Hey
all, what a year it has been! It's been a pretty good one, full of crazy
experiences and lots of growing. :) It's been great. Wow. I can't even believe
it's been just about a year. It flew by, and the last half goes even faster
they say. Wow. Anyway, so that's pretty crazy!
Mom - Well it sounds
like you guys had a fun Thanksgiving haha. I hope it all worked out well and
that you were able to enjoy yourselves. The TSO concert sounded pretty sweet
though, and I'm glad you all had a great time there! I did miss you a bit on Thanksgiving,
but it was still a pretty good day- I'll get to that in a second.
Dad - The TSO night
sounded like a blast! We did have something on common on Thursday - and it
involved riding a train haha. It's a pretty intense new area, and I'll get to
explaining it in a bit! But it sounds like you all had a good time in Salt
Lake! :)
Marilee - I'll email
you in a bit. :)
Well, I am now working
in Santurce. I've officially been transferred from Guayanilla and now work in
Santurce. It's a huge change. I moved from the most tranquilo pueblo on the
island to the area of the island where a ton of killings happen each year. I'm
now in the middle of San Juan haha... it includes Viejo San Juan (all the
touristy area), and all the northern part of San Juan (excluding the airport).
It's CRAZY! It's so much fun though haha, and a TON more people. In our area
there are like 1.5 million people or something. It's intense. And on top
of that, everybody is Dominican, so that's pretty interesting. It's a pretty
sweet area, and I'm still really confused directions wise there, but it all
works out. Oh, and we don't have a car. We live in Caparra, right by the
office, and we catch the train every day for a half hour with our bikes and
then we go bike around in Santurce! It's pretty sweet, and a lot easier to bike
than in Guayanilla, as it's all flat and hardly any hills. It's pretty sweet.
:)
Santurce
Anyway, on
Thanksgiving, we had two meal citas. The first one was with a member in Rio
Piedras, and we ate Sancocho with him, which is a Puerto Rican stew. A bit
later we ate with a member family in Santurce, and we had lechon, mashed
potatoes, salad, and some rice. A different Thanksgiving dinner, but still
really good. :) It was a good time, and I enjoyed it. Besides that, this week we
had some really good lessons, and we taught a bunch of people. Santurce's got a
lot of investigators, and a lot that are ready for baptism, so that will be
sweet.
Then on Saturday
night, some elders came and picked me and another missionary up, and we slept
in the Riverside apartmentos for Sunday, because we were in the choir. On Sunday
we went to Toa Baja, and then Arecibo, and we performed in those two sacrament
meetings. It was really good. We then practiced a bit after, and then came back
to the metro area. At 6:00, we met up at the office again and went to a funeral
and sang there. (For all the performances I played the piano.) For the funeral,
the Alvarado family brought a keyboard which was definitely NOT like a real
piano, but I made it work haha. :) It was a nice service, and we left a nice
performance there, singing "Nearer my God to Thee" and "Be Still
my Soul", both in Spanish. And Pres. said a few words, and it was all
really nice. The Spirit was definitely there. I'm a bit bummed I won't be able
to visit my new ward until January, but it's really cool being a part of the
Christmas Choir. We have another performance on Friday in Caguas, and then
others throughout the month. We might even be going to the Islands!! Like
Tortola, Antigua, St. Croix, etc. It'll be fun.
Anyway, that's about
all I've got for the week. Lots of craziness, but we'll see where we go. Almost
Christmas! Send me my Skype information ASAP. We still don't have anywhere to
Skype yet, but I'll find somewhere before Christmas comes around. :) I love you
all and wish you all the best! I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving and that
you're all doing great. :)
Con
muchisimo amor,
Elder
Kimball Ray Gardner
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