Week 97: Well I Absolutely LOVED General Conference!!

Mom - well I don't really know how you did it, and it must have been the Lord, but that's great that it all worked out! President hasn't said anything about it to me, but it's kind of a busy week with transfers and everything going on. We'll see what he says in the coming days. That's awesome though! It's really interesting you mention working at the MTC, because that's been my plan for a while. I would LOVE to work there and help out new missionaries and continue to teach the gospel. I'm hoping that I'll be able to!

Dad - If you could send me Matt's address, there's a couple things I want to send to him. I was planning on giving them personally, but I can send them, that's fine. The classes look good, so do whatever you need to now. And it's crazy that Halloween is just around the corner... wow! And thank you for the GREAT news that the Cougs threw down on Utah State!! YES! :)

Anyway, like I said, I loved conference!! I can't write too much because we have to go around the island today and bring in a couple missionaries for transfers, but I'll just say this: we have to follow the words of the prophets. If there's anything that I've learned on my mission, it's the importance of following their words. It's INCREDIBLE to me how many talks were given about Hastening the Work of Salvation! Absolutely incredible. There were also a lot of talks about the dangerous times in which we live, and the importance of women and their divine roles as mothers. I counted like 4 or 5 different times for each of these topics. It was SO good. I don't know how much more animated I can be about it haha, it was GREAT! :) I can't say I had a favorite, but if I did, I'd probably say Elder Ballard's. Unite and Hasten the Work!! Look up, not down, go forward, not backward! Up and forward, not down and backward! Awesome conference indeed.

We also had a pretty good week, but I can't really go into details because of time. Also, to all who wrote me this week, I will write back next week when there is time... sorry! But thank you so much for your letters and kind words, they do mean a lot. :) 

I bear my testimony of the importance of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. They are called of God, and though they may make mistakes as human beings, their words are God's words, and as we follow them, we will not be lead astray. It isn't really an option: we must follow their words. I know that they will tell us what we should do. I know that God has always used prophets to guide His children, since the days of Adam to right now, Thomas S. Monson. Jesus Christ lives and directs His Church through these prophets.

Anyway, I love you all and thank you for everything!! I look forward to hearing from you next week. :)

Con mucho amor,

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 71: Conference!

Well, I think it was a pretty good Conference, don't you? I think there were a lot of talks that applied, like Dad said. I went in with some questions I wanted answered, and some guidance, and I got it! Each one of the talks highlighted something that I wanted answered, some doubt that I had, and I really, really loved it. There were a lot about hope and peace, but Elder Cook’s was one I particularly enjoyed. :) I love Conference so much now, and I was just so sad when it was over; but it was good to hear the talks and all they had to say. :) And thanks for your experience Mom, that's really incredible. That's what the words of the prophets do. :)

It sounds like you had a decent time there in Four Corners area, and I hope you were all able to enjoy yourselves! It was a pretty crazy week, with a crazy Zone Leaders' Council on Thursday, Marilee's birthday. Some weird changes coming up, and I'll probably tell you next week when they all happen, but... yeah! Haha anyway, still in the Metro zone, and still watching great things pass. Each day I come to love Puerto Rico more and more, and it's amazing to see the miracles in some peoples' lives. For example, we had a great lesson with M… G…, who came to Conference for Sunday morning. She loved the message from Pres. Monson, and when we asked her if she believed that he was a prophet, she said yes! We then also taught about the Word of Wisdom and everything, and invited her to live it, and she said that if it's a commandment, then she has to live it. That was amazing to me, and her faith is what is going to help her through this process. She's so close to accepting a baptismal date, and I'm confident that she'll accept one shortly.

Easter Egg Hunt at the church

We also had a great lesson with N… and M…; we watched the Restoration video and kind of reviewed it with him to help him really understand it, and he loved it. We left it with him and he said he'd watch it again and again.

Also, we got some new investigators, who are actually old investigators, and it looks like they're going to be getting married this coming week! They have a weird situation where he went to jail for a bit and now they can get married and baptized like they wanted to before. We are also going to set a goal for them to come to church 3 times again before they're baptized, just to see if they're committed.

With less actives, Hno. F… came to Conference and even fellow-shipped Marta a little bit! That was really great, and he gave her a ride back home. We also taught J… H…, and he said he'd be going to Conference, but again, didn't follow through on his commitment. I'm not really sure what more to teach him. We've had a lot of really powerful lessons, but he hasn't really showed many fruits of repentance. We'll keep working though, and hopefully take the Elders' Quorum President to our next visit with him.

