This week was awesome! We taught 26 lessons!
On Monday night, we did a Noche De Hogar (family home
evening) with a part member family. Estela was baptized a couple years ago, but
her husband, Isidro, doesn't come to church because he plays in a soccer league
on Sunday's. We're also teaching Isidro's brother and his family. Their names
are Caren and Alejandro and they just arrived from Mexico a few months ago.
They have a baby and a 2 year old who are both super
cute. Caren came to the noche de hogar as well as a family from our branch
who's getting sealed in the temple next week and a recent convert, Ernesto. So
with everyone and their kids, there were probably 13 or 14 people there. It was
super fun. We did a lesson on Sabbath day observance where I shared experiences
about me not doing homework or playing sports on Sundays, then ate food, played
games, and chatted.
On Saturday, Denise got baptized into the Spanish branch.
She lives in the other Hermana's area, so they taught her, but we know her
really well. She and her husband, Miguel are at church every week, then after
church the 4 Hermanas, Miguel, Denise, and their daughter Kenya go to an
assisted living home and sing and read from the Book of Mormon with a member
and his wife who live there. Also, they invite us to dinner all the time, which
we love because they make the BEST Mexican food. I love their family so much!
Miguel got baptized about a month ago because he started meeting with the
missionaries before Denise. It was awesome because he was able to baptize her.
The baptismal service was super nice. I was so happy for Denise and I was
smiling literally the whole time. Hermanas Mellor, Allred, Sedgwick and I sang
"El Viaje Largo," a song that Denise picked out that was written
about Esther.
The first and last lines are "Ha sido largo el viaje
pero al fin llegué"
(it's been a long journey, but I've finally arrived) When
we sang it, Denise and Miguel were both crying. The spirit was super strong.
Miguel and Denise are really excited to be sealed as a family in a year.
[Joined together for time and eternity in the Temple] On Sunday, we had dinner
at their house and it felt like there was a different spirit there than the
other times we've gone, now that they've both changed their lives and been
baptized. Also, Denise grew up in Fresno, so that's cool.
There were 4 convert baptisms from our zone this weekend.
3 on Saturday and one on Friday. We invited Myrna to the one on Friday because
she had to work Saturday. Her daughter was throwing a fit at home, so she got
there in time for the closing prayer and song, but that was ok. We were able to
show her the baptismal font and give her a church tour. She loved all the
pictures of Christ on the walls and she felt the spirit really strong in the
chapel and told us she felt peaceful and really excited to be baptized. We had
an awesome lesson on the Sacrament and the Priesthood in the chapel and it was
a really nice environment. On Saturday morning, we went to her house and taught
her the 10 Commandments. She loved them and told us she's going to ask her boss
for Sunday's off so she can keep the Sabbath Day holy. At church on Sunday,
when she introduced herself in Relief Society, she said she loves the Book of
Mormon and that she knows that this is the place for her and that she's super
excited to be baptized. It was her first week at church and she said she loved
it and that it was the first time she's ever been able to sit through a church
service without getting bored.
Susi was able to come to all 3 hours of church for the
first time and she really liked it too. Susi's mom is Estela's best friend, so
Susi came to Sacrament Meeting 3 or 4 times with Estela before we started
teaching her.
Missionary work is so much easier when members are doing
member missionary work. In Relief Society on Sunday, the lesson was on member
missionary work and it was awesome! All the sisters made paper name tags with
their name and "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" on
it, so they could be like the full time missionaries with name tags.
I love how much people like missionaries and how much
free food we get. On Wednesday, we were invited to lunch at Jimmy Johns with a
recent convert. We showed up 20 minutes late, and he showed up 20 minutes after
that. While we were waiting for him, a member from Gilbert came up to us and
said "I'm buying your lunch today." We weren't sure yet if our recent
convert was going to show up, so we accepted. After ordering a sandwich, he
asked the cashier "did they order chips?" and handed us chips, then
asked the cashier "did they order cookies?" then handed us cookies.
We had a nice conversation with him and thanked him profusely. Then our recent
convert showed up and was so apologetic thinking that we had bought our own
food, but we assured him it was ok. On Friday during weekly planning, a couple
of people in the YSA [young single adult] branch texted us and invited us to
Chick-fil-A for lunch, so that was awesome too. Also the guy I talked about a
couple weeks ago who worked at a Mariscos restaurant gave us a ton of delicious
fish tacos when we went by to teach him.
Our zone is in a competition for who can ask for the most
referrals because we're supposed to ask everyone for referrals [opportunities
to teach friends of church members]. Usually, we forget to ask, or will maybe
ask 1 or 2 a day, but with my competitiveness, Hermana Sedgwick and I asked for
24 on Saturday and 8 on Sunday. We're definitely in the lead.
Transfers are this Thursday. I hope Hermana Sedgwick and
I stay together, but she's already been in Casa Grande for 6 months, so we'll
see what happens.
I love being a missionary,
Love,
Hermana Gubler
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