OCT_2_17_MOM_LEW_From Mom

 Dear Mom,

OH MY GOODNESS, it has been a great week. One of the best weeks that I've had in a long time. I know that President Bednar has kept you updated with my health reports and things like that. He's encouraged me to keep sending him an email every other day so that he can forward it to you. I have absolutely no problem doing that, so don't worry about it. 

Like I mentioned in my last health report, I'm doing a lot better emotionally. So far, I have loved leading out the area and introducing all of the members and investigators to Elder Payne. I feel like I'm talking a heck of a lot more, joking around a lot more, just being MYSELF. And it's honestly such a nice feeling. I don't know what it was, but I just felt like I couldn't really be myself around Elder Marcum.  I love that guy to death, and he was an AMAZING trainer, but it's nice to be with someone different, someone a bit more relatable and laid back. We are still taking the work extremely seriously, and striving to be exactly obedient. But also, having fun while doing it. And that's nice.

So yeah, things are looking up!! President Bednar is truly an inspired man, and knew what he was doing when he put me with Elder Payne. The headaches and jaw pain have not gone away completely, however. Although they may be decreasing in intensity and frequency, which is nice. I have a doctor's appointment this Thursday in Harrisburg, so I will be sure to let Doctor Treadway know about everything that is going on. Maybe he will increase my dosage? Or maybe he'll leave it where it's at since I'm showing improvements? I'll  let you know.

Elder Payne and I have made a companionship goal to find 10 New Investigators this transfer, which is definitely easier said than done. Elder Marcum and I had a lot of success these last two transfers. Investigators just seemed to drop out of the sky. But now that we've baptized all of them, that leads us with a LOT of finding to do, so that we can keep up the good work. I have a lot of experience with teaching, but not a whole lot with finding, so this will be an educational transfer. So continued prayers to help us find people to teach would be much appreciated!

We do have one investigator who is progressing at breakneck speed. His name is Carlos Garcia. I'm not sure if I've mentioned him before, but he is AMAZING. He's from Puerto Rico, and (understandably) has been going through a lot of difficult stuff recently. His two children and ex wife are in Puerto Rico, and he has heard very little from them. He knows that they're okay, but is very concerned about their well being. But I think receiving the missionary lessons has really helped him.

Elder Marcum met him in front of his house in April, and just talked to him about the Book of Mormon and our church. He wasn't super interested initially, but we kept visiting him every few months to stay in touch. And recently, with all of these things happening, he has been humbled enough to have regular lessons with him. His progress from that initial street contact to now has been amazing. He's been to church for the past two weeks, and LOVED it. In fact, he gave us a ride there!! He went to Jadyn's baptism last Saturday, and LOVED it. He went to Book of Mormon Class on Wednesday. Loved it. He watched three sessions of General Conference with us, absolutely LOVED IT, especially the Mormon Tabernacle choir. Are you seeing a pattern here?? He's loving the church, and is showing so much faith, it's making me so happy. He is set to be baptized on October 21st, and everything is looking good for him to  make that date. So, fingers crossed! One again, Prayers would be appreiciated! 

This last week was mingled with a little bit of sadness as well. Carolina, our recent convert, probably my favorite person here in Lewisberry, moved to Maine on Friday. She moved there because they have a better refugee program over there, but fully expects to be back here in Pennsylvania in about 5 months or so. So we had our last lesson with her on Thursday (it was Elder Paynes first lesson with her lol). We talked to her about the gospel of Jesus Christ, with an an emphasis on Enduring to the End. It was a great lesson, and she reassured us that she has already gotten in contact with the bishop over there and will be fully active in the church. I have absolutely no doubts. She gave me a card and Keychain to say thank you for everything I've done for her. The good news? Since she's moved out of the mission, I can send her emails and things to stay in contact with her, see how she's doing. So that's cool :) She really is awesome. I wish you could meet her. I'm sure I'll see her again someday.

Don't even get me started on General Conference. It was probably the best General Conference I've ever watched. We have been committing lots of people to go into Conference with questions on their mind, so I decided I'd better practice what I preach. In personal study on Saturday morning, I wrote down several questions I wanted answered:

- How can I experience true happiness??

- ‎How can I access the enabling power of the Atonement??

- ‎How can I learn to recognize the Spirit?

- ‎How can I Learn to love these people?

- ‎How can I learn to love myself? 

Mom, every single one was answered!! It was truly amazing. I particularly loved President Uchtdorf's and Elder Holland's talks during the Saturday morning session. I am just so full of love and faith towards Heavenly Father. I feel like that General Conference was just for me. I'm definitely going to be reading and listening to them extensively for these next few days. 

I feel like I've already written so much, but I'll tell you a little bit more about Elder Braiden Payne. He's from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He's definitely very quiet, but he is SUPER intelligent. He knows the answers to lots of doctrinal questions. He's been out on his mission for over 16 months, but has never had a baptism. He has lots of finding experience, which is good. He doesn't really like sports much. He prefers video games, which I don't really know how to relate with him with. But he likes movies as well, so we've been able to relate with that. He has a good sense of humor, and is very easy going. He's a hard worker, and is always looking for opportunities to help me. He's quite a bit different from Elder Marcum, in basically everything. It's been sorta strange adjusting to Lewisberry life with a different companion, but I am excited for the future of this area. 

Sorry about the BYU-Utah State game. I can't believe both Beau Hoge and Tanner Mangum are injured. This sounds like a terrible season. I'm content with being on mission and not having to worry about it. At least we got a few touchdowns in the first half?? I guess we'll see what happens next week. Goodness gracious. Is it even possible for us to get bowl eligible at this point?

I worry about my recent converts quite a bit as well. But I suppose all I can do is try to help them establish a good foundation in the church, and hope and pray that they continue on the strait and narrow til the ends of their lives. 

We're going to be getting Facebook and other apps in this mission very soon!! I'm sorta nervous, but excited to see how these developments will help the work going forward. All of these technological developments in missionary work are crazy. I didn't expect to be going on Facebook at all during my mission. It's gonna be weird.

ANyways, I love you. I'll keep President Bednar updated on my health throughout the week. I'm sure I probably forgot tons of stuff to tell you, but I guess this is enough for now. Have a great week!!

Elder Gonzales

On Oct 1, 2017 9:29 PM, <perucalica@aol.com> wrote:

Sunday, October 01, 2017

Well hello there My Favorite Missionary in the Whole Wide World!

Yet another week has passed and unlike other weeks, there seems to be a million things that I’ve wanted to tell you this week but I’m sure that I probably won’t be able to write even a small part of what has gone through my mind lately.  Nothing really spectacular has gone on here at home.  It is just the same old, same old but that hasn’t kept me from thinking about you constantly.

As I’m sure you’re aware, Dad and I spoke with President Bednar this last week as we have been concerned about you.  He pretty much summed up our conversation in the summary email that he sent to us and to you.  We have never had any concerns about your ability to do the work and to be a good missionary but your health issues have definitely been on our minds.  The other difficult part about all of this has been that we were only getting weekly updates from you and that leaves an entire week wondering and waiting on our end.  So, as you probably also know, he has been sending us your health updates when he receives them.  I know that they may be a pain in the neck to write all the time but they have helped to keep your mother from going crazy and so I appreciate them.

I am so glad to hear that emotionally you are feeling better.  I’m grateful that receiving a new companion and being able to lead out in your area has helped bring some “joy” to your life.  That is encouraging news.  I will encourage you to be honest with the doctor at your upcoming appointment on Thursday.  Tell him everything.  That is the only way that he will know how to help you.  Have they done any blood work on you?  I am proud of you for how you are handling the situation.  I’m sure that it hasn’t been easy.  As President Bednar told us on the phone, “Your son just wants you to be proud of him.”  I assured him that that has always been the case and will continue to be the case, no matter what.  I hope you know that.

Well, as I’m sure you’re aware, the majority of this weekend has been taken up by General Conference.  It has been quiet here at the house with just your dad and me here as John went with Sarah T. to Utah for Conference.  I hate to admit that I don’t think I made it through one complete session of Conference without missing at least one part.  It has been a particularly exhausting week at work and you know that if my body stops moving at any time, I’m pretty much asleep.  There are a few talks that I will have to go back and watch again and I’m looking forward to receiving the Ensign so that I can read them again and soak in everything that I missed.  It was sad to hear of Elder Hales' passing.  Let the speculation of who will be the new apostle begin!

The BYU football news continues to be in the toilet.  Just suffice it say that every week when I think that we can’t do any worse, the team proves me wrong.  Beau Hoge was playing for the injured Tanner Mangum this week but he ended up going out injured himself in the 2^nd quarter of the Utah State game.  So, we ended up playing our 3^rd and 4^th string quarterbacks.  I’m going to write Kalani Sitake and insist that he give his players a class on how to distinguish colors as every one of his quarterbacks insists on throwing not just 1 but several interceptions during any given game.  You can feel fortunate that you haven’t had to put yourself through the torture this year.  I finally turned the game off during the 3^rd quarter because I couldn’t take it anymore.

So, tell me about your new companion.  I know that his name is Elder Payne and that he is from Canada.  What other things are important for us to know about him?  Is he a sports fan?  What are his interests?

Congrats on your recent baptism of Tyler’s and Stephanie’s son.  It always does a missionary’s heart good when he sees the progress that the people are making because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I often wonder about the people that I had the opportunity to teach while I was on my mission and I wonder if they are still strong in the Gospel.  Unfortunately, I’ve lost track of all of them as too many years have gone by since I’ve been home, but I can always hope.

Your sister, Sarah, called me the other day and told me about an experience that she had had.  Apparently, her new visiting teacher is the daughter of my former missionary companion, Nicia Hyde Whitaker.  When they were visiting trying to get to know each other they put two and two together and discovered that we had been companions in the mission field.  It’s funny how things like that work out. It’s a small world, especially in the Church.

Well, I’ll quit my rambling for this week.  I hope that you know that we’ve got your back, Jacob.  There is nothing more precious to me and your father than our children.  We will do anything to help in any way we can.  We will continue praying for you that your health issues will be resolved.  In the meantime, hang in there.

I love you soooooooo much!

Mom