March 9, 2015

hey guys,

don’t really have much time, so I’ll share a quick experience.

every second week of the month we have the sacrament meeting devoted to missionary work, so they have a missionary from each companionship speak as well as the ward mission leader.

last month it was my turn, i prepared a talk and the president didn’t remember my name, so he called my companion to give it, but i gave it anyways. so this week as we were walking to the church, elder v asked me, "if he calls you up instead of me, what will you talk on?" "nothing, if he calls me up, it’s still your turn" "yeah, ok" turns out that he didn’t forget that it was his turn, but the hermanas were sick, so i was called as a filler and got to talk anyways. i didn’t have anything prepared, but thanks to my awesome improv skills, it actually went pretty well.

i started out by explaining how the truths that everybody needs were brought back to the earth through the restoration, that we have it but it is for everyone, blah blah blah typical missionary work talk. but then i used an example from a lesson that we had that week that i thought was interesting.

we were meeting with a woman, went a bit long, and at the end we left her with a book of mormon and challenged her to read and pray. "well, the thing is that i don’t have time, i have work and kids and..." it’s an excuse that we get a lot, but i thought about it and said "woah wait a minute, we just talked to you for an hour in the middle of the day, we know that you have time." she thought about it and responded "yeah, when i want to, i have time."

i think that applies to a lot of things in our lives and in the church. lots of us never share the gospel for example, only because we are never given the opportunity. i think if we were honest we would see that we have ample opportunity, we just don’t want to, for whatever reason. i can tell you from experience that i had this happen many times with my friends at home. to the point that i would say "well if this happens... then ill share the gospel with them" and then it happened, and i still didn’t share it.

the first step to increasing our missionary work (and doing many other things in life) is to increase our desire to do it. one of the big things i have learned on my mission is that motivation follows action, satan doesn’t have to dissuade us from doing good if he can simply persuade us to do the good tomorrow.

so that’s what i have to share this week, sure I’m missionary minded right now, but I’m sure all of you have things that you know you should get around to doing, so as nike once said (and that one prophet that i don’t remember which one.) (Spencer W. Kimbal) just do it.

love you lots, be good

elder gandola

March 2, 2015 I hate basketball and hospitals..

dear all people who read this,

short on time, so I’ll hit on the two most prominent features of this week.

the first of these is that fact that elder w is not having a good week.

friday he started puking, and had diarrhea (kind of like i have had since easters.) so they took him to the doctor to get it checked it out. basically they told him that he was fine and go home and rest and he would feel all warm and fuzzy inside. well he didn’t feel all warm and fuzzy inside, he felt bad inside. turns out that that bad feelings that he had was his appendix being angry. so he got it taken out. we just went and visited him and he’s not having fun, shawn and dad you guys can probably remember that. they still aren’t sure if he will be sent home or not, but we are praying for him.

other than that, we had a baptism this week. J M, who is a "friend" of a returned sister missionary here. so what did we do differently with this guy? why did he progress so fast when other people aren’t. well that’s easy, we just did nothing. no not that we didn’t care about him, we just didn’t have to do anything with him, we only had to teach him, he did all the other stuff by himself. why? well i would venture to say that it’s because he is a reference from a member. of the last 5 baptisms in this area, 4 of them have been from references, which just goes to show how important the members are in the work, you guys have way more of an influence than you would think.

after the baptism we went and played basketball outside, which i wasn’t too thrilled about. basketball does not fill me with happy feelings, it fills me with angry feelings, it reminds me of high school P.E., which is very probably my least favorite place in the face of the california. but turns out it was good that we went to play because it helped J M be more fellowship-ed. our biggest concern with him is that he would be alone, because he is super quiet. and even though i wouldn’t have taken him for one to play basketball (he’s a bigger guy) he fit right in and i think it helped him bond more with the ward.

moral of the story, go share the gospel with your friends, it’s the most effective way for the missionaries to work.

well that’s all, hope you are all well. love you guys, be good.

micah

February 23, 2015 I don’t believe in the Gripa,

hey guys, its me,

so first of all is good news, i feel completely comfortable with spanish now (have for a bit, but still good.) bad news, i can’t talk english anymore, ok well i can, i just feel like an idiot (but we don't use that word here, so please insert a more appropriate substitute) at first i couldn’t speak to well, then it got to the point that it was just good enough to tell just how awful my Spanish was, now its fine. still don’t know all the words, but I’m really good at saying what i want in different ways. right now for language study i am mostly focusing on rolling my r´s, so i just go outside and read the book of mormon, focusing on that. at first i couldn’t do it, but then i figured out that if i tilt my head back i can do it... i just look like a word that we don’t use here. but other than that my accent is apparently not bad, we were contacting a woman this week, and when she saw my name she asked me "where is your name from?" "its from argentina" "oh, that’s why your accent is so beautiful" ... that’s right,.all the native latinos say its like a cross between an argentine and a spanish accent, so i don’t really know what that means.

