Tuesday, May 31, 2011

May 30, 2011: Milagros


Hola Familia,

Well, another crazy fast week went by. Where is time going. I feel like just yesterday I wrote you. I feel like just yesterday Gennie and KC left for Boston. Hard to believe that they are already back, but that is super awesome. Sounds like that was a lot of fun. Although it sounds like it is super crazy in UT. My bishop received a phone call yesterday and his mom lives in Utah actually. She said it has just been raining like crazy in UT. I was super surprised to hear and then you all wrote saying that it really is raining like crazy. That sounds like fun, I love the rain and am growing to love it more here.

Last night we were walking at the end of the night from the house of one of our members at about 9 at night and it was super dark. Where we were was just soccer fields and so it was open. It was super beautiful though cause we saw that this storm was coming, but all we could see were the giant clouds and they were all thundering. It was super awesome cause they all surrounded us. It was awesome. It was lucky though cause we got back to the house right when it started to rain hard and then it ended up raining all night.

This week though we had some crazy miracles happen. So this whole month of may we have just had a lot of bad stuff happen with the people with dates. First 2 kids we couldn't get permission, then a guy decided to go to the catholic church and ask for money instead of go and get baptized, and then this last week we found out that this guy Giovanni that had a date actually is a gangster... and we can´t teach gangsters so that kind of sucks. But he is still a really nice guy and it is not like he would do anything, but it is a rule. So after 4 people with dates we were thinking that after all this work we were going to come out of this month with nothing. We finally accepted that and really we weren't like mad at all.

Then went this Thursday to a house of this member who is a widow. We have never visited her before, but we decided that we would just visit her randomly. I really don't know why we decided to go there other than to say it was the spirit that told us to. So we went over there at like 7 at night and her son was out cutting wood and so we stopped and helped him for an hour. I got a giant blister on my hand from it, but I learned how to cut wood haha. We started talking to him about the gospel and he doesn't go to church, never had been baptized or anything and he was looking super positive. So we started talking about what he knew about the church and he knew a lot, but had never gone to church. Then came out his 2 sons. We started talking to the 2 sons and 1, Julio, who is 11 is a member of the church and I knew him a little bit. we talked to the other, Diego and he is 9 years old, and he told us that he wanted to get baptized super bad. That he has been going to church for 5 years and has wanted to take the sacrament, but the missionaries never passed by and he was to nervous to ask them. So we talked to him and the dad and we asked if it was alright for him to get baptized and the Dad said it was fine. We came back Friday and taught him all the commandments (Which he already knew), Saturday we did the interview and Sunday he got baptized. It was crazy, but such a blessing from God. He had just been waiting for us. The dad ended up coming to the baptism and now we are talking with him about coming to church and he sounds interested. He just really likes to play soccer Sundays.

So that was the first miracle. The second was that there is this family here that got baptized like the middle of march, but never got confirmed. The missionary that baptized them got them to get baptized cause he was there friend and then he left and they never came to church again. The first week that I came I made it one of my goals to get them confirmed and reactivated in the church. We visited them a ton and my second Sunday the mom came to church and got confirmed a member and has been coming to church. The dad though is impossible to find cause he works and only comes back to his house every other weekend. We found him about a week ago and we brought the bishop with us and it went super well, but he still didn't come to church.

This whole week we haven't been able to visit them at all and it was kind of hard. But me and Elder Romero got to church and Sunday and walked in and saw him there with his wife. It made us two so stinking happy to see those two both there. He came and gave us hugs and was like a different person. He ended up getting confirmed and it all went really well. I was so amazed that they just came by themselves. Really it is awesome to help families cause that is what the church is about.

So those two things were the real big things this week. Other than that I we are still working with Victor and Rosa to get them married and baptized next week. She really wants to, but he is a little more difficult. He now wants to, but has to much pride and doesn't want us to pay for the wedding and all. So we will hopefully talk to him today and get it all worked out and hopefully he will get married the 4 of June.

We are also teaching this kid named Kevin that I am pretty sure I wrote about last week. He is 19 and is doing pretty good. He has 3 girlfriends and says he loves all of them and it would hurt him to much to give up any of them, but he wants to get baptized. So that is kind of the trouble with him, but this Sunday he came (and one of his girlfriends is a member) and he was loving it and said he really wants to get baptized and we talked about how he should give up the other two girls. So we will see.

But that is all for this week. I love you all and I will talk to you next week. We are going to play some fùtbol after this so I am super stoked and super hungry also haha. Talk to you later!
Elder Gillette
PS the pics are from this wall that is here in Ahuachapan and are pretty famous. They are super sweet also. So we took some pictures in this park. The others are from the baptism.



