FEB_19_18_MOM_GBRG

 Also, my p day will be on Tuesday next week, due to A special Zone Conference with Elder Randall K. Bennet of the Seventy. 

On Feb 19, 2018 11:02 AM, "Jacob Eric Gonzales" <jacob.gonzales@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Hey there Mom!!

Is today really a holiday?? How about that... I'm assuming it's President's Day or something? Or maybe Lincoln's birthday? Whatever it is, I'm glad that you have an opportunity to relax a little bit. Take a load off. I don't think cleaning out the pantry sounds like much of a party, but I guess compared to dealing with 30+ bratty kids, it sounds like paradise. ENJOY IT. I know I look forward to P-Day every week, so I know how you feel. Sometimes it's nice to have a bit of a break, even if it is only for a few hours. 

Before I forget, I believe my username and password for my BYU account is jacobg17 and hill4heisman. It took me a hot second to remember it. I haven' had to log into that in FOREVER. Let me know if that doesn't work out. But I'm pretty sure that's right. 

Ugh. The darn district keeps canceling on you, huh? Well that's just lame. Like, why do they decide to cancel after you've already gotten everything planned out? I don't fully understand that. But hopefully yinz can get everything figured out. Although I'm not sure which you would prefer: actually going on the field trip, or having to stay in the classroom? 

How was Valentine's Day this past week? It kind of sprung on me out of nowhere. But that's just the way that I like it. No concerns about being forever alone or anything like that. I can worry about that after my mission. For now, I'm content to be on the Lord's errand. Me and my Companions spent Valentine's Day Dinner at the Quigg's house. They are another family in our ward, a young family. They feed us EVERY SINGLE WEEK, and are some of my favorite members. They have two adorable children, and going to their house is always a party. I'm surprised they let us come by on Valentine's Day, but no complaints here. They're actually feeding us again tomorrow. In fact, Sister Quigg mentioned potentially getting in contact with you and figuring out how to make Lomo Saltado. So she may text you or something soon? Idk. They're awesome, though. 

HAHAHAHA I can't believe we're trying to come up with a Grandma name for you!! You're growing up so fast :') Hmmm.... You should go by MeeMaw like Sheldon Cooper's grandma. That was honestly the first thing that came to mind. But you don't really look like a MeeMaw... But you don't look like a Granny either. Maybe just Grandma? I will consult with my Companions and district and get back to you on that. There is much pondering to do on the subject.

It's been raining a whole lot here in Greensburg. It did snow quite a bit these past few days, though. Hahaha I don't know if my snow driving would be considered "skillfull". My mantra is basically, "If I can see the pavement, I'll drive. If not, then I ain't going out there." I mean, I know my limits. I know that if the snow is PILED on top of the road, it'd be better to stay home. Driving in the snow is not quite as hard as it used to be. It really just depends how much snow there is. I'm not bad at driving in it if there's just a thin layer on the road. It's an art. I'm hoping it will help me when I go back to school in Provo. The plows are usually pretty efficient here, as well, which is nice.

In terms of missionary work, it's been a pretty good week. We tried to stay as busy as possible, which always makes for  some good times and good feelings. We were FINALLY able to have another lesson with Bri, our investigator who is set to be baptized on March 10th. She has been SUPER sick recently, so it's been difficult to get in contact with her. She still wasn't feeling super well, so we just had a lesson over Facebook Messenger Video Chat. It went great!! She wholeheartedly believes everything we're talking about, and continues to keep her commitments! She said that she would come to church on Sunday, but she woke up Sunday morning and was coughing up blood. So she didn't end up coming. We're going to try and get in contact with her today, to see if there's anything we can do for her, or if we can give her a blessing. She won't be able to get baptized on March 10th now, though, because you have to come to church at least 3 times prior to baptism. So we're going to have to push back the date a bit. I'm okay with that, but I'm kind of bummed, because it will be after transfers and I think Elder Lin is going to go. And I want him to experience the joy of witnessing one of his investigators being baptized, as he hasn't been able to see that yet. We'll see what happens. 

We had another investigator, Bob, who was supposed to come to church yesterday, but DIDN'T. GOSH. Why is it so hard to get them to come? We arranged rides for them and EVERYTHING. It's a struggle. I'm doing all I can, but it all comes down to their agency. Bob is a great guy, but from what we understand, he has some serious Word of Wisdom problems to overcome. We'll see what we can do.

Although we didn't have anyone come to church yesterday morning, we did have an investigator come to the church in the afternoon for the Addiction Recovery Program, James. He's kind of an odd guy, but he has a good heart and really wants to overcome his alcoholism. The fact that he was willing to come to the ARP meeting shows a lot of humility on his part, which is great to see. We committed him to be baptized on April 7th, and hope to help him make that date. 

We're gonna go on exchanges this week, on WEdnesday. And I'm FINALLY gonna be leaving the area for the first time in a few months. I'll be going to Plum with Elder Stevens. Most of all, I'm just excited that I don't have to drive for a day. It'll be like a miniature vacation. Elder Way, our district leader, will be coming to Greensburg, and will have to receive permission from President Bednar to drive our car, since Elders Lin and Petersen can't drive. So that'll be interesting. 

