JAN_22_18_MOM_GBRG_From your Mother

 Hey Mom!!

I probably won't have a whole lot of time to write letters back this week, because we're spending P-Day with our district. But I wouldn't let a P-Day pass me by without writing to my dear sweet mother. Am I getting brownie points for that sentence? I hope so. 

Yeah, this past week was VERY crazy. The tire situation was most definitely not my favorite thing in the world. You know how I get with stress. Elder Lin was just partying the whole time, whereas I was just concerned about how we were gonna get the tire fixed the next day. And if we were gonna be able to make all of our appointments. I don't really like being the only one driving. It kinda sucks, honestly. But oh well.

I mean, the hotel was pretty dang cool. But our apartment is so nice already, it's like I'm living in a hotel every day. So I would rather just stay in our apartment. It's SUPER nice.

ARE YOU FOR REAL, MOM? Why is it that all of a sudden you're deciding to be a social butterfly?? Where was all of this socialness when I was at home? What the heck?

GOOD JOB MOM. You and dad are doing your home teaching?? THAT is what it's all about. Activation and RETENTION. I like it. Tell the Loesseins and the Bodens that I said hello. Goodness, Dad! You couldn't even let Sadie beat you at checkers? Lol that reminds me of my childhood.

Goodness gracious. ST. Mary's must be doing really well this year. That's cool. At least Gonzaga isn't winning. What is our record? How many games have we lost? I hope we can make it to the tourney this year. I'm glad they won both games. Sarah, you better be going to them lol. 

Sister Song is always replying to my letters. I'm glad that I have at least ONE loyal fan. I don't even know if I'm going to send a weekly email this week, so thats kinda awkward. But tell Sister Song thank you for reading my emails!! Mr. Dodds sometimes replies to my emails as well. So does Brother Mark Wilson, and Sister Gardner. Did I tell you that I M currently serving in the area that Mr. Dodds grew up in?? He grew up in Jeanette, which is sorta like the ghetto of my area. And apparently he worked as a flower delivery man in Irwin? Isn't that just adorable. Imagine Baby Dodds delivering flowers. 

I'm like SUPER excited to present at Seton Hill University this next Monday!! Don't worry, I'm very aware that there will undoubtedly be people there who are gonna try to Bible Bash with us. Every time I encounter someone like that, I just bear my testimony and walk away. Unfortunately, I won't have the luxury of walking away, but I can be compose and relaxed. So no worries. Elder Lin will be there with me, but he doesn't really know how to answer complicated questions, because of the English barrier. So it will be primarily me. But I'm not really all that nervous, surprisingly. I know that the Lord will be with me. I love that you used the analogy of Abinadi. That dude is one of my absolute heroes. I love him to death. I know that we might not get any converts or investigators from this experience, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to sound a warning voice to them lol. Obviously, I won't say that. But still. President Bednar said that we could use PowerPoint, so we're gonna enlist the help of the Stanley's. I'm so stoked.

So much happened this week. Notably regarding Jennifer, the one who requested the Pearl of Great Price and D&C. Here is an excerpt from my letter to the President. 

Something else interesting happened, that I don't know quite how to explain via email. Do you remember last week when I talked about that investigator who requested a copy of the Pearl of Great Price and D&C as well as the BOM? Well, she gave us call on Friday and told us that she has worked with the Neil L. Maxwell Institute in the past, and really just wants to talk to somebody regarding an idea that she has that could benefit the church and missionaries. That was her true motive with agreeing to meet with us. Her name is Jennifer, and she's completely sane, I promise. She would not tell us what her Idea was, but asked if she could speak with our mission president about it. She knows SO MUCH about the church, but I don't fully understand why or how. But she wanted to talk with you about this idea that she had. We are going to have our first lesson with her roommate tomorrow, who is prepared to be baptized. How would you like us to move forward with this situation? I didn't want to give her your contact information, but I am deeply curious about what her "idea" could be. Let us know what we should do!

President told us that he doubts he's the person that she needs to talk to. We're gonna give her the number of the missionary department. We have NO IDEA. what her supposed idea might be. But I'm super bummed that she was apparently just using us? Idk. She was super cool. 

Don't worry, though, there's a good ending to this story. We were texting Jennifer to coordinate our appointment, and we ended up texting her roommate, Brianne. She texted and said she's the one that REALLY wants to convert. Then she called us and asked us SO MANY QUESTIONS. She's already read from the Book of Mormon and knows it's true. We're gonna go and see her for our first lesson tonight. I'm excited, but at the same time, kinda nervous. She already knows EVERYTHING. Like, how are we even gonna teach her? Our main goal is to teach her, but to teach her and allow her to have spiritual experiences. Like, it's one thing to know that we're not supposed to drink coffee, and another to believe that it's a commandment from God, and know WHY we must do it, you know? I hope we can do that for her. But yeah. 

