Sunday, May 22, 2016

Feb 8, 2016 to Feb 29, 2016

February 8, 2016

hey guys,

so this was another good week. we learned a lot of stuff that is exciting to us as missionaries but doesn’t really apply to you guys, so the letter might be short.

so first of all i got a new jacket this week, i went to a members house and i hadn’t brought mine, and so she didn’t let me go without one and it was too small for any of them, so she gave me a really nice coat. the funny thing is that my companion has been looking for one just like it and just bought one for like 700 pesos (like 50 bucks)
but she said she has more and wanted to give him one too.

so we came back this week to do a service for them and they took us into the back room to see the jackets and they had a ton of really nice clothes there. the thing is that this family has been struggling economically and so we have been working with them to help them keep the sabbath day holy. so we instantly told them that they should start a clothing shop and they would be set. it’s interesting to see that god often gives us all the blessings we need and many times we simply cannot see them.

also this week i made good use of my christmas packet. there was a family that was going to give a baby blessing sunday and they had a white shirt for him but couldn’t find a small tie. so i thought, "hey, i have one from that stocking that i just got" (i got a stocking from my mother that was shaped like a white shirt and tie) so i detached it and put it on a string and gave them a cool little tie. oh, quick note about future packages, don’t send me candy. i decided that i was eating way too much candy and so i have decided to give it up for this year, i would be more than happy to receive recipes however, preferably quick ones.

so this week i have been improving in my prayers, we can always improve. i saw a quote that says, "true worship is giving thanks" or something like that translated into english, so i decided to be more grateful in my prayers. i would invite all of you in this week to offer at least one prayer where you only give thanks, for as long as you can. it has helped me a lot.

well gotta go, but i love you guys, be good

elder gandola


February 15, 2016

hey guys,

ummm i actually have no idea what we did in this week. umm, so i guess I’ll just pretend like I’m short on time and can’t write to you guys.

i guess I’ll just share something that i have been learning this week. the center of everything that we believe and do is the savior, therefore we should center our lives on the savior, and especially on the atonement. this week i have spent a lot of time studying his life, and i realized that we will never understand all that he has done for us, and therefore should never stop studying it. as we grow in our understanding of and love for the savior, we will feel a natural desire to serve others, and to do his will. i would invite you all to take some time this week to study and ponder the saviors ministry and sacrifice, and to see how you can apply it to your life (a wonderful, easy way to do this is through the church´s bible videos which are really spectacular)

i guess i have gotten lazy with the person of the week, this week is Ana. we were walking along and all of the sudden a truck pulls up and a man rolls down the window and yells to us, "hey elders! hey I’m a member, but i live in zacatecas and am only here for the weekend, but you should go visit my sister in law." only he didn’t know the direction very well, he just knew that it was a blue house in a street, so we went and checked all the blue houses until one lady answered the door and asked us,"hey why did you guys stop coming to visit me?" the previous missionaries stopped visiting her, but she accepted us very well.

also this week I’ll send you 2 pictures because i forgot last week

 but anyways, that’s it for now. be good love, you guys
Elder Gàndola
 














February 22, 2016   Mexican Moonshiners

hello hello,

well lucky for you guys this week was a bit more interesting, starting monday.

so monday we had transfers (we stayed the same) and there is a new companionship that they are going to stick in valparaiso (our second area), so they told us, "hey, it would be great if you guys got here at 9 in the morning, that way you can take them over and show them around their area." so we did, but they told us, well actually, they won’t get here for 4 hours... so could you come back at like 1? so we did, but then they told us, "...well actually they won’t get here for 2 more hours, can you come back at like 3? so we did. this time they were actually there.

so we took them to valparaiso and showed them around. we planned on coming back in the night to see if we could work a little, and because their house isn’t really equipped for 4 missionaries, and because i was wearing my contacts and didn’t have what i needed to take them out. but wouldn’t you know it, there is a bus that goes back to fresnillo every hour of the day... except for 7, so we had to stay there. (don’t worry one of the other elders had contact solution, and there were enough blankets to make the ground somewhat comfy)
 
we did come back tuesday and where able to work normally, but it was pretty uneventful.

wednesday was super cool. so we went to a meeting in the church in the morning, and we were coming back when all of the sudden a car pulled over and rolled down the window (no I’m not just retelling last week’s story, it’s a different guy) and the guy told us, "hey, I’m a member from another ward, if you have time i can take you guys to visit a couple of references." we did have time, and he gave us like 10. it was super cool because that morning i had been praying specifically to notice the unplanned opportunities to help people, and this was definitely one of them.

thursday was an interesting day. so there’s this drink here that they sell in the streets called tepache that is basically made by fermenting pineapple skin. we don’t buy it because that is how alcohol is made, but if you make it yourself you can take it out before it makes alcohol and its fine. so we let some sit since last week. we remembered and went to check on it, but we both decided it smelled a little too risky, so we threw it away. and that is how we brewed alcohol here in the mission.

the rest of the week was pretty cool too, we actually had a couple of experiences like the one with the member, and actually in one of the meals this week we did a roleplay activity with the bishop and his wife to help them invite a friend to learn more, and they actually brought her to church on sunday. we could really see this week the lords hand guiding us to be able to do stuff that we couldn’t have done alone.

last of all, person of the week. gerardo flores. he is the dad/husband of some investigators that we have been teaching, and he hasn’t really approved, he has kinda been an obstacle and that is how we have seen him. but this week we realized that if we want to make any progress with the family, we need to make progress with him. so we prayed that we could find him alone, and one day we knocked on his door, and he answered us.  the only thing is that he answered the door and told us that he didn’t want us to pass by any more. i just remember thinking, "i am not leaving without teaching this guy," and I’m not really sure how we did it, but eventually he opened the door and said, "alright, come on in." so we taught him a lesson and he completely changed, when we left he gave us hugs and said sorry. it was kind of a humbling experience. i realized that God loves all of his children equally, and that really we should not judge others based on how we see them, rather we should seek to see them as god does, and then we gain the ability to help them.

anyways, that’s it for this week, be good, love you guys.

Elder Gandola



February 29, 2016  One man’s trash is another man’s Breakfast

hey guys,

so this week was pretty good, and most of the interesting things happened were related to the fact that we had absolutely zero money. (don’t worry, our money came today, so all good) and consequently we had no food this week

but anyways normally in the world having no money and food is a bad thing, but here in the mission those are some of my favorite weeks, because we get to see how the lord works everything out for you. one thing i have learned here is that the more we give god what we have and want, the more he can bless us with what he has and wants( not that i condone obedience for blessings, but it is a happy side effect of an obedience born from a love of god) and what he has and wants is always better.

but anyways we were walking somewhere on monday, when this lady pulls up in her car (we´re on a three week streak of that happening now) and tells us, "hey, I’m not a member, but my son is a missionary, and i want to feed you guys sometime." so she asked us for our number and told us she would call us to arrange it.

wednesday the person who had planned on feeding us couldn’t and had to cancel, so we were trying to figure something out when we get a phone call, and it was the same lady, and she wanted to give us lunch in like half an hour. i would call it a coincidence but i think we all know that it wasn´t

one of the things that actually isn’t so great about living in mexico is that they don’t really have a concept of garbage cans, or i suppose you could say that the world is their garbage can. but this week that kinda worked to our advantage. i was walking along and kicked a food package and saw that there was a sticker inside, so i picked it up and we realized that the food company has a promotion right now where there are stickers inside of the packages that are exchangeable for other products, so we started kicking the packets as we walked to see if there was any more, and in just one day we found like 6 bucks worth of cookies and stuff, which was enough for dinner saturday and breakfast sunday. we haven’t really found any more after that.

sunday we started walking to lunch and a member offered us a ride, we called while we were in the car, and we were actually wrong, it wasn’t with the member we had originally thought, it was with the daughter of the guy who was giving us a ride. she lived right in front of him, but she had forgotten and wasn’t even home, so he let us come and eat with them.

anyways, i guess the message of this letter is that we all need to learn to trust in god more, we have been sharing a scripture with a lot of members, in mathew 6

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

i have seen that this is true, if we really want security for us and our families, we should put God first, and he will take care of the rest

that’s it for today, be good, love you guys


elder gandola





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