NOV_12_18_MOM_PITT_From Mom
Hey Mom!!
Thanks for the email!! I'm glad that you'll have most of the family together for Thanksgiving! Sarah sent me an email and she's really excited to see you and have a good old fashioned Gonzales Thanksgiving.
Gosh. I can't imagine a fire big enough to destroy a whole town. There must be so many people who have lost their homes and have virtually no possessions. That's really sad :( Elder Toomer also told me that there was a shooting that went down in California? I haven't heard anything about it, and he didn't have any details for me. I hope it was nowhere close to you guys. Gosh, all of these shootings happening all over the place are enough to give anyone gray hairs
Great to hear that BYU pulled off the win!! New Mexico isn't a great team, so maybe there's hope for Bowl Eligibility yet! But I hear from my Ute Companion that Utah has been playing pretty dang well this year. All I know is they've beaten UCLA and USC soundly, which is not looking good for BYU. But like John pointed out in his email, BYU seems to have a better road record than home record, so hopefully that will spark our offense and we'll come away with he first win since 2009
. One can only hope, right?
Ugh. Freaking Nick Emery. His mistakes have caused BYU to get bad publicity yet AGAIN. I don't really know what he did, but John's letter indicated that he had been accepting money and rewards from boosters and stuff. Just like Johnny Manziel back in the day. That's a big no-no right there. But... Something that I've learned recently (with the whole Elder Ifopo thing) is that if somebody is sincerely trying to repent, who are we to deny them that opportunity to move on? There's a BYU devotional by Jeffrey R. Holland called, "Remember Lot's Wife". It's SUPER popular, especially here in the mission field. Basically, it tells us that we should not let past mistakes haunt us, and that we should let others put their mistakes in the past as well. If our Heavenly Father "remembers them no more", why should we?
Yup, I find out on Saturday what my destiny is for the foreseeable future!! I'm excited to see where I will go, and who I will be with!! I just hope that it's somewhere like Greensburg!! I absolutely loved that place and the people in it. Also, I miss having a car. Like, SO MUCH. I just hope he sends me to a car area for the last 5 transfers of my mission. And that this isn't the last area of my mission.
For some reason President likes keeping me in areas for 6 months, which is crazy! I have interviews with President on Thursday this week, so I'll try to see if I can get some answers from him as to where I'll be going.
Anyways, this week was pretty fantastic!! Wanna know the best part?? Rose will be getting baptized THIS WEEK INSTEAD OF NEXT WEEK!! YASSSSSSS!! I'LL BE HERE FOR IT! That is honestly such a miracle
I was thinking I was gonna miss it and I was so bummed. :( But she's progressing faster than we expected, and the stars have aligned for it to happen a week early! We had the baptismal Interview yesterday, and she passed with flying colors! Elder Ifopo told us that she is so prepared :) I'm just so excited for her and this wonderful step that she's taking! If I was brought to the Northside for no other reason, it was to meet Rose and be influence by her goodness. Gosh, I love her so much!!
We had probably the FUNNIEST lesson of my life with Rose on Tuesday. We were teaching her the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. She handled the Word of Wisdom like a champ. She doesn't drink alcohol, or smoke. She rarely drinks coffee, and drinks only herbal teas. But then we started teaching her the Law of Chastity... Boy, did I have a run for my money. I don't want to get TOO into the details, but lets just say she didn't see why sexual relations before marriage was wrong. It was kinda like having the Birds and the Bees talk with a 57 year old woman, all through Google translate. It got a little awkward at times, but that's what made it so funny. But, she's ready, and is willing to change, and that's the most important thing!!
We also got to attend a baptism with Rose yesterday. It was so great to see her get all excited, and say, "Next week, it's going to be my turn." She kept whispering, "New Life" under her breath which was awesome. She's so ready!
Other than that, this week has been pretty standard. I did get to celebrate 17 months on the mission on Wednesday. We went out to eat at a Thai restaurant called Nicky's Thai Kitchen, which has some of the best fried rice I've ever had in my life!! I don't know what they do differently, but it is SO good and SO filling. Only 7 more months to go!!
It's starting to get really cold! On Saturday especially, Elder Toomer and I were freezing our butts off while tracting. Those earmuffs you sent me have really come in handy! It snowed a little bit on Saturday as well, but only occasional flurries, nothing sufficient enough to cover the ground. I'm a little excited to see Pittsburgh blanketed in snow, but then I'll get transferred and have to drive in it.
