sister Madsen, from my first area, Yucca! It was cool because she got to talk with Nese for a little and I hope it helped her. 

We also met with the Mapus this week. They have been sick, but they really don't let that stop them. We talked with them about the Book of Mormon and we really wanted them to understand its purpose. They get pretty excited to read and they are really good at asking questions when they don't understand.

This week has kind of been focused on the Book of Mormon I guess. We also talked with Emo and Su about it and they have been loving it too!

It has really helped my love for the Book of Mormon to grow and I get something new from what our investigators share! 

Erika is doing really well. Alex and Brandon are doing great, they met President Van Cott at Stake conference and they seemed pretty excited. They are also excited for their baptism! 

Well I better get going!

I love you all!

Sister Kellee Gardner

6 Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious things! 1/5/14

Talofa!

Well it has been a crazy week- I think every week on a mission is a crazy week though. Anyways we had some great things happen.

1- Emo and Su. We had great lessons with both of them this week, We invited them to be baptized and they said YES!! I am so excited for them. The spirit that was there and their desire to learn more and to follow Christ is just awesome. 

2-Nese. We were able to meet with Nese and talk with her about her concerns. She has a lot of faith, and every time we meet with her she asks us questions and you can just tell that she wants to be better. 

3-Tianna. She was really struggling for a while, but it was so awesome to see the turn around in her. I would like to think that it was in part from our visiting her, but I really think it was all her.

4- Alex and Brandon. We committed them to be baptized and I can't even tell you how excited I am for them. This family is just awesome and I love 'em. They teach us the lessons, and I love hearing what they have come to know for themselves!

5- Food for the Elders. So on Tuesday at district meeting we discovered that the Elders were about to starve til Wednesday, because they really don't get fed and they were out of money. Well they sure talked to the right Sisters. Us and the 1st ward sisters have a bunch of food in our apartments and we get fed almost every night. We each went home and gathered food to give them. Sister Laiti and I made it a bit more fun by wrapping it up in boxes, but after all of that I don't think these Elders will go hungry... 

6-Sister Laiti. Well this week I am seriously grateful for my companion. She is an awesome listener, and a great teacher. All things which I have needed this week. 

I took some time to think about things that I have learned in the past year and one of the biggest things that I have seen over and over again is that trials really are a blessing and that they do make us stronger. We are prepared for the future by the things we experience today.

I am so grateful to be here serving the people and the Lord. I am grateful for the things that I have learned so far and the experiences that I have had. It is so exciting to see people change their lives, some people make more changes than others. The Gospel is for everyone!

I hope each of you had a wonderful new year!

I love you all!

Sister Kellee Gardner

Five Fabulous Facts 12/29/14

Happy New Year .. Almost, as close as its gonna get for me to wish you all one:)

This week has really been a great week, I have loved this Christmas season.

1-It was wonderful to call and Skype on Christmas! I wish I could have talked to everyone for hours and hours, but tis not so..

2- Christmas Eve, we went caroling with a family in our ward, I loved it and seeing the joy it brought to people. 

3- The day after Christmas, we had a less-active text us and ask if we could come over. We were able to go and visit him and his family, and he has the desire to come back. His father just passed away and it has really touched his heart. The Plan of Salvation is real and the Gospel is true. He also came to church on Sunday, it was great to see him act on the things he was feeling.

4- Mission Conference. We met as a mission and Elder Higham came and spoke to us as well as the Mission Presidency. It was all about Christ and how we can become more like Him. I loved it. I was reminded of what I can do better and how I need to constantly apply those things, not just for 1 week after the conference. 

5-We were able to meet with Emo and Samantha this week. Samantha is solid, Emo has been up and down on her interest level, but we started teaching the Restoration and then really focused on Emo. We invited HER to pray to know if the things we taught were true. She prayed right then, it was amazing. It was such a different prayer for her, but I know it was sincere and that the spirit was there. She shared her feelings with us and man am I excited for her. I really learned a powerful lesson from this and the Mission conference. I can't just assume that people aren't ready and willing to act if I don't first invite them to change. I have to INVITE.ALWAYS. 

Things are going well right now, working with both wards is falling into place, I think we are starting to figure it out.. 

I am grateful for this time at the start of a new year to be able to reflect and then resolve to do better and set goals for the future. Its crazy to think that this year my mission is coming to a close and that I have to go back to the "Real World"...The great thing is that improvement and serving others doesn't stop!

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Gardner

Seven Simple Somethings 12/23/14

So I had this almost all finished and then the computers were being weird and I couldn't finish yesterday so we had to come back to finish emailing.

