Rainy Preparation Day in Pamplona

Well family I just want to say that I love you!  I am just on a spiritual high right now.  We saw many miracles last week and prayers are answered by the Lord.  I just want to let you know that the family is the central unit of this church.  The Lords plan is perfect and we are all important in this sacred work of bringing his children his restore truth.

Random thoughts:

We had a fhe last week with a Bolivian family who has a daughter going on a mission to Argentina on Wednesday.  We had a lesson and after we ate piquemacho, or something like that, and it is so good!  Claudia, convert in castellón, made some for us once and it was really good.

Mom, I need more return addresses for sending letters.

Also thank you Erica for taking the time to go on family search and placing photos online for people like me to know more about my family. ( completing the second part of plan de Europa)

I have a twin brother name sabastin from chile.  He is a less active,  but he is the same age and we both like the same stuff like Starcraft and movies.  He is a great kid, and has a cat too!

We went to eat fast food a few times this week, yum.

We were on a bus, because that is all we ever do is ride buses, and there were a few catholic priests on the bus and two elders.

Élder Montalbo said the pledge of allegiance as we were walking one day and it was terrific.  The words were so good.  It was on Saturday and we were contacting with a member and I had a power fraze go through my head.  A young woman walked by.  Normally I don't like to contact the young adults because I simply feel a like awkward around them sometimes.  Anyway, I asked if she believed if God can answer prayers?  She said yes and was very interested to listen for more.  We were shocked that someone actually stopped to listen to us.  We talked for a little bit more and she was hooked with our message.  We even had the member testifying too.  Our only problem was that we forgot to hand her a Book of Mormon, silly mistake on our part, but we know where she lives though.  Miracles!

We had a great Sunday.  Ana, an investigator, came to church.  We lost contact with her last week and she didn't come to church last week, but she came without us having to call her.  We have a visit with her on Saturday.

We were walking out of church and we saw a man who was drinking beer in the bar under the church.  He fell over and cut his head open and blood was gushing out.  The members stormed to help.  He was super drunk, delirious.

And we had a Halloween dance for the youth in the church here and they brought a lot of their nonmember friends.  It was really good.  I helped put decorations up because I'm so tall.

Well family last weekend was "todo los santos" and this is a holiday here in Spain.  It is when families go to visit their family who have passed on from this mortal life into the spirit world.  It was truly a blessing to have knowledge and a testimony of this restored gospel that we can live as families now and forever.  Thanks to the priesthood "that whatsoever ye shall seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven" (hel 10:7).  I don't know abuela muy bien pero sé que
viviremos con nuestras familias para siempre.  This time, this earthly life is for men to prepare to meet God (alma 12:24).  " Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?" 1 cor 15:29.  Because we shall live again.  Christ died and broke the bonds of death.  Death has no sting.  The grave has no victory.  I know that, yo sé que, my redeemer lives, vive mi señor.  Gracias a él viviremos.  Thanks to him we will all live again.  I love you all and hope you have a wonderful weeks.

Con carino,
Elder Gonzalez

"Yo sé que vive mi Señor" himno número 73

Random thoughts:

We were walking one night and we came across a community band and choir singing on a rainy night.  They were really Spanish because they had guitars and accordions.

We met a recent convert/ less active in the street, one we were trying to get in contact with, and God placed her in our path.  Miracle

We were walking one day and I came upon this sign, translating into English, "Lazaro, an insurance company".  Life insurance anyone?

We knocked doors one day and we gave a Book of Mormon to a man from Argentina.  The spirit in that book will touch his life.

We went to Burger King one day with the less active/ recent convert I mentioned above, and we had lunch with her at Burger King because she only has time during lunch time. I ordered an ice cream and they didn't give me my chocolate sauce:(

We asked a man what a word meant in Spanish in the street and the man said it meant "hurry" and quickly ran off saying that he was in a hurry too.

We contacted another less-active too because we were contacting one day and found out that she is from Columbia and have a visit with her on Wednesday.

We had tacos for lunch one day and they were soooo good!

