MAR_12_18_MOM_GBRG

 Well hello there mother. 

Just another week in the life of a missionary. So much has happened over the past couple of days, and yet so little has happened at the same time. But I know that you're just DYING to know the results of transfers, so I won't keep you in suspense any longer.

I was totally right. Elder Lin is being transferred. After 6 months of faithful service here in Irwin, he is being transferred to an area just North of here, called Freeport. He's a little bit nervou, but mostly excited. I'm excited for him. The dude is gonna do so well on his mission. The person that's being sent here to replace him is... Elder LI. Yes, you read that correctly. He is another missionary who speaks Chinese. His name is Dairong Li, and he's been on his mission for about a year and half, from what I understand. I've met him a couple of times, and I'm like SUPER excited to be working with him. He seems like a hardworking missionary, which is exactly what we need here in this area. He's not from Taiwan, like Elder Lin, though. He's from China. I guess you could say that I specialize in foreign missionaries. First Canada, then Taiwan, now China. I get to start working with him on Thursday, which will be fun. There's lots of good things happening in this area, which is nice. 

Elder Peterson left yesterday. It has been QUITE the adventure. I'm glad that I don't have to train again this transfer, because it was a little... distracting. Sure, Elder Peterson and I had our differences. He liked to do things his way, and I liked to do things my way. But he is a great missionary who will undoubtedly have lots of success. The dude still has a lot to work on (he still has years to give away a Book of Mormon or talk to anyone on the streets), but then again, who doesn't have a lot to work on? Taiwan is going to be VERY different for him, and I know it will be hard. But I also know that the Lord qualifies those he calls. I'm eager to hear what adventures await him.

Yeah, my tablet just started acting really dumb last P-day. It really came out of nowhere. The home screen just started functioning properly. In fact, it stopped functioning altogether. Like, it doesn't even appear. It's weird. I took it to Best Buy last Monday, and they said it seems like a hardware problem, or a glitch in the system. They said they could take it and send it to Samsung, who would either fix the tablet or just replace it. It would be free, since it's still under warranty, fortunately. They recommended I take it to a specialist on Thursday, who apparently is a miracle worker. Welp. I did. And no luck. So the AP's came yesterday (to pick up Elder Petersen) and also brought me a loaner tablet until I can get a replacement or get mine fixed. So I'm gonna take mine to Best Buy again today and get it back within the next few weeks or so. Or a totally new one. We'll see. Either way, I've got the loaner tablet until then, which is nice. 

Looks like my dreams of being on the jury in a murder trial will have to go unsatiated for at least another 15 months. Darn.

Are yinz gonna go to Famous Dave's after Sarah's graduation? Wait. Do they even have that in Utah? I guess you could always go to Chuck-A-Rama? That was one of the first questions Elder Petersen asked me when I met him. If Pennsylvania has Chuck-A-Rama hahaha.

Darn. Well. I'm impressed that BYU managed to beat St. Mary's at least. Seems like we're in store for another mediocre season. Gosh dang. I thought that our team this year was more than mediocre. You guys gonna do another family bracket challenge? Let me know.

Sorry for not sending out a weekly email to the masses last week. Sometimes it can get difficult to manage time and write to everyone that I want to. I just didn't get around to it. But a lot of great things have happened this week, so I'm DEFINITELY gonna send one out this week.  

Just a few highlights from the week, to explain some of the pictures that I shared with you:

- Last P-DAY we went to a beautiful park called Twin Lakes. It was honestly one of my favorite P-days. The place was ridiculously amazing. And the weather was nice to, which was a plus. 

- We bought some sweet Trio ties. Don't worry, each was only 4 dollars. You raised a thrifty son. 

- We were advised to get rid of ALl unnecessary service that doesn't serve our missionary purpose. So this last Tuesday was my last time serving at the St. Vincent DE Paul Thrift store in Jeanette. It was a bittersweet experience. I hate saying bye to these people, who although are not me members of our church, are still faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. 

- We took a picture with Samantha before Elder Petersen left. She's the black woman in the pink dress.

- An 8 year old taught me some self defense. Love the Smith family.

It's been kind of a rough week in terms of missionary work. We've arranged a way for Bri to get to church every week for the past 6 weeks. And she still has yet to come. It's so frustrating. It was really frustrating yesterday, especially. We're trying so hard to get investigators to come to church consistently, but no luck. I was a little angry about it yesterday. But everyone has their agency.

