A Letter From Elder Gardner

My Brothers and Sisters of the Santa Rosa California Mission.

 

Another new Transfer is ahead of us. What a wonderful opportunity to start fresh and keep our vision of who we want to become and what we want to accomplish here in the mission. If you are experiencing a change, change can be good and I hope and pray that you embrace it, and accept it. Whatever your new assignment or area might be. Remember the Lord has called you and the Lord has things planned for you wherever you are.

I understand this is a busy week with transfers. I have put a lot of thought into these topics in this letter and I hope you all will take a minute and really read this letter. I hope that in turn it will uplift and edify by the spirit.

 

The other night Elder McBride and I were coming home from the mission office and the song "This is the Christ" came on. It is one of my favorite songs and It touches me every time I hear it. I also tend to reflect when I listen to that song. On this particular experience the lyrics were riveting and triggering. Here are the Lyrics to this song by James E. Faust:

 

They heard His voice, a voice so mild;
It pierced them through and made their souls to quake;
They saw Him come, a man in white,
The Savior who had suffered for their sake.

They felt the wounds in hands and side,
And each could testify; This is the Christ;

This is the Christ, the holy Son of God,
Our Savior, Lord, Redeemer of mankind.
This is the Christ, the healer of our souls
Who ransomed us with love divine.

I read His words, the words He prayed
While bearing sorrow in Gethsemane;
I feel His love, the price He paid.
How many drops of blood were spilled for me?
With saints of old in joyful cry
I too can testify; This is the Christ;

This is the Christ, the holy Son of God,
Our Savior, Lord, Redeemer of mankind.
This is the Christ, the healer of our souls
Who ransomed us with purest love divine!

 

As I was listening to this song on this specific night my life was passing through my mind. I thought about all of the hard times throughout the years. The heartache I've felt. The losses I've had in my life. I thought about my family and everything they have been through throughout the years and the pain we felt through those times. I thought about my road to where my faith is and how many critical decisions I had to make to get here. I then thought about my mission and the happiness it has brought me. I thought about how great it is that I have had a chance to serve a mission and I thought about all of the people I've had a chance to work with and the miracles I've seen. It brought me to tears as I thought about the Atonement and that specific verse: "How many drops of blood were spilled for me?". To think that Christ suffered for all of those things I thought about in my head that night and all of the pain has been erased. I thought about him giving everything for ME. I cannot deny that the Atonement is real. I have felt it and feel it everyday in my life. I have been healed. I have been healed of emotional pain, heartache, burden and my nature has been changed. Nothing can persuade me to believe or think otherwise. I am living proof. That is all the proof I need.

In Romans 8:35-39 it reads. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, Which is in Christ Jesus Our Lord".

I know that nothing can take me away from the freeing love that I have felt. Nothing can prove what I have felt to be wrong. Nobody can take this away. This is the Faith I have earned. It is mine.

 

Faith is of a different category than most attributes or accomplishments in our lives. In the Bible Dictionary under Faith it reads " Faith is kindled by hearing the testimony of those who have Faith. Miracles do not produce faith but strong faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ; in other words, faith comes by righteousness, although miracles often confirm one's faith. Faith is a principle of action and of power, and by it one can command the elements and or heal the sick, or influence any number of circumstances".

In order to build faith it must be based upon our action. We must be willing to experiment on and make action in our life which in turn builds our faith. I cannot give my faith to you and you cannot give your faith to me. You may have all of the education in the world but you might still lack faith and it might be far from understood in your life until you try it.

We have the opportunity to testify to all that we see. To strengthen the Light of Christ that is in them from before this life and to help them build their own Faith. That is the greatest thing we can do.

 

Jesus Christ gave and suffered everything for me. I feel his love everyday in my life. The Atonement has changed my life. I have the opportunity as a servant of the Lord to share that every single day I am here with anyone and everyone I see. It is my commission. It is my responsibility. When all is said and done I want to stand at the last day of my mission and say that I have done the best that I can to give back. It will not be enough. It will never be enough. I want to do the best I can to give back to Jesus Christ. I want to rise to my potential that the Atonement has helped me see and give that freeing gift of Love to others.

