JUL_17_17_MOM_LEW_From Mom

 Hey Mother!!

Wow. I feel like I've been hit by a TRUCK. And I thought I had a strenuous week. I don't even really know what to say to half of the stuff that you told me. But I'll try to address as much of it as I can with my honest reactions and opinions. 

First off... I couldn't quite believe it when I read that Mamamama had passed away. I got that email in the morning on Saturday and wasn't quite sure how to react. I tried to stay as calm and collected as possible, and actually had a pretty successful day. Eventually, during companionship study, I told my companion and just started crying. I don't even really know what I was crying about. More than anything, I was sad for Dad. I can't even imagine what that must feel like. But since being on a mission, I have a MUCH stronger testimony of the Plan of Salvation than I EVER have. So that's really helped. I know that I'll be able to see Mamamama again. I love her so much and am grateful for everything that she did for me when I was younger. I figure if I just lose myself in the work, it will allow the mourning period to be much easier. So that's what I intend to do.

Now to the other item of ward business. You're totally right. Anything with the word "leukemia" really does sound bad. I don't really know how to respond, except that it doesn't sound TOO bad. At least, that's the way you made it sound. I hope you weren't sugar coating it for me. And this whole diabetes thing?? Are you kidding me?? Goodness, when it rains, it pours, am I right?? Thanks for telling me about it. I really wouldn't have liked being kept in the dark. All I can say is that you need to be REALLY careful for me, okay?? Please just do everything that the doctor tells you to do. I'm glad that you seem to have a really positive attitude about all of this. Like I said in the above paragraph, I'm going to just try to forget myself and go to work. I love you Mom. Keep me updated.

I can't believe Braden is almost gonna be in the mission field!! I wish I could see him with his short hair. I know how much he hates cutting his hair short. We're very similar in that aspect. He'd better be ready to work HARD.

HAVE FUN IN UTAH FOR ME!! I hope it's utterly MAGICAL. Be sure to take lots of pictures and send them to me!! Be careful on the road.

Good news!! Without getting into any of the details (because it's boring and I want to save time), I now have Wi-Fi on my tablet almost everywhere I go, due to xfinity!! We'll see how long it lasts. Just thought I would let  y'all know.

I'm glad you liked the video of me TOTALLY eating the dirt. I've been doing TERRIBLE at taking pictures of my adventures. It's something I need to work on. I literally took like one this last week. 

Okay. I had a few things I wanted to tell you about my week. We'll see how much of it I get to. First off, Elder Marcum and I went to a member's house to eat dinner. Well, they live really far away, down long winding roads. The member that was driving us back to our apartment is NOT the best driver. So yeah. We were both freaking out because of his jerky movements and stuff with the car. Problem is, we both had to pee SO BAD. At the time, it was terrible, but now, looking back, it was really funny. When we finally got to our apartment, we both booked it up the stairs and burst through the door. Elder Marcum, being the courteous person that he is, let me go first. It was like the most amazing feeling EVER. When I finally got out, Elder Marcus belt was off, his pants were unzipped. He was ready to GO. It was pretty great. Sometimes I think he's a robot, so it's nice to see this little piece of humanity peeking through.

We received a REALLY great referral from a member this week. Her name is Carolina, and she's from Angola. Her English is FANTASTIC, though. Anyways, we committed her to be baptized on August 19th, which is awesome. She was at church yesterday, and seemed to be really relaxed and everything. She was taking notes during Gospel Principles class, and was looking at the different qualifications for Personal Progress. Like, who is this girl?? She's what we'd call a GOLDEN investigator. We're meeting with her tomorrow, so hopefully things continue to go this good.

We've also made a breakthrough with the wife of a recent convert, Valerie. Her husband, Michael, was baptized a few months ago, and he's AWESOME. He goes out to serve with us at a local food bank every week. Anyways, his wife has never really been that receptive to the gospel, but recently, she's been making great strides, and actually participated in the lesson that we had with Michael on Saturday. Better yet, she was at church yesterday!! And she wants to make us authentic Haitian food sometime this is week. So yeah. Things are looking up. 

We helped a potential investigator move some things out of his apartment this week. His name is Michael too. His apartment was completely destroyed by fire on the fourth of July. It's really crazy being in there. Everything is covered in ash, the walls are totally black. I don't know how much he wants to know about the church, but it's nice to help him. Him and his family even gave us a whole Little Caesars pizza for our troubles. Elder Marcum can't eat dairy, so it's totally mine. I had to put it in a garbage bag and strap it too my back so that I could carry it on my bike. I looked like a ghetto pizza guy. It was pretty funny. I wish I had taken a picture.

Mom. I hope you know that I love you and think about you every single day. I'll be praying extra hard for you this week. Please keep me updated if there are any developments I should know about . Thanks for everything that you do for me. I REALLY appreciate the sacrifices you're making so that I can be here.

Elder Gonzales

 

On Jul 17, 2017 3:31 AM, <perucalica@aol.com> wrote:

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Dear Buddy Boy,

Well, it’s almost midnight and I’m just now getting your letter written.  I know, that’s crazy!  I was going to do it earlier today but decided to wait until later and then I got busy talking to your siblings on the phone and so here I am at the computer now.  I will warn you that the first part of the letter is kind of a Debby Downer.  Just get through it and I’ll try to end on a happy note.

I believe that John informed you in one of his letters that he wrote earlier this week that Mamamama passed away on Friday morning.  About a week or so ago, we got the news that she had started bleeding and so was in the hospital.  The bleeding caused an infection to invade her body and it was pretty much downhill from there.  This last week has been a barrage of phone calls as Dad, Lucy and Wiwa were trying to keep tabs on her.  On Thursday, Javier called and basically said that the doctor told him that she suspected that it would just be a few more hours before she passed away and so he started to call the family to tell them all to come and say their goodbyes.  Dad and Lucy at that point made their arrangements to go but they weren’t able to get a flight out until early Friday morning.  Apparently, she passed away about 2 am Friday morning which would have been  before Lucy and Dad even left but nobody called to tell us that so Lucy and Dad were hopeful that they would arrive in time to say their goodbyes.  They didn’t find out until after they had landed in Lima that she had already passed away.  The funeral was held yesterday and fortunately they made it in time for that.  I noticed that there were a few pictures posted on Facebook of the funeral.  I talked to Dad about it a little bit tonight and he said that it was a nice funeral, patterned after a Mormon funeral even though it was held at home rather than in a Church.  He said there was a large crowd that attended.  Dad will be in Peru until August 3.  I know there are some decisions that have to be made before he and Lucy come home.

As for other news, I was told a couple of weeks ago that they suspect that I have what is called Chronic Leukemia.  I know that sounds scary but fortunately on the spectrum of Leukemia this is a pretty mild form of it.  When I talked to the doctor he told me that there is nothing that they really do to treat it.  I guess that they will just monitor it for the next little while.  I don’t know all the ins and outs of the disease as it hasn’t been officially confirmed yet.  I had to have some blood work done and I should get the results on July 31 when I go in to talk to the doctor again but in his words he said “this is nothing to freak out about” and so I guess that I will just have to take his word for it.  Quite ironically, Brother Rail posted on Facebook this week that he was just diagnosed with the same thing.  He said that his Dr. explained that this disease can compromise your immune system and so I guess that’s the worst part.

Also, my other doctor told me that I am diabetic this week as well and so that was kind of a double whammy.  Fortunately, I think that my diabetes can be controlled with diet and oral medication rather than taking the insulin shots.  So, I guess you could say that I have my work cut out for me.

How am I handling all of this lovely news, you ask?  I guess my attitude is this.  I can either sit down and feel sorry for myself and cry about it or I can just pull myself up by my boot straps and move on with life.  I debated about telling you about any of this because I don’t want you to worry.  So, take my advice, don’t worry!

I think that John has also shared with you the news that Roger Federer won Wimbledon this year.  I did not see any of the finals today but I did watch bits and pieces of the semifinals.  He seemed to be playing well and was his typical self so you can be happy about that.  As for BYU sports news, I haven’t heard anything really for the last little while because I haven’t watched BYU Sports Nation.  I think that we’re only 5 weeks away from the first football game, however, so it is getting close.

I saw Braden at church today and noticed that he has a missionary haircut.  He looks so different when his hair is not long and curly.  Now he can count on two hands the number of days he has left before he goes into the MTC.  His mom mentioned that they are going to drive him up to Provo, drop him off and then high tail it back to Fontana so they can start packing.

This week is the week that we are going to Utah for vacation.  I am looking forward to being able to see your siblings.  I know that Dad is kind of bummed that he will not be here.  John leaves tomorrow morning but I have training for work for the next 3 days and so I cannot leave until Thursday.  I’ve decided that I will fly to Salt Lake on Thursday morning rather than driving like we had originally planned.  Since Dad is in Peru, I would have to drive it alone and then both John and I would both have our cars there and would have to drive 2 cars home instead of one.  Since I am flying, it should be safer and then I can just ride home with John.  We may stop for a couple of days in Hurricane on the way home.  I have to go back to work on August 1 so my vacation is soon coming to a close.  We’ll miss you at our little get together.

Well, that’s about all I can think of to tell you.  I think that that’s enough for now.  Sorry that this letter is so loaded but that’s just the way it has worked out.  Again, don’t worry about me.  I know that I will be fine.

I loved your little video about you  getting thrown off the merry-go-round.  That was pretty funny. I’m just glad that you didn’t ruin your shirt or your pants in the process.

Well Buddy Boy, I’ll just close by telling you that I love you sooooooooo much and I’m proud of you and what you’re doing.  I’d better hit the hay.  I have to get up early tomorrow.  Be good and do good.

Love,

Mom