August 29, 2011 letter

Dear Family,

To me the house is so much better than in Champotón.  It's actually possible to walk around in it.  It's got a main room with a kitchen and a bedroom.  My companion says its the worst of all the houses he has been in.  It makes me appreciate my time in Champotón   because its all uphill from there.  But we will probably be changing houses because there are a lot of insects and spiders and ants and worms in the house, and there

isn´t any water.    Its just the 2 of us in the house.  The neighbor has a washer, and there are members nearby that have washers too.  Kanasin has 2 areas, and a little bit of it is covered in an area from Mérida.  There is one ward in Kanasin.  The investigadores here were really good, but they weren´t progressing when I got here.  My new companion is Elder Abarca from Cuernavaca.  He goes home this transfer.  He was companions in the MTC with an Elder from Champoton.  The transfer was a result of an Elder going home.  He was sick a lot  and had other problems.   All transfers are notified the night before.  The call usually comes around 10:00 p.m. and the next day they leave.  This one was more difficult because I had to leave so early.  The next time I transfer, I´ll only be up until around 12, and I'll be able to sleep until 6:30.  There are 2 new missionaries in Champoton.  I got a call from one of them asking what to do.  I passed some information over to them.  I got my shirts on Monday.  The AP´s were in Campeche for a conference, and they brought them to the office, and I got them in a district meeting.  I should be getting the packages today.  The Zone covers Kanasin and some of Merida.  Elder Higginson got transfered, but he´s still in the same zone.  He's from Huntington Beach.  We can go anywhere we want in Merida, all we have to do is notify the district leader and get approval.  There is a member that can take us to Costco in his car if we buy him soda.

Well this last week has been great.  It started off slow because Elder Abarca had to have his pday.  We found 7 people this week, but only 1 went to church.  The rest we´ll get to go next week.  The other Elder Gubler got transfered to Kanasin also.  I´ll be seeing him on Sundays and Mondays and during the week if a family signs up to feed the 4 of us.  I am really going to enjoy this area.  Tell Kimi and Lora that I saw a zebu, and I ate some of it for lunch.  How are Felipe Garza and Jared Rodriguez doing?  Thats all for this week.

Love,

Elder Gubler

August 23, 2011 letter

Dear Family,

There was a small storm a week from last Saturday, but I don´t think it was Harvey.  Its the same Elder Gubler.  I´m taller than him.  He goes home in Feb.  They changed secretaries in the office.  The old secretary said I had a package, but when someone went to pick up everything, they didn´t find one for me.  I´ll call the new secretary tomorrow and see what he says.  The DVD player isn´t allowed outside of the house.  I didn´t like avocados and guacamole, I think that was Rachel. 

I don´t know if you saw my letter from yesterday, but I got transfered.  I got moved last Tuesday.  We entered into our house on Tuesday at 9:55 after having 2 FHEs.  I was ready to get in and sleep, because we didn´t sleep very much the night before because the Escarcega elders stayed with us.  As soon as we stepped in the door, the ZLs called.  They asked Elder Portillo to put it on speaker.  They told me I was going to Kanasin, and that I had to be in Merida (almost 4 hours away) at 8:00 the following morning.  It was kind of some bad timing because my white shirts were at the cleaners, and they were already closed.  We left the house and walked to the house of the owner to see if she could open up the shop for us.  She told us to talk to the people that lived next door.  We walked to the shop, knocked on the house next door, but nobody was there.  We then got back to the house, and I got a Book of Mormon and gave it to a guy that lived arround the corner from us that we never got to teach.  We then went to the bus station and checked what time they left for Merida.  The bus would leave at 3:00 in the morning.  We then had to find a priest in the branch to accompany Elder Portillo until I was gone and he could shut himself up in the house.  We called one, but he didn´t want to go.  We said we´d call him back, and then after that our phone ran out of credit.  We started walking across town to get to his house.  About halfway there we found a taxi and he took us the rest of the way.  We got to his house and started talking with him, and finally convinced him to go with us. We then walked to the church to get our suit coats which we had left there.  From there we walked back to the house.  We got back at 12:30 in the morning and I had 2 hours to pack.  I got everything packed and finished right at 2:30.  I put on my white shirt, and we left for the bus station.  It was a good thing that I didn´t have all of my white shirts, because I didn´t have any room in my suitcases.  The bus arrived at 3:30.  I think the other bus broke down and they had to switch buses, but it was ok because they brought a more luxurious, faster bus.  I tried to sleep, but I only got about 1.5 hours of sleep on the bus. 

I got into Merida at 7:45ish, and at 8:00 a.m. a couple of mission secretaries came and took me directly to a zone conference.  I'm in the same zone as Elder Higginson, my companion from the MTC that I really liked.  After the conference I got to the area of Kanasin 1.  Kanasin is a city right next to Merida, divided by the 180 freeway.  It is a great area.  The house is so much more livable than in Champoton.  The church house is really nice, and I'm pretty sure it will be a great ward.  We had stake conference on Sunday so I don´t know very much about the ward.  There is a store right arround the corner that has all of the basics I need.  I can now buy fresh bananas daily instead of buying a week at a time.  I can also travel to Merida, so I plan to go to Costco.  There are lots of investigators.

My time is up.  I'll let you know more next week.  Love, Elder Gubler

Elder Gubler and another Elder Gubler?!

Guacamole anyone?

Welcome to my Home!

Cleanliness is Next to . . . .?

So busy, didn't have time for Spring Cleaning!

