November 19, 2012

Mom you’ll like this one, last p-day for our FHE that night we ended up setting up a Christmas tree and I LOVED it!  There is nothing better than Christmas I tell you.  Tuesday we had our last zone meeting before the transfer so we all said our potential goodbyes and all that cute stuff but we found out about the transfers yesterday and get this.... only 2 people are leaving in our entire zone which is kind of really weird because there is one kid that has been in the zone for over a year now just in different wards.  Crazy stuff but the Pres knows what he is doing and I really like our zone so I’m nice and happy!  My companion is staying with me thank heavens because I don’t know our area at all.  We did TONS of divisions so if he would have left, we would have gone hungry because I know how to get to like 5 irmãs (Sisters) houses.  Good thing the Lord has got my back and let him stay huh?  But well speaking of division I did one in Batistini on Wednesday to do another baptismal interview of actually the same girl that I interviewed a couple weeks ago but everything worked out greatly, I LOVE baptismal interviews and she was baptized this Saturday which ended up being quite the thing because they baptized in our chapel because theirs doesn’t have a baptismal font but the girl suffered a chemical burn on her face and neck and she always wears these body glove things but since she had to take them off, she didn’t want very many people there but either way it was mega spiritual and we loved it!  Thursday was a huge holiday so we didn’t get to talk to like ANYONE but lunch we had a huge barbeque and Brazilian BBQ is 50X better than American ones plus they had BBQ sauce so that was pretty great! Friday my companion and I felt like studying some deeper doctrine for morning study and well the creation of the world and the atonement you can go pretty deep on but frankly this church is 150% true.  Literally everything makes sense in this church and I love it.  But for lunch we got money so we made some massive hamburgers which turned pretty great if I do say so myself and then another day of essentially everything we had marked falling, gotta love feriados.  Saturday was the baptism and Sunday we had our baptism which was a tad bit stressful but super great too!  Sunday was kind of a crazy day since lunch took forever as usual on Sundays but we cranked out a ton of contacts, had choir practice, filled up the baptismal font and set up the church and well it was ALL WORTH it to feel that amazing spirit and see the change that a baptism makes in people!  That wraps up the week, a week full of tests of faith to see if we really deserved that baptism and well NAILED IT.  I love you all, I love this church and I love this mission.  Have fun but not too much fun at Thanksgiving and always say your prayers, read your scriptures and write me letters.

amo vocês (love you)

ELDER GUBLER

Letter to the Priests Quorum

Everything is going great down here.  I really do absolutely love it more than I ever thought possible.  These people are amazing.  Same thing goes for the food.  I’ve only gained 15 pounds as of right now but I lost some of that in my last area because it was the second largest in the mission and right next to the beach which meant nice and hot and plenty of walking.  Our area was 22 miles long and it was just a little branch with about 60 people.  But I don’t think I have ever grown so close to people so fast in my life.  It’s so easy to really grow to love everyone here.

I love it my new area too.  I’ve only been here two weeks but I’m the District Leader now and I love it so far.  Doing a baptismal interview is the most spiritual thing ever.

                Time has gone unbelievably fast so I’m just trying to soak up every single day and moment.  Here close to Sao Paulo teaching is much easier than the areas by the beach.  We teach solid 3-4 lessons per day but then at the same time there are a couple of days with zero lessons and street contacts are your only hope.  Our mission is a low baptizing mission for Brazil.  I have had four baptisms in 10 months on the mission but frankly if I don’t baptize a single other person in my mission I’ll be happy because I know I’m doing my part and numbers don’t matter.  I left my old area after breaking the six plus months of no baptisms and we finally turned the place around.  We had a family and three other people marked for baptism for the first Sunday after the transfer so I did the work but don’t get to witness the baptism.  Definitely the worst part of the mission.  But I have had tons of comps, eight including my companion in the LTM and well I have had a few little disputes with some of them but that’s part of living with a dude.  I have had three areas and all of them have been pretty different, 100% sum, beach and half slum and half rich apartments.  But I really have loved all of my areas and frankly all of the moments I have had on the mission.  This is without a doubt the hardest thing I have ever done but it also is without a doubt the most rewarding and amazing thing I have done as well.  It wasn’t easy for Christ during his earthly ministry so how can it be easy for us (D&C 122:7-9).