Talofa!

Wow, I can't believe it is Christmas week already, this month has just flown by!

This week has been really busy and crazy with us now covering 2 wards, but it has been great!

This week

1) The Mapu family- this family is just awesome, they love coming to church and they want to be baptized, we just have to wait for some things to work out first. We also put up their Christmas lights that we got from the Penns, We were pretty proud of how it turned out, we will take a picture this week.

2) Nese- Nese has some great faith, and I love her already. She is going through a lot and we are working with her to set a new date for baptism.

3)The Penn family! They are just as awesome as ever,We are just teaching the 2 boys right now and Alex is solid. He taught us back the Plan of Salvation, and it was simple and just awesome!

4) Erica- She is on date to be baptized, but we are working on her getting married first. She is really excited about learning more and I love her happiness!

5) Samantha's Baptism. The baptism was beautiful and it was so good to see her make that covenant. She has some really good support and she has a great desire to follow God, I love her!

6) The musical fireside 3 samoan wards combined, it was a really good evening.

7) Learning more samoan! Mole magava means starving, aisea means why, and fale means house. 

I love you all. Merry Christmas

Love, Sister Kellee Gardner

An Amazing Week! 12/15/14

Talofa!

Wow, this week has been crazy but awesome! most of the crazy came with transfers, but I'll get to that in a bit.

1) Koleta is on date for baptism in February on the 22nd. We are so excited for her, She is so excited!

2) Samantha- Holy cow, she's just awesome. We met with her this week and went over the interview questions and she just blew me away. We asked about President Monson, she said, "I don't know..." but with so much confidence "I'll pray about it." She bore her testimony about how much this has blessed her life. She is so happy, and a lot of this change has come in the last few weeks, It has just strengthened my testimony of how much the Gospel really can bless our lives.

3) Chris- We met Chris a few weeks ago when he came to church, and we were finally able to teach him. He is really excited about learning more and he really likes reading the Book of Mormon.

4) Transfers. So normally we don't get our transfer calls til monday.. It is hard to wait, but I was doing ok. So we were at an appointment and the IE sisters call and ask if we are on our way home because they are coming to our apartment to drop off Sis. Laitis stuff. Ok What?? So I asked what was going on and its pretty crazy. So I am staying in Rialto and covering BOTH the IE and R2 again and Sis. Laiti, who has been in IE, and I are going to be companions. Sis. Gillespie and Sis Letoa are being transfered. But Sis Gillespie is replacing someone going home so she has to leave tonight. We lost a lot of sisters this transfer, so that is the reason for the combining of our 2 wards. It is just crazy because there is SO MUCH to do. It is going to be different than last time, luckily we both have a good handle on each ward. I am excited. I missed a lot of the IE people. 

Because of all this craziness this is going to have to be it. 

I love you all!

Sister Gardner

Six Simple Somethings and 2 pictures! 12/8/14

Hello!

So this week I could only think of 6 things, but it is still 3 s's! 

1) Emo and Samantha. We were able to meet with them and read in the Book of Mormon. Samantha made a connection with one of the verses which was good for her. It's been tricky meeting with them, but they are doing well. 

2) Tianna. We were able to meet with Tianna, its been a few weeks, but it went well with her. Something that I love about her is her desire to be obedient, she wants to do what God has asked of her.

3) Koleta. AHH she is just awesome! So when we met with her this week she was SO different, SO HAPPY. I have learned over and over that the gospel blesses those who live it. I haven't always recognized that though. This was one of those moments where I SAW it. I know that because she was acting on what we had asked her to do... coming to church, that she received the blessings that come from that. She recognized it too. She had so much energy and her family noticed it too. She said she will be baptized soon... She really has a lot of faith, I just love her!

4) HE IS THE GIFT. I am sure that all of you have heard of this, I hope. It really is awesome. I encourage you to watch and Share it!! Christ really is the Reason for the Season, and not just the "season" but for everything. 

5) The people. I just love the people, everywhere I have served, members and non members have just been awesome. I love them and their willingness to serve not just us but others as well.

6) Shrimp... and Pau pau. So this week I finally tried shrimp. Not too bad, better than I expected though, it didn't taste as fishy as it smells, so that's a plus! Pau pau is samoan bread, and it is heavenly. Its kind of sweet but not too sweet. We helped our Relief Society president make some this week, I will definitely be making that one when I get home!

Well that is about it for this week I think. I am so grateful for all of your support and love! I love you all. 

