ELDER NATHAN GARDNER: New Companion, New Transfer‏

Elder Sanchez from El Salvador

All is going well up here in El Salvador, I am enjoying being a missionary. I am working hard and I am happy.

Last night my companion had a hard time sleeping because of the bullet holes in the door of our house, he was a little nervous and he wants to move his bed away from the door, haha.

My new companion is Elder Sanchez and he is from El Salvador, he originally served in Peru but he had back surgery and was reassigned here in El Salvador. He tells me that our area, although it is the very historic center of the country, is a place where he has never come due to danger. He also says he won't be able to visit here after his mission either, so I am right in the thick of the action here!

This week we had a lot of fun on P-Day, we toured all of the historical buildings of the Centro de San Salvador. We went into all of these catholic churches and it was cool to see them, it is just hard getting into them because the stairs in front of them are full of homeless people so it is sad.

There are a lot of people in this country that have been deported from the U.S., so they can speak english. I was a little startled when I walked past this random hispanic dude and he screamed swear words at me in english. He was drunk, so that was a little crazy to hear english screamed at me. It has been a while to hear english screamed, although he was screaming profanities I really enjoyed hearing the guy scream at me, haha.

All is going great, I have officially gained 25 pounds! Puchicka! I have gained a lot of weight, if I keep this up I'll start signing up for the Biggest Loser after the mission.

We are having a lot of succes in our area, we are teaching a lot of people and I can feel the love of the Lord in my life as I help people to come to Christ and bring their lives in accordance with His teachings. I feel at peace, I know these things are true, that Jesus came and died for us and made it possible for us to live again. I am grateful for all of the blessings that God has given me and I strive to be worthy of them and give back to my Savior for what He has done for me.

I hope that everyone has an awesome week! Count your blessings!

Take Care,

Elder Gardner