Elder Gardner: 8/5/24

-

 I made it to New Zealand!

Kia Ora!

Im officially a missionary!

Its crazy being here in New Zealand. And getting here was even crazier. I flew from SLC to LAX at around 6pm and when we landed in lax no one knew what to do or where to go haha. We eventually worked things out and we waited in our layover. It was strange waiting and not having a phone to occupy myself. The flight to new zealand was 13 hours but it wasnt that bad. I slept most of it. And then we made it to the mtc!

The new zealand mtc is right next to the auckland temple that is being built and its so beautiful. Anyways the mtc was kind of hard at first to get used to but im getting into the groove. The lessons are still long and theres a lot of doctorine to memorize but its not too bad. 

My companions are elder wihongi from hamilton new zealand and elder tihopu from tahiti. They are both going to tahiti on their mission. and elder wihongi is supposed to be in the provo mtc as soon as he gets his flight info becausehe has to learn french. It would be sad for him to leave because elder tihopu only knows a little english and he goes to french classes during the day. So i would be companionless in my english classes. Its a strange situation, but the lord will provide i guess haha. 

The food is pretty good here and the ice cream is even better. I love getting to know the other missionaries and the vibe here is so friendly. Its been kind of cold because its winter here, but def not as bad as the snow in utah.

Anyways thanks for reading all about my arrival to new zealand. Sorry if there are typos, im not used to these samsungs yet. Add me on facebook and text me with messanger because i can use it when i have time.

-Elder Gardner




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elder Gardner: July & Aug 2025

-
Image
  7/21/25 Sorry i dont have much time tonight. This week was amazing.  - temple on tuesday was awesome - healing from my infection in my leg and im cleared to still go to raro on thursday - lots of lessons this week - exchanges with the APs - lots of spirit felt and testimony grown of the saviors atonement  - ward conference - amazing lesson to set a baptismal date with your friend nate - district FHE with mission president and his wife to celebrate us winning in our challenge this transfer As a mission we just hit our baptismal goal for 3 transfers in a row now. With the goal increasing drastically each transfer. It is amazing to see the Lord progressing his work here in auckland and i feel very blessed to be a part of it. I gave had a strong testimony building week and i am on a spiritual high. I really want to keep this going and keep relying on the lord in all things! I have loved this transfer and the many hardships have made it a very special transfer in my mission....
Read more

Elder Gardner: 9/8/25

-
Image
 Bike Problems Kia Orana Sorry i got no time for this email. This week was awesome as always. We found lots of new people which is always exciting. We had lots of bike problems this weekend and i also crashed on the bike lol. Anyways, in keen for this next upcoming week. We are gonna be pushing yo get a lot of ppl at sacrament so they can see the blessings that come from it! I'm loving my area, the branch is awesome, everyone is so sweet and God is good! Ka kite!
Read more

Sister Johnson: 8/19/25

-
Image
  Happy Tuesday morning!! ☀️☀️ it’s a lovely day so far:) Ok! So here’s an experience I have been feeling like I want to share with you all: Maybe a week ago? Ish? I was in the temple for to do initiatories. I can’t remember if I had an appointment or I was just walking in… I think I was just walking in.  The PCC temple has a really good system for helping people who walk in w/out an appointment be able to do initiatories. However after they got my name and all that jazz they asked me to sit in the front area where the desk is instead of in the back near the booths bc the benches back there were full. This was sorta upsetting to me, I had gone that day really hoping to be able to feel the spirit. But being up there near the desk meant I had to try and tune out all the happenings and chatting there. Recently I’ve discovered that when I’m anxious I can get pretty sound sensitive. So if there’s any noise going on it can completely overwhelm me with anxious thoughts.  I start...
Read more