AUG_28_17_MOM_LEW_From your favorite mother

 GOOD MORNING.

I just realized that I usually send my email to you right around this time, like 9 or 10 in the morning. Which means you receive them at like 6 or 7 in the morning. That must be nice. Pop off your pillow, and get to read a letter from your favorite missionary son. This time difference is sorta being used to our advantage. It's nice to have a tablet, and be able to write you super early, as soon as P-day starts. And this new keyboard that I just got for my birthday is a nice luxury for sure. Anyways. I don't really know why I've been thinking about that.

You wanna know what else I was thinking about?? I HAVE A MISSIONARY PLAQUE HANGING IN THE CHURCH BUILDING. That's just a totally bizarre thought to me. And Braden has one. And Kalani has one. Like, WUT? Does mine have a picture in it already?? You should get like a super attractive picture of me to put in there. Good luck with that. There aren't many super attractive pictures of me to choose from. Maybe that one of me at the San Diego temple? The one that I have as my profile picture on all of my social media accounts?? I don't know why I'm thinking so hard about this as well.

Hmmm... So the headaches aren't completely gone. I finished the 10 days worth of antibiotics yesterday. The frequency of the headaches seems to have decreased, though, which is good. But they still occur every day, just not as often, and they don't seem to be as debilitating. But I was really hoping they'd be completely GONE by the time I was completed with the antibiotics. And they're not. So I have another doctor's appointment this Wednesday, for some additional advisement, to see if there's anything to get rid of the problem ONCE AND FOR ALL. But I have a lot of faith that I will get better, and soon. It does seem to finally be getting better, so that's good. I just received a call from Sister Bednar, and she told me to keep you updated with all this stuff. She says that it's important for a mom to know what's going on with their children's health. So here I am, keeping you updated. :)

I've continued talking to Sister Waterbury, the counselor woman for my mission. It's weird talking about ME so much, and what goes on in my mind. Because half the time, I don't even understand what's going on in my head. But I enjoy talking to her. Or rather, I enjoy having someone listen to me. And she offers very helpful hints to reduce stress. Maybe she's the reason why the headaches don't seem to be quite as frequent? I don't know. All I know is that I'm going to continue meeting with her. We do Skype calls like once a week, usually on Monday nights.

Okay, you're not going to believe this, but on August 26th, I didn't even THINK about BYU football until after 9 o'clock at night. It's just so weird. Back home, that would have been the day marked on my calendar for MONTHS. And now, it basically came and went without me even realizing. It's weird being a missionary, and not really thinking about the things that are most important to you, and being so cut off from the rest of the world. But you're gonna have to continue keeping me updated!! I didn't know the score of the game until I read your letter. 20-6. Hm. That's concerning. Was our offense not playing that well or something?? Seems like this Talon Shumway kid is gonna be good. You're gonna have to send me a picture of the BYU football schedule, because I honestly can't remember what order the games are in or anything. But I DO know that we've got LSU this next week, which is gonna be a freaking DIFFICULT challenge. If we can barely beat Portland State.... meh. I'll try not to think about it too much. Hopefully our offense will spark and we can pull this one off. That'd be a great start to the season. Although LSU is traditionally a POWERHOUSE. I know it's only been one game, but is our offense good? Does our defense seem to be performing to it's usual standard? I know, I know. Focus on my mission.

I completely agree. August just flew by. August has been great. I've been able to see 3 of my investigators be baptized. But it's also been hard, with more responsibility being added onto me. I'm excited for what September will bring, and for the training aspect of mission to be over. Most likely get a new companion at the end of the month, and lead out here in Lewisberry. I'm excited to see what I can do when I don't have Elder Marcum peering over my shoulder all the time. Don't get me wrong, I love the guy. But he's just too dang perfect and different from me. All of his strengths are perfectly tailored to missionary work. The dude was born to be a missionary, and it's kinda intimidating sometimes.

Everything is going good in the work. We've continued to teach Cheryl, and just taught her the Word of Wisdom. It was sorta awkward, when we got to her house for the lesson, she was drinking this MASSIVE bottle of green tea. But she told us that she had her last one, and that she's gonna be replacing it with things like water and apple juice. Hopefully she stays true to that!! She's such a strong woman, I know that she'll be able to quit. I just hope it's sooner rather than later. We also taught her the law of Tithing last night, and she accepted that as well. She even wants to start paying before she's baptized!! So yeah, things are looking good for her baptismal date to remain on September 16th. I'll keep y'all updated.

We're also going to start teaching Jadyn, Stephanie and Tyler's son. He's 11 years old, and is afraid of water. He's had some reservations towards being baptized in the past, but we asked him on Saturday if he wants to start receiving lessons from us, and be baptized, and he seemed excited about it. And his parents were totally supportive. So I'm excited to start teaching him. 

