November 22, 2013

-3 John 1:13-14

-2 Timothy 4: 6-7

 

-Moses 7: 63

 

See ya'll in 6 days.

Elder Gubler

November 15, 2013

It’s starting to really settle in now; everyone is making me super trunky not going to lie; members, other missionaries, everyone in my group, yeah it’s almost officially over and well I may be slightly freaking out.  Still no sign of trinkets to get for everyone.  I’ve been searching long and far but NO success so far so don’t expect much. Hopefully just me with my trashed shoes, stained shirt and SICK tie will be enough but well so I’m pretty sure I emailed last week before the wedding and baptism of _____ and _____ and so some details about that, it was super sick!! I really just love that family more than anything and I really is just going to stink to have to say goodbye to everyone.  Most people I’ll be able to stay in contact with through Facebook and Skype and stuff but they are super humble and down to earth and don’t use Facebook so I’m just going to have to stick to the letters I guess.  But so they got married on Saturday morning and me and my comp were the testimonies during the wedding so that was exciting because I got to sign tons of legit paperwork.  Then later that night we had the baptism after the ward Relief Society did where they taught how to make homemade bread! Super sick by the way but so after that we had the baptism and a irmã in the ward made a super sick wedding cake for them too so they were re-born and then we all enjoyed some fresh cooked break and cake :) Pretty grrrrreat day if I don’t say so myself! For this Sunday we are hoping to baptize _____ who is _____ cousin and his is a super sick kid! I gave some dress clothes for this baptism but well nothing fit him because he's alittle short but well it all fit _____ and the guy is now going to be looking like a boss!  Besides that we went to Parque Ibirapueira this morning with some members which is the biggest park in São Paulo and well we just kind of cruised around on bikes and drank coconut juice and hit up some museums there and then got some pastels and caldo de cana from a street fair (I’m trying to just sock up all the Brazilian stuff I can these day) and then bought a massive tug of açaí the fruit ice cream stuff that I LOVE and well here I am, having MAJOR stomach pains and writing y’all. But so yeah, I’m calling it there. You’ll get plenty more stories in 12 days........ but who is counting right? Love you all more than anything, the Church is true and I LOVE being a missionary.

Elder Gubler

October 24, 2013

I’m officially almost down to a month left on the mission (it’s REALLY starting to set in that I’m going to have to go home and I don’t like it one bit. But well instead of thinking about that, I’m just trying to soak up every last little minute and well this last week was pretty eventful! I’m pretty sure I already talked about the wedding of _____ and _____ on the 9th but I just don’t think words can describe how happy I am for them and how much I’m going to miss that family. I’m pretty sure their youngest kid _____ is just going to come home with me so hopes that’s okay.  This whole "bye.. see ya who knows when" things is going to SUCK because yeah I want to come back next year but I doubt that I’ll go down because of school and lack of cash so realistically I have no idea when I’m going to see all these people again. Yeah, goodbyes just always kind of stink. But well on a happier note.... we took p-day this week and we went to Pico do Jaraguá which is the highest point in São Paulo! When there is some decent weather and the pollution isn’t too bad you can see everything but the day we when it was a tad bit cloudy and pollution was pretty sketchy also. But either way it was nice to just get away from the office and do a little "passeando" and then after we got done checking that out we hit up some legit place of the Corinthians which is my favorite soccer team and that was pretty rad! I got some free stickers because we went _____ and _____ (as usual :) our recent convert and a guy from the ward) and well _____ always tells everyone how I’m American and how I’m Corinthiando and well people LOVE it and always give me free stuff.  Gotta love special treatment! Then for lunch we went to this MASSIVE fruit market place that is by 25 de Março (the china town of São Paulo and we ate some crazy fruits that I have never seen in my live, saw just about EVERY part of the cow for sale (and yes I mean EVERYTHING hahahaha), ate the São Paulo famous bologn sandwich and the cod little fried tort-ish thing, both of which were way good and well then back to the office. But it was quite the day! It always stinks to get back to the office though because it’s like real life settles back in and you have to catch up on everything and it’s just great. So hence we never taking p-days but well since I’ve only got like 4 weeks left there are still some places I want to check out so the goal is to take p-day every week from here on out.  Flashing back to Saturday and Sunday, on Saturday I spent like three hours doing baptismal interview and just making goals with some kids and that had some stuff to work on before baptism and well that took some TIME and then on Sunday we had _____ BAPTISM BABY which turned out to be quite the day.  The water got cut in our chapel because get this the church didn’t pay the bills hahahaha classic. So we went to the stake center and did the baptism there so there wasn’t as many people as I wanted or as there would have been if it was at our chapel but we had a solid group that went with us and I decided that since we have four kids in our ward that all have mission calls and are leaving within the next two months, I want to have them all baptize before they left and so one hadn’t baptized in forever so we had him baptize _____ and well it was just a great day.  Oh and flashing forward to yesterday, the fourth kid in our Ward got his call and he is going to JAPAN!  I didn’t see that one coming seeing as the other 3 staying in Brazil but well he leaves on the 21st of January and goes to Provo MTC so how sick would that be if I see him there.  We’re going to try and meet up but well that’s kind of it for right now.  Enjoy my email that is all over the place.  I’ll send some pics too.  The guy that took the pic at Pico do Jaraguá had us do some crazy poses; he really liked taking pics apparently.  Love to you all.