                You need two just things to be able to serve a mission; be converted to the Gospel and the church and be spiritually prepared.  First off about conversion, a mission is mega hard!  No one really understands that until it’s you getting denied, it’s you that Satan is attaching harder than ever and it’s your faith and your conversion that is being tried.   As Elder Bednar said in conference, with just a testimony we can waiver, but if we are truly converted we constantly receive strength.  That strength is definitely necessary on the mission, physically, mentally and most important, spiritually.  True conversion is the foundation that you need to take you through the trails that you will certainly have.  But conversion is not the event but a process.  It’s a process that you need to work on but if you do your part, God always does his (D&C 82:10).  We have his promise so use it!  But we aren’t converted through dodge ball fights at the church, your girlfriend that takes you to church or the snack you get after Sunday school.  Conversion comes through silent prayers to Heavenly Father, diligent study of the scriptures and really just strengthening your love and relationship with God and Christ.  Also like Elder Bednar said, a lamp without oil is a testimony without conversion (see the Parable of the 10 virgins).  Persistence and patience but once you are truly converted, and then comes spiritual preparedness.  There is a video on lds.org by Elder Holland called ‘Staying within the Lines’ that explains the importance of spiritual preparedness a lot better that I can.  If you are not 100% worthy of the Spirit there is no way you will be able to teach the way the Lord wants.  This is His work not ours.  There is one way the Lord wants this done; the right way, and if you are not worthy of the Spirit or not spiritually prepared there is no way for you to pull it off.  Satan has had a lot more time at this  than we have so if you cannot get the Spirit he sweeps in and does the work that he does so well…the little turd.  I know it may sound like a lot but if you are willing to accept the help of the Lord he always gives it.  Whether it is through Priesthood leaders, Bishops, parents or the scriptures take advantage of it all.  We really are so amazingly blessed to have all the help and ease we do living in Bountiful Utah.  I think literally every single Church member here in Brazil would give just about anything to have the things we do.  Take advantage of it all, church Seminary, Institute, mission prep and all the dedicated leaders we have.  Is the missions hard, YES, is it worth it, YES!!!!  I would go through just about anything to have the joy of sharing the Gospel with others.  I thought I was happy with my iphone,  car, x-box, McDonalds down the street, and a great home but you really never know what happiness is until you see someone’s life change forever through your help.  Your simple testimony has a greater impact on others than you or I ever imagined.  I LOVE THE MISSION.  I’ve only been out for 10 months and I’ve loved something so much.  This mission is also a blast.  My name tag gets me free food and presents like you wouldn’t believe.  Trust me on this one, you’ll love the mission.  It’s a lot of extremely hard work but it’s also a lot of fun.  Yes you are allowed to have fun on your mission.  I have never regretted my decision to serve the Lord for one second.  You change others lives and end up changing yours as well.

                 