Love, Sister Kellee Gardner

These pics are the Pau pau and my blanket of many colors that I got from a sweet member.

Seven Simple Somethings!

Hello!

So, I had this thought last night as I was trying to come up with what to write about today and hopefully write it more quickly, but still give enough detail. So I am going to share Seven Simple "somethings" that happened this week. Your in luck, because this week there was a lot that happened!

1. Exchanges. I went to Colton with Sister Anderson. I loved this exchange because it really helped me see the miracles that come with talking to everyone, and trying just a little bit harder to go a little further. We went to see a less active, she lives in a gated community, we didn't have the code so we decided to leave, as we were leaving I said hi to some people standing in the parking lot, Sister Anderson however was the genius and asked if they knew the lady we were trying to see. We ended up getting in the gate and visiting with the member, it was awesome.We also got the chance to go and serve at the Food bank, a great opportunity!

2. Thanksgiving. We did our weekly planning and then we went out to visit some members. We had a birthday card to deliver to one member and they ended up giving us plates of food to take home, then we went to another member we felt like we should stop by. They let us in and then we ate with them and shared a message, then we went to our dinner appointment at the Bishops house. I will attach a picture of Samoan Thanksgiving. I loved just spending time in the members homes and talking to them about what they were grateful for, it really strengthened my testimony of gratitude. We shared part of Pres. Uchtdorfs talk from April 2014 conf about being grateful always and how gratitude really will make a difference in our attitudes. 

3. Wrapping gifts. Our Relief Society had an activity on Saturday and so in preparation for that, we went over and helped our R.S. president wrap gifts. It was really fun to be able to spend that time with her and to serve her. We also went over another day to help with the food prep. I learned a lot about planning parties for A LOT of people. There's just a ton of work involved, but it is so worth it.

4. Our Almost Investigator. So we got a referral from the IE sisters for a couple who is their investigators friend. We were pretty excited. We went over and met them and explained that we would be their missionaries and set up an appointment. Well, later that night, after the other sisters met with their investigator, they called us and explained that because of some circumstances, they would teach them and not us. From this I learned a lot about diligence. We were able to do what we were supposed to and I know that the Lord will take care of that investigator and any confusion we may have caused. I also know that even though we aren't going to be teaching her, it doesn't mean that we aren't successful missionaries.

5 The Relief Society Activity. This was their "Closing Social" and it was an international culture night. So first the sisters have been working on Crocheting blankets, scarves and hats. They also made aprons, pillows, and flowers or Sei. So many of these ladies have been SO dedicated to working on these things. They recieved awards, or the gifts that we wrapped and then was the cultural part of the night. They had been divided into 4 groups, each member of the presidency  in charge of one group and they each represented a different country or state. I guess last year each group also made a dish from their country, but this year they just did the dance from that country. It was a really fun night, with A TON of people! Samoans, they know how to party..

6. Sister Letoa has been sick. Saturday it was just a headache, then Sunday it was really bad and after Sacrament we ended up coming home. Today she is feeling a lot better after what I would call a Samoan voodoo massage, but its not really voodoo. It was crazy, I definitely felt like a mom taking care of a sick child, except I felt like I had no idea what to do to help. Luckily the other sisters really helped out. Even though she was sick last night, she still was thinking about the work, she is such a great example to me!

7. Koleta came to Church!!!! So Koleta called us and told us she was coming this week, she also came to the activity saturday night. So a member picked her up saturday and then she slept over and came to church sunday, plus the Marriage and Family class sunday evening, so she had some great opportunities to meet members. It was great! I am excited to talk to her more about it.

Well, I don't know if I will always have this much to talk about, but I hope that you enjoy it.

I love you all!

Have a fantastic week, and Happy December!

Love, Sister Kellee Gardner

Thanksgiving at the Wendts- Sister Wendts mom and dad

Samoan food! Banana, ham, turkey, rice, and chop sui(sp?)

Feeling blessed 11/24/14

Hello!

Well this week wasn't much different than any other week, but I truly have felt so blessed.

We met with Emo and Samantha twice this week. They are doing alright. The biggest challenge is that they don't really have a ride anywhere/ they go wherever their Aunt and Uncle go. And that has been out of town on weekends. I know people have agency, but man, it can get frustrating.

Wednesday we were going to meet with Koleta, but she had to cancel due to her Dialysis again. But she did say that she wanted to come to church and was planning on this week. Then she had to go out of town for family stuff. It really excited me that she was the one calling us and trying to set something up. Progress is really being made, it is all in Gods time though for sure!

