Ricardo

Do I have a lot to tell you today!!!! We had a Great Thanksgiving dinner with our branch president, he is So Awesome, just like Bishop Fawcett. We didn't have turkey but whatever kind of meat it was, it was pretty good. :-) We had a really good time eating with them and spending time with them.

Then for Friday transfers, we got our call Thursday night and were told that both my companion and I were staying. That was good, we were also told that Elder Nelson would be staying. Elder Nelson and I will have been together, in the same apartment, for 6 months by the time this transfer is over on Jan 6. Elder Nelson and I get along really great, So I was happy to see that him and I will remain roommates. :-)

Then on Friday, we got a call from our new Zone Leader, Elder Nelson, aka my roommate, saying that he wasn't our District Leader anymore and that I will be the new District Leader!!!

So I am pretty excited,,,, but then I got to thinking that I am going to have a lot more responsibilities. And then to top it off, I was told that tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday, from 8am to noon, we will be having a 3 day training seminar by church leaders coming from headquarters in Salt Lake City, and after that! we will have a training coach stay with us to teach us things and help us become better missionaries. Right now I am stressing out because the training coach will be in my very first district meeting! I do know my topic but it is still pretty scary, especially with someone from Salt Lake there....

But the best part about this last week was that we baptized Ricardo, age 17, yesterday, he asked me to do it and I will be sending pictures next week. it was Awesome! and what makes it even better, is his parents are thinking about the church and asking what makes it so different from other churches and why would their son want to come and get baptized so quick. We are going to start teaching them and hopefully get them baptized also:-) Everything is really good and rewarding but then also really stressful all at the same time. Just pray for me that I will be able to do my best to better help my new district and the people in my area grow closer to our Heavenly Father.

What I need is: my planners that I have sent home, I found out that it is better to just keep them with me because it is possible now that I could go back to areas I have already been and I may be able to help some of those people I have worked with earlier. I have sent home 5 planers, my MTC one, my trainer one, 2 with Elder Virrueta, and the other one with Elder Andelin, So send back all of the planners that I have sent home. Thank You for all that you do for me,,,,, only 26 more days until I get to call home again ;-) ~ELDER GARDNER