Monday, May 23, 2011

May 23, 2011: ¡¡¡EL FIN DEL MUNDO!!!!


HOLA FAMILIA!

Well this week was another crazy/fast week. I can´t even believe how fast time is going here. This week it has started become a lot more spring time here or I guess rainy season here. It rained like 3 times this week, but it isn't like Utah rain. Here it pours down sideways. So my umbrella doesn't even really protect me. We got to our investigators house and my pants were SOAKED! It was a lot of fun though and has started to become a lot cooler. We decided one night to sleep outside because it was like perfect temperature and not gonna lie it was super sweet. We just laid outside and the stars were super bright. It was a lot of fun and we took a lot of sweet pictures. What does suck though is that since it is raining more it has started to be a lot more humid. So my clothes are like damp 24/7. Even like my tie and I don't even know why.

The 4 of us that live in the house (Elder Romero, Elder Reed, Elder Bonilla and me) actually have a lot of fun together. We have eaten more than 75 pupusas each of us in 3 weeks. We are all obsessed haha. We have been trying different places to find out what is best and so far the pupusas that use rice outside are the best.
But as far the work goes this week it has gone really well. We did 3 interchanges this week so I got to work with a lot of different missionaries and that was fun. One night we were playing around with weird instruments and stuff that we have gotten here and I took out my Conch Shell that I have and I blew it super hard, but it didn't make a loud sound. I was a little confused so I took my hand out if like the inner part and saw that this cockroach was hiding inside, but it was like super big. Why do bugs like to hide in my stuff all the time? (like the ants in my soda can before the mission?).

We have been running all around this week and we had interviews with President Lopez. It went really well and told me that I am doing a great job. Said that my last Comp and my last area miss me a lot, which is good cause I miss that area a lot. In the end he said that him and Sister Lopez always talk about my group of missionaries. Cause usually when a group of new missionaries comes here it is like 10-22 to missionaries, but with my group there was only 4(Elder Stone, Elder Webb, Elder Koller and me) and said that although it is the smallest group it is one of the most powerful. That made me feel pretty good and it was cool cause about 2 days ago we went to a baptism of 7 people in our zone and Elder Koller came cause his comp was gonna baptize, so it was fun to talk to him. President Lopez actually told him the same thing.

The work here was a little hard though this week. Our bishop is in the Hospital right now and all the members seem not to want to work at all. We at least got this family to go to church and they are hoping to get baptized. The only giant stone in our way is that they were both married before and both separated from their spouses about 17 years ago and never got divorced. So if they want to get baptized, we would have to divorce them both and then get them married. So that could take a good 2 or 3 months to do if it is done quick. But they are awesome.

We also have been talking to this guy named Kevin. He is 19 and likes the church he went with us yesterday to stake conference, Which p.s. Stake conference in El Salvador is just as boring as it is in the U.S. but he came with us and sat through the stake conference and it went pretty well. He really likes the church and the message and all. We are working with him and he may get baptized this next Saturday.

Last night though we had a pretty crazy lesson. We went with this guy Giovanni that came to church last week and has 2 attendances in total. He really wants to get baptized and wants to work. So we were talking with him and we extended the invitation to get baptized and he was like "I have the desire to get baptized and I really want to. But I am going to the U.S. on Thursday." We were like... Ok? ends up he wants to go the U.S. illegally. So we read a couple scriptures with him and talked about the importance of the gift of the holy ghost. In the end he was like, " It really is important all this stuff. I want to get baptized this Wednesday then!" we were like ok? The his family are from the church and hope that this will keep him from going to the US. We will pray that everything goes well.

So the big news of this week and I don't know if it was the same over there, but everyone here thought that 21 of may was the end of the world. We had like a parade of people at like 8 in the morning pass by our house and all. It was crazy. There was an extra amount of drunks to, but there are always a ton and always just try to speak English with me. EVERYONE though asked us if we believed the world was going to end and we always just said to look up Matthew 24:36. The stores here loved it though. They were all like, " Its the last day of the world so buy your pupusas now while you still can" and stuff like that. it was a crazy day, but good to find new people.

Lets see what else. We decided to change our cook this week cause the last one cooked with so much oil! It was terrible for my stomach. We are now going to eat with the other missionaries in our house and the lady makes such good food. My stomach is already doing a ton better. I hope that I can start to actually gain weight here.

Other than all of this not much else. It was a fun week and I can't believe how fast time is going. It has been fun to be with my comp. He is great and we get along well. It is nice to be with a comp that we are always talking and laughing. Dad you were right when you said that when you have good comps time flies by. That is what President said this week also.

