OCT_8_18_MOM_PITT_From your Mommy
Hey Mother!
You're right, it's Transfer time, but as expected, I will be staying here with Elder Toomer for another 6 weeks. It would have been really weird if they broke us up right at the middle of his training, so I can't say I'm surprised. Fortunately, I like Elder Toomer, so I'm not too broken up about it. Odds are, I will be getting transferred next transfer, on November 19th, just before Thanksgiving.
Yes, General Conference was great! It's always awese to hear what our leaders are inspired to tell us!! We're so blessed to have a Prophet as proactive and energetic as President Nelson. I can't believe there were TWELVE new temples announced this month. That has to be some sort of record or something. Everybody in the Chapel was crossing their fingers, hoping he would announce Pittsburgh, but to no avail. Someday there will be a temple in Pittsburgh. I guess I've just got to keep doing my job, finding, teaching, and baptizing, and eventually they'll build a temple.
It was funny, my companion and I were speculating what big changes would be made this conference, and he jokingly said that they were going to make church two hours. Turns out, he was right! I've never really had a priblem with three hour church, but I know that a lot of people grumble about it. From a missionary perspective, I think it's a great idea. Very few people want to come to Three hours of church each Sunday, and two hours seems a lot more reasonable and manageable. I'm also excited about the new Come, Follow Me initiative that is being launched in 2019. I think this is a good way to ensure that families and indicuauls are getting the gospel study at home that they need. I know as a family, we often tried to have regular scripture study, but faltered sometimes. This seems like a good solution. Hopefully we see some improvements!
I can't believe that BYU lost to Utah State. That is NOT a team that we should losing to, especially by 25 points. That's just ridiculous, and unacceptable. Hawaii traditionally has a terrible team, so hopefully we should win that one. But still. I'm pretty disappointed that Utah State just steamrolled us, especially at home in our royal blue uniforms. Gosh. It gets meheated just thinking about it. I guess I picked a good two years to go on my mission. Doesn't seem like I'm missing out on much. Except for them beating Wisconsin. That's still amazing.
Good for Matthew and James! I've seen some pictures of them on their missions, and they seem to have really enjoyed them. I'm a little bit jealous that they're gonna be coming home and seeing their families so soon, but I'll be following suit in 8 MONTHS! I'm sure the time will fly by.
It cooled down a lot last week, but this week has been pretty warm. The leaves have already started changing colors, which is pretty sweet. I'm hoping it starts cooling down again soon, because I actually love the winters in Pittsburgh (I just don't like driving in them).
So, this week on the mission has seen some high highs and some low lows. Probably the worst part was that our investigator, Paul, seems to want us to give him a little bit of breathing time. According to his brother, he has felt a little bit pressured from us and his brother, and doesn't want to go quite so fast. It's a little bit disappointing, because he had such a promising start, but we'll just have to take things a little slower with him, I guess. The problem is, Brother McDermott will be leaving for his job as a merchant marine on October 15th, and isn't expected to come back for a few months. Without Brother McDermott there, there isn't anyone to being Paul to church, or most importantly, support him at home. I'm hoping we can figure something out, but for now, Paul seems kind of like a lost cause. Darn.
However, as I mentioned, this week has had some good parts as well!! We were able to meet with Rose on Saturday, and set some expectations with her. We told her we wanted to meet with her at least twice a week, and she was all for it! We also helped her to download the Teaching Pamphlets in French, and committed her to read the Restoration one before our next lesson. We hope that if she comes prepared each lesson having already read the pamphlets, that will help the teaching process a lot more.
Then, yesterday, she came to church and watched the Morning Session of General Conference! That's two weeks in a row! We got there a little bit early, and so we just sat in the Chapel listening to Music and the Spoken Word. As we were watching, Rose started asking us a lot of questions about what we believe. It was difficult to understand her questions, but after a lot of repetition and hand motions, we were able to understand. She asked us if we had a plate that we passed around urging church to put money into. We told her no, and were able to briefly explain the doctrine of tithing to her. She seemed really amazed at that. Then, she asked us if our church believes in the concept of baptism. We told her that we did, and she told us that she really wants to be baptized in the Mormon church! It came seemingly out of nowhere, as we hadn't even talked to her about baptism yet, and haven't even really teught her a solid lesson. But we were ecstatic, and committed her to be baptized next month!
This was all done through Google Translate. Probably the most unorthodox Baptismal Commitment I've ever done. But hey, I ain't complaining.
You're right, it's Transfer time, but as expected, I will be staying here with Elder Toomer for another 6 weeks. It would have been really weird if they broke us up right at the middle of his training, so I can't say I'm surprised. Fortunately, I like Elder Toomer, so I'm not too broken up about it. Odds are, I will be getting transferred next transfer, on November 19th, just before Thanksgiving.
Yes, General Conference was great! It's always awese to hear what our leaders are inspired to tell us!! We're so blessed to have a Prophet as proactive and energetic as President Nelson. I can't believe there were TWELVE new temples announced this month. That has to be some sort of record or something. Everybody in the Chapel was crossing their fingers, hoping he would announce Pittsburgh, but to no avail. Someday there will be a temple in Pittsburgh. I guess I've just got to keep doing my job, finding, teaching, and baptizing, and eventually they'll build a temple.
