May 30, 2011 letter

Dear Family,

I´m still in Champotón.  Elder Portillo is still my companion.  We are getting a new Elder in our district.   I think he´s American, but he still hasn´t arrived yet so I don´t know.  Right now we are waiting in Escarcega for him to arrive.  The boy we baptized 2 weeks ago is named Eduardo.  He works with the 1st counselor, former branch president, and mission leader.  They brought him to church, we taught him, and he was baptized.  The other converts are doing ok.  The older lady that I baptized is going to church with her 2 grandchildren.  Her daughter got a job and works on sunday, so we are going to see if she can get sundays off.  The other boy that we baptized 2 months ago goes to church for the most part.  We are teaching his mom and hopefully we´ll baptize her a week from Saturday.  Also, we are going to start teaching his brother. 

This last week hasn´t been too good.  My companion and I have gotten a little lazy.  We are going to work harder this week.  We didn´t visit the tourist place 2 weeks ago.  It closed before we got there.  We´ll see if we can go next week.  Last Monday we mailed a huge box to my companion´s house so he wouldn´t have to travel with as many things when he finishes his mission.  I rode with the box on my handlebars.  While we were riding, I hit a little bit of sand, lost control, and fell off.  I got a nice little bump on my leg.  Suprisingly, my shirt wasn´t the least bit dirty.  While I was brushing off, a drunk rode up in his bike.  Just as I was about to tell him we didn´t have time to talk, he asked where we were taking the box and then strapped it to his bike.  We rode with him there and I visited with him while my companion shipped it.  He didn´t ask for any money.  I wrote down the address of the church and gave it to him.  Hopefully we´ll see him again when he´s sober.

 

Love, Elder Gubler

May 23, 2011 letter

Dear family,

 

How is everyone?  I hope everyone is ready for summer.  The weather here is getting hotter and more humid.  We traveled to Campeche for a zone conference this past week.  It was really great.  We watched a talk from Elder Holland that he gave in the MTC when I was there.  He talked about the things that missionaries don´t do very well, why we have Preach My Gospel, the importance of his and our mission, and that we need to love the people.  This past week we didn't have any baptisms, but we are going to see if we can have a baptism on the 31st.  The goal for the mission this month is to baptize in 2 of the 4 weeks of May. 

I forgot to write in last week's letter about my companion´s ipod getting stolen.  On Sundays we study after lunch.  We arrived at the house, opened the door and put our bikes away.  There were a lot of ants in the other room of the house so I started sweeping them out.  My companion was in the bathroom, so the front room was empty with the door open.  While I was sweeping I could feel that the wind shifted.  I walked into the front room to check what happened.  Everything appeared normal.  I looked out the front door and saw someone running about 2 blocks away.  I looked around, checked that my wallet was there, and figured it had shifted as the person was running by.  I went back to sweeping, and then went to the bathroom.  While I was in the bathroom I remembered that my companion's ipod was on the table in the front room.  It all clicked.  I finished in the bathroom, went and asked my companion where his ipod was.  He looked at the table, under a book, and then said he didn't know.  We got on our bikes and rode for a couple of blocks to see if we could find the person.  We were unsuccessful.  Well, I hope that whoever buys the ipod listens to the hymns and becomes converted. 

I figured out how you can get a fair exchange with your money when you come to get me.  The first counselor and his brother want tents and water purifiers.  You can bring them with you when you come and they can buy them from you here.  Could you also check into some hunting supplies?  They want a whistle that attracts peacocks, and also one that attracts wild pigs.  I´m not sure if these exist or not.  I do know that they make these for ducks.  Maybe dad can ask Steve Koch if they sell those.  Well, that's it for this week.