November 12, 2012

This week was a little rough because I felt like I was going to die for a good part of the week which started on Tuesday. We had district meeting and I taught a lesson on diligence which turned our decent and then I did a division with one of my districts.  I went to their area and my companion stayed in our area.  We didn’t get a lot done in terms of lots of lessons and stuff but the lessons we did get in were all mega powerful and important because get this they have this kid who is 17 in their area who wants to be baptized but his MEGA catholic mom hates the church and was "never" going to let him get baptized so I of course wanted to meet her which my split was a little nervous about because she had apparently screamed at them and all this stuff but so we go there and she lives in an apartment so we have phone to her room and I just say we are "representatives of Christ and we wanted to see how she was" so that got us through the first stuff, then the door approach she burned the church a little but we calmed her down and ended up getting in the house which had never been done before and well we are just chatting up a storm, showing pictures of my beautiful family and we really actually got a little trust and friendship going! We didn’t talk much about our church but we talked about God and left a little bible scripture and it really was quite the miracle I tell you!  That made up for getting mega sick that night because it was just great so let’s hope that they can use that in and get her to let her son be baptized.  On Wednesday we ended the division, and after not sleeping ALL night and almost puking I was EXHAUSTED but we had an appointment before lunch so we walk forever long to get to our house, drop the stuff off and then back out to save some souls!  We ended up cranking out two really great lessons before lunch but lunch just about killed me because I wasn’t even hungry but the Sister threw some serious food on my plate that was all deep fried so that destroyed any bit of life that I had so after that we went home so I could take a nap but then after a two hour nap we had a ton to do that night so back to saving souls and despite the fact that my body felt broken, congestion headache, sore throat, etc (been quite some time since I’ve felt that bad) it was extremely cool because I felt really guided and inspired in all that we taught so that was my blessing for pushing myself to go work and it was definitely worth it!  That night I made some natural marucujá juice (passion fruit) because it helps relax you and attempted to sleep but didn’t really sleep again so I woke up on Thursday a little better and off some meds we went to Santo André because we had our zone conference which was amazing as usual I always love those things because we got a training from the assistants and from the Pres and Sister Tanner! MEGA spiritual and I got some letters and materials but then left my little taking note book there...oops! We left at 7:00 in the morning and finally got home at 3:00 so then that night we only connected with two lessons but they were both great also!  We taught our investigator who was supposed to be baptized this week but will be next week because her mom had to go out of town and all this stuff and then we taught another investigator.  I always teach her in English which is EXTREMELY nice and a ton EASIER but I always ended up falling back on Portuguese because its weird teaching in English but I was teaching about the Book of Mormon because she LOVES the bible but doesn’t read the BoM that much so I gave her alittle run down of the beginning and let’s just say she did not like the fact that Nephi cut off Labans head at all so I explained about David and Goliath and how it was essentially the same thing and that helped calm her down we got her believing so don’t worry.  Then on Friday my cough got a little more bronchitis-y so I was coughing up crap all day but this Sister gave me this pineapple and honey mixture that helped get the stuff out! Later that day we taught our investigator and this time we kept the lesson to an hour so we kept her more under control.  I said that if she came to our church, we would go to hers and she came on Sunday so we’ll see how that turns our because I’m sure there will be people falling and casting out demons and plenty of "tithing", so that should be fun.  Then we had an activity for the seminary that night and the Elders from Batistini (part of our district) came because they brought some of their investigators too and well we got pizza and it was a pretty good little fireside!  Onto Saturday, English class had a pretty great turn out of like nine people but everyone was participating and actually attempting to speak so that was great.  Then we had lunch and cranked out some sick lessons after that.  We taught a members grandson who is eight and wants to be baptized and even thought it doesn’t "count" for us, they want us to teach him then we got some new investigators and taught some less actives and the that night we had our meeting with our ward mission leader (LMA) and had a buffet dinner of french fries that was pretty dang good.  I told the irmã that I was craving french fries last week and well she really wanted us to quench that craving.  I even tried to make fry sauce but it’s not the same thing because the mayo and ketchup are both pretty different here but it turned out pretty solid!  Then onto Sunday, quite the day I tell you!  First off that morning I was calling everyone as usual to get people to come to church I called one of our investigators and she says that he mom officially is not going to let her go to church or to seminary.  Then flashing forward to church, in our gospel principles class where it is just new members and our investigators we were talking about the spirit world and life after death and the LMA just started arguing about doctrine in front of our investigator and well that wasn’t a KILLER GOOD first impression of the church.  But after church, lunch took FOREVER so we told some jokes, played some chess and a princess matching game haha then that night we visited some less actives that didn’t come to church and gave a blessing to someone that I’m pretty sure was possessed....but thank heavens didn’t have a break down while we were giving her the blessing. Dad did you see any of that crazy stuff on your mission because I have heard some beyond sketchy stuff that happens on peoples missions! Then we had our weekly FHE was pretty great as usual and well that wraps up the week!  It was  a pretty hard week because we worked our BUTTS off this week and only had one person come to church and I was as sick as a dog but SÓ VAI!!! :) I love you all, I love this mission, it’s crazy to think that I almost have a year and in a little over a month I’ll be talking to you all again for Christmas!  Get those letters coming everyone! can’t wait for the packages to get here and PEACE FAM!

