SEP_17_18_MOM_PITT_From Your Madre
Hey there Mom!
YASSSSS BYU WON!! Wow. When I heard that, the blue goggles automatically went on. That HAS to be one of the best wins since we went Independent!! I mean we beat the No. 6 team in the nation! Now it's up to Wisconsin to prove how good we are by beating everybody else on their schedule. That's pretty awesome! I'm glad everything came together for us to beat them! I heard we've got McNeese State next week, so that should be a sure win for us. Hopefully we can keep it going as we go into Washington the following week. Washington ain't no pushover team. They were in the Playoff a few years ago.
Geeze. I can't believe we beat Wisconsin. That's big boy stuff right there. I don't know why we couldn't figure it wout against Cal the week before, though. Why does the BYU football team have to be so inconsistent. 🤷♂️ It's so frustrating.
Basically, we've just been getting tons of rain, as USUAL. I love the rain, but not when I have to proselyte in it. Elder Toomer and I are going to be tracting for 3 hours straight tonight, which I am NOT looking forward to. Primarily because I'm gonna be soaked by the end of it. Hopefully somebody takes pity on us and lets us into their home.
The fact that we're going to be tracting for three hours tonight should give you a pretty good indication of how the work is going in this area right now. Basically we've got no Investigators. Except Paul. Kurt texted us a couple of days ago and basically told us that he was feeling pressured and that he wanted to meet with us on his own time. So that kinda sucked, because we felt that we had done a really good job of teaching him. It just goes to show you that no matter how obedient you are, or how much you have the Spirit, it's up to the individual whether they want to accept it or not. It sucks sometimes, but it's the truth.
Things are going well with Elder Toomer and I. Absolutely no complaints. I'm grateful to have him. He's super humble, and that's the best quality to have as a missionary. I am DEFINITELY NOT the most humble person. I was doing a study yesterday on Meekness, and I determined that that is a quality that I should work on to be more Christlike. According to Elder Bednar in his last talk, meekness is all about recognizing that you can learn much from those around you, especially those who may have less experience than you. It's all about righteous responsiveness, self mastery, and humility. I've noticed that I'm not very good about taking criticism, and just want to smack that person in the face. I should probably change that. Baby steps.
I went on exchanges with my District Leader, Elder Ifopo for 3 Days this week. In case you've forgotten, exchanges are only supposed to last 24 hours, but for whatever reason, I was with him for 72. I don't know if I've ever told you, but I absolutely hate exchanges. You know me. I like consistency, a solid routine. If I'm off with another missionary who's not my companion for an extended period of time, I start to freak. I mean, Elder Ifopo is a great guy, and we get along really well, but by the end of the exchange, I was DYING to be with Elder Toomer again. Maybe that's the purpose of exchanges? To help you appreciate your companion so much more? It works for me.
A couple of days ago, Elder Toomer and I decided to do some street contacting over at Point State Park, which is where the three rivers collide to form Pittsburgh. Anyways we were only there for like 5 minutes when these two security guards show up, and are clearly disgruntled. They come over and talk to us and say, "Hey guys. You can't be soliciting around here." I've obviously run into this type of thing so many times, so I tell him, "Well that's reassuring, because we're not soliciting. We're not selling anything, we're just sharing a message about Jesus Christ." He obviously didn't like that, so he told us that there was no handing out of printed materials either. He then said, "People come around here to have a good time. It's bad enough that you Jehovah's Witnesses go around knocking on our doors." Man, what a jerk thing to say. I guess that was my first real test at improving my temper and meekness. I just told him, "We're not Jehovah's Witnesses." shook his hand, and walked away. I wanted to say so much more, but I bit my tongue. I learned during my Bible bashing experience that it's usually best to just walk away. Even if it's hard.
I also had another interesting experience this week. Elder Toomer and I were headed home for some reason, and I'm starting to doze off on the bus. You know how when you're just out of it, you tend to just stare in one spot? Well, I was staring at the front of the bus, as I should. Anyways. Some old, crippled black dude near the front of the bus thought I was staring at him for some reason. So he just looks at me and starts yelling at me saying, "Why you staring at me, son? Stop looking at me!" I tried telling him that I wasn't even looking at him, but he wasn't having it. I then told Elder Toomer that I wasn't looking at the dude, and Elder Toomer and I start laughing. Then the old guy sees that and says," OH, you think this is funny, huh? What if I get my nephew in the back of the bus to punch your face in? Would that be funny?"
The thing is, there was nobody else in the bus but us haha. He was totally bluffing. I didn't really know what to do at that point, so I just ignored him. The dude obviously didn't know what he was talking about. But that's how I almost got in a fight with a 85 year old black man. Gosh. These Pittsburghers will look for any excuse to fight. Even 20 year old scrawny Mormon missionaries.
