Tuesday, March 29, 2016
3/28/16 letter
Hola,
I hope you all had a good Easter. The pictures you sent
of Cora and Dodge in their Easter outfits were cute. This week was really good
leading up to Easter. I got to teach a lot of people the real reason why we
celebrate Easter. You would be surprised how many people don't know that we
celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Of all the people I talked with this
week, only one (and she was a church member) could give a correct answer as to
why we celebrate Easter. I received countless answers from children and adults
along the lines of "to find eggs and eat candy" and "because
Jesus had a lot of chickens." Receiving answers like that makes me want to
be sure that I raise my future children in the Gospel.
On the Mesa temple grounds every year, there's a huge Easter
pageant with a cast of over 400 and a stage that is 8000 square feet. All the
missionaries, except the ones in Yuma (because it's too far away), got
permission to go if they had investigators with them. I was pretty bummed about
that, but we still wanted our investigators and recent converts to go, so with
our branch mission leader, we set up a group trip for Friday. Somehow, we got
permission from President Toone to go with them even though we would be getting
back at 1:30 in the morning.
We are keeping it a secret from the other missionaries in
our zone because they would be pretty jealous that we got to go.
Church on Sunday was really cool. It was testimony
meeting and the members of the branch here literally line up on the stand for a
chance to bear their testimonies. There's no awkward pauses like in most
English wards I've been to. Stevie wore a white shirt and slacks to church,
which was a miracle because I've never seen him in anything beside basketball
shorts and a t-shirt.
Also, on Saturday, the Mireles family was signed up on
our dinner calendar. Hermano Mireles works for the City of Yuma and Saturday
night was the city picnic and that's where they invited us to go for dinner. It
was awesome! With an entry ticket (provided by Hermano
Mireles) everything was free. There was carne asada
plates, a kettle corn booth, a dip n dots stand, etc. They had fire trucks and
police cars to climb through and lots of other fun things. It reminded me of
lots of City of Visalia events I've been to over the years.
Easter week has been awesome to make opportunities to
share the gospel. I can't wait for general conference next week and that we get
to listen to our living prophet speak. (Saturday and Sunday 9-11 and 1-3 on
lds.org for anyone who wants to watch) Love, Hermana Gubler
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
3/21/16 letter
Hola,
This week, there's not too much to write about that was
out of the ordinary. Just normal missionary work all week and lots of it.
Hermana Lambert and I taught 29 lessons this week!
This weekend was stake conference and President and
Sister Toone drove down here for that. An Area Seventy [church leader over
large area] came as well. It was a really cool stake conference that focused on
sabbath day observance. During the Saturday night session, Hermana Lambert and
I were sitting in the Spanish translation room with our investigators when the
Area Seventy asked all the missionaries to come to the front. Because the
Spanish translation was a little behind and we had to walk all the way to the
chapel, we didn't hear what the question was that the Seventy was asking the
missionaries. When we got to the front,
the church leader handed me the microphone expecting me to answer his question
and said "Sister Gubler, what do you think?" I had literally no idea
what to say since I didn't know the question, so I made up an answer hoping
that I semi-sounded intelligible. I still don't know what the question he
wanted me to answer was, but after the conference, a lot of people approached
me and told me that my answer was really good and that they learned a lot from
my remarks.
On Monday night, we did a big FHE at a park and invited
lots of members and their friends, less actives [those who don't attend church
often], and investigators. It was really fun and lots of people came to enjoy
food, games and a lesson. It was a really good opportunity to find new people
to teach. The branch president's mom brought one of her good friends, Manuel,
(who grew up in Woodlake) and he liked it. On Sunday, we did a missionary
fireside and he came! Afterward, we took him and the branch president's mom
around the church building to show him and explain all the different pictures
of Christ. We have a return appointment next week, so that was really cool.
On Thursday, Hermana Allred, who came on her mission the
same time as me, and I went on exchanges. Hermana Allred and I have gone on
exchanges every transfer except one because we have always been in the same
zone/district/apartment in Casa Grande and here in Yuma. We always have lots of
fun on exchanges because we have served around each other pretty much our
entire missions.
Anyway, I hope you have a good week. Next week is
transfers, so if you are planning to send me something, maybe hold off a bit in
case I get a new address. I really hope I don't get transferred because I love
it here and there's still a lot of missionary work to be done.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
1) the cute granddaughters of one of our investigators.
2) Book of Mormon class this week, not a super great
picture, but it's all I have.
Saturday, March 19, 2016
3/14/16 letter
Hola
from Yuma
This
week was pretty slow in regards to missionary work. Not a lot of
people
were home and could meet with us. On Saturday, our branch did a
trip
to the San Diego
hours
away) so we helped a lot of people do family history this week
so
they could take family names to the temple. Irma, who got baptized
a
week ago, was able to go to the temple to do baptisms and she loved
it.
We also helped a lady in our branch, who was baptized a year and a
half
ago, find names to go to the temple for her first time there. She
loved
it as well. Also, we helped Isabel, who was baptized in
September
and this was her 2nd time going to the temple, find 7 more
family
names to take.
On
Saturday morning, during studies, one of our investigators in the
foothills
(about 20 minute drive) called us and said she is trying to
leave
to Mexico
wanted
to know if we knew how to jump start a car. After years of
driving
the lawnmower, which always had a bad battery, I assured her
we
knew how and drove to go help her. However, there were a lot more
problems
than just the battery. He car was literally being held together
by
scotch tape and nails, so we did the best we could, but
she
finally decided it was time to buy a new car.
Stevie
is doing really well. In one of his prayers at the end of a lesson,
he
said, "thank you for helping me feel good during the lesson"
which
was awesome because he's very soft spoken! He and his twin
sister,
Heidy are planning to be baptized on the 26th.
Sorry,
not a whole lot to report on this week.
Love,
Hermana
Gubler
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
3/8/16 letter
Hola Family,
This week was really good. Irma got baptized on Saturday
and everything went really well with that. Pretty much the whole branch showed
up to support her which was awesome! They filled up the entire relief society
room and even had to set up extra chairs. Afterward, a lot of people brought
food so they all stuck around and got to know Irma better and welcome her to
the branch.
Irma was super happy and she bore her testimony after the
baptism and said she felt like a new person.
She got confirmed at church on Sunday, but sadly, Hermana
Lambert and I had to miss it because we were both throwing up all day starting
at 2:00 am Sunday morning and had fevers. Today, we're still feeling weak, but
at least we feel a lot better from yesterday. We're thinking we got it from our
branch mission leader who has been sick all week with whom we had dinner on
Saturday night.
On Wednesday, we had interviews with President and Sister
Toone which were really awesome. We do interviews every other transfer, but 2
transfers ago, we had a special training instead on interviews, and 2 transfers
before that, everyone's interviews only lasted about 2 minutes due to time
constraints, so Wednesday was my first legit interview with President Toone.
It was about 15 minutes long and was super spiritually
uplifting and awesome.
Also this week, I learned that I'm not allergic to bees.
I got stung on the back, but I didn't have any reactions or anything, so that
was good. The context behind the story is that Hermana Lambert and I decided on
pday to check out the Mexico border that is 3 miles away from our apartment. We
drove up and as soon as we got out of the car, the bee started buzzing all
around me. Being dumb, I started flailing, which just made the bee mad, so he
stung me. I guess there was probably some danger or something and the bee
attacking me was Heavenly Father tell us to get away from there.
Bob Lewis [from Visalia] sent me a letter with the
address for his non-member 1st cousin once removed who lives in Winterhaven, Ca
which is in my area.
We stopped by on Saturday and had an awesome lesson with
her and her husband. They had a lot of questions about our church and they know
a lot of members and are impressed with how they live their religion throughout
the entire week, not just on Sundays. They already have a copy of the Book of
Mormon and we challenged them to read it. She is really interested in family
history, so we have a return appointment to go to the family history center
with her for a week from Thursday.
We're hoping that will open the door to further teaching
opportunities.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
3/1/16 letter
Hola from Yuma,
This week was super fun! One of our investigators,
Denice, (whose mom
got baptized in September) decided with her boyfriend
that they were
going to make it official and get married! She just had a
baby girl 3
weeks ago and they also have a 2 year old boy. We asked
when they were
going to do it, thinking a few months from now, and they
said "on
Saturday" so that took us by surprise. They asked us
4 missionaries to
sing at it, but at the last second, the other 2 hermanas
couldn't
come, so Hermana Lambert and I were going to have to sing
alone, which
if you remember what my singing voice sounds like,
wouldn't sound so
great. Fortunately, the wedding was super informal, with
just the
branch president performing the ceremony in the Relief
Society room
and a couple of family members there. Then afterward,
they had us be
the photographers, so this weekend, I was a wedding
singer and a
wedding photographer.
On Thursday, we had a lesson scheduled with Irma, who is
getting
baptized this Saturday. We went to her house, but she
wasn't home,
which is odd because she told us the day before that she
would be
there expecting us. We called her and said said that she
was on her
way to Mexico and wouldn't be returning until Monday
evening or
Tuesday. Her phone doesn't work in Mexico, so we haven't
had contact
with her for 5 days, which has been pretty scary given
that her
baptismal interview is on Wednesday. So we've been
praying for her a
lot and if you could be praying too, that would be great.
On
Wednesday, we went to Irma's new house with the other
sisters and
helped her paint and clean up her backyard.
Heidy is doing great! She's still super excited to get
baptized on the
19th. We taught her the Word of Wisdom this week, and
she's been
keeping it since that lesson! On Saturday, the Mireles
family (Heidy's
parents) invited us to have dinner with them at their
granddaughters
3rd birthday party. I was amazed at the difference
between this 3 year
old birthday party and the party I had for my 3rd
birthday. My 3rd
birthday party included a cake after dinner and opening a
couple of
presents from the siblings and parents, which was fully
appropriate
for a 3 year old birthday party. This party on Saturday
however, had
over 30 people there, a bounce house, "Frozen"
themed decorations, a
mountain of food, a piñata almost as tall as me, and a
ginormous cake.
It wasn't like there were a bunch of 3 year olds running
around either,
but rather friends, family, and members from the branch.
It was super
fun and the Mireles family love any excuse to throw a
party...even if
it's to honor the 3rd birthday of a little girl.
Hope you all have a good week.
Love,
Hermana Gubler
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)