Week 95: It's Because I'm Closer to the Bermuda Triangle

Well, the time just keeps on flying here... I don't know if it's because I'm closer to the Bermuda triangle, but man, time just is flying right now ;)

Mom - I love you Mom! I got to spend some time with some Argentines this week and I definitely thought about you.  More on that below. Love you!!
Dad - Well darn it... I was hoping BYU would win. Oh well, life moves on like it always does. :) I sent you an email about the classes and stuff, so if you could just take a look at that. I tried to plan them out a bit better today and stuff, so hopefully that looks better. Thanks!

Holding weird fruit

So it was a pretty good week this week, and Elder Turbovsky and I had a lot of great lessons. We had a really intense one last night. We took a member up to visit a less-active in Caimito, and we basically dropped pure doctrine on this guy. He got defensive but then the member, his friend, started talking and he was silenced. It was amazing! It was a really powerful lesson, and I'm really enjoying teaching with Elder Turbovsky. Some of my most powerful lessons are coming in this time we've been together. It's been great!

I also had the great privilege (for the first time on my mission) of going to an Evangelical church. This guy we talked to said he would only come to church if we went to his, and Elder Turbovsky said okay. So we went and it was definitely a different experience, but it was a really great learning experience. The next day as a result I studied the chapter in Preach my Gospel about recognizing the Spirit, and a goal I have now is to help the Puerto Rican people truly understand how the Spirit works and speaks, and how to feel it.

District with Ward mission leader

Friday evening we had a surprise missionary come in from Argentina, and it just happened to be the day that we were on companion exchanges with the ZLs in Toa Baja, and I was with one who was Argentine! So there were 2 1/2 Argentines in the car that evening haha. But yeah, so we got to pick him up from the airport and then we were told to take him to dinner by the office staff, so we took him to Sizzler. The next morning after we met back up with Elder Turbovsky, we went out and taught, and we discovered that this new missionary is AMAZING! He's a fireball and he set a baptismal date with one of our investigators. Awesome!! He's going to do great, and it's been a blessing to be able to know all these great missionaries. :)

Anyway, I'd like to testify of the Book of Mormon. I know that it is true. It testifies of Jesus Christ, and it truly helps us come unto Him. I love some of the final verses in Moroni, verses 32 and 33, where Moroni invites us to come unto Christ and to be perfected in Him. He is our Savior, and wants us to succeed. He loves us. I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon, and I echo the words of Joseph Smith, "that a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book". I have drawn nearer to my Savior because of this book, and I know that it can change lives.

I love you family! Don't get too trunky! We've still got a little while, so just hang in there. :) I love you very much and I'm thankful for everything you do.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 72: ¡Echamo' pa'lante! (Let's go forward)

My dear family! I'm so happy to hear that things are going well. As I heard the talk from Elder Cook, something clicked in my head, and I felt like he was giving the talk that we needed to hear. I've really come to understand on my mission the importance of the prophets, and what their role is in this life. I've come to appreciate them more, and to love their words. Before my mission I didn't really follow them as much. I thought of them as more "guidelines than actual rules" ;) ... but I've come learn and know for myself that the words that they speak are the words of God. I love Conference, and I just love hearing from them now. :) It's pretty great, right??

This week on top of my zone leader responsibilities, I had a special assignment to go to the Toa Baja zone (our neighbor zone to the west) to go and visit all the new missionaries and their trainers and to see which new missionaries could train. That was a really cool experience, and I had a great time. I witnessed some really fantastic miracles, and I was privileged and blessed to be a part of helping a companionship work out their differences and start working together as a team. :) It was really great. And that area of the island is beautiful! I'll try and send some pics if I have some time. :) 

Also this last week we had our first 2 performances of the "Celebración Latinoamericana" which has the Mission Choir, el Coro de Campanas, and a dance group from the church here. It's a cool program and includes a bunch of songs and dances from all over Central and South America. There's a SWEET song and dance from Argentina that I think you'd both love, and I'll try and record it at the next one so I can show you someday. :) Way cool. There's stuff from Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, the DR, and of course, Puerto Rico. It's a lot of fun, and we had our performances in San Juan and Mayagüez this week. 

Also, at the second performance, I ran into Carlos, Rosie, Gladys, Pedro, and their family down there!! They were investigators that I found and taught in Guayanilla before I got transferred to Santurce!!! They have all been baptized since, and Carlos and Rosie have been married. :) :) :) I was SOO happy to see them, and I got a picture with them too. :) YES!

Anyway, that's about it for the week, not too spectacular, but a little crazy. :)

Know that I pray for you always, and keep you in my heart. I love you all so very much :) I love you Marilee and hope you're doing great!

Until next week my dear family, I love you! ¡Echamo' pa'lante!

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