I just realized that I usually send my email to you right around this time, like 9 or 10 in the morning. Which means you receive them at like 6 or 7 in the morning. That must be nice. Pop off your pillow, and get to read a letter from your favorite missionary son. This time difference is sorta being used to our advantage. It's nice to have a tablet, and be able to write you super early, as soon as P-day starts. And this new keyboard that I just got for my birthday is a nice luxury for sure. Anyways. I don't really know why I've been thinking about that.
You wanna know what else I was thinking about?? I HAVE A MISSIONARY PLAQUE HANGING IN THE CHURCH BUILDING. That's just a totally bizarre thought to me. And Braden has one. And Kalani has one. Like, WUT? Does mine have a picture in it already?? You should get like a super attractive picture of me to put in there. Good luck with that. There aren't many super attractive pictures of me to choose from. Maybe that one of me at the San Diego temple? The one that I have as my profile picture on all of my social media accounts?? I don't know why I'm thinking so hard about this as well.
Hmmm... So the headaches aren't completely gone. I finished the 10 days worth of antibiotics yesterday. The frequency of the headaches seems to have decreased, though, which is good. But they still occur every day, just not as often, and they don't seem to be as debilitating. But I was really hoping they'd be completely GONE by the time I was completed with the antibiotics. And they're not. So I have another doctor's appointment this Wednesday, for some additional advisement, to see if there's anything to get rid of the problem ONCE AND FOR ALL. But I have a lot of faith that I will get better, and soon. It does seem to finally be getting better, so that's good. I just received a call from Sister Bednar, and she told me to keep you updated with all this stuff. She says that it's important for a mom to know what's going on with their children's health. So here I am, keeping you updated. :)
I've continued talking to Sister Waterbury, the counselor woman for my mission. It's weird talking about ME so much, and what goes on in my mind. Because half the time, I don't even understand what's going on in my head. But I enjoy talking to her. Or rather, I enjoy having someone listen to me. And she offers very helpful hints to reduce stress. Maybe she's the reason why the headaches don't seem to be quite as frequent? I don't know. All I know is that I'm going to continue meeting with her. We do Skype calls like once a week, usually on Monday nights.
Okay, you're not going to believe this, but on August 26th, I didn't even THINK about BYU football until after 9 o'clock at night. It's just so weird. Back home, that would have been the day marked on my calendar for MONTHS. And now, it basically came and went without me even realizing. It's weird being a missionary, and not really thinking about the things that are most important to you, and being so cut off from the rest of the world. But you're gonna have to continue keeping me updated!! I didn't know the score of the game until I read your letter. 20-6. Hm. That's concerning. Was our offense not playing that well or something?? Seems like this Talon Shumway kid is gonna be good. You're gonna have to send me a picture of the BYU football schedule, because I honestly can't remember what order the games are in or anything. But I DO know that we've got LSU this next week, which is gonna be a freaking DIFFICULT challenge. If we can barely beat Portland State.... meh. I'll try not to think about it too much. Hopefully our offense will spark and we can pull this one off. That'd be a great start to the season. Although LSU is traditionally a POWERHOUSE. I know it's only been one game, but is our offense good? Does our defense seem to be performing to it's usual standard? I know, I know. Focus on my mission.
I completely agree. August just flew by. August has been great. I've been able to see 3 of my investigators be baptized. But it's also been hard, with more responsibility being added onto me. I'm excited for what September will bring, and for the training aspect of mission to be over. Most likely get a new companion at the end of the month, and lead out here in Lewisberry. I'm excited to see what I can do when I don't have Elder Marcum peering over my shoulder all the time. Don't get me wrong, I love the guy. But he's just too dang perfect and different from me. All of his strengths are perfectly tailored to missionary work. The dude was born to be a missionary, and it's kinda intimidating sometimes.
Everything is going good in the work. We've continued to teach Cheryl, and just taught her the Word of Wisdom. It was sorta awkward, when we got to her house for the lesson, she was drinking this MASSIVE bottle of green tea. But she told us that she had her last one, and that she's gonna be replacing it with things like water and apple juice. Hopefully she stays true to that!! She's such a strong woman, I know that she'll be able to quit. I just hope it's sooner rather than later. We also taught her the law of Tithing last night, and she accepted that as well. She even wants to start paying before she's baptized!! So yeah, things are looking good for her baptismal date to remain on September 16th. I'll keep y'all updated.
We're also going to start teaching Jadyn, Stephanie and Tyler's son. He's 11 years old, and is afraid of water. He's had some reservations towards being baptized in the past, but we asked him on Saturday if he wants to start receiving lessons from us, and be baptized, and he seemed excited about it. And his parents were totally supportive. So I'm excited to start teaching him.
Oh, something pretty cool happened this last Saturday. We were spending most of the day doing some Finding in Camp Hill. Biking to Camp Hill takes about an hour or so, so we rarely go up there. In fact, this was my first time going up there on a bike. Anyways, we went to this motel/apartment to try and contact a former investigator, Katona. But when we got there, her apartment was clearly deserted, and had a MASSIVE padlock on the outside of the door. So we asked some of her neighbors, a woman and a man, if they knew if she still lived there. They said they had never heard of her. So then we told them who we were, and the woman TOLD US OFF, telling us that the Book of Mormon wasn't true, and all that jazz. It was quite humorous, actually. She told us to move on, and walked back into her apartment. We then asked the guy, her boyfriend, if there was anybody in the neighborhood we could share a message with. Obviously we weren't super optimistic about our chances. But then he said, "You can share one with me. She'll be gone in about a half hour, so come back around then." We were like "OKAY, SOUNDS GOOD. WE'LL BE BACK."
Anyways, we went back and had a really good lesson with this guy, Bill. We taught him the Restoration, and invited him to read from the Book of Mormon. He seemed REALLY interested. He told us that he can see that we're speaking with a lot of sincerity, and that we have a certain light about us . He said he wants what we have. Apparently he's been struggling with alcoholism, and wants to be free of that burden, and just be HAPPY. So we'll be back there next Saturday. I won't even mind biking all the way up there again, if it means we get to have another lesson with him.
Well, that's most of the momentous news for this week. We never have a shortage of things to do, that's for sure. I'm grateful that my first couple of transfers have been here in Lewisberry, and that I've been blessed with such awesome investigators. Elder Marcum says I've been really lucky, and that I've had it easy. I don't know what he's talking about. It's been hard. But God knows what we can and can't handle. This is plenty for right now.
I was gonna ask, have you sort of gotten used to my absence? Like, does it feel natural to have me gone now?? It's been almost three months. I still feel like a new missionary, and that I just left home yesterday. It's strange. Time flies when you're doing the Lord's work, I guess.
Love you mom. LIke, a bushel and a peck. And a hug around the neck. And all that jazz.
Elder Gonzales
Hey there bud.
Firstly, I have a question?? Was Roger Federer ranked Number 1 in the world recently? One of the emails that you sent me made it sound like he was, but that Rafael was gonna be taking over that spot pretty soon. If he was, that'd be pretty sweet. He hasn't been number one for FOREVER. If not, then at least he won Wimbledon. Do you know if he's still planning on playing in the US Open? Is that gonna start soon? Man, I feel so out of the loop. Thanks for everything you do.
Also, thanks for keeping me updated with BYU football as well!! I feel so out of the loop about that as well. Those plays were pretty great!! Seems like we have a lot of potential this year. Although the fact that we only won 20-6 against Portland is sorta disconcerting. I'm glad that football season has started again, and that the family can watch them together. Those are some of the best memories EVER. Hopefully you'll be able to make lots of new memories this year. You know, since we're going undefeated. If you could send me a BYU Football schedule for this year, that'd be helpful. But don't feel obligated at all.
It's cool that you've been called to be a facilitator for the self reliance program!! They're kick starting that thing over here in Pennsylvania as well. There's been LOTS of excitement about it, and lots of people have been signing up. I know they just had their fireside for it last night as well. WOAH. It's like we're living the same life thousands of miles away from eachother. Not really. But still.
Dude, I'm glad your ear is feeling better. That was sorta scary. But it seems like it was just a simple fix. Now, if we could just get my headaches gone completely, we could be healthy together.
Lots of good things happening, man. Enjoy it.
Love you,
Elder Gonzales
