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

Going to Train a New Missionary!

Hello Everyone,

 

This week was great and has already come to a close.

The news of the day is transfers.  Elder Fullwood is going to Stockton and I'm going to be training a brand new missionary! I have no idea who he is yet and won't know until tomorrow morning when I go to pick him up.  I'm really excited, but I feel sorry for this missionary that he will have to put up with me and will come into a really tough area.  However, I just plan on pretending like this is a really good area so he will love it.  We'll find out more about who he is next week.

 

This past week we got some... SNOW! The first time I've been in snow for a while so that was nice.  At the same time it was scary. Elder Fullwood normally drives and he had never seen snow before, let alone driven in it. That was his 3rd time driving in snow and there were only a few scary experiences and I was sweating bullets the whole time but we made it eventually.  As it stopped snowing, our zone leaders texted us and said "I hope Elder Gaskill is driving!".  When I told them I wasn't, they immediately called and told us to pull over and switch drivers. Luckily, Elder Fullwood submitted to their counsel and we made it through the rest of the day safely.  We couldn't get too much work done with all the snow but I was just happy to be in snow!

 

On Wednesday we ran into a family that I knew from Elk Grove.  They own a bakery in Rancho Cordova but are apparently famous all over the place.  Every Wednesday they come up to the hills to sell bread and they happened to show up while we were talking to one of our investigators.  They remembered me from about 5 months ago and gave us lots of free bread so that was great.

 

Friday was also a very fun day but not too productive.  We had to take our truck down close to where the mission office is to get the oil changed and the tires changed/rotated and that took a while.  We ran into a couple other missionaries from other parts of the mission and it was great to see them.  There are a few missionaries who are here waiting on their Visa's to come in so they can go to Mendoza, Argentina (where Troy is).  I told them all to say hi to him for me if they ever run into him.  When we finally finished, it was lunchtime so we decided to go to Buffalo Wild Wings to get lunch since it's my favorite restaurant and there are not very many in the mission.  We walked in and sat down and I looked over at the T.V. and there happened to be a college gymnastics meet on.  After careful examination, I noticed that it was between Kentucky and Missouri.  That was really cool because I got to see Holly Cunningham on T.V. a couple times while she and her team were competing.  There was also a soccer game on another T.V.  It turned out to be a really great lunch hour.  Later that day I went back to Lodi to see the baptism of Juan Carlos.  The baptism went really well.  Unfortunately there weren't a lot of members from the branch there but it was great to be back and a part of the baptism.  I was very happy to talk to Juan Carlos again and see him get baptized.  He is a very solid guy and will go far in the future.

 

Our investigators have been slowly progressing as well.  We are still working with Heriberta.  Her brother and sister in law are progressing very nicely.  They have felt the spirit a lot during lessons and while reading the Book of Mormon. They are very excited to come to church next week.  We also found a lady named Navidad in Folsom this week.  She has been taught in the past because her best friend is a member down there.  On Friday morning her friend called us and said that Navidad's husband was just deported and she's really sad and it would be a good time to visit her.  We stopped by and talked to her for a while about the gospel and she really calmed down.  She says she wants to keep learning and coming to church so we'll see where that takes us.

 

In the ward right after ours, there were two elders that gave their farewells and are going to the Colorado Springs, CO Mission! A lot of members knew that's where I'm from so after church they told me to go say hi to them.  One of them is going Spanish speaking and he was really cool.  He probably won't be anywhere near where we live but I told him to watch out for any Gaskills.  I didn't get to meet the other one but hopefully I will get to see him next Sunday before he leaves.  But if you ever have any missionaries in the area from Placerville/El Dorado, you'll know it's this elder that's just about to start his mission.

 

That's about all for this week! Hope everyone is doing well.  The work is going forward! A lot of the missionaries next to me are talking about all the missions that are being created right now.  Do your best to share the gospel! The world needs it.

 

Les Quiero Mucho!

Elder Gaskill

Missionaries Increasing

Hello Everyone!

 

This week has been awesome, we accomplished a lot.

 

On Thursday I finished reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish and I have to say I think it's more true in Spanish than in English.  I loved the experience and I love the Book of Mormon, and can't wait to do it again!

 

On Friday we had zone conference and it was very spiritual and uplifting. We were notified that right now our mission is about at 200 elders and sisters and it will be going up permanently to 250 elders and sisters.  The additional 50 missionaries will be 20 English elders, 20 English sisters, and 10 Spanish sisters.  There is no increase in Spanish elders but that will make the few of us there are that much more special.  It was really interesting because the number of sisters in the mission has already increased a lot and we could see at zone conference.  There were 4 zones together and about 1/3 of the missionaries there were sisters.  Zone Conference was great and we learned a lot.