Anyway, that's kind of what we did this past week, besides Conference.

Anyway, just know that I love you all so very much, and I know that everything will work out for the best. Just remember what one of them said (I can't remember which) that the Gospel of Jesus Christ gives us the ability to find peace even when everything seems to be going wrong. I love you all so much, and I look forward to hearing from you again next week! :) And Mom, if I can, I'd like to skype on Mother's Day also, but I'll get back to you on that when I know. :)

Love you so so much!!

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

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 19: General Conference

Well, another week has come and gone, and this time we got to watch conference! I must say, I got so much more out of this conference than ever before. It was really great.  But first off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! Yesterday was your birthday, and I did remember. :) I hope you had a good birthday and that you're having a great time in California. Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARILEE! Your birthday is in a couple of days, and like I said in the email I wrote you, I'll be wearing purple for you that day! :)

Anyway, last Monday, we did all our P-day stuff, and then went and played some basketball. It was SO hot that day, more hot than usual, and so we didn't play for too long haha. Then we cleaned the house, and then Elder Hammer and I went out and did some work. We contacted for a bit, and then went to the Gonzalez' for dinner.

Tuesday, we once again did quite a bit of contacting. Oh, and by the way, it rained literally a TON this week. I swear, if it would rain for a couple of days as much as it rains here for one day, it would end the droughts in the western states in no time. There are some days that we were seriously driving through a river. And it's supposed to be the dry season! Anyway, so we did a lot of walking in the rain this week, and passed by a few people, but weren't able to teach any investigators or anything. :\ We did go out with the bishopric that night though, and visited some less active members, which was really pretty cool.

On Wednesday, after studies, we did some service again for an investigator of the Zone Leaders. That was pretty fun, and we chopped down a huge tree with machetes haha. I'll try and send pictures if I have time. Then we contacted for the afternoon, and then ate at the Sanabria's. I love Puerto Rican food. Seriously, it is some pretty good food. Thursday was a little bit better lesson wise. We still contacted a bunch, and it was raining again, but we were able to teach Oscar Perez, and answer some of his questions. It was a good little visit, and I think he's making some progress. We'll see where that goes.

Friday followed the same basic pattern, and we pretty much just contacted all day to reach our Foundation before Conference (or we couldn't go). So that was stressful, but it was good. And so that brings me to Saturday and Sunday! The Super Bowl of the Mission, and All-Star Weekend.... General Conference. It was great! We went to the Caguas Stake Center to watch it with our Zone, and it was good. There was a room set apart just for the English speakers, so we were able to watch it even in English. :) And I know that you haven't yet seen it, but I must say that it was a very good conference. I'd like to share a couple impressions I had.

First, the family must be even more under attack now than ever, because the basic theme for the conference was about families and parenting. There were a ton of talks given about how to keep our families strong, and also how parents can raise their children in more righteousness. There were also a couple of talks given about forgiving others when they trespass against us, and to not hold grudges, which were really good.

Also, it seemed to me like the end is drawing even nearer. I don't know why, but when Pres. Monson first stood up and talked, it seemed like he was warning us even more about the impending end of our world. Also, Elder Holland in his talk said straight out "the end is near." So just some thoughts, but to me it seems like the end is drawing nearer and nearer, and will be here faster than we believe. And by the way, I missed sitting with you all and watching it together, especially during the Priesthood Session when I should have been there with Dad. But it was still great. :)

And that basically brings us to today. We had a mini-zone council to talk about Foundation, and then had weekly planning, and then came out to email. The university was closed, so we had to come to a library, but it all worked out.

But that's basically the week. General Conference was really great, and I hope you will take the time to watch it together as a family, since that, like I said, seemed to be the main emphasis of this conference. You will enjoy it, and I know that by listening to the prophet's voice, we can all be blessed. Thank you for your love and support, and I hope that all is well. Have a great time in California!! Send me pictures! I'd love to see how you're all doing, and what you did while in California. :) I love you much, and pray for you always. Thank you so much again for your support and for all you do. And have a happy Easter this Sunday! I will miss you that day, but I hope you have a great Easter. :)

With more love than you can imagine,

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission