Rebuilding

Hello Everyone!

I hope all is well! Another great week in the mission.

We have been doing lots of work here to rebuild the area and trying to find new investigators.  We were teaching a 9 year old kid named Luis that was progressing towards baptism but he moved back to Mexico  so he's gone.  This week we started teaching two great families: one in Camino that went to a Christian church in Mexico but go to a 7th day adventist church because that's the first one they found here, and a family that is related to our one family of members.  We are excited to teach them more and get some other ideas in place!

We are trying to get an English class started here and a soccer night to be able to find more Hispanic people.
There's not too much else going on up here.  A lot of the Hispanic people up here already know the missionaries or are very "hard-hearted" and "stiff-necked" and don't want to hear us.  They run away from us and hide and are afraid to make commitments with God, that's what our member says at least.  Yesterday we had a conversation that is very typical.  The kids answered the door and talked to us for a while in English, then we hear voices from the back saying in Spanish, "tell them to go away and that we're not interested".  Eventually we get to talking to the parents and they tell us they don't like our religion or that "they're catholic and that's that".  When we ask them what they don't like they never have anything to say and just say "we all worship the same God and that's really all that matters.  My parents raised me Catholic so that's how I'm going to stay".  We then usually bring up points such as "well if it doesn't matter which church you go to as long as you worship God, why are you so against listening to our message?" or "so what you're saying is if you happened to be born Protestant you would die Protestant just because that's the religion your were born in".  Usually by then they have nothing more to say so they just turn us away and don't listen to us any more.  It's really sad to see how little people are committed to God and how far off they are but we keep searching for the people that God is preparing to accept the truth.

One cool experience we had this week happened with two different people.  One night we were talking to an older guy and we got to talking about ourselves and he was asking why we take time out of our lives to serve the Lord.  He thought it would be better that we study and go to school and then get into a really good career.  We kept telling him that we were called by a prophet of God to be there and knew that that's where we needed to be at the time and that there would be time as soon as we go home to finish studying and get started in our careers.  A few days later when we met the 7th day adventists, when we were leaving we asked if there was anything we could do to help them out.  She said no because anything else we could do for her wouldn't be nearly as important as what we were doing then.  She related it to the story of Martha and Mary, where one was doing honorable things in cleaning/chores but the other sitting at the feet of Jesus was doing something more important.  That really made me think and be grateful for the time I have to serve the Lord.  I know there's nothing better that I could be doing in my life right now and am very grateful for the experiences I've had and everything I've learned.

I hope the week goes well at home and I'll try to have more to say for the next week!

Les Quiero Mucho,
Elder Gaskill

Obedience Brings Blessings

Hello Everyone,

This week was great, as are they all. Especially because of conference! One of the lessons I've been learning lately that was emphasized in conference was that of obedience.  President Monson and Elder Perry both focused on it and I thought it was really interesting.  One of the prophets stated that "obedience is the first law of heaven" and so we definitely need to be prepared for that by being obedient in every way here: by obeying commandments, governmental laws, etc.  One scripture that has really stuck out to me is Mosiah 2:41 that says more or less "I would that ye would consider the blessed and happy state of those who keep the commandments of God".  I testify that that is true.  The support and blessings we get from keeping the commandments are all that we could ever need.  I have been thinking a lot about the Hispanic people with whom I work.  Most of them live in humble circumstances and I am convinced that it is because they are a people that because of tradition and a lack of knowledge to the things of God break a lot of commandments.  They LOVE their alcohol and coffee, most of them "get together" with a spouse and start a family and never get married, work almost every Sunday and hardly ever go to church, etc.  Breaking these commandments is part of the reason why they are in such humble circumstances.  Those that obey the commandments of God are so much better off having all of His blessings.  So the lesson of the week is BE OBEDIENT.

A new transfer is starting tomorrow and Elder Russell and I will be together for another transfer and we are very happy about that!

Les Quiero Mucho,
Elder Gaskill

Happy Easter

Hello Everybody,

This week was another great week and it amazes me how fast it is going by.

This week we had a cool miracle.  I pray all the time that the Lord will help me recognize the people that he is preparing and putting in my path so that I can recognize the opportunities when they arise.  Up here it's harder because there aren't very many Spanish people so anyone I see could be that person.  One day this week we were exploring a city called "Coloma" that is just north of Placerville and is where Gold was discovered when the Gold Rush started.  We were driving around and not finding anything that looked remotely Spanish.  All of a sudden we ended up outside the city and heading back towards Placerville driving in between a lot of really big houses when in the middle of it all there were two little houses with Spanish people standing outside! So we parked around the corner and then walked back to them to talk to them.  We started talking to a guy named Adrian and he was really nice and interested.  He's been in jail and has some smoking problems but he really wants to learn and come to church and everything.  We haven't been able to teach him yet but we are excited to do so soon.  The Lord really helped me out by putting a situation as distinct as black and white in front of me so that I couldn't miss the opportunity.

