Almost Christmas!

Hola!

This week was a decent week. We started the week off with divisions! I stayed in the area and Elder Leocadio from Guerrero Mexico came to work with me for a day. He has two weeks in the field and he has an amazing conversion story. I just wanted to take a moment to talk about it. He got baptized at the age of 12 but his parents prohibited him from going to church.  They were fairly abusive so he left home at the age of 15. He went looking for a job and found work in a cake store and he worked there making about 50 pesos a day for a couple of years, living in the warehouse. Everyday he was up at 4 to work until 7 then he went to school, he got back at 3 and kept working until 10, when he started his homework. However, he had to work on Sundays, so one day he decided to take an enormous leap of faith and he quit so he could go to church. He said that that decision flipped his life around because in the church the members helped him out and with their help he started a business and from that business came another! From those two businesses he made a ton of money, enough to pay for the mission and he pays for his siblings schooling.   He left his brother in charge of his businesses while he's here for these two years. I thought that it was just the coolest thing to see this Elder's faith and courage in God.

With Elder Leocadio

We found Christmas lights in the apartment!

This week we also were able to find a cool family where two kids are not members, one is 12 and the other is 9 years old. They stopped going to church when the grandma died but we talked to them about God's plan and they're started to come back to church, the two kids have baptismal dates for January 5th.

Christmas time!!

The other people we are teaching are coming along really well! We have two 16 year old boys that have baptismal dates for the 29th of December. Ricardo is still searching for an answer from God and the other kid, David, just needs his parents permission so keep them in your prayers! As for Tranquilino he had to go back to his ranch to fix some legal things or something like that so we shall see when he gets back home! Anyways, hope you all have a great week! Enjoy the cold!
Elder Gurney

Finding...

These past two weeks have been full of miracles! The focus of the mission this month is finding more people to teach. My companion and I decided to start working more with the list of members, looking for part member families, and referrals from the members.  We have a list of like 800 members but only about 170 consistently go to church. With the list we've been able to find quite a few new people to teach that can progress quickly.

Ricardo: He's a 16 year old young man that his mom goes every week to church, we started visiting him and he says the only reason he hasn't gotten baptized is because he hasn't received an answer.  So we have been working with him so that he can receive that answer.

Tranquilino: First off, Tranquilino is a ridiculous name but he's a funny guy hahaha. He is the grandpa of a super active member and he's like 91 but he is still strong and active.  He just moved into the house of his daughter and has already gone twice to church. He likes the church, his only problem is alcohol... but he told his grandson that he was going to stop drinking!! However, when we asked him if it was true he said, yeah! I just don't know where they sell it here! hahaha. But it's something!

This week we also did divisions. I went with Elder Hurren from South Carolina and we basically spent the whole day knocking doors.... but it was a good time.   Elder Hurren just finished his training but I felt like I was with an experienced missionary so we had fun. Besides that it was a pretty normal week! The funniest part was that a few cows got loose and were walking around town and the people didn't even pay attention to them like it was a normal occurrence. HAPPY DECEMBER AND ENJOY THE COLD!!!!!!

Elder Gurney
(I don't have any photos this week because I forgot the chord to connect my camera...)

First week of December...

An email Elder Gurney sent his sister:

I'm highkey jealous that it is snowing in Utah... out here we are still in the 90's and I'm dying to feel cold again! We got to watch the Christmas devotional and it was super cool to see the snow in the trees.  But yeah to answer your questions, it was a pretty decent week.   We had the consejo de lideres which means we got waffles and pìzza!  :)   

Besides that we also found quite a few new investigators to teach which was nice, we have two investigators that we are hoping that they'll get baptized this month.  They're both 16 year old boys, one is the kid of a less active member but he says he doesn't want to get baptized because he doesn't like the water... so were trying to help him out but it'd be good if you could pray that he can overcome his fear.... his name is Angel. The other kid has attended church twice, we are teaching his family but his parents work a lot so they haven't progressed very well.  He has a good friend who is a member though so he likes going to church. His name is David and our only worry is if his parents will let him get baptized alone. We are going to talk with them about that tomorrow so it would be lovely if you could pray for him as well. The rest of the investigators we are working with for January. 

