Hello Everyone!
This week went pretty well. Elder Hernandez and I are
getting along really well and doing some good work. I don't know if I
wrote very much about him last week but he is from Orange County in
Southern California. He was born in Sonora, Mexico and came to the
United States when he was 3 so he pretty much was raised here and just
knows Spanish from speaking it at home with his family. He's a cool
guy, doesn't really play any sports but is a nice guy, the
stereotypical California kid.
We had a really good lesson with Arturo this week. We keep challenging
him to get baptized and he always says he's not really sure and doesn't
want to make any decision until he's sure and he can talk it over with
his family. Elder Hernandez and I went over there and we taught him
about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he understood it really well. At
the end of the lesson we all knelt down and took turns saying a prayer
and then being quiet and listening. There were 3 ladies in the other
room being really loud and laughing but the Spirit was still there. At
the end we sat down again and bore testimony and I could tell something
had definitely changed in him. Normally he always looks at us as we
talk to him but this time he was just staring down at his hands and
listening to what we said. Afterwards I told him I knew he was going to
get baptized and he told me it was true, so I made him promise me that
he won't deny the Spirit and that when it tells him he needs to get
baptized that he will listen, to which he said he would. He goes back
home in about 2 weeks and I hope he decides to get baptized before then
but if not I know he will get baptized back in Mexico. His family is
coming up on the 21st to spend the rest of the year between L.A. and
here and so I'll get to meet his family soon too. If Arturo doesn't get
baptized here some missionaries in Ensenada, Mexico are going to get
really lucky because he'll get baptized really soon and he has an
awesome family so they'll get 4 more baptisms on top of that. The most
important thing is that he gets baptized and I just hope we can stay in
touch after he goes back.
We also have a really solid investigator that will probably get baptized
in Mexico too. She loves the church, and loves anything you tell her
about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. She just has trouble coming to
church because she's an old Grandma that has lots of physical health
problems so she can't be by herself. We taught her about the Word of
Wisdom a few days ago and the only problem she had was with coffee
because that's how she gets the medication she needs (through a special
type) for her bone health, but she told us that she would stop drinking
that and start taking the pills that do the same thing even though she
doesn't like taking them. She is a really solid investigator but lives
in Mexico and is going back in 2 weeks as well. She is just going home
long enough to get her VISA renewed but she might very well get baptized
while she's there. She wants to get baptized but she needs to come to
church more first and hasn't been able to in her situation. She thinks
it will take about 2 months to get her VISA renewed so she might come
back here to get baptized too because she really liked Elder Martinez
and I and wants one of us to baptize her. We'll see how that plays out.
There were lots of Ward Christmas Dinners this weekend and that was
fun. We went to our branch's dinner and an English ward's dinner and
there was definitely a huge difference in the livelihood and "alegria"
that was there. I don't think I'm ever going to be able to go back to
an English Ward after my mission. It was a lot of fun and the member's
brought a couple friends that we're going to start teaching and
hopefully they'll be really interested in the gospel.
Last night we had a big fireside that we have been planning for a
while. Our ward mission leader's son served a mission in Ukraine and
married a girl from out there, so him, his wife, and his sister in law
flew out from BYU for a weekend to do this fireside. He is a really
good singer and they are really good on the piano and on the violin so
the fireside was a musical fireside with Christmas/Classical songs that
featured a combination of voice, violin, and piano. It was really good.
They recorded the fireside so I am going to try to get a couple copies
of it to keep and send home. It was a whole stake event and they
advertised it in the newspaper so there were a lot of non-members that
came. Hopefully some of those people were touched by the
fireside and decide to listen to the missionaries and accept the gospel
that will make them truly happy.
This week has been great, Christmas time is coming up and I hope you all are remembering the true spirit of Christmas!
Les Quiero Mucho!
Elder Gaskill
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Jorge's Baptism and another new Companion
Hello Everybody!
This week has been great!
The best thing that happened this week was Jorge Guzman's baptism. It went really well and was a lot of fun. Elder Guzman got to come back and baptized Hermano Guzman so that was cool. It's been really awesome to see the change he's made over the past few weeks as we've taught him. Over the past weeks he has been accepting everything we've been teaching and making a big change in his life. He and his wife had had marital problems in the past but now they are very happy and plan to go to the temple in a year, and he is very happy and grateful for everything we've helped him do. His son on the mission in Oaxaca, Mexico is also very happy and grateful. Jorge's wife told us what really made a difference were Elder Martinez and I which was really cool to hear. When I was confirming him and giving him the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday during church I had a cool experience. My Spanish happened to be really good in the moment and as I said everything I wasn't thinking about what I was going to say and I even forgot I was in Sacrament meeting, but I was just talking and listening to the Spirit. One of the things that surprised me was I told him that he would be the means for many more members of his family coming into the gospel by being baptized. It could be true because he has 4 other kids that aren't members and all of his family that lives here in Galt are not members either. Jorge also got the priesthood on Sunday and so it has been a very awesome week with him.
We also have another family that should get baptized soon. About 2 months ago the Ortega family got baptized and since then his brother and their family have been coming to church every week. They all really like the church but have been unsure about baptism and haven't been able to because the parents aren't married and that dad is still married to his first wife from 19 years ago. They have been closed to the idea of marriage and baptism but something happened this past week and it all changed. Now they are shooting to be married and baptized on Christmas Day. We are doing a lot of work to find out if he can get divorced easily through the Mexican consulate or if we have to do it through United States' courts but hopefully we can get everything done really soon so they can be married and baptized with their 2 kids on that day.
We have been doing a lot of cement work recently. On Saturday in the morning the two of us along with about 10 people from the Elder's Quorum laid cement in part of the driveway, a side patio, a back patio, and a sidewalk all the way around the house. The amazing part is that we did it all in 35 minutes. It was really impressive how well and quickly everyone works. It's a lot of work and hard to do but we were running everywhere and working quickly to get it done. The good news is now I know how to lay cement and I could do it on my own someday if I had all the tools.
We got our transfer calls last night and I think both Elder Martinez and I were disappointed. He is leaving to go to the Sac 7 branch and I am staying here and my new companion will be Elder Hernandez. We were both almost 100% sure we were staying together since we've been doing such good work and baptizing a lot but I guess not. Elder Hernandez is a cool missionary but I would have loved to be another transfer with Elder Martinez.
Today we got to go to the Pulga (the flea market) because our preparation day was on Tuesday instead of Monday and it was a lot of fun. I bartered with a couple of the Mexican people there and got a US soccer jersey for $15 and a really nice Mexican style sweatshirt for $20. We'll get to go back in a few weeks since we have our p-days on Christmas and New Years instead of the Mondays in those weeks. I might buy some other cool things to send home too. We were there really early and a lot of people hadn't set up their shops yet so we'll see a lot more things on those days when we go back.
I hope everyone is well! Everything's going well out here in Lodi!
Les Quiero,
Elder Gaskill
This week has been great!
The best thing that happened this week was Jorge Guzman's baptism. It went really well and was a lot of fun. Elder Guzman got to come back and baptized Hermano Guzman so that was cool. It's been really awesome to see the change he's made over the past few weeks as we've taught him. Over the past weeks he has been accepting everything we've been teaching and making a big change in his life. He and his wife had had marital problems in the past but now they are very happy and plan to go to the temple in a year, and he is very happy and grateful for everything we've helped him do. His son on the mission in Oaxaca, Mexico is also very happy and grateful. Jorge's wife told us what really made a difference were Elder Martinez and I which was really cool to hear. When I was confirming him and giving him the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday during church I had a cool experience. My Spanish happened to be really good in the moment and as I said everything I wasn't thinking about what I was going to say and I even forgot I was in Sacrament meeting, but I was just talking and listening to the Spirit. One of the things that surprised me was I told him that he would be the means for many more members of his family coming into the gospel by being baptized. It could be true because he has 4 other kids that aren't members and all of his family that lives here in Galt are not members either. Jorge also got the priesthood on Sunday and so it has been a very awesome week with him.
We also have another family that should get baptized soon. About 2 months ago the Ortega family got baptized and since then his brother and their family have been coming to church every week. They all really like the church but have been unsure about baptism and haven't been able to because the parents aren't married and that dad is still married to his first wife from 19 years ago. They have been closed to the idea of marriage and baptism but something happened this past week and it all changed. Now they are shooting to be married and baptized on Christmas Day. We are doing a lot of work to find out if he can get divorced easily through the Mexican consulate or if we have to do it through United States' courts but hopefully we can get everything done really soon so they can be married and baptized with their 2 kids on that day.
We have been doing a lot of cement work recently. On Saturday in the morning the two of us along with about 10 people from the Elder's Quorum laid cement in part of the driveway, a side patio, a back patio, and a sidewalk all the way around the house. The amazing part is that we did it all in 35 minutes. It was really impressive how well and quickly everyone works. It's a lot of work and hard to do but we were running everywhere and working quickly to get it done. The good news is now I know how to lay cement and I could do it on my own someday if I had all the tools.
We got our transfer calls last night and I think both Elder Martinez and I were disappointed. He is leaving to go to the Sac 7 branch and I am staying here and my new companion will be Elder Hernandez. We were both almost 100% sure we were staying together since we've been doing such good work and baptizing a lot but I guess not. Elder Hernandez is a cool missionary but I would have loved to be another transfer with Elder Martinez.
Today we got to go to the Pulga (the flea market) because our preparation day was on Tuesday instead of Monday and it was a lot of fun. I bartered with a couple of the Mexican people there and got a US soccer jersey for $15 and a really nice Mexican style sweatshirt for $20. We'll get to go back in a few weeks since we have our p-days on Christmas and New Years instead of the Mondays in those weeks. I might buy some other cool things to send home too. We were there really early and a lot of people hadn't set up their shops yet so we'll see a lot more things on those days when we go back.
I hope everyone is well! Everything's going well out here in Lodi!
Les Quiero,
Elder Gaskill
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
10 months! Baptisms coming up on the 8th.
(Note from John's Mom: Sorry this week's post and last week's post are late. John's little brother, Colin was born on Nov. 26th and it's been a busy time at our house so I got a little behind on the blog.)
Hello Everybody!
This week has been another great week! On Saturday I passed my 10 month mark in the mission and I officially feel old now that I'm in the double digits. I hate how fast the time is going by. Nevertheless, the work still goes on!
This past week we had some awesome experiences. On Wednesday we were teaching Jorge Guzman the plan of salvation and then after we were asking him about how his prayers were going and if he felt like he had received an answer. The last two times we had asked him he told us he was "close", really close. This time he kind of laughed at us and said "what would I need to do to get baptized?". We explained to him about the baptismal interview and he said "prepare it!". We were so excited, Jorge is going to get baptized this Saturday the 8th. He's finally ready. He's been very prepared and his son on a mission asked him to fast with him this past Sunday so they all fasted and I'm sure it helped a lot. We will have an awesome baptismal service Saturday.
This week has also been an interesting week with JJ. Remember JJ from last week who is Juan and Jovita's son who accepted to be baptized? Well originally we had passed him to the the English missionaries to be taught and they passed him to the the YSA missionaries since he's a 21 years old. He didn't like that church so he started coming to the Spanish branch again with his parents. Last week we taught him and he accepted to be baptized.
Thursday was mission conference and Elder Bruce D Porter of the Seventy came to talk to us. It was an awesome conference and he talked a lot about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful because now I understand it a lot more, even though I thought I understood it before. It was great to see a lot of the missionaries in the southern half of the mission again too.
Friday was the big "Multicultural Spanish Activity" that Elder Rivera and I had started to plan in Elk Grove. All the Spanish wards and branches came from the whole mission and it was awesome. We had about 500 people there and about 25% of them were non-members. We got there really early to set up everything and practice how things would go so that everything would run smoothly. It turned out to be a great event! The Book of Mormon art gallery was awesome! I took a picture of every single painting so you'll get to see them when the SD card gets home. We gave a really awesome tour to Juan and Jovita, and Jovita's brother's family, and a couple other members. Jovita's brother has a lot of doubts about the church but his wife seems to really like it. At the end of the tour she took one of each of the pamphlets with her to read later. When that tour ended the next part of the program started (switch from just eating to the devotional). To begin the devotional every one of the Spanish missionaries (all 40 of us were there) went up and said our name and where we were from. The told us to say we were from different places in the world to be funny. Some elders said they were from other countries/states/etc and the people there thought it was really funny. When Elder Martinez and I finished the tour we heard all the missionaries saying where the were from so we ran back into the gym. We were the last two up there and we didn't notice at the time but the other missionaries told us they cheered a lot louder for us than for the rest of the missionaries. I ran up there and said "Soy Elder Gaskill y vengo de Paranguara Cutirimicuaro" which is a kid's legend in Mexico that most people can't pronounce (especially white people) so they loved that. Elder Martinez ran up and said "Don't cry everyone we made it" and got everyone to laugh and then said where he was from. I guess the two of us were a big hit. All the missionaries then proceeded to sing "We'll bring the world his truth" (in Spanish). President Martinez talked for a little while and then the real fun began. A couple professional dance groups danced folkloric dances from different part of Mexico and a professional singer sang a few songs. It was really awesome and I took videos of a lot of it. By the end it was 10:00pm and we had to hurry to get home. It was really nice to see all the Spanish Elders and Sisters and see all the members from Stockton and Elk Grove again. It was an awesome event and definitely a big party (:
Saturday we went and did a blitz for our roommates' area which is struggling a little bit. They haven't had any solid investigators to teach for a while so the 8 of us missionaries got together and "blitzed" the area (sent everybody to work in their area) for 2 hours. Elder Boeke and I were able to find a lady named Paula who said she already knew the church was true but never was baptized because she was afraid of committing. She hadn't been to church in about 3 years but still knew the church was true. We read Mosiah 18:8-10 with her and committed her to get baptized in December if she received and answer to her prayers that she should do so. Sooooo now those elders should have a solid investigator for this month! We were really happy to help out and felt blessed to be able to find that truly prepared lady.
We didn't get to watch the Christmas Devotional yesterday because we were really busy teaching everyone but hopefully we'll get to watch it online for a Family Home Evening with a member this week.
Hope all is well back home and everyone is getting in the Christmas Spirit!
Les Quiero,
Elder Gaskill
Hello Everybody!
This week has been another great week! On Saturday I passed my 10 month mark in the mission and I officially feel old now that I'm in the double digits. I hate how fast the time is going by. Nevertheless, the work still goes on!
This past week we had some awesome experiences. On Wednesday we were teaching Jorge Guzman the plan of salvation and then after we were asking him about how his prayers were going and if he felt like he had received an answer. The last two times we had asked him he told us he was "close", really close. This time he kind of laughed at us and said "what would I need to do to get baptized?". We explained to him about the baptismal interview and he said "prepare it!". We were so excited, Jorge is going to get baptized this Saturday the 8th. He's finally ready. He's been very prepared and his son on a mission asked him to fast with him this past Sunday so they all fasted and I'm sure it helped a lot. We will have an awesome baptismal service Saturday.
This week has also been an interesting week with JJ. Remember JJ from last week who is Juan and Jovita's son who accepted to be baptized? Well originally we had passed him to the the English missionaries to be taught and they passed him to the the YSA missionaries since he's a 21 years old. He didn't like that church so he started coming to the Spanish branch again with his parents. Last week we taught him and he accepted to be baptized.
Thursday was mission conference and Elder Bruce D Porter of the Seventy came to talk to us. It was an awesome conference and he talked a lot about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful because now I understand it a lot more, even though I thought I understood it before. It was great to see a lot of the missionaries in the southern half of the mission again too.
Friday was the big "Multicultural Spanish Activity" that Elder Rivera and I had started to plan in Elk Grove. All the Spanish wards and branches came from the whole mission and it was awesome. We had about 500 people there and about 25% of them were non-members. We got there really early to set up everything and practice how things would go so that everything would run smoothly. It turned out to be a great event! The Book of Mormon art gallery was awesome! I took a picture of every single painting so you'll get to see them when the SD card gets home. We gave a really awesome tour to Juan and Jovita, and Jovita's brother's family, and a couple other members. Jovita's brother has a lot of doubts about the church but his wife seems to really like it. At the end of the tour she took one of each of the pamphlets with her to read later. When that tour ended the next part of the program started (switch from just eating to the devotional). To begin the devotional every one of the Spanish missionaries (all 40 of us were there) went up and said our name and where we were from. The told us to say we were from different places in the world to be funny. Some elders said they were from other countries/states/etc and the people there thought it was really funny. When Elder Martinez and I finished the tour we heard all the missionaries saying where the were from so we ran back into the gym. We were the last two up there and we didn't notice at the time but the other missionaries told us they cheered a lot louder for us than for the rest of the missionaries. I ran up there and said "Soy Elder Gaskill y vengo de Paranguara Cutirimicuaro" which is a kid's legend in Mexico that most people can't pronounce (especially white people) so they loved that. Elder Martinez ran up and said "Don't cry everyone we made it" and got everyone to laugh and then said where he was from. I guess the two of us were a big hit. All the missionaries then proceeded to sing "We'll bring the world his truth" (in Spanish). President Martinez talked for a little while and then the real fun began. A couple professional dance groups danced folkloric dances from different part of Mexico and a professional singer sang a few songs. It was really awesome and I took videos of a lot of it. By the end it was 10:00pm and we had to hurry to get home. It was really nice to see all the Spanish Elders and Sisters and see all the members from Stockton and Elk Grove again. It was an awesome event and definitely a big party (:
Saturday we went and did a blitz for our roommates' area which is struggling a little bit. They haven't had any solid investigators to teach for a while so the 8 of us missionaries got together and "blitzed" the area (sent everybody to work in their area) for 2 hours. Elder Boeke and I were able to find a lady named Paula who said she already knew the church was true but never was baptized because she was afraid of committing. She hadn't been to church in about 3 years but still knew the church was true. We read Mosiah 18:8-10 with her and committed her to get baptized in December if she received and answer to her prayers that she should do so. Sooooo now those elders should have a solid investigator for this month! We were really happy to help out and felt blessed to be able to find that truly prepared lady.
We didn't get to watch the Christmas Devotional yesterday because we were really busy teaching everyone but hopefully we'll get to watch it online for a Family Home Evening with a member this week.
Hope all is well back home and everyone is getting in the Christmas Spirit!
Les Quiero,
Elder Gaskill
November 26, 2012
Hello!
Here's what happened in my short week after Thanksgiving.
Saturday we had our baptism of Hermana Diaz and that was really interesting. Elder Martinez told me to baptize her so that was the plan. We had taught her how the baptism was going to go over and she was ready to go. When we got into the font, things started to go wrong. The font had a little leak so there wasn't as much water in it as when we stopped filling it. Hermana Diaz was also a little afraid of the water so it took a couple of times to get the baptism right. She was afraid to bend over backwards and just tried to sit down the first time. Then I didn't explain well enough and I told her we had to do it so that her whole body got wet so she began washing her face and her head with water from her hands. Then we tried to do the baptism while she was kneeling and that didn't work either. Eventually we had to get another member to put one of the baptismal suits on and come in with me. We kind of pushed her under really quick and then brought her back up but it worked. She was really happy after that and felt a lot better. In the hour long baptismal service my appreciation for her grew a lot as I saw her struggling to do something that she knew was right, and eagerly listening to the talks and testimonies that were given at her baptism.
Sunday morning the fog came in really thick and we could barely see 20 yards in front of us in the car. We were worried that a lot of people wouldn't come, but luckily they just came late. Elder Martinez and I taught the gospel principles class and it went really well. After church we went and ate with Jovita and Juan, our recent converts. They have a 21 year old son who's never really been interested until his parents got baptized. The English elders came by to teach him and then sent him to the nearest Young Single Adult ward in Stockton. He didn't like the YSA ward at all so he decided to just keep coming with his parents. We decided to go teach him and had a really good lesson with him. He wasn't really talkative but finally we got him to open up a little bit. We asked him why he wants to go to church and he told us he wants to find peace in his life, and come closer to his family. We told him how he could do that and talked to him about the Book of Mormon and how he can find out that it's true. When we asked him if he knew how the Holy Ghost work.s He didn't. I asked him if he had ever felt something inside of him telling him not to do something to which he said yes. When I asked him how he felt after listening to that voice he said peaceful at times and relieved at others. He then mentioned quickly how if he hadn't listened to it one of those times he probably would have died in a car accident with a few of his friends. Then he began feeling the Spirit really strongly and started crying. We told him more about the Holy Ghost and promised him that he would feel that same peace as an answer to his prayers. He accepted the challenge to be baptized on December 8th! We should have another 2 or 3 people be baptized on that day so it's going to be an awesome day!
Well that's all that's happened since Thanksgiving. When we were with Elder Guzman in Manteca this morning he got a call from President Lewis saying his Grandpa had died so keep him and his family in your prayers.
Les Quiero Mucho!
-Elder Gaskill
Here's what happened in my short week after Thanksgiving.
Saturday we had our baptism of Hermana Diaz and that was really interesting. Elder Martinez told me to baptize her so that was the plan. We had taught her how the baptism was going to go over and she was ready to go. When we got into the font, things started to go wrong. The font had a little leak so there wasn't as much water in it as when we stopped filling it. Hermana Diaz was also a little afraid of the water so it took a couple of times to get the baptism right. She was afraid to bend over backwards and just tried to sit down the first time. Then I didn't explain well enough and I told her we had to do it so that her whole body got wet so she began washing her face and her head with water from her hands. Then we tried to do the baptism while she was kneeling and that didn't work either. Eventually we had to get another member to put one of the baptismal suits on and come in with me. We kind of pushed her under really quick and then brought her back up but it worked. She was really happy after that and felt a lot better. In the hour long baptismal service my appreciation for her grew a lot as I saw her struggling to do something that she knew was right, and eagerly listening to the talks and testimonies that were given at her baptism.
Sunday morning the fog came in really thick and we could barely see 20 yards in front of us in the car. We were worried that a lot of people wouldn't come, but luckily they just came late. Elder Martinez and I taught the gospel principles class and it went really well. After church we went and ate with Jovita and Juan, our recent converts. They have a 21 year old son who's never really been interested until his parents got baptized. The English elders came by to teach him and then sent him to the nearest Young Single Adult ward in Stockton. He didn't like the YSA ward at all so he decided to just keep coming with his parents. We decided to go teach him and had a really good lesson with him. He wasn't really talkative but finally we got him to open up a little bit. We asked him why he wants to go to church and he told us he wants to find peace in his life, and come closer to his family. We told him how he could do that and talked to him about the Book of Mormon and how he can find out that it's true. When we asked him if he knew how the Holy Ghost work.s He didn't. I asked him if he had ever felt something inside of him telling him not to do something to which he said yes. When I asked him how he felt after listening to that voice he said peaceful at times and relieved at others. He then mentioned quickly how if he hadn't listened to it one of those times he probably would have died in a car accident with a few of his friends. Then he began feeling the Spirit really strongly and started crying. We told him more about the Holy Ghost and promised him that he would feel that same peace as an answer to his prayers. He accepted the challenge to be baptized on December 8th! We should have another 2 or 3 people be baptized on that day so it's going to be an awesome day!
Well that's all that's happened since Thanksgiving. When we were with Elder Guzman in Manteca this morning he got a call from President Lewis saying his Grandpa had died so keep him and his family in your prayers.
Les Quiero Mucho!
-Elder Gaskill
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Baptism This Saturday
Hello Everybody!
This past week has been very busy but very exciting.
One
of the coolest things is that we have a miracle baptism coming up this
Saturday. There is a 70 year old lady who has been
coming to church for a while. She had records in the ward list so we thought she
was a recent convert. A member asked us over dinner if she was making
any progress and if she was going to get baptized and that surprised us.
We went to work researching to find out if she was a member. We found
out that the record we had was for a 46 year old family member that has a
similar name but isn't her. She really wants to get baptized and is
getting baptized in 2 days! We're really excited for that and
very grateful for the miracle of witnesses this baptism.