elder v wasn’t really feeling to great this week, he was feeling bad in his stomach, and also had some gripa. gripa is kinda like the flu, but stronger, i eventually figured out that it is more accurately the swine flu, the only thing is i don’t actually believe that it exists, whenever somebody sneezes or coughs or anything "oh, guess i have the gripa" (the gripa... sounds like the plague) so they kind of overuse it. they kinda over treat it too, i realized again why it is a bad idea to get sick here, because everyone and their dog decides to diagnose you.
"oh, are you sick?"
"yeah, i have the plague, i mean gripa"
"are you taking anything for it?"
"yeah I’m taking these pills"

"oh those dent do anything, what you have to do is eat a potato, then spin around three times, stand on your head, and then drink this concoction that i have, it will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside."

"...will i feel warm and fuzzy because mold will be growing inside of me?"

"...don’t ask questions"

this week we had the mission president come down for a zone conference with his assistants, it was pretty good, but there wasn’t too much new stuff, as apparently we are doing pretty good. sounds like he had to straighten out some other zones, but one of the assistants stayed the night at our house (there are three right now) and he said he was glad that we weren’t doing anything too different. the other reason that president came down was to give temple interviews, as the ward had a temple trip this weekend. 

it was a great opportunity that the ward had, the temple is a good 6 hour bus drive from here, so it was a sacrifice of time, but almost the whole ward was able to go and participate in the available ordinances. it’s always good to remember the importance of the temple, and often easy to take for granted as we have one readily available, its always important to take advantage of the great blessings readily available through temple service, especially when so easily available.

that’s it for now, don’t have too much time, but continue to look for opportunities to share the gospel and to help others receive the great blessings that we have. 

love you guys, be good.

elder gandola

February 16, 2015

sup,

This week was good, we had a branch activity for valentine’s day. in all reality it was pretty low key, but we were charged with bringing a video or something. we aren’t really the experts right now on the holiday right now, but we found a mormon message called "enduring love" to share. There was no computer at the activity, so we were a bit worried until elder velazco realized the tv had a usb port. "pshh, no elder, tv´s can’t do that, but i guess we can try it if you really want... oh, whaddya know, tvs can do that" ...guess i forgot that even though we(the gandola’s) don’t advance technologically, the world does (fun fact about valentine’s day on your mission, you don’t have to be annoyed at the fact that all your friends aren’t single and you are :D)

The other irregularity was this morning, we got to go and eat pizza at a member’s panaderia. i don’t know if i have already told you guys, but panaderias are the best thing. they´re like bakeries on every corner. we got to watch them making all the bread by hand, and i decided that after my mission, I’m just gonna stay here and study pan, then i can come to the us and be the only hipster in the country with my own mexican bakery. but seriously you guys have no idea what your missing (and for like less than 10 cents at that)

this week more than any other we have dealt with lots of other firm religious people,

i have seen how other churches can be the source of great good, even preparation. as some of our current investigators are of other faiths, not for the outward showmanship, but in a very real attempt to live the gospel of christ, and though they have doubts at times, they are easily eased through confirmation of the spirit.

even others i would deem to be true christians who do not listen to our message. we had a woman decline our invitation to teach this week out of a loyalty to the faith that she currently has in the truths available to her. she very kindly explained that she found it inappropriate to profess to follow christ in her current religion, and turn and participate in other forms of worship. it was not rude, it was not intent to prove us wrong or to diminish our faith.

I’m still not even sure what the conclusion of my thoughts on the subject are. only that i have realized that like the scriptures say, if it invites us to do good and draw closer to God, it is of God. if it does the opposite then it is of the devil. and i realized the importance not only of our message but of the form of our message. while we are the ones teaching it, it should not simply be accepted from us, but should be brought to God, and answered by him. so i would like to invite you all to do just that. though many of you have already received confirmation of the truth of this message, reconfirm it and verify that the path is of God, and not of men. and just as importantly that the reason it is being followed is to serve him, and not for the outward show of it.

well, I’m not sure if anybody got anything out of that, but it’s what i have to share this week, love you guys, be good.

elder gandola

February 9, 2015

well hello all,

I guess I’ll update you guys on the progress of the cancer patient we have been teaching. we went to the hospital to visit him Tuesday and he was noticeably worse, at this point he was noticeably thinner and could hardly talk. we didn’t really get to teach him much, as we were helping care for his temporal needs (food, diaper, changing sheets, etc.) but we sang a hymn, shared a brief thought about the plan of salvation, and left.

We went to visit the doctor to discuss his condition and the possibility of taking him out for baptism (we couldn't readmit him). the doctor said that we couldn't say how long he had, but that it wasn't his time yet, as there were no other complications. but we got a call that evening, it was the hospital saying that he had just passed away.