Well I love you all and take care, be safe, do what Jesus would do. I actually think that a lot. Like if Christ were sitting right next to me or if Jesus had to answer this question, how would he do it? He is perfect and gave us the perfect example and in the end the perfect church. I love you all and thank you for all of your letters. Love ya and talk to you next week!

Elder Gillette

Monday, May 16, 2011

May 16, 2011: ... this week?

Hola Familia!

Well lets see, this week was super fast yet again. It was crazy how fast
everything went this week. We have had a lot of success and everything and
especially we did a ton of service this week.

This week started out and I actually had my first like chill P-day here in
the mission. We wrote, bought, ate and actually had time to take a nap. It
was awesome. I feel like I hadn't taken a nap in forever, which is funny
cause before the mission I took one almost every day. The differences of the
mission. We got asked to teach this week the Young Women really quick about
our schedule here in the mission and I was talking about how we get up at
6:30 and how ridiculously early that is for me. I asked them at what time
they usually get up in the morning and they all said like 5 or 6 in the
morning. I told them that like in the states 9 or earlier than that is early
and if you knock on a door that early in the morning that it is pretty much
a sin. They all thought that that was pretty funny.

This week in the middle of the week for the first time in a while I got a
little down. Just a lot of running and a lot of teaching and stuff drains
after a while. I felt like I was going to crash. It was a little difficult
for 2 days, but during one of my studies I was reading in 2 Nephi: 4 and wow
that was like an eye opener. It was awesome and exactly what I needed. I had
not gotten along with a member or two this past week and that had added to
the stress, but after reading this scripture it talks about why do we get
mad at our enemies when we know all that Christ did for us. That really all
this little stuff doesn't matter in the big picture. I really loved these
scriptures and encourage you all if you have time to read it.

We are teaching right now this family of 3(Victor, Rosa and Victor Jr.)
They are stinking awesome and we had been talking to them all this week and
we had found them last week. Maybe I told you all about them last week I
don´t remember. They came with us to a family home evening and with them all
is great. They ended up coming to church at 7, which is 1 hour early. They
are doing awesome and they are planning on getting married and baptized the
4 of June. So that should be fun.

Speaking of families, I just received an e-mail from my old comp, Elder
Medina, and he just said that my convert Erick Ascencio bore a powerful
testimony in testimony meeting and taught elders Quorum about tithing
yesterday. Wow!!! Best news of my life.

Yesterday the old bishop brought his nephew to church, Giovanni, and he
isn't a member, but this was his second time coming to church and he loves
it. He told us last night he wants to get baptized then wants our schedule
and wants to work with us and bring souls to Christ. Powerful people here.
He reminds me of Amulek.

Well aside from all this that happened, which is a lot, not much else. I
really learned to use a machete this week. We macheted at trees like 50
times and I learned how to use slingshots also. It was a lot of fun.
Lets see what else... OH Hilz, I was thinking this week about your package
cause it still hasn't come with the MP3. I received a package this week from
mom, but yours no. And I thought, Did you right on the side that there is an
MP3 inside? cause you know how you write what is inside and stuff. Cause
everyone says that if there is something valuable inside like that to not
write it down and write like T shirt or something. Cause if you did then most
likely some Mexican or Salvadorean is listening to the MOTAB right now
haha. But we will see.

But I love you all and this week was a bit crazy, but in the end a lot of
fun. I am excited for the next week and hope I can enjoy it even more than I
enjoyed this week. Thanks for everything and if you all have questions, just
tell me and I will try to answer. Love you all and talk to you next week.

Elder Gillette

Monday, May 9, 2011

May 9, 2011: The Call 2

Hola Familia,

Well we talked yesterday and I told yo most of the good that happened this week. The piñata that we broke, the cake we made, our investigator that decided to beg for money instead of go to church and last but not least do service for an investigator and machete for 2 hours and now I have a giant blister. Sweet huh!

Really this week was really fun. I liked it a lot. Yesterday we a really good turn out in church and we got some visits in before the call. It was fun talking to everyone and I can`t even believe that Story was born. I was so so surprised to hear that she was born. but it was way cute that Basil said it. I kind of didn't even know what to say the whole time cause so much was going on, but in all it was really good to hear all your voices and it sounds like everything is going well.

I realized after that I went that whole time without saying what I really wanted to say to mom and that is, Happy Mothers Day MOM!!!!!!!!!!! I cant believe I forgot to say it yesterday. Happy mothers day to everyone else, Debbie, Kylie, Malia, Jodi, Kristin and everyone. I love you all but a little bit more to Mom yesterday and today. Thank you mom for everything and I feel that I didn't get the time yesterday to say how much you mean to me, but I love you and I thought I would take the time right now to say it.