I'll tell some stories in a kind of jumbled order because it's been almost 2 weeks since the last time I reported:
One
day I was on exchanges with a new missionary and all our plans feel
through so we decided to go tracting (we never have to tract in Spanish
work so I wasn't excited about that). The third house we knocked on
turned out to be a less active family that had moved away about a year
ago and never updated the ward on where they lived. They have been
inactive about 5 years. They started falling away from the church
because the husband was working a lot of evenings/weekends as a CNA and
then they ended up turning to some sort of "spiritualism" instead of
going to church. It was really sad to be in their home because they
didn't seem happy at all and they turned away from the happiness they
once knew. I asked a lot of questions to try to understand why they did
what they did and what their beliefs were. What I concluded is that
they believe in God but not in any religion, nor prophets, nor
scriptures. They pretty much took the Gospel and got rid of all
structure. They believe in God but they turn to meditation to be
happy and are just lost. I asked them a lot about what they believe
about the purpose of life, what happens after this life, etc. They told
me they believe everyone is going back to heaven no matter what they
do, no matter how bad the people are. When I asked them what they
believe the point of life was, they didn't know. The best answer they
could give me is that we were all here to learning something, gain some
sort of knowledge, but they didn't know what. When I asked them why we
had to come here to learn these lessons and why couldn't we just stay
with God and learn there they had no idea. It was really sad for me to
see how they had known the truth and been happy but had fallen away from
it because they were never truly converted to the gospel and they ended
up falling away.
A week ago I got to go back to Elk Grove for the baptism of
Racquelle! I was really excited to hear that she was getting baptized.
I had to miss the wedding the week before but she got baptized the week
after and I was really pleased to be able to go back and see that. I
got to see a lot of members and investigators again and that was
awesome.
We did a little bit of marriage counseling last week. There is a family that we're teaching that wants to be
baptized, but the parents had been having problems for a while. They've
been married 14 years and they have 5 kids but the wife wants to get
divorced and move back with her family in Fresno. It was really sad to
hear and we tried to help them as best we could. The problems had
stopped a while ago between the two of them (not coincidentally the same
time they met the missionaries back in May), however the wife couldn't
forgive him and get over what had happened in the past. We talked a lot
about repentance and the atonement but nothing seemed to make a
difference. The most frustrating thing is that she had made up her mind
that she was going to leave and had given up on the marriage already.
We pleaded with her to ask her Heavenly Father through prayer if that
was the best decision for her to make but she wouldn't accept His help
even though we brought it up probably about 20 times in a half hour.
We'll see how that situation turns out in the coming weeks.
Elder Martinez and I probably taught the best lesson of my entire
mission last Friday. There is a family in the ward who has
their 19 year old nephew living with them to study English for 2 months
in the adult school here. He has come to church every week since he's
been here so we decided to teach him. He asked if Catholicism or
Christianity was older, so we taught him about The Restoration. I don't
know where the words we said came from but my companion and I taught
the best lesson I have ever witnessed. We answered all his questions
well enough to evoke the response every time "wow, I really like what
you just said". The Spirit definitely worked through us to testify of
the truthfulness of the message. At the end of the lesson he told us
how when he was young he was looking for the truth but never found it in
any of the churches he went to so turned inward to find peace. He
still has that same desire but feels like religions just take advantage
of you. We told him that if he asked God if the message that we shared
was true, he would receive an answer from God that no man could give
him, neither take from him. He really liked that because no one had
ever suggested that he ask God what's true. He told us that if he
believed that any church was true it would be the Mormon church, and
that if he were to ever join with any church it would be ours. We could
tell the Spirit helped us out a lot because he asked us if we go to
school for a couple years to study to be a missionary first and was
really surprised that we get all our training in just a couple of weeks.
We're going to challenge him to be baptized December 8th and we're
really excited for that.
This past week we have worked a lot in a little city named
Thornton. We found a family that has been prepared and really loves
everything that we say. They had been taught 4 years ago when the lived
in Galt and 15 years ago when they lived in Stockton but had lost
contact with the church when they moved out to the fields where this
little city is. We've taught them twice and we'll see what happens in
the coming weeks.
This past week during dinner we listened to 2 sets of parents talk
about parenting and things like that. One of the things they mentioned
is that if a child ever is "rebellious" or a wayward child it's because
their parents didn't give them enough attention. I was thinking about
my own history and my parents and I was thinking about how that wasn't
true and I realized how grateful I was for my parents and everything
they've done for me, and especially for never giving up on me even when I
was really difficult and wasn't making the right choices.
Today we drove 2 hours into the mountains and went to a national
park in Arnold, CA called Big Trees. It was a lot of fun, lots of
massive trees that had fallen over and been turned into a lot of
different things. I'll send a picture or 2 home today in an email but
you'll have to wait for the rest of them.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I'm very thankful for my
friends and family for the great influences they've been upon me in my
life and for all the many blessings I have.
Les Quiero!
-Elder Gaskill
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Another Busy Week
Hello Everybody!
This week has been really busy but went well. At the beginning of this week I got to go on exchanges with the
zone leaders and be in English work for a day. We met a really
interesting guy named Brad. He knew the Bible really well but
misquoted a lot of scriptures and doesn't really understand exactly
what all the scriptures mean. He told us he was confused about how he
could find out if the Book of Mormon is true or not. He doesn't
believe that getting a spiritual confirmation/answer through the Holy
Ghost would be good enough for him. He thinks that God would give us a
way that is a lot more sure to find out (ironically because he would
deny an answer that God sends directly to him through the Holy Ghost).
