Me? IN Guatemala?‏

Yep. I received the transfer call last night and I learned that I am going to Guatemala and that my area here in Orange Walk is going to be whitewashed. I'm headed to Melchor in Guatemala, this will be the third country in which I have served. Melchor is the only part of our mission that is in Guatemala, people from Belize go back and forth from Melchor all the time so that is why it is included in our mission.

I had begun to really love Orange Walk and the people here and the next thing you know I'm gone! So that is crazy that I'll be headed to a third country to serve. El Salvador, Belize, and now Guatemala. I really love Belize and I hope that I get the opportunity to come back here again because Belize is awesome. 

This week we had a good time, we ate a giant hamburger as part of our district meeting on thursday, played basketball at an activity, and I ate a huge plate of Chicken Fry Rice. On Sunday my companion spent the day saying goodbye to people so that was a little sad for him, he has been here for 6 months. 

This week I forgot my umbrella one day and that was the day that it monsooned, so that was terrible. I felt like I got wet under my skin, I might as well have just as jumped into a swimming pool with how wet I got. My mother made me buy a waterproof camera before I came instead of a normal, I'm grateful for her foresight.

I had a great week and I am doing great, always steadily gaining weight. I'm so grateful to have the restored gospel in my life, I know that I'm doing what God wants and I feel His presence in my life. I'm grateful for my Savior and the Atonement that He accomplished for me. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week, 

from the most pink man in Belize, 

Elder Gardner

Goodbye to Mission President‏

 my friend E. Kleinman‏

Here I am with a member of the church named Brother Stamp

Our mission president came this week to have one last multizone conference and to say goobye to all of us. President Hintze was a great guy and I am grateful for his service, it was a pleasure to have him as our mission president. 

When I visited Belize city a guy was harrasing us to buy "jahny caks" (johny cakes, in Belize, I don't believe spelling is an emphasis in schooling). They are these biscuit like bread things, they are pretty good but it was funny to have people try to sell stuff to us in creole. I have begun to understand creole, it really is only broken english, but to speak it is something completely else. I don't ever believe that I will be able to speak creole, and if I did attempt to learn it I think it would mess up my english haha.

Not too much happened this week other than that, we've found some new people to teach who are very receptive so that is cool. There is a guy that lived his whole life in Dallas named Fernando Ayuso that we are teaching, he is a really cool guy and he is interested in learning more and he said he'll come to church next week before we even invited him. We also found a guy named Cecilio that invited us into his house to teach him "the word", so that was another great opportunity. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here in Belize and to help people learn about the restored gospel, it is a fun time, although often very frustrating. 

There is only seven days left until the next transfer, I think I transfer would be good for both my companion and I as we are completely different and we are getting sick of one another. I can honestly tell you that I've met few lazier people in my life, but at least we've gotten along well this transfer. But one more, no creo que yo aguante. 

Espero que tengan todos una feliz semana llena de bendiciones. Cuidense bastante and enjoy the NBA finals!

Sincerely, 

Elder Gardner

 my companion is shown resting

Birthday, Baptism, and trip to Lamanai‏

Happy 19th birthday Elder Gardner

Sweet Sister missionaries made pineapple cake!

Baptism of Victoria

Lamanai Ruins

at the ruins, E. Mitchell and comp, E Gardner

It was a great week this week. We were very busy, on wednesday we had to go to Belize City to work on my immigration papers with an agent from the church. My papers are all good and I'll be ok to stay here legally in Belize but some others had some problems with getting a work permit so hopefully they don't get thrown into jail! That actually happened to one missionary before but hopefully they avoid it. 

On Thursday we had a zone conference that was held here in my area of Orange Walk. That was nice because we didn't have to travel too much. 

ON Friday it was my birthday, the day was very normal but at night we had a little party at a mexican restaurant by our house. The owners of the restaurant knew it was my birthday so they surprised me with a cake and they made me wear the hat and I got sung some mariachi song that all of the missionaries knew in my district but I didn't know. It was fun and it was a pineapple cake so it tasted good, everybody at the place got a kick out of watching me so that was good. They also pushed my face into the cake so that was fun, but everyone still ate it I just got my face all sticky. 

On Sunday we had a baptism of Victoria, I knocked on her door almost a month ago immediately after arriving here in Belize. so it has been very cool to see how the gospel has changed her life, her baptism was a cool event. After the baptism, she shared her testimony with everyone how she feels like she "has come home" and that "this has made her happy" so that was great for me to see. It makes it all worth it to be here in the mission when you can see how much it can mean to people ot come to Christ. 

On Monday we visited some Mayan ruins called Lamanai, it was a great boat ride and I had a fun time seeing those sites. I took some good pictures and my companion wore some hideous pants, haha, everyone got a kick out of that. 

With best regards to all, 

Elder Gardner

Zone Conference

E. Crazy Pants, E. Rojas

E. Rojas getting something out of eye- he is screaming