This week a lot of plans fell through, but it was awesome to see how it all worked out for the good. God sometimes has a better plan in mind for us, but I have learned, we have to have a plan too, our goal is just to match it up with Gods plan. Then when our plan doesn't work out we trust Him. He isn't going to give us every single thing for us to do every second, otherwise we wouldn't really have agency, but I do know that He will let us know if we need to be doing something different. Last week in Zone Conference, President Van Cott mentioned that "The Holy Ghost will tell you NO more than it will tell you YES". That is something that I have been seeing every day. 

I saw many answers to prayers this week. We have an activity coming up in the ward and I felt the impression to ask for permission to participate. So eventually I did, and I just prayed that if the answer was no, we would know what to do to help explain to people why we couldn't participate. I thought it was going to be so hard, but as we told people that we couldn't, they completely understood, and it wasn't even a problem. 

I was fearing man and what they would say and I was avoiding the prompting. But I am so grateful that I did act on it. God does prepare the way. And I'm not saying that every thing is going to be easy, but I know that it is possible. 

This week I remembered the challenge from seminary in High School to ONLY give prayers of thanks. I can't remember if it was the whole month, but I think it was. It is my goal this week to GIVE more prayers of thanks and to recognize the blessings that are given to us each day, that reminds me of what President Uchdorf said in the General Women's meeting, "Part of our challenge is, I think, that we imagine that God has all of His blessings locked in a huge cloud up in heaven, refusing to give them to us unless we comply with some strict, paternalistic requirements He has set up. But the commandments aren’t like that at all. In reality, Heavenly Father is constantly raining blessings upon us. It is our fear, doubt, and sin that, like an umbrella, block these blessings from reaching us." 

Blessings are all around us, we just have to open our eyes, or close our umbrellas.

I LOVE you all!

I know that God is aware of each of us!

Love,

SIster Kellee Gardner

A Pretty Great Week 11/17/14

Hello!

So this week has been pretty great!

Wednesday we went to Sis. Letoas eye appointment and we were able to meet some awesome people. We met some in the lobby, I feel like being in the Samoan ward I have been stuck in the car and forgotten how to talk to everyone. Also these people couldn't run away too easily. Also the optometrist is a member from Yucaipa, not the ward I was in, but the 1st ward. It was fun to talk about how awesome Yucaipa is for a bit. 

Thursday night I got to go to the Temple. Betty, my first baptism, went through for her own Endowment and Sister Davis and I got to be there. It was just wonderful. I thought a lot about how as missionaries we just start them on their path, but the temple is an amazing step on that path of enduring to the end. Sometimes we dont get to see that reward, especially while we are on our missions. I thought about our first lesson with her and the amazing spirit that was there. It was an amazing experience.

Friday we had zone conference and that was also amazing. We talked a lot about conversion and how it is an individual thing. Also crying unto the Lord. Prayer is so critical in our conversion. We have to pray for ourselves. Alma 30:54-56 talks about Korihor and how he asks Alma to pray for him for the curse to be removed. If Korihor would have prayed himself, maybe he wouldn't have been destroyed. There is a lot of power in praying for others, but in order for conversion to really happen in ourselves WE have to act. We have to pray for ourselves. Alma the younger is another example of that. His father and many others were praying for him. He had a spiritual experience, but it is because he chose to change and know for himself that he was truly converted. There are so many examples throughout the Scriptures and the Book of Mormon especially. We were asked to study conversion stories before Zone conference and I really loved finding them. There are a lot of similar stories, but each is individual. 

Saturday we met with Emo and Samantha. That went well. They have been doing better and it was great to see them happy when we got there.

Anyways that is about it for this week!

I am so grateful for all of your support, I love you all!

Love,

Sister Kellee Gardner

Michael  Douglas is getting  baptized  on 11-23

Betty Kerr, R, CRS,ABR,GRI

Sorry, that was probably just to me, but hey thats another exciting thing I found out about. Michael is one of Betty's friends who we met when she got baptized and we weren't able to teach him, but since then he has obviously been taught!!

Random facts from the inside of a nutshell 11/10/14

Hello!

Here's this week in a nutshell.

We had a lesson with Koleta, I got to "teach" in Samoan. We have an ESL book from the MTC that has all the lessons and simple phrases in Samoan and translation in English, So I found what I wanted to say in English then read it in Samoan. It was fun, it also helped me to understand more of what everyone else was saying because the words were familiar. 

