Week 27: Six Months Ago

My dear family - It's hard to believe that almost 6 months have passed, just like Dad wrote to me! In two days I celebrate my 1/4 mark. I can't even believe it. It still feels like we drove into Provo just last week. Unbelievable. It's crazy how fast the time has been flying, and it's almost June already.

Mom - I'm so sorry to hear that about your dad. :( I hope all is going well down there, and that everything gets taken care of. I hope and pray that you have a safe trip, and that all works out there. I will keep praying for you. I love you, Mom!
Dad - A solar eclipse?? That's awesome! Did you get any pictures or anything by chance? Either way, that's really cool... The members here sometimes give us food, sometimes not. There's a couple families that we pass by, and when we do, they usually feed us, so that's nice. But overall we're pretty much on our own here haha. How did money and stuff work back then for you guys? And were transfers the same way, every 6 weeks? It's so cool to read about your mission, and I always look forward to it!
Marilee - You already know, but I'll respond to yours separately.

Anyway, this week had its low points, but overall, it was a pretty good week! We were able to work with Zondy really well, and he's gone like 9 or 10 days now without smoking, so he's on track for his new baptismal date of June 9! That actually turns out to be his birthday also, so what better day to be born again than on the day you were first born? I just hope I'm here to see it, since it's three days after transfers. I have a feeling I'll be staying in Guayanilla, but really nobody knows except President and the Lord haha. But we had a really great lesson with Zondy and a couple of members this past Thursday. The high councilor over missionary work and the first counselor in the Stake Presidency came down from Penuelas to this lesson, and it was an amazing lesson. They bore such powerful, sweet testimonies, and the Spirit was definitely there. Zondy is still progressing, and he's making the changes he needs to so as to be ready. I'd love to stay for his baptism because it would be my first! But the important thing is that he gets baptized, and keeps following on the path to exaltation.

Besides Zondy, we were able to go up to Penuelas on Saturday. The old Stake President, Hno. Doel Irizarry, is one great man. He drove all the way down from Penuelas to take us up there, then stayed with us all that afternoon as we contacted a referral and set up an appointment with him the next day, and visited a less active and a recent convert. Incredible. He then brought us back home later that day. And then on Sunday, he drove back down to pick us up, and take us to our appointment which he offered to hold in his home! Sadly, the man was busy, and said he'd call us... so hopefully we'll be able to get into contact with him and teach him, because he is looking for the truth, and I firmly believe that once we start teaching him and helping him come unto Christ, he will know that this is the true church. It's so good to start seeing some changes here in Guayanilla. :)

On top of that, we got a ton of referrals from the members this past week! So now we have a bunch of people to contact, and it's even better because the members are more willing to work with us, since they are worried about their friends. Also, one member brought a couple of her friends to church yesterday, and we were able to set up an appointment with them for this Thursday with the ward mission leader. So really, miracles can happen when the members truly put in a little effort to help out the missionaries. That's when the real growth comes, and it's been so great to finally see the changes and blessings that come when we work with the members, and seek to truly strengthen them and help them. While there were slow days, and days where we had to just contact and visit less actives, it was really good, because we started to see a little bit of change in the way we work with the members here. An overall good week. :)

Anyway, I'm doing pretty good here! It's getting hotter every day, and I get burnt a little bit, but it's all good. Puerto Rico is beautiful, and I'm loving it here. It's hard work, and every morning I wake up a little more tired, but it's good. :) Oh! Before I forget, one day this past week, I think Tuesday, my bike decided to start acting up on me. The back tire just deflated when we were far away from the apartment, so I tried pumping it back up, but it just deflated again. So I found the hole (the seam on the inside of the tube had just split) and tried to patch it. It held for a bit, but didn't really fix the problem, so I ended up having to buy another inner tube. That was obnoxious. So basically I had to take off and repair my back tire twice. Such a pain. But it's all good. Life is good, and keeps pushing forward. :)

I love you all so very much my dear family, and I hope you're all doing well. I keep you in my prayers morning and night, and I always look forward to hearing from you on Mondays. :) Mom, again, I hope all is going alright for you and everyone in Argentina, and I will keep them in my prayers as well. Thank you for your support and prayers and for everything. :) I love you!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 26: There's Much Work to Do

Well, another week has come and gone already. Time just keeps pushing forward and we keep doing our best! It was great to hear about all your experiences this week, although the painful ones were not as nice to read haha.. but I'm glad you're all doing relatively well! 

Mom - First off, I am sorry you twisted your ankle! It's no fun... you know as well as I do the times where I rolled/twisted my ankle, so I completely understand what you're going through right now. But I hope it's getting better for you, and that you start feeling better soon! It's crazy to hear about what's going on down in Argentina, and I hope that's all working out well and everything. And Elder Paxman's lost 20 pounds?? I'd say that's about how much I've lost, but I don't have a scale or anything, so I don't know for sure. That's great though, I'm sure he's doing some great work down there. :)

Dad - Don't worry about not sending the package yet. I don't know when the next time is I'll be going to the office, but if you are looking for ideas, maybe you could send the new For Strength of Youth pamphlet? Elder Hammer got one and it's really cool, and the mission hasn't gotten them yet, so I think it'd be cool to have a copy if you could? Also, my Captain Moroni tie bar is getting pretty beat up (it was old before I left), so if you want or whatever, maybe you could send a new one? Thank you again for your experiences. It reminds me so much of my first few days here... and it's great to be able to read about your experiences. I really do look forward to reading them every week! And that Stake Conference sounds like it was incredible. You'll have to update me on that as well!

Marilee - I already wrote you back, sis. :)

Anyway, the week! I think I'm going to start writing about my week differently, since writing about it day-by-day gets a bit slow, since a lot of the days are the same with just riding around contacting or trying to find people. Basically I think from now on I'm going to just talk about our investigators and how they're doing, and anything cool that happened. But if you like the other way better, let me know! That way is more organized and everything so if you like it better, I wouldn't mind keeping it that way. We'll just try it out this way this week and see how you like it. 

So starting with Zondy, our prime investigator, we were able to teach him a few times this past week, and on Saturday morning he gave us a call and said that he didn't smoke that morning! We were very excited, and happy for him because it's a step in the right direction. We had to cancel his baptismal date for this coming weekend, but we're going to set a new one for him in June to work for. He did come to church yesterday, and didn't smoke yesterday either, so that was awesome. He really wants to change, and I know he wants to do the right thing, and he is such a humble young guy, and I just want the best for him. He's so close, but Satan is working hard on him. But he's going to come play basketball with us today, so that will be good for him to get out and everything.  

This past week was kind of rough because we weren't really able to work with the members very much. It's been difficult getting members to come with us, but this week we're going to try really hard to get members to come out with us, because it's when the members come out with us that the miracles start to happen. Something interesting from this week was on Wednesday, Elder Mangelson had a district leader meeting in Bayamon, so Elder Keller from Ponce came here to Guayanilla, and we worked for that day together. That night we had a meeting with the bishop, and he gave some good ideas to work better with the members, so that was really helpful. The problem was, on Sunday, al lot of the members were up in San Juan for some Army testing thing, since a lot of Puerto Ricans are in the Army. So yeah, it's been difficult working with the members, but I think we'll see some change in a bit here. 

With other investigators, we don't have a ton of other investigators right now... :( We found a really cool lady though, who has a family and everything! Her name is Priscilla, and I guess she's talked to the Sister Missionaries in Ponce, but lives in Guayanilla, so we're planning on talking to her and teaching her family. She seemed really cool and pretty interested, so I think there's some potential there. There are also a couple of other families we found, and we offered to help them move this past weekend, but when we passed by there, they weren't there. So that was too bad... but hopefully we'll be able to find them on another occasion and start teaching them. 

But yesterday we had a cool experience in Yauco. The Tesch's, which are the senior couple in our district, invited us over there (they work in all of Ponce), and we taught a less-active family, the Feliciano family, and we and the Yauco Elders helped in the blessing of the mom who was sick, and the dad who needed some strength. But it was a really cool experience and I think it will really help them progress.

Anyway, besides that, nothing too crazy happened this week. :) We keep progressing with Zondy, and helping him, and I think we'll be having a good week this week! I really hope that all is going well for you, and know that I love you very much. Thank you for all your support and all that you do. Thank you for everything my dear family! I love you!

Con muchisimo amor,

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 25: Great Mother's Day

My dear, dear family. Might I say, it was GREAT to hear from you last night!! It was definitely the highlight of the day, week, transfer! It was so good to hear how you're all doing and to just sit and talk with you all. :) I loved it.

Mom - Thank you for the pictures! And that's pretty scary about the break-ins... I hope that it doesn't happen to you guys.
Dad - About your mission experiences, that is cool! Do you happen to remember your apartment building and classroom building numbers? Just curious, 'cause maybe we were in the same buildings! Not likely, but maybe haha. It's cool to read about your experiences though, and I look forward to reading more.
Marilee - I just replied to your email. :)

Anyway, just a quick review of the week, since I think I basically told you everything big that happened on the phone.

Monday was P-day, and that night we talked to a crazy man named Benny, who believes he's had a supernatural, extraterrestrial experience. He's absolutely out of his mind haha.. so... we're not going back there.

Tuesday was an okay day. That night we drove to Ponce for a "center of strength" where the members go out with the missionaries to less actives, but there weren't enough members there, so we had to drive back. It kind of destroyed our night, and we weren't able to work that night. It was dumb. But the idea behind it is good, they just need more participation.

Wednesday we rode our bikes a lot, and rode out for a while in our area, and we contacted a bunch of people. It was hot and I got a little burnt, but it's okay, I'm getting tan from it. :) Nothing too big happened that day though.

Thursday also was kind of slow (it's been a slower week for us), although we did get a member to come with us to Zondy's house. We taught him a good lesson to review the Restoration. After, we packed up and headed all the way up to Bayamon, and stayed the night with the AP's. That was interesting, and Elder Mangelson and I got the one room without A/C. Blech. I hardly slept that night haha... but then Friday morning was Zone Conference, and it went from about 8:00 to 6:00. It was LOOOONG. But it was good, and we received a lot of instruction. It was really cool too, because Pres. Glazier was there from the DR! (He was the CCM President there). So that was really cool to see him again, and when he taught with Pres. Alvarado, it was so intense in there, and the things they were trying to tell us were pretty geared to our work on the field.

Saturday, we had a big day planned, but a lot of citas fell through and whatnot, so we ended up only getting a few lessons in, one with Zondy. That was really cool though, because we taught him about the Priesthood authority, and then we asked if he wanted a blessing to overcome smoking, and he said yes. So we gave him a blessing of strength, and he said he felt really good. So hopefully he's progressing and doing better. He didn't make it to church yesterday because he was sick, but I think he's going to do better. This morning we had our "district meeting" with the whole zone here in Ponce, and Pres. Alvarado was there, and basically Elder Mangelson and I figured that we need to focus more on what Zondy needs to do now, rather than what the end result will be. It was a good meeting today, and I think it helped a lot to get us refocused on what he really needs. But yeah, that brings us to today!

Anyway, I'm sorry this was a kind of shorter, but the other elders seem to be in a bit of a rush. Just know that I love you all oh so very much! And again, it was so good to talk to you yesterday and hear your voices again! It was great to hear how you're all doing and to hear what's going on in everyone's lives. I keep you in my prayers always, and I hope that everything stays well with you. I love you all so much, and thank you so much for all your support and everything. It means so much to me. :)

With more love than I can express,

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 24: New Place, Different People, Same Gospel

Dear family -

Another week has come and gone. Crazy! It's been a little strange adjusting to a new area, but it's been great at the same time. It's been good to finally use my bike, and since we don't have a car in this area, that's all I've been doing, is either biking or walking. So yeah, I get a bunch of exercise haha, which is good. Anyway, not a terribly eventful week, but a pretty good one. I'll get to it in a second.

Mom - So my little sister has taken over the mowing, eh? Good for her! I hope she likes it at least a little. I almost can't even imagine cold mornings anymore haha… living in one of the hotter parts of the island, it's hardly ever cold. It's been raining a little bit more lately and I have a crazy story for you in a bit, but I guess hurricane season starts next month all the way to December, so that will be interesting!
Dad - It's good to hear the garden is in, and that that went well. I hope Rexy boy is doing good! How is he? There's a ton of dogs around here (all mutts and strays) but they make me miss the dogs back home a little bit. Regarding the letter from the High Council, I haven't gotten mail since the last transfer day, and so I don't know what I've gotten. Zone conference is this Friday up at the office, so we'll see if anything is there or not. Anyway, I look forward to talking to you on Sunday!
Marilee - I already replied to your email. :)

Anyway, this past week was a nice, wet, rainy week. Hurricane season here we come! Last night one of the members said that this year the moon got the closest to the earth, and that it does that every few years, and when that happens something really bad happens, like Katrina, or the Tsunami in India and stuff like that, so he was basically saying that there's going to be some really bad hurricanes this year. We'll see, but I don't know how much truth is behind all of that. Anyway, I'll be buying some stuff for my 72 hour kit today, just in case.  :)

But moving on, last Monday we didn't have any money for anything, so we just went and played some basketball, since there's nothing to do in Guayanilla or Yauco. Monday really wasn't all that eventful either, we just did a bit of contacting, and then visited a member family. Nothing too big happened there.

On Tuesday, we were able to go and teach our investigator, Zondy. He is such a humble, great guy, and he knows he needs to be baptized. He's such an amazing guy, and I know he's doing all of this for the right reasons. He's trying really hard to stop smoking, and actually called this morning because he gave in and smoked. So we talked him through it and everything, and we're really trying to help him. He's dedicated and very receptive. That night, we weren't able to get him a ride to institute that he really wanted to go to, so he started walking. He did get a ride from a friend, but he was dedicated to walk the whole way. And then there was no institute, because the teacher cancelled, so he met with the bishop for a little while and we had a nice lesson.

It was really good for the bishop to finally meet him, because on Wednesday, we went over to Zondy's house with the bishop and had a really great lesson about the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement. It was a pretty dang good lesson. Besides that, nothing too special happened on Wednesday. The main focus this past week has been working with Zondy and really trying to help him quit smoking. He is so close, too! So yeah, we did some contacting the rest of that day, and visited some members.

Thursday we did a lot of riding around trying to find people, and contacting. It turns out that institute was actually that night, so we went with Zondy, and he enjoyed it pretty well. However, the few members there started talking about some crazy stuff that he'd never heard of before, so on Friday, we passed by and cleared some things up about the temple and stuff. Nothing too deep, just stuff that is normally taught after baptism.

Anyway, Friday was a bit crazy. We were out riding around in an area called Quebradas, which is a fair distance from our house. And then it started POURING rain. I mean POURING. So we started riding back home. I was soaked. We passed under an overpass, and Elder Mangelson asked me if we should stop. I figured we were soaked enough already, that we might as well just keep going. So we did, and rode through puddles, and cars drove by and got us all wet and stuff, and so by the time we got back to the apartment, I was DRENCHED. It was seriously as though I had jumped into a lake. I dumped out a ton of water from my shoes. And then a car drove by through a puddle and got me even more wet as I stood by the door waiting for Elder Mangelson to unlock it haha. It was crazy. My shoes weren't dry until yesterday. Goodness. We basically then just dried off, waited out the rain, and then went back out on foot. It was still drizzling a bit, but not pouring anymore haha. Too crazy.

That was Friday. Moving onto Saturday, it was kind of cloudy, but not too rainy. It was still wet, but not like Friday. We did teach another investigator though, named Felix. He's kind of a weird guy. He was in the army, and told a bunch of crazy stories of him flying and stuff, but he's kind of weird haha. We taught a good lesson though, about the Plan of Salvation, and he was pretty receptive. I think it was a pretty decent lesson. Besides that, we visited some members, and got Zondy a ride to church, and started fasting. Other than that though, nothing too exciting.

Then yesterday, Zondy came to church! He really liked it, and the bishop actually talked about him in the middle of Sacrament meeting, talking about how great of an example he is, and that he walked all the way to institute and stuff like that. All the members the rest of the day were complimenting him and stuff. During Gospel Principles, the teacher basically taught straight to him, and committed him to baptism again... and then in Priesthood they were all talking about how Zondy is going to go to the temple soon and all this crazy stuff. It was a bit wild, but Zondy enjoyed it all. He said he really loved the testimonies. So yeah, he's progressing and I think he knows it's true, he just needs to stop the smoking. But yeah, then after church we contacted for a while, and then passed by an investigator, Miguel, but he was with some friends so couldn't let us in, so we went to a member's and that's where we set up the phone calls for next week and stuff.

And then this morning, the senior missionaries in our district made us breakfast. :) They're the best!

Just 6 days and I’ll be calling. Just be ready around 3:00 and I'll be calling. I love you all so much, and keep you in my prayers. You are all an unfailing source of hope and support to me, and I am forever thankful for all that you do. I love you all very much. Talk to you soon mi querida familia! Les amo mucho- mas que puedo decir.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 23: Transferred!

My dear family, today marks officially my 5 month mark here in Puerto Rico! Crazy, eh? It's been quite the crazy week, and I'll get to all that in a minute, but I do want to say that I did get your package, thank you! I appreciate everything that is in it, and thank you so much for your love and support. Anyway, to reply to your emails first.

Mom - Well I must say, your news about Elder Reed is great. I bet he's doing great up there. What you were saying about the ballroom festival/event thingy sounds pretty crazy. I hope Braydon decides to go on a mission, because no matter what happens, the mission will make things so much better for him. There's an elder here who got a scholarship to play basketball at Duke University. DUKE. That's like, one of the best basketball programs in the nation. And he came on a mission. I hope that Marilee makes it to the DC Ballroom, that would be really great for her! And thanks for the tips for the rust stains, I'll be trying that as soon as I can haha. Also, thank you for sending me the parts from my setting apart, that was really cool to read through again, and helpful as well. So thank you Mom, I love you. :) And a week from this coming Sunday I'll be calling!
Dad - Thank you for the answers to those questions, and I will watch for the package! Thanks for that, it will help a lot I think. And I hope you enjoyed your stay in Park City and that your conference went well, even if it wasn't too enjoyable haha. And I can't believe the Jazz actually made it! It's too bad that they ended up playing the Spurs, because they always lose to the Spurs, but maybe they'll pull off some kind of miracle... but I doubt it. I'll look forward to next week's update on them! And good luck with the garden, I hope it does well this year and that there's a good harvest this fall.
Marilee - I'll respond to your email separately.

And now the craziness of this past week!

I'll start with last Monday. That wasn't too bad. We didn't go bowling or play basketball or anything, and kind of just cleaned the house and did a few other things until we went out to work. We then visited the Gonzalez family, and then came home to some interesting news! The Zone Leaders, who lived with us, got the transfer information from the AP's, and so told us everything. We knew that Elder Hammer was going to San Germán to be a district leader, but I figured I would stay in Caguas to keep the area going and everything. Nope. I got the word that I was being transferred to Guayanilla, an area in the southwestern area of the island, next to Ponce. Basically, I was being moved to one of the hottest parts of the island. Ponce is the hottest, and Guayanilla is pretty close there. Also, one of the ZL's, Elder Campbell, was being transferred back to Ponce as well, so he's still one of my ZL's. But since we don't live with the ZL's anymore, I won't have easy access to the mail anymore unfortunately... so I'll get my mail whenever I can now. Besides that, the Ponce zone is far away from the office in Bayamón, even more so here in Guayanilla. But it's all good. More details in a bit about Guayanilla.

Tuesday though, I was still in Caguas with Elder Hammer, and we started out the day with studies and everything, and then had our ward correlation meeting. After, Elder Hammer and I went out and basically said goodbye to all our investigators, and passed by and either gave them the new missionaries' number in person or else wrote it on a card and left it for them. That night we went out with the bishopric and everything, and then came home to pack up. That's how the night finished.

Wednesday was transfer day, and I spent my morning packing everything else up. Around 10:30 we met at the Caguas Stake Center with a bunch of other missionaries, and transferred. My new companion is Elder Mangelson, and he is great! He's from Sacramento California, he's been out a year and a half, and he's the district leader here in Guayanilla and Yauco. He's a great missionary, and I think I'll be able to learn a lot from him. We also live with Elders Morrison and Williamson, who have been out 9 months, and work in Yauco. But we got here to Guayanilla (we also cover the pueblo next to us, Peñuelas), and then went out to work. What's cool is, I finally got to use my bike! However, since I hadn't used it, my rear end has been sore since Wednesday haha… but it's getting better. We also don't have a car in this area, which makes it hard to visit Peñuelas, because the only ways to get there are up twisty, curvy, mountain roads that are really skinny, which makes it dangerous to bike up. We walked most of the way on Thursday, and then got a ride from a member the rest of the way up, but it's hard to work over there without a car. Anyway, still with Wednesday, we visited the ward mission leader, and then took our investigator, Zondy, to institute that night. He's a really great guy, and he's got a baptismal date for the 12 of May! He is trying really hard to quit smoking, and once he gets that done, he'll be ready. He's a really great investigator, and is more proactive than any other investigator I had in Caguas. But yeah, that's basically how Wednesday was.

Thursday, like I said, we walked most of the way to Peñuelas, and then got a ride there from a member, after feeding us some Chinese Puerto Rican food (really weird stuff). We visited a recent convert up there, and then visited some of the members there. Then the high counselor over missionary work gave us a ride back down to Guayanilla, and that's basically how that day went.

Friday, we walked for most of the day, passing by some investigators and less actives and such, but nobody was home for whatever reason. So that day was kind of long haha... We went back out on the bikes later that night, and passed by a few more people, but weren't really able to teach many lessons.

Saturday was kind of the same deal, although we did go biking up in the hills at night for a little while, and found a pretty cool guy named Miguel. He couldn't really meet that night, so he said to come back on Sunday.

Sunday, we had the Ponce Stake Conference, so we had our meeting over in Ponce, where Pres. Alvarado was and everything. Also, we heard him speak, as well as the Ponce Stake President, and from the Santo Domingo Temple President. So overall, it was a good meeting. Afterward, we came home, ate, and then headed out to work. We passed by some people, and then later that night, we were able to visit with Miguel. We taught him a pretty decent lesson, but he said he wanted to learn "poco a poco" and didn't want to rush anything. So... that will be interesting to work with. But he's a pretty cool guy, and I think there's some potential there. Then we biked back in the dark! Don't worry, I have lights and everything, and the roads aren't too busy here, especially at night. And there are street lights, which help.

And now today. We found out from Salt Lake that there's going to be a delay on putting money on the cards, which means that today, after transfers, when none of us really have food, and we need to do laundry, we're all pretty much completely out of money and can't buy food or do laundry or anything haha. So... that will be an adventure. We'll hopefully get money soon though, and we may go shopping on a day that isn't P-day because we're going to need food. We'll see what happens though!

Anyway, Guayanilla is pretty crazy. It's definitely different than Caguas. Caguas was a big city, and Guayanilla has one main road. The rest is campo. It's a pretty agricultural area, with orchards of banana trees and such. We're close to the ocean, but we can't really see it from where we typically work. There's an urbanización called "La Playa" where we did some service the other day from where you can see the ocean, but the beaches aren't very nice or anything. It was cool to see the ocean though. Also, it's pretty dang hot here, and it's going to get hotter as we move into summer. However, I'm getting a nice tan, so that's a plus. :) It's definitely different biking everywhere, since before I was always just in the car because Elder Hammer couldn't ride; but it's been good, and it will help me lose some weight I hope.

But thank you again for the package (I can't listen to the CD's right now because we don't have a car... we have a DVD player in the house though, so I might listen to them there), I really appreciate it. The ties are great, and it's good to have a few more pairs of gym shorts and everything. But again, thank you so much for all your support, and it was so good to hear how you're all doing! I love you all very much, and pray for you every day. I hope you are all doing well, and I look forward to hearing from you again next week. I love you very much!

NOTE: So I forgot to mention that during my last day in Caguas, the sister missionaries wanted us to help them with a project that President had asked them to do. He wanted a statue or something of Jesus sitting on a bench with a sign next to it that said "This seat is for you" with www.mormon.org underneath, so people could take pictures with it. A pretty cool idea if done right. So we show up to the Caguas plaza that morning to help them, and I guess they had a less active lady help them out, and she had sculpted the head, hands, and feet out of clay. To be honest, I think it looked a little creepy. So then they made the body out of boxes, while Elder Hammer and I made the sandals haha. And then when it was all put together, we all got pictures with it. So that's what that is supposed to be.

From Puerto Rico with love,

--

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 22: Bowling, Contacting and Stuff

Well my family, with only 2 days left in the transfer, I can say that I'm just about 2 transfers in! And also I am (in 2 days) officially a trained missionary in the field. :) Wow! There may be a slight chance that I could be training this next transfer too, but I won't find out until today or tomorrow. I'll let you know next week all that happened, because there's some changes going on. Elder Hammer, my trainer, is being transferred to San German to be a district leader over there! Also, I haven't yet received your package. It's probably waiting in the office, so the next time I'm up there or the ZL's are there, I'll get it. I did go to the office Friday to drop Elder Hammer off for a meeting, and got a package from the Scott family with candy in it and such, (very nice!) and then a very nice letter from the Bishop.

Mom - That's great to hear about Elder Hill, I'm glad he's still going strong in Peru! And that's weird to think that Marilee is going to activities and such, it still hasn't really sunk in... but it's good to hear that she's looking forward to working at the farm.

Dad - Thanks for the update on the Jazz and such, I hope they can make it! You'll have to let me know the entire playoff picture once the teams are set.

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

Anyway, moving on to the week! Monday was P-day and Elder Foggin's birthday, so we went bowling again. I did better this time, scoring over 100 on my first game!

Tuesday was a normal missionary day, and we went out and worked, and were able to get a lesson in with Oscar Perez. We taught him about baptism and such, and he said that he hoped he could get an answer to be able to be baptized. It was a pretty good lesson, and I believe that he was touched. We'll keep working with him of course, and visiting him, and hopefully he'll soon accept a baptismal date.

Wednesday was nothing special either, just another missionary day. The morning was kind of slow, and everyone we passed by wasn't home. But the evening picked up, and we found some cool people while contacting in the streets, and were also able to visit a less-active family and teach them a little, and then passed by some other investigators. Overall, it wasn't a bad day, but just another typical day.

Thursday was interesting. We had a normal morning and afternoon and such, and then we passed by a guy that Elder Hammer contacted, named Pucho. We thought we were going to actually teach him, but it turned out that he only wanted us there to teach a couple of his friends. It was kind of weird to be honest haha.. oh well. We did get a couple of new investigators that way, so that was good.

Friday was kind of crazy, as all the DL's and ZL's had a meeting up in Bayamón. Elder Hammer didn't know he was supposed to be there until 10:00 that morning, so Elder Duclos and I took him up there, and then came back and worked in Caguas until that night, which was BYU-Idaho's Noche de Jazz at the Botanical Gardens here in Caguas. We were ushers and stuff there, and it was all right haha. I'll try and send some pictures.

Saturday was where it got interesting. We did some service that morning, and then we went and passed by some people trying to get them to go to the baptism the hermanas were having for their investigator. Nobody could, so we couldn't go either. So we visited this guy named Edgar, who speaks English and seemed really nice. He had told us to come by then, and so we did. He had a friend over though, and so we didn’t really want to interrupt. We told him hi, and he came out to talk to us for a few minutes. And then his friend came out, and said that he was from Idaho, and that because of the army, he’d been in Puerto Rico for 14 years. He was really nice and stuff, and talked to us just about life and what not, but then he kind of started asking some interesting questions, like about our belief of eternal progression and what not. To make a long story short, he basically told us that he’s a pastor of some church, and that he’s done a lot of research on other churches. He knew a TON about our church, and used a lot of the Bible to “support” his claims that our church is false. Now, it’s hard enough answering simple questions on the spot, but when talking about that kind of doctrine and everything, and then having a ton of questions asked, it’s hard to come up with answers on the spot. He asked a ton of more questions, too, that we couldn’t answer right there, and basically “invited us to take a step back and investigate more about our church.” Anyway, it was just interesting, and really tough to just sit there and not have any answers for him there on the spot. He’s a very learned man according to the world, but has no faith whatsoever. And that’s where he falls, because without faith, and without asking the only infallible source of knowledge, he’ll never really know. Anyway, I’m doing great still, but any advice, counsel, thoughts, or anything, I’d love to hear. :)

So yeah, that was Saturday. Sunday was okay; we had no investigators in church, so we couldn’t really stay after Sacrament meeting, so we went out to work. We taught this older man out in the country, which was interesting, and did a ton of walking out in those hills because our car was almost out of gas, and we couldn’t buy any on Sunday haha, so that was interesting. It was hot, and I was sweating, and I was dead tired when I got home, but it was still a pretty decent day.

Overall, it was a pretty interesting week, and I’ve learned a lot more, and I believe my testimony has been strengthened. I’ve had some really great learning experiences that have shown me how I can improve, and what I can do to help people understand better where we come from. It’s been great to learn and improve every day, and I’m thankful for this opportunity I have.

Anyway, I love you all, and pray for you always. Thank you so much for your support and for your love and prayers. You are the best family ever, and just think – only like 21 days until Mother’s Day! And you know what that means? Phone call! :) Thank you again, and I look forward to hearing from you next week!
--

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 21: Crazy Week!

My dear family! It has been quite the crazy week! I don't have a ton of time to write today, so I'm going to have to keep it a bit shorter, sorry! But it was a good week, and we were able to take a little break one day, but I'll get to that a little later. First, to respond to you all.

Mom - I cannot believe that my little sister is a beehive now. I thought about that the other day, and it blew my mind. I can't believe that she's already in Young Women's! And that she's already having activities and everything! That's so crazy. I hope she's enjoying it though. :) But thank you for your kind words and for your support. I love you!
Dad - As long as the ukulele serves its purpose, I'm fine with that. For all I care, she can keep it! :) I know it has my name on it and all, but it can be hers if she wants it. And thank you for sending that stuff, I know it might have been an inconvenience, and I don't think I'll need anything more, so thank you so much. And you had better send me pictures of the zombies and everything once you get them! I can only imagine that Mom is starting to freak out a little bit haha...
Marilee - I will write to you separately. :)

Alright, so here's the week as fast as I can type it! I'm sorry if it doesn't make sense, but we have to leave in about half an hour because the library is closing. So here we go.

Monday was a normal p-day. We went and played some TALL Puerto Ricans in basketball, and got beat pretty bad haha. We almost had 'em the last game, but they made the last second shot. :\ Oh well. That night we did trade-offs and I went with Elder Waters to an FHE while Elder Hammer went with Elder Campbell. So that was kinda cool.

Tuesday was a great day! We had our Easter Conference as a whole mission, and we went up to San Juan, where we received some instruction from the Alvarados and then Pres. Alvarado's counselors, and then we had a cool cultural presentation from the countries represented in our mission, and then we headed for Old San Juan, which is the fort that the Spanish built here forever ago. It was really cool! We saw some cruise ships, and one was the Celebrity Solstice, their newest one!! I got a picture of it, and I'll be sending it home. Memories! :) Anyway, the fort was really cool too, and it was great to finally see the ocean because I never get to see it, working in Caguas, which is in the middle of the island. At the fort, there was a cool program with a bunch of Puerto Rican dancers who danced some of their cultural dances. It was really cool, and I'll try and send pictures to you of those, too. But yeah, Tuesday was a really great day!

Wednesday morning Elder Hammer and I had a training meeting up in Bayamón, which was really good. We learned how to better plan our days so that we can find people more effectively and also work better with the members. It was good. That night we were able to go out with the Aaronic Priesthood from our ward, and visited some of the less actives and other investigators. That was a cool experience! It was good to go out and talk with some of the less actives in our ward and invite them back to church.

Thursday we planned for a couple of lessons, but nobody followed through, unfortunately. So basically we contacted that whole day, and passed by a bunch of people who weren't home. We did go to the Gonzalez' home and visited with them for a bit, which was nice. We shared a message of missionary work with them to get them excited to help the missionaries.

Friday and Saturday were both about the same. No lessons or anything, and basically we just contacted and found some cool people in the streets. We did set some return appointments with them, which was really good. We have a bunch of citas this week planned, so hopefully we have a little more success this week! The only difference between the two days is that Saturday rained a TON. We got DRENCHED. I was soaked all the way through. My scriptures got wet and a few other books in my backpack got wet. But it was fun haha. :) It was kind of cold and whatnot, but it was good. Needless to say, we weren't able to contact too well in the rain, given that the people here are scared of the rain. Unfortunately we weren't able to teach Bryan either, because finals week is here. :( He also had to study so much that he couldn't come to church... so that was bad news for us. And basically, that's how Saturday was. And then yesterday was Fast Sunday here, and after church and lunch, we went out to work, and passed by a few people who once again couldn't let us in, and then did some contacting. We did find a pretty cool family though, and they really seem promising. We're going back this week, which will be good. :)

Other than that, that's the week! I apologize again for the lack of detail. It's a holiday today in Puerto Rico so everything's closed, and we're forced to come here where they close soon. Next week should be better, but I hope that all is going well at home! I love you very much, and pray for you every day. Thank you, as always, for your support and for what you do for me. You are probably the best family in the world, without whom I would be lost. :) Thank you so much, and I look forward to hearing from you again next week!

With much love,
--

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Week 20: Semana Santa

Well family, here we are again! Another week has come and gone, and this one was even more special because it was Holy Week here in Puerto Rico. Holy cow. I had no idea it would be so intense haha. I'll get to it in a bit, but it was quite the interesting week, and I have a lot to tell you about it! But first . . .

Mom - Thank you for the pictures!! It looks like you had a great time! I hope you thought of me while riding Pirates and the Haunted Mansion and such! But I'm glad you had a good time, it seemed like you were enjoying yourselves. :) Also, I don't know when Ben goes to the MTC, so I don't think he's there now, I just think that he just got his call.
Dad - Sadly I am still waiting for that experience on "Small World," but Mom sent some pictures haha :) And your trip to California/Vegas sounds like it was great! I assume then that TSO didn't play any Christmas or anything? And it was at Universal? That's awesome, it sounds like it was a great time.

Marilee - I responded to your email separately.

Anyway, so, Holy Week. Just to set the stage a bit, pretty much everyone in Puerto Rico is Catholic. And if they're not Catholic, they're Pentecostal. In any case, pretty much everyone here is religious and believes in Christ. So for pretty much the whole week, everyone was on this religious kick, and they were just kind of in a fighting mood haha, which was pretty funny.

Anyway, to start with last Monday, we went bowling after we got lunch, and then did some shopping until 6:00, when our P-day ends. We then visited Roy, and watched the Restoration movie with him. We didn't have a lot of time left after though, so we didn't get to discuss it too much with him. :\ That was too bad... But he seemed to enjoy the movie, we just didn't get to talk about it with him.

On Tuesday, we did some contacting pretty much all day, and in the evening, we did some intercambios with the bishopric and such here. I went out with the Elders' Quorum President, and visited an older less-active man, while Elder Hammer took the bishop to one of our investigators. I guess it was a really great lesson, which was good, and it was good that it came from the bishop. They invited him to church, and he accepted! That was definitely the highlight of Tuesday.

Wednesday was Marilee's birthday, and basically all that happened that day was that we contacted all day, and our appointments fell through with people when we passed by. It was no bueno haha. We passed by quite a few people, but nobody was able to let us in or anything, so we just ended the day contacting. No lessons, no nothing.

Thursday was just another big contacting day, although we did drop of a Book of Mormon to a lady we had contacted earlier, so we'll see what happens there. I also found a couple of cool people, one who seems really promising! His name is Luis Santiago, and we're going to pass by him again this coming Saturday. He seems really interested and I think there's some potential there! That was definitely a highlight to that day as well.

And then Good Friday hit. Holy cow. When we left to go out and work, the streets were EMPTY. When we passed by churches, they were just filled with people. We passed through the city plaza, and they had put up three crosses. I guess they reenact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday. Everyone was just in church all day, or else at home resting. Anyway, it was just weird to me because it was seriously like Christmas here. And nobody wanted to talk to us because it was Good Friday, so we didn't get a lot of contacts. That night, the church had an activity called "La Noche de Pan y Miel" which they had in celebration of the birth of Christ (on April 6). That was cool, but kind of weird haha. Just because it seemed to have some kind of Catholic undertones to it. Maybe it's because it coincided with Good Friday, but it was just kind of weird. At the end, they broke some bread and passed it around and we dipped it in some honey and ate it. It was just weird. So that was Good Friday!

Saturday was a normal day, and we did a ton of contacting that day to reach our Foundation. We were able to teach Bryan though, and taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a great lesson, and he said he'd pray about being baptized. He also committed to come to church with us!

 So on Sunday, we drove to his house so he could follow us to church, and he was all ready and everything. :) He came for all 3 hours, and seemed to enjoy it. He didn't really say much, but he seemed to have a pretty good time. We'll be following up with him this week and seeing how he liked it and such. It was good though, because it was an Easter meeting, and they talked about the Resurrection and such. It was a good Sunday, and a good church meeting. :) Then last night we went to an American family's house for dinner. That was great! It was good to eat something besides rice and beans and have a little taste of home haha. :) They had Kool-aid and potato salad and ham and salad, and then some chocolate pie and ice cream. So good. And then we had a little lesson with Robby, another of our investigators last night. It went pretty well.

Anyway, that's basically the week! Needless to say, I'm glad Holy Week is over, because now people can go back to being their old selves. Anyway, we'll see how this week goes, I guess! We have an Easter Conference tomorrow, and then Elder Hammer and I have a training meeting on Wednesday, so not a lot of time left over to get our Foundation and such. But I think it will be a good week. :)

As always, I hope that everything is going well back home. I hope you're all doing great, and that you had a great time in California and Vegas. :) I love you all so much, and I pray for you every day, both morning and night. I pray that you are being taken care of and provided for, and I look forward to hearing from you all again next week. I love you all so very much!

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

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