I'M ON MY 2ND TRANSFER NOW...

Hola todos,

Hey first of all, I had my first baptism on Saturday the 5th... but sadly none of our other investigators persevered through the week to be prepared for Sabado Blanco and be baptized. I`m going to send pictures today in the mail to you of my first transfer. Last week I wrote to you on a Tuesday because of transfers. Every time that we have transfers, P-day is moved to the Tuesday so people can go to their new areas during P-day and not lose time for proselyting because transfers are always on Tuesdays every six weeks. The next transfer is on July 13th.

The way that it works here is that I barely have enough time to print out your e-mails and write you because we only have 30 min each to write for email...so if I don`t write specifically to anybody or don`t answer your questions it`s because I haven`t had time to read your email yet and I `m going to try and answer your questions in a letter. Thanks for the letters. We received the Stewart´s, Uncle Bruce`s, Grandma Linda`s, and a few other friends letters this week.

This Saturday was great and a little sad at the same time because out of our once potential 9 investigators with a baptismal date, only one... Rosana Gabriela Russo Mendez... was baptized and confirmed this week. I was able to perform the baptism and we had about 20 investigators and family members attend the baptism, which we hope will lead to more baptisms in the near future. We thought we were going to have two for Saturday because both Walter and Rosana passed their baptismal interview, but for some unknown reason (we think it might have to do with the family of Walter), we couln`t find Walter anywhere and he wouldn`t answer his cell phone on Saturday so he couldn`t attend his own baptism.

I`m jealous that Dad got to spend a whole day in the temple and that you got to see the dedication of a new temple in Arizona. I´m praying that I get to go to the temple sometime soon here in Uruguay. Thanks for your prayers and letters of support to your two sons in Bella Italia. Thanks for the talk of Colin and also all of the talks that Dad sends me. They have been really helpful and it`s great to hear your testimonies. Keep being such a great family and reading and praying together every day.

Elder Jimenez and I are doing great here and are excited and reenergized for these next six weeks together. I love you all and want you to know that I KNOW that this church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true! It really is another testament of Jesus Christ... I`m almost finished with the challenge of Presidente Da Silva to read and mark every reference of the Lord in the Book of Mormon. I have come to understand the Book of Mormon in a whole new perspective and have felt its testimony of Christ very strongly in a way that I can`t explain. I advise everyone who reads this email to take this challenge and come to find a greater testimony of the Book of Mormon. Read it from cover to cover and mark every time the name of our Savior is written and also all the words which He himself spoke to the people of the Book of Mormon.

I know that this is the work of the Lord and have seen the blessings of serving the Lord 24/7. I have also come to know of the power of this gospel and the fear that Satan has that this work is progressing here in Uruguay. He has tried to do everything in his power to impede our investigators and I know that this work cannot be stopped, for it is the work of the Lord. We are setting new goals and always trying to improve ourselves with each new day in order to evade the traps of the adversary and also to help our investigators to avoid them as well. I love you all and say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Your Son, friend, and servant of the Lord,
Elder Gardner

P.S. I would appreciate it if you could send me more stamps and pictures. I`ve been looking for an album to put the pictures I have in but haven`t been able to find one yet. And a little chocolate is always welcome... Love you all. Gracias. Until next week.