Needless to say (but i will anyways) this caused me to reflect greatly on the whole situation and what had happened, which lead me to a few thoughts that i will share. 1. this sickness was a blessing, yes it came in an abnormal form, but without it, it is safe to assume that he never would have been humbled enough to accept this message. it is a testament to our fathers love for us that he is willing to do anything necessary, to bring us home to safety, added upon by the fact that the pain of the sickness given would have to have been suffered for in the atonement. i fail to comprehend it. the other is that we do not always know the will of the father, we simply have to trust him. our goal was baptism before he passed on, by our set definition of success, we failed, but i in no way feel like we failed to accomplish anything with this man. yes he is still without this necessary ordinance, but before we left him, we verified with him that he had repented of all his past transgressions, to which the answer was an unquestionable yes. we prepared him to accept all that he needs in the life to come, and i trust we accomplished all we were meant to.

in other news we finally had investigators at the church. one (who owns a beer shop but doesn't drink) attended the ward before us because he wasn't able to make it to ours. the others were from a family we have been teaching that is pure gold. during the class, one of the sons (28 years old) was looking through the gospel principles book and found a picture of baptism, and started asking a bunch of questions, we asked him after if he wanted to be baptized and they all said yes. the father of the family was having problems with kidney stones, and would need an expensive operation, despite the fact that he is currently unemployed. we gave him a blessing on Friday and it would seem at this point (as hoped by us and stated by him) that he has been completely healed, we will see on thursday.

I’m short of time, but i got your package, and one from uncle robert and aunt kim, thanks a bunch. be good, love you guys.

elder gandola

February 2, 2015 super short on time, some quick experiences,

1. i dont know if you remember the guy with cancer, but if not, there’s a guy with cancer that we are teaching. he cant really move, is in a lot of pain, and was recently admitted to the hospital, though at this point they cant do anything. to add to that he has like 70 years, is the only living member of his family, and has a guilty conscience due to his past. however, with this disease he has been compelled to humble himself (it me think of the poorer zoramites) and has accepted the gospel and repentance. we talked with the mission president this week, and we have permission to baptize him without church attendance, as he cant attend. so we are currently teaching him in the hospital and preparing him for a baptism that should be held within the next week or so.

2. we have been working with an investigator that has a problem with smoking, his family is all members (menos actives, but still members) and he is the only one who is not right now. we have been working with him and setting plans of action for him, but he hasn’t been receiving the help he needs, mostly because he hasn’t been doing his part. so this week we went over and were really direct with him (with love of course) at some point during the lesson i had the though (i do not claim the inception of said thought, but it ended up in my head) that we should list out all the pros and cons of smoking and of repentance (yes there are pros to smoking and cons to repentance, otherwise it wouldn’t be a choice would it?) and by the end it obviously seemed pretty clear the logical choice, and he for once seemed committed to it, he was even the one to push for setting a baptismal date. we saw him at church that sunday and he has been doing better, so that was a cool experience with revelation.

3. we had cambios this week, i honestly felt prepared for any possible outcome of cambios, so i was excited to hear what would go down... nothing changed, both elder velazco and i are both still here. i assume we didn’t get many new elders, because the same thing happened with elder w and his comp.

4. got to use my awesome parkour skills again. we forgot our keys in the house, so i climbed a tree, jumped the broken glass in the top of the wall, shimmied down a wall inside our courtyard thing, and saved the day.

elder z

January 26, 2015 Man vs. Wild: Mexico

well hello once again.

this week was super normal, and I’m short on time, so I will tell 2 things.

1. we had intercambios again this week, it was pretty normal, we did get lost but it wasn’t in my area so it wasn’t my fault. but we got to discussing nacho libre. it’s actually pretty popular here, i thought it might be offensive because its making fun of them, but they just think it’s making fun of priests. all the mexicans think that us americans think that mexico is like nacho libre before coming here. well, i didn’t, but now i do. The more time i spend here the more i am convinced that it is not a comedy, but a documentary. I’ll just leave it at that.

2. we had our first service project this week. we went to help a lady clean out her field by her house. we thought it was gunna be small stuff, so we just brought two ho´s and a shovel. nope. Apparently nature knew we were coming and prepared. There were a bunch of what elder velazco called montes. basically bushes made up of small trees and covered in death spikes. we were very inadequately equipped for the job. (and i mean we used one small machete and pickaxes) yeah it was hard work, yeah there were some casualties (primarily all of my limbs) but nature was unaware that it was about to face a hardened veteran of nature’s death squad commonly known as the Rocklin Creek Crew. sure i didnt have my usual equipment, but compared to clearing out the jungles of Rocklin, hip deep in water, while battling super beavers and the remnant of the vietkong... this was kid stuff. after all, rambo without a weapon is still rambo...or rocky...or ... i dunno, im not well verssed in sylvester stalone movies, but you get the metaphor. but no, in all reality it was good to get out and work again.

thats all for this week, i have no more to say. the work is still progressing and we have a lot of potential... the potential just isn’t attending church right now.

well ok, now that’s it, do good, live the gospel, share the gospel (no really, share it) love you guys,

elder gandola