Soeur Gardner's Caribbean Adventures

Bonjour mes amis! This was a crazy week, and today is my last day in Guadeloupe... tomorrow I'll be heading over to Barbados!! Leaving Guadeloupe is very hard, I love this place so much and I especially love these people! I'm trying not to focus too much on the sadness though-- unfortunately a part of missions is one day having to say goodbye, but there are also countless blessings to focus on!  One of the best parts of this week was getting to be in Barbados for a few days for Mission Leadership Council. It was one of the most spiritual meetings amongst missionaries that I've attended my whole mission! Us, the other companionship of sister training leaders, and the zone leaders from the other 7 or so islands flew in. It was a powerful bunch and we received a lot of revelation for our mission to reach our vision of having a stake and a temple here one day!! I learned a lot of things that will help me better serve and love the missionaries around me and become a bett...

BONJOUR MES AMIS!! Hello!! So yes, as I mentioned in my last email, this week my companions and I are going to Barbados this week for a Mission Leadership Conference. It was only supposed to last a few days. BUT we got a call from my mission president today that I will actually be TRANSFERRED to Barbados in 2 weeks probably for the rest of my mission to replace a sister who is going home! It'll be quite the adjustment because the English islands are pretty different from the French islands, but I'm really excited for the opportunity to discover and come to love Barbados even more!! My companion will be Sister MacDonald and I'm excited, I know her a little bit from exchanges a few months ago and it'll be a blast! BUT I really have to profit from this last little bit I have speaking French in Guadeloupe, because I'm reaallyy going to miss it!  Anyways, this week was really incredible. On Monday we taught a family home evening to a family that has been comi...

Bonjour mes amis!!! First thing first, conference was absolutely amazing. One of the major themes I noticed was JOY and how we can find joy in our lives. I think that joy is found in living the Gospel simply-- I find myself overcomplicating things sometimes, comparing myself to others, etc-- but living the beautifully basic truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ creates our own little sanctuaries of joy amongst this kinda crazy world! I also noticed how they spoke about how important our personal commitment to the Gospel is and being intentional about it. We gotta be all in!! I've already set some goals for myself and some changes to make in my life and I already feel a difference within myself and how much joy I feel. I think that as we continue seeking ways to improve our joy just gets fuller and fuller!!! :) In addition to conference, this was just a good week in general!! We met a lot of cool people this week and have been having a lot of fun in trio life!! Some highlight...

BONJOUR!! This week was pretty much full of craziness, but it was a good one! My companion and I left the area of Abymes on Friday night, so that week was full of lots of goodbyes. Luckily I didn't get moved off the island though, so I'll still be able to see everyone every once in awhile!  Now I'm serving in a trio with Soeur Kitchen and Soeur Watling back in Sainte Rose, it's been so fun!!  Although the last few days in Abymes were crazy busy, we had a lot of very incredible experiences! Welkens, who I wrote about last week, progressed SO much. He's already in 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon and has committed to read five chapters a day! He said the book has really changed his life and brought something special to it. He decided he wants to be baptized on October 12!! We are SOO excited for him! He's this super cool, young, classic Haitain guy and he'll be a great addition to the branch in Abymes :) This week we also sent the Laynes back home! ...

Bonjour tout le monde!!! <3 <3 I hope your week was super wonderful! We had a sort of crazy week but I got to participate in a few of my favorite things: baptisms, weddings, and people coming to church for the first time! On Monday (this will be a shocker to those who know me well) I ate SUSHI!! Okay, it wasn't really legit sushi because it was with chicken instead of fish, but still! I was pretty proud of myself and maybe it'll help me one day eat sushi with fish haha :) On Tuesday we had a really cool lesson with Marie-France, a recent convert, and our friend Yvrose! She's a friend that we found last week, and it was actually a really amazing experience. The night before meeting her, I felt really strongly during my prayer before going to bed that the next day, we were going to find someone who would be baptized. I asked Heavenly Father to lead us the next day to whoever that person would be... and we met Yvrose! She's been a member of the protesta...

Bonjour!!!  This week was CRAZY busy but it was so so good!! HIGHLIGHTS-- -We worked with members a LOT this week (which contributed to the craziness since we had to pick a lot of them up) but it was so worth it. Having a member there makes such a huge difference and I think we were so lucky to work so much with them this week! Plus we can ask them our french questions which is always helpful because apparently I almost accidentally swore at somebody without having the slightest idea haha! Soo hooray for members!! :D -We found GOOD donuts at a gas station. I really miss those classic glazed donuts from Krispy Kreme, but these donuts  kinda  filled that void in my life -We worked with a member who recently moved here from Haiti, she is the SWEETEST thing on the whole planet. We had lots of traffic driving her to and from the lesson we brought her to, so we chatted almost the whole time and she told me a lot about her life in Haiti, her kids, and her c...

Hello everybody!! This week we had a lot of really amazing experiences :) On Monday we went with the sisters to Sainte Anne and ate lunch by the ocean, it was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!! On Tuesday we continued helping our friend Moania clean up her new house, doing service is really fun and we got to know Moania a lot more as we painted and picked up trash. She said this week we can make banane pesée together and I can't wait <3 On Wednesday we were really blessed! As we were contacting in this one neighborhood, we ended up to-to-to-ing at this hospital/rehab/recovery center place! Which was funny because to us it just looked like a normal house haha. But a nurse came out and spoke to us, and said there were a couple patients who are really religious that would love to speak with us. So we sat out on the porch and talked to this one man, with the nurse, and it was really interesting! I never thought I'd be teaching in a situation like that, but it actually was pretty co...