We're teaching Samantha today, and hope to get her on date to be baptized. Fingers crossed!

The other pictures that I sent you are probably my favorite part of the week. I'll talk about it in my weekly email. And this time, I'll actually do it!!

I love you, Mom. 

Elder Jake Gonzales

On Mar 11, 2018 10:51 PM, <perucalica@aol.com> wrote:

Sunday, March 11, 2018

Hey Buddy Boy!

How are you???  I am hoping that you are well and looking forward to your next few weeks and months.  I know that you said that Elder Peterson would be leaving on the 12^th and it was most likely that Elder Lim would be transferred this week and so we remain curious as to what the future has in store for you.  Life is always an adventure when you are on a mission.

 

Everything here is much the same.  Your dad’s and my life don’t vary much week to week.  If you said, get up, go to work, come home, go to bed that about sums it up on a daily basis.  I did have to go to math night this last week at my school so that was something that kind of changed things up a bit but those aren’t the kind of changes I like.  Dad is currently on Spring Break and so he at least has the option of sleeping in.  I know that he is scheduled for jury duty this next week and so he has that on his list of things to do.  Other than that, I’m not sure what he has planned.  Speaking of jury duty, you received a summons in the mail this last week.  Obviously, I had to respond telling them that you are not here and are unable to report.  If I had a buck for every one of those kinds of letters that I’ve had to send for you kids…….Also speaking of jury duty, I have also been called and will have to report on the 27^th.  I am hoping that they will cancel my group and that I won’t actually have to report.  Counting you, Dad, me and Briana who also got called within the last month that’s 4 out of the 6 of us.  They’re only missing John and Sarah.  I’m beginning to think that they have no one else but our family to call.  How did we get so lucky?

It was a busy Sunday today.  John called us last night and told us that he was speaking in church and asked us to come and so we went to hear him speak.  That was Sacrament Meeting #1 for today.  After that, we attended our regular Sacrament Meeting (#2) and then had to teach the Temple Prep class for Sunday School.   After the class, we dropped everything and ran out to Colton to a ward there where the Howell’s were having their missionary homecoming (Sacrament Meeting #3)  We were late to that one though and so didn’t arrive until Sister Howell was actually speaking.  So I guess you can say that we’ve had our fill of Sacrament Meetings for the day.  John and Sarah also attended the homecoming as did half of Oleander Ward.  So, because of that, our ward was missing a lot of people today.

I guess this week’s highlights will be trying to book flights and a hotel for Sarah’s graduation.  We probably should have done that before now but oh well.  It will be fun to be able to spend a few days with her.  I asked Briana today if they would be interested in meeting us in Provo and she said that she wasn’t sure if they could come or not.  Sarah’s graduation at least gives me something to look forward to.

As for BYU news, they played in the WCC tournament against St. Marys and won the game which then put them in the championship game against Gonzaga.  Needless to say, we choked and were beaten quite handily by the Zags.  Just once I’d like Gonzaga to lose just so that they would be humbled a bit.   So they got the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.  I just read an hour or so ago that BYU will once again go to the NIT and will be playing their first game this Wednesday against Stanford in Palo Alto.  We’ll see how that goes for us.  I noticed as well that the football team has started their Spring practices.  It almost feels funny to see Kalani Sitake show up on my Facebook feed again.  It has been a while.  We are, however, (I hate to even write this) going into the drought season as far as BYU sports go.  Can I endure it?  I don’t know.  I guess we’ll find out.

I hope that by now you have solved your tablet woes.  Sorry I wasn’t able to help you anymore than the information that I sent you but you were the one that purchased it and so you are the one that should have all that information in your computer archives.  Let us know what we can do to help.  I did write you and tell you that you purchased your tablet on or about May 6, 2017 and that it cost $328.24.  If you call Best Buy, they should have a record of the sale and should be able to advise you what to do in order to get it fixed.  Hopefully by now you’ll just tell us that the problem is solved.

Well, that about sums up my life in a nutshell.  I know, it’s the same stuff week after week.  In a way, that’s a good thing.  I can handle mundane a lot better than I can handle problems and drama.  I’ll just finish by telling you that I love you sooooo much.  Be good and do good.

Mom