My dear, dear family!
Well, it's been an eventful week, to
say the least haha... lots to say!
Mom - Thank you so much for your
testimony and for your words of support and strength. Thanks for all that you
do, mom. I love you!
Dad - Well I sure look forward to
seeing what you've got planned for Halloween this year! You'll have to take
pictures and everything and let me see how it all works out. It's just around
the corner! And thank you for the notes on what Elder Bowen said, that is
really enlightening.
Marilee - I will write you back
separately.
 |
| The sky the night before Isaac was supposed to hit. |
Well, what the week. Wow. Ups and
downs and... kind of tough. But this last week Puerto Rico was put on
"Storm Warning" for Tropical Storm Isaac. We were told to make sure
we had enough water bottled in the house, that the car had gas in it, and that
our phones were charged. I was excited to see this storm, since I'd never seen
one. There was a big hulabaloo about everything, and... the storm never hit. It
was out like 80 miles haha.. we caught the tail end I guess and got a ton of
rain and a little wind, but it wasn't at all bad. Ernesto, from a month ago,
was worse than this and we hadn't even heard about that storm. So that was a
bit of a let down haha.
Well, our investigator with a
baptismal date, Josué, is no longer living in Puerto Rico. :( We passed by on
Saturday to teach him and follow up on his baptismal date, but when we got
there, his grandma told us that he had moved to New York with his parents. I
was just crushed. We finally, after all our work, got a little success, and
then he moved away. Oh man... it was rough. But it's all good now, and we
pushed forward and keep pushing forward, and are working with some other
investigators to help them progress. But that was that.
And then yesterday. Mom, be warned,
what you're about to read may contain material upsetting for missionary
mothers. So we were riding our bikes through the pueblo, or the main area of
Guayanilla, and were about to cross this bridge. There's always a dog there
that likes to chase us, and we're usually fast enough to outrun him. Sometimes
I'll try and kick him away because he's close at my heels and is trying to
bite. Well, this time, we were stuck behind some cars and could therefore not
move at all. I was actually completely stopped, and this dang dog just stares
at me for a minute, and then attacks! Before I could react it had bit my leg.
Wow. So I kicked it off, got another kick in its face, and then rode away as
fast as I could (the cars had moved by this time). When we got to a stopping place,
I called Hna. Visker, the mission nurse, as to what I should do, and she helped
me through all the steps on what to do and everything, and that she needed
someone to send a picture of the bite to her and Hna. Alvarado to see if it
needed stitches.
So we went to this one lady's house,
Rosie, to see what she could do for us, because she had offered to feed us. Her
husband wasn't home though, so we had to stay outside the house. But we got it
all cleaned up with the hose and some soap, and then we took a picture and sent
it to Hna. Alvarado. Rosie then cleaned it with some alcohol and then put gauze
on it, and then she gave us food, by which time her husband had come home.
Anyway, long story short (too late, right?), no stitches, no rabies, no
nothing. Just an ugly looking wound that a member, Hno. Caraballo, said would
leave a nice scar. :) I've got a picture of it I'll be sending soon, and we'll
see what Dad thinks about it.
Hna. Visker just said to keep it
clean, keep it covered, and then to keep her updated on everything and how it
goes. Her biggest concern is infection, so we'll keep an eye on it. But no
worries, I'm fine, and actually have felt pretty good since then. I'm in good
hands, and everything is going okay. :) I'm happy, content, and really, loving
the mission. Even with dogs chasing us and (in my case) biting me, it's all
good. I'm doing great. :)
Besides all that, we had some really
good lessons with our other investigators, Ishmael and Edison. Ishmael is
amazing, and is SO close, but has that one little doubt. And with Edison, we
taught about church attendance, and we were so close to having him come, but he
didn't show up.
Anyway, things are going great, and
the leg is healing up. It's not too bad, really, I was pretty lucky. :)
Transfers are on Wednesday so I'll let you know what happens next week. Thank
you for everything and for all that you do. I love you all so much and keep you
in my prayers always. You are GREAT and just think... 4 months and we get a
phone/skype call! :) Take care my dear family, and I look forward to next week!
Con mucho
amor
Elder
Kimball Ray Gardner
Puerto
Rico San Juan Mission
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