He thinks the only way to find our if a book is true is by looking
at all the prophecies the person who wrote it gave, and find out if
they've all been fulfilled. It was a really interesting lesson because
the guy really wants to know if the Book of Mormon is true but he's
stuck in his ways and doesn't understand the scriptures so won't do what
he ought to do to find out for himself.
We found a couple really cool new investigators this week. One's
name is Lemuel. He is a pastor at a church his dad founded called "The
Church of Jesus Christ in the Americas". When we found all this out and
heard his name we were convinced that he was destined to get baptized
and there was no way it could all be a coincidence. He had questions
about baptisms for the dead, how he could know if the Book of Mormon is
true, and other questions about the Godhead. He is only 23 and
knows a lot but also misinterprets the scriptures and is confused about a couple things. We're really excited to go back and
teach him and see if he's willing to look to God for more
understanding. We also found a man named Jesus who (2 years ago) decided
to start reading the Bible and living it's teachings and has a lot of
faith. He still feels like there's something missing in his life and we
told him he could find that through the fullness of the gospel restored
on the earth today. We haven't taught him very much but his sister and
her family have been to church twice and at least
the kids really liked it. We"ll see where that goes.
We got a call early in the morning this week from the mother of a
recent convert who told us her daughter had been run over by a car the
night before and had been in the hospital. We rushed over there only to
be greeted by an angry teenager who was really sore and didn't want us
to be there. It turned out that she had been hit by a car while
crossing a cross walk and fell over and scraped her side and back but
besides that she was fine. We were relieved about all that.
The baptism of Jovita and Juan went really well. Their son (who
was baptized just under a year ago) flew in from Florida to baptize his
mom and dad, and also confirm them the next day. Jovita's sister also flew
out from Florida, and her brother's family as well as her parents came
to see everything. There were a lot of people at the baptism and it
went well. The son didn't speak Spanish very well and had never
baptized/confirmed anyone before so we spent a lot of time teaching him
before the day of the baptism and also whispering the words to him while
he was performing the ordinances. Elder Guzman and Elder Mata came to see the baptism as well so it was good to see them again. Juan
and Jovita are really solid and it was a great weekend for them.
Saturday night we had a big ward activity talent show right after
the baptism. There was a lot of really good food there, and a lot of
cool talents. A lot of less active members and
investigators came and it was a big success. A lot of investigators came to church on Sunday as well. For dinner we drove about an
hour away into the "Lodi Hills" which are foothills of the mountains in
California. It looked a lot like Black Forest/Monument and reminded me of home. It was also colder up there and a lot of fun to be out in
nature.
I'll say a little bit more about my companion too. Elder Martinez
was born in Arizona but grew up in Puebla, Mexico until he was 14. He
is a really good soccer player and also a good runner. He's a really
funny guy and we get along really well. His family has been members
their whole lives. He has been out on his mission about 15 months. He
studied business management at ASU before coming on his mission but will
probably go to BYU afterwards.
That's all I've got for this week. It's getting cooler here, hopefully it's not too cold out there.
Les Quiero,
-Elder Gaskill
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Lots of work in Lodi and Galt
Hello Everyone!
This past week in Lodi has been great! Elder Martinez and I are having a lot of fun. Missionary work becomes a lot more fun when your companion is also a really good friend. The Lodi area is awesome too! It's a lot more like Stockton than Elk Grove. There are a ton of Hispanic people here and there are some white people too but hardly any other cultural groups. Galt is almost completely Hispanic or white as well. The branch here is awesome and loves missionary work. Ironically it is bigger than both the wards in Stockton and Elk Grove that I have been in but still considered a branch.
We have done a lot of great work and seen a lot of success. We have 2 investigators that are going to be baptized this week that we are really excited about! Jovita is pretty much a member already, she knows everything and comes to every activity and is awesome. Her husband, Juan is just as awesome but wasn't sure if he wanted to get baptized this week. On Saturday we went over to their house and did a lot of service, had lunch with them, and then taught them. We went over all the baptismal questions with them to make sure they were ready. When the husband told us he still wasn't sure, I asked him if he believed that Joseph Smith restored the church and that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet on the earth today. He told me he had a testimony of both of these things and we helped him realized that his testimony of everything else stems from these two beliefs. Right now his only problem is leaving behind the idols that Catholics love but we told him that he would be able to do it and that he is prepared and ready for baptism. He told us he would give us an answer the next day, and on Sunday at church we asked him and he told us he wanted to be baptized! We were really excited for that and he and his wife will get baptized this weekend.
Yesterday was a really great but busy day. We had 8 investigators come to church and we had our hands full with them. Our two investigators that are getting baptized this weekend came (Jovita and Juan), the family of a recent convert family came, an investigator from Galt came, and a new guy we had never met before. The investigator from Galt's wife is a member, and has a few kids who are members, one of which is serving a mission in Oaxaca, Mexico right now. This is his second time to church and I think he will get baptized soon. The other investigator was the nephew of a member who is here in the states for his first time and is on vacation for about a month before he goes back to Mexico. There was a baptism last night for 3 eight year olds in the ward. There were just as many people there as there were in church that day; it was amazing! Jovita brought her brother and his family to the baptism, a few of our other investigators came, and the members brought two new families (their neighbors) that we had never met before. We had our hands full trying to get to know them all and set up a time to come over and teach them. It was the best! Those are the best moments for a missionary.
