This week has gone by a lot faster.  The days seem like weeks and the weeks seem like days.  The days start to blend together.  It hasn't rained as much this week.  I am starting to get more sleep and feeling less tired as I get adjusted to the schedule.  Spanish is coming along well.  This week I memorized the bautismal invitacion, the primero vision, Nefi 3:7 Alma 37:37, and Santiago 1:5 all in español.  I workout everyday so tell Mason he better work out pretty hard if he thinks hes ever going to have a chance of somewhat taking me.  

Today is Elder Roach´s birthday and tomorrow is Elder Ammarati´s birthday.  Those two are pretty much my new best friends.  For some reason me and the other Elders in my district randomly start talking in a Bane voice. I dont why we just do.  For some reason we always end up talking in accents.  We also randomly get in long debates during lunch about random nerdy stuff like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.  Mason will like this we have 3 spanish books in varying sizes called libros rojos, they all have different names but the smallest is nicknamed Charmander, the medium sized one Charmellion and the biggest is called Charizard.  

I am very healthy, we have teeth brushing party every morning and night.  I do have a giant bug bite on my leg and I dont whether or not Im going to do or not.  There are tons of mosquitos and you wake up with bites everyday.  Also the Mexicans party every night.  Their favorite song is the Macarena (Idk if thats how its spelt)  I fall asleep to that song every night.  

    

Elder Barlow is from Draper Utah and Elder Groneman is from Sandy Utah.  They have no sense of urgency and I don't think I have seen anyone take longer to get ready than these two. We are 15 min late to breakfast every morning.   My workout partner is Elder Ammarati.  He´s from Colorado, played football, and we have a lot in common. Every one likes my hand grippers too haha.  Edler Ashcraft is our district leader he´s really cool and really spiritual too.  He reminds me a lot of Bryton.  

   

This week I taught more lessons, I honestly cant even remember how many.  Sunday I read my patriarchal blessing and it was really cool.  I studied all the scriptures in it and it kind of freaks me out a little. 

   

 Its hard to remember what happened this week.  Beleive it or not mom but I havent lost anything yet.  You should be proud of me. I also havent even opened up a single bag of chocolate that I brought.   All of the Elder´s and Hermanas in my distrcit are going to Viña del Mar so thats pretty cool.  We have several devotionals a week and most of the time its some latino member of the seventy that comes to talk to us.  Last night was elder Reyes from the 70.  No I havent received the thing that you sent me and also btw you can send stuff through Dear Elder here. Not 100% sure how that works but some people in my district have gotten that.  

Me and Elder Ammarati did a contest to see who could eat the most peanut butter. Not a good idea...we tried 3 more times.  We are also pals with all the native elders.  Same with one of the janitors Javier.  We got one of our teachers to smuggle us some high quality toilet paper in. Ummmm I dont know what else to say I sit in class all day. Can you guys send me some pictures so I can show everyone!   Yup thats all I got.  vos amo!  (I thinks thats how you say I love you guys)

Elder Gardner

Here are some pictures of me and my district...

Me and Elder Ammarati

 This really cool picture of Nephi I liked

 The captains of the gains crew...

me and mi compañeros

SUP?

Well everything is going great here and I am having a great a great time. No offense but I do not feel homesick.  My companion is Elder Groneman, hes from Sandy Utah.  And yesterday an elder who was staying in my room went home cause he didnt want to be here anymore so now I am in a trio with Elder Barlow from Draper Utah as well. There are both nice and we get along great but lets just say that there are helping me develop the Christ like attribute of patience.  I have a really awesome district, we get along great and we have a fun time together.  

Everything here is in spanish, my maestra knows english but is not fluent so we are pretty much forced to learn it here.  I am surprised by how much i have learned so far.  I have given 3 lessons to an investigator in complete spanish.  It was pretty hard but I have realized that the more you have the spirit with you the more you understand and the more you can remember while teaching.  I have to sit in a class room for like 9 hours a day and i get so restless and it gets hard to focus by the end of the day and I have been having a hard time falling asleep at night.  Thursday was honestly the longest day of my life, but the rest of the days have gone by faster.  It feels like I have been here for like a month.  

The food here is either kinda good or not good at all but the mangos here are the most beautiful thing in the world.  They taste like sweet juicy candy and they are just so beautiful. We had a good devotional one night from the director here. One reason it was so good was because not only did he speak english, but he was american and spoke it fluently and without an accent.  Hes some 30 year old guy here and he was telling about what his old scoutmaster/kung fu teacher would yell at him.  It was all about the quote from star wars "stay on target! Stay on Target!"  

It rains here everyday, but it didnt yesterday or today...yet.  Mi casa (for those of you playing at home thats spanish for my house)  is a little under a quarter of a mile from the classroom and other buildings (were shoved way in the back corner of the ccm) We had a meeting and I left my umbrella in the classroom and we had to sprint there through a torrential downpour of hail and rain that will go down in the history books as the only rainstorm to rival the one that flooded the earth.  We were soaked to the bone even through our raincoats.  

We have gym everyday and we either levantar pesas or jugar al volleyball.  Its pretty fun.  One day we started joking around during lunch and talking about "gains"  For those of you that dont know gains are muscles.  And now me and Elder Amaratti kinda made it into a little district thing and we give small devotionals at the end of the day about making spiritual gains.  Ive probably heard the word gains about a million times over the last few days but gains es mi vida.  

Since were right next to the wall we can hear the Mexicans party all night long and periodically throughout the day we hear small explosions (possibly gunshots) and they tell us that thats just the local church setting off fireworks but who sets off just one isngle firework at 7:47 a.m  The wall around this place is about 15 feet of concrete with 10 feet of chainlink fence with an additional 3 feet of barb wire. Ha good luck jumping that! Dont worry mom were all safe here.

Nothing too exciting happens here cause were in class all say long.  Ive run into Hayden Nielson and Jared Greene up here but not any bowns yet.  During church we all have to prepare a 5 minute talk in spanish for sacrament meeting and they randomly call people up.  On sunday they called up Elder Gardner but luckily there was another Elder Gardner from Utah there so I was safe.  

Today s our  P day and me and the elders in my district are about to hold the first inaugural x gains. Its like the xgames but its not.  Pretty much were just gonna workout and then play volleyball. 

I love you guys and I miss you guys.  Yo se que Jesucristo es el Salvador.  You se que el libro de mormon es verdadero y yo se que la iglesia es verdadera.  Estoy agredicado por el Evangelio en mi vida.  Vos amo!

Para siempre Dios este con Vos!

Love you guys

Elder Gardner

You best believe I have that missionary pocket thing going on

Here's the "misty B of the mountain below"

Here's my district - Elder Groneman is the shorter one and Barlow the other one.

I MADE IT!

I made it just fine, everything is good and I am healthy and safe.  THe air here smells like poop but I will live.  Im supposed to give you this info 

Missionary's mailing address is:

Elder Gardner

2670872014 - Distric

Carretera Tenayuca-Chalmita #828

Colonia Zona Escolar, Gustavo A. Madero

07230 Mexico, Distrito Federal

Mexico

its supposed to say distrcit but the computer is being weird.

I love you guys my p day is wednesdays so talk to you then 

Love 

Elder Gardner

ps you can snd care packages through www.missionarypackagemx.com :)

A SAD GOODBYE

The goodbye at the airport is never an easy one ... and today was no exception.  Left on US Airways Flight 530 from Phoenix directly to Mexico City - Left at 9:50 a.m. and arrived in Mexico at 2:49 p.m.  My family was there and my good friends, Aaron and McLain.  I took off with Austin Webster and about 15 other missionaries.