We were on a bus and we contacted a lady who has been living here for 48 years. she was from New Jersey.  She knew that we were Americans because we are 6 feet plus and have Mormon name tags on.

We saw a cool sports car I believe it's called a mazarati or something Like that.  It has a trident as its symbol.  It was really nice.

We met another American family from St. Louis, Missouri.  They have been here in Europe for 40+ days.  What an adventure.

The streets flooded.  A pipe was accidentally broken and water flooded a street.  We made paper boats and sailed them down the street. :)

Élder Montalbo gave a talk on Sunday on baptism.  It was really good.

We had beautiful weather on Sunday.

We had lots of people at church on Sunday.  We sang hymn 208 in Spanish.  It's our mission song!

Our G.P. Teacher has just been released and so he gave his last class on Sunday, and gave a goodbye compliment to all the people that were in class, which were a lot.  Even to the investigators he gave praises and compliments.

We had a really good lunch on Sunday in a pueblo with an Ecuadorean family.  It was really good food, with a beet salad!

Well family I love the savior.  I have the wonderful chance to read from the New Testament as an assignment from president Dayton.  I have been going slow right now in my reading but I have discovered the blessing of the holy bible that we have now days.  It is a blessing to be able to read of stories that have been preserved from generations to generations.  It is not a complete, accurate account of ancient church history, but with modern prophets and the Book of Mormon we can learn more who the savior is and why he is so important.  I really liked matt. 5 the sermon on the mount, pres. Monson said " the greatest sermon given by the greatest person who ever lived."  Read your scriptures and receive your daily bread from the
Lord by means of prayer and meditation.  I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Con cariño,
Élder Gonzalez

Missionary Work is a Great Experience

Questions from home:

 

Question;  When you have visitors in church are there members that go out of their way to meet them and make them feel welcomed  in church?:  some yes others no.  I hope you go out of your way to greet people.

  Do you introduce them to the visitors so they can have a member come in contact with the visitors?: we make a great effort to so they keep wanting to come back.

  Do you have an ongoing Gospel Principles class for new members and visitors? : yes in all of my areas there have been teachers that teach the class.

who teaches it ?   : a member named Stalin Castro from Ecuador.

How many are in the class on a regular basis?: like 12.

Random thoughts 

I accidentally was trying to tell a less active that she looked young by trying to say 25 as a joke, but my mouth misinterpreted and said 50.  Now every time I see her she always laughs and I laugh because she keeps saying she's 50 but in reality she's 44.  Oops

We were on a train to Vitoria and there were a lot of young teens that were saying bad jokes and mean things.  There was also guardia civil on the train too.  I so glad to have for strength of youth.

I want mission stories.  Mom, dad, tony, victor...I want to hear some mission stories just for fun to read and treasure.

Mom, please send me electronically a copy of the baptisms for this year to me so I can send them to the office for an end of the year video, plus a hand copy of Claudia's baptism in December to send to her for a one year celebration of membership!

This week was a good week.  We saw many miracles and saw success too.  There won't always be stormy days.  The sun has to come out some time.

I would like to start off by sharing a great miracle that we had this
past week.  We were knocking doors one day and we were late on time so we skipped the first two floors.  We had extra time the other day so we decided to finish knocking that building.  As we came down to the first and last floor and the second to last door, we knocked and nothing.  We were just on our way to the last door and out the building when we heard a voice coming from the door of 1,D.  Normally when someone says "who is it?"  you normally answer back and say " we are missionaries", and then they shoo us away without even opening the door, but we answered back and said that we were missionaries.  The man opened up the door.  He was 25 years old and invited us in.  He is very catholic, but we went in, sat down.  He told us that he was in a hurry but we could share a quick message.  We explained who we are and told about the Book of Mormon.  He took ingress and invited us for Sunday lunch.  It was an incredible visit, one I had been praying for.  It shot our enthusiasm through the roof and gave us desires to work harder.  The visit yesterday was terrific.  No fecha yet, but little by little.

We met a lady right after this visit and met a lady in a bakery named Money from Bulgeria.  She is really nice, young and full of energy, plus we bought pumpkin shaped cookies for Halloween, and no they do not celebrate Halloween here in Spain, only all saints day.

We had a primary choir for the baptism of 2 children of this ward here from active families.  It was really nice.

A man from Logroño came to our church and shared a message about addiction recovery.  He is from the US, and has a strong THICK American accent.  I had to think to myself how is my accent?

Mom dad, hope you two are having FHE.  if no, join up with another family and have one.  it is a sacred time during the week to be together with the family and fill our spiritual lamps.

We cannot teach anything unless we first have a testimony of it in our own lives.

We played a fun game for noche de amigos with the JAS called bear, fish, mosquito.  It's like rock, paper, scisors (sorry have no idea how to spell that).

We contacted a man from Taiwan who speaks very good English named Elvis.

I just want to let you all know that I do have a testimony and that a mission is the hardest 2 years I have ever done/will do.  It is not easy but "salvation was not a cheap experience"- Élder holland.  Our savior Jesus Christ is our redeemer from the fall.  I have the chance to read the New Testament as assigned by president Dayton to begin a journey to study about the life of the savior.  I have only but read the first chapter of Matt, but I have first started off studying what is the bible and how and why it is so important.  It has gone through hundreds of years worth of translation and false dedication to get to our homes and we sometimes treat it lightly.  I know I have, but it testifies of the savior as well as the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ.  We must use the bible to gain a testimony of the basic Christian doctrine and read from the words of modern prophets to help us fill in the missing gaps.  I love this work even if it makes me want to pull my hair out:)

Well family I love you all and wish you a great week.

Con cariño

Élder Gonzalez 

Sent from my iPad

Spiritual Questions Require Spiritual Answers (Élder Anderson in the oct g.c. in 2014)

Hello family how are you all?  ¿Cómo estáis?  This has been a good week.  Lots of work demanding out attention.  This is a sacred work with much to do by those who have been called to thrust in their sickles and bring God's children to the restored truth of the
everlasting gospel.  Which gospel is it?  The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of the living God.  Big words from someone who has a hard time understanding a second language and who knows nothing about technology, and yes mom I do remember what UTI means and BP. I might be a little slow, but I can still remember that Warfarin should not be taken with vitamin k or garlic.  Nor should your darks with whites go in.  

Elder Montalbo, Elder Gonzalez, Elder ?, Elder ?
 

Things here in Spain are good.  People still want very little with religion and street contacting is a hard work when half your day fires, and yes dad I do have plan B's- F's and G's.  "Now is the time for members and missionary to work together."- pres monson.  The members are key to growth in the church.  I am convinced that there will be far less baptisms from this ward here in Pamplona from just missionaries without the support from the ward backing us up.  We have lots of potential but we are struggling to connect the ward to investigators, by having a member with us in visits that will lift and support those who are investigating the church.  I feel bad sometimes because I have been here for a long time and I haven't seen an explosion of success, but that might just be me for not looking hard enough.

Random thoughts:

Élder Montalbo and I have seen more miracles together though.  We were contacting again with our server questions and we contacted this lady who has heard some lies about the church and this left a bad taste in her mouth, and didn't really want anything from us.  Luckily we were literally next to the church so we asked if she wanted a tour of the church.  She said yes and so we took her inside and she was really impressed.  We also gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon, and she was very excited to read it.

We had a great visit with a less-active named Martha from Bolivia and she had a friend in the visit.  As we were talking, her friend, Angela, did not want anything to do with us, but we got her to participate in the lesson and as soon as we started to read from the Book of Mormon
in 1 Nephi 3:7 she loved it and started to read more and so we gave her a copy to read at home.  Tonight we are going back to talk to them more about the book.

People are like weeds or plants.  They may look small on the outside, but have deep roots underneath.

The Barcelona trains in Cataluña were shut down because some people destroyed train tracks and communication cables, leaving thousands stuck all over Spain.

We had a really good enfoque de zona!

