Week 14: 100 days!

Mi querida familia -

Tomorrow is my official 100th day on the mission! Crazy, no?

Mom - Thank you for the scriptures, those are really cool, and I liked them a lot. Everything is pretty safe for the most part here, so you don't need to worry about that too much. :) We're careful and we don't go anywhere sketchy, so I'm doing alright.

Dad - It’s great that you found the CD's! I'll watch for their coming. The Zone Leaders haven't gone to the Office for a little while, so I don't know if you've sent the other CD's already or whatever, and I don't know when they're going again, so... yeah, I don't know what's going on in that regard. But I'll watch! Also, did my iPod make it home?? I sure hope so... haha. And yes, the Atonement is certainly something that can apply in more than one aspect. I'm still learning that, and I don't know if I'll ever truly understand the Atonement, but it is an incredible thing. The most important thing that has ever happened in the history of the world, en verdad.
Marilee - I actually replied to your email this week! :) Didn't forget this time! But I hope you liked the card I sent you!

Well, once again I can barely remember this past week, but I'll try and fill you in on what's happened since last week. After we emailed, we went over to a place called Johnny Rockets for some burgers. Pretty good stuff!! Then we did our shopping, and I bought a new digital watch, because my metal one was giving me a rash with the sweat and all.. blech. So yeah, the digital one is good, and it's actually more useful and a bit better looking for day-to-day use. I still use my metal one for Sundays though. Anyway, so we did shopping at Walmart and Costco, and then went back to the house for a bit until Elder Hammer and I went to the Sanabria's for some dinner. Puerto Rican food is great!! I love it! We stayed there for a while just talking to them about missionary work. It was a good visit.

Thursday was a rough day. Our first appointment was with Luis Lopez, our golden investigator. Or so we thought. We caught him walking out of his house, and we asked him if we could come by a little later when he would be back. He couldn't even look us in the eyes when he said he didn't want any more visits. We were stunned. We asked him why not, and he just said that he had some things to do (even though he's unemployed), and that he didn't have time. We think people started talking to him about the Mormons and stuff, so.. yeah. That was a heartbreaker. He had a baptismal date and everything.. :( But we moved on, and went to see if anyone else could talk with us. Pretty much all our appointments that day fell through, and no members could come with us. Even the Gonzalez family cancelled on us, because Sister Gonzalez' grandpa died. So yeah, Thursday was rough.

Friday was alright. We started out just contacting that day, and were able to pass by a couple people. We picked up a new investigator in an old man named Milton. He's a pretty cool guy, but he's mostly just there to learn. We teach him, and he kind of just sits there and takes it in. He doesn't really fully understand the Book of Mormon, and why it's important. More specifically, he doesn't understand what it means if it is true, so we've been having some difficulty with that. He's pretty receptive though, and likes to learn. We've invited him to be baptized, but every time we do he just tells us that he's already been baptized in the Catholic church. We've tried teaching him about the apostasy, and how the authority was taken away, but he just doesn't quite get it. He's a good guy though, and loves basketball, so we get some updates from him sometimes haha. :) He told us last night that the Jazz beat Portland, so that was good news for me! Not so much for Elder Hammer, who lived in Oregon for 7 years, but good for me haha.

Saturday was actually alright. We made contact with a younger guy named Bryan, who we had met like, forever ago. We taught him and some guy to whom he is somehow related about the Restoration. The other guy, whose name is Luis, had been a member of our church for 5 years, and is now Pentecostal. He believes Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that the Book of Mormon is true, but for some reason he's a Pentecostal now. Weird. But yeah, that was pretty cool to finally talk to Bryan, and we think there's some potential there. That was pretty much the highlight of the day though, and the rest of the day we just contacted.

Sunday was pretty cool too. At church I play the organ because nobody here can, so that's kind of fun haha. :) After church, we went to a member's home in Aguas Buenas for lunch. His name is Hermano Rosario, and he's pretty much crazy. He's a great member though, and he fed us some good food! I was really hungry because we had fasted since Saturday afternoon, so that food was heavenly. Afterwards, we worked and contacted a bit, and then ended up at Milton's again and taught him a little bit. It was pretty good.

Monday, we started off with our district meeting and weekly planning, as usual. It went pretty well, and then we went to Denny's for lunch. :) It was pretty good, but not worth the money I spent on the lunch haha. After, we basically contacted the rest of the day, because all our appointments fell through again.. but yeah, it was okay. We got quite a few contacts and talked to a bunch of people, so we planted some seeds I think.
And then yesterday. We had a mission coordination meeting with the Ward Mission Leader, which went pretty good, and then Elder Hammer and I went out to Firehouse Subs, just because we were short on time and a bit far from the house. It was great! I can't remember if I told you last week when we went, but there they have this machine that can combine drink flavors!! It says that there's over 120 options. It's great! They don't have Dr. Pepper very much here, so when I saw the Mr. Pibb option, and then chose it, and it came up with either Cherry Mr. Pibb or Cherry Vanilla, I felt like I was in heaven. :) I had some Cherry Dr. Pibb yesterday. :) I also tried the Peach Sprite Zero, and that's pretty good too! But they have like raspberry Powerade, or Lime Fanta, or orange caffeine free Diet Coke... it's so great!! :) When we are here in Puerto Rico together, I will bring you there so you can see for yourself! Anyway, afterward, we contacted a bit, then picked up Hermano Negron, a returned missionary, to go with us to some appointments, but they all fell through again haha. We did go pass by Milton again later though, and taught him about the Book of Mormon. So it wasn't a completely wasted day. But yeah, that was yesterday!

Which brings us to today. We cleaned the house and cars, doing email now, going to lunch after, and then some shopping and stuff, and then afterward, we'll figure something out to do. :) But yeah, that's about it for the week!

As always, I hope you are all doing so very well. I pray for you every morning and night, and keep you in my heart throughout the day. Thank you for your support and for always, always being there for me, even when things get tough. Thank you for your letters of support, and for your kind words. :) I love you all very much, and I hope and pray all is well with you. :) Thank you again for everything, and know that I love you very much!

Con mucho amor y cariño

--

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Alma 29:9

3 Nephi 5:13

1 Cor. 13:11

D&C 4

Joshua 1:9