It was funny, my companion and I were speculating what big changes would be made this conference, and he jokingly said that they were going to make church two hours. Turns out, he was right! I've never really had a priblem with three hour church, but I know that a lot of people grumble about it. From a missionary perspective, I think it's a great idea. Very few people want to come to Three hours of church each Sunday, and two hours seems a lot more reasonable and manageable. I'm also excited about the new Come, Follow Me initiative that is being launched in 2019. I think this is a good way to ensure that families and indicuauls are getting the gospel study at home that they need. I know as a family, we often tried to have regular scripture study, but faltered sometimes. This seems like a good solution. Hopefully we see some improvements!
I can't believe that BYU lost to Utah State. That is NOT a team that we should losing to, especially by 25 points. That's just ridiculous, and unacceptable. Hawaii traditionally has a terrible team, so hopefully we should win that one. But still. I'm pretty disappointed that Utah State just steamrolled us, especially at home in our royal blue uniforms. Gosh. It gets meheated just thinking about it. I guess I picked a good two years to go on my mission. Doesn't seem like I'm missing out on much. Except for them beating Wisconsin. That's still amazing.
Good for Matthew and James! I've seen some pictures of them on their missions, and they seem to have really enjoyed them. I'm a little bit jealous that they're gonna be coming home and seeing their families so soon, but I'll be following suit in 8 MONTHS! I'm sure the time will fly by.
It cooled down a lot last week, but this week has been pretty warm. The leaves have already started changing colors, which is pretty sweet. I'm hoping it starts cooling down again soon, because I actually love the winters in Pittsburgh (I just don't like driving in them).
So, this week on the mission has seen some high highs and some low lows. Probably the worst part was that our investigator, Paul, seems to want us to give him a little bit of breathing time. According to his brother, he has felt a little bit pressured from us and his brother, and doesn't want to go quite so fast. It's a little bit disappointing, because he had such a promising start, but we'll just have to take things a little slower with him, I guess. The problem is, Brother McDermott will be leaving for his job as a merchant marine on October 15th, and isn't expected to come back for a few months. Without Brother McDermott there, there isn't anyone to being Paul to church, or most importantly, support him at home. I'm hoping we can figure something out, but for now, Paul seems kind of like a lost cause. Darn.
However, as I mentioned, this week has had some good parts as well!! We were able to meet with Rose on Saturday, and set some expectations with her. We told her we wanted to meet with her at least twice a week, and she was all for it! We also helped her to download the Teaching Pamphlets in French, and committed her to read the Restoration one before our next lesson. We hope that if she comes prepared each lesson having already read the pamphlets, that will help the teaching process a lot more.
Then, yesterday, she came to church and watched the Morning Session of General Conference! That's two weeks in a row! We got there a little bit early, and so we just sat in the Chapel listening to Music and the Spoken Word. As we were watching, Rose started asking us a lot of questions about what we believe. It was difficult to understand her questions, but after a lot of repetition and hand motions, we were able to understand. She asked us if we had a plate that we passed around urging church to put money into. We told her no, and were able to briefly explain the doctrine of tithing to her. She seemed really amazed at that. Then, she asked us if our church believes in the concept of baptism. We told her that we did, and she told us that she really wants to be baptized in the Mormon church! It came seemingly out of nowhere, as we hadn't even talked to her about baptism yet, and haven't even really teught her a solid lesson. But we were ecstatic, and committed her to be baptized next month!
This was all done through Google Translate. Probably the most unorthodox Baptismal Commitment I've ever done. But hey, I ain't complaining.
So that was cool. She seems absolutely Golden, so hopefully things work out and I'm able to see her be baptized before I leave. Obviously, there's still that huge language barrier to surmount, but with the help of Brother Williams, our local French speaker, we should be able to get it done. This was just a massive testimony builder to me that there ARE people prepared to hear the gospel, in every part of the world, speaking every language. The feelings of the Spirit transcend language, and go straight to the heart. Rose reminds me so much of Carolina, my favorite investigator I've ever taught. She's so humble and willing to learn. Please pray for Rose, that she continues to have this fire for the next few weeks as we continue teaching her!!
On Tuesday, we received a text from President Bednar telling us to stay in for the night. Aparrentlty almost the entire state of Pennsylvania was on Tornado watch, and he didn't want to take any chances. That was a first.
I'm trying desperately to think of other interesting things to tell you about this week, but I think that's pretty much it. We've basically just been doing a hodgepodge of service and tracting the whole week. Nothing too spectacular just good old fashioned missionary work. Proud to be a missionary.
Love you. Have a great week!
Elder Jake Gonzales
On Tuesday, we received a text from President Bednar telling us to stay in for the night. Aparrentlty almost the entire state of Pennsylvania was on Tornado watch, and he didn't want to take any chances. That was a first.
I'm trying desperately to think of other interesting things to tell you about this week, but I think that's pretty much it. We've basically just been doing a hodgepodge of service and tracting the whole week. Nothing too spectacular just good old fashioned missionary work. Proud to be a missionary.
Love you. Have a great week!
Elder Jake Gonzales
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