The Yablonovski family (the family John and his companion live with) had some of their kids home for the Easter weekend so that was a lot of fun.  On Saturday it was Brother Yablonovski's birthday so we had a big birthday dinner and then on Sunday we had a big Easter lunch.  I am teaching Elder Russell to stuff a lot of food away even when you're not hungry at all but you have to eat to be respectful.  We had a huge lunch and dessert at 3 and then had pozole and more cake at 4 and Elder Russell struggled through it but now he's more prepared when he's in a more Spanish area and has to eat a lot more Spanish food.

I also had an experience this week where I kind of chastised the mom of one of the families we're teaching.  She and all the kids like what we teach and want to come to church but the husband is really shy/ashamed and is reluctant to go and just says they'll go to the Catholic Church instead of none at all.  The mom is ok with that because she just wants to do everything as a family, no matter what it entails.  On Saturday night I kind of lost my patience a little bit and started lecturing her and it lasted about an hour.  When I started it was really dark in the house and it was just her and I talking with my companion on the couch.  By the end of all that there were 12 kids that had come in, 2 uncles, 1 aunt, and they were all just listening intently to what I had to say.  I didn't even notice it happening but when I stopped for a minute and looked around I realized everyone was focused in on what I was saying.  I was amazed because we have trouble keeping the kids' attention for a few minutes but they were all listening intently.  I don't know what motivated them all to come in but something had interested them.  Unfortunately this family isn't going to be able to progress until they make it a priority which is saddening to me but at least we've been making a difference in their home.

I hope everyone is well at home and had a great Easter!

Les Quiero,
Elder Gaskill

Lessons Learned

Hello everyone!

 

I've realized recently that every week I sit down and try to think of what to write in an email and everything seems really repetitive and I get bored of writing it so I think I'll start sharing the out of the ordinary experiences and some of the lessons I've learned.

 

This past Saturday I got to go back to Lodi again to see the baptism of Martin Diaz (Hermana Diaz' son) that we were teaching and that was great.  I was very happy to see him getting baptized.  He has a few problems because of an accident when he was about 10 years old but he still is very intelligent and has one of the sweetest spirits that I've ever met.  The greatest joy of all was seeing my recent converts and learning  that everyone is still active in the church.  Jovita and Juan are doing great and getting ready to go to the temple.  Their son Alan in Florida is 20 and getting married in the Tampa temple in May so unfortunately they won't be able to go because they were only baptized in November but they are very excited for the day they can go to the temple!  Their son JJ was drifting away for a little bit but now he's back and strong and even has interest in a girl in the Young Single Adult ward and he wants to serve a mission! Jorge Guzman moved to Stockton but he is going to church either in Lodi still or Stockton every week.  The missionaries told me they gave him my phone number so he could call me but I haven't heard from him yet.  Arturo and his family are doing great in Mexico.  The Mendoza family is still active and working towards the temple.  The Ortega family is probably the strongest of them all.  It was a great experience to see all the people that I feel like are part of my family doing so well!

 

The lesson that I learned (that I've learned before but was reminded of again) is that a lot of the most solid people we meet will be getting baptized by other missionaries.  On Saturday we helped move a Spanish lady out of her house because she doesn't have work or a home anymore (long story) so she's moving back to Fresno.  We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and I was prompted to write my testimony in it that hopefully she'll read soon in Fresno.  Her friend from Sacramento came up to help her and it turns out she is really interested in the message.  She wants to find the truth and loved everything we shared with her.  She lives in a private area that missionaries would never be able to get into unless they had someone's specific information.  I can't wait to hear some day down the road that she got baptized.  It's hard when you don't have a lot of success but it seems like the baptisms each set of missionaries get come through the hard work of other missionaries and they may not get to harvest the fruits at the end of it.

 

Well that's my lesson learned for the week.  Hope you enjoyed it! Everything is going great up here! I am very excited for Easter this week and General Conference the following week!

 

Les Quiero Mucho!

Elder Gaskill

Hard Work Goes On

Hello!

This week has been another crazy week and especially today.  Things are changing a lot for the better here in El Dorado.  We are getting a lot of members to come and help us teach and are finding a lot more people through the help of the members.  We feel very blessed and are very excited to continue working hard.

I will share I lesson I learned this week.  The week went very well.  The number of things we've done such as lessons with and without members, new investigators, referrals, etc. we did extremely well and had success this area has not seen in a long time.  We have a lot of investigators progressing.  Everything went really well the whole week until Sunday morning.  We went to go visit Heriberta and Cristian in the morning to make sure they were going to get to church on time.  Heriberta told us that she has decided she's not going to come to church anymore.  She doesn't like having to force her kids to come and wants to decide if the church is really for her (ironically by separating herself from it).  She has kind of just given up and there was nothing we could do in the moment to fix it (although we tried very hard).  Then we tried with Cristian and he said he still doesn't know if he should be baptized.  On top of that he can't come to church now that Heriberta isn't coming because his dad is very controlling and won't let him drive the car and won't let anyone besides Heriberta take him to church.  We decided to go try our luck with the Rodriguez family.  The night before we had taught them and they said they would come if their family (who are members) were coming.  We called their family and they said that they would talk to them and help them get to church in the morning.  However when we stopped by in the morning they said they weren't coming because their family was going to go to work and they had other plans.  After admitted defeat there we went to go stop by our members house to see if we could get them before they left for work, but we were too late.  By the end of those 2 hours I was sad, disappointed, and without hope.  I tried my best to stay positive so my companion wouldn't be unhappy about it but it was difficult. 