 

Yesterday we had an awesome lesson with our investigator Heriberta.  She has been taught for over a year and yesterday we decided to take her to see a baptism at the Mormon center in a YSA ward even though it was in English.  The baptism was great a very spiritual.  She didn't understand most of it but she did feel the spirit.  Afterwards we went out and started talking in front of the temple.  We talked about how she felt and helped her recognize the spirit and challenged her to be baptized.  She said she still didn't know and her doubt is that her kids don't like church very much yet and she has to force them to come and she feels like if she got baptized she would keep having to force them and wouldn't like that.  At the same time she recognized that she needs to set the example and take that first step.  We decided to say a prayer right there and Heriberta said an awesome, very heartfelt prayer.  I suggested that we start walking around the temple in silence and listen for the spirit and see if it says anything to us before we got back around to the front.  When we were about 3/4 of the way done a YSA girl came up to us and even though she didn't speak Spanish started walking with us and trying to say a few words to Heriberta.  She kept looking back and forth between Heriberta, my companion, and I until right when we had almost returned to the same spot that we were before.  All of a sudden the girl grabbed Heriberta's hand and said "come with me".  She led her to the doors of the temple were the stood for a few seconds and then started to walk back to us in front.  When the passed by the big fountain she stuck her hand in the water and said "I love touching the water, put your hand in and feel how nice it is".  Then they came back and the girl gave Heriberta a hug and said she loved her and then took off for the YSA fireside that was about to start.  I thought it was an amazing answer to Heriberta's prayer, and that it was definitely interesting that she led her to the water and told her to touch it.  Heriberta's response to all that was that she thinks Heavenly Father wants her to make the decision and that she needs to just decide.  She said she was going to dream on it and tonight we are going back to see what she decides.  I can't wait to see!

 

We also had a crazy experience this week.  I was on exchanges with one of our zone leaders and we were going to find an new address because one of our investigators was moving.  It was the middle of the day and when we finally found it no one was home.  We decided we had driven all that way for a reason so we decided to knock around to find out who was there that we needed to find. We decided to knock on the neighbor's door.  When we knocked on the door I saw car rims and tires, bikes, and Spanish beer cans so I began to get excited.  The door opened and it was a Spanish lady.  She immediately invited us in but there was no guy in the house so we couldn't.  We talked for a little bit and I felt prompted to ask her if she knew any members of the church.  She told us "yeah, my sister in law is a member".  It turns out her sister in law is Heriberta! It was a crazy coincidence.  She had already seen how much Heriberta and her kids had changed since they started coming to church and already had a testimony of the power of the gospel.  Since then we have started teaching her and her husband and kids.  They read a little bit of the Book of Mormon and weren't able to pray but felt the peace of it as they read.  I can't wait to keep teaching them and help them progress.

I got a call yesterday and found out that Juan Carlos is getting baptized this Friday back in Lodi.  I was just there for a baptism last week and I am very happy to get to go back again.  I am seeing a lot of blessings in this work in seeing lots of people I care about come into the waters of baptism.  I just am getting happier happier seeing all these changes people are making in their lives.

 

That's all for this week.

 

Les Quiero,

Elder Gaskill

Mendoza Family Baptism

Hello Family!

This week was great!

The highlight of this week was being able to go and see the Mendoza family get baptized back in Lodi! I was really happy to see the branch there again and a lot of good friends.  There were also about 10 missionaries there that had taught the family so I got to see good friends like Elders Martinez, Stone, Hernandez, and thought I was going to see Elder Guzman but he didn't make it for some reason.  The baptism went really great and the Spirit was very strong there.  I was very happy to see Jovita and Juan, the Ortegas, the Cazares, and lots of great people.  I also got an email from Arturo today that made me happy.  He said that he and his family have been going to church down in Ensenada, Mexico! He says the Elders have challenged them to be baptized and they feel like the need a little bit more time to learn before.  He says he keeps telling his parents that they really want me to be able to see the baptism as well as his aunt and her family so there's a possibility that they might even come back to Lodi to get baptized! That would make me so happy. As long as they get baptized that is the important thing but I would be very happy if I could see it firsthand.  I am very happy nonetheless.

The work has been going kind of slow here since there aren't very many Spanish people and we don't really have a Spanish branch or ward to work with but we are doing our best.  It seems that every interested person we find falls through the cracks either because pastors tell them things about the church that aren't true or the husbands/wives of the people we're teaching don't let us do so.  We are trying our best to stay positive and keep working hard so we'll see where it gets us.

We have zone conference this week and that should be really exciting!
This week I met someone from Colorado Springs! She just moved in with her boyfriend out here in Diamond Springs.  She lived in Colorado Springs for 15 years near Bijou downtown working in a factory there.  It was really cool to meet a Spanish person from Colorado Springs because it is the only one out here that I have ever met.

That's all for this week! Hope everyone is doing well!

Les Quiero
Elder Gaskill

Short Message This Week

Hello Everyone!

I don't have a lot of time this week but I'll write a little bit.

The coolest thing that happened this week was yesterday.  There is a member named Brother Gaum up here who has some really interesting stories from his life.  When he was a missionary he was at correlation one day and while they were saying a prayer angels came and laid there hands on his head and set him apart to go open the missionary work to the Jewish people.  When he opened his eyes everyone else in the room was in shock and told him what had just happened.  The next day his mission president called him and told him that the first presidency of the church had called and that they had received his name by direct revelation to go with the general authorities to open up the work to the Jews.  He was reassigned for the rest of his mission and with a lot of leadership in the church coming up with brochures and training manuals to train missionaries on working with people from the Jewish faith and culture.  The rest of his life has been just about as interesting.  Well anyway some interesting things have been happening to me lately and word got around to him and so he called me up and said he wanted to meet with me.  He gave me a lot of really good advice.  He thinks I will have something big happen in my life soon as it relates to missionary work so we'll see what happens the rest of my mission. It would kind of make sense but I think I'm just a normal missionary.

We have a lot of really good investigators and we are excited to see the work progress here in the El Dorado Hills.  Great things are about to happen I know.

Les Quiero Mucho!
Elder Gaskill