FEB_4_19_MOM_TOW_From Mom
Hey Mom!
I'm super excited for P-day today. The weather has warmed up sufficiently enough that we can play tennis!! Elder Foster played for a year in high school, so he's at least willing to play with me. That's something I've never had in a companion before! So I'm excited for that. I'm so rusty. Haven't played in over a year. But I'm excited!!! YEEEET TENNIS IS THE BEST.
But of course, I had to be sure to email my dear mother first. As you can see, I sent out a weekly email to the masses today. That email should cover a lot of the things that you asked about in your email, particularly about investigators. I would reccomend you read that one first. This week has been AWESOME. So many miracles evident in this area, as well as in my district!! For example, the Mansfield Sisters had a girl named Cassie on Baptismal Date for the 23rd of this month. However, Cassie talked to them yesterday after church and asked if she could be baptized THIS Saturday, the 9th. They were taken totally by suprise. They weren't sure if she was ready. And they still have a ton of lessons to teach her.
But they taught her yesterday, and went over the baptismal Interview questions with her, and feel that she's ready. So I get to go give her a Baptismal Interview on Thursday :) I'm excited for that. A little nervous, as this will be the first one that I've given since I've been district leader (I guess that gives you an indication as to how good of a district leader I am haha).But yeah. That was a cool blessing from this week.
Yeah, it was freezing this week. Like, the worst I've ever exerienced. LIke last year when it got this cold, President Bednar told us we weren't allowed to be outside for longer than 10 minutes at a time. So Elder Foster spent most of Wednesday and Thursday contacting people rather than tracting. Especially people in the far reaches of our area that we're not able to get to frequently. We got to meet a few less Actives that way. Hopefully we're able to start working with them. It was fun driving to the boonies, though. Elder Foster and I are good friends and always have interesting conversations lol.
Man, sorry about the rain. With all the rain you're getting, it sounds like you're living in Pennsylvania haha. I guess rain in California is not a bad thing, compared to the dry spell we had a few years ago. I'm glad you and Dad made it through everything okay!! And I'm sure Graziano's amazing pizza made everything better!!
Gonzaga is playing well?? Man, what a surprise. I'm glad to hear that we're at least second in the league. I don't know if I ever told you, but when I was in Greensburg, there was a nonmember we played basketball with on Tuesday nights who ALWAYS used to call me "Gonzaga". He knew I liked BYU, and that my last name was Gonzales, so I guess he thought it was an appropriate nickname. Everytime I would go for a shot, he would yell, "GONZAGA!" to mess me up. It was so funny haha. I miss Greensburg sometimes.
We had Interviews with President Bednar this past week. We had to do it via video chat because the roads were bad and we couldn't travel on Tuesday, when our interviews were scheduled. Basically he just told me that he was grateful for the influence I've been on Elder Foster. President Bednar has told me many times that whenever there is a struggling missionary, he always wants to put him with me (Elder Lin, Elder Taylor, Elder Foster) He said that I have a way of helping them in a way that he can't explain. He thinks it's my calm temperament, and the capacity that I have to get along with virtually anyone. I don't know if that's true. But I'm grateful for the compliment nonetheless.
I also kinda indirectly told him that I don't want to spend the rest of my mission in Towanda (even though I definitely like it more than Pittsburgh). I told him that 7 and a half months is a long time to spend in ANY area, no matter how good it is. He said he doesn't know the future, but that if he were to transfer me, it would be after this transfer, so that I could spend my last two transfers in my new area, not just one. That sounds good to me. So I definitely have at least one more transfer in Towanda after this one. This transfer ends on February 14th, Valentine's day. So we'll be recieving our new transfer boards on Saturday!! I'm looking forward to who my new companion will be!! It's always a scary time, but I'm excited.
He also gave me permission to start using the computer at the library to do school stuff. I still have no idea how to enroll in Fall Semester, if it's just as simple as signing up for classes, or WHAT. But Sarah emailed me this week and is doing an awesome job of helping me out, letting me know what I need to be doing, etc. She told me I need to get an ecclesiastical endorsement from President Bednar. I'll undoubtedly do that during my next interview with him, unless it needs to be done earlier. Sarah also told me I need to be aware of where I want to live, who I want to live with,etc. I don't really know anywhere other than Raintree and Heritage. And I don't know if there's anyone in particular that I WANT to room with. We'll see. I'll have to do some praying about it. I'm thankful for Sarah in being willing to help me out with this stuff. Because I don't remember how to do any of it. I will be going to the Library today to try to see what I can get figured out.
One other thing about our interview was pretty cool. After we said our opening prayer, he told me something along the lines of, "Elder Gonzales, I've been thinking about you a lot today. Sister Bednar and I are currently staying in a hotel room. But not just any hotel room. We're staying in the exact same hotel room, sitting on the exact same couch, that I called your parents on a year and a half ago. I sat on this same couch and discussed the anguish you were going through with the headaches and anxiety. I discussed with them the possibility of putting you on medication. I think now about how far you've come since then. How much you've changed, how much you've endured, how much you've grown."
It really made me think. A lot has changed in this past year. I was so close to going home at the beginning of my mission. The thought crossed my mind multiple times. But I'm grateful that the Lord provided me with the strength to ENDURE. I'm grateful that he provided me with the companions I needed, with the medication to help me. But most importantly, I'm grateful for the wonderful parents that I have who helped me through that whole thing. For understanding my struggles. For not looking at me like I was broken. For loving me and helping me. And here we are, almost at the finish line. You're a huge part of that. Mom, Dad, I love you. John, Briana, Sarah, I love you guys. I'm so grateful for you. More than I can even express. I'm literally tearing up writing this. I love you guys so much. Thanks for all you do.
Until next week!
Elder Jake Gonzales
I'm super excited for P-day today. The weather has warmed up sufficiently enough that we can play tennis!! Elder Foster played for a year in high school, so he's at least willing to play with me. That's something I've never had in a companion before! So I'm excited for that. I'm so rusty. Haven't played in over a year. But I'm excited!!! YEEEET TENNIS IS THE BEST.
But of course, I had to be sure to email my dear mother first. As you can see, I sent out a weekly email to the masses today. That email should cover a lot of the things that you asked about in your email, particularly about investigators. I would reccomend you read that one first. This week has been AWESOME. So many miracles evident in this area, as well as in my district!! For example, the Mansfield Sisters had a girl named Cassie on Baptismal Date for the 23rd of this month. However, Cassie talked to them yesterday after church and asked if she could be baptized THIS Saturday, the 9th. They were taken totally by suprise. They weren't sure if she was ready. And they still have a ton of lessons to teach her.
But they taught her yesterday, and went over the baptismal Interview questions with her, and feel that she's ready. So I get to go give her a Baptismal Interview on Thursday :) I'm excited for that. A little nervous, as this will be the first one that I've given since I've been district leader (I guess that gives you an indication as to how good of a district leader I am haha).But yeah. That was a cool blessing from this week.
Yeah, it was freezing this week. Like, the worst I've ever exerienced. LIke last year when it got this cold, President Bednar told us we weren't allowed to be outside for longer than 10 minutes at a time. So Elder Foster spent most of Wednesday and Thursday contacting people rather than tracting. Especially people in the far reaches of our area that we're not able to get to frequently. We got to meet a few less Actives that way. Hopefully we're able to start working with them. It was fun driving to the boonies, though. Elder Foster and I are good friends and always have interesting conversations lol.
Man, sorry about the rain. With all the rain you're getting, it sounds like you're living in Pennsylvania haha. I guess rain in California is not a bad thing, compared to the dry spell we had a few years ago. I'm glad you and Dad made it through everything okay!! And I'm sure Graziano's amazing pizza made everything better!!
Gonzaga is playing well?? Man, what a surprise. I'm glad to hear that we're at least second in the league. I don't know if I ever told you, but when I was in Greensburg, there was a nonmember we played basketball with on Tuesday nights who ALWAYS used to call me "Gonzaga". He knew I liked BYU, and that my last name was Gonzales, so I guess he thought it was an appropriate nickname. Everytime I would go for a shot, he would yell, "GONZAGA!" to mess me up. It was so funny haha. I miss Greensburg sometimes.
We had Interviews with President Bednar this past week. We had to do it via video chat because the roads were bad and we couldn't travel on Tuesday, when our interviews were scheduled. Basically he just told me that he was grateful for the influence I've been on Elder Foster. President Bednar has told me many times that whenever there is a struggling missionary, he always wants to put him with me (Elder Lin, Elder Taylor, Elder Foster) He said that I have a way of helping them in a way that he can't explain. He thinks it's my calm temperament, and the capacity that I have to get along with virtually anyone. I don't know if that's true. But I'm grateful for the compliment nonetheless.
I also kinda indirectly told him that I don't want to spend the rest of my mission in Towanda (even though I definitely like it more than Pittsburgh). I told him that 7 and a half months is a long time to spend in ANY area, no matter how good it is. He said he doesn't know the future, but that if he were to transfer me, it would be after this transfer, so that I could spend my last two transfers in my new area, not just one. That sounds good to me. So I definitely have at least one more transfer in Towanda after this one. This transfer ends on February 14th, Valentine's day. So we'll be recieving our new transfer boards on Saturday!! I'm looking forward to who my new companion will be!! It's always a scary time, but I'm excited.
He also gave me permission to start using the computer at the library to do school stuff. I still have no idea how to enroll in Fall Semester, if it's just as simple as signing up for classes, or WHAT. But Sarah emailed me this week and is doing an awesome job of helping me out, letting me know what I need to be doing, etc. She told me I need to get an ecclesiastical endorsement from President Bednar. I'll undoubtedly do that during my next interview with him, unless it needs to be done earlier. Sarah also told me I need to be aware of where I want to live, who I want to live with,etc. I don't really know anywhere other than Raintree and Heritage. And I don't know if there's anyone in particular that I WANT to room with. We'll see. I'll have to do some praying about it. I'm thankful for Sarah in being willing to help me out with this stuff. Because I don't remember how to do any of it. I will be going to the Library today to try to see what I can get figured out.
One other thing about our interview was pretty cool. After we said our opening prayer, he told me something along the lines of, "Elder Gonzales, I've been thinking about you a lot today. Sister Bednar and I are currently staying in a hotel room. But not just any hotel room. We're staying in the exact same hotel room, sitting on the exact same couch, that I called your parents on a year and a half ago. I sat on this same couch and discussed the anguish you were going through with the headaches and anxiety. I discussed with them the possibility of putting you on medication. I think now about how far you've come since then. How much you've changed, how much you've endured, how much you've grown."
It really made me think. A lot has changed in this past year. I was so close to going home at the beginning of my mission. The thought crossed my mind multiple times. But I'm grateful that the Lord provided me with the strength to ENDURE. I'm grateful that he provided me with the companions I needed, with the medication to help me. But most importantly, I'm grateful for the wonderful parents that I have who helped me through that whole thing. For understanding my struggles. For not looking at me like I was broken. For loving me and helping me. And here we are, almost at the finish line. You're a huge part of that. Mom, Dad, I love you. John, Briana, Sarah, I love you guys. I'm so grateful for you. More than I can even express. I'm literally tearing up writing this. I love you guys so much. Thanks for all you do.
Until next week!
Elder Jake Gonzales
P.S. OH! To answer your question about Bill (since I didn't talk about him in my weekly email), he's doing good. He's still really struggling with faith, though. He's been having a ton of difficult times recently that are making him question if what we're teaching him is really helping. But we were able to help him recognize the Spirit on Saturday, which is something he's struggled with since I first met him. So that was a major breakthrough. He's coming along slowly. And he'll likely be moving soon. But I have faith that he will someday recognize the truth of our message, hopefully sooner rather than later.
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