Friday, December 30, 2016
Monday, December 26, 2016
12/26/16 Final letter
Hola familia,
Here's my last weekly email.
This week was pretty great. Manuel, who I found and taught in Phoenix got
baptized on Friday! I got permission to go. When we found him, he was drunk and
crying and was telling us he wants to change his life so he can be happy. And he
sure was happy on Friday. He wore a shirt and tie and he was smiling the whole
time. He shared him testimony at the end and it was awesome! And he had Hermana
Irizarry and I sign his Book of Mormon haha.At the baptism, I gave a talk and
conducted the music. It was super fun to see everyone from Montaña de Sur
again.
And on Saturday morning, the
Delgado kids I taught got baptized in Phoenix. I wasn't able to go back for
that baptism, but I'm super happy for the 3 of them.
We found 7 new investigators this
week and 7 last week and we've been working really hard. We found this new
couple named Baltazar and Anna and they're awesome! They're super intelligent.
He's getting his PHD in applied Mathematics at ASU and barely even speaks
English. As we were teaching, they had so many questions like "so what do
I need to do to get salvation?" and "what would you say our purpose
in life is?" and "how can I receive and answer that this is
true?" I'm super sad that I can't keep teaching them, but they will for
sure be great members of the church.
For Christmas Eve, we had to
stay in the apartment, so we played Clue and we made our kitchen table into a
ping pong table. On Christmas, we only had sacrament meeting in both wards.
Let's just say there was a large difference in musical talent between the
Spanish ward and English ward partially because of the fact that Hermana
Cloward and I were part of 2 of the numbers in the Spanish ward. I played the
guitar for one of them.
Also, we were able to go
Christmas caroling twice this week with the elders and our ward mission leader.
We visited investigators and helped out the elders quorum and visited the
people who hadn't been home taught in more than 3 months. It was really fun and
it brought joy to a lot of people. One of the days it was pouring rain and the
other one, I played the guitar while we sang carols.
And this week I went to the
house of NFL Cardinals football player, Mike Iupati. He is a less active in our
ward and we went and taught his family. He's a pretty big guy and he came to
church on Sunday!
We also had our investigators
Lina and Leah come to church.
On Saturday, Miguel and Denise
who got baptized in my first area drove an hour to take us out to lunch and it
was super fun to see them.
On Christmas, we acted out the
nativity with the sisters in our district. I was a shepherd as usual. And we
ate Christmas dinner in the mansion of the multimillionaire bishop of our
English ward.
See you tomorrow! Be on time to
the airport please. It was good to talk to you yesterday.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Friday, December 23, 2016
12/19/16 letter
Dear family,
This week was awesome! And super
crazy. I have like 20 zillion photos to send, but I'll send a few and show the
rest when I get home in 8 days.
On Monday, we went to the Mesa
temple lights with some investigators and a recent convert. Tuesday, we drove
to Casa Grande, my first area, and went to a baptism there for a guy named
Roberto that Hermana Cloward found and taught. He read the Book of Mormon twice
before his baptism! While there, I got to see a ton of people that I met as a
brand new missionary and surprisingly, they all remembered me even though at
the time I didn't speak hardly any Spanish. I got to see Suzi who I found and
taught and has been a member for about a year now. She seems so much happier
and her testimony is so strong!
On Wednesday, we had our mission
wide Christmas conference. We met in south Phoenix and played games like
horseshoes, basketball, 4 square, etc. and had a huge competition between all
the zones. It was way fun. Our zone won the puzzle competition and our prize
was a giant present full of popcorn. Wednesday night, we taught our
investigator, Magdalena about the plan of salvation. Her mom passed away this
week and when we taught her that her mom is learning from missionaries right
now, she just started crying and she had so many questions about sealing. She
told us she wants to get baptized and go to church, but she works on Sundays.
So that's the next step. Also, we starting teaching her roommate Antonia this
week, and she's from Fresno.
Thursday morning, we got to go
to the Phoenix temple. Then we met at the Gilbert temple for a mission picture
and then we had dinner and a program at a chapel nearby. For the program, each
zone did a skit and ours was by far the best, but the judge was biased and we
didn't win. Everyone else there told us we should've won. I'll show the video
when I get home.
On Saturday, I got to go on
exchanges with Hermana Lambert in my old area in Phoenix. We had so much fun
and met another guy from Fresno and he wants to start meeting with missionaries.
Also Ivan, my recent convert, and Miguel, his new best friend came out with us
and we were so happy to see each other. Miguel hits a year of membership
tomorrow and will be endowed in a couple weeks.
On Sunday, I translated again at
the new convert devotional.
So run down of the week: I was
in Tempe, Phoenix, Gilbert, Chandler, Casa Grande, and Mesa, saw 3 temples, met
2 people from Fresno, and have 1 more week on my mission. I should write a song
or something. I'll stay away from the 5 golden rings though.
