February 12, 2012

February 7, 2012

Well good news I’m here!! :) I arrived safely in the field so don’t worry! This place is insane but I love it! A quick rundown of today:  we left the CTM at 7 and that was oddly really sad, it should have been just pure joy because to be honest I was beyond ready to get out of that place and finally get in the field but I really loved our district and so there may have been tears shed. I am gonna miss them all but good thing I know this work is true and this is exactly where we are all supposed to be! So first off we went to President and Sister Tanners house and they seem absolutely amazing. We talked a little bit about Grandma and Grandpa and they said to send their love so pass on this message because I don’t think I’ll have time to email Grandma and Grandpa.  I’m actually in a little internet shop now and we get kicked off exactly at 30 minutes so I don’t have much time... but ok so after we had all the first interview stuff we went to a chapel and had lunch which was amazing and turns out the food in the field is even better than the CTM :)  We had a little practice teaching thing and then met our new comps for the first time! His name is Elder Carston Pederson and he is from Pennsylvania. He seems like a way solid guy.  He has only been out for 3 months and has great Portuguese, is a trainer and a district leader so he must be doing something right ;)  I know I’ll learn a ton from him!  After we met our comps and took the last pictures, off to the field and whoa was that quite the ride.  Our ZONE is called Diadema and our AREA Inamar it is south of São Paulo city and to be completely honest is straight up the slums. Our apartment is essentially up some stairs in-between a meat store and another store so needless to say this is gonna be quite the humbling experience. The apartment is absolutely rancid so that’s a blast but to be completely honest I’m loving it! It’s gonna keep things interesting and make me realize how truly blessed that I and we are all are. I also love knowing that there is someone here that is especially for me. I’ve only been actually in the field for probably an hour and I realized that I don’t know half of what I thought I kind of knew and that this is gonna to be much harder than I made it out to be but hey I know this is where I am supposed to be and I know that this gospel is true so that can hold me over :) Also don’t worry about me. I may be in a slum but I know that I am protected and that God is watching out for me and for all of you. I feel it in my prayers every day. Like I said I have only been at my apartment for the past hour and a half or so that is essentially my run down for today.  I know it’s probably not as exciting as you would have liked but hey next week I will have plenty to ramble on about so don’t worry :)

A little run down of this week, you’ll never guess who showed up to the CTM... another Elder Gubler. It was INSANE and I definitely didn’t see that one coming... he is from Baton Rouge and I don’t remember where he is from because I may be a little flustered after today but he was quite the character I tell you haha.  I got plenty of pics too so when and if I can ill send you pics of some highlights but hopefully you got the pics I sent 2 weeks ago by now.  I sent them the "Brazilian" way so it was cheaper but I bet it takes longer too so keep me posted on when those show up and especially on Oliver's mission call. It will be fun to hear all about when he gets out in the field! Also another highlight is I bought a Brazilian flag and had everyone in my district and the other district I was over in the CTM sign it. I’m gonna have all the people I baptize sign it too so that should be way cool to come home with that! 

Give everyone my love and I really am proud of everyone I love you all.

Elder Gubler

January 31, 2012

Today is my last P-day in the CTM and it is totally INSANE!! I can’t wait to finally be out in the field! We got to go proselyting yesterday and it was absolutely amazing :) If your average day in the field is anything like that then oh I am definitely in for a treat.  The people of Brazil are unbelievably kind and loving! We had 3 hours and 4 Books of Mormon or Livro De Mórmons to do our thing in São Paulo and it was something I will never forget! We only got to talk to 7 or so people just because people are so friendly and apparently chatty. Don’t get me wrong we did get turned down a couple times but even then they let us do our opening speal and then would just say "my husband is a priest" (yes that happened) and whether it’s true or not they are so kind about it. Another reason it was so interesting was that everyone around the CTM has a Book of Mormon so they know exactly what to do to get us out of their hair.  The first guy we talked to took the Book of Mormon from my hands, answered everything how we wanted him to and sent us on our way.  The likelihood of his reading that probably his 3rd Book of Mormon was slim to none but hey I was having the time of my life!

The second lady, Maria we talked to was amazing! She was absolutely hilarious and even if we didn’t understand all of what she was saying we could still laugh and shockingly feel the spirit. She lived right on the corner of our boundaries so maybe that why she hadn’t talked to the missionaries before but she was catholic and was extremely interested! We talked for probably 40 minutes or so and she was asking questions and asked us to come back tomorrow! It was great I tell you :) Sadly we can’t go back but we gave her the BoM and the address to the church and she was very satisfied along with us. The last guy we talked to is also worth mentioning... I don’t remember his name but he was all over the place. Along with how to tract I also learned that CTM Portuguese and "real" Portuguese are completely different things.  He was slurring his works and cramming 3 words in one syllable so needless to say there was definitely a huge struggle understanding him. It’s to the point that I can talk about any gospel related thing I want so luckily I just ramble on about the 5 words or so that I understood out of his speal but it was interesting. Elder Bodily is struggling with understand even in the CTM so I’m sure it was quite stressful for him but I would always try to explain what I understood to him to keep him on the same page and he is one of the most optimistic people! He always manages to stay happy and positive which is such a great quality to have especially when we are tracting!

Another thing is even if we did struggle to understand everything, when anyone found out that we have only been learning Portuguese for 8 weeks they are amazed! It really is amazing how fast that we have picked things up. I can testify first hand that the Gift of Tongues is real and that I wouldn’t be even half this far if I didn’t have it. If I were taking Portuguese in college we would still be learning colors and numbers so we are so blessed to be learning with the spirit.

I’m running out of time a lot faster that i thought so on to the next story! We got to hear two apostles from the 12 this week, Elder Neil A Anderson and Elder Ballard. I have met, heard, and shaken apostles hands before but when you are on a mission doing the Lords work it is a completely different experience! I didn’t wash my hand for like half the day and the spirit that was in that meeting was amazing! They could have just sat in the room for an hour and a half and the spirit would have testified that they are men of God. The gospel is just amazing and I’m so lucky that i can be a part of it!

Elder Gubler