Week 104: The Last Week is Here (or Happy Thanksgiving)

Well, it's unbelievable. It's here. The last week. I honestly can't believe it's here.... wow. 

Mom - My heart reaches out to you, Mom. I am so sorry to hear about that... It's at these times where we see how fragile life is here on the Earth. I know you know, but I just want to share with you my testimony that death is not the end. Jesus Christ suffered everything and will help you and all those affected by this to get through. That's what He does. But how about I just give you a great big hug in a few days, sound good? :) I love you, Mom. I look forward to seeing you next week!!

Dad - Well it's good to know I have somewhere to live! It's a bit pricey but we'll make it work haha. I do not know anything about when to meet on Tuesday... I'll probably find out on Monday. We have zone conferences and stuff this week, so President's pretty busy. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing you next week. :) I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving!!

Anyway, this week was pretty good. We had transfers and 13 new missionaries came to the mission this week! That was an adventure in and of itself. We had a fun time with that, and then this Friday we had a sweet activity in the church! It was "Una noche de peliculas y postres" and we had a great turnout! It was a lot of fun and we watched Legacy with a bunch of the members and a few investigators who came. It was great! You'll get to meet a lot of them because the Guaynabo Ward's Christmas activity is on the 6th! 

Oh, I did give a talk this Sunday in Sacrament Meeting. When the bishop found out that I was going to leave soon he put me up on the program. It was great. Speaking of, do you know if I'm speaking anytime soon in our ward? Just curious. Anyway, I spoke on my mission experience and what I'm going to change or do different. I think it went well. It's gonna be tough though... wow. Such a great ward. I'll miss them for sure!

Anyway, then Saturday we had our first of 4 zone conferences with the San Juan East and West and Toa Baja zones. Pretty good stuff. Today we had a Mission Leadership Council in Arecibo with Elder Cornish, which was way good! We talked about a lot of great things on how to increase baptisms here. Awesome meeting.

But yeah, that's that. This week has 3 more zone conferences, and Thanksgiving and we have like 3 dinner appointments haha... going out with a bang! 

 

With E. Turbovsky and Caguas West ZLs

I love you my dear family. I couldn't have done these last 2 years without you. It's been a great testimony to me about the importance of the family. Thank you so much for all that you've done, for all the letters, the words of encouragement and love. It's meant more than you may ever know.

I testify, as a servant and representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He lives! He loves us. He wants us to return to our Father in Heaven. He is our Advocate with the Father. Only by obedience to His Gospel can we find peace in this life, and eternal life in the world to come (D&C 59:23). He has overcome the bonds of death (1 Cor. 15:55), and has redeemed us from sin (Hel. 5:10-11). He called a prophet named Joseph Smith, and I know that through him was restored the true Church of Jesus Christ. I know without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true, and that it leads us to our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, and that our greatest safety lies in following his words. This is the true Church of Jesus Christ, I know it. Nowhere else can we find the authority to validate the ordinances of salvation. 

God lives. The Savior lives. They love us. Of these things I testify to all who may read this words, in the sacred name of Him who has redeemed us from the Fall, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen.

"The hardest thing I've ever loved to do

was getting on this plane and coming home to you.

In a million ways completely torn apart,

as a land so far away still owns my heart.

"And in the most sincere prayer I've ever prayed,

I thank my God for each and every day,

for the blessing of the man I've come to be,

as I walk up and kiss my momma's cheek."

--

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 67: Keep Pushing On

Well family, another week goes by and we just keep pushing on! This week was alright, we had a lot of meetings, and I'll get to that in a second. But it was still pretty good I think. :)

Mom - I do try to eat my veggies haha, so don't worry. Oh, you'll be happy to know that I ate broccoli this week. So ha! I love you. :)

Dad - It is pretty crazy to think how fast time has gone, and to think that it's just ticking away faster every day. Yikes! It's good to hear that things are warming up a bit over there - that means it's gonna start getting hotter down here too. Hurricane season's just around the corner, so we'll see what happens there! Anyway, I hope you're all doing well. :) I love you too Dad!

Marilee - Hey there! I love you too Marilee! I hope you're doing great, and I'm still looking for a llama! They're not really into them here in PR, so I'm having trouble with that haha, but I will keep looking! :) 

Moving to our area, we are still seeing miracles with our investigator R… D…. He's just an incredible young man, and has been prepared by the Lord. If he is the only fruit from the train contacting, then it was all worth it, because he will be such a strong member as the years go by. I'm so thankful for the opportunity I've had to get to know him and teach him, and I am really looking forward to his baptism on the 23rd!