When all is said and done, What do you want to have done? Who do you want to be? How do you want to feel?. Jesus Christ gave it all for us. What are we willing to give?

 

I Love you all. Sincerely I am thankful to be here with each of you. Truly there is nothing better we can be doing. Please let's give it all we have. Let's do it together.

With love,

Elder Gardner

A Letter From Elder Scott

     When I was 6 years old my family and I went to a bowling alley in Chicago where we lived. I entered the alley having little experience with bowling, trusting my Dad would be there along side me to help. After 4 or 5 tries to knock down that army of pins, it was my turn once again. As I walked towards the line with my Dad, he stood close behind me as he helped me steady the enormous ball in my hands. In that moment, I began to pray out loud in order to topple over the 10 pins. I concluded my prayer, and pushed the ball with as much force as I could muster. The ball rolled slowly until it knocked down all 10 pins. Am I a bowling prodigy? Of course not, but I believe there is a beautiful principle behind this story.

     There is never a wrong time to pray; praying before our lessons, praying mentally before we knock a door, or praying for the strength to fill out teaching records after a full days work! It is a such a powerful gift that we should never forget to utilize. For example:

"Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in [Christ's] name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you." (3 Nephi 18:20)

        That is a promise that I love, because there is no question if we will receive based upon those conditions. I testify that we can trust in this promise. Prayer is our direct link to the miraculous powers of Heaven. James Montgomery expressed the incredible power of prayer in the hymn, "Prayer is the Soul's Sincere Desire".

3. Prayer is the simplest form of speech
   That infant lips can try;
   Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach
   The Majesty on high
4. Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
   The Christian's native air,
   His watchword at the gates of death;
   He enters heav'n with prayer.

Although faced with trial and scorn, Our Savior does declare.
We will be guided in all our works, if we start them with a prayer.

I hope we each may grow in our testimony of prayer, and we are more inclined to, "use not vain repetitions" (3 Nephi 13:7) but we are open to "efectual fervent prayer" because it "availeth much." (James 5:16).
That our first reaction when a challenge lies heavy in our hands is to pray.

I testify that the Lord hears our prayers and, "[our] Father knoweth what things [we] have need of before [we] ask him." (3 Nephi 13:8) I know that He heard Joseph Smith's humble prayer in that spring morning of 1820. I testify that the Book of Mormon is true, and if we pray with faith in Christ, we will know the truth by the power of the Holy Ghost. I love you all, and pray we can all depend on this promise.

Elder Scott

Zone Leader Council Meeting

Today was Zone Leader Council Meeting. Since we have this meeting once a month, we have not had a transfer since our last meeting. Therefore, we have no new companionships, just a good looking, hard working, mission loving bunch of zone leaders. Thank you Elders for all you do to set a wonderful culture in the California Santa Rosa Mission!

For Elder Barrett's Mother

Here is a photo of Elder Barrett today. He is well, recovering and handsome as ever! Just thought you might like to see with your own eyes!

Visitors!

Alishia & Cody Christensen (almost)

This afternoon we got to see Cody Christensen and his fiancee Alishia. They will be married in a few weeks in the Washington D.C. Temple. We are so excited for them! We had a wonderful visit and appreciate so much that they took the time to stop by! We love you! Take good care.

A Letter From Elder Gardner

My Brothers and Sisters of the California Santa Rosa Mission,

 

I hope all of you have enjoyed the first month of 2012. I love the energy, motivation and diligence that typically follows when a new year comes around and I hope that you all have felt that within yourselves as you have been out working and serving the Lord each and everyday. Time continually keeps moving forward and it honestly feels like it keeps getting faster and faster in my life. I know that Time is very important on our mission's and I hope that not a minute is wasted because this is such a rare and quick experience in our lives. As I prepared my thoughts for this letter and tried to find an appropriate message to convey my mind fell upon exactly this concept and that is TIME. But I think even more important  and specific to my message is TIMING.