Being a Zone Leader is not as different as I thought it would be, we report our numbers, we work in our area, ... the only difference is that it's more stress and more responsibility. We're responsible for the work of the whole zone not just our own work. The good thing is that our zone is full of super good missionaries who are future leaders so we're happy about that.
Love, Elder Gurney  

Thanksgiving in Mexico!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!!!! I spent my thanksgiving coughing and sniffling because I caught a cold... oh and my thanksgiving dinner was crackers and tuna!!! Hahah Thanksgiving isn't really celebrated in Mexico... but it's fine because the rest of the week was good (besides being a bit sick of course).

 

A member invited us over for breakfast last Monday so we enjoyed a nice p-day breakfast!

These past two weeks have been pretty crazy because of the weather, it dropped down to 55 degrees here and everyone was freezing for a couple of days. The rest of the days its been hot or super windy, so I think that's why I got sick. But it's fine cause the work continues!

Wednesday was Zone Conference and the focus was on the basics because there are so many new missionaries that have arrived and that are arriving. There were a few stations and we rotated through them learning about a basic principle in every station. It was interactive with a lot of practices so it was really fun! They always give us Costco pizza as well after the zone conference so that was also a big plus.

Zone Conference Selfies!

Sunday my companion, one of the sister missionaries, and I gave talks in Sacrament Meeting. I talked about the Book of Mormon and how this month of December is a great time to gift copies of the Book of Mormon to friends. My comp talked about his conversion to the gospel and how it changed him and it went really well, especially because we didn't prepare anything haha. Sunday was the fireside with President Palmer in the chapel next to the temple with the recent converts and investigators. It was my companion's turn to lead the fireside so we got there early to help set up and to finish up the program. The firesides are always fun cause we get to see a lot of the missionaries in the port.

Tomorrow is transfers! But Castro and I are staying together! We´re pretty happy because there is a lot of work to do in Magisterio and were excited to Light Up December! Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Gurney

Trio once again!

So this week was super fun. There's an Elder in our zone (Elder Starkey from St George Utah) whose companion was transferred in special transfers which left him without a companion! So he came with us in a trio for a few days. Luckily there are two sets of missionaries in his area so he sent them to visit a few of his investigators and the other days he would go out with the members for a few hours. It's weird teaching in a trio, but besides that it was fun having two companions, especially cause they're both hilarious.

A funny sign we saw when we were knocking doors.  (Apparently it says something about the shop in front of the Mormon church ... but it isn't anywhere near the church!)

We had a few funny experiences this week. We visited a member that had a few referrals for us, and he started talking about when he was on the mission in Guadalajara Mexico. He started telling us how he had many experiences with witches and spirits and things like that. He started telling us how he was teaching an old lady that was possessed who threw a table at them and jumped at them, but she jumped like 6 feet into the air! He said that he was lucky that he was prepared spiritually cause he resisted her and gave her a blessing and the spirit left her. He told us a few other stories that I'm not sure I completely believe but they were definitely entertaining. From then on we started calling him Naruto because of all his battles with possessed people and evil spirits.

To celebrate Elder Starkey's year mark, we visited a less active member who owns a taco stand and ate tacos with him to celebrate. We also disposed of a picture of Elder Castro's ex girlfriend because she sent the dreaded Dear John letter last Monday hahaha.

The taco party!

I also made pancakes to celebrate Elder Starkey's year mark!

As for our investigators, we have been able to find a few new people to teach and we have a family that we are teaching, the Fernandez family, we have high hopes that they can progress. They are a family of 5 and they are good about reading and praying, however, they have difficulty going to church because they work a lot and the parents are always busy on Sundays! However, we´re hoping to focus on the two sons because they do nothing on Sundays haha. We were hoping to see a bunch of investigators in church yesterday but they all had something happen that they weren't able to come! It was rough but we´re going to get them to church next week! I'm doing well and hope you're all doing well! Have a great week!


