A week full of meetings

Zone Layco

President Hintze

Sister Hintze

old companions Zelaya and Perez

Well, this week was a week full of meetings. 

 

On tuesday I sat in the equivalent of what is a City Hall here in San Salvador trying to get this birth certificate for one of our investigators so he can get married and baptized. 

On wednesday we went to the temple and did an endowment session. 

On friday we had a multizone conference with President HIntze. 

On saturday we had a ward conference with the Stake Presidency, this meeting was impressive to me. The Stake got after the ward a litle bit due to their failures in some organizational matters but it always impresses me how well organized that the church is. 

So we had a week with a lot of meetings and a lot of time was spent in sitting which is someting than I am not opposed against, but I get tired of it very quickly. 

On the way home from one of these meetings I started talking to this random dude in the bus, he had a next door neighbor that died but he said that I reminded him of the next door neighbor. This neighbor had been praying to God to find the true church of God, he said that he'd read in Ephesians 4:5 which says "One faith, one Lord, one baptism". So this guy was going to all of the churches looking for the true church. This guy said that his neighbor had revealed to him that the Mormon Church was true and was shortly thereafter baptized. 

I then invited this guy if he would like to come to church as well to see if the church is true, and he told me that he would go although he lives far away from my area.

So, we have this investigator who is a chiropractor but has a drinking problem. We found him in the street drunk one day and he wanted to work on my back, he had never offered to do this before, so I was a little concerned. Especially since this guy was obviously drunk, but I took off my backpack and he did some chiropractic moves on me and it felt great!! So my back feels like a weight has been taken off now! 

We also have an investigator named Rogelio, he has a serious drinking problem but is making huge strides in improving his life. Since he has started meeting with us, he has stopped drinking for 11 consecutive days, he went from being a complete drunk in the street to having stopped for 11 days. Rogelio is an amputate and usually we walk with him to church but he arrived by himself this week so that was awesome to see. 

Overall I am doing great, I had a Wendy's hamburger on Saturday. That may not sound to special, but everytime that I have a hamburger I am just left wanting more and more and then a milkshake. But, you know what, sometimes you got to wait for the good things. 

I know Jesus Christ lives, I am here in El Salvador as His representative, inviting everyone to repent and be baptized to have a more full life. I know Jesus Christ is the Savior and that He gave up His life as a sacrifice for our own lives, for this knowledge and testimony I am very grateful. I think that a proper knowledge of our Savior and trying to become more like Him is more valuable than anything here in this earth. "Lay up your treasures in heaven" 

I was reading in the book of Matthew and a scripture I have read many times called my attention Matthew 10:39"He that saveth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall save it" 

Everyone have a great week and be sure to enjoy the little things and your families!

With best regards,

Elder Nathan Gardner

Normal but good week‏

I had a fun week, it was pretty regular but I enjoyed it. 

On thursday our district had a birthday party for Elder Kaufusi who turned 19, I am the youngest missionary in our zone, the only 18 year old! Still a baby I suppose, haha. We made brownies and I bought the ice cream, so that was really delicous. It's been a while since I have had brownies in ice cream but I assure you all that is was really good. 

I was walking through a burger king parking lot the other day on the way to an appointment and our bishop scared the life out of me! I don't know if I have mentioned this before but fast food restaurants are the nicest buildings in this country and the bishop ran up at me and I jumped. I thought I was about to get tackled by some chunky short dude but when I saw that it was bishop I just died laughing. 

This next week should bring much more excitement with some upcoming events so I'll keep you posted. 

I'm sweating, I'm having fun, and I'm working hard for the Lord. What more can I ask for? 

Have a great week everyone, 

Elder Gardner

the ward, bishop in the blue and elder quorm presidente in yellow teaching seminary both great dudes haha

familia martinez y la capilla

Double Baptism‏

Buenos Dias, espero que todos tuvimos una buena semana. Todo bien aca en El Salvador! !Vemos y apredemos nuevas cosas cada dia!

We had a great week this week here in the mission, it was way busy with a lot of meetings and a lot of events but we had a good week. 

We had a Zone Leaders Meeting on tuesday and we got Pizza Hut! So that was really cool, they talked to us about always being positive and encouraging the misionaries that we are in charge of. Always trying to help these people to be excited to do the coolest thing on earth. 

On Friday, President Hintze came to our zone and checked all of our houses. Our house was pretty clean but he got mad at us because the freezer was dirty (which doesn't work) and because my comp wasn't using his mosquito net. So we got reprimanded a little bit for those little problems in our house but overall it was pretty clean, but some of the houses of the other elders are absolute disasters, and as President Hintze told them "unfit for living". So some of the other elders got roasted by President, so that was a little awkward because we went along with him to all of the houses. 

My former companion Elder Gallardo continues to haunt me a little bit, a member complained to me that he tried to steal a bunch of toys from her 5 year old son. Apparently, when Elder Gallardo was with a different missionary, he went to this house, loaded up a bunch of toys in his backpack and tried to walk away. So my former companion continues to taunt me with complaints of the people here...haha. 

We had a great day on Saturday, we had 2 baptisms on Saturday and both of them were confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost the same day. So that was a really cool experience, P. Hintze came, it was fun. 

I got sick this week, again. I think I have a full on eye infection, I have been walking around with Sunglasses because the sun burns my eyes. So I am suffering a little bit right now, but it is all probably good for me. I am doing great overall!

I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Elder Erickson

President Hintze playing fotbal with little kids

double baptism

Mosquitto netting on beds