JAN_1_18_MOM_GBRG_From your mother

 Dearest Mother, 

Um. I completely understand the "Crazy Week" feeling. This week HAS been crazy, hasn't it? Like seriously, something is in the air. I don't know if it's because of the holidays, or what, but it has been BUSY.

IT WAS AWESOME talking to you guys too!! I wish we could've talked forever, but I'm grateful for the short amount of time I had to see you. I didn't mean to make everybody cry. That was most definitely NOT my intention. I didn't mean to cry myself. But once we start talking about Braden and how much I care about that guy... Well, it's all downhill from there. And then I started talking about my mission and how much I love it... Dang. ANYONE would have started crying. I'm glad that you could catch a glimpse of how much this experience means to me. It has been amazing, and I'm learning so much. I'm still the same quirky boy (hopefully), but I've developed such a testimony of this gospel.

Elder Lin is an absolute boss. We just feel so comfortable with eachother, and it's just been a breath of fresh air serving with him. We really are great FRIENDS, which is something I couldn't say too much with my other two companions. I mean, I loved them, but it was hard to be myself with them. Teaching Elder Lin English has definitely been an experience, but he's making so much progress. You know how much I love english, so it's actually been pretty fun!! We've got each other's backs, and for that, I'm definitely grateful.

I'm glad that the wedding went okay. It's crazy how your sense of time is kind of dulled on the mission. On the wedding day, I sort of forgot about it. And then, out of nowhere, I remembered, and was like. WHAT THE... JOHN IS MARRIED. It's sort of crazy. But super exciting!! I wish I could have been there, especially for the Sealing. I still have yet to go to a Sealing ceremony, so that would have been cool. Did they get sealed in the same room as Tony and Briana? I still haven't seen any pictures, but I'm sure those will come once they're back from their honeymoon. BIG THINGS happening in the Gonzales family.

Briana and Tony are gone?? . Darn. I'm sure it was awesome having them home. Love those guys so much. I'm excited to hear the news regarding the baby on Tuesday. I've definitely been praying for them. Enjoy your time with Sarah until Thursday. Also, I can't believe yinz went to Famous Dave's without me. At least send some brisket in an envelope or SOMETHING.

WOAH. Is all of John's stuff gonna be cleared out of the room? That's so weird to think of. I was thinking recently that I may have to send some things home, things that I won't be able to take the next time I get transferred. Because I kind of had a difficult time fitting everything in my suitcases. Which is weird, because I don't even think I've accumulated that much. I guess I'm just not as good at packing as Dad is. But I may be sending some stuff home within this next month or so. Sorry. If I could hold onto it, I would.

Good old Brother Santamaria. He's an awesome guy. I'm glad he's doing good. Tell him I said hi!! And that he should grow his beard back, because he looked like a BOSS.

Don't even get me started on the weather. It's literally 0 degrees outside right now. It has been COLD. Those earmuffs you sent me have definitely come in handy!! But the edge of my nose gets cold, which is weird. But we've been staying plenty warm, so no need to worry. The driving on the other hand... It's been hard. Driving in the snow is scary. It was snowing pretty dang hard on Saturday, and I had to drive in it... I slid a few times, and it was frightening. Fortunately, we didn't crash into anything. Because I was going slow. It's an art. But I'm starting to pick it up. As always, prayers would be appreciated. Especially on these dumb Pennsylvania roads. Ugh. They're terrible. 

We're going to go out for lunch with the Stanley's today. They're just an awesome family and I absolutely love them. Like, they're having us over for Christmas AND New Years? That's just... TOO nice. But we really appreciate them. Brother Stanley has a lathe that he makes Harry Potter wands on!! He makes one for each missionary and gives it to them as a gift. It's kind of what this area is known for. Elder Payne would always play with his during Personal study, so I was STOKED to finally be getting one. On Christmas, he let me choose the wood and design and everything. I told him I wanted one that looked like the Elder (lol, get it?) Wand in the movies (Dumbledore's wand). And he MADE ME ONE. And it's GORGEOUS. I will include a picture for your viewing pleasure. But it really means a lot to me, and makes me feel even more at home here.

