This week absolutely flew by...

 … it started off super well with an activity that we had planned for Wednesday night.  To reactive members and to bring a lot more unity with the members in Tres Valles, we’ve started hosting activities every Wednesday at 5:00 pm.  This was the first one and it was a little family home evening.  It was really well, we had about 50 people come (which is super good for here) and a few investigators were able to come too.  Elder Murillo and I shared a message about the importance of the Book of Mormon, and then we went and played board games and ate donuts and sandwiches.  Jenga was the biggest hit, we had about 15 people playing the one little game.  It was super funny.  We don’t really have a set plan for this upcoming Wednesday but we’re thinking it will be very similar but with different games and treats.  We are going to set up the volleyball net too.  So we will see how that goes!! 

Friday was also a pretty interesting day.  We had divisions again!  But this time with our district leader, Elder Barcenas.  He came to Tres Valles with me and Elder Murillo went to Temazcal with Elder Andrade.  We did the divisions so Elder Barcenas could come talk to our investigators who want to get baptized.  He wanted to see if they are ready.  We first went and talked with Flor and Jose.  Jose is super ready and excited; however, Hermana Flor still isn’t sure and wanted the weekend to pray and think about it.  So, we’ll see if she received an answer this week.  Hermana Ausencia is going through a tough time right now and so she doesn’t feel ready.  Her date will be pushed back until February. 

Pedro (the 16-year-old) hasn’t been able to come to church the past couple weeks, so we pushed his date back to February as well!  Iris, the 9-year-old, is super excited and ready so she is for sure getting baptized this Saturday!!  Overall, Friday was a pretty good day.  The craziest part, however, was that we went to Lo Narenjos for a Family Home Evening, and we missed the bus back to Tres Valles … The father of the family insisted that the bus always passed by his corner…. we were standing there on the corner of his street and all we could do is watch as the bus left from two streets down … and went on its way to Tres Valles … without us.  We were standing there for a couple minutes wondering what to do, when a car pulled up and offered us a ride.  We hopped on in and this man took us home.  He was super nice, and had talked to missionaries before.  We have a lesson set up with him this week!  So that was our miracle of the week.

Yesterday was Stake Conference.  We got up early and caught a bus to Tierra Blanca.  The church building is pretty small, so it was packed with members.  They kicked us missionaries off to a little room to watch the conference on a little TV.  It was a great conference and we had a good time!  But yeah, that was my week!  I hope you all have a great week!  Miss you all!

Elder Gurney

1/15/2018

So this week was pretty unique.  We started the week off with division with the zone leaders on Tuesday and Wednesday.  So Monday night after our district meeting in Tierra Blanca.  Elder Browning (from South Weber, UT) came with me to Tres Valles.  Elder Browning also started his mission here about a year ago.  We visited a lot of the people that he taught when he was here.  So those two days I met a lot of awesome people, including one man who speaks almost perfect English!  So we will see what happens with all of them.  It was a great start to the week since I was able to learn a lot from him and also talk some English again for two days!! 

The most exciting part of the week, however, was Wednesday afternoon.  We passed by the house of a member who hadn’t come to church in a while.  He is the only member of his family, and when we passed by his house we heard a lot of yelling.  I was a little hesitant to knock because I’d rather visit him when everything is calm.  Elder Browning went right up and knocked so I went with it.  As soon as he knocked, an elderly woman burst open the door and went off running to a different house.  We looked inside and saw quite a few people sobbing and one man holding a little boy pressing a towel on his forehead.  We went over to see what had happened.  Turns out this little two year old boy had fallen in the street and split open his head pretty good.  Elder Browning picked up the kid and we took off running with his mom and dad to the hospital.  Luckily, a taxi turned the corner just when we came out of the house, so we were able to get him there pretty quick.  We dropped off the boy and his parents and then left.  When we left the hospital, we went to thank the taxi drive for helping us out, but before we could say a thing he said, “that’ll be 25 pesos…”  The taxi driver didn’t even give us a discount for our heroics!  HA!!  The next day Elder Murillo and I went to see how the little boys was doing.  He is fine.  He just needed a few stitches!  The whole family now agreed to let us teach them … and they all seem pretty interested!!

Thursday we had interviews with President Palmer, which are always extremely helpful.  Outside of that, it was a normal day!  Friday we were given permission to watch the funeral service of President Thomas S. Monson.  It was sad but also a spiritual and awesome experience.  We invited quite a few people to come watch so that was cool to see investigators, members, and less active members come together to pay respects to him.

Sunday I was asked to give a talk in both the branch and ward.  So in my three months here … I have given at least five talks!  Besides that .. yesterday was a pretty nice day too!

So that was more or less my week!  Miss you all!  Have a great week!

Elder Gurney

January

This week went by super quickly, even though it was a pretty normal week.  It started off really well!!  On Tuesday, we were teaching Hermana Flor and her two kids, Jose and Salvador.  We asked her how she has been feeling about everything and specifically how she feels about getting baptized.  She told us that she feels really good, but that in the upcoming weeks her mom is going to have eye surgery and Jose is going to get his cast removed.  Jose will then have to start physical therapy for his arm and is a little unsure how everything is going to work out.  The coolest part was that before we could say anything, little ten year old Jose interjected saying, "Don't worry Mom, everything will be fine.  I think you are ready!!"  After that, she accepted to be baptized on the 27th of January with Jose!

The rest of the week was a bit shaky.  On Wednesday, we received the news that our prophet, Thomas S. Monson died.  That was really hard to hear.  We tried to now let that news get us too down and went on with the day.  It was the birthday of the son of President Rojas.  They invited us to stop by and eat hamburgers to celebrate with them.  So at the end of the day, we stopped by, sang "Happy Birthday", stuffed ourselves with hamburgers and fries, gave him our present, and then walked home as quickly as we could since it was late.  It was pretty fun!

Hamburger ... with ham and fresh pineapple!

With the birthday boy!

The highlight of Thursday was our lesson with Hermana Ausencia.  She lived in the US for quite awhile with her husband.  Due to several different reasons, she was sent back here where we have gotten to know her.  She is quite awesome!  Without hesitation, she accepted baptism on the 27th as well!

with Hermana Ausencia

Friday and Saturday were pretty normal days!  Saturday was fun because it was the Dia de los Reyes Magos.  Each family that we taught the kids were all playing with their new toys and they let us play with them!  HA!  So Saturday we played with a bunch of remote control cars, drones, and helicopters!

That was my week!  I want to finish off by sharing my testimony, my knowledge, that Thomas S Monson was a true prophet of God.  He was called to direct the church and that he did so under the direction of God.  I also know that our next prophet will be called of God and will guide us with His direction as well.   I am so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and to have the knowledge that God is directing us through prophets!

I hope you all have a great week!!  Miss you all!
Elder Gurney
brandon.gurney@myldsmail.net

FELIZ AÑO NUEVO!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy New Year!!  In Mexico, they celebrate the new year with a ton of fireworks.  They aren't the type that fly up in the air, but the type that explode super loudly and with a lot of light... so all of last night sounded like a war.  It is also the custom here is to fill a life sized doll with newspaper and a bunch of fireworks and then light it on fire at midnight, so that was quite crazy to hear... I wish I could've seen one in person though, sounds super cool!

So the big news of the week, and the year: I have a new companion! His name is Elder Murillo, he is from Honduras and only has one transfer more than me in the mission (about a month and a half). Despite having only a little more time that me as a missionary, he is great and has already taught me tons. He is SUPER diligent and hardworking so we have been doing a lot this past week. 

With my new companion, Elder Murillo!

This past week we met two new people who want to investigate the church. One is named Pedro, he is 16 years old and has talked with missionaries in the past.  In the second lesson, he accepted a baptismal date for mid January! So we are excited to continue teaching him. He is super smart! We found him by contacting door to door in a nearby neighborhood.

The other is the daughter of a less active family in the church. We met the father at the bakery of the branch president, and he told us he has been wanting to come to church for a while but he is always working and they dont have a lot of money to pay for a taxi. He and his oldest son (18 years old) work in the fields, cutting the sugar cane. There is also a 12 year old son, a 5 year old son, and then Iris, the 10 year old daughter who wants to get baptized. The rest of the family are all members. But yeah, those are our two new investigators from this week.

This week we also visited a lot with Hermana Flor and her two sons, Jose and Salvador. She told us that she is considering baptism.  She isn't ready to accept a date or anything, but she is thinking about it.  Jose and Salvador came to my piano class on Thursday as well, so now I have two new members in my piano class! Haha, they also want me to teach them English, so I might start an English class but we will see.

This week we also visited with Hermano Juan.  He also is thinking about baptism.  He is still uncertain about it though, but he is super awesome! He says I am his guidance... but he isn't the best follower, so we will see! Hahaha. 

My almost weekly pic of me with the cows of Hermano Juan! 

But yeah that was more or less my week! Yesterday we went to Tierra Blanca for a little zone reuinon so I got to meet the new members of the zone! Elder Browning (our new zone leader, and the trainer of Elder Barnum from the CCM) and Elder Olsen (the trainer of Elder Thorell from the CCM), they are way cool and it was fun hearing about Elder Barnum and Elder Thorell! But yeah us Gringos now outnumber the Latinos in the zone so there is a lot more English being spoken than usual. It was pretty fun to meet them! 

With Elder Browning!

With Elder Olsen!

I hope you all have an amazing year!!!!! Miss you all! Have a great week too!

Elder Gurney