I can't believe I'm basically done here in the MTC! It flew
by so fast! I had my last class today with my teachers and it was really sad. They were honestly the best teachers I could have had and I was so blessed to
have them. I got a few pictures with them so I'll make sure to send some photos
before I leave for Uruguay.
Life has been really crazy this last week! It is really busy because of General Conference and other meetings we will attend since we're leaving this Monday. I'm super nervous to leave for Uruguay but
am also really excited. I've learned a ton of Spanish but I still feel like I
don't know anything. The Lord is gonna have to help me quite a bit with the
language down in Uruguay!
Monday, March 26, 2012
A couple of pictures we recently received:
Zach with a couple of missionaries from his district.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Today we should be getting our flight plans. My whole district is super excited but the five missionaries that are supposed to go to Argentina don't have their visas yet and we heard they might be reassigned ... they are kinda bummed. I'll let you know what my flight plans are. I will try and send another email tonight and let you know what's going on.
Elder Oaks and his wife came and spoke to us on Tuesday. He is an amazing man, but I was really impressed by his wife. She just had surgery on her foot but she still wanted to come speak to the missionaries. She told us how much she loves the missionaries and said she wouldn't miss coming and speaking to us for the world. She was really kind and spoke to us like a mother. I felt like I was sitting in her living room and she was just giving me motherly advice. She was awesome! Elder Oaks
Elder Oaks and his wife came and spoke to us on Tuesday. He is an amazing man, but I was really impressed by his wife. She just had surgery on her foot but she still wanted to come speak to the missionaries. She told us how much she loves the missionaries and said she wouldn't miss coming and speaking to us for the world. She was really kind and spoke to us like a mother. I felt like I was sitting in her living room and she was just giving me motherly advice. She was awesome! Elder Oaks
Friday, March 16, 2012
It was another great week! There were some frustrating moments with Spanish,
but I learned a lot from my teachers and my fellow missionaries, so it is all
good! I'm learning!
I sent my picks for March Madness. I totally guessed on everything (and received some divine revelation). You'll have to keep me posted on how my picks are doing. I heard BYU lost to Marquette but had an amazing play-in game. We try to get as much information out of the teachers here as possible or ask new missionaries what the latest news is. It's pretty funny to see all the missionaries that have been in the MTC for awhile crowd around the missionaries that have only been here for a day or less and try to get as much information out of them as possible.
I sent my picks for March Madness. I totally guessed on everything (and received some divine revelation). You'll have to keep me posted on how my picks are doing. I heard BYU lost to Marquette but had an amazing play-in game. We try to get as much information out of the teachers here as possible or ask new missionaries what the latest news is. It's pretty funny to see all the missionaries that have been in the MTC for awhile crowd around the missionaries that have only been here for a day or less and try to get as much information out of them as possible.
Friday, March 9, 2012
I had another awesome week! It was my first week of being a zone
leader and it went awesome. Me and Elder Hicks have to set up our Sunday sacrament meetings and
assign who is doing what. We
attend many meetings every night. They are basically about our district and
making sure everyone is doing alright. It's been a good experience.
The Spanish is coming along. My teachers have told me they are impressed with how much better
I've been sleeping great! Each night I crash at 10:30. I honestly can't wait to
go to bed each night. It's the best thing ever! My roomates, however, are not
as good. They complain about my snoring. They even wear earplugs. However, I guess I'm still pretty loud. But they'll live.
The Spanish is coming along. My teachers have told me they are impressed with how much better
Friday, March 2, 2012
Today I had one of the most amazing P-days! We went to the temple. After we were changing we discovered the temple cafeteria. The food was
absolutely amazing! (Just because I think we were all used to the MTC
food. Not even comparable to your cooking, momma!). Anyway, we all were in
heaven and left with full stomachs. Our district is gonna do it every week now!
My companion Elder Hicks is a great example to me and I look up to
him. He's really active and loves the outdoors. He rock climbs, hikes, skydives, and does ice climbing. He basically does it all. I can't remember if I took a
picture of one of the pictures he has here in our room, but anyway he had the
longest hair in high school! Its hilarious! He looks like a chick and I remind
him of that every day. Anyway, he's a stud.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
We received some pictures from Zach today. Here are a couple:
The "classic" photo pointing to your mission on the MTC world map.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Thanks for the
letters. It is awesome to hear from you guys. I'm going to send a
letter this week with the memory card from my camera so you can see some of my pictures
and videos.
So, just to let you know, everything
is going well. The language is getting frustrating and I feel like a lot of my
district is getting it down faster than me, but it's ok. I know with time it will
come.
I realized I haven't told you that I'm in the MTC
choir! I've been in it since I got here but somehow it slipped my mind to tell
you. I can't sing a note to save my life. However, it's way nice to go to
choir and get away from the language for a bit. It's also nice to hear some
music since they don't let you listen to your own music here at the MTC. So anyway, I'm in the choir and rock'n it!
Friday, February 17, 2012
The week has been awesome! My Spanish has been getting progressively better and
I can see the Lord's hand in that daily. It's weird to think that I'm
learning to speak and understand another language. It's been an awesome
experience! Elder Hicks, my companion, is a pro with the language. He helps me
out a ton and whenever I don't know how to say something he always has my
back. We have an awesome companionship.
During this week I was able to watch a fireside by Elder Bednar that he gave during Christmas time to the elders here in the MTC. It was an amazing talk. He talked on the character of Christ. He went through Matthew Chapter 4 and broke it down. It's amazing how much Christ loves us and how charitable He is. He also told a story about how a mother lost her daughter in a car accident but was
During this week I was able to watch a fireside by Elder Bednar that he gave during Christmas time to the elders here in the MTC. It was an amazing talk. He talked on the character of Christ. He went through Matthew Chapter 4 and broke it down. It's amazing how much Christ loves us and how charitable He is. He also told a story about how a mother lost her daughter in a car accident but was
Friday, February 10, 2012
It has been a long week but I made it! The days are
going by a lot faster now. I get a lot of the days mixed up together. They
keep us very busy. Every minute there is something planned. We go from breakfast, to class, to lunch, to class, then to dinner, and
then end with gym. It's pretty much that everyday. We wake up at 6:30
every morning.
Fast Sunday was really cool. We had a mission conference
for 2 hours and then went to sacrament meeting right after. My district is
combined with an Italian district so it's really interesting. I can understand a
little bit of what they say. The Italian district is awesome! They totally took
our Spanish district under their wing. They have been here for 7 weeks so
they only have 2 weeks left with us before they go to Italy. There are 10 of them
and there are 10 from my district, so a total of 20 plus
Saturday, February 4, 2012
It's been crazy here at the MTC! It's been a lot of hard work
but that's good - it keeps my mind off things. I have an awesome companion and his
name is Elder Hicks. We work great with each other and feed off each other's
hard work. We're both really stressed about learning Spanish, but in time we'll
get it. They already have us teaching lessons in Spanish to fake
investigators - it's pretty intense. He and I have no idea what we are saying
but somehow the investigator is getting it because she seems to nod at things
we say so let's hope she does understand. The food here is just like the Cannon Center
at BYU so the food is pretty good! My zone leaders are two elders going to
Italy and they are awesome! Elder Money is from Spanish Fork and is hilarious!
And Elder Treadway is from Nevada and loves baseball, so we have a
connection also. He too is funny. So all in all my zone leaders are really
tight. The MTC put our district (me, Elder Hicks, Elder Barlow, Elder Tippets,
Elder Benning, Elder Thomas, Elder
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Mission farewell talk at Springville Hobble Creek 12th Ward:
Good afternoon. It is so great to look out at the congregation and see family, friends, and ward members. I really appreciate your love and support. My name is Zach Gardanier and as many of you know, I received a mission call to serve and teach the people of Uruguay. I leave for the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday. I’m really excited, but also a little nervous. I know it will be a wonderful experience and I’m grateful for all of your love and support. I know missions are hard work and that I will go through challenges that I have never experienced before. But I know that if I have faith and follow the Lord’s teachings that I will be okay and everything will turn out great.
This leads me to my topic for today. I was asked to speak on “Faith in Jesus Christ.”
Good afternoon. It is so great to look out at the congregation and see family, friends, and ward members. I really appreciate your love and support. My name is Zach Gardanier and as many of you know, I received a mission call to serve and teach the people of Uruguay. I leave for the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday. I’m really excited, but also a little nervous. I know it will be a wonderful experience and I’m grateful for all of your love and support. I know missions are hard work and that I will go through challenges that I have never experienced before. But I know that if I have faith and follow the Lord’s teachings that I will be okay and everything will turn out great.
This leads me to my topic for today. I was asked to speak on “Faith in Jesus Christ.”