Elder Gubler

November 8, 2013

So this week was kind of madness so hence the delay.... and I don’t have much time because we our casal missionário (I don’t know what you call them in English... elderly missionaries) are leaving today!! I honestly don’t know what we are going to do without them!  They are the greatest and have saved me plenty of times! It’s a good thing I will only have to know what it’s like without them for 6 weeks but well let’s move onto the last week or so.  I never remember what I tell you all and what I don’t because I always email on different days but so last week we had a guy from the church office building come and do an inspection on the office and how everything is going and well I found out that this last month I was the executive secretary that spent the least in all of Brazil!  How’s that for being frugal?  Well he took is out to lunch and said that we could eat wherever we wanted and it was "on the mission" so we all went to a LEGIT all you can eat type place that is way fancy!  There was everything from sushi, to Brazilian barbeque to crepes and well I don’t think I have eaten that much food in a LOOOONNNG time!  I ate some raw squid which actually wasn’t that bad! It was kind of weird seeing the little tentacles and everything but só vai right?  And well we had another sister that had to go home because of health issue so that sucked to have to send her off... that is already the third that I’ve had to buy emergency flights for them to go home and bleh…not too fun.  And she almost missed her flight too so that was quite the day... some other big stories, I took a group to the federal police station and well that was QUITE the day!  We snuck some sisters in which was a lot easier to get them in that out.  It was _____ b-day who is my hook up with all the federal police stuff and well luckily had some peanut butter with me just to suck up a little because I had no idea it was his b-day but well it ended up working out pretty well!  The fingerprint ladies and I sang happy birthday to him in English and everything, super funny!  I wish I would have been able to film it but well you can’t take out cameras there.  And then I got some fines too because 2 missionaries arrived in the field from the MTC with 30 day limit that they have to go to the federal police station passed... oh joy. But the church office building is going to pay it for us because it wasn’t our fault!  And then more fun stories about that same day, we used to buy some gross take out for all the missionaries to eat "lunch" in the office but well I can’t handle that take out anymore so everyone paid some personal money and we took them to sweet tomatoes (yeah the one from the states) and well everyone that works there knows us and we already get a discount because we eat there like 2 times a week and well I still don’t really know why this happened but they brought out a cake with a sparkler on it and gave it to me... hahahahah they think I’m like the boss of the missionaries and well I got nice and red and everyone sang, fun stuff!  I think we officially made the VIP status in the restaurant.  One more thing about that day, I spent R$1435 in one day!  I’m going to have to spend a LOT more next week when I take another 12 people to the federal police station.... some good news about the work, we marked _____ and _____ wedding today at the Cartório and it worked out about as well as it could have!  They let me be a witness which they usually don’t because I’m not Brazilian, we marked the wedding for the 7th of November which is SUPER fast because it usually takes over a month to be able to mark and I was stressing that I wasn’t going to be here anymore for their wedding and baptism so now I won’t have to stay an extra week.  And more good news, instead of spending R$355, we marked it for FREE!  I know TONS of people that work there because I got there at least twice a week to get authenticated copies of stuff for visas and well it’s all the people you know because they really hooked us up this time!  I’m SUPER, SUPER pumped for them because I love this family more than anything. They really are amazing and seeing their growth in the gospel over the last couple months that we have known them has been amazing!! I really love this family and want to come back down next year for their sealing!  I don’t want to have to leave all these amazing people behind.... we also have a super sweet older lady that is going to be baptized this Sunday and we are super excited about that because we thought she lived with another man who isn’t her husband since she has been a widow for over years and well she doesn’t consider the guy her hubby, they are honestly just like friends and we thought they lived in the same house and even though there is nothing going on between them we didn’t know what to do about that but we found out this week that he has his own little house under hers!  He sleeps there and has his own little bathroom and TV so Pres said she is good to go and can get baptized this Sunday as long as everything goes alright with her baptismal interview which will be tonight and then we have _____ who we have been working with for some time now who says his GF wants him to wait for them two to get baptized together but the kid is beyond ready so we are going to see if we can get him baptized and get him the Priesthood so he can baptize his girlfriend.  The Lord is truly blessing us with amazing people to work with! It’s going to be way hard to have to leave all of them though.  But well there is a rundown of some recent highlights, love you all! See you soon!

Elder Gubler

November 1, 2013

So here is the deal...... my emails will probably stink from here on out because the next couple of weeks are going to be super busy and I figure I can tell you all the same stories a lot better in person so just hold strong!  But we took p-day today and hit up Avenida Paulista and 25 _____ and I dropped some cash and tried to hunt down some stuff for everyone but well........ no success...... good news though, I did find a couple classy ties.  We had three mission wide zone conferences this week which was TONS of work but well that will be the last time I’m going to have to do all that again! We are going to have _____ and ______ interviews for baptism tonight so that they can get married and baptized on Saturday!  Keep them in your prayers so everything goes smoothly.  We are also teaching ______ cousin who came from another state to live with them and so we are teaching him and he is going to get interviewed too because he is progressing quite nicely!  Unfortunately he won’t be able to be baptized on Saturday with _____ and _____ because he has only been to church once but if the interview goes well and he goes to church on Sunday we are thinking about doing it then.  That is essentially it for this week! I love you all tons! Keep the emails coming and I’ll see you soon!

Elder Gubler

October 3, 2013

Frankly I can believe it either that ill be home in less than 2 months.....can I stay just one more transfer?   Even wanting to I can’t because of the visa but I can’t wait to hear about Michael!   Onto my week...a few random stories for the week, on Sunday we had bbq baby back ribs and it was probably the GREASTEST thing I have yet to eat here.  Then on Tuesday we took p-day and went the Bantã institute which had 3 little museums, one of microbiology, one of snakes and another or some other thing that we never found.  We went with some members and then after that we hit up some arcade place to waste time because we were planning on going to the crime museum too which sounded actually super sick but well turns out it is closed and the police department just is too lazy to tell anyone or to bother putting that on the internet so that didn’t end up going through so then we ate some lunch and back to the office, not a bad day!  It’s nice to just get out of the office for a while even though there is always a nice little mess for us to resolve whenever we get back.  That night we had 3 young men get their mission calls so there was a little party at one of their houses and we hit that up and well they are all going to stay here in Brazil!   One is going to Recife, another to Natal and the last one to Salvador. All 3 missions are SUPER hot so they will all be coming back nice and burnt but I’m excited for the 3 of them!   They leave the first week of January, it was kind of super weird seeing them opening up the callings though because I flashed back to when I opened mine and just all the emotions and well it’s CRAZY to think that I’m already almost done.  But well before I get all choked up... they are all going to do a great job and I can’t wait until Michael gets his call.   Well to be completely honest that is kind of it for the week.... I guess it wasn’t as eventful as I thought.  We have transfers on Tuesday and 27 new missionaries are going to be showing up and none are leaving so here we go! We’ve been hunting down houses and getting all the phones ready to go so let’s hope everything all works out!  But well I love you all. Thanks for all that you do for me! See you soon.

Elder Gubler

September 26, 2013

This week has been nice and crazy and well it’s just going to get crazier because we have 25 missionaries that are going to be arriving for the next transfer which is in a week.  But at the same time I’m hoping that tons come on this one because this will be last transfer here and I don’t want to leave the next executive secretary with 40 some odd missionaries that arrive his first transfer as executive secretary.  We still have a little over 50 in the states after these that will coming this transfer but well let’s get onto my week! So on Tuesday the other half of the mish went to the temple, since we went through a session last week we couldn’t go again but we had to stop in at the church office building which is right next so we went with Pres and Sister Tanner and hit some crazy São Paulo traffic but after a couple hours we made there got everything worked out there and ate lunch at the super sick Brazilian Rodizio place right next to the temple with all the people that passed through the temple but while we were there, I saw Elder ______ my companion in Bertioga!   He is from the north part of Brazil but after he got home he lived in Praia Grande and turns out he just decided to stop in at the temple so that was cool to be able to talk to him!  That night I gave all the stuff I wanted Bishop to take but it turned out being too much so I had to leave the book so he is just going to take tons of soccer jerseys and stuff like that!  About yesterday, I took two Sisters to the federal police station and the guy from the MTC who always goes when mission secretaries go ended up not being able to go but well it worked out super smoothly and we got out of there at record breaking time but then we had got to the Recieta federal to pick up the package of an Elder from Chile because the government was holding it hostage but it was nice and far away and so we show up there and they almost wouldn’t let me take it but I made him sign a document saying that I could and all this stuff and well we got that all figured out but then a guy had to take a look at it to make sure there was nothing too expensive in it and he didn’t get in until 12 so we went got a bus and hunted down a Cartorio to get authenticated copies of the federal police station stuff and then we went back to the Reciete federal got the package and were on our way back to the office and well we didn’t get back until like 1:30 and we left home at 6:15.... and then we got back, ate lunch got some office stuff done and then we went with Pres and Sister Tanner back to Santo Andre because Pres let me go back (which he almost NEVER lets people do...) to baptize _____ the father of the family that I baptized and well that was amazing!!! It took us over 2 hours to get there (on the way back it took 28 mins) because we hit more insano STOPPED traffic... but we finally made it even though the water was freezing and I was beyond exhausted by that point, that was the most amazing baptism for me. To be able to see all those amazing people back in Santo Andre was great especially seeing as I didn’t even really get to say goodbye because I was emergency transfer to the office and to be able complete that family was perfect. Seeing how much the gospel has changed them is amazing. I just love this mission. I cannot say that enough and I don’t know if 2 months is going to be enough.... if I could stay one more transfer I would but you all got lucky because my visa expires... haha but well I have got tons of stuff to do to get ready for transfers coming up.... today was supposed to be p-day but well I doubt we will have pday this week....:( I WANNA SLEEP.... but frankly I should just soak up this whole being super tired thing because I only have 2 months of it left.  Love you all. Love the Gospel and we are all so unbelievable blessed to know the Gospel have it and its blessings in our lives.

Elder Gubler

September 12, 2013

So it was a pretty eventful last week here in Brazil.  I know the last couples months on the mission are always memorable because its seems like you notice the small miracles and stuff you didn’t catch at the beginning but I also feel like there is quite a bit more random stuff happening too.  Last Saturday we painted a recent convert's house for 5 hours but I got pretty good if I don’t say so myself and the house turned out sick and doing service projects here is super hard so it was nice to be able to rock some shorts and do a little service!  Then that night we watched a Christian movie with _____ (one of our recent converts and some members) about a man that tried to sue the devil because he was life is "too hard" and it was a way good movie! We watched because we are gonna pass it in the ward as a ward missionary work activity and I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be a hit!  We are really getting somewhere with the ward now, everyone wants to do visits with us.  But we had a sick FHE at the Bishops house on Monday, he gave us 2 boxes of candy each and bought pizza.  On Sunday we were teaching this family a mom and her 27 year old son about the Book of Mormon and its purpose and we were talking about what "fullness of the gospel" means and to make a long story short, the lady made a comment that didn’t make like any sense so her son just started laughing and was like "that isn’t even what they asked" and they both just start cracking up.  It was actually pretty funny because her comment had NOTHING to do with anything but they just kept on laughing and laughing and laughing and me and comp just here on the couch and then I realize that the lady was coughing more than laughing so I look over at her and I realize that she was totally chocking and as soon as I looked over at her she starting drooling and was turning like purplish and starting seizing a little so I like flew from the couch and went to try and lift her up to do the Heimlich so I realized there was no way I was gonna lift her up so I just start hitting her back and after like 5 time she just like gasped and came to and was like totally confused and starting asking what happened and all this stuff.  Come to find out that she said she saw "the light" and was going towards and she like saw herself like some sort of an out of body experience and she said she thought she was dead but well good thing she didn’t die in front of us because I don’t know how well I would have taken that but anyways pretty sure it was me that almost went to the hospital after because my heart rate was so high but well everything worked out in the long run.  But pretty sure I don’t think I’ll be forgetting that lesson anytime soon.  Then on Tuesday we had a mission leadership meeting which was SUPER good but its kind of super weird because since we are the oldest group in the mission right so the APs made me and another kid from our group participate in their practice and then I got to do a nice little practice in front of everyone.  I’m getting better at this whole public speaking thing and well that is essentially it! Today we are gonna take p-day and go hit up São Paulo.  I’m pretty sure I’ve already mentioned this but I started an international money collection and we are gonna hit up avenida paulista which is the most famous street in Brazil and there is a guy that has coins from ALL over the world! A member got some for me from Israel and Spain and all these south American countries but I want to check this place out for myself and my comp Elder _____ wants to hit up some nerd store called geek etc so that should be great.  But oh speaking of money, do you think you can send me like 15 one dollar bills because I want to give some to a couple missionaries and some members and everyone is always asking for them so it you could send me that ASAP it would be GREAT but well I think that is essentially it for this week, I love you all, I love the mission and I love my Lord.

Elder Gubler

September 6, 2013

Well I am SUPER crazy busy as usual! Yesterday was probably the craziest day I have had in months!  I woke up 5:30 to take 7 people to the federal police station including Pres and Sister Tanner and well on the way there we had a sister get stolen on the train and an Elder puked and that was before we even got to the best part. Then once we got there, since no one from the church office building knew how to finish the Presidents visa process they told what they thought I would need and well come to find out here was another fine I needed to pay so I had to run around and get that paid and help another new mission secretary from another mission and they made some people retake their pictures because sometime the accept people smiling and a gray background and sometime you can smile and the background has to be PERFECTLY white and their can’t be a shadow on you face so we had 2 people that had to retake pics and man it was just a BLAST let me tell ya. I just LOVE that place. It’s always super organized and everything. but we all survived and only one sister didn’t make it through because her paperwork was wrong so I’m gonna have to send that to the US Consulate here in Brazil for them to figure that out and then we got back and I went to get some authenticated copies of everything and then at like 3 we finally went to lunch and I ate WAY too much because I felt super hungry but my stomach was tiny and then we painted part of a house and then we went back to the office until 6 and then taught some lessons that night. The day is going down in books and there is just a little sample of my life but other than that, Wednesday we had a division and had some super good lessons and the ward is really noticing out work now so we are really getting somewhere! The couple we are teaching is gonna get married as soon as we can get all the papers ready but it’s gonna cost R$250 reais to get all the stuff we need and well the ward is taking FOREVER to decide it they can pay it or not so if it takes much longer I’m just gonna pay just FYI it would end up being like 120 dollars.  _____ got confirmed on Sunday and she asked me to confirm her and well it has been a WHILE since I’ve confirmed someone so I was oddly nervous and it was kind of hilarious because my hand and my knees were like uncontrollably shaking.  I you couldn’t tell from my voice that I was nervous and as soon as I started I was fine but I was just shaking for some reason, super funny and everyone keeps on giving me crap for it. Gotta love the mission  and one more fun detail our stake got its named changed from Sao Paulo west to São Paulo Sul which make a ton more sense because west had nothing to do with the area or the mission but now our stake has the same name as the mission, aí sim!  A few other things, _____ our other super firm investigator is gonna get baptized on the 21st and so she is progressing super well too and a super weird fact, we had zone meeting this week and the zone leader was like "why don’t we ask the veteran in the zone" and then looked at me and I totally thought he was talking about someone else but then I realized that I’m officially the oldest in our zone. It’s really starting to hit now... and I hate it... I remember when I was super new in the mission and hearing the people that only had 2 months left was always super weird and well now that’s me.... time is weird. But well I love you all! Hope everything is going good back at home! I always pray for all of you, thanks for the support and I’ll see ya soon ;)

Elder Gubler

August 30, 2013

So the good news is that I survived, the bad news is that I kind of almost died on Wednesday. After two days of almost no sleep my body just about gave out and I got a nice little cold and just had the greatest body aches ever, fun stuff. But luckily Sister Tanner is the greatest ever and she made me a care package of all the meds I would need, and cinnamon rolls and natural juice.  Well after following her instructions and FINALLY getting some sleep I feel WORLDS better. As Aladdin well stated, "a whole new world".  But about the week, the transfers went pretty smoothly, like they were going oddly smoothly because there is almost always something that is forgotten or not done right or something like that but I double checked like everything on Monday night so no materials or slideshows or newby packets were forgotten but something big did kind of go a little wrong. We have a member of the church that always does our lunches for us and well she did last week and I marked with her husband to do another lunch for us on Tuesday for the transfers and so I call her on Monday morning at like 10:30 just to confirm that everything was good to go but when I call her I’m like "hey is everything good to go for today?" and she was like "what’s today?". Great sign right, so come to find out that her hubby was at the beach and had forgotten to tell her that he marked with me so then the blood pressure went up and I went into game mode because I have an hour and a half to get a lunch together. So I call Elder and Sister _____ who are the missionary couple in our mission and they go off to the market to get stuff to make sandwiches so yeah we made sandwiches and fruit and cupcakes, SÓ VAI.  I did feel pretty bad for the new missionaries though because their first lunch in brazil fell through, welcome to the mission.  Other than that TINY detail, it was a SUPER busy day of running around from Presidents house to the office to the chapel to the office to the cartorio and well welcome to my life.  Some other fun news, I sent the last big group of Americans home before my group, super weird. I’m sending a pic of the group but this next transfer, the only people leaving are our missionary couple which is gonna be SUPER without them because they have saved me multiple time.  Fun fact they are from St George so I plan on visiting them because I like them.  But the other big news which is pretty big new is THE BAPTISM OF ______, after 15 some odd years!  Great day and it was a SUPER spiritual baptismal meeting. It was really packed because she invited some friends that are and some that aren’t members of the church and since her mom and two daughters are all members they all bore their testimony and they were plenty of tears and it was just amazing. Here in a year they will be able to get sealed and I’m SUPER excited for them because I really love that family and frankly I love the gospel and the amazing opportunity I have to be able to share the gospel with others. Michael get ready big boy because there is nothing better. Beats an iPhone out of the water any day but well I think that’s gonna have to wrap up my letter for right now! I love you all, thanks for all the support, remember who you are, the importance of the small things and that the gospel is perfect.

Elder Gubler

Missão Brasil São Paulo Sul

Secretário da Missão

August 23, 2013

It has been kind of super crazy around here lately because transfers are this next Tuesday.  I’m just super-duper excited let me tell ya, transfers are kind of madness around here, we don’t ever sleep and there is just so much crap to do and to make that all better, my computer has been FREAKING out lately, I can’t print anything or even access my network on any other computers so Dad if you have any tips please fill me in here.  Luckily Elder _____ is a computer genius because pretty sure we would just be kind of done if he wasn’t here! But about the week so far, Saturday was kind of way sad because a Sister had to go home because she was having migraines like crazy on the mission and that was kind of hard to have to call her family and Stake President and everything to let them know what was going to happen and it was really weird because she was supposed to go home with our group so that was kind of rough and we had another sister that got released on Friday because she had been in the hospital for 3 days at that point.... and they were both SUPER great sisters like I was talking to the President and he said they were going to be the next sister leaders for the mission but well I know they did everything they could here and they both put up with some awful pain for way too long.  On a happier note, Sunday I had the best baptismal interview I have had on my mission. It’s been a while since I’ve cried but well this time I couldn’t hold out. Right as church was about to start we got a call from the Sisters that aren’t even in my District and they said they had two emergency interviews to do so me and one of the Zone Leaders grabbed a bus and we were off to their chapel and well it was a Brother and a Sister and they boy was mentally challenged but a great kid and wanted to be baptized more than anything! But his sister was still not sure about baptism. She didn’t feel ready yet and well I was the one that interviewed her and it was amazing. I love the mission. Seeing and feeling Heavenly Father work through you is one of the most amazing things ever. It was an amazing experience to be able to feel exactly what I needed to say to help her really feel fully prepared for baptism. She was more than ready but just a little unsure if she would stay strong and all that stuff and well it was just an amazing interview. It’s amazing to see all the promises in D&C come true. The words truly are just put into your mouth because frankly for this I was a little nervous because the Sisters were talking about her before and her worries and all that stuff and well frankly I was hoping to interview the kid but well I’m so glad that God's will was done and not mine because I was not only able to help a wonderful child of God be baptized but frankly I was able to learn plenty with her as well. Then we finally got back to our area at like 1:00 so I missed all of church and lunch for that matter but I’d say it was all worth it :) and plus that night I ate myself SICK... like really sick. It’s been quite some time since I’ve eaten that much food, we went to go visit a less active family that aren’t all members and well they ended up buying pizza and they got a broccoli one (sounds gross but its SOOOO unbelievable good) which just happens to be one of my favs so I ate way too much there and then we had forgotten the appointment with a recent active that we had marked where she made pancake as in like American style. She made normal ones with chocolate sauce because syrup is a rarity and then she made ones where she made them like with tomatoes and oregano and bits of ham and it was way good and then she also made homemade ice cream so yeah... needless to say I ate WAY too much. I need it because I’m getting super skinny again, as in like just as skinny as I was when I came.  So I was happy that I was finally getting up to a good weight and now it’s all gone. Monday was also pretty epic, we ended up breaking a air freshener battle and it was right before our meeting with President so we were all nice and good smelling and I may have taped one of the APs to a chair. The office may be making me a tad bit crazy or crazier I should say.  Tuesday was a day of errands, I went to transfer money from Argentina cash to reais, FINALLY paid the dentist I went to like 3 months ago....oops, got some test results for missionaries, got some authenticated copies of stuff, and ate some pizza hut. Busy but pretty solid day. I may have gotten some pounds (as in like money from England) because I decided I’m going to start a collection of international money! A recent convert gave me TONS of sick way ancient Brazilian cash and I bill from Iran and I have some from Argentina and Chile and New Zealand and some coming from china... not bad for a start right?  I’m making the international connections baby! But other than that I have just been running all over the office trying to get everything ready for the oldies that are leaving and also for the newbies that are coming, we are losing 16 missionaries and only getting 11 so that means another three areas are going to close...great right?  On the plus side we have six Americans coming, the down side we still have 50 some odd in the states...this transfer we were supposed to get like 30 if everyone would have actually gotten their visas! So that is kind of really hard because we don’t know WHEN all these people are going to show up which is making getting houses hard and phones and furniture and areas and just everything kind of tough but hey well take these 11 and make do with what we got! Yesterday was Nova Força which is the meeting that all the newbies have after the finish their 1st transfer on the mission and I really like this last group! Some promising people! It was kind of a super busy meeting because I was running all over place getting copies of stuff, trying to figure out medical issues of people (we have another sister that is have HUGE issues with her knees....she may have to go home as well but we gave her a blessing and we are still waiting on the Doctors recommendation, let’s hope she doesn’t have to go as well because I really like her...) and phone issues and well I didn’t eat lunch until everyone left.  Man I miss being a regular missionary and just being able to enjoy all the mission meetings.  But well that is kind of it, we are going to have _____ baptism this Sunday and she is SUPER, SUPER pumped and so are we and so is the ward! So let’s hope that all works out smoothly! She has already been interviewed and is inviting all of her non-member friends to come watch too so essentially that’s just gold for us.  And about transfers I’m 98% sure my comp is leaving so I’m gonna be comps with Elder _____ who I was with for a while in Cidade Vargas, I don’t remember if you remember that but I love the kid!   Well on that note, I’m OUT. Love you all!! Hope you can all survive being back in school! The church is true, I love the mission, and I love my Lord.

Elder Gubler

Missão Brasil São Paulo Sul

Secretário da Missão

 

August 14, 2013

This week has been SUPER, SUPER busy so far but kind of nice because I really have hardly been in the office the whole week. We had our zone conference on Tuesday and then on Wednesday we had the zone conference for the other half of the mission and I had to make sure that everything went smoothly with that and then yesterday we took p-day and went to the soccer museum with an investigator and some members and that was SICK and then we went to a HUGE famous park in São Paulo and we rented bikes and rode around for an hour which was amazingly nice. We got SUPER lucky too because Pres never lets anyone use bikes like never. But well I guess there are some bonuses for being in the office and always solving his problems ;) but I didn’t realize how great riding a bike is. I may get into that when I get back and I can’t wait to give dad's dirt bike a little spin.  But speaking of President Tanner, his daughter and her family are here in Brazil just kind of checking out all the sights and soaking up everything and well I was talking to them and I don’t remember the families last name but I know one of grandchildren of President and Sister whose name is Jane plays on Anna Pinegar (as is like Steve and Lisa’s Anna) so we chatted about that for quite a while and of course they know Grandma and Grandpa and it was super fun to be able to talk to some people from back home!  And another story that I just remembered right now is that this last week when I went to the federal police station there was another mission there too and I met a Sister Steig that had just gotten her visa and she came from the states and well get this, she knows Lauren or Sister Hagemeyer, super small world right! They apparently met in the MTC in Provo and they both got their visas at the same time so they came down here together as well, cool story right!  And well about our ward and investigators, we are really getting the area to move again! when I first got here it was golden and we got three baptisms and then that was kind of it because we baptized the investigators that they had that were progressing and well we finally have another solid group coming together again! We don’t have enough time to visit everyone so we are starting to get more help from the ward as well.  We had a couple and their three kids come to church and they are progressing super well, we have _____ who is also progressing like crazy and keeping all the commandments, she essentially is a missionary because she taught her boyfriend about everything and they read the Book of Mormon together and are keeping the law of chastity it’s just hard because he lives in Sorocaba which is a city like three hours away and so every single weekend she goes to spend with him so she hasn’t come to church yet and they we have _____ who never ceases to impress me and who is more than ready for baptism!  The ward is SUPER excited for her baptism too because she has been many times before and her Mom and her tw2 daughters are members for something like 17 years now and well her time just finally showed up and we are super excited for her! She’s gonna get baptized next week and then we have a couple other couples and families that are coming along quite nicely as well :) its game time baby!! But well I think that essentially wraps up the week!

com amor,

 

Elder Gubler

 

August 6, 2013

Here is a quick little rundown of some highlights of me week.  On Friday, we went to the zoo and they had this safari thing inside the zoo that was kind of expensive but so cool!! :) I feel like a child again, we went in some camo van for like 5 other people and just drove through the jungle feeding ostriches and deer (yes they have deer in the zoo here, I thought that was super funny) and the monkeys were jumping on the roof and I got face to face with a zebra and it was just super sick, good times.  That kind of made up for the last three weeks that we didn’t take p-day and then next week we are gonna go to the biggest soccer museum in South America with an investigator and her family and turns out that President and Sister Tanner have one of their kids and some grandkids coming down to brazil next week and they were thinking about going as well so we may go with them too.  I can never remember what I talked about in last week’s emails because I send my email on a different day every single week, essentially whenever I have some free time.  But some other fun stuff, we re-made our mission card this week and so I redesigned the thing and it got here yesterday and it turned out SUPER sick. And now we are gonna make some legit baptismal invitations as well! The mission is really changing like crazy lately, we have some many ideas that we are finally putting in to play and it’s really turning out pretty great! About our area though, things are getting a little rough in our area right now...we have some people with tons with potential and with baptismal dates but our issue right now is getting people to come to church.  We have _____ who goes to her boyfriend’s house every weekend because he lives in another city but she stayed here this weekend so she could come to church and well despite her dog waking the whole street up, me calling her every 30 minutes and ringing her doorbell non-stop, she didn’t come to church.  She is progressing really well though and we still haven’t met her boyfriend yet but she is gonna talk about chastity with him and is already keeping the word of wisdom!   The gospel truly changes lives and our other investigator that never ceases to impress me is _____ the Mom of member that was never baptized because she liked to drink and didn’t want to give that up, well something changed and she is SUPER firm right now! She is gonna be interviewed for baptism this weekend and then as soon as her friend comes back from Colorado she is gonna be baptized! For right now it’s marked for the 24th but he may get back even earlier than that, fingers crossed.  That is actually who we are gonna go to the soccer museum with next week, they are the GREATEST. I love that family!  Well I’m pretty sure that covers everything for right now! I’m gonna have to take President and Sister back the federal police station this next week and then they will be good to go for 5 years! But I love you family! I love each and every one of you! Thank you for everything that you have each individually done for me.

 

Elder Gubler

August 1, 2013

Some highlights for the last week, I took my first group of Americans to the federal police station alone on Tuesday and it actually went SUPER smoothly, last time I went there with Elder _____ before he went home, we didn’t leave until like 1:30 and this time we got out of there at 11:30 so we got out at record breaking speeds, didn’t get any tickets and only one person had a problem that is actually gonna be a HUGE pain because I’m gonna have to go the US consulate here in Brazil because his visa application form is wrong, way to go Salt Lake.  Some other highlights for this last week, it was President Tanner's b-day on Friday we had a little surprise for him that turned out SUPER sick.  We had our interviews and home inspections so he came to the office to take us over to our house for him just make sure it wasn’t a mess and well it was pretty disgusting but I was impressed with how good we got it looking and while he was checking out our house me and another Elder set up this flag that all the missionaries signed in the mission and I made a little b-day card with picture of the whole mission on it and well when he came back, he went into his office to do the interviews but we all followed him in and his reaction was classic when he saw the flag :) super great! It was a big hit so that was way cool to be able to do that for him because he deserves it and then his actual b-day was on Saturday and they invited us to their house that morning for his birthday breakfast (gotta love being in the office ;) which was French toast with maple syrup and it was debatable one of the greatest things I’ve eat in a LONG time, wow. Sister tanner is one of the greatest cooks ever and experiencing real American syrup again was needed and also talking about Pres, having my interview with him was debatable one of the coolest thing ever. Now that we are a lot closer it just felt super personal and sincere and he always says the closing prayer and gives you like little blessing and that was probably one of the greatest feelings ever. I just love the mission. I love the chance to work with Pres and Sister Tanner so closely and to really see how inspired they are. To feel how much they honestly care about every single missionary here in the mission, they are AMAZING!  This church is perfect, the gospel is perfect and the Lord is blessing us with the elects. I know it’s been a couple weeks without baptism here because we were SUPER CRAZY busy because of the transfer but this next month should be great!  Keep all of our investigators in your prayers! We have seven people marked with baptism date so far but last night there was a soccer game in the church and me and member from another ward just got TONS of addresses and it was great so I know that if we do our part, the Lord ALWAYS does His. I love you all and if you want to be happier, be part of missionary work.

amo vocês

Elder Gubler

Missão Brasil São Paulo Sul

Secretário da Missão

July 25, 2013

I gave a talk that turned out to be more of a fireside, apparently I talked for almost 20 minutes, you get me talking about missionary work and I just can’t stop but the best part was because I was free styling a ton of stuff because I didn’t think it was gonna be long enough.  The little paper they gave me last week said I was going to have 15 minutes but then I was the first speaker so I apparently was only supposed to have 10 minutes.  The Sister that spoke after me talked a ton too so the guy from the stake didn’t even get to talk but that’s how we do it baby but at least now I don’t think I’ll get called on to give another talk anytime soon.  But well since I emailed last week super late I feel like I don’t have that much to say, everything is going just great here in the office, nice and busy as usual!   I’m gonna take 11 people the federal police station for the first time this next week so that should be fun, wish me luck.  Also I spend money like crazy but don’t worry it’s not my money... just the money of diligent tithing payers of the church but all this paperwork for the police station is SUPER expensive.... and it’s all just paper. I’m dropping 1000’s on paper with special stickers on them that they were certified by special people, super fun.  Also some other big news that you can’t tell anyone... we are gonna make a SICK mission video that is probably gonna get massive and get all over the church for zone conferences we usually just pass a slideshow of all the baptisms that the mission had in those three months but now me and the assistants are gonna change everything. It’s time to leave our mark on this mission, we want to film some recent-converts talking about their conversion and the missionaries and the difference that the gospel made in their lives and that is gonna replace the slideshow of baptismal pictures and the best part is, we found a member who is gonna do it ALL for us for free. We just need to get the people with super inspiring stories and this member will interview them and put the video together. He sent me some samples of stuff that he has done (he does this professionally) and it is gonna turn out amazing. Essentially the purpose of this video is to make every missionary cry and no one is gonna know about it either. It’s like our little secret so imagine being at a normal missionary conference when out of the blue someone that you baptized shows up on this video bearing their testimony, wow. It’s going to be great.  Other than that its SUPER ABSURDLY cold here, e I’m dying... my hands and feet are always freezing. It’s only like 40 F but since it’s literally 92% humidity and nice and windy it feels like its sooooooooooooo much colder than that. I feel like it’s way below freezing. In Rio Grande Do Sul (the state at the very bottom of Brazil) it’s snowing.... so yeah enjoy that sun back home for me because I’m missing it. I just like the cold because of the snow and when I’m wearing comfy jeans and shoes to keep me warm but these dress pants and leather thin shoes with holes in the bottom aren’t doing the trick. I just feel bad for the Sisters though because I can’t imagine wearing a skirt in this weather, bleh.   Well I guess that kind of wraps up the week. I had like 3 b-day parties. I’m pretty sure I emails on Friday last week but then a family threw another party for me on Sunday and then the Pres and Sister did another one on Monday so we have been eating cake almost every day this last week :) honestly I feel like this was one of the best birthdays I’ve had in a long time, good times even though I got covered by ketchup, it just made it that much more memorable and well that brings us to the end of this email. I love you all, thanks for everything that everyone does for me.

Abraço gente!!!

Elder Gubler

July 19, 2013

We had _____ baptism this last week which was super sick, the ward house was PACKED because he went to the stake camp out trip thing and got super tight with people from other wards and all this stuff so tons of people came.  There were even six people from my old office ward Cidade Vargas so that was way cool to see them again and to see this kid so excited to get baptized!  We gave him a suit coat, pants and a tie so he looked pretty good if I do say so myself  and he is already talking about going on a mission in a year because he is almost 18. I just love the mission.  He sent us a text this last Sunday after his baptism and it was incredible, Elder _____ and I both got all teary eyed after reading the text.  He is AMAZING and you totally wouldn’t see it in him either because he has a little buzzed mohawk and he is a big kid but I really love the crap out him and I am SO glad that everything worked out at his baptism :) I’m sending the pic.  Another pretty big thing that happened this week was transfers which meant that I sent my first group of SUPER trunky missionaries home which was interesting....totally didn’t make me trunky at all.  But I got like tons of stuff from everyone that was leaving so that was super cool, five ties, some Japanese book, American candy because the family of one missionary came to pick him up so gotta love me some peanut butter, reses and skittles, I guess the office isn’t that bad is it ;) but I really am gonna miss all those missionaries... super good guys. I sent a pic of me sending everyone off to their last dinner with the president!  It was just a tad bit stressful sending them all off though because I had to send them all home and make sure all their transportation to the airport was good to go and everyone left at the right time and then I had to make sure the transfer was all going okay and then I had to give a training to all the newbies that showed up this last week too....so this week has kind of been SUPER SUPER SUPER busy, hence we just having time to email right now...Friday night. I may be a tad bit exhausted but today was actually a GREAT day so it’s okay! I opened the few things that I left closed for my b-day, came to the office to some killer good brownies that Sister Tanner made for me, worked this morning, sent off a few emails, ate some lunch and then Elder _____ and l took p-day and we went to this Japan festival that was pretty close by and is apparently the biggest japan festival in all of South America and well it was actually pretty sick.  I got some more Asian food which I’m becoming super fond of by the way :) and there was just tons of Japanese stuff which Elder _____ LOVES so he was just jumping all over the place.  The kid is adorable.  Then we got back I did a baptismal interview and when I left there was a surprise b-day party for me in the chapel.  Elder _____ is just the greatest even though they all put ketchup on me (see the pic.... and that was just the beginning, it got MUCH worse and I still smell like ketchup...lol Brazilians celebrate b-days in the CRAZIEST ways but it was actually super great and I was impressed how many people remembered! I got some solid calls from missionaries and even got a call from the states to wish me happy b-day, don’t stress it was former missionary Elder _____ who called the office phone, love the kid so yeah all in all, great day, really unforgettable. I just love this place. if I could stay on the mish for another five years and just listen to real music and watch movies, I would be good to go but ok yeah sorry this email is short but I want to go to bed to PEACE!! 

Love you all!! Thanks for everything!

abração,

ELDER GUBLER

July 2, 2013

So good news, we had a baptism on Sunday.  His name is ______ and the kid is a champ!  I really like him and he is going to seminary and all this good stuff so the kid is super firm!  And more good news, _____ I don’t know if you remember her but I was teaching her back in my old area, the other office ward (Cidade Vargas), she was actually one of the first doors I knocked in that area and well she got baptized too, WOOOOOOOOOO!  I really wanted to go to her baptism but we had our Ward fiesta junina (June party) which is essentially like this party where everyone gets dressed up like cowboys and well there were TONS of non-members there so we were all over the place chatting up a storm with the people and we took a box full of stuff that we gave out so that was pretty sick but get this, _____ daughter gave birth on the day of her baptism so she was obviously at the hospital that morning helping her daughter but her baptism was marked for three and the missionaries assumed it wasn't gonna happen because she was at the hospital with her daughter but she just showed up at the church at like 3:30 so she got baptized at like 5:00 and I’m super happy for her because it’s been like two weeks since she is more than ready to be baptized but they kept on putting it off but it worked out.  And well what else happened this week, the major things were the baptisms and the fiesta junina but I did some baptismal interviews for the ZLs, I called Cape Verde in Africa, I went to the middle of nowhere to get an Elder to sign a piece of paper  and well plenty of stressful office stuff.  Apparently this week wasn't as exciting as I thought, sorry for the super boring.

But I love you all! Keep the emails coming and don’t stress too much for my b-day because I think I can wait for the good stuff until I get home ;)

ELDER GUBLER