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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