ELDER GUBLER

November 5, 2012

This week the weather was totally INSANO!  Wednesday was supposedly the hottest day of the year, I almost died, and on Tuesday it was insanely hot in the morning, then was POURING rain for an hour at like 2:00 and then got mega hot again after that which meant it was nice and humid and well I’m just glad I’m not in the Baixada because it’s probably 5x hotter down there!  On Tuesday, everything we had marked fell except for one lesson which was actually a pretty good lesson.  We had a few appointments marked with a member and of course those fell too so we ended up eating all of our pains away with esfihas (mini pizzas).   Wednesday was Halloween or dia das bruxas and that was weird not seeing little kids in costumes and stuff like that but for district meeting I had everyone wear their ugliest tie and on p-day I bought a mega ugly one for 2 reais.  Then I did a division with a companionship in my district and it was a pretty sick day! He has a way sweet ward and since it’s mostly favela, the people are more open too! I did a baptismal interview for them though, which was AMAZINGLY spiritual! The girl I interviewed started crying and it was just really intense and I love doing interviews and GET THIS, come to find out that the girl that I interviewed is cousins of a kid that I baptized in Diadema, can you say a small world!  I had them call him and I talked to him for a little bit which was great!  Then I got to talk to super "mole" investigator that they have that decided like 5 minutes before his baptism that he didn’t want to go through with it.  I gave him a nice little burn session and talked about the importance of baptism and the atonement and all this stuff and it really was mega cool because I have never felt that "guided" on the mission!  I don’t even really remember what I said but I knew exactly what to say and what scriptures to use at every moment during the lesson. I love the mission!  Thursday = everything falling too.......patience, patience, patience.  It’s was funny because we did a TON of contacts and I talked with this guy that I told I was American and he was signing stuff so that I could "understand" what he was saying.  I played along with it for a little bit but then I was just like "bro I can understand you just fine" and his friend and my companion just cracked up.  Gotta love being American! We did get one solid lesson in though with the couple that has had an inanely hard life and some church members have done some pretty messed up stuff towards them because she is a less active and he isn’t a member and well we essentially just kind of let them vent and said that the church is perfect but the people aren’t.  Friday I timed myself for the Rubix cube and found out I can pull it off in 3 minutes and 7 seconds!  Not bad for only knowing how to do it a week ago.  I’m getting there especially because my cube is AWFUL and always gets stuck so a real one would be nice.  Then FINALLY some stuff actually worked out!  We got some sweet new investigators and taught some street lessons and then an FHE that night! Saturday you’ll never guess but...our SUPER important appointments that couldn’t fall....FELL!   Gotta love it.   So we taught some less actives and had our meeting with our LMA and get this a teen I baptized in my first area called and said he would go to my church on Sunday so that was SICK!  Being able to see him again and he is going strong in the church so that rocks! He says the ward is getting kind of sketch and people are moving or falling away but well there is Inamar for you, favela baby!  Sunday really was a great day though, it was mega spiritual and had finally some investigators come to church and I bore my testimony and may have shed some tears because I talked about how the week was hard for us but I read section D&C 122 that morning and that always whips me into shape! I love that section more than anything!  Also we talked to an investigator after church and she now wants to be baptized but we still have to figure out what to do with her Mom not letting her.  But we will have a baptism next week of another investigator that everyone thought was already baptized but turns out never was!  She is only 10 but she goes to church every week with her family so SÓ ÁGUA!  I love you all! Get these letters coming! Um abração e beijinhos!