Elder Gurney

Temple!

This week was a great week!

On Saturday, Elder Castro was invited to go to the temple sealing of a convert he baptised in his first area and since I still hadn't entered the temple for my year mark, I asked permission to accompany him. So Saturday morning I went with Elder Castro and his trainer (and his companion) and we all entered the temple! It was a great experience.

 

Temple!!

After the temple trip we went to eat,  did a couple visits, and then we went to the church to help the sister missionaries in the ward with their baptismal service. Their convert is an older lady who has tongue cancer and can't talk, however she is a very fun woman despite the trials she has had.  Because of her health, we had to be very careful during the baptism so even though Elder Castro baptised her I also got into the font to help.

Lourdes' baptism!

Sunday was also a great day because after church we went to another area to do a few baptismal interviews for this upcoming Saturday. Afterwards we all piled into a taxi and went to a fireside given by our mission president for all investigators and recent converts. We went with a convert named Adrian, he is 19 and has about three months as a member and even though I only met him two weeks ago he's already become a good friend. 

 

with Adrian!

The rest of the week was the normal missionary grind; teaching, looking, and a lot of praying. We found a few more people to teach this week and we have a couple of people who we´re hoping to help prepare for baptism in November. But yeah that was the week! Miss you all! Have a great week!

A bird flew into the chapel and hurt its wing.  A member put it in a box so it could recover and brought it into
Sacrament meeting.  Halfway through the meeting, it recovered and started flying all around the meeting room!

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

Well this week flew by.
Tuesday we had the Consejo de Lideres which was super fun for two reasons: they gave us waffles for breakfast and tacos for lunch! I haven't had waffles in over 14 months and it was amazing, and well tacos are tacos and I can eat them everyday. We were able to talk about the needs of the mission as well ... so it was good.

Thursday we had a zone activity for the day of the dead! I guess it is the tradition here that missionaries go to a massive cemetery, sing hymns, and pass out pamphlets of the Plan of Salvation. It was pretty successful, we got a few references for other areas and other zones. One woman I contacted actually started to cry listening to the hymns and as we talked about God's plan. She told me that she lost her two grandsons and her son-in-law in a car accident and she went to the cemetery to see her two grandsons (The belief in Mexico of the day of the dead is that November 1st the spirits of the children that died come to visit and November 2nd is when the adults come to visit). It was a nice experience to testify of God´s plan for us and how she can see them again. The only problem with the activity was that us gringos got roasted by the sun, we were out there for a little over 2 hours.

 

Saturday was a stake activity about family history, so we invited all of our investigators to come to what we thought was going to be a party in the church. Three of the families we invited came! However, it was not a party at all, it was a program of people telling stories of the things they found in their family history and a few people sang songs from Coco.

All in all it was a really good week!

Elder Gurney

Magisterio

So I'm back in the port of Veracruz! I'm now a zone leader with Elder Castro from the Dominican Republic in the Magisterio Ward! It's one of the strongest wards in Veracruz so I'm happy to be here. Elder Castro is awesome too, he was a breakdancer before the mission and travelled the world to different dance competitions. He´s going to teach me a few moves for when I get home! haha The people we are teaching here are super awesome, we have about 15 families we are teaching. The only problem is that three of them have family members that have prohibiting them from getting baptized... Satan really works hard. However, we´re going to keep helping them and see if a few miracles happen there!

Pictures of my last zone before I was transferred ... AGAIN!

The fun parts of the week were:
Our interviews with the Mission President on Thursday. President Palmer is super fun and I always am able to learn something new from him.

Friday we had our zone study, something the Zone Leaders before Elder Castro and I started to do every Thursday to talk with and motivate the zone as well as help them plan for the week. We are going to keep it going because the majority of the zone is new missionaries, many of which are training, and are still learning. This week we moved it to Friday because of the interviews with President.

with papi Elder Castro!

