April 30, 2013

This week we spent like a solid two days trying to get a wedding for a couple that we are teaching marked, the wife is a member that we’re activated and the hubby is gonna be a Stake Pres when he gets baptized because he is a BOSS but well we kind of had a nice little slap in the face this week seeing as we paying some major cash to get both of their birth certificates here in Sao Paulo and it has taken over a month and now that we got that all figured out, we go to mark their wedding and well... turns out the guy got legally separated but not divorced....ouch. So that is gonna take another three months and 1000 reais to get him divorced so needless today we were a tad bit devastated.  But well the Lord is really blessing us in this area and well we have been teaching _____ family a ton lately seeing as we baptized _____ and then her sister _____ this last week...WOOOOOO :) and the Mom, knows the church is true and has for quite some time but isn’t married and her hubby wanted NOTHING to do with marriage so she never got baptized but well that night we went to their house and out of nowhere the Dad of the family looks at his wife and just says "let’s get married" and we all thought it was a joke because we had already tried talking about that with him and he really wanted nothing to do with marriage but well _____ almost starts crying and turns out he was serious and we went to get her birth certificate in Sao Bernardo this morning, his is coming from another state and so were gonna get them married in a couple weeks and then _____ is gonna get baptized and I know that the hubby will go to because he loves us now!  When everyone thought I was gonna leave last transfer he bought some cologne for me so soon enough he will be in the water too.  Hard things will ALWAYS happen in life because that’s why we’re here, to be tested, but if we do our part and push forward through the trails, that’s when the Lord can and will bless us. But like I said we had _____ baptism and it seems like something always goes wrong on baptism day,  the font turned off so we were filling up buckets of water back and forth from the bathroom to the font haha but it all worked out! Oh and we had Jedi counsel yesterday (ZL Counsel) and it was KILLER good!!! I always love that meeting because we get to decide what we are gonna implement in the mish and the training were on miracles and the importance of our callings and it was just wonderful but well I love you all!!!! Keep the emails coming! :) say your prayers, read your scrips, and don’t forget about me!

ELDER GUBLER

PS: everyone looks TOTALLY different then when from I left.... stop growing!

April 22, 2013

First thing, turns out I’m gonna stay here for another transfer and “I’ll end up "killing" my comp (sending him home).  We didn’t find out about the transfer until this morning because the Pres is a little stressed because the mission is gonna divide in a couple months so he’s trying so separate everyone up right now but to make a long story short, I love the people we are teaching in this area! We have some AMAZING investigators that I really didn’t want to leave and there is a family that is essentially just the greatest that helps up SOOO much so I really didn’t want to leave the area so I called the Pres and said that my knees are doing a ton better and that if he feels like I can, I would like to stay here in this area! He said that he was planning on sending me to the Baixada because he was worried about my knees but they really are doing better and frankly I wanted to end my mission with Pres and Sister Tanner because they are just the greatest ever! A few highlights of the week though, we have some amazing investigators that we are teaching. an old guy named _____ that is SUPER smart and well it seems like everything is starting to make sense in his head and well when he gets baptized pretty sure he’s gonna end up being the next Stake Pres and then we have a couple that we are gonna mark their marriage this week and then in two weeks after they get married SÓ ÁGUA!!!! :) then we have another couple, that the wife just showed up at church last week and she is ELECT, and we are teaching her and her hubby too they are gold and well we are really getting absurdly blessed by the Lord in this area! But I’m running out of time so sorry the email is super short but I love you all! I have yet to see these letters that have supposedly been sent... but we’ll keep the letters coming, they will show up soon enough! :) I love you all more than anything and I am so grateful to have had a family as great as you all!

ELDER GUBLER

April 15, 2013

My comp thought it was hilarious that you read his letter in Relief Society but he loved it! He really does speak great English.  When I got here he said he REALLY wanted to learn so at home we ONLY speak English and the kid has a gift because he is essentially fluent now and just a heads up he is gonna come visit after the mission to General Conference! I’ve already promised a few people some of those killer seats so just FYI might want to give a heads up to Grandpa and Grandma but well let’s get onto my week real fast.

First things first, we had _____ baptism on Friday because we just started doing weekly activities at the church like I did in Bertioga! We are starting that here and we had the baptism that night, the font took FOREVER to fill up and the water heater is broken so it was nice and freezing but we also did a treasure hunt for the activity and that was a huge hit which is good because it took some serious time to plan and set up! We also hit up the temple this week which was GREAT!!! I love that place.....I really hope you guys are taking advantage of a temple that is less than two miles away from home because there is nowhere else on the face of this earth that you can feel so close to Heavenly Father. It’s funny how no matter how many times you read the scriptures, something that you are needing that moment will stick out with more importance and well it’s the same thing with the temple, it doesn’t matter how many times you go, there is ALWAYS something that seems to click and you hear exactly what you need to and well TONS of stuff hit me this time. God truly is concerned with each and every one of us. But when we were at the temple I saw my son at the Churrascaria (Tucanos style all you can eat place) next to the temple and they baptized two out of the three people that I left there nice and ready, _____ who is _____ little bro and _____ who is the son of a less active that we activated and _____ (_____ wife) still hasn’t been baptized yet because her husband is still in mines but let’s hope that works out soon!  A few other stories for this week, we had two lunches with natural passion fruit juice (maracuja) which has something in it which makes you SUPER tired.  On Saturday I taught a lesson totally alone because my comp was essentially sleeping but we really have a few people that are promising!  We met this older guy that is WAY smart and actually reminds me of Grandpa alittle but well if he gets his answer the guy will FOR SURE be a Bishop because he is way smart and "knows" English and we have another family that is coming along quite nicely as well but well I think that essentially wraps up the week! I hope everything is great with all of you! I love each and every one of you. I am so grateful that I have the greatest family ever ;) GOOOOOO GUBLERS!!! Remember about the importance of the small things, they make a HUGE difference and allows God bless us. A tiny letter can make an elder SUPER happy ;)

with all my lovey love, AMO VOCÊS.....

ELDER GUBLER

Letter from Jacobs Companion

Good Morning Misses Kristi Gubler, let me introduce myself, I´m Called Elder _____, I am from a hot place in Brazil, (Rio Grande do Norte state)... now i am serving with your son Elder Jacob Gubler I am in the end of my mission, we are going through a lot of things together such as spiritual experiences and funny as well hahahhahaha........ we are Zone leaders we care of 16 missionaries, Elder Gubler is doing great he has a great desire to share the gospel we had 2 baptisms already  he probably sent a picture of them.... this week we´ll have _____ and her sister´s baptisms we are so excited, that girl ______ had a might change of heart as the scriptures say, she had a Dream or in other words a enswer from heaven.....i wanna thank you for your son, for his sake many lives have been changed here in brazil, he speaks portuguese very well and now he is teaching me how  to speak english ,like see you later aligators hahah,  so i am sorry if you do not understand something that i write here rsrsrsrsrsr :this means HAHAHAH....

He speaks really good about you, that gave me the desire to know you all.....someday who knows?!?!?!?...

thanks for all.... i love you guys....

have a good week

PS:now the missionaries can write to other people beyonde their families alone!

so i hope you to have liked my letter..

Good BYE

once more I LOVEYOU ALL,

April 8, 2013

So this week was SUPER INSANELY packed.  On Monday we had a meeting with the Pres and the Assistants for all the ZLs in the mission which kind of took up the whole day.  Tuesday was PDAY so we just worked at night.  On Wednesday we had to leave our area at seven to go to the mission office because I had to sleep there because on Thursday I got my visa renewed so I don’t get deported and we didn’t get home until nine that night then on Friday we FINALLY had a full day of work.  Saturday was General Conference and English class and Sunday was General Conference too...so pretty sure this was the busiest week of my entire mission but it keeps things interesting right?  So a few highlights, next week we should had two baptisms of _____ and her sister and wow in the last 2 weeks they have truly become different people, especially _____.  She is like addicted to the church, goes to seminary already, comes to church in church clothes and took some MAJOR notes of general conference the past two days. I was talking to her about her answer that she received and she told me about this dream she had where she was on an island and on one side there was all the stuff of the world that she likes but knows is gonna have to give up and on the other side all the stuff that the church offers and people she knows that "truly care for her" and she was going towards the worldly stuff but too make a long personal story short, she came running to the good side and felt awesome and I just want to say that God truly takes time and is interested in EVERY SINGLE ONE of His children. He knows and loves each and every one of us. He takes to time to answer every single persons sincere prayers and that is something that I still can’t understand how he does but I am grateful does.  Well onto general conference! I had to watch in Portuguese, the translators speak without any emotion whatsoever, they laugh at the jokes in English but don’t translate them and there is a lot or small stuff that doesn’t get translated right so I didn’t get about a third of what I wanted to out of General Conference but I’m watching three talks right now and I LOVED Elder Holland’s talk,  he is SUCH a boss. "Belief is a precious word and an even more precious act" and well Elder Nielson’s talk didn’t translate too well but I’m just about to watch it and well I really like Craig Lardon’s talk on forgiveness and repentance was exactly what I needed to hear.  And well president Monson’s was way good too and so was Cook's and Ellis' and Ballard and Utchdorf’s multiple talks, it was crazy how Elder Oaks talked about Chris Williams and Elder Scott's talk was translated by him but he was super hard to understand and well I could go ON AND ON about conference but I loved it all and I love this church and I love all of you too! Thanks for all the prayers, support and all that everyone does for me, it means the world to me. Examine the scriptures, plan your life, teach the truth and serve the Lord and then write me some letters too ;)

beijos e um abração...

Elder Gubler

April 2, 2013

HELLO ONE AND ALL, 

So I love you all!  This week’s email may be super short because I’m already out of time! Even with the extra time, more people to respond to keeps things complicated! But a few highlights of the week, we had interviews with the Pres, a mini-counsel with the Assistants and the full ZL counsel (or Jedi counsel as it is better known) so this week was kind of insanely busy!  But its keeping me guessing but I like all these meetings we have are amazing! We had the ZL counsel yesterday so today is p day for us and well it was SUPER spiritual!  I loved it and we planned a SICK training for the zone that we are gonna give tomorrow, CONSECRATION BABY.  But we had two baptisms on Saturday of _____ and _____ a Mom and Daughter that we taught for only two weeks and they are 100% elects! We met them my first week in this area and well it was an amazing baptism! I baptized the girl and my comp the Mom! I’m trying to send some pictures but it’s not working, ugh I miss computers in the states!  But oh speaking of the states, I ate at subway this week and got my signature Italian with BBQ and chipotle sauce and it was AMAZING!  Of course it was more expensive, 8 reais for a six inch but it was exactly the same things as the states and I loved it!  But well sorry this is gonna be super short but I LOVE YOU ALL!  I’ll make sure next week is better.... but keep the letters and emails coming! We have been focusing on consecration and you all should get studying up about that because I don’t think I’ve ever learned so much. I love you all and I know that through the grace of Christ we can overcome everything and truly become perfect as He is. I’m so grateful for that immense sacrifice that He made so long ago. This is His church and I love being one of His servants.

ELDER GUBLER

March 25, 2013

First things first, I have never been so exhausted in my entire mission. The first reason, because our area is 100% favela which means its 100% hills and not like baby hills but like the kind of a hill that you almost need to crawl up so needless to say going up and down those beasts all day is REALLY taking a toll on my knees.  We had interviews with the Pres this week and well I’ll bring that up and I’m pretty sure next transfer I’ll get transferred because if I stay here for longer than one transfer pretty sure my knees would die. But oh yeah just to clarify where I am I’m in Santo André which is a city right next to Sao Bernardo so I’m super close to my old area and my comp is Elder _____ who is actually from the same city of Elder ______ if you remember him and there is another person in our zone who is from the same ward as my comp so needless to say I’ll for sure by visiting them after the mission especially because its beyond gorgeous there! But about the zone, we have eight companionships to take care of, a little bit more stressful that just two other areas to take care of being DL but well I am loving it so far! I have never learned so much in a week and my comp is a freaking BOSS, I really like him! He has a hilarious accent and it makes me miss Elder _____ but well about the zone, one thing that I’m for sure not used to, we have six Sisters in our zone.  I really like everyone here, there are only two other Americans out of the 18 people in our zone and one of them is a brand new sister that just got here but well besides being a little more stressful, I am really liking being ZL! We’ve already did two divisions this week and I had to give an English class for three hours in another area but well I’ll do anything for this zone because that why I’m here, to just do what I can to help. About the area and the ward, I REALLY love the investigators and members here! We found some ELECTS of the Lord this week and should have three baptisms this next week that are all super pumped and we are teaching a couple that they reactivated the wife and the husband is a member but pretty sure he is gonna be a Stake Pres one day because he is amazing! It already seems like he’s been a member for years and we have a member that helps up pick up investigators to come to church because he has a van so we go around and wake everyone up and they meet at the bottom of one of the monstrous hills so we can all go to church! But well I know that this is the church of Christ, this church is perfect and if we take advantage of all that this Church gives us, we can too one day be perfect. I know that God knows and loves us and this is His work and there is no other thing on the face of this earth that is so important. I love you all and keep the letters coming and if possible tell people that they can now write me emails.  I can’t wait to get the package and to see everyone again when Mothers Day comes around!
With all my love...
Your son and brother,
ELDER GUBLER

March 18, 2013

About my week real fast, I left my planner at home where I write the highlights that I want to tell you guys but well the biggest highlight of the week was the baptism of _____ we had yesterday!  I sent a little pic with the email and well his wife is gonna get baptized in 2 weeks but him so that should be super cool and I'm really bummed I'm not gonna be able to be here to see it but seeing as im gonna be transfered to the ABC I'll still be nice and close so maybe the pres will let me come and see the baptism.  I'm really bummed I'm leaving too! I've been saying bye to everyone all day today and yesterday too because I figured I was gonna leave and well I'm really gonna miss this area! We were really getting the work moving ( 3 baptisms 3 weeks in a row is not bad if I do say so myself) and now im out!  Depending on who comes here in my place they really can end up baptizing every week in this month because there is _____ who is for sure gonna get baptized and then we have two people that could get baptized this week but well I just love the mission. I'm kinda freaking out to be ZL (Zone Leader) and I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to handle it but I know that there is a reason that Heavenly Father wants to give it a shot so vamos lá! But well sorry this week really is gonna be a little small..... but I love you all more than anything! Keep the prayers and scripture study and letter all coming ;) fiquem com Deus.

COM MUITO LOVE....
ELDER GUBLER