Week 45: Conference Weekend and Previous Week

Well, today has been quite the interesting day, and I'll get to it in a second - but it's been a pretty crazy week, and I'll let you know about that too! But Conference was AMAZING and I loved it so much. Anyway...

Mom - I did hear about the new age for missionaries. Crazy! Such a huge change, and a great one. So many more missionaries will go out because they won't have that extra year to go cold. They'll just leave, which is exactly what they need to do. What hit me the most from that talk was when Pres. Monson said "effective IMMEDIATELY". Wow. That plus the fact that nobody besides him and the rest of the Apostles knew. Surprise to everyone! But that was great, and one part I really enjoyed. I want to say that I am proud to be called the son of Patricia Gardner, and I try now more than ever to live up to that responsibility. :) I love you so much, Mom! (Oh, and that pizza looked delicioso!!)

Dad - Well, it sounds like things are going good with the Halloween preparations and everything, and I look forward to more details! And Nightmare on 13th sounds great! I hope you two had a great time. :) Thank you for the GREAT news of BYU beating Utah State, that really made my weekend perfect. :) But Dad, know that I love you too and that you are a great example to me, and I look up to you in so many ways. You're pretty much my hero. :) Thank you for all that you've done for us as a family and for me personally. I love you Dad!

Marilee - I love you too little sis, and I'll write you separately. :)

But anyway, getting down to business "to defeat the Huns" ;), it was a crazy week because President gave us the challenge to get 10 member present lessons or we couldn't go to Conference. Wow. To some it may come off as crazy, and at first I didn't really like it, but then I repented and followed his counsel. He received that revelation for the mission, and to sustain him, it's my job to do what he says. So that's what we did. We took members out to all our lessons and taught some street lessons and everything and we did it. We got 10 member present lessons. For the first time in Guayanilla, and the first time in MY MISSION. It was great!! And then we were able to go to Conference! Yeah! We bought a ton of candy and then Hno. Caraballo lent us (Elder Durfee and I) one of his laptops to watch General Conference in one room in the church, while the Spanish speakers went to the chapel with his other laptop and a TV. It was great. Elder Durfee and I watched it with the recent converts from Yauco, Jonathan and José and had a great time. :) Might I say that 4 talks in particular really hit me?

Getting Ready

Elder Cook's talk. Wow. I have never seen Elder Cook so intense in my life! That was powerful.

Pres. Uchtdorf's Saturday afternoon talk. Also powerful to me.

Of course, Elder Holland's talk. I had seen one similar to that that he had given in the MTC a few years back, and it was just SO powerful. Do you love me? Then FEED. MY. SHEEP. Amazing.

And then Elder Bednar's talk about testimony and conversion was so mindblowing that I can't wait for the Liahona to come out so I can read it and mark it and everything. I loved that talk.

Watching Conference

But yeah, Conference was great, and I loved it, and was sad when it was over. There were a couple of glitches, because the power went out in Ponce during the Priesthood session and we missed the last part of Elder Christofferson's talk before it came back on, and then the laptop was losing power on Sunday morning. But it was still great and I really enjoyed it.

And then today was Super P-day! We went up to Caguas this morning for our district meetings and everything, and also had transfers! And... no changes, still in Guayanilla with Elder Caal. So at least one more transfer in Guayanilla! That's alright, there's a baptism planned for my birthday, so that's fine with me. :) But after district meeting and stuff, we got changed and then went and played sports all day until 3:00! It was great! Although I hurt my shoulder pretty bad on a fall during basketball. Oh well. :( But now we're here in Yauco doing our emailing and we'll do some shopping soon and then try and head out to work! Elder Hammer is back from his sickness, and Elder Mangelson goes home in three days. Wow! How fast time flies. But it was great to see all the other missionaries, and we all had a great time together. Oh, and I did get the package. Thank you so much! I was honestly not expecting anything like that haha, I didn't even know they made refrigerated packages. But thank you so much, and I'm sorry if that was a lot of money :S I really didn't mean for that to happen haha. But thank you very much.

And so that's about it! A crazy week, and I bet another crazy one ahead of us. I keep you always in my prayers. I hope you all do really well this week and that all goes well for you. I love you all!!