Friday we also did divisions, I went with Elder Cadima from Peru to his area and Elder Castro went with Elder Starkey from St George Utah. It was really fun, my friend from the CCM Elder Barnum trained Elder Cadima so it was fun to hear about him.

Saturday it rained all day and I got soaked so that was a rough day.... but at least I didn't get sick!

But yeah, all is good here! I'm learning a lot from Elder Castro and I'm excited to get to know the members here!

Hope you all have a great week!

Week Quien Sabe

This was a great week. We were able to watch the saturday session of General Conference in English in the computer in the Bishop's office and it was so powerful. There is a big difference between listening to the prophet and the apostles voices and listening to a translator. Plus in the Bishop's office we could eat candy and snacks without disturbing anyone!

Watching Conference in the Bishop's office!

On Wednesday, we did divisions with the zone leaders so I went with Elder Mendez to his area which was super fun. It felt like Tres Valles all over again but now I can understand what is going on. It was a somewhat disappointing day because the whole day was spend helping the sister missionaries move into their new house and working out the contract... but it was fun catching up with Elder Mendez.

A photo of a member from the Tres Valles ward when he was young and my trainer!

Zone Conference

Another family photo

Apart from that it was just a normal week. I'm proud to say that we did not get lost this week. The best part was that three of the people we are teaching came to the general conference. They've been listening to the missionaries for about 2 months now, they're reading the Book of Mormon, and have now gone to church three times however they still won't commit to baptism. We are going to see them tomorrow to see if listening to the prophets helped them overcome that fear and commit to baptism! 

Eating a trenza (braid in English).  It is like a hamburger but better!

A new fruit I tried.  It kinda freaked me out but it ended up tasting like a grape!

But yeah all is good here!! I'm enjoying the Eye of Water ward, hope you all have a great week! 

A photo of the chapel from the Ojo de Agua!

Elder Gurney

The world is small!

Sooooooooo I got transferred to the Ojo de agua ward!!!!!!!!!! It is literally the area right next to my old one. I took a 10 minute taxi ride to get to my new area haha. If you remember last week I mentioned that my favorite family from the Escamela Ward, the Luna family, was moving wards. Well they moved to the Ojo de agua ward so I'm just following them! My companion is Elder Garcia, from Dallas Texas. He is super awesome, he is a quiet person in general, but this kid knows the bible incredibly well! So I've been able to learn a lot from him. The best part is that it was his birthday the day after transfers and he got a massive package from home full of jolly ranchers and poptarts.  So our breakfast everyday this week has been poptarts, its been a good week hehe. The difficult part of the week is that Elder Garcia only has 3 weeks so he doesn't know the area nor the members well... so we've gotten lost more than a few times, it's been an adjustment but the members are super awesome here so it'll be a great transfer.

Now the reason for the title of my email, I met a member here who served in Morristown New Jersey!!!!!! He served about 4 years ago and knows a bunch of the missionaries that I met about 4 years ago hahaha. So after church yesterday we were talking about Jersey and the people we know in common. The craziest part was when his mom came up and joined the conversation. She mentioned that her son who is serving a mission in Brazil was trained by an Elder from Morristown, New Jersey, an Elder Norton!!!!!!! I freaked out a bit, cause Matt (Elder Norton) is one of my best friends from New Jersey and so basically all of Sunday I was in shock about how small the world is...

But yeah, this week was pretty good! Tuesday we had interviews with President Palmer, so I got to ask why I was transferred from my area after only having only 3 weeks... And he just said that I learned what I needed to learn and did what I needed to do in that area and now God wanted me in this new area. He said that it'll make sense later on, so I still don't know why. On Wednesday, we had our zone conference which was awesome. We learned a lot about treating the people we are teaching as agents, and not objects. It was something that we really needed to learn.

The rest of the week we focused on not getting lost... We also were able to talk with a family of three that are awesome! Selene(the mom), ashley(11 year old daughter), and Isis(8 year old daughter) have been been talking with the missionaries for a little while now but only recently have they really been reading the Book of Mormon. This little change has helped them a ton to really progress towards conversion. They want to make changes in their lives.  They like the Church and everything we are teaching them.  They've gone twice to church so far and liked it a lot. So we have high hopes for them.

 
There is also Jackie, the girlfriend of a member. She's gone many times to the church, the only problem is she is scared of asking permission from her parents to be baptized in this church. However, she said she said shes going to talk with them this week. 

That's the highlights of the week! Hope you all have a great week!!!!!!!
Elder Gurney

Ya me voy ... otra vez!

Sooooo, the zone leaders called me yesterday anddddddd I'm getting transferred!!!!!!!!!!!!! Again!!!!!!! After a whopping 3 weeks in my area, they're kicking me out of here! haha, Stay tuned until next week to see where they send me...

This week was super crazy.
Last Monday, Elder Hernandez and I went with the zone leaders to a nearby hill that has a sweet view of Orizaba. We went up in a ski lift type thingy, I forget the word for it in English. But that was super fun and then we celebrated Mexican Independence Day (September 15th) with a piñata in the district meeting. That was fun too.

Ski lift type thingy

The view over Orizaba

Angel wings at the top!

PINATA!

On Tuesday, I went on divisions in an area called Huatusco, which is a super small town like an hour and a half away from here.  It's always interesting to meet new people in different areas.

On Wednesday, we found a new person to teach, named Alejandro. His wife is a less active member and he has a lot of questions about religion. He just wants to change his life for the better so we were able to talk about how the Book of Mormon can help him do just that. He also has two swords that he bought in Oaxaca that are super cool and he let us have a photo shoot with them so that was fun.  We don't knock doors here in Oaxaca because they have had robbers dressed like missionaries come into their home and scope out items to steal.  So now they don't trust missionaries.

Thursday was just a normal day... Friday we had a Noche Mexicana! It was a ward talent show with a bunch of food.  It was really fun. Mexicans really know how to dance!!!!!!!!! It was super cool to watch, and the food was as delicious as always.

Noche Mexicana!!

Saturday we went to do visits with the Bishop.

Sunday we had ward conference which was a great conference with a focus on the youth.  My companion and I took advantage of the fact that we went to the conference in suits to take pictures with a few of our favorite families. Which is awesome cause now I have a few photos of the few people I've been able to meet in my few weeks here.

The Gonzalez Family!

Obispo Luna and family!

All in all it was a good week! Im super grateful to be here in Veracruz as a missionary! Hope you all have a great week!!!!!!!


Elder Gurney

Escamela!

So the transfers came and I was sent up north to Orizaba! To the mountains!!!!! Where it actually gets cold!!!!!!! I can see snow! My ward is called Escamela and I'm with Elder Hernandez, he has the same time as me in the mission and we get along super well. We did have a rough start to the week... the sudden change of weather got me pretty sick, so we were not able to work as hard as I wanted to this first week. However, all in all it was a good week! There are such amazing members here and it's been fun getting to know them.  In fact, the son of the Stake President served in Morristown!!  I can't wait to meet him! 

My old zone before transfers!

My first day in Escamela .. and we got soaked!

As for people we are teaching, we have two people who have come to church but besides that there is nobody so this week we were dedicated to finding (which is hard when you're sick haha) however we were able to find a few people who we believe can really progress in the gospel!

A member gave us crab to eat ... it was pretty difficult to eat!  

A lake in our area!

One of the people we are teaching is named Alan, and he has already come to church. He is a young man who has a lot of struggles but is trying to turn his life around.  He is an awesome guy.

We were able to find Antonio, he is the father of two teenagers and a little girl. His wife passed away about 2 months ago, which has been very difficult for him and his family. His sons are both members and are super faithful, and we are working with him to develop his faith. He is also awesome and we hope to help him come closer to God.

Im super happy to be here in Escamela with Elder Hernandez!
NOS VEMOS!!!

Love, Elder Gurney