Love,

Elder Gubler

Hitting the streets

Eduardo's baptism

Mayan architecture

Gulf of Mexico pose

May 16, 2011 letter

Dear family,

     It sounds like everything is going great.  These last 6 months have gone by really fast.  Time in the mission flies by.  The weeks go by like days.  I think when I get back I'd like to do an internship also.  Maybe dad can take Devin Nunes' job when he retires.  Any idea why the church doesn't ever go to Ponderosa for the campouts?  I was over the strep throat after the first week.  Everyone here buys purified water, so we don't have to worry about it.  My companion and I buy the highest quality water.  I did, however, wake up at 2:25 this morning with (dysentery).  Up to this point I´ve been fine.  It came from our lunch yesterday, but I´m not sure what caused it.  It was either some carne asada from an activity last Friday, some honey that the family has had for several months, or watermelon.  We had a baptism this last saturday for a 15 year old.  He works with the 1st couselor, the former branch president, and the ward mission leader.  They brought him to church and we were able to teach him.  He's very immature but he also listens well.  He has the exact same bb gun that I have.  He likes to shoot pidgeons with it.  The first counselor plucked and gutted the pidgeons that he shot and they ate them that night.  He didn't show up for sacrament meeting on time for his confirmation, so Elder Portillo and I rode to his house to get him.  When we were 30 seconds away from the house, he came riding in the other direction, heading for church.  We rode back with him and got him confirmed.  We don't have any other baptisms planned for now, but hopefully we can find some more investigators.  That's it for this week.  Later today my companion and I will be going to a tourist site with a member.  Last week we went to a couple of monuments in Champoton.  I attached some photos of that.

Love,

Elder Gubler

May 9, 2011 letter

Dear Family,

It was really great to talk to you yesterday.  It looks like Kimi had a good time at prom.  I read dad's article on the misery index.  It was very well written.  If you get tired of Visalia and want to move, Stockton is a beautiful city.  The members [here] are helpful.  The nonmembers that have been in church the last few weeks have been brought by members.  We should be having a baptism this week and perhaps a few more before the next transfer (May 29th).  Most of our contacting is done on the street.  There is a carepackage service that the mission recommended we use.  I can get more information on that.  I talked to one lady that works at a courier company and she had the suggestion of wrapping the package using the plastic rings that hold soda cans together.  It would also work well to use those plastic strips that alot of packages arrive in.  Any UPS/Fedex or warehouse should have machines to do that.  (speaking of that, I remembered a funny thing that my companion in the MTC told me about.  His dad's business has one of those machines and he and his cousins like to stick their arms in the machine and have it wrap up their arms.  One time he decided to stick his head and shoulders in it.)  My testimony is growing little by little.  Yesterday I found out that a rock near the Mexico/Guatemala border was discovered, and on it was carved an image of Lehi's dream.  MyLDSmail is for family only.  Dear Elder is what they [ward members] should use.  Everything here is going great.

Love,

Elder Gubler

May 2, 2011 letter

Dear family,

I finally got the letter from grandma and grandpa.  I forgot that it takes 2-3 weeks from the time it enters the mission office to the time it arrives here.  I have all the information to call home.  I'll probabaly be calling about 3 your time, but that is not definate.  Just make sure you don't lose all of the phones right before I call.  It would probably be best for mom to stay home from choir.  Elder Portillo calls home on tuesday.  Mother´s day here is always on may 10th.  Im pretty sure Im over the strep, but my throat doesn't  look the same.  I'm going to have a nurse from the ward take a look to make sure.  There are 3 other people here that have it too.  That's all of my district in the photo.  They are all from Mexico.  I think my spanish is improving, but I can't really tell.  I'll talk to the president next time I see him to see if I can check the blog.  We had a conference in february, and I heard rumors of one in may, but I have no idea.  I saw the pictures mom sent me.  The yard looks great ( the family too, of course).  We had 5 nonmembers attend church this past week.  Elder Portillo and I will work with them to see if we can get them baptized.  This past saturday the branch went to the temple, so we had to cook for ourselves.  We made burritos and watermelon juice.  The refried beans that they sell here are amazing, better than anything I've ever made at home.  One of the investigators bought a sheep, and he's going to bbq it on his birthday.  His birthday isn't until october, so I probably won't be here.  My companion and I got to do a little service this week.  A gigantic pig (I'd say about 400-500 lbs) escaped.  The owner and his son had a rope arround the pig and were trying to pull it into the bed of a truck.  The pig didn't want to go.  It was pulling so hard that the 2 guys were being pulled along with it.  We ran over and helped pull.  After a minute or 2 we got the pig into the truck.  Well that's about it for this week.  I'll call you on sunday.

 

Love,

Elder Gubler