Con mucho amor,
--

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 44: Not a Good Week

Wow. And I thought my week was rough.

Mom - It sure sounds like it was quite the adventure for you this past week, and I hope and pray that everything is okay! But know that I love you too, Mom, more than I can express in words, and thank you for your example to me, and for not giving up on me. :)

Dad - I can't believe it either, 10 months already. It still feels like just a couple weeks ago we drove into Provo together. Wow! And the longest wait between talking to you guys is almost over! Christmas is just around the corner! But I'm glad the Haunted Forest went well, and that BYU beat Hawaii. I'm hoping for some similar good news next week - I'm basically hoping that BYU thrashes the Aggies haha, and Elder Smoot from Adjuntas wishes the same. And that is a sweet missionary experience, thanks for sharing. :) And know that I love you too, Dad, and thank you also for your example and for being a person to whom I can always look up.

Marilee - I'll write you separately. :)

New PR driver's license

Anyway, it was a pretty rough week here too. It seems like Satan was just working really hard this week on all fronts. For us I think it's because we missed renewing our covenants last week because of Stake Conference, and thus didn't have that extra power and everything, and this week was just tough. Basically, every day the members cancelled on us to go out with us, which was no good. Also, when we went to the investigators' houses, they weren't there either! On top of all that, good ol' Elder Gardner here goes and runs his new car into the metal guard rail on the side of the road after turning! It was a sharp right turn, and I got distracted looking at the car behing me thinking it was our investigator, and I guess I kept moving even though I thought my foot was on the brake, and ran into the guard rail. Luckily I was going slow, and all that's there is just a dent and the bumper popped out a bit, but after I called the office, they told me I needed to send in an accident report, and I'll be having an interview with President sometime. Great. Just what I needed. I just got back on his good side and then I go and accidentally hit the guard rail. Just my luck haha. Ugh. Anyway, so then the rest of that day I couldn't focus because the car was dented and all that was on my mind, and the whole week was just hard to teach. We did teach Juan-José though, the less active that President wants on a mission, and that was a really intense lesson. But besides that, it was just hard to find people to teach. And then came Friday night.

We had scheduled a baptismal interview with Narayan for Friday night, but when we went to his house, he wasn't there. We had been told that he had gone to the hospital in San Germán because he might have had Dengue. Great, just what we needed, to have our baptism for the week go down with dengue. But we prayed and then went out looking for where he might have been, and after like an hour of searching, finally found his grandma, who called his mom, and we reset a cita for Saturday morning. I was spiritually drained after that, because we had just been following the Spirit that whole night. And then Saturday. Wow.

Saturday morning comes and we go with Elder Durfee to Narayan's for his baptismal interview. He passed! So that was great. But then we also had another young man named Brian who we had set a baptismal date for the 29th. We taught him with his friend there, Hector, who is a member and the grandson of the bishop. We hadn't taught him all week because he was always busy, but Saturday morning we went out with the determination to teach him and interview him for baptism that night. However, we had heard from Hector's mom that she had talked to Brian's mom and she didn't really want him to be baptized. But we went out anyway. So we go to their house, and Brian's brother comes out FINALLY after like 20 minutes of calling at the house, and says that Brian's in Ponce with his aunt and his mom is working at a baker in Los Indios, which is an area in Guayanilla kind of far away. So we go to the only bakery in Los Indios and ask for Karen, Brian's mom. She doesn't even work there; but they say there's another bakery in Barinas. So we go there and check, and it ends up that Barinas is in Yauco, and she doesn't work there either. As we started searching the bakeries in the pueblo, Bishop calls and Elder Caal tells him what we're doing, and I guess Bishop knows Karen and tells us where she really works - a bakery in Magas Abajo, which is much closer to her house than her son had told us. Whew. So we race over there and ask for Karen, and it turns out she doesn't even work that day! Agh! So we go back to the house and Brian is there. We talk to him a bit and ask him to bring out his mom. As I'm reparking the car so that cars can get past, Brian's mom came out and just flatout rejected us. Harshly, too. She said something along the lines of "I don't want him getting baptized in your church or ever going there again. I don't want you passing by here ever again, and I don't want to see you ever again. Thanks." (Lots of "ever agains" haha). And then she slammed the door. By the time I had gotten out of the car, it was all over. Heartbreaking.

With Elder Caal and Narayan

But then later that day we had Narayan's baptism, and I felt honored enough that he asked me to baptize him. :) So that was really special for me, and a great experience. And last night we had a conference put on by Elder and Sister Tesch for the youth of the Stake who are preparing for missions, and it was just amazing. The Spirit was so strong, and it was a great atmosphere. :) So that was a nice way to end the week. But it was just a week of ups and downs I guess for all of us! But I know that as we keep pushing forward and enduring to the end, everything will work out all right.

I love you all so much. Mom, Dad, and Marilee, I love you all. :) Thank you for all that you do and for your support, and I really hope that everything works out with you guys. I will keep you in my prayers as always.

Con muchísimo amor,

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 43: Almost a Baptism

Well, a pretty crazy week! A lot of great things have happened this week, and we've been really busy. The car is an incredible blessing, one for which I am so so so grateful. It has helped so much, and we have been kept very busy.

Mom - I'm sorry to hear about all that! I do have a testimony that Satan has a great hold upon the world. I see it here every single day. Puerto Rico is just a breeding ground for Satan's power to flourish. It's crazy. We seriously are at war here, and it's intense haha. Wow. I'll just try and paint a picture for you. You know how there are just tons of chapels there in Utah? Imagine instead that every one of them is a bar. And then imagine tons of basketball courts where kids can just go and do bad things at any point of the day or night. Horrible. And I did get the pictures of Rex being up at the house. :) That's my buddy alright!!

Dad - Well I was really hoping BYU would beat Boise State. I can't believe they lost by 1 measly point. :( Oh well. But the Halloween season is upon us here in Puerto Rico too! I have a great picture you'll love which I'll send soon. :) I look forward to seeing pictures from your Halloween set up soon! And I'm glad you're losing weight, and I am too! I think I'm down like 25 since I started. And remember the list of ideas I sent a little while back if you're wondering for things to send. I'll resend the list in a bit. :)

Marilee - I just wrote you. :)

Anyway, a crazy week! We had the car, so a couple of days we took out members with us. One, Christian Rivera, a mission-age young man who isn't out yet, and he said he really enjoyed the experience! He said he had a great time. Also, we were able to finally take Zondy out with us, which really helped him boost his morale, and he loved it. He can't wait to go out with us again, so that was awesome! We also met a guy named Carmelo Borrero, who is the boyfriend of Bishop's daughter, and he is GOLDEN!! Finally! I have officially met a golden investigator. :) He says he knows the Church is true, that the Book of Mormon is true, that he wants to be the next bishop of Guayanilla, and wants to be married in the temple. Wow. It was great to meet him, and he says we'll be taking pictures this coming weekend, so pictures to come!

But yeah, so this weekend was Stake Conference, and the Zone Leaders wanted each companionship in the zone to have someone baptized Saturday night by their unit leader. Well, we did our very best. Narayan Ortiz, a 14 year old, was and is ready to be baptized, and his dad would have been home on time to see it, but his mom decided that someone else's quinceañera was more important than her son's baptism, and so we couldn't baptize him for that sole reason. I realize that the quinceañera is a big deal in hispanic cultures, but come on, that over a baptism in front of Elder Cornish of the Seventy?? Oh well. We weren't the only ones who didn't get a baptism. Actually, Yauco was the only one with a baptism. But Carmelo said he was going to be there, so we go to Ponce with the Yauco elders, but Carmelo had to leave with the Bishop, so we didn't have an investigator there.. but it was a great service, and Pres. Alvarado ended up letting us stay so I could play the piano for the adult session. Wow. Elder Cornish's talk was AMAZING. He basically called the Puerto Ricans to repentance, saying how much the Mongolians, Haitians, and Dominicans sacrifice for the church, because "The Gospel is precious to them." It was great. Then the next morning, Carmelo was there, which was awesome, and I played the closing hymn for Stake Conference. Elder Cornish also gave another great talk about the Atonement during that session. It was just overall great. :)

Anyway, so right now we have 4 baptismal dates, and hopefully 2 of them will happen this week! It should be a good weekend, with a baptism and also the Tesch's are putting on a missionary work conference for all the Aaronic Priesthood and mission-age elders in the stake Sunday night, and all the missionaries are going to be there for support and to sing Called to Serve. It should be great!! :)

But yeah, that's about that! Loving the car and oh so very grateful for it, and working hard every day. I am really starting to love Guayanilla, and I hope I can stay at least one more transfer here. I love you all and thank you for everything that you do! I pray for you always!! :)

Con muchísimo amor,

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 42: Good Progress and a New Car

Well, the crazy P-days just don't want to stop for Elder Gardner! Haha goodness... long day today, but I'll get to that in a second.