The work continues to move forward, but at a slow pace. One of our investigators on baptismal date dropped us this week, which was kind of hard. She did it in a not-so-nice way too, which made it a bit worse. I love these people so much, it pains me when they decide not to pursue the gospel further. We have lots of great, quality investigators, but with the holidays, it's been difficult to set up appointments with them. We are hoping that we have more success this week. Lots of great potential, we just need to start TEACHING them!! 

I'll keep you updated on these investigators as they start to arise and progress a bit more. Not much to report right now. Just that I love you. I'm glad you liked the videos. I wish I could have done more, but alas, no time. Or money. But who needs those things, right?

Elder Jake Gonzales 

On Dec 31, 2017 11:45 PM, <perucalica@aol.com> wrote:

December 31, 2017

Hey Buddy Boy!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Wow, what a week it has been.  Of course, it all began with seeing my favorite missionary’s face and talking to him.  You know that you made everybody cry, right?  I was encouraged by what I saw and heard.  It seems as if things are going well with you and that you are learning many important things that will serve you for the rest of your life.  I loved the videos.  That was the best gift that you could have given me.  One of the things that I noticed that I loved was that when you started to get emotional, your companion gave you the box of Kleenex.  It seems that he is pretty humble and could be a very good friend.  Take advantage of that.

Christmas was nice.  It was pretty quiet, believe it or not.  We all decided that we would have roast beef and mashed potatoes this year.  That was nice because it was easy to do and I didn’t have to do a lot of cooking.  The only things that could have made it better would be if you had been there.  This whole week there has definitely been an empty place.  We missed you!

The rest of the week was spent just getting ready for the wedding.  Our family went over on Friday morning and got a lot of the major setup done.  We, of course, had to move the million and one chairs that were there and set up all the rickety tables.  Later that night, her family showed up to finish the rest of the decorating.  We went over again as well but there were so many people there that I decided that I was just in the way and so went home.  John’s  and Sarah’s wedding day went as well as could be expected.  It was great weather (in the 70’s).  Only in California can you get weather like that at Christmas time.  There was a full house at the reception later that night but I can honestly say that I only knew about 20% of the people that were there.  Unfortunately, no one from my family came and so it was only our family and a few ward members that showed up that we knew.  There was a big enough crowd to make it respectable.  The nice thing about the reception is that it started at 3 p.m. and so we were all cleaned up and home by 7 p.m. (although it still felt like it was midnight).  Now the biggest job is just trying to get the house put back together by putting everything away. Even though there is still so much to do to try and get the house back together, I had to have a nap.  I haven’t slept well for the last few nights and so it was definitely catching up with me today at church.  Sarah said that Dad drifted off in the middle of the closing hymn today and I told her that I almost drifted off in the middle of playing the closing hymn at church.  A 4 hour nap has helped to rejuvenate me a bit but I’m sure that I’ll be ready for bed tonight and sleep just fine.

Tony and Briana came in on the 23^rd and we enjoyed having them every minute.  They left to start home this morning and I already miss them.  They only went as far as Granny’s house tonight and will be finishing the drive tomorrow.  Briana has an appointment with the Dr. on Tuesday and so they need to be home for that.  So, the only one that we still have here is Sarah.  She and I and Dad will have to go and do some fun things before she heads back to Provo on Thursday. 

We are trying to get everyone to take all their stuff with them because our house has become a storage facility for all of you guys things.  This next week I expect to do a major DI run. Briana went through all of her things while she was here and John is in mid-move.  He has some of his things out but will need to come over when he gets off his honeymoon to finish the job.  I am going to go through my stuff as well. So that is what I will be working on for the next few days.

I talked to Brother Santamaria today at church.  He was asking about you and told me tell you hello.

So, how are you holding up with all of this cold weather?  I texted Sister Knudsen today and she said that their high was supposed to be 6 degrees today and so I assume that your weather is similar.  Just try and stay warm and be careful driving.

I love you sooooo much.  Be good and do good.

Mom

P.S.  I’ll let the kids take charge of sending you the pictures from the wedding.  I haven’t seen any yet.  Obviously, they’re more computer savvy than I am