ELDER GUBLER

October 29, 2012

HELLLLOO FAMMILYYY!!!!!!!! :)

I hope it’s starting to get a little cold because well the weather here is absolutely INSANO! I feel like I’m in Utah again,   it’s usually decently cold in the morning then by noon its ABSURDLY hot until like 4:00 then its pours hot rain and gets decently cold again at night.  São Bernardo weather = Utah weather.

Tuesday was a pretty rough day.  It started out great with another district meeting and we had a mini Halloween party and my training turned out really sick but then after that everything was just kind off all day.  Lunch fell which has NEVER happened here, so we went to our "Moms" house and she made us spaghetti, then we knocked doors for three hours and no one let us in, and then our two appointments marked for that night we found out that our three baptisms marked for that Sunday ALL fell through.  I’m not sure what we are supposed to learn from this one but there has got to be something so essentially we are just going to hold strong because really these three are all WAY too close to baptism to "kick".  A few more fasts and prayers and we´ll see! The future is only as bright as your faith so hold strong Elder Gubler.  Wednesday we had one lesson with an evangelical lady which means she is from one of the crazy Brazilian churches and well she was really participating but a little too much because the lesson took 2 hours.  She kept on going off on all these stories OH GLORIA and well we have yet to teach her again but we´ll see with her.  Then we taught some less actives and recent converts and I was talking to this guy who served in the Nordeste mission and you apparently baptize ATÉ O PÓ there! I’m pretty sure that Belo Horizante has some pretty good baptism too so get Lauren pumped! How is that going with her by the way, and Oliver too?  You have got to keep me posted! Thursday we had lunch MEGA far away... it took and hour and fifteen to get there but the house was MASSIVE.  My companion said there are six floors but I only saw four, either way, nice and big for Brazil or the US for that matter.  And the lunch was definitely in the top 3 lunches of my mission so far. I LOVE BRASILIAN FOOD!  I really don’t know what I’m going to go without beans everyday when I get back.... I’m addicted.  Then we got lost trying to find our way to the main part of our area but finally found it and then we did a division with the ZL (zone leaders) because they needed me to do an interview from a kid in their area and well we ended up knocking doors in their area the whole day and got only three people to talk to us, two of which were solid street lessons.  Oh get this, it is definitely going down in HISTORY, we totally knocked a whore house....actually looked more like a brothel.  There was this guy sitting in front of the gate so we go talk to him and say we are missionaries and just says "cool you wanna come in" which was way too easy in my head so thank heavens I asked if this was his house and well he says no its where girls "present themselves to you" so we just look at each other and try not to laugh.  We got out of there nice and fast!  Só na missão......só na missão (only on a mission).  The kid that I was going to interview had their 4 month old puppy get kicked by their neighbor and broke his leg so everyone was crying and they were leaving when we got there so needless to say the baptismal interview didn’t go down and that was definitely the newest way I’ve seen Satan interrupt a baptism…the little turd.  Friday we had lunch at the house of a Brazilian but said she lived in Utah for a bit and went to pleasant grove and knew some Pinegars so start asking around who knows her!  She is like around 32 and was there in 1998.  It’s an insanely small world I tell ya!  Oh and get this, since she has been to the states she had peanut butter and made peanut butter brownies for us and OH MY LANTIS....I almost died….sooooooooooo good.   Mom they weren’t half as good as yours but man did it hit the spot even if I was absurdly full. We even got to take some home and I’ve still got two waiting for me in the fridge.  Then it was also the day that I finished a Rubix cube for the first time, woohoo!  It took me a week to get it down but I finally got it.  Then that night, there was a little mini party that a member had for us and well I don’t think I have ever eaten so much in my entire life in one day!  It’s funny because in every other area in the mission, everyone is struggling to find food but we are struggling to eat more food because we literally ate at three out of the five houses we went to, not counting lunch, I almost exploded, but we did it for all those suffering without food in the mission.  Saturday we had a mini activity at the church where some members showed to pass out pass along cards and we were on a roll! We cranked out 70 in one hour just us two!  Then at lunch we had quite a huge chat about free masons because there is a member who is probably going to join.  But it was essentially a day of nothing working out so we got two lessons in.  Then Sunday I found out that an investigator doesn’t even "want' to get baptized now.  We then taught a newlywed couple in English.  Well that is the week in a nut shell! I love you all! Get the letters coming and abração e beijinhos.

