2.3.2014

Hello Family!

This week some great miracles occurred. But first things first. Mom I had been praying about my VISA paper work and I just felt like they had forgotten about me because everyone else was getting FBI fingerprinted. Well, one of the Elders in the Mission home called me and we went over to the mission home ( I live 10  mins from it) Well he told me that Los Angeles does not require FBI fingerprints but to be ahead of the game in case they all of a sudden do he told me to go ahead and do it. So I did so in the mail you will get a letter and all you need to do is forward it I will send you the address in a separate e-mail. But anyways the Elder was telling me how hard the people in Salt Lake are working for our visas and everyday they are talking with Brazil to see what they can do to speed up the process. So my prayer was answered in the sense that I knew they hadn't forgotten me and are working very hard and I am grateful for that.

Also, We got interviewed by our mission President this past week as well. I felt great after the interview. We talked briefly about brazil and staying he knows how long I have been out but he told me in the interview that I would get there he said "I don't know how long you will be there, but you will get there. I hope you still come to our mission reunion." I just thought that was so interesting that he would say that. haha and that he invited me to the mission reunion. Of course I am coming to this one! haha. But he has faith that I will go there. I asked my companion who is also a visa waiter, we came out together if President said anything about her visa and she said no. So we will see what happens but anyways....

This week one of our new investigators, Rita from Nigeria is on date for baptism! She is so awesome. The funny thing is we met her at the library and we had a lesson at the church so we don't know where she lives. She lives by us because she told us what street she lives on and we do not live in our area. So if she lives on one side she is in our area but if she lives off of the other side of the street then she is not in our area :( haha so we still don't know if she is in our area or not because she won't tell us where she lives! But nevertheless she came to church yesterday and loved it! So excited for her. We have been seriously finding a lot of African investigators. Another investigator we found this past week is from South Africa. And we had dinner with a member from St. Thomas Islands who is African and we told her about the people we are teaching and she started laughing and said the Africans are getting baptized weather they are in Africa or not. haha

We also went and visited a less-active on Saturday. She is an old sassy lady haha but she is so funny. We brought over little ceasars pizza for dinner and sat on her floor eating while she was going on and on about stories. She is seriously so funny. She is too much sometimes that less active.

So I drove in the snow the other day it was so slick!!! We almost got stuck. We get to drive a mini-van. Weird huh? Well, yea we almost got stuck and I was trying to drive us out of it and then my comps had to push the van out... I'd say I am doing better at driving in the snow... This morning we went to the grocery store and it was 0 degrees and the inside of the car windows were frozen!! So crazy. But now it is sunny :) I am grateful for that.

Hopefully this Saturday I get to go back to Battle Creek for a baptism! I will be going back with my old companion who is in Lansing and we are going to go down. I am so excited for that it will be great to see everyone again. The power of pray is so real in the sense that Heavenly Father knows are needs and is very sensitive to each of them. In the past I would never pray for certain things because I didn't think it was important enough to pray about. But now I realize that everything is important to pray about. If I am feeling a little bit down and I pray for Heavenly Father to uplift me someone or something always happens weather I get complimented or someone smiles or I find opportunities to serve. I know that He is mindful of my heart. There was a crazy Russian sister in Battle Creek. Could barley understand her when she spoke because she had such a thick accent but her husband was going on about how great she is with cement and fixing things. So he asked her how she does it and her response was, Prayer. She said before I even get started on it I pray like Nephi did before he built the boat. I just thought that was so awesome. We should pray for everything. Go through our day spiritual before we go through it physically. I think Elder Bednar said that.

Well anyways I am grateful for all of you and you are all wonderful examples to me.
Te amo,
Sister Gonzales

1.27.2014

Sorry I don't have any pics from my new area but these are some pics from my last day in Battle Creek that I didn't have before.

The little boy is our recent converts son he is so cute!

It has been cold but you know you just layer up and remind yourself that it is only temporary pain for eternal blessings.