. THAT I am not looking forward to.
Not much other news, unfortunately. I'm just super stoked for this next Saturday, to see Rose get baptized, and to find out where I'm going. Transfers are on the following Tuesday, so as not to interfere with Thanksgiving. Fun times!!
I love you! Enjoy your holiday!
Elder Jake Gonzales
Thanks for the email!! I'm glad that you'll have most of the family together for Thanksgiving! Sarah sent me an email and she's really excited to see you and have a good old fashioned Gonzales Thanksgiving.
Gosh. I can't imagine a fire big enough to destroy a whole town. There must be so many people who have lost their homes and have virtually no possessions. That's really sad :( Elder Toomer also told me that there was a shooting that went down in California? I haven't heard anything about it, and he didn't have any details for me. I hope it was nowhere close to you guys. Gosh, all of these shootings happening all over the place are enough to give anyone gray hairs
Great to hear that BYU pulled off the win!! New Mexico isn't a great team, so maybe there's hope for Bowl Eligibility yet! But I hear from my Ute Companion that Utah has been playing pretty dang well this year. All I know is they've beaten UCLA and USC soundly, which is not looking good for BYU. But like John pointed out in his email, BYU seems to have a better road record than home record, so hopefully that will spark our offense and we'll come away with he first win since 2009
Ugh. Freaking Nick Emery. His mistakes have caused BYU to get bad publicity yet AGAIN. I don't really know what he did, but John's letter indicated that he had been accepting money and rewards from boosters and stuff. Just like Johnny Manziel back in the day. That's a big no-no right there. But... Something that I've learned recently (with the whole Elder Ifopo thing) is that if somebody is sincerely trying to repent, who are we to deny them that opportunity to move on? There's a BYU devotional by Jeffrey R. Holland called, "Remember Lot's Wife". It's SUPER popular, especially here in the mission field. Basically, it tells us that we should not let past mistakes haunt us, and that we should let others put their mistakes in the past as well. If our Heavenly Father "remembers them no more", why should we?
Yup, I find out on Saturday what my destiny is for the foreseeable future!! I'm excited to see where I will go, and who I will be with!! I just hope that it's somewhere like Greensburg!! I absolutely loved that place and the people in it. Also, I miss having a car. Like, SO MUCH. I just hope he sends me to a car area for the last 5 transfers of my mission. And that this isn't the last area of my mission.
Anyways, this week was pretty fantastic!! Wanna know the best part?? Rose will be getting baptized THIS WEEK INSTEAD OF NEXT WEEK!! YASSSSSSS!! I'LL BE HERE FOR IT! That is honestly such a miracle
We had probably the FUNNIEST lesson of my life with Rose on Tuesday. We were teaching her the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. She handled the Word of Wisdom like a champ. She doesn't drink alcohol, or smoke. She rarely drinks coffee, and drinks only herbal teas. But then we started teaching her the Law of Chastity... Boy, did I have a run for my money. I don't want to get TOO into the details, but lets just say she didn't see why sexual relations before marriage was wrong. It was kinda like having the Birds and the Bees talk with a 57 year old woman, all through Google translate. It got a little awkward at times, but that's what made it so funny. But, she's ready, and is willing to change, and that's the most important thing!!
We also got to attend a baptism with Rose yesterday. It was so great to see her get all excited, and say, "Next week, it's going to be my turn." She kept whispering, "New Life" under her breath which was awesome. She's so ready!
Other than that, this week has been pretty standard. I did get to celebrate 17 months on the mission on Wednesday. We went out to eat at a Thai restaurant called Nicky's Thai Kitchen, which has some of the best fried rice I've ever had in my life!! I don't know what they do differently, but it is SO good and SO filling. Only 7 more months to go!!
It's starting to get really cold! On Saturday especially, Elder Toomer and I were freezing our butts off while tracting. Those earmuffs you sent me have really come in handy! It snowed a little bit on Saturday as well, but only occasional flurries, nothing sufficient enough to cover the ground. I'm a little excited to see Pittsburgh blanketed in snow, but then I'll get transferred and have to drive in it.
Not much other news, unfortunately. I'm just super stoked for this next Saturday, to see Rose get baptized, and to find out where I'm going. Transfers are on the following Tuesday, so as not to interfere with Thanksgiving. Fun times!!
I love you! Enjoy your holiday!
Elder Jake Gonzales
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