The march of the "guardia civil".  We saw the national police march down the street.

We gave 2 Books of Mormon to two Brazilian ladies this week!

We saw a man with a u of u hat, but he didn't want anything from us.

Another miracle we had this week with Élder Montalbo was when a man right before church walks in to see who the Mormons are all about because he looked us up on the church's website.  It was a miracle that he found our website and not an anti-Mormon website. Plus he
stayed for all three hours!  We have a return visit for him on Wednesday.

I completed a true fast, with a fast, prayers, testimony, and meditation.  I sat in church on Sunday and had the thought to share my testimony, and I did.  These are the 4 things I said, 1) Heavenly Father 2) Jesus Christ 3) Joseph Smith 4) Thomas s Monson

Mom questions:

Are you still doing push-ups?  : no
What do you and Elder Montalbo do for morning exercise? : running and some push-ups
Has it cooled off enough to wear suit coats or sweaters?  : president Dayton has eliminated that rule, but if the weather is cold we are to wear coats and sweaters.
Will you be able to go visit the village from where the Doria gentleman from whom you descend lived? : send me an exact address please and I will see if I can go, preferably by this week, before Sunday.

I just want to leave you with my love and a quick spiritual thought, October 2011 Élder christopherson. "In a general conference address entitled “The Brilliant Morning of Forgiveness,” President Boyd K. Packer provided this analogy:

      “In April of 1847, Brigham Young led the first company of pioneers out of Winter Quarters. At that same time, 1,600 miles [2,575 km] to the west the pathetic survivors of the Donner Party straggled down the slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains into the Sacramento
Valley.

      “They had spent the ferocious winter trapped in the snowdrifts below the summit. That any survived the days and weeks and months of starvation and indescribable suffering is almost beyond belief.

      “Among them was fifteen-year-old John Breen. On the night of April 24 he walked into Johnson’s Ranch. Years later John wrote:
      “‘It was long after dark when we got to Johnson’s Ranch, so the first time I saw it was early in the morning. The weather was fine, the ground was covered with green grass, the birds were singing from the tops of the trees, and the journey was over. I could scarcely believe that I was alive.

      “‘The scene that I saw that morning seems to be photographed on my mind. Most of the incidents are gone from memory, but I can always see the camp near Johnson’s Ranch.’”

      Said President Packer: “At first I was very puzzled by his statement that ‘most of the incidents are gone from memory.’ How could long months of incredible suffering and sorrow ever be gone from his mind? How could that brutal dark winter be replaced with one brilliant
morning?

      “On further reflection I decided it was not puzzling at all. I have seen something similar happen to people I have known. I have seen some who have spent a long winter of guilt and spiritual starvation emerge into the morning of forgiveness. When morning came, they
learned this:

      “‘Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more’ [D&C 58:42].”

 

 

Preparation Day, October 12, 2015

 
 Well family I love you so much and hope you have a great week.
Sent from my iPad

I love general conference

Jared and Elder Montalbo, aka Jared's body guard (this guy could be a linebacker, 6 feet 4 inches and muscles)
 

 

Wow what a crazy week.  I have been running around town trying to help the other missionaries and trying to help my companion in my new area of town, which is very weird because it is not the same area that I started out with.  So now we are working really hard because we have a baptismal goal of 3 for this month and so we have to work really hard to find the success and the blessings from the Lord.

Random thoughts

We contacted a woman from Mexico last week who is here in Pamplona studying for her phd in applied physics in medicine I think.  She was more or less interested in our messages, but we had a nice chat with her and got her phone number.

We watched half of G.C. In English and Spanish.  It was okay in Spanish, but I like to feel the emotion and the spirit of the leaders of the church testifying of the truth of the gospel.  It is a blessing to know English and can listen to the prophet without a translator.  I was really happy during the priesthood session that the translation did not put up the music in the rest hymn, and I was proud to sing in English.  It felt really good.

I saw my old companion Élder Dixon again.  His parents came and picked him up.  He was visiting his old areas and so I got to say hello to him this weekend.

This week Élder Montalbo and I worked together like a well oiled machine.  It was really good.  We received a great idea from our ward mission leader on how to better contact   people.  We make a questionnaire and start asking people questions to get their interests.  It worked out really good. We even handed out a few copies of the Book of Mormon.

Mom, I want more church pants from mr. Mac because my old pair have a few holes and are losing their luster.  Maybe like one pair.

Brother Anderson Emailed me and said that the fathers that have missionaries out have to share a 2-3 min. summary of their child.  Well, I have thought about it and I have 4 points of my testimony for you.
1) "1. I am a child of God, And he has sent me here' Has given me an earthly home With parents kind and dear." Hymn 301
2) d&c 76: 22 "And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!"
3) d&c 135: 3 "Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it."
4) the family, "Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."

These are a few points that I wanted to share with you all that I have been thinking about this week.

I got a haircut today. 

Mom questions
When is the last time that a member fed you and what did you eat?: Saturday, we had shrimp with the shells on with rice, I didn't really like the shrimp because there was no flavor.
do you as a male missionary attend women's conference?  : no because we are ELDERS, not sisters, duh.
do you need a new pair of shoes?  : no
When was the last time you went for a run? : a few weeks ago.
You never did say where Elder Wheat is from...?  btw: sandy
Have you met any elders who are going to Snow? : yes Élder can't remember

Well family I just want to let you all know how grateful I am for the blessings of the Lord.  We have the opportunity to write letters by means of iPads.  We have the standard works and the words of the living prophets.  I am in a wonderful country serving a mission with clean water and speaking Spanish!  I know at times this mission can fee; like a hurricane, not just a rain cloud, but a real test of character and obedience of the Lord. I pray that "25 And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;" Abraham 3:25.  This is a time of consecration unto the Lord.  Many Ward members , mostly the JAS,YSA, don't like my complete exact obedience because in the past some elders
liked to goof off and "hang out".  This is not the time.  Missionaries are the workers of the Lord for 2 years with all their hearts. We must have an attitude of obedience to all the Lord’s commandments, like president monson said,  we must keep all of the Lord’s commandments.  I am very grateful for the Lord’s leaders of his church.  The apostles and prophets are called by God to direct his work.

Family I love you and I'm continuing to press forward in the Lord’s work.  Have a great week.

Con amor,
Élder Gonzalez

Five Transfers in Pamplona!!

Hi family!  This week was really good week!  I had so much fun.  This week’s letters will be very short, because of transfers and just being busy right now trying to help the other new elders here in Pamplona.  My new companion is Élder Montalbo from Centerville, Utah.  He is from my group and the first companion who does not have more time than me in the mission.  He is BIG.  he is 6'4" and I'm just a little taller than him.  We look scary walking the street talking to people.

Random thoughts:

I want missionary stories from your missions please.

Limpia , Roxana, guadaloupe were three people we met on Friday who asked where the church was because they are new to the area.

Bumped into Maria and her mom.  They are investigators we met in May and just got in contact with.

We got so board while ringing timbres, doorbells, and so we played rock soccer with a stone in front of a door and a member walked out and just gave us this weird look.  It was fun though.

Elders from Burgos came down to do splits with us because my companion and his companion left to go home.  I killed two companies in my mission!

General conference week!!!!!

Well family this is all that I have for now.  Remember that the savior is our guide and we are to follow his light.  This weekend we get the chance to have listen to the prophet and apostles.  Prepare yourselves now for the voice of the Lord to speak through his servants.  We will see and sustain 3 new apostles.  Invite those who are less active or nonmembers to listen to the voice of the Lord if at all possible.  If not, pray for missionary opportunities.

Con amor
Élder Gonzalez

Got Home Teaching?

 

Welcome to September everyone.  The temperature is 7 degrees Celsius and I have no idea what that translates into the U.S. Standard.  We have calculators on our iPads but I'm too lazy to check it.  I do know the math equation is Cx1.8+32=F so...I still know math:)

Right now I'm on a bus going to Vitoria again, because that is what we seem to do here is go to Vitoria, to go play soccer, futball, with the zone!  I'm so excited, we played last week and it was a lot of fun.

Last week was a very hard week, maybe one of the hardest weeks I have had on my mission, at least emotionally.  I had been feeling really down, so we are going to see what will happen with this final week I have with Élder wheat because this is his last week in the mission because he goes home this next week, and more than likely I'll stay here in Pamplona another transfer, hopefully with more missionaries.

We had a really good week with the ward members.  We have seen a lot of success with teaching and ward motivation in missionary work.  After stake conference, many members are pumped to have the Ward split in the near future.  I am really excited to see what will happen.  For example, one thing this ward needs to do to split is to increase the number of home teaching and more elders.  So yestrrday the elders quorum president made all the elders go and do home teaching.  I was adsigned with another member and we went and visited javier Montoya, a member who works for the national police force, or the army resumed, I
don't know, but in order to get to his home, we had to go through security.  They had to scan my DNI card, my European citizen ship card for Spain, and then we went and visited Javier.  He is such a great guy.  He's the Sunday school president.  He was a missionary in Malayan in 2001 and showed us his gun he has in his piso.  Super cool!

Random notes:
It has been a windy week this week, and the weather has turned to a cool fall temperature.

We had a visit with this new Romanian family we met on the street last week and it was a great visit.  We didn't plan on it, but we taught the family a proclamation to the world.  It was a really good lesson with a great family.

This week i have been making my prayers a little more personal.  At night I would walk into another room of our piso and I would close the door to find myself alone and kneel down and pray out loud.  Sometimes they were good prayers when I could feel the spirit, and others were prayers of complaints to the Lord.  Missions are hard and requires all the energy you can consecrate to the Lord.  Sometimes I get scared what happens to my letters when I write home.  I don't know who reads them or what happens to them, but I will say this, this week was a testimony rocker.  I really had to think, is mission good for me?  Should I stay here? Am I doing any good in the world when even though I take 2 steps forward, I feel like I'm going 3 steps back.  While others are maturing I still feel like a boy.  I still look at people and still wish to be the Victors and the Sam Garrards of the world because they are people that I do look up to, even wanting to be more like dad.  Anyway, that is enough complaining from me for one day.

We made a virtual tour of our church last week with our iPads so we can show the investigators what our church looks like because that is what president Dayton wants us to do.  Plus new pass-along cards with a photo of the church.

I had the biggest desire to play "the pyramid" a game show from the 70s for English class, but need more time to come up with a plan on how to do it.  Instead we played jeopardy.

A member had a picture that said " if you need help from God, call these numbers : John 14:13-14; Matt11:23-28; Luke 11:9-10; Isaiah 55:1-3; rev 21:3-7".  So if you ever need something. give him a call.  Operators are standing by to take your call.

Well, family there isn't much more that I have to write other than the fact that I love you and I know the church is true and I have a testimony that the church is true.  I was sitting next to one of our investigators in church yesterday while my companion was with someone
else.  I sat there and in like 10-15 seconds I felt good, like I was in a place I needed to be.  The church here is just as true as in Utah.  I still feel like a popcorn in a bowl of hot oil, like when
tony makes his Sunday batch of popcorn, I want to jump out but I'm not cooked through yet.  I still want to pull my hair out and my head still wants to explode, but stressors make stress receptors stronger to stretch the capacity to be stressed.  I think the movie " it's a wonderful life" puts it in plain terms for all to  know just by reading the title.  God is the father of our spirits and parents only want the best for their children, and if you spare the rod and spoil
the child how can anyone grow and mature?  We receive challenges to define our characters to make ourselves that much closer to the savior of the universe. I don't know what the Lord has planned for me but I pray that I'll keep him planned in my life's daily schedule.

I love you all family.  Hope you have a great week.

Con cariño,
Élder Gonzalez

Ps sorry about missed words, this bus is really shaky and autocorrect
is just off today.

Sent from my iPad