Week 81: Happy Father’s Day!

Well howdy there family!

Mom - Well thank you so much for the packages, Elder Caballero was ecstatic when he saw it. :) He was so happy, and he's still enjoying it, so thank you. :) And good luck! And haha yeah, Elder Peacock is AP right now, along with Elder Mello, a Peruvian. They're pretty cool. But yeah, sounds like things are just the same old normal (besides the things that clearly aren't normal haha), and I hope you're doing good. :)

Dad - Well happy father's day yesterday! I hope it was a good day. :) Haha well no, not AP (thank goodness), still trying to keep my head above water as a zone leader haha... whew! But thank you for sending the password stuff for BYU. As I read through the website and stuff, I discovered that it would probably just be easier for you to take care of it and ask me questions via email on what needs to be done.

So… a pretty crazy week. We had the lovely privilege of driving all over the San Juan Zone to mark all the missionary apartments and chapels in the stake on Pres. Smartt's new GPS. Great. The AP's had done it before, but the GPS got robbed from them haha… so… we were lucky enough to drive all over the place this weekend and remark all the places haha… great, right?

Besides that, we got to do tradeoffs in Fajardo this week, and that was pretty cool! Fajardo's really awesome and reminds me a lot of Guayanilla, but a bit bigger. I really liked that day. :)

Other than that, we had a good week in our area, and taught some good lessons. Nothing too out of the ordinary happened. We found some really cool new investigators, and they're going to progress a lot!! Also, Francisco, our recent convert, is going to get a calling!!!! He didn't know he wasn't supposed to tell us, so he let it slip that he's going to be the 1st counselor in the Young Men!!! I was sooo happy!! :) :) <-- see? :) Haha anyway, that was great, and he's just progressing so much, going to institute and all the activities and stuff. Good times. :)

So yeah, that was the week. I did get a picture with a starfish that some investigators caught, so I'll send that to ya. I need to take more pictures I think. :S Sorry! But anyways, sorry for the short letter, but I hope you're doing great! I love you all and look forward to hearing from you next week. :)

Love,

-- 

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 80: The Fun Never Stops in the Caribbean

Haha well the fun never stops here in the Caribbean (hard to believe, right?) But yeah, a pretty good week I think. :)

Mom - It's weird to think about graduation... that was 2 years ago! Agh! Haha but yeah... wow. And yes, I am so happy that things worked out the way they did, because I'm just so content with life. Anyway, I love you, Mom, and I do miss mowing the lawn and bagging the grass, so that makes two of us ;)

Dad - Well it looks like things are kind of boring back home! I bet you're loving the new calling though, I sure would! It would be like right now being relieved of my ZL assignment and becoming a normal senior companion somewhere... if only... Anyway, I'll keep watch for the packages; we're going to the office today, so I'll see if they're there. :) Thanks for everything dad, and I hope you have a happy Father's day on Sunday! I'll try and send a card as soon as I can. :)

18 month picture

Anyway, so a pretty good week I think. A member last Wednesday took us out to eat at Sizzler, and that's the first time in a while I've actually felt "trunky" haha... oh wow. Eating American food again... wow. It was good. But bad. But good, because I wasn't too trunky for too long haha ;) But yeah, then on Friday we had a Mission Leaders' Council, which was Pres. Alvarado's last one. To be different from all the others, we did it in the mission apartment, which used to be the mission home, before they got that one. It's on the 15th floor of this beautiful apartment building in Guaynabo, and from there, you can see all of San Juan, Carolina, Trujillo, Bayamón, and Guaynabo. It was great. Basically, you can see all of the San Juan Zone. Yay! But it was good, and it was a good meeting. 

Besides that, we taught a lot of good lessons, and there's a couple of our investigators who are progressing toward baptism. One, his name is Modesto, came to church, and we set date for the 23rd with him. He wasn't all that sure about it, but we're going to push our faith and make it happen.

Also, Francisco is doing great! He loves the church and he comes out with us all the time to lessons. He's progressing so much and learns so much, and he now participates in lessons, bears his testimony, and just ... is great! My most active convert to be sure. :) I'm so thankful to have gotten to know him, and I can't wait to see the kind of missionary that he'll be a year from now. He's a stud.

But yeah, other than that... just the same old missionary routine and worrying about the zone. Really tired, and sometimes overwhelmed, but always happy. :) Thanks to the Atonement, I don't have a reason to be sad.

Anyway, I love you all so much, and I hope you're doing great! I hope the summer's not too hot for ya, and that you enjoy it! I think it's gonna be a hot one here, but we'll see. I think there are some storms a-brewin' out in the Atlantic, so we'll see what happens there. But yeah, love you lots!

Con mucho amor
 

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 77: Miracles Do Happen

Hey everyone, this week was a pretty good one! :) We saw some really great miracles here in the Metro area, and I had some really great opportunities to work with the district leaders in the zone. It was a good time. A lot of work, but totally worth it.

Mom - Well Elder Paxman is looking pretty aviatorish with those glasses ;) But it looks like he's enjoying himself haha... it's a nice tie he's got, too. I'm glad things are just kind of plugging along and that things are a bit more normal. And yeah Mom, don't worry, these 6 months will go by much too quickly.
Dad - Well it sounds like you've been having a good time with the garden haha... I hope that it brings some good stuff to eat this year... like tomato sauce and salsa that I can eat at the end of the year ;) he he but I'm glad that went well. Also, I've learned a lot about the Oath and Covenant, and that's really cool that you were able to give a talk on it! I bet it was great.

E. Gardner, Francisco, E. Caballero

Anyway, like I said, a pretty good week. We saw some really great results in the area, including our baptism of Francisco on Sunday!! That was awesome, and I'm really thankful for him. He had to have an interview with President, but it all worked out and he got baptized on Sunday. That was really cool. : ) Like I said also, I was able to work a bit with the district leaders in the zone, and I had a great time in Puerto Nuevo with a new missionary, Elder Foote, and we were able to see some miracles that day in his area.

It's a lot of work being a zone leader, and I don't think I sleep nearly enough; but the blessings that come from serving the missionaries in the zone and trying to help their needs are just fantastic, and so worth it. I am very happy to have had the chance to see what we saw. It was a good testimony builder, and for sure strengthened my faith.

In Santurce, we had some really good lessons, and taught some really cool people. We found a sweet family, and hopefully they'll progress! They asked us about baptism before we had even mentioned it, so that's a good sign of desire I think. They really want to change and they want happiness in their lives, so I'm really hoping they'll progress toward that. :)

La Perla

Um… but yeah, a good week and lots of work, but I'm happy and doing well. :) We have a mission conference next Monday, so I don't know how that's all going to work, and then we have our final interviews with Pres. Alvarado the day after, so that will be a sad, intense day haha... wow. 

Anyway, I love you all very much and pray for you always. Stay strong and don't let go of the iron rod! :)

With all the love of my heart,

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission