September 5, 2016

Hey mom, 

I just wrote Dad a good long letter and I'll try to give you one too, but we will see if I have enough to say!!

I guess mostly I have questions; How has school been for everyone? Any cool classes? Sports? How's the Subaru?How's Amber?  What have you guys been up to!! Who all went to Main Event, lol that picture of Dad is pretty awesome!!! Has anyone else moved out of the ward? I probably won't recognize it when I get home. 

We are having a member of the 70 come for Stake Conference the 17th and 18th. I'm super excited for that, it's always cool to have church leaders visit and teach!!

Lol, I really am not sure what else to write this week. I put everything in Dad's letter.

I love you mom and miss you a ton!! I've been doing a lot of cooking and I always want to call your name and ask you a quick question but you're not here, haha. I'm eating a lot of chicken and ground beef, and all I do to season it is salt, garlic powder and oregano and I'm not sure what else would be good to cook into it or what those spices would be called in Spanish, haha. I have developed a love for broccoli topped with salt, lol, a must at dinner, haha. I'm staring to eat more lettuce and spinach too!!I I guess it's time to fall in love with salad. 

Anyways I'll take some more pictures this week and I'll let you guys know what happens with changes next week. 

Love you tons mom!! Have an awesome week

Elder Gonzalez

Hey Dad, 

That's cool you went down to Mexico again, its always super tranquillo. I think you would really enjoy the markets down here. Every time I'm in a market or a little square I always think "man Dad would love to just walk around and look at all this cool stuff!!" I really like the indigenous stuff they sell, its all similar to the colorful Mexican blankets, but more Ecuadorian with pictures of llamas and volcanoes. I specifically think you would really enjoy walking down the streets of downtown Latacunga where I am now. I love it too. Everything is just so cool. It's a very old town, all the streets are hand laid cobblestone and fairly narrow one way roads. 

It's honestly been strange to be back in the mission again,  Sometimes it just feels like a dream, and when I think about being back at home that seems like a dream too. It's a bit strange. My thoughts are very clear though, IDK, it's like life is lighter than it used to be which makes smaller things clearer. 

We have had some cool things happen this past week. This single mom of two kids (8 and 4) from Guyaquil moved into our sector last week, and she was listening to the missionaries there and received all the lessons along with her baptismal interview, but had an emergency and now is living here. So we did her interview on Saturday and she is getting baptized on the 10th along with her son Tiger!! They are both super smart and understand everything. In Tiger's interview our zone leader asked him if he knew what a prophet was and he said "well Joseph Smith was the first new one but I can't remember who the second one is," haha. Then on Sunday the mother, Tatiana, got up and bore an awesome testimony!! It's pretty cool to see them and their happy faces. The coolest part is Tatiana's mom was baptized about a year ago, almost a year, but never told her daughter in what religion. She has just been praying and praying that her daughter could find the church and then a few weeks ago they were chatting on Skype  and Tatiana said "mom I'm gonna get baptized".  Jenny (the mom) said "oh wow, that's awesome, just make sure to pray! what church is it?" and Tatiana said "I'm not sure its name, I can't remember, but they gave me this book" (book of Mormon) and Jenny began to cry and now they are both here in Latacunga and the zone leader that baptized Jenny did Tatiana's interview this past Saturday and the zone leaders will be here for the baptism for this next Saturday! Super cool! Also a testimony of how prayer works and that Heavenly Father really works in mysterious ways. 

Our ward is cool. I can't complain, we have about 115 every week in sacrament. It's rough though because our bishop is a little crazy and prideful, but there's not really anyone else that would be suitable as bishop. He took the rights away from a returned missionary and his wife because the wife visited a family without being assigned to and when confronted about in consejo she argued that it was ok to do it... haha.  All just a bit silly, but she got kicked out of consejo and her rights were taken away and she got her calling taken away and she cried so the returned missionary asked the bishop to apologize for making his wife cry and bishop took his rights away too and said he's never offended anyone in 10 years... the Stake Presidency was there the following Sunday and gave them their rights back...and I guess fixed everything.. Then last week bishop kicked the missionaries out of consejo because we didn't put our weekly numbers  on our paper that shows all the people we visited and what they need.... that was a little crazy too... but there's not much we can do but just take it, haha, We are still working really hard doing the best with what we've got. Most menos activos refuse to go to church because the bishop offended them in one way or another.  I'm sure it's not easy to be a bishop, but he's not making our job any easier haha. Oh well, it's Ecuador and the Stake Presidency has the keys for all that. All we can do is inform our zone leaders what goes on each week and they meet with the stake president and talk to him. He's a good man and he's got a good heart, just a hard character to be around. 

Our area is huge, haha.  It's the biggest one in the mission, we stretch from the coats all the way to the jungle lol. It's huge but we mostly stay in Latacunga where we live trying to strengthen what is already here or what is close by.

Food is pretty good, we eat with a different members each day for lunch and the same set of members each week. The usual occasional soup followed by a plate of rice and a small piece of beef or a piece of chicken. Ecuadorians love their rice. I'll try to take some food pictures this week. I'm dedicating myself to a four meal a day diet consisting of lots of protein and lots of greens, unplanned snacks and sugary treats or junk food is getting taken out of the picture. My exercises are getting better and I'm thinning out my belly. My plan is to get really lean and then start bulking on muscle. My companion has taught me a lot and I feel like if I dedicate myself I'll learn to be dedicated at anything and to be dedicated to the end. So this is more than just getting more muscle or looking good. I really want to teach myself to be diligent and dedicated hasta el fin always adapting and becoming more efficient, in workouts and diet along with money and saving and in missionary work or studying. 

I'm almost positive this is my companion's last week in Latacunga, but we will find out on Sunday, We have changes. I'm hoping I get a Latino so I can get better Spanish!! I really want to get better at Spanish. Being with a gringo is cool, but I want to speak better and gringos are not that great for getting good Spanish lol. 

Anyways I've wasted almost all my time on you and grandma and mom needs a good letter to so I'll write her right now too. 

I hope you guys had a great labor day and I hope you guys are enjoying life!! 

lots of love 

Elder Gonzalez 

August 29, 2016

I've got to go soon, but I'll send something short!!

I'm pretty sure I have defeated the stomach infection. I am feeling much better!!! Thanks Grandma I'll have to use it!! 

This past week we barely even got to work in our sector, Tuesday evening we had to travel to Ambato and then Elder Welch went to Quito for a district leader meeting and I stayed in Ambato with an Elder Ruiz. Wednesday night Elder Welch came back from Quito and we stayed the night in the zone leaders house in Ambato because Thursday we had district and zone meetings in Ambato. Then we did divisions with the zone leaders for most of the day, then we had to sleep in an old house that the mission isn't using at the moment because there aren't many missionaries and our house had no electricity so if you look in the pictures I sent, there is one of a candle. Well we borrowed a flashlight from the dweno and I found a candle and lit it and set it in a bottle cap and that was our light, haha.  Then Friday we had a zone conference with the mission president and then we got home to Latacunga late that night. 

So it's been a lot of traveling but, also good. Today we had a zone activity in Ambato with zone T-shirts. We had a mini Olympics, it was lots of fun!!

Anyways I've gotta go, we have to shower and then travel to Quito again because Elder Welch has to renew his visa, haha, but we will be back in Latacunga again tomorrow evening.

Love 

Elder Gonzalez

August 22, 2016

Hey that's crazy that school and seminary is already starting! Is everyone ready?? Tell Maya I said happy birthday! 17 is a big number, lol. 

I got the chance to read your talk mom and I really enjoyed it!! I printed it out and have it at my house to read whenever I need a talk to read!!

This week has been CRAZY!!!  haha, I have literally had "diarrhea for easters"! ...and not just any ordinary diarrhea, I mean I have had Niagara falls draining out of me for 6 days, lol. like just imagine, 6 days of Niagara falls going as it pleases. Like literally, I had no control over my own bowels! I was going through toilet paper like no other!!! ...and every time I ate something it was like it was put though a blender and shot out in like 15 minutes!! It's common here to eat Papi pollo or salchi papa and I had one the other day and when we walked out of the restaurant, I was instantly hit with absolute urge to go to the bathroom and we were a little ways from the house and holding that back in my intestines hurt like someone was stabbing me in the gut and my companion thought it was the funniest thing on planet earth. So we headed toward a members house that lived close by, but they weren't home so then we had to make the trek back to the house and I was dying!! He could not stop laughing at me and all my comments about how bad I had to go and how dumb it was of me to eat greasy salchi papa. Well, we made it. Barely. haha! Its always the mission Enfermeras first response to say "do a 24 hour liquid diet" so I did and had no success so I had to take a test where I had to take a sample of my crap and give it to a  little medical place. I didn't understand the results but the Enfermeras told me I have 2 different stomach infections and they aren't nice ones either. I'm having to take 5 pills a day for 10 days in order to kill the bacteria in my stomach. It's not necessarily fun but the diarrhea has gone away so that's a blessing. This medicine makes me dehydrate really easily so I've been trying to keep up on water but I'm still having headaches. Honestly I just can't wait for whatever little jerk is living in my stomach to die, haha. 

On the bright side, today my companion and I got to go to Quilotoa, which is a huge volcano with a lake in the middle. The drive is amazing way up in the mountains surrounded by farms with sheep herds and llamas!! It was way cool!! I don't know if I'll get to send pictures today because of time but I'll try! It was amazingly windy and cold at the rim of the volcano, but when you hike down to the lake it's warm and sheltered from the harsh winds. There is a place where you can rent a canoe or a kayak but we aren't allowed to as missionaries but some other guy did and it looked pretty cool! The wind comes down from the rim and touches down in the center of the lake making large and swift swirls across the surface. The clouds are flying by and their shadows race across the water. It's really pretty but the hike back up is a killer!! You can rent donkeys to carry you up, but as missionaries we can't do that either. LOL, so we had to walk and it took us 40 mins to hike up and we were booking it so we could get back home on time. It's super steep and its a sand trail so that the donkeys don't get hurt so its really hard to climb because your slipping backwards the whole time, but if you walk on the rock walls its way easier!! haha that was the trick we found. 

Anyways I hope everyone enjoys this new year of school and seminary!! To make y'all jealous, all the kids down here are still on vacation, haha. But seriously enjoy it because it goes by really fast and before you know it it feels like it was just a dream. 

Remember always to put Heavenly Father first in all the things you do! Pray, read your scriptures and try to apply what you learn! 

Love 

Elder Gonzalez

Dad,
Haha that work trip sounds pretty tough workwise, but I'm super jealous you got all that good Maine seafood!!! That sounds so good right now!! 

How long has Sister Lundeen been the stake YW President, it seems like she's been that forever!! Seminary teacher isn't any easier of a calling either. LOL, but she will be good!!

Tell all the kids I said good luck this year at school and seminary and to make it fun. 

It seems like you are always meeting new general authorities, haha, but that's super cool. I do remember Elder Robbins asking me about a mission, but not much else. 

It's been a hectic week, I came down with two different stomach infections and am having to take 5 pills a day to kill the bacteria. I'll say more about that in my general email. 

But its also been a good week, I've been learning a lot. 

Anyways, I love you dad. Stay healthy and have a good week!!!

love 

Elder Gonzalez

August 15, 2016

Hey dad!! 

When did that painting of grandpa get done? It's super cool!! It looks just like him!! 

I am in 2nd Nephi in my personal reading and chapter 1 really caught my attention!! It talks about how if we are obedient we will prosper in the land just like you just mentioned. kinda funny haha. 

How is everyone at home? Maya, Elias, Sarah and Mari? I haven't heard from them. 

This week went by really fast. It's funny to think I've been here for almost 4 weeks now. 

Anyways hope all is well at work and at church and at home. 

Love 

Elder Gonzalez

So This week has been pretty cool. 

1st,Elder Welch and I have been on a protein diet and have been going hard in our morning exercises. We get up at 6:15 to work out till 7:00 everyday followed by a breakfast of 1 egg and 1/3 can of tuna and some avocado with a bowl of granola and milk. Then we have 2nd breakfast of 2 hard boiled eggs. Then we eat lunch (we eat with members so it is always rice with some meat and or beans and a glass of fruit juice), then we eat 2nd  lunch usually a pack of 5 pieces of lunch meat (ham) and a piece of bread. Then dinner I have 1 fillet of tilapia, 1 egg without the yoke, a handful of broccoli and avocado. Then 2nd dinner is half of a chicken breast on bread or something. 

Elder Welch worked out and trained and learned a lot about gaining muscle before the mission so he's already pretty buff even though he says he's skinny. It's going good so far, our plan is to do this this whole change to see if it works. 

2nd, we have been working really hard this week and we were able to get a lot done with recent converts. We are focused on a man named Hugo. He is 81 years old and was baptized even though he probably shouldn't have. I say that because he doesn't understand anything about the church. He doesn't even know the name. He gets confused with catholic beliefs all the time so our goal is to get him to church every Sunday, find him a few friends, good friends because he lives alone in a small 15 by 10 ft apartment, and then to teach him and help him really understand all of the lessons or basics of the church and of the gospel. We got bishop to give him a ride on Sunday and it was good to have him there. We also had this young couple at church. They are investigators and they live together but are not married. They just decided this past week to get married and that's a really hard thing to get done as missionaries in Ecuador, to get a couple married. Most people just won't do it for fear or for money reasons, but they are gonna do it and have committed. The young man Alex is doing great!! He didn't come to church because his dad made him travel for their family avocado business but Sunday night he was back in town and went to a mission prep class with the young men and he got to be the missionary. Super cool!!!! He loved it!! He also is coming to mutual with the youth but his parents still wont receive us or let him get baptized. 

3rd, I've been able to give two blessings this past week. The first one was a little crazy but super cool also. I'm not 100 percent confident in my ability to give blessings in Spanish so I usually let my companion do it. But this week we visited a man who is 82 and is bed ridden and has been for 30 days. 15 in a hospital and 15 at home. He recently had a surgery done in his chest and now he has a terrible case of pneumonia. Really bad. He is also on oxygen. Well, we were asked to visit him by Hermano Fousto who was a mission leader for 20 years and he's 81 now. So we went and we were asked to give a blessing and i just had this feeling like I should do it and some promptings came to me of what to say in the blessing of health. Well I didn't want to do it because what I was being prompted to say were kind of intense and I wasn't confident in my Spanish. So we asked him who he wanted to say the two parts. He told Hermano Fousto to do the first part and then we asked who he wanted to do the second part and he lifted his hand up and pointed at me.... and I just had to let go of my fear and do it. In the blessing I blessed him that he would receive that strength needed to be at church the following Sunday so that he could be an example to his family. I said a lot of other things too, but after the blessing I felt like I should invite him to try to walk after not walking for 30 days. My companion and I both took an arm with his approval and helped him to his feet and with a little help he walked across the room and back with little trouble. It was pretty incredible. His wife was in tears and I was just doing my best to follow the promptings but I was impressed as well. Then later in the afternoon I was asked to give one of the sister missionaries a blessing because she had a bad fever. That one wasn't as crazy but it was good. haha

Milton, our ward mission leader, Elder Welch and Elder Gonzalez

Haha, as crazy as it all sounds, it's been a good week and a fast one. Scriptures of the week are 1st Nephi chapters 10-11 and 2nd Nephi chapter 1.

I hope everyone has a great week!!!

Elder Gonzalez

Unworkable 20 gauge shotgun

A volcano named Elias as seen from my apartment

A cool bridge

August 8, 2016

Hey Dad, 

That must be crazy, haha, juggling work, church, home and everyone's activities. That takes some patience and some skill!! You're a good Dad!! 

My companion and I are getting along really well, his girlfriend of 3 years sent him a dear john last week, it was pretty rough for him. I know it still shadows his mind. Maybe you might have some good advice for me as his companion and for him?

We found 5 really cool kids this past week that we are teaching and they are all super smart! We are praying they progress! One of them has to either separate from his girl or get married to her and the others just have to learn that church is more important than Sunday soccer, lol. Everyone here plays soccer on Sundays because they work the other 6 days of the week. Everyone here really struggles to make a living. 

Our ward leaders have been super focused on Family history work and tithing in preparation for the future Quito temple. It's pretty exciting!! I know it probably won't be built during my time here, but it's cool to see the excitement!!

I hope all is well at home and with you, I keep you guys in my prayers every day!! 

Love you Dad
Elder Gonzalez

Mom,

Tell Grandma I said I love her and I hope she gets better!! That's really good of you and Mari to go out and visit her. How is Mari doing?

Being back in the mission has been weird. I'm still trying to get into my rhythm of things but my companion has made all the difference! He's really awesome!! We are working really well together.

Latacunga is awesome too. The weather can be a little weird, but it's still really cool!! I've gotten bitten by bed bugs a few times but nothing crazy. I just have to wash my bedding again, lol. Elder Welch got bit once too so I guess we will both have to do laundry again. We have a member that does it, but she hasn't been through the temple so we have to wash our garments by hand. It's not too bad but it changes your perspective of dirty lol. Each week we have to travel 1 hour and a half to our zone meetings in Ambato and then another hour and a half back. It chews up a big chunk of time but it's cool to travel on the bus each week. The pizza here in Latacunga is amazing lol and there is a burger place we go to Mondays that's really awesome too!!!

Ok so now in the mission we dont pay a member to feed us, but we eat lunch with a different family each day so breakfast and dinner are left up to us. I am looking for breakfast and dinner ideas that are good, full of protein, and relatively cheap. So if you have any ideas or recipes, it would be awesome. We are working out hard core so we can get buff!!! So we need food that will help us get super tuco!!!!

We are working with a 16 year old kid named Alex who is super awesome!!! He knows in his heart the church is true. He's going to seminary and church and he has some friends in the ward but his parents won't let him get baptized so we are gonna talk with the parents to see what we can do to get permission because he's so awesome and prepared. Say some prayers so everything works out. The obra missional is sparking back up here in Latacunga and I'm excited to see what's in store.

I love and miss everyone especially you mom!! and I hope everyone has a great week!!!!

Elder Gonzalez

Cotopaxi, the volcano that towers over Latacunga

August 1, 2016

Mom,

Sounds like everything is very Quiet at home!! I'm sure that's really weird! 

Crazyness happened this past week, we had emergency changes and I'm no longer in a trio. I'm not sure what caused the changes but I am now in Latacunga with Elder Welch from Ohio! He is really awesome, he has 1 year and like 4 days in the mission now. 

Latacunga is pretty flat and Cotopaxi is really close. I havn't been able to take a good picture yet because there are always clowds overhanging and hiding the volcano but it's very pretty here. It's cold and windy with off and on light drizzles. We had 92 people at church on Sunday, I hope we will be able to get that number up! There are like a billion Catholic churches here in down town, they are always pretty cool to look at ;P

Elder Welch and I are gonna try to do a diet to loose some fat and get Tuco (buff) so we will see how that goes :P

We are working with a few investigators but one in particular is Alex, he is like 17 years old and wants to get baptized but his parents won't give him permission,  but he is very strong and has great desires. I really hope his example will warm the hearts of his parents!

I love you Mom, tell Maya, Elias, Sarah, and Marisol I love them too!!! 

I hope everyone has a safe week and a good week!!!

Love

Elder Gonzalez

Eggs given to us, don't know what kind they are, but they tasted good.

Elder Welch with Hermano Fausto who was a ward mission leader for 20 years!!! He's now 81 and still loves missionary work!!

Our apartment in Latacunga

Latacunga District

July 25, 2016

Hello from Ecuador!!!

I arrived here in Ecuador and I am safe! I am currently in a trio with Elder Groberg de Arizona, and Elder Chavez de Peru. They are both very cool!! We are working in Los Chillos in a sector called Vista Hermosa. Its basically a mountain and is a pretty big sector so we do a lot of up and down all day long haha. Today for P-day we went to the top of the mountain to take pictures and then we went to this mall that has a little resonante where they sell root beer. I think that's got to be the only place in Ecuador where they sell root beer, Haha. We no longer have pansionistas solo the members sign up for a day of when they can feed us. It's kinda nice because we get to know more members.

Since my sector is in the mountains its perfect, It doesn't rain much in my sector because all the rain clouds are in the valley below us. In the morning it gets a little cold but during the day its perfect, I never sweat and I never feel cold until the sun goes down. Only then do I put on a sweater and its sufficient. 

We are currently working with a familia called familia Alverez. they are less active and have two sons. The first is 9 years old and the other is 7. The 9 year old has a baptismal date for this Saturday and he's really excited the only problem is he is terrified of water to the extend he doesn't even like to take showers or baths, haha, so his parents are taking him swimming and giving him baths to prepare him. His name is Jaime. There is also a 13 year old girl who's has a baptismal date coming up but I don't know her yet.

This past Sunday, our zone leaders visited the familia Alverez with us so that Jaime could have his baptismal interview. One of my Zone leaders was in the CCM with me so it was cool to catch up with him and to see how he is doing.  

It's a bit strange being back in the mission, more than anything it's pretty humbling. It's amazing to me how the Savior can take imperfect people and change them into something good. It's my hope that maybe I'll be able to help someone change their life by inviting them to follow the Savior. 

I hope all is well back home and I hope everyone has a great week!!!

Elder Gonzalez