We got to church and I had an amazing experience.  My testimony grew so much that day about how much Heavenly Father knows each one of His children.  The talks given in Sacrament Meeting were phenomenal, and it was one of the times I have felt the Spirit the strongest in a sacrament meeting.  I learned so much and need to get a written copy of one of the talks because it was amazing.  If we had members and investigators there, I would have had to translate the whole meeting and wouldn't have been able to pay attention to the message that was shared.  However, because no one was there, my investigators weren't weighing upon my mind and I was immensely blessed.  Although it was a sad church day in the missionary sense, it was a day I will never forget where my testimony was greatly blessed.  And this week we will continue forward and start making more progress with our investigators.

What we did today during P-day was great as well. As a zone we went to Ice House Lake which is really close to the border of the mission.  It reminded me a lot of Rampart Reservoir up in Woodland Park and made me think of home.  It was great to be able to spend the day hiking, talking to some good friends, and taking a break for but just a moment from the normal missionary labors.

I am so grateful for my time to serve the Lord and be a missionary and I hope my comments can bless the lives of some unknowing reader.

Les Quiero Mucho and I hope that things are well wherever this email finds everyone!
Elder Gaskill

Very Short Letter

Hello Everyone,

Sorry this email is going to be really short because it's 4:15 and we still have to shower and get ready before our dinner at 5!

The work is going really well up here, better than I have ever seen it and better than it has been in the last year.  Elder Russell and I are working hard and we are beginning to see success.  We have an investigator named Cristian who is praying about baptism on March 23 and he is really close!  We also met some of the brothers and their families of the one member family we have in our group.  Everyone is really interested in the church except the dads unfortunately.  But 2 of the kids came to church yesterday and loved it.  The moms really want to go but are waiting for their husbands to be supportive before moving forward.  We are going to start teaching them and getting them to come to church and get baptized!

I promise I'll write more next week.

Les Quiero Mucho!
-Elder Gaskill

Arturo got baptized!

Hello Everyone!

 

This week went great! On Wednesday I picked up my hijo and he is great! His name is Elder Johnny Russell and comes from Sandy, Utah.  He's 19 and graduated in 2012, so normal missionary age.  He is a great missionary! He is a lot like me so we get along very well.  He loves eating healthy and working out so we get along great there.  We wake up early and alternate every day between lifting weights and running.  He is the oldest of 5 siblings as well and has 2 brothers and 2 sisters.  He went to Alta high school and he plays a lot of sports.  He's a big tennis player as well as football, basketball, and baseball, but unfortunately not soccer.  He is a great missionary and is teaching me a lot every day.  He definitely has the fire and the desire to be a great missionary and his Spanish gets better every day and I'm doing my best to teach him.

 

The best news I have for this week I just read a few minutes ago.  Arturo and his family got baptized in Ensenada, Mexico yesterday! I just read his email that he sent the day before.  I think he is definitely my favorite investigator that I've taught on my mission so far.  I have grown so close to him and I rejoice every time I read his email and hear how he and his family are doing and progressing.  Although I didn't see the baptism it will be my favorite baptism of my mission.  I can't wait to get the pictures via email or regular mail sometime soon!

 

This week we didn't get to do nearly as much missionary work but we did a lot of service.  We helped a Brazilian family that also speaks Spanish move from one ward to the other in the Cameron Park area of the stake.  We are excited because the area they moved into has more Spanish people so we're hoping to teach some of their neighbors by having this family help us.  We also did a lot of yard work in a single lady's yard.  I am getting really good at starting fires because everyone here burns all the dry things they have that come from the yard instead of throwing it away.  I'm also become pretty good at trimming bushes.  The Spanish culture is rubbing off on me in more ways than one (:

 

We are making a lot of changes in how we do missionary work and they are starting to pay off.  The first one that's paying off is having a dinner calendar.  Last transfer we either had ramen noodles or fast food for lunch and dinner every day because we had no one to feed us.  Now we have some dinners and are actually getting real food! We are also getting about 50 Spanish speakers or returned missionaries called to come out and teach with us and take us to meet their friends so we will have people to teach and members to help us teach them.

 

Alma and Victor are progressing nicely.  We taught them the Plan of Salvation on Saturday and they are loving it.  We were sad that Victor said he had to work on Sunday so he couldn't come to church but Alma got a ride with her sister-in-law Heriberta.  We were really happy that she came! They got there at the end of Sacrament meeting and missed a lot of great testimonies but they went to the Sunday School class and enjoyed it.  We can't wait to teach them more and get them to church next week!

 

I am really excited for the 2 coming transfers with Elder Russell.  We are making a lot of changes in the area and it is really turning around.  I have a great companion and even though he's been out half as many weeks as I have months he is teaching me and helping me become a better missionary on a daily basis.  I am really excited for the future and what all it holds!

 

Les Quiero Mucho!

Elder Gaskill