I'll write next week
still.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Monday, December 12, 2016
12/12/16 letter
Hola Family,
This week I'm writing to you
from...Tempe, Arizona! Finally I can tell people that I served in the Arizona
Tempe Mission and that I actually served in Tempe. Hermana Irizarry got a call
on Monday night that she would be training a new missionary, so they needed to
make room for her in Mesa, so they moved me to Tempe for my last few weeks. And
my companion is HERMANA CLOWARD! We were companions last Christmas and we'll be
together this Christmas too and we're having a great time! We're both new to
this area, so we're still trying to meet everybody and find our way around, but
I love it here and wish I could have served more time here. We have 2 wards.
The Rio Salado ward which is Spanish and the Ahwatukee Groves ward, which is
English. It was crazy to go to church in English on Sunday and see that the
ward started on time and had the overflow filled with people. Our english ward
has 11 ward missionaries who are all completely active which is insanely
awesome! Another random thing is that we share both wards with the same 2
Elders. Elder Gardea from Chihuahua, Mexico and Elder Ocampo from Chile. They
are both the only members of their families and converts of less that 3 years
and they are both awesome! Elder Ocampo got here from Chile on Wednesday, so at
dinner, he has no idea what he is eating and it's really funny. Our wards are
in different stakes, so it's super random, but it's super fun. We live right
near Ahwatukee and we take 3 freeways to get to our church building for
Spanish. And we make the 20 minute drive between our areas like 5 times a day.
Also, if I thought I got spoiled in Spanish wards, English wards are like that
x100.
Sister Cloward just came from
Casa Grande, my first area, and gave me all the updates of the people I taught
there. This guy Kevin that we were teaching got sent to jail soon after I left
and just got out. He read the Book of Mormon twice while in jail and is meeting
with the missionaries again! We are going to Casa Grande tomorrow for a baptism
of a guy Hermana Cloward taught and hopefully Kevin is there and I'll get to
see him.
On Saturday, I got to go to the
Mesa temple because this recent convert from Phoenix named Sabino received his
endowments. He invited me and I got permission to go and that was super
cool.
Tuesday, my last night in Mesa,
we went to the temple lights with our investigator, Pablo, and it was super
fun. There was a bunch of people from Águila Ward in Phoenix that were working
shifts at the lights and it was really fun to see all of them. I got to see
Yozelyn's sister who got home from her mission this week.
Also, now that I'm in Tempe,
I've served in basically every area in the mission except for Chandler (Where
nobody speaks Spanish anyways) so I'm feeling pretty accomplished.
I feel like I have so many
things to do and so little time to do so. See you in 2 weeks.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
12/5/16 letter
Hola Family
This week was cool. We got to go
to the Mesa Temple Christmas lights twice. Once with Zoila and another time
with a new part member family that just moved in. The lights are sooooo pretty!
Zoila came to church again for the 3rd week in a row. After church, she invited
us and another Venezuelan member for Venezuelan food. We ate hallacas, pan de
jamón, pollo asado, and rice. I'll send a picture, it was super good. On
Sunday, we ended up eating 3 dinners and I literally thought I was going to
die. But when a Hispanic offers you food, you can't say no or they get
offended, so you have to eat it. So we ate with Zoila, then went to the
Jaramillos and read the Book of Mormon in English with their daughter so she
could learn English and they offered us dinner. We had pork, rice and beans.
Then we went to Hermana Candiani's house because she was actually signed up on
our dinner calendar and she gave us mole, rice, and potatoes. I'm excited for
the day when I will be the one in charge of when and what I eat.
Teaching English to the
Jaramillos daughter has been interesting. I'm glad I don't have to learn
English. It's super hard to explain why "food" and "took" both
have double O's, but make different sounds.
On Thursday I got to go to the
Gilbert temple with the departing missionaries group. It was super pretty. And
on Wednesday, we had interviews and president basically told me that I'm going
to be transferred for my last few weeks, so don't send me anything. We get
calls tomorrow and transfers are Wednesday. I'll get you my new address next
week.
Our investigator, Joel, came to
church for the 3rd time in a row too. He's so close to baptism, he just doesn't
want to accept a day. He said he feels that everything is true. We asked him
because it's true, what do you need to do, and he said he baptized. Him and his
roommate, Eladio, came to the first presidency Christmas devotional too, so I
got to watch that. Joel's friend/fellowship, Hermano Gomez, invited us
all for carne asada on Saturday so we were able to have a super awesome lesson
while we ate carne asada. I'll add a picture.
Have a great week. See you in 3
weeks.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
11/28/16 letter
Hola,
This week I found a llama! I've
looked for one in all my areas and I've finally found one. On Saturday, Hermana
Irizarry and I were setting up for a wedding reception for someone in our ward.
It was in a backyard in a neighborhood with a lot of land and a lot of animals.