Oh, something pretty cool happened this last Saturday. We were spending most of the day doing some Finding in Camp Hill. Biking to Camp Hill takes about an hour or so, so we rarely go up there. In fact, this was my first time going up there on a bike. Anyways, we went to this motel/apartment to try and contact a former investigator, Katona. But when we got there, her apartment was clearly deserted, and had a MASSIVE padlock on the outside of the door. So we asked some of her neighbors, a woman and a man, if they knew if she still lived there. They said they had never heard of her. So then we told them who we were, and the woman TOLD US OFF, telling us that the Book of Mormon wasn't true, and all that jazz. It was quite humorous, actually. She told us to move on, and walked back into her apartment. We then asked the guy, her boyfriend, if there was anybody in the neighborhood we could share a message with. Obviously we weren't super optimistic about our chances. But then he said, "You can share one with me. She'll be gone in about a half hour, so come back around then." We were like "OKAY, SOUNDS GOOD. WE'LL BE BACK."

Anyways, we went back and had a really good lesson with this guy, Bill. We taught him the Restoration, and invited him to read from the Book of Mormon. He seemed REALLY interested. He told us that he can see that we're speaking with a lot of sincerity, and that we have a certain light about us . He said he wants what we have. Apparently he's been struggling with alcoholism, and wants to be free of that burden, and just be HAPPY. So we'll be back there next Saturday. I won't even mind biking all the way up there again, if it means we get to have another lesson with him. 

Well, that's most of the momentous news for this week. We never have a shortage of things to do, that's for sure. I'm grateful that my first couple of transfers have been here in Lewisberry, and that I've been blessed with such awesome investigators. Elder Marcum says I've been really lucky, and that I've had it easy. I don't know what he's talking about. It's been hard. But God knows what we can and can't handle. This is plenty for right now.

I was gonna ask, have  you sort of gotten used to my absence? Like, does it feel natural to have me gone now?? It's been almost three months. I still feel like a new missionary, and that I just left home yesterday. It's strange. Time flies when you're doing the Lord's work, I guess.

Love you mom. LIke, a bushel and a peck. And a hug around the neck. And all that jazz. 

Elder Gonzales

Why Hello My Most Favorite Missionary Son!

Here’s hoping that this letter finds you much recovered from those headaches and everything else that has gone with them.  You have been on my mind a lot (OK, constantly).  This is when I wish that I could pick up a phone and call you just so that I can keep tabs on you and know how you are doing.  I’m going to trust that the Lord has heard my (and everybody elses) prayers and has given you some relief.

Well, life is good here on the homefront.  BYU’s football season has started and so how can life be bad.  It was fun to actually sit and watch them play in a game yesterday although I must admit that it wasn’t the prettiest game that I’ve ever seen played.   Quite surprisingly, Portland came with their “A” game yesterday and gave BYU a run for its money.  Portland was playing with a freshman quarterback and he did pretty dang well.  In case you haven’t heard, BYU did win (20-6) which was a lower score than anybody associated with BYU anticipated.  It was definitely not a blowout.  I heard that it was over 90 degrees yesterday in Provo and so that  took its toll on all  the players, I’m sure. I know that it took a toll on your sister that told me that it was HOT. Now, they’re all looking forward to the LSU game but hopefully they’ll get their act together before that happens.  They’re supposed to play that game in Houston, TX but as you may have heard, they’re dealing with the affects of the hurricane that is going through there so I’ve heard rumors that they may have to change the venue. We’ll  see what happens.

Alex Song spoke in church today.  It was his “farewell”.  I kept thinking, “Why are they doing this so early?  He doesn’t go into the MTC until September 6^th”  Then I figured out that September 6 is only a week and a half away.  Time flies when you’re having fun.  I’m definitely ready for cooler weather.

About a week or so ago, Edison did “maintenance” on our electrical system and so our power was out for several hours.  Fortunately, it was during work hours and so we didn’t really feel it.  That being said, for some reason or other, ever since they did this “maintenance” on our system our power has gone out 3 times for just enough time to knock everything out so that it has to be reset.  Needless to say, it is getting a little annoying and so today I put a call in to Edison Company to report this.  They said that they would be sending somebody out to check out the problem but of course it will be 3-5 business days before that happens.  Hopefully, these little episodes are going to stop because I’m tired of having to reset the sprinkler timer, reboot the cable, deal with computer issues since the internet gets knocked out and reset all the clocks.  So much for “maintenance”.

As far as family goes, there isn’t much news.  Dad starts back to work tomorrow and so his days of leisure are over.  It’s always hard to get back into the swing of things when you’ve been off for a while and so I do not envy him.  At least I already have 3 weeks under my belt and so I’m beginning to feel a little more comfortable with these kids and I think that they’re finally figuring me out as well.  I’m sure that you probably know more of the family news than I do as I know that you hear from them pretty often.  Maybe you can let me in on some secrets.

I’m happy to hear that missionary work is going well for you.  I’m sure that is because of your and your companions hard work and dilligence. That makes me proud.  I’m proud of all my children and their accomplishments.  I feel blessed to have such good kids.  I enjoy all the little videos that you send.  I loved the video of you opening your birthday package.  I know how hard Sarah worked on making that package just right for you.  I guess that she’ll just have to be the creative one of the family now as like I told you last week, my creative days are pretty much over.

Well, I’ll finish this letter up by just telling you how much I looooooove you.  I miss you and think of you everyday.  Just remember, be good and do good.

Love,

Mom