Week 103: 1 for the Little Bitty Baby Born in Bethlehem!

Well family, it was a pretty good week I think. :)

Mom - Well I'm glad to hear that things are going pretty well. People will be people, that's all I can say. Compassion is, after all,  a Christlike attribute. But then again, it's not really possible to make people learn that either; it's all personal and up to them.

Dad - Just a preference of mine for the housing - I would prefer a private room haha.. I don't mind sharing the kitchen and the bathrooms or whatever, but after 2 years of sharing a room, and before sharing a room for the eternities, it'd be nice to have my own room. Anyways, just letting you know. :) I'm glad to hear that the Jazz finally got a win! Every team goes through this, and they'll be fine in a few years. That's a pretty hysterical story you shared... funny people. It's good to hear though that BYU's doing really well! J

Anyway, it was a good week. :) 

First off, we had a baptism!! The oldest son of the family we've been teaching was ready to get baptized, and so we did! It was awesome. Before I share the next thing, let me share a bit of how we found this family. We had been contacting for a couple of hours in this caserio, and we got to a point where we didn't know if we wanted to keep contacting or not, because we had been rejected all morning. However, we decided to knock on a couple more doors. With that being said, here's a story that Elder Frampton (the missionary who did the interview) was told by this kid during his interview. So on that same day we were contacting, the whole family got into a huge fight. Everybody was basically at each other's throats, and he just walked out, went to his room, and knelt down and said a prayer. He asked God to send help, because his family needed help. When he walked out of his room, we were sitting there in their living room.

It's interesting, these are the kind of stories that you hear about all the time from missionary work, but to actually be a part of it, is really a great blessing. I'm so thankful that we were able to be a part of that, and it's truly been an incredible experience to work with this family. They're golden, and he is really progressing well. His mother and sister will also be baptized, but that will come with a bit more time. We're hoping to get his sister baptized this weekend, so that's our goal there.

Besides that, we've been working with this less-active for a while, and we took a leaf out of Ammon's book, and just have been serving him. We've painted probably about half of his house for him, and he's really been very grateful for that. He promised us that he'd come to church, and he finally did this past Sunday!!! It was SO awesome, and he was so happy to see all the members that know him and remember him, and they were so good to him and greeted him and showed him love. I really hope and pray that he'll remember how that felt, and that he'll come back consistently. He's a really great guy, and I'm so thankful to have gotten to know and serve him and his wife. They're awesome.

Also, there were a couple of jovenes that got their mission calls this week! One is a Dominican and he's going to Des Moines, Iowa! CRAZY! Poor kid is going to freeze to death haha. The other one is a sister and she's going to San Diego, California. 

But yeah. :) Transfers this week, and it looks like I'm staying in Guaynabo until the bitter end! It'll be a blast. Transfers are bound to be crazy, they always are. Then we start zone conferences this weekend with Elder Cornish in town. Fun stuff.

Thanks for everything. :) I hope you're all doing well. I love you all! Stay true to the gospel!!

See you soon.

"The hardest thing I've ever come to see

is a Man down on His knees in agony.

A drop of blood falls down on olive leaves,

And for a moment, He suffers there for me . . ."

--

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 92: 3 for the Tree in Lehi's Dream

Well family, tomorrow marks the official 3-month mark before my release date... :S It's come too fast.

Mom - It looks like you're having a fun time with the sewer stuff haha... looks lovely. I'm glad things seem to be looking up. I think it would be super cool if you worked for JetBlue. We met this lady that does that and she and her family get discounts or can fly free or whatever, and she does that same thing, working at home for JetBlue. So that's pretty cool! It's weird to think about home... it's going to be totally different coming back. Wow. Anyway, I love you lots Mom!

Marilee - Hey you! Send me an email or something so I can respond to ya! The email address I have for you is your aol one, but it's not working because I get a message back saying that you don't get it. :S

Dad - Well, I hope you had a good Labor Day - I know here it was a pain because all the libraries were closed, so we had to share a computer between 4 elders. Ugh. Oh well, it all worked out. :) But I hope Halloween goes well! Oh and btw, keep me updated on BYU football... I don't know how good they are this year, but let me know!

Well, a kind of crazy week. We had transfers and I got a new companion, Elder Turbovsky. He's super cool and he came to the island the same day I did, but wasn't in the MTC for as long, so his release date is a bit later. Tuesday we helped out with the new missionaries coming in, and that was awesome! Lots of work, but it was super cool. In the evening we took a couple elders up to Santurce, and there was a baptism there - of a lady that Elder Caballero and I had started teaching! So that was a real nice surprise to see her, and she was super happy. :) That was a good night. :)

At the baptism, Elder Gardner, Elder Caballero

Thursday and Friday were zone conferences, so we were all over the place for those. Not to mention Elder Andersen from the area presidency was there, so we were all a bit more on our toes than usual haha. Then on Saturday we had a special Mission Leadership Council, and that was awesome! I learned a lot this weekend from Elder Andersen about leadership in the church and about ordinances and covenants. AWESOME stuff.

But yeah, a pretty good week I think. They're all going by so fast now... it's unbelievable. Lisa told me Matt's off to North Carolina on December 4th. Hopefully I'll get to share a few tips with him and see him before he leaves. Wow. :)

I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that He has provided His gospel for us, and it is the only way back to the Father. D&C 45:3-5 teaches us His role as our Advocate, and it is true. He will only do this for us if we follow His example and follow His gospel like it says in 3 Nephi 27:13-16. Faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, along with enduring to the end is the ONLY way. I know that that is true. I know that Christ sacrificed Himself so that He could be this intercessor between us and the Father. He lives and loves us, and wants us all to return to God.

I love you all so much, and I hope you have a great week. :)

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 88: Two Baptisms, A Wedding and a Testimony

A good week this week. :)

Mom - Happy birthday!! I'm glad you liked the card :) I hope you had a good day, and it looks like you had a good time in Yellowstone! That's pretty cool that you got to see a bunch of elk and stuff - I love Yellowstone. I remember still that 50 mile hike we did in scouts - that was a blast! I'd like to do it again. :) Anyway, those condominiums looked real nice! Oh, and I haven't been bombarded at all haha... I guess a year and 8 months of not writing isn't much incentive to do so, right? ;) Haha no worries though, life's good :)
Dad - That is a pretty incredible experience, thanks for sharing it. She'll be okay. I'm sure of it. :) In any case, I'm glad she had a good time at Yellowstone and everything. :) It looks like you had fun!

Anyway, before I tell about the week, in our weekly office staff meeting, Pres. Smartt actually talked about parents coming to pick up missionaries, and here's basically what he said: that it's highly discouraged by the Church, but that if you choose to do so, you must plan the lodging and traveling and stuff. Also, on my part, I will need to dress and do all things according to the missionary handbook still. To be honest, I'd much rather be able to do normal things like go swimming at the beach and stuff during your visit here - that's like half the benefit of coming to Puerto Rico haha... but yeah, so just some food for thought.

With Kate and Berto's family

Kate and Berto's wedding

               
                                                                                          

Anyway, we had a pretty great week, even though it was filled with trials. We had two baptisms this week though, and there was a wedding so that one of them could do so!! It was great :) I also was blessed with the opportunity to perform the baptism of our convert yesterday, and I'll send pics of that. It was a good week, and we really saw the hand of the Lord in the work. Oh, and I was able to play the Wedding March at the wedding - it was a blast. :) Good times!

Other than that, life just keeps on plugging along - really quickly, but it just keeps going! We don't have a ton of investigators, so our goal is to find a bunch this week.

Eridania's baptism

Berto's baptism

I don't really have much else to say, so I guess I'll just share how grateful I am to be here on a mission. It's been a humbling, learning experience to serve, and it's really helped me to figure out who I am, and more importantly, who I want to be. My goal now in these last four months is to figure out the "how": How do I become who I want to be; and then it'll be up to me to put it into action when I get home. I have ideas, and I know that the Lord will help me with that. I know the Savior lives, and that through Him, all our sins, griefs, pains, afflictions, and sorrows can be taken away. I love Him and thank Him every day for the Atonement. Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw, I know it. And I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It has changed my life. I know that Pres. Monson is a prophet, and I can't wait to hear from him and the other apostles in a couple of months. :) Anyway, I love you all so much, and I hope that you have a happy anniversary this week. Thanks for everything you do, I love you!!

PS - Remember what you did for Elder Caballero? If you are planning on sending a package, I know that Elder Mello would be ecstatic to receive one. He's more of a sweet tooth, so I think whatever will be fine. Maybe talk to Erik, since Elder Mello's from Peru, maybe Erik can help out with stuff that he'd like, I don't know haha. Anyway, thanks for everything! Love you!!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 77: Miracles Do Happen

Hey everyone, this week was a pretty good one! :) We saw some really great miracles here in the Metro area, and I had some really great opportunities to work with the district leaders in the zone. It was a good time. A lot of work, but totally worth it.

Mom - Well Elder Paxman is looking pretty aviatorish with those glasses ;) But it looks like he's enjoying himself haha... it's a nice tie he's got, too. I'm glad things are just kind of plugging along and that things are a bit more normal. And yeah Mom, don't worry, these 6 months will go by much too quickly.
Dad - Well it sounds like you've been having a good time with the garden haha... I hope that it brings some good stuff to eat this year... like tomato sauce and salsa that I can eat at the end of the year ;) he he but I'm glad that went well. Also, I've learned a lot about the Oath and Covenant, and that's really cool that you were able to give a talk on it! I bet it was great.

E. Gardner, Francisco, E. Caballero

Anyway, like I said, a pretty good week. We saw some really great results in the area, including our baptism of Francisco on Sunday!! That was awesome, and I'm really thankful for him. He had to have an interview with President, but it all worked out and he got baptized on Sunday. That was really cool. : ) Like I said also, I was able to work a bit with the district leaders in the zone, and I had a great time in Puerto Nuevo with a new missionary, Elder Foote, and we were able to see some miracles that day in his area.

It's a lot of work being a zone leader, and I don't think I sleep nearly enough; but the blessings that come from serving the missionaries in the zone and trying to help their needs are just fantastic, and so worth it. I am very happy to have had the chance to see what we saw. It was a good testimony builder, and for sure strengthened my faith.

In Santurce, we had some really good lessons, and taught some really cool people. We found a sweet family, and hopefully they'll progress! They asked us about baptism before we had even mentioned it, so that's a good sign of desire I think. They really want to change and they want happiness in their lives, so I'm really hoping they'll progress toward that. :)

La Perla

Um… but yeah, a good week and lots of work, but I'm happy and doing well. :) We have a mission conference next Monday, so I don't know how that's all going to work, and then we have our final interviews with Pres. Alvarado the day after, so that will be a sad, intense day haha... wow. 

Anyway, I love you all very much and pray for you always. Stay strong and don't let go of the iron rod! :)

With all the love of my heart,

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 69: We Had a Baptism

Hey y'all, we got a baptism this weekend!! Yay!! :) Anyway, I'll write to you all now. :)

Mom - I can't believe Easter is already here again! It was just barely Easter! I hope you have a great weekend with the Easter Egg Hunt and stuff - we're trying to pull off some kind of activity here for the investigators and stuff to come to; it'll be cool. Anyway, I pray for you always Mom, and just think - it's almost Mother's Day! :)

Dad - It seems like the whole theme of reach out and rescue is churchwide, because that's what our focus is as a mission. No more proselyting - we find the less actives and then we find investigators through them, and then we bring back the less actives and baptize the investigators. It's really cool to see how it's working so well here in Puerto Rico. But yeah, I'll keep my eyes out for the package, and thank you! That's really cool about the missionaries from the stake though! That's really amazing actually. And thanks for everything Dad, I keep you in my prayers too, as always! 

Marilee - Hey you! I hope you're doing alright! Tell me about school, about anything so I can write you back! I'll be sending some stuff for your birthday soon, so keep your eyes peeled. :) Love you!

Anyway, moving to our area, we had a really great experience like I already said with R… and his baptism, and he's already wanting to go out with us! He's going to come with us Tuesday evening with the nights of rescue, and he said he'd come with us on Thursday. He's so great!!! 

We had a really cool experience also with C…, who was sick. She asked us to come by and to give her a blessing of health, and she loved it. She came to church yesterday, and she said she loved it! She already knows it's all true, but for whatever reason she's a bit weak on her commitment for baptism.

We also want M… G… to accept a baptismal date this week. We had another great lesson this past week with her, and her friend accepted a Book of Mormon and said she'd go visit the church in the DR, because she's moving back there. Oh well, it was a cool experience. Anyway, M… said that she'd get baptized, but that she won't commit to a date until she really feels like this is the true church. We focused on her reading the Book of Mormon so that she can know, so we're really hoping that that will all work out for her.

We had a good lesson also with N… A… on the Word of Wisdom. We definitely have the support of his future wife, who said that she hates drinking and doesn't like that he does it. We're not sure if he totally understood everything about the Word of Wisdom, but we'll be following up on it, and I think M… will really help out with that.

And finally we have A… S…, a guy who just kind of found his way to the church and asked us to go teach him! He plays the accordion and is pretty cool. However, he's a bit hard to find, so hard to teach. We still need to sit down and go through how to begin teaching and the Restoration with him, so those are our plans for him this week.

Talking about less actives now, there was a cool experience this week where a man named J… M… just showed up to church out of nowhere, saying he wanted to come back! I remembered what you said during the meeting with Pres. Rosa about how because of the efforts of the members, the less-actives come back, even if it's not those who they visited. He's just a guy who came out of nowhere to visit the church! He has some problems with his mother not accepting us, but he says he's going to come every Sunday, so I'm really excited to start working with him and helping him on his way back.

Also, on Sunday, we went with Pres. Reyes, the EQP to Hno. Feliz' house to give him a blessing, because he had been sick. It was a really great experience, and I know that there was a friendship forged there. They were talking and getting along great, and who knows? Maybe a future counselor to Pres. Reyes? Not my call, but I could see it happening. It would be great for the both of them, but the Lord knows and whatever He wants is what'll happen.

Anyways, that's the week, and I'm going to try and send some pictures now. :) Love you and look forward to hearing from you next week!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 66: 9 for the Miles we Ride Our Bikes!

Hey family! It sounds like you've been having a pretty good week, and I think it helps with the weather turning for the better, right?

Mom - Mom! Hey mom! Little by little (by small and simple things) things will keep getting better. Marilee’s  room looks great by the way! It looks very soothing to the soul. I love blue so much, because I think it's just so peaceful. That's why it's so nice here, especially when we ride past the ocean on a nice sunny day, because the ocean is a beautiful deep blue, and then the sky is its normal sky blue.

Dad - Dad! It's good to hear about the things improving, including the weather! Hopefully things will be nice and thawed in time for Easter haha. :) PR is gearing up for Holy Week again (it feels like that just barely happened), so that will be an interesting time haha. 

Marilee - HEY!! :)  Your new room looks great, including that great looking TV you got from somewhere familiar ;) Haha. And I like your llama! There aren't any here in PR but I know there are in Peru where Elder Hill is serving! However, if I see anything that has anything to do with llamas while I'm here, I'll make sure to get it for you, alright? :) Anyway, hope you are doing alright Marilee. Love you!

With Elder Durfee

Anyway, we had a great experience with a man named R... D... this week. He is SO receptive!! He is a fruit of the train contacting project, and he is just amazing. The sisters found him in the University, and he lives in Santurce. We taught him in the chapel twice this week, both times with members, and he's just so receptive to what we teach, accepts it all, and accepts him finding us as a miracle and a sign in his life that he should change. He has a baptismal date for the 23 of March, and he's set to go. He's already leaving drinking coffee and everything, and he's just so fantastic! I'm so grateful and excited to work with him!

We did have a cool experience on Sunday though, as we got off the train going to church. This guy named Mark started talking to us around the Las Lomas station, and he talked with us the whole way to Santurce, and then as we got off, he said he'd come to church with us! So he walked with us up to the chapel, and he stayed there and told us to pass by again on Tuesday! He's a pretty cool guy, but I don't know if he's really willing to hear things that aren't his opinion; but we'll definitely be passing by to see what we can do for him. He's already got a great testimony of the Atonement of Christ, so if we can help him see that His Gospel is how we can apply that Atonement in our lives, he'll come around.

We also had some other great lessons this week with investigators, such as N... A.... He and M... said they would get married, but didn't tell us a date in specific. However, they did say that they wanted it to be soon, so we're hoping for the best there! M... won't be here this week, but we're hoping to still teach N... .

A... G... also came to church this week, and we have a cita with him on Thursday. It's been a while since we've taught him, so we'll be verifying how their marriage plans are coming, and if he's been reading the Book of Mormon.

Other than that, we've been passing by some other new investigators and starting to teach them. There's a lot of potential, and a lot of great things happening in Santurce!

And PS, a fantastic coming home present for me would be a new quad of the new 2013 edition of the scriptures!!!

http://www.lds.org/scriptures/adjustments?lang=eng

They look fantastic, and so (hint hint) maybe a birthday/Christmas present? I'd like it in blue and silver if you can. :) Anyway, that's not for a little while, but look into it - it looks pretty sweet!!

Anyway, love you all and I hope you're all doing well. I pray for you always!

--

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 48: Baptism!

Well can you believe it, almost 11 months! Wow! Crazy stuff happened this week, but I'll get there in a sec.

Mom - Well... wow, I can't believe the amount of snow that fell! The Tesch's told me that it had snowed in Liberty, but I didn't know if it would make it to Layton. Guess it did! Haha. And all that about the work... that's CRAZY!! First off, that's great, and it will be great to have a bunch more missionaries out. However... it will make my first responsibility when getting home a bit more difficult haha.. To have a bunch more missionaries out and helping the work will be great! And yes, I did know Elder Scroggins! I knew that he went to BYU but I didn't know that he had relatives so close to home. Anyway, thanks for everything Mom!!!

Dad - I look forward to the pictures from Halloween, and I hope it all goes okay! I'll try to remember and pray for good weather on Halloween so you guys can put on a good show. :) I hope that it all goes really well and that it's a huge success!! As for the CD mixing thing... there's not anything I know of that can do that.. :\ Sorry! But I'm sure Mom had a good time at This is the Place haha.. she always does even if she doesn't want to admit it ;) And Stake Conference sounds like it was sweet, and that it was really spiritual.

Marilee - What? No email?? Haha well you have a great Halloween!! Have fun Wednesday night!

Anyway, so the week! Kind of crazy, but it all worked out in the end. We are kind of short on miles because we were looking all over Peñuelas for this family of 9 that moved from Adjuntas, but we never could find them. And now we're paying the consequences of using all those miles haha.. Ugh. But it's all good, we still have enough to go out and get some member present lessons tomorrow and Wednesday. This week we finished off with 7. Still not 10 but we'll get there.

But Saturday, we did have a baptism!! Carmelo Borrero got baptized, and was confirmed Sunday. It was a nice little service, even though not many people came. But it was great, and he had a great experience, and received the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday. He's a great guy and can really progress in this church. I have no doubt that he's really important to the Lord. He's really important to the enemy too, and he has tried to pull him down and I'm sure he was pretty upset to lose Carmelo. But he's going to go far in this gospel and become a great leader as long as he really does his part and learns.

Also, Thursday night this HUGE storm hit. My goodness. I guess it was the tail end of that hurricane that plowed through Cuba, and it was nuts. Not much wind, but LOUD thunder. BOOOOOOOOOM!!! I can't write it in words haha.. but the house shook, and it was like 2 or 3 in the morning, and there was TONS of rain falling. Then I got back to sleep, and then BOOOOOOOMMM!! Then I got back to sleep, and FLASH, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!! By the time we woke up, it was still kind of drizzling, but over by the time we left. It was intercambios, so I went to Yauco, but Elder Durfee and Elder Caal told us about what happened in Guayanilla, and then last night I saw pictures. Flooding! There was like 3 or 4 feet of water in the streets, because all of the rivers had overflowed. Wow. And that was just the tail end of the storm. Crazy stuff!!