We also had a good experience with G…, the daughter or daughter-in-law of another investigator. She came in late to the lesson, but she was really impacted by it. She was really pensive, and promised to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We are really hoping that her husband will start to listen as he sees the changes in her, because that would be a complete family, and they're a very sweet family. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better and love them even more.

The B… family couldn't come to church again for whatever reasons they came up with, but this week the dad is supposed to get a car, so no excuses for this Sunday! We had a good lesson with them about the Doctrine of Christ, and the mom said she'd prepare for the 30th. They need some more work with the Word of Wisdom, so I think that's where we'll be focusing this week. 

Besides that, we weren't able to teach N… or A… this week, but we have appointments for both of them this week, so we're hoping to help them both with their marriage situations right now, so they can both set some firm dates to get married.

We have some pretty sweet investigators, they just need to act.

Other than that, we had our Interviews zone conference and also our zone leader's council this past week (2 meetings in a row..), so that was interesting. They were both really good, and I learned a lot from both of them on how to be a better missionary, so.. that's good, right? :) Haha anyways, I'm really tired, but I'm really happy. I'm glad to hear that spring is coming. Things are always better when it's sunny outside. :) Love you all so very much, and I look forward to hearing from you again next week!

Con mucho amor,

-- 

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 49: Zone Conference and Noche de Brujas

Well it sounds like Halloween was a big success!! I'm glad the weather held out and everything went well, and it looked pretty good! I finally got the birthday package from you guys this week, so thank you so much! 

Mom - Well... I'm pretty sad I'm gonna miss the Hobbit, but that's what they make DVDs for, right? Haha I hope you guys enjoy it and have a blast! And I wish we could go to the temple here... I miss it! Like I said before, be ready to go when I get back, because I'm definitely planning on going as often as I can. I think that's great you're doing it once a week, and if my schedule allows when I get back to do the same, I'd love to do that too. 
Dad - Well it looks good, what I saw! And it sounds like it was great!! ah man.. I was definitely thinking about you guys on Halloween night! But I'm glad it all went well, even if some of the things didn't get out. Next year, right? And yeah, I'm hoping that the elections bring some change! I talk to a bunch of people here, and some people say Obama's gonna win again, and others say that Romney has a good chance at winning - we'll see! And yeah, I heard about the "Perfect Storm" going on up there, since so many Puerto Ricans have family up there. Crazy stuff!
Marilee - Still no email?? I hope you had a great Halloween and had a blast scaring people! Haha you looked good in your costume, so I hope you had fun. :) 

Anyway, so we had a week full of meetings this week. Wow. I'm still super tired as a result haha.. but Tuesday was a normal working day, and then Wednesday we had Zone Conference. We had to be in Caguas at 7:00, so we had to leave here from Guayanilla at 5:00. Elder Durfee and Elder Perez had had to sleep up in San Juan because they had to take another missionary from our zone up to the hospital, so we drove our car to Caguas to Zone Conference. It was a really good conference, and the basis of it was D&C 88:73, which talks about the Lord hastening His work. In 90 days our mission is going to double in size with 74 more missionaries coming in. Yikes!! But that's what Puerto Rico needs. Basically President talked about how it has fallen, and that 30 years ago the missionaries changed this island, and we can do it again right now. He taught about how to work with the keys in the Stake and wards, and it was really, really good. It ended at 4:00, and we were supposed to be back in the chapel at 6:30 for monthly planning. Since it was Halloween, or as Pres. called it, "La noche de las brujas," the mission department didn't want us out. But we were going to race back to Guayanilla and leave my car there and just use the one car for us and the Yauco elders. We were about half way and the ZLs called and said we had to be back by 6:00, not 6:30. So we had to drive all the way back haha.. crazy.

  

That night, we slept in Guayama, in the Caguas zone. We woke up at 3:30 the next morning for our mission conference in Bayamón, and I get a call from the ZLs that I'm supposed to be there at 5:30 for a song practice for the conference. What?? So we race up there and we make up this sweet version of "Be Still, My Soul", and then we had the mission conference. Pres. Larry M. Gibson from the General Young Men's Presidency (1st counselor) spoke to us. It was GREAT! He talked about the Duty to God resource, and how we as missionaries can help the young men in our wards to grow and use it, and prepare for their missions. He talked about the keys of Bishops, teachers quorum presidents, and deacons quorum presidents. It was really informative and really great. If you remember, he spoke in the 2011 October General Conference. He's a very intelligent man, and it was a pleasure to get to hear from him.