Mom - I'm sorry to hear about all that.. :( I guess all we can really do is keep praying and fasting. I love you, Mom! And thanks for the blood type haha. I got that today, and still don't have my license so… it all works out! Probably won't get it until next week haha... long story. And Dad's talk sounds wonderful, I'm sad I missed it. :)
Dad - I'm sorry I missed your talk! It sounds like it was great! And that's too bad BYU lost... I was hoping for some revenge from last year.... :( Oh well. Life moves on, right? And have you sent a package or anything yet? Just wondering to see if you had and just hasn't come yet, because (more explanation coming), I'm in Bayamon today, and there was no mail there for me. So just wondering. Anyway, I'm sad I'm missing the Halloween season, but I'm glad you two are having fun! And thank you for Elder Perry's words, I will study them more in depth when I get home.
Marilee - I just wrote you. :)

Well, an interesting week! We almost met our goal of 10 member present lessons, but just fell short, with 8. Interviews were actually really good. President and I had a nice talk about how different things are now in the area, and how I've changed for the better. He then asked me what he could do to help, and I worked up the courage and showed the faith to ask for a car... and he said yes! A ton of responsibility has come with it though, as he wants us to use it to reactivate an inactive mission-age young man and get him on a mission before he ends as President. Wow. But we'll do it. So that was interviews!
 

With Elder Caal in the new car. Happiness!

Today we had to come up to San Juan for Elder Perez, the companion of Elder Durfee, because he has kidney stones and he needed some tests, and then we had to pick up our car from the office. So now I'm here in some university in Bayamon to write you guys haha. And we have a car! I'll send pictures of it next week. :) I'm so happy! Now we can get to our whole area! But yeah, it's been a crazy day and we haven't done any normal P-day stuff yet besides email, and it's 4:00. Yikes. And we have to drive all the way back to Guayanilla tonight. Great. But it's all good, life will shortly get back to normal haha... hopefully.

Anyway, this week could be a week of miracles. This Saturday/Sunday is the Ponce Stake Conference, and the ZL's want us to be able to have our bishops baptize someone Saturday night and be confirmed Sunday morning in front of the entire stake, and a general authority. That's eleven baptisms (one for each companionship), and it would be incredible for the stake, and I think it's a great idea. So hopefully I'll have some great news for you next Monday!!

But yeah, this past week was pretty good, we were able to have some good lessons and help a couple of investigators keep progressing toward baptism. We had a good lesson yesterday with a couple, named Carlos and Rosie, and they seemed pretty interested. He was reading the Book of Mormon before we had even left, and she said that she was definitely going to pray. They seemed a bit confused, but as they read and pray, the understanding will come.

And so I guess that's about it! I don't have a ton of time today, because we still have a lot to do, but it looks to be a great week! Working in Peñuelas, Macana, and Consejo Alto will be great. :) But know that I love you all! I'm so thankful that we are sealed together for time and all eternity as a family, and that as long as we keep doing what we need to do, everything will work out. Thank you for everything that you do and for all your support. I love you all so much!

--

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 41: Doing Fine

Hey family! Another week has come and gone, and this week was a pretty good one! We've definitely been seeing some success, and things are going good. I've seen some great changes since I first got to this area, and it's been incredible to see the growth and changes here in Guayanilla.

Mom - I'm sorry to hear about all that.. :( All I can say is that through much prayer and fasting, miracles can happen! Thanks for the pictures; I'm sure you're real happy to see the Halloween stuff coming out! It's weird to think that that is next month. Wow. September's here and almost half gone, and then it's the best month of the year! October! That's crazy. The lawn mower looks much smaller than the last one, so that's kind of interesting. But know that I love you so much Mom, and that I keep you in my prayers always, and I thank you for everything you've done for me. :)

Dad - Go Cougars! I can't believe the U lost to Utah State... that's weird. Does Utah State have a good team then? In any case, I hope BYU destroys them when they go up to Logan. But yeah I look forward to hearing what happens this weekend! It sounds like BYU hasn't really had much of a test, and I don't know how good the U is, but I guess I'll find out next Monday haha. Anyway, it's great to see all the Halloween stuff coming out, and I hope that all goes well! And thank you for Elder Perry's notes and comments and stuff; they are very interesting and enlightening. And that's cool that Brigham City is all ready!! That's great! When is Ogden going to be done?

Marilee - I will write you separately.

Anyway, I know I didn't write much last week - things were crazy. But nothing really happened with transfers, besides the fact that Elder Morrison is gone, and Elder Durfee is the new DL. I'm still here in Guayanilla with Elder Caal to finish up his training, and we'll see what happens after! But it's been a pretty good week, and we have 3 investigators with a baptismal date! 2 are young men, ages 15 and 13, and one is an older guy. Narayan, the 15 year old is super prepared and is pretty much ready for baptism. He's the son of a member, and it's great to teach him and everything. Brian, the 13 year old, is the friend of a member young man in the ward, and we had a good lesson with him too. Both of them want to be baptized, which helps a lot. The older guy's name is Isidro Castillo, and we're not entirely sure if he's completely on board haha. He loves listening to us, and reads the Book of Mormon inbetween visits and stuff, but he said he's open to everyone, no matter what religion. I don't know with him yet. But we'll have the faith that baptism can truly help him, and that he'll be ready for his date on the 12th of October. The other 2 by the way have a date for the 29th of September.

Picking quinepas

 

We've been able to really work with the members here, too, which has been great. They're really starting to show a greater desire to work, and poco a poco we're starting to see some great changes here. :) When I first got to Guayanilla, we had just Zondy and a couple of other weak investigators. After Zondy was baptized, we had hardly any investigators. But after we started showing our faith and truly working with all diligence, with all our "heart, might, mind, and strength," we started seeing miracles. It's been a wonderful experience, and in an area where I used to think "get me out of here," I now think "I love this place." It's still a hard area just for the fact that it's a biking area, and a lot of hills and everything's so far apart, and we can't go to Peñuelas or Macaná anymore (more than half our area), but we have a bunch of people to teach and the members are really starting to work now. It's great. :)

Speaking of bikes though, my bike has decided to start being dumb. Only 9 months in and it's already starting to fall apart! Part of it's because I was riding super fast and then hit a pothole and my back tire was just destroyed, and since then the axle piece broke. I had to take my bike to Yauco and get it fixed, but it's still giving me problems. The wheel won't go on straight, and the gears are off now. So that's a pain. But other than that, everything's good! I learn more and more every day, and my testimony is strengthened all the time.

Anyway, that's about all I've got for this week. This Friday is interviews with President, so that should be an adventure- it always is haha. So I'll be letting you know next Monday how that all went and if I survived ;) No, it will all be good, and I look forward to hearing from you next week! I love you all so much, and I hope you all have a great week. Keep sending the pictures, I love seeing what's going on back home! Love you all!

Con muchísimo amor,

--

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 40: Too Busy

Hey family, I don't have a ton of time today.. Labor Day and everything was closed, so now it's 10 after 5:00 and I have to write you guys and President still! Agh! So it may be a bit shorter today :( Sorry!

Mom - Well it sounds like it was a pretty good week, and that you have been keeping busy! I hope everything works out between those two, and a new lawn mower?? That lawn mower was new just a couple years ago! But that's pretty cool. And Halloween mom, it's coming! I am going to miss fall... :( Oh well. But I hope you're doing great, Mom! Love you!

Dad - Thank you for the BYU score! I hope they keep up the good work! they play the U pretty soon, right? This weekend or the next weekend, right? Anyway, thanks for Elder Perry's notes- I didn't read them yet, but I took a picture of them so I can later. :) And I want pictures from the Halloween stuff!! Anyway, I hope you are doing great too!

Marilee - I already wrote back!

With Bro. & Sis. Tesch, couple missionary.

Anyway, a pretty busy week, and we were actually able to teach this week. It was pretty good! We didn't teach a lot of investigators, but we did teach less actives, and we were finally able to talk to Zondy, who had been avoiding us for a little while. He was sad and everything, and we talked to him and asked why, and he hadn't been coming to church, and he told us that he had started smoking again, and that he was scared that his priesthood was going to be taken away. We taught about repentance and forgiveness and it seemed to help, but he didn't come to church again, so we passed by with the bishop, and they had a good talk, which was sweet. We have a cita with him tomorrow, which should help.

Yesterday though we had a pretty good day, because the members actually wanted to work with us. We went out with the Bishop and the 2nd counselor in the Stake Presidency, and we went and visited some people, including an investigator! So that was pretty sweet. That was a really good evening, and I wish all Sundays were like that haha. But a lot of time this week was dedicated to finding people, and we were able to find a few.

Update on the dog bite, it's getting better. I keep it covered and everything, and it's getting better! So no worries there. :) If anything gets worse I'll be sure to let the mission nurse know, and the next time I write, I'll let you know. But for now it's getting better and stuff, so it's all good.

Oh, and something cool the mission is doing, is that we have all asked our unit leaders (Bishops/Branch Presidents) to find 5 Part Member Families to work with, and then we were to ask them for a blessing so that we can work under their keys and authority. A really sweet idea, and we had a good experience with Bishop Nieves yesterday with everything, and it was really great. :)

Anyway, I really don't have a ton of time to write, and not much to say as it is.. I'm sorry. Next week should be better! Anyway, I love you all so much and I'm glad I could at least write you this little letter! No time to send pictures either... sorry. :( Next week! Next week! Anyway, I hope you're all doing great, and you're always in my prayers. Thank you for everything!

With much love,

--

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 39: Isaac and One Angry Dog

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

Week 38: Nothing Short of a Miracle

Mi querida familia,

Well, another week has come and gone here in Guayanilla! And boy was it another tough week haha.. wow. But a great experience, especially yesterday. Basically nothing short of a miracle to me. :) We'll get there in a second though.

Mom - I'm sorry about your braces situation and for what happened at Kohl's haha, but I'm glad everything worked out okay! It's weird to think that a year ago I was walking around in Kohl's as an employee. Whoa. But I hope that all worked out for you! :)

Dad - That is a great talk, I enjoyed it! It really applies to the members here, too, because in this ward at least, they have a hard time wanting to do missionary work. Ugh. So that talk was really interesting to me. And yes, keep me posted on the Halloween stuff!! Oh, and let me know how the BYU Football team does!! If I'm right, they start this weekend, yes? Anyway, just the scores and who they played and stuff. :) Thanks!

Marilee - I will write you separately.

Well. This week was also kind of rough in the sense that our investigators just couldn't meet with us, and we therefore couldn't get many member present lessons. As a mission, the goal is to have 10 each week, and it was just so hard to even teach our investigators, let alone with a member present. Basically all week we were contacting and trying to find people, and we did finally find a couple of people to pass by and start teaching this week. There's this one guy, named Antonio, who really seemed interested and seems pretty prepared already. He wants his family to be raised in righteousness and wants to follow Christ, and that's exactly what we're here offering! So hopefully we'll be able to teach him more about this Gospel and how it can help his family.

Sign at the beach: Entering Danger Zone - Tsunami

But really, the great stuff happened yesterday. At church, after a couple of weeks without an investigator in church, we had some there!!! One was the husband of a member, who we haven't taught yet, another was Rosa, an investigator we've been teaching for a little while, and then Doel and Narayan, the husband and son of a member in the ward. It was awesome!! Then after church, we went to go teach Josué, another investigator. And it was a really great lesson. We read 3 Nephi 11 with him, and at the end, after he had told us that he wants a new beginning and to start over, we promised him these blessings through baptism and repentance, and then invited him to be baptized. And he accepted!! He has a baptismal date set for this 15th of September!! It was great. :) Then we went and taught another guy the first lesson, and he was really accepting and open, although he didn't want the Book of Mormon just because he doesn't read much. We'll work with that. But overall, it was a great lesson, and he accepted pretty much everything! So yeah, yesterday is when all the success came, after much prayer and pleading with the Lord. I had been feeling pretty down because we ride our bikes around all day every day looking for people to teach, and trying to teach our investigators, but it just feels like sometimes we're not doing anything. Nobody wants to listen and nothing happens. So when yesterday happened and we finally had some fruits of our labors, it was really nice. It was an answer to my prayers, and I was just so happy and thankful to my Father in Heaven who has heard my prayers and is giving us success now in Guayanilla. Like I said, nothing short of a miracle. :)

Oh, another interesting thing from this week, we had a FHE at the bishop's on Friday, and you know what movie they showed? 17 MIRACLES! And they don't make it in Spanish, so it was in English with Spanish subtitles. I was in heaven. :) I love that movie SO much, and to be able to see it here reminded me about everything about the pioneers from back home, especially Trek. Such a powerful movie, and a powerful message. It was great to be able to watch it here. :)

Anyway, a bit of a difficult week, but we're starting to see progress here in Guayanilla. We are getting a bunch of investigators now, and I'm hoping to see the members help us out a bit more in the coming weeks. It's hard hard work, but it's so rewarding. :) Oh! And I got the package with the slime and stuff, thank you so much. :) I put the slime in my tires, so they're good to go now! Anyway, thank you so much for all that you do, and for all your support and love. I love you all so very much, and hope that you all are doing great!!

Con mucho amor,

--

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 37: Zone Conference with Elder Zivic

Well well well, here we are, another week later! This week was really long for whatever reason. Wow. But it's great to be here, emailing and reading all about everything that's going on back home. :)

Mom - Thank you again for all the updates on the Olympics!! I did hear that the USA basketball team won from Zondy, but the medal count was something I was hoping for, and you bring glad tidings of great joy by telling me that the States pulled back ahead! USA! USA! USA! USA! And yes, it was Eric ha ha... oh man. Speaking of which, Elder Hill has already been out for like a year now! Crazy! Anyway, I'm glad you're doing great, and that you had a fun time watching the Olympics! I'm sad I missed it, but the Winter Olympics will start shortly after I get home, right? Where are those at? Anyway, love you Mom, and I'm glad you're doing great. :)

Dad - Hawaii?? Sweet! I've heard that Hawaii is a lot like Puerto Rico, just with less people and they speak English haha. But I'm glad you're having a good summer, and that you are all doing well. Your adventure with the lawn mower in the marsh sounds like it was fun haha. And all that information from that meeting was great! I took a picture of the email so I can review it in more depth later, thank you!!

Marilee - I already wrote you back. :)

Anyway, finally a normal week. And my goodness was it long! It just wasn't our week this week haha… all of our investigators basically fell through on us, so we hardly taught any of them. We did teach one, named Doel, who is the husband of a member. He's a great prospect, and I have a lot of hope for him! He and his son are good prospects to be baptized I think. Besides that, we didn't have too many other lessons... :( We did a lot of contacting and we taught some other less active members and whatnot, but our investigators just were too busy. We have some hope for this week, and Bishop Nieves is really pushing the work here. He's doing such a great job, and is inviting families over to his house for FHE and everything, and is inviting us over to meet them and stuff before we start teaching them so that they feel more comfortable and stuff. He is amazing! He is really bringing about a great work here, and is probably the best part about Guayanilla. This week has some promise, and we have a member present lesson set up for tonight with another promising investigator.

In Yauco

Anyway, today was a different day. We all went to Ponce, from both the Ponce and Mayaguez zones, and had a special zone conference with Elder Zivic, the second counselor in the area presidency. He is from Argentina, and he is a great man! He is a great teacher, and we were all uplifted and edified much by what he taught. He helped us know what we need to do to become Preach my Gospel missionaries, and gave us the steps and everything we need to take. He helped us to see that the mission goals help us to better ourselves and help our areas grow. He's just a very flowing teacher, and reminded me a lot of Pres. Dibble.

Well, I wish I had more to write, but honestly like I said, there was a lot of contacting done this week. I'm really hoping that this week brings a little more success, and I have a good feeling about it. We keep doing our best and working hard and having faith, and I'm sure we'll see success soon.