ELDER GUBLER

October 22, 2012

It was a pretty solid week full of fantastic food which always leads to eating too much and then downing Pepto and full of some great lessons! Tuesday we had our zone meeting instead of District meeting and it was WAY good! I really LOVE the people that we have in our zone here but it was fantastic because we got some letters too and well even though my family is full or slackers that never write the beloved first born serving the Lord, Tara has always got my back but so I will try not to talk too much about food this week but our lunch on Tuesday was this lasagna that the Sister used crepe things instead of the spaghetti stuff to make the layers and it was the greatest ever! The pepto definitely came into play after that but then we hit up this free bus in our area called Fatima... yes the bus has a name but everything fell there.  We got some solid contacts in and marked a ton of stuff for this next week then Wednesday we had a service project in the morning where we helped set up this thing to make a wall at someone’s house.  I don’t really know how to explain it because construction here doesn’t really make sense then we had another killer lunch with the most amazing fruit salad I’ve ever eaten in my entire life! Brazilian fruit is just the greatest.  Then after lunch we had to go to the central to sign something so I won’t be put in jail.  Everyone keeps losing my paperwork.  We then hit up the favela part of our area and got tons of lessons in!  We got a few new people to teach and a couple of them seem pretty promising but no one came to church on Sunday.....boohoo! Then that night we taught an investigator the word of wisdom and chastity and that was a fun lesson.  She apparently had bought black tea earlier that day and wanted to try it because they drink it in England and she wants to be English but we just told her to pray about it to see if it really is a commandment...works like a charm.  Thursday we taught a few more new people, taught a lesson on the street and then went to another area to do a baptismal interview for a companionship in my district but well the kid was sick and had taken medicine and went to bed so needless to say that didn’t go down.  Friday we had interviews with the Pres which were great as usual.  I also got a package from the great Tara full of candy and well let’s just say that our ward and my district is loving it because everyone gets to try American candy.  I ate too much at lunch again, found some less actives knocking doors and then had our baptismal interviews that night so I went and did a division and slept in the ZLs (Zone Leaders) area. Our ZL had Reeses fast break and well that is my first request for Christmas.  I stated my list this week so I’ll get back to you so see what I really want!   Saturday had a ton of people in English class so that was sweet then we had lunch at some members from Chile that have live here for 30+ years and still can’t speak Portuguese but the cool thing was I could understand mostly everything.  I got lost in a few parts but hey I think one year of Spanish and I should be good to go when i get back.  Then we had THE most interesting lesson of my mission....teaching some drunk guy.  He kept on screaming at my comp then I would calm him down and he would scream at my comp again. He kept on asking "what is the seventh?" Man got to love the mission but I had him say the closing prayer and that was a HUGE mistake, we were on our knees for like 15 minutes while he was screaming I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.  Love it.  Then we had our meeting with or LMA ward mission leader, and he speaks English so he gave me this business outline so I’ve been proofreading that for him, fun stuff.  Sunday the time went ahead one hour so we lost an hour of sleep and it just about killed me! I gave a talk at church and it turned out pretty solid an then we had a meeting with the Mission President and with our Ward leadership.  It was in Guarujá but I did get to see my daddy Elder Petersen and Elder Hansen and Sister Brenchley from my CTM district.  That wraps up the week so keep the emails coming and LETTERS too! I love you all and I love this church.

ELDER GUBLER