Mom - That's great to hear about Elder Hill, I'm glad he's
still going strong in Peru! And that's weird to think that Marilee is going to activities
and such, it still hasn't really sunk in... but it's good to hear that she's
looking forward to working at the farm.
Dad - Thanks for the update on the Jazz and such, I hope
they can make it! You'll have to let me know the entire playoff picture once
the teams are set.
Marilee - I'll respond to your email separately. :)
Anyway, moving on to the week! Monday was P-day and Elder Foggin's birthday, so
we went bowling again. I did better this time, scoring over 100 on my first
game!
Tuesday
was a normal missionary day, and we went out and worked, and were able to get a
lesson in with Oscar Perez. We taught him about baptism and such, and he said
that he hoped he could get an answer to be able to be baptized. It was a pretty
good lesson, and I believe that he was touched. We'll keep working with him of
course, and visiting him, and hopefully he'll soon accept a baptismal date.
Wednesday
was nothing special either, just another missionary day. The morning was kind
of slow, and everyone we passed by wasn't home. But the evening picked up, and
we found some cool people while contacting in the streets, and were also able
to visit a less-active family and teach them a little, and then passed by some
other investigators. Overall, it wasn't a bad day, but just another typical
day.
Thursday
was interesting. We had a normal morning and afternoon and such, and then we
passed by a guy that Elder Hammer contacted, named Pucho. We thought we were
going to actually teach him, but it turned out that he only wanted us there to
teach a couple of his friends. It was kind of weird to be honest haha.. oh
well. We did get a couple of new investigators that way, so that was good.
Friday
was kind of crazy, as all the DL's and ZL's had a meeting up in Bayamón. Elder
Hammer didn't know he was supposed to be there until 10:00 that morning, so
Elder Duclos and I took him up there, and then came back and worked in Caguas
until that night, which was BYU-Idaho's Noche de Jazz at the Botanical Gardens
here in Caguas. We were ushers and stuff there, and it was all right haha. I'll
try and send some pictures.
Saturday
was where it got interesting. We did some service that morning, and then we
went and passed by some people trying to get them to go to the baptism the
hermanas were having for their investigator. Nobody could, so we couldn't go
either. So we visited this guy named Edgar, who speaks English and seemed
really nice. He had told us to come by then, and so we did. He had a friend
over though, and so we didn’t really want to interrupt. We told him hi, and he
came out to talk to us for a few minutes. And then his friend came out, and
said that he was from Idaho, and that because of the army, he’d been in Puerto
Rico for 14 years. He was really nice and stuff, and talked to us just about
life and what not, but then he kind of started asking some interesting
questions, like about our belief of eternal progression and what not. To make a
long story short, he basically told us that he’s a pastor of some church, and
that he’s done a lot of research on other churches. He knew a TON about our
church, and used a lot of the Bible to “support” his claims that our church is
false. Now, it’s hard enough answering simple questions on the spot, but when
talking about that kind of doctrine and everything, and then having a ton of
questions asked, it’s hard to come up with answers on the spot. He asked a ton
of more questions, too, that we couldn’t answer right there, and basically
“invited us to take a step back and investigate more about our church.” Anyway,
it was just interesting, and really tough to just sit there and not have any
answers for him there on the spot. He’s a very learned man according to the
world, but has no faith whatsoever. And that’s where he falls, because without
faith, and without asking the only infallible source of knowledge, he’ll never
really know. Anyway, I’m doing great still, but any advice, counsel, thoughts,
or anything, I’d love to hear. :)
So yeah, that was Saturday. Sunday was okay; we had no
investigators in church, so we couldn’t really stay after Sacrament meeting, so
we went out to work. We taught this older man out in the country, which was
interesting, and did a ton of walking out in those hills because our car was
almost out of gas, and we couldn’t buy any on Sunday haha, so that was
interesting. It was hot, and I was sweating, and I was dead tired when I got
home, but it was still a pretty decent day.
Overall, it was a pretty interesting week, and I’ve learned
a lot more, and I believe my testimony has been strengthened. I’ve had some
really great learning experiences that have shown me how I can improve, and
what I can do to help people understand better where we come from. It’s been
great to learn and improve every day, and I’m thankful for this opportunity I
have.
Anyway, I love you all, and pray for you always. Thank you
so much for your support and for your love and prayers. You are the best family
ever, and just think – only like 21 days until Mother’s Day! And you know what
that means? Phone call! :) Thank you again, and I look forward to hearing from
you next week!
--
--
Elder
Kimball Ray Gardner
Puerto
Rico San Juan Mission
No comments:
Post a Comment