August 15, 2011 letter

Dear Family,

My exchanges with Elder Gubler were great.  He is my ZL (zone leader).  I got to work with him because our companions went to Escarcega to work with the Elders there.  He taught me about the power of goal setting, and how easy it is to develop talents.  It really changed my perspective on life.  We`ve offered to help the rancher, but its never happened.  On Saturday we went to check to see if he would go to church.  His family is so funny.  They had just gotten back from the ranch.  They were covered in blood (including the mom) from a bull that they butchered.  On Sunday he didn`t go to his ranch, with plans of going to church, and he got called into work because of a robbery the night before so he didn`t get to go.  The weather reports are accurate, but the weather is the same every week.  Don´t worry about sending them anymore.  We hold English class every week, but nobody shows up.  On Saturday we got notified that we were eating with our branch president instead of the family we normally go to, so we had to walk way far to get there, thus not being able to go to the English class.  As we were walking I said that today would be the one day that people show up and...I was right.  After lunch we ran into the guy that went to the class.  He had brought 2 friends with him also.  We told him what happened and said that we would be having class the following week.  We participate in all of the ward activities.  On saturday we had an activity for all of the youth.  We were outside playing arround before the activity.  We got to watch a really cool storm roll in.  The wind was the strongest I had ever seen, and it knocked me over as I ran to get  inside.  Don´t worry, I'm fine.  We have a baptism planned for this weekend, and another one planned for the 10th.  We have a couple that wants to get baptized, but we have to wait until they get married.   Thank you again for getting the packages sent.  We have a zone conference this week so hopefully I`ll get them. 

Love,

Elder Gubler

August 8, 2011 letter

Dear Family,

Our Pdays seem to never allow any time to do anything.  It feels like we are always rushed, and email time usually gets cut short.  When I get my new companion in 2 weeks, we are going to get a good system down for Pday.  Hopefully in my next area I´ll get members that wash the clothes and a store nearby. 

Thank you for getting the package mailed.  Did you use US mail?  Did you get the second email I sent last week?  I hope the chocolate makes it.  I´ve seen other Elders get chocolate in good condition.  Well this past week has been just about the same.  We had a few more lessons and contacts though.  We have a baptism planned for the 20th, and there is another couple that wants to be baptized, but we still haven´t been able to get an appointment to teach them.  There is another guy that we have been teaching since March.  He has never gone to church because he always goes to his ranch in the morning on Sunday.  Last week he was at his ranch riding his horse, and he got attacked by bees.  He fell off the horse, and the horse ran away.  He looked behind him and saw all of the bees coming, said a quick prayer, looked again and said that they all disappeared.  He said that he has to go to church now becuase of this.  He said he would go yesterday, but he ended up going to his ranch again.  We´ll see what happens with him.   Just now this guy next to me on the computer asked how he could attend church.  He lives about 20 minutes away from Champoton.  We took down his address and gave him the address to the church. 

I´ve been the pianist in church for the last 2 weeks.  I may not know very much, but I´m the only one that can read the notes.  I make a few mistakes, but it turns out pretty good.  There is one other person that can play the top notes, but he only goes about once a month because of work.  Today and tomorrow I am going to be doing divisions with the other Elder Gubler.  This is the only time in the history of the world that 2 Elder Gublers will be companions.  A few weeks ago we got a portable DVD player.  Every companionship has one now.  They are using it to help in companionship study by watching segments from "The District 2"  The district leaders also have "The Restoration" "The Testaments" and "To this end was I born."  We are allowed to watch the movies in the evenings.  In response to dad´s question from a few weeks ago, the avocados here are huge.  Yesterday there was one about the size of a grapefruit.  In Escarcega, they eat avocado with almost every meal because there are so many trees.  The Elders there are really putting on some weight.  I´m staying about the same.  I was about 175 last time I weighed myself, but that was in April.  In the MTC I was 188.  When I go to Mérida to drop Elder Portillo off, I´ll see if I can weigh myself again.  I haven´t had too good of luck with my health for the last few weeks.  3 weeks ago I got sick from some food, 2 weeks ago I got strep throat again, but it went away.  I also had diarrea for a week and a half, but thats gone too.  While I was on divisions with Elder Calvert, he got sick and then got me sick, but its just a sore throat and mucus, and it should be gone by tomorrow.  Any news on mission calls for David Younie and Derek Hayashi?  Can you check my Wells Fargo balance?  And can you call Adrian´s in St. George to see if I can wash my CTR clothing suit pants.

Love,

Elder Gubler

August 1, 2011 letter

Dear Family,

The house is fine.  It has all tile floors, just like every other single house here.  We were using a washingmachine, the bucket was to rinse the clothes after going through the soapy water.  The President didn't come to our house.  We went to Campeche instead.  We have interviews every 3 months.  Sometimes in the house, sometimes the entire zone in the church.  There are internet cafes all over.  That's where we go.  The library only has 1 functioning computer, so we can´t write there anymore.  Very few people have internet in their house, but it doesn´t matter because we aren´t allowed to use member´s computers.  These past few weeks haven´t been too good.  We walk all over, visiting lots of people, but they aren´t there, or they can´t have a lesson at the moment.  We were stuck in this exact same cycle the first few weeks Elder Portillo and I were together.  Hopefully we break out of it soon.  Sorry to cut this letter short.  Next week we are going to write 1st thing in the morning, and I am going to make sure we get our entire hour. 

Love,

Elder Gubler