11.11.2013

First off some good news I hope. So this Elder that is in my district is also going to Brazil. He did his papers through Los Angeles just as I have and he has been out for 8 months waiting in Michigan. I have been out 6 months waiting. Well anyways he got his VISA!!! Which means I will too soon I hope!! So there is hope I soon will be going to Brazil.

 Anyways, not too much to say. We didn't have a car for awhile so we road the bus and it was fun personal contacting on the bus this black guy sat next to me and I pretty much taught him the plan of salvation he was a nice guy. When people sit next to you they have to listen until the bus stops haha. But unfortunately one of my companions had to sit by a creepy old guy that was weird and whispered in her ear that he shot a man. Crazy stuff, Well anyways I do have my driving privileges now and so I have been driving it is great! :) Friday is transfer calls and so we will see where I go.

It was a good but rough week with investigators. One investigator really wants to learn more and has felt the spirit but her husband told her that we only see her as a number and she broke down in tears to us and we told her that she wasn't a number and that Satan is trying to pull her away from the truth. Sometimes these men just need to be humbled!

There was a wedding the other day that we were invited to and it was weird being there haha even though it was in the church. The second we walk into the church the lady whose grandson was getting married was panicking that the punch wasn't made and all that stuff so we had to go to the kitchen and make it while the wedding was going on. haha just because we are girls I think people expect us to do other things and it makes me frustrated sometimes because we are missionaries! haha we cannot babysit or make food for the wedding. But whatever, asi e la vida! So yesterday was kind of sad I am not sure if you heard about the philipines but a member told us about it and one of my comps best friend is serving there and she panicked and was crying. But we found out that all the missionaries and doing well. I cannot believe the devastation that occurred there. 

 

We decided to get a jumix at the Mexican store by the neighborhood we were door knocking because we had to leave because we were surrounded by cop cars and couldn't door knock anymore

My comps from the MTC emailed me and said brazil is really hard but they can't wait until I get there! Which will be soon I hope. There is a lot of work to be done all over the world. Even in the US. Especially in Michigan. People need to be humbled and realize that they are nothing without God. We need a desire to change and not complain that we are struggling. Well we get to hear from a 70 I think his name is Elder Golden, tomorrow at half mission training. 

 

It will be weird if I leave this area because I have been here for 6 months! That is a long time! The members really are awesome and I will miss them. But I have realized that the mission is suppose to uncomfortable and awkward or you won't grow.

I think for the first time every we had a breakfast appointment the other day haha.... It is because this lady in the ward called us and said she brought home a girl from the streets and is lost and has done drugs she wanted us to talk to her. Well we leave studies early to go to her house. The girl had left and so the member felt bad and made us breakfast. but then the girl came back and you could tell she was struggling. She was 23 but looked much older. People don't even think we look 20, word of wisdom!! Anyways, we told her that God doesn't make mistakes and she said he does. That is when we knew there was no getting across to her. I feel bad that she is going through this hard time and dealing with it through drugs. There is a lot of that I see here. 

 

Our mission president said that you can tell who the elect are by the way they respond to the book of Mormon. That always helps me stay focused and have the faith that if God called more missionaries then he definitely has prepared more people to receive the gospel. It is a continuous battle with Satan everyday and this people searching for truth. It drains you but that is life. We will always be battling against Satan. 

 

Anyways Obrigada familia! Te amo! 

Sista Gonzales

11.04.2013

Wow the kids are so big! For Halloween me and my companions were all sick, didn't have a car because we are on car rotations. It was raining and it was weekly planning day. So our mission presidents wife said we could stay in. Nothing else to do on Halloween as a missionary, but the Laubengayer family took us out for dinner (I sent pics) and then we went to a members and watched 17 miracles. So that was my Halloween. We had zone conference as well and I got to talk to the other Visa Waiters. It is los angeles fault why the visas are taking forever!!

Anyways, we had our trunk or treat on saturday... one of our investigators came and then the Hernandez family came. Our recent convert Brandi came too.  We were able to talk to this lady who just stopped by because she saw a trunk or treat and I was talking to her and she seemed interested and so hopefully we will meet with her this week. Also, the Hernandez family came to church yesterday! And the members are awesome one of them got up and bore her testimony in Spanish because she saw they were there. She was so nervous but did it! it was way cool! However, their 3 year old son, Marcel, talked a lot and I think the mom got embarrassed and so they left after sacrament meeting. We just need to explain to her that is how little kids are. The older girls were bummed though because they didn't want to leave they wanted to stay.

We have been walking a lot because we don't have a car. We walked to down town where POST is the cereal company and boy it is in the ghetto is was gross! haha there is a dump by it and it smelled so bad I almost threw up.... but anyways... The family I talked about last week lives by there haha...and those are the girls we played ball with. I seriously love that family!  I was super happy that the mom let us take her girls because she is really protective over them but now she really trust us. Basketball was a lot of fun and yea it wasn't a p. day but the young women's were so happy we brought the girls and we got them to church some how. The taller girl in the fotos is 15 and wants to play bball in high school so we were helping her out. And she had to guard me and couldn't at first because she couldn't take me seriously but then I kept pushing her around and then she finally knocked me down haha I was happy about that because she started feeling more comfortable around us. Hopefully we can see them again this week.

It looks like we will have a good week ahead. I am getting much better at personal contacting, so that is good as well. I do think I will probably be transferred too. Transfer calls are in 2 weeks! Time sure does fly. And no body thinks that I am 21 haha. I was practice teaching with an elder from my district and he said we are all the same age 19. I said I am 21 he was super shocked haha my comp said I look 17 so yea... I still don't look old yet. 

 

Our recent convert Brandi, has a friend for us to teach this week! :) yay and our new investigator Stephanie is still reading the Book of Mormon but is getting anti material left and right from her friends but the spirit already testified to her that she needs to read and listen to us. So it is hard for her but she said she loves talking to us and it gives her motivation and confidence. So that is good!

Also, last night at the Quintano's we were eating dinner there and Sanitago was eating chilis like candy and so I tried one and then everyone else did and we were all dying haha and then my comps were sick that night haha. But I ate chilis at the trunk or treat so my stomach was used to it haha but the kids were all crying and the dad is just eating them like candy. It was funny!

 

Well toto and jinny were really nice and got me a nice coat and gloves. I might need my boots but I might just get some here. I am planning on sending a package home with clothes I don't where and a cd for chris and some other stuff. So maybe next week I will send it not sure yet. 

 

Anyways, obrigada familia! TE AMO

Sister Gonzales

10.14.2013

Well, this week has been crazy but one of our investigators got baptized!! Yay! I was stressing all night before because something bad has to happen but luckily she went out to breakfast with a member before her baptism so she was okay haha. The baptism went really well... I got to give a talk at it about baptism and my comps and I did a musical number I played the piano of course we just did a baptism song out of the primary book. So that was the highlight of the week. 

Something that the mission has really done to me is soften my heart towards kids. We all know I couldn't stand them but now I am very protective over all of them haha not just little kids but teenagers too... It is really weird and my comps tease me because I get protective over them..My comp and I decided after our missions we are going to adopt all of them haha. 

Anyways, we are still meeting with the Hernandez's. They want to stay catholic but love it when we come over haha...So we will still come over. The mom is always nice when we come over and they always feed us. We didn't have our dinner calendar passed around so we didn't have dinners for 2 weeks but our investigators or less-actives that we would visit would just feed us when we came by so that was a blessing. 

haha Another funny story is this family that fell off the face of the earth we came by there house at night they live in a sketchy neighborhood but we were determined to see them so we waited for 10 mins and they pulled in. I opened the door and it knocked my companion to the ground haha the mom was really mad about who knows what she is always kind of mad and so we asked the kids if we could come in they said yea...and my comp and I were holding their daughter who is 7 bcz we have missed them a lot! Well the mom walks back into the room mad tells her daughter to get over there and starts checking her hair for lice! So the daughter looks at us and says uh oh! haha the mom was mad so we literally sat there for 10 mins dead silent!! Finally she warmed up a bit and started talking to us and they had to pick someone up so they were heading out but the mom started laughing and warmed up and my comp told her that if she was honorary we would still come by and just talk to her daughters the mom started laughing and it was a crazy night haha Then we just took showers when we got home...her girls didn't have lice but just to be safe we took showers! 

There was also a funeral this week and my comps sang at that while I played the piano...so yes mom I am playing the piano for others I even played the songs at the baptism. Well I cannot believe Viggo will be 4 years old when I get back. That is crazy to think about. I hope he got my card! 

Te amo familia! 

Hermana Gonzales 

10.07.2013

Hey Familia! 

So first off thank you very much for the birthday gifts! Also someone sent me spanish hymns? I think it was tia but i don't know who did that. But thank you! I loved all of it! 

Well, conference was amazing I thought! For my birthday Eyring spoke first and they ended conference singing my favorite hymn. I thought that was pretty cool! :) Well, after the first session yesterday I went to a members house for lunch while my other companions went to decorate the apt for my bday it was suppose to be a surprise haha... but because of misscommunication I ended up staying at that families house for the last part of conference so me and there teenage daughter painted nails and stuff haha that family is like family to me...which is hard because I wanted to hold there baby that was 2 so bad but we can't! 

Well anyways the members were so nice this week I felt like I celebrated my bday all week. the viejas of the ward who I love took us out to dinner on thursday for my bday and then we had cake and ice cream at their apt. They got me lactose free ice cream too! haha.... and then my companions decorated the apt all purple it was fun! 

So one of our investigators is totally ready to get baptized this week but our ward mission leader wants to wait and push it back bcz she is getting interviewed friday and not very many people know about it. but she is more than ready so that was annoying! She answered the baptisimal questions with flying colors! She came to conference this weekend but she left the first session right before Monson spoke. Worst timing ever! haha but she believes he is a prophet. 

Also I got a packet in the mail from the Young Women that was nice of them I loved it...Also there was a really neat young womens activity that we got to go to this week it was a book of mormon mystery dinner. and you ordered things off the menu like ammons arms...or nephi's ship and you wouldn't know what the food was going to be but we would have to look up the scripture that went with it...it was pretty cool and a great missionary moment activity...which two of our young investigators got to go to so it was awesome! 

So a sister that was in my district that is here in michigan just got her VISA and is off the Brazil this week! They sent all us visa waiter portuguese planners, and a website for parents to look at but I forgot what it was called but its to check my VISA so I don't know if you know what that is mom...my friends from the mtc send me pictures and keep asking if I got my VISA yet... I will get it soon! The portuguese planners are weird haha they use the times different then we do so it is good to start getting used to it now before I go to Brazil! 

Well thank you again for the birthday wishes! Happy Birhtday Viggo and Mike this week! I loved all your letters and thank you Vanessa for writing me I cannot believe Josh is training that's crazy haha I will hit my six month mark on the 24 that is crazy indeed!! 

Well te amo familia! 

Sister Gonzales 

09.30.2013

So this past week we went to the zoo I sent some pictures of that and the other sisters in my zone who I went on trade-offs with.  

I forgot to tell you last week but we were about to leave our apartment and some Jehovah Witnesses knocked on our door asking for spanish speakers. We didn't know they were witnesses at first so I went up to the door because they were looking for spanish speakers and then they saw my name tag and were like ohh are you mormons? And we were like yea haha and then they wanted to give us pamphlets but wouldn't take ours and they gave me a spanish on one but I said we weren't allowed to go on their website so I gave it back haha we were nice to them my other comp wanted to bible bash bad... they said they looked at the names at the complex and thats how they knew there was someone who spoke spanish because they saw my name haha I wish I woulda known they were witnesses before I would have just pretended to be brazilian and speak portuguese it would have been funny. 

Anyways, the Relief Society broadcast was way shorter than what I thought it was going to be...but I loved it! I love sister Reeves she always makes me cry I love her talks. After her talk I read Jacob 2 and it is powerful...it really is talking to us in these latter-days it is a wonderful reminder that Heavenly Father does hear the cries of his daughters on earth who are suffering and in pain.  

We have a solid investigator who is super excited to be baptized in 2 weeks. I didn't think investigators like her existed she is every missionaries dream haha. She reads the book of mormon and highlights her favorite scriptures. She is willing and determined to quit smoking. She has problems like everyone else but does not complain about them she said the book of mormon brings peace to her. It is awesome! so excited we are teaching her.

Finally the Hernandez family that I was talking about weeks ago came to church!!!! It was awesome I was so excited for them but unfortunately the sacrament speaker was dryer than toast haha but luckily we taught sunday school so that was good!  

It has been a fun crazy week for sure....

I truly believe in faith over fear because Heavenly Father has blessed me so much this week. One, we visited the Hernandez family on saturday and they told us they were coming to church on Sunday. I was so excited to hear that but sometimes as a missionary you begin to doubt because usually they don't come to church. But I told heavenly father that they are coming because they said they would be I knew they would come...and sure enough they were 10 mins late but they came! Also, there is this lady whose daughters just got baptized a month ago...well she is having problems and fell off the face of the earth and yelled at the elders so they don't see her anymore...we have been going over and trying to see her but she is never home...I asked Heavenly Father to provide a way to see her because we were worried no one had contact with her...well finally yesterday we went over after a dinner apt and she was home!! With her kids and it was awesome to talk to them...we just laughed the whole time which is what I think that family needed she has two teenagers who I think the sisters should be seeing haha they are all moody and it is funny... I am just so happy that we got to see them...

It has been a great week...not everything was perfect but it just feels good to have faith over fear it really does....and I know my VISA will come soon! I know it will... until then transfer calls are this friday!! So we will see..

Obrigada familia for everything! 

Te amo!!!! 

Sister Gonzales 

09.16.2013

Hola Familia! 

This week was crazy. It was really hot and now it is rainy and cold. We got our car back finally and we have a few new investigators. and 3 of them came to church yesterday. One is a girl named brandi she has 2 kids. She loved church and I guess she is struggling with money she hadn't eaten in a few days and the members were amazing at fellow-shipping her. After church a family invited her and us to have smoothies at their house. It was fun we watched mormon messages and it was good. 

The other 2 investigators that came to church are a trip haha. You would think they were actors or something cuz it just doesn't seem real. Well they came to our church open house and that is where we met them. They used to live in utah but they just talk and talk and talk!!! Oh man they are older and the lady cannot sit still I think she has some problems but she really wants to be mormon. 

Sunday was crazy I wasn't with any of my comps because we all had to be in different places but I stayed in relief society to watch our investigator bcz it felt more like baby sitting haha I was literally running around all day at church. But it was great! 

The family that I told you about last week didn't seem to interested anymore which is sad but they said we can come and teach them anytime. The wife was more receptive so we went and saw her seperatly one day and read from the book of mormon. she only speaks spanish so I had to translate for my comps. She wanted us to go visit her friend who was having problems she said she was going to give her the book of mormon. I told her we would visit her and give her a book of mormon that she could keep hers haha I was like you have to be baptized before you do missionary work what the heck. haha anyways we visited her friend and I tried to teach the restoration in spanish haha but the lady said we could come back. So It was alright I found some memebers who speak spanish who will come with us next time. 

It was a good week....many miracles happened and I feel blessed. Its been busy and crazy but its good! its getting a little cold but I can't tell if its bcz its been raining. oh well. We have been visiting a lot of less-actives and just been keeping busy! its been great! I am excited for this up coming week! I will have to send pictures next week of the cereal factories here and show you all. 

Te amo!

Sister Gonzales 

09.09.2013

Oi! Primero, Thank you Mom for the package it was a nice surprise and I loved it! Thank you very much! 

Well, this week we didn't have a car again but it was good we got to talk to people on the street. This week we had an open house for the church building to give people tours of the church. We invited as many people as we possibly could. The day of we had a member drive us around to give out more flyers but it started raining hard so no one was on the streets so we just stopped by less-actives houses. 

A huge milagre that happened was this family we had door knocked into came to the open house. Let me tell you about this familia. A few weeks ago we were door knocking and I heard spanish music and so I told my companions we had to go talk to those people because latinos are more receptive to the gospel anyways. So we went over there and the whole family was outside. The dad was from Honduras and the mom was from mexico. The mom didn't really talk to us too much but their kids loved us (win the kids over, right!) . They have a daughter who is 12 another daughter who is 10 another daughter who is 7 and a son who is 3 and his name is Marcel haha. The parents names are Juan and Maria Hernandez they even told us it was a typical hispanic name haha. Well there is a family in our ward who is Mexican and I had called them that morning to come in case this family came. Good thing because this family just got baptized a year or so ago and the brother went with me on the tour with this family so we could speak spanish. The daughter loved what she heard about young women's and the mom liked that it was very family based. Well by the end of the tour the mom opened up and was excited and took a spanish book of mormon! We are meeting with them this week they want to start coming to church! Such a milagre! IT was awesome! But that was the highlight of the week pretty much. It is the strangest thing. When people are speaking spanish I can understand almost everything but then when I go to speak spanish it just comes out in Portuguese. But when people speak to me in Portuguese I still struggle trying to understand what they are saying. It's weird. 

Well, anyways we had a zone training this past week and it was all about faith to baptize. We are advised to study faith for at least 30 mins a day. 

I have one funny story to tell that also happened earlier this week. We went to visit a less-active and she has 6 dogs! one of my comps dog died this past week so she was snuggling with one of the dogs and their other dog just jumped on me and laid on my lap. Well while we were talking to this lady I saw a flea jump on my arm, I am thinking oh great these dogs have fleas. So then we finally leave and my comp starts freaking out, screaming we run to the car and while we are in the car she finds two fleas on her so we are panicking. None of the members are answering us. Finally one called back she is our ward mission leaders wife haha well she just starts laughing at us and looks up stuff online that we could do. So we head out to the grocery store but we see cars at church so we pull in and the member we were looking for walks out we call her over she tries not to laugh too haha, but she said we can come change clothes in her garage. So we go to the store and by flea powder and poor it everywhere in the car and change in her garage. And somehow still managed to get home by 9:30 well the next day we were giving the car away so we vacuumed it out and found 2 fleas hahah.... it was a mess but we cleaned the heck out of the car and so I am pretty sure we got em all. The sisters who have the car now said they haven't seen any fleas but weren't too happy about what happened. But hey my area is pretty ghetto so it's not our fault. 

Any way that was a crazy day! 

Well, I hope all is well! Te amo!!! 

-Irma Gonzales 

A family took us to this turkey farm for dinner. It was fun.

09.03.2013

Hey Familia! 

So I did have pday yesterday but because it was labor day the library was closed so they gave us a little bit of time today to write. I am glad my ward mission leader called he is a nice guy. He is pretty young and served in santa maria in 05 so we talk about tri-tip all the time haha. 

Mom my mission president has no clue what is going on so he doesn't know. But I guess they needed a criminal record from me and I had to get fingerprinted in order for them to pass my VISA. So it was just a funny sight seeing three missionaries walk out of the police station fingerprinted haha. 

This week was transferes like I said I probably won't be getting transfered from this area. They do transfer visa waiters but by the sounds of my mission president it doesn't sound like he wants to move me anywhere. But I like it here it feels like home.. its pretty ghetto too haha. My trainer did get transfered and she was a lot different then my new companion now. Its like night and day. And I was pretty brain washed by my what my trainer did cz I didn't know any better so it will take some time getting used to my new companion. But I guess we can always learn from different people. 

Because I didn't know what I was doing with the fingerprinting stuff I went to a members house for help. She is the member whose husband is from Honduras but isn't baptized yet. They feel like family they new all the stuff for immigration haha..but they took us to this really hispanic store bcz I wanted sweet bread and I got to talk to this guy there about church in spanish. For some reason I feel more comfortable approaching hispanics because they are more open about the gospel. He was a sweet guy and hopefully we can see him again although I don't know how we would teach him haha. 

Well its starting to cool off here, although it was pretty hot this past week. Some members have told me that I can wear there daughters winter clothes if I am still here so that I don't have to go buy some. They are so great! A funny story that happened this week was we were door knocking and this sweet guy let us in to teach him and he seemed kinda of special but he lived on his own so he knew what we were saying. He said he felt good about the things we were teaching and he would go to church and be baptized so we were super excited leaving his house. Then like 10 mins later we were walking back to our car and he came up to us and said he called his mom and he can't go to our church. Sad. He was a sweet guy and we let him keep the book of mormon. But in a matter of 10 mins we had a new investigator with a baptisimal date and then we got dropped. Thats probably a record haha. 

Well I am excited for this transfer I see a lot of good things happening. On Sunday our ward mission leader had us misisonaries over but bcz dinner wasn't done he sent us to the church because it was the 2nd counseler going away party. So we went to find new investigators and what not. But I saw this family that the elders have been teaching and I got too excited and I just talked to them the whole time haha my companions gave me a hard time for it but I did get an address to visit a less-active so I didn't feel that bad. and the Elders gave me tennis rackets that they had in their apartments so I am excited about that I will have to go play tennis before it gets cold... :) 

Well thank you for ALL of your letters and encouraging words. Te amo!! 

Hermana Gonzales 

08.05.13

Hey family! 

Sounds like you all had a fun week at the beach. The kids are gorgeous and are growing up so fast. So I just got an email from toto saying that they are coming here today!! haha So I gave them a call I hope he calls me back, this is probably illegal but its P Day so I think it should be fine. 

Anyways... This week was great. It has been raining and it looks like fall is coming which makes me sad, I don't want summer to end. I feel like I have come a long way since the first day I got here. 

We met with a referral this week she is from Peru and so I got to practice my Spanish with her, I miss latinos they are just so funny haha...we just saw her again here at the library. We see everyone here at the library it seems like. You all wouldn't even believe how much I have broken out of my shell, I guess you have no choice when you are a missionary, but it is just becoming more natural each day to go up to people. Although I probably did sound like a robot leaving a voice mail on toto's phone because I am just so used to doing it a certain way haha. 

So last week we ran into Barbara ( the sweet lady we door knocked into) And her friend is from Brazil. Well we called her this week and she is so sweet she wanted to take us out on her boat haha we told her we couldn't, so she said we can have cookies on her patio I am excited to meet with them again and practice my Portuguese. 

Dad that is so cool that you had a lesson about D&C 121, I read that a few weeks ago and I just love that section. I read it because I wanted to strengthen my testimony about Joseph Smith and just see all the awful things he had to go through in jail, but how the Lord said thine affliction will be for a short while. I love it because anyone can relate to Joseph Smith, we meet so many people that complain about money and are struggling but forget to go to the Lord first. He is the only way we can overcome trials in our lives. I read this morning 1 Nephi 18:16 Wow how Nephi said  "Nevertheless, I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions." What a wonderful example, I see too many people complaining and I just wonder if they did all they could, did they ask the Lord for help. I do not want to come back home the same person I was when I left. I want to take all of these experiences, all of these people that I meet and learn from them. 

This week our Mission President asked us to fast for the faith that our investigators will attend church. 

Sometimes I do not have the best faith in my investigators and that is bad, I need to have more faith in them. I have been learning a lot that the mission all starts with faith. If you have no faith then what are you working for. I have learned to have faith in Heavenly Father because He knows all and things will be done in His time... Everything happens for a reason. haha I remember one time we were door knocking and it was this sweet black lady, and a fly flew into her house and she said oh no! And my companion said well everything happens for a reason.. And the lady said, yea I guess so, guess we will chase it out, it will give us something to do. haha I just thought it was funny. But it is true everything does happen for a reason, and it happens in the Lord's time. I have had to learn that while waiting for my VISA, but I know it will come when the Lord needs me to leave.

A scripture that I read last week also really helped me it is in psalm 55:22  "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." It helped me because the Lord is waiting for us to cast our burdens, to ask for them to be lifted. Yesterday at church a sister bore her testimony about how she went on this long bike ride and she got really tired towards the middle because she had packed way too much in her backpack that it was weighing her down. Her friend had only packed a water bottle and asked if she could take her backpack. The sister told her no that it was her own fault for packing too much she will just have to deal with it. But her friend asked again, and said its okay let me take your backpack. And the sister said that in that moment she realized that her friend represented Christ, that he is always willing to lift the burden off of our backs, and he never wants us to over pack our bags. Sometimes we put too much stuff in our bags that we are too weak to carry on our own...but the Lord doesn't want you to travel alone, He will always lift our burdens when we let him. That also reminds me of a scripture it is in 3 Nephi 18 that chapter is wonderful but verses 22-23 to me reminded me of all the less-actives we have been meeting with and how no matter what we have done, or how much stress we put ourselves under if we desire to come back, the lord will not shew us off but will pray for us, will help us will open his arms wide to come back to him. 

Well familia! Eu espero que tudo-bem com voces! I hope aunt stella got the card I sent, I had to send it home because I messed up the first time. Anyways let me know if she got it! Obrigada! 

Eu te amo! 

Sister Gonzales