December 26, 2011 letter

Dear Family,

Well it was sure nice to talk to you yesterday. After I got off the phone, the members had a couple of sandwiches and a plate of spagetti waiting for me. Rachel called on her cell phone, but the call didn`t go through, so she called about 15 minutes later from the house.

Tell grandpa Keith that we have interviews with the president every 3 months.  I'm still here in Kanasin with Elder Velasco. Elder Gubler got a new companion. I also got another area in my district. The former AP is there now with a new missionary. Its a village called Izamal.

Today I went to a clinic to get my feet checked out again because of the spots. I left my companion in Kanasin and took Elder Gubler with me. The medicine that I had been taking wasn`t really helping because of all of the walking we do. Tomorrow I'm going to get a blood and throat analysis to see if they can find the cause. If they do, I`ll get antibiotics and it should go away. If they don`t find the cause, I`ll have to stop walking. Afterwards I decided to invite Elder Gubler to lunch. We went to a nearby mall. With the Grandparents' christmas money I bought myself a nice tie that has the BYU colors of gold, blue, and white for 103 pesos. Then we went to Sears and I got myself another jumprope for 89 pesos. (my other jumprope never made it to Kanasin. I left it somewhere in Champoton.) After that we went to a food court and I got a giant platter of Chinese food to share with Elder Gubler. After that we got on a bus and got to see parts of Merida that I had never seen. Fortunately the bus passed right by the church where we have our district meeting and there is an internet cafe across the street. Elder Gubler liked your genealogy email. Bruce Gubler is teaching in Ivins. Elder Gubler told me that back when rat tail hair styles were popular, Bruce would cut them off and nail it to a board on the wall of his class. Did you get a chance to run the Honda 90 at the coast? Also, are you still remembering to put premium gasoline in the Z4.

Love,

Elder Gubler

Wedding day for David and Araceli Moreno family

Future star for Mexican soccer team

Heating water with iron?

December 19, 2011 letter

Dear Family,

 

Call me at 4:15 my time on Christmas day please.  Have you already set up the phone and everything you need to call?  In case you forgot, the number is 9991317053.  I highly recommend having a practice call.  You can call them between 8 and 4.  I´ll let them know that you will call.  Just start speaking English, or have Lora talk to them.  The zone baptisms fell through.  There was only 1 baptism that night, so the zone leaders said we might do it again this week.  We will be having 3-4 baptisms this week.  The 2 families that I have sent the pictures of in the last few emails will be getting baptized.  I´ll find out today if I get my package, and if not, next week it should be here.  What day did you send it? With my facebook, you can have Kimi and Lora put posts on my wall from their profiles.  Everyone will be able to read it.  They can also tag me in pictures and it will show up on my facebook. 

Well just in time for Christmas, our hot water heater (electrical cord with a heating coil) stopped working.  I found a temporary solution ( see attatched photo)  that was working pretty well, until it stopped working also.  I'm going to see if the other Elder Gubler can give us an extra iron in his house.  We got our investigatores married last Friday.  2 of the witnesses didn´t show up, so we went over to a nearby member and they helped us out last minute.  They signed the papers and it was official.  This Friday, assuming the husband doesn´t drink, we will have their baptisms.  The other family that we are teaching is doing really well.  They will also be getting baptized this Friday.  This last week they made us dinner to take home 3 times.  The first 2 times they made it really quickly after the lesson, and the 3rd time they had it all ready to go before we got there.  The husband gave me a nice soccer jersey.  I think I will give him my wrestling shirt for Christmas.  Elder Gubler and I have noticed quite a few things that our dad´s do the same.  They both say ´bed time for bonzos' and both put their elbows in our ribs and smack their hands. Well I´ll talk to you on Sunday.

Love,

Elder Gubler

New investigators Marcos Balam and Alma Pacheco, lunch

Elder Gubler and Elder Kitterman, former Champoton missionaries

December 12, 2011 letter

Dear Family,

 

We didn`t have any baptisms last week, but this Saturday we should be having 2 or 3.  This Saturday is a combined baptism with the entire zone.  The family that we dumped the beer out with should be ready for that day.  Today they are getting all of their paper work ready so that they can get married this week before their baptism.  Their names are David  Moreno and Araceli.  There is another family that we are teaching and we are going to see if we can baptize the husband this week and then have him baptize his wife next week. (they are the ones in the picture).  I also sent a picture of me and the Elder that took my place in Champoton.  We have about 130 baptisms a month.  That's about 2 per companionship.  We should be seeing the numbers increase soon because the entire mission is having training sessions as zones.  We have a mission newspaper every month that includes a few stories from the missionaries.  I didn`t feel anything of the earthquake.  Today I remembered it was Grandma`s birthday.  Wish her a happy birthday for me and I`ll see if I send a letter soon.  In response to mom`s questions, we got the standard works in spanish when I entered the MTC.  This family that you will call has a land line.  Any time you want to call between 4 and 8 is good.  I can talk up to 40 minutes.  You may want to consider doing a practice call to them, just tell me a time and I will tell them what time you will call.  You can just say `hola, somos la familia de Elder Gubler`and then hang up.  Yes, I got the news about only having sacrament meeting on Christmas day.  I am going to get my package as soon as it arrives.  The problem last time was that that week they didn`t have anybody send anything to the zones.  The hot chocolate here comes in a tablet, and is blended with sugar and hot water.  It isn`t as good as our hot chocolate.  But eating the tablet plain has a nice flavor.  We can go to the temple grounds whenever we want.  The picture I sent you was from pday.  Last Saturday we took a family to see the temple.  While we were there I bought myself another birthday present.  I got the movie `Special Witnesses of Christ` It's an hour long program from the First Presidency and Quorum of the12 from the year 2000. 

Well that's all for this week.

Love,

Elder Gubler

December 5, 2011

Dear Family,

This year on the calling, I can`t call.  You have to call me between 4-8 my time.  There are some members that live close by and they said we could use their phone.  Their number is 9991317053.  Calling from out of state I think you have to put a 01 before the number, but I think that is only calling from Mex.  If you call internationally, I think you put 52 before the number.  You can check more into that, and may want to have a practice call before hand. 
We find investigators by talking to people in the street or in their houses.  We usually talk to between 30-50 people a week.  Send the jerky in the package please.  They don`t have it here.  Send lots please.  With the package, its not necessary to unrap and repackage and write not for sale.  Just send it how it is.  The packages of other missionaries get here fine.  But do put a picture of Jesus on it.  Also, could you throw in some fruit snacks and anything else you think I might like.  Transfers are on the 25th.  I`ll probably be going.  Right now I`m eating bananas every day, and every once in a while a few oranges when someone gives them to us. 
I`m glad to hear that Kimi is doing well on her projects at school.  I went to Carlsbad that weekend for wrestling.  I was able to do like 3 or 5 articles on the trip, and did the rest when I got home.  I was at dad`s office until about 2:30 am, and then stayed home all day working on it until 6th period, finished in the school library, and turned it in halfway through 7th. 
Last night I went to the First Presidency Christmas devotional with 2 families that we are teaching.  We should be having 4 baptisms this month.  One family is the one that we helped the husband stop drinking.  They should be getting married next week, and we are going to have their baptisms at a service for the entire zone in the stake center.  The other 2 we found 2 weeks ago.  We found them contacting in the street. 
While Amanda is there, can you download the pictures she took of me at the MTC onto our computer, and also send me a few of them?  Also, can you find out all of the information for getting a pilot's license.
Love,
Elder Gubler