We had Zone meeting on Friday and that was really good. It was all about finding. That is something I have really struggled with my whole mission, but I really liked how this gave me hope and a stronger desire to find people. 

We also had a lesson with Emo and Samantha. These girls are amazing. Every time we go over there, I just love them even more. It is amazing to me to see the difference that the spirit makes in their life. To see the joy that they have when we come over, because they know when we leave, they will feel good. Ah it is just awesome.

We have been at a loss as to how to really help the members here in this ward, and I wasn't sure I wanted to stay to figure it out. Zone Meeting, and other things this week really helped me find some direction and peace. I know  that I am here for a reason, and something amazing is about to happen here, I just know it. 

This is God's work, and he has called the weak and the simple to do it. It is wonderful and I am so glad that He has called me to help him out. 

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Kellee Gardner

Random fact of the day. Check out page 7 and also where Hugo Martinez's talk starts in your November Ensign. and look at the pictures. Those people are from my ward here in Rialto!

Watch out for the Giant ROACH! 11/3/14

Hello!

This week has been really good.

So this past week being the last week of the month, it made for some interesting adventures as far as miles go. I haven't ever had a  problem with being really close on miles until now, which is pretty good I'd say. I think it really helped us though to be more effective in our planning and not to drive all over the place. I really enjoyed it actually because it got me out of the car, and I felt more like a missionary.

Tuesday we were super blessed. We just stopped by a members home to try and visit their less active son. We were talking and he was sick so he didn't come out, but she coupons and gave us a bunch of things and told us to come to her if we ever need anything. We were planning to walk back to our car and to another members home, not a very far walk at all, but she drove us. Then we were at that other members home. They are AWESOME! this was a follow up lesson on some commitments we had left them and they were teaching us the Restoration. They were so excited, we were so excited. Their 14 year old son taught us, SO SIMPLY and it almost made both Sister Letoa and I cry. The spirit was so strong. Then she gave us a goodie bag like the ones that she had made for her neighbors and friends. We were able to go to Koleta's and she got a blessing, she really appreciated that.

Wednesday was the ward Halloween party. It was really good. That same awesome family invited some friends to come, and they came! Tianna also had some of her friends there. It was a good experience for them.

Friday we had a great lesson with Emo and Samantha. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.It went really well we committed Samantha to baptism on Dec 20th!

That night we went and taught Tianna with a member that night, and then we had to be in early.

Sunday Emo and Samantha came to church. It has been awesome to see them get more excited about learning more, especially Emo. They are awesome.

Oh yeah, on Friday we found a giant roach in our apartment, that scared the bageebers out of me.. it went under the stove and just knowing that it could go anywhere when we left really made me antsy, but it came back out before we left from lunch and we took care of it. 

That about wraps up the week I think!

I love you all!

Love, 

Sister Kellee Gardne

10/27/14

Talofa lava!

Malo soifua, oa mai outou?

Well this week some good things happened.

Tuesday night we went with our Ward mission leader and his wife to go and visit Koleta and her brother. Mostly just for our WML to meet and fellowship the brother because we had an appointment with Koleta on Wednesday. That family is very connected to members, and I think as they are continually fellowshipped, they will all eventually want to take the lessons, right now it is just Koleta.

Our lesson on wednesday with her went well. She calls it her church, she is just the sweetest thing. 

Thursday we had a great lesson with Sandra one of our less actives. I think that she has really been prepared and is in a place to come back and be active. She actually came to church this sunday, which was awesome.

Thursday evening to Friday evening we had exchanges. I was with Sis. Straatman here in Rialto. It was a really good exchange. On Friday we had an awesome lesson with Emo and Samantha. We taught the Plan of Salvation and they had a lot of questions about it. It was great to learn from Sis. Straatman, she is a pro at asking inspired questions.

Saturday we stopped by the Moliga family, they have told us to come by on Fridays but it hasn't ever worked out when we have come by and so I was a little skeptical of going up there again especially on a Sat. Anyways we went and Sis. Moliga was home, which was perfect and some of her kids were asleep, the others gone with Bro. Moliga. We were able to talk to her about coming to church and the spirit that she felt last week as she came, and the difference in her life. It was really cool to see that these people have gone through some things that have really prepared them to come back and have the blessings of the gospel in their life. I am excited to get to know and work with them.

Saturday we were asked to speak in Sacrament meeting the next day, It was just kind of funny because we had invited both the Moligas and Emo and Samantha and told them about the topics and that the talks would be really good. I basically made myself a liar, because the topic changed.. Its ok though.

Anyways, thats about it for the week!

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Kellee Gardner