Well, here we go! On the
downhill slide... wow. It's crazy to think that a year ago today I was sitting
in the MTC. I can't even believe it. Craziness! Anyway, to your emails:
Mom - The decorations
look great! I must admit, I miss normal Christmas stuff, and it's cool to see
our decorations up. :) They put lights up here and stuff, and it's cool, but
there's no snow and it just feels different. I love that cool
nativity scene you've got there! It looks sweet! Also, that's great to hear
about Tosh and Madison, it's good to know I won't be the only missionary out
from our ward haha... so that's good. Tell Tosh to look for a kid named Vernon
Yazzie who probably lives down in that area. He's a Navajo, and I gave him a
Book of Mormon already, so there's a seed planted there! I'll keep
praying for you like always.
Dad - I will definitely
be watching for those shirts! I bought a couple already, but it'll be good to
have a full new array of white shirts. :) Also, I appreciate the thought about
the Hostess stuff! It'll be good to keep a piece of history haha... or eat it,
rather. And the oil will be greatly appreciated, thank you. I don't know what's
happening with the Skype yet, I'm not entirely sure what's going to happen
there. We haven't yet found a place to do it, but we'll continue our frantic
search! But I look forward to talking to you all also, and it will be a great
experience. :)
Marilee - Still no
email?? Haha I'll write you in a second :)
Anyway, I don't know if
the mission lets the parents know or anything, but this week, if you don't
already know, I was called as district leader of the Hato Rey district. Not
anything I wanted, and it's been a bit of a challenge. But it's been a good
learning experience, and it's been crazy. Last week I was at the office when President comes bursting out of the
office, shakes my hand, and basically pulls me into the office haha. We had an
interview and he called me to be the district leader. He told me that he wanted Hato Rey to shine, and that he
wanted 2 wards there. Wow. He said the metro area would be a zone in March, and
I had to strengthen it before then. He said a ton of other stuff too that was
pretty intense, and I left that office feeling like I had a ton of bricks on my
back. Needless to say, I prayed hard that night. Oh, and he gave us 72 hours to
fix up our apartment. It's right by the office, and pretty big, so a lot of
missionaries visit and stuff, and a lot finish their missions there. Thus, lots
of junk and stuff. So we repainted it, cleaned out really good, reorganized
everything, and now it looks fantastic. :) President still hasn't seen it, but
the senior missionaries in charge came by today and inspected it. Anyway,
that's basically what we did Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We also went out
to work and stuff, and we had some good lessons with some cool people, but we
spent some time cleaning and painting and stuff. It looks really good.
Also, we had a choir
performance Friday night, in CAGUAS!! So I got to go back to my first area on
my year mark. :) It was really cool to go back and see all the members again
and to talk with them. It was a cool performance too, and it was just a fun
time. On Sunday we drove down to Ponce and then to Adjuntas afterwards and sang
in both of the sacrament meetings. Then we came home.
But yeah, other than
that, I feel like I haven't had a ton of time in my area, and I also feel quite
inadequate to be a district leader. But something that Elder Stout, a sweet
missionary and another district leader in the area told me is that the Lord
qualifies those He calls; so if I just have some faith and do all I need to,
the Lord will qualify me, right? Anyway, lots of stuff going on, and December
is quite the busy month haha... it'll be crazy. Anyway, I just hope I survive
to see 2013, and keep serving the Lord! I really hope to see changes here in
Hato Rey. I'm already seeing some in the missionaries here, so that's good. But
I saw tons of miracles and lots of changes in Guayanilla, and I'm confident
that they can happen here, too. The key this time is that it has to all happen
much quicker. But yeah, that's about it for the week. I'm really really tired,
but I'm happy. :) It rains a lot, and we get wet a lot here, but it's all good.
It's a great time here, and I can't wait to show you around here. I'm visiting
all the best areas basically, to get to know the whole island so that when we
all come back after my mission, you'll get the best tour experience of Puerto
Rico ever. :)
Anyway, I love you all,
and I hope you're all doing great! I pray for you always, and I hope you are
all enjoying this wonderful Christmas season. :)
Con
muchisimo amor,
Elder
Kimball Ray Gardner
Puerto
Rico San Juan Mission
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