I asked the owner if there were any llamas in the neighborhood and to my
surprise he said yes. So we walked as fast as we could to that house and took
lots of pictures. I just had to dodge the 2 mean emu's protecting the llama.
I've always promised myself that I wouldn't leave my mission until I found a llama,
so now I have nothing to worry about with LESS THAN A MONTH left.
Thanksgiving was fun. It started
off with a turkey bowl where I beat all the boys on the football field. At
11:00 we ate with the familia Flores. They didn't know why we celebrate thanksgiving,
and I don't know how to say pilgrims or Plymouth in Spanish, so I think they
still don't know why we celebrate. We ate sopes which are about as far away
from turkey and mashed potatoes as you get, but they were still really good. In
the afternoon, we went to dinner with some sisters in an English ward in
Gilbert and had a delicious traditional feast. It was also 80 degrees on
thanksgiving day, so that was crazy. On Sunday, it rained and now it's really
cold here in the low 60s.
On Wednesday, I got to go back
to Phoenix for exchanges with Hermana Medina from Sonora, Mexico. She's so cute
and we had a lot of fun. She's been out for like 4 weeks, so she caught me up
on some pop culture and taught me one of the latest dances. Video to come.
While in Phoenix, I got to teach Ivan, so it was fun to see him again. Also, I
found out that on Tuesday, this lady I taught in Phoenix named Oralia got
baptized. And this Sunday, a guy I found my last week in Phoenix named
Alejandro is getting baptized. I wrote about him a few weeks ago in my
email.
Zoila and Joel came to church
again. Two weeks in a row now for both of them! We haven't been able to teach
Zoila all week though because she is now working 2 jobs and is never
home.
We're also teaching the Avila family
that is super interested, but aren't going to come to church until their in
laws leave to go back to Mexico at the end of December because their in laws
aren't too hyped about them becoming Mormon.
I'm super excited for Christmas
and I love the new church Christmas initiative video and I'm showing it to
everyone. #iluminaelmundo
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
11/21/16 letter
Hola Family,
This week was really good. In
the last 2 weeks, we've found 15 new investigators and things are finally
turning around. At church, Zoila, Pablo, and Joel came and really liked it, so
that was cool.
Zoila is one of our new
investigators from last week. After church, she said she wants to start coming
every week. On Saturday and Sunday, we spent a lot of time at her house helping
her make Venezuelan tamales. Well, she was the main one that made them while I
washed banana leaves. They were super good. I'll send a picture.
Last Monday, the assistants
called hermana Irizarry and I at 12:00 and told us that we were moving
apartments and needed to be moved out by 6:00. But I'm pretty happy about it
because our last apartment was full of cockroaches and our new one is in
Gilbert and is basically luxury. It's super nice. I now live with sister Dozier
and Avanceña from Alabama and the Philippines. I'll send pics. The only
downside is that we now have a 15 minute drive to our area.
Sunday, I did the Spanish
translation at the new convert devotional and our investigators Eladio and Joel
came. Joel was crying during one of the talks.
On Wednesday, I got to do an
exchange with Hermana Lambert. It was seriously the best day ever! We were
together for 3 transfers in Yuma and then haven't really seen eachother since
May, so it was a super fun day. She's such an awesome missionary and we found
some cool people and taught some cool lessons.
On Friday, I got to go to the
Phoenix temple (like an hour from here) because Yozelyn's mom called President
Christensen and got permission for me to go. Yozelyn leaves on her mission
today and her mom did a special chapel session at the temple with all the
people she loves. She started crying when she saw me.
Have a great week. Thanks for the
fruit dad. I already finished all the oranges.
Con amor,
Hermana Gubler
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
11/14/16 letter
This week started out a little
rough but it turned out good in the end. It started out with a lot of people
cancelling on us or dropping us, but we were able to find 7 new investigators
this week. On Saturday, we met this new lady named Zoila and she came to a
missionary devotional at the church on Sunday night because she wasn't able to
go to church in the morning. So I'm pretty happy about that. Hopefully she can
start coming to church. She might be moving, but we're trying to find her a
place that's still in our area. She's from Venezuela.
The devotional we did on Sunday
was cool. A member dressed up like a hobo outside the church and then came in
halfway through the devotional and sat in the chapel. The theme of the
devotional was service. At the end, the "hobo" went up to the front
and took off his costume and spoke about how he felt and how people treated him
when they came in. We planned it with one of the members and the bishop and 53
people ended up coming and some of the, brought nonmember friends.
On Thursday, Elder Pearson of
the seventy came and spoke to our mission. It was awesome! He came and spoke to
the MLC like 3 months ago and that was awesome too. He's the one that gave the
stay by the tree talk in general conference. He talked about how on average, it
takes someone 7 encounters with the church or missionaries before they accept
it. He said that we get lucky when we find a 7, but he said the best missionaries
find joy in turning a 1 to a 2. That helped me out a lot because we are finding
lots of 1s.
Yozelyn, a member in Phoenix who
leaves on her mission next week, drove to Mesa almost every day this week to
come out with us. So we were basically in a trio for most of the week, so that
was fun.
On Friday, we went to the Mesa
visitors center with Pablo and he really like it. He also came to church on
Sunday, even though it was his 15th birthday. He's super cool.
Also on Friday we had a super
good lesson with our investigators Eladio y Joel. It finally clicked for them
that the Book of Mormon isn't a story about Joseph Smith. For some reason
everyone thinks that. We already had a member at the lesson with us and half
way through, another member walked up and said he saw us when he drove by and
he wanted to come to the lesson too. His testimony helped them out a lot.
Thanks for all the pictures from
Japan. Looks like you had fun.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Friday, November 11, 2016
11/7/16 letter
Hola,
This week was good. I worked
harder than I ever have and talked with literally everyone, but there weren't a
whole lot of fruits that came from it. A lot of rejections and no one came to
church or is progressing very much, but oh well. I promised God on Wednesday
that I would get rid of all minor disobedience i.e. starting studies at 8:01,
lack of journal writing, etc. and asked him to make miracles happen. And on
Thursday, we found a cool new guy named Jose! He has had a rough life and is
desperate need of the gospel. He has a lot of interest in learning more so I
was pretty excited about that.
The weather is finally starting
to cool down now that it's November. It's been in the 80's all week and should
stay that way for a couple more weeks. So that's been really nice.
This week had día de los
muertos, a Mexican holiday where they remember their dead family members and
build altar for them. We saw one that said "familia hasta la muerte" which
means family until death. The family wasn't interested, so we weren't even able
to share with them that families are eternal.
On Friday, we went to the Mesa
temple visitors center with our investigators Eladio and Joel and that was
fun.
Not really a whole lot of news
this week, sorry. This is kinda a tough area. People aren't super open.
But I'll keep working hard.
Have a good rest of your time in
Japan.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
10/31/16 letter
Hola,
Today I'm writing to you
from...Mesa, Arizona. Transfers were on Wednesday. President Christensen called
on Monday night and told Sister Bound and I that we would both be leaving
Phoenix and he released me as an STL. Hermana Lambert took my spot in Phoenix,
so I'm happy. She'll do a good job there. I'm companions with Hermana Irizarry
again. She came to Mesa 3 weeks ago and now I came and joined her. So this is
our 3rd transfer together.
On Tuesday, we went to the
temple with Ivan, Mari (baptized in June) (brought family names), Arcadio
(baptized a year ago)(brought family names), Miguel (baptized 10 months ago),
la family Muñoz (converts of 2 years), Hermano Delgado, and Hermano Hernandez.
The spirit was so strong! It was cool to see Ivan in the temple and think "wow!
3 months ago he was drinking and smoking and being mean to his
family."
On Thursday, I was literally
dying! I had a fever, headache, congestion, sneezing, etc. but the fever only
lasted a day so I was able to go out all day Friday. I was pretty sick on
Wednesday, but Thursday morning, I woke up and could barely talk with how bad
my throat was. I slept literally all day Thursday, so it turned into about 32
hours strait of sleep. Fun stuff!
Our area's a little slow, but
we'll speed things up real fast. Our Bishop gave us a list of 40 less actives
to contact and see if they live there or not and we got that done in 2 days, so
hopefully we can have more time for investigators now. Our ward, Liahona
5, covers our entire stake, so that's my area.
I'm going to explain an example
of one of the sacrifices I make in order to teach people. On Friday, after
dinner, we went to teach a recent convert, Lilia, and her nonmember husband.
They forgot about the lesson and were on their way out to eat tacos when we showed
up with our member. They wanted to reschedule the lesson for another day, but
they invited us to go with them for the tacos. I was stuffed from dinner, but went
anyway so that we could teach them. The tacos were great de barbacoa y asada
and so was the lesson. My stomach afterward, not so much.
Today for pday, I got a hair
trim and went to DI and got some cool stuff. I live in an apartment with Sister
Berezay and Erbaugh who were in my sistrict in Yuma so that super fun.
Have fun in Japan.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Monday, October 24, 2016
10/24/16 letter
Hola
This week was pretty good. We
had pretty good luck and ended up with 26 member present lessons.
Unfortunately, very few of those were with our most progressing people. But we
found some cool new people, so that's good. 9 new investigators. We have a lot
of people in our area that are close to baptism, but have big things impeding
them like marriage or word of wisdom or doubts, so we don't have anyone on date
for baptism right now, but hopefully that changes soon.
At church, our investigator,
Emilio, came for the first time and loved it. Gospel principles was about
eternal marriage and he is super excited to be married in the temple someday.
He said "I need to find a wife that can go to the temple with
me."
On Monday, we did an awesome
family home evening at the house of la familia Muñoz. Our investigators Manuel
(came to church too), Maribel, and this guy Nico that we met and invited
literally 5 minutes before it started came as well as Ivan. After the noche de
hogar, we asked Nico if he'd be interested in learning more and he was like "actually
yea."
We found these cool new people,
Alejandro and Cynthia. We street contacted a guy named Jorge while he was
working on his car and he invited us back for Sunday afternoon. When we came
back, he wasn't there, but we met the family that he's living with, which is
Alejandro and Cynthia. We had an awesome lesson with them about the restoration
and it turns out that Alejandro had a Mormon friend in Mexico that taught him a
lot about our church. He had so many questions about the Book of Mormon and
Moroni and the golden plates. Without us even inviting him, he was like "yeah
I'll see you at church on Sunday." They live right by the church.
And our investigator, Alfredo,
who was supposed to get baptized on Saturday but didn't come to church or read
in the Book of Mormon, read in the Book of Mormon this week and said he felt
really good when he did and then he said he had a really good day because of
it.
Have a great week!
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
10/17/16 letter
Hola,
This week was really busy and a little bit stressful. On
Saturday, we went to the Mesa Visitors Center with Manuel and all the sisters
that serve in the visitors center were busy with other groups, so I got to be
the tour guide for our group and one other group that come in from Sonora,
Mexico, so that was fun.
On Sunday, Ivan got the Aaronic priesthood and he should
be getting his temple recommend this week. He also spoke at the New Convert
Devotional in Tempe. He was an hour late and came literally one minute before
he went up to the pulpit. I went up there and translated for him and he did
great even though he was super nervous. He just shared his testimony and
conversion story. It was cool, he said "I know this church is true"
with a lot of power and boldness.
Ivan is scared because his kids don't really want to come
to church right now, but during our lesson on Friday, he said "I'll just
have to read the scriptures and pray with them and that will help."
On Tuesday, we had a surprise MLC, so I went to Tempe
with the zone leaders and we received a training about helping our
investigators through every step in conversion. We started out with a scavenger
hunt that turned into an object lesson and my team won!
On Wednesday, we went through the baptismal interview
questions with our investigator, Shantal, to see where she was at, and she got
them all perfectly right. Unfortunately, her husband is super active in another
church and won't let her come.
On Saturday, we went out for raspados (Mexican snow cones
with fruit, ice cream, and sweetened condensed milk) with two ward members and
then went one splits and that was really fun.
I have lots of pictures to send, so I'll write more in
the descriptions of the pictures.
Hope you have a great week. Not the best church
attendance this week as far as investigators go, but hopefully this week is
better.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Monday, October 10, 2016
10/10/16 letter
Hola,
This week was an interesting one to say the least. Ivan
got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday and was so happy! In the
water, he had the biggest smile on his face ever. I played guitar for the
special musical number, gave a talk, lead the music, and gave a presentation
while he was changing, so it was a little stressful, but everything worked out
perfectly. And he got a phone call that night that he got a stable, good paying
job, so he was immediately able to see the blessings of following the example
of Jesus Christ.
On Thursday, we had zone conference in Mesa and at lunch,
President Christensen pulled me aside. He told me I'm the toughest sister in
the mission and that he needed my help. He told me that on Friday morning, I
will become companions with Sister Bound and that Hermana Irizarry will be sent
to Mesa. She's an English speaking sister, but president said that right now
I'm the only one that can be her companion, so he switched her to my Spanish
area. She's been out for almost 3 months, so I will finish her 2nd half
training as well as teach her Spanish.
She's never had a Spanish class in her life and doesn't
understand it at all, so it's been interesting. I'm currently doing the work of
two missionaries in that I teach the lessons, put in the lesson reports, make
all phone calls, send all messages, etc. because all those things require
Spanish, but it's all turned out really well. I think this whole change has
helped her a lot. We're getting along really well and having lots of fun together.
She's from Chicago by the way. Hermana Irizarry was really sad to leave though.
On Saturday, Gladys Knight came to Arizona to do a
concert and missionaries in our mission could go if they brought an
investigator.
It's a good missionary tool in that she talks all about
her conversion to the church. I didn't go because we couldn't find any
Hispanics in our area that knew who she was, but President let Sister Bound go
because she had plans to go in her last area. So I just did splits for the day
with a couple of members and got everything ready for the baptism.
On Sunday, it was the primary program. If you think those
things are cute and funny in English, you should watch one in Spanish. It was
awesome! So mom, if you want good ideas for the upcoming one in our ward, talk
to the Spanish ward.
Our investigator, Manuel came to church for the first
time and loved it. We found him a couple weeks ago and he's a lot like Ivan. We
found him while he was drinking, but he's completely stopped and ready to
change his life. He doesn't have a baptismal date yet, but I think he'll accept
one soon. He said he doesn't ever want to fall again and so he wants to build
his foundation on Christ enough before his baptism so that he's ready to endure
to the end.
On Monday, we did a family home evening at the church
with a bunch of ward members. It was really fun. And Wednesday, I did exchanges
with Hermana Madriz, from Venezuela. It was way fun! Afterward, she told me I'm
her dream companion and that she hopes she can be my companion before I leave.
Oh and also on Saturday, this cool kid Renee got
baptized. His grandma, Maria Ortiz, got baptized with me when I was in Aguila
ward.
I got to go to the baptism and teach the restoration
while he was changing. I told everyone that when I was teaching Maria (who
didn't have any family support) I told her that her good example would
influence the rest of her family. And now her grandson is baptized. So that was
really cool.
Have a great week.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
10/3/16 letter
Hola,
This week was great! It was one of those weeks where
everyone answered the door and we had 24 member present lessons. Ivan came to
the Sunday morning session of general conference and really liked it. All the
Spanish wards in the stake were watching it at our building, and afterwards, we
all ate pozole. It was fun to see a lot of the ward members from Aguila, where
I used to serve.
After eating pozole, we had a lesson with Ivan and he
accepted to be baptized this Saturday! When we invited him, he was like well
yeah, we've already waited an extra month. Everything is worked out with his
living situation. The mom of his kids, with whom he was living took the kids
and left on Monday. She's now living in northern Phoenix and Ivan will have the
kids on weekends, meaning he can take them to church now and he no longer has
any complications with the law of chastity. He's super excited to get baptized.
We also put Ailin (20) and Alfredo (13) on date this
week. Their mom is an eternigator (eternal investigator), but Ailin and Alfredo
have always been around for the lessons and they really like church. Their mom
said they don't have to wait for her to get baptized. So hopefully if they continue
coming to church these next few weeks and read and pray everyday, they'll be
ready for baptism and more importantly, enduring to the end. We made a
baptismal calendar to help them, which is basically a prayer, reading, and
church attendance chart with doctrines still to be taught that help them see
that they're ready for baptism.
I LOVED general conference! I loved how President
Uchtdorf said that if we were truly grateful for the restored gospel in our
lives, we would never tire of going to church or reading the scriptures. I also
loved Elder Stevenson's talk about making the Book of Mormon the keystone of
our testimony. [You can watch/listen to General Conference at www.lds.org] Our investigator, Shantal came to
the Saturday morning session and really liked it too. She knows everything is
true, but her husband won't let her come to church on Sundays or be baptized,
but she could at least come on Saturday.
A cool technology miracle that happened this week was
that we were able to have a lesson with Ana over FaceTime. Ana was in our area
about 3 months ago and was progressing really well and going to church, but she
moved out of our area and into a house with a family that won't let
missionaries come by. But we are still able to teach her through technology.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
9/26/16 letter
Hola,
This week was pretty good. There's a small chance that
Ivan might go to Salt Lake for conference this weekend and also a small chance
that he might go to jail...He's having some issues as far as immigration goes.
So please pray for him. But if you have any extra conference tickets and could
send them this way before Thursday, that would be great. His friends at church
are planning on maybe going and they invited him, all they need are tickets.
It's so cool how good of friends he has made at church.
The general women's conference was awesome! I loved it.
None of our investigators were able to come, which was sad. And dumb stuff
happened that none of them were able to come to church either, but that's ok.
Hopefully they can all come to general conference next weekend.
On Wednesday, we had MLC (missionary leadership council)
and I got to see Hermana Lambert for the first time since we were companions 5
months ago, so that was really fun. Last transfer, our mission had a big focus
on finding and this transfer we got trained on teaching skills. On Friday, the
zone leaders and I gave a training to the zone about what we learned at MLC.
Yesterday, the member that was supposed to come out with
us forgot what time we were meeting, so we went to his house and had to
distract his giant pitbull while we knocked on the door. He came to two lessons
with us and he said we should get a medal for persistence and that if he hadn't
gotten baptized years ago, he would've gotten baptized with us.
Our investigator, Ailin, and her brother, Alfredo, are
doing really well. They've both been praying about being baptized in October 15
and they said every time they pray, they feel calm about it.
Sorry this is so short. The Internet was being crazy
today and I'm currently trying to find someone who can take Ivan to court
tomorrow.
Have a great week.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
9/19/16 letter
Hola,
This week was great! We had 21 member present lessons and
a whole lot of fun. Our ward did a 2 day party to celebrate the 16th of
September (like 4th of July but for Mexico) and a lot of our investigators
came!
Friday night was a dance and dinner and Saturday was a
Kermés (fundraiser where they sold food (free for missionaries)) and a bunch of
folkloric dances from Mexico and Guatemala. They had carne asada tacos,
tostadas, elote, mole, arroz con leche, agua de horchata y jamaica, and a lot
more. It was awesome. Ivan came both days and his kids loved it. Also, our
investigators Armida, Joseph, Angelo, Valeria, and a few more came.
On Monday, we did a family home evening at the church
building and invited investigators and lots of families from the ward. We
taught about the Book of Mormon, then ate food and played fútbol (soccer). It
was way fun and Ivan had tons of fun. Also, this new couple named Araceli and
Alvaro came, but they didn't play soccer.
And on Sunday night, it was the new convert devotional in
Mesa and I did the translation again. So lots of fun stuff this week.
Ivan's doing great. We had a lesson with him after the
fiesta on Saturday and he is awesome. He's already part of the ward basically
and is friends with so many of the hermanos. He goes and plays soccer with them
all the time. Just a few more weeks until he saves up enough money for a new
apartment and he'll get baptized.
Armida came to church on Sunday for the first time and
loved it. We had a lesson after church and taught her the plan of salvation. (I'll
attach pictures) She's still going strong in her Book of Mormon reading in
Alma.
Transfers were this week, so I'll be in Phoenix with Hna
Irizarry for another 6 weeks at least.
I took a lot of pictures this week. I'll write more in
explanation of my pictures.
Have a good week.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Monday, September 12, 2016
9/12/16 letter
Hola,
This week was so good! Last week, I wrote about the
potential people we were going to teach. This week we taught them and put them
on date!
On Thursday, we taught Cynthia the plan of salvation. She
said that after our first lesson on Sunday, she prayed and asked God if this
was the path he wanted her to take and she said she felt a sensation she had
never felt before and that she knew it was true. She accepted to be baptized
October 1! Up to that point, the day had been horrible. I had been throwing up
and had a high fever and no one was answering their door, but I know the lord
blessed me for still working hard.
Then on Saturday, we met Armida. On the phone, she told
us she had read some of the Book of Mormon. When we met with her, she showed us
her book and she's on Alma chapter 8! She said there were a couple parts she
didn't understand perfectly, so she started it over, otherwise she would be
even further. She went to the Mesa visitors center a week ago with a member
friend and that's where she got the Book of Mormon. She said she feels so good
in this church and wants to stay here. We asked her if she had any questions
before we started the lesson, and the first thing she said was "how do you
do baptisms here?" How soon can I get baptized?" We did the lesson in
the church and right after there was a baptismal service and she stayed to
watch that and she cried during the closing song. She's on date for October 8.
The baptismal service was actually for the Acevedo family
that I taught when I was serving in Aguila ward. It was such a good baptism.
The mom, Liliana, got baptized about 6 months ago and her
husband and kids were finally ready. Hermana Andelin came from Utah for the
baptism so it was fun to see her.
Saturday was a great day. Later that evening, we went to
the temple visitors center in Mesa with Ivan and his kids, Hna Castro and her
kids (her nonmember husband was going to come, but was working late), Hna
Rondon and her kids, and Hno Dominguez. It was crazy, but they all really liked
it.
Thursday night, I didn't sleep at all and on Friday
morning, I had a fever of 101.4. I went to a members house and she made me some
chicken soup and mint tea and I took a nap and I was all better by 1:00. Then I
headed to Tempe for the trainer and trainee meeting and then we taught lessons
the rest of the night.
Have a great week! Too sad about BYU :( we'll beat Utah
next time.
Keep praying for Ivan to get an apartment.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
9/5/16 letter
Hola,
This week was kind of up and down. A few people we'd been
teaching for a while told us they didn't want us to come by anymore. But on the
bright side, we got a call this morning from a lady named Armida who went to
the Mesa visitors center last week and found a church in North Phoenix on
Sunday and went. She said she wants to come to church and start meeting with
us! We have an appointment for tomorrow. Also, we met the daughter of a less
active member named Cynthia. She's 13 and just came from Mexico and she's super
interested. We taught her the restoration and she said she's always wanted to
know why there are so many churches and which one is true. She said she was
going to start attending lots of different churches and find which one she felt
the best at. After the lesson she texted us and told us "Y la verdad si
estoy interesada en esto y me siento alegre de que me vengan a dar la palabra
de dios. Estoy muy interesada en esto :)" which translates to "to be
honest, I'm interested in this and I'm happy that you came to bring me the word
of God. I'm very interested in this." We're really excited.
Ivan is still strong as ever in his testimony of the
gospel, but we'll probably have to move his baptism back a week. He's currently
living in the same apartment as the mom of his kids and he was going to move
out on Thursday because they've been facing some major problems for a long time
and he wanted to be obedient to the law of chastity. But he hasn't had work for
2 weeks and didn't get the money in time for the new apartment. He should be
getting a new job on Tuesday and hopefully that works out and he'll get the
money to move. As soon as he moves, he'll be baptized. He also got really sick
this week. He had to get up and go lay on the couch during sacrament meeting.