  

Anyway, so after that, we were able to come back and work in our area for the rest of the week. Nothing incredible happened this week really. A lot of citas fell, and our investigators couldn't meet with us very much. It was a bit disappointing, but I'm really hoping to do better this week. We had a couple really good lessons, but the problem is, our investigators won't progress! They won't come to church! Agh!! Haha but yeah.. so that's the problem we're having right now with our investigators. We'll keep working with them so they can progress and come to church, and hopefully we'll be able to get a baptism this month! 

Anyway, that's about all I've got for this week. I did reach my 11 month mark, so just a few days and I start the downhill slide! Yikes! It's all happening so fast! But thank you for the package, for your love, and for all that you do. :) I love you all so much and pray for you always!!

Con amor de Puerto Rico,

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 31: Routines

My dear family!

Well, tomorrow the 26th marks my 200 day mark… already. Don't think I'm counting down or whatever, it's just a cool milestone, and the time is flying by! It's been an interesting week, but I'll get to that in a second.

Mom - I have kind of felt like that too since I got to Guayanilla - the weeks are a bit longer here than they were in Caguas, I don't know why. Maybe it's because I spend most of the days just biking all over the place. This last week was just tiring though haha.. I remember yesterday I just had no desire to do anything, because this past week I got a cold. :( Ugh. Anyway, I had a nice runny nose and sore throat for a few days in there, so I think I was just a little bit more tired than usual when Sunday came around, and had absolutely no desire to go out in the heat. But we did, and it all worked out. :)  I love you Mom, and I hope you are doing great. :) And by the way, don't go too crazy on facebook… ;) Haha oh my goodness, sounds like you're having a great time with it!
Dad - That's really too bad about what happened there... That kind of stuff shouldn't happen, and like you said, especially not with a non-member there...Was the Avengers good though? What you saw? Because I've heard it's pretty good! And I'm glad that work is going well for you, and I hope it keeps getting better! Also, Mom is going crazy with facebook, huh? Haha goodness gracious, good ol' Mom. :) Anyway, I look forward to your mission experience next week, and know that I love you too Dad. :)
Marilee - I will email you separately.

Anyway, so a pretty interesting week! Besides getting sick, we had interviews on Tuesday. The way it works here, is it's basically like a Zone Conference, because Pres. Alvarado speaks to us, and then all the office missionaries and everyone speaks and stuff like that. So it was good. Originally we were going to go to Bayamón, but we ended up only having to go to Ponce for it. It was a good meeting, and my interview was really great! Pres. and I talked about a few things, and he said I was doing great, and that I was looking good. :) So it was a pretty good meeting, and a good interview. Also, Hna. Alvarado started getting everyone mormon.org profiles, and since mine was already done, she talked about it, and now everyone in my zone knows I've written a book haha, so... publicity I guess? Anyway, if you haven't checked it out already, you can search my name at mormon.org and check out my profile. :)

Besides interviews, it was a pretty rough week. We went up to Peñuelas a couple of times, and we contacted up there and stuff, but we didn't get any new investigators or anything. We're teaching the niece of a member couple up there, who is visiting from the Bronx. She's only going to be here for a couple more weeks until going to Ponce to be with her family, but she's really receptive, and said she'd read and pray about the Book of Mormon. She understands really everything we taught about the Restoration and Joseph Smith, and any doubts she had, we were able to clear up. Besides that, we're working with a part member less active family, but this past week they were too busy for us to talk to them, so now we have to wait until this Thursday when they're available again to teach. But yeah, it's just been a little frustrating, because we're not really getting anywhere with new investigators. However, the bishop said he'd help us out this week, and that he'd go out to visit with us to some people he knows, so that will be good!

Also, this week included "La Noche de San Juan," which is an event where everyone on the island, on Saturday night at midnight, went to swimming pools or went out to the beaches, and fell into the water 3 times backward, and then 3 times forward, to get rid of all their bad luck. Weird Puerto Rican traditions. Luckily we were back in our apartment and asleep by then haha.

Oh, and yesterday my back tire decided to go flat, bringing the number of patches I have used on my bike up to 3.

Besides all that, nothing too crazy happened this week. The main things were interviews, getting sick, the Noche de San Juan, biking to Peñuelas, and getting a flat tire. But I hope you're all doing really well, and know that I love you all very much and pray for you always! Thank you, as always, for your love and support. :)

With love and many prayers

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission