Week 85: Rough Waters Ahead

Well before I say anything, I must say that I APPROVE of Marilee's jersey! YES she's a Jazz fan just like her old brother! ;) Or else she at least wears the jersey haha... Anyway, you traversed your dangerous waters, and this week will be one of rough waters for me, but I'll get to that in a second haha ;)

Mom - I totally agree we should all go rafting next summer! I remember going with the scouts down to Moab on the Snake River and it was a BLAST. I loved it, and I think it would be a ton of fun. Make the arrangements and we'll all go. :) We could do that and just have a blast down in Moab. It would be great. In any case, congrats Mom, I truly am proud of you for what you did! I'm glad you had a good time. :)

Dad - You know, I haven't had real noodles and sauce since I left either haha. I've had pasta and stuff, but no real noodles and sauce. I'll see what I can do about BYU from here then, hopefully it will all work out.

 

With Elder Caballero

Anyway, when I say rough waters this week I mean... TRANSFERS!! Our first transfers with Pres. Smartt and Elder Peacock says they're absolutely crazy haha... It will be fun to see what happens. Maybe I'll be let go as a ZL and be able to go and focus on my own area again! We'll see what happens though. I hope I stay in Santurce because we FINALLY have an apartment in Santurce (we found one Saturday) and I'd love to finally live in Santurce while working there, because for the past 8 months I've been living in Caparra and working Santurce. Not ideal haha ... but whatever. We'll see what happens and I'll let you know Monday!

Besides that, we had a pretty good week this week, and found a bunch of new investigators. One of our investigators, Cassandra, is doing great, and has a pretty firm baptismal date for the 28th! We'll see who gets to stay and see it all happen. :) 

It's crazy to think how fast the time has been flying. Elder Gillespie is either home or else coming home soon... and Elders Hill and Reed finish next month. Holy cow. In 5 days I'll have had my mission call for 2 years. It's unreal, to be honest. 

Anyway, I don't know what else to say haha... it was a good week, but not much I can say in words. Pretty crazy at the same time. But I'll send some pics so yeah. :) Anyway, I love you all so very much, and thanks for everything you do!!!

Con mucho amor,

--

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 73: New Companion

Well howdy y'all! It sounds like things are just ... well... plugging along like you said haha. It's too bad the Jazz are out, but that's alright. Better a lottery pick than a first round sweep I think. I pray for you all the time!

Anyway, it was a bit of a crazy week, and transfers have just hit. I'm still here as ZL in the Metro Zone, but with a new companion, Elder Caballero. He's from Panama, and President's asked me to train him as a new zone leader. That will be an adventure for sure! Besides that there were a bunch of changes in the zone, and a lot have been transferred, and we're getting a bunch of new missionaries tomorrow, so that will be a lot of fun! Haha but yeah... this past week was pretty crazy.

I went to another area, Caparra and Levittown on Tuesday on my assignment from President to work with the new missionaries, and that went pretty well. It was a cool experience, and it was pretty fun. We had a leadership training meeting on Thursday, which was pretty intense. There's a big push for planning right now in the mission, which is really good, because it will help us stay focused and use our time better.

Then for the weekend, with what time I had to work in Santurce, we had some cool lessons, including a really powerful one with a part-member family about the Book of Mormon. They've been pretty unwilling to read it, but they said they'd read and pray about it afterwards, so.. yeah! That was good. When I wasn't in Santurce though, I was at the Celebracion Latinoamericana, and we had two more performances: one in Arecibo (our best one yet, at a super cool theater there), and another in Caguas. That was at the Stake Center (my first chapel!) and LOTS of food. :) Our last one will be on May 10 in Ponce, and I'm really excited for that one, to hopefully see more members and converts from Guayanilla again! :) 

Anyway, that's about it for the week. Transfer craziness, and we'll see how it all works out! Thanks for everything you do, and thank you for the package - the Girl Scout Cookies were a great touch! "This ain't no girl scout cookie! Roger out!" :) Love you all, and I hope everything works out for you this week. I look forward to your words next week, and I'll try and have all the info about what time and how we'll be talking on Mother's Day. :)

I love you all so very much,
Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 52: Metro Area - One Year Mark

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

 

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission