Transfer 5 week 2. June 25, 2012

We had a special meeting with President Wade this week where we got to say goodbye and take one final picture with him.  To start the meeting he said, "You will have to excuse our breath, we went to one of the finest restaurants in the whole mission one last time."  His 5 year-old daughter quickly responded with, "It was a taco truck!!!!"     Elder Mares and I didn't have a very good week prosleyting wise.  We did find a new very solid investigator.  She is an 8 year old that comes to church every sunday and has gotten permission from her mom to meet with us.  She told us that she wants to get baptized just like her friends.  We are really excited to meet with her, but.....she will be out of town for a couple of weeks so that kinda puts things off for a little bit.   We have another investigator who we have invited to be baptized.   She has accepted the date of July 28th, but we we are not to sure she will be ready by that day.  She has some word of wisdom issues, but what worries us the most is that she said she wants to get baptized but wants to continue to go to catholic church as well.  We hope that as she starts coming to church and reads the Book of Mormon that she will be able to understand the importance of making the baptismal covenant.   Thats pretty much it for this week.   I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord's kingdom restored on earth.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it is the evidence God has given us to know for ourselves that He has called another Prophet.  I know that as we read the Book of Mormon that we come closer to God and that our testimony of the Restoration is strengthened.  It is everso important that we pray to God and ask Him the questions of our soul.  He can not open the windows of revelation until we ask Him to do so.  I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that he has prepared a great and marvelous plan for us.   Sincerely,   Elder Luis Gonzalez

Transfer 5. Week 1. June 18, 2012

And so it came to pass that in the first week of the fifth transfer, that Elder Gonzalez and Mares beheld miracles.  As night slowly approached and they rested to dine, they received a phone call from a sister in the ward.  She preceded to tell the Elders that her older daughter had turned 9 and would have to meet with them before she could be baptized.  And as Elder Gonzalez and Mares heard these things they began to rejoice.  But then the sister continued and revealed that the baptism was scheduled for Saturday morning.  Immediately the billion things that had to happen before saturday morning ran thru Elder Gonzalez's head.  Nevertheless the Elders rejoiced in the mercy the Lord had given them in accomplishing their goals.    As the days passed and they taught this sweet little girl they came to know of her great and already existant knowledge of the gospel.  Said she when asked who God is, "God is our Heavenly Father and I pray to Him every night because I love Him."  The day of her baptismal interview arrived and she passed in a matter of 20 minutes.  It came to passs that on Saturday morning her dad arrived and baptized her, however we see that the devil will stop at nothing to hindr the work of God.  The key to the baptismal font and baptismal clothes was hidden from their sights.  Miracoulsy a counselor in the Stake Presidency arrived and gave them about 60 keys to try on the door.  As the Elders frantically searched for the keys the time for the baptism to start came and went. The font was finally opened and the filliing of it commenced immedately.  However the quest to get the baptismal clothes continued.  And then finally after all other keys had been exhausted, the last key came forth and was put into the door.  And then the Elders and the family rejoiced as they heard a "click!"   However the font was nowhere near full.  But because 9 year olds are quite small  it mattered not.   Then Sunday morning came and the father of this little girl asked Elder Gonzalez if he could confer the Gift of the Holy Ghost to his daughter.  Being deeply honored Elder Gonzalez happily performed the ordinance.  Then after church this little girl ran up to the Elders and excitedly told them "I paid my tithing today!"   And thuis we see that the Lord will bless both the his children that are served and the servant.   So that was pretty much my week.    President Wade says his good byes this week in a special Zone Meeting on Wednesday.  Time goes by so swift out here!    Hope all is well!   Elder Luis Gonzalez

Transfer 4 Week 6 June 6, 2012

   And it came to pass that in the 6th week of the 4th transfer that Elder Gonzalez received transfer calls!!! And it came to pass that the Spirit of the Lord (or the Mission President, same thing really) has called him to stay and serve in the Half Moon Bay Ward! As for his companion.....It hath pleased the Lord to allow, for the first time in 6 months, Elder Gonzalez to actually keep his companion, Elder Mares. (Not really much of a surprise)

So as the summer season starts, Elder Gonzalez and Mares have seen the wilderness of Half Moon Bay intensify (it got to a blistering 82 degrees :p) as the creatures known as children/teenager have been released from those cages that have school written on them. And as the creatures accumulate to the beaches, they find themselves stuck in the traffic storms, even on weekdays!