When I graduated High school in the Spring of 2008 I was very worried about Time and didn't want to waste a minute getting into the "Real World". I was inactive and had been inactive for years at that point in time and my whole world revolved around getting into a job that I was interested in so I could satisfy my worldly needs and ambitions. A thought of a mission never really crossed my mind because In my mind there was far too much to do and far little time to do it! I often compared myself to others, their ages and their accomplishments and qualifications. I thought that was every measure of what a person was and what truly mattered. A lot happened those first two years for me upon graduating. I did get into a Job I enjoyed and felt was important and was constantly engaged is social events, Work events or School. I found the Gospel during this period of time in my life after a long series of events and soon felt that a mission is what I needed to do with my life. Since then those worldly things have to a degree, lost their glimmer and shine. The importance that these things once held in my life has significantly dropped and I now feel more at ease with my life and the timing of how I do things as I see the amazing things that have happened as I have trusted the Lord and done my best. 

Even though it was something I felt I HAD to do with my life and I knew I needed to do, serving a mission was not the easiest choice for me to make in my life. With a partially active family, not many close friends in the church, A good job which I enjoyed, A new truck I had just boughten, years of school ahead of me and a fear of needing to move on with my life being a little bit older than most people who leave on missions. It was hard for me to accept that none of these things mattered. I didn't understand fully the concept of trusting Heavenly Father and in his Timing. Throughout my mission I have still had this same problem. I have had a hard time diligently living in the moment each day and focusing on the moment at hand. I have worried about my future and what it will hold and wonder if everything is going to be right. Instead of just simply trusting and serving each and every day I have felt this anxious, nagging fear enter into my life.

In D&C 64:31,32 it reads " And behold, I, the Lord, declare unto you, and my ^awords are sure and shall not ^bfail, that they shall obtain it. But all things must come to pass in their time". The first principle of the gospel as we all know is faith. Faith to me means trust. In order to fully have Faith in the Lord we need to trust in his timing and align our timetable with his timetable. When I think of this concept I think of Joseph Smith and the faith he needed to have in the Lord's timing. He might have grown impatient between the years of the first vision and the time moroni appeared to him, he might have wanted to go and receive the plates at an earlier date than he was given, he may have wanted to translate sooner and do things at a quicker pace. It wouldn't have worked out. It wasn't Joseph's work to do. It was Heavenly Father's. There to me in Joseph Smith's life was a huge lesson to be learned in Trusting in the Lord's time. For us in our lives right now the worries might not be the same as Joseph's.Our worries could be anything from "What career will I find myself with in the future"? to "Whom will I marry and when will that be"? There might be a dozen different worries and concerns different and similar to those within our minds and hearts. It is important to understand that those things will NOT work out in the Lord's plan If were worried about it while we are serving our mission. Our time right now is the time to focus on Teaching and Baptizing people into this church. We need to be focused on our current given assignment and preparing to act on the next given assignment. D&C 88:73 reads " Behold, I will ^ahasten my work in its time".

I can testify myself that time on the mission goes by so fast. It is so precious and needs to cherished each day. The way we can cherish our time is to fully be engaged in our purpose. Be here in heart. Not just body like Sister Cottle said last week in her letter. Let your fears about the future or about the present if there's nothing you can do about it right now, fall upon the Lord and You will be blessed as your work and serve diligently. Trust that the Lord has people here prepared for you. Trust that each day you are doing what you should be doing. Trust that your life will be the best it can be as you follow the Lord's Timetable. I am grateful for your service and for your examples here in the California Santa Rosa Mission. Thank you for choosing to Serve the Lord this Day. I love you and Look forward to continue spending time serving along side you each and everyday.

With all my love,

 

Elder Gardner

A Letter From Sister Cottle

Dear California Santa Rosa Missionaries,

President Bunker asked me to write this weeks e-mail, which I am grateful and humbled for the opportunity. I hope and pray that what I say will be what Heavenly Father wants each of us to know and feel at this time in our missions.

I feel impressed to share with you a little about my whole mission experience starting at the very beginning...

When I came out on my mission, I like most was sad to leave home, and a little afraid of the unknown. You hear about missions and missionaries coming home and how it was, "the best 18-24 months of their life." But my question was how? How could leaving my family for 18 months be the greatest journey of my life? How could leaving my job, my friends, cars, music, boyfriends, girlfriends, school, and whatever else we leave be the best 18 months of my life?

Something President Bunker said to us at our last zone conference was, "we can't just serve TIME, we need to serve a MISSION."

Each of us made a CHOICE to be here. Maybe we felt pressure, maybe we felt prompted, or maybe we just didn't know what else to do, so we came. But the point is we are here. Whatever the reason is, it got us here, and that is great. We are all here physically. But are we mentally in our missions? Spiritually? Emotionally? Is every fiber of our being here in the mission?

At the beginning of my mission I think the only thing that was here was my body. But the rest of me was longing for 'what used to be.' I hadn't yet tasted of the fruit "that was desirable above all other fruit," and "could make one happy." And I couldn't until I let go of my own will, my own wishes, my own desires. I couldn't taste of that fruit until every piece of me was clasping to the iron rod.

Someone of great wisdom once told me, our life is much like driving a car. When your car is in drive and your foot is on the gas pedal you move forward. As you move forward your eyes must be focused on whats in front of you. Every once in a while it is important to look into the rear view mirror and see what lies behind you. But if your focus is on whats behind you, not only will you crash, but you will miss great opportunities that could be yours.

That was me, I was that missionary driving forward but looking backwards. Our call letter states, "You have been recommended as one worthy to represent the Lord as a minister of the restored gospel. You will be an official representative of the Church. As such, you will be expected to maintain the highest standards of conduct and appearance by keeping the commandments, living mission rules, and following the counsel of your mission president. You will also be expected to devote all your time and attention to serving the Lord, leaving behind all other personal affairs. As you do these things, the Lord will bless you and you will become an effective advocate and messenger of the truth."

I realized that if my mission was going to be some of the "greatest 18 months of my life," I was going to have to sacrifice much more than just physically being here on the mission. I was going to have to give my WHOLE self to the Lord. In True To The Faith under the word sacrifice it reads, "To sacrifice is to give up something we value for the sake of something of greater worth."

Laman and Lemuel WENT and they came home. They technically obeyed but they didn't change. They just completed a mission.

What kind of mission do we want to serve? What kind of mission are we serving?

Elder Holland said speaking to us as missionaries, "If we're going to be disciples we better have something to show for it. We need to have a moment in the Garden of Gesthemne... a moment on the Road to Calvary. Christ's ressurected body, his scars on his hands feet and side, he will carry the evidence that there IS sacrifice in serving our Father in Heaven. "

Bruce C. Hafen said, "We need grace both to overcome sinful weeds and to grow divine flowers. We can do niether one fully by ourselves. But grace is not cheap. It is very expensive, even very dear. How much does this grace cost? Is it enough to simply believe in Christ? The man who found the pearl of great price gave "all that he had" for it. If we desire "all that [the] Father hath," God asks all that we have. To qualify for such exquisite treasure, in whatever way is ours, we must give the way Christ gave---every drop he had: "how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not." Paul said, "if so be that we suffer with him," we are "joint-heirs with Christ." All of His heart, all of our hearts."

The Lord doesn't ask us to do it all at once. But "line upon line, precept upon precept." The sooner we do give our all, the sooner we will find that "pearl of great price."

I would like to invite each one of us to prayfully ask the Lord what else we need to sacrfice so that we can become, "joint-heirs with Christ." So that our missions will in fact become "the greatest 18-24 months of our lives."

I love each of you, and I will forever treasure this time that I have had and will have to serve with you here in one of the greatest opportunities of a life time.

Love, Sister Cottle