Our area here is really big so we have a lot of work to do. The mission is low on Spanish speaking missionaries so they had to combine a lot of areas. One of those areas was Galt and Lodi. Elder Martinez and I are both learning the Galt area since we have never served before but Elder Martinez is teaching me the Lodi area since he's already been here for 2 transfers. We have more work to do than we have time or resources to accomplish but it will be great. Hopefully a lot of new Spanish speaking missionaries will come in December so they can separate the two areas again but for now we'll be working all day from sun up to sun down.
I'm really looking forward to this transfer and I'm learning a lot each day. I think my Spanish accent is just about there because yesterday the 2nd counselor in the bishopric introduced me to the priesthood quorums and told them I was from Jalisco, Mexico and a lot of members were excited to talk to me about "our hometown" of Jalisco afterwards. So my Spanish must have been good enough that it was believable. One of the bonuses of having native speaking companions is they can teach me a lot about the language and I can master the accent by mimicking theirs'.
Well the work keeps going. I can't believe 2012 is coming to a close already. One of these days I'm going to wake up and be getting on a plane coming home. It's going to come a lot sooner than I want it to but the time just goes by way too fast out here. I love Lodi and Galt and it's going to make the time go by even faster.
I hope all is well at home!
Les Quiero,
Elder Gaskill
This past week in Lodi has been great! Elder Martinez and I are having a lot of fun. Missionary work becomes a lot more fun when your companion is also a really good friend. The Lodi area is awesome too! It's a lot more like Stockton than Elk Grove. There are a ton of Hispanic people here and there are some white people too but hardly any other cultural groups. Galt is almost completely Hispanic or white as well. The branch here is awesome and loves missionary work. Ironically it is bigger than both the wards in Stockton and Elk Grove that I have been in but still considered a branch.
We have done a lot of great work and seen a lot of success. We have 2 investigators that are going to be baptized this week that we are really excited about! Jovita is pretty much a member already, she knows everything and comes to every activity and is awesome. Her husband, Juan is just as awesome but wasn't sure if he wanted to get baptized this week. On Saturday we went over to their house and did a lot of service, had lunch with them, and then taught them. We went over all the baptismal questions with them to make sure they were ready. When the husband told us he still wasn't sure, I asked him if he believed that Joseph Smith restored the church and that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet on the earth today. He told me he had a testimony of both of these things and we helped him realized that his testimony of everything else stems from these two beliefs. Right now his only problem is leaving behind the idols that Catholics love but we told him that he would be able to do it and that he is prepared and ready for baptism. He told us he would give us an answer the next day, and on Sunday at church we asked him and he told us he wanted to be baptized! We were really excited for that and he and his wife will get baptized this weekend.
Yesterday was a really great but busy day. We had 8 investigators come to church and we had our hands full with them. Our two investigators that are getting baptized this weekend came (Jovita and Juan), the family of a recent convert family came, an investigator from Galt came, and a new guy we had never met before. The investigator from Galt's wife is a member, and has a few kids who are members, one of which is serving a mission in Oaxaca, Mexico right now. This is his second time to church and I think he will get baptized soon. The other investigator was the nephew of a member who is here in the states for his first time and is on vacation for about a month before he goes back to Mexico. There was a baptism last night for 3 eight year olds in the ward. There were just as many people there as there were in church that day; it was amazing! Jovita brought her brother and his family to the baptism, a few of our other investigators came, and the members brought two new families (their neighbors) that we had never met before. We had our hands full trying to get to know them all and set up a time to come over and teach them. It was the best! Those are the best moments for a missionary.
Our area here is really big so we have a lot of work to do. The mission is low on Spanish speaking missionaries so they had to combine a lot of areas. One of those areas was Galt and Lodi. Elder Martinez and I are both learning the Galt area since we have never served before but Elder Martinez is teaching me the Lodi area since he's already been here for 2 transfers. We have more work to do than we have time or resources to accomplish but it will be great. Hopefully a lot of new Spanish speaking missionaries will come in December so they can separate the two areas again but for now we'll be working all day from sun up to sun down.
I'm really looking forward to this transfer and I'm learning a lot each day. I think my Spanish accent is just about there because yesterday the 2nd counselor in the bishopric introduced me to the priesthood quorums and told them I was from Jalisco, Mexico and a lot of members were excited to talk to me about "our hometown" of Jalisco afterwards. So my Spanish must have been good enough that it was believable. One of the bonuses of having native speaking companions is they can teach me a lot about the language and I can master the accent by mimicking theirs'.
Well the work keeps going. I can't believe 2012 is coming to a close already. One of these days I'm going to wake up and be getting on a plane coming home. It's going to come a lot sooner than I want it to but the time just goes by way too fast out here. I love Lodi and Galt and it's going to make the time go by even faster.
I hope all is well at home!
Les Quiero,
Elder Gaskill
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