Thank you family for all that you do and for all your support! I love you all so much, and it is always so wonderful to me to hear from you and know you're doing great. :) Again, I'm sorry I don't have much more to say.. but just know that I love you all very much. Send my love to the dogs, too! Thank you for everything. :)

Con muchísimo amor

--

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 36: Training? What?

My dear family!

It's a bit later than usual as I begin to write this email, but it's all good. :) It seems like the craziness doesn't want to stop following me around! Haha but no, it's been a pretty good week, and a few changes! I'll get to 'em in a second though.

Mom - THANK YOU for the Olympic updates! It sounds like it's a pretty sweet Olympics this time around! What's the medal count? And keep your eye out for a Puerto Rican track/field athlete named Javier Culson - he's their highest shot at a gold, so everybody here loves him haha. But it sounds like the basketball is going great, and I actually did hear about the Nigerian blowout from one of our investigators. Wow.
Dad - Well it sounds like you and Mom had a great time in Vegas! Happy Anniversary in a couple of days, by the way (It is Aug. 8, right?). Anyway, I'm glad you had a good time, and I hope that fire doesn't get any bigger! I will keep that in my prayers, and I hope that it gets contained and everything soon. And wow. I loved that about the Articles of Faith. That's amazing. Thank you for sharing that!
Marilee - I wrote to you separate. :)

Anyway, another crazy week! So if you remember last week I was with Elder Durfee and Elder Morrison, and we were in a trio. Well on Monday night I get a call from President Alvarado asking me if I'm ready for a companion. I say yes, and he tells me that my new companion's name is Elder Caal, that he is from Guatemala, and that I need to love him. He also tells me that we're moving the next day (Tuesday).

So Tuesday morning comes around and we're all packed and stuff and the beds are taken down and ready to be moved, and at around 10:00 the Icelys (the Senior Missionaries in charge of houses/cars/etc.) come to help us, and the Zone Leaders bring my new companion! He's pretty cool, and I have a picture of him I'll send next.



New companion, Elder Caal

Anyway, so we moved apartments, and it is beautiful. It is a very very very nice house, and I have pictures of it to show you! The house is beautiful, and so so so much better than the last one, and it's been good having to talk only in Spanish all day, it's definitely helping me learn. Also, Elder Caal got to the island on June 20 and is still a part of the 12 week program for new missionaries, which technically means I'm training. However, he has 5 months on the mission because he had to wait in Guatemala for his visa. So... I'm not exactly sure what the situation is, but since he's doing the 12 week program for the first time and has to do the extra hour of study, I think I'm training. Wow.

But yeah, investigator wise it's been an alright week. We talked to this one guy named Edison, and he's pretty cool! He's a Dominican, and we talked a bit about baptism the other night because he seemed really interested in baptism.  I sure hope he comes on Sunday! Anyway, he's my favorite investigator at the moment, although we do have another one right now who has some promise because he is looking for the change we have to offer. He told us that he wants the happiness that he sees in our faces, so I hope we can help him with that! His name is Josué and he seems really sincere, so I really hope he can progress.

A funny story this week haha... so Friday we talked to Walter, the guy who made those things for you (you did get the package, right???), and he told us that on Saturday there was a big storm coming through Puerto Rico. He was right. Saturday, we were blessed to go out with the Bishop for the first part of the day, but we were left to fend for ourselves at about 4:00, and OH MY GOODNESS it was raining!! Holy cow! We were riding our bikes basically through rivers. The streets were rivers and the rain just kept on coming down. Hard. We were SOAKED for the whole rest of the day haha... oh man... holy cow. Basically it was as if I had jumped into the river. It was a lot of fun. :) Kind of a pain when we got home, but it was still fun. But yeah, so then we came home and got changed and stuff.

So yeah, it was an overall good week! We work hard and we do our best to help other people come unto Christ. :) Next week is going to be really different because on Monday Elder Zivic from the Area Presidency is coming, and we're going to be in Mayagüez for that meeting until 2:00, so I don't know what's going to happen with our P-day and stuff, if it's going to be those last 4 hours that day or if they'll give us Tuesday and whatnot. I don't know. So don't panic if weird things happen next week! :) Haha, that should be a good meeting. Anyway, I'm glad you're all doing great. I pray about you always, and it's always a pleasure to read about what's going on back home! Thank you for your support and for everything you do. :) I love you all so very very much!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission