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

Week 17: Limbers and Other Stuff

Well mi querida familia, another week has just flown by, and it was quite the week. Crazy! But it's been good, and I've been learning so much, and becoming a better person.

Mom - Elder Paxman will definitely love that Argentine ice cream! Puerto Rico's is definitely nowhere near as good. However, I will say that Puerto Rico sells some pretty good Limbers! I don't know if you know what those are, but they're like popsicles in plastic cups. I don't know very well how to describe them, and I'll have to send a picture sometime, but they're pretty good, and come in all sorts of different flavors. As of now, I've had cherry, grape, crema, and parcha, which is passion fruit. Good stuff! Your experience with the fire alarms and everything sounds great!

Haha, you'll have to make me some of those burgers sometime after I get home next year. I'd love to try them.

Dad - Contacting is pretty tough, but honestly, there isn't too much more we can do. So we kind of have limited options, but we do try to talk to the members about bringing in their friends and such, which sometimes helps. Also, if you have any experiences or stories about your mission that you could share with me, that would be great, because I realized this week that I don't know a ton about your mission, so I'd love to read some stories. :)

Marilee - I'll respond to your email separately. :)

Anyway, it was a pretty interesting week this past week.

Monday we did our normal P-day activities, and then went and played some basketball! Some Puerto Rican kids came so we played some half court basketball with them. It was a lot of fun! We might go to that same court and play again haha. It'll be great. Anyway, then we just kind of contacted to end the day.

On Tuesday we had our ward mission meeting in the afternoon, and were able to talk to our ward mission leader and kind of coordinate things between the ward and the 6 missionaries here in Caguas. It was pretty good. Afterward, we were able to go out and contact some more. We had an appointment with Oscar Perez, but that fell through, as well as another appointment with Robby. They're both pretty good investigators, so that was tough to not have a lesson with them that day. We basically just contacted for most of the day, until we went home. We found some pretty cool people this time though, and we will probably be able to pass by them sometime soon.

Wednesday was a bit of a crazy day. It was a pretty big contacting day, and we passed by a few people at the same time. Nobody let us in to teach them, but we were able to find some people we might pass by again sometime. That night, we had dinner at the Sanabria's again, and left them with a message about the Doctrine of Christ. It was pretty good, and I think they were pretty uplifted. Afterwards, Elder Hammer and I left for Bayamon because we had a training meeting the next morning. We got lost haha, but we eventually made it, and stayed the night at the Riverside Apartments in Bayamon.

Thursday, we had our training meeting, and then had a meeting with the zone because it was interviews day with the President. He taught us for a couple of hours, and then started interviews while the Zone Leaders taught us some stuff. It was pretty good! We didn't get interviewed though because of time, and Elder Hammer and I ended up being interviewed back in Caguas later that night. Afterward, we were able to pass by Bryan, and teach him about the Book of Mormon. After the lesson, he seemed really excited about reading, and said he would read before our next visit. It was a really great lesson, probably one of the best I've had out here. It was definitely the highlight of the day.

On Friday, we did a lot of contacting again, and were able to teach Roy at night. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation, and he seemed to really enjoy it, but still has his own ideas that he likes more. He said that God isn't a man or a woman because to give Him physical attributes makes Him small. We know that He is our Heavenly Father who has a glorified and perfected body, and that He was a man just like we are now, and that He is all powerful. Anyway, Roy just kind of has ideas like that, but it's still cool to teach him. That's how Friday ended though, and we were a little bit late getting home. On Saturday, we did a TON of contacting (to reach our "Foundation" of 140 contacts and 20 lessons for the week), but were able to pass by Bryan and see how he was doing, and then we taught Robby about the Plan of Salvation.That was a really good lesson, and he seemed to really enjoy it. It was a really great lesson, and he was receptive, and said that he learned some new stuff about our life after death and such. It was really good. :)

And then Sunday, we went to church for Sacrament meeting, and then went out and contacted for a bit, then after, ate at the Gonzalez' (because they missed us on Thursday), and then contacted out in the campo (country) for a while. It was a pretty decent day. And then of course today we had our district meeting and such, which was good. OH and by the way, I got a letter from Ben Saunders, and he has been called to the Chile Santiago West mission. :) Atta boy!!

Anyway, the work is picking up a little bit here. It's so fun to hear from you and read your letters. :) Keep 'em coming! Thank you for your prayers and for your support. Please know that I love you very much, and that I would be nowhere without you. You've always been there for me, and I know you always will be. I'll miss you this weekend during General Conference, and I'll miss our scones, but I know that I'm where I'm supposed to be, and that it will all be good. I love you all so much, and I hope you are all doing well. :)

With much love, sending you hugs from Puerto Rico,

--

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Alma 29:9

3 Nephi 5:13

1 Cor. 13:11

D&C 4

Joshua 1:9