He's doing great at making friends in the ward; he went and played soccer with
a bunch of the Hermanos this week and he also took his kids to the activities
on Tuesday to learn the dances for and upcoming church activity.
We also had this really cool lesson with our
investigator, Silvia. She was going to get baptized a long time ago, but never
did because she wasn't married to the guy she's lived with for 14 years. She
said a thought came to her mind during the opening prayer that she needs to
tell him that she wants to get married so she can get baptized.
On Friday, I got to meet Gladys Knight's daughter. We had
a meeting with all the missionaries in the valley because Gladys Knight is
coming to do a free concert that is geared toward introducing people to the
gospel. On Saturday, I did exchanges with Hermana Standring and am finally done
with exchanges for the transfer!
Have a great week and keep praying for Ivan.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
8/29/16 letter
Hola
This week was great! We had 21 member present lessons.
Ivan's so excited to get baptized. Every lesson, he just thanks us over and
over for bringing this gospel into his life. He's totally going to endure to
the end. The member at one of our lessons who was baptized 18 years ago shared
his conversion story and Ivan was like "and after 18 years how is
it?" totally thinking about his life 18 years from now with this gospel
now a part of it. He said he wants his 9 year old daughter to serve a mission!
He's excited to get the priesthood. He said he's completely stopped drinking
and smoking and that he doesn't get mad at his kids anymore. He said sometimes
he is about to relapse into those things and then he thinks of the things we've
taught him about putting up a shield of faith between him and the darts of the
adversary and he stops himself. He loved church on Sunday. If you could pray
for him that he will be able to get a new apartment, that would be great.
This week, I went out of the mission 4 days in a row.
(With permission, don't worry) On Thursday, our zone got to go to the Phoenix
temple which was so beautiful. I'll send pictures. Friday, we took our car into
pep boys which used to be in our zone, but with the new boundaries is not. We
had 2 tires with nails and 1 with glass.
Saturday, we went to a baptism at our stake center which
oddly enough is not in our mission anymore. And Sunday, the zone leaders,
Hermana Irizarry, and I went to Tempe for a special MLC (the freeway takes us
out of the mission) where Elder Pearson of the seventy came and spoke.
It was awesome! He talked about not only having the faith
to serve a mission, but rather to have the faith to succeed.
A lame thing that happened this week is that Margarito,
who got baptized last month, decided he doesn't want to come to church anymore.
His wife was really mad at him and gave him a bunch of anti-Mormon material.
He doesn't want to come to church because it will make her really mad. So
that's dumb, but we're going to have our bishop talk to him.
We also finally found our investigator, Porfilio. He's
been working in Kansas for 2 months and he's finally back. While we were
teaching him, he invited his neighbor and his friend to listen during the
lesson.
Have a great week. Sounds like fun in Salt Lake.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Monday, August 22, 2016
8/22/16 letter
Hola,
This week was good. On Monday night, we did a family home
evening at our ward mission leader's house and Ivan came with his kids. We did a
fun obstacle course blindfold type thing to explain the doctrine of Christ
leading you to eternal life and then played games and ate tostadas. Ivan loved
it and after we bore our testimonies at the end of the lesson, we asked if
anyone had any comments. He raised his hand and announced to everyone that he
was getting baptized!
On Wednesday, we had zone meeting where the zone leaders
and I gave a hour and half training on finding people to teach. I'll attach a
picture. I did exchanges on Thursday with Hermana Luthy in Mesa Zone and on
Saturday with Hermana Haueter from Phoenix zone. And on Tuesday, we had
interviews with the mission president. On Wednesday our bishop came out with us and we had some
awesome lessons with Angelo and Valeria and our investigator, Jesus. Jesus was
about to get baptized 2 years ago, but got super offended, but now is super
interested again and the lesson with Obispo was super good for him.
On Sunday night, we had the new convert devotional in
Tempe where recent converts share their conversion story. My convert Araceli,
who was baptized with her family in Maricopa, was supposed to speak, but had to
cancel last second because of work. I was sad that I didn't get to see her, but
Hermana Irizarry and I did the Spanish translation and it actually didn't turn
out too bad.
Probably the biggest thing that happened this week was a
special stake conference on Sunday. Elder Echohawk and Greer of the 70 came and
they made a new stake. From 3 stakes, they made 4 because of the hastening of
the work. I was in the Phoenix Arizona Stake, but now, I'm in the Phoenix South
Mountain Stake and the Phoenix stake is in the Phoenix mission. I'm still in
the same ward, but they took a tiny part of our area and gave it to the Elders
including Angelo and Valeria which we're super sad about. But like half of our
zone got put in the Phoenix mission and the missionaries in those areas got
sent to other parts of the Tempe mission. So lots of crazy stuff and changes.
Have a great week. Sounds like fun in St. George.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
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