Anyway, everything's going good here, super tired, but happy. :) I hope you're all doing great there, and that you have a happy Halloween!! I love you all and thank you for all that you do. :) Love you!!!

Con muchísimo amor,

--

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 47: What the Week!

Well, what the week haha. Wow. I seriously feel as if we've just been battling the adversary all week long, more so than usual.
Mom - I'm glad you're doing okay then!  And Christmas is around the corner, so I'll do my best to find you each something cool. :) But thanks for the happy birthday! My "golden birthday" as it's called haha, turning 20 on the 20th. And I hope you have fun in the next few days! HALLOWEEN!! Haha :) Love you, Mom. :)
Dad - the bridges look good! I hope everything ends up really great for Halloween! You should send pictures next week (or when you can) of all the stuff out. I'm excited to hear about how it all works out! Those Haunted Houses sounds great!! Hopefully they'll still be around when I get back, because I'd love to go and visit them. And darn, I was hoping BYU could pull it out against Notre Dame :( Oh well… they only have to be good when I'm there haha ;)

Marilee - I will be writing back to you shortly. :)

Anyway, WOW what a week. We did get a referral from the Elders in Adjuntas of a family of 9 that they had been teaching that moved to Peñuelas. NINE!! We were ecstatic! And then we found out that they live in this mountainous, hilly area called Rucio (each municipio has barrios in it, and one is Rucio inside of Peñuelas), and it's a little far. But we went there and we looked all over for them, and couldn't find them. :( I was pretty sad. We still haven't found them. And all week, we called members, and a few times actually set up times to go with them, but almost each time, they weren't there when we went to pick them up, or something else happened, or else the investigators weren't even there. Frustrating.

Then the adventure began on Saturday morning. We were supposed to have a baptism Saturday evening; the baptism of Carmelo Borrero. His interview was scheduled for Saturday morning, so we went with the Yauco elders to find him, and he knew we were coming, but he wasn't at his house. So we looked all over the place and finally found him. He said to come back at 3:00 to do the interview, because he was going to the clinic. Okay. So we came back at 3:00, with the baptism scheduled for 5:00. He wasn't there again!! We searched high and low, praying, being led by the Spirit, until finally Elder Durfee and I (our companions went to fill the font) just decided to wait outside his house. A few minutes later he walked by and motioned to us to go to his house. By now it's 4:50. He was interviewed and he passed, and then took a quick shower and we went to the church.

But wait, it gets even better.

Bishop's brother had had a heart attack, so bishop was in Yauco in the hospital and wasn't going to be able to come to the baptism. He was the one who was supposed to baptize Carmelo!! And Carmelo was pretty upset about that. On top of that, his girlfriend, the daughter of bishop, and him had broken up like, Friday night, and they were fighting and there was this whole big situation, and so he told us that it hurt him to look at her and he didn't want to be baptized with that kind of anxiety and sadness and frustration in his heart. So we let him go. The font filled, his girlfriend crying, and he just walked home. But the members that did come sang happy birthday and we ate some sandwiches and stuff. But it just wasn't the same without the baptism.

What's left of a cookies and cream cake.

So Sunday morning we pass by his house before church, and we're baptizing him this Saturday now, so we hope and pray that everything works well for that. Basically the way I look at this week is that the enemy worked really hard to just destroy everything, and basically won. It was tough. But Sunday afternoon made up for it, at least a bit. We went with the first counselor to that sweet family I told you about last week, and had a really great lesson with the Mom, daughter, and one of the sons. It was a great lesson, and she said she would try and come to church! So that was sweet. :) And then last night I went to the Santiago's house and they had bought a cake for me, and we sang and had a good time. :) So no worries, I had a decent birthday. :)

Anyway, a crazy week. I'm hoping that this week is a bit better. It looks better, and I'm really hoping that it turns out so! But I thank you for your prayers and for everything that you do. :) I love you all so much! Thank you for your support!! I love you!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 29: Baptism

My dear family,

First off, WOW! Elder Perry and two Seventies? That's incredible. It must have been a fantastic learning experience. It's interesting, I was actually just thinking about the priesthood activity of our ward and stake this past week, and wondered what could be done to make it better. I guess sending a member of the Twelve over there to rattle up the ward a bit is a great way! That's incredible! Wow. Just reading about the experience blows my mind haha.. wow.

Mom - So you got a facebook, huh? How do you like it? Once you get a hang of using it and stuff I may just let you take over my page until I get home. But we'll get there once you feel more comfortable with it and stuff. :) Anyway, that's so crazy. I can't get over the fact that you had Elder Perry speak in our ward. That's so crazy. And your new calling! Sounds like you've got a lot on your plate with that class haha... but I hope it is going well for you.
Dad - That sounds so intense. I can't even imagine what it was like to be instructed by Elder Perry about how to improve and rescue the priesthood holders. My goodness! I'm sure it was wonderful though to be able to listen to him and learn from his experience and everything. I hope the work progresses quickly back home and that the Stake is able to reactivate members and prospective elders.
Marilee - I will respond to you separately.

Well, getting to the week here, it was a little bit crazy, but I want to start off with the best news of all, I got my first baptism!! :) Zondy was baptized on June 9, which was also his birthday. :) It was a wonderful program, and he felt so great. What made it even better was that he was baptized by another recent convert, Ramon, and they have already started up a little friendship. On Sunday, Zondy was confirmed a member and received the Holy Ghost. Also, he was interviewed by bishop, and was found worthy to receive the Aaronic Priesthood, and that was conferred upon him as well. He called us last night and said he felt different, in a good way. :) It was amazing! Absolutely amazing, and I know that he's going to do great things, if he just stays on the path and remains active. He wants to help so much, and has been spreading the gospel among his friends and everything, so that's a great start! This Sunday we hope to have him bless the Sacrament, which would be amazing. So that was definitely the highlight of the week. :)

At Zondy's baptism

Besides that, on Wednesday we had our transfer meeting up in Trujillo Alto. The whole mission met and there were a few changes. Elder Mangelson and I stayed here in Guayanilla, though, so it didn't really affect us. It was cool to see the other missionaries though, and I was able to talk to Elder Hammer again which was really cool. Also, Tuesday, President Alvarado wanted everyone to stay inside to catch up on reading for the 90 day challenge I told you about. I was caught up and a little ahead, but Elder Mangelson was a little behind, so we spent a good portion of the day inside reading. So I basically just got more ahead. Right now I'm in Jeremiah 32 or something like that, which is a good 5 days ahead of schedule haha. It's been really cool to read the Old Testament, especially Isaiah. There's a lot of things in there about the Temple and everything that was really interesting to read about.

But basically other than that, it was just a normal week. A lot of contacting, riding around and stuff on the bikes. OH, I almost forgot. On Friday I think it was, we decided to ride our bikes up to Consejo Alto, which is an area here in Guayanilla. Basically, it's all mountain, and there's a member family with some less-active mission age boys up there, and we wanted to visit them. So we basically almost died because of the heat and the uphill struggle haha.. but we made it, and it turns out they weren't even there. :( So after our hour, hour and a half quest up there, we rode all the way back down in like 5 minutes. It was a bit crazy.

Anyway, nothing too cool besides the baptism and confirmation and everything, which was AWESOME!! But yeah, just a normal week with normal lessons and everything.
Oh, by the way, I did get your package! Thank you so much for everything. :) Just one little note... you sent the angel Moroni tie clip, and I was actually hoping for a Captain Moroni tie clip.. so I'll send a picture of it in another email. I just like it better because in my opinion it looks better. BUT I thank you so much for the angel Moroni one, and I have been wearing it too. :) I do like it, but I just like the Captain Moroni one a bit more. So if you don't want to buy another one I'll completely understand and use this one, because it still is really really nice. But yeah, thank you again so much for the package! You are definitely the best family ever. :) I sent home a package with a few things in it, and I may be sending home another one shortly.

Anyway, I hope you are all doing really well, and you are always in my prayers. :) I love you all and thank you so much for all your support and everything. I'd be nothing without you guys! I look forward to hearing from you again soon!

Love you!

Con mucho amor

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission