Wild Week

Nathan's new companion he is training Elder Perez from Dominican Republic and President and Sister Hintze

CCM friends

Elder Gardner in his apartment

Freddy and his 2 sisters (family they are teaching)

silly sign Nate found

So I am now a trainer...!!!! THat is pretty crazy, I barely finished my own training and now I am beginning the training of another missionary. His name is Elder Perez and he is from the Dominican Republic, he is a great guy. These first couple days we have worked really hard, I think he almost died on the first day when he discovered how fast I walk up hills. Our area is a hill so he will adjust little by little to that, my calf muscles have become defined so that is good....because my stomach is far from behind. The last time I got myself on a scale I was up 6 pounds!

In the mission when one becomes a trainer they are called a father, so I am now a Dad. So that is kind of a funny missionary slang that we use. But all is great around here, I have a lot of people to teach and I am really enjoying everything. The people are great "bien amables", and I enjoy helping people to feel the love of the Savior in their lives. It is something really special to do. 

So, I had some really crazy visits this week. We went with one family called the Familia Romero, they have a female pitbull. It always just sits in the corner when we visit, but not the other day. They had invited a male pitbull over and they were trying to get them to breed. So the sounds that I heard during that lesson as well as various commentaries made it one of the most absolutely bizarre things I have ever done. But it was funny.

A few days early this same family got robbed by the gangs, so I was glad that they were jubilous about the dog breeding because they were really depressed when they got robbed. In this family 3 are members of the church, but the Dad isn't a member and an uncle that lives there is not as well.

We were talking with this chubby lady in front of a bus stop named Guadalupe, when all the sudden this bus absolutely crushes this dog. Unfortunately, the dog didn't die immediately and it suffered for like 20 minutes. So that was kinda sad, that visit was a little awkward as well because of the moaning of this poor dog.

Yea, I'm kinda anticipating the end of terrible dog experiences....

Well, I don't think that Thanksgiving will be the same this year. Our mission had a celebration with turkey on tuesday and it was really good, but I have no plans for a dinner on thanksgiving. I will sure miss the football. Please savor some pie and some stuffing for me!

I have felt uplifted as I have walked through the filthy streets of San Salvador, the people here are really great and everyone has something to give. I have felt the Holy Ghost in my life, I just smile sometimes because I'm happy. I read the Book of Mormon with this one guy and he immediately toldme, "hey, what you just read right there was from God". I asked him, "how do you know?" he told me that he felt it. I didn't gain a personal belief of the Book of Mormon that quickly, but by praying about that book and trying to live by it's teaching I have felt a great change in my life. I'd like to invite everyone of you to read in the Book of Mormon and ponder the words that are in it, I promise everyone that it has something for you. I feel blessed, I'm happy, I hope that all of you have an amazing Thanksgiving holiday and give thanks for all that you have. 

With Love, 

Elder Nathan Gardner