But sorry I don't have the time to write that much this week. I really do love you all and I got most that I could say out yesterday and so we can think on that stuff and I will write you next week. Thanks for all the support and I love you all so much. I pray for you all and I know the church is true. I hope everything goes just great this week. Sorry I want to write more, but don't have the time this week.

Just one last thing that last night we gave a cake to the wife of the bishop for Mother's Day and she absolutely loved it. Her and the Bishop say Hi to everyone. And the bishop is the one in the Espàña T-shirt. He is awesome.

Love you all though and thank you for everything. Talk to you later.

Elder Gillette





Monday, May 2, 2011

May 2, 2011: ¡Ahuacha-uacha!


Hola mia familia,

Well, this week was another crazy week(I think I will write that every single week I am out here on the mission just about). But I am officially out here in Ahuachapan and it is crazy. Like I said my new comps name is Elder Romero and he is a Chapin (Which means he is from Guatemala). But Before we start on all that happened here I will finish up with what happened in my last area. In Independencía it was so SO stinking hard to leave. I loved the people there and although I only had 6 weeks there It will remain one of my favorite areas. Especially to say bye to the Fam Ascencio. They took us out for pupusas for my last night and usually good pupusas cost like 40 cents but above that I will never buy pupusas that cost more. But we went out and got ones that costed 70 cents each! and that probably sounds cheap to all of you I know, but Those are expensive here. But They were superb pupusas. I got to try a jalapeño pupusas also. It was great, but so hard. I am sending a picture of us and a couple other members that I love a ton and helped me a lot.

But in the end I got here on Wednesday and it was crazy. We ran around all day and have been this week. Our area is really big and for one of our investigators we have to climb up a giant mountain. We have had to do it everyday cause this man is awesome. His name is Everaldo and he is 66 years old but he has a 7 year old kid that has a sickness were he has to be in a wheel chair and cant do anything, but this man is awesome. We have been talking to him a lot and he asked us about fasting and if our church believes in it. We said yes and he said his church doesn't but it is something he believes the true church of Christ should do. So we told him that the first Sunday of every month we fast and because God is a god of order this week just happened to be the week of fast. So he said he wanted to fast with us. We went with him and started the fast. Sunday morning comes around and We were praying that he would go to church and we leave the house and walk a little and we found him walking down the street and he came to us telling us he was ready for church. He was an hour early for church and he has to walk 45 minutes with his kid in the wheelchair. I was like wow, this guy really is a person ready. Now he is preparing to get baptized next Sunday.

That was like one of the best things that happened this week. Something that is crazy is that I am living in the same house as Elder Bonilla right now. So that will make this change a little more interesting. I think president knew what he was doing but it doesn't make it any easier.

My comp is pretty awesome and we get along really great. He is a great teacher too. He only has 4 months in the mission and it feels weird cause this week he was asking my about songs and movies that came out and if I had seen them and we were surprised about how many I haven't seen or heard. I am starting to realize how long I have actually been out.

It is really funny though cause every Thursday the water goes out and we have to use a bucket to take a shower in the morning. It was a great way to start my time here in Ahuachapan. It rained yesterday pretty hard and I have heard that the rainy season is just about to start. I am super excited for that time to start, but it is hard here cause you can't teach very much when it is raining cause the houses have tin roofs and the noise of the rain is just crazy loud.

The house we live in isn't the nicest but it is still really good. The members are pretty awesome too right now. Yesterday we went and made pupusas with a less active family and they were loving that. it was awesome. But they gave us this salsa that they made that was so so spicy. I thought i was going to explode.

It is interesting how out here I really have gotten used to a bunch of different foods and tastes. Last night we contacted some people and they had this giant tree of fruits. I started talking to them about the fruits and how much I love the fruits of El Salvador and her kids then like spidermonkeyed there way to the top of the tree and got us like a giant bag of these fruits. But they were the best things I have tasted in my life. They taste like a really great grape.

But Everything here is going good. I really do like my new area and I feel I will be here a couple months but who knows. I will just work my butt off until I leave.

Another thing is that this Sunday I will call at 5. Here and Utah are the same time I believe or someone told me here, but be ready at 4. I am just going to call cause in this area it is just to hard to find Skype. But I thought I would make it simple. I will get to tell you more in the phone call and I am excited to talk to you all Sunday. I hope this time it goes a little bit better than Christmas cause that was just crazy. But I love you all and I will talk to you Sunday. I have to go buy groceries and all that jazz. We got to play soccer this morning so that was sweet. But love you all!

Elder Gillette