As they began this week they failed to have much success and had lots of canceled appointments. But as it neared the end of the week they did not lose their hope and continued to press forward in the great work. And it came to pass that the Lord blessed them for their faith and persistence. In a matter of days they found 4 new investigators and were able to call them to repentance (also known as teaching them and inviting them to live the gospel). And thus we see that the Lord will bless those that keep their eye single to the glory of God and continually press forward.

I'm not sure if the above account was what the Lord meant when he said the we should continually treasure up the words of eternal life, but I do know that it is quite fun to tell stories in Book of Mormon language. I am really happy that i finally get to keep to keep a companion for more than 6 weeks. We truly had a miraculous week as we put our trust in the Lord and went to work. Sadly, none of our new investigators came to church, but we think that a couple of them are truly interested and will really want to progress in the Gospel.

We found out who are new mission president will be. President and Sister Meredith from Payson, Utah! They are currently in the MTC and will be here by the end of the month. They were serving a mission on the east coast when they got a call from the First Presidency. So they will be serving for 4 years! Can't wait to meet them!

Last P-Day I went to China Town in San Francisco! One of the craziest places I have ever been! We must've had at least 5 crazy people stop and talk to us. Every corner has a store and they all sell the same things. Some lady was passing out some poster about the Chinese black market and then we had Elder Kwok with his knowledge of Cantonese order food for us at the restaurant we ate at.

That’s all for now!!!!

Sincerely,

Elder Luis Gonzalez

Transfer 4 Week 5- June 4, 2012

·         We had a tough, tough week. We only taught a handful of lessons and were able to find no new investigators. We talked to tons of people and were able to set up several return appointments but they were never home when we went back! It’s quite frustrating. If these people only understood what we have to offer them!!!!!!

So although the calendar says June, the weather tells me otherwise. This week was super foggy and I had to wear a sweater when we were tracting and I need like a billion blankets when I sleep at night. Yesterday was Stake Conference and we had a Seventy presiding. Elder Higham was his name. He asked me where I was from and when I told him he replied with, "So Elder Gonzalez, do you miss the sunshine?"

The California San Francisco West Stake is a very diverse stake. In the scriptures we read about the gathering of Israel from the four corners of the earth. I always thought of that as a symbolic gathering and never gave it much more thought. But yesterday I had a truly remarkable experience in stake conference. For the congregational hymn we sang Called To Serve, but we sang it in 6 verses. We sang the first verse in English, the second verse in Tagalog, the third verse in Samoan, the fourth verse in Mandarin Chinese, the fifth verse in Spanish, and the sixth in English. 5 different languages in one stake!!! That is truly amazing. I know that the gathering of Israel is not only occurring, but is well under way. The love God has for his children is truly extending to all the world.

That’s pretty much it for this week! Good Luck to Elder Kyle Krause entering the MTC this week.

Sincerely,

Elder Luis Gonzalez

Transfer 4 Week 4 May 28, 2012

·         I am sending this email from the Apple Store! I have come to realize that Holidays as a missionary means that the library is closed and that we have to find somewhere else to send emails on P-Day. It also means that I will be keeping this email short.
It was really weird to see some of the youth this week as they graduated. I cannot believe it has been a whole year since I finished that experience called high school. Congrats to all who graduated!!!!!!
Yesterday we had a Spanish sacrament meeting in the evening for all the Latinos in the ward. After much labor and effort we were able to get a family to attend. That’s a lot better than the last we had (where no one showed up). Hopefully they gradually improve and have all of them come every week. That sacrament pretty much describes our whole week. Elder Mares had major back pains this week so the mission nurse told us to stay home and rest. We kinda did that for a couple of days until we realized that his back was getting worse. We were unable to find members to go on splits with us so we got very little done at the end of the week.
A major highlight this week was going to Zone Conference and getting to learn from President Wade. I love that man! It is so sad that he is leaving at the end of July. Also Sister Wade gave a talk were she told a story about her great grandfather who lived in the Mexican colonies. And it turns out her great grandfather's name is Anson Call. So somewhere down the line she is related to Bishop Call.
It was announced in Zone Conference that President Weidman, who was supposed to be our new mission president, will no longer be our mission president. Sister Wiedman has an allergy to mold and mildew so the 1st presidency has a decided to reassign them. They have not yet announced who our new mission president will be. It’s just a bit terrifying to know in a month we will have a new mission president who we know nothing about.
I have learned this week that the only way to put off the natural man is to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we do not continue to exercise faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement we cannot progress. One must have the faith to be humble and repent of mistakes and trust in the promises God gives us when we make covenants with him One must live as to have the influence of The Holy Ghost, which means living the commandments, and then we can endure to the end. The natural man will stop us at every point from living the gospel of Jesus Christ. The natural man always looks inward while the Saint of Christ looks outward.
I know Christ lives and loves you. Never forget it.
Sincerely,
Elder Luis Gonzalez

Transfer 4 Week 3 May 21, 2012

       

·         We taught a new investigator this week who we are really excited about!!! We are going to invite him to be baptized this week and hope that he will be able to start attending church soon. He has a family and loves kids so much. But he has told us that his wife is not too interested in religion so he has not allowed us to meet her. But we are hoping her heart softens and that we can start teaching them as a family. Also with school ending soon we are hoping to visit some former teen investigators and see if without the huge distraction of school that they will be able to progress in the gospel. Lots of exciting things right around the corner. Also the ward council keeps telling us that tons of new members move in during the summer.

I never thought I would find myself right next to a beach during all of summer! If I don't get transferred at the end of this transfer that’s exactly what is going to happen. But with President Wade leaving in July (so so so so sad) we have no idea what to expect.
The ward had a talent show this last weekend and we were asked to perform. With about 20 minutes of practice we went up on stage and Elder Mares jump roped while I threw grapes at him so he could catch them in his mouth. We got lots of compliments (I think mostly because we made them all laugh).
No real big news to report. Every week is pretty much the same. I wake up, I study, I go out and work (and somewhere I find time to eat). It might not be anything huge but I know that obedience brings blessings. The Lord gives us commandments so that he can bless us in our endeavors. I know obedience brings blessings, but I know that exact obedience brings blessings.
Sincerely,
Elder Luis Gonzalez

Transfer 4 Week 2- May 14, 2012

·         We were so sad that we were unable to have a lesson with any of our investigators...but on the bright side that gave us opportunities to find, find, find! And find we did! We found tons of new investigators to teach and we are excited to meet with them this week. We also have tons of lessons set up with potential investigators this week so we hope that we are able to find even more people to teach!
We got really excited when we knocked a door and the man let us right in to teach him. We had an awesome lesson and at the end we invited him to be baptized. The Spirit was so strong! But finally he told us that this was all knew to him and it seemed like a lot to take in. It was very disappointing when he didn't invite us back.
Mother's day was pretty much like any other day except that all the church meetings before sacrament got canceled and I got to call my mom!!!!! Oh and I wore my favorite yellow tie!
Yesterday we drove all the way down to La Honda to teach a former investigator and her less active husband. It is about a 45 minute drive along Highway 1 with a view of the beach the whole way. One day when I am no longer a missionary I will return and enjoy the beaches that everyone describes as "freezing" along with the endless fog that we have here. We parked our car on a street the other day and then walked to our lesson. When we came out we spent about 15 minutes looking for the car. The fog was so thick that we passed the street that the car was parked on. And because all the streets look exactly the same (especially at 9pm with fog) we were convinced that the car had gotten towed. I think the thought of President Wade getting mad (when not really mad, President doesn't get mad, just disappointed) about our towed car was scarier than having to walk 30 minutes back to our apartment.
Sincerely,
Elder Luis Gonzalez