This week we have interviews with our mission President. We are a little unsure what to do with some of our investigators because they are not really progressing so we might be dropping a few of them. I am always learning so much. I have really decided to study faith more. Faith Faith Faith! I really need more faith in myself and that we can find new people to teach. For language study we watched finding faith in Christ in Portuguese and then for lunch I watched it in English and then one more time in Chineese haha why Chineese I don't know I just really wanted to watch it again. Then we gave the only copy that we had away to an investigator who had an amazing spiritual moment. She opened up to us and our awesome ward mission leader gave her a blessing after. She wants to come to our church but of course there are always opsticales in the way but she is still reading the book of mormon which is so awesome! She goes to the People's Church which drives my companion nuts because that is what the church is called and we are the church of Jesus Christ! haha

Well anyways, I really prayed that night for more faith and the next day at ward-mission cooralation our ward mission leader who is a very inspired man comes in with a fath paper that he wrote about how faith should be a spiral effect so we are always progressing and going up rather than a cycle. What an answer to prayers seriously! I was so grateful for that. I also decided to start reading what Talmage had to say about faith in Jesus the Christ. Wow! My favorite story that I am slightly obssesed with at the moment is the story of the woman who touched the robe of Christ and was healed. What faith she had that she knew she could be healed just by His touch. I need that much faith! I love what it said in Jesus the Christ that when Christ said Daughter thy faith had made the whole... He was approving her faith and granted her the desire of her heart to be healed. No one is more powerful than the Savior. I am on this journey to find faith, faith that I am hungry for that I need because I lack it I need to be more like this woman. I don't know the future but I can believe in Christ.

This weather does stink at times because some investigators do not want to travel in it to come to church which was the case for us yesterday.... but brighter days are ahead. I know the Lord is looking out for us just by the small things.... For example yesterday we tried to see a less-active on a street we were door knocking and she was really rude to us and said we were not welcomed... Welp, the next house we door knocked into the lady came to the door with a huge smile on her face..Well she thought we were going to sing for her haha she wasn't really interested but was very kind. Just small things like that remind me that Heavenly Father's hand is in this work.

I hope that everyone had great birthdays and the best thing about the gospel is that it is designed for us to progress... I was reading in my note journal the other day and I found a quote someone said that I may not be able to change what I did today but I can make tomorrow awesome!

Te Amo muito Familia! :) Enjoy the draught because atleast you can get tan and you have sun. The rain will come when it stops snowing here.. Just kidding haha but if that is the case I will fast for that too!
Tchua

1.20.2014

Hola familia,

I should probably clarify last e-mail. So the first presidency said for sisters that if their visa does not come by a certain amount of time they should stay. However, my mission president said it is 100% our choice if we choose to stay or not. I have checked my visa status and there is no progress on it so I really can't estimate a time that it would come. For right now I am just going to keep working and serving and not think about it.

Anyways, in these new area we are using family history more and yesterday after church I started to do a fan chart. Mom have you heard of that? It is a different way to display your geneology. Mom is the pedigree chart you sent me all the family history we have done? If so we have a lot of work to do. Especially on dad's side. There are many ordinances that need to be done.

We hade exchanges this week and I got to work with my trainer again at MSU campus. It was so fun to work again with her and I love when I get to go on campus, it makes finding so much easier because there are people actually walking around on the streets haha I always learn so much from my trainer and from trade-offs they are always so fun. We door knocked this trailor park the other day and met some interesting people. One of our investigators from guatamala fed us and she is so nice but said she doesn't need a church to save her and I bore my testimony in spanish that we believe that this is Christ church and we need church to partake of the sacrament. But she went on about being a mom and then I said we would bring her a spanish proclamation. She is open about reading the Book of Mormon and other things so we can't drop her yet. For some reason I am always more bold in spanish. I am trying to be more bold with people.

We are trying to teach a chineese family and an indian one I pray that we can find a family to teach. Driving in the snow is not my favorite but I am learning.

I have been thinking a lot about what I want to study after my mission. I know that people say you figuire that out when you go on your mission. Part of me feels like I should have never changed my major. I feel like I want to go into human behavior I feel like it is something that I can read and observe but that could just be the spirit haha so I am not sure.

We have a new investigator from nigeria who spoke to missionaries in london. At church they talked about temples and she said that she needs to go to the temple and I told her she needs to get baptized first. And I think I was explaining that to her for like 15 mins haha she didn't understand she just wanted to go to the temple. But she said she would love to talk more later this week. So that is something to look forward to. This week the highs are in the 20's and it is very overcast. But I know that spring is just around the corner and so I am excited for the day I do not have to wear sweat pants under my skirt.

Well I love to hear that everyone is doing well and all the exciting news. I know I have a wonderful family and I have this scripture cases made from cereal boxes now and I have a picture of the boys on it from the photoshoot we did and everyone always says how handsome they are haha...

Well Te amo familia,
Sister Gonzales

1.13.2014

I don't know if I sent any of these so here are just some pics right before I left Battle Creek next week I will try to send pics of my new area.

This week it warmed up a bit so it is not frigid cold outside. Still cold but atleast not in the negatives. I cannot believe how huge carlo is, my goodness! I won't even recognize him when I go home. My mission President goes to church in the same building as me and so I will see him every Sunday. I saw him yesterday and he talked to me and my companion who is also waiting for her visa about making a decision to stay here. Well, he is letting choose for ourself but if we are still here by our 10 month mark we will most likely stay in this mission permanently. I will be hitting 9 months on the 24 of this month. Time sure does fly! I have been thinking about what I would decide to do, obviously it is out of my control if my visa ever comes. But I truly do love being here and it will warm up in March so that will be good! I don't know yet what will happen but until then my mission president said he is going to use us as if we were never leaving.

Well, anyways this week I also saw my old companion because my trainer and old companion and I all meet at the same church building for church. So that is weird haha. Hopefully, Saturday I will be going back to Battle Creek to see one of our investigators get baptized. The next time you go to the grocery store pick up a box of Kellogs cereal and see where it is made. It will say Battle Creek, MI :) Yup that is where I served for 7 in a half months haha

Well the members in this ward are so awesome. Our ward mission leader was bishop twice and is a lawyer but does so much for us. He got us all each our own copy of the d&c dvds. He is always willing to come to lessons he is great! We also have an investigator from guatamala and so I call her and try to set up times with her because she only speaks spanish. This week is trade-offs so I will be serving on the MSU campus for a day. I love when I get to go to campus it is fun.

There are so many chineese people here I love it! We door knocked into this chineese family and they let us in and asked if they could come to church. We will probably visit them later this week...hopefully we can start teaching them haha. The mom spoke pretty good english but the dad not so much so he would just smile, nod and laugh. They are so great. I am learning so much and I have been layering up and wear five pairs of socks. and 3 pairs of gloves. A hand warmer exploded on me the other day and I had black all over my jacket haha.

Well Mom I hope you had a great Birthday!!! I know that Dad and Cody's birthday are this month too, I just don't remember what specific day but HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Love you,
Sister Gonzales

1.10.2014

Just a quick e-mail...p.day was cancelled because of the weather and so we got a little time today to e-mail so just quick letter...

I love my new area. The town Williamston is small but we cover multiple towns we are right next to the Michigan University and Lansing so really I am in a big town. I love it and hopefully I can go on trade-offs to MSU... but being close to a campus makes me think about school which I don't like so much. I love my companions, training is fun... I live really close to the mission home. The members are great!! People have money here so that is culture shock from my last area. I still miss the people in my last area but change is good! I am having fun. We werent allowed to door knock for two days because the wind chill was -30.... but now the weather is in the 30's so it is warm haha. I am layering up so much but feel blessed because it is only temporary the cold. But the members really caution us the danger of the weather so we are being careful. My new comp trust me to drive in the snow so I have been doing that I don't like it so much though haha.

Not much more to say other than I love Michigan and we door knoced during the rose bowl and everyone told us to get lost haha MSU won the rose bowl so that was cool! I really do love this mission and I don't know if I will go to Brazil I will have an interview with my mission president and talk to him about it. My comp who is a VISA waiter has been waiting just as long as me so it will be interesting to see what happens. Mom, I am thinking of going to the ciaro here to take advantage of being in the states. My hip is really hurting and I just need it popped so I might do that just so you know.

There is so much more to say but I will keep it brief for this week so my other comp can use the computer but I am so happy to hear about all the miracles that are going on back home. Thank you for your love and support!

Sister Gonzales

12.30.2013

Oi! Familia. It was nice talking to all of you on Christmas. I had a nice Christmas we went to a families house in the morning and then met with our recent convert and we did companion gifts as well so it was nice. Believe it or not I made a goal this past transfer to become a morning person. I know mom is probably in shock right now. But I did. We do companion prayers in the morning and for like a week straight it was always my turn to pray in the morning. And so I really thought about it and I said that I shouldn't be so grumpy in the morning especially if the first thing I get to do is talk to Heavenly Father so ever since then I have been much more feliz. So christmas day I was the first one up and woke my companions up with a Merry Christmas and Bom Dia! haha it is true Mom I am happier in the morning.

Well anyways, it was a good day. So transfer calls were Friday I was a nervous wreck! I am getting transferred to a small town called Williamston, it is near Lansing, I will be training with another Visa waiter that I came out with and she is really awesome so I am excited to work with her. I don't know why my mission President put two visa waiters together to train but it will be fun. I think this new area is nicer and rich so I will be in culture shock haha. We leave later today so yea I will still be in a trio but that is okay.

Yesterday, at church we did perform that song and it went pretty well. We of course said bye to the members and a bunch of people they are all so awesome. I will miss this area it will be weird to go somewhere else but it will be fun! I am excited for the new adventure. I have some pics I will send

Thank you again familia for everything! And congrats again Miguel e Vane! :)
TE AMO

12.23.2013

Hey Familia! Two more days until I call... I will call around 1:30 your time. I am glad you got the box I sent. Thank you mom for the winter clothes and abuela for the sweater. It has been cold! Church was cancelled yesterday because it rained all last night and the rain froze over on the roads and so it was too dangerous to drive in the morning. So we had to stay in our apt until noon or so. Then we went out door knocking and we kept seeing icicles falling from trees and telephone lines.

We had a baptism on Friday, Brother Scott Burden. Unfortunately he has to wait another week to be confirmed because church was cancelled. Mom we were suppose to do a musical number during sacrament. I was playing the piano, while another girl played the flute and my comp and a member sang. It sounded really pretty maybe we will get to do it next week. But I have improved tremendously on the piano. I can sight read much better and when I mess up I can quickly find my spot. It's a miracle I don't get as nervous either.

I have been getting some Christmas cards from people in the ward. Tell them thank you! I appreciate it. Transfer calls are this week and so we will see what happens.

The other day before we got our car back we were waiting for the bus and a member picked us up and so it kind of through our plans off and so we ended up shoveling her driveway and I couldn't find another shovel and so I went in the garage and grabbed a dust pan and I started shoveling with that I was doing a work out squatting and picking up snowing and throwing it haha and then the Sister comes out and says what are you doing?! haha I just laughed and said I was being resourceful but then realized how ridiculous I looked and we finished up and my companion comes up to her and says that I am from California. haha Yup I am and I do not like snow but I didn't want to just stand there doing nothing.

The icicles here are huge! I remember the picture of Mike from his mission where he is holding an icicle and so I wanted to do the same thing and I win Mike. The icicle I held was huge and I held it with my bare hands and it hurt after haha I will send the picture of that. Make sure to show Marcel that picture. If I can't be in Brazil I will still find cool things in Michigan.

Well, I guess I will talk to you all soon! Hope all is well! Have a Merry Christmas!