We are teaching Samantha the Plan of Salvation today, using primarily scriptures from the Bible. Then we're going to introduce the Book of Mormon to her at the end. Wish us luck!! I'm excited, but also really nervous!! I'm glad I had the experience of teaching the Plan of Salvation at the college, because that will make this a heck of a lot easier. 

A few other tidbits from the week:

- We were struggling to find time to do our studies yesterday, because I packed the day to the brim. Elder Petersen then proceeds to ask if the second and third hours of church are really that necessary. *facepalm*

- During our video chat lesson with Bri, she didn't have the lights on, so we could barely see her. So we were basically talking to a black screen the whole time. But every time Elder Lin would speak, she would get super close to the screen, in a  very unflattering way. It was quite hilarious, and I had to try so hard not to laugh haha.

- The 5 of us missionaries serving in this ward sung "Army of Helaman" Yesterday in Sacrament Meeting. We sung the last chorus in MANDARIN. So yeah. I'm basically bilingual. 

- I've decided I like Sushi. Just thought I'd let you know.

Anyways, that's all I've got for this week. Love you, Mom. You're my valentine this year. Yup. My mom's my VAlentine. And I ain't even mad. Love you.

Elder Jake Gonzales

On Feb 18, 2018 11:56 PM, <perucalica@aol.com> wrote:

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Hey Buddy Boy,

How the heck are you?  I hope the answer to that question is WONDERFUL!!  I actually feel pretty good right now as I’m sitting here basking in the knowledge that tomorrow is a holiday and I don’t have to go to work.  That always makes for a positive outlook.  That being said, I have wonderful things like finishing to clean out the pantry closet and recaulking the bathtub to look forward to tomorrow.  I’m not sure about the bathtub part but I will do my best to finish the pantry closet tomorrow.  I started it last week but there was so much to throw away that I didn’t want to make the garbage can too heavy and so I stopped midway.  Trefflich and John were the recipient of a lot of the food that wasn’t spoiled that we can no longer eat such as cake and frosting.  That made them pretty happy. Every little bit helps when you’re trying to keep your head above water financially.

This last week has been pretty much the same as any week.  Just a lot of work, like always.  The kids at school seem to be getting really antsy lately.  It seems that they can smell spring in the air and that always seems to set them off.  It’s hard to just keep the lid on things sometimes.  We’ve had difficulties this last week scheduling our fieldtrip to the museum.  We thought that we had it all planned out and then the district transportation people called and cancelled on us and so we’ve had to start from square one to try and get something set up again.  This is the 3^rd time the district has cancelled on us and so it’s getting a little old and frustrating, to say the least.  One of our teachers will be leaving on maternity leave at the beginning of March so that just makes it even more frustrating because she wanted to have all of this taken care of before she left.  I will be out of the classroom 2 days this week as I have to finish administering the english language test to all the kids that qualify.  That will make for some long, boring days and makes it where I will have to write 2 days of lesson plans which is harder than just teaching the class yourself.  Oh well, enough about school.

Dad and I have been the social butterflies again this week.  Actually, Dad went over to Wiwa’s house on Thursday since it was Melany’s birthday and he went for cake.  Dad and I both went to Wiwa’s yesterday as he invited us over to eat anticuchos.  They were really good.  Dad and I also were invited to Lucy and Jesus’ house for lunch today.  She made spaghetti and papa a la huancaina.  It was delicious.

BYU had a so-so week.  We played Pepeprdine on Thursday and managed to pull off a win in overtime.  This is the first win for BYU while playing at Pepperdine for the last 4 years so that was a good accomplishment.  On the flip side, we played San Diego in San Diego on Saturday and they pretty much mopped the floor with us.  It was a lousy game.  No one could buy a basket.  They play Gonzaga on Saturday in Provo and so that should be an intersting game.  Hopefully the advantage of the home court will work to their advantage and we can pull of a win to finish the season.  I’m not sure if they play on Thursday or not this week.  I haven’t really paid much attention to the schedule. 

BTW, I need to be able to get your tuition statement off your BYU account.  I also have not received a W-2 form for you from BYU.  I am assuming that that is on your BYU account as well. I need those 2 forms so that we can do your taxes and also do our taxes.  Could you please send me your username and password for that account asap?

Your siblings all seem to be doing well.  I just got off the phone with Sarah and we were trying to decided what I want to be called as a grandmother.  I know that Granny didn’t want to be called Grandma because there was already a Grandma Palmer and that’s why she’s called Granny.  I haven’t really come up with anything.  Do you have any suggestions or preferences? 

Has the Pennsylvania weather calmed down any or is it still really cold?  Are there traces of spring in the air?  I walked out of church today and all of the trees in the parking lot are full of white blossoms.  It made me almost burst out singing “I looked out the window and what did I see…..”  The weather here has been really warm but I hear that it’s supposed to cool down a bit this week and we may have a bit of rain here or there.  Have you become an expert snow driver now?  You should have some “skills” by now.

Well, I’m out of news.  I’ll just tell you that I love you soooooo much.  I so look forward to Mondays just because I can hear from you.  I’m proud of who you are and what you’re doing. Not every Mom can say that she has a teenage son who is willing to go and teach others about Christ.  I’m glad that I am counted as one of those lucky Moms.  Be good and do good.

Love,

Mom