We also got two others on baptismal date this week, so that was cool. It's a couple named Traci and Paul. They're pretty awesome, and I'm hopeful that as we continue to teach them, they'll develop a testimony as well. The fact that Paul even agreed to baptism is a massive act of faith in and of itself. A few years ago, he was borderline atheist. 

So yeah, things are looking up here in Irwin. We've got quite a few progressing investigators, and for that, I'm SO grateful. Like, when I first got here, there was no one. I'm grateful for Elder Lin and his willingness to learn and work. 

Welp, thats it for today. Sorry it's not longer. I hope I have time later to write some more emails! I love you mom!! 

Elder Jake Gonzales 

On Jan 21, 2018 10:30 PM, <perucalica@aol.com> wrote:

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Hi Buddy Boy!

And another 7 days have passed.  Hopefully we’ve learned something and become a bit better than we were last week.  From your last email, it appears that it was quite the eventful week for you.  Your hotel stay was probably something that you weren’t expecting and helped to break up the monotony in life, I’m sure.  The flat tire, on the other hand, I’m sure you could have lived without.  I was trying to remember if you have ever fixed a flat tire before and I’m thinking that that would be a no.  Don’t feel bad; I haven’t “fixed” one either.  That’s why I pay AAA.  I think if push came to shove that I might be able to figure it out but I probably couldn’t get the lug nuts off either especially on a cold, snowy day.

Everything here is going good.  Dad started back to work and I continued the daily grind.  I actually had training at the District Office this last week and so that broke up the week for me.  It’s never fun to go to those trainings though because that means that you have to prepare things for a sub and that’s a lot of work.  This next week is going to be crazy though as there are several things that need to be done which will take me out of my classroom for a few hours at a time.  I’m sure that the rest of the school year will be super busy with one thing or another.

Dad and I have had an unusual weekend as the Loessin’s invited us out to dinner with them for last night.  They took us to that restaurant in Rancho called Steer and Stein.  That’s the first time that I’ve ever eaten there.  I would say that it’s similar to a Sizzler.  Apparently it gets quite a bit of business, particularly on a Saturday night.  It was fun to go with them and get to know them a bit better.  They’ve always treated your Dad and me really well and I appreciate that.

We also had to go to the Boden’s tonight to hometeach.  They invited us to come eat dinner with them and so we just got back from their house.  She made some yummy soup and biscuits and Dad and Sadie played a game of checkers, which Dad won.  I’ve always appreciated the Bodens as well.  Sister Boden is the sweetest person ever and Brother Boden is a character J.  They said to tell you hello.  You better watch out as your parents are becoming social butterflies in their old age.

I saw Sister Song today at church and she was asking about you.  She mentioned how much she enjoys your letters and told me that you are a very good writer. So, that should motivate you to keep on sending those emails

.

The BYU news is all good this week.  We played two games, one against Loyola Marymount and the other against San Diego.  We won both of them.  If I’m not mistaken, we play St. Marys this week and so we have our work cut out for us.  St. Marys is currently in 1^st place in the conference and Gonzaga is in 2^nd place.  We are in 3^rd.  St. Marys beat Gonzaga and so that is why they are in 1^st.  We didn’t play all that well last night though so I hope that we have it in us to pull ourselves together enough to get a win.  They will be playing at St. Marys this week and so that makes it doubly difficult.

I’m excited for the opportunity that you have to present at Seton Hill College.  I’m glad that that number worked for you.  Hopefully the presentation will go well and you will be able to enlighten those that are in attendance.  One thing I remember from being on my mission is that occasionally we would find someone who wanted to “Bible Bash” with us.  I will tell you that nothing is ever accomplished by doing that as the Spirit will not stay where there is contention.  The most powerful thing that you have at your disposal is your testimony so don’t be afraid to share it.  I’ve been reading in Mosiah during my scripture study time and I was just reading about when Abinadi went and preached to King Noah and to his priests.  Alma was there and although it could be said that things didn’t go very well for Abinadi he did reach that one person.  Because of his testimony and teachings, Alma changed his life and became a great prophet.  You never know who you will reach when you have teaching opportunities.  Perhaps that will be the case, even at a Catholic University.

Well, that about sums up life for this week.  Hopefully things are quite so crazy for you this week and are on the good side of “normal”.  I love you soooooo much and think of you and pray for you everyday.  Be good and do good.

Until next week,

Mom