YASSSSS BYU WON!! Wow. When I heard that, the blue goggles automatically went on. That HAS to be one of the best wins since we went Independent!! I mean we beat the No. 6 team in the nation! Now it's up to Wisconsin to prove how good we are by beating everybody else on their schedule. That's pretty awesome! I'm glad everything came together for us to beat them! I heard we've got McNeese State next week, so that should be a sure win for us. Hopefully we can keep it going as we go into Washington the following week. Washington ain't no pushover team. They were in the Playoff a few years ago.
Geeze. I can't believe we beat Wisconsin. That's big boy stuff right there. I don't know why we couldn't figure it wout against Cal the week before, though. Why does the BYU football team have to be so inconsistent. 🤷♂️ It's so frustrating.
Basically, we've just been getting tons of rain, as USUAL. I love the rain, but not when I have to proselyte in it. Elder Toomer and I are going to be tracting for 3 hours straight tonight, which I am NOT looking forward to. Primarily because I'm gonna be soaked by the end of it. Hopefully somebody takes pity on us and lets us into their home.
The fact that we're going to be tracting for three hours tonight should give you a pretty good indication of how the work is going in this area right now. Basically we've got no Investigators. Except Paul. Kurt texted us a couple of days ago and basically told us that he was feeling pressured and that he wanted to meet with us on his own time. So that kinda sucked, because we felt that we had done a really good job of teaching him. It just goes to show you that no matter how obedient you are, or how much you have the Spirit, it's up to the individual whether they want to accept it or not. It sucks sometimes, but it's the truth.
Things are going well with Elder Toomer and I. Absolutely no complaints. I'm grateful to have him. He's super humble, and that's the best quality to have as a missionary. I am DEFINITELY NOT the most humble person. I was doing a study yesterday on Meekness, and I determined that that is a quality that I should work on to be more Christlike. According to Elder Bednar in his last talk, meekness is all about recognizing that you can learn much from those around you, especially those who may have less experience than you. It's all about righteous responsiveness, self mastery, and humility. I've noticed that I'm not very good about taking criticism, and just want to smack that person in the face. I should probably change that. Baby steps.
I went on exchanges with my District Leader, Elder Ifopo for 3 Days this week. In case you've forgotten, exchanges are only supposed to last 24 hours, but for whatever reason, I was with him for 72. I don't know if I've ever told you, but I absolutely hate exchanges. You know me. I like consistency, a solid routine. If I'm off with another missionary who's not my companion for an extended period of time, I start to freak. I mean, Elder Ifopo is a great guy, and we get along really well, but by the end of the exchange, I was DYING to be with Elder Toomer again. Maybe that's the purpose of exchanges? To help you appreciate your companion so much more? It works for me.
A couple of days ago, Elder Toomer and I decided to do some street contacting over at Point State Park, which is where the three rivers collide to form Pittsburgh. Anyways we were only there for like 5 minutes when these two security guards show up, and are clearly disgruntled. They come over and talk to us and say, "Hey guys. You can't be soliciting around here." I've obviously run into this type of thing so many times, so I tell him, "Well that's reassuring, because we're not soliciting. We're not selling anything, we're just sharing a message about Jesus Christ." He obviously didn't like that, so he told us that there was no handing out of printed materials either. He then said, "People come around here to have a good time. It's bad enough that you Jehovah's Witnesses go around knocking on our doors." Man, what a jerk thing to say. I guess that was my first real test at improving my temper and meekness. I just told him, "We're not Jehovah's Witnesses." shook his hand, and walked away. I wanted to say so much more, but I bit my tongue. I learned during my Bible bashing experience that it's usually best to just walk away. Even if it's hard.
I also had another interesting experience this week. Elder Toomer and I were headed home for some reason, and I'm starting to doze off on the bus. You know how when you're just out of it, you tend to just stare in one spot? Well, I was staring at the front of the bus, as I should. Anyways. Some old, crippled black dude near the front of the bus thought I was staring at him for some reason. So he just looks at me and starts yelling at me saying, "Why you staring at me, son? Stop looking at me!" I tried telling him that I wasn't even looking at him, but he wasn't having it. I then told Elder Toomer that I wasn't looking at the dude, and Elder Toomer and I start laughing. Then the old guy sees that and says," OH, you think this is funny, huh? What if I get my nephew in the back of the bus to punch your face in? Would that be funny?"
The thing is, there was nobody else in the bus but us haha. He was totally bluffing. I didn't really know what to do at that point, so I just ignored him. The dude obviously didn't know what he was talking about. But that's how I almost got in a fight with a 85 year old black man. Gosh. These Pittsburghers will look for any excuse to fight. Even 20 year old scrawny Mormon missionaries.
Some other stuff happened this week, but that's about all the unique stuff. Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for your email. Love you mom!
Elder Gonzales
Elder Gonzales
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