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