June 27, 2011 letter

Dear Family,

The rain is really starting to come down.  Before, it would rain for a few minutes in one spot and that would be it.  Saturday, the cloulds all gathered together and it really came down hard.  There was also lightning.  One bolt was so loud that I had to cover my ears.  On Sunday, it rained all afternoon and evening.  It rained for about an hour this morning.  This past week was great.  On Monday the Elders from Escarcega were able to spend the night with us because the next evening we traveled to Campeche, and there wasn´t any point in them returning to the area the next day and then coming back in the evening.  Even though we had cut our hair the week before, we had to cut it again because they told us that we needed it short for the conference with a GA.  We borrowed clippers from a member, and Elder Calvert from Utah cut my hair.  It was by far the best hair cut I have ever had.  After that we fried some chips and bananas.  I mixed together fresh honey and hot sauce.  It was a great combination.  The next day we did divisions.  That evening we traveled to Campeche to spend the night with the zone leaders.  They live on the other extreme of Campeche, and it was a 20 minute taxi ride.   About 12 minutes in, Elder Calvert asked me if we were almost there.  He looked pretty sick.  When we arrived he ran into the bathroom and started throwing up all of the chips and oreos he had eaten.  We ordered pizza that night, but Elder Calvert didn´t want any.  The next day we got up and went to the stake center.  Elder Octaviano Tenorio spoke to us.  On Thursday we got a call from the 2nd counselor saying that he had a reference for us.  The next day we went to his house and taught one of his daughter´s high school friends.  He accepted a baptismal date for the 10th next month.  We gave him a Book of Mormon.  The next day we taught him again.  He did his reading, and yesterday he went with us to stake conference.  It was a great conference.  For the month of July we should be having a baptism every weekend.  We already have planned for the 3rd and the 10th, and if we can get some other investigators to commit, we will baptize the following weeks also.

 

I like things a lot better without bikes.  It's a lot easier to stop and talk to people.  Between the 2 of us, we have enough money for 30-40 taxi rides each month, which is more than enough.  And with all of the rain, we wouldn't be able to ride bikes anyway.  I still haven´t used the jump rope yet because there isn't enough room in the house or the patio.  I don´t remember if I told you, but an Elder in the MTC snapped 2 of the bands, so it doesn´t give me enough resistence.  When I get to my next area, Im going to buy some weights.  I still haven´t written other missionaries yet, but I will if I have time today.  I still have a little bit of deodorant and toothpaste that I brought with me, but you can send more in the next package.  I have only used my glasses once to protect my eyes while frying.  Sorry, I have to go now.  I´ll answer the rest of the questions next week.

 

Love,

Elder Gubler

June 20, 2011 letter

Dear Family

Rainy season has finally started (it was supposed to start in May).  There is more humidity now.  The weather reports are pretty accurate.  We only wear our suits during church.  Usually when it rains, it doesn´t last very long.  The umbrella I have works great.  Almost all of our contacting is done in the street as we walk by people.  My companion has mentioned doing an activity with our district where we set something up and talk to people.  Taxis cost usually 15 or 20 pesos.  If it's really far, it's 25.  We´ve only taken the bus one time.  Taxis are a lot more efficient and not much more expensive.  We don´t go to the restaurantes because we have members make us food every day.  On Fridays we go to a member's that has a restaurant, but it's basically the same thing as the food the members give us.  This last week we had a great activity.  It starts out just like the trip to Hawaii activity we did for mutual, but instead of getting hijacked, you crash and get to see the three kingdoms of glory.  We finished the activity by watching the end of  The Testaments.  Several people were crying at the end.  I´m glad my letter got to Grandma and Grandpa.  Did you ever get my nice jeans and sweatshirt from Amanda?  Sorry to cut this letter short.  My times up.  Happy Father's day

Love,

Elder Gubler

June 13, 2011 letter

Dear Family,

Thursday was our last day to use bikes.  Our number of contacts has really dropped because we use bikes all of the time.  We got a call from the zone leaders and an AP and are no longer using the bikes.  It was good timing because we left them in the house of our mission leader the night before.  Since then our contacts have significantly increased.  On friday we got positive responses from almost all of the contacts.  We now travel in taxi more often, which is a great opportunity to talk with the drivers.  Most of the drivers accept a return visit.  The humidity is fairly high at times.  Not very many houses have AC.  Our house has a great cooler.  It helps a lot, especially because our house is hotter inside than outside.  Some people have citrus trees, and usually its lime.  My first converts have  a lot of citrus trees.  I think they are mostly orange.  A family told me that in an area in Yucatan, they have tons of orange trees.  It haven´t paid any attention to the avacados, but I´ll take a look next time.  Efforts improving means that the numbers of lessons, contacts, baptismal dates, church attendees are improving.  Every pday we email our president with the numbers and a message.  I finally got the pictures today from Rachel, Kimi, and Lora after nearly a month.  I sent a package of Elder Vickery´s to his family and threw in some letters to Grandma and Grandpa Gubler and Lisa Mann.  Could you check if they ever got them?  I got the addresses for the other missions today.  Thanks.  If you run into Elder Wiscombe from Davis, CA in Budapest, tell him I say high.  We were in the same group at Fresno EFY.  He left the MTC the week before I got there.  With Mike Lane gone, I think dad is going to be appointed the next Mayor.  I forwarded an email to you that I sent to Lora regarding an important chapter in Gubler Family history.  Make sure you read it to the family. 

Love,

Elder Gubler

Elder Gubler with Branch Mission Leader

Bump on Elder Gubler's leg

June 6, 2011 letter

Dear Family,

Elder Portillo has been on his mission for 21 months.  He has 11 weeks left.  The new Elder in my district is Elder Calvert from Salt Lake.  He is really nice.  He left the MTC the week after I got there.  Hopefully we'll get to do some exchanges soon.  As far as listening, my Spanish is improving.  I'm not sure about pronunciation.  I've included a picture of the ward mission leader and I.  His family is really nice.  He should be getting his mission call in a month or 2.  There is also a picture of the nice little bump on my leg from when I fell off my bike.  This last week our efforts have improved, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.  We have an investigator that is almost ready for baptism, but she leaves on sundays to buy more inventory for her store, so we still haven't baptized her.  I learned a good lesson this last week about why we should obey the word of wisdom.  We had an investigator that we were teaching about 2 months ago.  He had a testimony of the Book of Mormon, started praying with his family, stopped doing drugs, and had the desire to repent.  A few days later he got drunk, and he and his wife separated.  He moved in with his parents, but we could never get an appointment with him because he was hardly there.  My guess is that he got involved in drugs again.  We passed by last week, and found out that he is now in prison with a 15 year sentance.  He could have had all the blessings of the gospel, but he decided to drink one night and now has lost his family and is in jail.  I hope the missionaries find him again.  Tell Kimi happy birthday for me.

Love,

Elder Gubler