6/10 Letter #72

Hi Jacob,

So, you're in your new area. Third Area. I loved my third area. It was also, probably my hardest, if you don't count the fact that in my fourth area I went crazy. But, I also went crazy in my third area too. But enough of the downer. I know you are out there for the right reasons. You have come to love the people in your last two areas, now you can have fun and serve the Lord in these testing grounds. Perry was my third area. You probably remember the Pace family, the ones that let our family stay at their house the night. Sister Pace was my favorite. She really touched me. Before she even knew me, she knew of me from her daughter Melanie. Well, when she heard I was going to serve in Iowa, she told me that she prayed for me to come to her area. It was definitely a testament to the tender mercies and miracles that the Lord brings to pass. Of course, I never served in the city city. I was in my third area for a total of three transfers, and each transfer I got a new companion. First, I served with my MTC companion, Elder Delgado. Then I served my hardest transfer with Elder Porter. And, when I thought I was going to be transferred, the Mission President (and the Lord) threw me a bone and sent my trainer, Elder McLaws, to serve with me. It was all one big miracle. I'm sure you feel the same way about your areas and your companions. Life in the mission is crazy rewarding and testing.

It's been a great week.

I subbed for the Last time in Mrs. Raymondo's SDC class on Monday. It was super bittersweet. To be at my favorite school at the close of the 17/18 school year in probably one of my favorite classes, it was an experience. I have come to make friends with teacher and students alike. I hadn't gotten a job for Tuesday and Wednesday, mom Wanted me to pick her up from the airport.

Before I go to far, let me tell you, I haven't watched the French Open Men's final yet. Believe me, I am excited to see if Nadal won his undecimo (11th) FO title. He played against Thiem for the final today. I hate that they have it on Sunday...you know how I feel about that. I don't think you will have gotten the updates, but as soon as I know, I'll let you know who won, most likely Monday. Sarah and I have watched a few points here and there. One disappointment I had is that Sharapova and Serena didn't end up playing. Serena has a pectoral muscle issue. So that showdown didn't happen. We were watching Halep against Kerber on Wednesday. We just saw the first game, and Halep was losing. So Sarah thought she was the underdog. Well, it turns out she came back to win the next to sets, and go on to win the Women's French Open Final yesterday. Sarah was happy. She and I predict that Nadal won, but who knows, crazier things have happened.

We actually played tennis a couple times this week. I taught Sarah the rules and method of playing the game. She was excited to do some rallies and play an actual game or two of tennis. We played a total of three games. Sarah won 1. It definitely got Sarah excited to play some more. We played until dusk on Monday. And because she knows how the game is played, she's been interested in watching actual tennis games. We also played on Friday. Unfortunately, we didn't take into consideration the amount of heat outside. It was actually terrible. Sarah practically suffered from heatstroke headache. We played in the shade, and Sarah did her best to learn how to serve. I honestly am not a good serve teacher, because I don't even know how to serve correctly.

I was able to pick up mom on Wednesday. I actually got to Long Beach sooner than expected, so I went to the mall that had a Target and walked around. She took Sarah and I out to eat for my birthday (so it truly was my birthweek). I chose to go to Sizzler and get a steak and fries. Good stuff. Later that day, mutual activity was learning how to run properly as taught by Luis Guillen. The leaders watched mostly, but I did participate in the sprint, which I got 2nd place next to Joshua Mondragon, the long distance race (which practically killed me), and some suicides. The only one I didn't participate was the last thing. Then we played knockout.

Last Sunday, Sarah invited all of her primary class to a movie night on Friday. The movie of choice was The Prince of Egypt, or Moses, which is the theme of her next couple of lessons. Well, not everyone showed up, but it still was a good turnout. Sister Garcia let us have the movie night at her house, which was so nice of her. They even had a huge movie play room. We had Dania, Isauro, who are some of the Western's adopted kids, Ella, Luis, and Issac, who are all three brothers and sisters, and we had Jacob Garcia. We had pizza and fruit. We gave rides to the families, since we had two cars.

The primary had an activity at the Stake Center the next morning. It was an mini-water balloon Olympics. One funny thing is we were telling the siblings about it on Friday and Ella said that we were going to clean the stake center. Well, she was confused. The word for olympics in Spanish is Olimpiadas. And the word for cleaning is limpiar. Olimpiadas/limpiadas. She thought the activity was cleaning, haha.

Sister Najarro (primary president) had organized the activities and had me head two groups. They had like three games with water balloons, and one bean bag toss, and one sack races. Then they went crazy with a water balloon fight. I got soak, to say the least. All the balloons were bouncing off me and the people, so we either threw it at people's feet, or pop threw it to get maximum soak. Then they had hot dogs and hamburgers.

That same Saturday, we went to the temple. We decided to go for sealings. We were able to get in on a sealing session in Spanish with several other people. Sarah and I asked the sealer about specific wordage and he gave us an answer. Then we went into the Celestial room to talk and say prayers. We were in there for like thirty or so minutes. The we went to La Bufa with mom. It was nice being to eat and talk with her.

I signed up in a temp agency. I am going to go to multiple places looking for hiring. Hopefully, I get a  soon. Pray for me.

I did end up going to Redlands for the fun of it. Actually, I was looking for the movie. They have a new Distribution Center and Deseret Books in the area. They didn't have the movie, but they did have hymns made simple, so I got those. Also, I went out with my Father-in-law Arno, to visit him. We went to McDonalds together. He told me that he has been invited to go to Japan to visit his Son, her wife and four kids. He also told me he was considering taking Sarah. The ticket would be free. Sarah really wants to go visit her favorite Sister-in law and her family. It is now on our list of things we want to accomplish.

Well, I hope you are doing well!

Love you,

John

6/5 Lunch with Arno and Tennis and Sax and Music books and DVDs

I was up early this morning to help Sarah prepare for her day. I was even getting her up so that she went to work. I made her lunch: a sandwich with a carrot and something else.

When I finally got up after that, I decided to take my sub contract to the district office. Then I went to Deseret Book in Redlands for the first time, and the distribution center. I was surprised at how nice both places were. They were in a strip mall off of University. I got the Hymns Made Easy in both Spanish and English.

Then, at Sarah's request, and because I wanted to, I went to visit Arno. I took him out to lunch, or rather he took me, since he payed. We went to McDonalds. He told me about several experiences he had. He said he would really miss us if we moved somewhere other than the Inland Empire. He asked me about my conversion/testimony. I shared my mission story with him. He could really relate, because he's been suffering a lot from depression. Then I took him to the Post Office, and then home. He also told me that David is going to pay for him and a sibling to go to Japan this summer. It should be great, I'm sure. He wasn't sure if Sarah might be able to go with him. He just assumed she couldn't. He also asked me if I could take out a Credit Card and help him pay for dental work. I told him no.

After I took him home, I went to the music store in Redlands and picked up two music books for teaching piano. One child and one adult one, for Sister Martinez. The adult one I am going to make copies of. I almost picked up some instructional book for saxophone, but I didn't know if Jacob's sax was a tenor or alto. Turns out, we found out that it is an alto saxophone. So, I'll pick up the book tomorrow, probs.

Then I met with Sarah at the Montclair Plaza Mall to go to FYE to get the Prince of Egypt DVD for Friday. We invited all the kids to watch the movie with us at Sister Garcia's house on Friday night. They were the only ones that had the DVD. We had a good look at all the stuff in there including Flash shirts, Infinity War comics, POP Vinyl toys, and Sarah let me get Back to the Future, the trilogy, on DVD.

Then we went to Victoria Secret where I told her I want her to pick up stuff like Gamora green.

Sarah practiced her Sax when we got home for the first time today. She did a good job for her first time. We then went to play tennis. I taught her the game, with several handicaps, the biggest one is she served from half court. I taught her the point system and serving and stuff. She was actually returning the serve. We had a good time til light had gone.

Then we went to check on the mail and parent's house for the last time. We watched some tennis for a bit. Sarah liked it.

Sarah then worked on her business writing until she was tired, which was soon after we got home. I made some chicken and broth. She then went to sleep. I washed the dishes, and looked at music theory websites.

6/4 17-18 Subbing Complete, 120 days, and Unorthodoxed Family Home Evening

Today is probably my last as a substitute teacher. Actually, HOPEFULLY it is my last day as a substitute teacher and that I will soon be on to bigger and better things. There is still two more days left, but seeing as how they are minimum days and the last two of the year, I don't see myself teaching those days. Plus, I'm picking up my mom on Wednesday, so that's a no go anyways. It's crazy that my last full day as a sub was in Jurupa Vista, and also in SDC in Mrs. Raymondo's class. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to the students and teachers that have made my time subbing at Jurupa Vista a special treat. Two such kids were saying goodbye to Oscar and Gabriel. I love those guys to death. It was definitely an easy day, in that Mrs. Raymondo was in and out all day. She asked me for help in keeping the kids attention with work, while she did stuff, and then we helped the kids clean out their desks. It was super easy.

When I got out, Sarah asked me if we could go to the grocery store, two of them, Cardenas and Food 4 Less. We restocked on everything and hopefully it'll last us for a while, if not this week. We saw the sisters at Cardenas, and they saw us dancing to the hispanic music playing.

Sarah and I came home and we ate quesadillas and watched a Goldberg's episode, Love is a Mixtape.

Then we spent a good portion of time listening to a playlist Sarah created with my name on it, but that were really songs that touched her and brought out her personality. It was quite interesting and I learned about her.

We then read the scriptures in both english and spanish, but I was getting triggered for some reason because Sarah was doing her best to translate the scriptures instead of actually reading them. I don't know why I was so adamant about it. Then we talked about when I was on my mission with Elder Porter.

It was definitely an unorthodoxed family home evening night.

6/3 Letter #71

Dear Jacob,

I haven't been following tennis enough to give you good updates about how everyone is doing. All I know is Djokovic and Nadal are still in, and I just found out that tomorrow, Sharapova and Serena are going at it. Honestly, if I watch anything, it'll probably be that match, or at least the highlights. Sharapova was the first big name tennis star that I knew. Sarah and I also played tennis this last memorial day. We hit the ball back and forth and she practiced on power and back hands. She's definitely getting better...which is awesome. I heard Danny Parisi is back in town, and when I heard (from Christina), I immediately wanted to invite him out, but I guess he hurt his back doing something...so, probably not. It definitely is the type of weather that is conducive to tennis playing, and Sarah's really liking it, so we'll probably go out more.

Speaking of sports, we were at the Juniper Ward Memorial Day party at Don Day park, and they played a pick up game of soccer. I decided to play and I was donning the new Flash t-shirt that Sarah got for me for my birthday. Well, I stuck to what I knew, and played defense, with an occasional burst of speed to the forward position to set something up. I played so well, the people were calling me the Flash. I was very proud in that moment, to say the least. The elders were even boasting (at my request) to Sarah about my good soccer skills. They had to tell her, because she was extremely busy getting water balloons filled. When we were finally done with the game, I came back to a soaking wife. She was happy though, because it was hot.

The food at said activity was really good. They had hotdogs and hamburgers, great chicken from Juan Pollo. Several different salads, and chips and aguas. Sister Mondragon made some cucumber agua. Everybody was thrilled for the agua. I invited Mom to come and she did. It was great having her there. It was funny, though, everyone, but most notably Hermana Vicky Garcia, told mom to try the Cucumber agua. Nahomi did too. Well, mom asked if it had sugar, and of course, it did. When Sister Garcia found out, she made it a point to be like, I'm going to taste this BAD agua. She said it all loud so that mom would notice. It was quite funny. I hope I don't ever have to experience not eating sugars because I love food so much.

Speaking of food. Sarah wanted to make me a cake for my birthday on Wednesday. She asked me what kind I wanted. Well, I asked her for a chocolate ice cream cake. Boy did she pull through on that request. We went to a grocery store in Redlands, after we went to the temple, and picked out the ingredients for an ice cream cake. Then, on my birthday, I helped Sarah make the best home-made ice cream cake I had ever had. She had to cook two layers of of cake and put the cookies n' cream ice cream in the center. Topped it off with chocolate mousse frosting. The only snag of the whole thing, is when Sarah had me do the batter, she wasn't home yet, and I was looking for a cake mix that was chocolate. I found one, but in the end it was a brownie mix. Despite the mistake, the cake turned out super great.

I went to mutual that night because they were playing volleyball (instead of doing a bike activity [which I didn't want to do]). We played two matches of volleyball, best two out of three. I really had fun. However, at the end of it I was feeling a bit anxious. Sarah came with me. She encouraged the kids and adults to sing me happy birthday. And Edward Guillen prayed that I had a good birthday. It was super sweet. Then, for a birthday dinner, we went to Chipotle. I was feeling better after sitting down and focusing on the food. The burritos were good.

For the end of my birthday celebratory week, Sarah and I went to San Diego to visit Sarah's brother and stay with his family two nights and we went to Sea World on Saturday. We didn't have to spend any money on the tickets because teachers go in for free before July 31 with a guest. I had an extremely wonderful time with Sarah. Besides all the cool shows and animals, the highlight was going on the Manta rollercoaster. I went on it three times. Sarah was feeling queasy at the sight of it, so she wanted me to go on it to try it out. I went on it, and believe me, I really had to syke myself out, but in the end, it was totally worth it. When I got off of the ride, I told her of the thrill, and told her, it was a must ride. After much trepidation, Sarah finally agreed to go on it. The first time is always the scariest. But it was sooooo fun. I wasn't feeling too good after the second time. But after watching a sea lion show, and much water drinking, we decided to try our hands at the ride one last time before the park closed. It was a super great ending to an already splendid day.

We went on other rides as well, like Atlantis, which is in itself crazy. We also went on Shipwreck Rapids and we got soaked. The only ride we couldn't convince ourselves to do was the Electric Eel, the newest ride at SeaWorld. It is definitely fun to watch though. The shows were great, too. I wanted to get a nice Killer Whale jumping picture like I did before when I was in sixth grade, but no luck. However, I did get a nice 15 or so dolphins picture in the air. It's my pride and joy picture that I'm going to share with you. The whole day was great, even with the not feeling good, and hard feelings at times.

Sarah's brother, Richard, is a really nice, funny guy. He has a lot of strong opinions, and his wife, Diana, calms him down. They let us stay in their house in the garage two nights, which was very hospitable, and Richard drove us to the entrance and picked us up so we could escape parking, which of coursed helped us out in the long run with money.

Richard has 5 boys, oldest one being 13 or so and youngest is like 3, named Lorenzo, Ricardo, Nicholas, William, and Jeremy. Each of them are so cool. They all have nice personalities, each being a bit different from the other. It was awesome just to hang out with their family the two days that we were there. Diana made us burritos the first night, and a type of nachos, the second. Super good.

I went to Sarah's work a lot this week for lunch with her. The first time was after I took mom to the airport on Tuesday. It was a surprise. The second day, we got hamburgers from a fas hamy
t food place called Galaxy Burgers, and the last day, I bought Hawaiian rolls and ham and

Anyways, I am super tired. I love you so much! I hope you are doing well. I love you!

John Gonzales

5/31 Ralph's lunch and Three kid Piano Lessons

Today was an interesting day.

I talked to Sarah on the phone as she drove to her work at 5am. Then, slept in until about 9am. I had time to take a shower and then run to a Ralph's right next to where Sarah works to get us bananas, ham, Hawaiian rolls, and some potato salad at Sarah's request. We ate lunch in the car together and talked about how her fears of food have gone away after talking to people on Facebook that she trusts. I then went to get gas, and check on my parent's house and mail. Watched the Restaurant show of the Goldbergs and ate BBQ potato chips.

Then, I went to go print out different papers, some for the application and 3 pages of screenshots for Luis Guillen of a song that he wanted to learn.

Then Sarah came home, but then I had to go to Piano lessons minus Vivi who is still in Utah. I had a good time with the three boys, Luis, Benny, and Edward. They are all really good kids and I enjoy teaching them every week.

Sarah and I then walked to library to get a book that I wanted to check out about the Presidents.

She and I made roast together that took a little less than 2 hours to make. But which turned out really really good, while watching two episodes of The West Wing.

We are going to San Diego tomorrow to visit Richard and family and go to SeaWorld. Should be awesome.

29th Birthday Poem and 59 Birthday Wishes

29th Birthday Home-made Ice Cream Cake Pictures